[JPRT 110-40]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
110th Congress S. Prt.
2d Session JOINT COMMITTEE PRINT 110-40
_______________________________________________________________________
COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PRACTICES FOR 2006
VOLUME I
__________
R E P O R T
SUBMITTED TO THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
US SENATE
AND THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTIONS 116(d) AND 502B(b) OF THE FOREIGN
ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961, AS AMENDED
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
APRIL 2008
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the U.S.
Senate and Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives
respectively
------
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, Jr., Delaware, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska
RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota
BARBARA BOXER, California BOB CORKER, Tennessee
BILL NELSON, Florida GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
BARACK OBAMA, Illinois LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
JIM WEBB, Virginia JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
Antony J. Blinken, Staff Director
Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Republican Staff Director
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
DIANE E. WATSON, California RON PAUL, Texas
ADAM SMITH, Washington JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GENE GREEN, Texas JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas CONNIE MACK, Florida
RUBEN HINOJOSA, Texas JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
DAVID WU, Oregon TED POE, Texas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
LINDA T. SANCHEZ, California LUIS G. FORTUNO, Puerto Rico
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
JIM COSTA, California VACANT
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
BARBARA LEE, California
Robert R. King, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Foreword......................................................... vii
Letter of Transmittal............................................ ix
Preface.......................................................... xi
Overview and Acknowledgments..................................... xiii
Introduction..................................................... xvii
Volume I
Africa:
Angola....................................................... 1
Benin........................................................ 15
Botswana..................................................... 25
Burkina Faso................................................. 34
Burundi...................................................... 44
Cameroon..................................................... 67
Cape Verde................................................... 91
Central African Republic..................................... 97
Chad......................................................... 123
Comoros...................................................... 137
Congo, Democratic Republic of the............................ 142
Congo, Republic of........................................... 167
Cote d'Ivoire................................................ 176
Djibouti..................................................... 200
Equatorial Guinea............................................ 207
Eritrea...................................................... 223
Ethiopia..................................................... 235
Gabon........................................................ 259
Gambia, The.................................................. 267
Ghana........................................................ 279
Guinea....................................................... 300
Guinea-Bissau................................................ 317
Kenya........................................................ 322
Lesotho...................................................... 343
Liberia...................................................... 352
Madagascar................................................... 363
Malawi....................................................... 375
Mali......................................................... 389
Mauritania................................................... 397
Mauritius.................................................... 408
Mozambique................................................... 415
Namibia...................................................... 432
Niger........................................................ 441
Nigeria...................................................... 455
Rwanda....................................................... 481
Sao Tome and Principe........................................ 507
Senegal...................................................... 512
Seychelles................................................... 529
Sierra Leone................................................. 534
Somalia...................................................... 551
South Africa................................................. 565
Sudan........................................................ 580
Swaziland.................................................... 603
Tanzania..................................................... 616
Togo......................................................... 641
Uganda....................................................... 652
Zambia....................................................... 678
Zimbabwe..................................................... 692
East Asia and the Pacific:
Australia.................................................... 717
Brunei....................................................... 729
Burma........................................................ 737
Cambodia..................................................... 763
China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau).................. 787
Tibet...................................................... 825
Hong Kong.................................................. 834
Macau...................................................... 845
China (Taiwan only).......................................... 852
East Timor................................................... 866
Fiji......................................................... 882
Indonesia.................................................... 892
Japan........................................................ 923
Kiribati..................................................... 931
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of....................... 936
Korea, Republic of........................................... 947
Laos......................................................... 956
Malaysia..................................................... 971
Marshall Islands............................................. 996
Micronesia, Federated States of.............................. 1001
Mongolia..................................................... 1006
Nauru........................................................ 1016
New Zealand.................................................. 1021
Palau........................................................ 1028
Papua New Guinea............................................. 1033
Philippines.................................................. 1041
Samoa........................................................ 1059
Singapore.................................................... 1064
Solomon Islands.............................................. 1080
Thailand..................................................... 1085
Tonga........................................................ 1112
Tuvalu....................................................... 1119
Vanuatu...................................................... 1124
Vietnam...................................................... 1129
Europe and Eurasia:
Albania...................................................... 1155
Andorra...................................................... 1171
Armenia...................................................... 1175
Austria...................................................... 1189
Azerbaijan................................................... 1198
Belarus...................................................... 1219
Belgium...................................................... 1255
Bosnia and Herzegovina....................................... 1263
Bulgaria..................................................... 1281
Croatia...................................................... 1298
Cyprus, Republic of.......................................... 1321
Czech Republic............................................... 1341
Denmark...................................................... 1358
Estonia...................................................... 1364
Finland...................................................... 1371
France....................................................... 1380
Georgia...................................................... 1396
Germany...................................................... 1422
Greece....................................................... 1433
Hungary...................................................... 1452
Iceland...................................................... 1464
Ireland...................................................... 1472
Italy........................................................ 1480
Latvia....................................................... 1492
Liechtenstein................................................ 1502
Lithuania.................................................... 1507
Luxembourg................................................... 1518
Macedonia.................................................... 1522
Malta........................................................ 1539
Moldova...................................................... 1545
Monaco....................................................... 1563
Montenegro................................................... 1566
Netherlands, The............................................. 1575
Norway....................................................... 1585
Poland....................................................... 1591
Portugal..................................................... 1605
Romania...................................................... 1612
Russia....................................................... 1641
San Marino................................................... 1707
Serbia....................................................... 1711
Kosovo..................................................... 1727
Slovak Republic.............................................. 1752
Slovenia..................................................... 1767
Spain........................................................ 1777
Sweden....................................................... 1788
Switzerland.................................................. 1798
Turkey....................................................... 1807
Ukraine...................................................... 1833
United Kingdom............................................... 1863
Volume II
Near East and North Africa:
Algeria...................................................... 1877
Bahrain...................................................... 1892
Egypt........................................................ 1910
Iran......................................................... 1941
Iraq......................................................... 1969
Israel (and the occupied territories)........................ 1990
The Occupied Territories................................... 2011
Jordan....................................................... 2033
Kuwait....................................................... 2051
Lebanon...................................................... 2070
Libya........................................................ 2086
Morocco...................................................... 2095
Western Sahara............................................. 2110
Oman......................................................... 2115
Qatar........................................................ 2125
Saudi Arabia................................................. 2137
Syria........................................................ 2158
Tunisia...................................................... 2181
United Arab Emirates......................................... 2202
Yemen........................................................ 2220
South Central Asia:
Afghanistan.................................................. 2241
Bangladesh................................................... 2268
Bhutan....................................................... 2289
India........................................................ 2297
Kazakhstan................................................... 2344
Kyrgyz Republic.............................................. 2367
Maldives..................................................... 2390
Nepal........................................................ 2400
Pakistan..................................................... 2418
Sri Lanka.................................................... 2447
Tajikistan................................................... 2462
Turkmenistan................................................. 2479
Uzbekistan................................................... 2494
Western Hemisphere:
Antigua and Barbuda.......................................... 2525
Argentina.................................................... 2529
Bahamas...................................................... 2543
Barbados..................................................... 2552
Belize....................................................... 2558
Bolivia...................................................... 2567
Brazil....................................................... 2581
Canada....................................................... 2604
Chile........................................................ 2613
Colombia..................................................... 2623
Costa Rica................................................... 2647
Cuba......................................................... 2657
Dominica..................................................... 2677
Dominican Republic........................................... 2682
Ecuador...................................................... 2701
El Salvador.................................................. 2715
Grenada...................................................... 2731
Guatemala.................................................... 2735
Guyana....................................................... 2751
Haiti........................................................ 2762
Honduras..................................................... 2772
Jamaica...................................................... 2787
Mexico....................................................... 2796
Nicaragua.................................................... 2813
Panama....................................................... 2826
Paraguay..................................................... 2839
Peru......................................................... 2853
Saint Kitts and Nevis........................................ 2867
Saint Lucia.................................................. 2872
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines............................. 2878
Suriname..................................................... 2884
Trinidad and Tobago.......................................... 2894
Uruguay...................................................... 2903
Venezuela.................................................... 2909
Appendixes:
A. Notes on Preparation of the Reports........................... 2927
B. Reporting on Worker Rights.................................... 2933
C. Selected International Human Rights Conventions............... 2935
D. Description of International Human Rights Conventions in
Appendix C..................................................... 2943
E. Country Assistance FY 2006.................................... 2945
F. UN General Assembly's Third Committee Country Resolution Votes
2006........................................................... 2959
G. United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.......... 2965
FOREWORD
----------
The country reports on human rights practices contained
herein were prepared by the Department of State in accordance
with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act
of 1961, as amended. They also fulfill the legislative
requirements of section 505(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as
amended.
The reports cover the human rights practices of all nations
that are members of the United Nations and a few that are not.
They are printed to assist Members of Congress in the
consideration of legislation, particularly foreign assistance
legislation.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations.
Howard L. Berman,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs.
(vii)
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
Department of State,
Washington, DC, March 6, 2006.
Hon. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations.
Dear Mr. Chairman: On behalf of the Secretary of State, I
am transmitting to you the Country Reports on Human Rights
Practices for 2006, prepared in compliance with sections
116(d)(1) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as
amended, and section 505(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as
amended.
We hope this report is helpful. Please let us know if we
can provide any further information.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey T. Bergner,
Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.
Enclosure.
(ix)
PREFACE
----------
Human Rights Reports
----------
Across the globe, men and women are pushing for greater
personal and political freedom and for the adoption of
democratic institutions. They are striving to secure what
President Bush calls ``the non-negotiable demands of human
dignity.''
Despite personal risk and against great odds, courageous
individuals and nongovernmental groups expose human rights
abuses. They seek to protect the rights of ethnic and religious
minorities, workers, and women, and to stop the trafficking in
human beings. They work to build vibrant civil societies,
ensure free and fair elections, and establish accountable, law-
based democracies.
These impatient patriots are redefining the limitations of
what was previously thought to be possible. Indeed, in the span
of a few generations freedom has spread across the developing
world, communist dictatorships have collapsed, and new
democracies have risen. The rights enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights are protected more fully and by
more countries than ever before.
This noble work continues--but it is not yet complete and
it faces determined opponents. Not surprisingly, those who feel
threatened by democratic change resist those who advocate and
act for reform. Over the past year, we have seen attempts to
harass and intimidate human rights defenders and civil society
organizations and to restrict or shut down their activities.
Unjust laws have been wielded as political weapons against
those with independent views. There also have been attempts to
silence dissenting voices by extralegal means.
Whenever non-governmental organizations and other human
rights defenders are under siege, freedom and democracy are
undermined. The world's democracies must defend the defenders.
That is one of the primary missions of our diplomacy today, and
we hope that the Department of State's County Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 2006 will help to further this effort.
With these thoughts, I hereby submit these reports to the
United States Congress.
Condoleezza Rice,
Secretary of State.
OVERVIEW AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
----------
Human Rights Reports
----------
WHY THE REPORTS ARE PREPARED
This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department
of State in compliance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA),as amended. The law
provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Foreign Relations of the Senate by February 25 ``a full and
complete report regarding the status of internationally
recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A)
in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B)
in all other foreign countries which are members of the United
Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human
rights report under this Act.'' We have also included reports
on several countries that do not fall into the categories
established by these statutes and that thus are not covered by
the congressional requirement.
The responsibility of the United States to speak out on
behalf of international human rights standards was formalized
in the early 1970s. In 1976 Congress enacted legislation
creating a Coordinator of Human Rights in the Department of
State, a position later upgraded to Assistant Secretary. In
1994 the Congress created a position of Senior Advisor for
Women's Rights. Congress has also written into law formal
requirements that U.S. foreign and trade policy take into
account countries' human rights and worker rights performance
and that country reports be submitted to the Congress on an
annual basis. The first reports, in 1977, covered only the 82
countries receiving U.S. aid; this year 196 reports are
submitted.
HOW THE REPORTS ARE PREPARED
In 1993, the Secretary of State strengthened further the
human rights efforts of our embassies. All sections in each
embassy were asked to contribute information and to corroborate
reports of human rights violations, and new efforts were made
to link mission programming to the advancement of human rights
and democracy. In 1994 the Bureau of Human Rights and
Humanitarian Affairs was reorganized and renamed as the Bureau
of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, reflecting both a broader
sweep and a more focused approach to the interlocking issues of
human rights, worker rights and democracy. The 2006 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices reflect a year of dedicated
effort by hundreds of State Department, Foreign Service, and
other U.S. Government employees.
Our embassies, which prepared the initial drafts of the
reports, gathered information throughout the year from a
variety of sources across the political spectrum, including
government officials, jurists, armed forces sources,
journalists, human rights monitors, academics, and labor
activists. This information-gathering can be hazardous, and
U.S. Foreign Service Officers regularly go to great lengths,
under trying and sometimes dangerous conditions, to investigate
reports of human rights abuse, monitor elections, and come to
the aid of individuals at risk, such as political dissidents
and human rights defenders whose rights are threatened by their
governments.
After the embassies completed their drafts, the texts were
sent to Washington for careful review by the Bureau of
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, in cooperation with other
State Department offices. As they worked to corroborate,
analyze, and edit the reports, Department officers drew on
their own sources of information. These included reports
provided by U.S. and other human rights groups, foreign
government officials, representatives from the United Nations
and other international and regional organizations and
institutions, experts from academia, and the media. Officers
also consulted with experts on worker rights, refugee issues,
military and police topics, women's issues, and legal matters.
The guiding principle was to ensure that all relevant
information was assessed as objectively, thoroughly, and fairly
as possible.
The reports in this volume will be used as a resource for
shaping policy, conducting diplomacy, and making assistance,
training, and other resource allocations. They also will serve
as a basis for the U.S. Government's cooperation with private
groups to promote the observance of internationally recognized
human rights.
The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices cover
internationally recognized individual, civil, political and
worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. These rights include freedom from torture or
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, from
prolonged detention without charges, from disappearance or
clandestine detention, and from other flagrant violations of
the right to life, liberty and the security of the person.
Universal human rights seek to incorporate respect for
human dignity into the processes of government and law. All
persons have the inalienable right to change their government
by peaceful means and to enjoy basic freedoms, such as freedom
of expression, association, assembly, movement, and religion,
without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national
origin, or sex. The right to join a free trade union is a
necessary condition of a free society and economy. Thus the
reports assess key internationally recognized worker rights,
including the right of association, the right to organize and
bargain collectively, the prohibition of forced or compulsory
labor, the status of child labor practices, the minimum age for
employment of children, and acceptable work conditions.
Within the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the
editorial staff of the Country Reports Team consists of:
Editor-in-Chief--Stephen Eisenbraun; Office Directors--Bruce
Connuck, Nadia Tongour, and Francisco Palmieri; Senior
Editors--Jonathan Bemis, Daniel Dolan, Stephen Eisenbraun,
Jerome L. Hoganson, Sandra Murphy, Elizabeth Ramborger, and
Julie Turner; Editors--Kulsum Ali, Joseph S. Barghout, Kate
Berglund, Sarah Buckley, Laura Carey, Elise Carlson, Ryan J.
Casteel, Cheryl Clayton, Sharon C. Cooke, Susan Corke, Stuart
Crampton, Tamara Crouse, Frank B. Crump, Mollie Davis, Douglas
B. Dearborn, Cortney Dell, Lauren DiSilvio, Joan Garner, Saba
Ghori, Karen Gilbride, Elliott Gillerman, Lisa Heller, Victor
Huser, Stan Ifshin, David T. Jones, Simone Joseph, Salman Khan,
Anne Knight, Catherine Kuchta-Holbling, Lawrence Lesser,
Jessica Lieberman, Gregory Maggio, Michael Michener, Jennie
Munoz, Daniel L. Nadel, Catherine Newling, Emily Oswell, Peter
Sawchyn, Amy Schmisseur, Patricia Meeks Schnell, Sonam Shah,
Wendy Silverman, Melissa Sims, James Todd, Terry Tracy, Nicole
Willett, Whitney Wilson, Suzanne Yountchi, and Robert Zuehlke;
Contributing Editor--Lynne Davidson; Editorial Assistants--
Elyse Bauer, Adrienne Bory, Karen Chen, Carol Finerty, Maureen
Gaffney, Sylvia Hammond, Noel Hartley, Laura Jordan, David
Perez, Lindsay Robinson, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca, Julie Short,
Nora Vacariu, Emily Weaver, Eva Weigold, and Melike Yetken;
Technical Support--Linda C. Hayes, Paul Skoczylas, and Tanika
N. Willis.
INTRODUCTION TO THE COUNTRY REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES FOR THE
YEAR 2006
----------
These reports describe the performance of governments in
putting into practice their international commitments on human
rights. These fundamental rights, reflected in the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, constitute what
President Bush calls the ``non-negotiable demands of human
dignity.'' As Secretary Rice has said, the full promise of the
UN Universal Declaration cannot be realized overnight, but it
is urgent work that cannot be delayed.
The Universal Declaration calls upon ``every individual and
every organ of society . to promote respect for these rights
and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and
international, to secure their universal and effective
recognition and observance.''
The United States takes its human rights commitments
seriously. We recognize that we are writing this report at a
time when our own record, and actions we have taken to respond
to the terrorist attacks against us, have been questioned. The
United States will continue to respond forthrightly to the good
faith concerns of others, including by means of the reports we
submit periodically in accordance with our obligations under
various human rights treaties to which we are a party. We are
also committed to continual improvement. U.S. laws, policies,
and practices governing the detention, treatment, and trial of
terrorist suspects have evolved considerably over the last five
years. Our democratic system of government is not infallible,
but it is accountable--our robust civil society, our vibrant
free media, our independent branches of government, and a well
established rule of law work as correctives.
The congressionally mandated country reports on human
rights practices that follow are an essential element of the
United States' effort to promote respect for human rights
worldwide. For three decades, these annual reports have been
used widely here and abroad as a reference document for
assessing the progress made and the challenges that remain.
They also have served as a foundation for cooperative action
among governments, organizations, and individuals seeking to
end abuses and strengthen the capacity of countries to protect
the fundamental rights of all.
The reports review each country's performance in 2006. Each
report speaks for itself. Yet, broad patterns are discernible
and are described below, supported by country-specific
examples. The examples we cite are illustrative, not
exhaustive.
HOPEFUL TRENDS, YET SOBERING REALITIES
As a review of these reports shows, across the globe in
2006, men and women continued to press for their rights to be
respected and their governments to be responsive, for their
voices to be heard and their votes to count, for just laws and
justice for all. There also was a growing recognition that
democracy is the form of government that can best meet the
demands of citizens for dignity, liberty, and equality. These
are hopeful trends indeed, yet the reports also reflect
sobering realities:
First, the advances made in human rights and democracy were
hard won and challenging to sustain. While some countries made
significant progress, some lagged and others regressed.
As the range of examples below demonstrates, the
performance of countries varied greatly, depending on factors
such as the degree of governmental commitment, institutional
capacity, the extent of corruption, and the strength of civil
society.
In January 2006 Liberia's democratically elected Unity
Party Government, led by Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first
female head of state in Africa, replaced the National
Transitional Government of Liberia, which had served as the
interim government since the end of a ruinous 14-year civil war
in 2003. The Government took significant steps to correct past
human rights deficiencies, including working with international
partners to rehabilitate the country's justice sector and
establishing a public defender's office in the capital. The
president dismissed or suspended a number of corrupt government
officials. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established
in 2005 to investigate human rights violations and war crimes
committed during the civil war, began taking statements from
witnesses. Despite this progress, Liberia continued to face
serious human rights challenges, including a still weak
judiciary, official corruption and impunity, gender-based
violence, and extreme poverty that led to child labor.
Substantial reductions in killings by the armed forces and
the police in politically sensitive areas of Indonesia
continued during the year. Fifty-four generally free and fair
elections were held at the provincial, regency, district, and
municipal levels, most notably in December in Aceh, where a
former rebel field commander won the governorship. Although
inter-communal religious violence generally abated, it
nonetheless persisted in some areas. The Government and the
courts were unable to confront past human rights abuses and
atrocities both in Indonesia and in East Timor.
Morocco's human rights record showed notable progress,
although problems remained. The Government began to address
past human rights abuses by providing compensation through the
Consultative Council on Human Rights for specific cases of
arrest, disappearance, and abuse during the period between 1956
and 1999. In March the Government enacted an antitorture law,
although reports of torture by various branches of the security
forces persisted. There was extensive and largely open debate
in public and in the press, despite continuing restrictions on
freedom of the press and speech. During the year the Government
punished some journalists who violated limitations on free
speech, and many journalists practiced self-censorship.
Trafficking in persons, particularly for sexual exploitation,
and child labor remained issues of concern; however, both the
Government and civil society were increasingly active in
addressing them.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo held its first
democratic presidential and legislative elections in more than
45 years, putting an end to a three-year post-civil war
transitional period. A new constitution went into force. Yet,
the human rights record remained poor. In addition to simmering
conflict in the east, where government control remained weak
and armed groups continued to commit serious abuses, government
security forces across the country also committed serious
abuses with impunity.
In Haiti, citizens demonstrated their commitment to
democracy by going to the polls three times in 2006. More than
3.5 million citizens registered to vote, and an impressive
turnout estimated at more than 70 percent of registered voters
participated in the first round of presidential and
parliamentary elections in February. After a relatively stable
and violence-free election process, voters selected President
Rene Preval and filled 129 parliamentary seats. In December,
Haiti held its first municipal elections in more than a decade.
Yet much remains to be done to restore fully the rule of law,
including an overhaul of Haiti's dysfunctional judicial system
and the continued retraining and vetting of the Haitian
National Police.
In Ukraine, notable post-Orange Revolution progress in
human rights performance continued to be made. The March 2006
parliamentary elections were the freest in 15 years of
independence. The country continued to make improvements in
press freedom, freedom of association, and the development of
civil society. Despite these gains, a number of serious
problems remained, including corruption in all branches of
government.
Although Kyrgyzstan's human rights record had improved
considerably following the change to democratically elected
leadership in 2005, during 2006 a week of mass yet peaceful
protests culminated in the hasty adoption of an amended
constitution that offered the possibility for genuine checks
and balances. At the end of December, however, parliament
passed another constitution negating many key checks and
balances. The Government also harassed foreign-funded
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Despite President Musharraf's stated commitment to
democratic transition and ``enlightened moderation,''
Pakistan's human rights record continued to be poor.
Restrictions remained on freedom of movement, expression,
association, and religion. Disappearances of provincial
activists and political opponents continued, especially in
provinces experiencing internal turmoil and insurgencies. The
security forces continued to commit extrajudicial killings.
Arbitrary arrest and torture remained common. Corruption was
pervasive throughout the Government and police forces. On a
positive note, in December the National Assembly passed and
President Musharraf signed the Women's Protection Bill--marking
the first time in three decades that a Pakistan Government
successfully rolled back laws detrimental to women's rights.
The law amends the 1979 rape and adultery provision of the
Hudood Ordinance by transferring the offense of rape from
Pakistan Sharia law to the Pakistan Penal Code. The law also
eliminates the requirement for rape victims to present four
male witnesses to press charges.
Though Egypt held a first-ever, multi-party presidential
election in 2005, in 2006 public calls for greater
democratization and accountability sometimes met with strong
government reaction. The continued imprisonment of former
presidential candidate Ayman Nour raised serious concerns about
the path of political reform and democracy in the country.
Continuing a trend begun in 2005, the Government arrested and
detained hundreds of activists affiliated with the banned-but-
tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, generally for periods lasting
several weeks. Two senior judges were brought in for
questioning in February for publicly calling for an independent
judiciary. Egyptian police arrested and detained over 500
activists for participating in demonstrations in support of
judicial independence. In addition, severe cases of torture by
authorities were documented. The Government also arrested,
detained, and abused several Internet bloggers.
In Kazakhstan, the Government restricted the functioning of
the political opposition by enforcing onerous registration
requirements and hindering or denying political party
registration. The merging of progovernment parties consolidated
the firm leadership of President Nazarbayev's Otan Party and
left less political space to express alternative views and
advocate for reform. The Government harassed the political
opposition via politically motivated charges and restrictions
on freedom of assembly, passed laws restricting press freedom,
and harassed NGOs.
Russia experienced continuing centralization of power in
the executive branch, including amendments to election laws and
new legislation for political parties that grants the
Government broad powers to regulate, investigate, limit, and
even close down parties. Taken together with a compliant State
Duma, corruption and selectivity in law enforcement, political
pressure on the judiciary, and restrictions on the NGOs and the
media, these trends resulted in the further erosion of
government accountability. In Chechnya and other areas of the
North Caucasus, serious human rights violations continued,
including unlawful killings and abuses of civilians by both
federal and Chechen Republic security forces. Rebel fighters
committed terrorist bombings and politically motivated
disappearances in the region. In a growing number of cases, the
European Court of Human Rights held Russia responsible for
these abuses.
In Venezuela, the Chavez Government continued to
consolidate power in the executive branch. The Government
continued to harass the opposition and NGOs and to weaken
judicial independence. International observers judged generally
free and fair the December presidential elections, in which
President Chavez won re-election with 63 percent of the vote.
In his inaugural address, President Chavez asked the National
Assembly, in which his parties control 100 percent of the
seats, to grant him power to rule by executive decree.
In Fiji and Thailand, militaries overthrew democratically
elected governments.
A second sobering reality is that insecurity due to
internal and/or cross-border conflict can threaten or thwart
advancements in human rights and democratic government.
Despite the Iraqi Government's continuing commitment to
foster national reconciliation and reconstruction, keep to an
electoral course, and establish the rule of law, both deepening
sectarian violence and acts of terrorism seriously undercut
human rights and democratic progress during 2006. Although the
Iraqi constitution and law provide a strong framework for the
protection of human rights, armed groups attacked human rights
from two different directions: those proclaiming their
hostility to the Government--Al-Qa'ida terrorists,
irreconcilable remnants of the Ba'athist regime, and insurgents
waging guerrilla warfare; and members of Shi'a militias and
individual ministries' security forces--nominally allied with
the Government--who committed torture and other abuses.
Although Afghanistan made important human rights progress
since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, its human rights record
remained poor. This was mainly due to weak central institutions
and a deadly insurgency: the Taliban, Al-Qa'ida, and other
extremist groups stepped up attacks against government
officials, security forces, NGOs and other aid personnel, and
unarmed civilians; and the number of suicide bombings rose
dramatically during the year, as did attacks on schools and
teachers. There were continued reports of cases of arbitrary
arrests and detention, extrajudicial killings, torture, and
poor prison conditions. In December President Karzai launched a
Transitional Justice Action Plan designed to address past
violations of human rights and improve the institutional
capacity of the justice system.
Lebanon's significant steps toward reform following the
2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and
the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops after nearly three
decades of occupation have been hampered since the July-August
2006 conflict between Hizballah and Israel. Before the
conflict, the Lebanese Government had started to remove many of
the obstacles that barred political associations and parties.
After Hizballah entered Israel from Lebanese territory and
kidnapped and killed several Israeli soldiers, Israeli military
forces responded by entering Lebanese territory. The conflict
ended with an UN-sponsored cessation of hostilities. Despite
the cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanon
Armed Forces and UN Interim Forces in the south, Lebanese
militias and Hizballah retained significant influence over
parts of the country.
In East Timor, a series of deadly clashes between the
national defense force and a variety of dissident military,
police, and civilian forces led to widespread mob and gang
violence in the capital. At the request of the Government,
forces from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Portugal
assumed responsibility for security in the capital. On August
25, the UN Integrated Mission for East Timor took over policing
responsibilities. This internal conflict resulted in the
displacement of approximately 150,000 people, more than 15
percent of the country's population.
Third, despite gains for human rights and democratic
principles in every region of the world, much of humanity still
lives in fear yet dreams of freedom.
Countries in which power remained concentrated in the hands
of unaccountable rulers--whether totalitarian or
authoritarian--continued to be the world's most systematic
human rights violators.
In 2006 North Korea remained one of the world's most
isolated and repressive regimes. The regime controls almost all
aspects of citizens' lives, denying freedom of speech, press,
assembly, and association, and restricts freedom of movement
and worker rights. The constitution provides for ``freedom of
religious belief,'' but genuine religious freedom does not
exist. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people, including
political prisoners, were held in detention camps, and many
prisoners died from torture, starvation, disease, and exposure.
The military Government in Burma extensively used
executions, rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and forced
relocation of entire villages, particularly of ethnic
minorities, to maintain its grip on power. Prisoners and
detainees were subjected to abuse and held in harsh, life-
threatening conditions. Surveillance, harassment, and
imprisonment of political activists continued; Nobel Laureate
and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained incommunicado
under house arrest, and over 1,100 political prisoners
languished in prison. The use of forced labor, trafficking in
persons, conscription of child soldiers, and religious
discrimination remained widespread. The Government reconvened
the sham National Convention, handpicking delegates and
prohibiting free debate. Touted as part of a ``democracy road
map,'' the convention was designed to nullify the results of
the 1990 election and adopt a new, regime-friendly
constitution. The regime's cruel and destructive misrule also
resulted in refugee outflows, the spread of infectious
diseases, and the trafficking of drugs and human beings into
neighboring countries.
The Iranian Government flagrantly violated freedom of
speech and assembly, intensifying its crackdown against
dissidents, journalists, and reformers--a crackdown
characterized by arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture,
disappearances, the use of excessive force, and the widespread
denial of fair public trials. The Government continued to
detain and abuse Baha'is and other religious minorities and
hosted a widely condemned conference denying the existence of
the Holocaust. In the lead-up to the December 15 Assembly of
Experts elections in Iran, more than two-thirds of those who
had applied to run--including all female candidates--were
disqualified, leaving many seats uncontested. Hundreds of
candidates in nationwide municipal elections also were
disqualified. The Government continued to flout domestic and
international calls for responsible government in 2006 by
supporting terrorist movements in Syria and Lebanon as well as
calling for the destruction of a UN member state.
In Zimbabwe, the Mugabe Government continued across-the-
board violations of human rights. Official corruption and
impunity were widespread. The 2002 Official Secrets Act and
Public Order and Security Act remained in effect, severely
restricting civil liberties. In the 2006 parliamentary by-
elections and rural district council elections, the
Government's manipulation of the electoral process
disenfranchised voters and skewed elections in favor of ruling
party candidates. The ruling party's dominance permitted
constitutional changes without wide consultation. Security
forces harassed, beat, and arbitrarily arrested critics and
opposition supporters. Disruptions at farms and seizures of
property continued and were sometimes violent. The campaign of
forced evictions, which left 700,000 people homeless during
Operation Restore Order in 2005, continued on a lesser scale.
The Government interfered with humanitarian organizations'
efforts to provide assistance. In December Mugabe and his
loyalists proposed extending his term for two years by
deferring presidential elections to 2010.
In Cuba, the Government, temporarily headed by Raul Castro
due to Fidel Castro's illness, continued to violate virtually
all the rights of its citizens, including the fundamental right
to change their Government peacefully or criticize the
revolution or its leaders. In 2006 the Government increased its
harassment of dissidents and other citizens viewed as threats
to the Government, often through mob actions called ``acts of
repudiation'' involving verbal abuse and physical attacks.
Beatings and abuse of detainees and prisoners also were carried
out with impunity. Although token releases of prisoners
occurred during the year, at least 283 political prisoners and
detainees were held at year's end, including 59 of 75
prodemocracy and human rights activists imprisoned in a March
2003 crackdown.
The Chinese Government's human rights record deteriorated
in some areas in 2006. There was an increased number of high-
profile cases involving the monitoring, harassment, detention,
and imprisonment of political and religious activists,
journalists, and writers as well as defense lawyers seeking to
exercise their rights under the law. Some of their family
members also were harassed and detained. Large numbers of mass
demonstrations and protests calling for redress of grievances
continued and in some cases were violently suppressed. New
government controls were imposed on: NGOs; the media, including
the Internet; and courts and judges. Repression of unregistered
religious groups and of minority groups, in particular Uighurs
and Tibetans, remained a serious concern.
In Belarus, the Lukashenko Government continued and
intensified its repressive policies. The March presidential
election was severely flawed. Up to 1,000 people were arrested
in an ensuing crackdown on public protests against the results
and many were sentenced to short jail terms. More activists and
opposition members, including Aleksander Kozulin, who ran
against Lukashenko in the presidential race, were sentenced to
jail terms ranging from 2 to 5 + years.
The Eritrean Government continued to be one of the most
repressive in Sub-Saharan Africa, and its human rights record
worsened in 2006. Government security forces committed
extrajudicial killings; there were credible reports that
security forces shot on sight individuals trying to cross the
border into Ethiopia. The Government escalated its campaign of
arresting national service evaders as well as their relatives,
and there also were credible reports indicating that some of
those arrested were tortured. As it did in 2005, the Government
ordered several international humanitarian NGOs to leave the
country, despite a severe drought in the Horn of Africa. There
were continued severe restrictions on religious freedom.
The fourth sobering reality is that as the worldwide push
for greater personal and political freedom grows stronger, it
is being met with increasing resistance from those who feel
threatened by political and societal change.
Human rights defenders and nongovernmental organizations
are essential to a nation's success. In today's world, the
problems confronting states are too complex even for the most
powerful to tackle alone. The contributions of civil society
and the free flow of ideas and information are crucial in
addressing a host of domestic and international challenges.
Restricting the political space of NGOs and public debate only
limits a society's own growth.
In every region of the globe in 2006, there were
governments that responded to the growing demands for personal
and political freedom not by accepting their obligations to
their people but by oppressing those who advocated for human
rights and who exposed abuses, such as nongovernmental
organizations and independent media, including the Internet. A
disturbing number of countries passed or selectively applied
laws and regulations against NGOs and journalists. NGOs and
journalists also were subjected to extralegal measures, often
by unknown assailants. For example:
In Russia in 2006, a new NGO law entered into force in
April imposing more stringent registration requirements for
NGOs, strict monitoring of organizations, extensive and onerous
reporting requirements on programming and activities, and
empowering the Federal Registration Service to deny
registration or to shut down an organization based on vague and
subjective criteria. Freedom of expression and media
independence declined due to government pressure and
restrictions. In October unknown persons murdered human rights
defender Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent journalist known for
her critical writing on human rights abuses in Chechnya. The
Government used its controlling ownership of all national
television and radio stations, as well as of the majority of
influential regional ones, to restrict access to information
deemed sensitive.
In Belarus, onerous tax inspections and NGO registration
requirements made it difficult for civil society organizations
to operate, and attacks against members of the independent
media continued. In November prodemocracy activist Dmitriy
Dashkevich was sentenced to 18 months in prison for operating
an unregistered NGO.
The Government of Kazakhstan registered the opposition True
Ak Zhol party after one of its co-chairmen, Sarsenbaiuly, was
killed and restrictively interpreted Article 5 of the
constitution to suspend foreign-funded, nonpartisan political
party training activities, asserting that providing information
is tantamount to financing political parties. In July President
Nazarbayev signed into law restrictive media amendments deemed
a step backward by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe's Freedom of Media Representative. The
Government continued to use restrictive libel laws to fine,
convict, and suspend media outlets, journalists, and critics.
In April a member of a suspended media outlet was brutally
beaten.
Freedom of expression, association and assembly are tightly
restricted in Turkmenistan, and the Government sought to
control all NGO activity. Foreign-origin satellite television
is accessible throughout the country, but the Government
controlled all domestic media, and local journalists were
prohibited from all contact with foreigners unless specifically
permitted. Very limited Internet access was provided through
government-owned Turkmen Telecom; no new accounts were allowed
in the capital since September 2002. In August the Government
arrested journalists Ogulspapar Myradova, Annakurban
Amanklichev, and Sapardurdy Hajiyev and sentenced them to six
to seven years of imprisonment for weapons possession in a
closed, summary trial. In September Myradova, a Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent, died in prison under
suspicious circumstances. NGOs have reported that she and her
two colleagues were tortured during detention in the summer to
extract confessions of weapons possession. OnDecember 21,
President Saparmurat Niyazov died.
The Government of Uzbekistan sought to control most NGO
activity and closed down over 200 civil society organizations,
including international NGOs operating in the country, citing
alleged violations of the law. Independent journalists and
human rights activists continued to be persecuted.
The Syrian Government strictly controlled the dissemination
of information and prohibited criticism of the Government and
discussion of sectarian issues, including religious and
minority rights. There were detentions and beatings for
individual expressions of opinion that violated these
restrictions, for example the February arrest of journalist
Adel Mahfouz after he called for interfaith dialogue following
the controversy surrounding the depiction of the Prophet
Muhammed in cartoons. The Government relied on its press and
publication laws, the penal code, and the Emergency Law to
censor access to the Internet, and it restricted electronic
media. Harassment of domestic human rights activists also
occurred, including regular close surveillance and the
imposition of travel bans when they sought to attend workshops
and conferences outside the country.
Press freedom was at an all-time low in Iran, as the
Government closed independent newspapers Shargh and Iran,
blocked access to Internet news sites--including the New York
Times and BBC Farsi--and jailed journalists and bloggers. The
authorities used bans against leaving the country as a weapon
against journalists.
In Burundi, there was an increase in the arrest, detention,
and intimidation of journalists and human rights activists by
the Government; among many other individuals, police arrested
and detained for several months the president of the country's
leading anticorruption NGO. A governor of one province
reportedly called the country's leading human rights NGO,
League Iteka, an enemy of peace, and in November a government
official announced that 32 registered international NGOs in the
country could face expulsion for failure to submit mandatory
annual reports to the Government.
In Rwanda, there was a restrictive atmosphere for the
functioning of civil society. Domestic and international NGOs
are required by law to register each year and to provide
reports to the Government on their activities. Authorities
reportedly required some NGOs to obtain government
authorization for some projects before being allowed to access
international donor funds. In addition, all NGOs were expected
to join a collective intended to manage their activities.
The Venezuelan Government continued to harass and
intimidate civil society groups, most notably the leaders of
the electoral watchdog NGO Sumate, whose trial for conspiracy
and treason for accepting a foreign grant was indefinitely
postponed but continues to hang over their heads. At year's end
a draft law was under consideration in the National Assembly
which, if implemented, would increase government control over
NGOs' financing and restrict NGOs from working in the areas of
human rights or democracy promotion. Amendments to the penal
code that impose prison sentences for insulting public
officials and violent attacks on journalists contributed to a
climate of self-censorship. The Government stepped up its
harassment of independent and opposition news outlets. In
December President Chavez announced that the Government would
not renew the broadcast license of Radio Caracas Television,
the country's oldest commercial television network. The
Government accused the network owners of being ``coup-mongers''
and of violating the public trust.
In China, NGOs, both domestic and international, continued
to face increased scrutiny and restrictions. By the end of
2006, Reporters without Borders reported that 31 journalists
and 52 Internet writers were in jail. While the Government
encouraged use of the Internet, it also took steps to monitor
its use, control content, restrict information, and punish
those who violated regulations. The Government imposed stricter
website registration requirements, enhanced official control of
online content, and expanded the definition of illegal online
content. The Government consistently blocked access to sites it
deemed controversial, and the authorities reportedly began to
employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective
blocking of specific content rather than entire websites.
Vietnam continued to monitor and restrict the Internet,
blocking international human rights and news websites. Laws
allow citizens to complain openly about inefficient government
and corruption, but the Government continued to prohibit the
press from drafting articles that questioned the role of the
Communist Party, promoted pluralism or multiparty democracy, or
questioned human rights policy. The Government forbids direct
access to the Internet through Independent Service Providers
and requires cybercafe owners to register the personal
information of their customers and the sites visited. The
Government released several high-profile political and
religious dissidents, including Dr. Pham Hong Son, who was
imprisoned for translating articles on democracy and
disseminating them over the Internet.
Genocide was the most sobering reality of all.
Almost 60 years after the adoption of the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights--an expression of the outraged
conscience of mankind to the enormity of the Holocaust and the
cataclysm of the Second World War--genocide continued to ravage
the Darfur region of Sudan.
Despite the January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
ending the 22-year civil war between the north and south, and
the establishment of a unity government that year, ethnic
conflict continued in Sudan, most catastrophically in Darfur.
The Sudanese Government and government-backed Janjaweed militia
bear responsibility for the genocide in Darfur, and all parties
to the conflagration committed serious abuses, including the
widespread killing of civilians, rape as a tool of war,
systematic torture, robbery, and recruitment of child soldiers.
By the end of 2006, the Darfur conflict had resulted in at
least 200,000 civilian deaths and two million displaced by the
fighting. Over 234,000 refugees had fled to neighboring Chad,
and both Chad and the Central African Republic experienced
violent ethnic conflict along their borders with Sudan.
In spite of indicating its support for the Addis Ababa
framework, the Sudanese Government publicly rejected
international forces for Darfur and renewed its military
offensive during the latter half of 2006. The deteriorating
security conditions forced some international NGOs and
humanitarian organizations to scale back or suspend operations.
DEFEND THE DEFENDERS
If the great promise of the UN Universal Declaration of
Human Rights is to be fulfilled, the international community--
and especially the world's democracies--cannot accept that
today's sobering realities are impervious to change. Indeed,
they compel us to align ourselves with those who work for human
dignity and political reform.
In 2006 the courageous efforts of human rights defenders
were highlighted by democratic governments:
Country resolutions passed by the United Nations General
Assembly in 2006 emphasized the need to protect human rights
defenders in Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and Burma.
The UN Democracy Fund, growing out of an idea presented to
the General Assembly by President Bush in 2004 and established
in 2005, completed its first year successfully. Its board
agreed to fund 125 projects out of more than 1,300 proposals
submitted by over 100 countries--a disbursal of more than $35
million in grants mostly to prodemocracy civil society
organizations.
At the regional level, in June 2006 the General Assembly of
the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted the
Declaration of Santo Domingo, a groundbreaking multilateral
commitment by the countries of the region to ``guarantee the
liberty of every person to enjoy freedom of expression,
including access to uncensored political debate and the free
exchange of ideas through all forms of mass media, including
the Internet.'' The Foreign Ministers also declared their
resolve to develop and encourage strategies and best practices
to that effect.
The OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' Unit for
Human Rights Defenders issued a report on the serious problems
they face in some countries, emphasizing the need for
governments to support their work.
In advance of the July African Union Assembly of the Heads
of State, civil society organizations from 19 African countries
met in Banjul, The Gambia, to develop recommendations for
summit leaders regarding civil society's role in the African
Peer Review Mechanism on countries' compliance with treaty
obligations, ways to improve access to information by civil
society, and citizenship laws that entrench discrimination.
These recommendations were adopted at the summit.
In the Broader Middle East and North Africa region the
Forum for the Future brought together government officials and
civil society representatives from the region, along with G-8
partners, at the Dead Sea in Jordan. Nearly 50 civil society
leaders representing hundreds of organizations from 16
countries of the region participated in discussions on the rule
of law, transparency, women's and youth empowerment, and the
legal environment for civil society organizations. They also
discussed how to strengthen reform by establishing mechanisms
to follow up on recommendations. Though the hardest part lies
ahead--adoption and implementation of recommendations put
forward by civil society--the Forum helped to open political
space that did not before exist for civil society organizations
to form and interact with governments in the region.
Marking International Human Rights Day in December 2006,
Secretary Rice launched two important U.S. initiatives in
support of human rights and democracy defenders:
She announced the creation of a Human Rights Defenders Fund
to be administered by the State Department that will quickly
disburse small grants to help human rights defenders facing
extraordinary needs as a result of government repression. This
funding could go to cover legal defense, medical costs, or the
pressing needs of activists' families.
Secretary Rice also issued ten guiding NGO principles
(http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/77771.htm) regarding the
treatment by governments of nongovernmental organizations.
These core principles will guide U.S. treatment of NGOs, and we
also will use them to assess the actions of other governments.
The principles are meant to complement lengthier, more detailed
United Nations and other international documents addressing
human rights defenders and can help to rally worldwide support
for embattled NGOs by serving as a handy resource for
governments, international organizations, civil society groups,
and journalists.
When democracies support the work of human rights advocates
and civil society organizations, we are helping men and women
in countries across the globe shape their own destinies in
freedom. And by so doing, we are helping to build a safer,
better world for all.
We must defend the defenders, for they are the agents of
peaceful, democratic change.
AFRICA
----------
ANGOLA
Angola is a constitutional republic in transition since its 27-year
civil war ended in 2002. Legislation provides for decentralization;
however, the Government remained highly centralized and dominated by
the presidency. UN observers considered the 1992 Presidential and
legislative elections to have been generally free and fair. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor and serious
problems remained, although there were improvements in a few areas.
Human rights abuses included: the abridgement of citizens' right to
elect officials at all levels; unlawful killings by police, military,
and private security forces; torture, beatings, and harsh and life-
threatening prison conditions; corruption and impunity; arbitrary
arrest and detention; an inefficient and overburdened judicial system;
lengthy pretrial detention; lack of due process; restrictions on
freedom of speech, the press, including self-censorship, and assembly;
forced evictions without compensation; and discrimination and domestic
violence and abuse against women and children.
The Government increased investigation and prosecution of human
rights violations, training, and partnerships with human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in an effort to curb abuses by the
National Police and Armed Forces of Angola (FAA).
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit politically motivated killings during the
year. Government security forces killed an unknown number of persons,
although reports of such killings decreased significantly from past
years. Impunity remained a problem, but the Government was increasingly
willing to prosecute human rights violators.
Domestic media and local human rights activists reported cases of
police resorting to excessive force, including unlawful killings. In
February the independent press reported that a youth suspected of gang
activity was killed in a Luanda precinct. Police largely viewed
extrajudicial killings as an alternative to relying on the country's
ineffective judicial system. In May citizens reported that the body of
a pregnant woman was discovered after her arrest by national police in
Luanda Norte. These cases were reportedly still under investigation at
year's end; however, national authorities were generally reluctant to
disclose investigation results. In June human rights activists reported
that police ``accidentally killed'' a disabled man during an abusive
interrogation; the responsible officers were dismissed from the
national police the same month.
A Memorandum of Understanding for Peace and Reconciliation for
Cabinda province, signed on August 1, largely brought an end to the
insurgency in the province. As a result of this and an FAA policy of
cooperation rather than repression, there was only one report during
the year, in November, of an unlawful killing in Cabinda that may be
linked to FAA soldiers. The case remained under investigation by both
military and civil authorities. There were also confirmed reports of 12
small clashes in the enclave between the FAA and the Front for the
Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda (FLEC) in the period immediately
surrounding the signing of the memorandum. Four civilians were
reportedly killed in these clashes between FLEC soldiers and FAA
forces. Since early September there were no confirmed reports of armed
conflict.
A human rights activist reported that private security companies
hired to protect diamond concessions in the Cuango municipality of
Lunda Norte province killed 10 persons between January and June. Other
activists in the province also reported killings by private security
companies outside of Cuango municipality; however, no arrests or
investigations were reported.
On August 8, at the end of a five-month trial, a member of the
National Police, Olivio Bernardino Ismael Fraga, was sentenced to 17
years' imprisonment and ordered to pay $6,250 (480,000 kwanza) to the
victim's family for the January 2005 killing of Antoninho Tchiswungo,
also known as ``Toi.'' There were no further developments in the
numerous alleged 2005 or 2004 unlawful killings by police.
Early in the year six men were arrested and charged in the 2004
death of Mfulumpinga Landu Victor, leader of the Democratic Party for
Congress. Five of the men were later killed while allegedly trying to
escape police custody; the last man, Paulino Antonio ``Tchiriri,''
received a 40-year prison sentence.
There were anecdotal and unconfirmed reports of vigilante violence.
Landmines placed during the long civil war were a continuing
threat. Eight provinces, encompassing approximately 50 percent of the
country, contained heavily mined areas. The UN Development Program
estimated that there were two million unexploded munitions; however,
international NGOs conducting landmine clearance operations in the
country estimated the number of landmines at 500,000 to one million.
During the year the Government, working with international NGOs,
increased its capacity to clear landmines. An estimated 80,000 landmine
victims with injury-related disabilities were living in the country.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that
persons taken into police or military custody disappeared.
There were no developments in the May 2005 case in which police
reportedly arrested eight young persons in the Vila Alice neighborhood
of Luanda who subsequently disappeared.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
government security forces tortured, beat, and otherwise abused
persons. Abuses in police stations during interrogations were common.
Police and other security forces were rarely held accountable, although
the Government punished some violators administratively or by public
prosecution.
Abuses by the army continued, but decreased in comparison with
previous years. The human rights situation in Cabinda continued to
improve; however, there were isolated reports of violence by FAA
troops, including beatings and other forms of intimidation, against the
civilian population. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) noted that the attention of Cabindan military commanders and FAA
officials to human rights issues had substantially improved since high-
level command changes were effected in 2004. The ICRC stated that
internal investigative and judicial bodies were functioning and that a
large number of FAA officials were held accountable for their actions.
Soldiers accused of unlawful behavior faced prosecution in civilian
criminal courts. Three soldiers were convicted in the 2005 killing of a
village administrator and sentenced to 16-year prison terms.
While abuses by public security forces declined, reports of abuses
by private security forces increased, particularly in the diamond-rich
provinces of Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul. In the past national police and
immigration officers were responsible for most of the human rights
abuses perpetrated against Congolese and West African migrant miners,
but the large scale deportations and violence associated with Operacao
Brilhante, a government operation to stem illegal migration, declined
after the operation ended in February 2005. The detention and expulsion
of illegal miners continued, but private security contractors hired by
diamond companies to protect their concessions from illegal
exploitation were responsible for most of the violence. Operation
Kissonde: The Diamonds of Humiliation and Misery, a report by local
human rights activist Rafael Marques, documented 66 cases of abuse of
civilians, most of whom were illegal miners, by private security
companies in the Lunda Norte municipality of Cuango during the year.
Police continued to intimidate, rob, harass, and kill citizens (see
Sections 1.a. and 1.f.). Opposition party members complained that
police did not have the capacity to protect them or their facilities
(see Section 3).
Police and immigration officials at provincial airports extorted
money from travelers and harassed returnees and refugees (see Sections
2.d. and 4).
There were no developments in the 2005 and 2004 cases of police
torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by security
forces.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that police
assaulted prostitutes (see Section 5).
Landmines continued to result in injuries (see Section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh and life-threatening. Human rights activists reported that prison
officials routinely beat and tortured detainees; however, the number of
reports continued to decrease during the year. The national prison
system continued to hold approximately five times the number of
prisoners for which it was designed. With the exception of two new
facilities, prisons were severely overcrowded, particularly outside of
Luanda. In some provinces warehouses and other industrial buildings
were used as prison facilities.
Many prisons did not supply prisoners with basic sanitary
facilities, adequate food, and health care. Prisoners depended on
families, friends, or international relief organizations for basic
support. Prison officials, who were chronically underpaid, supported
themselves by stealing from prisoners and extorting money from family
members. For example, prison guards continued to demand that prisoners
pay for weekend passes to which they were entitled. There were reports
of prison officials operating an informal bail system, releasing
prisoners until their trial dates for fees ranging from $300 to $1,500
(24,000 to 120,000 kwanza).
There were reports that prisoners died of disease, especially in
provincial prisons. Many serious illnesses were improperly diagnosed,
delaying proper treatment. Prison conditions varied widely between
provinces and municipalities.
Females were generally detained separately from male inmates, even
in provincial prisons. Unlike in previous years there were no reports
that prison guards sexually abused female prisoners. In June a new
prison opened in Viana; it included a female-only wing staffed by
female guards.
Juveniles, often incarcerated for petty theft, were frequently
housed with adults and subject to abuse by guards and inmates in
provincial prisons, but were increasingly separated from the main
population in larger urban prisons to reduce such abuses. Juvenile
detention centers were present in Luanda but were severely overcrowded.
Pretrial detainees were a major cause of overcrowding. Pretrial
detainees were frequently housed with sentenced inmates, and prisoners
serving short-term sentences often were held with those serving long-
term sentences for violent crimes, especially in provincial prisons.
There were no developments in the 2005 incident in which a man died in
pretrial custody.
The Government permitted foreign diplomatic personnel and local and
international human rights observers to visit prisons during the year.
Two new prisons, in Luanda and Benguela provinces, opened during
the year. The Luanda prison offered professional training programs to
male and female inmates in areas such as sewing, agricultural
production, welding, carpentry, and auto repair, and psychological care
was available from local churches.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, security forces did not always respect
these prohibitions in practice. The national police were the primary
perpetrators of abuses. It was reported that national police held
family members of wanted individuals (see Section 1.f.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police are
under the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) and are responsible for
internal security and law enforcement. The internal intelligence
service reports to the Office of the Presidency, and is mainly utilized
to investigate sensitive state security matters. The FAA is responsible
for external security but also has domestic responsibilities; the FAA
reportedly conducted small-scale counterinsurgency operations against
the FLEC in Cabinda prior to the August signing of the Memorandum of
Understanding for Peace and Reconciliation in Cabinda.
Other than personnel assigned to elite units, police were poorly
paid, and the practice of supplementing income through extortion of
civilians was widespread. Corruption and impunity remained serious
problems; however, some officials were charged with crimes stemming
from abuse of power during 2005, and this trend continued during the
reporting period. Most complaints were handled within the national
police via internal disciplinary procedures which could lead to formal
punishment, including dismissal.
In February the independent press reported that an ongoing internal
investigation had targeted senior national police officials for drug
and protection racketeering. On June 14, 10 national police officers
were dismissed for their involvement in human rights abuses.
During the year various government ministries, the Association for
Justice, Peace, and Democracy (AJPD), the UN Human Rights Office
(UNHRO), and other NGOs expanded programs to provide human rights and
professional training to the police and the military. The Joint
Training Team, made up of the Central Police Command, NGO
representatives, and the UNHRO, worked to expand police training on
human rights from provincial capitals to the municipal level. The
prosecutor's office also collaborated with the UNHRO to deliver several
workshops on human rights monitoring. As in 2005, police participated
in professional training with foreign law enforcement officials from
several countries in the region.
Arrest and Detention.--The law states that an arrest requires a
judge or a provincial magistrate to issue an arrest warrant; however, a
person caught committing a crime may be immediately arrested without a
warrant. Arrest warrants also may be signed by members of the judicial
police and confirmed within five days by a magistrate. However,
security forces did not always procure an arrest warrant before
detaining persons. The constitution provides for the right to prompt
judicial determination of the legality of a detention, but authorities
did not respect this right in practice. A person generally may not be
held for more than 135 days without trial; however, he may be detained
for up to 180 days if caught committing a crime punishable by a prison
sentence. However, in practice these limits were commonly exceeded.
There was a functioning bail system that was widely used for minor
crimes. The law permits detainees access to legal counsel, and states
that indigent detainees should be provided a lawyer by the state;
however, these rights usually were not respected. The law also allows
detainees prompt access to family members; however, this was sometimes
ignored or made conditional upon payment of a bribe.
Although improper detention continued to be a problem, government
and NGO attention increased, and NGOs were given increased access to
information within the judicial system. Human rights organizations,
such as the local NGO AJPD, continued efforts to secure the release of
illegally detained persons. During the year AJPD worked on more than
400 cases of illegal detention and secured the release of approximately
30 persons. Unlike in previous years, public security forces did not
routinely detain persons in Cabinda suspected of collaboration with
FLEC, and in mining regions, expelled miners and their families were
not unlawfully detained by the police or immigration services in
transit centers. Detention of expelled miners by private security
forces, however, increased during the year.
Police arrested demonstrators during the year (see Section 2.b.).
An inadequate number of judges and poor communication among
authorities led to prolonged pretrial detention. Police often beat and
then released detainees rather than prepare a formal court case. During
the year government media frequently discussed pretrial detention. The
Government reported it had released an estimated 2,000 pretrial
detainees, who had been held beyond the legal time limit, during the
first trimester of the year. In other cases, inmates commonly were held
in the prison system for up to two years before their trials began.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient, corrupt,
and subject to executive influence. The judiciary functioned poorly at
the provincial and municipal levels and did not ensure due process for
criminal or civil cases. The court system lacked the financial means
and political support to assure its independence. During the year the
Government continued to rebuild courts and train new magistrates and
prosecutors; on September 26, the Supreme Court appointed 34 new
provincial court judges. However, staffing shortfalls remained a
problem in provincial courts, and there was often only one judge to
cover all cases in a province. Judicial corruption, especially at the
administrative level, was a problem; however, recent changes, such as
the implementation of a new court case filing system and the random
assignment of judges, improved transparency and efficiency in the
judicial system in Luanda and some other provinces.
The court system consists of the Supreme Court as well as municipal
and provincial courts of first instance under the authority of the
Supreme Court. The Supreme Court serves as the appellate court for
questions of law and fact. The President has the power to appoint
Supreme Court justices without confirmation by the parliament. The law
provides for judicial review of constitutional issues by the Supreme
Court until a Constitutional Court is established.
There were long trial delays at the Supreme Court level. A case
brought by the opposition party UNITA, challenging the
constitutionality of the electoral law, was pending since the law's
passage in August 2005. Trials for political and security crimes are
handled exclusively by the Supreme Court; however, there were no such
trials during the year. The criminal courts had a large backlog of
cases that caused major delays in hearings.
A number of criminal laws and judicial system regulations underwent
review during the year in an effort to update legislation dating back
to the colonial era. The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) continued efforts to
update case management systems, train law clerks, increase the number
of municipal courts in 14 major population centers, and develop a
mediation system.
Due to the lack of judicial infrastructure and the continuing
authority of traditional leaders, informal or traditional courts
remained the principal institutions through which citizens resolved
conflicts in rural areas. Traditional leaders (sobas) heard and decided
local cases. They did not provide citizens with the same rights to a
fair trial as the formal legal system; instead each community in which
they were located established local rules.
Both the National Police and the FAA have internal court systems
that generally remained closed to outside scrutiny. While members of
these organizations can be tried under their internal regulations,
cases that include violations of criminal or civil laws, that is, in
cases where there is a civilian victim or plaintiff, can also fall
under the jurisdiction of provincial courts.
Trial Procedures.--By law trials are usually public, but each court
has the right to close proceedings. Juries are not used. Defendants
have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a
timely manner. The law requires that an attorney be provided at public
expense if an indigent defendant faces serious criminal charges, but
outside of Luanda the public defender was possibly not a trained
attorney. Defendants do not have the right to confront their accusers;
however, they may question witnesses against them and present witnesses
and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases; however,
the Government did not always respect these rights in practice.
Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal.
A court for children's affairs, under the MOJ, functions as part of
Luanda's provincial court system (see Section 5).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A relatively independent
and impartial judiciary existed for civil matters in some areas. Civil
courts functioned in Luanda and Benguela, and their efficiency improved
due to training and consultative services provided by the Commercial
Law Development Program (CLDP). The CLDP and the MOJ expanded the
training of court clerks to improve administration in the provincial
and municipal courts of Benguela, Lobito Huila, Cabinda, and Luanda.
This training provided technical skills to ensure random assignment of
judges and helped establish a system for tracking of cases and the
continuous accountability of documents. During the year the MOJ worked
with CLDP and other partners to provide the hardware, software, and
training necessary to computerize the case management system in
Luanda's Palacio D. Ana Joaquina criminal court building.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government did not always respect citizens' privacy
rights. The legal requirement for search warrants occasionally was
disregarded, most often in police searches for illegal vendors and
periodic sweeps of public markets.
Citizens widely believed that the Government maintained
surveillance of certain groups, including opposition party leaders and
journalists.
The security situation in Cabinda improved markedly as the peace
process progressed. Incidents were reported, but at a much reduced
level. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that government
forces in Cabinda attacked women in their homes, while they were
working in the fields, near military camps, or during searches of
homes.
The Government continued to demolish informal squatter housing in
Luanda and large provincial cities. In March government and private
security personnel forcibly removed an estimated 600 families--mainly
women, children, and the elderly--remaining in the Luandan
neighborhoods of Cambamba I and II and Banga We, and destroyed their
homes due to the continued expansion of the Nova Vida housing project;
Nova Vida had reportedly been granted the land without prior
consultation with residents or due legal process. Excessive force was
used during the expulsions, including discharging of firearms into the
air and ground to force the retreat of families and allow bulldozers to
advance. One boy was wounded by a stray bullet. According to Amnesty
International (AI), police and private security guards beat and kicked
residents, including a pregnant woman and a woman carrying a baby on
her back, and a youth was beaten by seven police officers and a private
security guard. Police interrogated and threatened members of the
international organization OXFAM who were present. The private security
guard who wounded the boy was reportedly arrested.
The Government claimed that legitimate residents of the
neighborhoods had been compensated and relocated long before, and that
the individuals expelled had deliberately moved to that land in an
attempt to unlawfully reap the benefits of government resettlement.
Authorities stated that they had repeatedly warned of impending
evictions, but the final eviction notice was issued only two days
before residents were evicted. However, AI stated that the evictions
were apparently carried out without procedural protection, due process,
or prior consultation, and evictees were given only one day's notice.
In April 104 families were removed from their apartment building
near Kinaxixi circle in downtown Luanda. All families were assigned new
homes in the Zango and Sapu neighborhoods, about six miles east of
Luanda. In June in the Luandan municipality of Cacuaco 15 families were
removed from their homes. In July and August an unknown number of
families were moved from Boa Vista, a shantytown in Luanda, to new
homes in Zango. Throughout the year, families living near the
construction site for the new international airport outside of Viana,
approximately six miles east of Luanda, were removed from their homes.
Some of these families received new residences or land on which to
build, but many were unwilling to move to the selected locations due to
the distance from economic centers that provided employment
opportunities and markets.
There were anecdotal reports that national police held family
members of wanted individuals until the individuals reported to the
police.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, government regulations
and a lack of independent media outside of Luanda limited this right.
Journalists practiced self-censorship.
On May 26, President Dos Santos promulgated a new press law. The
law ended the state monopoly on television, partially opened the FM
bandwidth to independent broadcasters, and rescinded travel
restrictions on journalists. Groups such as the Media Institute of
Southern Africa and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Angola and Sao
Tome publicly called for amendments to the new law, including removing
statutes that make journalists liable to criminal charges and statutes
which prevent independent radio from broadcasting nationwide.
Government and independent media paid increased attention to the
electoral process, corruption, economic mismanagement, social
conditions, and human rights issues such as domestic abuse and
treatment of illegal miners. While the Government continued to give
preferential treatment to state media organizations, during the year
independent journalists received increased access in some provinces,
including Luanda, Benguela, and Huila. Opposition parties, however,
were at times denied broadcast time on Angola Public Television (TPA),
the state television network, and in the Government daily newspaper,
the Jornal de Angola (JA). UNITA claimed that it paid both TPA and JA
for television and print advertising that was never aired or published.
Both independent radio and print media criticized the Government
openly and at times harshly. The Government tolerated this criticism of
its policies and actions in the independent media; however, local
journalists practiced self-censorship, especially at the provincial
level.
The government-owned and -operated Jornal de Angola was the only
national daily newspaper. There were 12 private weekly publications,
some of which were distributed in the provinces several days after
publication in Luanda. There were also four smaller weeklies in the
southern provinces. There were five provincially-based commercial radio
stations that openly criticized government policies and highlighted
poor socioeconomic conditions; however, the five stations were only
allowed to broadcast within their respective provinces, including the
Catholic Church's Radio Ecclesia and Radio Lac Luanda. Government-owned
and -operated Angolan National Radio was the only radio station with
the capacity to broadcast nationally other than over short wave. The
only television stations were the Government's two TPA stations, which
broadcast from Luanda and most provincial capitals. Satellite
television was available, but beyond the financial means of most
citizens.
The largest media outlets were state-operated and carried little
criticism of government officials or positive coverage of opposition
party political activities, beyond reports on statements in the
national assembly or during meetings with government officials.
Government-run media, however, often reported on government program
deficiencies. The government-owned press often criticized independent
journalists and opposition leaders, but independent journalists were
free to respond to these criticisms.
As a result of the May 26 press law, foreign journalists no longer
needed authorization from the Ministry of Interior to meet government
officials or to travel within the country. Foreign journalists,
however, must obtain work visas issued in their home country or in
their country of residence to enter and report on the country. This
process could be time-consuming.
There were no developments in the August 2005 case in which police
reportedly confiscated and deleted images from a camera taken from a
local independent photojournalist who was photographing a Luanda
neighborhood.
Depending on the issue, the minister of social communication, the
spokesman of the presidency, the national director of information, and
the directors of state-run media organizations had policy and
censorship authority.
Defamation of the President or his representatives is a crime,
punishable by imprisonment or fine. Factuality is not an acceptable
defense against defamation charges; the only allowable defense is for
the accused to show that he did not produce the actual material alleged
to have caused harm. No persons have been charged under this law.
The law permits the Government to classify information.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Although access was limited to an estimated 1.3 percent of the
population, availability was increasing, and the number of Internet
cafes steadily expanded.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for the right of assembly;
however, the Government at times restricted this right.
The law requires written notification to the local administrator
three days before public or private assemblies are to be held; however,
the Government prohibited events based on perceived security
considerations. Participants were potentially liable for ``offenses
against the honor and consideration due to persons and to organs of
sovereignty.'' Applications for progovernment gatherings routinely were
granted without delay; however, applications for protest or opposition
party assemblies sometimes were denied, usually based on government
claims that the timing or venue requested was problematic.
In January the Government denied a permit to Mpalabanda, a Cabindan
civic association, to hold an event marking the 121st anniversary of
the Treaty of Simulambuco. Portugal granted protectorate status to
Cabinda under the treaty, and it symbolized Cabinda's status as
distinct from the then-colony of Angola. When some persons went ahead
with the protest, police detained them roughly and held them for
several hours before releasing them.
In September members of the Angolan Party for Democratic Support
and Progress (PADEPA) were arrested for allegedly instigating
disobedience and rebellion as they distributed pamphlets protesting the
planned closure of Luanda's Roque Santeiro market.
In November authorities denied PADEPA a permit to demonstrate in
front of the French embassy to call for the return of what it
considered to be public funds siphoned off for private interests and
allegedly deposited in French banks or invested in France toward the
end of the country's civil war. On November 9, 26 members were arrested
and sentenced to one month's imprisonment for disturbing the peace as
they approached the embassy with the intent to demonstrate without a
permit. The sentences were converted into fines of approximately $2,000
(160,000 kwanza). At year's end the case was on appeal to the Supreme
Court.
There were no developments in the 2005 or 2004 cases in which
government authorities used excessive force to disperse demonstrations
in Luanda.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the
right of association, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The Government may deny registration to private
associations on security grounds. Although the Government approved most
applications, including those for political parties, the MOJ continued
to deny registration to the local human rights group AJPD (see Section
4). Even without such a certificate, the Government did not prevent
AJPD and other NGOs from conducting activities, including programs in
official buildings or financed by government entities.
Unlike in past years, the Government did not arbitrarily restrict
associations that it considered subversive by refusing to grant permits
for organized activities, or through official harassment. During the
year opposition parties were permitted to organize and hold meetings;
however, they reported occasional event-specific harassment by local
officials.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Religious groups must register with the MOJ and the Ministry of
Culture. Colonial-era statutes ban non-Christian religious groups;
however, during the year they were not enforced. In 2004 the
legislature approved a law establishing stricter criteria for the
registration of religious groups to curb the growth of ``cults.''
A total of 17 religious groups remained banned in Cabinda on
charges of practicing harmful exorcism rituals on adults and children
accused of witchcraft, illegally holding religious services in
residences, and not being registered.
In February three mosques were closed on grounds that they lacked
authorization to open and were holding services that authorities
claimed disrupted public order by impeding the flow of traffic. By
year's end the Islamic Community of Angola received authorization to
reopen the mosques. Public attitudes toward Islam were generally
negative, and such sentiments were evident in statements by government
officials opposing Muslim proselytizing and in commentaries by citizens
in the local media.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts. The Jewish community was estimated at 300 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, the Government at times restricted them in
practice. Extortion and harassment at government checkpoints in rural
and border areas interfered with the right to travel. Police harassed
returning refugees at border checkpoints. The Government had restricted
access to areas of Cabinda that it deemed insecure; however, following
the signing of the Cabindan peace accord in August, complete freedom of
movement was allowed. The Government restricted access to areas
designated as diamond concessions. Citizens in Lunda Norte and Lunda
Sul provinces, both containing large diamond concessions, were
regularly denied access to the concession areas for any purpose,
including obtaining water.
Extortion by police was routine in Luanda, other cities, and towns
and pervasive on major commercial routes. Reports that security forces
harassed expelled miners and their families as they crossed the border
into the Democratic Republic of the Congo declined significantly during
the year (see Section 1.c.).
Landmines remaining from the civil war were a major impediment to
freedom of movement (see Section 1.a.).
Unlike in previous years, foreign journalists did not require
authorization from the MOI to travel within the country, but border
checkpoints remained between provinces.
Immigration officials harassed and extorted money from travelers.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Between 2002 and year's end,
an estimated 385,000 refugees had returned. A joint assessment by the
Government, UN, and a foreign government estimated that 100,000
internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained unsettled. Some of those
yet to return to their homes stated that a lack of physical
infrastructure, the presence of landmines, and the absence of
government services such as medical care were major deterrents to their
return. Others have settled in third countries.
The Ministry of Assistance and Social Reinsertion (MINARS) has
primary responsibility for returnees and remaining IDPs, as well as
housing and resettlement programs; however, its efforts remained
inadequate. Provincial governments have primary responsibility for
ensuring safe, voluntary resettlement in areas cleared of mines and
with access to water, arable land, markets, and adequate state
administration. While areas of return were still given extra resources,
conditions in these areas mirrored the difficult situation throughout
the country. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of forced
relocation of IDPs (see Section 1.f.).
There were continuing reports that border officials harassed and
charged refugees and returnees illegal taxes at border posts, but such
reports continued to diminish and, unlike in 2005, there were no
reports of sexual abuse by border officials. However, the UN Office of
the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported mistreatment of old
and new refugees in Lunda Norte province.
Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provide for the
granting of refugee status and asylum to persons in accordance with the
1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol, and the Government has established in principal the framework
necessary to provide protection to refugees. However, in practice the
Government has committed to fund only administrative costs for refugee
protection. The Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution; it also granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully; however, in practice citizens could not elect officials at
any level of government.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 1992 the first
multiparty Presidential and legislative elections were held. Popular
Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) President Jose Eduardo dos
Santos won a plurality of votes cast, and the MPLA also won a majority
of seats in the parliament. Local and international observers declared
the election to be generally free and fair, but civil war resumed when
UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi rejected the results. In 2005 the parliament
passed electoral law revisions. The first post-civil war elections were
expected during the year, but the Government postponed them. The
Government claimed that complications in the registration process and
the need for extensive infrastructure development required the delay.
Delayed legislative elections were planned for 2008 and Presidential
elections for 2009; however, firm dates were not announced.
The Government established the National Electoral Commission (CNE)
in June 2005 as the supervisory body to monitor elections. The 11
members of the CNE represent the political parties with seats in
parliament (six members), the Office of the President, the Government,
the Supreme Court, and civil society. The President appoints two
members, and the other bodies each nominate their representative(s) to
participate.
On November 15, the voter registration campaign commenced, and
almost one million persons registered to vote in the first month.
Opposition party leaders initially complained that delays in announcing
the electoral registration timeline made it difficult to hire, train,
and fund the opposition supervisors, or fiscais, that are required by
electoral law to monitor the registration process for irregularities.
By the end of the first phase of registration, however, opposition
parties, NGOs, and government leaders called the registration efforts a
success despite earlier problems. In response to civil society
concerns, the Government also developed a system to accredit civil
society observers for registration stations.
Political power is concentrated in the President and the Council of
Ministers, through which the President exercises executive power. The
council can enact laws, decrees, and resolutions; it can therefore
assume most functions normally associated with the legislative branch.
The National Assembly comprises 220 deputies elected by
proportional vote in the 1992 elections; however, it has little power
relative to the President and Council of Ministers. This body has the
authority to debate and pass all major legislation, including the
national budget. While opposition deputies held 43 percent of
parliamentary seats and substantive debates sometimes took place,
including the frequent calling of government officials to question-and-
answer sessions, few mechanisms existed to check the power of the MPLA
majority or defeat legislation supported by the executive branch.
There were more than 120 registered opposition parties, and 11 of
these received public subsidies based on their representation in the
parliament. During the year all others received one-time public
subsidies. The majority of opposition parties had limited national
constituencies.
Political parties, including the MPLA, UNITA, the Social Renovation
Party (PRS), and the Party of the Alliance of Youth, Workers and
Farmers of Angola, complained that political activists and militants
physically attacked competing party members.
There were 35 women in the 220-seat parliament, and 10 women in the
41-member cabinet, including two ministers and eight vice-ministers.
The country has three dominant ethno-linguistic groups: the
Ovimbundu, the Mbundu, and the Bakongo, who together comprised an
estimated 77 percent of the population. However, other groups were also
represented in government. There were six members of such smaller
ethnic groups in the parliament and one minority member in the cabinet,
who represented the Chokwe group. All political parties made concerted
efforts to expand into all provinces and attract members of all ethnic
groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
widespread and accountability was limited, although the Government took
steps to increase transparency and reduce state expenditures not
reflected in the official budget. Government efforts to increase
accountability reduced discrepancies in reported and actually received
oil revenues. To better monitor and control expenditures, the Ministry
of Finance (MOF) continued implementation of the Integrated Financial
System (SIGFE), a monitoring system that was designed to record all
central government expenditures. During the year SIGFE was extended to
all central government ministries, and the detailed map of the Public
Administrative Accounts it generated last year enabled the MOF to
reduce discrepancies in fiscal accounts by 3 to 5 percent for the 2006
Fiscal Balance report. State-owned companies were required to conduct
internal audits and submit the results to the Government for review. In
February the parliament approved the UN and African Union
anticorruption conventions; in June ratification of the UN convention
was officially promulgated. The Government also published oil revenue
data on the MOF's Web site and conducted some oil licensing rounds
widely recognized for their transparency. It was the first time bids
were publicly opened and signing bonuses announced. However, some
smaller oil concessions were sold to local companies associated with
high-level government officials in the petroleum sector without public
disclosure of the bid process, if there was one.
Parastatals, most notably the state oil company SONANGOL, were
required to report revenues to the central bank and the MOF, but did
not consistently do so; inconsistent accounting practices also remained
problematic. SONANGOL and ENDIAMA, the state diamond marketing company,
were regularly audited by international accounting firms; however, the
International Monetary Fund, which sent a consultation mission to the
country, was denied access to SONANGOL audits. SONANGOL's dual role as
governmental regulator and national oil company hindered transparency
in the petroleum sector. ENDIAMA's audits were likewise not made
public. Serious transparency problems remained in the diamond industry,
particularly regarding allocation of exploration, production, and
purchasing rights. However, the Government stepped up its participation
in the Kimberly Process during the reporting period, including
participating in peer reviews of other countries and chairing a
subcommittee of a Kimberly Process Working Group.
Business practices continued to favor those connected to the
Government; government ministers and other high-level officials
commonly and openly owned interests in companies regulated by their
respective ministries. Petty corruption among police, teachers, and
other government employees was widespread. There was no update
available on the December 2005 conviction of five high-level officials
from the Ministry of External Relations, including the secretary
general and the director of administration and budget management, for
the embezzlement of more than $9 million (720 million kwanza) from the
ministry.
The law provides for public access to government information;
however, the Government was selective in providing it. Access to these
resources increased during the year; however, the Government's limited
technical capabilities restricted its ability to provide information.
The MOF published some oil revenue information online and released
details of the national budget in the state newspaper.
In June the parliament rejected a bill, proposed by the opposition
PRS party, which would have targeted crimes committed by high-level
government officials. The parliament, however, passed a law that would
revoke immunity from criminal investigation of Presidential appointees
and allow their prosecution, but only if the President gave his assent.
Section 4. Governmental Attitudes Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Various domestic and international human rights groups operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were more
cooperative and responsive to the views of those organizations than in
past years.
There were more than 100 international NGOs operating in the
country and approximately 350 domestic NGOs. An estimated 100 NGOs
worked on human rights issues, although only a few were considered
effective. Local NGOs actively promoted human rights during the year by
documenting prison conditions, providing free legal counsel, lobbying
government officials, and publishing investigative reports.
As outlined in previous years' reports, the local NGO AJPD
continued its efforts to obtain a formal certificate of registration
from the MOJ. AJPD had registered under a clause in the registration
law that gives legal status if authorities do not reject a group's
application within 80 days. At year's end AJPD's request to obtain a
certificate remained with the Supreme Court. Despite the lack of
certification, AJPD continued to provide human rights training to
police through officially approved programs.
In June 2005 the parliament confirmed Paulo Tjipilica as the
country's first human rights ombudsman, although NGOs had criticized
the lack of civil society involvement in his selection. In February the
Government published two laws that provided the framework for the
Office of the Ombudsman to commence operations and gave the ombudsman
the status of a government minister. Under the laws, the human rights
ombudsman is an independent public entity charged with defending the
rights, liberties, and privileges of citizens, either individually or
collectively, in relation to public administration, public
institutions, or the public domain. However, the mandate of the
ombudsman is limited; he cannot take matters directly to court, and can
only address some issues with the President's approval. In addition the
ombudsman is authorized to respond only to officially submitted
complaints, except in cases of flagrant human rights violations, in
which case no official complaint would be required. The ombudsman has
the authority to make recommendations and suggest corrective measures,
but he does not have the power to ``annul, revoke or modify'' the
powers of any public entity. His reports are to be presented to the
parliament. The parliament elected a Deputy Ombudsman, Maria de
Conceicao de Almeida Sango, in December and approved a budget for 56
personnel. The ombudsman spent the year assembling his staff, educating
the public in provincial meetings on the ombudsman's role, and began
reviewing and investigating complaints.
The Government criticized and restricted some NGO activities during
the year. On May 22, a high-level government official denounced the
housing initiatives of local NGO SOS-Habitat for allegedly ``fulfilling
an agenda, with a view to tarnishing the image of the Government, by
constantly and permanently creating difficulties to its performance.''
SOS-Habitat continued its activities and public advocacy despite this
criticism.
On July 20, the Government rescinded the legal civil association
status of Mpalabanda after it joined the Cabindan Forum for Dialogue,
the group that worked to negotiate peace with the Government. The
Government claimed that Mpalabanda was acting as a political entity,
outside of its mandate as a civil society organization. Shortly
thereafter, police surrounded the house of Mpalabanda President
Agostinho Chicaia and requested him to accompany them to police
headquarters. He declined and went the next day with an attorney, and
was questioned and released. On October 2, police again arrested
Chicaia and interrogated him for over 10 hours. The military also
raided Mpalabanda headquarters. In September former Mpalabanda vice-
President Raul Danda was arrested in a Cabindan airport for carrying
what was described as subversive material with intent to distribute. He
spent a month in jail but was never formally charged. Danda later
continued to distribute press and policy statements through the
Internet and to attend public forums.
There are laws that, if implemented, could restrict NGOs, since
they allow the Government to determine where and what projects an NGO
may implement and require NGOs to provide financial details. However,
during the year the Government did not exercise this authority.
Several international human rights organizations had a permanent
presence in the country, including the ICRC and UNHRO. The UNHRO
continued joint efforts with the Government to strengthen the MOJ's
provincial offices of human rights. In training sessions in the
provinces, government officials, UN staff, human rights activists, and
citizens met to address the need for human rights protections in their
communities. The UNHRO conducted programs with the Office of the Human
Rights Ombudsman and worked with the Ministry of External Relations to
collect information to fulfill the Government's international treaty
obligations.
In March the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing issued a
public statement criticizing forced evictions and denial of the right
to adequate housing in the country (see Section 1.c.); the Government
contested the report's findings.
During the year UN humanitarian agencies maintained large-scale
food security programs, repatriation and reintegration activities, and
development projects. The Government provided the UN with some funding
for these activities.
The parliament's committee on human rights visited prisons, held
hearings on human rights issues, and visited areas of concern
throughout the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the
Government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions. Violence and
discrimination against women, child abuse, child prostitution,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against persons with
disabilities and indigenous people were problems.
Women.--Violence against women was widespread. Such violence,
including spousal abuse, is not specifically illegal; however, the
Government occasionally prosecuted it under rape, assault, and battery
laws. There were no prosecutions for violence against women under these
laws during the year. Police were likely to view such abuse as a family
matter, not a violation of law; however, increased training on the
rights of women and several high-profile abuse cases, including the
murder of a close friend and staffer of the President's wife by a
jealous husband, worked to change this view. A significant proportion
of homicides were perpetrated against women, usually by spouses. The
Ministry of Women and Family Affairs (MWFA) reported receiving an
average of 20 domestic violence cases a month. However, many such cases
likely were unreported. The Government continued its efforts to reduce
violence against women and to raise their status. The MWFA operated a
program with the Angolan Bar Association to give free legal assistance
to abused women; the ministry also opened counseling centers to help
families cope with domestic abuse. During September and October the
Government undertook an information campaign on domestic abuse and
hosted several high-profile roundtables on women's rights in
coordination with Human Rights Day. This campaign included full-page
articles in the Jornal de Angola and radio announcements on public
radio.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by up to
eight years' imprisonment; however, limited investigative resources and
an ineffective judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases.
During the year there were no known prosecutions. Police were reluctant
to prosecute such cases. They have a low level of forensic
capabilities. The Organization of the Angolan Woman operated a shelter
that offered special services for rape victims. The MOJ worked with the
MOI to increase the number of women police officers and train police
officers to improve police response to rape allegations.
Prostitution is illegal, but the prohibition was not consistently
enforced. Due to poverty, many women engaged in prostitution. Unlike in
the previous year, there were no reports that police sexually abused
prostitutes after detaining them. The MWFA maintained a shelter that
was open to former prostitutes.
Sexual harassment was common. Sexual harassment is not specifically
illegal; however, such cases may be prosecuted under assault and
battery and defamation statutes.
Under the constitution and law women enjoy the same rights as men;
however, societal discrimination against women remained a serious
problem, particularly in rural areas. There were no effective
mechanisms to enforce child support laws, and women, whether or not
heads of household, bear the major responsibility for raising children.
The MWFA has a National Office for the Rights of Women focused on
ensuring that the country is in compliance with its international
treaty obligations.
The law provides for equal pay for equal work; however, women
generally held low-level positions in state-run industries and in the
private sector. However, a few ministries, political parties, and
businesses were led by women. As in 2005 the MWFA conducted skills
training programs and workshops for women.
Children.--The Government was committed to the protection of
children's rights and welfare, but lacked the human and logistical
resources required to provide necessary programs. The National
Institute for Children (INAC) had primary responsibility for
coordinating government action concerning children's affairs.
Education is free and compulsory until the sixth grade, but
students often had significant additional expenses, including books and
supplies. The Ministry of Education suffered from a lack of resources
and during the war most of the educational infrastructure was damaged.
There were not enough schools to provide universal primary education.
The net enrollment rate at primary schools climbed from an estimated 55
percent in 2002 to 89 percent during the year. A total of 30 percent of
all eligible children were enrolled at the secondary level. According
to the UN Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization, there was a
gender gap in enrollment rates favoring boys over girls.
The Government provided free medical care for children with
identity documents at pediatric hospitals and health posts throughout
the country; however, in many areas, health care was limited or
nonexistent. Where medical care was available, boys and girls were
provided equal access. Several vaccination campaigns inoculated more
than four million children against measles and polio.
Child abuse was widespread. Physical abuse was commonplace within
the family and was largely tolerated by local officials. In June an
Interministerial Commission, with representatives from the ministries
of interior; social assistance and reintegration; health; education;
public administration, employment, and social security; justice;
tourism; and family and the promotion of women, was formed with the
mandate to create a national plan to combat and prevent violence
against children, to include unlawful child labor, trafficking, and
sexual exploitation.
The legal age for marriage, with parental consent, is 15. This law
was not effectively enforced, and the traditional age of marriage in
lower income groups coincided with the onset of puberty.
During the year human rights abuses, due to accusations of
witchcraft especially against children, continued to be a major
problem. In August INAC, MINARS, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
released a report and held a workshop on this problem. The report noted
that most cases occurred in Luanda, Uige, and Zaire provinces, and
vulnerable children, such as orphans or those without access to health
care or education, were more likely to be accused of witchcraft.
Following an accusation, children were often turned over to religious
leaders to be ``cured.'' ``Treatment methods'' included isolation,
withholding of food and water, ritualistic cuttings, and the placing of
various caustic oils or peppers on the eyes and ears of the children.
Reportedly children were sometimes killed during these ``exorcism''
rituals. During the year the Government worked through INAC and
international NGOs to assist child protection networks in Luanda, Uige,
and Zaire provinces to support children accused of witchcraft, and to
report to authorities those religious organizations carrying out
abusive treatments. Government and religious leaders called for an end
to these practices, but were unable to reduce the influence of these
traditional beliefs. There were no updates on the police investigations
of such cases reported in the media in 2005.
Children were reportedly trafficked for sexual exploitation and
child prostitution (see Section 5).
Child prostitution is illegal; however, there were unconfirmed
reports of child prostitution in Santa Clara, in Cunene province on the
border with Namibia. Children reportedly were crossing into Namibia to
engage in prostitution for survival with local truck drivers, without
third party involvement.
Sexual relations with a child under 12 are considered rape. Sexual
relations with a child between the ages of 12 and 15 may be considered
sexual abuse, with convicted offenders liable for sentences of up to
eight years in prison; however, limited investigative resources and an
inadequate judicial system prevented prosecution of most cases.
The Government, assisted by the World Bank and UNICEF, continued to
implement its post-conflict child soldier protection strategy. Under
the strategy, those designated as child soldiers were given access to
special resources, including skills training, assistance with civil
registration, and access to special social assistance.
Child labor occurred, mostly in the informal sector (see Section
6.d.).
The INAC is responsible for child protection, but it lacked the
technical capacity to work without the assistance of international NGOs
and donors. The Government had registered 1,500 homeless children in
Luanda, but other estimates of their number were much higher. An
estimated 10,000 children worked in the streets of Luanda, but returned
to some form of dwelling during the evening. Most of these children
shined shoes, washed cars, carried water, or engaged in other informal
labor, but some resorted to petty crime, begging, and prostitution.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit slavery;
however, there are no specific laws against trafficking in persons.
There were unconfirmed reports that persons were trafficked from and
within the country.
The extent of trafficking in persons was unknown, but was not
believed to be significant. During the year there were unconfirmed
reports that a small number of children were trafficked out of the
country to South Africa or Namibia. Homeless and orphaned children were
most vulnerable to trafficking.
Methods used by traffickers to obtain and transport victims were
unknown. The small number of traffickers working in the country was not
thought to be organized.
Laws criminalizing forced or bonded labor, prostitution,
pornography, rape, kidnapping, and illegal entry are used to prosecute
trafficking cases. The minimum sentence for rape is eight years'
imprisonment, and sentences for related offenses carry a maximum of
life imprisonment. The number of prosecutions directly related to
trafficking during the year was not available.
Immigration services and INAC played significant roles in
antitrafficking efforts, including implementing provincial-level
training which also focused on child prostitution and helped strengthen
provincial and municipal child protection networks. However, no single
ministry has direct responsibility for combating trafficking.
In August the National Police and the International Organization
for Migration held a training session on trafficking. Approximately 80
participants attended, including high-level national police and
immigration officials. In November a second roundtable took place.
The Government operated facilities throughout the country for
abandoned and abducted children; however, in many cases the facilities
were underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded. A Catholic-affiliated
center in Namacumbe, near the Namibian border, assisted victims of
trafficking to find and reintegrate with their families.
The Government provided basic assistance to trafficking victims on
an ad hoc basis, especially in the capital. Local social welfare
agencies provided basic necessities. This type of program did not exist
outside of Luanda, nor did the Government operate shelters specifically
for trafficking victims.
The Government attempted to monitor its borders, but lacked
resources to do so effectively. Efforts by UNICEF, supported by the
Government, strengthened immigration controls at airports and border
checkpoints. Immigration services at the international airport in
Luanda were more effective than provincial border posts and required
proper documentation for children seeking to fly internationally. In
July the Government signed a joint Economic Community of West African
States and Economic Community of Central African States counter-
trafficking accord.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or other state services, but the Government did not
effectively enforce these prohibitions. The number of persons with
disabilities included more than 80,000 landmine victims. Albinos were
commonly discriminated against, although church groups worked to
eliminate the abuse. The NGO Handicap International estimated that
persons with disabilities constituted 10 percent of the population.
There is no legislation mandating accessibility for persons with
disabilities to public or private facilities, and it was difficult for
such persons to find employment or participate in the education system.
The MINARS had an office to address problems facing persons with
disabilities; however, given the large number of landmine victims,
several government entities supported programs to assist individuals
disabled by mine accidents. In June the Government created a high-level
commission to oversee implementation of projects to assist the
reintegration of veterans with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--An estimated 3,400 Khoisan people lived in
small, dispersed communities in Huila, Cunene, and Kuando Kubango
provinces. The Khoisan are traditional hunter-gatherers who are
linguistically and ethnically distinct from their Bantu fellow
citizens. Their very limited participation in political life has
increased, and Ocadec, a local NGO advocate for the Khoisan, has worked
with provincial governments to increase services to Khoisan communities
and to improve communication between these communities and the
Government. Adequate protection for the property rights of traditional
pastoral communities was a concern; however, in August the Council of
Ministers approved land reform regulations to allow groups to apply for
land tenure. In October a group of Khoisan, near Quipungo, Huila
Province, was granted a provisional land title.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
sodomy. HIV/AIDS was openly discussed. In December 2005 President Dos
Santos inaugurated a new building for the National Institute for HIV/
AIDS and was supportive of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns.
However, discrimination against homosexuals and those with HIV/AIDS
occurred. The Government promulgated a law that criminalizes
discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS, but lack of enforcement
allowed employers to discriminate against and treat unfairly those with
the condition. There were no reports of violence against those with
HIV/AIDS. Local NGOs had been established to combat stigmatization and
discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS. The FAA implemented
educational programs to discourage discrimination against HIV-positive
military personnel and prevent the spread of the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
the right of workers to form and join unions without previous
government authorization or excessive requirements. These laws were
enforced. Labor unions independent of the government-run unions worked
to increase their influence, but the ruling MPLA still dominated the
labor movement due to historical connections between the party and
labor.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and stipulates that
worker complaints be adjudicated in regular civil courts. Under the
law, employers are required to reinstate workers who have been
dismissed for union activities; however, the judicial system did not
enforce these provisions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution and law provide for the right of unions to conduct their
activities without interference, but the Government did not always
protect this right. The law provides for collective bargaining and the
right to strike, and workers exercised these rights in practice. There
were no export processing zones.
There are no restrictions on collective bargaining.
The constitution grants the right to engage in union activities,
but the Government may intervene in labor disputes that affect national
security, particularly strikes in the oil sector. The law prohibits
lockouts and worker occupation of places of employment and provides
protection for nonstriking workers. It prohibits strikes by armed
forces personnel, police, prison workers, and fire fighters. The
Ministry of Labor has a hot line for workers who feel their rights are
being violated. The law does not effectively prohibit employer
retribution against strikers, and it also permits the Government to
force workers back to work for ``breaches of worker discipline'' and
participation in unauthorized strikes. Workers, including government-
employed teachers and nurses, exercised their right to strike during
the year. The number of strikes and industries affected continued to
increase.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
unconfirmed reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The
MOJ has effective enforcement mechanisms for the formal economic
sector; however, most labor law violations occurred outside the
official labor market and were not subject to legal enforcement.
d. Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment.--Child
labor in the formal sector was restricted under the law; however, child
labor, especially in the informal sector, remained a problem. The legal
minimum age for apprenticeship is 14 years, and 18 for full employment.
Children between the ages of 14 and 18 may not work at night, in
dangerous conditions, or in occupations requiring great physical
effort, and children younger than 16 are prohibited from doing factory
work; however, these provisions were rarely enforced. Most work done by
children was in the informal sector. Children worked on family farms,
as domestic servants, and as street vendors. Family-based child labor
in subsistence agriculture was common.
The Inspector General of the Ministry of Public Administration,
Employment, and Social Security (MAPESS) is ultimately responsible for
enforcing all labor laws; however, the MFWA also plays a significant
role in investigating complaints of child labor.
The Children's Affairs Court under the MOJ had assumed jurisdiction
over general child protection in Luanda and was expected to assume
jurisdiction in the other provinces once provincial courts became
operational. In the meantime child labor cases continued to be
adjudicated by the provincial criminal courts for minors aged 16 to 18
or the MFWA's Family Courts for children under age 16. Child labor
violations are punishable by fines.
In practice neither the Labor Code nor the judicial system was
capable of ensuring labor rights. The court system was overextended;
few resources were available for family or children affairs courts or
child labor investigations. Moreover, while mechanisms were in place to
investigate and prosecute child labor violations in the formal sector,
the Government lacked the capacity to oversee the much larger informal
sector. There was no formal procedure for inspections and
investigations of child labor abuses outside of the family law system,
although private persons can file accusations of violations of child
labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year MAPESS raised
the minimum wage in the formal sector to approximately $65 (5,200
kwanza) per month, which did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. As a result, most wage earners held second
jobs or depended on the informal sector, including subsistence
agriculture, or support from abroad to augment their incomes.
The standard workweek is 40 hours with at least one unbroken period
of 26 hours of rest per week. There is a limit on work of 80 hours per
week. Required premium pay for overtime is time and a half for up to 30
hours of overtime, and 1.75 from 30 to 40 hours. In the formal sector
there is a prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime, defined as
more than two hours a day, 40 hours a week, or 200 hours a year. These
standards were not effectively enforced, unless employees requested it.
The Government has set occupational health and safety standards;
however, the Ministry of Labor's Office of the Inspector General did
not enforce these standards effectively. Nonetheless, the inspector
general greatly increased the number of workplace inspections; 2,038
employers were inspected in the first half of the year, compared with
2,776 inspections in all of 2005. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without
jeopardy to their employment, but it was not exercised in practice.
__________
BENIN
The Republic of Benin is a constitutional democracy with a
population of 7.9 million. On March 19, President Boni Yayi was elected
to a five-year term in multiparty elections that observers generally
viewed as free and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and in contrast with 2005, there were no reports the
Government forcibly dispersed demonstrations. However, there were
problems in several areas. Police occasional use of excessive force and
vigilante violence resulted in deaths. Impunity was a problem. Harsh
prison conditions, arbitrary arrest and detention with prolonged
pretrial detention, and judicial corruption continued. Women were
victims of violence and societal discrimination, and female genital
mutilation (FGM) was common. There also were reports of trafficking and
abuse of children, including infanticide and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
on May 19, police killed one person and wounded several others when an
operation to prevent a group of illegal butchers from selling meat from
uninspected animals turned into a violent confrontation. In an attempt
to keep police and veterinary inspection service agents from
confiscating the meat, the butchers threw stones, and one butcher swung
a cleaver at a policeman. Another policeman fatally shot the butcher
wielding the cleaver. There was no investigation of the shooting, which
the police claimed was self-defense.
There were no developments in the February 2005 police killing of
two persons suspected of illegally occupying a building or in the
September 2005 killing of an inmate by guards during an attempted
prison break.
During the year incidents of traditional mob justice continued to
occur, in part due to the perceived failure of local courts to
adequately punish criminals. Such cases generally involved mobs killing
or severely injuring suspected criminals, particularly thieves caught
in the act. On September 4, a mob intercepted two men attempting to
snatch a woman's handbag. The mob burned one of the men to death and
beat the second to death. Although some of these incidents occurred in
urban areas and were publicized in the press, the Government made no
concerted attempt to investigate or prosecute those involved, and
police generally ignored vigilante attacks.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, some trafficked children were kidnapped by
force during the year (see Section 5).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
the Government did not always respect these prohibitions.
On September 6, witnesses observed gendarmes in Ouidah beating two
suspected thieves with clubs on the back, hands, feet, and buttocks.
Such beatings in custody were commonplace, but no statistics are
available.
There were no reports of the police forcibly dispersing
demonstrations.
A violent confrontation in May between police and illegal butchers
resulted in injuries and one death (see Section 1.a.).
Security forces entered private homes and beat the occupants during
the year (see Section 1.f.).
The Government continued to make payments to victims of torture
under the former military regime.
Mob justice resulted in deaths and injuries (see Section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be extremely harsh. Overcrowding and lack of proper
sanitation and medical facilities posed a risk to prisoners' health.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the country's eight civil prisons
at times were filled to more than three times their capacity. The
prison diet was inadequate, and malnutrition and disease were common.
Family members were expected to provide food for inmates to supplement
prison rations. There were deaths in prison due to malnutrition,
disease, and neglect; however, statistics are not available.
Juveniles at times were housed with adults. Pretrial detainees were
held with convicted prisoners; however, they were not held with the
most violent convicts or those subject to the death penalty.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors;
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other agencies and religious
groups continued to visit prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, at times the
authorities did not respect these prohibitions in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the
Ministry of Interior, have primary responsibility for enforcing law and
maintaining order in urban areas; the gendarmerie, under the Ministry
of Defense, performs the same function in rural areas. The police were
inadequately equipped, poorly trained, and ineffective, particularly in
their failure to prevent or respond to mob justice. The Government
continued to address these problems by recruiting more officers,
building more stations, and modernizing equipment; however, serious
problems remained, including widespread corruption and impunity.
On February 22, following an investigation, four high-ranking
police officials were arrested for embezzlement of public funds,
mismanagement of public property, and illegal awarding of contracts. On
June 9, a fifth high-ranking police official was arrested and detained
on the same charges. By year's end the judge had released three of the
officials on bail.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution requires arrest warrants
and prohibits detention for more than 48 hours without a hearing by a
magistrate, who must authorize continued detention. Detainees must be
brought before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. After examining a
detainee, the judge has 24 hours to decide whether to continue the
detention or release the individual. Defendants awaiting a verdict may
request release on bail; however, the Attorney General must agree to
the request. Suspects have the right to an attorney, but only after
being brought before a judge. Warrants authorizing pretrial detention
were effective for six months and could be renewed every six months
until the suspect was brought to trial. The Government provided counsel
in criminal cases only.
On February 22, 12 police officers from a specialized police unit
(Compagnie Republicaine de Securite) broke into a couple's home and
took the couple to the Cotonou central police station for allegedly
failing to repay a personal debt to their landlord. The police detained
the husband and told his spouse to get money to reimburse the debt.
When the police released the man after holding him for nine hours, the
couple lodged a complaint against the police for unlawful arrest and
detention. On August 11, the constitutional court ruled that the arrest
and detention of the two individuals at the police station was
arbitrary and constituted a violation of the constitution since failure
to repay a personal debt is not an offense punishable by incarceration.
At year's end no action had been taken against the responsible
officers.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
arrested demonstrators; however, police arrested a union leader and
union members (see Section 6.a.).
There were credible reports that authorities exceeded the legal
limit of 48 hours of detention in many cases, sometimes by as much as a
week. Authorities often used the practice of holding a person
indefinitely ``at the disposition of'' the public prosecutor's office
before presenting the case to a magistrate. Approximately 75 percent of
persons in prison were pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, but the Government did not always respect
this provision in practice. The judiciary remained inefficient in some
respects and susceptible to corruption at all levels. Unlike in
previous years, no action was taken against corrupt judicial employees.
The President appoints career magistrates as judges in civil
courts, and the constitution gives the Ministry of Justice
administrative authority over judges, including the power to transfer
them. Inadequate facilities, poorly trained staff, and overcrowded
dockets delayed the administration of justice.
Civilian courts operate on national and provincial levels, and
there are two courts of appeals. The Supreme Court is the court of last
resort in all administrative and judicial matters. The Constitutional
Court determines the constitutionality of laws, adjudicates disputes
between the President and the National Assembly, and rules on disputes
regarding Presidential and legislative elections. It also has
jurisdiction in human rights cases. There is also a High Court of
Justice to try the President and ministers for crimes related to their
professional responsibilities.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial; however, judicial inefficiency and corruption impeded this
right. The understaffed judicial system created delays in judicial
processing that resulted in longer pre-trial detention periods.
The legal system is based on French civil law and local customary
law. A defendant is presumed innocent and has the right to be present
at trial and to representation by an attorney at public expense if
necessary. In practice the court provided indigent defendants with
court-appointed counsel upon request. A defendant also has the right to
confront witnesses and to have access to government-held evidence.
Defendants can appeal criminal convictions to the court of appeals and
the Supreme Court, after which they may appeal to the President for a
pardon. Trials were open to the public, but in exceptional
circumstances the President of the court may decide to restrict access
to preserve public order or to protect the parties.
Military disciplinary councils deal with minor offenses by members
of the military services but have no jurisdiction over civilians.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Any citizen may file a
complaint concerning an alleged human rights violation with the
constitutional court.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The
law requires police to obtain a judicial warrant before entering a
private home, and they generally observed this requirement in practice
with one known exception (see Section 1.d.).
There were no developments in the June 2005 case of soldiers who
entered homes in Fidjrosse, Cotonou, without search warrants and beat
the occupants.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not
always respect these rights in practice. Security forces arrested,
detained, and harassed journalists during the year. The law
criminalizes libel, and members of the press were imprisoned for libel
during the year. The law prevents private citizens and the press from
declaring or predicting election results.
The constitution provides for prison sentences involving compulsory
labor for certain activities related to the exercise of the right of
free expression; this law is directed against threats to public order
or calls to violence but is vaguely worded and susceptible to abuse.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. These publications criticized the Government
freely and frequently, but the effect on public opinion was limited due
to the urban concentration of publications and widespread illiteracy. A
nongovernmental media ethics commission (ODEM) continued to censure
some journalists during the year for unethical conduct, such as
reporting falsehoods or inaccuracies or releasing information that was
still under embargo. ODEM criticized 17 newspapers and television and
radio stations for violating professional and ethical standards during
the February-April electoral period.
The Government continued to own and operate the most influential
media by controlling broadcast range and infrastructure. The majority
of citizens were illiterate, lived in rural areas, and generally
received their news via radio. The Governmental Office of Radio and
Television (ORTB) broadcast in French and local languages. Fifteen
rural radio stations, which were governed by local committees and
received support from the ORTB, broadcast several hours a day
exclusively in local languages. Radio France International and the BBC
broadcast in Cotonou.
Two national and several private television stations broadcast.
Although none of the television stations broadcast partisan programs,
the vast majority of news programming centered on government officials'
activities, government-sponsored conferences, and international stories
provided by French television or other foreign sources.
On December 1, an editor and a reporter were sentenced to six
months' imprisonment for libel for an article alleging that a bailiff
had defrauded a widow and then raped her to shame her into silence. Two
media associations publicly appealed the sentence, calling it
excessive.
On September 15, police arrested and detained a copy editor and a
journalist of a private newspaper on libel charges for publishing an
article about the alleged mental instability of one of the President's
children; the public prosecutor questioned the two individuals and
ordered their release on September 17.
On September 18, police arrested and detained the editor of a
private newspaper for alleged libel against the police, although no
charges were filed. The following day the public prosecutor ordered his
release.
The Government penalized journalists who published items counter to
government guidelines. On March 6, Communications Minister Frederic
Dohou fired the ORTB director general and secretary general for
``insubordination to a superior authority'' after ORTB declined to
broadcast a videotape from President Kerekou's media office, purporting
to show electoral fraud involving the registration of foreigners,
primarily Togolese refugees, as voters. ORTB reportedly had consulted
the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HAAC), which had
advised against broadcasting the tape because its authenticity had not
been verified. On April 26, the new minister of communications
reinstated the ORTB officials.
Police also prevented journalists from attending an election-
related press conference in a private home (see Section 2.b.).
The HAAC oversaw media operations and required broadcasters to
submit weekly lists of planned programs and publishers to submit copies
of all publications; however, the media did not comply with these
requirements in practice. The information was used for administrative
purposes; however, journalists often complained that it was an attempt
at censorship.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was widely available in cities, primarily in
Internet cafes, but for many the cost of using the Internet was
prohibitive. Due to a lack of infrastructure, Internet access was not
available in most rural areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected these rights in practice. In
contrast with 2005, there were no reports that the Government forcibly
dispersed demonstrations. The Government requires permits for use of
public places for demonstrations and generally granted such permits,
but the Government sometimes used ``public order'' to deny legitimate
requests for permits from opposition groups, civil society
organizations, and labor unions.
No action was taken against the security forces that violently
dispersed demonstrations in 2005, resulting in the death of one person
and injuries to numerous others.
On March 7, after the first round of the Presidential election,
police prevented journalists from entering the residence of a political
leader to attend a press conference to which they were invited. After
the incident, authorities claimed they acted out of a concern for
``state security.''
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The Government requires associations to register and
routinely granted registrations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Persons who wish to form a religious group must register with the
Ministry of the Interior. There were no reports that any group was
refused permission to register or was subjected to unusual delays or
obstacles in the registration process.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination against members of religious groups.
There is no known Jewish community in the country, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice;
however, the presence of police, gendarmes, and illegal roadblocks
impeded domestic movement. Although ostensibly meant to enforce
automotive safety and customs regulations, many of these checkpoints
served as a means for officials to exact bribes from travelers. The
Government maintained previously implemented measures to combat such
corruption at roadblocks, but they were not always effective, and
extortion occurred.
The Government maintained documentary requirements for minors
traveling abroad as part of its continuing campaign against trafficking
in persons (see Section 5).
The Government's policy toward the seasonal movement of livestock
allowed migratory Fulani herdsmen from other countries to enter freely;
the Government did not enforce designated entry points. Disputes arose
between the herdsmen and local landowners over grazing rights.
The law prohibits the forced exile of citizens, and the Government
did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers.
The Government did not always provide adequate security at refugee
camps. On the night of February 15, a violent clash occurred between
Togolese refugees resident at the Agame refugee camp and local Beninese
villagers. Two refugees were severely wounded by gunfire and one
villager was seriously injured. The violence and a fire also caused
severe damage to the camp's infrastructure, cutting off electricity and
impairing the sanitation system. More than 9,000 refugees were forced
to abandon the camp and take temporary shelter in a nearby elementary
school and a police office.
Despite the violence, the Government continued to permit Togolese
refugees residing in local communities and in refugee camps to
participate in most economic activities and to enroll their children in
local schools. At year's end approximately 6,500 Togolese refugees
remained in Benin; over 3,000 returned voluntarily to Togo.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and generally fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--International observers
viewed the March Presidential election as generally free and fair. On
March 29, after two rounds of voting, the constitutional court declared
independent Thomas Boni Yayi President. The voting on March 5 and 19
was orderly and well organized despite organizational difficulties
created by the Government's last-minute announcement of the date of the
second round and financial difficulties faced by the National
Independent Electoral Commission during election preparations. On March
5, the mayor of Abomey was arrested and questioned over allegations of
possible tampering with ballot materials; however, the charges were
dropped on March 14. The law prevented private citizens and the press
from declaring or predicting election results (see Section 2.a.).
In June the National Assembly passed a bill to extend members'
terms from four to five years; however, the constitutional court ruled
the amendment unconstitutional on July 9.
Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election. There were no government restrictions on political
opponents. No single party or group has dominated politics. In the wake
of the landslide victory of Boni Yayi, new political parties formed to
support the new President and his program.
There were six women in the 83-seat National Assembly and five
female ministers in the 23-member cabinet. Two of seven justices on the
constitutional court were women, including the President. The President
of the high court of justice also was a woman. Two of six appointed
departmental prefects were women, as well as two of 77 indirectly
elected mayors.
Minority ethnic groups were well represented in government
agencies, civil service, and the armed forces. In the National
Assembly, 19 members were from the Goun-Nago-Yoruba ethnic group, 15
from the Bariba, and 10 from the Somba-Dendi and other smaller groups.
Seven cabinet ministers are from the Bariba-Somba and Dendi ethnic
groups and 16 are from the Fon, Goun-Nago-Yoruba, and smaller ethnic
groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was
widespread. President Boni Yayi committed himself to combating
corruption in the country and advancing good governance in the
management of public affairs. He initiated financial audits in
government ministries and state-owned enterprises to identify
perpetrators and assess the scope of public embezzlement. On December
7, the minister of finance released an overview of the results of the
audits and announced that approximately 300 individuals were
responsible for embezzling $46 million. At year's end the names of the
individuals had not been released.
Police and government officials investigated allegations that
Rogatien Biaou, former minister of foreign affairs, and Thomas
Guedegbe, former director of administration at the foreign ministry,
were involved in the unauthorized sale of land adjacent to the UN
permanent representative's residence in New York in 2005. The public
prosecutor of the court of Cotonou claimed he could not prosecute a
case against ex-Minister Biaou, but that only the high court of justice
could do so, and Biaou was released on February 22 after spending 48
hours in police custody. At year's end Guedegbe remained in pre-trial
detention with criminal charges against him pending.
On April 18, a parliamentary investigative committee issued a
report concluding involvement of three former government ministers in
the embezzlement of two million dollars (one billion francs) budgeted
for the design and creation of a national computerized voter registry.
On July 18, the National Assembly voted to bring Alain Adihou, minister
of institutional relations in the former government, before the High
Court of Justice. In addition, Adihou was accused of not returning an
official four-wheel drive vehicle purchased for his use while in
office. Adihou was arrested on October 25 and was in pre-trial
detention at year's end. On December 21, a committee of the National
Assembly recommended that Cosme Sehlin, former finance minister, and
Valentin Houde, Adihou's predecessor as minister of institutional
relations, also be brought before the court. The full assembly had not
voted on this recommendation at year's end.
On June 4, Sefou Fagbohoun, a wealthy businessman and President of
the political party African Movement for Democracy and Progress was
arrested for his alleged involvement in the mismanagement of, and
embezzlement of funds from, former fuel distribution parastatal
SONACOP. At year's end Fagbohoun remained in pre-trial detention.
There were no laws that provided for public access to government
information, and it was unclear whether requests for such access were
granted.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Local human rights NGOs include the League for the Protection of
Human Rights in Benin, the National Christian Youth Association for
Awareness and Development, Association for the Support of Development
and Peace, Solidarity for Behavioral Change, Benin Prison Fellowship,
Children's Rights Social Organizations' Network, and others. Local NGOs
are independent. Some local NGOs have formed networks for more
efficient implementation of their programs and to pool resources.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race and gender;
however, societal discrimination against women continued. Persons with
disabilities were disadvantaged.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was common. The penal code
prohibits domestic violence, and the penalty ranged from six to 36
months' imprisonment. However, NGO observers believed that women
remained reluctant to report cases. Judges and police also were
reluctant to intervene in domestic disputes; society and law
enforcement considered such cases to be an internal family matter. The
local chapter of a regional NGO, Women in Law and Development-Benin,
offered social, legal, medical, and psychological assistance to victims
of domestic violence.
The law prohibits rape, but enforcement was weak due to police
ineffectiveness and corruption. Sentences for rape ranged from one to
five years' imprisonment.
FGM was practiced on females ranging from infancy through 30 years
of age and generally took the form of excision. Approximately 17
percent of women in the country have undergone FGM, although the figure
was higher in certain regions, like Atacora (45 percent) and Borgou (57
percent), and among certain ethnic groups. For example, more than 70
percent of the women in the Bariba, Yoa-Lokpa, and Peul ethnic groups
have undergone FGM. Younger women were less likely to be excised than
their older counterparts. The law prohibits FGM and provides for
penalties for performing the procedure, including jail sentences of up
to 10 years and fines of up to $12,000 (six million francs); however,
the Government generally was unsuccessful in preventing the practice.
Individuals who were aware of an incident of FGM but did not report it
faced fines ranging from $100 (50,000 francs) to $200 (100,000 francs).
Those who performed the procedure, usually older women, profited from
it. NGOs and others continued to educate rural communities about the
dangers of FGM and to retrain FGM practitioners in other activities. A
prominent NGO, the local chapter of the Inter-African Committee, made
progress in raising public awareness of the dangers of the practice,
and the Government cooperated with these efforts. The Ministry of
Family continued an education campaign that included conferences in
schools and villages, discussions with religious and traditional
authorities, and banners. NGOs also addressed this issue in local
languages on local radio stations.
Prostitution, especially child prostitution, was a problem even
though the law prohibits it. Penalties for prostitution included
imprisonment of six months to two years and fines of $800 (400,000
francs) to $8,000 (4 million francs).
Sexual harassment was very common. Until recently, sexual
harassment was not explicitly prohibited; however, on July 17, the
National Assembly passed a law prohibiting sexual harassment and
offering protection for victims of sexual harassment. Under the law,
which was promulgated on September 5, persons convicted of sexual
harassment faced sentences of one to two years in prison and fines
ranging from $200 (100,000 francs) to $2,000 (one million francs). The
law also provides for penalties for persons who are aware of sexual
harassment offenses and do not report them.
Although the constitution provides for equality for women in the
political, economic, and social spheres, women experienced extensive
societal discrimination, especially in rural areas where they occupied
a subordinate role and were responsible for much of the hard labor on
subsistence farms. In urban areas women dominated the trading sector in
the open-air markets. During the year the Government and NGO community
continued to educate the public on the 2004 family code, which provides
women with inheritance and property rights and significantly increases
their rights in marriage, including prohibitions on forced marriage,
child marriage, and polygamy. In practice women experienced
discrimination in accessing employment, credit, and equal pay.
Children.--The Government has stated publicly its commitment to
children's rights and welfare, but it lacked the resources to
demonstrate that commitment. The Ministry of Family was responsible for
the protection of children's rights, primarily in the areas of
education and health. The National Commission for Children's Rights and
the Ministry of Family had oversight roles in the promotion of human
rights issues with regard to children and their welfare.
Primary education was compulsory for all and tuition-free for
girls; however, in some parts of the country, girls received no formal
education, and parents paid tuition for both boys and girls because
many schools had insufficient funds. The Government offered books at
reduced prices to promote children's access to primary schools and to
enhance the quality and relevance of schooling received. According to
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), primary school enrollment was
approximately 90 percent of boys and approximately 60 percent of girls
nationwide; only 26 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls were
enrolled in secondary school. Girls did not have the same educational
opportunities as boys, and female literacy was approximately 18
percent, compared with 50 percent for men. However, recent elementary
school pass rates for girls have increased.
FGM was performed commonly on girls (see Section 5, Women).
The 2004 family code prohibits marriage under 14 years of age;
however, the practice continued in rural areas, and underage (under 18
years of age) marriage was permitted with parental consent. There also
was a tradition in which a groom abducts and rapes his prospective
child bride. The practice was widespread in rural areas, despite
government and NGO efforts to end it through information sessions on
the rights of women and children.
Despite widespread NGO campaigns, the traditional practice of
killing deformed babies, breech babies, babies whose mothers died in
childbirth, and one of two newborn twins (all of whom were considered
sorcerers) continued in some rural areas, and practitioners operated
with impunity.
Criminal courts meted out stiff sentences to criminals convicted of
crimes against children, but many such crimes never reached the courts
due to lack of education and access to the courts or fear of police
involvement in the problem.
The penal code prohibits child prostitution; however, enforcement
was frequently lax, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children
was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking). Some street children became
prostitutes to support themselves.
Trafficking in children also remained a problem. Some trafficking
of children occurred in connection with the forced servitude practice
called vidomegon, in which children worked in a voluntary arrangement
between two families (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor, although illegal, remained a problem (see Section
6.d.).
There were numerous street children, most of whom did not attend
school and had limited access to government resources.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children.
There are also laws that prohibit human smuggling that the Government
has used to prosecute traffickers. However, there is no law prohibiting
trafficking in adult persons. There were widespread reports that
persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The country was a source, transit point, and destination for
trafficked persons, primarily children for forced labor and sexual
exploitation. The majority of trafficking occurred internally within
the extended family or community; however, organized criminal networks
were also active. According to a 2000 UNICEF study, four distinct forms
of child trafficking occurred in the country: trafic-don, the transfer
of a child to a migrant family member or stranger, who turned them over
to another stranger for vocational training or education; trafic-gage,
indentured servitude in which a child was forced to work off a debt;
trafic-ouvrier, child labor, the most common form of trafficking,
involving children working as artisans, construction laborers, or
agricultural or domestic workers; and trafic-vente, the outright sale
of children.
Through the traditional practice of vidomegon, poor, often rural,
families placed a child in the home of a more wealthy family. The child
received living accommodations, while the child's parents and the urban
family that raised the child split the income generated from the
child's activities; however, the child often faced forced labor, long
hours, inadequate food, and sexual exploitation. Vidomegon was
traditionally intended to enable children of poor families to receive
educational opportunities and a higher standard of living; however,
this practice has become corrupted to facilitate the trafficking of
children for forced labor. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of the
children in vidomegon were young girls.
Children were trafficked to Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire,
and the Central African Republic for indentured or domestic servitude,
farm labor, labor in stone quarries, and prostitution. In addition,
children were taken across the border to Togo and Cote d'Ivoire to work
on plantations. Children from Niger, Togo, and Burkina Faso were
trafficked to the country for indentured or domestic servitude.
Trafficked children generally came from poor rural areas and were
promised educational opportunities or other incentives.
Child prostitution often involved girls whose poor families urged
them to become prostitutes to provide income. Other children were lured
to exchange sex for money by older men, often traffickers, who acted as
their ``protectors.'' Some children were abused sexually by teachers
who sought sex for better grades. NGOs and international organizations
organized assistance to child prostitution victims and worked on
prevention programs.
The penal code prohibits kidnapping and prostitution. Penalties for
traffickers involved in ``labor exploitation'' ranged from fines to
prison terms, forced labor, or the death penalty, depending on the
severity of the crime and the length of time over which the
exploitation occurred.
On January 30, the National Assembly passed a law against child
trafficking; President Boni Yayi promulgated the law on April 5. The
new law provides for increased penalties for the trafficking of minors,
including imprisonment from six months to life, depending on the
severity of the crime, and fines from $100 (50,000 francs) to $10,000
(five million francs). The law states that individuals who are aware of
child trafficking offenses and do not report them shall face fines of
$20 (10,000 francs) to $100 (50,000 francs).
On July 9, along with 23 other West and Central African countries,
the Government signed an agreement and adopted an action plan to combat
trafficking. Regional efforts also continued between heads of state of
concerned countries to cooperate to identify, investigate, and
prosecute agents and traffickers, and to protect and repatriate
trafficking victims.
During the year the Government augmented its efforts to arrest and
prosecute traffickers. From January 2005 to October 2005, the
Government prosecuted 83 trafficking cases, 20 of which resulted in
convictions and prison terms of three months to one year.
UNICEF and other donors have supported the Ministry of Family to
establish, equip and train more than 1,100 local committees since 1999
to combat child trafficking through community surveillance and
monitoring. The Brigade for the Protection of Minors, under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, fought crimes against
children. The Government worked with NGOs to combat child trafficking,
using media campaigns and greater border surveillance; however, police
complained that they lacked equipment to monitor trafficking
adequately. Due to resource constraints, prevailing cultural attitudes,
and a lack of interagency coordination, the Government failed to meet
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, although they
made significant efforts to do so.
During the year the Ministry of Family, international NGOs, and the
donor community assisted numerous children who had been trafficked to
other countries to work in mines, quarries, and farms. Efforts included
the provision of food, shelter, medical treatment, and subsequent
placement in educational and vocational programs. The Ministry of
Family also cooperated with partners to operate centers in urban areas
to provide education and vocational training to victims of child
trafficking. Government efforts to reunite trafficked children with
their families continued during the year; however, no statistics were
available.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law that prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities;
however, the law provides that the Government should care for persons
with disabilities. There were no legal requirements for the
construction or alteration of buildings to permit access for persons
with disabilities. The Government operated few institutions to assist
persons with disabilities, and many such individuals were forced to beg
to support themselves.
The labor code includes provisions to protect the rights of workers
with disabilities, which were enforced with modest effectiveness during
the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
freedom to form and join unions, and the Government generally respected
these rights in practice. However, unions must register with the
Ministry of Interior, a three-month process, or risk a fine. The labor
force of approximately 3.2 million was engaged primarily in
subsistence, with only a small percentage of the population engaged in
the formal (wage) sector. Although approximately 75 percent of
government workers belonged to labor unions, a much smaller percentage
of workers in the private sector were union members.
Police arrested the secretary general of a stevedores' union on
September 15 and three union members posting strike notices on walls on
September 16 for disturbing the peace. After holding the individuals in
police custody for two days, the public prosecutor questioned them and
ordered their release. No charges were filed.
The labor code prohibits antiunion discrimination. Employers may
not take union membership or activity into account regarding hiring,
work distribution, professional or vocational training, or dismissal;
however, the Government did not always enforce these provisions, and
there were reports that employers threatened individuals with dismissal
for union activity.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor code
generally allows unions to conduct their activities without
interference, and the Government generally protected this right in
practice. The labor code provides for collective bargaining, and
workers freely exercised these rights. The Government sets wages in the
public sector by law and regulation.
Workers must provide three days advance notice before striking;
however, authorities can declare strikes illegal for a variety of
causes, such as threatening to disrupt social peace and order, and can
requisition striking workers to maintain minimum services. Workers
exercised their right to strike during the year. The Government may not
prohibit any strike on the grounds that it threatens the economy or the
national interest. Laws prohibit employer retaliation against strikers,
except a company may withhold part of a worker's pay following a
strike. The Government enforced these laws effectively.
The law does not grant seafarers the right to organize or to
strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred, and trafficking was a
problem (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). The law provides for imprisonment
involving compulsory labor, and judges sentenced convicts to compulsory
labor for various crimes during the year.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor code prohibits the employment or apprenticeship of children under
14 years of age in any enterprise; however, child labor remained a
problem due in part to limited government enforcement of the law. To
help support their families, children of both sexes--including those as
young as seven--continued to work on rural family farms, in small
businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets as
street vendors, and as domestic servants under the practice of
vidomegon (see Section 5). A majority of children working as
apprentices were under the legal age of 14 for apprenticeship.
Some parents indentured their children to ``agents'' recruiting
farm hands or domestic workers, often on the understanding that the
children's wages would be sent to the parents (see Section 5). In some
cases these agents took the children to neighboring countries for labor
(see Section 5). Many rural parents sent their children to cities to
live with relatives or family friends to perform domestic chores in
return for receiving an education. Host families did not always honor
their part of the bargain, and the abuse of child domestic servants
occurred.
The Ministry of Labor enforced the labor code in a limited manner
and only in the formal sector due to the lack of inspectors. The
Government took steps to educate parents and to prevent compulsory
labor by children, including media campaigns, regional workshops, and
public pronouncements on child labor problems. The Government also
worked with a network of NGOs and journalists to educate the population
about child labor and child trafficking.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government administratively
set minimum wage scales for a number of occupations. The minimum wage
was approximately $60 (30,000 francs) per month; however, the minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Many workers had to supplement their wages by subsistence
farming or informal sector trade. Most workers in the wage sector
earned more than the minimum wage, although many domestics and other
laborers in the informal sector earned less.
The labor code establishes a workweek of between 40 and 46 hours,
depending on the type of work, and provides for at least one 24-hour
rest period per week. Domestic and agricultural workers frequently
worked 70 hours or more per week, above the maximum provided for under
the labor code of 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week. The labor code
also mandates premium pay for overtime. The authorities generally
enforced legal limits on workweeks in the formal sector.
The code establishes health and safety standards, but the Ministry
of Labor and Public Service did not enforce them effectively. The law
does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment. The
ministry has the authority to require employers to remedy dangerous
work conditions but did not effectively enforce this.
__________
BOTSWANA
Botswana, with a population of 1.76 million, has been a multiparty
democracy since its independence in 1966. Its constitution provides for
indirect election of a President and popular election of a national
assembly. In 2004 the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), led by President
Festus G. Mogae, returned to power in elections generally deemed free
and fair. The BDP has held a majority of national assembly seats since
independence. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The following human rights problems were reported during the year:
poor prison conditions, lengthy delays in the judicial process,
restrictions on press freedom, violence against women, child abuse,
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDs, and
restrictions on trade unions. In December the High Court ruled broadly
in favor of 189 San (an indigenous ethnic minority) who had sued the
Government over their forced relocation from the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve (CKGR), and concluded that the Government had acted wrongly in
several regards.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
police shot and killed six individuals in three separate incidents. In
July four persons died in an exchange of gunfire with police during an
attempted robbery in Gaborone. In August one person died after being
shot by police in Gaborone while fleeing a crime scene with burgled
goods. In December a fugitive wanted on multiple counts of attempted
murder and rape was shot and killed by police in the village of
Lotlhakane.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law explicitly prohibit such
practices; however, there were reports that security forces
occasionally beat and abused suspects to obtain evidence or elicit
confessions. Coerced confessions and evidence gathered through coercion
or abuse were inadmissible in court.
Early in the year five soldiers and two police special constables
were arrested for allegedly forcing several Zimbabwean detainees to
perform sex acts on one another in November 2005. The accused were
released on bail pending trial and suspended from duty.
In August two police special constables were charged with beating a
Zimbabwean prisoner. They were convicted, fined, and dismissed from the
police service.
There were no further developments in the June 2005 case in which
five residents of Kaudwane charged that officers of the Department of
Wildlife and National Parks had beaten them during questioning about
poaching. The Government denied the accusations, but had not released
details of its investigation by year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
harassed human rights activists or forcibly dispersed demonstrators.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor; however, prison deaths decreased during the year, primarily due
to the introduction of anti-retroviral (ARV) drug treatment in prisons.
As of early September the prison system, which had an authorized
capacity of 3,910, held 5,969 prisoners, a 12 percent reduction in
overcrowding since September 2005. Overcrowding was worst in men's
prisons and constituted a serious health threat because of the
country's high incidence of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. Rape between
inmates occurred. Conditions in the less-crowded Center for Illegal
Immigrants, a detention facility, were adequate (see Section 2.d.).
Voluntary and free HIV testing, peer counseling, and anti-
retroviral drug treatment were available to prisoners. In September,
434 prisoners were receiving ARV treatment, and three HIV-positive
pregnant prisoners began participating in a ``prevention of mother-to-
child transmission'' program. The Government did not provide ARV
treatment to noncitizens in detention, but those in long-term detention
could receive such treatment free from a local nongovernmental
organization (NGO). The prison commissioner had the authority to
release terminally ill prisoners in the last 12 months of their
sentences and to allow citizen prisoners with sentences of 12 months or
less to perform ``extramural'' labor. As of September the Government
had released 371 prisoners under the extramural labor program.
Mistreatment of prisoners is illegal; however, the Department of
Prisons received three complaints that guards mistreated inmates. Four
officers were given administrative discipline in one case; the other
two complaints were still being investigated at year's end.
By September 1, 33 prisoners had died in custody, primarily from
HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, fewer than half the number at the same
point in 2005. Although the Department of Prisons routinely
investigated deaths in custody, the results of those inquests were not
made public.
Because of overcrowding, juveniles occasionally were held with
adults. Some parents requested that their incarcerated children be
transferred to facilities nearer to their homes, which also resulted in
the detention of juveniles with adults. Pretrial detainees and convicts
were held together.
Committees appointed by the minister of labor and home affairs
visited each prison facility quarterly. Although the committees
documented their findings, their reports were not made public. By
September no NGOs had requested to visit a prison. The Government
permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit facilities and
prisoners during the year, and to conduct those visits according to
those organizations' standard modalities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Botswana Police
Service (BPS), under the Ministry for Presidential Affairs and Public
Administration, has primary responsibility for internal security.
Customary or local police under the Ministry of Local government have
law enforcement responsibility in some rural areas. The army is
responsible for external security and has some domestic security
responsibilities.
There were 6,668 BPS officers and approximately 1,060 special
constables; the latter had limited authority and were considerably less
highly trained than BPS officers. There were approximately 1,800 local
police, with authority limited to specified tribal areas, who also were
not as highly trained as BPS officers.
The security forces did not operate with impunity, and the
Government investigated and took steps to punish abuses committed by
police and military personnel. In January charges were brought against
two special constables and five soldiers accused of abusing a group of
Zimbabwean illegal immigrants in December 2005 (see Section 1.c). In
August two special constables were arrested and accused of
collaborating with civilian burglars; at year's end their trial was
pending.
Corruption was not considered a major problem, but respondents to a
2005 survey listed the police among the Government agencies most prone
to corruption.
During the year approximately 95 police officers received human
rights training at the International Law Enforcement Academy located in
the country.
Arrest and Detention.--Police officers must produce an arrest
warrant except in certain cases, such as when an officer witnesses a
crime being committed or discovers that a suspect is in possession of a
controlled substance. Suspects must be informed of their rights upon
arrest, including the right to remain silent, and must be charged
before a magistrate within 48 hours; authorities respected these rights
in practice. A magistrate may order a suspect held for 14 days through
a writ of detention, which may be renewed every 14 days. There was a
functioning bail system, and detention without bail was unusual except
in murder cases, where it is mandatory. Detainees have the right to
contact a family member and to hire attorneys of their choice; in
practice, most could not afford legal counsel. The Government provides
counsel for the indigent only in capital cases, although attorneys are
required to accept pro bono clients.
Pretrial detainees waited from several weeks to several months
between the filing of charges and the start of their trials. Pretrial
detention in murder cases sometimes lasted beyond one year. Such delays
were largely due to judicial staffing shortages.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and while the judiciary was independent,
the civil courts remained unable to provide timely, fair trials due to
severe staffing shortages and a backlog of pending cases. A 2005 report
by the Office of the Ombudsman characterized the ``delays in the
finalization of criminal matters in all courts'' as a ``serious
concern,'' particularly the delays in processing appeals. In a survey
conducted during 2005, 31 percent of respondents cited inefficiencies
in the justice system as a reason for the perceived increase in fraud
in the country.
The judiciary consists of both a civil court--including
magistrates' courts, an industrial court, a court of appeal, and the
High Court--and a customary or traditional court system.
Trial Procedures.--Trials in the regular courts were public,
although trials under the National Security Act could be held in
secret. There was no jury system. Defendants have the right to be
present and consult with an attorney in a timely manner, but the state
provides an attorney only in capital cases. Those charged with non-
capital crimes were tried without legal representation if they could
not afford an attorney. As a result, many defendants were not informed
of their rights in pretrial or trial proceedings. Defendants can
question witnesses against them and have access to government-held
evidence relevant to their cases. There is a presumption of innocence,
and defendants have the right to appeal. The Botswana Center for Human
Rights provided free legal services but had limited capacity. The
University of Botswana Legal Assistance Center provided free legal
services in civil, but not criminal, matters.
Foreigners as well as citizens may be tried in customary courts. In
customary courts the defendant does not have legal counsel, and there
are no standardized rules of evidence. Tribal judges, appointed by the
tribal leader or elected by the community, determine sentences, which
may be appealed through the civil court system. The quality of
decisions reached in the customary courts varied considerably. In some
cases tribal judges may issue sentences that include corporal
punishment such as lashings on the buttocks.
There is a separate military court system; civilians are not tried
in military courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which includes a separate
industrial court for most labor-related cases. Administrative remedies
are not widely available.
Most civil cases were tried in customary courts under the authority
of a traditional leader. These courts handled land, marital, and
property disputes.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
However, in 2002 the Government forcibly resettled most of the
indigenous San and other minority members living in the CKGR to
resettlement sites outside the perimeter of the reserve. Government
officials maintained that the resettlement program was voluntary and
necessary to facilitate the delivery of public services, to provide
socio-economic development opportunities to the San, and to minimize
human impact on wildlife. In December the High Court rejected most of
these government positions (see Section 5).
In September 2005 the Government closed the reserve to control a
disease outbreak, but reopened it on May 22. Despite the closure and
earlier relocations, some San never moved outside the CKGR, and
remained in the reserve at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected freedom of speech in practice; however, the Government
attempted to limit freedom of the press and continued to dominate
domestic broadcasting. The Government occasionally censored stories or
news sources that it deemed undesirable, and government journalists
often practiced self-censorship.
The Botswana Press Agency, owned and operated by the Government,
provided most of the information found in the media through the Daily
News newspaper, distributed nationwide at no cost, and two FM radio
stations. State-owned media generally featured uncritical reporting on
the Government and were susceptible to political interference. For
example, on September 25, a senior officer of the Ministry of
Communications, Science and Technology instructed government
journalists to request and use government statements to counter
negative reporting on the CKGR issue appearing in other media.
The independent media were active and generally expressed a wide
variety of views; however, the Government placed strict controls on
their access to information.
Radio continued to be the most broadly accessible medium.
Government-owned Radio Botswana and Radio Botswana 2 covered most of
the country. Privately owned Yarona FM and Gabz FM broadcast in five of
the country's 10 largest towns. They produced news and current affairs
programs without government interference.
In 2005 the Government stopped renewing radio licenses held by the
NGO First People of the Kalahari (FPK), charging that the vehicle-
mounted and hand-held radios were being used by poachers to help avoid
wildlife patrols in the CKGR (see Section 4). The FPK said that the
radios were vital for the safety of widely scattered families living in
the reserve.
State-owned Botswana Television was the primary source of televised
news and current affairs programs. The privately owned Gaborone
Broadcasting Corporation broadcast mostly foreign programs.
International television channels were available by satellite.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not deport any
foreign journalists who criticized its policies. During 2005 the
Government deported at least two foreign journalists whose reporting
was critical of the Government. In each case, the Government exercised
its right not to specify reasons for the deportations other than to
cite national security concerns. Government officials sometimes
complained of bias in the private press; however, government officials
and other public figures have recourse to the courts if they believe
they have been libeled. Libel is a civil matter.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was typically limited to urban areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in the previous year,
there were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural
events. Citing national security concerns, the Government deported
Kenneth Good, an Australian professor at the University of Botswana, in
May 2005 after he had written papers critical of the Government. During
the year Good continued his criticisms of the Government from abroad.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that police forcibly dispersed
demonstrators.
There were no further developments concerning the September 2005
incident in which police forcibly dispersed and shot rubber bullets
into a demonstration led by San leaders Roy Sesana and Jumanda
Gakelebone, after the demonstrators attempted to force their way into
the closed CKGR. One person was injured and 21 were arrested and later
released. Trials were pending at year's end. There was a chance that
the charges would be dropped in light of the High Court's December
ruling that the San had the legal right to enter the CKGR.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Government policy and practice
contributed to the generally free practice of religion. There was no
known Jewish community in the country, and no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
In 2002 the Government required the San to relocate from the CKGR
to one of three designated settlements outside of the reserve (see
Section 5). Visitors to the reserve, including relocated former
residents, had to register with Department of Wildlife officials to
obtain a permit to enter the CKGR. A few San remained in the reserve,
and some San moved back to the CKGR during the year. Unlike in the
previous year, the Government did not deny NGO entry into the CKGR.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they fear
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government's system for granting refugee status was accessible but
slow. During the year the Government also provided temporary protection
to approximately 470 individuals who did not qualify as refugees under
the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol. The Government generally
cooperated with the office of the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government held newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers,
primarily from Zimbabwe, in the Center for Illegal Immigrants in
Francistown until the Refugee Advisory Committee (RAC), a governmental
body whose chairperson is the district commissioner of Francistown,
made a status recommendation; the UNHCR was present at RAC meetings in
the status of observer and technical advisor. Once persons were granted
refugee status, the Government transferred them to the Dukwe Refugee
Camp, home to some 3,000 refugees, until their resettlement or
voluntary repatriation. Refugee applicants who were unsuccessful in
obtaining asylum were nonetheless allowed to remain at Dukwe if they
wished, while the Government referred their cases to the UNHCR for
possible resettlement. The UNHCR criticized the detention of asylum
seekers at the Center for Illegal Immigrants on the grounds that asylum
seekers should not be held in detention facilities. Conditions at the
center were generally adequate, but refugee children in the center did
not have adequate access to education or recreation for the duration of
their detention, which in some cases lasted for many months.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prison
guards beat refugees at the center or did not allow them to see their
families.
Eleven alleged Caprivi secession leaders remained in detention
while the UNHCR reviewed their refugee claims. These individuals faced
criminal charges in Namibia and thus did not wish to be repatriated,
but no other country agreed to accept them for resettlement. The
Government allowed them to remain in detention while UNHCR attempted to
resolve their cases.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The country held
parliamentary elections in October 2004. The BDP, led by President
Mogae, won 44 of 57 competitive seats; the Botswana National Front won
12; and the Botswana Congress Party won one. The BDP has won a majority
of seats in the National Assembly in every election since independence.
Domestic and international observers characterized the elections as
generally free and fair; however, BDP candidates had preferential
access to state-owned television during much of the campaign.
Although women accounted for approximately 57 percent of voters in
the October 2004 election, they stood for office much less frequently.
There were seven women in the 61-seat parliament, five women in the 20-
seat cabinet, three female justices on the 13-seat High Court, and two
women in the 15-seat House of Chiefs.
The law recognizes only the eight principal ethnic groups of the
Tswana nation; however, members of ethnic groups not recognized by the
law participated actively in the Government, particularly members of
the Kalanga and Bakalagadi ethnic groups. There were 23 members of
minorities in the 61-seat parliament, 10 in the 20-seat cabinet, and
five on the High Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. A corruption
perception survey conducted in July 2005 in the business sector found
that 74 percent of respondents believed that corruption was increasing
in the country, though Transparency International's 2006 surveys and
rankings indicated that corruption levels are still perceived as
relatively low.
During the year the Government took steps to curb corruption. The
Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) investigated
allegations of corruption, and in July launched two separate bribery
prosecutions, one against a government official and the other against a
police officer. In November the DCEC arrested and held an immigration
officer on the charge of accepting bribes. The DCEC promoted public
awareness and education, and worked to prepare codes of ethical
conduct.
The law does not provide public access to government information,
and the Government generally restricted such access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views on most
subjects, but were far less open to the involvement of some
international NGOs on the issue of the CKGR relocations. Unlike in the
previous year, government officials did not harass or arrest human
rights activists or NGO members.
Independent local human rights groups included the Botswana Centre
for Human Rights; Childline, a child welfare NGO; Emang Basadi, a
women's rights group; and the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law, and HIV/
AIDS. The Government interacted with and provided financial support to
some of these organizations.
During the year the Government continued its refusal to renew
licenses for the NGO First People of the Kalahari to operate two-way
radios within the CKGR, charging that FPK had used the radios to
encourage and facilitate illegal activities; the FPK represented the
San in their legal challenge against the Government (see Sections 2.a.
and 5). In July 2005 the Government had denied the FPK entry to the
CKGR, charging that the group intended to encourage illegal
resettlement in the reserve and to help poachers.
During the year the Government organized several visits to the CKGR
for foreign diplomats and journalists, as well as for representatives
of opposition political parties. The Government also permitted visits
by the ICRC and UNHCR during the year.
An independent, autonomous ombudsman handled human rights and other
issues in the country, and the Government generally cooperated with the
ombudsman.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit governmental discrimination on
the basis of ethnicity, race, nationality, creed, sex, or social
status, and the Government generally respected these provisions in
practice. However, the law does not prohibit discrimination by private
persons or entities, and there was societal discrimination against
women, persons with disabilities, persons with HIV/AIDS, and minority
ethnic groups, particularly the San.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence
against women, and it remained a serious problem. Under customary law
and in common rural practice, men have the right to ``chastise'' their
wives. Greater public awareness and improved legal protection resulted
in increased reporting of domestic violence and sexual assault;
however, police rarely were called to intervene in such cases.
The law prohibits rape but does not recognize the concept of
spousal rape. During the year 1,544 incidents of rape were reported to
the police. By law the minimum sentence for rape is 10 years,
increasing to 15 years with corporal punishment if the offender is HIV-
positive, and to 20 years with corporal punishment if the offender knew
his HIV-positive status. A person convicted of rape is required to
undergo an HIV test before being sentenced. Police lacked basic
investigative techniques in rape cases.
Prostitution is illegal but was widespread. Enforcement was
sporadic and complicated by vague laws that made it easier to charge
violators with offenses such as unruly conduct or loitering than for
prostitution. Most police enforcement took the form of periodic sweeps
to clean out areas used for solicitation.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, although the amended
Public Service Act recognizes sexual harassment as misconduct
punishable under the terms of that act. Sexual harassment continued to
be a problem, particularly with men in positions of authority,
including teachers, supervisors, and older male relatives who pressured
women and girls to provide sexual favors.
Women legally have the same civil rights as men, but in practice
societal discrimination persisted. A number of traditional laws
enforced by tribal structures and customary courts restricted women's
property rights and economic opportunities, particularly in rural
areas. Marriages can occur under one of three systems, each with its
own implications for women's property rights. A woman married under
traditional law or in ``common property'' was held to be a legal minor
and required her husband's consent to buy or sell property, apply for
credit, and enter into legally binding contracts. Under an intermediate
system referred to as ``in community of property,'' married women are
permitted to own immovable property in their own names, and the law
stipulates that neither spouse can dispose of joint property without
the written consent of the other. Women increasingly exercised the
right to marriage ``out of common property,'' in which case they
retained their full legal rights as adults. Polygyny is legal under
traditional law with the consent of the first wife, but it was not
common.
Highly skilled urban women had growing access to entry- and mid-
level white collar jobs. Although women occupied many senior level
positions in government agencies, such as governor of the Bank of
Botswana, attorney general, minister of communication, and director of
public prosecution, their counterparts in the private sector seldom
held such positions.
The Women's Affairs Department in the Ministry of Labor and Home
Affairs had responsibility for promoting and protecting women's rights
and welfare. During the year it provided approximately $216,000 (1.3
million pula) to NGOs working on such issues.
Children.--The law provides for the rights and welfare of children,
and the Government continued to allocate the largest portion of its
budget to the Ministry of Education and the second largest portion to
the Ministry of Local government, which distributed books, food, and
materials for primary education. The country also has a court system
and social service apparatus designed solely for juveniles.
Following extensive public debate, the Government introduced a
system of school fees during the year. The fees were waived for
children whose family income fell below a certain amount. The state
also provided uniforms, books, and development fees for students whose
parents were destitute. Education was not compulsory. According to the
most recent government statistics, approximately 88 percent of children
attended school, and approximately 30 percent of children completed
secondary school. Girls and boys attended school at similar rates.
School attendance and completion rates were highest in urban areas,
where transportation was readily available, and lowest in rural areas,
where children lived far from schools and often assisted their families
as cattle tenders, domestic laborers, and child care providers.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that there were 160,000
orphans in the country, of whom approximately 120,000 had lost their
parents due to HIV/AIDS. As of September the Government had registered
53,198 children as orphans. Once registered, these children received
clothes, shelter, a monthly food basket worth between $36 (216 pula)
and $92 (550 pula) depending upon location, and counseling as needed.
Some relatives continued to deny inheritance rights to orphans.
Boys and girls had equal access to government healthcare centers
for $0.33 (2 pula) per visit, and students in remote areas received two
free meals a day at school. Approximately 28 percent of babies born to
HIV-positive mothers were protected from the virus, largely as a result
of the Government's Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Program.
Although the law prohibits defilement (sex with a child below the
age of 16), no law specifically prohibits child abuse. Sexual abuse of
students by teachers was a problem, and there were frequent media
reports of rape, sexual assault, incest, and defilement. The increasing
number of HIV/AIDS orphans contributed to an increase in incest. The
law considers incest a punishable act only if it occurs between blood
relatives, leaving children unprotected from incestuous acts performed
by step parents, caregivers, and the extended family. The issues of
intergenerational sex between girls and older men and the resulting
teenage pregnancies generated extensive media coverage and public
discussion.
Child marriage occurred infrequently and was largely limited to
certain ethnic groups.
Child prostitution and pornography were criminal offenses; the law
stipulates a 10-year minimum sentence for defilement. Media and NGO
reports indicated that child prostitution catering to truck drivers
existed along the main road linking the country with South Africa, and
that many of the girls were thought to be orphans.
There were reports of child labor (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, although penal code provisions cover related offenses such as
abduction and kidnapping, slave trafficking, and procuring women and
girls for the purpose of prostitution. There were unconfirmed reports
that women and children from eastern Africa were trafficked through the
country to South Africa. Traffickers charged with kidnapping or
abduction could be sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. The BPS and
the local police shared responsibility for combating trafficking-
related crimes.
The Government worked with NGOs to assist potential trafficking
victims by hosting workshops on trafficking issues and by making grants
to shelters that provided short- and long-term care for street
children.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in education,
employment, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services. The Government has a national policy that provides for
integrating the needs of persons with disabilities into all aspects of
government policymaking; however, the Government did not mandate access
to public buildings or transportation for persons with disabilities.
There was some discrimination against persons with disabilities, and
employment opportunities remained limited. The Government funded NGOs
that provided rehabilitation services and supported small-scale work
projects for workers with disabilities.
Indigenous People.--Although the Government officially considers
all of the country's ethnic groups to be equally ``indigenous,'' the
earliest known inhabitants of the country, the San, were
linguistically, culturally, and often by physical appearance distinct
from the rest of the population. The San traditionally were hunter-
gatherers. They were not, however, a homogeneous group. The estimated
50 60,000 San in the country represented approximately 3 percent of the
country's population. The San remained economically and politically
marginalized, have generally lost access to their traditional land in
fertile regions of the country, and were vulnerable to exploitation by
their non-San neighbors. Their isolation, limited access to education,
ignorance of civil rights, and lack of political representation stymied
their progress. After independence a substantial proportion of San
resided in government-created Remote Area Dweller settlements and
subsisted on government welfare benefits, supplemented by herding,
hunting, and gathering. Most employed San worked as agricultural
laborers on cattle ranches owned by individuals of other ethnic groups.
The colonial government established the 20,000 square mile CKGR in
1963 to protect the area's ecosystem and to allow some San groups to
continue to pursue a subsistence hunter-gatherer livelihood within the
reserve. By 1997 the Government had concluded that San settlements
within the CKGR were incompatible with wildlife protection and social
development, and most San were relocated from the CKGR under an
arrangement that included government transportation and a modest,
government-set compensation, usually in the form of livestock. More
than 700 residents did not accept the Government's relocation
inducements, and remained in the reserve. In January 2002 the
Government delivered an ultimatum to the remaining CKGR residents
declaring that public services within the reserve, most significantly
provision of water, would cease and that all residents would be
relocated outside the reserve. In April 2002 the Government forcibly
resettled most San from the CKGR to the settlement areas of Kaudwane,
New Xade, and Xere. Between 20 and 50 San stayed on inside the reserve,
despite the closure of the wells and the end of other services.
The sustainability of the new settlements was threatened by poor
employment opportunities, rampant alcohol abuse, limited hunting and
grazing options, and the high cost of providing public services. The
San continued to struggle with the lack of economic opportunities in
the relocation areas and with a general yearning to return to their
homes within the CKGR.
Until May 22, the CKGR was closed due to an outbreak of a
contagious animal disease. Although the few San still residing inside
the reserve were allowed to remain, the Government removed their
domestic livestock as part of the quarantine process. The Government
also barred the delivery of drinking water to the remaining residents
by donkey cart, but allowed water deliveries by motor vehicle. The
death of an elderly San woman inside the CKGR late in 2005 briefly
raised tensions when the Government initially refused to allow anyone
other than her immediate family into the reserve to attend the funeral.
The issue dissipated after the Government relented and provided
transport for the 100 people who attended the funeral. In contrast to
2005, there were no significant further clashes between the authorities
and the San, and tensions over the relocation issue were generally more
subdued.
On December 13, the High Court announced its rulings in the case
that had been brought against the Government in 2004 by First People of
the Kalahari challenging the legality of the relocations. One hundred
eighty-nine San were signed as applicants in the suit against the
Government. The court ruled that although the Government had acted
legally in terminating services inside the CKGR, it had acted
``forcibly or wrongly and without their consent'' in its relocation of
the San people. The court declared that the applicants were entitled to
return to the reserve without the need for entry permits, and were also
entitled to be issued permits to hunt inside the reserve. The
Government is not obligated to resume the provision of services within
the CKGR.
The Government announced that it would accept and carry out the
court's rulings, but only with respect to the 189 actual applicants and
their minor children, rather than for all of the San affected by the
relocations. Many of the San and their supporters objected to this
interpretation of the scope of the rulings. President Mogae held a
``town hall-style'' discussion with the San in the largest resettlement
village over implementation of the court rulings, but the issue had not
been resolved at year's end.
A number of NGOs have made efforts to promote the rights of
indigenous people or to help provide economic opportunities. However,
the programs have had limited impact. In May all major domestic NGOs
working on San-related issues, including the FPK and the Botswana
Center for Human Rights, entered into a coalition effort to support the
rights and aspirations of the San more effectively. In November,
however, the FPK indicated that it intended to pull out of the
coalition, though no public announcement was made.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against
persons with HIV/AIDS continued to be a problem, including in the
workplace. The Government funded community organizations that ran
programs to reduce the stigma of HIV/AIDS.
The law prohibits homosexuality, but there were no reports of
enforcement action by the authorities. There were, however, reports of
societal discrimination and harassment of homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and join
unions of their choice without excessive requirements, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Public sector employees, who were
extended the right to organize in 2004, were still in the process of
establishing unions. The industrial or wage economy was small, and
unions were concentrated largely in mineral extraction and to a lesser
extent in the railway and banking sectors.
Workers may not be fired for legal union-related activities.
Dismissals on other grounds may be appealed to civil courts or labor
officers, which rarely ordered more than two months' severance pay. The
law severely restricts the right to strike, and virtually all strikes
are ruled illegal, leaving striking workers at risk of dismissal. Legal
strikes theoretically are possible only after an exhaustive arbitration
process. Sympathy strikes are prohibited.
As reported in the semi-official Daily News, in September the BCL
copper mine in Selebi-Phikwe dismissed 178 workers for engaging in an
August strike that the High Court declared illegal. The Botswana Mine
Workers Union (BMWU) protested the dismissals and announced it would
conduct its own investigation into the circumstances and legality of
the strike.
Also in September the BMWU appealed an industrial court ruling that
a 2004 strike against Debswana, the government-DeBeers joint venture
that runs the country's diamond mines, was illegal. That ruling led to
Debswana's dismissal in 2005 of 461 workers, including several union
leaders who did not participate in the strike. The court had not ruled
on the appeal at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining for unions that have enrolled 25 percent of a
labor force; however, only the mineworker and diamond sorter unions had
the organizational strength to engage in collective bargaining during
the year.
The country's export processing zone (EPZ) exists on paper only. No
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws apply to the EPZ.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
laws prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by children.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although child labor is addressed in the Children's Act, some child
labor occurred. Only an immediate family member may employ a child age
13 or younger, and no juvenile under age 14 may be employed in any
industry without permission from the commissioner of labor. No
organization has petitioned the commissioner for such permission. Only
persons over age 16 may be hired to perform night work, and no person
under age 16 is allowed to perform hazardous labor, including mining.
District and municipal councils have child welfare divisions, which
are responsible for enforcing child labor laws; however, no systematic
investigation has occurred. The labor commissioner, UNICEF, and
officials of the Ministry of Local government, Lands, and Housing
agreed that child labor was generally limited to young children in
remote areas who worked as cattle tenders, domestic laborers, and child
care providers. Childline, an independent child welfare organization,
received two reports of illegal child labor from January to August; 12
reports were filed the previous year.
The law provides that adopted children may not be exploited for
labor, and protects orphans from exploitation or coercion into
prostitution. HIV/AIDS has resulted in numerous orphans, many of whom
left school to care for sick relatives and became vulnerable to such
exploitation.
The Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs was responsible for
enforcing child labor laws and policies, and it was generally
effective, despite limited resources for oversight of remote areas of
the country. Other involved government entities included offices with
the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Local government.
Oversight of child labor issues was facilitated through the Advisory
Committee on Child Labor, which included representatives of various
NGOs, government agencies, workers' federations, and employers'
organizations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum hourly wage for most
full-time labor in the private sector was $0.56 (3.35 pula), which did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
cabinet determined wage policy based on recommendations from the
National Economic, Manpower, and Incomes Committee, which consists of
representatives of the Government, private sector, and the Botswana
Federation of Trade Unions. The Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs was
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage, and each of the country's
districts had at least one labor inspector. Civil service disputes were
referred to an ombudsman for resolution. Private labor disputes were
mediated by labor commissioners; however, an insufficient number of
commissioners resulted in one- to two-year backlogs in resolving such
disputes.
Formal sector jobs generally paid well above minimum wage levels.
Informal sector employment, particularly in the agricultural and
domestic service sectors, where housing and food were included,
frequently paid below the minimum wage. There was no mandatory minimum
wage for domestic workers, and the Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs
did not recommend a minimum wage for them.
The law permits a maximum 48-hour workweek, exclusive of overtime,
which is payable at time-and-a-half. Most modern private sector jobs
had a 40-hour workweek; the public sector, however, had a 48-hour
workweek.
The law provides that workers who complain about hazardous
conditions may not be fired, and authorities in the Ministry of Labor
and Home Affairs effectively enforced this right. The Government's
ability to enforce its workplace safety legislation remained limited by
inadequate staffing and unclear jurisdictions among different
ministries. Nevertheless, employers in the formal sector generally
provided for worker safety.
__________
BURKINA FASO
Burkina Faso is a parliamentary republic with a population of
approximately 13.9 million. In November 2005 President Blaise Compaore
was reelected to a third term with 80 percent of the vote. Observers
considered the election to be generally free, despite minor
irregularities, but not entirely fair due to the ruling party's control
of official resources. Some in the opposition also contested the
legality of the President's candidacy. President Compaore, assisted by
members of his party, the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP),
continued to dominate the Government. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, but there were
improvements in some areas. The following human rights problems were
reported: use of excessive force against civilians, criminal suspects,
and detainees by security forces, resulting in deaths and injuries;
societal violence; abuse of prisoners and harsh prison conditions;
arbitrary arrest and detention; official impunity; occasional
restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of assembly; violence
and discrimination against women and children, including female genital
mutilation (FGM); trafficking in persons, including children;
discrimination against persons with disabilities; and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any known politically motivated killings;
however, security forces killed civilians, criminal suspects, and
detainees. There were approximately 12 killings.
On February 17, Fousseni Traore, a soldier, killed his girlfriend,
Alima Sakande, in Tampouy, Ouagadougou City. On February 22, police
arrested Traore in Leraba Province and transferred him to military
custody soon thereafter. No further information was available.
On April 7, suspected gang member Salam Sawadogo died in detention
at Meguet police station in Ganzourgou. Police, who claimed that
Sawadogo died of heat stroke in his cell, buried his body without the
family's consent. No investigation was conducted by year's end. The
family did not file a report against the police. Human rights
associations suspected that Sawadogo died under police torture (see
Section 1.c.).
On May 3, a gendarme killed Michel Bakouan in Didyr, Sanguie,
reportedly for attempting to escape from custody. Bakouan, who had been
detained at the Didyr gendarmerie for several hours, was accused of
assaulting a cattle farmer and stealing his cattle grazing and
transportation permit. An investigation was reportedly conducted but no
results were released. No action was taken against the responsible
gendarme by year's end.
On October 28, police summarily executed Djolgou Yarga, Dayamba
Hamsoaguini, and Bandambe Lankouande from Piela, Gnagna Province.
Police suspected them of being highway bandits. A group of
parliamentarians and human rights associations expressed their shock
and indignation at the killings. Human rights groups, families, and
friends of the victims denied police allegations that the victims were
armed and killed in a fire fight. They argued that the three men were
unarmed, taken to the police station for questioning, and then
summarily executed without trial. The parliamentarians and human rights
associations demanded an independent investigation of the case;
however, no investigation was conducted by year's end.
On December 20, a fight between a group of soldiers and police in
Ouagadougou resulted in the killings of four soldiers--Adi Kabore, Ben
Isidine Simpore, Issouf Nacanabo, and Batiebe Ouedraogo, two
policemen--Sayouba Ouedraogo and Laurent Tiendrebeogo, and an unknown
number of civilians whose names were not published. There were also
more than 10 injured, including civilians. Damage to police property
was significant. In their attack on police targets, demonstrating
soldiers broke into Ouagadougou Central Prison and approximately 614
prisoners escaped. Prison security guards killed one prisoner trying to
escape and wounded five others. Less than one hundred of the prisoners
returned or were recaptured by year's end. There had been long-standing
tension between the military and police. This specific conflict
resulted from Ouagadougou police having beaten and held in detention a
young military recruit for illegally having taken a seat at a concert
without paying the appropriate ticket price.
There were no further developments in the February 2005 prison
death of Karim Bikienga.
No action was taken against the gendarmes who in March 2005 killed
three residents--Prissare Hien, Tiadouane Hien, and Tikpare Hien--
injured several others, and destroyed property during a raid on
Bossoura village, Poni. The raid was an attempt to recapture a prisoner
freed by a Bossoura mob, which had broken into the local gendarmerie
station. In 2005 the Burkinabe Movement for Human Rights (MBDHP), the
country's largest human rights organization and a vocal critic of the
Government, demanded that the minister of security take action against
the responsible gendarmes; however, no action was taken by year's end.
In December 2005 police killed four persons, Abdoul Aziz Ouedraogo,
Adama Sawadogo, Jean-Baptiste Nacanabo, and Jean-Raphael Ouedraogo, who
reportedly attempted to flee a checkpoint set up to stop highway
bandits. In response to complaints by human rights nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs), the Ministry of Security conducted an
investigation, but no results were released by year's end.
There were no known instances of societal violence that resulted in
deaths and injuries during the year; however, such incidents occur at
times without being widely known. In September 2005 the body of an
unidentified man was found along the roadside in Ouagadougou. Witnesses
alleged that an angry mob had killed the man after he attempted to
break into a store. A 2005 investigation did not produce any results.
The results of the investigation into the alleged September 2005
killing of a suspected thief had not been released by year's end.
The Government continued to distribute money from the approximately
$9.5 million (five billion CFA francs) fund set up to compensate the
families of victims of incidents of political violence that occurred
between 1960 and 2001; however, the actual amount disbursed during the
year was unclear.
In 2005 the 19 Kassena farmers accused of killing herders in land
use conflicts in 2004 were released without any trial having been held.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
members of the security forces continued to abuse persons with
impunity, and suspects were frequently subjected to beatings, threats,
and occasionally torture to extract confessions. Abuse by security
forces resulted in deaths (see Section 1.a.).
Security force use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators
during the year resulted in injuries (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
On May 4, after a series of escalating conflicts with residents,
police cadets used clubs and belts to beat civilians in Ouidi, a
neighborhood in Ouagadougou; 10 persons were injured and several small
businesses were damaged. The conflict reportedly began when a police
cadet beat a young boy accused of theft, a civilian beat the cadet in
retaliation, and police cadets attacked civilians in response. Police
provided medical care to the injured persons. Unspecified disciplinary
measures reportedly were taken against the responsible cadets.
There were no further developments in the following 2005 cases: the
February beating of a high school teacher by two army recruits in
Ouahigouya, Yatenga; the June beating of Jonathan Bonkian by six
soldiers in Bobo-Dioulasso; and the August beating by police of Desire
Sanou, whose family filed a case in court in 2005.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators during the year (see
Sections 1.d., 2.a., and 2.b.).
The September 2005 witchcraft case involving Noufou Bance was
resolved out of court.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh and could be life threatening. Prisons were overcrowded, and
medical care and sanitation were poor. Prison diet was inadequate, and
inmates often relied on supplemental food from relatives. Pretrial
detainees usually were held with convicted prisoners.
There were no confirmed reports of deaths from prison conditions or
neglect during the year; however, human rights associations argued that
such occurrences were not uncommon.
Prison authorities granted prison visits at their discretion.
Permission generally was granted, and advance permission was not
required. There were no reports of prison visits by international
organizations during the year; however, during the year local NGOs
visited prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did
not consistently observe these prohibitions in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police,
under the Ministry of Security, and the municipal police, under the
Ministry of Territorial Administration, are responsible for public
security. Gendarmes report to the Ministry of Defense and are
responsible for some aspects of public security. Human rights
associations questioned the effectiveness of security forces. They
believed that security forces were less effective than before in
ensuring protection for the population, based on perceived growing
insecurity in the country. Corruption was widespread, particularly
among lower levels of the police and gendarmerie. The 2006 report by
the anticorruption NGO National Network to Fight Against Corruption
(RENLAC) stated that the police and gendarmerie were among the most
corrupt institutions in the country. Impunity was a serious problem.
The gendarmerie is responsible for investigating police and gendarme
abuse; however, the Government took no known disciplinary action
against those responsible for abuses, and the climate of impunity
created by the Government's failure to prosecute abusers remained the
largest obstacle to reducing abuses.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no strikes by police cadets
to protest conditions of employment.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for the right to
expeditious arraignment, bail, access to legal counsel after a detainee
has been charged before a judge, and, if indigent, access to a lawyer
provided by the state. Police have to possess a warrant to legally
search or arrest. However, authorities did not ensure due process.
Police arbitrarily arrested demonstrators and a journalist during
the year (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
The law limits detention without charge for investigative purposes
to a maximum of 72 hours, renewable for a single 48-hour period,
although police rarely observed these restrictions in practice.
Detainees were promptly informed of charges against them. The average
time of detention without charge (preventive detention) was one week,
and the law permits judges to impose an unlimited number of six-month
preventive detention periods. Defendants without access to legal
counsel were often detained for weeks or months before appearing before
a magistrate. An estimated 48 percent of detainees nationwide were in
pretrial status. Approximately 52 percent of those held in Ouagadougou
Prison were pretrial detainees. In some cases prisoners were held
without charge or trial for longer periods than the maximum sentence
they would have received if convicted of the alleged offense. There was
a pretrial release (release on bail) system; however, the extent of its
use was unknown.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was subject to
executive influence, and was corrupt and inefficient. The President has
extensive appointment and other judicial powers. Constitutionally, the
head of state also serves as President of the Superior Council of the
Magistrature, which nominates and removes senior magistrates and
examines the performance of individual magistrates. Systemic weaknesses
in the justice system included the removability of judges, corruption
of magistrates, outdated legal codes, an insufficient number of courts,
a lack of financial and human resources, and excessive legal costs.
There are four operational higher courts: the Supreme Court of
Appeal; the Council of State; the Audit Court and Office; and the
Constitutional Council. Beneath these higher courts are two courts of
appeal and 25 provincial courts. There is a High Court of Justice with
jurisdiction over the President and other senior government officials.
In addition there is a tribunal to try juveniles under 18.
Customary or traditional courts presided over by village chiefs
previously handled many family problems, but such courts ceased to
exist in 1984.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public but do not use juries.
Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to consult with and
be represented by an attorney. Defendants have the right to be present
at their trials, to be informed promptly of charges against them, to
provide their own evidence, and to access government-held evidence.
Defendants can challenge and present witnesses and have the right of
appeal, and, if indigent, access to a lawyer provided by the state.
While these rights were generally respected, citizens' ignorance of the
law and a continuing shortage of magistrates limited the right to a
fair trial.
Military courts tried only military cases; they were subject to
executive influence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was
subject to executive influence. Citizens criticized the judiciary for
being corrupt and inefficient. At times people relied on the ombudsman
to settle disputes with the Government.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. In
national security cases, a law permits surveillance, searches, and
monitoring of telephones and private correspondence without a warrant.
By law and under normal circumstances, homes may be searched only if
the Attorney General issues a warrant.
During the year there were reports that customs officers searched
the private mail of author Vincent Ouattara, who had written a book
that criticized President Compaore's regime.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at
times restricted these rights and intimidated journalists into
practicing self-censorship. The President and his government remained
sensitive to criticism.
The official media, including the daily newspaper, Sidwaya, and the
government-controlled radio and television, displayed a progovernment
bias. There were numerous independent papers, and radio and television
stations, some of which were critical of the Government. Foreign radio
stations broadcast without government interference.
All media were under the administrative and technical supervision
of the Ministry of Information. The Superior Council of Communication,
which was under the Presidential office and had limited independence,
regulated the media.
During a January 16 demonstration, police confiscated the camera of
Lierme Some, director of publication of the investigative paper
L'Independant, who was covering the incident. After protests by
journalists' associations, police returned the camera; however, the
film was not in it.
On July 18, the judge investigating the 1998 killing of journalist
Norbert Zongo dismissed charges against the sole suspect, warrant
officer Marcel Kafando, former head of the Presidential guard, claiming
there was insufficient evidence. Media entities, human rights
organizations, the donor community, and unions denounced the decision
and called for an immediate reopening of the case.
No action was taken against the six police officers responsible for
the 2005 beating of journalist Urbain Kabore.
Journalists charged with libel may defend themselves in court by
presenting evidence to support their allegations, but the burden of
proof rests on journalists.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
However, dire poverty and the high rate of illiteracy limited public
access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of
assembly, the Government at times restricted this right in practice.
Political parties and labor unions are allowed to hold meetings and
rallies without requesting government permission; however, advance
notification is required for planned demonstrations that might threaten
public peace. Penalties for violation of the advance notification
requirement include two to five years' imprisonment. Denials or imposed
modifications of a proposed march route or schedule may be appealed to
the courts.
On January 16, security forces used teargas and batons to disperse
a demonstration against mayoral mismanagement in Diebougou, Bougouriba
Province; 30 persons were injured. In response protestors destroyed a
police vehicle and wounded a police officer. Security forces detained
33 persons and wounded 20 demonstrators. The police released 19
detainees three days later; the other 14 were charged with
participation in an illegal demonstration, violence, and arson. On
January 31, the 14 detainees were tried, fined approximately $760
(397,000 CFA francs) each, and given suspended sentences of 10 months'
imprisonment; the 14 were released soon thereafter.
On April 12, police in Koudougou, Boulkiembe, used teargas and
rubber batons to disperse high school students protesting the last-
minute cancellation of an exam. Police detained three students for
questioning for several hours.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Political parties and labor unions were permitted to
organize without government permission.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Religious groups must register with the Ministry of Territorial
Administration, and failure to register may result in a fine of
approximately $95 to $287 (50,000 to 150,000 CFA francs). All groups
were given equal access to permits, and the Government approved
registrations in a routine fashion.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination against members of religious groups or anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the
Government used it during the year.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they faced
persecution, and granted refugee or asylum status. The Government
cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. The Government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
or 1967 Protocol. There were 522 persons with refugee status and 609
persons who had requested refugee status residing in the country. Most
were nationals of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of Congo; others were from Chad
and Liberia. Almost all the refugees and applicants lived in
Ouagadougou.
During the year the Government's national refugee committee and
UNHCR continued their efforts to respond to the needs of refugees.
Unlike in previous years, there were no official reports of
citizens returning from Cote d'Ivoire during the year, since conditions
of security in Cote d'Ivoire had improved, although it is likely that
individual and small scale cross-border movements continued during the
year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully through multiparty elections; however, in
practice citizens were unable to exercise this right fully due to the
continued dominance of the President and his ruling party.
Elections and Political Participation.--In November 2005 President
Blaise Compaore won the Presidential election with 80 percent of the
vote, with a turnout of 57.5 percent. Opposition candidate Benewende
Sankara, the closest runner-up, received 5 percent of the vote. Despite
some irregularities, international observers considered the elections
generally free but not entirely fair, due to the resource advantage
held by the President.
On April 23, there were local elections in 351 communes; 10
communes held repeat elections on July 9 due to irregularities. A total
of 318 of the 351 new mayors were members of the ruling CDP party. Only
five of the new mayors represented opposition parties. The remaining 28
mayors belonged to parties allied with President Compaore. Despite
minor irregularities, international observers considered the local
elections generally free but not entirely fair, due to the resource
advantage held by the ruling party.
CDP membership conferred advantages, particularly for businessmen
and traders seeking ostensibly open bidding contracts.
Individuals and parties can freely declare their candidacies and
stand for election in Presidential elections; however, individuals must
be members of a political party to run in legislative or municipal
elections.
There were 12 women in the 111-seat National Assembly and five
women in the 35-member cabinet. One of the three higher courts was led
by a woman, 18 of the elected mayors were women, and an estimated 40 to
45 percent of new communal councilors were women.
The cabinet included 20 minority members; the National Assembly
included 61 minority representatives.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was a
serious problem, especially in the police, gendarmerie, and customs
services. Unlike reports from the audit courts (responsible for
auditing the Government's accounts), which are published, reports from
the Government's High Authority to Fight Against Corruption (HACLC)
were not published; however, contents were sometimes ``leaked.'' It was
rumored that the HACLC report was critical of the extent of official
corruption. The anticorruption NGO RENLAC noted an increase in levels
of corruption in the country.
On May 24, under pressure from RENLAC, local media, and unions, the
Government removed Idrissa Zampaligre, director general of the social
security office. Under Zampaligre, an estimated $9.7 million (five
billion CFA francs) were invested in overseas financial markets; RENLAC
suspected that funds had been diverted.
Despite numerous instances of high-level corruption during the year
and in 2005, no senior officials were prosecuted for corruption.
There were no laws that provided for public access to government
information; however, government ministries generally released
nonsensitive documents to citizens and noncitizens, including foreign
media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
During the year there were no reports that the Government met with
domestic NGO monitors, responded to any inquiries, or took action in
response to any reports or recommendations. Despite human rights NGOs'
criticism of the Government's human rights policies, it was generally
believed that they operated without government interference. A Bobo-
Dioulasso-based NGO, however, denounced the government-controlled
media's censoring its views critical of government policies during the
year.
The Government permitted international human rights groups to visit
and operate in the country; however, there were no reported visits
during the year by UN or other international organizations. The MBDHP
was affiliated with the Inter-African Human Rights Union.
On March 28, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
notified the Government that it had violated Articles 7 and 9 of the
International Covenant on Civic and Political Rights in connection with
the 1987 assassination of former President Thomas Sankara. In its
response the Government concurred with the UNHRC's observations and
agreed to act on its recommendations. In April the Government posted
the UNHRC observations on its Web site and distributed copies to the
media, rewrote Sankara's death certificate to show the actual cause of
death, and undertook actions to pay Sankara's military pension to his
family. It also agreed to pay his family more than $82,000 (43 million
CFA francs) from a family compensation fund established in 2001.
However, no pension or compensation monies had been paid; Sankara's
family demanded that the case be investigated and the perpetrators
punished prior to accepting any financial compensation.
In June the Government ombudsman, Amina Ouedraogo, submitted an
activity report for the two-year period 2004 05. According to the
report, the office handled 500 cases, primarily regarding
administrative matters, such as civil servants' pension benefits or
land disputes; the ombudsman's duties also include handling human
rights cases. Approximately 30 percent of cases handled were resolved.
The ombudsman's limited resources did not permit fully effective
implementation of its mandate. The ombudsman is appointed by the
President for a nonrenewable five-year term; the ombudsman cannot be
removed during the term.
The National Commission on Human Rights serves as a permanent
framework for dialogue on human rights concerns and included
representatives of human rights NGOs, unions, professional
associations, and the Government. The MBDHP did not participate on the
commission and continued to charge that the commission was subject to
government influence.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the basis of
race, ethnic origin, gender, disability, and social status; however,
the Government did not effectively enforce these prohibitions.
Discrimination against women and persons with disabilities remained a
problem.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating,
occurred frequently. No law specifically protects women from domestic
violence, and cases of wife beating usually were handled out of court.
There were no available statistics on how many persons were prosecuted,
convicted, or punished for domestic violence; however, it was believed
such legal actions were infrequent because women were reluctant or
ashamed to take their spouses to court. Cases that involved severe
injury usually were handled through the legal system. The ministries
for women's promotion, and social action and national solidarity, and
several NGOs have cooperated to protect women's rights.
Childless old women with no support, particularly if their husbands
had died, were usually accused of witchcraft. They were often banned
from living in their villages, since they often were accused of eating
the soul of a relative or a child who died. These women sought refuge
at centers run by charitable organizations in big cities like
Ouagadougou.
Rape was a crime and occurred frequently. There is no explicit
discussion of spousal rape in the law, and there have been no recent
court cases. There were organizations that counseled rape victims,
including Catholic and Protestant missions, the Association of Women
Jurists in Burkina, the MBDHP, the Association of Women, and
Promofemmes--a regional network that works to combat violence against
women. The Government continued media campaigns to change attitudes
that viewed women as inferior.
FGM was practiced widely, especially in rural areas, and usually
was performed at an early age. According to a 2006 report by the
National Committee for the Fight Against Excision (CNLPE), up to 81
percent of women aged 25 and older, and approximately 34 percent of
girls and women under 25, have undergone FGM. The Government
demonstrated its commitment to eradicate FGM through education and law
enforcement. The report also indicated that the incidence of excision
had decreased by approximately 49.5 percent since 1990. The adoption by
the parliament of the 1996 anti-FGM legislation was credited with
helping to decrease the occurrence of FGM. Perpetrators were subject to
a significant fine and imprisonment of six months to three years, or up
to 10 years if the victim died. More than 77 persons were sentenced
during the year for perpetrating FGM. ``Operation Hotline,''
established by the CNLPE to provide citizens with a fast and anonymous
way to report violations, received approximately 32 calls during the
year. The 700 percent drop in calls received compared to the previous
year was due to limited anti-FGM campaigning. Another reason was that
the Government reportedly failed, due to limited resources, to take
immediate action or promptly investigate many suspected cases.
On January 26, police in Pouytenga, Boulgou, arrested seven persons
for having practiced FGM on four girls aged two years. The detainees
remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
During the year suspected FGM practitioners Kadisso Ouedraogo,
Azeta Ouedraogo, and Yiere Berte, who had been arrested in 2005 and
2004, were released without trial.
In December 2005 the tribunal of Kaya, Sanmatenga, sentenced six
women to three months' imprisonment for performing FGM on nine young
girls. The women were released after completing their prison terms.
The law does not specifically prohibit prostitution; however,
pimping and soliciting are illegal. Prostitution was widespread and
tolerated by security forces.
There were occasional reports of trafficking in women (see Section
5, Trafficking).
The labor code explicitly prohibits sexual harassment, but such
harassment was common. The law prescribes fines from approximately $100
to $1,203 (50,000 to 600,000 CFA francs) and prison terms varying from
one month to five years.
The law prohibits forced marriage, and prescribes penalties from
six months to two years in prison. The prison term may increase to
three years if the victim is under 13; however, there were no reports
of any prosecutions of violators. Polygyny was permitted, but both
parties must agree to it prior to a marriage. A wife could oppose
further marriages by her husband if she provided evidence that he had
abandoned her and her children. Either spouse could petition for
divorce; the law provided that custody of a child be granted to either
parent, based on the child's best interests.
Women continued to occupy a subordinate position and experienced
discrimination in education, jobs, property, and family rights.
Although the law provides equal property rights for women and
inheritance benefits depending on other family relationships, in
practice traditional law denied women the right to own property,
particularly real estate. In rural areas, land belonged to the family
of a woman's husband. Women still did much of the subsistence farming
work. Traditional law does not recognize inheritance rights for women
and regards a woman as property that can be inherited upon her
husband's death.
Overall, women represented 45 percent of the workforce. In the
modern sector, women comprised one-fourth of the Government workforce,
primarily in lower paying positions.
The Ministry for Women's Promotion actively promoted women's rights
during the year, and the minister was a woman. During the year the
Government continued to establish income-generating activities for
women, including market gardening and the production of fabric, shea
butter, and soap.
Children.--The constitution nominally protects children's rights.
The Government demonstrated its commitment to improving the condition
of children by continuing efforts, in cooperation with donors, to
revitalize primary health care by including care for nursing mothers
and infants; vaccination campaigns against measles, meningitis, and
other illnesses; and health education.
The Government allotted approximately $182 million (95 billion CFA
francs) of the national budget to education, and the law provides for
free, compulsory, and universal primary education until the age of 16;
however, the Government lacked the means to provide it fully. If a
child qualified on the basis of grades and social condition (that is,
the family was very poor), tuition-free education could continue
through junior high and high school. Children still were responsible
for paying for school supplies, which often cost significantly more
than tuition. Many parents could not afford to lose a child's labor in
the fields or at other remunerative jobs; as a result, overall school
enrollment was approximately 57 percent (51 percent for girls.) The
highest grade level achieved by most children was sixth grade.
The Government promoted primary education for girls through
encouragement of donor scholarships, school feeding programs, and
information campaigns to change societal attitudes toward educating
girls. In the primary school system, girls constituted slightly more
than one-third of pupils. Schools in rural areas had even lower
percentages of female students, and illiteracy among girls in rural
areas was as high as 95 percent. The rate of male literacy was
approximately 32 percent, and female literacy was 15 percent. The law
prohibits the abuse of children under 15 and provides for the
punishment of abusers. The penal code mandates a one- to three-year
prison sentence and fines ranging from approximately $601 to $1,804
(300,000 to 900,000 CFA francs) for proven inhumane treatment or
mistreatment of children; however, light corporal punishment was
tolerated and widely practiced in society, although the Government
conducted seminars and education campaigns against child abuse.
Scarification of the faces of boys and girls of certain ethnic
groups continued but was gradually disappearing.
FGM was performed commonly on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
Several NGOs believed that child marriage was a problem in the
provinces of Senou, Soum, Fada, Pama, and Diapaga; however, there were
no reliable statistics. The legal age for marriage is 17.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children;
however, the law does not prohibit trafficking in adults. The country
was a source, transit point, and destination country for
internationally trafficked persons, mostly children. The law prohibits
slavery, inhumane treatment, mistreatment of children and adults,
kidnapping, and violence. The penalty for child trafficking is one to
10 years' imprisonment and fines of approximately $601 to $3,012
(299,250 to 1.5 million CFA francs). Sexual exploitation of children
was a problem.
In 2005 and during the reporting period police arrested a total of
44 child traffickers and intercepted 1,253 trafficked children. At
year's end six traffickers had been sentenced to prison, and two were
in detention awaiting trial in trafficking cases which began during the
year.
The Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity and that of
Labor and Social Security were responsible for enforcing trafficking
and child labor laws and regulations; however, the Government had
limited resources to combat trafficking. The national plan of action,
drafted in 2004, has not been approved by the Council of Ministers. The
plan was being redeveloped to take into account regional and
international agreements that the Government had signed but which were
not included in the earlier version.
The Government cooperated with Cote d'Ivoire in several trafficking
cases and signed a cooperative agreement with the Government of Mali to
combat cross-border child trafficking. On July 6, central African
countries and members of the Economic Community of West African States,
including Burkina Faso, signed a multilateral antitrafficking
cooperation agreement.
The country was an occasional source country for women trafficked
to Europe for sexual exploitation. The country was a transit point for
trafficked children, notably from Mali, who often were trafficked to
Cote d'Ivoire. Malian and Nigerian children also were trafficked into
the country. Destinations for trafficked children from the country
included Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, and Togo.
Child traffickers typically acted as intermediaries for poor
families, promising to place a child in a decent work situation. Once
the child was in the hands of traffickers, these promises were often
disregarded. Some traffickers were distant relatives, often referred to
as ``aunts.'' Traffickers occasionally kidnapped children. Once placed
in a work situation, whether in the country or beyond its borders,
children were often not free to leave and were forced to work without
pay and under very bad conditions.
Trafficked children were subject to violence, sexual abuse, forced
prostitution, and deprivation of food, shelter, schooling, and medical
care. Organized child trafficking networks existed throughout the
country, and in 2005 security forces dismantled four such networks;
however, none were dismantled during the reporting period. Child
trafficking networks cooperated with regional smuggling rings.
According to the 2005 06 report by the Protection of Infants and
Adolescents Office, security forces intercepted 1,253 trafficked
children, more than half of whom were girls; 525 were destined for
international trafficking.
The Government worked with international donors and the
International Labor Organization to address child trafficking, in part
by organizing seminars against child trafficking for customs officers.
In 2005 and during the reporting period, security services and civil
society groups organized similar workshops and seminars. Over the
course of several years, the Government has established 128 watch
committees, including 27 during the year, in 12 of the 13 regions in
which child trafficking and child labor were problems. The watch
committees included representatives of industries usually implicated in
child labor (cotton growers, for example), the police, NGOs, and social
welfare agencies. The Government also worked with international and
domestic NGOs in the fight against trafficking.
The Government, in collaboration with the UN Children's Fund,
operated transit centers for destitute children, including trafficked
children, where food and basic medical care were provided. It also
helped children return to their families. Most reintegration programs
for trafficked children were run by NGOs.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, the provision of other state
services, or other areas; however, the Government did not effectively
enforce these provisions. There was no government mandate or
legislation concerning accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Advocates reported that persons with disabilities often faced social
and economic discrimination. Such persons who were willing and able to
work frequently found it difficult to find employment, including in
government service, because of deeply entrenched societal attitudes
that persons with disabilities should be under the care of their
families and not in the workforce.
Programs to aid persons with disabilities were limited. In 2005 the
Government established a national committee for the reintegration of
persons with disabilities. During the year the committee implemented
reintegration programs, capacity-building programs to better manage
income generating activities, and conducted sensitizing campaigns.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS were problems. Persons
who tested positive for HIV/AIDS were sometimes shunned by their
families, and HIV/AIDS positive wives were sometimes evicted from their
homes. In addition there were reports that some house owners refused to
rent lodgings to persons with HIV/AIDS.
Homosexuals were discriminated against and were at times victims of
verbal and physical abuse. Both religious and traditional beliefs were
intolerant of homosexuality.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, including
civil servants, the right of association, and workers exercised this
right. However, ``essential'' workers such as police could not join
unions. Approximately 85 percent of the workforce was engaged in
subsistence agriculture and did not belong to unions. Of the remainder,
an estimated 50 percent of private sector employees and 60 percent of
public sector workers were union members.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government respected this right in practice. Unions have the right to
bargain directly with employers and industry associations for wages and
other benefits, and there was extensive collective bargaining in the
modern wage sector; however, this sector included only a small
percentage of workers. The law provides for the right to strike, and
workers exercised this right. Major trade union federations and unions
called multiple strikes during the year. Unions and government
officials met during the year to discuss union grievances.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, children
were trafficked and used for informal labor outside their own families,
sometimes without pay (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years; however, child
labor was a problem. The minimum age for employment was inconsistent
with the age for completing educational requirements, which generally
was 16. In the domestic and agricultural sectors, the law permits
children under the age of 14 to perform limited activities for up to
four and one-half hours per day; however, many children under the age
of 14 worked longer hours. An estimated 51 percent of children worked,
largely as domestic servants or in the agricultural or mining sectors,
where working conditions were harsh. Children commonly worked with
their parents in rural areas or in family-owned small businesses in
villages and cities. There were no reports of children under the age of
14 employed in either state-owned or large private companies.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which oversees labor
standards, lacked the means to adequately enforce work safety and age
limit legislation, even in the small business sector. Punishments for
violating child labor laws included prison terms of up to five years
and fines of up to approximately $1,149 (600,000 CFA francs).
The Government organized workshops during the year, and in
cooperation with donors undertook sensitization programs to inform
children and parents of the dangers of sending children away from home
to work.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law mandates a minimum
monthly wage of approximately $55 (28,811 CFA francs) in the formal
sector; the minimum wage does not apply to subsistence agriculture or
other informal occupations. The minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Employers often paid less
than the minimum wage. Wage earners usually supplemented their income
through reliance on the extended family, subsistence agriculture, or
trading in the informal sector. The law also mandates a standard
workweek of 40 hours for nondomestic workers and a 60-hour workweek for
household workers, provides for overtime pay, and establishes safety
and health provisions.
A system of government inspectors under the Ministry of Labor and
Social Security and the labor tribunals was responsible for overseeing
occupational health and safety standards in the small industrial and
commercial sectors, but these standards did not apply in the
subsistence agricultural and other informal sectors. The Government's
Labor Inspector Corps did not have sufficient resources to adequately
fulfill its duties. Every company was required to have a work safety
committee. If the Government's Labor Inspection Office declared a
workplace unsafe for any reason, workers had the right to remove
themselves without jeopardy to continued employment. There were
indications that this right was respected in practice, although such
declarations by the Labor Inspection Office were rare.
__________
BURUNDI
Burundi is a constitutional republic with an elected government and
a population of 6.8 million. In February 2005, 90 percent of citizens
voted by referendum to adopt a new constitution. Following local and
parliamentary elections in June and July 2005, the country's two houses
of parliament indirectly elected as President Pierre Nkurunziza, a
member of the National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for
the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) political party, in August 2005.
International observers reported that the elections, which ended a
four-year transitional process under the Arusha Peace and
Reconciliation Agreement, were generally free and fair. Although the
CNDD-FDD party dominated parliament and government, other major
parties, notably the Burundian Front for Democracy (FRODEBU) and the
Union for National Progress (UPRONA), were also represented. While
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security services, there were several instances in which elements of
the security forces acted independently of government authority.
Throughout much of the year, the country remained engaged in an
armed conflict between the Government and the Party for the Liberation
of the Hutu People/National Liberation Front (PALIPEHUTU-FNL), led by
Agathon Rwasa. Although the security situation remained calm in most of
the country, fighting continued in Bujumbura Rural Province, which
surrounds the capital and was the traditional stronghold of the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL. During the year fighting between the National Defense
Forces (FDN) and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL also occurred in the neighboring
provinces of Bubanza, Kayanza, Muramvya, and Cibitoke. On September 7
the Government concluded a cease-fire agreement with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In late September the Government began
preparations for the demobilization of an estimated 3,000 former
PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants.
During the year the Government continued to integrate members of
former rebel groups, including the CNDD-FDD, into the FDN. Members of
former rebel groups who were not integrated into the FDN were
demobilized; between 2004 and August the Government had demobilized
more than 20,000 former combatants, including some former rebels.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; despite
improvements in some areas, government security forces continued to
commit numerous serious human rights abuses. In November UN officials
and local and international human rights groups said the human rights
situation had not improved since the Nkurunziza government took office
in late 2005. Cases of human rights abuses were particularly prevalent
in the western provinces. Many were related to the ongoing conflict
with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
The UN and human rights organizations reported that members of the
FDN, the police, and the National Intelligence Service (SNR) were
responsible for summary executions, torture, and beatings of civilians
and detainees, including suspected PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters. There
were reports that security forces raped women and young girls. Impunity
and harsh and life-threatening prison and detention center conditions
remained problems, and reports of arbitrary arrest and detention
increased. Prolonged pretrial detention, lack of judicial independence
and efficiency, and rampant judicial corruption continued. The
Government released thousands of individuals whom it deemed to be
political prisoners during the year; however, it continued to hold
numerous political prisoners and political detainees, including former
President Domitien Ndayizeye, former vice President Alphonse Kadege,
and four other individuals who continued to be held on charges of
threatening state security, despite a Supreme Court order in October
that they be freed. Fighting between government and rebel forces
continued during the year.
Restrictions on freedom of the press increased during the year, and
the Government continued to restrict freedoms of assembly and
association. Security forces' harassment of political opponents
remained a problem. Societal violence and discrimination against women,
trafficking in persons, and the use of child labor continued.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to commit numerous serious human
rights abuses against civilians, including killings, indiscriminate
shelling of civilian areas, kidnappings, rapes, theft, extortion, the
forcible recruitment and employment of children as soldiers, and the
use of forced labor.
The Government continued to make significant progress in
demobilizing child soldiers and reintegrating them into society,
although challenges remained. Unlike in the previous year, the
Government did not forcibly repatriate refugees and asylum seekers. The
Government cooperated to a greater extent with UN agencies and
international organizations aiding them. Trade unions had greater
freedom to assemble and demonstrate peacefully.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that security forces committed political killings; however,
security forces committed, often with impunity, summary executions and
other unlawful killings of civilians during the year. These killings
often followed fighting with rebels, in reprisal for rebel attacks, and
for suspected collaboration with rebels (see Section 1.g.).
According to a report released in October by Human Rights Watch
(HRW), the country's intelligence service had executed 38 individuals
since the Nkurunziza government took office in late 2005 and had failed
to prosecute those accused of extrajudicial killings.
Suspects reportedly were killed while in the custody of security
forces. For example on February 20, police officers arrested a man
outside of Bujumbura for theft. While in police custody, the man was
severely beaten and transferred to Mpimba prison, where he later died;
the cause of death was not clear.
On August 15, the bodies of four individuals who had been in police
custody in Kinama, north of Bujumbura, were found on the roadside. Both
the minister of the interior and a police spokesperson announced that
an immediate investigation was underway. A police spokesperson later
told journalists that none of the actions could be traced back to the
police. A member of the SNR, Zabulon Nduwimana, and a police officer,
Reverien Hicintuka, were later arrested on charges of murder or being
an accessory to murder. Both suspects remained in custody awaiting
trial at year's end.
On July 7, in the Mutakura area of Cibitoke Province, police forces
from a nearby military post killed five persons and wounded 40 others.
According to witnesses, a group of jubilant soccer fans returned to
their homes shouting and dancing following the conclusion of the
telecast of the World Cup soccer final. The sub-lieutenant in charge of
the police brigade ordered his men first to throw a grenade into the
crowd and later to open fire. Authorities arrested the sub-lieutenant,
Felix Bigiri, as well as a policeman, Clovis Ndimurwonko, and at year's
end both remained in custody, awaiting trial.
There were no developments regarding killings reportedly committed
by security forces in 2005: the May death of Mwafrica Masema following
a police beating in a Rugombo commune jail in Cibitoke Province; the
May beating by soldiers in Gatumba of a man who subsequently died of
his injuries; the June beating by security forces of a man suspected of
supporting the PALIPEHUTU-FNL who subsequently died of his injuries;
and the August killing of an unidentified man by military soldiers in
the Nyarabira commune in Bujumbura Rural Province.
Civilians were killed during fighting between government and rebel
forces (see Section 1.g.).
There continued to be reports of deaths and injuries caused by
unexploded ordnance and landmines laid in previous years by both
government and rebel forces (see Section 1.g.). A national mine survey,
established in 2005, was completed in May. The UN and two
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also did limited de-mining and
educational activities.
There were no developments in any of the politically motivated
killings committed in 2005 by unidentified assailants.
During the year there continued to be numerous deaths attributed to
the use of grenades and mortars by unidentified persons. While the
majority of these incidents occurred in bars or public gathering
places, some appeared to target individuals. For example, on May 30,
five bombs exploded in the Gihosha and Mutanga Nord districts of
Bujumbura, close to the residence of former second vice President Alice
Nzomukunda.
On September 3, in the Nyakabiga Commune, almost 40 persons were
injured when an unidentified individual or individuals threw three
grenades into a local bar.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL rebels killed numerous persons during the year
and committed serious abuses against the civilian population (see
Section 1.g.).
Killings by bandits continued to be a serious problem during the
year. For example, according to UN reports, there were approximately 19
deaths attributed to bandits and armed individuals in February. In
several of these cases, the killings were often accompanied by property
destruction and looting. In one case a man died after bandits raided
his house and burned it.
There continued to be reports during the year of mob violence,
lynchings, and the killing of suspected witches, although such reports
were fewer than in the previous year. Unlike in the previous year,
there were no reports that local officials were complicit in the
killing of suspected witches. The President announced during the year
that local authorities would be held accountable for such killings. By
year's end authorities had made no arrests in connection with the cases
below.
On June 7, in the Murwi Commune of Cibitoke Province, unidentified
armed individuals killed a woman accused of sorcery.
On August 2, in the Busoni Commune of Kirundo Province, a group of
individuals lynched and killed a woman accused of sorcery.
On August 21, unidentified persons in Kirundo threw a grenade into
a home, killing a woman who had been accused of sorcery by her
neighbors, and wounding her husband. Authorities had made no arrests in
connection with the case by year's end.
There were no reports of action taken by authorities in the killing
of suspected witches by mobs in 2005.
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances; although there were several kidnappings,
there were fewer than in the previous year.
According to a UN report, on April 24, SNR agents abducted a man in
the Buyenzi quarter of the Bujumbura Mairie Province. His whereabouts
were not known by year's end.
On May 2, in the Kinindo Commune, police detained a high-ranking
member of the CNDD-FDD after he accused another senior CNDD-FDD member
of corruption. He was released a month later.
The Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained
Persons (APRODH) reported 10 detainees missing from communal lockups
during the year.
There were no developments in the July 2005 incident in which a
group of armed men, believed to be members of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL,
kidnapped a communal official in the Isale Commune of Bujumbura Rural
Province.
There were no developments in the 2004 kidnapping of four persons
by members of the CNDD-FDD in the Kanyosha commune of Bujumbura Rural
Province. The six persons who were kidnapped in 2004 in the Ndava
commune of Mwaro Province were freed; no additional information was
available at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
members of the security forces continued to torture and otherwise abuse
persons, which reportedly resulted in several deaths.
Throughout the year multiple credible sources reported that the
security forces maintained illegal detention and torture centers across
the country.
On March 24, President Nkurunziza met with SNR personnel and
verbally reprimanded those responsible for the reported ill treatment
and torture of detainees. The meeting resulted in a commitment to stop
the use of one SNR facility as a detention center; however, by year's
end authorities had not closed the facility.
The UN, HRW, and domestic NGOs League Iteka and APRODH reported
that members of the security forces beat and tortured civilians and
detainees throughout the year.
Multiple credible sources reported that SNR agents arbitrarily
detained and tortured people thought to be members and supporters of
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).
In August the minister of national solidarity and human rights
visited former vice President Kadege and other detainees who were
accused of conspiring against the Government at SNR headquarters where
they were being held. Following the visit, the minister publicly
acknowledged that SNR officers physically abused Kadege and some other
detainees (see Section 1.d.).
There were no developments and actions taken against the FDN
regarding the January 2005 beating of a man by the FDN while he was in
detention, or the April 2005 incident in which FDN members beat five
brick masons during their detention.
Despite the lack of precise numbers, there was a slight decrease in
the reports of conflict-related rape committed by security forces and
PALIPEHUTU-FNL members (see Section 1.g.). However, there were several
reports of rape, including gang rape, committed by members of the
security forces that were unrelated to the conflict with the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL. For example, according to the UN peacekeeping mission
in Burundi (ONUB), an FDN soldier reportedly raped two minors in April,
and in May FDN soldiers reportedly raped a woman and two children, one
of whom was gang-raped by off-duty soldiers. By year's end it was not
known whether authorities had investigated or taken any action against
the soldiers allegedly responsible.
There were no developments regarding the May 2005 rape of a woman
by two men, one of whom was an FDN soldier, in Bujumbura; or the
September 2005 rape of a woman by a uniformed police officer in the
Gihanga commune of Bubanza Province.
Government troops used excessive force in areas where there were
civilians (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
Several persons were injured during the year by unexploded ordnance
and landmines laid in previous years by government and rebel forces
(see Section 1.g.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and sometimes life threatening. Severe overcrowding persisted.
According to government officials and human rights observers, prisoners
suffered from digestive illnesses, dysentery, and malaria, and
prisoners died as a result of disease. According to APRODH, while there
were no reports that prison guards beat prisoners in the country's 11
main prisons, there were reports that members of security forces beat
detainees in the country's smaller jails and at the main detention
center used by the SNR (commonly known as la Documentation); and during
the year there was an increase in the number of beatings in the smaller
jails at the commune level. ONUB reported that detainees and prisoners
were tortured and abused. Each prison had one qualified nurse and at
least a weekly doctor's visit; however, prisoners did not always
receive prompt access to medical care. Serious cases were sent to local
hospitals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was the
primary provider of medicines; the Government provided insufficient
food in the main prisons and did not provide food for persons held in
communal lockups. Detainees and prisoners who were not held in communal
lockups received 450 grams of food per day from the Government, and
families often had to supplement prisoner rations.
According to the Ministry of Justice, during the year 7,242 persons
were held throughout the country in facilities built to accommodate
4,050 persons.
Conditions in detention centers and communal lockups were generally
worse than prison conditions. Police personnel tortured and otherwise
abused detainees, which resulted in death in several instances (see
Section 1.a.). According to APRODH, 15 individuals were killed in
communal lockups, or small detention centers, and another 10 were
missing (see Section 1.b.). Minors were not always separated from adult
detainees, and ONUB documented some cases of sexual abuse. There were
400 communal lockups where those who were arrested were supposed to be
held no longer than one week; however, in practice detainees were
regularly kept in these facilities for much longer periods of time.
Family members were required to provide all food for detainees in
communal lockups. Once detainees were transferred to larger detention
facilities, the Government provided food. Communal lockups and other,
larger detention centers were severely overcrowded, with limited or no
provisions for medical care and no sanitation.
According to the Ministry of Justice, during the year there were
334 children in prisons, of whom 54 accompanied their convicted
mothers. Juvenile prisoners were held with and often treated as adults.
Political prisoners often were held with convicted prisoners. Pretrial
detainees were held in communal lockups, but some were also
incarcerated with convicted prisoners.
During the year dozens of former child soldiers associated with the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL remained in government custody--in prisons, jails, and a
newly opened welcome center for former PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants--
without any clarity on their legal status or knowledge of when they
might be returned to their families. Some were as young as 13 years of
age. According to a study released by HRW during the year, former
PALIPEHUTU-FNL child soldiers detained in prisons lived in overcrowded
cells, ate once a day, and were accused of participating in the
rebellion. In contrast, children in the welcome center lived in better
conditions and were not facing prosecution, although they were held
with adult combatants.
During the year the Government permitted some visits by
international and local human rights monitors, including the ICRC;
however, municipal police commissioners and other authorities were slow
to grant ONUB human rights officers access to detainees following
accounts of illegal detentions and torture, and access was sometimes
denied. Authorities also sometimes denied HRW, ICRC, and local NGOs
access to detainees thought to have been tortured or illegally
detained, who were accused of belonging to PALIPEHUTU-FNL. NGOs
continued their efforts to monitor and improve sanitation, hygiene,
medical care, food, and water.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but security forces
arbitrarily arrested and detained persons.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are
responsible for internal security, while the FDN may assume such
responsibilities only in times of war. The police deal with criminal
matters and the FDN fulfills external security and counterinsurgency
roles. In practice the FDN also arrested and detained criminals. The
Ministry of Defense oversees the FDN, and the Ministry of the Interior
oversees the national police, including the gendarmerie. The SNR,
commonly known as the Documentation Nationale, is a special police
agency that reports directly to the President. The SNR's role consists
of intelligence gathering, but it also has authority to arrest and
interrogate suspects. According to a UN official, there was a
significant increase in human rights abuses committed by the SNR during
the year, including arbitrary arrests and torture of suspected FNL
members.
Members of the security forces were poorly trained. Corruption,
disregard for legal standards on the duration of detention, and
mistreatment of prisoners remained problems. An internal affairs unit
within the police force investigated crimes committed by other police
units. ONUB and various NGOs provided human rights training to the
police. Impunity for members of the security forces who committed
serious human rights abuses and the continuing lack of accountability
for those who committed past abuses remained key problems. During the
year, however, the Government made progress in combating impunity among
the security forces.
In September authorities in Muyinga Province arrested a policeman
who was working for SNR and charged him with kidnapping and killing
more than 10 persons who were suspected of collaborating with the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants in most
cases, and presiding magistrates are authorized to issue them; however,
police and the FDN can make arrests without a warrant but are required
to submit a written report to a magistrate within 48 hours. These
provisions were not always respected in practice. The requirement that
detainees be charged and appear in court within seven days of their
arrest was routinely violated. A magistrate can order the release of
suspects or confirm charges and continue detention, initially for seven
days, then subsequently for one additional period of seven days, as
necessary to prepare the case for trial. Police are authorized to
release suspects on bail, but this provision was rarely exercised.
Police regularly detained suspects for extended periods without
announcing charges, certifying the detention before a judge, or
advising the Ministry of Justice within 48 hours as required. Suspects
are permitted lawyers in criminal cases at their own expense, but the
law does not require and the Government did not provide an attorney to
indigents at government expense. Multiple sources reported that
incommunicado detention existed, although the law prohibits it.
Authorities sometimes denied prisoners prompt access to family
members or to their lawyer. For example, former vice President Kadege's
wife stated in August that officials did not allow her to visit her
detained husband for two days immediately following his detention.
During the year there were reports of politically motivated arrests
and numerous reports of arbitrary arrests. For example, in July and
August, the police arrested former President Ndayizeye, former vice
President Alphonse Kadege, and six other individuals accused of
planning a coup d'etat against the Government. The Government later
accused the men of threatening state security. Police released two of
the detainees after they reportedly confessed their roles in the
affair. A judicially authorized 30-day detention period for the
remaining six expired on September 27 without being extended. In a
detention hearing on October 6, the Supreme Court ordered that the
detainees be freed. The public prosecutor countermanded this order and
instructed the prison not to release the detainees. At year's end the
six remaining detainees in this case, including former President
Ndayizeye and former vice President Kadege, remained in custody.
The Government acknowledged in August that officers of the SNR
physically abused several of these detainees, including former vice
President Kadege. Several local and international organizations,
including HRW, jointly issued a declaration condemning the beatings
during interrogations and calling on the Government to open
investigations and bring to justice those responsible for abuses.
The Government repeatedly stated that it had sufficient proof of an
attempted coup to justify the detentions. However, it maintained that
it could not make details public until the judicial system completed
its deliberations. The continuing controversy surrounding the case
increased tensions between the Government and opposition parties and
drew widespread criticism from human rights organizations. On September
29, the foreign minister told the diplomatic corps that the judicial
system had thus far met all relevant legal requirements concerning the
handling of the case. In December, government officials said the
suspects had met with foreigners to plot the overthrow of the
Government; however, officials did not present evidence publicly that
supported this claim, and the country's defense minister subsequently
told reporters that the military had no indication that a coup plot
existed, and that there were ``incoherent and unreliable'' aspects to
the case.
On August 16, police arrested Gabriel Rufyiri, President of the
domestic NGO Observatory for the Struggle against Economic Corruption
and Embezzlement (OLUCOME), on charges of defamation after he publicly
denounced the degree of corruption in the Government. In December,
after detaining Rufyiri for four months, authorities provisionally
released him after a court acquitted him.
According to HRW, the country's intelligence service arbitrary
detained 200 individuals since the Nkurunziza government took office in
late 2005. Furthermore, according to a UN report released in September,
during the first half of the year there was a steady increase in
arrests of individuals--including men, women, and school children--
particularly those suspected of being PALIPEHUTU-FNL members, and
particularly in the provinces of Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rural, Bubanza,
and Cibitoke. The report also noted reports of security forces
detaining citizens in illegal places or facilities, including three
school children reportedly detained in a military camp in Bujumbura. In
addition the report cited 800 reported cases of arbitrary arrest during
the year in which individuals were detained on minor charges upon
instruction from administrative authorities, mostly commune
administrators.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security
forces arrested elected officials from the FRODEBU party on suspicion
of supporting or belonging to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, or for any other
reason. Nephtalie Ndikumana, a FRODEBU official who was arrested in
2005 and who remained in detention at the end of 2005, was released
during the year.
The SNR on occasion carried out mass arbitrary arrests of suspected
PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters. According to an HRW report, on January 25,
government forces ordered PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants whom the security
forces had captured to identify PALIPEHUTU-FNL collaborators in the
Muyira zone in Kanyosha Commune. Authorities subsequently detained
approximately 100 individuals whom the combatants had identified as
PALIPEHUTU-FNL collaborators and sent them to the Interior Security
Police's detention facility in Kigobe, Bujumbura. By year's end most
had been released, but a few were still waiting to be brought before a
magistrate.
During the year the Government arrested journalists, an NGO leader,
and a labor unionist (see Sections 2.a., 4, and 6.a.).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of police
officers arbitrarily detaining or fining individuals for ``moral
offenses'' such as wearing ``inappropriate clothing.''
Most of the persons arrested on criminal charges since 1993
remained in pretrial custody. According to the Ministry of Justice,
5,443 persons, or 65 percent of the country's prison population, had
not been convicted and were awaiting trial at year's end. Lengthy jail
procedures, a large backlog in pending cases, judicial inefficiency,
corruption, and financial constraints often caused trial delays.
Irregularities in the detention of individuals, including holding them
beyond the statutory limit, also continued. On several occasions
individuals held illegally were released following intervention by
ONUB. Human rights NGOs lobbied the Government for the release of
prisoners who were held for long periods of time without charge.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was not independent
of the executive branch. The judicial system was inefficient and
subject to bribes and other forms of corruption; many citizens had no
confidence in its ability to provide even basic protection, although
judicial reform was a priority of the Arusha Accord.
According to information contained in a UN report released in
September, there were reports of magistrates being instructed by
authorities not to investigate cases concerning suspected FNL members
submitted to them by police; magistrates were reportedly instructed to
confirm the arrest and commit the concerned individuals to prison.
During the year the Government made significant strides in
resolving the problems of ethnic balance in the judiciary, which was
traditionally dominated by the members of the Tutsi minority.
Citizens generally did not have regular access to court proceedings
and often had to travel more than 30 miles to reach a court.
A UN report, which resulted from a 2005 assessment mission focusing
on the country's primary judicial challenges, criticized the country's
judicial reforms as ``incomplete and carried out too late,'' and it
singled out lack of required materials, logistics, and infrastructure.
The public viewed the judiciary, according to the report, as flawed and
``ethnically prejudiced and client to political powers'' in the
executive and legislative branches of government. In addition to
asserting that magistrates' low salaries contributed to corruption, the
report noted that there was no institution to provide judges with
needed skills, and that laws were published in French while most
citizens speak the national language of Kirundi.
The judicial system consists of civil and criminal courts with the
Supreme Court and Constitutional Court at the apex. In all cases the
Constitutional Court has the ultimate appellate authority, but few
cases of lower-ranking offenders reached this level.
The law provides for an independent military court system, which in
practice was influenced by the executive and higher-ranking military
officers. Courts of original jurisdiction for lower-ranking military
offenders were called ``War Councils,'' and one existed in each of the
country's five military districts. A court martial tribunal of appeals
hears appeals of War Council decisions and also has trial jurisdiction
for mid-ranking military offenders up to the rank of colonel. Military
courts have jurisdiction over military offenders and civilians accused
of offenses implicating members of the military.
The Government officially recognizes the traditional system of
informal community arbitration, known as Ubashingantahe, which
functions under the guidance of community members recognized for their
conflict resolution skills and which facilitates the settlement and
reconciliation of disputes. The opinion of a Mushingantahe, or
community arbitrator, often is necessary before access is granted to
the formal civil court system. The Ubashingantahe system is limited to
civil and minor criminal matters and has no jurisdiction over serious
criminal matters. Traditionally, persons recognized by the community
preside over deliberations, and no lawyers are involved under this
system. During the year some members of the ruling CNDD-FDD party,
composed of membership that continued to be predominately Hutu, looked
unfavorably on the institution of the Ubashingantahe because some Hutus
historically perceived it as a tool of Tutsi domination.
Trial Procedures.--With the exception of capital punishment cases,
all trials are conducted by panels of judges. Capital punishment cases
are decided by a seven-person panel: four citizens and three magistrate
judges. Defendants, in theory, are presumed innocent and have a right
to counsel but not at the Government's expense, even for those who face
serious criminal charges. Defendants have a right to defend themselves;
however, in practice, few had legal representation since there were
only 89 registered lawyers in the entire country and since most persons
could not afford a lawyer and had to plead their own cases. Authorities
sometimes were unable to carry out their investigations or transport
suspects and witnesses to the appropriate court because of lack of
resources. All defendants, except those in military courts, have the
right to appeal their cases up to the Supreme Court, and in capital
cases, to the President for clemency. In practice the inefficiency of
the court system extended the duration of the appeals process,
effectively limiting the possibility of appeals, even by defendants
accused of the most serious crimes.
Procedures for civilian and military courts are similar, but
military courts typically reached decisions more quickly. Military
trials, like civilian trials, generally failed to meet internationally
accepted standards for fair trials. Defendants are not provided
attorneys to assist in their defense, although NGOs provided some
defendants with attorneys in cases involving serious charges. Trials
generally are open to the public but can be closed for compelling
reasons, including for national security or in cases in which publicity
can do harm to the victim or a third party, such as in cases involving
rape or child abuse. Defendants in military courts are allowed only one
appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The incarceration of political
prisoners and detainees remained a problem during the year. There were
an estimated 500 political prisoners at year's end. Charges against
individuals convicted for nonpolitical crimes, as well as defendants
awaiting trial for nonpolitical crimes, sometimes were politically
motivated (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.). International organizations and
local human rights NGOs were generally afforded access to political
prisoners.
In December 2005, following the appointment of a Commission on
Political Prisoners, President Nkurunziza announced the conditional
release of all political prisoners detained for more than two years
without charge. Justice Minister Clotilde Niragira said that all of
those who were temporarily freed would be required to stand before the
truth and reconciliation commission once it was formed; she added that
the provisional release was for prisoners who had been incarcerated in
connection with the killing of former President Melchior Ndadaye in
1993 and the violence that followed. A series of four ministerial
decrees granted provisional immunity to all political prisoners
identified by the commission, based on the penal code's description of
political crimes. The Government also released prisoners who had served
at least one-quarter of their sentence, with the exception of those who
had committed serious crimes. However, some organizations questioned
the Government's definition of political prisoners and claimed that the
process was illegal insofar as it resulted in the release of
perpetrators of serious crimes, including detainees who had been
sentenced to death. According to the Ministry of Justice, the
Government released 3,614 political prisoners during the year. The
former chairman of the Commission on Political Prisoners said that
there remained approximately 100 prisoners who may qualify as
``political'' prisoners.
Political and civil society leaders remained divided over the
definition of a political prisoner, and human rights organizations
raised serious concerns over the lack of transparency in the
commission's work. They noted that the commission never publicly
explained the criteria on which the decisions were based. Three NGOs
brought a case before the Constitutional Court, stating that the
decision to release the prisoners violated the constitution and should
have been based on an act of parliament rather than on an executive
decree.
Human rights organizations also expressed concern over the lack of
preparation in the communities to which the detainees would return. In
response, the Government launched a sensitization campaign to explain
its decision on political prisoners and to promote reconciliation in
their communities.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary's conduct of
trials regarding civil matters was well regarded by observers, but
execution of courts' decisions, including payment of damages, could be
very slow, sometimes taking years. Some citizens and other observers
perceived many judges to be susceptible to pressure and corrupt.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for the right to
privacy, but the Government did not respect this right in practice.
Authorities rarely respected the law requiring search warrants. It was
widely believed that security forces monitored telephones. There also
were numerous reports during the year that security forces looted and
destroyed houses whose occupants were accused of harboring and aiding
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see Section 1.g.).
Families of former President Ndayizeye and the five other persons
arrested and detained in late July and early August on suspicion of
threatening state security complained that SNR personnel followed the
detainees' children and kept them under observation while at school,
and that the families received threatening phone calls (see Section
1.d.).
There were numerous reports of looting by the PALIPEHUTU-FNL (see
Section 1.g.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Although the Government finalized a cease-fire agreement with the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL on September 7, there were still numerous incidents of
violence due to the ongoing conflict. These incidents resulted in
serious abuses against the civilian population by government and rebel
forces; generally no actions were taken against perpetrators. The
security forces killed numerous civilians following fighting with the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL, in reprisal for PALIPEHUTU-FNL attacks, and for
suspected collaboration with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. Abuses included the
killing of civilians, the looting and burning of houses, attacks on
noncombatants, the displacement of large numbers of civilians, and the
rape of women.
While no definitive countrywide casualty figures were available,
reports from media and NGOs estimated that more than 250,000, mostly
civilians, had been killed in conflict-related violence since 1993.
Much unlawful killing and property destruction during the year were
concentrated in Bujumbura Rural Province, which was the scene of the
majority of the fighting between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
According to a UN report released in September, during the first
half of the year, security forces killed 34 civilians--27 by the FDN,
five by the police, and two by the SNR; the majority of the killings
occurred in the provinces of Bujumbura, Bujumbura Rural, and Cibitoke.
None of the alleged perpetrators were prosecuted for the killings,
which included some summary executions of suspected FNL members or
sympathizers; in some instances the perpetrators were simply shifted to
other military positions.
For example, in February the FDN killed approximately 12 civilians,
eight of whom reportedly had connections to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. On
February 22, in the commune of Kabezi, FDN soldiers executed six
persons, all of whom were presumed to be PALIPEHUTU-FNL supporters.
According to a May UN incident report, the FDN killed 21
individuals, 10 of whom were suspected to be members of the PALIPEHUTU-
FNL or to have collaborated with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The report offered
no reasons for detainment or death.
A September UN report also reported that during the first half of
the year SNR agents in Bujumbura tortured a suspected FNL member to
death by mutilating his genitals and drilling his skull with a sharp
object; by year's end there were no reports of an investigation
regarding this killing.
On July 17, the bodies of 16 persons believed to have been in
police custody were found in the Ruvubu River, in the northeastern
province of Muyinga. Between May and July, police had reportedly
arrested the men, accused them of supporting the PALIPEHUTU-FNL,
transferred them to the Mukoni military camp in Muyinga Province, and
executed them, according to Amnesty International (AI). In September
the Government appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the
killings, and shortly thereafter authorities arrested three middle-
ranking members of the security forces, including the head of the
intelligence service in Muyinga. On October 14, the public prosecutor
of Ngozi issued an arrest warrant for the head of the fourth military
region, but by year's end the warrant had not been executed. On October
26, the prosecutor of Muyinga, a member of the commission who was
reportedly committed to investigate the killings, was informed by his
supervisors that he was to be transferred to Rutana Province,
ostensibly for his personal security. AI called on the Government to
appoint an independent body to fully investigate theses deaths and
bring to justice all those responsible, including senior military
officials.
Although not as frequent as in past years, there continued to be
reports of indiscriminate, conflict-related civilian deaths attributed
to the FDN. These incidents were often a result of fights between
soldiers and civilians, or civilian refusal to comply with threats of
extortion. There were also a number of deaths related to cases of
theft, looting or property damage.
On September 13, in the province of Muyinga, an officer of the SNR,
Dominique Surwavuba, was arrested on suspicion of killing 15 persons
thought to be PALIPEHUTU-FNL sympathizers. He remained in custody at
year's end.
Multiple credible sources reported that SNR agents arbitrarily
detained and tortured persons thought to be members and supporters of
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. According to these sources, SNR agents tortured
these individuals by beating them with batons, breaking their feet,
tying them or chaining them, using clamps on their genitals, using
needles on their feet, rubbing chili oil and salt into wounds, placing
them in isolation chambers without food for prolonged periods of time,
and repeatedly threatening to execute them. There were reports that
suspected FNL members were tortured to death (see Section 1.a.). These
sources also reported that SNR Chief Major General Adolphe Nshimirimana
was sometimes present while detainees were tortured. League Iteka and
APRODH frequently reported that prison authorities tortured detainees
and prisoners using methods similar to those described above.
During investigations in May, police in the Kanga quarter of the
Kinama Commune beat three men accused of being PALIPEHUTU-FNL
collaborators and subsequently held them at Socarti camp. No additional
information was available by year's end.
Members of security forces and rebels continued to rape civilians.
For example, on February 5, in the Kanyosha Commune of Bujumbura Rural
Province, a member of the FDN raped a young girl. During the week of
July 31 through August 5, FDN soldiers allegedly raped two women, one
of whom was a minor. By year's end there were no reports of authorities
taking action against the soldiers allegedly responsible.
There were no developments in the September 2005 incident in which
a uniformed police officer in the Gihanga Commune of Bubanza Province
raped a woman after forcing her husband to the ground at gunpoint.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of widespread
looting of homes by the FDN.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to kill, beat, kidnap, steal from, and
rape civilians. During the year League Iteka and the UN reported
numerous incidents in which the PALIPEHUTU-FNL killed civilians for
supposedly cooperating with the FDN or for ceasing to cooperate with
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
For example, on February 3, in the Kanyosha Commune of Bujumbura
Rural Province, approximately 20 members of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL abducted
a woman and her daughter from their home. According to a member of the
community, the woman had provided food to the PALIPEHUTU-FNL until FDN
soldiers at a newly-constructed military post near her home ordered her
to stop providing such assistance. The woman's badly mutilated body was
found on February 4; her daughter managed to escape from her captors.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL and armed bandits killed civilians who refused
to comply with extortion, although there were fewer reports than in the
previous year.
No actions were taken against members of the security forces or
CNDD-FDD responsible for killings, rapes, lootings, or other abuses
committed in the context of conflict that were reported in 2005 or
2004. There were no reports that rebel forces punished members who were
responsible for abuses.
Unexploded ordnance and landmines laid in previous years by both
government and rebel forces resulted in deaths and injuries during the
year. In May seven civilians, including four children, were injured in
separate explosions of land mines in Gitega Province. In August a
landmine uncovered near military barracks in Gatete seriously injured
two children.
In May the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action conducted a general
survey on mines and explosive remnants of war. As of June 15, 57
explosive ordnance disposal tasks had been completed in rural areas,
accounting for the clearance of 40 percent of the agricultural land
along the border with Tanzania. ONUB has provided mine risk education
to 25,000 people living primarily in the high mine-affected southern
provinces.
Under the law the country's minimum age for military recruitment is
16, although the Government stated that no one under 18 was recruited.
A project sponsored by the Government and the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) demobilized approximately 3,000 child soldiers from the
Government security forces as well as from former rebel groups during
the year. According to UNICEF, security forces no longer used children
as soldiers for combat, although other sources reported that children
continued to serve in the security forces as spies and porters and to
perform other menial tasks. According to HRW, security forces required
children who were child soldiers with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL to carry
munitions for the military and assist in locating PALIPEHUTU-FNL
combatants and supporters.
During the year the Ministry of Defense instructed military
officers to punish soldiers found to be forcing children to perform
menial tasks; punishments included the performance of extra duties,
docking of pay, and confinement to quarters or the brig for up to one
week. The Ministry of Defense confirmed that soldiers with such
discipline problems would be among the first to leave during
``downsizing'' of security forces over the next year.
With support from ONUB and UNICEF, a government-established child
protection network became active during the year, monitoring and
reporting on human rights violations committed against children in
armed conflict.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to use and recruit child soldiers,
although in fewer numbers than in previous years.
In May HRW conducted interviews with detained children. HRW
reported that approximately 65 children, alleged PALIPEHUTU-FNL
combatants or supporters of the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, were in government
custody. Some of them had deserted the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and turned
themselves in, hoping to be released into society. Others were captured
by government soldiers or were arrested by police officers during
searches for PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants. In June HRW estimated that
there could be up to hundreds of children still actively engaged with
the PALIPEHUTU-FNL in need of demobilization and reintegration (see
Section 4).
In early January police officers at the Butara prison in Cibitoke
province beat four PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants who had turned themselves
in to an army post at Ndora in Cibitoke. Two of the four were under the
age of 18. Also in Butura, the police beat two other youths suspected
of PALIPEHUTU-FNL involvement.
During the year civilians continued to be displaced by fighting,
although there were fewer reports of such displacement than during
2005.
In August in Muhuta Commune in Bujumbura Rural Province, the
population fled a PALIPEHUTU-FNL attack, but returned within two days.
On September 5, in Gatumba, also in the province of Bujumbura Rural,
civilians fled the area following a PALIPEHUTU-FNL attack before
returning two days later.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
restricted these freedoms in practice, and freedom of the press
deteriorated during the year. The Government continued to arrest,
harass, and detain journalists. The Government periodically forced some
media to suspend operations. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship, although the media sometimes expressed diverse political
views.
The Government restricted freedom of speech through arrests,
harassment, and intimidation (see Sections 2.b. and 4).
The Government controlled many of the major media outlets. The
Government owned Le Renouveau, the only daily newspaper, as well as the
country's only television station. The Government exercised strong
editorial control of these media.
There were six private weekly publications, including the private
French-language Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow), and 11 private Internet and fax-
based news sheets. The number of copies printed by independent
publications was small, and readership was limited by low literacy
levels. Newspaper circulation was generally limited to Bujumbura or
other urban centers. Ownership of private newspapers was concentrated,
but there was a wide range of political opinion among the press.
Radio remained the most important medium of public information. The
government-owned radio station broadcast in Kirundi, French, and
Kiswahili and offered limited English programming. There were eight
privately owned radio stations, including Radio Isanganiro, Bonesha FM,
and African Public Radio (RPA), all of which broadcast news in French,
Kirundi, and Kiswahili. Some stations received funding from
international donors. Listeners could receive transmissions of foreign
news organizations.
The law criminalizes offenses, including defamation, committed by
the media and provides for fines and criminal penalties of six months'
to five years' imprisonment for the dissemination of insults directed
at the President, as well as writings that are defamatory, injurious,
or offensive to public or private individuals.
During the year the Government arrested, detained, harassed, and
intimidated journalists. On April 17, police detained approximately 30
journalists reporting on a news conference at the residence of a former
parliamentarian, Mathias Basabose. Police beat several of the
journalists, who were confined at Basabose's residence for several
hours before being released. Officials instructed the journalists to
hand over their records of the press conference to security services
before they left the premises.
On June 1, police arrested Aloys Kabura, a journalist with the
Burundian Press Association, and accused him of rebellion and
defamation after he reportedly made critical comments about the police
following the detention of journalists at an April 17 press conference.
Kabura was initially detained on the basis of article 273 of the
Burundi penal code, which in his case, did not allow for pretrial
detention. When the public prosecutor was questioned on this potential
violation of the penal code, he issued a new, backdated arrest warrant,
detailing additional offenses to warrant the pretrial detention. On
June 29, the judges stated that he found no irregularities in the
procedure. After a month's detention, Kabura developed a severe medical
condition in his legs and was unable to walk. Prison officials
initially did not respond to his request to consult a doctor. On
September 19, Aloys Kabura was sentenced to five months in prison in
Kayanza, and after he had served his sentence, authorities released
him.
On August 17, the Communication and Telecommunication Regulation
Agency (ARCT) closed RPA's office in Ngozi. ARCT maintained that the
station had not paid its broadcasting fees in a timely manner and was
broadcasting illegally. RPA, which produced receipts to demonstrate
that it had paid its broadcast fees on August 15, resumed broadcasting
on August 24.
During the second half of the year Gabriel Nikundana, news editor
of the independent radio station Radio Isanganiro, told AI that CNDD-
FDD party members harassed him after Radio Isanganiro broadcast on
August 24 an interview with opposition leader Alain Mugabarabona, who
was detained on suspicion of threatening state security. During the
interview Mugabarabona asserted that security forces beat and tortured
him and the other detainees. Mugabarabona also claimed that the CNDD-
FDD devised the alleged coup attempt to distract public attention from
other issues.
Between October 2 and October 10, the Attorney General of Bujumbura
convoked journalists, editors, and directors of three radio stations
for questioning and pressed them to reveal the sources of an August 29
story; according to the story members of the police and demobilized
military were planning a mock attack on the home of the President and
of the CNDD-FDD party chief to fabricate evidence of a coup plot. The
journalists declined to reveal their sources.
On November 22, authorities arrested editor Serge Nibizi and
journalist Domitile Kiramvu of independent radio station RPA in
connection with a story they published about the alleged coup plot that
resulted in the arrest of the former President, among other
individuals. Authorities charged them with violating judicial secrecy
laws in a November news item that discussed a claim in the
progovernment newspaper Intumwa that investigators had uncovered
evidence of the alleged plot. (Authorities took no action against
Intumwa.) In addition, on November 29, authorities arrested Matthias
Manirakiza, the director of Radio Isanganiro, and charged him--as well
as Nibizi--with threatening state security and public safety in an
August story aired on three independent stations, including RPA; the
story cited police sources as saying that authorities planned to stage
fake attacks on the homes of government officials to bolster their
claims of a coup plot. The prosecutor's office summoned Corneille
Nibaruta, director of independent station Radio Bonesha, to testify,
but Nibaruta did not respond to the summons and reportedly went into
hiding. In December the executive director of the international NGO
Committee to Protect Journalists said the prosecution was politically
motivated. All three journalists remained in jail at year's end.
During the year the country's media associations and press freedom
advocates accused the Ministry of Communication's National
Communications Council, the regulatory body for news media, of
preferring to punish journalists rather than promote press freedom.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government used direct censorship or that it suspended operations by
independent media.
Media outlets complained about having to pay licensing fees, which
some said were an unnecessarily heavy financial burden; it was not
clear whether these fees weakened the independent media.
Internet Freedom.--There were no reports of government restrictions
on access to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-
mail or Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. However, poverty and a lack of infrastructure prevented
widespread public access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government at times restricted this right. The law
requires permits for public meetings and demonstrations, and
applications were sometimes denied to groups, including those that
criticized or opposed the Government.
On May 21, police arrested three members of Action Against Genocide
(AC-Genocide)--Tatien Sibomana, Popon Mudugu, and their attorney
Gabriel Sinarinzi--in the province of Gitega. The three had planned to
participate in an AC-Genocide meeting. Authorities did not charge them
and released them on May 31.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government
security forces dispersing demonstrations by the government-sponsored
militia group Guardians of the Peace (GP).
During the year authorities had released the 10 youths arrested in
November 2005 in Musaga, Bujumbura, for attending a meeting of PA-
Amasekanya, a militant pro-Tutsi group.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice.
There were occasional reports that police arrested persons due to their
membership in associations. Registration was required for private
organizations and political parties. Private organizations were
required to present their articles of association to the Ministry of
Interior for approval. There were no reports that the Government failed
to complete the approval process for private organizations whose
purposes the Government opposed.
On June 18, Radio Bonesha reported that 14 members of the FRODEBU
party were arrested in the province of Makamba. Local administration
officials accused them of destabilizing the commune. No additional
information was available by year's end.
Authorities harassed some FRODEBU members after they spoke out in
defense of individuals accused of plotting a coup or journalists who
had been arrested by authorities.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The Government required religious groups to register with the
Ministry of Interior, which kept track of their leadership and
activities. Registration was granted routinely. The Government required
religious groups to maintain a headquarters in the country.
In July the President signed a decree that announced the addition
of the two most important Muslim holy days to the list of official
national holidays.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--On September 19, unidentified
persons burned two Roman Catholic churches in Bubanza.
There were no new developments in the 2004 shooting of Catholic
priest Gerard Nzeyimana by individuals who reportedly belonged to the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL.
There were no developments in the June 2005 killing by the
PALIPEHUTU-FNL of five civilians in Bujumbura Rural Province.
There were no new developments in the investigation of the 2003
killing of Papal Nuncio Michael Courtney, although President
Nkurunziza's government pledged to pursue the case actively.
The Jewish population was very small, and there were no reports of
anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Immigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, the Government restricted them in practice. On
April 14, the Government lifted a curfew that had been in place since
1972. Nevertheless, the Government still restricted access into and out
of Bujumbura at night. During the year local populations frequently
fled fighting between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, and citizens'
movements were restricted by checkpoints, violence, and the threat of
violence. In addition the Government denied human rights observers
access to some areas, such as some military camps and some facilities
controlled by the SNR (see Section 4).
The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did
not use it; however, many persons remained in self-imposed exile in
Belgium, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
and elsewhere.
In September, a FRODEBU member of the National Assembly, Jean-Marie
Ntukamazina, fled the country because he was suspected by authorities
of being a PALIPEHUTU-FLN sympathizer. No additional information was
available at year's end.
By year's end the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) facilitated the voluntary repatriation of approximately 44,900
Burundian refugees who had previously fled to neighboring countries,
primarily Tanzania. This figure represented a decline from 2005, when
approximately 65,000 Burundians were repatriated, and 2004, when
approximately 90,000 were repatriated. The repatriates, who returned
mostly to the eastern provinces, often returned to find their homes
destroyed, their land occupied by others, and/or their livestock
stolen. Poor living conditions and a lack of food and shelter were
problems for returnees during the year, although returnees did receive
a three-month food ration and other forms of assistance from UNHCR
during the repatriation process. During the year the UNHCR and the
National Commission for Rehabilitation of War Victims assisted in the
resettlement and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced
persons (IDPs). According to the UNHCR, as of October, approximately
400,000 Burundian refugees remained outside the country.
Internally Displaced Persons.--Civilians regularly were displaced
as a result of fighting in Bubanza, Cibitoke, and Bujumbura Rural
provinces between the FDN and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL, although on a much
smaller scale than in previous years. Displacements stemming from
clashes between the PALIPEHUTU(FNL and the armed forces were temporary,
generally lasting from several hours to several days.
Timely relief was not denied to IDPs or other populations in need
due to security conditions or security forces restrictions.
There were no reports that the Government attacked IDPS or forcibly
resettled them under dangerous conditions.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (UNOCHA), as of July there were approximately 120,000 long-term
IDPs living in 160 sites nationwide, the majority in Kayanza, Ngozi,
Kirundo, Muyinga, and Gitega provinces. The majority were Tutsis who
were displaced by violence in 1993 and never returned home. Soldiers
and police provided a measure of protection to the camps, which in many
cases had taken on the characteristics of permanent towns and villages.
According to UNOCHA, 91 percent of the IDPs were able to participate in
agricultural activities and, of these, 78 percent had access to their
lands of origin. In the south and east, 18.5 percent of the IDPs were
former refugees. According to the UNHCR, IDP camp inhabitants sometimes
were required to perform labor for soldiers without compensation.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government used bulldozers to destroy IDPs' houses in a Bujumbura
neighborhood. By year's end the IDPs who protested in Bujumbura in 2005
had not received a letter documenting ownership of land that the
Government agreed to give them in the Kinama neighborhood of Bujumbura;
the Government was attempting to resettle them elsewhere.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The country
is also a party to the Organization of African Unity Convention
Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. The
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees and granted refugee status and asylum to some persons during
the year. In practice, the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. Some NGOs and humanitarian organizations expressed concern
over the low percentage of applicants to whom the Government granted
asylum; however, according to the UNHCR, the Government fulfilled all
of its obligations to provide asylum and refugee protections and
cooperated with all international organizations involved in refugee
issues.
In 2005 the transitional government failed in thousands of cases to
provide protection against refoulement. In early June 2005 the
transitional government declared that approximately 7,000 Rwandan
asylum seekers were ``illegal immigrants,'' following a joint decision
by the Governments of Burundi and Rwanda. In June and July of 2005 the
two governments conducted a forced repatriation of the asylum seekers
from temporary sites in Burundi without an assessment of their claims.
By the end of August 2005 Burundi's government had forcibly repatriated
at least 6,500 Rwandan asylum seekers from camps in northern Burundi,
in cooperation with Rwandan authorities.
After taking office in August 2005, the Government of President
Nkurunziza sought to address the problem of refoulement more in
accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention than did the transitional
government; in late 2005 and during the year, the Government cooperated
closely with the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations assisting
refugees.
In August 2005 the Governments of Rwanda and Burundi signed an
agreement with the UNHCR that laid the ground rules for the voluntary
repatriation of a group of approximately 4,000 Burundian refugees from
Rwanda. As of October an estimated 1,300 had voluntarily returned to
Burundi and approximately 2,700 remained in Rwanda.
In December 2005 the Norwegian Refugee Council began constructing a
transit site in the Ngozi Province town of Musasa for the 6,000 Rwandan
asylum seekers who resided in Burundi at the end of 2005. Many had fled
Rwanda for a second time since having been forcibly repatriated from
Burundi to Rwanda in June. The Government allowed the UNHCR to provide
relief aid to these Rwandans, whom the UNHCR classified as asylum
seekers.
Beginning in December 2005 and continuing during the year, the
UNHCR brought in experts in refugee status determination to work with
jurists to assess the validity of the Rwandan asylum seekers' claims on
a case-by-case basis. The assessment officers made recommendations
based on ``international criteria'' to an Eligibility Commission formed
under the auspices of a border police unit in the Ministry of the
Interior, which delivered its decision to each claimant. Those rejected
were given seven days to appeal to a separate appeals commission, which
reviewed the paperwork from the original hearing and took evidence from
appellants, who could be assisted by UNHCR staff and human rights
groups, including League Iteka.
By the end of March, the number of Rwandan asylum seekers in the
country had surged to approximately 20,000. Assisted by the UNHCR, they
were quartered at the Musasa and Sangore camps in Ngozi Province as
well as at informal sites at Rwisuri in Kirundo Province. The number of
asylum seekers began to decline significantly in April, at the same
time as drought-related food shortfalls in southern Rwanda began to
ease. By mid-September 13,870 Rwandan asylum seekers had voluntarily
repatriated to Rwanda, while almost 5,000 remained in the Musasa camp.
By year's end all Rwandan asylum seekers remaining in the country had
been interviewed, and their asylum cases had been referred to the
Eligibility Commission.
Of the 2,770 case decisions (representing thousands of Rwandans)
made public by the authorities as of the end of the year, authorities
had approved only 26 cases (representing 72 Rwandans). Appeals had been
made in more than 600 cases, but authorities had reversed only eight
decisions. Of more than 4,600 persons whose cases had been processed as
of the end of the year, the commission approved and granted asylum to a
total of 206, or 4.4 percent. These persons had been transferred to the
Jiharo transit center in Rutana by year's end.
In mid-September, according to the UNHCR, there were approximately
30,000 Congolese refugees residing in the country, in addition to the
5,000 Rwandan asylum seekers. Of the Congolese, more than 11,000 were
sheltered in three UNHCR-run refugee camps: Gihinga in Mwaro Province,
Gasorwe in Muyinga, and Gihar in Rutana. In addition to the camp-based
refugees, there were more than 20,000 locally integrated into urban
centers. Approximately 23,500 receive UNHCR assistance.
During the year the Government provided protection to certain
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN
convention and the 1967 Protocol. These individuals included the
Rwandan asylum seekers as well as some Congolese in the process of
undergoing refugee status determinations.
Unlike in the previous year, authorities generally did not employ
acts of intimidation, harassment, or violence to hasten the return of
Rwandan asylum seekers. Rwandan authorities continued to express
concerns that the PALIPEHUTU-FNL and the Rwandan rebel group Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Rwanda recruited Rwandan asylum seekers in
Burundi and took them to training centers, including centers in the
Kibira Forest.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that members of
Rwandan security forces entered the country to intimidate Rwandan
asylum seekers.
ONUB and the UN Organization Mission in the DRC continued their
follow-up to the joint investigation into the Gatumba massacre of 152
Congolese Tutsi refugees in 2004. The minister of justice told ONUB in
April 2005 that a report by a national commission of inquiry had been
completed and would be released in the near future; however, by year's
end the Government had not published the results of its investigation.
In July the Government appointed a commission to resolve land and
property disputes resulting from the approximately 320,000 Burundian
refugees who have repatriated since 2002, including some who have been
in exile in Tanzania since 1972. In addressing the increasing number of
land disputes, the country has relied on a mixture of customary law and
legislation, but few citizens were aware of their legal rights, and
most remained too poor to afford legal representation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law and constitution provide the right for citizens to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice.
Elections and Political Participation.--In August 2005, through an
indirect ballot, citizens chose their first democratically elected
President in more than 12 years, marking the end of the four-year
transition under the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. The
legislature elected the sole candidate, Pierre Nkurunziza of the
CNDD(FDD, and he was sworn in as President in August 2005.
President Nkurunziza's election followed communal and legislative
elections in June and July 2005, which independent electoral observers
judged to be generally free and fair, although the campaign prior to
the National Assembly elections was tense and significantly marred by
violence and intimidation.
During the year there were 35 recognized political parties. The
CNDD-FDD, FRODEBU, and UPRONA were the largest political parties. The
CNDD-FDD, which held majorities in both chambers of the legislature,
controlled most government positions.
According to a September UN report, during the first half of the
year there were noticeable ongoing tensions between the Government and
some opposition parties, and there was ``constant harassment by members
of the security forces of political opponents and critics of the
Government.'' On March 24, the President of FRODEBU announced that the
party would pull out of the Government; shortly thereafter FRODEBU
officially withdrew to protest the Government's lack of consultation
and transparency on several key issues affecting the country. While
several ministers affiliated with the party elected to remain in their
positions, even though FRODEBU asked that they withdraw their party
membership, the official withdrawal ``confirms a worrying trend of
growing intolerance toward the views of the opposition'' which could
provoke internal conflict, according to the UN report.
The arrest and detainment of the former President and vice
President on charges of threatening state security exacerbated tensions
between the majority party and the opposition. Critics of the
Government asserted that leaders within the ruling party fabricated
allegations of a coup plot in order to weaken the opposition's chances
in the 2010 elections. Some opposition leaders reported increased
harassment and expressed fears that other key opposition leaders were
also under suspicion (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
The constitution reserves 30 percent of National Assembly seats and
30 percent of Senate seats for women. There were 37 women in the 118-
seat National Assembly, including Immaculee Nahayo, who was elected
speaker. There were 17 women in the 49-seat Senate. Women held seven of
20 ministerial seats. The constitution requires that 30 percent of
seats in the cabinet, as well as in other government bodies, be filled
by women.
The law stipulates quotas to maintain ethnic balance in the
Government. The constitution provides that 60 percent of seats in the
National Assembly be filled by Hutus, the majority ethnic group in the
country, and 40 percent be filled by Tutsis, who constitute about 15
percent of the citizenry. In addition military posts are divided
equally between Hutus and Tutsis. Three members of the Batwa ethnic
group, which makes up less than 1 percent of the population, were
appointed to the Government body.
The National Assembly continued to refuse the demands of human
rights groups that have called for the repeal of a provisional immunity
law that the assembly approved in 2003. The law grants provisional
immunity to political leaders who return from exile to take part in
government institutions. The law covers ``crimes with a political aim''
committed from 1962 to the date of the law's promulgation. During the
year the National Assembly extended the scope of the law to cover
PALIPEHUTU-FNL combatants.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government remained
subject to a culture of impunity, and widespread corruption remained a
problem. Corruption was prevalent in the public and private sectors and
affected numerous public services, including procurement, the granting
of land use concessions, public health, and the assignment of school
grades. Several respected private sector representatives and trade
association officials reported that corruption remained a major
impediment to commercial and economic development in the country.
According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,''
which is the most severe assessment designation used by TI. In December
OLUCOME said the state had lost an estimated $133 million (138.7
billion Burundian francs) to corruption and embezzlement since 2000.
During the year the Government made significant progress in
eliminating off-budget accounts. However, in July the Government
ordered the local brewery to pay a special off-budget ``tax'' for each
bottled beverage it produced. The Government stipulated that this
requirement would be applied retroactively to February. The Government
established an off-budget bank account to receive the proceeds of this
``tax.''
Despite numerous allegations of corruption during the year, no
parliamentary commissions of inquiry were launched. According to some
observers, the lack of inquiry was due to the fact that the CNDD-FDD
dominated the legislature and chaired all eight of the parliament's
commissions. In September Second Vice President Alice Nzomukunda
resigned her position following disagreements with CNDD-FDD party
leaders. She stated that she could no longer effectively function in
her position, accusing party leadership of interfering in state affairs
and citing allegations of embezzlement and corruption.
The second vice President, the Ministry of Good Governance, and the
National Auditing Agency were responsible for fighting corruption. The
National Auditing Agency published a report in August 2005 which
incriminated some former officials in a case of alleged corruption
concerning the payment of approximately four million dollars (4.4
billion Burundian francs) government debt to the heirs of Belgian
businessman Mojzesz Lubelski. The Constitutional Court subsequently
determined in March that the National Auditing Agency did not have the
authority to rule on such issues, only to give non-binding
recommendations. There were no further developments in the case by
year's end.
Early in the year, the Government replaced the Ministry of Good
Governance's Inspector General for Finance (IGF) with an Inspector
General of the State (IGE), ostensibly to yield more autonomous
oversight of anti-corruption programs. However, a legal dispute
concerning the integration of the former staff of the IGF into the IGE
resulted in an impasse, preventing the highly trained IGF staff from
undertaking its functions. By year's end the impasse had not been
resolved, and the IGE remained severely understaffed.
During the year the Government acknowledged irregularities in
procedures related to the request for bids in the June sale of the
President's private jet. The Government ultimately sold the plane to a
low bidder, and one of the losing bidders subsequently entered legal
proceedings against the Government. The World Bank conditioned
disbursement of funds to the Government on the conclusion of an
independent audit that would investigate the bidding procedures. The
Ministry of Finance engaged an auditing company to investigate
procurement procedures surrounding the sale of the plane. The firm had
not completed its investigation by year's end.
The law does not provide for access to government information, and
in practice information was difficult to obtain. The law does not allow
the media to broadcast or publish information in certain cases relating
to national defense, state security, and secret judicial inquiries.
Human rights observers criticized the law for its application of poorly
defined restrictions on the right to access and disseminate
information; they said that vague prohibitions regarding official
secrets could easily be used as a broad shield to hide corruption or
other human rights abuses.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of local and international NGOs, including human rights
groups, generally operated without government restrictions; however,
human rights observers were not allowed to visit some government
facilities, such as some military bases and prisons run by the
Government's intelligence service. Government officials cooperated with
these groups by providing limited access to information and other
resources.
Domestic human rights groups received varying degrees of
cooperation from government ministries; at times the ministries
provided them with information and facilitated visits to areas of
interest. Although the Government did not directly take action based on
local NGO recommendations, local NGOs continued to engage in advocacy.
The most prominent local human rights group, League Iteka, continued to
operate and publish a newsletter. While well-established groups with
international linkages and a presence in Bujumbura had a measure of
protection from government harassment, indigenous NGOs, particularly
those in the countryside, were more vulnerable to pressure from the
local authorities.
For example, on May 10, police detained Terence Nahimana, a former
parliamentarian and the head of a local NGO. According to AI,
authorities arrested Nahimana after he wrote a letter to President
Nkurunziza that questioned why the Government was reluctant to begin
peace negotiations with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. He also accused the
Government of delaying talks with the UN on establishing a truth and
reconciliation commission. On May 15, the prosecutor formally charged
Nahimana with ``threatening state security.'' A court acquitted
Nahimana on December 22, and authorities released him on December 27.
On August 16, authorities imprisoned the chairman of OLUCOME,
Gabriel Rufyiri, on accusations of giving false reports asserting that
the Government was involved in embezzlement. A court acquitted him on
December 13, and authorities released him the following day.
During the second half of the year, according to a UN report
released in September, the Ngozi regional commissioner reportedly
threatened a human rights activist belonging to League Iteka. The
activist had written an article in which he had reported the presence
of Rwandan spies among asylum seekers at a camp in Ngozi Province (see
Section 2.d.). The commissioner denied making the threat and said no
harm would be done to the activist.
In a November 27 article published by a UN news agency, Jean-Pierre
Kisamare of League Iteka noted that the governor of one province said
the NGO was an enemy of peace and had arrested some of its staff
members. While League Iteka staff members were arrested during the
year, all were released after a few days for lack of evidence.
Although the process of registering domestic NGOs remained lengthy
and time-consuming, it was not overly burdensome or overtly
discriminatory.
During the year there were reports by employees of human rights
organizations that, due to the employees' work on human rights reports,
unidentified persons issued threats of violence against them and their
families.
The Government did not always cooperate with the UN and
international NGOs. Unlike in the previous year, the President did not
threaten to expel the UNHCR or the ICRC; however, in August, the
Government asked that the UN recall its special representative. The UN
declined to honor the Government's request, and the special
representative remained in his position until the end of his term in
December.
In November the Government's director of the National Office for
the Coordination of International NGOs announced that 32 of the 95
registered international NGOs in the country could face expulsion for
failing to abide by government regulations, namely the requirement to
submit mandatory annual reports to the Government. Some in-country
employees and directors of international NGOs said the country's
regulations, introduced by the new government, needed to be streamlined
to reduce the tendency of different ministries to demand reports in
different formats; others said the regulations bordered on
interference, as some government officials demanded influence over
NGOs' recruitment and training processes.
According to a report released in October by the ONUB Human Rights
section, although there was a slight improvement in ONUB's access to
detainees, various authorities frequently denied ONUB human rights
officers access to detainees (see Section 1.c).
HRW published a report in June on PALIPEHUTU-FNL child soldiers,
describing the situation of at least 65 former PALIPEHUTU-FNL child
soldiers held in government custody. According to the report
approximately 25 were being treated as combatants and housed at a
``welcome center'' in Randa, Bubanza Province, and at least 40 others
were being held in prisons on charges of participation in rebel groups.
HRW urged the Government to clarify the status of former child soldiers
to facilitate their reintegration into civilian society (see Section
1.g.).
On August 4, HRW released a joint letter of appeal to the
Government condemning the beating of former vice President Alphonse
Kadege and others during interrogation. The letter called on the
Government to open investigations and bring those responsible for
torture to justice. The UN High Commission for Human Rights in Burundi,
Lawyers without Borders, and six local human rights and good governance
NGOs signed the letter (see Section 1.d.).
A September HRW report highlighted the practice of detaining
patients in hospitals for nonpayment of medical bills. Many of these
individuals required surgery or treatment following accidents, as well
as complications from childbirth. The report stated that hospitals
justified the detentions by saying that they would be forced to close
if they could not use such methods to oblige patients to pay their
bills. HRW noted that because the Government did not consider the
detentions a human rights violation, it took no actions to prevent
them. The report noted the President's May 1 announcement of free
maternal care and healthcare for children under the age of five, and
suggested that this policy shift in healthcare should have prompted the
Government to end the detention of some women and small children.
However, HRW added that the change in healthcare policy would provide
no relief for other patients unable to pay their bills.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights maintained a
two-person observer team in Ngozi to deliver and explain decisions of
the Eligibility Commission regarding refugee and asylum status. The
Commission's purpose was to determine eligibility for those who entered
the country and requested refugee and asylum status (see Section 2.d.).
In December 2005 ONUB began to withdraw its peacekeeping forces and
continued to draw down its forces throughout the year. ONUB expected to
conclude troop withdrawals by year's end. The UN Secretary General
published two special reports on ONUB and on the human rights,
humanitarian, and security situation in the country--one in March and
one in June. The March report commended the Government for its efforts
to facilitate demobilization and disarmament and to address socio-
economic problems. It expressed concern about continuing insecurity and
stressed the need for security sector reform. The UN reported that
early in the year the human rights situation deteriorated noticeably in
the western provinces as a result of the Government's intensified
military campaign against the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The UN Secretary
General's June report noted an overall reduction in the number of
reported human rights abuses but expressed concern about continued
violations, primarily attributed to government forces engaged in
operations against the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. The UN noted that no
prosecutions of members of government security forces were reported,
although the Government initiated investigations in some cases. The UN
also noted that President Nkurunziza met with security forces and
reprimanded those responsible for ill treatment of detainees.
During the year the UN called on the Government to utilize regional
mechanisms to pursue a lasting solution to the conflict and praised the
decision to resume peace talks with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL. It commended
the Government's efforts to effect justice sector reform, reduce
numbers of small arms and light weapons, consolidate peace, and to take
steps towards institution building.
Though the Arusha Agreement called for the formation of a human
rights commission, the Government had created no such commission by
year's end.
In February the Government informed ONUB that a committee appointed
to study the creation of an International Commission of Judicial
Inquiry and a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission had
completed preparatory work and provided recommendations for the
commission's establishment. The proposed commission would bring to
justice persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and
war crimes committed in the country since it gained its independence in
1962. A UN delegation met with government representatives in March to
discuss the Government's recommendations, as well as a legal framework
for these bodies. By year's end, neither the truth commission nor the
judicial body had been established. On September 29, the foreign
minister announced that the two bodies would not need to be created
simultaneously, adding that the conclusion of a cease fire agreement
with the PALIPEHUTU-FNL offered an opportunity to move forward
expeditiously with the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides equal status and protection for all
citizens, without distinction based on sex, origin, ethnicity, or
opinion; however, the Government failed to implement these provisions
effectively, and discrimination and societal abuses persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, although no
credible statistics were available. Wives had the right to charge their
husbands with physical abuse but rarely did so. The law does not
specifically prohibit domestic violence; however, persons accused of
domestic violence could be tried under assault provisions of the law.
By year's end no known court cases had dealt with domestic abuse.
Citizens traditionally did not seek police assistance in domestic
dispute cases, but police intervened on occasion and upon request.
Police occasionally arrested persons accused of domestic violence but
released suspects within a few days, with no further investigation.
According to League Iteka, husbands beat their wives, forced them out
of their homes, denied them basic food necessities, and denied them
freedom of movement.
The law prohibits rape, which is punishable by up to 20 years'
imprisonment, but does not specifically prohibit spousal rape. The FDN
and the PALIPEHUTU-FNL raped women during the year (see Section 1.g.).
Doctors without Borders (MSF) received an average of 125 rape victims
each month at its center for rape victims in Bujumbura; however, MSF
said the number of rapes was likely much higher. As of the end of
August, MSF reported 1,683 cases of sexual violence, with children less
than five years of age comprising 14 percent of the total. According to
ONUB, over 60 percent of reported rapes were of children aged 17 and
under. A UN agency reported that many rapes were committed with the
belief that they would prevent or cure sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS. Information on rape has only recently begun to be
recorded.
Many women remained reluctant to report rape due to cultural
reasons and fear of reprisals. According to ONUB's human rights
department, during the year only one out of every three women raped
lodged a complaint. According to a field officer at a MSF center in
Bujumbura, only 10 to 15 percent of rape victims actually initiated
legal proceedings.
Many rape victims did not receive medical care due to the
intimidation caused by cultural attitudes. Men often abandoned their
wives following acts of rape, and women and girls were ostracized. In
some instances police and magistrates reportedly ridiculed and
humiliated women who alleged that they were raped; according to a UN
agency, there were reports that some police required that victims
provide food for and pay the costs for incarceration of those they
accused of rape. Many of those who sought judicial redress faced the
weaknesses of the judicial system, including many judges who did not
regard rape as a serious crime, and a lack of medical facilities for
gathering important medical evidence. In the limited number of cases
that were investigated, successful prosecutions of rapists were rare.
Civil society and religious communities attacked the stigma of rape
to help victims reintegrate into families that had rejected them.
League Iteka, APRODH, and ONUB continued to encourage women to press
charges and seek medical care, and international NGOs provided free
medical care in certain areas. The Government also raised awareness of
the problem's extent through seminars and local initiatives describing
the kinds of medical care available. Although no precise statistics
were available, a UN report stated in June that during the year more
victims filed complaints, obtained urgent medical assistance, and
received briefings on their legal rights. The UN attributed the change
to increased sensitization of the population on issues related to
sexual violence.
In the first eight months of the year, a project sponsored by a
foreign government to help victims of torture provided assistance to
1,055 rape victims.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it continued to be a
problem. There were reports that soldiers and rebels sexually exploited
women and young girls residing near military installations and rebel
camps. However, there was no evidence that they trafficked women for
prostitution.
The law did not prohibit sexual harassment, but it could be
prosecuted under public morality laws. There were no known prosecutions
during the year.
Women faced legal and societal discrimination. Discriminatory
inheritance laws, marital property laws, and credit practices
continued. By law women must receive the same pay as men for the same
work, but in practice they did not, and some enterprises cut salaries
of women when they went on maternity leave. Women were far less likely
to hold mid-level or high-level positions. In rural areas women
performed most of the farm work, married and had children at early
ages, and had fewer opportunities for education than men.
Enrollment of girls in elementary education increased by over 11
percent in the first school year following the President's August 2005
abolishment of all school fees (see Section 5, Children).
Several local groups worked in support of women's rights, including
the Collective of Women's Organizations and NGOs of Burundi, and Women
United for Development.
Children.--The law provides for children's health and welfare, but
the Government could not adequately satisfy the needs of children,
particularly the large population of children orphaned by violence
since 1993 and by HIV/AIDS.
According to the Ministry of Education, the Government provided
public schooling up to a maximum age of 22. Schooling was compulsory up
to age 12; however, in practice this was not enforced. Sixth grade was
the highest level of education attained by most children, with
approximately 9 percent of girls and 12 percent of boys of secondary
school age attending school, according to UNICEF.
The NGO Maison Shalom, which ran several centers for orphaned and
other vulnerable children in different parts of the country, estimated
that 60 percent of the country's school-age children were illiterate.
Female illiteracy remained a particular problem. Approximately 40
percent of women were literate compared with 56 percent of men.
At his August 2005 inauguration, incoming President Nkurunziza
abolished all school fees. However, students still had to pay for
uniforms, textbooks, and other school materials. While this initiative
made schooling available to hundreds of thousands of new students, it
also led to an educational emergency involving overcrowded classrooms
and teachers teaching multiple shifts. More than 25 percent of primary
schools were destroyed in the war, and many teachers were killed. At
the commencement of the school year in September, the Primary School
Teacher's Union said the school system was still unprepared, and it
complained of the continued shortage of faculty and classrooms. Some
schools reported difficulties in paying for some services, such as
guards, which they previously funded with school fees.
Despite these problems, a recent survey reported an increase in
primary school attendance of 11.3 percent for girls and 15.3 percent
for boys.
In April in cooperation with the Government, UN agencies launched a
project intended to provide 300,000 children in the country with a new
vaccine to protect them against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B,
measles, and tuberculosis; in 2005 the project was piloted in Makamba,
Kirundo, and Muyinga provinces, and according to UNICEF it was expanded
during the year to cover the entire country for children less than a
year old
According to UNICEF, 30,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS.
Anti-retroviral treatment for children was available via a UNICEF-
funded program in the context of a program to prevent HIV transmission
from mother to infant. UNICEF estimated that there were over 240,000
children orphaned by AIDS.
In June the World Health Organization launched its road map for the
prevention of HIV/AIDS infection. The program was designed to increase
HIV/AIDS prevention awareness, increase distribution of condoms, and
improve the availability of reactive treatments and drugs for sexually
transmitted diseases.
Child abuse occurred but was not reported to be a widespread
problem, apart from rape of minors (see Section 5, Women).
The percentage of women between the ages of 20 and 24 who had been
married or in a union before 18 years of age was 17 percent, according
to UNICEF statistics.
Trafficking of children was a problem. Under the law the country's
minimum age for military recruitment is 16, although the Government
stated that no one under 18 was recruited. According to UNICEF,
security forces no longer used children as soldiers for combat,
although other sources reported that children continued to serve in the
security forces as spies and porters and to perform other menial tasks.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL continued to use and recruit child soldiers,
although in fewer numbers than in previous years (see Section 1.g.).
Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
The ongoing conflict and increasing prevalence of HIV/AIDS has
increased the number of orphans, which has resulted in an increase in
the number of street children. The total number of orphans in the
country, including children who were orphaned by causes other than HIV/
AIDS, was more than 837,000, according to the National Council for the
Fight Against HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry for National
Solidarity, Human Rights, and Gender, there were approximately 5,000
street children in the country. According to UNICEF, an estimated
18,363 children were heads of household, mostly in rural areas. A group
of approximately 15 NGOs working with street children developed an
action plan and met monthly to coordinate intervention activities in
this area.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were reports of trafficking.
Traffickers could be prosecuted under existing laws against assault,
kidnapping, rape, prostitution, slavery, and fraud, but among police
this was not widely understood.
During the year the country was a source and transit country for
children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor and child
soldiering. The trafficking of child soldiers by the PALIPEHUTU-FNL
within the country remained a problem (see Section 1.g.).
During the year there were arrests of alleged traffickers but no
reports of prosecutions or convictions. Allegations of trafficking
during the year were made by women, who alleged that they had been
promised jobs elsewhere, taken against their will, and sexually abused.
The Ministry for National Solidarity, Human Rights, and Gender was
responsible for combating trafficking. According to the new criminal
code, those charged with crimes related to trafficking can receive up
to 20 years in prison. There were no cases during the year in which the
Government was requested to participate in international investigations
of trafficking.
In January police arrested a man in Cibitoke Province for
attempting to sell his seven-year-old son. In Bujumbura a Congolese
national was arrested under suspicion of trafficking three young girls
who disappeared in August.
In December, in the Makamba Province town of Vugizo, police
arrested a mother for selling her five-year-old daughter. She told
police she had already sold five of her 11 children. The buyer was also
arrested, but police released both the buyer and the seller on October
2 because the country had no law specifically prohibiting trafficking
in persons.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government
soldiers or rebel combatants coercing sexual exploitation of women.
The Government supported public awareness campaigns and programs to
prevent trafficking and continued to demobilize and provide assistance
to former child soldiers from the FDN, GP, and six former rebel groups
(see Section 1.g.).
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against those with physical or mental disabilities and
there were no reports that the Government failed to enforce this
provision regarding employment, education, or access to healthcare. The
Government had not enacted legislation or otherwise mandated access to
buildings or government services such as education for persons with
disabilities, and this was partly due to a lack of government resources
to ensure access to buildings and services. Unlike in the previous
year, there were no reports that discrimination against persons with
disabilities was a problem, or that there were few job opportunities
for persons with physical disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Tutsis, particularly
southern Tutsis from Bururi Province, historically have held power,
dominated the economy, and controlled the security forces.
Discrimination against Hutus, who constituted an estimated 85
percent of the population, occurred less frequently during the year.
The new constitution, adopted in 2005, requires ethnic quotas on
representation within the Government and in the military. Hutus
significantly increased their presence and power in the Government
following the 2005 elections.
Indigenous People.--The Batwa (Pygmies), who were believed to be
the country's earliest inhabitants, comprised approximately 1 percent
of the population and generally remained economically, socially, and
politically marginalized. Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports of Hutus threatening members of the Batwa and causing scores of
them to flee the country. Most Batwa lived in isolation, without formal
education and without access to government services, including health
care and the judicial system. Refugees International has reported that
the popular perception of the Batwa as barbaric, savage, and subhuman
had seemingly legitimized their exclusion from mainstream society.
There were occasional reports that private individuals burned Batwa
homes during the year.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The constitution
specifically outlaws any discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS or
other incurable illnesses. There were no reports of government-
sponsored discrimination against such individuals, although some
observers suggested that the Government was not actively involved in
preventing societal discrimination.
The constitution bans marriage between individuals of the same sex.
According to a local law professor, this same-sex marriage ban, given
cultural attitudes, constitutes a legal prohibition of homosexuality.
Societal discrimination against homosexuals was widespread, although
they maintained a very low profile.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law protects the right of workers
to form and join unions without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and although most workers exercised this right in
practice, the army, gendarmerie, and foreigners working in the public
sector were prohibited from union participation. The law does not
address the rights of state employees and magistrates. The law
prevented workers under the age of 18 from joining unions without the
consent of their parents or guardians. According to the Confederation
of Burundian Labor Unions (COSYBU), many private sector employers
systematically worked to prevent the creation of trade unions, and the
Government failed to protect private sector workers' rights in
practice. Union representatives indicated, however, that relations with
the Government improved during the year. Unlike in past years, the
Government permitted unions to choose their own representatives to the
tripartite National Labor Council. However, according to the
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), in order for persons to
stand for union office they must work in the sector for one year.
According to COSYBU, less than 10 percent of the formal private
sector workforce was unionized, and roughly 50 percent of the public
sector was unionized. Most citizens worked in the unregulated informal
economy, in which workers had little or no legal protection of their
labor rights.
From January 2005 until July, the Government withdrew union dues
from employee salaries but withheld payment of those dues to COSYBU.
The International Labor Organization stated that the delayed payments
hampered COSYBU's operations.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of government
security agents preventing COSYBU's leadership from traveling to an
international labor conference, and no reports of a member of COSYBU's
leadership going into hiding due to such government harassment.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and aside from some
exceptions, the Government generally respected this right in practice
in the public sector. However, according to the ITUC, the Government
often failed to protect workers in the private sector from
discrimination by employers. This failure was due to a lack of
resources, labor inspectors, and labor courts rather than a government
policy. In cases where employers dismiss employees because of their
union affiliation, the Ministry of Labor can order an employee
reinstated. If the employer fails to comply, the ministry refers the
case to the labor court, which makes a determination of the severance
pay and indemnification that the employer must pay.
The Textile Company of Burundi (COTEBU) dismissed Raphael
Horumoende, the vice President of COTEBU's employees' union, and three
other employees after they protested COTEBU management's interference
in union activities. COSYBU and human rights organizations interceded
with COTEBU to ensure that it reinstated the four employees. The
Ministry of Labor reinstated the workers in December.
In July police in the province of Muyinga imprisoned the President
of the Interprofessional Provincial Committee, a labor rights advocacy
group, after he asked authorities to provide all civil servants the
same housing benefits that teachers received. COSYBU intervened to
secure his release within a week. Unlike in the previous year, there
were no reports of the Government firing a union leader or suspending
union members due to an impending strike.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law recognizes the
right to collective bargaining; however, wages are excluded from the
scope of collective bargaining in the public sector. In practice
collective bargaining was freely practiced. In the public sector, wages
were set according to fixed scales, following consultation with unions.
There are no export processing zones.
Since most salaried workers were civil servants, government
entities were involved in almost every phase of labor negotiations.
Both COSYBU and the Confederation of Free Unions in Burundi represented
labor interests in collective bargaining negotiations, in cooperation
with individual labor unions.
The law provides workers with a conditional right to strike;
although the law bans solidarity strikes and permits requisition orders
in the event of strike action, workers exercised this right in
practice. For a strike to be legal, the law requires workers to obtain
authorization in advance from their employer and to inform the Ministry
of Labor prior to the strike. All other peaceful means of resolution
must be exhausted prior to the strike action; negotiations must
continue during the action, mediated by a mutually agreed upon party or
by the Government; and six days' notice must be given. The Ministry of
Labor must determine if strike conditions have been met before a strike
can legally take place, which gives the ministry the power to veto all
strikes, according to the ITUC. The labor code prohibits retribution
against workers participating in a legal strike.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there
continued to be reports that it occurred (see Sections 1.g. and 2.d.).
During the year there were reports that security forces continued to
use persons, including children, to perform menial tasks without
compensation. A 2003 UNICEF survey found that 640,000 children in the
country had been forced to work.
The PALIPEHUTU-FNL forced rural populations to perform
uncompensated labor, such as the transport of supplies and weapons, and
recruited children for labor, although to a lesser extent than in
previous years (see Section 1.g.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Labor Code states that children under the age of 18 cannot be employed
by ``an enterprise,'' except for the types of labor the Ministry of
Labor determines to be acceptable, which include light work or
apprenticeships that do not damage children's health, interfere with
their normal development, or prejudice their schooling. However, the
Government did not effectively enforce these laws, and child labor
remained a problem. The legal age for labor for most types of non-
dangerous labor is the age of 18. Children under the age of 16 in rural
areas regularly performed heavy manual labor in the daytime during the
school year. According to the ITUC, the vast majority of children in
the country worked during the year.
Children were legally prohibited from working at night, although
many did so in the informal sector. Most of the population lived by
subsistence agriculture, and children were obliged by custom and
economic necessity to participate in subsistence agriculture, family-
based enterprises, and the informal sector. Child labor also existed in
the mining and brick-making industries. UNICEF estimated that
approximately 600,000 children worked in these areas.
There continued to be reports of children engaging in forced or
compulsory labor, and that children were trafficked (see Section 5).
The use of child soldiers and child prostitution continued to be
problems (see Sections 1.g. and 5).
The Ministry of Labor enforced labor laws only when a complaint was
filed, at least in part due to a lack of labor inspectors.
During the year international organizations, a few NGOs, and labor
unions engaged in efforts to combat child labor; efforts included the
campaign to demobilize child soldiers and changing the law during the
year to raise the minimum age for workers from 16 to 18.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for
unskilled workers continued to be $0.15 (160 Burundian francs) per day.
However in practice, most employers paid their unskilled laborers a
minimum of roughly $1.40 (1,500 Burundian francs) per day. Such an
income does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Most families relied on second incomes and subsistence
agriculture to supplement their earnings.
The labor code stipulates an eight-hour workday and a 45-hour
workweek, except where workers were involved in activities related to
national security; however, this stipulation was not always enforced in
practice. Supplements must be paid for overtime. Alternative work
schedules were negotiable.
The labor code establishes health and safety standards that require
safe workplaces. Enforcement responsibility rests with the minister of
labor, who was responsible for acting upon complaints; however, there
were no reports of complaints filed with the ministry during the year.
Workers did not have the right to remove themselves from situations
that endangered health and safety without jeopardizing their
employment.
__________
CAMEROON
Cameroon, with a population of approximately 17.3 million, is a
republic dominated by a strong presidency. Despite the country's
multiparty system of government, the Cameroon People's Democratic
Movement (CPDM) has remained in power since it was created in 1985. In
October 2004 CPDM leader Paul Biya won re-election as President. The
election was flawed by irregularities, particularly in the voter
registration process, but observers believed the election results
represented the will of the voters. The President retains the power to
control legislation or to rule by decree. He has used his legislative
control to change the constitution and extend the term lengths of the
presidency. Although civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, security forces sometimes
acted independently of government authority.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit numerous human rights abuses. Security forces
committed numerous unlawful killings; they regularly engaged in
torture, beatings, and other abuses, particularly of detainees and
prisoners. Impunity was a problem in the security forces. Prison
conditions were harsh and life-threatening. Authorities arbitrarily
arrested and detained anglophone citizens advocating secession, local
human rights monitors and activists, and other citizens. The law
provides for the arrest of homosexuals and persons not carrying
identification cards. There were reports of prolonged and sometimes
incommunicado pretrial detention and infringement on citizens' privacy
rights. The Government restricted citizens' freedoms of speech, press,
assembly, association, and harassed journalists. The Government also
impeded citizens' freedom of movement. The public perceived government
corruption to be a serious problem. Societal violence and
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons, primarily
children; discrimination against indigenous Pygmies and ethnic
minorities; and discrimination against homosexuals were problems. The
Government restricted worker rights and the activities of independent
labor organizations, and child labor, slavery, and forced labor,
including forced child labor, were reported to be problems.
Poor understanding of human rights has contributed to abuses in the
country. The Government took significant steps during the year to
improve citizen's understanding of their specific human rights and
protection through publication of its own human rights report. The
Government also conducted training sessions throughout the country on
the provisions of the penal code scheduled for implementation in 2007.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports that government agents committed
politically motivated killings; however, throughout the year security
forces continued to commit unlawful killings, including killings
resulting from beatings and other use of excessive force.
There were new developments in the 2004 killing of John Khontem. On
April 12, the Ngoketunjia High Instance Court sentenced National
Assembly member Doh Gah Gwanyin III and each of nine codefendants to 15
years in prison and a $1,000 fine (500,000 CFA francs). Gwanyin filed a
motion for bail because of poor health, and, on August 18, the Bamenda
Court of Appeals granted him bail.
On November 29, security forces mistakenly shot and killed a man
while trying to arrest another person who allegedly participated in a
violent demonstration the day before in Maga, Far North Province.
There were reports that police used excessive force to disperse
demonstrators, resulting in the deaths of several of them (see Section
2.b.).
Prisoners reportedly died in custody during the year due to
beatings and abuse by security forces.
There were new developments in the February 2005 torture case of
banker Emmanuel Moutombi. The Douala Military Tribunal's investigation
yielded the names of those involved in Moutombi's death. On March 21,
the tribunal sentenced gendarmerie officers Athanase Domo, Pierre
Minkeng Ndjemba, and Jean Mbiakop to 10, nine, and eight years in jail,
respectively, on charges of torture that resulted in death. Two other
officers, Anatole Clement Banem and Jean-Claude Menanga Ahanda,
received 10 and six month sentences, respectively, on violation of
instructions charges. The court released two of the codefendants due to
lack of evidence. The court also ordered the Government to pay $90,000
(44 million CFA francs) in damages to Moutombi's family.
There were new developments in the March 2005 shooting death of
Jean-Pierre Mpohede. On October 27, the Kribi High Court sentenced
Police Commissioner Japhet Bello Miagougoudom to 15 years in prison and
awarded $40,000 (20 million CFA francs) in damages to the victim's
family. The court also sentenced Police Inspector Aboubakari Modibo to
10 years in jail but acquitted the seven other codefendants.
There were no new developments in the 2005 police killings of Denis
Serge Etoundi, Aurelien Mayouga Noundou, Elvis Sigala Tasama, or Claude
Obam Ndoum.
There were no new developments in the 2004 beating death of
Emmanuel Song Bahanag or the torture death of Laurent Gougang.
There were no new developments in the 2004 police killings of
Justin Abena Ngono or Desire Etoundi.
There were new developments in the 2000 high-profile case of the
shooting death of Luc Benoit Bassilekin. On April 27, after a two year
suspension, the Douala Military Tribunal resumed hearings on the case.
The trial was ongoing at year's end.
There were fewer reports that police used excessive, including
deadly, force than in the previous year.
There were fewer incidents where police beat or shot suspects. The
Government took more steps to investigate and prosecute officers who
used excessive force (see Section 1.d.).
On February 23, police officer Daniel Ayissi Fouda of the Mbengwi
police station in the Northwest Province allegedly shot and killed
Elvis Ndengue, a motorcycle taxi driver, after Ndengue refused to
transport a young woman who Ayissi Fouda had just arrested to the
police station. Ayissi Fouda fled the crime scene. The investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
On August 22, the Yaounde district attorney charged Ni John Fru
Ndi, chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), with the murder of
Gregoire Diboule. Fru Ndi was accused of being responsible for violence
that resulted in the death. On May 28, SDF vanguards from Bamenda
stormed the party's head office in order to prevent the party's
dissenting faction from holding a congress (see Section 3). The charges
against Fru Ndi were still under investigation at year's end.
During the year mob violence and summary justice against persons
suspected of theft and the practice of witchcraft continued to result
in deaths and serious injuries. The press reported 43 deaths from
beatings and burning, the most ever reported.
Douala, the economic capital, had the highest number of mob
``justice'' incidents. The mob violence was attributed in part to
public frustration over police ineffectiveness and the release without
charge of many individuals arrested for serious crimes (see Section
1.d.). During the year there was a notable rise in crime, and
authorities responded by purchasing 60 vehicles to increase police
efficacy. The country has a functional police academy and engaged in
training police for neighboring countries.
On January 19, former subjects of Fon Vugah Simon II, the former
traditional ruler of Kedjom Keku, a village of Mezam Division in the
Northwest Province, beat him to death and then burned his body upon his
return to the village after having been deposed two years earlier. They
accused him of immorality and destroying their tradition. Shortly after
the killing, the gendarmerie arrested 59 persons. Approximately 20 were
released and the rest remained in pretrial detention. Hearings began on
June 28 and were still ongoing at year's end.
On March 4, a mob burned to death Jean-Pierre Onguene, Serge
Toussaint Awa Amougou, and Joseph Cyrille Meba'a, whom they caught
stealing in the Yaounde neighborhood of Nsimeyong-Damase. The police
initially caught and held the suspects, until a large mob broke into
the police station, pulled out the three, and killed them. An
investigation was still ongoing at year's end.
On June 2, an angry crowd burned to death Jean Bape, Daniel Fotie,
and Clovis Koagne on allegations of theft in various houses of
Tchokaong, a village of Mifi Division in the West Province. The
gendarmerie was still investigating the case at year's end.
In October 2005 the Meme High Court (Southwest Province) sentenced
Police Inspector Stephen Ngu to eight years in prison for beating and
burning to death Afuh Bernard Weriwo.
There were no new developments in the 2005 burning deaths of Papi
Gosse, Jonas Benang, and an unknown individual in Douala.
There were no new developments in any of the killings by mobs in
2004. There were no new developments in the 2003 appeal of the
acquittal of six army officers who were charged with executing nine
youths in Bepanda.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of 20 citizens
reportedly captured by agents of Equatorial Guinea's government and
taken to Equatorial Guinea for alleged crimes.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were credible reports that security forces continued to torture,
beat, and otherwise abuse prisoners and detainees.
In the majority of cases of torture or abuse, the Government rarely
investigated or punished any of the officials involved; however, in at
least one case during the year, gendarmerie officers accused of
torturing a citizen to death in 2005 were detained and investigated
(see Section 1.a.).
During the year there were no reports that persons in police and
gendarmerie custody died as a result of torture.
There were reports that security forces detained persons at
specific sites where they tortured and beat detainees. Security forces
also reportedly subjected women, children, and elderly persons to
abuse.
Numerous international human rights organizations and some prison
personnel reported that torture was widespread; however, most reports
did not identify the victim because of fear of government retaliation
against either the victim or the victim's family. Most victims did not
report torture for fear of government reprisal or because of ignorance
of, or lack of confidence in, the judicial system.
In Douala's New Bell Prison and other nonmaximum security penal
detention centers, prison guards inflicted beatings, and prisoners were
reportedly chained or at times flogged in their cells. Authorities
administered beatings in temporary holding cells within police or
gendarme facilities.
Two forms of physical abuse commonly reported by male detainees
were the ``bastonnade,'' where authorities beat the victim on the soles
of the feet, and the ``balancoire,'' during which authorities hung
victims from a rod with their hands tied behind their backs and beat
them, often on the genitals.
Security forces reportedly continued to subject prisoners and
detainees to degrading treatment, including stripping them, confining
them in severely overcrowded cells, denying them access to toilets or
other sanitation facilities, and beating detainees to extract
confessions or information about alleged criminals. Pretrial detainees
reported that they were sometimes required, under threat of abuse, to
pay ``cell fees,'' a bribe paid to prison guards to prevent further
abuse.
On June 13, Yaounde police stormed a gathering of students from the
University of Yaounde II, who were protesting an unannounced hike in
taxi fares. Police, who arrived to disperse the spontaneous
demonstration, violently beat and seriously injured many students. They
also arrested 50 students, who were later released.
In June officers from the Yaounde antiriot squad beat Wackenhut
guard service employee Felix Ahanda and many of his colleagues, who
were demonstrating to demand payment of money they alleged the firm
owed them. The beating left Ahanda with damaged testes.
According to the French-language news site Afrique Centrale, in
August soldiers severely injured and wounded five policemen while
trying to free a fellow soldier from police custody by force.
There were no new developments in the 2005 police beatings of
Genevieve Toupouwou, Gregoire Angotchou, or Nelson Ndi Nagyinkfu.
There were also no developments in the 2005 incident in which
security forces beat and arrested 50 students in Bafoussam, West
Province, for participating in an illegal demonstration.
There were no new developments in the 2004 beating of a man named
Bikele by police officers, or the 2004 assault and arrest of Epie
Nzounkwelle by a local government official.
Security forces physically abused and harassed journalists during
the year (see Section 2.a.).
There were no reports that security forces sexually abused
individuals during the year.
There were no new developments in the 2004 case of sexual abuse of
Biloa Ndongo by a gendarmerie mobile unit in the Melen neighborhood of
Yaounde.
Illegal immigrants from Nigeria and Chad reported that they were
subjected to harsh treatment and imprisonment (see Section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening. Prisons were seriously overcrowded,
unsanitary, and inadequate, especially outside major urban areas. The
Government did not provide funds to cover serious deficiencies in food,
health care, and sanitation, which were common in almost all prisons,
including ``private prisons'' operated by traditional rulers in the
north. Prisoners were kept in dilapidated, colonial-era prisons, where
the number of inmates was four to five times the intended capacity.
According to a 2004 report by the International Center for Prison
Studies, published by the Catholic newspaper La Croix, there were 67
prisons for the country's approximately 20,000 detainees.
Overcrowding was exacerbated by the large number of long pretrial
detentions.
In 2005, 800 persons were hired and trained to work in the prison
system. In 2004 the Government shifted responsibility for administering
prisons and detention centers and all individuals arrested by security
forces from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and
Decentralization to the Ministry of Justice. In addition the Government
created a human rights body within the Ministry of Justice to monitor
abuses in prisons and jails (see Section 4).
There were reports that prisoners died due to a lack of medical
care.
There were no developments in the March 2005 case of Djabba Bouba,
a prisoner in the Douala prison who reportedly starved to death in a
Douala prison.
Health and medical care were almost nonexistent in the country's
prisons and in its detention cells, which were housed in gendarmeries
and police stations. However, while some prisons had medical
facilities, they lacked the funds and personnel to administer
assistance. Between August 5 and 7, three inmates died at the Kumba
prison in the Southwest Province, reportedly from untreated
tuberculosis.
Prisoners' families were expected to provide food for their
relatives in prison. Douala's New Bell Prison contained seven water
taps for a reported 3,500 prisoners, contributing to poor hygiene,
illness, and death.
Prison officials reportedly tortured, beat, and otherwise abused
prisoners with impunity. Corruption among prison personnel was
widespread.
Prisoners sometimes could bribe wardens for special favors or
treatment, including temporary freedom. Prisoners in New Bell Prison
could pay bribes for more comfortable sleeping arrangements and to
avoid doing prison chores.
There were two separate prisons for women.
There were also a few pretrial detention centers for women;
however, women routinely were held in police and gendarmerie complexes
with men, occasionally in the same cells. The secretary of state in
charge of penitentiary administration acknowledged this was a serious
problem. Mothers sometimes chose to be incarcerated with their children
or babies while their children were very young or if they had no other
child care option.
Juvenile prisoners were often incarcerated with adults,
occasionally in the same cells or wards. There were credible reports
that adult inmates sexually abused juvenile prisoners.
Pretrial detainees routinely were held in cells with convicted
criminals.
Some high-profile prisoners were separated from other prisoners and
enjoyed relatively lenient treatment.
Authorities held adults, juveniles, and women together in temporary
detention centers. Detainees usually received no food, water, or
medical care. Detention center guards at times resorted to corruption,
accepting bribes from detainees in return for access to better
conditions, including permission to stay in an office instead of a
cell. Detainees whose families were informed of their incarceration
relied on their relatives for food and medical care. Overcrowding was
common in the detention centers and was often aggravated by the
practice of ``Friday arrests'' (see Section 1.d.).
In the North and Extreme North provinces, the Government continued
to permit traditional chiefs, or Lamibe, to detain persons outside the
Government penitentiary system, in effect creating private prisons.
Traditional rulers throughout the country derive support and legitimacy
from their subjects, many of whom turn to the Lamibe for dispute
resolution. Within the palaces of the traditional chiefdoms of Rey
Bouba, Gashiga, Bibemi, and Tcheboa there were private prisons that had
a reputation for serious abuse. Prior to the destruction of the palace
prison in 2005 in Garoua, in the North Province, palace staff estimated
that a total of 50 prisoners were held in the palace prison annually,
normally for one to two weeks.
Individuals who were found guilty in Garoua were reportedly often
beaten or subject to other forms of physical abuse. According to
members of all the chiefdoms' palace staffs, individuals accused of
serious crimes such as murder were turned over to local police.
The Government permitted international humanitarian organizations
access to prisoners. Both the local Red Cross and the National
Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) made infrequent,
unannounced prison visits during the year. The Government continued to
allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit
prisons. In 2005 the ICRC stated that the Government allowed
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increased access to
prisons.
In July 2005, during a visit by diplomatic observers to the Douala
New Bell Prison, the prison administrator said that the prison, built
to hold 700 inmates, held 3,194. Of these, 2,300 were pretrial
detainees, who were not held separate from convicted prisoners. In
August 2005, during a similar visit to the Yaounde Kondengui Prison,
the same observers learned that the prison, built for 800 inmates, held
3,521 of whom were awaiting trial. In May 2004 a senior official
estimated that 1,600 out of 1,800 inmates in Bafoussam Prison were
pretrial detainees.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces
continued to arrest and detain citizens arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police,
the National Intelligence Service (DGRE), the gendarmerie, the Ministry
of Territorial Administration, the army's military security department,
the army, the minister of defense, and, to a lesser extent, the
Presidential Guard are responsible for internal security; the national
police and gendarmerie have primary responsibility for law enforcement.
The Ministry of Defense, including the gendarmerie, national police,
and DGRE, are under an office of the presidency, resulting in strong
Presidential control of security forces. The national police includes
the public security force, judicial police, territorial security
forces, and frontier police. In rural areas, where there is little or
no police presence, the primary law enforcement body is the
gendarmerie.
Citizens viewed police as ineffective, which frequently resulted in
mob ``justice'' (see Section 1.a.). It was widely believed that
individuals paid bribes to law enforcement and the judiciary to secure
their freedom. Police officers and members of the gendarmerie were
widely viewed as corrupt officials who frequently and arbitrarily
arrested and detained citizens. Police demanded bribes at checkpoints,
and influential citizens reportedly paid police to make arrests or
abuse individuals involved in personal disputes. Private disputes, such
as feuds between business partners, frequently resulted in one party
making allegations of impropriety or homosexuality about the other and
involving the security forces.
According to Transparency International's 2005 Global Corruption
Barometer, citizens viewed the police as extremely corrupt. Impunity
remained a problem but was less severe than in previous years.
Insufficient funding and inadequate training contributed to a lack of
professionalism in the national police. The Center Province purchased
150 police vehicles to improve police effectiveness.
Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, who in 2004 was appointed the general
delegate for national security, took significant steps during the year
to investigate, suspend, and prosecute security forces accused of
abuses.
In 2005 Mebe Ngo'o rehabilitated the ``police of the police,'' an
internal affairs unit of undercover agents that had been dormant for
many years. By year's end the unit was functioning and had received
funding, although there were no public reports of any cases
investigated by this unit.
During the year Mebe Ngo'o also sanctioned at least 17 police
officials who violated laws and regulations, including those on
corruption and extortion. Seven others were also sanctioned by the
courts.
For example, on March 2, pending legal action, Mebe Ngo'o suspended
three police commissioners for three months without pay for
intimidation and aggravated corruption. On September 4, the President
signed decrees terminating them from the police force, and revoking
their pension rights. On August 21, Mebe Ngo'o suspended eight police
officers for three months without pay who were involved in the
trafficking of ordinary passports.
In March 2005 Mebe Ngo'o suspended a Douala police officer and a
Yaounde police inspector for three months for behavior that ``tarnished
the image of the police.'' He suspended another Yaounde-based police
inspector for two weeks for keeping a citizen's driving license
unnecessarily.
During the year courts convicted at least seven police and
gendarmerie officers for human rights abuses.
On May 15, the Douala prosecutor detained four police officers from
the Douala Central Police Station No. 2 for the theft of $2,000 (one
million CFA francs) seized from a thief who had stolen the money from a
shop. In June the Bafoussam tribunal sentenced a police inspector from
the Foumban police station to one year in jail, a $400 fine (200,000
CFA francs), and $300 in damages (150,000 CFA francs) to be paid to
Raoul Noka for the 2003 suit that his lawyer filed against him for the
nonpayment of his legal fees. On August 4, the Yaounde High Court
sentenced a gendarmerie commissioned officer to 18 months in jail for
the 2005 murder of his young neighbor.
On August 23, the Bamenda Court sentenced the Bamenda judicial
police commissioner to pay damages of $1,200 (600,000 CFA francs) to
Edwin Nkwain Mbang for arbitrarily arresting and detaining him for 18
days in 2001.
In May 2005 the Douala Military Tribunal sentenced two police
inspectors from the Douala Central Police Station No. 1 to six months
in jail for the 2001 armed assault and robbery of three Nigerian
citizens.
The Government also took actions to reform security forces
including the police and gendarmerie. On June 22, several gendarmerie
and police officers completed a four-week training seminar on order
preservation, with an emphasis on citizens' rights, human rights, and
individual freedoms. The Government also sent candidates to attend the
International Law Enforcement Academy police training.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain an arrest
warrant except when a person is caught in the act of committing a
crime. Police legally may detain a person in connection with a common
crime for up to 24 hours and may renew the detention three times before
bringing charges. While this provision was generally respected, there
were unverifiable reports that police occasionally violated it.
The law provides for the right to judicial review of the legality
of detention only in the country's two anglophone provinces, and this
provision was respected in practice. In the francophone provinces,
French legal tradition applies, precluding judicial authorities from
acting on a case until the authority that ordered the detention turns
the case over to a prosecutor. In practice these processes took between
15 days to a month. In francophone provinces, after a magistrate has
issued a warrant to bring a case to trial he may hold the detainee in
administrative or pretrial detention indefinitely, pending court
action. During the year such detention often was prolonge, due to the
understaffed and mismanaged court system. The law permits detention
without charge by administrative authorities such as governors and
senior divisional officers for renewable periods of 15 days, ostensibly
to combat banditry and maintain public order. Persons taken into
detention frequently were denied access to both legal counsel and
family members. The law permits release on bail only in the anglophone
provinces; bail was granted infrequently.
To prepare for the new Code on Criminal Procedure scheduled to
enter into force in January 2007, the Ministry of Justice organized
training sessions on the code in each of the country's 10 provinces.
The code extends the right of individuals to be released on bail to the
whole country. It also allows those arrested and held in police and
gendarmerie facilities for investigation to be assisted by a lawyer
from the beginning of their detention.
Police and gendarmes often arrested persons on spurious charges on
Fridays at mid-day or in the afternoon. While the law in the anglophone
provinces provides for judicial review of an arrest within 24 hours,
the courts did not convene on weekends, so individuals arrested on a
Friday typically remained in detention until Monday at the earliest.
Police and gendarmes made such ``Friday arrests'' after accepting
bribes from persons who had private grievances. There were no known
cases of policemen or gendarmes being sanctioned or punished for this
practice.
Security forces and government authorities reportedly continued to
arbitrarily arrest and detain persons, often holding them for prolonged
periods without charges or trial and, at times, incommunicado.
There were reports of political detainees, including anglophone
citizens advocating secession, local human rights monitors or
activists, journalists, and other critics of the Government (see
Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
Police also arrested persons during unauthorized demonstrations,
invariably releasing them within a few hours unless they engaged in
violence (see Section 2.b.).
During the year security forces preemptively arrested approximately
70 leaders, members, and supporters of the Southern Cameroons National
Council (SCNC), an anglophone secessionist group (see Section 3).
There were no developments in the 2005 trial of three SCNC members
charged with disturbing the public order.
On April 2, gendarmes of the Center Province town of Bokito
arrested and detained Suzanne Binyom and Felicite Atchang for 24 hours
at the request of Ernest Oloume, the ruling party deputy from the
locality. The women had come to pay a courtesy call on their
parliamentarian. Olouma told the gendarmes that the women looked
suspicious; they in turn filed a complaint for arbitrary arrest and
detention.
On April 17, gendarmes from the Yaounde-Kondengui brigade arrested
and briefly detained Alice Nkom, a prominent Douala-based lawyer. She
was visiting her clients, alleged homosexuals who had been awaiting
trial for several months, in the Yaounde central prison. Nkom took some
pictures of her clients but was prevented from continuing by prison
wardens, who claimed she had no right to take pictures. Nkom told them
that there was no law prohibiting her actions. Unable to cite a law
backing their claim, prison officials called the gendarmes to have Nkom
removed.
On September 15, Police Commissioner Mve of the Douala judicial
police office ordered the arrest and detention of Conrad Mongue-Din, a
Douala-based lawyer. Mongue-Din went to the judicial police office to
assist a client. The police commissioner denied his request for access.
When Mongue-Din insisted, Commissioner Mve ordered Monque-Din detained,
claiming he created a disturbance. Mongue-Din filed a complaint through
the Douala branch of the Cameroon Bar Association.
There were no developments in the 2005 arrest of a labor leader
during a sit-in (see Section 6.a.).
There were no developments in the 2004 arrest of a Human Rights
Defense Group member by a Northwest Province chief.
Police frequently arrested persons without identification during
sweeps (see Section 1.f.). Citizens are required to carry
identification with them at all times.
The law provides that detainees must be brought promptly before a
magistrate; however, bureaucratic inefficiency and, at times, arbitrary
actions led to prolonged pretrial detention, and sometimes persons were
held incommunicado for months or even years (see Section 1.c.). For
example, in 2005, in Douala's New Bell Prison and Yaounde's Kondengui
Prison, 5,300 of the 6,715 persons incarcerated were in pretrial
detention. This high number was due to many factors, including the
complexity of cases, staff shortages, and corruption. The average
pretrial detention period ranged from one to five years. Longer
detention periods were often linked to the loss of a file and the
absence of a lawyer to follow up on the case. In January 2005 the Union
of Northwest Human Rights Organizations stated it had visited 20
detainees in the Bamenda Prison who had each been awaiting trial for 10
years.
In 2003 the Ministry of Justice and the European Union launched an
assistance program to examine cases of prolonged pretrial detention and
resolve them. The program was still ongoing at year's end; however, the
lack of personnel impeded its effectiveness.
There was no information available on Barnabe Atangana or Beniot
Bilongo, who remained in pretrial detention at the end of the year
after 22 years and nine years, respectively.
The law specifies that, after an investigation has concluded,
juveniles should not be detained without trial for longer than three
months; however, in practice the Government detained juveniles for
longer periods of time. For example, at the end of 2004, Michel
Sighanou, a juvenile who was transferred from the Yabassi prison to
another prison in 1996, had been awaiting trial for more than seven
years. No additional information was available at year's end.
In recent years there have been reports that some prisoners were
kept in prison after completing their sentences or having been released
under a court ruling. During a July visit to Douala, a Catholic prison
chaplain told diplomatic observers that there were still many such
cases. Authorities kept more than 100 prisoners in jail past their
release dates due to the prisonere's inability to pay court fees or
damages.
The Government took steps to implement a tracking system that would
permit authorities to locate released prisoners and collect fines or
damages.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained highly
subject to executive influence, and corruption and inefficiency
remained serious problems. The court system was subordinate to the
Ministry of Justice, which was part of the presidency. A constitutional
anomaly names the President as ``first magistrate,'' thus ``chief'' of
the judiciary and the theoretical arbiter of any sanctions against the
judiciary, which could influence judicial action. In practice, however,
the President has not filled this role. The constitution specifies that
the President is the guarantor of the legal system's independence. He
also appoints all judges with the advice of the Supreme Council of the
Magistrature. Some politically sensitive cases were never heard by the
courts. However, the judiciary showed modest signs of growing
independence. During the year the courts found the Government liable
for damages in a few human rights cases involving abuses by security
officers. For example, in the Miagougoudom case, the Government awarded
the victim's family $40,000 (20 million CFA francs) in damages (see
Section 1.a.).
The court system includes the Supreme Court, a court of appeals in
each of the 10 provinces, and courts of first instance in each of the
country's 58 divisions.
The legal system includes both national and customary law, and many
criminal and civil cases can be tried using either one. However,
criminal cases are generally tried in statutory courts, and customary
court convictions involving witchcraft automatically are transferred to
the statutory courts, which act as the Court of First Instance.
Customary law, which is used most frequently in rural areas, is based
upon the traditions of the ethnic group predominant in the region and
is adjudicated by traditional authorities of that group. Customary law
is deemed valid only when it is not ``repugnant to natural justice,
equity, and good conscience.'' However, many citizens in rural areas
remained unaware of their rights under civil law and were taught that
they must abide by customary laws. Customary law ostensibly provides
for equal rights and status; however, men may limit women's rights
regarding inheritance and employment, and some traditional legal
systems treat wives as the legal property of their husbands.
Customary courts served as a primary means for settling civil
disputes in rural areas, primarily in family-related civil cases, such
as in matters of succession, inheritance, and child custody. Divorce
cases can be brought to customary courts only if the Government has not
sanctioned the marriage through an official license. Customary courts
may exercise jurisdiction in a civil case only with the consent of both
parties. Either party has the right to have a case heard by a statutory
court and to appeal an adverse decision by a customary court to the
statutory courts. Most traditional courts also permitted appeal of
their decisions to traditional authorities of higher rank.
The legal structure is strongly influenced by the French legal
system, although in the two anglophone provinces certain aspects of the
Anglo-Saxon tradition apply. In the past this mixed legal tradition led
to conflicting court action in cases handled in both francophone and
anglophone jurisdictions.
During the year the Government approved a new Criminal Procedure
Code and conducted training on the code throughout the country, in
anticipation of its implementation in 2007.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair public hearing in
which the defendant is presumed innocent. However, this provision often
was not respected. There is no jury system. Defendants have the right
to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner.
Defendants generally were allowed to question witnesses and to present
witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants also had access
to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Because appointed
attorneys received little compensation, the quality of legal
representation for indigent clients often was poor. The bar association
and some voluntary organizations, such as the Cameroonian Association
of Female Jurists, offered free assistance in some cases. The Project
for the Improvement of Conditions of Detention continued to engage
lawyers to work on prison cases. Trials normally were public, except in
cases judged by the Ministry of Justice to have political overtones or
to be disruptive to social peace. In practice defendants enjoyed a
presumption of innocence and exercised their right to appeal their
cases.
There were reports that officials continued to hold individuals in
prison beyond the jail terms set by the courts. In 2005 the general
prosecutor of the Yaounde Superior Court reviewed the files of
approximately 150 prisoners at the Kondengui Prison to check their
judicial status.
Political bias by judges (often instructed by the Government) often
stopped trials or resulted in an extremely long process with extended
court recesses. Powerful political or business interests enjoyed
virtual immunity from prosecution; some politically sensitive cases
were settled through bribes.
Military tribunals may exercise jurisdiction over civilians when
the President declares martial law and in cases involving civil unrest
or organized armed violence. Military tribunals also have jurisdiction
over gang crimes, banditry, and highway robbery. The Government
interpreted these guidelines broadly and sometimes used military courts
to try matters concerning dissident groups.
Military trials were subject to irregularities and political
influence.
Political Prisoners.--During the year authorities continued to hold
two groups of prisoners who could be considered political prisoners.
There were no developments in the case of 15 members of the
secessionist group SCNC serving long prison sentences following their
1999 convictions in military trials. Their trials and convictions did
not meet international or national legal standards; Amnesty
International and other international human rights NGOs criticized the
trials as unfair. In addition the military tribunal admitted into
evidence confessions that were credibly alleged in court to have been
exacted under torture.
The prisoners maintained they were political prisoners convicted
for supporting a political belief; however, the Government claimed they
were imprisoned for acts of violence against government offices and
officers. The Government permitted access to the prisoners on a regular
basis by international humanitarian organizations.
Because it advocates succession the Government considered the SCNC
an illegal organization and refused to register it as a political
organization.
During the year the Government continued to hold two individuals
widely considered by human rights NGOs to be political prisoners
because of irregularities in their trials and restricted access to
counsel. Titus Edzoa, former minister of health and long-time aide to
President Biya, and Michel Thierry Atangana, Edzoa's 1997 campaign
manager, were arrested in 1997, three months after Edzoa resigned from
government and launched his candidacy for President. They were
convicted on charges of embezzling public funds and sentenced to 15
years in prison.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, these rights were subject to the ``higher interests of the
state,'' and there were numerous, credible reports that police and
gendarmes harassed citizens, conducted searches without warrants, and
opened or seized mail with impunity. The Government continued to keep
some opposition activists and dissidents under surveillance. Police
sometimes punished family members and neighbors of criminal suspects.
The law permits a police officer to enter a private home during
daylight hours without a warrant if he is pursuing an inquiry and has
reason to suspect that a crime has been committed. The officer must
have a warrant to make such a search after dark; however, a police
officer may enter a private home at any time in pursuit of a criminal
observed committing a crime.
During the year police put the houses of SCNC officials and
activists under surveillance, searched the houses of some SCNC leaders,
and disrupted SCNC meetings in private residences (see Section 3).
An administrative authority may authorize police to conduct
neighborhood sweeps without warrants. Such sweeps at times involved
forced entry into homes in search of suspected criminals or stolen or
illegal goods. Security forces sometimes sealed off a neighborhood,
systematically searched homes, arrested persons, sometimes arbitrarily,
and seized suspicious or illegal articles.
In 2005 there were credible reports that security forces in Douala
and Yaounde used such sweeps as a pretext to loot homes and arbitrarily
arrest persons for minor offenses, such as not possessing identity
cards. For example, in June 2005 the Douala police, accompanied by
gendarmes and soldiers, conducted a sweep in the Douala neighborhoods
of Bonakuamouang, Bessengue Valley, and Bessengue, and arrested
approximately 100 individuals, mostly young men and women. Police held
them in a Douala police station until their identity was established, a
process that took 24 hours.
Citizens without ID cards were detained until their identity could
be established and then released. Several complained of the police's
arbitrary seizure (theft) of electronic devices and cell phones, and
registered their complaints at the police station.
There continued to be accusations, particularly in the North and
Far North provinces, that traditional chiefs arbitrarily evicted
persons from their land.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and while the Government continued to restrict
these rights in practice, media groups were vibrant and active.
The Government sometimes invoked strong libel laws to silence
criticism of the Government and officials. Journalists, particularly
broadcast journalists, often practiced self-censorship as a result of
real or expected government intimidation, harassment, and criminal
penalties for speech-related offenses.
Individuals generally were able to criticize the Government
publicly and privately without being subjected to government reprisal,
although the country's strict libel law resulted in self-censorship.
However, the Government prohibited discussion or advocacy of secession,
which resulted in numerous arrests of SCNC members during the year (see
Section 3).
On May 12, the Yaounde administrative authorities pressured the
Cameroon Episcopal Conference to cancel a press conference where it was
to present its final report for the 2004 Presidential election. The
Justice and Peace Committee, which organized the conference, finally
cancelled it.
On September 1, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde I banned opposition
leader Woungly Massaga's press conference on an electoral reform plan
based on a project by the Catholic Church. The Sous-prefet asserted
that Woungly Massaga could not hold the conference because he failed to
demonstrate that the Catholic Church authorized him to endorse its
project. A week later, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde III banned a press
conference by Massaga in that locale on the same grounds.
On September 19, the Sous-prefet of Yaounde I banned a meeting that
Nouveaux Droits de l'Homme, a democracy and human rights NGO, organized
at the Chamber of Agriculture. Droits de l'Homme wanted to launch a
``National Forum of Civil Society on Elections,'' to discuss electoral
reform and the creation of an independent electoral body that would
govern all elections. In his ban order, the Sous-prefet asserted that
he did not understand the real purpose of the meeting.
The Government published one of the country's few daily newspapers,
the Cameroon Tribune. The newspaper did not report extensively on
protests or political parties critical of the Government, overtly
criticize the ruling party, or portray government programs in an
unfavorable light.
During the year approximately 200 privately owned newspapers were
published; however, only an estimated 25 were published on a regular
basis, primarily for lack of funding. Mutations, La Nouvelle
Expression, and Le Messager were the only privately owned daily
newspapers. Newspapers were distributed primarily in urban areas, and
most continued to criticize the Government and report on controversial
issues, including corruption, human rights abuses, homosexuality, and
economic policies. However, the Government used criminal libel laws to
inhibit the press by criminalizing the propagation of false
information.
Despite the large number of private newspapers in the country, the
influence of print media was minimal. Distribution was problematic
outside of major towns, and prices of independent newspapers were high,
due largely to high government taxes on newsprint.
In 2004 the Government established a special fund to support the
development of the press, particularly newspapers, and funds were
disbursed to some private newspapers and radio stations. The Government
continued to disburse such funds during the year. According to media
reports, funding was awarded very selectively, and some media outlets,
such as Mutations and Radio Reine, refused to apply for funds. The
Government exerted control over some newspaper warehouses and seized
editions of controversial newspaper editions prior to distribution or
after they were released.
The Government tightly controlled the broadcast media. Radio
remained the most important medium reaching most citizens. There were
approximately 20 privately owned radio stations operating in the
country. Approximately 75 percent of private radio stations were
concentrated in Yaounde and Douala. Ownership of the private radio
stations was very diverse, with only one owner having more than one
station. The state-owned CRTV broadcast on both television and radio
and was the only officially recognized and fully licensed broadcaster
in the country. The Government levied taxes on all registered taxpaying
citizens to finance CRTV programming, which allowed CRTV a distinct
advantage over independent broadcasters.
Nonprofit rural radio stations were required to submit an
application to broadcast but were exempt from paying licensing fees.
Potential commercial radio and television broadcasters must submit a
licensing application and pay an application fee when the application
is submitted. Once the license is issued, stations must then pay an
annual licensing fee, which can be expensive. Although the Government
had not issued new broadcast licenses in many years, companies operated
without them.
During the year the National Communications Council (NCC), whose
members were appointed by the President, continued to review all
broadcasting license applications, the first step in issuing licenses.
In addition a technical committee composed of government-appointed
members--including government officials, journalists, and jurists--
continued to review the NCC's decisions.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of the closure of Lake
Side Independent Radio for broadcasting without a license.
There were several low-power, rural community radio stations with
extremely limited broadcast range that were funded by the UN
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and foreign
countries. The Government prohibited these stations--which broadcast
programs on education, health, the environment, and development to
small audiences--from discussing politics.
The law permits broadcasting by foreign news services but requires
them to partner with a national station. The BBC, Radio France
International, and other foreign services broadcast in partnership with
state-owned CRTV.
Television was less pervasive but more influential than print
media. The five independent television stations largely avoided
criticizing the Government, although their news broadcasts sometimes
focused on poverty, unemployment, poor education, and government
neglect, and corruption which the broadcasts said had caused these
problems.
Like the Cameroon Tribune, CRTV provided broad reporting of CPDM
activities, while giving relatively little attention to the political
opposition. During the year CRTV management continued to instruct staff
repeatedly to ensure that government views prevailed at all times.
Security forces, usually acting under the command of local
provincial government officials, reportedly continued to restrict press
freedom by arresting, detaining, physically abusing, threatening, and
otherwise harassing journalists.
On January 3, gendarmes from the Douala neighborhood of Bonaberi
attacked Pius Njawe, a journalist and the publisher of Le Messager
newspaper. Njawe was driving his car on the Wouri bridge in Douala when
he witnessed a car accident. He stopped to take pictures, but the
investigating gendarmes barred him from doing so. When Njawe insisted,
the gendarmes beat and kicked him, finally pushing him back into his
car. Njawe did not file a complaint against the gendarme officers.
On September 3, officers from the Yaounde military security agency
(Semil) arrested and detained Duke Atangana Etotogo, publisher of the
monthly L'Afrique Centrale, without a warrant and seized magazine
copies that were on sale. Etotogo published a series of analytical
reports on the armed forces and their leadership. The purpose of the
arrest was to force him to reveal his sources. Semil released Etotogo
after five days of intensive interrogation. Before his release on
September 7, the military security agency demanded that Etotogo write a
letter of apology to the President, who is the supreme chief of the
armed forces, which he did.
According to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists in April Eric
Motomu, editor of The Chronicle, was beaten unconscious by the
bodyguard and driver of opposition leader John Fru Ndi. Motomu said he
was treated for head and chest injuries. Earlier, Motomu had been
summoned by police in Bamenda in connection with a defamation case
brought against him by Fru Ndi. However, Motomu was not formally
charged.
On November 6, Sweet FM radio presenter Agnes Taile was attacked by
three hooded intruders, who forced their way into Taile's home in
Douala, dragged her outside, beat her, and tried to strangle her. She
was hospitalized with multiple injuries. Authorities had not made any
arrests by year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 police beatings of
journalists Philip Njaru and Innocent Yuh, who were hospitalized from
their wounds. There were also no developments in the 2005 case of
broadcasters Freedom FM and Radio Oku, which were both closed by
government officials.
There were no reports that the Government indirectly censored the
media by controlling advertising revenues. Since the Government was the
largest advertiser in the country, however, and could choose which
media outlets to pay to place advertising, it continued to have a
certain degree of influence over media outlets.
The Government prosecuted its critics in the print media through
criminal libel laws. These laws authorize the Government, at its
discretion and the request of the plaintiff, to criminalize a civil
libel suit or to initiate a criminal libel suit in cases of alleged
libel against the President and other high government officials; such
crimes are punishable by prison terms and heavy fines. The libel law
places the burden of proof on the defendant. Local leaders in
particular abused this law to keep local reporters from reporting on
corruption and abusive behavior. Various government members and senior
government officials filed nine libel suits against journalists.
On March 3, a Yaounde court sentenced Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga,
publisher of the Yaounde-based weekly L'Anecdote, to four months in
jail on defamation charges. In February Belinga published a list of
alleged homosexuals, which included Gregoire Owona, a government
member, who filed a libel suit. The court ruling found only that the
publisher could not substantiate his claim. The court fined Belinga
$2,000 (one million CFA francs) and ordered him to pay symbolic damages
to the plaintiff and publish the ruling in several newspapers. Similar
suits were filed by Owona and by Jean-Pierre Mayo, the general manager
of the Yaounde-based National Social Insurance Fund hospital, against
Biloa Ayissi, publisher of the Yaounde-based weekly Nouvelle Afrique.
In the Owona case, the court sentenced Ayissi on March 24 to six months
in jail for defamation, fined him $2,000 (one million CFA francs),
ordered him to pay symbolic damages to the plaintiff and to publish the
ruling in several newspapers and some electronic media. In the Mayo
case, the court ordered Ayissi to pay $6,000 (three million CFA francs)
in damages.
The other journalists whom courts convicted on defamation charges
in private cases included Dieudonne Mveng, publisher of the weekly
newspaper La Meteo, Socrate Dipanda, publisher of the weekly Le
Constat, Peter William Mandio, publisher of the weekly Le Front,
Henriette Ekwe, columnist with Le Front, and Georges Gilbert Baongla,
publisher of the weekly Le Dementi. Most received suspended prison
sentences. None of the journalists sentenced to prison terms were sent
to prison.
There were no developments in the April 2005 defamation case
against Guibai Gatema and Abdoulaye Oumate.
There were no developments in the 2005 libel case against Le Jeune
Observateur publisher Jules Koum Koum.
There were no developments in the 2004 case of Eric Wirkwa Tayu,
convicted of defamation.
In March 2005 the Union of Cameroonian Journalists created the
Cameroon Media Council (CMC), an independent, self-regulating body of
journalists aiming to promote press freedom, access to information,
professionalism, and ethical reporting. The CMC, supported by the
minister of communication, also had as part of its mission the goal of
reviewing and disciplining media professionals and arbitrating
complaints against journalists. Complaints included ethical breeches,
such as the common practice for newspaper reporters and editors of
accepting payments from politicians and businessmen to write articles
containing unsubstantiated allegations against the opponents and
competitors of their benefactors.
Internet Freedom.--There were no reports that the Government
attempted to monitor the Internet. There were also no reports that the
Government restricted access to the Internet. The Internet was
available and used by citizens, although access was limited by cost and
slow connections.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Although there were no legal
restrictions on academic freedom, state security informants reportedly
operated on university campuses. Professors said that participation in
opposition political parties could adversely affect their professional
opportunities and advancement. During the year strikes in the state
universities of Yaounde I, Yaounde II, and Douala deteriorated and
resulted in violent confrontations between students and security forces
(see Section 2.b.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice.
The law requires organizers of public meetings, demonstrations, or
processions to notify officials in advance but does not require prior
government approval of public assemblies and does not authorize the
Government to suppress public assemblies that it has not approved in
advance. However, officials routinely have asserted that the law
implicitly authorized the Government to grant or deny permission for
public assembly. Consequently, the Government often did not grant
permits for assemblies organized by persons or groups critical of the
Government and repeatedly used force to suppress public assemblies for
which it had not issued permits.
Security forces forcibly disrupted the demonstrations, meetings,
and rallies of citizens, trade unions, and groups of political
activists throughout the year.
On numerous occasions throughout the year, authorities refused to
grant the SCNC, an unregistered political group the Government deemed
illegal because it advocated secession, permission to hold rallies and
meetings, and security forces arrested and detained some activists (see
Section 3).
On March 9, Douala gendarmes disrupted a gathering of Manifeste
Africain pour la Nouvelle Independence et la Democratie (MANIDEM), an
opposition party, although the party claimed it had received tacit
approval for the meeting from the competent administrative authority.
Some benches were broken in the altercation, but MANIDEM resumed its
meeting after the gendarmerie group commander intervened and called his
subordinates to order.
Police forcibly dispersed student demonstrators during the year,
which resulted in deaths and injuries. For example, on June 13, Yaounde
police dispersed a gathering from the University of Yaounde II and
arrested 50 students (see Section 1.c.). The rector filed suits against
some of the students.
On August 4, the Yaounde First Instance Court began hearings on the
cases of four leaders of the Association for the Defense of Students'
Interests (ADDEC)--Ibrahim Mohaman, Rodrigue Batogna, Messi Bela, and
Tememou--in connection with charges of rebellion and disturbance of
public order. The trial was ongoing at year's end.
On November 29, the Buea antiriot police shot and killed two
students, Ufeanei Ivo Abiandong and Bennett Moma Kenyufon, while
dispersing a demonstration at the University of Buea. The students were
protesting those admitted to the faculty of medicine because the
protesters believed the minister of higher education had tampered with
the names on the admission's list. An investigation was ongoing at
year's end.
On December 21, Foumban gendarmes shot and killed Issah Njifouh, a
night watchman, during a demonstration in Njinka Chiefdom in Foumban.
The demonstrators were protesting the Government's decision to replace
Adamou Ndam Njoya, an opposition leader and traditional ruler of their
chiefdom, with another person. An investigation was still ongoing at
year's end.
The Yaounde First Instance Court sentenced students to prison terms
during the year in connection with events that occurred in 2005.
On April 11, the Yaounde First Instance Court sentenced Thierry
Okala Ebode, a leader of the ADDEC, to a suspended six month jail term
(which could be imposed at any time over the next three years if
arrested on similar charges) on charges of rebellion and disturbance of
public order. In November 2005 ADDEC had organized a meeting on the
campus of the University of Yaounde I to discuss issues that made
students' lives difficult. The university rector reportedly called the
gendarmes to break up the meeting. This resulted in clashes between the
gerndarmes and the students, of whom many were arrested. There were no
developments in the 2005 killing of two University of Buea students by
security forces.
There were no reports that security forces broke up or disrupted
gatherings of the SDF during the year. However, administrative
authorities banned marches and meetings that the SDF wanted to conduct
in Douala and Limbe. For example, on July 4, the Sous-prefet of Douala
I banned a march organized by the SDF to protest the pauperization of
citizens. The Sous-prefet justified the ban by claiming the march might
disturb public order. On October 13, the Sous-prefet of Limbe banned a
meeting of the National Executive Committee of the SDF on the grounds
that internal fighting might disrupt public order.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, but the Government limited this right in practice.
The conditions for government recognition of a political party, a
prerequisite for many political activities, precluded peaceful advocacy
of secession. While more than 180 political parties, together with a
large and growing number of civic associations, operated legally, the
Government continued to refuse to register the SCNC as a political
party and harassed and arrested its leaders and members (see Section
3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
there were a few exceptions.
Religious groups must be approved and registered with the Ministry
of Territorial Administration and Decentralization to function legally.
Although there were no reports that the Government refused to register
any group, the process usually took several years, due primarily to
administrative delays. The Government did not register traditional
religious groups on the grounds that the practice of traditional
religion was a private concern observed by members of a particular
ethnic or kinship group or the residents of a particular locality.
There were no further developments in the January 2004 arrest and
detention of Michel Atanga Effa and Gervais Balla for the 2003 murder
of a priest or in the May 2004 beating of Pastor Alombah Godlove by the
traditional ruler of his village.
The practice of witchcraft is a criminal offense under the law;
however, individuals generally were prosecuted for this offense only in
conjunction with another offense, such as murder. Witchcraft
traditionally has been a common explanation for diseases of unknown
cause.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasionally
reports of discrimination in the northern provinces, particularly in
rural areas, by Muslims against Christians and persons who practiced
traditional indigenous religions. However, the overall amicable
relationship among religious groups in society contributed to religious
freedom.
The size of the Jewish community was very small, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, security forces routinely impeded domestic
travel during the year.
Roadblocks and checkpoints manned by security forces proliferated
in cities and on most highways, making road travel both time-consuming
and costly. Extortion of small bribes was commonplace at these
checkpoints. Police frequently stopped travelers to check
identification documents, vehicle registrations, and tax receipts as
security and immigration control measures. There were no reports that
security forces killed individuals suspected of evading checkpoints.
However, there were credible reports that police arrested and beat
individuals who failed to carry their identification cards as required
by law.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it;
however, some human rights monitors or political opponents who
considered themselves threatened by the Government left the country
voluntarily and declared themselves to be in political exile.
In 2005 the Government, the Nigerian High Commission to Cameroon,
and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed
a tripartite agreement for the voluntary repatriation of 10,000 of the
17,000 Nigerian Fulani cattle breeders who fled their homes in 2001 to
escape ethnic fighting. During the year a large number of Nigerians
returned home.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In March 2005 between 10,000
and 15,000 citizens in and around the Adamawa Province villages of
Djohong and Ngaoui were displaced following attacks and looting by
unidentified armed groups from the Central African Republic (CAR).
According to the Adamawa Province's governor, the groups targeted
cattle herders of the M'bororo ethnic group, kidnapping them and
demanding ransom due to the group's perceived wealth. The Government
reportedly sent troops in 2005 to restore order in the border area, and
during the year a rapid intervention unit operated in the area.
During the year the Government worked with the UNHCR to protect and
assist IDPs.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system of providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. In 2005 the National
Assembly passed legislation that formally established the status of
refugees, and the President signed it into law in July 2005.
The Government also provided protection to certain individuals who
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967
Protocol. At year's end the UNHCR estimated that the country provided
temporary protection to approximately 17,500 refugees, the majority of
whom were Chadian and Nigerian, in addition to 5,300 asylum seekers,
some of whom were economic refugees presenting themselves as political
victims.
During the year, as a result of numerous attacks and kidnappings by
unidentified armed groups in the CAR, approximately 20,000 members of
the M'bororo ethnic group reportedly fled to the country, according to
UN agencies and local human rights groups, bringing the total number of
refugees to 35,083. In June the UNHCR reported that 20,383 M'bororos
from CAR settled near the CAR border, with approximately 13,000 in the
East Province and 7,000 in Adamoua. There were also 2,948 Nigerian
refugees in Banyo (Adamaoua and Northwest provinces) and 11,752 urban
refugees in Yaounde and Douala.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
has been tolerant and understanding of CAR and Chadian citizens coming
across the borders to flee their countries, facilitating their entry
and providing assistance.
A special task force, including troops from the Economic and
Monetary Community of Central Africa (comprised of Cameroon, Gabon,
CAR, Equatorial Guinea, Congo Brazzaville, and Chad), regularly
launched joint operations, with logistical support from the French
army, against CAR and Chadian rebels.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides that citizens have the right to change their
government peacefully; however, dominance of the political process by
the President and his party and electoral intimidation, manipulation,
and fraud limited the ability of citizens to exercise this right in
past elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--In October 2004 President
Biya, who has controlled the Government since 1982, was re-elected with
approximately 70 percent of the vote in an election widely viewed as
freer and fairer than previous elections, and in which opposition
parties fielded candidates. However, the election was poorly managed
and marred by irregularities, in particular in the voting registration
process, but most international observers deemed that the
irregularities did not prevent the elections from expressing the will
of the voters.
Some observers said progress had been made and called the election
transparent; others, such as the Commonwealth Observer Group, stated
that the election lacked credibility. Some opposition parties alleged
that there was multiple voting by individuals close to President Biya's
party and massive vote rigging. One domestic group described the
election as a masquerade. The 2002 legislative elections, which were
dominated by the CPDM, largely reflected the will of the people;
however, there were widespread irregularities.
In December the National Elections Observatory published its
assessment of the 2004 elections; the assessment cited electoral
weakness in voter registration and report collection, recommended that
the observatory assume control of voter registration, and called for an
increased responsibility for the observatory in organizing elections.
The Government also established an independent electoral commission.
Since 1991 only government bills proposed by the presidency have
been enacted by the National Assembly. However, in March the National
Assembly agreed to consider a private member's bill on the funding of
political parties and electoral campaigns that an opposition party
tabled at the session opening. This consideration followed another one
that took place in 2004. Only parties with representatives in the
National Assembly can submit bills for consideration. During its June
2005 session, the National Assembly refused to consider a bill on
electoral reform tabled by the SDF, the leading parliamentary
opposition party.
Members of the Beti ethnic group, including the Bulu subgroup to
which the President belongs, figured prominently in the Government,
civil service, and management of state-owned businesses.
The President's control over the country's administrative apparatus
was extensive. The President appoints all ministers, including the
Prime Minister, and also directly appoints the governors of each of the
10 provinces. The President also has the power to appoint important
lower level members of the 58 provincial administrative structures.
The right of citizens to choose their local governments remained
circumscribed. The Government increased greatly the number of
municipalities run by Presidentially appointed delegates, who have
authority over elected mayors. Delegate-run cities included most of the
provincial capitals and some division capitals in pro-opposition
provinces; however, this practice was almost nonexistent in the
southern provinces, which tended to support the ruling CPDM party. In
municipalities with elected mayors, local autonomy was limited since
elected local governments relied on the central government for most of
their revenue and administrative personnel.
There were more than 180 registered political parties in the
country. Fewer than 10, however, had significant levels of support, and
only five had seats in the National Assembly. The ruling CPDM held an
absolute majority in the National Assembly; opposition parties included
the SDF, based in the anglophone provinces and some major cities. The
largest of the opposition parties were the National Union for Democracy
and Progress, the Cameroon Democratic Union, and the Union of the
Peoples of Cameroon.
The Government considered one unregistered anglophone political
group, the SCNC, illegal, because it advocated secession from the
country and authorities refused to register it as a political
organization. During the year security forces preemptively arrested
approximately 70 leaders, members, and supporters of the SCNC; such
arrests were conducted to prevent persons from participating in
political meetings.
On numerous occasions throughout the year, authorities refused to
grant the SCNC permission to hold rallies and meetings. Security forces
disrupted SCNC meetings, including in private residences, arresting
SCNC activists and releasing them a couple of days later. For example,
on April 27, gendarmes arrested 65 SCNC activists in Oku, in the
Northwest Province, while they were holding a meeting in a private
residence. They were not charged and were released four days later. On
May 7, the Bamenda police broke up Hitler Mbinglo Humphrey's press
conference in the Musang-Rendez-vous neighborhood, arresting Mbinglo
Humphrey and three others. The police subsequently arrested 17 other
activists who protested the arrest of their leaders. They were released
after a brief detention.
In August SDF Chairman Fru Ndi was accused of being responsible for
violence that resulted in the death (see Section 1.a.).
On September 16, gendarmes from the Bamenda gendarmerie legion in
the Northwest Province arrested five SCNC activists in their office:
Fidelis Tchenkwo, Emmanuel Enu, Prescilla Khan, Elvis Bandzeka, and
Cletus She. They were released after a brief detention. The SCNC
claimed that the arrests were to prevent the activists from preparing
and holding a meeting of the ``Northern Zone.''
On September 19, the Prefect of Mezam Division in the Northwest
Province signed an order banning all public meetings, rallies, or
gatherings of more than four persons and prohibiting access to
electronic media for any SCNC official or sympathizer.
On October 1, security forces arrested and detained some activists
in the Northwest and Southwest provinces for activities such as raising
an SCNC flag in a public market place. They were released after a few
days' detention.
On October 1, the Bamenda police blocked access to radio and
television stations, put the houses of SCNC officials and activists
under surveillance, and searched the houses of some SCNC leaders,
including Chief Ayamba Ette, the SCNC chairman, Nfor Ngalla Nfor, the
vice President, and Binlo Hitler, the President of the Northern Zone.
In advance of the annual celebration of Southern Cameroon
``independence'' on October 1, the Government engaged in a campaign of
closing down SCNC rallies and meetings.
There were no developments in the 2005 arrests of three SCNC
members charged with disturbing the public order.
The Government also continued to hold some SCNC activists in
temporary detention pending trials.
Women held 18 of 180 seats in the National Assembly, six of 61
cabinet posts, and a few of the higher offices within the major
political parties, including the ruling CPDM.
Many of the key members of the Government were drawn from the
President's Beti/Bulu ethnic group, as were disproportionately large
numbers of military officers and CPDM officials. Pygmies were not
represented in the National Assembly or the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem in all branches of government. The public perception
was that judicial and administrative officials were open to bribes in
almost all situations. According to a Transparency International survey
published in December 2005, an average household paid $205 (113,000 CFA
francs) each year in bribes, or more than 20 percent of the average
person's annual income; the average annual income per person was
approximately $800 (440,000 CFA francs).
According to Transparency International's 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,''
which was the most severe assessment designation used by Transparency
International.
Unlike in the previous year, international activists did not
criticize the Government's lack of transparency in managing revenues
from an international oil pipeline.
During the year the Government also took some steps to fight
corruption. For example, on January 25, the Government officially
launched the activities of the National Agency for the Investigation of
Financial Crimes (ANIF). Part of its mission is to fight money
laundering, corruption-related enrichment, and the embezzlement of
public funds.
On February 3, ANIF conducted a working session with the managers
of the financial institutions to train them on effectively
participating in the fight against corruption.
On March 11, the President signed a decree repealing the order that
created the National Corruption Observatory and a decree creating the
National Anticorruption Commission, which replaced the observatory. The
commission is under the President's authority. Its leading mission was
to monitor and evaluate the effective implementation of the
Government's anticorruption plan. It also gathered, centralized, and
analyzed allegations and information regarding corrupt practices.
Findings of the investigations conducted by the commission could lead
to disciplinary or legal proceedings.
During the year the Government sanctioned approximately 45
government employees and senior officials on corruption and
embezzlement charges. Sanctions ranged from suspensions to dismissals.
On April 6, the National Assembly passed legislation requiring
senior state administrators and managers to declare their assets after
their appointment and again when they leave office.
On October 5, the National Assembly lifted the parliamentary
immunity of Edouard Etonde Ekoto, the former board chairman of the
Douala Port Authority, and Andre Boto'o a Ngon, the former board
chairman of the Cameroon Real Estate Corporation, in connection with
the high profile arrests of Ndong, Belinga, and Edou. Prosecutors
interrogated them and while they were formally charged with embezzling
public funds, Ekoto and Ngon were not arrested. Interrogations
continued at year's end.
There were publicized prosecutions of government officials accused
of corruption during the year.
The Government began legal proceedings against the general managers
of three government-owned corporations and some of their close
collaborators. On February 21, police arrested Emmanuel Ondo Ndong,
general manager of FEICOM, the financial institution that funds
councils; Gilles Roger Belinga, the general manager of the Cameroon
Real Estate Corporation; and Joseph Edou, the general manager of Credit
Foncier, a real estate funding company. In connection with these cases,
the prosecutor ordered the arrest and detention of 52 persons who were
already under pretrial detention. The trials, which began in December,
were still ongoing at year's end.
On February 24, Minister of Energy and Water Resources Alphonse
Siyan Siwe was arrested, and dismissed from his job, on corruption
charges stemming from his tenure as the director of the Douala Port
before he joined the Government in December 2004. The investigation was
still ongoing at year's end.
On May 23, the prosecutor of Mbalmayo (Center Province) ordered the
arrest and detention of Dieudonne Zang Mba Obele, for embezzlement of
public funds. Hearings were held in June and Obele was ultimately
released for lack of evidence.
There were no developments in the 2005 government corruption case
in which three postal service officers were accused of embezzling $2
million (101 million CFA francs) in public funds in 2002.
In March 2005 the Government installed a new computer program to
detect fraud by government employees and to better control the number
of its civil servants and employees. By year's end the system revealed
at least 3,000 ``ghost'' employees who did not exist or who were
fraudulently drawing salaries. From the end of 2005 to March, the
Government sanctioned scores of fraudulent employees.
In June and August 2005, the Government hired 22 potential
candidates for the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court. In August 2005 the
candidates started a two-month training program at the National School
of Administration and Magistracy. In December 2005 the President
appointed them Audit Bench Magistrates and they became fully active
during the year.
There were no laws providing citizens with access to government
information, and in practice such access was difficult to obtain. Most
government documents, such as statistics, letters exchanged between
various administrations, draft legislation, and investigation reports,
were not available to the public or the media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing findings on human rights cases; however, government
officials repeatedly impeded the effectiveness of local human rights
NGOs during the year by harassing members of human rights groups,
limiting access to prisoners, refusing to share information, and
threatening and using violence against personnel. Philip Njaru, a human
rights activist and executive director of the Kumba-based Friends of
the Press Network, a human rights organization in Southwest Province,
reported that police continued to harass him throughout the year.
Access to prisons by international NGOs reportedly improved during
the year (see Section 1.c.).
The activities of virtually all of these groups were limited by a
shortage of funds and trained personnel. Observers criticized the
country's NGO laws for giving the Government the power to deny NGOs
authorization to operate and to eliminate them by decree.
Numerous domestic human rights NGOs operated in the country,
including, among others, the National League for Human Rights, the
Organization for Human Rights and Freedoms, the Association of Women
against Violence, the Movement for the Defense of Human Rights and
Freedoms, and the Cameroonian Association of Female Jurists.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government arrested NGO members.
In September 2005 Amnesty International released a report,
Contracting Out of Human Rights: The Chad-Cameroon Pipeline Project,
that criticized the Government for placing financial interests above
the concerns of citizens. Citing claims that the 2003 construction of
an oil pipeline running from Douba in southern Chad to the port city of
Kribi in the southwest of the country had damaged the livelihoods of
fishermen, Amnesty International called on the Government to offer
recourse to the fishermen and to amend the agreements with oil
companies to safeguard human rights. The Government continued to work
with the conglomerate running the pipeline to identify communities
affected by the pipeline and to offer remuneration and other self-help
projects.
The Government cooperated with international governmental
organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives and other
organizations such as the ICRC.
The NCHRF, instituted in the 1990s, has the authority to summon
witnesses and publish reports and the findings of its investigations.
In July 2005 the President signed the implementing decree for a law
passed by the National Assembly in 2004 that expanded the powers of the
NCHRF and authorized it to summon witnesses and publish reports and
investigative findings. It also created a permanent secretariat and a
division in charge of the protection and promotion of human rights and
freedoms. While the NCHRF remained hampered by a shortage of funds,
during the year it conducted a number of investigations into human
rights abuses, visited prisons, and organized several human rights
seminars aimed at judicial officials, security personnel, and other
government officers. Although the commission infrequently criticized
the Government's human rights abuses publicly, its staff intervened
with government officials in specific cases of human rights abuses by
security forces, attempted to stop ``Friday arrests'' (see Section
1.d.), and sought to obtain medical attention for jailed suspects in
specific cases. In September the President signed a decree appointing
members to the commission and dismissing all incumbents but the
chairman. The incumbents were appointed 15 years ago.
In February 2005 the Government created a division of human rights
in the Ministry of Justice to investigate and report on all cases of
human rights abuses in the areas under the ministry's responsibility,
including prisons, jails, and courtrooms.
During the year the Government published its own human rights
report, which included a complete list of all the legal rights and
protections afforded to citizens.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not explicitly forbid discrimination based on race,
language, or social status, but does prohibit discrimination based on
gender and mandates that ``everyone has equal rights and obligations.''
The Government, however, did not enforce these provisions effectively.
Violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in persons,
discrimination against ethnic minorities, and discrimination against
homosexuals were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was common. While there
were no reliable statistics, a large number of newspaper reports
indicated that the problem was widespread. The law does not
specifically prohibit domestic violence. While assault is prohibited
and is punishable by prison terms and fines, the Government did not
effectively enforce it in cases of assault on women. Women's rights
advocates asserted that the law does not impose effective penalties
against men who commit acts of domestic violence. There are no gender-
specific assault laws, even though women were the predominant victims
of domestic violence. Spousal abuse is not a legal ground for divorce.
In cases of sexual assault, a victim's family or village often imposed
direct, summary punishment on the suspected perpetrator through
extralegal means, ranging from destruction of property to beating.
During the year there were no reports of any convictions or of any
action by the Government to combat domestic violence.
The law prohibits rape; although rape occurred, police and the
courts rarely investigated and prosecuted rape cases, which resulted in
some convictions during the year. Official and private media regularly
covered rape cases handled by the courts. During the year newspapers
covered nine high profile rape cases which resulted in the arrest and
detention of the perpetrators, whose pending trials were ongoing. In
2005 a couple of newspapers released special issues on the problem of
rape, which was becoming acute, particularly in Douala and Yaounde.
According to one of the reports, the Douala Courts heard approximately
40 cases per month.
The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), and FGM
was not practiced widely; however, it continued to be practiced in
isolated areas in three of the 10 provinces, including some areas of
Far North, Eastern, and Southwest provinces.
Internal migration contributed to the spread of FGM to different
parts of the country. The majority of FGM procedures were
clitorectomies. The severest form of FGM, infibulation, was performed
in the Kajifu region of the Southwest Province. FGM usually was
practiced on infants and preadolescent girls. Public health centers in
areas where FGM is frequently practiced counseled women about the
harmful consequences of FGM; however, the Government did not prosecute
any persons charged with performing FGM. The Association of Women
Against Violence continued to conduct a program in Maroua to assist
victims of FGM and their families and to educate local populations.
During the year breast ironing emerged as another form of violence
against women, practiced in an effort to protect prematurely well-
developed young girls from predatory older men. NGOs were leading
public awareness campaigns to combat this practice.
While the law prohibits prostitution, it was tolerated.
Prostitution was practiced predominantly in urban areas and places
frequented by tourists. Trafficking for the purposes of commercial
sexual exploitation occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
There were no developments in the 2005 case of a foreign
pharmaceutical company that had conducted a clinical study of a drug
intended to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among 400 female
prostitutes, none of whom had HIV at the beginning of the trial. Local
and international NGOs criticized the company and the Ministry of
Health for lack of transparency and negligence, asserting that the
Government and the company did not sufficiently inform the prostitutes
of the risks involved with taking part in the trials. In response to
the allegations of misconduct, the Ministry of Health suspended the
clinical tests in 2005, citing ``dysfunctions'' and saying that
``certain corrective measures'' needed to be taken by the research
team. The minister also set up an independent inquiry, which reported
that although allegations about safety made by certain NGOs were not
true, new procedures needed to be instituted to ensure more regular
reporting and study site accreditation before the trials could resume.
While the law prohibits sexual harassment, very few cases were
reported or prosecuted during the year. The Government did not conduct
any public education campaigns on the subject and there were no
statistics available on its occurrence.
Despite constitutional provisions recognizing women's rights, women
did not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men. Some points of
civil law were prejudicial to women.
The law allows a husband to oppose his wife's right to work in a
separate profession if the protest is made in the interest of the
household and the family; a husband may also end his wife's commercial
activity by notifying the clerk of the commerce tribunal of his
opposition based upon the family's interest. Partly for this reason,
some employers required a husband's permission before hiring female
employees.
Customary law is far more discriminatory against women, since in
many regions a woman traditionally was regarded as the property of her
husband. Because of the importance attached to customs and traditions,
civil laws protecting women often are not respected. In the customary
law of some ethnic groups, husbands not only maintain complete control
over family property, but also can divorce their wives in a traditional
court without being required to provide either verifiable justification
or alimony. Polygamy is permitted by law and tradition. In cases of
divorce, the husband's wishes determine the custody of children over
the age of six. While a man may be convicted of adultery only if the
sexual act takes place in his home, a woman may be convicted without
respect to venue.
Traditional law normally governs the extent to which a woman may
inherit from her husband in the absence of a will, and traditions
varied from group to group. In many traditional societies, customs
grant greater authority and benefit to male heirs than to female heirs.
Women were also forced to marry and in some regions parents could, and
did, give girls away in marriage without the bride's consent. Often the
husband, who could be many years older than his bride, paid his wife's
parents a ``bride price.'' Once a price had been paid, the girl was
considered the husband's property. When a married man died, his widow
often was unable to collect any inheritance, since she herself was
considered part of the man's property. Often the widow was forced to
marry one of the deceased husband's brothers. If she refused, she had
to repay the bride price in full and leave the family compound. In the
northern provinces, some Lamibe reportedly prevented their wives and
concubines from leaving the palace. The lack of a national legal code
covering such family issues often left women defenseless against these
male-oriented customs.
In 2004 religious leaders, including Catholics, Protestants, and
Muslims, launched a nationwide program to fight violence against women.
Children.--During the year the Government made some efforts to
protect children's rights and welfare, including participation in
seminars on children's rights.
The law provides for a child's right to education, and schooling
was mandatory through the age of 14 and free in public primary schools.
Since parents had to pay uniform and book fees for primary school, and
because tuition and other fees for secondary education remained costly,
education was largely unaffordable for many children. The Government
took measures during the year to improve access to schools, such as the
construction of new classrooms, recruitment of new teachers, and
provision of water fountains.
According to 2005 government statistics, 72.2 percent of girls
between the ages of six and 14 were enrolled in school, compared to
81.3 percent of boys in the same age group. According to the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the secondary school enrollment ratio (gross)
was 36 percent for boys and 29 percent for girls. The low education
rate continued to be attributed to socio-cultural prejudices, early
marriage, sexual harassment, unwanted pregnancy, and domestic chores.
A 2004 government study found there is a large gap between the
capacity of the schools and the number of potential students. According
to the study, preschools served only 16 percent of the potential
student population. Within the school system, the northern provinces
were the most underprivileged, with only 5.7 percent of all teachers
working in the Adamawa, North, and Extreme North provinces combined.
The study showed that elementary schools only had enough seats for 1.8
million students, although 2.9 million attended school.
The Government provided limited and basic medical care through
local clinics and hospitals as well as through a limited number of
school doctors. Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided
medical care.
The exact extent of familial child abuse was not known, although
children's rights organizations targeted the problem. Newspaper reports
often cited children as victims of kidnapping, mutilation, and even
infanticide. There were several credible stories of mothers (usually
young, unemployed, and unmarried) abandoning their newborns in streets,
garbage cans, and pit toilets.
FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
While the minimum legal age for a woman to marry is 15, many
families facilitated the marriage of young girls by the age of 12.
Early marriage was prevalent in the northern provinces of Adamawa and
North, but was particularly characteristic of the remote Far North
Province, where many women as young as 13 faced severe health risks
from pregnancies. There were no statistics on the prevalence of child
marriage. Anecdotal evidence indicates that some parents might have
promised a female baby to an older male in order to begin receiving
dowry payments.
There were reports of child prostitution and trafficking in
children during the year (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Although exact numbers were unavailable, the country had a
significant number of displaced or street children, most of whom
resided in urban areas such as Yaounde and Douala.
On July 24, the Douala gendarmerie legion deported approximately 30
street children from the Akwa neighborhood to a suburb 18 miles from
the city. The gendarmes' operation followed a series of aggravated
thefts, allegedly perpetrated by the street children. The children were
reportedly left along the road because there was no facility to harbor
them, and they subsequently returned to Douala by their own means.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, but the law does prohibit slavery,
prostitution, forced labor, and other crimes related to trafficking in
persons and establishes minimum age requirements for workers.
Trafficking remained a problem. Courts prosecuted traffickers using
various provisions of the Penal Code that address related crimes. The
country was a source, transit, and destination point for
internationally trafficked persons; trafficking also occurred within
the country. The Anti-Child Trafficking law, drafted by the Government
in cooperation with the International Labor Organization (ILO), took
effect in December 2005.
The law provides that any person who engages in crimes often
associated with trafficking in persons shall be punished by prison
terms of between six months and 20 years.
The Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Insurance was
primarily responsible for fighting trafficking; however, the ministry
was severely underfunded. It was believed that authorities prosecuted
several trafficking cases during the year, but actual rates were
difficult to determine since traffickers could be prosecuted under
various sections of the penal code; there was no system for tracking
outcomes.
In February 2005 a Yaounde court sentenced an individual named
Nkodo to three years in jail and ordered her to pay damages of $2,000
(one million CFA francs) to her victim, a 19-year-old girl who worked
for her as a prostitute.
In May 2005 gendarmes in Yaounde dismantled a prostitution ring
which exploited young boys. The boys were lured into the ring with
promises of being hired by prestigious soccer clubs in a foreign
country. Police arrested three of the organization's five members, who
were in detention and awaiting trial at year's end; the other two were
still in hiding. The boys were returned home.
In May 2005 police arrested three members of a homosexual and
pedophile network of child traffickers. The three were formally charged
and put under detention in the Yaounde central prison pending trial.
In June 2005 police arrested three individuals, including a local
woman and two Gabonese men, in the South Province close to the Gabonese
border. The three individuals were arrested while trying to smuggle two
13-year-old girls, who were kidnapped in the Boyo Division of the
Northwest Province, into Gabon. The three were put under detention
pending trial. During the investigation, South Province police
officials said it was the third time that they had arrested traffickers
at the country's borders with Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The Government continued to fight trafficking through the use of an
interagency committee and a program to find and return trafficked
children. In addition the Government cooperated with Gabon, Nigeria,
Togo, and Benin in fighting trafficking through the exchange of
information and preparation of common legislation on trafficking. In
2005 the ILO and some local NGOs briefed parliamentarians on the
problem of trafficking in persons.
Women and children traditionally have faced the greatest risk of
trafficking and have been trafficked most often for the purposes of
sexual exploitation and forced labor. Most trafficking in children
occurred within the country's borders, while most trafficked women were
transported out of the country. According to anecdotal evidence from
the NCHRF, women often were ``hired'' into hubs of prostitution, often
in Europe. The method for trafficking women usually involved a marriage
proposition by a foreign businessman. The woman was inducted into
servitude upon arrival at a foreign destination. Girls were internally
trafficked from the Adamawa, North, Far North, and Northwest provinces
to Douala and Yaounde to work as domestic servants, street vendors, or
prostitutes. Children were also internally trafficked to work on cocoa
bean plantations. There have been credible reports of slavery,
especially in some chiefdoms in the North Province (see Section 6.c.).
For example, there were reports that the Lamido (the traditional Muslim
chief) of Rey Bouba in the Northern Province held slaves inside his
compound. Although he was replaced by his son in 2004, there was no
indication that the slaves were released.
According to a 2005 study by the International Circle for the
Promotion of Creation and the Cameroon Society for Prevention of Child
Abuse and Neglect, of 722 young girls between nine and 20 years old
interviewed in the cities of Yaounde, Douala, Bamenda, and Bafoussam,
291 were the victims of sexual exploitation.
There were no reports of radio advertisements offering to take
adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 17 to Yaounde and Douala
for domestic labor; however, there continued to be flyer
advertisements.
A 2000 ILO study conducted in Yaounde, Douala, and Bamenda,
reported that trafficking accounted for 84 percent of child laborers in
those three cities. Local NGOs believed this statistic was still
accurate. In most cases, intermediaries presented themselves as
businessmen, approaching parents with large families or custodians of
orphans and promising to assist the child with education or
professional training. The intermediary paid parents an average of $12
(6,000 CFA francs) before transporting the child to a city where the
intermediary would subject the child to forced labor with little
remuneration. In four out of 10 cases, the child was a foreigner
transported to the country for labor. The report also indicated that
the country was a transit country for regional traffickers, who
transported children between Nigeria, Benin, Niger, Chad, Togo, the
Republic of the Congo, and the CAR for indentured or domestic
servitude, farm labor, and sexual exploitation. Citizens also were
trafficked to South Africa.
During the year the ILO and the Government continued to support an
awareness campaign to eradicate child trafficking in airports. Special
antitrafficking embarkation and disembarkation cards continued to be
designed and distributed. The cards described the dangers of
trafficking and how to recognize the phenomenon.
The Government continued to work with local and international NGOs
to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of trafficking.
In August 2005 a local NGO graduated 70 trafficking victims from its
rehabilitation and reintegration program. The Catholic Relief Service
worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child
prostitution. UNICEF was also actively engaged in combating girls'
prostitution throughout the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides certain rights to
persons with disabilities, including access to public institutions,
medical treatment, and education, and the Government was obliged to
bear part of the educational expense of persons with disabilities, to
employ them where possible, and to provide them with public assistance
when necessary. On August 2, the minister of secondary education and
the minister of social affairs signed an order that made access to
public secondary education free for persons with disabilities and
children born of poor parents with disabilities. There were few
facilities for persons with disabilities and little public assistance;
lack of facilities and care for persons with mental disabilities was
particularly acute. Society largely tended to treat those with
disabilities as outcasts, and many felt that providing assistance was
the responsibility of churches or foreign NGOs. The law does not
mandate special access provisions to private buildings and facilities
for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population consists of more
than 200 ethnic groups, among which there were frequent and credible
allegations of discrimination. Ethnic groups commonly gave preferential
treatment to fellow ethnic group members in business and social
practices. Members of the President's Beti/Bulu ethnic group from
southern parts of the country held key positions and were
disproportionately represented in government, state-owned businesses,
the security forces, and the ruling CPDM party.
There were no developments in the 2005 M'Bororo case against
Alhadji Baba Ahmadou Danpullo. Since 1986 the M'Bororo have claimed
that Danpullo kidnapped M'Bororo women, forcibly displaced the M'Bororo
and seized their land and cattle, and used his money and influence with
the Government to order the beating and false imprisonment of members
of the M'Bororo.
Northern areas of the country continued to suffer from ethnic
tensions between the Fulani (or Peuhl) and the Kirdi. The Kirdi
remained socially, educationally, and economically disadvantaged
relative to the Fulani in the three northern provinces. Traditional
Fulani rulers, called Lamibe, continued to wield great power over their
subjects, often including Kirdi, sometimes subjecting them to tithing
and forced labor. Isolated cases of slavery were reported, largely
Fulani enslavement of Kirdi.
Natives of the Northwest and Southwest provinces tended to support
the opposition party SDF and consequently suffered disproportionately
from human rights abuses committed by the Government and its security
forces. The anglophone community was underrepresented in the public
sector. Although citizens in certain francophone areas--the East, Far
North, North, and Adamawa provinces--voiced similar complaints about
under-representation and government neglect, anglophones said they
generally believed that they had not received a fair share of public
sector goods and services within their two provinces. Some residents of
the anglophone region sought greater freedom, equality of opportunity,
and better government by regaining regional autonomy rather than
through national political reform and have formed several quasi-
political organizations in pursuit of their goals.
Police and gendarmes subjected illegal immigrants from Nigeria and
Chad to harsh treatment and imprisonment and often targeted Nigerian
and Chadian communities when seeking to identify illegal immigrants.
During raids, members of the security forces extorted money from those
who did not have regular residence permits or those who did not have
valid receipts for store merchandise. Some members of the country's
large community of Nigerian immigrants complained of discrimination and
abuse by government officials. Authorities repeatedly announced
crackdowns on undocumented Nigerian immigrants, and illegal immigrants
were subject to harassment on some occasions, although at a lower level
than in previous years.
Indigenous People.--Approximately 50,000 to 100,000 Baka, Bakola,
and Bagyeli (Pygmies) primarily reside (and were the earliest known
inhabitants) in the forested areas of the South and East provinces.
While no legal discrimination exists, other groups often treated the
Baka as inferior and sometimes subjected them to unfair and
exploitative labor practices. Baka reportedly continued to complain
that the forests they inhabit were being logged without fair
compensation. Some observers believed that sustained logging was
destroying the Baka's unique, forest-oriented belief system, forcing
them to adapt their traditional social and economic systems to a more
rigid modern society similar to their Bantu neighbors.
Local Baka along the path of the Chad-Cameroon pipeline continued
to complain that they were not compensated fairly for their land.
Others alleged that they had been cheated of their compensation by
persons posing as Baka representatives. On June 22, the committee in
charge of the follow-up on the pipeline organized an evaluation seminar
to determine compensation for the Bakola and Bagyeli. The committee
agreed that despite improved access to education and healthcare, much
remained to be done to improve living conditions for the pygmies.
An estimated 95 percent of Baka did not have national identity
cards; most Baka could not afford to provide the necessary
documentation to obtain national identity cards, which were required to
vote in national elections. In 2004 Plan International and another NGO
launched a program to educate Bakas about their political rights, which
included the construction of a communal radio in the region of Abong-
Mbang (Upper Nyong Division, East Province).
In August 2005 the Ministry of Social Affairs launched the Project
to Support the Economic and Social Development of Bakas in South
Province. The mission of the three-year project was to allow the
issuance of birth certificates and national identity cards to 2,300
Bakas, as well as to help register hundreds of students in school.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexual activity is
illegal, with a possible prison sentence of six months to five years
and a possible fine ranging from approximately $40 to $400 (20,000 to
200,000 CFA francs). While prosecution under this law was rare,
homosexuals suffered from harassment and extortion by law enforcement
officials. In addition, false allegations of homosexuality were used to
harass enemies or to extort money.
There were new developments in the May 2005 arrest of 17 suspected
homosexuals; five of whom were released shortly after their arrest for
lack of evidence. On June 12, the Yaounde First Instance Court found
the remaining men guilty of sodomy and sentenced them to 10 months in
jail, although they were subsequently released for time served.
In June the administration of the Douala-based Eyengue Nkongo
College, a private high school, expelled 34 students (including 12
females), alleging they were homosexuals. One female student was
arrested upon her expulsion. One woman who lived near the school and
two former schoolmates were also arrested. On July 7, the Douala First
Instance Court released them after giving them a suspended three-year
prison term and a fine of $50 (25,000 CFA francs) on homosexuality
charges.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join trade unions. However, the Government imposed numerous
restrictions. The law does not permit the creation of a union that
includes both public and private sector workers, or the creation of a
union that includes different, even closely related, sectors.
The law requires that unions register with the Government,
permitting groups of no less than 20 workers to organize a union by
submitting a constitution, internal regulations, and nonconviction
certifications for each founding member. The law provides for prison
sentences and fines for workers who form a union and carry out union
activities without registration. Government officials said that the
Government provided union certification within one month of
application. However, independent unions, especially in the public
sector, have found it difficult to register.
Registered unions were subject to government interference. The
Government chose the unions with which it would bargain; some
independent unions accused the Government of creating small
nonrepresentative unions amenable to government positions and with
which it could ``negotiate'' more easily. Some sections of labor law
have no force or effect because the presidency had not issued
implementing decrees.
In January and February 2005, the Ministry of Labor, with the
assistance of experts from the ILO, held discussions with all trade
unions in an effort to put in place a system for tracking and
recognizing unions that would meet international criteria. The initial
focus of this effort was on determining the actual, paid membership of
each union to determine the size and importance of each group.
In 2005 the Government restricted the civil rights of union
leaders. For example, in 2005, police arrested and detained Alain
Marcellin Mibo (for one hour), the leader of the Primary Education
Teachers Association. For several weeks Mibo and his colleagues had
been holding sit-ins in front of the Prime Minister's office to demand
that they be given full-time civil servant status, instead of the part-
time or temporary status they were employed under.
The constitution and law prohibit antiunion discrimination and
employers guilty of such discrimination were subject to fines of up to
approximately $2,000 (one million CFA francs). However, employers found
guilty were not required to compensate the workers for discrimination
or to reinstate fired workers. The Ministry of Labor did not report any
complaints of antiunion discrimination during the year, although there
were credible press reports of union leader harassment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution and law provide for collective bargaining between workers
and management as well as between labor federations and business
associations in each sector of the economy. Two formal collective
bargaining negotiations took place during the year, one with truck
drivers and one in the tourism sector, including hotels, bars,
restaurants, and night clubs.
There were no developments in the 2005 media sector collective
bargaining dispute.
When labor disputes arose, the Government chose the labor union
with which it would negotiate, selectively excluding some labor
representatives. Once agreements were negotiated, there was no
mechanism to enforce implementation; some agreements between the
Government and labor unions were ignored by the Government.
There were no developments in the May 2005 case involving workers
from AES-Sonel who, through the Confederation of Free Cameroon Trade
Unions, sought to annul a March 2005 collective bargaining agreement.
The Labor Code explicitly recognizes workers' right to strike but
only after mandatory arbitration, and workers exercised this right
during the year. Arbitration decisions are legally binding, but often
unenforceable because the parties refuse to cooperate. It is not
uncommon for such decisions to be overturned or simply ignored by the
Government or employers. The provision of the law allowing persons to
strike does not apply to civil servants, employees of the penitentiary
system, or workers responsible for national security. Instead of
strikes, civil servants were required to negotiate grievances directly
with the minister of the appropriate department in addition to the
minister of labor.
In June there were five separate strikes, although some of them
were related.
There were no developments in the 2004 case involving workers from
the National Agency for Support to Forestry Development.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports
that such practices occurred. Authorities continued to allow prison
inmates to be contracted out to private employers or used as communal
labor for municipal public works. Money generated from these activities
was usually pocketed by prison administrators and not given to
detainees.
The ILO confirmed that there was an increase during the year in
serious trafficking issues, and slavery situations have been identified
in the northern provinces (see Section 5). NGOs and religious
associations reported that children were kidnapped, sold, or ``lent''
by their parents to individuals claiming to look after their interests
and sent to Yaounde or Douala to work in child beggar networks and, in
some cases, prostitution rings. Some children were sent to neighboring
countries to work. These victims were generally of both sexes and
between the ages of six and 14 years old. According to a local human
rights monitor the majority of parents implicated in this practice were
naive, thinking only of the money to be earned and failing to imagine
the conditions in to which their children would be placed.
In the South and East provinces, some Baka, including children,
continued to be subjected to unfair and exploitative labor practices by
landowners, including work on the landowners' farms during harvest
seasons without payment (see Section 5).
The Government expressly prohibits forced and compulsory labor by
children, but these practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law generally protects children from exploitation in the workplace and
specifies penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment for
infringement; however, child labor remained a problem. The Government
specifically prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children, but
there were reports that it occurred in practice.
The law sets a minimum age of 14 for child employment, which is
inconsistent with the age for completing educational requirements (see
Section 5).
The law also bans night work and enumerates tasks that children
under the age of 18 cannot legally perform. These included moving heavy
objects, dangerous and unhealthy tasks, working in confined areas, and
prostitution. The law also states that a child's workday cannot exceed
eight hours. Employers were required to train children between the ages
of 14 and 18, and work contracts must contain a training provision for
minors. The prohibition against night work was not effectively
enforced.
Information on child labor was difficult to obtain. However,
according to a 2000 study by the ILO and Ministry of Labor, child labor
existed chiefly in urban areas and in the informal sector such as
street vending, car washing, agricultural work, and domestic service.
Many urban street vendors were less than 14 years of age. An increasing
number of children worked as household help, and some children were
involved in prostitution. In the north there were credible reports that
children from needy homes were placed with other families to do
household work for pay. In the nation's major cities of Yaounde,
Douala, and Bamenda, the ILO estimated that 40 percent of employed
children were girls, of whom 7 percent were less than 12 years of age,
and 60 percent had dropped out of primary school.
Parents viewed child labor as both a tradition and a rite of
passage. Relatives often employed rural youth, especially girls, as
domestic helpers, and these jobs seldom allowed time for the children
to attend school. In rural areas, many children began work at an early
age on family farms. The cocoa industry also employed child laborers.
According to estimates, up to 8,000 underaged children (between the
ages of five and 17) were working in the cocoa industry at year's end.
These children originated, for the most part, from the Northern and
Northwestern provinces.
In March 2005 the ILO presented the preliminary draft of the ILO
West Africa Cocoa/Agriculture Program to eliminate child labor. The
program was started in the country in 2003 and ended in April. The
program met its goal by removing approximately 1,300 children from
hazardous work and forced labor conditions in the cocoa sector by
March. Lack of additional funding for the program, however, raised
concerns about what will happen to these rescued children.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Labor were
responsible for enforcing existing child labor laws through site
inspections of registered businesses; however, the Government did not
allocate sufficient resources to support an effective inspection
program. Moreover, the legal prohibitions do not include family chores,
which in many instances were beyond a child's capacity. In 2005 the
Government employed 58 general labor inspectors to investigate child
labor cases.
During the year foreign government officials visited the Cameroon
Development Cooperation's (CDC) Del Monte banana and rubber
plantations. They found children as young as six and seven working in
the Tiko banana plantation, carrying heavy banana bunches on their
heads, carting water to the fields, working around the nurseries, or
harvesting rubber from the trees. Officials denied that children under
21 were hired on the plantation. Foreign observers, having met with
both CDC and Del Monte officials, were satisfied that the companies
neither recruited nor condoned child labor (and had systems in place to
prevent this), and that the children observed at the Tiko project were
primarily ``free lancers,'' village children delivering water or
collecting discarded bananas. There were fewer controls at the rubber
plantation, where officials admitted that children often collected
rubber in the mornings and evenings, mostly to help their family
members working on the plantation.
The ILO continued to work with specific contact persons in various
ministries and agencies involved in antitrafficking activities; it also
conducted nationwide investigations and cooperated with local
organizations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was
approximately $47 (23,514 CFA francs) per month and was applicable in
all sectors. The minimum wage did not provide for a decent standard of
living for an average worker and family. The Ministry of Labor was
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage nationally.
The law establishes a standard workweek of 40 hours in public and
private nonagricultural firms and 48 hours in agricultural and related
activities. There are exceptions for guards and firemen (56 hours a
week), service sector staff (45 hours a week), and household and
restaurant staff (54 hours a week). The law mandates at least 24
consecutive hours of weekly rest. Premium pay for overtime ranges from
120 to 150 percent of the hourly pay depending on amount and whether it
is for weekend or late-night overtime. There is a prohibition on
excessive compulsory service. Ministry of Labor inspectors were
responsible for monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the
resources for a comprehensive inspection program.
The Government sets health and safety standards. Ministry of Labor
inspectors and occupational health physicians were responsible for
monitoring these standards; however, they lacked the resources for a
comprehensive inspection program. The law does not provide workers with
the right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health or
safety without jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
CAPE VERDE
Cape Verde, with a population of approximately 460,000, is a
multiparty parliamentary democracy in which constitutional powers are
shared among the elected head of state, President Pedro Verona
Rodrigues Pires, and Prime Minister Jose Maria Neves. Pires was
reelected for a second five-year term on February 12 in generally free
and fair elections. Nationwide legislative elections held on January 22
also were declared generally free and fair. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The human rights
problems reported were police abuse of detainees, poor prison
conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, excessive trial delays, media
self-censorship, violence and discrimination against women, child
abuse, child labor, and juvenile crime.Persons under the age of 16, who
are not legally accountable, committed murder and other serious crimes
which violated other persons' human rights.
The Government approved a project to improve prison conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were credible reports that police continued to beat persons in
custody and in detention.
In October 2005 Corporal Sandro Santos was struck 25 times with a
baton as punishment ordered by his company commander, Domingos Lima
Rocha. Rocha was not reprimanded or prosecuted during the year. Santos'
family filed a criminal suit against the army, and the case was still
pending at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor, and facilities were severely overcrowded. Sanitation and medical
assistance were poor; however, a doctor and nurse were available, and
prisoners were taken to public hospitals for serious medical problems.
Psychological problems among prisoners were common.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners
were killed.
In December 2005 one prisoner was killed and three persons injured,
including one guard, in a riot at the Sao Martinho Prison. Prisoners
attacked the police during the riot, and the police reportedly shot one
prisoner. There were allegations of abuse by prison guards following
the riot, and after a judiciary police investigation, the case was
awaiting trial at year's end.
Juveniles were held together with adults, and pretrial detainees
were held together with convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted formal visits by international human
rights monitors to prisons and visits to individual prisoners; however,
there were no such visits during the year. Local nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and media representatives frequently visited the
prisons and reported on prison conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is
organized nationally under the Ministry of Internal Administration and
is made up of the public order police who are responsible for law
enforcement and the judicial police who are responsible for
investigations. Logistical constraints, including lack of vehicles,
limited communications equipment, and poor forensic capacity, limited
police effectiveness. Corruption was not a significant problem.
Impunity was a problem. Police action was in many instances
curtailed by the Penal Proceedings Code. Police abuses were
investigated internally; these investigations resulted occasionally in
legal action against the perpetrators. During the year the Government
trained police to address more effectively issues related to illegal
immigration, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may not make arrests without a
warrant issued by an authorized official, unless a person is caught in
the act of committing a felony. The law stipulates that a suspect must
be brought before a judge within 48 hours of arrest. The law provides a
detainee with the right to a prompt judicial determination of the
legality of the detention, and the authorities respected this right in
practice. Attorneys inform detainees of the charges against them. There
was a functioning bail system. Detainees were allowed prompt access to
family members and to a lawyer of their choice and, if indigent, to one
provided by the Government.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem, and detainees
often remained in jail without charge for more than a year. The
judicial system was overburdened and understaffed, and the dropping of
charges without a court judgment was a frequent means for terminating
criminal cases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, the judiciary was understaffed and
inefficient.
The judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court of Justice
(SCJ) and the regional courts. Of the five Supreme Court judges, one is
appointed by the President, one by the National Assembly, and three by
the Superior Judiciary Council. Judges are independent and cannot
belong to a political party. Regional courts adjudicate minor disputes
on the local level in rural areas. The civilian courts have
jurisdiction over state security cases. There are penal courts to
handle criminal cases, including violations of the electoral laws,
civil courts to handle civil and commercial suits, and one military
court. The SCJ is the highest appellate court, and also handles
administrative cases. The military court can not try civilians.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair and
public nonjury trial. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney in a timely manner; free counsel is provided
for the indigent. Defendants have the right to confront or question
witnesses against them and to present witnesses. Defendants and their
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their
cases. Defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and
can appeal regional court decisions to the SCJ. The law extends the
above rights to all citizens.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The ordinary courts handle
civil matters and lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a
human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there continued to be
reports of media self-censorship.
There were three independent newspapers and one state-owned
newspaper; six independent radio stations and one state-owned radio
station; and one state-owned television station and two foreign-owned
stations. Foreign broadcasts were permitted. The independent media were
active and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
Journalists were independent of government control and were not
required to reveal their sources.
The law requires a formal licensing mechanism for mass media,
including government authorization to broadcast; however, there were no
reports that licenses were denied or revoked or that the Government
refused to authorize broadcasts during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The Catholic majority enjoyed a privileged status in national life.
For example, the Government provided the Catholic Church with free
television broadcast time for religious services and observed its holy
days as official holidays.
To be recognized as legal entities by the Government, religious
groups must register with the Ministry of Justice; however, failure to
do so did not result in any restriction on religious practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The case before the SCJ of
four Seventh-day Adventists who were accused of desecrating a Catholic
church on Boa Vista Island was pending at year's end.
There was no Jewish community. There were no reports of
discrimination against member of religious groups of acts of anti-
Semitism.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol; and provided it to approximately 455 persons during the year.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the January 22
legislative elections individuals and parties were free to declare
their candidacies. The ruling African Party for the Independence of
Cape Verde (PAICV) won with 52 percent of the vote and 41 seats in the
National Assembly. The main opposition party, Movement for Democracy
(MPD), won 44 percent and 29 seats. The Union for a Democratic and
Independent Cape Verde (UCID) won 2 percent and the remaining two
seats. The MPD contested the results with allegations of fraud and
filed for an annulment of the elections with the SCJ. On February 24,
the SCJ rejected the annulment request.
The country received representatives from a joint delegation of the
International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), the Nigerian
National Electoral Commission (INEC), the West African Civil Society
Organization Forum (FOSFAO), and Global Rights. IFES and INEC were
satisfied with the elections, which they deemed free and fair. FOSFAO
praised the population for its maturity and civic education, but
highlighted some negative aspects such as the location of polling
stations and delays in the opening of polling stations.
The Presidential elections were held on February 12, and
individuals and parties were free to declare their candidacies.
International observers were present and satisfied with the election.
The incumbent President Pires of the PAICV received a second term with
51 percent of the vote. The MPD Presidential candidate, Carlos Veiga,
won 49 percent of the vote. On February 21, Veiga petitioned the SCJ to
annul the Presidential election results; he stated the elections were
not free or transparent. On March 11, the SCJ ruled there were no legal
grounds for annulment and confirmed President Pires as the winner.
Although the National Electoral Commission (CNE) and the SCJ
declared the legislative and Presidential elections generally free and
fair, they also recognized that there were some irregularities in both
elections. The CNE noted that the electoral code needed to be amended
to provide greater security and transparency. It also cited a need for
stricter, more consistent voter identification and registration
processes, and the adoption of indelible ink on ballots.
There were 11 women in the 72-seat National Assembly. There were
seven women in the 21-member cabinet, and one woman on the SCJ.
There were no members of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for freedom of access to governmental information
without restriction, provided that privacy rights are respected;
however, there were no requests for such information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International
andNongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic human rights groups generally operated without
government restriction and investigated and published their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials generally were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
There were three private human rights groups: the National
Commission of the Rights of Man, the Ze Moniz Association, and the
Alcides Barros Association.
The powers of the independent ombudsman, who would serve a five-
year term, were defined in 2003; however, no ombudsman had been elected
by year's end.
In January Amnesty International (AI) visited the country; AI did
not release a report on the visit during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion,
disability, language, or social status; however, the Government did not
enforce these provisions effectively, and violence and discrimination
against women and abuse of children were serious problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including wife beating,
was widespread. The Government and civil society encouraged women to
report criminal offenses such as spousal abuse, which is punishable by
2 to 13 years' imprisonment; however, longstanding social and cultural
values inhibited victims from doing so. The law protects certain rights
of the victims of sexual, mental, and verbal abuse; however, it does
not ensure compensation.While there were mechanisms to deal with
spousal abuse, these mechanisms neither ensured the punishment of those
responsible nor effectively prevented future violence. Nevertheless,
reports to police of domestic violence continued to increase during the
year. There were police and judicial delays in acting on abuse cases.
Violence against women was the subject of extensive public service
media coverage in both government- and opposition-controlled media.
Women's organizations, such as the Women Jurists' Association,
continued to seek legislation to establish a special family court to
address crimes of domestic violence and abuse; however, there was no
such legislation by year's end.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, but the
Government generally did not effectively enforce the law. The law
protects certain rights of rape victims; however, it does not ensure
compensation. The penalties for rape were 8 to 16 years' imprisonment.
NGOs such as The Association in Support of Women's Self-Promotion in
Development and The Cape Verdean Women's Organization held campaigns
against rape.
Prostitution of minors is forbidden by law, but the Government
generally did not enforce it. Sex tourism was a growing problem, but
there are no laws to address it.
Sexual harassment was very common, but not culturally perceived as
a crime. It is prohibited by law with a penalty of one year in prison,
but the Government did not effectively enforce this.
Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
Women were frequently neglected by the police when they filed legal
complaints against their husbands.
Despite legal prohibitions against sex discrimination and
provisions for full equality, including equal pay for equal work,
discrimination against women continued. Although they often were paid
less than men for comparable work, women were making inroads in various
professions, especially in the private sector.
The Women Jurists' Association provided free legal assistance to
women throughout the country suffering from discrimination, violence,
and spousal abuse.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. The Government provided free and universal education for all
children aged 6 to 12. Education was compulsory until age 11; however,
secondary education was free only for children whose families had an
annual income below approximately $1,951 (160,000 escudos). There was a
100 percent basic education enrollment rate for all children; the
enrollment rate in secondary school for all children was 70 percent.
The Government provided free primary health care for children, and
boys and girls had equal access.
Child abuse and mistreatment and sexual violence against children
were serious problems. The media reported cases of sexual abuse against
children and adolescents. Government efforts to address these problems
were inadequate.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in minors,
but not adults, and there were reports that persons were trafficked to
and from the country. Police reports alleged that the country was a
transit point for trafficking in persons from West African countries to
the Canary Islands and to Europe. However, there was no concrete data
to support this information.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of trafficking
in children. Sentences for trafficking in children range from 12 to 16
years' imprisonment. There were no prosecutions during the year. The
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Administration are
responsible for combating trafficking. The Government did not extradite
citizens who were accused of trafficking in other countries.
In 2005 the Government assisted the Spanish government with
international investigation of eight female citizens involved in
trafficking 179 adolescents from the country to Europe. In February the
case was tried in Spain, and the women were sentenced to eight years'
imprisonment for illegal emigration.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The Government did
not effectively implement laws and programs to ensure access to
buildings for persons with disabilities. Several NGOs, including an
association for the blind, were active.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and to
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 22 percent of workers were unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right of workers to bargain collectively; however, there was very
little collective bargaining, and no collective bargaining agreements
during the year. Workers and management in the small private sector, as
well as in the public sector, normally reached an agreement through
negotiations. Although there were no collective labor contracts,
workers succeeded in negotiating important issues such as salary
increases; however, as the country's largest employer, the Government
continued to play the dominant role in setting wages. It did not fix
wages for the private sector, but salary levels for civil servants
provided the basis for wage negotiations in the private sector.
The law provides union members with the right to strike, but the
Government at times limited this right. When workers attempted to
strike, the Government invoked a ``civil request'' under which it had
the power, in an emergency or if a strike threatened coverage of basic
needs, to list minimum services that a union must continue to provide
during any strike.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the one export processing zone, which encompasses the whole country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, but the Government did not effectively implement them in
practice. The law prohibits children under the age of 16 from working
at night, more than seven hours per day, or in establishments where
toxic products were produced; however, the Government rarely enforced
the law.
Child labor was a problem. Child labor was identified mostly in the
cities, where children work independently washing cars on the streets,
and in the countryside, within low income families where children do
domestic work. The legal minimum age for employment was 16 years, which
was inconsistent with the age for completing educational requirements
(see Section 5).
The ministries of justice and labor were responsible for enforcing
child labor laws; however, such laws were seldom enforced.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There were no established
minimum wage rates in the private sector. Large urban private employers
linked their minimum wages to those paid to civil servants. For an
entry-level worker, this wage was approximately $146 (12,000 escudos)
per month. The majority of jobs paid wages that did not provide a
worker and family with a decent standard of living; most workers relied
on second jobs and extended family support.
The law provides for a maximum workweek for adults of 44 hours,
prohibits excessive compulsory overtime, and requires that a premium be
paid for hours beyond the standard workweek. There is a required rest
period of 12 consecutive hours per week. While large employers
generally respected these regulations, many domestic servants and
agricultural laborers worked longer hours.
The director general of labor conducted sporadic inspections to
enforce the labor code and imposed fines on private enterprises that
were not in conformity with the law; however, the Government did not
enforce labor laws systematically, and much of the labor force did not
enjoy legal protection. The Government has not set occupational health
and safety standards; however, there is a general provision in the law
that requires employers to provide a healthy and safe work environment.
Few industries employed heavy or dangerous equipment. The law does
provide workers with the right to remove themselves from situations
that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their continued
employment.
__________
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a constitutional republic
whose population of approximately 4.1 million is governed by a strong
executive branch and weak legislative and judicial branches. In March
and May of 2005, the country held two rounds of multiparty Presidential
and legislative elections that resulted in the election of General
Francois Bozize, the country's former armed forces chief of staff, as
President; in 2003 Bozize seized power in a military coup, declared
himself President, and headed a transitional government until the 2005
elections. National and international observers judged the elections to
be generally free and fair and representative of the people's will,
despite irregularities and accusations of fraud by candidates running
against Bozize.
Fighting between rebels and government security forces contributed
significantly to a ``political and military crisis,'' according to a UN
report released in December. The fighting resulted in numerous civilian
killings and, along with widespread banditry and kidnappings by
unidentified groups, caused the displacement during the year of
approximately 185,000 persons, almost 5 percent of the population. The
sharp deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the
country was compounded by regional instability and arms proliferation.
Despite the presence of almost 400 peacekeeping soldiers from
neighboring member countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of
Central Africa (CEMAC), lawlessness persisted in large swaths of the
country, particularly in the north, and analysts estimated that only 2
percent of the country's territory was under state authority. Civilian
authorities did not maintain effective control of security forces.
Many observers said the Government's counteroffensive against
rebels in the northwest targeted the population of the region--a
traditional stronghold of the opposition party--which made it difficult
for the Government to collect intelligence about the rebel movement and
further alienated communities already suffering from socio-economic
marginalization due to long-term insecurity.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were improvements in some areas, the Government's respect for human
rights deteriorated overall, and serious problems remained. Reports of
extrajudicial killings by the Central Office for the Repression of
Banditry (OCRB) decreased, but reports of the military killing
civilians increased sharply due to government counteroffensive
operations against rebels in the north. Acts of torture, beatings,
rape, and other abuses of suspects and prisoners by security forces
continued to be a problem. Impunity, particularly military impunity,
worsened. Conditions in prisons and detention centers remained harsh
and life threatening. The Government's use of arbitrary arrest and
detention increased significantly, particularly following fighting in
the north between rebels and the military, which contributed to an
increase in political detainees. Prolonged pretrial detention, denial
of a fair trial, and judicial corruption continued to be problems. The
Government restricted freedom of the press, although to a lesser extent
than in the previous year. Freedom of movement deteriorated greatly
because of actions by security forces, armed bandits, and rebels.
Government corruption and lack of access to government-held
information--particularly information related to the security
situation--remained serious problems. In addition societal violence,
including female genital mutilation (FGM), discrimination against
women, and societal discrimination against indigenous people (Pygmies)
also remained problems. Restrictions on workers' rights, child labor,
and forced labor--including forced child labor--also were serious
challenges facing the country.
Unidentified armed groups--thought to be common criminals and
remnants of insurgency groups from previous conflicts, including former
pro-Bozize combatants from Chad--continued to attack, kill, rob, beat,
and rape civilians and loot and burn villages in the north. Kidnappings
by unidentified armed groups increased during the year, contributing
significantly to the country's massive population displacement.
In addition several politically motivated rebel groups in the
northwest and northeast--including the Restoration of the Republic and
Democracy (APRD) and the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR)--
emerged during the year and resulted in an increase in attacks on
civilians across the country, including counteroffensive attacks by the
military, which accused some civilians of supporting the rebels. Rebels
of the APRD partly controlled areas in the northwest, allegedly with
support from Chadian rebels. Well-armed members of the UFDR in the
northeastern region bordering Sudan and Chad attacked and overran the
Gordil military camp in Vakaga Prefecture in June, resulting in
casualties among the military and the multinational CEMAC peacekeeping
force. Between October and December, the UFDR seized control of four
towns in the northeast and demanded that the Government agree to
negotiations on sharing political power with the rebel front, which by
November had nominally united the country's various rebel groups under
the name of the UFDR. The Government, which accused the Sudanese
government of supporting the rebellion in the northeast, refused. With
French military assistance, government security forces regained control
of these towns by year's end; however, many feared that the rebels
would relaunch their offensive.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically
motivated killings; however, security forces continued to commit
executions and other extrajudicial killings with impunity throughout
the year. In addition the security forces, particularly the
Presidential security forces (commonly known as the Presidential
guard), killed numerous civilians suspected of supporting rebels.
The OCRB, a special antibanditry police squad, continued to
arbitrarily execute suspected bandits without respecting the basic due
process rights of the accused, and was responsible for other
extrajudicial killings and deaths resulting from torture. However, it
killed fewer individuals during the year, according to local
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The OCRB, which normally operated
only in and around Bangui, committed such abuses with tacit government
support and popular approval, partly because the OCRB's actions were
seen as an effective means of reducing crime.
The OCRB often apprehended suspected armed robbers, bandits, and
thieves after conducting informal, undocumented investigations;
transported them to Cattin, a town three miles southwest of Bangui;
shot and killed them; and then used open-air jeeps to drive the dead
bodies through town in broad daylight (to exhibit the dead as a
deterrent to crime) before depositing the bodies at a morgue. The
director of the OCRB, however, claimed he was not aware of any
extrajudicial executions. In 2005 the minister of the interior, who
oversees the OCRB, and the minister of justice stated that while the
OCRB killed suspects during the year, they believed that these killings
occurred only after OCRB members were shot at by suspects attempting to
evade apprehension.
There were no developments in the March 17 killing of Yacoub
Ibrahim by members of the OCRB in the Bangui neighborhood of Kilometre
5.
The Government generally did not prosecute OCRB members responsible
for killings committed during the year. The minister of justice said
that most parents of suspected criminals killed by the OCRB did not
file complaints with the judicial system because of the social stigma
associated with being related to accused criminals. The public
prosecutor and UN officials, however, said they believed that many
victims' families did not file complaints against the OCRB because of
fear of retribution and the widespread belief that the OCRB enjoyed
almost total impunity.
During the year there were credible reports that security forces
committed other unlawful killings, including during the apprehension of
suspects, as well as killings allegedly in connection with personal
disputes or rivalries. For example, on January 2, following a dispute
that began at a bar in Bangui between two members of the security
forces, Staff Sergeant Jean-Claude Sanze shot and killed Lieutenant
Wilfrid Yango Kapita, a member of the Presidential guard, in Boy-Rabe,
a Bangui neighborhood. After the killing Sanze took refuge at the
headquarters of the country's UN Peacebuilding Support Office (BONUCA),
where he was allowed to spend the night. The following morning, at the
request of the public prosecutor, a criminal investigations officer
took custody of Sanze and the public prosecutor assured BONUCA that
Sanze would be protected until his trial. That same day, while Sanze
was incarcerated in the Research and Investigation Section of the
National Gendarmerie, Presidential guard members who had been close to
Kapita forcibly removed Sanze from his prison cell, tortured him, shot
and killed him on the premises of the gendarmerie, and disfigured and
exposed his remains to the public. On the same day, Presidential guard
members also ransacked and looted the residence of Nicolas Tiangaye, a
lawyer and former President of the country's National Transition
Council, to whom Sanze had periodically provided security. Although the
Government informed BONUCA that an investigation had been launched, by
year's end the Government had not take any judicial or disciplinary
action against the Presidential guard members responsible for the
killing.
On January 5, following the funeral for Sanze, members of security
forces reportedly shot and killed two mourners. By year's end
authorities had made no arrests in connection with the killings.
On August 28, Sergeant Adomi Wilibona, a Presidential guard member,
reportedly shot two young street vendors at a coffee bar near the
Central Market in Bangui. At year's end the case was pending before the
Permanent Military Tribunal.
On September 21, Captain Achille Lakouama, a military surgeon and
assistant doctor of President Bozize, shot and killed Pascal Bembe,
director of the Presidential Protocol Office, outside Bembe's house
during the negotiation of a loan repayment. After the alleged killing,
Lakouama reportedly took refuge in the residence of an absent President
Bozize, who later granted him special protection and confinement. After
protests by the archbishop of Bangui and local human rights NGOs,
authorities arrested Lakouama and said he would be brought before the
Permanent Military Tribunal during its December session; however, the
tribunal canceled this session due to lack of available funds. At
year's end Lakouama remained in detention at a military camp, according
to his lawyer.
In December, in an incident that further highlighted the tension
between Chadian members of the Presidential guard (some of whom helped
President Bozize seize power in 2003) and CAR members of the security
forces, Chadian members of the Presidential guard attacked a military
police station in Bangui, abducted a gendarme and a youth, and
reportedly killed them by slitting their throats. The incident occurred
after a group of youths stoned to death a Chadian member of the
Presidential guard, who had stabbed a CAR police officer in an attempt
to steal his car, according to press reports. By year's end, the police
officer had recovered in the hospital, and there were no reports of any
legal or disciplinary action taken against anyone involved in the
incident.
During the year there were numerous instances in which the security
forces, particularly the Presidential guard, killed civilians suspected
of supporting rebels. For example, following attacks by APRD rebels on
military targets in the northwest, security forces led by Lieutenant
Eugene Ngaikoisse, a member of the Presidential guard, reportedly
conducted reprisal attacks on numerous villages near the Chadian border
between January 29 and 31, on February 11 and 18, and on March 22.
According to credible reports, during the reprisal attacks,
Presidential guards indiscriminately killed up to 100 civilians in the
northwestern prefectures of Ouham Pende and Ouham. While the Government
said that insurgents were dressed in plain clothes and difficult to
identify, victims of the security forces' attacks reportedly included
several school children (some as young as 10 years old), as well as
teachers, a village chief, and a municipal police officer. Ngaikoisse's
counteroffensive campaign forced at least at least 7,000 residents to
flee to southern Chad and several thousand others to abandon their
villages and take refuge in the bush.
According to multiple credible sources--including Bangui-based
journalists who were allowed limited access to Paoua and Markounda in
March, Amnesty International (AI), the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), and interviews by foreign diplomats with CAR refugees
who fled to southern Chad during the year--in the Ouham Pende
prefecture town of Paoua alone, security forces killed at least 35
civilians in late January. Soldiers executed three students for failing
to lead them to insurgents and arms caches, and four unidentified
bodies were burned in the local gendarmerie. Ngaikoisse's forces
accused youths of being traitors and rebel sympathizers before
torturing and summarily executing some of them, including 17 students
from Paoua College. Among the 50 civilians killed by security forces on
February 11 were seven students who were beaten to death; that same day
government forces burned or destroyed more than 10 villages near Paoua.
AI, local journalists, and local NGOs called on the Government to
establish an independent commission to investigate the killings and
punish members of security forces responsible for the attacks; however,
by year's end no such commission had been formed. No action was taken
against Ngaikoisse. The public prosecutor said authorities arrested
some members of security forces responsible for killings and other
abuses during the year and that they were scheduled to be tried by a
court in 2007; however, it was unclear whether any of these arrests
were in connection with the alleged killings and other abuses mentioned
above.
In late September and early October, government forces killed,
tortured, and raped an undetermined number of residents during fighting
between security forces and APRD rebels in and around the Gribingui
prefecture village of Wandago, near the city of Kaga-Bandoro.
During November and December, humanitarian groups, which could not
access the northeast due to insecurity, received phone calls from
residents in Birao, the capital of Vakaga Prefecture, alleging that the
military had committed executions and rape there during a
counteroffensive mission against UFDR rebels. By year's end there was
no confirmation of these reports and no additional information.
In early December during a counteroffensive campaign against APRD
rebels, security forces reportedly accused the residents of Zoumbeti, a
Gribingui prefecture village (30 miles south of Kaga-Bandoro), of
collaborating with the rebels and looted and burned down their village;
two elderly men were burned to death in their homes, according to the
village's deputy chief.
The Government arrested some members of the military who allegedly
killed persons during the year. However, by year's end the Permanent
Military Tribunal, which was normally charged with handling such cases,
had held no trials due to constraints on funding, according to
officials. Approximately 50 cases, including 18 killings, remained
pending.
During the first part of the year, the public prosecutor continued
to conduct a criminal investigation of Lieutenant Jean-Celestine Dogo
regarding his role in the alleged torture and killing of two men in
2004. Although President Bozize had officially dismissed Dogo from the
security forces in 2004 (following Dogo's temporary arrest in
connection with the killings), there were numerous credible reports
during the first five months of the year that Dogo continued to serve
in the security forces and commit violations against civilians (see
Section 2.a.); the Government, however, denied these reports. In late
May Dogo was killed by a rebel ambush during a military mission in
Vakaga Prefecture. After President Bozize attended Dogo's funeral, some
observers criticized the Government for failing to ensure that Dogo no
longer operated in the security forces and for failing to combat
impunity in the security forces.
There were no arrests in the case of a man who died from severe
injuries--allegedly inflicted by Dogo and other Presidential guard
members--shortly after being found in a bag in September 2005.
While unidentified armed bandits had contributed to the country's
instability for many years, during the year they demonstrated a growing
willingness to kill civilians. For example, on March 7, unidentified
armed men shot and killed the mayor of Bossangoa, Jean Brice Guenefei;
rebels of the Patriotic Movement for the Restoration of the CAR later
claimed responsibility, although some observers were doubtful of the
veracity of this claim. In addition, on March 15, unidentified armed
individuals shot and killed another mayor, Kossi Augustin, and his son,
in their home in the Ouham prefecture village of Korom-Mpoko. By year's
end there were no reports of authorities making arrests in connection
with these killings.
On April 9, unidentified armed men in uniform attacked a vehicle
clearly marked as UN property near Yaloke in Ombella Mpoko Prefecture,
killing two doctors on a World Heath Organization (WHO) mission, Eric
Kelembho and Joachim Kaba Mebri. By year's end authorities had made no
arrests in connection with the killings.
During the year there were weekly reports of unidentified armed men
in uniform forcibly entering personal residences at night in and around
Bangui to kill and harass civilians and to loot personal belongings.
Although information about these armed groups and highway bandits
was difficult to obtain, aid workers and UN officials said they
believed the armed groups were a mix of common criminals and remnants
of insurgent groups from recurring conflicts in the region. Some human
rights observers said they believed that many of the armed groups were
comprised of the same rebels and mercenaries, including Chadian former
combatants, who helped Bozize seize power in the 2003 coup, and that
since Bozize had been unable to pay them what they considered a proper
compensation after he seized power, the former combatants were exacting
payments from civilians by force.
Civilians continued to take vigilante action against presumed
thieves, poachers, and some persons believed to be Chadian combatants.
Mobs reportedly continued to kill and injure suspected sorcerers or
witches during the year. For example, on October 23, local media
reported the killing of a nine-year-old girl who was seriously burned
and subsequently died after she was accused of being a sorcerer.
Authorities arrested two members of her family and detained them at the
women's prison in Bangui. The case was pending before a court at year's
end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
During the year unidentified armed groups conducted kidnappings of
M'bororo children for ransom (see Section 5).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law and the constitution prohibit torture and
specify sanctions for those found guilty of physical abuse, police,
including the OCRB, continued to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse
criminal suspects, detainees, and prisoners, according to local human
rights groups such as the Association Against Torture (ACAT) and the
Central African Human Rights League (LCDH). The Government did not take
effective action to punish police who tortured suspects, and impunity
remained a problem. Family members of victims and human rights groups,
including the LCDH, pursued court complaints filed since 2003 with the
prosecutor regarding the deaths of several prisoners due to police
abuse; however, authorities did not take action on any of the cases by
year's end. The LCDH reported the abuse of civilians by the
Presidential security forces and filed court complaints of police
abuse.
Police most commonly employed a form of torture known as le cafe,
the repeated beating of the sole of an individual's feet with a baton
or stick. Immediately after administering le cafe, police would
sometimes force the individual to walk on badly bruised feet, and if
the individual was unable to do so, police would further beat the
individual.
During the Criminal Court's session in September, many prisoners,
including 14 people arrested for endangering the security of state,
testified before the court regarding the cruel and inhuman treatment
they received from security forces during their detention. Some said
that they were beaten and frequently tortured, and some of them had
serious injuries, including broken legs or arms.
On October 23, members of the OCRB seriously beat and tortured
National Assembly member Ali Kassala and placed him in a jail cell
following a dispute in Bangui. Kassala had gone to the OCRB
headquarters to demand the release of his relatives, who had been
arrested and detained by the OCRB. Kassala was brought before a
prosecutor and released a few hours later. Several parliamentarians
noted Kassala's parliamentary immunity and criticized the police's
mistreatment of their colleague. They requested an investigation and
called on the Government to take action against the OCRB members
responsible for the abuses. At year's end no additional information was
available.
In late September and early October, government forces tortured and
raped an undetermined number of residents during fighting between
security forces and rebels (see Section 1.a.).
In December security forces beat the deacon of a Bangui church (see
Section 1.f.).
Security forces rarely were punished for committing acts of
violence against civilians. However, in September authorities arrested
Commandant Ambroise Azoukateme, a member of the OCRB and the chief of
an anti-narcotics police squad, for abuses committed against detainees
including torture, inhuman treatment, beatings, arbitrary arrest, and
fraud. During the last quarter of the year, a court sentenced him to
two years in prison.
According to the magistrate of the Permanent Military Tribunal, 32
members of the military arrested during the year on charges of
committing beatings, torture, and killings were scheduled to be brought
before the court by the year's end; however, the tribunal postponed its
December session and had heard no cases by year's end due to what
officials said was a lack of available funding. Among those arrested
was Lieutenant Grepe, who was arrested in September for committing
abuses against detainees.
By year's end, there were no reports that the Government had taken
action against members of security forces responsible for the following
acts of torture and beatings committed in 2005: the January beating of
Rufin Louango, an employee of a foreign embassy, by Lieutenant Dogo in
Bangui; the March beating of three young individuals after an arbitrary
search of their Bangui home by former Lieutenant Dogo, Presidential
security forces member Lieutenant Olivier Koudemon (alias Gbangouma),
and a member of the armed forces named Aziz; the allegedly ethnically
motivated beating in March of Sergeant Marcel Kila, a Yakoma, by two
unidentified military officers of the Gbaya ethnicity, near the Berengo
military training center; the June beating of a taxi driver in the
Kilometre 5 neighborhood of Bangui; or the October beating of
Jean(Michel Mandaba, deputy secretary of former President Patasse's
Central African People's Liberation Movement (MLPC), and Joseph
Tchendo, President of the country's media regulatory body, in Bangui.
Members of the armed forces often committed other abuses against
civilians, including armed robbery and racketeering. No action
generally was taken against these soldiers.
Members of security forces, particularly members of the military,
raped civilians during the year. There were reports that security
forces continued to commit rape, including collective rape, often in
school buildings at night; however, there were fewer reports that
security forces raped women than in the previous year. Security forces
rarely were punished for raping civilians; for the most part,
perpetrators either escaped police custody or were released by fellow
soldiers and other security agents.
In October human rights observers reported that a member of the
army attempted to rape a 15-year-old girl and seriously injured her in
the Gribingui prefecture town of Kaga-Bandoro. The girl's parents filed
a complaint before the Permanent Military Tribunal, and at year's end
an investigation was underway.
There were no reports that the Government had taken action against
the five uniformed military officers responsible for the April 2005
rape of a young girl near the central market of Bangui, or the
September 2005 rape of a 16-year-old girl in a Bangui neighborhood by a
police officer.
During the year unidentified armed groups continued to attack, rob,
beat, and rape civilians in villages and those traveling on main
routes, mostly in the countryside.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) continued to consider
whether it would investigate a complaint filed by the Government in
2005 against former President Patasse, Jean-Pierre Bemba, the vice
President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a former
rebel leader, and others for crimes against humanity committed prior to
and during the 2003 coup (see Section 4).
During the year a combination of rebels, bands of unidentified
armed men, and government soldiers attacked civilians in the northwest
and northeast. During these attacks, the perpetrators tortured, beat,
and raped civilians; burned and looted homes; and forced more than
35,000 civilians to flee the country (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and
2.d.). For example, in late September and early October, members of the
Presidential guard reportedly burned or destroyed 10 villages around
the Ouham-Pende prefecture town of Paoua, including Botona and Kebe.
The Presidential guard denied involvement in the arson attacks.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
extremely harsh and well below international standards; prison
conditions outside Bangui generally were worse. There were reports that
guards tortured prisoners. There were an estimated 1,000 prisoners in
the country. Most of the prisons outside of Bangui were completely
destroyed during the 2003 fighting. Prison cells were overcrowded, and
basic necessities, including food, clothing, and medicine were
inadequate and often confiscated by prison officials. Prisoners
depended on family members to supplement inadequate prison meals and
were sometimes allowed to forage for food near the prison. Prisoners
frequently were forced to perform uncompensated labor. Unlike in the
previous year, this work involved public works projects rather than
work at the residences of government officials and magistrates.
There were two prisons in Bangui: Ngaragba central prison for men
and Bimbo central prison for women. Inmates with infectious diseases
lived among healthy inmates, and medicine was either unavailable or too
expensive. Detainees and inmates at both prisons received one meal per
day; meals were insufficient and consisted of cassava, rice, and either
green beans, fish, or (occasionally) meat, depending on the day of the
week. Inmates slept on the floor or on thin matting provided by their
families or charities. A few shower stalls, interior open-air
courtyards, and weekly visiting hours were available to all detainees
and prisoners at both prisons.
On October 20, Ngaragba held 350 individuals, including 180
pretrial detainees. Several detainees had been detained for seven
months and had not yet appeared before a judge. On average, there were
10 individuals in each common room. In the prison section reserved
primarily for former government officials suspected or convicted of
financial crimes, common rooms held four persons on average.
Bimbo's population consisted primarily of pretrial detainees, most
of whom were women accused of sorcery. Several individuals had been
detained for four months and had not appeared before a judge; few had
lawyers. Prison officials allowed detainees and prisoners to be sent to
a nearby hospital when they became ill. Overcrowding was reportedly not
a problem, and children younger than five years old were allowed to
stay with their mothers at the prison. There were no reports of rapes
or sexual harassment by the all-male prison guard staff.
Male and female prisoners were held in separate facilities in
Bangui but housed together elsewhere. Pretrial detainees were not held
separately from convicted prisoners.
Conditions in detention centers were worse than those in prisons
and in some cases were life-threatening. Bangui's detention centers
consisted of overcrowded cells with very little light and leaky buckets
for toilets. According to the local human rights groups, lack of
training and poor supervision at detention centers were serious
problems and continued to result in torture and beatings. Suspects in
police and gendarmerie cells had to depend on family, friends,
religious groups, and NGOs for food. Several detainees complained that
they had not eaten in two days, had not been allowed to bathe or shower
in two weeks, and had lice. Detainees with infectious diseases lived
among healthy prisoners, and medicine was not available. Suspects
generally slept on bare cement or dirt floors. Corruption among guards,
who had not been paid in months, was rife. Guards often demanded
between $0.37 (200 CFA francs) and $0.55 (300 CFA francs) to permit
showers, allow for the delivery of food and water, or permit family
visits.
During visits in May by AI delegates and a foreign diplomat to
several detention centers in Bangui, a single five-square-meter cell at
the National Gendarmerie's Research and Investigation Department (SRI)
housed 12 detained soldiers accused of desertion (see Section 1.d.).
The cell was dirty, had no toilet, and smelled of human waste.
Detainees noted that during storms, which were frequent in the rainy
season, the cell was flooded, subjecting the soldiers to illnesses. At
the Port Police Station, the cell also smelled of human waste and had
no sleeping facilities. One of the detainees whom AI encountered,
Mohammed Diakite, a Malian, had been detained there for two months,
appeared to be approximately 16 years old, and was virtually unable to
communicate due to mental illness. He was being held for alleged
illegal entry into the country but had not been seen by a judge.
In Bangui, male and female detainees were separated; however, they
reportedly were not separated in detention facilities in the
countryside. There were no separate detention facilities for juvenile
prisoners, who routinely were housed with adults and often subjected to
physical abuse.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers.
The ICRC and religious groups routinely provided supplies, food, and
clothes to prisoners. The ICRC and the human rights unit of BONUCA had
unrestricted access to prisoners. In May AI delegates visited several
detention centers in Bangui.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides protection
against arbitrary arrest and detention and accords the right to a
judicial determination of the legality of detention; however, security
forces frequently ignored such provisions, and there was a significant
increase in the use of arbitrary arrest and detention during the year.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
including the OCRB, are under the director general of police, who is
under the Ministry of Interior and Public Security. The military
forces, including the Presidential guard and the National Gendarmerie
are under the Ministry of Defense. Both the police and military share
responsibility for internal security.
As part of its efforts to protect citizens and safeguard property,
the Government continued to support joint security operations in the
capital conducted by the armed forces, CEMAC peacekeepers, and French
forces.
Police were not effective, partly as a result of salary arrears
owed by the Government and a severe lack of resources. Many citizens
lacked faith in the police; consequently, mob violence against persons
suspected of theft and other offences remained a problem (see Section
1.a.). Corruption in the police, including the use of illegal
roadblocks to commit extortion, remained a serious problem (see
Sections 2.d. and 3). During the year the LCDH accused the security
forces of terrorizing the population, killing civilians, and committing
armed robbery with impunity. Despite being criticized by local human
rights groups and the media for committing numerous, serious human
rights abuses, the OCRB continued to expand its mission, which local
NGOs said was cause for concern. Although the OCRB was created to
function only in Bangui and to focus on combating violent banditry, the
OCRB increasingly investigated, detained, and abused persons accused of
lesser crimes such as embezzlement and petty theft; it also conducted
some operations outside Bangui.
There were mechanisms available to investigate police abuses.
Citizens could and did file complaints of police abuse with the public
prosecutor of the republic. The most common complaints involved thefts,
rape, brutality, and embezzlement. With the assistance of BONUCA and
the high commissioner of human rights and good governance, the
prosecutor actively investigated numerous complaints of police abuse,
including reported killings; however, impunity remained a severe
problem. The prosecutor had the authority to order the arrest of police
officers suspected of committing abuses and exercised that authority
during the year; however, the prosecutor's staff was small, had only
one computer (a gift from an NGO), and was severely lacking in other
resources.
The public prosecutor said the Government prosecuted three OCRB
members for abuses committed against civilians during the year. For
example, in September the public prosecutor arrested a prominent member
of the OCRB, the head of the anti-narcotics police squad, for serious
abuses committed against detainees and other civilians (see Section
1.c.). In addition a court convicted and sentenced two police
superintendents for use of arbitrary detention and torture; no
additional information was available by year's end.
BONUCA continued to provide security forces agents, including
police officers, with human rights training.
Arrest and Detention.--Judicial warrants are not required for
arrest. The law stipulates that persons detained in cases other than
those involving national security must be brought before a magistrate
within 48 hours, although this period is renewable once, for a total of
96 hours. In practice authorities often did not respect this deadline,
in part due to inefficient judicial procedures and a lack of judges. By
law national security detainees are defined as those held for crimes
against the security of the state. National security detainees may be
held without charge for up to eight days, and this period can be
renewed once, for a total of 16 days. However, in practice persons were
held without charge for long periods. The law allows detainees to have
access to their family and to legal counsel. Indigent detainees may
request a lawyer provided by the Government. Detainees are allowed to
post bail or have family members post bail for them. Lawyers and
families generally had free access to detainees.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained numerous persons,
and the Government's use of arbitrary arrest and detention increased
during the year.
Between February and May the Government arrested more than 40
individuals suspected of supporting or engaging with several armed
political groups seeking to overthrow the Government of President
Bozize. Many of the detainees claimed to have been arrested solely
because of their known or suspected family connections with opponents
of the Government (see Section 1.e.).
In May authorities arrested approximately 50 soldiers after they
allegedly refused to fight against rebels in the northeast. Authorities
accused them of desertion, but the soldiers said they had come to
Bangui to collect their allowances, which they had not received for
several months. In May approximately 15 were being held in harsh
conditions at the SRI in Bangui, and according to local human rights
defenders, 40 other soldiers reportedly were held at the Kassai
barracks on the outskirts of Bangui. By year's end authorities had
released all soldiers accused of desertion.
By year's end authorities had released the following persons: high
school student Guy Aime Nzawouin, whom police had arrested in March
2005 on charges of selling voter registration cards; Joseph Clotaire
Abanda-Kaya, the country's charge d'affaires in the DRC, whom
authorities had arrested in April on charges of preparing a coup
d'etat; and MLPC member Marcel Bagaza and three other men--Kalme
Djakobaye Sindo, Alexandre Marboua, and Edourd Beroge--who were
acquitted by a court during the year following their arrests in August
2005 on charges of fraud.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security
forces arrested or detained a journalist; however, authorities arrested
and briefly detained a labor leader (see Section 6.a.).
During the year individuals, particularly women, continued to be
arrested and charged with the practice of witchcraft, or sorcery, which
was punishable by execution, although no one received the death penalty
during the year (see Section 1.e.). Prison officials at Bangui's Bimbo
central prison for women said that persons accused of sorcery were
arrested and detained or imprisoned for their own safety since village
mobs sometimes killed suspected sorcerers or witches (see Section
1.a.). In late 2005 Bangui prison officials estimated that 50 to 60
percent of female detainees were arrested in connection with charges of
sorcery or witchcraft. Human rights observers said the belief in
sorcery was so entrenched in the country that attempts to abolish legal
recognition of the crime would be very difficult; however, observers
said they were continuing to push for fair trials of those accused of
the crime (see Section 1.e.).
Prolonged pretrial detention was a serious problem. At year's end
pretrial detainees in Bangui comprised 52 percent of Ngaragba's prison
population and an estimated 50 percent of Bimbo's prison population.
Detainees usually were informed of the charges levied against them;
however, many waited in prison for several months before seeing a
judge. Judicial inefficiency, corruption, severe financial restraints
on the judicial system, and a lack of judges contributed to pretrial
delays. Some detainees remained in prison for years because of lost
files and bureaucratic obstacles.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained subject to the
influence of the executive branch. Judges are appointed by the
President after being nominated by the Superior Council of Magistrates.
The courts barely functioned due to inefficient administration of the
courts, a shortage of trained personnel, growing salary arrears, and a
lack of material resources. For example, the Ministry of Justice had
only one computer and one printer to serve the entire country. In
addition, many citizens did not have access to the judicial system. The
Ministry of Justice occasionally had sufficient funds to send judges to
geographically isolated communities located great distances from the
nearest courthouse, but the average citizen had to travel at least 31
miles to reach one of the country's 25 courthouses. More courts were
being established beyond the capital; however, traditional justice
ordered by the head of a family or a village retained a preponderate
role in settling conflicts and administering punishments. Furthermore,
for the entire population, there were fewer than 150 judges, many of
whom were not intimately familiar with the national laws. The
overwhelming majority of citizens did not have the opportunity to be
defended by a barrister, as there were fewer than 40 practicing lawyers
in the country, almost exclusively in Bangui.
Judicial corruption remained a serious impediment to citizens'
right to receive a fair trial. According to the LCDH, the judicial
system was ``rotten,'' from the judges down to the bailiffs. Many
lawyers would pay judges to receive verdicts favorable to their
clients. There were, however, some efforts to combat judicial
corruption. The Ministry of Justice continued to implement a
zero(tolerance policy; although the ministry suspended four judges
suspected of engaging in corruption in 2005, it was not known whether
the special disciplinary council reviewing their conduct had taken any
action, or whether other judges were suspended during the year. During
the year the Ministry of Justice continued to conduct a standard
ministry(wide review every two months to identify areas where lack of
efficiency might be hindering the judicial process. There was no
additional information on these reviews at year's end.
The judiciary consists of a tribunal of first instance, the court
of appeal, the cassation court, the high court of justice, the Supreme
Court, commercial and administrative courts, a military court, and the
Constitutional Court. The highest court is the Constitutional Court,
which determines whether laws passed by the National Assembly conform
to the constitution. The Constitutional Court also receives appeals
challenging the constitutionality of a law. Lower courts hear criminal
and civil cases and send appeals to the court of appeals.
The Permanent Military Tribunal judges only members of the
military.
There were numerous reports that, due to judicial inefficiency,
citizens in a number of cities established their own courts to deal
with cases through parallel justice, especially in cases of suspected
witchcraft; however, the minister of justice disputed the existence of
such alternative courts.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are held publicly, and defendants have
the right to be present and to consult a public defender. Juries are
used in the penal court for criminal trials. If an individual is
accused of a serious crime and cannot afford a lawyer, the Government
has an obligation to provide one. Defendants also have the right to
question witnesses, to present witnesses and evidence on their own
behalf, and to have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their case. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and
if convicted, defendants have the right to appeal. The Government
generally complied with these legal requirements; however, the
judiciary did not enforce consistently the right to a fair trial, and
there were many credible reports of corruption within the court system.
According to the minister of justice, there continued to be a grave
lack of neutrality among judges, many of whom were significantly
influenced by politics in their rulings. One ethnic group in particular
was reportedly subject to legal discrimination and unfair trials (see
Section 5).
During the year the OCRB continued to commit extrajudicial killings
of persons suspected of being violent recidivists. The Government and,
to some degree, the citizenry tolerated these acts, in part because of
a general lack of faith in the judicial system (see Section 1.a.).
Witchcraft or sorcery is a crime punishable by execution, although
no one accused of witchcraft received the death penalty during the
year. Most individuals convicted of sorcery received sentences of one
to five years in prison; they can also be fined up to $1,500 (817,800
CFA francs). During a typical trial of someone accused of sorcery,
traditional doctors were called to give their opinion of the suspect's
ties to sorcery. ``Truth herbs'' were used to make a suspect
``confess.'' Neighbors were called as witnesses and, because spells
were believed to involve burying bits of clothing, sample cuttings of
clothes were brought before the jury as evidence. Police and gendarmes
conducted investigations into witchcraft.
The Permanent Military Tribunal, which judged only members of the
military accused of crimes, held no sessions during the year due to
what officials said was a lack of available funding, and several cases
involving human rights abuses against civilians remained pending at
year's end (see Sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of the
Government holding political prisoners during the year; however, there
were several reports of the Government detaining persons for political
reasons and holding at least some of them for most of the year.
Authorities granted BONUCA's human rights unit and human rights NGOs
access to many of these detainees during the year, although some of the
detainees were held incommunicado initially and again later before
their release.
Between February and May authorities arrested more than 40 persons
accused of supporting rebel groups; authorities had reportedly released
all of them by year's end. The series of arrests followed two key
events: the January 29 attack by rebels on security forces in the
northwestern town of Paoua, and the February arrest near Bangui of
former army lieutenant Jean-Jacques Larmassoum. After being arrested,
Larmassoum reportedly told authorities that he had been conspiring with
former President Patasse to overthrow the Government, that he was the
leader of the APRD rebels in the northwest, that the APRD had been
responsible for attacks on security forces, and that he had been in
Bangui to collect financial assistance from his supporters. Some of
those arrested were relatives or personal friends of government
opponents living abroad.
Many of those arrested were members of former President Patasse's
ethnic group or his political party, the MLPC; among those arrested
were a former prefect, Raymond Behourou, a former member of parliament,
Mamadou Raikina, and a chief of police, Clotilde Gamo. In May
authorities arrested Claude Yabanda, a member of the executive bureau
of the opposition Patriotic Front for Progress for endangering state
security. Yabanda, who denied having any connection with the MLPC as
well as the Government's charge that he supported rebel groups,
remained in prison until authorities, under pressure from human rights
NGOs, released him in December.
Initially, authorities refused to allow the detainees to have
access to legal counsel. Legal experts in the country expressed serious
concern that the overwhelming majority of the detainees were not being
held on grounds established by law or according to procedures
established by law. For example, judicial officials failed to formally
charge most of the detainees within the time frame of 48 hours as
stipulated by the law.
Several weeks after their arrest, many of the detainees were still
being held incommunicado, without charge, and without access to their
families, lawyers, and doctors. According to AI, they had not appeared
before an independent and impartial judge to challenge the basis for
their arrest and continued detention. By June, after several weeks in
detention, some of the detainees had been charged with endangering the
internal security of the state and were transferred to Ngaragba and
Bimbo prisons. However, according to AI, the majority of the detainees
remained held without charge or trial at the SRI and other detention
centers, such as the Camp de Roux military barracks in Bangui, where
they were reportedly denied visits by their relatives and access to
legal counsel. In September a court acquitted some of the defendants,
but security forces refused to release them for several days (see
Section 1.e.). In a report published in November, AI criticized the
Government for arbitrarily arresting individuals, detaining them for
several months without charge or trial, failing to respect a court's
decision, and holding detainees in harsh and sometimes life-threatening
conditions (see Sections 1.c., 1.e., and 4).
According to local human rights defenders, some detainees were
apparently detained simply because they were related to leaders of
armed groups, strongly suggesting that they were political detainees.
For example one of those detained was Nelson N'Djader, the 17-year-old
brother of Florian N'Djader, the leader of the northwestern rebel group
Union of Republican Forces (Florian had claimed responsibility for
attacks on security forces in January and was sentenced by a court to
10 year's imprisonment in September). Nelson, who was taken into
custody on May 18 after applying for a visa at the embassy of the DRC
(his mother's country of origin), told AI that prior to his arrest he
had received numerous death threats by telephone and in person from
members of security forces, who accused him of collaborating with his
brother. AI concluded that ``it appears [Nelson] was detained solely on
account of his brother being a leader of an armed group, rather than
[any] involvement [of his own] in armed insurrection.'' In October AI
was informed that Nelson had been released on an unspecified date,
although he was required to report regularly to authorities.
On September 12, the Criminal Court acquitted 14 persons accused of
supporting rebels. Among those acquitted were Lydie Florence Ndouba,
sister of former President Patasse's spokesperson, former member of
parliament Mamadou Raikina, former prefect Raymond Behourou, and Marcel
Bagaza. The court concluded that the prosecution had failed to produce
sufficient evidence against them and freed them on September 13.
However, at the end of the trial, Presidential guard forces were sent
to the court to prevent the detainees' release. The Presidential guard
took the detainees illegally to the Ngaragba prison in Bangui and later
in the evening, to Bossembele prison in the prefecture of Ombella-
Mpoko. They were detained illegally for several days, including three
days of incommunicado detention without food and in the same cell.
Following protests from several civil society groups, including a
strike by Members of the CAR Bar Association, the detainees were
returned to Bangui and released on September 25. While the Government
permitted BONUCA access to the detainees on a regular basis, many
observers interpreted the Government's refusal to accept the acquittal
as further evidence that the detentions had been politically motivated.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides
for an independent judiciary in civil matters, and citizens had access
to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damage for abuses; however, there
was a widespread perception that judges were easily bribed and that
litigants could not rely on courts to render impartial judgments. Many
courts were understaffed and personnel were paid poorly.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits invasion of homes without a warrant
in civil and criminal cases; however, police sometimes used provisions
of the penal code governing certain political and security cases that
allow them to search private property without a warrant. Security
forces continued to carry out warrantless searches for guns and
ammunition in private homes.
During the year fighting between government forces and rebels
resulted in the destruction of at least 1,700 homes, and aid agencies
said they believed many thousands more had been destroyed, particularly
in the northwestern provinces of Ouham and Ouham-Pende. The fighting,
in addition to banditry and kidnappings by unidentified groups, forced
approximately 185,000 residents to abandon their villages during the
year to seek refuge in Chad (15,000) or Cameroon (20,000), or to live
in the bush (150,000) (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.d.).
In January, following a dispute between two members of the security
forces, members of the Presidential guard forcibly entered, ransacked,
and looted the home of lawyer and prominent human rights defender
Tiangaye (see Section 1.a).
In February gendarmes searched for guns in the home of Christophe
Douba, a member of the National Assembly belonging to the opposition
party MLPC, without a warrant and without respect of his
parliamentarian immunity.
In December President Bozize announced that he had ordered security
forces to burn several houses belonging to deacons of Kina Baptist
Church. President Bozize gave the order, which provoked widespread
criticism from domestic independent media, after the deacons had burned
down a pastor's house following an interpersonal dispute. In addition,
security forces arrested two deacons and beat one of them; authorities
had released the two deacons by year's end. The President said the
order to burn the houses was intended to deter parties in the dispute
from committing additional acts of arson.
The Government continued to engage in wiretapping without judicial
authority.
During the year there were weekly reports of unidentified armed men
in uniform forcibly entering personal residences at night (see Section
1.a.).
There was no additional information on the July 2005 arrest by the
OCRB of Gilbert Bissidi Beodo, President of a local Bangui chapter of
the opposition party MLPC.
During the year unidentified armed groups attacked, looted, and
burned homes in rural areas in the northern part of the country (see
Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and the Press.--The constitution and law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, despite the
implementation of an almost completely decriminalized press law in
2005, the Government employed threats and intimidation to limit
criticism of the Government, although there were fewer instances than
in the previous year. On the whole, local media observers said there
was greater press freedom during the year and attributed the increase
to the new press law and the creation in February 2005 of the High
Council of Communications (HCC), an independent institution composed of
nine members, including journalists, charged with promoting press
freedom and assisting the Government with media licensing and
regulation. In addition the Central African Journalists' Union (UJCA)
and the Central African Association of Private and Independent
Newspaper Publishers, both of which campaigned vigorously for the
adoption of the new press law, continued to advocate greater press
freedom during the year. Journalists who worked for state-owned media
reportedly practiced self-censorship.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly without
reprisal.
Throughout the year, more than 30 newspapers, many of which were
privately owned, published at varying intervals and often criticized
the President, the Government's economic policies, and official
corruption. While five independent dailies--including Le Citoyen, Le
Confident, and Le Democrate--were available in Bangui, they were not
distributed outside of the Bangui area, and the absence of a
functioning postal service continued to hinder newspaper distribution.
Financial problems prevented many other private newspapers from
publishing regularly, and the average price of a newspaper,
approximately $0.55 (300 CFA francs), was more than most citizens could
afford.
Radio was the most important medium of mass communication, in part
because the literacy rate was low. The Government owned and operated a
radio station and the country's only television station.
The private radio station Radio Ndeke Luka continued to provide a
popular and independent alternative to the state-owned Radio
Centrafrique, although the reach of Ndeke Luka was limited; outside
Bangui, it was available for only one hour daily, via shortwave. Ndeke
Luka broadcast domestically produced national news and political
commentary and rebroadcast international news throughout the country,
with assistance from a foreign media development organization and the
UN Development Program. Radio Notre Dame, which was owned and operated
by the Catholic Church, broadcast national news, debates, legal
counseling, and human rights education. International broadcasters,
including Radio France Internationale, continued to operate during the
year.
The Government continued to monopolize domestic television
broadcasting, although at least one application to establish a private
television station was pending at year's end.
Journalists continued to face many challenges, including chronic
financial problems, a serious deficiency of professional skills, the
absence of an independent printing press, and a severe lack of access
to information held by the Government (see Section 3). The UJCA
continued to lobby the Government for the creation of a national press
center where journalists could receive professional training.
During the year security forces often harassed journalists and
sometimes physically and verbally threatened them; there were also
reports near the end of the year of government ministers and other
high-level officials threatening journalists who were critical of the
Government. For example, according to Reporters without Borders, in
early January Lieutenant Dogo, a Presidential guard member who had
recently been dismissed from the military, called Le Citoyen managing
editor Maka Gbossokotto, insulted him, and ended the conversation by
saying ``we will meet and see,'' which Gbossokotto interpreted as a
threat. Dogo was reportedly angry over the newspaper's publication of
an article detailing a fatal dispute among members of security forces
that resulted in two killings (see Section 1.a.).
In February the acting minister of communication threatened to
suspend the broadcasting operations of Radio Ndeke Luka following
broadcasts that were critical of the Government.
According to reports during the year, security forces often
threatened Ndeke Luka journalist Zephirin Kaya for his criticism of
security forces who committed abuses against civilians. On August 25,
Kaya reported that a security forces member threatened him and
attempted to shoot him while he covered an official ceremony honoring
high school graduates.
In December government ministers and high-level officials in the
presidency reportedly made a series of threats against the director of
Radio Ndeke Luka. The officials made the threats after the station
broadcast comments critical of the Government, including criticism of
the President's decision to appoint what some media outlets considered
unqualified officials to the country's media oversight body.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of security
forces arresting, detaining, issuing death threats to, or attempting to
abduct journalists.
In early 2005 the President signed a law passed by the transitional
legislative body in December 2004 that precludes the imprisonment of
journalists for defaming a third party in a published story; instead, a
right of reply or compensation must be accorded to the plaintiff.
However, the law still provides for terms of imprisonment and fines of
up to $1,823 (one million CFA francs) for journalists who incite
disobedience among security forces or incite persons to violence,
hatred, or discrimination through publication in a newspaper or a
broadcast. In addition the law provides for terms of imprisonment of
between six months and two years and fines of up to $1,823 (one million
CFA francs) for the publication or broadcast of false or fabricated
information that ``would disturb the peace.'' Although defamation is no
longer punishable by imprisonment under the law, journalists found
guilty of libel or slander faced fines of between $182 and $1,823
(100,000 and one million CFA francs).
Other provisions in the new press law that concerned local press
observers included a requirement that local press organs submit copies
of their next publications to four government entities and the HCC
prior to distribution and the requirement that foreign press organs
submit copies of publications to two government ministries and the HCC
at least four hours before distribution.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of local
administrators in or near Bouar and Berberati confiscating editions of
publications.
The Ministry of Communication maintained a ban on the diffusion by
media of songs, programs, or articles deemed to have a ``misogynist
character'' or to disrespect women.
Unlike in the previous year, officials did not use libel laws to
suppress criticism of political leaders. The libel suit filed in 2005
against Gbossokotto by a government prosecutor was dropped.
Local journalists and the HCC reported that violence perpetrated by
former pro-Bozize rebel fighters, forces loyal to former President
Patasse, and armed bandits prevented Bangui-based reporters from
venturing outside the capital and severely limited the availability of
information about several rural prefectures, particularly in the
northern and western regions of the country. However, in March a group
of journalists traveled to the northwest and reported on abuses
allegedly committed by security forces against civilians suspected of
supporting rebels, as well as on the displacement of large numbers of
civilians and the harsh conditions in which they lived following the
outbreak of fighting between rebels and the military (see Section
1.a.).
Internet Freedom.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports of the Government limiting or blocking access to the Internet
for certain journalists. There were no reports of the Government
monitoring e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Although less than 1 percent
of the population had access to the Internet, individuals and groups
could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet,
including by e-mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no reports that
the Government restricted academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for the right of assembly;
however, although the Government afforded more respect to this right
than during the previous year, the Government restricted this right on
a few occasions. Organizers of demonstrations and public meetings were
required to register with the minister of the interior 48 hours in
advance, and political meetings in schools or churches were prohibited.
The law required any association intending to hold a meeting to write a
letter to the Ministry of Interior to obtain the ministry's approval
prior to any meeting. In some cases when associations asked for such
approval, the ministry refused ``for security reasons.''
In September security forces invaded the customs union's
headquarters and prevented a meeting called by the union after the
Government dissolved the customs administration.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right. All
associations, including political parties, must register with the
Ministry of Interior, and the Government usually granted registration
expeditiously. The Government normally allowed associations and
political parties to hold congresses, elect officials, and publicly
debate policy issues without interference, except when they advocated
sectarianism or tribalism.
The law prohibiting nonpolitical organizations from uniting for
political purposes remained in place; however, there were no reports
that this law was enforced during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, although it prohibits what the Government considers to be
religious fundamentalism or intolerance and establishes fixed legal
conditions based on group registration with the Ministry of Interior.
The Government generally respected the right to religious freedom
during the year. The constitutional provision prohibiting religious
fundamentalism was understood widely to be aimed at Muslims, who made
up between 15 and 20 percent of the population; however, this provision
was not supported by any additional legislation.
In May OCRB Director Yves Gbeyero reportedly severely assaulted a
pastor who had asked for the release of a detainee who had been
arrested after the pastor accused him of stealing a camera. There were
no reports of disciplinary action against Gbeyero.
In December President Bozize ordered security forces to burn down
several homes belonging to Baptist deacons; security forces carrying
out the order beat one deacon and arrested another (see Section 1.f.).
Religious groups (except for traditional indigenous religious
groups) were required by law to register with the Ministry of Interior.
The ministry's administrative police monitored groups that failed to
register; however, the police did not attempt to impose any penalty on
such groups. The ministry could decline to register, suspend the
operations of, or ban any organization that it deemed offensive to
public morals or likely to disturb the peace. Any religious or
nonreligious group that the Government considered subversive was
subject to sanctions. The Ministry of Interior also could intervene to
resolve internal conflicts about property, finances, or leadership
within religious groups. Under this framework, the Ministry of the
Interior indefinitely closed a Protestant church in Bangui at the end
of March after authorities were notified that two factions within the
church were planning to fight each other with knives. Government
authorities declared the closure was necessary to prevent violence
until tensions subsided. Police made no arrests, and the church
remained closed at the end of the year.
During the year the Government continued to ban the Unification
Church, claiming that it was a subversive organization likely to
disturb the peace because of its alleged training of younger church
members as paramilitaries.
According to the Ministry of Territorial Administration, several of
the 34 Protestant churches whose activities were suspended by the
Government in 2003 (for supposedly being created without regard for
official rules and regulations) had fulfilled government requirements
to reopen and had resumed their activities by year's end. To reopen,
these religious institutions had to prove they had a minimum of 1,000
members. Additionally, church leaders had to present evidence that they
graduated from what the Government considered high caliber religious
schools and provide documentation proving that the church was created
with respect to local law. A few of these churches did not reopen for
failure to meet these requirements. Some observers perceived this
decree as an attempt by the Government to regulate the proliferation of
places of worship, which had become a trend in the country and a source
of concern for the Government over recent years.
Police often arrested and detained persons accused of witchcraft or
sorcery (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
On September 27, approximately 30 unidentified armed men reportedly
attacked a theological college in Bata, near Bozoum in Ouham Pende
Prefecture. No additional information was available.
Mobs reportedly continued to kill and injure suspected sorcerers or
witches during the year (see Section 1.a.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for the right
to move freely throughout the country; however, the Government
restricted this right during the year. Security forces, customs
officers, and other officials harassed travelers unwilling or unable to
pay bribes or ``taxes'' at checkpoints along major intercity roads and
at major intersections in Bangui.
During the year police increased the number of vehicles that it
stopped and searched, particularly in Bangui. In addition local human
rights organizations and UN officials said the problem of illegal road
barriers constructed by members of the military was widespread and that
travelers regularly encountered extortion at these barriers. Members of
the military did not allow road travelers to pass without paying a fee.
For example, merchants and traders traveling more than 350 miles on the
main route from Bangui to Bangassou encountered an average of 25
military barriers; at each road block, a motorist paid an average fee
of $16 (8,781 CFA francs), which amounted to $410 (225,000 CFA francs)
for the entire trip. This type of extortion greatly discouraged trade
and road travel and severely crippled the country's economy. Following
protests from National Assembly deputies and human rights
organizations, the Government ordered the demolition of illegal
barriers on the road but took no disciplinary actions against security
forces who beat travelers to extort money. Despite these measures,
security forces continued to block the roads to extort money.
Significant numbers of unidentified bandits and rebels, including
former combatants that helped President Bozize come to power in 2003,
continued to severely impede freedom of movement--including that of
traders and delivery trucks--particularly in northern and northwestern
zones of the country that the Government effectively did not control.
The Government also was unable to control highway bandits operating in
the eastern prefectures of Ouaka and Haute-Kotto. The highway bandits,
or coupeurs de routes, often constructed road barriers to stop drivers,
robbed them, and sometimes killed them if they refused to pay (see
Section 1.a.). Because many travelers ceased carrying large sums of
money with them, many highway bandits in the northern and northwestern
areas of the country reportedly turned to the more lucrative business
of kidnapping and targeted the children of a traditionally wealthy
ethnic group (see Section 5).
With the exception of diplomats, the Government required that all
foreigners obtain an exit visa. Travelers intending to exit the country
could be required to obtain affidavits to prove that they owed no money
to the Government or to parastatal companies.
The constitution does not permit the use of exile, and the
Government did not employ it in practice. Former President Patasse
remained in self-imposed exile during the year.
During the year unidentified armed groups committed violations
against cattle herders--primarily members of the M'bororo ethnic
group--due to their relative wealth, causing more than 20,000 cattle
herders to flee the Ouham-Pende and Nana-Mambere prefectures in the
northwest and to take refuge in Cameroon (see Section 5).
Some observers continued to criticize the Government for failing to
restore order to the north and charged that the Government had made the
situation worse after security forces, which were deployed in the north
to engage armed rebels, killed civilians and committed other abuses
against persons suspected of supporting rebels (see Sections 1.a. and
1.c.).
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the year there was a
threefold increase in the number of IDPs--from approximately 50,000 to
an estimated 150,000 (almost 4 percent of the population)--due to
fighting between government security forces and rebel groups, as well
as attacks on civilians by rebels, armed bandits, and government
soldiers. These attacks reportedly resulted in the killing and rape of
civilians, the burning of villages, and looting (see Sections 1.a. and
1.c.). Displacement occurred throughout the year, and the overwhelming
majority of IDPs were in the northwestern prefectures of Ouham
(bordering Chad) and Ouham Pende (bordering Chad and Cameroon), where
civilians abandoned their villages out of fear and lived in the bush
for much of the year, surviving on little more than roots and wild
food. Starting in October, thousands of individuals fled their homes
due to fighting in the north-central prefectures of Gribingui and
Bamingui-Bangoran (both of which border Chad) and the northeastern
prefecture of Vakaga (which borders Sudan and Chad). By October the UN
estimated that one million citizens, particularly IDPs, had been
affected by ``severe levels of violence'' during the year. In addition
to hygiene-related illness, chronic malnutrition increased as
insecurity prevented many subsistence farmers from planting crops, and
the majority of livestock was either looted or migrated to safety in
neighboring Cameroon. The absence of security also rendered the
northwestern region largely inaccessible to humanitarian organizations,
contributing to the lack of proper medical care, food security, and
school facilities.
CEMAC peacekeepers conducted joint security operations in an effort
to secure the northern region of CAR and control the proliferation of
small arms. Despite these operations, however, the Government was not
able to provide a sufficient degree of security or protection for IDPs
in the northern part of the country.
In June Prime Minister Elie Dote led a ``peace mission'' to the
northwestern subprefecture of Paoua, the site of retribution attacks on
civilians by security forces early in the year (see Section 1.a.), and
made an appeal for IDPs to return to their homes and help build a
stable region. However, many critics argued that the Government needed
to make more efforts to provide security and key infrastructure and
services.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to countries where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status and asylum. The Government
accepted refugees prima facie.
The Government continued to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
the country's approximately 20,000 refugees, as well as asylum seekers.
According to the UNHCR, during a voluntary repatriation effort in
April, 10,000 southern Sudanese refugees were ``stranded'' in the Mboki
camp of the southeastern prefecture of Haut-Mbomou when the Government
closed the country's border with Sudan due to insecurity and constant
border crossings by Chadian rebels based in Sudan. However, following
an agreement it reached with the Government, the UNHCR announced on
December 8 that it planned to resume the voluntary repatriation of
almost 8,000 southern Sudanese, as well as approximately 900 refugees
from the DRC.
During the year security forces subjected refugees to the same
types of arbitrarily arrest and detention as citizens; however,
refugees were especially vulnerable to such human rights violations.
The Government allowed refugees freedom of movement; however, they were
subject to the same roadside stops and harassment by security forces
and unidentified armed groups as citizens were.
Several international organizations worked with the Government and
UNHCR to assist refugees during the year. They included the ICRC,
Doctors without Borders, an international confederation of Catholic
organizations called Caritas, and the international NGO International
Cooperation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change their government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
Presidential and legislative elections in 2005, which election
observers considered to be generally free and fair, despite some
problems. During the year the Government failed to hold previously
scheduled municipal elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--In March and May 2005 the
country held two rounds of multiparty Presidential and legislative
elections that resulted in the election of General Bozize as President;
Bozize had seized power in a 2003 military coup, declared himself
President, and headed a transitional government until the 2005
elections. Domestic and international election observers judged the
elections to be generally free and fair and representative of the
voters' will, despite irregularities and accusations of fraud made by
candidates running against Bozize.
The campaign prior to the first-round elections was tense. The
independent press reported isolated incidents of clashes between rival
groups of supporters, particularly the supporters of Bozize and former
President Kolingba, who was one of 11 Presidential candidates; there
also were allegations of fraud involving voter registration documents.
The opposition Union of Active Forces of the Nation (UFVN), a
grouping of Bozize's rivals, denounced the elections for alleged fraud
and irregularities involving voting and vote counting and called for
the elections to be voided. Former President Kolingba said the election
was completely rigged, and his supporters claimed that militants armed
by supporters of Bozize threatened them. The Joint Independent
Electoral Commission (CEMI) chairman acknowledged there had been cases
in which there were more votes than registered voters but said he
believed the election reflected the will of the people.
In March 2005, before election officials had tallied the results of
the first round of Presidential elections, armed individuals exchanged
gunfire outside the Bangui house of former President Kolingba. The
minister of the interior said the exchange of gunfire, which resulted
in the wounding of one military soldier in the head, was a
``misunderstanding'' between members of the military. However,
according to a spokesman for Kolingba, unidentified gunmen attacked the
residence in an attempt to kill Kolingba. The incident occurred on the
same day that Kolingba and other Presidential candidates belonging to
the UFVN called for the annulment of Presidential elections due to
fraud and irregularities.
During the 2005 electoral campaign security forces sometimes beat,
threatened, and intimidated individuals.
Following elections, Presidential candidate Ziguele attempted to
have Bozize's victory invalidated, claiming that soldiers had forced or
intimidated citizens into voting for Bozize, but the Constitutional
Court rejected this assertion.
During the year authorities held an election for a parliamentary
seat that the CEMI canceled in 2005 due to fraud. NGOs and other
observers considered the election, which took place in the southern
administrative division of Boganangone, credible and fair.
The National Convergence Movement, a grouping of smaller parties,
military officials, and political leaders supporting General Bozize,
held 42 of the National Assembly's 105 seats, which represented the
largest number of any party; the MLPC held the second highest number of
seats, 11. Presidential candidate Kolingba's party, the Central African
Democratic Rally, held eight seats.
On March 31, the law that allowed President Bozize to rule by
decree for three months, which was adopted by the National Assembly in
December 2005, expired. The law provided that all Presidential decrees
would require the advice of the Constitutional Court, be effective
until March 31, and be subject to ratification by the National Assembly
at the end of that period. The Prime Minister said the law allowed the
Government to take ``emergency measures'' to fight corruption and
improve the civil service; measures taken included the removal of three
ministers for fraud, the harmonization of civil service salaries, and
the establishment of a new retirement age. The law, which was passed
after cabinet meetings and consultations with the country's
Constitutional Court, reportedly was intended to quicken the adoption
of political and economic reforms by bypassing parliamentary debates
and votes. Several local human rights NGOs criticized the National
Assembly's decision to give additional power to the President and
accused President Bozize of attempting to establish a ``dictatorship.''
According to the minister for parliamentary affairs, rule by decree was
in accordance with article 29 of the constitution. In October the
National Assembly passed a law that effectively approved civil service-
related measures that the Government had adopted during the three
months of Bozize's rule by decree.
During the year there were several indications of the legislature's
weakness and lack of independence. For example, in August, on the day
that the National Assembly's 105 deputies were scheduled to vote on
proposed legislation regulating radioactive minerals, a larger-than-
usual number of security forces members surrounded the National
Assembly building, roughly frisking and questioning parliamentarians as
advocates of the bill reportedly offered bribes for the deputies to
approve it. Following the bill's adoption, independent newspapers and
NGOs criticized the deputies for their lack of independence.
The state remained highly centralized. The President appointed all
regional government officials--who ran the country's 16 prefectures and
60 subprefectures--and regional government entities had no significant
fiscal autonomy. Provisions in the constitution provide for municipal
elections; however, by year's end they had not been held, and towns
continued to be led by mayors appointed by the President.
During the year the LCDH criticized President Bozize for holding
the position of minister of defense, saying that article 23 of the
constitution prohibits the President from holding ``any other political
function or electoral mandate,'' under penalty of dismissal; however,
government officials said this criticism was based on a
misinterpretation of the constitution.
According to recommendations from a 2003 government-sponsored
national dialogue, women were supposed to make up 35 percent of posts
in government ministries and political parties; however, this provision
was not respected during the year. Ten women held seats in the 105-seat
National Assembly, and there were three women in the President's
cabinet.
There were two members of the M'bororo ethnic group and
approximately 13 Muslims in the 105-seat National Assembly.Pygmies
(Batwa or Ba'Aka), the indigenous inhabitants of the southern part of
the country, represented between 1 and 2 percent of the population;
they were not represented in the Government and continued to have
little political power or influence (see Section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Misappropriation of public
funds and corruption in the Government remained widespread. Corruption
continued to contribute to the country's incapacity to pay 40 months of
government salary arrears, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and local human rights activists said was a major threat to the
country's security, stability, and advancement of human rights. The
country's tax collection and public expenditure management systems were
extremely weak by international standards, and the lack of transparency
and accountability in the use of public resources was a serious
problem. Corruption was prevalent in almost every sector, from
education and health to customs and law enforcement. Civil service
salary fraud drained 10 percent of the country's monthly budget,
according to public statements by the Prime Minister in October 2005.
According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant,''
which is the most severe assessment designation used by TI.
Corruption was particularly rife in the management and oversight of
three of the country's key exports, timber, gold, and diamonds. In 2005
experts said that the quantity of diamonds exported illegally from the
country--an estimated 500,000 carats--was equal to the quantity that
was exported legally and that the value of legally exported diamonds
was often understated. According to an interview during 2005 with an
IMF official, there was a particular need for the Government to
increase transparency in the allocation of mining permits and the
regulation of enterprises active in the mining sector. In September
2005 the minister of mines indefinitely suspended the granting of
mining permits for gold and diamonds and prohibited foreign nationals
from traveling in mining zones. The prohibition followed the
Government's discovery of numerous irregularities in mining zones, as
well as the presence of numerous foreigners, many of whom did not have
mining permits.
In the health sector, before providing treatment or medicine, many
doctors and nurses demanded bribes of at least $2 (1,000 CFA francs)
from even the poorest patients. In recent years, in the education
sector, so many students paid teachers or administrators for a passing
score on their baccalaureates, or national high school exit exams, that
the exam scores lost their value. The inflation of exam scores was so
egregious that it led many higher learning institutions in other
countries, such as France, to evaluate CAR students with suspicion or
disregard their applications altogether, effectively reducing a CAR
student's educational opportunities, according to the LCDH.
During the year several local human rights observers accused mid-
and high-level government officials of profiting from the extortion
that members of security forces committed on a monthly or weekly basis
at roadside checkpoints and illegal roadblocks (see Section 2.d.).
The Government took some significant steps to combat corruption.
For example, in August the Government dissolved the customs service in
an effort to combat corruption and the misappropriation of public
taxes. Reform of the customs administration was underway at year's end.
The decision to reform the collection of customs revenues reportedly
yielded sufficient funds to pay civil servants two sets of salary
arrears toward the end of the year; however, some observers argued that
too much of the new collection process was not transparent.
The September session of the Criminal Court sentenced former
President Patasse, who remained in exile, and Luis Sanchez, a French
citizen, to 20 years' imprisonment with hard labor and ordered them to
pay part of a fine of $10 million (five billion CFA francs) for
embezzling $136 million (70 billion CFA francs) of public funds during
Patasse's presidency.
The Government continued to conduct a targeted campaign against
embezzlement, money laundering, and other forms of financial fraud.
During the year the Government stopped publishing periodic
declarations by government officials of their personal assets and
wealth; the declarations, which the Government had begun publishing in
August 2005, were intended to prevent embezzlement and other forms of
government corruption. According to the constitution, the President,
government ministers, members of the National Assembly, and judges are
required to declare publicly their personal assets.
During the year the Government removed from office three ministers
accused of fraud related to the payment of civil servants. In addition,
by verifying diplomas and other documents, the Government continued to
combat the existence of ``ghost workers'' in the civil service who
attempted to receive salaries fraudulently.
The case of three public treasury employees accused of embezzling
$95,500 (52 million CFA francs) in 2005 was pending before a court at
year's end. In October 2005 the Government suspended them for three
months without pay.
The law provides for access by journalists to ``all sources of
information, within the limits of the law''; however, it does not
specifically mention government documents or government information,
and no mention is made of access by the general public. The Government
was often unable or unwilling to provide information, and lack of
access to information continued to be a problem for journalists and the
general public. Furthermore, several years of political and economic
instability and conflict made information difficult to collect, even
for the Government, particularly in the countryside. Information on the
humanitarian situation, for example, was difficult to obtain and
sometimes contradictory.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International
andNongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations ofHuman
Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
in press releases their findings on human rights cases. Government
officials were somewhat responsive to their views but increasingly
criticized them publicly for their reports of human rights violations
committed by security forces. In general, local NGOs were weak,
although there were a few that were active and had a sizable impact on
the promotion of human rights. Some local NGOs, including the LCDH, the
Human Rights Observatory, the anti-torture NGO ACAT, and the
Association of Women Jurists actively monitored human rights problems;
worked with journalists to draw attention to human rights violations,
including those allegedly committed by the army; pleaded individual
cases of human rights abuses before the courts; and engaged in efforts
to raise the public's awareness of citizens' legal rights. The
destruction or loss of scarce resources, such as automobiles and
computers, during fighting and looting in 2002 and 2003 limited local
human rights NGOs, although they continued gradually to rebuild their
capacity during the year. The potential impact of local human rights
NGOs continued to be weakened by the failure of most members to pay
membership dues and the noticeable dearth of international development
organizations and foreign diplomatic missions, which once provided them
with training and some financial support. For these reasons, the
activities of local human rights NGOs were quite modest in scope and
limited almost exclusively to Bangui.
During the last quarter of the year, defense lawyers and human
rights activists who opposed the continued detention of 15 defendants
acquitted by a court in September reportedly received threats from
members of the security forces (see Section 1.e.).
During the last quarter of the year the military instructed the few
aid organizations and NGOs operating in Paoua, a provincial town in the
northwestern prefecture of Ouham Pende, to suspend their activities for
security reasons. As a result, organizations such as Doctors without
Borders, the ICRC, and the World Food Program were unable to deliver to
IDPs more than 50 tons (45,000 kilograms) of food, which remained in a
warehouse. However, by year's end these organizations had reportedly
resumed their activities.
During the year human rights activists, including the President of
ACAT, reported receiving anonymous death threats following their
criticism of government tolerance of impunity and their public
denunciation of abuses committed by security forces.
According to the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),
during the year the Government undertook a campaign to publicly defame
and threaten domestic human rights NGOs. During an August meeting with
members of the opposition MLPC, President Bozize reportedly spoke of a
meeting he had in June with the FIDH and LCHD and said that he had
``wanted to stab'' the President of the LCDH during the meeting,
accompanying his words with a stabbing gesture. In December President
Bozize delivered a speech in which he accused magistrates, human rights
defenders, journalists, and members of the political opposition of
``blocking the development of the CAR'' and charged that domestic human
rights defenders had reported falsehoods and insulted their country and
President. In a speech delivered in March, the President accused human
rights defenders of protecting ``criminals.''
Until the military instructed aid organizations in November to stop
their activities, international human rights NGOs and international
organizations operated in the country without interference from the
Government; however, there were very few operating in the country. Due
to insecurity caused by unidentified armed groups in many parts of the
country, the activities of international groups were limited to Bangui
and sometimes a few other locations. During the year armed groups
reportedly targeted the small number of humanitarian workers who were
operating in the northwest, stopping their vehicles and robbing them.
The northwest, including Vakaga Prefecture, was inaccessible to NGOs
due to instability and fighting between rebels and the military.
In June UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reported to the UN Security
Council that the country's humanitarian situation, particularly in the
northwest, had deteriorated sharply during the first half of the year,
during which thousands of civilians abandoned their villages as a
result of armed rebel movements, attacks by bandits, and reprisals by
the armed forces against rebels and civilians suspected of aiding the
rebels. Annan highlighted ``many reports of arbitrary or summary
execution; torture; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; arbitrary
arrest and detention; violation of time limits on police custody; and
restriction of the freedom of movement.''
In June several local human rights organizations issued a joint
public statement protesting ``appalling'' detention conditions in the
country, as well as long-term detention without trial after arbitrary
arrests. Instead of responding to the concerns highlighted by the
organizations, the Bangui High Court procurator accused the
organizations of making false allegations and indulging in
sensationalism.
In November AI released a report charging that the Government
violated its own laws and international human rights by arbitrarily
arresting individuals, detaining many of them for several months
without charge, and detaining them for up to six or more months without
trial. The report detailed the arrest and detention between February
and May of more than 40 persons accused by the Government of supporting
armed groups and endangering national security. The report highlighted
harsh and sometimes life-threatening detention conditions, the
Government's refusal to release 15 defendants after a court had
acquitted them, and the Government's denial of basic medical care to
detainees (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., and 1.e.). AI urged the Government
to respect its own laws and international human rights standards,
including detainees' rights to a fair trial, to be informed promptly of
charges, and to be tried in a reasonable amount of time (see Sections
1.d. and 1.e.).
In November a UN delegation completed a fact-finding mission to the
Vakaga Prefecture bordering Sudan and Chad. The delegation--composed of
political, security, and humanitarian experts--was later expected to
present its findings to the UN Secretary General. A week prior to the
completion of the delegation's mission, the UN Security Council decided
to extend the mandate of BONUCA until the end of 2007 and expressed its
deep concern about the country's security situation.
In a report presented to the UN Security Council on December 28,
the UN Secretary General noted that security had deteriorated during
November and December, especially in the north and along the borders
with Chad and Sudan, which negatively impacted the overall human rights
situation. In the conflict zones security forces, rebel groups, and
armed bandits committed ``abuses of all kinds,'' including killings.
Impunity, particularly among members of the Presidential guard,
continued to hinder the administration of justice. The report
recommended that the Government make greater efforts to restructure the
security forces and underlined the importance of strengthening national
democratic institutions and promoting an inclusive national dialogue
involving all political stakeholders to relieve tensions and resolve
the country's ongoing ``political and military crisis.''
During the year BONUCA's human rights section continued to actively
monitor human rights practices, assist the Government in capacity
building, sensitize the public to human rights, conduct visits to
prisons and detention centers, and conduct human rights training for
hundreds of government security agents. Although based in Bangui,
BONUCA had two field offices in the countryside throughout the year,
one in the Nana-Mambere prefecture town of Bouar and one in the Ouham
prefecture town of Bossangoa. In October it opened a third field office
in the Ouaka province town of Bambari, in the south-central part of the
country. BONUCA continued to receive complaints of killings and other
violations committed by security forces, which it researched and
documented. It worked very closely with the Ministry of Justice, often
visiting the public prosecutor of the republic to submit for judicial
investigation complaints it received about security agents. BONUCA also
worked with the Ministry of Communications, National Reconciliation,
and the Promotion of Human Rights.
UN Development Program and government officials continued
collecting weapons from former combatants and reintegrating thousands
of them into civilian life. By year's end the disarmament,
demobilization, and reintegration program had demobilized more than
5,100 former combatants, and of that number, more than 1,700 had been
reintegrated. The program had collected hundreds of small arms, as well
as numerous munitions, rocket launchers, grenades, and land mines.
Although the exact number of small arms in the country remained
unknown, the Government's estimate of 50,000 small arms circulating
nationally, beyond its control, could have underestimated the scale of
the problem, according to a small arms survey published in 2005 by the
Graduate Institute for International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
The High Commission of Human Rights and Good Governance, which is
attached to the presidency, conducted human rights training for members
of the security forces. Each week, the commission received and
investigated an average of 10 citizen complaints of human rights
violations committed by members of the Government, and it sometimes
forwarded cases to the Ministry of Justice. In addition, during the
year it conducted several investigations of government ministries to
combat human rights violations, including corruption. Having
approximately 30 persons employed in its Bangui headquarters and 100 in
the countryside, the commission did not have adequate resources and
lacked the means to conduct proper training of its investigators. Some
human rights observers criticized the commission for its lack of
independence and its lack of effectiveness in reducing impunity in the
security forces.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in the National Assembly sought
to strengthen the capacity of the legislature and other government
institutions to advance human rights. Among their human rights
priorities, HRC members said they aimed to stop extrajudicial killings
by the OCRB, improve conditions in detention centers, reduce prolonged
detentions without trial, fight corruption, expand women's and
minorities' rights, and combat the worst forms of child labor. The
commission said it suffered from a severe lack of resources.
On November 30, the pretrial chamber of the ICC noted that almost
two years had passed since the ICC prosecutor received the referral
from the Government regarding the situation of crimes within the
jurisdiction of the ICC, including crimes committed in the country
since 2002. The ICC's pretrial chamber requested that the ICC
prosecutor provide information on the alleged failure to decide within
a reasonable time whether or not to initiate an investigation, and that
it take measures to preserve evidence and protect victims. In April the
cassation court, the country's highest criminal court, held that only
the ICC was capable of trying the serious crimes committed in the
country since July 2002 by persons who remained outside of the national
territory during the year, including former President Patasse, DRC Vice
President Jean-Pierre Bemba and combatants under his command, and
others. In 2005 the ICC prosecutor said an analysis would be carried
out to determine whether to initiate an investigation; however, no
decision had been made by year's end.
Domestic and international NGOs, including the FIDH and the LCDH,
continued to accuse the Government of failing to cooperate fully with
the ICC's prosecutor and criticized the Government for failing to
conduct an exhaustive and independent investigation of the alleged war
crimes and crimes against humanity committed by pro-Bozize rebels and
soldiers and rebels loyal to then President Patasse during 2002 and
2003, including summary executions, systematic rape, and widespread
looting. Government officials said an investigation had been made
difficult by the insecurity still present in the north.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution stipulates that all persons are equal before the
law without regard to wealth, race, or sex; however, the Government did
not enforce these provisions effectively, and significant
discrimination existed.
Women.--Although the law does not specifically mention spousal
abuse, it prohibits violence against any person and provides for
penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment; however, domestic violence
against women, including wife beating, reportedly was common.
Inadequate data made it impossible to quantify the extent of domestic
violence. Spousal abuse was considered a civil matter unless the injury
was severe. According to the Association of Women Jurists, a Bangui-
based NGO specializing in the defense of women's and children's rights,
victims of domestic abuse seldom reported incidents to authorities, and
when incidents were addressed, it was done within the family or local
community. The courts tried very few cases of spousal abuse, although
litigants cited these abuses during divorce trials and civil suits.
Some women reportedly tolerated abuse to retain financial security for
themselves and their children.
The law prohibits rape; however, rape remained a problem. The law
does not specifically prohibit spousal rape. Rape is punishable by
imprisonment with hard labor, although the law does not specify a
minimum sentence. Police sometimes arrested men on charges of rape;
however, the social stigma induced many families to avoid formal court
action.
Although the law prohibits FGM, which is punishable by up to 10
years' imprisonment, girls continued to be subjected to this
traditional practice in certain rural areas and, to a lesser degree, in
Bangui. According to the WHO, FGM affected more than 40 percent of
girls. In addition, according to data collected by the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) between 1998 and 2005, an estimated 36 percent of females
between the ages of 15 and 49 had undergone FGM. According to the
Association of Women Jurists, anecdotal evidence suggested that fewer
girls and women had undergone FGM as a result of efforts to sensitize
women to the dangers of the practice.
Although the law does not prohibit prostitution, it prohibits the
incitement of someone to prostitution and the act of profiting from an
individual's prostitution; however, prostitution existed during the
year. The law designates a fine and imprisonment for three months to
one year for those found guilty of procurement of individuals for
sexual purposes (including assisting in prostitution). For cases
involving a minor, the penalty of imprisonment is between one and five
years. Some young girls reportedly engaged in prostitution for economic
reasons, particularly in urban centers. The practice had reportedly
grown more common since 2002.
Trafficking in persons occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government did
not effectively enforce the law, and sexual harassment was a problem.
The law does not discriminate against women in inheritance and
property rights, but a number of discriminatory customary laws often
prevailed, and women's statutory inheritance rights often were not
respected, particularly in rural areas. The family code further
strengthened women's rights, particularly in the courts; however,
access to the judicial system remained very limited throughout the
country.
Women were treated as inferior to men both economically and
socially. Single, divorced, or widowed women, including those with
children, were not considered to be heads of households. Only men were
entitled to family subsidies from the Government. Women in rural areas
generally suffered more discrimination than women in urban areas. There
were no accurate statistics on the percentage of female wage earners.
Women's access to educational opportunities and to jobs, particularly
at higher levels in their professions or in government service, was
limited.
Polygyny is legal, although this practice faced growing resistance
among educated women. The law allows a man to take up to four wives,
but a prospective husband must indicate at the time of the first
marriage contract whether he intends to take additional wives. In
practice many couples never married formally because men could not
afford the traditional bride payment. The family code authorizes the
use of bride payments, but it neither requires them nor sets a minimum
payment amount. Women who were educated and financially independent
tended to seek monogamous marriages. Divorce is legal and can be
initiated by either partner.
The Association of Women Jurists advised women of their legal
rights and how best to defend them and filed complaints with the
Government regarding human rights violations. During the year several
active women's groups solicited guidance from the Association of Women
Jurists and organized workshops and seminars to promote women's and
children's rights, including seminars to encourage women to participate
fully in the political process.
Children.--The Government spent little money on programs for
children, and churches and NGOs had relatively few programs for youths.
In addition instability had a disproportionate effect on children, who
accounted for almost 50 percent of all IDPs during the year.
Humanitarian organizations reported in June that in the northwestern
prefectures of Ouham and Ouham Pende only 9 percent of school-age
children attended school due to lack of security.
Furthermore, following the 2003 coup, approximately three(quarters
of the country's schools were destroyed, although UNICEF has since
assisted the Government in rebuilding some primary schools in the
southwest region of the country. The failure of the education system,
caused by a meager budget and salary arrears, resulted in a shortage of
teachers and an increase in the number of street children.
Education is compulsory from ages six to 14, although parents
rarely were prosecuted for their children's nonattendance. Students
must pay for their own books, supplies, transportation, and insurance.
At the primary level (ages six to 11), approximately 60 percent of
children did not attend school, according to a national census
conducted by the Government in 2003 and published in June 2005. Primary
school enrolment rates for all prefectures were on average less than
half that of Bangui commune, and in practice, children in rural areas
often started school two to three years later than children in urban
areas. Girls did not have equal access to primary education, as 36.9
percent of girls of primary school age were enrolled in school compared
with 44.3 percent of boys. There were extremely few, if any, Pygmies
enrolled in primary school during the year. The census indicated that
10.8 percent of children of secondary school age were enrolled in
school. The majority of young women dropped out of school at age 14 or
15 due to societal pressure to marry and bear children. In addition,
the census indicated that, of persons 10 years and older, 32 percent of
the country's women were literate compared with 53.8 percent of men.
In recent years communities have taken initiatives to fill the void
in cases where the public education system was lacking or in areas
where there were no schools. As a result, the majority of teachers at
the primary level were parents, and according to the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, three(quarters of all teachers
had no formal training, a problem that continued to hinder the
effectiveness of public schooling.
During the year UNICEF continued to conduct a campaign to raise
awareness of the importance of child education, with a particular focus
on the need to increase the literacy rate among girls. In addition, in
recent years the Government, UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and other
donors have developed an action plan to address the need for more
complete birth registration to improve children's access to education
and other social services. There were no reliable statistics on birth
registration; however, in September UNICEF began conducting a
five(month study to determine the percentage of births that were
registered.
Corruption in the education system continued to be a problem.
According to numerous credible reports, male teachers in primary and
secondary schools and at the university level routinely pressured their
female students into having sexual relationships in exchange for
passing grades; the spread of HIV/AIDS was extremely prevalent between
teachers and their female students.
The Government's incapacity to pay salary arrears to teachers and
scholarship arrears to students at the university level continued to be
a serious problem. For example in September primary and high school
teachers threatened to go on strike if the Government did not pay them
three months of salary arrears. After negotiation between the
Government and the teachers' union, they resumed activities at the
beginning of the academic year.
The Government did not provide medical coverage for uninsured
children. Most children's families could not afford access to the
fee(based health care system. Health officials cited evidence during
the year that diseases previously brought under control, such as human
sleeping sickness and river blindness, were now spreading again.
According to UNICEF, the country's main health indicators, including
child mortality under age five, maternal mortality, and malnutrition,
continued to deteriorate markedly in recent years. For example
approximately 30 percent of children died before the age of five.
During the year, in response to the deteriorating healthcare situation,
the Government continued working with UN agencies to implement a plan
to reduce maternal and infant mortality by 2015.
The penal code forbids parental abuse of children under the age of
15 years, and child abuse was not widespread. A juvenile court tried
cases involving children and provided counseling services to parents
and juveniles during the year.In February a court sentenced two parents
to four years' imprisonment for abusing their five-year-old girl.
In September a local private newspaper reported that a member of
parliament had raped his 14-year-old daughter. Although authorities did
not arrest the parliamentarian, the case was pending before a court at
year's end.
In October police arrested the parents of a nine-year-old girl who
had suffered serious burns after her parents had allegedly accused her
of being a sorcerer. At year's end an investigation was ongoing and the
parents remained in custody.
FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
The law establishes 18 as the minimum age for marriage. However, an
estimated 57 percent of children had entered into marriage before the
age of 18, according to data collected between 1987 and 2005 by UNICEF.
Trafficking of children and child prostitution occurred (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
During the year unidentified armed groups in the northwest of the
country kidnapped numerous children, reportedly often keeping them in
chains and depriving them of food (see Section 5, National/Racial/
Ethnic Minorities).
Child labor remained a problem (see Section 6.d.).
There were more than 6,000 street children between the ages of five
and 18 residing in the country, including 3,000 in Bangui. Many experts
believed that HIV/AIDS and a belief in sorcery, particularly in rural
areas, contributed to the large number of street children. An estimated
110,000 children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS, and
children accused of sorcery (often reportedly in relation to HIV/
AIDS(related deaths in their neighborhoods) were often expelled from
their households. Many street children begged and stole; several
charitable organizations provided them with humanitarian assistance.
There were NGOs specifically promoting children's rights, including
some, such as Voix du Coeur, which assisted street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and there were reports of persons being trafficked, although
NGOs and government officials said that trafficking in persons was not
widespread. The country was a source and destination country for
children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. While the
majority of child victims were trafficked within the country, some were
also trafficked to and from Cameroon and Nigeria. Children were
trafficked for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, and forced
labor in shops and commercial labor activities. According to NGOs,
orphaned boys and girls were particularly at risk of being trafficked.
Trafficking was confined primarily to children, both girls and
boys, who primarily were orphans. During the year there were reports
that these children were forced into domestic servitude and commercial
labor activities, such as street vending and agricultural work. In
recent years there were reports that children were brought in by
members of the foreign Muslim community from Nigeria, Sudan, and Chad
and that merchants, herders, and other foreigners doing business in and
transiting the country brought girls and boys into the country. Child
trafficking victims were not afforded the benefit of a formal
education, despite the mandatory school age, and worked without
remuneration for their labor. There were a few anecdotal reports of
children being trafficked to Nigeria and several other nearby countries
for use as agricultural workers. There was also anecdotal evidence of
sexual exploitation of girls in Bangui, and there were reports that
children were publicly beaten.
Some girls entered prostitution to earn money for their families.
Traffickers can be prosecuted under laws against slavery and sexual
exploitation, labor code violations, and mandatory school age laws.
Specific laws that address the crime of prostitution have been used in
recent years to punish those who trafficked women for the purposes of
prostitution.
During the year the Government did not receive or investigate any
cases of trafficking, nor did it use or have access to special
investigative techniques in trafficking investigations. By year's end
no government agency had been assigned to study, combat, or raise
awareness of trafficking. The head of the High Commission of Human
Rights and Good Governance, located in the President's office, said
that because the Government believed that trafficking was not a problem
in the country, it had not set up shelters for trafficking victims and
had not incorporated a trafficking component in its human rights
training seminars for security forces and other officials.
There were no known NGOs specifically working to combat
trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no codified or societal
discrimination against persons with disabilities. However, there were
no legislated or mandated accessibility provisions for persons with
disabilities, and such access was not provided in practice. The
Government had not developed a national policy or strategy to provide
assistance to persons with disabilities. Approximately 10 percent of
the country's population had disabilities, mostly due to polio. There
were several government- and NGO-initiated programs designed to assist
persons with disabilities, including handicraft training for the blind
and the distribution of wheelchairs and carts by the Ministry of Social
Affairs.
The Ministry of Social Affairs continued to work with the NGO
Handicap International during the year to provide treatment, surgeons,
and prostheses to persons with disabilities. For example a $24,660
(12.7 million CFA francs) physiotherapy center for persons with
disabilities continued to operate in Dekoa, 160 miles northeast of
Bangui.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population included more
than 80 ethnic groups; many of these groups spoke distinct primary
languages and were concentrated regionally outside urban areas. The
largest ethnic groups were the Baya (33 percent of the population), the
Banda (27 percent), the Mandja (13 percent), and the Sara (10 percent).
The nomadic and semi-nomadic M'bororo, also known as Bush Fulanis or
Peulhs, comprised approximately 7 percent of the population but played
a preponderant role in the economy; they were involved in mining
development and remained the most important cattle breeders in the
country.
Between January 1 and November 30, as a result of an increase in
attacks and kidnappings for ransom by unidentified armed groups, more
than 20,000 cattle herders--primarily M'bororos--reportedly fled to
Cameroon from the northwest, primarily from Nana-Mambere and Ouham-
Pende prefectures, according to UN agencies and local human rights
groups. In 2005 an estimated 10,000 M'bororos fled to Cameroon for the
same reasons. According to reports received by the UNHCR, the
perpetrators were a combination of security forces, rebel soldiers, and
bandits, and Chadian soldiers who targeted the M'bororo due to their
perceived wealth (the size of their cattle herd). UNICEF said that,
according to its NGO partners in the affected region, the attackers
often were themselves members of the M'bororo ethnic group.
In December the UNHCR said that the perpetrators often kidnapped
women and children and held them for ransoms of between $2,000 and
$4,000 (one million and two million CFA francs); in addition, in
certain areas of the northwest, such as Bawa, perpetrators attacked and
burned entire villages. Although there were no details available on the
number of persons abducted during the year, kidnappings in 2005
involved an estimated 1,000 M'bororo children, and parents often could
only finance the ransoms by selling their entire cattle herds,
according to the Germany(based NGO Society for Threatened Peoples.
Parents of the kidnapped children reportedly often did not contact
security forces for fear that the kidnappers would retaliate by killing
the abducted children. During the year, despite the Cameroonian
government's deployment of elite security forces on the Cameroon-CAR
border, armed groups in the CAR continued to conduct frequent attacks
on the M'bororo population on the Cameroonian side of the border.
The ongoing displacement of cattle herders, particularly M'bororos,
resulted in beef shortages during the year, making meat unaffordable
for much of the population and significantly affecting the country's
food security.
The country's major political parties continued to have readily
identifiable ethnic or ethnic-regional bases.
During the year there was occasional violence involving Chadian
members of the Presidential guard and other members of the security
forces (see Section 1.a.). However, relative to previous years,
tensions between the Chadian community, whose members number in the
thousands and have resided in the country for generations, and those
who considered themselves to be native to the country were not as
apparent.
Indigenous People.--Despite constitutional protection, there was
societal discrimination against Pygmies (Batwa or Ba'Aka), the earliest
known inhabitants of the rain forest in the southern part of the
country, predominately in Lobaye, Ombella-Mpoko, and Sangha
prefectures. Pygmies comprised approximately 1 to 2 percent of the
country's population. In general Pygmies had little input in decisions
affecting their lands, culture, traditions, and the allocation of
natural resources. Indigenous forest-dwelling Pygmies, in particular,
were subject to social and economic discrimination and exploitation,
which the Government has done little to prevent. The Government
continued to fail to issue and deliver identity cards to Pygmies,
which, according to many human rights groups, effectively denied them
access to greater civil rights.
Pygmies, including children, often were coerced into agricultural,
domestic, and other types of labor within the country. Pygmies often
were considered to be the slaves of other local ethnic groups, and when
they were remunerated for performing labor, their wages were far below
those prescribed by the labor code and lower than those paid to members
of other groups.
During the year the international NGO International Cooperation
continued to promote the rights of Pygmies, monitor discrimination, and
gain access to public services through the obtainment of birth
certificates. Refugees International has reported in recent years that
Pygmies were effectively ``second-class citizens'' and that the popular
perception of Pygmies as barbaric, savage, and subhuman had seemingly
legitimized their exclusion from mainstream society.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The penal code
criminalizes homosexual behavior; however, there were no reports that
police arrested or detained persons they believed to be homosexual.
Societal discrimination against homosexuals existed during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all workers to form or
join unions without prior authorization, and a relatively small part of
the workforce, primarily civil servants, exercised this right. Police
forces and judges are allowed to form unions; however, security forces,
including the military and gendarmes, are prohibited from forming
unions.
A person who loses the status of worker, either through
unemployment or retirement, can belong to a trade union and participate
in its administration. The labor code requires that union officials be
full-time wage-earning employees in their occupation, and that they may
conduct union business during working hours as long as the employer is
informed 48 hours in advance and provides authorization.
In March security forces arrested Noel Ramadan, the deputy
secretary general of the Syndicated Union of CAR Workers, for allegedly
receiving undue salary benefits; they detained him for at least one day
before releasing him.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
closed a trade union's headquarters to prevent a rally.
The law expressly forbids antiunion discrimination; however, during
the year there were some reports of antiunion discrimination directed
toward employees who participated in strikes. Employees can have their
cases heard in the labor court. The law does not state whether
employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination were required to
reinstate workers fired for union activities, although employers found
guilty of such discrimination legally were required to pay damages,
including back pay and lost wages.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor code
provides for the right of workers to organize and administer trade
unions without employer interference and grants trade unions full legal
status, including the right to file lawsuits, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice. The code provides that
unions may bargain collectively and provides workers protection from
employer interference in the administration of a union. Collective
bargaining occurred in the private sector during the year. The
Government generally was not involved if the two parties were able to
reach an agreement.
The country's largest single employer was the Government, and
government employee trade unions were especially active. In the civil
service, the Government set wages after consultation, but not
negotiation, with the unions; wage levels have remained unchanged for
more than two decades. Salary arrears continued to be a severe problem
during the year for military personnel and the country's 24,000 civil
servants. The Government owed government employees up to 40 months of
salary arrears, and the arrears continued to be a major complaint of
the unions. Civil servants continued to demand the payment of salary
arrears and to hold strikes throughout the year. During the year the
Government continued efforts to identify fraudulent ``ghost workers''
in the civil service to help reduce budgetary problems and pay salary
arrears (see Section 3).
Unions have the right to strike in both the public and private
sectors, and workers exercised this right during the year; however,
security forces, including the military and gendarmes, are prohibited
from striking. To be legal, strikes must be preceded by the union's
presentation of demands, the employer's response to these demands, a
conciliation meeting between labor and management, and a finding by an
arbitration council that union and employer failed to reach agreement
on valid demands. The union must provide eight days' advance written
notification of a planned strike. The law states that if employers
initiate a lockout that is not in accordance with the code, the
employer is required to pay workers for all days of the lockout.
However, the Government has the authority to end strikes because of
public interest. The code makes no other provisions regarding sanctions
on employers for acting against strikers.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the labor
code specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Prisoners reportedly were forced to work on public works projects
without compensation for government officials or magistrates; the
prisoners often received shortened sentences for doing so. Pygmies,
including children, often were coerced into labor within the country
and often treated as slaves (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor code forbids the employment of children under 14 years of age;
however, the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service did not enforce the
provision, and child labor was common in many sectors of the economy,
especially in rural areas. In some cases, the labor code provides that
the minimum age for employment could be reduced to 12 years for some
types of light work in traditional agricultural activities or home
services. The law prohibits children under 18 from performing hazardous
work or working at night; however, children continued to perform
hazardous work during the year. The labor code does not define the
worst forms of child labor.
Reliable statistics on child labor were not available; however,
according to data collected by UNICEF between 1999 and 2005, an
estimated 57 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were
involved in child labor activities at the time of the survey. UNICEF
considered a child to be involved in labor activities according to the
following classification: children five to 11 years old who, during the
week preceding the survey, did at least one hour of economic activity
or at least 28 hours of domestic work; and children 12 to 14 years old
who, during the week preceding the survey, performed at least 14 hours
of economic activity, or at least 42 hours of economic activity and
domestic work combined.
Throughout the country, children as young as seven years old
frequently performed agricultural work, often with their parents,
during the year. In addition children often worked as domestic workers,
fishermen, and in mines (often in dangerous conditions). An
international agency reported that children worked in the diamond
fields alongside adult relatives. In Bangui, many of the city's 3,000
street children worked as street vendors.
In some rural areas, teachers or principals used school children as
occasional or part-time labor on farms, ostensibly to teach them how to
work the land and raise chickens since many students did not attend
school beyond the primary level (see Section 5). The schools used the
proceeds from the sale of farm produce to purchase school supplies and
equipment and to fund school-related activities.
The labor code prohibition of forced or compulsory labor applies to
children, although they are not mentioned specifically; however, forced
child labor occurred.
The Government had extremely few resources to enforce the
prohibition against forced labor or child labor laws effectively. The
Ministry of Labor and Civil Service had approximately 30 labor
inspectors and two vehicles to cover the entire country. Salary arrears
and the lack of personnel training severely impeded its enforcement
capacity.
The country had only two centers--both located in Bangui--that
worked to rehabilitate former child laborers and street children and
facilitate their reinsertion into the education system. UNICEF, local
NGOs, and labor unions continued to call for the allocation of
government resources toward the creation of rehabilitation centers and
special schools for former child laborers. Labor unions continued to
highlight the absence of an inspection regime to prevent child labor
and called on the Government to launch an awareness campaign to
sensitize parents to the risks of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code states that the
minister of labor must set minimum wages in the public sector by
decree. The minimum wage varies by sector and by kind of work. For
example the monthly minimum wage was equivalent to approximately $17
(8,500 CFA francs) for agricultural workers but approximately $52
(26,000 CFA francs) for office workers. The minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, and wage
levels had not changed in more than 20 years. Most labor was performed
outside the wage and social security system (in the vast informal
sector), especially by farmers in the large subsistence agricultural
sector.
The law sets a standard workweek of 40 hours for government
employees and most private sector employees. Household employees may
work up to 52 hours per week. The law also requires a minimum rest
period of 48 hours per week.
There are general laws on health and safety standards in the
workplace, but the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service neither
precisely defined nor actively enforced them. The labor code states
that a labor inspector may force an employer to correct unsafe or
unhealthy work conditions, but it does not provide the right for
workers to remove themselves from such conditions without risk of loss
of employment.
__________
CHAD
Chad is a centralized republic with a population of approximately
10 million. On May 3, citizens reelected President Idriss Deby, leader
of the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), to a third term in what
unofficial observers characterized as an orderly, but seriously flawed,
election boycotted by the opposition. Deby has ruled the country since
taking power in a 1990 rebellion. Political power remained concentrated
in the hands of a northern oligarchy composed of the President's
Zaghawa ethnic group and its allies. The executive branch effectively
dominated the legislature and judiciary, thereby eliminating potential
challenges to a culture of impunity for the ruling minority. Civilian
authorities did not maintain effective control of the security forces,
elements of which frequently acted independently of government control.
During the year the security situation sharply deteriorated as a
result of fighting that involved rebel groups, government forces, armed
militias, and civilians. Fighting occurred between government forces
and antigovernment rebel groups along the eastern border with Sudan and
the southern border with the Central African Republic (CAR). There was
some thawing of relations between Chad and Sudan by mid-year, but by
the end of the year Sudan's continued support for Chadian rebels
prompted the Government to accuse Khartoum of seeking to replace the
Deby government with an ``Arab regime.'' Violence between competing
ethnic groups and bandit attacks on civilians occurred throughout the
country. By year's end hundreds of persons were killed and injured,
tens of thousands were displaced, and numerous villages in the east and
southeast of the country were destroyed. Up to 110,000 internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and an estimated 230,000 Sudanese refugees
lived in the eastern part of the country after fleeing the violence in
Darfur. The deteriorating security environment, characterized by
threats of rebel attacks, harassment of humanitarian workers, and
dramatically increased vehicle theft, led to the withdrawal of all but
essential UN and humanitarian nongovernmental organization (NGO)
employees from the country and aggravated the already precarious
security situation in the area.
The Government's poor human rights record deteriorated further
during the year; security forces committed numerous serious human
rights abuses. The following human rights abuses were reported:
limitation of citizens' right to change their government; extrajudicial
killings, torture, beatings, and rapes by security forces; impunity for
human rights abuses committed by members of the security forces;
politically motivated disappearances; arbitrary arrest and detention by
security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions and
lengthy pretrial and post-sentence detention; executive interference in
the judiciary and lack of judicial effectiveness; official infringement
of privacy rights including illegal searches, confiscation, and
wiretaps; limits on freedom of speech and the press and freedom of
assembly, including harassment and detention of journalists; widespread
official corruption; violence and societal discrimination against
women, including the widespread practice of female genital mutilation
(FGM); child abuse; slavery; trafficking in persons; and forced labor,
including the use of child soldiers and other types of forced and
abusive child labor.
Armed civilian militias were responsible for interethnic killings,
abuse, and torture of civilians and humanitarian aid workers, unlawful
arrest and detention, burning of villages, displacement of thousands of
persons, and the destruction of civilian property in areas where they
operated. Rebel groups seeking to overthrow the regime engaged
government armed forces repeatedly, and attacked the capital in April.
Antigovernment rebel groups directed their activities against
government targets while militias generally engaged in banditry and, if
ethnically based (as was usually the case), in violence against other
ethnic groups.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Government agents
committed politically motivated killings, and officially sanctioned
extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals by security forces
continued. Arbitrary and unlawful killings by security forces were
widespread during the year. For example, in September, in the district
of Beboto prefecture of Yamodo, a commandant of the gendarmerie killed
two citizens who he suspected of being bandits. There were numerous
incidents in which security forces fired on persons without sufficient
cause, whether or not there was loss of life. The Government did not
prosecute or punish members of the security forces who committed
killings.
During the year security forces killed a number of civilians who
were suspected of collaboration with rebel forces (see Section 1.g.).
Security forces were believed to have committed numerous killings
during apprehensions or in custody.
Police use of excessive force resulted in the killing of at least
one demonstrator (see Section 2.b.).
On April 29, unidentified armed men in military uniform killed
Mahamat Moussa, a government employee on duty in Ati. At year's end
there had been no investigation of the case.
On May 11, in Mongo, gendarme Almardi Ahmat killed the governor's
driver in the presence of several witnesses in the center of town. No
official action was taken against the gendarme.
There were no developments in any of the 2005 killings by security
forces.
Unexploded ordinance and landmines laid by government, rebel, and
foreign forces resulted in deaths (see Section 1.g.)
Armed militias killed scores of civilians during the year (see
Section 1.g.).
Unidentified assailants and armed bandits attacked a number of NGO
employees during the year, resulting in one death (see Section 4).
Armed bandits continued to operate on many roads, assaulting,
robbing, and killing travelers; some perpetrators were identified as
active duty soldiers or deserters. Their motive generally appeared to
be robbery, and some of their targets were employees of foreign
assistance organizations or NGOs (see Section 4). In June, for example,
a group of armed assailants kidnapped four persons in Zabi village,
near Pala. The attackers demanded $7500 to release the victims. When
family members were unable to respond to the demands, armed bandits
killed two of the hostages, both young boys. No investigation had been
conducted on the case by year's end.
No action was taken against the perpetrators of numerous 2005
attacks and killings by bandits, including the killings of two NGO
employees.
Interethnic fighting resulted in numerous deaths (see Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There continued to be reports of politically
motivated disappearances during the year. The NGO Human Rights Without
Borders reported that secret detention centers were created after the
April 13 attacks and that at least 16 high-ranking army officers were
being kept in these centers (see Section 1.e, Political Prisoners and
Detainees).
There were no developments in numerous politically motivated
disappearances that occurred between September and December 2005 in
connection with alleged mutiny attempts, military desertions, political
defections, and rebel attacks carried out on two military
installations. There also was no information on the June 2005 military
arrest and disappearance of Naguili Delphine.
In September 2005 authorities released and reportedly returned to
service 46 air force officers who had been arrested in May 2005 and
sent to the northern part of the country. Similarly, 13 to 15 army
colonels who were arrested in August 2005 were released in October
2005. The Ministry of Defense announced through media that the officers
had not been detained on political grounds; in the air force case the
stated reason was insubordination.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
members of the security forces tortured, beat, abused, and raped
citizens. Impunity for those who committed human rights abuses remained
widespread. Security forces arrested and beat journalists and a human
rights worker during the year.
On April 15, security forces detained BBC correspondent Dillah
Yombirim while he was interviewing residents in N'Djamena. Yombirim was
subsequently taken to a military camp, where he was detained for two
hours and badly beaten before being released without charge.
On April 24, gendarmes arrested and allegedly beat Monodji Mingar
Fidel, President of the Chadian League for Human Rights (LTDH). No
charges were filed against him and he was released after 24 hours.
On May 9, police allegedly tortured and beat Mahamat Bichara, a
payroll officer in the Ministry of Finance, who had been arrested and
accused of falsifying and then removing administrative documents.
Bichara was provisionally released in July pending further
investigation of the case. No charges had been filed by year's end.
Also in May the chief army commandant in the southern town of Sarh
arrested, detained, and allegedly tortured Brahim Kaba, Mahamat Adoum
Kanassam, Kadi Saleh Togbao, and Abderahim Brahim. The traders
reportedly refused to pay a bribe supplemental to commercial taxes
already collected. They were not charged with any offense and were
released in June.
There were no developments in the numerous 2005 cases of torture or
mistreatment by security forces.
During the year human rights organizations continued to receive
reports of police and gendarmes raping women in custody.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening. Prisons were seriously overcrowded, had
poor sanitation, and provided inadequate food, shelter, and medical
facilities. As a result of inadequate record-keeping and management,
many individuals remained in prison after completing their sentences or
after courts had ordered their release.
Local human rights organizations continued to report on the
existence of military prisons and prisons run by the immigration
service, to which access was prohibited. It was unknown who was
detained in these prisons and for what reasons they were held.
While the law provides that a doctor must visit each prison three
times a week, this provision was not respected. The law authorizes
forced labor in prison, but human rights organizations reported that
generally it did not occur.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners
died from negligence.
Juvenile males were not always separated from adult male prisoners
and in some cases children were held with their prisoner mothers.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) to visit most civil prisons on a regular basis, and the
ICRC conducted such visits during the year. The ICRC confirmed the
existence of illegal prisons run by the gendarmerie, the ANS, and the
police, and requested access to them; however, no access was granted.
The Government provided the NGO Chadian Association for the Promotion
of Human Rights (ATPDH) with a permanent authorization notice to visit
civil prisons at any time, without need to provide advance notice.
Other NGOs, including human rights groups, were required to obtain
authorization from a court or from the director of prisons; such
authorizations depended largely on the personal inclinations of those
with authority to grant permission. Prisoners were also secretly kept
in regular jails. NGOs were not allowed access to military prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although prohibited by the
constitution and law, arbitrary arrest and detention were serious
problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Army
(ANT), Republican Guard, gendarmerie (military police force), national
police, nomadic guard (GNNT), and National Security Agency (ANS) are
responsible for internal security. The ANT, gendarmerie, and GNNT
report to the Ministry of Defense; the national police report to the
Ministry of Public Security and Immigration; and the Republican Guard
and ANS report to the President. The Ministry of Defense is under the
direction of the presidency. Officers from President Deby's ethnic
group and closely allied ethnic groups dominated the ANS and Republican
Guard.
The police force was centrally controlled, but exercising
oversight, particularly outside of N'Djamena, was difficult. Police
officials who committed human rights abuses generally enjoyed impunity.
Government officials publicly acknowledged the country's growing
internal security problems, which resulted in part from the inability
of the national police in N'Djamena and in the regions to counter
widespread banditry, particularly outside of N'Djamena, and the
proliferation of arms resulting from a succession of civil wars. The
Government continued to allow months to pass before it paid police
force members, and corruption was widespread.
The defection of government troops to rebel groups was reportedly
widespread, but no data or estimates of their numbers were available.
Retribution against the families and villages of defectors included the
burning of homes, arrest and torture of family members, and destruction
of crops and other property.
Arrest and Detention.--While a judicial official is required by the
constitution and law to sign arrest warrants, the Government often did
not respect this requirement, and secret arrests occurred. The law
requires both access to bail and access to counsel, but neither was
regularly provided. Few detainees had the means to pay for private
counsel, and incommunicado detention was a problem.Detainees were not
promptly informed of charges, and judicial determinations were not made
promptly, which contributed to widespread prison overcrowding. The
constitution and law state that legal counsel should be provided for
indigent defendants and defendants should be allowed prompt access to
family members and counsel; however, in practice this usually did not
occur.
During the year security forces arbitrarily arrested and reportedly
tortured persons, particularly those suspected of collaborating with
rebels (see Sections 1.c. and 1.g.).
Police continued to arrest journalists and NGO officials who
criticized the Government (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
The Government also arrested numerous military defectors and
members of their families (see Section 1.g.).
On May 9, gendarmes arrested 12 farmers from the town of Guite on
suspicion of being rebel sympathizers and subsequently killed one of
the farmers (see Sections 1.a. and 1.g.).
On May 13, the chief commandant of the ANS in the southern town of
Koumogo arrested Mahmat Bouba, Elhadj Mbonou, and several herders; the
commandant seized the money and property of the detainees. No
investigation of the case had been conducted by year's end.
In April 2005 the chief police commandant arrested Ahmat
Nagrtoloum, an employee of the Ministry of Finance in N'Djamena. Human
rights groups were denied access. He was charged with embezzlement in
July 2005 and released pending trial. The case had not gone to trial by
year's end.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. Persons accused of
crimes could be imprisoned for several years before being charged or
tried, particularly those who were arrested in the provinces for
felonies and transferred to the overcrowded prison in N'Djamena. Of the
3,416 inmates held in the country's prisons as of August 2005 (the most
recent data available), 1,980 were pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was ineffective,
underfunded, overburdened, vulnerable to intimidation and violence, and
subject to executive interference. In practice government officials and
other influential persons often enjoyed impunity from judicial
sanction. Members of the military, in which the President's Zaghawa
ethnic group figured prominently, continued to enjoy a particularly
high degree of impunity from prosecution. During the year members of
the judiciary received death threats or faced demotion or removal from
their positions for not acquiescing to pressure from corrupt officials.
The two lawyers representing employees of an ESSO (Exxon) subcontractor
who were demanding back wages had their licenses temporarily revoked.
The lawyers were charged with inciting the workers to occupy Ministry
of Justice offices in protest, including confining the minister of
justice in his office for one day.
At the national level, a Supreme Court, constitutional court, and
court of appeals exist; some of their members were appointed by the
Government rather than elected by citizens as required by law, which
weakened judicial independence. The constitutionally mandated high
court of justice can try high-ranking government officials whose cases
are submitted by the National Assembly. In December 2005 the Ministry
of Morality brought charges of mismanagement (embezzlement) of official
funds against three former ministers of livestock. At year's end the
National Assembly had not acted on these cases.
At the provincial level there are appeals courts in N'Djamena,
Moundou, and Abeche.
The constitution and law mandate that the Superior Council of
Magistrates recommend judicial nominations and sanction judges who
commit improprieties; however, continuing problems between the
Government and magistrates prevented any sanctions from being
considered or carried out. In 2005 a five-judge judicial oversight
commission, similar in function to the Superior Council, began
conducting investigations of judicial decisions and addressing
suspected miscarriages of justice. However, in contrast to the Superior
Council, the President appointed members of the commission, which
increased executive control over the judiciary and diminished the
authority of the Superior Council. Parties to judicial cases could
appeal to the commission.
Trial Procedures.--Applicable law was sometimes confusing, as
courts tended to blend the formal French-derived legal code with
traditional practices, and customary law often continued in practice to
supersede Napoleonic law. Residents of rural areas often lacked access
to formal judicial institutions, and legal reference texts were not
available outside the capital. In most civil cases, the population
relied on traditional courts presided over by village chiefs, canton
chiefs, or sultans. However, decisions could be appealed to a formal
court.
Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but in
practice many judges assumed a suspect's guilt, particularly in crimes
involving rape or theft. Cases are heard as public trials, and
defendants have the right to appeal any decision. Defendants, their
lawyers, and judges are permitted by law to question witnesses.
The law states that indigents should be provided promptly with
legal counsel; in practice, this seldom occurred. Human rights groups
sought to improve this situation, and sometimes provided free counsel
themselves.
The Muslim concept of dia, which involves a payment, based on the
decision of local leaders, to the family of a murder victim or other
victim of a crime, was practiced widely in northern Muslim areas. Non-
Muslim groups, who supported implementation of a civil code, continued
to challenge the use of the dia system, arguing that it was
incompatible with the constitution. Such groups further accused the
Government of supporting dia practices by permitting the existence of
local tribunals. A technical committee chaired by a former foreign
minister was formed to identify a solution but had not come up with any
proposal by year's end.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Human rights organizations
reported that the Government held political prisoners and detainees in
military and immigration prisons, and that they were denied access to
such prisons (see Section 1.g.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but
the Government conducted illegal searches and wiretaps, monitored
private mail through the postal service, and monitored private e-mail
through the main post office server. Security forces also regularly
stopped citizens and extorted money or confiscated belongings. For
example, on February 24, the Government summarily destroyed the
residence and seized the family goods of former army general Seby
Aguid, who had joined a rebel group operating outside of the country.
During the year the Government ordered the temporary closure of
cellular telephone networks. The military and police officials
conducted searches and confiscations of satellite telephones, including
those of NGOs, international organizations, and diplomatic vehicles.
There were occasions when police officers arrested family members
of suspects (see Section 1.d.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year the country was engulfed by fighting that involved
rebel groups, government forces, armed militias, and civilians. Rebel
attacks and government counterattacks resulted in hundreds of deaths,
thousands of injuries, the displacement of some 110,000 IDPs, and
widespread destruction of homes and property during the year. Following
a series of attacks by rebels and armed militia, the Government in
November declared a state of emergency in three eastern provinces that
was ongoing at year's end.
Massacres occurred in the Salamat and Goz-Beida regions. The
Government, Chadian Red Cross, and human rights NGOs reported that 260
people were killed in Salamat in mid-October and 140 in Goz-Beida from
November 4 to 7, and that thousands were injured in these episodes.
They were committed by armed civilian militias suspected of being made
up of Chadian Arabs.
Sudanese militiamen abducted approximately 4,700 refugees from
refugee camps in the east on March 17 19 (see Section 2.d.).
Security forces killed numerous citizens suspected of collaborating
with rebel forces. For example, on March 16, in Bebo, Pen Brahim Moussa
Arssimi, the chief commandant of the gendarmerie, killed Sayam N'demra,
a farmer, after accusing him of having connections with rebels. There
was no action from the Government by year's end, although the LTDH
reported on the case.
Security force members killed other security force members during
the year. For example, in March the remains of Nandigar Mbaiossoumta, a
gendarme in the eastern border town of Adre, were found thrown in a
well. Mbaiossoumta had been accused by other gendarmes of being a rebel
sympathizer. The prime suspect, Idriss Adoum Idriss, a chief commandant
of the gendarmerie, had not been arrested by year's end.
On April 2, the LTDH reported that soldiers killed seven civilians
in Beboro and three civilians in Bandouda, both eastern towns. On April
6, in the eastern town of Betogo, two soldiers reportedly killed Andre
Tomboi and Louis Mbatel. The Government took no action in either case.
On April 25, security forces arrested, detained without charge, and
allegedly tortured Nourene Fadoul, a 17-year-old student from the Tama
ethnic group, as a result of an altercation with Zaghawa students at
his high school. The other students had accused Fadoul of supporting
rebel leader Mahamat Nour, whose United Front for Change is
predominantly Tama. There were no charges in the case.
On May 9, gendarmes arrested 12 farmers from the town of Guite who
were suspected of being rebel sympathizers. One of the farmers was
killed; the others were released in June, according to the Chadian
Human Rights League.
Rebel attacks and government counterattacks occurred throughout the
year, primarily along the eastern border with Sudan, but also along the
southern border with CAR. Interethnic attacks on villages in the
eastern part of the country started in late 2005. After a December 2005
attack on Adre by antigovernment rebels--described as equipped and
armed by the Sudanese government--the army pulled back to reinforce key
border towns, leaving vast areas along the border with Sudan
unprotected. Militias burned houses and stole the cattle of unprotected
villages, resulting in numerous deaths and the displacement of
thousands of persons, including more than 20,000 in Koloy. In April
more than 12,000 IDPs arrived at a refugee camp near the town of Goz-
Beida.
On April 13, rebels attacked N'Djamena, where they were defeated by
government soldiers. The fighting resulted in hundreds of civilian
deaths, in addition to injuries, extensive damage to homes and
property, and the temporary displacement of hundreds of families. One
local hospital reported treating 45 wounded civilians, some as young as
five years old.
During November an armed force on horseback--most likely a mixture
of Sudanese and Chadian militiamen, or Janjaweed--attacked 23 villages
in the southeast, resulting in the deaths of 200 persons and the
displacement of 10,000 persons. The attackers reportedly gouged out the
eyes of some of the residents, while others were trapped and died after
their homes were set on fire.
Militias also attacked and killed humanitarian workers during the
year. In November, near the southeastern town of Koloy, armed men on
horseback killed an employee of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), wounded
a second MSF employee, and destroyed the MSF clinic and its water
supply. Seven captured MSF employees were later released and returned
to work in a different location in the country. Several thousand IDPs
who had been resident in Koloy were relocated to Adde in the eastern
part of the country.
Landmines laid by government, rebel, and foreign forces reportedly
resulted in 26 deaths and 60 injuries. A large number of these
incidents took place in N'Djamena, most likely the result of unexploded
ordinance from the April 13 attack on the city. According to the
Government's High Commission for Demining, between January and August
2.5 million square meters were cleared and 224 anti-personnel and anti-
tank mines and 6,900 pieces of unexploded ordinance were destroyed.
Security forces arrested and detained numerous persons suspected of
rebel activity or collaboration with rebels; some were held
incommunicado in secret prisons at year's end. The Government also
arrested military defectors, some of whom had joined rebel groups, and
members of their families during the year.
For example, following the April 13 rebel attack on N'Djamena, the
Government arrested at least 16 high-ranking army officers who
reportedly were being held in secret prisons without trial at year's
end. Among those detained was Colonel Ismat, the ANS director of
analysis. He was released without being charged in October and returned
to service. The NGO Human Rights Without Borders, which reported that
secret detention centers had been created, appealed to the Government
to release information on the detainees, but was unable to obtain
further information. The NGO held three press conferences to publicize
the names of the detainees and draw attention to their arbitrary
arrest.
In March soldiers from the Republican Guard arrested and detained
Nodjitel Modard, a resident of a suburb of N'Djamena, and accused him
of protecting rebels in his house. During the same month the ANS
arrested and detained El Hadj Abba Zene, also a civilian resident of an
N'Djamena suburb, on the same charge. They were subsequently released
without being formally charged.
According to LTDH, on April 14, gendarmes arrested and tortured
Brahim Almardi and Bechir Zam-Zam for allegedly collaborating with
rebels.
On April 20, the police commandant of Batha arrested and detained
Al Hadj Annakour, Mahamat Zeine, Sakaheir, Chous Youssouf, and Bachar
Djibrine. They were suspected rebel sympathizers, but were released
without being charged.
In May the ANS arrested eight persons suspected of supporting the
rebels, including Tadjo Hamad Adano, Pierre Marabeye, Todje Issi
Albert, Mbainaissem Sylvain, Adoum Bloh Mersia, Ali Amat Mahamat,
Djimta Joseph, and Hassan Moksia. All were later released without being
charged.
On May 26 police agent Ahamat Moussa Alguisseir arrested, detained,
and allegedly tortured Ahmat Mahamat, a trader living in Ati. A
businessman, Mahamat was alleged to have provided funds to the rebels.
He was subsequently released without being charged.
A number of persons arrested and detained in 2005 were released
during the year.
The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were
unconfirmed reports that young males were recruited by security forces
during the year. In October the independent press accused the
Government of using child soldiers and published photos of youths
engaged in a military campaign in the southern town of Am Timan. In
December 2005 unconfirmed reports of the forced recruitment of male
youths circulated after the Government began enforcing a curfew during
the holidays, in particular of forced recruitment in N'Djamena and
Abeche.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, the Government limited
these freedoms in practice and intimidated journalists and publishers,
who practiced self-censorship.
Individuals who publicly criticized the Government often faced
official reprisal. There were reports that the Government attempted to
control criticism by monitoring meetings of the political opposition,
and there were reports that the Government attempted to intimidate its
critics.
The Government owned the newspaper Info Tchad and influenced
another, Le Progres, but it did not dominate the press. A number of
private newspapers, many of which were critical of government policies
and leaders, were published and circulated freely in the capital. In
November, however, the Government instituted a state of emergency which
included strict press censorship provisions against reporting on the
rebels, interethnic conflict, and criticism of the Government relative
to its handling of internal security.
Due to widespread illiteracy and the relatively high cost of
newspapers and television, radio remained the most important medium of
mass communication. The government-owned Radiodiffusion Nationale
Tchadienne had branches in N'Djamena, Abeche, Moundou, Sahr, and Taya.
There were numerous private radio stations that broadcast throughout
the country, many of them owned by religious organizations. A new
privately owned commercial radio station, Radio N'Gato, began
broadcasting in July.
The licensing fee set by the Government's High Council for
Communications (HCC) for a commercial radio station remained
prohibitively high at approximately $10,000 (five million FCFA) per
year, 10 times the fee for radio stations owned by nonprofit NGOs. The
HCC monitored and censored the content of radio station programming.
The Government owned and operated Teletchad, the only domestic
television station, but did not interfere with private channels
originating outside the country.
During the year the Government harassed and detained journalists.
For example, on April 28, security forces arrested radio journalist
Tchanguis Vatankah after he signed a press release calling for the
postponement of the May 3 election to allow more room for political
dialogue (see Section 3). Vatankah went on a hunger strike, was held
incommunicado until May 16, and was released on May 19. An Iranian
citizen, Vatankah said authorities lifted an expulsion threat against
him only after he pledged to keep out of politics and to step down as
head of the Chadian Union of Private Radios.
On October 27, security forces arrested Notre Temps reporter
Evariste Ngaralbaye after he published an article that accused the army
of using child soldiers (see Section 1.g.). Ngaralbaye was released
after four days imprisonment.
In September 2005 an appeals court dismissed the charges against
Michael Didama, the editor of independent newspaper Le Temps, Sy Koumbo
Singa Gali, the editor of l'Observateur, and Caronde Djamra, a
freelance journalist; the three journalists had been arrested earlier
in the year for jeopardizing national security and defamation.
In December most independent newspapers began a 15-day strike to
protest censorship measures introduced by the Government as part of
emergency measures imposed after the November rebel attacks in the
east. Some radio stations joined the media protest and did not
broadcast for three days. The emergency measures included a requirement
that all news items be submitted for approval to the HCC before
publication or broadcast to prevent interethnic violence. Journalists
called the move an over-reaction.
Some journalists in rural provinces reported that government
officials warned them not to engage in any contentious political
reporting. In addition some domestic journalists claimed that the
Government restricted their ability to cover some events or visit
certain locations and limited their access to high-ranking officials,
restrictions that the Government did not impose on foreign journalists.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government issued warnings but did
not close radio stations.
Government controlled media were subject to censorship; however, at
times they were critical of the Government.
During the year rebel fighters abducted journalists. For example,
on April 11, United Front for Change rebels in Mongo seized Eliakim
Vanambyl, the editor of radio station FM Liberte. The reasons for the
abduction of Vanambyl, who was released on April 17, were unknown.
Internet Freedom.--The Government did not restrict access to the
Internet but reportedly monitored e-mail through the main post office
server (see Section 1.f.). Although increasingly available to the
public at Internet cafes, the growth of Internet access was almost
entirely through the Government telecommunications company.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no reports that
the Government restricted academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of
assembly, the Government limited this right in practice. Authorities
banned demonstrations they expected would be critical of the
Government, despite being notified five days in advance as required by
law; however, they permitted demonstrations they presumed would support
the Government and its policies.
Throughout the year the police regularly disrupted student
gatherings, and police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators
resulted in at least one death.
During a February 4 student demonstration against the lack of
teachers in Pala, gendarmes shot and killed 15-year-old Issa Wardougou,
who was marching with the other demonstrators toward the governor's
office. No action was taken against the security forces involved.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. In February the Government approved the
reestablishment of the Chadian Association of Students, an organization
that had been banned since 2004.
c. Freedom of Religion.--While the law provides for religious
freedom, at times the Government limited this right. The law also
provides for a secular state. Senior government officials were
predominantly Muslim, and some policies favored Islam in practice. For
example, the Government continued to sponsor annual haj trips to Mecca
for certain government officials.
The Islamic religious group Faid al-Djaria remained banned on the
grounds that its religious customs, including singing and dancing
together by men and women in religious ceremonies, were un-Islamic.
Although the different religious communities generally coexisted
without problems, there were reports of tensions within the Muslim
community between the High Council for Islamic Affairs (a government-
sanctioned, nongovernmental body) and radical elements within the
community. During the year there were regular meetings between key
religious leaders to discuss peaceful collaboration among groups.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--February demonstrations by
Muslims expressing concerns about the depictions of Muhammad in a
Danish newspaper resulted in damage to several Christian properties.
There was no known Jewish community and no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these
rights, in practice the Government imposed some limits. The Ministry of
Territorial Administration required an ``authorization for
circulation'' for foreign travelers, including humanitarian agency
personnel intending to visit the eastern part of the country, due to
insecurity in the region.
In 2005 the minister of territorial administration banned
roadblocks throughout the country; however, elements of the security
forces, rebels, and bandits continued to maintain roadblocks, extorting
money from travelers, and often beating and in some cases killing them.
Tension along the border with CAR continued to hinder free movement
in the region. During the year bandits from CAR continued to enter the
country and attack citizens, despite an agreement by government
officials of both countries to stem insecurity along the border and
seize weapons held illegally by militias, herders, and other
individuals.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--By year's end there were an
estimated 70 110,000 IDPs in the region along the Sudanese border (and
more than 230,000 Sudanese refugees). The IDPs were largely the former
residents of villages along the eastern border with Sudan, particularly
in the southeastern region in the vicinity of Goz-Beida.
In April attacks on the town of Koloy, which was home to
approximately 20,000 IDPs, resulted in their displacement to
neighboring villages, which sometimes quadrupled the villages'
populations overnight. At a refugee camp near the town of Goz- Beida,
more than 12,000 persons arrived in April. Some IDPs were forcibly
displaced two or three times.
Interethnic violence created additional IDPs. From December 15 to
17, militia on horseback attacked civilians of the Dadjo ethnic group
in the southern portion of the border with Sudan. These so-called
Janjaweed attacks were widespread throughout the year, but especially
in November and December. The victims were mostly non-Arabs of the
Dadjo tribe in the southeast, but other non-Arab groups were targeted
as well. The armed militia subsequently attacked government officials
investigating the situation and refugees from the nearby Goz Amer
refugee camp. Violence between Arab and non-Arab ethnic groups spread
to the neighboring towns of Habile and Aradif, resulting in as many as
50 deaths. The burning of Dadjo villages near the Goz Amer camp
resulted in approximately 600 to 700 new IDPs in the region.
The Government publicly acknowledged that its resources were
directed toward fighting rebel groups and armed militia and that it
could not protect or provide for the growing number of IDPs and
refugees in the country. By year's end the UN had withdrawn all but
essential employees in the country due to threats of rebel and militia
attacks in the east, aggravating the already precarious situation for
IDPs and refugees in the country.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status and consequently is not in compliance with
the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol, but the Government has established a system for providing
protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government also provided protection to certain individuals who may not
qualify as refugees under the convention or its protocol. An official
national structure, the National Committee for Welcoming and
Reinsertion of Refugees, handled foreign refugee matters and returning
citizens who had been refugees in other countries.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR and the Government
worked together to identify safer sites for refugees from the Darfur
region along the Sudanese border. According to the UNHCR, the country
hosted approximately 220,000 Sudanese refugees from Darfur, 200,000 of
whom were located in 12 camps along the eastern border with Sudan. By
the end of the year there were an estimated 48,000 refugees from CAR,
including some 18,000 who arrived during the second half of the year.
There were also small numbers from the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
Most of the refugees in the south were living in three camps. As in
the east, UNHCR and its UN and NGO partners provided food, shelter,
health, educational, agricultural (vegetable gardening), and security
support for these refugees. The camps faced serious water and
sanitation challenges that were only slowly being addressed because of
the limited humanitarian NGO presence.
The Government was unable to protect the refugee camps in the east,
and there were threats of attacks on camps and relief agencies during
the year (see Section 4). Refugees from Darfur were regularly targeted
throughout the year.
According to an investigation by the NGO Human Rights Watch, SLA
commander Khamis Abdullah, a Masalit, gained access to the
predominantly Masalit camps of Bredjing and Treguine, facilitated by
the Chad National Refugee Commission. He recruited an estimated 4,700
refugees, some voluntarily but most coercively. They were marched to an
SLA training camp near the town of Arkoum. NGO observers considered it
likely that the Government was complicit in this event. There were
Janjaweed attacks near Koukou-Angarana camp in May and on the nearby
Goz Amer camp in December.
On November 25, rebels briefly held the eastern town of Abeche. In
the absence of local authorities, residents attacked the humanitarian
infrastructure in Abeche and looted World Food Program and UNHCR
warehouses. Rebels took fuel and arms from government deposits. An
early December attack on Guereda further north also affected the
humanitarian community serving three camps in that area, although
humanitarian workers were not directly targeted. These two events were
decisive in the UN decision to declare security phase IV in Eastern
Chad and remove all but the most essential expatriate and local staff.
Anti-refugee sentiment among citizens living in refugee-affected
areas was high due to competition for such local resources as wood,
water, and grazing land--and the provision of goods and services to
Sudanese refugees that was not available to the local population. There
continued to be reports that citizens attacked refugees and destroyed
their wells out of frustration and fear of resource shortages.
The UNHCR and its partner organizations expressed concern about the
possibility of the militarization of the refugee camps by Sudanese and
Chadian rebels, particularly those located close to the border. As a
result, the Government agreed to move Oure Cassoni and Am Nabak camps
to safer locations. However, proposed alternate locations were both
insecure and lacking water sources. The Government, UNHCR, and NGOs
were still looking for suitable relocation sites at year's end.
Refugees in at least one of the camps, however, adamantly opposed
relocation, preferring to remain close to the border of their
traditional homeland.
At year's end UN agencies were still operating in the country's
eastern region, although their personnel numbers were greatly reduced.
Expatriate staff presence was particularly low, and many functions were
being covered by less experienced local staff, especially for UNHCR and
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) programs in more remote areas.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Although the constitution and law provide citizens with the right
to change their government, the Government continued to limit this
right in practice. The executive branch dominated the other branches of
government.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 3, President Deby,
leader of the ruling MPS, was reelected to a third term in what
unofficial observers characterized as an orderly, but seriously flawed
election that was boycotted by the opposition. The Government had
dismissed appeals from the opposition, civil society, religious groups,
and some members of the international community to postpone elections
and organize a national dialogue. Observers noted low voter
participation, underage voting, multiple voting, and other
irregularities.
Communal elections and legislative elections, originally scheduled
for 2005, again were postponed by the Government during the year.
There were approximately 78 registered political parties in the
country. Parties allied with the Government generally received
favorable treatment. Opposition political leaders accused the
Government of co-opting their most popular local politicians to run as
MPS members in local elections and alleged intimidation by the military
of party members who refused to cooperate. Northerners, particularly
members of the Zaghawa ethnic group, including the Bideyat subclan to
which the President belongs, continued to dominate the public sector
and were overrepresented in key institutions of state power, including
the military officer corps, elite military units, and the Presidential
staff.
There were six women among 39 ministers in the cabinet. There were
10 women in the 155-seat National Assembly, and two women in the 25-
member national election commission.
Both the cabinet and the National Assembly had diverse ethnic
representation.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be
a serious problem. According to Transparency International's corruption
perceptions index for the year, corruption was characterized as
``rampant.''
In July two cabinet ministers were removed from their positions for
misappropriation of government funds after the Ministry of Morality
conducted an investigation. It was unclear whether the ministers would
go to trial since ministers and members of government are immune from
criminal trial unless the National Assembly suspends their immunity,
which has never previously occurred (see Section 1.e.).
In September the College for the Monitoring and Control of Oil
Resources (CCRSP) issued its second report on poverty reduction
projects funded with oil revenues. It identified many deficiencies in
the execution of projects, including contract delays, nondelivery of
goods, poor quality of projects, lack of communication between priority
sector ministries and local authorities, and corrupt practices such as
double-charging for services. The Government had not taken action on
deficiencies identified in the CCRSP's first report in 2005.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information. The Government provided such access to government-employed
journalists, but independent media journalists complained that they
were not given sufficient access to government information. In June
2005 the Government mandated that the proceedings of some ministerial
meetings be broadcast on the radio or published in Info Tchad, a
government newspaper. The Government's low capacity to store and
retrieve information continued to be a problem.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government obstructed the work of domestic human rights
organizations during the year through arrest, detention, and
intimidation; nevertheless, such groups were able to investigate and
publish their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were accessible to human rights advocates but were often
unresponsive or hostile to their findings.
There were two principal local human rights organizations: the
ATPDH and the LTDH. These and smaller human rights organizations worked
together through an umbrella organization, the Association for Human
Rights. Their activities included observing government detention
practices, assisting individuals who suffered human rights abuses, and
holding public conferences and seminars addressing press freedom and
arrests of journalists, relocation of residents of local neighborhoods,
transparency of oil revenues, disappearances of individuals, and the
socio-political situation and its impact on human rights.
Despite pressure from the Government, human rights groups were
outspoken in publicizing abuses through reports, press releases, and
the print media, but only occasionally were they able to intervene
successfully with authorities. There was a perception on the part of
government officials that most local human rights groups were composed
mainly of political opponents, which weakened their credibility with
the Government and some international organizations.
Gendarmes arrested and allegedly beat a human rights worker during
the year (see Section 1.c.).
Unidentified assailants and armed bandits attacked numerous NGO
employees during the year, resulting in one death. For example, on
January 12, armed bandits attacked the Catholic NGO SECADEV in the
eastern part of the country and stole a vehicle. In March unidentified
assailants in military uniform shot and injured Sylvia Gaya, a foreign
employee of UNICEF in Abeche, during a carjacking. A November rebel
attack on relief agencies in Abeche resulted in the killing of an
employee of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Hundreds of aid workers were evacuated from the eastern part of the
country due to increased hostilities between military forces and
antigovernment rebel groups. Beginning in late November, nearly 500 aid
workers were relocated from Abeche, the eastern city that served as a
hub for relief agencies in the region, to N'Djamena.
The Government allowed access to the eastern region for employees
of the International Criminal Court who were investigating charges of
war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan; however, the
Government continued to obstruct the work of international human rights
organizations, such as Amnesty International.
Belgian courts continued their investigation of crimes against
humanity allegedly committed by former President Hissein Habre during
his rule from 1982 to 1990. In September 2005 a Belgian court announced
an indictment of Habre, who was living in self-imposed exile in
Senegal. Although the Government of Senegal had agreed to an African
Union request to prosecute Habre, no action had been taken in the case
by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
While the constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on
origin, race, gender, religion, political opinion, or social status,
the Government did not effectively enforce these provisions. The
Government favored its ethnic supporters and allies.
Women.--Although the law prohibits violence against women, domestic
violence, including spousal abuse, was common. Wives traditionally were
subject to the authority of their husbands, and they had limited legal
recourse against abuse. Although family or traditional authorities
could provide assistance in such cases, police rarely intervened.
The law prohibits rape, prostitution, and spousal abuse, but all
were problems, although no reliable quantitative data was available.
There were reports that family members killed women for breaking
social taboos. For example, in some places girls and women may not
visit the site where an initiation ceremony is to take place. If a
female violates this prohibition, the village leaders can kill her.
The law prohibits the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM);
however, FGM was widespread and deeply rooted in tradition. According
to a 2004 government report by the National Institute of Statistics,
Economic and Demographic Studies, 45 percent of local women had
undergone excision. The highest rates of FGM--90 percent or more--were
among Arabs, Hadjarai, and Ouaddai. Lower percentages were reported
among the Sara (38 percent) and Gorane (2 percent). According to the
survey, 70 percent of Muslim females and 30 percent of Christian
females were subjected to FGM. The practice was prevalent especially
among ethnic groups in the east and south. All three types of FGM were
practiced. The least common but most dangerous and severe form of FGM,
infibulation, was confined largely to the region on the eastern border
with Sudan. FGM usually was performed prior to puberty as a rite of
passage.
FGM could be prosecuted as a form of assault, and charges could be
brought against the parents of FGM victims, medical practitioners, or
others involved in the action, but prosecution was hindered by the lack
of specific penalty provisions in the penal code. There were no reports
that any such suits were brought during the year. The Ministry of
Social Action and Family was responsible for coordinating activities to
combat FGM, and sponsored a public awareness campaign during the year
in the south (where FGM is widely practiced) on the health risks of FGM
and the fact that the practice is contrary to law.
Although the law prohibits prostitution, pimping, and owning a
brothel, prostitution was a problem, particularly in the southern oil-
producing region. The law provides for prison terms of two months to
two years and a fine of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000 FCFA) for
violations. There were no reported prosecutions during the year.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment.
Discrimination against women remained widespread. In practice women
did not have equal opportunities for education and training, making it
difficult for them to compete for the relatively few formal-sector
jobs. Although property and inheritance laws based on the French code
do not discriminate against women, local leaders adjudicated most
inheritance cases in favor of men, according to traditional practice.
The exploitation of women was pervasive, especially in rural areas,
where women did most of the agricultural labor and were discouraged
from seeking formal schooling. Illiteracy was estimated at 66 percent
for women, compared to 48 percent for men.
While no law addresses polygamy, husbands may opt at any time to
declare a marriage polygynous. If a husband takes a second wife, the
first wife has the right to request that the marriage be dissolved;
however, she must repay the bride price and other expenses related to
the marriage. In 2005 polygyny became a controversial issue between
Muslim and Christian communities during debate over revision of the
family code, which remained pending. Issues involved in code revision
were contentious; as a result, the Council of Ministers created a
committee to propose compromises on controversial issues, such as
polygyny and inheritance.
Children.--The Government generally supported the activities of
NGOs and international donors to improve children's rights and welfare,
but the Government had few resources to organize its own activities.
Although the Government increased its assistance to the education
sector, it was unable to fund public education beyond the primary level
and medical care adequately. Government education policy for children
and youth focused on improving classroom facilities and infrastructure.
By law education is universal, compulsory, and free from ages five
through 12; parents were required to pay tuition to public schools
beyond the primary level. During the year free primary school education
was offered for the first time since 1973; however, except in some
rural schools, parents were required to pay for textbooks.
Approximately half of teachers were hired and paid by parent-teacher
associations, without government reimbursement. UNICEF reported in 2005
that 46 percent of school-age boys and 33 percent of girls attended
primary school. Educational opportunities for girls were limited mainly
because of the traditional role of young girls in doing household tasks
such as obtaining water and wood. The percentage of girls enrolled in
secondary school was extremely low compared with that of boys,
primarily because of early marriage.
Child abuse, including abuse of child herders, remained a problem
(see Section 6.d.).
FGM was commonly practiced on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
Although the law prohibits sexual relations with a girl under the
age of 14, even if married, the ban was rarely enforced. Families
arranged marriages for girls as young as 12 or 13; the minimum legal
age for engagements was 11. The law prohibits forced marriages of
minors (defined as anyone under 18) and provides for imprisonment of
six months to two years and a fine of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000
FCFA). There were some forced marriages, and the custom of buying and
selling child brides continued to be widespread. Many young wives were
forced to work long hours of physical labor for their husbands in
fields or homes.
Several human rights organizations reported on the problem of the
mahadjir, children who attended certain Islamic schools and were forced
by their teachers to beg for food and money. There was no reliable
estimate of the number of mahadjir children.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were
reports that young males were recruited by security forces during the
year (see Section 1.g.).
Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, traffickers could be prosecuted under
statutes prohibiting kidnapping, sale of children, and child labor.
Persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country. Cross-border
trafficking was not widespread, and internal trafficking was largely
restricted to children.
Children were trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation.
The majority of victims were trafficked within the country to work as
involuntary domestic servants, herders, or beggars (see Section 6.d.).
A 2004 NGO survey of child herders who had been returned to their
parents indicated that between 1,500 and 2,000 children between six and
17 years of age may have been trafficked. Children from Cameroon and
CAR were trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to the country's
oil-producing regions. Children from the country were trafficked to
Cameroon, CAR, and Nigeria.
The law provides penalties of between 10 months' and life
imprisonment with hard labor for trafficking violations, and between 10
and 20 years of hard labor in prison for the trafficking of children.
No economic or financial aid for victims was available unless a court
awarded damages. The Ministry of Justice's child protection department
continued to cooperate with UNICEF and NGOs to combat trafficking.
UNICEF reported that 360 child herders were rescued and returned to
their communities during the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against such persons; however, in practice the Government operated few
education, employment, or therapy programs for such persons, and no
laws mandate that buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities.
Several local NGOs provided skills training to persons with hearing or
visual impairment. The Government, in conjunction with NGOs, continued
to sponsor an annual day of activities to raise awareness of persons
with disabilities. The Ministry of Social Action and Family is
responsible for the rights of the disabled.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There are approximately 200
ethnic groups, many of which are concentrated regionally. They speak
128 distinct primary languages. Although most ethnic groups were
affiliated with one of two regional and cultural traditions--Arab and
Saharan/Sahelian-zone Muslims in the North, Center, and East; and
Sudanian-zone Christian or animist groups in the South--internal
migrations in response to urbanization and desertification resulted in
the integration of these groups in some areas.
Societal discrimination continued to be practiced routinely by
members of virtually all ethnic groups and was evident in patterns of
employment, especially across the North-South divide. The law prohibits
government discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, although in
practice it continued to influence government appointments and
political alliances (see Section 3). Political parties and groups
generally had readily identifiable regional or ethnic bases.
In the east, interethnic violence occurred in Guereda, Goz-Beida,
and Oum Hadjer during the second half of the year. These clashes were
mainly between nomadic and semi-nomadic groups and local sedentary
populations. The total number of persons killed and injured in this
violence was estimated by the Government and by ATPDH as approaching
400 persons.
Clashes between herders and sedentary populations and other
interethnic violence, often concerning land use, continued to be a
serious problem.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
continued to be practiced against homosexuals and those afflicted with
HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all employees except
members of the armed forces to join or form unions of their choice
without excessive requirements, and the Government generally respected
this right; however, the authorization of the Ministry of the Interior
is required. The ministry can also authorize the immediate
administrative dissolution of an association and permit authorities to
monitor association funds.
An ordinance requires prior authorization from the Ministry of the
Interior before an association, including a labor union, may be formed;
however, there were no reports that the ordinance was used. The
ordinance also allows for the immediate administrative dissolution of
an association and permits authorities to monitor association funds.
In the formal sector, more than 90 percent of employees belonged to
unions; however, the great majority of workers were nonunionized,
unpaid subsistence cultivators or herders. The Government, which owned
businesses that dominated many sectors of the formal economy, remained
the largest employer.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government
protected these rights. Although there are no restrictions on
collective bargaining, the law authorizes the Government to intervene
under certain circumstances. For example, workers for a private
cellular telephone company were prevented by the Government from
starting their strike on the day they had chosen because it coincided
with the President's inauguration. There are no export processing
zones.
The law recognizes the right to strike, and workers exercised this
right in practice. The right to strike is limited in the public sector
by a decree requiring minimum service to be maintained. While the law
permits imprisonment with forced labor as punishment for participation
in illegal strikes, no such punishment was imposed during the year.
In June the Union Syndicat du Travail (UST), the leading labor
union, organized strikes in response to the Government's failure to
implement a 5 percent increase in civil servant salaries provided for
in the 2005 national budget. Local media reported that the strikes were
paralyzing basic public services, particularly access to medical care.
In mid-June the minister of labor charged that the strikes were a
destabilizing influence and called for the U.S. to reconsider its
position. During a July 13 address to the National Assembly, the Prime
Minister stated that the salary increase was a government priority, but
that budgetary constraints resulting from military actions against
rebels in April and May prevented the Government from satisfying U.S.
demands. Following another week of strikes, the U.S. and the Government
negotiated a temporary resolution, in which the U.S. agreed to suspend
its activities for two months to allow the Government to implement the
5 percent salary increase retroactive to January. The Government
implemented the 5 percent increase in November, but declined to make it
retroactive to January.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, during the
year there continued to be reports of forced labor practices in the
formal economy and isolated instances of local authorities demanding
forced labor by both children and adults in the rural sector (see
Section 6.d.). There were also reports that prisoners were required to
work to pay back taxes they allegedly owed.
The law permits imprisonment with forced labor for participation in
illegal strikes.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the labor code stipulates that the minimum age for employment
in the formal sector is 14, the Government did not enforce the law. The
law prohibits children under the age of 18 from undertaking ``any work
which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it was carried out,
was likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children'';
however, in practice child labor, including forced child labor, was a
serious problem. According to a 2000 UNICEF study (the most recent
available), 65.5 percent of minors worked, including those performing
domestic chores for more than four hours per day, those working within
the family (herding, microcommerce, etc.), and those who were underage
and working for someone outside the family.
An estimated 20 percent of children between the ages of six and 18
worked in abusive, exploitive labor in the urban informal sector,
according to a study published by Human Rights Without Borders.
Children throughout the country worked in agriculture and herding. They
also were employed in the commercial sector, particularly in the
capital, as street vendors, manual laborers, and helpers in small
shops. Young girls worked as domestic servants, mainly in N'Djamena. A
2005 UNICEF-government survey of child domestics in N'Djamena noted
that 62 percent were boys; 24 percent were between eight and 14 years
of age, 68 percent were between 15 and 17; and 86 percent were
illiterate.
There were also credible reports that children were forced into
slavery. According to a 2004 UN news service report, aid workers in the
country estimated that families had sold as many as 2,000 children--
some as young as eight--into a system in which they worked as child
cattle herders. In some areas local authorities fined parents caught
selling their children into forced labor. To avoid detection, some
families worked with intermediaries to pass children from families to
the farm owners.
Some children worked as domestic servants in the households of
relatives for little compensation. Some young girls were forced into
marriages by their families and then compelled to work in their
husbands' fields or homes and to bear children while they were still
too young to do so safely (see Section 5).
The law prohibits the use of child soldiers; however, there were
reports during the year that it occurred (see Section 1.g.).
The Office of Labor Inspection is responsible for enforcement of
child labor laws and policies. That office had approximately 16 labor
inspectors to cover the entire country. Reportedly they had no funding
during the year to carry out field work and investigations.
The Government did not have a comprehensive plan to eliminate the
worst forms of child labor; however, the Government worked with UNICEF
and other NGOs to increase public awareness of child labor. During the
year UNICEF organized workshops in regional towns to share information
on the dangers of forced child labor and the benefits of education. The
training provided each town with one individual charged with overseeing
the continuing sensitization campaign. In 2005 UNICEF developed a
program to reduce the prevalence of young girls serving as household
domestics. In addition the campaign to educate parents and civil
society on the dangers of child labor, particularly for child herders,
continued.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code requires the
Government to set minimum wages, and the minimum wage at year's end was
$56 (28,000 FCFA) per month. Most wages, including the minimum wage,
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Nearly all private sector and state-owned firms paid at least the
minimum wage, but it was largely ignored in the vast informal sector.
In 2005 the Government began for the first time to pay all its
employees at least the minimum wage, and government salaries increased
overall by 5 percent. However, in some areas there were long delays in
the payment of those salaries. Salary arrears remained a problem,
although less so than in previous years. Low wages among customs,
police, and military officials contributed to almost daily extortion of
the civilian population along all major roads (see Section 2.d.).
The law limits most employment to 39 hours per week, with overtime
paid for supplementary hours. Agricultural work was limited to 2,400
hours per year, an average of 46 hours per week. All workers were
entitled to an unbroken 48-hour rest period per week; however, these
rights rarely were enforced.
During the year oil pipeline workers in the south protested that
they had not been properly compensated for overtime work. Their case
was adjudicated by the Ministry of Justice, which ruled in their favor
in October. The consortium of companies responsible for construction of
the pipeline accepted the Ministry of Justice decision and began
retroactive payments of more than $12 million (six billion FCFA).
The labor code mandates occupational health and safety standards
and gives inspectors the authority to enforce them; however, these
standards were generally ignored in the private sector and in the civil
service.
Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous working
conditions; however, in practice they could not leave without
jeopardizing their employment. The labor code explicitly protects all
workers, including foreign and illegal workers, but the protections
provided were not always respected in practice.
__________
COMOROS
The Union of the Comoros is a constitutional, multiparty republic
of approximately 690,000 citizens. The country consists of three
islands--Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli--and claims a fourth,
Mayotte, which France governs. In May citizens elected President Ahmed
Abdallah Mohamed Sambi in polling that international observers
described as free and fair; Sambi's May 26 inauguration was the first
peaceful and democratic transfer of power in the country's history.
Disputes continued over the division of responsibilities between union
and island governments and the union government's nonpayment of salary
to its employees, including teachers and doctors. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, although there were some areas of concern. The following
human rights problems were reported: poor prison conditions,
restrictions on freedom of religion, official corruption,
discrimination against women, child abuse, and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor; common problems included improper sanitation, overcrowding,
inadequate medical facilities, and poor diet. Authorities held pretrial
detainees with convicted prisoners. The Government permitted visits by
independent human rights observers, as well as the UN Development
Program and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Six separate security
forces report to four different authorities. A union military and a
union gendarmerie handle defense and local policing on Grand Comore and
Moheli; Anjouan maintains its own gendarmerie. The union police force
handles immigration and some local policing in Grand Comore. Each of
the three islands also has its own local police force.
There was continued corruption in the police force. Citizens paid
bribes to evade customs regulations, avoid arrest, falsify police
reports or, for police personnel, to receive promotion within the
force. Impunity was a problem, as there was no mechanism to investigate
police abuses. Union police took part in international training to
become more professional.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests and
provides that detainees may be held for 24 hours, although these
provisions were not always respected in practice. The procurer general
must approve continued detention. A tribunal informs detainees of their
rights, including the right to legal representation. According to the
law, public attorneys are available to indigent individuals, but in
practice there was a dearth of legal representation. There is a bail
system under which the individual is not permitted to leave the
country.
After taking office in May, President Sambi granted amnesty to
hundreds of ``short term'' prisoners, including those held for
proselytizing, to alleviate prison crowding.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. The head of state appoints magistrates by
decree.
The seven-member Constitutional Court includes a member appointed
by the President of the Union, a member appointed by each of the two
union vice Presidents, a member appointed by each of the three island
government Presidents, and a member appointed by the President of the
National Assembly. Minor disputes can be reviewed by the civilian court
of first instance, but in practice they are often settled by village
elders outside of the formal structure. Juries decide criminal cases,
which can be reviewed before the appellate court.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are
mostly open to the public. Juries deliberate criminal cases, and there
is an appeal process. The legal system incorporates French legal codes
and Islamic Shari'a law. In practice village elders decided most
disputes without using the formal legal system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--By law there is an
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters. In practice
formal courts have insufficient resources and are rife with corruption.
Most civil disputes are settled outside the formal court system, either
directly between the parties or via informal community arbitration by
respected elders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
partially limited press freedom.
Paramilitary police detained Aboubacar M'changama, director of the
independent weekly l'Archipel, from March 25 to 27 for ``divulging
military secrets.'' Aboubacar had published an article about discontent
in the military.
There was a government-supported newspaper, Al-Watwan, and four
independent papers, Kashkazi, Le Canal, La Gazette des Comores, and
l'Archipel. The Anjouan island government intimidated journalists to
deter them from writing articles critical of the Government. (No
newspapers were printed in Anjouan, but the papers listed above were
available there.)
There is independent radio on all three islands. One government
radio station operated on a regular schedule. Local community radio
stations operated in very narrow transmission areas. Citizens who lived
overseas primarily funded these stations, which were staffed by
volunteers and were allowed to operate without government interference
or regulation. Mayotte Radio and French television also broadcast
without government interference. Several small, community-based
television stations operated without government interference; local
residents and their relatives overseas provided funds for their
operation.
Prior to the Presidential election in May, the union military
temporarily confiscated the equipment of Radio Moheli, because the
station's broadcasts were controversial. In May persons not in uniform
vandalized radio equipment at Radio Ngazidja and Moroni FM in Grand
Comore. While never proven, press reports suggested the attacks were
politically motivated.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Illiteracy and shortages of electricity and phone lines limited
Internet use to the small, relatively wealthy and educated minority of
Comorans. Several Internet cafes and the Internet stations at the
American Corner in Moroni have expanded usage in and near cities.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and
association; however, in practice the Government did not always respect
this right. Unlike in the previous year, however, no deaths or injuries
resulted from excessive use of force by security forces.
No action was taken by authorities concerning the killing by
soldiers of one civilian, and wounding of 16 others, in connection with
a massive protest against a fuel price hike in September 2005.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion; however, the Government restricted this right in
practice. The constitution does not declare Islam the official religion
but declares that the laws must draw inspiration from Islam. The great
majority of the population was Sunni Muslim. Proselytizing for any
religion except Islam was illegal.
On May 29, four men were sentenced to three months in prison for
``evangelizing Muslims.'' One woman was also convicted and received a
three-month suspended sentence. They had been arrested one week earlier
for hosting Christian religious debates in a private residence. After
40 days, all four were released in the Presidential amnesty.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Christians continued to face
intense social pressure, including restricting the use of the few
Christian churches to noncitizens. Family and community members were
likely to harass those who join non-Muslim faiths.
There was no known Jewish population and no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
In June Le Canal reported that police conducted late night home
inspections in search of ``illegal immigrants.''
Intervillage conflicts sometimes restricted movement of citizens
within the country's borders. There were cases of individuals from
Grand Comore being refused entry into Moheli and Anjouan; this was not,
however, by central government policy.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, but it did not grant refugee or asylum status routinely.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provides citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The constitution provides
for a ``rotating'' presidency in which each island takes a turn at
holding a primary for Presidential candidates. Former President Azali,
a native of Grand Comore, was the first to hold office in this system.
During the year the turn passed to Anjouan; all 12 Presidential
candidates had to be natives of Anjouan to run in the primary. From the
12, Anjouan voters selected three to run in the May national election
that led to the election of President Sambi. International observers
considered the elections free and fair. The May 26 inauguration of
President Sambi was the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power
in the country's history. The constitution thus restricts, by island,
who can run for the presidency, but aside from the rotation principle,
anyone is free to run.
Unelected elders leading traditional social, religious, and
economic institutions filled voids in communities where the formal
government was ineffectual or nonexistent.
There was one woman in the 33-member National Assembly. There was
one female minister and two female vice Presidents in the union
government. There were no minorities in high-level offices.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Resident diplomatic, UN,
and humanitarian agency workers reported that petty corruption is
commonplace at all levels of the civil service. The new Sambi
government launched a highly-publicized campaign against embezzlement
by senior officials, bribery by customs and immigration officers, and
unfair or non-transparent practices for offering government contracts
and procurement. The few private sector operators in the country
reported that corruption and lack of transparency were the norm.
In June the Government arrested several officials of the former
regime on charges of corruption. Former government ministers Rehema and
Sitti and former Colonel Abdallah of the union police were tried for
stealing administrative property, convicted, sentenced to eight months
in prison, and fined $360 (147,000 Comoran Francs). Former secretary
general Abdou was convicted on the same charge and sentenced to four
months' imprisonment and fined $480 (196,000 Comoran Francs).
In 2005 there were allegations that private firms such as Comoros
Hydrocarbure and Comoros Telecom partially financed the predecessor
Azali government by providing funds for official travel. However, there
were no reports that the newly installed Sambi government continued the
practice.
Investigations continued into the 2005 award of government
contracts to a firm with ties to former President Azali.
There are no laws providing for public access to government
information. Those who have personal or working relationships with
government officials can generally access government information, but
not members of the general public. To encourage greater transparency,
President Sambi published his own salary in August.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
One domestic and some international nongovernmental organizations
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
In June the National Assembly passed a law establishing a human
rights commission, which had not yet convened by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, disability,
language, or social status; however, there was discrimination against
women.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence. Although the
Government did not take any action to combat violence against women,
police and human rights groups believe it to be rare. Women could seek
protection through the courts in such cases, but in practice the
extended family or village elders customarily addressed such problems.
Rape is illegal, punishable by imprisonment of five to 10 years or
up to 15 years if the victim is younger than 15 years of age. The
Government did not enforce the laws on rape effectively. The law does
not specifically address spousal rape.
Prostitution is illegal, arrests for prostitution are rare, and
there were no reports of harassment of prostitutes.
Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable by up to 10 years'
imprisonment. Although rarely reported due to societal pressure, such
harassment was nevertheless a common problem.
The law provides for equality of persons, and in general,
inheritance and property rights do not discriminate against women. Men
retained the dominant role in society, although the matriarchal
tradition afforded women some rights, especially in terms of
landholding. Societal discrimination against women was most apparent in
rural areas where women had farming and childrearing duties and fewer
opportunities for education and wage employment. In urban areas growing
numbers of women were employed and generally earned wages comparable to
those of men engaged in similar work; however, few women held positions
of responsibility in business. The law does not require women to wear
head coverings, but many women faced societal pressure to do so.
Children.--The Government has not taken any specific action to
protect or promote children's welfare. Because of a lack of inspectors,
the Government does not enforce legal provisions that address the
rights and welfare of children.
Education is free and compulsory for children below the age of 16,
but the Government rarely provided public school education for children
past the age of 14. According to UNICEF, 31 percent of children
attended elementary school between 1996 and 2004. During the school
year, teacher strikes over nonpayment of salaries interrupted school
several times. Boys generally had greater access to schools than did
girls.
Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided medical care,
which was limited.
Although there are no official statistics on child abuse, it was
common, and often occurred when impoverished families sent their
children to work for wealthier families. A 2002 UNICEF study found that
child abuse, including sexual abuse, was widespread and often occurred
at home. There also were reports that teachers raped students. In
December 2005, for example, the newspaper Kashkazi reported the death
of an 11-year-old girl who had been raped by her teacher and
subsequently died in childbirth. The teacher was suspended from his
position, but no arrests were made.
Child prostitution and child pornography are illegal. The law
considers unmarried children under the age of 18 as minors, and they
are protected legally from sexual exploitation, prostitution, and
pornography. There were no statistics regarding these matters, but they
were not considered serious problems.
Child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that mandate access
to buildings for persons with disabilities or that prohibit
discrimination in employment and public services. In general, persons
with disabilities were likely to face discrimination, but specific
reports were not available relating to employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services.
In April the country's first handicapped center opened in Ikoni,
Grand Comore.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and many of those in the wage labor force did so in
practice. The wage labor force, however, was less than 7,000 persons,
of whom approximately 5,000 were government employees. Teachers, civil
servants, taxi drivers, and dockworkers were unionized. Approximately
80 percent of the population engaged in farming on small land holdings,
subsistence fishing, and local commerce.
The labor code, which was rarely enforced, does not include a
system for resolving labor disputes.
The law does not prohibit anti-union discrimination by employers in
hiring practices.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects workers from employer interference in their right to organize
and administer their unions, and the Government protected this right in
practice. Unions have the right to bargain collectively, although
employers set wages in the small private sector, and the Government,
especially the ministries of finance and labor, set them in the larger
public sector. There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and government employees
exercised this right to protest non-payment of salaries. There are no
laws protecting strikers from retribution, but there were no reported
instances of retribution.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor by adults but not by children. There were
some reports that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law defines 15 as the minimum age for employment, but the Government
did not always enforce this law. Children usually worked in subsistence
farming and fishing. Some families placed their children in the homes
of wealthier families where they worked in exchange for food, shelter,
or educational opportunities. Other forms of child labor generally were
not a problem due to the lack of wage employment opportunities. A 2000
UNICEF study found that approximately 15 percent of children were not
paid for their work. The actual number was likely higher. The
Government did not actively enforce child labor laws nor did it seek to
prevent illegal child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage. At
various times during the year, the Government did not pay civil servant
salaries (see Section 6.b.). Despite strikes and other protests, the
union government was unable to pay government employees, including low-
level government officials, teachers, and medical workers, for several
months due to budgetary difficulties.
The law specifies a workweek of 37 hours, one day off per week, and
one month of paid vacation per year. According to the law, workers
receive time-and-a-half for overtime. These laws, like many others,
were not enforced. Employers, particularly the Government, were often
remiss in paying salaries.
No safety or health standards have been established for work sites.
Workers generally could not remove themselves from an unsafe or
unhealthful situation without risking their employment.
__________
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a nominally
centralized republic with a population of approximately 60 million.
President Joseph Kabila, who came to power in 2001 after the
assassination of his father, Laurent Desire Kabila, headed a
transitional government for most of the year. It was formed in June
2003 to end five years of civil war and was composed of former
belligerent factions, including the previous government, rebel groups,
civil society, and political opposition. A new constitution, passed by
referendum in December 2005, entered into force February 18. The three-
year transitional period drew to a close with multiparty Presidential
and National Assembly elections July 30, and Presidential runoff and
provincial assembly elections October 29. Voters elected Kabila
President and gave his Alliance for the Presidential Majority (AMP)
coalition a majority of legislative seats in elections that
international observers considered credible; there had not been
democratic elections in more than 40 years. Kabila was inaugurated on
December 6, and nominated Antoine Gizenga as prime minister on December
30.
At year's end government control of certain areas of the country
remained weak, particularly in remote areas of the east, including
North and South Kivu provinces, the Ituri District of Orientale
Province, and northern Katanga Province, where a number of armed groups
continued to operate. More than 17,000 peacekeeping soldiers of the
United Nations Mission in the Congo (MONUC) continued to work in
coordination with the Congolese national army (FARDC) to limit areas of
armed group activity.
During the year the transitional government made progress
integrating control of key institutions such as the army, police, and
local administration; however, different elements of the transitional
government sometimes acted independently of, or contrary to, the
interests of others. Civilian authorities generally did not maintain
effective control of the security forces, which were poorly trained,
poorly paid, undisciplined, and committed numerous and serious human
rights abuses with impunity.
In all areas of the country, the human rights record remained poor,
and numerous serious abuses were committed. Unlawful killings,
disappearances, torture, rape, and arbitrary arrest and detention by
security forces increased during the year, and the transitional
government took few actions to punish violators. Harsh and life-
threatening conditions in prison and detention facilities; prolonged
pretrial detention; lack of an independent and effective judiciary; and
arbitrary interference with privacy, family, and home also remained
serious problems. Security forces continued to recruit and retain child
soldiers and to compel forced labor by adults and children. They also
continued to abuse press freedom, particularly during the election
campaign. Also during the campaign, broadcast stations owned by Vice
President Jean-Pierre Bemba promoted ethnic hatred. The transitional
government continued to restrict freedoms of assembly and movement;
government corruption remained pervasive; and security forces
restricted nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In addition, societal
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, trafficking in
persons, child labor, and lack of protection for workers' rights
continued to be pervasive throughout the country.
Armed groups continued to commit numerous, serious abuses--some of
which may constitute war crimes--including unlawful killings,
disappearances, and torture. They also recruited and retained child
soldiers, compelled forced labor, and committed serious sexual abuses
and other possible war crimes.
There was major improvement in one area: the country held its first
democratic national elections in more than 40 years. More than 70
percent of registered voters participated in the first round of
elections, and more than 65 percent participated in the second round. A
freely elected National Assembly took office September 24. In addition,
during the year the transitional government supported prosecution of
serious human rights abuses. It transferred a former militia leader to
the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of recruitment
of child soldiers, and a military court sentenced seven soldiers to
life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Transitional
government security forces committed numerous unlawful killings with
impunity. According to MONUC, the FARDC and the national police (PNC)
committed two-thirds of all unlawful killings in the country. During
the first six months of the year, members of the FARDC allegedly killed
more than 50 civilians, and PNC officers allegedly killed at least 10.
Transitional government security forces arbitrarily and summarily
executed civilians, often for failing to surrender their possessions or
to submit to rape.
On January 22, in Kagaba, Ituri District, FARDC soldiers of the
Fourth and Sixth Integrated Brigades allegedly shot several civilians,
killing 13, including four women and two children, and wounding two
others as they attended Sunday mass. No action was taken against the
soldiers.
On June 26, a FARDC commandant in Kongolo, Katanga Province,
allegedly killed a member of the Federation of Congolese Enterprises
after the victim refused to pay money demanded by the commandant to buy
a motorbike.
In Butembo, North Kivu Province, on July 18, FARDC soldiers of the
Second Integrated Brigade allegedly killed a civilian who attempted,
with others, to stop soldiers from extorting money from them.
In Fataki, Ituri District, a drunken FARDC soldier shot and killed
two election workers during vote counting on October 30. The families
of the victims destroyed part of nine polling centers in retribution. A
military court sentenced the soldier to death.
Transitional government security forces killed suspects during
apprehension or while holding them in custody.
For example, a FARDC commander in the Ituri District town of Dii
arrested 19 suspects in a murder case and detained them at a military
camp on January 22. One detainee allegedly died of severe mistreatment
while in detention.
An elderly man in the North Kivu Province town of Kilindera died in
custody on March 22, one day after military prosecutors arrested him in
an attempt to force him to pay a fine. The soldiers in charge of the
jail allegedly kicked him, beat him with truncheons and ropes, and
forced him to march 32 miles until he died.
On September 26, guards at Kinshasa's main prison allegedly opened
fire on prisoners while attempting to force them to return to their
cells, killing five and wounding several others. The prisoners had
rioted in reaction to a prohibition on visits by family members. There
were no reports of authorities taking action against the guards
involved.
Transitional government security forces killed demonstrators while
attempting to disperse them (see Section 2.b.).
Transitional government security forces committed other killings,
including some involving beatings and excessive force, killings during
election-related clashes, and accidental killings.
For example, in the South Kivu Province town of Panzi, three FARDC
soldiers allegedly attempting to intimidate a civilian by firing into
the air accidentally shot him in the chest, killing him on June 8.
In the Equateur Province town of Bumba, a mob burned 32 polling
stations on October 29 after bullets fired by security forces
attempting to restore order accidentally killed a 15-year-old boy and
wounded another person. The incident occurred after security forces
responded to a crowd beating the President of a voting center, who they
believed had stuffed ballot boxes. There were no reports of authorities
taking action against the security personnel involved.
From August 19 22, fighting in Kinshasa between guard forces loyal
to Vice President Bemba and security forces loyal to President Kabila
resulted in the deaths of 23 people, including several civilians.
Renewed clashes on November 11 resulted in the deaths of four people,
including three civilians.
Fighting in the east between armed groups and the army displaced
thousands of civilians, limited humanitarian access to vulnerable
populations, and resulted in or contributed to hundreds of civilian
deaths, many from illness and starvation (see Section 1.g.).
Colonel Simba Hussein, who was sentenced to death for killing a
civilian who refused to change the colonel's tire in July 2005, was
transferred to a prison in another province, from which he was paroled
during the year. There were unconfirmed reports that he had returned to
active service by year's end.
Unidentified armed men killed a journalist and may have been
politically motivated (see Section 2.a).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that
unidentified armed men in uniform forcibly entered personal residences
in Kinshasa at night to harass civilians, loot personal belongings, or
kill persons involved in personal feuds.
Armed groups operating outside government control committed
killings of civilians, and summary executions (see Section 1.g.).
During the year mob violence resulted in deaths; crowds that
gathered in public places killed civilians and soldiers.
For example, on July 27, participants in a Kinshasa campaign rally
for Vice President and Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC)
Presidential candidate Bemba killed a civilian, two soldiers, and three
police officers, including one by burning him alive. The mob injured 20
other police officers, looted the offices of the High Authority for
Media (HAM) and the National Observatory for Human Rights (ONDH), gang
raped at least one woman, and destroyed two churches and several
houses. Subsequent investigation by the ONDH assigned full blame to the
MLC for the incident. An MLC spokesman alleged the police victims had
died in a car accident.
Civilians killed members of the security forces for allegedly
committing serious crimes during the year. A mob in Mbuji Mayi, in
Eastern Kasai Province, burned a policeman to death on March 21 for
allegedly shooting and stabbing a civilian while attempting to rob the
civilian as part of an armed gang.
On August 2, a mob of 2,000 persons in the North Kivu Province town
of Katwiguru burned alive a police officer who allegedly killed a
civilian while attempting to extort money from him.
During the year parents and relatives, as well as other adults,
killed children accused of sorcery.
A father in the Equateur Province town of Zongo threw his five-
month-old baby into a river in September for alleged sorcery. Days
earlier adults in the provincial capital of Mbandaka threw a 15-year-
old boy in the river for sorcery. Police made arrests in both cases.
By year's end no prosecutions had taken place against individuals
who burned to death children accused of sorcery in Mbuji Mayi, Eastern
Kasai Province in 2005.
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances by government forces; however, security forces
allegedly abducted civilians during the year. For example, according to
MONUC, FARDC soldiers abducted four civilians from Kagaba, Ituri
District in early March and later killed them. The soldiers also raped
several women and dragged a 74-year-old woman more than 100 yards along
the ground. There were no reports of authorities taking action against
the soldiers involved.
Armed groups operating outside government control kidnapped
numerous persons, often for forced labor, military service, or sexual
services. Many of the victims disappeared (see Section 1.g.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--On June 12, the transitional government promulgated a new
law criminalizing torture; however, during the year security services
continued to torture civilians, particularly detainees and prisoners.
There were unconfirmed reports that members of the security services
tortured or abused civilians to settle personal disputes. Authorities
had taken no known action against the soldiers who committed the abuses
described below by year's end.
FARDC soldiers allegedly tortured a diamond digger in Mbuji Mayi,
Eastern Kasai Province on March 13. Three soldiers took the digger to a
cell, suspended him upside down from an electrified post, and beat him
for two hours to extract the names of ex-military groups illegally
working in the concession of the Mine of Bakwanga (MIBA) diamond
parastatal.
Republican Guard (GR) troops arbitrarily arrested and tortured 84
fishermen in Equateur Province on August 24. The soldiers allegedly
stripped, trampled, and beat the men before locking them in an
underground cell in inhuman conditions for three days. They also
confiscated the fishermen's voting cards.
In Kahorohoro, South Kivu Province, FARDC soldiers under the
command of Lieutenant Colonel Mutupeke allegedly arrested, beat,
whipped 60 times, and tortured an 18-year-old boy on September 1 to
extract confession of a crime.
Security services employed cruel, inhuman, and degrading
punishment.
On March 28, GR Lieutenant Mukalayi accused a man in Kinshasa of
denouncing the head of state and demanded $50 (26,500 Congolese francs)
as a ``fine.'' When the man failed to pay, soldiers took him to a
military camp, demanded to know if he supported opposition groups, and
reportedly struck him 50 times until he began to hemorrhage internally.
On May 21, a police officer in Kindu, Maniema Province arbitrarily
arrested a civilian working on the political campaign of the minister
of the interior. They allegedly beat the civilian seriously on his face
and genitals. The officer worked for the governor, a political opponent
of the minister. No known action had been taken against the soldiers by
year's end.
In June GR soldiers reportedly arrested and beat a journalist in
Kinshasa (see Section 2.a.)
During the year security forces killed some demonstrators and
injured others while attempting to disperse them (see Section 2.b.).
Human rights organizations reported that police and soldiers
commonly abused homeless children, stole their possessions, and paid
for sex or raped them. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), police
extorted bribes from gangs of street youths to prevent harassment and
colluded with them in crime and prostitution. Political groups
encouraged and paid homeless children and youth gangs to disrupt public
order.
At year's end there were no reports of any action taken against a
FARDC officer responsible for the November 2005 arrest, whipping, and
beating of a woman in Kambabma-Kaboneke.
Members of transitional government security forces raped civilians
with impunity.
Members of the naval and police forces committed mass rape in the
Equateur province towns of Ganda, Likako, and Likundju on March 18.
They allegedly raped 34 women and three girls, attempted to rape nine
others, tortured 50 civilians, and looted 120 houses.
PNC agents in the Equateur Province town of Bolongo committed mass
rape during the night of August 5 6 allegedly in retaliation for
opposition by the town's residents to enforcement of an arrest warrant.
The agents raped 60 women, including two girls, and looted houses and
buildings.
Members of transitional government security forces and of armed
groups operating outside government control committed torture, rape,
and otherwise physically abused numerous persons as a consequence of
conflict during the year (see Section 1.g.).
Prison and Other Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in most
large prisons were harsh and life threatening. During the year an
unknown number of persons died in prisons due to neglect; MONUC reports
indicated that at least one person died each month in prisons in the
country. The penal system continued to suffer from severe shortages of
funds, and most prisons were severely overcrowded, in poor a state of
repair, lacked sanitation facilities, or were not designed to be used
as detention facilities. Health care and medical attention remained
inadequate and infectious diseases were rampant. In rare cases, prison
doctors provided care; however, they often lacked medicines and
supplies.
In several prisons, the Government has not provided food for many
years. Many prisoners starved to death; food remained inadequate and
malnutrition widespread. In general, prisoners' families and friends
were the only source of food and other necessities. Prisoners with no
one to provide food were particularly at risk. Local NGOs reported that
authorities sometimes moved prisoners without telling families, making
the provision of food difficult or impossible. Prison staff often
forced family members to pay bribes to bring food to prisoners.
According to MONUC, two civilian detainees charged with armed
robbery died in April from infected foot wounds caused by leg irons in
Kongolo prison, Katanga Province.
Larger prisons sometimes had separate facilities for women and
juveniles, but others generally did not. Male prisoners raped other
prisoners, including men, women, and children, according to numerous
credible reports. Prison officials held pretrial detainees together
with convicted prisoners and treated both groups the same. They
generally held individuals detained on state security grounds in
special sections. Government security services often clandestinely
transferred such prisoners to secret prisons. Civilian and military
prisons and detention facilities held soldiers and civilians alike.
Harsher conditions existed in small detention facilities. These
facilities were overcrowded and generally intended for short-term
pretrial detention; in practice they were often used for lengthy stays.
Detention center authorities often arbitrarily beat or tortured
detainees. These facilities usually had no toilets, mattresses, or
medical care, and detainees often received insufficient amounts of
light, air, and water. The centers generally operated without dedicated
funding and with minimal regulation or oversight. Detention center
authorities or influential individuals frequently barred visitors or
severely mistreated detainees. Guards frequently extorted bribes from
family members and NGOs to visit detainees or provide food and other
necessities.
The security services, particularly the intelligence services and
the GR, continued to operate numerous illegal detention facilities
characterized by extremely harsh and life-threatening conditions.
Members of government security services regularly abused, beat, and
tortured detainees incarcerated there, sometimes fatally (see Sections
1.a and 1.g). Authorities routinely denied access to family members,
friends, and lawyers.
According to MONUC, military jails had makeshift cells, including
some that were located underground, that held military and sometimes
civilian detainees. MONUC confirmed multiple cases of torture in
detention centers run by security services. These facilities lacked
adequate food and water, toilets, mattresses, and medical care, and
authorities routinely denied prisoners access to their families,
friends, and lawyers.
According to a March 16 MONUC report on arrests and detentions in
prisons, government security forces and prison officials routinely
violated prisoners' and detainees' rights. Security forces lacking
legal detention authority often arrested and detained individuals.
Despite a Presidential decision to close illegal jails operated by the
military or other security forces, none were closed during the year.
The report found that 70 to 80 percent of detained persons did not see
a judge for months or years, if ever.
According to the law, minors should be detained only as a last
resort; however, in part due to the absence of juvenile justice or
education centers, detention of minors was common. Many children
endured pretrial detention as delinquents without seeing a judge,
lawyer, or social worker; for orphaned children, pretrial detention
often continued for months or years.
In March Amnesty International (AI) visited the Provincial
Inspectorship of Kinshasa, one of the main police detention centers in
the city. Out of 100 prisoners visited by AI, more than 20 showed signs
of ill-treatment, including open--and sometimes fresh--wounds on legs,
arms, and heads; cigarette burns; and friction burns on wrists. These
prisoners had received no medical care. They allegedly were daily tied
to pillars, beaten with sticks and bricks, and kicked. Those inflicting
the abuse regularly demanded money. Prison officials refused AI access
to the room where the abuses allegedly occurred. The deputy commander
of the prison claimed no knowledge of the abuse.
Armed groups sometimes detained civilians, often for ransom (see
Section 1.d.), but little information was available concerning the
conditions of detention.
In general, the Government allowed the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), MONUC, and some NGOs access to all official
detention facilities; however, it did not allow these organizations
access to illegal detention facilities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, government security forces arbitrarily
arrested and detained persons, including journalists (see Section
2.a.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of the PNC, including the Rapid Intervention Police unit and
the Integrated Police Unit, which has primary responsibility for law
enforcement and maintaining public order and is part of the Ministry of
Interior; the immigration service, also in the Ministry of the
Interior; the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), which is overseen by
the President's national security advisor and is responsible for
internal and external security; the military intelligence service of
the Ministry of Defense; the director general of migrations,
responsible for border control; the GR, which reports directly to the
presidency; and the FARDC, which is part of the Ministry of Defense and
is generally responsible for external security, but also has limited
internal security responsibilities.
The overall level of police professionalism increased noticeably
during the year; for example, recently trained police showed
considerable restraint during the July 27 violence in Kinshasa that
resulted in the death of several members of the security forces (see
Section 1.a). However, military forces generally remained ineffective,
lacked training, received little pay, and were vulnerable to
corruption.
During the year members of the police, military, and other security
forces attacked, detained, robbed, and extorted money from civilians.
According to HRW, some police officers colluded with petty criminals
and prostitutes for a share of their earnings. The transitional
government prosecuted and disciplined some violators; however, the vast
majority acted with impunity. Although mechanisms existed to
investigate violations by police, the police used them only
sporadically.
There continued to be instances where police failed to prevent or
respond to societal violence (see Section 1.a.); however, during the
year the transitional government continued to cooperate with MONUC and
members of the international community on police training programs.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law, certain police officers and
senior security officers are authorized to order arrests. Offenses
punishable by more than six months' imprisonment require warrants.
Detainees must appear before a magistrate within 48 hours. Those
arrested must be informed of their rights, must be told why they were
arrested, and must not be arrested in place of a family member. They
may not be arrested for nonpenal offenses, such as debt and civil
offenses. Arrested individuals must also be allowed to contact their
families and consult with attorneys. In practice, security officials
routinely violated all of these requirements.
Police often arbitrarily arrested and detained persons without
filing charges, often to extort money from family members. Authorities
rarely pressed charges in a timely manner and often created contrived
or overly vague charges. No functioning bail system existed, and
detainees had little access to legal counsel if unable to pay.
Incommunicado detention was common; security forces regularly held
suspects before acknowledging their detention or allowing them contact
with family or counsel.
Police arrested persons during the year for criticizing the
Government (see Section 2.a.).
Government security forces used the pretext of state security to
arbitrarily arrest individuals. They arrested and detained individuals
in the name of state security and frequently held them without charge,
presentation of evidence, access to a lawyer, or due process.
A March 16 MONUC report found widespread illegal arrest and
detention of minors, particularly street children and children
associated with armed groups. Although the recruitment or retention of
child soldiers is illegal, military authorities sometimes arrested
demobilized child soldiers on charges of desertion and tried them in
military courts. Civilian courts on occasion tried child soldiers for
possessing illegal arms, even though they had been illegally recruited
as combatants.
In June security forces in Mbuji Mayi, Eastern Kasai Province
arrested for arms possession and arbitrarily detained 12 supporters of
the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) political party (see
Section 3).
PNC agents in Equateur Province allegedly arrested, beat, and
wounded a civilian found with ripped up posters of the President on
July 15.
GR soldiers arrested two aides to Presidential candidate Mbuyi
Kalala Alfuele on July 30. The soldiers allegedly blindfolded,
handcuffed, and detained the aides at an unknown location until
releasing them without charge the following day.
On September 20, police apprehended 600 adults whom they accused of
participating in politically inspired gang violence in Kinshasa. They
also detained 180 minors, including 20 younger than five years old
apprehended with their mothers. According to MONUC, the police held
them without adequate shelter, food, or water. Human rights
organizations arranged for children under 15 to be released to their
parents. At least 130 people, including women and children, remained in
custody for more than a month without charge. Authorities released all
the remaining detainees by year's end on the order of a Kinshasa judge.
On November 12, police in Kinshasa detained without charge 250
homeless adults and 87 minors, all alleged street gang members,
following a gun battle between security forces and Vice President
Bemba's troops the day before. The adults were transported to rural
areas for forced agricultural work under a national service program;
the children were released to local NGOs.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested union leaders (see Section
6.a.).
Many individuals arrested experienced prolonged pretrial detention,
often ranging from months to years. MONUC reported that 70 to 80
percent of detainees nationwide were in pretrial detention. Prison
officials often held individuals long after their sentences had expired
due to disorganization, judicial inefficiency, or corruption. In
several instances when NGOs or MONUC brought cases to the attention of
the Government, prison officials released them. Armed groups operating
outside government control in parts of the east sometimes detained
civilians, often for ransom.
Amnesty.--In November 2005 the National Assembly passed a law
granting amnesty to individuals accused of war crimes and political
offenses committed between August 1996 and June 2003. A December 2005
Supreme Court ruling excluded amnesty for individuals allegedly
involved in the assassination of then President Laurent Kabila, which
the ruling identified as a criminal, rather than political, act.
Annie Kalumbu, jailed since 2001 for allegedly plotting against
Laurent Kabila, left prison under amnesty February 15. According to
African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO), she began
receiving death threats February 22 and went into hiding. Her
whereabouts were unknown. MONUC and the local NGO VSV alleged that at
least one other individual accused of plotting against Laurent Kabila
long before his assassination continued in detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary remained
poorly paid, ineffective, subject to influence by government officials,
and corrupt.
The civilian judicial system, including lower courts, appellate
courts, the Supreme Court, and the Court of State Security, continued
to be largely dysfunctional. Corruption remained pervasive,
particularly among magistrates, who were paid poorly and
intermittently.
Military courts, which had broad discretion in sentencing and no
appeal process, tried military as well as civilian defendants during
the year. Although the Government permitted, and in some cases
provided, legal counsel, lawyers often did not have free access to
defendants. The public could attend trials only at the discretion of
the presiding judge.
Trial Procedures.--Civil and criminal legal codes, based on Belgian
and customary law, provide for the right to a speedy public trial, the
presumption of innocence, and legal counsel. However, these rights were
not respected in practice. While some judges allowed public access to
trials, other judges, notably those presiding in rape trials, did not.
There are no juries. Defendants have the right to appeal most cases
except those involving national security, armed robbery, and smuggling,
which the Court of State Security generally adjudicates. In some
instances special military tribunals, whose jurisdiction is ill
defined, adjudicate national security cases. The law provides for
court-appointed counsel at state expense in certain cases, but the
Government often did not provide such counsel.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of political
prisoners and detainees but no reliable estimates of the number. The
Government sometimes permitted access to political prisoners by
international groups.
According to AI, on June 16, a military tribunal sentenced Fernando
Kutino and two colleagues to 20 years following a brief trial. Kutino
was originally charged with incitement to hatred after a May speech
critical of the President; following the speech, broadcast by a radio
station owned by Kutino's church, armed assailants in civilian clothes
destroyed and looted the station's equipment on May 22, forcing it off
the air. Press freedom NGO Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
alleged that the assailants were police officers. The court changed the
charge to illegal possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy, and
attempted murder (although the alleged victim refused to implicate
Kutino). AI claimed that the court used evidence extracted from
Kutino's codefendants under torture, and defense lawyers walked out
nine days before the guilty verdict to protest the conduct of the
trial. Kutino remained incarcerated at the end of the year.
On February 1, the Court of State Security sentenced Jeannete
Abidje to 12 months in prison for offenses against the head of state.
She claimed the President fathered her five-year-old daughter by raping
her during his time as a soldier. Abidje remained in prison at year's
end.
Civil Judicial Procedures.--Civil courts exist for lawsuits and
other disputes, but the public widely viewed them as corrupt.
Magistrates were poorly paid, and the party willing to pay them the
most money was generally believed to receive decisions in its favor.
Most individuals could not afford the often prohibitive fees associated
with filing a civil case. No civil court exists to address human rights
violations. Military courts had effective jurisdiction over most human
rights violations, since government security forces were the primary
violators.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy,
family, home, or correspondence; however, security forces routinely
ignored these provisions. Soldiers, deserters, and police continued to
harass and rob civilians. Security forces routinely ignored legal
requirements for search warrants and entered and searched homes or
vehicles at will. In general those responsible for such acts remained
unidentified and unpunished. Police sometimes looted homes, businesses,
and schools.
FARDC soldiers occupied a school in Bulungera, North Kivu Province
following a February campaign against the Allied Democratic Forces-
National Army for the Liberation of Uganda. They remained at the school
for three months before a visiting minister negotiated with the
regional military commander to have them relocated to an integration
center.
FARDC 891st Battalion soldiers who were allied with renegade
General Laurent Nkunda and not under central command authority occupied
a primary school, which had served 1,388 pupils in the North Kivu
Province town of Mbau, on March 30 and made it their military camp.
They used doors and desks as firewood, converted classrooms to toilets,
and looted the school's supplies. Military authorities did not
investigate. A new regional military commander promised to remove the
soldiers, but they remained in place at year's end.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that ANR security agents
monitored mail passing through private express delivery companies and
the state mail service. The Government was widely believed to monitor
some telephone communications.
Throughout the country authorities sometimes arrested or beat a
relative or associate of a person they were seeking to arrest.
For example, on April 1, in the South Kivu Province town of Uvira,
PNC officers searching unsuccessfully for a man apprehended his wife
and their infant child instead. The woman claimed the officers beat her
with a club. No known action was taken against the officers.
On August 12, ANR agents in Lubumbashi, Katanga Province arrested
two civilians in place of their employer who was accused of theft. The
agents allegedly tied up and beat one of them before a senior officer
intervened.
The officer who ordered the 2005 beating by Lubumbashi police of
Mimi Mbayo in place of her husband remained unpunished.
Armed groups operating outside government control in the east
routinely subjected civilians to arbitrary interference with privacy,
family, home, and correspondence (see Section 1.g.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Internal conflict continued in rural and mineral-rich parts of the
east, particularly in Ituri District, northern Katanga province, and
the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Unlike in the previous
year, there was no confirmation of reports of Rwanda or Uganda
providing material support to armed groups that operated and committed
human rights abuses in the country, or of the presence of Rwandan
soldiers in the country.
Security forces and numerous armed groups continued to kill abduct,
torture, and rape civilians, and burn and destroy villages. The
security forces and armed groups continued to use mass rape and sexual
violence with impunity as weapons of war and to humiliate and punish
victims, families, and communities. There were also sporadic reports of
death or injury from landmines laid during the 1998 2003 war.
Fighting between the FARDC and armed groups continued to cause
population displacements and limited access to conflict areas by
humanitarian groups. According to the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), fighting between armed groups and
the FARDC displaced more than 100,000 civilians in Katanga Province and
at least 37,000 civilians in North Kivu Province during the year.
Security forces and armed groups continued to recruit and maintain
child soldiers in their ranks. A June 13 report of the UN Secretary
General on children and armed conflict in the country, which covered
the period July 2005 to May, found continued recruitment and use of
children in security forces and armed groups. Perpetrators included
transitional government security forces, FARDC forces allied with
renegade General Nkunda and not under central command authority, Mai
Mai militia, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(FDLR).
At year's end more than 20,000 children, including nearly 3,000
girls, had been demobilized from government security services and armed
groups. NGOs estimated that as many as 30,000 children were once
associated with armed groups. Although there were no reliable
statistics, most credible sources, including the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), estimated that at least 3,000 children had yet to be
demobilized and remained in the ranks of or held by armed groups.
According to an October AI report, girls accounted for 15 to 40 percent
of the child soldiers, but in some areas they constituted less that 2
percent of child soldiers demobilized. AI attributed the discrepancy to
a belief by NGOs working with child soldiers that girls among armed
groups were either dependents or ``wives'' of adult fighters.
Recruitment of children began as young as age six, according to AI.
Some children were forcibly recruited, while others enrolled for food,
protection, or to escape poverty. Child soldiers faced violence from
older soldiers and armed conflict. They were also exploited as porters
or sex slaves.
At times, verification of reported abuses in the east was difficult
due to geographical remoteness and hazardous security conditions;
however, MONUC's presence allowed observers to gather more information
than would have otherwise been possible, and according to local NGOs,
helped decrease human rights violations by armed groups during the
year.
Abuses by Transitional Government Security Forces.--Government
forces arbitrarily arrested, raped, tortured, and summarily executed or
otherwise killed civilians and looted villages during military actions
against armed groups during the year. During the year the Government
conducted some trials for abuses committed in the context of internal
conflicts in the east. In general, the trials were flawed, and
sentences were not always enforced.
Clashes between FARDC troops and the FDLR in Nyamilima, North Kivu
Province in June resulted in the deaths of eight civilians. FARDC
soldiers allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central
command authority allegedly shot and killed three children at close
range.
On November 4, a military court sentenced a FARDC army captain to
20 years in prison for ordering the killing of five children in Ituri
District in 2005. According to MONUC he and his officers had ordered
the children to carry goods looted from their village after the FARDC
conducted an operation against Ituri militia. The captain then claimed
the children were militiamen and ordered his men to kill them.
Rape by security forces remained a serious problem. Civilian
officials prosecuted rape more frequently than military justice courts;
military perpetrators enjoyed almost total impunity. Police, army and
navy personnel, and ex-soldiers allegedly raped 32 women and two girls
and systematically looted 120 homesteads in Waka, Equateur Province on
March 19. Three suspects were arrested in June; the rest remained at
large.
During the year MONUC reported increased sexual violence by FARDC
soldiers near Uvira, South Kivu Province against girls as young as 10
years old. The commanding officer of the battalion refused to hand over
accused soldiers, although judicial authorities had issued warrants for
their arrest.
On April 12 a military court in Songo Mboyo, Equateur Province
sentenced seven former MLC militia members to life in prison for crimes
against humanity, including the December 2003 mass rape of more than
119 women. This ruling was the first judicial action against military
personnel accused of crimes against humanity. The judge also found the
transitional government responsible for the acts of the MLC soldiers.
He ordered it to pay $10,000 (5.3 million Congolese francs) to the
family of each woman who died as a result of the sexual assaults,
$5,000 (2.65 million Congolese francs) to each survivor of sexual
assault, and $3,000 (1.59 million Congolese francs) to each business
owner whose shop was looted. On October 21, five of the former militia
members escaped from Mbandaka military prison and had not been found by
year's end.
On June 20, a military court in Mbandaka, Equateur Province
convicted 42 FARDC soldiers for murders and rapes committed in 2005,
which it considered crimes against humanity.
Security forces recruited children and used them as soldiers during
the year although the exact number was not known. In March MONUC
identified 22 children among soldiers of the Fifth Integrated FARDC
Brigade in Katanga Province. It found that FARDC Captain Mulenga in
South Kivu Province had eight children in his ranks. He and his troops
had also allegedly abducted five girls that month. Authorities later
replaced the brigade's commanding officer.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that local authorities
attempted to recruit child soldiers for armed groups.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested former (demobilized) child
soldiers (see Section 1.d.).
Abuses by FARDC Forces Allied With Renegade General Nkunda and Not
Under Central Command Authority.--Renegade General Nkunda, a former
officer of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebel group and
later of the FARDC, remained subject to a September 2005 international
arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity
committed since 2002. Based in a location in North Kivu Province well
known to and monitored by the transitional government security forces
and MONUC, General Nkunda continued to control an estimated 1,500 to
2,000 FARDC soldiers who operated outside the transitional government's
central command authority, although the Government continued to pay
their salaries, at least periodically.
FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under
central command authority killed civilians during the year. Three
soldiers of the FARDC 811th Battalion, under the command of Major
Claude in Kauma, North Kivu Province, attacked and looted a farm and
forced the residents to transport the looted possessions. The soldiers
summarily executed a civilian who refused to comply.
FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under
central command authority killed demobilized soldiers during the year.
Soldiers of the 83rd Brigade beat a demobilized soldier to death on
January 25 and then crucified him on a tree, allegedly for deserting
the army and leaving the RCD political party.
In Bwiza, North Kivu Province, 20 demobilized soldiers died in an
underground holding cell in April and May after allegedly suffering
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by soldiers of the 83rd Brigade
allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central command
authority.
FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under
central command authority raped civilians during the year. Soldiers of
the Nkunda-allied FARDC 83rd Brigade raped up to 90 women during a
conflict in Kibirizi, North Kivu Province in January. MONUC interviewed
victims who claimed to have been raped by three or four soldiers, often
in front of family members, including children.
FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under
central command authority recruited children into the military.
FARDC brigades not under central command authority recruited
children for General Nkunda in North Kivu Province during the year.
Soldiers ordered new child recruits to recruit other children,
sometimes at gunpoint. At least 70 children were recruited in this way.
MONUC reported an additional 170 children present in the 84th Brigade
under Colonel Akilimali and the 85th Brigade under Colonel Samy.
FARDC elements allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under
central command authority also re-recruited children. For example,
according to MONUC, soldiers of the 835th Battalion abducted 13
demobilized children near Kitchange in Masisi (North Kivu Province) on
June 22. On July 30, these soldiers traced two ex-child soldiers to
their homes and tried to persuade them to return. Child protection NGOs
stopped reunifying children with families in Masisi due to the risk of
re-recruitment.
Abuses by Armed Groups Outside Government Control.--Armed groups
outside government control committed numerous serious abuses,
especially in rural areas of North and South Kivu provinces, northern
Katanga Province, and Ituri District.
During the year armed groups raped, tortured, and killed civilians
often as retribution for alleged collaboration with government forces.
They sometimes threatened and harassed humanitarian workers. Armed
groups killed nine UN peacekeepers during the year. Unlike in 2005,
there were no reports of armed groups imposing travel restrictions on
humanitarian aid organizations, human rights NGOs, or journalists.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of armed groups killing or
kidnapping humanitarian workers.
Armed groups continued to use mass rape and sexual violence as
weapons of war. Gang rapes were common and were often committed in
front of victims' families. Rapes were often extremely violent and were
generally accompanied by threats and beatings. These rapes sometimes
resulted in vaginal fistula, a rupture of vaginal tissue that left
women unable to control bodily functions and vulnerable to ostracism.
In some cases sexual abuses committed by various armed groups in
the east were limited in time or perpetrated sporadically, by multiple
individuals. Other girls and women were subjected to repeated rape over
longer periods by a single perpetrator; some were forcibly abducted.
These girls and women were commonly referred to as war wives, who often
served both as fighters and sex slaves for their commanders.
Armed groups, including Mai Mai, continued to abduct and forcibly
recruit children to serve as forced laborers, porters, combatants, war
wives, and sex slaves. Credible estimates of the total number of
children associated with armed groups, many of whom were between the
ages of 14 and 16, varied widely from 15,000 to 30,000 in 2005.
Credible sources estimated that at least 3,000 child soldiers had not
yet been demobilized countrywide by year's end.
Girls associated with armed groups were often assaulted, raped, and
infected with HIV/AIDS.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of uniformed
armed men recruiting Congolese children in two Rwandan refugee camps
for use as soldiers.
Armed groups continued to loot, extort, and illegally tax civilians
in areas they occupied.
There were no credible attempts by armed groups to investigate
abuses allegedly committed by their fighters since 2003 or to punish
those responsible.
The FDLR.--The FDLR, largely made up of Rwandan Hutus who fled to
the DRC in 1994 after the Rwandan genocide, continued to be led by
individuals responsible for executing and fomenting the genocide.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 FDLR fighters and their families remained in
the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. Several hundred opted to
voluntarily demobilize and return to Rwanda during the year.
FDLR fighters continued to commit abuses against civilians,
including killings, abductions, rapes, and recruitment of child
soldiers.
On January 19, MONUC issued a report on the July 2005 attack on the
South Kivu Province village of Kabingu by FDLR fighters under Commander
Kyombe in reprisal for alleged collaboration by residents with the
FARDC and MONUC. The report concluded that the troops killed more than
50 civilians, including more than 40 women and children burned alive or
hacked to death. The troops raped 11 women and abducted four girls,
killing three and compelling the fourth to become a ``war wife.'' More
than 10,000 civilians were displaced as a result of the action.
A group of FDLR fighters allegedly killed a civilian in Burugoya,
South Kivu Province on May 3 and forced five local boys to transport
the stolen items from his house. Only one boy returned to the village;
the whereabouts of the others were unknown at year's end.
According to the Congolese Initiative for Justice and Peace, on
July 23 in South Kivu Province, unidentified armed men believed to be
FDLR killed and cannibalized the body of Alphonsine Nahabatabunga, one
of several abductees.
The FDLR forcibly recruited children in North Kivu Province in
April and allegedly gave them weapons to forcibly recruit others. One
15-year-old boy recruited in Masisi said he had recruited 20 children,
and claimed 70 children already belonged to the FDLR when he joined it.
The FDLR took no known credible action to investigate or address
human rights abuses by its members.
Ituri Militia Groups.--Militias in the Ituri District of Orientale
Province, notably the Front for National Integration (FNI), the
Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC), and the Front for Patriotic
Resistance in Ituri (FPRI) continued to commit abuses against
civilians, including killings, abductions, rapes, and child soldier
recruitment.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that the Lendu-
dominated FNI and other Lendu groups in Ituri District committed
killings or rapes against civilians.
During the year more than 4,800 former combatants in Ituri District
voluntarily disarmed and joined the UN demobilization process. The
National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reinsertion
(CONADER), set up several transit sites in Ituri but was able to fund
reintegration programs for only a small number of those who had
disarmed.
According to MONUC, there were reports through August that the FNI,
MRC, and FPRI were continuing to recruit new militia fighters by force.
On October 10, the FARDC offered colonels' commissions to militia
leaders Peter Karim (FNI) and Mathieu Ngonjolo (MRC) after their
surrender in July; the transitional government promised to grant their
fighters amnesty, except for war crimes and crimes against humanity,
and promised military command positions to Karim and Ngonjolo. On
November 28, ``Cobra'' Matata (FPRI) signed a similar disarmament
agreement in exchange for amnesty.
There were no reports of Ituri militia taking any credible actions
to investigate or address human rights abuses by its members.
On March 17, the transitional government transferred custody of
Thomas Lubanga of the Ituri militia Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC)
to the ICC, which had indicted him in February for war crimes and
crimes against humanity for conscription and recruitment of child
soldiers. It did not indict him for massacres, tortures, and rapes that
human rights groups alleged he ordered.
In August a military tribunal in Ituri convicted Yves Kawa Panga
Mandro of the UPC for crimes against humanity committed in November
2002. These included setting fire to clinics, schools, and churches,
many of which were occupied.
Mai Mai.--Mai Mai militia groups in the provinces of Katanga, South
Kivu, and North Kivu continued to commit abuses against civilians,
including killings, abductions, rapes, and child soldier recruitment.
On May 12, Kyungu Mutanga Gedeon, a Mai Mai militia leader,
surrendered to MONUC in Katanga with 150 combatants, mostly child
soldiers. According to MONUC, the transitional government offered
Gedeon a command position and officer's rank with integration into the
army. He and his forces stood accused of at least a dozen summary
executions of civilians and the destruction of numerous electoral
identification cards, but at year's end he remained in Lubumbashi,
Katanga Province and neither he nor his forces had been charged with
any crime.
On July 6, MONUC issued a special report on human rights abuses
committed in the territory of Mitwaba, Katanga Province during fighting
between the FARDC and Mai Mai militia. MONUC found that between January
2005 and March, the FARDC summarily executed 33 civilians, and Mai Mai
militia summarily executed 31. At least 15 civilians suspected of being
Mai Mai disappeared and were allegedly executed by the FARDC after
detention in Mitwaba Prison in March 2005. Between 2003 and the end of
December, Mai Mai militia and the FARDC had looted and burned 24
villages in the area.
According to MONUC, Mai Mai-FARDC conflicts led to the displacement
of more than 150,000 persons in Katanga during the year.
Mai Mai militias took no known credible actions to investigate or
address human rights abuses by their members.
Abuses by UN Peacekeepers.--During the year there were a few
allegations of sexual abuse committed by MONUC's civilian and military
personnel. MONUC reported that less that 0.1 percent of all military
and fewer than 2 percent of all civilian personnel were accused of
sexual exploitation and abuse during the year.
There was only one serious incident potentially involving MONUC
peacekeepers during the year. In August media outlets reported the
existence of a child prostitution ring in South Kivu Province involving
peacekeepers and FARDC soldiers. Investigations by MONUC found that
most patrons were Congolese soldiers. The MONUC force commander
declared brothels off-limits and reinforced military police. The
allegations were referred to the UN Office of Internal Oversight
Services, and investigations were ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the transitional government
restricted these rights in practice and continued to violate press
freedom during the year. There were several reports of security forces
attacking, arresting, detaining, threatening, or harassing journalists.
Authorities ordered several radio and television stations to
temporarily cease operations for violating the media code of conduct,
particularly during the election campaign.
Individuals could privately criticize the transitional government,
its officials, and private citizens without being subject to official
reprisals, and during the year such criticism frequently appeared in
the media; however, security forces arrested, detained, and harassed
politicians and other high-profile figures for criticizing the
President or other members of the transitional government (see Sections
1.d., 3, and 6.a.).
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports of human rights activists
self-censoring their reports of human rights abuses because of fear of
arrest.
On September 25, the Kindu ANR arrested Shakodi Fazili, President
of a civil society organization in Maniema Province, on the order of
the province's governor, Koloso Sumaili. Sumaili had accused Fazili of
exhorting the population to withhold taxes after Vice Governor Boniface
Yemba claimed the governor was stealing from the provincial treasury.
The ANR released Fazili 12 hours later following the personal
intervention of the President.
Theodore Ngoy, charged with insulting the head of state in December
2005, remained in detention until March, when he escaped from a court
hearing and found refuge in the South African Embassy. The court in
which he was charged became defunct with the promulgation of the new
constitution on February 18, and all charges against him were dropped
by July 30. He remained free at year's end.
A large and active private press functioned throughout the country,
and a large number of daily newspapers were licensed to publish. The
transitional government required every newspaper to pay a $500 (265,000
Congolese francs) license fee and complete several administrative
requirements before publishing. Many journalists lacked professional
training, received little if any salary, and were vulnerable to
manipulation by wealthy individuals, government officials, and
politicians who provided cash or other benefits to encourage certain
types of articles. While many newspapers remained critical of the
transitional government, many showed bias toward it or particular
political parties. Although there was no official newspaper, the
Government press agency published the Daily Bulletin, which included
news reports, decrees, and official statements.
Radio remained the most important medium of public information due
to limited literacy and the relatively high cost of newspapers and
television. Numerous privately owned radio and television stations
operated, in addition to two state-owned radio stations and one state-
owned television station. The President's family and one vice President
owned and operated their own television stations. Political parties
represented in the transitional government could generally gain access
to state radio and television.
Foreign journalists sometimes could not operate freely in the
country due to actions by security forces or other individuals.
Security forces arrested, harassed, intimidated, and beat
journalists because of their reporting. Unlike in the previous year,
there were no reports of security forces killing or kidnapping
journalists.
The GR in Kisangani assaulted and beat Anselme Masua of MONUC's
Radio Okapi after he entered an army camp on April 24, although he had
clearly identified himself as a journalist before doing so. By year's
end there were no reports of authorities taking action against the GR
soldiers responsible for the beating.
On June 10, a FARDC officer in the eastern town of Kabambare,
Captain Kengo Lengo, destroyed the broadcast equipment of Tujenge
Kabambare, a community radio station, temporarily knocking it off the
air after it had alleged abuses by the FARDC. The officer later
defended his action by claiming that the station's director had failed
to answer a summons.
According to MONUC and Voice of the Voiceless (VSV), GR soldiers
arrested a journalist in Kinshasa on June 25 and handcuffed him, beat
him with cords, and subjected him to cruel, inhuman, and degrading
treatment for five hours. They then detained him for three days at a
military camp, Camp Tshatshi, and accused him of possessing an
inflammatory photo showing President Kabila with Rwandan President
Kagame. There were no reports of authorities taking any action against
the soldiers.
On July 3, the transitional government expelled from the country
Radio France International journalist Ghislaine Dupont. According to
CPJ, Dupont was known to be critical of the President.
PNC officers detained two foreign journalists, Arnaud Zajtman of
the BBC and Marlene Rabaud of Reuters, pointed a machine gun at them,
and held them in a police car for three hours and then in a jail
overnight on October 26 before releasing them. The journalists were
covering a prison riot in Kinshasa.
Police arrested two journalists in Kinshasa between November 21 and
25 following the destruction of the Supreme Court building by a pro-
Bemba mob: Clement Nku, a cameraman for Vice President Bemba's Canal
Congo Television (CCTV), and Mbaka Bosange, a reporter for the weekly
newspaper Mambenga. Police arrested Nku after he filmed police officers
abandoning their uniforms and equipment to flee the mob. By year's end,
Nku was released but Bosange remained in jail.
The trial of three FARDC soldiers accused of committing the
November 2005 killings of journalist Frank Ngyke and his wife in
Kinshasa was repeatedly postponed on technical grounds, and no verdict
had been delivered by year's end. Two members of press freedom NGO
Journalist in Danger (JED) claimed they received death threats in
January after publishing the results of their investigation of the
killings.
The 2005 robbing and attempted killing of Radio Okapi journalist
Jean Ngandu by uniformed soldiers remained under investigation at
year's end.
There was no additional information available on Jean-Marie Kanku,
who was released on bail in 2005 after being charged with disseminating
false information.
No action was taken against security forces who beat or harassed
journalists in 2005, including the PNC officers who beat radio editor
Kawanda Bakiman Nkorabishen, or in 2004.
The HAM, a quasi-governmental organization mandated by the
transitional constitution, imposed sanctions on both privately owned
and state-owned media during the year, particularly during the election
campaign, for inciting ethnic hatred or violence and for violating
media regulations intended to ensure balanced electoral reporting. The
sanctions included broadcast suspensions of several days or weeks.
On July 19, the HAM suspended six television stations, including
government-owned outlets, for 72 hours for violating regulations on
electoral reporting.
On August 16, the HAM placed 24-hour sanctions on Vice President
Bemba's CCTV, state-owned National Radio-Television (RTNC-1), and the
pro-Kabila Radio TV Armee de l'Eternel (RTAE) for inciting violence.
The suspensions were a result of RTAE's presentation of footage of the
lynching and torture of police officers at a July 27 campaign rally for
Vice President Bemba in Kinshasa (see Section 1.a.); RTNC-1's extensive
coverage of the police officers' funeral, during which the minister of
the interior blamed the killings on Vice President Bemba's MLC party;
and CCTV's presentation of footage of a 1998 bombing by then President
Laurent Kabila's forces in Equateur Province.
The HAM limited the number of print and broadcast media that could
cover the official electoral campaign to those specifically accredited
to do so by the HAM.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of police
seizing newspapers from street vendors.
The transitional government used criminal libel laws to suppress
criticism of political leaders, usually the head of state, and limit
press freedom.
On June 8, authorities in Tshikapa, Western Kasai Province arrested
Pierre-Sosthene Kambidi, a journalist for radio station Concorde FM,
after he allegedly defamed a police commander during a June 7 broadcast
by accusing him of committing police brutality. On June 10, a court
convicted Kambidi of defamation and sentenced him to three months in
jail. Pending appeal of his conviction, the court released Kambidi on
June 14 after he posted $50 (26,500 Congolese francs) bail. Community
radio stations throughout the country stopped broadcasting on June 17
to protest the conviction and other press freedom cases. No further
information was available at year's end.
On May 30, the Court of State Security found Patrice Booto, the
editor of Le Journal arrested in November 2005, guilty of insulting the
head of state and sentenced him to six months in prison and a $500
(265,000 Congolese francs) fine. The charge stemmed from an article
that Booto published claiming--without evidence--that the President
gave $30 million to Tanzania for its education budget while the
transitional government remained in a payment dispute with teachers. On
July 27, after Booto paid the fine and spent nine months in jail, an
appeals court found him guilty of reporting false information but
acquitted him of insulting the head of state, resulting in his release
on August 3.
During the year there were reports of unidentified persons killing
a journalist; kidnapping, beating, threatening, and harassing other
journalists; and forcing at least one radio station to temporarily
close.
For example, Kabeya Pindi Pasi, a television journalist and
President of the Congolese National Press Union, received anonymous
death threats on May 16 after he reported alleged human rights abuses
by Vice President Bemba and the MLC. He fled the country but returned
shortly thereafter.
On July 8, unidentified armed persons killed freelance newspaper
journalist Louis Bapuwa Mwamba after forcibly entering his Kinshasa
home. The day before his death, daily newspaper Le Phare had published
a commentary by Mwamba criticizing authorities and the international
community for what he deemed to be the failure of the country's
political transition. It was not clear whether the killing was
politically motivated; local sources said the attackers took only
Mwamba's cell phone. On July 25, authorities in the southwestern port
city of Matadi arrested and detained a former soldier, Vungu Mbembe,
and two civilians, Mangenele Lowawi and Kunku Makwala Sekula, and
charged them with Mwamba's murder. No trial date had been set by year's
end.
On October 12, unidentified armed men destroyed broadcast antennas
at a private television station owned by Vice President Bemba in the
Katanga province town of Lubumbashi, according to JED.
Internet Freedom.--The transitional government did not restrict
access to the Internet or monitor e-mail or Internet chat rooms.
Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views
via the Internet, including by e-mail. Private entrepreneurs made
Internet access available at moderate prices through Internet cafes in
large cities throughout the country. Poor infrastructure and high
prices limited the ability of all but the wealthiest to have Internet
access in their homes.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in the previous year,
the transitional government did not restrict academic freedom or
cultural events.
In October the HAM ordered radio stations not to broadcast campaign
songs that called for violence; no stations were sanctioned during the
year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for the right of freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the
transitional government restricted this right in practice. The
transitional government treated the right to assemble as subordinate to
maintenance of public order and continued to require all organizers of
public events to inform local authorities before holding a public
event. According to the law, organizers are authorized to hold an event
unless the local government denies authorization in writing within five
days of notification. Security forces often dispersed unregistered
protests, marches, or meetings and sometimes dispersed authorized
protests and marches.
Security forces restricted the rights of several political party
members to organize, hold protests, campaign, and publicize their views
(see Section 3). Some domestic human rights NGOs claimed to have been
harassed and monitored by members of the security forces (see Section
4).
During the year transitional government security forces killed
demonstrators while dispersing crowds. There were no reports of
authorities taking action to address these killings.
On May 4, FARDC soldiers in Bukavu, South Kivu Province fired on a
crowd protesting insecurity in the city. A child, Noelle Buhendwa, was
killed by shots fired by a FARDC captain.
On July 11, police dispersed a peaceful demonstration in Kinshasa.
Although organizers had informed local authorities as required, the
governor of Kinshasa had not authorized the demonstration and ordered
police to halt it. One civilian lost most of his fingers to a tear gas
canister explosion, and another fell into a coma after breathing tear
gas.
On June 30, heavily armed FARDC soldiers in the Bas-Congo Province
town of Matadi fired indiscriminately at a demonstration by Bundu Dia
Kongo (BDK) separatists after a BDK member attacked and killed a
soldier. The soldiers killed 13 civilians and injured 20. The ONDH
issued a report assigning responsibility for the deaths to the
commander of the Second Military Region who, believing the protesters
were armed, had deployed FARDC troops. ONDH also blamed the BDK for
violating the law requiring advance notification of rallies.
The transitional government took no known action against security
forces responsible for using excessive force against demonstrators in
2005.
During the year police occasionally arrested demonstrators.
On September 11, police arrested 10 civilians in Tshikapa, Western
Kasai Province, during a peaceful demonstration about which they had
informed the local administration 48 hours before. Authorities detained
the 10 for 24 hours and released them the next day.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, in practice the transitional government sometimes
restricted this right. During the year the transitional government
sometimes harassed political parties, including party leaders, and
restricted the registration of at least one political party (see
Section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice, provided that worshipers did not disturb public order or
contradict commonly held morals.
The law provides for the establishment and operation of religious
institutions and requires practicing religious groups to register with
the Government; registration requirements were simple and implemented
in a nondiscriminatory manner. In practice unregistered religious
groups operated unhindered.
In June FARDC soldiers fired on a demonstration by the separatist
group BDK after adherents attacked and killed a soldier (see Section
2.b.). The BDK, an ethnically based spiritual and political movement
that continued to call for the establishment of an ``ethnically pure''
kingdom of the Bakongo people, remained outlawed for its separatist,
political goals and its implication in acts of violence.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of violence against
missionaries.
During the year the Government banned all religious radio and
television stations from broadcasting political and news programs
because these were not consistent with their licenses. In practice the
stations did not comply with the ban and were not sanctioned.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of the HAM
suspending a religious broadcast station.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has a very small
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for freedom of movement
within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation;
however, the transitional government occasionally restricted these
rights.
Security forces established barriers and checkpoints on roads, at
ports, airports, and markets, ostensibly for security reasons, and
routinely harassed and extorted money from civilians for supposed
violations, sometimes detaining them until a relative paid. The
transitional government forced travelers to pass through immigration
procedures during domestic travel at airports, lake ports, and when
entering and leaving towns.
Local authorities in North and South Kivu Provinces routinely
required travelers to present official travel orders from an employer
or transitional government official.
The significant risk of rape perpetrated by uniformed men
restricted freedom of movement by women in many areas.
Armed groups in the east restricted or prevented freedom of
movement during the year. They also harassed travelers and often raped
women.
Passport issuance was irregular and often required payment of
significant bribes. The law requires married women to have their
husband's permission in order to travel outside the country; however,
there were no reports that the transitional government prevented
particular groups from acquiring passports.
Dissident politician Joseph Olenghankoy, whose passport was
temporarily confiscated in 2005 and who subsequently left the country,
returned and ran for President and subsequently managed Vice President
Bemba's second-round Presidential campaign.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the
transitional government used forced exile.
The Government did not restrict emigration or prohibit the return
of citizens who had left the country.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of mistreatment
of repatriated asylum seekers.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--As of June 30, MONUC
estimated there were approximately 1.1 million IDPs, concentrated in
the east, particularly in North Kivu Province (see Section 1.g.).
Military operations conducted by the FARDC with MONUC support
against armed groups outside government control led to internal
displacement of many persons during the year. Attacks on local
populations by armed groups also caused significant displacements (see
Section 1.g).
The transitional government did not provide protection or
assistance to IDPs, who continued to rely exclusively on humanitarian
organizations for assistance. The transitional government generally
allowed domestic and international humanitarian organizations to
provide assistance to IDPs. Fighting between the FARDC and armed groups
sometimes restricted the ability of humanitarian organizations to
assist IDPs (see Section 1.g.). The transitional government did not
attack or target IDPs, nor did it forcibly return or resettle IDPs
under dangerous conditions. However, in April MONUC reported that FARDC
soldiers had subjected numerous IDPs to forced labor in cassiterite
mines in Mitwaba, Katanga Province.
On several occasions, armed groups denied access to IDPs by
humanitarian organizations or obstructed their ability to deliver
supplies (see Section 1.g.).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
transitional government had established a rudimentary system for
providing protection to refugees. In practice, it granted refugee and
asylum status and provided protection against refoulement, the return
to a country where individuals feared persecution.
The transitional government provided temporary protection to an
undetermined number of individuals who may not have qualified as
refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
The transitional government cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Two Sudanese claiming to be refugees accused the border patrol of
arbitrarily detaining them. They were released the same day. A MONUC
investigation was unable to verify their status as refugees.
Transitional government authorities did not provide adequate
security to refugees.
Unlike in the previous year there were no reports that uniformed
armed men recruited children in refugee camps for use as soldiers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change their government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through credible Presidential, parliamentary, and provincial elections
based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Nearly 18 million of 25
million registered voters participated in the July 30 Presidential and
parliamentary elections. More than 15 million voters participated in
the October 29 Presidential run-off and provincial elections. Voters
elected Kabila President on October 29 with 58 percent of the run-off
vote; his opponent, Vice President Bemba, received 42 percent. The top
three vote-receiving parties in the national legislative elections were
the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy, allied with
President Kabila; Vice President Bemba's MLC party; and Gizenga's
United Lumumbist Party, which subsequently entered into coalition with
the AMP. Parties affiliated with President Kabila's AMP coalition won
majorities in eight of the 11 provincial assemblies.
The Carter Center and the European Union (EU) Observer Mission both
judged the July 30 and October 29 votes credible. The Carter Center
said the elections were ``very well executed'' and expressed confidence
that the results announced by the country's Independent Electoral
Commission (CEI) were ``consistent with the results obtained in the
polling stations.'' However, both organizations reported some
irregularities in the July 30 and October 29 votes related to the
campaign period, voting procedures, and the collection of election
materials. The Carter Center noted instances of disruption or attempted
manipulation of the electoral process but said that they appeared
``isolated and unlikely to affect the overall success of the vote.''
The Carter Center identified deficiencies in voting and ballot
collection procedures in the first round of voting. The Carter Center
and the EU noted substantial progress in correcting these deficiencies
prior to the second round.
The Supreme Court dismissed claims by Vice President Bemba that
massive fraud had occurred during the October 29 vote and subsequent
count. Both the Carter Center and the EU confirmed that irregularities
had occurred and involved both sides but that those irregularities were
not of a magnitude to change the Presidential election's outcome.
African election observers also judged the July 30 and October 29
elections credible. The African Union found that any irregularities
were not serious enough to undermine the credibility of the elections.
The Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum said the
elections conformed to regional electoral norms and standards. The
Electoral Institute of Southern Africa and the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa both stated that voters were able to
express their democratic choices without hindrance.
There were reports of isolated cases of violence, including two
accidental killings by security forces, but there was no evidence to
suggest that the violence was intended to prevent, or that it
prevented, citizens from voting. However, there were also reports of
interference with voting rights. For example, some members of the
security forces in the provinces of Katanga and North Kivu allegedly
confiscated electoral cards and demanded cash for their return before
the July 30 elections.
In July participants in a Kinshasa campaign rally for MLC
Presidential candidate Bemba killed a civilian and members of security
forces, destroyed property, and committed rape (see Section 1.a.).
On October 29, a crowd burned down several polling stations in
Equateur Province after security forces accidentally killed a bystander
(see Section 1.a.).
MONUC reported that on October 29, FARDC soldiers stopped a group
of more than 200 citizens on their way to vote and subjected them to
physical abuse in Aveba, Ituri District. In Nizi, also in Ituri
District, FARDC soldiers established a checkpoint and demanded money
from travelers, including citizens on their way to vote. In both cases,
the FARDC regional military commander arrested several soldiers for
their actions. No additional information was available at year's end.
On November 21, after Vice President Bemba's attorneys formally
contested the provisional election results, Bemba's supporters set the
Supreme Court building on fire. UN forces restored order after riot
police fled the scene. Bemba supporters beat one police officer. The
Supreme Court confirmed the election results on November 27, and Vice
President Bemba agreed to abide by the results.
Some privately owned and state broadcast stations provided overtly
biased, unbalanced, or false election coverage favoring certain
candidates. The HAM sanctioned state and privately owned broadcast
stations during the campaign for inciting ethnic hatred or violence and
for violating media regulations intended to ensure balanced electoral
reporting. The HAM sanctioned stations favoring Vice President Bemba
more frequently than stations favoring President Kabila, and most
observers said they believed that pro-Kabila stations also violated the
media code of conduct and were sanctioned, but they did not commit as
many infractions as pro-Bemba stations did (see Section 2.a.). On
numerous occasions during the campaign, broadcast stations owned by
Bemba or his supporters promoted ethnic hatred. Vice President Bemba's
campaign used ethnic slurs in reference to President Kabila and alleged
that Kabila, who spent part of his youth outside the country, was a
foreigner.
Candidates standing for election who already held positions in the
transitional government--particularly those who owned private broadcast
stations--had considerably more access to media than those who did not.
Political Parties.--Individuals could freely declare their
candidacies and stand for election as long as they legally registered.
During the year the CEI disallowed the registration of five political
parties for technical reasons, but registered more than 200 other
political parties.
Unlike in previous years, the Government did not require political
parties to apply for permits to hold press conferences.
Security forces restricted the rights of several politicians,
including members of the transitional government, to organize, protest,
campaign, and publicize their views.
On May 24, security forces surrounded the homes of 11 Presidential
candidates prior to a planned protest, allegedly for their security.
Security forces denied entry and exit of all persons throughout the
day.
On June 27, the ANR arrested 12 UDPS party members for arms
possession and arbitrarily detained them in a military camp in Mbuji
Mayi, Eastern Kasai Province. Four were released on June 29, four on
July 1, and four on July 29. No charges were ever brought against those
arrested. The UDPS boycotted the electoral process and some of its
members initiated and threatened violence against would-be voters in
the Kasai provinces before and during the first round of voting.
MONUC reported that ANR officers in Kalemie and Lubumbashi, Katanga
Province, and Uvira, South Kivu Province, made more than 30 arrests for
political reasons and mistreated and tortured some of the detainees who
were members or supporters of political parties. There were no reports
of authorities taking action against those responsible for these
actions.
A North Kivu local administrator and PNC officers allegedly
prevented a delegation of the Christian Federalist Democracy-Convention
of Federalists for Christian Democracy alliance from campaigning after
6 p.m. on July 18. The officers allegedly tried to extort money from
the delegation and banned them from campaigning in the area of Luofu,
North Kivu Province.
AMP candidates and campaigners alleged that the FARDC 83rd Brigade,
which was allied with renegade General Nkunda and not under central
command authority, threatened them with violence and prevented them
from campaigning on July 18. A later agreement between Nkunda, MONUC,
and the CEI to allow AMP campaigning for the second round of
Presidential elections was not consistently respected by Nkunda's
forces (see Section 1.g).
On July 30, GR soldiers reportedly arrested two aides to a
Presidential candidate and kept them blindfolded at an unknown location
for a day (see Section 1.d.).
Five of 36 appointed cabinet ministers and three of 24 appointed
vice ministers in the transitional government were women. Women held 60
of the 620 appointed seats in the transitional parliament and 42 of 500
seats in the newly elected National Assembly.
During the year one Tutsi, from North Kivu Province, was elected to
the National Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained
endemic throughout the transitional government and security forces. The
public perceived the transitional government to be widely corrupt at
all levels. According to NGO Transparency International (TI), both
resident and nonresident experts perceived corruption among the
country's public officials to be ``rampant,'' the most severe
assessment designation used by TI.
Weak financial controls and lack of a functioning judicial system
encouraged officials to engage in corruption with impunity. Many civil
servants, police, and soldiers had not been paid in years, received
irregular salaries, or did not earn enough to support their families,
all of which encouraged corruption. For example, local authorities
continued to extort ``taxes'' and ``fees'' from boats traveling on many
parts of the Congo River.
The mining sector lost millions of dollars to widespread theft,
corruption, and fraud involving government officials. According to a
July report by Global Witness, transitional government officials
actively colluded with trading companies to circumvent control
procedures and payment of taxes, extorting large sums of money in a
system of institutionalized corruption. HRW reported that armed groups,
government officials and, increasingly, military officers continued to
profit from the illegal exploitation of the country's mineral
resources, often in collusion with foreign interests.
The Government took some steps to combat corruption. For example,
in February, the National Assembly's Lutundula Commission, named for
its chairman, released a report detailing corruption in the awarding of
60 wartime mining and business contracts. The report implicated many
senior politicians, some of whom were fired from high-ranking positions
as a result. The report was funded by the World Bank and was widely
available on the Internet, but its findings and recommendations were
not debated by the Assembly. According to HRW, some commission members
said they received death threats.
The law requires the post-transition President and ministers to
disclose their assets. The President did so following his December
inauguration.
There continued to be an Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, but
it had little impact during the year and lacked resources,
independence, and credibility.
Through the use of defamation laws that carry criminal punishments,
transitional government authorities and wealthy individuals sometimes
restricted the freedom of press and speech on occasions when the media
investigated or made accusations of government corruption.
The law does not provide for public access to government-held
information, and in practice the Government did not grant access to
government documents for citizens or noncitizens, including foreign
media, although there were no reports of requests for access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights
organizations investigated and published findings on human rights
cases. The Human Rights Ministry and the ONDH worked with NGOs and
MONUC during the year and responded to their requests and
recommendations. However, security forces harassed and arrested
domestic human rights advocates, and prison officials sometimes
obstructed NGO access to detainees.
The main Kinshasa-based domestic human rights organizations
included ASADHO, VSV, Groupe Jeremie, the Committee of Human Rights
Observers, and the Christian Network of Human Rights and Civic
Education Organizations. Prominent organizations operating in areas
outside Kinshasa included Heirs of Justice in Bukavu, South Kivu
Province; Lotus Group and Justice and Liberation in Kisangani,
Orientale Province; and Justice Plus in Bunia, Ituri District. The
transitional government's human rights bodies met with domestic NGOs
and sometimes responded to their inquiries but took no known actions.
For example, according to MONUC, armed men, who were believed to be
soldiers of the FARDC 813th battalion allied with renegade General
Nkunda and not under central command authority, abducted and killed a
local NGO member in the North Kivu Province town of Masisi; the person
was reportedly killed for calling on soldiers to join the
demobilization process.
VSV President Floribert Chebeya Bahizire and Vice President Dolly
Mbunga alleged that the ANR placed them under continuous surveillance
after they disseminated a posters intended to persuade citizens not to
vote in the general elections. VSV alleged that the ANR monitored
visitors and members at the VSV office. On July 26, VSV closed its
Kinshasa office, and both leaders went into hiding. By year's end, they
had resumed their positions.
The case of two FARDC soldiers arrested for killing human rights
activist Pascal Kabungula Kibembi in Bukavu, South Kivu Province in
July 2005 remained unresolved, and neither soldier remained in custody.
There were reports that local NGOs which did not pay bribes to
local officials were subjected to lengthy registration requirements.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of domestic NGOs censoring
their own reports about human rights abuses or corruption by
authorities.
During the year unidentified armed men threatened and harassed NGO
members, particularly in the east.
For example, according to HRW, two domestic human rights activists
in the North Kivu town of Goma, Richard Bayunda and Sheldon Hangi,
received threatening telephone calls in January and February.
Unidentified armed men also came to their homes at night on one
occasion in February but were unable to gain entry. The two activists
had returned after fleeing the country in 2005 following death threats.
On March 18, a member of the National Union of Federalists of the
Congo political party threatened Hubert Tshiswaka, director of Action
against Impunity for Human Rights, after he issued a press release
calling on citizens not to vote for human rights violators. On April 1,
he received a death threat via an anonymous phone call, according to
AI.
According to MONUC, a domestic human rights activist in Ituri
District received anonymous death threats between July 5 and July 10,
allegedly because of his cooperation with MONUC and the ICC in the
Thomas Lubanga case.
The transitional government generally cooperated with international
NGOs, which published several reports on human rights and humanitarian
issues, and permitted them access to conflict areas. However, there
were some exceptions.
For example, in September the ANR detained the head of the Bukavu
office of the International Rescue Committee, Sylvie Louchez, and
demanded to see several identification and registration papers before
releasing her. In October the ANR detained the head of the Bukavu
office of the NGO War Child for seven hours. The NGO paid a bribe to
secure her release.
During the year unidentified persons threatened members of
international NGOs. For example, a senior researcher for HRW reported
that she and other staff members regularly received anonymous death
threats following the publication of reports on human rights violations
during the year.
The transitional government cooperated with multilateral
organizations and permitted international humanitarian agencies access
to conflict areas. A number of senior UN officials visited the country
during the year, including Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping
Jean-Marie Guehenno and Under Secretary General for Political Affairs
Ibrahim Gambari.
On June 13, the UN Security Council received a report of the UN
Secretary General on children and armed conflict in the country (see
Section 1.g.).
On March 16, MONUC issued reports on the detention of children and
justice for minors (see Section 5) and on arrests and detentions in
prisons (see Section 1.d.).
MONUC also issued special reports on human rights violations and
abuses committed in the territory of Mitwaba, Katanga in 2005 and on
the attack on Kabingu village in South Kivu Province in July 2005 (see
Section 1.g).
UN officials freely criticized actions by the transitional
government during the year.
Armed groups killed nine UN peacekeepers during the year (see
Section 1.g.).
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of armed groups in the east
imposing travel restrictions on humanitarian aid workers or local NGOs.
The transitional constitution mandated an independent ONDH and a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Both entities lacked resources and
were generally regarded as ineffective. Although the transitional
government did not actively interfere with their investigations,
neither did it cooperate with them.
On August 8, the ONDH reported its findings on two incidents: the
transitional government's use of force against BDK adherents in June
(see Section 2.b.) and mob violence associated with an election rally
in Kinshasa on July 27 (see Section 1.a.).
During the year, the transitional government cooperated with the
ICC, which continued conducting investigations into war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed in the country since July 2002. In
March the Government transferred to the ICC custody of an Ituri militia
leader indicted for recruitment of child soldiers (see Section 1.g.).
The Government continued to cooperate with the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). ICTR investigators operated freely
in areas under government control, seeking a number of individuals
indicted for involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide whom they
believed might be in the DRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnicity, sex,
or religious affiliation; however, the Government did not enforce these
prohibitions effectively, in part because it lacked appropriate
institutions.
Women.--Domestic violence against women occurred throughout the
country; however, there were no statistics available regarding its
extent. Although the law considers assault a crime, it does not
specifically address spousal abuse, and police rarely intervened in
domestic disputes. Judges set the penalties for those convicted of
assault, and the laws establish minimum penalties. There were no
reports of judicial authorities taking action in cases of domestic or
spousal abuse.
The law criminalizes rape, but the Government did not effectively
enforce this law. On June 22, the transitional parliament approved a
new sexual violence law, which broadened the definition of rape to
include male victims, and which addressed sexual slavery, sexual
harassment, forced pregnancy, and other sexual crimes not previously
covered by law. It also increased penalties for sexual violence,
prohibited compromise fines, allowed victims of sexual violence to
waive appearance in court, and permitted closed hearings to protect
confidentiality. The law neither mentions sexual violence in marriage
nor prohibits spousal rape.
Rape was common throughout the country; however, there were no
available statistics regarding its prevalence. The minimum penalty
prescribed for rape was a prison sentence of five to 12 years.
Prosecutions for rape and other types of sexual violence remained rare.
It was common for family members to instruct a rape victim to keep
quiet about the incident, even to health care professionals, to
safeguard the reputations of the victim and her family. The press
rarely reported incidents of violence against women or children; press
reports of rape generally appeared only if it occurred in conjunction
with another crime, or if NGOs reported on the subject.
Girls and women who had been raped often found it difficult to find
husbands, and married women who were raped were often abandoned by
their husbands.
Some families forced rape victims to marry the men who raped them
or to forego prosecution in exchange for money or goods from the
rapist.
Transitional government security forces, armed groups, and
civilians perpetrated widespread rape against women and girls (see
Section 1.g).
Victims and experts cited widespread impunity as the main reason
sexual violence continued. A small number of sexual violence cases,
mostly committed by civilians, have been brought to court. In general,
however, most victims did not have sufficient confidence in the justice
system to pursue formal legal action for fear of subjecting themselves
to further humiliation and possible reprisal.
The law does not prohibit female genital mutilation (FGM), and FGM
was rarely practiced.
The constitution prohibits forced prostitution and bans
prostitution of children under age 18. Although there were no available
statistics regarding its prevalence, adult and child prostitution
occurred throughout the country, and there were reports of women and
girls pressured or forced to engage in prostitution by their families.
Security forces encouraged prostitution and used prostitutes, and there
were unconfirmed reports that security forces harassed and raped
prostitutes.
There were reports that women were trafficked (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment occurred throughout the country; however, no
statistics existed regarding its prevalence. The new sexual violence
law prohibits sexual harassment, and the minimum penalty prescribed by
law is a prison sentence of one to 20 years; however, by year's end
judicial authorities had yet to bring charges in a single case.
Women did not possess the same rights as men. The law requires a
married woman to obtain her husband's consent before engaging in legal
transactions, including selling or renting real estate, opening a bank
account, and applying for a passport. Under the law women who committed
adultery may be sentenced to up to one year in prison; male adultery is
punishable only if judged to have ``an injurious quality.''
Women experienced economic discrimination. The law forbids women
from working at night or accepting employment without their husband's
consent. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women
often received less pay in the private sector than men doing the same
job and rarely occupied positions of authority or high responsibility.
Children.--The Government budgeted little for children's welfare
and did not make it a priority. Primary school education was not
compulsory, free, or universal, and very few functioning government-
funded schools existed. Most schooling was provided by religious
organizations. Public and private schools expected--but did not
require--parents to pay fees as contributions to teachers' salaries. In
practice, parents funded 80 to 90 percent of school expenses. These
expected contributions, plus the loss of labor while the child was in
school, meant that many parents could not afford to enroll their
children. According to the United Nations Development Program,
approximately 3.5 million primary school-age children and more than six
million adolescents did not attend school during the year. Attendance
rates for girls were lower because many parents with meager financial
resources preferred to send their sons to school. Barely half of all
children reached grade five, and less than 1 percent of primary school
children went on to complete secondary education.
The law prohibits all forms of child abuse. Its extent was unknown
and had not been investigated. The constitution prohibits parental
abandonment of children due to the children's alleged practice of
sorcery; such accusations led to cases of child abandonment, child
abuse, and killings (see Section 1.a.). Although authorities made a few
arrests related to child abandonment and abuse during the year, no
cases had been prosecuted by year's end. NGOs concluded that that 60 to
70 percent of the country's more than 50,000 homeless children were
abandoned by their families after being accused of sorcery. Many
churches in the capital, Kinshasa, conducted exorcisms of children
involving isolation, beating and whipping, starvation, and forced
ingestion of purgatives.
FGM was rarely practiced.
The law prohibits marriage of girls under age 15 and boys under 18;
however, marriages of girls younger than 15 sometimes took place, some
involving girls under 13. Dowry payments greatly contributed to
underage marriage. In some cases parents married off a daughter against
her will to collect a dowry or to finance a dowry for a son to give to
his future wife. The newly enacted sexual violence law criminalizes
forced marriage. It subjects parents to up to 12 years' hard labor and
a fine of $185 (98,050 Congolese francs) for forcing children to marry.
The penalty doubles when the victim is a minor. There were no reports
of convictions for forced marriage by year's end.
Child prostitution occurred throughout the country; however, there
were no statistics available regarding its prevalence. Many homeless
children engaged in prostitution without third-party involvement,
although some were forced to do so (see Sections 1.g. and 5,
Trafficking). In Kinshasa, police allegedly extorted sexual services
from child prostitutes. Security forces and armed groups trafficked
children as soldiers, porters, and for sexual services (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Security forces and armed groups continued to maintain child
soldiers in their ranks (see Section 1.g.).
Child labor, including forced labor, was widespread throughout the
country (see Sections 1.g. and 6.d.).
The country's more than 50,000 street children included many
accused of sorcery, child refugees, and war orphans, although some
would return to their families at day's end. The transitional
government was ill-equipped to deal with large numbers of homeless
youth and children. Citizens generally regarded them as thugs engaged
in petty crime, begging, and prostitution and tolerated their
marginalization. Security forces abused and arbitrarily arrested street
children (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.).
There were numerous reports of collusion between police and street
children, including street children paying police officers to allow
them to sleep in vacant buildings, and others turning over to police a
percentage of goods they stole from large markets. In addition, there
were reports that different groups and individuals regularly paid
groups of homeless youths to disrupt public order.
There were several active and effective local and international NGO
groups working with MONUC and UNICEF to promote children's rights
throughout the country, and with CONADER, the national disarmament
agency.
Trafficking in Persons.--No specific laws prohibited trafficking in
persons, and trafficking occurred, particularly in the east. Laws that
could be used by the Government to prosecute cases against traffickers
include the newly enacted law on sexual violence, which includes
prohibitions against forced prostitution and sexual slavery, as well as
other laws prohibiting slavery, rape, and child prostitution.
The country is a source and destination country for men, women, and
children trafficked internally for forced labor and sexual
exploitation.
Domestic and foreign armed groups operating outside government
control in the east were responsible for the majority of reported cases
of trafficking. Armed groups, and to a lesser extent transitional
government security forces, continued to kidnap men, women, and
children and force them to serve as porters, domestic laborers, and sex
slaves (see Section 1.g.). In addition, armed groups and security
forces abducted children to serve as combatants in areas under their
control (see Section 1.g.).
There were reports of child prostitutes working in brothels. No
statistical information existed on the extent of adult or child
prostitution in the country. Some families pressured or forced girls to
engage in prostitution.
The Ministry of Justice was primarily responsible for combating
trafficking. Local law enforcement authorities were rarely able to
enforce existing laws due to lack of personnel, funding, and the
inaccessibility of eastern areas of the country; however, during the
year the Government prosecuted and cooperated in at least three cases
against traffickers.
For example, in March judicial authorities sentenced Jean Pierre
Biyoyo, a FARDC soldier not under central command authority, to five
years' imprisonment for war crimes, including the recruitment and use
of child soldiers, committed in South Kivu Province in April 2004.
Also in March the Government gave the ICC custody of a former Ituri
militia leader accused of recruiting and using children under the age
of 15 as combatants (see Section 1.g.).
The Government operated several programs to prevent trafficking.
CONADER used media, posters, and brochures to campaign against child
soldiering. The transitional government coordinated with other
countries on trafficking issues and attended regional meetings on
trafficking. However, government efforts to combat trafficking were
limited by a lack of resources and information. The Government had few
resources for training, although it permitted training of officials by
foreign governments and NGOs. It provided no funding for protection
services.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities; however, persons with disabilities
experienced discrimination in employment, education, and the provision
of other government services.
The law does not mandate accessibility to buildings or government
services for persons with disabilities. Some schools for persons with
disabilities used private funds and limited public support to provide
education and vocational training, including for blind students.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination on the
basis of ethnicity was practiced by members of virtually all of the
country's approximately 400 ethnic groups and was evident in hiring
patterns in some cities. There were no reports of government efforts
intended to address this discrimination.
The constitution allows citizens to hold only Congolese
nationality. The President of the Tutsi community in Goma, North Kivu
Province, Dunia Bakarani, claimed this provision was biased and
discriminated against the Tutsi ethnic group, some of whom held Rwandan
citizenship. However, many citizens, including senior government
officials, were widely believed to hold dual nationality.
The FARDC and other security forces sometimes harassed, arbitrarily
arrested, and threatened Tutsis--including the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi
subgroup--in North and South Kivu provinces.
Indigenous People.--The country had a population of fewer than
10,000 Pygmies (Batwa), who were believed to have been the country's
original inhabitants; during the year societal discrimination against
them continued. Although they were citizens, most Pygmies took no part
in the political process as they continued to live in remote areas.
During the year fighting between armed groups and government security
forces in North Kivu Province caused significant population
displacement of Pygmies.
Judicial authorities did not file charges in the 2005 case of a
Katanga provincial leader attempting via local media to incite
discrimination against the Luba ethnic group from Western and Eastern
Kasai.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--During the election
campaign, broadcast stations owned by Vice President Bemba or his
supporters promoted ethnic hatred and suggested that President Kabila
was not sufficiently ``Congolese'' (see Sections 2.a. and 3).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides all
workers--except for magistrates, high-ranking government officials,
private sector managers, and members of the security forces--the right
to form and join trade unions without prior authorization. Workers
formed unions in practice; however, the Ministry of Labor, which had
responsibility for ensuring the right of association, conducted no
inspections and exercised no oversight during the year. Of an estimated
24 million adults of working age, 128,000 (0.5 percent) belonged to
unions, according to the American Center for International Labor
Solidarity (Solidarity Center). The informal sector, including
subsistence agriculture, constituted at least 90 percent of the
economy.
The law provides for union elections every five years; however, the
transitional government did not allow them in the public sector, with
the exception of parastatal industries.
According to MONUC, security forces arbitrarily arrested and
detained the head of the trade union Prosperity on January 27 following
a meeting in which he denounced irregularities in public sector salary
payments. No additional information was available by year's end.
The law prohibits discrimination against unions, although this
regulation was not enforced effectively. The law also requires
employers to reinstate workers fired for union activities. The
Interunion Committee, composed of public and private sector unions, is
not legally mandated. However, it was generally recognized by the
transitional government to negotiate with it and employers on labor
issues of policy and law, although the transitional government did not
meet with it during the year.
Private companies often registered bogus unions to discourage real
ones from organizing and create confusion among workers. According to
the Solidarity Center, many of the nearly 400 unions in the private
sector had no membership and had been established by management,
particularly in the natural resources sector.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right of unions to conduct activities without
interference and the right to bargain collectively. However, in
practice the transitional government did not protect these rights.
Collective bargaining was ineffective in practice. In the public
sector, the Government set wages by decree, and unions were permitted
by law to act only in an advisory capacity. Most unions in the private
sector collected dues from workers but did not succeed in engaging in
collective bargaining on their behalf.
The constitution provides for the right to strike, and workers
sometimes exercised it. In small and medium-sized businesses, workers
effectively did not have the ability to strike. With an enormous
unemployed labor pool, companies could immediately replace any workers
attempting to unionize, collectively bargain, or strike, and companies
reportedly did so during the year. The law requires unions to have
prior consent and to adhere to lengthy mandatory arbitration and appeal
procedures before striking. The law prohibits employers and the
Government from retaliating against strikers; however, the transitional
government did not enforce this law in practice and sometimes jailed
striking public sector employees.
During the year union leaders attempted to organize a strike at the
diamond concession MIBA in Eastern Kasai Province; they were all fired,
according to the Solidarity Center.
There were no export processing zones in the country.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
both were practiced throughout the country, although no statistics were
available.
Security forces used forced labor during the year, including forced
labor by IDPs (see Sections 2.d. and 5).
According to MONUC, in February FARDC soldiers in North Kivu
Province allegedly detained five civilians at a military camp in
Muhangi and forced them to build shelters, clean the camp, transport
water, and cook. No additional information was available by year's end.
On August 11, FARDC soldiers abducted 20 civilians from Gethy,
Ituri District, and forced them to harvest and transport manioc,
according to HRW. No additional information was available by year's
end.
Armed groups, and to a lesser extent transitional government
security forces, continued to kidnap men, women, and children and force
them to serve as porters, domestic laborers, and sex slaves. For
example, HRW reported multiple incidents in August and September of
soldiers in Ituri District abducting civilians for forced labor,
including as personal attendants, miners, and crop harvesters and
transporters.
In the mining sector, dealers who purchased raw ore from unlicensed
miners provided them with tools, food, and other products in exchange
for a certain amount of ore. Miners who failed to provide ore, however,
accumulated significant debts and became debt slaves, forced to
continue working to pay off their debts. The transitional government
did not attempt to regulate this practice.
Armed groups operating outside government control subjected
civilians to forced labor. Many armed groups routinely forced civilians
to transport looted goods for long distances without pay, and abducted
men, women, and children for forced labor. On occasion, armed groups
also forced civilians to mine, particularly in Ituri District. Armed
groups forced women and children to provide household labor or sexual
services for periods ranging from several days to several months (see
Section 1.g.).
On July 4, Rwandan Hutu militia in the South Kivu Province town of
Tshifunzi allegedly abducted four men and three children. The attackers
stole livestock, utensils, and clothes and forced the men to carry the
looted goods. No additional information was available at year's end.
Forced or compulsory labor by children occurred (see Sections 1.g.
and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace;
however, neither the Ministry of Labor, responsible for enforcement,
nor labor unions effectively enforced child labor laws. Child labor was
a problem throughout the country and was common in the informal sector,
particularly in mining and subsistence agriculture, and was often the
only way for a child or family to earn money.
Although the minimum age for full-time employment without parental
consent is 18 years, employers may legally hire minors between the ages
of 15 and 18 with the consent of a parent or guardian. Those under age
16 may work a maximum of four hours per day. All minors are restricted
from transporting heavy items. There were no reports of large
enterprises using child labor.
An ILO report released during the year estimated that nearly 40
percent of boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14 were working in
the informal sector.
There continued to be reports of forced child labor. There were
credible reports that security forces and armed groups used forced
child labor in Ituri District and South Kivu Province, including the
use of girls for sexual slavery and boys and girls as soldiers (see
Section 1.g.). Security forces and armed groups also used children,
including re-recruited child soldiers, as forced mine workers.
Some parents forced their children to leave school and beg in the
streets, hunt or fish, or engage in prostitution to earn money for
their families.
FDLR soldiers forced children to perform labor after the soldiers
killed a civilian (see Section 1.g.).
Prostitution, including forced child prostitution, was practiced
throughout the country (see Section 1.g. and 5, Trafficking).
In several mining regions, including the provinces of Katanga,
Western and Eastern Kasai, and North and South Kivu, children performed
dangerous, often underground, mine work. Children in the mining sector
often received less than 10 percent of the pay adults received for the
same production, according to the Solidarity Center.
Parents often used children for dangerous and difficult
agricultural labor. Children sent to relatives by parents who could not
feed them sometimes effectively became the property of those families,
who subjected them to physical and sexual abuse and required them to
perform household labor.
Transitional government agencies assigned to prevent child labor
included the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Women and Youth, and
the Ministry of Social Affairs. These agencies had no budgets for
inspections and conducted no investigations during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Employers often did not respect
the minimum wage law of $1.00 per day. The average monthly wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family in the
formal economy. Government salaries remained low, ranging from $50 to
$110 (26,500 to 58,300 Congolese francs) per month, and salary arrears
were common throughout the public sector. More than 90 percent of
laborers worked in subsistence agriculture or informal commerce. Many
relied on extended family for support. The Ministry of Labor was
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage but did not do so
effectively.
The law defines different standard workweeks for different jobs,
ranging from 45 to 72 hours per week. The law also prescribed rest
periods and premium pay for overtime, but this was often not respected
in practice. The law established no monitoring or enforcement
mechanism, and businesses often ignored these standards in practice.
The law specifies health and safety standards; however, the
Ministry of Labor did not effectively enforce them. No provisions of
the law enable workers to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardizing their employment.
According to Global Witness, workers in the formal mining sector,
as well as illegal diggers, faced particular risks. Most worked with no
protective clothing, equipment, or training. Scores died during the
year, usually in mineshaft collapses, and companies provided no
compensation upon death. It is estimated that there were more than one
million miners working outside the formal sector nationwide. Many
suffered violence from guards and security forces for illegally
entering mining concessions.
__________
REPUBLIC OF CONGO
The Republic of Congo, with a population of approximately 3.8
million, is a parliamentary republic in which most of the decision-
making authority and political power is vested directly in the
President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and his administration. Independent
monitors determined that the 2002 Presidential and parliamentary
elections for the Senate and National Assembly did not ``contradict the
will of the people''; however, there were some irregularities and
manipulation in the administration of the elections. While the civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of security forces,
there were instances in which members of the security forces acted
independently of government authority.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were some improvements, serious problems remained. The following
serious human rights problems were reported: mob violence, including
killing of suspected criminals; security force beatings, physical abuse
of detainees, rapes, looting, solicitation of bribes, and theft;
harassment and extortion of civilians by uncontrolled and unidentified
armed elements; poor prison conditions; impunity; arbitrary arrest;
lengthy pretrial detention; a corrupt and ineffective judiciary;
infringement on citizens' privacy rights; limits on freedom of the
press; restrictions on freedom of movement; official corruption and
lack of transparency; domestic violence and societal discrimination
against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity, particularly against Pygmies; and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings; however, there were a few reports that security
forces killed civilians.
There were reports that security forces killed persons during
apprehension and while in police custody. For example, in September
police shot and killed a Malian businessman for refusing to stop after
reportedly running a red light. By year's end there was no reported
investigation or action taken against the police involved.
There continued to be occasional deaths due to mob violence, as
civilians took vigilante action against presumed criminals or settled
private disputes. Police at times intervened to stop mob violence.
The three villagers arrested after they killed an Italian
missionary in 2005 remained in prison awaiting trial. One of the
vehicles in the missionary's convoy had struck and killed a child.
Local inhabitants frequently took the law into their own hands to
punish persons presumed or known to be police or military personnel who
looted civilian residences, resulting in death or serious injury. Such
incidents were most common in remote areas.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
There were unconfirmed reports that members of Presidential
security forces kidnapped children in and around the capital city of
Brazzaville. In May police foiled such a kidnapping attempt; however,
by year's end the kidnappers had not been arrested, and there had been
no investigation.
By year's end the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of
family members stemming from the 2005``Beach'' trial acquittals; in
August 2005 the lower court had acquitted high-ranking military and
police officials who were accused of involvement in the disappearance
and presumed deaths of 353 persons who were separated from their
families by security forces in 1999 upon returning to Brazzaville from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At year's end the claimants
were searching for other legal avenues to pursue their claims of
criminal wrongdoing by individuals and the Government.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such actions,
security forces frequently used beatings to coerce confessions or to
punish detainees. During the year there were reports that abuses
continued in the jail and prison systems.
During the year there were reports by nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) that female detainees were raped, and that members of the
security forces beat citizens.
In certain areas of the Pool region, unidentified armed elements,
some of whom were thought to be uncontrolled government security forces
or former Ninja rebels, continued to rob trains, harass citizens and
NGO workers, and extort bribes. The Government stated it could not
determine the identity of the perpetrators.
There was no reported action in the August 2005 case of a police
officer who reportedly beat a man for arguing with him.
During the year unorganized mobs often assisted property owners in
beating and sometimes killing suspected thieves in the southern sector
of Brazzaville (see section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center/jail conditions were poor. Prisons were overcrowded and food and
health care were poor. The Ministry of Justice continued to repair some
prisons during the year; however, lack of funds hindered efforts to
improve facilities and to provide food and medicine.
During the year there continued to be credible reports that
detainees held at police stations often were subjected to beatings,
rapes, overcrowding, and extortion.
Women were incarcerated with men, except in the city of
Brazzaville, where separate facilities were maintained. Juveniles were
held with adults, and pretrial detainees were held with convicted
prisoners.
There were six prisons and numerous police jails throughout the
country. The prison population was estimated at 900 for the country;
400 of these were in Brazzaville's prison. An estimate of the number of
persons held in police jails was not available.
The Government continued to grant access to prisons and detention
centers to domestic and international human rights groups. During the
year local human rights groups, including the Congolese Observatory for
Human Rights, the Association for the Human Rights of the Incarcerated,
the National Council for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of
Detained Persons, and a Catholic Church organization, visited prisons
and detention centers/jails. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) continued regular visits to prisons and detention centers
in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire and reported that it had received
appropriate cooperation from the Government on its visits during the
year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, members of the
security forces committed such acts. There were somewhat fewer reports
of arbitrary arrest and detention than in previous years. Local and
international NGOs reported that members of the security forces
commonly used arbitrary arrest and detention to extort funds from
citizens.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
include the police, gendarmerie, and military. The police and the
gendarmerie are responsible for maintaining internal order, the police
primarily inside cities and the gendarmerie mainly outside. The
military forces are responsible for external security, but also have
domestic security responsibilities, such as protecting the President.
The minister of defense oversees the military forces and gendarmerie,
and the minister of security oversees the police. In practice police,
gendarmerie, and military operations often overlapped and were poorly
coordinated. Although improved compared to previous years, the
Government did not always have full control over some members or units
of the security forces. The more professional security forces tended to
operate only in urban areas.
The security forces were not generally considered effective, and
corruption was a significant problem. During the year there were
frequent reports of arrested individuals whose families bribed police
to secure a release. Traffic police extorted bribes from taxi drivers
under threat of impoundment of their vehicles. Although the Human
Rights Commission (HRC) was established for the public to report
security force abuses (see section 4), impunity for members of the
security forces was a widespread problem.
The police at times failed to prevent or to respond to societal
violence (see section 1.a.).
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law require that
warrants be issued by a duly authorized official before arrests are
made, that a person be apprehended openly, that a lawyer be present
during initial questioning, and that detainees be brought before a
judge within three days and either charged or released within four
months; however, the Government frequently violated these provisions.
There is a system of bail, but more than 70 percent of the population
had an income below the poverty level--defined as income of less than
$1 (500 CFA francs) a day--and could not afford to pay bail. Detainees
generally were informed of the charges against them at the time of
arrest, but formal charges often took at least a week to be filed;
police at times held persons for six months or longer due to
administrative errors or delays in processing detainees. Lawyers and
family members usually were given prompt access to detainees, and
indigent detainees were provided lawyers at government expense. In
those cases where indigent detainees were detained outside a major
city, they were often transferred to the closest town or city where an
attorney was available.
Arbitrary arrest was a problem. The most common cases were threats
of arrest to extort bribes. These were perpetrated most often against
vehicle operators (mainly taxi drivers) by police, gendarmes, or
soldiers. Immigration officials also routinely stopped people and
threatened them with arrest, claiming they lacked some required
document, were committing espionage, or on some other pretext to extort
funds. Most often, these incidents resulted in the bribe being paid; if
not, the person was detained at a police station (or the airport) until
either a bribe was paid or pressure was brought to bear to get the
person released.
In May five individuals were detained for suspected gun trafficking
near the interior city of Dolisie and then transferred to Brazzaville
where, by year's end, there had been no known formal charges or
progress in their cases.
In August there was an unconfirmed report that police visited a
local Nigerian businessman's home, accused him of drug dealing,
confiscated all his household belongings, and detained him at the local
jail. After the Nigerian embassy intervened, the man was released
without charge; however, when he requested return of his property, he
received everything back except for approximately $4,000 (two million
CFA francs) that the police refused to return. The embassy and
individual dropped the matter after it became clear that the police
were threatening anyone who might step forward as a witness.
Lengthy pretrial detention due to judicial backlogs was a problem.
An estimated 40 percent of the prison population were pretrial
detainees. On average detainees would wait six months or longer before
going to trial. They were occasionally held awaiting trial for periods
longer than the sentence associated with the crime. Reportedly, bribes
generally determined the length of a detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary continued to be
overburdened, underfunded, and subject to political influence, bribery,
and corruption.
The judicial system consists of traditional and local courts,
courts of appeal, a Court of Accounts, the High Court of Justice, the
Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court. In rural areas,
traditional courts continued to handle many local disputes,
particularly property and inheritance cases, and domestic conflicts
that could not be resolved within the family. The Court of Accounts'
function is to hear cases related to mismanagement of government funds.
The Constitutional Court's responsibility is to adjudicate the
constitutionality of laws and judicial decisions. The High Court of
Justice's function is to review judicial decisions or crimes involving
the President and other high-ranking authorities in the conduct of
their official duties. Members of the High Court of Justice were
appointed in 2004, but due to lack of funds the court was still not
functioning by year's end. Local courts dealt with criminal and civil
complaints. The Supreme Court met regularly and primarily heard cases
related to the legality of land seizures by the Government during the
civil war. It also reviewed administrative and penal cases from lower
courts.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial presided over by an independent judiciary; however, the
legal caseload far exceeded the capacity of the judiciary to ensure
fair and timely trials, and some cases never reached the court system.
In general defendants were tried in a public court of law presided over
by a state-appointed magistrate. Juries are used. Defendants have the
right to be present at their trial and to consult with an attorney in a
timely manner. An attorney is provided at public expense if an indigent
defendant faces serious criminal charges. Defendants can confront or
question accusers and witnesses against them and present witnesses and
evidence on their own behalf. The defense has access to prosecution
evidence. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right of
appeal. The law extends the above rights to all citizens.
The military has a tribunal system to try criminal cases involving
military members, gendarmerie, or police; however, this body was
thought to function poorly and was subject to influence and corruption.
Civilians are not tried under this system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were some political
prisoners and detainees. During the year the ICRC reported that it
continued to monitor the condition of approximately 10 political
prisoners.
In February 2005 security forces reportedly detained between 20 and
30 persons, including police, gendarmes, and civilians; in September
2005 they were charged with the alleged theft of weapons from a
gendarmerie camp and ``plotting against the Government.'' Four were
granted provisional release in September 2005. Since then, the other
individuals have not been accorded due process under the law. The
remaining detainees were being held without charge at year's end.
During the year there were extended periods when they were not
permitted visits by their families or NGOs.
Three exiled Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) military
officers have remained in pretrial detention in military headquarters
since March 2004, when they were arrested for political reasons
following disturbances in Kinshasa; they were reportedly being held
pending extradition, although an effective extradition policy between
the two countries does not exist.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a civil court
system. However, due to government influence it was not fully impartial
or independent.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, security forces at times illegally entered, searched, and
looted private homes (see section 1.d.). For example, in May soldiers
attempted to loot commercial establishments in downtown Brazzaville
because they reportedly were upset about pay discrepancies; military
police intervened to prevent the looting.
In some areas of the Pool region, intimidation and harassment by
uncontrolled and unidentified armed elements continued, according to
reports from international NGOs and civilians (see section 1.c.).
Citizens generally believed the Government monitored telephone and
mail communications of individuals it had an interest in.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, but it also criminalizes
certain types of speech, such as incitement of ethnic hatred, violence,
or civil war. The Government at times limited these rights. Broadcast
journalists and government print media journalists practiced self-
censorship for fear of reprisals. In contrast, the nongovernment print
media felt fewer constraints, as long as its reporting stayed only in
print form and was not broadcast.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal on relatively minor issues. However, persons feared
reprisal if they criticized government policies or high-level
officials. The Government generally did not proactively attempt to
impede criticism by, for example, monitoring political meetings, but
sometimes punished critics after the fact.
There was one state-owned newspaper, La Nouvelle Republique, and
several publications which were closely allied with the Government.
There were 15 to 20 private weekly newspapers in Brazzaville that
criticized the Government. Newspapers occasionally published open
letters written by government opponents. The print media did not
circulate widely beyond Brazzaville and the commercial center of Pointe
Noire, although it reached approximately one-third of the population.
Most citizens obtained their news from the radio or television, and
primarily from government-controlled radio in rural areas. There were
three privately owned radio stations, all progovernment. There were
three government-owned radio stations--Radio Congo, Radio Brazzaville,
and Radio FM--and one government-owned television station, Tele Congo.
An individual with close government ties owned three of the four
privately owned television stations; none were critical of the
Government. Several satellite television connections were available and
permitted viewing of a range of news and entertainment programs by the
relative few who could afford it.
Most journalists worked in various government ministries as press
attaches or worked for the newspaper La Nouvelle Republique or the
Congolese Information Agency, both government-owned. News coverage and
editorial positions of the Government owned media reflected government
priorities and views. Government journalists were not independent and
were expected to report positively on government activities. There was
evidence that when government journalists deviated from this guidance
there were adverse consequences, especially if they were critical of
the President.
A number of Brazzaville-based journalists represented international
media, including the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France
Presse, Voice of America, Canal France International, and TV5. The
Government continued to revoke journalists' accreditations if their
reporting reflected adversely on the country's image. This policy
affected journalists employed with both international and government
controlled media.
The press law provides for monetary penalties for defamation and
incitement to violence.
On April 20, security forces arrested a print journalist, Ghys
Fortune Dombe Bemba, for allegedly defaming the President. In an
article, he had accused the President of poisoning a high-ranking army
officer. Bemba was released the following day; however, his newspaper,
Thalassa, was fined and in June compelled to suspend publication for
six months.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Estimates from 2005 indicated that only 1 percent of the population had
access to the Internet, due to the lack of infrastructure, reliable
power, and telephone or satellite services.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Groups that wished to hold public assemblies were required to
inform the Ministry of Territorial Administration and appropriate local
officials, who could withhold authorization for meetings that they
claimed might threaten public order.In advance of a July visit by
foreign dignitaries, security forces forcibly dispersed a demonstration
by former public workers who had been gathering almost daily for
several months at a prominent downtown Brazzaville intersection to
protest salary arrears (see section 6.a.).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Groups or associations--political, social, or
economic were generally required to register with the Ministry of
Territorial Administration. Although registration could sometimes be
subject to political influence, during the year there were no reports
that this occurred.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
All organizations, including religious organizations, are required
to register with and be approved by the Government. There were no
reports of discrimination against any religious group in this process,
although it was lengthy. Penalties for failure to register could
include fines, confiscation of goods, invalidation of contracts, and
deportation of foreigners, but no criminal penalties are applicable.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination against members of religious groups. There were small
communities of several dozen Jews in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, in practice, the Government at times imposed
limitations. Unlike in previous years, checkpoints were rare and
generally only established in response to short-term security concerns.
International NGOs reported serious incidents of harassment and
intimidation by unidentified armed elements, which resulted in the
curtailment of NGO movement in certain areas of the Pool region (see
section 4).
The law prohibits forced exile. Unlike in previous years, the
Government did not prevent the return of citizens, including political
opponents of the President.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--NGOs working in the Pool
region reported that by the end of 2005 the vast majority of the
estimated 150,000 persons internally displaced by the civil war had
either returned to their home areas or had chosen to resettle in other
regions of the country. The Ministry of Social Affairs reported that
all IDPs who wished to return to their villages had done so by the end
of 2005.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution and granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government also provides temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or its 1967
Protocol; however, the Government was not generally effective in
dealing with such cases. During the previous year, 557 of an estimated
800 to 900 Mobutu-era soldiers were repatriated to the DRC. The
remaining soldiers remained in an indeterminate status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to
peacefully change their government; however, during the 2002 elections
significant irregularities occurred, and the entire Pool region was
unable to vote.
Elections and Political Participation.--Independent observers
determined that the national elections in 2002 did ``not contradict the
will of the people''; however, they noted obvious flaws such as
insufficient ballots at certain polling stations, confusion over voting
locations, and the boycott by some opposition members who claimed the
elections were biased. The European Union and other observers stated
that the electoral process was manipulated. Most key Presidential
candidates were banned or withdrew at the last minute, and the
legislative elections were almost totally boycotted by the opposition.
In addition some international NGOs and foreign observers viewed the
constitution and the electoral system as designed to protect the status
quo. The 2002 elections remained incomplete at year's end because of
continued lack of security in some areas of the Pool region, causing
eight of the region's 12 parliamentary seats to remain vacant. There is
no independent national electoral commission.
Major political parties included the ruling Congolese Labor Party,
the Pan-African Union for Social Development, the Congolese Movement
for Democracy and Integrated Development, the Union for Democracy and
the Republic, the Rally for Democracy and Social Progress, and the
Union for Progress. Some opposition party leaders remained in exile.
There was no cohesive opposition, and many of the smaller political
parties were more personality centered than representative of a
significant constituency. Northern ethnic groups, such as the
President's Mbochi group and related clans, dominated the political
system.
There were eight women in the 66-seat Senate and 11 women in the
136-seat National Assembly (although only 128 seats were filled, since
eight seats from areas of the Pool region remained vacant). There were
five women in the 35-member cabinet.
There were 14 members in the 66-seat senate, 36 in the 136-seat
National Assembly, and 11 in the 35-member cabinet who were not members
of the dominant northern tribes. Pygmies were excluded from the
political process, due to their isolation in remote forested areas,
their culture, and their stigmatization by the majority Bantu
population. However, during the year a law was passed reaffirming the
Pygmies' right to vote.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of corruption throughout government, including misuse of
revenues from the oil and forestry sectors. According to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and local and
international NGOs, official corruption was widespread; the most
serious was reflected in the mismanagement of natural resources. The
IMF and World Bank expressed concern about problems with governance and
lack of financial transparency, inadequate internal controls and
accounting systems, and conflicts of interest in the marketing of oil
by the state-owned oil company. Government officials, through bribes or
fraud, regularly siphoned off the bulk of revenues from these
industries into private overseas accounts. Pervasive lower-level
corruption included security personnel and customs and immigrations
officials demanding bribes.
On April 6, two prominent anticorruption activists investigating
the lack of transparency in the petroleum sector, Christian Mounzeo and
Brice Mackosso, were arrested on charges of embezzlement, and later
released to stand trial. During the year both were illegally detained
at various times. After an eight-month trial, on December 27 a court
sentenced the two to 12-month suspended prison sentences and ordered
each to pay fines of approximately $600 (300,000 CFA francs) on charges
of forgery and breaching public trust (misappropriating funds belonging
to their human rights NGO). At year's end the two were appealing their
convictions. International supporters of the activists' NGO denied the
two had engaged in any mismanagement of funds, and they helped to fund
their legal defense. Several international organizations and foreign
governments criticized the trial for systematic violations of due
process and blatant political interference. They called the trial an
attempt by the Government to silence critics of widespread official
corruption and lack of transparent management of the country's oil
wealth. Mounzeo was also a member of the Extractive Industries
Transparency Initiative's board. Formal charges were not filed by
year's end regarding November charges against Mounzeo of defaming the
President when he was abroad.
The law provides for public access to government information for
citizens, noncitizens, and the foreign media; however, in practice
there were lengthy delays before the Government released information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated, with some exceptions, without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases. Government officials generally were uncooperative and
unresponsive to local human rights groups; however, they were generally
cooperative and responsive to international organizations.
During the year unidentified armed groups harassed and intimidated
members of humanitarian organizations, which resulted in the
curtailment of their activities. Between January and March the ICRC and
the NGO Doctors Without Borders-Holland froze staff movement in the
Pool region due to incidents during which bandits robbed NGO vehicles
at gunpoint. In one incident the lead gunman put a grenade in one of
the NGO member's hands while the gunmen robbed the organization's
members and looted their vehicle. Movement gradually resumed when
attacks ceased (see section 1.c.).
The government-sponsored Human Rights Commission is charged with
acting as a government watchdog and addressing public concerns on human
rights issues. Observers claimed that the commission was completely
ineffective and was not independent. The President appointed most, if
not all, of its members. The commission had not met or taken any
significant action since its creation in August 2003.
The ICRC maintained an office in Brazzaville. During the year
access to government officials and to detainees remained good for
international humanitarian officials; however, local NGOs had poor
access.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law and constitution prohibit discrimination on the basis of
race, gender, language, or social status; however, the Government did
not effectively enforce these prohibitions. Societal discrimination and
violence against women, trafficking in persons, regional ethnic
discrimination, and discrimination against indigenous people were
problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including rape and
beatings, was widespread but rarely reported. There were no specific
provisions under the law outlawing spousal battery, other than general
statutes prohibiting assault. Domestic violence usually was handled
within the extended family, and only the more extreme incidents were
reported to the police. This was primarily due to the social stigma for
the victim, and because such matters traditionally were dealt with in
the family or village. According to a local NGO, the Congolese
Association to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls, there were no
official statistics on domestic violence against women; however, during
2005 more than 500 women and children who were victims of sexual
violence sought its medical assistance. The NGO reported it provided
hundreds of HIV tests. The NGO also organized public awareness
workshops and offered training for community chiefs, police officers,
health workers, magistrates, journalists, and others from the public
and private sectors. NGOs, such as the local Human Rights Center, the
Congolese Association to Combat Violence Against Women and Girls, the
International Rescue Committee, and Doctors Without Borders continued
to draw attention to the issue and provided counseling and assistance
to victims.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, the Government
did not effectively enforce the law. The law prescribes five to 10
years in prison for violators. Rape was common, although the extent of
rape was unknown because the crime was seldom reported. Depending on
the severity of the circumstances, the penalties for rape, despite what
the law requires, in practice could be as few as several months but
rarely more than three years' imprisonment. There were no statistics
available on the incidence of rape.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) was not practiced indigenously and
is against the law; however, it may have occurred in some of the
immigrant communities from West African countries where it was common.
There were no known government or other efforts to investigate or
combat FGM.
Prostitution is illegal, but the Government did not effectively
enforce this prohibition. Prostitution was common, and police often
accepted services in lieu of arresting prostitutes.
Sexual harassment is illegal. Generally the penalty would be two to
five years in prison. In particularly egregious cases, the penalties
would equal those for rape--five to 10 years in prison. However, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Sexual harassment was
very common but rarely reported; there were no available statistics on
its incidence. Successful prosecutions were only achieved when a victim
with good legal representation or connections actively pursued a case;
however, during the year no such cases were reported.
Marriage and family laws overtly discriminate against women.
Adultery is illegal for women but not for men. Polygyny is legal;
polyandry (having multiple husbands) is not. The law provides that a
wife shall inherit 30 percent of her husband's estate; however, in
practice the wife often lost all inheritance upon the death of her
spouse, particularly under traditional or common-law marriage. The
symbolic nature of the dowry is set in the law; however, this often was
not respected, and men were forced to pay excessive bride prices to the
woman's family. As a result, the right to divorce was circumscribed for
some women because they lacked the means to reimburse the bride price
to the husband and his family. This problem was more prevalent in rural
areas than in urban centers. The Ministry of Social Affairs was in
charge of protecting and promoting the legal rights of women; however,
it did not effectively perform its function.
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender and stipulates
that women have the right to equal pay for equal work; however, women
were underrepresented in the formal sector. Women experienced economic
discrimination in access to employment, credit, pay for similar work,
and owning or managing businesses. Most women worked in the informal
sector and thus had little or no access to employment benefits. Women
in rural areas were especially disadvantaged in terms of education and
wage employment and were confined largely to family farming, petty
commerce, and child-rearing responsibilities. Many local and
international NGOs have developed micro-credit programs to address this
problem, and government ministries such as those of social affairs and
agriculture were also active in addressing them. For example, women
received assistance to set up dressmaking and beauty salons as well as
in gardening and manioc flour-making to provide income for their
families.
Children.--The Government was committed to protecting the rights
and welfare of children. Education was compulsory, tuition-free, and
universal until the age of 16, but families were required to pay for
books, uniforms, and school fees. In the cities, approximately 95
percent of school-age children attended school, and in rural areas an
estimated 90 percent attended. Girls and boys attended primary school
in equal numbers; however, the proportion of girls who continued on to
the high school and university levels was significantly lower. Girls
generally quit school by age 15 or 16. In addition teenage girls often
were pressured to exchange sex for better grades, which resulted in
both the spread of HIV/AIDS and unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.
Child abuse was not common and was predominantly found among the
West African communities.
FGM may have been performed on girls in some West African immigrant
communities (see section 5, Women).
There were isolated cases of child prostitution among street
children. The prevalence of the problem remained unclear. According to
reports from international and local NGOs and other observers, these
cases were not linked to trafficking but were efforts by some street
children to survive. International organizations assisted with programs
to feed and shelter street children.
There continued to be a few unconfirmed reports that children were
trafficked for labor (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
During the year the number of street children remained
approximately the same. In 2004 the United Nations Children's Fund
estimated that most of the street children in Brazzaville were from the
DRC, as were some of those in Pointe Noire. Street children were not
known to suffer from targeted abuse by government authorities or
vigilante groups, but they were vulnerable to sexual exploitation and
often fell prey to criminal elements such as drug smugglers. Many
street children begged or sold cheap or stolen goods to support
themselves.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were unconfirmed reports of
trafficking of children by West African immigrants living in the
country. Trafficking could be prosecuted under existing laws against
slavery, prostitution, rape, illegal immigration, forced labor, and
regulations regarding employer employee relations; however, there were
no known cases of the Government prosecuting any trafficker under these
laws. The ministries of security, labor, and social affairs, as well as
the gendarmerie, have responsibility for trafficking issues.
There were unconfirmed reports that the country was a country of
destination for trafficked persons. It was not known to be a country of
transit or origin. There were unconfirmed reports that minor relatives
of immigrants from West Africa could be victims of trafficking. There
was no evidence of trafficking in adults. Children from West Africa
worked as fishermen, shop workers, street sellers, or domestic
servants. There were reports that some were physically abused. There
were reports of isolated cases of child prostitution, which according
to international and local NGOs were not linked to trafficking or
forced labor (see section 5, Children).
There were no known cases of the Government assisting with
international investigations or extraditing citizens who were accused
of trafficking in other countries.
There was no evidence of involvement of government officials in
trafficking, although bribery and corruption were problems.
The Government did not provide any protection or assistance to
trafficking victims since there were no confirmed cases of trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, although the
Government generally did not enforce the law. There were no laws
mandating access for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Social
Affairs is the lead ministry responsible for these issues.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination based on ethnicity; however, the Government did not
effectively enforce this prohibition.
Regional ethnic discrimination was prevalent among all ethnic
groups, was evident in government and private sector hiring and buying
patterns, and apparent in the effective ``north-south'' regional
segregation of many urban neighborhoods. The relationship between
ethnic, regional, and political cleavages was inexact; however,
supporters of the Government included persons mostly from northern
ethnic groups, such as the President's Mbochi group and related clans.
Indigenous People.--The indigenous Pygmy ethnic group, who numbered
in the tens of thousands and lived primarily in forest regions, did not
enjoy equal treatment in the predominantly Bantu society. The
Government did not effectively protect their civil and political
rights. Pygmies were severely marginalized in regard to employment,
health services, and education, in part due to their isolation in
remote forested areas of the country and their different cultural
norms. Pygmies usually were considered socially inferior and had little
political voice; however, in recent years several Pygmy rights groups
have developed programs and were actively focusing on these issues.
Many Pygmies were not aware of the concept of voting and had minimal
ability to influence government decisions affecting their interests. In
August a law was passed affirming the right of Pygmies to vote.
Bantu ethnic groups have exploited Pygmies, possibly including
children, as cheap labor; however, there was little information
regarding the extent of the problem.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The social stigma
associated with homosexuality was significant. There was no open
homosexuality in the country.
In contrast, persons with HIV/AIDS were fairly well-organized and
sought fair treatment, especially regarding employment. NGOs worked
widely on HIV/AIDS issues, including raising public awareness that
those living with HIV/AIDS were still able to contribute to society.
The law provides avenues for wronged persons to file lawsuits if they
were, for example, terminated from employment due to their HIV/AIDS
status.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right; however, members of the
security forces and other essential services do not have this right.
Almost 100 percent of workers in the public sector and approximately 25
percent of workers in the formal private sector were union members. The
law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, there were a few
reports that it occurred.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law also provides for
the right to bargain collectively, and workers freely exercised this
right, although collective bargaining was not widespread due to severe
economic conditions. In the 1980s the Government established wage
floors on a sector-by-sector basis (and within them, according to job
category). These wage floors have remained largely unchanged for the
past 20 years; as a result they are not now relevant, since wages are
paid above the minimum levels.
The law provides for the right to strike, except by public sector
unions, subject to conditions established by law. Workers exercised
this right by conducting legal strikes. Unions were free to strike
after filing a letter of intent with the Ministry of Labor, which began
a process of nonbinding arbitration under the auspices of a regional
labor inspector from the ministry. The letter of intent had to include
the planned strike date, at which time the strike legally could begin,
even if arbitration was not complete. Employers have the right to fire
workers if they do not give advance notice of a strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
unconfirmed reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
According to the International Labor Organization, by year's end
the Government had not repealed a 1960 law which allows persons to be
requisitioned for work of public interest and provides for their
possible imprisonment if they refuse.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although there are laws and policies designed to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace, child labor was a problem. Under the
law, children under age 16 are not permitted to work, but this law
generally was not enforced, particularly in rural areas and in the
informal sector. Children worked with their families on farms or in
small businesses in the informal sector without government monitoring.
There were unconfirmed reports that children were trafficked for
labor, and child prostitution occurred (see section 5, Children).
The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for enforcing child
labor laws, concentrated its limited resources on the formal wage
sector, where its efforts generally were effective. Only two inspection
trips were made during the year, due to limited resources.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage, which
was approximately $100 (54,000 CFA francs) per month in the formal
sector, did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. In practice none of the minimum wages, including the minimum
wages for the various sectors' wage ladders (see section 6.b.) were
controlling, since wages paid in the formal sector were all higher than
the minimum, although often not by much. There was no official minimum
wage for the informal and agricultural sectors. High urban prices and
dependent extended families obliged many workers, including teachers
and health workers, to seek secondary employment, mainly in the
informal sector. During the year the Government paid three months of
back pay to government workers, leaving 19 months of back salary (from
the late 1990s civil conflict period) unpaid at year's end.
The law provides for a standard workweek of seven hours per day,
six days a week with a one-hour lunch break. There was no legal limit
on the number of hours worked per week. The law stipulates that
overtime must be paid for all work in excess of 42 hours per week;
however, there is no legal prohibition against excessive compulsory
overtime. Overtime was subject to agreement between employer and
employee.
Although health and safety regulations require biannual visits by
inspectors from the Ministry of Labor, such visits occurred much less
frequently. Unions generally were vigilant in calling attention to
dangerous working conditions; however, the observance of safety
standards often was lax. Workers have no specific right to remove
themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment.
COTE D'IVOIRE
Cote d'Ivoire is a democratic republic with an estimated population
of 18 million. Laurent Gbagbo, candidate of the Ivorian People's Front
(FPI), became the country's third elected President in 2000. The
election, which excluded two of the major parties, the Democratic Party
of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) and the Rally for Republicans (RDR), was marred
by significant violence and irregularities. In 2000 the Supreme Court
declared Gbagbo the victor with 53 percent of the vote. In 2002 exiled
military members and coconspirators simultaneously attacked government
ministers and military and security facilities in Abidjan, Bouake, and
Korhogo. The failed coup attempt evolved into a rebellion and split the
country in two. Rebel ``New Forces'' (NF) retained control of the
northern 60 percent of the country, while the Government controlled the
slightly smaller but more populous south.
In 2003 the political parties signed the French-brokered Linas-
Marcoussis Accord (Marcoussis Accord), agreeing to a power-sharing
government with rebel representatives. The Government made little
progress on the implementation of the Marcoussis Accord, and in March
2004 the NF suspended its participation in the Disarmament,
Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program. In February 2004 UN
Resolution 1528 approved the UN Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (ONUCI)
deployment of 6,000 peacekeeping troops, joining the 4,000-member
French Operation Licorne peacekeeping force. ONUCI was created from an
existing force of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
troops that had been deployed since 2003 to separate the combatants in
conjunction with Licorne. President Gbagbo and opposition political
leaders signed subsequent peace accords, including Accra III (July
2004), the Pretoria Agreement (April 2005), and Pretoria II (June
2005), but the political process remained stalled. Neither Presidential
elections (scheduled for no later than October 31, 2005) nor
parliamentary elections (scheduled for December 2005) were held due to
the lack of political reconciliation and progress in the DDR program.
UN Security Council (US) resolution 1633, passed in October 2005,
endorsed a proposal by the African Union (AU) to extend Gbagbo's term
in office for up to one year and to appoint a new prime minister with
enhanced executive powers. On December 4, the AU and ECOWAS designated
Charles Konan Banny, a PDCI member and governor of the West African
Central Bank, as the new prime minister.
Since October 2005 very little progress has been made toward
holding elections or disarming and reunifying the country. On September
20, a meeting chaired by the UN Secretary General and attended by
regional African leaders and all principal Ivorian political leaders
except President Gbagbo resulted in a formal declaration that
Presidential elections could not be held before the end of the one-year
extension of Gbagbo's mandate. Both ECOWAS and AU leaders met in
October to discuss how to put the peace process on track. Their
recommendations were closely followed by the U.S. which adopted
Resolution 1721 on November 1 to extend the mandates of President
Gbagbo and Prime Minister Banny until October 31, 2007 and to enhance
the authorities of both the Prime Minister's office and that of the UN
High Representative for Elections.
Civilian authorities in government- and NF-controlled zones
generally did not maintain effective control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. Continuing
political instability and uncertainty kept tensions high throughout the
country. The following human rights abuses were reported: restriction
of citizens' right to change their government; arbitrary and unlawful
killings, including summary executions, by security forces,
progovernment militias, and student groups; disappearances; torture and
other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and punishment by security
forces, progovernment militias, and a student group; deplorable prison
and detention center conditions; security force impunity; arbitrary
arrest and detention; denial of a fair public trial; arbitrary
interference with privacy, family, home, and correspondence; police
harassment and abuse of noncitizen Africans; use of excessive force and
other abuses in internal conflicts; restrictions on freedoms of speech,
press, peaceful assembly, association, and movement; corruption;
discrimination and violence against women; female genital mutilation
(FGM); child abuse and exploitation; trafficking in persons; forced
labor, including by children; and child labor, including hazardous
labor.
The NF's human rights record continued to be poor. ONUCI reported
the killing and disappearance of civilians in NF-held territories. The
NF arbitrarily arrested and detained persons and conducted arbitrary ad
hoc justice. ONUCI's human rights office reported fewer child soldiers
in NF ranks and the release of many during the year.
respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Security forces
continued to commit extrajudicial killings with impunity, and
progovernment militia groups were responsible for harassment, killings,
and disappearances. These crimes often went unreported or underreported
due to fear of reprisals.Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports that government-linked ``death squads'' and irregular forces
(Liberian fighters, Liberian refugees, and civilians with ethnic ties
to Liberia) committed extrajudicial killings. Security forces
frequently resorted to lethal force to combat widespread crime and
often committed crimes themselves with impunity. Rebel forces in the
north also committed extrajudicial killings (see Section 1.g.).
There continued to be credible reports of numerous cases in which
the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in deaths. Such
cases often occurred when security forces apprehended suspects or tried
to extort money from taxi drivers and merchants. For example, the UN
reported that on January 2, several summary executions were committed
by security forces and Jeunes Patriotes (Young Patriots), a youth group
with close ties to the ruling FPI Party.
On the same day, an unidentified armed group attacked the military
camp of Akouedo, located on the outskirts of Abidjan. According to an
Ivorian military communique, two Akouedo camps were simultaneously
attacked with light and heavy weaponry, and ten persons were killed
during the attack, including three government soldiers and seven
attackers. Paramilitary gendarmes subsequently detained between 15 and
30 Burkinabe men alleged to be responsible for the January 2 attack in
a barracks in Abidjan. On January 6, the bodies of three of the
Burkinabe detainees were found shot dead; observers suspected the
involvement of persons working for the Security Operations Command
Center (CECOS), an anticrime organization formed in July 2005 and
staffed by police, gendarmerie, and National Armed Forces (FANCI)
officers. Newspapers printed photographs of the detainees, most of whom
were naked and bloodied.
Also on January 2, Kone Basseriba, a 46-year-old security guard at
the Cocody headquarters of the opposition party Rally of Republicans
(RDR), was detained by a group of persons armed with machetes in the
Riviera section of Abidjan. Accusing Basseriba of involvement in the
attack in Akouedo, the group beat him so severely that he later died
from his injuries. The RDR accused the military of summarily executing
Basseriba.
Of the 60 persons arrested during the attacks on the two Akouedo
military camps on January 2, 21 were indicted by the military
investigating judge on February 1 on charges including assassination
and breach of state security. Those indicted included nine soldiers and
12 civilians who admitted their involvement in the Akouedo attacks
before the military prosecutor. In December a military court discharged
two soldiers from the army and sentenced them to five years'
imprisonment for their role in the deaths. The remaining investigations
were ongoing at year's end.
In July the military prosecutor launched an investigation into the
June 2005 death of Major Colonel Bakassa Traore, who died after
security forces arrested and beat him, Colonel Jules Yao Yao, and
retired General Laurent M'Bahia Kouadio after they attended a dinner
hosted by the French Ambassador. FANCI's chief of staff claimed that
Traore died as a result of a preexisting medical condition, while
relatives and colleagues alleged that his death was the result of his
injuries. The results of the investigation had not been made public by
year's end.
There were no developments in the January 2005 case in which
security forces shot and killed two taxi drivers in Adjame for refusing
to stop at a roadblock.
There were no developments in the February 2005 case in which the
Government brought 32 officials before judicial authorities for their
role in a violent effort to evict persons illegally occupying the
National Marahoue Park in Bouafle. More than 100 villagers were
arrested with excessive force. Thirteen persons died from their
injuries. No trial was held, and no sanctions were imposed on forestry
officials involved in the incident.
During the year there were a number of killings attributed to
members of CECOS, whose personnel also were accused of human rights
violations, racketeering, extortion, and harassment. There continued to
be reports that members of CECOS carried out summary executions of
thieves in Abidjan, although the interior minister said all victims
were criminals killed in the course of police anticrime activities.
For example, during the nights of February 10 and 11, in the
Koumassi Bia Sud district in Abidjan, CECOS members shot and killed two
cell phone vendors (see Section 2.b.).
In April a CECOS member shot at a car in the Riviera district in
Abidjan and killed one of the passengers, a local singer known as Dally
Luc. CECOS authorities admitted that the killing had been unjustified,
and the CECOS member implicated was arrested and jailed. A trial had
not been initiated by year's end.
At year's end 17 of the 61 persons arrested for attacking
gendarmerie and police in Anyama in July 2005 had been released, and 36
of the 44 who stood trial received heavy sentences.
In late August a violent confrontation broke out between the police
and members of the progovernment and pro-FPI Union of Secondary School
and University Students (FESCI) at the Cocody campus of the University
of Cote d'Ivoire. The clash erupted in the aftermath of an August 28
incident in which FESCI members at a bus station in the Adjame district
of Abidjan beat a police cadet, reportedly for refusing to pay FESCI a
bribe to be allowed to board a bus. On August 31, several police cadets
attempted to confront FESCI members at a different bus stop in front of
the Cocody campus. The cadets were restrained by regular police forces,
but FESCI members then reportedly attacked those police forces. The
police cadets opened fire, killing between one and three FESCI members,
then entered the campus, and sought out and beat suspected FESCI
members. On September 2, the Government suspended the director of the
National Police Academy, Bernard Lago Daleba, in response to the Cocody
campus incident. The Government opened an inquiry into the clashes, but
a military trial of the police cadets had not begun by year's end.
There were no known developments in the parliamentary committee
investigation into the 2004 killing by security forces of more than 100
demonstrators.
There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 security force
killings.
The collaboration of government forces and irregular forces created
a climate of fear and impunity. There also were credible reports of
serious abuses committed by armed forces working in complicity or in
coordination with youth groups in the central and western parts of the
country. As in the previous year, local villagers from ethnic groups
close to the Government allegedly provided the names of foreigners, RDR
members, northerners, and other suspected rebel supporters to security
forces. There continued to be reports that the Government recruited
Liberian mercenaries in the west.
Abidjan police and security forces in search of rebel sympathizers,
infiltrators, and arms caches continued to use lethal force in
neighborhood sweeps against citizens with northern origins and African
immigrants (see Section 1.f.). Progovernment militias and rebels
continued to use child soldiers, although to a lesser degree than in
previous years (see Section 5).
Rebel groups were also responsible for indiscriminate killings.
ONUCI's human rights division described numerous extrajudicial killings
by rebels, although fewer than in the previous year. The rebels in the
west targeted, beat, and sometimes killed gendarmes, government
officials, and suspected FPI sympathizers. They also committed sexual
violence against girls and women, including rape and sexual slavery.
The NF and their allies, the dozos (traditional hunters that maintain
an informal militia), were responsible for killings and disappearances.
There were fewer reports of such incidents than in the previous year,
although rebel arrests of suspected loyalist infiltrators continued
during the year.
On June 29, seven persons were killed in Dieouzon Region, located
in the ``Zone of Confidence,'' the area separating FANCI and NF troops
in which ONUCI troops maintain peace. Similar to earlier attacks, local
authorities accused the dozos of the killings. As in the past, the
killings reportedly resulted from tensions over control of land.
In July there were credible reports of repeated attacks by members
of the progovernment militia Groupe de Patriotes pour la Paix (GPP) on
residents of Yopougon, resulting in the death of at least one civilian
and the injury of several others. Despite the Government's 2003
announcement that the GPP had disbanded, FPI members readily
acknowledged the group's continued existence and operations. In
response to the attacks, the Government offered GPP members food,
lodging, and medical care.
There were no known developments in the case of the rebel soldier
accused of killing a French peacekeeper in 2004. The office of the
military prosecutor stated that the soldier remained in detention
awaiting trial.
No investigations were conducted into numerous abuses committed by
rebels in previous years, including summary executions, killings, rape,
beatings, and looting.
Neither ONUCI nor French forces publicly released the results of
their investigations into the killings of an undetermined number of
Ivorian progovernment demonstrators by French forces during 2004 riots.
The riots broke out following France's destruction of the Ivorian air
force after FANCI bombed a Licorne base in Bouake. Radio France
International (RFI) announced in January that the Government had issued
a warrant for the arrest of French General Henri Poncet for his role in
the killings of the rioters, but the Ivorian minister of justice and
the minister of defense denied this report. In September Amnesty
International (AI) published a report criticizing French forces for
using excessive force in 2004, specifically noting their lack of non-
lethal weapons for crowd control. AI's report noted that the French
acknowledged that most demonstrators had not been armed.
In Abidjan and the western part of the country, there were reports
of atrocities including killings, rapes, and looting, by progovernment
militias and others.
There were numerous reports of conflict between the local
population and Burkinabe and Lobi farmers, whom the locals expelled
from their farms (see Section 5). Dozens of persons were reportedly
killed in the clashes.
There were numerous incidents of ethnic violence that resulted in
deaths (see Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of disappearances, although
fewer than in the previous year. Several members of the opposition
(particularly the RDR), journalists, and ordinary citizens remained
missing at year's end. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports
that security forces abducted citizens and foreigners and forced them
to work.
In January two men disappeared following their arrest by NF units
in Korhogo. The two men were still missing at year's end. No charges
were filed in the disappearances by year's end (see Section 1.d.).
In February nearly two years after the 2004 disappearance of Guy
Andre Kieffer, a Franco-Canadian freelance journalist, an Ivorian
officer, Tony Oulai, was placed under formal investigation and remanded
in custody to Paris to be prosecuted by French authorities for
abduction and illegal detention. The trial had not begun by year's end.
On March 1, ONUCI received credible information that Kone Lacina
Nanourougou, who disappeared in 2004 following his arrest by the NF,
had been moved to Korhogo and handed over to Commander Martin Fofie
Kouakou. Despite NF claims that Kone was released on June 25, his
whereabouts were unknown at year's end.
There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 disappearances.
Most of the persons reported missing in previous years remained
missing at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
security forces beat and abused detainees and prisoners to punish them
or to extract confessions. There also were reports of rape and torture.
Police officers forced detainees to perform degrading tasks under
threat of physical harm. Police often detained persons overnight in
police stations where they beat them and forced them to pay bribes (see
Sections 1.d., 1.f., and 2.d.). Police also harassed and extorted
bribes from persons of northern origin or with northern names (see
Section 1.f.).
On February 13, ONUCI reported that the gendarmerie commander in
the western town of Zuenola ordered his forces to detain and beat at
least 16 persons employed by local bakeries to compel them to continue
contributing bread to the ``war effort.'' The victims were taken to the
gendarmerie headquarters, forced to lie down, and then flogged with
sticks. Officers reportedly forced the detainees to eat mud and perform
manual labor before releasing them four hours later. As a result of the
beatings of the 16 employees, the bakeries in Zuenoula were closed for
three days.
There were credible reports that on January 21, members of CECOS
arrested Malian immigrants Daouda Diallo and his nephew, Ouateni
Diallo. CECOS accused Diallo of financing the rebellion and mobilizing
local youth to oppose the establishment of barricades by the Young
Patriots. Diallo was released on January 26, but his nephew reportedly
died as a result of torture at the Gendarmerie Academy.
Violent actions and threats against political opposition figures
and human rights activists continued during the year. There were
numerous reports that opposition leaders received death threats over
the telephone and from armed men dressed in fatigues, and that armed
men harassed family members.
For example, on August 11, gendarmes allegedly attempted to extort
bribes from taxi trade union activists in the Cocody district of
Abidjan. When the Ivorian Movement for Human Rights (MIDH) used a hot
line established by the military prosecutor for citizens to report such
incidents, the gendarmes reportedly threatened to kill MIDH-member
workers.
In September the President of the Rally for Young Republicans,
Karamoko Yayoro, claimed that Republican Guard Commander Brunot Ble
Dogbo threatened him with death if he organized street demonstrations
against President Gbagbo's government. When the story made the
headlines of several opposition newspapers, Yayoro filed a complaint
against Ble Dogbo with ONUCI's Human Rights Division, which was
reviewing the case at year's end.
Police and security forces used excessive or lethal force to
disperse demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).
Members of the security forces continued to harass journalists (see
Section 2.a.).
There were credible reports that members of the security forces
raped women and girls.
On March 5, members of the CECOS in Alepe allegedly raped a 15-
year-old secondary school student after encouraging her to drink
heavily with them at a local bar. A doctor at a local hospital found
evidence of trauma when he conducted a physical examination of the girl
the next day, and the girl's family lodged a complaint at the Alepe
gendarmerie. Despite student demonstrations demanding that members of
CECOS leave Alepe, the CECOS chief commander eventually claimed that
his men were not at fault and that a physical examination of the girl
did not indicate that a rape had occurred.
On September 13, Sergeant Gbessi Bah Melain was jailed for rape at
the military prison in Abidjan.
There were no known developments in the June 2005 case in which a
lance corporal was charged with raping a secondary school girl.
There were fewer reports than in the previous year that security
forces conducted widespread neighborhood searches during which they
beat and robbed residents (see Section 1.f.).
Security forces remained on heightened alert for potential rebel
infiltrators or active sympathizers, erected numerous roadblocks, and
searched Abidjan neighborhoods. Individuals who were associated with
opposition parties or rebellion leaders or believed to be sympathizers
were subjected to increased harassment and abuse (see Sections 1.d. and
1.g.).
Noncitizen Africans, mostly from neighboring countries, continued
to complain that they were subject to harassment by security forces and
``self-defense'' committees, including repeated document checks,
security force extortion and racketeering, violence, and frequent
neighborhood searches (see Sections 1.f. and 2.d.).
There were no developments in cases dating to 2005.
Loyalists of President Gbagbo's FPI party organized youth patriot
groups with thousands of members in Abidjan neighborhoods and in towns
and cities throughout southern, central, and western regions.
Gendarmerie and army officers led some groups in physical training.
Belligerent patriot groups aligned with the ruling FPI rallied in
neighborhoods, called for armed resistance, and harassed and
intimidated residents and merchants. Youth groups who supported
President Gbagbo attacked opposition newspapers, several ONUCI convoys,
and persons under ONUCI protection during the year (see Sections 2.a
and 4).
There were persistent reports that some patriot groups had arms or
had ready access to arms supplied by the Government. The presidency
sponsored some of these groups and tolerated others, but it did not
have complete control over them.
There continued to be reports that progovernment militias harassed
and assaulted farmers, many of whom were migrants from other West
African countries.
In November the Republican Guard prevented ONUCI guards protecting
NF Minister Louis-Andre Dacoury-Tabley from entering the Prime
Minister's headquarters. The action prompted ONUCI to draft a written
complaint to the U.S.
There were no known developments in the September 2005 case in
which NF Minister of Territorial Administration Colonel Issa Diakite,
then under the protection of ONUCI, was attacked at the home of an
associate by FESCI-aligned groups in Cocody.
The GPP, which was banned in 2003, continued to exist and carry out
attacks despite a March 2005 announcement by FANCI Chief of Staff
Mangou and the DDR commission that the group would be disbanded. The
group was tolerated and tacitly encouraged by members of the ruling
party elite, who argued that the GPP defended the country.
For example, on July 31, several persons were injured when the GPP
attacked naval police agents who were organizing a peaceful
demonstration in Plateau to demand the payment of bonuses and the
dismissal of their director. Defense and security forces finally drove
out the militiamen.
In the NF-held part of the country, rebel military police operated
with impunity in administering justice without legally constituted
executive or judicial oversight (see Section 1.g.). Rebels often
harassed and abused local citizens, often on the basis of ethnic or
political background. There continued to be reports that rebel forces
beat persons who supported President Gbagbo and the ruling FPI. During
the year the NF reportedly beat a journalist (see Section 1.a.). There
were reports that NF members raped women and girls in the north and
that rebel soldiers arrested, tortured, or killed suspected government
loyalists or allies of rival rebel leader Ibrahim Coulibaly in the
zones under their control, regardless of their ethnic background (see
Section 1.g.).
On January 13, NF member Toure Aboubacar Sidik was reportedly
subjected to a mock execution by other members of the NF after he
requested ONUCI protection from those forces. He was later released and
accompanied back to the Guepard Camp in Bouake.
Incidents of ethnic violence resulted in injuries, especially in
the west and the southwest (see Section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions were poor and
in some cases life threatening in the country's 33 prisons. In the 22
prisons located in the area under control of the Government, this
situation was primarily due to inadequate budgets and overcrowding. For
example, the country's main prison, MACA, was built for 1,500 persons
but held 4,034 detainees as of September 30; the other 21 prisons in
the government-controlled area collectively held 9,351 detainees
despite their 3,371-person capacity. Conditions in MACA were
notoriously bad, especially for the poor. Wealthy prisoners reportedly
could ``buy'' extra cell space, food, and even staff to wash and iron
their clothes. The Government spent $0.24 (120 FCFA) per prisoner on
the daily food ration, which was not sufficient to prevent cases of
severe malnutrition in prisoners whose families did not bring them
additional food. Inmates at some prisons grew vegetables to feed
themselves. ONUCI reported that most deaths in prison were due to
malnutrition. There were credible reports that prisoners frequently
brutalized other prisoners for sleeping space and rations. There were
press reports of prostitution and a flourishing drug trade in MACA. Due
to the worsening security situation, in December 2005, Doctors Without
Borders discontinued supplementing the prison system's inadequate
medical facilities and contributing to the prison budget. Several small
national and international charities such as the Ivorian Islamic
Medical Rescue Association continued to provide food, clothing, legal
and medical assistance to prisoners. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) helped feed prisoners with no family in the towns of
Bondoukou, Bouafle, Dimbokro, Sassandra, and Divo.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
Male minors were held separately from adult men, but the physical
barriers at the main MACA prison were inadequate to enforce complete
separation. Minors were not held separately in detention centers. The
International Catholic Office for Children continued its efforts to
assist imprisoned children by helping to locate their families and by
maintaining a separate facility for them at the Divo prison.
Prison conditions for women remained particularly difficult, and
their children often lived with them in prison. Female prisoners at
MACA were segregated in a separate building under female guard. There
were continued reports that female prisoners engaged in sexual
relations with wardens to get food and privileges. There also were
reports that female prisoners engaged in sexual relationships with male
prisoners. There continued to be inadequate healthcare facilities for
women. Pregnant prisoners went to hospitals to give birth and then
returned to prison with their babies. The penitentiary accepted no
responsibility for the care or feeding of the infants, although the
inmate mothers received help from local nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs).
In September, following the dumping of toxic wastes in several
parts of Abidjan, which caused the death of 10 persons in Abidjan and
which reportedly affected MACA, the Prison Administration belatedly
acted to transfer 150 prisoners (minors, pregnant women and women
living with their babies in jail) from MACA to various prisons. In
spite of those measures, a 15-year-old prisoner died at MACA allegedly
due to exposure to toxic waste fumes.
The Government permitted access to prisons by local and
international NGOs including the ICRC, World Doctors, International
Prisons' Friendship, Love Amour, and the Ivorian Islamic Medical Rescue
Association.
The NF maintained detention centers, and during the year the ICRC
and ONUCI human rights division local teams were granted full access.
ONUCI reported that the NF was detaining 295 persons, usually without
due process. The NF allegedly freed prisoners to serve as combatants
against the Government.
There were credible reports that rebels killed prisoners or that
prisoners died in jail, although less frequently due to improved
conditions.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of New Zealander Brian
Sands, who died from asphyxiation in NF custody in April 2005.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, both occurred
frequently.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces under
the ministries of defense and territorial administration include the
army, navy, air force, republican guard, Presidential security force,
and the gendarmerie, a branch of the armed forces with responsibility
for general law enforcement. The police forces are under the
jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior. There were reportedly major
divisions within the military based on ethnic and political loyalties.
Police forces include paramilitary rapid intervention units such as the
Anti-Riot Brigade and the Republican Security Company, and the plain-
clothes investigating unit, Directorate for Territorial Security (DST).
In July 2005 the Government formed CECOS to combat rising crime in
Abidjan (see Section 1.a.). A central security staff collected and
distributed information regarding crime and coordinated the activities
of the security forces. Security forces frequently resorted to
excessive force (see Sections 1.a., 1.c., and 2.b.).
Poor training and supervision of security forces, corruption, the
public's fear of pressing charges, and investigations conducted by
security forces who themselves were abusers contributed to widespread
impunity and lawlessness in the country. Racketeering at roadblocks was
a serious problem, and security forces often were seen forcing persons
stopped at roadblocks to do push-ups while being beaten or subjected to
other abuses. Police solicited sexual favors from prostitutes in
exchange for not being arrested. There also were credible reports that
police kidnapped private citizens and either killed them or released
them, sometimes demanding a bribe for their release. Security forces
often were accused of causing rising crime in Abidjan, and there were
credible reports that security forces rented their uniforms and weapons
to persons wanting to engage in criminal activity. Security forces on
occasion also failed to prevent violence (see Section 2.b.). Security
forces faced no sanctions for confiscating or destroying noncitizens'
identification papers.
The Government sometimes took action against police officers who
committed abuses; however, it generally did not investigate or punish
effectively those who committed abuses, nor did it prosecute persons
responsible in previous years for unlawful killings and disappearances.
During the year the military prosecutor established a telephone help
line to report racketeering incidents.
The Government took steps to combat malfeasance in the ranks of the
security forces. In January security minister Joseph Dja Ble visited
the police academy, where he pledged to fight racketeering.
On August 23, police officer Zie Guillaume was arrested when he
attempted to bribe the minister of security with $240,000 (117 million
FCFA) after allegedly attempting to enroll Police Academy candidates
who had not completed the required exam. While awaiting trial in jail,
Zie allegedly tried to bribe the military prosecutor to be granted
bail. Prosecution of the case was ongoing at year's end, and Zie
remained in detention at the Military Prison of Abidjan (MAMA).
During the year the Government launched a television campaign
urging citizens not to pay bribes to security forces at checkpoints.
However, citizens who did not pay bribes continued to face the
confiscation of their official documents, harassment, intimidation, or
physical abuse.
In March the Abidjan military tribunal sentenced three gendarmes
charged with racketeering to fines and prison sentences of up to one
year.
In April CECOS Chief Commander Colonel Guiai Bi Poin reported that
heavy punishments had been meted out to 19 CECOS members, eight of whom
had participated in robberies. The officers were dismissed from the
security forces.
The military tribunal reported that as of October, 56 members of
the defense and security forces, including police officers, gendarmes,
and military personnel, were being held at MAMA. Thirty-six of the 56
were arrested during the year and transferred to jail for murder, rape,
corruption, violation of orders, theft, embezzlement, and other abuses.
In March six of these persons were convicted of theft of citizens'
money and were sentenced to five years in prison at MAMA.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law officials must have warrants
to conduct searches, although police sometimes used a general search
warrant without a name or address. A bail system existed solely at the
discretion of the judge trying the case. Detainees were generally
allowed access to lawyers; however, in cases of accusations of
complicity with the rebels or other matters of national security,
detainees were frequently denied access to their lawyers and family
members. For more serious crimes, those who could not afford to pay for
lawyers were given lawyers by the state, but less serious alleged
offenders were often without representation. A public prosecutor may
order the detention of a suspect for 48 hours without bringing charges,
and in special cases such as suspected actions against state security,
the law permits an additional 48-hour period. According to members of
the jurists' union, police often held persons for more than the 48-hour
legal limit without bringing charges, and magistrates often were unable
to verify that detainees who were not charged were released. Defendants
do not have the right to a judicial determination of the legality of
their detention. A magistrate could order pretrial detention for up to
four months but also had to provide the minister of justice with a
written justification on a monthly basis for continued detention.
DST was charged with collecting and analyzing information relating
to national security. DST has the authority to hold persons for up to
four days without charges; however, human rights groups stated there
were numerous cases of detentions exceeding the statutory limit.
There were many instances during the year in which gendarmes or
other security forces arbitrarily arrested persons. According to ONUCI,
forest rangers continued to detain villagers and demand up to $200
(100,000 FCFA) for their release (see Section 1.a.). However, unlike in
the previous year, there were no reports that forest rangers tortured
villagers.
Security forces continued to arbitrarily arrest merchants and
transporters, often in conjunction with harassment and requests for
bribes.
Police also detained journalists during the year (see Section
2.a.).
During the year security forces continued to arrest and usually
release RDR party members and officials and persons of northern origins
thought to be close to the rebellion (see Section 2.b.).
Local and international human rights organizations continued to
report that security forces frequently made arrests without warrants
and frequently held persons beyond the statutory limits without
bringing charges. There were credible reports that the police and
gendarmes detained persons in various military camps in Abidjan. Few of
these detainees entered the civil justice system. For example, security
forces arrested and detained several hundred RDR members in the wake of
the July 2005 violence in Anyama and Agboville; however, according to
an RDR lawyer, only 61 of these persons were charged (see Section
1.e.).
On February 21, several persons affiliated with General Mathias
Doue, the former chief of the General Staff of the FANCI, including his
nephew, two bodyguards, and the wife of a former bodyguard, were
arrested and detained in the DST jail for allegedly having committed a
breach of state security by recruiting assailants to attack the
republic and being the organizers of the attack on the Akouedo camp on
January 15. The arrests were widely believed to be a politically
motivated attempt to intimidate the general's supporters into
disclosing his whereabouts.
Many inmates continued to suffer long detention periods in MACA and
other prisons while awaiting trial. Despite the legal limit of 10
months of pretrial detention in civil cases and 22 months in criminal
cases, some pretrial detainees were held in detention for years.
In September the National Prison Administration reported that 26
percent of the 9,351 prisoners held in the 22 government-controlled
prisons were pretrial detainees.
ONUCI, AI, and other human rights organizations reported that in
rebel-controlled territory, the NF also arbitrarily arrested,
mistreated, ransomed, and detained many persons thought to be loyal to
President Gbagbo or Sergeant Ibrahim Coulibaly. For example, on March
20, FANCI Sergeant Moussa Guire was arrested and accused of being a spy
by the NF in Dioulabougou. Guire remained in detention in Bouake at
year's end.
In January NF units in Korhogo arrested Ibrahim Kalil Coulibaly and
his driver. The two men disappeared following the arrest and were still
missing at year's end. No charges were filed regarding the
disappearances by year's end.
On May 22, NF arrested 16 FPI officials on allegations of
trafficking arms from the government-controlled zone. The prisoners
were released following visits by the ICRC and ONUCI.
In July, 11 persons in Bouna, an NF-held city in the north, were
arrested for inquiring into the cause of the lack of electricity supply
in their areas. They were arrested, beaten, and detained before being
released without charge several days later.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary was
subject to influence from the executive branch, the military, and other
outside forces. Although the judiciary was independent in ordinary
criminal cases, it followed the lead of the executive in national
security or politically sensitive cases. There also were credible
reports that judges were subject to corruption. The judiciary was slow
and inefficient.
The formal judicial system is headed by a Supreme Court and
includes the court of appeals, lower courts, and a constitutional
council. The law grants the President the power to replace the head of
the Supreme Court after a new parliament is convened. In 2003 President
Gbagbo appointed the seven members of the Constitutional Council,
without consultation with the Government. President Gbagbo tasked the
council with, among other things, the determination of candidate
eligibility in Presidential and legislative elections, the announcement
of final election results, the conduct of a referendum, and the
constitutionality of legislation. President Gbagbo named three advisors
to the Constitutional Council for three-year terms, three other
advisors to six-year terms, and a President. On September 27, three new
advisors were sworn into the Constitutional Council for six-year terms,
replacing the three members whose original three-year terms had
expired. The council did not issue any significant rulings during the
year.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to public trial,
although key evidence sometimes was given secretly. The Government did
not always respect the presumption of innocence. Those convicted have
the right of appeal, although higher courts rarely overturned verdicts
and did not do so during the year. Defendants accused of felonies or
capital crimes have the right to legal counsel. The judicial system
provides for court-appointed attorneys; however, no free legal
assistance was available, aside from infrequent instances in which
members of the bar provided pro bono advice to defendants for limited
periods.
In rural areas traditional institutions often administered justice
at the village level, handling domestic disputes and minor land
questions in accordance with customary law. Dispute resolution was by
extended debate, with no known instance of resort to physical
punishment. The formal court system increasingly was superseding these
traditional mechanisms. The law specifically provides for a grand
mediator, appointed by the President, to bridge traditional and modern
methods of dispute resolution.
Military courts did not try civilians. Although there were no
appellate courts within the military court system, persons convicted by
a military tribunal may petition the Supreme Court to set aside the
tribunal's verdict and order a retrial.
There was little available information on the judicial system used
by the NF in the northern and western regions; however, there continued
to be credible reports of summary executions for various crimes in the
NF-controlled zone.
Of the 61 persons arrested for attacking gendarmerie and police in
Anyama and Agboville in July 2005, 17 were released and 44 were tried;
36 of the 44 were sentenced to between two and 15 years' imprisonment.
Appeals submitted by defense attorneys and the NGO Lawyers Without
Borders had not been heard by year's end.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters; however, the
judiciary was subject to corruption, outside influence, and favoritism
based on family and ethnic ties. Citizens did not often access the
court system to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a
human rights violation. The judiciary was slow and inefficient, and
there were problems enforcing domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for these rights;
however, the events of 2002 triggered a widespread suspension of
privacy rights. Officials must have warrants to conduct searches, must
have the prosecutor's agreement to retain any evidence seized in the
search, and are required to have witnesses to the search, which may
take place at any time; however, in practice police sometimes used a
general search warrant without a name or address. Police frequently
entered the homes of northern citizens and noncitizen Africans (or
apprehended them at large), took them to local police stations, and
extorted small amounts of money for alleged minor offenses.
There were credible reports that security forces conducted
warrantless searches of opposition party officials' residences,
allegedly in search of weapons. During the year security forces
continued to conduct neighborhood searches in which they entered
several homes at the same time, usually at night looking for arms.
There continued to be reports that security forces harassed opposition
forces.
For example, on May 5, three police officers arrested Mariam
Sangare-Traore, the wife of an RDR local leader for the district of
Yopougon in Abidjan, alleging that she held forged Ivorian identity
papers. Police released Traore later that day after verifying her
parents' national identity papers.
On May 8, security forces in the district of Yopougon Niangon
entered the homes of RDR members to search for weapons that the RDR had
allegedly distributed to its followers. When no weapons were found, the
security forces went to the neighborhood mosque, where they arrested
and questioned eight men for 14 hours before releasing them without
charge.
On July 19, a gendarmerie commando unit reportedly conducted an
illegal search of the Abobo mayor's office at city hall, which was the
officially designated site for the public identification hearings
(audiences foraines) being held as part of the voter registration
effort. The gendarmes were reportedly searching for illicit arms.
No action was taken against security forces that forcibly entered
residences in previous years.
Security forces monitored private telephone conversations, but the
extent of the practice was unknown. The Government admitted that it
listened to fixed line and cellular telephone calls. Authorities
monitored letters and parcels at the post office for potential criminal
activity, and they were believed to monitor private correspondence,
although there was no evidence of this. Members of the Government
reportedly continued to use students as informants.
The NF continued to confiscate the property and vehicles of civil
servants and those believed to be loyal to President Gbagbo or of
persons who had abandoned their houses following the rebellion.
However, the minister of solidarity and war victims, who was also the
deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire,
the principal political arm of the NF, created a commission in charge
of returning confiscated properties to those who could prove ownership.
The minister also urged victims to return to their homes.
Rebels in the northern towns of Bouake and Katiola continued to
monitor mail, looking for potential government loyalist infiltrators.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and the press, but the Government restricted
these rights in practice. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship for fear of retribution. Government officials aggressively
used the court system to punish critics.
At year's end the trial had not yet begun in the defamation
complaint brought by President Gbagbo in July 2005 against PDCI-
affiliated former minister of animal production and fisheries, Kobenan
Adjoumani, who in June 2005 accused the President of masterminding the
2002 rebellion.
The only remaining government-owned daily newspaper, Fraternite
Matin, which had the greatest circulation of any daily, rarely
criticized government policy. There were a number of private newspapers
that frequently criticized government policy, the President, and the
ruling party. Newspapers often ceased publication and were supplanted
by others due to strong competition, a limited audience, and financial
constraints. Most newspapers were politicized and sometimes resorted to
fabricated stories to defame political opponents. The law requires the
``right of response'' in the same newspaper, thus newspapers often
printed responses in opposition to earlier articles, although often not
with the prominence accorded to the original story.
Because of low literacy rates, radio was the most important medium
of mass communication. Newspapers and television were relatively
expensive. The government-owned broadcast media company, Ivorian Radio
and Television (RTI) owned two major radio stations; only the primary
government radio station broadcast nationwide. Neither station
criticized the Government.
The private radio stations did not have complete control over their
editorial content. The Government used the Audiovisual Communication
Council (CNCA), which was controlled by the ruling party, to closely
monitor Radio Nostalgie because the major shareholders of the company
were close to RDR President Alassane Ouattara. National broadcast
regulations prohibit the transmission of any political commentary.
Since the 2002 rebellion, the Government continued to reduce press
freedoms in the name of patriotism and national unity. The Government
and the ruling FPI continued to exercise considerable influence over
the official media's program content and news coverage, using them to
promote government policies and criticize the opposition. NF leader and
then Minister of Communications Guillaume Soro frequently complained
that the official media did not fairly accord television airtime to
opposition party members.
In November a series of events contributed to the development of an
environment hostile to media. On November 26, President Gbagbo signed a
decree to dismiss the director of Fraternite Matin and replaced him
with a known supporter after the newspaper reported on a meeting
between the President and prime minister regarding the implementation
of U.S. Resolution 1721. On November 27, government soldiers reportedly
accompanied by members of President Gbagbo's entourage went to the RTI
station to order that a ``seditious'' statement by the Prime Minister
that had been broadcast earlier that evening not be rebroadcast and
that further messages contradicting the President be banned. The army
seized the tape of the broadcast. On November 28, the President fired
the director of RTI and dissolved its entire board of directors, which
had been appointed by NF leader and current Minister of State for
Reconstruction and Reintegration Guillaume Soro when he was Minister of
Communication, for broadcasting Prime Minister Banny's statement.
The media played a critical role in inflaming tensions, and
newspapers backed by political parties published inflammatory
editorials and created a climate of hostility toward perceived
political opponents. The Ivorian Observatory on Press Freedom and
Ethics and the National Press Commission, which enforced regulations
regarding creation, ownership, and freedom of the press, regularly
published press releases urging journalists to be more moderate.
Members of the security forces continued to harass and beat
journalists. Outspoken members of the press received death threats and
suffered physical intimidation from groups aligned with the ruling FPI
party.
For example, on January 14, a group of Young Patriots attacked
Frank Konate and Basile Zoma, a reporter and cameraman for opposition
daily newspaper 24 Heures, who were forced to stop at a roadblock
erected by the group. A leading member of the Young Patriots prevented
the group from carrying out their threats to douse the car with petrol
and set it ablaze.
On January 16, members of Young Patriots who were invading the RTI
in Abidjan attacked journalist David Mobio as he was presenting the
1:00 pm news. Mobio did not require hospitalization and did not file
charges.
On January 16, Young Patriots and FESCI students, led by the army
chief of staff General Philippe Mangou, forcefully took control of the
RTI television studio and installed journalist Ben Zahui to manage the
television station. On January 19, Minister Delegate of Communications
Martine Studer-Coffi reported being assaulted by Young Patriots and
Zahui at RTI headquarters. She later lodged a complaint with RTI
against Zahui. In February the RTI internal trial committee found Zahui
guilty of verbal, but not physical, assault and ruled that he be
suspended without pay for three months and that he apologize publicly
to Studer-Coffi. On January 24, the CNCA strongly condemned the events
at RTI headquarters.
On December 21, the managing director of opposition newpaper Le
Nouveau Reveil, Denis Kah Zion, issued a public statement describing
repeated death threats against his family and colleagues. Kah Zion
reported that the police station in Cocody provided four officers to
protect his family for several days in December.
There also continued to be reports that foreign journalists were
subjected to government harassment and intimidation.
There were no developments in the 2005 cases of Honore Sepe, a
journalist for the opposition newspaper Le Front who was briefly
detained and interrogated regarding his association with the NF, or of
Brahima Golle, a journalist for the opposition newspaper Dernieres
Nouvelles, who was beaten by uniformed men.
On some occasions, the opposition also attacked journalists whom
they accused of spying on them on behalf of the FPI. For example, on
October 15, a journalist working for pro-Gbagbo newspaper Le Verdict
Populaire was attacked by participants in a rally held by the
opposition political party Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and for
Peace (RHDP).
The Young Patriots continued to attack journalists, destroy issues
of independent and opposition newspapers, and to threaten newspaper
vendors.
No action was taken against progovernment youth groups who
attacked, threatened, arrested, or harassed journalists in previous
years.
On May 12, the CNCA authorized RFI to resume FM and satellite
broadcasting following its July 2005 suspension, in which the CNCA
alleged that the station had been unprofessional in its coverage of
Colonel Bakassa Traore's death.
The law authorizes the Government to initiate criminal libel
prosecutions against officials. In addition the state may criminalize a
civil libel suit at its discretion or at the request of the plaintiff.
Criminal libel was punishable by three months to two years in prison.
While there was self-censorship in the press, independent daily
newspapers and opposition party dailies often examined and called into
question the Government's policies and decisions.
In NF-held territory rebels broadcast their own programming from
Bouake, which included radio and television shows that were heard in
towns and villages around Bouake and, according to some reports, in the
political capital, Yamoussoukro. In the western part of the country,
rebels also broadcast on a local radio station around Man. The NF
continued to allow broadcast of government television or radio programs
in their zones. The NF also allowed distribution of all progovernment
newspapers and most independent newspapers in their territory. However,
at checkpoints in Yamoussoukro, FANCI soldiers frequently prevented
opposition newspapers from entering the NF zone.
In the rebel-held zones, rebel forces also beat and harassed
journalists.
For example, on February 9, an independent journalist alleged he
was beaten by NF security personnel after leaving an interview with the
NF spokesman in the compound of the NF general secretariat in Bouake.
No action was taken against rebel forces who beat, harassed, and
killed journalists in previous years.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored email or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Citizens had access to the Internet at Internet cafes, but home access
was prohibitively expensive for most persons.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. FESCI, the pro-Gbagbo student group created in the
early 1990's, generated a climate of fear and intimidation at the
universities and regularly stopped classes, forced students to attend
meetings, and threatened professors who interfered in their activities.
The Government controlled most educational facilities, even at the
post-secondary level, and a Presidential decree required authorization
for all meetings on campuses.
Many prominent scholars active in opposition politics retained
their positions at state educational facilities; however, some teachers
and professors suggested that they had been transferred, or feared that
they could be transferred, to less desirable positions because of their
political activities. According to student union statements, security
forces continued to use students as informants to monitor political
activities at the University of Abidjan.
FESCI continued to use violent tactics to maintain its hold on
student government, disrupt the work of officials appointed by
opposition ministers, and intimidate other students. For example, on
April 27, members of FESCI disrupted exams at the Catholic University
of West Africa (UCAO) in Abidjan, resulting in the injury of several
UCAO students.
On July 14, FESCI members stormed the RTI television station
following the broadcast of a statement by the Collective of Teachers'
Unions concerning the boycott of the school examinations at the end of
the academic year. Several RTI employees were injured, the
administrative building was ransacked, and six vehicles were damaged.
FESCI members continued to target the General Association of
Students of Cote d'Ivoire, a rival student group founded in 2004 as an
alternative form of student governance.
No action was taken against FESCI members responsible for an
alleged incident of kidnapping and rape in 2005 or for similar
incidents reported in previous years.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law allows for freedom of assembly; however, the
Government sometimes restricted this right in practice. Groups that
wished to hold demonstrations or rallies in stadiums or other enclosed
spaces were required by law to submit a written notice of their intent
to the Ministry of Security or the Ministry of Interior three days
before the proposed event. No law expressly authorizes the Government
to ban public meetings or events for which advance notice has been
given in the required manner, but the Government prohibited specific
events deemed prejudicial to the public order. Even if authorization
for an event was granted, the Government could later revoke it. On
December 13, President Gbagbo renewed a ban on all forms of outdoor
public demonstrations in Abidjan until June 15, 2007.
RDR members occasionally had difficulties associating freely, and
there were reports that security forces harassed and detained RDR
members who tried to meet.
On July 2, members of the Young Patriots attacked a delegation of
RDR activists in Blolequin as they prepared to hold a meeting on mobile
courts, and several RDR members were injured. Although the activists
had informed the prefect and military authorities of the meeting and
requested protection, authorities did not attempt to assist or protect
them.
Police forcibly dispersed antigovernment demonstrations, which
resulted in injuries.
On February 12, youths erected roadblocks at the Giscard d'Estaing
Boulevard to protest the killings of Arthur Vincent Dahie and Moustapha
Tounkara, two cellular phone vendors. Dahie and Tounkara, were
reportedly killed by a brigade of CECOS on patrol. The police used tear
gas to disperse the protesters. CECOS Chief Commander, Colonel Guai Bi
Poin, declined to investigate the matter.
On June 2, police allegedly used belts and tear gas to disperse
members of the Union for Democracy and Peace youth wing associated with
the late General Robert Guei who had gathered at the general's house.
On July 15, FESCI staged a violent protest in front of RTI
headquarters to demand that their message be broadcast live. Three of
the approximately 200 protestors were injured when security forces
opened fire.
There were no known developments in the July 2005 case in which
progovernment supporters and FESCI students attacked participants in a
press conference organized by youth opposition leaders at the PDCI
headquarters.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right;
however, the law prohibits the formation of political parties along
ethnic or religious lines, both of which were key factors in some
parties' membership (see Sections 2.c. and 5).
The GPP, which was banned in 2003, continued to exist and attack
government installations and personnel (see Section 1.c.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right.
However, after 2002 the Government targeted persons perceived to be
perpetrators or supporters of the rebellion, many of whom were Muslim
and from the north. Strong efforts by religious and civil society
groups have helped prevent the crisis from becoming a religious
conflict. The targeting of Muslims suspected of rebel ties continued to
diminish during the year.
There was no state religion; however, for historical as well as
ethnic reasons, government officials informally favored Christianity,
in particular the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic schools received
government subsidies, and Catholic Church leaders had a stronger voice
in government affairs than their Islamic counterparts, which resulted
in feelings of disenfranchisement among some Muslims.
The law requires religious groups desiring to operate in the
country to register; however, registration was granted routinely.
Although nontraditional religious groups, like all public secular
associations, were required to register with the Government, no
penalties were imposed on groups that failed to register.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of the country's
largely Christian or Islamic urban elites, who effectively controlled
the Government, generally were disinclined to accord to traditional
indigenous religions the same social status as accorded to Christianity
and Islam.
Some Muslims believed that their religious or ethnic affiliation
made them targets of discrimination by the Government with regard to
both employment and the renewal of national identity cards. As northern
Muslims shared names, style of dress, and customs with several
predominantly Muslim neighboring countries, they sometimes were accused
wrongly of attempting to obtain nationality cards illegally to vote or
otherwise take advantage of citizenship (see Section 5). This created a
hardship for a disproportionate number of Muslim citizens.
Government officials, including the President and his religious
advisers, appeared at major religious celebrations and events organized
by a wide variety of faiths and groups. The Government often invited
leaders of various religious communities, including the Mediation
Committee for National Reconciliation, to attend official ceremonies
and to sit on deliberative and advisory committees.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law do not provide
specifically for these rights, and the Government restricted freedom of
movement during the year. There were frequent restrictions on internal
travel. A curfew remained in place prohibiting citizens from entering
and leaving Yamoussoukro and Abidjan city limits between 11:00 p.m. and
6:00 a.m. Security forces, local civilian ``self-defense'' committees,
and water, forestry, and customs officials frequently erected and
operated roadblocks on major roads, where they demanded that motorists
or passengers produce identity and vehicle papers and regularly
extorted travelers, commercial traffic and truckers, foreigners,
refugees, and others (see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.).
From January 16 to 20, pro-Gbagbo youth militias erected roadblocks
throughout Abidjan and attacked UN installations in Abidjan and in
other parts of the government-controlled zone in protest against an
International Working Group (IWG) announcement that the mandate of the
National Assembly had expired. Security forces took no action to remove
the roadblocks or to protect UN installations.
On August 21, the Young Patriots blocked the vehicle of NF Minister
of Solidarity and War Victims Louis-Andre Dacoury-Tabley, who was
traveling to Daloa on ministry business. The NF issued a statement
protesting the incident and accusing the Government's defense and
security forces of failing to perform their duties.
Police harassed opposition members at the airport and sometimes
prevented foreigners from traveling overland between the north and the
south.
Persons living under NF authority regularly faced harassment and
extortion when trying to travel between towns and to the government-
controlled south. Local military authorities regularly sold passes
required of travelers. Security and defense forces also victimized
northerners when they tried to cross into the zone under government
control. Due to the closure of banks in the north at the onset of the
crisis, northerners were forced to cross into the south and back to
conduct all banking business, including collecting remittances (upon
which many northerners depend). Government workers in the north also
had to travel into the south to collect their salaries. The cost of
either paying their way through the various barricades or hiring a
money runner to do so was substantial. Government officials reported
the roundtrip cost for citizens in the north to travel from Bouake and
other cities to Yamoussoukro to cash paychecks to be between $40 and
$60 (20,000 to 30,000 FCFA). A money courier or informal banking
service cost either $10 (5000 FCFA) to a flat percentage of the amount
transferred.
On March 16, the NF cited security concerns when it prevented
Laurent Dono Fologo, President of the Social and Economic Council, and
his entourage of over 300 persons from driving through the NF-
controlled zone to attend the funeral of Fologo's brother in Korhogo.
The law specifically prohibits forced exile, and no persons were
exiled forcibly during the year. However, due to numerous death
threats, a number of persons remained in self-imposed exile, including
several members of the RDR, members of other opposition parties, and
senior army officers such as General Mathias Doue and Colonel Jules Yao
Yao.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the year there were
large numbers of IDPs in the country as a result of the 2002 crisis.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated
that as many as one million persons were displaced at the beginning of
the crisis, of whom perhaps half (300,000 Burkinabe, 150,000 Malians,
and 50,000 Guineans) were foreign nationals. The UN Population Fund
(UNPFA) conducted a survey in late 2005 that estimated the total number
of IDPs in five government-held areas to be 750,000. The survey
concluded that more than 90 percent of IDPs lived with host families,
and almost 70 percent were located in Abidjan. However, other
humanitarian organizations and donors noted that these statistics
included IDPs who maintained access to their government salaries even
after their displacement.
Progovernment and rebel forces did not generally target civilians,
but ethnic conflict and fighting forced many persons to flee the zones
of conflict, and others simply felt uncomfortable in the side of the
divided country that they found themselves in initially. Roadblocks and
toll collection points made it difficult for civilians to move in both
sides of the country. These IDPs were invisible but placed heavy
burdens on host communities, especially given the prolonged nature of
the crisis. Government assistance, especially in the north where civil
servants and infrastructure were not in place, did not meet the needs
of these IDPs. International and local NGOs were working to fill the
gap.
In October 2005 the Government appointed a point of contact within
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to address IDP problems; however, the
Government did not provide funding for the appointee's office and
abolished the position during the year. In the middle of the year, the
Ministry of Solidarity and War Victims took the lead on IDP issues at
the national level. The ministry drafted an IDP return program that was
presented at a roundtable with international humanitarian agencies at
the end of August. Observers noted that the ministry did not have
either the funding or the expertise to carry out the proposed plan,
which consisted of projects to raise awareness of problems facing IDPs,
to analyze conditions for returning IDPs to their place of origin, and
to reintegrate returned IDPs. Most humanitarian agencies agreed during
a protection conference in October that the situation remained too
precarious to promote the safe return of displaced populations.
The ministries of foreign affairs and solidarity and war victims
worked closely with UN agencies on IDP issues. In December the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
signed agreements to cooperate on IDP issues.
In August the UN established an IDP protection cluster, a working
group led by the UNHCR to address IDP protection issues. In December
the IDP Protection Cluster initiated a profiling operation in Abidjan
and Grand-Bassam to complement the 2005 UNFPA survey and to develop
durable solutions for displaced communities.
During the year an estimated 40,000 IDPs returned to their areas of
origin, some without external assistance. UN agencies and local
authorities also facilitated the small-scale return of IDPs to several
locations in the west of the country with varying degrees of success.
The displacement patterns often complicated the return of IDPs. For
example, the displaced Burkinabe and other settlers living in the
Guiglo IDP camp said that their plantations around the western town of
Blolequin, south of the Zone of Confidence, were being occupied by
indigenous Guere populations, who themselves had been displaced from
their land in the Zone of Confidence at the beginning of the crisis.
The Government had not addressed this situation by year's end.
In January groups from the north conducted a series of attacks on
several small villages in the region of Tabou, the traditional home of
the Kroumen. The third attack resulted in the displacement of 153
persons and the deaths of between nine and 13 persons, most of whom
were Koulango and Baoule. In February these IDPs returned to their
villages but found them occupied by armed men reportedly from the Lobi
ethnic group. In February the minister of national reconciliation and
relations with institutions visited the Tabou area and gave
approximately $2,000 (1 million FCFA) to the Kroumen community and
approximately $800 (400,000 FCFA) to the 153 persons who fled.
New population displacements continued on a regular basis in the
western region, particularly in the area around Guiglo and in the Zone
of Confidence, although on a much smaller scale than had occurred in
previous years. Although the origin of most disputes appeared to be
economic, generally resulting from issues of land tenure and access to
arable farmland, most of these conflicts also cut along ethnic lines.
In late 2005 the Government attempted to forcibly expel
approximately 200 IDPs from a Catholic mission in the western town of
Duekoue to compel them to return to their villages. Some of the IDPs
cited security concerns and refused to return. The subprefect of
Guehiebly, located in the Zone of Confidence, used limited local funds
to rent private homes for the IDP families, and families were forced to
share overcrowded houses or take up residence in abandoned houses. The
Catholic Mission permitted a number of IDPs to remain until alternative
arrangements were made.
Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provides for the
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protections
to refugees. The Government is signatory to the 1969 Organization of
African Unity Convention governing specific aspects of refugee problems
in Africa, and the law provides for asylum status to be granted in
accordance with this convention.
In practice the Government provided protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government granted refugee status and asylum. A law that went into
effect in 2004 provides refugees with legal status, including the right
to work. The Government also cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and maintained an
office charged with aiding refugees and other stateless persons.
The Government also provided temporary protection for individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967
Protocol.
Various West African governments complained that their citizens
were harassed in the country. The UN and other international
organizations documented such abuses against foreigners, which included
arbitrary arrest, beating, and theft (see Sections 1.a, 1.c., 1.d., and
1.f.). These complaints diminished somewhat during the year, and there
were no large-scale departures by foreigners due to harassment.
Individual security officers occasionally did not honor identity
documents issued to refugees either by the Government or by the UNHCR.
There were fewer reports than in the previous year that security forces
destroyed refugees' identity documents, arbitrarily detained, verbally
harassed, and beat refugees at checkpoints. During the year the
national agency in charge of refugees and stateless persons conducted a
series of information sessions on refugee identification papers for
members of the armed forces. The identity card law includes a provision
for identity cards to be issued to non-Liberian individuals over 14
years of age whose refugee status has been granted by the National
Eligibility Commission. Liberians who arrived in the country before the
2003 peace agreement in Liberia benefited from prima facie (group
determination) and received temporary refugee cards. Liberians who
arrived in the country after the peace agreement did not receive
temporary cards. Under certain circumstances, some asylum seekers who
were not granted refugee status by the Government were provided refugee
certificates by the UNHCR.
During the year the UNHCR assisted the voluntary repatriation of
refugees at the Guiglo camp, which was scheduled to remain open until
June 2007. The UNHCR closed the transit center for Liberian refugees in
Tabou in preparation to end its official repatriation process in June
2007.
There were reports that refugees were raped, but little additional
information was available.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide for the right of citizens to
change their government peacefully through democratic means. However,
significant violence and irregularities marred the last Presidential
and legislative elections held in 2000.
Elections and Political Participation.--The 2000 Presidential
elections followed several postponements and a controversial Supreme
Court decision disqualifying 14 of the 19 candidates, including PDCI
and RDR candidates. RDR leader Ouattara was excluded from running in
the Presidential and legislative elections following the Supreme
Court's ruling that he had not demonstrated conclusively that he was of
Ivorian parentage. The court also disqualified former President Bedie,
President of the PDCI party, because he did not submit the required
medical certificate.
As a result of the Supreme Court rulings, most international
election observers declined to monitor the election. The nationwide
participation rate was 37 percent, and some polling places, especially
in the north, closed early because of the lack of voters. Preliminary
results showed that Gbagbo was leading by a significant margin.
However, in October 2000, Daniel Cheick Bamba, an interior ministry and
national elections commission (CNE) official, announced on national
radio and television that the CNE had been dissolved and declared
General Guei the victor with 56 percent of the vote. Thousands of
Gbagbo supporters protested, demanding a full vote count. Mass
demonstrations resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, and the next
day, national radio and television reported that General Guei had
stepped down and that Laurent Gbagbo had assumed the presidency.
The 2000 National Assembly election was marred by violence,
irregularities, and a very low participation rate. Largely because of
the RDR boycott of the elections to protest the invalidation of
Ouattara's candidacy, the participation rate in the legislative
election was only 33 percent. In addition the election could not take
place in 26 electoral districts in the north because RDR activists
disrupted polling places, burned ballots, and threatened the security
of election officials. Following the legislative by-elections in 2001,
223 of the 225 seats of the National Assembly were filled: the FPI won
96 seats, the PDCI 94 seats, the Ivorian Worker's Party 4 seats, very
small parties 2 seats, independent candidates 22 seats, and the RDR 5
seats, in spite of its boycott of all of the legislative elections. The
two seats from Kong, where Ouattara planned to run, remained unfilled
as the RDR, the only party running in that electoral district,
boycotted the elections.Citizens' ability to elect subnational
governments was limited.
The country remained divided at year's end. Despite the numerous
peace accords signed since 2003, little progress was made towards
either elections or disarmament and reunification of the country.
President Gbagbo remained in office despite the expiration of his term
in October, and Charles Konan Banny remained as interim prime minister
after having been designated by the AU and ECOWAS in December 2005.
The youth wings of political parties were allowed to organize and
were active. Activity of the Young FPI (JFPI) was ongoing; however,
youth patriot groups who were not formally affiliated with the FPI
conducted most activities during the year (see Section 2.b.). Many of
the members of the JFPI were likely members of some of these patriot
groups. During the year militia groups such as the Young Patriots drew
smaller crowds at demonstrations in Abidjan and elsewhere than when the
rebellion broke out (see Section 2.b.). For the first time since March
2004, when security forces violently repressed a demonstration by the
unarmed opposition, the youth wings of the PDCI and RDR became more
active.
On January 17, Young Patriots, FESCI students, and FPI members
attacked the UN camp in Guiglo to protest the declaration by the IWG
that the mandate of the National Assembly would expire in December.
Besieged peacekeepers were forced to flee. Four to five protesters were
killed, and the camp was looted and destroyed. The protests continued
for four days during which protesters attacked UN headquarters in the
Sebroko area of Abidjan, as well as offices, camps, and personnel in
Daloa and San Pedro. On January 20, after a request from their leaders
to leave the streets, the Young Patriots dismantled the roadblocks.
On October 15, the RHDP opposition alliance held a rally at an
Abidjan stadium that reportedly drew between 5,000 and 10,000 persons.
In December youth members of the opposition held demonstrations in
Abidjan and other parts of the country to protest the President's
decree replacing the managing directors of RTI and Fraternite Matin and
reinstating the managing directors of the port and the customs service
and the governor of the district of Abidjan. Three members of the
opposition were killed and several injured by security forces.
Women held 19 of 225 seats in the last elected National Assembly,
which was suspended at the end of 2005. The first vice President of the
National Assembly was a woman. Women held five of the 36 ministerial
positions in Prime Minister Banny's cabinet. Of the 41 Supreme Court
justices, four were women. Henriette Dagri Diabate served as Secretary
General of the RDR, the party's second ranking position.
In the last elected National Assembly, 44 out of 223 members of
parliament were Muslim.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption and
lack of transparency remained a serious problem during the year. It was
common for judges open to bribery to distort the merits of a case.
Corruption had the greatest impact on judicial proceedings, contract
awards, customs, and tax issues, and accountability of the security
forces.
On August 23, police officer Zie Guillaume was arrested when he
attempted to bribe the minister of security with $240,000 (117 million
FCFA) after allegedly attempting to enroll Police Academy candidates
who had not completed the required exam (see Section 1.d.).
The Prime Minister dissolved the cabinet following reports that
corruption and mismanagement within the port authorities and customs
agency had contributed to the dumping of toxic wastes in several areas
of Abidjan, resulting in the deaths of 10 persons. When he formed a new
cabinet in September, he replaced the transportation minister and
created a new Ministry of Good Governance to address corruption issues.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups,
including the Ivorian League for Human Rights (LIDHO) and MIDH,
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. The Government
occasionally met with some of these groups.
The Government took no action against Young Patriots leader Charles
Ble Goude when the U.S. sanctioned him in February for his role in
promoting ongoing tensions in the country. The Government also took no
action against prominent loyalist leaders in Abidjan such as Women
Patriots leader Genevieve Bro Grebe and others who in 2004 helped
orchestrate attacks on unarmed UN personnel and vehicles, opposition
newspapers, opposition party headquarters, the homes of opposition
party members, and the homes, businesses, and schools of French
citizens and other expatriates. The violence, which was triggered in
part by the retaliation of French Operation Licorne peacekeeping troops
for the Government's bombing of the French military base in Bouake,
resulted in numerous civilian deaths and injuries.
During the year ONUCI, LIDHO, MIDH, Action for the Defense of Human
Rights, and other human rights groups gathered evidence and testimony,
published in independent local daily newspapers, and often criticized
government security forces.
During the year members of MIDH continued to receive death threats,
and progovernment militia groups targeted and harassed ONUCI.
No investigations were conducted into incidents from previous years
of threats and harassment of MIDH members.
During the year progovernment militia, unhindered by government
security forces, frequently blocked UN and French peacekeeping forces
from conducting activities in government-controlled areas. The IWG
frequently protested such interference, which did not abate.
For example, during demonstrations in January against the IWG (see
Section 2.a), progovernment demonstrators attacked the vehicle of Prime
Minister Banny, smashing several windows. A French Embassy official
reported being attacked in his vehicle in the same vicinity during that
incident. In a related incident, demonstrators destroyed a UN vehicle
in the parking lot of the Hotel Ivoire. Pierre Schori, the UN Secretary
General's Special Representative in Cote d'Ivoire, protested the
attacks on ONUCI staff, buildings, and vehicles, and deplored the
restrictions on the freedom of movement of UN employees.
Beginning in October, UN troops operated patrols to reinforce
security along the country's border with Liberia.
There were no reports that the Government suppressed international
human rights groups or denied them visas; however, the Government on
occasion restricted their access to certain areas deemed sensitive and
often denigrated their work.
During the year the Government regularly permitted the World Food
Program (WFP), the ICRC, and other international organizations to
conduct humanitarian operations. Eleven UN agencies, including the
International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Health
Organization, were resident and active throughout the year.Local
newspapers covered reports by several international human rights
organizations that were critical of both the Government's and the
rebels' human rights records.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national
origin, sex, or religion; however, the Government did not effectively
enforce the law.
Women.--The law does not define domestic violence, which was a
serious problem. Female victims of domestic violence suffered severe
social stigma and as a result often did not report or discuss domestic
violence. The courts and police viewed domestic violence as a problem
to be addressed within the family unless serious bodily harm was
inflicted or the victim lodged a complaint, in which case criminal
proceedings could be initiated. However, a victim's own parents often
urged withdrawal of a complaint because of the effect of social stigma
on the entire family.
The law prohibits rape and provides for prison terms of five to 10
years, and the Government enforced this law. Claims were most
frequently brought against child rapists. A life sentence can be
imposed in cases of gang rape if the rapists are related to or hold
positions of authority over the victim, or if the victim is under 15
years of age. The law does not specifically penalize spousal rape. Rape
was a problem, although its extent was unknown because the Government
did not collect statistics on rape or other physical abuse of women.
Women's advocacy groups continued to protest the indifference of
authorities to female victims of violence; however, women who reported
rape or domestic violence to the police were often ignored. Many female
victims were convinced by their relatives and police to seek an
amicable resolution with the rapist rather than pursue a legal case.
The Ministry of Human Rights, the Association of Women Lawyers, and
MIDH continued to seek justice on behalf of rape victims but had not
made much progress by year's end because of the reluctance of victims
to file formal complaints. During the year the MIDH conducted a project
called SOS Rape to provide rape victims with legal, social,
psychological, and medical assistance.
During the year the Ministry of Women, Family, and Children's
Affairs continued to provide limited assistance to victims of domestic
violence. The ministry's support included providing government-run
counseling centers with computers, printers, and other equipment for
record-keeping and visiting a few victims in their homes to attempt to
reconcile troubled couples and to remove domestic servants from homes
in which they had been sexually abused.
The National Committee in Charge of Fighting against Violence
against Women and Children, under the Ministry of Women, Family and
Children's Affairs, maintained a hot line for abused women, helped
provide shelters for victims of abuse, and counseled abusive husbands.
The committee also monitored abusive situations through frequent home
visits. Young girls who feared becoming victims of abuse, FGM, or
forced marriage could appeal to the committee, which arranged for
shelter in facilities run by the Government or NGOs. The committee
often stopped abuse by threatening legal action against offending
parents or husbands.
FGM was a serious problem. The law specifically forbids FGM and
provides penalties for practitioners of up to five years' imprisonment
and fines of approximately $720 to $4,000 (360,000 to two million
FCFA). Double penalties apply to medical practitioners. The incidence
of FGM did not continue to decrease from the previous year, and an
estimated 60 percent of women had undergone the procedure. FGM was
practiced most frequently among rural populations in the north and west
and to a lesser extent in the center and south. FGM usually was
performed on girls before or at puberty as a rite of passage, with
techniques and hygiene that did not meet modern medical standards.
Local NGOs, such as the Djigui Foundation, Animation Rurale de Korhogo,
and the National Organization for Child, Woman, and Family, continued
to work to persuade FGM practitioners to turn in their instruments.
Unlike in the previous year, arrests related to FGM were made. For
example, on March 8, a three-year-old girl required medical attention
after undergoing FGM. The NF arrested and detained the girl's mother
and the FGM practitioners at the police station in Marabadiassa. They
were later released without charge.
Prostitution is not illegal as long as it occurs between consenting
adults in private, and the practice appeared to be increasing due to
economic difficulty. Soliciting and pandering are illegal, and the
police sometimes enforced the law. Women from nearby countries
sometimes were trafficked into the country, including for forced
prostitution (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, such harassment was
widespread and routinely accepted as a cultural norm. The Government
did not initiate any investigations or prosecutions during the year.
The penalties for sexual harassment are between one and three years'
imprisonment and a fine ranging between $720 and $2,000 (360,000 and
one million CFA).
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender; however,
women occupied a subordinate role in society. Government policy
encouraged full participation by women in social and economic life;
however, there was considerable resistance among employers in the
formal sector to hiring women, who were considered less dependable
because of their potential for pregnancy. Some women also encountered
difficulty in obtaining loans, as they could not meet the lending
criteria established by banks, such as a title to a house and
production of a profitable cash crop. NGOs supervised efforts to create
economic cooperatives to provide poor women access to small loans from
the Government or private microfinance banks. Women in the formal
sector usually were paid at the same rate as men (see Section 6.e.);
however, because the tax code did not recognize women as heads of
households, female workers frequently were required to pay income tax
at a higher rate than their male counterparts when they could not prove
that they were family heads. Women's organizations began a campaign
against the practice during the year, but the Government had not
revised the tax code by year's end. Inheritance law also discriminated
against women.
Women's advocacy organizations continued to sponsor campaigns
against forced marriage, marriage of minors, patterns of inheritance
that excluded women, and other practices considered harmful to women
and girls. Women's organizations also campaigned against the legal
texts and procedures that discriminated against women. The Coalition of
Women Leaders continued its efforts to promote greater participation of
women in political decision-making and in presenting themselves as
candidates in legislative and municipal elections.
Children.--The ministries of public health and of employment,
public service, and social security sought to safeguard the welfare of
children, and the Government also encouraged the formation of NGOs to
promote children's interests, such as the National Organization for
Children and Family.
The Government strongly encouraged children to attend school in the
government-controlled south; however, primary education was not
compulsory. Primary education was tuition-free but usually ended at age
13. In principle students did not have to pay for books or fees;
however, some still did so or rented books from stalls on the street
because the Government did not provide for school fees and books for
every school. Poverty led many children between the ages of 12 and 14
to leave school. Research in 2002 showed that 67 percent of children
six to 17 years old attended school, including 73 percent of boys and
61 percent of girls. However, Ministry of Education statistics for the
2004 2005 school year indicated that the de facto partition of the
country had resulted in a drop in the schooling rate to 54.3 percent in
primary school, with 52.1 percent of boys and 43.5 percent of girls
attending school.
The schooling rate was much lower in the zone controlled by the NF.
According to the NGO Ecole pour Tous, the lower enrollment rate was due
both to lack of government teachers working in NF-controlled zones and
to the migration of families out of these areas.
The WFP continued to work with the Government to establish a
countrywide system of school canteens that provided subsidized lunches
for $.05 (25 FCFA).
Students who failed the secondary school entrance exams did not
qualify for free secondary education, and many families could not
afford to pay for schooling. Parental preference for educating boys
rather than girls persisted, particularly in rural areas. The minister
of national education stated in 2005 that almost one-third of the
female primary and secondary school dropout rate of 66 percent was
attributable to pregnancies. For the first time since 2004, the
Government allowed exams to be administered in September in the rebel-
controlled north, thereby permitting thousands of students in that
region to seek advanced study.
Teachers sometimes gave good grades and money to students in
exchange for sexual favors. The penalty for statutory rape or attempted
rape of either a child aged 15 years or younger was a prison sentence
of one to three years and a fine of $200 to $2,000 (100,000 to one
million FCFA).
The Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene continued to operate a
nationwide network of clinics for children, infants, and prenatal care
staffed with nurses and doctors who served the local residents, whether
citizens or non-citizens, free or at low cost; however, many doctors
and nurses left the zones under control of the NF after September 2002.
Girls and boys had equal access to health care.
A 2004 NGO survey of 500 schoolchildren in Abidjan and its suburbs
found that 27 percent of children had been victims of sexual abuse; 74
percent of the victims were girls and 26 percent boys. Approximately 33
percent had been raped, 15 percent had been the victims of attempted
rape; 42 percent had been fondled, and 11 percent were victims of
sexual harassment. When the sexual abuse occurred in the family, 54
percent of the assailants were male cousins, 11 percent were female
cousins, five percent were guardians, and three percent were brothers
and sisters.
FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
The law prohibits and provides criminal penalties for forced or
early marriage; however, it occurred throughout the country,
particularly in rural areas. The law prohibits the marriage of men
under the age of 20, women under the age of 18, and persons under the
age of 21 without the consent of their parents. However, traditional
marriages were commonly performed with girls as young as 14 in the
conservative communities in the north. The law specifically penalizes
anyone who forces a minor under 18 years if age to enter a religious or
customary matrimonial union. There is no data on child marriage because
these marriages are done traditionally and are not registered.
There were reports of trafficking in children (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Both progovernment militias and rebel forces continued to recruit
and use children as soldiers, both on a voluntary and a forced basis.
Child labor remained a problem (see Sections 5, Trafficking, and
6.d.).
There were many thousands of street children in the country,
including approximately 5,000 in Abidjan; even NGOs dedicated to the
problem found it difficult to estimate its extent. Some children were
employed as domestics and were subject to sexual abuse, harassment, and
other mistreatment by their employers (see Section 6.d.). Because of
the political-military crisis, many families, including displaced
families, relied on their children to work as street vendors and bring
money home. A forum of 15 NGOs worked with street children in training
centers that were similar to halfway houses. The NGOs paid the children
a small subsistence sum while teaching them vocational and budgeting
skills. Many street children, however, were reluctant to stay in
training centers where they earned no money and were subject to strict
discipline.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit
trafficking in persons, and although the Government continued its
antitrafficking efforts, trafficking in persons remained a problem.
With the continuing crisis and the difficulty in identifying trafficked
children, UN agencies and international humanitarian agencies such as
the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) concentrated on child soldiers and
children displaced because of the war. The Government, other UN and
international agencies such as ILO, International Cocoa Foundation
(ICI), and the German Cooperation Agency (GTZ) continued efforts to
combat trafficking in persons.
The country was a source and destination country for trafficking in
women and children. Women and children were trafficked from Mali,
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Benin for the purposes of prostitution,
sexual exploitation, and forced commercial, agricultural, and domestic
servitude. The full extent and nature of the problem was unknown
despite efforts to document the trafficking of persons in the country.
There was no reliable estimate on the number of children intercepted or
repatriated during the year. Trafficking in persons appeared to
decrease during the year due to increased police checkpoints and fewer
economic opportunities in the country. Unlike in the previous year,
officials at the country's border with Ghana near Aboisso did not
report an increase in the number of unaccompanied child travelers.
The country's cities and farms provided ample opportunities for
traffickers, especially of children and women. The informal labor
sectors were not regulated under existing labor laws; as a result
domestics, most nonindustrial farm laborers, and those who worked in
the country's broad range of street shops and restaurants remained
outside formal government protection. Internal trafficking of girls
ages nine to 15 to work as household domestics in Abidjan, and
elsewhere in the more prosperous south, remained a problem. Traffickers
of local children often were relatives or friends of the victim's
parents. Traffickers sometimes promised parents that the children would
learn a trade, but they often ended up on the streets as vendors or
working as domestic servants. Due to the economic crisis, many parents
allowed their children to be exploited to minimize the financial burden
on the family. Because security forces were trained to search buses for
trafficked children, traffickers changed their methods during the year.
Instead of moving large groups of children into the country by bus,
traffickers relocated between one and three children at a time by
bicycle or train or on foot.
Women principally were trafficked to the country from Nigeria and
Ghana. A local NGO estimated during the year that 58 percent of the
female prostitutes in Abidjan were not citizens. Organized trafficking
rings promised Nigerian women and girls that they would have jobs in
restaurants and beauty salons in Abidjan; however, many ended up in
brothels.
Women and children were trafficked from the country to African,
European, and Middle Eastern countries for prostitution and sexual
exploitation, and agricultural and domestic labor.
The regular trafficking of children into the country from
neighboring countries to work in the informal sector in exchange for
finder's fees generally was accepted. Children were trafficked into the
country from Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Mauritania for
indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, and sexual exploitation.
The controversy over child labor in the local cocoa sector
continued, and the Government, the ILO, the Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association continued to
document the problem and search for ways to handle the issue. A 2002
survey conducted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
revealed that most children in the cocoa sector worked on the family's
farm (approximately 70 percent) or beside their parents. Of the 625,000
working children, 96.7 percent had a kinship relation to the farmer.
Others, most frequently the children of extended family members or
persons well known to them, cited their or their family's agreement to
leave their respective countries to work on farms in the country to
earn money or to pursue a better life.
The research suggested that perhaps 5,000 to 10,000 children were
trafficked to or within the country to work full- or part-time in the
cocoa sector. It also showed an estimated 5,100 children employed as
full-time permanent workers, approximately 3,000 of whom were from
Burkina Faso. The survey found another 12,000 children working part-
time on cocoa farms who had no family ties with the farmer. The
research showed that approximately 109,000 child laborers worked in
hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in the country in what the study
described as the worst forms of child labor. The studies estimated that
59 percent were from Burkina Faso, 24 percent were citizens, and the
others were from Mali or other countries to the north. Compared with
previous years, there were significantly fewer reports of children from
neighboring countries being imported for fieldwork on plantations under
abusive conditions.
Traffickers can be prosecuted under laws prohibiting kidnapping,
forced labor, and mistreatment; however, there was minimal law
enforcement in government-held territories, and only five traffickers
were arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced to prison terms during the
year. The National Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking and
Child Exploitation coordinated the Government's antitrafficking
efforts; it included representatives from the ministries of family and
social affairs, security, labor, foreign affairs, economy and finance,
and health and public hygiene.
The Government cooperated with international investigations of
trafficking. The ministries of employment and of family and social
affairs continued to work with authorities in neighboring countries to
prevent cross-border child trafficking and to repatriate children. In
July 2005 the Ministry of Family and Social Affairs held a ministerial
meeting on trafficking in persons that was attended by 10 West African
countries that signed a multilateral accord to fight trafficking
collectively. In July the Government set up a committee with national
reach to coordinate its implementation of the multilateral cooperative
agreement, which includes a provision to establish a child trafficking
monitoring system.
The Government worked with NGOs and international organizations to
combat trafficking in persons. The National Committee for the Fight
Against Child Trafficking continued its work during the year and
included representatives from numerous government ministries;
representatives from several national and international organizations
and NGOs, such as UNICEF, ILO, Save the Children, and the Network of
African Women Ministers and Parliamentarians--Cote d'Ivoire (REFAMP-
CI); and the BICE. In Abgoville, in the heart of the cocoa-producing
zone, Winrock International continued its project Alternatives to Child
Labor through Improved Education. The project offers agricultural
classes for farmers' children to provide them with practical cocoa-
farming skills in the context of their continuing education. The
development agencies of two foreign governments, in cooperation with
NGOs and industry-sponsored consortiums, continued a campaign against
the worst forms of child labor in cocoa-growing belts.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the Government to
educate and train persons with physical, mental, visual, auditory, and
cerebral motor disabilities, to hire them or help them find jobs, to
design houses and public facilities for wheelchair access, and to adapt
machines, tools, and work spaces for access and use by persons with
disabilities; however, wheelchair accessible facilities for persons
with disabilities were not common, and there were few training and job
assistance programs for persons with disabilities. The law also
prohibits acts of violence against persons with disabilities and the
abandonment of such persons; however, there were no reports that the
Government enforced these laws during the year.
There were no developments during the year in the November 2005
case in which more than 200 members of the National Federation of the
Handicapped of Cote d'Ivoire (FAH-CI) organized a sit-in in front of
the Ministry of Solidarity, Social Security, and the Handicapped to
protest the Government's failure to recruit persons with disabilities
during the last three years. The head of FAH-CI was subsequently fired.
Although the Government in 1996 announced a program to recruit persons
with disabilities for government service, FAH-CI announced in December
that only 435 persons with disabilities had been recruited into the
civil service since the program began.
Adults with disabilities were not specific targets of abuse, but
they encountered serious discrimination in employment and education.
The Government financially supported special schools, associations, and
artisans' cooperatives for persons with disabilities, but many persons
with physical disabilities begged on urban streets and in commercial
zones for lack of other economic opportunities. Persons with mental
disabilities often lived on the street.
Traditional practices, beliefs, and superstitions varied, but
infanticide in cases of serious birth defects continued to decline from
the previous year. Many parents no longer believed that children with
disabilities were sorcerers or the signs of a curse.
The Ministry of Family and Social Affairs and the Federation of the
Handicapped were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
One person with disabilities, the vice President of the Movement of
Forces of the Future, was appointed minister of human rights in
September.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was
ethnically diverse. Citizens born in the country derived from five
major families of ethnic groups: the Akan; the northern Mande; the
Krou; the Voltaic; and the southern Mande. Major ethnic groups
generally had their own primary languages, and their nonurban
populations tended to be concentrated regionally.
All ethnic groups sometimes practiced societal discrimination on
the basis of ethnicity. Urban neighborhoods had identifiable ethnic
characteristics, and major political parties tended to have
identifiable ethnic and regional bases, although interethnic marriage
increasingly was common in urban areas.
At least one-quarter of the population was foreign, and of that
group, 95 percent were other Africans. There were more than five
million West African immigrants living in the country. Most of the
Africans were from neighboring countries, with half from Burkina Faso.
Birth in the country did not automatically confer citizenship. Outdated
or inadequate land ownership laws resulted in conflicts with ethnic and
xenophobic overtones.
National identification remained at the heart of the ongoing
political crisis. In May Prime Minister Banny initiated a program to
register the approximately 2.5 to three million undocumented Ivorians
and foreigners born in the country. However, this effort aroused fierce
protests by pro-Gbagbo militias and President Gbagbo's FPI party, which
alleged that the procedures being used were vulnerable to fraud. The
Prime Minister's office amended the procedures by adopting guidelines
to separate the registration of birth certificates from the
registration of certificates of nationality. Only the birth
certificates continued to be delivered on the spot during the mobile
court fairs.
In 2004 the National Assembly made changes to the nationality code
and adopted a Special Law on Naturalization, legislation that was
envisioned by the Linas-Marcoussis Accord to resolve the dispute over
which persons born of foreign parents before 1972 should be entitled to
citizenship and to simplify procedures to obtain citizenship for this
group and for foreigners married to citizens. The legislation that was
eventually passed resolved the citizenship question for those born
before 1960 but not for those born between 1960 and 1972. In July and
August 2005 the President signed new drafts of laws on nationality and
naturalization in an effort to address the concerns of the opposition
parties; however, nationality and citizenship remained contentious
issues.
Some resident ethnic groups included many noncitizens, while others
included few noncitizens. Societal and political tensions between these
two sets of ethnic groups resulted in a cleavage corresponding to some
extent to regional differences. Members of northern ethnic groups that
were found both domestically and in neighboring countries often were
required to document their citizenship, whereas members of formerly or
presently politically powerful ethnic groups of the west, south, and
center reportedly were not required to do so.
Police routinely abused and harassed noncitizen Africans residing
in the country (see Section 1.f.). Harassment by officials reflected
the common belief that foreigners were responsible for high crime rates
and instances of identity card fraud. Harassment of northerners, which
increased markedly after the 2002 rebellion, declined from 2005 levels.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
bulldozed the homes of persons living in shantytowns in Abidjan.
The French and the Burkinabe continued to minimize their public
exposure as harassment against them by security forces at checkpoints
continued during the year (see Section 2.d.).
Unlike in previous years, there were no reported clashes between
the native Guere populations and the Burkinabe; however, there were
clashes between the Guere and other groups.
Ethnic tensions led to fighting and deaths, especially in Alepe, in
the southeast, and in the western areas of the country. Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that fighting continued between
the We and Yacouba ethnic groups in the west. In the west, and in
Duekoue and Bangolo in particular, there continued to be violent
clashes between the native We population and members of the foreign
community, particularly Burkinabe farmers.
At year's end the Government had taken no action against
perpetrators of violent clashes in 2005.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law did not provide
for the protection of homosexuals or persons living with HIV/AIDS from
societal and other forms of discrimination. Societal stigmatization of
these groups was widespread, and the Government did not act to counter
it during the year.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Progovernment newspapers,
militias, and youth groups, often encouraged by leaders of the Young
Patriots and FESCI, continued to use the media, including radio
programs and newspaper columns, to promote hatred against northerners,
loosely described as ``assailants,'' the French, and foreigners,
especially those from Mali and Burkina Faso. Charles Ble Goude, leader
of the Young Patriots, used less violent rhetoric after sanctions were
imposed on him in February.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all citizens, except
members of the police and military services, to form or join unions of
their choice without excessive requirements, and workers exercised
these rights in practice. Registration of a new union required three
months and was granted routinely.
Only a small percentage of the workforce was organized, and most
laborers worked in the informal sector, which included small farms,
small roadside and street side shops, and urban workshops. However,
large industrial farms and some trades were organized, and there was an
agricultural workers union. Of the 15 percent of workers in the formal
sector, approximately 60 percent were unionized.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers or
others against union members or organizers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions in the formal sector, which comprised approximately 1.5 million
workers or 15 percent of the workforce, to conduct their activities
without interference, and the Government protected this right in
practice. The law provides for collective bargaining and grants all
citizens, except members of the police and military services, the right
to bargain collectively. Collective bargaining agreements were in
effect in many major business enterprises and sectors of the civil
service. The law provides for the right to strike, and workers
generally exercised this right. During 2005 and 2006, cocoa farmers,
police trainees, customs workers, bank employees, air traffic
controllers, and teachers at both the primary and higher education
levels conducted strikes against a variety of grievances. However, the
law requires a protracted series of negotiations and a six-day
notification period before a strike may take place, making legal
strikes difficult to organize and maintain.
In August the medical corps of the Cocody University Teaching
Hospital began a three-day strike after a gendarme used his gun to
threaten the hospital staff to treat his family member before patients
who had been waiting longer. During the strike, which was considered
illegal because the staff did not provide six days' prior notice, the
hospital maintained a skeleton staff and asked the Government to ensure
their protection. The Ministry of Health negotiated with employees to
convince them to return to work. However, the Government did not
provide physical protection to the staff as it had agreed, and no
action was taken against the gendarme.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the Government
made efforts to enforce the law during the year. However, there were
reports such practices occurred (see Section 5).
Compulsory labor by children occurred (see Section 6.d.)
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws against forced labor and the exploitation of children
in the workplace; however, child labor remained a problem. In most
instances the legal minimum working age is 14; however, the Ministry of
Civil Service, Employment, and Administrative Reform enforced this
provision effectively only in the civil service and in large
multinational companies. The law limits the hours worked by young
workers, defined as those younger than 18 years old. However, children
often worked on family farms, and some children routinely acted as
vendors, shoe shiners, errand boys, domestic helpers, street restaurant
vendors, and car watchers and washers in the informal sector in cities.
Some girls as young as nine years old began work as domestics, often
within their extended family networks. There were reliable reports of
children laboring in ``sweatshop'' conditions in small workshops.
Children also worked in family-operated, small-scale gold and diamond
mines.
According to a 2003 study, 28 percent of all children worked, with
20 percent working full-time. About 23 percent of the children ages 10
to 14 and 55 percent of the children ages five to 17 carried out an
economic activity. According to a 2002 study conducted by the
Sustainable Tree Crop Program and the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture, approximately 109,000 child laborers worked in
hazardous conditions on cocoa farms (see Section 5); some of these
children were forced or indentured workers, but 70 percent worked on
family farms or with their parents. Government militias and rebels
continued to use child soldiers (see Section 5.)
The Government continued its 2004 pilot program to certify that
cocoa was produced free of child labor and that children in cocoa
producing areas attended school. The Ministry of Labor also continued
the work of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Child Labor and worked
in conjunction with the World Chocolate Foundation to develop a list of
benchmarks and deadlines to be achieved by 2008.
As part of a national action plan adopted in 2005 to eliminate
child labor and trafficking, the Ministry of Civil Service, Employment,
and Administrative Reform, in coordination with other ministries,
developed a list of prohibited worst forms of child labor, which was
published in the official registry in March 2005. During the year NGOs
used this list in ongoing campaigns to sensitize farm families about
the worst forms of child labor.
The Association of Domestic Worker Placement in Cote d'Ivoire
worked to prevent the exploitation of children in domestic work. Other
NGOs campaigned against child trafficking, child labor, and the sexual
abuse of children.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages varied according
to occupation, with the lowest set at approximately $73 (36,607 FCFA)
per month for the industrial sector; this wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. A slightly higher minimum
wage rate applied for construction workers. The Government enforced the
minimum wage rates only for salaried workers employed by the Government
or registered with the social security office.
Labor federations attempted to fight for just treatment under the
law for workers when companies failed to meet minimum salary
requirements or discriminated among classes of workers, such as local
and foreign workers. For example, the sanitary services company Ash
International continued to pay wages as low as $24 (12,000 FCFA) per
month to female employees who swept the streets of Abidjan. According
to their labor federation, labor inspectors continued to ignore this
violation of the law.
The shipbuilding company Carena continued to discriminate between
European engineers who were paid on average $15,600 (eight million
FCFA) a month and their African colleagues who received approximately
$1,500 (800,000 FCFA) a month. Government labor and employment
authorities did not take action in these cases.
The standard legal workweek was 40 hours. The law requires overtime
pay for additional hours and provides for at least one 24-hour rest
period per week. The law did not prohibit compulsory overtime. The
Government did not actively enforce the law during the year.
The law provides for occupational safety and health standards in
the formal sector; however, in the large informal sector of the
economy, the Government enforced occupational health and safety
regulations erratically, if at all. Labor inspectors frequently
accepted bribes. Workers in the formal sector had the right to remove
themselves from dangerous work without jeopardy to continued employment
by utilizing the Ministry of Labor's inspection system to document
dangerous working conditions. However, workers in both the formal and
informal sectors could not absent themselves from such labor without
risking the loss of their employment.
Several million foreign workers, mostly from neighboring countries,
typically worked in the informal labor sector, where labor laws were
not enforced.
__________
DJIBOUTI
Djibouti is a republic with a strong presidency and a weak
legislature. It has an estimated population of 660,000. In April 2005
President Ismail Omar Guelleh, candidate of the ruling People's Rally
for Progress (RPP), won reelection unopposed amid an opposition
boycott. International observers considered the election generally free
and fair. The civilian authorities generally maintained control of the
security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit serious abuses. Human rights problems included the
abridgement of citizens' rights to change their government; abuse of
prisoners and detainees; harsh prison conditions; official impunity;
arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention;
interference with privacy rights and restrictions on freedoms of press,
assembly, and association. Other abuses included the use of force to
disperse demonstrators and strikers, violence and discrimination
against women, female genital mutilation (FGM), discrimination on the
basis of ethnicity, nationality, and clan background, and restrictions
on unions and harassment of union leaders were also observed.
respect for human rights
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and the law prohibit such practices;
however, there continued to be reports that police and gendarmes beat
and physically abused prisoners and detainees.
On September 12, police beat and arrested protesters demonstrating
against power shortages (see Section 2.b.).
Members of police vice squads targeted prostitutes on the streets
and reportedly raped them as a precondition for their release. During
the year government officials acknowledged this problem but took no
action.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh, and overcrowding was a serious problem. Conditions at Nagad
detention center, where foreigners were held prior to deportation, were
unsanitary, and detainees often were not fed for several days before
their deportation. Medical care was inadequate, and several prisoners
reportedly suffered from untreated illnesses or injuries received
during arrest.
In principle juveniles were held separately from adult prisoners;
however, this was not always the case. Children under the age of five
sometimes were allowed to stay with their mothers. Pretrial detainees
usually were not held separately from convicted prisoners due to the
lack of facilities.
The Government granted prison access to the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) for annual inspections.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not respect these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces include
the National Police Force (FNP) under the Ministry of Interior, the
army and Gendarmerie Nationale under the Ministry of Defense, and an
elite Republican Guard under the presidency. The FNP is responsible for
internal security, border control, and prisons. The Gendarmerie
Nationale is responsible for external security but also has some
domestic security responsibilities. The Republican Guard is responsible
for the protection of the President.
Police were generally effective; however, there were reports of
corruption, particularly in the lower ranks where wages were low.
Official impunity was a problem. There is no mechanism available to
investigate police abuses.
On May 12, large-scale military operations were undertaken in the
northern part of the country by the armed forces with police forces and
gendarmerie. The Government claimed that these operations were meant to
deal with bandits and criminals that have been terrorizing the northern
populations. According to opposition parties and the Human Rights
League, these operations were conducted against an armed splinter group
of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy, a party that
is now a member of the ruling coalition.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants and
stipulates that the Government may not detain a person beyond 48 hours
without an examining magistrate's formal charge; however, the law was
not always enforced in practice. Detainees may be held another 24 hours
with the prior approval of the public prosecutor. All persons,
including those accused of political or national security offenses,
must be tried within eight months of arraignment. The law also provides
for bail and expeditious trial; however, police occasionally
disregarded these procedures. Detainees have the right to prompt access
to an attorney of their choice; in criminal cases, the state provides
attorneys for detainees without legal representation.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained numerous persons,
some of whom were beaten (see Section 1.c.). Security forces also
arrested demonstrators and strikers during the year (see Sections 2.b.
and 6.b.).
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem; however, no statistics
were available.
Amnesty.--On June 26, the Government released or reduced sentences
of prisoners as part of the annual Independence Day amnesty. Prisoners
serving one year or less were released; prisoners with longer terms
received reductions in their sentences. The amnesty excluded drug
dealers, those held for misuse of public funds, those who committed
violence against their families, and rapists. In celebration of the Eid
al-Adha holiday, another amnesty decree was signed on December 29
releasing 113 prisoners from jail.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the judiciary was
not independent of the executive. Constitutional provisions for a fair
trial were not universally respected. The judiciary was subject to
inefficiency and corruption.
The judiciary, based on the French Napoleonic code, was composed of
a lower court, an appeals court, and a Supreme Court. The Supreme Court
may overrule lower court decisions. Magistrates are appointed for life
terms. The constitutional council rules on the constitutionality of
laws, including those related to the protection of human rights and
civil liberties; however, its rulings did not always protect these
rights.
The legal system is based on legislation and executive decrees,
French codified law adopted at independence, Islamic law (Shari'a), and
nomadic traditions. Urban crime was dealt with in the regular courts in
accordance with French-inspired law and judicial practice. Civil
actions may be brought in regular or traditional courts. In 2004 the
Government published and began implementing the 2002 Family Code, which
replaces Shari'a in governing the majority of laws pertaining to family
and personal matters, including marriage, divorce, child custody, and
inheritance matters. Issues that fall under the Family Code are brought
to civil court, and both parties can present their case to a judge; the
court then tries to reach a reconciliation agreement between the two
parties. If no solution can be found, the judge decides the case based
on the appropriate statutes in the Family Code.
Trial Procedures.--Trials generally were public, except in
politically sensitive cases when security measures effectively
prevented public access. Legal counsel was supposed to be available to
the indigent in criminal and civil matters, but defendants often did
not have legal representation. The law states that the accused is
innocent until proven guilty; however, defendants were not always
presumed innocent. A presiding judge and two accompanying judges heard
court cases. The latter received assistance from two lay assessors who
were not members of the bench but who were considered to possess
sufficient legal knowledge to comprehend court proceedings. The
Government chose lay assessors from the public, but reports indicated
that political and ethnic affiliations played a role in the selection.
Defendants have the right to be present, confront witnesses, have
access to government-held evidence, have a right of appeal, and enjoy a
presumption of innocence.
Traditional law often applied in conflict resolution and victim
compensation. For example, traditional law often stipulated that a
price be paid to the victim's clan for crimes such as murder and rape.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--A civil court deals with
all matters related to the Civil Code. The Administrative Chamber does
exist, but does not function. Court decisions are not always enforced.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice.
The law requires that authorities obtain a warrant before conducting
searches on private property, but in practice the Government did not
always obtain such warrants. The Government reportedly monitored and
sometimes disrupted the communications of government opponents by
cutting their telephone or electricity service. Police reportedly
frequently followed persons who attended opposition rallies.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
restricted these rights in practice. The Government intimidated
journalists into practicing self-censorship.
On May 30, the Government suspended Kaltoum Ali, a journalist for
the Radio and Television of Djibouti and correspondent of BBC Somali,
for broadcasting an antigovernment report on BBC Somali. Ali had
interviewed the mother of an eight-year-old child suspected of avian
influenza who denied her daughter's illness and accused the Ministry of
Health of inventing the disease to obtain foreign aid. One case of
avian influenza was confirmed in the country in 2006. After a three
month suspension, Kaltoum Ali resumed work in September.
The law prohibits the dissemination of false information and
regulates the publication of newspapers. The Government owned the
principal newspaper, La Nation, which published three times a week. In
addition each registered political party is permitted to publish a
public journal. There were several opposition-run weekly and monthly
publications that circulated freely and openly criticized the
Government.
The Government also owned the radio and television stations. The
official media generally did not criticize government leaders and
government policy. Radio-Television Djibouti, the official government
station, broadcast 24 hours a day in four languages on the radio.
Foreign media also broadcast throughout the country.
The Government used several tactics to intimidate journalists,
including surveillance and the removal from newsstands of publications
that criticized the Government. In January 2005 officials cut off Radio
France Internationale's FM broadcasts in the country because of its
reporting of an on-going French legal inquiry into the 1995 death of
Bernard Borrel, a French judge. The broadcasts remained off the air
during the year.
Internet Freedom.--The Government did not monitor e-mail or
Internet chat rooms.In January government authorities blocked the Web
site of the Association for Respect of Human Rights in Djibouti
(ARDHD), an association that is often critical of the Government.
Access to ARDHD's website was blocked by the local Internet provider,
although surfers with satellite connections were able to enter the
site. The Government denied that it was blocking the site.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did
not restrict academic freedom, and teachers could speak and conduct
research without restriction, provided that they did not violate
sedition laws.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution and the law provide for freedom of
assembly, the Government limited this right in practice. The Ministry
of Interior requires permits for peaceful assembly and monitors
opposition activities. Some opposition leaders effectively practiced
self-censorship and refrained from organizing popular demonstrations to
avoid provoking a government crackdown.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year, resulting
in several injuries.
On September 12, police beat and arrested demonstrators, mainly
teenagers and women, who had burned tires and blocked roads to protest
power shortages. Those arrested were detained for several weeks and
released.
No action was taken against police officers responsible for the
following 2005 cases of forcible dispersion of demonstrators: the April
firing of tear gas into a crowd of demonstrators, resulting in several
injuries and the November shooting of demonstrators, resulting in four
deaths and numerous injuries.
In the case of an October 2005 incident in which shots were fired
into a violent crowd of demonstrators killing one person, the director
general of police was dismissed due to his refusal to acknowledge any
responsibility by his men in the killing.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
forcibly dispersed violent labor demonstrations during the year.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association provided that certain legal requirements are met; however,
the Government restricted this right in practice. The Government
continued to harass and intimidate members of opposition groups (see
Section 1.f.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution, while declaring Islam to
be the state religion, provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. The Government
did not sanction those who ignored Islamic teachings or practiced other
faiths. More than 99 percent of the population was Sunni Muslim.
The Government requires that religious groups register. Unlike in
previous years, there were no reports that groups were denied the right
to register.
There is no legal prohibition against proselytizing; however, it
was discouraged.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no known Jewish
community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and the law provide for
these rights; however, the Government at times limited them in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In practice
the Government provided some protection against refoulement, the return
of persons to a country where they feared persecution, however, there
were unconfirmed reports during the year of refoulement specifically to
Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The Government did not routinely grant refugee or asylum status,
and the Government did not accept refugees for resettlement during the
year. The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in providing assistance to refugees
and asylum seekers.
In June 2005 two of three Ethiopian Air Force personnel who flew an
Ethiopian military helicopter into Djibouti reportedly requested
asylum. The Government contacted Ethiopia and an Ethiopian military
delegation came and reportedly convinced the three men to return to
Ethiopia. Amnesty International and the UNHCR were not granted access
to the men. Family members told the local press in 2005 that the pilots
were being held incommunicado at an air force base in Ethiopia. At
year's end, there were no updates on their case.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and the law provide citizens with the right to
change their government; however, the Government limited this right in
practice.
Elections and Political Participation.--In April 2005 President
Guelleh of the RPP, which has ruled the country since independence, won
reelection with 95 percent of the vote. Guelleh ran unopposed as the
opposition boycotted the election, charging that the Government ignored
its demands for electoral reform. International observers considered
the election generally free and fair; however, there were
irregularities, including double voting, the presence of campaigners in
and around polling stations, and the absence of blank ballots for those
who did not want to vote for President Guelleh. The opposition again
boycotted local elections held on March 10.
There were seven women in the 65-seat legislature; these seats were
reserved for women by Presidential decree. In July 2005 the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs promoted Hawa Ahmed Youssouf to delegate minister of
international cooperation. Aicha Mohamed Robleh replaced Youssouf as
minister of state for the promotion of women, family, and social
affairs. Khadija Abeba is President of the Supreme Court and the
highest-ranking female official.
There were nine members of minorities--non-Issa Somali clans
(Issaks, Gadaboursis, and Darood) and Arabs--in the 65-seat
legislature. There were three members of minorities in the 20-seat
cabinet. The President's subclan, the Issa Mamassans, wielded
disproportionate power in affairs of state. Afars held a number of
senior ministerial posts, but they were not well represented at lower
levels. Somali clans other than the Issa, and citizens of Yemeni
origin, were limited unofficially to one ministerial post each. There
also were informal limits on the number of seats for each group to
preserve balance in the parliament.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued
to take significant steps to combat corruption, which was a problem. In
2005 the Ministry of Finance arrested two officials suspected of
corruption and suspended several others while their cases were under
investigation. In December 2005 the two officials were released, but
were still under judicial control and banned from traveling outside the
country at year's end. The director of Gabode Prison was arrested in
2005 for alleged corruption.
There were no laws to provide public access to government
information, and it was unclear whether persons would be granted such
access if they asked. During the year the Chamber of Public Accounts
and Fiscal Discipline, a public expenditures audit board established to
fight corruption and promote transparency, released the results of its
second annual report on government expenditures to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A few domestic human rights groups generally operated without
serious government restriction, conducting limited investigations and
sometimes publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government
officials generally disregarded their views. The local human rights
group Ligue Djiboutienne des Droits de l'Homme operated without
government interference during the year. The Union of Djiboutian Women
and the Djiboutian Association for the Promotion of the Family promoted
the rights of women and children.
The ICRC maintained a small office staffed with locally hired
personnel. The ICRC regional representative, based in Nairobi, visited
the country monthly.
There was a government ombudsman, who also served as a legislator
in the parliament and whose specific responsibilities included
mediation between the Government and NGOs. According to the 2004
ombudsman report (most recent available), less than half the cases
submitted were successfully mediated.
Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination on the basis
of language, race, or sex; however, discrimination against women and
ethnic minorities persisted. The Government's enforcement of laws to
protect women and children was ineffective.
Women.--Domestic violence against women existed, but few cases were
reported. The law prohibits ``torture and barbaric acts against a
spouse,'' which are punishable by 20 years' imprisonment. Violence
against women generally was addressed within the family or clan
structure rather than in the courts. Police rarely intervened in
domestic violence incidents, and the media reported only the most
extreme examples, such as murder. The law includes sentences of up to
20 years' imprisonment for rapists. The number of such cases prosecuted
during the year was unknown. There is no law against spousal rape.
An estimated 98 percent of females in the country have undergone
FGM, which traditionally was performed on girls between the ages of
seven and 10. During 2005 the Government launched a campaign against
FGM, which culminated with the country's ratification of the Maputo
Protocol outlawing FGM. The efforts of the Union of Djiboutian Women
and other groups to educate women against the practice were having some
effect in the capital city; however, infibulation, the most extreme
form of FGM, continued to be widely practiced in rural areas. The law
states that ``violence causing genital mutilation'' is punishable by
five years' imprisonment and a fine of $5,650 (one million DF); the
Government had not yet convicted anyone under this statute.
Prostitution is illegal, but it was a significant problem. In
general there were two categories of prostitutes: those with apartments
and those on the streets. The first group was largely tolerated and
catered to the foreign (particularly military) community, while police
sometimes targeted and raped those on the streets. Refugees and girls
from poor families were at greater risk of becoming street prostitutes.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem.
Women legally possess full civil rights; however, custom and
traditional societal discrimination in education resulted in a
secondary role for women in public life and fewer employment
opportunities. Women largely were confined to trade and secretarial
fields. In 2004 the Government began implementing the 2002 Family Code,
which replaces Shari'a in governing the majority of laws pertaining to
family and personal matters (see Section 1.e.). Male children inherited
larger percentages of estates than did female children. The few women
who were educated increasingly turned to the regular courts to defend
their interests.
Children.--The Government devoted almost no public funds to the
advancement of children's rights and welfare. A few charitable
organizations worked with children.
Primary education was compulsory; however, the Government did not
monitor compliance. The highest level of education reached by most
students was completion of primary school. The Government provided
tuition-free public education, but extra expenses, such as
transportation, book fees, and chalk, could be prohibitive to poorer
families. School facilities continued to be inadequate. Teacher
salaries continued to be in arrears, and a large percentage of highly
qualified teachers have left the profession (see Section 6.e.).
Approximately 20 percent of children who started secondary school
completed their education.
The educational system did not discriminate against girls, but
societal attitudes resulted in differences in the attendance and
treatment of girls in school. Girls' enrollments were rising. According
to the Ministry of Education, 52 percent of girls were enrolled in
primary school during the year, compared with 61 percent of boys;
during the previous year primary school enrollment rates were 43
percent for girls and 59 percent for boys. In rural areas limited
access to schools, a shortage of educational materials, and cultural
attitudes led to significantly lower enrollment and greater disparities
in enrollment between boys and girls. Boys and girls had equal access
to state medical care, however medical care in rural areas was poor.
Child abuse existed; however, the Government has not used existing
provisions of the law to deal seriously with child abuse, and
punishments generally were light. For example, perpetrators of rape or
abuse generally were fined only an amount sufficient to cover the
child's medical care.
FGM was performed on as many as 98 percent of young girls (see
Section 5, Women).
Child marriage occurred in rural areas and among some tribal
groups; however, it was not considered a significant problem. The
Government worked together with several NGOs to increase school
enrollment for girls, in part to reduce the likelihood that parents
would force their young girls into marriage. The Ministry for the
Promotion of Women, Family Well-Being/Welfare, and Social Affairs also
worked actively with women's groups throughout the country to protect
the rights of girls, including the right to decide when and whom to
marry.
Child prostitution occurred on the streets and in brothels.
Individuals acting as pimps or protectors frequently set up
transactions; older children reportedly forced younger children to
engage in prostitution and then collected the earnings.
Child labor existed (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons in general, but does prohibit trafficking for the purpose of
prostitution. The Penal Code states that increased penalties apply in
cases of trafficking ``with respect to a person who is enticed to
engage in prostitution either outside the territory of the Republic of
Djibouti upon the person's arrival within the territory of the
Republic.'' Despite that prohibition, there were credible reports of
child prostitution during the year and some of those involved
reportedly came from neighboring countries including Ethiopia. Although
there were no known other reports of persons being trafficked to, from,
or within the country, there was continued speculation that the country
was a destination and transit country for small numbers of individuals
trafficked from Ethiopia and Somalia to the Middle East.
In February 2005 the Government ratified the UN Convention Against
Corruption and the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime,
including antitrafficking protocols.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although persons with disabilities have
access to education and public health facilities, there is no specific
law that addresses the needs of persons with disabilities, and there
are no laws or regulations that prevent job discrimination against
persons with disabilities. There was societal discrimination against
persons with disabilities. The Government did not mandate accessibility
to buildings or government services for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government continued to
discriminate against citizens on the basis of ethnicity in employment
and job advancement. Somali Issas were the majority ethnic group and
controlled the ruling party, civil and security services, and military
forces. Discrimination based on ethnicity and clan affiliation limited
the role of members of minority groups and clans in government and
politics.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law and the constitution provide
for the right to join unions; however, the Government restricted these
rights. Under the Labor Code, a union must have government sanction to
exist. The Government continued to suppress independent, representative
unions by firing their leaders, preventing them from holding
congresses, and creating government sponsored shadow unions to replace
them.
During the year the Government arbitrarily arrested union leaders.
On March 8, Aden Mohamed Abdou and Hassan cher Hared, respectively
President and vice-President of the Djiboutian workers' Union, were
arrested for facilitating the departure for Israel of two of their
colleagues. On February 20, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed and Djibril Ismail
Egueh were charged with sharing classified information with a foreign
government during their January 23-Feb 16 visit to Israel. They
participated in a conference sponsored by Mashav (the Center for
International Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
After their return they were sentenced to one-month's imprisonment and
released on April 4. The Government confiscated their passports and
required that they report to the police every Monday. That same month
the Government also refused to allow entry to three International Labor
Organization representatives who tried to visit the country to
investigate the incident.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and employers found
guilty of discrimination were required to reinstate workers fired for
union activities; however, the Government neither enforced nor complied
with the law.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the
law allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, the
Government did not protect this right in practice. Collective
bargaining did not occur.
Relations between employers and workers were informal and
paternalistic. The Government could and did select labor
representatives. Employers generally established wage rates based on
labor ministry guidelines. In disputes over wages or health and safety
problems, the Ministry of Labor encouraged direct resolution by labor
representatives and employers. Workers or employers may request formal
administrative hearings before the ministry's inspection service.
Critics claimed that inspection and dispute settlement suffered from
poor enforcement due to their low priority and inadequate funding.
The law provides for the right to strike and requires
representatives of employees who plan to strike to notify the Ministry
of Interior 48 hours in advance; workers exercised this right in
practice. However, several union members were jailed and fired
following a strike at the port of Djibouti in September 2005.
The law confers upon the President broad powers to requisition
public servants who are considered indispensable to the operation of
essential public services.
A special labor law, which is reportedly more flexible, applies in
the export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits all labor by children under the age of 16, but the
Government did not always enforce this prohibition effectively, and
child labor, although not common, existed. Children generally were not
employed in hazardous work but worked in family-owned businesses, such
as restaurants and small shops, at all hours of the day and night.
Children were also involved in a variety of informal activities, such
as shining shoes, washing and guarding cars, and selling items.
Children also work as domestic servants, and work in agriculture and
with livestock. A shortage of labor inspectors reduced the likelihood
that reports of child labor would be investigated.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Only a small minority of the
population was engaged in wage employment. The Labor Code, ratified by
the National Assembly in January, canceled the minimum wage rates for
occupational categories and provides that wages be set after common
agreement between employers and employees. The former national minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family and it was unlikely that such common agreements would provide a
minimum standard of living. The Government still owed three months of
salary arrears from 1995 and 1997 to teachers, security forces, and
civil servants. Teachers were also not paid their salaries in June and
July. However, in August the Government paid both months' salaries in
full.
By law the workweek has been augmented to 48 hours, normally spread
over six days. The law mandates a weekly rest period of 24 consecutive
hours and the provision of overtime pay. The Ministry of Labor is
responsible for enforcing occupational health and safety standards,
wages, and work hours. Because enforcement was ineffective, workers
sometimes faced hazardous working conditions. Workers rarely protested,
mainly due to fear that others willing to accept the risks would
replace them. There were no laws or regulations permitting workers to
refuse to carry out dangerous work assignments without jeopardizing
their continued employment.
Foreign workers in the country illegally were not protected under
the law.
__________
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Equatorial Guinea is nominally a multiparty constitutional
republic, with a population estimated at between 540,000 and over one
million. All branches of government are dominated by President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and his inner circle, mostly of the Fang ethnic
group. The international community judged the most recent elections, in
2002 (Presidential) and 2004 (parliamentary), to be seriously flawed.
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
security forces, there were instances in which elements of the security
forces acted independently of government authority. The Government's
human rights record remained poor, and the Government continued to
commit and condone serious abuses.
The following human rights problems were reported: abridgement of
citizens' right to change their government; torture, beating, and other
physical abuse of prisoners and detainees by security forces; harsh and
life-threatening prison conditions; impunity; arbitrary arrest,
detention, and incommunicado detention; harassment and deportation of
foreign residents; judicial corruption and lack of due process;
restrictions on the right to privacy; severe restrictions on freedom of
speech and of the press; restrictions on the right of assembly,
association, and movement; government corruption; violence and
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons; discrimination
against ethnic minorities; restrictions on labor rights and child
labor; and forced child labor.
Improvements were noted in some areas. A law criminalizing torture
was passed, and reports of abuses decreased compared to previous years.
In addition the first groups of mid-level police officers were trained
on professional subjects, including human rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There was some
evidence that the Government or its agents may have committed arbitrary
or unlawful killings.
On February 4, unknown assailants near Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
abducted and killed Laesa Atanasio Bita Rope, leader of the Movement
for the Self-determination of Bioko Island (MAIB). MAIB members claimed
that Ivoirian government security agents collaborated with officials in
Equatorial Guinea to kill Bita Rope. Ivoirian authorities denied
involvement, and no arrests were made.
An inmate in the Cogo jail, Jose Meviane Ngua, died on August 18,
and officials reported the death as a suicide by hanging. Undocumented
reports appearing on foreign Web sites stated that his body showed
hematomas (bruised swellings), either from the hanging or possibly
caused by strangling and blows to the back. A police team reportedly
investigated, but results were not made public, and there were no
reported actions taken against the gendarmes on duty.
During April and May authorities found at least six mutilated
bodies in the Malabo area; the killings were attributed to a group
called the Plateados. The bodies showed signs of having been victims of
ritual practices. On May 25, security forces arrested approximately 20
persons, including some members of the security forces, reportedly
among them Jose Ela Ebang, brother of a former ambassador to Spain. In
November the prosecution of those arrested began in a military
tribunal, but by year's end the Government had not announced any
verdicts.
The opposition in exile continued to accuse the Government of
attempted assassinations. Spanish prosecutors of individuals accused of
the attempted killing in Madrid in June 2005 of Manuel Moto Tomo,
brother of exiled Republican Democratic Forces (FDR) party activist
German Pedro Tomo Mangue, stated that the motivation was commercial,
not political, but some FDR activists believed that Mangue was the
intended target.
A soldier convicted of negligent homicide in the death of a Spanish
worker at a checkpoint in 2003 (allegedly by mistake, but perhaps
because of family influence) was among those pardoned by President
Obiang in June.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of new politically
motivated disappearances during the year.
There were no developments in the early 2005 disappearances of Juan
Ondo Abaga, Florencio Ela Bibang, Antimo Edu Nchama, and Felipe Esono
Ntutumu. They reportedly had been forcibly repatriated from Benin and
Nigeria and incarcerated in Black Beach prison without charge, severely
tortured, and not allowed a lawyer, outside communication, or family
notification. There was no government confirmation of their presence,
and when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the
National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) visited Black Beach prison,
these inmates reportedly were moved to other locations so the
representatives could not see or talk to them.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--On November 2, a law criminalizing torture and other
cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts went into effect, in compliance with
the Government's obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against
Torture. The law was publicized, and ``sensitization'' sessions began
in November for security forces.
However, during the year torture and cruel treatment continued in
the country's jails and prisons. Beatings and threats with loaded
weapons were most frequently reported. In addition to the incident in
Cogo (see Section 1.a.), there were numerous reports that security
forces beat opposition party activists, often on the orders of local
officials, who apparently had support at higher levels and acted with
impunity.
On October 5 in Bata, police arrested Florencio Ondo, Jose Antonio
Mguema, Filemon Ondo, and Bacilio Meye, who were associated with the
banned Popular Party (PP). Foreign governments and the nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Amnesty International (AI) appealed to the
Government on their behalf. The four were released more than a month
later after beatings, deprivation of food and water for several days,
and threats to their lives if they would not confess to illegal
association and possession of documents ``harmful to the state'' (e-
mails, brochures, and pictures of PP leader Severo Moto). They did not
confess and the charges were conditionally dropped. Possessions taken
by police were not returned.
Foreigners, especially West Africans, continued to experience
harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrest. Due to government
corruption and concern over potential mercenaries, securing residence
and work permits was difficult, time consuming, and very expensive.
Police periodically raided immigrant ghettoes and used excessive force,
including beatings. They also looted property, set up roadblocks to
check documents, and visited homes to inspect identity cards and
residence documents. Some claimed these were extortion attempts.
No persons responsible for widely occurring torture in prior years
or during the reporting period were charged with a crime. In September
2005 AI reported that torture was widespread in places of detention. In
2004 senior government officials told foreign diplomats that human
rights did not apply to criminals and claimed that torture of known
criminals was not a human rights abuse. Current officials state that
whoever said this was not representing government policy.
The South African prisoners convicted of a 2004 coup attempt were
still forced to wear ankle shackles 24 hours a day, restricting even
simple movements such as proper bathing. They reportedly were not
allowed to appeal their convictions or to read letters from their
families. As part of the President's June birthday pardons, one South
African was released to his country's authorities for critical medical
treatment after local authorities had refused for months to acknowledge
the seriousness of his condition.
In May 2005 police attacked 15 members of the opposition party
Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS) at the Malabo airport, causing
substantial injury to several, and forcibly disrobed some girls in
public. At least 10 persons were detained, including one who suffered
serious injuries and was given no medical treatment; they were released
a week later.
In September 2005 authorities reportedly tortured approximately 70
persons charged with offenses related to an alleged coup attempt in
October 2004, before and during their secret military trial. The group
consisted of former military officers and relatives of the alleged
leader of the attempted coup, Lieutenant Colonel Cipriano Nguema Mba.
All but two reportedly stated they had been tortured and some bore
visible marks of abuse. AI reported that authorities extracted
statements using torture during incommunicado detention and used them
as evidence (see Section 1.d.). The alleged coup plotters remained
incarcerated at year's end.
No action was taken against those responsible for the following
2004 cases: the torture of five persons arrested on Corisco Island; the
shooting of PP leader Marcelino Manuel Nguema Esono; the torture of
Weja Chicampo; and the torture of Lieutenant Colonel Maximiliano Owono
Nguema. Marcelino Esono was released in the June amnesty. Maximiliano
Nguema (aka Maximo Ovono Nguema) remained incarcerated at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The conditions of many
jails and prisons in the country remained harsh and life threatening;
inmates frequently were not provided with sufficient food, potable
water, or sufficient clean living space. During the year, however,
inmates at Black Beach prison occupied new facilities that reportedly
met acceptable international standards. A new prison in Bata was under
construction. Training for guards remained deficient.
There were credible reports that jail and prison authorities
tortured prisoners (see Section 1.c.).
Medical attention was often denied or unavailable to prisoners with
gangrene, broken bones, infections, and potentially fatal but curable
illnesses. Some prisoners received medical treatment, but this was
irregular and undependable. Prisoners needing medication almost never
received it, unless family members had connections, or there was
international attention regarding a case. Rehabilitation was
nonexistent. In December diplomats inquired about the health of
prisoner Donato Ondo Ondo, who was reported by citizens in exile and AI
to be very ill; the Government provided no response.
In April 2005 AI charged that Black Beach prison officials had
stopped providing at least 70 prisoners with meals and blocked all
contact with their families, lawyers, and consular officials, and that
the prisoners were in danger of death from starvation and torture. AI
also reported that all prisoners were kept in their cells 24 hours a
day. Prisoners frequently were not allowed to communicate with lawyers
or relatives. However, foreign diplomats who visited the facility in
the second half of 2005 found improvements regarding contact with
outsiders, permission for prisoners to be outside most of the day,
reduced reports of torture, and provision of minimal food.
Nevertheless, families were still the main source of food for inmates.
Male and female prisoners were not held in separate facilities.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of prison authorities
and male prisoners sexually assaulting female prisoners, nor were there
credible reports that police gang-raped female prisoners in Malabo.
Juveniles were not held separately from adult prisoners. According
to available information, juveniles generally were not sent to prisons
during the year, an acknowledgment that they could not be adequately
protected. Rather, they were held in local jails, watched, and sent
home with warnings.
Unlike in previous years, no reports were received that prisoners
habitually were used as workers on construction projects for some
officials, without pay or other compensation, nor that judges used
prisoners as domestic workers.
Prisons were under military management, although the Ministry of
Justice, Religion, and Penal Institutions was legally responsible for
them. Military personnel who worked in prisons had no special training.
The Government permitted limited independent monitoring of prison
conditions. There were three prisons and approximately 12 jails and
holding cells in smaller localities. The ICRC was permitted to make
periodic visits to all jails and prisons, and it met privately with
prisoners. ICRC visits during the year were conducted according to
standard ICRC procedures. However, it was reported in messages from
former prisoners and relatives of prisoners that several political
prisoners did not show up on prison rosters, that they had been
detained without hearings, and that the ICRC representatives were
prevented from seeing them (see Section 1.b.). These prisoners included
Florencio Ela Bibang, Antimo Edu Nchama, Felipe Esono Ntutumu, and Juan
Ondo Abaha, among others. The Government also refused diplomatic
mission requests to resume prison visits.
The UN Development Program (UNDP) and the National Commission on
Human Rights (CNDH) reported after short visits during the year that
they found significant improvements in jails and prisons, particularly
at the infamous Black Beach prison that occupied a new building. The
NCHR, however, is government-controlled, not independent, and does not
investigate or report human rights violations.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, but the Government did not enforce these
prohibitions. There were nominal procedural safeguards for the
protection of citizens' rights, including provisions concerning
detention and the requirement for search warrants; however, security
forces systematically ignored these safeguards and continued to arrest
and detain persons arbitrarily and with impunity. Security forces often
detained individuals ``on orders from superiors'' without any further
formality. Many times charges were filed only after intervention by the
international community, and political activists frequently continued
to be held in preventive detention, which meant their cases were
indefinitely under investigation. Government figures and some of their
business partners involved in arranging illicit detentions enjoyed
total impunity for such actions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police were
responsible for security in the cities, and the gendarmes responsible
outside the cities and for special events. Both reported to the
civilian minister of national security. Division of authority between
the two-year-old Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of
National Defense was still being clarified. Previously, both internal
and external security were military responsibilities.
Impunity for police officers and gendarmes was a serious problem.
There were no known mechanisms to investigate allegations of abuse. The
police were misused by other ministries and local officials to harass
and threaten persons and to confiscate property.
Corruption was endemic within the security forces. Officers who
extorted money from citizens were not punished.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that citizens who
were not police officers were allowed to arrest persons suspected of
being illegal residents, increasing the frequency of arbitrary arrests.
The Government recognized the need for professional improvement of
the police and began funding corrective training. A contracted private
foreign group trained the first cohort of mid-level police officers on
professional subjects including human rights of citizens, particularly
of those arrested.
Arrest and Detention.--Many persons were taken into custody on the
verbal orders of officials. Arrest warrants are not required. Within 72
hours, excluding weekends and holidays, a detainee has the right to a
judicial determination of the legality of the detention; however, in
practice the length of such detentions was usually much longer, even
years. Although a bail system and public defenders were available upon
request, this was not known by the general public, and these systems
did not operate in practice. The percentage of those incarcerated who
were pretrial detainees was estimated to be at least 80 percent. When
cases of arbitrarily lengthy pretrial detention were brought to the
attention of high-level authorities, some action generally was taken.
Trial delays were also caused by inefficient judicial procedures,
corruption, lack of monitoring, and staffing constraints.
Defense lawyers did not receive a full list of indictments against
their clients. Detainees were not promptly informed of charges against
them. Legal access depended on the nature of the crime and bribes. Some
limited visitation by family members was permitted at all jails and
prisons.
Unlike in previous years, police did not routinely hold detainees
incommunicado, although this sometimes occurred, especially with
political prisoners (see Section 1.c.). Reliable files were not kept on
those imprisoned.
In 2005 the Government provided responses on the status of 39
persons previously detained for ``crimes against the state.'' Several
had been detained for months or years without being brought to trial.
Seventeen were brought before a judge in December 2005 for brief
hearings and remanded to prison for unspecified ``crimes against the
state,'' rebellion, or terrorism, and ordered to be held in
``preventive detention'' until trial. In at least three other cases, a
previous judgment of completion of sentence was overruled by the
Government's fiscal (attorney general) for unexplained reasons. For 20
persons, the Government said that it had no information, although many
sources have reported their continuing detention.
The Government used arrest, beatings, and various forms of
harassment to intimidate opposition party officials and members.
Arbitrary arrest was a serious problem. Local authorities singled
out foreigners for arbitrary arrest, harassment, and deportation (see
Section 1.c.). Security forces detained relatives of prisoners and
criminal suspects in an attempt to force the prisoners or suspects to
cooperate (see Section 1.f.).
AI and other observers reported that the secret September 2005
trial of approximately 70 military officers, former military officers,
and relatives of the alleged leader of the October 2004 attempted coup
did not conform to international legal standards for fair trials. A
military court sentenced 22 men and a woman to lengthy prison terms. At
least six persons were tried without being present, in contravention of
national law. In all cases defense lawyers did not have access to
government-held evidence and only had their clients' statements. The
court denied defense attorneys' requests to cross-examine accusers.
Those convicted had no right of appeal. The court ignored allegations
and evidence of torture in the course of the trial and did not conduct
an investigation (see Section 1.c.).
Nine persons, including those tried without being present, were
sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges of undermining the security
of the state and attempting to overthrow the Government. The court
convicted 11 others, including Florencia Nchama Mba, of the same
offenses as accessories and sentenced them to 21 years' imprisonment.
The court convicted Francisco Mba Mendama (who was also convicted of
undermining the security of the state and received a 30-year prison
sentence) and two others of treason; they received 25-year sentences.
One person received a 12-year prison sentence. Statements obtained
under torture during incommunicado detention were used as evidence.
Amnesty.--On his birthday in June, President Obiang issued a
conditional pardon to youth, women, and approximately 40 others. Many--
at least 12, possibly as many as 32--had been detained, but not
prosecuted, for ``crimes against the state''; they were generally
prisoners of conscience. Weja Chicampo, a former leader of the MAIB,
was one of the high-profile cases. Chicampo was released but was
immediately forced to fly to Madrid in exile, without being allowed to
notify his family.
Immediately prior to the President's official visit to Spain in
November, the four former members of the banned PP party detained in
October were conditionally released in Bata (see Section 1.c.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the Government did not respect
this provision in practice. All branches of government are dominated by
the executive. Judges served at the pleasure of the President, and they
were appointed, transferred, and dismissed for political as well as
competency reasons. Judicial corruption was widespread.
During the year the Government codified laws for the first time and
taught them as part of an ongoing judicial reform effort.
The court system is composed of lower provincial courts, two
appeals courts, a military tribunal, and the Supreme Court. The
President appoints members of the Supreme Court, who reportedly took
instructions from him. One general, not a lawyer, served on the Supreme
Court to advise on military-related cases. The Supreme Council of the
Judicial Power appoints and controls judges. President Obiang is
President of that entity, and the President of the Supreme Court is its
vice President. In late 2004 the President of the Supreme Court began a
mandatory training system and program to replace incompetent judges. Of
approximately 60 judges, only an estimated 12 were lawyers.
Trial Procedures.--Many trials for ordinary crimes are public, but
juries are not used. Law is based on the colonial Spanish system.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trials but rarely were
able to consult promptly with attorneys. If an accused cannot afford
his own lawyer, he is entitled to ask for one from the Government;
unfortunately, defendants are not routinely advised of this right.
Defendants can confront and question witnesses, and they can present
their own witnesses and evidence, although in practice this was rarely
done. There is limited access to evidence. By law the accused has the
presumption of innocence and the right to appeal; however, legal
appeals are rarely allowed in practice. By law the above-listed rights
are extended to all groups. Experience at defense is limited, and it
was reported that defense lawyers do not necessarily represent the
wishes of the person being defended.
The code of military justice states that people who disobey a
military authority, or allegedly commit an offense considered to be a
``crime against the state,'' should be judged by a military tribunal,
with no due process or procedural guarantees, regardless of whether the
accused is civilian or military. Some military cases were essentially
political in nature. A defendant may be tried without being present,
and the defense does not have a guaranteed right to cross-examine an
accuser. Such proceedings are not public.
Tribal elders adjudicated civil claims and minor criminal matters
in traditional courts in the countryside.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Approximately 60 identified
``prisoners of conscience,'' or political prisoners, remained detained
at year's end, many without having been tried; others had been
convicted of ``crimes against the state'' without adequate
representation or right to appeal (see Section 1.c.). These prisoners
were all members of opposition parties or persons the Government
accused of involvement in coup attempts. During 2005 the ICRC and some
foreign diplomats were permitted to visit them, but individual visits
during the year were restricted to the ICRC.
Prominent members of the ``illegal'' opposition Republican
Democratic Forces (FDR), the PP, and the NPU remained detained at Black
Beach prison for their political activities. FDR leader Felipe Ondo
Obiang, arrested in March 2002 in connection with an alleged coup plot,
was reportedly tortured and remained in Evinayong Prison at year's end.
He was chained to the wall by his leg and held in solitary confinement
for several months. Six of the 30 other prisoners arrested with Ondo
Obiang were reportedly released with others in the June amnesty. FDR
leader Guillermo Nguema Ela remained in prison, despite having been
granted partial amnesty. The Government restricted access to political
detainees to the ICRC, spouses, and occasionally lawyers.
In 2004 police arrested Air Force Captain Felipe Obama. There were
no reports that charges had been filed against him or that he had been
released.
According to the CPDS, in connection with the November 2004 arrest
of 50 military officers, in January 2005 the Government arrested 100
additional persons. It appeared that these were the same individuals
tried in a secret military court in September 2005. All received long
sentences and had no access to a defense attorney.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Matters can be settled out
of court, but there is no known official arbitration or mediation.
Civil cases rarely came to trial, reportedly because of lack of faith
that judgment would be fair and transparent.
Property Restitution--The law provides for restitution or
compensation for the taking of private property, but in practice people
forced from their homes or land seldom received adequate compensation,
if any. The civil code Law of State Patrimony, Law of the Soil, states
that all land ultimately belongs to the state, thus, the Government
could take possession when it determined it was ``in the state's
interest.'' Individuals may hold property title to pieces of land, but
the state in the last instance is owner.
During the year the Government leveled many residential areas,
ostensibly in the interest of urban renewal; however, government
officials reportedly had personal financial interests in the
redevelopment. According to AI, officials often stated the seized land
was for public utility development, but the land was not used for that
purpose; instead, the land was usurped by the President, his family,
and other members of the Government to build luxury homes,
supermarkets, or other businesses for themselves.
New social housing projects were underway, but they did not benefit
the poor. High government officials and their relatives reportedly
bought new social housing that was completed in ``Bata 2'' (a suburb of
Bata).
According to AI, typically the Government allowed no consultation
with the communities affected, provided little or no prior notice, and
allowed no right to contest the evictions. Hundreds of homes and
businesses were destroyed; many were solid structures in well-
established neighborhoods, and residents had no other place to go and
no money to relocate. For example, more than 600 persons were made
homeless in Malabo's Atepa district on July 22 when the Government
destroyed their homes without warning. The next day homes were
similarly demolished in Malabo's Camaremy district. In both cases
soldiers shoved, slapped, and intimidated residents who protested.
The Government sometimes offered partial payment to those who
proved title and expenses of purchase or construction. In many cases
written title was nonexistent, although land had been in the hands of a
family for generations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but
the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. Security
forces violated homes and arrested suspected dissidents, criminals,
foreign nationals, and others, often without judicial orders, and
confiscated their property with impunity. When prisoners were released,
their property was not returned. Family members were intimidated,
sometimes detained, or evicted. After their release, arrested persons
had no recourse for recovery of property and were often blacklisted for
employment, reportedly under orders from members of the President's
family.
Informers reportedly monitored opposition members, NGOs,
journalists, and foreign diplomats. Most residents and journalists
believed that the Government monitored telephone calls and Internet use
(see Section 2.a.).
Security forces detained relatives of prisoners and criminal
suspects to force the prisoners or suspects to cooperate (see Section
1.c.).
The Government pressured its employees to join the ruling
Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE). Reportedly they were
forced to allow automatic deductions from their paychecks with proceeds
going to the party whether or not they were members. Opposition party
members were discriminated against in hiring, job retention,
scholarships, and obtaining business licenses. A business found to have
hired someone on a political blacklist had to dismiss the person or
face the threat of closure (see Section 3).
Authorities harassed, arrested, deported, and robbed foreign
nationals, particularly west Africans (see Section 1.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and press; however, the Government severely
restricted these rights. During the year the Government monitored
journalists; the media remained firmly under government control; and
journalists practiced self censorship.
Criticism of the President, his family, or the security forces was
considered ``attacks against the nation.'' Recently some officials
began to discuss societal problems in the media--public corruption,
trafficked children, rioting by students, excessive drinking, absent
teachers, government revenues, and demands for transparency in public
administration; however, only government-approved messages on these
themes were broadcast. Citizens believed that if they called in to the
rare talk-show and criticized the Government, security forces would
find them and demand bribes or detain them for ``crimes against the
state.''
Even so, citizens reported that, compared to past decades, there
was more freedom to talk openly about the society's problems.
The law authorizes government censorship of all publications.
Seven periodicals with varying degrees of government involvement
were published irregularly (Ebano, Bantu Africa, El Correo, La Opinion,
Realite, Horizontes, Ecos de Mongomo), and also one monthly, La Gaceta.
All practiced self-censorship. International newspapers or news
magazines could not be sold or distributed without government
permission. Political party publications could not be distributed to
the general public. News kiosks did not exist, and the only bookstores
were affiliated with religious congregations. Starting a new
publication was governed by a very complicated and ambiguous law.
Local journalists often suspected each other of being government
informants. The press association (ASOPGE) and a diplomatic mission
planned to bring an international journalist to conduct a workshop in
July; however, government officials denied permission because the
Government had not been directly involved in the planning. The program
was finally permitted, and the Government sent a representative.
International media did not try to operate in the country; only one
international news agency had a regular stringer present. Unlike in the
past, there were no known cases of foreign journalists deported or
directly harassed during the year, although some were followed and
intimidated.
The Government generally withheld access to domestic broadcast
facilities from opposition parties and rarely referred to the
opposition in anything but negative terms when broadcasting the news.
On radio and television there was no analysis of issues and no
expression of differing views. Previously available live coverage of
parliament was censored before broadcast during the spring session, and
the fall session only had rare, selective recorded coverage. The
President's eldest son owned the only private broadcast media.
International electronic media was available and included Radio
France International, which broadcast from Malabo, and Radio Exterior,
the international short-wave service from Spain.
Satellite broadcasts increasingly were available. Foreign channels
that reported news were broadcast and were not censored.
Although satellite or cable programming was too expensive for the
average citizen to subscribe, cable television expanded greatly.
Television Asonga, operated by the President's son, was broadcast only
in Bata. Foreign cable television was available and provided news in
French, Spanish, and English. Spanish TVE, an official Spanish
government broadcaster, had a large audience in the country. After it
broadcast a clandestinely filmed documentary, El Mundo a Cada Rato,
showing a baby dying in its mother's arms in a Malabo public hospital,
the Prime Minister reportedly visited the hospital, criticized
unprofessional attitudes, and forced some changes in hospital
procedure.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or verifiable reports that the Government monitored e-
mails or Internet chat rooms. Residents, however, believed that the
Government monitored Internet use, including e-mails, which were
channeled through the parastatal telephone company or a wireless
connector (see Section 1.f.). E-mail users therefore generally
practiced self-censorship. Most overt criticism of the Government came
from the country's community in exile, and the Internet had replaced
broadcast media as the primary way opposition views were expressed and
disseminated. Exiled citizens' sites were not blocked. Internet use
grew, but cost was prohibitive for most citizens. Some remote areas
including smaller islands were still lacking in telephone service,
further limiting Internet use.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no official
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; however, in past
years some qualified professionals were moved out of teaching positions
because of their political affiliation or critical statements reported
to government officials by persons in their classes. Therefore, most
professors practiced self-censorship in order to avoid problems. Very
infrequent cultural events took place, and all required approval from
the Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for the right of assembly;
however, the Government restricted this right. Government authorization
must be obtained for private home meetings of more than 10 persons.
Although the Government formally abolished permit requirements for
political party meetings within party buildings, in practice opposition
parties were expected to inform authorities if they wished to hold
gatherings of any kind, regardless of location. Security agents
generally monitored gatherings in public places. The Government
required notification for public events such as meetings or marches.
On October 12, security forces arrested three district leaders of
the Convergence Party for Social Democracy (CPDS), a legal party, who
were preparing to hold a meeting in their headquarters in Acurenam.
They were released a few hours later, but prohibited from celebrating
National Day inside CPDS offices.
Other incidents of detention and beatings occurred during the year,
when party activists tried to meet or travel to other districts,
although government officials were notified ahead of time. Examples
included arrests of a dozen CPDS activists in Rebola on April 8 when
they tried to convene an approved party meeting. Executive Committee
members Carlos Ona Boriesa and Carmelo Iridi were given 50 blows during
their detention. The two were transferred to the Baney military camp
when the other CPDS members were released several hours later. The two
were released later that evening and taken back to Rebola. Reportedly a
higher authority intervened. On April 9, police disrupted a CPDS
meeting in Ebebiyin, after government delegate Florentino Edu Enama
revoked permission for the meeting and expelled party officials from
the city.
When such incidents were brought to the attention of the President
by foreign diplomats or CPDS activists, he professed to know nothing
about them and claimed he would order such incidents of repression to
cease. Opposition figures state, however, that such incidents would not
occur without the President endorsing them.
The CPDS was allowed to hold its annual civic education program for
party youth during the year without major harassment, and the Popular
Action of Equatorial Guinea (APGE) party held its convention without
problems.
In June the Olaf Palme Foundation tried to hold a conference on
peace and democracy in partnership with the opposition CPDS party. The
Government refused permission and denied visas, reportedly because it
was not involved in planning and in charge of content. Months later a
foreign government invited the Government to be a partner in a
rescheduled seminar. The original agenda included participation of the
opposition, in addition to high-level government officials, as
panelists. The Government reportedly insisted that no CPDS members
could make presentations. The organizers succumbed to government
pressure, and the conference finally took place in December.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, but the Government restricted this in practice.
The law establishes what types of NGOs can register, and human rights
associations were added in January 2005 to the list; however, no human
rights associations tried to organize and register. The law prohibits
the formation of political parties along ethnic lines and prohibits
coalitions between political parties; however, six opposition groups
continued to be part of a coalition, which during the year allied
itself with the ruling party. Opposition party members complained that
their meetings were disrupted or monitored.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right;
however, religious leaders avoided criticizing the Government in their
sermons, and government officials sometimes monitored services.
The law gives official preference to the Catholic Church and the
Reform Church of Equatorial Guinea, due to their traditional roots and
historical influence in social and cultural life. A Roman Catholic Mass
was normally part of any major ceremonial function or holiday. Catholic
schools received the same benefits from the state as public schools.
A religious organization must be formally registered with the
Ministry of Justice, Religion, and Penal Institutions to operate. There
were no reports during the year that the Government refused to register
any group. Approval may take several years, due primarily to
bureaucratic slowness rather than policy; however, the lack of clearly
written registration procedures could be used against a church when a
political figure did not like its pastor or a member.
Traditional African religions were practiced in private, even by
many who belonged to other religious groups.
The Government continued to restrict the clergy, particularly
regarding criticism of the Government. During the year church
representatives reported that they practiced self-censorship. The
Government required permission for any religious activity outside a
church building, but this requirement did not appear to hinder
organized religious groups.
Religious study was required in public and parochial schools and
was usually, but not exclusively, Catholic.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Non-Catholics occasionally
faced discrimination in school enrollment or for expression of personal
beliefs within religion classes.
The Jewish community was extremely small, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, the Government limited them in practice. Police
at roadblocks routinely subjected citizens to searches, harassment, and
extortion; however, this occurred less frequently than previously. The
Government attempted to justify roadblocks as controls to prevent
illegal immigration, possible mercenary activities, or potential coups
d'etat. However, the checkpoints effectively restricted freedom of
movement by opposition members. Police and soldiers continued to harass
foreigners, mainly because they were perceived to be wealthier than
most citizens (see Section 1.c.).
The military harassed and intimidated members of the Bubi ethnic
group on Bioko Island. Security officials reportedly beat and shot
Bubis for not surrendering their farm produce, sufficient money, and
even land. The military were generally seen as an occupation army that
prevented free movement of people in their traditional land.
The law prohibits forced internal or external exile; however, the
Government did not respect this in practice. For example, on June 5,
the Government forced Weja Chicampo into external exile (see Section
1.d.). In September the Government reportedly sentenced former general
Agustin Ndong Ona to internal exile. Some persons have fled the country
for political reasons.
Government officials and members of parliament were supposed to
receive permission from their superiors before traveling abroad. This
effectively acted as a control on ruling and allied party members.
Government security agents working in other countries reported on
movements and activities of travelers from the country.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government also provided temporary protection
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
There were no recent cases of the Government cooperating with the
UNHCR or other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. There is no local UNHCR office.
The police reportedly continued to harass individual asylum
seekers, often for bribes.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully; however, in practice citizens could not freely
change the laws and officials governing them.
Elections and Political Participation.--There have been no free,
fair, and transparent elections since independence.
The country gained independence from Spain in 1968, and in 1979 the
military, led by Brigadier General Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago,
overthrew its first President, after years of disastrous and cruel
rule. In 1989, as the sole candidate, Obiang was elected to a seven-
year term and has remained in power since then. In 1986 he founded the
PDGE, for years the only legal party, which established an overwhelming
dominance before other parties were permitted. The party rules with the
concurrence of an oligarchic alliance based on clan and ethnic
loyalties. There is no Presidential term limit.
Membership in the ruling party generally was a great advantage for
hiring and promotion, both in the public and private sectors.
Membership in another political organization was reportedly grounds for
dismissal from any position, public or private. Opposition politicians
often claimed to have been dismissed from their jobs after joining
other political groups, with no possibility of legal redress.
The international community criticized the most recent
parliamentary elections in 2004 as seriously flawed. Opposition
candidates were subjected to harassment, arbitrary detention,
restrictions on movement, and denial of equal access to the media. All
state events were publicized in connection with the ruling PDGE party.
Because of mandatory collection of dues and other contributions
(reportedly including donations from other governments), the ruling
party had hugely disproportionate funding available to spend, including
on gifts to potential voters.
PDGE members went door-to-door before the election, threatening and
harassing opposition supporters and subjecting them to arbitrary
arrest. On voting day there were widespread reports of intimidation and
other irregularities. Voters were discouraged from voting in secret,
ballots were opened illegally, and ruling party representatives
reportedly cast votes of children and deceased persons as well as their
own. Security forces intimidated voters in polling booths. There were
few nonpartisan observers in rural areas, and discrepancies were
reported between local vote counts and what later were released as
official tallies. For example, although international observers
estimated that the opposition CPDS party received 12 percent of the
vote, the final tabulation did not show this, and the ruling party
offered the CPDS only two seats in the 100-seat parliament. Some seats
were given to opposition parties that had pledged cooperation with the
PDGE.
The President exercised strong powers as head of state, commander
of the armed forces, and founder and head of the ruling party. In
general leadership positions within government were restricted to the
President's party or the coalition of ``loyal opposition'' parties.
Because the ruling party overwhelmingly dominated the commissions
established to review electoral practices and recommend reforms, no
changes were made. The minister of the interior acted as President of
the national electoral board. There was no independent electoral
commission.
The process to register a political party was not transparent. Some
political parties, popular prior to the 1992 law that established
procedures for political parties to become legal, remained banned,
generally under the excuse that they were ``supporting terrorism'' or
seeking to overthrow the Government.
There were 13 registered political parties, 12 of which the
Government called ``opposition parties''; however, six of these aligned
themselves with the PDGE, and others (e.g. CPDS) were called
``radical'' by the Government, meaning ``confrontational'' and willing
to vote against the President's position. The Government claimed that
these putative opposition parties were examples of ``multiparty
democracy''; however, the Government prohibited real debates between
parties and public criticism of government policies and practices,
except within the parliament.
Government officials routinely referred to any politicians from
opposition parties deemed illegal as ``terrorists.'' The Government
generally withheld access to domestic broadcasting from opposition
parties and referred to the opposition negatively when broadcasting.
Reportedly the Government bribed members of the opposition to join the
PDGE; if they refused, they found themselves out of work and their
family members denied opportunities for employment.
There were 20 women in the 100-member parliament, and six women,
including two ministers (labor, and women's issues), in the cabinet.
A new government was named in August, led by a new prime minister
who was not a member of the minority Bubi ethnic group, which had been
the tradition for decades. Additional appointed cabinet and subcabinet
positions, bringing the total to 59, were established. A total of 49
appointees were from the majority Fang ethnic group, and at least 40
were from just two of the seven provinces. Almost 30 were from the
President's home province.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption in all
branches of the Government remained a serious problem, but in August
the President appointed a new prime minister who declared that
elimination of corruption was his primary objective, and the subject
received more public attention.
The country's newfound oil wealth had become a magnet for many
seeking financial opportunities, including those willing to use corrupt
means to obtain a share of the revenues. Wealthy individuals were able
to buy the licenses needed to operate and had the influence to squeeze
out competitors.
Military and other security personnel and civil servants earned low
wages and in the past were told to ``make their own raise,'' which
implied government approval to demand bribes.
Some officials have been removed from office for corruption, but
many persons believed they were scapegoats for higher-level and former
officials. Officials by law must declare their assets, but there were
no reports that they ever complied. There was no requirement for an
official to divest himself of business interests that were in areas
that his agency oversaw. When that was ostensibly done, under
international pressure, the divestment generally was only a facade;
another family member or associate nominally took over, or a business
group was formed that appeared, falsely, to have no connection to the
official.
In September the Prime Minister established a hot line, ostensibly
for oil companies to use if they had evidence of corruption or were
asked to participate in something they viewed as corrupt. It was
reportedly used at least twice; however, there were no known
investigations of those allegedly seeking to employ illegal practices.
The Government removed some officials from office for misuse of
public trust (corruption), but none were prosecuted and some were moved
to other government positions.
In 2004 an investigation by the legislature of a foreign country
determined that at least $35 million (17.5 billion CFA francs) of
revenues from foreign oil companies had been misappropriated by the
President, his family, and other senior government officials over the
previous few years. The investigators concluded that, in many cases,
the money went directly into foreign bank accounts controlled by the
President and close associates.
The Government released a report in an effort to refute the
allegations. The Government claimed that the foreign accounts were
intended to meet ``needs in the country,'' despite the private nature
of the accounts, and were established to earn interest ``for future
generations,'' which funds deposited in the Central African Bank did
not. The Government purported to detail where hundreds of millions of
dollars (billions of CFA francs) had been spent on capital construction
projects underway in the country, and it claimed that funds from these
oil revenue accounts were withdrawn by the President to pay for the
projects. When those foreign accounts were closed in late 2004, most of
the funds were transferred to the Central African Bank.
In 2005 the Government expressed interest in joining the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative, a multinational civil society
initiative to encourage transparency and accountability in extractive
industries. However, it made little progress on meeting requirements to
join because it passed no implementing regulations.
The law did not provide for public access to government
information, and citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media,
were generally unable to access government information. A lack of
organized recordkeeping, archiving, and public libraries also limited
access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no domestic human rights NGOs. The law restricts NGOs
and identifies specific areas in which they may operate; human rights
were added in January 2005 to those types of NGOs that may organize;
however, having long been banned, none existed.
The primary organization with some responsibility for human rights,
the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH), was controlled by the
Government and suffered serious funding, staff, and institutional
limitations. It did not investigate human rights complaints or keep
statistics on them. The President appointed the members of the CNDH.
The Center for Human Rights and Democracy, although organized as a
quasi-independent body, had no independent source of funding or
authority but that given by the Government. It received minimal support
and at the end of 2005 lost its office space, and was relocated inside
the Ministry of Justice building. Its role had been primarily advocacy
and public sensitization, not investigation or reporting of violations.
Neither the CNDH nor the Center for Human Rights and Democracy were
considered effective. Their mandates were not clear, except that the
center previously prepared the annual report to the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights presented in Geneva and hosted numerous
workshops on human rights and trafficking.
The Government elevated the human rights portfolio to the first
vice prime minister with the reorganization of government in August,
but by year's end no impact was seen from this move.
During the year the Government collaborated with the ICRC and other
organizations to train local and regional security personnel,
government officials, students, and others in human rights subjects. At
various times during the year, UNICEF, UNDP, the ICRC, the European
Development Fund, and contracted private organizations carried out
activities in the areas of human rights protection and training.
No international human rights NGOs were resident in the country.
There have been allegations from Catholic Relief Services, Reporters
Without Borders, and the Center for Rural Development that NGO
representatives visiting Malabo had their movements, telephone calls,
e-mails, and faxes monitored.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the
Government did not enforce these provisions effectively. Violence and
discrimination against women, trafficking in persons, discrimination
against ethnic minorities, and discrimination against HIV/AIDS victims
were problems.
During the year the Government staged public campaigns to combat
child labor and discrimination and violence against women and persons
with HIV/AIDS. Discrimination was based more on ethnicity and party
affiliation than other factors.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, is
illegal, but the Government did not enforce the law effectively. The
traditional perception that women were sold to men by their families,
and therefore were property to be controlled by whatever means
necessary short of death, was widespread. The public beating of wives
is illegal; however, violence in the home generally was tolerated. The
police and judiciary were reluctant to prosecute domestic violence
cases; some police and judicial officials stated that gender violence
should be resolved at home, not prosecuted by the Government. The
Government did not have a hot line, shelter, or other services for
domestic violence victims. The number of prosecutions during the year
was not known; however, the Government generally did not prosecute
perpetrators of domestic violence, and such violence, particularly wife
beating, was common.
Rape is illegal, but spousal rape is not specified in the law. The
Government did not enforce the law effectively. Reporting rape was
considered shameful to families involved. The number of prosecutions
during the year was not known.
Prostitution is illegal but was generally tolerated. Women's
poverty and demand from the increasing number of resident foreign
workers fostered it. The Government's response was to close some local
bars (which reopened a few days later). Police occasionally detained
prostitutes, abusing and sometimes subjecting them to extortion;
patrons were not arrested.
Trafficking in persons for prostitution was possibly increasing
(see Section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
Sexual harassment was not illegal, and its extent was unknown.
The law provides for equal rights for women and men, including
rights under family law, property law, and in the judicial system;
however, rights of women were limited in practice. Because women become
members of their husbands' families upon marriage, they usually were
not accorded inheritance rights. Tradition also dictated that if a
girl's family accepted a dowry from a man, she must then marry him,
regardless of her wishes; if a marriage dissolved, the husband also
automatically received custody of all children born during the
marriage.
A foreign development fund, as part of its program to support civil
society, dedicated one of its forums to the rights of women. The
dominant topics were polygyny and traditional attitudes that make women
vulnerable. Polygyny, which was widespread (although it had no legal
basis), contributed to women's secondary status, as did limited
educational opportunities.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs was responsible for women's issues.
Women largely were confined by custom to traditional roles,
particularly in agriculture. Women experienced economic discrimination
in access to employment, credit, pay for substantially similar work,
and business ownership or management. Despite this, there were a few
successful women entrepreneurs.
Children.--The Government devoted little attention to children's
rights or their welfare and had few policies in this area, although
during the year it sponsored several seminars, media programs, and
announcements on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2004 the
parliament passed a trafficking-in-persons law, focused almost
exclusively on trafficked children (see Section 5, Trafficking);
however, other than prohibitions against child labor, no other
provisions for the welfare of children were included.
By law education is compulsory, free, and universal through primary
school, but the law was not enforced. Fees and requirements such as
uniforms made it difficult for many families to afford to enroll their
children. Boys were generally expected by their families either to
complete an additional seven years of secondary school or to finish a
program of vocational study after primary education. For many girls,
pregnancy or the need to assist at home made acquiring even a primary
education impossible. Women generally attained only one-fifth the
educational level of men. According to UNICEF, from 1992 to 2002 net
primary school attendance was 60 percent for boys and 61 percent for
girls, and from 1997 to 2000, the secondary school enrollment ratio was
43 percent for boys and 19 percent for girls.
Teachers were sometimes political appointees with no training.
The Government continued to cooperate with a foreign government to
provide textbooks to schools.
In September, in cooperation with an extractive industry company,
the Government began setting up programs for teacher training; it
identified a foreign NGO to implement the programs, relocated experts
to Malabo and Bata, and imported educational materials. Under the
program each party would contribute $20 million (10 billion CFA francs)
to the program over a five-year period.
The government-funded Social Action Program, working with a foreign
official coordinator, also began to establish operating procedures, did
an initial assessment, and designated counterparts in government
ministries to coordinate priority projects to address shortcomings in
education, health care, child protection, water, and sanitation.
Children suffered poor health and had a high mortality rate. The
Government provided very little health care, but boys and girls had
equal access to what was offered. Treatment for malaria, the largest
killer of children, was supposedly free for pregnant women and children
to age five.
Abuse of minors is illegal; however, the Government did not enforce
the law effectively, and child abuse occurred. Physical punishment was
the culturally accepted method of discipline. No prosecutions for child
abuse were reported.
Children were often pawns in demonstrations of support for the
President and his policies. On December 1, some students rioted in
Malabo after hours of walking to participate in an HIV/AIDS march, in
reaction to a road accident that killed at least one student and
severely injured others. Government officials partially blamed the
rioting on teachers, parents, and principals having become ``too lax in
disciplining'' children. They implied support for corporal punishment
to reinstitute respect.
Child prostitution may exist, but there were no statistics
available (see Section 6.d.).
Child labor by law is punishable by a fine from $100 to $500
(50,000 to 250,000 CFA francs); however, child labor occurred,
generally in agriculture, selling of small items on the street or in
markets, or domestic work. Its extent was unknown (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking is punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of
approximately $100,000 (50 million CFA francs); however, trafficking of
children to the country was a growing problem (see Section 5,
Trafficking in Persons).
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of street children
living in the country.
The Government, through the National Action Plan to Fight Against
Trafficking in Persons and Child Labor, funded a program to educate the
public against these practices, assist victims, and punish offenders.
However, most training of investigators and child service workers had
not begun by year's end, since sensitization and education on the
subject was still continuing. The Government entered into an agreement
with Gabon and Cameroon to analyze cross-border trafficking, and in
July it signed a Multilateral Cooperation Agreement to Combat
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, in West and
Central Africa.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, persons were trafficked through and to the country. The
penalties for trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation or other
exploitation are imprisonment for 10 to 15 years and a fine of not less
than approximately $100,000 (50 million CFA francs).
The Government did not actively investigate trafficking cases. The
Ministry of Justice is responsible for combating trafficking in
persons, and the minister of justice is President of the
interinstitutional commission on illegal trafficking of migrants and
trafficking of persons.
Reliable figures on the number of trafficking victims were not
available, but anecdotal evidence indicated the numbers were small. The
country was a transit point and destination for trafficked persons.
Although less prevalent than transit trafficking, trafficking into the
country was reportedly a problem. Children, mostly from Benin and
Nigeria, primarily were trafficked into the commercial sectors in
Malabo and Bata. Nigerian boys worked in market stalls in Bata, often
without pay or personal freedom. The country was both a destination and
a transit point for trafficked girls and boys, mostly from Cameroon,
Benin, and Nigeria. Women were reportedly trafficked for sexual
exploitation, especially to Malabo. Some Nigerian girls were reportedly
trafficked onward to Spain for prostitution.
The Government, in collaboration with UNICEF and foreign
governments, implemented the first phase of a national action plan to
prevent trafficking, punish offenders, and protect victims. The plan
involved 11 ministries, religious communities, and nongovernmental and
international organizations. During the year the Government conducted
four seminars, with wide participation. Public service announcements on
the problem of trafficking were widely disseminated.
There was one unconfirmed report of a government official involved
in the trafficking of a Nigerian infant, reportedly for an illegal
adoption. This was privately resolved between the two countries, and it
was unknown if any action was taken against those involved. Lower-level
law enforcement officials, such as border guards and immigration
officers, were suspected of facilitating trafficking in exchange for
bribes.
Traffickers generally crossed the border with false documents and
children they falsely claimed were their own. These children reportedly
worked without pay and were not allowed to attend school. Organized
criminal networks in Benin and possibly Nigeria were thought to be
involved in trafficking persons to and through the country. Fishing
boats also were probably employed to transport children to avoid formal
entry procedures.
During the year the Government was not asked by other governments
to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
Authorities did not encourage victims to file complaints against
traffickers. During the year there were no reports of prosecutions
under the 2004 law.
The Government did not provide protection or assistance to victims
or witnesses. Embassies of victims' countries of origin, if present,
were expected to take care of victims until they were returned to their
home countries. There were no NGOs in the country to assist victims.
The only victims identified were repatriated.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not provide protection for
persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education,
or the provision of other state services. Educational services for the
mentally or physically handicapped were minimal. They were usually
provided, if at all, by churches or NGOs.
There was no institutional care or treatment for the mentally ill,
a small but growing problem.
The law does not mandate access to buildings for persons with
disabilities, and there was societal discrimination against such
persons.
The ministries of education and health had primary responsibility
for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. Some public
service announcements regarding rights of the disabled were broadcast.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Discrimination against ethnic
or racial minorities was illegal, and the Government did not overtly
limit participation of minorities in politics; however, the near
monopolization of political and economic power by the Fang ethnic
group, particularly its Mongomo subclan, continued (see Section 3).
Of 59 persons appointed to cabinet and subcabinet positions, 49
were Fang, seven were Bubi, two were Bisio, and one was Ndowe.
Tensions existed in part because the dominant group controlled most
property, which afforded it greater economic prosperity and prevented
economic competition from minorities. Minorities felt discriminated
against in regard to expropriation of property, reimbursement for their
seized homes or land, ability to obtain loans, compete for
scholarships, and obtain and keep jobs.
The number of residents from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Togo,
and other African countries grew, despite increasing roundups by police
of persons without valid visas and permits. Foreigners were subject to
harassment and extortion by security forces.
Differences among subclans of the Fang, especially resentment of
the political dominance of the Mongomo subclan, were also sources of
political tension. In practice some members of ethnic minorities,
particularly of the Bubi ethnic group, faced discrimination, especially
when they were not members of the dominant party.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals was strong, and the Government made no effort to
combat it.
Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to be victims of societal
discrimination and often kept their illnesses hidden. Radio campaigns
and public statements advocating nondiscrimination toward persons with
HIV/AIDS were frequent. The Government promulgated a decree that
provides for free HIV/AIDS testing and treatment.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
establish unions and affiliate with unions of their choice, without
previous authorization or excessive requirements; however, the
Government placed practical obstacles before groups wishing to
organize. The Union Organization of Small Farmers continued to be the
only legal, operational labor union. According to the International
Trade Union Confederation, the authorities continued to refuse to
register the Equatorial Guinea Trade Union. The law stipulates that a
union must have at least 50 members who are from a specific workplace
to register; this rule effectively blocked union formation. Authorities
refused to legalize the public sector union, the Independent Syndicated
Services, despite it having met the requirements of the law.
According to regional representatives of the International Labor
Organization, the Government continued to influence employment in all
sectors. Requirements to utilize employment and security agencies
controlled largely by the President's relatives continued.
There was no law prohibiting antiunion discrimination. However,
unlike in 2005, there were no reports that workers tried to form
unions, or that police visited their homes and threatened them if they
persisted.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct activities without interference, but the Government
did not protect this right in practice. Workers were effectively
prohibited from striking. On rare occasions workers engaged in
temporary protests or ``go slows'' (work slowdowns and planned
absences). In one case workers protested poor conditions and pay at a
construction site at the port of Malabo, threatening the foreign
contractor. The Prime Minister intervened and promised action on worker
complaints if they would return to their jobs.
There were no reports of collective bargaining by any group;
however, the Ministry of Labor sometimes mediated labor disputes.
Dismissed workers, for example, could appeal to the ministry, first
through their regional delegate; however, there was little trust in the
fairness of the system. Citizens had a right to appeal decisions that
the labor ministry had made to a special standing committee of
parliament established to hear citizen complaints regarding decisions
by any government agency. The Government and employers set wages with
little or no participation by workers.
Workers believed that actions such as strikes would result in loss
of their jobs and possibly harm to themselves or their families.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor and slavery, including by children, but
there were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and
6.d.). Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that detainees
and convicted felons were forced to perform labor outside prison, nor
for government officials, without compensation (see Section 1.c.).
In 2004 the Government enforced for the first time existing laws on
forced labor and convicted a Beninese woman of holding a Beninese girl
of 14 as an indentured servant. The woman was ordered to pay back
wages, fined, and sentenced to serve a prison term.
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are no comprehensive laws or policies to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace, and the Government did not effectively
implement the few that existed. The 2004 law against trafficking
provides that persons found guilty of illegally forcing a minor to work
should be punished with a fine from approximately $100 to $500 (50,000
to 250,000 CFA francs). Radio news reported that some parents of
working children were forced to pay this fine as examples.
The legal minimum age for employment is 14 years, but the
Government did not enforce this law, and child labor was common. In
most cases children also went to school, girls through primary school
and boys through middle school. In June 2005 the Government issued a
decree forbidding the employment of children in street vending, car-
washing, or in bars and restaurants, but this law was rarely enforced.
According to a 2001 UNICEF child labor study, the most recent
information available, child labor existed primarily in the form of
children working as farmhands and market vendors in family businesses.
During the year there were unconfirmed reports that foreign children
were used as market vendors by nonrelatives and had no access to
schooling.
The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor
laws; however, it did not do so effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Enforcement of labor laws and
ratified international labor agreements was not effective, resulting in
poor working conditions. Construction safety codes, for example, were
not enforced. Most petroleum companies, on the other hand, exceeded
international safety standards.
By law employers must pay the minimum wage set by the Government.
Minimum wages were set for all sectors of the formal economy; however,
the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family in Malabo or Bata. In the rest of the country, the
minimum wage would provide a minimally adequate income. Many formal
sector companies paid more than this, but most workers (farmers, etc.)
were not covered under the minimum wage law. By law, hydrocarbon
industry workers received salaries many times higher than those in
other sectors, which fueled inflation and disadvantaged those who did
not have those jobs. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing
the minimum wage, but because of high unemployment, workers with any
job rarely complained to authorities about wage rule violations.
The law prescribes a standard 35-hour work week and a 48-hour
weekly rest period, requirements that generally were observed in
practice in the formal economy. Exceptions were made for some jobs,
such as those in offshore oil industry work. Premium pay for overtime
was required, but the requirement was not enforced.
The law provides for protection for workers from occupational
hazards, but the Government did not enforce this. The Government had an
insufficient number of labor inspectors to oversee industry. The law
does not provide workers with the right to remove themselves from
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their
continued employment.
Although payment of a high percentage of salary into the social
security and health system is mandatory, workers rarely received health
care, workers' compensation, or retirement benefits from the system
after contributing. Employment agencies that were supposed to pass on
payments for social security benefits for workers were notorious for
closing without meeting their obligations.
__________
ERITREA
Eritrea, with a population of approximately 3.6 million, is a one-
party state that became independent in 1993 when citizens voted for
independence from Ethiopia. The People's Front for Democracy and
Justice (PFDJ), previously known as the Eritrean People's Liberation
Front, is the sole political party and has controlled the country since
1991. The country's President, Isaias Afwerki, heads the PFDJ, the
national legislature, and the military. The Government continuously
postponed Presidential and national legislative elections; national
elections have never been held. Despite international efforts to
resolve the situation, an ongoing border dispute with Ethiopia
seriously hindered international trade, affected the Government's
external relations, and was used by the Government to justify severe
restrictions on civil liberties. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record worsened, and it continued to
commit numerous serious abuses, including: abridgement of citizens'
rights to change their government through a democratic process;
unlawful killings by security forces; torture and beatings of
prisoners, some resulting in death; harsh and life threatening prison
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; executive interference in
the judiciary and the use of a special court system to limit due
process; government infringement on privacy rights; government roundups
of young men and women for national service; arrest, incarceration, and
torture of family members of national service evaders, some of whom
reportedly died of unknown causes while in detention; severe
restrictions on basic civil liberties, including freedoms of speech,
press, assembly, association, and religion, particularly for religious
groups not approved by the Government; restrictions on freedom of
movement and travel for diplomats, humanitarian and development
agencies, and UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) personnel;
government circumscription of nongovernmental organization (NGO)
activities; violence and societal discrimination against women and the
widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM); governmental
and societal discrimination against members of the Kunama ethnic group
and homosexuals; and limitations on workers' rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings; however, the Government continued to authorize the
use of deadly force against anyone resisting or attempting to flee
during military searches for deserters and draft evaders, and deaths
reportedly occurred during the year. Several persons detained for
evading national service died after harsh treatment by security forces
(see Section 1.c.). There were reports of summary executions and of
individuals shot on sight near the Ethiopian border, allegedly for
attempting to cross the border. There were reports that individuals
were severely beaten and killed during government roundups of young men
and women for national service (see Section 1.c.).
Persons arrested and detained because of their religious
affiliation died from security force abuses (see Section 2.c.).
There was no additional information regarding action taken against
military personnel who shot and killed 161 youths who were trying to
escape from Wia Military Camp in June 2005 as reported by the London-
based NGO, Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights.
According to the Government Commission for Coordination with the UN
Peacekeeping Mission, there were an estimated three million landmines
and unexploded ordnance in the country left over from the country's 30-
year war of independence and the 1998 2000 conflict with Ethiopia. The
Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement and others laid some new mines during
the year. The UN reported three deaths and eight injuries from landmine
incidents during the year; at least two of the deaths and seven of the
injuries involved newly laid landmines. It was probable that there were
additional, unreported deaths in remote areas. The Government's
demining program continued; however, statistics from this program were
unavailable at year's end. The UN demining programs continued
throughout the year, although their effectiveness was limited by a
government order in October 2005 grounding all UN helicopters (see
Section 2.d.). As a result, UNMEE transferred most of the demining
activities to Ethiopia.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year; however, there were unresolved
disappearances from previous years.
The whereabouts of an unknown number of Kunama, members of an
ethnic group residing predominantly along the border with Ethiopia who
were detained in 2005 because of their association with other captured
or killed Kunama insurgents, remained unknown.
At year's end, the whereabouts of 11 senior PFDJ and National
Assembly members and several journalists and employees of diplomatic
missions arrested by the Government in 2001 remained unknown; however,
there were unconfirmed reports during the year that several had died in
detention and the rest were being held in solitary confinement.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit torture;
however, there were numerous reports that security forces resorted to
torture and physical beatings of prisoners, particularly during
interrogations. There were credible reports that several individuals,
including young men and women rounded up for national service, died
following torture or severe beatings by security forces. During the
year security forces severely mistreated and beat army deserters, draft
evaders, and members of particular religious groups (see Section 2.c.).
Security forces subjected deserters and draft evaders to various
disciplinary actions that included prolonged sun exposure in
temperatures of up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or the binding of hands,
elbows, and feet for extended periods.
There were reliable reports that torture was widespread in an
unknown number of detention facilities. In addition to psychological
abuse, escapees reported the use of physical torture and abuse at a few
prisons. Authorities suspended prisoners from trees with their arms
tied behind their backs, a technique known as almaz (diamond).
Authorities also placed prisoners face down with their hands tied to
their feet, a technique known as the ``helicopter.''
There were reports that, on October 17, two men detained in a
military camp for holding religious services in a private home died as
a result of injuries sustained during torture (see Section 2.c.).
There were reports that some women drafted to the national service
were subjected to sexual harassment and abuse. There were unconfirmed
reports that instructors raped female students at Sawa Military Camp.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions for the
general prison population were harsh and life threatening. There were
reports that prisoners were held in underground cells or in shipping
containers with little or no ventilation in extreme temperatures. The
shipping containers were reportedly not large enough to allow all those
incarcerated to lie down at the same time.
There were substantive reports that the detention center conditions
for persons temporarily held for evading military service were also
harsh and life threatening. Unconfirmed reports suggested there may be
hundreds of such detainees. Draft evaders were typically held for one
to 12 weeks before being reassigned to their units, although some were
held for as long as two years. At one detention facility outside
Asmara, detainees reportedly were held in an underground hall with no
access to light or ventilation and sometimes in very crowded
conditions. Some detainees reportedly suffered from severe mental and
physical stress due to these conditions.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reported deaths from
adverse conditions.
Women and their young children were held separately from men. There
is no juvenile detention center in Asmara, and juvenile offenders often
were incarcerated with adults. There were reports that juveniles held
in adult facilities were sodomized. Pretrial detainees generally were
not held separately from convicted prisoners; however, in some cases
detainees were held separately. Visitors were allowed sometimes, and
prison authorities permitted family members to leave food and supplies
for detainees at jails, prisons, and detention centers; released
detainees reported that they received these items even if they were
unable to meet with visitors.
Local groups and human rights organizations were not allowed to
monitor prison conditions. The Government prohibited the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from visiting the unknown number of
Ethiopian soldiers, who the Government claimed were deserters from the
Ethiopian army, or any Eritrean detainees or prisoners, although the
ICRC was allowed to visit and register Ethiopian civilian detainees in
police stations and prisons. Authorities generally permitted three
visits per week by family members, except for detainees arrested for
reasons of national security or for evading national service.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law and unimplemented
constitution prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however,
arbitrary arrest and detention were serious problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are officially
responsible for maintaining internal security, and the army is
responsible for external security; however, the Government can call on
the armed forces, the reserves, and demobilized soldiers in response to
both domestic and external security requirements. Agents of the
National Security Office, which reports to the Office of the President,
are responsible for detaining persons suspected of threatening national
security. The military has the power to arrest and detain persons.
Active duty police officers were in charge of key police divisions.
The police force was adequate in enforcing traffic laws and combating
petty crime. Generally the police did not have a role in cases
involving national security, but beginning in 2005 the police became
involved in the rounding up of individuals evading national service.
During the year the police, the military, and internal security forces
engaged in arrests and detentions. Police and security forces
frequently used violent tactics, such as beating and shooting in the
air to control crowds in social settings and during roundups.
Corruption was not prevalent; however, there were reports that
police demanded bribes to release detainees and that military forces
accepted money to smuggle citizens out of the country. There were no
mechanisms to address allegations of abuse among the police, internal
security, or military forces, and impunity was a problem.
Arrest and Detention.--The law stipulates that detainees must be
brought before a judge within 48 hours and may be held for a maximum of
28 days without being charged with a crime. In practice authorities
often detained persons suspected of crimes for much longer periods. The
law stipulates that, unless there is a ``crime-in-process,'' police
must conduct an investigation and obtain a warrant prior to an arrest.
In cases of national security, this process may be waived. In practice
very few individuals were arrested with a warrant. Authorities often
did not promptly inform detainees of the charges against them. Often
detainees did not have access to legal counsel (see Section 1.e.) or
appear before a judge, and incommunicado detention was widespread.
There was a functioning bail system, except for cases involving
national security or for which capital punishment might be handed down.
Arbitrary arrest and detention were serious problems. For example,
on September 16 17, police reportedly arrested more than 2,000 persons
at several nightclubs in Asmara. In one of the nightclubs, police
reportedly surrounded the club, entered, and began to check the
identification cards of those inside. After initially arresting only
specific individuals, police changed their approach and arrested
without charge everyone inside the club--approximately 250 persons--
using sticks and threats to control the crowd. Most of those detained
were subsequently released after posting bail. No trials were held in
connection with the incident.
Security forces continued the practice begun in 2005 of detaining
and arresting parents of individuals who had evaded national service
duties or fled the country, although there is nothing in the legal code
to warrant such arrests (see Section 1.f.). In December security forces
in Asmara and surrounding areas arrested over 500 family members and
spouses of national service evaders. Those who were arrested continued
to be detained, reportedly under harsh conditions, at year's end.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested dual nationals and foreigners
and detained at least two foreign diplomats during the year, often
under the guise of national security. There were reports that
plainclothes agents of the National Security Office entered homes and
arrested occupants. There also were reports that individuals were
threatened by security forces over extended periods of time.
Security forces detained, generally for less than three days, many
persons during searches for evaders of national service, even if they
had valid papers showing that they had completed or were exempt from
national service (see Section 1.c.). There were reports that
individuals who spoke out against the Government or publicly questioned
government actions were arrested and detained without due process.
The Government continued to arrest and detain members of
nonregistered religious groups. Some members of nonregistered religious
groups have been detained for more than 11 years (see Section 2.c.).
Security forces arbitrarily arrested journalists during the year
(see Section 2.a.). The Government continued to detain journalists it
took into custody in 2001 (see Section 2.a.).
Ethiopian nationals reportedly were singled out for arrest because
they were unable to pay the necessary fees to renew their residency
permits every 12 months (see Section 2.d.).
The Government detained without charge an UNMEE official, who was
released in October. (see Section 4).
The three union leaders arrested in March 2005 reportedly were
being held incommunicado at year's end.
There were no further reports about the several hundred politically
motivated detentions in 2005 of persons who were seen as critical of
the Government, and many of those detained remained in prison at year's
end. Many were perceived to have ties to political dissidents or were
believed to have spoken against government actions. Most of these
detainees had not been tried and did not have access to legal counsel.
The ICRC was not authorized to visit these detainees.
There were no developments in the 2002 arrests of individuals
associated with the 11 PFDJ National Assembly members who were detained
in 2001 and of Eritrean diplomats who were recalled from their posts.
At least four of these detainees, in addition to many detained in
previous years, remained in prison without charge at year's end. Among
the detainees were former ambassador to China Ermias Debessai (Papayo)
and Aster Yohannes, wife of former foreign minister Petros Solomon.
Two citizens who worked for a foreign embassy have remained in
detention without charge since 2001. Two additional citizens who worked
for a foreign embassy, who were arrested in 2005 and 2006,
respectively, also remained in detention at year's end.
There were reports that the Government continued to hold without
charge numerous members of the Eritrean Liberation Front, an armed
opposition group that fought against Ethiopia during the struggle for
independence.
The Government held numerous pretrial detainees during the year;
however, there were widespread reports that the Government released an
unknown number of detainees held without charge during the year. An
unknown number of persons suspected of antigovernment speech,
association with the 11 former PFDJ members arrested in 2001, Islamic
elements considered radical, or suspected terrorist organizations
continued to remain in detention without charge, some of whom have been
detained for more than 10 years. These detainees reportedly did not
have access to legal counsel and were not brought before a judge.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and unimplemented
constitution provide for an independent judiciary; however, the
judiciary was weak and subject to executive control. Public trials
generally were perceived as fair, but virtually all cases involving
individuals detained for national security or political reasons were
not brought to trial. The drafting into national service of many
civilians, including court administrators, defendants, judges, lawyers,
and others involved in the legal system, continued to have a
significant negative impact on the judiciary. The Government has not
issued licenses to lawyers wishing to enter private practice for seven
years.
The judicial system has two parts: civilian and special courts. The
civilian court system consists of community courts, regional courts,
and the High Court, which also serves as an appellate court. Appeals
can be made in the civilian courts up to the High Court. The High Court
took an average of four to six months to decide if it would hear an
appeal and, at year's end, had a backlog of approximately 400 cases.
Minor infractions involving sums of less than approximately $7,300
(110,000 nakfa) are brought to community courts. More serious offenses
are argued before regional courts, but a significant proportion of
cases involving murder, rape, and other felonies are heard by the High
Court. A single judge hears all cases, except those argued before the
High Court, where panels of three judges hear cases. A panel of five
judges hears cases in which the High Court serves as the court of final
appeal.
The executive-controlled special courts issue directives to other
courts regarding administrative matters, although their domain was
supposed to be restricted to criminal cases involving capital offenses,
theft, embezzlement, and corruption. The Office of the Attorney General
decides which cases are to be tried by a special court. No lawyers
practice in the special courts. The judges serve as the prosecutors and
may request that individuals involved in the cases present their
positions. The special courts, which do not permit defense counsel or
the right of appeal, allowed the executive branch to mete out
punishment without respect for due process.
The judges in the special court in both branches are senior
military officers, with no formal legal training. They generally based
their decisions on ``conscience,'' without reference to the law. There
is no limitation on punishment, although the special courts did not
hand down capital punishment sentences during the year. The Attorney
General also allowed special courts to retry civilian court cases,
including those decided by the High Court, thereby subjecting
defendants to double jeopardy. In rare instances, appeals made to the
Office of the President reportedly resulted in special courts rehearing
certain cases.
Most citizens only had contact with the legal system through the
traditional community courts. Judges heard civil cases, while
magistrates versed in criminal law heard criminal cases. Customary
tribunals were sometimes used to adjudicate local civil and criminal
cases. The Ministry of Justice offered training in alternative dispute
resolution to handle some civil and criminal cases.
Shari'a law for family and succession cases could be applied when
both litigants in civil cases were Muslims. In these cases, the
sentences imposed cannot involve physical punishment.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial system suffered from a lack of
trained personnel, inadequate funding, and poor infrastructure that in
practice limited the Government's ability to grant accused persons a
speedy and fair trial.
Unlike in the special court system, the law and unimplemented
constitution provide specific rights to defendants in the regular court
system. Although defendants could hire a legal representative at their
own expense, most detainees could not afford to do so and consequently
did not have access to legal counsel. The Government frequently
assigned attorneys to represent defendants accused of serious crimes
punishable by more than 10 years in prison and who could not afford
legal counsel. In the High Court, defendants have the right to confront
and question witnesses, present evidence, gain access to government-
held evidence, appeal a decision, and are presumed innocent; these
rights were upheld in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no confirmed reports
of new political prisoners; however, there were numerous reports of
persons detained for political reasons (see Section 1.d.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civilian court system
consists of community courts, regional courts, and the High Court,
which also serves as an appellate court. Individuals with civil cases
can also request their case be considered by the special courts. Most
civil law relies on the Ethiopian legal code of 1957, as well as
proclamations issued by the Government. The judiciary purports to be
independent and impartial.
Property Restitution.--There were reports that the Government
seized property without restitution. The Government failed to
compensate foreigners for property taken by preindependence governments
or to restore the property to them. There were no reports of the
seizure of the private property of foreign nationals. Upon the ordered
closure of several NGOs, the Government required that all property be
turned over to it, including items such as computers, printers, and
vehicles.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit such
actions; however, the Government infringed on the right to privacy.
The Government deployed military and police throughout the country
using roadblocks, street sweeps, and house-to-house searches to find
deserters and draft evaders as well as parents of deserters and draft
evaders. There were reports that security forces targeted gatherings of
unregistered religious groups and searched the homes of foreigners.
The Government monitored mail, e-mail, and telephone calls without
obtaining warrants as required under the law. Government informers were
believed to be present throughout the country.
There were reports that military officials and government officials
seized residences and businesses belonging to private citizens. There
were reports they rented the property, used it as housing for senior
military officers' and government officials' families, or occupied the
property for government and military use.
There were reports that the Government forced the resettlement of
individuals residing in Massawa in preparation for the construction of
a new duty-free zone.
Security forces continued the practice begun in June 2005 of
detaining and arresting parents of individuals who had evaded national
service duties or fled the country (see Section 1.d.). They required
the parents to pay a fine of $3,300 (50,000 nakfa) per child and bring
their children back before they would release them. During the year the
Government began to allow families to pay the fine in installments as
opposed to all at once. During the year the Government also detained
spouses of individuals who had evaded national service or fled the
country, and the Government prevented spouses of such individuals from
departing the country.
While membership in the PFDJ, the Government's only sanctioned
political party, was not mandatory for all citizens, the Government
coerced membership in the PFDJ, particularly for individuals working in
government positions or assigned through national service to serve in
government institutions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law and unimplemented
constitution provide for freedom of speech and of the press; however,
the Government severely restricted these rights in practice. Citizens
did not have the right to criticize their government in public or in
private. The private press remained banned, and most independent
journalists remained in detention or had fled the country, which
effectively prevented any public criticism of the Government. The
Government intimidated remaining journalists into self-censorship.
The Government controlled all media, including three newspapers,
two magazines, one radio station, and one television station. The law
does not allow private ownership of broadcast media or foreign
influence or ownership of media, and there was no private media in the
country. The Government banned the import of foreign publications;
however, individuals were permitted to purchase satellites and
subscribe to international media. The Government had to approve
publications distributed by religious or international organizations
before their release, and the Government continued to restrict the
right of the religious media to comment on politics or government
policies. The press law forbids reprinting of articles from banned
publications. The Government also required diplomatic missions to
submit all releases for approval before their publication in the
Government media.
The Government permitted two reporters representing foreign news
organizations to operate in the country; however, it frequently
prevented them from filing stories with their news organizations. Both
reporters departed the country in June, and the Government delayed the
arrival of their designated replacements for several months. The
Swedish reporter who was held by the Government for nearly four years,
released for medical treatment in November 2005 and then detained again
a few days later, remained in detention without charge at year's end.
There are two international reporters operating in Eritrea.
In November the Government arrested nine state journalists employed
by the Ministry of Information; these individuals continued to be
detained at year's end.
The Government continued to refuse to issue exit visas to the four
Oromo journalists who came to the country in 2005 at the invitation of
the Government to seek refuge from Ethiopia. The four have an agreement
with a foreign country to be repatriated.
At least 15 local journalists who were arrested in 2001 remained in
government custody at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no official government restrictions
on the use of the Internet; however, all Internet service providers
were required to use government-controlled Internet infrastructure to
provide service. The Government owned a significant percentage of the
three Internet service providers. In September the police closed one of
the Internet service providers for unknown reasons, although there were
reports they had reopened by year's end. There were reports that the
Government severely restricted the bandwidth available to private
Internet service providers, thus interfering with their ability to
provide services.
There were reports that the Government monitored Internet
communications. In urban areas, individuals were able to access the
Internet through Internet cafes for a fee or through an at-home service
provider.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom; freedom of speech, movement of students, and the
right to assemble were not respected in the academic context. The
Government issued a directive in 2002 reconfiguring the University of
Asmara, which effectively shut down the university's undergraduate
programs. As a result, prospective students have not been allowed to
enroll in the university and instead were directed by the Government to
attend the Mai Nafhi Technical Institute (see Section 5). During the
summer the Government transferred most of the university's
undergraduate programs to vocational training schools spread throughout
the country. Only the medical training programs remained in Asmara.
Students finishing high school were not permitted to choose their next
course of study and were assigned to specific vocational programs based
on their performance on the matriculation exam. A few graduate level
programs remained at the university; however, the law school was
effectively closed, as new students were not permitted to enroll.
The Government did not provide exit visas to some students who
wanted to study abroad. University academics who wished to travel
abroad for further study or training were required to seek permission
from the university President and from the Government prior to travel.
The Government monitored and controlled which films were shown at
the cinema. International film festivals were closely monitored, and
all films had to be approved by the Government.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law and
unimplemented constitution provide for freedom of assembly and
association; however, the Government did not permit freedom of assembly
or association. For gatherings of more than three persons, the
Government requires those assembling to obtain a permit.
The Government did not allow the formation of any political parties
other than the PFDJ.
On May 30, approximately 40 women and elders from the Debub region
gathered at the Presidential Palace of Asmara to ask for information
about their husbands, who had been detained in retribution for their
children fleeing the country to evade national service; security forces
arrested the women and elders for not having a permit to assemble.
There was no information on the status of their cases at year's end.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law and unimplemented constitution
provide for freedom of religion; however, the Government restricted
this right in practice. Only four religious groups whose registrations
had been approved by the Government were allowed to meet legally during
the year. These were: Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Catholics, and
members of the Evangelical Church of Eritrea, an umbrella group of
several Protestant churches affiliated with the Lutheran World
Federation. Members of the nonregistered churches continued to be
arbitrarily arrested throughout the year. Security forces continued to
abuse, arrest, and detain members of nonregistered churches; sometimes
such abuse resulted in death.
Compass Direct reported that, on October 17, Immanuel Andegergesh
and Kibrom Firemichel died from injuries and severe dehydration in a
military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala according to credible
reports. The two men were arrested two days earlier for holding a
religious service in a private home.
There were reports that three members of nonregistered churches
received a two-year sentence for violation of the Government
restriction on belonging to an unregistered religious group. During the
year there continued to be reports that security forces used extreme
physical abuse such as bondage, heat exposure, and beatings to punish
those detained for their religious beliefs, and that numerous detainees
were required to sign statements repudiating their faith or agreeing
not to practice it as a condition for release. There also continued to
be reports that relatives were asked to sign for detainees who refused
to sign such documents.
During the year there were reports that hundreds of followers of
various unregistered churches (mostly Protestant) were detained,
harassed, and abused. While some were detained for short periods of
time and released, approximately 2,000 individuals remained in
detention at year's end because of their religious affiliation,
according to the NGO Compass Direct.
Many of those detained were held in military prisons for not having
performed required national military service, and many belonged to
unregistered religious groups. Several pastors and dozens of women were
among the imprisoned. Several were released after recanting their
faith; however, many refused to recant their faith and continued to be
detained in civilian and military detention facilities across the
country.
There were no developments in the continued detention of 13 members
of the Rema Church detained in 2004 or the detention of 11 members of
unregistered churches in May 2005; it was believed that all of these
individuals remained incarcerated at year's end.
In January there were reports that the Holy Synod, under pressure
from the Government, deposed Patriarch Abune Antonios of the Eritrean
Orthodox Church on putative charges that he had committed heresy and
was no longer following church doctrine. The synod selected a new
patriarch, Dioscoros. Deposed Patriarch Antonios remained under house
arrest and continued to challenge the circumstances of Patriarch
Dioscoros's selection at year's end. The lay administrator appointed by
the Government in August 2005 remained the head of church; the
administrator was neither a member of the clergy nor an appointee of
the patriarch as required by the constitution of the Eritrean Orthodox
Church. This effectively put the Government in control of the Orthodox
Church. The Government also continued to monitor, harass, threaten, and
arrest members of the Orthodox Medhane Alem group, whose religious
services it had not approved. The three ministers who led Medhane Alem
and who were arrested in October 2004 remained imprisoned without
charge at year's end.
In December the Government established the practice of taking
possession of the weekly offerings given by parishioners to the
Orthodox Church. The government-appointed lay administrator of the
Orthodox Church claimed that the Government used the money from the
offerings to pay priests and provide alms for the poor.
There were reports that in September the Government ordered the
Kale Hiwot church to surrender all church property to the Government.
The Government prohibited political activity by religious groups
and faith-based NGOs. The Government's Office of Religious Affairs
monitored religious compliance with this proscription.
The Government does not excuse individuals who object to national
service for religious reasons or reasons of conscience, nor does the
Government allow for alternative service. In November the Government
decreed that church leaders from the four state-sanctioned religions
were required to perform military and national service; previously,
religious leaders such as priests and clerics were exempt from military
and national service. The Government continued to harass, detain, and
discriminate against the small community of members of Jehovah's
Witnesses because of their refusal, on religious grounds, to vote in
the independence referendum and the refusal of some to perform national
service. Although members of several religious groups, including
Muslims, reportedly have been imprisoned in past years for failure to
participate in national military service, the Government singled out
Jehovah's Witnesses for harsher treatment than that received by
followers of other faiths for similar actions. In the past, the
Government dismissed members of Jehovah's Witnesses from the civil
service, and many were evicted from or not allowed to occupy
government-owned housing. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses frequently
were denied passports and exit visas, and some had their identity cards
revoked or were not issued them at all.
According to the Office of General Counsel for the Jehovah's
Witnesses, 27 Jehovah's Witnesses remained imprisoned without charge.
Although the maximum penalty for refusing to perform national service
is three years' imprisonment, three of the individuals have been
detained for more than 11 years. Of the members of Jehovah's Witnesses
detained, 12 were reportedly held at Sawa Military Camp and one was in
prison in Asmara. At year's end, eight of the 40 Jehovah's Witnesses
arrested during a home prayer meeting in 2004 remained incarcerated.
The army resorted to various forms of extreme physical punishment
to force objectors, including some members of Jehovah's Witnesses, to
perform military service (see Section 1.c.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were negative societal
attitudes toward members of some religious denominations other than the
four sanctioned ones. Some citizens approved of the strict measures
levied against unsanctioned churches, especially the Pentecostal groups
and Jehovah's Witnesses.
There was a very small Jewish population in the country; there were
no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law and unimplemented constitution
provide for these rights; however, the Government restricted some of
them in practice. While citizens could generally travel freely within
the country and change their place of residence, the Government
restricted travel to some areas within the country, particularly along
the border with Sudan and Ethiopia. Military police periodically set up
roadblocks in Asmara and on roads between other cities to find draft
evaders and deserters (see Section 1.d.).
In October 2005 the Government ordered the grounding of all UN
helicopters. The order continued to constrain UNMEE's ability to supply
troops in the field, monitor the temporary security zone area, and
support medical evacuations. On March 1, a UNMEE soldier died from
heart failure; the ban on helicopter flights was believed to have
contributed to his death as his access to medical treatment was
significantly delayed.
In June the Government further tightened restrictions on travel for
all noncitizens. All diplomats, humanitarian organization and UN staff,
and foreign tourists were required to obtain advance permission from
the Government in order to leave Asmara. Travel restrictions were
enforced by the use of military checkpoints. The granting of permission
to travel was not a transparent process. While some foreign nationals
obtained permission to travel to certain locations, the Government
refused to issue travel permits to others traveling to the same place.
The Government often failed to respond to requests for travel.
There were reports that Ethiopians who remained in the country were
not allowed to live in the Debub Province bordering Ethiopia.
Citizens and foreign nationals were required to obtain exit visas
to depart the country. There were numerous cases where foreign
nationals were delayed in leaving for up to two months or initially
denied permission to leave when they applied for an exit visa. Persons
routinely denied exit visas included men under the age of 50,
regardless of whether they had completed national service, women age 18
to 27, members of Jehovah's Witnesses (see Section 2.c.), and other
persons out of favor with or seen as critical of the Government. During
the year the Government began refusing to issue exit visas to children
11 years and older. The Government also refused to issue exit visas to
children, some as young as five years of age, either on the grounds
that they were approaching the age of eligibility for national service
or because their diasporal parents had not paid the 2 percent income
tax required of all citizens residing abroad. Some citizens were given
exit visas only after posting bonds of approximately $6,600 (100,000
nakfa).
The law has no provisions concerning exile, and the Government
generally did not use exile.
In general citizens had the right to return; however, citizens had
to show proof that they paid the 2 percent tax on their income to the
Government while living abroad to be eligible for some government
services, including exit visas, upon their return to the country.
Applications to return filed by citizens living abroad who had broken
the law, contracted a serious contagious disease, or had been declared
ineligible for political asylum by other governments were considered on
a case-by-case basis.
During the year, in conjunction with the ICRC, the Government
repatriated approximately 988 Ethiopians to Ethiopia.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Approximately 20,000 IDPs
from the conflict with Ethiopia were permanently resettled during the
year. Approximately 22,000 IDPs remained in seven camps in the Debub
and Gash Barka zones at year's end. Camp facilities were rudimentary,
but conditions generally were adequate. There also was a large but
unknown number of IDPs residing outside camps during the year. The
Government allowed UN organizations to provide assistance to IDPS. In
May 2005 the Government seized approximately 45 vehicles of the Office
of the UN Human Rights Commissioner (UNHCR), which seriously impacted
their ability to monitor programs and provide follow-up. The vehicles
were not returned by year's end.
Protection of Refugees.--The law and unimplemented constitution do
not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance
with the definition in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has not established
a system for providing protection to refugees. As a result the
Government cannot issue legal refugee or asylum status. However, in
practice the Government provided some protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and
provided temporary protection to approximately 4,000 persons from Sudan
and Somalia on a prima facie basis. The Government granted 19
Ethiopians who had deserted the Ethiopian army residency status.
Another 100 Ethiopians sought asylum with the UNHCR; however, the
determination of their status has not yet been made. Approximately 20
Ethiopians who had received permission to resettle to a third country
were unable to obtain exist visas to depart Eritrea. Approximately
16,000 Ethiopians had temporary residence in the country. The
Government cooperated with the UNHCR in assisting refugees who were not
from Ethiopia.
There were 720 Sudanese refugees at Elit camp in the West and 3,780
Somali refugees at Emkulu camp, near Massawa. There were also up to
30,000 Beja Sudanese and approximately 600 Ethiopians in the Gash Barka
region to which the UNHCR had no access or responsibility. The UNHCR
was accommodating approximately 1,900 Ethiopians in urban areas whose
status has not yet been determined, an increase from only 100 cases in
2005. The Government issued residency permits to Ethiopians living in
the country for a fee; however, it did not issue them exit visas.
Ethiopians unable to pay the residency permit fee were not legally
eligible for employment. The Government prohibited the ICRC from
continuing its program of purchasing residency permits for Ethiopians
unable to afford the annual fee.
The UNHCR reported that, although it ended organized repatriation
of refugees from Sudan in 2004, 18 refugees returned to the country
spontaneously during the year.
There were reports during the year that the Government continued to
refuse to allow the UNHCR to resettle several ethnic Oromo journalists
from Ethiopia (see Section 2.a.).
The ICRC repatriated 988 Ethiopians from Eritrea back to Ethiopia
and 83 Eritreans from Ethiopia to Eritrea during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law and unimplemented constitution provide citizens with the
right to change their government peacefully; however, citizens were not
allowed to exercise this right in practice.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Government came to
power in a 1993 popular referendum in which voters chose to have an
independent country managed by a transitional government run by the
PFDJ. The PFDJ has not allowed for a democratically elected government,
and national elections, originally scheduled for 1997, were never held.
The only authorized political party is the PFDJ; the Government coerced
membership in the PFDJ (see Section 1.f.).
There were three women on the PFDJ's 19-member Executive Council,
and 11 women served on the 75-member Central Council. Women
participated in the constitutional commission, occupying almost half of
the positions on the 50-person committee. They also served in several
senior government positions, including those of the ministers of
justice, tourism, labor, and welfare.
There was no information on whether members of ethnic minorities
were on PFDJ's 19-member Executive Council, served on the 75-member
Central Council, or participated in the constitutional commission.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
petty corruption within the executive branch, largely based on family
connections. There were unconfirmed reports of more serious corruption
among military leaders involving illicit trade and the appropriation of
houses. There were reports that individuals requesting exit visas or
passports had to pay bribes.
Although the law and unimplemented constitution provide for public
access to government information, the Government did not provide
information to either citizens or noncitizens, including foreign media.
Operations in the economy mirrored this practice. The Government or
the PFDJ own most of the major industries in the country. In the past
the Government has reclaimed successful privately held companies and
turned them over to the party or to the Government to operate.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government allowed one domestic human rights NGO--Citizens for
Peace in Eritrea (CPE)--to operate, although the NGO was basically
nonfunctioning during the year.
The Government permitted only one international human rights
organization, the ICRC, to operate within the country and the
Government strictly limited the ICRC to operations such as
repatriation, providing shelter to approximately 1,000 persons who were
displaced by the conflict with Ethiopia (see Section 2.d.), visiting
prisons and detention centers where Ethiopians were held (see Section
1.c.), and providing assistance to approximately 50,000 citizens
through projects in water supply, health structure rehabilitation, and
housing
All NGOs, regardless of their scope of work, were required to
register with the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare. In May 2005 the
Government issued a law that requires all NGOs to register with the
Government for permission to continue operations in the country. It
also requires international NGOs to have two million dollars in the
local bank. Many NGOs failed to receive government approval under the
registration process and were required to leave the country. As of
year's end, there were 11 registered NGOs. During the year the
Government asked five NGOs, Mercy Corps, ACCORD, Samaritan's Purse,
International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Concern, to close operations
and depart the country, which they did. Both IRC and Samaritan's Purse
operated extensive projects in Eastern Sudan from their offices in
Asmara. Following the signing of the Eastern Front Peace Agreement
between the Eastern Front and the Sudanese government in September, the
Government determined that IRC and Samaritan's Purse no longer needed
to base their operations in Eritrea, despite the fact that IRC also
operated Eritrea-specific programs. Neither IRC nor Samaritan's Purse
had operations in the country at year's end.
In April the Government announced a change in humanitarian aid
policy and decreed that all food assistance be provided through a cash-
for-work program. Simultaneously, the Government redirected over 80,000
metric tons of food belonging to the World Food Program (WFP) and other
donors to its own programs. It prevented NGOs and the WFP from entering
into the storehouses. This food aid later appeared on the local market.
The Government had not provided to any donors, including WFP, an
accounting of how the 80,000 metric tons were distributed by year's
end. By year's end, general food distributions had ceased, and all food
assistance was reportedly provided through a government-operated cash-
for-work program, in which participants earned less than one dollar per
day.
The Government also did not permit general humanitarian food
distribution by NGOs or by the WFP, although it allowed the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) to continue its supplemental feeding programs.
Supplemental feeding and hospital feeding programs continued under the
supervision of the Ministry of Health. By requiring NGOs and UN
organizations to have travel permits to depart the capital, the
Government effectively controlled access by relief organizations to the
rural areas. The status of school feeding programs was unknown (see
Section 2.d.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law and unimplemented constitution prohibit discrimination
against women and persons with disabilities; while the Government
generally enforced these provisions, violence against women and
discrimination against minority ethnic groups continued.
Women.--Violence against women was pervasive. Domestic violence is
a crime; however, domestic violence, especially wife beating, was
widespread. Women seldom openly discussed domestic violence because of
societal pressures. Although the law prohibits domestic violence, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Such incidents were
more commonly addressed, if at all, within families or by religious
clergy. The Government's response to domestic violence was hindered by
a lack of training, inadequate funding, and societal attitudes.
Rape is a crime; however, it was unclear whether spousal rape is
illegal. There was no specific information available on the prevalence
of rape in the country. The Government responded to reports of rape by
encouraging the perpetrator to marry the victim.
FGM was widespread, with some estimates as high as 89 percent
frequency among girls. Almost all ethnic and religious groups in the
country practiced FGM. In the lowlands, infibulation--the most severe
form of FGM--was practiced. There is no law prohibiting FGM; however,
the Government worked to combat the practice. The Government and other
organizations, including the National Union of Eritrean Women and the
National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students, sponsored education
programs that discouraged the practice.
Prostitution is illegal but was a serious problem. Security forces,
who regularly patrolled the city at night, occasionally followed
prostitutes and arrested those who had spent the night with a
foreigner.
Laws exist prohibiting sexual harassment; however, cultural norms
prevented women from reporting these types of incidents, and no one was
charged or prosecuted for sexual harassment.
Women have a legal right to equal educational opportunities, equal
pay for equal work, and equal property rights; however, in practice men
retained privileged access to education, employment, and control of
economic resources, with greater disparities in rural areas than in
cities. Women generally did not enjoy a social status equal to men.
The law requires that women ages 18 to 27 participate in national
service (see Section 6.c.). During the year the Government continued
efforts to detain female draft evaders and deserters. According to
reports, some women drafted for national service were subject to sexual
harassment and abuse.
Children.--Although the Government was generally committed to
children's rights and welfare, its programs were limited by resource
constraints. The Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare is responsible for
policies concerning children rights and welfare. The Children's Affairs
Division in the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare covered childcare,
counseling, and probation.
Education through grade seven is compulsory and tuition-free;
however, students were responsible for uniforms, supplies, and
transportation, which was prohibitively expensive for many families.
Education above grade seven requires a nominal fee and is not
compulsory. There was a shortage of schools and teachers at all levels,
remedied in part by holding morning and afternoon shifts at schools.
According to Ministry of Education estimates, the net enrollment rate
of school-age children in the 2003 4 school year was approximately 43
percent. In 2003 the gross elementary (grades one to five) enrollment
rate was 71.7 percent For the 2003-4 school year, the Ministry of
Education reported that 374,997 students were enrolled in elementary
school and 122,966 students were enrolled in middle school. For middle
school (grades six and seven), the gross enrollment rate was 44.87
percent. As of 2001, 86 percent of children who started primary school
were likely to reach grade five. Approximately 75 percent of the
population was illiterate. In rural areas young girls usually left
school early to work at home.
The Government required that all students attend their final year
of secondary school at a location adjacent to the Sawa military
training facility in the western section of the country. Students who
did not attend this final year did not graduate and could not sit for
examinations to be eligible for advanced education. The remote location
of this boarding school, security concerns, and societal attitudes
resulted in few female students enrolling for their final year;
however, women could earn an alternative secondary school certificate
by attending night school after completing national service. Many
students elected to repeat grades to avoid completing the 11th grade
and being forced to go to Sawa. There were unconfirmed reports that the
military conducted a roundup of these students in Keren in the spring.
The Government operated Mai Nafhi Technical Institute, where
students who scored well on university exams were admitted, on the
outskirts of Asmara. Mai Nafhi offered a wide variety of classes,
ranging from the sciences to business and technology. No new students
were accepted at the University of Asmara in the last three years (see
Section 2.a.).
Although the Government did not provide medical care for children,
it operated an extensive vaccination program.
There are no laws against child abuse, but child abuse was not
common.
FGM was performed on an estimated 89 percent of young girls (see
Section 5, Women).
The minimum age for marriage for both men and women is 18, although
religious entities may bless marriages at younger ages. UNICEF reported
that in the west and in costal areas child marriage occurred. According
to a 2002 Demographic and Health Survey, 28.2 percent of the female
population between 15 and 19 were married, and 1.5 percent of the male
population between 15 and 19 were married. Within the Tigrinya and
Tigre ethnic groups, underage marriage was relatively rare.
The law criminalizes child prostitution, pornography, and sexual
exploitation; however, some children were involved in prostitution.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law and unimplemented constitution
prohibit trafficking in persons, and there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law and unimplemented constitution
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, or in the provision of other state services, and
there were no reports of discrimination in practice. The Government
dedicated substantial resources to support and train the thousands of
men and women with physical disabilities that resulted from the war for
independence and the conflict with Ethiopia. There are no laws
mandating access for persons with disabilities to public thoroughfares
or public or private buildings, but many newly constructed buildings
provided such access.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of
government and societal discrimination against the Kunama, one of nine
ethnic groups residing primarily in the west.
Societal abuse of Ethiopians occurred, but there were fewer reports
of such abuse than in the previous year.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is
illegal, and homosexuals faced severe societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
legal right to form unions to protect their interests; however, some
government policies restricted free association or prevented the
formation of unions, including within the civil service, military,
police, and other essential services. The Ministry of Labor and Human
Welfare must grant special approval for groups of 20 or more persons
seeking to form a union. There were no reports that the Government
opposed the formation of labor associations during the year; however,
the Government did not approve the formation of any unions. All unions,
including the Teacher's Union, Women's Union, Youth's Union, and
Worker's Union, were run by the Government. Membership in these unions
was required, and since most businesses were also government-owned,
these unions did not experience antiunion discrimination. The
Government did not encourage the formation of independent unions by
employees of private businesses. Union leaders were typically
government employees, and union activities were generally government
sanctioned.
The three union leaders arrested without charge in March 2005 were
reportedly in a secret detention center controlled by security forces
at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however,
employees of the military, police, and other members of the essential
services do not participate in union activity. The Government
determines the wage scale for government employees in a nontransparent
manner. In the small private sector, the wages are set independently.
The law allows strikes; however, workers did not exercise this
right in practice. In January the Government officially declared the
establishment of free zones to attract foreign and local investors.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
unconfirmed reports that it occurred during the year. The Government
required all men between the ages of 18 and 45 and women between the
ages of 18 and 27 to participate in the national service program, which
included military training and civilian work programs. Some citizens
reported enlistment in the national service for many years with no
prospective end date. The Government justifies its open-ended draft on
the basis of the unresolved border dispute with Ethiopia. In addition,
some national service members were assigned to return to their civilian
jobs while nominally kept in the military because their skills were
deemed critical to the functioning of the Government or the economy.
These individuals continued to receive only their national service
salary. The Government required them to forfeit to the Government any
money they earned above and beyond that salary. Government employees
generally were unable to leave their jobs or take new employment. Draft
evaders often were used as laborers on government development projects.
Forced child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the Government has a national plan of action to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace, it was not enforced
effectively, and child labor occurred. The legal minimum age for
employment is 18 years, although apprentices may be hired at age 14.
The law prohibits children, young workers, and apprentices under age 18
from performing certain dangerous or unhealthy labor, including working
in transport industries, working in jobs involving toxic chemicals or
dangerous machines, and working underground, such as in mines and
sewers. It was common for rural children who did not attend school to
work on family farms, fetching firewood and water and herding
livestock, among other activities. In urban areas, some children worked
as street vendors of cigarettes, newspapers, or chewing gum.
Labor inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare are
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but inspections were
infrequent.
Some of the major programs implemented to prevent child labor
include government preschool services in rural and urban areas and
academic and vocational training.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage in the civil
service sector of $24 (360 nakfa) per month did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Most people in national
service and the service industry made less than the minimum wage. The
Government did not enforce the minimum wage law. There is no legally
mandated minimum wage in the private sector.
The standard workweek is 44.5 hours, but many persons worked fewer
hours. Workers are entitled to one rest day per week; most workers were
allowed 1 to 1.5 days off per week. There are no prohibitions against
excessive overtime. The Government has instituted occupational health
and safety standards, but inspection and enforcement varied widely
among factories. In practice some workers were permitted to remove
themselves from dangerous work sites without retaliation.
__________
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia is a federal republic under the leadership of Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi and the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. The country's population was
approximately 77 million. In the May 2005 parliamentary elections, the
EPRDF won a third consecutive five-year term. Domestic and
international observers reported that polling throughout the country
was generally credible, although irregularities and intimidation of
voters and election observers marred polling in many areas. Political
parties predominantly were ethnically based, but opposition parties
engaged in a steady process of consolidation. While civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were instances in which elements within those forces
acted independently of government authority.
Human rights abuses reported during the year included: limitation
on citizens' right to change their government during the most recent
elections; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse, and mistreatment of
detainees and opposition supporters by security forces; poor prison
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly those
suspected of sympathizing with or being members of the opposition;
detention of thousands without charge and lengthy pretrial detention;
infringement on citizens' privacy rights and frequent refusal to follow
the law regarding search warrants; restrictions on freedom of the
press; arrest, detention, and harassment of journalists for publishing
articles critical of the Government; restrictions on freedom of
assembly; limitations on freedom of association; violence and societal
discrimination against women and abuse of children; female genital
mutilation (FGM); exploitation of children for economic and sexual
purposes; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against
persons with disabilities and religious and ethnic minorities; and
government interference in union activities.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports of political killings; however,
federal and local police forces committed unlawful killings during the
year.
On January 23, federal police shot and killed 15 demonstrators and
injured 19 others in the East Wallega zone, Guduru District. The
shootings occurred during a demonstration by residents against local
government forces. No investigation was conducted into the incident.
On February 6, off-duty federal police officer Alemu Dariba, along
with other unidentified persons, killed four youths in Gondar. Dariba
allegedly approached 17-year-old Berket Fantahu; 18-year-old Abebe
Wondem-Agegn; 18-year-old Sentayhu Worknehand; and 19-year-old Dawit
Tesfaye and ordered them to raise their hands. He then marched them to
a stream 30 yards away, forced them to the ground, and shot each of
them in the head. Dariba was arrested shortly after the incident and
remained in custody without charge at year's end.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) reported that on May 27,
in a violent conflict between local store owners in Nazret, Oromiya
Region, police shot and killed Alemu Tesfaye, Tariku Yakiso, and Mensur
Musema. Police had attempted to evict the store owners, and the owners
and their employees responded by throwing rocks at the police. No
investigation was conducted into the incident.
During the year reports were received of the August 2005 killing of
Elias Molago, of Gibe District, by army troops. After Molago was
killed, his body was publicly displayed in the town of Hosana, the
district capital. Molago, an election observer in the 2000
parliamentary elections, had disputed the official results that gave
the ruling party victory in the area. No investigation was conducted
into Molago's killing.
There were no developments in the early 2005 political killings of
opposition All-Ethiopia Unity Party/Coalition for Unity and Democracy
(AEUP/CUD) party members Anley Adis, Eyilegne Wendimneh, Tilahun
Kerebe, and Alamir Aemero. At the end of 2005 police had arrested two
suspects in the killing of Tilahun Kerebe, but no further information
was available.
There were no developments in the 2005 political killings by
police, militia, and kebele (local administration) officials of 24
Oromo National Congress (ONC) members, including Ahmed Adem and
parliamentarian-elect Tesfaye Adane. At year's end, three police
officers suspected of involvement in Adane's killing were detained at
Zway prison as their case remained under investigation.
There were no further developments in the 2005 political killing of
CUD coordinator Hassan Endris in Amhara Region or the May killing of
Sheikh Osman Haji Abdella in Oromo Region. Both killings were committed
by kebele officials.
There were no developments in the August 2005 political killing of
Bezela Lombiso and the rape of his wife by army troops. Bezela had been
accused of killing a policeman during the 2000 national and regional
elections.
There were no developments in the September 2005 killing of CUD
member Asefa Getahun, the October 2005 political killing of Girma Biru,
or the extrajudicial killings of Mosse Wasse and Tila Tsega.
There were no significant developments in the following cases of
persons killed by security forces in 2004: the killing of Kebede Uzo in
the Somali region, the killing of ninth-grade student Alemu Tesfaye in
Oromiya region; the killing of high school student Amelework Buli of
Oromiya region; the killings of various AEUP supporters; the killing of
10 persons in Gode town; the killing of Geletaw Mamo of Amhara region
and Efrem Alemayehu of Addis Ababa.
There were no new developments reported in the following 2005
police killings of demonstrators: the June killings of 42 unarmed
demonstrators in Addis Ababa; the November killings of 46 rioters; the
killings of student Shibre Desalegn, 16-year-old student Nebiy
Alemayehu, Zulufa Surur (a mother of seven children), or 16-year-old
brothers Fekadu Negash and Abraham Yilma. Seven police officers were
also killed during the November riots, and no individuals were charged
in these cases.
In late October the commission of inquiry established by the
Government to investigate the alleged use of excessive force by
security forces in violent 2005 antigovernment demonstrations released
its report. The commission found that 193 civilians--nearly four times
the number originally reported by the Government--and 6 members of the
security forces were killed, while 763 civilians and 71 members of the
security forces were injured, many seriously.
The commission also found that security forces did not use
excessive force, given demonstration violence; however, prior to the
release of the report, the chairman and deputy chairman of the
commission fled the country, allegedly in response to threats made
against them by government forces. After fleeing, both stated publicly
and showed video evidence that at an official meeting in June, the
commission had originally decided, by a vote of eight to two, that
excessive force was used and that the total number of killed and
injured was the same as eventually reported. Following this vote,
government officials allegedly urged commission members to change their
votes to indicate that excessive force was not used.
At year's end the criminal trial of government soldiers who were
charged with the killing, rape, and torture of hundreds of Anuaks
during the December 2003 to May 2004 violence in the Gambella region
remained ongoing. In 2004 an independent inquiry commission was
established to investigate this case. As a result of the commission's
findings, six members of the army were arrested and placed on trial for
their involvement in the killings.
At year's end there were approximately two million landmines in the
country, many dating from the 1998 2000 war with Eritrea. During the
year landmines killed five and injured 20 civilians in districts
bordering Eritrea. The Government demining unit continued to make
limited progress in its survey and demining of border areas. United
Nations Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia (UNMEE) officials reported that
new landmines were planted on both sides of the border with Eritrea
during the year. The Government and UNMEE engaged in demining
activities in selected areas along the border and disseminated
information on the whereabouts of suspected mined areas to local
residents.
Armed elements of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden
National Liberation Front (ONLF) continued to operate within the
country. Clashes with government forces on numerous occasions resulted
in the death of an unknown number of civilians, government security
forces, and OLF and ONLF troops and members.
On April 15, a blast in the central market place in the town of
Gedo, Oromiya region killed 15 persons and injured 37 others. The
Government accused dissident Oromo groups of involvement, but all
denied responsibility. A number of individuals, including alleged ONC
supporters, were arrested in connection with the bombing, although at
year's end there were no reports of legal proceedings.
During the year several bomb explosions were reported in Addis
Ababa and other parts of the country. On May 12, four persons were
killed and 42 were injured in nine separate bombings in Addis Ababa.
Security forces blamed the OLF and accused it of operating in
cooperation with the Eritrean government; the OLF denied
responsibility. There were no arrests in this case.
In late May, 42 persons were injured in three simultaneous bomb
blasts at a hotel and two restaurants in Jijiga, Somali region.
Violent clashes between different ethnic clans during the year
resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries and displaced tens of
thousands (see Section 5).
On June 11, a group of armed men attacked a bus en route from Addis
Ababa to Gambella, near the town of Bonga, Gambella region. At least 14
persons were killed and several others injured. Reports indicated that
the assailants may have been ethnic Anuak dissidents. Several people
were arrested in connection with this event and charged with murder. At
year's end their case was ongoing.
On September 3, a hand grenade was thrown into the Wendimamchoch
Hotel in the town of Jijiga, killing the owner and injuring seven
others. The Government had not identified suspects or made any arrests
by year's end.
On September 15, an explosion in Addis Ababa killed three persons.
The Government reported that those killed were OLF members attempting
to construct a bomb, using materials supplied by Eritrea. However, many
believed that government security forces may have been involved in the
bombing.
A series of clashes between Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox
Christians during the year resulted in numerous deaths and injuries
(see Section 2.c.).
There were no further developments in the 2005 hand grenade attacks
on four hotels and a residence in Jijiga, which resulted in five deaths
and 31 injuries.
No further information was available on the trials of suspects
arrested in connection with the 2004 hand grenade attack on a
television room at Addis Ababa University.
There were no developments in the 2004 hand grenade attack on a
Tigrayan-owned shop in Debre Zeit, Oromiya region. Police blamed the
OLF for the attack.
The federal high court in Addis Ababa continued to arraign and
prosecute those formally charged with committing genocide and other war
crimes, including extrajudicial killings, under the 1975 91 Derg regime
(see Section 1.e.).
b. Disappearance.--The politically motivated disappearances of tens
of thousands of civilian protestors following the November 2005
political demonstrations persisted into the current reporting period.
The independent commission of inquiry into the alleged use of force by
security forces in June and November 2005 found that security officials
held over 30,000 civilians incommunicado for up to three months in
detention centers located in remote areas following the November 2005
demonstrations. Other estimates placed the number of such detainees at
over 50,000. By year's end, all but a few hundred of these prisoners
were released and those who remained in custody currently were facing
trial.
In January EHRCO reported the December 2005 disappearances of six
persons. On December 2, security forces abducted Lt. Abebe Alemu of
Lafto Subcity, Addis Ababa; Heletework Zewdu of Akaki Subcity, Addis
Ababa; and Wondimagegene Gedefaw of Kolfe Subcity, Addis Ababa. On
December 21 and 22, security forces abducted Tadesse Zelelam, Ayana
Chindessa, and Legesse Tolera at Nekemt High School in Nekemt, Oromiya
region.
There were no developments in the June 2005 abduction by security
forces of Addis Ababa residents Ashenafi Berhanu, Tsegaye Neguse,
Daniel Worku, Adem Hussien, Jelalu Temam, Girum Seifu, Mekonnen Seifu,
Endeshaw Terefe, Daniel Abera, Tesfaye Bacha, Tesfaye Jemena, Bonsa
Beyene, Getu Begi, Solomon Bekele, Amanuel Asrat, Mesfin Mergia, or
Dawit Demerew. The whereabouts of these individuals remained unknown.
There were no new developments in the May detention of Jigsa
Soressa, a guard at the Mecha and Tulema Association (MTA), an Oromo
nongovernmental organization (NGO), who reportedly continued to be
detained at Addis Ababa prison.
In June 2005 three Ethiopian air force personnel landed a military
helicopter at Ambouli, Djibouti; two of them reportedly requested
asylum, but an Ethiopian military delegation reportedly convinced them
to return to Ethiopia the next day. Amnesty International (AI) and the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) attempted to visit them in
Djibouti but were refused. At year's end, family members told local
press that the pilots were detained at an air force base and were
restricted from seeing visitors.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit the use of
torture and mistreatment, there were numerous credible reports that
security officials often beat or mistreated detainees. Opposition
political parties reported frequent and systematic abuse of their
supporters by police and regional militias.
On February 28, the opposition ONC reported that security forces
beat and intimidated regional parliamentarian Wegayehu Dejene of Me-ea
District, Oromiya region following a regional council meeting. At
year's end no one had been charged.
The EHRCO reported that on July 30, security forces detained and
beat one Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and five ONC regional
parliamentarians after their attendance in a court case involving Mecha
and Tulema Association members. At year's end no one had been charged.
The ONC reported that on January 23, several armed soldiers raped
seven female residents of Guduru District, Oromiya region. The victims
ranged in age from 18 to 37. At year's end there were no arrests.
There were no developments in the May 2005 of beating and
subsequent suicide death of Abdeta Dita Entele, a member of the
opposition coalition Oromo National Congress/United Ethiopian
Democratic Forces of Siraro District in the Oromo region.
There were no developments in the October 2005 reported attack on
Daniel Bekele, a policy advocate for the NGO ActionAid Ethiopia and a
member of the executive committee of the Network of Ethiopian
Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations, which
monitored the May 2005 elections. At year's end Bekele remained in
police detention on trial for treason and genocide.
Authorities took no action against police responsible for the 2004
beatings of students, teachers, and parents at Oromiya region high
schools and universities or against militia responsible for 2004
attacks on its members reported by the opposition All-Ethiopia Unity
Party.
Security forces beat persons during demonstrations (see Section
2.b.).
There were no developments in the 2005 report of two former senior
government officials--former national and public security minister
Tesfaye Woldeselase and Leggesse Belayneh, former head of criminal
investigations--who were given death sentences by the federal high
court for torturing political opponents during the former Mengistu
regime. At year's end, the death sentences had not been carried out.
During the year ethnic clashes resulted in hundreds of injuries and
deaths (see Section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and pretrial
detention center conditions remained very poor, and overcrowding
continued to be a serious problem. Prisoners often were allocated fewer
than 21.5 square feet of sleeping space each in a room that could
contain up to 200 persons. The daily meal budget was approximately
$0.35 (3 birr) per prisoner, and many prisoners had family members
deliver food daily or used personal funds to purchase food from local
vendors. Prison conditions were unsanitary, and access to medical care
was unreliable. There was no budget for prison maintenance.
In detention centers police often physically abused detainees.
Authorities generally permitted visitors but sometimes denied them
access to detainees. For example, the detained leaders of the CUD party
had their visitation rights limited to immediate family members for a
portion of the year.
While statistics were unavailable, there were some deaths in prison
due to illness and poor health care. Prison officials were not
forthcoming with reports of such deaths. The commission of inquiry into
the 2005 post-election violence found at least 17 arrested protestors
died in detention.
Authorities sometimes incarcerated juveniles with adults if they
could not be accommodated at the juvenile remand home. There was only
one juvenile remand home for children under age 15, with the capacity
to hold 150 children.
Human rights organizations reported that in 2005 the Government had
transported 10,000 to 18,000 individuals (mostly youths ages 18 to 23
detained during the November 2005 mass house-to-house searches in Addis
Ababa) to Dedessa, a military camp formerly used by the Derg regime
located 375 kilometers west of the capital. During the year most of the
prisoners were released, although a few hundred remained in custody,
facing charges for alleged crimes related to the November 2005
searches.
In July a new 90 bed facility for women was inaugurated at Kaliti.
The separate building on the compound was constructed by Justice for
All--Prison Fellowship, with funding from foreign governments. The
facility improved sanitary conditions, provided greater privacy to
female inmates, and was expected to help reduce overcrowding. The
construction of a new prison for men near Kaliti was underway at year's
end.
During the year the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
visited regional prisons, civilian detention facilities, and police
stations throughout the country and conducted hundreds of visits
involving thousands of detainees. However, they were restricted from
visiting federal prisons, including those where senior opposition,
civil society, and media leaders were being held. The Prison Fellowship
Ethiopia, a local NGO, was granted access to various prison and
detention facilities, including federal prisons. The Government also
periodically granted diplomatic missions access to regional prisons and
prison officials, subject to advanced notification. Authorities allowed
the ICRC to meet regularly with prisoners without third parties being
present. The ICRC received permission to visit military detention
facilities where the Government detained suspected OLF fighters. The
ICRC also continued to visit civilian Eritrean nationals and local
citizens of Eritrean origin detained on alleged national security
grounds.
Government authorities continued to permit diplomats to visit
prominent detainees held by the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) for
alleged involvement in war crimes and terrorist activities. However,
the Government limited access of representatives of the international
community access to leaders of the CUD opposition party, members of
civil society groups, and journalists detained in November 2005 for
alleged involvement in antigovernment demonstrations in Addis Ababa,
who remained in federal police custody at Addis Ababa's Kaliti prison
at year's end. The Government also permitted Prison Fellowship
Association and local religious leaders to visit these detainees.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the constitution and
law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, the Government frequently
did not observe these provisions in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Federal Police
Commission reports to the Ministry of Federal Affairs, which in turn is
subordinate to the parliament. Local government militias also operated
as local security forces largely independent of the police and the
military. Petty corruption remained a problem in the police force,
particularly among traffic policemen who solicited bribes from
motorists. Impunity also remained a serious problem. The Government
rarely publicly disclosed the results of investigations into such types
of abuses. The federal police acknowledged that many members of its
police force as well as regional police lacked professionalism.
The Government continued its efforts to train police and army
recruits in human rights. During the year the Government continued to
seek assistance from the ICRC, Prison Fellowship Association and the
EHRCO to improve and professionalize its human rights training and
curriculum to include more material on the constitution and
international human rights treaties and conventions.
In November the commission investigating the alleged use of
excessive force by security forces in violent antigovernment
demonstrations of June and November 2005 delivered its report (see
Section 1.a.).
Arrest and Detention.--Authorities regularly detained persons
without warrants and denied access to counsel and family members,
particularly in outlying regions. Although the law requires detainees
to be informed of the charges against them within 48 hours, this
generally was not respected in practice. While there was a functioning
bail system, it was not available for some offenses, including murder,
treason, and corruption. In most cases authorities set bail between
$115 and $1,150 (1,000 to 10,000 birr), which was too costly for most
citizens. In addition police officials did not always respect court
orders to release suspects on bail. With court approval, persons
suspected of serious offenses can be detained for 14 days while police
conduct an investigation, and for additional 14-day periods while the
investigation continues. The law prohibits detention in any facilities
other than an official detention center; however, there were dozens of
crude, unofficial local detention centers used by local government
militia.
The Government provided public defenders for detainees unable to
afford private legal counsel, but only when their cases went to court.
While in pretrial detention, authorities allowed such detainees little
or no contact with legal counsel.
There were many reports from opposition party members that in small
towns authorities detained persons in police stations for long periods
without access to a judge, and that sometimes these persons'
whereabouts were unknown for several months. Opposition parties
registered many complaints during the year that government militias
beat and detained their supporters without charge for participating in
opposition political rallies (see Section 1.c.).
The Government continued its harassment of teachers, particularly
in Oromiya region. The independent Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA)
reported that authorities detained numerous teachers and accused them
of being OLF sympathizers, many of whom remained in prison at year's
end. For example, in December prominent union members Tilahun Ayalew,
Anteneh Getnet and Meqcha Mengistu were taken into police custody. Some
of the teachers had been in detention for several years without
charges. Human rights observers suspected several of the prolonged
detentions were politically motivated.
Police continued to enter private residences and arrest individuals
without warrants (see Section 1.f.).
Police detained journalists during the year (see Section 2.a.).
On May 27, following clashes between local police and store owners,
180 persons were detained by security forces in the town of Nazret,
Oromiya region, and charged with inciting uprising and destruction of
property (see Section 1.a.). At year's end most of those arrested had
charges dismissed and were released; however, there was no information
available on those still detained.
On August 30, security forces rounded up 250 persons in the town of
Tikur Inchini, Oromiya region, following an uprising by local ONC
activists. At year's end 81 persons remained in prison facing charges
of treason.
Authorities took no action against Amhara region government
militia, district officials, and police who arbitrarily detained AEUP
members in 2004. ONC member Olbana Lelisa, who was arbitrarily detained
in 2004, was released in 2005.
Due to the fact that demonstrations were banned in November 2005,
there were no reports that police detained persons for holding meetings
and demonstrations. Opposition groups alleged that some of the persons
detained by the SPO were held for political reasons, an allegation that
the Government denied (see Section 1.e.).
In January international media reported that more than 11,000
persons detained in November 2005 following large-scale antigovernment
demonstrations had been released. However, the commission of inquiry
into post-election political violence found that over 30,000
individuals had been detained, while other reports placed the number at
over 50,000. More than 2,200 of the prisoners were released without
charge. An additional 734 persons detained during violence in Addis
Ababa were released on January 6. More than 650 prisoners related to
the protests were still being held at the Ziway detention camp in
January, and the exact number of persons who remained in custody at
year's end was not known.
In early February AI alleged that the Government was still holding
thousands of students under arrest in Oromiya region. The Government
denied the accusation, and claimed that only 86 students were under
arrest for offenses including violence, property destruction, and
``disrupting the teaching and learning process.''
Alemayu Fantu, a prominent retailer, was arrested in October for
allegedly being in possession of CUD civil disobedience calendars. He
was released on bail after several weeks.
At year's end scores of CUD leaders, several members of NGOs active
in civic education, and independent journalists detained in November
2005 remained in detention (see Section 1.e.).
All of the OFDM members detained following the May 2005
parliamentary elections had been released by the end of the year.
In response to attacks by armed opposition groups operating out of
Somalia and Kenya, the military continued to conduct operations, which
included occasional arbitrary detentions, in the Southern, Somali, and
Oromiya regions.
Authorities took no action against Amhara region government
militia, district officials, and police who arbitrarily detained AEUP
and ONC members in 2004. Authorities also took no action against police
who in 2004 detained hundreds of Oromo students and teachers for
several weeks in detention centers on suspicion of being supporters of
the OLF.
Thousands of criminal suspects reportedly remained in pretrial
detention, some for years. Some of the detainees were teachers and
students from the Oromiya region accused of involvement in OLF
activities or arrested after student unrest broke out in Oromiya in
2004.
The Government continued to detain several persons without charge
at the Gondar prison, some of whom had been in custody for years, while
the police investigated their cases.
Amnesty.--On September 10, the Government granted its first amnesty
in 30 years. This decision by the federal and regional pardon boards
secured the release of nearly 10,000 prisoners, which represented
approximately 15 percent of the total prison population. In total 237
prisoners were freed from federal prisons, and 26 others, including 11
death row inmates, were given reduced sentences. The remaining were
released from regional prisons: 3,995 from Amhara; 2,435 from Oromo;
1,100 from Tigray; 2,400 (approximately) from the Southern National and
Nationalities Region; and 43 from Gambella. Convicted rapists and those
jailed for corruption were not included in the amnesty.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--While the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judiciary remained weak and overburdened.
The judiciary was perceived to be subject to significant political
intervention.
The Government continued to decentralize and restructure the
judiciary along federal lines with the establishment of courts at the
district, zonal, and regional levels. The federal high court and the
federal Supreme Court heard and adjudicated original and appeal cases
involving federal law, transregional issues, and national security. The
regional judiciary was increasingly autonomous and often heard regional
cases.
Regional offices of the federal Ministry of Justice monitored local
judicial developments. Some regional courts had jurisdiction over both
local and federal matters, as the federal courts in those jurisdictions
had not begun operation; overall, the federal judicial presence in the
regions was limited. Anecdotal evidence suggested that some local
officials believed they were not accountable to a higher authority.
Pending the passage of regional legislation, federal procedural and
substantive codes guide all judges.
To remedy the severe lack of experienced staff in the judicial
system, the Government continued to identify and train lower court
judges and prosecutors, although officials acknowledged that salaries
did not attract the desired number of competent professionals.
Trial Procedures.--According to the law, accused persons have the
right to a fair public trial by a court of law within a ``reasonable
time,'' the right to a presumption of innocence, the right to be
represented by legal counsel of their choice, and the right to appeal.
Despite these protections, closed proceedings occurred, at times
authorities allowed detainees little or no contact with their legal
counsel (see Section 1.d.), and detainees usually were not presumed
innocent. The Public Defender's Office provides legal counsel to
indigent defendants, although its scope remained severely limited,
particularly with respect to SPO trials. Although the law explicitly
stipulates that persons charged with corruption are to be shown the
body of evidence against them prior to their trials, authorities
routinely denied defense counsel access to such evidence before trial.
The law provides legal standing to some pre-existing religious and
customary courts and allows federal and regional legislatures to
recognize other courts. By law, all parties to a dispute must agree
that a customary or religious court will be used before it may hear a
case. Shari'a (Islamic) courts may hear religious and family cases
involving Muslims. In addition, other traditional systems of justice,
such as councils of elders, continued to function. Although not
sanctioned by law, these traditional courts resolved disputes for the
majority of citizens who lived in rural areas and generally had little
access to formal judicial systems.
The federal first instance court's seventh criminal branch handled
cases of sexual abuse against women and children.
Three federal judges sat on one bench to hear all cases involving
juvenile offenses. There was a large backlog of juvenile cases, and
accused children often remained in detention with adults until
officials heard their cases.
The military justice system lacked adequately trained staff to
handle a growing caseload. Foreign assistance to train military justice
officials resumed during the year.
On December 12, following a 12-year trial, 57 top officials from
the former Derg regime, including former communist dictator Colonel
Mengistu Hailemariam, were found guilty of genocide, treason and murder
for crimes committed during their 17 years of rule. Twenty-seven of
those convicted, including Colonel Mengistu, were tried in absentia, as
they had fled the country. Their sentencing was pending at year's end.
By the end of the reporting period, courts had convicted 1,018 persons
involved with the Derg regime of crimes related to their role in
atrocities, while 5,000 to 6,000 others remained on trial in other
cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The total number of political
prisoners and detainees during the year was estimated to be in the
hundreds.
The CUD leadership, civil society members, human rights defenders,
and journalists arrested following the demonstrations in November 2005
remained on trial at year's end, facing charges of treason, attempted
genocide, and ``outrages against the constitution,'' among other
serious charges carrying potential punishments of life in prison or
death. Those on trial included Addis Ababa mayor-elect Berhanu Nega,
former UN Rwanda Tribunal prosecutor Yacob Hailemariam, human rights
activist Mesfin Woldemariam, ActionAid representative Daniel Bekele,
Netsanet Demissie, and federal parliamentarian Kifle Tigneh, among
other prominent individuals. Nearly 200 defendants, ranging in age from
18 to 76, were being prosecuted in four separate cases in Addis Ababa.
Five Voice of America (VOA) journalists were among those initially
charged, although their cases were dropped following international
pressure.
The 200 political prisoners on trial in the Addis Ababa federal
system were held in two separate prisons, Kaliti and Kerchele, often
under harsh conditions. In March CUD Secretary General Muluheh Eyoel
was placed in solitary confinement at Kerchele prison. In August fellow
CUD member Andualem Arage, along with journalists Sisay Agena and
Eskinder Nega, were placed in solitary confinement.
During their incarceration, several political prisoners experienced
serious health problems. Some were taken to a special prison hospital,
where they were treated and returned to detention facilities, while
others complained of not having received any treatment. During the year
pregnant journalist Serkalem Fassil prematurely gave birth while in
detention at Kaliti. She was refused permission to remain in the
hospital to nurse. The baby's father, fellow journalist Eskinder Nega,
was kept in solitary confinement and was not allowed to see his child.
Family members reported that the political prisoners were denied
proper light, mattresses and, adequate bathroom facilities. Several
defendants and families complained of having their visitation rights
restricted on a number of occasions during the year. The visitation
rules for political prisoners were more restrictive than the rules for
other prisoners held in the same facilities. The ICRC was not permitted
regular access to political prisoners (see Section 1.d).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides citizens
the right to appeal human rights violations in civil court; however, no
such cases were filed during the year. Additionally, the Human Rights
Commission, an office established by parliament to record human rights
violations, was intended to act as a clearinghouse for human rights
complaints from individual citizens. The commission had not yet
established this capacity by year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law requires authorities to obtain judicial search
warrants to search private property; however, in practice, particularly
outside Addis Ababa, police often searched property without obtaining
warrants (see Section 1.d.). Opposition party representatives claimed
that police sometimes used fraudulent warrants to enter homes and
commit criminal acts, including extorting money. There were reports
that members of the federal police robbed persons during the year,
including through the use of false warrants.
There continued to be reports of police forcibly entering civilian
homes. During and following antigovernment demonstrations in June and
November 2005, security forces entered homes and searched premises
without warrants, took thousands of persons from their homes in the
middle of the night without warrants, and often detained family members
or other residents.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports from oppositon
party members that authorities burned down their homes and looted their
offices.
All electronic communications facilities were state-owned.
Political party leaders reported incidents of phone-tapping and other
electronic eavesdropping.
The Government used a widespread system of paid informants to
report on the activities of particular individuals.
There were reports during the year of the forced displacement of
families in rural areas. The Government stated that its resettlement
program, which moved families from drought-prone areas to more fertile
lands, was entirely voluntary, but opposition parties accused local
authorities in some rural areas of targeting opposition supporters for
resettlement by manipulating resettlement rosters. Media reports
indicated that in several instances, the Government resettled persons
in areas with no existing infrastructure or clean water supply,
resulting in unusually high rates of infant mortality.
During the year there continued to be credible reports from EHRCO
and opposition parties that in certain rural areas in the Oromiya
region; Amhara region; and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and
Peoples region; local officials used threats of land redistribution and
withholding of food aid and fertilizer to garner support for the ruling
coalition. There were many reports of ruling party or government
harassment intended to prevent individuals from joining opposition
parties or from renting property to them. There were numerous reports
of more serious forms of harassment and violence directed against
members of opposition parties in many areas of the country, including
beatings, house burnings, and killings (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., 3, and
5).
There also were credible reports that teachers and other government
workers had their employment terminated if they belonged to opposition
political parties. According to the opposition Southern Ethiopian
Peoples' Democratic Coalition (SEPDC), the regional government
continued to dismiss SEPDC members--particularly teachers--from their
jobs.
The law imposes a six-month waiting period on anyone seeking to
remarry following a divorce or the death of one's spouse (see Section
5). The Government maintained that this waiting period was necessary to
determine whether a woman may still be carrying the child of her former
spouse. In practice this was not enforced, although the official
overseeing such weddings may request a pregnancy test to show the woman
was not pregnant from a previous marriage. Any interested party may
request a written official explanation of why a wedding was allowed to
occur within the waiting period.
Security forces continued to detain family members of persons
sought for questioning by the Government.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--While the constitution and law
provide for freedom of speech and press, the Government restricted
these rights in practice. The Government continued to harass and
prosecute journalists, publishers, and editors for publishing allegedly
fabricated information and for other violations of the press law. The
Government continued to control all broadcast media. Private and
government journalists routinely practiced self-censorship.
Government-controlled media reflected mostly the views of the
Government and the ruling EPRDF coalition. However, live radio and
television broadcasts at times included televised parliamentary debate
and broadcast the views of opposition parliamentarians, as did
government newspapers. Relations between the private press and the
Government were not as strained as in the period immediately following
the elections and the disturbances of June and November 2005, but the
majority of private media existing in 2005 was effectively silenced by
the closures of several publications and self-censorship following
arrests and indictments of journalists.
Government actions against the private press that began during the
May 2005 elections effectively silenced most private newspapers. Local
journalists complained of constant government harassment as well as
more subtle forms of censorship, including pressure on printers not to
print the newspapers. As a result, the number of private newspapers
available in Addis Ababa decreased dramatically from the period prior
to the election to the end of the year. Eight newspapers were banned
after their publishers and editors-in-chief were arrested. Six others
newspapers ceased publication directly as a result of the Government's
crackdown or the government-owned printing presses refusal to print the
papers. The closed papers had a combined total weekly circulation of
approximately 400,000. Following the crackdown, only approximately
40,000 copies of the six remaining private Amharic language political
papers were in circulation.
Foreign journalists at times published articles critical of the
Government but were subjected to government pressure to self-censor
their coverage. During the year some reporters were expelled from the
country for publishing articles critical of the Government.
On January 21, Associated Press correspondent Anthony Mitchell was
given 24 hours to leave the country a day after reporting on renewed
clashes between police and protesters in Addis Ababa. The state-owned
Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said the Government had decided to expel
Mitchell for ``tarnishing the image of the nation repeatedly,
contravening journalism ethics,'' and ``disseminating information far
from the truth about Ethiopia.'' Mitchell, a foreign citizen who also
worked for the UN news agency IRIN had worked in the country for more
than five years.
On February 21, foreign journalist Inigo Gilmore was denied press
accreditation by the Ministry of Information. In December 2005 Gilmore
had published an article in the British newspaper The Observer
headlined ``Ethiopian leader accused over human rights,'' which
included accounts of alleged human rights abuses in the wake of
election protests.
On June 23, the Ministry of Information suspended publication of
the English-language weekly The Sub-Saharan Informer on the pretext
that the paper had not informed the Ministry of Information of its
change of office address, which it had done twice in writing. The paper
was granted permission to resume publication on August 18.
On February 10, the Government issued the first broadcasting
licenses allowing two private radio stations to operate in the country.
By year's end neither of the two stations was operational. The
Ethiopian Broadcasting Agency (EBA) said it had selected the two
stations, Zami Public Connections and Tensae Fine Arts, from among 12
contenders on the basis of their financial status and proposed program
content.
In August the Southern Regional State announced plans to begin
radio broadcasts by launching six FM stations. Also in August, EBA
issued a license for a community radio station, the Kori Community
Radio, in the Southern Regional State.
On August 25, EBA issued a commercial license to the ruling EPRDF
party-affiliated Radio Fana. Radio Ethiopia sold broadcasting time to
private groups and individuals who wanted to air programs and
commercials.
The Addis Ababa City Administration Mass Media Agency continued its
five-hour Amharic FM broadcast as well as a three-hour local television
program broadcast twice daily from the capital city.
The Government operated the sole television station and tightly
controlled news broadcasts. The broadcasting law prohibits political
and religious organizations from owning broadcast stations. The law
also prohibits foreign ownership.
There were restrictions on access to international news broadcasts
during the year. VOA broadcast signals were subject to intentional
jamming. The Government permitted ownership of private satellite
receiving dishes; however, high costs and the limited capacity of the
sole telecommunications entity, the Ethiopian Telecommunications
Corporation, effectively restricted access to this technology.
The Government continued to use statutory provisions on the
publication of false information, incitement of ethnic hatred and libel
to justify the arrest and detention of journalists. Along with
opposition party members, 16 journalists were charged with treason,
genocide, and attempts to subvert the constitution, charges which carry
maximum penalties of life in prison or the death penalty.
In November 2005 five VOA journalists were included in a group of
CUD leaders, members of civil society, and journalists charged with
treason and attempting to subvert the constitution. On March 23,
following pressure from foreign governments, the federal high court
dropped the charges of treason and genocide against the VOA journalists
and 13 others.
Between December 2005 and May, several journalists were convicted
on charges stemming from news stories published as long ago as 1998,
including libel, publishing false news, failing to print the name of
the deputy editor in the newspaper, defaming the Government, and
misinformation. Prison sentences ranged from three months to 18 months.
Some of the sentenced journalists were released from jail on bail after
being detained for a few weeks or months. Bail amounts ranged from $56
to $1,260 (487 to 10,962 birr). The journalists released on bail
earlier in the year had court appearances in October and November.
On November 10, Getachew Sime, former editor-in-chief of the
defunct Amharic language weekly, Agere, appeared in court to appeal his
December 2005 defamation conviction and three-month prison sentence.
The Federal Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Leykun Engeda, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Anharic
language weekly Dagim Wonchif, was granted $116 (1,000 birr) bail on
January 5, after he appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. In November
his appeal was rejected and he was sent to Kaliti Prison. The case
against Engeda stemmed from a 1999 article in Dagim Wonchif about a
rebel organization known as the Ethiopian Patriotic Front, alleging
that the rebels had won a military victory against government soldiers.
Dagim Wonchif went out of business, ostensibly due to problems
encountered in obtaining newsprint.
On February 21, Arega Wolde Kirkos, editor-in-chief of the private
Amharic language weekly, Tobia, was arrested on defamation charges.
After appealing to the Federal Supreme Court for the charges against
him to be dropped, he was released on bail of approximately $110 (1,000
birr). Arega appeared in court in November and the charges against him
were dropped.
On March 8, Abraham Gebre Kidan, editor of the now-defunct Amharic-
language weekly, Politika, was sentenced to one year in prison for
publishing ``false news'' in a 2002 report attributed to the BBC, which
claimed that the Government was training rebels in neighboring Eritrea.
Kidan was subsequently released on bail of approximately $110 (1,000
birr). He appeared in court in November, at which time the charge
against him was dropped and he was released.
Two journalists indicted on old charges, Wossonseged Gebrekidan and
Tesehalene Mengesha, remained in prison at year's end. On April 18,
Wossonseged Gebrekidan, editor-in-chief of the now banned Addis Zena,
was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for defamation stemming from a
2002 article that allegedly defamed the editor of Abiotawi Democracy, a
publication of the ruling EPRDF. At the time of his sentencing,
Gebrekidan was already in jail on anti-government charges as one of
fourteen journalists on trial along with opposition leaders and members
of civil society for allegedly trying to overthrow the constitutional
order.
On April 25, Abraham Retta, a journalist who freelanced for a
number of different Amharic-language newspapers, and worked as a
columnist for the private Amharic weekly Addis Admas, was sentenced on
April 25 to one year and jailed the same day. Retta was charged for an
article in the now-defunct private Amharic newspaper, Ruh, reporting
that government officials had embezzled World Bank assistance funds in
2002. Retta appealed his sentence to the Federal Supreme Court; he
appeared in court in November and his case was postponed and remained
pending at year's end.
On May 4, Tesehalene Mengesha, former editor of the defunct
Amharic-language weekly, Mebruk, was convicted of criminal defamation
and sentenced to 16 months in prison. Mengesha also faced additional
pending charges for ``spreading false information'' related to a report
in the then private Amharic-language weekly, Mebrek, on the
assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when he
arrived in Addis Ababa in 1995 to attend a summit of the Organization
of African Unity.
On February 19, Goshu Moges, journalist and manager of the
opposition private Amharic-language weekly newspaper Lissane Hizb was
arrested in what police described as a ``crackdown on terrorists linked
to Ethiopia's opposition parties.'' Moges was charged with seeking to
``overthrow, modify, or suspend the constitution.'' He was denied bail
and remained in custody at year's end. Lissane Hizb was not explicitly
banned by the Government but remained unable to publish since November
2005, due to arrests of the paper's leadership and fear of arrest on
the part of the remaining staff.
On May 4, Tesehalene Mengesha, former editor of the defunct
Amharic-language weekly, Mebruk, was convicted of criminal defamation
and sentenced to 16 months in prison. The case stemmed from an article
published in Mebruk during the 1998 2000 Ethiopian-Eritrean border war.
Mengesha had previously been jailed at least three times between 1997
and 2000 in connection with his work for Mebruk.
Eskinder Nega, editor of the newspaper Satenaw and one of the 16
journalists being tried with the CUD leadership, was kept in a separate
prison in solitary confinement. Nega's partner, journalist Serkalem
Fassil, was also arrested and detained at Kaliti prison. Another of the
16 journalists imprisoned on treason charges, Sisay Agena, publisher of
the weekly newspaper Ethiop, was also moved to Kerchele prison in
August and kept in a dark cell (see Section 1.d.).
In January 2005 authorities arrested Shiferaw Insermu, a journalist
with the Oromo-language service of the state-owned Ethiopian Television
(ETV), for the third time, at the central criminal investigation office
prison in Addis Ababa. Insermu and fellow ETV journalist Dhabassa
Wakjira, who was arrested in April 2004, remained in detention on
several charges, including passing government information to the OLF
leadership. Prison authorities ignored various court orders to free
them.
Police asked Addis Zena editor-in-chief Fassil Yenealem to disclose
his sources for two stories, including a May 2005 article reporting
that the ruling EPRDF had established a special intelligence force to
arrest and assassinate CUD leaders, and had recruited 11 Tigrayan women
to poison CUD leaders. Yenealem did not reveal his sources and was
subsequently arrested for publishing a story that could not be
corroborated. Yenealem was released on bail later in 2005 but was one
of the journalists detained along with the CUD leadership on anti-state
crimes. He remained in prison at year's end.
In June 2005 government security forces detained Addis Ababa
newspaper distributor Fikre Gudu and held him for one month. After his
release, he gave an interview to the private Amharic-language weekly
Asqual discussing his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in a detention
center outside the capital. He described poor prison conditions and
criticized the Government for jailing him. Authorities detained him
again in August 2005; they released him on bail after four days in
police detention. During his latest detention, police accused Gudu of
using the interview to spread false information and to defame the
police and prison system. No information was available on whether the
case against Gudu was still pending.
All official media received government subsidies; however, the
official media were legally autonomous and responsible for their own
management and partial revenue generation. The minister of information
was the Government's official spokesperson, and the ministry managed
contacts between the Government, the press, and the public; however,
the Government routinely refused to respond to queries from the private
press and often limited its cooperation with the press to the
government-run Ethiopian News Agency, the EPRDF-controlled Walta news
agency, and correspondents of international news organizations.
Unlike in previous years, the Prime Minister's office allowed some
members of the independent press limited access to official events. On
April 30, for only the second time in 14 years, members of the
independent press were invited to join state media and foreign
correspondents in covering a press conference given by the Prime
Minister. Later in the year, journalists from local English-language
independent newspapers were invited to a press conference that had been
opened to foreign correspondents. Independent journalists were also
invited along with foreign correspondents to attend a press conference
by the prime minster on Somalia in December.
The Ministry of Information required that newspapers maintain a
bank balance of $1,150 (10,000 birr) when annually registering for a
publishing license. This sum effectively precluded some smaller
publications from registering. Authorities also required permanent
residency for publishers to establish and operate a newspaper. The
Government did not require residency for other business owners, and
some independent journalists maintained that the Government used the
residency requirement as a form of intimidation. The press law requires
all publishers to provide free copies of their publications to the
Ministry of Information on the day of publication.
The majority of private newspapers as well as government newspapers
printed their publications on government-owned presses. Following the
unrest in November 2005, presses frequently refused to print some
papers, citing Ministry of Justice statements indicating that presses
would be held responsible for content they printed. Police had the
authority to shut down any printing press without a court order but
during the year did not exercise that power.
The Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA) remained in
disarray following the crackdown on the private press. Several
journalists remained in exile, including EFJA President Kifle Mulat.
His name was on the list of journalists being sought by the Government
for their involvement in what the Government called treason and
attempted genocide. The detention of most of its members effectively
halted the EFJA's operation. Another association, the Ethiopian
National Union of Journalists, established with the support of the
Government, was inactive during the year.
Internet Freedom.--Beginning in mid-May, several ``blogs''
(Internet journals) and media watchdog groups alleged that the
Government had begun blocking various websites that displayed content
critical of the Government. This was corroborated by members of the
general public in Addis Ababa. Blocked websites included the site of
the Oromo Liberation Front and several news blogs and sites run by the
Ethiopian diaspora, including the Ethiopian Review, CyberEthiopia.com,
Quatero Amharic Magazine, Tensae Ethiopia, and the Ethiopian Media
Forum. The Committee to Protect Journalists and others called upon the
Government to stop blocking these sites. Officials at the Ministry of
Information claimed that they had no explanation or information about
the sudden inaccessibility of the blogs, and denied that the Government
was responsible.
In December 2005 Elias Kifle, the publisher of web-based Ethiopian
Review, was charged in absentia with treason. Frezer Negash, an Addis
Ababa-based correspondent for the website, was imprisoned without
charge from January 27 to March 8.
CPJ noted that the Government's crackdown on the traditional print
media and the resulting widespread self-censorship in the press had
spurred many local journalists and social and political activists to
use the Internet.
On December 24, Capital, a private English-language newsweekly
reported that the Ethiopian Telecommunications Agency was distributing
forms for Internet cafes in the country and requiring them to register
their internet users. Sources told Capital that the telecomunications
agency was working with the federal police to distribute the forms to
all Internet cafes in Addis Ababa and other major towns in order to
identify illegal users. Sources said that if an Internet cafe was found
serving unregistered customers its owners would be jailed.
Media reported that citizens used the Internet frequently and
consistently and that access had increased through the proliferation of
Internet cafes. Voice-over-Internet-Protocol technology also became
increasingly popular for communicating with family and friends
overseas. Capital reported that the number of Internet users in Addis
Ababa in late 2004 was estimated at 100,000. Approximately 94 percent
of the country's Internet users lived in Addis Ababa; this was an
indication of the relative lack of telecommunications infrastructure
outside of the capital. Capital also reported that the
telecommunications corporation has made it easier and more affordable
for home users to subscribe to dial-up Internet service. By year's end
the country had 40,000 home-based Internet subscribers.
Mobile phone text messaging remained blocked by the state
telecommunications monopoly following claims that the opposition CUD
had used text messaging to call for and coordinate antigovernment
actions.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom during the year, maintaining that professors could not
espouse political sentiments. Authorities did not permit teachers at
any level to deviate from official lesson plans and discouraged
political activity and association of any kind on university campuses.
Reports continued throughout the year of both uniformed and
plainclothes police officers being present on and around university and
high school campuses. The Government arrested students and teachers
during the year. Professors and students were discouraged from taking
positions not in accordance with government beliefs or practices. There
was a lack of transparency in academic decisions, with numerous
complaints from individuals in the academic community of bias based on
ethnicity and/or religion. The freedoms of speech, expression, and
assembly were frequently restricted on university and high school
campuses.
In September the Ministry of Culture and Tourism banned performance
of a musical drama entitled ``WAI ADDIS ABABA,'' at the Ethiopian
National Theatre. The script was written by playwright Getenet Eneyew.
Officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism attended a technical
rehearsal before the play opened and informed the theater company that
the play was to be canceled.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly.
Prior to the May 2005 national elections, there were numerous
opposition rallies, including one that occurred in Addis Ababa that was
attended by nearly one million persons the weekend prior to the
elections. However, immediately following the elections and throughout
the year, the Government restricted this right in practice. From May
2005 to year's end, the Government granted only one permit allowing a
public demonstration to take place.
Organizers of large public meetings or demonstrations must notify
the Government 72 hours in advance and obtain a permit.
Opposition political parties reported that during the year their
supporters were targets of frequent and systematic harassment and
violence by government security forces, often after leaving meetings.
EHRCO reported that regional governments, including the Addis Ababa
regional administration, infringed on the right of peaceful assembly
and association.
The OFDM reported that cadres seized and destroyed membership cards
of OFDM supporters, disrupted OFDM political meetings, and detained
OFDM members in police stations and army camps.
No actions were taken against police who in 2004 reportedly beat
demonstrators protesting the Government's decision to transfer the
capital of Oromiya from Addis Ababa to Adama or against police who
forced hundreds of detained student protestors in 2004 to kneel and run
barefoot on gravel for hours (see Section 1.c.). It was unknown at
year's end whether any persons detained in previous years for holding
illegal meetings remained in detention.
During the year attacks by police, the army, and militia against
members of the opposition and the general public decreased, largely due
to the fact that no public assembly permits were issued and illegal
demonstrations were limited.
Freedom of Association.--Although the law provides for freedom of
association and the right to engage in unrestricted peaceful political
activity, the Government in practice limited this right. The Ministry
of Justice registers and licenses NGOs, and there was some improvement
in transparency of the NGO registration process. The Government
continued to deny registration to the Human Rights League (see Section
4).
As provided by law, the Government required political parties to
register with the National Election Board (NEB). In 2005 the NEB's
independence was called into question when it made a series of
decisions limiting the political activity of opposition parties,
including the rejection of the CUD merger and unwillingness to
recognize the CUD coalition after the elections. However, during the
year, the NEB permitted the registration of the Coalition for Unity and
Democracy Party (CUDP), a party made up of former CUD members who
joined parliament. The NEB continued to limit political activity of the
ONC by not recognizing a change in the party leadership.
During the year the UEDF, CUD, and ONC reported arrests of their
members and the forced closure of most political party offices
throughout the country (see Section 1.d.). There were credible reports
that the Government used legal means to harass leadership from an
influential opposition political party, utilizing government agencies
to restrict party control and membership.
During the year political leaders, including members of federal and
regional parliaments, were prevented from traveling to their
constituencies and meeting with supporters. The President of the OFDM,
who was also a member of the federal parliament, was prevented from
visiting his home town of Bogi Dirmeji, Oromiya region, and threatened
by local police when attempting to do so. In addition, of 42 ONC
federal parliamentarians, only three were able to meet with their
constituents during the year. The three reported that following
meetings with local representatives, party members were harassed and
detained by local security forces.
There were no developments in the 2004 suspension of the MTA and
arrests of its members. Some arrests appeared to have been made without
warrants, and some detentions continued despite court orders to release
suspects (see Section 1.d.).
The ETA continued to encounter government restrictions when
attempting to hold meetings. On August 30, police interrupted a
national assembly of ETA leadership and seized documents and other
materials. Local police occupied and sealed the conference room where
the meetings were held. However, police returned most of the seized
items.
This incident followed a series of attempts by the Government to
limit the activity of the ETA. The ETA had operated since 1967, but in
1993, when the EPRDF took power, an alternate, pro-EPRDF ETA was
established. In 1993 the original ETA and the government-supported ETA
began prolonged legal battles over the organization name and property
rights. Although the original ETA received favorable judgments in lower
courts, the newly formed ETA appealed to the Supreme Court. In the
meantime, security forces closed the original ETA offices and continued
to harass its members.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice; however, local authorities occasionally infringed on this
right. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) and Islam are the dominant
religions; nearly 90 percent of the population adhered to one or the
other faith.
While the Government required that religious institutions annually
register with the Ministry of Justice, there were no reports of
government action against institutions that chose not to register.
Under the law, a religious organization that undertakes development
activities must register its development wing separately as an NGO. The
Government did not issue work visas to foreign religious workers unless
they were associated with the development wing of a religious
organization.
Some religious property confiscated under the Mengistu (Derg)
regime had not been returned by year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religious groups
reported discrimination in the allocation of government land for
religious sites. Authorities banned a traditional animist Oromo
religious group because it suspected that the group's leaders had close
links to the OLF and MTA. Protestant groups occasionally reported that
local officials discriminated against them when they sought land for
churches and cemeteries. Evangelical leaders stated that because
authorities perceived them as ``newcomers,'' they were at a
disadvantage compared with the EOC and the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs
Supreme Council (EIASC) in the allocation of land. The EIASC reported
that it faced more difficulty obtaining land from the Government than
did the EOC, while others believed that the Government favored the
EIASC. Officials targeted for demolition many mosques that squatters
had built without city government approval.
In late September and early October, a series of clashes between
Muslims and Ethiopian Orthodox Christians near the city of Jima left 12
dead and numerous churches and homes burned. The disturbances began on
September 26 on the eve of the Meskel holiday, when smoke from a
holiday bonfire set by Christians entered a nearby mosque. This led to
violent fighting between large groups of Muslims and Christians,
leading to eight deaths, the burning of churches and homes, and
subsequent mass arrests of Muslims by local police. On October 4, four
more persons were killed in a nearby village, when Muslims stormed an
Ethiopian Orthodox church, setting it on fire and attacking churchgoers
with machetes. Police made several arrests, but at year's end courts
had not yet sentenced anyone arrested in connection with either
incident.
On July 24, due to a lack of proper construction permits, the city
administration dismantled a converted mosque in Addis Ababa. On the
subsequent three Fridays, local Muslims demonstrated in Addis Ababa to
protest, resulting in clashes with security forces and arrests and
minor injuries of protestors. The situation was resolved when the Addis
Ababa city administration granted land to the Muslim community for the
construction of a new mosque on an alternate site.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 2,000. There were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these
rights, the Government restricted some of these rights in practice.
Throughout the year in the Gambella region, the Government
continued to monitor and sometimes control the passage of relief
supplies and access by humanitarian organizations, explaining that it
was doing so as a matter of security for those traveling in the region.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not force
any citizens into exile. A number of persons remained abroad in self-
imposed exile, including 54 journalists (see Section 2.a.).
During the year the ICRC repatriated 988 Ethiopians from Eritrea
and repatriated 83 Eritreans. Most Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean
origin registered with the Government and received identity cards and
six-month renewable residence permits that allowed them to gain access
to hospitals and other public services. However, there were anecdotal
reports that local government officials denied indigent Eritreans the
right to free medical services.
During the year the UNHCR processed 680 cases for resettlement in
third countries, totaling 1,800 individuals, mainly from Sudan and
Eritrea.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The 1998 2000 war with
Eritrea produced approximately 350,000 IDPs. Of these, humanitarian
agencies resettled an estimated 225,000. The UNHCR estimated there were
approximately 200,000 IDPs in the country, including approximately
62,000 in Tigray region, 44,700 in Gambella region, approximately
30,000 in the Borena area of the Oromiya region, and 50,000 on the
border of the Oromiya and Somali regions.
Violent clashes between different ethnic groups during the year
internally displaced thousands of persons and resulted in deaths and
injuries (see Section 5).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and returning citizens.
The Government, in cooperation with UNHCR, also continued to
provide temporary protection to individuals from Sudan, Eritrea, and
Somalia who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and
the 1967 Protocol.
At year's end the country hosted approximately 97,300 refugees.
This number did not reflect a significant change from the end of 2005;
an increase in the numbers of asylum seekers from Eritrea was offset by
the repatriation of approximately 5,000 refugees to South Sudan.
During the year the Government and UNHCR sought to open a new camp
in Tigray region in order to accommodate the increasing number of
Eritrean asylum seekers residing in the Shimelba camp. After one
potential site was abandoned due to the lack of potable water, the
Government and UNHCR agreed to continue to transfer newly arriving
Eritrean refugees to Shimelba camp, and use some of the money set aside
for the construction of the new camp for health, education, and
sanitation projects for the host community near the camp, since this
population had expressed their displeasure with the number of asylum
seekers living in the area.
The conflict between ethnic groups in the Gambella region
complicated UNHCR refugee protection efforts (see Section 5). Food
deliveries to refugees continued in spite of the crisis in the West;
however, humanitarian organizations at times were unable to adequately
monitor deliveries due to travel restrictions.
The Government required that all refugees reside and remain at
designated camps, most of which were located near the Eritrean,
Somaliland, and Sudanese borders, unless granted permission to live
elsewhere in the country. Such permission was given primarily to attend
higher education institutions, undergo medical treatment, or avoid
security threats at the camps.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through generally free and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage; however, irregularities and intimidation of voters
and election observers marred polling in many areas in the 2005
election. In practice the EPRDF ruling party dominated the Government.
The Government policy of ethnic federalism led to the creation of
individual constituencies to ensure representation of all major ethnic
groups in the House of Peoples' Representatives. Nevertheless, small
ethnic groups lacked representation in the legislature. There were 23
nationality groups in six regional states that did not have a
sufficient population to qualify for constituency seats; however, in
the May 2005 elections, individuals from these nationality groups
competed for 23 special seats in the 547-seat House of Peoples'
Representatives.
Elections and Political Participation.--According to domestic and
international observers, the May 2005 national elections, in which the
EPRDF coalition won 372 of 547 seats, generally reflected the will of
the people. Opposition parties made an unexpectedly strong showing,
increasing their parliamentary representation from 12 seats to 172.
Irregularities, including intimidation of voters and election
observers, marred polling in many areas. The Government and EPRDF also
announced the ``final'' election results before the NEB released them.
Observers reported killings, disappearances, voter intimidation and
harassment, and unlawful detentions of opposition party supporters,
particularly in the Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and Peoples regions (see Sections 1.a., 1.b., and 1.d.).
The Carter Center expressed concern over reports of improper vote
counting and tabulation, stating that its observer teams had ``found
evidence that ballot boxes have been moved improperly, were improperly
secured, or that party agents were barred from polling stations or were
not allowed to watch the entire count.'' It also reported ``election
day and postelection intimidation and harassment.'' The head of the
European Union's Electoral Observation Mission issued a preliminary
report stating that the post-election complaint review process ``did
not live up to international standards,'' citing irregularities in key
areas. In spite of these criticisms, international observers noted that
the elections were an important step forward in the country's
democratization efforts.
Following the election, opposition parties accused the NEB of being
an instrument of the ruling party and of failing to act when informed
of electoral irregularities, including ballot stuffing, vote count
fraud, bribery, killings, beatings, and widespread intimidation and
harassment by ruling party supporters during the national elections.
In June 2005 negotiations between the ruling and major opposition
parties over election complaints resulted in an agreement to adopt an
ad hoc complaints resolution process to deal with the large number of
unresolved electoral complaints. According to the Carter Center, 44
different complaints investigation panels conducted formal
investigations and hearings in 178 constituencies across the country,
resulting in a decision by the NEB to hold new elections in 31
constituencies. New elections were held in those constituencies in
August 2005.
In September and October 2005 the Government and opposition leaders
participated in discussions on the opposition's participation in the
House of People's Representatives. While most UEDF members decided to
take their seats in the house, some CUD leaders announced they would
boycott the federal parliament, as well as regional parliaments and the
Addis Ababa City Council. However, by year's end most elected CUD
members had joined parliament. In late October the CUD called for civil
disobedience measures, such as horn-honking, boycotting EPRDF-owned
business, and ostracizing alleged government supporters, which the
Government publicly declared illegal.
Beginning on November 1, 2005, violent antigovernment protests
allegedly organized by the opposition occurred in Addis Ababa, and the
Government arrested several dozen opposition leaders, as well as
members of the independent media and civil society groups, for alleged
participation in unlawful activities. Security forces also detained
between 30,000 and 50,000 demonstrators without charge. Military
intervention led to widespread abuses such as arbitrary detention and
killings. Security forces arrested at least 12 of the 20 CUD party
executive committee members, including party President Hailu Shawel,
vice chairman Bertukan Mideksa, secretary-general Muluneh Eyoel, and
Addis Ababa mayor-elect Dr. Berhanu Nega, on charges of treason and
genocide, among others (see Section 1.e.).
The EPRDF, its affiliates, and EPRDF supporters controlled all
seats in the 108-member House of Federation, whose members were
appointed by regional governments and by the federal government.
Membership in the EPRDF conferred advantages upon its members, and the
party owned many businesses and awarded jobs to loyal supporters.
The largest opposition party in the House of Peoples
Representatives was the newly formed CUDP, composed of former CUD
coalition members, which held 61 seats.
Registered political parties must receive permission from regional
governments to open local offices. Opposition parties, such as the
CUDP, the UEDF, and the OFDM, claimed that the pattern of widespread
intimidation and violence directed against members of opposition
political parties by local government officials continued throughout
the year. Opposition parties and the press reported hundreds of such
cases, including killings, beatings, arrests, house burnings, and
property confiscation.
During the year there were many cases reported of authorities
allegedly telling opposition members that they had to renounce their
party membership if they wanted access to fertilizer, other
agricultural services, health care, or other benefits controlled by the
Government. Authorities often disrupted or unlawfully banned opposition
party meetings.
There were no new developments in the EPRDF's dissolution in late
2003 and early 2004 of offices of the Konso People's Democratic Union
(KPDU) and the KPDU-dominated Abaroba and Jarsso local councils, or in
the arrest and beatings of KPDU members. Authorities took no actions
against those responsible for the 2004 stoning of AEUP member Bekele
Tadesse, or for the March 2005 bombing of the home of Zemedkun Gebre
Kidane, chairman of the AEUP organizing committee in Ankober District.
Of the 19 members of the Council of Ministers, two were women, and
a number of women held senior positions. There were 116 women in the
547-seat House of Peoples' Representatives, a gain from 14 in the
previous parliament, and 21 women in the 113-member House of
Federation. Of the 14 members of the Supreme Court, three were women.
During the May 2005 national elections women constituted nearly half of
the community observers, party workers, and election officials at
polling stations.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Ministry of Justice
has primary responsibility for combating corruption. A combination of
social pressure, cultural norms, and legal restrictions limited
corruption. However, government officials appeared to manipulate the
privatization process, as state- and party-owned businesses received
preferential access to land leases and credit. The Government's
decision to grant MIDROC, the country's largest foreign investor,
exclusive license to import cement was perceived as favoritism toward a
government ally.
The law provides for public access to government information, but
access was largely restricted in practice.
The Government publishes its laws and regulations in the national
gazette prior to their taking effect. The Ministry of Information
managed contacts between the Government, the press, and the public;
however, the Government routinely refused to respond to queries from
the private press (see Section 2.a.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated with limited government restriction, investigating
and publishing their findings on human rights cases. The Government
generally was distrustful and wary of domestic human rights groups and
some international observers. NGOs continued to complain of
restrictions on their importation of published materials and complained
that they were prevented from bringing foreigner visitors into the
country. In April 2005 the Government expelled representatives of
several foreign-based NGOs conducting electoral work and at year's end
had not allowed them to return.
Two of the most prominent domestic human rights organizations were
EHRCO and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA). The
Government routinely discounted EHRCO's reports and labeled it a
political organization. In December 2005 two of EHRCO's chief
investigators, Cherinet Tadesse and Yared Hailemariam, were arrested
and placed on trial with 111 others including the CUD leadership (see
Section 1.e.).
The EWLA's primary function was to legally represent women. These
and numerous other groups primarily engaged in civic and human rights
education, legal assistance, and trial monitoring. However, the
Government neither shared information nor acknowledged the existence of
human rights abuses with members of the domestic NGO community.
The Government continued to investigate the Human Rights League for
alleged ties to the OLF. The league's offices remained closed, and the
Government had not responded to its 1997 registration request by year's
end, despite a court order to do so.
The Government sometimes cooperated with international
organizations such as the UN and ICRC; however, ICRC lacked full access
to federal prisons and to political prisoners (see Sections 1.c. and
1.d.).
The Government is required by law to establish a human rights
commission and an Office of the Ombudsman with the authority to receive
and investigate complaints with respect to misadministration by
executive branch offices. Both of these entities had been established,
but neither organization was fully operational by year's end.
The Ministry of Justice continued to implement a three-year program
of human rights training workshops for judges, prosecutors, police, and
community members around the country. Election-related violence,
however, severely curtailed program activities.
A parliamentary commission released its report on government human
rights abuses alleged to have occurred in conjunction with ethnic
violence in the Gambella region in late 2003 and 2004 (see Section 5).
Human Rights Watch reported in March 2005 that the commission grossly
underestimated the number of deaths associated with the ethnic
violence. During the year six members of the army were charged with
taking part in the 2003 killing of civilians. Their trials remained
ongoing at year's end.
In September two ICRC employees were kidnapped in Somali region by
the United Western Somali Liberation Front. The two were released
unharmed five days later.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, gender,
language, national origin, political or other opinion, or social
status; however, in practice the Government did not effectively enforce
these prohibitions.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse and rape, was a
pervasive social problem. A July 2005 World Bank study concluded that
88 percent of rural women and 69 percent of urban women believed their
husbands had the right to beat them. While women had recourse to the
police and the courts, societal norms and limited infrastructure
prevented many women from seeking legal redress, particularly in rural
areas. The Government prosecuted offenders on a limited scale.
In October 2005 the Government upgraded the Women's Affairs Office
to a Women's Affairs Ministry, an independent office with increased
staff. Two other important offices were filled in 2005--a Commissioner
for Women and Children, with the rank of Deputy Minister, was named in
the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and an Ombudsperson for Women
and Children was also named in the Office of the Ombudsman.
The penal code criminalizes rape but does not specifically address
spousal rape. The Government did not fully enforce the code due to lack
of awareness of the law by the public, especially women, and a lack of
capacity training, and funds. Social mores continued to be a key
constraint, particularly in the rural areas.
Social mores obstructed investigations and prosecutions in rape
cases, and many women were not aware of their rights under the law,
which led to widespread underreporting. Observers estimated that at
least 1,000 rapes occurred annually in Addis Ababa, but data based on
official police reports counted only approximately 400 cases per year.
The press continued to report regularly on rape cases, particularly
when injury to minors resulted. Courts sentenced convicted rapists to
10 to 15 years' imprisonment, as prescribed by law.
Although illegal, the abduction of women and girls as a form of
marriage continued to be a widespread practice in several regions,
including the Amhara, Oromiya, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and
Peoples regions, despite the Government's attempts to combat the
practice. Forced sexual relationships accompanied most marriages by
abduction, and women often experienced physical abuse during the
abduction. Abductions led to conflicts among families, communities, and
ethnic groups. In cases of marriage by abduction, the perpetrator did
not face punishment if the victim agreed to marry him (unless
authorities annulled the marriage); even after the conviction of a
perpetrator, authorities often commuted the sentence if the victim
married him. Early/child marriage was also a problem, particularly in
Amhara and Tigray regions, where girls were routinely married as early
as age seven, despite the legal minimum age of 18 for marriage. There
were some signs of growing public awareness of the problem of abuse of
women and girls, including early marriage.
The majority of girls and women in the country had undergone some
form of FGM. Girls typically experienced clitoridectomies seven days
after birth (consisting of an excision of the clitoris, often with
partial labial excision, and faced infibulation (the most extreme and
dangerous form of FGM) at the onset of puberty. According to a Ministry
of Health Demographic and Health survey released in 2005, the practice
of FGM among all women had decreased from 80 to 74 percent, while
support for the practice among women had dropped from 60 to 29 percent.
The penal code criminalizes the circumcision of any female by
imprisonment of not less than three months or a fine of not less than
$58 (500 birr). Likewise, infibulation of the genitals is punishable
with imprisonment of five to 10 years. However, no criminal
prosecutions have ever been brought for FGM.
The Government took some measures to help eradicate FGM,
discouraged the practice through education in public schools, and
broader mass media campaigns.
The combination of pregnancy at an early age, chronic maternal
malnutrition, and a lack of skilled care at delivery often led to
obstetric fistulae and permanent incontinence. Approximately 8,700
women developed obstetric fistulae annually, and 27,000 women with
untreated fistulae were estimated to be living in rural areas.
Treatment for fistulae was available at only one hospital, the Addis
Ababa Fistula Hospital, which annually performed over 1,000 fistula
operations. It estimated that for every successful operation performed,
10 other young women needed the treatment but did not receive it. The
maternal mortality rate was extremely high, partly due to food taboos
for pregnant women, poverty, early marriage, and birth complications
related to FGM, particularly infibulation.
Prostitution was legal for persons over age 18 and was commonly
practiced around the country; however, the law prohibits pimping and
benefiting from prostitution. Persons exploited in prostitution
routinely reported that poverty was the principal underlying cause.
The EWLA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)
reported that many female workers who traveled to the Middle East as
industrial and domestic workers faced abuse (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was widespread. The penal code prescribes 18 to
24 months imprisonment; however, sexual harassment-related laws were
not enforced.
Although the law provides for equality of all persons, the
Government did not effectively enforce these protections. The law sets
the legal marriage age for girls and boys at 18, elevates civil law
above customary and religious law; allows for the legal sharing of
property by unmarried couples who live together for at least five
years, eliminates family arbitrators as a means of settling marital
disputes in lieu of the court system, allows for the joint
administration of common marital property, requires the courts to take
into account the situation of children or the weakest member of the
family in the event of divorce or separation, and imposes a six-month
waiting period on women seeking to remarry following divorce or the
death of a spouse. However, regional councils had authority to
determine family law for their respective regions. Four regions
maintained their own family law: Amhara, Tigray, Oromiya, and Addis
Ababa; however, regional laws were not uniformly enforced. By law, such
regional regulations could not conflict with the national constitution.
During the 2005 elections, EPRDF stipulated that 30 percent of its
party candidates be women. Dozens of women successfully ran for
election throughout the country, mostly on the EPRDF ticket.
Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where
85 percent of the population was located. The law contains
discriminatory regulations, such as the recognition of the husband as
the legal head of the family and the sole guardian of children over
five years old. Authorities did not consider domestic violence a
serious justification for granting a divorce. There was limited legal
recognition of common-law marriage. Irrespective of the number of years
the marriage existed, the number of children raised, and joint
property, the law entitled women to only three months' financial
support if the common-law relationship ended. A husband had no
obligation to provide financial assistance to his family and, as a
result, women and children sometimes faced abandonment. The law states
that any property owned before marriage belongs to the spouse that
previously owned it. Any property gained during marriage is shared
equally, although a wife does not have the right to inherit her
deceased husband's share. Even with stronger formal laws, most rural
residents continued to apply customary law in economic and social
relationships.
All land belongs to the Government. Although women could obtain
government leases to land, and the Government had an explicit policy to
provide equal access for women to land, rural communities rarely
enforced this policy. In nearly all regions women did not have access
to land, except through marriage. In practice, when a husband died,
other family members often took the land from his widow.
In urban areas, women had fewer employment opportunities than men,
and the jobs available did not provide equal pay for equal work.
Children.--The Government supported efforts by domestic and
international NGOs that focused on children's social, health, and legal
issues, despite its limited ability to provide improved health care,
basic education, or child protection.
In 2005 31.5 percent of school-age children did not attend school.
As a policy, primary education was tuition free. There were not enough
schools to accommodate the country's youth, particularly in rural
areas, and the cost of school supplies was prohibitive for many
families. In 2005 73.2 percent of male primary-school-age children and
63.6 percent of female primary-school-age children attended school; in
Addis Ababa girls' attendance was significantly higher. Government
reports indicated that 22.4 percent of the children who attended school
left the system before they reached the second grade, and only 34.9
percent of children who began first grade completed eighth grade.
Child abuse was a problem. Members of an NGO staffed 10 child
protection units in Addis Ababa's police stations to protect the rights
of juvenile delinquents and juvenile victims of crime. Some police
officers completed training on procedures for handling cases of child
abuse and juvenile delinquency.
Societal abuse of young girls continued to be a problem. FGM was
performed on the majority of girls (see Section 5, Women). Other
harmful traditional practices included uvulectomy, milk-teeth
extraction, early marriage, marriage by abduction, and food and work
prohibitions.
In the Afar region older men continued to marry young girls, but
media accounts suggested that this traditional practice continued to
face greater scrutiny and criticism. Local NGOs, such as the Kembatta
Women's Self-Help Center and the Tigray Women's Association, also
influenced societal attitudes toward harmful traditional practices and
early marriage in their areas by raising awareness of the problems.
During the year regional governments in Amhara and Tigray instituted
programs to educate young women on the issues of early marriage.
According to international NGOs, child prostitution was a growing
problem, particularly in urban areas. According to an NGO report, 60
percent of persons exploited in prostitution were between the ages of
16 and 25. Underage girls worked as hotel workers, barmaids, and
prostitutes in resort towns and rural truck stops. Pervasive poverty,
migration to urban centers, early marriage, HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases, and limited educational and job opportunities
aggravated the sexual exploitation of children. A few NGOs aided child
victims, including the Forum on Street Children-Ethiopia, which
provided children forced into prostitution or sexual exploitation with
shelter, protection, and return to their families.
NGOs reported that houses of prostitution recruited impoverished
girls as young as age 11 and kept them uninformed of the risks of HIV/
AIDS infection and other sexually transmitted diseases. A 2003 Family
Health International Report indicated that customers particularly
sought younger girls because customers believed they were free of
sexually transmitted diseases.
There were occasional reports that children were trafficked out of
the country, including unconfirmed reports that children from the south
were transported into Kenya by traffickers operating adoption rings and
adopted as other nationalities (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).
The Government estimated the number of street children totaled
150,000 to 200,000, with approximately 50,000 to 60,000 street children
in Addis Ababa. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated there were
600,000 street children in the country and more than 100,000 in the
capital. UNICEF believed the problem was exacerbated because of
families' inability to support children due to parental illness and
decreased household income. These children begged, sometimes as part of
a gang, or worked in the informal sector (see Section 6.d.). Government
and privately run orphanages were unable to handle the number of street
children, and older children often abused younger ones. Due to severe
resource constraints, hospitals and orphanages often overlooked or
neglected abandoned infants. ``Handlers'' sometimes maimed or blinded
children to raise their earnings from begging.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from and
within the country. The country was a source country for men, women,
and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Young
women were trafficked to Djibouti and the Middle East, particularly
Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain for
involuntary domestic labor. Some women were trafficked for sexual
exploitation to Europe via Lebanon. Small numbers of men were
trafficked to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states for exploitation as low-
skilled laborers. Both children and adults were trafficked internally
from rural to urban areas for domestic labor and, to a lesser extent,
for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor, such as street
vending and weaving. NGOs estimated that international trafficking
annually involved between 20,000 and 25,000 victims.
The IOM reported in 2004 that trafficking was ``increasing at an
alarming rate.'' A 2003 study by a foreign government on the problem of
internal trafficking of women and children confirmed that the problem
was pervasive. The overwhelming majority of respondents confirmed that
traffickers, typically unorganized petty criminals, lured women and
children from rural areas to Addis Ababa and other urban centers with
false promises of employment. Of the 459 respondents, 46 percent were
illiterate and 49 percent had completed no more than an eighth-grade
education. Upon arrival at their new destinations, 54 percent worked as
domestic servants, but that number dropped to 9 percent as the
trafficked women and children took jobs in bars, became prostitutes, or
begged on the street.
Private entities arranged for overseas work and, as a result,
traffickers sent women to Middle Eastern countries--particularly
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates--as
domestic or industrial workers. These women typically were trafficked
through Djibouti, Yemen, and Syria. They were trafficked out of the
country either through the international airport in Addis Ababa, to
Djibouti, or through the country's porous border with Somalia. The
chief of the investigation and detention center in Lebanon reported in
October 2005 that 30,000 Ethiopian women worked in Beirut, the vast
majority of whom were trafficked. The Government also continued
registering persons seeking employment overseas.
The law provides penalties of up to 20 years' imprisonment and a
fine of $1,150 (10,000 birr) for trafficking of women and children.
Despite recent arrests of suspected traffickers, there were few
successful prosecutions of traffickers. Arrested traffickers were often
released without charge. However, in July a trafficker was convicted
and sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment and fined $575 (5,000 birr).
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, in concert with local police,
was responsible for monitoring trafficking in persons, while the
Ministry of Justice was responsible for enforcing antitrafficking laws.
These entities remained generally ineffective. The Government assisted
with international trafficking investigations.
There were no reports that government officials participated in,
facilitated, or condoned trafficking. However, border guards did not
treat human trafficking as a high priority.
The Government provided little assistance to trafficked victims who
returned to the country. EWLA provided limited legal assistance to such
victims. The federal police's Women's Affairs Bureau, in collaboration
with the media, continued to implement a public awareness program on
the dangers of migrating to Middle Eastern countries. There were some
government initiatives during the year to combat trafficking, including
government consultation with IOM. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs continued to review the contracts of prospective domestic
workers planning to work overseas and rejected contracts that did not
appear satisfactory. Immigration officials at the airport also
continued to inspect the employment contracts of prospective workers
traveling to the Middle East. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
had limited success in regulating employment agencies that sent migrant
workers to Middle Eastern countries. Some illegal employment agencies
escaped government scrutiny and continued to operate. The country's
consulates in Beirut and Dubai continued to assist Ethiopian women
trafficked to Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates.
IOM delivered training programs for judges, prosecutors, and police
officers on the criminal aspects of trafficking during the year. These
institutions had limited resources and jurisdiction to protect or
intervene in cases of prosecution of offending employers.
Persons With Disabilities.--While the law mandates equal rights for
persons with disabilities, the Government had no established mechanisms
to enforce these rights. Persons with disabilities sometimes complained
of job discrimination. The Government did not mandate access to
buildings or provide services for persons with disabilities. Although
the law provides for rehabilitation and assistance to persons with
physical and mental disabilities, the Government devoted few resources
to these purposes.
There were approximately seven million persons with disabilities,
according to the Ethiopian National Association for the Disabled.
Although there were an estimated 800,000 persons with mental
disabilities, there was only one mental hospital and only an estimated
10 psychiatrists in the country. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs was responsible for protecting the rights of the disabled.
Under funding from the ministry, prosthetic and orthopedic centers were
established in five of the nine regional states over the past three
years, albeit with limited capacity.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were more than 80 ethnic
groups living in the country, of which the Oromo was the largest, at 40
percent of the population. Although many groups influenced the
political and cultural life of the country, Amharas and Tigrayans from
the northern highlands played a dominant role. The federal system drew
boundaries roughly along major ethnic group lines, and regional states
had much greater control over their affairs than previously. Most
political parties remained primarily ethnically based.
The military remained an ethnically diverse organization; however,
Tigrayans dominated the senior officer corps. During the May 2005
elections and subsequent demonstrations there were many reports of
Tigrayan or Gambellan troops being used in Addis Ababa and other urban
centers where the opposition was strong and where officials did not
consider Amhara members of the armed forces sufficiently reliable.
There were occasional reports that officials terminated the
employment of teachers and other government workers if they were not of
the dominant ethnic group in the region.
There were continued incidents of ethnic conflict during the year,
particularly in the western, southern, and eastern areas. The OLF and
the Government engaged in many clashes. There were also clashes among
ethnic groups in the Gambella, Somali, and Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and Peoples regions.
Interethnic clashes resulted in hundreds of deaths during the year.
In late May and early June, at least 39 persons were killed and 34
injured in Daroor, Somali region, in a dispute between two Garhaajis
subclans, the Habar Yonis and Idagaale, over construction of a water
reservoir.
In June following changes by the Government to zonal borderlines
separating clan territories, there were violent clashes between the
Guji and Borena clans in southern parts of the country, resulting in up
to 150 deaths. The conflict also forced up to 120,000 persons from
their homes. Ultimately, regional and local officials, in collaboration
with clan elders, brokered a ceasefire and a resource-sharing agreement
in July.
In September media reported that approximately 45,000 persons had
been displaced from their homes in the Gambella region due to continued
fighting between the region's three largest indigenous groups, the
Anuak, Nuer, and Mazinger.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is illegal
and punishable by imprisonment. Instances of homosexual activity
determined to be cruel, involving coercion, or involving a minor (age
13 to 16) are punishable by not less than three months or more than
five years in prison. Where children under 13 years of age are
involved, the law provides for imprisonment of five to 25 years. While
society did not widely accept homosexuality, there were no reports of
violence against homosexuals.
Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS continued
during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides most workers with
the right to form and join unions, and the Government allowed this in
practice. However, the law specifically excludes teachers and civil
servants (including judges, prosecutors, and security service workers)
from organizing unions. There was government interference in trade
union activities during the year. According to the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, many trade union leaders were
removed from their posts and/or forced to leave the country, while
others were sent to prison.
A minimum of 10 workers were required to form a union. While the
law provides all unions with the right to register, the Government may
refuse to register trade unions that do not meet its registration
requirements. The Government retained the authority to cancel the
registration of a union after consulting the appropriate courts. There
were no reports that the Government used this authority during the
year. The law stipulates that a trade organization may not act in an
overtly political manner. Approximately 300,000 workers were union
members.
Seasonal and part-time agricultural workers did not organize into
labor unions. Compensation, benefits, and working conditions of
seasonal workers were far below those of unionized permanent plantation
employees.
Despite government recognition of the independent ETA, authorities
required all public school teachers to subsidize a separate government-
created and controlled teacher's union (also called ETA) through
mandatory withholding of $0.23 (2 birr) from their monthly salaries.
In late 2003 the federal high court ruled that the Government's ETA
had no legal standing or claim on the property of the independent ETA,
and that authorities should return the assets of the independent ETA
and allow its offices to reopen. The government-controlled ETA appealed
to the Supreme Court, which instructed the federal high court to
reinvestigate the case. That investigation continued at year's end, and
the high court's decision to recognize the independent ETA had not been
implemented.
Complete government control of the government-sponsored
Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions executive committee continued
throughout the year, as it had since its inception.
Although the law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers
against union members and organizers, unions reported that employers
frequently fired union activists. Lawsuits alleging unlawful dismissal
often took years to resolve because of case backlogs in the labor
courts. According to labor leaders, a number of court cases in which
workers were terminated for union activities were pending after four or
five years. Employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination were
required to reinstate workers fired for union activities and generally
did so in practice.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects the right of collective bargaining for most workers, and in
practice the Government allowed citizens to exercise this right freely.
Labor experts estimated that collective bargaining agreements covered
more than 90 percent of unionized workers. Representatives negotiated
wages at the plant level. Unions in the formal industrial sector made
some efforts to enforce labor regulations.
There are no export processing zones.
Although the constitution and law provide workers with the right to
strike to protect their interests, it contains detailed provisions that
make legal strike actions difficult to carry out, such as a minimum of
30 days' advance notice before striking. The law requires aggrieved
workers to attempt reconciliation with employers before striking and
includes a lengthy dispute settlement process. These applied equally to
an employer's right to lock out workers. A majority of the workers
involved must support a strike for it to occur.
During the year there were several minor strikes by construction
workers who protested low wages and instances of arbitrary dismissal
from work. Some of their demands were resolved through negotiation,
while others remained unaddressed.
Workers nonetheless retain the right to strike without resorting to
either of these options, provided they give at least 10 days' notice to
the other party and to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, make
efforts at reconciliation, and provide at least a 30-day warning in
cases already before a court or labor relations board.
The law also prohibits strikes by workers who provide essential
services, including air transport and urban bus service workers,
electric power suppliers, gas station personnel, hospital and pharmacy
personnel, firefighters, telecommunications personnel, and urban
sanitary workers.
The law prohibits retribution against strikers, but labor leaders
stated that most workers were not convinced that the Government would
enforce this protection. Labor officials reported that, due to high
unemployment and long delays in the hearing of labor cases, some
workers were afraid to participate in strikes or other labor actions.
The labor law allows one or more permanent labor relations boards
in the regional states to decide on cases involving enterprises owned
by the federal government. The amendment also allows ad hoc labor
relations boards in the regions to fulfill the same purpose.
In June the Government further amended the labor law to provide
severance pay for workers on additional grounds that were not
previously provided for, such as discrimination against persons with
HIV/AIDS and payment of severance to those without pension plan.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). Courts could
order forced labor as a punitive measure.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws against child labor; however, the Government did not
effectively implement these laws in practice, and child labor remained
a serious problem, both in urban and rural areas. Under the law, the
minimum age for wage or salary employment is 14 years, which was
consistent with the age for completing primary school; however, the
minimum age for employment was not effectively enforced. Special
provisions cover children between the ages of 14 and 18, including the
prohibition of hazardous or night work. By law, children between the
ages of 14 and 18 were not permitted to work more than seven hours per
day, work between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., work on public
holidays or rest days, or perform overtime work. The Government defined
hazardous work as work in factories or involving machinery with moving
parts, or any work that could jeopardize a child's health.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is responsible for
enforcing child labor laws, but it did not provide adequate resources
and oversight. While the Government made some effort to enforce these
regulations within the formal industrial sector, social welfare
activists, civic organizers, government officials, and employers agreed
that child labor was pervasive throughout the country, particularly in
agrarian areas and in the informal sector. In urban areas, many
children worked in a variety of jobs, including shining shoes, weaving
clothes, hustling passengers into cabs, working as porters, selling
lottery tickets and other small items, and herding animals. In rural
areas, children worked on family and commercial farms and as domestic
laborers.
A 2001 ILO-funded survey on child labor found that 40 percent of
children began working before the age of six. It also found the average
number of hours worked in a week by children ages 5 to 17 was 32.8
hours. Approximately 13 percent of boys and girls between the ages of
five and nine worked from 58 to 74 hours a week. More than two-thirds
of all children surveyed were giving either all or part of their
earnings to their parents or guardians. Reduced household income from
poor crop harvests and children dropping out of school were two factors
contributing to the increased incidence of child labor.
Child laborers often faced abuse. A 1999 study concluded that
compared to nonworking children, child workers faced twice as much
physical and emotional abuse, five times as much sexual abuse, and
eight times as much neglect. Among child workers surveyed, rapes
occurred exclusively among child domestic laborers.
The Government's definition of worst forms of child labor included
prostitution and bonded labor. During the year there were reports of
forced or bonded labor of children who had been trafficked from the
Oromiya region and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples
region to other regions of the country to work as domestic servants
(see Section 5). Family members reportedly forced young girls into
prostitution (see Section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum
wage. However, some government institutions and public enterprises set
their own minimum wages. Public sector employees, the largest group of
wage earners, earned a monthly minimum wage of approximately $23 (200
birr); employees in the banking and insurance sector had a minimum
monthly wage of $27 (230 birr). According to the Office of the Study of
Wages and Other Remuneration, these wages did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Consequently, most families
in the wage sector required at least two wage earners to survive, which
forced many children to leave school early. Only a small percentage of
the population was involved in wage labor employment, which was
concentrated largely in urban areas.
The law provides for a 48-hour legal workweek (with a 24-hour rest
period), premium pay for overtime, and prohibition of excessive,
compulsory overtime. Although the Government did little to enforce the
law, in practice most employees in the formal sector worked a 40-hour
workweek.
The Government, industry, and unions negotiated to set occupational
health and safety standards; however, the inspection department of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs did not effectively enforce these
standards, due to a lack of resources. A lack of detailed, sector-
specific health and safety guidelines also inhibited enforcement.
Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous situations
without jeopardizing their employment; however, most workers feared
losing their jobs if they were to do so.
__________
GABON
Gabon is a republic dominated by a strong presidency and the
Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which has remained in power since
1968. The population was approximately 1.4 million. Legislative
elections in December resulted in continued dominance by President El
Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba's PDG, which won more than two-thirds of the
seats in a generally free and fair election. All parties participated
in the election after the Government met several opposition electoral
reform demands. In November 2005 PDG leader Bongo, President since
1967, was reelected for a seven-year term in an election marred by
irregularities. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The country's human rights record remained poor, although there
were improvements in several areas. The following human rights problems
were reported: limited ability of citizens to change their government;
use of excessive force, including torture, on prisoners and detainees;
harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; an inefficient
judiciary susceptible to government influence; restrictions on the
right of privacy; restrictions on freedom of the press, association,
and movement; harassment of refugees by security forces; widespread
government corruption; violence and societal discrimination against
women and noncitizen Africans; trafficking in persons, particularly
children; and forced labor and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
In August in Libreville a private security force, allegedly with
close ties to local government officials, reportedly beat to death a
Nigerian market vendor. Subsequent demonstrations by market vendors
against the private security force resulted in numerous arrests (see
Section 1.d.). At year's end no action had been taken against those
responsible for the killing.
No arrests were made in the 2005 killing of Gildas Mbina Boulingui
or in the 2005 drowning of a taxi driver. No further information was
available about the trials of police responsible for killing two men in
2005. Security forces were implicated in all three cases.
Ritualistic killings occurred. The authorities did not criticize
the practice. The body of Mathieu Moundounga, bearing signs of a ritual
killing, was found on December 15. There were no arrests in the case by
year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
security forces sometimes beat or tortured prisoners and detainees to
extract confessions. Unconfirmed reports from the African immigrant
community asserted that police and soldiers occasionally beat
noncitizen Africans during operations to round up and deport illegal
immigrants. As in previous years, refugees complained of harassment and
extortion by security forces. Unlike in previous years, there were no
reports that practitioners of certain traditional indigenous religions
inflicted bodily harm on other persons.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons were overcrowded
and conditions were harsh. Food, sanitation, and ventilation were poor,
and medical care was almost nonexistent. Juveniles were held with
adults and pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
As in 2005, there were no known visits by human rights monitors to
prisons; however, there also were no reports that the Government
impeded such visits.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, but the Government did not
always observe these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police,
under the Ministry of the Interior, and the gendarmerie, under the
Ministry of Defense, were responsible for domestic law enforcement and
public security; the gendarmerie was also responsible for setting up
checkpoints. Elements of the armed forces and the Republican Guard, a
heavily armed unit that protects the President, sometimes performed
internal security functions; both were subordinate to the defense
ministry. The police were inefficient, and corruption was a serious
problem. Security forces often used bribes at checkpoints to supplement
their salaries. The inspector general's office was responsible for
investigating police abuse. In August the commander of the gendarmerie
issued a communique promising to take action against officers who
practiced extortion. He said that he had recently taken disciplinary
action against approximately 100 gendarmes, and that nine were
imprisoned, 15 fired, and 13 suspended.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants based on
sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized official; however,
security forces frequently disregarded this provision. The law provides
up to 48 hours for initial detention, during which police must charge a
detainee before a judge, but police rarely respected this timetable.
Charges often were not filed expeditiously, and persons were detained
arbitrarily, sometimes for long periods. Bail could be set at
arraignment if further investigation was required. Detainees were
allowed prompt access to a lawyer and, if indigent, to one provided by
the state.
Police arbitrarily arrested market vendors during the year (see
Sections 1.e. and 2.d.). In September police raided Libreville's
largest market and arrested numerous vendors for a variety of
infractions. The vendors had protested against the activities of a
newly-established private security firm which levied mandatory fees on
all vendors in the market and beat one market vendor to death in August
(see Section 1.a.). The private security force was reported to have
close ties with local government officials.
Members of the security forces frequently detained individuals at
roadblocks under the guise of checking vehicle registration and
identity papers. Security forces frequently used such operations to
extort money.
Pretrial detention, limited to six months for a misdemeanor and to
one year for a felony charge, may be extended for six months by the
examining magistrate. Pretrial detainees have the right of free access
to their attorneys; this right was generally respected. Detainees also
have the right to an expeditious trial, but overburdened dockets
resulted in prolonged pretrial detention. Approximately 40 percent of
persons in custody were pretrial detainees.
A February census of Libreville's prison population, conducted by
the country's Justice Ministry, revealed that 277 out of 1,100
prisoners in pretrial detention had been held more than two years.
Journalists uncovered 16 cases of prisoners held more than five years
without trial, including one who had been in prison for 11 years
because the magistrate lost his file. Following public disclosure of
the situation, the lower court in Libreville reviewed the cases of
long-stay detainees and released 40 prisoners. Most of them had been
held for as long as their potential terms would have been if they had
been tried and convicted.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, the judiciary was inefficient and remained
susceptible to government influence. The President appoints and can
dismiss judges through the Ministry of Justice, to which the judiciary
is responsible. Corruption was a problem.
The judicial system includes regular courts, a military tribunal,
and a civilian High Court of Justice. The regular court system includes
trial courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The
Constitutional Court is a separate body charged with examining
constitutional questions, including the certification of elections. The
High Court of Justice is constituted by the Government as required to
consider matters of security.
Systemic resource and personnel shortages in the judiciary often
contributed to prolonged pretrial detention (see Section 1.d.).
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides the right to a public
trial and to legal counsel, and the Government generally respected
these rights. Nevertheless, a judge may deliver an immediate verdict of
guilty at the initial hearing in a state security trial if the
Government presents sufficient evidence. Defendants are presumed
innocent and have the right to be present, to confront witnesses
against them, to present witnesses or evidence on their behalf, and to
appeal; the Government generally respected these rights.
Minor disputes may be taken to a local chief, particularly in rural
areas, but the Government did not recognize such decisions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--On March 21, security forces
arrested 15 opposition members during a sweep on the compound of the
Union of Gabonese Patriots (UPG) leader Pierre Mamboundou. All were
believed to have been released by May after charges were dropped by the
authorities.
Opposition members arrested in December 2005 were released between
January and March. They had participated in a demonstration to protest
the reelection of President Bongo.
Herve Patrick Opiangah, arrested in 2004 when he led a protest
demanding that the Government recognize his political party, was
released in March on humanitarian grounds after reports that his health
was impaired.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent
civil judiciary, but it was susceptible to government influence and
corruption. Corruption was also a problem in the enforcement of
domestic court orders. Administrative remedies were not generally
available.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice.
As part of criminal investigations, police may request search warrants
from judges, which they obtained easily, sometimes after the fact.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not use search warrants
to gain access to the homes of opposition figures and their families.
Security forces conducted warrantless searches for illegal
immigrants and criminals, using street stops and identity checks.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that security forces
entered homes and arrested and detained refugees.
Authorities reportedly routinely monitored private telephone
conversations, personal mail, and the movement of citizens.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
generally did not respect these rights in practice. Few citizens
criticized the Government for fear of losing their jobs, and only a few
opposition legislators in the National Assembly openly criticized the
Government. In September 2005 the President announced that the
Government would revoke the passport of anyone who criticized the
Government in press conferences abroad; no such revocations occurred
through year's end.
The only daily newspaper was the government-affiliated L'Union.
Approximately nine privately owned weekly or monthly newspapers
represented independent views and those of various political parties,
but most appeared irregularly due to financial constraints, or in some
cases, government suspension of their publication licenses. All
newspapers, including L'Union, criticized the Government and political
leaders of all parties, but not the President. Foreign newspapers and
magazines were widely available.
The Government owned and operated two radio stations that broadcast
throughout the country. Much of their news coverage concerned the
activities of government officials, although editorials sometimes
criticized specific government policies or ministers. Seven privately
owned radio stations were operating at year's end; most were
apolitical. International radio stations broadcast locally.
The Government owned and operated two television stations. Four
privately owned television stations transmitted 24 hours per day.
Satellite television reception was available.
On June 22, the National Communication Council (NCC) re-authorized
publication of L'Autre Journal, which had been banned since 2003 for
reporting that was deemed a threat to public order.
On September 29, the NCC suspended publication for three months of
the independent weekly Echos du Nord for ``unethical'' reporting in a
column critical of government infighting. The editor of the paper
launched a hunger strike on October 3 to protest the council's action.
The council cut the suspension to one month, and the editor ended his
hunger strike, with no permanent ill effects.
On August 8, the Government spokesman and government-affiliated
media harshly criticized foreign reporters for reporting on the health
of the country's First Lady, which they considered inappropriate. Local
journalists practiced self-censorship.
The law stipulates that penalties for libel and other offenses
include a one- to three-month publishing suspension for a first offense
and a three- to six-month suspension for repeat offenses. Editors and
authors of libelous articles can be jailed for two to six months and
fined $1,000 to $10,000 (500,000 to five million CFA francs). Libel can
be either a criminal offense or a civil matter. The law authorizes the
Government to initiate criminal libel prosecution against persons for
libeling elected government officials; it also authorizes the state to
criminalize civil libel suits. The Government did not use the libel
laws during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Surveys indicated that about 5 percent of the population were using the
Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law
requires that groups obtain permits for public gatherings in advance.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of forced
dispersions.
No action was taken against security forces that forcibly dispersed
demonstrations in 2004 and 2005.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not ban marches by
political groups.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and unlike in the previous year, the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for religious
freedom, and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Ministry of the Interior maintained an official registry of
religious groups but did not register small indigenous religious
groups. The Government did not require religious groups to register but
recommended that they do so to assemble with full constitutional
protection.
The Government refused to register approximately 10 religious
groups. Nevertheless, in practice the Government allows members of
these groups to assemble, practice their religion, and to proselytize.
In recent years, some Protestant denominations have alleged that
the Government television station accorded free broadcast time to the
Catholic Church but not to minority religious groups. Others alleged
that the armed forces favored Roman Catholics and Muslims in hiring and
promotions.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no notable Jewish
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the constitution and law
provide for these rights, the Government frequently restricted them in
practice. There were no legally mandated restrictions on internal
movement, but police and gendarmes continued to stop travelers
frequently to check identity, residence, registration documents, or to
demand bribes (see Section 1.d.). Members of the security forces
harassed expatriate Africans working legally as merchants, service
sector employees, and manual laborers. Some members of the security
forces extorted bribes with threats of confiscation of residency
documents or imprisonment. Residency permits cost $200 (100,000 CFA
francs) per year, and first-time applicants were required to provide
the cost of a one-way air ticket to their country of origin. In
principle, but usually not in practice, the Government refunded the
cost of the air ticket when the individual departed the country
permanently.
There were reports that, without explanation, authorities denied
passport applications for travel abroad. There also were reports of
unreasonable delays in obtaining passports, despite a government
commitment to process passport applications within three days. The
Government intermittently enforced a regulation requiring married women
to obtain their husbands' permission to travel abroad.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government generally provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum and
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
However, refugees complained about widespread harassment, extortion,
and detentions by security forces.
In September the Government announced that it had obtained
equipment that would permit it to provide identity cards for all
refugees in the country. By replacing UNHCR-issued identity cards, the
Government sought to reduce mistreatment of refugees, placing them on
the same footing as all other immigrants.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not try to forcibly
repatriate refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic elections. In April and May, parties from the
coalition supporting the Government and from the opposition began a
dialogue on electoral reform. Although the two sides initially were
unable to reach agreement, President Bongo mediated their differences
and ultimately the Government agreed to meet key opposition demands,
including the creation of a permanent electoral commission, the end of
separate military voting, and the provision of official copies of
polling place results to opposition parties. These concessions
persuaded opposition parties to participate in the December legislative
elections, which observers considered generally free and fair, although
they suffered from administrative weaknesses. Overall, it was an
improvement over the flawed 2005 Presidential election. A single party,
the PDG, has remained in power since its creation by President Bongo in
1968, and political choice remained limited.
The Government was dominated by a strong presidency. When the
legislature is not in session the President can veto legislation,
dissolve the national legislature, call new elections, and issue
decrees that have the force of law. The legislature generally approved
legislation presented to it by the President. The President appoints
ministers of government and heads of parastatals.
Elections and Political Participation.--In December elections were
held to fill the 120 seats of the National Assembly. President Bongo's
party, the PDG, won 81 seats. Other parties allied with the PDG won 16
seats. Opposition parties won 17 seats, led by the UPG with eight
seats; UPG leader Pierre Mamboundou was among those elected. Four seats
were won by independent candidates and one by a party that identified
with neither government nor opposition. The results for one seat were
declared null by the Constitutional Court, and that race was to be
rerun.
In November 2005 President Bongo Ondimba was re-elected for another
seven-year term in an election marred by irregularities, including
incomplete and inaccurate electoral lists, abuse of government
resources, and unequal access to the media. Opposition candidates also
charged that the ruling party engaged in vote buying, multiple voting,
and ballot stuffing. According to the National Electoral Commission,
Bongo received approximately 79 percent of the vote, and Pierre
Mamboundou of the UPG party received approximately 14 percent.
Opposition parties included the UPG, the Gabonese Progressive
Party, and the newly-recognized Gabonese Union for Democracy and
Development.
There were 16 women in the 120-member National Assembly and 12
women in the 48-member cabinet.
Members of all major ethnic groups continued to occupy prominent
government positions; however, members of the President's Bateke ethnic
group and other ethnic southerners held a disproportionately large
number of key positions in the military and security forces. The
general chief of staff, the minister of defense, and the chief of the
republican guard were from the same region or ethnic group as the
President.
Indigenous Pygmies rarely participated in the political process,
and the Government made only limited efforts to include them (see
Section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was
widespread, and there was extensive media coverage of police abuses,
particularly at checkpoints; however, the anticorruption commission
issued no reports and took no action against corrupt officials during
the year. The commander of the gendarmerie stated that he would punish
officers under his command who engaged in corruption, and that he had
sanctioned more than 100 officers already (see Section 1.d.).
In May senior officials of the Fund for the Expansion and
Development of Small and Medium Enterprise were arrested for fraud.
They were released on bail and awaited trial at year's end.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information, and the Government did not allow such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A few local human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
human rights activists operated in the country without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings. Government
officials took no actions on their recommendations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on
national origin, race, gender, or opinion, the Government did not
enforce these provisions uniformly. There was considerable
discrimination against women, especially in domestic affairs. Security
forces also discriminated against noncitizens. The Government provided
a lower level of health care and educational services to children of
other African nationalities than it provided to citizens.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, it was
believed to be common, especially in rural areas. Police rarely
intervened in such incidents, and women virtually never filed
complaints with civil authorities.
Rape is against the law and carries a penalty of between five and
10 years' imprisonment; however, rape cases were seldom prosecuted.
Only limited medical and legal assistance for rape victims was
available.
Although illegal, female genital mutilation (FGM) was believed to
occur among the resident population of noncitizen Africans; however,
there were no specific reports of such practices during the year.
Although the law prohibits prostitution, it was a problem.
Enforcement was rare, as the police considered prostitution to be a low
priority.
There is no law that prohibits sexual harassment, and it was a
problem. The Government and NGOs reported cases of female domestic
workers (often victims of child trafficking) who were sexually molested
by employers.
The law provides that women have rights to equal access in
education, business, and investment, but women continued to face
considerable societal and legal discrimination, especially in rural
areas. While poor women frequently suffered discrimination, women among
the educated urban population were treated more equally. Women owned
businesses and property, participated in politics, and worked
throughout the Government and in the private sector.
By law, couples must stipulate at the time of marriage whether they
intend to adhere to a monogamous or a polygynous relationship;
polygynous marriages were more common. For monogamous married couples,
a common property law provides for the equal distribution of assets
after divorce. In a polygynous marriage, a husband is obligated to give
all wives the same level of financial support, although he may marry
additional wives without permission from his existing wives. Wives who
leave polygynous husbands receive half of their existing support as a
one-time payment.
In inheritance cases, the husband's family must issue a written
authorization before his widow can inherit property.
Common law marriage, which was accepted socially and practiced
widely, afforded women no property rights.
A regulation requires that a woman obtain her husband's permission
to travel abroad; this requirement was not enforced consistently.
Children.--The Government publicly expressed its commitment to
youth, provided 4,000 academic scholarships during the year, and used
oil revenues to build schools, pay teacher salaries, and promote
education, including in rural areas. Education is compulsory until age
16 and was generally available through sixth grade. Approximately 78
percent of primary school-age children, and less than half of secondary
school-age children, attended school. Secondary school attendance rates
for immigrant children were lower, although public schools accepted
immigrant children and the Government encouraged them to attend. The
Government provided a family allowance to the parents of
schoolchildren; however, students were required to pay for books,
uniforms, and other school supplies, which precluded numerous children
from attending school. A UN agency estimated that 64 percent of women
and 78 percent of men were literate. Boys and girls had equal
attendance rates in primary school, but more boys than girls were
enrolled in secondary school.
There was little evidence of physical abuse of children, although
there were occasional reports that family members sexually abused girls
who had passed puberty. When such reports surfaced, the accused abusers
were arrested and tried.
FGM was believed to occur among the resident population of
noncitizen Africans (see Section 5, Women).
Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a serious problem (see Section 6.d.).
Concerns about the problems faced by the large community of
children of noncitizen Africans persisted. Almost all enjoyed far less
access to education and health care than did citizen children; some
were victims of child trafficking and abuses.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons, particularly women and
children, were trafficked to the country. The antitrafficking law
provides for prison sentences for traffickers of five to 15 years'
imprisonment and fines from $20,000 to $40,000 (10 million to 20
million CFA francs). During the year police conducted periodic raids at
which suspected traffickers were identified and turned over to
prosecutors. Government agencies, in cooperation with the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF), provided care for victims, in some cases through NGOs.
No information was available on the disposition of these cases at
year's end, and there were reports that frustration over lack of
prosecutorial action led police to conduct these raids less frequently
as the year progressed.
The police and an interministerial committee composed of
representatives from the labor, justice, foreign affairs, and family
ministries, were responsible for combating trafficking. The Government
also cooperated with UNICEF and the International Labor Organization
(ILO).
Children (especially girls), primarily from Benin and Togo, worked
as domestic servants or in the informal commercial sector. Nigerian
children, also victims of trafficking, worked in the informal
commercial sector as mechanics. Trafficked children generally worked
long hours, were subjected to physical abuse, received inadequate food,
and received no wages or schooling. No statistics were available on the
number of trafficking victims in the country, but estimates ranged from
3,000 to 25,000.
There continued to be unconfirmed reports that some government
officials employed trafficked foreign children as domestic workers, and
that individual police and immigration officers were involved in
facilitating child trafficking.
UNICEF and the Government sponsored a toll-free assistance hot line
for child trafficking victims that provided 24-hour response assistance
and arranged free transport to a victims' shelter. The hot line
reported that the number of calls declined from 50 per week the
previous year to about 20; about 20 percent of them were found on
investigation to involve trafficking. A government-funded reception
center offered protection for trafficking victims, including food,
education, medical care, and repatriation assistance. A second center
run by Carmelite nuns provided similar services for older girls and
young women.
In May Libreville hosted a conference sponsored by UNICEF, the ILO,
and the Economic Community of Central African States to coordinate
efforts to prevent trafficking. The country also participated in a July
summit in Nigeria to discuss the issue with neighboring countries.
Together with other countries from west and central Africa, the
Government signed an agreement on the fight against trafficking in
persons and adopted a common action plan.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities or provide for access
to buildings or services; however, there were no reports of official
discrimination against persons with disabilities. There was some
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities, and
employment opportunities and treatment facilities were limited.
Indigenous People.--The Baka (Pygmies) are the earliest known
inhabitants of the country. Small numbers of Pygmies continued to live
as they have for hundreds of years in large tracts of rain forest in
the northeast. Most Pygmies, however, were relocated to communities
along the major roads during the late colonial and early
postindependence period, together with other residents of remote
communities. The law grants them the same civil rights as other
citizens, but Pygmies remained largely outside of formal authority,
keeping their own traditions, independent communities, and local
decision-making structures. Pygmies suffered societal discrimination,
often lived in extreme poverty, and did not have easy access to public
services. Their Bantu neighbors often exploited their labor, paying
much less than minimum wage. Despite their equal status under the law,
Pygmies generally felt they had little recourse if mistreated by Bantu.
There were no specific government programs or policies to assist
Pygmies.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law places no restrictions on the
right of association and recognizes the right of citizens to form trade
and labor unions; workers exercised this right in practice. The small
private sector workforce was unionized. Unions must register with the
Government to be recognized officially, and registration was granted
routinely.
Discrimination on the basis of union membership is illegal.
Employers who are found guilty by civil courts of having engaged in
such discrimination may be required to compensate employees. There were
no reports of any such cases during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without government interference, and
the Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining by industry, not by firm, and collectively
bargained agreements set wages for whole industries. Labor and
management met to negotiate differences, with observers from the
Ministry of Labor. Agreements negotiated by unions also applied to
nonunion workers.
The law provides workers the right to strike; however, they may do
so only with eight days advance notification and also only after
arbitration fails. Public sector employees' right to strike is limited
if a strike could jeopardize public safety. The law prohibits
government action against individual strikers who abide by the
notification and arbitration provisions. In practice, the Government
sometimes weighed in on labor disputes. For example, in November the
President told oil companies to make concessions to striking workers.
Although the President had no formal authority in the matter, the
companies reluctantly complied.
Workers from the national post office went on strike October 31
demanding an additional 40 months' salary as severance payment in
connection with reorganization of the post office. The strike was still
under way at year's end, although minimum staffing was restored on
December 8 and the post office reopened. Teachers at several public
schools went on strike November 16. Although education officials called
the strike illegal, the strikers suffered no punishment after returning
to work the following week.
Charges were dropped in the 2005 case against taxi union leader
Jean-Robert Menie.
There are no export processing zones, although there were plans to
establish one.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred, including by children (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Some Pygmies reportedly were employed under conditions tantamount
to slavery and without effective recourse to the judicial system (see
Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although children below the age of 16 may not work without the express
consent of the ministries of labor, education, and public health, child
labor was a serious problem. The law stipulates fines and prison
sentences for violations of the minimum age for work. The ministries
rigorously enforced this law in urban areas with respect to citizen
children, and few citizens under the age of 18 worked in the formal
wage sector; however, child labor occurred in rural areas, where the
law was seldom enforced.
An unknown number of children--primarily foreign--worked in
marketplaces or performed domestic duties; many of these children were
reportedly the victims of child trafficking (see Section 5). Such
children generally did not attend school, received only limited medical
attention, and often were exploited by employers or foster families.
Laws forbidding child labor theoretically extended protection to these
children, but abuses often were not reported. A 2001 ILO study
estimated that 20,000 children between 10 and 14 years old were
economically active, but the actual number was probably considerably
higher since most children worked in the informal sector.
The constitution and labor code protect children against
exploitation. The Ministry of Justice is responsible for implementing
and enforcing child labor laws and regulations. Inspectors from the
Ministry of Labor are responsible for receiving, investigating, and
addressing child labor complaints. However, violations were not
systematically addressed because the inspection force was inadequate
and complaints were not investigated routinely. The Government viewed
child labor and child trafficking as closely linked; the only available
survey of children in the labor force found that 97 percent were
noncitizens. As a matter of policy, therefore, prevention of child
labor was to begin with prevention of trafficking.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In September the President
announced an increase in the monthly minimum wage from $85 to $155
(44,000 to 80,000 CFA francs); government workers received an
additional monthly allowance of $40 (20,000 CFA francs) per child.
Government workers also received transportation, housing, and family
benefits. The law does not mandate housing or family benefits for
private sector workers. The minimum wage did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The labor code governs working conditions and benefits for all
sectors and theoretically provides a broad range of protection to
workers; however, the Government sometimes did not respect these
protections. According to the law, representatives of labor,
management, and the Government are required to meet annually to examine
economic and labor conditions and to recommend a minimum wage rate to
the President, who then issues an annual decree. This procedure has not
been followed since 1994, in part because the Government was following
a policy of wage austerity recommended by international financial
institutions.
The labor code stipulates a 40-hour workweek with a minimum rest
period of 48 consecutive hours. Employers must compensate workers for
overtime work. Companies in the formal sector generally paid
competitive wages and granted the fringe benefits required by law,
including maternity leave and six weeks annual paid vacation.
The Ministry of Health established occupational health and safety
standards but did not enforce or regulate them. The application of
labor standards varied from company to company and between industries.
In the formal sector, workers may remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without fear of retribution.
The Government reportedly did not enforce labor code provisions in
sectors where the majority of the labor force was foreign. Foreign
workers, both documented and undocumented, were obliged to work under
substandard conditions; were dismissed without notice or recourse; or
were mistreated physically, especially in the case of illegal
immigrants. Employers frequently paid noncitizens less and required
them to work longer hours, often hiring them on a short-term, casual
basis to avoid paying taxes, social security contributions, and other
benefits.
__________
THE GAMBIA
The Gambia is a multiparty, democratic republic with a population
of 1.5 million. On September 22, President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh was re-
elected for a third five-year term in an election considered partially
free and fair. President Jammeh's party, the Alliance for Patriotic
Reorientation and Construction (APRC), dominated the National Assembly.
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces, there were frequent instances in which elements of
the security forces acted independently of government authority. On
March 21, a coup attempt was uncovered and approximately 50 suspects
were detained, 21 of whom remained in detention awaiting or on trial at
year's end.
The foiled coup plot resulted in a more restrictive environment,
and the Government's respect for the human rights of its citizens
declined during the year. Although the constitution and law provide for
protection of most human rights, there were problems in many areas.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions increased, particularly after the
discovery of the coup plot. Security forces harassed and mistreated
detainees, prisoners, opposition members, journalists, and civilians
with impunity. Prisoners were held incommunicado, faced prolonged
pretrial detention, and were denied due process. The Government
infringed on privacy rights and restricted freedom of speech and press.
Women experienced violence and discrimination, and female genital
mutilation (FGM) remained a problem. Child labor and trafficking in
persons also were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary
or unlawful killings. However, in April there were allegations that the
Government had executed five detainees in connection with the March
coup plot after the Government announced that they had escaped while
being transferred to a minimum security prison. The Government denied
the reports, but none of the escapees were seen or heard from during
the year. Similarly, the Government denied allegations of involvement
in the July 2005 case of eight men found dead in the coastal town of
Brufut, near Banjul. The victims were later identified as migrant
workers from Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo who were trying to make their way
to Europe. Government authorities announced that an investigation into
the deaths was continuing, although nothing was reported by years end.
There were no developments in the case of the 2004 killing of
journalist Deyda Hydara (see Section 2.a.).
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
The whereabouts of five men detained in connection with the March
coup attempt remained unknown at year's end; the Government claimed
that they had escaped custody. (see Section 1.a.).
On July 11, police reportedly detained Ebrima Manneh, a journalist
for the pro-government Daily Observer, at Sibanor police station;
Manneh was not seen again during the year. The Government denied that
he was being held in custody during the year.
On September 13, Tamba Fofana, a schoolteacher and opposition
supporter, reportedly was picked up by soldiers and taken to the police
on accusations of ``anti-state'' activities. He had not been seen again
by the end of the year, and the police denied knowledge of his
whereabouts. On September 18, security forces allegedly arrested
Kanyiba Kanyi, a social worker and supporter of the opposition United
Democratic Party (UDP). On October 18, the courts ordered his release,
but his whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were reports that security forces beat and mistreated persons in
custody. Following the foiled March coup plot and throughout the year,
there were credible reports of torture of detained suspects, including
journalists. For example, according to press reports, three military
officers detained in connection with the plot, Captain Yaya Darboe,
Captain Bunja Darboe, and 2nd Lieutenant Pharing Sanyang, claimed at
their court martial hearings that they had been tortured under
interrogation to force their televised confessions. The Government did
not respond to these allegations.
The Indemnity Act continued to prevent victims from seeking redress
in torture cases. The army requested that victims file formal
complaints so that cases could be investigated; however, there were no
known prosecutions in civil courts of soldiers or security officials
accused of beating or otherwise mistreating individuals during the
year.
There were no developments in the October 2005 case in which the
Police Intervention Unit--a paramilitary wing of the police--severely
beat workers at a hotel construction site for obstructing a police
officer and allegedly helping to free a prisoner. Police arrested seven
of the workers and released them on bail 24 hours later.
There were unsubstantiated claims by opposition members that the
Government continued to conduct training for vigilante groups. These
groups, also known as ``green boys,'' were suspected of involvement in
past human rights offenses.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions at Mile
2, Janjanbureh, and Jeshwang prisons generally met international
standards. The Government permitted some visits by independent human
rights observers, but they were not allowed to visit detained suspects
connected to the foiled coup plot. Local jails were overcrowded, and
inmates, including detainees awaiting trial, occasionally slept on the
floor. Prison guards were reluctant to intervene in fights between
prisoners, which resulted in injuries.
Political prisoners were not held separately from other prisoners.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by some local and international human rights groups;
however, neither the media nor the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) was granted access to detainees or prisoners during the
year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were instances
of police and security forces arbitrarily arresting and detaining
citizens, especially following the failed coup plot.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces are
responsible for external defense and report to the secretary of state
(minister) for defense, a position held by the President. The police,
under the secretary of state for the interior, are responsible for
public security. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA), responsible
for protecting state security, collecting intelligence, and conducting
covert investigations, reports directly to the President. During the
year the NIA often assumed police functions such as detaining and
questioning criminal suspects. The police generally were corrupt and
ineffective. On occasion police acted with impunity and defied court
orders.
Many members of the security forces were held without charge in
connection to the March coup plot, often beyond the legal 72-hour limit
for detention.
In May the police established a human rights and complaints unit
tasked with teaching basic human rights knowledge to police and other
law enforcement officers and sensitizing them to the need to respect
the rights of prisoners and detainees. The unit also receives and
addresses complaints of human rights abuses committed by police
officers from both civilians and other police officers. During the year
the unit received several complaints, and some police officers faced
disciplinary actions as a result. The NIA is also authorized to
investigate police abuses, although it was not reported that the NIA
conducted any such investigations during the year.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that authorities obtain a
warrant before arresting a person; in practice individuals often were
arrested without a warrant. Periods of detention generally ranged from
a few hours to 72 hours, the legal limit after which detainees must be
charged or released; however, there were numerous instances of
detentions surpassing the limit, particularly in cases related to the
March coup plot. There was a functioning bail system; however, on
occasion, the courts released accused offenders on bail, while the
police or other law enforcement agencies rearrested offenders upon
their leaving the court.
Many detainees, particularly those connected to the failed coup
plot, were held incommunicado for extended periods during the year.
According to an August report by the International Bar Association
(IBA), prisoners frequently were not permitted to meet privately with
their attorneys. For example, Tamsir Jasseh, who was arrested without
charge on April 6 in connection with the March coup attempt, was not
provided access to legal counsel for several months, although he had
legal representation at his trial by year's end. In addition to the
specific concerns raised about these instances of incommunicado
detention, the IBA report expressed general concern about the country's
judicial environment (see Section 1.e.).
The Government did not formally revoke military decrees enacted
prior to the constitution that give the NIA and the secretary of state
for the interior broad power to detain individuals indefinitely without
charge ``in the interest of national security.'' These detention
decrees are inconsistent with the constitution, but they have not been
subject to judicial challenge. The Government claimed that it no longer
enforced these decrees; however, there continued to be numerous cases
of detentions that exceeded the 72-hour limit beyond which detainees
must be charged or released.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested numerous persons for political
reasons, and the whereabouts of some of these political detainees,
including a journalist and an opposition supporter, were unknown at
year's end (see Sections 1.b. and 1.e.). The Government also arrested
and detained opposition members who publicly criticized or who
expressed views in disagreement with the Government (see Section 2.a.).
Security officials arbitrarily detained and abused journalists during
the year (see Section 2.a.).
Security forces arrested approximately 50 persons in connection
with the March 21 coup attempt; 24 were released during the year, five
allegedly escaped during a prison transfer, and 21 remained in
detention at year's end. All but one of the suspects were arrested on
March 22 on charges of treason and or concealment of treason; an army
officer was arrested on April 14 and was not charged by year's end.
Trials of 15 of the 21 detainees, 10 soldiers, and five civilians were
ongoing at year's end (see Section 1.e.).
On December 8, former deputy director-general of the NIA, Alieu
Singhateh, and former director of external relations of the NIA, Kemo
Balajo, were released after prolonged detention on charges of
concealment of treason in relation to the March 21 coup plot. The two
were denied access to lawyers for several months.
In several instances security forces forcibly entered homes without
warrants to arrest citizens. For example, on April 6, Sheriff Mustapha
Dibba, the speaker of the National Assembly, and Mariam Denton, a
prominent lawyer and UDP supporter who was representing coup suspect
Tamsir Jasseh, were arrested without warrant. Dibba was accused of
involvement in the coup plot but was released without charge on April
15 after being held for several days beyond the 72-hour limit. Denton
was held for 111 days and was denied access to legal counsel for
several weeks. In July a court order was issued for her release. The
Government tried unsuccessfully to subvert the court order by charging
her with concealment of treason; but on July 25, the charges were
dropped and she was released.
Colonel Ndure Cham, former chief of defense staff who was the
alleged mastermind of the March 21 coup plot, remained at large at
year's end. Two of the five accused civilians, Alieu Jobe and Tamsir
Jasseh, were charged with aiding and abetting Cham's escape in addition
to charges of concealment of treason. They remained in detention, and
their trial was ongoing at year's end.
Security forces also detained the family members of suspected coup
plotters (see Section 1.f.).
On August 2, the former chairman of the Independent Electoral
Commission, Ndondi Njie, and two commissioners, Sulayman Sait Mboob and
Ebrima Silla Sanneh, were detained on charges of financial malpractice.
On August 7, Mboob and Sanneh were released on bail without being
formally charged. On September 5, Njie was released without charge. No
proof of financial malpractice was produced.
On June 2, the NIA detained Duta Kamaso, a former member of the
National Assembly, on ``political and economic grounds; Kamaso was
released without charge on October 9. No explanation had been given for
her arrest by year's end. Kamaso reportedly had to report to the NIA on
a weekly basis during the year.
On November 10, two NIA officers, Nuru Secka and Bamba Manneh, were
released on bail after spending several months in detention for failing
to arrest a fugitive, former state guard commander major Kalipha
Bajinka.
In early February, the Government withdrew charges against the
three National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) leaders
detained in November 2005 for sedition and unauthorized possession of a
diplomatic passport.
Backlogs and inefficiency in the justice system resulted in lengthy
pretrial detentions. Approximately 40 of Mile 2 Prison's 230 inmates
were in pretrial detention, and some had been incarcerated for several
years while awaiting trial. On December 19, 20, and 21, the NIA freed a
total of 26 people held in connection with minor offenses. The length
of their detention was not disclosed.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the courts,
especially at the lower levels, were corrupt and subject to executive
pressure at times. Nevertheless, the courts demonstrated independence
on several occasions, including in the high-profile cases of Malick
Mboob and Duta Kamaso (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.). However, there were
instances of the Government and security forces disregarding court
orders. For example, on March 30, the Government charged Pa Sallah
Jeng, the mayor of Banjul, with the same allegations of corruption,
abuse of office, and unauthorized spending for which he had been
acquitted in December 2005; the trial was ongoing at year's end.
The judicial system is composed of the Supreme Court, the court of
appeal, high courts, and eight magistrate courts. Cadi courts have
jurisdiction over Islamic matters of marriage, divorce, land disputes,
and inheritance where Muslim parties are involved. District chiefs
preside over local tribunals that administer customary law at the
district level. Cadi courts and district tribunals do not offer
standard legal representation to the parties involved, since lawyers
are not trained in Islamic or customary law. Military tribunals cannot
try civilians.
An August report by the IBA expressed concern over the judicial
environment, citing instances of lack of compliance with court orders,
detainees held incommunicado and without access to lawyers, and a
climate of fear for the safety and reputation of lawyers and their
families when accepting politically related cases. The report also
stated that some legal practitioners were reluctant to engage in cases
involving human rights or public interest due to fear of harassment.
Trial Procedures.--Both civilian trials and courts martial are held
in public. No juries are used in the civilian courts, but in the
courts- martial the proceedings are presided over by a judge advocate
assisted by a panel of senior military officers. The constitution and
law provide for a fair and public trial, and the judiciary generally
enforced this right, although frequent delays and missing witnesses and
lawyers often impeded the process. Many cases were also delayed because
of adjournments designed to allow the police or NIA time to continue
their investigations.
Indigent defendants charged with murder or manslaughter have a
right to an attorney provided at public expense. The prosecution
prepares a case file, including testimonies and evidence, and provides
a copy for the defense. Defendants are presumed innocent, have the
right to confront witnesses and evidence against them, present
witnesses on their own behalf, have the right to an attorney, and
appeal judgment to a higher court. The law extends the above rights to
all citizens, and there were no groups that were denied these rights
based on race.
The judicial system suffered from corruption, particularly at the
lower levels, and from inefficiency at all levels. Cases continued to
be delayed because the court system was overburdened. To alleviate the
backlog and reduce the possibility of undue influence and corruption,
the Government continued to recruit judges and magistrates from other
Commonwealth countries that have a similar legal system. The Attorney
General oversees the hiring of foreign judges on contract. The
Government reserves the right not to renew a judge's contract. Foreign
judges were generally less susceptible to corruption and executive
branch pressure. Despite these steps, corruption in the legal system
persisted.
The judicial system recognizes customary, Shari'a (Islamic law),
and general law. Customary law covers marriage and divorce for non-
Muslims, inheritance, land tenure, tribal and clan leadership, and
other traditional and social relations. Shari'a was observed primarily
in Muslim marriage and divorce matters; it favored men in its
provisions (see Section 5). General law, following the British model,
applied to felonies and misdemeanors in urban areas and to the formal
business sector.
On January 20 the Gambia Bar Association (GBA) accused the former
chief justice, Stephen Allan Brobbey, of partiality in the assignment
of cases, and lawyers boycotted one justice, M.A. Paul, for his alleged
mishandling of trials, by refusing to appear before his court. The
chief justice rejected the accusations but immediately effected changes
in the courts and assigned Justice Paul to the civil division.
The trials of 15 of the 21 suspects detained in connection with the
March 21 coup plot were ongoing at year's end (see Section 1.d.). Of
the six NIA agents charged with concealment of treason, two, Alieu
Singhateh and Kemo Balajo, were released on December 8, while Abdoulie
Kujabi, Ngor Secka, Foday Barry, and Baba Saho, had not been tried by
year's end. Retired Colonel Vincent Jatta, also charged with
concealment of treason, was also awaiting trial at year's end. One
detainee, Sergeant Buba Mendy, was arrested on April 14 and had not
been charged at year's end. The trial of the five civilians charged
with concealment of treason--Tamsir Jasseh, Alieu Jobe, Omar Faal
Keita, Demba Dem, and Hamadi Sowe--was ongoing at year's end; two of
the men, Alieu Jobe and Tamsir Jasseh, were also charged with aiding
and abetting the escape of Colonel Ndure Cham, the alleged mastermind
of the coup who remained at large at year's end.
The trial of the 10 soldiers was scheduled to resume in October;
however, the defendants were brought before a court-martial at Yundum
Army Barracks on October 11. No official reason was given for
transferring the case to the court martial. Four soldiers, Captain
Bunja Darboe, Captain Yaya Darboe, Captain Wassa Camara, and 2nd
Lieutenant Pharing Sanyang, were charged with treason; six others,
Captain Abdourahman Jah, Captain Pierre Mendy, Lieutenant Momodou Alieu
Bah, Corporal Samba Bah, Lance Corporal Babou Janha, and Private Alhaji
Nying, were charged with concealment of treason.
All of the detainees faced extended pre-trial detention and were
denied access to legal counsel for several months during the year. Two
suspects in the coup plot were released after testifying against the
defendants as state witnesses; Mustapha Lowe was released on November
20, and Ousman Sey was released on December 29. There were no reports
that Lowe and Sey were coerced into testifying against the other
suspects; however, their charges were dropped once they agreed to
testify as prosecution witnesses.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year there were
credible reports that the Government held civilians as political
detainees based on their political views or associations, and many were
held incommunicado for prolonged periods. For example, on April 6, the
Government detained without charge Mariam Denton, a prominent lawyer
and UDP supporter who was representing coup suspect Tamsir Jasseh (see
Section 1.d.). Until her release on July 25, Denton was denied access
to her attorney despite an April 25 high court order granting the
attorney unrestricted access to her. On June 2, the NIA detained Duta
Kamaso, a former member of the National Assembly, on ``political and
economic'' grounds, and accused her of being an informant for the
antigovernment Freedom newspaper; Kamaso was released without charge on
October 9 but must report to the NIA on a weekly basis. From August 26
to September 5, the Government detained Buba Sanyang, a NADD supporter,
on accusations of impersonating a member of the IEC (see Section 3).
Sanyang read a televised confession statement alleging he was assigned
by NADD leader Halifa Sallah to impersonate an IEC officer and collect
voter registration cards. He was released later on bail after being
held at NIA headquarters for several days beyond the 72-hour limit; no
charges were ever brought against him and his case did not go to trial.
During the year the Government arrested and detained opposition
members who publicly criticized or who expressed views in disagreement
with the Government (see Section 2.a.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The high court has
jurisdiction to hear cases for civil and human rights violations,
although it may decline to exercise its powers if it is satisfied that
adequate means of redress are available under other laws. The Indemnity
Act continued to prevent victims from seeking redress in some cases
(see Section 1.c.). The army continued to encourage victims to file
formal complaints so that old cases would be investigated; however, no
such cases were filed during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but
the Government did not always respect these prohibitions in practice.
Decree 45, which abrogates constitutional safeguards against arbitrary
searches and the seizure of property without due process remained in
effect; however, in practice the Government did not use it. In several
instances security forces forcibly entered homes without warrants to
arrest citizens (see Section 1.d.). For example, on April 6, Sheriff
Mustapha Dibba, speaker of the National Assembly, and Mariam Denton, a
prominent lawyer representing a coup plot suspect, were arrested
without warrants (see Section 1.d.).
Several family members of suspected coup plotters were detained. On
March 25, Awa Darboe Cham, wife of Colonel Ndure Cham, the suspected
mastermind of the coup plot, was arrested and questioned about her
husband's whereabouts. She was held beyond the 72-hour limit and then
released on April 4 without charge. During the last week of March the
wife of National Assembly Member Omar Camara was detained and held
beyond the legal limit; on April 3, she was released without charge
along with her husband.
Observers believed the Government monitored citizens engaged in
activities that it deemed objectionable.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and the press; however, the Government limited
these rights by intimidation, detention, and restrictive legislation.
Although the independent press practiced a degree of self-censorship,
opposition views regularly appeared in the independent press, and there
was frequent criticism of the Government.
During the year the Government arrested and detained opposition
members who publicly criticized or who expressed views in disagreement
with the Government. On June 27 an elected local official from the UDP,
Ousman ``Rambo'' Jatta, was arrested on charges of ``behaving in a
manner conducive to a breach of the peace.'' On July 10, the case was
discontinued and Jatta was granted bail; however, on September 23,
security agents rearrested him, reportedly without charge. On October
17, a court ordered his release, but he remained in detention at year's
end.
The NADD leaders detained in November 2005 were released in
December 2005 (see Section 1.d.).
The Government published one newspaper, The Gambia Daily. The Daily
Observer, although privately owned, tended to favor the Government in
its coverage. There were three other independent newspapers, including
one published by an opposition political party. There was one
independent bi-weekly magazine.
During the year one government-owned and four private radio
stations broadcast throughout the country. During most of the year
government-owned television and radio gave very limited coverage to
opposition activities. Local television stations rebroadcast the BBC,
Radio France Internationale, the Voice of America, and other foreign
news reports, and all were available via short-wave radio. The
government-owned Gambian Radio and Television Service (GRTS)
television, foreign cable, and satellite television channels were
available in many parts of the country. The Senegalese-owned radio
station SUD FM remained closed during the year; in 2005 the Government
revoked its operating license for allegedly broadcasting derogatory
remarks about the Government and the Senegalese government.
The Government allowed unrestricted access to satellite television,
and residents who could afford it received independent news coverage by
satellite dish or antenna.
The deterioration of the country's media environment continued
during the year. The Government harassed journalists and editors of
newspapers that published articles it considered inaccurate or
sensitive.
On March 28, police arrested Madi Ceesay, the managing director,
and Musa Saidykhan, the editor-in-chief of The Independent newspaper
after it published two articles critical of the President. Ceesay and
Saidykhan were released without charge on April 20. The Independent
remained closed at year's end.
On April 10 Lamin Fatty, journalist for The Independent, was
charged with publishing an article the state considered to be ``false
and malicious.'' Fatty's trial began on June 12 but was postponed
numerous times. His trial was suspended indefinitely at year's end,
meaning the trial will not continue unless assigned to a new
magistrate.
On May 24, The Daily Observer published a letter reportedly from
the editor of The Freedom Newspaper, an online newspaper critical of
the Government, pledging his allegiance to the APRC, along with a list
of the paper's supposed informants. On May 30, the NGO Reporters
Without Borders reported that this was false information and the
Government had attempted to hack into the Website of The Freedom
Newspaper, smear the name of its editor, and publicize the names of its
subscribers.
Also on May 24, the NIA detained Malick Mboob, a former journalist,
for allegedly being an informant for The Freedom Newspaper. Mboob was
released without charge on October 9.
On August 29, the NIA reportedly detained Amie Sillah, a NADD
activist and journalist for the opposition Foroyaa newspaper. No reason
for her arrest was given, and Sillah was released without charge on the
same day.
On September 8, the NIA detained GRTS reporter and producer Dodou
Sanneh, who was assigned to cover the opposition's Presidential
campaign. On September 13, he was fired from GRTS and released from
custody. Although the Government later ordered the director general of
GRTS to reinstate him, Sanneh was dismissed again on November 20.
At a September 24 press conference after his election victory,
President Jammeh claimed he would ban any newspaper deemed to threaten
the country's peace and security through ``irresponsible reporting.''
In some cases journalists from certain independent newspapers were
denied access to public events due to official disapproval of their
editorial stance.
The Senegalese-owned radio station SUD FM remained closed during
the year. The Government revoked its operating license in October 2005
for allegedly broadcasting derogatory remarks regarding both the
Government and Senegalese government.
During the three-week campaign period before the September
Presidential election, opposition parties were allotted television time
slots, but coverage of opposition rallies was limited. Contrary to the
code of conduct created by journalists and adopted by the media for
coverage of the election, the ruling APRC party received more coverage
than the opposition.
Internet Freedom.--Although there were no reports that the
Government monitored e-mail or Internet chatrooms, the Government on
one occasion restricted access to the Internet. In late May the
Government reportedly blocked access to The Freedom Newspaper, and the
site remained blocked at the end of the year. Individuals and groups
could generally engage in the peaceful expression of views via the
Internet, including by electronic mail. Although many citizens were
illiterate and most did not have computers or Internet connections at
home, Internet cafes were popular in urban areas. Internet access was
limited by slow connection speeds and was frequently interrupted by
power outages. On November 6, the Gambia Press Union opened an Internet
cafe offering free access to journalists.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government did not always respect this right in practice.
In June the Government denied a request by the Association of
Nongovernmental Organizations to hold a civil society forum on freedom
of expression in association with the African Union Summit.
On September 20, police reportedly sprayed teargas on participants
in a UDP rally; 12 UDP supporters were briefly detained.
In December 2005 an armed police riot squad blocked friends and
family of slain journalist Deyda Hydara from accessing the site of his
death on the anniversary of his murder. The second anniversary was
commemorated without obstruction on December 16.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council's Decree
81 requires NGOs to register with the National Advisory Council, which
has the authority to deny, suspend, or cancel the right of any NGO to
operate, including that of international NGOs. There were no reports of
NGOs being denied the right to operate during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no reported societal
violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of religious
groups. There was no known Jewish community, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights but allow for ``reasonable restrictions.'' Restrictions
were made on foreign travel for many people released from detention,
often because their travel documents were confiscated at the time of
their arrest or soon afterwards. These documents were eventually
returned during the year.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--Neither the constitution nor the law
provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with
the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol, but the Government has established a system for providing
such protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or
asylum. The Government provided temporary protection through the
registration of refugees with the Department of Immigration.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR coordinated government
efforts with the International Organization for Migration, the Gambia
Red Cross Society and other agencies to provide assistance to refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, partially free and fair elections held on
the basis of universal suffrage. The constitution provides for
democratic elections of the President and National Assembly every five
years. The APRC remained the dominant political party.
Elections and Political Participation.--On September 22, President
Jammeh was re-elected for a third term, winning approximately 67
percent of the vote. The main opposition political party, the UDP,
challenged the election; however, on October 20, the courts upheld the
election results.
The Commonwealth Observer Group reported that the election result
represented an ``expression of the will of the people''''; other
international observers declared the election partially free and fair,
but noted under-age voting, voting by non-nationals, and biased media
coverage in favor of President Jammeh. Opposition parties criticized
these irregularities and stated that the APRC did not adhere to the
code of conduct in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) brokered by
the Commonwealth in September 2005. The opposition political parties
signed the MOU in September 2005, but the APRC refused to sign until
February.
In January 2005 five opposition parties formed the NADD alliance to
contest the Presidential election and the 2007 National Assembly
elections. Leaders of the National Democratic Action Movement, the
National Reconciliation Party (NRP), the People's Democratic
Organization for Independence and Socialism, the People's Progressive
Party, and the UDP signed a Memorandum of Understanding that
established NADD; however, the UDP and NRP withdrew from NADD before
the Presidential election and ran as a separate alliance.
In July 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the four members of the
National Assembly who fell under the newly-formed NADD coalition to
vacate their seats and run in a special election. In September 2005
three of the four opponents regained their seats in a special election;
the member who lost contested the vote in court, but at year's end the
case had still not been heard.
Individuals representing political parties or running as
independents could freely declare their candidacy if their nomination
was approved according to the rules of the IEC.
On July 17, President Jammeh named a new chairman for the IEC after
former chairman Ndondi Njie was removed on charges of financial
malpractice (see Section 1.d.); however, the replacement process was
not in accordance with the rules of the constitution, which states that
prior to removing an IEC commissioner for misconduct, the President
must appoint a tribunal of three judges to make an inquiry and report
on the facts. The accused member of the IEC is entitled to appear and
be legally represented before the tribunal.
The Government arrested members of the opposition during the year
(see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.).
There were five women in the 53-seat National Assembly; two were
elected and three were nominated by the President. After a cabinet
reshuffle, at year's end there were five women in the 15-member
cabinet, including the vice President.
There were no statistics available on the percentage of minorities
who compose the legislature or the cabinet. President Jammeh and some
members of his administration were from the previously marginalized
minority Jola ethnic group.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption
remained a serious problem, although there were some government efforts
to curb it during the year. The President often spoke out against
corruption, and leading political and administrative figures, including
a close ally of the President, faced harsh sentences on charges of
corruption.
The findings of the 2005 Commission of Inquiry into official
corruption, commonly known as the ``Paul Commission,'' were not made
public by year's end. In January the high court ordered a stay of
execution on the commission's eviction orders against 20 former senior
civil servants and ordered that the properties in question be restored
to their owners. However, the stay of execution was ignored, and a few
days later security forces evicted the former officials from their
homes. In June a separate court reversed the recommendations for one
member of the group, former Justice Minister Pap Cheyassin Secka. The
GBA accused Justice Paul of lacking impartiality, and the high court
dismissed the recommendations, charging that they were biased.
The constitution and law do not provide for public access to
government information. Under the Official Secrets Act, civil servants
are not allowed to divulge information about their department or to
speak to the press without prior clearance with their head of
department.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views, although some
members of domestic human rights groups reportedly practiced self-
censorship in matters related to the Government. Amnesty International
expressed concern over the situation of detainees held incommunicado
and issued periodic updates on their status. The Government did not
respond to these reports. The Government allowed visits by the UN and
other international governmental organizations, such as the
Commonwealth Secretariat, but offered no response to reports issued
after the visits.
In December 2005 the Office of the Ombudsman established the
National Human Rights Unit (NHRU) to promote and protect human rights
and to support vulnerable groups. During the year the unit's reports
focused on social and economic issues, such as gender, welfare, and
child labor, and were not critical of the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, religion,
sex, disability, language, or social status, and the Government
generally enforced these prohibitions.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a common
problem. Police considered reported incidents to be domestic issues
outside of their jurisdiction. There was no law prohibiting domestic
violence; however, cases of domestic violence could be prosecuted under
laws prohibiting rape, spousal rape, and assault. The penalty for rape
is life in prison, and it was enforced. The law against spousal rape
was difficult to enforce effectively, as many did not consider spousal
rape a crime and failed to report it.
The law does not prohibit FGM. The Government publicly supported
efforts to eradicate FGM and discouraged it through health education;
however, the practice remained widespread and entrenched. Between 60
and 90 percent of women have undergone FGM. Approximately seven of the
nine major ethnic groups practiced FGM at ages varying from shortly
after birth until age 16. FGM was less frequent among the educated and
urban segments of those groups. There were unconfirmed reports of
incidences of health-related complications, including deaths,
associated with the practice of FGM; however, no accurate statistics
were available. Several NGOs conducted public education programs to
discourage the practice and spoke out against FGM and harmful
traditional practices in the media. During the year the National
Assembly Select Committee on Women and Children continued its campaign
against FGM and other harmful traditional practices affecting the lives
of women and children.
Prostitution is illegal but was a problem, especially in the
tourist areas. The Government expelled numerous foreign prostitutes.
The Tourism Offences Act deals with increasing incidents of tourism-
related offenses, including sex tourism. The act prohibits child
prostitution, trafficking, and pornography. No prosecutions or
convictions were made under the Act during the year.
There are no laws against sexual harassment. Although individual
instances have been noted, sexual harassment was not believed to be
widespread.
Traditional views of women's roles resulted in extensive societal
discrimination in education and employment. Employment in the formal
sector was open to women at the same salary rates as men. No statutory
discrimination existed in other kinds of employment; however, women
generally were employed in such pursuits as food vending or subsistence
farming.
Shari'a law is applied in divorce and inheritance matters for
Muslims, who make up more than 90 percent of the population. Women
normally received a lower proportion of assets distributed through
inheritance than did males. The appropriate church and the Office of
the Attorney General settled Christian and civil marriage and divorce
matters.
Marriages often were arranged and, depending on the ethnic group,
polygamy was practiced. Women in polygamous unions had property and
other rights arising from the marriage. They also had the option to
divorce but no legal right to approve or be notified in advance of
subsequent marriages. The Women's Bureau, which is under the Office of
the Vice President, oversees programs to ensure the legal rights of
women. Active women's rights groups existed.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare.
Although the Department of Education and the Department of Health and
Social Welfare were the most generously funded government departments,
lack of resources limited state provision of education, health, and
social services. The Department of Education financed teachers'
salaries and the construction of schools but was unable to properly
equip the schools. The Social Welfare Unit of the Department of State
for Health and Social Welfare received a very small allocation, as most
of the department's money went towards salaries for health care
professionals and the operation of hospitals and health centers across
the country. These budgetary constraints limited the resources
available to support children's welfare.
The constitution and law mandate free, compulsory primary education
up to eight years of age, but the inadequate educational infrastructure
prevented effective compulsory education, and children still must pay
school fees. During the year the Government estimated that 75 percent
of children were enrolled in primary schools. Another 15 percent were
enrolled in the Islamic schools called ``madrassas.'' Girls constituted
approximately 51 percent of primary school students and roughly one-
third of high school students. The enrollment of girls was low,
particularly in rural areas where a combination of poverty and
sociocultural factors influenced parents' decisions not to send girls
to school. As part of the Government's ongoing initiative to get girls
to go to school, the Government continued to implement a countrywide
program to pay basic school fees for all girls, a Scholarship Trust
Fund scheme that began in two regions 1998 and reached all six regions
nationwide in 2003; however, in two urban regions, girls still were
required to pay for books, school fund contributions, and exam fees.
In June 2005 the Government passed the Children's Act, which is
designed to protect and promote the welfare of children and to curb
abuses against children, including trafficking in persons. In February
the first of five regional children's courts was established under the
Act and held its first session on March 2. The court met in camera on a
weekly basis throughout the year. The court has jurisdiction to hear
all adoption, custody, maintenance, parentage, special, and criminal
cases affecting children, except for the offense of treason where the
child is jointly charged with adults. Although several criminal cases
were heard regarding rape and abuse, no convictions occurred under the
Children's Act during the year.
Authorities generally intervened when cases of child abuse or
mistreatment were brought to their attention; however, there was no
societal pattern of abuse against children. Any person who has carnal
knowledge of a girl under the age of 16 is guilty of a felony (except
in the case of marriage, which can be as early as 12 years of age).
Incest also is illegal. These laws generally were enforced. Serious
cases of abuse and violence against children were subject to criminal
penalties.
On July 23, a government shelter for children, including victims of
trafficking, began operating in the Greater Banjul Area. The Department
of Social Welfare indicated they were able to admit only around 100
children to the shelter at a time, and that several children had to be
turned away due to funding constraints.
Trafficking of children for prostitution was a problem (see Section
5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
The Child Protection Alliance (CPA), a consortium of national and
international organizations that promote the protection of children
from abuse, conducted countrywide awareness campaigns for community and
religious leaders on children's rights. Throughout the year, the CPA
organized sensitization conferences and workshops for various groups
such as lawyers, teachers, parents, media practitioners, and religious
leaders around the country.
Trafficking in Persons.--The 2005 Children's Act prohibits
trafficking in children; however, no law protects persons over the age
of 18 from trafficking. Trafficking occurred, and the Government
considered it a serious problem.
The country was a source, transit point, and destination for
trafficked persons. The number of persons, mostly children, trafficked
for commercial sexual exploitation was small but growing.
The penalty for trafficking in children (anyone under the age of
18) is life in prison, along with a substantial monetary fine.
Enforcement of the act is primarily the responsibility of the Tourism
Security Unit, a unit of the national army created specifically to
enhance security in the tourism sector and keep minors out of the
resort areas. There were no prosecutions under this law during the
year.
In 2004 a joint UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)-government study
reported that children engaged in prostitution in the main tourist
resort areas were predominantly underage, some as young as 12. The
report stated that the country attracted suspected or convicted
European pedophiles who entered the country as tourists and committed
their crimes against children with impunity. Victims of trafficking
were children of both sexes, normally under 18 years of age.
Trafficking victims mostly came from conflict-ravaged countries, such
as Liberia and Sierra Leone. Victims from Senegal, Guinea Bissau, and
Sierra Leone told CPA that foreign residents obtained permission from
their home country families to employ them as bar waitresses or
domestic maids. After their arrival the local employers informed the
victims that their duties entailed commercial sex work.
Some child prostitution victims stated they worked to support their
families, or because they were orphans and their guardian/procurer
supported them. The guardian/procurer often assumed the role of the
``African uncle,'' allowing the children to live in his compound with
their younger siblings or paying school fees on their behalf in return
for their servitude.
There was no evidence of government involvement at any level in
trafficking in persons.
While the Government had no established victim care and health
facilities for trafficked persons, it provided temporary shelter and
access to medical and psychological services to reported victims of
trafficking.
The Government's multi-agency trafficking in persons taskforce,
which also included representatives from UNICEF, the National Assembly,
and the CPA, met throughout the year. On August 25, the CPA began
broadcasting public awareness messages about child trafficking on radio
and television as part of an outreach campaign. On December 19, the
Child Rights Unit of the Department of State for Justice held a UNICEF-
funded conference and workshop on trafficking for officers from the
police and security and intelligence services.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution protects
persons with disabilities against exploitation and discrimination, no
government agency is directly responsible for protecting persons with
disabilities. The Department of State for Social Welfare dealt mainly
with supplying some persons with disabilities with wheelchairs received
from international donors. No legal discrimination against persons with
physical disabilities existed in employment, education, or other state
services; however, some societal discrimination existed towards persons
with disabilities. Persons with severe disabilities subsisted primarily
through private charity. Persons with less severe disabilities were
accepted fully in society, and they encountered little discrimination
in employment for which they physically were capable. There were no
laws to ensure access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and
very few buildings in the country were specifically accessible to
persons with disabilities.
During the year a government attempt to remove beggars, many of
whom have disabilities, from the streets had adverse effects on these
persons. The NHRU specifically sought to promote the rights of women
with disabilities. The issue of the rights of persons with disabilities
attracted press coverage throughout the year, and several NGOs sought
to improve awareness of these rights, including encouraging the
participation of persons with disabilities in sports and physical
activities. Persons with disabilities were given priority access to
polling booths on voting day.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was evidence of
societal discrimination against persons infected with the HIV/AIDS
virus. Stigma and discrimination hindered disclosure and led to
rejection from partners and relatives. In some cases persons infected
with HIV/AIDS were prevented from meeting visitors. The Government took
a multi-sectoral approach to fighting HIV/AIDS and updated the National
Strategic Plan, which provides for care, treatment, and support to
persons living with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS, and the protection of
the rights of those at risk of infection. The National AIDS Secretariat
(NAS), whose goal is to promote public awareness of HIV/AIDS, sponsored
a television sensitization campaign during the year to educate people
about HIV/AIDS and prevent discrimination. Also, from October 2 6, NAS
and the local UN Development Program jointly held the second annual
partnership conference on HIV/AIDS, which focused on the education
sector response to HIV/AIDS.
There were no discriminatory laws based on sexual orientation;
however, there was societal discrimination based on sexual orientation,
which remained a social taboo.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Labor Act, which applies to all
workers, including foreign or migrant workers, except civil servants,
specifies that workers are free to form associations, including trade
unions, and workers exercised this right in practice. Unions must
register to be recognized, and there were no cases where registration
was denied to a union that applied for it. The act specifically
prohibits police officers and military personnel, as well as other
civil service employees, from forming unions. Approximately 20 percent
of the work force was employed in the modern wage sector, where unions
were most active.
Employers may not fire or discriminate against members of
registered unions for engaging in legal union activities, and the
Government intervened to assist workers who were fired or discriminated
against by employers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, it
was widely felt that the Government would not tolerate industrial
action. Unions were able to negotiate without government interference;
however, in practice the unions lacked experience, organization, and
professionalism, and often turned to the Government for assistance in
negotiations. The law allows workers to organize and bargain
collectively, and although trade unions were small and fragmented,
collective bargaining took place. Union members' wages, which generally
exceeded legal minimums, were determined by collective bargaining,
arbitration, or agreements reached between unions and management. The
Labor Act also sets minimum contract standards for hiring, training,
and terms of employment and provides that contracts may not prohibit
union membership.
The law authorizes strikes but also places restrictions on strikes
by requiring unions to give the commissioner of labor 14 days' written
notice before beginning an industrial action (28 days for essential
services); no strikes occurred during the year. The law specifically
prohibits police officers and military personnel, as well as other
civil service employees, from striking. The police and military had
access to a complaints unit, and civil servants could take their
complaints to the Public Service Commission or the Personnel Management
Office.
Upon application by an employer to a court, the court may prohibit
industrial action that is ruled to be in pursuit of a political
objective. The court also may forbid action judged to be in breach of a
collectively agreed procedure for settlement of industrial disputes. It
prohibits retribution against strikers who comply with the law
regulating strikes.
There is a government-established export-processing zone (EPZ) at
the port of Banjul and the adjacent bonded warehouses. The labor code
covers workers in the EPZs, and they were afforded the same rights as
workers elsewhere in the economy.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children;
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section
5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a problem, although the constitution protects children
less than 16 years of age from economic exploitation, and the
Children's Act protects children, defined as those under the age of 18,
from exploitative labor or hazardous employment. The Act also sets the
minimum age of 12 years for engaging in apprenticeships in the informal
sector. There was no effective compulsory education, and because of
limited secondary school openings, most children completed formal
education by the age of 14 and then began work. Child labor protection
does not extend to youth performing customary chores on family farms or
engaged in petty trading, as child labor in informal sectors is
difficult to regulate and laws implicitly apply only to the formal
sector. In rural areas most children assisted their families in farming
and housework. In urban areas many children worked as street vendors or
taxi and bus assistants. There were a few instances of children begging
on the street. The tourist industry stimulated a low, but growing,
level of child prostitution (see Section 5). Employee labor cards,
which include a person's age, were registered with the labor
commissioner, who was authorized to enforce child labor laws; however,
enforcement inspections rarely took place. The Department of Labor
under the Department of State for Trade and Employment was responsible
for implementing the provisions of the International Labor Organization
(ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. The 2003
Tourism Offences Act incorporates ILO provisions outlawing child
prostitution and pornography; however, the Government generally was
ineffective in enforcing those provisions.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages and working hours
are established by law through six joint industrial councils,
comprising representatives from labor, management, and the Government.
The lowest minimum wage according to law was approximately $0.70 (19.55
dalasi) per day for unskilled labor, but in practice the minimum wage
was approximately $1.79 (50 dalasi). The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
minimum wage law covered only 20 percent of the labor force,
essentially those workers in the formal economic sector. A majority of
workers were employed privately or were self-employed, often in
agriculture. Most citizens did not live on a single worker's earnings
and shared resources within extended families. The Department of Labor
is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage and it did so when cases
of underpayment were brought to its attention.
The basic legal workweek is 48 hours within a period not to exceed
six consecutive days. Nationwide, the workweek included four eight-hour
workdays and two four-hour workdays (Friday and Saturday). There are no
limits on hours worked per week and no prohibition on excessive
compulsory overtime. A 30-minute lunch break is mandated. Government
employees are entitled to one month of paid annual leave after one year
of service. Most government employees were not paid overtime. However,
government workers holding temporary positions and private sector
workers received overtime calculated per hour. Private sector employees
received between 14 and 30 days of paid annual leave, depending on
length of service.
The law specifies safety equipment that an employer must provide to
employees working in designated occupations. The law also authorizes
the Department of Labor to regulate factory health and safety, accident
prevention, and dangerous trades, and to appoint inspectors to ensure
compliance with safety standards. Enforcement was inconsistent due to
insufficient and inadequately trained staff. Workers may demand
protective equipment and clothing for hazardous workplaces and have
recourse to the labor department. The law provides that workers may
refuse to work in dangerous situations without risking loss of
employment; however, in practice authorities did not effectively
enforce this right.
The law protects foreign workers employed by the Government;
however, it only provides protection for privately employed foreigners
if they have a current valid work permit.
__________
GHANA
Ghana is a constitutional democracy with a strong presidency and a
unicameral 230-seat parliament. The country's population is
approximately 21 million. In 2004 eight political parties contested
parliamentary elections, and four parties, including the ruling New
Patriotic Party (NPP), contested Presidential elections. NPP candidate
John Agyekum Kufuor was reelected President with 52.45 percent of the
vote. Despite a few incidents of intimidation and minor irregularities,
domestic and international observers judged the elections generally
free and fair. While civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control over security forces, there were some instances in
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government
authorities.
The Government generally respected human rights and made
significant improvements during the year; however, there were problems
in several areas, including incidents of vigilante justice. Human
rights problems included deaths resulting from the excessive use of
force by police; vigilante justice; harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions; police corruption and impunity; arbitrary arrest and
detention; prolonged pretrial detention; infringement on citizens'
privacy rights; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; forced evictions;
corruption in all branches of government; violence against women and
children; female genital mutilation (FGM); societal discrimination
against women, persons with disabilities, homosexuals, and persons with
HIV/AIDS; trafficking in women and children; ethnic discrimination and
politically and ethnically motivated violence; and child labor,
including forced child labor.
During the year the Government took significant steps to improve
the protection of human rights, including passage of separate pieces of
legislation to protect the rights of whistleblowers and persons with
disabilities.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed political killings;
however, the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in the
deaths of several criminal suspects and other persons during the year.
There were no developments in the ongoing trial of three security
officers charged with the 2004 suspected political killing of Issa
Mobilla, the regional chairman of the opposition Convention People's
Party (CPP).
Security forces were responsible for several deaths during the
year. For example, on April 21, four persons were shot and killed by
police officers at Dansoman Estates in Accra. The police had been
pursuing a taxi that was similar to the one the four victims were
occupying. Police opened fire on the taxi and killed all four
occupants. The five police officers involved in the shooting were
suspended pending trial. In December an official investigation into the
shooting concluded. The Government accepted the findings and
recommendations of the investigating committee and forwarded them to
the Attorney General and the Police Council for action. At year's end,
the Attorney General was considering the committee's nine
recommendations, which included government compensation of the victims'
families.
On May 19, police shot and killed a 26-year-old man after mistaking
him for one of the robbers they were seeking. In December the
Government accepted the report prepared by the investigating committee,
which recommended that the Government pay for the victim's funeral
expenses and compensate the family of the victim.
Government forces beat and forcibly evicted hundreds of illegal
residents, which resulted in deaths (see Section 2.d.).
Forcible dispersion of demonstrators by security forces resulted in
injuries and deaths during the year (see Section 2.b.).
There were no developments in the May 2005 death of an elderly
woman in Dormaa, Brong Ahafo Region, after a police officer struck her
in the chest. The military police publicly sought information or
evidence regarding the October 2005 death of an accused thief whom
soldiers allegedly burned and beat to death at the El-Wak Barracks in
Accra, but no one had come forward with any new information by year's
end. The case remained open, and the investigation will continue once
new evidence is received.
There were no developments in the 2004 case in which seaman Philip
Kuekebey died after allegedly being beaten by fellow seamen on the
orders of their superiors.
During the year, chieftaincy disputes continued to result in
deaths, injuries, and destruction of property (see Section 5).
As in previous years, there were a number of killings that resulted
from disputes between indigenous locals and migrant herdsmen. In Volta,
Eastern, and Upper West regions, joint military and police teams
disarmed and removed Fulani herdsmen, who occasionally set up camp on
private property without the consent of the owners.
Numerous deaths resulted during the year from vigilante-style
justice on suspected criminals by angry citizens and mobs. Security
forces sometimes intervened to save the lives of the intended victims.
In August the police issued a statement urging the public not to engage
in vigilante justice, emphasizing that such actions were illegal and
punishable by law.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that some
members of the security forces appeared to sanction violence.
On April 24, a mob in Kumasi lynched a man mistakenly identified as
a thief. The man was delivering a letter to his landlady, who allegedly
recognized him but called for help anyway because she harbored a grudge
against him. Police arrested the woman, as well as two men who
allegedly stabbed the victim to death.
On May 23, a mob in Accra beat to death three men suspected of
stealing goats. Police publicly deplored the action taken by the mob,
and the case remained open at year's end.
According to news reports, on September 14, a mob beat a man to
death in Kumasi after he allegedly snatched a woman's bag. Police in
Kumasi said that the incident was not reported to them.
In December two alleged gang members suspected of burglary were
beaten to death by neighbors of the homeowner. An investigation was
ongoing at year's end.
The trial of four men who in 2005 allegedly beat to death a 16-
year-old student mistaken for a bag-snatcher was ongoing at year's end.
There were no conclusive results of an investigation into the 2005
beating death of a 38-year-old man by a mob after he allegedly shot a
former girlfriend and her female friend.
The police legal directorate did not issue an opinion on the 2004
death of a 16-year-old from Nsuaem, Western Region, whose father
petitioned the inspector general of police in 2005 for an investigation
after the police denied killing the boy during a mob attack.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there continued to be credible reports that police beat and abused
suspects, prisoners, demonstrators, and other citizens. Severe beatings
of suspects in police custody reportedly occurred throughout the
country but largely went unreported in official channels. In many
cases, police denied allegations or claimed that force was justified by
the circumstances.
In April government forces beat and forcibly evicted hundreds of
illegal residents (see Section 2.d.).
On June 3, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) ordered an
investigation into the case in which a five-month-old baby became ill
after being forced to spend the night in a Kumasi jail with her parents
and aunt. The initial arrest warrant for theft was issued for the
baby's mother, but the other two family members were also arrested when
they attempted to prevent police from arresting the mother.
In November a nursing mother, who had given birth during her third
week of serving a six-month prison sentence, was released from the
Sunyani Prison following the intervention of the Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), a government body charged
with investigating allegations of human rights abuse. The CHRAJ
regional director was touring the prison facility when she saw the
mother nursing her child.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of inter- or
intra-party clashes. There also were no reports that political party
supporters beat journalists.
There were no developments in the case of the March 2005 alleged
police beating of the traditional chieftain of the Mfantsiman District.
In August the police regional disciplinary board conducted the
trial of a police officer in Sunyani, who stood accused of shooting a
bystander in October 2005. The board's decision was then sent to the
national disciplinary board, which had not reviewed the case by year's
end; the police officer remained on suspension.
In January 2005 the police officer who shot a taxi driver in 2004
for failing to stop was suspended from his job. By year's end the
police homicide unit concluded its investigation and forwarded the case
to the Attorney General's office for a recommendation regarding
disciplinary measures for the police officer.
The Government did not continue its investigations into the June
2004 beatings of political party activists.
``Macho men'' (political party thugs) and ``land guards'' (private
security enforcers hired by citizens to settle private disputes and
vendettas) caused injury and property damage during the year. The macho
men were organized privately and operated outside the law. There were
some allegations of police complicity with these extra-legal security
agents, although police denied any involvement. During the year the
police Land and Property Fraud Unit arrested, prosecuted, and convicted
a number of land guards in the Greater Accra Region.
Vigilante-style justice conducted by angry citizens and mobs
against suspected criminals and witches resulted in deaths and injuries
(see Section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions in most
cases were harsh and sometimes life-threatening, despite government
efforts to improve them. Much of the prison population was held in
buildings that were originally old colonial forts or abandoned public
or military buildings, with poor ventilation and sanitation,
dilapidated construction, and limited space.
According to the 2004 Prisons Service Annual Report, approximately
11,700 prisoners were held in prisons designed to hold 6,500. During a
visit to Winneba Central Prison in 2005, CHRAJ found 45 prisoners
occupying a room designed for three. Medical facilities were
inadequate, and the prisons supplied only the most basic medicines.
Prisoners relied on families or outside organizations for additional
food, medicine, and other necessities. A shortage of food, bedding and
clothing for prisoners continued. Overcrowding contributed to a high
prevalence of communicable diseases. Some detainees facing short
sentences allegedly pled guilty in order to be sent to prison, where
conditions were somewhat better than in the overcrowded and unsanitary
police detention centers that also lacked windows and ventilation
systems.
In August President Kufuor asked the Prisons Service Council to
make prisons more humane by improving prison conditions, observing that
the prisons were outdated and did not distinguish among different
categories of prisoners, including first-time offenders, juveniles, and
those convicted of serious crimes. The Government had not acted on his
directives by year's end.
In December the Prisons Service set up a unit at the Nsawam Medium
Security prison to care for babies whose mothers are in prison. At
year's end, the unit had seven babies.
On June 7, a suspect in custody at the Tesano Police Station in
Accra was killed by a fellow detainee during a fight between the two in
which each accused the other of implicating him in a robbery.
On September 7, an inmate at the Bibiani Prison was found hanging
in his cell, allegedly killed by his cellmates. Police had put him in
the same cell as two of his alleged accomplices in a robbery after the
inmate agreed to testify against the other two. The investigation was
ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments in the March 2005 death of a prisoner in
Kumasi who died after fellow inmates tied him up.
In certain facilities female prisoners in police cells were
separated from male prisoners by only a few feet. In the Accra Central
Police cells, female prisoners were kept in a small vestibule,
separated from men by only a gate. The law stipulates that female
convicts be tested for pregnancy upon incarceration, regardless of the
offense, and that pregnant convicts be held in a facility where their
health needs can be met. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) that
worked with prisoners reported that many female convicts were not
tested unless they began to show signs of pregnancy. In September the
Minister for Women and Children's Affairs called on judges to avoid
giving custodial sentences to pregnant women and proposed alternative
sentences such as community work, suspended sentences, probation, and
fines.
Some juveniles inflated their ages to avoid lengthy rehabilitation
sentences in the Borstal Institute, a juvenile detention center that
the Government operated like a prison. In response, the Department of
Social Welfare and the Prison Service collaborated to transfer any
known juveniles in adult prisons to juvenile correction centers.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
During the year CHRAJ, the NGO Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare
Action (PRAWA), and the Prisons Service all visited prisons and
detention centers to monitor conditions. CHRAJ and PRAWA were required
to give at least 10 days notice before any prison inspections.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law provide
for protection against arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the
Government did not always observe these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the
jurisdiction of a 10-member Police Council, are responsible for
maintaining law and order. The military continued to participate in law
enforcement activities during the year. A separate entity, the Bureau
of National Investigations, handles cases considered critical to state
security and answers directly to the Ministry of National Security. The
police maintained specialized units in Accra for homicide, forensics,
domestic violence, visa fraud, narcotics, and cyber-crimes. However,
there were significant barriers to extending such services nationwide,
including a lack of office accommodation, police vehicles, and
equipment outside of Accra.
The police service came under repeated criticism following
incidents of police brutality, corruption, and negligence. Impunity
remained a problem. Delays in prosecuting suspects, rumors of police
collaboration with criminals, and the widespread perception of police
ineptitude contributed to a continued increase in vigilante justice
during the year. There were also credible reports that police extorted
money by acting as private debt collectors, by setting up illegal
checkpoints, and by arresting citizens in exchange for bribes from the
detainees' disgruntled business associates.
Government officials publicly stated that the Government's policy
of zero tolerance for corruption applied to police and other security
officials; however, a 2005 public opinion survey by the Ghana Integrity
Initiative, the local chapter of Transparency International, found the
police to be the public institution most frequently perceived as
corrupt (77 percent of respondents).
The 33-person Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Unit
(PIPS) investigated human rights abuses and police misconduct. During
the year PIPS received 522 complaints and petitions, compared with 247
in 2005. There were 70 complaints related to harassment, unlawful
arrest, and detention with human rights violations, compared with 48 in
2005 and 79 in 2004. Of the 522 complaints received, 212 had been
investigated by year's end.
As a result of PIPS investigations, the Inspector General of Police
in 2005 warned police officials that incidents of misconduct would be
punished, and he took steps to punish some offenders. Over the 18-month
period between January 2005 and July, 80 police officers of varying
rank were dismissed for various offenses, and 92 others were demoted.
No disciplinary action was taken against police officers between July
and year's end.
From January to May, the Government allowed 64 senior police
officers to participate in two eight-week basic police skills courses,
which included modules on appropriate use of force, international human
rights standards, trafficking in persons, and domestic violence.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution provides that an individual
detained should be informed immediately, in a language that the
detained person understands, of the reasons for the detention and of
his or her right to a lawyer and an interpreter at state expense. The
law requires judicial warrants for arrest and provides for arraignment
within 48 hours. The law requires that a detainee who has not been
tried within a ``reasonable time'' as determined by the court be
released either unconditionally or subject to conditions necessary to
ensure that the person appear in court at a later date. The law also
provides for bail. In practice, however, many abuses of these rights
occurred, including detention without charge for periods longer than 48
hours, failure to obtain a warrant for arrest, and remand of prisoners
into custody for indefinite periods while an investigation is conducted
by renewing warrants or by simply allowing them to lapse.
In 2005 the NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)
criticized the police for routinely detaining persons for more than 48
hours without a warrant signed by a magistrate. A 2003 Center for
Democratic Development (CDD) survey found that 46 percent of the
persons arrested were not informed of the charges against them, 51
percent were not read their rights, 67 percent reported they were not
given the opportunity to contact a lawyer, and 44 percent believed they
were presumed guilty from the onset.
Persons were occasionally detained for trivial offenses or on the
basis of unsubstantiated accusations, such as insulting behavior, petty
stealing, and disturbing the public peace. Authorities routinely failed
to notify prisoners' families of their incarceration; such information
often was obtained only by chance. The court has unlimited discretion
to set bail, which was often prohibitively high. The court may refuse
to release prisoners on bail and instead remand them without charge for
an indefinite period, subject to weekly review by judicial authorities.
On occasion, police also demanded money from suspects as a precondition
for their release on bail.
Security forces used checkpoints and conducted mass arrests while
searching for criminals (see Section 2.d.).
Lengthy pretrial detention was a serious problem. The Prisons
Service's 2004 Annual Report reported that of 18,866 admissions, 10,709
(57 percent) were on remand and the remaining 8,157 were convicted. In
2004 the Attorney General announced a nationwide review of all cases on
remand; however, no progress was made in reducing that number during
the year. The chief justice and appellate judges characterized the
situation as a grave injustice, particularly since some detainees had
been remanded for traffic and other minor offenses. Detainees sometimes
served more time in detention awaiting trial than the sentence for the
crime required. During 2004 inspections of prison facilities, the
Director General of Prisons met numerous remand prisoners who had been
detained for up to 10 years without trial.
In June a parliamentary team visited the Nsawam Prison, where the
Deputy Director General of the Prisons Service, who accompanied the
group, told them that the numbers of prisoners on remand was putting
pressure on the already overcrowded facilities. According to the Deputy
Director General, some prisoners had been on remand for more than five
years without being charged or having their cases called for trial. He
said that the number of remand prisoners at Nsawam Prison had increased
from 202 in 2002 to 847 by the end of June.
CHRAJ officials in the Volta Region echoed these concerns, noting
instances of prisoners on remand for three to five years for petty
theft. As of March, there were 36 prisoners in the Ho Central Male
Prison who were being held on expired warrants.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient
and subject to influence and corruption.
The law establishes two basic levels of courts: the lower courts
and the superior courts. The lower courts consist of the circuit and
district courts, which serve as juvenile courts and family tribunals.
These courts try civil cases involving $5,429 (50 million cedis) or
less; and criminal cases for offenses punishable by a fine not
exceeding $1,086 (10 million cedis), imprisonment for a term not
exceeding two years, or both. The superior courts consist of the
Supreme Court, the appeals court, the high court, the commercial court,
regional tribunals, and fast-track courts. Fast-track courts hear cases
to conclusion within six months. The majority of cases filed before the
fast-track court involved banking and commercial matters, human rights,
and defamation. In November the Attorney General brought a narcotics
trafficking case before the fast-track court for the first time.
Members of the military are tried under the criminal code in a
military court.
The Chieftaincy Act gives village and other traditional chiefs the
power to mediate local matters and enforce customary tribal laws
dealing with such matters as divorce, child custody, and property
disputes. However, the authority of traditional rulers has steadily
eroded because of a commensurate increase in the power of civil
institutions, such as courts and district assemblies. In 2004 chiefs in
Tema participated in an alternate dispute resolution (ADR) training
program, which resulted in the recommendation that traditional councils
have their own constitutions, apart from the Chieftaincy Act, to help
institutionalize the role of local leaders in settling cases. The
recommendation had not been implemented by year's end.
In 2005 the chief justice noted, with respect to judicial
inefficiency, that one judge had adjourned three cases 96, 120, and 127
times, respectively. In 2004 the chief justice noted that some judges
had not heard a single case or written a decision all year.
The Government took steps in 2005 to address these problems. New
high court rules to shorten trials, which included the establishment of
a commercial court, were effective in concluding trials more quickly
during the year. The chief justice inaugurated a National Center for
Arbitrators to train judges and other officials in ADR procedures to
reduce court backlogs. Improved information technology resulted in an
increase in cases handled by the fast-track high courts from 7,378 in
2004 to 10,111 during the year. The chief justice also adopted a code
of ethics in 2005 and issued a third annual report during the year in
his continuing campaign to increase transparency, curb corruption, and
improve efficiency.
In 2005 the chief justice identified implementation of an ADR
scheme as a key strategy for reforming the judicial service. He
designated the first week of every legal term as ``ADR week'' to focus
on settling cases suited for ADR and thereby reduce the backlog of
court cases.
A judicial complaints unit, headed by a retired Supreme Court
judge, addressed public complaints. During the year the unit received
632 complaints, of which 107 were resolved, 186 were under
investigation, and 339 were pending.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and the judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants are presumed innocent, trials are public, and defendants
have a right to be present, to be represented by an attorney (at public
expense if necessary), and to cross-examine witnesses. Defendants and
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases and have a right to appeal. Juries are used in murder
trials. In practice, authorities generally respected these safeguards.
The trial of retired military personnel arrested in 2004 for
allegedly plotting a coup against the Government was ongoing at year's
end. The trial of two suspects accused of plotting a coup in 2005 also
remained inconclusive at year's end.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens had access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation. At the end of July, there were 44 human rights cases
before the fast-track courts.
During the year judicial officials continued to implement
procedures for voluntary, court-facilitated ADR for settling civil
disputes. Trained ADR judges and lawyers mediated some cases pending
before the fast-track courts in July; however, most cases were still
pending resolution at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, in practice the Government sometimes infringed on privacy
rights. Although the law requires judicial search warrants, police
seldom obtained them in practice.
Opposition party activists claimed the Government engaged in
surveillance and harassment of those it perceived to be opposed to the
ruling party. Some civil society organizations expressed concerns that
the Government used surveillance, free of any oversight or regulation.
In April the Government carried out forced evictions of hundreds of
illegal residents from Dudzorme Island within Digya National Park on
Lake Volta, where approximately 7,000 persons lived. The residents were
given less than a month's notice, and there was no resettlement plan
formulated for them prior to their eviction. The evictees had been
living illegally for 30 years on land set aside as forest reserve. The
evictees were reportedly beaten and forcibly put on an overloaded ferry
that subsequently capsized in Lake Volta. Although NGOs reported that
at least 100 persons drowned as a result, only 10 bodies were
recovered. The Government stopped the evictions immediately and
initiated a commission of inquiry to investigate the disaster. The
commission had yet to publish its findings by the end of the year. In
July the squatters initiated legal proceedings at the Accra Fast Track
High Court requesting an order to prohibit the Forestry Commission from
carrying out the rest of the planned evictions. At year's end the
Government had no plans to continue the evictions and had not offered
any resources to assist the evicted persons in resettling elsewhere.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. However, opposition parties
occasionally complained that state-owned media outlets minimized media
coverage of opposition politicians. Individuals criticized the
Government publicly without reprisal.
More than 135 newspapers, including two state-owned dailies, and
two state-owned weeklies, existed in the country. The two state-owned
dailies had national circulation. Most newspapers circulated only in
regional capitals, and many of the smaller privately owned newspapers
were available only in Accra.
Accra and Tema had two state-owned and 18 privately owned FM radio
stations, and there were approximately 11 state-owned and 100 privately
owned FM stations across the country. Most stations were independent
and aired a wide range of viewpoints. There was one state-owned
television station that broadcast nationwide; three semi-privately
owned television stations that broadcast in the Greater Accra, Eastern,
Ashanti and Northern regions; and three cable networks broadcasting in
the Greater Accra Region, two of which also broadcast in Kumasi. There
was also one cable network broadcasting in Sekondi-Takoradi.
Foreign media operated freely in the country, including the BBC,
Radio France International, and Voice of America. Foreign periodicals
were available in major cities and circulated freely, even when they
contained articles critical of the Government.
There were reports that police arrested, detained, and used
excessive force against members of the media. For example on September
28, a police officer in Accra physically attacked a radio journalist
who requested a fact sheet about an incident. The reporter was verbally
abused, punched and had his head banged against the wall of the police
station.
In November policemen from Tema, Ada and Kisseih allegedly used
excessive force to prevent members of the media from covering a press
conference held at Kportsum, near Ada. The Ghana Journalist Association
(GJA) condemned the attack, claiming that police ``brutalized'' members
of the press. Police sources contended that the press conference was
not properly cleared with authorities and that they dispersed attendees
and the press with minimal force.
Journalists were subjected to physical and verbal harassment as a
result of their reporting. For example on August 15, a photojournalist
covering the proceedings of a narcotics smuggling trial was attacked by
a group of persons supporting the defendants. The journalist was
photographing one of the defendants when the group pushed and struck
him in an apparent attempt to prevent him from taking the photograph.
In September supporters of the former Minister of Road
Transportation attacked a photographer and two journalists working for
the Enquirer newspaper who were covering the minister's indictment by
CHRAJ for perjury and abuse of office. Subsequently, the editor of the
Enquirer was attacked by the same persons when he went to the police
station to cover the story. The Government did not respond to the
incident.
In December two journalists were barred from a press conference
held by the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA). This was
allegedly done in retaliation for an article run by the journalists'
newspaper. The GPHA later apologized to the newspaper.
The state-owned media reported extensively on charges of corruption
or mismanagement by both current and past government officials. During
the year the state-owned media gave some coverage to opposition
politicians and printed occasional editorials critical of government
policies. The opposition claimed that government media denied it equal
access and coverage on numerous occasions. In practice the state-
controlled media gave greater exposure to government officials.
Government officials, including the President, called upon media to
be more disciplined in their reporting but did not censor or abridge
media output. Several cases of libel filed by government officials were
settled to the agreement of all parties by the National Media
Commission, a constitutionally mandated independent government body.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. The Internet was accessible in Accra and large cities, but there
was limited access in other parts of the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of peaceful
assembly; however, at times the Government restricted this right. The
Government does not require permits for demonstrations, but police can
deny use of a particular route.
In July the Government denied an application from the Gays and
Lesbians Association of Ghana to host a proposed international
conference in Accra in September. The Association was uniformly
condemned by all religious organizations as well as government
officials as being unconstitutional and immoral. Government officials
maintained that because homosexuality is illegal in the country,
granting a permit to hold the conference would be in contravention of
the law (see Section 5.)
During the year police arbitrarily and forcibly dispersed
demonstrations, which resulted in injuries.
On September 9, eight persons were injured when police opened fire
during a demonstration by students of the Institute of Professional
Studies in Accra. Police reportedly fired indiscriminately into the
crowd, used tear gas to break up the demonstration, and beat student
demonstrators.
On April 26, anti-riot police fired tear gas to disperse students
at the Legon University who had started a riot to protest the results
of student government elections.
On February 21, approximately 20 persons were injured when police
used tear gas and water cannons to disperse participants in a major
opposition demonstration against the Representation of the People
(Amendment) Bill (ROPAB), a bill that parliament passed two days later
to extend voting rights to citizens residing abroad.
Neither the police nor government ministries responded to requests
for an investigation into the June 2005 case in which a joint team of
military and police shot and wounded at least seven persons who were
protesting surface mining in Prestea in the Western Region.
No action was taken against police and soldiers who assaulted and
beat supporters of the ruling party for failing to obtain permission to
demonstrate in the capital in 2004.
There were no developments in the 2004 beatings of individuals by
NPP party thugs.
Unlike in the previous year, no bans were imposed on outdoor
political activities or demonstrations; however, the ban on campus
demonstrations remained in effect during the year, although it has
never been challenged or enforced.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Members of security forces are prohibited from
joining political assemblies or groups within the security services,
but they are allowed to participate outside police or military
compounds.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Religious institutions that wanted formal recognition were required
to register with the Registrar General's Department; however, there
were no reports that the Government denied registration to any group.
Most traditional religions, with the exception of the Afrikania
Mission, did not register.
Some Muslims continued to feel a sense of political and social
exclusion because of the continued pervasiveness of Christianity in
many aspects of society. Factors such as the token representation of
Muslims in national leadership positions, the frequency of Christian-
oriented prayers in public settings, and the ubiquity of Christian
slogans contributed to this perception of marginalization and
discrimination among some members of the Muslim community.
Despite official policies promoting free religious practice in
schools, Muslim and Seventh-day Adventist students continued to
complain that school administrators occasionally failed to accommodate
students' religious obligations when regulating school attire or
scheduling examinations on holy days, for example. The Seventh-day
Adventists failed in a 2005 court case challenging the exam-scheduling
policies of the University of Ghana.
Human rights activists continued to express concerns about prayer
camps in which individuals believed to be possessed by evil spirits
were chained up for weeks, physically assaulted, and denied food and
water. The camps targeted in particular persons with mental illness.
Camp supervisors diagnosed mental illness as a demonic affliction and
prevented them from consuming food or water, often for seven
consecutive days, as a method of cleansing victims of their evil
spirits. Other victims were estimated to be as young as six years old.
Families sent these victims to be exorcised of evil spirits or cured of
their physical or mental illness. Victims were held at the camps until
they were deemed to be healed. Reports indicated that these practices
extend to the Greater Accra, Eastern, Central, Western, Ashanti, and
Brong Ahafo regions. Camp leaders prevented CHRAJ from investigating
the allegations. In recent visits to prayer camps, foreign embassy
observers witnessed over 100 persons who were forcibly chained to beds
or posts and one windowless cell designed for persons with mental
illness. The country's psychiatric community was aware of this issue
and was pushing for an updated mental health law that protected the
rights of the mentally ill.
Trokosi, a religious practice indigenous to the southern Volta
region, involves pledging family members, most commonly teenagers but
sometimes children under the age of 10, to extended service at a shrine
to atone for another family member's sins. Trokosis help with the
upkeep of these shrines and pour libations during prayers. Trokosis
sometimes live near shrines, often with extended family members, during
their period of service, which lasts from a few months to three years.
Government agencies, such as CHRAJ, have at times actively campaigned
against Trokosi, although local officials portray it as a traditional
practice that is not abusive. Some NGOs maintain that Trokosis are
subject to sexual exploitation and forced labor, while supporters of
traditional African religions, such as the Afrikania Renaissance
Mission, have said these NGOs misrepresent their beliefs and regard
their campaigns against Trokosi as religious persecution.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasional reports
of interreligious and intrareligious friction during the year.
In June the media reported a physical confrontation between members
of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) and the Ga traditional authority,
a chieftaincy group for the ethnic Ga people in the Accra area. Police
did not make any arrests. The incident was precipitated by the CAC's
violation of an annual one-month-long ban on drumming imposed by the Ga
Traditional Council in Accra, which is granted legal authority over
traditional practices by the Chieftaincy Act. For years CAC's use of
drums and other musical instruments in its services has been a source
of tension between it and the Ga traditional authority, which resulted
in violence in 2001.
The Jewish community had a few hundred members. There were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts. Unlike in previous years when anti-
Semitic statements were published in two of the country's weekly
newspapers, no anti-Semitic statements were known to be reported
throughout the country.
The Government often took steps to promote interfaith understanding
during the year. For example, official meetings and receptions were
typically opened with a multidenominational invocation led by religious
leaders from various faiths.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Security officers manned checkpoints nationwide to prevent
smuggling, seize illegal weapons, and catch criminals, although many
were unmanned during daylight hours; however, the police acknowledged
that some officers occasionally erected illegal barriers to solicit
bribes from motorists. In serious cases, these officers were
disciplined with a reduction in rank and salary or dismissal from the
police force. The police continued to erect security checkpoints and
conduct highway patrols in response to a continuing upsurge in highway
robberies. Police roadblocks and car searches were a normal part of
nighttime travel in larger cities. The regional police commanders
monitored the activities of police personnel working at the
checkpoints.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The
Government has established a refugee board to adjudicate claims for
refugee status and to ensure that refugees receive all appropriate
protections. The Government provided protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government also granted refugee status or asylum. The law also
incorporates the broadened refugee definition under the African Union
Convention Governing Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa.
The country cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers. The country generally had a liberal policy
of accepting refugees from other West African nations, although this
did not generally extend to granting work permits or permanent
residence. The law accords the right of protection even to those
refugees who entered the country without being documented.
The majority of the country's estimated 50,000 refugees were
Liberians living in the Budumburam settlement on the western outskirts
of Accra. Ten other nationalities were represented in the refugee
population, including approximately 10,000 Togolese and 700 Sudanese.
At year's end the Government had not released the report of an
investigation into a November 2005 incident in which police fired tear
gas and warning shots and beat refugees at Krisan refugee camp in the
Southwestern Region to control a riot that left buildings and a vehicle
burned. Following the outbreak of violence, the Government restricted
refugees' freedom of movement at this camp, gradually reinstating full
freedom to enter or leave the settlement during the year.
Few refugees succeeded in overcoming the significant bureaucratic
hurdles for obtaining work permits that would allow them to work
legally in the formal sector. Most Ghanaian employers were not willing
to wait the requisite three months for processing. Refugees in two
locations complained that female market vendors resisted their attempts
to set up alongside them. Nonetheless, many refugees secured employment
within the informal sector as masons, carpenters, fishermen's
assistants, tailors, small shopkeepers, and farmers.
In the Volta Region, Togolese refugees were allowed to use
government-run clinics and hospitals at no charge.
Sexual and gender-based violence remained a problem among refugee
populations. The physical insecurity of refugees living in the camps
contributed to their vulnerability. The number of teenage pregnancies
rose after police officers began guarding the camp and Liberian male
teenagers arrived. At Budumburam camp, refugees alleged that they were
coerced into having sex, usually with other refugees, in return for
favors. In many cases victims were threatened with expulsion from their
homes and pressured into having sex in exchange for money. Three cases
of sexual assault were prosecuted, resulting in a six-month sentence
for one perpetrator. Although there were reports of refugees being
raped, officials at Krisan Camp were unable to determine whether the
perpetrators were police or others due to lack of lights at the camp at
night. In the other two cases, one victim was voluntarily resettled to
a third country and one alleged perpetrator escaped and was never
sentenced.
In August the Government granted refugee status to approximately
270 Sudanese refugees who had been living in the country since January
2005. The refugees were subsequently relocated to Krisan Camp.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Presidential and
parliamentary elections were held nationwide. John Agyekum Kufuor of
the NPP was reelected with 52.45 percent of the vote. Despite some
irregularities, domestic and international observers characterized the
elections as generally free and fair. There were reports of a shortage
of ballots at some polls and minor problems with the voter register,
such as misspelled names or photos not matching names. In the
parliamentary elections the NPP won 128 seats; the National Democratic
Congress (NDC), 94; the Convention People's Party, three; the Peoples'
National Convention (PNC), four; and one independent candidate won a
seat.
The country continued its transition from a one-party state to a
more established multiparty constitutional system. The political system
includes recognized opposition parties, which expressed their views
freely within parliament and won a near majority of the parliamentary
seats. Registered political parties, including two new parties
registered this year, operated freely within the country; however,
opposition parties and persons in private business continued to allege
that government contracts were often awarded on the basis of ruling
party membership.
Women held 25 of 230 parliamentary seats, and there were four
female ministers, 14 deputy ministers, and three female council of
state members out of 112 such positions. Significantly more women
presented themselves as candidates in the district assembly elections
than in previous elections, and the percentage of female representation
in the assemblies increased to 10 percent in 2006 from seven percent in
2002.
In addition to members of all of the country's six major ethnic
groups and members of the Christian majority, the 230-seat parliament
included members of several smaller ethnic groups, Muslims, and
followers of traditional African religions. The NPP strongly favored
members of the Ashanti ethnic group for high-level appointed positions.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the
executive and legislative branches continued to be a problem. CHRAJ
vindicated President Kufuor in its report on allegations that he had
purchased a hotel with wrongfully obtained funds. The opposition NDC
issued credible accusations that the Government used anticorruption
investigations to intimidate and harass its members. Opposition parties
charged that corruption continued unabated and that the Government
failed to use the institutions and mechanisms at its disposal to
address the problem. There were reports that government officials
pressured businesses to steer contracts toward favored companies and
individuals.
On April 12, the wife of former President Jerry Rawlings, Nana
Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, and seven top-ranking members and sympathizers
who served in the NDC administration were brought before an Accra fast-
track court on charges of ``willfully causing financial loss to the
state'' in connection with the purchase of a Ghana Industrial Holding
Corporation (GIHOC) cannery in Nsawam by CARIDEM Development Company.
CARIDEM is a limited liability company owned by the 31st December
Women's Movement, an NGO of which Mrs. Rawlings is the President. The
Government alleged that Mrs. Rawlings and others acted together to
falsify records on the outstanding balance CARIDEM owed the state on
the purchase of the company, with the intent to deceive the Government.
The directors of CARIDEM argued that they had fulfilled the terms of
the agreement and that the ruling NPP was working against them for
political reasons. Charges were withdrawn against three of CARIDEM's
directors who were alleged to be connected to persons in high places
within the ruling government. The case was ongoing at year's end.
The trial of the former head of the Ghana National Petroleum
Corporation on charges of causing financial loss to the state was
ongoing at year's end.
In July a national scandal erupted following allegations of
complicity by police and other government officials in narcotics
trafficking. During an investigation into the disappearance from police
custody of five kilograms of cocaine from a 30-kilogram seizure, a tape
recording surfaced of a meeting between a senior police official and
drug traffickers. In a separate case, a woman alleged that a different
senior police official requested a $200,000 bribe to drop a case
against her boyfriend, a foreign cocaine trafficker. Both the NPP and
the opposition NDC used the scandal to accuse the other of allowing the
country to become a transshipment point for cocaine and heroin bound
for other countries.
On September 22, an independent commission submitted its report on
these cases of alleged corruption in illicit drug trafficking. The
report recommended that all persons present at the meeting between the
police official and drug traffickers be charged with crimes. In the
bribery case, the report recommended exoneration of the police official
and censure of the IGP for meeting with a woman who claimed she had
been asked for a bribe. The Minister of Interior stated publicly he
would not follow the report's recommendations regarding the IGP in the
bribery case. In December the Government accepted the proposal of the
police council to disregard the commission's recommendation to censure
the IGP.
In September CHRAJ found Minister of Road Transportation Richard
Anane guilty of abuse of office, conflict of interest, and perjury and
recommended to President Kufour that the minister be relieved of his
official duties. In October Anane resigned his ministry position under
pressure following allegations of corruption and conflict of interest
related to an extramarital affair. He remained a Member of Parliament
and at year's end was seeking a court review of the CHRAJ report and
its recommendations.
In a report on political party financing released in 2004, the
Center for Democratic Development found that 42 percent of those
surveyed cited kickbacks as the most prevalent manifestation of
political corruption, followed by political appointment and extortion.
In August parliament passed a whistleblower bill establishing a
procedure for individuals to disclose information on illegal conduct or
practice. The law provides legal protection for whistleblowers against
retribution from employers, and CHRAJ can order that the person be
reinstated or receive monetary damages if they are fired. The law also
provides for a fund to be created to compensate whistleblowers who make
a disclosure that leads to an arrest and conviction can be rewarded
with money from the fund; in cases in which money is recovered, the
whistleblower can be rewarded with a percentage.
In December CHRAJ issued conflict of interest guidelines for all
public servants.
Although the constitution provides for public access to government
information, parliament had not passed implementing legislation by
year's end.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
At least 20 domestic and international human rights NGOs generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials generally
were responsive to their views. International organizations and NGOs
that operated in the country included the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Organization for Migration
(IOM), Abantu for Development, Amnesty International, the Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), and the International Federation of
Women Lawyers (FIDA).
The Government body CHRAJ was charged with investigating alleged
violations of human rights, including corruption of public officials,
and taking action to remedy proven violations. CHRAJ continued to hold
workshops to educate the public, traditional leaders, police, and the
military on human rights issues. It mediated and settled cases brought
by individuals with grievances against government agencies or private
companies. CHRAJ received an average of 10,000 complaints annually. The
bulk of these were family-related issues, although the commission
investigated some corruption cases, specifically those involving
conflict of interest. Since its inception in 1993, CHRAJ has received
over 78,000 petitions and successfully resolved 64,024.
CHRAJ operated with no overt interference from the Government;
however, some critics questioned its ability to independently
investigate high-level corruption within the Kufuor administration. Its
biggest obstacle was a lack of adequate funding and resources, which
resulted in low salaries, poor working conditions, and the loss of many
of its staff to other government and nongovernmental agencies. Public
confidence in CHRAJ was high, resulting in an increased workload for
its overstretched staff, some of whom went unpaid for months due to a
chronic lack of resources.
During the year the Government allocated $1,465,798 (13.5 billion
cedis) as compensation for victims of human rights abuses that occurred
during the various periods of military rule that the country endured
between 1957 and 1993. The victims were identified by the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC), which was set up by the 2001 National
Reconciliation Act to investigate and document cases of human rights
violations during this specific period. During the year the commission
completed its review of reported cases and recommended reparations for
2,511 individuals. In addition confiscated properties were to be
returned to their rightful owners. On October 13, the Government began
issuing reparations ranging between $108 and $3257 (one million cedis
and 30 million cedis, respectively). By year's end the Government had
provided over $542,888 (five billion cedis) in reparations to 850
persons.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
sex, disability, language, or social status; however, enforcement by
authorities was generally inadequate. Limited financial resources and a
generally permissive societal attitude toward such discrimination
contributed to its perpetuation. The courts were empowered to
specifically order enforcement of these prohibitions.
Women.--Violence against women, including rape and domestic
violence, remained a significant problem. The law does not prohibit
domestic violence, and the criminal code grants husbands spousal
immunity from any charges of assault against their wives. According to
FIDA, one in three women experienced domestic violence, and most abuses
went unreported. The police service's Domestic Violence Victim Support
Unit (DOVVSU), formerly the Women and Juvenile Unit, handled cases of
domestic violence and child abuse, as well as juvenile offenses. During
the year DOVVSU investigated 5,835 cases, the majority of which
entailed allegations of assault (1,932) or failure to provide
necessities of life (1,493). There were also 536 defilement cases.
DOVVSU worked closely with the Department of Social Welfare, FIDA, the
Legal Aid Board, and several human rights NGOs to combat domestic
violence.
Prosecution of domestic violence cases remained difficult. Of
11,335 cases reported to DOVVSU's Accra branch between 1998 and 2004,
only 19 percent led to a court appearance and less than 3 percent
resulted in convictions from charges of assault. In many cases, victims
were discouraged from reporting abuse and from cooperating with
prosecutors because of long delays in bringing such cases to trial.
Victims frequently did not complete their formal complaints because
they could not afford the fees that doctors charged to document the
abuse in police medical forms.
Unless specifically called upon by DOVVSU, police seldom intervened
in cases of domestic violence, in part due to a lack of counseling
skills, shelter, and other resources to assist victims. In the Eastern
Region, an NGO operated a single shelter that housed 18 women at year's
end, with victims using the facility for periods of time ranging from
several hours to nearly a year. This NGO received over 500 women in its
crisis center and offered 171 women legal aid during the year. A second
NGO offered legal aid to 800 women during the year.
The criminal code outlaws rape, and perpetrators were arrested and
prosecuted for this crime. However, husbands have immunity from such
charges.
Belief in witchcraft remained strong in many areas. In a practice
prevalent mainly in the Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions of
the country, rural women continued to be banished by traditional
village authorities or their families for suspected witchcraft. Most
accused witches were older women, often widows, who were identified by
fellow villagers as the cause of difficulties, such as illness, crop
failure, or financial misfortune. The banished women went to live in
``witch camps,'' villages in the north of the country populated by
suspected witches, some of whom were accompanied by their families.
Various organizations, including Catholic Relief Services, provided
food, medical care, and other support to residents of the witch camps.
According to a local NGO in the Northern Region, the number of women in
the witch camps was close to 3,000 and had been decreasing slowly in
recent years. The women would not face formal legal sanction if they
were to return home; however, most feared that they would be beaten or
lynched if they returned to their villages and consequently did not
pursue legal action to challenge charges against them and return to
their communities. Outreach and community sensitization by various NGOs
has made considerable progress in reintegrating the accused women into
their communities.
There were several cases of lynching and assault of accused witches
during the year. A local NGO reported that police refused to take the
statement of a woman who had been assaulted by a group of villagers for
fear that she would cast a spell on them. The NGO observed that such
cases are not uncommon.
The Government, under the auspices of the DOVVSU, continued to
charge and investigate persons who committed acts of violence against
suspected witches and refrained from charging people based solely on
allegations of witchcraft.
In March six female students of a senior secondary school were
dismissed after they were found to be pregnant after being forced to
submit to pregnancy tests. This action was endorsed by both the
Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service. Human rights
activists raised the concerns that the girls' rights had been violated
by forcibly testing them and then dismissing them from school, and that
the children's fathers were not similarly identified and punished.
The law prohibits FGM, but it remained a serious problem in the
northern regions of the country. Type II FGM was more commonly
performed than any other type. The typical age at which a girl was
excised was 15, although it was often performed on younger girls.
According to a 2005 study conducted by the Ministry of Health,
approximately 15 percent of women between 12 and 19 in the three
northern regions had undergone FGM, although some observers believed
that NGO- and government-sponsored awareness campaigns regarding the
illegality of FGM had driven the practice underground and that the real
rate in these regions was as high as 30 percent. Such intervention
programs have been somewhat successful in reducing the prevalence,
although it was difficult to estimate their effectiveness precisely.
Officials at all levels, including traditional chiefs, have spoken out
against the practice, and local NGOs continued their educational
campaigns to encourage abandonment of FGM and to train practitioners in
new skills so that they could seek alternate sources of income. There
were no prosecutions of practitioners during the year. In some cases
women and girls preparing for marriage actively sought out FGM
practitioners, sometimes without their parents' knowledge, because of a
cultural belief that brides should be excised. One NGO in the Northern
Region reported that mothers frequently failed to return to the
hospitals where they delivered their babies for immunizations and
postnatal clinics, allegedly because they did not want the hospitals to
discover that they were having their daughters excised.
The law imposes punishments for the sexual exploitation of
children; however, such exploitation occurred (see Section 5,
Children).
Trafficking of women and children for prostitution occurred (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
There were no laws to specifically protect women from sexual
harassment; however, some sexual harassment cases were prosecuted under
the existing criminal code. Women's advocacy groups reported that
sexual harassment was a problem. A 2005 survey by the African Women
Lawyers Association found that 63 percent of the 789 female
professionals in the country who responded had experienced some form of
sexual harassment in the workplace and at educational institutions.
Women continued to experience discrimination in access to
employment. Women in urban centers and those with skills and training
encountered little overt bias, but resistance to women entering
nontraditional fields persisted. Women, especially in rural areas,
remained subject to burdensome labor conditions and traditional male
dominance. Traditional practices and social norms often denied women
their statutory entitlements to inheritance and property, a legally
registered marriage (and with it, certain legal rights), and the
maintenance and custody of children. There were a number of female
entrepreneurs, but poor access to credit remained a serious barrier for
women who wanted to start or expand a business.
Women's rights groups were active in educational campaigns and in
programs to provide vocational training, legal aid, and other support
to women. In 2005 the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC)
began developing plans to include women's concerns in government
policies and to increase the hiring of women in civil service
positions. The Government was active in educational programs, and many
officials were active, outspoken advocates of women's rights.
During the year MOWAC launched the Women in Local Governance Fund
(WiLGF), to help female candidates mount competitive campaigns during
the District Assembly Elections in September and in the 2008 national
elections. WiLGF organized seminars for women on campaign strategies,
capacity building, and public speaking.
Children.--Within the limits of its resources, the Government was
committed to protecting the rights and welfare of children, although
its efforts were constrained by its limited financial and logistical
resources. The Government continued to implement the Education Sector
Plan (ESP) 2003 2015, which provides for free universal primary school
education until 2015. The Ghana Education Service (GES) reported that
its Capitation Grant scheme led to a 16.6 percent overall increase in
enrollment from 2004 2005 to 2005 2006.
Education is compulsory through primary and junior secondary school
(the equivalent of grades 1 through 9). Despite the constitutional
provision for ``free compulsory and universal basic education,''
parents were required to purchase uniforms and books.
According to the Ministry of Education, the gross enrollment rate
during the year was 92.7 percent at the primary level with 95 girls
enrolled for every 100 boys, an increase from 93 in the 2004-2005
school year. At the junior secondary school (JSS) level, 76.1 percent
of eligible children were enrolled, with 90 girls enrolled for every
100 boys, an increase from 88 in the 2004 2005 school year. Some
children did not attend school because they worked to supplement their
family's income (see Section 6.d.) or lived at great distance from the
closest school. Many children, particularly in rural areas, were
affected by insufficient teachers and other resources at local schools.
The economic cost associated with enrollment was a significant obstacle
for many children's families. In addition authorities did not regularly
enforce children's attendance at school, and parents were rarely
sanctioned for keeping their children out of school.
To increase access to basic education and lower the student drop-
out rates, the Government introduced the Capitation Grant program
during the 2005-2006 academic year. As part of this program, the
Government paid schools $3.26 (30,000 cedis) for every child enrolled.
This payment was intended to eliminate the extra levies of up to $489
(4.5 million cedis) that schools had imposed on students in addition to
the tuition costs that were met by the Government. The Government also
piloted a school lunch program in 690 schools, with plans to expand it
if the pilot program proves successful. The Government also provided
free books to schools in 138 districts in September. As a result of
these initiatives, there was an 11.3 percent increase in enrollment,
from 83.3 percent in 2004 2005 to 92.7 percent in 2005-2006.
The Government strongly supported the UN's Education for All goals.
During the year GES actively campaigned to expand education for girls
by providing scholarships at the JSS and Senior Secondary School levels
and by offering financial incentives and free housing to female
teachers to work in rural areas. The GES placed girls' education
officers at regional and district levels, and there were community
participation coordinators in every district office to mobilize
communities to increase school enrollments for girls. The Government
continued sponsoring science and math clinics at the JSS level to
encourage more girls to pursue careers in science and technology.
These efforts have been accompanied by increased government support
of informal schools, which target children who must work to help
support their families. With funding from several foreign governments,
NGOs organized and ran these informal schools, which taught basic
numerical, literacy, and life skills at no charge. During the year the
Government also increased educational opportunities for students with
disabilities by increasing grants to primary schools serving these
students so that 100 percent of the enrolled population received
assistance.
Children under five years of age, regardless of gender, had access
to free health care at public hospitals and clinics.
The law prohibits defilement, incest, and sexual abuse against
minors, but such abuse remained a serious problem. There were frequent
reports that male teachers sexually assaulted and harassed female
students. The girls often were reluctant to report these incidents to
their parents, and social pressure often prevented parents from going
to authorities. Approximately 40 percent of female students reported
being sexually harassed at school often or very often, according to a
2005 study conducted in upper primary and junior secondary schools.
During the year there continued to be press reports of teachers and
headmasters/headmistresses either arrested for sexual harassment of
female students or dismissed for ignoring reported problems.
DOVVSU announced in 2005 that between January 1999 and May 2004,
there were 1,756 cases reported in which men victimized children
between the ages of two and 15, 397 cases in which girls over the age
of 16 had been raped, and 44 cases of reported incest. DOVVSU further
advised that during the year 536 cases of defilement, eight cases of
causing harm to a child, and 1,493 cases of child neglect were
reported. Severe resource constraints prevented DOVVSU from following
up on individual cases, and DOVVSU did not maintain records on the
disposition of cases.
Reports were received during the year of the use of corporal
punishment, including the caning of students.
Local authorities estimated there were fewer than 50 Trokosis, who
are members of the Ewe ethnic group sent as teenagers or children to
live at a shrine for up to three years in atonement for an allegedly
heinous crime committed by a family member. Most Trokosis were
children, although some were adults who had been brought to the shrines
as children. While instances of sexual abuse may occur, there was no
evidence that sexual or physical abuse was an ingrained or systematic
part of the practice. The practice explicitly forbids a Trokosi to
engage in sexual activity or contact during the atonement period. After
a ritual, the Trokosi returns to his or her family. In the vast
majority of cases, there is no particular stigma attached to one's
status as a former Trokosi shrine participant. Multiple investigations
by foreign embassy representatives have turned up no credible evidence
of systematic or widespread abuses (see Section 2.c.)
FGM was performed primarily on girls rather than adult women (see
Section 5, Women).
Forced child marriage, which is illegal, remained a problem. CHRAJ
and NGOs reported that the problem had not improved during the year. In
2004 the Acting Commissioner for CHRAJ declared forced marriage the
major human rights abuse issue in the Northern Region, which was more
socially conservative and economically depressed than other regions. In
2004 a 16-year-old girl committed suicide to protest an abusive
marriage into which she had been forced. Schoolteachers reported two
other cases of forced marriages in 2004.
There were reports that trafficking in children occurred for the
purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation, including children
being sold into various forms of involuntary servitude (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Child labor was a serious problem (see Section 6.d).
The migration of children to urban areas increased due to economic
hardship in rural areas. Children were often forced to fend for
themselves to survive, increasing both the occurrence of child labor
and the school dropout rate (see Section 6.d). In 2005 MOWAC officials
estimated that as many as 40,000 porters (children who carry loads on
their heads), most of whom were girls under 18, lived on the streets in
major cities, including Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi. These girls were
among the most vulnerable child laborers, as many also engaged in
prostitution or were sexually exploited in exchange for protection
while living on the streets. In 2003 the Ghana Statistical Service and
the International Labor Organization's International Program to
Eliminate Child Labor (ILO/IPEC) surveyed 2,314 street children
throughout the country, most of whom lived in the urban areas of the
Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions and had migrated from northern rural
areas. Of those surveyed, 45.7 percent had never attended school, 98.1
percent were engaged in economic activity within the last 12 months,
and 80 percent stated the work was demanding. Over three-quarters of
street children surveyed reported that both parents were alive,
indicating poverty was the main cause of the problem.
Local and international NGOs worked with the Government to promote
children's rights and were somewhat successful in sensitizing
communities about protecting the welfare of children.
In November the media reported that young girls were being raped by
older boys at a government-run orphanage in Accra and that orphanage
officials were aware of the problem but did not intervene. Girls at the
orphanage were also encouraged to prostitute themselves to earn money
while still at the orphanage. The director of the orphanage denied
these allegations, and the Government did not respond to the media
report.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Human Trafficking Act, which President
Kufuor signed in December 2005, prohibits trafficking in persons and
provides for a minimum prison sentence of five years for convicted
traffickers. Although four persons were arrested and charged under the
new law, there were no prosecutions by year's end. The country was a
source, transit, and destination country for women and children
trafficked for the purpose of forced domestic and commercial labor and
sexual exploitation.
There was no reliable estimate of the number of internally or
externally trafficked victims, although both NGOs and IOM thought this
number to be in the thousands. From January to September, four cases of
child trafficking and seven cases of child labor exploitation were
reported to DOVVSU.
Trafficking was both internal and international, with the majority
of trafficking in the country involving children from impoverished
rural backgrounds. The most common forms of internal trafficking
involved boys from the Northern Region going to work in the fishing
communities along the Volta Lake or in small mines in the west, and
girls from the north and east going to Accra and Kumasi to work as
domestic helpers, porters paid to transport various items, and
assistants to local traders (see Section 6.d.). Local NGOs reported
these children were often subjected to dangerous working conditions and
were sometimes injured or killed as a result of the labor they
performed. Local authorities supported projects sponsored by IOM and
other organizations to decrease the incidence of such trafficking. IOM
and various NGOs offered micro-credit assistance and education to
families who agreed not to provide their children to traffickers and to
those whose children had been trafficked.
Children between the ages of seven and 17 also were trafficked to
and from the neighboring countries of Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, the Gambia,
Nigeria, and Equatorial Guinea to work as farm workers, laborers,
divers, street hawkers, or domestics. Benin and Burkina Faso were also
destination countries for trafficked children.
Much of the recruitment of children was done with the consent of
the parents, who sometimes were given an advance payment or promised
regular stipends from the recruiter and were told the children would
receive food, shelter, and often some sort of training or education.
Some parents sent their children to work for extended family members in
urban areas. Treatment of children sent to work in relatives' homes
varied. Many children were given to professional recruiters, usually
women, who placed the children with employers in cities. A child in
these circumstances usually was paid between $2.17 and $3.26 (20,000 to
30,000 cedis) per month. In many cases the children never received the
education or vocational training the recruiters promised. Girls were at
particular risk of being forced into prostitution or being sexually
abused by their employers.
Women also were trafficked to Western Europe, mostly to Italy,
Germany, and the Netherlands. International traffickers promised the
women legitimate jobs; however, the women often were forced into
prostitution once they reached their destination. The women were
sometimes sent directly to Europe while others were trafficked through
third countries. Some young women were trafficked to the Middle East,
particularly Lebanon, where they worked in menial jobs or as domestic
help. There also was a trade in Nigerian women transiting the country
on their way to Western Europe or the Middle East to work in the
commercial sex industry. Traffickers from other countries reportedly
used Accra as a transit point to Europe and the Middle East.
Reportedly, there was some trafficking in persons from Burkina Faso,
mostly transiting through the country on the way to Cote d'Ivoire.
Authorities were unaware of any organized crime syndicates involved
in human trafficking in the country.
Under the new antitrafficking law, DOVVSU has responsibility for
enforcement, and the Department of Social Welfare within the Ministry
of Manpower, Development and Employment has responsibility for victim
assistance, including locating family members and providing temporary
shelter, counseling, and job skills training. Local police and social
welfare officials reported insufficient resources to implement the new
law, particularly in rural areas without police stations. In some cases
police and community leaders simply ignored NGO education and
sensitization efforts due to strong cultural norms that condoned
trafficking.
The new law also establishes a 17-member Human Trafficking Board
composed of all relevant ministries, the security services, the private
sector, and other stakeholders. At year's end, MOWAC had identified a
coordinator and the board's prospective membership, and had discussed a
date for inaugurating the board, which was intended to oversee the
Government's antitrafficking activities. However, at year's end the
President had not yet signed the order approving the proposed
membership, which was required for the board to be formally
established.
In August police intercepted a truckload of 46 children being
trafficked from the Upper West Region to Kumasi and the southern parts
of the country. The children ranged from nine to 19 years old. Police
arrested the driver under the new trafficking law, and his trial was
ongoing at year's end. The children were sent back to their parents,
who were not charged with a crime.
Also in August police arrested the driver of a bus carrying 40
children from the Upper West Region to Techiman. The driver's trial was
ongoing at year's end.
In July 2005 a 25-year-old Ivorian man was remanded in custody in
Sekondi for attempting to sell his 21-year-old male friend for $2,714
(25 million cedis). There were no known developments during the year.
In September 2005 the Immigration Service reported its largest
interception of traffickers to date when Kulungugu border officials
arrested a woman for attempting to traffic 17 children, ages five to
17, to Burkina Faso. The children reportedly believed that they would
be visiting Burkina Faso. The woman was released due to a lack of
evidence, and the children were returned to their communities.
The Government generally assisted with international investigations
of trafficking; however, during the year the Government continued to
refuse to extradite a Member of Parliament to face a 2003 indictment
for trafficking charges.
The Government, the ILO, and NGOs trained security forces,
immigration authorities, customs officials, and police on the new
trafficking law. Each group was taught methods of identifying victims,
and police were trained on the new law, whom to charge, and which
violations to cite in charging suspected perpetrators. Since July 2005
more than 200 senior officers, cadets, and recruits from the police
service participated in a Trafficking in Persons training. Participants
were trained in recognizing trafficking victims and securing evidence
against trafficking criminals. TIP training is now a standard module in
the curriculum of the Police Training Academy in Tesano, Accra.
In August the Government established a Border Patrol Unit under the
Immigration Service to monitor the flow of travelers in and out of the
country. The Minister of Interior committed $214,984 (1.98 billion
cedis) in start-up funds to the program. By year's end, 150 officers
had completed an eight-week course of training in paramilitary
operations and light weaponry as well as the standard six months of
training at the Ghana Immigration Service camp in Assin Foso.
Various ministries worked with ILO/IPEC, the IOM, and NGOs to
address trafficking. The Ministry of Manpower, Development and
Employment, in conjunction with ILO/IPEC, continued to implement a
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labor (see Section
6.d). The IOM, the African Center for Human Development, and MOWAC
worked to identify and return children trafficked to fishing villages,
and to support the fishermen's transition to alternate forms of income
generation. Since 2002 587 trafficked children have been rescued from
fishing villages; IOM helped with the rescue of 50 children during the
year.
In a July meeting of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS),
Ghana signed an ECOWAS/ECCAS agreement among 24 countries to combat
trafficking by establishing a Human Trafficking Board to develop a plan
of action to combat domestic trafficking. The Government is also a
signatory to a 2005 nine-country multilateral protocol for
international cooperation on child trafficking.
Authorities made efforts to shelter and reintegrate trafficking
victims from the country and other West African countries. In 2005 the
Department of Social Welfare opened its second shelter, capable of
accommodating 30 55 child trafficking victims, in Medina near Accra.
The Government devoted little attention to rehabilitating traumatized
child trafficking victims, some of whose parents rejected their
children so that they would not be asked to refund money they had
received from traffickers.
Several NGOs, both local and international, worked with trafficking
victims. These organizations, as well as the University of Ghana's
Center for Social Policy Studies, conducted studies of trafficking as
part of their broader agenda, performed a few rescue operations for
street children, provided training and education for victims of
trafficking and abuse, and in some cases, assisted with family
reunification. Friends of Human Development, a local NGO, met regularly
with community and opinion leaders to educate them about the dangers of
trafficking and the penalties imposed by the new antitrafficking law.
The ILO/IPEC conducted workshops and other activities throughout
the year to combat the problem of increased child sexual exploitation
in the tourism industry. In 2005 a minister ordered hotel
administrators to prevent adults from bringing children to hotels for
sexual exploitation.
During the year the Government conducted community meetings and
workshops for media and police to raise awareness of the trafficking
law. There was a trafficking officer assigned to organize such
workshops.
Persons With Disabilities.--In July parliament passed legislation
that specifically provides for the rights of persons with disabilities,
including protection against exploitation and discrimination in
employment, health care, and other domains. While the Government did
not systematically or overtly discriminate against persons with
disabilities, such persons often experienced societal discrimination in
practice. The law provides persons with disabilities access to public
buildings as far as is practical. In 2003 officials in the department
of social welfare estimated that 10 percent of the population had some
form of physical disability.
In 1999 the Government established a policy whereby blind and
wheelchair-bound persons would receive a nominal annual disability
allowance of $16.61 (153,000 cedis). In June 2004 the interim chairman
of the Ghana Union of Physically Disabled Workers accused the Ghana
Education Service (GES) of not paying workers with disabilities the
allowance to which they are entitled. According to the Ghana Union of
Physically Disabled Workers, approximately 60 persons with disabilities
were denied this allowance during 2005, with GES the main offender.
Persons with both mental and physical disabilities were frequently
subjected to abuse and intolerance. Some religious sects believed that
persons with mental disabilities were afflicted by demons and should be
exorcised (see Section 2.c.). The abuse of children with disabilities
was common. There were reports that children with disabilities were
tied to trees or under market stalls and caned regularly. There also
were reports of family members killing children with disabilities.
In September the media carried reports of a four-year-old boy whose
family confined him to their house, allegedly to spare him public
ridicule of a congenital lump on the back of his waist. The boy was not
permitted to interact with persons outside his immediate family. The
Government did not respond by year's end.
There were multiple government agencies and NGOs involved in
addressing discrimination against persons with disabilities, including
the Ministry of Health, the Department of Social Welfare in the
Ministry of Manpower, Development and Employment, the Ministry of
Education, and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD). The NGO
Parents Association of Children with Intellectual Disability and Autism
conducted outreach and awareness-raising efforts during the year.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the Government
deemphasized the relevance of ethnic differences, its opponents
complained that appointed senior government positions were dominated by
Ashantis and other Akans at the expense of Ewes and northerners. The
President and some of his ministers and close advisors were Ashanti,
but the vice President and many ministers were of other ethnic origins.
There were numerous small-scale conflicts within ethnic groups
during the year, most of which related to chieftaincy and land use
issues. Efforts by NGOs to encourage reconciliation continued during
the year.
The Dagbon conflict, also known as the Yendi conflict, was the most
prominent and frequently discussed intraethnic conflict. Two branches
of the same family, the Andanis and the Abudus, traditionally
alternated in supplying the Ya Na (paramount chief of the Dagomba
ethnic group) but recently became embroiled in a dispute over which
family would supply the next Ya Na. By blocking some aspect of the
burial rites, as both sides did following the deaths of previous Ya
Nas, the families prevented the appointment of a Regent, who
traditionally was installed until a new chief was selected or came of
age. In April traditional leaders helped broker an agreement to bury Ya
Na Yakubu Andani II and install a Regent in his place. The Ya Na's
murder in 2002 and the tension over his burial has been a significant
source of conflict in the northern part of the country. In May the
President and vice President visited Yendi for the first time in four
years to encourage the peace process. Nonetheless, in August security
forces resisted an attempt by youths from the Abudu ``gate'' (line of
succession) to forcefully enter the Ya Na's former palace, resulting in
the deaths of a number of youth. The Government announced that three
deaths resulted, but credible local sources reported more.
During the year chieftaincy issues, particularly those involving
succession and land, sparked several violent confrontations within
ethnic groups. In 2005 a chieftaincy conflict between two factions at
Tetegu, a suburb of Accra resulted in gunshot injuries, the
displacement of more than 2,000 persons, and the destruction of
approximately 120 houses belonging to members of feuding factions.
There were no known developments in the conflict, which remained
unresolved at year's end.
In April at Bortianor, near Kokrobite in Accra, two persons
belonging to different chieftaincy factions were fatally shot, and
eight others were seriously injured. The Criminal Investigations
Division of the Police announced a reward of $2,172 (20 million cedis)
for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the culprits.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
homosexuality, and lesbians and gays face widespread discrimination, as
well as police harassment and extortion attempts. There is a minimum
misdemeanor charge for homosexual activity, and homosexual men in
prison often were subjected to sexual and other physical abuse.
There was widespread public outcry during the year against an
international lesbian and gay conference scheduled to take place in
Accra in September. Strong public opposition to the event and to
homosexuals more generally was reflected in vehement letters to the
editor, radio call-in shows, comments posted on the Internet, and in
public speeches given by government officials. The Government banned
the conference after local religious leaders united to protest the
planned event.
Discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS was a problem, and the
fear of being stigmatized continued to discourage persons from being
tested. In April 2004 the inspector general of police publicly urged
all officers to be tested voluntarily through a free service available
to the police. During the year several key government representatives,
including the Presidential Advisor for HIV/AIDS, publicly denounced
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. In 2004 the cabinet
approved a policy to protect the rights of persons living with HIV/
AIDS. In August a judge ordered sex workers standing trial on charges
of prostitution to get tested for HIV and publicly disclose their HIV
status. The Office of the President sent a letter of protest to the
chief justice on this incident but had not received a reply by year's
end.
The Government subsidized many centers that provided free HIV
testing to citizens, although there were reports that confidentiality
was not consistently respected and preserved.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. While
unions no longer must seek the approval of the Government before
registering, the 2003 Labor Act requires that trade unions or
employers' organizations must register and be authorized by the Chief
Labor Officer to attain a certificate of registration and be considered
legal. The percentage of workers belonging to unions appeared to be
decreasing as more of the workforce entered the informal sector, where
there was no union activity. The Ministry of Manpower, Development and
Employment estimated in 2005 that 80 percent of the work force was
employed in the informal sector.
The law prohibits acts of anti-unions discrimination; however, in
practice, unions have reported that anti-union discrimination occurred.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides a
framework for collective bargaining, and trade unions engaged in
collective bargaining for wages and benefits with both private and
state-owned enterprises without government interference. However, only
unions that represented the majority of workers in a given company can
obtain a Collective Bargaining Certificate, which is required to engage
in collective bargaining.
The law recognizes the right to strike but restricts that right for
workers who provide essential services, including ``areas in an
establishment where an action could result in a particular or total
loss of life or pose a danger to public health and safety and such
other services as the Minister may by legislative instrument
determine.'' However, the Minister of Manpower, Development and
Employment had not formally designated the list of essential services
by year's end. The right to strike can also be restricted for workers
in private enterprise whose services were deemed essential to the
survival of the enterprise by a union and an employer. A union may call
a legal strike if the parties fail to agree to refer the dispute to
voluntary arbitration or if the dispute remains unresolved at the end
of arbitration proceedings. No union has ever gone through the complete
dispute resolution process, and there were numerous unsanctioned strike
actions during the year. There have been no legal strikes since
independence.
In September the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT)
went on strike to protest issues related to salary and conditions of
service. The Ghana Education Service (GES) refused to negotiate with
NAGRAT on the grounds that the organization has no collective
bargaining agreement certificate. NAGRAT has been denied a certificate
because the GES argues it should be part of the Ghana National
Association of Teachers.
Existing labor law applies in export processing zones, including
the right to organize.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
The law provides for employers found guilty of using forced labor
to be fined no more than 250 penalty units (each unit of which was
assigned a monetary value to adjust for the fluctuating exchange rate);
however, limited resources inhibited the Government's implementation of
the law, and no fines were levied during the year. During the year the
ILO continued to urge the Government to revise various legal provisions
that permit imprisonment with an obligation to perform labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets a minimum employment age of 15 years, prohibits night work and
certain types of hazardous labor for those under 18, and provides for
fines and imprisonment for violators; however, child labor remained a
serious problem in the informal sector. The law allows for children age
15 and above to have an apprenticeship under which craftsmen and
employers have the obligation to provide a safe and healthy work
environment along with training and tools. However, child labor laws
were not enforced effectively or consistently, and law enforcement
officials, including judges, police, and labor officials, were often
unfamiliar with the provisions of the law that protected children. The
2003 Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy acknowledged that child labor was
a problem that required government intervention. During the year the
Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs conducted seminars on child
labor to educate the media, police, civil servants, and the general
public. Local custom and poverty encouraged children to work to help
support their families and eroded societal observance of minimum age
laws.
An ILO/IPEC-Ghana Statistical Service survey of child labor
released in 2003 found that 2.47 million children were engaged in some
economic activity and 64.3 percent of those children attended school.
Of those children engaged in economic activity, 1.27 million children
were found to be engaged in child labor as defined by age and hazardous
working conditions. Children as young as seven worked in agriculture
and as domestic laborers, porters, hawkers, miners, quarry workers, and
fare collectors. The fishing industry on Lake Volta had a particularly
high number of child laborers engaged in potentially hazardous work,
such as diving into deep waters to untangle fishing nets caught on
submerged tree roots. An ILO representative reported in 2005 that child
labor in the tourism industry had increased. Child laborers were poorly
paid and subjected to physical abuse; they received little or no health
care and generally did not attend school. According to government labor
officials and the Ghana Employers Association, child labor problems
were infrequent in the formal labor sector.
The law prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children; however,
during the year children were reportedly sold, leased, or given away by
parents to work in agriculture, fishing villages, quarry mines, shops,
or homes. It was difficult to determine the extent to which forced and
bonded labor by children was practiced (see Section 5).
There were newspaper reports of children being sold into various
forms of involuntary servitude for either sexual exploitation or labor,
such as 10- to 12-year-old boys working for fisherman in exchange for a
yearly remittance to their families. The practice often involved the
consent of their generally impoverished parents. Reliable data was not
available on the number of children who were working in fishing
villages along Lake Volta; nevertheless, NGOs who worked on this issue
estimated the number to be well into the thousands (see Section 5).
The extent of child labor in the cocoa industry was unknown. In
January the Government signed a National Plan of Action calling for the
implementation of a child labor certification process in the cocoa
industry. International chocolate manufacturers and the Ministry of
Manpower, Development and Employment signed a Memorandum of
Understanding in September to pursue the development of an initial
survey of child labor in the cocoa industry. During the year, the
Ministry of Manpower worked with foreign chocolate manufacturers to
conduct a pilot survey of child labor in the cocoa industry. The
survey, which the Government intended to expand into a larger survey in
2007, was completed in December.
In April police arrested two senior secondary school students for
attempting to sell three of their younger classmates for $10,858 (100
million cedis) to a buyer in Bibiani. No trial date had been set by
year's end, and the students remained in custody.
In July police rescued a 14-year-old girl who had been used as
collateral for a loan of $597 (5.5 million cedis) in the Brong-Ahafo
Region. The girl's uncle took her from her parents in the Volta Region
when she was 11 years old and gave her to a businessman who kept her in
bondage for three years. Police had not made any arrests in the case,
and referred the matter to CHRAJ, which was investigating the case at
year's end.
Inspectors from the Labor Department of the Ministry of Manpower,
Development and Employment are responsible for enforcement of child
labor regulations, and district labor officers and the social services
sub-committees of district assemblies are charged with seeing that the
relevant provisions of the law are observed by annually visiting each
workplace and making spot checks whenever they receive allegations of
violations. Inspectors are required to provide employers with
information about child labor violations and effective means to comply
with provisions of the Labor Act. However, law enforcement and judicial
authorities in the country were hampered by severe resource constraints
and a lack of public awareness about the problem.
During the year there were no prosecutions for child labor
resulting from these inspections. Officials only occasionally punished
violators of regulations that prohibit heavy labor and night work for
children. In addition the inspectors' efforts were concentrated only in
the formal sector, rather than in the informal sector where most child
labor was performed.
ILO/IPEC, government representatives, the Trade Union Congress, the
media, international organizations, and NGOs continued to build upon
the 2001 02 National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labor
in Ghana by increasing institutional capacity to combat child labor.
With the support of the Government, NGOs and foreign countries funded
more recent programs to combat child labor. Education and sensitization
workshops were conducted with police, labor inspectors, local
governments, and communities. Forums were held throughout the country
to develop and implement an ILO/IPEC Time-Bound Program, which aimed to
eliminate all forms of child labor under specified time periods and
benchmarks.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A National Tripartite Committee
composed of representatives of the Government, labor, and employers set
daily minimum wages. In February, after lobbying by trade unions, the
Tripartite Committee raised the daily minimum wage to $1.74 (16,000
cedis), which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. Furthermore, there was widespread violation of the minimum
wage law in the formal sector, and the growing informal labor force
remained unprotected. In most cases households had multiple wage
earners, and family members engaged in some family farming or other
family-based commercial activities. The Ministry of Manpower,
Development and Employment was unable to credibly enforce this law.
The law sets the maximum workweek at 40 hours, with a break of at
least 48 consecutive hours every seven days. The Government compensated
extra duty hours only for overtime actually worked, in accordance with
labor equity, rather than as an automatic salary supplement. Workers
were also entitled to at least 15 working days' leave with full pay in
a calendar year of continuous service or after having worked at least
200 days in a particular year. However, such provisions do not apply to
task workers or domestic workers in private homes.
Occupational safety and health regulations exist, and the Factories
Department within the Ministry of Manpower, Development and Employment
was responsible for imposing sanctions on violators; employers who
failed to comply were liable to a fine not exceeding 1000 penalty
units, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or to
both. The law requires that employers report, no later than seven days
from the date of occurrence, occupational accidents and diseases which
occur in the workplace. In practice, safety inspectors were few and
poorly trained, and they lacked the resources to effectively respond to
violations. Inspectors did not impose sanctions or otherwise respond to
violations during the year.
__________
GUINEA
Guinea is a constitutional republic in which effective power is
concentrated in a strong presidency. President Lansana Conte has ruled
this country of approximately 9.2 million persons since 1984, first as
head of a military junta and, since 1994, as a civilian President.
President Conte won reelection in December 2003 in an election
boycotted by the opposition and criticized by international observers
as neither free nor fair. The civilian authorities generally did not
maintain effective control of the security forces.
The Government continued to implement political and macroeconomic
reforms begun in 2004, but serious human rights abuses occurred during
the year. There were restrictions on the right of citizens to change
their government. Security forces unlawfully killed, beat, and abused
civilians, particularly detainees. Prison conditions were inhumane and
life-threatening. Impunity of alleged perpetrators of killings and
abuse remained a problem. There were arbitrary arrests, prolonged
pretrial detention, and incommunicado detention. The judiciary was
subject to corruption and executive influence. The Government infringed
on citizens' privacy rights and restricted freedoms of speech, press,
assembly, association, and freedom of movement. Violence and societal
discrimination against women, prostitution of young girls, and female
genital mutilation (FGM) were problems. Progress was made in combating
trafficking of persons, but the practice continued, as did ethnic
discrimination, antiunion discrimination, and child labor.
The Government took significant steps to improve freedom of the
press by implementing a 2005 media liberalization decree and granting
broadcast licenses to eight private radio stations. The Government
agreed to some electoral reforms proposed by political parties.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed political killings;
however, security forces killed at least 15 persons during the year,
and there were reports of deaths in custody due to torture, abuse, and
neglect (see Section 1.c.).
Police use of excessive force to control demonstrations and strikes
resulted in deaths during the year (see Sections 2.b. and 6.b.).
The Government often considered killings by security forces to be
``professional accidents,'' and instead of prosecution or sanction,
transferred the perpetrator to another district. No legal or
disciplinary action was taken against security force members
responsible for killings during the year.
There were no developments in the following 2005 reported killings
by security forces: the three killings by police during a student
demonstration in Telimele in November or the July killing of a 19-year-
old student in Conakry.
There were no developments in the reported 2004 killings by police.
Government authorities continued to block efforts by human rights
groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to investigate
political killings that took place in the 1970s under then President
Sekou Toure.
Many victims of crime feared that they might never receive justice
because of judicial corruption and at times resorted to vigilante
violence. In March, in the Enta neighborhood of Conakry, the screams of
a victim of attempted rape alarmed her neighbors, who caught the
perpetrator and beat him to death. In late July residents in N'Zerekore
beat, burned and stoned suspected criminals, killing between nine and
12. Several of the victims had been released from prison prior to
serving their full sentences, while others had never been prosecuted;
in both cases, the local community was frustrated by perceived
corruption of local officials (see Section 1.d.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
both civilian and military security forces beat and otherwise abused
civilians. There also were reports that security forces used torture
and beatings to extract confessions and employed other forms of
brutality, including holding prisoners incommunicado without charges
under inhumane conditions.
An investigation by an international NGO in Conakry's main prison
revealed patterns of torture. Prisoners, including children, bore
similar wounds and shared common stories. One prisoner lost his sight
due to beatings. A student imprisoned on assault and battery charges
was paralyzed due to beatings by security forces. Prison guards were
suspected of torture in both incidents; however, no investigation took
place by year's end. In September the Minister of Security issued a
circular to all officers under his jurisdiction condemning torture and
abuse, and announcing punitive measures against any persons found
guilty of engaging in these practices. The Government had not launched
an investigation into police torture or prosecuted individuals
allegedly involved by year's end.
During the June general strike, police went door-to-door and
detained private citizens on suspicion of strike involvement. In at
least one instance, a gendarme raped a woman after entering the home.
The officer was never arrested and the case was not prosecuted. The
victim gave several media interviews and although the story was in the
local news, the Government did not address the crime.
Police injured several persons while using force to disperse
demonstrations during the year (see Section 2.b.).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police beat
journalists.
In January a newspaper reported the October 11, 2005 rape of
Paulette Keita by a lieutenant in the gendarmerie. At year's end, the
officer was not arrested or charged with any crime.
No action was taken against security forces responsible for
reported abuses in 2005 and 2004.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
inhumane and life threatening. Prisoners reported that guards
threatened, beat, and harassed them. There were credible reports from
prisoners that guards harassed and sexually assaulted female inmates.
Toilets did not function, and prisoners slept and ate in the same space
where they relieved themselves. Neglect, mismanagement, and lack of
resources were prevalent. The basic diet for prisoners was inadequate,
and most inmates relied on supplemental assistance from families or
friends to maintain their health. Guards often demanded bribes in
exchange for delivering food to those incarcerated and routinely
confiscated food, which was seldom delivered to the intended
beneficiary.
In Kankan, a woman sentenced to death was raped by the prison
administrator and became pregnant. The woman remained in jail with the
baby at year's end. In Mamou, a woman was raped by another prison
administrator. She was transferred to the maximum security prison in
Kindia. Neither of these administrators was punished. There are many
reported cases where insufficient facilities for female prisoners
prompted administrators to send women to work at the houses of prison
or judicial officials where they were not paid for their work and were
sexually exploited.
Standards of sanitation remained poor, which resulted in several
dozen deaths due to malnutrition, disease, lack of medical attention,
and poor conditions. Since January 1, 98 persons died in Conakry's
prison, many as a result of malnutrition, poor medical treatment, and
dangerous and unsanitary conditions. There was a decline in the number
of deaths in prison from the previous year. The mortality rate
nationwide of prisoners is approximately 20 percent.
Some prisoners exercised more power than the guards by controlling
conditions and cell assignments, giving better conditions to prisoners
who were able to pay.
The prisons remained severely overcrowded. Some prisoners reported
sleeping on their knees because their cells were so small. The facility
in downtown Conakry was built in 1950 to hold 200 prisoners but
routinely held 1,000 prisoners or more. During the year, the prison
held up to 1,280 prisoners. At year's end, there were 989 prisoners in
this facility.
Although the Ministry of Justice administers the prisons, the
facilities were managed and staffed by military officers and guards.
There were reports that some prison administrators followed directives
from their military superiors, even when they were in conflict with
orders from the Ministry of Justice. Due to limited funds and personnel
shortages, prisons were largely staffed by untrained ``volunteers'' who
hope for permanent entry into the military. This system was difficult
to manage and particularly vulnerable to corruption and abuse.
There were reports of prison escapes in Kankan, Labe, and
N'Zerekore. Most prisoners were apprehended, but others remained at
large. At least two prisoners who escaped in 2005 remained at large.
In most prisons, men and women were held separately, but juveniles
generally were held with adults. There were 380 children below the age
of 18 incarcerated. There were approximately 16 children who either
were born in prison and lived permanently in the jails with their
mothers or who had no alternative means of care. No provisions were
made for children's food, clothing, education, or medical care in
prison. The Ministry of Justice in collaboration with the NGO
Association for the Support for Refugees and Displaced Persons in
Detention (ASWAR-Guinea) constructed a new juvenile wing including
recreational facilities housing 69 minors in Conakry's main prison.
At year's end, there were three boys below the age of 14 who were
held in the Conakry prison with no legal representation. One boy had
been detained for eight years on a petty shoplifting charge. An
international NGO reported the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among
incarcerated minor boys to be as high as 50 percent, suggesting sexual
abuse. Local and international NGOs were providing some food and legal
representation to these boys.
First-time offenders were not separated from common criminals,
pretrial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners, and the
prison system often was unable to track pretrial detainees after
arrest. Prisoners of political importance usually were held in the main
prison in Conakry with the general prison population but were held in
separate cells.
In practice political detentions rarely exceeded a few days, and
these persons were generally extended more protections than other
detainees because of the attention to their cases by NGOs and the
media. In high profile detentions, the persons were often held
separately from other detainees and prisoners, and access to them was
unrestricted.
The Government stated its commitment to address prison conditions
and used public funds to initiate certain reforms. The minister of
justice announced a new policy that allows suspects and detainees to
have access to legal representation. The ministry made recommendations
for improvements in prison infrastructure, but at year's end none have
been implemented. National and international NGOs continued programs to
improve the health of critically malnourished inmates.
The Government permitted prison visits by Human Rights Watch (HRW)
and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) and other
local humanitarian and religious organizations, which offered medical
care and food for those in severe need. A former prisoner reported that
without this assistance, those who did not have families or friends
would have starved to death. The ICRC reported that it was allowed
regular access to all 33 official detention facilities and 2,500
prisoners during the year. The ICRC continued to initiate partnership
programs with prison and security authorities to improve prison
conditions. In the overcrowded N'Zerekore prison, the ICRC established
access to clean water and constructed a secured area to allow prisoners
to go outside. In April and June, HRW conducted investigations of the
country's prisons.
The Government provided open access to prisoners and allowed
interviews to be conducted outside the presence of prison guards or
other government authorities. After the HRW report was published in
August, the ministries of justice and security responded positively by
addressing specific problems and proposing general reforms.
In July and August the minister of justice, himself a prisoner
during the Sekou Toure regime, visited several of the prisons and
pledged to improve prison conditions.
The Government cooperated in the April and June visit by Human
Rights Watch (HRW) to monitor the country's prisons. In its subsequent
report, HRW noted that security forces routinely violated the inherent
right to life, freedom from torture, freedom of expression and
assembly, and the right to trial within a reasonable period. Security
forces committed many of these violations, particularly in police
stations, detention facilities, and prisons. HRW concluded that
security forces used excessive and lethal force on unarmed
demonstrators, killing at least thirteen. HRW emphasized the sense of
impunity that exists, emboldening perpetrators and sustaining abuses.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces
regularly used arbitrary arrest and detention.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The gendarmerie, a part
of the Ministry of Defense, and the National Police, under the Ministry
of Security, share responsibility for internal security and sometimes
played an oppressive role in the daily lives of citizens. The Code of
Penal Procedure permits only the gendarmerie to make arrests, but the
army, the Presidential Guard (Red Berets), and the state police often
detained persons as well. A quasi-police unit called the Anticrime
Brigade (BAC), created to fight criminal gangs and bandits, operated in
Conakry and in most major regions and prefectures. Administrative
controls over the police were ineffective, and security forces rarely
followed the penal code. Many citizens viewed the security forces as
corrupt, ineffective, and even dangerous. Police ignored legal
procedures and extorted money from citizens at roadblocks (see Section
2.d.). There were no reported judicial proceedings against officers
suspected of committing abuses. National and international NGOs
conducted seminars to train security forces on human rights issues and
conflict resolution techniques.
In September the Ministry of Justice initiated a five-day national
seminar that brought together judicial, prison, and security officials
to address issues and make specific resolutions related to detention,
proper procedures for arrest, the expanded role of defense attorneys,
prison administration, and particular measures to fight against
livestock theft.
Arrest and Detention.--The penal code stipulates that the arrest of
persons in their home is illegal between 4:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;
nevertheless, midnight arrests took place. The penal code also requires
that the Government issue a warrant before an arrest can be made and
that detainees be charged before a magistrate within 72 hours; however,
many detainees were incarcerated for longer periods before being
charged. After being charged, the accused may be held until the
conclusion of the case, including a period of appeal. Authorities
frequently did not respect the provision of the law that provides for
access by attorneys to their clients. Although the law proscribes
incommunicado detention, it occurred in practice. Release on bail was
at the discretion of the magistrate who had jurisdiction.
On January 19, police arrested and beat a school boy in Conakry for
not stopping while the country's flag was being raised.
In February and June security forces detained hundreds of persons
in connection with unruly protests during the two general strikes that
effectively shut down the country. The large majority were almost
immediately released. None of these persons remain in detention; the
majority were released in two to three days (see Section 2.b.).
On June 13, police raided the homes of several supporters of Sidya
Toure's Union of Republican Forces (UFR) party on suspicion of inciting
violence during the general strike. They detained at least nine UFR
members for a week to 10 days. These individuals were not allowed
access to attorneys and were released without being charged with any
crime. Several report that after their release, they were repeatedly
harassed by security officers and threatened in anonymous phone calls.
There were no further developments in the 2005 cases of the
individuals who were suspected for involvement in the January 2005
assassination attempt on President Conte. Antoine G'Bokolon Soromou and
Mohamed Lamine Diallo remained in self-imposed exile. Approximately 60
individuals were detained and then released.
Gendarmes detained an unknown number of active and former military
personnel for unspecified reasons. Credible human rights sources
reported that the treatment of these detainees was not monitored by
independent agents. In violation of the law, an unknown number of
prisoners were held on army bases where virtually all contact was
forbidden.
Prolonged pretrial detention was a serious problem. A prisoner
advocacy organization estimated that approximately 80 percent of the
prisoners in Conakry were awaiting trial. Based on the information of a
prisoner advocacy group, only approximately 10 percent of the prisoners
at Conakry central prison had been tried, while all others were in
investigative detention. At times detainees remained in prison for more
than 10 years without trial.
Seven military offers who were arrested in December 2003 for
suspected coup plotting were still in prison awaiting trial at year's
end. In January they were transferred from the central prison, where
their families were able to visit regularly, to the maximum security
prison in Kindia. Two prisoners, Abdoulaye Camara and Mohamed Diasy,
reportedly served 10 years at the central prison without judgment or
sentencing. The men were held in a cramped section of the prison where
they were prevented from moving freely. At least one of them has
suffered permanent paralysis as a result of prison conditions. Police
arrested the men in March 1996 in connection with a burglary. One of
them, Thierno Barry, has been in the Conakry central prison, without
judgment or sentencing, since his arrest in 1991.
There were reports of a parallel and covert system of justice run
by unidentified uniformed personnel who conducted midnight arrests,
detained suspects, and used torture to obtain confessions before
transferring detainees to prosecutors or in some cases, directly into
prisons that were not under the jurisdiction of the Government.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for the judiciary's independence, judicial authorities
routinely deferred to executive authorities in politically sensitive
cases. In routine cases, there were reports that authorities accepted
bribes in exchange for a specific outcome. Magistrates were civil
servants with no assurance of tenure. Because of corruption and
nepotism in the judiciary, relatives of influential members of the
Government often were, in effect, above the law. Judges often did not
act independently, and their verdicts were subject to outside
interference. The judicial system was plagued by numerous problems,
including a shortage of qualified lawyers and magistrates and an
outdated and restrictive penal code. In September, to spearhead a
national effort to improve the administration of justice, the Ministry
of Justice held a national seminar on detention and a training
conference for bailiffs (see Section 1.d.).
The judiciary includes courts of first instance, two courts of
appeal, and the Supreme Court, which is the court of final appeal. The
law provides for a parallel structure for juveniles. In practice the
two courts of appeal for Kankan and Conakry that handle serious crimes
barely functioned due to lack of resources and organizational problems,
and many prisoners were detained for lengthy periods without trial (see
Section 1.d.). By law, the courts of appeal are supposed to hold a
session once every four months. In practice, there were only two
sessions held since 2000. On August 2, the appeals court met for the
first time since 2003 and scheduled hearings for 171 cases. During the
year, the juvenile appeals court convened for the first time since
1998. Prior to the September session, all minors who had gone to trial
had done so within the adult system.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and juries are used for
criminal cases. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult
with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants have the right to
confront and question prosecution witnesses and present witnesses on
their behalf. The prosecution prepares a case file, including
testimonies and evidence, and provides a copy for the defense.
The penal code provides for the presumption of innocence of accused
persons, the independence of judges, the equality of citizens before
the law, the right of the accused to counsel, and the right to appeal a
judicial decision; however, these rights were not consistently observed
in practice.
On October 10, Sekhounah Soumah, the elected Rural Development
Community President of Tanene, interrupted trial proceedings at the
court of first instance of Dubreka. He assaulted the judge and ordered
the judge to stop the trial that was in session. On October 15, the
minister of justice, Guinea's Association of Magistrates, and the
Guinea Bar Association protested the interference in judicial
proceedings. At year's end, Soumah, who has family ties to President
Conte, was not punished for his actions and remained in office.
Although in principle the Government is responsible for funding
legal defense costs in serious criminal cases, in practice it rarely
disbursed funds for this purpose. The attorney for the defense
frequently received no payment.
Many citizens wary of judicial corruption preferred to rely on
traditional systems of justice at the village or urban neighborhood
level. Litigants presented their civil cases before a village chief, a
neighborhood leader, or a council of ``wise men.'' The dividing line
between the formal and informal justice systems was vague, and
authorities sometimes referred a case from the formal to the
traditional system to ensure compliance by all parties. Similarly, if a
case was not resolved to the satisfaction of all parties in the
traditional system, it could be referred to the formal system for
adjudication. The traditional system discriminated against women in
that evidence given by women carried less weight (see Section 5).
A military tribunal prepares and adjudicates charges against
accused military personnel, to whom the penal code does not apply.
Civilians were not subject to military tribunals.
The state security court is composed of magistrates directly
appointed by the President, and the verdict is open to appeal only on a
point of law, not for the re-examination of evidence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners; however, police detained members of political
opposition parties during the year. The Government acknowledged the
existence of several temporary political detainees. Opposition parties
estimated that there were over 50 temporary political detainees, and
the majority of their arrests occurred during the June national strike.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Under the law, there is a
judicial procedure for civil matters. In practice, the judiciary was
neither independent nor impartial, and decisions were often influenced
by bribes and based on political and social status. There were no
lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations. In practice,
domestic court orders were not enforced.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law provide for the inviolability
of the home and require judicial search warrants; however, police and
paramilitary police often ignored legal procedures in the pursuit of
criminals. For example, during the June general strike, police went
door-to-door in neighborhoods throughout Conakry, searching homes and
private vehicles, and detaining private citizens on suspicion of
involvement (see Section 1.d.). In at least one instance, a gendarme
raped a woman (see Section 1.c.).
Although the belief that security forces monitored the mail no
longer existed, many believed that they monitored electronic
communications. Local businesses, including foreign companies, often
complained that public officials and authorities intimidated and
harassed them.
In some instances the Government coerced membership in political
organizations by conferring preferential treatment on those who were
members of the majority Party of Unity and Progress (PUP). For example,
the Government has sometimes demoted or reassigned government employees
who were known to be members of opposition parties because of their
active political affiliation.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of expression, and there were fewer arrests and detentions
of journalists than in previous years; however, the Government
suspended four newspapers during the year.
The Government prohibited talk or chants in public that it
considered seditious, established defamation and slander as criminal
offenses, and prohibited communications that insulted the President;
incited violence, discrimination, or hatred; or disturbed the public
peace or security. Sanctions included fines, revocation of press cards,
imprisonment, and banishment.
In June, in the Nongo section of Conakry, security forces destroyed
the market stalls of people who insulted the President when his
motorcade passed.
The Government published an official daily newspaper, the Horoya,
and continued to operate official television and radio stations. The
state-owned media provided extensive and mostly favorable coverage of
the Government and ruling party; however, government media increased
coverage of opposition activities and was more critical of the
Government officials on the local level.
In October the minister of information indefinitely suspended
Ibrahima Sory Dieng, Horoya managing director, and Alhassane Souare,
Horoya editor-in-chief, for not publishing President Conte's picture
alongside the copy of his Independence Day speech. To date, the
journalists have not regained their positions. Also in October the
Director of Guinea's state-owned and operated Guinean Radio and
Television suspended Ibrahima Ahmed Barry, a news producer, for failing
to show images of key ministers engaging with the public. Barry
remained suspended at year's end.
Private newspapers openly criticized the President and the
Government. There were 10 private newspapers published weekly in
Conakry, and up to 10 other publications appeared sporadically,
although technical difficulties and high operating costs impeded
regular publication. One newspaper, L'Espoir, was affiliated with the
governing political party, and several other newspapers openly
supported opposition parties. Other newspapers offered news and
criticism of both the Government and the opposition.
In September the National Communications Council (CNC) announced
financial subsidies of approximately $71,000 (400 million Guinea
francs) to 37 of 58 registered private newspapers, purportedly to
encourage private media. Some observers believed it also was meant to
encourage progovernment reporting.
Foreign publications, some of which criticized the Government on a
regular basis, were available both in print and electronic format.
Despite the limited reach of the print media due to low literary rates
and high prices of newspapers, the Government continued occasionally to
criticize and harass print journalists.
The Government does not permit media ownership by political parties
and religious institutions but did not restrict programming on
political and religious subjects.
The CNC suspended three newspapers for articles published that were
considered libelous or nonfactual.
In August, for the first time in the country's history, private
radio stations began broadcasting. With various formats initially
focusing on music, commercial operators competed for listeners in this
key sector. Radio remained the most important source of information for
the public. During the year 12 rural and community radio stations
continued operating. At year's end the Government had accepted eight
license applications for private radio stations; five were operational.
Many citizens listened regularly to foreign-origin short wave radio. At
year's end the Government continued to own and operate the only
domestic television broadcast station. The Government did not restrict
access to or distribution of foreign television programming via
satellite or cable; however, relatively few citizens could afford these
services.
Boubacar Yacine Diallo, an independent journalist and newspaper
editor, was chairman of the CNC until December. On December 22, Diallo
was appointed as minister of information. The CNC played a pivotal
oversight role in the new privately owned broadcast media. Each of the
applications for radio operators was thoroughly reviewed by the CNC
before being sent to the Ministry of Information for final approval.
While at the CNC, Diallo initiated programs to increase professionalism
in journalistic practice and implemented a requirement that journalists
must meet higher professional standards to obtain press credentials.
Journalists were subject to arrest, detention, and harassment;
however, there were fewer such reports than in previous years.
For example, in March Almamy Kalla Conte, a journalist at the Lynx-
Lance newspaper was detained by police for three hours while he was
investigating thefts of steel railway lines.
The CNC suspended newspaper activities during the year. In February
the newspaper Les Echos was suspended for two months after printing an
article critical of the former minister of territorial administration
and decentralization.
In March the Government refused to allow the magazine Jeune Afrique
L'intelligent permission to distribute a weekly edition that featured a
story reporting on President Conte's ill health and medical evacuation.
The ban was temporary, and the magazine became freely available again
later on. Until the ban was lifted, photocopies of the article, printed
from the Internet, were available through street vendors.
In April the CNC suspended the journal L'Enqueteur for two months
for publishing nonfactual information. On August 22, the CNC suspended
the newspaper Liberation for three months for its publication of
``nonfactual information, biased reporting, and an article that was
racist and discriminatory.'' All of these articles were critical of
prominent persons in politics and business. On November 27, the CNC
suspended the weekly newspaper Kaloum Express for two months for the
publication of ``words that damage the reputation of the Guinean
State.''
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. The Internet was available for use by all citizens, but only a
small minority of the population used the technology. Cost, literacy,
and availability remained major constraints to use by a broad range of
citizens.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Ministry of National
Education and Scientific Research exercised limited control over
academic freedom through its influence on faculty hiring and control
over the curriculum; however, teachers generally were not subject to
classroom censorship.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law restricts freedom of assembly, and while the
Government generally allowed opposition meetings, it did not approve
any applications for marches during the year. The penal code bans any
meeting that has an ethnic or racial character or any gathering ``whose
nature threatens national unity.'' The Government requires a 72-
working-hour advance notification of public gatherings; otherwise the
events are considered illegal. The law permits local authorities to
cancel a demonstration or meeting if they believe it poses a threat to
public order. They may hold event organizers criminally liable if
violence or destruction of property ensues. Police use of excessive
force during the year resulted in the deaths of numerous demonstrators,
including women and children. Police arrested numerous other
demonstrators. No action generally was taken against the responsible
police.
In January a celebration turned violent after the victory of the
country's national football team. Youth clashed with police, and one
person was killed when security forces fired into the crowd. Several
persons were arrested and later released. No action was taken against
the officer who fired the fatal shot.
On February 2, several students were arrested in Labe during a
protest against poor living conditions. No injuries were reported. The
students were released after being detained for a few days.
On February 21, riots erupted after the announcement of the new
mayor of Gueckedou. During the demonstrations security forces fired
into the crowd killing Yawa Suzanne Tolno, a mother of two, and Robert
Millimono, a high-school student.
Police forcibly dispersed two nationwide general labor strikes,
resulting in deaths and injuries; the strikes were organized in
accordance with law. In February a five-day strike called by the
interunion coalition of the National Federation of Guinean Workers
(CNTG) and the Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG) effectively shut down
the country after most workers in the formal and informal sectors
stayed at home. The strike was relatively peaceful, although in at
least two instances in Conakry security forces fired on demonstrators;
following one of the two instances, Bangaly Sidibe was killed after
being shot in the stomach. In another area of Conakry, at least one
other person was shot and numerous other persons were seriously
injured.
The June general strike was marked by significant violence. On June
12, when students learned they were unable to take their final exams
and feared that they would not gain credit for the school year, they
joined other persons who threw rocks, burned tires and cars, and
destroyed property. Security forces responded with lethal force and
tear gas to control demonstrators. The Government reported that at
least 11 persons were killed; however, local NGOs claimed that up to 21
persons were killed. There were at least 100 persons injured and
hundreds more arrested, although most arrestees were released almost
immediately and none remain in detention. On June 16, the Government
released a formal statement to the international community, listing the
victims of June 12.
Two persons, Aly Camara, a 29-year-old mason, and Seydouba Camara,
a 26-year-old driver, were killed in the Matoto area of Conakry. In the
Dixinn area of Conakry, Mamadou Bailo Barry, a 17-year-old electrician,
Mamady Camara, a 15-year-old driver, and an unidentified person were
killed by security forces. There were four killings in the region of
Labe. Mamadou Oury Balde, a 20-year-old student, Boubacar Barry, a 25-
year-old baker, Boubacar Diallo, a 16-year-old driver, and Djibril
Sylla, a 21-year-old driver, were all killed in clashes with police. In
N'Zerekore, Moussa Toure, a 16-year-old student, and Bangaly Keita, a
27-year-old driver, were killed.
Investigations by journalists and human rights organizations
identified two additional victims not included in the official
government statement. Ousmane Kaba, an 18-year-old student, was killed
in Conakry. Amadou Sow, a 14-year-old student in Labe, was killed in
clashes with police.
The Government promised thorough investigations into the killings;
however, a formal report had not been released by year's end. No
security officers were arrested or charged for their actions during the
strike. NGOs reported that during their independent investigations,
witnesses refused to disclose information, fearing government reprisal.
On December 3 and 4, at least 69 persons, including one woman and
two imams, were arrested in Fria during protests about road conditions.
Several of those arrested were local employees of the Russian company
RUSSIAL, the aluminum corporation with mining and refinery operations
in Fria. On December 7, many of the detainees were transferred to
facilities in Conakry, and some were beaten while being interrogated.
On December 14, the imams were released and on December 15, 10 RUSSIAL
employees were released in Fria. On December 27 President Conte
reportedly summoned the persons who were being detained in Conakry and
instructed them never again to engage in violence and destruction of
property. They were released the same day. At year's end, no persons
remained in prison in connection with the incidents in Fria.
There were several protests during the year prompted by company
cuts to family benefits by residents in the mining town of Kamsar. Many
of the protestors were wives and family members of miners working for
the Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG). In December the protests
became violent and on December 28, when the demonstrators clashed with
police, one 12-year-old girl was killed by a stray police bullet.
During this incident at least five women were injured. At year's end,
at least 18 persons, mostly women, remained detained in connection with
the incident.
The Government reported ongoing investigations into the December
2005 incident in Kouroussa when security forces fired on a crowd,
wounding three persons. No report was released. There were no
investigations or arrests in the incidents reported last year in
Kissidougou, Siguiri, Mandiana, Kerouane, Beyla, or Conakry during the
December 2005 local elections.
There was no active investigation of the November 2005 killings in
Telimele, the September 2005 injuries by military guards in Kouroussa,
or any of the other forcible dispersions that resulted in deaths or
injuries.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association; however, the Government infringed on this right
in practice. The Government imposed cumbersome requirements to obtain
official recognition for public, social, cultural, religious, or
political associations. Most of the restrictions focused on political
associations as opposed to nonpolitical associations. For example,
political parties had to provide information on their founding members
and produce internal statutes and political platforms consistent with
the constitution before the Government recognized them.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
As part of an October 14 cabinet change, the Government issued a
Presidential decree that changed the Ministry of the Islamic League to
the General Secretariat of the National Islamic League. The General
Secretariat continued to represent the 85 percent of the country
practicing Islam. Most of the Muslim population adhered to Sunni
teachings and practices. Government support of the powerful general
secretariat led some non-Muslims to complain that the Government used
its influence to favor Muslims over non-Muslims, although non-Muslims
were represented in the cabinet, administrative bureaucracy, and the
armed forces. The General Secretariat oversees the choice of imams and
prevented certain individuals who they believed were extremists or who
did not support the General Secretariat's positions from becoming
imams. The General Secretariat also monitored the messages broadcast in
Friday prayer services by drafting and distributing the weekly sermons.
The Government refrained from appointing non-Muslims to important
administrative positions in certain parts of the country in deference
to the particularly strong social dominance of Islam in these regions.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--Relations
among the various religions generally were amicable; however, in some
parts of the country, Islam's dominance created strong societal
pressure that discouraged conversion from Islam or land acquisition for
non-Islamic religious use.
There were few Jewish persons in the country, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, authorities at times infringed on them. The
Government requires all citizens to carry national identification
cards, which they must present on demand at security checkpoints.
Police and security forces continued to detain persons at military
roadblocks to extort money; however, there were fewer such reports than
in previous years.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not
use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization of
Migration, and the Government reported that all IDPs were reintegrated,
a 2005 Norwegian Refugee Council report indicated many IDPs had not
returned to their former homes. Unlike last year, the IDP Consultative
Forum was no longer active. Many IDPs, particularly those who have been
deported from other countries, are reintegrated directly to their
former homes without assistance packages.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system of providing protection to
refugees through an advisor on territorial issues within the Ministry
of Territorial Administration. In practice, the Government provided
some protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution. The Government cooperated with the
office of the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers.
Many positive developments in the area of refugee repatriation
continued to occur during the year. The UNHCR accommodated all refugees
desiring voluntary return to other countries from Guinea. The UNHCR and
other international organizations also offered financial support for
the rehabilitation of communities severely affected after 17 years of
hosting refugees.
The country has been a place of refuge for asylum seekers from
neighboring countries in conflict, including Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Cote d'Ivoire, and Guinea Bissau. At year's end, UNHCR and the National
Bureau for Refugee Coordination estimated that the total refugee
population left in the country was 31,450 persons, of whom
approximately 70 percent were Liberians. With the success of assisted
and voluntary repatriation, several refugee camps closed during the
year. The Government agreed to facilitate the integration of
approximately 2,000 citizens of Sierra Leone who had chosen to remain
in the country. By year's end, approximately 500 families received the
proper documentation to complete this process.
During the year, the Government also provided temporary protection
to approximately 45 individuals of different West African nationalities
during the year who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN
convention or its 1967 Protocol.
Like in previous years, there were reports of rape, assaults, and
forced prostitution. The Government reports these crimes are committed
within the refugee population, generally by other refugees. Gender-
based violence remained a problem. Tension continued between host
communities and refugee populations because of disparities in living
standards. Economic decline in the country exacerbated situations where
refugees received basic services and opportunities unavailable to
citizens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide for a popularly elected President
and national assembly; however, the Government restricted citizens'
ability to exercise this right. Political reforms resulted in some
improvements during the year.
Elections and Political Participation.--Despite openly acknowledged
health problems, the President ran for reelection in December 2003,
winning against a candidate who was virtually unknown. All major
opposition parties boycotted the election, criticized by international
observers as neither free nor fair. In December 2005 the Government
held nationwide elections, and 16 of 46 registered political parties,
including all the major opposition parties, participated. According to
official results, President Conte's ruling PUP garnered approximately
80 percent of the vote with certified victories in 31 of 38
municipalities and 241 of 303 local councils. The PUP and associated
parties held 91 of the 114 seats in the National Assembly.
The local electoral process was characterized by both improvements
over past practice as well as serious flaws. Positive developments
included freer campaigning, a single ballot listing all parties,
transparent ballot boxes, political parties represented at the polling
stations, media coverage of events, and free access for national
observers. However, the turnout was low, and there were significant
irregularities and bias by officials towards the ruling party before
and during the vote. These included government revision of voter rolls
with limited oversight, exclusion of up to 50 percent of the opposition
candidate lists, unequal provision and distribution of voter
registration cards and identity documents, and susceptibility to
cheating in the district-level vote consolidations.
The Government invited participation by the electoral commission,
opposition parties, and civil society in the electoral process. In
practice it retained control of most registration and election
procedures, including the casting and counting of votes. Despite
pressure from opposition parties to change the constitution to enable
an independent electoral commission to have full responsibility for
organizing all aspects of elections and reporting the results of the
vote, the Government retained responsibility for organizing the
elections, with the electoral commission validating the final results.
With few local exceptions, the National Autonomous Electoral
Commission was ineffective. Political parties were unsuccessful in
gaining judicial relief in some cases of alleged malfeasance.
In July the Government initiated a joint committee, comprised of
majority and opposition political parties, to draft legislation for a
new electoral commission, define the status of opposition parties, and
establish procedures for party financing.
The law allows the President to run for an unlimited number of
seven-year terms. There were 46 legally recognized political parties;
deputies of five different parties were represented in the National
Assembly. Only one opposition political party, the Union for Progress
and Renewal (UPR), which had 20 seats, participated in the 114-member
National Assembly. All of the other parties represented in the National
Assembly joined the PUP government party alliance. Legislative
elections are scheduled for June 2007. Government employees are
required to campaign for the ruling party in each election.
The President continued to hold the power to appoint governors,
prefects, and subprefects to administer regions, prefectures, and
subprefectures, respectively. Most of these officials were members of
the PUP or parties allied with it. Local governments generally had
limited autonomy. Although they had some financial resources with which
to fund local programs, most of their funds were controlled by the
central government.
Prefects and other local officials who were members of opposition
parties found that higher-level officials effectively blocked their
authority. In some cases they were forced to join the ruling PUP party
or lose their jobs. Those who continued their allegiance to opposition
parties were relocated to different prefectures far from their home
communities. To prevent risking their livelihood, others chose to
remain uninvolved in politics.
Elected and appointed government officials continued to be
disproportionately male. There were 20 female deputies in the 114-
member National Assembly. There were five women in the 26-member
Supreme Court. Four women held seats in the 30-member cabinet appointed
in May. There were few women at senior levels below minister, and there
were no women in the senior ranks of the armed forces. Women generally
played a minor role in the leadership of the major political parties;
however, Assiatou Bah was vice President of the UPR. The RPG named
Fatou Bangoura to the post of political secretary.
Members of the three main ethnic groups (Soussou, Malinke, and
Peuhl) as well as all smaller groups in the country (Gerze, Toma,
Kisse, Koniake, and Mano) served in the National Assembly. The Supreme
Court, cabinet, and armed forces leadership included representatives of
all major ethnic groups. However, a disproportionate number of senior
military officers were Soussou, the President's ethnic group.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained
widespread throughout all branches of government. The President can
overrule legislative decisions and did so in practice. Connection to
the President or his powerful associates sometimes conferred exemptions
from taxes and other fiscal obligations. Public funds were diverted for
private use or for illegitimate public uses, such as buying expensive
vehicles for government workers. Land sales and business contracts
lacked transparency.
During the year a committee was established to follow-up on a 2005
World Bank report on corruption. Each ministry was tasked with creating
an internal office to identify and address corruption as related to its
duties. Using polling data gathered in 2003, the report identified
government agencies widely viewed as corrupt by citizens. It also
identified how corruption affected everything from commercial
transactions to judicial decisions to civil service promotions. The
report was released as part of a two-day conference on corruption and
was then presented during similar meetings throughout the country.
Businessmen, government workers, and average citizens were among the
hundreds of persons surveyed in the study.
The Commission to Combat Corruption within the Ministry of Economic
and Financial Control is located within the Office of the President. A
public complaints bureau to report corruption was located within the
commission in Conakry, but communication and coordination between the
commission and the Ministry of Justice remained weak. There was much
discussion of corruption in the media, but little action was taken
during the year. In November a delegation of government, civil society,
and media representatives attended the annual conference of
Transparency International.
During the year there was continued media attention on prominent
businessman Mamadou Sylla and allegations that he had defrauded the
Government over a period of several years through business transactions
between his company, Futurlec, and the Government. In 2005 the Prime
Minister ordered an audit into those transactions, which revealed Sylla
owed millions of dollars to the Government because of over-billing,
double-billing, and other suspect accounting procedures. Sylla refused
to open his company's books to the auditor, and he denounced the audit.
Before any action could be taken, political allies of Sylla ordered a
second audit, which found that it was the Government that owed Sylla
several million dollars. The IMF added the resolution of this issue as
one of the conditions of the country regaining a formally funded
program. In July the Government ordered a third audit to reconcile the
two previous findings. In November the findings were released, but were
inconclusive. Also in November, the Government began legal proceedings
against Sylla and others who were accused of embezzling state funds. In
December Sylla and another former minister, Fode Soumah, were jailed
for violation of court orders. After approximately one week in prison,
they were released, apparently due to extra-judicial influence by
President Conte; however, the legal proceedings against them continue.
For the first time in the country's history, the national budget
included line items for every expenditure during the year. Each
ministry was required to submit justifications for projected spending.
The draft budgets were presented to the National Assembly which used
its discretionary powers to determine the various funding levels. This
budget exercise was designed to increase transparency in government
processes.
There is no law providing free access to government information.
Most government information is not available to the public, and there
is no mechanism to request it formally. The Government did provide free
official information in the government-run press and through limited
publications.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of local and international NGOs generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials generally were cooperative and
responsive to their views; however, some local organizations alleged
that government officials tried to intimidate them and that they often
met resistance when trying to investigate abuses or engage in civil
education.
Various government officials continued to block private efforts to
memorialize victims of the Sekou Toure regime that ruled the country
from independence until 1984. The Association of Victims of Camp Boiro
was forbidden to establish a museum focusing on human rights in the
former location of the prison where political detainees were tortured
and killed.
The Government facilitated visits by international human rights
organizations and fully cooperated with prison monitoring by the ICRC
and HRW during the year.
In 2004 the National Directorate for Human Rights and Fundamental
Liberties was created within the Ministry of Justice; no personnel have
yet been appointed. A human rights office also exists within the
Ministry of Defense. Although in previous years, the Office of
International Humanitarian Rights, in conjunction with the ICRC,
conducted human rights seminars during the year to teach military and
security personnel about human rights recognized by international and
regional agreements, there were no reports of activities during the
year. A similar office related to human rights exists within the
Ministry of Security, but it remained relatively inactive during the
year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law states that all persons are equal before the law regardless
of gender, race, ethnicity, language, beliefs, political opinions,
philosophy, or creed; however, the Government did not enforce these
provisions uniformly. Violence and discrimination against women, FGM,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against ethnic minorities
were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, although
estimates differed as to the extent of the problem. Due to fear of
stigmatization and reprisal, women rarely reported abuse except at the
point of divorce. Wife beating is not addressed specifically within the
law. Assault in general carries a penalty of up to two years in prison
and a fine from $9 to $36 (50,000 to 200,000 francs). If the assault is
premeditated, the prison time increases from two to five years in
prison and a fine of $18 to $54 (100,000 to 300,000 francs) and
constitutes grounds for divorce under civil law; however, police rarely
intervened in domestic disputes, and few perpetrators were punished.
Although rape is a criminal offense, in practice spousal rape is
neither punished nor regarded as a criminal offense. Social beliefs
prevented most rape victims from reporting incidents of rape. Local
NGOs and government representatives reported that sexual assault
increased during the year. According to a doctor at the central public
hospital in Conakry, victims of sexual assault constituted 20 percent
of all cases in the hospital. Many of these assaults were perpetrated
by a person the victim knew and often took place at school; more than
half the victims were young girls. Several local NGOs worked to
increase public awareness of the nature of these crimes and promote
increased reporting. The authorities were reluctant to pursue criminal
investigations of alleged sexual crimes.
FGM was practiced widely in all regions and among all religious and
ethnic groups, and the country had one of the highest rates of FGM in
the world. FGM is illegal and carries a penalty of three months in
prison and a fine of approximately $18 (100,000 francs), although there
were no prosecutions during the year. Senior officials and both the
official and private press spoke against the practice. FGM was
performed on girls between the ages of four and 17, but exact figures
on this procedure were difficult to establish. The Coordinating
Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting Women's and Children's
Health (CPTAFE), a local NGO dedicated to eradicating FGM and ritual
scarring, cited a continuing decline in the percentage of women and
girls subjected to the worst forms of FGM. The CPTAFE estimated between
60 and 65 percent of girls were subjected to FGM. Another international
NGO, TOSTAN, estimated 95 percent of girls were subjected to FGM.
Infibulation, the most dangerous form of FGM, was still performed
in the Forest Region but less frequently than in previous years.
Despite diseases resulting from crude and unsanitary surgical
instruments and deaths resulting from the practice, the tradition
continued, seriously affecting many women's lives. FGM also increased
the risk of HIV infection, since unsterilized instruments were shared
among participants.
The Government continued efforts to educate health workers on the
dangers of this procedure, and it supported the CPTAFE's efforts. The
CPTAFE reported high rates of infant mortality and maternal mortality
due to FGM. The Government continued its plan to eradicate FGM, and
government ministers, health officials, and the media discussed FGM
more frequently, but there were no statistics evaluating the success of
the program.
A growing number of men and women opposed FGM. Urban, educated
families increasingly opted to perform only a slight, symbolic incision
on a girl's genitals rather than the complete procedure. During the
year the CPTAFE held large public ceremonies celebrating the ``laying
down of the excision knife,'' in which some traditional practitioners
of FGM pledged to discontinue the practice; however, most of those who
performed FGM opposed its eradication since the practice was lucrative.
CPTAFE stressed the health consequences of excision while supporting
the customary observance of the transition to womanhood through
traditional dances and songs.
TOSTAN was successful in bringing together communities that
traditionally intermarry to combat FGM. Recognizing traditional
practices that encouraged FGM, the NGO helped establish binding social
contracts where families agreed that they would accept a woman who had
not undergone this procedure as an acceptable wife for one of their
sons. This coordinated approach made it possible for thousands of
families to immediately end this practice. In December over 150
communities in the center of the country made a public declaration to
end FGM and underage marriage.
Although the Government made regular statements in the media
against sexual harassment, it is not against the law. Women working in
the formal sector in urban areas complained of frequent sexual
harassment, and it was not penalized by employers.
The law provides for equal treatment of men and women. The Ministry
of Social Affairs and Women's Promotion worked to advance such
equality; however, women faced discrimination throughout society. Women
faced discrimination particularly in rural areas where opportunities
were limited by custom and the demands of childrearing and subsistence
farming. Women were not denied access to land, credit, or businesses,
but inheritance laws favor male heirs over female heirs. Government
officials acknowledged that polygyny was a common practice. Divorce
laws generally tend to favor men in awarding custody and dividing
communal assets. Legal evidence given by women carried less weight than
testimony by men, in accordance with Islamic precepts and customary
law. The Government affirmed the principle of equal pay for equal work,
although in practice women received lower pay than men.
In August, to commemorate National Women's Day, the Government
unveiled its strategy to implement its 2007 to 2011 action plan to
institutionalize women's empowerment.
Children.--The law provides that the Government should support
children's rights and welfare, and the Government allocated and spent a
significant percentage of the budget on primary education. The minister
of youth and the Ministry of Social Affairs were tasked by the
President to defend women's and children's rights, and a permanent
committee dedicated to defending the rights of the child, with members
chosen from different ministries, NGOs, and other sectors, continued to
work.
Government policy provides for tuition-free, compulsory primary
school education for six years, but enrollment rates were low due to
additional school fees and lax enforcement of laws mandating school
attendance. The net primary enrollment rate (NER) was the ratio of
official school-age children enrolled in primary school to the total
population of children of official primary school age, as defined by
the national education system. The total NER for the 2005 06 school
year was 63 percent; for girls, the NER was 57 percent. In rural areas,
the total NER for the 2005 06 school year was 49 percent; for girls it
was 42 percent. Gender equity was one of the main goals of the
Government plan, Education for All. Girls had equal access to education
and the increase in girls' school enrollment was a result of several
government programs to increase access to school and to promote girls'
education.
Child abuse, particularly sexual assault, was a problem. Girls
between the age of 11 and 15 years were most vulnerable and represented
55 percent of the victims. During the year, a pastor in Conakry
reportedly raped at least eight girls. He was arrested and charged with
rape and assault. The pastor reportedly paid officers of the court as
well as security officials to influence the process. He was found not
guilty and released from police custody. At year's end, the pastor
remains in his position. In 2005 a teacher raped a nine-year-old girl
in Sangoyah. The teacher's salary was reduced by 20 percent with this
amount being paid to care for the victim. The perpetrator pled guilty,
was released from prison, and returned to his teaching job.
FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
The legal age for marriage is 21 years for men and 17 years for
women. Although there were no official reports of underage marriage, it
allegedly was a problem. Parents contracted marriages for girls as
young as 11 years of age in the Fouta and Forest Regions. The CPTAFE,
in conjunction with the Government, local journalists, and
international NGOs, continued to run an education campaign to
discourage underage marriage and reported lower rates than in previous
years. According to CPTAFE, some families that sanctioned early
marriages nevertheless kept their married daughters in the family home
until they had at least completed secondary school.
There were reports that girls were trafficked for prostitution and
boys and girls for other labor (see Section 5, Trafficking and section
6.d.).
The International Rescue Committee and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
reported that children living in foster families often did not receive
adequate food, shelter, and clothing and were compelled to work in the
streets, sometimes as prostitutes, for their subsistence.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, the country was a source, transit point, and destination point
for trafficking. The law carries a penalty of five to 10 years'
imprisonment and confiscation of any money or property received as a
result of trafficking activities.
Some NGOs reported that women, men, and children were trafficked
within the country, as well as internationally, for the sex trade and
illegal labor. Trafficking in persons from rural areas, mainly from the
poorest areas in upper Guinea, to urban centers was more common than
international trafficking. As NGOs and the Government increasingly
recognized trafficking within the country, more emphasis was placed on
this practice in the national awareness campaign by UNICEF to combat
trafficking. Accurate statistics were difficult to obtain because
victims did not report the crime.
Some children were trafficked for forced labor in agriculture and
diamond mining camps and for household work in Conakry. NGOs claimed
that the country was frequently a transit route for a West African
trafficking network because fraudulent passports can be easily obtained
and no visas are required for local nationals to travel to certain
North Africa countries. From these nations, children were then sent to
destinations in Europe.
Girls under the age of 14 were involved in prostitution. The
Government did not take action when prostitution of minors was brought
to its attention, and it did not actively monitor child or adult
prostitution.
The ICRC reported that trafficking of children was a problem among
repatriates from Sierra Leone and Liberia, some of whom hoped to gain
advantage from reunification projects intended to reconstitute families
separated through war (see Section 2.d. Refugees).
In July a girl was kidnapped and trafficked to a village in Macenta
Region to be exploited as a domestic servant. The police returned the
seven-year-old girl to her grandmother. The perpetrator was identified,
arrested, and the case turned over to the Ministry of Justice.
In November police rescued 14 Sierra Leonean women and their babies
in Conakry and placed them in a safe house run by a local NGO. They
were victims of a trafficking network that was planning to send them to
Holland. At year's end, no suspects were arrested.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of the Malian woman
accused of trafficking; she was turned over to the Ministry of Justice
but deported rather than prosecuted. There were no developments in the
2004 case of a Sierra Leonean child trafficking ring.
The Interministerial Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons was
created by the Government to better coordinate their antitrafficking
efforts. In February this committee was expanded to include
representatives from other ministries and national and international
NGOs working to combat trafficking. The new structure, the National
Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons, has 30 members, including
representatives from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Promotion
of Women and Children, and the ministries of cooperation, justice,
security, foreign affairs, education, youth, fishing, health,
information, and tourism. The committee held educational seminars
during the year, including a July 24 workshop to evaluate the
conformity of the country's action plan with the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) standards. The committee concluded that
because there is a national action plan, the country was in compliance
with its adoption of ECOWAS standards and that significant progress had
been made in prevention and awareness. Efforts to draft and ratify
antitrafficking legislation were underway along with programs to
strengthen law enforcement capacity. However, while certain projects
focused on victim protection, lack of funding prevented more effective
work, particularly repatriation, accompaniment, and case follow-up. The
committee emphasized the need to focus on prosecution of traffickers.
In June 2005 the Government signed a bilateral agreement with Mali
to combat child trafficking. In July 2005 the Government signed a
multilateral agreement with nine nations in the region to increase
cooperation, harmonize antitrafficking legislation, and exchange
information.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services. In practice there were no official reports of societal or
governmental discrimination against person with disabilities. The
Government had not mandated accessibility for persons with
disabilities, and buildings and vehicles remained inaccessible. Few
persons with disabilities worked in the formal sector; some worked in
the informal sector in small family-run businesses, and many lived by
begging on the streets.
In 2005 the Government, in cooperation with an international donor,
launched a national civic education program that included persons with
disabilities as well as persons with HIV/AIDS. One of the programs for
persons with disabilities was staged at the School for the Deaf of
Conakry. The program, in American Sign Language, explained concepts of
citizenship, nationality, and equal participation.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was
ethnically and regionally diverse. The Peuhls were the largest ethnic
groups (approximately 40 percent of the population), followed by the
Malinke (approximately 30 percent), and the Soussou (approximately 20
percent). There were several smaller ethnic groups in the Forest
Region. Each group spoke a distinct primary language and was
concentrated in a distinct region: the Soussou in lower Guinea, the
Peuhl in middle Guinea, and the Malinke in upper Guinea. Conakry and
other large urban areas such as Kankan and the Forest Region were
ethnically heterogeneous.
While the law prohibits racial or ethnic discrimination, ethnic
identification was strong.
Mutual suspicion, both inside and outside the Government, affected
relations across ethnic lines. Widespread societal ethnic
discrimination by members of all major ethnic groups was evident in
private sector hiring patterns, in the ethnic segregation of urban
neighborhoods, and in the relatively low levels of interethnic
marriage. The proportion of public sector positions occupied by
Soussous, particularly at senior levels, was widely perceived as
exceeding their share of the national population.
The ruling PUP party, although generally supported by Soussous,
transcended ethnic boundaries more effectively than the major
opposition parties, which have readily identifiable ethnic and regional
bases. The UPR's main base was the Peuhls, while the RPG's main base
was the Malinke. Soussou preeminence in the public sector and Malinke
migration into the traditional homelands of smaller ethnic groups in
the Forest Region were sources of local political tensions that
sometimes erupted into violence.
Unlike last year, there were no reported cases of interethnic
conflict or violence.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination against
homosexuals is not prohibited by law, but there are no discriminatory
laws based on sexual orientation. Although there were deep social,
religious, and cultural taboos against homosexuality, there were no
official reports of discrimination against homosexuals.
There have been reports that various hospitals in the country have
refused to treat patients with AIDS; hospital workers feared
contracting the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law and constitution provide for
the right of employees, except for military and paramilitary personnel,
to form and join independent labor unions, and this right was respected
in practice. The labor code requires elected worker representatives for
any enterprise employing 25 or more salaried workers. Although labor
statistics were inadequate, approximately 160,000 workers were
reportedly unionized, including approximately 65,000 government workers
and members of the National Federation of Guinean Workers (CNTG), the
Government union. CNTG reports they also have identified over 40,000
sympathizers who have not paid dues. The largest independent union,
Union of Workers of Guinea (USTG), claimed 69,500 members, including
over 20,000 women. During the year five unions remained active.
During the year, for the first time in the country's history,
unions formed a joint coalition to fight for workers' rights. The
leaders of the two largest unions coordinated their efforts in planning
the two general strikes that were observed by the majority of the
country's population. Both strikes were undertaken in compliance with
the law, with the unions providing adequate notice of their intention
to strike. Police use of excessive force to control demonstrators in
favor of the strike resulted in numerous deaths and injuries (see
Section 2.b.)
The CNTG-USTG labor coalition succeeded in forcing several
government concessions for union members, including higher salaries and
increased benefits for government employees, formalizing the employment
of contract teachers, and allowing union representatives to take part
in government decisions on fiscal and monetary issues. The unions also
secured benefits for workers in the informal economy, including a
reduction in the fixed price of rice and an agreement that any increase
in fuel prices must be accompanied by other measures to provide a
safety net for all citizens. On March 3, the Government and unions
signed a protocol of agreement that ended the first national strike.
The union coalition called for the second strike after the
Government did not comply with the terms of the protocol. The June
strike was suspended with the June 16 signature of a memorandum of
understanding establishing new criteria and deadlines for the
Government to meet. To date, the Government has not complied with its
terms.
In August the union of builders of public works secured a 120
percent salary increase after a successful collective negotiation. In
the private sector, employees of gold and bauxite mining companies
obtained significant increases in salary and benefits after the
employers implemented similar measures adopted in the agreement between
unions and the Government.
During the year the Government targeted labor leaders. On May 26,
an armed person affiliated with the security apparatus was detained
after a reported assassination attempt on U.S. G President Ibrahima
Fofana. He was detained a short time and released.
In Boke, during the June national strike, the prefectoral director
of education was threatened with professional sanction for his
leadership of striking teachers.
There were reports that police clashed with workers demanding
benefits and that the Government pressured teachers to resign.
Although the law and constitution prohibit antiunion
discrimination, in practice, particularly at regional and prefecture
levels, unionized labor at times faced strong opposition from
government officials. Government officials were often selected on the
basis of nepotism and patronage; these individuals were not sensitized
to the rights of workers and often viewed unions as an enemy of the
Government. As a result union members in the interior of the country
faced harassment and interference from many governors and prefects.
Union activities in Conakry faced less harassment and interference.
Individual workers threatened with dismissal or other sanctions have
the right to a hearing before management with a union representative
present and, if necessary, to take the complaint to the Conakry Labor
Court. In practice this court did not convene during the year and any
cases were referred to the Ministry of Labor for arbitration. In the
interior, civil courts heard labor cases.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Under the labor
code, representative workers' unions or union groups may organize in
the workplace and negotiate with employers or employer organizations,
and workers exercised this right in practice. The law protects the
right to bargain collectively concerning wages and salaries without
government interference, and employers established rules and hours of
work in consultation with union delegates. There are no export
processing zones.
The law grants salaried workers, including public sector civilian
employees, the right to strike 10 days after their representative union
makes known its intention to strike, but strikes were sometimes met
with intimidation from security forces and, as a result, often did not
take place. By law, arbitration is by consensus and is executed through
the Office of the Inspector General of Work within the Ministry of
Labor. In practice, however, employers can impose binding arbitration.
The law prohibits strikes in essential services, including hospitals,
police, the military, transport, radio and television, and
communications. There were reports that government officials offered
better positions and political posts to members of labor unions in
exchange for ceasing strike activities.
Some internationally funded NGOs experienced labor disputes with
local employees that were often contrived. There were documented
accounts of government officials who sought bribes from, harassed, or
otherwise threatened expatriate officials for these alleged labor
infractions.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
specifically prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by
children, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections
5 and 6.d.).
The law prohibits the exploitation of vulnerable persons for unpaid
or underpaid labor. Violations carried a penalty of six months' to five
years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately nine dollars to $67
(50,000 to 382,500 francs). The Government did not enforce this
provision in practice.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
general labor code has specific provisions that pertain to child labor;
however, child labor was a serious problem. By law the minimum age for
employment is 16 years. Apprentices may start to work at 14 years of
age. Workers and apprentices under the age of 18 are not permitted to
work at night, for more than 10 consecutive hours, or on Sundays. The
labor code also stipulates that the Minister of Labor and Social
Affairs maintain a list of occupations in which women and youth under
the age of 18 cannot be employed. In practice enforcement by ministry
inspectors was limited to large firms in the modern sector of the
economy.
Overall, approximately 48 percent of children under age 15 were
employed, accounting for approximately 20 percent of the total working
population and 26 percent of agricultural workers. Child labor in
factories was not prevalent because of the low level of manufacturing.
Working children were mostly in the informal sector areas of
subsistence farming, small-scale commerce, and mining.
Girls as young as age 14 engaged in prostitution (see Section 5).
The worst forms of child labor were found in the artisanal mining
sector, where children hauled granite and sand for little or no money.
Many young Muslim children sent to live with a Koranic master
(marabout) for instruction in Arabic, Islam, and the Koran worked for
the teacher as payment. Children often were sent from rural areas to
Conakry to live with family members while they attended school. If the
host family was unwilling or unable to pay school fees, the children
sold water or shined shoes on the streets, and the host family took the
money in exchange for their room and board or simply used the child as
a cheap source of domestic labor (see Section 5).
There were reports that forced and compulsory child labor occurred
(see Section 5).
The Government has spoken out against child labor but lacked the
resources, enforcement mechanisms, and legislative will to combat the
problem. As a result child laborers did not have access to education or
health care and suffered from chronic malnutrition, traumatic stress,
and depression.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code allows the
Government to set a minimum hourly wage; however, the Government has
not exercised this provision nor does it promote a standard wage.
Prevailing wages often did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family.
The labor code mandates that regular work should not exceed 10-hour
days or 48-hour weeks, and it also mandates a period of at least 24
consecutive hours of rest each week, usually on Sunday. Every salaried
worker has the legal right to an annual paid vacation, accumulated at
the rate of at least two workdays per month of work. There also were
provisions in the law for overtime and night wages, which were fixed
percentages of the regular wage. In practice the authorities enforced
these rules only in the relatively small, modern, urban sector. Little
evidence showed that the Government monitored employers' work practices
or sanctioned them for failure to follow the law.
Working conditions were worse in the private sector, excluding
banking, insurance, and other similar institutions. Employees often
were fired if they joined a union (see Section 6.a.).
The teachers' union reported that working conditions were
deplorable. Teachers' wages were extremely low and not always paid on
time, if they were paid at all. In some cases teachers went six months
or more without salaries. Local Ministry of Finance employees charged
with administering teacher pay allegedly withheld the salaries and used
the funds for personal business. Some teachers lived in abject poverty,
reporting to work without shoes and even the minimum requirements to do
their jobs. These conditions were a major factor in the strike. On June
28, an agreement on teachers' compensation was signed by President
Conte. To date, negotiations continue on the implementing regulations.
The labor code contains general provisions regarding occupational
safety and health, but the Government has not elaborated a set of
practical workplace health and safety standards. Moreover, it has not
issued any ministerial orders laying out the specific requirements for
certain occupations and for certain methods of work that are called for
in the labor code. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is
responsible for enforcing labor standards, and its inspectors are
empowered to suspend work immediately in situations hazardous to
health. Enforcement efforts were sporadic. Labor inspectors
acknowledged that they did not have adequate resources to cover even
Conakry, much less the entire country.
Under the labor code, workers have the right to refuse to work in
unsafe conditions without penalty; however, many workers feared
retaliation should they refuse to work in unsafe conditions.
__________
GUINEA-BISSAU
Guinea-Bissau\1\ is a multiparty republic with a population of
approximately 1.6 million. In July 2005 Joao Bernardo ``Nino'' Vieira
was elected President after defeating the candidate of the ruling
African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde
(PAIGC). The Presidential election, which international observers
characterized as free and fair, represented another milestone in the
country's return to constitutional government. During March and April
government forces launched a military campaign to remove a Movement of
Democratic Forces of the Casamance (MFDC) faction from the north, which
resulted in civilian casualties and the displacement of thousands of
families. The country has remained stable since the military action.
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
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\1\In June 1998, the U.S. Embassy suspended operations in the
midst of heavy fighting in Guinea-Bissau and evacuated all official
personnel in the country. This report is based on information obtained
by U.S. embassies in neighboring countries, especially Senegal, from
other independent sources, and from regular visits to Guinea-Bissau by
U.S. officials assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Dakar. The U.S.
Ambassador to Senegal, resident in Dakar, is also accredited to Guinea-
Bissau.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems occurred in some areas. Poor prison
conditions existed. Arbitrary arrest and detention and restrictions on
freedom of speech occurred. There were violent dispersals of
demonstrations. Lack of judicial independence and official corruption
and impunity were problems. There were violence and discrimination
against women. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was widespread. Child
trafficking and child labor, including some forced labor, were
problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
No arrests were made in the 2005 attack on the Interior Ministry in
which approximately 20 soldiers believed to be loyal to former
President Kumba Yala killed two security guards and injured a third.
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of former defense
chief General Verissimo Correia Seabra and Colonel Domingos de Barros
by military mutineers.
Demining operations continued during the year, and the city of
Bissau was declared mine-free. On March 16, a passenger bus hit a
rebel-placed landmine on the road between Sao Domingos and Varela,
resulting in 12 civilian deaths.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them. The
Government rarely punished members of the security forces who committed
abuses.
Landmines and unexploded ordinance resulted in some injuries.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. There were no formal prisons, and the Government detained most
prisoners in makeshift detention facilities on military bases in Bissau
and neighboring cities. Detention facilities generally lacked running
water and adequate sanitation. Detainees' diets were poor, and medical
care was virtually nonexistent. Pretrial detainees were not held
separately from convicted prisoners. Juveniles were not held separately
from adults.
The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups. During the
year representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) and the Office of the Representative of the UN Secretary General
visited prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions. Unlike in the previous year, police did
not arbitrarily arrest or detain demonstrators; however, security
forces detained persons for exercising their right to free speech (see
Section 2.a.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, under the
direction of the Ministry of the Interior, have primary responsibility
for the country's internal security. The armed forces are responsible
for external security and can be called upon to assist the police in
internal emergencies.
The country is divided into 37 police districts; there were an
estimated 600 police in the country. Impunity and corruption were
rampant, and police generally were ineffective. Transit police were
particularly corrupt and demanded bribes from vehicle drivers whether
their documents and vehicles were in order or not. Police were poorly
and irregularly paid, and there was a severe lack of resources and
training. The Attorney General was responsible for investigating police
abuses, and three investigations were conducted during the year. Two
cases involved allegations of theft against the judicial police and the
third case involved allegations against members of the military who had
confiscated fishing equipment during a dispute. All three cases were
pending at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants and
provides for the right to counsel, and, if indigent, to counsel
provided by the state. Pretrial detainees were allowed prompt access to
family members. The law also provides for the right to release if no
timely indictment is brought, and the right to a speedy trial. However,
authorities did not always respect these rights in practice. There was
a functioning bail system.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, but, in practice, there was little
independence. Judges were poorly trained and paid and sometimes were
subject to corruption. The Attorney General had little protection from
political pressure since the President has sole authority to appoint or
replace the Attorney General.
Civilian courts conduct trials involving state security. Under the
Code of Military Justice, military courts only try crimes committed by
armed forces personnel. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal
for both military and civilian cases. The President has the authority
to grant pardons and reduce sentences.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and the judiciary generally enforced this right. There is no trial by
jury. The law provides for a presumption of innocence, the right to
timely access to an attorney, to question witnesses, to have access to
evidence held by the Government, and the right to appeal. Citizens who
cannot afford an attorney have the right to a court-appointed lawyer.
Traditional practices still prevailed in most rural areas, and
persons who lived in urban areas often brought judicial disputes to
traditional counselors to avoid the costs and bureaucratic impediments
of the official system. The police often resolved disputes.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary system
handles civil and criminal matters; however, there is no administrative
mechanism to address human rights violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice;
however, on April 21, security forces cut the phone and electricity of
Luis Nancassa (see Section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not
always respect these rights in practice. During the year security
forces detained persons for exercising their right to free speech and
threatened and harassed journalists. Some journalists practiced self-
censorship.
On March 9, Luis Nancassa, President of the Teacher's Union, was
detained for four hours after criticizing President Vieira on a radio
program.
There also were reports that former defense minister Marcelino
Cabral was detained on April 2 and held for one week for criticizing
the military over its efforts to remove the MFDC from the north of the
country. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Batista Tagme Na
Waie claimed Cabral was aiding rebels. Tagme also publicly threatened
to arrest Deputy Laberana Djalo for the same reason, but did not do so
due to Djalo's parliamentary immunity.
In addition to the government-owned newspaper No Pintcha, several
private newspapers published without restriction. All newspapers
published sporadically during the year due to financial constraints and
dependence on the state-owned printing house. The national printing
press often lacked raw materials.
There were several independent radio stations, a national radio
station, and a national television station. International radio
broadcasts operated without restriction.
There were some reports of harassment of journalists. On June 23,
police accused Augusto Queba Barbosa of Radio Pindjiguiti of
disseminating false information for reporting police abuse.
During the weekend of March 25 26, three armed soldiers broke into
the hotel room of Radio France International correspondent Allen Yoro
Embalo and threatened him with military arrest for reporting on the
conflict with MFDC rebels.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet including by electronic
mail. Lack of infrastructure, equipment, and education severely limited
access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government did not always respect this right in practice.
Permits were required for all assemblies and demonstrations.
On September 8, violence erupted when police attempted to detain
protest leaders, and police used clubs to break up a peaceful
demonstration by approximately 400 nurses and other health
professionals. The demonstrators were requesting pay raises and the
provision of promised benefits.
No action was taken against police who fired into a crowd of
demonstrators walking to the National Elections Commission to demand
the results of the 2005 Presidential election. Three protesters were
killed, and a fourth subsequently died of injuries inflicted by the
police.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the
right of association, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. However, during the year the Government continued its 2005
ban on activity by the Islamic religious group Ahmadiyya, contending
that some activities, including the group's practice of paying locals
to attend services, were disruptive.
Although the Government must license religious groups, there were
no reports that any applications were refused.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no developments in
the February 2005 mob beating of four Ahmadiyya believers or in the
attack against police who were trying to control a demonstration
outside a courthouse in Gabu.
There was no Jewish community. There were no reports of
discrimination against members of religious groups or of acts of anti-
Semitism.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law did not specifically prohibit forced exile; however, the
Government did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In March and April a military
campaign to oust MFDC rebels in the north uprooted approximately 10,000
persons who fled to safe havens in the country or to Senegal. With
tribal and family ties on both sides of the poorly marked border, the
nationality of the IDPs was not always clear. Once the military
campaign ended, most IDPs returned to their homes. The Government
allowed access to IDPs by domestic and international humanitarian
organizations.
The Government worked with the World Food Program (WFP), the ICRC,
and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to coordinate assistance
to IDPs. The Government also provided rice after WFP stocks were
temporarily depleted.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum
during the year.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR reported that the
Government was tolerant of refugees and permitted them to engage in
economic activities to support themselves.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through
free and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In July 2005 Joao Bernardo
Vieira, the country's former military ruler, defeated ruling PAIGC
candidate Malam Bacai Sanha in a run-off Presidential election. The
election, which international observers declared free and fair,
constituted a major step in the country's return to constitutional
government that began with the 2003 removal of former President Kumba
Yala, who had ruled by decree and undermined democratic institutions.
In March 2004 legislative elections were held for the 100-seat
National Popular Assembly (ANP). Despite the PAIGC plurality of 45
seats, President Vieira replaced Prime Minister Carlos Domingos Gomes
Junior in 2005 with Aristides Gomes, who like the President, had been
suspended from the PAIGC party. In late January the Supreme Court
upheld the constitutionality of the replacement, which the PAIGC had
challenged.
There were 14 women in the 100-seat ANP. The Supreme Court
President, two of the country's 19 government ministers, and one of
nine state secretaries also were women.
All ethnic groups were represented in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption and
lack of transparency were endemic at all levels of government. Customs
officers frequently accepted bribes for not collecting import taxes,
which greatly reduced government revenues.
The law provides that ``everyone has the right to information and
judicial protection''; however, such access was seldom provided.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. The Government
permitted visits by UN representatives and the ICRC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and race;
however, the Government did not enforce these provisions effectively.
Women.--Domestic violence, including wife beating, was an accepted
means of settling domestic disputes. There is no law that prohibits
domestic violence, and politicians were reportedly reluctant to address
the subject for fear of alienating more traditional voters or
particular ethnic groups. Although police intervened in domestic
disputes if requested, the Government had not undertaken specific
measures to counter social pressure against reporting domestic
violence, rape, incest, and other mistreatment of women.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, but government
enforcement was limited, in large part because of lack of resources.
Certain ethnic groups, especially the Fulas and the Mandinkas,
practiced FGM. The practice has increased as the Muslim population has
grown and FGM was performed not only on adolescent girls, but also on
babies as young as four months old. The Government has not outlawed the
practice; however, a national committee and international and domestic
NGOs continued to conduct a nationwide education campaign to discourage
FGM.
The law prohibits prostitution, but enforcement was weak.
There is no law prohibiting sexual harassment, and sexual
harassment was a problem.
The law treats men and women equally and prohibits discrimination;
however, discrimination against women was a problem, particularly in
rural areas where traditional and Islamic law were dominant. Women were
responsible for most work on subsistence farms and had limited access
to education, especially in rural areas. Women did not have equal
access to employment. Among certain ethnic groups, women cannot own or
manage land or inherit property.
Children.--The Government allocated limited resources for
children's welfare and education. Public schooling was universal.
However, attendance and quality of education were low due to lack of
resources. Teachers were poorly trained and paid, sometimes not
receiving salaries for months at a time. For economic reasons, children
often were required to help families in the fields which often
conflicted with schooling.
FGM was performed commonly on young girls and sometimes even
infants (see Section 5, Women).
Child marriage occurred among all ethnic groups, but no reliable
data existed to quantify the problem. Girls who fled arranged marriages
often were forced into prostitution to support themselves. Local NGOs
worked to protect the rights of women and children, and operated
programs to fight child marriage and to protect the victims of child
marriage. Ironically, observers noted during the year that NGO efforts
to enroll more girls in school had a negative side effect on child
marriages: more girls were forced to marry at a younger age because
parents feared the social opportunities of school would increase the
risk of their daughters losing their virginity before marriage.
Child trafficking occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
There were street children in Bissau. The Child Protection Office
of the Bissau Police Department estimated that approximately 1,000
children were living on the streets, with a growing number of boys
engaged in petty crime and forming gangs.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and there were reports that children were trafficked from and
within the country. Some boys sent from rural areas to attend Koranic
schools in neighboring countries, primarily Senegal, were exploited,
abused, and forced to beg to meet daily monetary quotas for their
Koranic teachers known as marabouts. Girls were sometimes exploited as
prostitutes; however, the extent of this problem was unknown.
The Ministry of Interior has responsibility for antitrafficking
efforts; however, the Government had no national plan to combat
trafficking or the capability to monitor, interdict, or prosecute
traffickers. The Government investigated at least two cases of child
trafficking during the year, but did not prosecute anyone.
The practice of buying and selling child brides also reportedly
occurred on occasion.
There were reports that customs, border guards, immigration
officials, labor inspectors, or local police may have been bribed to
facilitate such trafficking; however, no specific information was
available. Other government officials, including police and border
guards, worked closely with the Association of the Friends of Children
and the UN Children's Fund to prevent trafficking, raise awareness, and
repatriate victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities, nor mandate building
access for them, nor provide for equal access to employment and
education. However, there were no reports of overt societal
discrimination. The Government made some efforts to assist military
veterans with disabilities through pension programs, but these programs
did not adequately address health, housing, and food needs.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all civilian workers
with the freedom to form and join independent trade unions without
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and all workers
exercised this right in practice. A significant majority of the
population worked in subsistence agriculture; only a small percentage
of workers were in the wage sector and organized. Approximately 85
percent of union members were government or parastatal employees, and
they primarily belonged to independent unions.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, no
workers alleged antiunion discrimination, and the practice was not
believed to be widespread.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, but the
Government did not always protect this right (see Section 2.b.).
The law does not provide for or protect the right to bargain
collectively; however, the tripartite National Council for Social
Consultation conducted collective consultations on salary issues. Most
wages were established in bilateral negotiations between workers and
employers. There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right during the year. The law also prohibits retaliation against
strikers. The only legal restriction on strike activity was a prior
notice requirement.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were no specific laws that protected children from exploitation
in the workplace, and child labor occurred. The legal minimum age is 14
years for general factory labor and 18 years for heavy or dangerous
labor, including all labor in mines. The small formal sector generally
adhered to these minimum age requirements; however, the Ministry of
Justice and the Ministry of Civil Service and Labor did not enforce
these requirements in other sectors.
Most child labor occurs in the informal sector. Children in cities
often worked in street trading, and those in rural communities did
domestic and field work without pay; children generally performed such
labor to support families or because of a lack of educational
opportunities. Some children were partially or completely withdrawn
from school to work in the fields during the annual cashew harvest. The
Government had not taken action to combat such practices by year's end.
The Institute of Women and Children and the Ministries of Labor and
Justice are responsible for protecting children from labor
exploitation; however, there was no effective enforcement due to lack
of a legal structure.
Children were trafficked for purposes of labor exploitation (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Council of Ministers
annually establishes minimum wage rates for all categories of work, but
it did not enforce them. The lowest monthly wage was approximately $38
(19,030 CFA) per month plus a bag of rice. This wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family, and workers had to
supplement their incomes through other work, reliance on the extended
family, and subsistence agriculture.
The Government, which relies heavily on support from international
donors for basic budget support, regularly fails to pay public servants
in a timely manner, often with delays of several months.
The law provides for a maximum 45-hour workweek, but the Government
did not enforce this provision. The law also provides for overtime pay,
provided that it does not exceed 200 hours per year, and a mandatory
12-hour rest period between workdays.
With the cooperation of the unions, the Ministries of Justice and
Labor establish legal health and safety standards for workers, which
the ANP then adopts into law; however, these standards were not
enforced, and many persons worked under conditions that endangered
their health and safety. Workers, including foreign workers, do not
have the right to remove themselves from unsafe working conditions
without losing their jobs.
__________
KENYA
Kenya, with a population of 34 million, is a republic dominated by
a strong presidency. The President is both the chief of state and head
of government. In 2002 citizens elected Mwai Kibaki of the opposition
National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) as the country's third President.
Kibaki succeeded Daniel Arap Moi, who led the former ruling party, the
Kenya African National Union (KANU), and who served as President from
1978 to 2002. During the 2002 general elections, KANU, which had
controlled both the presidency and the parliament continuously since
1963, lost its parliamentary majority to NARC, a coalition of more than
a dozen political parties. Observers concluded that the elections
reflected the popular will and were free and fair. While civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were some instances in which the security forces,
particularly the police, acted independently of government authority.
The Government in many areas respected the human rights of its
citizens or attempted to institute reforms to address deficiencies.
However, serious problems remained, particularly with regard to abuses
by the police. The following human rights problems were reported:
unlawful killings, torture and use of excessive force by police; police
impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial detention; executive influence
on the judiciary; incidents of disrespect for freedom of speech and the
press; government corruption; abuse of and discrimination against
women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child prostitution and labor;
trafficking in persons; vigilante justice; interethnic violence; lack
of enforcement of workers' rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically
motivated killings during the year; however, security forces did commit
arbitrary or unlawful killings. A High Court judge noted in a September
report that the Government had not demonstrated a commitment to
adequate investigation of cases of extrajudicial deaths.
By year's end, a special committee of parliament had not yet
released its May 2005 report implicating a former minister and several
government officials in the 1990 murder of then foreign minister Robert
Ouko.
The Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU), a leading human rights
nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported that 287 extrajudicial
killings occurred during the year. The IMLU attributed the increase in
killings to the Government's March 2005 ``shoot-to-kill'' directive.
During the year 380 cases of torture were reported; 13 torture cases
during the year resulted in death (see Section 1.c.). In addition, 19
extrajudicial killings showed signs of torture.
In June police killed two persons suspected of involvement in an
attempted mugging. Police subsequently arrested a third person who fled
the scene, named Odongo. Witnesses reported that Odongo, whose body was
found at the city mortuary a month later, was uninjured when arrested.
According to a postmortem done by IMLU, the cause of Odongo's death was
two gunshots to the head. No action was taken against the perpetrators
of the three killings.
In September Pius Kiare was shot and killed by police at Kiambu
police station after being arrested for possessing a gun. The IMLU
concluded that Kiare also suffered injuries including a broken back and
pelvic bone.
Police continued their 2005 ``shoot-to-kill'' policy, and there
were reports of summary police executions. In March 2005 the minister
of internal security issued a ``shoot-to-kill'' order against anyone
found in possession of an illegal firearm; later that month, the
minister explained that he meant for officers only to defend themselves
if fired upon. During the year security forces continued to assert that
the ``shoot to kill'' policy was necessary because of the large number
of firearms in the hands of criminals. Police claimed that criminals'
frequent use of sophisticated weapons had increased the risks faced by
police in performing their duties.
In June 2005 the Parliamentary Committee on National Security
summoned the commissioner of police to explain why the police had
recently killed so many individuals. No reports had been published by
year's end, and none were expected.
There were many reports of police being killed and injured by armed
criminals, but statistics were unavailable.
Police killed numerous criminal suspects during the year. For
example, on February 12, police in Kiambu shot and killed a suspected
mugger. On March 14, police in Kisumu shot and killed seven would-be
mattress thieves. On December 21, police shot and killed five suspected
bank robbers in Nairobi. No action was taken against the perpetrators
in any of the cases.
There were no reported developments in the March 2005 case in which
Nairobi police officers executed three robbery suspects, or in the May
2005 killings by police of five unarmed men in separate incidents
across the country.
Police also killed civilians at checkpoints. For example, on July
25, Nairobi police stopped three men at a checkpoint, ordered them from
their vehicles, then shot and killed them while they knelt by the
roadside.
There were reports that persons died while in police custody or
shortly thereafter, occasionally as a result of torture (see Section
1.c.). For example, on January 30, the media reported that the families
of two men had accused police in Mombasa of drowning the men after
arresting them in connection with a drug investigation. Police
officials stated they would open an inquest to investigate the deaths.
According to a January 26 media report, murder suspect Wycliffe
Ngare Onyancha died while in detention at the Nyamira police station. A
doctor's examination determined the cause of death to be beatings to
the chest, abdomen, and limbs. Although Onyancha's family petitioned
the police to take action against the officers who interrogated him, no
action had been taken against the police officers involved by year's
end.
Also in January a local member of parliament urged police to
investigate the deaths of two robbery suspects. Local residents claimed
the suspects died while in police custody; however, police claimed the
suspects died while being transported to the hospital.
The IMLU investigated the deaths during the year of at least three
persons at the Sultan Hamud police station in Machakos District. The
postmortem examinations found evidence of torture. The IMLU reported
its results to the police commissioner; however, no action was taken
against the officers.
On March 17, two suspects were charged in the December 2005 killing
of Hassan Ahmed Abdillahi, the Kenya Ports Authority District
Investigation Officer. Abdillahi had been involved in the investigation
of governmental corruption linked to international trafficking of
narcotics and other contraband through the port.
The 2004 murder trial of six prison guards accused of the 2000
killings of six prisoners was ongoing. Press reports indicated that the
trial had been adjourned nearly 20 times for a variety of reasons,
including the transfer of the presiding judge.
The trial of several wardens for their roles in the suspicious
deaths of seven death row inmates in 2000 had been partly heard during
the year and was scheduled to resume in January 2007.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that excessive
force by the police to disperse demonstrations and strikes resulted in
deaths.
There were numerous instances of mob violence and vigilante
justice. The great majority of victims killed by mobs were suspected of
criminal activities, including robbery, killings, cattle rustling, and
membership in terror gangs. The Government rarely made arrests or
prosecuted the perpetrators of these acts.
For example, the media reported in June that residents of Kisii had
killed at least 20 persons over a three-month period during the year.
On January 10, a mob in Nakuru beat to death two suspected
carjackers.
On January 12, passengers traveling on a mini bus near Nyeri beat
to death a man who was allegedly attempting to rob them.
On March 11, villagers in Karatina killed two alleged robbers by
slitting their throats.
There were no reports that official action was taken during the
year against the perpetrators of the following 2005 cases of mob
violence: the stoning death in Nairobi of a man caught sodomizing a
minor and the killing of a man caught stealing in January; the April
incident in which villagers in the Kiambu District killed a 17-year-
old-boy who was allegedly stealing household goods; the beating death
of a man in Meru District who allegedly had sodomized a 13-year-old boy
in April; the stoning death of a gang member in Kisumu in June; or the
killing in Molo of a man who had burned his parents to death in August.
Human rights observers attributed this vigilante violence to a lack
of public confidence in police and the judicial process. In September
the IMLU reported that community policing also contributed to the high
incidence of mob violence. The social acceptability of mob violence
also sometimes provided cover for personal vengeance and the settling
of land disputes.
Mob violence against individuals suspected of witchcraft was a
problem, particularly in Kisii, Nyanza, and the Western Province. Human
rights NGOs noted a reluctance among the public to report such cases
due to fear of retribution. On June 26, a man and a woman who were
suspected practitioners of witchcraft were killed by a mob in Kisii.
Interethnic violence continued to cause numerous deaths (see
Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and the
Government took steps to eliminate prisoner abuse. There continued to
be documented instances of police using violence and torture during
interrogations and as punishment of both pretrial detainees and
convicted prisoners. According to the IMLU's 2005 2006 annual report,
common methods of torture involved the use of whips, burning with
cigarettes, and beatings by blunt force including gun butts and wooden
clubs.
Detainees frequently claimed that they had been tortured or abused,
making it difficult to separate real from fabricated incidents. Human
rights organizations, churches, and the press highlighted and
criticized numerous cases of torture and several cases of
indiscriminate police beatings. During the year the IMLU received 380
cases alleging torture by security officers, compared to 397
allegations received in 2005, although they noted this number was below
the actual incidence. The IMLU reported that 13 torture cases resulted
in death (see Section 1.a.).
Because the police themselves were responsible for investigating
and prosecuting most crimes, reports from the IMLU and other human
rights organizations that provided evidence of torture by security
forces were routinely ignored.
A January media report stated that in December 2005 two men in
Nyamira District were apprehended by police officers for murder. The
two later died in police custody. Police officials charged that the men
fainted during interrogation and died at the hospital where they were
taken for treatment. A January 26 media report indicated that a post-
mortem examination of one of the men showed evidence of torture. There
were no reports of action taken against the police.
In February an inmate at Shimo la Tewa Prison in Mombasa was
allegedly beaten by an officer. Although the inmate reported the case
to the senior officers, no action was taken against the prison
official. The IMLU intervened and the inmate was released.
On June 20, municipal guards arrested Michael Okumu Kasera, a pro
bono lawyer with the IMLU, accusing him of being a street hawker. The
guards attempted to extort a bribe, which Kasera refused, and then
proceeded to beat him, breaking his arm in the process. He was then
taken to the Central Police Station. There were no reports of action
taken against the guards or police.
According to an April 6 media report, a police officer suspected of
a July 2005 murder alleged during his murder trial that he had been
tortured by 10 other policemen while in custody. There was no report of
a separate investigation into the torture claims.
On September 6, a human rights tribunal ordered the Government to
pay journalist Peter Makori approximately $70,190 (5,053,671 shillings)
for torture and illegal detention by the police in 2003 (see Section
4).
The IMLU's investigation into the case of Salim Elijah Masinde
failed to find evidence of torture. Masinde, an inmate since 1988 in
Kamiti Prison, reported in February 2005 that he had been severely
beaten while in custody.
Police occasionally used excessive force to disperse demonstrations
and strikes, which resulted in injuries (see Section 2.b.).
Police occasionally abused street children (see Section 5). The
Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) issued a report
during the year that noted that street children formed cooperatives in
which each member contributed regularly to a fund to bribe police.
There were allegations of rape by security forces, including the
rapes of women in prisons and refugee camps. There were no known
investigations conducted during the year regarding the June 2005
complaints that soldiers raped women as they were evicting them from
illegal settlements in the Mau forest earlier in the month.
On January 6, villagers beat a man and woman in Taita-Taveta for
allegedly having practiced witchcraft. The victims were reportedly
hired to use witchcraft to ``cleanse'' the village, but residents
eventually accused the couple of using sorcery against the villagers
instead. Police responded and saved the couple from further injury.
There were no further developments in the March 2005 case in which
a couple in Kakamega District was arrested for possessing traditional
charms and subsequently released on bond or in the December 2005 case
in which two persons appeared in court for allegedly killing two family
members whom they suspected of practicing witchcraft.
Societal acts of violence, including rape, banditry, and shootings,
occurred frequently near refugee camps (see Section 2.d.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to be harsh and life-threatening, although the Government
attempted to make some improvements. Most prisons, particularly the
men's facilities, continued to be severely overcrowded. In March 93
prisons housed more than 50,000 inmates, more than three times their
intended capacity of 16,000. Meru prison had three times more inmates
than its intended capacity. As of February, Thika prison, built for a
population of 300, housed 966 inmates. A backlog of cases in the
judicial system also contributed to prison overcrowding (see Section
1.d.). On August 4, Vice President Moody Awori announced the
Government's plan to hire more judges and magistrates to expedite
cases, and to expand the community service order program used to
sentence petty offenders to community service, rather than confinement.
Implementation of this program was too slow to effectively address
overcrowding, although Awori stated on July 31 that 56,000 offenders
had benefited from it.
Reforms improved conditions in some prisons. In early September the
prisons department established a health unit to improve the delivery of
health services to inmates. Some facilities offered access to academic
classes, enabling a number of prisoners to sit for national exams, or
vocational training, such as carpentry or tailoring. Charitable
associations organized occasional medical clinics for inmates.
Prisoners generally received three meals per day, but portions were
inadequate, and prisoners were sometimes given half rations as
punishment. Water shortages continued to be a problem.
Civil society organizations began visiting prisons in 2003, and
these visits continued to reveal harsh conditions as well as
allegations by prisoners of inhumane treatment and torture. Such
treatment, perpetrated by police, prison guards, and inmates at times
resulted in deaths (see Section 1.d.).
Prison personnel stated that rapes of both male and female inmates,
primarily by fellow inmates, continued to be a problem. A June 26 media
report indicated that it was not uncommon for prison officials to rape
female inmates. Experts believed the incidence of HIV infection to be
increasing among the prison population, although statistics were
difficult to obtain because there were no voluntary counseling or
testing services in most prisons. Hundreds of prisoners died annually
from infectious diseases caused by overcrowding and inadequate medical
treatment. For example, on July 21, a court ruled that the 2004 deaths
of five prisoners at Meru G. K. Prison were a result of prison
overcrowding, that prison conditions had been inhumane, and that the
Government should expand the prison.
Prisoners sometimes were kept in solitary confinement far longer
than the legal maximum of 90 days. Prisoners and detainees sometimes
were denied the right to contact relatives or lawyers. Family members
who visited prisoners faced numerous bureaucratic and physical
obstacles, each often requiring a bribe to overcome. An NGO reported
that citizens were more likely to face extortion attempts by members of
the prison service than by employees of any other government agency. On
May 29, Vice President Moody Awori, who was responsible for the prison
system in his capacity as minister for home affairs, acknowledged that
bribery occurred throughout the country's jails and prisons.
There were no developments in the ongoing trial of three prison
guards charged with helping 28 pretrial detainees escape from Naivasha
prison.
There were no separate facilities for minors in pretrial detention.
At year's end, there were no known developments in the August 2005
petition by 31 pretrial detainees in Embu prison to separate young boys
from their adult counterparts because of allegations of sodomy in the
cells. A February 2005 media report noted that High Court judges
touring King'ong'o maximum security prison discovered several minors,
one only 15 years old, serving long sentences among adult prisoners.
The judges ordered the prison to provide information on the minors'
convictions and imprisonment in order to conduct a review, but there
were no known developments in the review during the year. In January a
judiciary subcommittee report recommended that judges and magistrates
visit prisons regularly to ensure that children are not confined with
adult inmates.
A number of children under the age of four lived with their mothers
in the 14 prisons for women. Nationwide data were unavailable, but two
prisons, Nyeri and Thika, housed 27 and 12 children, respectively.
The KNCHR, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), had the authority to inspect prison facilities on demand at any
time, but the Government did not permit consistent independent
monitoring of prison conditions. During the year the KNCHR conducted 19
visits, the IMLU conducted five visits, and the Oscar Foundation Free
Legal Aid Clinic Kenya conducted one visit; there were no ICRC visits.
Members of the media were selectively allowed visits.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arrest or
detention absent a court order unless there is reasonable suspicion of
a suspect having committed, or being about to commit, a criminal
offense under the law; however, police occasionally arrested and
detained citizens arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There was a large
internal security apparatus that included the police's Criminal
Investigation Department (CID), the National Security Intelligence
Service (NSIS), the national police, the administration police, and the
paramilitary General Services Unit. The CID investigates criminal
activity, and the NSIS collects intelligence and monitors persons
considered subversive. These security forces are under the authority of
the Ministry of State for Provincial Administration and National
Security in the Office of the President. There was a public perception
that police often were involved or complicit in criminal activity.
The results of a public perception survey released July 5 and
conducted by the Kenya Anticorruption Commission (KACC) found that 86.3
percent of citizens considered the police the most corrupt government
institution. The NGO Transparency International (TI) reported the same
finding in its Kenya Bribery Index 2006, which stated that extortion by
police increased in 2005, in contrast with the improvements reported
from 2003 to 2004. The average bribe amount, however, decreased
dramatically from approximately $152 (10,831 shillings) in 2004 to $20
(1,465 shillings) in 2005, a decrease which TI attributed to reforms in
the public transportation sector.
On August 15, The Nation reported that 19 traffic police officers
had been arrested for accepting bribes.
On September 5, a policeman in Nakuru was sentenced to four years
in prison for taking a bribe of approximately $70 (5,000 shillings) to
terminate a criminal case. On November 7, his appeal was denied.
Police, in collusion with prosecutors, resorted to unexplained
illegal confinements, extortion, torture, and highly questionable and
fabricated charges as a cover-up for malpractice.
Impunity was a problem. Police officers were only occasionally
arrested and prosecuted for corruption or for using excessive force.
Authorities sometimes attributed the absence of an investigation into
corruption or an unlawful killing to the failure of citizens to file
official complaints. However, the required complaint form was available
only at police stations, and there was considerable public skepticism
of a process that assigned the investigation of police abuse to the
police themselves.
During the year the Government took some steps to curb abuses of
authority by police. In August the police commissioner inaugurated and
deployed a special police squad that included undercover detectives
whose mandate was to combat corruption in the police force during
traffic stops. The Government arrested and charged some police officers
for various offenses, including corruption, although the Government did
not provide details on how many of these indicted police officers were
tried, acquitted, convicted, or imprisoned.
Arrest and Detention.--Individuals may be apprehended on suspicion
since police may make arrests without a warrant. By law, detainees must
be brought before a court within 24 hours in noncapital offenses and
within 14 days in capital cases; the penal code specifically excludes
weekends and holidays from this 14-day period. While persons who are
charged may be released on bail with a bond or other assurance of the
suspect's return, many indigent pretrial detainees could not afford
bail.
Although the law provides families and attorneys access to pretrial
detainees, security forces rarely allowed access in practice (see
Section 1.c.).
The law does not stipulate the period within which the trial of a
charged suspect must begin. Police from the arresting location are
responsible for serving court summons and for picking up detainees from
the prison each time the courts hear their cases. Police often failed
to show up or lacked the means to transport the detainees, who then
were forced to await the next hearing of their case.
Arbitrary arrest was a problem. Police often arrested citizens with
the sole purpose of extorting bribes.
On January 13, the internal security minister stated that the
Government would continue operations to arrest and crack down on
members of the Mungiki, a banned cultural, religious, and political
movement and criminal protection racket based in part on Kikuyu
religious traditions. Police arrested more than 250 suspected members
on January 30, approximately 100 on February 3, and approximately 800
in December.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
arbitrarily arrested persons demonstrating against the parliament.
Lengthy pretrial detention continued to be a serious problem that
contributed to overcrowding in prisons. In February, 65 percent of
inmates in Thika prison were in remand. In 2005 the backlog of judicial
cases resulted in a daily average of 21,474 pretrial detainees being
held, constituting nearly 45 percent of the total prison population.
The Government claimed the average time spent by suspects in pretrial
detention on capital charges was approximately 16 months; however, many
detainees spent more than three years in prison before their trials
were completed. Very few could afford attorneys. The Government
acknowledged cases in which persons were held in pretrial detention for
several years.
On April 19, four men who had been in remand for 11 years were
released after being acquitted of murder charges.
Amnesty.--In July the Government released nearly 8,000 prisoners to
ease prison congestion.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the executive branch often
influenced the judiciary. In December the African Peer Review Mechanism
reported a ``visible lack of independence of the judiciary'' in the
country.
The President has extensive powers over appointments, including
those of the Attorney General, the chief justice, and appeal and High
Court judges. The President also can dismiss judges and the Attorney
General upon the recommendation of a special tribunal appointed by the
President. Although judges have life tenure (except for a very few
foreign judges hired by contract), the President has extensive
authority over transfers. In January a judiciary subcommittee
recommended increased transparency in the process of filling judges'
positions.
Reforms begun in 2003 reduced corruption in the judiciary to some
extent, but were criticized for coming up short. Of 23 judges suspended
in 2003, 16 took early retirement. Of seven who were to face tribunals,
one was cleared of any wrongdoing, one was awaiting a verdict, one was
reinstated by the President, and four had yet to begin proceedings. In
March 2005 the chief justice formed a committee to probe complaints
against the judiciary. There were reports during the year that the
committee was investigating members of the judiciary for unethical
conduct, but the results of these investigations were not made public.
In August the Ministry of Justice announced it would form a public
complaints unit, noting that corruption had contributed to the
judiciary's inability to adequately protect human rights. By year's end
the unit was holding weekly sessions during which the public could file
complaints with the ministry's director of human rights affairs.
The Government occasionally used the legal system to harass
government critics; some civil society organizations reported that the
anticorruption commission was used for this purpose.
The court system consists of a Court of Appeals, a High Court, and
two levels of magistrate courts, where most criminal and civil cases
originated. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. The
chief justice is a member of both the Court of Appeals and the High
Court. All judges in the Court of Appeals and the High Court are
appointed by the President upon recommendation of the Judicial Service
Commission; magistrates are hired by the commission. Criminal law
trials are conducted by magistrate courts, while the High Court and
Court of Appeals hear appeals. Civil cases may be heard by any of the
courts, depending on the nature of the case.
Trial Procedures.--Civilians are tried publicly, although some
testimony may be given in closed session. The law provides for a
presumption of innocence, and defendants have the right to attend their
trials, to confront witnesses, and to present witnesses and evidence.
Civilians also can appeal a verdict to the High Court and ultimately to
the Court of Appeals. Judges hear all cases. In treason and murder
cases, the deputy registrar of the High Court can appoint three
assessors to sit with the High Court judge. The assessors are taken
from all walks of life and receive a sitting allowance for the case.
Although the assessors render verdicts, their judgments are not
binding. Defendants' lawyers can object to the appointments of specific
assessors.
Defendants do not have the right to government-provided legal
counsel except in capital cases. For lesser charges free legal aid
rarely was available and then only in Nairobi and other major cities
where some human rights organizations, notably the Federation of Women
Lawyers, assured that it was provided. As a result, poor persons may be
convicted for lack of an adequate defense. Defense lawyers do not
always have access to government-held evidence in advance of a trial.
The Government may plead the State Security Secrets Law as a basis for
withholding evidence, and local officials sometimes classified
documents to hide the guilt of government officials. Court fees for
filing and hearing cases were high for ordinary citizens. The daily
rate of at least $28 (2,040 shillings) for arguing a civil case before
a judge was beyond the reach of most citizens.
The law provides for Islamic courts that use Shari'a (Islamic law)
and states that the ``jurisdiction of a Kadhi's court shall extend to
the determination of questions of Muslim law relating to personal
status, marriage, divorce, or inheritance in proceedings in which all
the parties profess the Muslim religion.'' There are no other
traditional courts in the country. The national courts used the law of
an ethnic group as a guide in civil matters as long as it did not
conflict with statutory law. This occurred most often in cases that
involved marriage, death, and inheritance issues and in which there was
an original contract founded in traditional law. Citizens may choose
between national and traditional law when they enter into marriage or
other contracts; however, thereafter the courts determine which kind of
law governs the enforcement of the contract. Some women's organizations
sought to eliminate traditional law, arguing that it was biased in
favor of men (see Section 5).
Military personnel are tried by military court-martial, and
verdicts may be appealed through military court channels. The chief
justice appoints attorneys for military personnel on a case-by-case
basis.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Kenya National
Commission on Human Rights has the power of a court. It can issue
summonses or other orders. If satisfied that an infringement on human
rights has taken place, it can order the release of a prisoner or
detainee, payment of compensation, or other lawful remedy.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, except
``to promote public benefit''; however, authorities sometimes infringed
on citizens' privacy rights. The law permits police to enter a home
forcibly if the time required to obtain a search warrant would
prejudice the investigation. Although security officers generally
obtained search warrants, they occasionally conducted searches without
warrants to apprehend suspected criminals or to seize property believed
stolen. Police and the intelligence service continued to
professionalize and modernize and to limit actions that could qualify
as interference.
On January 4, the Government completed the eviction from the Mau
forest of approximately 600 squatters who had returned to the area
after the Government evicted approximately 10,200 of them in June 2005
for living illegally on protected lands. Unlike in the previous year,
there were no reports that security forces raped some of the evictees.
Although some of the 2005 evictees had title deeds, the Government
claimed that the deeds were issued years ago as political patronage in
violation of the law. The Government's resettlement plan had not been
implemented by year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government sometimes
restricted these rights in practice. Security forces harassed, beat, or
arrested members of the media during the year. There were credible
reports that journalists practiced self-censorship.
The Government occasionally interpreted existing laws to restrict
freedom of expression. The legal prohibition of debates on issues under
court consideration and a parliamentary ruling against debates on
certain aspects of Presidential conduct limited the scope of
deliberation on a number of political issues. The Government monitors
many types of civil meetings that would be considered outside the
purview of more open societies and individuals were not always allowed
to criticize the Government publicly without reprisal.
The media remained independent despite both verbal and physical
attacks on it by members of the Government and security forces. The
mainstream print media included four daily newspapers that reported on
national politics and occasionally criticized the Government. There
also were numerous independent tabloid periodicals that appeared
irregularly and were highly critical of the Government. Reporting in
these tabloids ranged from revealing insider reports to unsubstantiated
rumor mongering.
Of the several television stations operating in Nairobi, the
government-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) was the only
station with a national network of broadcast and cable television, AM
and FM radio, and short-wave broadcasts. Although KBC coverage
continued to become more balanced, its monopoly on national
broadcasting continued to limit the ability of opposition leaders and
other critics of the Government to communicate with the electorate
outside the capital. Stations owned by other media companies, including
12 radio stations, operated primarily along the country's central
corridor and more densely populated adjacent regions.
The international media remained free to operate; 120 international
correspondents worked in the country, and approximately 100 media
organizations reported out of Nairobi. There were three international
FM broadcasters in Nairobi: Radio France International, Voice of
America, and the BBC.
On April 22, a cabinet subcommittee proposed limits on individual
shares in media houses, which media outlets viewed as an attempt by the
Government to deal with a hostile press.
During the year government officials repeatedly accused local media
of being irresponsible and disseminating misinformation. Journalists
continued to be susceptible to harassment, intimidation, and arrest.
For example, in late February two journalists worked for the Standard
were arrested for writing an allegedly false story about a meeting
between President Kibaki and opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka. On
February 28, the Government demanded a retraction of the story. On
September 29, the case against the journalists was dismissed.
On March 2, two days after the two Standard journalists were
arrested, security forces raided the Standard newspaper and its sister
television station, Kenyan Television Network, destroying equipment,
confiscating computers, and burning copies of the next day's paper. Two
Standard staff members were taken into custody but later released
without charge. The minister for provincial administration and national
security stated that the attack had been warranted on security grounds
and would be repeated if necessary. At year's end, the Government had
held no one responsible for the raid, which sparked widespread public
condemnation of the Government's attack on media freedom. Experts
reported that the attack did not appear to intimidate the media, which
continued to criticize the Government.
On February 22, 11 persons associated with the Weekly Citizen were
charged with publishing an alarming story. They were released on bond
and their cases were pending at year's end.
On April 26, the speaker of the house banned Royal Media House from
covering parliament's proceedings after Citizen Radio (part of Royal
Media) broadcast a program that unfavorably depicted members of
parliament.
On August 16, the Government withdrew its case against a Kenya
Times writer and editor who had been arrested in September 2005 for
publishing an opinion piece that officials considered inflammatory.
In a November 17 ruling, the court upheld the dismissal of a 2005
suit filed by a journalist from the Nation against First Lady Lucy
Kibaki; in May 2005 Kibaki forcibly entered the Nation media house to
protest negative press coverage and assaulted a television journalist
and damaged his camera.
On February 17, a journalist with the People Daily newspaper was
sentenced to six months in prison for ``publishing an ``alarming
story'' in 1999 about militiamen robbing elite guards. The judge ruled
the article could have caused fear among the people.
The media bill requires publishers to purchase a bond of $12,800
(one million shillings) before printing any publication and to deposit
copies of their newspapers and books with a registrar within two weeks
of publication. The law criminalizes the sale or distribution of
publications not deposited or bonded, under penalty of a fine of $256
(21,000 shillings) or six months' imprisonment. Some members of the
media were concerned that the Government would use this law, as well as
the Books and Newspapers Act and the Official Secrets Act, to stifle
freedom of expression; however, the law was not strictly enforced.
The regulatory framework for broadcast media continued to allow
abuse and manipulation in the issuance, withholding, and revoking of
broadcast permits and frequencies.
On March 10, a court ruled that the frequency assigned to the East
African Television Network had been blocked unfairly by the Government
in an effort to deny the station a broadcasting license.
Individual journalists practiced self-censorship due to both
pressure and bribes from government officials and other influential
persons to avoid reporting on issues that could harm the interests of
these persons or expose their alleged wrongdoings. There also were
credible reports that journalists accepted payments to report certain
stories, some of which were fabricated.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that individuals
associated with government officials used criminal libel laws to
intimidate journalists and publications.
Sedition was not grounds for censorship of publications; however,
the Prohibited Publications Review Board reviewed publication bans. A
number of publications remained banned, including such works as the
Quotations of Chairman Mao Zedong and Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Public access to the Internet was limited in rural areas with a less
developed infrastructure. During the year the Ministry of
Communications estimated that 1.5 million citizens used the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and there were fewer reports than in the previous year that the
Government restricted this right. Organizers must notify the local
police in advance of planned public meetings, and authorities may
cancel such gatherings only if there are simultaneous meetings
previously scheduled for the same venue or if there are specific
security threats.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, although there were fewer
such reports than in the previous year. For example, on December 5,
police used tear gas to disperse a demonstration of opposition leaders.
On May 18, police freed 38 persons charged with incitement
following clashes during an October 2005 rally in Kisumu that resulted
in the deaths of four persons.
At year's end, the Government had not prosecuted any police
officers for four deaths that occurred at a November 2005 rally in
Kisumu after police disrupted the rally for being held without
permission. Police did not publicly respond to a KNCHR report alleging
their responsibility.
No action was taken against security forces that used excessive
force to disperse demonstrations in 2005 and 2004.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The Societies Act requires that every association be
registered or exempted from registration by the registrar of societies.
Approximately 40 political parties were registered. There were reports
that new parties encountered difficulties in registering during the
year.
The 2002 ban on membership in Mungiki remained in effect. In
previous years the Mungiki espoused political views and cultural
practices that were controversial in mainstream society; many of its
members engaged in criminal activities, particularly in the public
transportation sector, and harassed and intimidated residents in areas
where the group was active. The number of Mungiki members was unknown,
but the group had a significant following among the unemployed and
other marginalized segments of society. Other groups that remained
banned included the Kamjesh, Chinnololo, Sanina Youth, Baghdad Boys,
Jehila Embakai, Jeshi la Mzee, Nmachuma, and the Taliban.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. There was considerable tolerance among religious groups;
however, some Muslims believed they were treated as second-class
citizens in the predominantly Christian country. In a 2004 human rights
survey, only 7percent of citizens listed limited freedom of worship as
a problem; however, in the majority Muslim Coast Province, 31 percent
perceived freedom of religion to be insufficiently protected.
The Government required religious organizations to register with
the registrar of societies. The Government allowed traditional
indigenous religious organizations to register, although many chose not
to do so. Religious organizations generally received equal treatment
from the Government; however, some small splinter groups found it
difficult to register due to their inability to define their status as
more than an offshoot of a larger religious organization.
According to Muslim leaders, authorities rigorously scrutinized the
identification cards of persons with Muslim surnames, particularly
ethnic Somalis, and sometimes required additional documentation of
citizenship, such as birth certificates of parents and even
grandparents. The Government stated that the heightened scrutiny was an
attempt to deter illegal immigration rather than to discriminate
against ethnic Somalis or their religious affiliation.
Witchcraft was illegal but still practiced (see Section 1.c.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups. The Jewish community constituted less than 1 percent
of the population, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Police routinely stopped vehicles and checked vehicle safety and
driver documents on roads throughout the country. Police often
committed extortion at such checkpoints. Ethnic Somalis were required
to provide additional identification (see Section 2.c.).
Civil servants and members of parliament must obtain government
permission for international travel, which generally was granted.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it
in practice. However, John Githongo, who resigned in 2005 as the
Government's highest anticorruption official (see Section 3), remained
in self-imposed exile outside of the country out of fear for his
safety.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--An unknown proportion of the
several thousand persons displaced by ethnic clashes from the 1990s to
the present had not returned to their homes due to fear of renewed
violence. The Government provided shelter, food, and transport to IDPs,
and coordinated support services with NGOs, particularly the Kenya Red
Cross (KRC) and church charities. The Government resettled some IDPs in
land formerly belonging to the state in Rift Valley and Coast
Provinces. There are no reliable figures for the number of IDPs
assisted or resettled, but the KRC provided assistance of emergency
shelter and to roughly 7,000 persons fleeing the Turbi massacre in
Marsabit. In addition, victims of the November/December floods received
shelter, food, and other assistance from the KRC.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government had not established a legal system for providing protection
to refugees. The Government generally provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government also voluntarily hosted approximately
240,000 refugees in cooperation with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and recognized UNHCR refugee status
determinations. Unlike in the previous year, no refugees were deported.
In July 2005 approximately 17,000 Somalis fled temporarily to El Wak in
the northeast, escaping an outbreak of clan violence in Gedo, Somalia;
no members of the group were granted refugee status. Most returned
voluntarily to Somalia.
The Government did not accept refugees for resettlement in the
country. The Government worked closely with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugee resettlement to other
countries. The Government adheres to the 1951 Convention; however, it
does not offer any prospects of local integration.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967
Protocol. UNHCR did not seek temporary protection for such individuals
in 2006; however, there were some residual cases remaining from the
Gatumba massacre survivors, who traveled on Burundi travel documents
for medical and other--mostly resettlement--assistance.
The Government required that all refugees reside and remain at
designated UNHCR camps, most of which were located near the Somali and
Sudanese borders, unless granted permission to live elsewhere in the
country. Such permission was given primarily to attend higher education
institutions, undergo medical treatment, or avoid security threats at
the camps.
Security at refugee camps, which markedly improved due to increased
police presence during the year, remained a problem, particularly at
the Kakuma camp, where rape was among the most frequently reported
crimes. Rapes occurred when women and girls left the camps to herd
goats and collect water or firewood. Most rapes were perpetrated by
other refugees and some by members of the local community. Security
forces were also responsible for a small number of the rapes.
Security problems in refugee camps also resulted from persecution
of Muslim converts to Christianity, community pressure regarding
opposition to FGM, forced marriages particularly of young Sudanese
girls, and family objections to out-of-clan marriage, which often
resulted in the kidnapping of spouses and children. The UNHCR requested
increased police presence in the identified troubled areas.
According to the UNHCR, the incidence of rape in two camps
sheltering 240,000 Somali, Sudanese, and other refugees had declined
from 94 in 2000 to 19 in 2004, a rate of .08 per thousand persons. At
some camps, such as Dadaab, refugees formed committees to combat such
abuse with some success, although women and children remained
vulnerable to rape, abuse, and exploitation.
To further reduce incidences of sexual abuse in these camps, in
2005 15 relief agencies began implementing the provisions of a 2004
code of conduct for humanitarian workers in refugee programs. Incidents
of reported rapes and gender-based violence continued to decrease
during the year.
Acts of violence, including banditry and shootings, occurred
frequently near the camps, as well as elsewhere in the weapons-rich,
resource-poor provinces where the camps were located. Refugees were
mistreated and abused by citizens and by residents of other refugee
camps because of ethnic and religious differences. Interclan violence
occasionally erupted among rival Somali clans at the camps; Somali
refugees who married non-Muslims or openly espoused religions other
than Islam were subject to abuse.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government through free and fair multiparty elections, and citizens
exercised this right through periodic, free, and fair elections held on
the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Since independence in 1963,
KANU had continuously controlled both the presidency and the
parliament. The 2002 elections were the country's third multiparty
elections for Presidential, parliamentary, and civic seats. Five
Presidential candidates contested the elections, with the main
contestants being KANU candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and NARC candidate Mwai
Kibaki. NARC was a coalition of more than a dozen political parties,
including former members of KANU, who formed a united front to contest
the December general elections. Kibaki won 61.9 percent of the vote,
and international observers determined the elections were peaceful,
free, and fair.
In the 2002 elections, 210 members of the 222-member parliament
were elected, and 12 were appointed.
Five by-elections were held on July 24. Observers concluded that
the by-elections were carried out methodically and transparently,
without instances of violence or intimidation on election day. There
were, however, credible reports that government officials misused state
resources for partisan campaigning and that political party
representatives on all sides attempted to bribe voters.
On March 21, parliament convened for the first time since President
Kibaki suspended it in November 2005, citing his legal authority to do
so. Parliament's suspension was followed by the December 2005
reconstitution of the cabinet, which excluded a number of former
ministers who had opposed him during the legal referendum.
In June 2005 KANU filed a lawsuit alleging that the President
violated the law by naming ministers without the parties' consent. The
lawsuit was pending at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 and 2004 cases of criminal
youth gangs who attacked political figures.
There were 15 women in the 222-seat parliament and eight female
ministers and assistant ministers in the 83-member cabinet.
There were 189 members of the country's five largest ethnic groups
in the 222-seat parliament. There were 18 minority ministers and
assistant ministers in the expanded December 2005 cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Incidents of government
corruption and frequent press reports fueled a widespread public
perception that large-scale corruption at the highest levels of
government and in parliament persisted and that little official action
had been taken against the most corrupt.
In January John Githongo, the former permanent secretary for
governance and ethics known as the anticorruption czar, released a
report providing details of a massive corruption scandal, Anglo
Leasing, which took place during the current administration. The
Githongo report was followed by the February publication of a report on
the Goldenberg scandal under the Moi government. Both reports
implicated a number of former and current government officials,
renewing public frustration that little progress had been made to
improve the country's record on corruption. Although three sitting
ministers resigned following their inclusion in the reports, the High
Court subsequently declared one minister immune from prosecution due to
protection from double jeopardy. Githongo abruptly resigned in February
2005 while on an official overseas trip. In December 2005 President
Kibaki eliminated the position of permanent secretary for ethics and
governance during restructuring of the cabinet.
The Government created the KACC in 2003 and appointed a chairman
and other staff in 2004. In March, 100 officers who had been suspended
in December 2005 for taking bribes during a police recruitment program
were reinstated. According to a media report, the police commissioner
announced on March 15 that the matter had been dealt with internally.
In October 2005 the Government enacted the Public Procurement and
Disposal Act, which provides for a procurement oversight board. The
board was not operational by year's end.
Despite laws and institutions intended to fight corruption, no
ministers or assistant ministers were arrested or suspended from office
by year's end. In February the KNCHR and TI published a report,
``Living Large,'' that detailed instances of wasteful government
expenditures, focusing on the purchase of luxury vehicles by officials
in the current government. In response the finance minister announced
in his annual budget speech that the Government would adopt the
report's recommendations and prohibit almost all private use of
official vehicles. Top officials of ministries and parastatal
organizations were required to surrender all official vehicles in
excess of one. At year's end only a few vehicles had been turned in.
On July 7, KACC issued a report on public perception that noted
that citizens believed graft was rampant and entrenched in government
culture.
Although the law does not provide for it, access to government
information, particularly through the Internet, improved during the
year. The Government spokesman's briefings were televised and updates
to many government websites were prompt. A promised biographic database
of all members of parliament, however, remained stalled.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. With the exception of
the police, government officials were usually cooperative and
responsive to the queries of these groups. However, there were some
reports that government officials intimidated and threatened to disrupt
NGO activities, and that less-established NGOs (particularly those in
rural areas) were subjected to interference from provincial
administrators and security forces.
Approximately 15 domestic organizations actively advocated for
human rights in the country; 14 were independent of the Government.
Several NGOs maintained comprehensive files on local human rights
abuses. A number of attorneys represented the indigent and human rights
advocates without compensation, although they could handle only a small
percentage of those who needed assistance and were concentrated chiefly
in Nairobi and other large cities. The Government allowed human rights
organizations to witness autopsies of persons who died in police
custody.
The Institute for Education in Democracy and other NGOs monitored
the July by-elections in cooperation with the Electoral Commission, the
KNCHR, and diplomatic missions.
A number of human rights organizations, including the Kenya Human
Rights Commission (KHRC), the MLU, and the KNCHR, produced both regular
reports cataloguing the human rights situation in the country and
special reports on pressing human rights problems.
In April and May 2005, several peaceful assemblies organized by the
KHRC were violently disrupted in spite of the KHRC having informed the
police in advance as required by the Public Order Act. Several staff
members were arrested and charged with participating in unlawful
assemblies. The cases were pending at year's end.
The KNCHR has the status of an appeals court and can issue summons,
order the release of prisoners, and require compensation for human
rights abuses. On September 6, the organization's first human rights
tribunal ordered the Government to pay journalist Peter Makori
approximately $70,190 (5,053,671 shillings) for torture and illegal
detention by the police in 2003.
During the year there were reports that the Government intended to
restrict the freedom of civil society and other watchdog organizations.
In September the KNCHR came under investigation by the KACC for alleged
financial irregularities. The KNCHR attributed the crackdown to the
Government's discomfort with the organization's watchdog role. In April
media reported that a cabinet subcommittee recommended placing NGOs
under closer supervision to safeguard the Government's public image.
The Nation reported in July that the finance minister proposed to bring
three independent government commissions, including the KNCHR, under
closer control to protect the public from ``rogue organizations.'' In
September 40 civil society organizations accused the Government of
using anticorruption mechanisms to silence critics.
On March 13, the Government published the Parliamentary Human
Rights Handbook to help members of parliament better fulfill their role
as protectors of human rights. The Kenya Chapter of the International
Commission of Jurists prepared the book.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the basis of a
person's ``race, tribe, place of origin or residence, or other local
connection, political opinions, color, or creed''; however, government
authorities did not enforce effectively many of these provisions. There
was also evidence that some government officials at least tolerated and
in some instances instigated ethnic violence.
Women.--Although all forms of violence against women are
prohibited, domestic violence against women was a serious and
widespread problem. The penal code does not contain specific provisions
against domestic violence, but treats it as an assault. Police
generally would not investigate in cases of domestic violence, which
they considered private family matters. The 2004 Kenya Demographic and
Health Survey revealed that more than half of women had experienced
domestic violence after the age of 15 years. Wife beating was prevalent
and largely condoned by much of society. NGOs, including the Law
Society of Kenya, provided free legal assistance to victims of domestic
violence.
On July 14, President Kibaki signed into law the Sexual Offenses
Act, which criminalized rape, defilement, child pornography and sex
tourism, and sexual harassment; the law had not been implemented by
year's end.
The new law maintained the existing penalty of up to life
imprisonment for rape, although actual sentences usually were no longer
than 10 years. The law established minimum sentences for both rape and
defilement, with higher penalties for the latter. The rate of
prosecution remained low because of cultural inhibitions against
publicly discussing sex, a fear of retribution against victims, the
disinclination of police to intervene in domestic disputes, and the
unavailability of doctors who otherwise might provide the necessary
evidence for conviction. Moreover, traditional culture permitted a
husband to discipline his wife by physical means. Neither the new law
nor previously existing laws specifically prohibit spousal rape.
According to police statistics, there were 2,736 rapes nationwide
during the year compared with 2,867 reported in 2005. Available
statistics underreported the problem, since social mores discouraged
women from going outside their families or ethnic groups to report
sexual abuse. Human rights groups estimated that over 16,000 rapes were
perpetrated annually.
The law prohibits FGM, but is still practiced, particularly in
rural areas. According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), 32 percent
of women had undergone FGM. In 2004 an international conference on FGM
in Nairobi reported that of the country's 42 ethnic groups, only four
(the Luo, Luhya, Teso, and Turkana, comprising 25 percent of the
country's population) did not traditionally practice FGM. According to
the NGO Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (Development of Women), the percentage of
girls undergoing the procedure was 80 to 90 percent in some districts
of the Eastern, Nyanza, and Rift Valley provinces. There were more
public awareness and programs to stop the practice in which government
officials often participated. For example, in December a Methodist and
a Presbyterian church group conducted alternative ceremonies for 500
girls and boys.
FGM usually was performed at an early age. Some churches and NGOs
provided shelter to girls who fled their homes to avoid the practice,
but community elders frequently interfered with attempts to stop the
practice.
A January media report noted that the frequency had dropped in one
district to 54 percent compared to 93 percent in 1999 before awareness
campaigns began targeting FGM. Despite anti-FGM programs, which
increasingly focused on young men to convince them to marry women who
had not undergone FGM, women and children who had not undergone FGM
faced social stigma.
In December 2005 there were a number of arrests of individuals
accused of applying forced FGM. For example, four parents were arrested
along with a man who performed FGM. In mid-December 2005 a woman in
Nyandarua District plead guilty in court for subjecting four girls to
FGM. During the same month, the Kuria district commissioner called for
police to arrest parents who forced their daughters to undergo the
procedure. In April 2005 17 girls in Marakwet District fled to avoid
FGM and were given shelter in Eldoret by the NGO Center for Human
Rights and Democracy. In April 2005 police forcibly removed the girls
from the shelter and returned them to their villages. According to a
media report, 20 girls were still in hiding with the aid of a church in
Marakwet District three years after they fled their homes to avoid FGM.
Government officials continued to attempt to stem FGM. In December,
the provincial commissioner of the Rift Valley Province was quoted as
having declared that any civil servant condoning or supporting FGM
(such as nurses or local chiefs) would be fired. He added that the
parents of girls subjected to the practice would be arrested.
In December 2005 rescuers hid 140 girls in a school in Meru North
District and planned to engage them in an alternative rite ceremony,
while another 330 completed a ``no cut'' initiation rite in Marakwet
District.
In January a couple was arrested for compelling their 10-year-old
daughter to undergo FGM in preparation for her marriage. There were no
further developments by year's end.
The Nation reported on June 23 that a 15-year-old girl died after
performing FGM on herself.
Various communities have instituted ``no cut'' initiation rites for
girls as an alternative to FGM. According to The Family Planning
Association of Kenya, its ``no cut'' program called Ntanira na Kithomo
(Initiate Me through Education) contributed to a 13 percent decline in
the prevalence of FGM in Meru North District through 2005.
Prostitution is illegal but was a problem perpetuated by poverty.
On May 19, Minister of Tourism Morris Dzoro supervised a police raid of
a hotel on the coast where child prostitution was allegedly taking
place. In May 2005 Minister of Immigration Linah Kilimo accompanied a
police raid on a nightclub where illegal immigrants were allegedly
forced to work as prostitutes. A number of the illegal immigrants were
subsequently repatriated. Despite the high profile of these incidents,
they did not prompt specific government action against prostitution.
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, sexual harassment in
export processing zones (EPZs) was a problem (see Section 6.e.).
The law provides equal rights to men and women and specifically
prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender; however, women
experienced a wide range of discriminatory practices, limiting their
political and economic rights and relegating them to second-class
citizenship. For example, the law allows only males to transmit
citizenship automatically to their wives and children.
Women continued to face both legal and de facto discrimination in
other areas. According to UNICEF, gross and net enrolment in primary
and secondary schools were balanced; however, a January government
report indicated that in universities only 36.3 percent of students
were women. Women constituted 70 percent of the country's illiterate
population.
The Law of Succession, which governs inheritance rights, provides
for equal consideration of male and female children but terminates the
inheritance rights of widows if they remarry. Moreover a widow cannot
be the sole administrator of her husband's estate unless she has her
children's consent. The law also allows the Ministry of Justice to
exempt certain communities from the law in deference to tradition,
which provides for equal distribution of a man's property only among
his sons.
Wife inheritance, in which a man inherits the widow of his brother
or other close relative, was commonly practiced in certain communities.
On January 15, the Nation reported that men felt it was their
responsibility to marry HIV-positive widows to spare other men from
being infected. Although poor and uneducated women were more likely to
be inherited or suffer from property and inheritance discrimination,
prominent and educated women sometimes were victims. Forced marriages
were also common.
Women made up approximately 75 percent of the agricultural work
force and were active in urban small businesses. Nonetheless the
average monthly income of women was approximately two-thirds that of
men, and women held only 6 percent of land titles. Under traditional
law women in many ethnic groups cannot own land. Women had difficulty
moving into nontraditional fields, were promoted more slowly than men,
and were more likely to be laid off than men. Societal discrimination
was most apparent in rural areas.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to the rights and
welfare of children, and there was legislation and developed policies
to promote education and protect children's rights; however, the
Government did not implement its policies fully.
According to the Government's economic survey during the year, the
Government's Free Universal Primary Education Program raised primary
school enrollment from 7.4 million in 2004 (approximately 81.1 percent
of the primary school age group) to 7.6 million in 2005 (approximately
83.2 percent).
Most citizens welcomed tuition-free education; however, the program
also resulted in overcrowded classes due to insufficient teachers and
an inadequate budget. To enhance access to free primary education, the
Government continued to support informal schools to cater particularly
to children in urban slums. About 79.9 percent of enrolled children
completed the eight-year primary school education cycle in 2005
compared to 76.2 percent in 2004. Approximately 64 percent of primary
school graduates went on to secondary school in 2005, up from less than
50 percent in 2004. The law mandates compulsory schooling for all
children through grade 12, but in 2005 the enrolment in secondary
school was only 29.3 percent. Although this enrolment rate represented
an increase over the 2004 rate of 22.2 percent, UNICEF reported that
secondary school continuing net attendance based on household surveys
was approximately 11 percent.
Although the number of boys and girls in school was approximately
equal at the primary level, boys substantially outnumbered girls in
higher education. Rural families were more reluctant to invest in
educating girls than in educating boys, particularly at the higher
levels. According to Federation of Women Lawyers, 8,000 to 13,000 girls
annually dropped out of school due to pregnancy.
Child rape and molestation continued to be serious problems. In
2004 the People Daily reported that 38 percent of children under 18
were sexually abused. Newspapers contained frequent reports of
molestation or rape of children by teachers, police, clergy, and
others. In July 2005 the Chamber of Justice and the NGOs Care Kenya and
Cradle issued a report entitled The Defilement Index that indicated
that incestuous defilement accounted for approximately 75 percent of
abuse against young girls in urban areas. The report showed that six
out of 10 persons working with abused children agreed that the most
vulnerable girls were those in nursery to class four (one to 10 years
old).
Legally, a person is not considered to have raped a girl younger
than 14 if he had sexual intercourse with her against her will;
instead, he commits the lesser offense of defilement. The unimplemented
2006 Sexual Offenses Act defined minimum sentences for both rape and
defilement with harsher penalties for defilement.
On March 8, a court in Eldoret sentenced a man to seven years in
prison with hard labor for raping a six-year-old girl. On June 12, a
man was sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly raping his 13-year-
old daughter in Kajiado District. In July a man who had been sentenced
to 40 years in prison for raping a four-year-old girl was freed when
the court decided that insufficient evidence had been provided during
his trial. On August 10, a court in Kisii sentenced a man to 14 years
in prison with hard labor for attempting to rape his mentally
handicapped niece (age unknown) on February 19. On December 22, a 25-
year-old man was sentenced to life in prison for defiling a 10-year-old
girl in Laikipia District.
Certain ethnic groups commonly practiced FGM on young girls,
particularly in rural areas (see Section 5, Women).
Newspapers frequently highlighted the problem of child marriages,
which the public perceived to be a commonly practiced tradition among
certain ethnic groups. According to UNICEF, 25 percent of young women
had been married as children. The Marriage Act forbids marriage under
the age of 16, but the Mohammedan Marriage and Divorce Act allows
Muslim girls to marry at puberty.
On January 3, police arrested the parents and husband of a 12-year-
old girl whose parents forced her to marry a 20-year-old man.
A January 27 report highlighted the case of a 15-year-old girl in
Wajir who was chained to a bed and starved for a week for refusing to
marry a 50-year-old man. The girl escaped and went to police. Police
arrested both the would-be husband and the girl's brother.
In early December police rescued a 15-year-old girl who escaped
from a forced marriage to an older businessman on the coast. Police
were investigating who arranged the marriage by year's end.
There were reports that infertile married women in the Kuria
community sometimes used girls to bear children for the married couple.
In February a 10-year-old girl who was thus ``married'' to a 50-year-
old infertile woman escaped in Kuria District.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking),
as was child prostitution, although the new Sexual Offenses Bill
outlaws both. The minimum sentence for child trafficking is 10 years in
prison and a fine of approximately $27,400 (approximately two million
shillings).
On August 14, the assistant education minister announced the
Government would build shelters around the country for sexually abused
children. On June 15, the Government's director of children's services
announced that through a justice sector reform program, children's
officers, probation officers, and provincial administrators had
received training on children's rights. On the same day, the Government
reported that 80 more chief children's officers had been appointed to
the Department of Children's Services.
Child prostitution increased considerably in recent years due to
both poverty and the increase in the number of children orphaned
because of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Strong growth in the tourism
industry led to an increasingly severe problem of foreign and domestic
tourists seeking sex with underage girls and boys (see Section 6).
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), approximately
30,000 girls under the age of 19 years were engaged in prostitution in
the country.
Approximately 1.9 million children were still engaged in child
labor (see Section 6). UNICEF reported that 26 percent of children were
involved in child labor activities and that approximately 30 percent of
girls from 12 to 18 years of age who were living in coastal cities
studied were either part-time informal sex workers or were engaged in
sex work as a full-time income generating activity.
Difficult economic conditions and the spread of HIV/AIDS continued
to intensify the problem of homeless street children. During the year
the children's rights NGO ANPPCANN estimated that approximately 750,000
children lived on the streets. Street children faced harassment as well
as physical and sexual abuse from police and society, and within the
juvenile justice system. For example, in January street children who
had allegedly stabbed a bus driver were beaten by residents in Eldoret
who argued that the children posed a security threat in the community.
The Government provided programs to place street children in
shelters and assisted NGOs in providing education, skills training,
counseling, legal advice, and shelter for girls abused by their
employers. By November 2005, 231 of 300 street children in the National
Youth Service had graduated from vocational courses. The Government's
program to remove children from the street and provide them with
education and vocational training continued. The Government also
provided shelter and medical care to street children exploited in the
commercial sex industry.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not explicitly prohibit all
forms of trafficking in persons, although the new Sexual Offenses Act
criminalizes trafficking of children and trafficking in persons for the
purpose of sexual exploitation. There were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, and within the country. Laws prohibiting the
forcible detention of women for the purposes of prostitution as well as
child labor, the transportation of children for sale, and the
commercial sexual exploitation of children can also be used to
prosecute trafficking-related offenses.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
trafficking in persons. Victims were trafficked for sexual exploitation
through the country from South and East Asian countries and the Middle
East en route to European destinations. Boys between the ages of 15 and
18 were also trafficked for labor to the Middle East. Women and girls
were trafficked to the Middle East, other African nations, Western
Europe, and North America for domestic servitude, manual labor, and
forced work in massage parlors and brothels. Asian nationals,
principally Indians, Bangladeshis, and Nepalese, were trafficked into
the country and coerced into bonded labor in the construction and
garment industries. There was a report of six Sri Lankan young men who
were lured with promises of hotel jobs in Cyprus, but ended up in a
remote part of western Nairobi. Police apprehended the trafficker but
no formal charges had been filed.
In August two police officers based at the Endebess police station
in Tranz-Nzoia were suspended from duty for allegedly helping a
suspected member of a child trafficking syndicate escape from custody.
The accused trafficker was arrested for attempting to traffic an
allegedly abducted child from the country to Uganda. However, the
officers were subsequently reinstated to active duty pending
disciplinary action from police headquarters and were believed to have
been reassigned.
Police reportedly also investigated trafficking cases in the
coastal and Rift Valley regions; no further information regarding
resulting arrests or prosecutions was made available. The Government
was unable to provide concrete statistics on trafficking-related
investigations, arrests, and prosecutions during the past year.
Kenyan victims trafficked abroad were generally recruited through
employment agencies under false pretenses. Domestic trafficking victims
were often lured by friends and relatives who offered them promises of
employment or access to education. Children from poor families were the
most vulnerable, as their families were misled into believing that
their child was gaining the opportunity for a better life.
The minimum term in prison for trafficking for the purpose of
sexual exploitation is 15 years' imprisonment, a fine of up to
approximately $27,400 (1.918 million shillings), or both. However,
fines were limited, and jail time was rarely enforced. There were no
investigations into trafficking cases by December 2006. The Government
was unable to provide concrete statistics on trafficking-related
arrests and convictions during the past year because it does not track
trafficking cases separately or specifically.
The police antitrafficking unit has primary responsibility for
combating trafficking but was not effective. In December the Ministry
of Home Affairs collaborated with the Office of the President and the
ministries of labor, education, and tourism, to establish a National
Steering Committee to address the problem with the support of the vice
President. The ministries of labor, home affairs, and foreign affairs
continued a program of trafficking education, awareness, and inspection
for all 68 foreign employment agencies.
Although many observers believed some government officials were
involved in trafficking in persons, no additional specific cases of
corruption were identified during the year.
Government assistance to NGOs to combat human trafficking continued
to be minimal. However, awareness among government departments grew
during the year largely due to NGOs' successful efforts to study the
issue, educate the media, and inform the public about the problem.
Persons With Disabilities.--The 2004 Persons with Disabilities Act
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services, and the Government effectively enforced its
provisions during the year. Although implementation has been slow due
to the ongoing process of harmonizing the Act with existing laws, the
Government has equipped some public buildings with wheelchair ramps,
lifts, and sanitary facilities. Also, each region has been assigned a
sign-language interpreter for court proceedings. The Ministry of Health
is the lead ministry for responsible for seeing that the law is
implemented and is working to harmonize the law with existing laws.
A January 3 Standard report highlighted the case of a visually
impaired woman, educated through the masters' level, who had been
unable to find a job teaching above the primary level because of her
disability.
The Ministry of Health acknowledged societal bias against persons
with disabilities. The law covers both physical and mental
disabilities. The ministry worked in partnership with NGOs and faith-
based organizations by providing staff for facilities. Persons with
both physical and mental disabilities were treated in the same
facilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was
divided into more than 40 ethnic groups from three major
sociolinguistic families. There were frequent allegations of
discrimination and occasional violence among some of these groups.
Unofficial results of the 1999 census indicated that the Bantu ethnic
groups comprised about 67 percent of the population, which included the
Kikuyu and closely related Embu and Meru at about 32 percent, the Kamba
at about 10 percent, and the Luhya at about 16 percent. Nilotic ethnic
groups comprised about 30 percent of the population, which included the
Kalenjin at about 12 percent and the Luo at about 11 percent. Cushitic
ethnic groups comprised about 3 percent of the population, including
the Somalis at about 2 percent. The Kikuyu and related groups dominated
much of private commerce and industry and often purchased land outside
their home province, which sometimes resulted in fierce antagonism and
resentment from other ethnic groups. The numerically small and
shrinking South Asian community controlled a disproportionate share of
the country's commerce.
In private business and in the public sector, members of virtually
all ethnic groups commonly discriminated in favor of other members of
the same group. Some neighborhoods, particularly in the slum areas of
the capital, tended to be segregated ethnically, although interethnic
marriage has become fairly common in urban areas. With the 2007 general
election approaching, some political leaders made blatant appeals to
traditional ethnic animosities and resentments for the purposes of
political mobilization. In the run up to past elections, such appeals
resulted in intimidation of voters from targeted ethnic groups and
violent communal clashes.
Clashes occurred between various ethnic groups and clans. The
ongoing conflict between two Cushitic ethnic groups inhabiting the far
north continued, with each group accusing the other of maintaining
militias and receiving armed support from their ethnic fellows across
the border in Ethiopia to harass, intimidate, and kill the other. There
were reports of several violent clashes during the year. The Government
reacted swiftly by sending a police force supported by the army to stop
the attacks. It also arranged for public reconciliation meetings
between elders of the two communities and involved local politicians in
the endeavor.
Early in the year, communal violence around Likia in Rift Valley
Province resulted in eight persons being killed and 10 injured. On
February 23, the provincial commissioner suspended six police chiefs
for failing to notify the Government of the escalating tension in the
area.
On September 20, four persons were killed and 12 injured in
interethnic clashes near Nakuru. After approximately 500 persons fled
their homes, the Government assisted their return a week later.
Through the provincial administrations, the Government held a
number of public meetings in regions plagued by ethnic violence to
promote dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflict. The Government
also dispatched regular police and a paramilitary force to patrol
affected areas and prevent recurrence of violence. During the year, in
Coast Province, the Government distributed land titles to landless
persons long engaged in challenging the legality of their dispossession
to eliminate one source of interethnic conflict in that region.
In June ethnic violence erupted in the region of Western Province
bordering Uganda and continued for the next six months. Competition
over land exacerbated by rivalries among political leaders representing
contending ethnic communities were at the root of the conflict. The
Government deployed security forces to the area to stop the violence.
Other notable conflicts included that between the Maasai and Kuria
in southern Rift Valley province and between rival Kikuyu and Luo
criminal gangs in a major slum in Nairobi. Both conflicts were quickly
suppressed by government security forces.
Many factors contributed to interethnic conflicts, including the
proliferation of guns, the commercialization of traditional cattle
rustling, the growth of a modern warrior/bandit culture (distinct from
the traditional culture), unresponsive political leadership at the
local level, diminished economic prospects for groups affected by a
severe regional drought, and the inability of security forces to
adequately quell the violence. Land owner/squatter conflict was
particularly severe in Rift Valley and Coast provinces, while
competition for resources such as water and pasturage was particularly
severe in the northern districts of Eastern Province and in North
Eastern Province.
During the year members of coastal ethnic groups attempted to seize
land they claimed had been given away unfairly decades before to
individuals from outside the province in an alleged attempt to change
the region's demography for political purposes. The Government
recognized that some illegal land deals had taken place in the past,
but insisted that those seeking to challenge past land deals follow the
rule of law through the courts and not simply squat on disputed land.
There were no developments in the 2004 petition to the High Court
by members of the predominantly Muslim Nubian community, who claimed
that the Government discriminated against them by trying to eliminate
their ethnic identity. At year's end, the High Court had not rendered a
judgment on their petition for redress of grievances related to their
rights as citizens.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was societal
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS. A
lingering stigma toward persons with HIV/AIDS made it difficult for
many families to admit that their members were HIV-positive.
There were occasional reports of violence against persons with HIV/
AIDS. For example, on April 15, a 15-year-old boy was killed by his
uncle, allegedly because of his HIV status. The uncle was still at
large at year's end. An April 26 media report noted that military
members with HIV/AIDS were ostracized by their colleagues.
The Department of Defense provided for uniformed personnel and
their families and some members of the community to have access to HIV
counseling and testing, prevention programming, and antiretroviral
treatment.
The Government worked in cooperation with international donors on
programs of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
including those in the EPZs, are free to join unions of their choice,
and workers exercised this right. Workers numbering seven or more in an
enterprise have the right to form a union by registering with the Trade
Union Registrar. If the Registrar denies registration, the union may
appeal to the courts. The Police Act prohibits members of the national
police force from joining unions. Some unions complained that employers
resisted efforts to establish unions in factories in which at least 80
percent of workers indicated a desire for union membership and
representation. Unlike in the previous year, unions did not report
difficulty registering with the registrar of unions or the Ministry of
Labor. The armed forces, police, prisons service, and the
administration police force are specifically not covered by the
Employment Act.
There were 42 unions representing approximately 600,000 workers,
approximately one-third of the country's formal-sector work force. All
but five of these unions, representing approximately 300,000 workers,
were affiliated with the one approved national federation, the Central
Organization of Trade Unions (COTU). The two largest non-COTU unions
were the 240,000-member Kenya National Union of Teachers and the Union
of Kenya Civil Servants, with approximately 60,000 registered members.
There were no human rights abuses of union leaders reported by the
Government.
The law prohibits employers from intimidating workers; however,
some antiunion discrimination still existed, specifically in the EPZs
in Mombasa. Employees wrongfully dismissed for union activities were
able to take their cases to the industrial court, a body of up to five
judges appointed by the President, and many were awarded damages in the
form of back pay. Union leaders reported that the industrial court
still ordered reinstatement, but employers often did not comply, and
workers often accepted payment in lieu of reinstatement. Reinstatement
was not a common remedy; more often aggrieved workers found alternative
employment in the lengthy period prior to the hearing of their cases.
The Government voiced its support for union freedom but did not protect
it fully.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While not
having the force of law, the Industrial Relations Charter (IRC),
executed by the Government, COTU, and the Federation of Kenya
Employers, gives workers the right to engage in legitimate trade union
organizational activities, and the Government protected these rights in
practice. Both the Trade Disputes Act and the IRC authorize collective
bargaining between unions and employers, and wages and conditions of
employment were established in negotiations between unions and
management. The Government permits wage increases of up to 100 percent
and renegotiation of collective agreements; however, the law allows
employers in ailing industries to dismiss workers regardless of the
provisions of their collective bargaining agreements. Collective
bargaining agreements must be registered with the industrial court to
ensure adherence to these guidelines. The security forces cannot
bargain collectively but have an internal board which reviews salaries.
Other groups that cannot bargain collectively, such as the health
sector workers, have associations, not unions, which negotiate their
wages and conditions that match the Government's minimum wage
guidelines, although these agreements were not legally enforceable.
The law, with some restrictions, permits workers to strike, and
workers exercised this right in practice. Workers must submit a letter
to the Ministry of Labor and Human Resource Development and wait 21
days before a strike can occur. Members of the military services,
police, prison guards, and the National Youth Service are prohibited
from striking. Other civil servants can strike following the 21-day
notice period (28 days for essential service workers, such as water,
health, education, or air traffic control workers). During this interim
period, the minister may mediate the dispute, nominate an arbitrator,
or refer the matter to the industrial court for binding arbitration.
Once a dispute is referred for mediation, fact-finding, or arbitration,
any subsequent strike is illegal.
The Government resumed deducting and remitting member dues to the
Civil Servants Union (CVU) after the CVU held a special election in
December 2005 for the Board of Directors. The registrar-general had
ordered the election after the union's June 2005 strike. During the
year some public employees threatened to strike over wage issues.
Government agencies threatened to fire strikers and replace them, but
discussions continued, and agreements were reached in most cases.
Although the law prohibits retaliation against strikers, employers
have fired strikers without redress. The University Academic Staff
Union officials were contesting the dismissal of union officials
participating in a strike demanding better salaries. The law prohibits
employers working in sectors such as water and sewerage, health, and
law enforcement to go on strike.
With the exception of the Factories Act, all labor laws apply in
the EPZs (see Section 6.e.); however, the EPZ Authority and the
Government granted many exemptions to applicable laws. For example, the
Government waived a provision of the law that prevents women from
working in industrial activities at night. There were reports that
persons lost their jobs in EPZs because of their refusal to work on
Saturdays. Union leaders claimed that a number of textile and garment
firms in EPZs employing about 3,000 workers have refused to sign
collective bargaining agreements. Seven garment producers in the Athi
River EPZ near Nairobi signed collective bargaining agreements (CBAs)
in 2003, but negotiations on the next CBA have dragged out and no
agreement on a new CBA had been reached by year's end. Two garment
producers in Mombasa have recognized the textile union, but have not
completed CBA negotiations. Union leaders claimed that a number of
other garment producers in EPZs have refused to recognize the Tailors
and Textiles Workers Union and resisted efforts to unionize their
workers.
On May 1, the Government ordered a crackdown on firms employing
casual workers over an extended period of time without changing their
terms of employment to regular status. The Ministry of Labor and Human
Resource Development also stated it would close down those businesses
whose workers were denied the right to join trade unions. Under the
Employment Act, no employer is allowed to employ a casual worker longer
than three months. However, employers normally relieved casual
employees after two months and rehired them to circumvent the law. No
action was taken by the ministry during the year against employers that
engaged in such practices.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
slavery, servitude, and forced and bonded labor, including by children;
however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see Section
5). Under the Chiefs' Authority Act, a local authority can require
persons to perform community services in an emergency; there was no
attempt to use the law during the year.
There were reports of forced or compulsory labor by children (see
Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
2001 Children's Act prohibits all forms of child labor that are
exploitative or hazardous, or would prevent children under age 16 from
attending school; however, child labor was a problem, particularly in
the informal sector. An estimated 1.9 million children between the five
and 17 years of age were working, with the majority being between 13
and 17 years of age. While children under 16 years of age are
prohibited from working and the employment of children in the
industrial sector is illegal, the law does not apply the minimum age
restriction to the agricultural sector, where approximately 70 percent
of the labor force was employed. The minimum age law also does not
apply to children serving as apprentices under the terms of the
Industrial Training Act.
The Ministry of Labor and Human Resources Development officers
nominally enforced the minimum age statute, and the Government worked
closely with COTU and the ILO's International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor to eliminate child labor. By 2005 the
Government's Free Universal Primary Education Program resulted in the
return to school of more than 1.5 million children who had been
working. Termination of school fees made primary school affordable for
many more families, but the continuing expenses of uniforms, textbooks,
and exam fees kept primary education out of reach for the poorest
families and some orphans.
Children worked primarily in the informal sector, mostly in family
businesses and on family plots where they assisted their parents. A
significant number of children worked in family units on tea, coffee,
sugar, and rice plantations. Children also worked in mining, small
quarries, and abandoned gold mines. Children often worked as domestic
servants in private homes, and during the year there were reports of
abuse of children serving as domestic employees. Poverty and the
growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans led to an increase in child labor in
the informal sector, which was difficult to monitor and control. In
addition a large number of children were exploited in the sex industry
(see Section 5). The employment of children in the formal industrial
wage sector in violation of the Employment Act was less common.
The law establishes definitions of child labor, and the worst forms
of child labor can be prosecuted under the Children's Act, which
prohibits child sexual exploitation, and the Penal Code, which
prohibits procurement of a girl under 21 for the purpose of unlawful
sexual relations and criminalizes child commercial sexual exploitation,
child labor, and the transportation of children for sale (see Section
5).
In June 2004 the Government prepared a National Plan of Action to
Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor. A practical guide to labor
inspection was developed, and the Government trained labor inspectors
and occupational health and safety officers to report on child labor.
In February the Government renewed the three-year mandate for the
National Steering Committee on the Elimination of Child Labor. Members
include the Attorney General, eight ministries, representatives of
children welfare organizations, and non-governmental organizations,
unions and employers. An Interministerial Coordination Committee on
Child Labor, chaired by the vice President, was responsible for setting
general policy. The country's National Policy on Child Labor aims at
strengthening the framework for coordination, monitoring and initiating
realistic strategies for preventing, protecting, rehabilitating and
reintegrating children from child labor, particularly in its worst
forms, and providing access to alternative forms of education and
skills training for sustainable livelihoods. The National Steering
Committee met with stakeholders to review the updated policy and
discuss the National Plan of Action in September, and the
Interministerial Coordinating Committee is reviewing the
recommendations from the Steering Committee.
On July 28, Vice President Awori presided at the launching of a
national campaign to stop violence against children and address child
labor and trafficking issues. The campaign is supported by UNICEF and
NGOs, and caravans visited five locations this year to hold events to
raise local awareness of child protection issues.
Many NGOs also were active in child labor issues and assisted in
the return to school of child laborers. In the past several years, the
Government has implemented 73 programs on the elimination of child
labor with 25 partner agencies. These programs removed 50,000 children,
half of them girls, from child labor. The partners placed the children
in schools, vocational training institutions and apprenticeships, and
supported income-generating activities for 10,000 parents. Partners
also provided support to schools to initiate income-generating
activities to help keep children from poor families in school.
UNICEF, the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, the World Tourism
Organization, and the NGOs End Child Prostitution and Child Pornography
and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) continued to
work with hotels and tour operators to increase their awareness of
child prostitution and sex tourism. ECPAT also worked with the other
groups to develop a code of conduct. Beginning in 2005 the Ministry of
Tourism mounted a campaign to register villas and cottages, putting
them under the same strictures and requirements as hotels, and
encouraging them to participate in the ECPAT code of conduct. In
February 30 hotels on the Coast signed the ECPAT Code of Conduct. By
August about 1,200 were registered. The Ministry of Tourism and
Wildlife and the Kenya Association of Hoteliers and Caterers intend to
see all hotel operators and other tourism and hospitality firms sign
and implement the code, but there were no further signups during the
year. The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife has made implementation of
the code a condition for annual licensing of hotels, lodges and
restaurants by the Hotel and Restaurant Authority.
The vice President and minister of home affairs publicly accepted
the UNICEF report on child sex tourism, urged wider hospitality
industry participation in the ECPAT code, and pledged the Government
would work with UNICEF to develop long-term strategies for child
protection and social/behavioral changes. The Government increased the
budget, permitting the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Child
Protection Department to hire an additional 160 children's officers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for blue-
collar workers in the wage sector has 12 separate scales, varying by
location, age, and skill level. In many industries, the legal minimum
wage equaled the maximum wage. In May 2005 the Government increased the
legal minimum wages for workers by 12 percent in both urban and rural
areas: the lowest minimum wage in large urban areas was approximately
$72.70 (5,346 shillings) per month. The minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most workers relied
on second jobs, subsistence farming, informal sector opportunities, or
the extended family for additional support.
Workers covered by a CBA generally received a better wage and
benefit package than other workers. For instance the average covered
worker received $100 (8,170 shillings) per month in addition to a
housing and transport allowance, which often constituted 25 to 50
percent of a worker's compensation package.
The law limits the normal workweek to 52 hours, although employees
who work at night may work up to 60 hours per week. Some categories of
workers had lower maximum limits on workweek hours. As is the case with
respect to minimum wage limitations, the law specifically excludes
agricultural workers. An employee in the nonagricultural sector is
entitled to one rest day per week and there are provisions for 21 days
of annual leave and sick leave. The law also provides that the total
hours worked (regular time plus overtime) in any two-week period not
exceed 120 hours (144 hours for night workers). The Ministry of Labor
and Human Resources Development was responsible for enforcing these
regulations; however, violations were reported during the year. Workers
in some enterprises, particularly in the EPZs and road construction,
claimed that employers forced them to work extra hours without overtime
pay to meet production targets. In addition, the employers often did
not provide nighttime transport, leaving workers vulnerable to assault
and robbery, including sexual harassment.
Although the law sets forth detailed environmental, health, and
safety standards, the Government did not enforce the law. Fines
generally were too low to serve as a deterrent to unsafe practices.
EPZs are excluded from these legal provisions (see Section 6.b.). The
Ministry of Labor's Directorate of Occupational Health and Safety
Services (DOHSS) has the authority to inspect factories and work sites,
but lacked statutory authority to inspect factories in the EPZs. DOHSS
had only 52 inspectors instead of the 168 expected to cover the entire
country. During the year DOHSS carried out some inspection visits
although no action was taken after the inspections nor did it provide
information on the findings. Labor unions and NGOs continued to
criticize health and safety conditions in the EPZs and other sectors,
such as small horticulture producers.
DOHSS developed a program in which factories with more than 20
employees establish internal safety committees that are trained to
conduct safety audits and submit compliance reports to DOHSS. DOHSS
claimed that in 2005 it organized the training of 2,393 workers in
occupational safety and health services in various companies in the
formal sector.
DOHSS health and safety inspectors can issue notices against
employers for practices or activities that involved a risk of serious
personal injury. Such notices can be appealed to the factories appeals
court, a body of four members, one of whom must be a High Court judge.
The law stipulates that factories employing at least 20 persons have a
health and safety committee with representation from workers; however,
according to the Government, fewer than half of the very largest
factories had instituted health and safety committees. Workers,
including foreign or migrants, can refuse to remain in hazardous
conditions, but many were reluctant to risk losing their jobs.
__________
LESOTHO
Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy with a population of
approximately two million. Under the constitution, the King is head of
state, fills a ceremonial role, has no executive authority, and does
not actively take part in political initiatives. In 2002 Prime Minister
Pakalitha Mosisili, the leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy
(LCD) party, won reelection, and the LCD won 79 of 80 constituency-
based seats. Domestic and international observers concluded that the
elections were generally free and fair. In October 18 members of
parliament (MPs), including one cabinet minister, resigned from the LCD
and formed a new opposition party, leaving the LCD with only 61 seats
in the 120-member body. In November the Government dissolved
parliament, and the Independent Electoral Commission set February 17,
2007, as the date for national elections. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, some
members of those forces committed human rights abuses.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, major human rights problems included: unlawful
deprivation of life; security force abuse and use of torture; excessive
force employed against detainees; official impunity; poor prison
conditions; lengthy pretrial detention and long delays in trials;
widespread domestic violence; severe restrictions on women's rights;
societal discrimination against women and persons with disabilities or
HIV/AIDS; and child labor in the agricultural and other informal
sectors.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
in August Maseru City Council (MCC) security guards Thabo Lets'ela and
Tebello Mahlomola shot three pedestrians, killing two, on Kingsway Road
in downtown Maseru. One victim died on the spot, and a second died
later in a hospital. The third victim, a high school girl, received
only minor injuries. The event was ignited by a confrontation between
street vendors and MCC security personnel. According to private radio
station MoAfrika, MCC security personnel had begun removing street
vendors in an effort to clean the streets ahead of a Southern African
Development Community summit. The security guards were charged with
murder and attempted murder; at year's end they were in pretrial
detention.
In June unknown persons killed Bereng Sekhonyana, an MP from the
opposition Basotho National Party (BNP). By year's end there were no
arrests in the case.
There were two deaths in custody reported during the year (see
Section 1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law expressly prohibit such
practices; however, there were allegations that security forces
tortured persons and credible reports that the police at times used
excessive force. According to the Human Rights Unit in the Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights, in 2005 citizens filed 17 complaints of human
rights abuses by the police. These complaints were referred to police
authorities, and 15 of the 2005 cases were resolved, while the other
two were withdrawn and referred to the Police Complaints and Discipline
Division.
Following an alleged assassination attempt on the foreign minister
in January, two of his bodyguards, Private Taole Mokhesuoe and Private
Phetetso Motsehli, filed a torture complaint against the police
investigating the incident. The Office of the Director for Civil
Litigation in the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs stated
that the case against the police was before the High Court, where
charges were pending at year's end. The two bodyguards were court-
martialed and given a severe reprimand for dereliction of duty.
Following the June assassination of Bereng Sekhonyana, an MP from
the opposition BNP, the weekly newspaper Mopheme reported that three
female BNP members, Mapelesa Mosetse, Karabelo Ratlali, and Mafauli
Fauli, claimed that they were physically tortured and verbally abused
by male policemen investigating the case. The BNP later repeated the
charge at a press conference held by the party's leadership. Lawyers
for the BNP filed charges against the police, and the case was pending
in court at year's end.
No action was taken against police officers who allegedly abused
suspects in connection with the July 2005 killing of a police officer
in the Sehlabathebe district. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Public
Safety referred the case to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), and
discussions reportedly continued between the police and the PCA at
year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor, and facilities were overcrowded and in disrepair. Women, men, and
juveniles were housed separately. After inspecting 51 prisons, the
Office of the Ombudsman, an independent statutory body, released a
report in August 2005 that criticized conditions including
overcrowding, lack of bedding, poor sanitation, and poor nutrition. The
report also included recommendations for extensive physical
improvements to facilities, more frequent inspections, and separate
areas within prisons for ill inmates. Authorities improved nutrition
during the year, but no action was taken to address the other problems.
In 2004 the Office of the Ombudsman recommended disciplinary action
against the warden of Mohale's Hoek Prison after two prisoners killed
themselves following abuse by prison guards; however, no action had
been taken by year's end.
The law provides that pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners be
held in separate prisons; however, pretrial detainees were held with
convicted prisoners. Security and military prisoners were held in a
separate facility.
Prison regulations provide for visiting committees made up of
principal chiefs, church ministers, representatives of the business
community, advocates of the High Court, and other citizens. These
committees are authorized to visit any prison without the prior
knowledge of the prison director, and generally were allowed to do so.
The committees reported their findings to the prison director as well
as the general public. International human rights groups were permitted
to monitor prison conditions. The British Department for International
Development's (DFID) Justice Development Sector's program personnel
worked in prisons and conducted regular inspections. After receipt of
DFID's recommendations, the nutritional standards and living conditions
of prisoners improved.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of the Lesotho Defense Force (LDF), the Lesotho Mounted Police
Service (LMPS), and the National Security Service (NSS). The Prime
Minister is the minister of defense and national security, with direct
authority over the LDF and the NSS. The police force is under the
minister of home affairs and public safety.
The LMPS is nationally managed, with the country divided into three
police regions, which are further divided into districts. An assistant
commissioner of police heads each region; senior superintendents head
the districts. The LMPS suffered from a significant shortage of
resources, which limited its effectiveness.
Corruption was a problem; however, the Government continued its
reform efforts. Police authorities confirmed allegations that some
police officers solicited bribes to overlook traffic and other
offenses. Police authorities and media reported that police and army
personnel may have been involved in a spate of armed robberies during
the year. In January a court sentenced a police officer to eight years'
imprisonment for involvement in armed robberies in 2005.
The process of carrying out justice was slow, but members of the
security and police forces were prosecuted and sentenced. Impunity is a
problem, but to a limited extent.
The PCA is an independent oversight body that monitors questionable
behavior by police officers and addresses public grievances against the
police; the Police Act does not accord the body powers of search and
seizure or the power to summon police officers. PCA commissioners have
requested that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety pursue
amendments to the act to enhance PCA powers, but no amendments were
passed by year's end.
From January to August, the PCA received 50 complaints involving
assault, poor service, extortion, and unfair dismissal from the LMPS.
Ten cases were opened, and 32 referred to the ombudsman, Legal Aid, and
the police. Five were advisory matters and were referred to the
relevant organs of state, while three were settled to the satisfaction
of the complainant and officially closed.
The LMPS Inspectorate, Complaints and Discipline Unit reported that
it was investigating 25 complaints of unlawful detention, assault,
corruption, failure to investigate cases, and abusive language and
intimidation filed against the police between January and August. The
nine complaints filed in 2005 also continued under investigation. Of
the 48 complaints received in 2005 and referred to the minister of home
affairs and public safety, 26 cases were closed; the remainder were
still under investigation at year's end. Disciplinary action was taken
against certain police officers on the basis of these proceedings.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain a warrant
prior to making an arrest. Suspects must be informed of charges within
48 hours, and their families must be notified of any imprisonment. The
law also allows family members to visit inmates. However, in practice
the police did not always comply with these provisions. The law
provides for granting bail, which the authorities granted regularly and
in general fairly. Persons detained or arrested in criminal cases and
defendants in civil cases had the right to legal counsel. The Legal Aid
Division, under the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, offered free
legal assistance, but a severe lack of resources hampered the
division's ability to be effective. Nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) maintained a few legal aid clinics.
Pretrial detainees constituted approximately 16 percent of the
prison population, and pretrial detention could last months or even
years. The backlog was due to lack of resources, delay tactics by
defense counsel, and unavailability of legal counsel. In November 2005
The Mirror newspaper published an article reporting that judges granted
postponement of cases without proper cause, and attorneys failed to
appear without explanation. The article also reported that 6,000 cases
were pending in magistrates' courts.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the judiciary was generally
independent in practice.
The judiciary consists of the Court of Appeal (which meets
semiannually), the High Court, magistrates' courts, and traditional
courts, which exist chiefly in rural areas to administer customary law.
The High Court also provides procedural and substantive guidance on
matters of law and procedure to military tribunals; however, it does
not participate in adjudication.
A single high court judge normally adjudicates criminal trials with
two assessors who serve in an advisory capacity. The authorities
generally respected court decisions and rulings.
Trial Procedures.--There is no trial by jury. Trials are public,
but in civil cases judges normally hear cases alone. There was a large
case backlog, which led to lengthy delays in trials (see Section 1.d.).
Defendants have the right to legal counsel; however, government sources
stated that in the magistrates' courts, some accused persons were not
advised of their right to legal representation, and some cases
proceeded without representation for the accused. Free legal counsel
was available, either from the state or a legal NGO. A defendant may be
either held or released on bail until a sentence is passed. Defendants
are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal. Defendants have the
right to access nonconfidential government information during a trial.
In civil and criminal courts, women and men are accorded equal
rights. However, in traditional (customary) courts, certain rights and
privileges were denied to women, and they were greatly disadvantaged
(see Section 5). However, in October the parliament passed the Legal
Capacity of Married Persons Act, which effectively eliminated de jure
discrimination against women in the customary law system.
When traditional law and custom were invoked in a court case, a
male plaintiff could opt for customary judgment by a principal chief
rather than a civil court, and the judgment would be legally binding.
Military tribunals have jurisdiction over military cases only.
Decisions by military tribunals can be appealed only to a special
court-martial appeal court, which is composed of two judges from the
High Court--one retired military officer with a legal background and
the registrar of the High Court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary with jurisdiction over civil matters. Citizens
can freely access the court system to file lawsuits seeking cessation
of human rights violations or a recovery of damages resulting from such
acts. Some administrative remedies are available from the Labor Court,
as stipulated by the Public Services Act. Judicial remedies for such
wrongs are addressed in the constitution. However, a failure by the
state to produce exhibits in court and to sequester witnesses,
especially in high-profile cases, were substantial obstacles to the
enforcement of domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law do not fully protect
citizens' privacy rights; however, the constitution contains a section
on the ``Right to respect for private and family life,'' which states
that ``Every person shall be entitled to respect for his private and
family life and his home.'' During the year there were no reports that
authorities infringed on those rights. Although search warrants were
required under normal circumstances, the law provides police with wide
powers to stop and search persons and vehicles and to enter homes and
other places without a warrant.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. However, many journalists admitted
to practicing self-censorship to avoid libel suits as well as problems
from their editors.
Citizens and residents enjoy broad rights of freedom of speech,
which in general the Government respects.
Several independent newspapers routinely criticized the Government.
There were seven private radio stations but no private television
station. The media was free to criticize the Government, but risked
being sued for slander or libel. The official state-owned or state-
controlled media consisted of two radio stations, a television station
which broadcast a two-hour daily newscast, and two weekly newspapers.
All reflected official positions of the ruling party. South African and
global satellite television and radio broadcasts were widely available.
Government ministers and other officials initiated a number of
libel and defamation suits against members of the independent media,
some of which led to out-of-court settlements.
In one of them, an English-language weekly newspaper, The Mirror,
succumbed to financial pressure as a result of libel suits and closed
in May.
In September the High Court summoned the chief reporter of Public
Eye to appear on contempt charges following his newspaper's reports on
a controversial scheme through which high-level government officials
and judges obtained luxury cars at a fraction of their market value. In
its report the newspaper had criticized the participation of members of
the judiciary in the scheme, suggesting that it could cloud their
impartiality in judging cases. The editors of Public Eye refused to
accept an official reprimand and print a retraction as suggested by the
court, and the case remained open at year's end.
In February the Prime Minister and two other cabinet ministers
filed a case against three former members of their party for crimea
injuria, defined as impairing someone's dignity (it is a criminal
offense, while defamation is a civil offense). The Government officials
accused the three former party members of distributing leaflets
accusing the Prime Minister of despotic tendencies and stating that he
and the foreign minister were involved in adulterous relationships.
Hearings began on October 16, but were later postponed until March
2007.
The defamation suit filed in November 2005 by retired Major General
Thibeli against the Catholic newspaper Moeletsi a Basotho was still
pending at year's end.
At year's end the 2004 case in which an MP sued the newspaper
Mololi for libel was still pending.
In November the acting minister of communications directed state-
owned broadcast media to cease playing the music of traditional artists
who had participated in opposition political party rallies.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals or groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
Internet was not widely available, due to a lack of information
infrastructure, the Government's position as monopoly carrier from
which any other Internet service provider would have to purchase
bandwidth, and the high cost of access. Access was almost nonexistent
in rural areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of
religious groups.
There was a very small Jewish community, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system to provide protection to refugees.
In practice the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government continued to cooperate
with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. There were reportedly
an estimated 60 refugees resident in the country from Sudan, Uganda,
Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.
Other refugees have sought relocation from the country to South Africa
to take advantage of better living conditions and opportunities there.
There is a commissioner for refugees in the Ministry of Home Affairs
and Public Safety.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2002 elections the
LCD party won 79 of the 80 constituency-based seats; the opposition
Lesotho People's Congress party won the remaining constituency seat;
and the 40 proportionally elected seats were divided among nine
opposition parties. Prime Minister Mosisili, the leader of the LCD
party, won reelection. Domestic and international observers concluded
that the elections were generally free, fair, peaceful, lawful, and
transparent. International observers characterized the first post
independence local government elections, held in April 2005, as
generally free and fair.
There were 15 women in the 120-member National Assembly and 12
women in the 33-member Senate. The speaker of the National Assembly,
five government ministers, one assistant minister, four judges of the
High Court, and the commissioner of police were women. Female
candidates captured 53 percent of seats in the April 2005 local
elections.
Approximately 98.5 percent of the population was Basotho. There
were no members of minorities in the National Assembly, the Senate, or
the cabinet.
A provision in the constitution requires that members of parliament
possess the physical faculty of speech; however, this provision was not
enforced.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. The World Bank
Institute gave the Government an above-average rating for control of
corruption. However, according to the NGO Transparency International,
corruption was a serious problem.
In September the High Court fined the Impregilo Company
approximately two million dollars (15 million maloti), after the
construction company admitted use of bribery to influence a government
investigation. In a February 2005 case brought before the High Court,
Impregilo was charged with bribing a former chief executive of the
Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP); the chief executive continued
to serve a 15-year sentence for a separate LHWP-connected bribe.
Although there are no laws providing for access to government
information, and access to government information was incomplete, Web
sites of government ministries, parastatal companies, and private
organizations provided significant information on governmental
activities.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
An independent Office of the Ombudsman exists to protect citizens
against infringement of their rights by public and private sector
organizations. The Office of the Ombudsman appears to function without
undue governmental or political interference. The ombudsman was
constrained by a shortage of staff, financing, and equipment. The
ombudsman intervened in issues such as requests for release of
unlawfully withheld salaries; reinstatement of employees illegally
suspended from their jobs; compensation for persons relocated to new
areas in connection with LHWP activities; and compensation for and
repair of houses in communities close to large-scale development
projects. Some of the ombudsman's reports, which were publicly
released, were successful in bringing attention to various issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
color, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, birth, or other status; however, the constitution also
recognizes customary law as a parallel legal system, and women's
inheritance and property rights were severely restricted under this
system.
Women.--Although dependable statistics were not available, domestic
violence against women was believed to be widespread. Traditionally, a
wife may return to her ``maiden home'' if physically abused by her
husband. Under common law (the formal legal system), domestic violence
or spousal abuse is a criminal offense and defined as assault; however,
few domestic violence cases were brought to trial. The law does not
mandate specific penalties; however, an offender can be cautioned and
released; given a suspended sentence; fined; or imprisoned. Punishment
depends on the severity of the assault, and judges have a wide degree
of discretion in sentencing. Such behavior was increasingly considered
socially unacceptable due to advocacy and awareness programs of the
Gender and Child Protection Unit (GCPU) of the LMPS, the Federation of
Women Lawyers, the NGO Lesotho Child Counseling Unit (LCCU), other
NGOs, and broadcast and print media campaigns.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and mandates a
minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment, with no option for a
fine. The rape of young children, older girls, and women was common.
Courts heard a number of rape and attempted rape cases, and sentences
were imposed and carried out. There were numerous cases of rape
involving very young girls, as a result of the ill-informed belief
among some men that such intercourse could cure HIV infections.
Although there were convictions in several cases, sentences tended to
be minimal. The organizations involved in combating the problem
included the GCPU, the LCCU, and other NGOs. Their activities included
teaching young persons and parents about the Sexual Offenses Act of
2003, in schools, churches, and in village gatherings; and teaching
persons how to report such offenses and how to access victims'
services.
The law does not address prostitution, and it was a problem (see
Section 5, Children). Prostitution was driven by poverty, and anecdotal
evidence indicated that it was a growing problem. No accurate
statistics on prostitution were available.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, which was
believed to be widespread.
Traditional law and custom severely limited the rights of women in
areas such as property rights, inheritance, and contracts. Women have
the legal and customary right to make a will and sue for divorce;
however, under customary (traditional) law, a married woman was
considered a minor during the lifetime of her husband, and she could
not enter into legally binding contracts without her husband's consent.
However, in October parliament passed the Legal Capacity of Married
Persons Act, which effectively eliminated de jure discrimination
against married women in the customary law system. A woman married
under customary law has no standing in civil court. Under the country's
dual legal system, marriages which occur under customary law must be
legalized in the civil system to have legal standing. Government
officials publicly criticized customary practice regarding marriage.
The tradition of paying a bride price (lobola) was frequent. There
was no evidence that lobola contributed to abuses against women's
rights. Lobola, if not paid to the bride's family, allows the family
the right to end a marriage and the right to challenge custody of any
offspring. Polygamy was practiced by a very small percentage of the
population. Women were not discriminated against in access to
employment, credit, or pay for substantially similar work.
Women's rights organizations took a leading role in educating women
about their rights under customary (traditional) and formal law,
highlighting the importance of women participating in the democratic
process. The Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation funded
efforts by women's groups to sensitize society to respect the status
and rights of women.
Children.--The Child Protection Act (CPA) and the Sexual Offenses
Act provide for the protection of children; however, limited resources
hampered the Government's ability to fully enforce these laws.
The Government devoted substantial resources to primary and
secondary education. Education by law was universal; however, it was
not compulsory, even at the primary levels. Tuition-free primary
education, which was introduced in 1999, has been extended to one
additional grade annually. The seventh and last class was made tuition-
free during the year, and the Government inaugurated 17 new primary
schools to accommodate increased pupil intake.
A substantial number of children did not attend school,
particularly in rural areas where there were few schools, where
children were involved in subsistence activities to help support their
families, or where families could not afford fees for the purchase of
uniforms, books, and school materials. In 2002 the United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 62 percent of boys and 68
percent of girls attended primary school. During the year, according to
UNICEF, these figures had increased to 80.6 percent of boys and 85.7
percent of girls. More boys failed to attend school than girls, due to
the tradition of livestock herding by young boys (see Section 6.d.).
Boys and girls had equal access to government-provided health care.
Child abuse was a common problem, especially for children made
vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. There were few official reports or statistics.
During the year the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation
stated on a number of occasions that there was a need to fight child
abuse.
Child prostitution was also a problem. According to media reports,
young girls and boys, many of whom were orphans, moved to urban areas
to work as prostitutes. A 2001 UNICEF assessment concluded that child
prostitution in the country was a poverty-driven phenomenon rather than
a commercial enterprise, and that the financial arrangements were
casual and not the product of organized criminal syndicates. However,
UNICEF and the Government agreed that while the numbers remained small,
the more recent trend toward commercial prostitution by children was a
growing problem. There was little capability within either the police
force or the Department of Social Welfare to address the needs of
children likely to engage in prostitution.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d).
Familial stress, poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS, and divorce led
to a rise in child homelessness and abandonment, creating a growing
number of street children and families headed by children; their number
totaled an estimated 100,000 to 200,000. Street children were hampered
by lack of access to government services, such as medical care and
schooling, and were not informed about their rights to such services.
There were no reports of abuse of street children by security forces.
The GCPU within the LMPS had branches in all 10 districts, but lack
of resources restricted their ability to be effective. The GCPU dealt
with sexual and physical abuse, neglected and abandoned children, and
protection of property rights for orphaned children. The GCPU also has
a mandate to address child labor issues, although it has stated that it
has not dealt with such cases.
Trafficking in Persons.--Neither formal nor traditional law
addresses trafficking in persons. There were reports that people were
trafficked to, from, and within the country; however, official
statistics were lacking. In 2005 the minister of gender and the
assistant minister of education publicly stated their concern over six
cases of child trafficking and the possible increase of trafficking-
related activities; however, there were no known developments in the
six cases by year's end. There were no official statistics on
trafficking, since it is not a specific category of crime. Police can
charge persons suspected of trafficking under the labor code, the CPA,
and kidnapping statutes contained in the constitution. The Ministry of
Home Affairs and Public Safety and the GCPU are responsible for
monitoring trafficking. Although there is no specific legislation on
trafficking, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, some NGOs, and
the police continue to offer assistance to suspected victims of
trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical disabilities in
employment, education, or provision of other government services, and
the Government enforced these laws within its limited ability. Although
societal discrimination was common, the tradition of hiding disabled
children from the public was no longer commonly accepted. The
Association of the Disabled actively promoted the rights and needs of
disabled persons.
Laws and regulations stipulate that persons with disabilities have
access to public buildings, and such buildings completed after 1995
generally complied with the law. The election law provides for assisted
voting for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities constituted less
than 2 percent of the population. There were small groups of ethnic
Indians, Europeans, Chinese, and mixed-race persons. Economic and
racial tension between the Chinese business community and the Basotho
remained a problem.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There continued to be
reports that children orphaned by AIDS, persons with AIDS, and their
immediate families were ostracized.
In 2004 the Prime Minister took an HIV/AIDS test and started an
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.
In June parliament amended the labor code to include an HIV/AIDS
workplace policy. On July 17, King Letsie III recognized the work of an
HIV/AIDS activist with an award. Each government ministry or department
provided subsidized medicine and food to its employees with HIV/AIDS
(such assistance was available to all citizens at subsidized prices at
all government hospitals).
LDF policy states if a soldier is found to be HIV positive after
induction, he is not retired or separated. The soldier is provided
counseling and testing, and his duties are adapted as appropriate.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Under the law, workers have the right
to join and form trade unions without prior government authorization
and without excessive bureaucratic requirements, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, some employers in the textile sector
did not observe trade union rights. Both locally and foreign-owned
businesses displayed a lack of full understanding of the labor code's
provisions regarding the right to form labor unions. During the year
there were six reported cases of unfair labor practices. The labor code
prohibits civil servants from joining or forming unions but allows them
to form staff associations. The Mounted Police Service Act also
specifically prohibits members of the police from belonging to trade
unions but allows them to establish a staff association charged with
promoting professional efficiency and the interests of its members, and
they have done so.
The Government regarded all civil servants as essential employees;
therefore, they did not enjoy general labor rights, such as the rights
to strike or negotiate collectively. In 2004 civil servants established
a professional association.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor stated there were 13
functional trade unions with a combined membership of 25,411. The
ministry indicated that 25 trade unions had been deregistered as a
result of their failure to submit annual reports. Women were dominant
in textile union employment.
A majority of Basotho mineworkers were members of the South African
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). While the NUM, as a foreign
organization, was not allowed to engage in most union activities in the
country, it provided training, developed agricultural projects, and
performed other social services for retrenched mine workers and
families of deceased miners.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, and in practice the
Government generally enforced this prohibition; however, there were
reports that some employers harassed union organizers, intimidated
members, and fired union activists, particularly in locally owned
companies.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and in
practice the Government generally protected this right; however, some
private sector employers tried to restrict these rights (see Section
6.a.). Collective bargaining is protected by law and freely practiced.
The law provides for a limited right to strike; however, civil servants
were not allowed to strike, and, by definition, all public sector
industrial actions were unauthorized. In the private sector, the Labor
Code requires an escalating series of procedures to be followed by
workers and employers before strike action is authorized.
There are no export processing zones.
The commissioner of labor was authorized to order the reinstatement
of wrongfully dismissed employees and the payment of back wages but did
not have the authority to impose criminal fines.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred. The Government effectively
enforced this prohibition.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor code contains statutory prohibitions against the employment of
minors in commercial, industrial, or other nonfamily enterprises
involving hazardous or dangerous working conditions. The Government
effectively enforced these statutes. However, child labor was a problem
in the informal and agricultural sectors, which child labor laws do not
cover, and the Government had no mechanism for inspection of those
sectors. The legal minimum age for employment in commercial or
industrial enterprises is 15 years or 18 years for hazardous
employment; however, children under 14 years old reportedly were
employed in family-owned businesses. Children under 18 may not be
recruited for employment outside the country. Many urban street
children worked in the informal sector. Most jobs performed by children
were often gender-specific: boys as young as four were livestock
herders, carried packages for shoppers, washed cars, and collected
fares for minibus taxis; girls were domestic servants; teenage girls
(and a few boys) were involved in prostitution (see Section 5); and
both boys and girls worked as street vendors.
In traditional society rigorous and occasionally dangerous working
conditions for young herdboys were considered a prerequisite to
manhood, essential to the livelihood of families, and a fundamental
feature of local culture beyond the reach of labor laws. Reportedly the
age of initiation into herding continued to drop. The emphasis on
traditional socialization methods to the exclusion of formal education
continued the cycle of poverty for most youth.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor is responsible for
investigating child labor allegations; however, inspections were
minimal.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A national minimum wage is
determined annually by the Wage Advisory Board, a tripartite entity
consisting of representatives of the Government, trade unions
(employees), and employers. In 2004 the Government introduced a
schedule of basic minimum wages for different sectors, such as
manufacturing, construction, retail, service, and mortuary services.
For example, authorities set the minimum wage for a beginning machinist
in the textile industry at approximately $87 (643 maloti). During the
year textile workers earned an average of $95 (660 maloti) per month,
and machine operators received an average of $110 (770 maloti) per
month. The national minimum wage for workers in lower-skilled jobs did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Most wage earners supplemented their income through subsistence
agriculture or remittances from relatives in South Africa.
The labor code provides for basic worker rights, including a
maximum 45-hour workweek, a weekly rest period of at least 24 hours, 12
days of paid leave per year, and paid sick leave and public holidays;
however, these regulations exclude the informal and agricultural
sectors. Employers did not always respect these rights in practice.
Required overtime was legal as long as overtime wages were paid for
work in excess of the standard 45-hour workweek. According to the
commissioner of labor, employers in the security sector were the worst
violators of the labor code. They regularly worked employees beyond the
statutory hours, did not insure their workers against injury or death,
and paid them less than the minimum wage. In October the labor code was
amended to give workers in the security sector permission to work 60
hours per week. Work beyond 60 hours per week constitutes overtime.
The labor code requires employers to provide adequate light,
ventilation, and sanitary facilities for employees and to install and
maintain machinery in a manner to minimize the risk of injury;
employers generally followed these regulations. The labor code also
empowers the Ministry of Employment and Labor to issue regulations
pertaining to work safety in specific areas, and the ministry has
exercised this right. There were no known instances of the ministry
ineffectively or improperly enforcing health and safety standards. The
labor code does not protect explicitly the right of workers to remove
themselves from hazardous situations without prejudice to employment;
however, sections of the code on safety in the workplace and dismissal
implied that such a dismissal would be illegal.
The law also provides for a compensation system for industrial
injuries and diseases related to employment. The commissioner of labor,
who functions as part of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, was
charged with investigating allegations of labor law violations. Labor
inspectors generally conducted unannounced inspections of a random
sample of employers each quarter.
The Government and private sector implemented voluntary HIV/AIDS
counseling and testing programs in line with Labor Code Act Number 5,
passed in June, which strengthened existing programs.
__________
LIBERIA
Liberia is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 3.5 million. In November 2005 Unity Party candidate Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf was declared the winner of multiparty Presidential
elections, which domestic and international observers considered free
and fair. President Johnson-Sirleaf replaced Chairman Charles Gyude
Bryant, who led the interim National Transitional government of Liberia
(NTGL) since October 2003. Since the 2003 signing of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the 1999 2003 civil war between the
former government and the country's two rebel groups--Liberians United
for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy
in Liberia (MODEL)--approximately 15,000 peacekeepers deployed by the
UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) and 1,100 UN international police (UNPOL)
had primary responsibility for maintaining security. Efforts to retire
and retrain the Liberian National Police (LNP) which maintained arrest
authority continued. The Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) were completely
demobilized and retired during the year. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there
were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted
independently of government authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems persisted in some areas. Deaths from mob
violence increased. Police abused, harassed, and intimidated detainees
and citizens. Prison conditions remained harsh and incidents of
arbitrary arrest and detention occurred. Lengthy pretrial detention and
denial of due process and fair public trial were problems. LNP officers
on several occasions assaulted journalists and a human rights worker.
Some incidences of trial-by-ordeal were reported. Corruption and
impunity continued in many levels of the Government. There was violence
against women, especially reports of rape. The practice of female
genital mutilation (FGM) remained widespread. Child abuse, trafficking
in persons, and racial and ethnic discrimination were problems.
Instances of child labor were reported, especially in the informal
sector. Child neglect and child abuse continued to be problems. There
were some instances of ethnic tensions during the year, but none that
resulted in violence.
The Government took significant steps during the year to correct
past human rights deficiencies. The Government worked with numerous
international partners to rehabilitate the country's justice sector and
established a public defender's office in the capital. The President
dismissed or suspended a number of government officials for corruption,
and the Government tightened contracting practices and financial
controls through the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Plan
(GEMAP). During the year the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC),
which was established in 2005 to investigate human rights violations
and war crimes committed during the 14-year civil war, began taking
statements from witnesses.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
on August 3, a Special Security Service (SSS) officer killed another
SSS officer in a private dispute. The investigation was completed on
November 22, but no action was taken by year's end.
General Benjamin Yeaten was still a wanted man in the country, and
remained in self-imposed exile during the year. Yeaten remained a
suspect in the 2003 execution of former deputy national security
minister John Yormie and former deputy public works minister Isaac
Vaye.
There were allegations that ex-combatants, both from former
government and rebel security forces, were involved in killings, theft,
and other crimes against workers at rubber plantations, notably the
Guthrie Rubber Plantation and the Firestone Rubber Plantation.
Ritualistic killings, in which body parts used in traditional
indigenous rituals were removed from the victim, reportedly occurred
during the year. The number of such killings was difficult to ascertain
since police often described deaths as accidents or suicides, even when
body parts were removed. No one was prosecuted for such killings during
the year.
On July 6, the Government arrested five ``heartmen'' suspected of
committing ritualistic killings in Ganta, Nimba County. On July 18, the
Nimba County superintendent urged residents to oppose ritualistic
killings of any kind.
There were increased reports of mob violence during the year. On
August 7 and 8 and on September 6, angry mobs killed three persons
suspected of theft. Numerous others incidents were reported.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. The welfare and whereabouts of former Chief of
Intelligence Peterson Marbiah, who disappeared when John Yormie and
Isaac Vaye were arrested in 2003, remained unknown at year's end.
The UNMIL investigation into the 2003 disappearance of foreign
citizen Nabil Hage, who was believed to have been abducted by LURD, was
ongoing at year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, but there were
reports that police officials employed them.
For example, on February 15, a corrections officer trainee was
suspended for allegedly ordering five prisoners to beat three other
prisoners and force them to drink muddy water.
On June 9, the National Human Rights Center of Liberia reported
that the Government arrested approximately 20 associates of former
President Taylor on suspicion of plotting against the Government and
held them at the National Security Agency (NSA), where some were
severely beaten. The Government denied that any beatings took place.
During the year LNP officers sometimes abused, harassed,
intimidated, and extorted bribes from persons, particularly at
checkpoints. For example, on September 20, two legislators reported
being assaulted by LNP officers in two separate incidents, one at a
checkpoint and one in a courthouse. On September 26, the LNP inspector
general formally apologized to the legislators in question and to the
legislature as a whole, citing inadequate training as the reason for
the assaults. The police officers were reprimanded, but not formally
punished or suspended.
On October 3, a local newspaper reported that police forced a false
confession from a robbery suspect by placing a lighter under his
genitals until he confessed. The Government had not responded to the
incident by year's end.
LNP officers assaulted journalists and a human rights worker during
the year (see Section 2.a. and section 4).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political
party members harassed and beat journalists or that former combatants
were responsible for civilian injuries.
During the year the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS)
investigated reports of sexual exploitation and abuse by UN
peacekeepers, UNMIL staff, UN private contractors and implementing
partners. On November 30, the BBC reported that a UN officer had
allegedly sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl on November 15. UNMIL
had not received a report, and requested details regarding the incident
from the BBC in order to initiate an investigation; there were no
reported developments in this case by year's end. The UNMIL Conduct and
Discipline Unit was investigating six cases by year's end, while the
OIOS was investigating 24 cases.
In November 2005 an UNMIL peacekeeper was arrested for raping a
nine-year-old girl. An UNMIL investigation confirmed the rape occurred,
and UNMIL repatriated the peacekeeper in March.
The law of the hinterland prohibits trial-by-ordeal, such as the
placement of a heated metal object on a suspect's body or the insertion
of an extremity into hot oil to determine whether the defendant is
telling the truth. However, the law permits ordeals of ``a minor nature
and which do not endanger the life of the individual.'' The use of
trial-by-ordeal reportedly continued in rural areas. For example, on
June 12, the Government arrested five persons in Grand Gedeh County for
committing an illegal trial-by-ordeal in which they reportedly forced
seven persons, who were allegedly involved in drowning another person,
to drink a liquid made from poisonous tree bark.
Lack of confidence in the police and judicial system resulted in
mob violence and vigilantism (see Section 1.a.). For example, on July
27, a vigilante group forcefully arrested and injured a thief in
Monrovia and interrogated him before turning him over to the LNP. On
September 4, the minister of justice announced that citizens should
organize themselves in ``vigilante groups'' or ``community watch
teams'' to protect neighborhoods from growing crime. On September 6,
the inspector general of police clarified that such groups should
register with the police, should not carry weapons, and should not
include minors or those with criminal records.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh and in some cases life threatening. Monrovia Central Prison held
almost four times its capacity during the year due to the large number
of pretrial detainees (see Section 1.d.). The Government relied on the
World Food Program and various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to
provide food to the prisons. The UN and NGOs continued to provide
medical services. During the year both the Government and international
partners continued renovations at prisons in Voinjama, Gbarnga,
Buchanan, Kakata, Zwedru, and Monrovia. A private company financed
construction on the prison in Harbel city. In some counties the
structure that served as a jail was a container with bars at one end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that local officials
forced prisoners to work for them.
In February, July, and August, prisoners caused disturbances at
Buchanan and Gbarnga prisons, overpowered unarmed guards, and caused
damage to the Gbarnga prison in protests over conditions and trial
delays. In each instance, the guards fled. On October 12, approximately
30 prisoners escaped from Buchanan prison; only a few were apprehended
by year's end.
In some locations there were no separate facilities for juvenile
offenders, and convicted prisoners and detainees awaiting trial were
held together. Women and juveniles were subject to abuse by guards or
other inmates. Men and women were held together in some counties or
cities with only one prison cell. In the nine UNMIL-monitored prisons,
men and women were not held together.
The Government permitted the independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local human rights groups, the media, and the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Some human rights
groups, including national and international organizations, made
regular visits to detainees held in police headquarters and prisoners
in Monrovia Central Prison.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, security forces continued to
arrest and detain persons arbitrarily, although less frequently than in
the previous year.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Justice has
responsibility for enforcing laws and maintaining order within the
country and oversees the LNP and the National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI). Approximately 15,000 UNMIL peacekeepers and 1,100 UNPOL officers
had primary responsibility for maintaining security. Efforts to retire
and retrain members of the LNP continued during the year. The AFL was
completely demobilized and retired during the year. Approximately 600
UNPOL officers assisted with restructuring, recruiting, training, and
equipping the LNP, which was composed of new recruits and those who
served under the former administrations. By year's end UNPOL had
recruited, trained, and deployed more than 2,030 LNP officers to
Monrovia and 14 surrounding counties. In September 2005 the LNP opened
a Women's and Children's Protection Section (WCPS), and 50 officers had
completed training to staff the unit. While WCPS was generally
effective in addressing the growing number of women and children's
protection issues, it was understaffed and had limited resources.
The LNP operated independently and retained arrest authority;
however, UNPOL and armed UN Formed Police Units accompanied LNP
officers in joint patrols around Monrovia.
LNP officers, who were unarmed, were slow to respond to criminal
activities and often ineffective, which resulted in an increase in
armed robberies during the year. Corruption and impunity were problems,
and police officers were not paid for up to three months at a time.
Police had limited logistics, communication, and forensic capabilities
and did not have the capacity to adequately investigate many crimes,
including murders.
The LNP investigated reports of police misconduct or corruption,
and several LNP officers were suspended or dismissed for misconduct or
corruption. On March 13, the deputy director of police was suspended
and subsequently dismissed for stealing $4,000 (240,000 LD) worth of
gas coupons. Also in March, four LNP officers were suspended for
assaulting a journalist. On June 5, the Bureau of Immigration and
Naturalization dismissed seven police officers for misconduct. On July
4, eight LNP officers were suspended for financial corruption. Some
demobilized LNP officers continued to wear old uniforms to extort money
from citizens during the year. Newly trained LNP officers, who were not
paid for months at a time, also extorted money from citizens.
Public confidence in the police remained low, and citizens
occasionally continued to use mob justice to protect persons and
property. UNPOL, with the LNP, set up a system of community policing
forums.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution requires warrants to make
arrests and provides that detainees either be charged or released
within 48 hours; however, warrants were not always based on sufficient
evidence, and detainees, particularly those without the means to hire a
lawyer, often were held for more than 48 hours without charge. The law
provides for bail for all offenses except rape and treason. Detainees
have the right to prompt access to counsel and, if indigent, to have an
attorney provided by the state, but the Government did not ensure such
access for all detainees.
Both LNP officers and other government officials were responsible
for the arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens during the year. For
example, on June 12, the chief justice of the Supreme Court ordered the
arrest of the manager of Bellview Airlines over a personal dispute; the
manager was released without charge later that day. On April 19, the
legislature ordered the arrests of Economic and Legal Affairs Minister
Morris Saytumah, and Deputy Minister of Finance for Administration
Francis Karpeh for deducting taxes from legislators' allowances; the
ministers were released after 72 hours without charge. On October 18,
in Grand Bassa County, Justice of the Peace Wusus Konneh constructed
his own detention cell, although he had no legal authority to detain
individuals. While Konneh did hold persons in the detention cell, the
Ministry of Justice demolished it by year's end. No further information
was available on this case by year's end. On September 16, the
Government arrested without warrant a prominent local businessman of
Lebanese descent in Monrovia for economic sabotage. The case was
ongoing at year's end.
Although the law provides for the right of a person who is charged
to receive an expeditious trial, lengthy pretrial and prearraignment
detention remained serious problems. Approximately 90 percent of
prisoners at Monrovia Central Prison were pretrial detainees. Trial
delays were caused by judicial inefficiency, lack of court facilities
and qualified judges, and corruption. In some cases the length of
pretrial detention equaled or exceeded the length of sentence that
could be imposed for the crime. On May 17, the director for the Center
for the Protection of Human Rights, T. Dempster Brown, filed a lawsuit
to dismiss 300 pretrial detainees from Monrovia Central Prison. Several
persons were released, and Brown dropped the case. On May 24, the judge
of Criminal Circuit Court A released 27 of the 300 detainees who had
been held in pretrial detention for an excessive period of time. The
newly formed Public Defenders Office was instrumental in obtaining the
dismissal of approximately 50 cases from 2004 and 2005 due to lack of
judiciary action.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, judges were subject to political,
social, familial, and financial pressures, and corruption persisted in
the judiciary. There were reports of executive branch influence over
the judiciary. Judges regularly received bribes or other illegal gifts
from damages that they awarded in civil cases. Judges sometimes
requested bribes to try cases, release detainees from prison, or find
defendants not guilty in criminal cases. Defense attorneys sometimes
suggested that their clients pay a gratuity to appease or secure
favorable rulings from judges, prosecutors, jurors, and police
officers. By statute members of the bar must be graduates of a law
school; however, some judges and magistrates were not lawyers.
In September 2005 the Supreme Court ordered the closure of all
noncommissioned justice-of-the-peace courts; however, some courts still
operated during the year. No replacement courts were in place at year's
end.
The judiciary is divided into four levels, including justices of
the peace, courts of no record (magistrate courts), courts of first
instance (circuit and specialty courts), and the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court appointed judges to counties outside of Montserrado, but
judges and magistrates continued to abandon their posts to opt for
living in Monrovia. On May 2, the Supreme Court chief justice dismissed
34 magistrates for abandoning their posts.
Some judges assigned throughout the country were unable to hold
court due to lack of security, supplies, equipment, or a courthouse.
International donors supported additional prosecutors and defenders,
resulting in approximately 15 qualified prosecutors and 19 public
defenders in the country. Uneven application of the law remained a
problem throughout the judicial system.
Traditional forms of justice administered by clan chieftains
remained prevalent in some localities (see Section 1.c.).
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are used in circuit
court trials but not at the magistrate level. Under the constitution,
defendants have the right to be present, to consult with an attorney in
a timely manner, and to have access to government-held evidence
relevant to their case; however, these rights were not always observed.
Defendants in criminal trials enjoy a presumption of innocence and have
the right to an attorney, to confront witnesses in a public trial, and
to appeal adverse decisions, but many of these protections were not
available to defendants who could not pay bribes. There was no
effective system to provide public defenders in rural areas, but by
June four full-time public defenders were responsible for cases in
Montserrado County. Some local NGOs continued to provide legal services
to indigents and others who had no representation. There continued to
be long delays in deciding cases.
On August 22, a jury acquitted nine persons including Orishall
Gould, former managing director of the National Social Security and
Welfare Corporation, for embezzlement of more than $600,000 (32.4
million LD). On September 18, the Government filed a motion to set
aside the verdict and was awarded a new trial. The defendants appealed
that decision to the Supreme Court, where the case was pending at
year's end.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
civil law court in Monrovia, but circuit courts in each county function
as both criminal and civil courts. Specialty courts, such as the tax
court, probate court, and labor court, also address civil matters. As
with criminal courts, specialized courts were weak. Administrative and
judicial remedies were available to settle alleged wrongs. NGOs and the
Government established mediation centers throughout the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The
constitution provides for the right of privacy and the sanctity of the
home and requires that police obtain a warrant or have a reasonable
belief that a crime is in progress, or is about to be committed, before
entering a private dwelling.
During the year the Government ordered members of the Gio and Mano
ethnic groups to leave the homes they occupied in Nimba and Lofa
counties and return them to their Mandingo owners, who had fled the
country during the civil war. The Gios and Manos refused to leave the
homes, and the Government did not forcibly restitute the properties to
their Mandingo owners. A court case was ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. However, on September 19, National
Security Advisor H. Boima Fanbulleh warned the public against making
``reckless statements'' that threatened the country's security.
The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
In Monrovia there were approximately a dozen newspapers that
published during the year with varying degrees of regularity; six were
independent dailies, and five were independent biweekly papers. The
Government published the New Liberian newspaper.
Due to the price of newspapers and transportation, the estimated 75
percent illiteracy rate, and road conditions elsewhere in the country,
newspaper distribution generally was limited to the Monrovia region. As
a result, radio remained the primary means of mass communication. There
were 15 independent radio stations that regularly broadcast in
Monrovia, approximately 24 local stations, one UNMIL radio station, and
one government-operated station. Radio stations operated without
government restrictions.
There were three local television stations; however, television was
limited to those who could afford to purchase sets, generators, and
fuel to provide electricity. For those persons and businesses with
satellite capability, CNN, BBC, Skynews, and SABC Africa generally were
available.
During the year the police harassed and assaulted journalists. For
example, on April 24, LNP officers reportedly beat two reporters during
a demonstration. Four LNP officials were suspended because of the
incident. On May 24, Executive Mansion SSS officers reportedly harassed
and intimidated journalists for not maintaining enough distance between
themselves and the President during a public event. The report of a
committee established by the President to investigate the May 24
incident resulted in the Government's decision to replace damaged
camera equipment. On October 13, LNP officers beat a radio journalist
who was covering the arrest of rioters. The Government investigated the
incident and promised to avoid such incidents in the future. No further
information was available on this case by year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political
party members attacked journalists at political rallies.
On May 17, the state-owned Liberian Broadcasting System warned
journalists to seek clearance prior to broadcasting corruption
allegations against government officials. On April 25, three
newspapers, the New Democrat, the Daily Observer, and the Analyst
published information accusing senators of receiving exorbitant
salaries. The senators characterized the accusations as ``false and
misleading,'' and ordered the three newspaper editors to appear before
the Senate. The editors appeared and apologized to the Senate for not
writing a balanced story; there were no further actions against them
during the year.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that political
party members attacked journalists at political rallies.
Journalists commonly accepted payments to publish articles. At a
university commencement ceremony on August 23, the President spoke out
against ``pocketbook journalism,'' and asked the media to be more
responsible in publishing articles. At year's end the Press Union of
Liberia accused the President of putting checks in Christmas cards sent
out to all media outlets as an attempt to influence the press. Only
three media outlets returned the checks, and the President responded
that the gesture was not meant to influence the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was not widely available due to lack of infrastructure.
High illiteracy also limited public exposure to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly and
association, and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The constitution provides for the right of peaceful assembly, and
the Government generally respected this right.
LNP officers beat journalists covering demonstrations during the
year (see Section 1.a.). Demonstrations occurred throughout the year in
which both protestors and police sustained minor injuries.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. There were 30 registered political parties. Dozens of civil
society organizations, organized around themes such as human rights,
women's issues, development objectives, poverty alleviation, health
concerns, and worker's associations, were active.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Christianity was the dominant religion and most meetings,
including official government meetings, began and ended with Christian
prayers. Islamic leaders complained of some discrimination against
Muslims. On June 8, some Muslim groups criticized the President for not
including more Muslims in her cabinet. Some Muslim leaders complained
that the budget did not allocate enough money for Islamic schools.
All organizations, including religious groups, were required to
register with the Government; however, traditional indigenous religious
groups were not required to register and generally did not do so.
On July 20, the LNP director warned Muslim women not to wear veils
in public but did not prohibit the use of headscarves. Islamic
religious leaders objected, but there were no reports that Muslim women
were discriminated against or arrested for wearing veils during the
year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some tensions existed between
the major religious communities. The private sector in urban areas,
particularly in the capital, gave preference to Christianity in civic
ceremonies and observances. Throughout the year the Interreligious
Council and other religious organizations promoted dialogue between
religious groups. However, ethnic tensions existed in Nimba County
between the Mandingo and Mano and Gio ethnic groups, mainly over
property. On July 31, the Government established a commission to
recommend a solution to these disputes. The commission had not
completed its work by year's end.
Incidents of ritualistic killings occurred during the year (see
Section 1.a.).
There was no notable Jewish community in the country, and there
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. LNP
officers occasionally subjected travelers to arbitrary searches and
petty extortion at checkpoints in and around Monrovia (see Section
1.d.).
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--As of May, the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which had
assisted IDP returns, declared that all IDP camps were officially
closed. Some IDPs remained in the closed camp areas even though
assistance was no longer provided. By December UNHCR had provided
return assistance to 326,824 persons since the return operation began
in November 2004.
An environmental NGO was responsible for addressing environmental
hazards in former IDP camps including the filling of pit latrines and
garbage pits, safe disposal of toxic materials, and demolition of
abandoned shelters.
On May 8, the NGO Save The Children reported that young women and
girls in IDP camps and in return communities were sexually exploited as
they sought food or money for their families.
On August 15, the Government changed management at Guthrie Rubber
Plantation due to growing insecurity in the plantation and offered
return assistance to IDPs and former combatants illegally operating the
plantation. At year's end, approximately 200 former combatants
registered for government and UN return assistance benefits.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government
also provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify
as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol.
During the year the UNHCR assisted the repatriation of
approximately 80,000 Liberian refugees to country. International NGOs
estimated that thousands of other refugees returned to the country
without assistance during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In November 2005 Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf won the national Presidential elections with 59.4
percent of the vote in a runoff election. In the same elections voters
selected 30 senators and 64 representatives; one was subsequently
disqualified. Domestic and international observers considered the
elections generally free and fair. Individuals and parties freely
declared their candidacies, and membership in the dominant parties did
not confer any formal advantage. In preparation for the elections, the
National Elections Commission (NEC) registered 30 political parties; 22
parties contested the Presidential election results.
The state is highly centralized. The law provides that the head of
state appoint county superintendents, and the President appointed all
15 superintendents during the year. Local governments had no
independent revenue base and relied entirely on the central government
for funds. As a result, there was very limited government functioning
outside of Monrovia, and civil servants often waited for months to
receive salaries. Local officials served mainly to lobby the central
government.
On September 12, the President requested permission from the
legislature to appoint city mayors because the NEC lacked sufficient
funds to carry out mayoral elections. The issue was not resolved at
year's end.
There were five female ministers, a number of female deputy
ministers, five women in the Senate, nine women in the House of
Representatives, and four female county superintendents. There was one
female Supreme Court judge and one female Supreme Court justice
nominee. Women constituted 33 percent of local government officials and
31 percent of senior and junior ministers. Only a few Muslims held
senior government positions, including one ministerial post.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained
endemic at middle and lower levels of government due to low civil
servant salaries, a culture of impunity, and long delays in payment of
wages. Financial mismanagement decreased considerably at a macro level,
but was still a serious problem along with lack of accountability
within government agencies. There was a widespread public perception of
corruption in all branches of government. Some high-level government
officials, including the President, were publicly committed to fighting
corruption. All political appointees were supposed to publicly declare
their assets upon confirmation, but only some appointees complied.
The Government dismissed or suspended a number of high-level
officials for corruption. For example, on May 28, the Ministry of
Public Works dismissed its comptroller for stealing ministry funds to
pay for a personal generator. On June 8, Head Postmaster Wleh Freeman,
Director General of Post Joseph S. Gbemelen, Jr., and Assistant
Director General for Expedited Mail Services Emmanuel Z. Browne were
suspended for three months for administrative malfeasance. On June 10,
the President dismissed Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Minister for
Health and Social Welfare Benson Barh, Assistant Minister for Commerce
and Industry Aaron Mathies, and Director of the Civil Aviation
Authority James Attoh. A number of lower level Ministry of Finance
employees also were dismissed the same day. On June 12, eight postal
employees faced prosecution for mail theft. On July 30, Deputy Police
Director Al Karley was dismissed for misappropriating 2,495 gallons of
gasoline.
Beginning in February, international financial controllers were
placed under GEMAP in key ministries and state-owned enterprises.
Controllers helped change financial management, purchasing, and
contracting practices, and instituted financial controls that increased
government revenues and helped to curb corrupt practices. However,
single-source procurement and suspect concessions and contracts
remained a serious concern.
By year's end the Government had announced publicly investigations
against former high-ranking members of the National Transitional
government of Liberia (NTGL), who were in power from 2003 2005. On
September 18, the Government filed a motion and was awarded a new trial
in the 2005 corruption case involving the management from the National
Social Security and Welfare Corporation (see Section 1.e.). The
defendants appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, where it was
pending at year's end. On December 17, NTGL Comptroller Emmanuel
Erskine pleaded guilty to charges of economic sabotage, including the
misappropriation of $62,714 (3,762,840 LD). Other investigations and
trials were reportedly ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 corruption case against J.D.
Slanger, former head of the Bureau of Maritime Affairs, or Alphonso
Gaye, managing director of the National Port Authority.
In 2004 the Government suspended Police Director Chris Massaquoi
and Customs and Excise Commissioner Charles Bennie on charges of
corruption; however, neither case was prosecuted during the year.
On February 2, Massaquoi was appointed Commissioner of Immigration
until being named SSS director on August 1. On August 26, Bennie was
appointed director of price analysis at the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry.
The law provides for ``no limitation on the public right to be
informed about the Government and its functionaries,'' but little
government information was available, and there were few procedures for
obtaining it. However, during the year, the Government took steps to
increase transparency. The Ministry of Finance published the national
budget and quarterly financial results, and state-owned enterprises
published financial statements. On July 21, the Public Procurement and
Concessions Commission launched a Web site and published its first
report monitoring some government expenditures.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally
cooperative and responsive to their views.
There were three coalitions of human rights groups: the National
Human Rights Center of Liberia with nine member organizations; the
Network of Human Rights Chapters with eight groups; and the Human
Rights and Protection Forum, an umbrella organization of 70 to 80
groups. Approximately 40 groups formed a civil society collective
called the National Civil Society Organization. These coalitions sought
to increase public discussion of human rights problems. Civil society
NGOs continued to develop.
During the year the Government worked to facilitate the free and
safe passage of relief supplies by international NGOs and permitted
visits by a UN panel of experts, the ICRC, and various UN agencies.
On September 19, the Forum for Human Rights and Democracy, a human
rights organization, reported that LNP officers assaulted one of its
employees and confiscated her camera while she was taking pictures of
the police beating a theft suspect. An investigation was ongoing at
year's end.
In September 2005, the Government's Independent National Commission
on Human Rights (INCHR), established in 2004, was dissolved upon the
adoption of a new act regarding the INCHR; its reconstitution was
ongoing at year's end.
On February 16, the House of Representatives formed a committee on
human and civil rights; no reports or recommendations were published
during the year.
On March 29, the Government transferred former President Charles
Taylor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone to face war crimes charges
in connection with the civil conflict in Sierra Leone.
On February 20, the President officially commissioned members of
the TRC, which was established in June 2005, to investigate human
rights violations during the 1979 2003 civil war. During the year the
TRC held activities to sensitize the public to their work and began
taking statements on past human rights abuses. The TRC experienced
problems during the year due to mismanagement and disharmony among
commissioners. This hindered its effectiveness and raised doubts about
its ability to accomplish all its stated goals in a two-year period.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on ethnic
background, race, sex, creed, place of origin, or political opinion;
however, the Government did not enforce effectively all these
provisions.
The constitution enshrines discrimination on the basis of race; and
only persons who are ``Negroes'' or of ``Negro descent'' can become
citizens or own land. Differences involving ethnic groups, notably the
Krahn, Mano, Gio, Lorma and Mandingo ethnic groups, continued to
contribute to social and political tensions.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, it was
widespread and not seriously addressed by the Government, the courts,
or the media. Several NGOs continued programs to treat abused women and
girls and to increase awareness of their rights. The most severe
penalty for domestic violence is six months imprisonment. LNP officers
received training on sexual offenses as part of their initial training.
The law provides sentences for rapists ranging from seven years' to
life imprisonment; accused rapists are ineligible for bail. However,
the Government did not effectively enforce the law. The law does not
specifically criminalize spousal rape. The number of reported rapes
increased during the year; however, the stigma of rape contributed to
the pervasiveness of out-of-court settlements and obstructed
prosecution of cases. Inefficiency in the justice system also
prohibited timely prosecution of cases.
Some local NGOs pushed for prosecution of rape cases or provided
lawyers to indigent victims. On September 27, the WCPS reported that of
the approximately 600 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse it
received during the year, 10 were prosecuted and few resulted in
convictions.
The law does not specifically prohibit FGM, and the Government took
no action against FGM during the year. FGM traditionally was performed
on young girls in northern, western, and central ethnic groups,
particularly in rural areas. The most extreme form of FGM,
infibulation, was not practiced. Social structures and traditional
institutions, such as secret societies, often performed FGM as an
initiation rite, making it difficult to ascertain the number of cases.
At least one case was reported during the year. On February 9, the
minister of internal affairs condoned FGM at his confirmation hearing
by arguing that it was a cultural practice that should be respected.
Although prostitution is illegal, it was widespread.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem,
including in schools and places of work.
Women have not recovered from the setbacks caused by the war, when
many schools were closed, and they were prevented from maintaining
their traditional roles in the production, allocation, and sale of
food. Thousands of women remained displaced, preventing them from
pursuing livelihoods or education.
Under the law, women and men enjoy the same legal status. Women can
inherit land and property, receive equal pay for equal work, and were
allowed to own and manage businesses. A number of businesses were
female owned or operated. The Government prohibits polygamy; however,
traditional laws permit men to have more than one wife. No specific
office existed to ensure the legal rights of women, but the Ministry of
Gender and Development was generally responsible for promoting women's
rights.
During the year professional women's groups--including lawyers,
market women, and businesswomen--vocally expressed concern regarding
government corruption, the economy, security abuses, rape, domestic
violence, and children's rights.
Children.--The Government generally did not provide for the
education and health of children. Due to the poor condition of
government schools, many children who attended school, particularly in
Monrovia, attended private institutions. Education was compulsory until
students reached 16 years of age; however, school fees remained
relatively high, thereby making education unattainable for 50 percent
of all school-age children. In both public and private schools,
families of children often were asked to provide their own uniforms,
books, pencils, paper, and even desks. Most schools had more male
students than female students.
Medical care was poor, but boys and girls generally had equal
access where medical care was accessible.
Widespread child abuse continued, and reports of sexual violence
against children increased during the year. Civil society organizations
reported increased incidences of rapes against young girls under 12.
On July 3, Musa Solomon Fallah received a life sentence for raping
a nine-year old girl. On May 22, Mulbah Brown received a life sentence
for raping a 13-year old girl.
FGM was performed primarily on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
Child prostitution and trafficking were problems (see Section 5,
Trafficking). During the year, there were reports that young women and
girls engaged in prostitution for money, food, and school fees.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Despite international and government attempts to reunite children
separated from their families during the war, there were still many
children who lived on the streets in Monrovia. It was difficult to tell
who were street children, former combatants, or IDPs. Nearly all
children had witnessed atrocities during the 14-year civil war, and
some children had committed atrocities. There were more than 100
registered orphanages; however, the Government closed 70 during the
year due to substandard conditions. Many unofficial orphanages also
served as transit points or informal group homes for children.
Orphanages were under funded and had difficulty providing basic
sanitation, adequate medical care, and appropriate diet; they relied
primarily on private donations and support from international
organizations, such as the UN Children's Fund and the World Fodd
Program, which provided food and care throughout the year. Many orphans
lived outside these institutions.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were police reports that persons were trafficked within
the country. Victims were trafficked within the country for domestic
work, labor, and prostitution. Enforcement efforts were weak.
Young children were at a particularly high risk for trafficking,
especially orphans or children from extremely poor families.
Trafficking victims often were subjected to harsh living and working
conditions.
On December 26, a Guinean woman was arrested in Ganta, Nimba County
for attempting to sell a Guinean child in the country. She and the
child were returned to Guinean border authorities.
Traffickers enticed their victims with promises of a better life.
Parents of trafficking victims were persuaded that their children would
have better food and educational opportunities and that they would
eventually return home.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of forced labor
or of the recruitment of child soldiers. Under the 2005 Anti-Human
Trafficking Act, penalties for trafficking range from one year to life
imprisonment. Monetary restitution to victims is also provided for in
the law. The law was not widely disseminated among law enforcement,
lawyers, and judges, and there were no prosecutions of trafficking
cases during the year. The ministries of justice and labor have primary
responsibility for combating trafficking.
The international NGO AG Charities worked with the Government,
local NGOs, and churches to raise awareness about trafficking, and the
WCPS continued to address trafficking issues. The Government had
limited capacity to provide services to victims; however, a local NGO
provided shelter for abused women and girls, including trafficking
victims.
Under the 2005 antitrafficking law, the President must appoint an
anti-trafficking task force, chaired by the ministries of labor and
justice. During the year an ad hoc antitrafficking task force composed
of government representatives, international organizations, foreign
governments, and local NGOs continued work to develop a national
antitrafficking action plan. In October the President appointed a
national antitrafficking task force chaired by the minister of labor.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although it is illegal to discriminate
against persons with disabilities, in practice they did not enjoy equal
access to public buildings or government services. No laws mandate
access to public buildings. Streets, schools, public buildings, and
other facilities were generally in poor condition and inaccessible to
persons with disabilities. As a result of the civil wars, a large
number of persons had permanent disabilities, in addition to those
disabled by accident or illness. Persons with disabilities faced
discrimination, particularly in rural areas. They were reports that
some babies with deformities were abandoned. Some NGOs provided
services to persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the law prohibits
ethnic discrimination, racial discrimination is enshrined in the
constitution which provides that only ``persons who are Negroes or of
Negro descent'' may be citizens or own land. Many persons of Lebanese
and Asian descent who were born or lived most of their lives in the
country were denied full rights as a result of this racial
discrimination. Differences involving ethnic groups continued to
contribute to social and political tensions.
The country has 16 indigenous ethnic groups; each spoke a distinct
primary language and was concentrated regionally. No ethnic group
constituted a majority of the population.
During the year ethnic, religious, and other differences between
Mandingos and non-Mandingos continued, but unlike in the previous year,
such differences did not result in violence.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, except
members of the military and police, the right to associate in trade
unions, and workers exercised this right in practice. The law also
prohibits unions from engaging in partisan political activity. There
were no reports of government interference in union activities.
Union power increased during the year; however, the country's
largely illiterate workforce engaged in few economic activities beyond
subsistence level.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but there were
no reports of such discrimination during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. With the exception of
civil servants, workers have the right to organize and bargain
collectively. There are no export processing zones.
On October 3, the legislature repealed the 1984 People's Redemption
Council Decree 12, which nullified labor laws that provided for the
right to strike. However, by year's end the President had not signed
the repeal legislation because the legislature had not properly
transmitted it to the President for her signature. Several unions held
strikes during the year, including the Firestone labor union and the
University of Liberia Teacher's Union. The Civil Servants Association
also held a strike on July 3.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). There
were reports that child labor continued. Unlike in the previous year,
there were no reports that local officials forced convicts to work for
them.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 16 during
school hours; however, the Government did not effectively enforce the
law. Due to extreme poverty, child labor was a serious and widespread
problem, particularly in the informal sector. The Ministry of Labor
lacked the resources to carry out its mandate to monitor child labor.
Throughout rural areas, particularly where there were no schools, small
children continued to take care of younger brothers and sisters and to
work on family subsistence farms. In urban areas children assisted
their parents as vendors in markets or they hawked goods on the
streets.
During the year there were reports that several rubber plantations
employed children. There were also reports that children were forced to
work in conditions that were likely to harm their health and safety,
such as stone cutting or work that required carrying heavy loads.
An international NGO worked to eliminate the worst forms of child
labor by putting at-risk children back into school. Other local and
international NGOs worked to raise awareness about the worst forms of
child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires a minimum wage
of approximately $0.25 (15 LD) per hour not exceeding 8 hours per day,
excluding benefits, for unskilled laborers. The law also requires that
agricultural workers be paid $0.25 per hour (15 LD), excluding
benefits. Skilled labor has no minimum fixed wage. The highly
competitive minimum wage jobs did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Families dependent on minimum wage
incomes also engaged in subsistence farming, small-scale marketing, and
begging. The Government generally paid civil servant salaries and while
payment arrears grew between July and October, the arrears were paid by
December. The Government downsized and deleted ghost names from the
civil service payroll for more efficiency and transparency.
The law provides for a 48-hour, six-day regular workweek with a 30-
minute rest period per five hours of work. The six-day workweek may be
extended to 56 hours for service occupations and to 72 hours for
miners, with overtime pay beyond 48 hours.
The law provides for paid leave, severance benefits, and safety
standards, but enforcement was targeted solely at foreign-owned firms
that generally observed these standards. The Ministry of Labor lacked
the ability to enforce government-established health and safety
standards. The law does not give workers the right to remove themselves
from dangerous situations without risking loss of employment.
Due to the country's continued severe economic problems, most
citizens were forced to accept any work they could find regardless of
wages or working conditions. The Ministry of Labor lacked the resources
to monitor compliance with labor laws.
__________
MADAGASCAR
The Republic of Madagascar is a multiparty democracy with a
population of approximately 18 million. President Marc Ravalomanana,
who was elected to a second term in December, and his party, Tiako-I-
Madagasikara (TIM), dominated political life. The Presidential election
was generally free and fair, although international and domestic
observers noted the need for a number of electoral reforms. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The following serious human rights problems were reported: use of
excessive force by security forces to disperse demonstrators, resulting
in death and injuries; harsh prison conditions, which resulted in
deaths; arbitrary arrest of demonstrators; lengthy pretrial detention;
restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press; official
corruption; restrictions on freedom of religion; societal
discrimination and violence against women; trafficking of women and
girls; and child labor, including forced labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there was one report that a person may have died as the result of blows
inflicted on him during his arrest at a political rally. He was
released the same day, but died several days later. After a brief
investigation, the minister of public security stated that the
demonstrator's death was not the result of wounds inflicted on him by
the arresting security forces (see Section 2.b.).
On May 15, a woman was killed in a hit-and-run accident by a
speeding police car on a road in Antananarivo, according to media
reports. The victim's family took the case to court; it was still under
investigation at year's end.
During the year several persons were arrested and placed under
pretrial detention for their alleged involvement in the 2005 case in
which a gendarme in Ikelihorombe killed 10 persons accused of cattle
theft.
No investigation had been conducted by year's end into the May 2005
death in police custody of Jone Yvon Hajaniaina Rafanomezantsoa.
On August 11, squatters in the village of Ankorondrano Ampefy
lynched two police officers with machetes, knives, and cinder blocks. A
small force of national police and gendarmes had arrived to enforce a
local tribunal's eviction notice in a land dispute case that had gone
on for 30 years. One female member of the mob was also killed in the
conflict.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances or widespread criminal kidnappings for ransom.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law provide for the inviolability of
the person; however, security forces subjected prisoners to physical
abuse, including rape.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, which resulted in injuries
(see Section 2.b.). Unlike in the previous year, no injuries resulted
from grenades tossed to intimidate strikers.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh and life threatening. The country's 99 facilities, which were
designed for approximately 13,000 prisoners, held approximately 17,427
in December, according to the Ministry of Justice. Most prison cells
averaged less than one square yard of space per inmate. The most
crowded prisons, such as Tsiafahy and Moromanga, forced prisoners to
share cramped quarters in stacked bunk beds resulting in sleeping
spaces shared by as many as three to four detainees to one square yard.
An August report by the Government's National Observatory for Integrity
found that inmates in Antanimora prison were exchanging food and other
supplies for a place to sleep, while inmates in Fianarantsoa had to
take turns sleeping throughout the night for lack of space to lie down.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) estimated that more than half of
the prisoners were being held in non-prison facilities, including
production camps, storage warehouses, and slaughterhouses. The severe
overcrowding was due in part to pervasive pretrial detention (see
Section 2.d.), and because some defendants, unable to pay the court fee
required before receiving their judgment, were returned to jail.
Chronic malnutrition--which affected up to two-thirds of the
detainees in some prisons--was the most common cause of death.
Prisoners typically survived on 100 250 grams of dry manioc, rice, or
cassava per day, which provided less than half of the Ministry of
Justice's recommended daily intake for detainees. Families and NGOs,
including the Catholic Prison Chaplains, supplemented the daily rations
of some prisoners. NGOs claimed that hundreds died from malnutrition,
most because they were transferred or detained in a remote location and
did not receive visits by family members. Since its inception in
October 2005, the Ministry of Justice's ``Tefaka'' program has
transferred more than 100 dangerous detainees to prisons far from their
zone of origin to prevent unrest among their accomplices at home, which
has further hindered family access. Tsiafahy maximum-security prison,
where the majority of these prisoners were sent, had evacuated more
than 100 detainees by October for treatment of advanced medical
conditions, usually malnutrition. At least nine of the prisoners
transferred from Tsiafahy to Antanimora prison died in October.
Malnutrition, combined with a lack of hygiene, made detainees
especially vulnerable to disease and epidemics. Deteriorating prison
infrastructure--including a lack of sanitary facilities or potable
water--resulted in skin disease, insect infestation, and other health
risks; access to medical care was limited. In October a prisoner
starved to death in Antanimora prison, reportedly from a combination of
malnutrition and tuberculosis. There were media reports of four other
deaths and at least 20 cases of tuberculosis at Antanimora.
During the year the Government took steps to address the prison
situation. In June the Presidential Prison Task Force proposed
increased funding to raise nutritional standards for prisoners, and the
Ministry of Justice's budget was augmented by $470,000 (one billion
ariary) to improve nutrition for prisoners through March 2007. There
were minor infrastructure improvements, such as the construction of
brick walls to separate children from adults in Morondava prisons and
additional prison buildings in Betroka. According to some NGOs, these
improvements have helped to prevent a higher incidence of prison
deaths.
Church leaders and some NGOs reported that rape was commonplace in
the prisons and often used by prison guards and other inmates to
humiliate prisoners. Other organizations pointed out that while rape
cases are the exception, prisoners often prostituted themselves in jail
for food. Prisoners could be used as forced labor (see Section 6.c.).
Juveniles were not always held separately from the adult prison
population, and some preschool-age children shared cells with their
incarcerated mothers. Approximately 455 of the country's 20,106
prisoners were under 18. Pretrial detainees were not always kept
separate from the general prison population.
The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and
some NGOs, and such visits occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law provide
for due process for persons accused of crimes and prohibit arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government did not always respect
these provisions in practice.
The minister for public security heads the national police and is
responsible for law and order in urban areas. The Gendarmerie
Nationale, overseen by the Ministry of National Defense, is responsible
for security in all other areas of the island.
Lack of training and equipment, low salaries, and rampant
corruption were problems in the national police and gendarmerie. During
the year the Government prosecuted a number of security force members
for corruption.
In October, 16 non-commissioned military officers and gendarmes
were arrested for involvement in trafficking of handguns, grenades, and
AK-47s in Diego Suarez. At year's end the case was under investigation
and those arrested were awaiting trial.
Although the law provides that arrest warrants must be obtained in
all cases except those involving hot pursuit, often persons were
detained and jailed on no more than an accusation by another.
Defendants have a general right to counsel and the right to be informed
of the charges against them, but the Government was only required to
provide counsel in cases in which indigent defendants faced charges
carrying sentences greater than five years. A system of bail exists,
but was not available to many defendants in practice. Magistrates often
resorted to an instrument known as a mandat de depot (retaining writ)
by which defendants were held in detention for the entire pretrial
period. Prisoners generally were allowed prompt access by family
members; however, certain prisoners, such as those in solitary
confinement, had more limited access.
During the year security forces arrested student demonstrators and
opposition politicians (see Sections 2.b. and 3).
Long pretrial detention was a serious problem. The law mandates
that a criminal suspect is to be charged or released within 48 hours of
arrest; however, during the year the Government detained individuals
for significantly longer periods of time before charging or releasing
them. According to the minister of justice, the law places no limits on
the duration of pretrial detention for specific felonies including
cattle theft; the latter can only be tried by a special criminal court,
which in certain jurisdictions meets only once a year. In February the
Ministry of Justice ordered the release of a pretrial detainee who had
been held without charge for 19 years in Tsiafahy prison. Accused of
cattle theft, his file had gone missing for years, preventing both his
sentencing and release.
The Ministry of Justice reported that approximately 65 percent of
the entire prison population was in pretrial detention. Trial delays
were caused by poor record keeping, an outdated judicial system that
keeps the accused in detention until their trial regardless of the
severity of the offense, an insufficient number of magistrates per
capita, a lack of resources, and the difficulty of access to remote
parts of the country. Despite legal protections, investigative
detentions often exceeded one year. Many detainees spent a longer
period in investigative detention than they would have spent
incarcerated following a maximum sentence on the charges faced.
The Government took significant steps to address the pervasive
pretrial detention problem. A law passed in January providing
``conditional liberty'' granted eligible detainees the right to be
released on parole for good behavior after serving half of their
sentences. The minister of justice announced in April that henceforth
the mandat de depot would only be used for serious cases. The Ministry
of Justice began assessing the efficiency of magistrates and set a goal
to try all 2004 cases by year's end, and the Government started
implementing nationwide assessments of tribunals and human rights
training for magistrates.
Amnesty.--The Government granted 7,279 pardons during the year, in
part to reduce prison overcrowding and the judicial backlog. On June
26, President Ravalomanana ordered 1,572 of these pardons, together
with a 12-month sentence reduction for 5,707 other convicted prisoners.
Most pardons were granted to those who had been incarcerated for
nonviolent crimes and had served at least 15 years or were over 70
years of age.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was susceptible to
executive influence at all levels and at times was corrupt. A
magistrate strike initiated in 2005 concluded in January with the
parliament's ratification of a statute prohibiting magistrates from
going on strike, together with an increase in magistrates' salaries.
At year's end one judge was under investigation for corruption by
the internal disciplinary committee.
The judiciary is under the Ministry of Justice and has four levels.
Courts of first instance hear civil cases and criminal cases carrying
limited fines and sentences. The Court of Appeals includes a criminal
court of first instance for cases carrying sentences greater than five
years. The Supreme Court of Appeals hears appeals of cases from the
Court of Appeals. The High Constitutional Court reviews the
constitutionality of laws, decrees, ordinances, and electoral disputes.
The judiciary also includes specialized courts designed to handle
matters such as cattle theft.
Military courts are reserved for the trial of military personnel
and generally follow the procedures of the civil judicial system,
except that military officers are included on jury panels. Defendants
in military cases have access to an appeals process. A civilian
magistrate, usually joined by a panel of military officers, presides
over military trials.
The law provides traditional village institutions with the right to
protect property and public order. An informal, community-organized
judicial system called dina was used in some rural areas to resolve
civil disputes between villagers over such issues as cattle rustling.
The law limits dina remedies to monetary damages. The dina process does
not ensure internationally recognized standards of due process;
however, there were no reports that dina resulted in sentences
involving corporal punishment. Dina decisions may be appealed through
formal judicial channels to a court of general jurisdiction or to the
Office of the Mediator, which investigates and can seek redress through
formal judicial authorities.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide defendants with
the right to a full defense at every stage of the proceedings, and
trials are public. Defendants have the right to be present at their
trials, to be informed of the charges against them, to confront
witnesses, to present evidence, and to appeal convictions. The law
extends these rights to all citizens without exception.
The Government is required to provide counsel in cases in which
defendants face charges carrying sentences greater than five years; the
Ministry of Justice was conducting a study to determine whether to
extend this right to all other detainees, particularly those who cannot
afford their own counsel. Attorneys have access to government-held
evidence; however, this right does not extend to defendants without
attorneys. The law provides for a presumption of innocence; however,
the presumption of innocence was often overlooked. While the law
provides that juries can be used in all cases, in practice, juries were
used only in labor dispute cases.
In 2003 and 2006, former exiled political leader Pierrot
Rajaonarivelo was sentenced in absentia for complicity, abuse of power,
and embezzlement. While Rajaonarivelo alleged that the Government used
these convictions--which he is appealing--to impede his human and
political rights to run for President, the Government maintained that
these were strictly criminal cases and that he must comply with
domestic court decisions and electoral law. He was prevented from
entering the country in the run-up to the election period in order to
maintain peace and security, and continued to appeal his conviction
from abroad (see Section 3).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--During the year opposition
leader and National Assembly member Jean Eugene Voninahitsy
unsuccessfully appealed his December 2005 conviction for ``trafficking
influence.'' Observers suspected that the charge and conviction were
politically motivated, noting that such a charge normally should have
involved the Independent Anticorruption Bureau (BIANCO), which played
no role in the case (see Section 3).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and
impartial judiciary deals with all civil matters, including human
rights cases. However, the courts often encountered difficulty in
enforcing judgments in civil cases.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and unlike in the
previous year there were no reports of arbitrary government
interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence without
legal process.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, the Government limited
these rights in practice. There were reports that some government
officials pressured the media to curb its critical coverage of alleged
government malfeasance and intimidated journalists. Journalists
practiced self-censorship.
There were 14 privately owned major daily newspapers and many other
privately owned national and local news publications that published
less frequently. Le Quotidien, which is owned by the President, was the
newspaper most heavily influenced by the state. Widespread illiteracy
and a poorly developed system for distributing publications printed in
the capital limited the influence of print media.
The Government owned nationwide television and radio networks.
However, the President's privately-owned television and radio station,
MBS, also had national coverage, which in some cases extended to areas
not covered by the public networks. Applications from other private
television stations for nationwide coverage were suspended by the
Ministry of Telecommunications, Post, and Communications at year's end
while the ministry was completing technical tests for a nationwide
broadcast via satellite. In addition, there were approximately 232
radio stations, 137 of which were legally licensed, and 29 television
stations, 20 of which were legally licensed. International media were
allowed to operate freely.
Reporters Sans Frontieres' annual world press freedom report
indicated that the country's performance improved substantially during
the year due to a generally calm year. Nevertheless, there were
occasional reports that journalists were subject to arrest and
harassment.
Following the failed coup attempt by General Andrianafidisoa
(``General Fidy'') On November 17, journalists from Radio Don Bosco and
TV Plus complained that government officials warned them to stop
reporting on General Fidy's actions to avoid inflaming the security
situation, or risk being shut down. Additionally, in response to
allegedly inaccurate coverage of the coup attempt, President
Ravalomanana issued a strong public warning to all journalists and
media outlet owners not to publish unchecked news, lest he take action
against them. The minister of telecommunications subsequently met with
journalists from the Crisis Committee for the Defense of the Press to
assure them that they were under no threat from the Government. One
journalist from a private radio station in Antananarivo was barred by
his concerned station chief from reporting until further notice.
On October 7, police reportedly arrested and mistreated Eloi
Ravelonjato, despite his journalist badge, in Tamatave at the welcome
rally for exiled AREMA leader Pierrot Rajaonarivelo (AREMA is an
opposition political party.) Security forces reportedly seized his
camera and hit him on the head and neck before taking him away in a
truck for questioning. He was released later the same night
Radio Say in Toliara, shut down by the Government in 2004, remained
closed.
In general media were active and expressed a wide variety of views.
However, some journalists working for public media refrained from
criticizing the Government, and others working for private media were
expected to follow the political line of the station owner. There were
reports that one journalist working for a privately-owned radio station
in Fort Dauphin was not permitted to criticize the Government, as the
station owner supported the administration.
Government agencies, private companies, and political parties
sometimes bribed journalists, who generally received minimum or below
minimum wages, to ensure positive coverage of certain events.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government detained journalists on libel charges.
The Government continued to deny a resident visa to Radio France
International correspondent Olivier Peguy, who had criticized the
Ravalomanana government's actions during the 2002 political crisis. In
June 2005 the international NGO Committee to Protect Journalists sent
an open letter to President Ravalomanana urging the Government to
reissue Peguy's visa, with no response. Radio France International
assigned another correspondent to the country.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Public access to the Internet was limited mainly to urban areas; modern
technology and the necessary infrastructure were generally absent in
rural areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
but the Government at times limited this right. There were reports from
different parts of the country that opposition members could not obtain
permits to hold public rallies in specific locations, such as stadiums.
The mayor of Antananarivo banned all political street demonstrations,
citing the need to preserve the city's infrastructure. Police forcibly
dispersed several demonstrations during the year, which resulted in one
death, several injuries, and numerous arrests.
In the run-up to the Presidential election, there were media
reports from opposition candidates that their attempts to organize
public meetings were sometimes impeded. On May 21, opposition member
Herizo Razafimahaleo reported that local government officials
indirectly impeded his ability to gather his supporters by closing the
pre-designated meeting location, even after he had obtained official
permission to hold the meeting there. On the same day, the television
program at which he was slated to speak was reportedly cancelled
because of ``technical problems.''
On October 7, police and gendarmes beat and arrested demonstrators
rallying at the Tamatave airport for the return of exiled political
leader Pierrot Rajanarivelo. Nirilala Antonio Rakotondralambo, who was
among six demonstrators arrested at the protests, died several days
later. According to some reports, his death resulted from security
force blows sustained during his arrest. In response to this
allegation, the minister of public security conceded that
Rakotondralambo may have sustained ``some minor blows'' when security
forces were trying to contain the protesters, but stated that
Rakotondralambo had signed a statement upon his release affirming that
he had not been tortured during his detention, and he had returned to
work for the two days prior to his death. Local observers considered it
likely that the release statement was probably obtained without
coercion.
In February at the University of Antsiranana (also known as Diego
Suarez), police used force to disperse student demonstrators protesting
for improved university conditions. One student was injured with a
broken arm and 104 students were arrested; they were all released by
year's end.
No action was taken during the year against security forces
responsible for injuring demonstrators in 2005 and 2004.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the
right of association and permit citizens to organize political parties
and associations; however, the constitution also explicitly forbids
associations that ``call into question the unity of the nation, and
those that advocate totalitarianism or ethnic, tribal, or religious
segregation.'' There were numerous political parties.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice; however, the Government continued to ban the New
Protestant Church in Madagascar (FVPM) (which had broken away from the
mainstream Reformed Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar
(FJKM)), on the grounds that the breakaway church was illegally
occupying property assigned to the FJKM. In April the administrative
chamber of the Supreme Court ordered the Government to provide
compelling evidence for the need to ban FVPM. The case was still
pending at year's end. The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God also
remained banned based on the threat to law and order.
The law mandates that religious organizations register with the
Ministry of Interior. Religious organizations that fail to meet the
ministry's registration requirements are free to register as simple
associations, which do not have the right to receive gifts or hold
religious services. Ministry of Interior officials estimated there were
more than one thousand religious organizations in the country operating
without official state recognition, either as associations or as
unregistered organizations.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country has a very small
Jewish population; there were no reports of anti-Semitic incidents
during the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice;
however, during the year the Government continued to prevent the return
of self-exiled political leader Pierrot Rajaonarivelo (see Section 3).
The constitution does not explicitly prohibit forced exile;
however, the Government did not use it. Former President Ratsiraka and
other members of his administration remained in self-imposed exile at
year's end.
The law does not include provisions for the granting of asylum or
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. The Government
granted refugee status or asylum and cooperated with the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting the small number of refugees in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice by
voting in Presidential elections. However, some degree of turmoil has
accompanied the three changes of government that have occurred over the
last 14 years.
The country held a calm and relatively orderly Presidential
election in December with a 61.45 percent voter turnout. A number of
domestic and international observer teams deemed the election generally
free and fair. Opposition candidates were free to organize meetings and
press conferences to publicize their platforms and criticisms of the
Government; observers had free access to polling stations during voting
and ballot counting; voters cast their ballots without interference;
and voting station officials were competent. Contrary to opposition
claims, a media observation study by the international NGO PACT showed
that state media provided airtime gratis and equally to the 14
Presidential candidates. International observers noted numerous
procedural shortcomings but did not consider them to be indications of
any systematic effort to disadvantage particular candidates. Still,
they called for electoral reforms before the 2007 legislative
elections.
While government forces did not engage in intimidation or violence,
on election day a group of approximately ten persons set fire to ballot
boxes in three polling stations in the Tulear region. Former AREMA
opposition parliamentarian Eloi Valoserana was arrested for this crime,
and his case was under investigation at year's end. Former AREMA
parliamentarian Eric Lemalade was also arrested for throwing Molotov
cocktails at a polling station in Tamatave; that case also was under
investigation.
In the run-up to the December election, opposition parties, civil
society, and members of the international community began calling for
reforms in electoral mechanisms and institutions, namely: replacing the
multiple ballot system with a single ballot; creating a more
independent national electoral commission; revising the electoral code
to include more sanctions against fraud and to incorporate other
changes to the electoral machinery; and establishing an electronic
voter registration list. Of those requests, the only one undertaken by
the Government was the electronic voter registration list. The
Government also made efforts to provide identity cards to facilitate
voter registration for the approximately 1.5 million citizens with no
form of documentation. While administrative delays and material errors
in both of these initiatives generated allegations of fraud from
opposition groups and some members of civil society, the Government
improvised last-minute solutions that did not have a significant impact
on the conduct or outcome of the election.
President Didier Ratsiraka and his AREMA party dominated the
country's political scene from 1974 through 2001, largely by imposing
government restrictions on the political opposition. The Presidential
elections of 2001 marked a change in the political landscape with the
contested victory of President Marc Ravalomanana and his TIM party. In
subsequent elections individuals and parties have been free to declare
their candidacy and stand for election with few restrictions. The sole
exception is the case of Pierrot Rajaonarivelo, a former senior
official of the Ratsiraka regime who fled to Paris in exile following
the 2002 election crisis. Sentenced in absentia for complicity in abuse
of power and embezzlement, Rajaonarivelo alleged that the Government
used these convictions to impede his human and political rights to run
for President. In response to Rajaonarivelo's claims that he would
return to the country in October to register his candidacy, President
Ravalomanana publicly declared that all citizens are free to return to
the country but must abide by domestic court decisions and electoral
law, which prohibits convicted criminals from running for the
presidency. Nonetheless, government officials repeatedly blocked
Rajaonarivelo's efforts to return to the country, citing security
concerns.
A series of grenade attacks during the year appeared politically
motivated. In August and September police arrested seven people in
connection with simultaneous grenade attacks on the High Constitutional
Court and the homes of Interior Minister Charles Rabemananjara and
General Bertini Rajoelson. At least three of those arrested were former
``reservists,'' a term used during the 2002 political crisis for
unofficial Ravalomanana security forces, many of whom have since grown
disenchanted with Ravalomanana. Except for the non-lethal shooting of
one of the attackers by guards, the grenade attacks resulted in no
injuries. At year's end those arrested were under preventive detention,
and the investigation was proceeding.
There was one woman in the cabinet, eight women in the 160-member
National Assembly, and 10 women in the 90-member Senate. One of the 22
appointed regional administrators was a woman.
There were 12 Muslims, one Hindu, and two Chinese-Malagasy members
in the National Assembly, and eight Muslims in the Senate. Chinese
Malagasy and Muslims also held civil service positions. Residents of
Indo-Pakistani origin were not represented in the Government because
few had citizenship (see Section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem throughout the Government, but Transparency
International noted that the country improved its performance from the
previous year on the corruption perception index.
The Government's first national action plan and new anticorruption
laws were adopted in 2004, including the establishment of BIANCO--the
Independent Anticorruption Bureau--as an independent agency responsible
for anticorruption education, prevention, and investigation. The
strategy initially targeted 10 key sectors including justice, customs,
and the police, and called for the creation of a new court called the
Chaine Penale, the establishment of anticorruption cells within each
ministry, and a network of drop boxes for public complaints on
corruption in each of the country's 111 districts. A follow-on strategy
covering the 2005 07 period emphasized reducing corruption in the key
economic sectors of tourism, mining, and industry.
For Antananarivo, from January through November, BIANCO received
5,815 complaints. Of those, BIANCO investigated the 640 complaints that
were corruption-related, resulting in 137 cases being sent to court and
201 persons being arrested, 56 of whom were placed in preventive
detention; the remainder were released on bail.
In March BIANCO opened an office in the regional capital of
Fianarantsoa that received 1,081 complaints by the end of the year.
BIANCO investigated 327 cases, which led to 63 arrests. Ten of those
resulted in preventive detention, and 53 were released on bail.
BIANCO monitored a network of drop boxes for public complaints in
each of the country's 111 districts. During the year BIANCO officials
continued to visit the regions on a regular basis to publicize its
mission and to conduct investigations. BIANCO's public awareness and
civic education outreach included radio and television programs; press
releases and interviews; posters at airports, public offices, and
throughout each city; exhibits; and film screenings. BIANCO developed
five types of anticorruption training manuals, and distributed 90,000
of the manuals to students and teachers. BIANCO conducted training for
local government officials, journalists, gendarmes and national police,
as well as Girl and Boy Scouts. BIANCO also held ethics seminars for
magistrates in Mahajunga, Fianarantsoa, and Tamatave. To combat
pervasive low-level corruption within the traffic police, BIANCO
created reader-friendly educational handbooks for training sessions of
local police.
There are no laws providing for public access to government
information. Educational material on anticorruption--including
statistics updated every trimester--was available to citizens and non-
citizens, including foreign media, while cases under investigation were
considered confidential. Persons requesting public documents endured a
lengthy bureaucratic process, in part due to a lack of standardized
record system.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The constitution and law require the Government to create
apolitical organizations that promote and protect human rights.
However, the Governmental National Commission for Human Rights has been
inactive since 2002, when its members' terms expired. The Government
has offered no explanation for the delay in naming replacements.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit all forms of discrimination;
however, no specific government institutions are designated to enforce
these provisions.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, but domestic violence
against women was a problem. Police and legal authorities generally
intervened when physical abuse was reported. According to media
reports, a large proportion of women experienced domestic abuse,
although most cases went unreported. In one of the few government
programs to address domestic violence, the Ministry of Population
worked with NGOs in Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa to provide victims
with legal advice. The Ministry of Justice had no statistics on the
number of domestic abusers prosecuted, convicted, or punished.
The law prohibits rape in general, but does not specifically refer
to spousal rape. Penalties ranged from three years to life in prison,
depending on factors such as the victim's age, the rapist's
relationship to the victim, and whether the rapist's occupation puts
him or her in contact with children. Rapes committed against children
and pregnant women were punishable by hard labor. An additional two to
five years' imprisonment could be added in the case of assault and
battery. The Government generally enforced these penalties for reported
and convicted cases of rape.
Prostitution is not a crime, but related activities, such as
pandering and incitement of minors to debauchery, are criminal.
Prostitution was pervasive and particularly visible in areas frequented
by tourists.
Sex tourism was a growing problem with the growth of the tourism
industry. In September 2005 President Ravalomanana warned foreigners
not to visit for sexual tourism. The Government continued with its
national awareness campaign by posting signs throughout airports and
hotels, and including a full-page warning in the customs booklet given
to arriving international passengers. Sex tourism is generally covered
under sexual harassment laws.
There were reports of trafficking in women (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is against the law, but the practice was
widespread, particularly in export processing zone (EPZ) factories. The
Government enforced sexual harassment laws when brought to court;
however, cases were rarely reported. Early in the year a female
employee of the Columbia Clothing Company factory in Antsirabe filed a
sexual harassment suit. Seven employees-two Sri Lankan and five
Malagasy--were convicted of sexual harassment, fined, and received
suspended jail sentences of two years.
Women generally enjoy the same legal status as men. Under the law,
wives have an equal voice in selecting the location of the couple's
residence and generally received half the couple's assets if the
marriage was dissolved. Widows with children inherit half of joint
marital property; widows without children take priority only after the
husband's surviving kin. In practice these requirements were not always
observed. A tradition known as ``the customary third,'' which provided
the wife with the right to only one-third of a couple's joint holdings,
was occasionally observed. Although the country is party to the
International Convention on the Protection of Women, there was no
special government office to ensure the legal rights of women.
There was relatively little societal discrimination against women
in urban areas, where many women owned or managed businesses and held
management positions in private businesses and state-owned companies.
In 2003 (the most recent data available), the Ministry of Civil
Services and Labor reported that women owned 30 percent of formal
sector companies and 53 percent of informal sector companies. Women are
not permitted to work in positions that might endanger their health,
safety, and morals.
A number of NGOs focused on the civic education of women and girls,
and publicized and explained their specific legal protections; however,
due to illiteracy, cultural traditions, societal intimidation, and a
lack of knowledge about their rights, few women lodged official
complaints or sought redress when their legal rights were compromised.
Children.--The ministries of health, education, and population are
responsible for various aspects of child welfare, but a lack of funding
resulted in inadequate services and precluded the compilation of
reliable statistics.
The constitution provides for tuition-free public education for all
citizen children and makes primary education until age 14 compulsory.
According to a 2004 World Bank study, 68 percent of primary school-age
children were enrolled (see Section 6.d.). Children in rural areas
generally studied through middle school, whereas children in urban
areas commonly finished the baccalaureat examination process for
entrance into university. Girls and boys had the same access to
education and medical care.
In 2004 the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Government launched
a three-year campaign to improve birth registration rates. The country
has no uniform birth registration system, and unregistered children
were not eligible to attend school or obtain health care services.
According to a 2003 04 study by INSTAT, the Government's office of
statistical studies, 25 percent of children in the country under the
age of five are not registered.
The legal age for marriage without parental authorization is 18 for
both boys and girls. The law allows the marriage of girls at 14 and
boys at 17 with parental authorization. Courts may approve marriages at
even earlier ages with parental authorization for ``serious reasons''
such as pregnancy.
In rural areas most couples were united in traditional local
ceremonies, outside the legal system and often at an early age. Some of
these unions were subsequently formalized in civil ceremonies when the
couple had sufficient money or needed evidence of marriage for other
purposes. In a small number of rural areas young girls were pressured
to move out and marry soon after puberty to test their ability to
become pregnant, a virtual prerequisite for marriage. Parents built
one-room ``homes'' for their daughters to begin ``courting,'' and the
daughters entered into informal traditional unions soon thereafter.
In major cities underage marriage existed but was far less
prevalent. Urban girls tended to stay in school longer than their rural
counterparts. There were anecdotal reports that parents arranged
marriages for their underage daughters with more affluent older men in
exchange for money.
Child prostitution was a problem and constituted one of the primary
forms of child labor. According to a continuing study conducted by the
International Labor Organization's (ILO) International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), there were approximately 700 to 800
child prostitutes in the city of Nosy Be and more than 2,000 in
Tamatave. Some child prostitutes reported earning several times the
average per capita monthly income. The Bara Iatsanta clan in Ivohibe
practiced a tradition called ``tsenan'ampela''--or ``girls market''--
where adolescent girls go to the local cattle market, either of their
own will or sent by their parents, to be ``purchased'' for the night by
wealthy cattle owners.
There were reports of child trafficking (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Child labor, including forced labor, was a problem (see Section
6.d.).
Although child abandonment is against the law, it was an increasing
problem due to acute poverty and lack of family support. There were few
safe shelters for street children, and government agencies generally
tried to place abandoned children with parents or other relatives
first; orphanages and adoption generally were a last resort. To address
child abandonment, the multisector network for the rights and
protection of children established by the Ministry of Population in
2002 operated in 11 cities throughout the six provinces. In Diego
Suarez the network brought together 22 entities from the Government,
law enforcement, private, and nonprofit sectors to handle individual
cases of child abuse and abandonment from the initial complaint through
the trial, including medical assistance and legal advice for victims.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons, and there were reports that persons were
trafficked. The vast majority of trafficking cases were internal,
namely children being trafficked from rural areas to work as
prostitutes and domestic workers in urban centers. International
trafficking was rare, with reports of a limited number of women and
girls trafficked for prostitution between the country and the
neighboring islands of Mauritius and Reunion. Many trafficking victims
were subjected to physical and mental abuse.
The principal traffickers ranged from organized criminals to
``friends'' to distant family members. Traffickers generally took
advantage of young girls and boys in rural areas by promising
employment opportunities in urban areas. Victims were generally
transported using public taxi-brousses. Traffickers around the Ilakaka
area in the south forced children--sometimes their own--from the urban
center of Tulear to move to remote areas to work in mines.
Traffickers may be prosecuted under provisions of the penal and
labor codes that prohibit pedophilia and sexual tourism. The Ministry
of Justice is responsible for enforcement; however, there were no
reports during the year of arrests for trafficking.
The Government listed the fight against trafficking as one of its
key objectives for the year and continued its strategy to address child
labor and trafficking throughout the country. To raise public awareness
about the nature of trafficking and worst forms of child labor, the
Ministry of Education conducted training sessions in more than 100
schools and parent associations throughout the country. The Ministry of
Tourism and Culture conducted training for 250 tourist industry
personnel to raise awareness of the problem of sex tourism, and also
conducted outreach directly to individuals at risk of being trafficked.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports trained its regional staff who work
with youth to be vigilant in the prevention of trafficking. The
Ministry of Telecommunications and Communication put up posters with
messages against sex tourism and distributed a UNICEF film countrywide
on sexual exploitation. The Ministry of Population undertook a massive
campaign to issue birth certificates to help prevent possible smuggling
of babies. The State Secretary of Public Security conducted educational
programs on child exploitation for schools, hotel managers, ``red
light'' districts, police, and gendarmes. In terms of protection and
assistance to victims, 36 child workers taken into the country's three
welcome centers were either given vocational training or placed back in
school; 20 additional child workers were identified for vocational
training and 20 others for remedial education.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities, and there were
no reports of official discrimination against persons with disabilities
in employment, education, or in access to state services. The law
broadly defines the rights of persons with disabilities and provides
for a national commission and regional subcommissions to promote the
rights of persons with disabilities. The Government established a
national commission and regional subcommissions that worked to develop
identity cards for people with disabilities to assure them a certain
level of treatment in public places. International NGOs and numerous
local associations, including the Collective of Organizations
Advocating for Persons with Disabilities, advocated for legislation
mandating equal access for persons with disabilities.
There were more than 30 educational facilities in the country for
persons with disabilities. There were reports of mainstream schools
rejecting students with disabilities on the basis of inadequate
facilities.
The Government continued the effort launched in 2004 to employ
persons with disabilities at national and regional levels of government
and ordered that persons with disabilities be provided with medical
treatment in public and private medical centers; employment without
discrimination; eligibility for civil service vacancies; and education
at public schools and vocational training centers, which were
responsible for ensuring accessibility. Insufficient budgets continued
to hamper support for these initiatives during the year. A study
conducted in 2005 by Handicap International found that persons with
disabilities seldom had access to health care or received professional
training and were often the victims of physical violence, particularly
women and girls.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Malagasy, of mixed Malay-
Polynesian, African, and Arab descent, are divided into 18 tribes, a
term without pejorative overtones in the country. None of the 18 tribes
constituted a majority. The vast majority of Malagasy spoke a single
Malagasy language. There also were minorities of Indo-Pakistani,
Comoran, and Chinese heritage in the country.
A long history of military conquest has resulted in the political
dominance of highland ethnic groups of Asian origin, particularly the
Merina, over coastal groups of African ancestry. This imbalance has
fueled an undercurrent of tension between citizens of highland and
coastal descent. Ethnicity, caste, and regional solidarity often were
factors in hiring practices.
An economically significant Indo-Pakistani community, commonly
referred to as Karana, has been present for over a century.
Traditionally engaged in commerce, the Karana numbered approximately
20,000. Few held citizenship, which must be acquired through a native-
born Malagasy mother, and many believed they were denied full
participation in society and subject to discrimination.
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that public and
private sector workers may establish and join labor unions of their
choice without prior authorization or excessive requirements, and
workers did so in practice. However, essential workers, including
police and military personnel, may not form unions. Unions were
required to register with the Government, and registration was granted
routinely. Ministry of Civil Services and Labor statistics indicate
that 14 percent of workers in EPZ companies and 10 percent of all
workers were unionized. According to the same ministry, approximately
73 percent of the workforce was engaged in agriculture. The Government
had no reliable statistics on the number of public employees
participating in unions, but it was generally believed that few public
employees were union members despite the existence of several public
employees' unions.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against labor
organizers, union members, and unions; however, the Ministry of Civil
Services and Labor indicated that some employees did not join unions
due to fear of reprisal. In the event of antiunion activity, unions or
their members may file suit against the employer in civil court.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for unions to conduct their activities without interference,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law
also provides workers in the private sector the right to bargain
collectively, and the country has 34 contracts based on collective
bargaining agreements. Civil servants, including workers in essential
services, do not use collective bargaining agreements. The Government
set civil servant wages and endorsed minimum wages proposed by the
private sector (see Section 6.e.).
The law provides most workers with the right to strike, including
in EPZs, and workers exercised this right. Civil servants and maritime
workers, however, each have their own labor code, and workers in other
essential services--such as magistrates--have a recognized but more
restricted right to strike. Before resorting to a strike, the law calls
for workers to exhaust all options through conciliation, mediation, and
arbitration. During the year there were at least five strikes.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but at
times the Government did not respect this prohibition, specifically
with respect to prison labor. In January the Ministry of Justice
decreed that prisoners and pretrial detainees can no longer be forcibly
hired out to government officials for private use, unless the prisoner
agrees to the terms of employment and monetary compensation as
stipulated in the labor code. Prisoners can still be hired out for
public use by government offices and, except for those condemned to
forced labor, are entitled to receive a salary. A 2004 interior
ministry study highlighted cases of forced labor among pousse-pousse
(rickshaw) drivers, petty merchants, and apprentices.
Forced labor by children occurred (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
minimum age for employment was 15 years of age and consistent with
educational requirements (see Section 5). The law prohibits persons
under the age of 18 from working at night and at sites where there is
an imminent danger to health, safety, or morals; however, child labor
was a problem. The law allows children to work a maximum of eight hours
per day and 40 hours per week with no overtime. Employers must observe
a mandatory 12-hour period between shifts. Occupational health and
safety restrictions include parental authorization and a medical visit
before hiring.
The majority of child workers worked in the agricultural and mining
industries and as domestic workers (see Section 5). According to the
Ministry of Civil Services and Labor, nearly 13 percent of urban
children and 36 percent of rural children between the ages of 10 and 14
were intermittently employed, the vast majority on family farms. In
addition, 8 percent of urban children and 22 percent of rural children
between the ages of six and nine also were employed. Many children in
rural areas dropped out of school to help on family farms, and urban
children often worked as domestic laborers and servants. In the
agricultural sector, children on family subsistence farms may begin
work at an even younger age. In cities many children worked in
occupations such as transport of goods by rickshaw, petty trading, and
begging. Conditions often were harsh. The Ministry of Civil Services
and Labor estimated that more than 19,000 children were working in the
mines of Ilakaka in the south, both in the formal and informal sector.
In 2003 IPEC reported that children as young as eight years of age were
being used in mines because they could maneuver in cramped spaces more
easily than adults. Children were also exploited as commercial sex
workers (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor is responsible for
enforcing child labor laws and policies in the formal sector, and
conducted 397 general workplace inspections during the year in response
to a range of complaints, not all related to child labor. The ministry
had only 77 inspectors to carry out its responsibilities, making it
difficult to monitor and enforce child labor provisions effectively.
Enforcement in the much larger informal sector remained a serious
problem. Sanctions against violators of child labor laws were
significantly increased during the year to include fines between $500
and $1,500 (between 1.05 and 3.15 million ariary) and prison sentences
of one to three years.
During the year the Government continued its efforts to combat
forced child labor and trafficking (see Section 5). Early in the year,
with ILO assistance, the Government launched the ``red card'' campaign,
in which thousands of red cards signaling the negative impact of child
labor and trafficking were distributed to school officials, students,
and the general public. Printed in a number of Malagasy dialects, the
red cards raised public awareness about children's rights and the
protection of minors. The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor
continued with its 15-year national plan to combat the worst forms of
child labor, namely child prostitution, stone quarry work, salt marsh
work, domestic labor, gemstone mining, agriculture, and commercial
fishing, as areas of particular concern. A national committee made up
of high-level government, donor, civil society, and religious group
representatives met during the year to raise public awareness and
coordinate the national campaign. The Government's welcome centers in
Antananarivo, Tamatave, and Tulear continued to rescue victims of
trafficking and forced labor. The country joined with others in
establishing a regional observation committee to create databases for
analyses of the worst forms of child labor in the region.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Labor Code and its
implementing legislation prescribe working conditions and minimum
wages, which were enforced by the Ministry of Civil Services and Labor.
The law has separate provisions for agricultural and nonagricultural
work.
The monthly minimum wage was $27.30 (56,713 ariary) for
nonagricultural workers and $27.58 (57,520 ariary) for agricultural
workers. This did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family, particularly in urban areas. Although most employees knew
what the legal minimum wages were, those rates were not always paid.
High unemployment and widespread poverty led workers to accept lower
wages.
The standard workweek was 40 hours in nonagricultural and service
industries and 42+ hours in the agricultural sector. Legislation
limited workers to 20 hours of overtime per week, but employees often
were required to work until production targets were met. A 2004
Catholic Relief Services report on working conditions in the EPZs
indicated that 86 percent of employees surveyed regularly worked more
than 40 hours per week. In some cases this overtime was unrecorded and
unpaid.
The Government sets occupational health and safety standards for
workers and workplaces. CNAPS, the country's equivalent of the Social
Security Administration, conducted inspections and published reports on
workplace conditions, occupational health hazards, and workplace
accident trends. The Ministry of Civil Services and Labor's 77 labor
inspectors were sufficient to cover only child and adult workers for
the capital city effectively. If violators do not remedy cited
violations within the time allowed, they may be sanctioned legally or
assessed administrative penalties. Workers have an explicit right to
leave a dangerous workplace without jeopardizing their employment as
long as they inform their supervisor. These standards applied equally
to foreign and migrant workers. Sanctions from the 397 workplace
inspections during the year ranged from warnings to orders that the
company resolve the problem. No workplaces were shut down as a result
of workplace complaints.
__________
MALAWI
Malawi is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately
12 million. In 2004 citizens elected Bingu wa Mutharika of the ruling
United Democratic Party (UDF) as President, and the UDF won a majority
in the parliament. Constitutional power is shared between the President
and the 193 National Assembly members, of whom 187 were elected in
2004. International observers noted substantial shortcomings in the
elections, including inequitable access to the state-owned media, the
ruling party's use of state resources to campaign, and poor planning
and administration by the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC). In 2005
President Mutharika resigned from the UDF to form the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP). During the year there was a failed attempt to
impeach the President for alleged legal violations, and he was widely
criticized for failing to observe constitutional procedures in his
efforts to remove high-ranking officials, including the vice President.
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces, there were some instances in which elements of the
security forces acted independently of government authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police use of
excessive force, occasional mob violence, and harsh and life-
threatening prison conditions continued. Arbitrary arrest and
detention, including an upsurge in politically motivated arrests, and
lengthy pretrial detention were problems. The Government restricted
freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. Societal violence against
women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, restricted worker rights,
and forced child labor also existed.
During the year the Government took significant steps to punish
human rights abusers and investigate corruption; however, these efforts
stopped after the President dismissed the country's two top
prosecutors, and it had just resumed at year's end. Parliament passed
domestic violence legislation to address the rising incidence of
gender-based violence in the country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government
or its agents; however, police use of excessive force resulted in at
least one death. For example, on January 10, a policeman in Thyolo shot
and killed a man suspected of stealing cattle and other property.
There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which a 12-
year-old boy arrested on suspicion of stealing money from a fellow bus
passenger died in police custody in Ngabu. The boy's mother, whom
police subsequently beat during interrogation, claimed that he had been
tortured and assaulted by police (see Section 1.c.). An autopsy
indicated the boy had ingested cypermethyrine. Police charged that the
boy had died as a result of the pesticide, which they claimed he had
ingested at his mother's house while accompanying police on a search of
the premises five days after his arrest. The police officer charged
with the killing remained in custody awaiting trial at year's end; an
investigation was ongoing.
There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which police
shot and killed a 16-year-old boy at a demonstration in Ngabu (see
Section 2.b.). The Government promised to conduct an investigation of
the incident but had taken no action by year's end.
The investigation was ongoing into the August 2005 case in which
police allegedly shot and killed a 28-year-old man in Machingi while he
was cutting trees for firewood. The police claimed that the man was
struck by a stray bullet fired by police to disperse an angry mob of
illegal loggers.
In November the President's Office called on former President
Muluzi to explain his role in the 2003 death of Kalonga Stambuli, a
former private business advisor to Muluzi who died of poisoning and
strangulation; Muluzi declined to respond. There were allegations that
Stambuli may have had potentially damaging information about the
business activities of the former President.
Mobs sometimes resorted to vigilante justice, and beat, stoned, or
burned suspected criminals. For example, in December a mob beat to
death two foreigners who reportedly had robbed a man at gunpoint.
Police continued to investigate the July 2005 case in which a mob
beat a mentally ill man to death in Chitipa after he reportedly killed
another man with a pounding stick.
No trial date had been set in the November 2005 case in which a man
was beaten to death in Kasungu by villagers protesting the appointment
of a village headman; 11 persons were arrested.
Police took no action in any of the 2004 cases of mob killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
An investigation was ongoing into the 2004 disappearance of Peter
Mulamba, a key witness in a high-level corruption case; some reports
indicated he committed suicide, while others stated he was out of the
country.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
police used excessive force and other unlawful techniques in handling
criminal suspects. While higher-ranking officials demonstrated
familiarity with standards for the humane treatment of prisoners and
publicly condemned prisoner mistreatment, their subordinates continued
to employ unacceptable techniques. A study released during the year by
the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) found that police frequently
subjected suspects to torture and other serious abuse when conducting
investigations. Some police mistakenly believed that the law required
them to present a case (not just charges) to the court within 48 hours
of arrest, and resorted to beatings to obtain information within that
time limit. Lack of financial resources for appropriate equipment,
facilities, and training contributed to mistreatment. In 2005 the MHRC
called for the introduction of a compensation fund to assist victims of
police abuse and relatives or persons who died in police custody;
however, no such fund had been established by year's end.
On January 11, in Blantyre, a policeman named Nchingula forced a
29-year-old man out of a pub and shot him in the legs after discovering
that both men were dating the same barmaid. The policeman was
reassigned, but no further action was taken.
On May 12, police reportedly harassed, beat, and barred entry to 17
UDF members attempting to attend the bail hearing for Vice President
Cassim Chilumpha (see Sections 1.d. and 3). No action was taken against
police, who denied the allegations.
On June 10, a policeman named Kasinja allegedly assaulted a
pregnant woman in her home and later at the police station for
frustrating the officer's attempts to make advances on her friend. The
woman later miscarried. The policeman was arrested and awaiting trial
at year's end.
On September 28, four policemen allegedly entered the house of a
man suspected of selling fuel illegally, beat his wife, and then shot
the man six times as he fled the scene. The man sustained injuries in
both legs, and threatened to take the police to court after his
discharge from the hospital.
The MHRC reported several instances of police torture, including a
case in which two policemen in Lilongwe broke a suspect's leg and
tortured several other persons with a machete, club, and hammer to
obtain confessions during interrogations. The man whose leg was broken
claimed that police did not take him to a hospital until five days
after the injury.
There were no developments in the June 2005 case in which the
mother of a 12-year-old boy who died in police custody that month (see
Section 1.a.) alleged that police brutally beat her and two of her
children during interrogation. James Kachala, the police inspector who
was charged with assaulting and wounding the mother, remained in police
custody at year's end.
Police beat refugees during the year (see Section 2.d.).
Police violently dispersed demonstrations during the year; however,
unlike in the previous year, no deaths resulted (see Section 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening. Overcrowding, inadequate nutrition,
substandard sanitation, and poor health facilities remained serious
problems. The prison system, which was meant to accommodate
approximately 7,000 inmates, held approximately 11,000 prisoners.
Inmates were encouraged to grow vegetables and raise livestock;
however, they complained that they did not receive enough food.
Construction of a new prison was completed in November; the main Mzuzu
Prison was subsequently designated as a remand center. Community
service programs were available as alternatives to prison terms.
During the year an average of 20 inmates died in prison each month,
mostly due to HIV/AIDS. There were no available statistics on prison
deaths at year's end.
In October the press reported that Justice Mbekeani, a prisoner
serving an eight-year sentence for robbery, had sued the Attorney
General, the minister for home affairs, the minister for internal
security, and the commissioner of prisons, claiming that he and fellow
prisoners had been subjected to torture and cruel, inhumane, and
degrading treatment contrary to the constitution. The case was
discontinued during the year.
Although women were not kept in separate facilities, they were
segregated within the prison compound and monitored by female guards.
In the four maximum-security prisons, there were separate facilities
for juveniles; however, the separation was inadequate, and there were
reports of sexual and physical abuse of juvenile prisoners. In the
other prisons, juveniles were routinely incarcerated with adults. The
law requires pretrial detainees to be held separately from convicted
prisoners; however, many prisons did not comply with this law due to
lack of space and inadequate facilities.
The Government permitted the Inspectorate of Prisons, domestic
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international NGOs to visit
and monitor prison conditions and to donate basic supplies during the
year. The Prison Reform Committee worked in collaboration with the
Ministry of Home Affairs and the Inspectorate of Prisons to visit
prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did
not observe these prohibitions in practice, and there was a growing
trend toward politically motivated arrests and prosecutions.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security, has
responsibility for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the
country. Police occasionally called on the army for support.
The country's police force was inefficient and poorly trained due
to inadequate funding. Corruption was widespread, and impunity was a
problem. Police continued efforts to improve investigative skills and
to introduce the concept of victims' rights through workshops and other
training exercises, particularly in the areas of sexual abuse, domestic
violence, and trafficking in persons (see Section 5). The Government
continued to seek community involvement in its comprehensive reform of
the police, and civil society groups conducted workshops for the police
on crowd control. The country also received foreign assistance to train
officials and procure equipment.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides the accused the right to
challenge the legality of detention, to have access to legal counsel,
and to be released on bail or informed of charges by a court of law
within 48 hours; however, these rights were seldom respected in
practice. The use of temporary remand warrants to circumvent the 48-
hour rule was widespread (see Section 1.c.). The Government provided
legal services to indigent detainees; however, access was often delayed
since there were only seven public defenders. Detainees were allowed
access to relatives. Bail frequently was granted to reduce prison
overcrowding rather than on the merits of an individual case. In 2005
the MHRC received 663 complaints of arbitrary detention; most related
to overstay of remand, denial of bail, and unheard appeals.
During the year security forces arrested a number of opposition
politicians, primarily from the UDF, on a range of charges. While
government actions generally were legal in the strictest sense, courts
dismissed or suspended by injunction the majority of these cases. Many
of those arrested were charged under antiquated dictator-era laws such
as criminal libel and the Protected Names, Flags and Emblems Act, which
local legal scholars viewed as unconstitutional.
In January security forces arrested and charged two UDF activists
with treason for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Government. The
court dismissed the treason charges, but the Government filed sedition
charges against one defendant, McDonald Symon, who was later convicted
and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.
On April 15, three senior UDF leaders were arrested for insulting
the President during a rally. The men were denied bail and remained on
remand at Zomba Prison awaiting trial at year's end.
Between April 28 and May 3, security forces arrested Vice President
Chilumpha and 13 other opposition leaders for allegedly plotting to
assassinate President Mutharika (see Section 3). Chilumpha's lawyers
asserted that the case should be dismissed since the Government failed
to identify the alleged assassins or provide any evidence to the
defense. Nevertheless, Chilumpha was held under house arrest in
Blantyre until November 21, when his bail terms were relaxed, allowing
him to travel within the country (provided he informed authorities of
his plans) and abroad (provided he obtained permission from the High
Court). The arrest and detention of Chilumpha's codefendants coincided
with the controversial four-day visit of Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and was widely perceived as an effort to prevent the group from
protesting the visit. Within hours of Mugabe's departure, 11 of the
suspects were released for lack of evidence. Chilumpha and the two
other defendants were released on bail on May 15 and remained suspects
at year's end.
Also in May security forces arrested Malawi Democratic Party
President Kamlepo Kalua and seven others who had threatened to protest
during Mugabe's visit. No charges were filed. The men were released
after seven days and told they had ``no case to answer.''
Police arrested journalists, demonstrators, and Muslim leaders
during the year (see Sections 2.a., 2.b., and 2.c.).
Twenty-three percent of the prison population were pretrial
detainees. Pretrial homicide suspects were typically held in detention
for two to three years. Other suspects were held an average of two to
three months pending trial.
The Center for Legal Assistance continued to provide free legal
assistance to expedite the trials of detainees, with priority given to
the sick and young and those subjected to trial delays.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. However, the judicial system was
inefficient and handicapped by serious weaknesses, including poor
record keeping, a shortage of attorneys and trained personnel, heavy
caseloads, and lack of resources.
The law provides for a High Court, a Supreme Court of Appeal, and
subordinate magistrate courts. A Constitutional Court (a panel
consisting of three High Court judges with jurisdiction over
constitutional matters) also existed. The chief justice is appointed by
the President and confirmed by the National Assembly. The President
appoints other justices, following a recommendation by the Judicial
Service Commission. All justices are appointed to serve until the age
of 65 and may be removed only for reasons of incompetence or
misbehavior, as determined by the President and a majority of the
National Assembly.
Trial Procedures.--By law, defendants have the right to a public
trial but not to a trial by jury; however, in murder cases, the High
Court uses a jury of 12 persons from the defendant's home district.
Defendants also are entitled to an attorney, and if indigent, to an
attorney provided at state expense. Defendants also have the right to
present and challenge evidence and witnesses, the right of appeal, and
the presumption of innocence.
The judiciary's budgetary and administrative problems effectively
denied expeditious trials for most defendants. The Department of Public
Prosecutions had eight prosecuting attorneys and four paralegals. The
paralegals served as lay prosecutors and prosecuted minor cases in the
magistrate courts. Lack of funding and a shortage of attorneys created
a backlog, mainly in murder cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Vice President Chilumpha was
held under house arrest following his April 28 arrest on treason
charges although no evidence was presented in the case (see Sections
1.d. and 3). At year's end, Chilumpha was challenging a High Court
ruling that blocked him from traveling to the United Kingdom for
medical care. There were no other reports of political prisoners or
detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens have access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human
rights violations. The law provides for administrative remedies as well
as judicial remedies for alleged wrongs; however, a paucity of
resources and legal professionals restricted the number of cases
pursued and resulted in a large backlog. During the year the MHRC
received 146 complaints related to limited access to justice and 34
complaints related to unfair administrative justice. Resource
limitations also restricted the Government's ability to enforce
domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice;
however, there was one case in September in which four policemen
allegedly entered the house of a man suspected of selling fuel
illegally and beat his wife (see Section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, at times the Government limited this
right. Journalists and government critics were arrested, and one
reporter was convicted of criminal libel for writing a derogatory
article concerning a high-ranking politician. These government actions
prompted self-censorship on the part of journalists. Private
individuals were generally free to criticize the Government without
fear of reprisal.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of the man arrested for
making derogatory comments about the President at a gas station in
Blantyre.
The 2005 case of former DPP vice President Gwanda Chakuamba, whom
the Government arrested, charged with insulting the President, and
released on bail, remained pending at year's end; Chakuamba had
referred to the President as a ``brute'' and a ``drunkard.''
Chakuamba's arrest occurred two weeks after he was dismissed from the
cabinet.
The independent media was active and expressed a wide variety of
views. A broad spectrum of political and ideological opinion was
available in the country's newspapers. Ten independent newspapers were
available, including two independent dailies, four biweeklies, and four
independent weekly papers.
The Government restricted press freedoms during the year,
particularly before and during the controversial May visit of
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Government press officers barred The Chronicle newspaper from
covering Mugabe's May 2 arrival ceremony, presumably out of fear that
the paper's coverage would be negative.
On May 9, the press reported that Ministry of Information officials
held a closed-door meeting to decide the fate of Don Napuwa, acting
managing editor for the Malawi News Agency, and Thom Khanje, reporter
for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation's (MBC) Lilongwe Bureau, who
were reported to have asked Mugabe ``sensitive'' questions during a May
6 press conference. According to press reports, Khanje was subsequently
barred from covering Presidential functions and Napuwa was demoted and
threatened with dismissal.
On May 8, security forces arrested The Chronicle editor-in-chief
Robert Jamieson, editor Dickson Kashoti, and reporter Arnold Mnelemba
and charged them with criminal libel for publishing a May 2 story that
accused former attorney general Ralph Kasambara of theft; The Chronicle
frequently criticized President Mutharika and his administration. The
three journalists were detained overnight and released on bail. In
November staff of The Chronicle began operating in hiding after hearing
reports that the Government intended to confiscate the newspaper's
computers. The Chronicle closed the following week after senior staff
members were offered positions that quadrupled their salaries at The
Guardian, which was managed by Duwa Mutharika, the President's
daughter. The Chronicle editor Jamieson charged that Duwa had
deliberately poached key staff--including Mnelemba, who still had
criminal libel charges pending at year's end--to squelch The Chronicle.
The media sector viewed these actions against The Chronicle as an
attack on press freedom.
In May former attorney general Ralph Kasambara threatened to sue
Mabvuto Banda, a reporter for the independent newspaper The Nation, if
he did not reveal his sources for a story linking three cabinet members
to an alleged assassination plot for which Vice President Chilumpha and
13 others were arrested (see Sections 1.d. and 3). The President fired
Kasambara a few days later.
On May 29, Health Minister Hetherwick Ntaba sued Jika Nkolokosa,
the general manager of Blantyre Newspapers Limited, and one of his
reporters, Maxwell Ng'ambi, for publishing an article that alleged that
Ntaba was being investigated for failing to account for public funds.
On September 3, Ng'ambi was convicted of criminal libel and required to
pay a fine; Nkolokosa was acquitted. The State House subsequently
barred Ng'ambi from interviewing the President or attending any state
functions, saying that it felt ``unprotected to have Ng'ambi covering
the state President and other senior officials.''
There had been no court action by year's end against The Nation
journalists Raphael Tenthani and Mabvuto Banda, who in 2005 were
arrested and detained for 24 hours after they published articles
alleging that the President had moved out of his residence for fear
that ghosts haunted the building. By year's end neither journalist had
complied with the President's demand that they apologize and retract
the story.
During the year former attorney general Ralph Kasambara obtained
several court injunctions against The Nation to prevent it from
publishing antigovernment stories. One such story involved a married
woman who claimed that Kasambara had impregnated her and failed to
support her financially.
There were 15 private radio stations with limited coverage and
broadcasting only in urban areas. MBC dominated the radio market with
its two stations, transmitting in major population centers throughout
the country. Government-owned Television Malawi (TVM) was the sole
television broadcaster. News coverage and editorial content of MBC and
TVM clearly favored the President and his party, while coverage of
other political parties was more critical and received less airtime.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
Internet was accessed by less than 15 percent of the population via a
few Internet cafes and offices in the major cities; few individuals
could afford Internet access in their homes.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, there were instances in which police limited this right.
Authorities at times interfered with opposition party political
functions or used violence to disperse crowds. Police were routinely
criticized for failing to act impartially with regard to political
demonstrations.
On February 7, a man sustained minor injuries when he was
accidentally shot by police who fired live ammunition into the air to
subdue hundreds of street vendors protesting government orders to move
into organized fee-charging market areas; several civilians, including
two small children, were injured when they were trampled. The vendors
also assaulted a police officer.
On February 24, in Lilongwe, police shot at Muslim demonstrators
protesting cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. A 16-year-old boy
was injured, but no responsibility was assigned to police.
In March security forces arrested and briefly detained several
Muslim leaders sympathetic to Vice President Chilumpha on charges of
unlawful assembly.
On May 12, police reportedly harassed, beat, and barred entry to 17
UDF members attempting to attend the bail hearing for Vice President
Chilumpha (see Section 1.d.).
No investigation or trial was conducted during the year into the
June 2005 killing of a 16-year-old boy; police had fired live
ammunition at unarmed villagers who were protesting the death in police
custody of another boy (see Section 1.a.).
An investigation continued into the December 2005 case in which
Lenjasani Medison, a security guard, opened fire on a crowd at a
government food distribution center, injuring a man and a 13-year-old
boy. Medison was on bail awaiting trial at year's end.
There were no developments in the any of the 2004 cases in which
police used of excessive force to disperse demonstrations.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The Government required all organizations, including
political parties, to register with the Ministry of Justice, and
registration was routinely granted.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. Churches continued to be a significant source of political
influence, particularly in rural areas.
There are no separate requirements for the recognition of
religions, but religious groups must register with the Government.
Foreign Christian missionaries experienced occasional delays in
renewing employment permits; however, this appeared to be the result of
bureaucratic inefficiency rather than a deliberate government policy.
Missionaries and charitable workers paid lower fees for employment
permits than did other professionals.
In March security forces arrested several Muslim leaders
sympathetic to Vice President Chilumpha on charges of unlawful assembly
(see Section 2.b.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were generally amicable
relations among the various religious communities.
There were no reports of societal religious discrimination or of
anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community was very small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits the use of forced exile, and the Government did
not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution; however, there was one case in which the Government
mistreated a group of refugees and forcibly deported them. The
Government granted refugee status or asylum; however, there were long
delays in the process. By law, the Government does not accept refugees
for permanent resettlement. The Government generally cooperated with
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers, but restricted refugees' ability
to move freely and work outside of refugee camps.
On April 22, security forces raided a UNHCR safe house in Mangochi,
beat the 15 refugees residing there, and forcibly deported them for a
second time to the Mozambican border. The group included 11 Congolese,
three Burundians, and one Rwandan, all of whom had previously lived in
the Dzaleka refugee camp and had accused the refugee camp
administrator, other government representatives, and the UNHCR of
corruption in 2001. Mozambican authorities denied the refugees entry
and returned them to the Mangochi police station, where police
rearrested and allegedly beat the men. UNHCR staff were allowed to
visit the group at Maula Prison, where they were later held, and were
permitted to provide food and medical assistance; however, the
Government denied a UNHCR request to transfer the group to a safe
house, claiming they posed a threat to national security. The men
remained in prison until resettlement; between July and October, a
total of 80 persons, including the 15 imprisoned refugees and their
dependents, were resettled in Sweden.
In November 2005 the Government revoked the refugee status of these
same men, claiming they had written a letter threatening the lives of
the President and the refugee commissioner, a claim that police
investigators determined to be unfounded in 2003. Authorities raided
the camp, beat the men, and detained them at Maula Prison for 10 days
before forcibly deporting them to the Mozambican border. The men
managed to return to the country, where they obtained a High Court
order restraining the Government from deporting them and granting them
the right to apply for judicial review of the refugee committee's
decision to revoke their refugee status. Fearing for their safety, the
group went into hiding in the ``no man's land'' along the border with
Mozambique in February and later stayed in a UNHCR safe house in
Mangochi until the April 22 raid.
Although largely peaceful, there were some reports of ethnic
clashes among asylum seekers.
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol.
While no legal framework existed, the Government allowed refugees
to seek both employment and educational opportunities, although it
restricted these activities outside of the camps. The UNHCR, NGOs, and
the Government collaborated to provide education to children in refugee
camps.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage for citizens 18 years of age and older.
Elections and Political Participation.--International election
observers found the May 2004 Presidential and parliamentary elections
to have substantial shortcomings, including inequitable access to the
state-owned media and poor planning by the MEC. The ruling party
frequently monopolized resources and used public funds for campaign
purposes. Voter turnout was low compared with the two previous
Presidential elections. With approximately 36 percent of the popular
vote, President Mutharika, chosen by former President Muluzi as the UDF
candidate, was elected to serve a five-year term. Election
discrepancies prevented parliamentary candidates from taking seats in
six constituencies. By-elections for these vacancies took place in
January 2005. Observers declared them free and fair and better
organized than the national elections. The President and vice President
hold parliamentary seats but are constitutionally barred from holding
other public office.
The executive branch exerted considerable influence over the
unicameral National Assembly, which followed a hybrid parliamentary
system loosely based on the British model but which operated in the
context of a Presidential-parliamentary model; a number of cabinet
ministers also were members of the National Assembly. Although the
constitution calls for an 80-member senate as part of a bicameral
legislature, the Government has yet to establish a senate.
Although the Government did not prevent the activities of
opposition political parties, the parties alleged that the Government
used bribery, other inducements, and violence to encourage opposition
party divisions. Sporadic minor violence was common between supporters
of rival political parties.
In May 2005 President Mutharika dissolved district and municipal
assemblies in anticipation of constitutionally-mandated local
government elections that were due that same month; however, the
Government failed to actually hold elections, citing a budgetary
shortfall related to the food crisis. Civil society and the donor
community have criticized the Government for delaying the staging of
these elections, which had not been held by year's end, and expressed
concern that lack of political will was the primary cause for delay.
On February 9, President Mutharika announced his intention to
accept Vice President Chilumpha's ``constructive resignation,''
claiming that Chilumpha had essentially tendered his resignation by
skipping cabinet meetings and avoiding most government functions. The
action was widely viewed as unconstitutional since the vice President,
as an elected official, cannot be dismissed from his position except
through impeachment. On December 21, the Constitutional Court ruled
that the vice President could not constructively resign. Following the
ruling, President Mutharika publicly recognized Chilumpha as vice
President for the first time since February in a media broadcast.
Chilumpha remained on bail for alleged treason at year's end (see
Section 1.d.).
There were 27 women in the 193-seat National Assembly and five
women in the 30-member cabinet. Women comprised approximately 25
percent of the civil service. There were two female justices among the
23 Supreme and High Court justices, and a woman was appointed as
inspector general of police, the highest position in law enforcement.
There were three members of minorities in the National Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative
branches. President Mutharika continued his reform program, which
included passage of anti-money laundering legislation in August;
however, these efforts were overshadowed by an increase in politically
motivated arrests and prosecutions (see Sections 1.d., 2.a., and 2.b.),
controversy over Mutharika's dismissal of senior prosecutors, and the
discontinuance of the corruption case against former President Bakili
Muluzi.
The Anticorruption Bureau (ACB) continued to launch investigations
and indict former high-level government officials. For example, on
February 14, former education minister Yusuf Mwawa was sentenced to
five years in prison with hard labor for theft by a public servant,
abuse of public office, and forgery; however, in September he was
granted ``bail'' on health grounds and released. On June 1, a court
sentenced Member of Parliament (MP) Maxwell Milanzi to nine months'
imprisonment on embezzlement charges, later commuted to a two-year
suspended sentence. In August MP Lucius Banda was convicted of forgery
and sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment; however, in November, after
serving just two months, Banda was released and his status as an MP
restored following a High Court acquittal on the basis that the
original verdict was harsh and excessive for a first-time offender. The
state was challenging the acquittal at year's end. The arrests of Banda
and Milanzi occurred shortly after Banda spearheaded the introduction
of parliamentary procedures for impeaching the President, and Milanzi
moved an impeachment motion against the President.
On August 2, Sam Safuli, the former principal secretary for
education, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for corruption.
ACB efforts were hampered by increasing interference by President
Mutharika. In August the President fired the country's two senior
prosecutors, ACB Director Gustav Kaliwo and Director of Public
Prosecutions Ismael Wadi, over the handling of the corruption case
against Muluzi. Legal professionals, civil society, and the
international community sharply criticized the President for
compromising the independence of prosecutors and for failing to observe
constitutional procedures in the dismissals. A September report on the
justice sector jointly published by the Africa Governance Monitoring
and Advocacy project and the Open Society Initiative for Southern
Africa charged that executive interference with the ACB and the
director of public prosecutions had undermined both offices. The Public
Appointments Committee stated that the President had breached the
Corrupt Practices Act by dismissing Kaliwo. With the two top prosecutor
positions vacant for several months, the ACB was unable to investigate
and prosecute existing cases during the second half of the year and
accumulated a backlog of more than 200 new cases. The courts ruled that
some cases be discontinued since the state had failed to provide timely
trials or made other procedural mistakes. For example, the corruption
case against John Chikago, the country's former ambassador to Japan,
was dismissed because the ACB had not obtained the consent of the
Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute. Corruption charges
against Ziliro Chibambo, the country's former ambassador to Mozambique,
were dismissed due to the ACB's failure to provide evidence.
On July 27, former President Muluzi was arrested on corruption and
theft charges and released the same day. On July 31, the former
director of public prosecutions, Ismael Wadi, filed a motion for
dismissal, noting that with both the director and deputy director
positions of the ACB vacant, the case could not continue legally since
no prosecutor was present. The President subsequently demanded Wadi's
resignation. In late December the press reported that acting ACB
director Tumalisye Ndovi had resumed the investigation and traveled to
London and Washington, D.C. to investigate whether embassy accounts had
been abused under Mulazi.
The Public Accounts Committee summoned officers from various
ministries and departments to answer questions raised in a 2005 auditor
general's report reviewing compliance with fiscal rules and
regulations; however, many failed to appear.
In September a court acquitted Chief Immigration Officer David
Kambilonje of corruption and abuse-of-office charges brought against
him by the ACB in 2005, stating that the state failed to provide
sufficient evidence. The ACB appealed the acquittal.
The trial was still pending for Secretary of the Treasury Milton
Kutengule, who was arrested by the ACB in October 2005 on corruption
charges. Kutengule asked the High Court to dismiss the charges against
him, since the case had yet to be heard at year's end. The case
remained pending.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government granted access for citizens and non-citizens, including
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
operated without government restriction, training civic educators,
advocating changes to existing laws and cultural practices, and
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials generally were cooperative and responsive to their
views.
The MHRC was charged with monitoring, auditing, and promoting human
rights and conducting investigations regarding violations of human
rights; however, a shortage of resources resulted in a backlog of
cases, delayed production of reports, and failure to expand human
rights monitoring. While complete statistics had not been published by
year's end, the MHRC reported that it had received 867 complaints of
human rights violations during the year; most were related to labor
issues, inadequate access to the judiciary, violations of children's
rights, restrictions on property rights and economic activity, and
rights of prisoners. The Government cooperated with international
governmental organizations and permitted visits by UN representatives
and other organizations.
Ombudsman Enock Chibwana was mandated by the law to investigate and
take legal action against government officials responsible for human
rights violations and other abuses. The ombudsman's freedom of action
was circumscribed by legislation that requires a warrant and a three-
day waiting period to gain access to certain government records. The
activities of the ombudsman were subject to judicial review.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law specifically provides for equal rights for women, forbids
discrimination based on language or culture, and provides for equality
and recognition before the law for every citizen. However, the capacity
of government institutions to assure equal rights for all citizens was
limited.
Women.--Domestic violence, especially wife beating, was common,
although women seldom discussed the problem openly and victims rarely
sought legal recourse. Legal experts and human rights workers
attributed victims' reluctance to report their abusers to lack of
awareness of their legal rights and fear of retribution and ostracism.
In August parliament passed a domestic violence bill that provides a
maximum penalty of life imprisonment for domestic violence. The law
also recognizes that both men and women can be perpetrators as well as
victims of domestic violence. Police regularly investigated cases of
rape and sexual assault but did not normally intervene in domestic
disputes. The press published frequent accounts of rape and abuse, and
the judiciary continued to impose heavier penalties on those convicted
of rape--including up to 14-year prison sentences for child rape--and
assault.
In February a man was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for
wounding his pregnant wife's genitals, and in September another man was
sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for cutting off his wife's hands.
During the year the Government announced plans to establish shelters to
support abuse victims, and the police service began a sensitization
campaign on the dangers of domestic violence.
The law does not specifically prohibit female genital mutilation
(FGM), and there were anecdotal reports that a few small ethnic groups
practiced it.
Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits living off the
wages earned through prostitution, owning a brothel, or forcing another
person into prostitution. On February 26, prostitutes found loitering
in Kasungu were charged with living on earnings from prostitution and
ordered to pay a small fine or face three months' imprisonment. In
August eight prostitutes in Lilongwe were ordered to pay a small fine
for loitering at night. In July 2005, bar and hotel owners,
participating in a 4-day workshop to brainstorm on commercial sex
activities and the spread of HIV/AIDS, called on the Government to
criminalize prostitution. There was no government action during the
year.
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law. In December a man who
fondled a woman in Mponda village without her consent was found guilty
of indecent assault and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
State House Press Officer Chikumbotsu Mtumodzi was accused of
indecently assaulting a journalist at her workplace on December 18; the
trial was ongoing at year's end.
Women have the right to full and equal protection under the law and
may not be discriminated against on the basis of gender or marital
status; however, discrimination against women was pervasive, and women
did not have opportunities equal to those available to men. Women had
significantly lower levels of literacy, education, formal and
nontraditional employment opportunities, and access to resources to
increase agricultural productivity.
Women often had less access to legal and financial assistance, and
widows often were victims of discriminatory and illegal inheritance
practices in which the majority of the estate was taken by the deceased
husband's family. Women usually were at a disadvantage in marriage,
family, and property rights; however, awareness of women's legal rights
continued to increase, and women began to speak out against abuse and
discrimination. Households headed by women were represented
disproportionately in the lowest quarter of income distribution; 52
percent of the country's full-time farmers were women. Women also had
limited access to agricultural extension services, training, and
credit. Gender training for agricultural extension workers and the
gradual introduction of rural credit programs for women have increased;
however, few women participated in the limited formal labor market,
where they constituted less than 5 percent of managerial and
administrative staff. In 2005 the National Association of Businesswomen
supported working women by making small loans to 300 women who
successfully completed business management training.
The law provides for a minimum level of child support, widows'
rights, and the rights to maternity leave; however, only individuals
who utilized the formal legal system benefited from these legal
protections. In a few isolated areas, a widow was sometimes forced to
have sex with in-laws as part of a culturally-mandated ``sexual
cleansing'' ritual following the death of her husband. In some cases,
she was ``inherited'' by a brother-in-law or other male relative.
Although there were no laws specifically prohibiting these practices,
the Government and civil society made efforts to abolish them by
raising awareness concerning the inherent dangers of such behavior,
including the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission.
The Government addressed women's concerns through the Ministry of
Women and Child Development.
Children.--The constitution protects children from any treatment
that is harmful to their physical or mental development or may
interfere with their education, and the Government continued a high
level of spending on children's health and welfare.
The Government provided free primary education for all children,
although education was not compulsory. A 2005 government study found
that 80 percent of children attended primary school, although only 12
percent attended secondary school. Families were responsible for book
fees and purchasing uniforms. Students from very poor families had
access to a public book fund. Girls, especially in rural areas, have
historically been unable to complete even a primary education and
therefore were at a serious disadvantage in finding employment.
In 2004 the University of Malawi released a report on the status of
free primary education since its inception in 1994. The report noted
that, over the preceding decade, annual budgetary increases for
education had not kept pace with increasing student enrollment. Student
dropout rates marginally decreased each year since free education was
introduced, but the study concluded that rates remained high. The 2002
Malawi Demographic Household and Education Data Survey's report
indicated that gender gaps in primary school attendance were small but
that boys were much more likely to attend secondary school than girls.
There also were large gaps in achievement levels between girls and
boys.
The Government took steps to respond to a March 2004 UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) study that showed a number of girls entered into sexual
relationships with teachers for money, became pregnant, and
subsequently left school. The study also found that many girls left
school because of violent behavior by some teachers. In response the
Government expanded legal protection of students subjected to
exploitation and inappropriate relationships at school. In November
2005 the Lilongwe magistrate court sentenced a male teacher to six
years' imprisonment for defiling a 10-year-old girl in a classroom.
More than half of the country's children lived in poverty, mostly
in rural areas. Children in rural households headed by women were among
the poorest. Only one-third of children had ready access to safe
drinking water, infant mortality was high, and child malnutrition was a
serious problem. In June 2005 the Government launched a National Plan
of Action for Orphans and Vulnerable Children to mitigate the impact of
poverty and HIV/AIDS on the country's estimated one million orphans.
Child abuse was a problem. The press reported several cases of
sexual abuse of children, including arrests for rape, incest, sodomy,
and defilement. On February 18, a man was sentenced to nine years'
imprisonment with hard labor for indecent assault of his 16-month-old
daughter in 2004. In June a man was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment
with hard labor for defiling his 12-year-old niece. In July an HIV-
positive man was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment with hard labor
for defiling two girls in Mulanje and infecting them with gonorrhea.
During the year the press reported a few alleged rape cases involving
female perpetrators who went unpunished since the relevant law only
recognizes male rapists.
Abusive practices, including the secret initiation of girls into
their future adult roles, were widespread. In a few traditional
communities, girls averaging 12 years old were forced to have sex with
older men as part of such initiation rites. There was a re-emergence of
the Kupimbira, a practice that allows a poor family to receive a loan
in exchange for daughters of any age. FGM was performed in some cases
(see Section 5, Women).
A local NGO reported an increase in fathers marrying their own
daughters in Mangochi District, and the organization urged women to
report husbands who slept with their daughters. The MHRC expressed
concern over reports of parents forcing their daughters into marriages
for food.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development undertook various
activities to enhance protection and support of victims. In March a
workshop was held in Mangochi to enable stakeholders to develop
strategies to combat child abuse. In November 2005 the ministry
announced a plan to introduce a child abuse hotline during the year;
however, the hotline had not been installed by year's end. The ministry
continued its efforts to convert its former regional offices into
rehabilitation centers.
In August the National Police conducted a two-day child protection
orientation for district police commanders and a two-week training-of-
trainers workshop for 16 child protection officers from police units.
Investigations continued into the April 2005 cases in which a boy's
genitals were cut off in Chinsapo and another boy's ears were cut off
in Mchinji. The Ministry of Women and Child Development provided access
to medical care and rehabilitation in these cases.
In 2004 the Government worked with UNICEF, international donors,
and various NGOs to create and implement a Child Justice Act to ensure
juveniles suitable access to the justice system. During the year some
components of the act were implemented, although the bill remained with
the cabinet at year's end.
The trafficking of children for sexual purposes was a problem (see
Section 5, Trafficking), and child prostitution also occurred. The
belief that children were unlikely to be HIV positive and the
widespread belief that sexual intercourse with virgins can cleanse an
individual of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS,
contributed to the sexual exploitation of minors.
Child labor, including instances of forced child labor, was a
problem (see Section 6.d.).
A few charitable organizations attempted to reduce the number of
child beggars in urban areas; however, the problem of street children
worsened as the number of orphans whose parents died from HIV/AIDS
increased. Extended family members normally cared for such children and
other orphans.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons specifically, and persons were trafficked from and within the
country. Although the extent of human trafficking was undocumented, the
Government made efforts to combat trafficking and used existing laws to
prosecute cases of child trafficking for agricultural labor
exploitation. Although the age of sexual consent is 14, there was no
age specified for the protection of minors from sexual exploitation,
child prostitution, or child pornography. The Government worked with
UNICEF and NGOs to refine child protection laws (see Section 5,
Children).
The country is a source and transit point for women and children
trafficked for sexual purposes locally and to brothels abroad,
particularly in South Africa. Victims trafficked to South Africa were
typically between 14 and 24 years old, and were recruited with offers
of marriage, study, or employment. According to the International
Organization for Migration, sex tourists, primarily from Germany, the
Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, lured children into sexual
relationships while in the country. Poverty and low educational levels
contributed to such exploitation. Traffickers involved in land border
trafficking to South Africa were typically long-distance truck drivers
and local businesswomen.
The penal code contains several provisions relating to prostitution
and indecency that the Government has used to prosecute traffickers.
During the year the Government prosecuted 10 child traffickers; most of
the cases involved trafficking of children for agricultural labor
exploitation and cattle herding; the cases were reported to authorities
by community labor committees and labor inspectors. A Mozambican man
was sentenced to six years' imprisonment for attempting to sell two
youths to businessmen. In July a farmer was arrested in Mchinji for
allegedly abducting three boys for child labor, and in early August a
man was arrested in Dedza for allegedly abducting six young boys to
work on tobacco farms as herders. Some convicted child traffickers were
required to pay fines; however, some who claimed ignorance of the law
were merely warned and released. The Ministry of Women and Child
Development repatriated the victims to their home villages.
Police and the Ministry of Women and Child Development handled
cases brought to the attention of authorities and provided services for
victims, including counseling and reintegration assistance.
The Government continued to implement a multiyear strategy to
protect vulnerable children from exploitation and to develop a
nationwide, interministerial plan to identify the extent of the problem
and possible solutions.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for the support of
persons with disabilities through greater access to public places, fair
opportunities in employment, and full participation in all spheres of
society; however, extremely limited resources prevented the Government
from protecting these rights in practice. Reported violations were
taken seriously, and the President publicly declared that students with
disabilities should have equal access to education and other government
services. The Government has not mandated accessibility to buildings
and services for persons with disabilities.
There were both public and privately supported schools and training
centers that assisted persons with disabilities. There also were
several self-supporting businesses run by and for persons with
disabilities. The Malawi Rural Development Fund provided loans to
persons with disabilities to support these activities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is
illegal, although there were no prosecutions for homosexuality during
the year.
Societal discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS was
widespread and inhibited access to treatment; many individuals
preferred to keep silent about their health rather than seek help and
risk being ostracized. In June 2005 the industrial relations court in
Lilongwe ruled that an employer had discriminated against an HIV-
positive worker, whom he fired after learning of her illness. The
employer complied with the court decision to award eight months'
compensation to the worker. The Ministry of Labor and Vocational
Training (MOLVT) conducted a public relations program to reduce the
stigma associated with having HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join trade unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice;
however, union membership was low due to the small percentage of the
workforce in the formal sector, the lack of awareness of worker rights
and benefits, and a resistance on the part of many employees to join
unions. Army personnel and police could not belong to trade unions, but
other civil servants were allowed to form unions. Union leaders
estimated that 12 percent of the formal sector workforce belonged to
unions; however, accurate statistics on the numbers of union members
were not available. Employers, labor unions, and the Government lacked
sufficient knowledge of their legitimate roles in labor relations and
disputes, which limited their effectiveness in the implementation and
enforcement of the law.
Unions must register with the Registrar of Trade Unions and
Employers' Organizations in the MOLVT, and registration was routinely
granted.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers and
requires that employers reinstate workers dismissed because of union
activities. There were no reports of persons who were fired for their
membership in unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions have the
right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government
protected this right in practice. The law requires that at least 20
percent of employees (excluding senior managerial staff) belong to a
union before such a union can engage in collective bargaining at the
enterprise level, and at least 15 percent union membership for
collective bargaining at the sector level. The law provides for the
establishment of industrial councils in the absence of collective
agreements for sector-level bargaining. Industrial council functions
included wage negotiation, dispute resolution, and industry-specific
labor policy development. In practice the law was not effectively
implemented due to lack of human and financial resources.
The law allows members of a registered union to strike or go
through a formal mediation process overseen by the MOLVT, and workers
exercised this right in practice. A strike can only occur after all
settlement procedures established in a collective agreement (an
understanding, not necessarily signed, reached by both parties to
attempt mediation) and conciliation efforts have failed. Laws do not
specifically prohibit retaliation against strikers. There was no
prohibition on actions against unions that were not registered legally.
Members of a registered union in ``essential services'' have a limited
right to strike. Essential services were specified as services whose
interruption would endanger the life, health, or personal safety of the
whole or part of the population, as determined by the Industrial
Relations Court (IRC).
Arbitration rulings were legally enforceable; however, in practice,
due to the lack of funding and heavy case backlog, the IRC could not
monitor cases or adequately enforce the laws.
At year's end, 16 firms held licenses to operate under export
processing zone (EPZ) status, and 15 were operational. The full range
of labor regulations applied to the EPZs; however, union organizers
stated they had little access to workers in the EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, such labor
occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). According to the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions, bonded labor involving entire
families was widespread on tobacco plantations. Tobacco tenants have
exclusive arrangements, often unwritten, with the estate owners to sell
their crop and to buy inputs such as fertilizer, seed, and often food.
These costs, in addition to rent charges, often were greater than the
artificially low price received for the tobacco crop, leading to a
situation of debt and bonded labor to repay the input and other costs.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law defines children as persons under 16 years of age, and the law
prohibits the employment of persons under 14; nevertheless, child labor
was a problem. The law also prohibits the employment of children under
18 in work that is hazardous, harmful, or interferes with their
education. In 2004 the Government published a National Code of Conduct
on Child Labor, which defines guiding principles for combating all
forms of child labor.
There was significant child labor on tobacco farms, subsistence
farms, and in domestic service, largely as a result of extreme poverty
and longstanding cultural traditions. Child traffickers attempting to
smuggle children for agricultural labor exploitation were occasionally
caught and successfully prosecuted and convicted (see Section 5).
A local NGO reported that young girls in urban areas often worked
outside of their families as domestic servants, receiving little or no
wages. School-age children often worked as vendors. According to a 2002
MOLVT study on child labor released in 2004, 80 percent of children
were working either in or outside of their homes. In addition,
approximately 38 percent of children five to 14 years of age worked
more than seven hours per week.
Police and the MOLVT were responsible for enforcing child labor
laws and policies. During the year the MOLVT increased inspections,
particularly on agricultural estates, and hired and trained 40
additional labor inspectors. In August the MOLVT conducted a workshop
for district labor officers on the roles of the judiciary, NGOs,
police, and labor officers in child trafficking. During the year an
additional 55 youth activists received training on countering child
labor using the 2004 child labor code of conduct. The Government
continued to participate in a three-year International Labor
Organization project to withdraw and prevent children from engaging in
hazardous work on tobacco farms and domestic service. The MOLVT also
established 60 additional community child labor committees in six
districts. The MOLVT conducted child labor ``open days'' in six
districts and conducted six sensitization workshops for school teachers
and estate owners during the year. With support from UNICEF, the
Ministry of Women and Child Development also trained 240 child
protection workers throughout the country. The MOLVT youth committees
in rural areas monitored and reported on child labor. Despite these
efforts, enforcement by police and MOLVT inspectors of child labor laws
was hindered by budgetary constraints.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The MOLVT sets separate urban
and rural minimum wage rates based on recommendations of the Tripartite
Wage Advisory Board (TWAB), composed of representatives of labor,
government, and the private sector. However, poor functioning of the
TWAB resulted in delayed and inadequate wage rate revisions. The urban
minimum wage amounted to approximately $0.71 (MK 97) per day; in all
other areas, it was approximately $0.54 (MK 74) per day. Minimum wage
rates, which were last revised in January 2005, did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Wage earners often
supplemented their incomes through farming activities. The MOLVT lacked
the resources to effectively enforce the minimum wage. However, the
minimum wage largely was irrelevant for the great majority of citizens,
who earned their livelihood outside the formal wage sector.
The maximum legal workweek was 48 hours, with a mandatory weekly
24-hour rest period. The laws require payment for overtime work and
prohibit compulsory overtime. In practice employers frequently violated
statutory time restrictions.
The law includes extensive occupational health and safety
standards; however, MOLVT enforcement of these standards was erratic.
Workers--particularly in industrial jobs--often worked without basic
safety clothing and equipment. Workers dismissed for filing complaints
about workplace conditions have the right to file a complaint at the
labor office or sue the employer for wrongful dismissal. Workers have
the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without
jeopardy to continued employment; however, given the low level of
education of most workers and the high level of unemployment, workers
were unlikely to exercise this right.
The law protects foreign workers in correct legal status. Illegal
foreign workers were subject to deportation.
__________
MALI
Mali, with a population of approximately 12 million, is a
constitutional democracy that continued to implement a decentralized
form of government. International and domestic observers characterized
the 2002 Presidential and legislative elections as generally free and
fair; however, there were some administrative irregularities. On May
23, Tuareg rebels attacked government military bases in the town of
Kidal and Menaka. On July 4, the Government signed a peace agreement
with rebel forces. While civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, there were isolated instances
in which elements of the security forces acted independently of
government authority.
The Government generally respected its citizens' human rights;
however, poor prison conditions, lengthy pretrial detention, prolonged
trial delays, domestic violence and discrimination against women,
female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking in children, hereditary
servitude relationships between different ethnic groups, child labor,
and forced labor, including by children, were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
On September 1, November 23, and November 28, mob killings occurred
in Bamako. In each case local citizens beat and killed suspected
thieves.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reported
kidnappings.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were occasional reports that police abused civilians.
There were reports that police arrested and abused student
demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overall prison conditions
remained poor. Prisons continued to be overcrowded, medical facilities
and access were inadequate, and food supplies were insufficient.
Men and women were separated in Bamako prisons; however, outside
the capital, men and women were held in the same building but in
separate cells. In Bamako juvenile offenders usually were held in the
same prison as adult offenders, but they were kept in separate cells.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors;
however, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other monitors were
required to submit a request to the prison director, who then forwarded
it to the Ministry of Justice. Approvals, which took up to one week,
were routinely granted, but the week delay hindered the ability of
monitors to ascertain if there were human rights violations, according
to one NGO. Several NGOs, including the Malian Association of Human
Rights and the Malian Association of Women Lawyers, visited prisoners
and worked with female and juvenile prisoners to improve their
conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions; however, on occasion, police arrested and
detained persons arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces include
the army, air force, gendarmerie, national guard, and police. The army
and air force are under the control of the civilian minister of
defense. The national guard is administratively under the minister of
defense; however, it is effectively under the command and control of
the minister of internal security and civil protection. The police and
gendarmerie are under the Ministry of Internal Security and Civil
Protection. The police have responsibility for law enforcement and
maintaining order in urban areas, while gendarmes have that
responsibility in rural areas.
The national police force is organized into various districts. Each
district has a commissioner who reports to the regional director at
national headquarters. The police force was moderately effective but
lacked resources and training. Corruption was a problem, and some
police and gendarmes extorted bribes (see Section 2.d.). Impunity was
not a problem, and individual police were charged and convicted of
abuses. The gendarmerie conducted investigations of police officers.
During the year police officer Daba Djire was suspended for
involvement in a case involving three Lebanese nationals accused of
tapping into a local telephone network; the officer was awaiting trial
at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--Judicial warrants are required for arrest.
Normally complainants deliver warrants, which stipulate when a person
is scheduled to appear at a police station. However, police sometimes
served warrants, generally in response to an influential relative of
the complainant or if they received a bribe. In cases involving a
monetary debt, the arrested person frequently resolved the case at the
police precinct, and the police received a portion of the recovered
money. The law provides that suspects must be charged or released
within 48 hours and that they are entitled to counsel; however, in
practice, detainees were not always charged within the 48-hour period.
Limited rights of bail or the granting of conditional liberty exist,
particularly for minor crimes and civil matters. On occasion the
authorities released defendants on their own recognizance. Detainees
have the right to a lawyer of their choice or a state-provided lawyer,
but administrative backlogs and an insufficient number of lawyers often
prevented prompt access. Detainees were allowed prompt access to family
members.
Police arrested demonstrators during the year, and the Presidential
palace's security force briefly detained a journalist (see Sections
2.a. and 2.b.).
Pretrial detention was a problem. In extreme cases, individuals
remained in prison for several years before coming to trial.
Approximately 77 percent of imprisoned persons were awaiting trial.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the executive branch continued
to exert influence over the judicial system, and corruption and limited
resources affected the fairness of some trials. Domestic human rights
groups alleged that there were instances of bribery and influence
peddling in the courts. The minister of justice appoints and may
suspend judges, and the Justice Ministry supervises both law
enforcement and judicial functions. The President heads the Council of
Magistrates, which oversees judicial activity.
During the year the Council of Magistrates temporarily suspended
Judge Sidi Keita for the attempted murder of a court clerk in the town
of Mopti. No charges were filed against the judge, who was transferred
to another district. The council charged and suspended a second judge
in Bamako for accepting a bribe in connection with a case involving
three Lebanese nationals accused of tapping into a local telephone
network; the judge subsequently died.
The deputy public prosecutor, senior magistrate, and judge
investigated in 2005 on charges of corruption were suspended and
awaiting trial at year's end.
The country has a lower Circuit Court and a Supreme Court with both
judicial and administrative powers and a Constitutional Court that
oversees constitutional issues and acts as an election arbiter. The
constitution also provides for the convening of a high court of justice
to try senior government officials in cases of treason.
Trial Procedures.--Except in the case of minors, trials are public,
and defendants have the right to be present and have an attorney of
their choice. Court-appointed attorneys are provided for the indigent
without charge. Defendants have the right to consult with their
attorney, but administrative backlogs and an insufficient number of
lawyers often prevented prompt access. Defendants and attorneys have
access to government evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants are
presumed innocent and have the right to confront witnesses and to
appeal decisions to the Supreme Court. These rights extend to all
citizens and all groups.
Village chiefs, in consultation with the elders, decided the
majority of disputes in rural areas. If these decisions were challenged
in court, only those found to have legal merit were upheld.
Political Prisoners--There were no reports of political prisoners
or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Individuals criticized the Government publicly and privately,
generally without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to
impede this criticism.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
On June 8, the Presidential palace's security force beat and jailed
a journalist, who had argued with security officials over the placement
of a security cordon. A few hours later the Government apologized, and
the journalist was released.
No charges were filed in connection with the July 2005 kidnapping
and beating of a private radio talk show host; the investigation was
ongoing at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. There were numerous Internet cafes in Bamako, although home
access in the capital was limited to those able to pay the high
installation and monthly fees. Outside of Bamako, there were a few
sites where the Internet was available for public use, but many towns
in the country had no Internet access.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
On November 13, police fired tear gas into a demonstration of
medical students seeking higher stipends from the Government. The
students blocked access to one of Bamako's main hospitals during the
protest and injected police with an unknown red liquid, later
identified as juice. Police and protesters were injured by rocks and
other projectiles. Five students were arrested, charged with damaging
property, and held for six days before being released. The students'
union claimed that the five, including one woman, were physically and
sexually abused while in police custody. Their trials were pending at
year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice; however, the law prohibits association deemed
immoral. In June 2005 the governor of the District of Bamako cited this
law to refuse official recognition of a gay rights association.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The Government required that all public associations, including
religious associations, register; the process was routine and not
burdensome. Traditional indigenous religious groups were not required
to register.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population was
estimated at less than 50, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Police routinely stopped and checked both citizens and foreigners to
restrict the movement of contraband and to verify vehicle
registrations. Some police and gendarmes extorted bribes.
The constitution and law specifically prohibit forced exile; the
Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. A national committee
in charge of refugees operated with institutional assistance from the
office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 390 persons during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and
legislative elections were last held in 2002; domestic and
international observers characterized both elections as generally free,
fair, and without evident fraud, but there were administrative
irregularities.
There were 15 women in the 147-member National Assembly, five women
in the 28-seat cabinet, five women on the 33-member Supreme Court, and
three women on the nine-member Constitutional Court; a woman chaired
the Supreme Court.
The National Assembly had 14 members of historically marginalized
pastoralist and nomadic ethnic minorities representing the northern and
eastern regions of Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal. The cabinet also had two
representatives of the northern regions: the minister of health and the
minister of state reforms and institutional relations.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued
its campaign to curb corruption; however, corruption hindered
development and governmental efforts to improve human rights. On May
30, the auditor general's office released its first annual report,
which charged widespread tax evasion and customs duty fraud by private
telecommunications companies, the mayor of Bamako's office, and fuel
importation officials. No action had been taken against responsible
officials by year's end.
On August 15, the auditor general announced that approximately one
million dollars (500 million CFA) had disappeared during the last three
years from the Office du Niger, which manages the country's rice-
growing region. The director of the Office du Niger was subsequently
removed, and three mid-level employees were arrested. In November the
three mid-level employees were released.
No verdict was reached during the year in the February 2005 case in
which employees of the textile parastatal Compagnie Malienne pour le
Development des Textiles were charged with illegally importing cotton.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government granted such access. If an information request is
refused, the person inquiring can appeal to an administrative court,
which must handle the appeal within three months.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. These groups
included the Malian Association for Human Rights, a smaller Malian
League of Human Rights, and a local chapter of Amnesty International.
The International Committee for the Red Cross had offices in Bamako,
Timbuktu, and Gao.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on social
origin, color, language, sex, or race, and the Government generally
enforced these provisions effectively; however, violence and
discrimination against women, FGM, and trafficking in children were
problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse,
was tolerated and common. Spousal abuse is a crime, but police were
reluctant to enforce laws against or intervene in cases of domestic
violence. Assault is punishable by prison terms of one to five years
and fines of up to $1,000 (500,000 CFA francs) or if premeditated, up
to 10 years' imprisonment. Many women were reluctant to file complaints
against their husbands because they were unable to support themselves
financially. The Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the
Family produced a guide on violence against women for use by health
care providers, police, lawyers, and judges. The guide provides
definitions of the types of violence and guidelines on how each should
be handled. The ministry has also begun surveys to assess the frequency
of violence, but no results were available at year's end. Action for
the Defense and Promotion of Women Rights and Action for the Promotion
of Household Maids operated shelters.
The law criminalizes rape, but spousal rape is not illegal. Reports
of rape were rare, and most cases went unreported.
FGM was common, particularly in rural areas, and was performed on
girls between the ages of six months to six years. According to
domestic NGOs, approximately 95 percent of adult women had undergone
FGM. The practice was widespread in most regions and among most ethnic
groups, was not subject to class boundaries, and was not religiously
based. There were no laws against FGM, but a government decree
prohibits FGM in government-funded health centers.
The Government continued its two-phased plan aimed at eliminating
all forms of FGM by 2008. According to the local human rights
organizations fighting FGM, the educational phase (workshops, videos,
and theater) continued in cities, and FGM reportedly decreased
substantially among children of educated parents. In many instances FGM
practitioners agreed to stop the practice in exchange for other income-
generating activity. The National Committee Against Violence Towards
Women linked all the NGOs active in FGM.
Prostitution is legal and common in cities. Sex tourism was not
known to be a problem. There were no confirmed reports of prostitutes
targeted for abuse by local authorities.
The law does not specifically address sexual harassment.
Family law favored men, and women were particularly vulnerable in
cases of divorce, child custody, and inheritance rights, as well as in
the general protection of civil rights. Women had very limited access
to legal services due to their lack of education and information, as
well as the prohibitive cost. For example, if a woman wanted a divorce,
she had to pay approximately $60 (30,000 CFA francs) to start the
process, a prohibitive amount for most women.
While the law gives women equal property rights, traditional
practice and ignorance of the law prevented women, even educated women,
from taking full advantage of their rights. A community property
marriage had to be specified in the marriage contract. In addition if
the type of marriage was not specified on the marriage certificate,
judges presumed the marriage was polygynous. Traditional practice
discriminated against women in inheritance matters, and men inherited
most of the family wealth.
Women's access to employment and to economic and educational
opportunities was limited. Women constituted approximately 15 percent
of the labor force, and the Government, the country's major employer,
paid women the same as men for similar work. Women often lived under
harsh conditions, particularly in rural areas, where they performed
difficult farm work and did most of the childrearing. The Ministry for
the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family was charged with
ensuring the legal rights of women.
Under a four-year (2004 2008) national plan of action to promote
the status of women, the Government continued efforts to reduce
inequalities between men and women and to create links between women
within the Economic Community of West African States and throughout
Africa.
Several women's rights groups, such as the Association of Malian
Women Lawyers, the Association of Women in Law and Development, the
Collective of Women's Associations, and the Association for the Defense
of Women's Rights, worked to highlight legal inequities, primarily in
the family code, through debates, conferences, and women's rights
training. These groups also provided legal assistance to women and
targeted magistrates, police officers, and religious and traditional
leaders in educational outreach to promote women's rights.
Children.--The Government was committed to providing for children's
welfare and rights. Several laws protect children and provide for their
welfare, including an ordinance that provides for regional positions as
``child delegates'' to safeguard the rights and interests of children.
Education was tuition free and, in principle, open to all; however,
students were required to provide their own uniforms and supplies.
Primary school was compulsory up to the age of 12, but only 56.6
percent of children from seven to 12 years old (49.3 percent of girls
and 64.1 percent of boys) received a primary education during the 2005
06 school year. Girls' enrollment in school was lower than boys' at all
levels due to poverty, cultural tendencies to emphasize boys'
education, and early marriages. Other factors affecting school
enrollment in general included distance to the nearest school, lack of
transportation, and shortages of teachers and instructional materials.
Members of the black Tamachek community reported that Tamachek
children were denied educational opportunities because their masters
would not allow their children to attend school (see Section 5,
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities).
Approximately 11 percent of students attended private Arabic-
language schools, or Medersas. Medersas were encouraged to follow the
Government curriculum, and most taught core subjects including math,
science, and foreign languages; however, few Medersas fully adhered to
the Government's curriculum due to a lack of teacher training and
instructional materials.
An unknown number of primary school aged children throughout the
country attended part-time Koranic schools; most students were under
the age of 10. Koranic schools taught only the Koran and were partially
funded by students, known as garibouts, who were required by
schoolmasters to beg for money on the streets as part of their
religious instruction. A 2005 UNICEF study of Koranic schools in Mopti
found that children who attended these schools spent the majority of
their time begging on the streets or working in fields.
The Government provided subsidized medical care to children as well
as adults, but the care was limited in quality and availability. Boys
and girls had equal access to medical care.
Statistics on child abuse were unreliable, and reported cases of
abuse were rare, according to local human rights organizations. The
social services department investigated and intervened in cases of
child abuse or neglect.
FGM was commonly performed on young girls (see Section 5, Women).
Women may legally marry at age 18 and men at age 21. The marriage
code allows girls under age 15 to marry with parental consent or
special permission from a judge. Women's rights organizations opposed
this provision as contradicting international conventions that protect
children through the age of 18. Underage marriage was known to be a
problem in the regions of Kayes, Sikasso, Timbuktu, and Mopti. Parents
contracted marriage for girls as young as age 11 in the Fulani,
Minianka, and Soninke ethnic groups, even though the practice is
illegal.
Local women's rights NGOs, such as Action for the Promotion and
Development of Women, the Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights,
and the Women's and Children's Rights Watch, educated local populations
about the negative consequences of underage marriage. The Government
also helped to enable girls married at an early age to continue in
school.
Trafficking in children (see Section 5, Trafficking) and child
labor (see Section 6.d.) were problems.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons in adults but does prohibit trafficking in children; however,
there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and within
the country.
Most trafficking occurred within the country during the year.
Children were trafficked to rice fields in the central regions; boys
were trafficked to mines in the south; and girls were trafficked for
involuntary domestic servitude in Bamako. Victims were generally
trafficked for agricultural work, domestic servitude, and to a lesser
extent into begging, gold mining, and prostitution. The victims were
usually from the central regions of the country and not a specific
ethnic group. Women and girls were trafficked from Nigeria for sexual
exploitation, mainly by Nigerian traffickers.
Child trafficking is punishable by five to 20 years' imprisonment.
The law also prohibits the contractual use of persons without their
consent. Penalties increase if a minor is involved and range from five
to 20 years' imprisonment. Although legal protections and measures are
in place, parents of child victims were reluctant to file charges, and
cases often languished within the justice system.
During the year there also were reports of trafficking in persons
between the country and its neighbors, primarily Guinea and Burkina
Faso.
During the year a local court convicted Moussa Traore, a citizen of
the country, for trafficking two children, ages 13 and 14, to work on
his cotton farm in Cote d'Ivoire. Traore was sentenced to one year's
imprisonment, but released because he had already served the length of
the sentence awaiting trial.
On October 12, gendarmes in the town of Niono discovered 24
citizens of Burkina Faso, including 20 minors, in a minibus driven by
Zakaria Ouedrago. According to the police, Ouedrago and Dramane Konta,
a citizen of the country, had trafficked the 24 for work in Konta's
fields. The children were turned over to a local NGO that cares for
victims of child trafficking, and were subsequently repatriated to
Burkina Faso. Ouedrago was arrested and awaiting trial at year's end.
Konta remained at large.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the Family
and the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service shared responsibility for
combating trafficking. The two ministries, in cooperation with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Territorial
Administration, developed a program to identify and rehabilitate
victims, educate the population, and strengthen the legal system with
regard to the movement and trafficking of minors.
In July the Ministry for the Promotion of Women, Children, and the
Family released the results of a 2004 study on the sexual exploitation
of minors in the regions of Sikasso, Kayes, and Bamako. The study,
which involved 450 interviews, found that the children most at risk for
sexual exploitation were girls between the ages of 12 and 18 who worked
as street vendors or domestic servants, or who were homeless children
or the victims of child trafficking. Such exploitation was most
prevalent in areas in which the population and economy were in flux,
such as border zones or towns on transportation routes or in mining
areas. The study noted that most cases of sexual exploitation went
unreported and recommended that the country strengthen its laws to
protect children.
The Government assists with international trafficking
investigations and the extradition of citizens accused of trafficking
in other countries, but there were no such cases during the year.
The Government worked closely with international organizations and
NGOs to coordinate the repatriation and reintegration of trafficking
victims. Three children were repatriated during the year from Cote
d'Ivoire.
Welcome centers in Mopti, Segou, Sikasso, and Bamako assisted in
returning trafficked children to their families. The Government
provided temporary shelter and protection for victims at these centers.
Parents were required to carry travel passes for children, a
measure intended to curb child trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no specific law protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities in employment, education,
access to health care, or in the provision of other state services;
however, the Government did not discriminate against persons with
disabilities.
There is no law mandating accessibility to public buildings. There
were no reports of societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities. The Ministry of Social Affairs is charged with the
protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against
``black'' Tamacheks and hereditary servitude relationships between
Tamacheks and other groups continued during the year (see Section
6.c.). Members of the Tamachek community reported that they did not
benefit from equal education opportunities because their masters would
not allow their children to attend school. Tamacheks reported they were
deprived of civil liberties by other ethnic groups. On November 15, a
Tamachek group, known by the acronym TEMEDT, called for an end to all
slavery-related practices in the country (see Section 6.c.).
The 2004 case concerning the killing of a customs officer during a
confrontation between two Tuareg communities in Kidal was still pending
at year's end.
Other Social Abuses and Discrimination.--In June 2005 the governor
of Bamako refused to grant official recognition to a gay rights
association (see Section 2.b.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for workers to form
or join unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
Only the military, the gendarmerie, and the national guard were
excluded from forming unions. An estimated 95 percent of salaried
employees were organized, including teachers, magistrates, health
workers, and senior civil servants.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but there were
no reports of antiunion behavior or activities during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government respected these rights in practice. The law provides for the
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right
freely. Unions have the right to strike, and workers exercised this
right. There are no export processing zones.
The growth of independent unions led to more direct bargaining
between unions and their employers. Wages and salaries for workers
belonging to the National Union of Malian Workers Federation (UNTM) and
the Syndicated Confederation of Malian Workers were set by tripartite
negotiations between the Ministry of Labor, labor unions, and
representatives of the National Council of Employers of the sector to
which the wages applied. These negotiations usually set the pattern for
unions outside the UNTM. Civil service salary levels were pegged
nationally to an index established by the Government.
The law provides for the right to strike; however, there were
restrictions in some areas. For example, civil servants and workers in
state-owned enterprises were required to give two weeks' notice of a
planned strike and to enter into mediation and negotiations with the
employer and a third party, usually the Ministry of Labor and State
Reforms. The labor code prohibits retribution against strikers, and the
Government generally effectively enforced these laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
The law prohibits the contractual use of persons without their
consent, and penalties include a fine and hard labor. Penalties
increase significantly if a minor, defined as someone less than 15
years of age, is involved.
Hereditary servitude relationships continued to informally link
different ethnic groups, particularly in the north. There was evidence
that members of the Tamachek community continued to live in forced
servitude and were deprived of civil liberties by members of other
ethnic groups. During the year members of the black Tamachek community,
often referred to by the pejorative label bellah, reported on the
continued existence of feudal slave-related practices in the country.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor code has specific policies that pertain to child labor; however,
these regulations often were ignored in practice, and child labor was a
problem. The labor code permits children between the ages of 12 and 14
to work up to two hours per day during school vacations with parental
approval. Children 14 to 16 may work up to 4 hours per day with the
permission of a labor inspector, but not during nights, on Sundays, or
on holidays. Children 16 to 18 could work in jobs that were not
physically demanding; boys could work up to eight hours per day, and
girls up to six hours per day.
Child labor predominated in the agricultural, mining, and domestic
help sectors and, to a lesser degree, in craft and trade
apprenticeships and cottage industries.
Laws against unjust compensation, excessive hours, or capricious
discharge did not apply to the vast number of children who worked in
rural areas helping with family farms, household chores and herds,
apprenticing in trades, or working in the informal sector, such as
street vendors.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5).
The authorities enforced labor code provisions through inspectors
from the Ministry of Labor and State Reforms, which conducted surprise
inspections and complaint-based inspections; however, resource
limitations restricted the frequency and effectiveness of oversight by
the Labor Inspection Service, which operated only in the formal sector.
The National Campaign Against Child Labor, led by the International
Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC)-Mali, was responsible
for investigating abusive forms of child labor. IPEC relied on labor
inspectors appointed by the Government in Bamako and in regional labor
offices throughout the country. IPEC investigated cases when NGOs or
the media provided information that there was abusive child labor.
There were no such reports during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage rate,
set during the year, was approximately $53 (28,000 CFA francs) per
month, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. The minimum wage was supplemented by a required package of
benefits, including social security and health care. While this total
package could provide a minimum standard of living for one person, most
wage earners supported large extended families and supplemented their
income by subsistence farming or employment in the informal sector. The
labor code specifies conditions of employment, including hours, wages,
and social security; however, many employers either ignored or did not
comply completely with the regulations.
The legal workweek was 40 hours (45 hours for agricultural
employees), with a requirement for a 24-hour rest period. Workers had
to be paid overtime for additional hours.
The law provides a broad range of legal protections against hazards
in the workplace, and workers' groups brought pressure on employers to
respect parts of the regulations, particularly those affecting personal
hygiene. With high unemployment, however, workers often were reluctant
to report violations of occupational safety regulations. The Labor
Inspection Service oversees these standards but limited enforcement to
the modern, formal sector. It was not effective in investigating and
enforcing workers' safety and was insufficiently funded for its
responsibilities. Workers had the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations and to request an investigation by the Social
Security Department, which is responsible for recommending remedial
action where deemed necessary; it was not known if any worker had done
so.
__________
MAURITANIA
Mauritania, with an estimated population of three million, is a
highly centralized Islamic republic ruled by a military junta led by
Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed Vall. On November 19 and December 13, voters
turned out in large numbers to elect legislative and municipal
representatives; international and domestic observers deemed the
elections credible. In August 2005 the military overthrew former
President Taya in a bloodless coup and established the ruling Military
Council for Justice and Democracy (CMJD), which dissolved the
parliament and appointed a transitional government; Taya was reelected
in 2003 amid opposition charges of fraud. In October 2005 the junta and
transitional government released an election timeline that scheduled
Presidential elections in March 2007 and a return to civilian rule by
May 2007. The August 2005 coup ended civilian control of the security
forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; however, there
were some significant improvements. At year's end the military
continued to control the Government, limiting citizens' ability to
change their government. Other abuses included harsh prison conditions,
official impunity, arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention,
executive influence on the judiciary, and restrictions on freedoms of
speech, press, assembly, association, and religion. There was a
widespread public perception of governmental corruption and a lack of
access to government information. Discrimination against women and
female genital mutilation (FGM) continued. Trafficking in persons,
ethnic and racial tensions, and the political marginalization of
largely southern-based ethnic groups were problems. Involuntary
servitude, particularly in remote regions of the country, and child
labor in the informal sector occurred.
Significant milestones in the country's return to democratic rule
included successful legislative and municipal elections in November and
December, a June 24 constitutional referendum to limit Presidential
power, and the creation of the country's first National Commission for
Human Rights.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no deaths resulting from
police action against demonstrators.
There were no developments in the 2005 killing of Mamadou Salui
Diallo, who died from injuries incurred while in police custody.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
there were reports that police beat and tortured suspects in custody,
and there were instances of torture in prisons. Alleged police torture
techniques included beating, hanging, burning with cigarettes, electric
shock, and cutting. According to reports, those who lacked money or
influential family or tribal ties were the most likely to be tortured.
Authorities rarely took action against those responsible for such
abuse.
The Mauritanian National Lawyers Association, along with various
human rights organizations, alleged in June and July that various
terrorist suspects had been beaten and tortured while in police
custody.
Police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators resulted in
injuries (see section 2.b.).
Ismael Issa, an Islamist who reportedly was tortured while in
custody in 2005, remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh, although some facilities improved food and reduced overcrowding
during the year. Serious overcrowding and inadequate sanitation
facilities in some prisons reportedly contributed to diseases such as
tuberculosis, diarrhea, and dermatological ailments. Medical supplies,
mainly provided by an international nongovernmental organization (NGO),
remained insufficient in all prisons. Budget allocations to improve
prison conditions remained insufficient in all prisons. Prisoners with
high-level connections and with families to bring them food, medicines,
and reading material fared better than the less privileged or citizens
from other countries. Construction of a new central prison was
completed in November.
Guard force management generally enforced regulations against
beatings and torture; however, there continued to be credible reports
of beatings and torture in police detention centers and several prisons
throughout the country.
Women and minors were held in two separate facilities. Women's
prisons employed both male and female guards. Children of female
prisoners remained with their mothers, or the Ministry of Justice gave
temporary custody of the children to another family member. The Noura
Foundation, an NGO working in the women's prison, provided education
and vocational training to female prisoners and partnered with the
Catholic charity CARITAS to provide education, sports, and vocational
services in the juvenile detention center. Pretrial detainees in all
detention facilities were frequently held with convicted prisoners as a
result of overcrowding. Pretrial terrorist suspects were held in
separate areas from the general prison population in Nouakchott's
central prison.
The transitional government permitted prison visits by NGOs,
diplomats, and international human rights observers. The International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had access to prisons and conducted
multiple prison visits in accordance with its standard modalities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports
that the police arbitrarily arrested and detained citizens.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police,
under the Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for law enforcement
and maintaining order in urban areas. The National Guard, under the
Ministry of Interior, performs police functions throughout the country
in areas in which city police are not present. The gendarmerie, a
specialized paramilitary group under the Ministry of Defense, is
responsible for maintaining civil order in and outside metropolitan
areas.
The police were unprofessional, unresponsive, and lacked equipment
and training. Corruption was a problem. Police in some regions arrested
former criminals and demanded bribes for their release, and some
indicted detainees were released before trial without explanation. The
transitional government often did not hold security officials
accountable or prosecute security officials for abuses. There were no
prosecutions of police during the year.
During the year the transitional government conducted programs to
train police on procedures for applying the country's laws,
particularly those laws concerning human rights and trafficking in
persons.
Arrest and Detention.--The application of constitutional safeguards
continued to vary widely from case to case. The law requires duly
authorized arrest warrants, but they were not commonly used. The law
requires that courts review the legality of a person's detention within
48 hours of arrest; however, the police can extend the period for
another 48 hours, and a prosecutor or court can detain persons for up
to 30 days in national security cases. Only after the prosecutor
submits charges does a suspect have the right to contact an attorney.
Attorneys for the indigent are provided at state expense. While one
article of the law provides detainees with the right to prompt judicial
determination of the charges against them, an older law allows the
Government to detain persons for up to 30 days without a judicial
determination. The transitional government frequently adhered to the
older law. There was no functional bail system.
On June 20, security forces arrested without charge five persons,
including high-ranking military officers and civilians associated with
former President Taya. The Government claimed that the detainees were
planning to disrupt the June 25 referendum; the detainees claimed they
were arrested for their outspoken views of the junta. The five
detainees were released during a November 28 amnesty to celebrate the
country's national day.
On December 26, police arrested and detained numerous student
demonstrators (see section 2.b.).
The transitional government arrested or detained journalists,
Protestant pastors, and members of Protestant groups during the year
(see sections 2.a. and 2.c.).
Of the 21 Islamist detainees with suspected links to terrorist
organizations held in custody at the beginning of the year, three
escaped on April 26, and eight others were released with charges still
pending. Between May and August the Government arrested approximately
10 other persons it claimed had links to terrorist groups, bringing the
total in custody to approximately 20.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. There were credible
reports of persons remaining in pretrial detention for months or, in
some cases, years.
Amnesty.--A November 28 amnesty resulted in the release of five
prisoners.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for judicial independence, the executive branch exercised
significant influence over the judiciary through its ability to appoint
and pressure judges. In addition poorly educated and poorly trained
judges who were susceptible to social, financial, and tribal pressures
limited the judicial system's fairness. The Government provided
training for prosecutors and judges during the year to increase
judicial efficiency.
The transitional government continued to work on judicial reform,
including training judges, prosecutors, and police on procedures for
applying the country's laws, particularly those laws concerning human
rights and trafficking in persons. The Government also worked to
professionalize its pool of judges by calling for the hiring of judges
from academic circles.
There is a single system of courts consistent with modified
principles of Shari'a (Islamic law). Departmental, regional, and labor
tribunals are the courts of first instance at the lower level. The 53
departmental tribunals, composed of a President and magistrates with
traditional Islamic legal training, heard civil cases involving sums
less than $37 (10,000 ouguiya) and family issues, including domestic,
divorce, and inheritance cases. A total of 13 regional tribunals
accepted appeals in commercial and civil matters from the departmental
tribunals and heard misdemeanors cases. At the middle level, three
courts of appeal, each with seven chambers (civil, commercial,
administrative, and penal chambers, as well as criminal, minors, and
labor courts) heard appeals from the regional courts and have original
jurisdiction for felonies.
The Supreme Court was nominally independent and was headed by a
representative appointed by Colonel Vall. The Supreme Court reviewed
decisions and rulings made by the courts of appeal to determine their
compliance with law and procedure. Constitutional review was within the
purview of a six-member Constitutional Council, composed of three
members named by former President Taya, two by the former National
Assembly President, and one by the former senate President. The Supreme
Council of Magistrates, over which Colonel Vall presided, undertook the
annual review of judicial decisions; the President and senior vice
President of the Supreme Court, the minister of justice, three
magistrates, and representatives from the Senate and National Assembly
were members of this council. The annual review was intended to
determine whether courts applied the law correctly and followed proper
procedures. Reviews also served as a basis for evaluating the reform
process and reassigning judges based on their qualifications.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for due process. Defendants
have a right to a public trial, but juries are not used. All
defendants, regardless of the court or their ability to pay, have the
legal right to representation by counsel during the proceedings. If
defendants lacked the ability to pay for counsel, the court appointed
an attorney from a list prepared by the National Order of Lawyers,
which provided a defense free of charge. There is a presumption of
innocence and the right to appeal. The foregoing rights generally were
observed in practice.
Shari'a provides the legal principles upon which the law and legal
procedure are based; the courts did not treat women as the equals of
men in all cases (see section 5).
A special court hears the cases of children under the age of 18.
Children who appeared before the court received more lenient sentences
than adults, and extenuating circumstances received greater
consideration in juvenile cases. The minimum age for children to be
tried was 12. Those between the ages of 12 and 18 were tried and, if
convicted, sentenced to the juvenile detention center.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees during the year.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no independent
judiciary in civil matters to address lawsuits seeking damages for, or
a cessation of, a human rights violation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the transitional
government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
There were occasional reports that the Government surveilled
opposition political activities.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, but the transitional government
partially restricted these rights through the domination of broadcast
media and the occasional harassment of journalists. Individuals
generally could criticize the Government publicly or privately;
however, five military officers claimed their arrest during the year
was a result of their outspoken views against the Government (see
section 1.d.). There were occasional reports of media groups being
refused access to public fora. Some journalists practiced self
censorship.
On October 24, Reporters without Borders noted in its annual report
on press freedom that the country had made notable progress in lifting
press restrictions during the year.
On July 12, a new press law went into effect transferring the
responsibility for press registration from the Ministry of Interior to
the Ministry of Justice. The new law stipulates that newspapers may
begin distribution immediately after depositing one copy of their paper
at the office of the Attorney General, eliminating the previous
requirement for prepublication governmental approval. The law allows
journalists to protect their sources and streamlines the process for
officially registering new newspapers.
Two daily newspapers, Horizons and Chaab, were government owned.
There were approximately 40 privately owned newspapers that published
on a regular basis, in both French and Arabic. NGOs and the privately
owned press openly criticized the Government and its leaders.
Newspapers, journals, and privately published books were exempt from
all taxes on materials used to produce them.
Radio was the most important medium for reaching the public. Except
for Radio France International, all broadcast media (radio and
television) were government owned and operated, and their content
remained tightly controlled.
On October 20, the transitional government created the High
Authority for Press and Broadcast Media to examine the current media
system and propose ways to improve public access to information,
including through the licensing of private broadcast media. During the
year the Government referred applications to establish domestic radio
stations over to the high authority, which did not take action on any
applications during the year; in 2005 the transitional government
failed to respond to such applications.
Using satellite receivers and dish antennas, citizens could receive
worldwide television broadcasts.
During the year there were occasional reports of journalists being
detained. Deddah Ould Abdellah, a correspondent with the Al Hurra
television channel, described being temporarily detained on three
separate occasions. There also were occasional reports that police
mistreated journalists. On May 2, the Arabic language Internet site
Ebbarb reported that two journalists from the weekly newspaper Ahira
complained of inappropriate and harsh treatment by police while they
were covering Colonel Vall's April 26 visit to the town of Laayoune.
The two newspaper employees arrested in October 2005 for publishing
a story on a pornographic film reportedly made in Nouakchott's central
prison were referred to a regional criminal court in May. Their trial
was pending at year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
transitional government censored or delayed the publication of
newspapers.
The Arab-language private newspaper, Al Jawahir, closed by the
former government in 2004 as a result of its alleged financial links to
Libya, remained closed during the year.
There were reports that the transitional government occasionally
restricted opposition access to government radio and television
broadcasts.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was available in urban areas throughout the country,
with home access common among the affluent, and cyber cafes serving the
remainder of the population.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the
transitional government generally respected this right; however, police
forcibly dispersed at least one demonstration during the year. The law
requires that organizers apply to the local prefect for permission to
hold large meetings or assemblies, and permission was generally
approved.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations; however, unlike in the
previous year, no deaths resulted. On July 4, police used force and
tear gas to disperse relatives demonstrating against the June arrest of
five military officers (see section 1.d.). The police claimed that the
demonstrators, who were protesting in front of the central prison, did
not have permits.
On December 26, police used tear gas and batons to disperse a
student demonstration at the University of Nouakchott; the students
were demanding more financial support from the Government and that
teachers appear at a majority of their classes. When the demonstrations
continued the following day, police beat and arrested other students,
all of whom were released by year's end. Some students detained by
police claimed that they had been tortured, and several journals
featured photos showing injured and bleeding demonstrators. The
university remained closed at year's end (see section 6.a.).
The transitional government briefly detained six Christian pastors
and closed their churches during the year (see section 2.c.).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the transitional government generally respected this
right; however, the Government continued to use laws that prohibit the
formation of racially or religious-based organizations to ban Islamist
political parties (see section 3). Nevertheless, Islamists were allowed
to run for election as independent candidates.
All political parties must register with the Ministry of the
Interior.
During the year the Government recognized several human rights
organizations (see section 4).
The transitional government also recognized five new political
parties during the year, bringing to 35 the total number of licensed
political parties. These political parties and numerous NGOs functioned
openly, issued public statements, and chose their own leadership. The
transitional government did not prevent unrecognized political parties
or NGOs from functioning.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution establishes the country
as an Islamic republic and decrees that Islam is the religion of its
citizens and the state; the transitional government limited freedom of
religion. The transitional government did not register religious
groups, although NGOs--including humanitarian and development NGOs
affiliated with religious groups--had to register with the Ministry of
the Interior (see section 2.b.).
In May the transitional government arrested six West African
Protestant pastors, seized their religious materials, and padlocked
their churches. The pastors were released within 24 hours and told by
police that their churches were illegal and would remain closed. They
were ordered to cease all future religious meetings. Several weeks
previously security forces briefly detained three Christian citizens
for allegedly proselytizing. The compound of the Catholic Church, where
the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church held regular meetings,
remained open during the year.
Although there is no specific legal prohibition against
proselytizing by non-Muslims, the transitional government continued to
prohibit such proselytizing. The former government restricted
proselytizing through Article 11 of the Press Act, which was suspended
in April. However, the transitional government continued to prohibit
proselytizing and the distribution of any material that is against
Islam or contradicts or otherwise threatens Islam. Bibles were neither
printed nor publicly sold in the country; however, the possession of
Bibles and other Christian religious materials in private homes was not
illegal, and Bibles and other religious publications were available
among the small Christian community.
Unlike in the previous year, the interim government did not arrest
suspected Islamists and released those who were arrested under the Taya
government; however, the Government continued to detain Islamists
suspected of links to terrorist groups (see section 1.d.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--A very small number of
expatriates practiced Judaism. In July and August citizens conducted
several public protests against Israel's involvement in Gaza and
Lebanon. On July 4, thousands of persons gathered to criticize the
Government's continued recognition of Israel. The press occasionally
criticized Israeli policies and made anti-Semitic statements.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
while the transitional government generally respected them, persons
lacking identity cards could not travel freely in some regions. The
Government set up roadblocks where gendarmerie, police, or customs
officials checked the papers of travelers and often demanded bribes.
During the year the transitional government generally maintained fewer
roadblocks and reduced the time taken in questioning and conducting
vehicle searches; however, there were periodic reports of more
stringent searches in the southern border areas.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but there were no reports
that the transitional government used it.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 Mauritanian refugees from the
1989 91 crisis remained in Senegal, although refugees continued to
return independently in small numbers and have benefited from small-
scale agro-forestry, health, and sanitation projects continued by NGOs
and humanitarian workers. Cooperation by local authorities in
addressing restitution and citizenship matters varied greatly,
depending on individual officials and the returnee's region. Many
returnees received their original homes, some property, and all or a
portion of their land. Throughout the Chemama or the Senegal River
valley region, returnee communities were reestablishing their
agricultural production; however, recovery of land titles remained the
primary issue. Timely restoration of identity papers varied, and some
of those who returned in 1995 have not yet received identification
cards.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, or the 1967
African Union Convention on the Status of Refugees, but the former
government established a system for providing such protection. In
practice the transitional government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government continued to provide temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol and during the year provided it to approximately
630 persons.
The transitional government cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees or asylum seekers. The
former government accepted the UNHCR's registration of approximately
600 asylum seekers, mostly from Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the
transitional government worked with the UNHCR during the year to
provide continued assistance for these individuals.
During the year the transitional government worked actively to
assist the UNHCR, the European Commission, and the Government of Spain
in returning migrants attempting to enter the Canary Islands by sea to
their countries of origin. The Spanish Technical Corporation
constructed a migrant reception center in the north of the country to
process returned migrants and to ensure that they received needed
nutritional and medical care. The Government gave the UNHCR access to
returned migrants to determine if they were eligible for refugee
status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government; however, this right was abridged during the year due
to the military's continued control of the Government. Consistent with
its 2005 timeline for democratic transition that called for
parliamentary and Presidential elections no later than March 2007, the
transitional government held a constitutional referendum in June and
legislative and municipal elections in November.
Elections and Political Participation.--On November 19 and December
3, citizens returned to the polls to elect their municipal and
legislative representatives in elections deemed credible by
international and domestic observers, including political parties,
NGOs, and the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI). While
there were continued problems with the inconsistent application of
electoral procedures by poll workers (including CENI representatives),
and a high rate of invalidated ballots resulting from electoral
complexities (each voter was required to complete three separate
ballots), the Government maintained its commitment of neutrality, and
the vast majority of citizens accepted the election results.
On June 25, more than 96 percent of voters cast ballots in support
of a national constitutional referendum, which, among other changes,
limits the President to two, five-year terms in office. The election
was deemed credible by the international community, including the
African Union, Arab League, and the UN, as well as by CENI; however,
some irregularities were reported, including the inconsistent
application of electoral procedures by poll workers (including CENI
representatives), the lack of neutrality by the transitional
government, which ran a strong ``vote yes'' campaign, and indications
that the electoral lists (which were established from February to
April) excluded many citizens who lacked the required national
identification cards.
Following the June referendum, the transitional government and CENI
provided training for poll workers, accredited national election
observers for the November elections, and worked to clarify electoral
procedures. In September the Government reopened electoral lists,
allowing for an additional 85,000 voters.
In August 2005 President Taya, who had ruled the country for 21
years, was deposed in a bloodless coup. Military and other security
officers, led by the chief of the national police, Colonel Ely Ould
Mohammed Vall, seized power while Taya was abroad. Colonel Vall
established the ruling CMJD to run the country and assumed the position
of CMJD President. The CMJD dissolved the parliament, suspended parts
of the constitution, adopted a constitutional charter allowing it to
rule by decree, and appointed a transitional government to replace the
Taya government.
In October 2005 the transitional government and the junta held
national consultations with over 500 political parties, NGOs, and
public figures to debate the roadmap to democracy. Following the
consultations, the transitional government released a timeline for a
transition to democracy culminating in Presidential elections in March
2007.
The transitional government recognized five new political parties
during the year, bringing to 35 the total number of licensed political
parties; however, the Government continued to restrict Islamist
political parties. On July 8, for example, the Government refused to
license the Direct Democracy Movement. The Government did allow
Islamist groups, however, to submit legislative and municipal
candidates on independent lists. In 2005 The Party of Democratic
Convergence, Action for Change, Union of Democratic Forces-New Era, An-
Nouhoud, and Taliaa (Vanguard), were banned; none applied for a license
during the year.
Women's political participation in government remained poor;
however, on July 6, the Government passed a decree requiring all
political parties to reserve 20 percent of positions on their
legislative and municipal candidate lists for women. As a result of the
decree and government efforts to educate voters, women held more than
30 percent of municipal seats and 18 percent of national Assembly
seats. Women occupied some senior government positions, including the
minister of labor, two secretaries of state, the deputy director of the
President's cabinet, and the President's minister-counselor.
While minorities enjoyed greater participation in government and
politics than women, their influence remained limited. Minority
political participation--particularly among southern minority groups--
was weakened by the difficulties in obtaining national identification
cards, which were required for voter registration. The inconsistent
issuance by police of these identification cards effectively
disenfranchised numerous members of southern minority groups,
particularly Moors and Afro-Mauritanians. The 30-member cabinet,
including secretaries of state and the governor of the Central Bank,
had three Black Moors, four Halpulaars, and one Soninke. Of the 19
members of the CMJD, there were two Haratines and three Pulars.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corrupt practices were
widely believed to exist at all levels of government, although the
transitional government was seen as less corrupt than its predecessor.
Government officials reportedly received frequent favors from
authorities, such as unauthorized exemption from taxes, special grants
of land, and favorable treatment during bidding on government projects.
Corruption was most pervasive in government procurement, bank loans,
fishing license distribution, land distribution, and tax payments.
The transitional government continued to take steps to curb
corruption. In an April 20 speech, Colonel Vall cited anti-corruption
measures taken during the year, including the creation of inspectors
general in each ministry, the use of a merit-based system for
government appointments, and the recovery of more than 100 government
cars that were being used illegally. The transitional government also
renegotiated its contracts with Woodside, a foreign oil company, under
the assumption that corruption had resulted in the existing contracts.
During the year the Central Bank also implemented several transparency
measures to qualify for debt cancellation, and the transitional
government began publishing a quarterly report of its financial
operations.
The Government arrested and later released for lack of evidence
Zeidane Ould H'meyda, the former minister of energy and petroleum; he
was charged with corruption.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
During the year the transitional government officially recognized
The Forum of Human Rights Organizations (FONADH), a leading coalition
of 17 human rights NGOs, including GERDDES and SOS Esclaves. The
Government's recognition of this coalition, which the previous
government refused to recognize, was seen as a significant positive
step. The transitional government also inaugurated the Mauritanian
Observatory for the Promotion of the Rule of Law and Democracy, an NGO
responsible for monitoring the executive branch and defending the
constitution. Other human rights NGOs operating in the country included
the Mauritanian League for Human Rights, the Mauritanian Association
for Human Rights, the International Study and Research Group on
Democracy and Economic and Social Development in Africa, and SOS-
Esclaves. International NGOs included Noura Foundation, Caritas, and
World Vision.
On May 17, the transitional government's cabinet adopted a bill
establishing the National Human Rights Commission, an independent
organization with administrative and financial autonomy. The commission
is charged with making proposals on human rights legislation and
tracking the conditions of individuals held in detention.
The transitional government cooperated with international
governmental organizations and permitted visits by the ICRC on various
issues, including prison conditions and refugee services.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law provide for equality for all citizens
regardless of race, national origin, sex, or social status, and
prohibits racial or ethnic propaganda; however, the transitional
government often favored individuals on the basis of racial and tribal
affiliation, social status, and political ties. Societal discrimination
against women, trafficking in persons, and racial and ethnic
discrimination were problems.
Women.--Human rights monitors and female lawyers reported that
domestic violence was rare, particularly among the Moor population.
Abuse and domestic violence are illegal; however, the transitional
government did not always enforce the law effectively. Penalties
included imprisonment, but convictions were very rare. The police and
judiciary occasionally intervened in domestic abuse cases, but women in
traditional society rarely sought legal redress, relying instead upon
family and ethnic group members to resolve domestic disputes.
According to NGO reporting, the incidence of unreported rape was
high. Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, the
transitional government did not enforce the law effectively. Penalties
included imprisonment, but convictions were very rare, and there were
no known convictions under this law during the year.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that female
slaves were raped during the year.
There was no new information concerning Sghaira Mint Tesh, a woman
who claimed to have been beaten, raped, and underfed by her master; in
2005 Tesh stated she intended to bring charges against her former
master and to pursue the release of her enslaved mother and siblings,
but she had not done so by year's end.
The trial into the alleged rape of M'barka, who was forced into
domestic servitude and charged with sexual misconduct for being
pregnant and unwed after she was allegedly raped by a member of the
household, had not begun by year's end.
FGM was practiced among all ethnic groups, most often on young
girls, often on the seventh day after birth and almost always before
the age of six months. There is no law explicitly prohibiting FGM;
however, there is a law that ``prohibits acts that could harm
children,'' and some legal scholars believed this could be interpreted
to outlaw FGM; however, it had not yet been so used by year's end.
According to the most recent internationally sponsored study in 2001,
three-fourths of all women between the ages of 15 and 49 had been
subjected to FGM. Local experts agreed that the least severe form of
excision was practiced and not infibulation, the most severe form. The
practice of FGM has decreased in the modern urban sector.
The transitional government and international NGOs continued to
coordinate anti-FGM efforts. These efforts focused on eradicating the
practice in hospitals, discouraging midwives from practicing FGM, and
educating populations. The High Islamic Council of Mauritania, the
Islamic Scholar Association, and the National Forum for Women's Rights
continued to emphasize the serious health risks of FGM and that FGM was
not a religious requirement. Government hospitals and licensed medical
practitioners were barred from performing FGM, and several government
agencies worked to prevent others from carrying on this practice.
According to several women's rights experts, the campaign against FGM
appeared to be changing attitudes towards the practice. Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports during the year that midwives
performed FGM in local hospitals in violation of the former
government's ban.
Traditional forms of mistreatment of women continued, mostly in
isolated rural communities, but these practices appeared to be
declining. One form of such mistreatment was the forced feeding of
adolescent girls (gavage) prior to marriage, which was practiced only
among White Moor tribal groups. While there was no law prohibiting
gavage, the transitional government continued its efforts to end the
practice. Reports during the year indicated that very few women were
currently subjected to gavage.
Although prostitution is illegal, NGO reporting indicated that it
was a growing problem in some urban areas, particularly among Afro-
Mauritanian and Black Moor women.
Women have legal rights to property and child custody, and, among
the more modern and urbanized population, these rights were recognized.
By local tradition, a woman's first marriage requires parental consent.
In accordance with Shari'a as applied in the country, marriage and
divorce do not require the woman's consent, polygyny is allowed, and a
woman does not have the right to refuse her husband's wish to marry
additional wives. In practice, polygyny was very rare among Moors but
was common among other ethnic groups. It was common in Moor society for
a woman to obtain at the time of marriage a contractual agreement that
stipulated that her husband must agree to end their marriage if he
chooses an additional wife. Arranged marriages were increasingly rare,
particularly among the Moor population. Women frequently initiated the
termination of a marriage, which most often was done by repudiation of
husband or wife rather than divorce. In July 2004 the National Assembly
voted against a proposal to provide women the same rights for a divorce
that are available to men.
Women still faced legal discrimination. The testimony of two women
was necessary to equal that of one man. The courts grant only half the
amount of an indemnity to the family of a woman who has been killed
that they award for a man's death. Formulas applied to property
distribution varied widely from case to case. In addition the validity
of and right to establish prenuptial agreements was not always
respected. The personal status code provides a framework for the
consistent application of secular law and Shari'a-based family law, but
the code has yet to be implemented.
Women did not face legal discrimination in areas not addressed
specifically by Shari'a. The law provides that men and women should
receive equal pay for equal work. While not applied universally in
practice, the two largest employers, the civil service and the state
mining company, observed this law. In the modern wage sector, women
also received family benefits, including three months of maternity
leave.
The transitional government sought to open new employment
opportunities for women in areas that were traditionally filled by men,
such as health care, communications, police, and customs services.
Women became more involved in the fishing industry and established
several women's fishing cooperatives.
The Secretariat for Women's Affairs worked with many NGOs and
cooperatives to improve the status of women. The transitional
government, women's groups, and national and international NGOs
organized meetings, seminars, and workshops throughout the year to
publicize women's rights.
Children.--The law makes special provision for the protection of
children's welfare, and there were government programs to care for
abandoned children; however, inadequate funding hampered these
programs. The national budget nearly doubled during the year, but the
percentage of the budget allocated to education dropped from 19 percent
in 2005 to 10 percent.
School attendance is mandatory for six years, but full
implementation of universal primary education was not scheduled until
at least 2007, primarily due to lack of financial resources for
facilities and teachers, particularly in remote areas. The 2005 06
official primary school attendance rate was 92 percent. Education was
free through university level. Classes were fully integrated, including
boys and girls from all social and ethnic groups. Children of slave
families were allowed to attend school. There were no legal
restrictions on the education of girls. During the 2002 03 academic
year, female students made up 21.5 percent of university enrollment, up
slightly from 21.2 percent in 2001 02. Female technical student
enrollment rose to 31.1 percent in 2002-03 from 30.5 percent in 2001-
02. Almost all children, regardless of gender or ethnic group, attended
Koranic school between the ages of five and seven and gained at least
rudimentary skills in reading and writing Arabic.
Boys and girls have equal access to state-provided medical care.
The transitional government relied on foreign donors in such areas as
child immunization.
FGM was commonly performed on young girls (see section 5, Women).
Trafficking in children occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem, particularly in the informal sector (see
section 6.d.).
Local NGOs estimated that there were approximately 400 street
children, largely as a result of poverty and the urbanization of
formerly nomadic families. The transitional government and at least one
NGO worked to assist families with street children and to encourage
their school attendance.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons; however, there were reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country. The transitional government did not
prosecute or sentence anyone for trafficking during the year.
The country was a source and destination for men, women, and
children trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. Multiple NGO
reports suggested that forced labor took several forms (see section
6.c.). Slavery-related practices, and possibly slavery itself,
persisted in isolated areas of the country where a barter economy still
prevailed. Several reports suggested that young girls from remote
regions, and possibly from western Mali, worked as unpaid housemaids in
some wealthy urban homes. An unknown number of young boys (talibes),
nearly all from Pulaar tribes, begged in the streets as part of a
``work-study'' arrangement with some ``marabouts,'' or religious
teachers, for receiving religious instruction. There were reliable
reports that a small number of marabouts forced their talibes to beg
for over 12 hours a day and provided them with insufficient food and
shelter.
The Ministry of Justice and the Commissariat for Human Rights,
Poverty Alleviation, and Integration were responsible for dealing with
trafficking.
The transitional government continued a program to reduce the
number of talibes and partnered with several NGOs to provide needy
talibes with basic medical and nutritional care. However, government
assistance and protection services for trafficking victims remained
limited, with most resources going towards prevention, in the form of
training for police, gendarmes, and legal officials to better identify,
investigate, and convict alleged traffickers. One NGO provided limited
assistance to talibes.
During the year the transitional government created the National
Commission for Human Rights, which was responsible for coordinating
government efforts to prevent trafficking and other human rights abuses
and to care for trafficking victims (see section 4). The Government
also provided antitrafficking training to security forces and allocated
funds to enhance border control. Although no traffickers were
apprehended, these measures resulted in arrests for alien smuggling.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in education, employment, or the
provision of other state services, and there were no reports of
governmental or societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities. The Government did not mandate preference in employment
or education or public accessibility for persons with disabilities
although it did provide some rehabilitation and other assistance for
such persons. In October the Government passed a law to increase
protections and benefits for persons with disabilities. NGOs have
become increasingly active in raising public awareness of issues
affecting persons with disabilities. The school for the deaf and the
blind in Nouakchott operated 10 classrooms and enrolled 116 students
during the year, up from 67 students in 2004. The school lacked
sufficient trained staff, having only two permanent and three part-time
teachers.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Racial and ethnic minorities
faced governmental discrimination. The inconsistent issuance of
national identification cards, which were required for voting,
effectively disenfranchised numerous members of southern minority
groups (see section 3). Racial and cultural tension and discrimination
also arose from the geographic and cultural divides between Moors and
Afro Mauritanians. The Moors were divided among numerous ethno
linguistic tribal and clan groups and further distinguished racially as
either White Moor or Black Moor, although it often was difficult to
distinguish between the two by skin color. White Moor tribes and clans,
many of whom were dark-skinned after centuries of intermarriage with
Berbers and sub-Saharan African groups, dominated positions in
government and business. The Black Moor subgroup (also called Haratines
or freed slaves) remained politically and economically weaker than the
White Moor subgroup. Afro-Mauritanian ethnic groups, comprising the
Halpulaar (the largest non-Moor group), the Wolof, and the Soninke
ethnic groups, were concentrated in the south and in urban areas. Afro-
Mauritanians were underrepresented in the military and security
sectors.
The constitution designates Arabic as the official language and
Arabic, Pulaar, Soninke, and Wolof as the country's national languages;
however, successive governments--both civil and military--have pursued
various policies of ``Arabization'' in the schools and in the
workplace.
Ethnic rivalry significantly contributed to political divisions and
tensions. Some political parties tended to have readily identifiable
ethnic bases, although political coalitions among them were
increasingly important. Black Moors and Afro Mauritanians were
underrepresented in mid- to high-level public and private sector jobs.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no evidence of
either societal violence or systematic transitional government
discrimination directed at practicing homosexuals. Although Shari'a
outlaws homosexuality under certain conditions, secular laws did not.
There was no evidence of systematic discrimination by either
society or government against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, taboos
and beliefs associated with the disease caused victims in some areas to
face isolation or exclusion.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right. The law also provides
for freedom of association, and workers exercised this right in
practice. All workers except members of the military and police were
free to associate in and establish unions at the local and national
levels. The majority of the labor force was in the informal sector,
with most workers engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal
husbandry; only 25 percent were employed in regularly paid positions.
Nearly 90 percent of industrial and commercial workers, however, were
unionized.
To be legally recognized, a union must have the authorization of
the public prosecutor who can provisionally suspend a trade union at
the request of the Ministry of the Interior if it believes that the
union has not complied with the law. The Government, however, has the
power to decide whether to recognize a trade union (see section 6.b.).
Laws provide workers with protection against antiunion
discrimination; however, the transitional government did not generally
enforce these laws.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides that unions may organize workers freely without government or
employer interference, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The law provides workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right during the year. The Government can dissolve a
union for what it considered an illegal or politically motivated
strike; however, no unions were disbanded during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but the law only
applies to relations between employers and workers; there were credible
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.). Slavery
is illegal although there were still areas where slavery-related
practices continued and the attitude of master and slave prevailed. The
labor code includes criminal penalties for human trafficking in all of
its recognized forms and includes increased criminal penalties for
contracting to benefit from forced labor and for exploiting forced
labor as part of an organized criminal network.
In May 2005 the International Labor Organization issued a report
from their May 2004 country visit to investigate allegations of forced
labor. The report concluded that the country continued to face
challenges in combating forced labor and recommended that the
Government allow an independent investigation into forced labor;
reinforce the Ministry of Public Records and Labor; and give labor
inspectors greater resources and autonomy. No known action had been
taken on these recommendations by year's end.
Slavery-related practices, typically flowing from ancestral master-
slave relationships, continued in isolated parts of the country where a
barter economy existed, education levels were generally low, and a need
existed for herding livestock, tending fields, and other manual labor.
Some individuals considered themselves either slaves or masters and
were unaware that slavery had been abolished. For example, on March 28,
SOS Esclaves reported that Sidi Ould El Mijriya, a Black Moor living in
the province of Tagant, bought his ``freedom'' from N'Dahid Ould
Mohamed Dahid for one heifer, five goats, and one billy-goat. When told
that he was free without the exchange of animals, Mijriya said he had
already made the deal and expressed reluctance to change the
arrangement. The gendarmie arrested both Mijriya and Dahid, who was
ultimately forced to return the animals.
SOS Esclaves publicized several accounts of recently escaped slaves
during the year. These reports strongly suggested that slavery and
related practices persisted mainly among a few nomadic groups and small
villages in remote rural regions.
Voluntary servitude also persisted, with some former slaves and
descendents of slaves continuing to work for former masters in exchange
for some combination of money, lodging, food, or medical care. The
reasons for the persistence of such practices varied widely among the
different ethnic groups; however, a barter economy, poverty, and
persistent drought provided few economic alternatives for many and left
some former slaves and descendents of slaves vulnerable to exploitation
by former masters. Adult females with children faced greater
difficulties and could be compelled to remain in a condition of
servitude.
There were reports that some former slaves continued to work for
their former masters or others without remuneration to retain access to
land they traditionally farmed. Although the law provides for
distribution of land to the landless, including to former slaves, this
law has been enforced in only a few cases. Deeply embedded
psychological and tribal bonds also made it difficult for many
individuals who had generations of forebears who were slaves to break
their bonds with former masters or their tribes. Some persons continued
to link themselves to former masters because they believed their slave
status had been religiously ordained and they feared religious sanction
if that bond were broken.
The Commissariat for Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and
Integration focused on addressing the consequences of slavery. The
transitional government focused on education, literacy, and agrarian
reform to remedy the economic consequences of slavery-related
practices. The transitional government took a more proactive approach
than in previous years to investigating alleged trafficking cases;
however, prosecutors remained reluctant to bring these cases to trial.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides that children cannot be employed before the age of 14 in
the nonagricultural sector or under age 13 in the agricultural sector
unless the minister of labor grants an exception due to local
circumstances; however, child labor in some parts of the informal
sector was common and a significant problem, particularly within poorer
inner-city areas. The law states that employed children between the
ages of 14 and 16 should receive 70 percent of the minimum wage and
that those between the ages of 17 and 18 should receive 90 percent of
the minimum wage.
The law prohibits all forms of trafficking in persons; however,
there were reports that children were trafficked to, from, and within
the country (see section 5).
Young children in the countryside were commonly employed in
herding, cultivation, fishing, and other significant labor in support
of their families' activities. Young children in urban areas often
drove donkey carts and delivered water and building materials. In
keeping with longstanding tradition, many children served
apprenticeships in small industries and in the informal sector.
Reporting by some human-rights NGOs, including SOS Esclaves, strongly
suggested that domestic employment, often unpaid, of girls as young as
seven in wealthier homes was a growing problem. There was no child
labor in the modern industrial sector.
There was a labor inspectorate with the authority to refer
violations directly to the appropriate judicial authorities but the
eight regional inspectors and 30 inspector/controllers lacked the basic
resources, such as transport and office equipment, needed to enforce
existing child labor and other labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The nationally mandated minimum
monthly wage for adults, which was not enforced, was $77 (21,000
ouguiya), which did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family.
The standard, legal, nonagricultural workweek could not exceed
either 40 hours or six days without overtime compensation, which was
paid at rates that were graduated according to the number of
supplemental hours worked. Domestic workers and certain other
categories could work 56 hours per week. Employees must be given at
least one 24-hour period of rest per week. The Labor Directorate of the
Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcement of the labor laws, but
in practice inadequate funding limited the effectiveness of the
directorate's enforcement.
The Government set health and safety standards, and the Ministry of
Labor was responsible for enforcing these standards, but did so
inconsistently due to inadequate funding. In principle workers could
remove themselves from hazardous conditions without risking loss of
employment, but in practice they could not.
__________
MAURITIUS
The Republic of Mauritius is a constitutional, parliamentary
democracy of approximately 1.2 million citizens governed by a prime
minister, a council of ministers, and a national assembly. In July 2005
the Social Alliance, led by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, defeated
the coalition between the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) and the
Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) in national elections judged by
international and local observers to be free and fair. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. The following human rights problems were reported: police
abuse of suspects and detainees; prison overcrowding; violence and
discrimination against women; abuse of children; children in
prostitution and child labor; some restrictions on workers in the
Export Processing Zone (EPZ).
The most serious human rights challenge facing the country was
police abuse of detainees and suspects.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces killed one detainee in police custody. On January 14,
Rajesh Ramlogun died while in custody of officers of the Major Crime
Investigation Unit (MCIU). The Deputy Commissioner of Police
investigated the case and reported that the cause of death included
violent actions by the MCIT. Charges against three of the seven MCIT
officers involved were dropped; the case against the remaining four was
still pending at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there continued to be reports of police abuses.
On September 15, local media reported that a 16-year-old detainee
at the Correctional Youth Center was placed in solitary confinement and
forced to sleep naked on the floor for 48 hours. One detainee died in
the custody of MCIT officers on January 14 (see Section 1.a.).
Disciplinary actions have not yet been taken against three police
officers who in 2005 assaulted a man accused of being a drug addict.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) established that there was
a case for a breach of the Code of Discipline. The NHRC recommended
that an outside officer hear the case rather than a police officer from
the Office of the Commissioner of Police.
Out of the 179 complaints received by the NHRC, 116 were complaints
against police officers for physical brutality, verbal abuse, and other
offenses. Ten reports were sent to the Office of the Minister of Human
Rights for appropriate action. Five reports were referred to the
director of public prosecutions (DPP). The other cases were still under
investigation. The Complaints Investigation Bureau received 108
complaints against police officers for assault and one complaint for
corruption. Ten cases were referred to the authorities for follow-up
measures and the remaining cases were still under investigation.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, although there were reports of
drug abuse, commercial sexual activity, and overcrowding. The Central
Prison, which has a capacity of 677, held more than 1,000 prisoners.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of death due to
riots. According to the Commission of Prisons, 10 detainees died from
natural causes during the year.
Authorities separated prisoners deemed to be dangerous to the
prison population and placed them in a high-security prison. Behavior
of the prisoner rather than a conviction or a sentence determined
prisoner placement.
The Government permitted visits by independent observers including
the press, the NHRC, diplomats, and the UN. One nongovernmental
organization (NGO), actively involved in rehabilitating prisoners, was
among the 18 NGOs given permission to visit prisoners. The Government
permitted Red Cross Mauritius to hold regular training programs in the
prisons. For example, 25 prisoners from the Richelieu prison received
first-aid training on a part-time basis for six weeks. No prison
personnel have been trained thus far.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Mauritius Police
Force is a national force headed by a commissioner of police who has
authority over all security and police forces, including the Special
Mobile Forces, a paramilitary unit that shares responsibility with
police for internal security. The National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC), an independent organization, investigates allegations of police
abuses and may report such cases to the DPP, an independent entity.
There were reports of police corruption in the forms of bribery and
internal corruption within the force. Complaints could be filed either
directly through the Complaints Investigation Bureau or to the
Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC). In June a police
officer was arrested and formally charged after he was accused of
accepting a bribe. In September he was found guilty and sentenced to 12
months in prison.
The orientation training for all new police recruits includes a
segment on human rights. A refresher training course is required of all
lower and middle management officers who have completed five or 15
years of service. The two-week refresher course is carried out several
times every year.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law stipulate that
warrants be obtained for arrests; that the accused be read their
rights, including the right to remain silent and the right to an
attorney; and that the accused be brought before the local district
magistrate within 48 hours. Police generally respected these rights;
however, in some cases police delayed suspects' access to defense
counsel. Minors and those who did not know their rights were less
likely to be provided prompt access. Indigent detainees were provided
an attorney at state expense. A suspect can be detained for up to a
week, after which the issue of bail is brought before a magistrate.
Alternatively, if police concur, the accused may be released on bail
the same day as the arrest. Individuals charged with drug trafficking
may be detained for up to 36 hours without access to legal counsel or
bail.
In September Ras Natty Baby (Joseph Nicolas Emilien), a popular
seggae artist who was known for critical social commentary in his
music, was released after having been detained for three years.
Due to a backlogged court system, authorities occasionally held
prisoners in remand up to four years before they were tried. Time
served in remand did not apply to subsequent sentences. Approximately
22 percent of the prison population were pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
The country's judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, which
has appellate powers, and a series of lower courts. The Supreme Court
has a chief justice and six other judges who also serve on the court of
criminal appeal, the court of civil appeal, the intermediate court, the
industrial court, and 10 district courts. Final appeal may be made to
the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
The DPP determines which court hears particular cases based on the
severity of the crime and anticipated punishment. All crimes carrying
the death penalty or life imprisonment are sent to the Supreme Court,
crimes of a medium level of severity are sent to the intermediate
courts, and lesser crimes are heard before district courts.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public and juries are only used in
murder trials. Defendants have the right to be present and to consult
an attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is provided at public
expense when indigent defendants face serious criminal charges.
Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them or present
witnesses and evidence on their behalf in the district courts.
Defendants and attorneys have access to government-held evidence
relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence
and right of appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters. The constitution provides
for an ombudsman to investigate complaints from the public and members
of the parliament against government institutions and to seek redress
for injustices committed by a public officer or authority in official
duties.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. There were four daily and 12 weekly
newspapers and three private radio stations that offered diverse
political viewpoints and expressed partisan views freely. The
Government owned and regulated the domestic television network, but
international networks were available by subscription or via a cable
box.
The Government has the ability to counter press criticism by using
libel laws but did not use these measures.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was readily available and widely used by citizens.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Religious organizations that were present prior to independence,
such as the Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Presbyterian
Church, the Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and Muslims, are recognized
in a parliamentary decree. These groups also receive an annual lump-sum
payment from the Ministry of Finance based upon the number of adherents
as determined by the census. Newer religious organizations (which must
have a minimum of seven members) were registered by the Registrar of
Associations and were recognized as legal entities with tax-exempt
privileges, following application with the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Development to be recognized as a charitable institution. The
Government was not known to have refused registration to any group.
Foreign missionary groups were allowed to operate on a case-by-case
basis. Although there are no government regulations restricting their
presence or limiting their proselytizing activities, groups must obtain
both a resident permit and a work permit for each missionary. The Prime
Minister's office is the final authority on issuance of these required
documents to missionaries. While there are no limits on the ability of
missionaries to operate in the country, there are limits on the number
of missionaries permitted to obtain the requisite visas and work
permits. During the reporting period, the Government refused to grant
work and residency permits to two Mormon missionaries; however, at
least one other Mormon missionary received a work and residency permit.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Underlying tensions between
various ethnic and religious groups persisted, but there were no
violent confrontations during the year.
There were approximately 50 resident Jews, most expatriates, and
there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government had no need to provide protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or
asylum.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seekers by
donating money.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--According to international
and local observers, the July 2005 national elections were free and
fair, with the opposition Social Alliance defeating the ruling MMM-MSM
alliance.
There were 12 women in the 70-seat National Assembly, and there
were two female ministers in the 20-member cabinet.
Although historically the Hindu majority dominated politics, no
groups were excluded from the political system. Authorities required
candidates for the National Assembly to identify themselves with one of
four distinct ethnic groupings: Hindu, Muslim, Sino-Mauritian, or
general population. For these purposes, ``general population''
described primarily the Creole and Franco-Mauritian communities. Based
on these four categories, the 70-seat National Assembly had 42 Hindus,
19 members of the general population, eight Muslims, and one Sino-
Mauritian. Among the 20 members of the cabinet, there were 13 Hindus,
three Muslims, three members of the general population, and one Sino-
Mauritian.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of corruption in the legislative and executive
branches. The ICAC and the media were the primary outlets to report
acts of corruption. The Prevention of Corruption Act regulated such
complaints. The ICAC reported 33 complaints filed against police
officers: 16 investigations remained under way and 17 were discontinued
due to lack of substantiation. Of the three complaints of corruption
filed against immigration officials, one investigation was discontinued
for lack of substantiation.
The law provides for access to government information, and the
Government generally complied with requests.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were often cooperative and responsive to their views.
The NHRC is authorized to investigate abuses by any public servant
who was not already the subject of an inquiry by the DPP, the Public
Service Commission, or the Disciplined Forces Service Commission. The
NHRC had the authority to visit detention centers or prisons and to
assess and make recommendations on conditions. The NHRC tried to
resolve complaints through conciliation, but if that was unsuccessful,
it could forward cases to the DPP (if criminal in nature), to the
service commissions, or to the responsible authority in question. The
NHRC is composed of a commissioner, who must be a former judge of the
Supreme Court, and three other members.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported no international
organization or international NGO requests to access prisons. A large
number of domestic NGOs visited the prisons.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law specifically prohibit discrimination on
the basis of race, caste, place of origin, political opinion, color, or
sex, and the Government generally enforced these provisions. Some
societal discrimination occurred.
Women.--The law criminalizes domestic violence and provides the
judicial system with power to combat this problem; however, in practice
domestic violence against women, particularly spousal abuse, was a
major problem. Anyone found guilty of violating a Protection Order is
fined $833 (25,000 rupees) or faces a maximum of two years'
imprisonment. Many victims chose not to prosecute or report their
attacker, presumably due to cultural pressures. The law also
criminalizes the abandonment of one's family or pregnant spouse for
more than two months, the nonpayment of court-ordered food support, and
sexual harassment, although many women remained in abusive situations
for fear of losing spousal financial support. A magistrate has the
authority to order a spouse to pay child support, but there were
reports that some spouses stopped working to avoid payment.
The Sex Discrimination Division of the National Human Rights
Commission received 52 complaints, of which six related to sex
discrimination and seven related to sexual harassment. The cases
remained under investigation.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the police and
judicial system enforced the laws. Rape is punishable by up to eight
years' imprisonment.
Prostitution is illegal, but there were reports of prostitution.
There were no reports of the country as a destination for sex tourism;
however, there were instances of prostitutes targeting tourists in
addition to wealthy citizens.
Women played subordinate roles in society, and societal
discrimination continued; however, women had equal access to education,
employment, and government services. The Government had three times as
many women in parliament and twice as many female ministers than had
its predecessor.
The Sex and Discrimination Act affords women broadly defined wage
protections, and authorities generally respected the law in practice.
In the agricultural sector, the law protects women from being
forced to carry loads above certain weight limits; however, managers
determined remuneration by the amount that one was able to carry during
a period of time. As a result, women working in agriculture were often
paid less than men because they carried loads that weighed less.
Children.--The Government placed strong emphasis on the health and
welfare of children and displayed a commitment to expand educational
opportunities for children. The ombudsman for children's issues ensured
that the rights, needs, and interests of children were given full
consideration by government, private authorities, individuals, and
associations. The Child Development Unit of the Ministry of Women's
Rights was established in 1995 to enforce the Child Protection Act and
implement policies and programs with regard to the welfare and
development of children. The National Children's Council served as a
platform where government institutions and NGOs can work together.
The 2005 Education Act increased the age of free, universal, and
compulsory education from 12 years to 16 years. Authorities treated
girls and boys equally at the primary, secondary, and post-secondary
levels. Most children finished secondary education. More than 90
percent of primary students attended school.
The Government provided full medical care for both boys and girls.
The law criminalizes certain acts compromising the health,
security, or morality of a child, although the Government was unable to
enforce complete compliance with the law. Private voluntary
organizations claimed that child abuse was more widespread than was
acknowledged publicly. The state-funded National Children's Council and
the Ministry of Women's Rights, Family Welfare, and Child Development
administered most government programs. Both provided counseling,
investigated reports of child abuse, and took remedial action to
protect affected children.
Child prostitution was a problem, and the Government targeted the
practice as a law enforcement and prevention priority. There were
reports that some schoolgirls, independent of third party involvement,
engaged in prostitution for spending money (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to and from the
country; however, there were reports of children in prostitution within
the country. The Child Protection Act provides for up to 15 years'
imprisonment for trafficking in persons. The law defines child as under
age 18. There were reports that some schoolgirls voluntarily worked in
conjunction with prostitution rings and others were forced into
prostitution by family members. The Ministry of Women, Child
Development, and Family Welfare ran a hot line for reporting cases of
children in prostitution. Government officials and agencies in the
Ministry of Women's Rights, in the Attorney General's office, and in
the police department sought ways to prevent child prostitution and
prosecute cases. NGOs and the Government drop-in center provided
shelters, counseling, and education for victims of children in
prostitution.
In November the Center for Education and Development of Mauritian
Children, a local NGO, launched a booklet as part of its outreach and
awareness campaign. Since the December 2005 amendment of the Child
Protection Act to include a section on child trafficking, the Ministry
of Women's Rights, Child Development, and Family Welfare carried out
information campaigns for NGOs, high School students, women, and other
community leaders. In addition, three officers of the Ministry of
Women's Rights were trained in India on human trafficking in June. The
Police Unit for the Protection of Minors also carried out talks on
sexual abuse of minors and risk behaviors in high Schools and upper
primary schools. In November police officers who received training from
the International Law Enforcement Academy conducted a class at the
Police Training School on trafficking in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against people with disabilities, and the Training and Employment of
Disabled Persons Board effectively enforced it; however, the law does
not require that work sites be accessible to persons with disabilities,
making it difficult for persons with disabilities to fill many jobs.
There is no law mandating access to buildings for persons with
disabilities. The law requires organizations that employ more than 35
persons to set aside at least 3 percent of their positions for persons
with disabilities. There were no reports of overt discrimination in
employment, education, or in the provision of other state services
against persons with disabilities, including mental disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law explicitly protects the right
of workers to associate in trade unions, and workers exercised this
right in practice. With the exception of police, the Special Mobile
Force, and persons in government services who were not public officers,
workers were free to form and join unions and to organize in all
sectors, including in the EPZ (see Section 6.b.); however, the law does
give the authorities the right to cancel a union's registration if it
fails to comply with certain legal obligations. Approximately 350
unions represented 115,000 workers, and 13 major labor federations
served as umbrella organizations for smaller unions. The law prohibits
anti-union discrimination.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--According to
the Mauritius Labor Congress (MLC), labor unions are free to conduct
their activities without interference, and the Government protected
this right. The law protects collective bargaining, and workers
exercised this right. The National Remuneration Board (NRB), whose
chairman was appointed by the minister of labor, set minimum wages for
nonmanagerial workers, although most unions negotiated wages higher
than those set by the NRB. There were no cases in which union
activities were prohibited or limited by the Government.
The law provides for the right to strike, but the Industrial
Relations Act (IRA) requires a 21-day cooling-off period followed by
binding arbitration; in practice, this made most strikes illegal. The
Government has 21 days to respond to any labor dispute and refer it to
either the Permanent Arbitrary Tribunal or to the Industrial Relations
Commission. If the Government does not respond within 21 days, the
proposed strike can be carried out. The IRA states that worker
participation in an unlawful strike is sufficient grounds for
dismissal, but workers may seek remedy in court if they believe that
their dismissals are unjustified. The IRA grants the Prime Minister the
prerogative to declare any strike illegal if he considers that it
``imperils the economy.''
Foreign workers are covered equally by labor laws but language
problems interfered with exercising their rights. Those who
participated in strikes faced the possibility of deportation.
Authorities deported illegal foreign workers when they could be
identified.
National labor laws cover EPZ workers, although unions had
organized only 10 percent of EPZ workers. There are some EPZ-specific
labor laws, including the provision for 10 hours per week of mandatory
paid overtime at a higher wage than for ordinary working hours. Some
employers reportedly established employer-controlled work councils for
EPZ workers, effectively blocking union efforts to organize at the
enterprise level. Approximately 65,000 persons worked in the EPZ.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In
August the Government amended the Labor Act to raise the minimum
employment age from 15 to 16, eliminating the inconsistency with the
compulsory educational requirement through 16 years of age. The law
prohibits the employment of children between the ages of 16 and 18 from
work which is dangerous, unhealthful, or otherwise unsuitable for young
persons. While the Government generally respected this law, child labor
occurred. According to the law, the penalties for employing a child are
a fine of no more than approximately $72 (2,200 rupees) and a term of
imprisonment not to exceed one year.
Child labor occurred, as children were found working in the
informal sector as street traders, in small businesses, in restaurants,
and in agriculture. No cases of child labor were reported in the formal
sector of the textile or apparel industries. However, there are still
cases of children working in small apparel workshops (generally in
neighborhood or family businesses).
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for the enforcement of child
labor laws and conducted frequent inspections. The ministry employed 45
inspectors to investigate all reports of labor abuses, including those
of child labor. The ministry's inspections during the year identified
no cases of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government established
minimum wages, which varied by sector, and mandated that the minimum
wage rise each year based on the inflation rate. The minimum wage for
an unskilled worker in the EPZ was approximately $16 (517 rupees) per
week, while the minimum wage for an unskilled factory worker outside
the EPZ was approximately $21 (675 rupees) per week. Although these
wages did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family, the actual market wage for most workers was much higher due to
a labor shortage and collective bargaining.
The standard legal workweek in the industrial sector was 45 hours.
According to the MLC, 10 hours of overtime a week is mandatory at
certain textile factories in the EPZ (see Section 6.b.). In accordance
with the Labor Act, no worker is bound to work more than eight hours a
day, six days a week. Those who work more than their stipulated hours
must be remunerated at one and a half times the normal salary. Those
who work during their stipulated hours on public holidays are
remunerated at double their normal salary. For industrial positions,
workers are not permitted to work more than 10 hours a day. If the
worker has worked up to or past 10 p.m., the employer cannot require
work to resume until at least 11 hours have lapsed. These standards
were generally enforced. Unions have reported cases of underpayment for
overtime in the textile or apparel industries due to differences in
existing legislations and remuneration orders for the calculation of
overtime hours.
The Government set health and safety standards, and Ministry of
Labor officials inspected working conditions; however, the small number
of inspectors limited the Government's enforcement ability. Voluntary
employer compliance with safety regulations helped reduce the number of
occupational accidents, with the ministry reporting a general trend
downward in the number of industrial accidents over the past 10 years.
Workers had the right to remove themselves from dangerous situations
without jeopardizing their continued employment, and they did so in
practice.
__________
MOZAMBIQUE
The Republic of Mozambique is a constitutional democracy with an
estimated population of 19.9 million. President Armando Guebuza was
elected in December 2004 in what national and international observers
judged to be generally free and fair elections, despite some
irregularities. The Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO)
has been the ruling political party since independence in 1975, heavily
influencing both policymaking and implementation. While civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces, there were some instances in which elements of the security
forces acted independently of government authority.
Although there were improvements in a few areas during the year,
serious human rights and societal problems remained, including: police
use of excessive force resulting in unlawful killings and injuries;
lynchings and mob violence; extremely harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions, leading to several deaths; arbitrary arrest and detention;
lengthy pretrial detention; police harassment and arbitrary detention
of journalists; widespread domestic violence and discrimination against
women; abuse and criminal exploitation of children, including child
prostitution; trafficking in women and children; discrimination against
persons with disabilities and HIV/AIDS; child labor in the informal
sector and forced child labor; and poor enforcement of labor
legislation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Although the
Government or its agents did not commit any political killings during
the year, security forces committed unlawful killings. Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports of deaths due to torture by
security forces.
Excessive use of force and abuse by police remained problems.
Authorities often failed to take appropriate action to investigate
police violence and bring the perpetrators to justice. However,
authorities expelled and, in some cases, brought criminal charges
against dozens of officers for disciplinary offenses during the year.
On January 15, in Matola, policeman Antonio Alvaro shot and killed
unarmed civilian Julencio Gove, who was trying to persuade a group of
policemen to stop beating a young woman. Neighborhood residents who
witnessed the shooting demonstrated in front of the police station for
three days following the killing, complaining of frequent violence and
drunkenness among police. On January 19, the Ministry of the Interior's
(MOI) director of public order and security met with the residents and
announced that measures would be taken to clean up the Matola police
force. On January 20, authorities arrested Alvaro and announced that he
would be prosecuted for murder and expelled from the police force, and
that six policemen, including the station chief, had been transferred
to low-level jobs elsewhere in Maputo Province. There was no further
information available by year's end.
During the year police committed killings of suspects during
apprehension and of detainees in custody. On January 9, in Maputo,
police reportedly killed five members of a gang during a warehouse
raid. The gang had stolen money and goods from the warehouse. A sixth
member escaped. There was no further information available by year's
end. On March 17, in Maxaquene, police shot and killed Aguilas Nguila,
Samuel Nhambe, and Candido and Francisco Chimedza, who had escaped a
high security prison in Maputo, where they were being held for
suspected armed robbery. Police spokesperson Abilio Quive told
reporters that the police unit acted in self defense after the men
opened fire on them with guns hidden by an accomplice in an escape car.
On May 7, during an escape of more than 40 inmates from the Machava
Prison in Maputo city, police killed at least two prisoners. Despite
repeated attempts by the NGO Human Rights League (LDH) to visit the
prison, the MOI did not allow an independent investigation until nearly
two weeks after the escape. There was no further information available
by year's end.
On June 6, in Nampula, military police officer Artur Sitoe shot and
killed secondary student Silvino Lanquistone. The officer reportedly
detained Lanquistone because he was wearing boots that the soldier
believed belonged to another military officer. He opened fire at point
blank range after Lanquistone refused to go with him. Sitoe and three
policemen who allegedly did nothing to stop the shooting were arrested
and the case was sent to the Provincial Military Prosecutor. In October
a court sentenced Sitoe to 10 years' imprisonment. The case against the
remaining three policemen was ongoing at year's end.
On June 24, three members of the Presidential Guard, the police
unit charged with protecting the President, allegedly beat and shot to
death unarmed citizen Abdul Faruk Monteiro Daude after he disobeyed
orders to stop after hitting a Presidential Guard vehicle as he was
exiting a Maputo nightclub. Monteiro was reportedly pulled over and
handcuffed after voluntarily exiting his vehicle. The deputy minister
of the interior stated that the guards did not intend to kill Monteiro,
but that the case was under investigation by the Criminal Investigation
Police (PIC). On July 3, the PIC reported that one of the suspects,
Joaquim Rafael Mungamela, had been arrested for shooting Monteiro.
Mungamela remained in prison awaiting trial at year's end. It was
unclear whether any action was taken against the other officers
allegedly involved in the incident.
In September the murder trial of police who shot six gang members
in Matsinho, Manica in April 2005 began, according to the LDH. There
was no further update at year's end.
In October a judge in Manica Province sentenced eight policemen to
between three and 10 years' imprisonment for killing eight prisoners
between 2001 and 2005. Testimony given during the trial indicated that
the motive for the killings was to conceal information linking police
members to corruption, which was being investigated by the PIC and the
provincial ombudsman of Manica. Several of the convicted policemen
stated they had been ordered to kill the prisoners.
There were no developments in the 2005 police killings by alleged
torture of Joaquim Magaia, Antonio Tamale, and Pedro Chmabo. There were
no developments in the September 2005 police killing of a fleeing man
in Maputo.
Police authorities continued to withhold information as to whether
they were investigating the March 2004 incident in which police in
Matola shot and killed two suspected car thieves.
There continued to be reports of abuse by members of the Community
Policing Councils (CPC), nonstatutory bodies set up by the Mozambican
National Police (PRM) in many districts to prevent crime; however,
unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of killings.
The National De-mining Institute (IND) reported 7 mine-related
accidents, 8 injuries, and 6 deaths in the first five months of the
year. IND reported 23 mine-related accidents, 34 injuries, and 23
deaths in 2005. Of those killed, 10 were children. The Government
continued to cooperate with international organizations and donors as
well as commercial firms to clear suspected land mine areas, destroying
36,613 mines and 299 unexploded devices in 2005.
IND continued to train mine risk education agents, with the goal of
reducing the number of mine accidents and fatalities. In November 2005
IND trained 81 public administrators, teachers, nurses, community
authorities, traditional chiefs, rural extensionists, forestry
inspectors, policemen and officers, Social Welfare and Red Cross staff.
Through mine awareness lectures, IND reached 12,100 people.
During the year there was one high-profile killing by unknown
actors. On March 6, the body of Jose Gaspar Mascarenhas, an opposition
party deputy in the National Assembly, was found naked with several
gunshot wounds, including a shot in the forehead, near the beach in
Beira, Sofala Province. It was not clear whether the murder was
politically motivated. There were no further updates by year's end.
There were no developments in the October 2005 killing of the
director of the Maputo Central Prison in Boane District by unknown
assailants.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of deaths resulting
from clashes between political party supporters.
Lynchings and other killings by vigilante groups were widespread
during the year and represented a growing problem. The LDH linked the
increase in lynchings to the populace's belief that the justice system
cannot protect them and that the resulting mob justice is the only way
to reduce crime. On May 1, in the T3 neighborhood of Maputo, a mob
killed a suspected rapist by beating him and then placing a rubber tire
on top of him and setting it on fire. By the end of July, the newspaper
Noticias reported at least four other lynchings in T3. In August in the
Sao Damanso neighborhood of Maputo, a mob lynched two persons suspected
of witchcraft. Witnesses interviewed by television stations indicated
that some of the victims were immigrants of West African origin who had
been accused of using witchcraft to break into homes unnoticed to rape
women (see Section 5); however, the LDH could not confirm that victims
were immigrants. The LDH also reported incidents of mob justice in Gaza
Province. In one incident a cow thief was buried alive, while in
another village a suspected witch doctor was buried alive. While
nationwide statistics were not available, police officials estimated
that 18 lynchings occurred in October and November in and around Maputo
city.
There were no developments in the July 2005 attacks by a mob of
Wackenhut security guards on other guards.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the constitution and law prohibit such practices,
police continued to commit abuses. During the year human rights
advocates and media outlets reported complaints of torture and other
cruel treatment, including several instances involving the sexual abuse
of women, beatings, and prolonged detention. However, unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports of deaths resulting from police
torture.
The LDH reported eight cases of torture in prisons during the first
six months of the year, a significant reduction compared with previous
years; however, in April, there were reports that recaptured escapees
from Maputo's Central Prison were tortured; one hung himself.
Torture and other abusive treatment continued at the police
squadrons, particularly at Maputo's 13th Squadron, according to LDH.
During the year police detained seven persons from Swaziland and
confiscated necessary antiretroviral medicine to fight HIV from two of
the detainees; the police only returned the medicine following
intervention by LDH. There were no further updates in the case by
year's end.
In April security forces beat a foreign citizen for trespassing on
the grounds of a monument to Mozambican heroes. The monument area was
reportedly poorly marked. Security officials released the individual
when they realized he was an American.
In May Alexandre Emilio reported that police from Maputo's 12th
Squadron tortured him and several others to force their confessions.
The same month, in Gaza Province, the press reported that three police
officers at the Macuacua Administrative Post beat Generosa Anselmo
Cossa, a delegate of the leading opposition party Mozambican National
Resistance (RENAMO), with a stick. According to Cossa, the beating was
politically motivated and the perpetrators acted on the orders of the
chief of the administrative post and the chief of the police post.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that police
extorted Zimbabwean citizens who entered the country to sell goods
informally or sexually assaulted Zimbabwean women who did not have
money to pay bribes.
There continued to be reports of abuse and violence by members of
the CPC. In a May speech to the CPCs, the deputy minister of the
interior emphasized that they were not authorized to use force except
in self defense.
In June a group of security guards at Maputo's Central Hospital
denounced the hospital's administrator, Joao Tembe, to the Tribuna Fax.
They alleged that Tembe tortured them and incarcerated them in a
private cell inside the hospital. The newspaper reported the case of
Sergio Judas, who was allegedly handcuffed and spent the night in the
cell naked on Tembe's orders.
There were no developments in the other 2005 cases of torture by
security forces.
There were reports of violence between FRELIMO and RENAMO (see
Section 3).
There were reports of torture by vigilante groups during the year.
In July residents in Mavalane, Maputo Province, tortured and then
turned over to the police two members of the CPC, Aurelio Marcos and
Cremildo Mucavele, who had assaulted Deolinda Tamele, according to
press reports.
Unlike last year, there were no reports that police abused
prostitutes and street children.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
extremely harsh and life threatening.
Two National Directorates of Prisons, one under the Ministry of
Justice (MOJ) and the other under the MOI, operated prisons in all 10
provinces. In March the Council of Ministers approved a decree creating
a national Administration for Prison Services, which on May 17 subsumed
the 197 prisons under the MOI and the 14 prisons under the MOJ. The
Administration for Prison Services is under the MOJ, leaving the MOI
and the police responsible for the jails at police stations. The
restructuring was designed to improve prisoner rehabilitation.
Overcrowding of MOJ prisons remained a serious problem. LDH noted
that prisons habitually held three times the number of prisoners for
which they were built, and that in many prisons prisoners slept in
bathrooms, standing up, or in shifts. For example, the Central Prison
in Beira held 611 prisoners in a facility designed to hold 150. During
the first half of the year, LDH visited 104 prisons and detention
facilities, which held 10,376 inmates in facilities designed to hold
5,506 persons. During the year the Government invested $480,000 (12
million meticais) to improve infrastructure and living conditions at
the Nampula industrial penitentiary, which held approximately 500
prisoners. Following the renovations most prisoners, for the first
time, slept in beds with mattresses.
LDH found that more than 500 detainees in the Maputo Central Prison
(Machava) had been held beyond the 90-day preventive detention period.
In addition 120 prisoners remained in jail after the end of their
sentences. Of the facilities visited, six offered no medical care or
assistance. LDH described 35 facilities as ``physically inadequate.''
In detention facilities (previously managed by MOI) overcrowding did
not appear to be a serious problem. During the first half of the year,
LDH visited several police station detention facilities under MOI
control and noted that some detainees continued to be held beyond the
maximum police station preventive detention period of 48 hours.
Reports continued that most prisoners received only one meal per
day. Although by law prisoners were supposed to receive 500 grams of
food per meal, at the Brigada Operativa in Inhambane Province they only
received 250 grams of food per day. In Matola and Pemba, although there
were open jails where prisoners worked to grow food crops, prisoners
were not given the food they grew to eat. LDH reported that in Machava,
prisoners' meals consisted of peas and water, and that guards stole
rice, flour, oil, and soap intended for the prisoners, selling it
outside the prison. The press reported similar circumstances in Nampula
Province's Ribaue district. As a result, authorities suspended eight
employees from Maputo's Central Prison and the Ribaue prison's director
during the year. It was customary for families to bring food to
prisoners; however, there continued to be occasional reports that
guards demanded bribes in exchange for delivering food to the
prisoners. In 2005 the LDH identified five facilities where prisoners
relied entirely on outsiders for food: Ilha de Mocambique, Monapo,
Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia, and Palma.
There continued to be many reported deaths in prison, the vast
majority due to illness. A senior prison official of the Brigada
Operativa told the press that overcrowding was the main cause of
sickness and death among inmates. In many facilities, lack of
sanitation, potable water, and sufficient food also led to sickness. In
October four prisoners (some of whom were detainees awaiting trial) in
Manica Province were killed in a mudslide while performing prison labor
in a gold mine. Officials ordered an inquiry as to why detainees were
performing prison labor.
In July the press reported that Hamid Mateus Mikissene, who was
arrested and shot in June 2005 while both his feet and hands were bound
while at the Macate Administrative Post in Manica Province, was
crippled as a result of receiving no medical treatment during the
duration of his six months in prison.
There were no developments in the 2005 cases of prisoner deaths due
to neglect and beatings by prison wardens.
In a series of prison visits conducted during the first half of the
year, LDH found malaria, scabies, and tuberculosis to be frequent among
prisoners in nearly all of the country's prisons. LDH also found other
illnesses caused by malnutrition, including paralysis and blindness.
During the first half of the year, LDH found 47 persons with paralysis
at Machava Prison. Both healthy and sick prisoners regularly were kept
in the same cells. The spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases was a serious problem for the prison population.
In 2005 LDH reported a lower number of minors under the age of 16
held with adults from the general prison population than in 2004, the
result of action by child rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
However, according to a UN report, juveniles continued to be held with
adults during the year.Women were held in separate facilities from men.
In MOI facilities, detainees not charged continued to be held with
prisoners sentenced for ``maximum security'' offenses. In MOJ
facilities, detainees who had been charged but not tried continued to
be held with prisoners sentenced for ``moderate security'' offenses.
International and domestic human rights groups had access to
prisoners, although at the discretion of MOJ and MOI, and such visits
took place during the year. LDH noted continued improvement in the
MOI's openness to their prison visits, although following the
unification of the prison system, the MOJ had not responded to numerous
LDH requests for visits. The MOJ required LDH to provide it with the
date and agenda for intended prison visits in advance, especially in
Nampula. Exceptions were the Agricultural Penitentiary of Nampula,
where LDH was refused entry, and at the Maputo Central Prison after the
2005 murder and subsequent replacement of its former director. The LDH
noted a general improvement in prison officials' willingness to allow
LDH visitors to talk freely with prisoners without the presence of
prison wardens.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--While the constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, in actuality both practices
continued to occur.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Forces under the MOI,
including the PIC, the PRM, and the Rapid Intervention Force are
responsible for internal security. An additional security body, the
State Information and Security Service, reported directly to the
President. The armed forces are responsible for external security, but
in practice hold domestic security responsibilities as well.
The police continued to be poorly paid, despite an increase in pay
during the year. Trainee-level officers reportedly received
approximately $80 (2,000 meticais) a month, while those at higher rank
received approximately $100 (2,500 meticais) a month. Corruption and
extortion by police were widespread. Authorities often used violence
and arbitrary detention as a means of intimidation to keep persons from
reporting abuses. Police impunity remained a problem. The PIC was
criticized for being ineffective and, according to press reports, at
times PIC officers may have been transferred to prevent them from
making progress on some investigations.
Police regularly detained persons for arbitrary reasons and
demanded identification documents solely to extort payments. Many crime
victims reportedly avoided police assistance because of expected
demands for bribes and a lack of confidence that the police would help.
During the 12 months preceding April, the Maputo City Police Command
initiated disciplinary and criminal proceedings against 113 Maputo
policemen, expelling 28 of these from the force. The most common
reasons for disciplinary action, according to Maputo's police chief,
were collaboration with criminals, extortion of goods and money,
excessive alcohol consumption, and abandonment of post. During the year
the MOI expelled at least 160 police. However, the vast majority of
police who committed infractions were ``recycled,'' sent back to
school, and then transferred to a new unit. In the three months
preceding March, the MOI recycled 178 police. These police included
suspected criminals, thieves, and agents suspected of collaborating
with criminals. In August President Guebuza dismissed both the chief of
police and the chief of the Casa Militar (the Presidential security
detail). An August 2005 government-sponsored survey ranked the traffic
police and the police force as the country's most dishonest public
institutions.
Professional training for police officers continued during the
year; police officers formally trained at the police academy assumed
command of several police stations in Maputo from less trained
officers.
A strategic plan of action and modernization for the PRM, covering
the years 2003 to 2012, continued. Seven of its nine ``guiding
principles'' reflected respect for human rights. While the plan
acknowledged the problem of abuse of police powers, it made no specific
provision for ensuring greater accountability for such abuses.
Arrest and Detention.--Although the law provides that persons must
be arrested openly with warrants issued by a judge or prosecutor
(except persons caught in the act of committing a crime), police
continued arbitrarily to arrest and detain citizens. By law the maximum
length of investigative detention without a warrant is 48 hours, during
which time a detainee has the right to a judicial review of the case.
The individual may be detained another 90 days while the PIC continues
its investigation. When a person is accused of a crime carrying a
sentence of more than eight years, the individual may be detained up to
84 days without being charged formally. With court approval, such
detainees may be held for two more periods of 84 days each without
charge while the police complete the investigative process. The law
provides that when the prescribed period for investigation has been
completed and no charges have been brought, the detainee must be
released. In many cases the authorities either were unaware of these
regulations or ignored them, often also ignoring a detainee's
constitutional right to counsel and to contact relatives or friends.
The law provides that citizens have access to the courts as well as the
right to representation, regardless of ability to pay for such
services. However, due to a shortage of legal professionals, indigent
defendants frequently had no legal representation.
The bail system remained poorly defined. Prisoners, their families,
and NGOs continued to complain that police and prison officials
demanded bribes for releasing prisoners. The Government's Commission
for Strengthening the Law continued to attempt to address the problem
of overcrowding of jails and prisons by proposing a series of measures,
including converting sentences to fines, creating open prisons, and
suspending sentences for those sentenced to less than two years in
prison. Neither the National Assembly nor the Attorney General's office
publicly considered the commission's recommendations during year, and
none were implemented by year's end. During the year the press reported
on various alternative actions taken by the Government to reduce
overcrowding, including work brigades, conditional release for
prisoners who have completed half of their sentence, and traveling
tribunals.
There were reports that police harassed and arbitrarily detained
persons, including journalists, during the year (see Section 2.a.).
Government statistics indicated that 53 percent of inmates were
still awaiting trial. In addition, there continued to be reports of
detainees who spent longer in pretrial detention than the period of the
sentence they eventually received. By law a judge has 48 hours to
validate a detention in any proceeding; however, this statute often was
not enforced. For example, in January the publication Mediafax reported
that in the 8th and 10th sections of the Maputo Judicial Court there
were at least six persons being held beyond the preventive detention
period stipulated by law, including Henriques Banze and Ben Magaia,
both held since 2004; Alberto Curva, held since 2003; and Ramos Manamo
and Luis Ngovene, held since 2001. The publication indicated that the
problem was widespread in the judicial system.
In June 2005 the Commission for the Strengthening of the Law
ordered expedited trials for the estimated 755 prisoners in Sofala
Province, many of whom had been detained past their preventive
detention period.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the executive branch and the
ruling FRELIMO party heavily influenced an understaffed and
inadequately trained judiciary, particularly in the lower tiers. The
judicial system continued to suffer from a lack of transparency and
often did not comply with the principles of promotion and protection of
human rights. Approximately 112 of the country's 128 judicial districts
had functioning courts. A shortage of judges and qualified staff was a
major problem. In August Chief Justice Mario Mangaze told the media
that the country had only 36 percent of the judges and prosecutors
needed to administer justice effectively. There were 204 judges (or
approximately one per 100,000 inhabitants), 116 of whom held law
degrees as required by law for all judges appointed after 2000. By the
end of 2005, 3 percent of the 1,065 staff employed by the courts held
university degrees; 53 percent did not have secondary school diplomas.
Continuing problems included chronic absenteeism, unequal treatment,
low salaries, corruption, deliberate delays, and omissions in handling
cases.
he press reported that nine legal proceedings against judges and
MOJ officials took place during the year, which resulted in the
expulsion of two officials by year's end. Observers believed the
problem of unprofessional magistrate behavior was more severe than
reported. In December a survey of the judicial sector indicated that 10
percent of judges admitted that corruption existed in the judicial
system.
The President appoints both the Supreme Court President and vice
President. The Higher Judicial Magistrates' Council (CSMJ) prepares
Supreme Court nominations and submits a list of qualified potential
Supreme Court nominees to the President. Members of the CSMJ tended to
be either FRELIMO members or FRELIMO-affiliated. The President makes
all other judicial appointments.
There are two complementary formal justice systems: the civil
justice system and the military justice system. The Supreme Court
administers the civil system, and the Ministry of National Defense
administers military courts. Under the Supreme Court there are
province- and district-level courts, and each province has a Court of
Appeal. Cases in military courts may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Civilians are not under the jurisdiction of, or tried in, the military
courts.
There also are courts that exercise limited, specialized
jurisdiction, such as the Administrative Court, the Customs Court, and
the Maritime Court. The Constitutional Council is charged with
determining the constitutionality of laws and decrees, supervising the
electoral process, declaring and validating electoral results, and
ruling on electoral disputes. A separate court system exists for minors
16 years of age and younger. The Government may send minors to
correctional, educational, or other institutions.
Trial Procedures.--Persons accused of crimes against the Government
are tried publicly in regular civilian courts under standard criminal
judicial procedures. Members of the media may attend trials, although
space limitations prevented the general public from attending. A judge
may order a trial closed to the media in the interest of national
security or to protect the privacy of the plaintiff in a sexual assault
case. There is no trial by jury.
In regular courts all accused persons, in principle, are presumed
innocent and have the right to legal counsel and appeal; however,
authorities did not always respect these rights. Although the law
specifically provides for public defenders for the accused, such
assistance generally was not available in practice, particularly in
rural areas. In 2005 LDH reported that most citizens remained unaware
of this right, and many had no access to legal counsel. Some NGOs
continued to offer limited legal counsel at little or no cost to both
defendants and prisoners. Only judges or lawyers may confront or
question witnesses.
In June the revised civil code took effect, aimed at improving the
efficiency and efficacy of judicial processes. The code reformed the
ability of the Supreme Court to handle appeals against verdicts given
by lower courts, allowing the Supreme Court to throw out frivolous
appeals as soon as they are received. The code also includes provisions
for judges to issue a sentence orally at a trial rather than in
writing, ends the requirement for the Attorney General's office to
comment on every sentence, allows testimony to be recorded, and permits
videoconferencing.
Outside the formal court system, local customary courts and
traditional authority figures often adjudicated matters such as estate
and divorce cases. Respected local arbiters with no formal training
staffed customary courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no confirmed reports
of political prisoners; however, on May 9, RENAMO alleged that 10 of
its party members were being held as political prisoners in Mutarara
District in Tete Province. The detentions followed a May 31 clash
between RENAMO and FRELIMO supporters during a visit to Mutarara by
RENAMO Secretary General Ossufo Momade (see Section 3).
RENAMO continued to claim that all persons convicted and sentenced
in connection with the 2000 nationwide demonstrations alleging fraud in
the 1999 national elections were political prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although the law provides
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, in
practice the judiciary was subject to political interference.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
However, opposition party members alleged that government intelligence
services and ruling party activists continued without warrants to
monitor telephone calls, conduct surveillance of their offices, follow
opposition members, use informants, and disrupt party activities in
certain areas of the country, including in Cabo Delgado and Nampula
Provinces. By law police require a warrant to enter homes and
businesses and also to monitor telephone calls.
Although there were no national restrictions on the right to marry,
according to a press report school administrators in Muecate district
in Nampula Province forced single male teachers to marry during the
year, reportedly to mitigate the number of sexual assaults of female
students by teachers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Although the constitution and law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, in practice there were
restrictions on these rights. Police continued to harass journalists,
and journalists admitted that self-censorship was common. However,
according to the NGOs Reporters without Borders and Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA), press freedom continued to improve. During the
year, fewer journalists were detained, public functionaries were more
open with journalists, and the Government made greater efforts to
divulge information to the public than in previous years.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views. The Government maintained majority ownership in Noticias, the
main newspaper and the only daily with nationwide distribution.
Noticias, the daily Diario de Mocambique, and the weekly Domingo
largely reflected the views of the Government but also demonstrated a
willingness to critically examine government actions. The government-
run news agency, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, often printed
stories critical of the performance of government ministries or
agencies.
There were numerous private radio stations that operated throughout
the country. Radio Mocambique, which receives 60 percent of its
operating budget from the Government, was the most influential media
service with the largest audience in the country. While broadcasting
debates on important issues of the country, Radio Mocambique tended to
invite participants that were not critical of the Government.
MISA noted that the process for obtaining a radio operating license
was often long, convoluted, and politically biased. According to MISA,
the country required a new law clearly delineating the difference
between commercial and public radio.
The Government supplied 80 percent of the operating budget for
Televisao de Mocambique (TVM), the television station that broadcasts
to the largest percentage of the population. While TVM provided more
balanced news coverage than in previous years, it retained a strong
government and FRELIMO party bias.
On December 29, law enforcement officers with a warrant from the
Maputo City Court related to a $20,000 (500,000 meticais) severance pay
dispute seized an estimated $66,000 (1.6 million meticais) worth of
equipment from the private television station STV. NGOs, journalists,
and other civil society groups expressed suspicion that the seizure was
an attempt by the Government to crack down on the country's main
independent television station, which frequently criticized the
Government.
The international media were allowed to operate freely.
Police harassed and arbitrarily detained local journalists during
the year. On May 3, police in Manica Province under orders from Deputy
Prosecutor Jose Abede detained without charge journalists Sebastao
Canjera, Joao Mascarenhas, and Patreque Francisco of the privately-
owned newspaper Mabarwe. Abede ordered the arrest after an influential
local businessman accused the Mabarwe of libel. On May 10, local
authorities released the three journalists without charge. MISA
reported that the detentions were unlawful because the law does not
allow pretrial detention of individuals accused of libel.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
manhandled and threatened reporters. There were no developments in the
2005 harassment by police of reporters covering the return to the
country of Anibal dos Santos Junior. In January dos Santos Junior was
convicted in a retrial of the 2000 murder of investigative journalist
Carlos Cardoso and sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. In May the
public prosecutor's office charged businessman Nyimpine Chissano,
oldest son of former President Joaquim Chissano, with ``joint moral
authorship'' in the killing of Cardoso. The trial had not begun by
year's end.
There were no developments in the February 2005 detention of
journalists by police or the April 2005 assault of journalists by STV
security guards.
While defamation of the President is prohibited, it was not invoked
during the year.
According to MISA, there were four libel suits brought against
newspapers during the year. There were no updates concerning the seven
suits for defamation and libel against newspapers in 2005.
Newsprint and other printing supplies must be imported from South
Africa and the Government does not exempt these supplies from import
duties. Some newspapers found it more cost-effective to print in South
Africa and import the final product. Other journals are only published
in electronic versions, severely limiting their readership. Journals
printed on paper have limited readership beyond Maputo, due to high
transportation costs.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
While public access to the Internet continued to expand, particularly
in the larger cities, lack of infrastructure in the rural parts of the
country and installation costs limited overall use.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--While the Government
generally did not restrict academic freedom, there were reports that
teachers at the university, secondary, and primary school level felt
pressure to align themselves with FRELIMO, particularly in the central
and northern provinces. According to a press report, FRELIMO pressured
school teachers in Sofala Province to join the party during the year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of
assembly, there was at least one instance of authorities using force to
disperse a demonstration and another instance of authorities preventing
a demonstration during the year. While the law regulates public
demonstrations, it does not apply to private gatherings held indoors
and by individual invitation, nor does it affect religious gatherings
or election campaigning.
On February 7, riot police dispersed a peaceful strike in Maputo by
an estimated 150 employees of the Delta private security company.
Several arrests of protesters were reported.
On November 9, on orders from the Maputo City Council, police
prevented a group of RENAMO members from holding a legal demonstration
to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the 2000 asphyxiation deaths of
84 RENAMO members imprisoned following a demonstration about the 1999
elections. Press reports indicated that organizers submitted their
intention to hold the demonstration on October 31.
By year's end the Government had not followed through on its
December 2005 announcement to pay $48.2 million (1.2 billion meticais)
to the madjermanes, a group of approximately 15,000 citizens who worked
in the former East Germany until the early 1990s. The madjermanes
staged protests in 2003 and occupied the German Embassy in Maputo in
2004 demanding payment of benefits for their past work. Since 2004,
local authorities in Maputo city have prevented a group of madjermanes
from holding weekly marches in central Maputo.
There were no developments in the February 2005 investigation of
police beating of students during a peaceful demonstration in Nampula.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law generally provide
for freedom of association, although the Government imposed some limits
on this right. According to the law a political party is required to
demonstrate that it has no regional, racial, ethnic, or religious
exclusiveness and must secure at least 2,000 signatures to be
recognized (see Section 3). There were approximately 47 registered
political parties. A government decree regulates the registration and
activities of foreign NGOs. Nonpolitical foreign NGOs and religious
groups must register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation and are required to provide significant details on their
organization's projects, staffing, and finances. Domestic NGOs must
register with the MOJ. The registration process for foreign NGOs and
religious groups reportedly involved significant discretion on the part
of government officials and regularly took several months.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The law requires local religious institutions and
missionary organizations to register with the MOJ, reveal their
principal source of funds, and provide the names of at least 500
followers in good standing. The MOJ routinely granted registration to
applicants. The Christian Council of Mozambique, an umbrella
organization for several Protestant churches, reported that not all
religious groups registered but that unregistered groups worshipped
unhindered by the Government.
The constitution and the law governing political parties
specifically forbids religious groups from organizing political parties
and any political party from sponsoring religious propaganda as threats
to national unity.
The Catholic Church and some Muslim communities continued to
request the return of certain properties nationalized by the Government
in the years immediately following independence, including schools,
health centers, shops, and residences. According to the Office of the
Archbishop of Maputo, the Catholic Church sought the return of
approximately 100 facilities throughout the country and awaited an
agreement between the Vatican and the Government intended to regulate
the return of such properties.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among
religions were generally amicable. There were no reports of societal
abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts, reported during
the year. There was a very small Jewish population.
On February 17, the independent weekly newspaper Savana reprinted
eight of the 12 Danish cartoons that had sparked world controversy and
widespread condemnation by Islamic groups. In a violent protest staged
by approximately 120 Muslims in front of the newspaper's office
building that afternoon, protesters damaged property, and a Muslim
journalist reported that the mob attacked black Muslims advocating for
peaceful demonstrations and dialogue. The Government issued a statement
condemning the paper's decision to reprint the cartoons and underscored
the state's commitment to secular principles and religious freedom. On
February 19, the Savana editor-in-chief issued an apology on television
and stated that the publication of the cartoons was aimed only at
showing people the object of the controversy. Subsequent marches of
approximately 2,000 Muslims in Maputo on February 25 and March 4 were
peaceful.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--While the law provide for these rights,
the Government sometimes infringed upon them.
Traffic checkpoints are legal and under the jurisdiction of traffic
police. Checkpoints occasionally affected freedom of movement, and
according to press reports, authorities sometimes abused and demanded
bribes from citizens at checkpoints. In a speech to the public, the
general commander of the police recognized that some police stop and
charge motorists, in violation of the law, for personal gain. Police
sometimes stopped foreigners and ordered them to present original
passports or resident papers, refused to accept notarized copies, and
fined or detained those who failed to show proper documents. Police,
including members of CPCs, also routinely harassed, detained, and
extorted bribes from local citizens for failure to carry identity
papers.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protections to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum to
applicants from many countries in Africa, along with several from
outside the continent. The Government cooperated with the office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government continued to limit refugee movement within the
country. Refugees must request authorization to move outside the
geographic region in which they have been registered. In addition
refugees residing within the Marratane camp in Nampula Province must
request authorization to leave its boundaries, which has perpetuated
the extracting of bribes by officials.
By October the Government processed 254 cases for refugee status
determination (RSD) and retained a backlog in excess of 4,000 cases; in
2005 the Government processed only 150 cases. The backlog was primarily
caused by the requirement that the minister of the interior personally
approve every case and staffing shortages in the Institute of Refugee
Assistance.
Refugee camp conditions met minimal standards. Unlike in the
previous year, UNHCR reported no violent conflicts among rival
Congolese groups and between Rwandans and Congolese. In response to the
violence in 2005, UNHCR and a partner NGO conducted peace and
reconciliation activities to bring the communities closer together.
While the Government provided police security in the camp, UNHCR
recruited additional persons from within the camp to supplement the
generally ineffective government police force.
UNHCR focused its efforts during the year on assisting the
Government to improve efficiency in the RSD process by providing
training to government officials, financial aid to relevant ministries,
and a protection officer to work with the Government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 citizens elected
Armando Guebuza of the ruling FRELIMO party as President in the
country's third multiparty general elections. While domestic and
international observers noted that voting day procedures generally
followed international norms, they also documented irregularities in
parts of the country during the campaign season and in the subsequent
vote count. FRELIMO used significant state funds and resources for
campaign purposes, in violation of election law. RENAMO issued
complaints of election fraud to several agencies, including the
Constitutional Council. In January 2005 the Constitutional Council
affirmed Guebuza as the winner.
The Constitutional Council issued a series of nonbinding
recommendations for future elections, including the establishment of a
single, consolidated voter registration list (there were three in the
2004 election). Other remedies tracked closely with advice given by
national and international election observation groups, including the
European Union and Carter Center. On May 4, the FRELIMO majority in the
National Assembly moved to dissolve the ad-hoc committee established in
March 2005 to revise the country's electoral legislation. The decision
was made after the committee chair, Alfredo Camito, declared that the
group was at an impasse on the composition of the National Elections
Commission (CNE), one of numerous elections processes under review by
the committee. Responsibility for revising electoral legislation was
then charged to the Committee on Agriculture, Regional Development,
Public Administration, and Local Power in the National Assembly.
On December 20, the FRELIMO majority in the National Assembly
passed three new elections laws dealing with the CNE, voter
registration, and procedures for provincial and national elections.
RENAMO boycotted the vote in protest. The new CNE will have 13 members
(three from FRELIMO, two from RENAMO, and eight from civil society),
down from 19 during the 2004 national elections. The main task of the
CNE is to formulate a new voter registration roll in time for
provincial elections in 2007. The new voter registration law requires
voters to reregister once every five years and eliminates the
multiplicity of voter registers that characterized the 2004 elections.
The third law sets guidelines for provincial elections in 2007,
municipal elections in 2008, and national elections in 2009.
There were reports of violence between FRELIMO and RENAMO
supporters during the year. On June 9, RENAMO alleged that 10 of its
party members were being held as political prisoners in Mutarara
District in Tete Province following a May 31 clash between FRELIMO
supporters during a visit to Mutarara by RENAMO Secretary General
Ossuto Momade. According to a RENAMO spokesperson, a RENAMO convoy came
under attack by FRELIMO supporters carrying sticks and stones, and in
the ensuing clash one RENAMO supporter and eight FRELIMO supports were
injured; offices and homes of party officials were allegedly burned and
looted following the incident.
In October local authorities in Pemba, Cabo Delgado Province
conditionally released, without charge, 19 of the 21 RENAMO members who
had been detained illegally since September 2005 following riots
stemming from a disputed mayoral election in Mocimboa da Praia. Two of
the RENAMO members arrested following the riots reportedly died in
prison. In November, RENAMO leaders threatened to sue the Government
for detaining its members without charge or trial, but there were no
further updates by year's end.
There were 92 women in the 250-seat National Assembly. Women held
seven of the 24 ministerial positions and four of the 18 vice
ministerial positions. Luisa Diogo retained her role as prime minister.
Women held 30 percent of the seats on FRELIMO's 160-member Central
Committee and six seats on the 17-member Political Commission.
Members of many ethnic groups held key positions in both the
legislative and executive branches. There was no evidence that specific
ethnic groups were excluded.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was widely
perceived to be endemic. Low-level government officials used corrupt
practices to supplement low incomes, while high-level elites were
believed to employ corrupt practices to enhance their wealth,
consolidate their positions, and prevent competition. Corruption
largely resulted from a lack of checks and balances among the three
branches of government, minimal accountability of elected officials,
and a culture of impunity. In the 2005 government-sponsored Governance
and Corruption Survey, most respondents cited their unwillingness to
report corruption was because ``there is no protection'' for persons
who stand up to corrupt practices.
While the Government continued its strong anticorruption rhetoric,
and some mid-level officials were dismissed for alleged corruption, the
NGO Transparency International noted that corruption was perceived as
``rampant.'' In addition local NGOs and media groups observed that no
corruption cases involving high-profile individuals have been brought
to trial during the Guebuza administration. A study undertaken by the
anticorruption NGO Center for Public Policy indicated that customs
reforms undertaken since 1995 had reduced the levels of corruption in
the customs service.
In April the Government launched a National Anticorruption
Strategy; however, a September report submitted following a six-month
review of the strategy by 18 donor nations stated that there had been
``no progress on implementing the Government's anticorruption
strategy.'' The Central Office for the Combat of Corruption (GCCC)
functions as an autonomous unit under the Attorney General's office
with its own state budget and authority to hire additional permanent
full-time staff. Some observers continued to blame the judiciary for
hampering efforts by the Attorney General's office to fight corruption,
citing the low number of cases accepted by the court system.
According to the GCCC, from March to September prosecutors brought
charges in 17 cases of corruption, in which the state was robbed of
more than one million dollars (25 million meticais). In December the
National Civil Service Authority reported that from January to October
authorities expelled 191 public servants for various irregularities.
According to the Attorney General's annual report, between 2002 and
June 2005 the anticorruption unit (the predecessor to the GCCC)
received 128 corruption cases: 70 remained under investigation, 30
cases were in court, 15 were dropped, nine were sent to other
institutions for consideration, and four were appended to other cases.
Of those cases in court, none resulted in convictions by year's end.
There were several new cases of corruption reported during the
year. For example, in July, authorities under orders from the GCCC
detained a former senior official of the Bank of Mozambique, Adelino
Pimpao, and accused him of stealing $50,000 (1.2 million meticais) in
2004 and using the money to make payments to a fictitious institution.
There was no further update at year's end.
In October a court in Tete Province sentenced local treasurer Jose
Manjolo to 12 years' imprisonment for the theft of approximately
$10,000 (250,000 meticais) intended to provide food to people in the
province affected by the 2004 05 drought; the judge also ordered
Manjolo to repay the money.
In December police arrested Vasco Raiva, head of the Administration
and Finance Department of the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sport
in Niassa Province, on suspicion that Raiva stole $32,000 (800,000
meticais). The stolen money was part of a larger sum intended to
rehabilitate a sports stadium in the capital of Niassa.
During the year, the CSMJ continued its investigations of Cabo
Delgado judges Carlos Niquice and Hirondina Pumule for the alleged
extortion of one million dollars (25 million meticais) in exchange for
releasing from prison Portuguese businessman Amadeu Costa Oliveira in
September 2005.
There were no further developments in the 2005 investigations into
alleged corruption by government officials.
The NGO Etica Mozambique operated corruption reporting centers in
major cities to provide citizens a mechanism to anonymously report
incidences of corruption. However, management and resource constraints
severely limited their capacity to receive reports. From June to
December, Etica Mozambique received information on 28 cases of
corruption and transferred the cases to the MOJ. Only one of the 28
cases had gone to trial by year's end. Etica Mozambique also operated a
civic education campaign to help citizens identify and protect
themselves against corrupt officials or activities. The media continued
to be one of the main forces fighting corruption, reporting and
investigating numerous corruption cases.
There were no laws providing for the right of public access to
information, and in practice the Government restricted citizens' access
to public information.
The law requires that all members of the Government declare and
deposit their assets to the Constitutional Council, but does not
require that such information be made available to the general public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Although at times slow, government officials often
were cooperative and responsive. Registration procedures for NGOs often
were lengthy (see Section 2.b.).
While an independent ombudsman position to investigate allegations
of abuses, including human rights violations, by state officials was
created by constitutional amendment in 2005, an ombudsman had not been
named by year's end
Section 5. Discrimination, Social Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status, but in practice
discrimination persisted against women, persons with disabilities, and
persons with HIV/AIDS.
Women.--Although official statistics were not kept, reports
indicated that domestic violence against women, particularly spousal
rape and beatings, was widespread. The PRM received 5,042 reports of
violence against women during the year. In many circles women believed
it was acceptable for their husbands to beat them. Cultural pressures
discouraged women from taking legal action against abusive spouses.
There is no law that defines domestic violence as a crime, but laws
prohibiting rape, battery, and assault could be used to prosecute
domestic violence. During the year some NGOs called for a draft law on
domestic violence.
In August a 15-month survey on violence against women, conducted by
the Government, the UN, and several NGOs beginning in June 2005 in
Maputo city and the provinces of Maputo, Sofala, Manica, Zambezia, and
Nampula, was released. The report revealed that 54 percent of women who
responded admitted suffering an act of physical or sexual violence by a
man at some point in their lives, 37 percent in the last five years and
21 percent during the past year.
On December 9, police in Tete Province arrested Antineco Chibewa
for the murder of his 36-year old wife. According to press reports,
Chibewa confessed that he killed his wife because she was too old and
might interfere with his relationship with a younger woman. The case
was pending at year's end.
A 2005 survey by Project Hope of 255 women in Zambezia Province
found that 61 percent of women identified more than one justification
for a husband to hit his wife. Many of those surveyed agreed that a man
was justified in hitting his wife if she goes out without telling him
(48 percent), if she neglects the children (47 percent), if she argues
with her husband (36 percent), if she refuses sex (30 percent), and if
she burns the food (24 percent).
The Government and NGOs worked together to promote women's rights.
Women and children's units in the police force were expressly concerned
with the issue of domestic violence. Of the 18 police squadrons in
Maputo, 16 had Women and Children's Centers, which provided assistance
in cases of physical and sexual assault, including domestic abuse.
The law prohibits rape but not spousal rape. Penalties ranged from
two to eight years if the victim is 12 years of age or older, and eight
to 12 years if the victim is under the age of 12. While there were no
official estimates as to the extent of spousal rape, it commonly was
regarded as a problem. The rape law was not effectively enforced, and
trials rarely occurred. According to NGO reports, many families
preferred to settle such matters privately through financial
remuneration rather than through the formal judicial system.
Kukuyana, a national network of women living with HIV/AIDS,
reported that many women were expelled from their houses and/or
abandoned by their husbands and relatives because they were HIV
positive. They also reported that some women who were widowed by HIV/
AIDS were accused of being witches who purposefully killed their
husbands to acquire their belongings, and for this reason these women
were deprived of all of their belongings.
Prostitution is legal, although several laws against indecency and
immoral behavior govern prostitution and restrict it to certain areas.
The practice was widespread and particularly prevalent along major
transportation corridors and in border towns where long-distance
truckers stayed overnight. Young women without means of support were at
the greatest risk for being drawn into prostitution.
Sexual harassment is illegal; however, it is considered pervasive
in business, government, and the education sector. Although no formal
data existed, the media reported numerous instances of harassment
during the year.
Forced marriage of girls and women was a problem.
With the exception of some ethnic and religious groups, the groom's
family provided a dowry to the bride's family, usually in the form of
livestock, money, or other goods. For Muslims, the bride's family
usually paid for the marriage and provided gifts. These exchanges
contributed to violence and other inequalities, due to the perception
that the women subsequently were ``owned'' by the husband.
The Family Law, which took effect in 2005, raises the age of
marriage to 18 for both sexes, eliminates husbands' de facto status as
heads of families, and legalizes civil, religious, and common law
unions. While the law does not recognize new cases of polygyny, it
grants women already in polygynous marriages full marital and
inheritance rights. The law more precisely defines women's legal rights
with regard to property, child custody, and other issues. However, over
a year after the law went into effect, the majority of women remained
uninformed about it.
Customary law was still practiced in many parts of the country. In
some regions, particularly the northern provinces, women had limited
access to the formal judicial system for enforcement of rights provided
under the civil code and instead relied on customary law to settle
disputes. Under customary law, women have no rights to the disposition
of land.
The law grants citizenship to the foreign-born wife of a male
citizen but not to the foreign-born husband of a female citizen.
Women continued to experience economic discrimination, and women in
the workplace often received lower pay than men for the same work.
Children.--The Government's focus on children's rights and welfare
increased during the year, but significant problems remained.
Education is compulsory through the age of 12, but enforcement of
compulsory education laws was inconsistent due to the lack of resources
and the need for additional schools. Public education is free, but most
families paid enrollment fees for each child and purchased books,
uniforms, and other school supplies. Children who have a certificate
that testifies that their parents' incomes are below a certain poverty
level are exempt from fees, but for most families, fees and associated
costs remained a significant financial burden.
During the year, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 83
percent of children were enrolled in school, primary school enrollment
reached 3.8 million, and secondary school enrollment increased from
45,000 to approximately 245,000 since 1992. However, at least 650,000
children remained out of school, and completion rates for primary
school students were below 50 percent for boys and 30 percent for
girls. A report released by the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy
for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa in December found that nearly
25 percent of children between the ages of seven and 18 either have
never been to school or did not currently attend. Although joint
government/NGO initiatives worked in specific localities and districts
to improve girls' school attendance, it remained lower than that of
boys. Primary schools remained overcrowded, and approximately 70
percent of them lacked adequate sanitation.
Sexual abuse in schools remained a serious and common problem.
According to the Center for Public Integrity, secondary school students
often paid teachers in exchange for a spot in a class or better grades;
boys paid with money and girls with money or sex. The press continued
to report on sexual abuse of female students in schools, primarily by
teachers. Over a ten-week period from the beginning of June to mid-
August, Save the Children and Actionaid registered 30 cases in which
girls or their family members reported sexual abuse. In August the
education administrators of one municipal district in Maputo, together
with the NGO IBIS, launched a campaign against sexual abuse of minors
in schools. In the same month, the National Teachers' Organization
began a campaign against sexual abuse in schools.
There continued to be reports in newspapers of physical abuse of
students by teachers during the year.
During the year, students at a public boarding school in Inhambane
reportedly abused incoming students by forcing them to bathe in feces
and urine and to have homosexual relations with each other.
Several cases of fathers sexually abusing their daughters were
reported during the year.
The Government took steps to address the problems facing HIV/AIDS
orphans in the country. In 2005 it was estimated that one in every five
households cared for at least one orphan. UNICEF estimated that of the
country's 1.6 million orphans, more than 380,000 lost either one or
both parents to HIV/AIDS. Several government agencies, including the
Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women and Social Action,
implemented programs to provide health assistance and vocational
education for HIV/AIDS orphans.
The Family Law sets the minimum age for civil marriage at 21 years,
although persons between the ages of 18 and 20 could marry with
parental consent. Despite the law, local customs, primarily in the
northern provinces and in Muslim and South Asian communities, created a
pattern of marriage below the legal age. The NGO Mulheid and others
worked to combat this custom through education campaigns on the dangers
of the practice, including the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Exploitation of children below the age of 15 continued, and child
prostitution remained a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking). The law
prohibits pornography, child prostitution, and sexual abuse of children
under 16. Persons engaged in child prostitution, use of children for
illicit activities, child pornography, child trafficking, or forced or
bonded child labor could be punished by prison sentences and fines. In
practice perpetrators of these crimes rarely were identified and
prosecuted, and punishment was not commensurate with that of the crime.
While the law prohibits the access of minors to bars and clubs, the
Government did not have adequate resources to enforce the law
effectively.
The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation and labor
remained a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a problem, principally in the rural areas (see
Section 6.d.).
The country continued to have a problem with street children, but
no nationwide figures were available. In 2004 the NGO Rede de Crianca,
comprised of 33 community organizations that work with youth in Maputo,
identified 3,419 street children in their programs.
Zimbabwean children, many of whom entered the country alone, were
particularly vulnerable to abuse. Due to their illegal status, they
faced labor exploitation and discrimination and were harassed by
authorities on both sides of the border. They lacked protection due to
inadequate documentation and had limited access to schools and other
social welfare institutions. Coercion of girls into the sex industry
was common.
The Maputo City Office of Women and Social Action continued its
program of rescuing abandoned orphans and assisting single mothers who
headed families of three or more persons. They also offered special
classes to children of broken homes in local schools. NGO groups
sponsored food, shelter, and education programs in all major cities.
Trafficking in Persons.--There were numerous reports of persons
trafficked from and within the country. Although the law does not
prohibit trafficking in persons, traffickers could be prosecuted using
13 related articles of the penal code on sexual assault, rape,
abduction, and child abuse.
Persons were trafficked both internally and to South Africa. A
local NGO reported that each month up to 100 Mozambican and Swazi
children were trafficked along the tri-border area to Johannesburg. The
head of the PRM's Department of Women and Children reported 68
registered cases of trafficked children during the first six months of
the year. The majority of victims were women and children, and they
were trafficked for both sexual exploitation and forced labor. Boys
were trafficked as laborers on South African farms. Trafficking victims
came from both urban and rural backgrounds. Poverty, a history of child
migration, and weak border controls all contributed to trafficking.
In April 2005 the International Organization for Migration
conducted an inquiry that indicated women continued to be trafficked
from the country and sold to mine workers at a mining district west of
Johannesburg, known as the West Rand. Taxi drivers commuting between
the two countries recruited young women from rural areas such as Macia
and Chokwe in Gaza Province, as well as Maputo. The highway running
through Maputo was another major recruiting ground for traffickers.
Child prostitution appeared to be most prevalent in Maputo,
Nampula, Beira, and at border towns and overnight stopping points along
key transportation routes. Child prostitution reportedly was growing in
the Maputo, Beira, and Nacala areas, which had highly mobile
populations and a large number of transport workers. Child prostitution
was reported in Sofala and Zambezia Provinces. Some NGOs were working
with prostituted children by providing health care, counseling, and
training in other vocations.
Traffickers were principally citizens or South African, but
involvement of Chinese and Nigerian syndicates was also reported.
Trafficking groups included small networks of citizens based in Maputo
and Nampula, and there were reports that organized crime groups were
involved. Traffickers often lured victims by promising better jobs in
South Africa. Once there, they were threatened with exposure of their
illegal status and forced to work for little or no pay. Often women
were sexually assaulted en route to their destination or once they
arrived in South Africa.
The Government's law enforcement efforts increased over the
previous year, though a paucity of training resources hindered greater
efforts. In March the MOJ signed an agreement with an NGO to jointly
draft anti-trafficking legislation. During the year the MOI conducted
anti-trafficking training for almost 90 police officers in three
provinces, after which the officers conducted public awareness
campaigns for community police and school leaders; however, such
training has not been extended force-wide. Many lower-ranking police
and border control agents were suspected of accepting bribes from
traffickers.
During the year police broke up several trafficking schemes,
apprehending at least nine traffickers and rescuing more than 90
victims. For example, in February police arrested six men attempting to
traffic 43 people across the South African border. In March the
country's first trafficking case was prosecuted, resulting in the
conviction of Jose Vasco Ngulele and Armando Rafael for kidnapping and
attempting to sell a 13-year-old boy; the two were sentenced to eight
and nine months in prison respectively.
In November 2005 police in Manica Province arrested Antonio Joao
Catine for selling 35 children as farm laborers; 18 of the children
have been recovered, and police investigations were ongoing at year's
end.
There were no developments in other 2005 trafficking cases.
The Government's efforts to protect victims of trafficking
continued to suffer from a lack of resources, and government officials
regularly called on NGOs for assistance in the provision of shelter,
food, counseling, and rehabilitation. In 2005 the MOI expanded the
number of Offices for Attending to Women and Child Victims of Violence
from 84 to 96, and provided victims' assistance training for police
officers who dealt with such cases; some of these offices provided
emergency shelter and food for trafficking victims.
On May 2, the civil society organization Civic Education Forum
(FECIV) opened the country's first permanent shelter for trafficking
victims in Moamba. The Moamba District government donated 20 hectares
of land to be used to grow food for the shelter. During the ceremony
FECIV announced it would start screening for victims of trafficking
among the 800 to 1,000 illegal immigrants repatriated by South African
immigration authorities, on average, every two weeks.
The Kulaya Healing Center in the Maputo Central Hospital assisted a
small number of trafficking victims with medical care and counseling
for up to three months each.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution and law
stipulate that citizens with disabilities shall fully enjoy the same
rights as all other citizens, the Government provided few resources to
implement this provision. Discrimination was common against persons
with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and
in the provision of other state services. The law does not mandate
access to buildings for persons with disabilities. The Ministry of
Public Works and Habitation worked to ensure that public buildings in
Maputo city provided access to persons with disabilities, although
enforcement was lacking in the provinces. Electoral law provides for
the needs of voters with disabilities in the polling booths.
Concerns of persons with disabilities included lack of access to
socioeconomic opportunities and employment, limited accessibility to
buildings and transportation, and a lack of wheelchairs. Special access
facilities were rare. There were few job opportunities for persons with
disabilities in the formal sector.
A Ministry of Women and Social Action (MWSA) representative
emphasized that persons with disabilities often were victimized by
their own families, who hid disabled family members in their homes and
kept them from going to school. The Association of Parents and Friends
of Mentally Disabled Children reported that families sometimes hid
their mentally disabled children, and that during visits the
organization found two families in Mossuril kept their mentally
disabled children chained.
The head of the Ministry of Health's Mental Health Program
recognized that the Government had a responsibility for the mentally
ill, but stated that the psychiatric hospital lacked the means to
guarantee even basic nutrition, medicine, or shelter. Disabled veterans
continued to complain about not receiving their pensions.
MWSA is responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities. In April MWSA hosted the second National Conference on
Disabilities in coordination with the Forum of Associations of Disabled
Mozambicans. At this conference, MWSA announced a four-year National
Action Plan in the Area of Disabilities, which was approved by the
Council of Ministers on April 18.
Public transportation authorities in Maputo began offering free bus
passes persons with disabilities during the year.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of tension
between newly arrived Chinese guest workers, often used in
construction, and citizens in Maputo city and Beira, Sofala Province.
There were reports of violence and discrimination by police against
Zimbabwean immigrants during the year (see Section 1.c.).
There were reports of mob lynchings of West African immigrants
during the year (see Section 1.a.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS, and the Ministry of Labor
intervened in cases of perceived discrimination by employers. The NGO
Pfunani reported that although the law protects citizens with HIV/AIDS
from discrimination in the workplace, persons infected with HIV/AIDS
suffered discrimination at home, in their communities, and in the
workplace, and that many workers preferred to keep their diagnosis a
secret and not seek treatment to avoid risking losing their jobs. In
November the news daily Canal de Mocambique reported that some
businesses obliged workers to take HIV/AIDS tests twice a year and, in
most cases, publicly revealed test results. The report also noted that
individuals who tested positive often were fired.
The law does not specifically address discrimination against
homosexuals, and there were occasional reports of discrimination.
Actions were taken by media and civil society groups during the year to
promote the rights of homosexuals. In July a major newspaper published,
for the first time, an article arguing in favor of homosexual rights.
In the article, prominent journalist Emilio Manhique editorialized that
homosexuals ``have a right to be different.'' In October the LDH
organized the country's first seminar on homosexual rights. The two-day
event proposed the creation of an official homosexual rights
association, recommended the inclusion of information on sexuality in
the school system, and criticized the censorship of homosexual issues
in the media.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide that
all workers are free to join a trade union of their choice without
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised
these rights in practice. Labor laws guaranteeing the right of
association do not cover government employees. As of December the
Mozambican Workers' Association (OTM) estimated that of the
approximately 500,000 workers in the formal sector 103,000 were
unionized. Some unions alleged that the OTM was under the influence of
FRELIMO.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, there were
reports that many companies continued to engage in antiunion
discrimination by replacing persons at the end of contracts, dismissing
workers for going on strike, and not abiding by collective bargaining
agreements.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Although the
law provides for the right of workers to organize and engage in
collective bargaining, collective bargaining contracts covered less
than 2 percent of the work force. The Government did not set private
sector salaries. Unions were responsible for negotiating wage
increases.
The law explicitly provides for the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right in practice; however, civil servants, police,
military personnel, and workers in other essential services (including
sanitation, firefighting, and health care) do not have the right to
strike. Repeated government promises to amend the law to provide full
organizing and collective bargaining rights to public officials
remained unfulfilled. There were 15 registered labor strikes from
January to October. The law specifies that strikers must notify police,
the Government, union, and employers 48 hours in advance of intended
strikes. The law forbids retribution against strikers, the hiring of
substitute workers, and lockouts by employers.
Workers in the small number of export processing zones were subject
to the same labor regulations as other workers, and worker rights in
these zones generally were respected in practice.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children, and while there
were few reports that such practices occurred in the formal economy,
forced and bonded labor, particularly by children, was common in rural
areas (see Sections 5, 6.d., and 6.e.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law prohibits child labor, it remained a problem. In the
formal economy, the minimum working age without restrictions is 18
years of age. The law permits children between 15 and 18 to work, but
the employer is required to provide for their education and
professional training and ensure conditions of work are not damaging to
their physical and moral development. Children between the ages of 12
and 15 are permitted to work under special conditions authorized
jointly by the ministries of labor, health, and education. For children
under the age of 18, the maximum workweek is 38 hours, the maximum
workday is seven hours, and they are not permitted to work in unhealthy
or dangerous occupations or those requiring significant physical
effort. Children must undergo a medical examination before beginning
work. By law children must be paid at least the minimum wage or a
minimum of two-thirds of the adult salary, whichever is higher.
Although the law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, a
2004 05 survey by the National Statistics Institute showed that 32
percent of children between the ages of seven and 17 were involved in
some form of economic activity. Many children in rural areas were
forced to work, particularly in commercial agriculture, as domestics,
and in prostitution. The major factors contributing to the worst forms
of child labor were chronic family poverty, lack of employment for
adults, breakdown of family support mechanisms, the changing economic
environment, lack of education opportunities, gender inequality, and
the impact of HIV/AIDS. Children, including those under the age of 15,
commonly worked on family farms independently in seasonal harvests or
commercial plantations, where they were paid on a piecework basis and
picked cotton or tea leaves. During the year the Eliminating Child
Labor in Tobacco Foundation issued the results of a study conducted
during the latter months of 2005 to measure the incidence of child
labor in the tobacco growing industry in Tete and Niassa provinces. The
study found that 80 percent of tobacco farms employed children, and the
majority of these children were under age 15. In the urban informal
sector children performed such tasks as guarding cars, collecting scrap
metal, working as vendors, and selling trinkets and food in the
streets.
Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS often were forced to work because
they were left without family support.
The Ministry of Labor regulates child labor in both the informal
and formal sectors. Labor inspectors may obtain court orders and use
police to enforce compliance with child labor provisions. Violations of
child labor provisions are punishable with fines ranging from one to 40
monthly salaries at minimum wage. Enforcement mechanisms generally were
adequate in the formal sector but remained poor in the informal sector.
The Labor Inspectorate and police forces lacked adequate staff, funds,
and training to investigate child labor cases, especially in areas
outside of the capital where a majority of the abuses occurred.
Although the Government provided training for police on child
prostitution and abuse (including pornography), there was no
specialized child labor training for the Labor Inspectorate. The
Government disseminated information and provided education about the
dangers of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In June the Government granted a
13 percent increase in the statutory minimum wage for industry and
services bringing it to approximately $58 (1,440 meticais) per month.
The Government granted an 11.5 percent increase in the minimum wage in
the agricultural sector bringing the monthly total to $40 (1,020
meticais). Despite the increase, which was slightly above the 9.4
percent inflation rate reported during the year, neither minimum wage
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Although
the industrial sector frequently paid above minimum wage, there was
little industry outside of the Maputo area. In addition less than 10
percent of workers held salaried positions, and the majority of the
labor force worked in subsistence farming. Many workers used a variety
of strategies to survive, including finding a second job, maintaining
their own gardens, or depending on the income of other family members.
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage
rates in the private sector and the Ministry of Planning and Finance in
the public sector. Violations of minimum wage rates usually were
investigated only after workers registered a complaint. Workers
generally received benefits, such as transportation and food, in
addition to wages.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours but can be extended to 48
hours. After 48 hours, overtime must be paid at 50 percent over the
base hourly salary. Overtime is limited by law to two hours per day and
100 hours per year. Foreign workers are protected under the law.
Worker complaints continued during the year concerning: employers
deducting social security contributions from wages but failing to pay
them into accounts; lack of access to the social security system; not
adhering to the law concerning firings; and intimidation of union
members.
There were no developments in the May 2005 investigation in Nampula
into worker complaints of beatings, arbitrary firings, forced labor
while sick or injured, and extremely low wages in several private
companies, particularly the Ramiane Sisal Company.
In the small formal sector, health and environmental laws were in
place to protect workers; however, the Ministry of Labor did not
effectively enforce these laws, and the Government only occasionally
closed firms for noncompliance. There continued to be significant
violations of labor legislation in many companies and services. Workers
have the right to remove themselves from work situations that endanger
their health or safety without jeopardy to their continued employment;
in practice threats of dismissal and peer pressure restricted this
right.
As of mid-September, the Ministry of Labor reported 62 labor
accident victims, 40 of whom were temporarily incapacitated and 22 were
permanently incapacitated. While the law imposes fines for recurring
accidents, no fines were imposed during the year. The law also requires
that companies insure workers, but Ministry of Labor estimates
indicated that only between 50 and 60 percent of companies actually
provided coverage.
__________
NAMIBIA
Namibia is a multiparty, multiracial democracy with a population of
2,030,000. On March 21, Hifikepunye Pohamba became the country's second
democratically elected President; Pohamba was elected in November 2004
and replaced Sam Nujoma, the country's first President and leader of
the ruling South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).
International and domestic observers agreed the 2004 general elections,
in which SWAPO won three-quarters of the national assembly seats, were
generally free and reflected the will of the electorate despite some
irregularities. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. Human rights
problems included: unlawful killings, torture, beatings, and abuse of
criminal suspects and detainees by security forces; overcrowded
prisons; prolonged pretrial detention and long delays in trials;
government attempts to curb media and nongovernmental (NGO) criticism;
violence against women and children, including rape and child abuse;
discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, and indigenous
peoples; and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces killed persons during the year. The Government took
action against some perpetrators.
On January 21, police shot and killed Collen Goliath after he was
caught trying to break into the offices of the Ministry of Labor.
Goliath and an unidentified accomplice fled the scene and police fired
several warning shots, one of which ricocheted off a burglar bar and
struck Goliath in the chest. The police officer was under investigation
at year's end.
On January 30, seven police officers from the southern town of
Keetmanshoop allegedly beat five men suspected of theft. One of the
suspects, Makarius Iikali, died from injuries; another suspect, Ben
Basson, jumped from the first floor of the police building during
interrogation but survived with serious injuries and was treated at a
local hospital. The surviving suspects alleged that police assaulted
them with batons and used an electric device to shock them. On February
23 and 24, police officers Marthinus Punye, Johannes Mushelenga,
Niklaas Hoaseb, Heidi Dean, Jacobus Otto, Cyroll Serogwe, and Daniel
Nicodemus were charged with murder. The trial was ongoing at year's
end.
On May 27, in Okakarara, Linus Muhimba died while in police custody
awaiting trial. Local police claimed that Muhimba fell from the ceiling
through which he was trying to escape; however, representatives from
the National Police Force (NAMPOL) discovered extensive bruising on
Muhimba and cellmate John Muhenje and begun investigation into the
death.
There were no developments in the 2005 police killings of Hilda
Tjitana and her grandmother, Albertina Tjitana by Constable ``Kalisto''
Mukeve; and of Marvin Tseib by Detective Ferdinand Jacobs.
Unlike in previous years, there were no deaths that resulted from
unexploded ordnances; however, persons were injured by them (see
Section 1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
police frequently used excessive force, including torture, when
apprehending, interrogating, and detaining criminal suspects. Despite a
police directive that prohibited the use of sjamboks (heavy leather
whips), security forces continued to use them. The Government took
action against some perpetrators.
Suspects in the Caprivi treason trial complained of intimidation
and humiliation while in detention.
On February 17, two off-duty members of the Okahao Police's Special
Field Force (SFF) constables Amadhila and Kamanya allegedly led a mob
in the assault of two women accused of witchcraft, Nashipolo Agashe and
Rachel Kapolo. On March 29, Constable Amadhila and four others
implicated in the attack were arrested; Kamanya was not arrested
because her involvement was being investigated. The case was ongoing at
year's end.
On May 2, police sergeant Sakeus Amuele and three civilians
Mutilifia Keeleleni, Andreas Nghiwhekwa, and Nakanyala Akuunda were
arrested and charged with assault and kidnapping after they allegedly
chained and beat Hofenie Angomo Ikolola with sjamboks at a village near
Ondangwa to force him to confess to housebreaking and theft. The case
was ongoing at year's end.
There were reports that the SFF paramilitary units used excessive
force. On March 2, members of the SFF police unit and the Namibian
Defense Force (NDF), who were sent to Mariental to maintain law and
order after a flood, randomly assaulted residents of the town.
Residents filed charges; an investigation was pending at year's end.
During the year two ethnic Mafwe claimed that their testimony in
the Caprivi treason trial was made under duress (see below and section
1.e.).
On February 24, the court postponed the case against police
officers Geoffrey Scott, Willem Dax, and Dawid Fy, who in July 2005
allegedly tortured Ralph Cloete, a suspected thief.
There were no developments in the January 2005 cases of Elihana
Nghimwenas and Pakratius Kawana, who respectively filed civil
complaints against the police for torture.
Human rights groups continued to report on ongoing civil court
cases filed by individuals against the Government as a result of
alleged security force abuses during the 1999 secessionist attacks (see
Sections 1.d. and 1.e.). During the year five of the 120 previously
reported civil cases were settled out of court and 115 were pending at
year's end.
Unlike in previous years there were no reports of sexual misconduct
by its peacekeepers on UN missions.
Mob violence occurred; however, unlike in the previous year, no
deaths resulted (see above).
During the year civilians were injured as a result of contact with
unexploded ordnances. For example, on January 4, two men were injured
by a hand grenade while herding goats near Otjiu village.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons and detention
centers were overcrowded and poorly maintained. During the year the
ombudsman conducted a review of police holding cells and noted poor
sanitary conditions, overcrowding, insufficient food supplies, unsafe
infrastructure, stagnant water, lack of access to medical care
facilities and potable water, and insufficient bathroom and shower
facilities. The ombudsman also noted police stations were understaffed
and that officers could not tend to detainees in addition to their
regular police duties. Victims of prison abuse were able to pursue
legal remedies.
Some detainees were held with convicted prisoners. In many rural
areas juveniles continued to be held with adults. There were several
pilot programs that provided alternatives to incarceration for juvenile
offenders, such as placing youths in homes. The NGO Criminals Return
into Society also offered a number of rehabilitation programs to build
vocational skills. The Polytechnic of Namibia also conducted an
entrepreneurship training program at most prisons in the country.
Although the Government continued to grant NGOs regular access to
prisons and prisoners, during the year there was no published review of
prison conditions in the country. In May the International Committee
for the Red Cross (ICRC) closed its local office and responsibility was
transferred to the ICRC Regional Delegation Headquarters in Harare,
Zimbabwe.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest or detention; however, security forces did
not observe these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, including
the paramilitary SFF, are under the Ministry of Safety and Security,
and the NDF is under the Ministry of Defense. All are responsible for
internal security. NAMPOL has 10,000 members and is highly centralized
with regional commands responsible to the inspector general of police,
who reports to the minister of safety and security. Approximately half
of NAMPOL's overall complement is assigned to the SFF, a paramilitary
unit made up primarily of combatants from the former People's
Liberation Army of Namibia. SFF members were assigned to guard duty,
checkpoints, and the maintenance of public order. NAMPOL lacked the
resources, training, and personnel to deter or investigate street crime
consistently.
During the year the police received human rights training designed
by the Legal Assistance Center (LAC) and some officers attended
training programs with human rights components at the International Law
Enforcement Academy in Gaborone, Botswana. Although some security force
members accused of abuse and corruption were arrested and tried in
military courts or the civilian criminal justice system, the Government
took no action against others.
During the year the Government took action against corrupt
officials. The police's Special Branch Commanding Officer Lottinelomba
Uusiku and Finance Division Commanding Officer Joseph Kamati were
investigated for fiscal impropriety. During the year the two officers
were suspended pending the verdict of their corruption trial. Their
docket was delivered to the prosecutor general, and by year's end the
two officers remained on suspension.
Arrest and Detention.--Persons arrested must be informed of the
reason for their arrest and brought before a magistrate within 48 hours
of their detention, but the Government did not always respect these
provisions in practice. Arrest warrants were not required in all cases,
such as if a suspect was apprehended during the commission of a crime.
Those accused are entitled to defense by the legal counsel of their
choice, and those who cannot afford a lawyer are entitled to state-
provided counsel. In practice many accused persons in remote and rural
areas were not represented by counsel, primarily due to lack of
resources. Prisoners generally had access to legal counsel and family
during regular visiting hours. Detainees had access to their lawyers
prior to trial. There is a functioning bail system, and the LAC
reported that it generally was observed except in rural areas, where
persons often were unaware of their legal rights. Under a state of
emergency, the constitution permits detention without trial, although
the names of detainees must be published in the Government's gazette
within 14 days, and an advisory board appointed by the President must
review their cases.
On occasion authorities held detainees incommunicado.
During the year there were reports that family members were denied
access to detainees. For example, the relatives of the two witnesses
forced to testify in the Caprivi trial claimed they were denied access;
the Government stated that it had sequestered the individuals for their
security.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of arbitrary
arrest and detention.
During the 1999 state of emergency declared in response to Caprivi
Liberation Army (CLA) attacks in Katima Mulilo, security forces
detained several hundred suspected CLA members and sympathizers, most
of whom were released after two weeks. Trial proceedings began in 2003
in Grootfontein and were moved to Windhoek in 2005, where they resumed
and continued during the year. At year's end 131 suspects remained in
detention in Windhoek, 12 of whom were extradited from Botswana and
Zambia in 2002 and 2003. All were charged with treason.
The Government remunerated persons who were arbitrarily arrested in
the past. For example, on June 14, the High Court awarded $10,000
(N$65,000) in damages to Ethiopian national Dereje Demmse Getachew, who
was illegally arrested in 2004 and held in detention for three months.
A trial must take place within ``a reasonable time,'' or the
accused must be released; however, lengthy pretrial detention was a
problem. The lack of qualified magistrates and other court officials,
the high cost of legal aid, and slow or incomplete police
investigations resulted in a serious backlog of criminal cases, which
often translated into delays of up to one year or more between arrest
and trial. Human rights organizations have criticized lengthy pretrial
detentions. At the time of the Ombudsman's visit to police holding
cells nationwide during August and September, there were 2,950
detainees awaiting trial.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and while the courts continued to act
independently and at times made judgments and rulings critical of the
Government, the judicial system was hampered by inefficiency and a lack
of resources. In September nearly all of the country's magistrates
received human rights training in a week-long seminar conducted by the
University of Namibia.
The formal court system has three levels: 30 magistrate courts; the
High Court; and the Supreme Court. The latter served as a court of
appeals and constitutional review court. Customary courts heard most
civil and petty criminal cases in rural areas. The law delineates which
offenses may be dealt with under the traditional system.
Most rural citizens first encountered the legal system through the
traditional courts, which deal with minor criminal offenses such as
petty theft and infractions of local customs among members of the same
ethnic group. The law delineates role, duties, and powers of
traditional leaders and provides that customary law is invalid if it is
inconsistent with provisions of the constitution.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, with a presumption of innocence until proven guilty,
but this right was limited by long delays in hearing cases in the
regular courts and the uneven application of constitutional protections
in the traditional system (see Section 1.d.). The law provides for
public trials, but not juries. Defendants are presumed innocent, can
confront witnesses, and have the right of appeal. The state provides
attorneys for indigent defendants.
During the year procedural problems continued to dominate the high
treason trials of detainees arrested in connection with the 1999
attacks on government institutions at Katima Mulilo (see Section 1.d.).
For example, the defendants contested the legitimacy of any local court
to try them, contending that Caprivi is not part of the country.
On July 31, two ethnic Mafwe witnesses, Harrison Muleta Kwala and
Gabriel Matengu Sakutiya, appeared in court on charges of perjury and
obstruction of justice for denying statements they had made to
investigators in the Caprivi treason trial. The two claimed their
statements were obtained under duress inflicted by security forces.
Several state witnesses in the Caprivi treason trial were allegedly
kept at two guesthouses in Windhoek for four months during the trial.
Human rights activists charged that the men were not allowed to move
around freely and that the prolonged sequestering amounted to
intimidation of the witnesses; however, the Government claimed it had
sequestered the witnesses for their safety. Their relatives complained
to a local human rights body that they were denied access to the
detainees.
In response to a UN investigation into sexual misconduct by
peacekeeping troops in Liberia, the Government recalled three
peacekeepers in 2005 and launched its own inquiry. During the year the
soldiers were cleared of any wrongdoing.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees; however, numerous persons were held
on treason charges.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides all citizens with the right
to privacy and requires arresting officers to secure a judicial warrant
before conducting a search; government authorities generally respected
these rights in practice. Violators were subject to legal action.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and while the Government generally
respected these rights, high-level government officials sometimes
responded to criticism of the Government and ruling party with verbal
abuse. Journalists working for the government-affiliated media
practiced self-censorship, although reporters for independent
newspapers continued to criticize the Government openly.
There were four daily national newspapers, three of which were
independent, and two weekly newspapers, both of which were independent.
The Government contributed financially to the New Era newspaper and the
Namibia Press Agency, both parastatals. The ruling SWAPO party owned
one publication, Namibia Today.
The Government owned and operated the Namibian Broadcasting
Corporation (NBC) Radio and Television. NBC television and nine radio
services, that broadcast in English and indigenous languages, were the
most widely heard and influential media in the country. During the year
there were reports of government influence on NBC operations and
editorial content as well as self-censorship by the staff. There were
11 private radio stations. There were two private television networks,
One Africa TV and MultiChoice Direct Satellite TV, and a private cable
and satellite television service that broadcast international news and
entertainment programs. The ruling SWAPO party owned 51 percent of this
direct satellite television service.
During the year Minister of Information Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
reprimanded the media for publishing a letter that criticized former
President Nujoma. The minister also called on NBC to control the
content of talk shows in which callers criticized former President
Nujoma, the ruling party, and the Government.
During the year former President Nujoma filed a libel suit against
The Namibian newspaper for a series of articles that characterized
Nujoma as corrupt.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail and
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
While Internet access was unrestricted, usage was limited in rural
areas due to poverty.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a very small Jewish
community; there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally enforced these rights in
practice; however, the Government reportedly has a bilateral agreement
with Cuba that limits the freedom of travel of Cuban assistance
professionals working in the country through Cuban bilateral
assistance. These Cubans are not allowed to travel within or from the
country without consent from the Cuban Embassy, which holds the
passports of these professionals.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees, although the country is not a
signatory to its 1967 Protocol; the Government has established a system
for providing protection to refugees. In practice the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee status or
asylum. The Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees. The Government also provided temporary protection to certain
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and 1967 Protocol.
Approximately 6,000 refugees resided in Osire Refugee Camp and
another 500 lived outside the camp among the general population.
Approximately 4,500 of the refugees were from Angola; the others
primarily were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and
Rwanda. The Government generally did not permit refugees and asylum
seekers to work or live outside the Osire refugee camp. Education
through grade 10 was available to all refugees at the camp, and the
Government facilitated further secondary education for students with
financial sponsorship at schools outside the camp. Some tension with
local farmers persisted, fueled by frequent intrusion of refugees into
farmers' properties. On March 30, the Government launched an initiative
to provide antiretroviral therapy to refugees infected with HIV/AIDS.
The Government continued to maintain strict control over civilian
access to the Osire refugee camp; however, the ICRC, the UNHCR, and the
UNHCR's NGO partners had regular and unrestricted access to the camp.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and
parliamentary elections were held in November 2004. SWAPO candidate
Hifikepunye Pohamba was elected President with 76.4 percent of the
vote; SWAPO won 55 of 72 elected National Assembly seats. International
and domestic observers characterized both elections as free and
reflecting the will of the electorate despite some irregularities.
Observers criticized the inefficient vote tabulation system and the
unequal access to media coverage and campaign financing. In the
National Assembly, six opposition parties won a total of 17 seats.
During 2005 opposition parties challenged the results of the 2004
parliamentary elections, which resulted in a court-ordered recount. The
recount produced the same parliamentary seats for all parties but
failed to allay some opposition concerns regarding irregularities. The
Republican Party subsequently launched another court challenge of the
recount, which remained pending before the high court at year's end.
Women held 20 seats in the 78-seat National Assembly. There were
six female ministers, including the deputy prime minister, and five
female deputy ministers among the 45 ministerial and deputy ministerial
positions.
Historic economic and educational disadvantages limited the
participation of the indigenous San ethnic group in politics; however,
a member of the San community represented the SWAPO party in the
National Assembly. Virtually all of the country's other ethnic
minorities were represented in parliament and in senior positions in
the cabinet. Members of smaller ethnic groups held the offices of
deputy prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The law prohibits
corruption; however, it was a problem. Government institutions
including the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman,
and the Office of the Auditor General were in place to combat public
corruption. President Pohamba continued to encourage the nation to be
vigilant against corruption and to report financial impropriety to the
authorities. The President often publicly reiterated his support for
the Anti-Corruption Commission.
During the year the Government took action against corrupt
officials. For example, on September 17, police working with the Anti-
Corruption Commission arrested Deputy Director of Wildlife Management
Sackey Namugongo, who faced charges of issuing fraudulent gambling
licenses.
There were notable cases of malfeasance in several of the country's
parastatals. Reports of corruption in the Roads Contractor Company, the
National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia, Game Management Division of
the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and the Ministry of Health and
Social Services received widespread media coverage and were being
investigated by government agencies at year's end.
Gerry Munyama, the former director general of NBC who was suspended
in November 2005 for alleged embezzlement, was released on bail during
the year and his case remained pending.
No laws provided for public access to government information, but
the Government generally provided such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases; however, government
officials continued to disapprove publicly of NGO criticism of the
ruling party and government policies. NGOs continued to criticize
government policies freely. During the year human rights organizations
noted greater openness by the Government to opposing viewpoints. For
example, President Pohamba met with civil society and NGO leaders
during the year, including some deemed to be antigovernment.
During the year the ICRC closed its local offices, however visits
by the ICRC and other international NGOs occurred during the year.
There was an autonomous ombudsman, with whom the Government
cooperated; he was considered effective in addressing some corruption
and human rights problems.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
creed, gender, or religion, and specifically prohibits ``the practice
and ideology of apartheid''; however, the Government did not
effectively enforce these prohibitions.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including beating and
rape, was widespread. Traditional attitudes regarding the subordination
of women exacerbated problems of sexual and domestic violence. Domestic
violence is against the law, and the law defines rape in broad terms
and allows for the prosecution, of spousal rape. The penalties for rape
ranged from five years to 45 years imprisonment, and the Government
generally enforced the law. Numerous rapists were prosecuted during the
year. In some magistrates' courts, there were special courtrooms to
protect vulnerable witnesses from open testimony; the courtrooms
featured a cubicle made of one-way glass and child-friendly waiting
rooms.
There were 15 women and children protection units staffed with
police officers trained to assist victims of sexual assault. During the
year the People's Education, Assistance, and Counseling for Empowerment
Center and other NGOs continued to provide training to these units. The
media continued to report on rape and domestic violence.
The law does not prohibit prostitution, and it occurred.
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was a problem.
The law prohibits discrimination against women, including
employment discrimination; however, men dominated positions in upper
management. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and the Employment
Equity Commission, which report to the minister of labor, were
responsible for problems involving discrimination in employment;
however, neither was effective due to the backlog of cases. The law
prohibits discriminatory practices against women married under civil
law, but women who married under customary (traditional) law continued
to face legal and cultural discrimination. Traditional practices that
permitted family members to confiscate the property of deceased men
from their widows and children still existed. During the year the Legal
Assistance Center successfully litigated on behalf of several widows
and orphans who were victims of property grabbing; most cases were
settled out of court.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare was responsible
for advocating for women's rights. The Ministry of Justice's Law Reform
and Development Commission advocated for women's rights in legislation.
Children.--The law enumerates children's rights, including those in
the area of education and health, and the Government dedicated
approximately 21 percent of its budget for education and 9 percent for
health care. However, resource constraints and untrained support staff
resulted in inadequate attention to child welfare. During the year the
Government passed the Children Status Bill that provides for equal
treatment of children born outside marriage, and regulates custody,
guardianship, and inheritance. This legislation for the first time
grants children born outside marriage the right to inherit from their
parents. Civil society opposed a provision in the act whereby if
parents of a child born outside of marriage cannot agree on the primary
custodian of the child, the child would be without a legal custodian
and guardian. At year's end the court was ruling on the matter.
Although the constitution provides children with the right to
primary and junior secondary education (grades one to 10), the numerous
fees, which included fees for uniforms, books, boarding costs, and
school improvement, placed a heavy burden on students' families and
precluded some children from attending school. Education was compulsory
until the age of 16. The country has a net school enrollment rate of 94
percent for grades one through seven and of 93 percent for grades one
through 10. In general, more girls than boys were enrolled in secondary
schools. Many San children did not attend school.
During the year the Government took several steps to provide
medical care and other assistance to the approximately 108,500 HIV/AIDS
orphans and other vulnerable children. For example, the Government
reduced or eliminated school fees and provided social grants.
Child abuse was a serious problem, and authorities vigorously
prosecuted crimes against children, particularly rape and incest. The
law protects children under 18 years of age by criminalizing sexual
exploitation, child pornography, and child prostitution. The age of
sexual consent is 16 years. During the year the Government continued to
provide training for police officials to improve the handling of child
sex abuse cases. Centers for abused women and children worked actively
to reduce the trauma suffered by abused children.
During the year Supreme Court Judge of Appeal Pio Teek was
acquitted on charges of attempted child molestation. In 2005 Teek was
forced to resign to face the charges.
Child prostitution occurred, and parents as well as perpetrators
were liable in such cases. The growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans
increased the vulnerability of children to sexual abuse and
exploitation.
Numerous children orphaned by HIV/AIDS engaged in prostitution as a
means of survival.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking
in persons, and there were no reports of persons being trafficked to,
from, or within the country; however, child prostitution occurred. The
law also prohibits slavery, kidnapping, and forced labor, including
forced prostitution, child labor, and alien smuggling. Traffickers were
subject to fines of up to $166,000 (N$ one million) or up to 50 years'
imprisonment.
Child prostitution occurred (see Section 5 children).
Persons With Disabilities.--While discrimination on the basis of
disability is not addressed in the constitution, the law prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment.
Enforcement in this area was ineffective. Societal discrimination also
persisted. The Government does not legally require special access to
public buildings for persons with disabilities, and some ministries
remained inaccessible to them. Although some municipal governments have
installed ramps and special curbing for persons with disabilities at
street crossings, physical access for those with disabilities remained
a problem. Disability concerns continued to receive greater public
attention than in previous years, with wider press coverage of the
human rights problems that confront persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Despite constitutional
prohibitions, societal, racial, and ethnic discrimination persisted.
Many citizens continued to complain that the Government was not moving
quickly enough to provide education, health, housing, employment, and
access to land. Some citizens continued to accuse the Government of
providing more development assistance and professional opportunities to
the majority Ovambo ethnic group. There also were reported cases of
black farm workers suffering discrimination in remote areas at the
hands of white farm owners.
On January 12, the High Court found unconstitutional the Walvis Bay
Municipality exclusion of white persons from bidding for open plots
during a municipal property auction in 2003.
Indigenous People.--The San, the country's earliest known
inhabitants, historically have been exploited by other ethnic groups.
By law all indigenous groups participate equally in decisions affecting
their lands, cultures, traditions, and allocations of natural
resources; however, the San and other indigenous citizens have been
unable to exercise these rights fully as a result of minimal access to
education, limited economic opportunities, and their relative
isolation. The Government took measures to end societal discrimination
against the San, including seeking their advice about proposed
legislation on communally held lands and increasing their access to
education. During the year the deputy prime minister repeatedly sought
to raise awareness about the needs of the San. Despite these measures,
many San children did not attend school. In 2004 the LAC filed charges
on behalf of 18 members of the San community against more than 20
communal farmers who allegedly beat them after accusing the San of
stock theft. After the case had been postponed for lack of evidence on
numerous occasions, in May the LAC abandoned the civil case and opened
several criminal cases. NGOs reported a decrease in complaints that the
San were unable to obtain proper identification documents; however,
problems continued due to lack of birth records and lack of government
officials with the necessary language skills.
The Government has authority to confer recognition or withhold it
from traditional leaders, even in opposition to local preference. This
authority was controversial because of the local leaders' influence on
local events, including local police powers. In some cases the
Government withheld recognition from genuine traditional leaders for
political reasons. For example, the Government recognized traditional
leaders from the Mafwe community, reportedly because their leaders were
close to SWAPO; however, the Government had not recognized leaders of
the Khwe in West Caprivi or the Herero in several other regions
throughout the country.
During the year 40 Herero chiefs, who were not officially
recognized by the Government as traditional authorities, sent a
petition to the UN and several western governments to protest what they
viewed as ongoing marginalization by the Government.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination of
homosexuals occurred. During the year senior government officials
continued to make disparaging public remarks about homosexuals or used
the word ``homosexual'' as an epithet. For example, Sam Nujoma the
SWAPO President and former President of the country, reportedly called
the director of the National Society for Human Rights and members of
the Shabeen Owners Association ``homosexuals'' for criticizing
government action on the closure of illegal shebeens. His remarks
sparked wide criticism in the media and by human rights groups.
Observers believed the slur generated greater societal pressure on
homosexuals and undermined the human rights organization.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the
freedom to form and join trade unions without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The law provides a process for employer recognition of trade unions and
protection for members and organizers.
Farm workers and domestic servants working on rural and remote
farms often did not know their rights, and unions experienced obstacles
in attempting to organize these workers. As a result, farm workers
reportedly suffered abuse by employers. They also had poor access to
health care. During the year the Government continued efforts to train
labor inspectors and educate workers on their rights.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination. There were no instances
of companies failing to reinstate workers who were fired for union
activities.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides employees
with the right to bargain individually or collectively and to recognize
the exclusive collective bargaining power of the union when a majority
of the workers were members of that union; workers exercised these
rights in practice. Collective bargaining was not practiced widely
outside the mining, construction, agriculture, and public service
sectors. Almost all collective bargaining was at the workplace and
company level. The Ministry of Labor cited lack of information and
basic negotiation skills as factors hampering workers' ability to
bargain with employers successfully.
Except for workers providing essential services, such as jobs
related to public health and safety, workers have the right to strike
once conciliation procedures are exhausted and 48-hour notice has been
given to the employer and labor commissioner. Legal strikes were
conducted during the year. Under the law, strike action can be used
only in disputes involving specific worker interests, such as pay
raises. Disputes over worker rights, including dismissals, must be
referred to a labor court for arbitration. The law protects workers
engaged in legal strikes from unfair dismissal. The law also
specifically protects both union organizers and striking workers from
employer retaliation; however, the scarcity of judges and lack of
expertise in labor law caused lengthy and unnecessary delays in such
cases. Legal strikes were conducted during the year.
There are export processing zones (EPZs) at the Walvis Bay and
Oshikango industrial parks and a number of single-factory EPZs outside
of these parks. The law applies to EPZs, and unions have been active in
the EPZs since their establishment.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there
continued to be media reports that farm workers, including some
children on communal farms, and domestic workers often received
inadequate compensation for their labor and were subject to strict
control by employers. Given the ministry of labor's resource
constraints, labor inspectors sometimes encountered problems in gaining
access to the country's large communal and family-owned commercial
farms to investigate possible labor code violations.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace;
however, child labor continued to be a problem. Criminal penalties and
court orders were available to the Government to enforce child labor
laws, but such action involved a complicated legal procedure. Under the
law, the minimum age for employment is 14 years, with higher age
requirements for night work and in certain sectors such as mining and
construction. The minimum age was inconsistent with the age for
completing education requirements (see Section 5). Children below the
age of 14 often worked on family-owned commercial farms and in the
informal sector, and some also worked in communal areas.
Child prostitution occurred (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws
and investigates child labor as part of its regular labor inspections.
Approximately five complaints of child labor were lodged with the
ministry during the year.
The Ministry of Labor's National Initiative to Eliminate the Worst
Forms of Child Labor continued its baseline study of the extent of
child labor in the country. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Child
Welfare conducted several programs aimed at encouraging parents and
guardians to allow children to attend school.
The Government has introduced several programs aimed at supporting
children to stay in school and away from the labor market. The Ministry
of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, and the Ministry of Health and
Social Services coordinated welfare programs for orphans, including
those affected by HIV/AIDS, by providing grants and scholarships to
keep them in school. Additionally, the Government also collaborated
with the Namibia Agricultural Union and the Namibia Farm Workers Union
in efforts to eliminate child labor through awareness campaigns. The
Government also continued to work with NGOs such as Project Hope to
assist the victims of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no statutory minimum
wage law, but the mining, construction, and agricultural sectors set
basic levels of pay through collective bargaining. Average wages for
unskilled workers did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family, especially since the average wage earner supported
the extended family. Wage levels for the less educated majority
remained very low.
The standard legal workweek is 45 hours with at least one 36-hour
rest period per week. An employer may require no more than 10 hours per
week of overtime. The law mandates 24 workdays of annual leave per
year, at least 30 workdays of sick leave over a three-year period, and
three months of maternity leave paid in part by the Social Security
Commission. The Ministry of Labor did not always enforce these
provisions.
During the year government officials and the media criticized
Chinese firms for allegedly not adhering to the country's labor code,
including claims of hiring and firing workers at will, failure to pay
established minimum wages and benefits in certain industries, and
failing to respect work-hour regulations for public holidays and
Sundays.
The ministries of labor and social welfare mandate occupational
health and safety standards, and the Labor Act empowers the President
to enforce these standards through inspections and criminal penalties.
Labor laws generally were implemented efficiently, but the Ministry of
Labor lacked an adequate number of trained inspectors to monitor
adherence to such labor regulations as providing overtime pay and
social security by some companies, especially small, family-owned
operations. The law requires employers to ensure the health, safety,
and welfare of their employees. It provides employees with the right to
remove themselves from dangerous work situations; however, some workers
did not have this right in practice. The Government has not fully
implemented the 2004 Labor Act. In September the Government submitted
to parliament a new draft bill that would eventually replace the
previous labor act; however, it has been tabled for future action.
The law accords the same rights to legal foreign workers as to
citizens.
__________
NIGER
Niger is a multiparty republic that returned to democracy in 1999
following coups in 1996 and 1999; it has a population estimated at 14
million. In 2004 Mamadou Tandja was elected to his second five-year
Presidential term in an election that international observers deemed
generally free and fair. Four parties joined the ruling coalition of
the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) and the
Democratic and Social Convention (CDS) to win a majority of national
assembly seats. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
Human rights abuses included: alleged extrajudicial killings; use
of excessive force by police and security forces; poor jail and prison
conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; prolonged pretrial
detention; executive interference in the judiciary; forcible dispersal
of demonstrators; interference with press freedoms; official
corruption; societal discrimination and violence against women and
children; female genital mutilation (FGM); trafficking in persons; the
practice of slavery by some groups; and forced child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year the
Government or its agents did not commit any politically motivated
killings; however, security forces were allegedly responsible for
detainee deaths during the year.
On May 28, the gendarmerie reported the death of Alpha Harouna
Hinsa, a used car parts dealer, who was under their custody and died at
the Niamey general hospital, after suffering what the gendarmes
described as ``a health problem.'' After conducting their own
investigations, human rights associations, including the
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Nigerien Association for the Defense
of Human Rights, and Hinsa's family charged that Hinsa had died before
his hospital admission, after being tortured by gendarmes, and
requested an independent investigation. An autopsy was commissioned by
the victim's family, but no results were released by year's end. The
Niamey prosecutor reportedly was investigating the case (see Section
1.c.).
On July 30, Moussa Douka died while in police custody in Agadez,
after being arrested on charges of stealing a cell phone and gold
jewelry from his employer, a local businessman. At year's end the
Procurator General (prosecutor) of the Appeals Court of Zinder
reportedly was investigating the case (see Section 1.c.).
On March 16, the court of appeals of Niamey reviewed the case of a
customs officer killed by police in 2003. The court ordered the
Government to pay $48,000 (26 million CFA francs) in damages to the
victim's family. The customs union considered the judgment insufficient
and appealed the case to the Supreme Court, where it was pending at
year's end.
During the year bandits set up roadblocks along highways and
attacked and robbed persons (see Section 2.d.). On August 11, bandits
attacked a convoy of cigarette trucks in the northern region, killing
one of the soldiers escorting the convoy and injuring several others.
Another soldier was reported missing.
At year's end the two bandits arrested for killing a French tourist
in December 2005 were still in prison awaiting trial.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no disputes between herders
and farmers that resulted in deaths. A court case against the alleged
instigator, who remains incarcerated, of a May 2005 incident in which
11 persons were killed and 12 injured, was still pending at year's end.
There were no further developments regarding a 2005 riot over
subsidized food distribution that resulted in one death; at year's end
one of three suspects detained in the case remained in detention.
There were no further developments in the case of the 2004 killing
of local political leader Adam Amenge. Of the 23 persons arrested in
connection with the killing, four--Amadou Ibrahim, aka ``Bambino,''
Attaher Rhissa, Boubacar Ando, and Alhassane Adam Ibrahim--remained in
pretrial detention at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of kidnappings
and violence between Malian and Nigerien herders along the border
between the two countries.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were reports that security forces beat and abused persons in
Niamey and Agadez.
Security force use of excessive force resulted in deaths and
injuries (see Section 1.a.).
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations, which resulted in
injuries (see Section 2.b.).
No action was taken against members of security forces who arrested
and beat a health worker for having refused medical treatment to the
child of a Republican Guard in 2005.
The investigation into the 2004 abuse by security forces of
civilians in Tesker remained open at year's end, although the
investigation was no longer being actively pursued; during the year a
reconciliation forum had brought affected families together with
government officials.
On August 21, armed persons claiming to represent the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of the Sahara, a former rebel group, abducted and robbed a
group of 22 Italian tourists in the country's northeastern desert. The
following day the assailants released all but two of the tourists. The
remaining two were released on October 14, after reported Libyan
mediation.
Unlike in the previous year, disputes between farmers and herders
in western Dosso region did not result in reported deaths or injuries.
During the year authorities held a series of meetings with their
Malian counterparts to address cross-border kidnappings, banditry, and
cattle rustling that had occurred in 2005. From March 7 to 9, elected
officials from both countries held a forum in Meneka, Mali, to exchange
views on cross-border security and decentralized cooperation and
prepare for another meeting in Niger to develop strategies to address
the frontier security situation.
On May 28, the gendarmerie reported the death of Alpha Harouna
Hinsa, who was under their custody. According to the gendarmerie, Hinsa
passed away at the Niamey general hospital, where he was taken after
suffering what the gendarmerie described as ``a health problem.'' After
conducting their own investigations, human rights associations
dismissed the gendarmerie's claim that Hinsa died in the hospital,
contending that he died before his admission, after being tortured by
gendarmes. Hinsa's family and human rights groups condemned the alleged
torture and requested an independent investigation. A forensic report
was commissioned, but results had not been released. The case was under
investigation at year's end (see Section 1.a.).
On July 30, Moussa Douka died while in police custody in Agadez,
after being arrested on charges of stealing a cell phone and gold
jewelry from his employer, a local businessman. His death was under
investigation at year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in all 35 of
the country's prisons were poor and life threatening. Prisons were
underfunded, understaffed, and overcrowded. For example, in Niamey's
civil prison, there were approximately 720 prisoners in a facility
built for 350; at year's end an estimated 550 of them were awaiting
trial. Family visits were allowed, and prisoners could receive
supplemental food, medicine, and other necessities from their families;
however, nutrition, sanitation, and health conditions were poor, and
deaths occurred from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Corruption among prison staff was rampant. Prisoners could bribe
officials to leave prison for the day and serve their sentences in the
evenings. Some prisoners bribed officials to serve their sentences in
the national hospital in Niamey.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners.
Human rights observers, including the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), the National Human Rights and Fundamental
Liberties Commission, and various NGOs, were granted unrestricted
access to prisons and detention centers and conducted visits during the
year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the law prohibits
detention without charge in excess of 48 hours; however, police at
times violated these provisions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The armed forces, under
the Defense Ministry, were responsible for internal and external
security. The gendarmerie, also under the Defense Ministry, had primary
responsibility for rural security. The national forces for intervention
and security, under the Interior Ministry, were responsible for
domestic security and the protection of high-level officials and
government buildings, and the national police, also under the Interior
Ministry, were charged with urban law enforcement.
The police were ineffective, primarily because of inadequate
resources. Basic supplies such as vehicle fuel, radios, uniforms,
handcuffs, batons, and badges were scarce. Patrols were sporadic, and
emergency response time in Niamey could take 45 minutes. Police
training was minimal, and only specialized police units had basic
weapons-handling skills. Corruption remained pervasive. Citizens
complained that security forces did not adequately police border
regions. The gendarmerie is responsible for investigation of police
abuse; however, impunity was often a problem.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law require a warrant
for an arrest and provide for a 48-hour investigative detention period.
If police fail to gather sufficient evidence within that period, the
prosecutor can give the case to another officer, and a new 48-hour
investigative detention period begins. Poor communication hindered
accurate identification of detainees and could result in prolonging the
48-hour detention period. A defendant has the right to a lawyer
immediately upon detention, and bail is available for crimes carrying a
penalty of less than 10 years' imprisonment. Widespread ignorance of
the law and lack of financial means prevented many of the accused from
taking full advantage of these rights. Detainees are brought before an
independent judiciary. They have a right to prompt judicial
determination. They were promptly informed of charges against them.
Indigents are provided a lawyer by the Government.
There were no further developments in the arbitrary arrests in
March 2005 of five civil society leaders. The men were released in
April 2005; however, charges were still technically pending, although
no further move to prosecute the five had been taken by year's end.
Security forces arrested journalists and numerous demonstrators
during the year (see Sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
Police occasionally conducted sweeps to detain suspected criminals.
There were serious backlogs in the judicial system. Despite legal
limits on the pretrial confinement period of indicted persons, pretrial
detention frequently lasted months or years; some persons had been
waiting as long as six years to be tried. Approximately 76 percent of
those incarcerated were pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the executive branch sometimes
interfered with the judicial process. Judges sometimes feared
reassignment or having their financial benefits reduced if they
rendered a decision unfavorable to the Government. In civil matters
there were credible reports that family and business ties influenced
lower court decisions. In some instances judges granted provisional
release pending trial to high-profile defendants. Persons in such
status had complete freedom of movement and could leave the country,
but the charges against them remained pending, and the courts could
recall them at any point. However, such persons were seldom called back
for trial, and some observers charged that provisional release amounted
to a denial of fair public trial.
The Court of Appeals reviews questions of fact and law, while the
Supreme Court reviews only application of the law and constitutional
questions. The High Court of Justice deals with cases involving senior
government officials. There also were customary courts and a military
court. The military court provides the same rights as civil criminal
courts; however, customary courts do not. The military court cannot try
civilians.
Trial Procedures.--Trials were public, and juries were used.
Defendants have the right to counsel; the right to counsel at public
expense for minors and indigent defendants charged with crimes carrying
a sentence of 10 years or more; to be present at trial; to confront
witnesses; and to present witnesses on their own behalf. Defendants
have access to government-held evidence, and the Government has a legal
obligation to inform defendants of all evidence against them.
Defendants may appeal verdicts, first to the court of appeals, then to
the Supreme Court. The law affirms the presumption of innocence. The
above rights extended to all citizens, but widespread ignorance of the
law prevented many accused from taking full advantage of these rights.
Although lawyers complied with government requests to provide
counsel, the Government generally did not remunerate them. There were
no defense attorneys outside of the capital, although lawyers traveled
to other locations to provide legal assistance as requested.
On March 9, the military court sentenced six of 70 soldiers from
Niamey charged with high treason in 2002 to jail terms of three to
seven years for ``illegally breaking into an armory, failure to observe
hierarchy, and mutiny.'' A total of 63 soldiers were released without
charge, and six others originally charged in the case were sentenced in
absentia to prison terms of three to seven years.
On September 30, the military court sentenced 47 of 113 soldiers
charged with high treason in 2002 to prison terms. The 66 others were
convicted on the same charges, but were released because their time
already spent in preventive detention (2002 06) exceeded their
sentences.
On October 16, the tribunal heard the cases of one active duty
soldier, one retired officer, and one civilian accused of coup plotting
in 2002. The men had been imprisoned awaiting trial for approximately
four years. The court discharged the case against the active duty
soldier, but sentenced the officer to two years imprisonment and the
civilian to four years. The officer was released, since he had been
under preventive detention for more than three years.
Traditional chiefs could act as mediators and counselors and had
authority in customary law cases as well as status under national law,
where they were designated as auxiliaries to local officials. Chiefs
received government stipends but had no police or judicial powers and
could only mediate, not arbitrate, customary law disputes. Customary
courts, located only in large towns and cities, try cases involving
divorce or inheritance. They are headed by a legal practitioner with
basic legal training who is advised by an assessor knowledgeable in the
society's traditions. The judicial actions of chiefs and customary
courts are not regulated by law, and defendants could appeal a verdict
in the formal court system. Women did not have equal legal status with
men in the traditional and customary courts and did not enjoy the same
access to legal redress (see Section 5).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Courts of civil procedure
(tribunals civils) exist in each major city. These courts hear lawsuits
related to civil matters and can apply judicial remedies, while a
single appellate entity--the Conseil d'Etat--is responsible for
administrative remedies.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions. Under the state
security law, police may conduct searches without warrants when they
have strong suspicion that a house shelters criminals or stolen
property.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
restricted these rights in sentencing several journalists to jail terms
and intimidating others into practicing self-censorship.
The Government published a French-language daily newspaper, Le
Sahel, and its weekend edition. There were approximately 15 private
French-language weekly or monthly newspapers, some of which were
affiliated loosely with political parties. The private press criticized
government actions.
Since literacy and personal incomes were both very low, radio was
the most important medium of public communication. The government-owned
radio station La Voix du Sahel provided news and other programs in
French and several local languages. There were several private radio
stations; eight were owned locally and featured popular news programs
in local languages. The private radio stations generally were less
critical of the Government than were the private newspapers. The
government-operated multilingual national radio service generally
provided equitable broadcasting time for all political parties;
however, opposition parties complained of unequal coverage of their
activities by government-owned media.
Television was a far less important medium than radio. The
government-owned Tele-Sahel and TAL-TV broadcast programming in French
and other major national languages. A private television station, TV
Tenere, also broadcast local and foreign programming. The director of a
private radio station operated a wireless cable television service in
the capital, offering access to international channels.
International media were usually allowed to operate freely. Radio
France International operated FM relays in Niamey and in Maradi and
Zinder provinces. BBC World Service was available on FM in Niamey and
Zinder. Local private radio stations also carried Voice of America and
Deutsche Welle.
During the year the Government closed a private newspaper, imposed
a three-month ban on a radio talk show, and brought criminal libel
charges against journalists who alleged corruption in its management of
a donor-funded public education initiative.
On February 2, Ibrahim Manzo, editor of L'Autre Observateur, was
imprisoned following a lawsuit for defamation by a politically well-
connected businessman, Moussa Dan Foulani. The newspaper had alleged
that Dan Foulani had sold a weapon to a carjacker in a criminal case.
Manzo was incarcerated for 10 days. He was released following the
February 13 signature of a code of conduct by politicians and
journalists.
On February 13, political parties and journalists signed a code of
conduct that called for general forgiveness of defamation charges. As a
result, all defamation suits, including government-initiated ones,
filed prior to that date were withdrawn.
On April 3, authorities expelled a three-person BBC crew that was
investigating hunger and malnutrition in the country, although the crew
had all required accreditations and authorizations. It was apparently
expelled by the governor of Maradi because he opposed reporting on the
food crisis. The governor almost certainly acted with the consent of
superiors at the national level. The Government banned media
organizations from reporting on the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Other officials also said international and local media would not be
allowed to do stories about the food situation, as they did not want
the subject touched.
On June 28, the High Council of Communication (CSC), the Government
organ charged with regulation of the media, closed the private weekly
L'Opinion for ``insults and defamatory language toward the President of
Niger and his family; inciting revolt; and immoral offense.'' On June
21, the newspaper had published an article entitled L'Imposture
(deception) in which it called the President a ``wretched lieutenant''
and a ``dormouse.'' The same article also called for regime change in
the form of a transition government--supposedly a vague allusion to a
coup d'etat. On April 25 in another article, the newspaper had
published a list of houses that the President allegedly purchased for
his seven children for an amount that exceeded his declared legal
earnings.
On July 18, the CSC issued a ``last warning'' to the Tenere FM
private radio station for hosting talk shows in which insults had
allegedly been made. The show had a reputation as a forum for harsh
critics of the Government.
On July 21, the CSC banned Fati, a talk show on the Horizon FM
private radio station, for three months because the host of the show
allegedly broadcast ``insults, propaganda, incitement to violence and
insurgency, and violation of ethics.'' The show reportedly featured
inflammatory political commentary with ethnic overtones. Its criticism
tended to be directed toward civil society, the political opposition,
and other presumed opponents of the Prime Minister and his political
party.
On August 4, Mamane Abou and Oumarou Keita, respectively director
and editor of Le Republicain newspaper, were arrested and placed in
police custody on charges of disseminating false news and defamation of
the Government. This stemmed from a July 27 article alleging that Prime
Minister Hama Amadou was attempting to shift the country's foreign
policy emphasis toward non-Western countries. The case was also linked
to public concerns over corruption. Many civil society critics and
opposition politicians stated that the two men were targeted for
earlier articles relating to corruption in the Government's management
of a donor funded public education program. On August 8, Abou and Keita
appeared before the Regional Court of Niamey and were then transferred
to separate prisons outside the capital. The trial began on August 14.
On September 1, the two men were convicted. Abou and Keita were
sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, a $573 (300,000 CFA francs) fine,
and $9,560 (five million CFA francs) in damages. Their lawyers appealed
the case; however, on September 25, the court of appeals confirmed the
lower court's verdict. On November 27, the Niamey court of appeals
reviewed the judgment. The court granted provisional release to the
journalists, adjourned the judgment for further consultation, and
announced that its verdict would be delivered on December 11. At the
court's request, the delivery of the verdict was again postponed until
2007. The journalists remained on provisional release at year's end.
On August 28, Salif Dago, editor of L'Enqueteur newspaper, was
placed in police custody on charges of disseminating false news
following an article alleging the ritual killing of a baby in a Niamey
cemetery by a high profile person. On September 25, Dago was sentenced
to six months' imprisonment and a $600 (300,000 CFA francs) fine.
However, on November 27, the Niamey court of appeals ruled that Dago
was not guilty of the charges against him.
In December Amadou Issoufou, a journalist for the national
television network, was suspended for one month after he included in
the evening news an international television brief on Abou and Keita's
release.
On April 4, the Government submitted a bill to amend the
prerogatives, composition, and functioning of the CSC. Under the bill,
the Government would select seven of the 11 CSC members to be
appointed. The bill would extend the powers of the CSC President to
include the authority to close press agencies without notice and
without consulting other CSC members, and to nominate directors for
public media organs. It would subject all CSC members to a religious
oath when taking office, subject all CSC decisions to the approval of
the council of ministers, and provide that journalist members of the
CSC should have a minimum of 15 years of experience. Media associations
and civil society groups charged that the proposed law did not comply
with the spirit of the constitution. They argued that the proposed bill
infringed on the independence of the CSC and would give the Government
full control over the press.
Civil society organizations convinced the National Assembly to make
substantial amendments to the bill before passing it unanimously on May
22. Of the controversial measures, only the religious oath was
maintained, despite strong opposition from a number of deputies. Under
the new law, the CSC is to be composed of 11 members--four appointed by
the Government and seven by media, communication, and civil society
groups.
On January 27, Abdoulkarim Salifou, an independent journalist, was
released from prison after serving a two-month sentence for criminal
libel. In 2005 Salifou had accused the national treasurer of embezzling
funds.
On May 5, the court of appeals of Zinder dismissed as groundless
defamation cases filed against two journalists--Raliou Hamed Assalek
and Abdoulaye Harouna--by the governor of Agadez in 2005.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet availability was limited by a lack of infrastructure, a single
Internet service provider, and limited personal computer ownership,
although all cities offered Internet cafes that were heavily utilized.
Niamey boasted a steadily expanding wi-fi network, and some public
libraries offered patrons Internet access. While the Internet was not
part of most citizens' daily lives (1.8 users per 1,000 people in 2004,
according to the World Bank) it was available in Internet cafes at
moderate rates.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and while the Government generally respected this right, during the
year police forcibly dispersed demonstrators. The Government retained
the authority to prohibit gatherings either under tense social
conditions or if 48-hour advance notice was not provided.
On February 3, police used force to disperse violent student
demonstrators. Police arrested 17 students; they were all released on
March 3. On July 28, police used force to disperse an unauthorized
protest march relating to events in Lebanon. Several persons sustained
minor injuries in these incidents.
No action was taken against security forces responsible for
injuries that resulted from the violent dispersal of demonstrators in
2005 and 2004.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, citizens may not form political parties based on
ethnicity, religion, or region.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Islam was the dominant religion and the Islamic Association, which
acted as an official advisory committee to the Government on religious
matters, broadcast biweekly on the government-controlled television
station. On government-controlled media, Christian programs generally
were broadcast only on special occasions, such as Christmas and Easter,
although the independent media regularly broadcast such programs.
Religious organizations must register with the Interior Ministry.
Registration was a formality, and there were no reports that the
Government refused to register a religious organization.
On February 10, the Government established an Islamic Council
composed of 10 leaders drawn from Islamic associations including the
Islamic Association of Niger and other NGOs, and 10 members from
various government agencies. The Islamic Council advised the Government
on Islamic issues including preaching, mosque construction, payment of
zakat, etc. The council's avowed goals were to ``work toward promoting
a culture of tolerance and social peace and encourage Nigeriens to
participate in the country's economic, social, and cultural
development.'' During the installation of the council, the Prime
Minister said that the purpose of the council was in part ``to address
behaviors and practices inspired by foreign countries,'' a remark
widely interpreted to mean Nigerian and middle-eastern-inspired
theological change and mosque construction projects.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no significant
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of movement, and the Government generally respected this right.
Security forces at checkpoints monitored the travel of persons and the
circulation of goods, particularly near major population centers, and
sometimes demanded bribes. During the year transportation unions and
civil society groups criticized such practices, and the Anticorruption
Commission called for an investigation into checkpoint corruption;
however, no investigation had been conducted by year's end. There were
reports during the year that bandits set up roadblocks along highways
and robbed persons, although, unlike in 2005, no deaths occurred. The
December 2005 case of three armed bandits who attacked persons
returning from a regional market near the border with Mali, stole their
camels, cash, and other valuables, and fled, remained under
investigation at year's end.
The law prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports that the
Government used it.
On October 23, the Government announced it would expel a group of
nomadic Arabs of Chadian origin who had settled in the eastern Diffa
region in the 1970s and 1980s. Known as Mahamid Arabs, the community
(which numbered between 17,000 and 50,000 persons) had neither refugee
status nor, in most cases, Nigerien citizenship. On October 27, after
protests from leaders of the Mahamid community, the Government
rescinded the order, and stated that it would establish a commission to
study land use and conflict issues between the Mahamids and Diffa's
indigenous population. At year's end no Mahamid Arabs had been forced
to move, and the Government reportedly was contemplating moving at
least some community members to adjoining regions of Niger. The Mahamid
Arabs had moved into the country from Chad in the 1970s and 1980s to
escape drought (1968 73) and then armed conflict (early 1980s). The
vast majority had settled in the arid eastern region of Diffa, where
disputes over land use, access to wells, and animal grazing rights had
reportedly been simmering for several years.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, although the
country is a signatory to the convention. The Government has not
established a system for providing protection to refugees, but in
practice provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons
to a country where they feared persecution. The Government did not
routinely grant refugee or asylum status, although it cooperated with
the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The UNHCR's regional office in Benin was responsible for refugee
assistance and protection in the country; the Government's
interministerial National Refugee Eligibility Committee performed
refugee prescreening duties. The Government also provided temporary
protection to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the
1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol and has offered asylum to several
thousand persons, primarily from Mali and Chad. Approximately 500
refugees from Chad and other neighboring countries remained in the
country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through
periodic and generally free and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In December 2004 Mamadou
Tandja was elected to his second five-year Presidential term with 65
percent of the vote in an election that international observers
described as generally free and fair, despite some irregularities on
election day. A coalition composed of the MNSD, CDS, the Rally for
Social Democracy, the Rally for Democracy and Progress, the Nigerien
Alliance for Democracy and Progress, and the Social-Democratic Party of
Niger backed Tandja and, in legislative elections held at the same
time, won 88 of the 113 seats in the National Assembly. The opposition
Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism won 25 seats. Tandja
reappointed MNSD party President Hama Amadou as prime minister.
Individuals and political parties can freely declare candidacies
and stand for election.
Women traditionally have played a subordinate role in politics. The
societal practice of husbands voting their wives' proxy ballots
effectively disenfranchised many women in the 1999 elections; however,
female voter turnout substantially increased during the local,
legislative, and Presidential elections held in 2004. There were 14
women in the National Assembly and six female ministers in the cabinet;
six of the country's 20 ambassadors were women. The law mandates that
women receive 25 percent of senior government positions and fill 10
percent of elected seats; women held at least 10 percent of the 3,747
local council positions.
All major ethnic groups were represented at all levels of
government. There were eight seats in the National Assembly designated
for representatives of ``special constituencies,'' specifically ethnic
minorities and nomadic populations. President Tandja, who reportedly is
half Peul (Fulani) and half Kanouri, is the country's first President
who is not from either the Hausa or the Djerma ethnic groups, which
make up approximately 56 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of the
country's population.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government publicly
acknowledged that corruption was a problem and prosecuted numerous
officials for corruption during the year. There was a widespread public
perception that corruption was a problem in the executive and
legislative branches.
Corruption was prevalent within government and the informal sector
of the economy. The political turbulence of the 1990s--a period of weak
democratic governments and military coups--rendered the Government
increasingly dysfunctional. Civil service salaries went unpaid for
months at a time, and the morale and resources of the public service
declined rapidly. Since the return of stable, democratic government in
1999, public administration has improved, and salaries have been paid
on time, but corrupt practices and expectations that took root during
the period of turmoil remained prevalent. Citizens sometimes paid
bribes to civil servants to circumvent bureaucratic obstacles and
obtain advantageous treatment. The problem of corruption is compounded
by a poorly financed and trained law enforcement system and weak
administrative controls. Other major underlying causes of corruption
were rampant poverty, low salaries, the politicization of the public
service, the influence of traditional kinship, ethnic, and family ties
on decision-making, a culture of impunity, and a lack of civic
education. Nevertheless, during the year mounting pressure from foreign
donors and many citizens led to some progress in the fight against
corruption.
On June 27, the President replaced Minister of Basic Education
Hamani Harouna and his predecessor in that position, Minister of Public
Health Ary Ibrahim. The two were dismissed to prepare their defense in
a case stemming from allegations of corruption in their management of a
World Bank-led, multi-donor, 10-year educational development program.
On October 1 and 2, the National Assembly voted to waive both former
ministers' immunity from prosecution. They were charged with infringing
on bidders' equal opportunity to seek government contracts;
embezzlement of public funds; and aiding and abetting forgery. The two
former ministers and several civil servants from the Ministry of Basic
Education were jailed, and at year's end remained in prison awaiting
trial. The ministers were likely to stand trial before the High Court
of Justice, established to deal with cases involving senior government
officials. Their case would be the first to be tried before the High
Court since its creation. At year's end, no action had been taken
against three National Assembly deputies--Bonkano Maifada, Intarou
Hassane, and Raja Chaibou--who were also allegedly involved in the
scandal. Donors suspended payments to the fund in June, after an audit
revealed a pattern of overbilling and unjustifiable expenses.
On July 14, the Council of Ministers terminated 19 teachers who had
initially been suspended without pay on January 18 for fraud, forgery,
and influence peddling in connection with public school exams.
On August 5, three school principals and two teachers were arrested
in Agadez and charged with committing fraud during the middle school
leaving exams in June. The principals were granted provisional release.
No trial date had been announced by year's end.
The 15 civil servants sentenced to five months' imprisonment for
corruption in 2005 were all released during the year. Some served their
full sentences, while others benefited from a Presidential pardon on
the country's Independence Day.
The corruption case against Almoustapha Soumaila, the country's
former Francophone Games director general, continued during the year.
On July 27, the Supreme Court annulled a court of appeals judgment from
April, citing faulty procedure. The Supreme Court ordered another trial
before the court of appeals. On October 5, the court of appeals
reclassified the charges against Almoustapha from abusing public
property to embezzlement of $271,510 (142 million CFA francs), a
criminal offense. Almoustapha remained in prison, and his case was
pending at year's end.
The Ministry of Finance deputy director, who was arrested for fraud
in July 2005, was still in prison awaiting trial at year's end.
The National Commission on Corruption selected priority sectors for
investigating corruption: justice, health care, education, and
transportation. While the commission obtained office space and a modest
budget of $76,000 (40 million CFA francs), its ability to investigate
corruption remained limited.
There were no laws that provided for public access to government
information; however, many documents could be obtained from individual
ministries and the National Archives. The Government granted access to
government information to both citizens and noncitizens, including
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
The government-established National Commission on Human Rights and
Fundamental Liberties, a majority of whose commissioners were drawn
from the private sector and NGOs, operated without government or party
interference; however, it often lacked the resources necessary to
conduct its work, was generally considered ineffective, and issued
little in the way of reports or recommendations.
In 2005 a coalition of human rights NGOs sued the Government to
reverse a Presidential decree that had named new members to the
commission. The Supreme Court annulled the Presidential decree late in
2005. During the year new elections were held but controversy over the
selection process continued, with representatives of two human rights
associations contesting each other's participation. The controversy
continued at year's end, with the Government attempting to mediate
between the two groups.
There were no further developments in the case of Nouhou Arzika, a
civil society activist who in 2005 was attacked and severely beaten by
bodyguards of politically well-connected businessman Moussa Dan
Foulani.
The Government cooperated with international organizations and
permitted visits by UN representatives and other organizations such as
the ICRC. The ICRC visited during the year. Also during the year the
International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a report on forced labor
practices in the country. The Government officially accepted the report
in November, which led to the establishment of a joint ILO-government-
civil society working group on forced labor (see Section 6.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Although the law prohibits discrimination based on sex, social
origin, race, ethnicity, or religion, societal discrimination against
women, children, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities was
widespread.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was widespread, although
reliable statistics were not available. Wife beating reportedly was
common. The law does not explicitly prohibit domestic violence;
however, a woman can sue her husband or lodge criminal charges for
battery, penalties for which ranged from two months in prison and a $19
(10,000 CFA francs) fine to 30 years' imprisonment. The Government
tried with limited success to enforce these laws. There was no data
available on how many abusers were prosecuted or convicted during the
year. Charges stemming from family disputes were often dropped in favor
of traditional dispute resolution mechanisms. Families often intervened
to prevent the worst abuses, and women may (and did) divorce because of
physical abuse. While women have the right to seek redress for violence
in the customary or modern courts, few did so due to ignorance of the
legal system, fear of social stigma, or fear of repudiation. Some
women's rights organizations reported that prostitution often was the
only economic alternative for a woman who left her husband. Several
women's rights organizations provided counseling and training to women
in this situation and undertook sensitization efforts.
Rape is a crime punishable by 10 to 30 years' imprisonment,
depending upon the circumstances and age of the victim; authorities
sought to enforce the law. However, in many cases, spousal rape did not
lead to prosecution, as victims often sought to resolve the issue
within the family, or were pressured to do so. Reliable statistics on
its prevalence were not available. The law does not explicitly
recognize spousal rape, but appears to cover it in practice. Women's
rights NGOs provided counseling and training services to rape victims.
Certain ethnic groups practiced FGM, predominantly the Peul
(Fulani) and Zarma in the western region of the country. Approximately
20 percent of women had undergone FGM, usually when they were girls
between seven and 10 years of age, according to a 1999 World Health
Organization global study. Clitoridectomy was the most common form. FGM
is against the law, and those convicted of practicing it and their
accomplices face prison sentences ranging from six months to three
years. If a victim of FGM dies, the practitioner can be sentenced to 10
to 20 years' imprisonment. There were no statistics available on the
number of cases of FGM prosecuted during the year. The Government took
an active role in combating FGM and worked closely with local NGOs,
community leaders, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other donors to
develop and distribute educational materials at government clinics and
maternal health centers and participated in information seminars and
dissemination of publicity (see Section 5, Children).
Prostitution is illegal, but remained prevalent in big cities and
near major mining and military sites.
Women and girls were trafficked both internally and from the
country to North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe for sexual
exploitation (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is a crime punishable by prison sentences from
three to six months and fines from $20 to $200 (10,000 to 100,000 CFA
francs). If the violator is in a position of authority, the prison
sentence is from three months to one year, and the fine is increased to
$40 to $400 (20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs). No statistics were
available on the number of arrests or prosecutions.
Despite the constitution's provisions for women's rights, deep-
seated traditional and religious beliefs resulted in discrimination in
education, employment, and property rights. Discrimination was worse in
rural areas, where women helped with subsistence farming and did most
of the childrearing, water- and wood-gathering, and other work. Despite
constituting 47 percent of the formal sector work force, only 26
percent of civil service workers and 22 percent of professionals were
female. Women do not have the same rights as men under family law. The
country still lacks a modern family code. Family law and laws governing
inheritance still derive largely from Islamic traditional practice. In
matters of inheritance, this dictated that, in the absence of a formal
will stating otherwise, women received only one-third of a deceased
parent's property, while male siblings received two-thirds. However,
women enjoyed the same rights as men with respect to property
ownership.
Legal rights as heads of household applied only to men; divorced or
widowed women, even with children, were not considered to be heads of
households. In the east there were reports that some women were
cloistered and could leave their homes only if escorted by a male
relative and usually only after dark.
National service, which lasted from 18 months to two years, was
mandatory for all young men and women who completed university studies
or professional training. Men were allowed to serve in the military as
part of their national service obligation; however, although women were
allowed to serve in the military, they could meet their national
service obligation only by serving as teachers, health service workers,
or technical specialists.
Children.--The constitution and law require that the Government
promote children's welfare; however, financial resources for this
purpose were extremely limited. In principle education was compulsory,
free, and universal for a minimum period of six years, although for a
variety of reasons only a fraction of children attended school. The
Government's draft poverty reduction strategy paper, released in
December, estimated that the gross national primary school enrollment
rate was 52 percent during the year, while the net primary school
enrollment rate was 41 percent; 60 percent of those who finished
primary school were boys. Most young girls were kept at home to work
and were married at a young age, rarely attending school for more than
a few years. This resulted in estimated literacy rates of 15 percent
for girls and 42.9 percent for boys, according to a 2006 UN Development
Program report. Literacy rates, particularly for girls, were even lower
in rural areas.
FGM was performed on young girls in certain ethnic groups (see
Section 5, Women).
Underage marriage was a problem, especially in rural areas and in
traditional communities. Some families entered into marriage agreements
under which young girls from rural areas were sent by the age of 10 or
12 and sometimes younger to join their husband's family under the
tutelage of their mother-in-law. Since 2005 the Ministry of Women's
Promotion and Child Protection cooperated with women's associations to
sensitize rural communities and their traditional chiefs and religious
leaders to the problem of underage marriage. In November the ministry
and women's NGOs organized a three-week program of country-wide town
hall meetings and educational caravans to address issues including
child marriage, FGM, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence.
On June 3, the National Assembly rejected a bill (42 31 with heavy
absenteeism and four abstentions) for the ratification of the
Additional Protocol to the African Human and People's Rights Charter
relating to Women's Rights in Africa. The measure's principal effect on
family law would have been to raise the legal marriage age to 18. Under
existing law, a girl deemed to be ``sufficiently mature'' can marry as
young as 15.
Trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children were
problems (see Section 5, Trafficking). Child labor also was a problem
(see Section 6.d.).
Infanticide occurred, and 80 percent of the female prison
population had been charged with the crime. According to the Ministry
of Justice, infanticide resulted from severe economic conditions.
There were many displaced children, mostly boys, begging on the
streets of the larger cities. Most of these boys came from rural areas
and were indentured to Koranic schools by their parents due to economic
hardship (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons (TIP), and persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. Traffickers could be prosecuted under a 2004
revision of the penal code that criminalizes slavery and other forms of
coerced labor; sentences for conviction ranged from 10 to 30 years'
imprisonment. No reliable statistics were available on the extent of
trafficking.
The ministries of justice, interior, and the promotion of women and
protection of children shared responsibility for combating trafficking
in persons. The National Commission for the Coordination of the Fight
Against Trafficking in Persons existed on paper but had no budget.
During the year 38 child victims of TIP were rescued and rehabilitated
as part of a cooperative effort between UNICEF, a local NGO partner,
and the police and court systems in the city of Agadez. Nine
traffickers were arrested in connection with these cases. Of these,
three were released without charge, while six were arrested and charged
with the abduction of minors. Of the six traffickers charged, four were
released when the Agadez Regional Court found no grounds for
prosecution. Two remained in custody awaiting trial at year's end.
There were no international investigations and no requests for
extradition of persons made to the Government during the year.
In 2005 the Government and eight neighboring countries signed a
multilateral cooperation agreement to combat child trafficking.
Signatories agreed to prosecute and punish traffickers, develop
antitrafficking legislation, share information on victims and
traffickers with international authorities, and develop partnerships
with civil society groups and NGOs to combat child trafficking.
The country was a transit point for persons trafficked between
Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Mali; final destinations
also included North African and European countries. The country was a
destination for a small number of trafficked persons, and a source of
persons trafficked to North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East for
domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Internal trafficking also
occurred, and there was credible anecdotal evidence that clandestine
networks victimized young girls who worked as household helpers.
A 2005 NGO survey found that 5.8 percent of households interviewed
claimed that at least one member of their household had been a victim
of trafficking. Internal trafficking of young boys for labor and young
girls for work as maids and in some cases for prostitution from rural
to urban areas occurred. There were credible reports of underage girls
being forced or falsely enticed into prostitution, sometimes with the
complicity of the family. There also were reports that child
prostitution was especially prevalent along the main East-West highway,
particularly between the cities of Birni n'Konni and Zinder. Child
prostitution is not criminalized specifically, and there was no precise
age of consent; however, the law prohibits ``indecent'' acts toward
minors. It is left to a judge to determine what constitutes an indecent
act. Such activity and a corollary statute against ``the incitement of
minors to wrongdoing'' were punishable by three to five years in
prison.
There also was internal trafficking that included the indenturing
of boys to Koranic teachers. As a result of economic hardship, some
rural parents sent their sons to learn the Koran in the cities where,
in return for their education, the boys supported their teachers by
begging on the streets or doing manual labor.
Trafficking in persons generally was conducted by small operators
who falsely promised well-paid employment in the country. Victims from
neighboring countries were escorted through immigration formalities and
found that their employment options were restricted to poorly paid
domestic work or prostitution. Victims had to use a substantial portion
of their small income to reimburse the persons who brought them to the
country for the cost of the trip and to provide the traffickers'
profit. Compliance was enforced by ``contracts'' that were signed by
illiterate victims before they departed their countries of origin;
traffickers also seized victims' travel documents.
The Government provided some services for trafficking victims,
including basic health care and assistance in returning to their home
villages. The regional government of Agadez established a ``welcome
committee'' to assist illegal immigrants expelled from Libya to return
to their countries or regions of origin. During the year the committee,
which consisted of police and local administrative officials, provided
approximately 450 such persons with basic accommodations, food, and
assistance in finding transportation home. While no reliable statistics
on these persons were available, many may well have been victims of
human trafficking. The Government also supported the efforts of NGOs
and international organizations in providing food, temporary shelter,
and primary health care to victims of trafficking.
During the year the Government undertook several initiatives to
prevent trafficking. The Government continued to sponsor public
outreach sessions on trafficking and child abuse, while local
authorities assisted UNICEF and a local NGO partner to identify and
rehabilitate child victims of TIP in the Agadez region. Local police
and prosecutors arrested and prosecuted traffickers identified by the
project, and ensured that rescued victims were handed over to a local
NGO for rehabilitation. The Government also worked with the Nigerian
embassy to ensure that consular access was provided to Nigerian TIP
victims present in Niger. During the year media coverage of trafficking
increased, largely because of the activities undertaken by the Agadez
project. Coverage of trafficker arrests and victim rehabilitation
efforts stemming from this activity appeared in private and government-
affiliated newspapers and on the radio.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, and access to health care and other state
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions. The
law mandates that the state provide for persons with disabilities, but
implementing regulations to mandate accessibility to buildings,
transportation, and education for those with special needs had not been
promulgated or legislated. Limited government health care benefits were
available to persons with disabilities, and NGOs provided many services
and programs. Societal discrimination existed against persons with
disabilities, particularly mental disabilities and leprosy. The
Ministry of Population and Social Welfare was responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Hausa and Djerma ethnic
groups made up approximately 56 percent and 22 percent, respectively,
of the population. These two groups also dominated government and
business, and many believed that nepotism existed along ethnic lines.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
violence against homosexuals; however, social discrimination was
routinely practiced. Most homosexuals hid their sexual preference to
avoid this. The Government took no action on discrimination against
homosexuals.
There were strong government efforts to discourage discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS. Prime time radio and television skits
were aired several times daily beginning in October to sensitize
families of persons with HIV/AIDS and the population at large to care
for such persons. The announcements emphasized that persons with HIV/
AIDS constituted no threat and that they needed support and
understanding. They also stressed the availability of free drugs.
However, societal discrimination against such persons continued.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law recognize
workers' right to establish and join trade unions without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this
right. However, more than 85 percent of the workforce was employed in
the nonunionized subsistence agricultural and small trading sectors.
On February 2, the regional court of Niamey ordered the national
power company to reinstate labor union activist Diamyo Elhadji Yacouba,
who had been dismissed in 2004 for attempting to organize an
alternative union within the company; Diamyo resumed his employment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and unions
exercised their right to bargain collectively for wages above the legal
minimum and for more favorable work conditions. Collective bargaining
also existed in the public sector.
There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, except by police and
other security forces, and workers exercised this right.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The labor code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, except for legally convicted
prisoners, and prohibits slavery; however, it does not specifically
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, and slavery occurred.
A traditional form of caste-based servitude was still practiced by the
Tuareg, Djerma, and Arab ethnic minorities, particularly in remote
northern and western regions and along the border with Nigeria.
Persons born into a traditionally subordinate caste worked without
pay for those above them in the traditional social structure. At least
43,000 persons worked under such conditions, according to a study
conducted in 2003 by the NGO Anti-Slavery International (ASI) and the
local NGO Timidria, which surveyed 11,000 persons, mostly born into
servitude. According to the report, people were born into slavery, and
were forced to work without pay for their masters throughout their
lives, primarily herding cattle, working on farmland, or as domestic
servants. Children become the property of their masters and can be
passed from one slave owner to another as gifts or as part of a dowry.
Girls are forced to start work as domestic servants at a very young
age. Girls may be sexually abused by men in the household or forced to
marry at a young age.
Since the Government publicly banned keeping slaves in 2003, some
former slaves have been liberated and given certificates to show that
they are now free. Individuals had the legal right to change their
situations, and it was illegal for their masters to retain them;
however, in practice, most victims of slavery did not act on their
rights. Fear and physical or social coercion likely played roles,
although a lack of viable economic alternatives for freed slaves was
also a factor.
During the year Timidria used the 2003 law to initiate a case
against a slave master, who was convicted and sentenced to prison. The
slave was freed, and the slave owner also was obliged to pay $2,800
(1.5 million CFA francs) to the NGO and the victim.
On July 27, in the case of Timidria and Haoulata Ibrahim
(plaintiffs/victim) vs. Seidimou Hiyar (defendant), the tribunal of
Abalak convicted Seidimou Hiyar of enslavement and sentenced him to
five years in prison and a fine of approximately $1,000 (500,000 CFA
francs). Hiyar appealed the judgment and his appeal was pending at
year's end.
Three other cases were also under investigation at year's end:
Timidria, Assibit Wanagoda, and Ilguimate Anakoye (plaintiffs) vs.
Tafane Abouzeidi (defendant) was pending before the Abalak tribunal;
Timidria and Maimouna Miko (plaintiffs) vs. Djamila Attawel, Attahirou
Attawel, and Ali Mamoudou (defendants) was pending before the Konni
tribunal; and Boudal Bologi (plaintiff) vs. Azarori chief (defendant)
was pending before the Madaoua tribunal.
In January the minister of culture acknowledged on television the
existence of slavery, although on many prior occasions the Government
had denied the problem.
On November 15, the Government announced the creation of a joint
working group on traditional slavery. The working group consisted of
officials from the Ministry of Labor, the ILO, local antislavery
activists and NGOs, labor unions, and traditional chiefs. The minister
of labor announced the Government's support for this initiative. The
group planned to focus its initial efforts on sensitizing former slaves
and masters.
The labor code does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory
labor by children, and there were credible reports of forced child
labor by underage girls and boys; girls were forced into prostitution
and domestic service, and boys worked in mines, quarries, and rice
fields (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although the law permits child labor in nonindustrial enterprises under
certain conditions, the law prohibits child labor in industrial work.
The Government effectively enforced the law in the industrial sector.
However, child labor was a problem.
Children under the age of 14 must obtain special authorization to
work in the nonindustrial sector, and those 14 to 18 years of age are
limited to a maximum of four and one-half hours per day and certain
types of employment so schooling may continue, although most children
by that age were no longer in school. Children under 12 are prohibited
from working. The law requires employers to ensure minimum sanitary
working conditions for children. Inspectors of the Ministry of Labor
are responsible for enforcing child labor laws; however, resource
constraints limited their ability to do so.
Children worked in the unregulated agricultural, commercial, and
artisanal sectors, and youths, some of them foreign, were hired in
homes as general helpers for very low pay. The majority of rural
children regularly worked with their families from a very early age--
helping in the fields, pounding grain, tending animals, gathering
firewood and water, and doing similar tasks. Some children were kept
out of school to guide a blind relative on begging rounds. Others were
indentured to Koranic teachers to beg in the streets and for manual
labor (see Section 5). Child labor also occurred in the largely
unregulated gold mining sector, and also in trona (a mineral used as a
source of sodium compounds), salt, and gypsum mines. In 2000 the ILO
estimated that 57 percent of workers in the country's small quarries
were children, some 250,000 in total. Children working in gold mines
were particularly vulnerable to poor ventilation, collapse hazards, and
insufficient lighting; they also were susceptible to alcohol and
substance abuse.
Trafficking in children, prostitution of children as young as 10,
child drug trafficking, forced child labor, and involvement of children
in traditional caste-based servitude or slavery occurred (see Sections
5 and 6.c.).
The Ministry of Labor, which is responsible for implementing ILO
Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and for enforcing
other child labor laws and policies, continued working with UNICEF and
the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to
determine the extent of child labor. A survey conducted in 2001 by
UNICEF and the Government indicated that approximately 70 percent of
children between the ages of 5 and 14 were economically active; 61
percent of children between the ages of five and nine and 83 percent of
children aged 10 to 14 worked; 40 percent of child workers were not
paid; 70 percent of children did household work for four or fewer hours
per day, while 17 percent worked for more than four hours per day.
The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Basic Education and
Literacy collaborated with international NGOs to remove children from
exploitative work situations, encourage school attendance, and continue
to provide vocational training for 702 at-risk children and former
child laborers. During the year one such joint program directly
affected 2,143 children, and created indirect benefits for 24,000
others in the form of investments in local schools. During the year the
project also succeeded in withdrawing 160 children from mining sites.
The Government also worked with international partners to provide
economically relevant education as an inducement to parents to keep
their children in school. The Ministry of Basic Education conducted
training sessions to help educators meet the special needs of child
laborers. In 2005 the Government also created a special child labor
division within the Ministry of Labor to coordinate government
initiatives in the area.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code establishes a
minimum wage only for salaried workers in the formal sector with fixed
(contractual) terms of employment. Minimum wages are set for each class
and category within the formal sector; however, minimum wages did not
provide a decent standard of living for workers and their families. The
lowest minimum wage was $40 (20,000 CFA francs) per month, with an
additional $2 (1,000 CFA francs) added per month per child. Most
households had multiple earners (largely in informal commerce and in
subsistence agriculture) and relied on the extended family for support.
The formal sector legal workweek was 40 hours with a minimum of one
24-hour rest period; however, for certain occupations, such as private
security guards, the Ministry of Labor authorized longer workweeks of
up to 72 hours. There were no reports of violations during the year.
Premium pay must be paid for overtime, although the rate is not set by
law; employees of each enterprise or government agency negotiate with
their employer to set the rate. These formal sector standards were
effectively enforced.
The labor code establishes occupational safety and health
standards. The Ministry of Labor is charged with enforcing these
standards, although due to staff shortages inspectors focused on safety
violations only in the most dangerous industries: mining, building, and
manufacturing. The standards were effectively enforced within those
three industries, except that gold mining was largely unregulated.
Although generally satisfied with the safety equipment provided by
employers, citing in particular adequate protection from radiation in
the uranium mines, union workers in many cases were not well informed
of the risks posed by their jobs. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from hazardous conditions without fear of losing their jobs.
It is not known whether authorities effectively enforced this right; no
known instances of this occurred.
__________
NIGERIA
Nigeria is a federal republic composed of 36 states and a capital
territory, with a population of approximately 140 million. In April
2003 President Olusegun Obasanjo of the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
was re-elected to a four-year term after being declared the winner in
elections that were marred by what international and domestic observers
characterized as fraud and serious irregularities, including political
violence. The elections also resulted in the ruling PDP claiming 70
percent of the seats in the national legislature and 75 percent of the
state governorships. An extended legal challenge to the 2003 election
verdict ended in July 2005 when the Supreme Court upheld the election
result. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, there were some instances in which
elements of the security forces acted outside the law.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and government
officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses. The most
significant human rights problems included the abridgement of citizens'
right to change their government; politically motivated and
extrajudicial killings by security forces; the use of excessive force,
including torture, by security forces; vigilante killings; impunity;
beatings of prisoners, detainees, and suspected criminals; harsh and
life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and prolonged
pretrial detention; executive influence on the judiciary and judicial
corruption; infringement on privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of
speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement; domestic violence and
discrimination against women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child
abuse and child sexual exploitation; societal violence; ethnic,
regional, and religious discrimination; and trafficking in persons for
the purposes of prostitution and forced labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life There were politically
motivated killings by the Government or its agents. National police,
army, and other security forces committed extrajudicial killings and
used excessive force to apprehend criminals and to disperse protesters
during the year (see Sections 1.c., 1.d., 2.b., and 2.c.).
Police and the armed forces were instructed to use lethal force
against suspected criminals and suspected vandals near oil pipelines in
the Niger Delta region. Multinational oil companies and domestic oil
producing companies often hired private security forces and subsidized
living expenses for police and soldiers from area units assigned to
protect oil facilities in the volatile Niger Delta region. Freelance
and former security forces accounted for a portion of the violent crime
committed during the year.
On August 20, military security forces in the Niger Delta opened
fire on a boat conveying suspected militants. Ten persons were killed
during the attack, including a kidnapped Nigerian employee of Royal
Dutch Shell who was being led out of captivity by alleged members of
the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which vowed to
avenge the killings.
In most cases police officers were not held accountable for
excessive or deadly force or for the deaths of persons in custody.
Police generally operated with impunity in the apprehension, illegal
detention, and sometimes execution of criminal suspects (see Section
1.d.).
Abuses by poorly-trained, poorly-equipped, and poorly-managed
police against civilians were common, and the police were rarely held
accountable. During the year police, military, and anticrime personnel
continued to use lethal force against suspected criminals.
For example, on January 10, police officers killed two suspected
thieves in the Rivers State city of Port Harcourt. A police
spokesperson said the suspects, dressed in fake army uniforms, robbed
several persons before they were killed by police. The Government had
not opened an investigation into the incident by year's end.
On February 13, military and police officers stormed the Ariaria
market in Aba, Abia State on the pretext of preventing vigilantes from
operating there. A firefight ensued, and four persons were reportedly
killed. No investigation had been opened by year's end.
In June the media reported that brothers Juth and Romanus Akpowbo
were arrested in Kano State after having been accused of armed robbery
of the staff quarters of Bayero University. Two weeks later, Juth
Akpowbo died in the hospital without having been released from custody.
Romanus Akpowbo was also in the hospital and said the two brothers had
been severely beaten by police. The Government did not open an
investigation into the allegations by year's end.
In August police in Umuahia North Local government Area killed 12
suspected robbers and left their bodies at a local mortuary. No charges
were filed in the case.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of the youths who were
held incommunicado for 17 days by Rivers State police.
One officer involved in the 2005 police shooting of Suleiyol
Hiikyaa was charged with manslaughter, but the trial had not begun by
year's end.
By year's end no trial date had been set in the March 2005 case of
the police officer accused of shooting and killing a bus driver in
Makurdi, Benue State. The officer remained in jail while authorities
considered which charges to file against him.
There were no developments in the 2005 case in which Gabriel Agbane
died after being beaten by police in Kubwa.
There were no developments in the May 2005 deaths of six men who
were found dead in the mortuary of the University of Nigeria Teaching
Hospital after police presented them as robbers to the media.
During the year the Government did not act on the recommendations
forwarded in March 2005 by an investigative panel that determined that
Kaduna State police in 2004 had killed and secretly buried 12 persons
who attempted a jailbreak.
Violence and lethal force at police and military roadblocks and
checkpoints continued during the year, despite the January 2005
announcement by the acting inspector-general of police that police
roadblocks would be eliminated. Police generally ignored the order, and
a policy of establishing roadblocks was formally reinstated in December
after a police commissioner was killed in Abuja. Security forces
occasionally killed persons while trying to extort money from them.
For example, on June 13, Delta State police officers beat Peter
Osimiri and left him for dead when he refused to pay a $156 (20,000
naira) bribe demanded of him for carrying eight rolls of electrical
cable they believed to be stolen. A passing motorist discovered Osimiri
and attempted to take him for medical help, but police saw him en route
and beat him again. He died shortly after arriving at the hospital. The
officers involved reportedly were detained, but no information was
available.
On December 25, police officers in the Federal Capital Territory
outside Abuja shot and killed a driver who refused to pay a $0.16 (20
naira) bribe. A retaliatory mob formed and killed an assistant
superintendent of police who was driving past the area but had not
taken part in the attack. The mob chased police officers away from the
checkpoint and attempted to burn down the local police station before
being dispersed. The Government had made no arrests by year's end.
There were no developments in the January 2005 case in which Edo
State police stopped a taxi to demand a $0.30 (40 naira) bribe and
killed a passenger after the driver reportedly paid only 20 naira.
The murder trial of a Delta State police officer in October 2005
who shot and killed a commercial bus driver who was unable to pay a
bribe had not begun by year's end.
The trial of six police officers from the Apo area continued,
although with frequent and extended breaks. The officers were charged
with murder for allegedly killing six traders at a vehicle checkpoint
in June 2005. Two persons involved in the case were granted bail in
August on grounds of ill health, three were granted bail without claim
of ill health, and one suspect was denied bail after failing to prove a
claim of poor health.
There were no known developments in the trial of the police officer
accused of killing taxi driver Malam Danjari in Zamfara State in May
2005.
The naval officer arrested in Lagos for the July 2005 shooting of a
motorcycle taxi driver was dismissed from the navy and arraigned before
a Lagos court during the year.
Police and military personnel used excessive force and sometimes
deadly force in the suppression of civil unrest, property vandalism,
and interethnic violence (see Sections 2.b., 2.c., and 5). There were
reports of summary executions, assaults, and other abuses carried out
by military personnel and paramilitary mobile police across the Niger
Delta.
There were several killings by unknown assailants that may have
been politically motivated. For example, on January 14, unknown gunmen
killed Hajiya Saudatu Rimi, the wife of former Kano State Governor
Alhaji Abubakar Rimi. Charges against Rimi's stepson, who had been
charged with the crime, were dismissed in October, and no others were
filed by year's end.
Plateau State gubernatorial aspirant Jesse Aruku of the Advanced
Congress of Democrats party was abducted on June 30 or July 1 and
killed on July 2. Police stated that the motive was assassination
rather than robbery and arrested several persons. The trial had not
begun by year's end.
On July 20, violence erupted between gangs controlled by rival
political leaders in Rivers State, resulting in the deaths of four
persons in Emohua and six in Gokana.
On July 27, Lagos State gubernatorial candidate Funsho Williams,
who had been seeking the nomination of the ruling PDP, was tied up,
stabbed several times, and strangled to death. The two police officers
responsible for guarding Williams' home did not report for work on July
27. An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
In the early morning hours of August 14, Ekiti State PDP
gubernatorial candidate Ayodeji Daramola was killed in the bedroom of
his home by unknown assassins. On November 16, eight persons, including
an advisor to former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose, were arraigned
before an Ekiti high court on charges of conspiracy and the murder of
Daramola. Their trial was ongoing at year's end.
The five men accused of killing PDP politician Alhaji Lateef Olani-
yan in Ibadan, Oyo State in July 2005, were being detained at year's
end, although no formal charges had been brought against them.
There were no known developments in the case of the man in Kogi
State who was arrested and charged with murder in 2005 after confessing
to the March 2004 killing of Bassa Local government Area (LGA) chairman
Luke Shigaba.
Killings carried out by organized gangs of armed robbers remained
common during the year. In Oshodi, Lagos State, a group of armed
robbers, popularly known as ``area boys,'' operated illegal highway
checkpoints at which they demanded money from motorists. When Federal
Road Management Agency officers attempted to stop them in July, the
robbers responded by attacking them with homemade weapons. There were
unconfirmed reports of two deaths. Six area boys were arrested, but no
trial had begun by year's end.
Soldiers arrested 62 suspected area boys and remanded them to
police for prosecution on charges related to a May 2005 clash between
soldiers and area boys. The incident followed the killing of a soldier
near a military command in the Ikeja suburb of Lagos. Twelve of the
area boys were arraigned before a magistrate's court and placed in
custody to await trial. The remaining 50 were released due to
insufficient evidence.
In Anambra, Abia, Imo, and Ebonyi in the southeast, state
governments provided funding to vigilante groups, the most well-known
of which was the ``Bakassi Boys,'' officially known as the Anambra
State Vigilante Service. Like most vigilante groups, the Bakassi Boys
sometimes detained and killed suspected criminals rather than turn them
over to police. On June 30, Attorney General Bayo Ojo pledged to seek
justice for the families of 32 persons who died in August 2005 while
being detained by the Bakassi Boys, but no arrests were known to have
been made.
Other organized vigilante groups continued to detain and kill
suspected criminals.
Police generally did not have a significant impact upon vigilante
groups. They sometimes detained members of these groups during the
year, but those arrests were sporadic, and none was known to result in
prosecution. Initiatives announced to control the vigilante groups were
not successful during the year.There continued to be numerous reports
of street mobs apprehending and killing suspected criminals during the
year. There were no arrests reported from these mob actions, and there
were no developments in cases from previous years. The practice of
``necklacing'' suspected criminals (placing a gasoline-soaked tire
around a victim's neck or torso and then igniting it to burn the victim
to death) by street mobs continued.
Lethal societal violence (including interethnic, intraethnic, and
interreligious violence) continued (see Section 2.c.). For example, on
February 18 and 19, riots broke out in Maiduguri and Katsina in the
north in response to the publication of Danish cartoons depicting the
Prophet Mohammed; in Maidugurui rioters burned churches and the homes
and businesses of some local Christians.
In oil-producing areas, tensions remained high between members of
resident ethnic groups and employees and contractors of oil companies.
Local groups frequently kidnapped oil company employees, but most of
these kidnappings did not result in death (see Section 1.b.). However,
on November 22, a British national was killed in crossfire between the
military and kidnappers.
On May 10, a foreign oil-service contractor was shot and killed by
unknown persons in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
There were no developments in the case of two students who died in
April 2005 clashes between rival cult groups at the Federal University
of Technology in Minna, Niger State.
b. Disappearance.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports of politically motivated disappearances. The Government still
had not responded to a court order to release a Kaduna central mosque
imam detained since May 2003. It was not known whether the imam was
still alive, and there were no updates on his case during the year.
Numerous hostage situations occurred during the year. In oil-
producing areas, tensions remained high between members of resident
ethnic groups and employees and contractors of oil companies. Local
groups frequently kidnapped oil company employees during armed attacks
on oil company facilities. Kidnappings generally were related to
longstanding disputes between ethnic groups and the Government over
resources. Some kidnappings were conducted for financial gain; others,
perpetrated by militant groups, sought to force the Government to
develop local economies, increase local control of oil revenues, or
release prisoners. These kidnappings sometimes resulted in the deaths
of oil facility guards and of military personnel. The Government
responded to the poor security situation by implementing Operation
Restore Hope, a military operation whose forces often used excessive
force during the year, resulting in an escalation of violence on both
sides and an overall degradation in security in the southern region.
On January 10, militants kidnapped four oil workers from an
offshore Shell Company platform. The workers were freed 20 days later.
Bayelsa State government and the federal government were active in
negotiating with the militants to secure the hostages' release.
On June 2, eight foreign oil workers were kidnapped from a rig
operated by Dolphin Oil; they were released two days later.
On June 7, five South Koreans were abducted from a natural gas
facility run by Shell after a gun battle between militants and the
military in which five military personnel reportedly were killed. The
abductors demanded the release of the jailed leader of their militant
group, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, but released the hostages after an
unconfirmed plea from the leader to reach their goals through peaceful
means. Asari Dokubo was not released from prison as a condition of the
hostage's freedom.
On or about August 3, a group calling itself the Movement of the
Niger Delta People kidnapped a German citizen and demanded the release
of Alhaji Asari Dokubo and Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha in
exchange for the hostage. Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta
People's Volunteer Force, remained in detention at year's end following
his October 2005 arrest on charges of treason. At year's end
Alamieyeseigha was in detention while awaiting trial on money
laundering charges. Dokubo released a statement saying he had no hand
in the kidnapping and that the hostage should be released
unconditionally. The hostage was released without incident.
Between August 1 and 17, 16 persons representing 10 nationalities
were abducted in six separate incidents; all were released.
From October through year's end, there was a series of kidnappings
of expatriate and local oil workers. Most were released by year's end.
However, on November 22, of the seven expatriates taken hostage from an
Agip vessel, one Briton was killed during an exchange of gunfire
between the hostage-takers and a military patrol boat that succeeded in
freeing the other six hostages.
Due to limited manpower and resources, police and armed forces
rarely were able to confront the perpetrators of these acts, especially
in the volatile Delta region.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices
and provide for punishment of such abuses, police, military, and
security force officers regularly beat protesters, criminal suspects,
detainees, and convicted prisoners. Police physically mistreated
civilians regularly in attempts to extort money from them. The law
prohibits the introduction into trials of evidence and confessions
obtained through torture.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that persons
died from torture in custody.
Different formulations of Shari'a (Islamic law) were in place in 12
northern states (see Section 2.c.). Shari'a courts delivered hudud
sentences such as caning for fornication and public drunkenness, and
death by stoning for adultery during the year, but it was unknown if
any of the sentences was carried out by year's end. The term hudud
refers to those crimes mentioned explicitly in the Koran, but which do
not necessarily carry a specific punishment. Sentences of amputation
were handed down in some cases for offenses other than theft, but no
sentences were carried out. Several other stoning or amputation
sentences were pending appeal or sentence implementation, but no such
sentences were carried out during the year. Numerous sentences under
Shari'a were not carried out by year's end because of the lengthy
process for appeals. No death sentences were carried out in cases
originating in earlier years. Because no applicable case had been
appealed to the federal level, federal appellate courts had yet to
decide whether such punishments violate the constitution (see Section
1.e.); stoning and amputation sentences previously had been overturned
on procedural or evidentiary grounds but had not been challenged on
constitutional grounds. Caning is also a punishment under common law in
the Northern Region Penal Code and had not been challenged in the
courts as a violation of the statutory law. In some cases convicted
persons are allowed to choose to pay a fine or go to jail instead of
being caned. These sentences were usually carried out immediately,
while Shari'a allows defendants 30 days to appeal sentences involving
mutilation or death. In practice appeals often took much longer than 30
days.
There were no known developments in the May 2005 case in which a
Shari'a appeals court in Kaduna overturned amputation sentences that
had been passed in 2003 against six Zaria men who had been accused of
stealing a cow and a motorcycle.
There were fewer reports than in previous years that security
forces tortured persons and used excessive force during the year. For
example, on July 18, the newspaper Vanguard reported that on April 17,
police in Delta State arrested Segun Pioko, tortured him, and killed
him in May.
On October 23, at the Durbar festival outside the Emir's Palace in
Kano, police beat unruly youth with sticks and whips to clear the way
for the motorcade of the governor of Kano State. Although the crowd was
unruly, participants were peaceful and posed no serious threat to
public order.
In April police in the Njaba local government area of Imo State
carried out reprisal attacks after youths rioted outside the local
police station to protest police roadblocks in the area. Police
arrested 50 persons, and at least four protestors died. Villagers
reported that police were responsible for burning property in the area,
resulting in damage estimated at over $11.7 million (1.5 billion
naira). The Government did not announce formal prosecution proceedings
against the arrested youths, who were believed to remain in detention
at year's end.
There were credible reports during the year that security forces
carried out rape and other forms of sexual violence on women and girls
with impunity. Police officials acknowledged that rape was a problem.
No prosecution was expected in the November 2005 incident in which
bodyguards for the Kebbi State governor beat and robbed a diplomat's
driver at the Abuja airport.
There were no developments in the November 2005 case in which Abuja
police attacked, beat, and arrested a diplomatic driver, allegedly for
driving his vehicle too soon after the vice President's motorcade had
passed through the area.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security
forces beat journalists during the year.
There were numerous ethnic or communal clashes during the year (see
Section 5). Police in rural areas generally lacked the resources to
control societal violence.
Vigilante groups such as the Bakassi Boys held detainees in
informal detention centers, and detainees died during the year (see
Section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
conditions remained harsh and life threatening. Most prisons were built
70 to 80 years ago and lacked basic facilities. Lack of potable water,
inadequate sewage facilities, and severe overcrowding resulted in
unhealthy and dangerous sanitary conditions. Some prisons held 200 to
300 percent more persons than their designed capacity. The Government
acknowledged overcrowding as the main cause of the harsh conditions
common in the prison system. Excessively long pretrial detention
contributed to the overcrowding (see Section 1.d.).A working group
assigned by the Attorney General to investigate prison conditions in
the country released its report in March 2005. The group found that 64
percent of inmates were detainees awaiting trial, and only 25 percent
of those detainees had legal representation. Nearly two-thirds of the
country's prisons were more than 50 years old. All of the prisons were
built of mud brick, and their sewers, food, health care, education, and
recreational facilities were well below standard. In June President
Obasanjo appointed Olusola Adigun Ogundipe comptroller general of
prisons. Although Ogundipe pledged to introduce reforms, improvements
in prison conditions did not materialize by year's end. The Government
continued interagency discussions on how to reduce prison overcrowding.
Disease was pervasive in the cramped, poorly ventilated facilities,
and chronic shortages of medical supplies were reported. HIV/AIDS was
of particular concern within the prison population, and pre-existing
infections were exacerbated by the substandard living conditions
imposed on inmates. Prison inmates were allowed outside their cells for
recreation or exercise only irregularly, and many inmates had to
provide their own food. Only those with money or whose relatives
brought food regularly had sufficient food; petty corruption among
prison officials made it difficult for money provided for food to reach
prisoners. Poor inmates often relied on handouts from others to
survive. Beds or mattresses were not provided to many inmates, forcing
them to sleep on concrete floors, often without a blanket. Prison
officials, police, and security forces often denied inmates food and
medical treatment as a form of punishment or to extort money from them.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to
provide health and hygiene items to prisoners during the year.
Harsh conditions and denial of proper medical treatment contributed
to the deaths of numerous prisoners. According to the nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA),
dead inmates were promptly buried on the prison compounds, usually
without notifying their families. A nationwide estimate of the number
of inmates who died in the country's prisons was difficult to obtain
because of poor record-keeping by prison officials.
In practice women and juveniles were held with male prisoners,
especially in rural areas. The extent of abuse resulting from these
conditions was unknown. In most cases, women accused of minor offenses
were released on bail; however, women accused of serious offenses were
detained. Although the law stipulates children shall not be imprisoned,
juvenile offenders were routinely incarcerated along with adult
criminals. The prison service officially required separation of
detainees and convicted prisoners, but the method of confinement
depended solely on the capacity of the facility. As a result detainees
often were housed with convicted prisoners.
The Government allowed international and domestic NGOs, including
PRAWA and the ICRC, regular access to prisons. PRAWA and the ICRC
published newsletters on their work. The Government admitted that there
were problems with its incarceration and rehabilitation programs and
worked with groups such as these to address those problems.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, police and security
forces continued to employ these practices.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police
Force (NPF) is responsible for law enforcement. Internal security is
the duty of the State Security Service (SSS), which reports to the
President through the national security advisor. Police were unable to
control societal violence on numerous occasions during the year, and
the Government continued its reliance on the army in some cases. Each
NPF state unit was commanded by an assistant inspector general. The law
prohibits state and local-level governments from organizing their own
police forces. The NPF committed human rights abuses and did not
noticeably decrease the incidence of violent crime nationwide (see
Section 1.a.). Police generally operated with impunity in the
apprehension, illegal detention, and sometimes execution of criminal
suspects. The SSS also was responsible for a variety of human rights
abuses, particularly in limiting freedom of speech and press (see
Section 1.a.).
Corruption was rampant, most often taking the form of bribes at
highway checkpoints. Police in Abuja routinely stopped drivers who had
committed no traffic infraction. The police officers typically waved
down the motorist or stepped in front of the car to compel the driver
to stop. Police then entered the car and did not leave until the driver
agreed to pay a bribe. Police often worked in groups and stepped in the
middle of a slow moving traffic flow to stop several vehicles picked at
random.
Although citizens could report incidents of police corruption to
the National Human Rights Commission, this agency was not empowered to
act in response to such complaints.
In January Lagos State police chief Emmanuel Adebayo announced
``Operation Keep Moving,'' a directive under which police were not to
impede traffic flow by extorting money or making unnecessary demands of
drivers. In early January five Lagos police officers were arrested for
extorting money from motorists at checkpoints. Police did not release
the names of those arrested, and it was not known whether they were
being prosecuted.
Arrest and Detention.--Police and security forces were empowered to
arrest without warrant based on reasonable suspicion that a person had
committed an offense; they often abused this power. Under the law
police may detain persons for 24 hours before charging them with an
offense. The law requires an arresting officer to inform the accused of
charges at the time of arrest and to take the accused to a police
station for processing within a reasonable amount of time. By law
police must provide suspects with the opportunity to engage counsel and
post bail. However, suspects were routinely detained without being
informed of the charges, denied access to counsel and family members,
and denied the opportunity to post bail for bailable offenses.
Detainees often were kept incommunicado for long periods. Provision of
bail was often arbitrary or subject to extrajudicial influence. In many
areas there was no functioning bail system, so suspects were held in
investigative detention for prolonged periods. Numerous suspects
alleged that police demanded payment before they were taken to court to
have their cases heard. If family members attended court proceedings,
police often demanded additional payment.
Persons who happened to be in the vicinity of a crime when it was
committed were sometimes held for interrogation for periods ranging
from a few hours to several months. After their release, those detained
were frequently asked to return repeatedly for further questioning.
Members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign
State of Biafra (MASSOB), a separatist group espousing Igbo unity and
the secession of Igbo states as its prime tenets, initiated frequent
violent clashes with the Government, particularly in Onitsha and
Anambra states. Police sometimes reacted by arresting large numbers of
MASSOB members. For example, in June police in Anambra State suspected
MASSOB of kidnapping four police officers and responded by arresting 69
people. Two others were killed in the arrest sweep. Formal charges
against the 69 arrested persons were not announced by year's end.
MASSOB leader Ralph Uwazurike and six of his deputies, who were
arrested in October 2005 on treason charges, remained in detention as
they awaited trial. Public pretrial hearings were conducted in the
case, but no announcements were made about the progress of the trial,
which had been scheduled for September. There were no reports that the
trial had begin by year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no politically motivated
arrests of members of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a militant
Yoruba group operating in the southwest that claims its objective is to
protect the collective rights of the Yoruba within the federation.
Several OPC members continued to be detained for most of the year
on charges stemming from October 2005 clashes between rival OPC
factions, but OPC leader Fredrick Fasehun was released in April on bail
for medical reasons. In December charges were dismissed against
Fasehun, Gani Adams, and four others, and all of those who had been
detained were released from prison.
Mujaheed Asari Dokubo, the leader of the Niger Delta People's
Volunteer Force, remained in detention at year's end following his
October 2005 arrest on treason charges.
The treason trial against Hamza Al Mustapha and two other
defendants did not begin by year's end, and the defendants remained in
a military prison in Lagos. Al Mustapha was accused of plotting to
shoot down President Obasanjo's helicopter.
There were no developments in the pending trial of Hamza Al
Mustapha and four codefendants charged with the 1996 attempted murder
of Alex Ibru, the minister of internal affairs under the Abacha regime.
One defendant, Ishaya Bamaiyi, was granted temporary bail at the end of
the year to seek medical treatment abroad.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested and
detained numerous government officials on corruption charges during the
year, but critics charged that some arrests were politically motivated
(see Section 3).
Security forces detained journalists during the year (see Section
2.a.).
During the year police arrested numerous demonstrators (see
Sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a serious problem. Serious
backlogs, endemic corruption, and undue political influence continued
to hamper the judicial system (see Section 1.e.). In March 2005 a
working group assigned by the Attorney General to investigate prison
conditions in the country found that 64 percent of inmates were
detainees awaiting trial. Multiple adjournments in some cases led to
serious delays. Police cited their inability to securely transport
detainees to trial on their trial dates as one reason why so many were
denied a trial. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported
that some detainees were held because their case files had been lost.
Some state governments released inmates detained for significant
periods of time without trial. Although detainees had the right to
submit complaints to the NHRC, the commission had no power to respond.
Detainees could also complain to the courts, but they often lacked the
means of communicating with the court. Even detainees with legal
representation often waited for years to gain access to the courts.
Amnesty.--Despite the federal government's announcement in early
January that it planned to relieve prison overcrowding by granting
amnesty to 25,000 of the country's 45,000 prisoners, little progress
was made on implementing this plan during the year. On November 30,
President Obasanjo again ordered an audit of the cases of all prisoners
awaiting trial with an announced goal of releasing those who had been
detained for long periods of time, those in ill health, or those over
60.
In August a judge granted 22 prisoners in Adamawa State amnesty for
good behavior.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial .--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judicial branch remained
susceptible to executive and legislative branch pressure. Political
leaders influenced the judiciary, particularly at the state and local
levels. Understaffing, underfunding, inefficiency, and corruption
continued to prevent the judiciary from functioning adequately.
Citizens encountered long delays and frequent requests from judicial
officials for small bribes to expedite cases.
The Ministry of Justice implemented strict requirements for levels
of education and length of service for judges at the federal and state
level; however, there were no requirements or monitoring body for
judges at the local level, leading to corruption and miscarriages of
justice.
The regular court system is composed of federal and state trial
courts, state appeals courts, the federal court of appeal, and the
Supreme Court. There are Shari'a and customary (traditional) courts of
appeal in states that use those bases for civil or criminal law,
including in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). Courts of first
instance include magistrate or district courts, customary or
traditional courts, Shari'a courts, and for some specified cases, the
state high courts. The constitution also provides that the Government
establish a Federal Shari'a Court of Appeal and Final Court of Appeal,
but these courts had not been established by year's end.
The nature of the case usually determined which court had
jurisdiction. In principle customary or Shari'a courts had jurisdiction
only if both plaintiff and defendant agreed on this; however, delays,
distance to alternative venues, community pressure, fear of legal
costs, and individual preference caused many litigants to choose the
customary and Shari'a courts over other venues. In some states, cases
involving only Muslims must be heard by a Shari'a court. The return to
the Shari'a courts that had existed in precolonial times in the north
of the country stemmed at least in part from a failure of governance on
the part of the federal government. State organs, including judicial
bodies, were notorious for an extreme lack of responsiveness as a
result of widespread graft and corruption.
Other states with Shari'a law permitted Muslims to choose common
law courts for criminal cases, but societal pressure forced most
Muslims to use the Shari'a court system.
Trial Procedures.--According to the constitution, persons charged
with offenses have the right to an expeditious trial. Criminal justice
procedures call for trial within three months of arraignment for most
categories of crimes; however, there were considerable delays, often
stretching to several years, in bringing suspects to trial (see Section
1.d.). The law did not provide for juries to be used in trials. Most
detainees were poor and could not afford to pay the informal costs
associated with moving their trials forward, and as a result they
remained in prison. Wealthier defendants employed numerous delay
tactics and in many cases used bribes to persuade judges to grant
numerous continuances. Such practices clogged the court calendar and
prevented trials from starting or progressing.
Trials in the regular court system were public and generally
respected constitutionally protected individual rights in criminal
cases, including a presumption of innocence, and the right to be
present, to confront witnesses, to present evidence, and to be
represented by legal counsel. Although an accused person is entitled to
counsel of his choice, there is no law preventing a trial from going
forward without counsel, except for certain offenses such as homicide
or other offenses for which the penalty is death. The legal aid act
provides for the appointment of counsel in such cases, and a trial does
not go forward without counsel. However, there was a widespread
perception that judges were easily bribed or ``settled,'' and that
litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgments.
Many courts were understaffed, and personnel were paid poorly. Judges
frequently failed to appear for trials, often because they were
pursuing other source of income, and sometimes because of threats
against them. In addition court officials often lacked the proper
equipment, training, and motivation to perform their duties, with lack
of motivation primarily due to inadequate compensation.
In both common law and Shari'a courts, indigent persons without
legal representation were more likely to have their sentences carried
out immediately upon being sentenced, although all accused persons have
the right to appeal. The federal government instituted a panel of legal
scholars in 2003 to draft a uniform Shari'a criminal statute to replace
divergent Shari'a statutes adopted by various northern states; however,
the panel did not produce its report during the year, and states
continued to apply their individual codes, as they were reluctant to
cede legislative control.
There were no legal provisions barring women or other groups from
testifying in civil or criminal proceedings or giving their testimony
less weight, but the testimony of women and non-Muslims usually was
accorded less weight in Shari'a courts. In violation of mainstream
Shari'a jurisprudence, some kadis (Muslim judges) subjected women to
harsh sentences for fornication or adultery based solely upon the fact
of pregnancy, while men were not convicted without eyewitnesses unless
they confessed to these crimes (see Section 1.c.). However, Shari'a
courts did provide women with some benefits, including increased access
to divorce, child custody, and alimony, because it was significantly
easier, faster, and cheaper to get an audience in a Shari'a court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees; however, persons arrested in previous
years for alleged treason remained in detention at year's end.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters; however, the
executive and the legislature also exerted undue influence and pressure
in civil cases. A widespread lack of will to implement court decisions
interfered with due process even when the executive branch did not
attempt to compel a civil court to make a particular decision. The law
provides for access to the courts for the redress of grievances, and
courts can award damages and issue injunctions to stop or prevent a
human rights violation. However, the decisions of civil courts were
extremely difficult to enforce.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, but authorities at
times continued to infringe on these rights. Police raided homes
without warrants during the year.
The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) continued to
demolish homes and businesses in the Federal Capital Territory in spite
of multiple court injunctions prohibiting further demolitions. The
Government typically claimed that the homes or offices that were
demolished lacked proper permits and consequently did not provide
compensation to the owners, who were sometimes able to produce
paperwork indicating the structures were built legally. There was no
transparent legal process for deciding which homes would be bulldozed,
and those who had their homes bulldozed had no recourse to appeal and
received no compensation. The FCDA maintained the public position that
the homes and offices did not comply with the master plan for the city.
Hundreds of thousands of persons had been left homeless by demolitions
that occurred over the past two years, and estimates of the number of
homes and offices destroyed varied widely.
On February 14, the FDCA demolished three houses in the Asokoro
District of Abuja. A former President of the Senate owned one of the
houses, and the former governor of Anambra State owned another.
Soldiers also destroyed homes to avenge killings of military
personnel. For example, on August 24, soldiers burned a slum outside of
Port Harcourt following the killing of an army sergeant by militants in
the area. An estimated 3,000 persons were displaced. The military
denied responsibility, and the Government was not expected to pay
compensation to the victims.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no known reports that
police and security forces continued the practice of placing relatives
and friends of wanted suspects in detention without criminal charge to
induce suspects to surrender to arrest.
Purdah, the Islamic cultural practice of secluding women and
pubescent girls from unrelated men, continued in various parts of the
north. Although women's movement was restricted during daylight hours,
many women pursued economic and social activities outside the home in
the evening. As a result of decades of cultural mixing, purdah was also
widely practiced by many non-Muslims in the north.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
sometimes restricted these rights in practice. While there were
numerous private presses that published freely, there also were
numerous attacks carried out by security forces during the year. Some
journalists practiced self-censorship.
At year's end the trial had not yet begun in the case of seven
university students who were arrested in May 2005 and charged with
sedition for distributing leaflets critical of Jigawa State Governor
Saminu Turaki.
There was a large and vibrant private domestic press that was
frequently critical of the Government. Only one national, government-
owned daily newspaper was published. Several states owned daily or
weekly newspapers that also were published in English. These
publications tended to be poorly produced, had limited circulation, and
required large state subsidies to continue operating. There are more
than 14 major daily newspapers, six weekly newsmagazines, and several
sensationalist evening newspapers and tabloid publications.
Because newspapers and television were relatively expensive and
literacy levels were low, radio remained the most important medium of
mass communication and information. The Government owned and controlled
much of the electronic media. The National Broadcasting Commission
(NBC) was the body responsible for the deregulation and monitoring of
the broadcast media.
The national television station, Nigerian Television Authority, was
federally owned. The law requires local television stations to limit
programming from other countries to 40 percent and restricts the
foreign content of satellite broadcasting to 20 percent; however, the
Government did not restrict access to, or reception of, international
cable or satellite television.
International broadcasters, including Voice of America, BBC, and
Deutsche Welle, broadcast in English and Hausa and were an important
source of news in the country.
The NBC's 2004 ban on live broadcast of foreign news and programs
continued throughout the year.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no known reports that
security forces beat journalists.
There were no further known developments in the several instances
in which security forces beat or detained journalists in 2005.
Security forces detained journalists during the year. For example,
on June 14, in a case that drew substantial nationwide attention, SSS
officers detained journalists Gbenga Mike Aruleba of Africa Independent
Television and Rotimi Durojaiye of the Daily Independent newspaper in
Lagos, who had reported earlier in the month that President Obasanjo
had purchased a secondhand airplane. The journalists were charged with
sedition and released on bail during a June 29 hearing. Observers noted
that attendance at a June 25 hearing was closely monitored by SSS. At
an October 10 hearing, the charges against Aruleba were dismissed, but
those against Durojaiye and his newspaper were not. At year's end
Durojaiye remained free on bail while an appeals court considered the
constitutionality of the sedition charge.
The Government suspended radio stations or confiscated newspapers
during the year. In March the Government restricted Freedom Radio in
Kano from broadcasting between 5:00 and 10:00 PM for several days after
the station aired a live call-in show in which callers criticized the
Government.
There were no known developments in the 2005 cases in which the
Government suspended radio stations or confiscated newspapers.
Editors reported that government security officers sometimes
visited or called to demand information regarding a story or source.
Local NGOs suggested that newspaper editors and owners underreported
actual human rights abuses and killings due in part to selfcensorship.
State broadcasters and journalists remained important tools for
governors; these officials used the state-owned media to showcase the
state's accomplishments and to promote their own political goals.
The law criminalizes libel and requires defendants to prove the
truth of opinion or value judgment contained in news reports or
commentaries. This limits the circumstances in which media defendants
can rely on the defense of ``fair comment on matters of public
interest'' and restricts the right to freedom of expression. Penalties
for libel ranged from one to seven years' imprisonment (seven years, if
the libelous material was published to blackmail a person).
There were no developments in the October 2005 case in which Chief
Owei Sikpi, publisher of the Weekly Star newspaper, was detained for
alleged libel against the federal government and the Rivers State
government. At year's end Sikpi remained in custody, and no trial date
had been announced.
There were no developments in the December 2005 case in which an
editor and a presenter at privately-owned radio station Rhythm FM were
arrested and charged with intent to cause public panic and fear. They
remained in custody at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. A
2006 survey revealed that only 1.3 percent of households owned a
personal computer and that 1.5 percent of households had fixed line
telephone service. However, these limits were tied to poverty rather
than government restriction. Cybercafes were widely available and
unmonitored by the Government.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--State governments continued
to restrict academic freedom by controlling curriculum at all levels,
including mandating religious instruction. Student groups alleged that
numerous strikes, inadequate facilities, and the rise of cultism on
campuses, particularly in the south, continued to hamper educational
progress.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right for progovernment
rallies, while opposition gatherings continued to be restricted. In
areas that experienced societal violence, police and security forces
permitted public meetings and demonstrations on a case-by-case basis.
Police frequently cited the 1990 Public Order Act to disband
meetings critical of the Government, in spite of the Abuja high court's
June 2005 decision to strike down the Act, which required a police
permit to be issued for all public rallies and processions. Although
the acting inspector general of police announced following the court's
decision that the police would appeal the ruling, he also stated that
police would respect the court's injunction prohibiting police from
interfering with peaceful rallies.
The Government occasionally banned gatherings whose political,
ethnic, or religious nature might lead to unrest. Open-air religious
services held away from places of worship remained prohibited in many
states due to fears that they might heighten interreligious tensions.
The Kaduna State government ban on processions, rallies,
demonstrations, and meetings in public places still was enforced on a
case-by-case basis. A security forces committee ban on all political,
cultural, and religious meetings in Plateau State continued to be
implemented on an ad hoc basis.
Security forces forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year,
which resulted in numerous injuries and at least one death. Police and
army units used force to quell widespread ethnoreligious violence in
February (see Section 2.c.).
In January police in Oyo State used tear gas to disperse a high-
profile demonstration protesting Governor Ladoja's impeachment and
removal from office. Police claimed to have broken up the
demonstration, which was peaceful, because no permit had been issued.
In the spring police disbanded meetings protesting a proposed
constitutional amendment to allow the President a third term in office.
There were major riots in northern states from February 18 to 19
after police used tear gas and live ammunition to break up peaceful
demonstrations to protest the constitutional amendment to allow the
President to run for a third term. In Maiduguri a riot ensued after
police fired tear gas and live ammunition to disperse a demonstration
organized ostensibly to protest Danish cartoons of the Prophet
Mohammad. In Katsina police shot into a rally of 20,000 persons,
reportedly shooting and killing the demonstration's leader.
On February 21, police arrested and detained 24 civil society
representatives protesting the President's proposed third term agenda
during a zonal constitutional review conference held in Oshogbo, Osun
State. Police arraigned the protestors before an Oshogbo magistrate
court under charges of unlawful assembly. The court granted all 24
persons bail, and the matter was pending before the court at year's
end.
In July SSS agents in Abuja sealed off the intended venue of a
meeting called to protest the firing of Bukhari Bello as chair of the
NHRC.
On November 27, police disrupted a meeting of opposition
politicians and activists in a multipurpose hall in Kaduna State. While
former governor Alhaji Balarabe Musa was addressing a crowd of several
hundred persons, police entered the building and arrested the meeting
organizers, who were informed at police headquarters that the summit
was ``confrontational'' and should be disbanded peacefully or the
police would halt it by force.
There were no developments in the 2005 cases of security forces
using excessive force against protesters. No action was taken against
security forces who killed or injured persons while forcibly dispersing
protesters in 2005 or 2004.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the
right to associate freely with other persons in political parties,
trade unions, or special interest associations, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The constitution and law
allow the free formation of political parties. There were 46 parties
registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at
year's end, with the majority of those parties formed during the year
to contest the 2007 elections.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion; although the federal government generally
respected religious freedom, there were instances in which limits were
placed on religious activity to address security and public safety
concerns.
The law prohibits state and local governments from adopting an
official religion. Some Christians alleged that Islam has been adopted
as a de facto state religion in several northern states, citing
criminal law aspects of Islamic law (Shari'a) and the continued use of
state resources to fund the construction of mosques, the teaching of
kadis, and pilgrimages to Mecca (hajj). However, several states,
including northern states, used government revenues to fund Christian
pilgrimages to Jerusalem. States, whether dominated by Christians or
Muslims, generally favored the faith practiced by the majority of
residents.
The law provides that states may elect to use Islamic laws and
courts. Twelve northern states had adopted at least parts of Shari'a-
Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi,
Borno, Zamfara, and Gombe. Adherence to Shari'a provisions is
compulsory for Muslims in some states and optional in others. Non-
Muslims are not required in any state to submit to Shari'a
jurisdiction, although in some states they have the option to do so,
which may work to a defendant's advantage when the penalty under
Shari'a is less severe than under civil law. For example, some crimes
carry a punishment of a fine under Shari'a but would receive a prison
sentence under civil law.
Although several northern state governments continued to ban public
proselytizing to avoid ethnoreligious violence, some Christian
proselytizing groups remained active despite these formal bans, which
generally were enforced on a case-by-case basis.
The law does not require students to receive instruction in a
religion other than their own; however, the Ministry of Education
requires public school students throughout the country to undergo
either Islamic or Christian religious instruction. State authorities
claimed that students were permitted not to attend classes taught in a
religion other than their own, and that students may request a teacher
of their own religion to provide alternative instruction. However,
there were often no teachers of ``Christian Religious Knowledge'' in
many northern schools nor those of ``Muslim Religious Knowledge'' in
some southern schools.
Although distribution of religious publications was generally
unrestricted, the Government sporadically enforced a ban against
broadcasting religious advertisements on state-owned radio and
television stations.
Although Shari'a technically does not apply to non-Muslims, the
non-Muslim minority has been affected by certain social provisions of
Shari'a, such as the separation of the sexes in public schools and in
the health and transportation services. Many social provisions
associated with Shari'a have roots in the country's pre-Islamic
societies and were in practice before the states adopted Shari'a.
Although most states had not criminalized alcohol consumption by non-
Muslims, in 2004 Kano State announced that non-Muslims would be fined
approximately $380 (50,000 naira) or sentenced up to one year in prison
for drinking or selling alcohol in certain public places. There were no
reports of non-Muslims in Kano State being penalized under this
restriction during the year, and alcohol was available in some
restaurants and hotel bars. Some states continued to offer only gender-
segregated transportation (see Section 5).
A number of states with expanded Shari'a have long sanctioned
private vigilante Shari'a enforcement groups (hisbah); in some cases
these groups had authority to make arrests. The hisbah groups were not
very active during the year, although they often served as traffic
wardens, especially in Kano.
Unlike in the previous year, no Shari'a death sentences generated
controversy, and there were no reports of persons being sentenced under
Shari'a law for fornication or adultery, regardless of their religious
affiliation.
There were no updates in the 2005 case of Saleh Dabo, who was
sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, even though he was not
married. The appeal had not yet been heard by year's end.
There were numerous Shari'a cases pending appeal or implementation
of sentence, including pending amputation and stoning sentences in
Jigawa, Bauchi, Niger, Kano, and Zamfara states. Many of these cases
had been delayed continuously for various reasons.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits religious
discrimination in employment and other practices; however, private
businesses frequently discriminated on the basis of religion or
ethnicity in their hiring practices and purchasing patterns. In nearly
all states, ethnic rivalries between ``indigenous'' and ``settlers''
led to some societal discrimination against minority ethnic and
religious groups.
Religious differences often mirrored regional and ethnic
differences. For example, persons in the North and in parts of the
Middle Belt were overwhelmingly Muslim and from the large Hausa and
Fulani ethnic groups that tended to dominate these areas. Many southern
ethnic groups were predominantly Christian. In many areas of the Middle
Belt, Muslim Fulani tended to be pastoralists, while the Muslim Hausa
and most Christian ethnic groups tended to be farmers or to work in
urban areas. Consequently ethnic, regional, economic, and land use
competition and confrontations often coincided with religious
differences between the competing groups (see Section 5). It was not
unusual for two ethnic groups with a long history of conflict to have
adopted different religions, with the effect of exacerbating existing
tensions.
Ethnoreligious violence resulted in numerous deaths and the
displacement of thousands of persons.
In February the Nigerian Red Cross reported that up to 50,000
persons were displaced and approximately 150 killed by a wave of
sectarian violence sparked by protests over caricatures of the Islamic
Prophet Muhammed. The special assistant to the country's President of
Migration and Humanitarian Affairs estimated that at least 500,000
persons, and perhaps millions of persons, were displaced within the
country. The Nigerian Red Cross reported that approximately 8,600
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had sought protection in an army
barracks in Anambra State, and an additional 2,000 persons remained in
refuge in army barracks in Niger State. The majority of deaths occurred
in the mainly Christian southeast city of Onitsha, where groups of
armed youths attacked Muslim Hausa-speakers from the north in revenge
for the killings of Christian Igbos several days earlier in the north
of the country. Spiraling violence spread across at least six states,
with thousands of IDPs taking temporary refuge in police and army
barracks or churches. Widespread destruction of property took place,
with numerous churches, mosques, and houses burned down. State
governments in the affected areas dispatched police and army
reinforcements and imposed curfews in an attempt to contain the
situation. The curfews were later lifted.
On February 18, rioting in Maiduguri, Borno State, left more than
50 persons dead in six hours of attacks against Christians and their
property. Approximately 40 churches also were destroyed.
Also in February Muslim students at a secondary school in Bauchi
Sate reportedly threatened a Christian teacher for handling the Koran
when she took it from a student who was reading it during class. A
subsequent demonstration resulted in the burning of two churches and
the killing of approximately 20 Christians; approximately 25 persons
reportedly were arrested. The Government handled the case as a state
security matter and had released little information publicly by year's
end. There were reports that some of the defendants were taken to Jos
in Plateau State, where they were granted bail, and that others were
taken to Abuja. Christian religious leaders in Bauchi have been unable
to make contact with the teacher, who was reportedly transported out of
the state for her protection.
In February unidentified Muslim students at a nursing school in
Sokoto threatened a female Christian student after she used
inflammatory language denigrating the prophet Muhammed. A riot ensued,
and the school was closed for a few weeks for security reasons. The
female student was given refuge at a local police station. A police
investigation had not located the perpetrators by year's end.
On September 10, churches in Jigawa State were burned during an
interreligious conflict that reportedly developed when a Christian
student and a Muslim student exchanged comments denigrating each
other's religious figures.
During the year local authorities in Abia State were presented with
a petition by members of Jehovah's Witnesses who were victimized in
June 2005 when their worship center and the homes of 24 families were
destroyed. The petition requested aid in rebuilding and the arrest of
the perpetrators. The Government took no action on the request.
There were no known developments in the February 2005 case in
Numan, Adamawa State, in which police killed at least two persons and
arrested at least 30 others who were protesting the appointment of the
new Bachama ethnic group traditional leader.
There were no arrests or prosecutions in the 2004 case in which
Muslim students at a major university in Bauchi State abducted and
killed the head of a Christian campus organization in retaliation for
perceived insults to Islam by Christian students.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and while the Government generally respected them, police
occasionally restricted freedom of movement by enforcing curfews in
areas experiencing ethnoreligious violence.
Law enforcement agencies used roadblocks and checkpoints to search
for criminals and to prevent persons traveling from areas of conflict
to other parts of the country where their presence might instigate
retaliatory violence. There were no reports that government officials
restricted mass movements of individuals fleeing ethnic unrest.
Security and law enforcement officials continued to use excessive force
at checkpoints and roadblocks and engaged in extortion and violence
(see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.). On some stretches of road police
maintained checkpoints every few kilometers.
Kano State's 2005 ban prohibiting commercial motorcycle taxis from
taking female passengers continued during the reporting period (see
Section 5).
The law prohibits the expulsion of citizens, and the Government did
not use forced exile. Ismaila Gwarzo, national security advisor to
former President Abacha, remained restricted to his hometown in Kano
State after President Obasanjo issued the informal injunction to
prevent Gwarzo from allegedly plotting against him.
The FDCA continued to demolish homes and businesses in the Federal
Capital Territory, which left numerous persons homeless (see Section
1.f.).
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Ethnoreligious violence in
February resulted in numerous deaths and the displacement of thousands
of persons during the year (see Sections 2.c. and 5).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, and
granted refugee status or asylum. The Government cooperated with the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers through the
National Commission for Refugees, its federal commissioner, and the
National Emergency Management Agency. The Eligibility Committee (on
which the UNHCR had observer status), governed the granting of refugee
status, asylum, and resettlement, and reviewed refugee and resettlement
applications.
Refugee camps, which housed approximately 9,000 refugees, were
generally overcrowded, and refugees' requests for police and judicial
assistance generally received little attention. Refugees had poor
access to the courts, but observers noted that it was no worse than
that of citizens.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to a small number of persons during the year.
Government forces withdrew from the Bakassi Peninsula near the
border with Cameroon in August after a June agreement between the
Presidents of Cameroon and Nigeria. Cameroon was given administrative
control of the region following an extended legal dispute that resulted
in the 2002 decision by the International Court of Justice to award the
Bakassi to Cameroon. Some citizens remained in what became Cameroonian
territory, and others were offered resettlement within the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully through periodic, free, and fair elections
held on the basis of universal suffrage; however, citizens' right to
change their government was abridged during the most recent national
elections in 2003. The political system remained in transition. The
three branches of the Government acted somewhat independently, although
the executive branch dominated the other two branches.
Elections and Political Participation.--The 2003 legislative
elections were marred by widespread fraud. The turnout was
significantly low for the 2003 Presidential and gubernatorial
elections, which were also marred by widespread fraud. A total of 31
parties participated in the 2003 national assembly elections, and 19
parties fielded candidates in the Presidential election. The European
Union observer mission categorized the quality of the Presidential
election as extremely poor, stating that in the worst six states,
elections effectively were not held, and in the rest of the country the
elections were seriously marred. All major independent observer groups,
international and domestic, issued negative statements about the
fairness of elections and cited problems throughout the country.
Problems included ballot stuffing, intentional miscounting, underage
voting, multiple voting, intimidation, and violence, including
political killings. Although all parties participated in the
misconduct, observers cited violations by the ruling PDP significantly
more often than those other parties.
Although in 2004 an election tribunal voided part of the 2003
Presidential election results, including the entire result of Ogun
State, President Obasanjo's home state, and found that there was
significant rigging, the tribunal declined by a three-to-one vote to
overturn the election. The opposition appealed the verdict to the
Supreme Court, which in 2005 not only upheld the election results,
finding that the 2003 election had been ``substantially'' in compliance
with the election law, but also reinstated the results that had been
voided by the tribunal. The justice delivering the dissenting opinion
in the appeals court was dismissed from the judiciary and continued to
live without retirement benefits in the east. On August 12, following a
two-year court battle, the Anambra State Elections Tribunal overturned
the 2003 gubernatorial election results and declared the All People's
Grand Alliance candidate Peter Obi the winner. The previously-
recognized winner, Chris Ngige, who had run as a member of the ruling
PDP but was later expelled from the party, appealed the ruling and
refused to leave office pending his appeal.
The Government took steps to prepare for elections scheduled to be
held in April 2007. The slow pace of these preparations, however,
caused widespread concern about the ability of the INEC to support the
election. The media issued conflicting reports as to whether the INEC
had actually received the funding allotted to it to prepare for the
elections, though the INEC continued to insist that it had adequate
funds to proceed. The Government did not complete voter registration by
the December 14 deadline mandated by law when an effort to
electronically register voters fell far short of completion. At year's
end the Government was discussing whether to address the situation by
continuing to register voters electronically, by substituting manual
registration for electronic registration, or by revalidating the 2003
voter rolls, which were widely held to be seriously flawed.
On November 18, violence marred PDP local government congresses in
several states. Fourteen persons were believed to have been killed in
Rivers State, and at least five PDP members were wounded during gun
battles in Akwa Ibom after armed police were brought to PDP
headquarters to quell protests over allegedly doctored lists of
delegates for the State Assembly primary election.
From December 8 to 10, approximately six persons in Benue State
were killed during riots that broke out after a gubernatorial primary
was delayed and the PDP selected an unpopular candidate for the State
House of Assembly. No prosecutions were announced in the case.
In November there were reports that at least five persons in Enugu
State were mutilated and killed for ritual purposes by perpetrators who
worked for local politicians.
Internal pressure, including threats, was exerted on members of the
ruling PDP to limit their ability to select the party's leadership.
Party leadership was imposed from the presidency, and Obasanjo was
given a lifetime party leadership post. The process for selecting party
candidates was not transparent, and rifts between President Obasanjo
and Vice President Atiku Abubakar led to the disenfranchisement of a
number of persons in the party's internal political processes. Most
party candidates were pressured to step down, and those who remained
were not allowed to campaign at the party convention in December. The
PDP required persons interested in running for President on the party's
ticket to pay $39,060 (five million naira) for a PDP nomination form.
The PDP offered the forms to female candidates for an ``expression
fee'' of $78 (10,000 naira).
The country's electoral law allowed those who felt they had been
disenfranchised to leave their existing party and form a new one.
In March the SSS detained and questioned Alhaji Lawal Kaita, leader
of the Advanced Congress of Democrats, a political party that had
recently been formed by former members of the ruling PDP. The minister
of information defended the SSS action and called the 74-year-old Kaita
a threat to public safety and national security for allegedly
recruiting thugs for political activities.
On April 4, eight leaders of the Turaki Vanguard, a campaign group
supporting the vice President, were charged with belonging to an
unlawful society. No furthers hearings were announced in the case by
year's end.
The EFCC continued a strong anticorruption campaign during the
year, arresting a number of federal, state, and local officials and
seizing millions of dollars in assets. Some observers lauded the
commission's actions as a centerpiece of the Obasanjo administration's
war on corruption, but critics claimed that some EFCC investigations
were politically motivated, singling out political opponents of the
administration, and that the EFCC did not always follow proper criminal
procedure. During the year the EFCC brought or threatened criminal
charges against several persons intending to run as Presidential
candidates.
Although there were more than 500 ministerial and National Assembly
positions, there were only eight female ministers, three female
senators, and 12 female representatives at the end of the year.
To promote national unity and loyalty, the law mandates that the
composition of the federal, state, and local governments and their
agencies, as well as the conduct of their affairs, reflect the diverse
character of the country. The Government was an example of this
diversity: President Obasanjo is a Yoruba from the southwest, the vice
President is a Fulani from the northeast, and the senate President is
an Igbo from the southeast. The Government also attempted to balance
other key positions among the different regions and ethnic groups. The
political parties also engaged in ``zoning,'' a practice of rotating
positions within the party among the different regions and ethnic
groups to ensure that each region was given adequate representation.
Despite this effort, with more than 250 ethnic groups, it was difficult
to ensure representation of every group in the Government (see Section
5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was massive,
widespread, and pervasive, at all levels of the Government and society
(see Section 1.e.). The constitution provides immunity from civil and
criminal prosecution to the President, vice President, governors, and
deputy governors.
During the spring debate over a constitutional amendment allowing a
third term for President Obasanjo, many members of the National
Assembly were offered bribes in return for their votes on the
amendment. Credible reports indicated that at least some of the members
accepted the payments.
At year's end 31 of the country's 36 governors had been or were
being investigated, most on suspicion of corruption. Three governors
were impeached during the year, although the Supreme Court later ruled
that one governor should be returned to office because of procedural
flaws in his impeachment. Although allegations of gubernatorial
corruption were generally credible, some observers believed that
persons were targeted for investigation for political reasons.
On January 12, the Oyo State House of Assembly impeached Governor
Rasheed Ladoja on charges of corruption and abuse of office. Underlying
the impeachment was a political feud pitting the governor against the
state's traditional political strongman, whom the President reportedly
supported. On December 7, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the
Ibadan appeals court to nullify Ladoja's impeachment.
In October the governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, was impeached
following an investigation that determined that he and others had
embezzled $9.4 million dollars (1.2 billion naira) from the state. At
year's end a court case was pending to prevent the EFCC from pressing
charges against Fayose.
In November Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye was impeached for
corruption. Dariya skipped bail in London on money laundering charges
and was widely reported to have embezzled money intended for the
Plateau State treasury. Observers found the charges against him both
credible and politically motivated.
The EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC)
won no convictions of high-level officials during the year, although
numerous investigations and arrests were conducted. In November 2005
former inspector-general of police, Tafa Balogun, pled guilty to minor
obstruction charges and received a six-month prison sentence.
On September 26, the Senate adopted a resolution to launch an
investigation into allegations of high-level corruption at the
Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF). In December the courts
dismissed charges against the vice President because of his immunity
while from prosecution while in office. The President and the vice
President continued to publicly trade accusations of PTDF-related
corruption against one another through the end of the year.
Complicit prison and hospital officials reportedly forged death
certificates for convicted drug offenders to aid their escape from
prison. In the 18-month period between January 2005 and August,
approximately 200 convicted drug offenders escaped in this manner. In
some cases drug offenders paid other persons to serve their prison
sentences. President Obasanjo reportedly ordered the Attorney General
to form a commission to further investigate these preliminary findings.
Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who in September
2005 was arrested in the United Kingdom and charged with money
laundering, had been denied bail and was in jail pending trial. At
year's end the court was considering a motion to allow him to leave
prison to seek medical treatment abroad. His case was adjourned until
2007 due to his failing health.
There were no known developments in the June 2005 arrests of Bauchi
State government employees for their role in embezzling $2.1 million
(281 million naira) of state government funds.
There were no known developments in the June 2005 case in which the
EFCC arrested five Kebbi State government employees for embezzling up
to $22 million (three billion naira) of state government funds through
schemes involving fake vouchers and the private sale of state bonds.
There were no developments in the 2003 prosecution of the former
labor minister and other senior government officials on corruption
charges. The former officials remained free as the trial, which began
in 2004, continued to be delayed.
There were no laws providing for access to information, and the
Government provided limited access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views. Criticism of
the Government's human rights record was abundant in various media.
Human rights activists reported that their interactions with the
federal government were acceptable, but should be more frequent.
However, the environment for interaction was still tense, and human
rights groups were reluctant to form a close relationship with the
Government.
Numerous domestic and international NGOs were active in the
country. Significant NGOs included Amnesty International (AI), the
Campaign for Democracy, the Center for Law Enforcement Education
(CLEEN), the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Global Rights,
Human Rights Watch (HRW), Women Trafficking and Child Labor Eradication
Foundation (WOTCLEF), and the Women's Consortium of Nigeria. The NGOs
were generally independent of the Government although some, such as
WOTCLEF, which the vice President's wife chaired, had close government
ties.
The Government met with NGOs, and civil society organizations
facilitated government/NGO communications.
There were no known developments in the 2004 case in which the
customs service did not comply with a court decision against it.
Although CLEEN won its September 2004 lawsuit against the Government
over the 2002 seizure of its human rights reports and was awarded
$69,230 (9 million naira), the customs service neither paid the award
nor returned the seized books.
International NGOs actively addressed human rights issues in the
country during the year. The ICRC in Abuja and Lagos provided
assistance to victims of interethnic violence in the north and
conducted presentations and trainings on human rights for police and
military personnel. HRW also reported on a protest against the firing
of the executive secretary of the NHRC, Niger Delta violence and
abuses, and discrimination against non-indigenes.
The NHRC, which the Government tasked with monitoring and
protecting human rights, strove to improve its credibility with the
general public and NGO community as an independent monitoring body. The
NHRC had zonal affiliates in each of the country's six political
regions. Since its inception, the NHRC's operations were limited by
insufficient funding. The commission also lacked judicial authority and
could only make nonbinding recommendations to the Government.
In June the Government removed NHRC Executive Secretary Bukhari
Bello. There was widespread condemnation of the move, which observers
believed was intended to punish the NHRC for its previous protests
against unfair detentions.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on
community, place of origin, ethnic group, sex, religion, or political
opinion; however, societal and religious discrimination against women
persisted, societal discrimination on the basis of both religion and
ethnicity remained widespread, and ethnic and regional tensions
continued to contribute to serious violence both between citizens and
the security forces and between groups of citizens.
Women.--Domestic violence was widespread and often considered
socially acceptable. Reports of spousal abuse were common, especially
those of wife beating. Police normally did not intervene in domestic
disputes, which seldom were discussed publicly. The law permits
husbands to use physical means to chastise their wives as long as it
does not result in ``grievous harm,'' which is defined as loss of
sight, hearing, power of speech, facial disfigurement, or life-
threatening injuries. In more rural areas, courts and police were
reluctant to intervene to protect women who formally accused their
husbands of abuse if the level of alleged abuse did not exceed
customary norms in the areas. According to the 2003 Nigeria Demographic
and Health Survey (NDHS), 64.5 percent of women and 61.3 percent of men
agreed that a husband was justified in hitting or beating his wife for
at least one of six specified reasons, including burning food and not
cooking on time.
AI estimated that two-thirds of the women in certain communities in
Lagos State experienced physical, sexual, or psychological violence in
the family, with husbands, partners, and fathers responsible for most
of the violence. Discriminatory laws exacerbated the problem. For
example, the penalty for sexual assault of a man is more severe than
the penalty for the same offense against a woman.
The law criminalized rape and provided for substantial penalties
for convictions, but societal pressures and the stigma associated with
being a rape victim reduced both the percentage of rapes reported and
the penalties imposed for conviction. The law recognizes spousal rape
as a separate offense; however, spousal rape was difficult to prove in
court, and no such prosecutions were reported during the year. Rape and
sexual harassment continued to be problems. There were no statutes
against sexual harassment, but violent forms were adjudicated under
assault statutes. The practice of demanding sexual favors in exchange
for employment or university grades continued to be common, and rape
continued to be epidemic in universities. In November AI issued a
report criticizing the judicial system for a conviction rate of only 10
percent of the total number of rape prosecutions.
The NDHS estimated that approximately 19 percent of the female
population had been subjected to FGM, although the incidence had
declined steadily in recent years. While practiced in all parts of the
country, FGM was much more prevalent in the south. Women from northern
states were less likely to undergo the most severe type of FGM known as
infibulation. The age at which women and girls were subjected to the
practice varied from the first week of life until after a woman
delivered her first child; however, three-quarters of the NDHS 2003
survey respondents who had undergone FGM had the procedure before their
first birthday. According to the survey, the principal perceived
``benefits'' of FGM included maintaining chastity/virginity before
marriage, giving the victim better marriage prospects, providing more
sexual pleasure for men (primarily according to male respondents), and
aiding safe childbirth.
The federal government publicly opposed FGM but took no legal
action to curb the practice. Because of the considerable impediments
that anti-FGM groups faced at the federal level, most refocused their
energies on combating the practice at the state and local levels.
Bayelsa, Edo, Ogun, Cross River, Osun, and Rivers states banned FGM.
However, once a state legislature criminalized FGM, NGOs found that
they had to convince the local government area authorities that state
laws were applicable in their districts. The Ministry of Health,
women's groups, and many NGOs sponsored public awareness projects to
educate communities about the health hazards of FGM. They worked to
eradicate the practice, but financial and logistical obstacles limited
their contact with health care workers on the medical effects of FGM.
During the year there were no known prosecutions resulting from a
2005 Osun State law intended to punish persons who encourage FGM. The
law criminalizes the removal of any part of a sexual organ from a woman
or a girl, except for medical reasons approved by a doctor. According
to the provisions of the law, an offender is any female who offers
herself for FGM; any person who coerces, entices, or induces any female
to undergo FGM; and any person who other than for medical reasons
performs an operation removing part of a woman or girl's sexual organs.
The law provides for a fine of $385 (50,000 naira), one year's
imprisonment, or both for a first offense, and doubled penalties for a
second conviction.
Prostitution was a serious problem, particularly in urban areas.
There are statutes at both the federal and state levels criminalizing
prostitution. All states that had adopted Shari'a had criminalized
prostitution, and this ban was enforced with varying degrees of
success. The police frequently used the antiprostitution statutes as
tools for harassment, arresting offenders and holding them until they
paid a bribe, but rarely prosecuting the cases in court.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
In some parts of the country, women continued to be harassed for
social and religious reasons. Purdah continued in parts of the far
north (see Section 1.f.).
Women also experienced considerable economic discrimination. While
there are no laws barring women from particular fields of employment,
women often experienced discrimination under traditional and religious
practices. The Nigerian NGOs Coalition expressed concern regarding
continued discrimination against women in the private sector,
particularly in access to employment, promotion to higher professional
positions, and salary equality. There were credible reports that
several businesses operated with a ``get pregnant, get fired'' policy.
Women remained underrepresented in the formal sector but played an
active and vital role in the country's informal economy. While the
number of women employed in the business sector increased every year,
women did not receive equal pay for equal work and often found it
extremely difficult to acquire commercial credit or to obtain tax
deductions or rebates as heads of households. Unmarried women in
particular endured many forms of discrimination.
The NDHS survey showed that women had significant control over the
income they generated (73.4 percent made sole decisions on how such
income was to be used), but that men largely controlled decisions
regarding areas such as children's and women's own health care.
Although some women made considerable individual progress in both
the academic and business worlds, women overall remained marginalized.
Although women were not legally barred from owning land, under some
customary land tenure systems only men could own land, and women could
gain access to land only through marriage or family. In addition many
customary practices did not recognize a woman's right to inherit her
husband's property, and many widows were rendered destitute when their
in-laws took virtually all of the deceased husband's property.
In some parts of the country, widows experienced unfavorable
conditions as a result of discriminatory traditional customs and
economic deprivation. ``Confinement,'' which occurred predominantly in
the east, was the most common rite of deprivation to which widows were
subjected. Confined widows were under social restrictions for as long
as one year and usually were expected to shave their heads and dress in
black as part of a culturally mandated mourning period. In other areas
a widow was considered a part of her husband's property, to be
``inherited'' by his family. Shari'a personal law protects widows'
property rights, and an NGO reported that many women succeeded in
protecting their rights in Shari'a courts.
Polygyny is legal and continued to be practiced widely among many
ethnic and religious groups.
Women in the 12 northern states were affected to varying degrees by
Shari'a. In Zamfara State local governments enforced laws requiring the
separation of Muslim men and women in transportation and health care.
Kano State's 2005 ban prohibiting commercial motorcycle taxis from
taking women as passengers continued during the reporting period. The
state government did not cite any specific Koranic references in
announcing the ban. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women were affected by
the ban.
The testimony of women was not given the same weight as that of men
in many criminal courts (see Section 1.e.).
Children.--The Government seldom enforced even the inadequate laws
designed to protect the rights of children. Public schools continued to
be substandard, and limited facilities precluded access to education
for many children. The law calls for the Government, ``when
practical,'' to provide free, compulsory, and universal primary
education; however, compulsory primary education rarely was provided.
The 2004 NDHS EdData survey showed primary school net attendance rates
of 64 percent for boys and 57 percent for girls, with approximately 96
percent of those attending completing five years of primary education.
Secondary school net attendance was considerably lower, at 38 percent
for males and 33 percent for females. In many parts of the country,
girls were discriminated against in access to education for social and
economic reasons. When economic hardship restricted families' ability
to send girls to school, many girls were directed into activities such
as domestic work, trading, and street vending. Many families favored
boys over girls in deciding which children to enroll in secondary and
elementary schools. The literacy rate was 58 percent for men but only
41 percent for women.
While most schools in the north traditionally separated children by
gender, the law required this practice in Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kebbi
state schools (see Section 2.c.).
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) collaborated with the Government on
a Strategy for Acceleration of Girls Education in the country to
produce a smaller gap between boys' and girls' access to education.
Donor governments undertook similar initiatives.
Girls and boys had equal access to government health care. However,
girls were much more likely than boys to receive complete immunizations
from childhood diseases. Complete immunization rates were 17 percent
for girls and 9.1 percent for boys.
FGM was commonly performed on girls in southern areas of the
country (see Section 5, Women).
Cases of child abuse, abandoned infants, child prostitution, and
physically dangerous child labor practices remained common throughout
the country (see Sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.d.). The Government
criticized child abuse and neglect but did not undertake any
significant measures to stop traditional practices harmful to children,
such as the sale of young girls into marriage. There were credible
reports that poor families sold their daughters into marriage as a
means to supplement their incomes. Young girls sometimes were forced
into marriage as soon as they reached puberty, regardless of age, to
prevent the ``indecency'' associated with premarital sex or for other
cultural and religious reasons. Human rights groups reported sexual
assaults and rapes of young girls, especially in the north.
Numerous children were homeless and lived on the streets. According
to the Consortium for Street Children, there were no known statistics
on numbers of street children in the country. Major factors that caused
children to turn to the streets included instability in the home,
poverty, hunger, abuse and violence by parents, and displacement caused
by clashes in the community. AIDS also had a tremendous impact on the
numbers of orphaned street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
trafficked persons during the year. No government or NGO estimates on
the extent of trafficking were available, but the magnitude of the
problem was believed to be significant. This was based on several
factors, including the number of deportees returned to the country and
reports of Nigerians stranded along trafficking routes, particularly in
North African countries. The majority of trafficking victims rescued by
NAPTIP came from Akwa Ibom and Edo states. In August the executive
director of the Women's Consortium for Nigeria stated that the country,
and Ogun State in particular, was a strategic location for traffickers
engaged in sourcing, transit, and exporting persons to other countries.
In 2005 the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 40
percent of child street peddlers were trafficking victims.
Nigerians were trafficked to Europe, the Middle East, and other
countries in Africa for the purposes of forced labor, domestic
servitude, and sexual exploitation. Girls and women were trafficked for
forced prostitution to Italy, France, Spain, Norway, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, and Niger. Children were trafficked
for involuntary domestic and agricultural labor and street peddling
within the country and to countries in West and Central Africa. Both
women and children were trafficked to Saudi Arabia for the purposes of
prostitution, sexual exploitation, and labor. There also were reports
that trafficked children were used as camel jockeys in the Middle East.
The country was a destination country for children trafficked for
forced labor from other West African countries, primarily Benin.
Women and children were most at risk of being trafficked. Boys were
trafficked primarily to work as forced bondage laborers, street
peddlers, and beggars, while girls were trafficked for domestic
service, street peddling, and commercial sexual exploitation.
Trafficking in children, and to a lesser extent in women, occurred
within the country's borders. Children in rural areas were trafficked
to urban centers to work as domestics, street peddlers, merchant
traders, and beggars.
The UN Office of Drugs and Crime reported that individual criminals
and organized criminal groups conducted trafficking, often involving
relatives or other persons already known to the victims. Traffickers
employed various methods during the year. Many were organized into
specialties, such as document and passport forgery, recruitment, and
transportation. To recruit young women, traffickers often made false
promises of legitimate work outside the country. Traffickers also
deceived child victims and their parents with promises of education,
training, and salary payments. Once away from their families, children
were subjected to harsh treatment and intimidation. Traffickers
subjected victims to debt bondage, particularly victims forced into
prostitution. In some cases traffickers employed practitioners of
traditional magic, or juju, to threaten victims with curses to procure
their silence. NAPTIP estimated that 90 percent of the girls trafficked
through Benin routes were threatened by juju practitioners. Victims
were transported by air, land, and sea. Established land routes to
Europe transited Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali,
Niger, and Morocco.
The law prohibits human trafficking and provides for penalties
including monetary fines, imprisonment, deportation, forfeiture of
assets and passport, and liability for compensation to victims in civil
proceedings. Imprisonment terms range from 12 months to life, while
fines range from $375 (50,000 naira) to $1,500 (200,000 naira).
The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons
(NAPTIP), a 200-employee agency with 60 investigators and 30
prosecutors dedicated to trafficking, bears primary responsibility for
combating trafficking. The NPF and the Nigerian Immigration Service
(NIS) also have antitrafficking units. In addition the President had a
special assistant for human trafficking and child labor.
The Government devoted more resources to curb trafficking during
the year and took several steps to address the problem more
effectively. Enforcement efforts continued to improve, the number of
trafficking cases investigated and prosecuted during the year
increased, and record-keeping improved as NAPTIP, NPF, and NIS roles
were more clearly defined through a series of NAPTIP-sponsored
meetings, conferences, training sessions, and networking events.
Preliminary data indicated that during the year NAPTIP investigated
65 new cases and prosecuted 25 cases. At year's end, many of these
cases were pending, and eight convicted traffickers were serving prison
sentences. Observers attributed the low conviction rate to witnesses'
reluctance to testify and the slow progress of cases through the
courts.
Charges were dismissed in the 2005 case in which an alleged
trafficker and a truck driver were awaiting trial on charges of
trafficking 40 children between the ages of seven and 19. Parents of
the girls testified that they were going to Lagos to work as domestic
employees in order to save money for their marriage ceremonies.
The NPF Antitrafficking Task Force was established in 2005 and
staffed 22 units in states with the worst trafficking problems.
Officials complained of inadequate resources, citing insufficient
funding to support investigative field work.
The Government increased collaboration on investigations with
concerned law enforcement agencies in France, Spain, Italy, and Benin.
Officials attended international workshops on trafficking, and the
Government collaborated with Benin to arrest traffickers and repatriate
trafficking victims. In May the Government participated in a Libreville
summit hosted by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) at which a
regional multilateral agreement and action plan to combat trafficking
was developed. In July ECOWAS and ECCAS hosted a follow-up conference
in Abuja at which the multilateral agreement and action plan were
adopted by 24 countries, including Nigeria.
At the institutional level, government authorities did not
facilitate or condone trafficking; however, reports continued to
surface from informants and foreign officials that law enforcement
officers and individuals in the immigration and airport authorities
collaborated in trafficking persons across the country's borders. On
August 21, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs closed its authentication
unit which provided falsified seals in exchange for bribes greatly
exceeding the official rate. Credible reports indicate that much of the
authentication was for young women who were being trafficked out of the
country. The majority of instances were attributed to ignorance of the
trafficking law and difficulties overcoming traditional practices.
NAPTIP was very active in providing sensitization, including to police
and customs in attending training. The law provides punitive measures
for officials who aid or abet trafficking; however, NAPTIP and NPF had
found no evidence of official complicity, and no officials were
prosecuted, tried, or convicted of trafficking-related charges. One
police inspector was arrested in Abuja for releasing two trafficking
suspects after receiving specific orders to hold them. The inspector
was not suspected of collaborating with the traffickers and their
activities.
The Government provided limited funding for assistance to victims.
NAPTIP served as the point of contact for immigration and police
officials when victims were found; 500 victims passed through the
agency during the year. NAPTIP directly provided overnight shelter to
victims, and agency officials connected victims to nongovernmental or
international organizations for shelter, counseling, and reintegration
assistance. NAPTIP established a hot line for victims and anyone
seeking or wanting to provide information regarding trafficking. The
hot line received an estimated 500 calls during the year. During the
year the Government helped victims in some cases to repatriate to their
home countries and reunited trafficked children with their families.
NAPTIP also conducted a sensitization exercise to increase awareness of
the risks of trafficking.
The Ministry of Labor and Productivity, in collaboration with the
ILO, NAPTIP, the police, and other federal agencies, provided food,
transportation, and other logistical assistance to reunite internally
and externally trafficked children with their families. The Government
continued to operate the 120-bed shelter in Lagos, with involvement by
the International Organization for Migration and the American Bar
Association. NAPTIP also operated shelter facilities at secure
locations in Abuja and Benin City, and in Akwa Ibom and Kano states.
The Government provided some funding for protection activities. For
victims serving as witnesses, divisional police officers were appointed
to serve as witness protection officers. NAPTIP officials and the
officer worked together to provide assistance. NAPTIP outreach efforts
were based on a series of ``town hall'' meetings organized in
conjunction with NGOs to bring together community leaders, traditional
leaders, teachers, school children, and other groups to raise awareness
of the dangers of trafficking, legal protections, and available
resources. Several state governments in the south continued strong
efforts to protect victims. In Edo State Idia Renaissance operated a
youth resource center, funded by UNICEF and foreign organizations, that
provided job-skill training and counseling to trafficking victims and
other youths.
The Government increased efforts and substantially increased
funding to prevent trafficking in persons during the year. The
stakeholder forum, established by NAPTIP in 2003, met monthly in each
state, conducted training of security and immigration officials and
held meetings with local government leaders to raise awareness of
trafficking issues. NAPTIP officials met with several major traditional
leaders to raise their awareness regarding trafficking and the
antitrafficking law. NAPTIP also worked with the media to raise
awareness among the public, and officials appeared on national talk
shows and state programs. The Government continued implementing the ILO
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) West
Africa Cocoa Agriculture Project to prevent the trafficking or
employment of children in commercial agriculture, especially cocoa
production.
NAPTIP led the establishment in 2005 of state-level antitrafficking
committees that consisted of immigration officials, civil society
organizations, law enforcement agents, and federal ministries in 22
states. These groups were charged with coordinating action in
trafficking cases among their respective organizations. During the year
these committees were established in 11 northern states established
such committees following the establishment of 11 committees in 11
southern states in 2005 and 2004.
The Government established economic and education programs to
improve economic conditions and indirectly prevent trafficking. Despite
these and other programs, poverty, lack of access to education, and
lack of economic opportunities remained pervasive problems that fueled
the trafficking problem.
Several state governments continued to make significant prevention
efforts during the year, including awareness campaigns among at-risk
populations. NAPTIP's Public Enlightenment Unit also conducted several
awareness events throughout the country.
Nongovernmental and international organizations organized
conferences and stakeholder meetings on trafficking and established
prevention and awareness programs in schools. Groups also worked
through the media. A faith-based foundation in Akwa Ibom State
sponsored awareness programs on television and radio. The ILO continued
a program in partnership with the News Agency of Nigeria to raise
awareness and build media capacity to help eliminate child trafficking
and child labor.
International organizations worked closely with the Government and
the community during the year to prevent child trafficking. UNICEF
continued a children's parliament program that discussed civil rights
and the dangers of human trafficking. A foreign government worked with
NAPTIP on an antitrafficking program to strengthen local capacity to
arrest and prosecute traffickers, and to provide assistance to victims
through the Lagos shelter.
The ILO continued to support information coordination and
monitoring by providing internet connectivity to the national
monitoring center. UNICEF continued to provide additional funding for
NAPTIP zonal officers.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no laws that prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services. There are no laws requiring physical accessibility for
person with disabilities.
Children and women with disabilities faced social stigma,
exploitation, and discrimination, and were often regarded as a source
of shame by their own families. Children with disabilities who could
not contribute to family income were seen as a liability, and in some
cases were severely neglected. Significant numbers of indigent persons
with disabilities begged on the streets. Literacy rates among various
categories of persons with disabilities were significantly lower than
among the general population, for both men and women.
The federal government ran vocational training centers in Abuja to
provide training to indigent persons with disabilities. The individual
states also provided facilities to assist blind and physically
incapacitated individuals to become self-supporting, and persons with
disabilities established a growing number of self-help NGOs such as the
Kano Polio Victims Trust Association.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country's population was
ethnically diverse, and consisted of more than 250 groups, many of
which were concentrated geographically and spoke distinct primary
languages. There was no majority ethnic group. The four largest ethnic
groups, which comprised two-thirds of the country's population, were
the Hausa and Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the southwest, and the
Ibos of the southeast. The Ijaw of the South Delta were the fifth
largest group, followed by Kanuri in the far northeast, and the Tiv in
the Middle Belt. Societal discrimination on the basis of ethnicity was
practiced widely by members of all ethnic groups and was evident in
private-sector hiring patterns, de facto ethnic segregation of urban
neighborhoods, and a low rate of intermarriage across major ethnic and
regional lines. There was a long history of tension among some ethnic
groups (see Section 2.c.).
Many groups complained of insufficient representation in government
office.
The law prohibits ethnic discrimination by the Government, but
claims of marginalization continued, particularly by members of
southern groups and Igbos. In particular the ethnic groups of the Niger
Delta continued their calls for high-level representation on petroleum
problems and within the security forces. Middle Belt and Christian
officers dominated the military hierarchy, and some persons in the
North believed that the northern Hausa were underrepresented in the
military. Northern Muslims accused the Government of favoring Yorubas
or Christians from the Middle Belt for those positions. Traditional
relationships continued to be used to impose considerable pressure on
individual government officials to favor their own ethnic groups for
important positions and patronage.
In April HRW published a report describing discrimination against
non-indigenes. While all citizens have the right to live in any part of
the country, state and local governments frequently discriminated
against those not judged to be indigenous to the area, occasionally
compelling individuals to return to a part of the country where their
ethnic group originated from but to which they have no personal ties.
On different occasions, individual non-indigenes were compelled to move
by government use of bulldozers, clubs and torches, and discrimination
in hiring and employment. When they were allowed to stay rather than be
removed, these persons experienced discrimination including denial of
scholarships and exclusion from employment in the civil service,
police, and the military.
In Plateau State, the Hausa and Fulani, most of whom were Muslim
and considered non-indigenes, claimed to face significant
discrimination from the local government in scholarships and government
representation.
Ethnic groups claimed environmental degradation and government
indifference to their status in the oil-producing Niger Delta region.
Groups such as the Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, and Ogoni continued
to express unhappiness regarding their perceived economic exploitation
and the environmental destruction of their homelands, and incidents of
ethnic conflict and confrontation with government officials and forces
continued in the Delta area (see Sections 1.a. and 1.b.).
Religious difference often mirrored regional and ethnic differences
and resulted in numerous deaths and the displacement of thousands of
persons during the year (see Section 2.c.). There were no developments
in previous years' incidents of ethno-religious violence.
Interethnic fighting has long been a problem in Warri, Delta State,
resulting in casualties and the displacement of tens of thousands of
local inhabitants. Despite a ceasefire in Warri that was negotiated in
2004, fresh violence broke out during the year.
Interethnic fighting elsewhere in the Delta also displaced tens of
thousands of local inhabitants. In 2004 militia groups operating in
Port Harcourt and other areas around the Delta region carried out
violent operations that ended when officials from the presidency
negotiated directly with militant leaders and reached a cease-fire
agreement. Following the October 2005 arrest of Dokubo, leader of the
Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (see Section 1.d.), tensions
remained high for several weeks with increased threats and instances of
crime, particularly against foreign interests, that could have been
politically motivated. However, these threats also may have resulted
from groups taking advantage of the heightened tensions for monetary
gain. The situation remained largely unchanged from the previous year.
Conflict over land rights and ownership continued among members of
the Tiv, Kwalla, Jukun, and Azara ethnic groups; each of these groups
resided at or near the convergence of Nassarawa, Benue, and Taraba
States. The Tiv, who were claimed by their opponents to have migrated
to the country later than other inhabitants of the disputed area, were
regarded as interlopers by the other groups, which considered
themselves ``indigenous.'' Tivs were the largest ethnic group in much
of Benue and parts of other states.
No charges were expected in the case of 20 persons arrested in a
February 2005 land-use dispute between farmers and herdsmen in Demsa,
Adamawa State.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is illegal
under federal law; homosexual practices are punishable by prison
sentences of up to 14 years. In the 12 northern states that have
adopted Shari'a, adults convicted of having engaged in homosexual
intercourse are subject to execution by stoning, although no such
sentences were imposed during the year. Because of widespread taboos
against homosexuality, very few persons were openly homosexual.
During the year the National Assembly considered an antigay
marriage bill that would duplicate existing laws on marriage and sexual
relations while making it more difficult for advocacy groups to
operate. The bill had not passed by the end of the year.
There was widespread discrimination against persons living with
HIV/AIDS, which the public considered a disease resulting from immoral
behavior. Persons living with HIV/AIDS often lost their jobs or were
denied health care services. However, public education campaigns were
implemented to reduce stigma and change perceptions of the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all citizens with
the right to form or belong to any trade union or other association for
the protection of their interests, and while workers exercised this
right in practice, some statutory limitations on the right of
association and on trade unions restricted this right. Some of these
restrictions were put in place to curb the practice of forming
thousands of small unions with as few as three or four employees each.
Workers, except members of the armed forces and employees
designated as essential by the Government, may join trade unions.
Essential workers included government employees in the police, customs,
immigration, prisons, the federal mint, and the Central Bank. The
Government's application of the ``essential worker'' designation was
broad compared to the ILO definition. Employees working in a designated
Export Processing Zone (EPZ) may not join a union until 10 years after
the establishment of the enterprise (see Section 6.b.).
According to figures provided by the two largest union federations,
the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), total
union membership totaled between 7 and 7.5 million during the year.
Less than 10 percent of the total workforce was organized. With the
exception of a small number of workers engaged in commercial food
processing, the agricultural sector, which employed the majority of the
work force, was not organized. The informal sector, and small and
medium enterprises, remained largely unorganized.
The March 2005 Trade Union (Amendment) Act eliminated the
previously mandated single-labor-federation structure for workers,
organized under the NLC. Trade union federations, now called ``central
labor organizations,'' must be registered formally by the Government.
Each federation must consist of 12 or more trade unions, and trade
union membership in a federation must be exclusive. A minimum of 50
workers per enterprise is required to form a trade union. All unions
and federations officially recognized prior to the law's passage were
allowed to retain their status. The Government formally recognized two
union federations: the NLC, whose 29 formally recognized member unions
represented lower-level and unskilled employees; and the TUC, whose 21
formally recognized member unions represented senior staff and
managers. The TUC also had three additional member unions that the
Government had not recognized by year's end. The Government did not
formally recognize the Congress of Free Trade Unions (CFTU), which
represented senior-level employees in certain sectors, although its
member unions were recognized. Individual member unions can participate
in collective bargaining and represent their members.
The TUC was recognized as a central labor organization under the
new law, while the CFTU was not because it lacked the requisite number
of affiliate unions. While lifting some restrictions on freedom of
association by allowing more labor centers, the new law weakened the
NLC, previously the country's only labor federation, by allowing the
recognition of other labor federations representing groups of unions.
Unlike in the previous year, abuses of labor standards did not increase
during the year.
On July 10, dock workers disrupted a meeting between the Nigerian
Port Authority and the Bureau of Public Enterprises held at Apapa port
in Lagos. The dock workers reportedly protested both employer and union
actions in ongoing privatizations. The police, whose presence was
requested by union leaders, used tear gas on the crowd of over 500
persons and made several arrests.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the
law also narrowly defines what union activity is legal. The law
provides for the right to both organize and bargain collectively
between management and trade unions, and collective bargaining occurred
throughout the public sector and the organized private sector. However,
collective bargaining in the private sector was restricted. The new law
limits the right to strike to matters pertaining to breach of contract
or wages and conditions of work, thereby prohibiting strikes over
matters of national economic policy.
Workers outside the legally defined category of ``essential'' had
the right to strike, although they were required to provide advance
notice of a strike. A worker under a collective bargaining agreement
cannot participate in a strike unless his union complied with the
requirements of the law, which included provisions for mandatory
mediation and for referral of the dispute to the Government. Workers
can bring labor grievances to the judicial system for review; however,
the courts were of limited utility in ensuring due process in the
protection of workers' rights. Workers are specifically prohibited from
forcing persons to join a strike or from closing airports or
obstructing public by-ways. Stiff fines and/or prison sentences are
imposed on law-breakers. While strikes continued to occur in localized
areas after the law passed in 2005, no national strike was called.
Instead a new strategy of organizing peaceful protest rallies was
implemented by the Labor and Civil Society Coalition to solicit the
Government's response to and settlement of labor issues. A few rallies
took place during the year and received favorable responses from the
Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity.
In June at least four representatives of the National Association
of Telecommunications Employees were arrested when employees of the
national telephone company, NITEL Nigerian Telecommunications Limited,
went on strike because they had not been paid in months. The workers
were later released without charge.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that unions used
threats against members and their families to force them to stay at
home during planned strikes.
During the year there were no reports of deaths or injuries related
to strikes. No action was taken against security forces who killed or
injured strikers in 2005.
There are no laws prohibiting retribution against strikers and
strike leaders, but strikers who believed they were victims of unfair
retribution could submit their cases to Industrial Arbitration Panel
(IAP), with the approval of the labor ministry. The IAP's decisions
were binding on parties but could be appealed to the National
Industrial Court. In practice the decisions of these bodies
infrequently carried the force of law. Union representatives described
the arbitration process as cumbersome and time-consuming, and an
ineffective deterrent to retribution against strikers.
EPZs in Calabar, Cross River State, and Onne Port, Rivers State
operated during the year. Workers and employers in these zones were
subject to sections of the national labor laws pertaining to EPZs,
which provided for a 10-year prohibition on trade unions, strikes, or
lockouts following the commencement of operations within a zone. In
addition the law allows the EPZ Authority, instead of workers'
organizations or unions, to handle the resolution of disputes between
employers and employees.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Although the law
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that it occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.). Enforcement of the
law was not effective in many parts of the country. During the year the
Government undertook training and sensitization programs in several
regions to improve enforcement.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In
most sectors the minimum work age is 15 years, which is consistent with
the age for completing educational requirements; however, child labor
remained a problem. The law prohibits employment of children less than
15 years of age in commerce and industry and restricts other child
labor to home-based agricultural or domestic work. The law states that
children may not be employed in agricultural or domestic work for more
than eight hours per day. Apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 is
allowed under specific conditions.
Awareness of the problem increased throughout civil society, and
the Government demonstrated its commitment to the issue of child labor
throughout the year. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and
Productivity drafted a National Policy on Child Labor as well as a
National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child
Labor in Nigeria. By year's end both drafts had been submitted to the
Federal Executive Council for approval.
The Government's child labor policy focused on intervention,
advocacy and sensitization, legislation, the withdrawal of children
from improper labor situations, and rehabilitation and education for
children following their withdrawal. The Ministry of Employment, Labor,
and Productivity was responsible for enforcement of the law. During the
year the ministry trained approximately 120 labor inspection officers
on child labor laws. Eighty officers were trained to perform
inspections in high-risk sectors such as agriculture, mining, and the
informal sector. Approximately 20 officers were trained to perform
rapid assessment surveys in these critical sectors; reports of the
surveys conducted by these officers were not yet available at year's
end. The ministry also sponsored awareness-raising and law-
familiarization training programs for local law enforcement, customs,
and other government officials. Despite these advances, forced child
labor and trafficking in children continued during the year (see
Section 5).
Economic hardship resulted in high numbers of children working to
enhance meager family income. Children frequently were employed as
beggars, street peddlers, bus conductors, and domestic servants in
urban areas. Little data was available to analyze the incidence of
child labor. The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria, which
conducted the only survey available between 2000 and 2001, reported
approximately 15 million children working in the country. Of these,
more than six million were not attending school and more than two
million were working 15 or more hours per day.
The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity dealt
specifically with child labor problems, and had an inspections
department whose major responsibilities included enforcement of legal
provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of workers.
Although the inspectorate employed nearly 400 total inspectors for all
business sectors, there were fewer than 50 factory inspectors for the
entire country. The ministry conducted inspections mostly in the formal
business sector, in which the incidence of child labor was not a
significant problem. NAPTIP bears some responsibility for enforcing
child labor laws, though it primarily rehabilitates trafficking victims
and child labor victims. The agency reportedly received no complaints
of child labor, although it did pursue cases of trafficking in children
(see Section 5). The ministry repatriated 350 trafficked child laborers
to their countries of origin during the year.
Private and government initiatives to stem the incidence of child
employment continued but were ineffective. The Government continued to
implement the ILO/IPEC West Africa Cocoa Agriculture Project in the
cocoa and other agricultural sub-sectors to combat hazardous child
labor and to prevent child trafficking for labor exploitation. Several
programs managed by NGOs and international organizations worked to
address child labor in the country.
UNICEF continued a program to remove young girls from the street
peddling trade and relocate them to informal educational settings.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets a minimum wage,
which was reviewed infrequently by a tripartite committee which
provides recommendations to the National Assembly. Real wages greatly
exceeded the minimum wage. The minimum wage was $41.70 (5,500 naira)
per month (with a 13-month year as the law mandates an extra month's
pay for the Christmas holiday). The national minimum wage did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The
Government directed each state administration to establish its own
salary structure based on its ability to pay, with a floor of at least
the national minimum wage. Some federal ministries, states, and private
sector companies raised their minimum wage to $56.70 (7500 naira) for
all employees. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity is
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage which was strictly enforced
for companies with more than 50 employees. When a company with fewer
than 50 employees was found to pay less than the minimum wage, the
ministry reviewed the company's records to determine whether it was
capable of paying the minimum wage and then issued a ruling.
The law mandates a 40-hour workweek, two to four weeks' annual
leave, and overtime and holiday pay, except for agricultural and
domestic workers. The law prohibits excessive compulsory overtime for
civilian government employees. Labor leaders reported that the law can
be interpreted as prohibiting some forms of excessive, compulsory
overtime; however, workplace health and safety conditions were not
properly patrolled, and enforcement was irregular due to insufficient
police and the small number of factory inspectors. The law also
establishes general health and safety provisions, some of which were
aimed specifically at young or female workers. It requires that the
inspectorate division of the Ministry of Employment, Labor, and
Productivity inspect factories for compliance with health and safety
standards. However, this agency was greatly underfunded, lacked basic
resources and training, and consequently did not sufficiently enforce
safety oversight at many enterprises, particularly construction sites
and other nonfactory work locations. The law requires employers to
compensate injured workers and dependent survivors of those killed in
industrial accidents; however, the law was not strictly enforced. The
Factories Law provides for the protection of employees in hazardous
situations, including the right to remove themselves from such
situations; however, the law did not provide similar provisions for
other workers.
The labor laws apply to legal foreign workers, but not all
companies respected these laws in practice.
__________
RWANDA
Rwanda is a constitutional republic dominated by a strong
presidency. The population was 8.4 million. The Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF) took power in 1994 and formed a government of National Unity that
functioned during the transitional period following the civil war and
genocide until 2003, when President Paul Kagame was elected to a seven-
year term in largely peaceful but seriously marred elections. Some
armed rebel groups from the country continued to operate with impunity
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Unlike in the previous
year, there were no reports that Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) troops
were at times present in the eastern part of the DRC. The Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), largely made up of Rwandan
Hutus who fled to the DRC in 1994 after the genocide, continued to be
led by many individuals responsible for leading the genocide, and it
continued to actively oppose the Kagame government. While there were
fewer disciplinary problems with security forces than in the previous
year, there were instances in which government authorities did not
maintain effective control of the security forces and security forces
acted independently of government authority.
Significant human rights abuses occurred, although there were
important improvements in some areas. Limits on political party
activities continued to restrict citizens' rights to peacefully change
their government. There were reports that security forces committed
extrajudicial killings and tortured and abused suspects with impunity.
Prison and detention center conditions remained harsh despite positive
measures taken by the Government. Security forces arbitrarily arrested
and detained persons, including street children and other ``vagrants,''
and members of Jehovah's Witnesses. Prolonged pretrial detention,
limits on judicial independence, unfair public trials, and the holding
of former political figures--including former President Pasteur
Bizimingu--remained problems. There continued to be limits on freedom
of speech, press, and association. Government corruption and
restrictions on civil society remained problematic. In addition,
societal violence and discrimination against women, trafficking in
persons, child labor, and restrictions on labor rights continued to be
problems.
The Government took significant steps during the year to address
human rights deficiencies and institute reforms. For example, the
Government formed a unit in the National Police to investigate
citizens' reports of official abuse and corruption, and police
authorities fired more than 70 police officers on various counts of
indiscipline. The judiciary demonstrated increased independence in its
growing willingness to rule against the executive branch, its release
of some political prisoners, and in its use of the Judicial Council to
conduct investigations into judicial corruption.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reported political killings by the Government or its agents; however,
police officers and local defense forces (LDF) allegedly committed
several unlawful killings during the year, and there were credible
allegations of extrajudicial killings by police, some of which were
still under investigation at year's end. The Government regularly
investigated killings committed by police officers and members of the
LDF, and reports generally indicated that the LDF members accused of
killings were arrested and charged.
On December 21, 2005, military police in Kigali killed at least
three RDF soldiers and wounded between eight and 20 others who were
being held in the Mulindi military prison; authorities did not publicly
acknowledge the incident until mid-February. The prisoners had
reportedly complained of ill treatment and harsh conditions in the
overcrowded prison, which, according to Amnesty International (AI),
held more than 2,000 prisoners despite an official capacity of 1,000
(see Section 1.c.). Although its findings were later contradicted by
two other investigations, an investigation by military prosecutors
found that, following an attempt by prison officials to investigate
marijuana trafficking at the prison, physical altercations resulted
between guards and prisoners, and prisoners locked themselves inside
the facility. As military police scaled the prison walls to regain
control of the facility, prisoners attempted to disarm them. Military
police used firearms to repel the prisoners and bring them under
control. Although acknowledging that authorities had ``mishandled'' a
prisoner during the drug trafficking investigation, the military
prosecutor's office found that there had been an appropriate use of
force by the military police in confronting violent prisoners and
recommended that none of the military police or guards be prosecuted.
However, according to an investigation conducted by the National
Human Rights Commission (NHRC), military police officers involved in
the killings had committed a ``violation of the right to life,'' and
the NHRC recommended that military leadership and the public
prosecutor's office pursue legal proceedings against those responsible.
Senators also expressed concern about the killings and requested
information from the ministers of justice and interior. According to
AI's sources, police surrounded a prison courtyard that prisoners had
locked; prisoners were reportedly protesting an assault by prison
guards on a prisoner who had consumed cannabis. After prisoners refused
to unlock the courtyard, military police fired on the prisoners with
Kalashnikovs and machine guns, killing at least three and seriously
wounding 20 others. Calling for an independent investigation, AI
reported that if its sources were correct, actions by the military
police would constitute excessive use of force and extrajudicial
executions.
According to local media, on December 31, 2005, police arrested
Saidi Hakizimana, a Rastafarian for smoking marijuana at a concert.
Police detained Hakizimana at Ramera police station in Kigali, where he
was allegedly beaten. Hakizimana's condition worsened while in police
detention and he later died in a Kigali hospital of unknown causes
while still in police custody. The police denied allegations of
misconduct but had not released the results of a police investigation
into the matter by year's end.
On November 24, police officers took into custody and subsequently
killed three men--Jean Hakizamungu, John Rukundo, and Francois
Ndagijimana--who were suspects in the November 23 killing of Egide
Ndabakuranye, the President of one of the local jurisdictions
comprising a community-based justice system (gacaca), in Rwamagana
District, Eastern Province. Deputy Police Commissioner Mary Gahonzire
stated that, according to an investigation by an internal police
investigatory agency, police killed the suspects in self-defense while
they were attempting to escape. However, after conducting numerous
interviews with local residents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the
investigation inadequate and said police may have committed
extrajudicial killings.
According to HRW, during a December 15 interview Gahonzire said
that while in custody, one of the three suspects, Rukundo, confessed to
killing Ndabakuranye with the other two suspects. The three suspects
then offered to show police officers where other persons were hiding to
``escape justice'' and avoid appearing before gacaca jurisdictions.
While being escorted to this supposed destination, Rukundo grabbed the
weapon of one of the police officers and threatened one or more of the
other officers, who then shot all three suspects. According to HRW,
Gahonzire, who referred several times to a document before her during
the interview, said the incident happened in broad daylight but could
not provide more details on the time or exact location. She said the
three suspects outnumbered the police officers but could not say how
many officers there were or provide information on the kind of weapons
involved or the number of shots fired, according to HRW.
HRW said that the information it collected from local residents did
not support the official police investigation findings. According to a
local resident, at dusk on November 24 a police pick-up truck carrying
the three suspects parked on a little-used road, and an armed police
officer in the back stood up as the three men exited the vehicle next
to a thick clump of bamboo. A short time later, numerous residents
heard at least three shots in close succession, and some residents
subsequently saw the occupants of the truck retrieve the bodies before
the truck headed toward Rwamagana (police officers reportedly did not
visit relatives of the victims to inform them of the deaths or explain
how they had died). HRW concluded that the reported location of the
bullet entry wounds (each one in the front or side of the head or neck)
and the proximity of the killings to each other seemed inconsistent
with a situation in which officers were responding in self defense to
escaping prisoners.
The case of the LDF member accused of killing a suspect in November
2005 in Cyangugu Province, Gitambi Sector was being heard in the High
Court at year's end.
In January a military court sentenced Corporal Gapira Ndengeye to
15 years in prison for killing a prostitute and her two daughters in
December 2005, in Butare. The military prosecutor has appealed, seeking
a longer sentence.
Two LDF members arrested and charged in 2005 with the 2004 killing
of Jean Baptiste Nsekanabo were on trial at year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports from UN entities
that the Government continued to maintain a ``residual presence'' in
the DRC or that the Government continued to provide military support to
insurgent proxy groups in the DRC that reportedly committed killings
and other human rights abuses.
At year's end, the Government had not opened any new inquiries into
the abuses by its troops in previous years in the DRC.
The appeals of RDF Sergeants Nkusi and Sebuhoro, both convicted of
two 1998 murders by a military court in 2003, had reached the Supreme
Court by year's end.
According to reports, during the year unidentified individuals
killed several witnesses to the genocide throughout the country to
prevent testimony and undermine the rural community-based justice
system (gacaca), which the Government established to address certain
categories of crimes related to the 1994 genocide (see Section 1.e.).
According to genocide survivor organizations, individuals killed
between 12 and 20 genocide survivors during the year.
HRW reported that, according to witnesses, in late November
Innocent Habinshuti, who was released from prison in 2003 pending trial
before a gacaca jurisdiction, killed genocide survivor Frederic
Murasira, the nephew of a gacaca judge, with a machete in Ngoma
District in the east. Genocide survivors from a nearby town then killed
eight individuals, including children, in reprisal (the town in which
the reprisal killings occurred was reportedly inhabited by a sizable
number of persons awaiting trial for genocide-related crimes). By
year's end police had arrested one suspect for the killing of Murasira
and detained several others for the reprisal killings.
The Government investigated and prosecuted individuals accused of
threatening or killing genocide witnesses. At years end police were
investigating 210 cases. A group of genocide survivors criticized the
Government for not doing enough (see Section 1.e.). In December the
President chaired a National Dialogue on Unity and Reconciliation,
which included local government officials and members of the three
branches of the national government. The meeting participants addressed
the killings of genocide survivors, and the President and minister of
internal security directed local officials to take increased
responsibility for genocide survivors. The meeting outlined new
security measures to be undertaken, including the use of enhanced
surveillance of genocide survivors who were deemed most at risk and
surveillance of genocide suspects considered most likely to commit
violent attacks; increased joint patrols in rural areas by survivors
and security personnel; the possible use of preventive detention of
genocide suspects to prevent attacks deemed imminent by security
officials; the expansion of hotlines by both the Gacaca Service and the
Prosecutor General's Protective Service for Witnesses and Survivors;
and expedited gacaca hearings for those cases deemed most likely to
involve the risk of violence against survivors and witnesses.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in
Tanzania, continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year (see
Section 4).
During the year, according to its stated policy, the Government
welcomed and repatriated hundreds of former FDLR combatants who had
fled the tight control of the FDLR's leadership. The Government
reiterated its policy that the FDLR members would not receive special
treatment and would be subject to genocide trials, like the general
population, if they were over 14 years of age at the time of the 1994
genocide.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances within the country, and unlike in the previous year,
there were no reports that a government official threatened a staff
member of an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) while it
was investigating the disappearance of individuals.
During the year a military court sentenced Jean Leonard Kagabo to
five years' imprisonment for attempted desertion; Kagabo, an RDF
captain, disappeared for at least two months after police arrested him
on charges of attempted desertion in 2004.
Government officials continued to claim that they were unaware of
the case of Jean Damascene Tuyizere, who disappeared after security
forces arrested and questioned him for several days in 2004 in Gisenyi
Province.
Regarding the cases of Jean de Dieu Kwizera, David Habimana, Block
Mugambira, and Jean Paul Kamondo--campaign workers of 2003 Presidential
candidate and former Prime Minister Faustin Twagiramungu--the
Government stated that the four men were arrested in 2004, remained out
on bail, and that criminal proceedings were ongoing at year's end. By
year's end these statements had not been verified, and the whereabouts
of the four men had not been confirmed.
There were no developments in the 2003 disappearances of two
prominent citizens and four high-level government officials, including
former supreme court vice-President Lieutenant Colonel Cyiza and former
parliamentarian Leonard Hitimana, a member of the Democratic Republican
Movement (MDR); the MDR had been a part of the multi-party government
but had become increasingly critical of it prior to the parliament's
recommendation to ban the MDR in 2003--shortly before Hitimana
disappeared--and the party's subsequent dissolution. Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that the family and friends who
have been supporting the children of Hitimana were harassed.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit torture; however, local
media reported allegations of torture by the LDF during the year and a
local NGO providing assistance to victims of torture reported that it
received between 180 and 240 clients during the year, although an
undetermined number of these victims may have been tortured in previous
years. In addition police on occasion abused suspects and detainees.
During the year there were fewer reports of police officers abusing
suspects at the time of arrest, and authorities dismissed or
disciplined some police officers for excessive use of force.
According to the New Times, on November 7, the LDF allegedly
tortured a 17-year-old boy accused of theft in Muhanga District,
Southern Province. District residents said the LDF had been involved in
``many cases of torturing residents'' in the area, and the district's
mayor had reportedly warned the LDF in October over their lack of
discipline.
There were no developments in the alleged torture of former
parliamentarian and MDR party member Jean Leonard Kavutse. According to
AI, Kavutse told a court in 2005 that he had only confessed to charges
of sectarianism after having been tortured. The Government denied this
allegation during the year and said that no torture claims were made
during the trial. In April 2005 a court sentenced Kavutse to three
years in prison (including a suspended prison sentence of two years),
and authorities released him in the same month after giving him credit
for time served.
During the year the Senate investigated reports of secret detention
centers allegedly run by security officials, and questioned the
ministers of justice and internal security in an open session. During a
February hearing senators cited repeated NHRC reports (dating back to
2002) about the existence of government-run secret detention centers;
the ministers claimed they were unaware of such centers. Police
officials denied the existence of any secret detention centers.
According to HRW, in January Kigali municipal officials who had
just taken office learned of the existence of a government-run
unofficial detention center in the Gikondo neighborhood of Kigali. On
May 14 HRW reported that authorities continued to use the center to
illegally hold hundreds of street children and other ``vagrants'' in
``deplorable conditions,'' usually incommunicado, without charging
them. According to HRW, in late March a Kigali police spokesman
acknowledged the center's existence and told domestic human rights
activists it had been used for more than a year; he said the two large
buildings, one of which was a former warehouse, were officially meant
to be a ``transit center'' in which persons were detained for no more
than three days before authorities transported them back to their home
districts. (Several thousand persons were so transported.) However,
authorities and former detainees reportedly told HRW that some
detainees spent weeks or months in the center before being released
without any judicial procedure. Detainees were subject to beatings,
guards raped women, and on April 13 a 13-year-old boy died there of
severe malnutrition, according to accusations investigated by HRW.
Detainees reportedly were not separated by gender or age; received
inadequate food, water, and medical care; and often slept on the floor
without blankets. Shortly after the HRW report was published,
authorities closed the Gikondo center, and it remained empty at year's
end. There were no reports of any officials being sanctioned for
running the center. City authorities said there were no plans to open
another center.
There were reports that police arrested, detained, and later beat
at least three members of Jehovah's Witnesses while they were in police
custody because they refused--on religious grounds--to participate in
nighttime security patrols (see Section 2.c.). Reports of prison and
detention center beatings of Jehovah's Witnesses were less numerous
than in the previous year.
There were reports that unknown assailants on occasion harassed and
threatened journalists and citizens (see Sections 2.a., 2.c., and 4).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no credible reports that
the Government provided military supplies to combatants in the eastern
DRC who committed numerous, serious human rights abuses.
Mob violence during the year resulted in injuries (see Section
1.d.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center conditions were below international standards and were harsh.
The Government remained committed to improving prison and detention
center conditions. However, due to the large number of individuals
newly accused of genocide since gacaca hearings began nationwide in
July, the prison population rose 18 percent in five months, worsening
the severe overcrowding problem.
The Government estimated that there were more than 82,000 prisoners
in the country's 16 central prisons (compared to 67,000 in 2005),
including approximately 66,000 accused of genocide-related crimes and
approximately 16,000 detained on criminal charges unrelated to the
genocide. Sanitary conditions in prisons and detention centers were
poor but improving at the beginning of the year; however, the rapid
increase in the prison population beginning in August negated the prior
improvements, and prison conditions were worse at year's end. The
Government continued to improve prison healthcare but was unable to
provide adequate medical treatment. Although it did not provide food to
prisoners in smaller jails, the Government provided food to those in
prisons, but it was not sufficient, and family members supplemented
food provisions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) no
longer assisted the Government by providing a percentage of food in the
16 main prisons; however, the Government increased its food budget to
replace the ICRC contribution. In police stations, the Government did
not feed detainees awaiting hearings or transfers. Police regularly
told the victims of crimes that if they did not provide food to the
accused, then the accused would be released. In other cases, prisoners
transferred from police jails to national prisons had not been fed for
several days. The ICRC provided additional expertise and medical,
logistical, and material support to improve conditions for inmates.
There were an undetermined number of deaths in prison during the
year, largely the result of preventable diseases and suspected cases of
HIV/AIDS. The Government began an HIV/AIDS counseling and treatment
program in three prisons.
According to HRW, police and LDF abused individuals detained
illegally in an unofficial facility; security personnel reportedly
raped women, and adult detainees abused children (see Section 1.d.).
National prison policy prohibits the hiring of prisoners to perform
work at private residences and businesses. However, community service
was often part of a prison sentence for those who confessed to
genocide-related crimes, and prisoners may work (uncompensated) on
community projects such as building roads and bridges (see Section
6.c.). Prisoners charged with criminal offenses unrelated to the
genocide were not eligible to volunteer for work details. Prisoners
often volunteered for such details, which provided time away from
overcrowded prisons, and in some cases extra privileges. During the
year authorities relieved a prison director of his duties and were
investigating him for illegally hiring out prisoners for private work.
In August 2005 the Government released all minors who had been
detained for genocide-related crimes in a provisional prisoner release.
The 740 minors who remained in prison were detained for crimes not
related to the genocide. The Government also made efforts to better
ensure that minors were incarcerated separately from adults; 13 of 16
prisons no longer housed minors and adults together, and work was
underway to build facilities at the remaining three prisons for minors.
In addition, courts continued to give minors special treatment, taking
into consideration their ages during sentencing. Pretrial detainees
generally were separated from convicted prisoners; however, there were
numerous exceptions as a result of the large number of genocide
detainees awaiting trial. Some high-profile political prisoners, such
as former President Bizimungu, were kept in special sections of regular
prisons (see Sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
Women were detained and imprisoned separately from men. In addition
there was at least one prison (Miyove Prison in Byumba district)
exclusively for women. At another prison (Cyangugu Prison), living
conditions for women were better than those for men. Female prisoners
were fewer in number and were housed in their own block with separate
beds. (Male prisoners often shared large sleeping platforms.)
The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions, and the ICRC, diplomats, and journalists usually had access
to the prisons. The ICRC continued its visits to communal jails and
military-supervised jails. After some delays, authorities granted a
domestic human rights NGO, the Rwandan League for the Promotion and
Defense of Human Rights (LIPRODOHR), access to prisons, and the NGO
released a report in May. No information was available regarding the
report's content.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
provided legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention;
however, in many instances, security forces arrested and detained
persons arbitrarily and without due process. Some police officers were
disciplined and dismissed for such activities.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The RDF maintains external
security. The National Police, under the minister of internal security,
has responsibility for internal security and is headed by a
commissioner general and two deputy commissioners, one for operations
and another for administration. Five assistant commissioners oversee
the various units, such as traffic, intelligence, criminal
investigations, protection, and the provincial areas. The police lacked
basic resources such as handcuffs, radios, and patrol cars. However,
they participated in extensive training programs, and the police
academy curriculum included training on human rights, nonlethal use of
force, and professionalism. During the year there were reports of
corruption, arbitrary arrest, and lack of discipline within the police
force, and the police's office of internal affairs investigated and
addressed many of them. For example, in October authorities fired more
than 70 police officers on various counts of indiscipline, including
the solicitation of bribes, unlawfully beating persons, and absconding
from duty.
During the year the police and senators investigated reports of
police abuse, and senators questioned the ministers of national
security and justice about ``several arbitrary arrests and illegal
detentions in various parts of the country,'' which had been raised as
concerns by the NHRC (see Section 1.c.). One senator accused the
ministers, who had been summoned to the hearing, of being evasive, and
he criticized as improper and unlawful the police's continued practice
of arbitrarily re-arresting and detaining persons acquitted by courts
of law. The senator also criticized the Government for being
``secretive,'' failing to make its activities known to the public, and
failing to hold regular press briefings, particularly in regard to
human rights abuses by police.
The Government enforced ill-defined laws against vagrancy and
illegal street vending. On several occasions police and the LDF
detained street children, vendors, and beggars in Kigali, Butare, and
other larger towns, charging them with illegal street vending or
``vagrancy.'' For example, in early July, according to the New Times,
police in Butare arrested more than 30 persons--including many street
children--on charges of being idle, and a police spokesperson said
police would continue to make similar arrests. The police claimed to be
responding to local citizens' complaints that undocumented nonresidents
were contributing to an increase in insecurity, petty crime, and gender
violence. Authorities reportedly released adults after they produced
identification, and authorities took street children to government
centers or NGO-sponsored shelters (see Section 5). During the year the
Commission of the European Union expressed concern over the
Government's illegal detention of street children.
An HRW report released in May profiled an unofficial government-run
detention warehouse where police and LDF members illegally held up to
600 vagrants at a time; the report underlined the police's common
practice of arbitrarily arresting and detaining street children and
other vagrants, highlighted allegations of authorities abusing and
raping individuals detained in the warehouse, and called on the
Government to respect due process rights (see Section 1.c.).
During the year, although efforts were taken to professionalize the
national police, there were some cases of beatings of suspects by
police. The prosecutor general's office under the Ministry of Justice
was responsible for prosecuting police abuse cases. A special internal
affairs office that reported directly to the national police
commissioner general conducted investigations. There were 15 internal
investigations referred to the courts by internal affairs at year's
end. Several cases remained under investigation by the police. The
National Police advertised a toll free number in the local radio and
written press encouraging citizens to report problems regarding police
and the LDF.
During the year there were instances of mob justice, due in part to
a lack of police presence in most villages. For example, in Rukumberi
District, local citizens attacked and killed eight individuals after a
gacaca judge was killed. It was later determined that none of the eight
victims were involved in the killing (see Section 1.a.). In another
case, in September police arrested five persons, including a member of
the LDF, for severely beating a 15-year-old accused of stealing
clothes. There was no additional information on this case.
Members of local communities chose community volunteers to serve in
the LDF, a statutorily established law enforcement organization of
approximately 20,000 members under the Ministry of Local government
that assisted police. The national police exercised tactical control of
the LDF while local appointed and elected officials had responsibility
for operational oversight. LDF members performed basic security guard
duties throughout the country, including maintaining a presence at
gacaca proceedings. LDF members were ordinarily unpaid and received
less training than the national police. They did not have powers of
arrest, but in practice they made arrests on orders from local
administrative officers and on their own. Among its various duties, the
LDF chased illegal street vendors, petty criminals, and prostitutes
away from public areas. There were reports that the LDF acted with
impunity when dealing with street vendors. During the year the
Government prosecuted individual LDF members who committed crimes;
however, some human rights groups accused the Government of not taking
sufficiently strong action against some LDF members and considered the
organization to be abusive.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that authorities
investigate and obtain a warrant before arresting a suspect. Police may
detain persons for up to 72 hours without a warrant, and prosecutors
must bring formal charges within 10 days of arrest. However, these
provisions were often disregarded during the year. At times police used
extrajudicial punishment when minor criminals confessed and the victims
agreed to the police officer's recommended penalty, such as week-long
detention or restitution. The law permits investigative detention if
authorities believe that public safety is threatened or that the
accused might flee. There is bail for minor crimes (with a maximum
sentence of five years); authorities may otherwise release a suspect
pending trial if they are satisfied that there is no risk that the
person may flee or become a threat to public safety and order. Family
members generally were promptly allowed to visit detained relatives;
however, there were several reports that police used incommunicado
detention during the year, and according to HRW police maintained one
unofficial detention center in Gikondo, where police detained some
suspects, including children, for up to four months. By law detainees
are allowed access to lawyers. In practice, however, access to legal
representation was problematic due to the scarcity of lawyers in the
country (only 250 total, most of them in Kigali). The Government did
not provide indigent persons with free access to lawyers, and the
Kigali Bar Association lacked the resources to provide lawyers to every
indigent. The law requires the Government to provide minors with legal
representation, which judicial observers cited as a factor in juvenile
trial delays.
During the year security forces sometimes used arbitrary arrest and
detention.
Several members of Jehovah's Witnesses were arbitrarily arrested
and detained by local authorities when their beliefs conflicted with
national laws requiring community service. In 2005 a few judges ruled
that the laws did not in fact require participation in nighttime
security patrols, and that police effectively had no legal authority to
arrest or detain persons for not participating in the patrols (see
Section 2.c.).
At year's end approximately 66,000 prisoners accused of genocide-
related crimes continued to be imprisoned while awaiting trial. The
majority of those detained for genocide-related crimes were men who had
not confessed and were accused of ``category I'' crimes (the most
severe), which include rape, murder, genocide instigation, or playing a
leadership role in the genocide. The law permits the continued
detention of genocide suspects long enough to allow them to face trial
either in a conventional court or in the gacaca system (see Section
1.e.). Lengthy pretrial detention, including the detention of persons
whose unresolved cases dated from 1994, was a serious problem and a
consequence of the large number of persons suspected of committing
genocide who continued to be held in prisons and detention centers. The
Government did not have the capacity to process cases within a
reasonable time. On July 15, gacaca trials began nationwide. During the
year the lead government agency that coordinates the gacaca system, the
National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, made a concerted effort to
expedite genocide-related cases.
By year's end, the number of criminal and civil cases pending in
the regular courts had been reduced from 77,000 to approximately
17,000, according to the Ministry of Justice. This reduction resulted
from several factors, including culling of old and inactive cases, the
substitution of single judge proceedings in the place of three-judge
panels for all levels of trial courts, the establishment of monthly
case completion targets for all courts, and streamlined case management
practices.
Mobile groups, whose mandate was to establish or complete files
that indicated the basis for charges for all genocide-related
detainees, continued to operate during the year. Approximately 90
percent of detainees in custody during the year had files; however, the
vast majority of those files were incomplete.
Amnesty.--Approximately 1,000 of the 22,000 prisoners conditionally
released by the Government in August 2005 were re-arrested and returned
to prison after being accused of additional crimes in gacaca. The
Government did not release or grant amnesty to prisoners during the
year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, there were constraints on
judicial independence. There were some credible reports of government
interference, mostly regarding gacaca cases. In addition, ministers in
the executive branch continued to play important roles in defining the
judicial budget. However, the judiciary made significant progress
toward increased independence during the year by assuming more control
over the judicial budget and providing continued training for new
judges. Members of the national bar association who were interviewed
said they believed that the judiciary was more independent during the
year than in 2005, citing the increased willingness of judges to rule
against the Government and a higher standard of judicial training and
education.
The judiciary operated in most cases without government
interference, and there were no reports of direct pressure on judges;
however, some members of the executive branch said they still thought
that calling judges to discuss ongoing cases privately and express
executive preferences was appropriate. In a few cases viewed as
politically sensitive, including those dealing with ``genocide
ideology'' (the promotion of the tenets of genocide), ``divisionism,''
and the killing of genocide survivors, indirect public pressure may
have influenced the judiciary. While judges appeared to be more
assertive in ruling against the executive, problems remained.
The justice system collapsed during the war and genocide of 1994.
With help from the international community, it continued to undergo a
slow rebuilding process and had made significant progress over the past
decade.
After the Government implemented a nationwide redistricting plan in
January, the legal system was closed from January to April to align
court jurisdictions with the newly established government
administrative territories. The four-month suspension resulted in a
temporary increase in crime and complications for police as there was
no legal apparatus to process accused criminals. However, after the
reorganization, the Ministry of Justice and Courts significantly
reduced the backlog of criminal and civil cases (see Section 1.d.).
The Government did not always have the capacity to enforce the law,
and due process protections were sometimes not respected. However,
during the year there were cases in which judges ruled against senior
political figures and government bodies. In addition the Justice
Ministry continued to implement reforms and prioritized efforts to
reduce the backlog of genocide-related and non-genocide cases. Several
judges were dismissed during the year for abuse of office or corruption
after investigations by the judicial council, a body charged with
oversight and discipline of the judicial branch.
An ombudsman was mandated to conduct investigations into judicial
corruption; by year's end the ombudsman's office had conducted four
such investigations and referred them to the prosecutor general's
office.
The constitution provides for the adoption of a system of ordinary
and specialized courts. Ordinary courts include the Supreme Court, a
high court, provincial courts, and district courts. Specialized courts
include gacaca courts and military courts.
During the year there were reports of government officials
influencing gacaca judges.
Trial Procedures.--In the regular court system, the law provides
for public trials with the right to a defense (but not at public
expense), a presumption of innocence, and a right to appeal, and these
provisions were generally respected in practice; however, some appeals
cases were subject to lengthy delays. Most trials were public, and, in
the regular court system, defendants had the right to question
witnesses used against them and present witnesses and evidence on their
own behalf, although this right was sometimes limited. By year's end
there were approximately 250 lawyers and 259 judges in the country, and
the poverty of most defendants made it difficult for many of them to
obtain legal representation. An estimated 10 percent of defendants were
able to afford a private lawyer. Lawyers without Borders continued to
train gacaca judges but lacked the resources to provide defense counsel
to those in need. New court officers continued to be sworn in and
assigned to courts across the country, but the Government did not have
a sufficient number of prosecutors, judges, or courtrooms to hold
trials within a reasonable period of time.
During the year there were trials in the regular courts that did
not meet internationally accepted standards due to factors such as the
lack of defense counsel for many accused persons, and in one high-
profile appeals case--that of former President Bizimungu and former
transport minister Charles Ntakirutinka--the Supreme Court based its
verdicts of guilt on a previous trial widely criticized by observers
for its lack of compelling evidence and limits on the right to cross-
examine witnesses and to present witnesses.
The RDF continued to dismiss soldiers for indiscipline and criminal
offenses. The RDF routinely tried military offenders in military
courts, which handed down sentences of fines, imprisonment, or both
during the year. Military courts provided defendants with an attorney
at public expense, and defendants have the right of appeal and had
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. The law
stipulates that civilians who were accomplices of soldiers accused of
crimes be tried in military court. Military courts tried several dozen
civilians during the year.
On July 15 the gacaca courts transitioned from the pilot phase to
nationwide hearings in order to resolve the enormous genocide caseload.
Gacaca officials set the end of 2008 as the deadline for completing all
gacaca hearings. Of genocide-related cases, less than 10 percent
involved suspects in category I--those accused of the most severe
genocide crimes--and were to be tried in conventional courts. The
majority of individuals charged with genocide-related crimes have been
classified as categories II or III, and their cases were handled by the
gacaca system, either tried in gacaca courts (category II cases) or
settled through gacaca mediation (category III cases). Between 2002,
when the first gacaca courts began operating, and year's end,
approximately 51,000 genocide-related cases had been completed in
gacaca courts.
Gacaca courts served as the Government's primary judicial process
for adjudicating hundreds of thousands of genocide cases. The
Government's stated goal for gacaca was to assure that those who
participated in the genocide were brought to trial, furthering the ends
of justice and ending impunity. Given the heavy volume of genocide-
related cases, which the Government estimated would take 100 years to
resolve in the conventional court system, most observers agreed in
principle with the need for gacaca courts.
Lawyers were not permitted to participate officially in gacaca but
could testify as private citizens. There were 169,442 gacaca judges
(seven per gacaca court), or ``persons of integrity'' elected by the
community and provided with gacaca law training, serving in 12,103
gacaca courts across the country, including 1,545 appellate courts.
During the year an increased number of gacaca judges were
implicated in the genocide and subsequently replaced. There were
reports that some government officials unduly influenced gacaca judges
during the course of some hearings.
Defendants in gacaca courts had the right to present witnesses and
evidence on their own behalf. There was a right of appeal in gacaca
proceedings at sector-level courts. The registration procedure for
observing gacaca trials made it time-consuming for human rights groups
to monitor the trials, which were public.
The gacaca process was generally considered to be more effective at
providing justice than at fostering reconciliation, and it was not
always perceived as fair. For example some gacaca judges denied
defendants the right to present witnesses and ordered the imprisonment
of those who questioned the impartiality of gacaca judges (see Section
2.a.). Furthermore, poorly qualified or trained judges and ill-defined
guidelines on evidence and hearsay were problems. During the year there
reports that local gacaca officials and citizens abused the process to
pursue personal matters and settle grudges unrelated to the genocide,
including making false accusations in order to acquire land.
For example, according to the New Times, a senator and a local
district mayor accused both local leaders and gacaca judges in Gicumbi
District, Northern Province, of engaging in corruption, including the
transfer of bribe money, related to gacaca trials. The governor of the
Northern Province urged local leaders not to attempt to influence the
outcomes of gacaca trials.
According to local human rights groups, during the pilot phase,
which ended in June, interference by government officials at all levels
of gacaca was a major problem, and gacaca law did not provide
sufficiently for fair and impartial justice. According to Lawyers
without Borders the courts that were operating under the original pilot
phase, which continued operating after the nationwide expansion of
gacaca, had obtained an appreciably higher level of performance,
compared to their opening efforts, by year's end.
The gacaca law provides for reduced sentences including community
service, for cooperation, and credit for time served. However, many of
the accused have been held since 1994.
In addition because the Government had not given the gacaca courts
the authority to consider human rights abuses allegedly committed by
the RPF during the 1994 genocide, some human rights groups have
criticized the gacaca courts for representing a form of incomplete or
one-sided justice, and for being biased against those who acted on
behalf of the former government. The Government countered that RPF
abuses have been addressed by requisite civil and military authorities,
and that such abuses could not be equated with the genocide. During the
year military courts did not hear any cases relating to abuses
allegedly committed by the RPF during or shortly after the 1994
genocide.
Although the great majority of gacaca hearings are held without
incident, there were 328 incidents of violence involving gacaca trials
during the year, and threats against genocide witnesses hampered the
gacaca process; persons accused of genocide-related crimes, including
some individuals who had been released by the Government from pretrial
detention, reportedly made these threats. The Government held local
communities responsible for protecting witnesses, and relied on the
LDF, local leaders, police, and community members to ensure the safety
of witnesses. Early in the year the Government established a task force
to review the situation of genocide survivors. Despite these efforts,
however, unidentified individuals killed between 12 and 20 genocide
survivors and injured 32 in attacks during the year (see Section 1.a.).
During the year the Government continued to conduct criminal
investigations of organized groups that targeted and killed genocide
witnesses in certain provinces. Criminal investigations resulted in the
prosecution of some persons.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, at year's end
conventional courts were handling the cases of hundreds of persons
accused of participating in the assassination of witnesses, survivors,
and judges. During the year, the police processed 215 cases involving
the charge of genocide ideology, and 172 cases of divisionism. Nearly
all cases involved gacaca proceedings; persons accused of attacking or
abusing genocide survivors or witnesses to genocide were charged with
genocide ideology or divisionism as well as with substantive criminal
offenses such as attempted murder or assault.
IBUKA, an umbrella association for genocide survivors, criticized
the Government during the year for not doing enough to prevent the
killings of genocide witnesses, saying the lack of adequate action
encouraged additional killings. IBUKA also criticized the Government
for not having provided a report promised by the Prime Minister in
early 2004 about the situation of genocide survivors and gacaca
witnesses; it also called for increased cooperation between gacaca
courts, police, conventional courts, and mediators.
In December the President presided over a meeting that addressed
the killings of genocide survivors (see Section 1.a.).
Some citizens were still too frightened to testify in gacaca
courts. However, while thousands of citizens left for Burundi,
preliminary reports indicating that their movement was partly due to
fears of gacaca appeared to have been overstated, and the large
majority did not claim fear of gacaca as their reason for leaving the
country, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) (see Section 2.d.). Nevertheless there were reports of
more than 20 suicides among genocide survivors.
Near the end of 2005, gacaca officials reported that 69 persons
accused of genocide-related crimes had committed suicide during the
year out of fear of appearing before a gacaca court. Although gacaca
officials reportedly continued to monitor suicides by genocide suspects
during the year, no additional information was available by year's end.
A section of the Organic Genocide Law is designed to encourage
confessions in exchange for reduced sentences for individuals accused
of genocide-related crimes other than category I crimes (see Section
1.d.). Following efforts by the Government, international donors, and
NGOs to advertise widely the confession provisions, by year's end over
300,000 individuals had confessed to genocide-related crimes since the
law was implemented in 1996. According to gacaca officials, 90 percent
of the prison population had confessed to some category of genocide
crime. Their testimony may implicate up to one million additional
persons in the genocide who have not yet been detained by police; in
January the Government estimated that gacaca may implicate a total of
between 700,000 and 1 million citizens, one-eighth of the country's
total population.
The Government continued to implement a policy of incentives and
disincentives to elicit more confessions from detained genocide
suspects. Under the policy, if a genocide suspect does not confess to
the genocide-related crime of which he is accused, then he could lose
some of his privileges, including his right to see his family. During
the year there were continuing concerns among observers and analysts
over what was believed to be a sizable number of cases where persons
had provided false testimony, despite the penalties for providing such
testimony. In 2005, many detained genocide suspects reportedly told a
human rights NGO they had confessed just to avoid losing their
privileges.
A gacaca law passed in June 2004 stipulates that anyone who is
convicted of a Category I or II genocide-related crime is no longer
eligible to vote. The gacaca law does not specifically prohibit those
convicted of genocide from entering certain professions; however, the
codes of ethics for certain professions, including that of teachers,
doctors, lawyers, and civil servants, did not allow convicted criminals
to enter those professions.
During the year the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission
(NURC) postponed until April 2007 the release of a survey on gacaca
(relating to the status of unity and reconciliation in the country)
that had been scheduled for June.
The ICTR continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year
(see Section 4).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were some short-term
political detainees during the year. HRW reported that local officials
briefly detained some individuals who disagreed publicly with
government decisions or policies. Such individuals were usually not
charged and released after a day in detention.
Former President Bizimungu and one of his co-defendants, former
transport minister Ntakirutinka, remained in prison after a court
convicted them of three counts--incitement of civil disobedience,
formation of a criminal association, and embezzlement of public funds--
in a 2004 trial that did not meet international standards. In March the
Supreme Court upheld the sentences of 15 years for Bizimungu and 10
years for Ntakarutinka and reversed the lower court's not-guilty
verdict on the charge of plotting against the Government using
violence; however, the court ruled in favor of the appeals of the six
co-defendants in the case, who were immediately released. Prior to
their arrest in 2002, Bizimungu and Ntakarutinka had sought to
establish the Party for Democratic Renewal, a new opposition party;
authorities claimed Bizimungu had used inflammatory rhetoric based on
ethnicity, considered divisionism. The Government permitted the ICRC
access to Bizimungu and Ntakirutinka.
During the year local human rights NGOs criticized the trial
privately, saying the verdicts of guilt were politically motivated,
resulting from Bizimungu's intended candidacy for the 2003 Presidential
election, and illustrated the Supreme Court's lack of independence. HRW
also criticized the ruling that the Supreme Court upheld for Bizimungu
and Ntakirutinka, stating that the lower court had committed
``egregious errors'' in 2004 and that evidence presented by the
prosecution was weak and contradictory. HRW added that the lower court
had limited the defendants' rights to present a legal defense and
refused to allow them to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses and
to call other witnesses.
In May authorities arrested Colonel Patrick Karegeya, former RDF
spokesman and head of the National Security Services, and charged him
with insubordination. Several weeks after his arrest, authorities also
charged him with desertion. A military tribunal found him guilty in
June and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. The defining evidence in
the trial was the testimony by the RDF chief of general staff that
Karegeya refused a direct order to report for duty. Local media
reported that the army prevented friends and relatives from seeing
Karegeya after his conviction, although authorities denied such
reports. In April 2005, authorities arrested Karegeya and detained him
incommunicado for six months reportedly for ``indiscipline,'' although
authorities never charged him before releasing him in late September
2005.
Pierre Gakwandi and Kavutse, both former members of the MDR, were
released from prison after completing their jail terms, Gakwindi in
January, and Kavutse in April 2005 (see Section 1.c.). Following the
2003 arbitrary arrest and detention of Gakwandi, then secretary general
of the MDR, a court convicted and sentenced him to four years in
prison.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There are mechanisms for
citizens to file lawsuits in civil matters including violations of
their constitutional rights. There continued to be problems enforcing
domestic court orders; however, unlike in the previous year, there were
no reported instances of authorities refusing to release prisoners
despite orders to do so.
Property Restitution.--There were reports that property restitution
was denied to individuals who had not gone through the gacaca process.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
authorities generally respected these prohibitions; however, there were
some reports that the Government monitored homes and telephone calls.
Between 1997 and the end of 2001, more than 600,000 persons were
relocated to government-designated resettlement sites in compliance
with a ``villagization'' policy. While villagization remained
government policy, the the Government did not compel these persons to
remain in the villages; however, some individuals continued to reside
on the settlement sites because of restrictions on where houses could
be built.
Unlike in the previous year there were no reports that residents in
one province were refused land rights unless they provided a gacaca
certificate attesting that they were not implicated in the genocide.
Due in part to the insurgency in the late 1990s, government policy
requires male citizens above the age of 18 to participate in night
watch patrols. During the year the Government sometimes arrested,
detained, and allegedly beat individuals who refused to participate
(see Section 2.c.).
The UNHCR reported one instance of suspected recruitment of
children for forced labor or child soldiering from a Rwandan camp for
Congolese refugees by a DRC-based armed group (see Section 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press ``in conditions prescribed by the
law''; however, the Government at times restricted these rights in
practice by enforcing overly broad and vaguely defined laws.
International press freedom NGOs reported instances in which the
Government harassed, convicted, fined, and intimidated independent
journalists who expressed views that were deemed critical of the
Government on sensitive topics, or who were believed to have violated
journalistic standards monitored by a not-wholly independent media
regulatory council. Some journalists practiced self-censorship.
The law prohibits ``any propaganda of ethnic, regional, racial, or
divisive character or based on any other form of divisionism,'' and
public incitement to ``divisionism'' is punishable by up to five years
in prison, heavy fines, or both. Individuals could criticize the
Government publicly and privately on most topics; however, a law
prohibiting the promotion of ethnic divisionism and genocide ideology
continued to discourage citizens from expressing viewpoints
unacceptable to the Government on sensitive subjects, such as criticism
that might be considered to ``attack the dignity of a high authority''
and statements that might be considered to promote societal divisions.
During the year the expression of such viewpoints sometimes resulted in
the imprisonment, harassment, or intimidation of citizens by government
authorities. For example, on October 6, a court sentenced Father Jean-
Marie Vianney Uwizeyeyezu, a Catholic priest who headed a parish in
southern Rwanda, to 12 years in prison for ``having downplayed the
[1994] genocide.'' Authorities arrested and detained Uwizeyeyezu in May
after he allegedly quoted several traditional sayings during mass that
were interpreted as a negation or denial of the genocide, which is
prohibited by law. Unions reportedly told the International Trade Union
Confederation (ITUC) that the Government continued to pressure them not
to express opinions publicly.
During the year there were positive and negative signs regarding
the ongoing development of an independent domestic media and press
freedom. Some international human rights NGOs perceived deterioration
in certain areas of press freedom and freedom of speech; however, some
domestic journalists said there was more press freedom during the year.
Although there were still considerable constraints on press freedom,
some Rwanda observers said the domestic press corps was more outspoken
in its criticism of the Government on many topics. A number of domestic
journalists spoke out freely against the Government, and articles
critical of the Government appeared regularly. The number of
publications reportedly increased and the Government issued new radio
licenses; however, few domestic radio stations broadcast hard news
programs, and there continued to be a lack of trained journalists.
Other observers said they perceived a lack of trust between the media
and the Government, noting that government criticism of the domestic
media during the year may have illustrated residual concerns about the
media stemming in part from the role the media played in provoking the
1994 genocide.
There were both privately and government-owned newspapers,
published in English, French, and Kinyarwanda. The New Times, an
English-language paper with close ties to the Government, whose
shareholders reportedly included senior government officials, was the
only newspaper published daily. There were 37 newspapers, journals, and
other publications registered with the Government. The country's
independent newspapers--including Newsline, Umuseso, Umuco (published
twice each month), and the sporadically published Umuvugizi--regularly
maintained positions contrary to or critical of the Government,
although such criticism was usually limited to less sensitive topics,
such as issues of local government and health. The New Times also
criticized government policies and officials. Unlike in 2005, there
were no reports that officials seized newspaper editions; however, some
journalists said government officials pressured government institutions
to withhold advertising from independent newspapers.
The law authorizes private radio and TV broadcasting, subject to
the approval of the Government; although some have complained that the
licensing fees remained prohibitively high. Although the Government
authorized the licensing of private TV stations, it owned and operated
the country's only TV station. In addition to Radio Rwanda, which was
owned and operated by the Government, there were nine independent FM
radio stations broadcasting during the year, focused primarily on
music. Foreign media groups, including Voice of America (VOA), BBC, and
Deutsche Welle broadcast in Kigali throughout the year and were among
the few stations in the country that regularly broadcast independent
news. The Government allowed radio stations to broadcast increased
criticism of its policies during the year, including through the use of
popular citizen call-in shows featuring criticism of the Government on
certain topics such as local government, health, and other less
sensitive issues. However, the Government forced a foreign radio
station to shut down as part of a severing of diplomatic relations with
France.
On several occasions the Government restricted the operations of
international media, particularly foreign news organs that disseminated
views critical of the Government. During a January 26 government-
sponsored conference two days after President Kagame criticized the
media and accused some journalists of engaging in defamation and
extortion, the head of Radio Rwanda accused two VOA and BBC
correspondents of ``treason.'' The country's police spokesman said
their ``ideology must be reviewed'' due to excessive coverage of
negative press freedom assessments by international human rights
groups. On June 8, the Government did not renew the visa of a Radio
France Internationale (RFI) reporter, but indicated it would accept a
new reporter. International press freedom advocacy groups such as New
York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) criticized the
Government's action; CPJ said it was ``a grim reminder of the
difficulties that many journalists face'' in the country. In August,
the Government reauthorized VOA broadcasts, despite having criticized
VOA for what it called VOA's unbalanced reporting of Rwandan politics.
In November, after a French judge implicated President Kagame in the
assassination of former President Habyarimana, the Government broke off
diplomatic links with the Government of France. As a result, all
official French organizations in country, including RFI were ordered
closed in country.
During the year the Government continued to closely monitor the
press, and police occasionally summoned journalists for questioning
after critical articles were published in the independent press. Unlike
in 2005, authorities did not arrest a journalist. Journalists had to
abide by overly broad laws that governed the media. In April, the
President publicly admonished authorities not to harass journalists and
to investigate any such reports. However, according to local media, a
police spokesperson reportedly threatened Radio Contact and said he
would summon the station manager for broadcasting ``false information''
after the station broadcast allegations that police had beaten and
killed Hakizimana (see Section 1.a.). It was unknown whether police had
summoned the station manager by year's end.
On July 28, after imprisoning him for nearly 11 months (including
eight months for contempt of court for questioning the impartiality of
a gacaca judge), authorities released Jean-Leonard Rugambage, an Umuco
journalist who was arrested in September 2005 for alleged involvement
in the 1994 genocide, due to a lack of evidence and procedural abuses
in his case. The Gacaca Service executive secretary noted that the
genocide-related charges should not have been filed by the local
officials because there was no evidence to support them; the executive
secretary, who reviewed the case, said that another court had already
acquitted Rugambage of the same charges prior to his arrest in 2005.
CPJ said they believed authorities had used ``abusive procedures
designed to punish him for critical reporting.'' CPJ and other human
rights groups called on the Government to sanction any gacaca officials
found guilty of abuses; by year's end, authorities had not sanctioned
any gacaca officials connected with the case.
On August 3, the police summoned Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, chief
editor of Umuco to appear before the police and the High Press Council
in connection with articles deemed potentially libelous in the July 26
edition of Umuco. Instead of responding to the summons, Bizumuremyi,
who claimed to have received anonymous threats after the articles were
published, went into hiding and fled the country while police sought
him; Bizumuremyi said he did not respond to the summons because he was
given only one hour to do so, a lawyer was not available, and he was
afraid to go to court alone. In his absence, the council ruled that the
four articles were ``unethical'' and needed correcting. By August 10,
when Bizumuremyi published a letter of apology for unintentionally
insulting President Kagame, the council's President said the matter had
been settled. Bizumuremyi returned to Rwanda in November and resumed
his editorial position.
The High Press Council, which reports to the office of the
President and has four government representatives among its nine
members, occasionally requested clarification from journalists on
articles that potentially violated the media law or criminal libel
statutes. Some domestic and international press freedom advocates
continued to criticize the High Press Council for lacking independence
and focusing its energy and resources on monitoring the country's
journalists while failing to defend journalists' rights or to
investigate possible infringements of press freedom.
By year's end no action had been taken against security force
members responsible for the February 2004 harassment of and death
threats against five journalists, including two Umuseso editors.
In some cases journalists were harassed and threatened by
unidentified individuals. For example, on January 15 four unidentified
armed men forcibly entered the house of Umuco editor Bizumuremyi. The
men reportedly told him to stop criticizing the Government after Umuco
had published an article critical of the ruling party. The men
reportedly left abruptly without harming Bizumuremyi when neighbors
intervened. Police said they would conduct an investigation, but by
year's end there were no reports of any arrests in connection with the
incident.
In August Bosco Gasasira, the editor of Umuvugizi, told
international press freedom advocacy group Reporters without Borders
(RSF) that he had received anonymous telephone threats and believed he
was under constant surveillance by military intelligence agents.
Gasasira's allegations followed the publication of an article in which
he criticized the country's economy and finance minister for
``influence trafficking'' and trying to control the country's economy.
On August 14, unidentified persons in Kigali attacked and beat a
journalist's brother, Olivier Tibasumba. Tibasumba's sister, Lucie
Umukundwa, a VOA stringer and head of the country's VOA office,
reported that she had received threats and, following the beating of
her brother, left the country fearing for her safety. One of the
assailants reportedly told Tibasumba to tell his sister to ``stop
interfering with our work.'' The High Council of the Press conducted
lengthy interviews with the stringer and her brother and provided
information to the police. By year's end Umukundwa remained outside the
country and a police investigation had not resulted in any arrests.
Unlike in 2005, authorities did not seize any publications.
According to some of the country's journalists, government
officials pressured some government institutions to withhold
advertising from independent newspapers. According to Freedom House,
the Government continued to influence the printed press through its
purchase of advertising space, upon which many private publications
were financially dependent; government agencies generally did not
advertise in independent newspapers. RSF reported in August that during
the year only three newspapers-the New Times, Umuvugizi, and Focus-
received advertising revenues from government entities and companies
linked to the ruling party. Print media often published abroad to avoid
local publishing costs, which were more expensive than publishing
abroad, and, according to Freedom House, to avoid direct government
control of their content. However, local journalists say explicitly
that it is done to avoid expensive publishing costs in Rwanda.
The Government continued to use a media law that imposes criminal
sanctions on the media for libel and other forms of defamation to
suppress criticism and limit press freedom. In July the country's
highest court upheld a lower court's 2005 decision to sanction Umuseso
editor Charles Kabonero with a suspended sentence of a year in prison
(which Kabonero had already served during the appeals process) and a
fine of approximately $1,900 (one million Rwandan francs) in damages
and court fees for ``public insult.'' The defamation charge resulted
from a series of analytical articles published in 2004 that criticized
the deputy speaker of parliament and the Government, and from
Kabonero's refusal to publish a ``correction'' and reveal his sources.
Unlike in previous years, the Government did not cite national
security as grounds to suppress views that were unrelated to security
issues but politically embarrassing or objectionable. Press freedom
advocates attributed tensions between the Government and the media to
the Government's reluctance or incapacity to share information. The
Government attributed tensions to journalists' lack of experience and
professionalism.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the
Internet or reports that the Government monitored email or Internet
chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Internet
cafes were common and used regularly in the largest towns but the
Internet was generally unavailable to the majority of people living in
rural areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
restrict academic freedom or cultural events. Unlike in the previous
year, there were no reports of authorities arresting, detaining, or
suspending students on accusations of engaging in genocide ideology. By
year's end authorities had released from detention all of the 60
teachers and students whose names the Ministry of Education, Science,
and Technology submitted in 2004 to authorities for prosecution on
charges involving genocide ideology.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
there were some exceptions. Authorities legally may require advance
notice for outdoor rallies, demonstrations, and meetings. There were no
reports that authorities prohibited nighttime meetings, although some
groups avoided nighttime meetings to avoid possible disruption.
In September the governor of the Eastern Province reportedly
cancelled a march planned by local citizens to protest the acquittal of
a genocide suspect by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,
citing concerns that the march might become violent.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government prevented Landnet, an umbrella group of NGOs, from meeting,
or that other civil society organizations were discouraged from meeting
due to the Government's actions (see Section 4).
The Government continued to limit the type of locations where
religious groups could assemble, at times citing municipal zoning
regulations as the reason. Unlike the previous year, there was no
national ban on the building of structures for the meetings and worship
services of Jehovah's Witnesses; however, there were still local
government officials who prevented the new construction of Kingdom
Halls (see Section 2.c.).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government limited this right in practice.
Private organizations were required to register, and in practice the
Government generally granted licenses without undue delay; however,
there were some exceptions.
To obtain a provisional six-month approval, domestic NGOs must
present their objectives, plan of action, and financial information to
local authorities of every district in which the organizations intended
to work. After obtaining provisional agreement, domestic NGOs must
apply for registration (legal recognition) each year under the
authority of the Ministry of Justice. If a local NGO is initially
denied registration, the NGO sometimes must renew its registration
documents. These requirements made registration extremely difficult for
some organizations. Domestic NGOs were required to submit financial and
activity reports each year to the national government.
The Government also requires international organizations to
register each year, and to obtain yearly provisional authorization from
the local governments of every district in which the organizations
intend to work, followed by final authorization from the requisite
ministry. This requirement made registration difficult for some
organizations. In addition, the Government requires international
organizations to submit yearly reports with the relevant local
governments and national level ministries. The paperwork involved was
burdensome.
According to a report released in 2005 by Frontline--International
Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, local and
international NGOs are required to give ``all data and documents
concerning [their] activities'' within one month of a request by ``the
concerned authorities.''
Consistent with its antidivisionism policy of not acknowledging
individual ethnic groups, the Government did not recognize the Batwa as
an ``indigenous group.'' However, it recognized and conducted joint
health and education projects with the Community of Indigenous Peoples
of Rwanda (CAURWA), a Batwa advocacy organization (see Section 5).
The constitution provides for a multiparty system of government and
for the free operation of political organizations; however, the
Government restricted political party activities, and all political
organizations were constitutionally obliged to join the Forum for
Political Organizations, an organization designed to define and
regulate party behavior and enhance interparty communication and
coordination (see Section 3). During the year there were no reported
efforts to form a political party opposed to the Government, and there
were no reports of the Government denying parties registration. The MDR
remained inactive during the year as a result of a May 2003
recommendation by parliament to ban the MDR shortly before Presidential
and legislative elections. Although the Supreme Court never acted upon
the recommendation, the MDR was dissolved shortly thereafter when all
existing political parties were required to re-register under a new
political party law. There were no signs during the year that the MDR
would reconstitute itself or that authorities would allow it to do so.
Former MDR members denied reports that the Government continued to
harass them.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion and the Government generally respected this right in practice;
however, there were some exceptions. The Government failed to prevent
local authorities and security forces from arresting, detaining,
beating, or harassing more than 50 Jehovah's Witnesses, although there
were fewer reports of such abuses than in the previous year.
The law requires that all nonprofit organizations, including
churches and religious organizations, register with the Ministry of
Local government and with the Ministry of Justice to acquire the status
of ``legal entity.''
During the year a foreign pastor reported difficulties registering
his church, and there were reports that some religious organizations
operated without legal recognition because the registration process was
arduous, which government officials confirmed. Members of unregistered
groups were vulnerable to censorship and possible detention. The
Government did not deny any new applications during the year; however,
the Government continued the 2003 suspension of two local splinter
organizations, the United Methodist Church of Rwanda, led by Jupa
Kaberuka, and the International Union Methodist Community, led by Louis
Bwanakweli. Both attempted to register as the primary Methodist group
in the country and claimed to be the regional representative of the
World Methodist Church.
The Government continued to suspend the registration of two
Pentecostal churches led by foreign pastors, and one of the pastors
left the country during the year. The suspension began in 2004
presumably because of immigration irregularities allegedly engaged in
by the pastor, and due to an ongoing dispute over the naming of his
church.
There were reports of police beating, detaining, and arresting
members of Jehovah's Witnesses because they refused--due to religious
beliefs--to participate in nighttime security patrols and sing the
national anthem. In May, prison guards beat two members of Jehovah's
Witnesses, who were detained for two weeks in Huye District and
released without charge.
In May a local government official, the executive secretary of
Kirehe-Kigarame Sector (Kibungo District), severely beat a member of
Jehovah's Witnesses who authorities detained for three weeks before
releasing him on May 30. The Government reported that the individual
was detained for unlawful financial practices and not because of his
status as a member of Jehovah's Witnesses; it was not clear if
authorities ever charged the man. The Government reported that it
investigated the executive secretary for administering the beating and
temporarily detained him; however, authorities later released him
without charge.
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of General Counsel in
New York, between February and May, authorities in the Kibungo Province
imprisoned 48 members of Jehovah's Witnesses for not participating in
night patrols. At year's end three remained in prison. The Office of
General Counsel also reported that two members of Jehovah's Witnesses
were detained, released and fined for not participating in the national
anthem.
All but 11 of the 93 members of Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned or
detained in 2005 for failure to participate in night patrols were
released without charge; their detentions, during which police beat 12
individuals, usually lasted between two days and three months. The 11
whose cases went to court were sentenced from three to six months in
prison. Another member of Jehovah's Witnesses who did not participate
in the night patrols was accused of rebellion, sentenced to six months
in prison, and released on January 14.
In 2005 a few judges ruled that the charges against Jehovah's
Witnesses were inappropriate; they held that there was no law requiring
mandatory nighttime patrols and that the prosecutor's office had
wrongly applied a law requiring some form of ``community work.''
However, at year's end three members of Jehovah's Witnesses remained in
prison.
There were no reports that authorities closed a Jehovah's Witnesses
Kingdom Hall and dispersed worshippers; however, the Government did not
allow new Kingdom Halls or churches to be built.
In October a court sentenced a Catholic priest to 12 years in
prison for comments made during a Mass in May that were interpreted as
a negation of the 1994 genocide, which is against the law (see Section
2.a.).
The Government continued to require religious groups to hold
services at their established places of worship and to ban the use of
private homes for this purpose. Some small religious groups that met in
private homes were forced to move to new locations.
Government officials presiding over wedding ceremonies generally
required couples to take an oath while touching the national flag, a
practice that Jehovah's Witnesses object to on religious grounds. This
practice made it difficult for church members to marry as they had to
find officials willing to perform the ceremony without the flag
requirement. In March, two couples in Bugarsera District were denied
marriage certificates due to their refusal to take the marriage oath
while touching the national flag. In addition, authorities in Kigali-
Muhima denied a couple marriage certificates in a public ceremony for
refusing to take the oath with the flag.
According to church officials, six primary student children of
Jehovah's Witnesses were suspended from school for refusing to attend
Christian services. Active engagement by local Jehovah's Witnesses
leaders with government officials resulted in the resolution of the
issue and the readmission of the students.
During the year the Government and Jehovah's Witnesses authorities
continued to address problems and misunderstandings through a
collaborative mechanism begun in 2005. Jehovah's Witnesses leaders
reported a better relationship between their church and the Government
during the year.
On January 1 the Government consolidated the country's territorial
administrative structure into four provinces, 30 districts, and 416
sectors. The subsequent change in leadership at the district and sector
levels required the leadership of religious denominations to deal with
new officials. During the year Jehovah's Witnesses said that
ministerial-level decisions regarding the church were positive, but
church leadership reported a lack of communication between the national
government and some local leaders.
Unlike in the preceding year, there were a few reports that
religious groups changed their location or tailored their activities to
avoid confrontation with authorities due to the citing of religious
figures and groups in the 2004 parliamentary report on genocide
ideology.
In April authorities released and dropped the charges against the
eight members of a dissident Catholic congregation (``Mouvement
Marial'') in Gisenyi Province who were accused of ``subversive
activities'' and arrested in February 2004.
Unlike in the previous year, none of the groups cited by parliament
in its 2004 report on genocide ideology reported difficulties
approaching local authorities about concerns or topics that could be
construed as ``sensitive.''
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some religious leaders were
perpetrators of violence and discrimination during the year, and
several clergy members of various faiths faced charges of genocide in
the country's courts and in the ICTR (see Section 4).
There was a very small Jewish community, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the Government
refused to provide refugee or asylum-seeker protections.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use
forced exile; however, some individuals remained in--or secretly left
the country to live in--self-imposed exile because they believed their
lives were in danger (see Sections 2.a. and 4).
From late 2005 to February more than 19,000 Rwandans crossed into
Burundi and requested asylum. The Government of Burundi and the UNHCR
determined that less that 3 percent qualified for refugee status, and
the UNHCR began transporting the denied applicants back to Rwanda.
During the year, more than 17,000 asylum seekers returned to the
country from Burundi. There were no reports that these repatriates were
mistreated upon their return. The UNHCR reported that at year's end
there were 48,400 Rwandan refugees and about 4,700 asylum seekers in 23
other African countries, including 521 refugees and 2,320 asylum
seekers in Burundi.
In June the Government of Tanzania expelled approximately 800
Rwandan nationals from Tanzania. The Rwandans had been living in
western Tanzania for up to 40 years and accused the Tanzanian
government of using harsh expulsion methods including rape, beatings,
and the theft of cattle and other property. The Government of Tanzania
claimed that the Rwandans had not applied for refugee status and
declared them ``illegal immigrants.'' In September the Governments of
Tanzania and Rwanda formed a high level commission to address the
issue; however, the Tanzanian government again began to expel Rwandan
nationals (some of whom were naturalized Tanzanians) during the same
month, with approximately 200 persons arriving at the Rwandan border
each day. Between March and year's end, the Tanzanian government
expelled more that 13,000 Rwandans, most of whom were settled in their
districts of origin. The Government worked with UNHCR and other aid
organizations to assist the returnees who were resettled. Government
mediators handled land disputes resulting from the large number of
returnees.
The Government continued to accept former combatants who returned
to the country from the DRC as part of the ongoing peace process
between the two countries. A total of 6,123 former combatants from
armed groups in the DRC had been demobilized and peacefully resettled
in Rwanda since the beginning of the disarmament, demobilization, and
reintegration program in 2001. During the year, 1,234 RDF soldiers, 575
adult former combatants from armed groups, and 58 children were
demobilized. With international support, the Government's
Demobilization and Reintegration Commission, the lead government agency
for the reinsertion of returned former combatants, placed such persons
in a two-month re-education program at demobilization and reintegration
centers in the Northern Province. There also was a center solely for
former child combatants (see Section 5) in the Eastern Province. After
the two-month re-education period, each adult former combatant was
given approximately $90 (50,000 Rwandan francs) and allowed to return
to his village. Returnees who were accused of committing genocide and
over 25 years of age (or 14 years old at the time of the genocide) were
subject to gacaca trials, as were all citizens.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The constitution recognizes the right to asylum ``under
conditions determined by law,'' and there was a law in place to
recognize refugees. However, the Government was slow to implement
refugee registration procedures, and most persons seeking asylum or
refugee status had to seek private assistance (finding housing, food,
and other supplies) while awaiting formal recognition by the
Government.
In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they fear
persecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum during
the year. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government pressured the Government of Burundi to forcefully repatriate
Rwandan asylum seekers, sent soldiers to Burundi to repatriate them, or
denied the UNHCR access to returning asylum seekers.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government declared Burundian asylum seekers in Rwanda ``illegal
immigrants.'' The UNHCR continued to assist refugees and asylum seekers
and provided temporary protection to 47,170 persons, the vast majority
of whom were refugees from the DRC. The Government generally cooperated
with the UNHCR.
During the year there was one report of a DRC-based armed group
recruiting between 20 and 30 children from a Rwandan refugee camp to be
used as combatants or forced laborers. The Government responded to the
alleged incident by sending counselors from the National Demobilization
and Reintegration Committee to the camp to educate the refugee
population on the dangers of child soldiering.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the RDF was
involved in the recruitment by Congo-based militias of children from
Rwandan refugee camps for use as soldiers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide for the right of citizens to
change their government peacefully; however, this right was effectively
restricted.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 President Paul
Kagame won a landslide victory against two independent Presidential
candidates, receiving 95 percent of the vote. In legislative elections
the same year, President Kagame's political party, the RPF, won the
majority of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
International election observers, representing both foreign governments
and NGOs, noted that the country's first post-genocide elections,
though peaceful, were marred by numerous serious irregularities--
including ballot stuffing, ``guarded'' polling booths, and irregular
ballot counting in at least two of the 12 provinces--and fraud. There
also were numerous credible reports that during the 2003 Presidential
and legislative campaigns, opposition candidates and their supporters
faced widespread harassment and intimidation, including detention.
Between February and March the country held three phases of non-
partisan local elections. In district, sector, and cell elections, the
law prohibits candidates from making any reference to their political
party while campaigning, and the elections held at these three levels
during the year were conducted on a non-partisan basis, although some
observers believed that voters were generally well aware of candidates'
party affiliation. During elections at the lowest level (the cell),
voters cast their votes by lining up behind candidates rather than by
secret ballot; government officials said they used the line-up voting
system due to significant resource constraints and the expense of
providing ballots and ballot boxes. There were no reports of
intimidation or of security forces pressuring citizens to vote for
particular candidates, but some observers expressed concerns, noting
that citizens had criticized the line-up voting system when it was
first used in 1999 because it made voters susceptible to influence and
possible repercussions due their votes. In elections for key district
officials, voters used the secret ballot, while other elections were
indirect.
Candidates in the district level elections were legally required to
have a minimum education level to stand for election. All the local
elections generally were conducted efficiently and peacefully, and
although there were some organizational problems and confusion among
voters, voter participation rates were high, according to officials. In
February the pro-government newspaper the New Times published at least
six articles containing allegations of coercion of voters, a few claims
of fraud from losing candidates, and other irregularities, as well as
criticism from the National Electoral Commission's chairman of
unprofessional conduct by election volunteers and observers. In
addition, HRW said that observers reported ``numerous irregularities,
including stuffing of ballot boxes and intimidation of candidates.''
The National Election Commission investigated allegations of
irregularities, reportedly intervened to correct some during the
elections, and said that ``despite the irregularities, the elections
were free and fair.'' Although the elections were non-partisan, there
were many cases of last-minute withdrawal of candidates, which led to
considerable speculation that some candidates were favored by
authorities and others actively discouraged from running.
An African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) country report released
during the year by the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD), a mandated initiative of the African Union (AU), recommended
that the country's electoral commission respect the constitutional
principle of a secret ballot in local elections to protect citizens
from the likelihood of intimidation and other undemocratic practices.
The report also recommended that the Government provide the electoral
commission with more resources to undertake a needed renovation and
modernization of the voters' register, to discharge its duties
effectively, and to shield it from various sources of influence. The
report noted that ``the Government faces an uncomfortable dilemma--how
to promote political pluralism in a country where political parties
have in the past been organized along two main ethnic lines.'' It
stated that the country had made some positive trends but had to
increase its efforts in areas such as political pluralism.
The RPF continued to dominate the parliament and the political
arena. According to the Bertelsmann Transformation Index 2006, which
was released during the year and analyzed what it perceived as several
countries' political strengths and weaknesses, the ``hegemonic role of
the RPF'' and the weakness of the party system is partly due to the
``successive abolition'' of important parties and the fact that
``political parties do not differ in terms of proposed policy'' but
reflect regional divisions.
Seven other political parties were represented in the Chamber of
Deputies and the Senate; however, most chose to associate themselves
with the RPF rather than assert independent positions. In accordance
with the constitution, which states that ``a political organization
holding the majority of seats in the Chamber of Deputies may not exceed
50 percent of all the members of the Cabinet,'' members of other
political parties held key positions in government and parliament,
including that of the Prime Minister and the speaker of the Chamber of
Deputies. In the Chamber of Deputies, 13 of the 53 directly elected
members belonged to parties other than the RPF. All political parties
represented in parliament held regular meetings, and were authorized to
recruit new members and stand for election, although recruitment
meetings below the provincial level are not legally allowed.
The Senate regularly called ministers and other government
officials to testify in oversight hearings to examine use of ministry
budgets, performance of personnel, and program efforts.
The constitution provides for a multiparty system but provides few
protections for parties and their candidates. According to the AU's
APRM report, the country had made significant progress toward political
pluralism, but parties were still ``not able to operate freely'' and
faced legal sanctions if accused of engaging in divisive acts. The
report also noted that the constitutional freedom to form, join, and
belong to political parties is undermined by onerous conditions and
other constitutional provisions, including one that prohibits parties
from operating at the district, sector, and cell levels. The MDR, which
by 2003 had become increasingly critical of government policies while
holding positions in the transitional government, remained inactive
during the year, which at least one local NGO said was a result of the
May 2003 recommendation by parliament to ban the MDR shortly before
national elections (see Section 2.b.). Furthermore the Government's
continuing campaign against divisionism, and its holding of political
detainees and prisoners (including former President Bizimungu),
including the occasional use by local officials of illegal detention
against those critical of the Government, discouraged open debate or
criticism of the Government or its policies (see Sections 1.d., 1.e.,
2.a., 2.b, 2.c. and 4).
All political organizations were constitutionally required to join
the Forum for Political Organizations, which continued to limit
competitive political pluralism, according to the AU's APRM report. In
addition the law regulates the formation, structure, and functioning of
political organizations; it also monitors their use of the media,
management of financial assets, and relations between political
organizations and other institutions. The law outlines a code of
conduct for political organizations. For example the law states that
political organizations have the ``moral obligation to condemn any
biased ideas and behavior aimed at turning the state into a state
governed by a cluster of politicians.'' The law also outlines the
Government's ability to cancel an organization's mandate.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of any increase
in the number of senior political officials implicated in the 1994
genocide, and no members of parliament were pressured to resign during
the year.
The constitution requires that at least 30 percent of the seats in
parliament be reserved for women, who won approximately 40 percent of
the seats during the September 2003 legislative elections. At year's
end there were eight women in the 26-seat Senate and 39 women in the
80-seat Chamber of Deputies. In addition President Kagame appointed
nine women to ministerial positions, representing 32 percent of the
positions in his cabinet.
There was one member of the Batwa ethnic group in the 26-seat
Senate but none in the Chamber of Deputies.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption of government
officials was a problem. During the year the Government prosecuted
several corrupt officials, including two ministerial secretaries
general. According to Transparency International's (TI) 2006 Corruption
Perceptions Index, corruption among the country's public officials was
perceived by both resident and nonresident experts to be ``rampant.''
There were reports of authorities harassing journalists who
reported on corruption in various government sectors (see Section
2.a.).
The Government's Office of the Ombudsman had an active good
governance program and several anticorruption units that worked at the
local level. Although the office does not have the authority to
prosecute cases, it can recommend cases to the prosecutor general's
office, and during the year the office pursued several thousand
corruption cases, the majority of which involved land. There were
reports that some corruption charges and prosecutions were directed at
political opponents of the RPF. Unlike in the previous year, there were
no high-level officials convicted of corruption. The inspector general
of government worked to prevent corruption. The law provides for annual
reporting of assets by public officials, but not public disclosure of
those assets. During the year the legislature used the auditor
general's annual report to examine the conduct of government business
and guard against mismanagement and corruption.
The law does not provide for access to government information, and
in practice it remained difficult for citizens and foreigners,
including journalists, to obtain access to government information.
There were no reports of the Government denying a citizens' request for
information; however, during the year some senators criticized the
Government for being ``secretive,'' for failing to make its activities
known to the public, and for failing to hold regular press briefings,
particularly in regard to the December 2005 killing of prisoners at the
Mulindi Military Detention Facility and other alleged human rights
abuses by security forces (see Sections 1.a. and 1.d.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of independent international NGOs and more than six
increasingly independent, domestic human rights groups operated in the
country, and some of them investigated and published their findings.
Some domestic NGOs said the Government was intolerant of criticism and
had a tendency to be suspicious of local and international human rights
observers, often rejecting their criticism of its human rights
practices as biased and uninformed. During the year some NGOs expressed
fear of the Government and self-censored their activities and comments,
even during private meetings, and particularly regarding sensitive
topics such as the appeals trial of former President Bizimungu (see
Section 1.e.).
Most domestic NGOs that dealt with at least some human rights
issues conducted activities such as lobbying the legislature to provide
more protection for vulnerable groups; facilitating dialogue on the
death penalty; observing elections; raising awareness of human rights
among youth; and providing explanations of legislation, legal advice,
and advocacy. One local human rights NGO, LIPRODOHR, spotlighted human
rights abuses; it employed some of its 600 members to conduct field
investigations of alleged abuses, published its findings and discussed
them with government officials--including on sensitive cases--and
raised concerns about false accusations in gacaca trials. A few
domestic NGOs produced publications regularly on general human rights
issues.
There was a restricted atmosphere for the functioning of civil
society due to the legacy of the genocide. In addition, government
requirements made registration extremely difficult for some NGOs;
during a discussion among domestic human rights groups on whether the
Government was trying to control civil society, NGOs noted several
registration requirements, including a requirement that civil society
groups provide reports on their activities to the Ministry of Local
government (see Section 2.b.).
New York-based NGO Freedom House reported that because of the
Government's ongoing campaign against divisionism, human rights NGOs
were generally reluctant to express critical views to avoid being
accused by the Government of engaging in divisive political activity
and of opposing the Government. However, police statistics indicated
that the vast majority of prosecutions involving charges of divisionism
concerned gacaca proceedings (see Section 1.e.).
Many government officials said they believed that the proper role
of civil society was to support the Government, and that NGOs' work
should be in accordance with national and local action plans. According
to Freedom House, this belief that civil society should support the
Government was so widespread that in recent years some NGOs have even
criticized fellow groups for being critical of the Government.
The President of one domestic human rights NGO said the Government
was employing subtler and more complicated strategies than before in
dealing with NGOs and cited the requirement that NGOs obtain
authorization from the Government for some projects before they can
access funds provided by international donors. The NGO President said
this requirement could result in further government restrictions on
domestic NGOs' access to donor funds. According to Freedom House, the
law on nonprofit associations gives government authorities the power to
control projects, budgets, and hiring of personnel ``so that NGOs will
restrict themselves to supporting government efforts in development and
service provision, not policy.''
In January AI called on the Government to ``end the continuing
harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights
defenders''; however, by May some domestic NGOs noted that relations
with the Government had generally improved and that consultations were
positive between the Government and civil society on a proposed bill
reforming the regulation of NGOs. Nevertheless, several domestic NGOs
said they were disappointed that civil society's recommendations had
not been incorporated into the draft legislation and expressed deep
concerns about the draft law.
On June 26, during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, the
International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization
Against Torture, two international NGOs that work frequently with
domestic NGOs in the country, alleged that the Government used various
legal restrictions to ``control'' NGOs.
Calls by human rights groups or opposition figures for
investigations of alleged war crimes committed by the RPF met with
government claims that such calls equated the genocide with abuses
committed by RPF soldiers who stopped the genocide (see Section 1.e.).
During the year LIPRODHOR said authorities denied it access to
prisons.
In 2005 the Senate commissioned a study to identify divisionism and
``genocide ideology'' (support for genocide or its principle tenets)
among international NGOs and scholars. By year's end, the Senate had
not yet released this report.
In 2004 the legislature released a report prepared by the
Commission on Genocide Ideology about the allegedly widespread
prevalence in the country of divisionism and genocide ideology. Some
NGOs said during the year that the report continued to have a lingering
impact in undermining the credibility of civil society, and according
to Freedom House, the report ``had a chilling effect on independent
voices, compounding the self-censorship already prevalent among human
rights defenders and others.'' The report accused 13 domestic and
international civil society groups, including LIPRODHOR, the country's
largest human rights NGO; religious institutions; journalists;
allegedly corrupt leaders of local government; secondary schools; and
the national university of engaging in divisionist activities and
genocide ideology. The Government accepted the commission's
recommendation to dissolve five domestic civil society groups and used
the report in conjunction with national security laws to justify
arbitrary arrests and the effective dismantling of the country's
independent human rights organizations. The Government particularly
targeted LIPRODHOR by freezing its assets, threatening its dissolution,
and forcing its alignment with government policy. Although not
officially dissolved, LIPRODOHR was essentially not operating for
approximately half of 2005, and many of the NGO's key members who fled
the country claimed that the group had been infiltrated by the
Government. Several key LIPRODHOR staff who left the country in 2005
continued to live abroad during the year and had reportedly sought
asylum.
By the end of 2005, LIPRODHOR had rebuilt its organization, rebuilt
its relationships with local government officials, and begun to travel
throughout the country, conduct investigations, criticize the
Government, and seek redress for its clients. During the year LIPRODOHR
was one of two domestic human rights NGOs that investigated violations
by the Government and engaged in discussion and lobbying with officials
to address abuses. LIPRODOHR's caseload by year's end had nearly
reached pre-2004 levels.
In response to the 2004 parliamentary report on genocide ideology,
a group of pro-government domestic NGOs created an NGO ``platform,'' or
collective, in 2005 to manage the activities of NGOs. During the year
the group continued to maintain a role in managing and directing NGOs
during the year through the use of umbrella NGOs, which theoretically
aggregated NGOs working in particular thematic sectors; however, many
observers believed that the Government controlled these umbrella NGOs.
In September UN Development Program and the NHRC inaugurated a
framework for cooperation among human rights NGOs including a permanent
secretariat, quarterly meetings of a guiding council, and biannual
plenary sessions to discuss and address human rights issues.
The Government's lead agency for human rights was the NHRC. The
NHRC released annual human rights reports for 2004 and 2005. The 2005
report criticized government action in a number of areas including
illegal detentions, police beatings, and prison conditions. However,
the NHRC did not have adequate resources to investigate all reported
cases of violations, and according to some observers, the NHRC remained
biased towards the Government in its investigations and reporting.
The ICTR continued to prosecute genocide suspects during the year.
Since 1994 the ICTR has delivered 23 verdicts in 29 cases. At year's
end, there were a total of 62 detainees in the court's seat in
Tanzania: 25 on trial, 12 awaiting trial, 12 awaiting transfer, and
seven pending appeal. There were no reports that the Government
prevented witnesses from attending and giving testimony, or that it
failed to cooperate on ICTR investigations of alleged RPF war crimes.
During the year the Government expressed strong dissatisfaction with
the ICTR's lack of response to its indictment on genocide charges of
Callixte Gakwaya, the lead defense counsel for genocide suspect Yusuf
Munyakasi; in September Gakwaya resigned.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the
law, without discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, tribe, clan,
color, sex, region, social origin, religion or faith opinion, economic
status, culture, language, social status, or physical or mental
disability. The Government generally enforced these provisions;
however, problems remained.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence,
and domestic violence against women, including wife beating, was
common. Cases normally were handled within the context of the extended
family.
The law criminalizes rape, and the Government continued taking
steps to enforce the law more effectively. The Government handled rape
cases as priority within its courts and tribunals. In recent years
those convicted of rape generally received sentences of between 20 and
30 years' imprisonment. The Government recognized rape as a problem,
and in 2005 classified rape and other crimes of sexual violence
committed during the genocide as a category I genocide crime. It also
improved protection at the local level for rape victims testifying at
gacaca courts. During the year police investigated 2,476 rape cases.
Prostitution, which is not legal, and trafficking in women for
sexual exploitation remained problems (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Women continued to face societal discrimination, but the Government
had multiple programs to combat these traditional practices. Women
traditionally performed most of the subsistence farming. Since the 1994
genocide, which left numerous women as heads of households, women
assumed a larger role in the formal sector, and many operated their own
businesses. Nevertheless, women continued to have limited opportunities
for education, employment, and promotion. Government efforts to expand
opportunities for women included a clause in the constitution providing
that at least 30 percent of the seats in parliament be reserved for
women (see Section 3). Other efforts included scholarships for girls in
primary and secondary school, loans to rural women, and the appointment
of a minister in the Prime Minister's office for family and gender
promotion to train government officials and NGOs in methods to increase
the role of women in the workforce. The law allows women to inherit
property from their fathers and husbands, and it allows couples to
choose the legal property arrangements they wish to adopt; however, in
practice it was much more difficult for women than for men to
successfully pursue property claims.
The minister of gender and family promotion in the office of the
Prime Minister was the lead government official handling problems of
particular concern to women. A number of women's groups were active in
promoting women's concerns, particularly those faced by widows,
orphaned girls, and households headed by children.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare, and it took efforts to improve education and health care to
children. Children headed at least 106,000 households. The Government
worked closely with international NGOs to secure assistance for
children who were heads of households and sensitized local officials to
the needs of children in such situations.
Education is compulsory through primary school or until age 13.
While primary school fees were officially abolished in 2003, most
parents still had to pay unofficial fees to support basic school
operations. However, children were not dismissed from school for their
parents' failure to pay such fees. A survivor's fund assisted with the
secondary school fees for school-age genocide survivors.
Public schools lacked essential and basic supplies and could not
adequately accommodate all children of primary school age. Private
primary schools often were too distant or too expensive to serve as an
alternative for many children. According to the Ministry of Education,
93 percent of primary school-age children were enrolled in school.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the net primary school
enrolment/attendance ratio was 75 percent. Of the children who entered
the first grade, 46 percent reached the fifth grade. Children took
entrance exams to enter secondary school, and 17 percent of secondary
school-age children were enrolled in school during the year.
There were no statistics available on child abuse, however, it was
a problem.
According to UNICEF, 20 percent of women between the ages of 20 and
24 had married or entered into a union before they were 18 years old.
The legal age for marriage for both males and females is 21.
There were some cases of trafficking and child prostitution (see
Section 5, Trafficking).
Due to the genocide and deaths from HIV/AIDS, there were numerous
households headed by children, some of whom resorted to prostitution to
survive. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government was recruiting children and training them to be combatants.
During the year there was one report that an armed group from the
DRC recruited children from a Rwandan refugee camp for use as
combatants or forced laborers (see Section 2.d.).
The Government continued to support a demobilization and
reintegration program. During the year 58 children who had served as
soldiers in the DRC received care and reintegration preparation from
the Muhazi demobilization center for children in the Eastern Province.
There were cases of child labor (see Section 6.d.).
There were approximately 7,000 street children thr thrououghout the
country. Local authorities rounded up street children (see Section
1.d.) and placed them in foster homes or government-run facilities. The
Gitagata Center housed approximately 230 children, the majority of whom
were rounded up by authorities in 2003. The Government supported 12
``childcare institutions'' across the country that provided shelter and
basic needs for 2,950 street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--While there was no specific
antitrafficking law, laws against slavery, prostitution by coercion,
kidnapping, rape, and defilement were available to prosecute
traffickers. There were reports that persons were trafficked from and
within the country during the year.
The country was a source country for small numbers of women and
children trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic labor, and
soldiering. The largest trafficking problem was underage prostitution;
small numbers of impoverished girls, typically between the ages of 14
and 18, used prostitution as a means of survival, and some were
exploited by loosely organized prostitution networks.
During the year there was a report of a DRC-based armed group
recruiting and trafficking Congolese from refugee camps for use as
forced laborers or child soldiers in the DRC (see Sections 2.d.).
No traffickers were prosecuted during the year. The Rwanda National
Police, under the Ministry of Internal Security, is the lead government
agency responsible for combating trafficking of persons. While police
reportedly conducted regular operations against prostitution, no
statistics were available on prosecutions of those who utilized or
exploited children in prostitution.
The Government made significant efforts to fight trafficking
despite resource constraints. The Government provided training on sex
crimes and crimes against children to police as part of the police
training curriculum. During the year the police offered specialized
training in recognizing trafficking, particularly trafficking involving
children, to many police cadets. The Government also monitored
immigration and emigration patterns, as well as border areas that were
accessible by road.
Due to the genocide and deaths from HIV/AIDS, there were numerous
children who headed households, and some of these children resorted to
prostitution or may have been trafficked into domestic servitude.
UNICEF estimated in 2004 that there were 2,140 child prostitutes in the
major cities and several thousand street children throughout the
country.
The Government made efforts to protect the rights of women and
children. In 2005 the Government identified the worst forms of child
labor, and in collaboration with UNICEF, identified three NGOs to help
children working in these sectors (see Section 5, Children). When the
Government dismantled prostitution rings, it offered women
rehabilitation programs that included work retraining.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution provides that all
citizens are equal before the law and prohibits discrimination on the
basis of physical or mental disability; however, there are no laws
specifically prohibiting discrimination against persons with
disabilities in regard to employment, education, or access to social
services, and few persons with disabilities had access to education or
employment. There was no law mandating access to public facilities. The
constitution mandates that one member of the Chamber of Deputies be
appointed by the Federation of the Associations of Persons with
Disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Before the 1994 genocide, an
estimated 85 percent of citizens were Hutu, 14 percent were Tutsi, and
1 percent were Batwa. Prior to the 1994 genocide, citizens were
required to carry identity cards that indicated ethnicity, a practice
that was instituted in 1931 when the country was under Belgian colonial
administration. Following the genocide, the Government banned all
identity card references to ethnic affiliation as divisionist or
contributing to genocide ideology. As a result, the Batwa, purported
descendants of Pygmy tribes of the mountainous forest areas bordering
the DRC and numbering approximately 33,000 (less than 1 percent of the
population), were no longer designated as an ethnic group. On this
basis the Government no longer recognized groups advocating for Batwa
needs. Some Batwa said their rights as an indigenous ethnic group were
denied as a result of such government policies. The Government
recognized CAURWA, although it was not formally acknowledged as an
organization supporting an ``indigenous group.'' Despite the
recognition of CAURWA and joint health and education projects with the
Government, most Batwa continued to live on the margins of society with
very limited access to education, and they continued to be treated as
inferior citizens by both the Hutu and Tutsi groups.
Large-scale interethnic violence in the country between Hutus and
Tutsis erupted on three occasions since independence in 1962, resulting
on each occasion in tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths. The most
recent and severe outbreak of such violence, in 1994, involved
genocidal killing of much of the Tutsi population under the direction
of a Hutu-dominated government and in large part implemented by the
Hutu-dominated national army and armed youth militia called the
Interahamwe. The genocide ended later the same year when the
predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Army, operating out of Uganda,
occupied Rwandan territory, overthrew the Hutu-dominated government and
established the Government of National Unity, which was composed of
members of eight political parties and which ruled until the elections
in 2003.
Since 1994 the Government has called for national reconciliation
and abolished policies of the former government that were perceived to
have created and deepened ethnic cleavages. The Government eliminated
all references to ethnicity in written and nonwritten official
discourse, and there was no government policy of ethnic quotas for
education, training, or government employment. The constitution
provides for the eradication of ethnic, regional, and other divisions
and the promotion of national unity. While some organizations and
individuals continued to accuse the Government of favoring Tutsis--
particularly English-speaking Tutsis--in government employment,
admission to professional schooling, recruitment into or promotion
within the army, and other matters, the Government continued to deny
this charge, and there was no evidence suggesting that the Government
practiced ethnic favoritism. University admissions demonstrated that a
substantial majority of entering students were French-speaking.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all salaried
workers, except for civil servants, with the right to form and to join
unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. Although
the effects of the 1994 genocide continued to hamper unions, they
continued to regroup and assert themselves during the year; however,
the Government and many employers were opposed to the idea of trade
unions operating freely, and the Government's respect for union rights
remained poor, according to the ITUC The percentage of the total
workforce, including agricultural workers, that was unionized was
small. More than 85 percent of workers were engaged in small-scale
subsistence farming in the informal sector. Approximately 7 percent of
the work force worked in the formal (wage) sector.
There were no restrictions on the right of association for non-
civil servants; however, the law specifically excludes civil servants
from organizing. While all unions must register with the Ministry of
Labor for official recognition, there were no known cases in which the
Government denied recognition during the year. Unlike in previous
years, the law no longer prohibits unions from having political
affiliations and from publicly expressing their political opinions.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination, but there were no
functioning labor courts to resolve complaints involving discrimination
against unions. According to the Central Union of Rwandan Workers
(CESTRAR), employers frequently intimidated unionists through the use
of transfers, demotions, and dismissals. The law requires employers to
reinstate workers fired for union activity; however, there were no
reports that employers had fired employees for this reason.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and while the
Government respected this right in practice, some private sector
employers did not and often harassed union members to discourage their
activities. In addition, the law does not extend this right to
agricultural workers. The law provides for collective bargaining, but
this right was severely limited in practice; only CESTRAR had an
established collective bargaining agreement with the Government. In
addition there were no instruments such as a national labor council to
promote the law's application, and the Government was heavily involved
in the collective bargaining process since most union members were in
the public sector.
Participation in unauthorized demonstrations could result in
employee dismissal, nonpayment of wages, and civil action against the
union. Authorization was not required for union meetings.
The law provides some workers with the right to strike, but in
practice this right was restricted. The law does not allow civil
servants to strike. For workers who are allowed by law to strike, a
union's executive committee must approve any strike, and the union must
first try to resolve its differences with management according to steps
prescribed by the ministry of labor. This process essentially prohibits
strikes. There were no demonstrations by union members during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally enforced this
right; however, prisoners were assigned work details that generally
involved uncompensated public maintenance duties. A 2001 Presidential
decree authorized gacaca courts to sentence convicts to perform
community service; in addition, those suspected of committing genocide
who confessed were given sentences involving community service.
There was one report indicating that an armed group based in the
DRC recruited children in Rwanda (see Section 2.d.).
Forced child labor occurred (see Section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While the law does not specifically prohibit forced or compulsory labor
by children, there are laws to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace; however, the Government did not effectively enforce
them, and child labor, including forced prostitution, was prevalent.
Except for subsistence agricultural workers, who account for
approximately 90 percent of the workforce, the law prohibits children
under the age of 16 from working without their parents' or guardians'
permission and prohibits children under 16 from participating in night
work or any work deemed hazardous or difficult by the minister of
labor. Night work is defined by the Labor Code as work between 7 p.m.
and 5 a.m. Children also must have a rest period of at least 12 hours
between work engagements. The minimum age for full-time employment is
18 years--14 years for apprenticeships--provided that the child has
completed primary school. The Government indicated in August that
approximately 300,000 children (approximately 10 percent of the
country's four million children under 18) were engaged in child labor.
However, a UN report released during the year suggested that child
labor was more prevalent, indicating that 36 percent of children
between the ages of five and 14 (approximately one million children)
were engaged in child labor.
The Government identified five forms of child labor as those that
should be considered as the ``worst forms of labor,'' including
domestic work outside the family sphere; agricultural activities on
tea, rice, and sugar cane plantations; work in brickyards and sand
extraction quarries; crushing stones; and prostitution. During the year
child labor persisted in the agricultural sector (particularly on tea
plantations), among household domestics, in small companies, and in the
brick-making industry. Children received low wages, and abuse was
common. In addition, child prostitution and trafficking were problems
(see Section 5). There was one report of a DRC-based armed group
recruiting children to be used as combatants or forced laborers (see
Section 2.d.).
The Government made efforts to improve its enforcement, but it did
not have the capacity to effectively enforce laws restricting and
regulating child labor; during the year there was an insufficient
number of labor inspectors.
The Government worked with NGOs to raise awareness of the problem,
to identify children involved in child labor, and to send them to
school or vocational training. In addition, local government officials
organized an awareness-raising campaign for employers, and the
Government imposed fines against those who illegally employed children
or sent their children to work to the detriment of their education. The
Government continued to support 12 child labor inspector offices;
however, the Government was unable to provide them with adequate
resources to effectively identify and prevent the use of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Public Service,
Skills Development, and Labor set minimum wages in the small formal
sector. The Government, the main employer, effectively set most other
wage rates as well. According to the Ministry of Labor, there was no
single minimum wage; minimum wages varied according to the nature of
the job. The minimum wages for a worker in the formal economy did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and his family,
although it did provide a higher standard of living than that of the 85
percent of the population relying only on subsistence farming. In
practice some workers accepted less than the minimum wage. Families
regularly supplemented their incomes by working in small businesses or
subsistence agriculture.
Officially, government offices and private sector entities had a
40-hour workweek; the maximum workweek was 45 hours. The Government
mandated that the workday begin at 7 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m., with a
30-minute break for lunch. There was no mandated rest period. The law
regulates hours of work and occupational health and safety standards in
the formal wage sector, but inspectors from the Ministry of Public
Service did not enforce these standards aggressively. Workers did not
have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without jeopardizing their jobs. The same standards applied to migrant
and foreign workers.
__________
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
The Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe is a multiparty
democracy with a population of approximately 160,000. Fradique De
Menezes was reelected President in July, and parliamentary elections
also were held in March; international observers deemed both elections
to have been generally free and fair. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, there were problems in some areas including: harsh
prison conditions, prolonged pretrial detention, official corruption,
impunity, violence and discrimination against women, child labor, and
harsh labor conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces arbitrarily and unlawfully killed one citizen.
On June 15, a police officer on traffic duty shot and killed
Gustavo Sidonio Pinto in the village of Almas; Pinto was arguing with
another motorist at the time. The police officer, Larry Alberto Paris,
was arrested and remained in pretrial detention at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but
security forces on occasion used excessive force.
On September 15, soldiers accompanying forestry guards shot
Argentino dos Ramos Taty. Taty was cutting a log on private property
when the mixed patrol approached him, and he was shot in the leg. He
told journalists he received no warning, and the patrol left him lying
on the ground. Police claimed to have no information on the incident.
The public prosecutor launched an investigation, which was ongoing at
year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
harsh but not life threatening. Facilities were overcrowded, sanitary
and medical conditions were poor, and food was inadequate. Pretrial
prisoners were held with convicted prisoners, and juveniles were held
with adults. There was only one prison, and no jails or detention
centers.
The Government permitted human rights monitors to visit the prison;
however, there were no visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
National Defense and Internal Affairs supervises and controls the
military, national police, and immigration service. The police were
ineffective and widely viewed as corrupt. Impunity was a problem, and
efforts to reform the Criminal Investigation Police, a separate agency
under the Ministry of Justice, were unsuccessful, primarily due to
inadequate resources.
On January 16, a group of police officers mutinied, demanding the
dismissal of the police chief, as well as better salaries and working
conditions. Their occupation of police headquarters led army units to
deploy and raised tensions, but on January 20 the mutineers were
persuaded to give up peacefully when the police chief was suspended.
There was no action on the mutineers' demand for amnesty, but they had
not been punished for their actions by year's end. They were briefly
suspended, but all later returned to work.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants issued by
an authorized official to apprehend suspects, unless the suspect is
caught during the commission of a crime. The law requires a
determination within 48 hours of the legality of a detention, and
authorities generally respected this right. Detainees were promptly
informed of charges against them, were allowed access to attorneys and
family members, and the state provided attorneys for indigent
detainees. There was a functioning bail system.
Severe budgetary constraints, inadequate facilities, and a shortage
of trained judges and lawyers resulted in lengthy pretrial detention.
According to the director of the Sao Tome prison, 45 percent of the
country's 160 prisoners were awaiting trial as of July, and some
pretrial detainees had been held for more than a year. This represented
an improvement following a concerted effort to reduce the number of
pretrial detainees who, in October 2005, had constituted 75 percent of
the prison population.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, at times the judicial system was
subject to political influence or manipulation. The government-set
judicial salaries remained low, and credible suspicions persisted that
judges may be tempted to accept bribes. During the year the Government
took steps to strengthen the judiciary; it created a new Constitutional
Court, and a concerted effort to decrease docket backlogs succeeded in
reducing the number of people in pretrial detention.
The legal system is based on the Portuguese model. The court system
has three levels: circuit courts, the Supreme Court, and the
Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court was created during the
year and is the highest judicial authority.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair public trial by a judge (juries are not used), the right of
appeal, the right to legal representation, and, if a person is
indigent, the right to an attorney provided by the state. Defendants
are presumed innocent, have the right to confront their accusers,
confront witnesses, access government evidence, and present evidence
and witnesses on their own behalf. However, inadequate resources
resulted in lengthy pretrial detention and greatly hindered
investigations in criminal cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The same courts consider
both criminal and civil cases, but different procedures are used in
civil cases. Plaintiffs may bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or
cessation of, a human rights violation as well as administrative and
judicial remedies for alleged wrongs. Domestic court orders were
strictly implemented.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights; however, journalists practiced self-censorship.
Two government-run and seven independent newspapers and newsletters
were sporadically published, usually on a monthly or biweekly basis;
resource constraints determined publishing frequency. International
media operated freely.
The Government operated television and radio stations. In October
2005 the Government authorized three new independent local radio
stations, and two had begun broadcasting by year's end. The Voice of
America, Radio International Portugal, and Radio France International
were also rebroadcast locally. The law grants all opposition parties
access to the state-run media, including a minimum of three minutes per
month on television.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet, or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Severe lack of infrastructure, including inadequate electric and
communications networks, limited public access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and
the Government generally respected these rights.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
religious freedom, and the Government generally respected this right.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination against members of religious groups. There was no known
Jewish community and no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not prohibit forced exile; however, there were no
reports that the Government used it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not specifically provide for
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees. In practice the Government provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. During the year there were no known requests for
refugee or asylum status. In the past the Government cooperated with
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to
peacefully change their government, and citizens exercised this right
in practice through periodic and generally free and fair elections
based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The March 26 legislative
elections gave a plurality of seats in the National Assembly to a
coalition of parties, the Democratic Movement of Forces for Change/
Party for Democratic Convergence (MDFM/PCD), supporting President De
Menezes. The MDFM/PCD subsequently formed a government. President De
Menezes was reelected on July 30, with 60 percent of the vote.
International observers deemed both elections generally free and fair.
On August 27, for the first time in over a decade, local elections were
held; on the same date regional elections were held on Principe. The
MDFM/PCD won control of five of the six districts in these elections;
the principal opposition party, the Movement for the Liberation of Sao
Tome and Principe (MLSTP/PSD) won one district; and a new party, Novo
Rumo, won the presidency of the regional government on the island of
Principe.
After a 2003 failed military coup, President De Menezes signed a
framework agreement with the perpetrators of the attempted coup, which
included a pledge to establish a national consensus on the country's
development priorities. The resulting plan of action recommended the
conversion from political party-based to geographically-based
representation in the National Assembly; improvement in living
conditions of the army; land and agricultural reform; establishment of
legal and regulatory measures to manage the country's potential oil
wealth; and improvements in the education and health sectors. The
Government enacted laws establishing measures to manage expected future
oil revenues for the benefit of future generations; however, during the
year there was no other action taken on the framework agreement.
There were two women in the 55-seat National Assembly, four of the
12 cabinet ministers were women, and the President of the three-member
Supreme Court was a woman.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was
widespread. In December 2005 the Attorney General presented to the
National Assembly the results of his investigation into allegations of
corruption in the awarding of oil blocks. The investigation had
uncovered serious procedural deficiencies in the process, and raised
questions about the actions of members of the current and former
governments. Lack of cooperation from Nigerian authorities (whose
government shares control of the oil blocks) impeded follow-up, and no
further action was taken by year's end. Low salaries for civil servants
contributed to public corruption (see Section 6.e.).
There were no laws that provided for public access to government
information; however, there were no reports that the Government
restricted access to information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
In the past a small number of domestic human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. However, because of
the general improvement in respect for human rights, during the year
such groups were inactive. Government officials generally had been
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for the equality of all citizens
regardless of sex, race, social origin, political tendency, creed, or
philosophic conviction; however, although the Government actively
sought to enforce these provisions, women faced discrimination. During
the year the Government created an Office of Women's Affairs and held
seminars and workshops.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was common, and on occasion
included rape. Although women have the right to legal recourse--
including against spouses--many were reluctant to bring legal action or
were ignorant of their rights under the law. Tradition inhibited women
from taking domestic disputes outside the family. The law does not
address domestic violence as such. Penalties for assault depend on the
severity of the injury; if the victim loses fewer than 10 days of work,
the penalty would be six months in prison, while for 10 to 20 workdays
lost the sentence would be one year, and so forth. The law is strictly
enforced, including in cases of domestic violence, but there was no
data on the number of prosecutions in cases of domestic violence. The
newly-created Office of Women's Affairs began setting up a counseling
center with a hot line.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by two to
12 years' imprisonment. Rape occurs occasionally, and prosecution is
most likely in cases where there is evidence of violent assault as well
as rape, or if the victim is a minor. No statistics on prosecutions
were available. Government family planning clinics and nongovernmental
organizations sought to combat rape by raising awareness of the
problem.
Prostitution is illegal but did occur. Prostitution was rare in the
past, but observers thought its prevalence was increasing with the
growing number of foreign workers in the country.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a problem.
No data was available on its extent.
The constitution stipulates that women and men have equal
political, economic, and social rights. While many women have access to
opportunities in education, business, and government, women in general
continued to encounter significant societal discrimination. Traditional
beliefs left women with most child-rearing responsibilities and with
less access to education or to entry into the professions; a high
teenage pregnancy rate further reduced economic opportunities for
women. An estimated 70 percent of households were headed by women.
Children.--A number of government- and donor-funded programs
operated to improve conditions for children, notably an ongoing malaria
control project and a program for acquisition of school and medical
equipment.
By law, education was universal, compulsory through sixth grade,
and tuition-free to the age of 15 or sixth grade. In practice many
rural students stopped attending school after the fourth grade. Schools
providing education up to sixth grade were located only in district
capitals. Enrollment in primary school was estimated at 78 percent.
However, average class time was severely curtailed due to lack of
classrooms and double-shift and triple-shift (in 82 and 18 percent of
schools, respectively) systems in primary education, with students
effectively having only a few hours of class time per day. Students
were responsible for buying books and uniforms, although the Government
provided both free to children from poor families. Transportation and
tuition costs prevented some poor or rural-based students from
attending secondary school. There were no differences in the treatment
of girls and boys in regard to education.
Boys and girls had equal access to state-provided medical care.
Mistreatment of children was not widespread; however, there were
few protections for orphans and abandoned children.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
During the year the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity operated a
social services program that collected street children in three centers
where they attended classes and received training. Conditions at the
centers were good; however, because of overcrowding some children were
returned to their families at night, and a few of these children ran
away.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities;
however, there were no reports of discrimination against such persons.
The law does not mandate access to buildings, transportation, or
services for persons with disabilities, and local organizations have
criticized the Government for not implementing accessibility programs
for such persons.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was societal
discrimination against homosexuals.
Persons with HIV/AIDS were often rejected by their communities and
shunned by their families. However, the Government provided free AIDS
testing and distributed antiretroviral drugs to some patients.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and workers generally exercised this right in
practice. Only two unions existed in the very small formal wage sector:
the General Union of Workers, and the National Organization of Workers
of Sao Tome and Principe. Both represented government workers, who
constituted the majority of formal sector wage earners, and members of
farmers' cooperatives.
There were no laws prohibiting antiunion discrimination; however,
there were no reports such discrimination occurred.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution and law state that workers may organize and bargain
collectively; however, due to its role as the principal employer in the
formal wage sector, the Government remained the key interlocutor for
organized labor on all matters, including wages. The constitution
provides for the freedom to strike, including by government employees
and other essential workers, although during the year no strikes
occurred. There are no export processing zones.
The law does not prohibit retaliation against strikers, but there
were no reports of such actions during the year.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Employers in the formal wage sector generally respected the legally
mandated minimum employment age of 18; however, child labor was a
problem. The law prohibits minors from working more than seven hours a
day and 35 hours a week. Children were engaged in labor in subsistence
agriculture, on plantations, in informal commerce, and in domestic
work. No cases of child labor abuses were prosecuted, although the law
states that employers of underage workers can be fined.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage. The legal minimum wage for civil servants was $40 (500,000
dobras) per month, which was insufficient to provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. Working two or more jobs was common,
and labor law specifies occupations in which civil servants may work if
they pursue a second job. Civil servants in ``strategic sectors,'' such
as the court system, the ministries of finance, customs, and education,
and the Criminal Investigation Police, earned up to 400 percent more
than other public sector employees.
Working conditions on many of the cocoa plantations--the largest
informal wage sector--were extremely harsh. The average salary for
plantation workers did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family, and the real value of their pay was further eroded
by a high rate of inflation.
The legal workweek was 40 hours with 48 consecutive hours mandated
for rest. Shopkeepers worked 48 hours a week. The law provides for
compensation for overtime work. The law prescribes basic occupational
health and safety standards; however, due to resource constraints, the
Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor and Solidarity's
enforcement of these standards was not effective. Employees have the
right to leave unsafe working conditions, but none sought to do so, and
enforcement of the right was hypothetical.
__________
SENEGAL
Senegal, with an estimated population of 11.9 million, is a
moderately decentralized republic dominated by a strong presidency. In
2000 Abdoulaye Wade, backed by a coalition of opposition parties,
became President in an election generally viewed as free and fair. The
National Assembly was elected in 2001 in a free and transparent
election. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected citizens' rights; however, there
were problems in some areas. Detention and imprisonment of political
opposition figures occurred. Cruel and degrading treatment of detainees
and prisoners and overcrowded prisons were problems. Questionable
investigative detention and prolonged pretrial detention existed.
Corruption and impunity were problems. There were limits on freedom of
speech and of the press and restrictions on freedom of assembly.
Domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, and discrimination against
women were serious problems. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was
widespread. Child abuse, child marriage, infanticide, trafficking in
persons, and child labor were reported.
There were also reports that rebels from the Movement of Democratic
Forces of the Casamance (MFDC) and splinter groups, including the
Movement for the Liberation of the People of the Casamance (MLPC) and
the Revolutionary Front for Social Equilibrium in Senegal (FPRES),
killed two government officials and at least seven civilians, committed
robberies, laid new landmines, and harassed local populations.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Neither the
Government nor its agents committed any politically motivated killings;
however, security forces killed one person during the year. In
September the media reported that police unlawfully killed a merchant
in Dakar. Police argued they were acting in self-defense against a
person in the process of committing a criminal offense. The Criminal
Investigations Division (DIC) opened an inquiry; there were no
sanctions or prosecutions by year's end.
The Government generally did not prosecute unlawful killings by law
enforcement during the year.
In March 2005 customs officers shot and killed Libasse Kane in an
incident involving the arrest of sugar smugglers in the city of Mbour.
Local police arrested four customs officers; they were granted
conditional release pending completion of the investigation. There were
no developments in the case by year's end.
In April 2005 Amadou Moctar Beye was found dead in his jail cell in
Dakar. Gendarmes indicated that Beye committed suicide, but the
victim's family rejected this version. There were no developments in
the case by year's end.
In April 2005 gendarmes accidentally killed 13-year-old Assane Fall
and injured Mamadou Fall, while pursuing a suspected drug trafficker in
Mbour. An investigation was ongoing but there were no new developments
in the case by year's end.
In June 2005 gendarmes fired on and killed a fisherman and injured
several others, including a 10-year-old child, in Kayar. This incident
occurred as the gendarmes intervened to end fighting between two
communities of fishermen. There were no new developments in the case at
year's end.
According to statistics from Handicap International (HI), there
were slightly more landmine accidents in the Casamance than in the
previous year. By May 19, there were seven reported injuries and two
deaths. On September 1, an International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) official was killed when her car hit a landmine north of
Ziguinchor. Two other ICRC officials suffered minor wounds in the
incident. The Government did not conduct any anti-landmine campaigns,
but made efforts to remove landmines and unexploded ordinance in some
areas, especially near villages to be resettled and near main roads.
Despite a December 2004 government and rebel-signed ceasefire,
violence in Casamance increased during the year, particularly near the
borders with The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. In mid-March three rival
factions of the MFDC, two of which were supported by troops from
Guinea-Bissau, began attacks against each other. The attacks drove
approximately 6,000 people to cross the border into the country in
search of refuge, and displaced others (see Section 2.d.). The troops
from Guinea-Bissau ultimately returned to their barracks, and there was
a lull in the conflict. However, fighting re-erupted on the Senegalese
side of the border in August, when government troops moved into the
area thought to be occupied by radical MFDC and MLPC rebels.
Approximately 6,000 persons fled to The Gambia and other parts of the
Casamance.
On January 2, MFDC rebels killed the sub-prefect of Diouloulou near
Bignona. On August 28, newspapers reported that the alleged mastermind
behind the death, Bertrand Sane, was arrested in The Gambia. A human
rights NGO stated that Sane was later seen in the Casamance during the
year; however, there were no confirmed developments in this case by
year's end.
Rebel activity and armed banditry continued in the Casamance and
resulted in seven civilian deaths. Rebels and robbers wounded 36
civilians during the year.
On April 19, a group of MFDC rebels robbed and killed three persons
while hijacking a vehicle in Sedhiou. On December 4, bandits killed one
person in attacks near Ziguinchor.
On December 20, MFDC rebels ambushed an army vehicle near the
village of Kagnaru and killed two soldiers.
On December 30, armed men kidnapped and executed Mr. Oumar Lamine
Badji, President of the Regional Council of Ziguinchor. The
perpetrators had not been positively identified by year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year.
Although human rights groups noted the Government took steps to
prevent disappearances, they continued to criticize the Government for
its unwillingness to resolve older cases of disappearances linked to
government security forces, particularly in the Casamance.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were occasional reports that government officials employed them.
Although human rights groups noted fewer examples of physical abuse
committed by security forces, they claimed poor training and
supervision led to cruel and degrading treatment in prisons and
detention facilities. In particular they criticized strip-search and
interrogation methods. The police DIC often required suspects to wait
six hours or more before actually questioning them and may hold people
up to 24 hours before releasing them. Police also reportedly forced
detainees to sleep on the floor without any bedding, directed bright
lights at their pupils, beat them with batons, and kept them in cells
with minimal access to air. During the year authorities took no action
against the police involved in these abuses.
Human rights organizations urged the Government to incorporate into
domestic law the provisions of the international convention against
torture, to which the country is a signatory.
On June 5, three gendarmes raped the wife of a soldier at a small
barracks in Sabodala; they were immediately remanded to Dakar by the
prosecutor and placed in detention pending investigation. On August 25,
the gendarmes received sentences of two years in prison.
On September 7, Ousmane Tamoura, a soldier accused of raping a
nine-year-old girl, was released after the judge determined ``there was
doubt'' in the case. The prosecutor had asked for the soldier's release
based on a doctor's statement that the victim was not a virgin and that
she had not cried out during the rape.
On September 25, gendarmes in Dakar's Ouakam district detained
Bineta Gueye following a protest against the mayor. She alleged that
during her detention the gendarmes pulled her out of bed, stripped her,
and then hit her with clubs and the butts of rifles. On September 27,
she was released and immediately sought emergency care. The gendarmes
conducted an internal investigation, but the case was still pending at
year's end.
Forced dispersals of demonstrators by police resulted in injuries
(see Section 2.b.).
According to local NGOs, three security force volunteers, who were
stripped and burned with acid in November 2005 at a military camp in
Thiaroye, accepted an out-of-court settlement instead of pressing
charges during the year.
On August 23, approximately a dozen armed rebels ambushed vehicles
near Velingara, stealing $20,000 (10 million CFAF) and wounding three
motorists. On September 7, approximately 15 rebels robbed stores and
civilians in Bignona. On December 3, rebels wounded two civilians in a
series of armed robberies near Ziguinchor.
On December 20, MFDC rebels ambushed an army vehicle near the
village of Kagnaru; 14 soldiers were injured in the incident.
According to statistics from HI, landmine accidents in the
Casamance increased during the year, resulting in deaths and injuries
(see Section 1.a.).
There was at least one reported incident of mob violence. On May
27, a mentally ill man killed his parents and two neighbors. Young
villagers subsequently stoned him to death.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and detention
center conditions were poor. The National Organization for Human Rights
(ONDH), a local human rights NGO, identified overcrowding as the major
problem facing the country's prisons. At Dakar's Central Prison, which
has a maximum capacity of 500 persons, approximately 1,500 were
detained. At the penal camp in Dakar, approximately 800 individuals
were held in a facility with a 400-person capacity. In Diourbel
detainees were held outside in a former horse stable, sometimes up to
48 hours at a time.
The Government has not constructed a new prison since 1960. Some
facilities were buildings that were adapted and modified to be prisons.
Due to an old and overburdened infrastructure, prisons had drainage
problems during the rainy season and stifling heat during the summer.
Prisons lacked doctors and medicine to provide care for sick inmates,
forcing them to be evacuated for treatment. One NGO reported a national
ratio of one doctor per 5,000 inmates and said the Government spent
only $.66 (350 CFAF) daily per inmate to cover all costs. There was
approximately one mattress for every five detainees.
On September 9, 52 prisoners escaped from the Thies prison; only
three guards were keeping watch over 668 inmates at the time of the
escape. Three of the escapees had been rearrested by year's end.
Following this incident, the minister of justice announced that the
Government would recruit 200 guards to improve security in prisons. No
recruitment was made by year's end.
There were no reported deaths in prison or detention centers during
the year.
Local NGOs reported that prisoner separation regulations were not
enforced consistently. Although the law requires pretrial detainees to
be held separately from convicted prisoners, they were occasionally
held together due to limited space. Juveniles were occasionally held
together with adults. Women were held separately from men under the
supervision of female prison guards.
The Government permits certain prison visits by independent human
rights monitors. During the year ONDH completed its fact-finding review
of prison conditions with the Government's consent and assistance;
however, the ONDH findings were not published by year's end.
As in the previous year, representatives of the Assembly for the
Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO) were denied access to prisoners.
RADDHO reported that the lack of adequate health care facilities meant
that some people with mental disorders were being kept in prisons.
The Senegalese Committee for Human Rights, Amnesty International
(AI), and the Parliamentary Network for Human Rights conducted prison
visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, authorities at times
arbitrarily arrested and detained persons. Human rights groups saw
arbitrary detention as a growing problem.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Both police and
gendarmes are responsible for maintaining law and order in the country.
The army shares that responsibility in exceptional cases, such as a
state of emergency. The police force includes 10 departments as part of
the Directorate General of National Safety. In each of the country's 11
regions, police have at least one police station and at least one
mobile safety brigade. Dakar has more than 15 police stations, which
are spread throughout the city. The police force effectively maintained
law and order.
Impunity and corruption were problems. A 2005 amnesty law covers
police and security personnel involved in ``political crimes,'' except
those who committed assassinations ``in cold blood.'' According to
human rights groups, attorneys, and alleged victims, security forces
regularly and openly extorted money from detainees in exchange for
release and from prostitutes to overlook noncompliance with the
legalized prostitution regime and other laws (see Section 5). Human
rights groups and the media also reported that security forces accepted
and occasionally demanded money from persons seeking to emigrate
illegally to Spain (see Section 5).
The DIC is in charge of investigating police abuses.
According to human rights groups, new members of the police force
received training in human rights protection.
In May a court ruled that Port of Dakar customs officers were not
guilty in the 2004 case in which they were accused of fraudulent and
corrupt practices in clearing incoming goods.
Arrest and Detention.--Although the law specifies that warrants
issued by judges are required for arrests, police often lacked warrants
when detaining individuals in practice. The law grants police broad
powers to detain prisoners for lengthy periods of time before filing
formal charges. Many detainees were not promptly informed of the
charges against them. Police officers may hold suspects as part of an
investigation without filing formal charges for up to 48 hours.
Investigators can request that a prosecutor double this to 96 hours.
For cases involving threats to state security, both detention periods
are doubled, meaning that someone accused of threatening public order
could be held up to 192 hours. The clock on investigative detention
does not begin until authorities formally declare that an individual is
being detained, a practice human rights groups criticized for creating
unreasonably long detention periods. Bail is possible but was rarely
used. During the first 48 hours of detention, the accused has no access
to an attorney but has the right to a medical exam and possible access
to family. Family access was not generally allowed as police tended to
isolate detainees during the investigation phase. If necessary, a
prosecutor can also demand a medical examination of the accused. The
accused has the right to an attorney after this initial period of
detention at the accused's expense. Attorneys are provided at public
expense to all criminal defendants when they cannot afford one. A
number of NGOs also provided legal assistance or counseling to those
charged with crimes.
The Government used security forces, especially the DIC, to harass
political opponents and journalists during the year. Authorities also
interrogated and arbitrarily arrested a number of prominent opposition
party leaders including Amath Dansokho, Ibrahima Sene, Jean-Paul Dias,
and Berthelemy Dias.
On March 24, Secretary General Amath Dansokho of the Independent
Labor Party, was given orders to appear at the DIC to answer questions
about a March 22 press conference (see Section 6.a.); he was
interrogated for six hours. Dansokho was then charged with
dissemination of false information, and given a two-month suspended
sentence.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested labor leaders during the year
(see Section 6.a.).
According to the law, the accused may not be held in pretrial
detention for more than six months for minor crimes; however, prisoners
were routinely held in custody until a court demanded their release.
Despite the six-month limit on detention for most crimes, the average
time between charging and trial was two years. ONDH claimed many
detainees were held for years awaiting trial.
Judicial backlogs of up to 400 cases contributed to long pretrial
detention periods. In cases involving murder, threats to state
security, and embezzlement of public funds, there are no limits on the
length of pretrial detention. Judges are allowed the time necessary to
investigate these more serious cases, but may order release pending
trial with the prosecutor's consent. If a prosecutor disagrees with a
judge's decision to order release, the order is frozen until the
appeals court decides to grant or deny the release. Under the law, the
prosecutor has total discretion to deny provisional release pending
trial for cases involving threats to state security. However, since
judges lacked sufficient time to review all cases, orders to extend
detention were often signed without individual consideration of the
facts to avoid releasing potentially guilty detainees.
Amnesty.--The International Human Rights Federation and AI
continued to criticize the Ezzan Amnesty Law for encouraging impunity.
The law pardons all politically motivated crimes committed between
January 1, 1983 and December 31, 2004. Local human rights groups
unanimously denounced the law and asked the African Human Rights
Commission to intervene. In December the commission ruled that the case
was not sufficiently documented to warrant a condemnation of the
Government. The ruling indicated that victims could petition civil
courts for reparations, and there was no evidence that such reparations
were denied during the year.
On February 7, former prime minister Idrissa Seck was granted
provisional release to the August 2005 corruption case against him. He
had been charged with embezzlement of public funds, being a threat to
national security, and illegal correspondence.
On March 2, Yankhoba Diattara received a Presidential pardon after
serving only three months of a six-month sentence. He had been
sentenced in December 2005 for compromising public security following
his public radio announcement that led to violent protests in Thies.
On September 16, Jean-Paul Dias received a pardon after serving one
month of a one-year prison sentence. On November 22, Barthelemy Dias
received a pardon after serving three months of a six-month sentence
(see Section 1.e.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was subject to
corruption and government influence.
For example, on July 8 and 9, local media reported that Momar War
Seck, a criminal defendant charged with breach of trust, obtained the
help of Judge Aminata Mbaye to transfer $30,000 (15 million CFAF) to
Bamba Niang, the public prosecutor handling Seck's case, and Niang's
deputy. Niang reportedly asked the presiding judge, Malick Lamotte, and
two assistant judges to render a favorable ruling. Judge Lamotte
refused and revealed the story to the President of the regional
tribunal of Dakar. The Ministry of Justice launched an investigation,
but no one was formally charged with a crime. Judge Mbaye retired with
full benefits, and Niang was removed from office. During the course of
the investigation, the media uncovered recordings in which Judge Mbaye
reportedly admitted that the court was prone to settlement of cases in
this fashion.
Magistrates continued to publicly criticize their working
conditions, including overwhelming case loads, lack of equipment, and
inadequate transportation. Magistrates also openly questioned the
Government's commitment to protecting judicial independence. While the
Superior Council for the Magistrate had responsibility over judicial
assignments and promotions, several attorneys stated that the council
did not meet regularly to take action on appointments, leaving the
decisions to the executive branch. Even when the council met,
magistrates stated the President could veto council decisions.
Based on French civil law, the judiciary is composed of ordinary
courts and several higher and special courts. There are three high
courts with different jurisdictions: the Council of State (which has
jurisdiction over administrative affairs); the Constitutional Council;
and the Court of Final Appeal (which has jurisdiction over criminal and
civil cases). A special criminal court, the ``Cour d'Assises,'' is
attached to the Court of Final Appeal and meets once or twice a year
for cases involving serious crimes such as murder. All of these courts
remained understaffed during the year.
The High Court of Justice is an exceptional court which presides
over cases against senior government officials for acts committed in an
official capacity. It is composed of eight national assembly deputies
and one professional judge. Three-fifths of all deputies must vote to
pass a resolution to permit prosecution of a head of state or minister.
If a resolution is so passed, the high court can convene.
The National Assembly elects the eight deputy members of the high
court plus eight substitutes at the beginning of each session. The
court then has the authority to convict and sentence or acquit. Many of
the special courts, such as the high court of justice, were dormant
during the year.
While civil court judges are empowered to preside over civil and
customary law cases, one option available is to turn disputes involving
family matters over to religious judges, who act as advisors in such
issues. Religious law has been incorporated into the country's laws
(see Section 2.c.).
There is a separate system of military courts for the armed forces
and gendarmes. Military courts may try civilians only if they were
involved with military personnel who violated military law.
On January 24, the African Union (AU) rendered a decision against
the Government's extradition of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre to
a Belgian court to face charges of crimes against humanity. On July 2,
the AU requested that the Government conduct a trial against Habre. On
November 23, the minister of justice invoked a decree establishing a
working group of senior judges, penitentiary managers, law professors,
and ministry officials tasked with examining the ways and means to
prosecute Habre. The committee started its work by year's end.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a public trial, to
be present in court, confront witnesses, present evidence, and have an
attorney. Only defendants charged with serious crimes, such as murder,
have the right to a jury trial. Attorneys are provided at public
expense to all criminal defendants when they cannot afford one.
Evidentiary hearings may be closed to the public and the press.
Although defendant and counsel may introduce evidence before the
investigating judge decides to refer a case for trial, they do not
always have access to all evidence presented prior to trial. For
example, in the case of Barthelemy Dias, the prosecutor introduced at
trial a secret recording of which neither Dias nor his attorneys were
aware.
A panel of judges presides over ordinary courts in civil and
criminal cases. Jurors also sit on the panels during special sessions
of the criminal court. Defendants are presumed innocent. The right of
appeal exists in all courts, except for the Cour d'Assises and the High
Court of Justice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were several reports of
political prisoners or detainees during the year.
On April 14, DIC officials arrested opposition leader Jean-Paul
Dias, questioned him for 10 hours, and charged him with ``threatening
state security'' and ``disturbing public order.'' The charges were a
result of his April 7 public statement in which he called for all
opposition leaders to refuse to cooperate with the police during
arbitrary interrogations. On May 10, Dias received provisional release,
the equivalent of a pardon.
On August 9, an elite police unit normally reserved for kidnappings
and violent crimes forcefully entered the Dias' home, struck Dias' wife
in the mouth, arrested Dias, and brought him to the DIC, where he was
questioned for 24 hours, then placed in Rebeuss Prison. Dias, who was
held in an airless cell with approximately 20 other prisoners,
reportedly lost consciousness. RADDHO, a prominent local human rights
organization, was refused access to check on his condition; after a few
days, Dias was hospitalized. He was charged with dissemination of false
news, making a death threat against the head of state, and contempt of
court. During trial the Government publicly questioned Dias'
nationality, and human rights organizations criticized this government
action. On August 16, Dias received a one-year prison sentence with
nine months suspended, but he was pardoned after one month.
On August 12, the DIC summoned Jean-Paul Dias' son, Barthelemy
Dias, and questioned him for 24 hours before placing him in detention
with convicted prisoners. RADDHO sought access, but was refused. On
August 14, Barthelemy Dias was formally charged with spreading false
news, slander, and threats against a judicial official. On August 16,
the police searched his home without a warrant and seized Barthelemy
Dias' foreign passport and a weapons permit. On August 22, he received
a six-month prison sentence. On November 22, he was pardoned and
released.
On November 21, one of Idrissa Seck's co-defendants, former
Minister of Housing Salif Ba, was rearrested on corruption and
embezzlement charges. He was cleared and released two weeks later.
In December 2005 one of Seck's attorneys, Djibril Diallo, was
arrested and charged as an accomplice on the ``illegal correspondence''
charge. The Government attempted to prosecute Diallo during the year,
but abandoned the case due to pressure from the entire bar association.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens have access to
courts for civil cases; however, corruption and lack of independence
hampered judicial handling of these cases as with criminal cases. There
was an increase in the filing of cases for libel and slander against
journalists which some human rights organizations charged were used as
a tool of repression (see Section 2.b.). At times prosecutors refused
to prosecute security officials and violators often went unpunished.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice;
however, security forces entered and searched homes without warrants
during the year.
For example, on June 18, Dakar police chased fighting supporters of
two rival athletes into a person's home and brutalized the occupants of
the home. A police official denied these accusations, and no action was
taken against the perpetrators during the year.
On August 16, the DIC entered and searched the homes of Jean Paul
Dias and Bartholemy Dias without a warrant.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government limited
these rights in practice. Journalists continued to practice self-
censorship.
Unless they were high-profile politicians, individuals could
generally criticize the Government publicly or privately without
reprisal. However, journalists reported being both courted and
threatened by politicians during the year for spreading messages
against them or those affiliated with them.
The public had four sources of news: print, radio, television, and,
increasingly, the Internet. There were several dozen independent
newspapers and three government-affiliated periodicals. Due in part to
high adult illiteracy rates, radio was the most important medium of
mass information and the main source of news. Approximately 70 radio
frequencies have been assigned to community radio stations, public
stations, and private commercial stations.
Although an administrative law is in place to regulate radio
frequency assignments, government officials and operators disagreed on
its utility, and community radio operators criticized what they viewed
as a lack of transparency in the allocation of frequencies. After the
Ministry of Information receives a frequency request, officials decide
whether to approve the request based on financial viability, station
ownership information, and program content. If the ministry approves
the request, the Agency for Regulation and Communication (ART) renders
a technical judgment on the request based upon frequency strength and
location. Once ART gives technical approval, the ministry grants the
frequency.
There was an increase in the number of persons starting radio
stations, which were often controlled by a single religious, political,
or ethnic group. Although their frequencies were legally obtained,
these stations often failed to follow labor and other business
regulations, such as the payment of taxes. In addition the Government
effectively crowded out radio stations by reportedly granting licenses
to approximately 50 stations sympathetic to the ruling Senegalese
Democratic Party (PDS). This led to an increase of popular radio
programs being interrupted by religious chants or other unexpected
programming.
Government failure to enforce regulations on establishing media
outlets and government-provided media assistance resulted in a
proliferation of unprofessional or politicized media outlets.
Journalists and human rights groups maintained that some media outlets
were created solely to refute anti-government criticism.
Although the Government continued to maintain an effective monopoly
on locally televised news and information through the parastatal
corporation Radio Television Senegal (RTS), there were signs of
liberalization in the television sector. The recently privatized
television station 2STV only broadcasts cultural and entertainment
programming, but French and South African-owned satellite television
services offered international programming and international news. In
July the local firm Canal Info obtained a broadcasting license, but its
operations were still in the test phase at year's end. In December the
local Wal Fadjri Communications Group began broadcasting via satellite
from Paris in the absence of a license to broadcast locally.
Under national media laws, the Government must hold a majority
interest in RTS at all times, and the President directly or indirectly
controlled selection of all members of the 12-person RTS executive
staff. RTS' broadcasting fee structure left RTS officials with
significant discretion when demanding fees for programs not financed
through government funds (the Government paid for some broadcasts).
Several human rights and journalist groups criticized the fact that
some religious leaders were able to broadcast for free while other
groups paid, and that RTS provided little coverage of opposition party
messages and activities.
Journalists continued to convey concern over government efforts to
control media content by selectively granting or withholding state
subsidies, which were given to both government-affiliated and private
independent media. The Government frequently used subsidies or more
direct means to pressure the media not to publicize certain issues. In
June President Wade announced he would offer the press $600,000 to
$800,000 (300 to 400 million CFAF) in subsidies; the Ministry of
Information reportedly directed those subsidies to progovernment
newspapers.
On January 6, the Government dropped charges of jeopardizing
national security against key managers of the Sud Communications Group
for the October 2005 SUD FM broadcast and SUD Quotiedien publication of
an interview with MFDC/MLPC faction leader Salif Sadio. Sadio was
sentenced in absentia to five years in prison, and a warrant was issued
for his arrest. He remained at large at year's end.
On May 4, six followers of the well-known Koranic teacher Serigne
Bethio Thioune beat journalist Pape Cheikh Fall after he questioned
Thioune's political influence over his followers.
On May 18, the Government dropped charges against Madiambal Diagne,
publications director of the local daily Le Quotidien. Diagne was
imprisoned in 2004 for ``release of secret correspondence and reports''
and ``dissemination of news tending to cause serious public
disturbance.''
Local media criticized the National Council for the Regulation of
Audiovisual Media (CNRA), which was created in January to protect
pluralism and ethics in the media, for not taking any action during the
year. Critics charged that the CNRA constituted an effort to exercise
Presidential control over the media since President Wade selects its
members. The CNRA's members were not officially appointed until
November, and the body had not received its budget by year's end.
In May AI reported that the Government tried to prevent
distribution of its annual human rights report. The Government
discouraged bookstore managers from importing critical works published
abroad. The Government reportedly delayed and tried to prevent the
importation of a book on political violence in the country by
journalist Marcel Mendy. Human rights activists indicated that similar
pressure was exerted on local printers who feared that publication of
works critical of the Government would lead to harassment by tax
collectors.
During the year the Government restricted the importation of
critical books by Latif Coulibaly, Mamadou Seck, Mody Niang, and Pape
Moussa Samb.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. With more
than a dozen Internet Service Providers and an estimated 1.5 million
subscribers, the country had excellent online access by regional
standards. Cyber cafes were easily accessible in Dakar and often
available in provincial urban centers. However, approximately 60
percent of the country had no electricity, and the popularity of
Internet-based information dissemination lagged far behind traditional
media.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom.
The Government restricted distribution of a film by Jo Gaye Rama Ka
during the year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of
assembly, the Government interfered with this right in practice. During
the year the Government repeatedly denied public permits for civil
society and opposition demonstrations.
Groups complained of undue delays when waiting for a government
response to authorization requests and majority-organized ``counter
demonstrations'' to show popular support for the Government. In 2005
the Government authorized 62 percent of requests for demonstrations; in
2006 the figure was 72 percent. Unauthorized demonstrations were always
met with disproportionate police brutality.
Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to control student protests
on university campuses throughout the country. Several students were
injured, including one whose arm had to be amputated. The Government
accused the students of acting on behalf of opposition political
parties and unspecified foreign powers.
On March 30, Malick Ndiaye, a leading member of the Committee of
Initiatives by Senegalese Intellectuals, Salif Djigo, and Secretary
General Youssou Toure of the Organization of Senegalese Instructors,
were arrested for attempting to organize a protest without a permit.
The protest was intended to bring attention to frequent electricity
outages; the Government had denied their permit request. All three men
were released after 24 hours of detention.
On September 7, police clubbed a group of disabled former
servicemen who were protesting the Government's refusal to issue a
permit to demonstrate. The former soldiers had defied the refusal by
placing themselves in front of the responsible government office.
There was no reported progress in the investigation of the 2004
death of a demonstrator in Mampatim.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Any religious group seeking to form an association with legal
status must register with the Ministry of Interior in accordance with
the civil and commercial code. Registration was generally granted.
Unlike other religious groups, Muslims have the right to choose
Muslim-based laws contained in the family code for marriage and
succession cases. Civil court judges can preside over civil and
customary law cases, but many disputes were turned over to religious
judges for adjudication, particularly in rural areas (see Section
1.e.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no reported progress
in the investigation into the 2004 death threats against the country's
Catholic clergy.
There were a series of anti-Semitic acts following the July-August
conflict involving Israel and the terrorist group Hizballah. On August
3, the Lebanese community staged one of several peaceful protests
erecting a memorial of flags with reversed swastikas. The swastikas
were taken down after formal protests were lodged by local embassies.
The media gave ample voice to a range of anti-Semitic views in reaction
to the Lebanese conflict.
There were approximately 100 resident Jews in country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not prevent its critics
from leaving the country.
Local leaders advised NGOs to consult with MFDC representatives in
the Sindian region before undertaking projects or circulating in the
area. Human rights organizations also reported that the army restricted
movements of local people after 7 pm. This restriction was a result of
the December attacks by MFDC members against the military (see Section
1.a and 1.c.).
Some public employees, including teachers, are required by law to
obtain government approval before departing the country; however, human
rights groups noted that this law was not enforced against many public
servants.
During the year authorities seized the passport of Barthelemy Dias
(see Section 1.d.). During the year Idrissa Seck alleged that the
Government refused to issue him new tourist and diplomatic passports.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not employ it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--During the 20-year-old
Casamance conflict, tens of thousands of persons fled villages in the
region due to fighting, forced removal, and landmines. In March renewed
fighting between rival MFDC factions and Bissau-Guinean government
soldiers resulted in approximately 6,000 persons of Senegalese and
Bissau-Guinean origin entering the country from Guinea-Bissau. The
total number of IDPs during the year was estimated to be 20,000.
The Government continued to provide returning IDPs and refugees
with roofing materials for home construction and sacks of rice. The
Government allowed IDP access to domestic and international
humanitarian organizations.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum.
Since 1989 the country has offered temporary protection for
Mauritanian refugees, who generally lived in dispersed locations in the
river valley along the Mauritanian border and enjoyed free movement
within the country. However, most refugees could not obtain current
refugee documents from authorities, and sometimes encountered
administrative difficulties when using their expired refugee
application receipts. While no formal repatriation agreement existed
with Mauritania, the Government continued to permit generally
unsupervised and largely informal repatriation. The exact number of
remaining Mauritanian refugees was unknown due to the transient
tendency of this population, the absence of identification documents,
and cases of fraud. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and
NGOs working with Mauritanian refugees estimated the number of refugees
to be approximately 20,000.
There was no further government response to the Mauritanian refugee
community's February 2005 memorandum detailing their situation since
deportation. Mauritanian refugees had sought a UNHCR-organized return
to Mauritania and receipt of UNHCR-provided refugee identification
documents. During the year representatives of the UNHCR office in Dakar
continued to work on a solution agreeable to all parties, and some
exiles and refugees have reportedly returned to Mauritania since the
August coup in that country.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. However, delays
of one to two years in granting refugee status were still a concern.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens generally exercised this
right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on
the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens exercised their
right to vote during the 2000 Presidential election in which Abdoulaye
Wade, backed by a coalition of opposition parties, defeated the
incumbent President in what was considered to be a generally free and
fair election. There were reports of several incidents of pre-election
violence and minor procedural irregularities; however, the majority of
political parties and civil society accepted the result. In the 2001
legislative elections, characterized as generally free and transparent
by international and national observers, President Wade's coalition won
49.6 percent of the vote and 89 of 120 seats in the National Assembly.
A lack of resources continued to restrict the activities of the
Autonomous National Electoral Committee (CENA), whose members were
sworn in in August 2005. The Government did not release any funds or
vehicles until CENA made a number of public statements to the media
about its resource constraints. On January 3, the Ministry of the
Interior announced that it had permitted CENA to use some of its
vehicles. In March CENA received 10 vehicles out of a total of 52
promised by the Government. The Government finally provided a total of
55 vehicles to cover all administrative departments of the country and
a budget of about $four million (two billion CFAF).
Opposition parties have criticized CENA's perceived lack of
response to alleged irregularities in registering voters during the
year. The opposition claimed some members within the PDS were purposely
withholding voter registration cards and insisted that CENA was doing
little to address the problem.
Several electoral reforms occurred during the year. In November, a
Presidential decree increased the number of National Assembly seats
from 120 to 150. Opposition parties filed a court case accusing the
Government of violating the law on the distribution of deputies elected
by constituency based on a demographic criterion. The Council of State
had not rendered a decision on the case by year's end. Also in November
the assembly adopted a law making it possible for candidates to win in
the first round of Presidential elections. Although the voting age is
18, a law passed on June 30 allows the Government to register those
under 18 who would reach that age by election day. Also on June 30, the
parliament passed a law allowing security forces to vote in
Presidential and legislative elections. Opposition parties questioned
how the security forces' ballots could be safeguarded since they would
vote one week before election day. In addition many potential
candidates protested after an August 28 decree increased the required
deposit to run in the Presidential elections from $12,000 to $50,000
(six million to 25 million CFAF).
There were numerous problems during the year that affected
preparations for the February 2007 elections. On January 19, the
Constitutional Council ruled it was incompetent to rule on the legality
of the 2005 constitutional amendment which extended the parliament's
term and allowed the legislative and Presidential elections to be held
simultaneously in 2007.
President Wade made several notable changes to voter registration
procedures which human rights groups and opposition parties criticized
as attempts to secure victory by making the rules less clear. For
example, the President extended the deadline for registration four
times, with the last deadline set for September 15.
In late November the Government revised the electoral code
governing registration and electoral procedures to bring it into
compliance with current practice.
Many voters had not received their voter registration cards by
year's end. Although expected as part of the national voter
registration campaign, the Government did not set up 500 fixed and 200
mobile voter registration offices throughout the country, and did not
provide electrical generators in areas with power supply problems.
There were approximately 100 registered political parties,
according to official government sources.
At year's end there were 24 women in the 120-seat National Assembly
and six women in the 43-member cabinet. Only 13 percent of locally
elected leaders were women. Even in areas where women won local
leadership positions, they often remained a minority in the local
bureaucracy. For example, Rufisque-East had a female mayor, but only 27
percent of municipal counselors were women.
There were approximately 39 members of minorities in the 120-seat
National Assembly and approximately 15 members in the 43-member
cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of government corruption, and it was a problem. The
perception was exacerbated by salary increases over the last few years
for National Assembly deputies and civil servants at all levels, along
with the provision of all-terrain vehicles and land to deputies.
In November 2005 the National Commission to Fight Non-Transparency,
Corruption, and government Fraud officially began its activities. On
July 7, the commission announced it was seeking authority to open
investigations on its own without waiting for cases to be referred to
it. It also announced it was investigating approximately five cases.
The commission held one hearing during the year regarding an alleged
case of public works corruption. Since the commission had no authority
to initiate investigations or prosecutions, it was inefficient in
fighting corruption during the year.
On June 29, Pape Malick Ndiaye, who claimed to be a member of the
Committee for Good Governance against Corruption, accused the Secretary
General at the Presidency and Executive Secretary of the National
Agency for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (ANOCI),
Abdoulaye Balde, of having taken a kick back in connection with public
works undertaken by ANOCI for the upcoming World Islamic Conference. On
June 29, Ndiaye was arrested after admitting he did not have the
evidence he claimed against Balde. Ndiaye was charged with libel and
fraud of documents; his case was pending at year's end.
During the year President Wade called for the reinvestigation of a
case of mismanagement involving former prime minister and Minister of
Foreign Affairs Mustapha Niasse. In 2002 Niasse was accused of selling
diplomatic passports to businessmen and others from the Republic of
China. There was no investigation or prosecution of Niasse by year's
end.
President Wade also threatened to reopen the case of Ousmane Tanor
Dieng, head of the Socialist Party (PS) and cabinet director for former
President Abdou Diouf. Dieng was allegedly involved in secretly selling
fishing licenses to Russian ship owners to replenish PS political
coffers. On July 11, Dieng denied the allegations indicating that
proceeds were used by the incumbent President to replenish secret state
funds. No further action was taken to prosecute Dieng by year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 corruption investigation of
Pather Ndiaye, former Port of Dakar director general. Many alleged
corruption cases involving political or judicial authorities were not
pursued by prosecutors during the year.
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to access
government information freely; however, the Government rarely provided
access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. However, some
human rights organizations reported that their telephones were
regularly tapped during the year.
The Government's National Committee on Human Rights had a broad
membership, including government representatives, civil society groups,
and independent human rights organizations. The committee, which
receives its budget from the Government, had the authority to
investigate abuses on its own initiative; however, the committee was
poorly funded and ineffective in promoting human rights. It did not
release a report during the year.
Some members of human rights organizations, opposition parties, and
others critical of the Government reported receiving death threats
during the year. For example, on August 30, Jacques Habib Sy, executive
secretary of the NGO Aid Transparency, reported to the DIC that he had
received anonymous death threats two days earlier. No arrests were
made. Death threats against leaders of opposition political parties,
unions, journalists, and NGOs were common and generally believed to
originate in circles close to the ruling party.
Members of the Parliamentary Network on Human Rights and the Rule
of Law visited prisons. The ONDH, the local branch of AI, and the
Senegalese Committee on Human Rights also organized prison visits
during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides that men and women are equal under the law and
prohibits discrimination based on gender, race, class, or language;
however, gender discrimination was widespread in practice, and
antidiscrimination laws often were not enforced. Domestic violence,
rape, sexual harassment, discrimination against women, FGM, child
abuse, child marriage, and trafficking in persons were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a
widespread problem. Several women's groups and the local NGO Committee
to Combat Violence against Women (CLVF) reported a rise in cases of
violence against women during the year. Violence against women is
against the law, but the Government did not enforce the law in
practice. The law criminalizes assaults and provides for a punishment
of one to five years in prison and a fine. If the victim is a woman,
the prison term and fine are both increased. Domestic violence that
causes lasting injuries is punishable with a prison sentence of 10 to
20 years, and if an act of domestic violence causes death, the law
prescribes life imprisonment. There were increasing reports of violence
between co-wives in polygamous marriages.
Police usually did not intervene in domestic disputes, and most
persons were reluctant to go outside the family for redress. Some
groups felt that the harsh sentences under the law caused judges to
require higher burdens of proof before finding potential offenders
guilty, resulting in fewer total convictions for domestic violence. The
CLVF criticized the failure of some judges to apply the law. There were
no statistics available on the number of abusers prosecuted under the
law during the year.
Throughout the year women in several cities held rallies and
marches to protest violence against women. For example, hundreds of
women took to the streets in Ziguinchor to protest the August 25
beating of Henriette Tine by her husband, a repeat offender. Tine's
husband was charged and the case was pending at year's end.
Also in August an influential Arabic teacher in Mbour severely beat
his brother's pregnant wife in a succession dispute. After two weeks in
prison, he was prosecuted and sentenced to pay a fine of $40 (20,000
CFAF).
While local NGOs that assisted domestic violence victims and other
women's rights groups viewed the antiviolence laws as important, they
criticized the Government's failure to permit associations to bring
suit on behalf of victims. The Ministry of Women, Family, Social
Development, and Women's Entrepreneurship worked with several NGOs in
an attempt to curb domestic violence. In May the city of Tambacounda
inaugurated a program to fight violence against women; however, the
Government did not provide funding for the program during the year.
Rape, including spousal rape, was a problem. The law prohibits
rape, but not spousal rape; however, the Government rarely enforced the
law. Sentences for rape range from 5 to 10 years' imprisonment, and
rapes resulting in death qualify for life imprisonment. It was nearly
impossible for victims to provide judges with sufficient proof to merit
convictions. There was no government system to collect statistics on
the extent of rape or convictions. A women's rights NGO criticized the
country's lack of rape shield laws and the common practice of using a
woman's sexual history to defend men accused of rape.
On April 13, two shepherds in Gogaguene raped a mute and deaf woman
in the bush as she was collecting fire wood. Gendarmes arrested the two
men; no further action was taken by year's end.
On June 5, three gendarmes were accused of raping the wife of a
soldier. Despite witnesses testifying to having heard screams from the
room where the rape occurred, the three defendants--El Hadji Amadou
Sagne, Boubacar Mballo, and Auguste Dema--claimed their sex with the
woman was consensual. Although the normal punishment for rape is
between five and 10 years in prison, the prosecutor sought and the
defendants received only two years. The gendarmes' superiors also
reportedly pressured the tribunal to keep the affair quiet.
In October 2005 a young man was arrested for attempted rape of a
married woman; his case was ongoing at year's end.
Due to social pressures and fear of embarrassment, incest remained
taboo and often went unreported and unpunished. As with many of the
difficulties facing women, the problem of incest was compounded by lack
of public support and shelters to protect and assist vulnerable women,
including unwed mothers and victims of domestic violence. As a result,
many were unable to flee or remove their children from abusive family
members (see Section 5, children).
The NGO Tostan estimated FGM was practiced in thousands of villages
throughout the country. In June 2004 the minister of family claimed
that almost all women in the country's northern Fouta region were FGM
victims, as were 60 to 70 percent of women in the south and southeast.
Sealing, one of the most extreme and dangerous forms of FGM, was
sometimes practiced by the Toucouleur, Mandinka, Soninke, and Bambara
ethnicities, particularly in rural areas. Some girls were as young as
one-year-old when FGM was performed on them.
FGM is a criminal offense under the law, carrying a sentence of six
months' to five years' imprisonment for those directly practicing FGM,
or ordering it to be carried out on a third person. The Government
prosecuted those caught engaging in the practice and fought to end FGM
by collaborating with Tostan and other groups to educate people about
the inherent dangers. During the year 120 villages renounced the use of
FGM. According to the Ministry of Women, Family, Social Development,
and Women's Entrepreneurship, 1,679 out of an estimated 5,000
communities have formally abandoned the practice. Nevertheless, many
people still practiced FGM openly and with impunity.
Prostitution is legal if individuals meet certain criteria: they
must be at least 21 years of age, register with the police, carry a
valid sanitary card, and test negative for sexually transmitted
infections (STIs). Pimping and soliciting customers are illegal.
There were arrests of foreign illegal prostitutes, underage
prostitutes, and pimps during the year. Evidence suggested foreign
prostitutes' entry to the country was organized: groups of women often
crossed the border together; foreign prostitutes usually lived
together; they had a predetermined destination upon arrival; and many
foreign women came to the country but did not stay indefinitely,
suggesting their departures were better organized and professional.
NGOs working with prostitutes claimed the problem was worse than
official statistics on prostitution suggested, and that police targeted
prostitutes for abuse and extortion.
On May 9, police shut down a prostitution ring operating from a
fast-food restaurant in Dakar and soliciting customers on the Internet.
Trafficking of adult women for sexual exploitation was a problem
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was common although prohibited by law, which
calls for prison terms of five months to three years imprisonment and
fines of $100 to $1,000 (50,000 to 500,000 CFAF). The Government did
not effectively enforce the law, and women's rights groups claimed
sexual harassment victims found it difficult, if not impossible, to
present sufficient proof to justify prosecutions.
Women faced pervasive discrimination, especially in rural areas
where traditional customs--including polygyny--and rules of inheritance
were strongest. Under national law, women have the right to choose when
and whom they marry, but traditional practices restricted a woman's
choice. The Family Code prohibits marriage for girls younger than 16
years and men younger than 20 years. This law was not enforced in some
communities where marriages were arranged. Under certain conditions, a
judge may grant a special dispensation for marriage to a person below
the age requirement. Women typically married young, usually by the age
of 16 in rural areas (see Section 5, Children).
According to the law, a woman's consent is required for a
polygynous union, but once in a polygynous union, a woman need not be
notified nor give prior approval for the man's subsequent marriage. A
2004 study of marriage practices indicated that approximately 50
percent of marriages were polygynous. Although protected under the law,
marriage rights were not enforced because of socio-cultural pressures,
judicial reluctance to enforce the law, and a lack of information on
marriage laws.
The Family Code's definition of paternal rights remains an obstacle
to equality between men and women, as men are considered the head of
household and women cannot take legal responsibility for their
children. Women can only become the legal head of family when the
father formally renounces his authority before the administration. This
makes it particularly difficult for the 20 percent of families that are
supported and led by women. The problems with the Family Code and
traditional practices also made it difficult for women to purchase
property. Due to the fact that men are legally considered the head of
household, women paid higher taxes than men for the same salary (they
were taxed as single individuals without children), and employers paid
child allowances to men only.
Only an estimated 20 percent of women had paid employment. Low
education levels, lack of information, domestic responsibilities, lack
of access to factors and means of production, and multiple pregnancies
were cited as barriers to economic advancement for women. According to
statistics from the National Center to Assist and Train Women, women
represented 52 percent of the population, but were held liable for 90
percent of domestic responsibilities and 85 percent of agricultural
work. Approximately 22 percent of teachers and 14 percent of lawyers
were women.
Women's groups campaigned to have a larger percentage of places on
the legislative electoral ballot devoted to women, to better reflect
the female majority of the population. On December 8, President Wade
asked the Prime Minister to make a declaration at the national assembly
on the issue. The PDS placed 30 women on its legislative electoral list
for 60 seats before year's end.
Women's groups criticized discriminatory provisions in the law, a
problem the Government has admitted. On June 9, President Wade signed a
decree authorizing women to join the Customs Office. In August the
Gendarmerie also started recruiting women. The gendarmerie recruited 50
women, but the Customs Office had not implemented the decision by
year's end.
Children.--The Government was somewhat committed to children's
rights and welfare. The Ministry of Women's Affairs, Family, Social
Development, and Women's Entrepreneurship was responsible for promoting
children's welfare and was assisted by the health, education, and labor
ministries.
During the year President Wade established more ``Places for the
Little Ones'' throughout the country to serve as pre-kindergartens for
children. He also encouraged increased school enrollment.
The law provides for free education, and education is compulsory
for children ages six to 16; however, many children did not attend
school due to lack of resources or available facilities. Students must
pay for their own books, uniforms, and other school supplies. Due to
the efforts of the Government, NGOs, and international donors, primary
school enrollment reached 82.5 percent during the year.
The highest level of education attained by most children is
elementary school. The middle school enrollment rate was 31.9 percent,
and the secondary school enrollment rate was 10.9 percent. In the 2005
06 academic year, more girls than boys were enrolled in elementary
school for the first time ever.
The Government took steps to provide religious education classes in
the formal school system to provide an alternative to parents sending
their children to Koranic schools, where trafficking in the form of
forced begging often occurred (see Section 5, Trafficking). The
Government also established a program to provide education and social
services to 11,000 at-risk children.
Although girls' attendance rates continued to climb, young girls
still encountered greater difficulties in receiving an education. For
example, when families could not afford for all of their children to
attend school, parents tended to remove their daughters from school,
rather than their sons. Only 23 percent of women over 15 years of age
were literate, compared with 43 percent of men.
Boys and girls generally have equal access to medical care. Medical
care was more readily available to children in urban areas than to
those in rural areas where many villages lacked health care facilities.
Child abuse was common. One human rights organization noted that
during the month of May, 16 cases of child abuse were reported,
involving children between the ages of six and 16.
Easily observable were the many poorly dressed, barefoot young
boys, known as talibes, begging on street corners for food or money for
their Koranic teachers, known as marabouts. Although physical abuse of
the talibes was widely known and discussed, only three marabouts were
arrested for such abuse during the year. In June one talibe between the
age of 10 and 15 committed suicide after being severely beaten by his
marabout for having escaped and returned to his family. Also in June
one 14-year-old talibe and two accomplices were arrested for murdering
his marabout. The case was under investigation at year's end.
The law punishes sexual abuse of children with five to 10 years'
imprisonment. If the offender is a family member, the punishment is 10
years' imprisonment. Any offense against the decency of a child is
punishable by imprisonment for two to five years and in some aggravated
cases up to 10 years' imprisonment. Procuring a minor for prostitution
is punishable by imprisonment for two to five years' imprisonment and a
fine of between $575 (300,000 CFAF) and $7,600 (four million CFAF).
There were periodic reports of child rape and pedophilia. On
January 27, a four-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and killed.
Police arrested a suspect shortly after the girl's body was discovered,
but released him for insufficient evidence. There were no further
developments by year's end.
On June 6, a French national was arrested after being caught in the
act of committing pedophilia on a 14-year-old boy. On June 16, Mamadou
Lamine Cissokho was arrested for having molested four girls aged four
and five. On June 29, Abdourahmane Sall was charged with the act of
committing pedophilia on one of his 15-year-old talibes. Sall claimed
he was possessed by evil spirits. A judge placed Sall's other talibes
in a reeducation center. In July Boubacar Sama was arrested for raping
a 15-year-old girl. On August 2, Modou Fall was arrested for the rape
of a seven-year-old girl. On August 30, a 13-year-old girl reported
that she was raped by the marabout who owned the house in which she and
her mother lived; the marabout denied the accusation. All of these
cases were pending at year's end.
In September newspapers reported the story of S.M. Ndiaye, a
teacher who raped and impregnated his 12-year-old student. Local people
arrested him and took him to the Gendarmerie. Ndiaye was prosecuted and
sentenced to seven years in prison.
The press also reported rapes of handicapped persons. On May 16, a
teacher complained to the police of Thiaroye about the rape of his mute
and deaf 16-year-old daughter. He discovered the crime three months
later when the girl appeared obviously pregnant. The police arrested
the alleged perpetrator who was a co-tenant of the family. On May 17,
gendarmes in Yeumbeul arrested two young men for raping a 15-year old
mentally handicapped girl. A third perpetrator escaped arrest and was
not apprehended by year's end. Both of these cases were pending at
year's end.
A women's rights NGO said that of all cases of violence committed
against girls, paternal incest cases were the fastest growing type of
violence. For example, in July a man with multiple wives and six
children was arrested for having sexual relations with his daughter for
five years. He admitted to the charges after his daughter reported him;
the case was pending at year's end.
Family ministry officials and women's rights groups considered
child marriage a significant problem in parts of the country,
particularly in rural areas. Girls, sometimes as young as nine-years-
old, were married to older men due to religious, economic, and cultural
reasons. On July 7, the regional tribunal of Velingara sentenced a 12-
year-old girl to six months imprisonment and fined her $200 (100,000
CFAF) for abandoning her marriage to her 34-year-old husband Adji Diao.
The girl claimed that even though her husband was both physically and
emotionally abusive, she stayed with him until her in-laws tried to
force her into a relationship with his younger brother. After 12 days
in prison she was released provisionally. With the help of several
human rights NGOs, the verdict was overturned.
Trafficking and commercial exploitation of children were problems
(see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Women's rights groups reported a growing incidence of infanticide,
which was usually due to poverty or embarrassment. Many domestic
workers or women from villages working in cities who found themselves
pregnant without family ties sometimes killed their babies since they
could not care for them. Others who were married to men working outside
the country disposed of their infants out of shame or to hide the
truth. In some cases, the families of the women shamed them into
killing their own babies. Methods ranged from burying them alive,
putting them in septic tanks, or simply abandoning them along the road.
When the identity of the mother is discovered, the police arrest
and prosecute her. For example, in July, the cour d'assises sentenced a
woman to five years of hard labor for having abandoned her newborn
daughter in an unsheltered and isolated area in 2002. In August a
grandfather was arrested for having thrown his three-month-old
granddaughter into a well because she was born out of wedlock. His case
was pending at year's end.
Many children were displaced due to the Casamance conflict and
often lived with extended family members, neighbors, or in children's
homes. The Government lacked adequate resources to effectively support
these children. According to NGOs in the Casamance, displaced children
suffered from the psychological effects of conflict, malnutrition, and
poor health.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were
trafficked to, within and from the country. Laws that prohibit pimping
and kidnapping could be used in some trafficking cases. Under the law,
those who recruit, transport, transfer, or harbor persons, whether by
means of violence, fraud, abuse of authority, or otherwise for the
purposes of sexual exploitation, labor, forced servitude, or slavery
are subject to punishment of five to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine
of $10,000 to $40,000 (five to 20 million CFAF). When the infraction
involves torture, barbarism, the removal of human organs, or exposing
the victim to a risk of death or injury, jail time ranges from 10 to 30
years' imprisonment. The human rights commissioner and the family
ministry were the Government coordinators on human trafficking issues.
During the year the Government arrested, prosecuted, and convicted
traffickers; however, reliable statistics on the extent of the
trafficking problem were unavailable. However, studies have shown the
extent of trafficking in and through the country to be significant,
particularly with regard to child begging and illegal emigration.
Talibes were trafficked from surrounding nations, including The Gambia,
Mali, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau, and internally to participate in
exploitive begging for some Koranic schools. According to the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), the country had an estimated 100,000 talibe
boys and 10,000 street children.
Young girls were trafficked from villages in the Diourbel, Fatick,
Kaolack, Thies, and Ziguinchor regions to urban centers for work as
underage domestics. Young girls from both urban and rural areas were
involved in prostitution, which NGOs claimed involved an adult pimp to
facilitate commercial sex transactions or provide shelter.
The country was believed to be a transit point for women en route
to Europe for sexual purposes. ENDA Sante, a local NGO, treated illegal
prostitutes for STIs through a mobile clinic program. According to ENDA
Sante, many women from surrounding African countries practiced
prostitution; however, there was no proof that these foreign
prostitutes were trafficking victims (see Section 5, Women).
The Government prosecuted victims for violating prostitution laws,
such as not having the proper registration or medical documentation.
The Government also prosecuted persons for what is referred to as
escroqueries (swindling), when people lure others into immigration
scams.
Most government efforts to combat trafficking in persons were
centered in the Ministry of Women, Family, Social Development, and
Women's Entrepreneurship. The ministry operated the Ginddi Center, a
children's center where child trafficking victims received nutritional,
medical, and other assistance. The center has accommodated children
from The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. The center also
operated a toll-free child protection hot line that fielded many calls.
With assistance from a foreign government, the police have established
a trafficking-in-persons database. There were no government programs to
protect or assist trafficked women.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced it. The law also mandates accessibility
for persons with disabilities; however, there was a lack of
infrastructure to assist them.
The law reserves 15 percent of new civil service positions for
persons with disabilities. The Government operated schools for children
with disabilities, provided grants for persons with disabilities to
receive vocational training, and managed regional centers for persons
with disabilities where they received training and funding for
establishing businesses.
Despite these efforts, the leader of a women's association for
persons with disabilities criticized the Government's failure to
designate a ministry responsible for persons with disabilities. She
also questioned the lack of attention paid to persons with disabilities
in national poverty reduction strategies. Several programs, which
appeared to be earmarked for persons with disabilities, offered
services to other vulnerable populations, which effectively reduced
resources for persons with disabilities. Due to a lack of special
education training for teachers and facilities accessible to children
with disabilities, only 30 percent of such children were enrolled in
school.
On July 14, the Government officially launched a five-year national
program for community-based rehabilitation of handicapped persons, but
the program did not produce any effective results by year's end.
There were at least three reported rapes of two handicapped girls
and one handicapped woman during the year (see Section 5, Women and
Children).
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--While the country's many ethnic
groups have coexisted relatively peacefully, some observers have cited
interethnic tensions between Wolofs and southern ethnic groups as
playing a significant role in the long-running Casamance rebellion that
was characterized by grievous human rights abuses.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced
widespread discrimination and social intolerance, but they were not
generally targeted for violence and harassment. However, human rights
organizations reported that in August a social worker faced public
humiliation and harassment upon his return to the country from the
First World OutGames. Homosexuality is not a criminal offense; however,
societal discrimination against homosexuals was widespread.
As a result of HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns, persons with HIV or
AIDS were increasingly accepted in society.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law, all workers, except security
forces, including police and gendarmes, customs officers and judges,
are free to form and join unions, and workers exercised this right in
practice. The labor code requires the interior minister to give prior
authorization before a trade union can exist legally. The Government
can also dissolve trade unions by administrative order, but did not do
so during the year. The labor code does not apply to the majority of
the workforce because most persons work in agriculture or the informal
sector. Approximately 4 percent of the total workforce was employed in
the private industrial sector, of which 40 to 50 percent belonged to
unions. Antiunion discrimination is prohibited by law, and the law also
provides protection for workers' right to strike.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested labor leaders during the year.
For example, on March 22, labor leader Ibrahima Sene was arrested and
charged with dissemination of false information related to a press
conference in which he claimed $88 million (440 billion CFAF) had been
removed from the country. On April 3, he was released and the charges
were dropped for lack of evidence.
On August 3, an intelligence agent infiltrated a meeting of
teachers' unions which the Government had accused of being politically
motivated. When he was discovered, the agent provoked an altercation
and arrested one of the union leaders. A day later, the leader was
freed and was never charged.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right to collective bargaining, and it was freely practiced everywhere
but in private security companies. Collective bargaining agreements
applied to approximately 44 percent of workers.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right; however, there were significant restrictions. The law also
states that workplaces may not be occupied during a strike. Health,
transportation, education, ad oil workers held strikes during the year.
Unions representing members of the civil service must notify the
Government of their intent to strike at least one month in advance;
private sector unions must notify the Government three days in advance.
In May President Wade announced he was giving $1.2 million (600
million CFAF) to unions. It was unclear for what purpose the money
would be used or what criteria would be applied to divide the funds
among the unions. With the multitude of unions established it was
difficult to set up criteria for supporting them, and the Government
had difficulty identifying the most representative unions. The money
was not disbursed during the year.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the one export processing zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports such practices occurred (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law bans the exploitation of child labor, and there are regulations on
child labor that set the minimum working age, working hours, working
conditions, and barred children from performing particularly dangerous
jobs; however, child labor was a problem. Most child labor occurred in
the country's informal economic sector where labor regulations were not
enforced. Economic pressures and inadequate educational opportunities
often pushed rural families to emphasize labor over education for their
children.
The minimum age for employment was 15; however, children under the
age of 15 continued to work in traditional labor sectors, particularly
in rural areas where there was no enforcement of child labor laws.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 23 percent of
children ages six- to 17-years-old were engaged in child labor,
including primarily agriculture, fishing, and hunting, but also mining,
construction, transportation, domestic work, commerce, restaurant and
hotel work, and manufacturing.
Some religious instructors in Koranic schools brought young boys
from rural villages to urban areas and held them under conditions of
servitude, forcing them to beg on a daily basis in unsanitary and
dangerous conditions under the threat of physical punishment (see
Section 5).
One particularly egregious area of child labor was in the mining
and rock quarry sector. Child gold washers, mostly between the ages of
10 and 14, worked approximately eight hours per day without training or
protective equipment. Children worked long hours in rock quarries,
crushing rock, and carrying heavy loads--also without protection. Both
types of work resulted in serious accidents and long-term illness.
The labor ministry and social security inspectors were in charge of
investigating and initiating lawsuits in child labor cases. Inspectors
can visit any institution during work hours to verify and investigate
compliance with labor laws and can act on tips from trade unions or
ordinary citizens. In practice inspectors did not initiate visits
because of a lack of resources and relied on unions to report
violators. Labor inspectors closely monitored and enforced minimum age
rules within the small formal-wage sector, which included state-owned
corporations, large private enterprises, and cooperatives. However,
there were no available statistics on the number of violations found.
In addition to efforts to fight human trafficking for exploitive
labor purposes, the Government attempted to raise awareness about the
dangers of child labor through seminars and other cooperative programs
with local government officials, NGOs, and elements of civil society.
The Government participated in an ILO program to end the worst forms of
child labor. A three-year project, launched in September 2003,
established a framework to combat child labor, including a coordinating
unit within the Ministry of Labor. The Government also worked with
UNICEF to prevent girls from entering prostitution. The Government
cooperated with UNICEF in 10 programs to combat child begging and the
exploitation of female children as household domestics. The Ministry of
Women, Family, Social Development and Women's Entrepreneurship also
worked with other ministries to combat the worst forms of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was
$0.42 (209 CFAF) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor was responsible
for enforcing minimum wages. Labor unions acted also as watchdogs and
contributed to an effective implementation of minimum wage in the
formal sector. The minimum wage is not respected in the informal
sector, especially for domestic workers.
Within the formal sector, the law mandates for most occupations a
standard workweek of 40 to 48 hours with at least one 24-hour rest
period, one month per year of annual leave, enrollment in government
social security and retirement plans, safety standards, and other
measures; however, enforcement was irregular. The law does not cover
the informal sector. Premium pay for overtime was required in the
formal sector.
While there are legal regulations on workplace safety, they often
were not enforced. There is no explicit legal protection for workers
who file complaints about unsafe working conditions. Workers, including
foreign or migrant workers, had the right to remove themselves from
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their
employment; however, it was seldom exercised due to high unemployment
and a slow legal system. The Ministry of Labor, through the Labor
Inspection Office, enforced labor standards. However, labor inspectors
had very poor working conditions and lacked transportation to conduct
their mission effectively.
__________
SEYCHELLES
Seychelles is a multiparty republic of approximately 81,000
citizens. In July President James Michel, who assumed power in 2004
when former President France Albert Rene resigned, was elected in a
process deemed credible and organized by international observers;
however, there were complaints of unfair campaign practices. The
President and the Seychelles People's Progressive Front (SPPF)
dominated the country through a pervasive system of political patronage
and control over government jobs, contracts, and resources. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, the following human rights problems were reported:
prolonged pretrial detention; an inefficient and politically influenced
court system; restrictions on speech, press, and assembly; official
corruption; violence against women and children; restrictions on labor
rights; and discrimination against foreign workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
government officials generally did not employ them. Police forcibly
dispersed a demonstration, which resulted in injuries (see Section
2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Detention centers included
the Grand Police High Security Prison for violent inmates and the Long
Island Prison for all other prisoners and those awaiting trial or
sentencing. Long Island prison conditions remained austere,
particularly for those on remand. Prison officials stated that staff
shortages forced guards to limit prisoner time outside of their cells.
In October the Long Island facility was relocated to the main island of
Mahe. The new facility with a maximum capacity of 400, housed regular
security prisoners, female prisoners, and those on pretrial. The prison
population was 142, including 28 in pretrial detention and 11 women.
The general, pretrial, and female populations were separated in
different wings of the building. Juveniles were held in a separate
facility.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups and
diplomats. No request for prison visits was made by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The President has
complete control over the security apparatus, which includes the
national guard, army, Presidential protection unit, coast guard, and
police. The police commissioner, who reports to the President, commands
the unarmed police and the armed paramilitary Police Mobile Unit, which
together have primary responsibility for internal security. When
necessary, the police were assisted by the army on issues of internal
security, as police resources were limited. The Special Support Unit
(SSU), a division of the police force, is responsible for crowd and
riot control. Corruption remained a problem. The Enquiry Board, a
police complaint office, existed but was rarely used. In practice
private attorneys filed complaints or published them in Regar, the
opposition party newspaper.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide that
persons arrested must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours,
with allowances made for boat travel from distant islands; however,
police did not always uphold this requirement. The constitution and law
also provide for detention without charge for up to seven days if
authorized by court order, and police generally respected this
provision. Detainees have the right to legal counsel. Free counsel is
not a legal right, but courts usually provided it to the indigent.
Courts provided bail for most offenses. Although warrants are required
by law, police made some arrests and detentions without a warrant.
Police arrested a journalist in October (see Section 2.b.).
Prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. Prisoners often waited
more than two years for trial or sentencing due to the inefficiency of
the judicial system. Approximately 20 percent of the prison population
consisted of pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was inefficient
and subject to executive influence. Both civil and criminal court cases
regularly lasted years.
The judicial system includes magistrates' courts (or small-claims
court), the Supreme (or trial) Court, the constitution and law court,
and the court of appeal. The constitution and law court convenes weekly
or as necessary to consider constitution and law issues. The court of
appeal convenes three times per year for two weeks in April, August,
and October to consider appeals from the Supreme, constitutional and
law courts.
One Supreme Court judge, one appeals court judge, and two
magistrate court judges were citizens of the country by birth. All
others were either naturalized citizens or citizens of other
Commonwealth countries. The bar association criticized the Government
for not advertising domestically that judicial positions were
available. Critics widely believed that some foreign justices bent to
the will of the executive branch due to fear of deportation. The
chairman of the Constitutional Appointments Authority (CAA) is also a
lawyer who appears regularly in front of judges that the CAA appoints.
Critics suggested that an October Supreme Court ruling in favor of the
state, which led to the closure of the opposition newspaper, was not
independent because the chairman of the CAA acted as the state's
attorney.
Several justices of the peace were responsible for small-claims
cases, and there were allegations that many of the justices were
appointed because of their affiliation with the SPPF.
An 18-member, part-time family tribunal heard and decided all
matters relating to the care, custody, access, and maintenance of
children, except paternity cases, which remained under the courts. The
Government empowered the family tribunal to offer protection orders to
victims of family violence. Most members of the tribunal were not
legally trained and were affiliated with the SPPF.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a fair public
trial, and trials were public in practice. The magistrates' court or
the Supreme Court heard criminal cases, depending on the gravity of the
offense. Cases involving murder or treason use juries. Defendants were
considered innocent until proven guilty. Defendants have the right to
be present at their trial, to confront witnesses, and to appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no institution
set up to examine cases of human rights abuses. However, citizens have
turned to the Ombudsman Office to investigate human rights abuses and
to seek redress for other issues.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
However, there remained widespread suspicion of government monitoring
of private communication without legal process.
Reports continued that the Government barred members of the
opposition from receiving postings in administrative positions in the
education sector.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government did not
respect these rights in practice. The law provides restrictions ``for
protecting the reputation, rights, and freedoms of private lives of
persons'' and ``in the interest of defense, public safety, public
order, public morality, or public health.'' As a result, civil lawsuits
could easily be filed to penalize journalists for alleged libel.
Journalists practiced self-censorship.
The only daily newspaper was the government-owned Nation, which
adhered closely to the Government's position on policy issues and gave
only limited attention to the opposition and news adverse to the
Government. There were three weekly political party newspapers; Regar,
The People, and le Nouveau Seychelles Weekly.
The law allows the Minister of Information Technology to prohibit
the broadcast of any material believed to be against the ``national
interest'' or ``objectionable.'' The law also requires
telecommunications companies to submit subscriber information to the
Government.
A libel suit against Regar, based on Regar's allegations that a
government official was fishing in protected waters, resulted in a
$64,000 (SR 350,000) judgment. In October Regar announced that it would
be unable to pay to the settlement and suspended operations. An appeal
to the lawsuit was pending. No suspects were charged in the December
2005 arson at the Regar office which Reporters Without Borders
condemned as ``politically motivated.''
The Government continued to own the only television station and all
radio stations. The law allows for independent radio and television,
but the exorbitant licensing fee of approximately $146,000 (SR 800,000)
per year discouraged the opening of any independent outlets. Following
the July elections, the opposition Seychelles National Party (SNP)
collected funds for the radio licensing fee and announced plans to
apply for a license. The National Assembly subsequently passed an
amendment to the Broadcasting and Telecommunication Act which prevents
political parties and religious groups from obtaining radio licenses.
On October 3, the SNP organized a demonstration to protest the
passed amendment. The SSU forcibly dispersed the demonstrators. The
opposition leader and the publisher of the Regar were hospitalized from
their injuries. Subsequent to the event, the Regar editor was arrested
and charged with unlawful assembly (see Section 2.b.). He was later
released on bail. The President opened an independent inquiry into the
actions of the SSU.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups engaged in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was widely available and used by citizens.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government limited
academic freedom in that persons could not reach senior positions in
the academic bureaucracy without demonstrating at least nominal loyalty
to the SPPF. There were no universities, and secondary school teacher
appointments were largely apolitical. The Government controlled faculty
appointments to the Polytechnic, the most advanced learning
institution.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and
association; however, the Government did not always respect it. On
October 3, the SSU forcibly dispersed a demonstration, resulting in the
hospitalization of the SNP leader and the Regar publisher (see Section
1.a.). Only the Regar editor was arrested and formally charged with
unlawful assembly.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association; however, the Government did not always respect
this right. There were complaints that government officials intimidated
and harassed civil servants who participated in opposition political
parties. One former minister who resigned from the ruling party came
out in support for the opposition before the July elections. It is
believed that the termination of his employment from a private company
after the elections was influenced by the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were fewer than 10
individuals in the Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Although it was not used during the year, the law allows the Government
to deny passports to any citizen if the minister of defense finds that
such denial is ``in the national interest.''
According to foreign exchange regulations, citizens could exchange
only $400 (SR 2,200) worth of foreign exchange, severely hindering
their ability to pay for travel.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provides for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum, as
the issue did not arise.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in the
July Presidential elections deemed credible by international observers.
Elections and Political Participation.--In July approximately 88
percent of eligible voters elected incumbent and SPPF Presidential
candidate James Michel with 54 percent of the vote; SNP candidate Wavel
Ramkalan received 45 percent; and independent candidate Philip Boulle
received 1 percent. International observers from the Commonwealth,
Francophonie Organization, South African Development Community, and
resident diplomatic corp characterized the electoral process as
credible and well-organized despite reports that campaign and electoral
practices were not fair.
The ruling SPPF, which assumed power in a 1977 coup, continued to
use its political resources and those of the Government to develop and
maintain a nationwide organization that extended to the village level.
Opposition parties have been unable to match the SPPF's organization
and patronage, in part because of financial limitations.
There were reports that SPPF membership conferred advantage. Some
members of opposition parties claimed that they lost their government
jobs because of their political beliefs and were at a disadvantage when
applying for government licenses and loans.
There were 10 females in the 34-seat National Assembly, seven by
direct election and three by proportional representation; there were
three females in the 12-minister cabinet. There were nine female
principal secretaries in government service.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
public perception of political corruption government wide. In
particular, there were reports of rewards to SPPF supporters in the
form of job assistance, land distribution, free building materials, and
monetary payments. An ombudsman has legal authority to investigate and
report on allegations of official fraud and corruption. He investigated
70 cases during the year on issues such as labor law litigations,
allegations of fraud and corruption, human rights abuse, and land and
property litigations.
There are laws allowing public access to government information,
although the Government does not enforce them, and citizens routinely
did not have access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A small number of international human rights NGOs and one domestic
human rights group-the Centre for Rights and Development (CEFRAD)--
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to the views of international
NGOs; however, government cooperation with CEFRED--which was perceived
as being aligned with the opposition-was limited. The Government, for
example, refused to permit CEFRAD to observe the July Presidential
election.
A government-run National Humanitarian Affairs Committee (NHAC)
operated with a range of members from both civil society and the
Government. The ICRC acted as a technical adviser to the NHAC.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law affirm the right to be free from all types
of discrimination, but do not prohibit discrimination based on specific
factors. In practice there was no overt discrimination in housing,
employment, education, or other social services based on race, sex,
ethnicity, nationality, or disabilities.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, particularly wife beating,
was a continuing problem. Police rarely intervened in domestic
disputes, unless the dispute involved a weapon or major assault. The
authorities often dismissed the few cases that reached a prosecutor, or
the court gave the perpetrator a light sentence. Rape, spousal rape,
and domestic abuse are criminal offenses, all punishable by a maximum
20 years' imprisonment. There was growing societal concern about
domestic violence and increased recognition of the need to address it.
Prostitution is illegal but remained prevalent. Police generally
did not apprehend prostitutes unless their actions involved other
crimes.
The law prohibits sexual harassment but was rarely enforced.
The society largely was matriarchal. Unwed mothers were the
societal norm, and the law required fathers to support their children.
There was no officially sanctioned discrimination in employment, and
women were well represented in business. Inheritance laws did not
discriminate against women.
Children.--The division of social affairs in the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Manpower Development worked to protect children's rights,
and in practice they were fairly effective.
The Government required children to attend school through the 10th
grade and made tuition-free public education available through the
secondary level until age 18. Students had to buy school uniforms but
did not have to pay for books. According to government figures, all
children between the ages of six and 16 attended school, and the
percentages of boys and girls enrolled were roughly equal. There was a
noncompulsory fifth year of secondary school. After completing
secondary school, students can attend the Polytechnic School for
Vocational Training, travel abroad for university studies, or go to
apprenticeship or short term work programs. Children in the
apprenticeship or short term work programs received a training stipend,
which was less than the minimum wage.
Boys and girls have equal access to healthcare, which is free for
all citizens.
The age of consent was 15 years. Girls were not allowed to attend
school when they were pregnant, and many did not return to school after
the birth of a child.
The law prohibits physical abuse of children. Sexual abuse of
children, usually in low-income families and perpetrated by stepfathers
and older brothers, was a problem. Rape of girls under the age of 15
continued to be a problem, according to the Ministry of Health.
Authorities prosecuted very few child abuse cases in court. The
strongest public advocate for young victims was a semiautonomous
agency, the National Council for Children. There was criticism that
police failed to investigate charges of child abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law provide for
the right of persons with disabilities to special protection, including
reasonable provisions for improving the quality of life; however, there
were no laws providing for access to public buildings, transportation,
or state services, and the Government did not provide such access for
persons with disabilities. There was no reported discrimination against
persons with disabilities in housing, jobs, or education, or in the
provision of other state services.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
right to form and join unions of their choosing; however, police,
military, prison, and fire fighting personnel may not unionize;
however, the law is silent regarding the rights of foreign or migrant
workers to join a union. Some citizens were reluctant to join the non-
government-sponsored labor union due to fear of government reprisal.
Unions organized between 15 and 20 percent of the workforce, and the
law prohibits antiunion discrimination.
There are two politically labeled unions, the Seychelles Federation
of Workers Union (SFWU, SPPF-associated) and the Seychelles National
Trade Union (SNTU, SNP-associated). Despite the legal provisions for
workers to form and join unions, membership in the SNTU is decreasing
because workers feared losing their jobs in the public and the private
sector. The SNTU claimed that employers have not reinstated workers
fired for union activity.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
for unions to organize and conduct their activities without
interference. The law provides workers with the right to engage in
collective bargaining, but collective bargaining seldom occurred. The
Government has the right to review and approve all collective
bargaining agreements in the public and private sectors. There was
little flexibility in setting wages. In the public sector, which
employed over 50 percent of the labor force, the Government set
mandatory wage scales for employees. The employer generally set wages
in the private sector with individual agreements with the employee, but
in the few larger businesses, the Government set wage rates.
The law authorizes the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs to
establish and enforce employment terms, conditions, and benefits, and,
in practice, workers frequently obtained recourse against their
employers through the ministry.
Unions engaged in collective bargaining in the private sector;
however, observers noted that private sector employers were reluctant
to engage in collective bargaining.
Strikes are illegal without first exhausting arbitration
procedures. Observers noted that the Industrial Relations Act
provisions regarding the holding of strikes hinder unions' strike
initiative. It takes six months for a union to gain permission to hold
a strike. Dock workers seeking wage increases were not allowed to go
forward with their strike proposal.
There is one export processing zone, the Seychelles International
Trade Zone (SITZ), with 25 participating companies. Only the Seychelles
Trade Zone Act applied in the SITZ, and the Government did not require
the SITZ to adhere to labor, property, tax, business, or immigration
laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law states that the minimum age for employment is 15, ``subject to
exceptions for children who are employed part time in light work
prescribed by law without harm to their health, morals, or education,''
and, in practice, the Government followed these requirements. It is a
criminal offense punishable by a fine of $1,113 (SR 6,000) to employ a
child under the age of 15. The Ministry of Employment and Social
Services enforced child labor laws. The ministry handled such
complaints within its general budget and staffing; the ministry did not
report any cases requiring investigation. No children were found
working in the fishing, tourism, agricultural, boat building and
processing industries, as the Ministry of Education carried out regular
checks to ensure that children are actually attending school.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no official private
sector minimum wage. The Government encouraged but did not require the
private sector to grant the minimum public sector wage. The minimum
public sector wage was $445 (SR 2,325) per month as of January. Even
with free public services, primarily health care and education, a
single salary at the low end of the pay scale did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Private employers generally
paid higher wages than the Government to attract qualified workers.
The legal maximum workweek varied from 45 to 55 hours, depending on
the economic sector; in practice, some workers worked up to 60 hours
per week. Government employees worked fewer hours. Regulations entitled
each full-time worker to a 30-minute break per day and a minimum of 21
days of paid annual leave. The Government permitted workers to work
overtime up to 60 additional hours per month. The Government generally
enforced these regulations.
Foreign workers did not enjoy the same legal protections as
citizens and were employed in the construction and commercial fishing
sectors. Companies sometimes paid foreign workers lower wages, forced
them to work longer hours, and provided them with inadequate housing.
The Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs has formal
responsibility for drafting the Government's comprehensive occupational
health and safety regulations, and the Ministry of Health enforced such
standards, although safety and health inspectors rarely visited job
sites. Occupational injuries were most common in the construction,
marine, and port industries. The law has been amended to allow workers
to remove themselves from dangerous or unhealthy work situations,
report the employer to the Health and Safety Commission and seek
compensation without risking losing their employment. The employer
faces the risk of being sued.
__________
SIERRA LEONE
Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected
President and a unicameral legislature, and a population of
approximately five million. In 2002 the devastating 11-year civil
conflict officially ended, and the Government, backed by a United
Nations peacekeeping force (UNAMSIL), asserted control over the whole
country. In 2002 Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was reelected President, and his
Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) won a large majority in parliament.
Many international monitors declared the elections generally free and
fair; however, there were numerous reports of irregularities. In 2004
UNAMSIL handed over responsibility for security countrywide to the
Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) and Sierra Leone Police
(SLP). In 2005 UNAMSIL withdrew all remaining peacekeepers and handed
over nonpeacekeeping responsibilities to a follow-on peacebuilding UN
mission (UNIOSIL). During the year the Government made little progress
in addressing the recommendations of its own June 2005 white paper
issued in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC)
final report on the causes and effects of the 1991 2002 civil war.
During the year civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, there were serious problems in a number of areas,
including: security force abuse, including rape, and use of excessive
force with detainees, including juveniles; police theft and extortion;
poor conditions in prisons and jails; official impunity; arbitrary
arrest and detention; prolonged detention, excessive bail, and
insufficient legal representation; restrictions on freedom of speech
and press, although fewer than in the previous year; government and
chiefdom detention and harassment of journalists; harassment of
opposition party supporters by ruling party members; widespread
official corruption; societal discrimination and violence against
women; female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse; trafficking in
persons, including children; forced labor, including by children; and
child labor.
During the year the Government made progress in combating
trafficking in persons. In October parliament appointed five
representatives to a newly established National Commission for Human
Rights, which has the mandate to implement recommendations of the TRC.
On December 11, President Kabbah swore in the five members of the
commission. UNIOSIL provided financial support for the commission,
which by year's end had met several times to develop a plan of action.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings during the year; however, police allegedly shot a
student demonstrator who later died from his injuries (see Section
1.d.).
Unlike in the previous year, no journalists were killed.
There were no developments in the 2004 case of the suspected murder
of a prostitute, allegedly by UNAMSIL peacekeeping soldiers.
In December 2005 UNAMSIL concluded operations in the country.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs
discontinued the use of a database that attempted to track children
separated from their families during the war. The ministry stated that
this project had been implemented as a result of the war, and that
after the war's end, it was deemed no longer necessary to maintain the
project.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were reports that security forces beat and raped persons, and
that police stole, extorted, and demanded bribes. The Corporal
Punishment Act allows boys under age 17 to receive up to 12 lashes as
punishment. Prison guards reportedly beat prisoners, including
juveniles, with impunity.
During the year security forces intimidated and arrested
journalists.
Police use of excessive force to disperse demonstrators resulted in
one death and several injuries (see Section 1.d.).
On January 30, a police officer in Pujehun beat his girlfriend, who
reported the beating to the SLP's Complaints Division and Internal
Investigation Department (CDIID). The police officer paid the cost of
her medical care and he was put on probation for six weeks.
In July RSLAF soldiers in Bo used sticks to beat and rob a man who
they claim sold them contaminated fuel. The incident was reported by a
human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) in mid-July; however,
no action was taken by authorities.
There were reports that security forces raped women and children
(see Section 2.d.). In January a police officer in Kenema raped a woman
while she was in custody. The officer was suspended from duty, but he
fled to Liberia before he could be tried.
In July a police officer raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee near
the Liberian border at Zimmi. His trial was ongoing at year's end (see
Section 2.d.).
In 2004 a magistrate court ordered the Government to rearrest a
soldier who had raped an eight-year-old girl; however, at year's end
the soldier was still at large.
In mid-May chiefdom tax collectors beat a man in Golahun Village,
Tikonko Chiefdom, Bo District for refusing to pay local tax. The man
suffered a broken arm and was hospitalized for three months as a result
of the beating.
During the year both men and women were forcibly initiated into
tribal secret societies, a process that for women usually involved FGM.
For example, in March and April the Poro Society in Manowa Kailahun
District attempted to forcefully initiate a man into the society. The
man ran away and reported the matter to the police, who deferred to the
local paramount chief. The paramount chief then allowed Poro members to
drag the man out of his home, beat him, and initiate him into their
secret society.
Vigilante justice was common in urban areas, particularly for
suspected thieves. For example, in early August a crowd in Freetown
beat a suspected thief and left him on the street. The man suffered
serious cuts and bruises and was hospitalized for two weeks. There was
no record of his name, or of any arrest or investigation.
During the year Guinean forces continued to occupy the Yenga area
in the eastern part of the country, contravening an agreement between
the Presidents of Guinea and Sierra Leone acknowledging that the town
of Yenga belongs to Sierra Leone. The Government and human rights
groups accused Guinean troops of harassing the local population. In
spite of sporadic negotiations between the two governments, the issue
remained unresolved at year's end. In December Presidents Kabbah, Conte
of Guinea, and Sirleaf of Liberia met to discuss the Yenga issue, and
they agreed that members of parliament from the three countries should
meet under the mediation of the Liberian foreign minister to discuss
the Yenga issue.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--During the year prison
conditions improved in some locations. Improvement of detention
conditions remained a focus of the Justice Sector Development Program
(JSDP) funded by a foreign official donor and launched in April 2005;
however, conditions in most facilities remained poor. Prison
overcrowding was a severe problem, including at Freetown's maximum
security Pademba Road Prison, which was designed to house 325 prisoners
but held an estimated 944. Human rights observers reported that
detention conditions frequently fell below minimum international
standards because of overcrowding, lack of access to food, unhygienic
conditions, and insufficient medical attention. Prisons were often
poorly ventilated. There were no reports that such conditions resulted
in any deaths during the year.
Few prisons had adequate medical facilities, and sick prisoners
were treated at state hospitals. However, prisoners often received
inferior treatment from doctors and nurses in these hospitals because
of the social stigma associated with assisting criminals.
Prison officers were inadequately paid, poorly trained, and in many
prisons were not provided private quarters or uniforms. Consequently,
guards provided only minimal security, and abuse of prisoners and
prison breaks occurred.
Men and women continued to share cells in Kenema's prison. During
the year new prison facilities with separate cells for men and women
were completed in Kailahun, Pujehun, Kabala, Moyamba, and Kambia, and
the prison in Magburoka was rehabilitated and expanded.
Minors were imprisoned with adult offenders, but police sometimes
released juveniles suspected of committing crimes to avoid
incarcerating them with adults. Juvenile detainees did not have
adequate access to food, education, or vocational training, and
sometimes were unable to attend court hearings due to lack of
transportation from juvenile detention facilities. Violence was a
problem among youth in juvenile detention homes, of which there were
two, both in Freetown: Kingtom Remand Home, and the Approved School.
Pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners. Prison
guards reportedly beat prisoners with impunity.
Many problems resulted from the lack of resources and inefficiency
of the judiciary. For instance, case backlogs in the courts, which
often led to long pretrial detention, resulted in severe overcrowding.
Government records indicate that there were approximately 1,610
detainees in 12 prisons nationwide, 688 of whom had not yet been
convicted of a crime. This figure did not include detainees in jails or
detention centers.
In February the JSDP hosted a workshop to launch the development of
a Prisoner Classification and Security Assessment process--one of a
number of initiatives to improve living conditions for prisoners and
pretrial detainee case management. Other JSDP initiatives focused on
pilot literacy and numeracy programs for prisoners in the Western Area
and Moyamba District, and a prison farm project in Moyamba District.
Conditions in holding cells in police stations were extremely poor,
especially in small stations outside Freetown; however, overcrowding in
police cells improved during the year as a result of the deployment of
magistrate judges to the districts to process cases. Some police
stations had no cells for suspect detention. In August a man hanged
himself in the toilet while being detained at Goderich police station.
A later inquiry by an NGO revealed that detainees were locked in the
toilet at night and kept in open detention during the day.
The Government permitted family visits, but for a short time only.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided a message
delivery service that allowed prisoners housed in all district prisons
to communicate with their families. ICRC officials were permitted to
meet privately with detainees.
International monitors, including UNIOSIL and the ICRC, had
unrestricted access to Pademba Road Prison and other detention
facilities, including the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)
detention facilities. Prison Watch, a local human rights group,
reported on detention facilities throughout the country but stated that
during the year it had difficulty in gaining access to some detention
sites.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, government forces
occasionally arrested and detained persons arbitrarily.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Sierra Leone Police
(SLP), which has primary responsibility for maintaining internal order,
lacked investigative, forensic, and riot control capabilities. A self-
assessment by the SLP found the police to be fearful of the public and
unequipped for beat patrols. The SLP was widely viewed as corrupt and
incompetent. Impunity was a serious problem, although less so than in
previous years. During the year there were reports that police officers
took bribes at checkpoints, falsely charged motorists with violations,
and impounded vehicles to extort money. Police also accepted bribes
from criminal suspects in exchange for dropping charges.
Using training and assistance from the donor community, during the
year the SLP instituted mechanisms to improve community relations and
held many officers accountable for misconduct.
There were several mechanisms available to investigate police
abuses. The Police Complaints Commission and the Complaints, Discipline
and Internal Investigations Department (CDIID) both heard complaints
against police officers. There was also a Police Council, composed of
the vice President, minister of internal affairs, inspector general,
and others who accepted written complaints against police officers.
Disciplinary action against officers was published in an SLP
newsletter, such as the March dismissal of eight Freetown police
officers found guilty of stealing from residents in Kissy. Between
January and August, CDIID received 542 complaints countrywide. Of those
complaints, officers were dismissed or asked to resign in 24 cases, 104
received a written letter of reprimand, 68 cases were discharged or
dismissed for lack of evidence, and 74 were resolved informally. The
remaining cases were at various stages of investigation or review.
During the year police continued to receive professional,
leadership, and human rights training, and new recruits received a six-
month introductory course before deployment. The SLP retained a full-
time UN technical advisor and a number of UN Civil Police (UNCIVPOL)
police advisors. During the year UNIOSIL worked with the JSDP to
implement its newly developed strategic plan and develop a training
program to enhance the SLP's capacity to provide security during the
scheduled 2007 Presidential and parliamentary elections.
During the year the SLP began to establish Local Police Partnership
Boards throughout the country to improve community relations and
resolve minor complaints.
On multiple occasions police were not present when crowds beat
alleged thieves (see Section 1.c.). Police also at times were not able
to control violence at public demonstrations, particularly in reaction
to police activities. On February 9, for example, police arrested a
secondary school student leader in Mile 91 for suspected assault. When
a magistrate judge refused bail in the case, other students at the
school protested at the police station. An advance security vehicle in
a vice Presidential convoy that happened on the scene attempted to
restore order by firing warning shots, one of which reportedly killed a
demonstrating student. The students then overpowered the police,
stormed the police station, released the student leader, and burned the
newly refurbished police station to the ground along with several
nearby vehicles.
On May 29, a motorcycle driver refused to stop at a police
checkpoint in Waterloo. Police chased the driver to a local secondary
school, where a group of students gathered around him. Students stoned
the police and police fired tear gas. One student was wounded and
hospitalized. Later, an angry student mob descended on the Lumpa police
station and burned it down. Community elders, school authorities, and
members of the Bike Riders' Association met to discuss the incident and
resolve ongoing disputes, such as police targeting of motorcycles at
traffic stops; students later built a new police post to apologize.
An investigation which had been initiated into the 2005 killings of
a 16-year-old demonstrator was closed without reaching any conclusion.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for searches and
arrests in many cases; however, arrest without warrant was common. The
law prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention; however, government
forces occasionally arrested and detained people arbitrarily. Once
arrested, a detainee must be told the reason for arrest within 24
hours, and a case must be charged to court within 72 hours or, in the
case of serious crimes, within 10 days. However, detainees often were
held without charge or trial for minor offenses for long periods.
Detainees have the right of access to family and counsel; however,
access to counsel was often delayed, and family visits to prisoners
were restricted. Prison visits were allowed once every two weeks for
four hours each time. Lawyers were allowed unrestricted access to
detainees. Indigent detainees usually did not receive legal advice
prior to trial.
There were provisions for bail, and there was a functioning bail
system; however, the TRC recommended that the law concerning bail
provisions be revised. Bail was sometimes set at excessively high
levels. In December 2005 a judge set bail at approximately $170,000
(500 million leones) for the release of the leader of the People's
Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC) who had been arrested in November
2005.
Incommunicado detention generally was not a problem.
Traditional justice systems supplemented the central government
judiciary, especially in rural areas (see Section 1.e.). Paramount
chiefs maintained their own police and courts to enforce uncodified
local laws, which acted in parallel with the Government's own civil
police and court system. Chieftaincy police and courts exercised the
authority to arrest, try, and incarcerate individuals.
There were numerous instances in which police refused to make
arrests when warranted or arrested people without charge for strictly
civil causes; arrests for alleged breach of contract or failure to
satisfy debt were the most common. For example, in August, chiefdom
police arrested a teacher in Pujehun because of his dispute with an
RSLAF soldier over an exchange of rice and palm oil. The teacher was
incarcerated for two days before being released on bail. No further
information was available on this case by the end of the reporting
period.
During the year police arrested demonstrators (see Section 1.a.).
Trials of former combatants who fought for the Revolutionary United
Front (RUF) continued during the year (see Section 1.e.).
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Authorities held many
criminal suspects for months and some for years before courts examined
their cases or filed formal charges. According to government records,
approximately 65 percent of the country's detainees in prison were in
pretrial detention; this was a marked deterioration from the estimate
of 40 percent in pretrial detention during 2005.
Amnesty.--The law provides the President with the power to grant
amnesty by the ``Prerogative of Mercy,'' which he traditionally
exercised on Christmas Day (December 25) and Independence Day (April
27). During the year President Kabbah released 27 prisoners using this
power.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice; however, the judiciary at times was subject
to government influence and corruption.
The judicial system consists of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal,
High Court of Justice, and magistrate courts. The President appoints
and parliament approves justices for the courts. Local chieftaincy
courts administer customary law with lay judges; appeals from these
lower courts are heard by the superior courts.
Judicial presence outside the capital district increased during the
year, and magistrate judges were assigned to all provincial capitals. A
new rotation system between wards in specific districts improved
magistrate presence. However, with inexperienced new magistrates, high
court fees, and fewer than 10 lawyers practicing outside of Freetown,
access to justice remained limited for most citizens.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair trial; however, in
practice, the lack of judicial officers and facilities often produced
long delays in the judicial process. Trials are public. Persons accused
of crimes have a limited right to a trial by jury in the magistrate
courts. Juries were drawn from a list maintained by the master and
registrar of active and retired civil servants and youth groups;
however, the Attorney General frequently exercised his power to
determine that cases be heard by a judge alone. Defendants have the
right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner;
however, access to counsel often was delayed. The law provides for
attorneys at public expense if defendants could not afford their own;
however, state-appointed attorneys often were overburdened and poorly
paid, and indigent detainees usually did not receive legal advice prior
to trial. Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them,
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and access
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence as well as a right to appeal. Trials were
usually fair; however, there was credible evidence that corruption
influenced some cases. A majority of cases on the magistrate level were
prosecuted by police officers, many of whom had little or no formal
legal training (see Section 3).
Traditional justice systems continued to extensively supplement the
central government judiciary, especially in rural areas, in cases
involving family law, inheritance, and land tenure. However, the
customary law guiding these courts is not codified, thus decisions in
similar cases were often inconsistent. Local chieftains at times
exceeded their mandates and administered harsh punishments. For
example, there were multiple reports that paramount chiefs often judged
criminal cases, such as rape, and that chiefs reportedly ordered rape
victims to marry their attackers, and threatened to impose fines
against or fired section chiefs for allowing opposition political
parties to hold meetings in their chiefdoms (see Sections 2.b. and 5).
The law does not limit the rights associated with a fair trial to
any group; however, there are a number of civil laws and customary laws
that discriminate against women (see Section 5).
During the year cases were dismissed for 68 of 89 former combatants
who fought for the RUF, the rebel group which started the country's 11-
year civil war; the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta;
and the West Side Boys, a splinter group of the AFRC. Of the remaining
defendants, nine were sentenced, and decisions on 12 were reportedly
still pending at year's end. All combatants were represented by a legal
assistance NGO.
In 2004 Freetown port employees severely beat a port authority
official who was investigating corruption. During the trial the port
authority director allegedly bribed all 12 jurors, and the suspects who
had been arrested for the beating were subsequently acquitted and
released. The jurors later were arrested and charged with conspiracy to
impede the cause of justice, but during the year the defendants again
were acquitted, and the case was discharged. No charges were brought
against the jurors.
There were reports that potential witnesses in high-level
corruption cases were intimidated or bribed (see Section 3).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners; however, a journalist was detained briefly during
the year for political reasons (see Section 2.a.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Both the central
government judiciary and customary law courts handled civil complaints;
however, there was evidence that corruption influenced some cases.
Customary law is not codified and decisions in similar cases often were
inconsistent. Administrative and judicial remedies were available for
alleged wrongs, but enforcement was difficult, and there are a number
of civil laws and customary laws that discriminate against women (see
Section 5).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices;
however, there were multiple reports of such interference, particularly
based on political party affiliation.
Although the ruling SLPP enjoyed broad support, the Government
employed informer systems and tried to coerce or forbid membership in
political organizations. There were reports that SLPP members monitored
opposition political party meetings. Civil servants who attended such
meetings risked losing their jobs or government housing (see Section
2.b.). There also were reports that the Government pressured paramount
chiefs (and paramount chiefs in turn pressured subordinate chiefs) to
discourage the activities of opposition political parties in the
provinces, particularly in remote areas (see Section 3).
In March a senior mines monitoring officer in Bo who became a
member of the newly-registered PMDC party was removed from government
housing, which was turned over to an SLPP member. The mines monitor was
transferred to a different office in Makeni and was not given
government housing.
In June the Ministry of Education removed the head teacher of a
primary school in Pujehun from the Government payroll (the head teacher
also was the Pujehun District Chairman for the PMDC). When the teacher
complained, the national education secretary called him in for a
meeting on August 25, during which the teacher claimed that he was told
that he would not be allowed to attend the upcoming dedication ceremony
of his recently refurbished school unless he joined the SLPP. The
teacher, who refused to join the SLPP, had not been paid by year's end.
In June the principal of a girls' secondary school in Bo fired a
teacher after he joined the PMDC.
In June the Nyawa-Leagai paramount chief fired the Nengbema town
(Bo District) chief for attending an All People's Congress (APC)
meeting.
In June the Soro Gbema paramount chief in Pujehun District
suspended four section chiefs for attending a June 10 PMDC meeting.
There were reports that supporters of opposition political parties
also faced other forms of discrimination. Early in the year Ministry of
Lands officials marked a house for demolition that had been built on
chiefdom-owned land. The church leader (a PMDC supporter) who owned the
house claimed that he had prior permission to build on the land. The
house was still marked for demolition at year's end.
There were reports that membership in the ruling SLPP was required
in order to access certain government benefits, particularly micro-
credit and other development assistance. On July 7, a paramount chief
in Kenema district denied a woman micro-credit because she did not
possess an SLPP party card.
In August the chairman of the Kenema District Council denied the
issuance of seed rice to councilors who joined the PMDC.
There were reports that the Government punished family members for
alleged violations by individuals. In late August a young man in Barri
Chiefdom (Pujehun District) was summoned to the paramount chief's
residence for wearing a PMDC tee-shirt. The paramount chief ordered the
man to remove the shirt. When he refused, the paramount chief summoned
the man's mother and threatened that she would be ``dealt with'' if her
son continued to defy him.
In April the father of a PMDC member was fired from his job at the
Pujehun District Council office where he had worked for 26 years after
his son joined the PMDC. The father was fired from a subsequent job at
the Office of National Security in August.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at
times restricted these rights in practice. The press frequently
published stories critical of the Government; however, self-censorship
occurred.
More than 25 newspapers were published in Freetown during the year,
covering a wide spectrum of interests and editorial opinion. Most of
the newspapers were independent, and several were associated with
opposition political parties. Reporting was often politicized and
inaccurate, in large part because of poor journalistic skills,
insufficient resources, and lack of professional ethics. Corruption
among journalists was widespread. The number of newspapers fluctuated
weekly. Newspapers openly and routinely criticized the Government and
its officials, as well as opposition parties, but also libeled
individuals.
Due to the low level of literacy and the relatively high cost of
newspapers and televisions, radio remained the most important medium
for public dissemination of information. Several government and private
radio and television stations broadcast, featuring domestic news
coverage and political commentary. UN Radio provided additional
coverage of news and other current events.
International media could operate freely; they only needed to
register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the
Independent Media Commission (IMC) to obtain a license.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that journalists
were killed; however, security forces harassed and detained
journalists.
In May 2005 five people beat Harry Yansaneh, the acting editor of
the For di People newspaper, who died two and one-half months later
from his injuries. Police detained a parliamentarian, Fatmata Hassan
Komeh, who allegedly ordered and oversaw the beating, and two others,
but released them on bail. Komeh's children, who also were suspects in
the beating, returned to their residence in the United Kingdom. On
August 4, the High Court requested the extradition of Komeh's children;
the extraditions were pending at year's end.
The Public Order Act of 1965 criminalizes both defamatory and
seditious libel; however, the law was rarely applied and only in cases
involving top officials. Punishment for first-time offenders can be up
to three years' imprisonment, and subsequent seditious libel
convictions are punishable by prison terms of up to seven years.
Officials used libel laws to suppress criticism of political or
other leaders, and during the year the Attorney General ordered
security forces to arrest a journalist. On March 20, police detained
for three hours the editor of the Concord Times newspaper, Sahr Musa
Yamba, reportedly to receive a reprimand from the Attorney General.
The IMC regulated independent media organizations; however, it did
not demonstrate independence from government influence. During the
year, the IMC determined that the criminal libel provisions of the
Public Order Act should remain, although many journalists later
complained that the IMC's assessment of public opinion used to make the
recommendation was insufficient.
During the year the paramount chief of Bo reportedly twice
threatened to close a local independent radio station for airing
programs that were critical of the ruling SLPP, although he did not
follow through on the threats. In April the station had hosted a call-
in show to discuss a letter reportedly written by SCSL indictee Hinga
Norman. Callers questioned the authenticity of the letter, which
instructed former kamajor fighters to support the ruling SLPP.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
There were at least five Internet service providers in the country. In
Freetown there were many internet cafes, but few in rural areas due to
infrastructure constraints.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
there were numerous reports that the Government monitored meetings of
opposition political parties. Civil servants who attended such meetings
were at risk of losing their jobs or government housing (see Section
1.f.). Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators. Opposition political
parties also had difficulty obtaining permission from traditional
chiefs to hold meetings, especially in remote areas.
On September 5, the Banderu Chiefdom (Kenema District) section
speaker fined a PMDC member approximately $67 (200,000 leones), five
gallons of palm oil, and one goat for holding a PMDC meeting. The
speaker also declared that the estimated 100 persons who attended the
meeting were no longer allowed to farm or mine on chiefdom lands.
However, the individuals challenged the orders and continued to farm
and mine without interference.
One student demonstrator reportedly died and other students were
injured during a forcible dispersion of demonstrators by police (see
Section 1.d.).
Police were unable to control demonstration violence during the
year, and demonstrators burned police stations (see Section 1.d.).
The trial of 11 persons, who were arrested in November 2005 after a
demonstration in support of Presidential hopeful Charles Margai and
charged with violation of the Public Order Act, was ongoing at year's
end. All those charged remained free on bail at year's end.
There was no progress in the investigation into the death of a 16-
year-old girl who was shot in the mouth during a student protest in
Freetown in March 2005 (see Section 1.d.).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice; however, there were reports that civil servants,
traditional leaders, and others who affiliated with opposition
political parties lost jobs and faced other forms of discrimination
(see Section 1.f.).
The Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) became
operational during the year, and a new political party, the PMDC,
registered. There were reports that members of the new party were
harassed, threatened, and lost their jobs (see Section 1.f.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
discrimination against members of religious groups.
There reportedly was a very small Jewish community, whose leader
was a self-proclaimed rabbi. He reportedly died in November. He had
claimed to have a following of about 20 persons in Makeni and had
applied to the Inter-Religious Council for official recognition of his
group. The application was pending at year's end because the council
had not decided what procedure it would use to register new members.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice;
however, there were reports that police officers who operated security
roadblocks outside of the capital often extorted money from motorists.
The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did
not use it.
The border shared with Liberia was officially open, and authorities
generally permitted refugees, returnees, and other persons to move
regularly between the two countries; however, there were reports that
police, customs, and army personnel demanded bribes at border crossing
points.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Combatants from all sides
targeted civilians during the country's 11-year civil war. Estimates of
the number of IDPs in past years varied from 750,000 to two million
persons.
No officially registered IDPs remained; however, one camp for war-
wounded persons and their families unofficially remained open in
Grafton.
At the end of 2005 the camp population was approximately 520; no
update was available for the reporting period.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol; however, in
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government granted refugee status and asylum and cooperated with the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations in
assisting refugees.
According to UNHCR, during the reporting period the Government did
not provide temporary protection to certain individuals who may not
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
At year's end, according to UNHCR, there were 21,696 Liberian
refugees living in refugee camps in the country and approximately
12,000 Liberian refugees living outside of the camps. There were 5,615
non-Liberian refugees in urban areas, and 302 asylum seekers.
There were reports that Liberian refugees were victims of sexual
abuse. NGO observers noted that refugees were less willing than
previously to pursue cases in court against fellow refugees.
In July a police officer raped a 10-year-old Liberian refugee near
the Liberian border at Zimmi. The trial was ongoing at year's end (see
Section 1.c.).
In February a three-year-old Liberian refugee was raped by another
Liberian refugee in Tobanda Refugee Camp. The case was reported to the
police's Family Support Unit (FSU), but the parties ultimately settled
the case out of court.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through generally free and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage; however, the 2002 and 2004 elections were marred by
numerous reports of irregularities, although many observers judged them
to be generally free and fair. Presidential and parliamentary elections
were scheduled for July 2007, and during the year there were multiple
reports of harassment and intimidation of members of opposition parties
(see Section 1.f.).
Elections and Political Participation.--Eleven political parties
participated in the May 2002 Presidential and parliamentary elections.
President Kabbah of the SLPP was reelected with 70 percent of the
popular vote. The Revolutionary United Front Party, the political
successor to the RUF rebel forces, fielded Presidential and
parliamentary candidates, but it won only 1.7 percent of the vote. In
parliament the SLPP won 83 of the 112 seats; only two other parties
also won seats. Many international monitors declared the elections to
be generally free and fair; however, there were credible reports of
significant abuse of incumbency, uneven voter registration,
manipulation of vote counting, and partisan action by the National
Electoral Commission (NEC). There also were reports of voter coercion
by party bosses and traditional leaders.
In May 2004 the first local elections in 32 years were held.
International and domestic monitors judged them to be generally free
and fair at the time; however, evidence of widespread electoral fraud
by both the SLPP and the APC emerged after voter turnout numbers were
analyzed and found in many districts to exceed the number of registered
voters. A UNAMSIL electoral consultant concluded, however, that the
fraud did not alter the outcome of the elections because it was equally
spread across party lines.
During the year the NEC continued to make preparations for the
scheduled 2007 Presidential and parliamentary elections, including
delimiting electoral boundaries for the first time since 1985. On
November 30, parliament approved the NEC's report on the Electoral
Constituency Boundaries Delimitation Process that stipulated that
parliamentary elections again be constituency-based contests. However,
its ability to restrict perceived government abuses in the election
process was limited. On August 12, representatives from the Ministry of
Local government conducted an election of the paramount chief of Biriwa
chiefdom despite a public objection by the NEC, which had monitored
chiefdom elections since 2002. The NEC objected to the conduct of the
election because there was a dispute over the ministry's alteration of
the register of tribal authorities and a risk of violence between the
majority Limbas and minority Mandingos in the chiefdom. The sole
candidate and winner of the government-run elections was an ethnic
Mandingo, the same tribe as that of the President (see Section 5).
Although there were no formal government restrictions on the
political opposition, the incumbent party enjoyed significant
advantages, and there were numerous reports that members of opposition
parties were denied government jobs and government benefits (see
Section 1.f.).
The PPRC became operational during the year; however, its
activities were severely limited by a lack of capacity. The PPRC
chairman resigned in August after an extended medical leave. The
President swore in a replacement and on November 23, the PPRC issued a
code of conduct for political parties; however, by year's end, no
political party had been sanctioned for inappropriate behavior in spite
of widespread complaints of abuse, particularly by the ruling SLPP.
Individuals and political parties could freely declare their
candidacies and stand for election; however, it was sometimes difficult
to do so in another political party's stronghold.
A parallel unit of local government is the paramount chief, who is
elected for a life term. Candidates for the position are limited to
members of local ruling houses. Only tribal authorities (i.e., those
who collected local taxes from at least 20 taxpayers) were allowed to
vote for paramount chief, and in the north only men could be designated
as tribal authorities. Although paramount chiefs' authority exists
independently of the central government and local councils, they
frequently displayed party affiliations and were influenced by the
party in power. The election of paramount chiefs at times exacerbated
ethnic tensions.
There were 16 women in the 112-seat parliament, three women in the
28-minister cabinet, three women out of 13 deputy ministers, four
female judges out of seven judges on the High Court, and three out of
six judges on the Court of Appeal. A significant number of women worked
as civil servants.
Only citizens can vote, and the Citizenship Act restricts the
acquisition of citizenship at birth to persons of ``patrilineal Negro-
African descent.'' Legal requirements for naturalization effectively
denied citizenship to many long-term residents, and a large number of
persons of Lebanese ancestry, who were born and resided in the country,
could not vote (see Section 5). While a small percentage of the
Lebanese population was naturalized and voted, others insisted that
naturalization implied second-class citizenship and rejected it.
Ethnic affiliations have traditionally been a strong influence in
political party membership for the country's two dominant ethnic
groups, the Mende and Temne, each of which include approximately 30
percent of the population. The Mende have traditionally supported the
ruling SLPP and the Temne the opposition All People's Congress (APC).
Other than ethnic Limbas, the third most populous ethnic group who have
traditionally supported the APC, the country's other ethnic minority
groups have no strong political party affiliations (see Section 5).
Ethnic groups were well-represented in the SLPP government cabinet:
seven members of the 28-minister cabinet were Mende, 12 members were
Temne, and nine members belonged to other minorities. There were eight
ethnic groups represented in the 112-seat parliament, 41 percent of
whose members were Mende, 30 percent Temne, and the remainder other
minorities.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches was common. Official
corruption was exacerbated by low salaries and a lack of
accountability. Since the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) inception
in July 2000, approximately 10 percent of the 560 cases investigated
were charged to court. Of the 54 cases referred to court, 29 resulted
in convictions. Defendants included a former minister of transport and
communications, a former accountant general, a former permanent
secretary for the ministry of trade, and the former Sierra Leone Ports
Authority (SLPA) chairman and managing director.
In the SLPA case, six of the principal local witnesses in the case
did not testify because they had left the country, reportedly because
they were bribed to do so. The man who sold the forklift to the
principal accused in an allegedly fraudulent transaction never came to
the country to testify, reportedly because he was intimidated from
testifying. The forklift case was the only corruption case involving
high-level officials that was prosecuted in court during the year.
During the year the ACC continued its focus on prevention by
sponsoring ``integrity clubs'' at 21 schools across the country, and
anticorruption community theater performances in 64 communities to help
citizens identify and discuss corrupt practices that prevailed in their
communities. The ACC continued to focus on improving transparency in
ministries where opportunities for corruption were most pronounced. The
President continued to publicly support the ACC, but some observers
complained that the work of the ACC's investigations department was
politicized, ineffective, and that there was a lack of political will
to prosecute.
There is no provision in the law for public access to government
information; however, the Government at times provided access to both
citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated with few government restrictions, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The National Forum for Human Rights (NFHR) served as an umbrella
organization for human rights groups in the country. There were 41
human rights NGOs registered with the NFHR at the end of 2005 (the most
recent statistic available), and all reportedly were active. Most
domestic human rights NGOs focused on human rights education. A few
NGOs, including the Campaign for Good Governance, the Lawyers' Center
for Legal Assistance, and Access to Justice, actively monitored and
reported on human rights abuses.
Human rights monitors traveled freely throughout the country.
Representatives of international NGOs, foreign diplomats, the ICRC, and
UN human rights officers were able to monitor trials and to visit
prisons and custodial facilities during the year; however, Prison
Watch, a local human rights NGO, claimed that the director of prisons
denied it access to some prison facilities, despite having written
permission from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in part because of
the critical nature of the NGO's previous reports.
UNIOSIL, a UN peacebuilding mission, replaced the UNAMSIL
peacekeeping mission at the end of 2005. According to the UN, the
mandate of UNIOSIL's Human Rights and Rule of Law section is to assist
the Government ``in building the capacity of state institutions to
address the root causes of the conflict, developing a national plan for
human rights, establishing the National Human Rights Commission, and
strengthening the capacity of rule of law institutions through
training.''
The UN Secretary General's first report on UNIOSIL, issued on April
28, criticized the Government in a number of areas, including a
perception that the Government was taking a heavy-handed approach in
dealing with the political opposition, and not making sufficient
progress in anticorruption efforts. On June 21, President Kabbah issued
a statement expressing his resolve to tackle a number of negative
trends in the country.
On October 3, parliament confirmed five representatives for the
newly-established Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone, who were
sworn in on December 11. The commissioners convened several meetings to
discuss logistical matters.
The Parliamentary Human Rights Committee took a proactive role in
protecting human rights during the year. It operated without government
or party interference. The committee's resources were limited but it
received support from the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Human Rights Committee was one
of the most effective oversight committees in parliament, and it
enjoyed government cooperation.
The committee also promoted the passage of legislation on women's
and children's rights.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was established in 2002
to try those who ``bear the greatest responsibility for the commission
of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and serious violations of
international humanitarian law.''
In 2003 the SCSL indicted 13 persons, including former Liberian
President Charles Taylor, who had accepted an offer of asylum in
Nigeria in 2003. All of those indicted were charged with crimes against
humanity, violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and
of Additional Protocol II, and other serious violations of
international humanitarian law. Specific charges included murder, rape,
extermination, acts of terror, sexual slavery, conscription of children
into an armed force, attacks on UN peacekeepers, and looting and
burning of homes from 1997 to 1999.
On March 29, four days after the Government of Nigeria declared
that the Government of Liberia was free to take him into custody,
Nigerian security forces arrested Taylor while he was attempting to
flee Nigeria. Taylor was escorted to Monrovia and UN forces then
transferred him to the SCSL in Freetown. On April 3, during his
arraignment, Taylor pled not guilty to an amended 11-count indictment.
On June 20, he was transferred to The Hague, The Netherlands due to
security concerns. At year's end, the SCSL was making preparations to
begin Taylor's trial at The Hague in June 2007.
Trials began in March 2005 of AFRC leaders Alex Tamba Brima, Brima
Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbor Kanu, and in June 2004 of Civil
Defense Force (CDF) leaders Sam Hinga Norman, Moinina Fofana, and
Allieu Kondewa. The trial phase for both the AFRC and the CDF
concluded, and the justices were writing their verdicts at year's end.
Trials of RUF leaders Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao,
begun in July 2004, were ongoing at year's end. The prosecution in the
RUF cases had concluded its case, but the defense phase had not begun
by year's end.
In 2004 the TRC, established in 2002 to provide a forum for
publicly airing the grievances of victims and the confessions of
perpetrators during the civil war, completed its activities and
delivered its final report and recommendations to the Government. In
August 2005 the full version of the final report was distributed to the
public. The report contained a separate child-friendly version, since
children played such large roles as both victims and perpetrators of
violence during the war. The report concluded that years of bad
governance, endemic corruption, and denial of basic human rights
created the conditions that made the conflict inevitable. The
commission offered a number of recommendations on legal, political, and
administrative reforms, including elimination of the death penalty. In
June 2005 the Government released a White Paper accepting some and
rejecting or ignoring other recommendations. Members of civil society
groups criticized the Government's response and called the White Paper
too vague. UNIOSIL collaborated with district human rights committees
to disseminate the TRC final report countrywide, but by year's end, the
Government had made little progress in addressing any of the report's
recommendations, claiming insufficient funds to implement them.
The UN and numerous NGOs, both domestic and international,
continued to educate and sensitize the population about the TRC and the
SCSL, and the Government generally supported these efforts.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, tribe, sex,
place of origin, political opinions, color (although citizenship is
generally limited to persons of ``patrilineal Negro-African descent''),
or creed; however, the Government did not effectively enforce these
provisions, and a number of legal acts and customary law contravene
these constitutional provisions.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence,
and the Government rarely enforced provisions in the 1861 Offenses
Against the Persons Act, or the Public Order Offenses Act Number 32 of
1965, the most recent relevant legislation, for violent acts against
women. Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating and
forced intercourse, was common. These crimes reportedly occurred more
frequently in the northern provinces but were prevalent throughout the
country. The police were unlikely to intervene in domestic disputes
except in cases involving severe injury or death. No figures were
available on prosecutions, convictions, or punishment for domestic
violence; however, police commanders indicated that these types of
crime were not frequently reported to the SLP. Women suspected of
marital infidelity often were subjected to physical abuse; frequently,
women were beaten until they divulged the names of their partners.
Because husbands could claim monetary indemnities from their wives'
partners, beatings often continued until the women named several men,
even if there were no such relationships. There also were reports that
women suspected of infidelity were required to undergo animistic
rituals to prove their innocence.
In 2000 the Government established the Family Support Units (FSUs)
to deal particularly with gender-based violence. The SLP had FSU
offices at 18 police stations around the country. Some international
NGOs complained that the FSUs lacked basic infrastructure and
communications support, and that FSU officers often told women victims
simply to go back to their families, to the chief, or to simply survive
on their own; however, the UN reported that the FSUs played a leading
role in investigating cases of violence against women and children.
They also engaged in community education and sensitization through
radio and television programs.
The law prohibits rape, which was punishable by up to 14 years'
imprisonment; however, rape was common and viewed as a societal
problem. The law did not specifically prohibit spousal rape. Rape cases
frequently were settled out of court, and rape victims sometimes were
ordered to marry their attackers. Cases of rape were underreported and
indictments were rare, especially in rural areas; this reluctance to
pursue justice for women, combined with a lack of income and economic
independence, helped perpetuate a cycle of violence and a culture of
impunity for violence against women. Since the establishment of the
FSUs, however, reports of rapes, especially involving child victims,
steadily increased. The FSUs reported that 65 percent of rape cases
reported during the year involved girls under the age of 18. Rapes were
documented of children as young as a few months old. Most perpetrators
were known to their victims, and included teachers, family friends,
relatives, and neighbors.
Medical and psychological services for rape victims were very
limited. The country has only one psychologist. Rape victims were
required to obtain a medical report to file charges; however,
government doctors charged $20 (approximately 50,000 leones) for such
an exam, which was prohibitively expensive for most victims. During the
year the Ministry of Social Welfare concluded agreements with doctors
at some government hospitals to waive the fee. The International Rescue
Committee (IRC) ran centers in Freetown, Kenema, and Koidu to perform
medical examinations, provide counseling for victims of sexual assault,
and offer legal assistance for victims who wanted to prosecute their
cases; however, most cases did not make it to trial because of
inefficiencies in the judicial system. During the year some
improvements were made for the protection of victims in court. Although
perpetrators had the opportunity to cross-examine victims directly,
judges more frequently heard such cases privately in their chambers.
No law prohibits FGM, and it was practiced widely. Even some
prominent government officials continued to openly support the
practice. The less severe form of excision was practiced. The UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other groups estimated that 80 to 90
percent of women and girls had been victims of the practice; however,
some local groups believed that this figure was overstated. FGM was
practiced on girls as young as five years old.
In December 2005 the country was one of 19 African countries to
adopt the Dakar Declaration during the African Parliamentary Conference
focused on ending violence against women. The declaration calls for the
development of legislation to outlaw FGM, and a national action plan
with sufficient resources allocated to help implement it. During the
year the Government took no action to combat the practice.
Although a number of NGOs worked to eradicate FGM and to inform the
public about its harmful health effects, active resistance by women's
secret societies, in which FGM commonly occurred as part of initiation
rites, hindered efforts to stop the practice. However, there was
progress in reducing the practice. An anti-FGM NGO reported that by
year's end, 1,800 digbas (practitioners) had agreed to ``lay down their
knives.'' The NGO found that many practitioners still engaged in the
practice because it represented their sole source of income, so
multiple programs were created to help former practitioners find
alternative sources of income.
Although police occasionally detained practitioners on accusations
of forced mutilation or manslaughter, human rights workers reported
that police remained hesitant to interfere in cultural practices.
Unlike during the previous year, there were no reports that girls
had died following circumcision ceremonies; however, no arrests were
made by year's end in connection with such deaths reported in 2004 and
2005.
Prostitution was widespread and not prohibited by law; however,
prostitutes sometimes were arrested and charged with loitering or
vagrancy. Many women and girls, particularly those displaced from their
homes and with few resources, resorted to prostitution to support
themselves and their children. There were indications that the presence
of pimps was an emerging trend. On March 25, a former combatant acting
as a pimp beat a prostitute in Freetown. Young men in the area stopped
the man before he stabbed her, and police arrested him. The matter was
not referred to court in part because the prostitute intervened on his
behalf.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is not specifically prohibited by law and it was
widespread. In 2002 a women's parliamentary conference identified
sexual harassment as a barrier to women standing for office.
The law provides for equal rights for women; however, in practice
women faced both widespread legal and societal discrimination. They
faced discrimination in matters of marriage, divorce, property, and
inheritance, which are guided by customary law, which applies in all
areas except for the capital, Freetown. Chiefs sometimes colluded with
men to forcibly evict women and children from their homes or subject
them to arbitrary detention. In some cases chiefs imposed arbitrary and
exorbitant fines, imprisoned women unlawfully in their homes or
``chiefdom jails,'' and expelled them from the community. Their rights
and status under customary law varied significantly depending upon the
ethnic group to which they belonged, but was routinely inferior to that
of men. Under customary law women's status in society is equal to that
of a minor. A woman was frequently perceived to be the property of her
husband, to be inherited on his death with his other property. In rural
areas, polygyny was widespread. All women in the Western (Freetown)
Area, which is governed by general law, had a statutory right to own
property in their own names. Women in the provinces, which are governed
by customary laws that vary from chiefdom to chiefdom, did not.
As an example of discriminatory practices common in local courts,
during the year a husband sued his wife in a chiefdom court after she
had refused to have sex with him and filed for divorce. The woman was
fined approximately $230 (685,000 leones). The woman's brother, who
took her in after she left, was fined approximately $85 (250,000
leones) for taking the woman in without her husband's consent (see
Section 1.e.).
In the Temne ethnic group, women could not become paramount chiefs,
subordinate chiefs, or chiefdom authorities; however, in the Mende
tribe, there were several such female leaders. Women did not have equal
access to education, economic opportunities, health facilities, or
social freedoms. In rural areas women performed much of the subsistence
farming and had little opportunity for formal education.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs has a
mandate to protect the rights of women; however, the ministry was
underfinanced and relied on the assistance of international
organizations and NGOs to help combat women's rights violations.
Women were active in civic and philanthropic organizations.
Domestic NGOs, such as 50/50, the Forum for African Women
Educationalists (FAWE), and Women's Forum raised awareness of the lack
of gender equality and other women's issues, and they encouraged women
to enter politics as candidates for parliament.
Children.--The Government was committed to improving children's
education and welfare; however, it lacked the means to provide them
with basic education and health services.
Public education is available up to the university level. The law
requires school attendance through primary school. Primary school
education is tuition-free countrywide and secondary school education is
tuition-free for girls in the North. However, many parents are unable
to put their children through primary school because they cannot afford
school uniforms, books, and other fees charged by school authorities.
Only 41 percent of primary school-aged children were enrolled in
school, according to UNICEF, and many enrolled did not attend. Schools,
clinics, and hospitals throughout the country were looted and destroyed
during the 11-year insurgency, but the majority had been rebuilt. Many
children received little or no formal education. Formal and informal
fees largely financed schools, but many families could not afford to
pay them. The average educational level for girls was markedly below
that of boys, and only 20 percent of women were literate. At the one
university, male students predominated.
Government medical care was extremely limited throughout the
country, but boys and girls had equal access.
Sexual violence against children was a problem. There were reports
that children as young as three months old were raped.
FGM was commonly performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
Child prostitution was a problem (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor, including forced child labor, occurred. According to
the International Trade Union Confederation, an estimated 72 percent of
children between the ages of five and 14 were engaged in some form of
child labor (see Section 6.d.).
The number and plight of street children were problems.
Trafficking in Persons.--The 2005 law prohibits trafficking in
persons (TIP); however, there were reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country.
A number of government agencies are responsible for combating
trafficking, including the SLP, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and
Children's Affairs, the Immigration Department, and the Office of
National Security. The Government assisted in reintegrating trafficking
victims when requested; however, there were no known requests for
assistance with international investigations or extraditions.
The country continued to be a source, transit point, and
destination for internationally trafficked persons. The majority of
victims were women and the majority of traffickers were thought to be
family members or friends who lured victims from their home villages
with false promises of education, caretaking, or employment. There was
no evidence of trafficking through employment agencies, organized
crime, or marriage brokers.
There were no specific figures on the number of persons trafficked.
However, anecdotal reports indicated the following: women and children
were trafficked from the provinces to work in the capital as laborers
and commercial sex workers and to diamond areas for labor and sex work;
persons were trafficked from neighboring countries for domestic and
street labor and for commercial sex work; persons were trafficked out
of the country to destinations in west Africa, including Liberia,
Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia for labor
and sex work; persons were also trafficked to Lebanon, Europe, and
North America; and the country served as a transit point for persons
trafficked from elsewhere in west Africa and possibly the Middle East.
A person convicted of trafficking can be sentenced to up to 10
years in prison. During the year a woman from Goderich was convicted of
trafficking and sentenced to five years in prison. This was the first
conviction under the new antitrafficking law, and occurred in a
community whose parliamentary representative--also a member of the
Parliamentary Human Rights Committee--had hosted a training session on
trafficking for members of the community. Concerned community members
had reported the woman's actions to the police. During the year there
were approximately four TIP cases charged to court.
Document fraud was common and there were frequent reports that
government registry officials, police, immigration officials, and
border guards accepted bribes. Although there was no proof that forged
documents were used to facilitate trafficking, low-level government
officials who forged documents such as birth, marriage, and death
certificates rarely suffered punishment.
During the year the Government held the first meetings of the
Inter-Ministerial Committee and the TIP (Anti-Trafficking) Task Force
as called for by the Anti-Trafficking Act. In July the minister of
Social Welfare signed an ECOWAS/ECCAS (the West and Central African
regional economic groupings) plan of action and multilateral
cooperation agreement against trafficking in persons. In August the TIP
Task Force attended an ECOWAS-sponsored two-day session to discuss the
creation of a national action plan.
Government officials continued to work with NGOs on trafficking-
related issues and attended NGO training sessions on trafficking. The
Ministry of Social Welfare and the SLP publicly supported NGOs'
antitrafficking efforts.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities.
No law mandates accessibility to buildings or assistance to disabled
persons. There was no government policy or program to assist persons
with disabilities; public facility access and discrimination against
persons with disabilities were not considered public policy priorities.
A few private agencies and organizations provided job training for such
persons.
There was no outright discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services; however, given the high rate of
general unemployment, work opportunities for persons with disabilities
were few.
Despite the sizeable numbers of persons disabled by polio, there
was little government assistance to this group. In 2004 the SLP evicted
without notice residents at a facility for polio victims.
Some of the many individuals maimed in the civil war, or who had
their limbs amputated by rebel forces, received special assistance from
local and international humanitarian organizations. Such programs
involved reconstructive surgery, prostheses, and vocational training to
help victims acquire new work skills; however, amputees complained that
they did not receive sufficient assistance compared to former
combatants, who received aid through the demobilization process. In its
White Paper reply to the recommendations of the final TRC report, the
Government accepted in principle the need to develop an aid program for
war wounded, amputees, and victims of sexual violence; however,
assistance to these groups remained limited and mostly funded by
outside entities. An amputee representative in Kenema said that
amputees from his region did not receive benefits commensurate with
those received by amputees in Freetown. An amputee representative in
Pujehun complained that the chairman of the Pujehun District Council
refused to release a shipment of clothing and medicine meant for
amputees, because the amputees were opposition PMDC party members (see
Section 1.f.).
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The ethnically diverse
population consists of about 18 ethnic groups of African origin, many
of whom speak distinct primary languages and who were concentrated
outside urban areas. In addition there are significant Lebanese and
Indian minorities, and small groups of European and Pakistani origin.
Little ethnic segregation was apparent in urban areas, where
interethnic marriage was common. The two largest ethnic groups were the
Temne in the North and the Mende in the South. These groups each
constituted an estimated 30 percent of the population; however, the
Krio, who constituted 10 percent of the population, have historically
dominated the civil service and judiciary. Strong ethnic loyalties,
bias, and stereotypes existed among all ethnic groups. The Temne and
Mende have historically vied for political power, and the violence
during the 11-year civil war had some ethnic undertones. For example,
the Minorities At Risk Project reported that although the RUF did not
specifically advocate for Temne issues, ethnic Temnes predominated in
the RUF leadership and ranks. After the SLPP victory in the 1996
elections, the RUF objected to what they claimed was Mende hegemony and
that the Mende-dominated SLPP government used ethnic criteria in
appointing ministers to marginalize non-Mendes. Although the SLPP
actively worked to counter this perception (President Kabbah is
Mandingo), most citizens viewed the SLPP as a predominantly Mende
party. However, during the year Temne cabinet ministers outnumbered
Mende ministers. Ethnic loyalty remained an important factor in the
Government, armed forces, and business. Complaints of ethnic
discrimination in government appointments, contract assignment, and
military promotions were common.
On August 11, as many as 14 persons were injured in a clash between
ethnic Limbas and Mandingos in a dispute over paramount chieftaincy
elections in Biriwa chiefdom. Prior to the election, the Ministry of
Local government altered the voters' list to add new tribal authorities
(all Mandingo) and removed others (nearly all Limba ceremonial chiefs).
The Limbas protested and ultimately refused to participate in the
election, so the sole candidate, a Mandingo, later won in an election
run by the Ministry of Local government over the protest of the NEC.
After the election, the Limbas selected their own alternate paramount
chief, and the matter was still in dispute at year's end (see Section
3).
Residents of non-African descent faced institutionalized political
restrictions (see Section 3). Legal requirements for naturalization,
such as continuous residence in the country for 15 years, or the past
12 months and 15 of the previous 20 years, effectively denied
citizenship to many locally born residents, most notably members of the
Lebanese community.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no official
discrimination against HIV/AIDS positive persons; however, persons with
HIV/AIDS were stigmatized in society.
The law prohibits homosexual acts, and there was both official and
societal discrimination based on sexual orientation. In November 2005
the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs
condemned same-sex marriage at an Inter-Religious Council meeting.
In 2004 prominent gay activist Fannyann Eddy was killed in her
office. The activist's recently-dismissed domestic employee was
arrested and charged with the crime. In July 2005 the defendant, along
with approximately 24 other prisoners, escaped custody. At year's end,
the defendant was still at large.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to join unions
of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements; however, police and members of the armed services are
prohibited from joining unions. The law also allows workers to form
unions, although restrictions exist. Approximately 30 to 60 percent of
the workers in the formal sector in urban areas, including government
workers, were unionized, but attempts to organize agricultural workers
and mineworkers have met with little success. In general labor unions
joined the Sierra Leone Labor Congress (SLLC), but membership was
voluntary. There were no reliable statistics on union membership.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination against union
members and does not prohibit employer interference in the
establishment of unions; however, during the year there were no reports
of such occurrences. Complaints of discrimination against trade unions
could be made to a labor tribunal, for example, by an employee fired
for union activities and seeking reinstatement; there were no reports
of such complaints during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government generally protected this right; however, by year's end the
Government had not granted a bargaining certificate to the Civil
Servant's Union, whose application had been on file since 1986. The law
provides for collective bargaining, and the Government protected this
right in practice. Collective bargaining must take place in trade group
negotiating councils, each of which had an equal number of employer and
worker representatives. Collective bargaining was widespread in the
formal sector, and most enterprises were covered by collective
bargaining agreements on wages and working conditions. Unions have the
right to strike, although the Government could require 21 days' notice,
and workers exercised this right in practice. No law prohibits
retaliation against strikers, even for a lawful strike. The Government
did not take action against strikers during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Under the Chiefdom's
Council Act, individual chiefs may impose forced labor as punishment
and have done so in the past; however, there were no reported
occurrences during the year. They also may require villagers to
contribute to the improvement of common areas, a practice that occurred
in rural areas. There is no penalty for noncompliance; however, in
March approximately 30 young men from two communities in Bumpe Chiefdom
(Bo District) were fined approximately $100 (300,000 leones) each and
incarcerated for three days because they had not assisted with a
community road construction project.
There were reports of bonded labor in rural areas, and debt bondage
was common among the thousands of alluvial diamond diggers and miners.
Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see Section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law, and child labor
remained a problem due to strong tradition and high levels of extreme
poverty--defined as income of less than $1 (3,000 leones) a day--which
averaged 80 percent in rural areas. By year's end, the parliament had
not passed the draft omnibus domestic legislation to combat child
labor, modeled on the UN's International Bill of Rights for Children.
The Ministry of Mineral Resources enforced regulatory prohibitions
against the worst forms of child labor. The ministry also was charged
with protecting children working in the diamond mining areas; however,
enforcement was not effective.
The law allows children as young as 12 to engage in ``light''
labor, and employers have the authority to determine working hours.
The law does not limit working hours for children; however, it does
set health and safety standards. The law requires school attendance
through the age of 12, but the Government did not enforce this.
In rural areas children worked seasonally on family subsistence
farms. Children also routinely assisted in family businesses and worked
as petty vendors. Adults engaged a large number of street children to
sell, steal, and beg. Because the adult unemployment rate remained
high, few children were involved in the industrial sector or elsewhere
in the formal economy.
There were reports that foreign employers hired local children to
work as domestic laborers outside the country at extremely low wages
and in poor conditions. The Ministry of Social Welfare was responsible
for reviewing the issuance of passports to minors, but did not do so
effectively, and the prevalence of document fraud made effective
government oversight difficult.
There were reports that children whose parents sent them to friends
or relatives in urban areas for education were forced to work on the
street. There also were reports that adults asked orphanages for
children to be used as household help.
Many girls, particularly those displaced from their homes and with
few resources, resorted to prostitution as a means to support
themselves (see Section 5).
Children continued to work in alluvial diamond mining, particularly
in areas that were less accessible to government monitors. In many
cases, children worked alongside parents or relatives. Children who
engaged in diamond mining often abandoned educational or vocational
training. According to an International Rescue Committee report
completed in 2006 entitled, ``Child Labor and Education in Sierra
Leone: Needs and Resource Assessment in Targeted Communities,'' the
work was inherently exploitative.
Bonded child labor was not prevalent in alluvial diamond mining.
Some of the children who were hired by employers outside the country
may have been victims of trafficking (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Labor was responsible for enforcing child labor
laws. Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources mine monitoring officers
did not effectively enforce rules against child mining in diamond
mining areas.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage,
covering all occupations, including in the informal sector, was set at
$14 (40,000 leones) per month, which did not provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor is responsible
for enforcing the minimum wage, but it lacked the resources to
effectively do so, and compliance was very difficult to monitor in the
informal sector. Most workers supported an extended family, often
including relatives who had been displaced by the insurgency in the
countryside. It was common to pool incomes and to supplement wages with
subsistence farming and child labor (see Section 6.d.).
Although not stipulated by law, the standard workweek was 40 hours
(60 hours for security personnel). Employers negotiated work hours with
employees at the time of hiring, and overtime was to be paid if an
employee's work hours exceeded the standard workweek. There was no
prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.
The Ministry of Health and Sanitation was responsible for setting
and enforcing health and safety standards. Although the Government set
these standards, it lacked the funding to properly enforce them. Trade
unions provided the only protection for workers who filed complaints
about working conditions. Initially, a union could make a formal
complaint about a hazardous working condition; if this complaint was
rejected, the union could issue a 21-day strike notice; however, no
such actions were reported during the year. If workers were to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations without making a formal
complaint, they risked being fired.
The law protects both foreign and domestic workers; however, there
were fewer protections for illegal foreign workers.
__________
SOMALIA
Somalia,\1\ with an estimated population of 8.5 million, has been
without a central government since 1991. From June to December the area
that was traditionally considered the territory of the Somali state was
fragmented into regions in part or whole presided over by four distinct
entities: the Transitional Federal government (TFG), centered around
Baidoa; the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (Islamic Courts) in
Mogadishu and the surrounding regions; the self-declared Republic of
Somaliland in the northwest; and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland
in the northeast. The TFG was formed in late 2004, with Abdullahi Yusuf
Ahmed as President and Ali Mohamed Gedi as prime minister.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\The United States does not have diplomatic representation in
Somalia, nor were U.S. Government personnel permitted to travel into
any of the territory of the former state of Somalia during the year.
This report draws in large part on non-US Government sources.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Civilian authorities generally did not maintain effective control
of the security forces in any area of the country, although elected
civilian authorities in Somaliland and Puntland maintained some control
over security forces in their respective regions.
In January TFG President Yusuf and former Speaker of Parliament
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan agreed to unite the Government by convening
the 275-member clan-based Parliament. In February the TFG moved to
Baidoa and the Parliament held its first session; however, TFG unity
was short-lived due to continuing divisions within the Government and a
subsequent military conflict with the Islamic Courts. In February a
group of ministers of the TFG, businessmen, and faction leaders
announced the formation of the Alliance for Restoration of Peace and
Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) to fight terrorism and stabilize the country.
Fighting between warlords associated with the ARPCT and the Islamic
Courts escalated until June, when the Islamic Courts succeeded in their
military takeover of Mogadishu. NGOs reported that more than 350
civilians were killed in the fighting, and thousands were wounded. In
December Ethiopian forces entered the country in support of the TFG,
resulting in the withdrawal of the Islamic Courts from Mogadishu and
the complete breakdown of the Islamic Courts as an entity. The TFG
extended its territorial control to Mogadishu. Sporadic fighting
between the Islamic Courts and Ethiopian forces supporting the TFG was
continuing at year's end, primarily in remote areas of southern Somalia
near the Kenyan border.
The country's poor human rights situation deteriorated further
during the year, exacerbated by the absence of effective governance
institutions or the rule of law, the widespread availability of small
arms, and ongoing conflicts. The larger clans had armed militias at
their disposal; personal quarrels, clan disputes, and other minor
disputes frequently escalated into killings (with impunity from legal
accountability).
The following human rights abuses were reported during the year:
abridgment of citizens' right to change their government; unlawful and
politically motivated killings; kidnapping, torture, rape, and
beatings; harsh and life threatening prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention; impunity; denial of fair trial; limited privacy
rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly,
association, religion, and movement; discrimination and violence
against women, including rapes; female genital mutilation (FGM); child
abuse; recruitment of child soldiers; trafficking in persons; abuse and
discrimination against clan and religious minorities; restrictions on
workers' rights; forced labor, including by children; and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Since the collapse
of the Government in 1991, tens of thousands of persons, mostly
noncombatants, have died in interfactional and interclan fighting.
Incidents of arbitrary deprivation of life occurred in numerous
contexts: factional militias fighting for political power and control
of territory and resources, including revenge reprisals; criminal
activities and banditry; private disputes over property and marriage;
and revenge vendettas after such incidents as rapes, family
disagreements, and abductions. The vast majority of killings during the
year resulted from clashes between militias or from unlawful militia
activities. With the breakdown of law and order, very few of these
cases were investigated by the authorities and there were few reports
that they resulted in formal action by the local justice system.
In February Puntland security forces attacked the Puntland
parliament building in Garowe in response to the seizure of the
building by the personal militia of a cabinet member; four persons were
killed.
In May elders of a minority group accused the Somaliland police of
unlawfully killing a member of their clan. In a subsequent protest,
police allegedly used excessive force to break up the demonstration. In
July police shot and killed a prisoner in Bossaso for allegedly
attempting to jump bail.
Security forces killed street children. At least two incidents were
reported during the year of shoe-shine boys shot and killed by militia
members or soldiers as a result of disputes over payment.
In September forces aligned with the Islamic Courts shot and killed
a teenage boy during a protest against the Islamic Courts following its
takeover of the port city of Kismaayo. In October forces aligned with
the Islamic Courts killed three wounded prisoners of war in the Buale
District Hospital.
Several deaths during the year were the result of random shooting
by Islamic Courts militia as they attempted to impose strict social
edicts, such as a ban on viewing televised soccer matches within the
territory they controlled. In July at a cinema hall in Galgadud, shots
fired by Islamic Courts militia killed two spectators watching a World
Cup soccer match.
In May Omar Hussein was publicly executed in Mogadishu by the
Islamic Courts. Hussein was tied to a stake, hooded, and stabbed to
death by the 16-year-old son of the man he was convicted of killing; he
had been sentenced to death only hours earlier by one of the Islamic
Courts.
Excessive use of force by Islamic Courts militia resulted in the
deaths of demonstrators during the year (see Section 2.b.).
During the year hundreds of civilians were killed in inter- or
intra-clan militia clashes. In January nine persons were killed in
fighting between the Wagardha and Rer Kosheen subclans of the Marehan.
In the same month fighting between two factions within the Warsengeli
subclan of the Abgal resulted in 13 dead and 30 wounded in Mogadishu.
In January fighting between the Sa'ad and Suleiman subclans of the
Haber Gedir left 41 dead and 89 wounded. In February fighting between
the Marehan and Reer Beidyahan, triggered by a dispute over grazing
rights, resulted in 60 killed and 70 wounded. Also that month, in a
dispute over water rights, fighting between the Beidyahan, a subclan of
the Majerteen, and the Eli of the Marehan, a subclan of the Darood, was
reported to have left approximately 70 killed and more than 100
wounded. In March a 13-year-old boy was whipped to death by the Ifka
Halan Islamic Court in Mogadishu for allegedly stealing from his
employer. In April, in a dispute over control of a mobile phone
company, seven persons were killed and four wounded in fighting between
the Dabare and Geledle subclans of the Rahanweyn. In May three persons
were killed and four wounded in fighting between the Hawadle and
Murosade subclans of the Hawiye over water and grazing rights. In July
fighting between the Walinwayne (a subclan of the Rahanweyn) and the
Gadsan (a Dir subclan) resulted in four dead and six wounded. Repeated
fighting throughout the year between the Bogol-Hore and Jilible
subclans of the Rahanweyn over land rights and charcoal rights resulted
in scores of deaths and casualties. In September, 21 persons reportedly
died and 28 were wounded as Marehan and Suleiman subclans clashed over
pasture and water in Galgadud region. In October six persons were
killed and 10 wounded in fighting over camels between the Jilible and
Bogol-Hore subclans of the Mirifle in Bakool region.
Clan militias were also responsible for the deaths of children. For
example, in June, in Baidoa district, three girls under the age of 18
were killed by clan militia avenging the death of a relative.
No action was taken against the responsible members of the security
forces or militias who committed killings in 2005 or 2004, nor were
there any developments in the reported killings due to inter- or intra-
clan fighting in prior years.
Landmines throughout the country resulted in human and livestock
casualties, denial of pastoral and cultivable land, and road closures,
although the number of new mine or unexploded ordinance casualties
appears to have been smaller than the 276 recorded in 2005. The
nongovernmental organization (NGO) Landmine Monitor project reported
that anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines were available in the
country and could be bought at weapons markets in Mogadishu and other
towns, and various factions used anti-personnel mines throughout the
country. In January an explosive device at a school in Mogadishu
reportedly killed two children and wounded five. In March one boy was
killed and another wounded in the Bakool region while playing with
unexploded ordinance they had found. By the end of April, centers
supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had
treated six persons injured by mines or unexploded ordinance. In May a
landmine exploded in the Togdheer region injuring three children. That
month the UN arms embargo monitoring group reported that the Government
of Eritrea had delivered 1,000 antipersonnel mines to the Islamic
Courts. In October 2005 the UN monitoring group reported that members
of the TFG were involved in weapons transfers that included landmines.
During the year one journalist was killed (see Section 2.a.).
Attacks against humanitarian and NGO workers resulted in numerous
deaths during the year (see Section 4). For example, in April a convoy
hired to deliver humanitarian aid supplies was attacked in the Gedo
region by militia from a subclan of the Marehan, resulting in the death
of a driver and a passenger. There were many occurrences of looting,
hijacking, and attacks on convoys of World Food Program (WFP) and other
humanitarian relief shipments throughout the year (see Section 4).
During the year there were a number of apparently politically
motivated killings by unknown assailants. In January three senior
military officers were killed in Mogadishu in separate incidents within
24 hours of each other. In March a former senior police officer and a
businessman were killed by unknown assailants on a bus in Mogadishu. In
July Abdulla Derow Isaaq, the TFG minister for constitution and
federalism, was assassinated in Baidoa shortly after mid-day prayers.
Several arrests were made in the days immediately following, but no
suspects had been charged by year's end. No suspects were identified in
politically motivated killings from 2005 and 2004.
In September an alleged suicide bomb attack occurred outside the
parliament building in Baidoa in an apparent attempt to assassinate TFG
President Yusuf. Reportedly 11 persons were killed and 25 injured as a
result of the explosion and a gun battle that ensued in the chaos after
the blast. In November, in what appeared to be another suicide bomb
incident, six persons reportedly died and 10 were wounded when two
vehicles exploded at a checkpoint in Baidoa. Several arrests were made;
the motive for the bombing remained unclear.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances, although cases might be concealed among the thousands
of refugees and displaced persons. Abduction was common and generally
used to extort ransom money or as a tactic in clan disputes to attain
political ends. The UN Independent Expert on Human Rights in Somalia
(UNIE) noted in his September report that the incidence of kidnapping
remained high.
During the year there were numerous kidnappings by militia groups
and armed assailants who demanded ransom for hostages. The majority of
reported kidnappings were in the southern regions, especially in
Mogadishu, where ransoms allegedly funded purchases of weapons and
ammunition. In recent years UN staff or consultants have been kidnapped
periodically in the country (see Section 4). In October a Thai national
was kidnapped and held hostage in Puntland. Speaking to media, the
abductors demanded the release of three Somalis jailed in Thailand for
piracy. The hostage reportedly had not been released by year's end.
There were no investigations or action taken against the perpetrators
of any kidnappings during the year, nor were there any developments in
the cases of kidnappings from previous years.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Transitional Federal Charter (TFC) prohibits torture.
The Puntland Charter prohibits torture ``unless sentenced by Islamic
Shari'a courts in accordance with Islamic law.'' However, there were
reports of the use of torture by the Puntland and Somaliland
administrations and warring militiamen against each other or against
civilians. Observers believed that many incidents of torture were not
reported. Prison guards beat inmates in prison.
The Islamic Courts carried out public floggings that resulted in
death, and other executions (see Section 1.a.). For example, in October
two persons were publicly flogged in Kismaayo by the Islamic Courts for
allegedly eating during the day and drinking alcohol during Ramadan.
Security forces, police, and militias abused and beat persons during
the year. During a 2005 mission to Somaliland, the UNIE noted an
increase in police brutality in that region.
In December Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail was sentenced to 20 years
in prison. He had been charged in October 2005 with terrorism-related
crimes against the state of Somaliland. Ismail (and 15 others arrested
on the same charge) was accused of planning terrorist attacks during
the parliamentary election campaign the previous month. His supporters
alleged that he was tortured in detention, and circulated a video that
purported to show him being tortured by Somaliland police. The
Somaliland government denied the allegations of torture and called the
video a forgery (see Section 2.b.).
There continued to be reports of rapes committed by militia
members. Factions used rape as a weapon of war to punish and intimidate
rival ethnic factions.
There were prisoners of war in Somaliland and Puntland. In December
2005, authorities from Puntland and Somaliland exchanged 24 detainees
from Somaliland and 12 from Puntland. The detainees had been captured a
year earlier in clashes over the disputed Sool border area.
No action reportedly was taken against Somaliland or Puntland
forces, warlord supporters, or members of militias responsible for
torturing, beating, raping, or otherwise abusing persons in 2005 or
2004.
Prison conditions remained harsh and life threatening in all
regions of the country. The main Somaliland prison in Hargeisa,
designed for 150 inmates, held more than 700 prisoners. The UNIE had
noted the previous year that in general Somaliland prisons lacked
funding and management expertise. Overcrowding, poor sanitary
conditions, lack of access to health care, and inadequate food and
water supply persisted in prisons throughout the country. Tuberculosis,
HIV/AIDS, and pneumonia were widespread. Abuse by guards reportedly was
common in many prisons. Detainees' clans generally were expected to pay
the costs of detention. In many areas prisoners depended on food
received from family members or from relief agencies.
Juveniles frequently were held with adults. The incarceration of
juveniles at the request of families who wanted their children
disciplined continued to be a major problem (see Section 5, Children).
The Puntland administration permitted prison visits by independent
monitors. An agreement between Somaliland and the UN Development
Program (UNDP) allows for the monitoring of prison conditions. There
were no visits by the ICRC to prisons in Somaliland during the year,
but a Prisons Conditions Management Committee, organized by the UNDP
and comprised of medical doctors, government officials, and civil
society representatives, visited five out of 11 prisons in Somaliland
during the year. The committee had not yet issued its report by year's
end.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--In the absence of constitutional
or other legal protections, various factions continued to engage in
arbitrary arrest and detention, and there was no system of due process.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police were
generally ineffective. Corruption was endemic within the various police
forces. Members of titular police forces throughout the country were
often direct participants in politically based conflict, and owed their
positions to other politically active individuals. In Somaliland an
estimated 60 percent of the budget was allocated to maintain a militia
and police force comprised of former soldiers. Abuses by police and
militia members were rarely investigated; impunity was a problem.
Police generally failed to prevent or respond to societal violence. In
December police officers, angry over lack of pay, reportedly exchanged
gunfire with Presidential protective services during a visit of
Puntland President Adde Musse Hirsi to the central police station in
Garowe.
Arrest and Detention.--Judicial systems are not well established,
are not based upon codified law, do not function, or simply do not
exist in most of the country. The country's previously codified law
required warrants based on sufficient evidence issued by authorized
officials for the apprehension of suspects; prompt judicial
determinations; prompt access to lawyers and family members; and other
legal protections for the detained: however, adherence to these
procedural safeguards was rare. There was no functioning bail system or
the equivalent.
Arbitrary arrest was a problem. Authorities in all four separately
governed regions arbitrarily arrested journalists during the year (see
Section 2.a.). In September the male chairman of the Karate Club of
Somalia and six female members of the club were arrested in Mogadishu.
Reportedly all were imprisoned for anti-Islamic activities, and the
chairman's head was shaved.
Religious leaders were arbitrarily arrested during the year (see
Section 2.c.).
Arrested persons were sometimes held for extended periods while
awaiting trial. Militias and factions detained persons for unduly long
periods without trial and without charge.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The TFC provides for an
independent judiciary, but there was no functioning judicial system for
the TFG to administer. The TFC is intended to replace the 1990
constitution; however, for many issues not addressed in the charter the
former constitution still applies in principle.
The TFC provides for a High Commission of Justice, a Supreme Court,
a Court of Appeal, and courts of first reference; however, no such
courts existed. Some regions established local courts that depended on
the predominant local clan and associated factions for their authority.
The judiciary in most areas relied on some combination of elements from
traditional and customary law, Shari'a, and the Penal Code of the pre-
1991 government. In March, for example, an alleged killer from the
Jeron subclan of the Rahanweyn was publicly executed by order of the
Jeron elders in Wajid. In September Somaliland police executed three
persons for murder after a court sentenced them to death. A fourth
suspect in the case was released after his relatives opted to pay blood
money in place of the death sentence. Under the system of customary
justice, clans often held entire opposing clans or subclans responsible
for alleged violations by individuals.
Beginning in June the Islamic Courts began to implement public
floggings and executions, ostensibly according to Shari'a law but
without the due process protections afforded to an accused that would
be considered essential elements of a fair justice system. Amnesty
International reported that they did not meet international standards
for fair trials.
Trial Procedures.--The TFC provides for the right to be represented
by counsel. That right and the right to appeal did not exist in those
areas that applied traditional and customary practices or Shari'a.
These rights more often were respected in Somaliland and Puntland,
where authorities did not recognize the TFC and continued to apply the
law of a regional constitution or charter, as well as the former
government's laws.
The Somaliland Constitution provides for an independent judiciary;
the judiciary was not, however, independent in practice. Although the
Somaliland Constitution is based on democratic principles, that region
continued to use more restrictive laws from the pre-1991 regime. There
was a serious lack of trained judges and of legal documentation in
Somaliland. Untrained police and other unqualified persons reportedly
served as judges. The UNIE reported that local officials had a tendency
to interfere with legal matters. The UNIE also raised concerns about
the Public Order Law in Somaliland, which reportedly was used to detain
and imprison persons without trial.
The Puntland Charter provides for an independent judiciary;
however, the judiciary was not independent in practice. The charter
also provides for a Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and courts of
first instance. In Puntland clan elders resolved the majority of cases
using traditional methods; those with no clan representation in
Puntland, however, were subject to the administration's judicial
system.
The Islamic Courts' judicial philosophy was based on a strict
interpretation of Shari'a. Initially each of the neighborhood courts
was organized along clan lines to adjudicate both criminal cases and
civil disputes. As the power base of the Islamic Courts grew, senior
leadership tried to consolidate authority over individual clan-based
courts, and in September courts began hearing cases regardless of
kinship considerations.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees, although there appeared to be a
political motivation to some arrests and detentions (see Section 1.d.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The inability of the
judiciary to handle civil cases involving such matters as defaulted
loans or contract disputes encouraged clans to take matters into their
own hands and led to increased interclan conflict. With the breakdown
of the rule of law and the lack of a coherent legal system or effective
government, individuals were not afforded adequate protection or
recourse.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The TFC provides for the sanctity of private property
and privacy; however, looting, land seizure, and forced entry into
private property continued in Mogadishu and elsewhere, with impunity.
The Puntland Charter and the Somaliland Constitution recognize the
right to private property; however, authorities did not generally
respect this right in practice.
In July it was reported that the Islamic Courts stopped a wedding
in Mogadishu, and destroyed or confiscated the musical equipment.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The TFC and the Somaliland
Constitution provide for freedom of speech and press. However, there
were instances of harassment, arrest, and detention of journalists in
all regions of the country, including Puntland and Somaliland. The
Puntland Charter provides for press freedom ``as long as they respect
the law''; however, this right was not respected in practice. Freedom
House has ranked the country as ``not free'' every year from 1972 to
the current year. Reporters Without Borders also gave the country a low
rating for press freedom, although marginally improved from the
previous year. Journalists engaged in rigorous self-censorship in order
to avoid reprisals.
In October the Islamic Courts announced a 13-point code of conduct
for the media that effectively eliminated freedom of the press in the
areas they controlled. Among other provisions, the code of conduct
stipulated: media must not disseminate anything that could create
confrontation between the people and the Islamic Courts; journalists
are required to reveal sources; the media must not serve foreign
interests; and journalists may not attend foreign seminars without the
formal permission of the Islamic Courts. Later in October Abdirahim Ali
Mudey, the Islamic Courts' head of communication and information, said
the code of conduct for the media were only proposals and could be
discussed. Media monitors criticized the Islamic Courts for banning
music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, and the watching of
international sports on satellite television. In October the
International Federation of Journalists condemned attacks on the
country's media, which included the forced closure of East Africa Radio
in Mogadishu, where the Islamic Courts were in control, and the burning
of newspapers published by Haatuf in Hargeisa, Somaliland, and the
barring of foreign journalists from entering Somaliland.
The print media consisted largely of short, photocopied dailies
published in the larger cities and often affiliated with one of the
factions. Several of these dailies were nominally independent and
published criticism of faction leaders.
Somaliland had two daily newspapers--one government-owned and one
independent. There also was an English-language weekly newspaper.
Most citizens obtained news from foreign radio broadcasts,
primarily the BBC, which transmitted a daily Somali-language program.
There were reportedly eight FM radio stations and one short-wave
station operating in Mogadishu. A radio station funded by local
businessmen operated in the south, as did several other small FM
stations in various towns in the central and southern parts of the
country. There was at least one FM station in both Puntland and
Somaliland.
Harassment of journalists continued in all regions, including
detention without charge, assaults, and one killing. In June Martin
Adler, a foreign journalist and photographer, was killed in Mogadishu.
Adler was covering a demonstration organized by the Islamic Courts.
Another international reporter covering the event witnessed a gunman
shoot Adler in the back at close range before disappearing into the
crowd. There have been no arrests in the case, nor were there any
developments in the investigations of the 2005 murders of journalists
Kate Peyton and Duniya Muhyadin Nur.
Numerous journalists were arrested and detained during the year. In
October TFG security forces arrested three radio journalists accused of
spreading pro-Islamic Courts propaganda and held them for nine days at
a Baidoa police station. In September the Islamic Courts arrested three
journalists working for the HornAfrik radio station in Kismaayo for
broadcasting statements critical of their presence in the city. In
November TFG forces arrested Abdullahi Yasin Jama of privately owned
Radio Warsan after he broadcast a report indicating that Ethiopian
troops had entered the Bay region and might be headed to Mogadishu. He
was held for three days. Reporters Without Borders criticized the
arrest and claimed that Yasin Jama was physically abused while in
detention.
Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled was arrested December 1 by Puntland
authorities in Bossaso. He was held for establishing and broadcasting a
branch of the Galcayo-based Radio Voice of Peace, for which the
authorities said he needed prior authorization. He was released
December 17 after the International Federation of Journalists and the
National Union of Somali Journalists appealed on his behalf.
In September the Islamic Courts closed down a radio station in
Kismaayo, accusing the station of broadcasting false information with
intent to incite the public to violence. Also in September the Islamic
Courts shut down Radio Jowhar for several days after the station
refused to stop playing music and songs. In October the Islamic Courts
closed East Africa Radio, owned by Bashir Raghe, a warlord and former
member of the ARPTC. That same month the HornAfrik radio station in
Kismaayo was shut down for five days, allegedly for incitement to
violence.
The Islamic Courts made many threats of violence against
journalists and photographers during the year.
In Baidoa the TFG issued strict orders to local and foreign
journalists not to photograph or report on the presence of Ethiopian
troops in the country.
There were no further developments in the 2005 or 2004 cases in
which journalists were harassed or arrested.
In November journalists based in Mogadishu established the Somalia
Association of Professional Journalists.
While the ban on independent television and radio stations in
Somaliland remained in effect, there were indications that the
authorities were loosening restrictions on independent television
stations. In March the authorities permitted Hargeisa Cable Television
to begin independent broadcasting of news, movies, and sports.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet, but the Islamic Courts in Mogadishu were reported to
be monitoring Internet use closely. Internet use was widespread in
urban and town settings throughout the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were two universities
in Mogadishu, two in Somaliland, and one in Puntland; however, there
was no organized higher education system in most of the country. There
were restrictions on academic freedom, and academicians practiced self-
censorship. In Puntland a government permit was required before
conducting academic research. Unlike in the previous year, there were
no reports that academicians were prevented from travel.
Cultural events were restricted by the country's instability and
security situation. In areas controlled by the Islamic Courts there
were restrictions on the playing of music. After taking control of
Mogadishu in June, the Islamic Courts raided, shut down, and destroyed
or confiscated equipment from movie halls and music venues, in an
effort to suppress any form of artistic or cultural endeavor that the
Islamic Courts deemed contrary to the tenets of Islam. In November all
cinemas in Hiiraan region were ordered closed by the Islamic Courts.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The TFC and the Somaliland Constitution provide for freedom
of assembly; however, the lack of security effectively limited this
right in many parts of the country. The ban on demonstrations
continued; nevertheless, numerous demonstrations took place throughout
the country during the year.
In September the Hargeisa (Somaliland) Regional Emergency Committee
arrested 56 demonstrators--44 women and 12 men--and sentenced them to
three to six months in prison. The demonstrators were protesting the
alleged torture in prison of Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail, who had been
charged in October 2005 with terrorism-related crimes against the state
of Somaliland (see Section 1.c.).
The Islamic Courts did not permit demonstrations of opposition to
court rule or edicts. In September one person was killed and three were
wounded during demonstrations against the Islamic Courts in Kismaayo.
The fatality reportedly occurred when Islamic Courts militia fired in
the air to disperse the demonstrators.
Following their takeover of Mogadishu in July, the Islamic Courts
began to impose strict social edicts. They used violence and
intimidation to shut down public cinemas. Soccer was declared a
``satanic act'' and playing it or even watching it was prohibited. In
June a young girl and the owner of a cinema were killed when Islamic
Court militia opened fire on civilians watching a banned World Cup
soccer match on television. In September a 13-year-old boy was shot and
killed in another raid by Islamic Courts militia on a crowd watching a
football match. Also in September a man was killed and four others
wounded in a clash with Islamic Courts militia who had ordered a cinema
closed during a soccer match. In November Islamic Courts militia
stormed a cinema in the Hiiraan region and arrested 25 youths who were
watching a soccer match. The youths, some reported to be as young as
10, had their heads shaved and were jailed.
Freedom of Association.--The TFC provides for freedom of
association; however, the TFC was not enforced during the year.
The Puntland Charter provides for freedom of association; however,
the Puntland administration banned all political parties.
The Somaliland Constitution provides for freedom of association,
and this right was generally respected in practice. Legislation
governing the formation of political parties limits the number of
parties allowed to contest general elections to three. An ad hoc
commission nominated by the President and approved by the legislature
was responsible for considering applications. The law provides that
approved parties obtaining 20 percent of the vote are allowed to
operate. There were three approved political parties operating since
the 2003 elections.
Professional groups and local NGOs operated as security conditions
permitted. In October the UN withdrew staff from territories occupied
by the Islamic Courts.
c. Freedom of Religion.--There were no legal provisions for the
protection of religious freedom, and there were limits on religious
freedom in practice. The TFC, Somaliland Constitution, and the Puntland
Charter establish Islam as the official religion. The Islamic Courts
also made Islam the official religion in the areas they controlled.
In Puntland only Shafi'lyyah, a moderate Islamic doctrine followed
by most citizens, is allowed. Puntland security forces closely
monitored religious activities. Religious schools and places of worship
must receive permission to operate from the Ministry of Justice and
Religious Affairs, and such permission was granted routinely. In
February there was a report that three religious leaders in Bossaso
were arrested by the Puntland intelligence services over alleged links
to extremist activities. The three were later released, apparently in
response to pressure from other religious leaders.
According to the Somaliland Constitution, Islam is the religion of
the Somaliland nation. Religious schools and places of worship are
required to obtain the Ministry of Religion's permission to operate.
The ministry must approve entry visas for religious groups, and certain
unspecified doctrines were prohibited. In October, allegedly under
pressure from Muslim religious scholars, President Dahir Riyale Kahin
stated that Shari'a law would be applied in Somaliland; the
constitution says only that Shari'a should be the basis for all
legislation.
Proselytizing for any religion except Islam is prohibited in
Puntland and Somaliland, and effectively blocked by informal social
consensus elsewhere in the country. Christian-based international
relief organizations generally operated freely, to the extent permitted
by the general security situation, as long as they refrained from
proselytizing.
Non-Sunni Muslims often were viewed with suspicion by members of
the Sunni majority. There was strong social pressure to respect Islamic
traditions. Organized Islamic fundamentalist groups, whose goal was the
establishment of an Islamic state, were active in business and
political activities throughout the country.
Islamic religious leaders in Puntland or Somaliland who publicly
opposed government policy on Shari'a law or spoke out in favor of the
Islamic Courts increasingly came into disfavor with government
authorities during the year. In October a prominent cleric in
Somaliland was arrested after speaking out against the detention and
alleged torture of Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Ismail (see Section 2.c.).
In November imams and opposition figures in Somaliland protested
the alleged firing of two women in the Ministry of Information for the
sole reason that they wore Islamic dress to work.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In September gunmen shot and
killed a foreign nun where she worked at a hospital in Mogadishu run by
an international NGO. The Islamic Courts arrested two suspects; the
motives for the killing of the nun and her bodyguard remained unclear.
The small Christian community kept a low profile. Christians, as
well as other non-Muslims who proclaim their religion, sometimes faced
social harassment.
There is no known Jewish community in the country, and there were
no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The TFC and the Puntland Charter provide
for freedom of movement; however, this right continued to be restricted
in some parts of the country. Checkpoints operated by militias loyal to
particular clans or factions inhibited passage by other groups. In the
absence of effective governance institutions, few citizens had the
documents needed for international travel.
In mid-July the Islamic Courts removed many checkpoints and
roadblocks in Mogadishu, and residents of the city reported that as a
result transport costs dropped considerably. For the first time in 15
years residents of Mogadishu reported that they were able to move about
the city freely and largely without fear for their safety or security.
The law does not prohibit forced exile; however, none of the
authorities used forced exile during the year.
As security conditions remained relatively stable in the northern
parts of the country, some refugees returned to their homes. According
to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 1,300 refugees were
repatriated to Somaliland from Djibouti, and 300 to Puntland from Yemen
during the year. There were no reported returnees in the south of the
country.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Reliable figures for IDPs in
the country were difficult to obtain, but UN agencies estimated that
454,000 were displaced because of internal hostilities. The Somalia
office of UNHCR, based in Kenya, estimated that by mid-December an
additional 407,600 had been displaced by the severe flooding that
affected the southern and central regions of the country. Many of the
IDPs resided in public buildings and temporary settlements. An
estimated 250,000 were in Mogadishu; 18,500 IDPs were in Kismaayo, and
the rest were scattered around the country.
During the year more than 30,000 persons crossed the border to
refugee camps in the Dadaab region of eastern Kenya, or moved north
into Puntland, from which many attempted to cross the Gulf of Aden to
Yemen.
UNHCR reported that monthly movements to Yemen doubled over the
2005 figure. In November 3,617 made the crossing. An effort in
September by the Puntland authorities to interdict human trafficking to
Yemen resulted in the movement of many IDPs south instead from Bossaso
to Galcayo (see Section 5, Trafficking). A substantial number of these
people may be more accurately characterized as economic migrants than
as refugees or victims of trafficking, but no reliable data is
available.
Protection of Refugees.--The 1990 constitution and TFC do not
include provisions for the granting of asylum or refugee status in
accordance with the definition in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and there was no official
system for providing such protection. The authorities provided some
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution, and in practice the authorities granted
refugee status or asylum.
The authorities in Somaliland cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There continued to be reports of rape of Somali women and girls in
refugee camps in Kenya during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
In the absence of effective governance institutions, citizens could
not exercise the right to change their government. In most regions clan
leaders operated as de facto rulers. Although many such leaders derived
their authority from the traditional deference given to clan elders,
they often faced opposition from intra-clan groups and political
factions.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Transitional Federal
government was formed in late 2004 and early 2005 following two years
of negotiations in Kenya, led by the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development. The Transitional Federal Charter serves as a guiding
framework for the transitional federal institutions of parliament and
government, which operate under a five-year mandate that expires in
2009. In 2004 the clan-based Transitional Federal Parliament elected
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the former President of Puntland, as
Transitional Federal President, and he then appointed Ali Mohammed Gedi
as prime minister.
Throughout most of 2005 the parliament and government failed to
function, but in January the President and speaker of Parliament
reached agreement on a variety of divisive issues, including the
movement of the TFG to Baidoa, where in February the Parliament met for
the first time. In June, however, the Prime Minister fired four
ministers for their military involvement in the fighting against
Islamic Courts forces in Mogadishu. By July more than 40 ministers
resigned from the TFG, and Prime Minister Gedi narrowly survived a no-
confidence vote. In August the Prime Minister, President, and speaker
of Parliament initialed an agreement authorizing Prime Minister Gedi to
form a new cabinet and government with a six-month mandate. In
November, however, frustrated by what they viewed as the TFG's lack of
commitment to negotiate seriously with the Islamic Courts, the speaker
of Parliament and approximately 68 members of Parliament left Baidoa
for Mogadishu for talks with Islamic Court leaders. At year's end the
standoff between the TFG and the dissident parliamentary faction was
overtaken by Ethiopia's incursion into the country and the assertion of
TFG authority over Mogadishu.
Somaliland has a constitution and bicameral parliament with
proportional clan representation, and an elected President and vice
President. The Hargeisa authorities have established functioning
administrative institutions in virtually all of the territory they
claim, which is the same as the Somaliland state that achieved
international recognition briefly in 1960 before entering into a union
with the former Italian colony of Somalia. In a 2001 referendum, 97
percent of voters supported Somaliland independence.
Presidential elections in Somaliland were held in 2003 with
participation by three political parties: the Democratic United
People's Movement (UDUB), the Solidarity Party (Kulmiye), and the Party
for Justice and Democracy. The incumbent UDUB President, Dahir Riyale
Kahin, won the election by a very small margin. Most international
observers considered the elections credible and sufficiently
transparent. Parliamentary elections were held in September 2005. In
May President Kahin postponed elections for the Parliament's House of
Elders and initiated a process to extend the mandate of the upper house
for four years. Opposition parties declared the process illegal. At
year's end the Government and opposition had formed a committee to
address the constitutional impasse.
The Union of Islamic Courts was a heterogeneous coalition of
largely independent clan-based Shari'a courts that represent a range of
religious traditions and political perspectives. As a clan-based
organization, each 'court' has three main elements: a shura, or
council, made up of respected leaders of the clan; a chairman appointed
by the clan; and a militia commander appointed by the chairman and
approved by the shura. The courts' resources came from private
contributions, revenue from ports and airports, and taxation exacted at
militia checkpoints. In 2004 an umbrella structure for the courts was
established in Mogadishu, called the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts
in Somalia. By late 2005, 11 clan-based courts had been established in
Mogadishu. The chairman of the Supreme Council was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh
Ahmed. From June to December, the Islamic Courts, although heavily
dominated by the Hawiye clan, became the preponderate political force
in Mogadishu and surrounding areas through force of arms and their
ability to articulate strong nationalist and anti-Ethiopian rhetoric
within an Islamic framework, while appealing to aspirations for a
``Greater Somalia'' and the population's strong desire for law and
order and opposition to warlordism. In December the Ethiopian military,
together with forces from the TFG, launched a counter-offensive against
the Islamic Courts throughout much of the south. The Islamic Courts
were defeated and most of its leadership either fled or were killed or
injured in combat.
In 1998 Puntland declared itself a semi-autonomous regional
government during a consultative conference with delegates from six
regions who included traditional community elders, the leadership of
political organizations, members of local legislative assemblies,
regional administrators, and civil society representatives. Puntland
has a single-chamber quasi-legislative branch called the Council of
Elders, which has played a largely consultative role. Political parties
were banned. General Mohamud Muse Hersi was elected President by the
Puntland Parliament in January 2005. In February conflict erupted over
a cabinet change, and the personal militia of a cabinet member briefly
occupied the parliament building. Four persons were killed and one was
wounded when the Puntland security forces counter-attacked. Most
Puntland cabinet ministers have their own militias, which contributed
to a general lack of security.
Somaliland and Puntland continued to contest portions of Sanaag
region, as well as the Sool region and the Buhodle district of Togdheer
region during the year. Both governments maintained elements of their
administrations in the Sanaag and Sool regions, and both governments
exerted influence in various communities.
There were 23 women in the 275-seat Transitional Federal
Parliament; the number fell short of the requirement stipulated in the
TFC that at least 12 percent of parliamentary seats be reserved for
women. The minister for gender and family affairs was a woman, as were
one state minister and three deputy ministers. In the Somaliland
government, a woman held the post of gender and family minister and two
women were elected to the lower house of Parliament. There were four
women in the 69-seat Puntland Council of Elders, and a woman held the
position of minister of gender and family. There were no women in the
governing council of the Islamic Courts.
There were 31 members of the minority Bantu or Arab ethnic groups
in the 275-seat Transitional Federal Parliament and four in the TFG
cabinet. The Somaliland parliament and cabinet had no members of
minority groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was
endemic throughout the country. There were no laws providing for public
access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated in areas outside the control of the Islamic Courts
without official restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Authorities were somewhat cooperative
and responsive to their views.
In August a senior Islamic Courts cleric stated that the Islamic
Courts did not recognize civil society groups or NGOs. In October,
faced with broad public opposition, the Islamic Courts agreed to an
accommodation with civil society groups and the Islamic Courts' Office
of Civil Affairs and Regional Cooperation issued a statement calling on
all civil society organizations to register by the end of the month. In
November the Islamic Courts met with NGOs to discuss registration, and
the Islamic Courts agreed to extend the deadline. A four-member
delegation of the Nairobi-based NGO Consortium, representing more than
190 civil society groups, traveled to Mogadishu to present the ICRC
Code of Conduct to the Islamic Courts and to make the case for allowing
humanitarian NGOs to operate in the country. The consortium negotiated
an extension with the Islamic Courts to allow registration of all NGOs
beyond the end of the year.
Several human rights groups were active during the year, including
the Mogadishu-based Dr. Ismael Jumale Human Rights Center (DIJHRC),
Isha Baidoa Human Rights Organization in the Bay and Bakol regions, and
KISIMA in Kismaayo. The DIJHRC investigated the causes of the
continuing conflict in the Mogadishu area, conducted effective human
rights monitoring, and protested the treatment of prisoners before the
Shari'a courts. The Mogadishu-based National Union of Somali
Journalists (NUSOJ) continued to advocate for media freedom throughout
the country. The Mogadishu-based Center for Research and Dialogue,
women's NGOs, and other members of civil society also played a role in
promoting dialogue between the TFG and the Islamic Courts.
Security problems complicated the work of local and international
organizations, especially in the south. Attacks and incidents of
harassment against humanitarian, religious, and NGO workers resulted in
numerous deaths. There were numerous occurrences of looting, hijacking,
and attacks on convoys of WFP and other humanitarian relief shipments
during the year. In January an ICRC staff member was killed at his
residence in Mogadishu by an unidentified masked gunman. In April a
convoy hired to deliver humanitarian aid was attacked in Gedo region by
militia from a subclan of the Marehan, resulting in the death of a
driver and a passenger. In June a UN driver was stabbed and wounded in
Garowe. In August a long-serving Somali staff member of the DIJHRC was
shot and killed and a driver wounded while driving to Burhakaba after a
meeting with an international NGO. In November two UN vehicles were
fired upon in Gedo region; a UN staff member was wounded. According to
the UN, there have been no investigations or arrests in connection with
any of these cases.
In recent years UN staff or consultants have been kidnapped, often
for use as leverage by former UN workers dismissed by the organization
and seeking compensation. For example, in March a UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) official was held hostage for 24 hours by gunmen allegedly
acting on behalf of a businessman who claimed that the UN owed him
money. Most hostages were released unharmed after mediation by clan
elders.
In February demonstrations against the cartoons depicting the
prophet Mohammed that were published by several European newspapers
turned violent. Demonstrators in Bossaso pelted the compounds of UN
agencies with stones. Security forces guarding the compounds reacted
with deadly force, leaving one dead and three wounded. Also in February
it was reported that a hand grenade was thrown into the compound of a
local NGO in Merka; there were no casualties resulting from the
incident. In October the President of Somaliland issued a statement
claiming that the Islamic Courts were responsible for carrying out
attacks against humanitarian aid workers in Somaliland. In October
demonstrators angry over hiring policies threw stones at the offices of
an international NGO in Wajid before being repulsed by security guards.
In November vehicles of an international NGO were fired upon in Gedo
region.
Attacks on NGOs also disrupted flights and food distribution during
the year. In January clan militia stole 11 metric tons of WFP food aid
from the Mother and Child Hospital in Baidoa that was destined for an
IDP camp. In April one person was killed and another was injured when
militia attacked a building in Baidoa where humanitarian food supplies
were stored for distribution to drought victims. In May fighting broke
out between local militia and guards at a food distribution center in
the Middle Juba region, leaving three dead. In July two persons were
killed and five wounded when conflict erupted between militia escorting
a UN food convoy and local militia. In August part of a UN food
shipment to Galcayo was stolen. Unlike in the previous year, there were
no reports that pirates hijacked food aid.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The TFC prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender or national
origin; however, societal discrimination and violence against women,
and widespread abuse of children, continued to be serious problems. The
Somaliland Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender
or national origin, but these rights were not respected in practice.
Women.--Domestic violence against women remained a serious problem.
There are no laws specifically addressing domestic violence; however,
both Shari'a and customary law address the resolution of family
disputes (see Section 1.e.). No statistical information was available
on the extent of domestic violence. Sexual violence in the home was
reportedly a serious problem, linked to general gender discrimination.
Women have suffered disproportionately in the country's civil war and
inter-factional fighting.
Laws prohibiting rape exist; however, they were not generally
enforced. There were no laws against spousal rape. There were no
reports that rape cases were prosecuted during the year. NGOs
documented patterns of rape of women with impunity, particularly of
women displaced from their homes due to civil conflict or who were
members of minority clans. Police and militia members raped women, and
rape was commonly practiced in inter-clan conflicts. Traditional
approaches to dealing with rape tended to ignore the victim's situation
and instead communalized the resolution or compensation for rape
through a negotiation between members of the perpetrator's and victim's
clans. Victims suffered from subsequent discrimination based on
attributions of ``impurity.'' Women and girls in IDP camps were
especially vulnerable to sexual violence, contributing to the spread of
HIV/AIDS.
In Somaliland there was an increase in incidents of gang rape in
urban areas, primarily by youth gangs, members of police forces and
male students. Many of these cases occurred in poorer neighborhoods and
among immigrants, refugee returnees, and rural displaced populations.
Many cases were not reported.
The practice of FGM is widespread throughout the country. There
were estimates that as many as 98 percent of women have undergone FGM;
the majority were subjected to infibulation, the most severe form of
FGM. In Somaliland FGM is illegal; however, the law was not enforced.
Puntland also has legislation prohibiting FGM, but the law was not
effectively enforced. UN agencies and NGOs have made intensive efforts
to educate the population about the dangers of FGM; there are no
reliable statistics to measure the success of their programs.
Prostitution is illegal; however, it was practiced. Because it is
culturally proscribed it was not reported, and there were no statistics
on its prevalence.
In the country's overwhelmingly patriarchal culture, women do not
have the same rights as men and are systematically subordinated.
Polygyny was permitted. Under laws issued by the former government,
female children could inherit property, but only half the amount to
which their brothers were legally entitled. Similarly, according to the
Shari'a and local tradition of blood compensation, anyone found guilty
in the death of a woman must pay just half as much to the aggrieved
family as for the death of a male.
Women's groups in Mogadishu, Hargeisa (Somaliland), Bossaso
(Puntland), and other towns actively promoted equal rights for women
and advocated the inclusion of women in responsible government
positions, and observers reported some improvement in the profile and
political participation of women in the country.
Women's groups were active in efforts to promote peace and
reconciliation between the Islamic Courts and the TFG. For example,
women's groups were part of numerous civil society delegations that
visited both the TFG and Islamic Courts to urge a return to the
Khartoum talks.
Children.--The authorities were generally not meaningfully
committed to children's rights and welfare. An estimated 28 percent of
the school-age population attended school, according to a recent UNICEF
school survey: 34 percent of boys and 22 percent of girls. Overall
enrollment rates appear to show a rising trend in recent years, with
considerable regional variation. Since the collapse of the state in
1991, education services have been revived in various forms: a
traditional system of Koranic schools; public primary and secondary
school systems financed by communities, foreign donors, and the
administrations in Somaliland and Puntland; a system of Islamic
charity-run schools; and a number of privately run primary and
secondary schools, universities and vocational training institutes. Few
children who entered primary school went on to complete secondary
school. Schools at all levels lacked textbooks, laboratory equipment,
toilets, and running water. Teachers were poorly qualified and poorly
paid; many relied entirely on community support for payment. The
literacy rate was estimated at 25 percent. There was a continued influx
of foreign teachers into the country to teach in private Koranic and
Madrassa schools. These schools were inexpensive and provided basic
education; however, there were reports that they required veiling of
small girls and other conservative Islamic practices not traditionally
found in the local culture.
Medical care was rudimentary; only a small percentage of children
had access to adequate medical care. There was a chronic lack of
qualified health professionals, weak management of health services,
inadequate resources and infrastructure to support a public health
system, an urban bias in provision of healthcare, and an ineffective
drug certification regime.
No statistics were available on the prevalence of child abuse in
the country; however, it was a serious problem. A 2003 UNICEF report
noted that nearly a third of all displaced children reported rape as a
problem within their family, compared to 17 percent of children in the
general population.
FGM was performed on almost all girls (see Section 5, Women).
Children remained among the chief victims of the continuing
societal violence. From March to July in Mogadishu, more than 30
children were reported killed as a result of the conflict between the
ARPCT and the Islamic Courts. Boys as young as 14 or 15 participated in
militia attacks, and many youths were members of the marauding gangs
known as moryaan (parasites or maggots). The UN's annual report on
Children and Armed Conflict documented grave violations against
children in the country. The report focused on violations
systematically committed against children: killing and maiming;
recruitment and use of children as soldiers; attacks on schools and
hospitals; rape and other severe sexual violence against children;
abduction; and denial of humanitarian access.
UNICEF reported that street children and other children employed in
markets and other public settings were particularly vulnerable to
violence, including from security forces. Disputes over the buying and
selling of khat (a green leaf chewed for its narcotic effect) led to
several killings of children during the year. In January in the Hiiran
region, a 13-year-old boy was shot dead because of a quarrel over khat.
In April in the Galgudud region seven children were killed by militia
in several incidents involving procurement of khat. In September in the
Bay region a 15-year-old boy was killed when the khat market where he
was working was attacked by armed militia, who fired indiscriminately
into the crowd. It could not be determined whether there were
investigations or arrests by the authorities in any of these cases.
The Somaliland Constitution contains no minimum age for recruitment
into the armed forces, but there were no reports of minors in its
forces. An inadequate system of birth registration made it difficult to
establish the exact age of recruits.
The recruitment and use of children in militias and other fighting
forces is a longstanding practice in the country, and recruitment of
children increased significantly during the year. UNICEF reported that
children as young as 11 were found at checkpoints and in the vehicles
of various parties to the conflict in Mogadishu. The militias of
warlords Abdi Qeybdid and Musa Sudi Yalahow recruited children as young
as 13. The Islamic Courts, in the name of jihad, significantly
increased the identification and training of new recruits and publicly
declared their intention to recruit from schools. In September
headmasters from Mogadishu schools were summoned to meetings at which
they were required to commit to a quota of children from each school
for a three-to-six-month training. In October recruitment of boys and
girls from schools in Mogadishu began. UNICEF reported that students
would be forcibly conscripted if there were not enough volunteers.
In his 2006 report the UNIE expressed concern about the practice of
asi walid, a custom whereby parents place their children in prison for
disciplinary purposes and without any legal procedure. Many of these
juveniles were incarcerated with adults (see Section 1.c.).
Child prostitution was practiced; however, because it is culturally
proscribed and was not reported, no statistics were available on its
prevalence.
Trafficking in children for forced labor was a serious problem.
Child labor was also a problem (see Section 6.d.).
The pre-1991 law prohibits trafficking. The TFC does not explicitly
prohibit trafficking. Information regarding trafficking in the
country's territory is extremely difficult to obtain or verify;
however, the Somali territory was known to be a source, transit, and
possibly destination country for trafficked women and children, and
there were reports of trafficking during the year. Ethiopian women were
believed to be trafficked to and through the country to the Middle East
for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Armed militias reportedly also
trafficked Somali women and children for forced labor or sexual
exploitation, and some of those victims also may have been trafficked
to the Middle East and Europe. Trafficking networks were reported to be
involved in transporting child victims to South Africa for sexual
exploitation.
Puntland was noted by human rights organizations as an entry point
for trafficking. The UNIE reported that trafficking in persons remained
rampant and that the lack of an effective authority to police the
country's long coastline contributed to trafficking. Various forms of
trafficking are prohibited under some interpretations of Shari'a and
customary law, but there was no unified policing in the country to
interdict these practices, nor any effective justice system for the
prosecution of traffickers.
There continued to be reports that children were sent out of the
country to relatives and friends in western countries, where they
worked or collected welfare and sent money back to family members in
the country.
At various times, political authorities in the regional
administrations of Somaliland and Puntland expressed a commitment to
address trafficking, but corruption and lack of resources prevented the
development of effective policies and programs. Many of these
individuals were known to condone human trafficking. No resources were
devoted to trafficking prevention or to victim protection. There were
no reports of trafficking-related arrests or prosecutions. Somaliland
and Puntland officials were not trained to identify or assist
trafficking victims. NGOs worked with IDPs, some of whom may have been
trafficking victims.
In the absence of functioning governance institutions, the needs of
persons with disabilities were not addressed. Several local NGOs in
Somaliland provided services for persons with disabilities.
Associations of disabled persons reported numerous cases of
discrimination to the UNIE.
There was widespread abuse of persons with mental illness. It was
common for such persons to be chained to a tree or within their homes.
More than 85 percent of the population shared a common ethnic
heritage, religion, and nomad-influenced culture. In most areas members
of groups other than the predominant clan were excluded from effective
participation in governing institutions and were subject to
discrimination in employment, judicial proceedings, and access to
public services.
Minority groups and low-caste clans included the Bantu (the largest
minority group), the Benadiri, Rer Hamar, Brawanese, Swahili, Tumal,
Yibir, Yaxar, Madhiban, Hawrarsame, Muse Dheryo, and Faqayaqub. The
UNIE estimated that minority groups may constitute a higher percentage
of the population than previously thought--perhaps as many as two
million persons (around 22 percent of the estimated population). In the
absence of any census data for the past 30 years any demographic
statement can only be an estimate. Intermarriage between minority
groups and mainstream clans was restricted. Minority groups had no
armed militias and continued to be disproportionately subject to
killings, torture, rapes, kidnappings for ransom, and looting of land
and property with impunity by faction militias and majority clan
members. Many minority communities continued to live in deep poverty
and to suffer from numerous forms of discrimination and exclusion.
Bossaso is a primary transit point for the smuggling of humans from
the Horn of Africa to Yemen. In April, 39 Somali and Ethiopian illegal
migrants, some of whom are thought to have been victims of trafficking,
died off the coast of Yemen, reportedly after being thrown overboard by
the smugglers.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The 1990 constitution and the TFC
provide for workers to form and join unions. The Puntland Charter and
the Somaliland Constitution also protect workers' freedom of
association. However, labor laws remain unenforced, resulting in an
absence of effective protection for workers' rights because of the
civil war and factional fighting. The government-controlled General
Federation of Somali Trade Unions, once the country's single labor
confederation, disintegrated in 1991, and there have been few
functioning unions or employer organizations since. In 2002 the
National Union of Somali Journalists was created and has been
registered as a trade union. There were no reports of the Islamic
Courts taking action to improve workers' rights in the areas under its
control.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The TFC would
allow unions to conduct their activities without interference and grant
workers the right to strike. Wages and work conditions in the
traditional culture were established largely on the basis of ad hoc
arrangements based on supply, demand, and the influence of the worker's
clan. There are no export processing zones.
In August 2005 the Somali Journalists Network met in a general
assembly for the first time in 15 years and amended their constitution
to form the NUSOJ, which is a self-described trade union. In June
Islamic Courts militia raided and shut down the NUSOJ office in
Mogadishu, threatening members of the NUSOJ executive committee with
death if they did not leave the office and confiscating the union's
financial documents, archives, and union seal. The Islamic Courts later
returned the organization's materials and NUSOJ resumed activity. In
December NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk was arrested as he was
trying to board an international flight. He was detained by the Islamic
Courts for 12 hours and released. At year's end his confiscated
passport and computer had not been returned.
The Somaliland Trade Union Organization (SOLTUO), formed in 2004,
claimed to have 26,000 members representing 21 individual unions. It
has received assistance from the International Labor Organization (ILO)
and claims to be democratic and independent. However, there were no
reports of activities undertaken by the SOLTUO during the year.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The pre-1991 Penal
Code and the TFC prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see
Sections 5 and 6.d). It could not be confirmed whether it continued to
be the case, as had been reported the previous year, that local clan
militias forced members of minority groups to work on banana
plantations without compensation or that in Middle and Lower Juba and
Lower Shabelle Bantus were used as forced labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
pre-1991 labor code and the TFC prohibit child labor; however, child
labor was a problem. The country is not a signatory of ILO Convention
138 on minimum age or 182 on worst forms of child labor.
There were reports of militias recruiting children, and reports
that the Islamic Courts used child soldiers in recruiting efforts and
rallies (see Section 5). Formal employment of children was rare, but
young persons commonly were employed in herding, agriculture, and
household labor from an early age. UNICEF estimated that from 1999 to
2005, 36 percent of children between the ages of five and 14 were in
the workforce--31 percent of males and 41 percent of females; however,
it was believed that the actual percentage was even higher. The lack of
educational opportunities and severely depressed economic conditions
contributed to the prevalence of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions for Work.--Although the TFC and the
Somaliland Constitution both include provisions for acceptable working
conditions, there was no organized effort by any of the factions or de
facto regional administrations to monitor acceptable conditions of work
during the year. There is no national minimum wage. With an estimated
43 percent of the population living in extreme poverty, earning a per
capita income of less than $1 (approximately 1,700 Somali shillings)
per day, there was no mechanism to attain a decent standard of living
for workers and their families.
__________
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa is a multiparty parliamentary democracy in which
constitutional power is shared between the President and the
parliament. The country has a population of approximately 47.4 million.
President Thabo Mbeki led the African National Congress (ANC) party,
which increased its seats to 279 in the 400-seat National Assembly
after a free and fair national election in 2004. Parliament, in turn,
elected the President. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, the Government, nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), and local media reported the following serious human rights
problems: police use of excessive force against suspects and detainees,
which resulted in deaths and injuries; vigilante violence and mob
justice; abuse of prisoners, including beatings and rape, and severe
overcrowding of prisons; lengthy delays in trials and prolonged
pretrial detention; forcible dispersal of demonstrations; pervasive
violence against women and children and societal discrimination against
women and persons with disabilities; trafficking in persons; violence
resulting from racial and ethnic tensions and conflicts with
foreigners; and child labor, including forced child labor and child
prostitution.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents;
however, police use of lethal force during apprehensions resulted in a
significant number of deaths, and deaths in police custody were a
problem. The Government investigated and punished some abusers.
According to the Governmental Independent Complaints Directorate
(ICD), there were 621 deaths in police custody or as a result of police
action during the period from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2006, a 5
percent decrease from the previous year; 267 of the deaths reported
were identified as the result of natural causes, suicide, or from
injuries sustained prior to detention.
The ICD reported ``a worrying trend of on-going misuse and abuse of
service issue firearms'' by off-duty South Africa Police Service (SAPS)
members ``in disputes and circumstances totally unrelated to the
business of the SAPS.'' ICD's 2006 Report also noted a number of
incidents resulting in deaths due to ``excessive use of force by
members of SAPS in which some of the suspects were unarmed and
attempting to flee from arrest.''
Political violence between ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
supporters in KwaZulu-Natal resulted in deaths prior to the March 1
local government elections. On March 4, newly-elected ANC councilor
Zakhele Cele and two ANC members were shot and killed in Shobashobane.
Three suspects, including an IFP candidate, were arrested and the
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
On June 6, Estcourt Deputy Mayor Dolly Dladla and councilor Music
Mchunu, both IFP members, were shot and killed. Police were still
investigating the case and no charges had been filed at year's end. The
investigation into the March 2005 killing of Zulu Royal Prince Thulani
Zulu, chairman of the ANC's Nongoma branch in KwaZulu-Natal, was
ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments during the year in the May 2005 killing
of an IFP member who was campaigning in the party's by-election. The
IFP had charged that the killing was politically motivated because the
victim was hanging party posters when he was shot.
Incidents of vigilante action and mob justice continued,
particularly in Gauteng, the Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The 2004
05 ICD Report recorded a 184 percent increase in vigilantism over the
previous year. On March 19, a mob in Soshanguve killed a suspected
robber and seriously injured his accomplice. No action was taken
against the perpetrators in either case.
There were no reports of killings by People Against Gangsterism and
Drugs (PAGAD), an anticrime group with an antigovernment bias, but one
ongoing court case remained from the numerous cases involving the
group. PAGAD leader Salie Abader's suit against authorities for
``wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution'' following his acquittal
in 2002 for a killing was ongoing at year's end.
There continued to be reports of violent attacks on foreigners (see
Section 5).
Killings and other violent crimes against farmers and, on occasion,
their families continued in rural areas. Despite concern among white
farmers that they were targeted for racial and political reasons,
studies indicated that the perpetrators generally were common criminals
motivated by financial gain. According to the 2005 06 SAPS report,
there were 636 farm attacks and 88 farm killings in the 12 months prior
to March 31. These figures have been similar for several years.
In September 2005 white farmer Mark Scott-Crossley was sentenced to
life imprisonment for throwing his black former employee, Nelson
Chisale, into a lion's enclosure in 2004. Scott-Crossley's accomplice,
Simon Mathebula, received a 15-year sentence for his part in the crime.
Scott-Crossley has appealed his conviction. Mathebula cooperated with
authorities and received a reduced sentence.
In October 2005 Jewell Crossberg appeared in high court in
connection with his alleged 2004 killing of a farm worker; however, the
case was postponed until April 2007 for further investigation.
Crossberg had told police that he had mistaken his victim for a baboon,
but farm workers who witnessed the shooting said the killing was
triggered by the victim's failure to report to work the day before.
Muti killings--killing, especially of children, to obtain body
parts for traditional healing--remained a problem. In August two men
were arrested in Cape Town for the alleged muti-related murder and
mutilation of 23-year-old Siyabonga Shasha. The investigation was
ongoing at year's end. In 2005 the SAPS estimated that 150 to 300 such
killings occurred each year.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
some police officers reportedly tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise
abused suspects. Police torture and abuse occurred during
interrogation, arrest, detention, and searches of persons' homes.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrators, resulting in numerous
injuries (see Section 2.d.).
Incidents of police harassment against foreigners continued,
particularly during coordinated police raids on areas where foreign
nationals resided. Some state hospitals reportedly routinely refused
emergency treatment to indigent foreigners despite regulations that
require providing such treatment.
The press reported that many refuge seekers claimed that
immigration personnel whipped, beat, and subjected them to other brutal
treatment. Despite promises by the minister of home affairs to
investigate such claims, no investigations had begun by year's end.
As of November, 80 South African Defense Force (SANDF) personnel
previously deployed in multilateral peace support operations faced
criminal charges on allegations ranging from murder to sexual
exploitation of women and girls. The Government had a ``zero tolerance
policy'' for human rights abuses committed by SANDF members.
The court martial of Air Force Sergeant Philippus Jacobus Venter,
accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl while serving as a
peacekeeper in Burundi, resumed in November but was not completed by
year's end. The court martial had been postponed in 2005 after Venter
allegedly shot and killed his two children, wounded his wife, and
attempted suicide.
There were deaths resulting from vigilante and mob action against
suspected criminals, as well as acts of violence against suspected
witches (see Section 1.a.). In Limpopo Province, where traditional
beliefs regarding witchcraft remained strong, there were occasional
reports of attacks on persons accused of witchcraft (see Section 1.f.).
Traditional leaders cooperated with government programs and reported
threats against persons suspected of witchcraft. In March a group of
boys allegedly set fire to the house of a 66-year-old woman accused of
witchcraft. At year's end the investigation was ongoing.
There were incidents in which white employers abused their black
South African farm laborers (see Section 1.a.). After Western Cape
authorities refused to prosecute four white Rawsonville farmers accused
of sexually assaulting female farm workers, the NGOs Congress of South
African Trade Unions and the Women on Farms Project alleged a pattern
of refusal to prosecute whites for worker abuses and demanded a senior-
level investigation. The issue was raised in the National Assembly on
November 27, but no response had been received by year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Most prisons did not meet
international standards, and prison conditions did not always meet the
country's minimum legal requirements. The country had 240 prisons with
a capacity of 114,500 prisoners; however, there were 158,501 prisoners
in custody, according to the Governmental Judicial Inspectorate of
Prisons (JIP). Prisons were overcrowded and understaffed, according to
the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union. The 2005 06 JIP annual
report noted that, with 27,992 fewer prisoners during the reporting
period and 697 additional places, conditions in the majority of prisons
improved. JIP indicated, however, that problems continued in some
prisons, where severe overcrowding in some prisons led to poor health,
with as many as 74 inmates occupying a cell designed to hold 16 people.
According to the Judicial Inspectorate report, there were 1,554
prison deaths in 2005, 1,507 of which resulted from natural causes,
including HIV/AIDS. The remaining deaths were the result of suicides,
assaults, accidents, or similar events. The Department of Correctional
Services (DCS) estimated that nearly 6 percent of sentenced prisoners
were HIV positive. This HIV infection rate was much lower than the rate
in the general population and was therefore suspect. According to DCS
reports, only 800 HIV-positive prisoners (of a total 6,400 such
prisoners) were receiving treatment with anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy.
In partnership with a foreign government, DCS conducted programs to
prevent HIV/AIDS, care for victims, and treat some patients with the
disease. In June the Durban High Court ordered the Government to
provide ARV treatment to prisoners at the Westville Prison in KwaZulu-
Natal. In September after its appeal was dismissed, the Government
agreed to comply with the court's ruling.
Prison employees and other prisoners abused and assaulted prisoners
physically and sexually. Detainees awaiting trial reportedly contracted
HIV/AIDS through rape.
Official corruption was a problem. There were credible reports that
prison employees stole food and money from prisoners. According to
NGOs, prisoners used drugs provided to them illegally by guards or
other prisoners. In many cases offending police or correctional
officers were suspended or expelled from their services for corruption.
In October Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour announced
that a total of 109 officials, including seven senior managers, had
been investigated for corruption. Of these, 31 had been found guilty
and fired, and in 26 cases the charges were dismissed; 52
investigations were still in progress.
The Jali Commission completed its investigation into allegations of
corruption and sexual abuse in prisons in 2005 and released its final
report in October. The 1,000-page report cited widespread
irregularities involving prisoners leaving the premises illegally,
nepotism, drug trafficking, irregular appointments of personnel,
extortion, abuse of parole procedure, abuse of disciplinary inquiries
and appeal procedures, educational qualifications fraud, and massive
medical aid fraud.
Human rights groups continued to raise serious concerns regarding
C-MAX prisons, designed to hold the country's most dangerous criminals.
Concerns included the Government's criteria for transferring prisoners
from other prisons to a C-MAX facility and the restrictive, solitary
conditions of these prisons.
There were allegations of corruption and abuse of detainees by
officials at the overcrowded Lindela Repatriation Center, the country's
largest detention facility for undocumented immigrants. In July a riot
erupted among Congolese nationals confined at the center to protest
their lengthy detentions and alleged beatings by facility officers.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of detainee deaths
at the center.
Although the Government operated 13 youth detention facilities,
juveniles sometimes were held with adults. There were credible reports
that these youths were vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including
rape. Pretrial detainees generally were held with convicted prisoners.
The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions, including visits by human rights organizations. According
to the JIP's annual report, independent prison visitors-including
visits by prisoners' counsel as well as third-party visitors--recorded
10,524 visits to prisons in 2005 and conducted 611,900 interviews with
prisoners. The Judicial Inspectorate also visited all prisons
regularly.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions; however, prolonged pretrial detention was
a problem, and police arbitrarily arrested demonstrators (see Section
2.b.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The SAPS, under the
Department of Safety and Security, has primary responsibility for
internal security. The SANDF, under the Department of Defense, is
responsible for external security but also has domestic security
responsibilities. The National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA)
Directorate of Special Operations--the ``Scorpions''--coordinates
efforts against organized crime and official corruption.
SAPS continued its major restructuring and transformation from a
primarily public order security force to a more accountable, community
service-oriented police force; however, it remained ill-equipped,
overworked, and poorly trained. As of November, there were 125,521
police officers and 32,948 civilians working in SAPS. The majority of
police resources and law enforcement attention remained focused on
wealthy residential and business areas.
SAPS continued to create partnerships between local police forces
and the communities they served. Municipalities also maintained
metropolitan police forces in major cities under local control, such as
in Johannesburg, Durban, Pretoria, and Cape Town. SAPS continued to
have deficiencies in mid-level leadership and institutional memory that
inhibited its overall performance.
During the year the ICD received 1,643 allegations of criminal
offenses committed by police and 2,855 complaints of misconduct,
representing a 5 percent decline in allegations of criminal offenses
and a 16 percent decline in complaints of misconduct compared to the
previous year.
Broad efforts to reform police practices continued; the ICD
investigated reports of police misconduct and corruption. Reports of
police killings, criminal offenses, and misconduct all decreased. The
Government made efforts to address abuses with an official antitorture
policy and training programs for police and SANDF officers that
included a focus on human rights.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires arrest warrants in most
cases and provides that every detainee is to be informed promptly of
the reasons for detention. Detainees must be advised promptly of their
right to remain silent and the consequences of waiving that right.
Detainees must be charged within 48 hours of arrest, held in conditions
of human dignity, allowed to consult with legal counsel at every stage,
and permitted to communicate with relatives, medical practitioners, and
religious counselors. Courts and police generally respected most of
these rights; however, there continued to be problems with prison
conditions and prolonged pretrial detention. Detainees must be released
(with or without bail) unless the interests of justice require
otherwise; however, bail for pretrial detainees often exceeded what
suspects could pay. According to the JIP, an estimated 13,000 prisoners
remained in detention because they were unable to post bail. Some
school children spent more than a year in detention because their
families could not post bail.
Human rights groups, judges, and judicial scholars continued to
express concern about the Criminal Procedure Second Amendment Act,
which mandates minimum jail sentences and prohibits bail in certain
cases.
The Department of Justice 2005 06 annual report indicated that the
backlog of court cases increased 11 percent over the previous year in
district courts, and 2 percent in regional courts. As of September 30,
43,588 of the country's 158,501 prisoners were awaiting trial.
According to the JIP, prisoners waited an average of three months, but
some as long as two years, for a trial.
Amnesty.--The National Director of Public Prosecution continued to
prepare cases against persons who were denied amnesty, failed to apply
for amnesty, or were implicated in human rights abuses during the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process. In the first case, charges
were brought against Gideon Nieuwoudt (who died of natural causes
during the year), Johannes van Zyl, and Johannes Koole for the Pebco
Three killing in 1985; however, the case was postponed to April 19,
2007, by the Pretoria High Court.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and while the judiciary was generally
independent, it was understaffed, underfunded, and overburdened.
The Constitutional Court is the highest court for interpreting and
deciding constitutional issues, while the Supreme Court of Appeal is
the highest court for interpreting and deciding other legal matters.
The lower courts include magistrates' courts, divorce courts, small
claims courts, and courts of chiefs and headmen. Magistrates' courts--
including regional and district courts--have civil and criminal
jurisdiction. The country also has a range of special courts, including
the labor appeals court, labor court, land claims court, special income
tax courts, special (consumer) court, sexual offenses court, and the
electoral court.
Trial Procedures.--The bill of rights provides for due process,
including the right to a fair, public trial within a reasonable time
after being charged, and the right to appeal to a higher court. It also
gives detainees the right to state-funded legal counsel when
``substantial injustice would otherwise result''; however, a general
lack of information for accused persons regarding their rights to legal
representation and the Government's inability to pay for these services
remained problems.
There is a presumption of innocence for criminal defendants. Judges
and magistrates hear criminal cases and determine guilt or innocence.
The law requires that a panel of lay assessors and a magistrate hear
cases involving murder, rape, robbery, indecent assault, and assault
leading to serious bodily harm. The two assessors may overrule
magistrates on questions of fact. Magistrates also can use assessors in
an advisory capacity in bail applications and sentencing.
The Government operated 46 justice centers in the country, composed
of the departments of justice, correctional services, welfare and
health, and SAPS, to speed the administration of justice, reduce the
court rolls, and alleviate overcrowding in prisons. However, serious
delays continued to be a problem.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, there were allegations of police abuse during sweeps and home
searches and other criticisms against government legislation and
practice.
During the year former National Intelligence Agency director Billy
Masetlha was charged under the Intelligence Services Oversight Act with
the unlawful surveillance of Saki Macozoma, and was subsequently fired
by President Mbeki. Masetlha's appeal for reinstatement was rejected by
the Pretoria High Court in December. The court ruled that President
Mbeki's loss of confidence in Masetlha was a lawful reason for
dismissing him. In April General Manager Bob Mhlanga, former counter-
intelligence chief, was also fired for his involvement with the
unlawful surveillance of Macozoma. Deputy Director General Gibson
Njenje, who was implicated with Masetlha, cooperated with investigators
and was allowed to resign.
The Regulations of Interception and Provision of the Communication-
Related Information Bill, which provides for state monitoring of all
telecommunications systems for criminal investigations, including
cellular telephones, the Internet, and e-mail, had not been implemented
by year's end.
The Promotion of Access to Information Act is intended to assist
authorities in obtaining personal information and is used solely in
criminal investigations; however, opposition parties and human rights
NGOs objected to its broadly defined provision that enabled the
Government to access an individual's personal information.
Farmers continued to evict workers legally and illegally. During
2005 the Land Claims Court rejected 25 percent of the 645 eviction
orders it reviewed. The law requires that evictions be approved by a
court; however, less than 1 percent of evictions involved a legal
process, according to the NKUZI Development Association, a domestic
NGO. NKUZI conducted an extensive national eviction survey which took
more than two years to complete. The same study found that many farm
workers were unaware of their right to legal counsel during eviction
proceedings.
There were reports that persons accused of witchcraft were attacked
and driven from their villages in rural communities. The trial
continued of the 13 suspected ringleaders in the February 2005 burnings
in Northern Limpopo Province of 39 houses belonging to persons accused
of being witches. Some survivors of attacks and their families took
refuge in ``witch villages,'' without running water or electricity, in
Limpopo Province.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights. Several apartheid-era laws that remained in
force posed a potential threat to media independence. Individuals
criticized the Government both publicly and privately without reprisal.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views, although some journalists expressed concern that the Government
heavily influenced the media.
Print media reached approximately 20 percent of the population. Due
to socioeconomic and demographic circumstances, the majority of the
population received news through radio broadcasts from the government-
owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and community radio
stations.
The SABC provided broadcasting in the country's 11 official
languages and continued to own and control the majority of television
and radio outlets. The SABC provided news coverage of the Government
and the leading opposition parties; however, media commentators and
opposition politicians continued to criticize the SABC for allegedly
showing partiality in its coverage of government ministers or events.
During the year the SABC was severely criticized for allegedly
blacklisting several commentators deemed unfriendly to government
policies, and for refusing to air a documentary considered critical of
President Mbeki. A subsequent commission of inquiry determined that the
managing director of the SABC News and Current Affairs Division
excluded eight commentators for reasons that were not ``objectively
defensible,'' but it found no ``definitively consistent pattern'' of
exclusion based on criticism of government policy or the President.
Low-power, nonprofit community radio stations continued to play an
important role in informing the mostly rural public; however, they
often had difficulty producing adequate content and maintaining staff.
Government broadcast regulators regularly issued new community radio
licenses and also withdrew a few for noncompliance with the terms of
issuance. Two radio stations, Alex Radio and Radio Pretoria, were
refused licenses in 2004, and subsequently challenged these refusals.
At year's end Radio Pretoria was operational and on-the-air, while the
appeal of Alex Radio was pending.
The only independent television station, e.tv, reached 78 percent
of the population. Satellite programming also was available.
High-ranking government officials on occasion reacted sharply to
media criticism and accused black journalists of disloyalty and white
journalists of racism.
Several laws remained in effect that permitted the Government to
restrict the publication of information about the police, the national
defense forces, prisons, and mental institutions. There were no
instances in which these laws were invoked during the year; however,
journalists and media managers considered them a threat to
constitutional protections.
The Foreign Publication Board reviewed written and graphic
materials published in or imported into the country. The board had the
power to edit or ban books, magazines, movies, and videos, and it
regularly exercised that power, mostly regarding pornographic material.
Journalists, media houses, and industry associations criticized efforts
during the year to extend the board's authority to incorporate
newspapers and broadcast media. A proposed amendment to the Films and
Publication Act would allow for board review and classification of
print and broadcast products, and fueled fears that the Government was
seeking additional control over media.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic e-mail.
Figures from Internet World Stats indicated that 7.4 percent of the
country's population had ready access to and routinely used the
Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, police forcibly dispersed several demonstrations during the
year which resulted in injuries. Some of the demonstrations had turned
destructive prior to police taking action to break them up.
On April 13, police used rubber bullets to disperse a demonstration
along the country's border with Swaziland, supporting human rights and
trade union freedom in Swaziland. Seven people were injured and 25
arrested, including five trade union leaders.
On April 21, police in Pretoria used rubber bullets to disperse
marchers protesting municipal boundary changes. No injuries were
reported.
No information was available on the outcome of the trial of three
police officers arrested and charged in 2005 in the 2004 killing of a
demonstrator in Johannesburg.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion; the Government generally respected this right.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were occasional reports
of desecration and vandalism or verbal or written harassment directed
against religious minorities during the year. There were approximately
90,000 Jews in the country. While anti-Semitic acts were rare, a few
incidents were reported during the year. For example, on January 8,
approximately 30 gravestones were desecrated at the West Park Jewish
cemetery in Johannesburg. The police questioned five suspects, but no
arrests were made. In June a court convicted Gerhard Barkhuiz of a hate
crime for painting a swastika and the phrase ``spiteful Hebrew
bastard'' on the home of the son of a Holocaust survivor. Barkhuizen
was ordered to remove all slogans and words from the wall and required
to pay $285 (R2,000) to a charity of his choice.
On May 18, the SABC ruled that Muslim radio Station 786 aired hate
speech, including Holocaust denial programs. The station was
reprimanded and warned of more severe consequences if it engaged in
further such activities.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them.
TThe law does not prohibit forced exile; however, the Government
did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The law also provides for a broader definition of refugee
status to be granted if a person satisfies the definition in the 1969
Organization of African Unity's Convention Governing the Specific
Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa. In practice, the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the forcible return of persons
to a country where they feared persecution, and granted refugee status
and asylum.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Department of Home Affairs
stated that as of June there was a backlog of more than 100,000 asylum
requests.
The NGO Lawyers for Human Rights criticized the Department of Home
Affairs for allegedly not following the provisions of the Immigration
Act and the Refugee Act. There were reports that police and immigration
officials abused refugees and asylum seekers and that asylum seekers
were repatriated immediately upon arrival at airports without benefit
of formal asylum processing. Applicants for asylum and NGOs assisting
refugees also reported that immigration authorities asked for bribes to
process applications for permits to remain in the country. During the
year the Government dismissed a number of immigration officials for
corruption (see Section 3).
Despite procedural safeguards, efforts to combat a growing illegal
immigration problem occasionally resulted in the Government arbitrarily
deporting illegal aliens, some with potential refugee claims. However,
there were no reports of the forced return of persons to countries
where they feared persecution during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through
periodic free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The country held its third
national election in 2004. Although largely peaceful, the election was
marred by a few incidents of political violence in KwaZulu-Natal in the
weeks before the election. The IFP registered a number of complaints
with the Independent Electoral Commission, including excessive numbers
of absentee ballots, posters being removed or defaced, individuals
being threatened because of political affiliation, and other incidents
of intimidation. The IFP challenged the legitimacy of the election in
KwaZulu-Natal at the electoral court but later withdrew court action
and accepted the election results.
Thabo Mbeki was reelected in 2004 to a second five-year term as
President and head of state; there is a constitutional two-term limit
for the presidency. The ANC increased its parliamentary strength from
266 seats to 279 out of 400 seats. The official opposition, the
Democratic Alliance, increased from 38 to 47 seats. After the September
2005 floor-crossing period, the ANC increased its seats to 293. Five
new parties were formed and received enough votes to obtain seats in
Parliament, making a total of 17 parties with parliamentary
representation.
Political violence between ANC and IFP supporters in KwaZulu-Natal
resulted in deaths prior to the March 1 local elections (see Section
1.a.).
On March 1, local elections were held nationwide. The ANC
maintained its majority with approximately 63 percent of the vote. The
elections were mostly peaceful, but there were a few incidents of
political violence (see Section 1.a.).
In June 2005 President Mbeki named Minister of Minerals and Energy
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as the country's first female deputy President.
Women held 12 of 28 ministerial positions and eight of 21 deputy
ministerial slots. There were 150 women in the 400-seat National
Assembly and 19 women in the 54-seat National Council of Provinces
(NCOP). In addition women occupied three of four parliamentary
presiding officer positions, including speaker and deputy speaker of
the National Assembly and deputy chair of the NCOP.
There were approximately 140 members of minorities, (non-black
citizens), in the National Assembly. There were approximately 20
minority members among the 54 permanent members of the NCOP. The
cabinet included six members of minority groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The Government continued
its efforts to curb corruption, although the public perception of
widespread official corruption, particularly in the police and the
Department of Home Affairs, continued. The Government's anticorruption
actions included ongoing investigations into the alleged misconduct of
public officials, which resulted in numerous convictions during the
year. At least 10 agencies were engaged in anticorruption efforts.
Some, like the Public Service Commission, the Office of the Public
Prosecutor, and the Office of the Auditor-General, are constitutionally
mandated. The SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit and the Directorate for Special
Operations (known as ``the Scorpions'') have dedicated units to combat
corruption. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) under the Office of
the President, investigated corruption in government departments and
identified civil servants who are now repaying the Government for
illicitly obtained income. The SIU was reportedly investigating 400,000
citizens suspected of fraudulently obtaining social grants and pensions
from the Government.
The Office of the Public Protector investigated government abuse
and mismanagement and served as the office of last resort for citizens
reporting unfair treatment by government entities. The office handled
an increasing number of complaints but was hampered by severe resource
constraints.
In March Bloemfontein's municipal manager and chief operating
officer were found guilty of corruption charges by a disciplinary
hearing and were fired. They appeared in court, together with former
mayor Papi Mokoena, in October on criminal charges of corruption and
fraud. The criminal case was ongoing at the end of the year.
The Government continued to prosecute officials involved in
``Travelgate,'' the ongoing scandal involving misuse of official funds
by parliamentarians and their travel agents. Thirty-two current and
former members of Parliament concluded plea agreements with the state.
Five travel agents and three members of Parliament faced criminal
charges of defrauding the Parliament and were scheduled to appear in
court in February 2007.
In November the full bench of the Supreme Court of Appeals
dismissed the appeal of Schabir Shaik's conviction on two counts of
corruption and one of fraud. He had been sentenced to 15 years in
prison after being convicted in 2005 of seeking bribes on behalf of
former deputy President Jacob Zuma, and for paying Zuma's expenses in
return for Zuma's backing in business deals. Zuma was also charged, but
the case against him was struck from the roll pending the outcome of
the Shaik appeal. Following the dismissal of Shaik's appeal, the
National Prosecuting Authority stated that there was ``a reasonable
prospect'' that the charges against Zuma would be reinstated.
In August former ANC chief whip and defense committee chairperson
Tony Yengeni began serving his four-year prison term for defrauding the
Parliament. Yengeni was convicted in 2003 of accepting and failing to
declare a discount on his luxury vehicle from a domestic company
involved in the arms procurement process.
The Promotion of Access to Information Act provides for access to
government information; however the Government did not always comply
with the law. The Open Democracy Advice Center (ODAC) continued to
report that many requests for information went unanswered or were
answered outside the period provided for in the legislation. ODAC's
2005 annual report noted, however, that a ``response to a request for
information is more significantly about the requester than about the
information or the agency'' from which the request is made. Many
requests are unclear or poorly drafted, making a response difficult. If
a government department refuses to provide information, however, the
requester can launch an internal appeal. If this also fails, the
requester may appeal a decision to the high court, a time-consuming
process that excludes groups or individuals who cannot afford it. In
April 2005 the Cape high court ruled that access to records of private
donations to political parties is not reasonably required under the
act.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. Many
organizations participated in governmental bodies that gathered
information and developed policies related to human rights.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which was
created by the Government but operated independently, was responsible
for promoting the observance of fundamental human rights at all levels
of government and throughout the general population. The SAHRC also has
the power to conduct investigations, issue subpoenas, and hear
testimony under oath. During 2005 the SAHRC issued reports on the
treatment of the Khomani San-an indigenous minority ethnic group-and
other human rights issues.
The TRC, created to investigate apartheid-era human rights abuses
and compensate victims, released its final report in 2003. Of the
18,000 victims approved by the TRC for a one-time payment of $4,270
(R30,000), 16,000 received payment in 2004, and 700 received payment
during 2005 after door-to-door campaigns conducted by the Government.
Remaining victims who had not received benefits by the end of 2005 had
either not completed applications correctly or were believed to be
dead. No further payments were expected.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the grounds of
race, disability, ethnic or social origin, color, age, culture,
language, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or marital status.
However, entrenched attitudes and practices, as well as limited
resources, restricted the practical effect of these legal protections
in some cases. The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act places a responsibility on the state and any person
in the public domain to promote equality. The act addresses
discrimination in a broad context in the workplace, health care,
education, services, pensions, and other socioeconomic areas.
Women.--Domestic violence was pervasive and included physical,
sexual, emotional, and verbal abuse, as well as harassment and stalking
by former partners. The law defines victims of domestic violence,
facilitates the serving of protection orders on abusers, requires the
police to take victims to a place of safety, and allows police to seize
firearms at the scene and arrest abusers without a warrant. The law
also applies to persons who are not in legal or common-law marriages.
Violating a protection order is punishable by a prison sentence of up
to five years, or 20 years if additional criminal charges are brought.
Societal attitudes and a lack of infrastructure, resources, and
training for law enforcement officials hampered the implementation of
domestic violence legislation. According to NGOs, an estimated 25
percent of women were in abusive relationships, but few reported it.
Doctors, police officers, and judges often treated abused women poorly.
The Government financed 25 shelters for abused women, but more were
needed, particularly in rural areas. The SAPS has been converting Child
Protection Units to Family Violence, Child Protection, and Sexual
Offenses Units (FCS); as of March there were 66 FCSs. FCS investigating
officers and other police officers received annual training in gender
sensitivity. The Government continued to conduct domestic violence
awareness campaigns.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, but remained a serious
problem. According to the 2005 06 SAPS annual report, the incidence of
rape decreased slightly from the previous year to 117.1 rapes per
100,000 persons; of the 54,926 rapes reported, 31,101 were referred to
court. A poor security climate and societal attitudes condoning sexual
violence against women contributed to the problem. Amnesty
International noted that the number of reported rapes was believed to
be only one-third of the estimated number of actual rapes. Although
judges in rape cases generally followed statutory sentencing
guidelines, women's advocacy groups occasionally criticized judges for
using questionable criteria such as the victim's behavior or
relationship to the rapist as a basis for imposing lighter sentences.
Rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of black citizen and
migrant female farm workers by farm owners, managers, and by other farm
workers were common.
The Government operated 61 sexual offenses courts throughout the
country that included designated waiting rooms and counseling for
victims. The Sexual Offenses and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA) operated
10 centers known as Thuthuzela centers, which specialized in rape care
management and streamlined a network of existing investigative,
prosecutorial, and medical and psychological services in the hospitals
where they were located.
Exacting a bride price (``lobola'') was a traditional practice of
some ethnic groups.
Prostitution is illegal but was widespread and practiced openly.
There were reports that women were trafficked to the country for
prostitution or were trafficked to foreign territories such as Europe,
China, and Macao (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, sexual harassment
remained a widespread problem. In December the ANC expelled its
parliamentary chief whip, Mbulelo Goniwe, following an investigation
into allegations that Goniwe sexually harassed a party intern.
According to press reports, several other women also came forward with
similar allegations against Goniwe.
Discrimination against women remained a serious problem despite
equal rights under family law and property law with regard to
inheritance, divorce, and custody of children, and equal legal rights
under the judicial system. Women experienced economic discrimination in
areas such as wages, extension of credit, and access to land. For
example, township housing transfer schemes favored existing
titleholders, who tended to be men. Many rural areas were administered
through traditional leadership structures, often including a chief or a
council of elders, who did not grant land tenure to women, a
precondition for access to housing subsidies.
Women, particularly black women, typically had lower incomes and
less job security than men. Most women were engaged in poorly paid
domestic labor and micro-enterprises, which did not provide job
security or benefits. The Department of Trade and Industry provided
incentive grants to promote the development of small and medium
businesses and micro-enterprises for women, young persons, and persons
with disabilities.
According to a survey conducted by the Businesswoman's Association
during the year, women comprised 41 percent of the working population
but held only 16.8 percent of executive-level and 11.5 percent of
director-level positions.
Female farm workers often experienced discrimination, and their
access to housing often was dependent on their relationship to male
farm workers. Female farm workers on maternity leave who could not
obtain timely compensation via the Unemployment Insurance Fund often
had no choice but to return to work shortly after giving birth.
A number of governmental bodies and NGOs monitored and promoted
women's human rights. Numerous active women's rights groups focused on
such areas as violence against women and the economic advancement of
women.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to children's
welfare. The law provides for greater educational opportunities for
disadvantaged children--traditionally black children--through a uniform
system for the organization, governance, and funding of schools. It
mandates compulsory education from ages seven to 15 and ensures that
children cannot be refused admission to public schools due to a lack of
funds. According to the July 2005 Statistics South Africa General
Household Survey, 97.9 percent of children between seven and 15 years
old were enrolled in school. Those not enrolled tended to be children
with special needs. While there generally were comparable attendance
numbers for boys and girls, a number of factors, including unplanned
pregnancies, domestic responsibilities (particularly in rural areas),
and gender stereotypes contributed to high drop-out rates and lower
secondary school pass rates for girls.
Each of the nine provincial departments of education had
responsibility for the schools in their provinces, which resulted in
the uneven distribution of educational resources. The disparity
affected the poorer provinces of Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-
Natal most severely. The availability and quality of primary schooling
continued to be a problem, especially in rural areas where schools
often were not easily accessible. Farm schools, which are public
schools on private commercial farms (13 percent of all state-funded
schools), were among the poorest resourced. Many schools reportedly had
problems of poorly trained teachers, inadequate teaching materials,
long-vacant teaching posts, overcrowding, late pupil registration, and
vacation-time vandalism.
There continued to be reports of widespread rape, sexual abuse,
sexual harassment, and assaults of girls at school by teachers,
students, and other persons in the school community. The law requires
schools to disclose sexual abuse to the authorities; however,
administrators often concealed sexual violence or delayed disciplinary
action. The level of sexual violence in schools also increased the risk
for girls of contracting HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted
diseases, as well as unwanted pregnancies. Many girls, some as young as
four years old, were raped on school premises.
Although the law prohibits corporal punishment in schools, there
were reports that teachers used physical violence to discipline
students. Student-on-student violence, including racially motivated
violence, continued to be a major concern of educational authorities
and parents. Teacher organizations, parents, and police worked together
in the ``Safe Schools Program'' to address these problems. Many schools
implemented ``Adopt-a-Cop'' programs inviting SAPS officers into their
schools for training and security.
HIV/AIDS activists, physicians, and opposition parties continued to
criticize the Government for failing to provide ARV therapy to pregnant
and breast-feeding women and thereby protect young children from HIV/
AIDS transmission. The Government responded to a 2004 constitutional
court finding that it must provide programs to prevent the transmission
of HIV from mothers to children by expanding the number of antenatal
clinics providing nevirapine to HIV-positive mothers. Implementation by
the national and provincial governments was slow, and the Government
continued to raise concerns about the use of nevirapine mono-therapy to
prevent transmission. The Government was unable to provide for the
rapidly growing number of children who were affected by HIV/AIDS,
including both infected children and AIDS orphans.
Violence against children, including domestic violence and sexual
abuse, remained widespread. While there was increased attention to the
problem, a lack of coordinated and comprehensive strategies to deal
with violent crimes continued to impede the delivery of needed services
to young victims. According to the 2005 06 SAPS report, 23,453 children
were raped, 1,075 were murdered, 20,879 were assaulted with intention
to do grievous bodily harm, and 4,726 were subjected to indecent
assault. Observers believed that these figures represented a small
percentage of the actual incidence of child rape, because most cases
involving family members were not reported. The country had a low
conviction rate for rape and child abuse. The age of consent is 16 and
the statutory sentence for rape of a child is life in prison; however,
the law grants judges the discretion to issue more lenient sentences.
The law prohibits virginity testing but was not always enforced.
For example, virginity testing occurred in KwaZulu-Natal, especially
related to the ``reed dance'' ceremony in which only ``maidens'' could
participate.
Despite outreach programs, adult male circumcision was still a
prevalent initiation tradition in various parts of the country.
Initiation practices, which included circumcisions, continued during
the year. The House of Traditional Leaders attempted to address unsafe
initiation practices and designed strategies to prevent deaths and the
spread of diseases, such as HIV/AIDS. The Department of Health in the
Eastern Cape provided 400 surgeons, 425 officials, and 80 vehicles
during the June initiation season to monitor initiation practices.
Nonetheless, circumcision deaths reported in the Eastern Cape during
the year increased from 20 in 2005 to 23 during the year, according to
press reports.
Child prostitution continued during the year (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
The Government continued to increase its social welfare programs to
children affected by poverty and the loss of parents, and, according to
the Ministry of Social Development, more than 5.5 million children
received such grants during the year. Child support grants cover
children up to the age of 14, but it was sometimes difficult for
children, particularly those in rural areas or without documentation,
to obtain access to health care facilities and other social welfare
programs.
NGOs provided shelter, medical, and legal assistance for child
prostitutes, and a hot line for victims of child abuse. The Government
donated land and buildings for various shelters for victims of sexual
abuse, street children, and orphans.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--In June the President signed into law the
Children's Act of 2005, which prohibits the trafficking of children,
namely ``the recruitment, sale, supply, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of children, within or across the borders of the
Republic.'' The penalty for violations of the act is up to a maximum of
20 years in prison. However, there is no law that explicitly prohibits
trafficking in adults. The Government used the Prevention of Organized
Crime Act, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Refugee Act, the
Aliens Control Act, and provisions of criminal law to prosecute
traffickers. The South African Law Reform Commission conducted
consultative workshops in all provinces in July in preparation for
drafting a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, but no reports or drafts
of the proposed law were issued by year's end.
The law prohibits the commercial sexual exploitation of children,
sexual intercourse with children under 16, or permitting a female under
16 to stay in a brothel for the purpose of prostitution.
The country was a destination, transit route, and point of origin
for the trafficking of persons, including children, from other
countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe for prostitution and forced
labor. A substantial number of persons were believed to be trafficked
annually. Domestic and international organized crime syndicates
trafficked women into the country for the sex industry. Young men were
trafficked chiefly for agricultural work.
The extent of trafficking operations was unknown, but the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in 2003 that 12
major routes for trafficking operations made use of the country,
including Southern Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.
Trafficked women and children who worked in the sex industry often
lived with other trafficked victims in segregated areas; were
frequently under constant surveillance; usually had no money or
identifying documents; were often in debt to the agents who arranged
their travel; often worked long hours, in some cases up to 18 hours
each day, and on weekends and when ill; and sometimes were fined by
their trafficker for infractions of arbitrary rules. Young men
trafficked for forced agricultural labor often were subjected to
violence and food rationing.
According to the IOM, several major criminal groups operating in
the country trafficked women: Bulgarian and Thai syndicates, and
Russian, Chinese, and African (mainly West African) criminal
organizations. Traffickers also included citizens and African refugees
resident in the country.
In most cases traffickers lured foreign women with promises of
employment, marriage, or educational opportunities abroad. Traffickers
often lured the children of poor families with promises of jobs,
education, or a better way of life. Victims, who could be kidnapped or
forced to follow their traffickers, were subjected to threats of
violence, withholding of documents, and debt bondage to ensure
compliance.
The NPA's SOCA section coordinated an interagency task force to
develop and implement a strategy for dealing comprehensively with
trafficking in persons. The task force included the departments of
foreign affairs, social development, justice and constitutional
development, health, and safety and security, as well as the NPA, SAPS,
and local and international NGOs. In August during a workshop organized
by NPA/SOCA, prosecutors established a rapid response team to address
trafficking cases.
During the year Amien Andrew was convicted for organizing
prostitution and was sentenced to 51 years' imprisonment. In June the
state successfully prosecuted Elizabeth Maswangane on charges of
kidnapping and running a brothel for the purpose of luring three girls
to work as prostitutes.
Corruption within the police, immigration, customs, and private
services at the airport impeded interdiction efforts. For example,
traffickers reportedly bribed officials to help them move victims out
of the transit area to avoid detection. The border police incorporated
antitrafficking material into their training manuals, and both police
and judicial officials continued to receive training in antitrafficking
activities. However, law enforcement units handling trafficking
problems were understaffed and sometimes corrupt. The country used its
61 sexual offenses courts to handle trafficking cases and relied
heavily on NGOs to provide witness protection. During the past two
years, a few immigration officers from the Department of Home Affairs
(DHA) were dismissed for involvement in trafficking. DHA officials
reported that there were also dismissals for petty corruption.
Some domestic victims of trafficking were placed in government
facilities for the sexually abused. The government continued to fund
private shelters that provided short- and long-term care to trafficking
victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination on the
basis of disability; however, government and private sector
discrimination in employment existed. The law mandates access to
buildings for persons with disabilities, but such regulations rarely
were enforced, and public awareness of them remained minimal. The
National Environmental Accessibility Program, an NGO staffed by persons
with disabilities as well as service providers, had a presence in all
nine provinces to lobby for compliance with the regulations and to sue
offending property owners when necessary.
The law provides persons with disabilities with protection from
harassment and, in conjunction with the Employment Equity Act, also
provides guidelines on the recruitment and selection of persons with
disabilities, reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities,
and guidelines on proper handling of employee medical information.
Enforcement of this law was limited. The law also requires employers
with more than 50 workers to create an affirmative action plan with
provisions for achieving employment equity for persons with
disabilities. The Black Economic Empowerment Act is law, and codes of
good practices specifying company obligations under the act were
approved by the cabinet, but at year's end they had yet to be published
in the official gazette. Persons with disabilities constituted a tiny
proportion of the public service workforce (estimated to be 0.02
percent), compared with 5.9 percent of the general population.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law requires employers with
50 or more employees to ensure that previously disadvantaged groups--
defined for legal purposes as ``Blacks''--including ``Africans,''
``Colored,'' and ``Asians''--are represented adequately at all levels
of the workforce. According to the Department of Labor's 2005
``Employment Equity Analysis,'' Blacks, while not a minority, remained
underrepresented, particularly at the professional and managerial
levels.
Notwithstanding the country's antidiscrimination legislation, the
2005 ``Employment Equity Analysis'' reported that racial imbalances in
the workplace still exist and that only 28 percent of positions at the
top management level in 2005 were held by Blacks. According to 2005
data, approximately 53 percent of professionals were Black. The report
makes it clear that Black women by far remained the most disadvantaged
in terms of the number and quality of management or skilled jobs.
Employers cited a lack of training and development, poor recruitment
processes, and an antagonistic corporate culture as the main
impediments to affirmative action.
Blacks constituted 76 percent of the workforce in unskilled, low-
paid jobs. In occupations such as newspaper vendors, garage attendants,
car washers, gardeners, and garbage collectors, Blacks accounted for 98
percent of the workforce.
In the armed forces, the officer corps remained predominantly
white.
The continued killings of mostly white farm owners by black African
assailants created concern among white farmers that they were being
targeted for racial and political reasons (see Section 1.a.). There
also were reports that white employers abused and killed black African
farm laborers, and complaints that white employers received
preferential treatment from the authorities (see Section 1.a.).
There were a number of attacks on foreigners, and anti-immigrant
groups such as the Unemployed Masses of South Africa often blamed
immigrants for job losses. In January three foreigners were killed and
11 injured in clashes between South Africans and Mozambicans and
Zimbabweans in Olievenhoutbosch following the alleged murder of a black
South African boy by a foreigner. In August at least five Somali
refugees were killed in Cape Town, bringing the number to 10 for the
year. No arrests have been made.
No information was available as to final disposition of the cases
against 50 residents of Plettenberg Bay arrested in May 2005 in
connection with an attack on foreign nationals living in informal
settlements; one person was killed in the attack.
Indigenous People.--The Khoikhoi, nomadic herders of cattle and
sheep, were the original indigenous people in the country and have
lived mainly in the southwestern Cape. In the 1970s the Khoikhoi were
dispossessed of their native lands and dispersed throughout the
country. Today only a few thousand Khoikhoi remain, some of whom work
as farmers or as laborers on farms. Under the law the Khoikhoi have the
same political and economic rights as other citizens; however, their
participation was limited due to fewer opportunities, minimal access to
education, and relative isolation.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The post-apartheid
constitution outlaws discrimination based on sexual orientation and on
December 1 the country legalized same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, there
was some societal violence and discrimination against homosexuals, but
unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of official violence
or discrimination. Gay and lesbian rights NGOs alleged that abuse of
gay and lesbian persons by police was still occurring.
Although the Government conducted campaigns to reduce or eliminate
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, the social stigma
associated with HIV/AIDS remained a general problem. There were reports
of the abuse of HIV-infected individuals by their families and
communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and workers exercised this right. All workers with the
exception of members of the National Intelligence Agency and the Secret
Service were entitled to join a union. Union membership continued to
decline steadily as a result of job layoffs in heavily unionized
sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing. According to a March
South Africa Labor Force Survey,total union membership was
approximately 2.9 million persons, out of a total work force of 9.8
million, or 30 percent of the total labor force.
Although labor laws protected farm workers, some farm workers
unions encountered difficulties trying to organize workers because
union organizers were considered trespassers on private property. In
addition, farm workers or farm residents who attempted to organize were
sometimes harassed, dismissed, and evicted. The Department of Labor
(DOL) and unions enlisted the cooperation of AgriSA, the national
farmers' organization, to educate farmers about workers' rights and to
improve working conditions. The DOL reported in March that 8.8 percent
of the agricultural labor force was unionized. Labor rights are
protected by the constitution and by statute; a labor court and labor
appeals court enforced these rights.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law defines
and protects the rights of workers to organize and bargain
collectively; workers exercised these rights. There are no export
processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right. Although members of the SANDF were allowed to join a union,
they and other workers considered to be providing an essential service
were prohibited from striking. Disputes between workers in essential
services and their employers that are not resolved through collective
bargaining, independent mediation, or conciliation are referred to
arbitration or the labor courts.
During the April-June strike by private security guards, more than
50 persons reportedly were killed. Most of the victims were described
as security guards who reported to work and were allegedly attacked by
striking guards. In August, 36 members of the South African Transport
and Allied Workers Union were arrested and charged with public
violence, while another member was charged under the Regulations of
Gatherings Act. Property damage associated with the strike was
extensive. Those arrested were awaiting trial at year's end.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor is prohibited by law; however, child labor was widespread
in informal and agricultural sectors, particularly in the former
homeland areas. The Government generally enforced child labor laws in
the formal sectors of the economy. The death of parents by HIV/AIDS has
increased the number of children who have to support themselves and
often younger siblings in households headed by children.
The law prohibits employment of a child under 15 years of age, or
under the minimum school-leaving age, or over 15 but under 18, if the
work places at risk the child's wellbeing, education, physical or
mental health, or spiritual, moral, or social development. Underage
children in the performing arts were allowed to work if their employer
received DOL permission and agreed to follow specific guidelines.
Child laborers, including some from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, worked
illegally in the country on commercial farms, for the taxi industry, or
as domestic servants.
There were reports that children were forced into prostitution and
that some children worked under conditions that amounted to bondage
(see Section 5).
During the year the DOL employed approximately 1,000 labor
inspectors to follow up on reports of violations and to enforce
existing policies. Violation of laws regulating child employment are
punishable by a maximum prison sentence of three years or a fine of
$2,135 (R15,000). In some cases, DOL inspectors opted to resolve child
labor cases through counseling of employers, parents, and children, or
by enlisting the services of professionals in the welfare and education
departments. There were reports that inspectors had difficulty gaining
access to farms where child labor was reported.
In July the DOL conducted broad-based awareness campaigns about
child labor. Prevention activities against child labor also included a
government-issued child support grant which was modified and expanded
during the year to cover basic living expenses of children up to their
14th birthday, and Regulations Relating to the Exemption of Parents
from Payment of School Fees, issued on October 18. Child welfare
advocates recommended that the child support grant be extended to
children aged 15.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legally mandated
national minimum wage, although the law gives the Ministry of Labor the
authority to set wages by sector. Minimum wages were established for
the retail sector, farm laborers, domestic workers, and taxi (minibus)
drivers. As of March the minimum wage for farm workers was
approximately $142 (R994) a month in urban areas and $126 (R885) a
month in rural areas. The minimum hourly rates for domestics depended
on the number of hours worked and could range from $0.59 (R4.15) to
$0.86 (R6.04). Depending on province, compliance with the minimum wage
rate ranged from 65 to 90 percent, according to figures published by
the DOL in 2004. Minimum wages did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family; the Government undertook other actions
to alleviate poverty, including annual above-inflation mandatory wage
increases for farm workers, exemptions from school fees, and improved
access to health care.
Annual negotiations between employers and employee associations or
unions set wage rates on an industry-by-industry or plant-by-plant
basis for unionized workers in the formal economy. Such negotiated
wages generally were sufficient to provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family; however, this was not the case in sectors
where workers were not organized sufficiently to engage in collective
bargaining. Thus many unskilled or rural workers were unable to provide
an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families.
The law standardizes time-and-a-half pay for overtime, establishes
a 45-hour workweek, and authorizes four months of maternity leave for
women. A ministerial determination exempted businesses employing fewer
than 10 persons from certain provisions of the law concerning overtime
and leave. Farmers and other employers could apply for variations from
the law by showing good cause.
The Government set occupational health and safety standards.
Occupational health and safety issues were a top priority of trade
unions, especially in the mining, construction, and heavy manufacturing
industries, where processes were dangerous and sometimes deadly. The
law provides for the right of mine employees to remove themselves from
work deemed dangerous to health or safety. In addition, a tripartite
mine health and safety council and an inspectorate of mine health and
safety were responsible for enforcing the act and monitoring compliance
with its provisions. The law explicitly prohibits discrimination
against an employee who asserts a right granted by the law (for
example, to leave a hazardous work site) and required mine owners to
file annual reports providing statistics on health and safety incidents
for each mine.
There were no laws or regulations, other than in the mining
industry, that permitted workers to remove themselves from work
situations deemed dangerous to their health or safety without risking
loss of employment; however, the law provides that employers may not
retaliate against employees who disclose dangerous workplace
conditions.
In June the petrochemical company SASOL established a trust fund to
compensate victims of a September 2004 explosion that killed 11 and
injured 142 persons.
Labor conditions for mostly Black farm workers were harsh. Many,
mostly white, farmers did not accurately measure working hours and
often required their laborers to work 11 hours per day and six days per
week. Twelve-hour days were common during harvest time, and few farmers
provided overtime benefits. Human Rights Watch reported low wages, a
lack of basic services in farm workers' housing, and inadequate
education for workers' dependents (see Section 5). Farm owners,
predominantly whites, continued to evict workers legally and illegally.
There was lack of compliance with labor legislation, lack of
information on HIV/AIDS, and significant violence and crime against
farm workers and farm owners. Health and safety regulations often were
not observed when chemicals were used in agricultural work.
__________
SUDAN
Sudan, a republic with an estimated population of 41.2 million, is
governed according to a power-sharing arrangement established by the
January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the 22-
year civil war between the north and south and established an interim
government of National Unity. The Government's mandate extends until
scheduled elections in 2009. The Government of National Unity is
composed of the National Congress Party (NCP), dominated by Islamists
from the north and ruled by authoritarian President Omar Hassan al-
Bashir and his inner circle, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM), the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA), led predominantly by Christians and practitioners of
traditional indigenous religions from the south. In 2000 Bashir was
reelected, and his political party won 340 out of 360 seats in the
parliament in deeply flawed elections boycotted by all major opposition
parties. The SPLM acts as the ruling party of the autonomous government
of Southern Sudan, established in October 2005. The autonomous
government ratified a separate constitution in December 2005. A
referendum to determine whether the south will become an independent
entity is scheduled for 2011. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces and government-aligned
militia; however, there were some instances in which elements of the
security forces and government-aligned militia acted independently.
The country experienced several violent ethnic conflicts during the
year. Despite the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) by the
Government and Minni Minawi's faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/
Army (SLM/A) on May 5, the ethnic conflict in Darfur continued.
Government forces, government-aligned militia (Janjaweed), and Darfur
rebel groups continued to commit serious abuses during the year.
Tensions and violence persisted in the south over the implementation of
the CPA, and in the east, where the rebel Eastern Front signed a peace
agreement with the Government on October 14. The country experienced
violent conflict on its western border with Chad that was, in part, a
spillover of the conflict in Darfur and, in part, attributable to
Chadian rebel forces based in Darfur who were opposed to the rule of
Chadian President Idriss Deby. The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a
Ugandan rebel movement, allegedly made incursions into southern Sudan
late in the year and attacked and killed civilians.
In Darfur government forces, Janjaweed, and Darfur rebel groups
committed serious abuses during the year, including the reported
killing of at least several thousand civilians. Government and
Janjaweed militias razed numerous villages of African tribes, and
committed acts of torture and violence against women. Darfur rebel
groups were also responsible for rape and attacks on humanitarian
convoys and compounds in order to steal equipment and supplies,
resulting in death and injury to humanitarian workers. According to the
UN, more than 200,000 persons have died, two million civilians have
been internally displaced, and an estimated 234,000 refugees have fled
to neighboring Chad since the conflict began in 2003. Despite the
presence in Darfur of the African Union-led international monitoring
force (African Union Mission in Sudan or AMIS), security remained a
major problem and deteriorated during the year, with reports of
violence increasing during the latter half of the year.
Despite the January 2005 signing of the CPA, sporadic violence
occurred in the south. Militias aligned with the Sudanese Armed Forces
(SAF) and the SPLA, as well as non-aligned militias, continued to
engage in violent attacks. Delays in CPA implementation, particularly
the provisions of its security arrangements governing aligned-militia
reintegration and disarmament, fomented many of these incidents.
Although the SPLA successfully integrated some militias into its ranks,
such as Paulino Matiep's faction of the South Sudan Defense Forces, a
grouping of over 40 militias, in compliance with the CPA provision
requiring militias to join either the SPLA or SAF by January 9, other
militias refused to integrate into either force. In December in
Malakal, the SPLA and SAF engaged in direct conflict, in violation of
the CPA, when SPLA troops fired upon a SAF base where members of a
government-aligned militia had sought refuge. Hundreds of civilians
were wounded during the clash, and an estimated 150 civilians and
soldiers on both sides were killed.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and there were
numerous serious problems, including evidence of continuing genocide in
Darfur, for which the Government and Janjaweed continued to bear
responsibility. Abuses included: abridgement of citizens' rights to
change their government; extrajudicial and other unlawful killings by
government forces and other government-aligned groups throughout the
country; torture, beatings, rape and other cruel, inhumane treatment or
punishment by security forces; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention, including incommunicado detention of suspected
government opponents, and prolonged pretrial detention; executive
interference with the judiciary and denial of due process; forced
military conscription of underage men; obstruction of the delivery of
humanitarian assistance; infringement on citizens' right to privacy,
freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and
movement; the harassment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and of
local and international human rights and humanitarian organizations;
violence and discrimination against women, including the practice of
female genital mutilation (FGM); child abuse, including sexual violence
and recruitment as child soldiers, particularly in Darfur; trafficking
in persons; discrimination and violence against ethnic minorities;
denial of workers' rights; and forced labor, including child labor, by
security forces and both aligned and non-aligned militias in Southern
Sudan and Darfur.
Members of the SPLA committed serious abuses, particularly early in
the year during forced disarmament campaigns targeting the White Army,
a Nuer ethnic militia, which resulted in numerous killings and the
displacement of thousands of civilians. The SPLA also continued to
recruit child soldiers.
Antigovernment and insurgent groups also committed numerous,
serious abuses. Factions of the SLA, the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM) and other rebel groups in Darfur committed killings, beatings,
abductions, rape, robbery, destruction of property, forcible
conscription, and recruitment of child soldiers. They restricted
freedom of movement of populations under their control and access of
relief workers and supplies, and kidnapped and killed nongovernmental
organization (NGO) workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were reports
of politically motivated killings by the Government and its agents in
Darfur, especially connected to the conflict in Darfur. There also were
reports of numerous extrajudicial killings. The genocide in Darfur
determined to have occurred by the Department of State in September
2004 continued during the year (see Section 1.g.).
The police and army killed demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
Members of the military also killed other members of the military.
On October 31, at a tea shop in central Juba, a former Murle militia
member recently integrated into the SPLA shot and killed with impunity
a fellow Murle who had recently joined the SPLA. According to
witnesses, two additional SPLA soldiers then arrived on the scene and
joined the fighting; one of the two went up to the victim and shot him
a second time in the head.
At least one person died from tear gas inhalation during an August
30 antigovernment protest in Khartoum.
Police in Gezira State forcibly demolished homes at a squatter camp
resulting in the deaths of four persons, including children (see
Section 1.f.).
Large-scale violence in Darfur decreased in the first half of the
year but increased significantly during the latter half of the year.
General lawlessness and continued attacks by government forces,
government-aligned militias and rebel and paramilitary forces on
villages, humanitarian aid workers, and convoys increased the degree of
insecurity (see Section 1.g.).
SAF and SPLA-aligned militias, as well as non-aligned militias,
continued to use violence in the south, which resulted in an unknown
number of deaths during the year.
Government forces and aligned militias were responsible for attacks
and killings in neighboring Chad (see Section 1.g.).
Rebel groups operating throughout the country were responsible for
killings, including the deaths of five humanitarian aid workers (see
Sections 1.g. and 4).
Approximately 51 civilians reportedly died due to landmines in the
south between January and September, although some observers believed
the number to be much higher since only a small percentage of deaths
were actually reported to the UN (see Section 1.g.). The Government
cooperated with the UN Mine Action Group to remove landmines in the
south.
Unknown assailants kidnapped and killed a prominent newspaper
editor during the year (see Section 2.a.).
Interethnic conflict resulted in deaths during the year (see
Section 5).
AMIS monitoring forces in Darfur were responsible for the deaths of
IDPs (see Section 1.g.).
b. Disappearance.--There were continued allegations that the
Government was responsible for politically motivated disappearances,
including those of persons suspected of supporting rebels, especially
in Darfur.
An estimated 15,000 Dinka women and children have been abducted,
mainly from 1983 to 1999; at least 8,000 of these remained unaccounted
for at year's end. Observers believed that some of those abducted in
the past were sold into de facto slavery as forced laborers, while
others were drafted into the military. In some cases the abductees
escaped or eventually were released or ransomed; in other cases they
were killed. Few persons who were previously abducted were returned
during the year by the Government's Committee to Eradicate the
Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC). The Government did not
identify the abductors or forced-labor owners and has not prosecuted
them.
Rebel forces in Darfur reportedly abducted persons, including
government officials and humanitarian aid workers (see Sections 1.g.
and 4).
There also were reports of periodic intertribal abductions of women
and children in eastern Upper Nile State (see Section 5).
The LRA kidnapped children in Uganda and brought them into the
southern part of the country. The LRA also killed civilians in the
south (see Section 5).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the Interim National Constitution, adopted in
July 2005 and hereafter referred to as the ``interim constitution,''
prohibits such practices, government security forces continued to
torture, beat, and harass suspected political opponents and others.
In December 2005 the Government of Southern Sudan adopted a
separate constitution based on common law, which prohibits torture;
however, SPLA forces did not respect these provisions in practice.
In accordance with Shari'a (Islamic law), the Criminal Act provides
for physical punishments, including flogging, amputation, stoning, and
``crucifixion''--the public display of a body after execution. Under
the interim constitution, the Government officially exempts the 10
southern states from Shari'a law, though some judges in the south
reportedly still observed it. Northern courts routinely imposed
flogging, especially for production of alcohol.
In February National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS)
officers used tear gas and beat students with sticks to break up a
peaceful student demonstration at Kassala University. Several students
were hospitalized due to their injuries.
During the year there were several reports of abuse by anti-
smuggling police. For example, on March 27 anti-smuggling police in
Kassala State, near the border with Eritrea, assaulted several persons
from the Rashaida tribe in Hafayer town and confiscated their goods.
Three days later, anti-smuggling police in Hafayer arrested and
severely beat a Rashaida leader in front of his family. On April 23,
anti-smuggling police arrested another man near Hafayer, confiscated
his goods and money, and burned his hands with hot coal. The following
day, anti-smuggling police raided a shop in Hafayer, confiscated
several goods, and shot a 17-year-old boy in the foot as he was coming
out of the local SPLM office.
On April 15, government soldiers arrested two men and one 13-year-
old boy near Kulbus, West Darfur, and accused them of being ``Tora
Bora''--a slang term for Darfuri rebels. The soldiers beat the boy with
electric wire and their rifle butts before transferring him to a
detention cell for three days. While in detention, soldiers again beat
the boy, threw water on him, and forced him to stand all night. On
April 25, the boy was transferred to civilian custody and released the
following day on orders of a judge in El Geneina.
On June 12, NISS officers detained and tortured a male student from
the Islamic University in Omdurman. The student had distributed flyers
calling for the university to reinstate several students who had been
expelled for nonpayment of fees. The officials took the student to a
room on campus, blindfolded him, and hung him by his feet from a
ceiling fan. They then attempted to insert a glass bottle into his
anus, beat him with a metal bar, and shocked his hands and feet with
electric wires. They released him after he signed documents obliging
him to pay over $7,000 (SDD 1.5 million). The UN Mission in Sudan
(UNMIS) later verified the victim's injuries with a medical
certificate.
On September 7, SPLA soldiers beat at least six university students
in Wau after the university director asked the SPLA to intervene to
protect the university from student agitators. UNMIS reported that the
students were beaten without provocation, some after simply
acknowledging that they were students at the university. On September
19, the governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal ordered the university
closed for one year and asked police and SPLA to remove all students
from campus.
In Torit in early September, fighting broke out between the SPLA
and local police after a SPLA-Joint Integrated Unit soldier was
arrested for rape and shot while attempting to escape from jail. SPLA
soldiers later attacked the police station in retaliation, beat several
police officers, and shot indiscriminately in the streets.
There were few attempts during the year to bring to justice police,
soldiers, and other government agents who had tortured or mistreated
citizens in previous years.
No action was taken against government officials responsible for
the following abuses in 2005: the January beating of political activist
Salah Abdelrahman, who was held without charge for eight months; the
February detention and beating of Mahmoud Abaker Osman and Diggo Abdel
Jabbar; the August torturing of numerous persons in connection with the
Khartoum riots; and the October torture of nine students on the campus
of Islamic University in Omdurman after they attempted to form a union.
Security forces beat and mistreated refugees and injured and killed
persons while dispersing demonstrations (see Sections 2.b. and 2.d).
Throughout the year police conducted sporadic raids on houses occupied
by Ethiopian refugees or migrants; credible reports indicate that
during the raids police at times beat the refugees and used tear gas
against them (see Section 2.d).
Soldiers, Popular Defense Force (PDF) members, government-aligned
militia, and members of Darfur rebel groups raped women (see Section
1.g.). There was a clear and documented pattern of rape and sexual
abuse directed at IDPs of all ages in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).
UNMIS acknowledged that four of its military and civilian personnel
had been repatriated to their country of origin in connection with
allegations of sexual abuse of children in the south. UNMIS
acknowledged that 13 additional personnel were being investigated on
similar charges.
Government forces and aligned militias in Darfur were responsible
for injuring many civilians during attacks on rebel forces, and during
attacks on civilian settlements, including aerial bombardment (see
Section 1.g.).
SLA, JEM and other Darfur rebel groups were also responsible for
civilian injuries in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and overcrowded. Most prisons were old and poorly maintained, and
many lacked basic facilities such as toilets or showers. Health care
was primitive; prisoners usually relied on family or friends for food.
Prison officials arbitrarily denied visits to prisoners. High-ranking
political prisoners reportedly often enjoyed better conditions than did
other prisoners.
The Government routinely mistreated persons in custody. There were
credible reports that security forces held detainees incommunicado;
beat them; deprived them of food, water, and toilets; and forced them
to sleep on cold floors.
Juveniles often were held with adults and in some cases subjected
to sexual abuse by the adult inmates. In October 2005 an adult inmate
raped a 16-year-old male in police detention in Juba.
The Government did not permit regular visits to prisons by domestic
human rights observers. In August 2005 the Government agreed to allow
unfettered access to UN monitors; however, on May 3, it denied a
request by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the NISS
section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North (see Section 1.e.). The
Government refused to grant the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) access to government prisons during the year.
Detention centers operated by rebel forces were comparable to those
operated by the Government, though some were worse. On June 19, UNMIS
observers visited a detention facility operated by SLA forces aligned
with Minni Minawi, hereby referred to as `` SLA (Minawi)'' in Thabit,
North Darfur, and noted that 16 prisoners were being held in a single
cell with no space to lie down; military and civilian detainees were
held together. The SLA and other rebel groups allowed the ICRC access
to some prisoners during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The interim constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention without charge; however, the
Government continued to arbitrarily arrest and detain under the
National Security Act.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The NISS and the
Ministry of Interior both have security forces under their control,
along with the police force responsible for internal security. The
police forces include regular police units and the Popular Police
Force, a parallel progovernment force that received higher pay than
regular forces. The effectiveness of the Popular Police Force varied,
depending on the strength of the local militias and security forces.
The army is responsible for external and internal security. Police
corruption was a problem, and police officers supplemented their
incomes by extorting bribes from the local civilians.
According to UNMIS, police in Southern Sudan lacked resources to
effectively protect the local population. In Maridi, in West Equatoria
State, police lacked uniforms, radios, sufficient vehicles, and office
equipment. The local jail had only one cell, with no toilet. To
compensate for the lack of resources, police required complainants to
pay three dollars (5,000 Ugandan shillings) before they would
investigate their cases. Ugandan shillings, Kenyan shillings, Ethiopian
birr, and U.S. dollars all circulate as common currency in the south.
Local judicial personnel also were inadequately trained, with only one
judge having a law degree. Local police also complained that SPLM
officials routinely intervened in police affairs, forcing police to
release relatives and friends without following legal procedures.
Impunity remained a serious problem, although on a few occasions
during the year courts prosecuted police and other officials for abuses
they had committed. On May 3, the Special Criminal Court for the Events
in Darfur issued a verdict on the only case referred to it since its
establishment in November 2005. The court acquitted two Military
Intelligence (MI) officers and one civilian on charges of robbery and
war crimes (pillaging), stemming from an October 2005 attack by Arab
militia on Tama, in South Darfur. However, the court convicted the
three men of ``criminal joint acts'' and theft, sentencing them to at
least two years in prison. On the same day, the El Geneina General
Court convicted a police officer from Mornei of raping a 10-year-old
girl in 2005, and sentenced him to three years in prison and 100
lashes.
In other cases of police abuse, victims who complained were
punished. For example, in June two southern IDP women in Omdurman, one
of whom was seven months' pregnant, were severely beaten by police
after they resisted police attempts to steal money from their home. The
women were taken to the Thowra police station, where they were beaten
again by a senior police officer. The following day, when the women
were taken to court, one of the women complained about the abuse to the
judge. Three police officers accused her of lying and defaming the
police. The judge ruled in favor of the police, and sentenced her to 30
lashes and a $23 (SDD 5,000) fine for defamation.
Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are not required for an arrest.
Under the Criminal Code, an individual may be detained for three days
without charge, which can be extended for 30 days by order of the
director of security and another 30 days with the approval of the
prosecuting attorney. Under the National Security Act, which supersedes
the Criminal Code, an individual accused of violating national security
may be detained for three months without charge, which the director of
security may extend for another three months. In practice, indefinite
detentions were common. The law provides for the individual to be
informed of the arrest charges at the time of arrest and for prompt
judicial determination without undue delay, but these provisions were
rarely followed.
The law allows for bail, except for those accused of crimes
punishable by death or life imprisonment, and there was a functioning
bail system.
Although the law provides for access to a lawyer, security forces
often held persons, including criminal detainees, incommunicado for
long periods in unknown locations without access to their lawyers or
family members. For example, on August 9, MI officials took American
journalist Paul Salopek and his two foreign assistants into custody
after they crossed the border from Chad without a visa. They held
Salopek incommunicado for nine days without notifying consular
representatives or providing him access to a lawyer.
Individuals were arbitrarily arrested and detained. In general the
Government detained persons for a few days before releasing them
without charge or trial; however, there were exceptions, particularly
for perceived political opponents (see Section 1.e).
On April 4, security forces in Kassala State arrested several
members of the Beja Congress without charge; the members were
reportedly released six months later. The Sudanese Organization Against
Torture (SOAT) claimed the April arrests were part of a crackdown
against the Beja Congress in several eastern states that began in March
with numerous arrests of members of the Beja Congress.
On November 12, police raided an IDP camp near Masteri, West
Darfur, following an exchange of fire between militiamen and suspected
SLA members. Two Masalit men who were gathering firewood near the camp
disappeared during the raid. Three days later, the local police
commissioner stated that the two men were taken into custody for
supporting the SLA but acknowledged that he did not have evidence to
support the charges. Despite assurances to UNMIS that the men would be
released after several days, the men reportedly remained in detention
at year's end.
Journalists were arrested and detained during the year (see Section
2.a.).
Religious leaders were arrested and beaten (see Section 2.c.).
Security forces often targeted southern women in IDP camps because
they produced and sold traditional home-brewed alcohol; such women were
arrested and imprisoned for up to six months under Shari'a. Some women
were held in prison until they could pay the fine, regardless of time
served in prison, thereby effectively serving indefinite sentences.
Vagrant children accused of committing crimes were detained for
indefinite periods (see Section 5).
Arrests and detentions of NGO members and civil society groups also
occurred (see Section 4).
Arbitrarily lengthy detention before trial was common. Trial delays
were caused by large numbers of detainees and judicial inefficiency,
such as the failure of judges to appear for court.
The Government routinely used house arrest without due process.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the interim constitution
and the law provide for an independent judiciary, the judiciary was
largely subservient to the President or the security forces,
particularly in cases of crimes against the state.
A judiciary committee recommends and the President appoints the
chief justice and justices of the Supreme Court. The President appoints
the constitutional court's seven members. On occasion courts displayed
a degree of independence. For example, appeals courts sometimes
overturned decisions by lower courts on political cases, particularly
decisions from public order courts. However, political interference
with the courts regularly occurred.
The judicial system includes four types of courts: regular,
military, special, and tribal courts. Within the regular court system,
there are civil and criminal courts, appeals courts, and the Supreme
Court. Military courts tried only military personnel but did not
provide the same rights as civilian and criminal courts. Special courts
in Darfur operated under the state of emergency to try crimes against
the state; there were three such courts, one in each Darfur capital.
Tribal courts functioned in rural areas to resolve disputes over land
and water rights, and family matters. The Criminal Act governs criminal
cases, and the Civil Transactions Act applies in most civil cases.
Shari'a is applied in the north, but not in the south, under the
interim constitution. However, some judges in the south reportedly
continued to follow Shari'a legal procedures. The Government of
Southern Sudan adopted a new penal code in October based on common law.
Trial Procedures.--The interim constitution and law provide for
fair and prompt trials; however, this was often not respected. Trials
in regular courts nominally met international standards of legal
protections.
Trials were open to the public at the discretion of the judge. In
cases of national security and offenses against the state, trials were
usually closed. Juries are not used.
The accused normally have the right to an attorney, and the courts
are required to provide free legal counsel for indigent defendants
accused of crimes punishable by death or life imprisonment; however,
there were reports that defendants frequently did not receive legal
counsel and that counsel in some cases could only advise the defendant
and not address the court.
There were reports that the Government sometimes denied defense
counsel access to the courts or did not allow the calling of defense
witnesses. For example, in May 2005 an appeals court upheld a judge's
2004 ruling that banned lawyers from representing 28 defendants on
trial for allegedly plotting a coup and ordered them to pick new
counsel or accept government-appointed lawyers. Thereafter 43
additional persons were charged. Forty-nine out of the 81 defendants
were convicted of plotting a coup and sentenced from five to 15 years
in prison; the others were released. However, on March 13, a special
court in Bahri, Khartoum North, dropped charges against eight of the 49
defendants for lack of evidence. The same court acquitted an additional
10 defendants on April 26 because their confessions had been obtained
under torture by NISS officers.
According to the interim constitution and law, there is a
presumption of innocence; however, this was not respected in practice.
Defendants have a right to appeal, except in cases of military trials
where the decision is final and there is no appeal.
Military trials, which sometimes were secret and brief, did not
provide procedural safeguards. For example, the defendant's attorney
could advise the defendant but could not address the court. Witnesses
may be permitted to appear at military trials.
The Special Courts Act created special three-person security courts
to deal with violations of constitutional decrees, emergency
regulations, and some sections of the Penal Code, as well as with drug
and currency offenses. Special courts, composed primarily of civilian
judges, handled most security-related cases. Attorneys could address
the court. Lawyers complained that they sometimes were granted access
to court documents too late to prepare an effective defense. Sentences
usually were severe and implemented at once; however, death sentences
were referred to the chief justice and the head of state. Defendants
could file appellate briefs with the chief justice. The defendant has
seven days to appeal a decision; the decision of the appeal court is
final. Special criminal courts operated in Darfur as authorized by
Presidential decree.
Lawyers wishing to practice were required to maintain membership in
the government-controlled bar association. The Government continued to
harass members of the legal profession whom it considered political
opponents. In September 2005 security forces in Darfur briefly detained
Darfur Lawyers Association director Mohamed Addoma and several fellow
lawyers while they were attending a conference on legal aid; however,
there were no such reports of harassment during the year.
In the south the Government of Southern Sudan employed a judicial
system of traditional chiefs' courts, payam (district) courts, county
judges, regional judges, and a court of appeals. The court system did
not function in many areas due to lack of infrastructure,
communications, funding, and an ineffective police force. The
Government of Southern Sudan recognized traditional courts or ``courts
of elders,'' which applied customary law to most cases, including
domestic matters and criminal cases. Local chiefs usually presided over
traditional courts, but defendants have a right of appeal to a non-
customary court, although there were no reports that this has happened
in practice. Traditional courts have now been formalized and integrated
into the judicial system.
In parts of the south and the Nuba Mountains, where civil
authorities and institutions did not operate, there were no effective
judicial procedures beyond customary courts. According to credible
reports, military units in those areas summarily tried and punished
those accused of crimes, especially for offenses against civil order.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners; however, the Government held an estimated 100
political detainees, including members of opposition parties. Security
forces reportedly detained without charge, tortured, and held
incommunicado political opponents (see Section 1.c.). Detentions of
such persons generally were prolonged. However, security forces
frequently harassed political opponents by summoning them for
questioning, forcing them to remain during the day without questioning,
and then ordering their return the following day--a process that
sometimes continued for weeks.
In September the Government detained several leaders of the
opposition Umma Party for planning protests against government-backed
increases for the price of sugar and fuel (see Section 2.b).
Security forces detained members of Hassan al-Turabi's Popular
Congress Party; however, there were fewer such detentions than in
previous years.
Security forces arrested numerous persons suspected of supporting
rebels in Darfur, some of whom were tried, convicted, and sentenced to
death under special courts (see Section 1.e.). For example, on April
19, NISS officers in Khartoum North detained the JEM's legal advisor
and confiscated his belongings. Later in the day, officials transferred
him to NISS headquarters, where he was held until May 2, when he was
moved to the NISS section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North and
charged with undermining the constitution, espionage, and obtaining
official documents. A judge later ordered the man to be released
because the Government had held him for too long before filing charges.
However, the NISS later brought the man to another judge, who ordered
him detained for another week. He was later released.
Following the May 5 signing of the DPA, the Government began to
release many political detainees associated with the conflict. By
August, the Government had released 23 persons in accordance with the
DPA, according to the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Sudan.
The Government did not permit international humanitarian
organizations to have access to political detainees. On May 3, it
denied a request by the UN high commissioner for human rights to visit
the NISS section of Khobar prison in Khartoum North.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was access to court
for lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations, but the lack
of an independent judiciary made it unlikely that such lawsuits would
be successful.
Property Restitution.--There were numerous ongoing disputes between
the Government and various churches involving confiscated church
property. There were no reports of court ordered property restitution
or compensation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The interim constitution and law prohibit such
actions, but the Government routinely violated these rights in
practice. Security forces frequently conducted night searches without
warrants and targeted persons suspected of political crimes.
In Darfur throughout the year government armed forces and aligned
militia continued to bomb and burn down villages, loot property, and
attack IDP camps (see Section 1.g.).
Police often entered IDP areas without a warrant in search of
illegal alcohol brewing and often seized property unrelated to brewing.
Police also extorted money from illegal alcohol brewers by threatening
them with prison.
For example, on June 11, a Dinka woman living at El Fateh
relocation camp near Khartoum reported that police raided her house in
May searching for illegal alcohol. When they could not find alcohol,
they forced her to hand over all her money. One officer remained behind
and demanded sex; when the woman resisted, the officer told her that he
would see her again ``one of these days.''
Police continued to raid homes at El Fateh relocation camp in
October searching for illegal alcohol. For example, on October 26,
police raided the home of one man but could not find any alcohol;
nevertheless, they demanded money. According to UNMIS, police rarely
found alcohol during these raids, and court prosecutions for illegal
alcohol production were rarer still.
A wide network of government informants conducted surveillance in
schools, universities, markets, workplaces, and neighborhoods.
In several areas the Government sought to forcibly resettle or
displace local populations. In Northern State, nomads in the areas
around Sani, Burti Gareb, Kurkoban, and Sherri Island complained that
the Government's Merowe Dam Project Implementation Unit seized their
traditional grazing land without compensation and gave it to a foreign
construction company, denying them access to water wells in the area.
Armed police prevented the nomads from using the land or water at
year's end.
As of August 12, flooding as a result of the Merowe dam project had
forced more than 2,000 persons to leave the area, largely in the
vicinity of the town of Amri, according to the UN special rapporteur
for the situation of human rights in Sudan. Authorities gave residents
six days notice to leave their homes.
On August 16, police in Gezira State began demolishing homes at Dar
al Salaam squatter camp to force residents to relocate. Bulldozers
arrived at four o'clock in the morning, while police used tear gas to
drive residents from their homes. Four persons, including children,
were killed. The entire camp of 12,000 persons was razed within 24
hours. In violation of a January Memorandum of Understanding that
promised residents relocation to a new site to be agreed upon by local
authorities and squatters, the authorities and squatters were unable to
agree on a new site, and no alternate site had been provided by year's
end.
The Government continued forcibly to conscript citizens for
military service as part of mandatory military service for male
citizens, and government-aligned forces and rebels continued to recruit
and accept child soldiers in Darfur (see Section 1.g.).
A Muslim man may marry a non-Muslim, but a Muslim woman cannot
marry a non-Muslim, unless he converts to Islam (see Section 5);
however, this prohibition was not observed or enforced universally,
particularly in the south or among the Nubans. Non-Muslims may adopt
only non-Muslim children; no such restrictions apply to Muslim parents.
The Government of Southern Sudan generally did not interfere with
privacy, family, home, or correspondence in the south; however,
southern militias, especially the South Sudan Independence Movement,
continued forcibly to conscript citizens, including children of high
school age.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Darfur.--While all sides in Darfur violated international human rights
and humanitarian law, the Government and the Janjaweed continued to
bear responsibility for genocide that occurred in Darfur.
The conflict in Darfur has roots in both government neglect of the
region and ethnic tensions between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary
farming communities, exacerbated by scarce resources and the
Government's support of the nomad militias. During the year the
Government, Arab militia forces, and Darfur rebel groups reportedly
killed at least several thousand civilians. By year's end, there were
more than two million IDPs in Darfur, and another 234,000 civilians had
fled into Chad, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
coordinated a massive refugee relief effort. According to the UN, more
than 200,000 persons have died since 2003 as a result of the violence
and forced displacement. The Government continued to support the
largely Arab nomad Janjaweed militia, which terrorized and killed
civilians, raped women, and burned and pillaged the region.
During the year the Government resumed aerial bombardment of
civilian targets, including homes, schools, and markets.
According to UNMIS, on April 24, government armed forces and
government-aligned militia attacked Joghana town in South Darfur with
Land Cruisers, helicopters, and a converted Antonov bomber. Many of the
Land Cruisers were painted white, as was the bomber, in what observers
believed was an attempt to disguise them as NGO or UN vehicles. Reports
indicated that civilians were targeted during the attack, although the
number of casualties had not been confirmed by year's end.
Government bombing of civilian targets in North Darfur continued
throughout the latter half of the year. On September 6, Human Rights
Watch noted that international observers reported government Antonov
bombers had attacked Hassan village, in North Darfur, during the last
week of August, killing one woman and seven children. AMIS later
confirmed that raids near Kukul had killed 20 people and displaced more
than 1,000.
Aerial bombardments near Tawila, North Darfur, occurred during the
first two weeks of September. Although no one is known to have died
during these bombings, the attacks drove an additional 400 IDPs into
the Rwanda camp near Tawila, severely straining camp resources.
According to UNMIS, 12 people died at the camp between from August 15
to September 15 due to insufficient medical attention.
In late December the Government bombed the villages of Anka and Um
Rai, North Darfur. AMIS reported that five civilians died as a result
of the bombings.
Throughout the year, the Government and government-aligned militias
attacked IDP camps, civilian facilities, and housing, killing at least
several hundred civilians.
On May 20, approximately 150 men on camel and horseback, many
dressed in khaki uniforms, attacked Fuguli village in South Darfur. At
the time of the attack, Fuguli village was controlled by Fur tribesmen
loyal to Abdel Wahid al-Nur's faction of the SLA, hereby referred to as
``SLA (Abdel Wahid),'' which had refused to sign the DPA. The gunmen
began firing indiscriminately on the village, killing livestock and
looting homes. SLA (Abdel Wahid) forces quickly retaliated, but were
overwhelmed by government reinforcements, including two vehicles
mounted with machine guns. UNMIS reported that 13 civilians were killed
in the attack.
On June 11, five police officers from the Central Reserve Police
arrested two men from the central market in Nyala, South Darfur, and
charged them with supporting the SLA. The officers repeatedly beat the
men with their rifle butts and flogged them with whips. The men were
later charged with undermining the constitutional system and waging war
against the state. The status of their cases remained unknown at year's
end.
In July the Government launched a major assault on the National
Redemption Front (NRF), a coalition of rebel groups that rejected the
DPA, following an NRF attack on civilians in the area. The Government
also attacked civilians in areas believed to support the NRF, and was
responsible for numerous killings.
From August 28 to 31, hundreds of uniformed armed militia from the
Habania and Fellata tribes attacked 47 villages near Buram, South
Darfur, forcing approximately 10,000 people in the area to flee. At
least 38 persons were killed, while another 23 were injured, although
some unconfirmed reports indicate that hundreds of civilians were
killed during the attacks.
On October 9, nine government soldiers severely beat a shopkeeper
in the central market of El Fasher city and then proceeded to beat
several neighboring shopkeepers. They called the victims ``slaves'' and
stole several mobile phones from the shops. Other soldiers returned to
the market on October 12, beating other shopkeepers and looting stores.
On October 13, soldiers shot a butcher in the market four times
following a dispute over payment. Local police later told the
shopkeepers they had no jurisdiction against crimes committed by the
military.
On October 29, hundreds of armed militiamen in green uniforms
attacked several villages and the Aro Sharow IDP camp near Jebel Moon,
in West Darfur. At least 50 civilians were killed, including 26
children, most of whom were under the age of 10. According to survivor
accounts obtained by UNMIS, the attackers told residents in one village
``We have come to destroy you,'' and shouted ``Come out, slaves!'' One
boy was heard pleading for his life, telling his attacker, ``You have
killed this other boy, so please let me go.'' The attacker responded,
``If I let you go, you will grow up. I will not let you go.'' He then
shot the boy. As many as 7,000 people in the area were displaced by the
violence, many fleeing across the border into Chad.
Violence in Birmaza, North Darfur in November between government
forces, Janjaweed and rebel groups killed more than 20 civilians,
displaced an unknown number of persons, and destroyed six UN World Food
Programme warehouses.
On December 1 and 2, armed men attacked the village of Abu Sakin,
North Darfur, killing at least 11 persons, and displacing an unknown
number of others. On December 23, a UN assessment mission to the
village confirmed that it had been deserted and looted and that more
than 50 houses burned.
On December 9, Janjaweed shot and killed a shopkeeper in El
Fasher's central market. The governor of North Darfur State and several
members of his cabinet later attempted to visit the market to assess
the situation, but Janjaweed fired upon their convoy, killing one
person and injuring at least eight others.
On December 10, protesters surrounded the AMIS camp in El Geneina,
West Darfur, protesting that AMIS troops were not protecting them.
According to AMIS, several protesters fired on the camp and attempted
to enter the compound. AMIS forces responded by firing on the crowd,
killing two protestors and injuring one.
The UN's International Commission of Inquiry in Darfur found in
2005 that ``rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by the
Janjaweed and government soldiers in Darfur was widespread and
systematic.'' This trend continued during the year. The majority of
victims were women and girls who lived in IDP camps and were raped when
they left their camps to gather firewood, water, or food. Women often
described the perpetrators as ``men in uniform,'' either government or
rebel soldiers. Rape victims were almost always beaten, threatened with
death, and subjected to racial epithets during attacks. In some cases
attackers killed their victims.
For example, according to UNMIS, armed militiamen raped 25 persons,
including five children, in conjunction with a January attack on four
villages in West Darfur; some of the victims were gang-raped.
On April 16, three Arab militiamen approached eight IDP women from
Ardamata camp, two of whom were carrying their babies. According to
UNMIS, one gunman threatened to kill the babies if they were male and
demanded that the mothers allow him to inspect the babies to determine
their gender. When the mothers refused, the gunmen beat them. One woman
attempted to file a complaint with the Ardamata IDP camp police, but
was rebuffed; another woman declined to file a report with the police,
because ``they don't do anything.''
On July 24, 25 armed men, some in army uniforms, attacked a group
of 17 Fur IDP women who were collecting firewood near Kalma camp
outside Nyala, South Darfur. The gunmen beat the women with their
rifles before raping them. The youngest woman was 19, and the oldest
was 42.
According to the UN, between 120 and 300 IDP women from Kalma camp,
near Nyala, South Darfur, were raped between mid-July and mid-August.
Authorities, particularly the police, often obstructed access to
justice for rape victims (see Section 5). For example, after Arab
militia attacked Krenek village, in West Darfur, on January 20, local
sheiks complained to police that the attackers had raped 36 women.
Police responded by forcibly taking four of the women to a clinic for a
medical examination and interrogated them for 10 hours; authorities
charged the sheiks and the women with furnishing false information. A
local court dropped the charges against the sheiks on May 27 but
referred the cases against the women to the prosecutor in El Geneina.
The prosecutor later told UNMIS he had no knowledge of the case.
On August 8, four civilians and one military officer raped a 13-
year-old girl in South Darfur. Three of the civilian defendants
confessed, while a fourth pleaded innocence; the military officer
claimed that he only threatened to rape the girl, and helped the
others. The prosecutor in Nyala asked the military for permission to
prosecute the military officer in a civilian court, but the military
had not responded to the request by year's end. According to UNMIS,
authorities were considering dropping the charges against the military
officer to facilitate the prosecution of the others.
No action was taken in the following 2005 rape cases: the February
rape of two sisters by three armed pro-government militia men in West
Darfur State; and the February 2005 cases of two female minors who were
raped by progovernment militiamen.
During the year the Government continued to take small steps to
curb violence against women in Darfur. The Government printed medical
booklets for doctors detailing proper treatment of rape victims. The
Government also pledged to deploy 30 female police officers in South
Darfur (see Section 5). However, significant problems remained,
including the harassment and intimidation by police of rape victims,
lack of investigations into rape allegations, and the continued
impunity of the police in Darfur.
During the year, there was one successful prosecution for rape in
Darfur. On September 5, a court in Kabkabiya convicted a government
soldier of raping an 11-year-old girl and sentenced him to five years
in prison and 100 lashes.
Rebel groups in Darfur, including SLA (Minawi), SLA (Abdel Wahid),
the JEM, and other groups, also committed numerous abuses during the
year, including the killing of civilians, beatings, and rape.
On April 21, armed men believed to be from Zaghawa supporters of
the SLA (Minawi) severely beat a Birgit farmer near Shangil Tobayi,
North Darfur; the man died from his wounds later in the day. On the
same day, 50 armed men believed to be SLA (Minawi) soldiers shot and
beat a 55-year-old Fur merchant at a roadblock in a nearby area. They
released him the following day to report the farmer's death to his
family.
According to AMIS, on July 6, SLA (Minawi) forces killed a
community leader from Birka, North Darfur, reportedly because of his
alignment with a rival SLA faction.
On July 7, SLA (Minawi) forces attacked several villages in the
vicinity of Birmazaa, North Darfur, which were reportedly aligned with
SLA (Abdel Wahid) forces, killing three civilians.
On April 27, SLA soldiers, purportedly aligned with the SLA
(Minawi) faction, detained a Hamad shopkeeper on the road between El
Fasher and Nyala on suspicion that he had spied for the Government
while serving in the army. The man was repeatedly beaten with sticks
and rifle butts until he confessed to espionage.
On September 3, 60 armed men on camels and horses believed to be
SLA (Minawi) surrounded four Masalit IDP women who were collecting
grass near Gereida, South Darfur. The men beat the women, stole their
donkeys, and forced them to undress. Each woman was then raped by
several men, according to UNMIS; two of the women were in advanced
stages of pregnancy.
On September 29, two militiamen in green uniforms abducted a Fur
woman from her farm near Kabkabiya, wrapped her in plastic sheeting,
and tied her to a camel. After an hour, they stopped, untied her, and
took turns raping her. The woman declined to report the incident to the
police.
Despite the 2005 government announcement of a ``humanitarian
moratorium,'' or the lifting of restrictions on the issuance of visas
and the importation of supplies by humanitarian organizations, the
Government continued to place restrictions on humanitarian access to
Darfur. In some cases, the Government continued to wait several months
to issue entry visas to humanitarian aid workers; exit visas also
frequently took longer than two weeks to process, causing delays and
disruptions to humanitarian programs.
The Government's Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) continued to
request that NGOs refrain from interviewing or selecting staff unless
they used a five-person selection panel and had HAC officials present,
significantly delaying the hiring of new staff in Darfur.
The Government also continued to harass humanitarian workers and
detain them on various arbitrary rules and requirements without prior
notification. In September the Government announced new travel
restrictions limiting the movement of U.S. citizens to a 25-mile radius
of the Republican Palace in Khartoum; the Government lifted the
restrictions November 30 (see Section 2.d.).
Rebel forces attacked commerce on the roads, including humanitarian
aid shipments, and seized goods, vehicles, and persons, including
government officials and humanitarian aid workers.
Rebel forces and bandits also obstructed the flow of humanitarian
assistance to the Darfur region and were responsible for attacks on
humanitarian workers that resulted in death and injury. In June and
July, four local humanitarian aid workers were killed, while a fifth
was abducted and later found dead.
On December 18, SLA (Minawi) forces attacked three humanitarian
compounds in Gereida, North Darfur. The forces assaulted several
international and local humanitarian workers and stole 12 vehicles. The
attack caused the majority of humanitarian organizations operating in
Gereida, home to Darfur's largest IDP camp with 128,000 IDPs, to
evacuate due to insecurity. At year's end, none of the humanitarian
organizations that withdrew had returned.
There were no reports that the Government prosecuted or otherwise
penalized attacking militias or made efforts to protect civilian
victims from attacks. Government forces provided logistic and
transportation support, weapons, and ammunition to progovernment
militias throughout the country.
Recruitment of child soldiers was a serious problem in the country
(see Section 5). On August 17, the UN issued the Report of the
Secretary-General on children in armed conflict in the Sudan, which
cited the recruitment of child soldiers by the SAF, SPLA, and the White
Army. In Darfur, the UN report cited recruitment of child soldiers by
the SLA (Minawi) and Janjaweed. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) worked
to raise awareness of the law and of the dangers in using child
soldiers. As a result of its awareness campaign, more than 500 child
soldiers were released in Darfur; more than 200 of the children were
attending UNICEF schools.
Southern Sudan.--SAF, SPLA, and other armed groups were responsible
for killings of numerous civilians during the year. Conscription of
child soldiers and displacement of civilians were also problems.
In March and April, SPLA attempts to disarm the White Army as part
of a broader government of Southern Sudan-sponsored, CPA-mandated
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration program provoked armed
clashes between the parties, and 99 civilians were murdered.
International observers and humanitarian agencies repeatedly called on
the SPLA to abandon forcible disarmament programs, and implement a more
consultative approach to integrating other armed groups.
In November fighting between pro-SAF and pro-SPLA militias in
Northern Bahr el Ghazl State resulted in the displacement of 4,500
persons.
From November 28 to 30, SAF, SAF-aligned militia, and the SPLA
engaged in heavy fighting in the town of Malakal, in Upper Nile State,
Southern Sudan, resulting in injury to more than 300 civilians and
widespread looting in the town. In November, 150 persons were reported
killed in Malakal due to the fighting.
There were unconfirmed reports that new landmines were laid in the
south.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The interim constitution provides
for freedom of thought, expression, and of the press ``as regulated by
law''; however, the Government severely restricted these rights in
practice. Despite lifting emergency laws in July 2005, the Government
continued to censor print and broadcast media. Journalists also
practiced self-censorship.
There were many daily newspapers, mainly in urban areas, reflecting
somewhat differing political views. Several newspapers also reprinted
articles from the international press, some of which were critical of
government policies. There was one formally government-controlled
newspaper in Arabic and one in English, although security services also
controlled other newspapers. A number of independent publications were
under intensive scrutiny during the year and experienced intimidation,
interruption, and arrest of their editors. The English-language press
complained of prejudice, noting that the Arabic test required of all
accredited journalists was much more difficult than the English test.
Many Anglophone journalists thus could not report or had to do so
unofficially. For example, the Khartoum Monitor employed both Arabic-
and English-speaking journalists so that the unaccredited English-
speakers could translate articles written by their accredited Arabic-
speaking colleagues who could not write in English.
The Government directly controlled radio and television and
required that they reflect government policies. Television has a
permanent military censor to ensure that the news reflected official
views. Some foreign radio broadcasts were available in the country. A
private FM radio station, which began broadcasting music in Khartoum in
2004, continued to operate. Despite the Government's license
requirement and the high price of satellite dishes, citizens had access
to foreign electronic media; the Government did not jam foreign radio
signals. In addition to domestic and satellite television services,
there was a pay cable network, which directly rebroadcast uncensored
foreign news and other programs.
International media were not allowed to operate freely. For
example, some foreign journalists were allowed access to Darfur, while
others were denied visas. Several foreign journalists and photographers
were detained for photographing slums or taking pictures without a
license; most were quickly released, but some were prosecuted for more
serious crimes. On August 14, the special court for North Darfur
convicted foreign journalist and human rights activist Tomo Kriznar of
espionage, after he entered the country without a visa from Chad. The
court sentenced Kriznar to two years in prison, but the President
pardoned him and ordered him deported on September 2. On August 26,
American journalist Paul Salopek and his two foreign assistants were
charged in El Fasher, North Darfur, with espionage, publishing false
news, and obtaining official documents after entering the country
without a visa from Chad. The special court for North Darfur dropped
the charges on September 9 and ordered the three men to leave the
country immediately. On September 7, NISS officers attacked three
foreign journalists outside their hotel in Khartoum; the journalists
had observed an antigovernment protest earlier in the day. One of the
journalists was seriously injured and had to leave the country to seek
medical treatment.
Government security forces also harassed, intimidated, and arrested
local journalists on numerous occasions.
On April 13, the editor of the Khartoum Monitor was arrested after
printing an article accusing police of beating several University of
Juba students during a protest (see Section 1.c.). He was released the
following day.
On June 17, the NISS summoned the editor of Al Sudani and
questioned him about an article the newspaper had printed on the
alleged torture of university students by National Security forces. The
editor was summoned again two days later and formally charged with
publishing false statements and breaching his duties as editor. He was
later released on bail.
On November 22, a reporter for the independent daily newspaper Al-
Sahafa was detained and held incommunicado for 12 days without charge.
There were no reports that the Government of Southern Sudan
censored the press during the year; however, there were credible
reports that various state governments in the South interfered with the
press. The Government of the State of Bahr al-Jebel shut down the radio
station, Liberty FM, in July following a remark critical of the
Government by a caller during a call-in show. State government
officials claimed the station was shut down for operating without a
license; however, the station was fully licensed by the Government of
Southern Sudan. In November, also in Bahr al Jebel State, a group of
armed soldiers stormed the offices of the Juba Post and held all the
employees for several hours, claiming they were unhappy with an article
that included an unflattering depiction of the state's governor. The
situation was resolved when the soldiers discovered the article never
appeared in the Juba Post but had actually appeared in the Southern
Eye, an unrelated newspaper published in Nairobi.
One journalist was killed during the year. On September 5, masked
assailants kidnapped the editor-in-chief of Al Wafaq, Mohamed Taha
Mohamed Ahmed, from his home in Khartoum; his decapitated body was
found the following day south of the city. The editor had faced
criminal charges in May 2005 after republishing an article regarding
the origins of the Prophet Mohamed, and a court had ordered Al Wafaq to
suspend publication for three months. Following the editor's killing, a
Khartoum court barred newspapers from reporting on the criminal
investigation. On September 25, police arrested 16 suspects in
connection with the murder, but did not announce any names to the
public.
According to Reporters without Borders, in September the Government
ordered seven Arabic language newspapers not to print certain articles
``out of protection for journalists,'' although many of the censored
articles had no connection with the investigation of the editor's
killing. Authorities confiscated all copies of the September 9 edition
of Al Sudani immediately after it was printed, stating that its
reporting could ``hurt the investigation.'' Police also detained a
journalist from Al Rai Al Aam for 16 days, reportedly in connection
with the investigation.
The Government exercised control of news reporting through the
National Press Council and security forces, particularly regarding
criticism of government actions and policies in Darfur. The National
Press Council applied the press law and licensed newspapers, set press
policy, and responded to complaints. In the event of a complaint, it
could warn a newspaper or suspend it indefinitely and suspend
journalists for up to two weeks. The council consisted of 21 members:
seven selected by the President; five from the National Assembly; seven
directly elected by journalists from the Journalists' Union; and two
selected by leaders of the Journalists' Union, which observers
considered to be government-controlled.
Internet Freedom.--The Government monitored Internet
communications, and the NISS read e-mail messages between private
citizens. Some Web sites deemed offensive to public morality were
blocked by the National Telecommunications Corporation, as were most
proxy servers, but there generally were no restrictions on access to
news and information Web sites. Internet access was generally available
and widely used in urban areas, but it was limited by lack of
infrastructure outside of cities.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. In public universities, the Government appointed the
vice chancellors, who were responsible for administering the
institutions. The Government also determined the curriculum. While many
professors lectured and wrote in opposition to the Government, they
exercised self-censorship. Private universities were not subject to
direct government control; however, in some cases, professors also
exercised self-censorship. Nonetheless many university professors in
exile returned to the country.
On February 11, students at the main campus of the University of
Juba, in Khartoum, rioted to protest the lack of progress in returning
the university to Juba. Students also demanded the right to re-
establish a students' union. Police arrested several students; others
were reportedly tortured by NISS. After a second protest in late March,
the minister of higher education and scientific research closed the
main campus. The University had not re-opened at year's end.
Security forces tortured students during the year (see Section
1.c.). The Government continued to harass university student groups.
The Government took the files of student unions, destroyed their
computers, and arrested and detained their members (see Section 2.b.).
In September the governor of Western Bahr al Ghazal closed the
university in response to student agitation (see Section 1.c.).
The Government frequently censored films, especially those imported
from the West, if they were deemed offensive to public morality.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Although the interim constitution and law provide for
freedom of assembly, the Government severely restricted this right in
practice. The Government formally banned all rallies and public
demonstrations in the country, although this was not always enforced.
The authorities generally permitted government-authorized gatherings
but disrupted gatherings they perceived to be politically oriented.
Islamic orders associated with opposition political parties,
particularly the Ansar (the Umma Party) and Khatmiya (the Democratic
Unionist Party), continued to be denied permission to hold large public
gatherings. Government security agents occasionally attended opposition
political meetings or summoned participants to security headquarters
for questioning after political meetings.
Security forces used excessive force, including beatings, tear gas,
and firing of live ammunition to disperse unapproved demonstrations.
For example, according to UNMIS, on May 8, between 600 and 700
University of Khartoum students affiliated with the SLA (Abdel Wahid)
and the JEM protested against the signing of the DPA. Police responded
by firing tear gas and beating the students with sticks, injuring 17
and arresting 10 for disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance.
The charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.
On May 13, Central Reserve police, which function as riot police,
opened fire on a demonstration of approximately 1,000 IDPs at Kass
camp, killing a 22-year-old man. The demonstrators responded by
lynching a military intelligence officer who was stationed among the
protestors. The injured were taken to a hospital, where police again
opened fire on several of the wounded, killing at least one more
protester in the hospital.
On August 30, police and NISS officials violently dispersed a
peaceful demonstration in Khartoum against rising sugar and fuel
prices, which was organized by several opposition parties, labor
unions, and civil society groups. Police sprayed tear gas and beat
numerous protesters, including women and elderly men. At least one
person died from tear gas inhalation. Police arrested at least 80
demonstrators; credible reports indicated those arrested were released
by year's end.
In the wake of the protests, the Government detained several
opposition leaders, although most were quickly released without charge.
Authorities took no action against security forces who used
excessive force.
Freedom of Association.--The interim constitution and law provide
for freedom of association, but the Government severely restricted this
right in practice. Although there were 20 officially registered
political parties, the law effectively prohibits traditional political
parties linked to armed opposition to the Government. The Political
Parties Act allows some formerly banned political parties to resume
their activities, but the parties were required to notify the registrar
in writing to participate in elections. Observers believed that the
Government controlled professional associations.
The Government continued to harass some opposition leaders who
spoke with foreign organizations or embassies.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The interim constitution and law provide
for freedom of worship throughout the country; however, the Government
continued to place restrictions on non-Muslims, non-Arab Muslims, and
Muslims from tribes or sects not affiliated with the ruling party. The
NCP, which originally came into power with a goal of Islamization,
treated Islam as the state religion, declaring that Islam must inspire
the country's laws, institutions, and policies. While the Government
generally allowed non-Muslims to worship freely in approved places of
worship, authorities in the north continued to restrict Christian
activities. The Government had not formally established the Commission
for the Protection of the Rights of Non-Muslims in Khartoum State, as
mandated by the CPA, at year's end.
The constitution of Southern Sudan also provides for freedom of
worship in the 10 states of southern Sudan, and the Government of
Southern Sudan generally respected the rights of southerners to
practice the religion of their choice.
Religious organizations and churches were subject to the same
restrictions placed on nonreligious corporations. Although the law
requires religious groups to register to be recognized or to assemble
legally, registration reportedly was no longer necessary, and churches,
including the Catholic Church, declined to register.
There were reports that security forces harassed and at times
threatened to use violence against persons on the basis of religious
beliefs and activities; it was unclear whether the harassment was for
religious or political reasons.
On September 8, MI officers arrested the imam of Al Medina Al
Munawwara mosque in El Geneina, West Darfur, after he preached about
the lack of economic opportunities for IDPs and the deployment of UN
peacekeepers in Darfur. The imam had also criticized the Government for
organizing protests against UN forces. He was released without charge,
but an official from the Department of Religious Guidance and
Endowments visited a few days later and asked him not to preach about
controversial issues in the future.
On December 31, police in Khartoum raided All Saints' Episcopal
Cathedral in Khartoum during a New Year's Eve prayer service, firing
tear gas into the congregation. Six worshippers were wounded, one
seriously.
The use and construction of houses of worship required government
approval. Applications to build mosques generally were granted in
practice, but applying to build churches was more difficult. According
to the Sudan Inter-Religious Council, the Government issued two permits
during the year for the construction of new churches, but church
officials reported that they never received the permits. As a
substitute, the construction of small churches continued with owners
registering the land for personal rather than church use.
In January the Government of Upper Nile State banned the use of
public loudspeakers at mosques in Malakal and Nasir for announcing the
call to prayer, claiming that they disturbed the public. The Upper Nile
State Ministry of Finance closed Islamic banks in Malakal, citing the
CPA's provisions for the establishment of a conventional banking system
in the south.
While the law permits non-Muslims to convert to Islam, conversion
by a Muslim is punishable by death. In practice authorities
occasionally subjected converts to intense scrutiny, ostracism,
intimidation, or encouraged them to leave the country; however, there
were no reports of conversion punished by death.
In May there were reports that four Christian leaders, including an
Episcopal priest and a Catholic priest, were arrested after meeting
with a Muslim woman who wanted to convert to Christianity. All four
leaders were denied access to legal counsel for two days; three were
beaten by NISS officers before being released. The woman was not
charged with apostasy.
Although some non-Muslims converted to Islam to obtain or keep a
job, for promotions and job advancement, or for other social services
or benefits, there was no evidence of forced conversions during the
year.
PDF trainees, including non-Muslims, were indoctrinated in the
Islamic faith. In prisons and juvenile detention facilities, government
officials and government-supported Islamic NGOs pressured and offered
inducements, such as early release, to non-Muslim inmates to convert.
Some persons in government-controlled camps for IDPs reportedly were
pressured to convert to Islam. Children, including non-Muslim children,
in camps for vagrant minors were required to study the Koran, and there
was pressure on non-Muslim children to convert to Islam.
Like all visitors to the country, Christian religious workers,
including priests and teachers, experienced lengthy delays in getting
visas.
Under the state-mandated curriculum, all schools in the north--
including private schools operated by Christian groups--are required to
teach Islamic education classes from preschool through university. Some
public schools excused non-Muslims from Islamic education classes, but
others did not.
Children who were abandoned or whose parentage was unknown--
regardless of presumed religious origin--were generally considered
Muslims, at least in the north. Christian families were generally
permitted to adopt only Christian children.
In the south, Christians, Muslims, and followers of traditional
indigenous beliefs generally worshiped freely; however, many of the
region's Muslim residents had departed voluntarily over the years.
Although the Government of Southern Sudan officially favored secular
government, Christians dominated the bureaucracies. Local government
authorities often had a very close relationship with local Christian
religious authorities.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some non-Muslim businessmen
complained of petty harassment and discrimination in awarding of
government contracts and trade licenses. Christians reported pressure
on their children in school; teachers and media characterized non-
Muslims as nonbelievers. There also were reports that some Muslims
received preferential treatment regarding limited government services,
such as access to medical care, and in court cases involving Muslim
against non-Muslim. However, non-Arab Muslims and Muslims from tribes
and sects not affiliated with the ruling party, such as in Darfur and
the Nuba Mountains, stated that they were treated as second-class
citizens and were discriminated against in government jobs and
contracts in the north and government-controlled southern areas. For
example, the employment application of the Ministry of Energy and
Mining emphasizes nationality, creed, and tribe; Muslims associated
with the NCP were given preference in government employment.
The Jewish community remained small, and there no reports of anti-
Semitic violence during the year; however, government officials made
anti-Semitic comments during the year. For example, in September, State
Minister for Foreign Affairs Ali Ahmed Karti asserted that the idea of
sending African Union forces to Darfur under the umbrella of the UN was
``all part of a Zionist colonialist plot to take over Darfur and
exploit its natural resources.''
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The interim constitution and law provide
for these rights, but the Government restricted them in practice.
Movement generally was unhindered for citizens outside conflict
areas; however, at times foreigners needed government permission for
domestic travel outside of Khartoum, which could be difficult to obtain
and sometimes refused. Foreigners must register with the police on
entering the country, obtain permission to move from one location to
another, and reregister at each new location within three days of
arrival. The Government of Southern Sudan did not restrict the movement
of foreigners in the south, although foreigners were required to
register upon entry.
On September 27, the Government restricted the movement of all U.S.
citizens visiting Sudan to within 25-miles of the Republican Palace in
Khartoum; U.S. diplomats assigned to the country whose names appeared
on the diplomatic list and U.S. citizens bearing UN travel documents
were formally exempt from these restrictions. The Government lifted the
restriction on November 30.
Although foreign NGO staff could obtain entry visas and work or
travel permits for Darfur, there were numerous reports of continuing
delays and restrictions (see Section 1.g.). The Government generally
implemented its policy of issuing humanitarian visas within 48 hours,
but nationals of some countries encountered difficulties in obtaining
visas to work with NGOs.
Prior to the October 14 peace agreement signed by the Government
and the Eastern Front, supporters and members of the Eastern Front, a
rebel group comprising the Rashaida Free Lions, Beja Congress, and JEM
faced increased restrictions against their movement throughout the
eastern part of the country, and internationally.
The Government detained persons, particularly opposition political
figures, at the airport and prevented them from traveling due to
``security concerns.'' For example, on August 20, the Government
prevented the director of a local NGO working in Darfur from departing
the country to attend a conference overseas and confiscated his
passport.
The Government required citizens to obtain an exit visa to depart
the country; however, the issuance of exit visas was pro forma and
generally not used to restrict citizens' travel.
Women cannot travel abroad without the permission of their husbands
or male guardians; however this prohibition was not applied in the
south and was not strictly enforced for members of the NCP.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Opposition leaders remained in self-imposed exile in Cairo, Asmara, and
other locations during the year.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--There were estimates that up
to five million persons had been displaced due to the north-south civil
war. The UN estimated that at least two million persons had been
displaced by the conflict in Darfur and that another 234,000 had fled
to Chad. Despite the signing of the DPA on May 5, continued attacks and
violence in Darfur, perpetrated by all parties to the conflict,
resulted in tens of thousands of new displacements, and some existing
IDPs were displaced for the second or third time. For example, the UN
estimated that the number of IDPs increased by approximately 125,000
between July and September due to increased fighting and insecurity. On
November 23, the UN reported that renewed fighting in South Darfur
resulted in the displacement of between 10,000 to 16,000 persons from
the areas of Seleah, Muhajeria, Motowred, and Ngabo. Darfur IDPs did
not return in any significant numbers to their place of origin,
although small scale spontaneous returns to certain villages occurred.
Hundreds of thousands of persons, largely southerners and westerners
displaced by famine and civil war, continued to live in squatter slums
around Khartoum.
The Government provided little assistance or protection to IDPs. In
Darfur, local police established checkpoints near some IDP camps,
though police made little effort to provide security. In the south, the
South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, an agency of the
Government of Southern Sudan, provided protection and assistance to
returning IDPs.
There were numerous reports of abuses committed against IDPs,
including rapes, beatings, and attempts by the Government to forcibly
return persons to their homes (see Section 1.g.). There were credible
reports that the Government harassed IDPs in Darfur who spoke with
foreign observers, especially high-profile foreigners, demanding to
know the content of their discussions.
The Government occasionally blocked commercial and road access to
IDP camps, purportedly for security reasons.
Insecurity in Darfur, especially outside of IDP camps, restricted
IDPs' freedom of movement; women and girls who left the town risked
sexual violence (see Section 1.g.).
The Government forced or coerced IDPs to return to their villages
by promising food and money; however, most IDPs who returned to the
villages to receive the assistance later returned to the IDP camps.
The UNHCR reported that approximately 560,000 Sudanese refugees
resided in neighboring countries, due to the conflicts in the south and
Darfur. Some 234,000 of these were in Chad, and another 220,000 were in
Uganda; the remainder were in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, the Central African Republic, and Kenya. Improved security in
the south increased the return of displaced populations into areas of
origin that were severely affected by the war and lacked basic
services. A number of refugees and displaced persons voluntarily
returned to the country during the year, particularly to the Nuba
Mountains region. There were no reports local militias subjected
displaced populations who returned to the south to illegal taxation.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection
against refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where
they feared persecution. However, some asylees were returned to their
home countries before a formal determination of their status could be
made. On May 11, the NISS forced the deportation of four Ethiopians who
were seeking asylum in the country. The four refugees were members of
the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, an Ethiopian opposition group,
and faced prosecution for treason and the death penalty in Ethiopia.
Although the immigration office attempted to delay the deportation
proceedings, the NISS proceeded with the move before the refugees could
be interviewed by UNHCR or the Sudan Commission on Refugees.
Throughout the year, security forces in Khartoum North targeted
Ethiopian refugees by raiding their houses, beating them, and using
tear gas against them. After an attack on December 11, several
Ethiopian refugees barricaded themselves in front of the UNHCR office
in Khartoum, where they remained at year's end (see Section 1.c.).
The Government also granted refugee status or asylum, but there was
no standard determination procedure, and government officials
reportedly were unresponsive to applications for refugee status.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who might not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention/1967
Protocol but no statistics were available for the year.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
assistance organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Child refugees did not receive free primary school education nor
were they treated as citizens as required by the 1951 Convention.
Refugees were vulnerable to arbitrary arrests, harassment, and beatings
because applicants did not receive identification cards while awaiting
government determination of refugee status. Refugees could not become
resident aliens or citizens, regardless of their length of stay.
Refugees were not entitled to work permits.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Although the interim constitution provides citizens the right to
change their government peacefully, the CPA established an interim
government until national elections are held; under the CPA national
elections must take place no later than 2009. By the end of the year, a
state of emergency existed only in the three states of Darfur.
The interim constitution establishing the Government of National
Unity, adopted in July 2005, provides for power sharing nationwide
between the NCP and the SPLM. The DPA, which was incorporated into the
interim constitution upon its signing, also contains provisions for
power sharing and the inclusion of Darfurians at all levels of
government, although the majority of the power-sharing provisions in
the DPA remained unimplemented at year's end. The interim constitution
established a three-member presidency to head the Government,
consisting of a President, Omar Hassan El-Bashir (NCP); a first vice
President, Salva Kiir Mayardit (SPLM); and a vice President, Ali Osman
Taha (NCP). The DPA created a fourth ranking member in the presidency,
a senior assistant to the President, Minni Minawi. A bicameral
legislature is composed of the 450-member National Assembly and 52-
member Council of States. Legislative and cabinet positions are
allocated by a CPA-specified formula that reserves 52 percent of the
positions for the NCP, 28 percent for the SPLM, 14 percent for northern
opposition parties, including those from Darfur, and 6 percent for
southern opposition parties. The DPA mandates that prior to national
elections, the Government of National Unity shall allocate not less
than 12 seats in the National Assembly to nominees from the Darfur
rebel groups that have signed the DPA.
Government of National Unity members took office in September 2005,
and in October 2005 Salva Kiir Mayardit, the country's first vice
President and President of the Government of Southern Sudan, appointed
the cabinet of the Government of Southern Sudan. At the same time, Kiir
appointed governors of the 10 states of southern Sudan, and each
southern state also formed its legislative assembly with 48 members
allocated proportionally as stipulated in the CPA: 70 percent to the
SPLM, 15 percent to the NCP, and 15 percent to other southern political
forces. Southern Sudan's legislative assembly approved an interim
constitution in October 2005, which President Kiir signed in December
2005.
The DPA mandates the creation of a Transitional Darfur Regional
Authority, headed by the senior assistant to the President, and charged
with implementing the DPA and promoting coordination and cooperation
among the three Darfur states. The DPA also mandates that a referendum
on the permanent status of Darfur shall be held not later than July
2010 to determine whether the Darfur region should remain as three
separate states or create a single region and regional government to
administer all three states.
Elections and Political Participation.--Presidential and
parliamentary elections were last held in 2000; they were marked by
serious irregularities, including official interference, electoral
fraud, insufficient opportunities for voters to register, and
inadequate election monitoring. All major opposition parties boycotted
the elections.
The law allows the existence of political parties but prohibits
parties linked to armed opposition to the Government, and the
Government routinely denied permission for and disrupted gatherings
viewed as politically oriented (see Section 2.b.). Security forces
arrested, detained, and on occasion beat political opponents (see
Sections 1.c. and 1.d.). During the year opposition parties became more
vocal in demanding inclusion, and the Government sought the support of
additional parties to add legitimacy to the CPA.
The Government continued summarily to dismiss military personnel as
well as civilian government employees whose loyalty it considered
suspect in a process called ``separation for public interest.''
Authorities fired or arrested military officers either because they
were from Darfur or did not support the ruling party strongly enough.
The President appointed the governors and senior officials of the
26 states in the country's federal system. These appointees were not
necessarily representative of their constituencies.
Women had the right to vote. There were approximately 70 women in
the 450-seat National Assembly, three national female state ministers
and one female minister in the Government of National Unity. The
Government of Southern Sudan agreed to set aside 25 percent of all
government positions for women, although in practice representation was
far short of that goal. The DPA also includes provisions to ensure the
representation of women in all levels of government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The NGO Transparency
International reported a perception of severe corruption. Relatives of
high government officials often owned companies that did business with
the Government; in turn they usually received kickbacks for government
business. Bribery of police was also a concern.
There were no laws providing for public access to government
information, and the Government did not provide such access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Various local human rights groups were active in the country, but
they suffered from government harassment, particularly those groups
reporting on sexual gender-based violence. The Government was generally
uncooperative with and unresponsive to domestic human rights groups.
Major local NGOs included SOAT and Sudan Development Organization. In
an effort to silence them, the Government often charged human rights
groups with spreading false information. For instance, NGOs continued
to be harassed in Darfur with the intimidation of national staff and
the detention and arrests of workers treating victims of sexual
violence. Government security forces often detained members of
humanitarian staff under the Criminal Act, usually on charges of
spreading false information.
For example, on July 9, in Khartoum, three NISS officers arrested
Nagib Nagm Eldine, the director of the Amel Center for the Treatment
and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. After keeping Eldine in a
holding cell for eight hours, officials interrogated him about reports
of summary trials for hundreds of persons arrested during riots
following the July 2005 death of former first vice President John
Garang. Eldine was released a few hours later.
On September 9 and 10, the National Security Bureau summoned
Mohamed Badawi, a human rights lawyer and Coordinator of the Amel
Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, for
questioning related to Amel Centre activities; he was released without
charge both days.
On December 9, the NISS halted a NGO-sponsored training in Nyala,
South Darfur, claiming that the NGO had not received the proper
permission from the HAC to hold the workshop. The NISS detained and
questioned the NGO facilitator for several days.
The Government often resisted the heightened levels of
international NGO scrutiny generated by events in Darfur. The
Government continued to make it difficult for international NGOs to
operate in Darfur by delaying visas, holding up the clearance of
equipment and supplies at customs, denying permission to travel within
the country, and harassing the humanitarian community (see Section
1.g.).
The Government's HAC, which regulates humanitarian efforts in the
country, continued to create difficulties for NGOs operating in Darfur.
All NGOs must register with HAC to operate in the country. In March
2005 the HAC assumed a role in hiring NGO national staff, which caused
major delays in hiring new staff for Darfur (see Section 1.g.). HAC
applied rules for NGOs inconsistently, often changing them without
prior notification. An August 2005 Presidential decree required
international NGOs to reregister and did not permit applicants to
appeal a denial.
On March 16, the Government enacted the Organization of
Humanitarian and Voluntary Work Act, which requires government approval
before NGOs can begin work on particular projects and places
restrictions on the acceptance of foreign money by NGOs operating in
the country. Many NGOs believed that the Government used the new law to
curtail their work on human rights.
Rebels and other armed bandits reportedly abducted and on occasion
killed NGO workers and contractors, particularly in Darfur. On May 8,
IDPs at Kalma camp near Nyala, South Darfur, lynched a Sudanese
translator working for the African Union, accusing him of spying for
the Government. Between June and July, four local humanitarian aid
workers were killed, while a fifth was abducted and later found dead.
Banditry and armed robbery of humanitarian convoys by rebel groups in
Darfur was common (see Section 1.g.).
The UN continued to investigate the humanitarian situation in
Darfur. For example, the UN high commissioner for human rights, the UN
special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, and the
UNHCR visited the country during the year. UNMIS deployed observers to
Darfur to monitor and investigate the human rights situation. The UN
special rapporteur issued reports to the UN on the situation in the
country.
In March 2005 the UN Security Council referred Darfur to the chief
prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC). In June 2005 the
chief prosecutor opened an investigation into Darfur without the
cooperation of the Government, which refused to hand over any criminals
associated with the conflict to the ICC. The ICC's investigation into
Darfur was ongoing at year's end.
The Advisory Council for Human Rights, with representatives of
human rights offices in 22 ministries and agencies, is the Government's
major focal point for the promotion and protection of human rights. The
council provided lists of detained individuals to the international
community.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, or
religious creed, but discrimination against women and ethnic minorities
continued. Mechanisms for social redress, particularly with respect to
violence against women and children, were ineffective.
Women.--There were no laws specifically prohibiting domestic
violence. Violence, including spousal abuse, against women was common,
although there were no reliable statistics on its prevalence. Women who
filed claims were subjected to accusations of lying or spreading false
information, harassment, or detention, which made many women reluctant
to file formal complaints, although such abuse constituted grounds for
divorce. The police normally did not intervene in domestic disputes.
The Government launched its Violence Against Women Action Plan in
November 2005; the program included awareness posters and a media
campaign of zero tolerance for violence against women, increased the
number of female police officers, and expanded training for police in
Darfur. Southern women displaced by the North/South civil war were
vulnerable to harassment, rape, and sexual abuse, particularly during
informal repatriation to their place of origin.
Women in Darfur were vulnerable to abuse and rape (see Section
1.g.). Many victims did not report their cases either to family or
authorities for fear they would be punished or arrested for ``illegal
pregnancy.'' Local authorities often exacerbated the problem by
requiring rape victims to file a police report before receiving medical
treatment, despite an October 2005 decree that waived the requirement.
According to the UN and several international NGOs, many local police
were unaware of the new policy and still required a formal report. Many
women distrusted the police, and few victims actually filed reports.
In December the Government participated in the UN's ``16 Days of
Activism Campaign'' to combat violence against women.
The police arrested unmarried pregnant women who claimed to have
been raped. Unless a rape victim could provide proof of the crime, she
could be charged with the capital offense of adultery.
The punishment for rape under the law varies from 100 lashes to 10
years' imprisonment to death. Spousal rape is not addressed. In most
cases convictions were not publicized; however, observers believed that
sentences often were less than the legal maximum (see Section 5).
FGM remained widespread, particularly in the north, although it was
becoming less common as a growing number of urban, educated families
abandoned the practice. In a compromise with tradition, some families
adopted clitoridectomy, the least severe form of FGM, as an alternative
to infibulation. Although no form of FGM was illegal, the health law
prohibited doctors and midwives from performing infibulation. The
Government did not support FGM and actively campaigned against it. One
local NGO worked to eradicate FGM.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread throughout the country.
Trafficking in women remained a problem (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
While no law specifically prohibits sexual harassment, the law does
prohibit gross indecency, which is defined as any act contrary to
another person's modesty. The penalty for gross indecency is
imprisonment of up to one year and 40 lashes. Harassment reportedly
occurred, although reliable statistics were not available. There were
frequent reports of sexual harassment by police in Darfur and
elsewhere.
Some aspects of the law discriminated against women, including many
traditional law practices and certain provisions of Shari'a as
interpreted and applied by the Government. In accordance with Islamic
law, a Muslim woman has the right to hold and dispose of her own
property without interference, and women are entitled to inheritance
from their parents. However, a widow inherits one-eighth of her
husband's estate; of the remaining seven-eighths, two-thirds goes to
the sons and one-third to the daughters. It is much easier for men than
for women to initiate legal divorce proceedings.
Since, under Islamic law, a non-Muslim woman takes on the religion
of her husband at marriage, a Muslim man may marry a Christian or Jew,
and their children will be considered Muslim. The same is not true for
a Muslim woman, who cannot legally marry a non-Muslim unless he
converts to Islam. This prohibition usually was neither observed nor
enforced in areas of the south or among Nubans (most of whom were
Muslim).
Women cannot travel abroad without the permission of their husbands
or male guardians; however, this prohibition was not enforced strictly
for NCP members. To obtain an exit visa, children must receive the
permission of their father or their paternal uncle. Women cannot apply
for exit visas for their children.
Although women generally were not discriminated against in the
pursuit of employment, they were not legally permitted to work after 10
o'clock in the evening, in theory limiting their employment
opportunities. Nonetheless, many women did work after ten o'clock in
the evening, including in official positions such as airport security.
Women were accepted in professional roles; more than half the
professors at Khartoum University were women.
Various governmental bodies have decreed that women must dress
modestly according to Islamic standards, including wearing a head
covering, but police rarely enforced such decrees. Women often appeared
in public wearing trousers or with their heads uncovered.
A number of women's groups were active, focusing on a wide range of
social and economic issues.
Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and
welfare was uneven. While education was legally compulsory through
grade eight, UNICEF reported that only half of school-age children
attended primary school. The law provides for free basic education, but
students have been expelled from class for failing to pay school fees.
In August 2005 the Government issued a decree prohibiting dismissal of
students for nonpayment of school fees. There were wide educational
disparities among states and sometimes between genders, particularly in
the eastern and western regions; for example, enrollment was 78 percent
in Khartoum State and only 30 percent in the eastern part of the
country. In the north boys and girls generally had equal access to
education (enrollments of 50 and 47 percent, respectively), although
girls were more affected by early marriage and the fact that many
families with restricted income chose to send sons and not daughters to
school. In the urban areas of the south, fewer than 27 percent of
primary-school-age children attended school and there was a basic
education gender disparity of 3 boys for each girl.
UNICEF reported that educational access for school-age IDP children
in Darfur improved compared with the preceding year. UNICEF also
reported an increase in nomadic group education.
There were significant inequalities in access to health services
for children living in different areas of the country. UNICEF reported
an under-five mortality rate of 93 per 1,000, a low birth weight rate
of 31 percent, and immunization rates of approximately 50 percent. In
the south, infant mortality was 150 per thousand births, and
approximately 21 percent of children under age five suffered severe
malnutrition.
A large number of children suffered abuse, including abduction,
enslavement, and forced conscription (see Sections 1.b. and 5,
Trafficking).
FGM on girls was performed commonly in rural areas and less in the
cities (see Section 5, Women).
The law establishes the legal age of marriage as 10 for girls and
15 or puberty for boys. There were no reliable statistics on the extent
of child marriage.
Child prostitution, trafficking of children, and sexual abuse of
children remained problems, particularly in the south (see Sections
1.c. and 5, Trafficking). Children engaged in prostitution for
survival, usually without third-party involvement.
Government-aligned militias and rebel forces conscripted or
accepted young men and boys into the aligned militias in Darfur (see
Section 1.g.).
Child labor remained a problem mainly in the informal sector (see
Section 6.d.). In the south children, particularly girls, often worked
in the fields.
The Government operated ``reformation camps'' for vagrant children.
Police typically sent homeless children who had committed crimes to
these camps, where they were detained for indefinite periods. Health
care and schooling at the camps generally were poor, and basic living
conditions often were primitive. All of the children in the camps,
including non-Muslims, must study the Koran, and there was pressure on
non-Muslims to convert to Islam (see Section 2.c.). In the IDP camps in
Darfur and refugee camps in Eastern Chad, rebel groups often
conscripted teenage males. Conscripts faced significant hardship and
abuse in military service, often serving on the frontline. There were
reports that abducted, homeless, and displaced children were
discouraged from speaking languages other than Arabic or practicing
religions other than Islam.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits slavery and
forced labor, the law does not specifically address trafficking in
persons, and there were reports that persons were trafficked from and
within the country. There were some reports that the abduction of women
and children continued in the south due to tribal clashes.
There were no informed estimates on the extent of trafficking,
including for camel jockeys, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation,
or other types of forced labor. There were credible reports that tribal
leaders with government connections transported children to the Persian
Gulf to be used as jockeys in camel races or as laborers. Despite the
absence of a signed agreement with the Government, UNICEF cooperated
with the Government to repatriate child camel jockeys and indicated
that 16 children had been repatriated since May 2005. More than 300
children were repatriated from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar
through the combined efforts of governments and NGOs.
There were credible reports that intertribal abductions of women
and children continued in the south. Victims frequently became part of
the new tribal family, with most women marrying into the new tribe;
however, some victims were used for labor or sexual purposes. As
intertribal fighting in the south decreased, the number of abductions
also appeared to decline. The Government acknowledged that abductions
occurred and that abductees were sometimes forced into domestic
servitude and sexual exploitation. CEAWC and its 22 joint tribal
committees investigated abduction cases and sought to facilitate the
safe return of victims. CEAWC did not pursue legal action against
abductors. Credible sources noted that some of the CEAWC-facilitated
reunions were forced repatriations of persons over age 18 against the
wishes of the abductees.
During the past 20 years, the LRA kidnapped more than 20,000
Ugandan children, took them back to the northern part of Uganda, and
forced them to become sex slaves, pack animals, or soldiers. Many of
the victims were killed. The LRA also abducted citizens while raiding
towns in southern Sudan. The Government permitted the Ugandan army
access to southern Sudan to pursue the LRA. Although Ugandan military
operations have significantly reduced LRA numbers, the LRA continued to
operate in the south and to hold child abductees; such LRA attacks
restricted humanitarian activities. On August 26, the LRA signed a
cessation of hostilities, pending peace talks with the Government of
Uganda in Juba.
Shari'a and the State of Emergency Law prohibit all forms of sexual
exploitation, and penalties include fines and imprisonment. However,
there were no prosecutions under these laws during the year. The
Government's National Council of Child Welfare, working with
immigration officials, was responsible for combating the trafficking of
camel jockeys.
The Government assisted some victims of trafficking; through CEAWC
it provided clothing, food, shelter, and transportation to victims.
The Government conducted antitrafficking public information and
education campaigns at the national, state, and local levels.
Persons With Disabilities.--While the law does not specifically
prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities, it does
stipulate that ``the state shall guarantee to persons with special
needs the enjoyment of all the rights and freedoms set out in the
constitution, access to suitable education, employment and full
participation in society.'' The Government did not discriminate against
persons with disabilities but has not enacted any special legislation
for persons with disabilities, such as mandating accessibility to
public buildings and transportation. Credible sources noted that
prisoners with mental disabilities were chained 24 hours per day. The
law requires equal educational opportunities for persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population is a multi-
ethnic mix of more than 500 Arab and African tribes with numerous
languages and dialects. Northern Muslims, numbering approximately 16
million persons, traditionally dominated the Government, while southern
ethnic groups fighting the civil war (largely followers of traditional
indigenous religions or Christians) numbered approximately six million.
The fighting in Darfur was between Muslims who self-identify as either
Arab or non-Arab (see Section 1.g.).
Northern Muslims, while southern ethnic groups fighting the civil
war (largely followers of traditional indigenous religions or
Christians) numbered approximately 8.2 million. The fighting in Darfur
was between Muslims who self-identified as either Arab or non-Arab (see
Section 1.g.).
The Muslim majority and the Government continued to discriminate
against ethnic minorities in almost every aspect of society in the
north. Citizens in Arabic-speaking areas who did not speak Arabic
experienced discrimination in education, employment, and other areas.
There also were reports of discrimination against Arabs and Muslims by
individuals in the Christian-dominated south.
There were occasional reports of intertribal abductions of women
and children in the south, primarily in the eastern Upper Nile (see
Section 5, Trafficking). The abductions were part of traditional
warfare in which the victor took women and children as a bounty and
frequently tried to absorb them into their own tribe. There were
traditional methods of negotiating and returning the women who were
taken in these raids. Many of these women were raped and ``chose'' to
``marry'' their abductors, rather than return home and be stigmatized.
There were deaths in conflicts between ethnic groups, such as
continued fighting between Dinka and Nuer or among Nuer tribes.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is a
crime, but no one has been prosecuted on the charge; there is societal
but not official discrimination against homosexuals.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--The Government and
government-supported militias actively promoted hatred and
discrimination, using standard propaganda techniques to incite tribal
violence. Credible sources noted that the Government supported one
tribe over another, arming certain tribal militias against other
tribes.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides for the
right of association for economic and trade union purposes, the
Government denied this right in practice. The Trade Union Act
established a trade union monopoly in the Government. Only the
government-controlled Sudan Workers Trade Union Federation (SWTUF)
could function legally; all other unions were banned. The International
Labor Organization (ILO) has frequently noted that the trade union
monopoly contravened the principles of freedom of association. The
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions continued to recognize
the ``legitimate'' Sudan Workers Trade Union Federation--the national
trade union center that functioned prior to the ban--which operated in
exile.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination by employers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law denies
trade unions autonomy to exercise their right to organize or to bargain
collectively. The law defines the objectives, terms of office, scope of
activities, and organizational structures and alliances for labor
unions. The Government's auditor general supervised union funds because
they were considered public money.
While labor organizing committees have the right to organize and
bargain collectively, in practice the Government dominated the process
of setting wages and working conditions through its control of the
steering committees. A tripartite committee comprising representatives
of the Government, the government-controlled SWTUF, and business set
wages. The absence of labor legislation allowing for union meetings,
the filing of grievances, and other union activity greatly reduced the
value of these formal rights. Local union officials raised some
grievances with employers, although few raised them with the
Government. There were credible reports that the Government routinely
intervened to manipulate professional, trade union, and student union
elections (see Sections 1.c. and 2.b.).
Specialized labor courts adjudicated standard labor disputes, but
the Ministry of Labor has the authority to refer a dispute to
compulsory arbitration.
Strikes were considered illegal unless the Government granted
approval, which has never occurred. In most cases employees who tried
to strike were subject to employment termination; however, workers went
on strike during the year and were not terminated.
There is one export processing zone located in Port Sudan, and it
is exempt from regular labor laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices continued (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Although the Government continued to deny that slavery and forced
labor existed, CEAWC acknowledged that abductions had occurred (see
Sections 1.b. and 5).
Both the Government and rebel factions continued to conscript men
and boys into the fighting forces (see Sections 1.g. and 5).
The ILO Committee of Experts reported that abduction, forced labor,
and sexual slavery of women and children continued.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although mandated by the interim constitution to protect children from
exploitation, the Government did not effectively do so, and child labor
was a serious problem. The legal minimum age for workers was 18 years,
but the law was not enforced in practice. Young children worked in a
number of factories, and severe poverty produced widespread child labor
in the informal and rural farming economy.
There were reports that government and government-aligned militias
conscripted children and accepted children as soldiers (see Sections
1.g. and 5). Child trafficking continued, and child prostitution was
widespread (see Section 5).
Child labor existed in the south, particularly in the agricultural
sectors. Child labor in such areas was exacerbated by lack of schools,
extreme poverty, and the lack of an effective legal minimum age for
workers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was $48 (SDD
12,500) per month, which did not provide a worker and family a decent
standard of living. The Ministry of Labor, which maintained field
offices in most major cities, was responsible for enforcing the minimum
wage, which employers generally respected. Workers who were denied the
minimum wage could file a grievance with the local labor ministry field
office, which then was required to investigate and take appropriate
action. There were reports that some workers, including postal and
health workers, were not paid their regular wages. Due to a lack of
capacity and difficulties in establishing the new government in the
south, civil service workers, including teachers, often worked for long
periods without getting paid. The only payment many teachers received
were informal school fees paid by the parents of the children.
Legal foreign workers had the same labor rights as domestic
workers. Southern IDPs generally occupied the lowest paying occupations
and were subject to economic exploitation in rural and urban industries
and activities.
The law, which was generally respected, limits the workweek to 48
hours (six eight-hour days), with a day of rest on Friday. Overtime
should not exceed 12 hours per week or four hours per day. There was no
prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime.
Although the laws prescribe health and safety standards, working
conditions generally were poor, and enforcement by the Ministry of
Labor was minimal. The right of workers to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without loss of employment is not recognized.
__________
SWAZILAND
Swaziland is a modified traditional monarchy with executive and
some legislative powers vested in the King (Mswati III). The
constitution, which went into effect on February 8 and replaced the
1973 Decree, confirms most of the king's powers, but provides for an
independent judiciary. The King rules in conjunction with a partially
elected parliament and an accompanying structure of published laws and
implementing agencies. The population was approximately 1.1 million.
The most recent parliamentary elections, held in 2003, were not
considered free and fair. Political power remained largely with the
King and his circle of traditional advisors, including the queen
mother. While the civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, there were instances in which security
forces committed abuses.
The Government's human rights record was poor, and government
agents continued to commit serious abuses, including: inability of
citizens to change their government; arbitrary killings by security
forces; police use of torture, beatings, and excessive force; police
impunity; arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement
on citizens' privacy rights; limits on freedom of speech and of the
press; restrictions on freedom of assembly and association;
prohibitions on political activity and harassment of political
activists; restrictions on freedom of movement; discrimination and
violence against women; poor enforcement of women's rights; child
abuse; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against mixed
race and white citizens; antiunion discrimination; and child labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government and
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there were reports that security forces committed arbitrary killings.
Security forces were responsible for a number of deaths during
apprehension and in custody, some reportedly due to torture. On January
4, Fikile Mamba, wife of member of the opposition People's United
Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) and treason suspect Mduduzi Mamba, died in
the hospital in Siteki after she was admitted complaining of shortness
of breath and chest pains; Fikile had been detained for two hours of
questioning about her husband's alleged involvement in throwing petrol
bombs. A doctor's report stated that Fikile died of abdominal trauma.
On February 22, Mthokothoko Mamba died in Pigg's Peak government
Hospital, 11 days after officers of the Horo Police Post arrested Mamba
and his two brothers on suspicion of theft. The three, all of whom
claimed to have been beaten in detention, were released on February 13.
On February 18, Mthokothoko's relatives took him to the hospital when
his condition worsened. The results of a February 24 postmortem were
not made public.
On February 23, officers from the Mdutshane Correctional Facility
reported that Muzi Ntshalintshali had died in their custody while
serving a nine month sentence for wounding his uncle. Journalists who
saw the body reported that it bore injuries to the arms, chest, and
stomach.
On June 27, Sandile Motsa, a soldier, and Sicelo Dlamini and
Mfankhona Hlophe, both security guards, allegedly assaulted and
tortured a man whom they suspected of intending to break into the royal
residence at Goje township in Ezulwini, where the three were on guard.
The man died the same day of the injuries. On June 28, the suspects
were arrested and brought before a magistrate; their status was unknown
at year's end.
On September 5, Mphikeleli Mabuzadied died in a hospital after
police shot him at his homestead in the Mahlanya area. Police alleged
that he was attempting to flee arrest for burglary; Mabuza's family,
present during the incident, claimed that the police shot him in the
back as he struggled with them.
In January the Mabuza family filed a lawsuit against the police for
wrongful death in the May 2005 killing of Charles and Mfanzile Mabuza,
who were killed during a police raid at their homestead. The Mabuza
family cited a report by an independent forensic pathologist from South
Africa that stated that the round of ammunition which killed Charles
was characteristic of a rifle, refuting the police report that
Mfanzile, armed with a handgun, had accidentally shot Charles.
There were no developments in the January 2005 beating to death of
a South African murder suspect by members of the Umbutfo Swaziland
Defense Force (USDF) or the April 2005 USF shooting of two suspected
smugglers, one of whom died from his injuries.
There were no developments in the May 2004 case of Mandla
Mathousand Ngubeni, who died in police custody. In January 2005 an
investigative magistrate released an inconclusive report, which stated
that Ngubeni was subjected to ``torture of sorts, possibly suffocation
by police'' but did not give a specific cause of death or assign
responsibility for the death.
There were reports of mob killings during the year. On April 13,
residents in Ludzeludze severely beat a burglar who had stolen a cell
phone. He died in the hospital the following day. No arrests were made
by year's end. The August 27 issue of the Times of Swaziland reported
that a mob beat Timothy Dlamini with bricks after he was caught
breaking into a minibus in Manzini; he died in a hospital four days
later of his injuries. Witnesses identified one member of the mob as an
off-duty police officer. No arrests were made by year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 cases of vigilante or mob
killings of suspected witches.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The new constitution prohibits such practices; however,
the provision prohibiting law enforcement officials from engaging in
torture is located in the ``policy'' section of the constitution and is
not enforceable in any court or tribunal. The law does not specifically
prohibit such practices, although under the Prisons Act correctional
facility officers may be prosecuted if they engage in such procedures;
however, government officials employed them. Security forces used
torture during interrogation and abused their authority by assaulting
citizens and using excessive force in carrying out their duties.
There were credible reports that police beat criminal suspects and
occasionally used the ``tube'' style of interrogation, in which police
suffocate a suspect by using a rubber tube around a suspect's face and
mouth. Unlike last year, there were no media reports of police using
the ``Kentucky'' method of interrogation, in which the arms and legs of
a suspect are tied together and then the person is beaten. The
Government took no action against police or soldiers accused of abuse.
Between December 2005 and February, 17 persons were arrested and
charged with treason, sedition, and attempted murder in connection with
the 2005 petrol bombings of government offices and residences; the 17
were members of the political organization PUDEMO and its youth wing,
the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), banned under the lapsed 1973
Decree. On February 7, one of the suspects pled guilty and was fined
and released. On March 7, during a three-day bail hearing for the
remaining 16 suspects, the defense claimed that police and prison
wardens had tortured nine of the suspects on January 20. On the judge's
order, a medical exam was conducted on one of the defendants who
claimed he was tortured; however, the report was deemed inadmissible
due to a technical error. On March 9, prison wardens allegedly beat 16
of the subjects after ordering them to strip naked. Also on March 9,
one of the detainees arrived at the hearing with a bleeding ear and
told the court that prison wardens at the Sidwashini remand center had
assaulted him and two other suspects; the wardens claimed that they had
only strip-searched the three detainees. The court ordered that the
detainee be taken to a hospital, where a doctor reportedly found no
signs of assault. On March 10, the 16 suspects were granted bail and
subsequently released. On March 13, the Prime Minister reportedly
informed parliament that an investigation into the claims of torture
and mistreatment would be conducted. On October 30, the Prime Minister
named two members of the commission; however, the members had not been
sworn in a month later. In November the suspects told the press that
they would not cooperate with the commission unless it expanded its
investigation to include family members and friends also allegedly
tortured by the police. At year's end the commission had not begun its
investigation.
There were no developments in the following 2005 cases of security
force abuse: the May alleged squeezing by police of a student's
testicles; the June attack by a USF member on Majaha Dlamini; the
August alleged attempted suffocation by police of Stephen Thwala; or
the September 2005 beating by community police of two suspected
thieves.
There were credible reports that members of the community beat
suspects before handing them over to police.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations (see Section 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Government prisons and
detention centers remained overcrowded, and conditions generally were
poor. There were reports of torture and that a lack of basic hygiene
and unsafe sexual practices, including forced sexual intercourse
between prisoners, were spreading HIV/AIDS among the prisoners.
Newspapers reported in September 2005 that the Government's draft
multisectoral HIV and AIDS policy would provide for the release of
prisoners in the last stages of AIDS; however, when the policy was
issued in April, it did not contain that provision.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of prison riots
over warden negligence.
In Mawelawela, the sole women's detention facility, detainees were
not held separately from convicts. On August 28, the Swazi Observer
reported that seven children under the age of two were living with
their convict mothers in the facility.
The Government routinely permitted prison visits by diplomats,
journalists, human rights monitors, and representatives of
international organizations. During the year the local Red Cross
visited several prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and
lengthy pretrial detention were problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police maintain
internal security. The army is responsible for external security but
also has domestic security responsibilities. Police are under the
authority of the Prime Minister, while the USF reports to the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.
The Royal Swaziland Police Service (RSPS), a nationwide police
force, was generally professional despite inadequate resources and
bureaucratic inefficiency. There were credible allegations that the
force was susceptible to political pressure. The Government generally
failed to prosecute or otherwise discipline police officers for abuses.
No independent body had the authority to investigate police abuses;
however, an internal complaints and discipline unit investigated
reports of human rights abuses by the police but did not release
results to the public. There were no government actions, including
training, to reform the RSPS. However, the Government provided training
to community police in investigative skills and the appropriate use of
force.
Traditional chiefs had their own community police who could arrest
suspects and bring them before an inner council within the chiefdom for
a trial. Some community police were accused of abuses.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests except
when police observe a crime being committed or believe that a person is
about to commit a crime. Detainees may consult with a lawyer of their
choice, but the Government pays for defense counsel only in cases in
which the penalty is potentially death or life imprisonment. Detainees
must be charged with the violation of a statute within a reasonable
time, usually 48 hours or, in remote areas, as soon as the judicial
officer appears. In general detainees were promptly informed of the
charges against them, and their families had access to them. There is a
functioning bail system and, except in cases of murder and rape,
suspects can request bail at their first appearance in court, which by
law must take place within 48 hours of arrest; however, arresting
authorities did not always present detainees within that period.
When police dispersed demonstrations that they considered
unauthorized or politically motivated, they sometimes briefly detained
demonstrators without charge (see Section 2.b.).
The Government arrested opposition members during the year on
charges arising from a series of 2005 petrol bombings. The opposition
members alleged that they were tortured (see Section 1.c.).
Lengthy pretrial detention was common. In July the Correctional
Services Public Relations Office reported that 1,304 of the 2,672
inmates in the country's 12 prisons were awaiting trial. On October 13,
the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs announced that there
were only 22 judges and magistrates available to try the approximately
1,500 detainees awaiting trial. Police justified pretrial detention on
the basis that they were collecting evidence of the crime and that
releasing the detainee would allow the person to influence witnesses.
In some cases these claims resulted in repeated remands that lasted for
years. For example, on June 22, a woman in custody since September 2001
for the murder of her child pled guilty to culpable homicide; the judge
sentenced her to five years imprisonment with three years suspended,
and released her.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary. The lack of an independent court budget
and trained manpower, inadequate levels of salary remuneration, and
poor casework management remained problems for the judiciary.
Judicial powers are vested in a dual system, one based on Roman-
Dutch law and the other based on a system of national courts that
follows unwritten traditional law and custom. The Roman-Dutch-type
judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, mandated by the new
constitution to replace the Court of Appeal as the highest judicial
body, composed entirely of foreign, usually South African, judges; the
High Court; and Magistrate Courts. The constitution states that the
High Court has no jurisdiction in any matter concerning the office of
the King or queen mother, regency, chieftancy, the Swazi National
Council, or the traditional ``regiments'' system, as these are governed
by national law and custom. The constitution states that the High Court
will interpret the constitution.
In March 2005 the Government launched a children's court to try
cases in which children were victims of sexual abuse or other crimes.
Children testify from a separate room, linked by closed-circuit
television to the courtroom.
Most citizens who encountered the legal system did so through the
13 traditional or ``national'' courts, each with a ``President''
appointed by the King. Authorities may bring residents to these courts
for minor offenses and violations of traditional law and custom. In
October 2005 the Swazi News quoted the judicial commissioner as saying
that some traditional court Presidents imposed fines exceeding the
legal limit of approximately $15 (100 emalangeni).
The public prosecutor has the legal authority to determine which
court should hear a case, but in practice police usually made the
determination. Persons convicted in the traditional courts may appeal
to the High Court. Prolonged delays in trials in the Magistrate Court
and High Court were common.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for public trials
except when exclusion of the public is necessary in the ``interests of
defense, public safety, public order, justice, public morality, the
welfare of persons under the age of eighteen years or the protection of
the private lives of the persons concerned in the proceedings.'' In
practice, cases have been closed to the public to protect child crime
victims. Juries are not used. Court-appointed counsel is provided at
government expense in capital cases or when the crime is punishable by
life imprisonment. Otherwise, defendants in Superior and Magistrate
Courts are entitled to hire counsel at their own expense. Defendants
can question witnesses against them and present witnesses in their own
behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to relevant
government-held evidence, generally obtained during pretrial
consultations with the public prosecutor's office. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence. Defendants and prosecutors have the right of
appeal, up to the Supreme Court.
In traditional courts defendants are not permitted formal legal
counsel but may speak on their own behalf, call witnesses, and be
assisted by informal advisors. Sentences are subject to review by
traditional authorities and can be appealed to the High Court.
The King appoints traditional chiefs. The traditional courts have
limited civil and criminal jurisdiction and are authorized to impose
fines up to approximately $15 (100 emalangeni) and prison sentences of
up to 12 months. However, traditional courts are empowered to
administer customary law only ``insofar as it is not repugnant to
natural justice or morality'' or inconsistent with the provisions of
any law in force.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary, which tries civil as well as criminal cases,
including suits for damages against government agents. For example, in
January, the family of Charles Mabuza, allegedly shot and killed by
police in May 2005, filed suit demanding $67,000 (500,000 emalangeni)
for wrongful death and emotional shock (see Section 1.a.). In a
separate case, a judge in July ordered the Government to pay $27,000
(200,000 emalangeni) to a man as compensation for unlawful detention.
The man was arrested in October 2003 for possession of marijuana and
posted bail, but the Government continued to hold him for 64 days.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The new constitution and law prohibit such actions
except ``in the interest of defense, public safety, public order,
public morality, public health, town and country planning, use of
mineral resources, and development of land in the public benefit.'' The
Government generally respected these provisions; however, there were
instances of abuse.
The law requires police to obtain a warrant from a magistrate
before searching homes or other premises, but at times police did not
respect this requirement. Police officers with the rank of subinspector
or higher have the authority to conduct a search without a warrant if
they believe that evidence might be lost through the delay in obtaining
a warrant. Unlike the previous year, there were no reports that
searches without warrants occurred.
There were no developments in the October 2005 arrest of 13 persons
in a warrantless and random raid following a series of burglaries of
the houses of Duze primary school teachers.
There were instances in which police conducted physical
surveillance on members of labor unions and political groups. On
occasion police reportedly presented themselves to the leadership of a
union and asked to attend union meetings; the leadership frequently
permitted them to do so.
In November Chiefs Mliba Fakudze and Mtfuso Dlamini, whose eviction
along with 200 other residents of two chiefdoms in 2000 sparked the
2002 rule of law crisis, asked the King for compensation for their
property, which had deteriorated or been stolen while the men were in
self-imposed exile in South Africa. On November 15, the two men were
called to the Ludzidnzini royal residence and told to ``stop
disrespecting the late Prince Magagula's council.''
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government limited
these rights in practice. Citizens criticized the Government without
fear of reprisal but generally did not criticize the royal family.
Journalists practiced self-censorship. Police monitored some meetings
(see Section 1.f.).
There were two daily newspapers--one independent and one owned by
Tibiyo Taka Ngwane, the king's investment company. Both newspapers
covered a wide variety of sensitive topics and criticized government
corruption, inefficiency, and waste. Unlike in the previous year, the
Government placed some advertising in the independently owned daily
newspaper. The Prime Minister hosted monthly ``media breakfasts'' to
which he invited journalists of both newspapers. Reporting in the
independent paper, the Times of Swaziland, was somewhat less critical
of the Government than in 2005, and the paper provided more coverage of
government functions and royal events.
There was one government-owned radio station and one independent
radio station, which broadcast only religious programs. There was a
privately owned television station, which was officially independent;
however, the owner's mother was the daughter of the previous king,
Sobhuza II, and its reporting favored the monarchy. The government-
owned television and radio stations, the most influential media in
reaching the public, generally followed official policy positions.
Government broadcast facilities retransmitted Voice of America and BBC
news programs in their entirety.
Private companies and church groups owned several newsletters and
magazines.
There were reports of harassment of journalists and self-censorship
during the year. A source in the Media Institute of Southern Africa
stated that on a few occasions journalists received anonymous telephone
calls advising them not to continue to pursue a particular story, and
that the journalists complied.
On December 16, local journalists launched a Media Union to discuss
labor issues and bargaining power.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not discourage
critical news coverage of the royal family.
In July the Ministry of Public Service and Information launched a
Journalism Center of Excellence to train practitioners in the media
industry.
In November 2005 the cabinet approved a media policy drafted by the
Minister of Public Information and Public Service that calls for
reviewing outdated legislation; however, by year's end no legislation
had been reviewed, and many government documents remained unavailable
to the public.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could freely engage in
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. Most citizens lived in rural areas without access to the
Internet. Internet cafes existed in larger urban areas, but bandwidth
was limited. A single Internet provider held a government-approved
monopoly.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The practice of self-
censorship and the prohibition on political gatherings restricted
academic freedom by limiting academic meetings, writings, and
discussion on political topics. There were no government restrictions
on cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The new constitution provides for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government restricted this right in practice. The law
requires those wishing to hold meetings of a political nature,
processions, or demonstrations in a public place to first obtain the
consent of the police commissioner. Authorities routinely withheld
permission to hold most such meetings.
On March 18, police in Manzini temporarily detained five PUDEMO
leaders to prevent a planned demonstration.
During the year police forcibly dispersed several demonstrations
and meetings and arrested demonstrators.
On August 5, police in the Msunduza neighborhood of Mbabane used
live ammunition and teargas to disperse a demonstration by SWAYOCO; one
demonstrator reportedly suffered a minor gunshot wound, and several
others were treated for minor injuries.
On September 7, students from the University of Swaziland (UNISWA)
marched peacefully to the Ministry of Education and delivered a
petition on scholarships. The group then proceeded to the Prime
Minister's office, although their permit did not include a march to
that office. When the police prevented them from approaching the Prime
Minister's office, some persons with the students threw stones at the
police, who detained two marchers and beat other marchers with police
clubs (see Section 1.c.).
On December 2, in Manzini, several PUDEMO and SWAYOCO members were
injured in a clash with police after the two sides failed to agree on a
march route. Police allegedly beat unconscious PUDEMO member Mphandlana
Shongwe and dropped him at a hospital. After receiving medical
treatment, Shongwe returned to the police station to file a complaint,
but police refused to take his affidavit. Police charged eight PUDEMO
members with jaywalking in connection with the clash; on December 4,
the court found them guilty and imposed small fines.
No action was taken against security forces who forcibly dispersed
demonstrations in 2005.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that police
harassed and disrupted the meetings of prodemocracy activists and
members of the opposition.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government restricted this right in practice.
The constitution does not address political parties; however, it states
that candidates for public office shall compete on their individual
merit. The decree which banned political parties lapsed with the
implementation of the constitution; however, the Government did not act
on the requests of several groups which tried to register as political
parties or movements (see Section 3). Some political organizations
continued to operate without calling themselves parties.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The new constitution provides for freedom
of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
New religious groups or churches are expected to register with the
Government. There is no law that describes the organizational
requirements of a religious group or church. All religions were
recognized unofficially. Groups were registered routinely, and there
were no reports that any groups were denied registration during the
year.
Government permission was required for the construction of new
religious buildings. Non-Christian groups sometimes experienced minor
delays in obtaining permits from the Government.
In November 2005 the Court of Appeal ordered a chief to return five
cows that he had seized in 2003 from a member of Jehovah's Witnesses
who refused to allow his daughters to wear the virginity tassels
ordered by the King. The chief returned the cows and three offspring,
but in March he attempted unsuccessfully to seize the cattle again.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among
religious groups were generally amicable. The Jewish community
comprises less than 1 percent of the population, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The new constitution provides for these
rights; however, it also states that provisions of law and custom which
impose restrictions on the freedom of any person to reside in the
country do not contravene the freedom granted by the constitution. The
constitution grants women equality before the law and, unlike in
previous years, women can now obtain passports without a male
relative's permission. Nonethnic Swazis sometimes experienced lengthy
processing delays when seeking passports and citizenship documents, in
part due to the prejudice that mixed-race and white persons were not
real citizens (see Section 5).
The Government treated several thousand ethnic Swazis living across
the border in South Africa who were not Swazi citizens as
indistinguishable from citizens and routinely granted them travel and
citizenship documents.
The Government blocked overseas employment agencies from obtaining
or transferring foreign currency, which was necessary to make
arrangements for jobs abroad. This effectively stopped citizens from
being able to gain employment in another country.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. The Government did not accept refugees for
resettlement. On September 13, the Government began a registration of
refugees in accordance with UNHCR Conclusion 91.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens are not able to change their government peacefully. The
King retains ultimate executive and legislative authority, and
parliament has no real authority. Legislation passed by parliament
requires the king's assent to become law, which he is not obliged to
give. Under the constitution, the King chooses the Prime Minister, the
cabinet, two-thirds of the Senate, many senior civil servants, the
chief justice and other justices of the Superior Courts, members of
commissions established by the constitution, and the heads of
government offices. On the advice of the Prime Minister, the King is to
appoint the cabinet from among the members of the parliament; at least
half of the ministers must be elected members of the House of Assembly.
The King is to make other appointments on the advice of a minister, the
Judicial Service Commission, Civil Service Commission, or other
commissions established by the constitution. The constitution states
that when the King is required to consult with any person or authority
before exercising a function, he can, after the consultation, choose
whether to exercise that function.
On February 8, the new constitution went into effect. The
Government declared that the 1973 Emergency Decree, under which the
King was able to rule by decree, lapsed when the constitution took
effect. Civic organizations criticized the Government for the way it
drafted the constitution, specifically for not allowing groups to
contribute to the document. In addition civic groups charged that the
constitution would not enable citizens to change executive government
officials peacefully. In August the National Constituency Assembly
(NCA), a group of civic organizations, petitioned the High Court to
declare the constitution null and void on several grounds, including
non-compliance with the constitutional drafting process set down in the
1973 Decree, which required extensive consultation with citizens. In a
September hearing on the motion, the NCA demanded access to the records
of the Constitutional Drafting Committee and the Constitutional Review
Committee. The Government attorney replied that the decree establishing
these two committees provided that the public would have no right of
access to the committees' records. On November 10, the High Court
informed the NCA that it could not muster a full bench due to the
imminent expiration of the employment contracts of several justices,
and that the case was postponed. The case was pending at year's end.
Elections and Political Participation.--The 65-member House of
Assembly is constituted according to the law that was in effect when
its members were elected in 2003. Under this law 55 seats in the House
are popularly contested, and the King appoints the remaining 10
members. The next elections for the house, due in 2008, will presumably
be held under the terms of the new constitution.
The constitution calls for a House of Assembly composed of up to 60
elected members to include ten members appointed by the King, of whom
half must be women and the others representing ``interests, including
marginalized groups not already adequately represented in the House,''
and one woman from each of the four regions, nominated by the elected
house members from that region.
The King appoints 20 members of the 30-seat Senate; the House of
Assembly elects the other 10. The new constitution provides that eight
of the king's nominees and five of the House of Assembly's nominees be
women.
The most recent parliamentary elections took place in 2003;
however, commonwealth observers concluded they were not free and fair.
Election procedures generally were carried out in an orderly fashion,
but police arrested several persons for using forged voter registration
certificates and for trying to vote more than once.
On February 8, the new constitution took effect and the 1973 Decree
which banned political parties lapsed. The constitution provides for
freedom of association but does not address political parties, and the
Government has not acted on the requests for registration by several
self-declared political parties and movements. The African United
Democratic Party filed a court case in June to compel the Government to
register it as a political party; the case had not been heard by year's
end. On August 3, at the Prime Minister's monthly meeting with
journalists, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs stated
that political parties could hold meetings at tinkhundla (local
government) centers, but that they first would have to obtain the
permission of the regional administrator, and allow a police officer to
attend the meeting. The constitution states that candidates for public
office must compete on their individual merit, thereby blocking
competition based on political party affiliation.
Chiefs are custodians of traditional law and custom and are
responsible for the day-to-day running of their chiefdom and for
maintaining law and order. Chiefs are an integral part of society and
act as overseers or guardians of families within the communities and
traditionally report directly to the King. Local custom mandates that
chieftaincy is hereditary. However, the new constitution, while
recognizing that chieftaincy is ``usually hereditary and is regulated
by Swazi law and custom,'' also states that the King ``can appoint any
person to be chief over any area.''
Women generally had full legal rights to participate in the
political process; however, in accordance with societal practice,
widows in mourning (for periods that can vary from one to three years)
are prevented from appearing in certain public places and in close
proximity to the King. As a result, they can be excluded from voting or
running for office. There were seven women in the 65-member House of
Assembly, 12 women in the 30-member Senate, and three female ministers
in the cabinet, including the deputy prime minister. Three women served
as principal secretaries, the most senior civil service rank in the
ministries.
There were three members of minorities in the Senate. There were no
minority members in the House of Assembly or cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in the executive and legislative
branches of government and a general consensus that the Government was
doing too little to combat it. On July 11, the King assented to the
Prevention of Corruption Act passed by parliament; however, by year's
end the minister of justice and constitutional affairs had not
published the effective date of the legislation. On July 20, Senior
Parliamentary Counsel Sabelo Matsebula stated that passage or amendment
of several other pieces of legislation was required before the law
would be effective. On August 9 and 10, the Government held a National
Anti-Corruption Summit to publicize the Prevention of Corruption Act
and rally broad support for anti-corruption. The constitution prohibits
government officials from assuming positions in which their personal
interest is likely to conflict with their official duties. Such
officials are required to declare their assets and liabilities to the
Integrity Commission within six months of its establishment; however,
the Integrity Commission is subsumed under the Commission on Human
Rights and Public Administration, which had not been established by
year's end.
There were credible reports that unqualified businesses were
awarded contracts due to the owners' relationship with government
officials. In June the Prime Minister established a commission to
investigate how the Government spent approximately $7 million (50
million emalangeni) on a business training exercise for which it had
allocated only $1.5 million (10 million emalamgeni). The commission's
hearings were characterized by official assertions of ignorance,
disappearing files, and revelations of payments to businesses, some
with connections to government officials or civil servants, which were
unqualified to conduct such training. The commission had not delivered
its report to the Prime Minister by year's end.
During the year the Government commissioned Pricewaterhouse Coopers
to conduct a forensic investigation of the Department of Customs and
Excise and the Department of Income Tax. The investigation report,
parts of which were made public in October, found that the computer
user identifications of seven customs officials had been used to
manipulate data to undercharge importers by approximately $4 million
(28.5 million emalangeni). The report recommended disciplinary hearings
for several Department of Income Tax employees and the banning of
several companies from eligibility for government tenders. No action
had been taken on the recommendations by year's end.
The press reported that some members of parliament (MPs) engaged in
fraud, kickbacks, and scams. An investigation was pending at year's end
into allegations of government corruption in the procurement of
medicine, and MP Mfomfo Nkambule was under investigation for corruption
relating to the employment contract of the CEO of the Swaziland
Electricity Board while Nkambule was Minister of Natural Resources and
Energy. Nkambule retained his seat in the House of Assembly.
There is no law permitting public access to government documents,
and public documents were difficult to access. For example, the
Government argued in court that the public had no right of access to
the records of the Constitutional Drafting Commission.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Among the active
groups were the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), Lawyers
for Human Rights of Swaziland, and Women and Law in Southern Africa.
Government officials were generally receptive but unresponsive to their
views. Human rights groups spoke out on a number of occasions,
criticizing the lack of accountability and transparency in the
Government.
In July 2005 the African Commission on Human and People's Rights
released a report stating that the 1973 decree, which outlawed
political parties and allowed the King to intervene in the judiciary,
violates Article 13 of the African Charter. The Government declared in
February that the decree lapsed when the constitution went into effect
on February 8.
The new constitution provides for the independence of human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); however, this provision falls
within the ``policy'' section, which the constitution states is to
guide all agencies of the Government, but cannot be enforced in any
court or tribunal.
The new constitution provides for the establishment of a Commission
on Human Rights and Public Administration within a year of its
implementation; however, the commission may not investigate ``a matter
relating to the exercise of any royal prerogative by the Crown.'' The
Government had not established the Commission by year's end.
The Government permitted visits by international organizations and
facilitated a delegation from the International Labor Organization
(ILO) in June.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
disability, age, ethnicity, religion, political opinion, or social
status; however, the Government did not enforce the law. The labor law
forbids employers from discriminating on the basis of race, sex, or
political affiliation.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, particularly wife beating,
was common despite traditional restrictions against this practice.
Women have the right to charge their husbands with assault under both
the Roman-Dutch and the traditional legal systems, and urban women
frequently did so, usually in extreme cases when intervention by
extended family members failed to end such violence. Penalties for men
found guilty of assault not involving rape depended on the court's
discretion. Rural women often had no relief if family intervention did
not succeed, because the traditional courts could be unsympathetic to
``unruly'' or ``disobedient'' women and were less likely than the
modern courts to convict men for spousal abuse. The Roman-Dutch legal
system sometimes handed out light sentences in cases of abuse against
women. For example, on April 11, a High Court judge sentenced a man who
had stoned his wife to death to eight years' imprisonment, but
suspended four years of the sentence. SWAGAA recorded an increase in
reports of spousal abuse, including an increase in the number of men
complaining of abuse from their wives or girlfriends.
Rape also was common and regarded by many men as a minor offense.
Rape is against the law; however, a sense of shame and helplessness
often inhibited women from reporting such crimes, particularly when
incest was involved. In the Roman-Dutch legal system, the acquittal
rate was high and sentences were generally lenient. However, on April
13, the acting chief justice of the Court of Appeal issued a letter
directing all Magistrate Courts to send rape cases to the High Court
for sentencing, since Magistrate Courts could only impose a maximum
sentence of seven years (or nine years in a principal Magistrate's
Court). The letter also directed magistrates to refer to the High Court
for trial all rape cases in which the victim was 16 years old or
younger. On September 19, a High Court judge sentenced a man to 30
years imprisonment for raping two teenage girls, in contrast to the
seven-year term issued by the Magistrate's Court, which the man had
decided to appeal.
The October 8 Times of Swaziland stated that the acting director of
public prosecution withdrew the case against three persons suspected of
raping and sexually assaulting a student in September 2004 for wearing
a miniskirt, stating that the evidence was weak, and witnesses refused
to testify.
Prostitution is illegal, and police continued to enforce the law.
The law provides some protection from sexual harassment, but its
provisions were vague and largely ineffective. There were occasional
reports of sexual harassment, most often of female students by
teachers.
Several NGOs provided support for victims of abuse or
discrimination. Despite the law's requirement for equal pay for equal
work, average wage rates for men by skill category usually exceeded
those of women.
Women occupied a subordinate role in society. With the
implementation of the February 8 constitution, women are able to open
bank accounts, obtain passports, and take jobs without the permission
of a male relative. Women routinely executed contracts and entered into
a variety of transactions in their own names; however, banks still
refused personal loans to women without a male guarantor. The
constitution provides for equal access to land; however, in practice
this right was not enforced. On July 31, the coordinator of Women in
Law in Southern Africa told journalists that she had been told that
most of the constitutional benefits for women will be delayed until
several existing acts are amended to bring them into line with the
constitution, including the Marriage Act, the Administration of Estates
Act, the Deeds Registry Act, and others.
The dualistic nature of the legal system complicated the issue of
women's rights. Since unwritten law and custom govern traditional
marriage, women's rights often were unclear and changed according to
where and by whom they were interpreted. Couples often married in both
civil and traditional ceremonies, creating problems in determining
which set of rules applied to the marriage and to subsequent questions
of child custody and inheritance in the event of divorce or death.
Under the constitution, children derive citizenship from the father and
not from the mother unless the birth occurred outside marriage and the
father does not claim the child.
In traditional marriages a man may take more than one wife. A man
who marries a woman under civil law legally may not have more than one
wife, although in practice this restriction sometimes was ignored.
Traditional marriages consider children to belong to the father and his
family if the couple divorce. Children born out of wedlock are viewed
as belonging to the mother. Inheritances are passed through male
children only.
Mourning customs resulted in inequalities for women, and the high
incidence of HIV/AIDS exacerbated this inequality. The constitution
states that ``a woman shall not be compelled to undergo or uphold any
custom to which she is in conscience opposed''; however, traditional
families may treat a woman as an outcast if she refuses to undergo the
mourning rite. When the husband dies, his widow must remain in strict
mourning for one month, during which she cannot leave the house, and
the husband's family can move into the homestead and take control of
its operations. The mourning period can extend as long as three years,
during which the widow's actions are extremely restricted. For example,
she cannot participate in the chief's kraal, a traditional place of
gathering where persons take their problems(see Section 3).
A foreign woman who marries a citizen can become a citizen by
lodging a declaration with the proper authorities.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for coordinating
women's issues but took no notable actions during the year. The UNISWA
Senate had a subcommittee that encouraged students and faculty to hold
seminars and workshops on gender issues.
Children.--The Government made efforts to protect children's rights
and welfare, and these rights are provided for in the new constitution.
However, the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC)--
an estimated 120,000 according to the UN Children's Fund--challenged
that commitment.
The constitution states that within three years of the
constitution's entering into effect, every child will have the right to
free primary education. During the year the Government did not provide
free, compulsory education for children; the Government paid teachers'
salaries, while the student paid fees for books and contributed to the
building fund. The Government set per-child and per-school limits on
the amounts it paid for OVC tuition and school fees, but some schools
complained of delayed payment, and expulsion of OVCs for non-payment of
fees increased. Supplemental money sometimes had to be raised for
building maintenance, including teachers' housing. The country had a 70
percent primary school enrollment rate. Children were required to start
attending school at the age of six. Most students reached grade 7, the
last year of primary school, and many went on to finish grade 10. The
public school system ends at grade 12. In rural areas families favor
boys over girls if they do not have enough money to send all their
children to school. A government task force continued to educate the
public on children's issues.
Medical care for children generally was inadequate and
characterized by long waits, poor nursing care in public hospitals, and
overcrowded and understaffed hospitals. Most prescription drugs were
available in urban facilities, but rural clinics had inadequate
supplies of certain drugs.
Child abuse was a serious problem, and the Government did not make
specific efforts to end such abuse. Rape of children was also a serious
problem, with media reports of rapes of children one year old and
younger. Teachers sometimes beat children. In July Machawe Malinga, a
primary school pupil, suffered fractures in his right hand and arm when
his teacher allegedly beat him with a stick for being a slow writer.
There were no reports of action against the teacher by year's end.
Abandoning newborn babies was a problem, but no official statistics
were available.
The legal age of marriage is 18 for both men and women. However,
with parental consent and approval from the minister of justice, girls
age 16 married. The Government recognized two types of marriage: civil
marriages and marriages under law and custom. Traditional marriages
under law and custom can be with girls as young as 14. Critics of the
royal family said the king's many wives and young fiancees, some of
whom were 16, set a poor example for behavior change in a country with
the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world.
The law prohibits prostitution and child pornography, provides
protection to children under 16 years of age from sexual exploitation,
and sets the age of sexual consent at 16 years. Nevertheless, female
children sometimes suffered sexual abuse, including by family members.
There were reports that Swazi girls worked as prostitutes in the
country (see Section 5, Trafficking). Children, including street
children, were increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
There were growing numbers of street children in Mbabane and
Manzini. A large and increasing number of HIV/AIDS orphans were cared
for by aging relatives or neighbors, or they struggled to survive in
child-headed households. Some lost their property to adult relatives.
The National Emergency Response Committee on HIV and AIDS, a private
group partly funded by the Government and by international aid, and
other NGOs assisted some AIDS orphans.
With more than 10 percent of households headed by children, the UN
Children's Fund supported school feeding programs, established a number
of neighborhood care points, and provided nutritional support to
children weakened by AIDS.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and there were reports of trafficking, including small numbers
of women and girls. Swazi girls reportedly worked as prostitutes in the
country or were trafficked to South Africa for domestic servitude or
commercial sexual exploitation. There were no known investigations or
prosecutions of trafficking cases during the year. There is no
government agency specifically responsible for combating trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The new constitution provides
protection for persons with disabilities and requires parliament to
enact implementing legislation. However, parliament had not passed laws
prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services by year's end. Persons with disabilities complained of
government neglect. There are no laws that mandate accessibility for
persons with disabilities to buildings, transportation, or government
services, although government buildings under construction included
some improvements for those with disabilities, including accessibility
ramps.
There was no secondary school for deaf children. In July the
Foundation of Disabled Persons in Swaziland complained that there were
no schools for approximately 900 visually impaired children of school
age. In August the minister for enterprise and employment told the
Swaziland Association of Visually Impaired People that he was shocked
to learn that of the 10,600 visually impaired persons in the country,
only three were employed. The minister promised to introduce a bill
compelling employers to create specific jobs for the visually impaired;
however, no bill had been introduced by year's end. The hospital for
persons with mental disabilities in Manzini was overcrowded and
understaffed, and the Government's only psychiatrist announced in April
that he was retiring; no replacement had been named by year's end.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The new constitution forbids
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, ethnic origin, tribe, or
birth; however, governmental and societal discrimination was practiced
against nonethnic Swazis, generally white persons and persons of mixed
race. Although there were no official statistics, an estimated 2
percent of the population was nonethnic Swazi. Nonethnic Swazis
experienced difficulty in obtaining official documents, including
passports (see Section 2.d.). Nonethnic Swazis also suffered from other
forms of governmental and societal discrimination, such as needing
special permits or stamps to buy a car or house, delays in receiving
building permits for houses, and difficulties in applying for a bank
loan.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against homosexuals was prevalent, and homosexuals often concealed
their sexual preferences. There was a social stigma associated with
being HIV positive, and this discouraged persons from being tested;
however, education was slowly eroding the cultural prejudice. The May
19 Times of Swaziland reported that a major construction company in
Matsapha was harassing an HIV-positive employee by denying her salary
increments which other employees received and accusing her of gross
incompetence.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
the right to form associations, including trade unions, and workers
exercised this right in practice with some exceptions. Workers in
essential services, such as security forces, may not form unions.
Unions must represent at least 50 percent of employees in a work place
to be automatically recognized, otherwise recognition is left to the
discretion of employer. Approximately 80 percent of the formal private
sector was unionized. The informal sector employed approximately 98,000
persons.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, such
discrimination continued to occur. In the case of unfair dismissal, the
court can order reinstatement and compensation for the employee as well
as fine the employer. Union leaders made credible charges that
management in various industries dismissed workers for union activity.
Other concerns identified were undefined hours of work and pay days,
frequent assaults on workers by supervisors, surveillance by hired
security officers of trade union activity both at the workplace and
outside, and the use of workers' councils stacked with employer-picked
representatives to prevent genuine worker representation. The
allegations of union discrimination were most common in the garment
sector.
In May the Swaziland Hotel and Allied Workers Union met with hotel
managers to discuss termination notices that had been sent to employees
soon after they had joined the union. The hotel withdrew the notices on
May 8. On August 15, the Zheng Yong Garment Factory fired Wonder
Mkhonta, chairman of the Nhlangano branch of the Swaziland Processing
and Refining Allied Workers Union, for poor performance; however, the
union claimed that he was dismissed for engaging in union activity.
There were no developments in the 2005 case of two employees fired by
the Oxford Leasing Company in Manzini, allegedly for joining the
Swaziland Manufacturing and Allied Workers Union; their case remained
before the Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration Commission (CMAC).
During a June visit to the country, an ILO delegation called on the
Government expressly to repeal the 1973 State of Emergency Proclamation
and related decrees concerning trade unions' rights, amend the 1963
Public Order Act to prevent its use in oppressing legitimate and
peaceful strike action, and ensure that prison staff and domestic
workers be granted the right to organize.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The new
constitution and law provide for the right to organize and bargain
collectively, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. However, employer interference with representatives of
workers' councils to negotiate terms of conditions of work for
employees contributed to the failure of some trade unions to negotiate
or promote collective bargaining agreements.
The Industrial Relations Act (IRA) empowers the Government to
mediate employment disputes and grievances through the CMAC. The IRA
does not specifically permit strikes, but it allows employees who are
not engaged in essential services to participate in peaceful protest
action to promote their socioeconomic interests. However, the procedure
for announcing a protest requires an advance notice of at least 14
days. The IRA prohibits protest actions in ``essential services,''
which included police and security forces, correctional services, fire
fighting, health, and many civil service positions. The law details the
steps to be followed when disputes arise and provides penalties for
employers who conduct unauthorized lockouts. When disputes arose with
civil servant unions, the Government often intervened to reduce the
chances of a protest action, which may not be called legally until all
avenues of negotiation have been exhausted and a secret ballot of union
members has been conducted.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the
Government rarely had to enforce this prohibition. However, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The Swaziland
Federation of Trade Unions characterized the 1998 Administrative Order
as a form of forced labor, noting that it reinforced the tradition of
residents performing uncompensated tasks for chiefs who could penalize
those that did not participate.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
constitution and law prohibit child labor, but child labor was a
problem. The 1980 Employment Act distinguishes between a ``child''
(under 15 years) and a ``young man'' (ages 15 to 18), but it does not
establish a minimum age of employment. The law prohibits hiring a child
below the age of 15 in an industrial undertaking except in cases where
only family members were employed in the firm or in technical schools
where children worked under supervision. The law limits conditions
under which young people aged 14 or 15 can be employed; however,
children were vulnerable to joining the workforce early, and the law
does not provide for compulsory primary school education. Legislation
limits the number of night hours that children may work on schooldays
and also limits children's work hours overall to six per day and 33 per
week. Employment of children in the formal sector was not common;
however, children were found doing unpaid labor for someone other than
a family member and often exposed to harsh conditions of work. In rural
areas children below the minimum age frequently were employed in the
agricultural sector, particularly in the eastern cotton-growing region,
and were employed as domestic workers and as herd boys. Children
reportedly worked in towns as traders, hawkers, porters, car wash
attendants, bus drivers and conductors. Children were victims of
prostitution and trafficking in persons (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Enterprise and Employment's Department of Labor was
responsible for enforcement, but its effectiveness was limited by
personnel shortages.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The constitution calls on
parliament to enact laws to ensure equal payment for equal work without
discrimination, and to protect employees from victimization and unfair
dismissal or treatment; however, the parliament had not enacted any new
laws by year's end. The Ministry of Enterprise and Employment sets wage
scales for each industry. There was a legally mandated sliding scale of
minimum wages depending on the type of work performed. The minimum
monthly wage for a domestic worker was approximately $45 (300
emalangeni), for an unskilled worker $63 (420 emalangeni), and for a
skilled worker $90 (600 emalangeni). Minimum wages for teachers were
raised to approximately $100 (750 emalangeni) during the year. These
minimum wages generally did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. Migrant workers were not covered under minimum
wage laws. Wage arrears, particularly in the garment industry, were a
problem. In July 40 temporary teachers marched to the Ministry of
Education to demand salary payments that in some cases were in arrears
to February. The Government subsequently paid teacher salaries and also
an end-of-year bonus.
There was a standard 48-hour work week for most workers, a maximum
48-hour workweek in the industrial sector, and a 72-hour work week for
security guards. The law permits all workers one day of rest per week
and provides for premium pay for overtime. Most workers received a
minimum of 12 days of annual leave. Workers receive 14 days of sick
leave with full pay and 14 days with half pay after three months of
continuous service; however, these provisions apply only once per
calendar year. No sick leave is granted if an injury results from an
employee's own negligence or misconduct. These standards do not apply
to foreign and migrant workers. The labor commissioner conducted
inspections in the formal sector; however, these inspections generally
did not result in enforcement of the law. There were allegations that
women who tried to take maternity leave were dismissed, that employers
paid employees at casual or probationary wage scales regardless of
their position or length of service, and that some supervisors
harassed, intimidated, and physically abused employees. In January a
former employee of the Singapore Butchery filed a complaint in the
Industrial Court after the CMAC failed to resolve a dispute claiming
she was illegally dismissed after becoming pregnant in 2004; the case
was pending at year's end. A supervisor who allegedly assaulted two
employees of Zheng Yong textile/apparel factory was arrested and was
released on bail in July; the complainants later withdrew the case.
The constitution calls on parliament to enact laws to protect a
worker's right to satisfactory, safe, and healthy conditions; however,
the parliament had not enacted any new laws by year's end. The law
provides for protection of workers' health and safety. The Government
set safety standards for industrial operations and encouraged private
companies to develop accident prevention programs; however, the labor
commissioner's office conducted few safety inspections because of
staffing deficiencies and an alleged desire not to ``scare off foreign
investors.'' Workers have no legal right to remove themselves from
dangerous workplaces without jeopardizing their continued employment,
and collective bargaining agreements do not address the matter.
There were no developments in the February 2005 arrests of workers
following a riot at Welcome Textile. The company later went into
liquidation.
There were extensive provisions allowing workers to seek redress
for alleged wrongful dismissal, and these provisions frequently were
invoked during the year.
__________
TANZANIA
The United Republic of Tanzania, with a population of approximately
37 million, is a multi-party republic consisting of the mainland and
the Zanzibar archipelago. The Union is headed by a President, who is
also head of government, and its unicameral legislative body is the
National Assembly, commonly referred to as parliament. Zanzibar,
although integrated into the country's governmental and party
structure, has its own President, court system, and legislature, and
continued to exercise considerable autonomy. In the December 2005 Union
Presidential and legislative elections, Jakaya Kikwete was elected
President, and the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party made
significant gains in parliament. Observers considered the Union
elections on both the mainland and in Zanzibar to be largely free and
fair. The 2005 Presidential elections in Zanzibar were more
contentious, with serious irregularities and politically motivated
violence; however, there were improvements in the administration of the
elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces, there were isolated instances in which
elements of the security forces acted independently of government
authority.
There were a number of continuing human rights problems. Police and
prison guards used excessive force against inmates or suspects, at
times resulting in death, and police impunity was a problem; there were
continued reports of killings of elderly individuals suspected of being
witches; prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening; police
routinely conducted searches without warrants, were often corrupt, and
at times failed to bring detained individuals before a judge in the
specified period of time; the judiciary suffered from corruption in the
lower courts; freedom of speech and press were partly limited;
governmental corruption remained pervasive; authorities restricted the
movement of refugees; societal violence against women persisted; and
trafficking in persons and child labor were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
politically motivated killings by the Government or its agents during
the year; however, on several occasions security forces used lethal
force against citizens, including persons in custody.
During the year authorities accused police of killing several
persons unlawfully. For example, in January, in the outskirts of Dar es
Salaam, 15 police allegedly shot and killed three gemstone dealers and
a taxi driver, claiming the four persons were robbers. The individuals
concerned were reportedly not resisting arrest, and a special
commission headed by a High Court judge investigated the incident and
found that the victims had not been robbers. Authorities brought murder
charges against all 15 police officers. The case was pending at year's
end.
In March, according to officials of the Legal and Human Rights
Center, police in Mwanza tortured and killed a taxi driver named
Christopher Samson while he was in custody after his arrest on
allegations that he participated in an armed robbery. The Mwanza
regional police commander questioned the policemen involved, after
which they were arrested. There was no further information regarding
the case at year's end.
On June 6, six prison wardens allegedly killed a prisoner, Eladius
Stanslaus, at Kimbiji Prison in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam. A
magistrate of the Temeke District Court adjourned the case because
investigations were incomplete at the time of trial. No further
information was available at year's end.
On July 16, authorities in Shinyanga Region discovered the body of
a man in a police cell in the village of Kagongwa. According to press
accounts, a prison warden beat an inmate to death in the Kisongo prison
in the region of Arusha.
There were no reports of active investigations of a number of
killings or alleged killings by police and prison authorities in 2005.
There were a number of unresolved killings from 2004. They included
the July killing of Selemani Juma Mousi by Zanzibar police and the
death of a minor in Zanzibar during the elections, allegedly as a
result of police use of excessive force. In the latter case opposition
party leaders charged that police were not investigating. There were no
reports of progress in investigating the 2004 killing of a student,
allegedly by a member of a paramilitary unit; authorities announced an
inquest in August 2005, but there were reports that the suspect had
been transferred to the mainland. Although authorities in August 2005
announced an inquest into the suspected killing by police of a building
inspector in Arusha, there was no further information at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of a nongovernmental
(NGO) worker in Ngara district by unidentified armed assailants, and
there were no reports that the authorities were actively pursuing the
case (see Section 4).
Deaths as a result of mob violence continued, including by stoning,
beating, hacking with machetes, and burning, but they were fewer in
number following a governmental outreach campaign begun in 2005 to
discourage mob violence. In August a mob set afire Saidi Sudi, who
subsequently died of his injuries. In December mobs lynched two
unidentified burglars in Shinyanga Region. Convictions in such cases
were rare; authorities indicated that it was often difficult to
persuade witnesses to testify. However, in early July the High Court
sentenced three persons to death for the 2003 mob killing of Ernest
Kikoti in the village of Nyamvisi, Mongoro Region. The prosecution
charged the defendants with having incited a mob to kill Kikoti.
The killing of suspected witches continued. A widespread belief in
witchcraft led to the killing of numerous alleged witches by those
claiming to be their victims, by aggrieved relatives of their victims,
or by mobs. The practice, once concentrated in Shinyanga Region, has
spread to other regions as a result of the pastoral migrations of
persons from Shinyanga. For example, on April 16, unknown persons in
the village of Buhanga, Kiagera Region, killed 67-year-old Anna Maria,
suspected of witchcraft, and her seven-year-old granddaughter
Sicholesik.
In December Mwema Bakari Kassan, a resident of Kiyanga village in
Mtwara Region, was arrested by the police for alleged involvement in
burning down five houses where he suspected that a sorcerer was hiding
one of his relatives. At year's end the case was still under
investigation. COEL indicated that the incidents were most common in
Tabora, Mwanza, Shinyanga, and Kigoma regions.
On August 28, the newspaper The African, citing statistics from the
local NGO Concern for the Elderly (COEL), reported that in the
preceding decade, 8,580 elderly persons within the Lake Zone had been
killed following allegations of witchcraft.
The Government prosecuted persons accused of killing suspected
practitioners of witchcraft, but prosecution became more difficult as
persons responsible for killing suspected witches learned to avoid law
enforcement authorities.
In two regions there were reports that individuals practicing
witchcraft killed children and school students, allegedly to remove and
sell body parts and skin (see Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there continued to be reports that police officers tortured,
threatened, and otherwise mistreated suspected criminals and prisoners
during the year. Beatings and floggings were the methods most commonly
used. According to press reports, fewer police were accused of abusing
prisoners during the year, following more frequent prosecution of
police offenders
Efforts by city officials to evict street hawkers from central
locations resulted in injuries. On March 9, paramilitary forces injured
street hawkers while evicting them from the city of Mwanza. On March
10, paramilitary forces clashed with street hawkers in Dar es Salaam,
prompting the Prime Minister to order city officials to halt the
evections and give the traders a six-month reprieve. In October some
hawkers who refused to relocate to designated business premises were
injured after clashing with paramilitary forces.
On August 26, the Guardian newspaper reported that as a result of a
beating by Zanzibar police, Saidi Awadhi had to have his left eye
surgically removed. Awadhi accused a group of patrolling security
officers in the Mpendae area of beating him without any reason. The
regional police commander for the area stated that the matter could
have been investigated if the alleged victim had reported the matter to
his office; there were no indications that authorities were following
up on the case.
On August 27, the minister of public safety and security announced
that the inspector general of police had begun removing offenders from
the police force and creating better working conditions for the police.
Injuries reportedly suffered by two local officials in the course of
being arrested in July may have been one of the factors that
precipitated this action.
On February 6, Lucas Omahe Galani was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for assaulting CCM Presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete during
an October 2005 rally in Mwanza.
In September 2005 the Government formed a commission to investigate
allegations of severe mistreatment involving senior prison officers in
the Geita district of Mwanza Region. The officers faced accusations of
torturing, beating, and sodomizing two members of sungusungu,
traditional local militias. At year's end the case was still pending in
court.
Local government officials and courts occasionally used caning as a
punishment for both juvenile and adult offenders, and teachers and
school administrators employed caning and other forms of corporal
punishment on students (see Section 5). For example, in May 2005 a
resident magistrate's court in Arusha sentenced a prominent businessman
to prison and to receive 12 cane strokes for raping his house maid. The
use of caning continued to decline during the year following public
outreach efforts by the Government--particularly the Ministry of
Education--and the press.
There were fewer reports during the year that soldiers beat
civilians; however, in March paramilitary soldiers and municipal
council police, who were evicting bus touts (young men who purportedly
steer passengers to a particular van but often extort payment from
drivers), injured approximately 20 persons in the Mwenge, Kariakoo, and
Tandika areas of Dar es Salaam. Police allegedly beat the touts and
forced them to lie in dirty rain water.
At year's end there was no further information regarding two 2005
beating incidents in which the Tanzanian People's Defense Forces (TPDF)
attacked street hawkers in Dar es Salaam and used iron rods against
villagers in the Boko district.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police used excessive
force to break up demonstrations.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police sexually abused
individuals in detention.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening. In 2005 the established maximum capacity of
the country's prison facilities was 23,000, and the prison population
was estimated to be 46,000. During the year local prisons held 23,968
convicted prisoners and 21,017 pretrial detainees for a total of 44,985
prisoners. In 2005 then minister of Home Affairs John Chiligati stated
that the country needed 156 prison facilities, compared with the 122
that existed. On July 9, he told parliament there was overcrowding in
all of the prisons in the country.
During the year the Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance
inspected more than 10 prisons for human rights violations. In October
2005 the Government acknowledged severe problems of overcrowding,
infectious diseases, lengthy pretrial detention of prisoners, and
holding juveniles together with adult prisoners.
Prisoners experienced poor living conditions and lacked access to
basic human needs. NGOs reported that prisoners received poor diets as
a result of substandard sanitation and hygiene. In January 2005 more
than 15 inmates at Ukonga maximum security prison in Dar es Salaam
complained of a poor diet and severe beatings from prison guards and
overcrowded cells. Authorities often moved prisoners to different
prisons without notifying prisoners' families.
Prison dispensaries offered only limited medical treatment, and
friends and family members of prisoners generally had to provide
medications or the funds with which to purchase them. Diseases were
common and resulted in numerous deaths in prisons. According to NGO
reports, the leading causes of death were malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/
AIDS, cholera, and diseases related to poor sanitation. In February, to
prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in prisons, the Government established
12 voluntary counseling and testing centers to provide services to
penal institutions.
There were reports that guards beat and sexually abused prisoners
during the year.
No investigation report was issued during the year from the
Government commission investigating the September 2005 arrest,
detention, and torture by a prison officer in Mwanza of two traditional
militiamen. On the order of the prisons officer, eight inmates beat and
sexually molested the two men, who required hospitalization after the
detention.
The law requires prisoners to be separated based on age and gender;
however, in practice many overcrowded prisons lacked separate cells for
male, female, and juvenile prisoners. There were approximately 10
separate youth prisons throughout the country. The Government
considered prisoners between the ages of 18 and 21 to be ``young
prisoners'' and required prisons to separate them from the older adult
prison population at night. Pretrial detainees were held together with
convicted prisoners and were allowed to receive food from the outside.
Local NGOs, international organizations, and diplomatic observers
were permitted to monitor prison conditions during the year. For
example, on May 8, the Tanzania Red Cross Society visited Segerea
Prison in Dar es Salaam. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) visited prisoners at the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda, in Arusha. The Government permitted the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to visit prisons holding refugees in
Dar es Salaam and in the west. The ICRC also visited two detention
centers in Zanzibar in December 2005 but did not monitor facilities for
domestic prisoners during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention; however, both were problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
force, under the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, has primary
responsibility for maintaining law and order. The Field Force Unit is a
division of the police force. Sungusungu Citizens' patrols continued to
support the police force, including in refugee camps. Police were not
responsible for overseeing sungusungu, who worked with local government
leaders. The TPDF, under the Ministry of Defense, is responsible for
external security and had some domestic security responsibilities.
The police force remained underfunded and inefficient. The use of
excessive force, police corruption, and impunity were serious problems.
Citizens often complained that police were slow to investigate
crimes and prosecute criminals. Although not lawyers, police acted as
public prosecutors in the primary courts. Many judicial experts
criticized this arrangement, which allegedly allowed police to
manipulate evidence in criminal cases and at times resulted in cases
being thrown out of court. According to NGO reports, there were
instances in which the police lost evidence, and suspects with
sufficient means successfully avoided prosecution by bribing police
officers. Police also used the threat of arbitrary arrest to extort
money. Communities perceived a general lack of protection amid an
increase in crimes committed by armed persons. Lack of trust in the
police force and in the court system contributed to incidents of mob
justice during the year. Internal mechanisms within the police
hierarchy were available to investigate violations committed by police,
but, despite improvements, continuing police misbehavior suggested that
they were not used effectively.
There continued to be numerous press reports and complaints from
civil society groups and citizens about police corruption during the
year. The Prevention of Corruption Bureau reported many public
complaints of corruption that implicated the police force and local
authorities. In July the Kagera Region headed the list of corruption
complaints, with 558 complaints recorded in 2005. In November the press
reported that drugs worth thousands of dollars were stolen from police
custody at the Ministry of Home Affairs' antinarcotics unit in Dar es
Salaam. The unit commander was replaced, and two policemen were
arrested. The case was pending at year's end.
In January President Kikwete directed the Ministry for Public
Safety and Security and senior police officers to take disciplinary
action against any police officer who was ``ethically not upright.'' In
March the police force launched investigations of a police sergeant
alleged to possess property not commensurate with his income. Regional
Police Commander Alfred Tibaigana stated the officer would be dismissed
if found to be at fault. During the year Tibaigana also stated that
another police officer who allegedly collaborated with a civilian to
rob residential property would also face dismissal if found guilty.
During the year the police force held training seminars on
surveillance detection, human rights, expediting investigations,
finalizing criminal cases, and handling opposition party members and
leaders.
The law grants legal status to the traditional sungusungu
neighborhood and village anticrime groups. Local governments appoint
the members with the help of individual households who decide which
among them will join the sungusungu watch. The sungusungu remained
active in rural areas such as Tabora, Shinyanga, and Mwanza regions as
well as in refugee camps, but were not present in most urban areas.
Sungusungu have the authority to arrest persons, but they do not have
the authority to carry firearms and instead carried wooden clubs for
protection. Sungusungu have been criticized for using excessive force,
including the severe beating of suspects, which on occasion resulted in
death. It was customary for residents of a neighborhood in which
sungusungu operated to either donate a small sum to the sungusungu for
patrols or, if they did not have money, to provide one person from
their household to participate in patrols. In refugee camps, in
addition to a regular police contingent, sungusungu groups composed of
refugees acted as quasi-official security forces.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that persons be apprehended
openly with warrants based on sufficient evidence, and authorities
generally complied with the law. The law also requires that a person
arrested for a crime, other than a national security detainee (as
defined under the Preventive Detention Act), be charged before a
magistrate within 24 hours of arrest; however, in practice the police
often failed to comply with this requirement. The law gives accused
persons the right to contact a lawyer or talk with family members but
authorities at times denied this right. Prompt access to counsel was
also limited by the lack of lawyers in rural areas, the lack of
communication systems and infrastructure, and the illiteracy and
poverty of the accused. Authorities promptly informed detainees of the
charges against them. The Government provided legal representation for
indigent defendants as for all suspects charged with murder or treason.
The law does not allow the possibility of bail for the offenses of
murder or armed robbery and imposes strict conditions on freedom of
movement and association when bail is granted in other cases. In the
primary and district courts, bribes at times determined whether bail
was granted.
Under the Preventive Detention Act, the President may order the
arrest and indefinite detention without bail of any person considered
dangerous to the public order or national security. The act requires
that the Government release persons detained under this act within 15
days of detention or inform them of the reason for their detention; it
also allows a detainee to challenge the grounds for detention at 90-day
intervals. The Government has additional broad detention powers under
the law, which permit regional and district commissioners to arrest and
detain for 48 hours persons who may ``disturb public tranquility.'' The
act was not invoked during the year.
In July minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mary Nagu
stated that the courts of law received 36 civil litigation cases
alleging unlawful detention instituted by aggrieved parties in
connection with the 2005 elections. Five of the cases were thrown out
for failing to meet legal requirements. The remaining 31 cases were
pending in courts at year's end.
Unlike in 2005, a national election year, there were no reports of
arbitrary detention of opposition leaders or supporters.
There was no information about the case of Abdul Rashid, a resident
of Dar es Salaam who claimed he was arbitrarily arrested in September
2005. He was charged with destroying a CCM campaign poster. Rashid
denied the charges.
Police arrested refugees for leaving refugee camps without permits
(see Section 2.d.).
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that Union security forces
based in Zanzibar or the archipelago's own security forces, known as
vikosi, committed human rights violations during the year, and there
were no allegations that CCM's Zanzibar chapter worked with the vikosi
to recruit members of the Janjaweed, an allegedly pro CCM gang, to
intimidate the political opposition.
Approximately 44 percent of the prison population consisted of
pretrial detainees or remand prisoners. Detainees charged with criminal
matters generally waited several years for trial, due to the time
required to complete police investigations, a lack of judges to hear
cases, and an inadequate judicial budget. Demands by police and court
officials for bribes further delayed the trials of those who could not
afford to pay. Pretrial detention at times exceeded the sentence of the
crime with which detainees were charged. Observers estimated that
approximately 5 percent of persons held in remand ultimately were
convicted, and often those convicted already had served their full
sentences before their trials were held. A government official
estimated that it took up to five years for homicide cases to reach the
high court. At year's end some suspects had spent as many as 10 years
in prison without having their cases heard before a court. In July the
minister for justice and constitutional affairs issued a directive
requiring courts of law to clear all current criminal and civil cases
within 60 days to reduce the number of cases pending in courts. There
were no reports at year's end concerning progress toward meeting this
objective.
Amnesty.--In February the President of Zanzibar pardoned three
persons convicted of burning down a hotel belonging to a businesswoman
and former opposition candidate for President of Zanzibar.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judiciary remained underfunded,
corrupt, inefficient, and subject to executive influence. Corruption
was particularly pervasive among lower court officials and court
clerks.
Independent observers questioned the system's ability to provide a
defendant with an expeditious and fair trial. Court clerks took bribes
to decide whether or not to open cases and to hide or misdirect the
files of those accused of crimes. Magistrates of lower courts
occasionally accepted bribes to determine guilt or innocence, pass
sentences, or decide appeals of cases coming from the primary courts to
district courts.
The Justice Department faced a critical shortage of court
buildings. In July the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
purchased court buildings for Mtwara and Songea zonal offices and new
offices opened in Iringa and Sumbawanga. Despite these efforts, few
courts were available to citizens, and the cost of traveling to the
nearest court was often prohibitive.
The Government continued its program to reform the judiciary. In
partnership with bilateral and multilateral donors, the Government
during the year increased expenditures on the judiciary by
approximately 40 percent to: improve judicial access for detainees and
for those in rural areas; and to improve the overall governance and
administration of justice. In 2005 the Government doubled its previous
year's judicial expenditures to address judicial inefficiency and
corruption and to increase personnel qualifications.
The legal system is based on British common law and recognizes
customary and Islamic law in civil cases. In criminal matters both
Christians and Muslims are governed by statutory or common law.
A Judicial Service Commission, chaired by the chief justice of the
Court of Appeal, appointed all judges except those for the Court of
Appeal and the high courts, who were appointed by the President. All
courts, including Islamic courts in Zanzibar, were staffed by civil
servants.
The country has a five-tier judicial system whose highest court is
the Court of Appeal. In addition in Zanzibar, whose population is 95
percent Muslim, there is a system of Islamic khadi courts, with its own
hierarchy topped by a khadi court of appeal. These courts hear matters
involving customary Islamic law on family and related matters. On the
mainland, civil law essentially governs all persons involved in cases
of child custody and divorce. Islamic and customary law govern other
family matters for Muslims and Christians respectively. On the
mainland, all persons, including Muslims, are subject to the Marriage
Act of 1971, a consolidation of family law that recognizes Islamic and
customary marriages but subjects them to state regulation and civil law
protections for women.
Although a majority of Zanzibar judges were Muslim, there were some
Christian judges, and some Muslim groups complained it was
inappropriate for Christian judges to administer Islamic law for
Muslims in family matters without training in Islamic law. The leaders
of BAKWATA, the council that governs matters of Islam on the mainland,
called for the establishment of a kadhi's court for the mainland. A
heated debate arose between Muslim leaders and Catholic bishops. The
bishops warned the President against allowing the establishment of the
court. The matter remained contentious at year's end.
In family matters the content and application of some customary
laws and Islamic law discriminated against women, both on the mainland
and in Zanzibar.
There was one juvenile court; however, it was overburdened and
handled cases only for young offenders in Dar es Salaam, where it was
located. Juvenile offenders in other regions were tried in adult
courts.
The law also provides for commercial courts, land courts, housing
tribunals, and military tribunals. Military tribunals do not try
civilians. Defendants before military tribunals may appeal to the high
court and the Court of Appeal.
Trial Procedures.--Criminal trials were generally open to the
public and to the press; however, there were exceptions. Courts that
held secret proceedings--such as in drug trafficking cases-generally
were required to provide reasons for holding such proceedings. In cases
involving terrorism suspects, the law provides that everyone except the
interested parties may be excluded, and information may be suppressed,
purportedly to protect the identity of witnesses.
There is no trial by jury in any of the country's courts. The law
provides for the presumption of innocence. Defendants or their lawyers
have access to evidence held by the Government, the right to question
witnesses, and the right to present evidence on the defendant's behalf.
All defendants charged with civil or criminal matters--except parties
appearing before Zanzibar's kadhi court system and cases examining the
constitutionality of Zanzibar laws--could appeal decisions to the high
courts and the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. The law provides a right to
defense counsel for defendants accused of murder and treason, as well
as for indigent defendants in all other serious cases. There were only
a few hundred practicing lawyers in the country, although the number
continued to increase. Most indigent defendants charged with lesser
crimes did not have legal counsel. Most defendants in urban areas who
could not afford to hire a legal representative or lawyer represented
themselves in court, but women and the needy were allowed legal aid.
The Government sought to provide legal representation for
underrepresented groups by requiring lawyers to take a specified number
of legal aid cases with a broad geographical distribution. The law
prohibits advocates from appearing or defending clients in primary-
level courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Civil proceedings are
administered in the High Court or at the magistrate or district level.
Persons may bring lawsuits seeking damages or the cessation of human
rights violations; however, civil judicial procedures often were slow,
inefficient, and corrupt.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law generally prohibits such actions without a
search warrant; however, the Government did not consistently respect
these prohibitions in practice. Only courts can issue search warrants;
however, the law also authorizes searches of persons and premises
without a warrant if necessary to prevent the loss or destruction of
evidence connected with an offense, or if circumstances are serious and
urgent. In practice members of security forces rarely sought warrants
and often searched private homes and businesses at will. The law
relating to terrorism permits police of a certain rank to conduct
searches without a warrant in certain urgent cases; there were no
reports that the act has ever been implemented in practice.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that Zanzibari paramilitary
groups engaged in looting of houses, shops, and religious institutions.
The security forces reportedly monitored telephones and
correspondence of some citizens and foreign residents.
During the year the Government forcibly evicted or displaced
individuals and demolished or repossessed their homes in an effort to
clean up urban areas such as Dar es Salaam and Arusha. In late
September and early October, authorities made a large-scale effort to
move hawkers and petty traders (machinga in Swahili) located throughout
these cities to locations designated for business. The Government
provided machinga with several notices of its intentions and justified
the effort as a way to ``ensure the country's cities attracted
investors and eliminated hiding places for thugs.''
By year's end a case involving 135 villagers who claimed they had
been illegally evicted from their land and homes by district-level
officials in 2001 had not come to trial. The case was filed in June
2005 after the Government failed to respond to a ruling by the Human
Rights and Good Governance Commission that gave the Government 30 days
to compensate and resettle the villagers and requested that a report be
submitted on the matter by May 2005.
Until March women in Zanzibar who became pregnant out of wedlock
could be imprisoned for up to two years. In theory the law could also
be applied to men; however, because DNA testing was not available in
Zanzibar, only women have been sentenced under the law. During the year
one woman was convicted under the act and served a suspended sentence.
On March 5, President Karume signed a law that replaces prison
penalties with community service for women convicted of this offense.
During the year the office of Zanzibar's director of public prosecution
published regulations that stipulate the kind of community service that
could be imposed.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech but does not expressly provide for freedom of the
press; in practice the Union government partially limited these rights,
and the semi-autonomous Zanzibar government significantly limited these
rights. Laws limiting the media's ability to function effectively and
an inefficient judiciary limited freedom of speech and press,
particularly on Zanzibar, which has a separate media policy from the
mainland.
The print media were subject to considerable government
restriction, including the enforcement of a code of ethics. Although
the code is described as voluntary, the Government has fined and
suspended newspapers under this code. Journalists, intimidated by
defamation laws that impose criminal penalties, practiced self-
censorship. However, the mainland government allowed political
opponents unrestricted access to the media. Although the media is
primarily government-controlled in Zanzibar, opponents of the
Government had access to the media there as well.
Under the administration of President Kikwete, freedom of speech
increased. Encouraged by the President's public support of press
freedom, the press was able to expose corrupt officials more
forthrightly. For example, in March a private newspaper wrote about a
high-level diplomat assigned to Italy who was accused by authorities of
embezzling $3 million (3.8 billion shillings)
Political parties are required by law to support the continuation
of the Tanzanian Union, and persons using ``abusive'' language about
the country's leadership are subject to arrest; however, these
provisions were not applied during the year. On the mainland opposition
political party members and others openly criticized the Government and
ruling party. On Zanzibar the opposition frequently used media outlets
on the mainland to criticize the Zanzibar government. Unlike in 2005
there were no reports of restrictions on political and religious speech
by Muslims.
Registering newspapers remained difficult and was at the discretion
of the registrar. During the year the number of newspapers, radio
stations, and journalists grew. On the mainland there were more than
785 publications, including newspapers, in-house publications, and
periodicals, including 14 active dailies and more than 20 weeklies.
Many of the mainland's newspapers were privately owned. There were a
dozen periodicals in the country, some of which were owned or
influenced by political parties, including not only the ruling CCM but
also the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) and Chadema parties.
Mainland publications, including one government-owned newspaper,
regularly criticized the Government.
Approximately 33 radio stations and nine television stations,
including 16 cable networks, broadcast in Dar es Salaam and a few other
urban areas on the mainland. Many radio stations and all but one
television station were privately owned. There were some government
restrictions. For example, radio stations could not broadcast in tribal
languages.
According to the Zanzibar information service, a government agency,
one of the two newspapers in Zanzibar was privately owned, and one was
government-owned. The Government controlled the content of radio and
television broadcasts, including outlets that were privately owned. On
Zanzibar there was one government-owned radio station and four private
ones. On Pemba there were two radio stations, one of them was an
affiliate of the Government radio station on Zanzibar and the other
private. Many residents of Zanzibar were able to receive the less
restricted broadcasts from the mainland.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that government officials on
the mainland beat members of the media. An investigation was ongoing
into the alleged September 2005 beating by prison officials and others
of photographer Mpoki Bukuku and human rights activist and reporter
Christopher Kidanka, who attempted to cover the eviction of families
from houses being repossessed by the prisons department. The case was
still pending at year's end. Both journalists were also suing the
prisons department for damages.
On August 21, Reporters Without Borders criticized the Government
for threatening to deport a journalist to Kenya who appeared in the
film Darwin's Nightmare. Officials stated that the film, which
addresses natural resources and poverty in the Lake Victoria area,
damaged the economy and image of the country. The film's director
accused the Government of conducting a ``campaign of intimidation''
against individuals who appeared in his film, including Richard Mgamba,
an investigative journalist for the Citizen newspaper. Mgamba fled
Mwanza on August 4, when a demonstration against the film was organized
by local authorities and police. Local authorities threatened Raphael
Tukiko, a night watchman who appeared in the film, with arrest and
ordered him to report to the police. At year's end there was no
additional information regarding these cases.
There was at least one report that nongovernmental actors harassed
or used violence against members of the media during the year. In April
unidentified persons made death threats against editors and journalists
of the This Day newspaper, warning them against reporting on graft in
public institutions. The editor of the newspaper told a press
conference that someone offered the journalists approximately $20,000
(25.5 million shillings) to stop publishing investigative stories
against societal ills. Authorities dropped two of three charges in the
2005 cases of CUF supporters accused of assaulting journalists in Dar
es Salaam in November 2005. The third was out on bail awaiting trial at
year's end.
Authorities in Zanzibar continued to restrict the activities of
reporters. In August the Government denied permission for an outside
broadcasting crew of the BBC to broadcast a regional meet-the-listeners
show from Zanzibar; the BBC had broadcast such programs from the
mainland and neighboring countries. On September 10, authorities
arrested three journalists on Pemba when they were leaving a village
where they had been investigating reports of food scarcity.
On June 26, on the mainland the inspector general of police (IGP)
met with the editors of various private media organizations to discuss
ways to create an environment for cooperation between the police and
the press. Admitting the relationship had been characterized by enmity,
mistrust, and conflict, the new IGP stated that he wanted to see the
police and media reach an understanding and wanted to continue meeting
with the press on a regular basis.
Media groups in Zanzibar continued to call for the elimination of
what they considered unnecessarily severe laws limiting press freedom.
In addition they criticized the lack of legal protection for
journalists' sources and whistle blowers.
On the mainland journalists and NGOs belonging to the Media Law
Reform Project continued to complain that the Government deliberately
weakened press freedom and limited information to the press by means of
a 1976 law that grants the information minister wide discretion to
suspend or close down newspapers as well as other legislation. They
also criticized laws that prohibit journalists from writing about
prisons or the police without obtaining prior permission from those
organizations.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports during the year of the
authorities suspending newspapers, either in Zanzibar or on the
mainland. The two newspapers suspended briefly in 2005 were fully
operational during the year.
There were reports of discriminatory newsprint pricing by the
Government; however, unlike in 2005 there were no reports that the
Government selectively advertised in favored private newspapers.
In August several members of parliament complained to media owners
that the owners used their media assets to promote their own interests,
which they said was an abuse of ownership. Minister of Information,
Culture and Sports Muhammed Seif Khatibu stated that the practice
violated the country's information and broadcasting policy, which
requires that the media be used in the public interest. By contrast, on
Zanzibar, an official at the Ministry of Information stated in August
that the purpose of the media was to keep the peace, implying that
controversial reports were not welcome.
The threat of application of the law on defamation, which imposes
criminal penalties, intimidated journalists and caused many to practice
self-censorship. While the law specifies that the plaintiff must prove
malicious intent, many media observers criticized the courts for
ignoring this provision and imposing heavy, politically-motivated
penalties on the media; however there were no reports of specific
instances of this practice during the year, according to the Media
Council of Tanzania, which represents media houses, training
institutions, and journalists.
The Zanzibar government cited public security as a pretext to
suppress views that it found politically objectionable. After closing
the independent newspaper Dira in 2004, Zanzibar authorities continued
to harass its editor; however, during the year the Government issued a
passport to Nabwa (see Section 2.d.).
Lack of media access to government information remained a serious
problem. In a speech during the year, the President urged civil
servants to volunteer information to the media when it is required, and
some government institutions began to do so; however, the President did
not acknowledge that civil service regulations prohibit government
workers from divulging government information to the media. This
restriction effectively allows only a handful of high-level government
representatives to relay information to the media (see Section 3).
In May an association of individuals with interests in the media--
academics, officials from the Ministry of Information, owners of
private media, and representatives of civil society--urged the
Government to revise a 1994 media policy to give the media more leeway
in providing information to the public and to abolish restrictions that
prohibit any privately owned radio or television station from
broadcasting to more than 25 percent of the country. No action had been
taken on these proposals by year's end.
According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, freedom of the
press continued to be threatened by lack of training, mediocrity, low
salaries, and corruption in the profession of journalism.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
number of Internet cafes and Internet providers increased during the
year; however, only 10 percent of citizens had access to electricity,
severely limiting such access in general.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice during the
year.
The Government requires organizers of rallies to obtain police
permission in advance. Police have the authority to deny permission on
public safety or security grounds or if the permit seeker belongs to an
unregistered organization or political party. During the year
authorities arrested citizens for assembling without the appropriate
permit. For example, according to the June 25 edition of the Msemakweli
newspaper, policemen in Rukwa Region forcibly dispersed preachers from
different regions for congregating and preaching without a permit.
There were no reports that the Government prevented opposition
parties from holding rallies during the year on the mainland; however,
in May authorities in Zanzibar denied the CUF a permit to hold a
demonstration and march to protest the Zanzibar speaker's demands that
he review the questions of the opposition before they present them in
the Zanzibar House of Representatives. Authorities did not authorize
the march but permitted a public demonstration.
Unlike in 2005, when security forces on several occasions
interfered with citizens' rights to assemble peacefully, particularly
for political rallies or demonstrations, there were no reports of such
interference during the year.
In October the Government removed a ban on demonstrations by Uamsho
(also known as the Islamic Revival or Center for Islamic Propagation),
an umbrella organization for conservative Muslim organizations. Uamsho
asked for police protection during a demonstration to protest events in
Iraq and the Government granted that request (see Section 2.c.).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice, although the Government continued to impose registration
requirements on political parties. Unregistered parties were prohibited
from fielding candidates during the 2005 elections, but in the absence
of elections during the year this restriction was not employed.
The registrar of political parties has sole authority to approve or
deny the registration of any political party and is responsible for
enforcing regulations on registered parties. Under the law citizens may
not form new political parties spontaneously but must comply with
certain requirements to register them with the office of the registrar.
Parties granted provisional registration may hold public meetings
and recruit members. To secure full registration and to be eligible to
field candidates for election, provisionally-registered parties have
six months to submit lists of at least 200 members in 10 of the
country's 26 regions, including two of the five regions of Zanzibar.
During the year the Government continued to implement a legal
requirement that all NGOs register with a government-appointed NGO
Coordination Unit (see Section 4). Failure to register or meet any of
the act's other requirements is a criminal offense.
In May Union government authorities and Zanzibar officials agreed
that the quasi governmental human rights commission that operated on
the mainland would be permitted to operate in Zanzibar following
amendments to the mainland human rights and good governance law. The
sides agreed that the Zanzibar minister for good governance would be
allowed to present any findings of human rights violations in Zanzibar
to the Zanzibar House of Representatives rather than to the Union
parliament, and that the mainland minister for human rights and good
governance would consult with his Zanzibar counterpart before making
any regulations that affected Zanzibar.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, there were some limits on freedom of religion.
The Government requires that religious organizations register with
the registrar of the Ministry of Home Affairs. To register, a religious
organization must have at least 10 followers and must present a
constitution, the resumes of its leaders, and a letter of
recommendation from the district commissioner of the locale where the
organization would be based. Muslim groups on the mainland also were
required to submit a letter of recommendation from BAKWATA, the council
that governs matters of Islam on the mainland, and the office of the
mufti in Zanzibar. These organizations recommend approval or
disapproval of the registration to the chief government registrar.
There were no reports that the Government refused to register any group
during the year on the mainland; however, in Zanzibar the mufti
recommended the denial of two groups, an Ahmadia group and a Baha'i
group, because of alleged contradictions between their beliefs and
Islamic beliefs. The Ahmadia group filed suit against the office of the
mufti because of this recommendation and the case was pending at the
end of the year.
The law prohibits preaching, or distributing materials, considered
inflammatory or a threat the public order. During the year the
Government occasionally rejected requests from religious groups seeking
to hold demonstrations because of the possibility that the gathering
could become confrontational or inflame religious tensions.
On August 22, the Kigoma District Court banned Christian minister
Cecil Simbulanga from ``inflammatory preaching'' that insulted Islam;
Simulanga subsequently was released on bail. On October 16, the court
allowed Simbulanga to preach provided he make no more anti-Islamic
statements. On December 22, Simbulanga again was arrested and taken to
court for insulting Islam while preaching; he was denied bail and
remained in detention at year's end.
The media reported in June that a group of preachers from different
regions were chased away by policemen in Rukwa Region for congregating
and preaching without a permit (see Section 2.a.).
There was no further information about two Christian women who were
arrested in Dar es Salaam in August 2005 and charged with burning a
copy of the Koran.
In September the Zanzibar government dropped charges against two
leaders of Uamsho who were charged in 2004 with demonstrating without a
permit.
A government ban, in the form of an administrative order,
prohibiting religious organizations from engaging in politics remained
in effect. In addition politicians were prohibited by law from using
language intended to incite one religious group against another, or to
encourage religious groups to vote for certain political parties. The
law imposes fines and jail time on political parties that campaign in
houses of worship or educational facilities. However, in 2005 several
religious leaders sought involvement in politics, and authorities did
not impose sanctions.
Government policy forbids discrimination against any individual on
the basis of religious beliefs or practices; however, Muslim groups
continued to charge that the Government discriminated against them in
government hiring, education, and law enforcement practices, while
Christian groups complained that the Government gave all of the
sensitive government positions to Muslims. On June 27, following the
newly elected President's nomination of Muslims to many key positions,
Catholic bishops issued a statement urging him to avoid bias in
government appointments. Muslim representatives appealed to the
Government to introduce kadhi courts and Shari'a law to the mainland
for the adjudication of Islamic matters. Christian groups warned that
such courts would violate government neutrality among religions and
that the Union constitution did not provide for a national kadhi court.
Muslim clerics, including the chief mufti of BAKWATA, urged Christians
not to interfere in matters that concerned the Muslim community.
In June Catholic bishops asked the President for government
intervention in what they described as an infringement of the freedom
of worship in the form of ``rampant slanderous religious public
addresses'' that could easily spark religious tension and breach of the
peace. The President responded that since the state was secular, the
Government would not take sides regarding allegations of blasphemy.
However, he also warned the public against misusing their freedom of
worship.
In Zanzibar a ``mufti law'' authorizes the President of Zanzibar to
appoint an Islamic leader, or mufti, of Zanzibar, who serves as a
public employee of the Zanzibar government. The mufti must approve the
registration of Islamic societies and supervise Zanzibari mosques. Some
Muslim groups asserted that the law gives the Zanzibar government undue
influence in religious affairs.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although relations among
religions in society remained generally amicable, there was some
tension between Muslims and Christians and one report of religious
societal violence. A church in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam was
burned on February 12, a few days after robbers had ransacked it. There
were no reports of progress in apprehending individuals who burned down
a Catholic church in the Mikese district of Morogoro Region in April
2005 or of young Muslim men who beat a pastor and a deacon in Dar es
Salaam in September 2005. Also in September 2005, Muslim youths entered
a primary school in the Temeke district of Dar es Salaam and beat a
group of religious teachers for teaching Muslim students about
Christianity.
In 2005 there were reports that at certain Muslim religious rallies
in urban centers, some participants publicly criticized Christianity,
which, on occasion, resulted in fighting.
The Jewish population was very small, and there were no reports of
anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them; however,
bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption hindered compliance, and
respect for the right of asylum continued to suffer occasional lapses.
Police at checkpoints sometimes solicited bribes.
Passports for foreign travel were difficult to obtain at times,
mostly due to bureaucratic inefficiency and official demands for
bribes; however, the waiting time averaged only three days.
The law does not permit the forced exile of citizens, and the
Government did not use forced exile in practice.
After the October 2005 Presidential election in Zanzibar,
approximately 100 Zanzibaris claiming to be members of the CUF fled to
Kenya, reportedly for fear of persecution by pro-CCM government forces.
The CUF denied that they were members and indicated it knew nothing of
the fate of the Zanzibaris.
Unlike in previous years there were no charges that the director of
immigration used the citizenship law to reject citizenship for reasons
of personal prejudice.
In April the Government issued a passport to Ali Nabwa, the
managing editor of the defunct Zanzibar newspaper, Dira; however, the
Government did not restore his citizenship. Ali Nabwa had been deprived
of citizenship in 2004 for publishing articles critical of government
officials and also for exposing corruption in the Government. In August
the Zanzibar immigration department notified Nabwa that because he was
``not a Tanzanian citizen'' and was persona non grata in Zanzibar, he
should pay $400 (510,000 shillings) for a temporary residence permit or
$600 (765,000 shillings) for a permanent residence permit. Nabwa
disregarded the Zanzibar notification, asserting that the Union-level
Ministry of Home Affairs had the final say regarding citizenship.
However, at year's end he had not received official notification about
the status of his citizenship.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, however, the Government did not provide
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution. The Government deported more than 1,700
Burundians and 15,000 Rwandans identified as illegal immigrants, and
did not cooperate with the UNHCR to ensure that none held valid refugee
status. On occasion the Government also failed to inform the UNHCR
about the arrival of new asylum seekers and did not allow the UNHCR to
be present at border screenings for refugees. During the year the
Government occasionally refused entry to those seeking asylum or
refugee status at the border and failed to conduct timely refugee
status determinations.
At year's end there were approximately 685,000 refugees in the
country, primarily from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), including approximately 285,000 in 14 UNHCR-assisted camps
in the northwest. An estimated 400,000 were in self sufficient refugee
settlements or villages. There also were approximately 2,700 Somalis
who lived in a coastal settlement camp and received some UNHCR
assistance.
It remained illegal for refugees to live outside their camps or
settlements, or to travel outside of their camps without permits,
although they were permitted to collect firewood within two and a half
miles of their camps. Refugees often traveled more than five miles
outside of their camps to collect firewood because closer supplies were
inadequate. These refugees, usually women and children, often were
targets for theft, physical abuse, and rape. During the year such
incidents decreased after officials urged refugees to travel in groups;
only one rape was reported between October and December.
Refugees apprehended outside the designated areas without permits,
particularly in urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, were subject to
arrest and imprisonment for up to six months or made to pay a fine of
approximately $39 (50,000 shillings). During the year approximately
1,000 refugees and asylum seekers found outside camps without permits
were prosecuted for unlawful presence. The Government softened its
approach to minor infractions by refugees, prosecuting them under the
law dealing with refugees, which calls for up to three days' detention
or community service, or both; the immigration law calls for two years'
imprisonment followed by deportation to the countries from which they
sought refuge.
The UNHCR, with government cooperation, continued to provide
security for refugees; however, crime--including killings, robberies,
rapes, and domestic violence--continued to be a serious problem in and
around the refugee camps. During the year the Government investigated,
prosecuted, and punished perpetrators of abuses in the refugee camps
but many cases involving crime and abuse outside the camps were
referred to local authorities. Inhabitants of refugee camps were
adversely affected by delays and limited access to courts, common
problems facing citizens as well. There were reports that some refugees
engaged in vigilante justice within camps, occasionally beating other
refugees. Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that police based in
refugee camps sexually exploited female refugees or that women and
children engaged in prostitution in the refugee camps.
Burundian and Congolese refugees continued to return home,
motivated by increased security in Burundi and the DRC as well as
strong encouragement from the Government and UNHCR assistance. On June
20, a tripartite commission composed of the UNHCR and the Governments
of Tanzania and Burundi announced that beginning in September, it would
``promote,'' rather than simply ``facilitate,'' voluntary repatriation
to Burundi. More than 40,000 Burundian refugees returned home during
the year. The UNHCR continued to facilitate voluntary repatriation of
refugees to the DRC, and more than 20,000 returned during the year. The
majority of returns were voluntary; however, some refugees returned
under the perceived threat of refoulement or restrictions on their
activities in Tanzania. For example, during the year the Kibondo
district commissioner continued to visit camps and urge refugees to
return home. The restriction of refugees to their camps also encouraged
repatriation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in elections
on the mainland and in Zanzibar. However, legal and financial
provisions that favored the ruling CCM party, electoral irregularities,
and political violence limited the effectiveness of the electoral
process in Zanzibar.
Elections and Political Participation.--Separate elections are held
on the mainland and on Zanzibar, although sometimes on the same day, in
which citizens of the two parts of the Union elect local officials,
members of the National Parliament, and a Union (national) President.
In addition Zanzibaris elect a President of Zanzibar and members of the
Zanzibar House of Representatives in polls that are not open to
mainlanders.
In December 2005 Jakaya Kikwete, the CCM candidate, was elected
President of the Union with 80.2 percent of the vote in an election
widely considered by observers as more free and fair than previous
elections; however, the campaigns preceding them were marked by
violence in some regions. In National Assembly elections, the CCM won
206 out of 233 elected seats in the Union parliament, while the CUF won
19.
In October 2005 voters in the semi-autonomous archipelago of
Zanzibar elected a President, legislators, and local representatives
for the archipelago. CCM candidate Amani Karume, the incumbent
President, won the Zanzibari presidency with 53 percent of the vote in
an election marred by irregularities and violence.
Harassment of political parties was considerably diminished during
the year in comparison with the election year of 2005.
In Zanzibar, particularly on the island of Pemba, political
opposition members claimed that the Government discriminated against
them in hiring. The Government was the largest employer in Zanzibar.
On February 6, Lucas Omahe Galani was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for assaulting CCM Presidential candidate Jakaya Kikwete during
a rally in Mwanza.
In June a court dismissed for lack of evidence the case against at
least 46 supporters of the CUF accused in 2005 of instigating election-
related violence in the Donge constituency of the Zanzibar North
Region.
Unlike in 2005 there were no reports that the Government restricted
political opponents by denying their permit requests to hold rallies or
by harassing them and detaining them for short periods of time.
Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election; however, there were government restrictions on
political candidates. The law prohibits persons from running for office
unless they are representing a registered political party; it requires
all registered political parties to support the Union with Zanzibar,
and it prohibits parties based on ethnic, regional, or religious
affiliation.
CCM's candidates have been elected repeatedly since the country's
first multiparty election. Its political dominance has been due partly
to government restrictions on the political opposition, and also to the
disorganization and lack of funding of most opposition parties. In
addition the election law provides for parliamentarians completing a
term to receive $15,686 (20 million shillings) as a ``gratuity,'' which
incumbents used in campaigns to facilitate their reelection. Several
NGOs and opposition parties criticized this provision, saying that it
made it extremely difficult for aspiring parliamentary candidates from
the opposition parties to mount an effective and fair competition. CCM
supporters, however, blamed opposition parties for fielding unknown
candidates during election periods instead of building grass-root
support and for concentrating on urban instead of rural areas where the
majority of voters reside.
The law requires that women occupy at least 30 percent of seats in
parliament. Women are appointed by their respective political parties
to serve in seats set aside for them, according to the number of seats
their parties win. After the 2005 elections there were 75 special seats
for women. At year's end there were 91 women in the 320-seat
parliament. Women occupied 18 seats in the 81-seat Zanzibar House of
Representatives and held four positions in the cabinet of the Zanzibar
government. After taking office in December 2005, President Kikwete
appointed seven female government ministers (compared with four in the
former administration) and 10 female deputy ministers. Some of these
women were appointed to head key ministries such as the ministries of
foreign affairs, finance, and justice. During the year at least seven
women served as judges of the High Court and one woman served as a
justice of the Union Court of Appeal.
There were 11 ministers of Asian origin in the 320-seat National
Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Despite improvements in
the past decade, corruption remained a pervasive problem throughout the
Government. There was a strong public perception of corruption in the
executive and legislative branches. In 2005 the Ministry of Finance
estimated that 20 percent of the Government's budget in each fiscal
year was lost to corruption, including theft, fraud, and fake
purchasing transactions. Corruption was especially pervasive during the
election campaign in 2005.
There was little accountability in most government entities.
According to the controller auditor general's annual report for 2004,
the Ministry of Health could not account for more than half of its
budget for that year.
In April findings published by Research on Poverty Alleviation
indicated that 62 percent of respondents felt that the Government was
doing fairly well in handling corruption. Public perception of the
extent of corruption among public officials, while remaining high,
declined noticeably. For example, the percentage of police being
perceived as involved in corrupt practices dropped from 80 percent to
72 percent and that of elected officials from 58 percent to 38 in the
past two years.
Transparency International reported in its 2005 Corruption
Perceptions Index that citizens perceived slightly less corruption than
in 2004 but considered corruption to be a ``severe'' problem. The
country's rating did not change from 2005. The Global Integrity Report
issued during the year, based on the research of more than 200
journalists, rated the country ``very weak'' overall with poor
performance in areas ranging from anticorruption to government
accountability.
Under a Presidential directive, authorities took steps to improve
accountability in government during the year. For example, the Ministry
of Lands and Human Settlement revoked longstanding rights of occupancy
(the nearest thing to land ownership; all land in the country is owned
by the state) which had not been developed for a long time, including
that of one of its own junior ministers.
In August the President directed that a review of the financial
rules and regulations of both central government and local authorities
be conducted to facilitate the prosecution of officials who embezzled
public funds. The President underscored the unacceptability of the
common practice of charging those responsible for embezzlement of
public funds with misdemeanor ``misconduct,'' rather than with the
criminal offense of embezzlement.
On April 25, the High Court outlawed the practice of takrima, the
use of hospitality, gifts, and favors to constituents during election
campaigns. The court issued its decision in connection with a lawsuit
against the practice brought by the Legal and Human Rights Center, a
local NGO. During a debate on the issue in 2005 and early in the year
members of the political opposition, and legal experts said that the
law authorizing takrima provided a significant ``loophole for
corruption,'' and favored the ruling CCM, which had the greatest access
to government subsidies.
The Government continued to use specialized agencies to fight
corruption during the year but their effectiveness was limited. A Good
Governance Coordination Unit was charged with implementing
anticorruption legislation, coordinating anticorruption efforts, and
collecting information from all the ministries for publication in
quarterly reports; however, this three-person unit continued to be
severely under-resourced.
On the mainland the Prevention of Corruption Bureau (PCB) was
responsible for investigating cases of corruption and referring them to
the courts for prosecution. The PCB did not operate on Zanzibar and
remained under the authority of the office of the President, factors
which hindered its ability to resist political pressures and prosecute
high-level corruption cases. During the year the PCB continued to refer
cases of major corruption to the director of public prosecution (DPP);
however, the prosecution of corruption cases remained slow and
inefficient. By year's end approximately 5 percent of corruption cases
reported to the PCB's regional offices during the five years ending in
December 2004 had been heard by a court of law. In November President
Kikwete appointed a new director general of the PCB, who indicated that
the DPP continued to refer approximately two cases in 10 to the court
for prosecution.
According to PCB most corruption-related complaints involved
mining, land matters, energy, and investment. The director general
indicated toward the end of the year that the PCB was investigating 20
percent more corruption cases than during the previous year, including
cases involving alleged corruption in the public sector.
NGOs reported that most allegations of corruption involved the
Tanzania Revenue Authority, local government officials, licensing
authorities, hospital workers, and the media. There were no cases of
prosecution of high-level government officials during the year.
The case of a top administrator of Zanzibar's Joint Presidential
Supervisory Commission accused of embezzling donor funding in 2004
remained pending at year's end.
Authorities in Zanzibar continued to resist efforts by the Union
government to open an office of its ethics secretariat in Zanzibar to
investigate corruption there. An office of the Commission for Human
Rights and Good Governance did exist in Zanzibar but did not have a
permit from the Zanzibar government to investigate corruption cases.
The British newspaper, the Guardian, reported on December 30 that the
Zanzibar cabinet refused to endorse a bill that would have established
an anticorruption body, instituted a code of ethics for Zanzibar
leaders, required leaders to declare their wealth within one month of
being appointed or elected to office, and outlawed takrima in Zanzibar
during elections. The article quoted the deputy attorney general of
Zanzibar saying that the ministers had found the bill poorly drafted.
The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance, which already
had an office in Zanzibar, was given the right to operate there during
the year (see Section 2.b).
Access to government information remains very limited. A 2005
constitutional amendment to provide public access to information has
not apparently altered this situation--the act does not explicitly
mention government information. Government officials estimated that 90
percent of all government documents, including administrative forms,
were classified. According to access-to-information advocates, laws
relating to national security, broadcasting, newspapers, prisons,
restricted areas, official secrets, and police blocked public access to
government information (see Section 2.a.). There was no mechanism for
appealing denials, and many citizens continued to call for the
amendment of these laws.
Parliament continued to use the Parliamentary Online Information
System (POLIS) to increase access to government information. However,
POLIS' reach remained limited, since only approximately 300,000 of the
country's 37 million citizens had Internet access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to the views of NGOs;
however, human rights organizations reported that authorities did not
respond, or were slow to respond, to requests for information. The
Government of Zanzibar reportedly regarded NGOs as anti-government by
nature.
Although many parliamentarians harbored mistrust towards NGOs and
believed they existed solely to make money, their attitude warmed
considerably under the administration of President Kikwete, according
to independent observers. Female parliamentarians were particularly
aware of NGO activities in delivering services at the grassroots level.
The new speaker of the National Assembly gave NGOs greater access to
parliament during the year; however, cooperation between
parliamentarians and NGOs in policy formulation, monitoring, and
evaluation of public policy remained weak.
Active domestic human rights NGOs included the Center for Human
Rights Promotion, the Legal and Human Rights Centre, Tanzania Media
Women's Association, and Tanzania Women Lawyers' Association. There
were also many smaller local human rights NGOs based outside of Dar es
Salaam. The Zanzibar Legal Services Center was one of the few active
human rights organizations in Zanzibar. All of these organizations were
independent of the Government.
Government representatives met with domestic human rights NGOs and
participated in training seminars on subjects including international
humanitarian law, female genital mutilation, child labor, trafficking
in persons, and women's rights.
The 2002 NGO Act, which does not apply to Zanzibar, requires all
NGOs to register with a government-appointed NGO coordination unit
within the vice President's office. From February 2005 through December
2006, more than 1,000 NGOs (some new and some pre-existing) registered
with the NGO Coordination Unit under the act.
The Zanzibar government also supported some NGO activity, but was
less tolerant of NGOs that criticized the Government. Despite repeated
applications for registration, the African Human Rights and Justice
Protection Network had not been registered by year's end.
On the mainland, in April, the educational NGO Haki Elimu, which
had been prohibited from publishing articles or studies on schools,
resumed operations under new conditions set by the Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training. Haki Elimu agreed that they would no
longer visit schools or publish articles or studies on the country's
education system. Haki Elimu continued its activities in such areas as
advocacy, facilitation of investigative journalism, and community
organizing.
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of an NGO worker in
Ngara district by unidentified armed assailants, and there were no
reports that the authorities were actively pursuing the case (see
Section 1.a.).
Relations between the Government and the UNHCR, which maintained a
sizable presence for the operation of the country's 13 refugee camps,
were occasionally strained (see Section 2.d.). One difficulty that
arose during the year was the expulsion of more than 5,000 illegal
immigrants from the western part of the country to Rwanda. Perceptions
among some of the press and public were that the expelled immigrants
were refugees, causing concern on both sides of the border among relief
agencies, including the UNHCR.
The Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance operated
independently without government interference. It enjoyed government
cooperation on the mainland and received the right to be active in
Zanzibar. The commission employed more than 160 individuals and
operated with a budget of approximately $2.4 million (3.1 billion
shillings), an increase from its 2005 budget of approximately $2.1
million (2.7 billion shillings) However, it remained underfunded,
understaffed, and overburdened by a caseload of unresolved complaints.
The commission received additional complaints as a result of awareness
campaigns conducted through the media. Through June 20, the commission
received 14,487 complaints and made recommendations to the Government
regarding 8,627. The commission categorized 1.8 percent of the
complaints as human rights violations and most of the rest as related
to maladministration by the Government. At year's end the commission
was in the process of introducing a computerized case management system
to improve the process.
In September the commission published a report on prison conditions
and outlined recommendations for improvement by the Government (see
Section 1.c.).
Although the 2001 legislation that created the commission
authorized it to operate in both the mainland and Zanzibar, Zanzibar
authorities prevented it from doing so until a parliamentary amendment
was enacted in October (see Section 3)
The Union parliamentary committee for constitutional, legal, and
public administration is responsible for reporting and making
recommendations regarding human rights. The majority of committee
members were from the ruling CCM party, reflecting that party's more
than two-thirds majority. Nevertheless the committee acted
independently of government and political party influence and many
observers viewed it as a critic of the Government.
The Government continued to host the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda War Crimes (ICTR) in Arusha, and the Government was
supportive of, and cooperated with, the ICTR.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on nationality,
ethnicity, political affiliation, race, or religion; however, the
Government did not always effectively enforce these prohibitions.
Discrimination based on gender, age, or disability was not prohibited
specifically by law but was discouraged publicly in official statements
and by government policies. Discrimination against women, refugees,
minorities, and persons with HIV/AIDS persisted, and societal ethnic
tensions continued to be a problem in some parts of the country.
Women.--Domestic violence against women remained widespread. The
law prohibits assault but does not specifically prohibit spousal
battery. Cultural, family, and social pressures often prevented women
from reporting abuses, and authorities rarely took action against
physical abusers of women. Police were often unwilling to pursue
domestic abuse cases. For example, in December Agnes Mbuyamajuu, a
woman who endured severe beatings for more than five years from her
husband, told reporters that the beatings endangered her life, but that
police had not taken her complaints seriously.
Traditional customs that subordinate women remained strong in both
urban and rural areas, and at times magistrates in rural areas upheld
such practices. Abuse was not limited to spousal abuse. An April survey
by the World Health Organization reported that approximately 25 percent
of the women interviewed had been subjected to nonpartner physical
violence since the age of 15, and one in 10 experienced sexual violence
since the age of 15. About one in 10 reported sexual abuse before age
15
Society considered wife-beating to be an acceptable practice. Some
women were punished by their husbands for not bearing children. The
courts recognized domestic violence as grounds for divorce, and women
who sought advice from mainland legal aid clinics most commonly cited
domestic abuse as the reason for wanting a divorce. Generally, women
tolerated prolonged domestic abuse before seeking a divorce.
In May Sooi Sadira, a 12-year-girl from Saitsambu village in
Ngorongoro District, was killed by her father after she refused an
arranged marriage with a 30-year-old man. Sadira stayed with her new
husband for one night. After she was raped, she fled to her home where
her father organized a team of youths to beat her with bundles of
sticks. According to the Arusha regional police commander, Sooi's
father, Sadira Ole Karenmbu, and another suspect, Basilio Matei,
remained at large. In December two local NGOs organized a 300-person
demonstration to condemn the killing.
The law provides for life imprisonment for persons convicted of
rape; however, rape continued to be a serious problem. During the year
several persons were prosecuted and convicted for rape and battery
under the law. Sexual and gender-based violence continued to be a
problem in the refugee camps (see Section 2.d.).
No information on the prevalence of rape was available, but only an
estimated 5 percent of rape cases resulted in court proceedings.
According to a Zanzibar high court judge, cases are at times dismissed
due to lack of evidence. Some police reportedly advised rape victims to
clean themselves before going to hospitals for examinations, which
contributed to the removal of important evidence. During the year
Zanzibar's main island, Ugunja, had only one hospital that conducted
post-rape examinations. This hospital was private, and the law requires
post-rape examinations to be conducted at government hospitals. In
addition, since rape victims had to wait for as long as six days for
examinations, much crucial evidence was lost. The only public hospital
on Pemba Island continued its practice of conducting post-rape
examinations only once a week. Rape and sexual abuse of girls and women
with disabilities reportedly was prevalent during the year.
The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as
female circumcision; however, it was fairly widespread. The law
provides that anyone who has custody, charge, or care of a girl under
18 and who causes her to undergo FGM, commits the offense of cruelty to
children.
A Ministry of Health report released in December indicated that the
percentage of women and girls who underwent FGM declined from 18
percent in 1995 to 15 percent in 2005. Other data suggested that, while
the prevalence of the procedure was declining, the average age of
victims had decreased to less than 10 years, with some newborns
reportedly undergoing FGM. In Singida Region FGM was often performed on
infants when they became sick with malaria or other diseases so that
any deleterious effects resulting from the procedure would not raise
suspicion among neighbors and relatives. FGM was practiced by
approximately 20 of the country's 130 tribes and was most prevalent in
11 mainland regions, including Arusha, Singida, Kilimanjaro, Morogoro,
and Dar es Salaam. In the rest of the country, fewer than 5 percent of
the population practiced FGM. Most frequently employed was
clitoridectomy, the least severe form of FGM; however, infibulation,
the most severe form of mutilation, was also practiced, mainly in the
northern highlands and the central zone.
Penalties for practicing FGM on females under 18 were from five to
15 years' imprisonment, a fine not exceeding $235 (300,000 shillings),
or both. The law also provides for the payment of compensation by the
perpetrator to the person against whom the offense was committed. The
law does not establish a minimum fine and does not provide legal
protection for women 18 years of age or older. Many observers believed
that the law mainly targets the parents or relatives of the victim; it
was not widely perceived to target the practitioners, or ngaribas,
hired to perform FGM.
There were no reports of prosecutions related to FGM during the
year. There were no further developments in the two FGM-related arrests
and prosecutions initiated in 2005. Enforcement of the anti-FGM law was
difficult for a number of reasons: many police officers and many
communities were not aware of the law; police did not have adequate
resources to protect victims; and victims were often reluctant to
testify against family members and neighbors who forced them to undergo
FGM. Some witnesses feared reprisals from supporters of FGM.
Corruption also made it difficult to enforce the anti-FGM law. Some
villagers reportedly have given local leaders sums as great as $235
(300,000 shillings) to be allowed to have their daughters circumcised
without fear of arrest or prosecution. In addition courts dismissed
most cases under the pretense of lack of evidence, often despite strong
evidence from the victims and even confessions from their parents,
guardians, or the FGM practitioners.
The Government continued to implement the 2001 15 national plan of
action for the prevention and eradication of violence against women and
children, a strategy which included the elimination of FGM by involving
the practitioners, community leaders, men, and women. Anti-FGM groups
urged parliamentarians and local government officials to take a greater
role in enforcement, although parliamentarians have no enforcement
capabilities.
During the year the Government and NGOs continued to make some
progress in reducing the practice of FGM. During the year the Anti-
Female Genital Mutilation Network and a coalition of anti-FGM NGOs
engaged in awareness-raising activities and conducted research on FGM.
During the year anti-FGM groups continued to sensitize the ngaribas
about the harmful effects of FGM and to train them for other
occupations.
Reducing the practice of FGM remained difficult because some
regional government officials favored or profited from the practice or
feared speaking out against it because of the perceived political
consequences of opposing FGM and the power of traditional leaders who
supported FGM. Some communities that were aware of the law prohibiting
FGM viewed it as an unjust threat to a cultural tradition. A lack of
medical information on the harmful and long-term health effects of FGM
remained a problem. Many communities believed FGM increased fertility,
reduced sexual desires leading to prostitution, and reduced infant
mortality. Many fathers believed they would receive higher bride prices
for daughters who had undergone FGM. In addition ngaribas relied on the
practice for income.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, prostitution, including
child prostitution, remained common. Poor rural woman and young girls
immigrating to urban areas were most at risk. In 2005 there were
reports that female refugees engaged in prostitution. There were no
reports on this problem during the year.
The law prohibits sexual harassment of women in the workplace. The
extent of the problem was unknown.
The law provides for equality of women; however, inheritance and
marriage laws do not consistently provide full equality, and in
practice women's rights often were not respected. The Ministry of
Community Development, Women, and Children, and the Ministry of Justice
were responsible for protecting the legal rights of women. Women
generally were not discouraged from seeking employment outside the
home. Discrimination against women was most acute in rural areas, where
women were relegated to farming and raising children and had almost no
opportunity for wage employment.
The country's immigration laws do not recognize that a man can be a
dependent, making it difficult for the foreign husband of a female
citizen to obtain a residency permit, and since the Government does not
recognize dual citizenship, a female citizen who marries a foreign man
may have difficulty residing legally in the country, and, in practice,
may be forced to give up her own citizenship. This was increasingly a
problem in the refugee camps for Tanzanian women who married Burundian
men who did not qualify for residence permits because of their refugee
status.
The law gives individuals the right to use, transfer, and own land
without distinction of gender and recognizes women's occupancy rights.
Civil society activists reported widespread discrimination against
women in property matters related to inheritance and divorce. This was
particularly the case in Zanzibar and parts of the mainland where
judges made concessions to customary and Islamic law. Women whose
unions had not been legalized under customary, Hindu, Muslim,
Christian, or civil marriage laws were particularly vulnerable when
they separated from their partners or their partners died. Zawadiel
Mchome, the Singida regional administrative secretary, stated in 2005
that robbing widows of property left by their husbands had become
common in the region.
Under Zanzibar law, unmarried women under the age of 21 who become
pregnant are subject to two years' imprisonment (see Section 1.f.).
Several NGOs organized workshops and seminars, and some ran legal
aid clinics, addressing a wide range of women's rights issues.
Children.--The Government continued its commitment to children's
rights and welfare during the year. The Government made some
constructive efforts to address children's welfare, including close
cooperation with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other
international and local organizations to improve the well-being of
neglected children and of the country's estimated two million orphans.
The law provides for seven years of compulsory education, through
the age of 15. Primary education was compulsory, free, and universal on
both the mainland and Zanzibar; however, there were inadequate numbers
of schools, teachers, books, and other educational materials to meet
the demand.
During the year fees continued to be charged for enrollment beyond
form two, the equivalent of the second year of high school. As a
result, some children were left without access to secondary education;
however, in 2005 the Government reduced school fees by half and
provided subsidies to cover the remaining fees through a secondary
school development program. In many cases parents had to pay for books,
uniforms, and school lunches, and some children were unable to attend
school because poorly paid teachers demanded money to enroll them or
because teachers were absent.
The ratio of boys to girls in primary and secondary school was
nearly equal. The net primary school enrollment rate was 86 percent, 87
percent for boys and 85 percent for girls. In a few regions the rate of
enrollment in school for girls generally declined with each additional
year of schooling, largely because girls often had to care for younger
siblings, do household work, and enter early marriages, often at the
behest of parents. The practice of forcing pregnant girls out of school
continued.
Overall school completion rates were the same for boys and girls:
56 percent for primary school and 33 percent for secondary.
Child sexual abuse remained a problem, and there were many
convictions during the year; most persons convicted for the sexual
abuse of children were given the maximum sentence of 30 years'
imprisonment.
Corporal punishment in schools was a problem. In September a school
teacher, Noel Namkumba of Msingi Mtonya School, was arrested and
indicted for caning two students and kicking, beating and knocking out
the front teeth of a third. Use of caning continued to decline during
the year following public outreach efforts by the Government,
particularly the Ministry of Education, and the press. However, the
minister of education stated in May that stubborn students in primary
and secondary schools would continue to be caned because caning was
supported by law. The minister warned teachers not to cane students
haphazardly or arbitrarily.
FGM was performed on girls (see Section 5, Women).
Under the law sexual intercourse with a child under 18 years is
considered rape regardless of consent; however, the law was not
effectively enforced. In an apparent contradiction, family law provided
for girls as young as 15 to be considered adults for the purposes of
marriage and sexual intercourse. In order to marry, a girl under 18 is
required to obtain the consent of her father, mother, or guardian. An
orphaned girl with no guardian who desired to get married at 15, 16, or
17 needed no consent. The courts had discretion to allow the marriages
of parties who were 14 years old if they were satisfied that there were
special circumstances which made the proposed marriage desirable.
Additionally, the law allows African-Asian girls to marry as young as
12 so long as the marriage is not consummated until the girl reaches
the age of 15.
During the year the Government continued its efforts to enforce the
law penalizing any person responsible for impregnating a schoolgirl.
The law criminalizes child prostitution; however, sexual
exploitation and trafficking in persons, including children, were
problems. (see Section 5, Trafficking).
In the regions of Iringa and Mbeya, there were reports that
individuals practicing witchcraft killed children and school students,
allegedly to remove and sell body parts and skin. In 2005 there were at
least three convictions related to this practice.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Male and female infanticide continued to be a problem. In June the
bodies of 22 infants were discovered at dumping sites in Arusha. Police
conducted autopsy reports that revealed that the babies died of
suffocation. The Arusha regional police commander said his office was
committed to tracking down those responsible for infanticide. There
were no reported prosecutions for this offense during the year.
The large number of orphans in the country continued to be a
problem. In 2005 UNICEF estimated there were two million orphans, most
of them orphaned by AIDS. An International Labor Organization (ILO)
report released during the year estimated the number at 2.5 million. In
the refugee camps, orphans were generally absorbed into other families,
and those who were not absorbed generally qualified as extremely
vulnerable individuals and received additional support and counseling.
There were significant numbers of street children in both Dar es Salaam
and Arusha. Street children had limited access to health and education
services because they lacked a fixed address and money to purchase
medicines, school uniforms, and books. They were also vulnerable to
sexual abuse by older street children and homeless persons.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit all forms of
trafficking, and there were reports that the country was a country of
origin, transit, and destination for women and girls trafficked for
forced labor and sexual exploitation and, to a lesser extent, boys
trafficked for forced labor. Victims were lured by the promise of an
income, the opportunity to attend school and better living conditions,
especially from rural to urban areas.
It was impossible to quantify the incidence of trafficking during
the year, but the practice existed in many regions of the country. Most
victims were trafficked internally; boys were trafficked for
exploitative work on farms, in mines, and in the large informal sector,
while girls from rural areas were trafficked to the towns for
involuntary domestic labor. Many of these youths fled abusive employers
and turned to prostitution for survival. Most victims came from the
regions of Iringa, Mwanza, Dodoma Kigoma, Dar es Salaam, and Arusha.
Girls were reportedly trafficked to South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the
United Kingdom, and possibly other European countries for forced
domestic labor. Indian women--who entered the country legally to work
as musicians, singers, and dancers in restaurants and nightclubs--were
at times exploited as prostitutes after arrival. On September 4,
immigration officers deported five Indian women on arrival at the Dar
es Salaam airport on suspicion that they were destined to work as
dancers for some Mujira clubs. On Zanzibar some hotels sponsored girls
for hotel work who then become bar maids or prostitutes; hotels were
used by traffickers for prostitution activities.
Children in low-income families were at significant risk of being
trafficked, and girls were more vulnerable than boys since girls were
considered more of an economic burden on their families. Girls who
completed primary school but did not enter secondary school were at
particularly high risk. The country was also experiencing a boom in the
number of child-headed households as more adults succumbed to HIV/AIDS-
related disease and death, leaving their dependents at very high risk
for child labor and trafficking.
Trafficking methods varied. Some trafficking victims left their
homes with assistance from their family; some left on their own to
escape life in rural areas; and some were transported by someone who
had offered to help them find city work, legitimate or otherwise. There
were reports that men recruited village girls who had completed primary
school but were not entering secondary school. The men offered the
girls money and employment and promised the girls a better life if they
accompanied them to urban areas; however, these girls reportedly ended
up in prostitution or domestic labor. Another method of trafficking
involved low-income parents entrusting a child to wealthier relatives
or respected members of the community who were charged with caring for
the child as one of their own. Some persons took advantage of this
traditional practice and placed the child in a situation where he or
she was at risk of being exploited or abused. At times small-scale,
freelance agents who recruited children from rural villages organized
their placement and transport to households.
The constitution and law prohibits trafficking in persons and makes
it punishable by 10 to 20 years' imprisonment or a fine of between
approximately $78 (100,000 shillings) and $235 (300,000 shillings). The
ministries of public security and safety, justice and constitutional
affairs, foreign affairs, and home affairs shared responsibility for
combating trafficking.
There were no reports of prosecutions for trafficking during the
year. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, two cases of
trafficking were reported in 2005. No further developments on these
cases were available at year's end.
The Government's antitrafficking enforcement efforts progressed
during the year. More officials recognized the terms ``trafficking in
persons'' and ``human trafficking,'' and acknowledged that trafficking
in persons was a problem. Authorities participated in research
conducted by Research International and sponsored by the International
Organization for Migration (IOM). It was designed to help determine the
extent and magnitude of the trafficking problem. A few key officials in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Safety and
Security continued active efforts to increase public awareness of the
problem, encourage more effective legislation, and track prosecutions.
Several officials gave interviews on the subject to the media.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated an inter-ministerial
committee on trafficking, which met three times during the year. The
Ministry of Public Safety and Security established an anti-human-
trafficking section within the criminal investigations division during
the year. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, with foreign
cooperation, developed a training manual for health workers who have
direct contact with victims of trafficking.
There were isolated reports that some police officials accepted
bribes to ignore commercial sexual exploitation.
During the year the Government continued to try to protect
trafficking victims, but resources devoted to the effort were limited.
Local police and officials from the Social Welfare Department
identified and informally referred child trafficking victims to NGOs
that worked with street children and child prostitutes, provided small
donations of food and other goods to these NGOs, and identified land
available for building new shelters. During the year the Government and
NGOs conducted media campaigns to inform the public about the dangers
of trafficking, and the Government continued its nationwide awareness
campaign on the worst forms of child labor, such as prostitution and
forced domestic labor.
The Government worked well with NGOs and complemented the work of
the IOM. The IOM conducted psycho-social training on trafficking in
June and held a two-day seminar for journalists in August on the role
of media in preventing trafficking in persons. The IOM developed and
distributed materials for a public campaign to raise awareness of
trafficking throughout the country. During the year the Ministry of
Labor conducted several seminars in different parts of the country on
child labor.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities, but there is no
specific law to implement this provision. Although there was no
official discrimination against persons with disabilities, persons with
physical disabilities were effectively restricted in employment,
education, access to health care and other state services by physical
barriers and inadequate budget resources. The Government mandates
access to public buildings, transportation, or government services for
persons with disabilities through several pieces of legislation, such
as the law that precludes the issuance of building permits for
architectural structures that do not provide access for persons with
disabilities. However, few buildings were accessible, not all
structures required building permits, and the majority of buildings in
the country were constructed before 1997, when this requirement came
into force. Funds for retrofitting existing structures were not
provided. The ministries of education, justice, and labor were
responsible for enforcing the protection of rights of persons with
disabilities for education, legal claims, and labor rights,
respectively. The Department of Social Welfare had responsibility for
coordinating disabilities matters. A few local NGOs also tried to
highlight the plight of persons with disabilities in society. Resources
were allocated during the year for a review of existing laws and
procedures in this area (see Section 1.e.).
According to the NGO Disabled Aids and General Engineering (DAGE),
most private commuter buses would not stop for persons with physical
disabilities. DAGE called on the Government to look into ways of
helping the disabled community move about safely and conveniently in
urban centers.
During the year the Ministry of Education continued to support the
special fund created in 2005 to increase access to education,
particularly by persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged
members of the community.
There were reports that students with disabilities dropped out of
school that lacked inadequate facilities. For example, the families of
blind students were not able to provide them with expensive brail paper
and tape recorders.
In September 2005 the Ministry of Education barred a local NGO,
Haki Elimu, from undertaking or publishing any studies regarding
government schools; in one of several television advertisements
critical of the Government, the NGO highlighted the fact that
government schools had no proper facilities for visually impaired
students and students without limbs (see Section 4). The Government
lifted the ban early in the year, but the NGO had to agree not to
report on educational matters in the future.
In 2005 the ruling party CCM amended its election manifesto to
allocate an extra seat in parliament for persons with disabilities,
bringing to two the number of seats allocated to persons with
disabilities. CCM decided that one such seat should be filled from
Zanzibar and one from the mainland.
The law provides that a voter with a disability such as blindness
may ask a person of his own choice--other than the poll workers--to
assist in casting his vote.
There were incidences of rape and sexual abuse of girls and women
with disabilities.
Cultural practices and beliefs in some areas contributed to
feelings of discrimination among persons with disabilities.
For example, the NGO TRACED revealed that a family in Mafinga
District in Iringa Region has been hiding a girl with severe
disabilities for 15 years.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were no laws or official
policies that discriminated against Asians or any other race; however,
many African citizens viewed unfavorably the approximately 1.5 million
Asians in the country, who continued to experience some societal
discrimination. Citizens of Asian origin occupied key positions in
government and were elected to parliament. High-ranking government
officials continued to publicly emphasize on many occasions that they
would not tolerate racist sentiments or bias of any kind. However,
public concern regarding the Asian minority's prominent economic role
persisted. In 2005, prior to the national elections, three small
opposition parties emphasized that, if elected, they would ``take
back'' control of the national wealth and resources from foreign
investors and the Asian population, and would redistribute it to
persons of African and Arab descent who the parties considered to be
true Tanzanians. However these parties did not win any seats, and
authorities have not pursued discriminatory policies.
There were isolated instances of tribal conflict over land or
livestock. In September clashes reportedly took place between
pastoralists and agriculturalists in Mbarali, which resulted in one
death and left 12 injuries.
Indigenous People.--The Barabaig and other nomadic groups in the
north continued to seek compensation for past government
discrimination, which included government efforts to make them adopt a
more modern lifestyle and efforts to restrict their access to pastoral
lands that were turned into large government wheat farms. The
authorities provided compensation to indigenous people who were
relocated, but problems persisted.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality and
lesbianism are illegal in the country. The law in Zanzibar establishes
a penalty of up to 25 years' imprisonment for men who engage in
homosexual relationships and seven years for women in lesbian
relationships. There were no reports that anyone was punished under the
law during the year.
Homosexuals faced societal discrimination, especially at the
community level. In September Uamsho blocked a local restaurant's
planned celebration of Freddie Mercury's birthday because the Zanzibar-
born rock star was gay. The Tanzania Parliamentarians' AIDS Coalition
addressed discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS.
However, there were reports that discrimination in housing, healthcare,
and education continued to occur against the estimated 3.5 million
persons in the country living with HIV/AIDS. There were isolated
reports that private employers fired or did not hire persons based on
the perception that they had HIV/AIDS. The Government, working with
NGOs, continued to sensitize the public about HIV/AIDS-related
discrimination and to create safeguards for HIV/AIDS patients' human
rights. A network of lawyers, policy-makers, and doctors continued
lobbying efforts and other activities to deal with legal, ethical, and
human rights problem associated with HIV and AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions without prior authorization; however, in practice many
private sector employers adopted antiunion policies or tactics that
limited this right. Senior management employees may not belong to trade
unions that also represent non-senior management employees.
By year's end labor legislation passed in 2004 was partly
operational with the Labor, Economic, and Social Council established by
that legislation in place. Efforts to launch the Commission for
Mediation and Arbitration and the labor court were nearly complete at
year's end; however, implementing regulations and institutions were
still in progress.
The 2004 legislation, which applies to the mainland but not to
Zanzibar, recognizes the organizational rights of trade unions and
establishes a registration procedure for trade unions and employer
associations. Only a trade union that has signed up more than 50
percent of a collective bargaining unit may bargain with the employer.
A trade union or employers' association must register within six months
of its establishment and failure to register is a criminal offense
subject to sanctions imposed by the lower courts.
The 2004 laws are intended to strengthen the power of the registrar
of organizations (appointed by the minister of labor) to regulate trade
unions, employer organizations, and federations. It gives any
authorized representative of a registered trade union access to
employer's premises to recruit members, subject to any conditions that
are reasonable and necessary to safeguard life or property or to
prevent undue disruption of work. An employer is obliged to deduct
union dues if the employee authorizes him to do so. If the employer
fails to remit the dues within seven days of deducting them, he is
liable to pay an additional 5 percent per day. A union field branch may
be established at a work place with 10 or more trade union members, and
an employer is obliged to grant reasonable leave for trade union
representatives to attend training and for the reasonable activities
and duties of trade union officers.
The Union and Zanzibar governments do not share the same labor
laws, and they enforced them separately. The labor law of the mainland
applies to both public and private sector workers. The mainland's law
requires a trade union for employees to consist of at least 20 members.
The sole labor federation, the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania
(TUCTA), had 317,000 members in 2005--less than 2 percent of the total
workforce of 18 million. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce that
is engaged in paid, ``formal sector'' employment was unionized. In the
agricultural sector, which was the country's single largest employer,
an estimated 5 to 8 percent of the work force was unionized.
Under the law a mainland-registered trade union is entitled to a
number of representatives in the TUCTA based on the size of its
membership. For organizations of 100 or more, a specified number of
representatives, based on membership size, must be women if women are
employed in the work unit.
On the mainland the law prohibits discriminatory activities by an
employer against union members; however, there were several reports of
antiunion discrimination in the formal private sector during the year.
Employers found guilty of antiunion activities were required under the
law to reinstate workers; however, the 1996 Warioba Commission, which
was established to study corruption in the country, found that bribes
often determined whether a worker dismissed from his job was actually
reinstated.
Most labor unions reported that private sector employers,
particularly those attracted to the country by privatization and
economic reforms, practiced antiunion discrimination. Although the 2004
law prohibited such actions, some of these investors reportedly
threatened to terminate or lay off employees who wanted to join trade
unions and some employers did not allow unions to call for and hold
recruitment meetings at their workplaces.
The labor law in Zanzibar applies only to private sector workers.
Zanzibar workers were not allowed to join mainland-based labor unions.
The Zanzibar labor law requires a union with 50 or more members to be
registered and sets literacy standards for trade union officers.
The labor law in Zanzibar does not protect trade union members from
antiunion discrimination, and there were several reports of such
discrimination during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, and workers and employers practiced
it freely during the year; however, the law does not apply to the
public sector. The Government set wages administratively for employees
of the Government and state-owned organizations, who constituted less
than 5 percent of the work force.
In Zanzibar the law prohibits strikes. On the mainland workers have
the legal right to strike after complying with certain legal
requirements and cumbersome procedures.
On the mainland earlier legislation remained in effect pending the
implementation of the 2004 Act. Under that legislation, a union that
was not satisfied with a decision of the Industrial Court could conduct
a legal strike if, in a vote taken in the presence of a government
labor officer, a minimum of two-thirds of its members voted in favor of
striking. Some labor rights observers said this requirement served as
an intimidating factor to union members in the public sector. The
mediation and conciliation procedures of the earlier legislation could
prolong a dispute for months without resolving it.
On the mainland there were no laws prohibiting retribution against
legal strikers, but retribution was not a problem.
Despite the rights conveyed in the 2004 legislation, some labor
rights observers, such as the Legal and Human Rights Centre, raised
concerns that language in the 2004 act may in practice make striking
more difficult for workers in some sectors. The act restricts the right
to strike when to do so would endanger the life and health of the
population, a limitation that effectively increased by approximately 50
percent the number of workers that were considered ``essential,'' and,
therefore, not allowed to strike. Workers in certain sectors (water and
sanitation, electricity, health services and associated laboratory
services, firefighting, air traffic control, civil aviation
telecommunications, and any transport services required for the
provisions of these services) are restricted from striking and workers
in other sectors may be deemed to be subject to this limitation either
temporarily or permanently after a process involving investigation,
notice, presentation, public hearing, and publication.
There are two export processing zones (EPZs) in Zanzibar and three
on the mainland. Labor law protections applied to EPZ workers. EPZ
working conditions on the mainland were comparable to those in other
areas; however, in Zanzibar there were unconfirmed reports of labor
abuses.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, and the Employment and Labor Relations Act
of 2004 specifically prohibits forced labor by children and closed
loopholes in the constitutional ban on such labor. However, there
continued to be reports that forced and compulsory labor by children
occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
According to a 2004 survey of the Geita Gold Mine, 85 percent of
workers interviewed reported they were forced to work overtime under
the perceived threat of termination.
The law allows prisoners to work without pay on projects such as
agriculture within the prison so that the prison could be self-
sufficient. Prisoners were also used to provide forced labor on
projects outside of the prison, such as road repair and government
construction projects.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a problem, compounded by HIV/AIDS. Data from 2000
01 (the latest available) indicated that 35.4 percent of children ages
five to 14 were working. Legislation enacted in 2004 outlaws the
exploitation of children in the workplace and prohibits forced or
compulsory labor; however, at year's end, implementing regulations and
institutions such as a Commission for Mediation were not in place,
resulting in weak enforcement of child labor provisions. In 2005 the
Government hired additional inspectors to improve enforcement once the
law is fully operational. Nevertheless, child labor remained a problem.
Although enforcement remained weak, the Government implemented some
measures to ameliorate the problem, including increasing the number of
labor inspectors, ensuring that children of school age attend school,
imposing penalties on parents who did not enroll their children in
school, and sensitizing employers in the formal sector against
employing children who are below the age of eighteen.
The law establishes the minimum age for contractual employment at
14 and provides that children may be employed only to do light work
that is unlikely to be harmful to their health and development and does
not prejudice their attendance at school. The law stipulates that
children under 18 shall not crew on a ship or be employed in a mine,
factory, or any other worksite where working conditions may be
hazardous, including informal settings and agriculture.
The law establishes criminal penalties for employers of child labor
as well as forced labor; violators can be fined an amount not exceeding
$3,921 (5 million shillings), imprisonment for one year, or both. No
penalties were imposed during the year.
In 2005 the ILO and UNICEF reported that children who left home to
work as domestic laborers in other towns or villages were often
subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. According to the
Conservation Hotel, Domestic, and Allied Workers Union (CHODAWU) and
the ILO, the majority of domestic child laborers were girls, mostly
between the ages of 13 and 15. Most of them worked between 12 and 14
hours each day, seven days a week, without rest or extra compensation
for the long hours worked; at times they worked under abusive
conditions.
The ILO estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 children were engaged in
seasonal employment on commercial farms, at times under hazardous
conditions. In mining regions between 1,500 and 3,000 children worked
in unregulated gemstone mines as ``snake boys,'' who worked with
explosives and crawled through narrow tunnels to help position mining
equipment. Children were also found working in such occupations as
fisherman, barmaids, street vendors, car washers, and garbage
scavengers. They also worked in semi-skilled crafts such as carpentry
and auto repair. Girls as young as seven years old, and increasingly
boys, were involved in prostitution within the country and were at
times trafficked (see Section 5). Child labor was widespread in
Zanzibar; children were used in fishing, clove picking, domestic labor,
petty business such as selling cakes, and commercial sexual
exploitation near tourist attractions.
The Ministry of Labor remained responsible for enforcement of labor
laws along with the Commission for Mediation and Arbitration and the
Labor Court. In 2005 an additional 40 officers and inspectors were
recruited and trained, increasing the national labor inspection force
to 145.
District- or community-level child labor coordinating committees
and subcommittees identified and monitored cases of child labor, but
they did so with varying degrees of effectiveness. Representatives of
the ILO, UNICEF, and local NGOs concluded that these problems were due
to a lack of resources and not a lack of political will to fight child
labor.
Several government ministries, including the Ministry of Labor,
Youth Development, and Sports, have special child labor units. The
Government continued to implement, in collaboration with the ILO, a
``Timebound'' program to eliminate the worst forms of child Labor. The
program sought to eliminate child labor in commercial agriculture,
mining, domestic work, and prostitution in 11 districts by 2010. With
the support of the ILO, the Government under the Timebound program
tracked the number of children prevented from entering, and the number
withdrawn from the worst forms of child labor in eleven districts. From
January 2002 through June 2006, over 20,000 children were prevented
from entering, or were withdrawn from, the worst forms of child labor
in mining (2,081 prevented/1,466 withdrawn) domestic labor (3,292/
2,701), commercial agriculture (2,813/1,408) and commercial sex (2,992/
4,045). The numbers for the mining and commercial sex sectors exceeded
the targets established for those arenas.
For example, the Kiota Women's Health and Development Organization
(KIWOHEDE), an NGO working as an implementing agency under Phase I of
the Timebound Program undertook withdrawal and prevention activities,
targeting children in commercial sexual exploitation. From January
through May, KIWOHEDE prevented 314 and withdrew 1,289 children,
positively affecting a total of 1,603 children.
Under the Timebound program, several local NGOs, including
KIWOHEDE, continued to identify and withdraw children from exploitative
child labor. KIWOHEDE worked to rehabilitate exploited girls who work
as prostitutes or domestic servants. Another organization, CHODAWU,
established village-level inspections to identify cases of exploitative
labor. CHODAWU also coordinates with grassroots child labor committees
to withdraw children from exploitative situations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for
employment in the formal sector was approximately $38 (48,000
shillings) per month. Even when supplemented with various benefits such
as housing, transport allowances, and food subsidies, the minimum rate
did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family,
and workers depended on their extended family or on a second or third
job. Most workers, particularly in the growing informal sector, were
paid much less than the minimum wage. For example, domestic workers
reportedly earned approximately $5.49 (7,000 shillings) per month.
There were reports that to avoid legal requirements that they
provide certain benefits and salary minimums to employees employed for
more than three months, employers made a practice of firing employees
before the three month period expired.
There was no standard legal workweek for private sector workers,
but most private employers retained a six-day, 44- to 48-hour workweek.
A five-day, 40-hour workweek was in effect for government workers.
Generally it was illegal to employ women to work between 10 p.m. and 6
a.m.; however, employers frequently ignored this restriction.
Several laws regulate safety in the workplace. The Ministry of
Labor, Youth, and Sports Development managed an inspection system;
however, its effectiveness was limited. Labor standards were not
enforced in the informal sector, where a large percentage of the
workforce was employed.
Workers could sue an employer if their working conditions did not
comply with the Labor Ministry's health and environmental standards.
Through the union, a worker may file a labor complaint before a labor
officer, who convenes a hearing where the employer and employee state
their cases. The employee or employer may appeal that decision to the
minister of labor. Some labor officers accepted bribes from employers
not to accept or certify these complaints. There were no reports that
workers who lodged and won such complaints faced retribution; however,
workers did not have the right to remove themselves from dangerous
situations without jeopardizing their employment if they lodged a
complaint and lost.
__________
TOGO
Togo, with a population of 5.5 million, is a republic governed by
President Faure Gnassingbe, who was declared President in April 2005 in
an election marred by severe irregularities. President Gnassingbe
replaced his father, former President Gnassingbe Eyadema, who died in
February 2005 after 38 years in power. Eyadema and his party Rally of
the Togolese People (RPT), strongly backed by the armed forces,
dominated politics and maintained firm control over all levels of the
country's highly centralized government until his death. The civilian
authorities generally did not maintain effective control of the
security forces.
The human rights situation in the country improved; however,
serious human rights problems continued, including the inability of
citizens to change their government; beatings and abuse of detainees;
government impunity; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary and secret
arrests and detention; lengthy pretrial detention; executive control of
the judiciary; frequent infringement of citizens' privacy rights;
restrictions on the press, including closing media outlets;
restrictions on freedom of assembly and movement; harassment of human
rights workers; female genital mutilation (FGM) and violence against
women; discrimination against women and ethnic minorities; trafficking
in persons, especially children; child labor; and lack of worker's
rights in export processing zones (EPZs).
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports that the Government or its agents
committed any politically motivated killings; however, security forces
committed unlawful killings.
For example, on May 7, the police arrested and detained Yaya
Moussa, a cellular phone dealer whom police accused of being a gang
member. Police subsequently beat and abused Moussa and then took him to
a hospital, where he died of his injuries on May 10. No action had been
taken against the responsible police by year's end.
There were no developments in the case of the April 2005 killings
in Sokode and Aneho by government forces.
According to a 2005 UN Development Program (UNDP) assessment,
approximately 100 persons died following the 2005 Presidential
election; a September 2005 report by the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) estimated 400 to 500 deaths (see Section 4). Unlike
during the previous year, security forces did not conduct house-by-
house campaigns of violence or target neighborhoods thought to be
opposition strongholds, killing persons in their houses and shooting at
those who tried to flee.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that security
forces used live ammunition to disperse demonstrators. No action was
taken against security force members responsible for such killings in
2005.
No action was taken against the gendarmes who beat to death a young
man in April 2005, the members of the Presidential Election Security
Force who shot and killed another young man on the same day, or the
security forces who flew over the location of a subsequent
demonstration and shot and killed protesters.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of summary
executions. In 2005 there were reports of mass graves, and military
personnel reportedly transported more than 100 unidentified bodies to
unknown destinations.
In 2005 there were numerous reports of killings perpetrated by
militias, both those affiliated with the ruling party and those aligned
with the opposition; however, there were no reports of such killings
during the year.
No action was taken against militants who set fire to eight Malians
suspected of practicing voodoo or mob members responsible for killing
four persons from Niger.
There were no developments in the April 2005 killing by unknown
assailants of the Kpele-Adeta prefecture and the sub-brigadier of the
Attorney General's office.
In April 2005 the Government created the Special Independent
Investigation Commission to probe the violence and vandalism that
occurred before, during, and after election day. The commission held
security forces, the ruling party, and opposition party members
responsible for the violence and recommended that individuals involved
be prosecuted. However, the Government held no trials during the year
and conducted no prosecutions against the perpetrators.
b. Disappearance.--Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports of politically motivated disappearances. There were no
developments in the 2005 disappearance of Police Commissioner Emile
Kodjovi Dadji, who was believed to have been detained in an unknown
location.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits torture and physical abuse of
prisoners and detainees; however, such practices continued to occur,
although there were fewer instances than in the previous year. Some
prisoners credibly claimed that security forces beat them during
detention. Impunity remained a problem, and the Government did not
publicly prosecute any officials for the 2005 abuses.
One prisoner died during the year as a result of police abuse (see
Section 1.a.).
Security forces beat demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that military
forces systematically raped women.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
very harsh, with serious overcrowding, poor sanitation, and unhealthy
food. At year's end Lome's central prison, built to hold 500 prisoners,
held 1,550 inmates, including 56 women. Medical facilities were
inadequate, and disease and drug abuse were widespread. Sick prisoners
reportedly had to pay approximately three dollars (1,500 CFA francs) to
guards before being allowed to visit the infirmary. There were reports
that prison security officials sometimes withheld medical treatment
from prisoners. Lawyers and journalists reported that prison guards
charged prisoners a small fee to shower, use the toilet, or have a
place to sleep.
The Government provided no statistics on the number of prison
deaths, but it is believed prisoners died as a result of poor living
conditions.
The children of convicted women were often incarcerated with their
mothers, who were held separately from male prisoners. Juvenile
detainees were not held separately from adults. Pretrial detainees were
not held separately from convicted prisoners.
Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were allowed access to
all prisons in the country. In May a delegation of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited prisons to assess the prison
conditions. In June a joint parliamentary mission from the African,
Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and European Union (EU) also
visited prisons to verify the presence of political prisoners. The
delegations were allowed to meet with certain prisoners in private to
conduct interviews. Diplomatic representatives were given access to
their detained citizens.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government
generally disregarded these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of the army, navy, air force, the national security service
(including the national police and investigation bureau), and the
gendarmerie. The police are under the direction of the Ministry of
Security, while the Ministry of Defense oversees the gendarmes and
military. By law, the police and gendarmes are responsible for law
enforcement and maintenance of order within the country. However, the
army, charged with external security by law, was in command of domestic
security. Approximately 75 percent of the army's officers and soldiers
were from the former and current President's ethnic group, the Kabye,
which represents approximately 15 percent of the population.
Police were generally ineffective and corrupt, and impunity was a
problem. Police often failed to respond to societal violence (see
Section 2.b.). The Government in general did not investigate or punish
effectively those who committed abuses, nor did it prosecute persons
responsible in previous years for unlawful killings and disappearances.
During the year, the Government trained and recruited 936 new
gendarmes; more than 50 percent of the newly recruited gendarmes were
from Kabye. Gendarme training included respect for human rights.
Arrest and Detention.--The law authorizes judges, senior police
officials, prefects, and mayors to issue arrest warrants; however,
persons were detained arbitrarily and secretly. Although detainees have
the right to be informed of the charges against them, police sometimes
ignored this right. The law allows authorities to hold arrested persons
incommunicado without charge for 48 hours, with an additional 48-hour
extension in cases deemed serious or complex. Family members and
attorneys officially had access to a detainee after 48 or 96 hours of
detention, but authorities often delayed, and sometimes denied, access.
The law stipulates that a special judge conduct a pretrial
investigation to examine the adequacy of evidence and decide on bail;
however, in practice detainees often were held without bail for lengthy
periods with or without the approval of a judge. Minors detained since
the 2005 election have not had access to a lawyer.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government resorted to false charges of common crimes to arrest,
detain, and intimidate political opponents.
The charges against King Togbe Ahuawoto Savado Zankli Lawson VIII,
the Guin traditional leader of Aneho, were still pending at year's end.
The King, who had allowed a police officer seeking refuge to stay at
his palace, had been charged with sequestering the officer, possession
of firearms, and inciting trouble.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested demonstrators (see Section
2.b.).
According to the Government, the 77 persons imprisoned for their
involvement in election violence were released in 2005.
The Government denied the existence of political detainees;
however, several persons arrested after the election and affiliated
with the opposition were being held in a prison near Kara, an area of
strong RPT support. Amnesty International (AI)reported that dozens of
persons were in detention following the election. Security forces
sometimes moved political detainees to informal detention centers under
the control of the military or RPT militia. Because the Government did
not acknowledge any political detainees, it did not permit any
organizations access to them.
There were no developments in the 2005 arrest and detention of two
opposition members and four former military officers for suspected coup
plotting. The detainees, including Kossi Tudzi of the Union of Forces
for Change (UFC) and Hermes Wamede da Silveira of the Alliance of
Patriots for Unity and Action, remain incarcerated with no trial
scheduled.
On December 13, UFC members Anate Andre Abbey, Kossi Jomo
Azonledzi, and Koffi Akoumey were convicted for bombing a post office.
They were sentenced to 14 months in prison (equal to the time they had
been held in prison since September 2005) and immediately released.
In June 2005 the UN delegation visited Lome Prison and interviewed
a woman detained without charge since 1998 for her political
convictions. The woman, who had no lawyer and was not provided one by
the Government, was released in July 2005.
A shortage of judges and other qualified personnel, as well as
official inaction, resulted in lengthy pretrial detention--in some
cases several years--and confinement of prisoners for periods exceeding
the time they would have served if tried and convicted. Almost 80
percent of inmates were pretrial detainees.
Amnesty.--Unlike in the previous year, no prisoners were discharged
to relieve prison overcrowding.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, the executive branch continued to exert
control over the judiciary and corruption was a problem. Lawyers often
bribed judges to influence the outcome of cases. A judicial reform
process started in 2005 had not yet been fully implemented at year's
end.
There were three associations of magistrates in the country: the
Union of Magistrates of Togo (SMT), the National Association of
Magistrates (ANM), and the Professional Association of Magistrates of
Togo (APMT). A majority of the APMT members were supporters of the late
President Eyadema. Judges who belonged to the pro-Eyadema APMT
reportedly received the most prestigious assignments, while judges who
advocated an independent judiciary and belonged to the ANM or SMT often
were assigned to second-tier positions. For example, in Lome, the
Presidents of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, Court of
Appeals, and Court of First Instance were members of the APMT as were
the public prosecutor and the Attorney General. In Kara, the President
of the Court of Appeals and the President of the Court of First
Instance were members of the APMT.
The Constitutional Court stands at the apex of the court system.
The Constitutional Court is the highest court for constitutional issues
while the Supreme Court is the highest court for civil judicial cases.
The civil judiciary system includes the Supreme Court, Appeals Courts,
and Courts of First Instance. A military tribunal exists for crimes
committed by security forces; its proceedings are closed. The court
system remained overburdened and understaffed.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial system employs both traditional law
and the Napoleonic Code in trying criminal and civil cases. Trials were
open to the public, juries were used, and judicial procedures generally
were respected. Defendants have the right to counsel and to appeal. The
Bar Association provides attorneys for the indigent. Defendants may
confront witnesses and present evidence on their own behalf.
In rural areas, the village chief or council of elders is
authorized to try minor criminal and civil cases. Those who reject the
traditional authority can take their cases to the regular court system,
which is the starting point for cases in urban areas.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees; however, the Government held numerous
detainees and prisoners on political charges (see Section 1.d.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Both the constitution and
the law provide for civil and administrative remedies for wrongdoing,
but the judiciary did not respect such provisions, and most citizens
were unaware of them.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but
security forces often infringed on these rights. In criminal cases, a
judge or senior police official may authorize searches of private
residences, and in political and national security cases the security
forces need no prior authorization. Unlike in the previous year, there
were no reports that security forces forcibly entered houses without
warrants and beat persons.
From April 2005 until August 2005, security forces throughout the
country entered houses by force, searching for opposition sympathizers
(see Section 1.a.); no action was taken against the perpetrators during
the year.
Citizens believed that the Government monitored telephones and
correspondence, although such surveillance was not confirmed.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government
continued to restrict these rights. The Government at times interfered
with radio stations during the year. Journalists and radio and
television broadcasters practiced self-censorship.
Although the Government did not censor individual expression, most
persons practiced self-censorship because of past violent reprisals at
the hands of government agents.
There was a lively independent press, most of which was heavily
politicized, and some of which was highly critical of the Government.
More than 15 privately owned newspapers were published with some
regularity. The only daily newspaper, Togo-Presse, was owned and
controlled by the Government. There were several independent newspapers
that published on weekly and bi-weekly schedules. The official media
heavily slanted their content in favor of the Government.
Radio remained the most important medium of mass communication.
Some private radio stations broadcast domestic news; however, they
offered little of the political commentary and criticism of the
Government that was widespread in the print media.
The station director of Radio Lumiere, who fled the country after a
military detachment seized Radio Lumiere's transmitter and broadcasting
equipment in 2005, remained in self-exile at year's end. Radio Lumiere
remained closed.
The government-owned Togo Television was the only major television
station in the country. Four smaller television stations operated
during the year, but their broadcasts were limited to certain
geographic areas. TV-2, RTDS, and TV7 carried France-based TV-5's
international news programming, and TV-Zion's content was of a
primarily religious nature. TV7 also carried weekly political debates
through the program Seven on Seven, a weekly political forum in which
governing and opposition party leaders, human rights organizations, and
other observers participated in discussions on political issues and
expressed criticism or support for the Government.
Unlike in the previous year, security forces did not detain
journalists.
Despite governmental promises to do so, no investigation was
conducted during the year into the October 2005 beating by masked men
of Jean-Baptiste Dzilan, also known as Dimas Dzikodo, the country's
most outspoken journalist and publisher of the independent newspaper
Forum de la Semaine.
The constitution established the High Authority of Audiovisuals and
Communications (HAAC) to provide for the freedom of the press, ensure
ethical standards, and allocate frequencies to private television and
radio stations. Although nominally independent, in practice the HAAC
operated as an arm of the Government.
On May 12, the HAAC suspended for one month Radio Nostalgie's
special daily program on the national political dialogue, charging that
the guests who participated in a May 9 program ``attacked and
systematically threatened national and international personalities''
and ``incited the population to insurrection.'' The guests in question,
Alex Konu of TV7 and Francis Amuzun of the Togo Ethics Media Committee,
had criticized the presence of the Economic Community of West African
States Special Envoy Mai Manga Boucar at the dialogue legitimizing the
fraudulent results of the April 2005 Presidential elections.
Unlike in the previous year, the President of the HAAC did not ban
or threaten to ban radio programs that discussed political events. The
2005 bans against Radio Nostalgie, Nana FM, and Kanal FM were lifted,
and the stations broadcast live and taped political programs during the
year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was easily available except in remote rural locations.
Academic and Cultural Events.--The Government did not restrict
academic freedom or cultural events, although security forces
maintained a presence at the University of Lome. According to students
and professors, a government informer system continued to exist and
undercover gendarmes attended classes.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government generally restricted this right, although less
than in previous years.
A political party wishing to hold a demonstration or rally on
public property is required to notify the minister of security,
although no notification is required for rallies on private property.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not ban street
demonstrations.
On August 30, street protests throughout the northern city of Kara
erupted after police failed to respond immediately to the killing of a
motorcycle-taxi driver by a Beninese national; police claimed they were
unable to go to the scene of the crime because they lacked transport.
The police called for military support after the demonstrators moved to
the police station, and soldiers used clubs and teargas to disperse
protesters. In the following days soldiers patrolled the streets,
detained numerous young men arbitrarily, and transported other
detainees to outlying villages where the young men were forced to walk
back to Kara in the middle of the night. After four days, the military
released all the young men, the informal curfew was lifted, and people
were allowed to circulate freely.
No action was taken against the military personnel who in February
2005 beat students in Lome when they walked out of classes to show
support for an opposition-led civil boycott.
No action was taken against security forces who beat and shot
bullets at demonstrators in February 2005; five civilians died.
Despite government promises to do so, no investigation was
conducted into the use of excessive force by security forces during the
February 2005 dispersal of a peaceful women's march; five persons were
killed.
Freedom of Association.--Under the constitution and law, citizens
have the right to organize associations and political parties, and the
Government generally respected it in practice. Unlike in previous
years, the Government did not deny official recognition to
associations, including human rights groups, and did not impose
restrictions on political parties.
There were many NGOs; they were required to register with the
Government. The Government established requirements for recognition of
associations and NGOs. The Ministry of Territorial Administration
issues official recognition documents. Upon filing with the ministry,
associations are given a receipt allowing them to begin operations. The
Civil Security Division enforces the regulations and is the agency
responsible for handling problems or complaints concerning an
association or an organization. If an application provides insufficient
information for recognition to be granted, the application remains open
indefinitely. Members of groups that are not officially recognized
could organize activities but do not have legal standing.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The Government recognizes three main faiths as state religions:
Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Other religions, such as
animism, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses, were required to register
as associations. Official recognition as an association affords the
same rights as the official religions.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the law provides for these
rights, the Government restricted them in practice. Armed security
checkpoints and arbitrary searches of vehicles and individuals were
common. Undisciplined acts of some security forces manning roadblocks,
such as frequent demands for bribes, impeded free movement within the
country.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not close land
borders and air access to the country, as it did following former
President Eyadema's death and prior to the elections.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it. However, several opposition and human rights workers
remained in self-imposed exile because they feared arrest.
An estimated 40,000 citizens fled to Ghana and Benin in 2005 as
refugees following election-related violence. Although some refugees
returned due to government outreach mentioned above, many did not
return home because of fear for their security. According to UNHCR, by
year's end approximately 6,500 refugees remained in Benin and 6,000 in
Ghana. UNHCR is facilitating returns for Togolese refugees who express
an interest in returning.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Almost all of the persons who
fled their homes following former President Eyadema's death and the
Presidential elections had returned to their homes by year's end.
During the year, the High Commission for Repatriates and
Humanitarian Action traveled to Ghana and Benin to assure the Togolese
refugees that their safety would be guaranteed back home; the
commission also organized sensitization tours throughout the country
and donated food and clothes to returned refugees and IDPs. The
commission issued messages in various media encouraging the population
to welcome returned refugees and IDPs.
There were no reports that the Government targeted the 2005 IDPs or
forcibly returned them.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws do not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
A voluntary repatriation program for 508 Ghanaian refugees was
still not implemented because of continuing unrest and instability in
Ghana along the Togo-Ghana border. These refugees have been integrated
into society and no longer receive assistance. According to the
Government, there were approximately 800 refugees (mostly from Rwanda
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) registered in Lome and
approximately 1,200 additional refugees living in rural villages.
According to the Government, there were 12,386 refugees in Togo, of
which 1,391 (mostly from Cote d'Ivoire, Central African Republic,
Liberia, Nigeria, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and
Sierra Leone) were living in Lome; 10,990 refugees fled the north of
Ghana following the social unrest and were living in rural villages,
especially in Dankpen and Bassar (Togo-Ghana border) areas.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 100 persons during the year.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides for the right of citizens to change their
government peacefully; however, the Government restricted this right in
practice. The Government and the state remained highly centralized. The
national government appoints officials and controls the budgets of
government entities at all levels, including prefectures and
municipalities, and influences the selection of traditional chiefs. The
National Assembly exercised no real oversight of the executive branch
of the Government.
Elections and Political Participation.--In February 2005 the
Government announced the death of former President Eyadema. The
constitution prohibited any revision of the document in the case of a
Presidential vacancy. Nevertheless, the National Assembly held an
extraordinary session to amend the constitution and electoral code,
dismiss Speaker Fambare Ouattara Natchaba, and elect Eyadema's son
Faure Gnassingbe as the new speaker, allowing him constitutionally to
step into the presidency. The Constitutional Court, vested with
guaranteeing respect of the law, swore Faure in as President in the
middle of the night. In response to international and internal
pressure, Faure resigned the presidency. The National Assembly elected
a new speaker, Abass Bonfoh, who then became interim President.
Although the constitution required holding elections within 60 days
of a vacancy in the presidency, the international community and local
opposition contended that the election timeframe, culminating with
elections in April 2005, was not sufficient to ensure a free and fair
election. Although the interior minister publicly stated that
conditions for a credible election had not been met, the elections were
held as planned in April 2005. Accredited international election
observers noted massive irregularities during the election itself.
Four persons were killed in Mango on election day when security
forces, who were removing ballot boxes from a polling site, opened fire
on opposition supporters who tried to prevent them.
The Electoral Commission announced Faure had received 60 percent of
the vote and declared him President. An opposition candidate filed a
complaint with the Constitutional Court based on flaws in the voting
procedures. The court certified the results without an investigation.
During the year there were significant developments in the
Government's 2004 commitments to the EU to organize fair and
transparent legislative elections, to hold local elections, and to
organize a national dialogue with the main opposition parties. In April
the Government organized a national dialogue with the main opposition
parties, which resulted in a Global Political Agreement on August 20
and the creation of a new government of national unity, including
representation from nearly all the major political groups and a prime
minister belonging to one of the main opposition groups. The main task
of this new government is to organize free and fair legislative
elections, which President Gnassingbe announced in September would be
scheduled for June 2007.
There were five female members in the 81-member National Assembly
and five female ministers in the 34-member government of national unity
Cabinet. Members of the southern ethnic groups remain underrepresented
in both the Government and the military, relative to their percentage
of the general population.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Official corruption was a
problem and there was widespread public perception of corruption in
both the executive and legislative branch. The Anti-Corruption
Commission (CAC) was generally ineffective. While it continued to
investigate current relatively low-level and former high-level
officials, it did not use fair and transparent procedures to deal with
allegations of corruption. The CAC allowed most senior government
officials accused of corruption to continue in their positions and did
not investigate allegations made against them. For example, the CAC
levied allegations of corruption against the director general of the
Social Security Agency, yet he remained in his position.
According to the Government's official poverty reduction strategic
paper, prepared in conjunction with the World Bank and UNDP, corruption
and lack of transparency in the management of public funds was a
problem throughout the Government. The constitution provides for the
creation of a court of accounts to oversee public expenditures;
however, the Government failed to initiate its creation.
Although the press code provides for public access to government
information, the Government did not permit access to either citizens or
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Government Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
There were several domestic private human rights groups, including
the Togolese League of Human Rights (LTDH), the Center for Observation
and Promotion of the Rule of Law, and the Togolese Association for the
Defense and Protection of Human Rights. Years of government threats and
intimidation of human rights leaders, combined with a lack of results
from human rights initiatives, have led some human rights groups to
become inactive. A few groups, such as the Togolese Movement for the
Defense of Liberties and Human Rights, the African Committee for the
Promotion and Support of Human Rights, and the African Center for the
Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture and Repression served as
apologists for the Government by making public statements explaining
the behavior of the Government in a favorable way.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not restrict the
activities of domestic NGOs or refuse accreditation. In 2005 the
Government did not allow any domestic groups to participate as
observers during the elections; targeted workers of independent human
rights NGOs; and used the HAAC and the RPT youth organization to
suppress criticism of its human rights policies.
Unlike in the previous year, LTDH members did not receive death
threats or experience home surveillance by unknown individuals.
The Government met with some domestic NGOs that monitor human
rights but took no action in response to their recommendations.
In April AI and a group of international NGOs criticized the
Government for failing to bring to justice those involved in election-
related violence during 2005. In July a delegation from AI visited the
country to more formally assess the Government's actions during the
2005 election violence. AI scheduled the release of its report for
November 26, but postponed it at the request of the Government. In
December the Government accused AI of provoking a ``useless and
redundant controversy.''
In September 2005 the UNHCR released the findings of its June 2005
visit to the country to investigate election-related violence. The
report revealed that approximately 500 persons died and that the
Government was responsible for significant human rights violations (see
Section 1.a.).
Supporters of the President continued to dominate the National
Commission for Human Rights. On July 31, the National Assembly elected
16 of 17 new independent members; however, at year's end they were
still waiting to be sworn in.
A permanent human rights committee exists within the National
Assembly, but it did not play any significant role in policy-making and
was not independent of the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, religion, disability, language, or social status; however, the
Government did not enforce these provisions effectively. Violence and
discrimination against women, FGM, trafficking in persons, and
discrimination against ethnic minorities and individuals with HIV/AIDS
were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women continued to be a problem.
The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence. Police
generally did not intervene in abusive situations, and women were not
made aware of the formal judicial mechanisms that would give them
protection. According to a local women's rights NGO, wife beating was
estimated to affect approximately 6 percent of married women.
The law criminalizes rape and provides for prison terms of five to
10 years for anyone found guilty of rape. The law does not specifically
penalize spousal rape. Although the Government was diligent in
investigating and prosecuting instances of rape, reports were rare
because of the social stigma associated with being raped.
FGM continued to be practiced on approximately 12 percent of girls.
The most commonly practiced form of FGM was excision, which usually was
performed on girls a few months after birth. Most of the larger ethnic
groups did not practice FGM. FGM is illegal and penalties for
practitioners ranged from two months to five years in prison as well as
substantial fines. The law was rarely applied because most FGM cases
occurred in rural areas where neither the victims nor the police
understood the law. Traditional customs often superseded the legal
system among certain ethnic groups. The Government continued to sponsor
seminars to educate and campaign against FGM. Several NGOs, with
international assistance, organized educational campaigns to inform
women of their rights and how to care for victims of FGM. Although no
statistics were available, the Government and NGOs believed the
practice decreased significantly in urban areas since the 1998 anti-FGM
law but continued to occur in remote and rural villages.
The law prohibits prostitution, including running a brothel, and
provides for fines of up to $2,000 (1 million CFA francs) for brothel
owners and panderers. Prostitution in Lome was fairly widespread since
economic opportunities for women were severely limited. Several
prostitutes in Lome reported that they had to pay security forces to
pass through certain parts of town; this payment most often took the
form of sex. Members of the security forces raped prostitutes who
protested the payment. The Government has not acted to stop this
practice.
A Presidential decree prohibits sexual harassment and specifically
targeted harassment of female students, although the authorities did
not enforce the law.
Although the law declares women equal under the law, women
continued to experience discrimination, especially in education,
pension benefits, and inheritance as a consequence of traditional law.
A husband legally could restrict his wife's freedom to work or control
her earnings. In urban areas women and girls dominated market
activities and commerce; however, harsh economic conditions in rural
areas, where most of the population lived, left women with little time
for activities other than domestic tasks and agricultural fieldwork.
The Labor Code, which regulated labor practices, requires equal pay for
equal work, regardless of gender, but this provision generally was
observed only in the formal sector. Under traditional law, which
applied to the vast majority of women, a wife has no maintenance or
child support rights in the event of divorce or separation and no
inheritance rights upon the death of her husband. Polygamy was
practiced. Women can own property with no special restrictions.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Promotion of Women, along with
independent women's groups and related NGOs, continued to campaign
actively during the year to inform women of their rights.
Children.--Although the law provides for the protection of
children's rights, government programs often suffered from a lack of
money, materials, and enforcement. There were many practices that
discriminated against children, especially girls.
The Government provided education in state schools, and school
attendance is compulsory for both boys and girls until the age of 15.
According to the UN Children's Fund's (UNICEF), although 99 percent of
boys and 83 percent of girls started primary school, only an estimated
68 percent of boys and 59 percent of girls continued. For secondary
school, the net secondary school enrollment is 36 percent for boys, 17
percent for girls, but only 21 percent of boys and 11 percent of girls
continued. The Ministry of Education estimated that one-third of the
national budget was spent on education.
Orphans and other needy children received some aid from extended
families or private organizations but little from the Government. There
were social programs to provide free health care for poor children.
FGM was performed on approximately 12 percent of girls (see Section
5, Women).
Statutory rape is illegal and punishable by up to five years of
imprisonment and up to 10 years if violence was involved. The prison
term is 20 years if a victim is a child under 14, is gang-raped or if
the rape results in pregnancy, disease, or incapacitation lasting more
than six weeks. Although the law explicitly prohibits sexual
exploitation of children and child prostitution, the Government did not
effectively enforce the prohibitions (see Section 5, Trafficking).
There were reports of trafficking in children (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in children
but not adults; however, there were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country. The 2005 Law for the
Repression of Child Trafficking provides for prison sentences and fines
for anyone who recruits, transports, hosts, or receives trafficked
children, as well as prison sentences for parents who willingly
facilitate the trafficking of their children. The law provides for
prison sentences from three months to 10 years and fines ranging from
$2,000 to $20,000 (one to 10 million CFA francs) for traffickers of
children and/or their accomplices. Anybody who assists and/or provides
information, arms, or transportation to facilitate the trafficking is
considered an accomplice. The Government filed a complaint against 16
traffickers who were awaiting prosecution at year's end. The
Government, along with international and local NGOs continued to train
judges, security forces, and volunteer local committees on the 2005
antitrafficking law; by year's end 36 members of the security forces
had received training.
Volunteer local committees investigated reports of trafficking. The
ministries of education, interior, and social affairs worked with the
International Labor Organization (ILO) to establish approximately 300
committees by year's end. From 2002 through 2006, local committees had
rescued approximately 4,000 victims of child trafficking.
The National Committee for the Reception and Social Reinsertion of
Trafficked Children is represented in each prefecture and works with
local officials to reintegrate returned trafficking victims. It
reported that 2,458 children ranging from ages five to 17 were
repatriated to the country between 2002 and 2004. The Office of the
Director General of Protection of the Child reported that since August
2005, security forces intercepted a total of 101 children up to 17
years-of-age in the process of being trafficked out of the country and
the Government returned them to their families.
The Government had little or no funding to investigate traffickers
or trafficking rings. The police had limited success in intercepting
victims of trafficking, and prosecution of traffickers was rare. Most
persons that security forces arrested or detained for trafficking
ultimately were released for lack of evidence.
Government agencies involved in antitrafficking efforts included
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Protection of Women; the Ministry of
Health; the Ministry of Security; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry
of Labor; and the security forces (especially police, army, and customs
units). The Government cooperated with the Governments of Ghana, Benin,
and Nigeria under a quadripartite law allowing for expedited
extradition among those countries.
The country remained a country of origin, transit, and destination
for trafficking in persons, primarily children. More young girls than
boys were the victims of trafficking. Trafficking in women for the
purpose of prostitution or nonconsensual labor as domestic servants
occurred.
Trafficking occurred throughout the country. The majority of the
country's trafficking victims were children from the poorest rural
areas, particularly those of Kotocoli, Tchamba, Ewe, Kabye, and Akposso
ethnicities and mainly from the Maritime, Plateau, and Central regions.
Adult victims usually were lured with phony job offers. Children often
were trafficked abroad by parents misled by false information.
Sometimes parents sold their children to traffickers for bicycles,
radios, or clothing, and signed parental authorizations transferring
their children into the custody of the trafficker.
Children were trafficked into indentured and exploitative
servitude, which amounted at times to slavery. Most trafficking
occurred internally, with children trafficked from rural areas to
cities, primarily Lome, to work as domestics, produce porters, or
roadside sellers. Victims were trafficked elsewhere in West Africa and
to Central Africa, particularly Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, and Nigeria; in
Europe, primarily France and Germany; and in the Middle East, including
Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Children were trafficked to Benin for
indentured servitude and to Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana for domestic
servitude. Boys were trafficked for agricultural work in Cote d'Ivoire
and domestic servitude and street labor in Gabon. They were fed poorly,
clothed crudely, cared for inadequately, given drugs to work longer
hours, and not educated or permitted to learn a trade. There were
reports that young girls were trafficked to Nigeria for prostitution.
The country was a transit point for children trafficked from
Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, and Nigeria. There were credible
reports that Nigerian women and children were trafficked through the
country to Europe (particularly Italy and the Netherlands) for the
purpose of prostitution.
Traffickers were believed to be men and women of Togolese,
Beninese, and Nigerian nationalities.
There were no reports that governmental authorities or individual
members of government forces facilitated or condoned trafficking in
persons. There were no reports that customs, border guards, immigration
officials, labor inspectors, or local police received bribes from
traffickers, although it was possible given the high level of
corruption in the country.
The Government provided only limited assistance for victims,
primarily because of a lack of resources. The NGO Terre des Hommes
assisted recovered children until their parents or next-of-kin could be
notified. Assistance was also available from the government-funded
Social Center for Abandoned Children. CARE International-Togo worked
with three NGOs--Terre des Hommes, La Colombe, and Ahuefa--on
reinsertion of trafficked children, awareness campaigns for parents and
communities, keeping children in schools, and supporting women's
income-generating activities. During the year the ILO worked with other
NGOs to increase awareness of the trafficking problem.
During the year local government officials worked closely with NGOs
Plan Togo and The World Association for Orphans-Afrique to conduct
public awareness campaigns and training workshops. Four workshops were
held during the year, training approximately 150 lawyers, journalists,
judges NGO representatives, and security personnel. The ILO and UNICEF
assisted the Government in organizing and training regional and local
committees and in sensitizing and educating parents on the dangers of
child trafficking and labor throughout the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--A new law enacted in November 2005
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or in the provision of
other state services, but the Government did not effectively enforce
these provisions. There was no overt state discrimination against
persons with disabilities, and some held government positions; but
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities existed. The
Government does not mandate accessibility to public or private
facilities for persons with disabilities. Although the law nominally
obliged the Government to aid persons with disabilities and shelter
them from social injustice, the Government provided only limited
assistance.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The population included members
of approximately 40 ethnic groups that generally spoke distinct primary
languages and were concentrated regionally in rural areas. Major ethnic
groups included the Ewe (between 20 and 25 percent of the population),
the Kabye (between 10 and 15 percent), the Kotokoli (between 10 and 15
percent), the Moba (between 10 to 15 percent), and the Mina
(approximately 5 percent). The Ewe and Mina were the largest ethnic
groups in the southern region and the Kabye was the largest group in
the less prosperous northern region.
The relative predominance in private sector commerce and
professions by members of southern ethnic groups, and the relative
prevalence in the public sector and especially the security forces of
members of late President Eyadema's Kabye group and other northern
groups, were sources of political tension. Political parties tended to
have readily identifiable ethnic and regional bases: the RPT party was
more represented among northern ethnic groups than among southern
groups; the reverse was true of the UFC and Action Committee for
Renewal opposition parties.
In addition, due to the congruence of political divisions and
ethnic and regional divisions, human rights abuses motivated by
politics at times had ethnic and regional overtones.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--A 2005 law prohibits
discrimination against persons infected with HIV/AIDS; however, such
persons continued to face significant societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide
workers, except security forces (including firefighters and police),
with the right to join unions, and they exercised this right in
practice. The Ministry of Economy and Development estimated that the
country's total workforce was approximately 1.6 million out of an
estimated working population of 2.3 million persons. Approximately 72
percent of the working population was in the agriculture sector where
employment was not stable and wages were low. The informal sector
provided for an estimated 22 percent of total employment. Approximately
60 to 70 percent of formal sector workers were union members or
supporters.
The Ministry of Labor failed to enforce the prohibition on
antiunion discrimination.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution and the December labor code nominally provide workers with
the right to organize and bargain collectively; however, the Government
limited collective bargaining to producing a single nationwide
agreement that had to be negotiated and endorsed by representatives of
the Government, labor unions, and employers. All formal sector
employees were covered by the collective bargaining agreement that set
nationwide wage standards for all formal sector workers. The Government
participated in this process both as a labor-management mediator and as
the largest employer in the formal sector, managing numerous state-
owned firms that monopolized many sectors of the formal economy. The
collective bargaining process did not occur for several years under the
late President Eyadema. Individual groups in the formal sector could
attempt to negotiate agreements more favorable to labor through sector-
specific or firm-specific collective bargaining, but this option was
rarely used.
The constitution and law provide most workers the right to strike,
except for members of the security forces and government health
workers. The new labor code of December 5 prohibits retribution against
strikers by employers.
The law provides exemptions from some provisions of the Labor Code,
notably the regulations on hiring and firing for companies in the EPZs.
Employees of EPZ firms did not enjoy the same protection against
antiunion discrimination as did other workers. Workers in the EPZs were
prevented from exercising their freedom of association because unions
did not have free access to EPZs or the freedom to organize workers.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The new labor code
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Children sometimes were subjected to forced labor, primarily as
domestic servants.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
new labor code prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15
in any enterprise; however, child labor was a problem. According to
UNICEF, 60 percent of children in the country were involved in child
labor. The use of children to work on family farms was widespread. Some
children started working as young as age five. These children routinely
missed at least two-thirds of the school year. In some cases children
worked in factories.
For some types of industrial and technical employment, the minimum
age is 18. Inspectors from the Ministry of Labor enforced these age
requirements but only in the formal sector in urban areas. In both
urban and rural areas, particularly in farming and small scale trading,
very young children traditionally assisted in their families' work. In
rural areas, parents sometimes placed young children into domestic work
in other households in exchange for one-time fees as low as $25 to $35
(12,500 to 17,500 CFA francs).
Trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 5).
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Promotion of Women was
responsible for enforcing the prohibition of the worst forms of child
labor. Few resources were allotted for its implementation, and
enforcement was weak, but the ministry funded a center for abandoned
children and worked with NGOs to combat child trafficking.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets minimum
wages for different labor categories, ranging from unskilled through
professional positions. In practice employers often paid less than the
official minimum wage often, mostly to unskilled workers. Official
monthly minimum wages ranged from approximately $20 to $33 (10,000 to
16,000 CFA francs) and did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family. Many workers supplemented their incomes through
second jobs or subsistence farming. The Ministry of Labor was
responsible for enforcement of the minimum wage system but did not
enforce the law in practice.
Working hours of all employees in any enterprise, except for the
agricultural sector, normally are not to exceed 40 hours per week; at
least one 24-hour rest period per week is compulsory, and workers are
expected to receive 30 days of paid leave each year. Working hours for
employees in the agricultural sector are not to exceed 2400 hours per
year (roughly 46 hours per week). The law requires overtime
compensation, and there are restrictions on excessive overtime work;
however, the Ministry of Labor's enforcement was weak, and employers
often ignored these provisions.
In November the Government responded to a threatened strike by
unions to make good on most salary and pension payments which were in
arrears.
A technical consulting committee in the Ministry of Labor set
workplace health and safety standards. It may levy penalties on
employers who do not meet the standards, and employees have the right
to complain to labor inspectors of unhealthy or unsafe conditions
without penalty. In practice, the ministry's enforcement of the various
provisions of the Labor Code was limited. Large enterprises are obliged
by law to provide medical services for their employees and usually
attempted to respect occupational health and safety rules, but smaller
firms often did not. Although workers have the legal right to remove
themselves from unsafe conditions without fear of losing their jobs, in
practice some could not do so. Labor laws also provide protection for
legal foreign workers.
__________
UGANDA
Uganda, with a population of 26.4 million, is a republic led by
President Yoweri Museveni, who continued to dominate the Government.
The February 23 Presidential and parliamentary elections generally
reflected the will of the electorate; however, both were marred by
serious irregularities. The Government and the Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) entered into peace talks in July to end the 20-year war in the
north of the country. A cessation of hostilities agreement and direct
negotiations between the LRA and the Government have improved the
security situation. The negotiations were on-going at year's end. On
December 16, the Government and the rebels extended a cessation of
hostilities until February 2007. The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja
region intensified during the year and resulted in numerous deaths and
the displacement of thousands of civilians. While civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there
were some instances in which elements of the security forces acted
independently of government authority.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. Although there
were improvements in a few areas, serious problems remained, including:
unlawful killings by security forces; disappearances; security forces
use of torture and abuse of suspects; vigilante justice; harsh prison
conditions; official impunity; arbitrary arrest; incommunicado and
lengthy pretrial detention; restrictions on the right to a fair trial
and on freedoms of speech, the press, and association; limited freedom
of religion; abuse of internally displaced persons (IDPs); restrictions
on opposition parties; electoral violence and irregularities;
government corruption; violence and discrimination against women;
female genital mutilation (FGM); violence and abuse of children,
particularly sexual abuse; trafficking in persons; violence and
discrimination against persons with disabilities; forced labor,
including by children; and child labor.
LRA-perpetrated violence in the north decreased significantly
during the year as the army drove the LRA into southern Sudan and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the height of the war, the LRA,
led by Joseph Kony, committed serious abuses and atrocities, including
the abduction, rape, and killing of civilians. The LRA used children as
soldiers, held children and others in slave-like conditions, and
subjected female captives to rape and other forms of severe sexual
exploitation. Thousands of children known as ``night commuters''
traveled from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers
to avoid abduction by the LRA and to escape systemic social problems
such as poverty and domestic violence, although their numbers dropped
substantially throughout the year as regional security improved.
The Government took steps to improve human rights during the year.
The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) continued to professionalize
and demonstrated a marked improvement in respect for human rights. The
Government improved conditions in the central prisons and passed a
comprehensive labor law to eliminate burdensome requirements to form a
union and to improve workplace conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces committed numerous unlawful killings during the year
and were responsible for deaths as a result of torture.
On August 20, special police constables in Arua District opened
fire in a disco and killed Pater Alida and Kennedy Amaru, both primary
school pupils. Media reports stated that Amos O'Bani, acting area
subcounty chief, had ordered the police to fire on the dancers for
violating a by-law prohibiting night clubs in the area. Constables Osua
Biazo, Tom Candia, and David Ezaruku were subsequently arrested for
murder; the case was ongoing at year's end.
UPDF soldiers were responsible for killings. On May 9, Ekemu Ocen
and Odong Chamali, UPDF soldiers based in Kasese District, killed four
civilians and three armed soldiers in Kiteso village. On May 24, Ocen
and Chamali were arrested while trying to escape to the DRC. On May 31,
a court martial sitting in Kasese started public hearings in which the
two soldiers were charged with murder. On August 31, the court martial
found Ocan guilty of murder and sentenced him to death. The case
against Chamali, who was charged with two counts of robbery, was
ongoing at years's end.
On June 2, UPDF soldiers from the Pabwo detachment in Gulu District
killed Wilfred Kinyera and Joel Oryem after they were arrested. In
August Michael Abonga, Kinyera's brother, filed a petition with the
Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) Tribunal against three soldiers
for allegedly murdering Kinyera and Oryem. The UPDF arrested the three
suspects, whose trial at the fourth division court martial was ongoing
at year's end.
On May 24, UPDF soldiers in Gulu District killed a civilian
identified as Dola in the Awach IDP camp. The UPDF claimed that Dola
was a drug addict who was killed trying to enter the camp at night
without identifying himself to the guards. No further action was taken
by year's end.
During the year the fifth division court martial charged Alex
Okullo, a member of the Local Defense Unit (LDU) militia in Kitgum
District, in the March 2005 killing of two civilians. Okullo was
released on bail; his case was transferred to the High Court in Gulu
and was pending at year's end.
In 2005 the fourth division court martial convicted UPDF Private
Tony Eremo of the March 31, 2005 killing of high school student Francis
Ocaya Okot. Eremo was charged by the fourth division Court martial and
convicted of manslaughter. Upon appeal, Eremo's case was transferred to
the High Court; the case was pending at year's end. In August 2005 UPDF
Privates Lazarus Avil Kwasigwee and Johnson Asiimwe killed businessman
Sam Abol in an alleged attempt to rob him. The fifth division court
martial convicted the two soldiers of robbery only and they were
serving their sentence in Lira Prison at year's end.
On January 2, the fourth division court martial in Gulu sentenced
UPDF Private Joel Lubangakene to death for the December 2005 killing of
18-year-old Ojok Ojara in Lalogi IDP Camp in Gulu District. Lubangakene
remained in prison at year's end. There were no developments in the
December 2005 UPDF killings case of seven civilians during a protest of
Ojara's murder.
Special police constables Joel Adrama and Dickson Anguyo, who beat
to death Zacharia Ocitia in June 2005, were awaiting trial at year's
end.
There were no developments in the August 2005 killing of suspected
robbers Edson Sajabi, Charles Mworozi, and Benon Kankirihoby during a
security force crackdown on criminals.
During the year security forces committed killings during
apprehension. For example, on April 24, police in Mbarara killed two
suspected armed robbers who had staged an illegal roadblock at
Nyamityobora forest on the Mbarara-Masaka highway. There were no
arrests made in the case by year's end.
On April 16, Joseph Mugenyi and Muwanguwa Matayo, police constables
at Wandegaya Police Station, were arrested for the April 15 killing of
a suspected drug dealer in Mulago. The Director of Public Prosecutions
(DPP) dropped charges against Mugenyi after findings by a DPP office
investigation exonerated him. Matayo was initially released shortly
after the arrest; however, the DPP investigation recommended that he be
re-arrested for the killing. Matayo was on the run at year's end.
Security forces were responsible for a number of deaths in custody,
some due to torture. On May 4, Abdu Semugenyi, arrested in April on
suspicion of being associated with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF)
rebels, was tortured to death in military custody in Kololo, a Kampala
suburb, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report. The UPDF denied
that Semugenyi was tortured and stated that he escaped from his
bodyguards and that his whereabouts were unknown.
On August 5, police in Kampala killed Masensio Edema after he
confessed his involvement in a July 31 bomb attack which resulted in
two deaths and several injuries. On August 23, the police stated that
Edema was killed while trying to escape police custody.
The trial of police officers Stephen Kasiba, Hannington Opio, and
Julius Oboch, who were charged with the January 2005 killing in custody
of Noah Katungi, was ongoing at year's end.
Investigations into the cause of the September 2005 death of John
Atwine, a key suspect in a high-profile killing, were ongoing at year's
end.
Police attempts to prevent mob lynchings resulted in deaths (see
Section 2.b.).
Security forces committed accidental killings during the year (see
Section 1.g.).
There were no developments in the February 2005 killing of Abdallah
Mumiro by police in Busia District.
During the year security forces killed numerous civilians during
anti-LRA operations and disarmament campaigns in the Karamoja region;
paramilitary forces were also responsible for killings (see Section
1.g.).
LRA attacks continued during the year and resulted in deaths (see
Section 1.g.).
Raids by armed cattle rustlers in Karamoja continued during the
year and resulted in deaths (see Section 1.g.).
Killings by rebel and terrorist groups, including a July 31 bomb
attack in Kampala allegedly carried out by the rebel group the People's
Redemption Army (PRA), resulted in deaths and injuries (see Section
1.g.).
The war in the north and violence in Karamoja resulted in
significant numbers of deaths due to interethnic violence (see Section
5).
Incidents of vigilante justice were reported frequently during the
year. There were numerous instances in which mobs beat, stoned, or
burned to death individuals suspected of committing crimes. On March 5,
residents of Te-Okole in Amuca Parish, Lira District, lynched four
robbers. No arrests were made by year's end.
On May 3, residents of Ndongwe village in Masaka District lynched
Herman Katende, a traditional healer over the death of Godfrey Kalanzi,
a resident who was killed on May 2. No arrests were made by year's end.
On June 22, the Magistrate's Court in Kampala District referred two
businessmen to trial in the High Court for killing a suspected thief in
2005. The suspects were awaiting trial at year's end.
There were no developments in the following 2005 mob killings: the
January killing of a rape suspect in Lira District, the May killing of
a suspected cannibal in Mukono District, and the June killing of a
thief in Kampala.
There were reports of the ritual killings of children during the
year (see Section 5).
b. Disappearance.--On May 22, Robert Mugyenyi, a member of the
opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), disappeared from
his home in Kiwatule, Kampala District. The police opened an
investigation; however, Mugyenyi's whereabouts remained unknown at
year's end.
There was no information on Otim Orach, who UPDF soldiers in Gulu
District arrested in March 2005. Orach allegedly was told that he would
not be released until he swore allegiance to President Museveni's
ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). The UPDF denied
any knowledge of Orach or the reported events.
In May 2005 police rescued Geoffrey Mwebase and two other persons
who were kidnapped by six armed men in military uniform. The suspects
were charged with kidnapping and they remained on remand in Simba
Prison, Masindi District at year's end.
Defense lawyers for Achikulo Abuko, Amir Yahaya, Kesia Yasin, and
Zacharia Obba, who were transferred from Luzira Prison to incommunicado
detention in another prison after being charged along with opposition
leader Kizza Besigye for treason in November 2005, met with their
clients during the year.
In July six of the 10 members of the opposition party Uganda
People's Congress arrested by the Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI)
in 2004 were released on bail; the remaining four were released without
charge in 2005.
There were no developments in the 2004 missing persons case of
James Kashaija.
At year's end Captain Robert Ruteinama, who was held in
incommunicado detention by the UPDF since 2003, was released.
According to the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the LRA and other
rebel groups have abducted approximately 38,000 persons since 1986;
however, LRA abductions decreased during the year after the LRA's
leadership was driven from the north by the UPDF. An estimated 205
persons were abducted since January. Unlike in previous years,
abductions typically were generally temporary in nature, and abductees
were used more frequently as porters for LRA supplies than as
combatants. However, some abductees continued to be trained as
guerillas (see Section 1.g.). In previous years, most victims were
children and young adults whom the LRA forced into slavery as laborers,
soldiers, guards, and sex slaves (see Sections 1.g. and 5).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were credible reports that security forces tortured and beat
suspects. Detainees died as a result of torture. Many of these
incidents occurred in unregistered detention facilities and were
intended to force confessions. The UHRC received approximately 246
complaints of torture during the year. The UHRC and other human rights
organizations conducted human rights training for the police and
military throughout the year.
In May 2005 the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) noted its
concern of continued allegations of torture in the country and the
apparent impunity of its perpetrators. Reports from human rights
organizations, including HRW and the Foundation for Human Rights
Initiative (FHRI), cited examples of torture such as caning, severe
beating, and inflicting pain to the genitals carried out by security
forces in previous years. Security units involved in torture included
the police, the UPDF, CMI, and the Violent Crime Crack Unit (VCCU); on
occasion, such torture resulted in death (see Section 1.a.).
On May 4, Abdu Semugenyi, arrested in April on suspicion of being
associated with the ADF rebels, died of injuries sustained during
torture (see Section 1.a.).
On January 8, Sergeant Gilbert Odong, a UPDF soldier attached to
Lawiye Adul detachment in Gulu District, used a burning jerry can to
inflict injuries on the breasts of Patricia Atim. No action was taken
against Odong by year's end.
On February 10, 12 UPDF soldiers at a security check point in
Nzaipi, Adjumani District, beat Juma Muwonge into unconsciousness.
Muwonge was taken to Lacor Hospital for treatment. There were no
arrests by year's end.
A June report by the UHRC implicated the army in acts of torture
against Karamojong during the ongoing disarmament exercise in the
region (see Section 1.g.).
On August 13, police in Arua District beat Dr. Joram Ajeani, the
country's former envoy to the DRC, during a security operation; Ajeani
claimed he was attempting to defend youths arrested in a sweep of the
Paradise night club in Arua town. On September 24, Ajeani filed a suit
against the police for torture; the case was ongoing at year's end.
Human rights groups reported that security forces and prison
officials raped persons in detention facilities during the year. There
were reports that UPDF soldiers raped persons, particularly in conflict
areas and in or near IDP camps (see Section 1.g.).
Security forces harassed, detained, and forcibly dispersed
opposition activist and student demonstrators (see Sections 1.d. and
2.b.).
The UHRC Tribunal made 44 rulings on torture cases received from
previous years. On March 14, the UHRC Tribunal District awarded
approximately $11,891 (22 million shillings) to Leo Busoke as
compensation for the illegal arrest and death by torture of his father,
Gabriel Byaruhanga. In 2003 Byaruhanga was arrested on allegations that
he was an ADF collaborator. On July 10, the UHRC Tribunal awarded
approximately $21,622 (40 million shillings) to Paul Kalyambwa as
compensation for having been tortured in 2003 by prison wardens while
in custody in Kasese District.
In August the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry reported
that the Government had paid approximately $14,054,000 (26 billion
shillings) to 470 individuals, but owed approximately $32,432,000 (60
billion shillings) in compensation to other torture victims.
There were no developments in the April 2005 case of UPDF Private
William Bisogo, who was arrested for inflicting torture.
The court martial of John Barigye Bakirahi and Peter Agom, UPDF
soldiers charged with spying for the Rwandan government who claimed
they were tortured throughout their detention in CMI custody, began in
May 2005 and was ongoing at year's end.
During the year civilians were killed, injured, and displaced as a
result of security force operations against the LRA (see Section 1.g.).
The LRA continued to commit numerous atrocities, including the
killing, torture, sexual abuse, and kidnapping of civilians, primarily
children. However, these abuses decreased as LRA forces moved outside
the country during the year (see Section 1.g.).
There were numerous instances in which mobs attacked suspected
thieves and other persons known or suspected to have committed crimes
(see Section 1.a). Motivated in part by distrust or misunderstanding of
the formal judicial system, these mobs engaged in beatings, lynchings,
and other forms of mistreatment.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and frequently life threatening, primarily as a result of the
Government's inadequate funding of prison facilities. In addition there
were several reports that security forces and guards tortured inmates.
Prison conditions came closest to meeting international standards
in Kampala, where prisons provided medical care, running water, and
sanitation; however, these prisons also were among the most
overcrowded. There were an estimated 18,300 inmates in the country's
central prisons, which was approximately three times their planned
capacity. Severe overcrowding also was a problem at juvenile detention
facilities and in women's wings of prisons. The remand home in Kampala,
designed for 45 persons, held 94 children. The reception center,
designed for 30 persons, held 62 juveniles under the age of 12. The
Community Service Act sought to reduce prison congestion by allowing
minor offenders to do community service in lieu of imprisonment. As a
result, 1,340 offenders were sentenced to community service during the
year. The UHRC noted improved conditions at central prisons during the
year, including cleaner and more structurally secure buildings, an
increase in uniforms for inmates, and adequate food rations. Although
the law provides for access to prisoners by their families, lack of
understanding of this right and fear of prison authorities often
limited family visits.
There were an estimated 7,000 inmates in the local prisons. Serious
concerns included incidents of torture, congestion, inadequate staff,
and lack of food, water, medical care, and bedding. Forced labor also
was reported in local government prisons. Security forces and prison
officials reportedly raped detainees during the year.
The UHRC reported allegations that prison officers sometimes
demanded bribes to allow visits; no investigations of these allegations
were conducted during the year. In 2005 the Government gave 59 senior
prison officers the powers of magistrates to try inmates and prison
staff suspected of committing offenses. No prison officials were tried
during the year.
Inmates at most prisons grew maize, millet, and vegetables;
however, the UHRC accused prison farms of overworking inmates, and
prisoners as young as 12-years-old performed manual labor from dawn
until dusk (see Section 6.c.).
Prisons were believed to have high mortality rates from
overcrowding, malnutrition, diseases spread by unsanitary conditions,
HIV/AIDS, and lack of medical care. On March 20, David Isabirye, a
student at Bupadhengo Secondary school, was found dead in a prison cell
in Kamuli District; the cause of death was unclear and no further
action was taken. On May 10, inmates died in a prison in Lira District
as a result of negligence by prison authorities; three others died of
HIV/AIDS related diseases. The Prisons Service registered 150 deaths
between January and June as a result of malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/
AIDS.
Female prisoners in central prisons were held in separate
facilities; however, conditions remained poor. Services and facilities
for female prisoners in local prisons, including separate cells, were
lacking.
Due to lack of space in juvenile facilities, juveniles often were
held in prisons with adults. In Kampala jails, pretrial detainees were
separated from convicted prisoners; however, in the rest of the
country, pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners sometimes were held
together.
On May 3, parliament passed the Prisons Bill 2003, which separates
the Prisons Service from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and provides
it with its own budget. The bill provides the central Prisons Service
with responsibility for local prisons, which have the harshest
conditions; provides for inspection of prisons and conformity to
minimum standard for treatment of prisoners; abolishes corporal
punishment in prisons; and allows free access to prisons by human
rights activists, magistrates, and judges.
During the year the Government permitted access to prisons by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); foreign diplomats; and
local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), principally FHRI; and the
Uganda Prisoners' Aid Foundation. The UHRC visited 136 places of
detention including central government and local government prisons and
police cells during the year. Prison authorities required advance
notification of visits, a process that was sometimes subject to
administrative delays.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit such practices; however, members of the security forces
arrested and detained citizens arbitrarily during the year.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force, under
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has the primary responsibility for
law enforcement and maintenance of order in the country. The UPDF is
the key security force and has partial responsibility for maintaining
order in the north, where it was deployed to protect civilian IDPs from
rebel attacks. The Internal Security Organization (ISO), under the
direct authority of the President, is a domestic intelligence-gathering
body. ISO personnel occasionally detained civilians. The External
Security Organization, which also reports to the President, also
gathers intelligence and occasionally detained civilians. The CMI,
under UPDF control, detained civilians suspected of rebel and terrorist
activity. LDUs reinforced government efforts to protect civilians from
LRA attacks. In some cases LDUs also participated in offensive military
operations and carried out police functions.
Security forces continued to be constrained by limited resources,
including low pay and lack of vehicles, equipment, and training.
Security forces committed numerous abuses, and impunity was a problem.
Police officials faced charges of bribery during the year; the police
commissioner for human resources reported that 49 members of the police
force were discharged or dismissed for accepting bribes. In conjunction
with the UHRC and international organizations such as the ICRC and the
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR), the UPDF
and the police continued a training program to educate military
officers on internationally recognized human rights standards. In
addition the police, UPDF, and the prisons service used human rights
manuals in their training programs. The UPDF made attempts to improve
relations between soldiers and civilians. The Police Human Rights Desk
investigated police abuses during the year and reported the following
complaints: mismanagement of case papers (205); torture and harassment
(46); unlawful arrest and detention (34); abuse of office (30);
irregular or discreditable conduct (30); corrupt practices (20);
indulging in civil matters (8); and sexual harassment (3). Of these,
176 were investigated during the year.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires search warrants be issued
by judges or prosecutors before arrests are made; however, in practice
suspects often were taken into custody without warrants. Despite a
provision that suspects must be charged within 48 hours of arrest, many
persons were detained longer without being charged. Suspects must be
brought to trial or released on bail within 120 days (360 days for a
capital offense); however, if the case is presented to the court before
the expiration of this period, there is no limit on pretrial detention.
Detainees must be informed immediately of the reasons for their
detention, although authorities did not always enforce these procedural
protections in practice. The law provides for bail at the discretion of
the judge but was not generally provided in practice.
Suspects must have access to a lawyer; however, there was no
provision ensuring family visitation. By law, indigent suspects are
provided a lawyer; however, this was not enforced in practice due to
resource constraints of the Government. Incommunicado detention was a
problem during the year.
The Antiterrorism Act permits suspects to be held for more than 48
hours without charge and states that persons convicted of terrorist
acts that ``directly result in the death of any person'' shall be
sentenced to death. In 2005 the UPDF general Court martial charged FDC
opposition leader Kizza Besigye and 22 other FDC members with terrorism
and possession of illegal arms under suspicion that they were members
of the PRA. The 23 suspects were simultaneously facing similar charges
of treason in the High Court. Besigye and five codefendants filed a
petition with the Constitutional Court claiming the court martial was
unconstitutional for subjecting suspects to criminal proceedings in two
courts on similar charges. The petition also claimed that the court
martial exceeded its powers by charging the suspects, since the court
martial is a subordinate court to the High Court. On January 31, the
Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the accused on the first claim
but did not answer the second claim. The accused later filed an appeal
with the Supreme Court to clarify a ruling on the outstanding issue of
court powers. By year's end, the Supreme Court had not ruled on the
appeal.
On February 14, the court martial dropped the charges against
Besigye; however, it defied the Constitutional Court's ruling and
proceeded with hearings in the case against the remaining 22 suspects.
On June 2, the court martial dropped the terrorism charges against all
the suspects; however, the charges of unlawful possession of firearms
were preserved. The suspects appeared in court on July 10 and remained
in jail at year's end.
Security forces arbitrarily arrested political activists during the
year. On February 21, the police force's Criminal Investigations
Department (CID) in Kampala briefly detained Yusuf Nsibambi, one of
Besigye's lawyers, for allegedly inciting violence. On February 10,
while addressing a press conference at FDC offices in Kampala, Nsibambi
was reported to have told FDC supporters to ignore police summons and
to resist arrest. He was released the same day.
On March 16, security forces in Mbarara arrested and detained
Private Alan Barigye, a UPDF soldier, on charges of desertion; on March
15, Barigye signed an affidavit in defense of Besigye's Presidential
election petition. Barigye remained in CMI custody at year's end.
Police arrested journalists during the year (see Section 2.a.).
On January 9, police in Kampala released Muwanga Kivumbi, the
national coordinator of Popular Resistance Against Life Presidency, on
bail after he was interrogated for seditious remarks he made at an
opposition Democratic Party rally in Soroti in December 2005. Kivumbi
was alleged to have called President Museveni a liar and a conman. The
case was pending at year's end.
On February 4, Joseph Agupio, a former Arua District mobilizer for
Kizza Besigye's campaign, was released after being detained since
February 2005.
Otim Orach, who UPDF soldiers in Gulu District arrested in March
2005, remained missing at year's end (see Section 1.b.).
On January 3, the court acquitted Members of Parliament (MPs)
Ronald Reagan Okumu and Michael Ocula, as well as Stephen Otim, for the
2002 killing of Alfred Bongomin, a former local government chairman of
Pabbo subcounty in Gulu District; the three were arrested in March and
April 2005.
On August 25, Christopher Turyarugayo, who was arrested in March
2005 for wearing an opposition T-shirt, appeared in court. In April
2005 Turyarugayo was accused of being a member of the PRA, charged with
treason, and later released on bail. There were no further developments
in the case by year's end.
On March 7, the High Court acquitted FDC opposition leader Kizza
Besigye of a rape charge originating in 1997. On March 20, the
Government filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the High
Court's decision. The appeal was pending at year's end.
Mass arrests during police sweeps for criminals remained a problem.
On July 19, police in Mubende District arrested 110 suspected criminals
following complaints by residents in the area. On August 6, in two
separate operations, police in Iganga District arrested 142 persons
suspected of robbery and prostitution.
Prisons authorities reported that no detainees remained in prison
from 2005 mass arrests by year's end.
During the year the UHRC received 144 complaints from persons
claiming to have been arbitrarily arrested. The UHRC tribunal confirmed
that 25 of the complaints were cases of arbitrary arrest and awarded
compensation; the Government made no disbursements during the year.
There were reports of political detainees, and the Government
continued to arrest persons for treason. The FDC claimed that
approximately 29 supporters were arrested during the year for political
reasons. In 2005 the ICRC registered approximately 200 detainees held
for offenses against the security of the state. The Government
permitted access to political detainees by international humanitarian
organizations.
The Government continued to make arrests based on treason charges.
Treason suspects were subjected to numerous abuses, such as detention
without charge, detention in unregistered and unofficial locations, and
mistreatment, including torture (see Section 1.c.). The Prison Service
held 38 pretrial treason suspects and five prisoners convicted of
treason during the year.
On March 20, a court in Kampala released Emmanuel Turyahikayo, a
treason suspect, on bail; Turyahikayo was arrested in March 2005.
On May 24, a court in Kampala charged Azia Turigye, Hassan Isigoma,
and Bashir Mustafa with treason and remanded them to Luzira Prison. The
prosecution alleged that the suspects plotted to overthrow the
Government in Bugiri, Mbarara, Bundibugyo, Kasese, and Mbrarara
districts by providing intelligence information to ADF rebels since
January 2004.
On June 22, a court in Kampala released Patrick Ssentongo, a
treason suspect, on bail after he was detained for three weeks.
On January 2, opposition leader Kizza Besigye was released on bail;
the other 22 suspects arrested with Besigye in 2004 remained in jail.
In November 2005 authorities charged Besigye and the 22 others with
treason as members of the PRA. The High Court granted bail to 15 of the
accused, including Besigye, but the military forced all of them to
remain in prison. On February 15, the High Court ordered that the
remaining PRA suspects should be released on bail, as the bail granted
in November 2005 was still valid. However, prison authorities re-
arrested the suspects in defiance of the High Court. In 2005 the
Attorney General filed a petition with the Constitutional Court
challenging the decision to grant bail for Besigye. On September 25,
the Constitutional Court ruled that the courts of judicature have
discretion to grant or not to grant bail, upholding Besigye's release.
On April 4, the treason trial of the suspects, including Besigye,
began. On May 18, the trial was halted following a May 15 petition
filed by defense lawyers challenging the constitutionality of the
continued detention of the 22 PRA suspects after they had been granted
bail. On October 17, the Constitutional Court ruled that former rebels
were free to testify against the defendants in the case.
On June 1, authorities released Patrick Ochola, Johnson Otim, and
Sula Serumbi; the three, who were arrested in 2004 for allegedly
plotting to overthrow the Government, were members of the unregistered
political party Citizen Multiparty Democracy.
In August 2005 the High Court granted bail to 12 persons charged
with treason for collaborating with the PRA. The suspects had been
detained since 2003. There were no further developments in the case.
Legal and human rights groups criticized the excessive length of
detention prior to trial, which in many cases amounted to several
years; such lengthy pretrial detentions both violated the
constitutional rights of the detainees and contributed substantially to
prison overcrowding (see Section 1.c.). The average time in pretrial
detention was between two and three years, but could be as long as
seven years. The Prisons Service reported that out of 19,317 inmates
being held during the year, 10,933 were pretrial detainees. The UHRC
heard several cases brought by prisoners challenging the length of
their detention.
Human rights groups reported that civilians were detained in
military barracks and unregistered detention facilities known as safe
houses. There were credible allegations that the CMI ordered detainees
held incommunicado at police stations or in so-called safe houses.
During the year NGOs reported allegations of unlawful detentions by
the VCCU. A June article in the Red Pepper tabloid stated that five men
detained at VCCU headquarters since their July 2005 arrest sued the
inspector general of police for unlawful arrest. The Attorney General's
office stated that they had no record of the case.
Amnesty.--The Government has offered a blanket amnesty to former
combatants for treason charges since 2000 as a means to induce
defection and surrender of LRA rebels and members of other rebel
groups. In July the Amnesty Commission reported that 21,435 persons
benefited from the amnesty law since its implementation in 2000. Of
this number, 11,981 were from the LRA, 4,265 from the West Nile Bank
Front, 3,111 from the Uganda National Rescue Front-II, 1,795 from the
ADF, and 766 from other rebel groups.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice; however, the President has extensive legal
powers of judicial appointment. The President appoints Supreme Court,
High Court, and Court of Appeal judges with the approval of parliament.
The President also nominates, for the approval of parliament, members
of the Judicial Service Commission, who make recommendations on
appointments to the judiciary. The judiciary ruled against the
Government on several high-profile cases during the year; however,
judicial corruption was a common problem. The lower courts remained
understaffed, weak, and inefficient.
The highest court is the Supreme Court, followed by the Court of
Appeal, which also functions as the Constitutional Court; the High
Court; the Chief Magistrate's Court; Local Council (LC) Subcounty
Courts, LC parish courts; and LC village courts.
The Constitutional Court ruled against the Government on several
cases during the year, including a February 17 decision that dismissed
a petition filed by the Attorney General to annul Kizza Besigye's
Presidential candidacy in the February 23 elections.
The LC Courts have the authority to settle civil disputes,
including land ownership and debt cases, and criminal cases involving
children. These courts, often the only ones available to villagers,
reportedly exceeded their authority by hearing criminal cases not
involving children. LC Court decisions can be appealed to Magistrate's
Courts; however, there often were no records made at the village level,
and some defendants were not aware of their right to appeal.
On June 6, parliament passed the Local Council Courts Act 2006 to
expand the administration of justice at the local level; to define the
jurisdiction, powers, and procedure of the established courts; and to
provide for other related matters.
Trial Procedures.--An inadequate system of judicial administration
and a lack of resources resulted in a serious backlog of cases and
limited the right to a fair trial. All nonmilitary trials are public,
but without juries. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney in a timely manner. The law requires that the
Government provide an attorney for indigent defendants accused of
capital offenses, but there rarely was enough money to retain adequate
counsel. By law defendants can confront or question witnesses against
them and present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants and
their attorneys have limited access to government-held evidence
relevant to their cases. There is a presumption of innocence, and
defendants have the right of appeal.
Specialized courts also exist. The Industrial Court adjudicates
labor disputes. Commercial Courts resolve commercial disputes; they
have significantly improved commercial justice and reduced case
backlogs.
The military court system often did not assure the right to a fair
trial. Although the accused has the right to legal counsel, some
military defense attorneys were untrained and could be assigned by the
military command, which also appoints the prosecutor and the
adjudicating officer. The law establishes a court martial appeals
process; however, a sentence passed by a military court, including the
death penalty, could be appealed only to the senior leadership of the
UPDF. Under circumstances deemed exigent, a field court martial could
be convened at the scene of the crime. The law does not permit appeal
of a conviction under a field court martial. The military general court
martial can try civilians charged with crimes listed under the UPDF
Act.
On August 31, Brigadier Henry Tumukunde, the former director of the
ISO, was released from military detention but restricted to his home
for violating army rules and regulations; in 2005 Tumukunde said he
would not join President Museveni's political party after retirement
and he claimed that he had been prevented from retiring from the army.
The case was on going at year's end.
The VCCU arrested 679 suspects on various counts during the year,
including aggravated robbery, killing, illegal possession of firearms,
and desertion. The VCCU referred 139 civilian suspects found in
possession of military property to military courts for trial. In
addition the unit referred 310 suspects to civil courts and released
230 persons after investigations exonerated them.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were reports of political
prisoners and detainees during the year.
Bright Gabula Africa, whose death sentence for treason was upheld
by the Supreme Court in 1995, remained imprisoned pending the outcome
of his appeal to the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, a
largely autonomous constitutional body. Gabula Africa was visited by
international humanitarian groups during the year.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. In the case of a human rights
violation, there is access to the UHRC, which has the powers of a court
under the constitution. These powers include the authority to order the
release of detainees, payment of compensation to victims, and other
legal remedies.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions. At times the
police did not obtain search warrants, as required by law, to enter
private homes and offices. There were no developments in the July 2005
case of the illegal search and seizure of the home of Juliet Mukasa, a
women's rights activist and chairperson of the NGO Sexual Minorities In
Uganda, by local government officials.
The Antiterrorism Act authorizes certain law enforcement officials
to intercept communication to detect and prevent terrorist activities.
There were reports of such interceptions during the year.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government punished family members of suspected criminals and political
opposition members.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Human rights groups reported that there was marked improvement in the
UPDF's respect for human rights and its prosecution of violators of
human rights during the year; however, serious problems remained,
particularly in the LDUs. Security forces tortured and killed civilians
suspected of collaborating with the LRA and raped women and girls.
Security forces sometimes changed engagement tactics to reduce the
numbers of civilian casualties incurred during operations in the
northern and eastern parts of the country; however, security forces
killed and injured numerous civilians, including noncombatant children
during the year.
On June 1, UPDF soldiers in Gulu District killed two civilians at
Pabwo parish in Bungatira subcounty. A suspect was arrested and was
being tried by the fourth division Court martial at year's end.
On August 16, a UPDF patrol unit in Kitgum District killed Samuel
Odida Opira, the LC one chairman of Paibwor East Ward, in Labuje IDP
camp. The August 18 New Vision newspaper quoted Lieutenant Chris
Magezi, the UPDF's spokesperson for operations in the north, as saying
that Opira was killed when he failed to identify himself to patrolling
forces. No further information was available at year's end.
On May 21, eight members of the Amuka LDU militia in Lira District
killed 12 civilians and injured 28 others in the Ogwete IDP camp. The
UPDF initially said the civilians were killed during an exchange with
LRA rebels and that the militia was trying to protect the camp;
however, in June the fourth division court martial sentenced five of
the militiamen to four years in prison and dismissed them from service.
Sergeant Benson Opio, the LDU detachment commander, was sentenced to
one year imprisonment. One of the militia members was killed evading
arrest, and the whereabouts of the remaining suspect were unknown at
year's end.
Security forces mistakenly killed civilians believed to be LRA
rebels during the year. On January 14, a UPDF patrol unit in Gulu
District mistakenly killed three hunters in Lakwatomer, Omoro County;
the unit claimed it had mistaken the hunters for LRA rebels. In January
UPDF soldiers in Lira District killed Samuel Abor and Charles Odong,
residents of Aromo IDP camp, after they mistook them for LRA rebels.
The suspects in the April 2005 killings of two female residents of
Pajule IDP camp were being tried by the fifth division Court martial at
year's end.
During the year the suspects in the April 2005 killings of five
female IDPs in Kitgum District were convicted of murder, dismissed with
disgrace from the army, and were serving their sentences at year's end.
The UPDF continued to search for the UPDF soldier who killed Ben
Oketta and his wife Donica Ajok as they worked in their garden at Olwal
IDP camp in August 2005. The soldier has been at large since the
incident.
There were no developments in the February 2005 torture of a farmer
by UPDF soldiers, who caned the farmer and pulled on his testicles with
a rope; the farmer was suspected of collaborating with the LRA.
Security forces were implicated in reports of rape and sexual
violence against women and girls. In some instances, perpetrators were
arrested after victims complained. However, most incidents went
unpunished. Human rights groups reported that many cases were not filed
due to victims' fear of repercussion, social stigma in their
communities, and distrust of the legal process.
The four LDU soldiers arrested and charged for the March 2005 rape
of four women in an IDP camp in Kitgum District were serving their
sentence at year's end.
There were no developments in the May 2005 rape of two girls by
four UPDF soldiers in Kumi District.
On April 5, the High Court in Arua awarded approximately $44,000
(82 million shillings) to two Acholi girls who were raped by UPDF
soldiers at Awere IDP camp in 2002.
On February 2, the army released a 2003 05 report on action taken
against human rights violations by UPDF in the north. The report
indicated that the army court martial tried and convicted seven
soldiers for rape.
On June 16, Voice of America radio quoted Radhika Coomaraswamy, the
UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, as stating
that an estimated 5,000 children are serving in the armed forces in
violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The Government denied
recruitment of children in the army.
There were credible reports that security forces and some
government officials provided material support to armed groups
operating in the eastern DRC. Militia fighting resulted in the deaths
of hundreds of civilians in the DRC.
The UPDF drove the majority of LRA combatants out of the country
during the year, and the security situation in the north significantly
improved, allowing thousands of internally-displaced persons to return
to or near their homes of origin. On August 26, the Government and the
LRA agreed to a cessation of hostilities under which the LRA agreed to
assemble at designated points in southern Sudan while peace
negotiations continued. On December 16, the Government and the rebels
extended a cessation of hostilities until February 2007. Sporadic LRA
activity occurred during the early part of the year, including attacks
on private homes, schools, and IDP camps in which persons were killed,
injured, raped, or abducted. During the year LRA attacks resulted in
the deaths of numerous persons, including children, injuries, and the
destruction of homes and property, but at a significantly lower level
than in previous years. There were no reported abductions since August.
On January 7, four civilians were killed and several others injured
when LRA rebels attacked civilians attending a disco in Nzaipi area in
Adjumani town, Adjumani District.
On February 13, six civilians were killed during an attack by
suspected LRA rebels in Alito subcounty, Apac District.
On April 5, four hunters were killed by suspected LRA rebels at
Opijo in Okidi parish in Atiak, Gulu District.
On April 23, LRA rebels abducted five civilians from Amwa Teduka in
Adel parish, Apac District.
On June 27, LRA rebels abducted three people when they raided
Marindi parish in Adjumani District.
On August 10, LRA rebels foraging for food abducted two people from
Ngukedi village in Pader District. The whereabouts of the captives
remained unknown.
No legal action was taken against LRA rebels who were responsible
for numerous killings in 2005 and 2004.
During the war, the LRA abducted hundreds of civilians for training
as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults whom the LRA
forced into virtual slavery as laborers, soldiers, guards, and sex
slaves (see Section 5).
On July 24, Minister of State for Disaster Preparedness and
Refugees and Coordinator of the Arrow Boys militia Musa Ecweru stated
in the Weekly Message newsletter that more than 2,000 children were
still missing from Teso region since the LRA's invasion of the area in
2004.
The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja region intensified during the
year; inter-clan cattle raids between Karamojong tribes in the eastern
subregion increased and the Government's forced disarmament campaign
continued. Raids by armed Karamojong warriors in Katakwi, Kotido,
Bukwa, and Kapchorwa districts and the response by the UPDF resulted in
approximately 1,448 deaths since 2003, including an estimated 459
during the year according to the Conflict Early Warning and Early
Response Network (CEWARN). These exchanges caused the deaths of
warriors, civilians, and security forces, and incidents of abuse
resulted in the displacement of an estimated 2,425 persons to IDP
camps. According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), the violence
impacted food security leaving 500,000 Karamojong displaced as result
of drought. The Government's mandatory disarmament program for Karamoja
continued during the year along with negotiations for a Karamojong-led
solution. The UPDF and the police continued efforts to improve security
conditions by arresting cattle rustlers and attempting to prevent
cross-border incursions.
On May 4, UPDF forces in Nakapiripirit District killed four
warriors during the ``cordon and search'' operations in the ongoing
forceful disarmament exercise in the region. The UPDF denied the
incident, stating that the army did not register any operation in
Nakapiripirit. Three UPDF soldiers were reportedly killed in the
exchange.
Clashes between Karamojong warriors and the UPDF continued to cause
civilians in the region to remain in and seek out IDP camps (see
Section 2.d.). Unlike in previous years, the Karamojong IDPs received
assistance from the Government and aid agencies including the WFP;
however, international humanitarian organizations and human rights
groups reported that the standard of living for these IDPs worsened
during the year.
Ethnic Karamojong warriors killed civilians and security forces
during the year. On January 16, suspected Bakora Karamojong warriors in
Nakapiripirit District killed five herdsmen and stole more than 600
cattle and 70 goats in two raids in the district. There were no
developments in the case at year's end.
On March 11, ethnic Pokot warriors from Kenya killed 20 persons
including six UPDF soldiers during a cross-border raid. The suspects
escaped back across the Uganda-Kenya border. The Government was in
negotiations with the Government of Kenya to pursue the suspects at
year's end.
On May 19, Karamojong warriors in Nakapiripirit District killed
three UPDF soldiers and injured six people during an ambush on a
military vehicle. There were no developments in the case at year's end.
On July 21, suspected Karamojong warriors killed three civilians in
Lira District. There were no developments in the case at year's end.
There were no developments in the 2005 cases of ethnic Pokot
warriors' killing of civilians and police officers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at
times restricted these rights. In addition the law criminalizes
offenses committed by the media and limited the media's ability to
function effectively. The Government at times harassed and intimidated
journalists. Journalists continued to practice self-censorship.
At times the Government attempted to impede criticism through
detention and interrogation of politicians who made public comments
critical of the Government. For example, on January 3, police in
Rukungiri interrogated Ingrid Turinawe, the FDC's secretary for women's
affairs, about remarks she made against the Government on the local
radio in November 2005.
On January 5, Ken Lukyamuzi, President of the Conservative Party,
was interrogated at CID for allegedly stating in December 2005 that
there would be war if President Museveni was re-elected.
On February 14, police in Kampala interrogated Reagan Okumu, MP for
Aswa County in Gulu District, for stating that President Museveni
wanted to sell land belonging to the Acholi people.
In February 2004 the Uganda Law Council upheld the regulation
prohibiting lawyers from making public statements on legal matters that
were before the court; however, the ban continued to be widely
disregarded without penalty.
The independent media were generally active and expressed a wide
variety of views. There were many privately owned publications and
broadcasts. The Daily Monitor, the country's largest independent daily
newspaper, consistently criticized the Government. The Weekly Observer,
an independent journal, continued to publish critical pieces despite
the Government's pursuit of a case against an Observer editor and
reporter. The East African, a Kenya-based weekly publication that
provided extensive reporting on the country, continued to circulate
without government hindrance.
The international media faced new accreditation regulations for
foreign journalists, including vetting by the newly-established
government Media Center; a new regulation restricting in-country travel
by international journalists was rescinded soon after it was
promulgated. NGOs and opposition figures claimed the regulations still
in place delayed the process of accreditation for foreign journalists.
The New Vision, a government-owned daily newspaper, sometimes
included reporting that was critical of the Government.
The Government continued to operate the only public radio and
television stations whose reporting was not considered to be
independent. Government-controlled media provided more coverage of
President Museveni's reelection campaign than his opponents'. The
Uganda Journalist Safety Committee reported that during the week of
February 9 15, in the run-up to the elections, electronic media devoted
43 percent of overall election coverage to President Museveni versus
six percent to opposition candidate Kizza Besigye.
Independent radio stations that hosted opposition political
candidates on talk shows in which critical statements were made against
the Government or the military were sometimes subject to government
interference. On March 13, the Government's Broadcasting Council shut
down Choice FM radio station in Gulu, accusing the station of
``violating minimum broadcasting standards,'' citing a section of the
Electronic Media Act that bars programs ``likely to cause public
insecurity or violence.'' On March 14, Choice FM issued a press release
alleging acts of intimidation by the police and the UPDF prior to the
station's closure. The Broadcasting Council ordered Choice FM to pay a
fine, and the station was reopened on July 28.
In November 2004 Minister of Information James Nsaba Buturo
instructed the Broadcasting Council to revoke the licenses of those
stations that ``abuse the President or use offensive language and fail
to correct the behavior.'' Buturo also announced that no additional
licenses would be issued for stations seeking to broadcast in Kampala;
in 2003 the Broadcasting Council proposed regulations that would limit
the number of FM radio stations, allegedly to prevent overburdening the
airwaves and adversely affecting the quality of broadcasting. Critics
charged that the restrictions targeted independent radio, which was the
primary news source for 80 percent of the population. While the ban on
new radio stations, which was widely disregarded in practice without
penalty, was lifted this year for upcountry radio stations, it still
holds for Kampala.
Security forces arrested and harassed journalists who criticized
the Government during year. On February 1, police in Lira District
arrested four journalists working with Radio Unity for allegedly airing
programs which discouraged people in the north from attending the
January 31 campaign rallies in support of President Museveni. The
journalists were later released without charge.
On March 9, Canadian freelance journalist Blake Lambert was denied
re-entry to the country following a visit to South Africa. Lambert's
international reporting and his domestic radio commentary included
criticism of the Government; the Government gave no official reason for
the entry denial.
On March 13, police in Kampala detained Arinaitwe Rugyendo and
Nathan Obore of the Red Pepper tabloid for publishing a leaked cabinet
list. The two were later released without charge.
On March 20, police raided Open Gate FM in Mbale. They subsequently
confiscated computers and arrested David Opio and Ongole Manase for
failure to record a March 18 talk show in which Nathan Mafabi Nandala,
MP and senior leader of the FDC, made statements critical of the
Government. The two employees were later released on bail, and the
computers were returned. There were no further developments at year's
end.
On July 13, the Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) received a
certificate of registration allowing it to operate as a trade union
after more than a decade of seeking approval by the Ministry of Gender,
Labor, and Social Development. Registration allows the UJU to advocate
for the rights of journalists at places of work.
There were no developments in the September 2005 incident where
Major General Kahinda Otafiire, then minister of water, lands, and
environment, pointed a gun at Mike Odongkara, a photojournalist with
the Daily Monitor.
The Government restricted media content during the year. On June 8,
the court martial in Mbarara banned media coverage of a case in which
Major Noel Niwe Drago, a UPDF officer, allegedly gave classified
information about the army to the FDC during the February Presidential
elections. On the same day, Ruth Nabasa, a magistrate in Mbarara,
banned journalists from taking photographs in the High Court.
The 2005 ban on media coverage of the trial of opposition leader
Kizza Besigye continued; however in practice the ban was widely
disregarded without penalty.
Media laws require that journalists be licensed and meet certain
standards, such as possessing a university degree in journalism or the
equivalent. A 1994 law also provides for a Media Council with the power
to suspend newspapers and deny journalists access to state information.
Some journalists noted that government intimidation resulted in
journalistic self-censorship.
The Government used libel laws to suppress criticism of political
leaders. On January 24, the Magistrate's Court in Kampala charged
Winnie Byanyima, wife of the leader of the FDC, and Jack Sabiiti, FDC
national treasurer, with libel and providing false information;
Byanyima and Sabiiti had alleged in December 2005 that the Government
paid Deputy Chief Justice Latecia Kikonyongo and Justice of the High
Court Remmy Kasule approximately $162,150 (300 million shillings) to
keep Besigye in prison. The libel trial began on February 14 and was
ongoing at year's end.
During the year the Government arrested critical journalists and
banned newspaper content, citing national security. For example, on
March 3, police in Gulu arrested Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, a journalist
with Choice FM Radio, after the station broadcast a program on February
28 that the Government deemed seditious and a threat to security. The
journalist was later released.
On June 23, police in Kampala interrogated Joachim Buwembo, a
journalist with the Daily Monitor, for promoting sectarianism.
On December 8, the Daily Monitor newspaper was served with an order
filed by Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya and signed by the High Court
registrar, to refrain from publishing a series of articles chronicling
the history of the country's security services; the High Court
temporarily permitted the paper to resume the series, allowing the
publication of only unclassified material, until the case is heard. The
case was ongoing at year's end.
In August 2005 President Museveni threatened to arrest journalists
that irresponsibly disregarded national security interests in the
course of their reporting and close any press organization that
threatened the country's national security. The Minister of State for
Information, James Buturo, told journalists that even when facts were
true, their reporting must be informed by an imperative to preserve
national interests.
In June 2005 the Daily Monitor's then-political editor Andrew
Mwenda was questioned by police in connection with an article alleging
that President Museveni had not protested comments made in his presence
criticizing members of the Bairu ethnic group. Police said the article
could ``create ethnic discontent,'' but did not bring further charges
against Mwenda at that time. In August 2005, the Broadcasting Council
closed KFM radio station on grounds that it breached a national
security provision in the electronic media law after Mwenda, who was
also a KFM talk show host, made comments critical of the Government and
the President's handling of the helicopter crash that killed Sudanese
Vice President John Garang. Mwenda was subsequently arrested and jailed
for several days before being released on bail. The council later
reopened the station but ordered that the producer of Mwenda's talk
show, Angelo Izama, be fired. Mwenda later left the country and Izama
took over as one of the hosts of the show. Mwenda was charged in the
Magistrate's Court on 15 counts of sedition and promoting sectarianism,
the latter referring to the 2005 Daily Monitor article. Mwenda's
lawyers applied for a stay of execution in order to file a petition in
the Constitutional Court, declaring that the two laws that were the
basis for the charges were unconstitutional. While still abroad, Mwenda
continued to await trial at year's end.
At year's end the December 2005 government suit against the chief
editor and a staff reporter of the independent Weekly Observer
newspaper for publishing material of a sectarian nature was on hold
pending the outcome of a petition entered in the Constitutional Court
in the Mwenda case. A December 2005 article reported that FDC party
members believed that President Museveni and a small group of army
generals from the President's Bahima ethnic group had conspired to keep
opposition leader Kizza Besigye in jail.
An out of court settlement was reached in the 2005 case against the
Weekly Observer editor and two journalists. The UPDF had sought an
injunction against the publication of information about the existence
of ``ghost soldiers'' in the army because it was deemed prejudicial to
the security of the state; it was agreed that no additional stories
would be published.
Internet Freedom.--Individuals and groups could generally engage in
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by
electronic mail; however, at times the Government restricted access. On
February 13, the Government directed Uganda Telecom to block access to
radiokatwe.com, a website that published antigovernment gossip. NGOS
and opposition figures alleged that the move reflected a crackdown on
Internet freedom.
Access to the Internet increased during the year. However, access
for the majority of the population remained constrained due to high
costs of equipment and subscriber fees and a lack of user education.
Approximately 5 percent of the population used it monthly and 56 of the
country's 80 districts were equipped with Internet capabilities after a
public-private partnership began in September 2005.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom; however, the Government censored
cultural events during the year.
In May the Media Council halted a screening of a documentary about
the play ``Vagina Monologues,'' which the Media Council banned in
February 2005 on the grounds that it promoted ``unnatural sex acts,
homosexuality, and prostitution.'' The cabinet also endorsed the ban
the next day.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law restricts freedom of assembly for unregistered
political groups and parties. For groups legally authorized to operate,
permits were not required for public meetings; however, groups were
required to notify the police prior to such gatherings. Police denied
permission to hold public rallies and forcibly dispersed demonstrations
during the year. Police attempts to prevent mob lynchings resulted in
deaths. For example, on July 4, police in Luwero District killed a
resident and injured several others while they were dispersing a mob
that raided Wobulenzi police post in an effort to lynch a murder
suspect. No arrests were made by year's end.
On August 7, Benson Atwai, special police constable in Apac
District, killed Jimmy Opio while attempting to disperse a crowd that
tried to lynch a man accused of witchcraft. No arrests were made by
year's end.
Police forcibly dispersed student demonstrators during the year.
For example, on November 7, police in Kampala arrested 45 students
during a Makerere University lecturers' strike, which began on November
4. On November 8, the students were charged with taking part in an
illegal riot; all were released on bail on November 10. The case was
ongoing at year's end (see Section 6.b.). On July 25, police in Pader
District shot and injured three students of Pajule Technical College
when they tried to disperse a student demonstration. There were no
reports of an investigation by year's end.
No action was taken against police responsible for injuring
protestors during forcible dispersions of demonstrators in 2005. Trials
were pending at year's end for demonstrators charged with illegal
assembly in March, June, and November 2005.
The November 2005 ban on demonstrations related to Besigye's trial
remained in effect.
In July 2005 the court dismissed the case against 17 activists from
the Popular Resistance to a Life Presidency for attempting to hold an
illegal assembly in Kyotera, Masaka District.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association and, unlike in the previous year, the Government generally
respected these rights.
On April 7, parliament passed the NGO Registration (Amendment) Act.
The law requires NGOs, including religious organizations, to renew
their registration permits annually unless they are registered under
the Trustees Incorporation Act or the Companies Act. NGOs raised
concerns that the new law would impede their ability to operate
effectively.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice with some minor restrictions. The law requires religious
groups and foreign missionaries to register with the Government;
failure to register is a criminal offense.
Bans against nighttime prayer meetings by evangelical churches,
reportedly for security and noise abatement reasons, were still in
effect in residential areas of several districts during the year.
On August 1, the Supreme Court in Kampala dismissed an appeal filed
in March 2005 by members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church seeking a
ban on weekend classes at Makerere University. The seven-man panel held
that the university's policy was ``rational, fair, and proportional.''
During the year there were no reports of violence by the Government
or its agents against religious groups, leaders, or individual members.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that local
government took any new actions to restrict operation of religious
organizations for reasons of security. National government policy did
not include restrictions.
The Government continued to refuse registration to the World Last
Message Warning Church due to continuing suspicions arising from the
killings of more than 1,000 citizens in Kanungu in 2000. There were
some reports that the Government refused to grant registration to other
self-proclaimed religious groups on the grounds that the groups were
not legitimate religious organizations. Several religious groups that
were shut down by police as suspected ``cults'' in previous years
remained inactive at year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of religiously-
motivated arrests.
On February 25, the six suspects charged with the March 2004
killings of two missionaries escaped from prison and fled.
The two Muslim religious leaders and five other suspects arrested
on treason charges in 2004 were convicted of treason and serving their
prison sentenced at year's end.
Muslims occupied positions of authority in local and central
government; however, some Muslim leaders claimed that the number of
positions did not reflect their percentage of the population. President
Museveni appointed six Muslim ministers to his cabinet during the year,
in comparison to three in 2005.
No action was taken against LRA rebels responsible for killing,
injuring, and abducting religious workers in 2004.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were generally amicable
relations between religions in society during the year. However, there
were reports of evangelical Christian groups who accused each other of
practicing witchcraft.
The Jewish community represents less than 1 percent of the
population. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, the Government at times limited them in
practice. A married woman must obtain her husband's written permission
on her passport application if children are to be listed on her
passport. There were reports that government agents blocked the travel
of opposition party members. On April 22, police in Kampala stopped
Kizza Besigye from visiting Owino Market in Kampala, citing security
concerns. Besigye was required to seek court authorization to travel
abroad while facing treason charges.
There was no information on whether the law permits or prohibits
forced exile. However, the Government did not use forced exile during
the year.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Continued attacks by the LRA
and Karamojong warriors caused many ethnic Acholis and Iteso to leave
their homes for urban centers, IDP camps, and villages guarded by the
UPDF and LDUs (see Section 1.g.). According to the UN Office of the
Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, there were more than 1.5 million
registered IDPs as a result of this violence. At year's end the number
of IDPs per affected district in the north was: Amuru, 368,238; Gulu,
320,232; Kitgum, 305,525; Pader, 415,164; Lira, 184,374; and Apac/Oyam,
128,190. During the year, an estimated 2,425 Karamojong were displaced
as a result of the UPDF/Karamojong clashes related to forced
disarmament. According WFP, another 500,000 Karamojong have been
displaced due to drought.
UPDF soldiers reportedly raped women and girls, and security forces
detained and mistreated suspected LRA collaborators in the camps (see
Section 1.g). In November the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
reported incidents of inhuman and degrading treatment during the on-
going forced disarmament exercise in Karamoja, including rape of the
Karamojong by the UPDF.
The Government had not clearly articulated a position on the
movement of IDPs by year's end; however, in practice IDP movement was
restricted. In previous years security forces severely restricted
freedom of movement for IDPs and imposed nighttime curfews on many
camps. Spokespersons for the Government have stated the Government's
commitment to protecting freedom of movement and relaxed some past
restrictions on the movement of IDPs as the security situation in the
north improved.
During the year, the LRA killed and injured persons during attacks
on IDP camps (see Section 1.g.). In the north security forces continued
their policy of maintaining UPDF detachments at IDP camps as a means of
protecting civilians and denying support to the LRA.
During the year there were reports of attacks by Karamojong
warriors on IDPs in Pader and Kitgum districts.
Although the Government and domestic and international humanitarian
organizations provided assistance to the estimated 230 IDP camps in the
north, health and living conditions remained precarious. A June 2
UNICEF report stated that despite improved security in the north, most
IDPs, particularly women and children, were deprived of access to
education, basic health care, safe water, protection, and shelter.
However, as the security situation in the northern districts improved
during the year, IDPs increasingly traveled outside the camps to farm,
hunt, and gather wood and water (see Section 1.g.). During the year the
Government approved a plan to assist returnees and worked with the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the other international
organizations to prepare IDPs to return to their home areas. In Lira
District, IDPs returned to their home areas in large numbers. In other
northern districts, IDPs said they would return once they had
guarantees of security from the Government.
Unlike in previous years, the Karamojong IDPs received assistance
from the Government and humanitarian agencies including the WFP;
however, international humanitarian organizations and human rights
groups reported that the standard of living for these IDPs worsened
during the year (see Section 1.g.).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the definition of the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
protoColonel On March 23, the parliament passed the Refugee Bill, which
brings the country into compliance with international law and treaties
with regard to refugee rights and obligations. On May 24, the President
assented to the bill. In practice the Government provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
Approximately 80 percent of the estimates 215,328 refugees in the
country were from southern Sudan; there also were refugees from the
DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, and other countries.
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol and
also provided land for temporary resettlement to citizens from
neighboring countries.
The Government generally cooperated with UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There were no reports of refugee abuse or discrimination by government
authorities. Following the signing of a tripartite agreement among the
country, Sudan, and UNHCR in March, UNHCR began facilitating small-
scale repatriation of Sudanese refugees to southern Sudan. By December
more than 5,300 Sudanese had been safely returned to southern Sudan in
facilitated convoys and another 16,400 had spontaneously returned. The
Government assisted in returns as required under the tripartite
agreement and made public statements that refugees would be permitted
to remain in country if they were not prepared to return at this time.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government; however, the ruling party's domination of the
Government and some restrictive constitutional and statutory provisions
limited citizens' effective exercise of this right.
Elections and Political Participation.--On February 23, the country
held its first multiparty general elections since President Museveni
came to power in 1986; a July 2005 national referendum resulted in the
adoption of a multiparty system of government and the subsequent
inclusion of opposition parties in elections and government. The
election generally reflected the will of the people, although serious
irregularities occurred. Ruling NRM candidate President Museveni was
declared the winner with 59.26 percent of the vote, giving him a third
term in office following the passage of a controversial amendment in
June 2005 to eliminate Presidential term limits. Opposition FDC leader
Kizza Besigye captured 37.39 percent of the vote, while the remaining
contestants received less than 2 percent of the vote each, according to
official figures from the Electoral Commission.
On March 7, Besigye filed an election petition challenging the
results of the elections. On April 6, the Supreme Court narrowly
rejected the petition, ruling that although serious irregularities had
occurred, they did not substantially affect the outcome of the race.
The opinion acknowledged that irregularities included
disenfranchisement of voters, particularly with regard to names missing
from the voter roll; counting and tallying problems; bribery;
intimidation; incidents of violence; multiple voting; and ballot
stuffing in some areas. The international community, including the
delegation of Commonwealth election observers, generally concurred with
these findings.
The police recorded 450 cases of violence during the election
period. On February 15, Lieutenant Ramadhan Magara, a UPDF soldier,
killed two persons and injured several others when he fired into a
crowd gathered to see Besigye during his visit to Buganda Kingdom in
Mengo. Mangara was arrested and the case was ongoing at year's end.
Parliamentary contests, which included seats for 11 new districts
approved by parliament in June 2005, resulted in the election of 309
members, including 205 from the NRM, 37 from the FDC, nine from the
Uganda Justice Forum (JEEMA), and 37 independent members.
More than 100 election challenges were filed following the
parliamentary elections. Charges included bribery, intimidation,
incidents of violence, multiple voting, and ballot stuffing. The High
Court nullified six election results, and special elections for the
seats in question were scheduled during the year. The courts dismissed
more than 20 other petitions during the year; the remaining were
pending before the courts at year's end.
In October 2005 FDC leader Kizza Besigye returned from self-imposed
exile and was elected as the party's Presidential candidate. In
November 2005 police arrested and charged Besigye and 22 other FDC
members with treason for allegedly organizing the rebel group PRA. The
23 suspects were also charged with terrorism and possession of illegal
arms by the UPDF Court martial (see Section 1.d.).
On July 11, Minister of Local government Kahinda Otafiire warned
public servants working in local government against openly declaring
their political affiliations, stating that it would place them at risk
for being dismissed. He was responding to complaints from opposition
MPs that FDC members were being discriminated against in employment.
The ruling NRM regularly held rallies, conducted political
activities, and in 2003 registered the National Resistance Movement
Organization, the ruling political party that generally operated
without restriction. Approximately 33 parties were allowed to function,
including political parties that existed in 1986, when the NRM assumed
power.
Opposition parties were active during the year. On June 19, the
leading opposition party named a 21-member shadow cabinet. During the
year the NRM party twice invited the six main political parties to
discuss multiparty cooperation; the meetings were attended by all the
invited parties except FDC and JEEMA, which boycotted.
There were 99 women in the 333-member parliament. There were seven
female ministers and seven female junior ministers in the President's
66-member cabinet. Female activists were concerned that the number did
not meet the required 40 percent female representation in the cabinet.
One woman served as deputy speaker and another as deputy chief justice
of the Supreme Court. Women also headed the Inspectorate General of
government and the CID.
There were 105 members of minority groups in parliament. The law
requires elections through electoral colleges for the seats reserved
for special interest groups in parliament: 80 seats were reserved for
women; five for organized labor; five for persons with disabilities;
five for youth; and 10 for the Army, which were selected by the UPDF
High Command and chaired by President Museveni.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be
a major problem; however, unlike in the previous year, the Government
took action to investigate and prosecute offenders. The law requires
the declaration of wealth by government officials and their family
members, and the Government enforced the law during the year. The July
18 auditor's report presented to parliament cited several instances of
``recklessness, carelessness, wastefulness, and negligence'' on the
part of public officials in the State House, the Office of the
President, and the Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and
Health. The State House reportedly failed to account for approximately
$97,800 (181 million shillings) advanced to several officers for hotel
accommodation, transportation and travel abroad.
On July 6, police in Kampala arrested Chris Ongyero, a deputy
passport officer, and Edith Manyire, an immigration officer, and
subsequently charged them with abuse of office and irregular conduct.
The prosecution alleged that the suspects issued passports and visas to
suspected Congolese rebels and drug traffickers. On August 17, the
suspects were released on bail, and the case was ongoing at year's end.
On August 26, President Museveni suspended Justice Richard Oscar
Okumu Wengi on allegations of gross misconduct, corruption, forgery of
court documents, impropriety, and bias. The President appointed a
tribunal of five judges to investigate Wengi's alleged conduct. The
tribunal had not begun investigations at year's end.
In an August 30 report for the President, the inspector general of
government held two ministers responsible for problems with a multi-
billion shilling national identity card procurement. Findings of the
report showed that Minister for Information and Communication
Technology Ham Mulira and Minister of State for Regional Cooperation
Isaac Musumba broke tendering laws. The report recommended that both
ministers be prosecuted. On February 1, the Government suspended the
project over alleged corruption in the awarding of the contract. There
were no further developments by year's end.
A September Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (US) land probe
recommended that the Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje and his
deputy, Sheikh Twaib Mukuye, be dismissed for mismanaging the council's
affairs. The probe found that Mubajje endorsed US land transfers
without the knowledge of the executive. The probe also recommended the
dismissal of Vice Chair of the US Hassan Basajabalaba and US General
Secretary Idris Kasenene.
In August 2005 the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and
Malaria suspended grants worth $201 million (362 billion shillings) to
the country after an investigation uncovered evidence of serious
mismanagement of funds. The Government suspended all officers who had
been managing the funds, and instituted an independent probe commission
to investigate the incident. The commission started work in September
2005. In a report released on May 30, the commission stated that high
level officials were implicated in mismanagement of funds and
recommended further investigation and prosecution.
On September 12, two officials of the National Council of Sports
appeared before CID's Serious Crimes Office and were charged with
fraud, forgery, and false accountability following the release of the
commission's report. The suspects, including Assistant Secretary
General Nicholas Muramagi and Administrative Secretary Timothy Magala,
allegedly submitted forged applications for two nonregistered sports
organizations to receive funds for HIV/AIDs awareness programs.
Approximately $15,700 (29 million shillings) was received by the NGOs,
but not accounted for. The suspects were released on bail and ordered
to report to CID on September 18.
During the year the 2003 court martial of army officials suspected
of maintaining under-strength units and pocketing salary payments for
so-called ``ghost soldiers'' continued. Three suspects were acquitted
for lack of sufficient evidence. On July 5, the court martial acquitted
Brigadier Stephen Kashaka of charges of causing financial loss,
obtaining money by false pretense, and abuse of office. On July 28, the
court acquitted Colonel Mark Kodili, formerly the UPDF's chief of
personnel and administration, of the same charges. On August 24, the
court also acquitted Brigadier Henry Tumukunde, but he remained under
house arrest for violating army rules and regulations (see Section
1.d.).
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government provided such access in practice. On April 20, the
Access to Information Act 2005 came into effect. The law provides
citizens with the right to access information and records of government
ministries, statutory corporations, and other government agencies. It
also empowers persons who are denied access to public records to take
the matter to court.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Non-
governmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction (see Section 2.b.),
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials generally were receptive to their views. Active,
independent domestic groups included: FHRI, Human Rights Focus, Human
Rights Network, Human Rights and Peace Center of Makerere University,
the International Federation of Human Rights, the Justice and Peace
Commission, the Uganda Journalist Safety Committee, the Uganda
Prisoner's Aid Foundation, and the Uganda Association of Women Lawyers.
Government officials continued to attend conferences and seminars
hosted by NGOs on social problems and cooperated with NGOs on legal and
prison reforms.
In response to the Government's 2003 call for a code of NGO conduct
to minimize corruption, Minister of State Matia Kasaija launched the
Quality Assurance Certification Mechanism on September 20, which put in
place minimum standards for NGO activities including fighting
corruption.
The Government allowed visits by the ICRC, UNHCR, and several
international human rights NGOs, including Amnesty International, HRW,
and the International Justice Mission. During the year the ICRC
continued its visits to prisons, police stations, and military
detention facilities. In September 2005 the ICRC signed a new agreement
with the Government to permit ICRC visits for the next three years.
On January 12, UNOHCHR signed a cooperation agreement with the
Government to reinforce the mechanisms for protection of human rights
in the north. In August officials from the African Union's Commission
on Human and People's Rights visited the country to investigate
allegations of human rights abuse.
A March 16 report prepared by the Control Arms Campaign presented
to the UN Security Council charged that the country continued to
systematically violate the UN arms embargo with impunity, fueling human
rights abuses in the region. A January 2005 report by a UN Security
Council panel implicated the Government for violating an UN-imposed
arms embargo in the DRC by funneling weapons, including land mines, and
military support into the DRC to the Forces Armees du Peuple Congolais,
an Ituri-based militia group. The Government denied the report's
claims.
The law establishes the UHRC as a permanent independent body with
quasi-judicial powers. The President appoints the UHRC's eight-member
board. Under the law the UHRC may subpoena information, order the
release of detainees, and order the payment of compensation for abuses.
In several cases during the year, the UHRC Tribunal awarded
compensation to complainants who proved their allegations against the
Government (see Sections 1.c. and 1.d.). The UHRC continued to pursue
suspected human rights abusers, including high-level officials in the
Government and military, and had branches countrywide. The UHRC did not
have adequate resources to investigate all complaints it received.
During the year the UHRC Complaints and Investigations Department
in Kampala received 1,141 complaints, of which 246 involved torture.
The UHRC Tribunal received new 54 cases of alleged abuse; 184 cases,
including those from previous years, were pending hearing by the
Tribunal; 25 torture cases were awarded damages, seven cases were
dismissed; and one case was resolved through mediation.
Human rights fall under the Parliamentary Committee on Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs. The committee handles policy related issues,
bills, and budgets in respect to the UHRC.
In December 2005 the International Court of Justice issued its
judgment that the armed activities of the Government in the DRC between
August 1998 and June 2003 violated the international prohibition
against aggressive use of force, international human rights, and
international humanitarian law. The ruling determined that the
Government should pay reparations to the DRC. The Government had taken
no action on the court's recommendations by year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status; however, the Government did not enforce the
law in matters of locally or culturally prevalent discrimination
against women, children, persons with disabilities, or certain ethnic
groups. Continued instability in the northern region led to violations
of the rights of some Acholi and Lango, ethnic groups that comprise a
significant part of the population; LRA rebels, although predominantly
Acholi themselves, were responsible for the most serious human rights
violations.
Women.--Violence against women, including rape and domestic
violence, remained common. A 2003 Johns Hopkins University study
indicated that one in three women living in surveyed rural areas
experienced verbal or physical threats from their partners, and 55
percent sustained physical injuries as a result of domestic abuse. The
law prohibits assault, battery, and rape; however, there were no laws
that specifically protected women from spousal abuse. Many law
enforcement officials continued to view wife beating as a husband's
prerogative and rarely intervened in cases of domestic violence. Women
remained more likely to sue for divorce than to file rape or assault
charges against their husbands.
Reports of domestic violence increased during the year. On August
8, the Gulu police reported that from January to August 450 cases of
domestic violence were reported compared to 512 total cases reported in
2005. The Child and Family Protection Unit in Masaka reported that
since January, 31 cases of domestic violence were reported as compared
to 58 cases in 2005.
A 2003 HRW report concluded that married women were particularly
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS infection as a result of forced sex in marriage
by husbands with multiple partners or wives. The HRW report identified
numerous social and legal obstacles to women's ability to protect
themselves against HIV/AIDS infection in abusive relationships.
On May 4, the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention launched a
public awareness week to sensitize the public on domestic violence
issues.
Rape is illegal. Although the Government arrested, prosecuted, and
convicted persons for rape during the year, there were reports that
some cases were not investigated. Incidents of rape of IDPs in the
north by security forces remained a serious problem (see Section 1.g.).
Women and girls continued to be victims of abduction and rape by rebel
forces. According to a June 2005 UNICEF study on sexual-and-gender-
based violence at a northern IDP camp, 469 cases were reported to
police in Gulu District in 2004. The study revealed that the three most
common forms of gender-based violence were rape, child sexual abuse,
and physical assault. Teenage girls and young women were the most
common victims of gender-based violence.
The law requires that bride prices be nonrefundable gifts to the
parents of the bride. The constitutional amendments approved by
parliament did not include a provision to abolish bride prices, despite
2003 recommendations to do so from civil society groups.
There was no national law against FGM, which was practiced by the
Sabiny ethnic group located in rural Kapchorwa District, and the Pokot
ethnic group along the northeastern border with Kenya. However, since
January, 16 subcounties of Kapchorwa and Bukwo Districts passed bylaws
to make the practice of FGM illegal. The Government, women's groups,
and international organizations continued programs to combat the
practice through education. These programs, which received some support
from local leaders, emphasized close cooperation with traditional
authority figures and peer counseling.
Prostitution was illegal; however, it was common. There were no
credible statistics available on the occurrence of prostitution,
including child prostitution, during the year.
There were reports of trafficking in women and girls during the
year (see Section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, but was a common problem,
and the Government did not effectively enforce the law. On March 28,
parliament passed the Employment Bill 2005 which sets the basic terms
and conditions of work, including prohibition of forced labor,
discrimination, and sexual harassment in employment. On August 17, the
third division court martial in Soroti District sentenced Hassan
Abacha, a UPDF Warrant Officer II, to six months in jail and a demotion
for sexually harassing five foreign female soldiers during an August
joint military training course.
Traditional and widespread societal discrimination against women
continued, especially in rural areas. Many customary laws discriminate
against women in the areas of adoption, marriage, divorce, and
inheritance. Under local customary law in many areas, women cannot own
or inherit property or retain custody of their children. There were
limits on a married woman's ability to travel abroad with her children
(see Section 2.d.).
Traditional divorce law in many areas requires women to meet
stricter evidentiary standards than men to prove adultery. Polygamy is
legal under both customary and Islamic law. In some ethnic groups, men
can ``inherit'' the widows of their deceased brothers. Women did most
of the agricultural work but owned only 7 percent of the agricultural
land. A May 2005 World Bank report estimated that 80 percent of all
unpaid workers were women. Employers in the private sector frequently
failed to apply the statutory provision that provides women with
maternity leave.
There were several active women's rights groups in the country. On
March 13, Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda, a women's rights
organization, filed a petition in the Constitutional Court challenging
the law that imposes limitations on a widow's inheritance of her
husband's property. On October 17, the Constitutional Court heard the
petition as well as another on criminal adultery filed by the same
organization in September 2005. The case was ongoing at year's end.
On April 4, a report released by the Agency for Accelerated
Regional Development and Actionaid showed that 87.8 percent of women in
three subcounties in Nebbi District never attained formal education and
were not aware of their rights in society.
A June International Crisis Group report stated that women were
often excluded from peace agreements and conflict resolution processes,
and were underrepresented in the security.
The Government, in conjunction with numerous NGOs, sponsored
workshops and trainings throughout the country to increase awareness of
women's rights.
Children.--The Government demonstrated a commitment to improving
children's welfare and education received the largest percentage of the
national budget. However, the Government did not enforce effectively
the Children's Statute, which outlines broad protections for children,
due to the large proportion of children in the population (56 percent
of the population was under the age of 18), staffing and fiscal
constraints on the judiciary, and cultural norms. The law stipulates
parents' responsibilities and provides extensive protection for
children in a wide variety of areas, including financial support,
foster care placement, adoption, determination of parentage, and
treatment of children charged with offenses. The law also prohibits
children from taking part in any activity likely to injure the child's
health, education, or mental, physical, and moral development; however,
the Government often did not enforce these prohibitions.
The Government's Universal Primary Education (UPE) program provided
free education through the seventh grade; however, education was not
compulsory. The UPE program made education more accessible financially;
however, parents still had to pay for school supplies and some school
costs. The UPE increased funding for education, provided additional
skills training for teachers, and reduced the student to textbook
ratio. Strained finances, corruption, instability, infrastructure
problems, and inadequate teacher training prevented full
implementation. Teachers were rarely paid on time, and many did not
show up for work when the Government was late in paying their wages. In
June the Government requested from parliament an increase in teachers'
wages from approximately $70 (130,000 shillings) to approximately $108
(200,000 shillings) per month.
According to UNICEF, the country's primary school enrollment rate
was 79 percent for both boys and girls, who theoretically had equal
access to education in the lower grades; however, the proportion of
girls in higher grades remained low because families traditionally
favored boys when making educational decisions. Boys also were more
likely to finish primary school and performed better on examinations
for admission into secondary school. The Government continued several
programs to promote a national plan for the education of girls. On
October 12, the Government launched Universal Secondary Education.
The Government provided subsidized health care through a national
health care program, and boys and girls had equal access. However,
health clinics did not have adequate resources to provide comprehensive
treatment.
Child abuse remained a serious problem, particularly rape and other
sexual abuse of girls known as ``defilement.'' Defilement applied to
all cases of sexual contact outside of marriage with girls younger than
18 years of age, regardless of consent or the age of the perpetrator.
Defilement carried a maximum sentence of death; however, in practice
defilement cases often were settled by a payment to the girl's parents.
The perpetrators of defilement often were family members, neighbors, or
teachers. A 2005 Save the Children survey of 1,400 children conducted
during the year found that 46 percent of girls were sexually abused and
20 percent were raped. Since January police registered 97 cases in
Kasese, 46 in Kayunga, 42 in Gulu, and 34 in Soroti. On August 28, the
regional CID officer for the north stated that 989 girls were defiled
in IDP camps in Lira, Kitgum, Gulu, Apac, and Pader Districts since
January.
On March 24, a court in Mukono referred Paddy Katongole, a primary
school teacher, for trial in the High Court on charges of defiling a
seven-year old pupil in September 2005. The case was ongoing at year's
end.
There were no developments in the 2004 or 2005 cases of defilement
by primary school teachers.
There were reports of child abuse. On August 3, a court in Luwero
District charged Frederick Mbazira, a teacher at Katikamu Seventh Day
Adventist Secondary School, with causing bodily harm to Beatrice
Achieng, a student. On July 29, Mbazira beat Achieng into paralysis
after she and other students failed to complete a geography assignment.
The case was pending at year's end.
On August 3, authorities in Arua District closed Mandela
Comprehensive Secondary School after a group of teachers
indiscriminately beat students, five of whom were admitted to the
district main hospital in critical condition. There were no reports of
action taken against the teachers.
On August 7, the Ministry of Education banned corporal punishment
in schools and colleges.
There were reports of the use of children in ritual sacrifice. On
August 16, a court in Kampala District charged a traditional doctor and
a housewife with kidnapping a two-year-old boy with intent to kill him
for sacrifice. The suspects were remanded to Luzira Prison, and the
case was ongoing at year's end. On August 8, pupils from schools around
Kampala petitioned parliament over increased cases of human sacrifice
and asked the Government to put in place tough laws to curb the crime.
FGM was performed on girls in the Sabiny and Pokot ethnic groups
(see Section 5, Women).
The legal age for marriage is 18 years, but the marriage of young
girls by parental arrangement was common, particularly in rural areas.
On July 16, the Kumi District Health Educator reported that 60 percent
of girls in the district left school between the ages of 12 and 15
years due to early marriages.
Child prostitution and trafficking were problems (see Section 5,
Trafficking).
The law prohibits service in the military by persons under 18 years
of age; however, there were reports that individuals under the age of
18 enlisted in the army and in local militias, sometimes in collusion
with local officials. On June 16, the UN Special Representative for
Children and Armed Conflict stated that an estimated 5,000 children
were serving in the country's armed forces. The UPDF denied that it had
actively recruited child soldiers, but stated some might have joined
through deception or oversight.
There continued to be reports that the UPDF detained some former
LRA child combatants for long periods, and in some cases may have used
them in intelligence and reconnaissance missions.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
According to UNICEF the LRA has abducted approximately 12,000
children since 2002 and continued to abduct children during the year.
The LRA forced children into virtual slavery as laborers, soldiers,
guards, and sex slaves. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced
to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate
in the killing of other children who attempted to escape. More than 85
percent of LRA captives were made up of children whom the LRA abducted
and forced to fight as rebels; most LRA rebels were between the ages of
11 and 16.
During the year the UPDF rescued 114 children from LRA captivity.
The UPDF's Child Protection Unit provided treatment to returned
abductees upon arrival at military facilities. The unit also escorted
former abductees to NGO facilities, which provided assistance and
counseling to the children and their families. The Government also
worked closely with NGOs in the north to facilitate their assistance
programs for amnesty seekers and rescued children; however, these
programs were primarily financed by donors.
Improved security in the north contributed to significant
reductions in the number of children known as ``night commuters'' who
traveled from conflict areas or IDP camps each night to urban centers
to avoid abduction by the LRA. UNICEF reported that as of December
2,700 commuters sought shelter in Kitgum and Gulu; approximately 35,000
were regular night commuters in 2005. A June UNICEF study indicated
that children continued to commute due to reasons other than LRA
activity, such as endemic poverty and domestic violence. During the
year the Government cooperated with NGOs to operate shelters for such
children in tented dormitories and other semi-permanent structures; in
other cases children slept under balconies or on the grounds of
schools, churches, and hospitals. Conditions ranged from harsh to
adequate. There were credible reports that many displaced girls became
involved in prostitution.
UNICEF reported in January that two million children have been
orphaned since the beginning of the war as a result of conflict and
instability, including population dislocation, and that 940,000
children nationwide have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The Government
supported programs to assist children affected by HIV/AIDS and conflict
in the north.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, the law does prohibit trafficking-
related offenses. There were reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, and within the country. There were no available statistics on the
extent of trafficking in persons. The maximum penalty for the
procurement of women for purposes of prostitution or detention with
sexual intent is seven years' imprisonment; the maximum penalty for
trading in slaves is 10 years' imprisonment.
The national police force is responsible for investigating
trafficking-related crimes and maintains a Child and Family Protection
Unit to train local police on women and children's rights. The UPDF is
responsible for capturing, disarming, or eliminating LRA combatants who
perpetrate human trafficking crimes in the north.
Adults and children also were trafficked internally for labor,
commercial sexual exploitation, and criminal activities.
Trafficking in persons primarily occurred internally. The LRA
abducted children to be soldiers, sex slaves, and porters; freelance
operators, including taxi drivers and hotel/bar operators, conducted
the commercial sex trafficking. Children also were trafficked to
Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Victims of internal trafficking were subjected to hazardous working
conditions, and commercial sex victims were subjected to physical abuse
and the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Victims of
commercial sex trafficking in urban centers often came from small rural
villages.
The Government made arrests of suspected traffickers during the
year. The penal code specifies penalties for several trafficking-
related offenses, such as forced labor, and there were a number of
trafficking cases prosecuted under these laws. The Government's
prosecution of child defilement cases included an undetermined number
of cases involving trafficked children.
On December 19, police in Kampala arrested Rauff Razick Mohammed, a
Pakistani national, who was found holding five Sri Lankan men against
their will. On December 20, a court in Kampala charged Mohammed and his
two accomplices with unlawful confinement and demanding money with
menace. Mohammed pled guilty to trafficking in humans and was issued
deportation orders.
On July 20, the Government set up a committee to investigate the
alleged sale of girls in cattle markets in Katakwi District.
In July police in Katakwi District arrested suspected human
traffickers and rescued four girls.
In July police in Kabale District arrested two Indian nationals and
their Ugandan accomplices on suspicion of involvement in human
trafficking at Katuna border post as they attempted to flee the county
into Rwanda.
A December police report stated that there were 185 recorded cases
of child abduction and disappearance since January. Of these, 42
children were recovered, four were killed in child sacrifice, and 139
were unaccounted for. The report was based on cases received from the
majority of districts throughout the country.
The Government, through the military and civilian agencies,
continued efforts to combat LRA trafficking in persons. The Government
began ``Operation Iron Fist'' in 2002 to eradicate the LRA threat and
has continued to offer amnesty to former rebels, providing resettlement
packages with educational benefits and vocational training. The
Government also established protected camps garrisoned by the UPDF and
LDUs that have helped to prevent abductions (see Sections 1.b. and
2.d.).
In March 2005 the Government began participating in a national
working group to combat anti-trafficking. The working group was
mandated to support efforts to write a new anti-trafficking law,
coordinate NGO activities to prevent trafficking, assist victims, and
oversee an initiative to conduct pilot prosecutions of trafficking-
related crimes. No reported action was taken during the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides protection for persons
with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education, or the
provision of other state services; however, the Government did not
enforce the law effectively. There was widespread discrimination by
society, and employers limited job and educational opportunities for
persons with disabilities. There was no statutory requirement that
buildings be accessible to persons with disabilities. The law requires
that children with disabilities be given necessary special facilities;
however, inadequate funding hampered enforcement of this provision.
On March 27, the Uganda National Association for the Deaf (UNAD)
protested the failure by UBC-TV to provide for a sign language
interpreter during its news bulletins. UNAD stated that the absence of
interpreters at UBC-TV and other public places such as courts,
hospitals, and schools was a violation of human rights. According to
UNAD, deaf persons represent 30 percent of the 2.5 million persons with
disabilities in the country.
Five seats in parliament were reserved for representatives of
persons with disabilities. Government agencies responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities included the
Ministry of State for Disabled Persons and the Ministry of Gender,
Labor, and Social Development (MGLSD), but both ministries lacked
sufficient funding to undertake or support any significant initiatives.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Civil strife in the north and
east led to the violation of the rights of members of the Acholi,
Langi, and Iteso ethnic groups, who primarily resided in the districts
of Apac, Arua, Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Pader, and Soroti. LRA rebels, who
themselves largely were Acholi, committed abuses against ethnic Acholi
and other ethnic groups; however, attacks decreased compared to the
previous year due to operations by the UPDF and the ongoing peace
negotiations. The LRA was implicated in the killing and kidnapping of
Acholi and other tribe members (see Section 1.g.). During the year the
UPDF committed abuses against ethnic Acholi during combat operations
against the LRA.
The ongoing conflict in the Karamoja region intensified during the
year and inter-clan raids by armed Karamojong warriors in Katakwi,
Kotido, and Kapchorwa Districts in the northeast resulted in
approximately 459 deaths according to a study conducted by CEWARN. The
raids reportedly exacerbated ethnic tensions in the northeast (see
Section 1.g.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced
widespread discrimination and legal restrictions. It is illegal for
homosexuals to engage in sexual acts, based on a legal provision that
criminalizes ``carnal acts against the order of nature'' with a penalty
of life imprisonment.
On August 8, the Red Pepper tabloid published a list of 45 first
names and professions of alleged homosexual men. HRW condemned the
tabloid's decision to publish the list and called for the Government to
end harassment and condemnation of homosexuals and sexual rights
activists. There were unconfirmed reports that arrests were made
following the publication of the article.
On August 14, a court in Kampala charged David Kaloke with having
``carnal sex'' in September 2005 with Michael Mukiibi, a 16-year-old
student of Kyebando. Kaloke was released on bail and the case was
pending at year's end.
In July 2005 parliament amended Article 31 of the constitution to
prohibit same sex marriage.
Persons with HIV/AIDS continued to face discrimination among local
communities and employers. On July 17, the director of the country's
HRW HIV/AIDS program called for an end to abuses of persons living with
HIV/AIDS. The NGO cited the example of Vivian Kavuma, who was
reportedly murdered in June by her lover after she disclosed she was an
HIV/AIDS patient. No arrests were made in the case by year's end.
International and local NGOs, in cooperation with the Government,
sponsored public awareness campaigns that aimed to eliminate the stigma
of HIV/AIDS. Counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS was free and available
at health centers and local NGOs across the country. Counselors
encouraged patients to be tested with their partners and family so that
they all received information about living with HIV/AIDS. Persons
living with HIV/AIDS formed support groups to promote awareness in
their local communities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised such rights in practice, with the
exception of many ``essential'' government employees, including police,
army, and management-level officials. In March four labor reform bills
were passed, including the Employment Act, the Occupational Safety and
Health Bill, the Labor Union Bill, and the Labor Dispute Bill, which
significantly improved labor laws concerning workers' rights. The Labor
Unions Act repeals the 1976 Trade Unions Decree which required 51
percent or more of the work force to support unionization and at least
1,000 employees to join. The law also bars employers from interfering
in the worker's rights of association and makes it a criminal offense
for an employer to obstruct this right. However, the Government
generally did not enforce this provision in practice. For example,
employers in the fish industry were not penalized for prohibiting
workers from unionizing.
In 2005 union officials estimated that 350,000 workers were
unionized, representing approximately 5 percent of working age
citizens. The Government failed to enforce the rights of some employees
to join unions in newly privatized industries and factories.
On July 13, the UJU received a certificate of registration allowing
it to operate as a trade union after more than a decade of seeking
approval by the MGLSD.
The new law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers;
however, there were reports that incidents in the hotel and textile
sectors went uninvestigated. There were also reports that several
private companies in the fisheries industry urged workers not to take
part in unionization efforts during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference and provides
for collective bargaining; however, the Government did not protect
these rights in practice. Some employers ignored the legal requirement
to enter into collective bargaining agreements with registered unions.
All public service unions, including medical staff and teachers,
were not allowed to negotiate their salaries and employment terms. The
Government fixed the terms and conditions for all civil service
workers. There were also reports that workers at Steel Rolling in Jinja
were not allowed to negotiate conditions of employment.
On March 28, parliament passed the Labor Disputes (arbitration and
settlement) Bill, which provides for the fast resolution of labor
disputes and elevates the industrial court to the status of the High
Court.
The law provides for the right to strike and workers exercised this
right; however, the Government did not always protect this right.
Government policy required labor and management to make ``every effort
to reconcile labor disputes before resorting to strike action.''
On November 4, a strike against low wages by Makerere University
lecturers began, resulting in the closure of the university on November
12. On December 20, the General Assembly of Makerere University
Academic Staff Association (MUS) voted to end the strike. Wage
negotiations between MUS and the Government were ongoing at year's end
(see Section 2.b.).
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Employment Act
includes provisions prohibiting forced or compulsory labor, including
by children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred
(see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
While the law does not expressly prohibit prison labor, it states
that such labor becomes forced if the worker is ``hired out to or
placed at the disposal of a private individual, company or
association.'' The UHRC reported that forced labor was a serious
problem in local government prisons during the year (see Section 1.c.).
Prison officials hired out prisoners to work on private farms and
construction sites, where the prisoners were often overworked.
Throughout the country prison officials routinely supplemented their
meager wages with cash crops grown by prisoners on the prison grounds.
Male prisoners performed arduous physical labor while female prisoners
produced marketable handicrafts such as woven basketry. Juvenile
prisoners performed manual labor, often for 12 hours per day.
Compensation, when paid, generally was very low. The law states that
any person found using forced labor will be monetarily fined,
imprisoned for up to two years, or to both.
Forced labor by children occurred during the year (see Section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits employees from hiring workers below the age of 18;
however, statutory orders issued by the Ministry of Labor permit the
employment of children under age 14 in ``light work,'' provided it does
not interfere with the child's education. Children under the age of 12
are prohibited from being employed in any business or workplace and all
children are prohibited from being employed between the hours of 7 pm
and 7 am. Nevertheless, child labor was common, especially in the
informal sector. Demographics contributed to the problem of child
labor; more than half of the population was under 18 years of age. Many
children left school and went into agricultural or domestic work to
help meet expenses or perform the work of absent or infirm parents, a
situation common throughout the country (see Section 5). The problem
was particularly acute among the large orphan population. A joint
International Labor Organization (ILO) and MGLSD survey, released in
2005, estimated that approximately 2.7 million children were employed
as workers.
In urban areas children sold small items on the street, worked in
shops, begged for money, and were involved in the commercial sex
industry (see Section 5). Children were also employed in the tea-
harvesting sector, sugarcane fields, and stone quarries. The MGLSD
reported new incidents of the worst forms of child labor, including
children involved in illicit activities such as cross border smuggling.
The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, a
lack of resources prevented the Government from enforcing this
prohibition effectively. There were reports that the UPDF used former
LRA child soldiers on reconnaissance and intelligence missions (see
Section 5).
The LRA often forced abducted children into virtual slavery as
guards, laborers, soldiers, and sex slaves (see Section 5).
National level institutions that are responsible for child labor
and abuse issues include the National Council of Children, the police
force's Child and Family Protection Unit, the industrial court, and the
MGLSD; however, financial constraints limited their efforts. In June
2005 the MGLSD launched the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Policy,
which extended social services to children working in the worst forms
of child labor and other target groups. The Government also coordinated
its efforts to stop child labor through the National Steering Committee
on Child Labor, which included representatives of the MGLSD, the
Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Local government, the
Federation of Uganda Employers, the National Organization of Trade
Unions, NGOs, journalists, and academics. In 2004 the MGLSD conducted
1,505 labor inspections, including both initial and follow up visits,
in 16 districts nationwide. There have been no further inspections
since that time. District officers cited a lack of logistical and
financial support as the major impediment to adequately conducting
inspections.
The Government organized a number of child labor awareness
workshops, disseminated printed information, and sponsored radio and
television discussions to educate the public on child labor issues. The
Government also cooperated with the ILO, foreign governments, and NGOs
in several initiatives to combat child labor, including the education
and reintegration of children into their communities. Several human
rights NGOs continued programs to remove children from hazardous work
situations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Employment Act includes
provisions for district labor inspectors in order to ``secure the
enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the
protection of workers while engaged in their work''; however, no
inspections were carried out during the year due, in part, to financial
constraints.
The minimum legal wage was $3.50 (6,000 shillings) per month, a
rate set in 1984, which did not provide a decent standard of living for
a worker and family and was not effectively enforced. The Government
and the private sector negotiated a new rate in 2003; however, no
minimum wage legislation had been passed by year's end.
In industries that employed workers on an hourly basis, the normal
workweek was 40 hours. According to the new law, the legal maximum
workweek is 48 hours; however, exceptions can be made between the
employer and employee. The law provides for an employee who works in
excess of 48 hours per a week to be remunerated at the minimum rate of
1.5 times the normal hourly rate and two times the hourly rate during
public holidays. The law also states that working hours may not exceed
10 hours per day or 56 hours per week; however, an employee may work in
excess of 10 hours a day if the average number of hours over a period
of three weeks does not exceed 10 hours per day or 56 hours per week.
Employees are granted a 30 minute break for every eight hour work
shift. For every four months of continuous employment, an employee is
entitled to seven days of paid annual leave per calendar year. Many
industries paid workers incrementally to avoid overtime and circumvent
the prohibition on child labor.
The Occupational Safety and Health Bill focuses on the general
duties, obligations, and responsibilities of employers regarding the
safety and health of workers. The Workers Compensation Act provides
compensation based on an employee's monthly salary for injuries or
other hazards that occur at work. Whereas in previous years women were
entitled to six weeks of maternity leave, the Employment Act now allows
for a minimum of 60 working days of maternity leave and four days of
paternity leave.
The MGLSD's Department of Occupational Health was responsible for
enforcement of occupational safety regulations. In practice inspections
were rare, primarily due to the lack of vehicles and funding for
inspection trips. There were fatal accidents at several construction
projects during the year. The new law provides workers the right to
remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety
without jeopardy to their employment and, unlike in previous years,
there were no reported cases of workers being dismissed for refusal to
perform dangerous work. Strong unions in certain dangerous industries
protected some such workers.
__________
ZAMBIA
Zambia is a republic governed by a President and a unicameral
national assembly with a population of 11.5 million. On September 28,
President Levy Mwanawasa, candidate of the ruling Movement for Multi-
Party Democracy (MMD), was re-elected; the MMD won 72 out of 150
elected seats in the National Assembly. On October 26, MMD candidates
won two more seats in the National Assembly in elections that were
delayed due to the deaths of candidates during the campaign period for
the general elections. Domestic and international observer groups
characterized the election as generally peaceful and transparent;
however, they cited several irregularities. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor; although there
were improvements in a few areas. Human rights problems included:
election irregularities; unlawful killings; torture, beatings, and
abuse of criminal suspects and detainees by security forces; poor and
life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and prolonged
detention; long delays in trials; arbitrary interference with privacy;
restrictions on freedom of speech and press, and intimidation of
journalists; restrictions on assembly and association; government
corruption and impunity; violence and discrimination against women;
child abuse; trafficking in persons; discrimination against persons
with disabilities; and limited enforcement of labor rights and child
labor laws.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any political killings; however, security
forces committed numerous unlawful killings during the year. The Legal
Resources Foundation (LRF), an independent human rights organization
that counseled victims' families and represented them in actions
against the Government, consistently investigated and publicized such
incidents; however, the Government rarely punished perpetrators. Police
and government officials encouraged police officers to use their
weapons when apprehending suspects. On August 24, the permanent
secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that officers should
not ``keep their guns like a bunch of roses.'' In December 2005 the
Police Inspector General was quoted in the media as saying that the
police had a ``shoot-to-kill'' policy. On October 26, following a
series of highly publicized police shootings, government officials
moderated their stance on the use of police force with the release of a
directive that restricted the use of firearms by police officers,
required officers on general patrol be unarmed, and recalled police
firearms into armories under strict control. On October 30, the
minister of home affairs stated the Government would retrain police on
the use of force.
On February 3, police in Lusaka shot and killed three men who
attempted to rob a shopkeeper; police stated that the men fired on them
first. On March 19, police shot and killed Joseph Phiri as he ran from
officers seeking to question him in connection with a theft.
On August 28, Lucas Msuya, a Tanzanian national, died in police
custody at the Northern Province Nakonde border crossing with Tanzania.
Two police officers were arrested and charged with murder in connection
with the death. The officers claimed that the suspect died as a result
of injuries he received when he was beaten by a mob that suspected him
of theft. A trial court acquitted the officers after witnesses
testified that the suspect had severe injuries when police took him
into custody. Although the officers were acquitted, police reported
that they were subjected to administrative disciplinary measures for
not having taken the suspect for medical attention.
On September 9, a police officer in Lusaka shot and killed two
teenagers and wounded another after they refused his command to leave a
funeral home where they had been sitting by a fire; the police officer
was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. The killings sparked
riots (see Section 2.b.).
On October 13, police in Kitwe were accused of causing a panic in a
crowded nightclub that killed two high school students. Witnesses
stated that the police locked the doors of the nightclub and whipped
the students, who had been attending a party.
On October 25, police shot and killed a man in Lusaka's Matero
township. The man had been among a group of people protesting the
detention of a minibus driver. The killing sparked riots that damaged
vehicles and buildings.
On November 11, police in Lufwanyama shot and wounded three
juveniles at the Katembula Youth Training Center. Police said that they
had fired their weapons to disperse a group of youths who were trying
to prevent the arrest of two juveniles on assault charges. The shooting
was under investigation at year's end.
The case of the six Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) officers
charged with the March 2005 torture and killing of a detainee for
selling drugs in Kafue was ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments in the investigation into the April 2005
death in police custody of Danny Phiri.
In the July 2005 case of Joseph Nyirenda, who suspiciously died in
police custody, a coroner's report released during the year concluded
that Nyirenda had died of strangulation, but offered no other
conclusions.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no deaths as a result of
police forcibly dispersing demonstrations during the year.
Mob violence which targeted suspected criminals, witches, persons
suspected of sexual impropriety, or persons with mental illness
resulted in killings during the year. For example on February 4, gunmen
shot to death 60-year-old Benson Sikazwe in Northern Province,
reportedly because he was suspected of being a witch. On February 6, a
mob in Luapula Province beat to death 76-year-old Albert Jere and his
wife, 72-year-old Tipoti Chisense, after the couple had been summoned
to a local chief's place to answer charges that they had engaged in
witchcraft. On April 19, a mob in North Western Province beat to death
72-year-old Mary Lukboto because they suspected her of being a witch.
On August 12, a mob in Eastern Province killed a man believed to be
mentally ill after the man killed three people with an axe.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however there
was no implementing legislation, thus police frequently used excessive
force including torture when apprehending, interrogating, and detaining
criminal suspects or illegal immigrants.
During the year the Human Rights Commission (HRC), formerly the
Permanent Human Rights Commission, reported that torture was prevalent
in police stations, noting that ``police officers continue to rely on
torture as an interrogation technique.'' The HRC urged the Government
to draft and enact legislation that would criminalize torture and
provide for compensation to victims. Authorities also detained,
interrogated, and physically abused family members or associates of
criminal suspects in attempts to identify or locate suspects (see
Section 1.f.). Officers who tortured, beat, or otherwise abused
suspects generally were not disciplined or arrested for such acts.
On March 27 and 28, police officers in Kapiri Mposhi beat Joshua
Nyangwali while he was in custody waiting to be transported to prison
to serve a sentence on theft and burglary charges. As a result of the
beating Nyangwali sustained a broken arm, for which he was denied
medical treatment. Nyangwali's sister sought assistance from the LRF in
filing a civil suit against the officers.
On March 17, a court dismissed theft charges against Mike Simakusa,
who claimed that for three days in July 2005 police put him in kampelwa
to force a confession of theft. The kampelwa involves using ropes or
handcuffs to bind a suspect by the hands and feet, or sometimes just
the feet, and hanging the suspect upside down from a rod and beating
him. Simakusa continued to seek assistance from the LRF in filing a
civil suit against the officers.
On May 20, two police officers in Kafue shot and wounded three men
who refused the officers' demand to close the bar they were operating.
The two officers were arrested and the case was ongoing at year's end.
On June 15, Lemmy Mungochi and Allan Phiri filed a lawsuit claiming
damages for torture and false imprisonment. The plaintiffs claimed that
in June 2004 police in Chipata arrested them on false robbery charges.
Police did not release Mungochi and Phiri from custody until they paid
$1,200 (4.8 million kwacha) to the alleged victim of the robbery, who
was later discovered to be living at the Chipata police camp. The case
remained pending at year's end.
The civil suit filed by Langton Sakala remained pending at year's
end. Sakala charged that the police beat and tortured him from December
2004 to January 2005 following his detention on theft charges.
There were no developments in numerous other cases of police abuse
in 2005 and 2004.
On April 19, a court awarded $80,000 (322 million kwacha) to David
Lungu for injuries sustained from police brutality in June 2001. Lungu
had been among a group of students who protested a teachers' strike
when police detained and beat him until he was unconscious, leaving him
paralyzed from the waist down.
According to human rights groups, police occasionally demanded sex
from female detainees as a condition for their release. There also were
reports that police officers raped women. In the April 2005 case where
a police officer was charged with raping a woman in Kalomo, police
reported that the case was dropped after their investigation revealed
that the woman's parents pressured her to file charges after they
discovered she was having a consensual affair with the officer.
Victims of state-sponsored torture following the 1997 coup attempt
were still awaiting compensation recommended in 2000 by a special
commission appointed to investigate allegations of torture. The civil
case against former DEC Deputy Commissioner Teddy Nondo, former
Commissioner of Police Emmanuel Lukonde, and Minister of Justice George
Kunda was still pending at year's end; Commissioner Lukonde died in
2005.
There were reports that traditional rulers employed corporal
punishment. For example, on September 10, Chief Kazembe in Luapula
Province whipped five women and a man who disrespected his throne.
After whipping the subjects, Kazembe brought them to a police station
where they were detained for one day. The subjects had upset Kazembe by
singing campaign songs in support of the MMD party.
The 2004 case against Chief Mushili for assaulting and extorting
from his subjects was referred for mediation in 2005, which
subsequently failed. The case was back in court and ongoing at year's
end.
Mob violence resulted in killings and injuries (see Section 1.a.
and 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and life threatening. An inefficient judiciary and two-month
strike by government prosecutors during the year delayed court
proceedings and exacerbated overcrowding. The country's prisons, which
were built to hold 5,500 inmates, held nearly 15,000 prisoners. Lusaka
Central Prison which was designed to accommodate 200 prisoners held
more than 1,200 inmates, forcing some inmates to sleep sitting upright.
Poor sanitation, inadequate medical facilities, meager food supplies,
and lack of potable water resulted in serious outbreaks of dysentery,
cholera, and tuberculosis, which were compounded by overcrowding.
Prisoners routinely complained that authorities denied them access
to medical care, as provided for by law. Failure to remove or
quarantine sick prisoners and the lack of infirmaries at many prisons
resulted in the spread of airborne illnesses such as tuberculosis,
leading to prisoner re-infection and death. For example, in January it
was reported that a suspected cholera outbreak killed five prisoners in
Lusaka Central Prison. Drugs to combat tuberculosis were available but
the supply was erratic. Many prisoners were malnourished because they
received only one serving of corn meal and beans per day, called a
``combined meal'' because it represented breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In August the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the closure of
Luwingu Prison, noting that conditions at the prison posed a risk to
prisoners. The Zambian Prison Service was ordered to use other
facilities to accommodate displaced prisoners pending the reopening of
Luwingu.
The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in prisons was estimated at 17
percent. Antiretroviral treatment (ART) was available to some prisoners
with HIV/AIDS; however, poor nutrition often rendered ART ineffective.
Juveniles often were not held separately from adults. Infants and
young children of incarcerated women were held along with their
mothers. Pretrial detainees were not held separately from convicted
prisoners. Prisoners with mental disabilities were not held separately
from the general prison population.
The Government permitted prison visits by both domestic and
international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and by resident
foreign diplomats during the year. In May the HRC issued two highly
critical reports on prisons in Lusaka and Central Provinces based on
inspections conducted in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The HRC noted a
number of problems including: accommodations that were ``filthy,
congested and unfit for human habitation''; insufficient facilities to
house juvenile detainees; poor food and nutrition; and inmates' lack of
access to the courts. The International Committee of the Red Cross,
provincial human rights committees, and the LRF periodically inspected
prison conditions during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did
not respect these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police, divided
into regular and paramilitary units under the Ministry of Home Affairs,
have primary responsibility for maintaining law and order. The Zambia
Security Intelligence Service (ZSIS), under the office of the
President, is responsible for intelligence and internal security.
Police posts in towns throughout the country reported to one of nine
provincial police stations, which in turn reported to the central
police command in Lusaka. Although the Government has identified a need
for 27,000 police officers, only 14,689 were employed.
Lack of professionalism, investigatory skills, and discipline in
the police force remained serious problems. The NGO Institute of Human
Rights Property and Development Trust conducted human rights training
for senior police officers in 2005. From November 27 30, the Government
hosted a four-day human rights workshop for police in southern Africa
that was sponsored by the British government and the Commonwealth
Secretariat; however, the use of excessive force continued, and
corruption was widespread. Low salaries and substandard government
housing exacerbated police corruption, as did poor working conditions.
Police released prisoners for bribes, extorted money from victims, and
required ``document processing fees'' or ``gas money'' to commence
investigations.
In an effort to address these issues, the Police Public Complaints
Authority (PPCA) met eight times during the year to review complaints
regarding police conduct that were not resolved through internal police
channels. By year's end, the PPCA had received 269 complaints of police
misconduct and reviewed 210 cases; it concluded on 54 cases. The PPCA
did not recommend that any police officer be dismissed during the year
but officers were fined and punished for offenses, including unlawful
detention. In one case, the PPCA recommended that the director of
public prosecutions exhume the body of a person who died several months
after his release from police custody. The person's family alleged that
he had died as a result of injuries sustained in police beatings. The
investigation was ongoing at year's end. The PPCA dismissed several
complaints against police officers, finding that the cases were already
being tried in the courts.
In May the Lusaka High Court ruled that the inspector general of
police did not have the authority to terminate the employment of police
officers, as recommended by the PPCA in 2003, and nullified the
inspector general's decisions of termination. The court ruled the power
to terminate employment, rests exclusively with the chairperson of the
prison and police service commission. In addition, the court clarified
that the PPCA did not have the statutory authority to punish police
officers, but could only recommend disciplinary measures to the
inspector general. The PPCA appealed the high court ruling, but was
reviewing its procedures to comply with the court's decision.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide that
authorities obtain a warrant before arresting a person for some
offenses, but other offenses have no such requirement. For example,
police are not required to obtain a warrant when they suspect that a
person has committed offenses including treason, sedition, defamation
of the President, unlawful assembly, or abuse of office. In practice,
police rarely obtained warrants before making arrests (see Section 1.
f.).
According to the law, suspects being arrested are informed of their
rights, including the immediate right to an attorney. The law provides
that persons arrested must appear before a magistrate within 24 hours
of their arrest; however, detainees were frequently held for longer
periods because prosecutors routinely required that officers collect
additional evidence before presenting cases to a magistrate. There was
a functioning bail system; however, prisons were overcrowded in part
because of the numerous offenses for which bail is not granted,
including treason, murder, aggravated robbery, and violations of
narcotics laws.
In practice police generally did not respect the prisoners' right
to apply for bail. Indigent detainees and defendants rarely had the
means to post bail. The Government's legal aid office, responsible for
providing representation for indigent detainees and defendants in
criminal or civil cases, assisted very few arrestees.
The Government's appeal of the July 2005 Lusaka High Court decision
to grant bail to opposition leader Michael Sata on charges that he
incited riots was still pending at year's end.
Arbitrary arrest and detention remained a problem, although there
were fewer reported instances than in previous years. Criminal suspects
were arrested on the basis of insubstantial evidence, uncorroborated
accusations, or as a pretext for extortion. For example on March 19,
the Mumbwa police arrested Regina Lungu after an acquaintance accused
her of theft. Police released Lungu after her husband paid $125
(500,000 kwacha) for which he did not receive a receipt. Similarly, on
April 12, police arrested Emmanuel Chilando at the request of his
former employer and held him without charge for three days. Chilando
stated that his former employer had asked the police to arrest him due
to concerns that he was losing customers to Chilando's new employer.
On September 10, police detained five persons, on the request of a
traditional leader, for their support of the ruling MMD party (see
Section 1.c.).
Police stations frequently acted as ``debt collection centers,''
where police officers acting on unofficial complaints detained debtors
without charge until they paid the complainants; in return, the police
received a percentage of the payments. Officers found engaging in this
practice reportedly were disciplined.
Police arbitrarily arrested family members of criminal suspects
(see Section 1.f.).
Authorities detained at least two journalists during the year (see
Section 2.a.).
Prolonged pretrial detention was a problem. In criminal cases
detainees must be charged and brought before a magistrate within 24
hours; in practice, prisoners often waited more than one month from
incarceration to the initial appearance before the magistrate. In some
cases defendants were awaiting trial for as long as two to three years.
Approximately one-third of the nearly 15,000 people incarcerated in
prisons had not been convicted of a crime or received a trial date.
Broad rules of procedure give wide latitude to prosecutors and defense
attorneys to request delays or adjournments. Other factors contributing
to long delays were inadequate resources, inefficiency, lack of trained
personnel, and labor unrest (see Section 1.e.). Attorneys and family
members were permitted access to pretrial detainees.
On March 27, the Lusaka High Court ordered that Cosmas Tembo be
released from custody, finding that he had been held without trial for
more than three years after being wrongly arrested on charges of
robbery.
In May the LRF filed a petition for bail on behalf of John
Chishimba Mutale, who had been held in custody without trial since he
was arrested and charged with murder in 1994. On June 8, the Kasama
High Court granted Mutale bail on the condition that he report to the
police twice a month and appear in court as required.
There were no developments in the Government's appeal of the 2004
Lusaka High Court ruling that the Government was liable for holding
Crispin Samulula in custody from 1996 to 2001 without trial.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judicial system was hampered
by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of resources. Government
officials used their offices to circumvent standard police and judicial
procedures.
During the year the courts continued to act independently and at
times made judgments and rulings critical of the Government. For
instance, the courts issued an order compelling the Government to
submit a list of nominees for a media governing board to parliament in
accordance with its obligations under the Independent Broadcast
Authority (IBA) Act (see Section 2.a.). The courts also prohibited the
ruling MMD party from running negative campaign ads against opposition
leader Michael Sata on the state-controlled television station.
Poor working conditions caused many magistrates to leave their
jobs. There were 134 magistrates employed at the end of the year; fully
qualified attorneys filled approximately 24 magistrate positions during
the year, up from 19 in 2005; lay magistrates filled the rest. During
the year government prosecutors went on strike for two months, delaying
court proceedings and exacerbating prison overcrowding (see Sections
1.c. and 1.d.). Judicial support staff went on strike in October
leading to additional delays.
The Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction for all legal and
constitutional disputes. The High Court, which held regular sessions in
all nine provincial capitals, has authority to hear criminal and civil
cases and appeals from lower courts. Magistrate courts have original
jurisdiction in some criminal and civil cases; customary courts heard
most civil and petty criminal cases in rural areas.
Trial Procedures.--Trials in magistrate courts are public, and
local courts employ the principles of customary law, which vary widely
throughout the country. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney; however, many defendants lacked the resources
to retain a lawyer, and government legal aid was limited. Defendants
have the right to be present at their trial, confront witnesses, access
government-held evidence related to their cases, and to appeal.
Defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty.
Courts were congested, and there were significant delays in trials
while the accused remained in custody (see Section 1.d.). In cases
where the magistrate's court did not have jurisdiction, at least six
months elapsed before a magistrate committed the defendant to the High
Court for trial. Following committal, preparation of the magistrate
court record for transmittal to the High Court took months, or in some
cases, as long as a year. Once a case reached the High Court for trial,
court proceedings lasted an average of six months.
Lawyers are barred from participating in proceedings in courts that
apply customary law, and there are few formal rules of procedure.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. For matters concerning police
abuse, the PPCA acted as an independent and impartial disciplinary body
(see Section 1.d.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government frequently did not respect these prohibitions
in practice. The law requires a search or arrest warrant before police
may enter a home, except during a state of emergency. Police routinely
ignored this requirement and arrested suspected criminals at their
homes without an arrest warrant.
The law grants the DEC and the ZSIS authority to wiretap telephones
for probable cause.
Authorities sometimes detained, interrogated, and physically abused
family members of criminal suspects to obtain their cooperation in
identifying or locating suspects. For example, on June 8, 66-year-old
Margaret Lukonto was detained by police, bound in a kampelwa and beaten
as officers demanded that she reveal the location of her son, whom they
wanted to question on theft charges. Lukonto was seeking the LRF's
assistance in filing a civil suit.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government at
times restricted these rights. The law includes provisions that may be
interpreted broadly to restrict these freedoms. Journalists in the
government-owned media generally practiced self-censorship.
The private print media routinely criticized the Government. A
number of privately owned newspapers questioned government actions and
policies, and these generally circulated without government
interference.
The government-controlled Times of Zambia and Zambia Daily Mail
were two of the most widely circulated newspapers.
In addition to the government-controlled radio station, there were
numerous private radio stations.
In 2004 the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services
(MIBS) ordered that Breeze FM, a commercial radio station in Chipata,
stop relaying BBC broadcasts. MIBS claimed that Breeze FM's license
permitted local and regional broadcasts only. Though the order was
still in effect at year's end, the station remained a partner station
of the BBC and continued to rebroadcast a selection of BBC programs.
The government-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation
(ZNBC) was the principal local-content television station. Opposition
political parties and civil society groups complained that government
control of the station and of two major newspapers limited their access
to mass communication. In the lead-up to the September 28 Presidential
and parliamentary elections, ZNBC offered substantially less coverage
to opposition candidates than it did to candidates from the ruling MMD
party (see Section 3).
On October 11, the Supreme Court reserved ruling on the
Government's appeal of a High Court decision compelling the minister of
information to implement the ZNBC amendment and Independent
Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Act of 2002. The ZNBC Amendment Act of
2002 was intended to transform the state-owned ZNBC into a public
broadcaster, with an independent board of directors. The IBA Act
provides for the establishment of an independent regulatory authority
to govern all forms of broadcasting under the guidance of a
transparently recruited board of directors. Under both the IBA and ZNBC
Acts, independent media bodies recommend members to sit on the boards
of the IBA and ZNBC, respectively. The minister of information is to
submit the names of the recommended board members to parliament for
ratification. To date, the minister of information has refused to
submit the names to parliament, arguing that the names are only
``recommendations,'' which he is free to reject.
Several private television stations, including foreign media,
broadcast locally. MUVI TV began broadcasting local news three times a
day in 2005. Multichoice, a telecommunications company based in South
Africa, and CASAT provided satellite and analog wireless subscribers
with television services. Broadcasts of foreign news sources were
available in the country.
A new private TV station, MOBI TV, was by year's end conducting
test transmissions. MOBI TV had licenses to air free and pay television
broadcasts. CB TV also began test broadcasts in Ndola. New radio
stations that began broadcasting during the year included Hot FM in
Lusaka, and Zambezi FM in Southern Province. Macha Radio in Choma was
conducting test transmissions at year's end. Two private newspapers,
The Nation and Health Journal, also began publishing during the year.
The police harassed and arrested journalists during the year;
however, unlike previous years, there were no reports that the MMD
ordered attacks on independent newspapers.
The Government continued to pursue its appeal from a 2004 High
Court ruling that blocked the deportation of journalist Roy Clarke. In
a column published in the independent Post newspaper, Clarke had
allegedly defamed the President. At a November 21 hearing, the Supreme
Court continued the case after the Government asked for more time to
prepare its appeal.
On March 9, the journalists hosted a radio call-in show asking for
comments on the ritual murder of a five-year-old boy (see Section 5)[.]
On March 10, police arrested two radio journalists in Monze and charged
them with libel and intent to cause public alarm and fear. A day after
the broadcast, a mob attacked the suspects in the killing. Police
attributed the attack to statements allegedly made by the journalists;
a charge the journalists denied. On March 11, the journalists were
released from custody, and the charges were subsequently dropped.
On September 28, police attempted to close Radio Q FM in Lusaka,
which was broadcasting live coverage of the Presidential,
parliamentary, and local elections. Police officers visited the radio
station and accused it of inciting the public to riot. They directed
the station to cease live broadcasts; however, the station did not
comply.
Supporters of opposition leader Michael Sata attacked the offices
of the independent Post newspaper, alleging that it had reported
inaccurate news about their leader during the September 28 polls.
The Government exercised considerable influence over the
government-owned media, including reviewing articles prior to
publication and censuring individuals responsible for published
articles or programs deemed offensive by the Government. For example,
on November 30, the board of the Zambia Daily Mail fired Godfrey Malama
from his job as Managing Director of the newspaper. In a dismissal
letter, the board said that Malama had acted unprofessionally when, on
September 29 and 30, he published articles which reported that
opposition leader Michael Sata was leading in the vote count following
the September 28 Presidential elections. As a result of such pressure,
journalists in the government-owned media generally practiced self-
censorship, and the government-owned media continued to be supportive
of the Government.
In response to headlines and stories alleging official corruption,
those accused and others brought libel suits against the media. For
example, Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet Robert Mataka sued the Zambian
Watchdog newspaper and its editor for libel. He alleged that in its
August 21 26 edition, the newspaper published a false and malicious
story claiming that Mataka bought a house belonging to the Zambia Law
Development Commission using questionable means. The case was pending
at year's end.
During the year there were defamation suits filed by political
leaders. Michael Sata, opposition leader and President of the Patriotic
Front (PF) party, sued state-owned Zambia Daily Mail for libel,
claiming damages from articles that questioned his suitability as a
candidate for the country's presidency. The articles focused on some of
Sata's statements made at public rallies, which the newspaper
characterized as threats to Chinese investors. The case was pending at
year's end.
On February 14, the Government dropped charges against the Managing
Director of the independent Post newspaper, Fred M'membe, who was
arrested in November 2005 and charged with defaming the President in
connection with an editorial that questioned the President's honesty
and integrity.
The law provides that investigative tribunals can call journalists
and media managers, who print allegations of parliamentary misconduct,
as witnesses. Failure to cooperate with a tribunal can result in
charges of contempt punishable by up to six months in jail. The media
criticized these provisions as clear infringements of freedom of the
press and as a means for parliamentarians to bypass the court system.
There were no government restrictions on the Internet or academic
freedom and cultural events. Although the law gives the University
Council a mandate to address faculty concerns, the minister of
education was empowered to appoint the members of the council; some
academics criticized this provision as an infringement of academic
freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government restricted this right.
During the year government officials, opposition leaders, and NGOs
continued to criticize the Public Order Act (POA), which requires rally
organizers to notify police seven days in advance of a rally; however,
civil society organizations noted that the POA was administered more
fairly than in past years, particularly in the run-up to the September
28 general elections. Civil society organizations credited the more
even-handed administration of the POA to better training of police
officers and the decentralization of the decision-making process with
regard to approving requests to demonstrate, although the POA does not
technically require rally organizers to obtain a permit.
In March police in Kasama refused to grant opposition leader
Michael Sata permission to hold a political rally planned for March 17.
Sata charged that the police offered no justification for the refusal
given and that he had adhered to the prescribed administrative
procedures. The rally did not occur.
On November 20, police denied opposition leader Michael Sata
permission to hold four political rallies in Lusaka. On November 27,
Solicitor General Sunday Nkonde overturned the police decision and
granted Sata permission to hold the rallies. On December 5, President
Mwanawasa said in a public speech that he had asked the solicitor
general to resign for interfering with the decision to deny the rally.
The solicitor general did not resign, and Sata went forward with the
rallies.
Police forcibly dispersed demonstrations during the year; however,
unlike previous years, no deaths resulted.
On September 9, residents in Lusaka rioted for more than 10 hours
following the police shooting of three teenagers (see Section 1.a.).
The rioters attacked a police substation and burned government and
private vehicles; 20 suspects held in police cells escaped, and the
police dispersed the crowd with teargas and arrested 48 persons.
On September 13, police used teargas to disperse Lusaka residents
demanding the release of the 48 persons arrested on September 9. The 48
persons did not post bail and were still in custody at year's end.
There were no developments in the lawsuits and appeal arising from
the December 2004 arrest of four journalist and 11 members of
parliament on charges that they violated the POA.
The results of the investigation into the September 2004 shooting
death of a high school student during a demonstration were not released
by year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, but the Government placed some limits on this right. All
organizations must formally apply for registration to the Registrar of
Societies. In most cases, authorities routinely approved these
applications; however, the registration process is long and involves
the exercise of considerable discretion on the part of the Registrar.
During the year, there were no cases in which the Registrar refused to
register an organization, although it did threaten to deregister
organizations that had not paid fees or were otherwise not in
compliance with the law.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. Although the constitution declared the country a Christian
nation, in practice the Government generally respected the right of all
faiths to worship freely.
The Government required the registration of religious groups and
approved all applications for registration from religious groups
without discrimination; however, in March then Foreign Minister Ronnie
Shikapwasha stated publicly that the Government would begin consulting
with the Council of Churches before it registered church groups.
In January the High Court overturned the Government's 2005 decision
to deregister the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, thereby
allowing it to continue operations pending judicial review. The church
continued to operate and petitioned the court to find the Government in
contempt for violating the order staying proceedings against the
church. The court had not ruled on the church's petition by year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were approximately 80
persons in the Jewish community. There were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights; however, the Government intermittently limited them.
Police continued to man numerous roadblocks around the country to
control criminal activity, enforce customs and immigration regulations,
check drivers' licenses, and inspect vehicles for safety compliance.
Police at times extorted money and goods from motorists at these
roadblocks.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of refugee status or asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; however, the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals who
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN convention and the 1967
Protocol.
The country hosts an estimated 144,500 refugees, mainly from Angola
and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As of June 30, according to
the UNHCR, 8,000 Angolans were repatriated. In addition eight Rwandans
were repatriated and five were resettled in third countries. The
Government assisted in the resettlement of 192 DR Congolese refugees to
third countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On September 28, President
and MMD candidate Levy Mwanawasa was re-elected with 43 percent of the
vote; Patriotic Front (PF)candidate Michael Sata received 29 percent of
the vote; United Democratic Party Alliance candidate Hakainde Hichilema
received 25 percent of the vote; and 150 members of parliament (MPs)
also were elected. On October 9, eight other MPs were appointed by the
President.
Five political parties contested the Presidential elections. There
were instances of unfair campaign and electoral practices; however,
domestic and international observers characterized the electoral
process as transparent and peaceful. Observers gave the Electoral
Commission of Zambia (ECZ) high marks for its role in organizing the
elections, particularly with regard to voter registration and
education; however, some members of the public were not able to
register to vote because the Government did not efficiently issue
National Registration Cards, which were required for registration.
Civil society groups also criticized the ECZ's failure to establish a
special vote for domestic monitors and others unable to vote at
designated polling stations and charged that parties and candidates had
uneven access to electronic and print media. In addition, the lack of
regulations governing campaign finance resulted in an uneven playing
field for contestants.
Following the vote, there were reported problems with the counting,
tabulation, and reconciliation of ballot that undermined confidence in
the results of the elections. The problems were attributed to
inadequate training for election officials, compounded by poorly
designed and unnecessarily complicated return forms. There were also
problems with the system for the electronic transmission of results,
which the ECZ was forced to abandon in favor of faxing or physically
delivering results to Lusaka. The difficulties with the management of
election results supported suspicions that the elections were rigged,
fueling riots by supporters of opposition candidate Michael Sata in
Lusaka and in cities in Copperbelt Province.
In the four by-elections held during the year, there were numerous
reports of vote buying and misappropriation of government resources for
unfair electoral advantage. For example, in Mporokoso, the vice-
President reportedly threatened to discipline public service workers
who voted for the opposition. In Milanzi suspected MMD members threw a
Molotov cocktail at the vehicle of an opposition MP.
The constitution requires that both parents of a candidate for the
office of President be citizens by birth or descent, effectively
discriminating against potential candidates based on their parentage.
The constitution also prohibits traditional chiefs from running for
political office unless they resign from their chieftainships.
There were 22 women elected to parliament in the September 28
elections. On October 9, the President appointed two more women to
parliament.
In December 2005 the Constitution Review Commission released its
final draft constitution. The Government had taken no steps to change
the constitution by year's end; however, in May the President signed
into law a new electoral act that many civil society groups
characterized as a disappointment. The new act disregarded many of the
recommendations contained in the 2005 report of the Electoral Reform
Technical Committee, including a recommendation that the President be
elected by more than 50 percent of the vote and a recommendation that
the ECZ be given the authority to set the date for Presidential
elections to prevent unfair advantage for the President and ruling
party.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The anticorruption
campaign the Government launched in 2002 continued during the year.
Trials of former government officials charged with abuse of office and
theft proceeded, resulting in the conviction on October 10 of Samuel
Musonda, former managing director of the government-owned Zambia
National Commercial Bank. The Government continued its collaboration
with the international community to improve its capacity to investigate
and prevent corruption. Parliamentary committees sustained their
scrutiny of executive branch operations. The Anti-Corruption Committee
increased its prosecution and public educational activities.
Despite these efforts there remained a widespread public perception
that corruption was pervasive in almost all government institutions.
Controls over government funds and property were often weak,
investigative units often lacked authority and personnel, and officials
dealing with the public frequently demanded illicit payments with
impunity. Additionally, the Government had no clear policy for the
disposal of confiscated assets, and there was lack of transparency
surrounding the liquidation of assets seized in the campaign against
corruption.
During the year the Government continued to investigate and
prosecute senior officials allegedly involved in corruption during the
administration of former President Chiluba. In 2004 the Government
began its prosecution of Chiluba himself in magistrate court. The
prosecution was ongoing at year's end, although the court was
frequently in recess due to Chiluba's poor health.
On October 16, the Government arrested and filed corruption charges
against former State House press aide Richard Sakala. On October 23,
the Government filed charges against former President Chiluba's wife,
Regina Chiluba, for unlawfully obtaining property and other assets.
In 2004 the Government also filed corruption charges against
several officials of the current administration and former military
commanders including, Lieutenant Generals Wilford Funjika, Sande
Kayumba, and Geojago Musengule, who were charged in separate cases of
procurement fraud. Their trials were ongoing in civilian courts in the
country and in the United Kingdom at year's end.
The corruption trial of Kashiwa Bulaya, a former official of the
ministry of health, was ongoing at year's end.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information; however, the Government provided information to media and
interested parties on an ad hoc basis. Information related to defense
and security forces was withheld from public access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally cooperated with such groups.
Domestic human rights organizations continued to press for a more
transparent democratic electoral system. Human rights and election NGOs
monitored by-elections during the year and organized civic education
activities to improve voter participation and information.
The HRC oversaw human rights committees in all provincial capitals,
interceded on behalf of persons whose rights it believed were denied by
the Government, and spoke on behalf of detainees and prisoners. During
the year the HRC opened a new office in Livingstone; however,
independent human rights groups complained that the HRC was
understaffed, underfinanced, and lacked sufficient authority to enforce
its recommendations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
tribe, gender, place of origin, marital status, political opinion,
color, or creed; however, violence and discrimination against women and
persons with disabilities remained a problem.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem, and
wife beating and rape were widespread. There is no specific law for
domestic violence, and cases of domestic violence were prosecuted under
the general assault statutes. Penalties imposed for assault vary,
depending on the severity of injury and whether a weapon is used. The
Victim Support Unit (VSU) was responsible for handling problems of
domestic assault, wife beating, mistreatment of widows by the deceased
husband's relatives, and property grabbing; however, in practice, the
police often were reluctant to pursue reports of domestic violence and
preferred to encourage reconciliation.
The law prohibits rape, and courts generally sentenced rapists to
hard labor. In 2005 the VSU recorded 216 case of rape and 1,511 cases
of defilement, which includes forced or unforced sex with a person
under the age of 16. The penal code does not specifically prohibit
marital rape and statutes that criminalize rape cannot be practically
used to prosecute cases of rape in marriage. To date courts have not
tried a case involving marital rape, although the crime was known to be
common.
Due to traditional and cultural inhibitions, many cases of violence
against women and children remained unreported. The VSU reported that
it was difficult to prosecute cases of abuse against women because
victims often refused to cooperate, and there was a lack of forensic
equipment needed to develop evidence. The Government and NGOs expressed
continued concern about violence against women.
Prostitution is illegal, and police routinely arrested street
prostitutes for loitering. There were no reliable statistics on the
number of prostitutes in the country.
Trafficking in women and children was a problem (see below).
An amendment to the penal code enacted in September 2005 prohibits
the sexual harassment of children but there are no laws that
specifically prohibit sexual harassment of adults, and sexual
harassment in the workplace was common. During the year the minister of
education warned that teachers found to have sexually harassed students
would be dismissed immediately.
The law entitles women to equality with men in most areas; however,
women were severely disadvantaged in formal employment and education.
Married women who were employed often suffered from discriminatory
conditions of service. Women had little independent access to credit
facilities; in most cases, they remained dependent on their husbands,
who were required to cosign for loans. As a result few women owned
their own homes. Some small financial institutions allowed women to
sign independently for loans.
Customary law and practice also place women in a subordinate status
with respect to property, inheritance, and marriage, despite
constitutional and legal protections. Polygyny is permitted if the
first wife agrees to it at the time of her wedding. Under the law a
deceased man's children equally share 50 percent of an estate; the
widow receives 20 percent; the man's parents receive 20 percent; and
other relatives receive 10 percent. The widow's share must be divided
equally with any other women who can prove a marital relationship with
the deceased man, thus granting inheritance rights to other wives,
mistresses, and concubines. However, under the traditional customs
prevalent in most ethnic groups, all rights to inherit property rest
with the deceased man's family. Property grabbing by relatives of the
deceased man remained widespread, although increased training of local
court officials may have resulted in a slight decrease in the practice.
Many widows were ignorant of the law, and as a result received little
or nothing from the estate. The fines that the law mandates for
property grabbing were extremely low. The police, through its VSU,
treated instances of property grabbing as criminal offenses.
The common traditional practice of ``sexual cleansing,'' in which a
widow had sex with her late husband's relatives as part of a cleansing
ritual, continued to occur; however, some traditional leaders have
banned it. A September 2005 amendment to the penal code makes it
illegal for any person to engage in a harmful cultural practice such as
sexual cleansing or to encourage another person to engage in the
practice.
NGOs that predominantly represented women's interests were
particularly active as lobbying organizations. The NGO Coordinating
Committee, an umbrella organization for women's NGOs, was influential
in the Oasis Forum, which continued to conduct civic education programs
on the issue of constitutional reform.
Children.--Although the Government sought to improve the welfare of
children through the Ministries of Labor and Social Security, Sport
Youth and Child Development, as well as Education, scarce resources and
ineffective implementation of social programs continued to adversely
affect children.
Government policy provided for free basic education for the first
nine years of elementary school; however, education was not compulsory,
and many children did not attend school. The Government eliminated
school fees and mandatory uniforms for primary education students in
order to increase school attendance, but many teachers and school
administrators still required students purchase uniforms or pay a fee
before they would allow them to attend classes. The net enrollment
ratio for children of primary school age increased from 66 percent in
1999 to 97 percent by 2005. The large rise in the net enrollment ratio
was due in part to a revision in the formula used to calculate the
figure, which included 500,000 students enrolled in nongovernmental
community schools. Inadequate educational facilities and a scarcity of
educational materials were problems. Some areas have established
community schools; however, these schools had fewer resources than
public schools and required contributions from parents.
The number of girls and boys in primary school was approximately
equal; however, fewer girls attended secondary school. There were
reports that teachers sexually abused female students. The UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) officials noted that sexual abuse in schools
discouraged or prevented many girls from attending classes. The
Government continued its collaboration with UNICEF on the Program for
the Advancement of Girls' Education to work with families and community
leaders to keep girls in school and to bring back those who had left.
There were approximately one million children under the age of 15
in the country who were orphaned, approximately 750,000 of these as a
result of HIV/AIDS. These children faced greater risks of child abuse,
sexual abuse, and child labor. Approximately 75 percent of all
households were caring for at least one orphan, and children headed
approximately 7 percent of households due to the death of both parents.
The Government instituted programs to increase public awareness of HIV/
AIDS.
Child abuse was a problem. Approximately 1,511 cases of child
sexual abuse were reported in 2005, according to police statistics.
Early marriage was a problem. Although a person must be at least 16
years old to marry under statutory law, there is no minimum age for
marriage under customary law. A few traditional leaders spoke against
early marriage and took steps to discourage it, but the majority of
traditional leaders condoned the practice. Courts intervened in cases
of gross abuse.
There are laws that criminalize child prostitution; however, the
law was not enforced effectively, and child prostitution was
widespread. Although the Government removed and rehabilitated some
street children during the year, the presence of an estimated 20 30,000
street child throughout the country contributed to the proliferation of
street begging and prostitution. The laws against pornography and the
sexual exploitation of children under the age of 21 were sporadically
enforced.
Trafficking of children for sexual exploitation occurred (see
below).
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
During the year the Government continued implementation of a
strategy to provide shelter and protection to street children,
including prostitutes. During the year 204 street children graduated
from two government-operated rehabilitation camps located in Chipata
and Kitwe. After graduating from the rehabilitation camps, the children
were placed in Youth Resource Centers located throughout the country,
where they received specialized training in trades such as carpentry,
tailoring, and farming.
Trafficking in Persons.--There were reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, and within the country. The law prohibits the
trafficking of any person for any purpose, but it does not define
trafficking. Persons convicted of trafficking were subject to a term of
imprisonment from 20 years to life. The law had not been used to
prosecute a case of trafficking at year's end. Convictions of the
crimes of abduction, assault, or seeking to have sex with a minor could
be punished with sentences up to life imprisonment with hard labor.
The Government did not collect or maintain data on the extent or
nature of trafficking in the country; however, trafficking,
particularly in the form of child prostitution was believed to be
significant. Female citizens were trafficked within the country and to
other parts of Africa and to Europe, and the country was used as a
transit point for regional trafficking of women for prostitution.
Traffickers fraudulently obtained Zambian travel documents for their
victims before proceeding to other destinations. During the year there
were reliable reports that women were trafficked to the country for
commercial sex work.
A 2004 survey of service providers, community members, and children
located in four cities indicated that traffickers came from a variety
of backgrounds and included family members, truck drivers, prostitutes,
and business persons. Foreign traffickers were said to have come from
Asia, Europe, North America, and countries in the region. During the
year the International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a study, in
cooperation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, to determine the nature
and extent of trafficking in children in the country.
In April immigration officials detained two Chinese women at Lusaka
International Airport as they attempted to board a flight for London
using false Hong Kong travel documents. The women were repatriated
after officials determined that they were likely victims of human
trafficking. No arrests were made in the case.
In the 2004 cases against Bangu Kasenge and Delphine Bakuna
Chibwabwa related to trafficking in persons, the Government during the
year dropped the charges against one defendant and deported him to the
DRC. The other defendant fled the country after he was released on
bail.
Traffickers often use promises of employment to entice young girls
and women to leave their homes and families and then force them into
prostitution.
Through its social welfare agencies, the Government provided
counseling, shelter, and protection to victims of child prostitution or
referred victims to NGOs that provided such services. There was no
formal screening or referral process. In some cases victims have been
placed in protective custody at rehabilitation centers or victim
support shelters operated by NGOs.
When government officials understand that individuals are victims
of trafficking, they do not treat victims as criminals. In identified
cases, victims have not been detained, jailed, deported, or prosecuted
for violations of other laws. When trafficking investigations have
substantiated allegations, the Government has encouraged victims to
assist with investigation and prosecution. The Government did not have
its own means of protecting victims and witnesses; however, it arranged
for protective custody and security protection through facilities
operated by NGOs.
The Government did not have programs that specifically targeted
trafficking, although law enforcement officers attended training
courses that raised awareness of the problem. A government interagency
committee on human trafficking, chaired by the Ministry of Home
Affairs, also met during the year to promote coordination and
information sharing among agencies. Government agencies responsible for
combating trafficking include the police, immigration authorities, and
the ministries of justice, labor, and education.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination in
general, but there is no law that specifically prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental health disabilities in
employment, education, or access to health care. Persons with
disabilities faced significant societal discrimination in employment
and education. Public buildings, schools, and hospitals did not have
facilities to accommodate persons with disabilities. The Government did
not legislate or otherwise mandate accessibility to public buildings
and services for persons with disabilities.
A person with mental disabilities was attacked and killed during
the year (see Section 1.a).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
``carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature,'' but it
does not specifically outlaw homosexuality. There was societal
discrimination against homosexuals.
The Government actively discouraged societal discrimination against
those living with HIV/AIDS; however, there was strong societal
discrimination against such individuals, and much of the population
believed that persons infected with HIV/AIDS should not be allowed to
work.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law recognizes the right of
workers to form and belong to trade unions, and workers exercised these
rights in practice. Police officers were not permitted to form unions
and remained nonunionized at year's end. In 2005 only 11 percent of the
eligible workforce was employed in the formal sector, and approximately
60 percent of the formal sector was unionized.
The Industrial and Labor Relations (IRA) Act establishes burdensome
registration procedures. For example, no organization can be registered
unless it has at least 100 members, and with some exceptions, no trade
union can be registered if it claims to represent a class of employees
already represented by an existing trade union. Unions may be
deregistered under certain circumstances; however, the IRA provides for
notice, reconsideration, and right of appeal to an industrial relations
court.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members
and organizers; however, the law was not always enforced.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The right to collective
bargaining, without government interference, is protected in law and
freely practiced.
There are no export processing zones.
The law provides for the right to strike, except for those engaged
in ``essential services''; however, there has not been a legal strike
since 1993. In addition to the Zambia Defense Force, the judiciary, the
police, the prison service, and the ZSIS, the law also defines
essential services as any activity relating to the generation, supply,
or distribution of electricity; the supply and distribution of water;
sewerage; fire departments; and the maintenance of safe and sound
conditions in underground working environments such as shafts and
machinery in the mining sector. The law permits strikes only after all
other legal recourse has been exhausted, which can be a cumbersome
process. The law prohibits employers from retribution against employees
engaged in legal union activities; however, workers engaged in illegal
strikes did not enjoy this protection. Employers decide whether to
retain such workers or dismiss them given there is no legal obligation;
the Government at times intervened for political reasons when such
dismissals occur.
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not respond to
striking civil servants with threats of mass firing, arrests, and
revocation of rally permits.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
reports that such practices occurred (see Section 5). The law
authorizes the Government to call upon citizens to perform labor in
specific instances, such as during national emergencies or disasters.
The Government also may require citizens to perform labor that was
associated with traditional civil or communal obligations, as when a
traditional leader or other dignitary called upon all members of a
village to assist in preparing for a visit; however, there were no
reports of such activities during the year.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits employment of children in any commercial, agricultural,
or domestic worksite and the engaging of a child in the worst forms of
child labor as defined in international conventions. The law also
prohibits slavery and the procurement or offering of a child for
illicit activities.
The minimum age for employment is 18, or, with the consent of a
parent or guardian, a child may be employed at the age of 16.
Nevertheless, child labor was a problem in subsistence agriculture,
domestic service, and informal sectors, where children under the age of
16 often were employed, and the law was not enforced. The Labor
Commissioner effectively enforced minimum age requirements in the
industrial sector, where there was little demand for child labor.
Approximately 600,000 children were in the work force, of which
approximately 87 percent worked in the agricultural sector. During the
year children, often orphans who had lost both parents to HIV/AIDS,
continued to migrate to urban areas where they lived as street
children. In urban areas children commonly engaged in street vending.
Child labor was most concentrated in the areas of construction,
farming, transportation, prostitution, household work, quarries, and
mines.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MLSS) is responsible for
the implementation and enforcement of child labor laws and regulations.
The MLSS can bring charges that provide for penalties ranging from a
fine to imprisonment for violations. Labor inspectors may also enter
family homesteads and agricultural fields to check for child labor
violations.
During the year the Government allocated $142,500 (570 million
kwacha) for MLSS to investigate child labor problems, almost twice the
amount allocated in 2005. Because more than 80 percent of child labor
in the country occurred in the agricultural sector, most often with the
consent of families, the MLSS labor inspectors focused on counseling
and educating families that engaged children in child labor and did not
refer any cases for prosecution during the year. The MLSS employed 50
child labor inspectors in 22 field stations located throughout the
country; however, it reported that inadequate resources hampered its
enforcement efforts. For instance, labor inspectors frequently found it
difficult to access transportation, making it difficult to conduct
inspections in vast rural areas. Labor inspectors also found it
difficult to carry out inspections because the majority of child labor
occurred in informal sectors of the economy that were difficult to
regulate. As a result, child labor inspectors conducted fewer than 50
formal inspections during the year, choosing instead to focus their
efforts on raising awareness and educating the public about child labor
issues. In cooperation with NGO partners, the Government continued its
efforts to remove children from child labor. The children, mainly urban
orphans, were placed in formal and transitional classes, while others
were given vocational skills training (see Section 5).
The Government continued to provide awareness and training
activities for officials charged with enforcing child labor laws and
also began to train five labor inspectors as prosecutors; however, the
MLSS reported that resource constraints prevented it from providing all
required training. During the year the ILO's International Program on
the Elimination of Child Labor launched a 42-month, $3,900,000 (16
billion kwacha) project, aimed at building the Government's capacity to
design, implement and monitor initiatives to address the worst forms of
child labor as defined in international conventions.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for
nonunionized workers, whose wages and conditions of employment were not
regulated through collective bargaining, was determined by category of
employment. On June 2, the Government published a statutory instrument
that raised the minimum wage to $67 per month (268,000 kwacha) based on
a 48-hour workweek, the legal maximum for nonunionized workers. The
minimum wage did not provide a worker and family with a decent standard
of living; most minimum wage earners supplemented their incomes through
second jobs, subsistence farming, or reliance on the extended family.
The minimum wage act was criticized because it did not apply to
domestic servants.
For unionized workers, wage scales and maximum workweek limits were
established through collective bargaining. In practice almost all
unionized workers received salaries considerably higher than the
nonunionized minimum wage. The minimum workweek for full-time
employment was 40 hours, which was the normal workweek. The law
requires two days of annual leave per month of service. The law
provides for overtime pay. Employers must pay employees who work more
than 48 hours (45 hours in some categories) in one week at a rate of
one and a half times their hourly rate. Workers receive double the rate
of their hourly pay for work done on a Sunday or public holiday. The
Government effectively enforced these standards.
The law also regulates minimum health standards in industry, and
city and district councils were responsible for enforcement. The
inspector of factories under the minister of labor handled factory
safety; staffing shortages limited enforcement effectiveness. The MLSS
continued to conduct labor inspections during the year and ordered
businesses to close when it found significant violations of labor laws.
The law protects the right of workers to remove themselves from work
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their
continued employment, but workers did not exercise this right in
practice. The Government acted when well-known occupational health
problems existed, such as requiring that underground mine workers
receive annual medical examinations. For example, in November, the
Environmental Council of Zambia ordered Chisteel Zambia Limited, a
Chinese-owned steel company, to close its factory in Lusaka, citing the
company's failure to install pollution abatement equipment or to
provide workers with protective equipment.
__________
ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe, with a population of approximately 11.6 million, is
constitutionally a republic, but the Government, dominated by President
Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF) since independence, was not freely elected and is
authoritarian. The last two national elections, the Presidential
election in 2002 and the parliamentary elections in March 2005, were
not free and fair. Although the constitution allows for multiple
parties, the ruling party and security forces intimidated and committed
abuses against opposition parties and their supporters and obstructed
their activities. The divided Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is
the country's principal opposition; despite the fraudulent elections,
the MDC factions held 41 of 120 elected seats in the House of Assembly
and seven of 50 elected seats in the Senate at year's end. The civilian
authorities generally maintained control of the security forces, but
often used them to control opposition to the ruling party.
The Government engaged in the pervasive and systematic abuse of
human rights. The ruling party's dominant control and manipulation of
the political process through intimidation and corruption effectively
negated the right of citizens to change their government. Unlawful
killings and politically motivated kidnappings occurred. The state
sanctioned the use of excessive force and torture, and security forces
tortured members of the opposition, union leaders, and civil society
activists. Prison conditions were harsh and life threatening. Security
forces arbitrarily arrested and detained journalists, demonstrators,
and religious leaders; lengthy pretrial detention was a problem.
Executive influence and interference in the judiciary were problems.
The Government continued to forcibly evict citizens and to demolish
homes. The Government continued to use repressive laws to suppress
freedom of speech, press, assembly, movement, association, and academic
freedom. Government corruption and impunity remained widespread. High-
ranking government officials made numerous public threats of violence
against demonstrators. The following human rights violations also
continued to occur: harassment of human rights and humanitarian
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and interference with their
attempts to provide humanitarian assistance; violence and
discrimination against women; child labor and prostitution;
discrimination against persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities;
an increase in the number of HIV/AIDS orphans and child-headed
households; harassment and interference with labor organizations
critical of government policies; and attempts to supplant legitimate
labor leaders with hand-picked supporters.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in the
previous year, there were no reports of politically motivated killings
by the Government or ruling party supporters; however, security forces
killed several persons during apprehension.
On June 29, two police officers in Bulawayo assaulted a group of
men at a bar when they overheard one of the patrons saying that he
wished President Mugabe had died instead of the recently deceased
minister of information and publicity. Two of the men, Gift Jubane and
Prince Ndebele, died a day later as a result of their injuries. The
other victims, several of whom required hospitalization, reported that
during the beating police accused them of working with the MDC to
topple the Government. The two unidentified police officers were
suspended. An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of killings by
war veterans or ZANU-PF supporters.
There were no developments in the following killings from 2005: the
March killing of Gift Chimbandi, a war veteran burned to death
reportedly as a result of a dispute with other war veterans living on a
seized farm; the April killing of a 70-year-old grandmother, who was
beaten to death during an assault on suspected MDC supporters; the
April killing of Ebrahim Mofat, who was beaten to death for suspicion
of burning houses belonging to ZANU-PF supporters; and the May killing
of Godwin Ganda, a war veteran believed to have spearheaded the first
farm occupation in the country in 1998.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that prisoners
died from abuse by prison officials or guards.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of disappearances during
the year; however, there were reports of politically motivated
kidnappings and related torture committed by ZANU-PF supporters.
Domestic human rights organizations believed that many such incidents
were not reported due to fear of retribution by progovernment factions.
The Government often did not investigate reported abductions and
torture of MDC supporters.
For example, on July 9, eight unidentified men reportedly abducted
an MDC youth organizer in Chitungwiza and took him to a nearby army
barracks where he was left with a group of soldiers. The victim, who
was released after a few hours, claimed that his abductors told the
soldiers he was an MDC supporter, and that the soldiers beat him during
an interrogation to elicit the names of other soldiers who were
assisting the MDC in organizing opposition to the Government. The
soldiers threatened to kill the youth if he went to the authorities.
No action was taken against ZANU-PF supporters responsible for the
February 2005 abduction of MDC candidate Godfrey Gumboand, nor the
April 2005 abductions of Wilson Mushonga, the son of an MDC candidate,
and a group of his colleagues.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the constitution prohibits torture and other
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, security forces
continued to engage in such practices. Police reportedly used excessive
force in apprehending and detaining criminal suspects, as well as
ordinary citizens, for holding meetings or participating in
demonstrations. Government supporters continued to assault suspected
opposition members. Violent confrontations between various youth groups
aligned with either the Government or the opposition continued.
Human rights groups reported that physical and psychological
torture perpetrated by security agents and government supporters
increased during the year. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum recorded
337 cases of torture during the first nine months of the year. Youth
militia forces, trained by ZANU-PF, were deployed to harass and
intimidate suspected supporters of the MDC and Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU).
There were reports of indoctrination against political opposition
(see Section 5).
Security forces committed political violence, including instances
where soldiers and persons in military uniforms beat civilians,
particularly in areas suspected of heavy support for the opposition.
Army and police units participated in or provided logistical support to
perpetrators of political violence and generally permitted their
activities. Individuals targeted for harassment and torture tended to
be active members of the opposition or high-level ZANU-PF members in
disfavor with the ruling party. According to the Human Rights Watch
(HRW) report You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten--The Brutal Suppression of
Dissent in Zimbabwe, ``police have arbitrarily arrested hundreds of
civil society activists'' for participating in ``routine meetings or
peaceful demonstrations, often with excessive force, and in some cases
subjected those in custody to severe beatings that amounted to
torture.''
No action was taken against the perpetrators of the following 2005
abuse cases: the February abduction and torture by unidentified persons
of a Curuve man believed to be an MDC supporter; the April arrest and
beating by police of MDC MP-elect Nelson Chamisa; or the assaults and
intimidation through the year of persons perceived to be supporting the
opposition, including teachers, civil servants, health workers, and
laborers.
The trial of Kenny Karidza, who was arrested and tortured in 2004
for allegedly selling state secrets to foreign governments, had not
begun by year's end.
On September 13, police arrested more than 100 members of the ZCTU
to prevent the labor movement from staging nationwide marches planned
that day. Police severely beat several of the organizers, including
ZCTUScretary General Wellington Chibebe (see Section 6.a.). Numerous
ZCTU members were hospitalized as a result of their injuries.
War veterans and ZANU-PF supporters continued to harass,
intimidate, and abuse journalists considered to be sympathetic to the
opposition (see Section 2.a.).
Security forces repeatedly used force to disperse nonviolent
gatherings and demonstrations; security forces also beat participants
and demonstrators (see Section 2.b.).
There was at least one report of a politically motivated rape
during the year. A woman alleged that police in Harare detained her for
three days after she attended an MDC meeting in April. Upon her
release, she claimed that police forced her into a van and took her to
an isolated area where a police officer raped and beat her. The victim
reported that the police officer threatened her with death if she
reported the incident.
According to a Zimbabwe Torture Victims/Survivors Project report
released in December, at least 15 percent of Zimbabwean women refugees
interviewed at a counseling center in Johannesburg, South Africa
between February 2005 and September 2006 reported they had been raped
in Zimbabwe; the victims most frequently named members of ZANU-PF,
police, military, and the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) as
the perpetrators.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life-threatening. The Government's 47 prisons were designed
for a capacity of 16,000 prisoners but held approximately 25,000
according to media reports. In December 2004 the Law Society of
Zimbabwe (LSZ) conducted a prison inspection at Khami Maximum Prison in
Bulawayo. The inspection revealed that the prison, built to accommodate
650 prisoners, had 1,167 inmates. Poor sanitary conditions persisted,
which aggravated outbreaks of cholera, diarrhea, measles, tuberculosis,
and HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Human rights activists familiar with
prison conditions reported constant shortages of food, water,
electricity, clothing, and soap.
Harsh prison conditions and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS were
widely acknowledged to have contributed to a large number of deaths in
prison. The Institute of Correctional and Securities Studies, a local
NGO, estimated that 52 percent of the country's prisoners were HIV
positive. One doctor who worked with former prisoners in the Harare
area estimated that the prevalence figure was closer to 60 percent. In
February Zimbabwe Prisons Service Commissioner General Paradzai Zimondi
described the mortality rate in prisons as a ``cause for concern.''
The LSZ also reported that 127 prisoners in Khami prison died in
2004; the deaths were attributed to overcrowding and unsanitary
conditions resulting in the spread of diseases, including tuberculosis.
In August the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) reported
that torture in prisons was common. IWPR quoted Roy Bennett, a former
MDC parliamentary deputy jailed for eight months in Chikurubi prison
beginning in 2005, as saying he saw other prisoners ``crippled'' from
beating on the soles of their feet. Bennett added that ``if you are too
slow in sitting down or squatting--because you can't talk to the guards
standing up, you have to grovel on the floor to talk to them--you are
beaten.''
The Government did not make any efforts to improve prison
conditions during the year.
Juveniles were not held separately from adults. The Prison
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, a local Christian organization working with
former inmates, estimated that more than 200 children were living in
the country's prison system with their detained mothers. Pretrial
detainees generally were held in group cells until their bail hearings.
Once charged, if detainees were refused bail, they were held in a
separate remand prison.
The law provides that international human rights monitors have the
right to visit prisons, but government procedures and requirements made
it very difficult to do so. Permission was required from the
commissioner of prisons and the minister of justice, which sometimes
was not granted or took a month or longer to obtain. The Government
granted local NGOs access on a number of occasions during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, some laws effectively
weakened this prohibition, and security forces repeatedly arbitrarily
arrested and detained persons.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Zimbabwe Republic
Police (ZRP) is responsible for maintaining law and order. Although the
ZRP officially is under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs,
in practice the President's office controlled some roles and missions.
The Zimbabwe National Army and Air Force, under the Defense Ministry,
were responsible for external security; however, there were cases in
which the Government called upon them for domestic operations. The CIO,
under the Ministry of State for National Security, is responsible for
internal and external security. The police, the military, and the CIO
became increasingly politicized as they were frequently used to
suppress dissent and opposition to the Government.
The police are centrally controlled, with the command center in
Harare. The police are hierarchically divided, with provincial
headquarters overseeing two to three district headquarters, each of
which supervises up to seven stations. Severely depleted human and
material resources, especially fuel, further reduced police
effectiveness during the year. It was difficult for rank-and-file
police to remain impartial due to continued politicization within the
force's upper echelons, which further lowered their professionalism.
There also were reports that untrained or unqualified personnel were
hired into the police solely because of their support for ZANU-PF.
Corruption increased in part due to low salaries and a worsening
economy.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests require court-issued warrants. The
law requires that police inform an arrested person of the charges
before taking the individual into custody. Although the law requires a
preliminary hearing before a magistrate within 48 hours of an arrest
(or 96 hours over a weekend), authorities disregarded the law if a
person did not have legal representation. Police typically arrested
individuals accused of political crimes on Friday, which permitted
legal detention until Monday. In several cases police claimed not to
know where they were holding a detained individual, which delayed a
hearing on bail release. There were multiple reports of security forces
arbitrarily arresting opposition and civil society activists,
interrogating and beating them for information about their
organization's activities, and then releasing them the next day without
charges. Security forces rarely were held accountable for abuses.
Although the Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act substantially
reduces the power of magistrates to grant bail without the consent of
the Attorney General or his agents, in practice a circular issued by
the Attorney General giving a general authority to grant bail lessened
the negative effect of the law. High court judges granted bail
independently. The Act allows police to hold persons suspected of
committing economic crimes for up to four weeks without bail.
Authorities often did not allow detainees prompt or regular access
to their lawyers and often informed lawyers who attempted to visit
their clients that detainees were ``not available'' (see Section 1.e.).
In February, for example, police officials in Harare denied activists
arrested during the annual Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) Valentine's
Day march access to their attorney, Tafadzwa Mugabe, for five days.
Family members sometimes were denied access unless accompanied by an
attorney. Detainees, particularly those from rural areas without legal
representation, sometimes were held incommunicado. Family members and
attorneys often could not verify that a person had been detained until
the detainee appeared in court.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that victims or
witnesses of crimes were detained or charged with the crime after
reporting it to police.
The Official Secrets Act, Public Order and Security Act (POSA), and
the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (``the criminal code'')
grant the Government a wide range of legal powers and give extensive
powers to the police, the minister of home affairs, and the President
to prosecute persons for political and security crimes that are not
clearly defined.
The July enactment of the amended criminal code served to repeal
the Sexual Offenses Act (SOA) and consolidated a variety of criminal
offenses, including crimes against public order. The Institute for
Justice and Reconciliation and the Solidarity Peace Trust reported that
almost all the offenses in POSA were transferred to the criminal code,
in some cases with drastic increases in the penalties. For instance,
making a false statement prejudicial to the state now carries a maximum
prison sentence of up to 20 years in prison. POSA requires that an
organizer of a meeting or demonstration give the requisite notice to
police before holding a public event; such requests were routinely
denied (see Section 2.b.).
Police arbitrarily arrested journalists and religious leaders (see
Sections 2.a. and 2.c.).
Police arrested persons holding meetings and during forcible
dispersal of gatherings (see Section 2.b.).
There were no developments in the arrest cases reported in 2005 and
2004.
Prolonged pretrial detention remained a problem, and some detainees
were incarcerated as long as nine years before trial or sentencing
because of a critical shortage of magistrates and court interpreters.
One prominent NGO estimated that in 2005 the courts would require at
least two years to address the backlog of cases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however the judiciary was under intense pressure
to conform to government policies, and the Government repeatedly
refused to abide by judicial decisions.
The law provides for a unitary court system consisting of headmen's
courts, chiefs' courts, magistrates' courts, the high court, and the
Supreme Court. Civil and customary law cases may be heard at all levels
of the judiciary, including the Supreme Court.
Magistrates, who are part of the civil service rather than the
judiciary, heard the vast majority of cases. Legal experts said that
increasingly defendants in politically sensitive cases were more likely
to receive a fair hearing in magistrates' lower courts than in higher
courts where justices were more likely to make political decisions.
Other judicial officers such as prosecutors and private attorneys also
faced political pressure.
The Government and police routinely failed to enforce court
decisions that went against their interests. Furthermore, the
Government routinely continued to delay payment of court costs or
judgments awarded against it in civil cases.
Judges are appointed to serve until the age of 65 and may extend
their terms until the age of 70 if they remain in good physical and
mental health. The constitution provides that they may be removed from
the bench only for gross misconduct and that they cannot be discharged
or transferred for political reasons.
In January the high court found Justice Benjamin Paradza guilty of
obstruction of justice for trying to influence a fellow judge in a
murder case. Paradza, charged in 2003, maintained that consultations
with colleagues were common among judges and were not improper. Paradza
reportedly fled the country; the judge sentenced him in absentia.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial; however, this right frequently was compromised in practice
due to political pressures. Trials were held by judges without juries
and were open to the public, except in certain security cases. Every
defendant has the right to a lawyer of his choosing, but a local
attorney reported that most defendants in magistrates' courts did not
have legal representation. In criminal cases an indigent defendant may
apply to have the Government provide an attorney, but this was rarely
granted except in capital cases where the Government provided an
attorney for all defendants unable to afford one. Litigants in civil
cases may request legal assistance from the NGO Legal Resources
Foundation or Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
Attorneys sometimes were denied access to their clients (see
Section 1.d.). Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, the right
to present witnesses, and the right to question witnesses against them;
however, these rights were not always observed in practice. In 2005 a
local NGO reported that the Government sometimes denied those rights
for political reasons. Defendants and their attorneys generally had
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. The right
to appeal exists in all cases and is automatic in cases in which the
death penalty is imposed.
The Zimbabwe Women's Lawyers Association (ZWLA) reported in 2005
that some magistrates in the country were not aware of some of the
contents of the SOA, that the law was in effect, or lacked complete
understanding of how to apply it. ZWLA's research illustrated that many
magistrates continued to make judgments based on old laws.
There was a large volume of rape cases in the Harare victim-
friendly courts, special courts created to accommodate children and
sexual offense victims, that had specially trained magistrates and
prosecutors and equipment that allows the victims to testify without
being seen. These courts were understaffed, in part because many
magistrates left the country seeking to improve their circumstances
Military courts deal with courts-martial and disciplinary
proceedings only for military personnel. Police courts, which can
sentence a police officer to confinement in a camp or demotion, handle
disciplinary and misconduct cases. Defendants in these courts have the
right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were numerous reports of
political detainees throughout the year, including opposition
officials, their supporters, and civil society activists. Most were
held for one or two days and released. During the year police severely
beat and tortured numerous opposition and civil society leaders while
in detention (see Section 1.c.). At year's end there were no political
detainees in police custody.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of political
prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters; however, in practice the
judiciary showed indications of being politically influenced or
intimidated in cases involving high-ranking government officials,
politically connected persons, or violations of human rights. There
were systematic problems enforcing domestic court orders, as resources
for the judiciary and police were severely strained (see Section 2.a.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, but
the Government did not respect these provisions in practice. Security
forces searched homes and offices without warrants; the Government was
believed to monitor some private correspondence and telephones,
particularly international communications; and the Government forcibly
displaced persons from their homes. The Government coerced ruling party
support in food distribution and agricultural inputs (see Section 3).
The law permits the Government to monitor and intercept e-mails
entering and leaving the country. Security services reportedly
continued to monitor e-mail and Internet activity and acquired new
technology to do so; however, the extent of monitoring was unknown (see
Section 2.a.).
Failure to serve court orders was a problem (see Section 2.a.).
In May 2005 the Government embarked on Operation Restore Order
without prior notice, in which more than 700,000 persons lost their
homes, their means of livelihood, or both. The Government's stated
reason for the operation was to curb illegal economic activities and
crime in slums and illegal settlements in several cities and towns, but
it made no provision for the affected before beginning the operation.
Those who returned to rural areas often faced unemployment, food
shortages, and other economic and social stresses. An estimated 300,000
children lost access to education as a result of displacement. The
operation disrupted medical care, particularly for HIV/AIDS patients.
The Government reportedly prevented or interfered with UN and other
humanitarian organizations' efforts to provide shelter and food
assistance. The Government's actions were widely condemned by local
civil society organizations and the international community.
In July 2005 the Government announced a new operation, Garikai
(Shona for ``live well''), supposedly to provide housing plots for new
homes and to set up new vending sites for those who lost homes or
businesses; the program proceeded slowly.
During the year the Government continued with a campaign of forced
evictions and the demolition of homes and businesses in high-density
suburbs in several cities and towns despite a court order prohibiting
further evictions.
On June 15, municipal police in Harare forcibly evicted a group of
approximately 150 persons living on land previously razed during
Operation Restore Order.
On July 14 and 15, police demolished the Magaba informal
marketplace in Harare's high-density suburb of Mbare, displacing
approximately 200 vendors who made their livelihoods at the market.
In September police in Harare evicted 20 families from the Epworth
high-density suburb and 35 vendors from Glen View 1 high-density
suburb.
A September Amnesty International study confirmed that ``despite
the Government's numerous public statements about a reconstruction
program to address the homelessness created by Operation Restore Order,
almost none of the victims have received any assistance from the
Government.'' The AI study found that while authorities demolished more
than 92,000 homes, the Government has only built approximately 3,300
new permanent shelters for those displaced as of May. Many of the
displaced persons were unable to afford the program application fee or
the cost of a housing plot if one was made available to them. There
were credible reports that civil servants, military, and ruling party
supporters were the main beneficiaries of the plots and vending sites.
A 2005 constitutional amendment transferred title of all land
previously acquired to the state, prohibited court challenges to the
acquisitions, and allowed the Government to acquire any agricultural
land for any purpose simply by publishing a notice of acquisition.
Disruptions at farms and seizures of property continued and were
sometimes violent. In September the Government summoned two white
commercial farmers in Karoi to appear in magistrates' court for failing
to vacate their properties after receiving 90-day notices. A magistrate
in the lower court, however, declined to hear the matter and dismissed
the case for lack of jurisdiction. The eviction notices were also
subject to a pending legal challenge in the high court at year's end.
During the year, more than 80 white commercial farmers were ordered to
surrender their land to the Government, leaving approximately 500 of an
original 4,500 large-scale producing farmers in the country. On
December 20, the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act passed
into law requiring all farmers whose land was compulsorily acquired by
the Government and who are not in possession of an official offer
letter, permit, or lease, to cease to occupy, hold, or use that land
within 45 days and vacate their homes within 90 days. According to a
local NGO, only a small number of farmers had received an offer letter
or lease. Failure to comply is a criminal offense punishable by a
maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800.00) and a maximum prison sentence of up to
two years.
In 2004 the Government evicted and burned the homes of thousands of
families accused of squatting on farms acquired by the Government in
Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East, and Manicaland. The Government
blocked international organizations from assisting these displaced
farmers. Many of the affected were displaced again during Operation
Restore Order.
No action was taken against security officials involved in numerous
2005 cases of land invasions, seizures of property, and attacks on farm
owners and workers.
No action was taken, nor was any anticipated, in the numerous other
reported 2005 and 2004 cases of arbitrary interference with citizens'
homes.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of expression, but legislation limits this freedom in the
``interest of defense, public safety, public order, state economic
interests, public morality, and public health.'' The Government
restricted this right in practice. Journalists and publishers practiced
self-censorhip.
The Government continued to restrict freedom of speech,
particularly by independent sources or those making or publicizing
comments critical of President Mugabe. Using POSA authority, the
Government arrested individuals for criticizing Mugabe in public; they
were usually fined and released.
In February Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, a local NGO, quoted
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa as stating the authorities would
``not relent in their determination to hound into extinction the
country's few remaining alternative sources of information.'' SW Radio
Africa reported that Mutasa warned journalists that ``the net will soon
close in on them,'' stating they were ``threatening national security''
and accusing them of selling out the country to the ``enemy by writing
falsehoods with the intention of agitating violence.''
The Ministry for Information and Publicity controlled the state-run
media while the Ministry for National Security acquired a controlling
financial interest in the Daily Mirror, a formerly privately owned
newspaper. Consequently, the Government controlled the only three daily
newspapers--the Chronicle, the Herald, and the Daily Mirror. The news
coverage in these newspapers, and in the state-controlled media as a
whole, generally positively portrayed the activities of government
officials, negatively portrayed opposition parties and other
antigovernment groups, and downplayed events or information that
reflected adversely on the Government.
There were two independent major weekly newspapers, the Zimbabwe
Independent and the Standard, and a semi-independent weekly paper, the
Financial Gazette, all three of which continued to operate despite
threats and pressure from the Government. The newspapers continued to
criticize the Government and ruling party; however, they also continued
to exercise some self-censorship due to government intimidation and the
continuing prospect of prosecution under criminal libel and security
laws.
None of the media outlets closed in previous years were re-opened.
The four newspapers closed by the Government in the last three years
remained closed.
Radio remained an important medium of public communication,
particularly for the majority of the population living in rural areas.
The Government controlled all domestic radio broadcasting stations
through the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings, supervised by
the Ministry for Information and Publicity.
There were credible reports that the deputy minister of information
routinely reviewed ZBC news and repeatedly excised reports on the
activities of groups and organizations opposed to or critical of the
Government.
The popularity of independent shortwave and medium wave radio
broadcasts to the country continued to grow resulting in government
jamming of news broadcasts by radio stations based in other countries.
Voice of America (VOA) and SW Radio Africa based in the United Kingdom
were both jammed for extended periods of time during the year.
In December there were reports that CIO agents seized radios
donated to teachers in the area of Gokwe. A local Gokwe magistrate
ordered the radios returned after ZLHR successfully filed a complaint.
Gokwe police, however, reportedly refused to serve the court order,
leaving the ZLHR lawyers to do it themselves.
The Government controlled the only domestically based television
broadcasting station.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has not issued licenses to
private television and radio broadcasters since its establishment in
2001. All televisions and radios in the country must be registered with
the Government.
International satellite television broadcasts were available freely
through private firms, but were not available to most citizens due to
their expense and the requirement for payment in foreign currency.
Security forces arbitrarily harassed, arrested, and detained
journalists who contributed to published stories critical of government
policies or security force operations.
On January 18, police in Mutare arrested Sydney Saize, an
independent journalist, for allegedly filing a false story for VOA
claiming that militants of the ruling ZANU-PF party had beaten teachers
in the city. Police released Saize without charge after detaining him
for three days.
On April 30, police in the southwestern border town of Plumtree
arrested Beauty Mokoba and Keketso Seofela, journalists with Botswana
Television, for allegedly investigating an outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease in Botswana and the possible connection with cross-border
cattle rustling. Police released the two journalists after two days and
charged them under the Access to Information and Privacy Protection Act
(AIPPA) for allegedly practicing journalism without accreditation. The
trial of the two journalists was pending at year's end.
On July 19, police arrested and detained Godwin Mangudya, a
freelance journalist, and Ndamu Sandu, a journalist for the Standard,
while covering a Combined Harare Resident's Association demonstration
against City of Harare officials. Police released the two journalists
after they each paid an admission of guilt fine under the Miscellaneous
Offences Act.
On September 13, police arrested and detained Mike Saburi, a
freelance camera person attempting to cover the ZCTU demonstrations.
Prosecutors withdrew charges and released Saburi from remand before he
could enter a plea.
Unlike in the previous year, immigration officials did not seize
the passports of a newspaper owner; however, in December the Government
announced a decision to strip a newspaper owner of his citizenship and
not to renew his passport (see Section 3, Elections and Political
Participation).
During the year the Government failed to provide a conclusive
resolution of investigations into the 2002 bombing of independent
shortwave broadcast station Voice of the People's (VOP) Harare offices,
but intensified the harassment of VOP staff and board members. In
December 2005 police and officials from the Government appointed by the
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe raided the VOP's offices and
arrested three journalists and the station manager for operating
without a license. This harassment continued during the year with legal
measures and intimidation. On January 19, police arrested and detained
four employees of Arnold Tsunga, one of the VOP trustees facing trial,
for failing to disclose Tsunga's whereabouts to police. Two days later
another set of police officers visited the house of Nhlanhla Ngwenya,
another trustee of VOP, and threatened to take away some of his
properties as ransom.
On September 25, the state argued for a third postponement in the
trial. The Harare magistrate refused to place the defendants on further
remand, effectively dropping the charges. However, he did not rule that
they could again operate as VOP, did not order the return of their
seized equipment, and did not set the date of the next hearing.
There were no developments in other 2005 or 2004 cases of
harassment, abuse, and detention of journalists.
The Government continued to use AIPPA, signed by President Mugabe
in February 2002, to serve as the primary justification to control
media content. The main provisions of the law give the Government
extensive powers to control the media and suppress free speech by
requiring the registration of journalists and prohibiting the ``abuse
of free expression.''
In January the Media and Information Commission (MIC), created
under the AIPPA, threatened to cancel the license of the Financial
Gazette if it did not retract a story that had questioned the
commission's independence from government. On January 29, the
commission refused to renew the accreditation of fifteen journalists
working for the Zimbabwe Independent, until the paper retracted a
similar story.
The legal wrangling between the MIC and the Associated Newspapers
of Zimbabwe that began with the 2003 banning of the independent Daily
News and its Sunday edition for not having registered for a license,
continued to move from court to court.
In February the Government passed the General Laws Amendment Act
(GLAA), which amends sections of the POSA to allow authorities to
monitor and censor ``the publication of false statements that will
engender feelings of hostility towards--or cause hatred, contempt or
ridicule of--the President or acting President.'' The GLAA recommends a
jail term for any journalist who ``insults the President or
communicates falsehoods.''
The criminal code makes it an offense to publish or communicate
false statements prejudicial to the state. Legal experts have
criticized this section saying that it imposes limits on freedom of
expression beyond those permitted by the constitution. An extremely
broad Official Secrets Act makes it a crime to divulge any information
acquired in the course of official duties. In addition, antidefamation
laws criminalize libel of both public and private persons.
The Broadcasting Services Act, which parliament's legal committee
found to be unconstitutional but which was still in force, gives the
minister of information final authority to issue and revoke
broadcasting licenses. The act allows for one independent radio
broadcaster and one independent television broadcaster but requires
them to broadcast with a government-controlled signal carrier.
Throughout the year legal rights groups criticized the act for limiting
free speech.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the
Internet; however, the law permits the Government to monitor all
international e-mail messages entering and leaving the country, and
security services reportedly continued to monitor Internet activity
(see Section 1.f.). Internet access was available but due to a lack of
infrastructure was not widely accessed by the public beyond commercial
centers.
In September parliament began consideration of an Interception of
Communications Bill that would greatly expand the Government's ability
to monitor internal communications and Internet usage. The proposed
bill generated a significant amount of domestic and international
criticism given its potential to further suppress freedom of expression
in the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. The University of Zimbabwe Amendment Act and the
National Council for Higher Education Act restricted the independence
of universities, subjecting them to government influence and extending
the disciplinary powers of the university authorities over staff and
students. On October 1, the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education Act
came into effect, which mandates the establishment of a nine-member
council made up of members of the higher educational community from
both public and private institutions. The council advises the minister
on matters pertaining to education, including funding for higher
education and accreditation of higher education institutions. The
minister of higher education and technology, however, selects and
appoints the council members and continues to control the state
universities and appoint their chancellors and vice chancellors; the
minister also appoints vice chancellors and other senior members of
university administration, the deans of faculty, and most members of
the university council.
CIO personnel have taken on faculty and other positions and have
posed as students at the University of Zimbabwe and other state
universities to intimidate and gather intelligence on faculty who speak
out against government policies as well as on students who might
protest government actions. In response to intense government scrutiny,
both faculty and students often practice self-censorship in the
classroom and academic work. According to the Zimbabwe National
Students Union, seven students were suspended or expelled during the
year for engaging in student activism (see Section 2.b.).
Cont Mhlanga of Amakohosi Theatre Productions in Bulawayo was
arrested and briefly detained in early May on the grounds that his
plays were antigovernment and meant to incite an uprising against the
Mugabe regime.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government restricted this right in practice through laws such as
POSA, which many legal experts believed were unconstitutional. POSA
does not require permits for meetings or processions, but it requires
that organizers notify the police of their intentions to hold a public
gathering seven days in advance. Failure to do so results in criminal
prosecution as well as civil liability. Although many groups that
conducted meetings did not seek permits, other groups informed the
police of their planned events and were denied permission, or their
requests went unanswered. Police insisted that their permission was
required to hold public gatherings and sometimes approved requests;
however, they disrupted many events whether or not permission was
sought. Police personnel attended many political meetings without
invitation, ostensibly to protect attendees from potential violence by
unruly persons. The CIO also routinely sent personnel undercover to
monitor meetings perceived to be potentially antigovernment.
The police repeatedly used force to break up nonviolent
demonstrations by critics of the Government and erected roadblocks in
urban areas to prevent public gatherings from taking place. Police also
arrested numerous demonstrators during the year. For example, in
February police in Harare arrested 63 members of WOZA during the
group's annual Valentine's Day demonstration. The marchers were
released after a few days and in August a court magistrate found the
women not guilty, ruling that the demonstration did not constitute a
breach of public peace. In Bulawayo more than a hundred WOZA marchers
were arrested for the Valentine's Day march, but all were released
after a short detention without charges.
On February 23, police arrested 62 National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) supporters in Harare as they protested on President Mugabe's
birthday. The protesters were initially charged under the Miscellaneous
Offences Act for allegedly breaching the peace, but all were released
the next day after they paid admission of guilt fines.
On May 4, police in Bulawayo arrested 185 WOZA supporters,
including 73 children, who marched against escalating school fees for
the term that began that month. The children were released the same day
and the adults five days later. WOZA also conducted a smaller
demonstration against school fees in Harare, but there was no police
response.
On August 21, WOZA supporters demonstrated against the Government's
currency redenomination program. Police in Bulawayo arrested 183 women;
they were detained for several days and then released.
On September 13, police arrested, detained, and beat more than 100
members of the ZCTU to prevent the labor movement from staging country-
wide marches planned for that day (see Section 6.a.).
On September 20, police ordered approximately 180 demonstrating
members of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) to sit on the
ground. Police then beat and arrested the demonstrators. Police
released the demonstrators that evening after each paid a fine.
On September 25, police violently disrupted a peaceful march by
about 500 NCA members demonstrating for a new constitution and
protesting the September 13 assaults. After ordering the demonstrators
to sit, police beat them, triggering a stampede in which 24 persons
were injured.
On November 29, police in Bulawayo arrested and detained more than
50 WOZA demonstrators, including children, marching to commemorate the
international campaign ``16 Days of Gender Activism'' and the release
of the group's Peoples' Charter. Numerous persons were injured in a
stampede, including a one-year-old baby who suffered a broken leg when
police attempted to disperse the crowd by beating the demonstrators.
Several WOZA members also alleged that police beat them during
detention. Police released 23 of the demonstrators that night and
released the remaining group two days later. The demonstrators awaited
trial at year's end. There were no reports of action taken against the
police.
There was no further action in the 2005 cases in which opposition
political figures were harassed or arrested by government authorities.
In response to growing unrest among student groups angered at
increasing tuition, the Government stepped up its harassment of
university student unions. For instance, on February 15, police
arrested and quickly released 20 student protesters at Bulawayo's
National University of Science and Technology. On September 8, police
arrested and briefly detained 70 student leaders in Mutare.
High-ranking government officials, including President Mugabe and
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, used the state-controlled media
to threaten violence against anyone who protested against the
Government. In the weeks prior to the ZCTU protests, the state-
controlled newspaper the Sunday Mail quoted Mutasa as saying the
protest would be a ``grave mistake,'' and that security forces would
not hesitate to ``crush'' the protesters. On September 25, President
Mugabe defended the September 13 assault on ZCTU protestors by telling
a crowd of supporters that the ZCTU organizers who ``resisted police
orders'' were inviting a violent response. According to an HRW report
released in November, assault and arrest of peaceful demonstrators
appeared to be intended to harass and deter activists from engaging in
their right to assemble.
There was no action taken against police who used excessive force
to disperse a number of demonstrations and rallies in 2005 and 2004.
Freedom of Association.--Although the constitution and law provide
for freedom of association, the Government restricted this right in
practice for many organizations. Organizations generally were free of
governmental interference as long as the Government viewed their
activities as nonpolitical. ZANU-PF supporters, sometimes with
government support or acquiescence, intimidated and abused members of
organizations perceived to be associated with the opposition (see
Section 1.c.). The Government raided the offices and inquired into the
activities of some NGOs it believed opposed government policies (see
Section 4).
The formation of political parties and unions was not restricted;
however, the Government interfered with activities of political parties
and unions during the year (see Sections 3, 6.a. and 6.b.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. The Government and the religious communities historically
have had good relations; however, the Government continued to criticize
and harass religious leaders who spoke out against the Government's
human rights abuses. Church leaders and members who criticized the
Government faced arrest, detention, and, in the case of foreigners,
possible deportation.
In August police arrested Bishop Levee Kadenge, Reverend Pius
Wakatama, Reverend Ancelimo Magaya, and Reverend Brian Mungwindi, four
leaders of the Christian Alliance, after a meeting of the Christian
Alliance leadership. Police released the group without charge after
questioning them about the activities of their organization and plans
to start a political party.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports that the
Government forced congregants to dismantle their places of worship.
Religious organizations that operate schools or medical facilities
are required to register those specific institutions with the
appropriate ministry regulating their activities.
Traditional indigenous religions generally included or accommodated
belief in the efficacy of witchcraft, which was viewed at times as the
cause of unknown diseases. Harmful witchcraft was sometimes used for
defensive or retaliatory purposes. The Government amended the widely
criticized Witchcraft Suppression Act that identifies witchcraft
practices as ``those commonly associated with witchcraft'' and
criminalizes those practices only if intended to cause harm. Under this
new framework, spoken words alone are no longer considered to be a
witchcraft practice or evidence of illegal activity. The amendment
criminalizes witch hunts, imposes criminal penalties for falsely
accusing others of witchcraft, and rejects the killing of a witch as a
defense for murder. At year's end there were no new or outstanding
cases under the witchcraft law. Attacks on individuals in witchcraft-
related cases appear to be prosecuted under laws for assault, murder,
or other crimes.
Tension between government and some indigenous churches resulted
from the latter's disdain for scientifically-based medical practices.
Some members of indigenous churches and groups believed in healing
through prayer only and refused to have their children vaccinated. The
Ministry of Health had limited success in vaccinating children against
communicable childhood diseases in these religious communities. Human
rights activists also criticized these indigenous churches for
sanctioning marriages for underage girls.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of Muslims being
refused time to worship by employers.
Societal Abuses, Discrimination, and Anti-Semitism.--There were no
reports of societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against
members of religious groups, including interreligious and
intrareligious incidents.
There were approximately 270 Jews in the country. There were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights; however, the Government restricted them in practice.
During the year police continued routinely to erect roadblocks
staffed with armed police in and around cities and rural districts,
especially during election periods and before demonstrations and
opposition meetings. In August when the Government issued new currency
notes to replace old bills, police significantly increased the number
of roadblocks and the intensity of their searches. Additionally, the
Government deployed soldiers and youth service training center
graduates to augment the roadblocks and border security. Police claimed
that they were looking for criminals, smuggled goods and food, illegal
weapons, or in the August exercise ``excessive'' amounts of cash, but
legal rights groups asserted that the measures were designed to
discourage or limit opposition organizing. Periodic roadblocks
established by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority along the main highways
from South Africa and Botswana to search for foreign currency remained
in place. Police also searched for and confiscated smuggled maize at
roadblocks on major roads.
A 2005 constitutional amendment allows the Government to restrict
foreign travel for reasons of national security and public order. Since
the high court ruled in December 2005 that the seizure of passports
from three regime critics was illegal and ordered their return, there
have been no further attempts to seize passports under the amendment.
In December, however, the Government announced a decision to strip a
newspaper owner of his citizenship and not to renew his passport (see
Section 3, Elections and Political Participation.).
During the year travel bans on a variety of persons remained in
effect, including British government officials, members of the British
parliament, a foreign human rights activist, and journalists. Foreign
correspondents were denied visas during the year. The Government's
immigration authorities denied entry to a delegation of foreign labor
unionists.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and there were no reports
that the Government employed forced exile. A number of persons,
including former government officials, prominent businessmen, human
rights lawyers, left the country and remained in self-imposed exile.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Following Operation Restore
Order in May 2005, the number of internally displaced persons increased
dramatically. According to the UN special envoy's report released in
July 2005, an estimated 700,000 persons lost their homes or businesses
in the operation, and approximately 2.4 million persons were directly
affected. The Government's campaign of forced evictions and the
demolition of homes and businesses continued during the year (see
Section 1.f.). Meanwhile, the Government program Operation Live Well,
purportedly launched to build housing for those displaced, primarily
benefited government officials and the police rather than victims of
Operation Restore Order. Many of those displaced continue to lack
permanent shelter. Although humanitarian agencies had access to most
displaced persons, the Government continued to interfere with some
organizations' efforts to assist IDPs during the year. Civil society
activists believed that residents were routinely targeted for eviction
for political reasons.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
generally cooperated with the office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers.
According to the UNHCR, there were 3,200 refugees and asylum
seekers registered in the country during the year. The largest groups
of refugees and asylum seekers continued to be from the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
According to law, refugees must live at Tongogara refugee camp, but
the camp only had a capacity for 2,000 persons and afforded no means to
earn a livelihood. Most other refugees lived in urban areas without the
permission of the Government. UNHCR reported that approximately 1,100
refugees were living in and around Harare. In some cases, the
Government permitted refugees with special needs to live in urban
centers. The Government granted work permits to a few refugees,
primarily those with special skills.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully; however, this right was restricted in practice
because the political process continued to be tilted heavily in favor
of ZANU-PF, which has ruled continuously since independence in 1980.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Presidential election
in 2002 and the parliamentary elections in March 2005 resulted in the
election and continued domination of President Robert Mugabe and the
ruling ZANU-PF party; the elections were neither free nor fair.
Although the constitution allows for multiple parties, the ruling party
and security forces intimidated and committed abuses against opposition
parties and their supporters and obstructed their activities.
In the March 2005 parliamentary elections, ZANU-PF distorted the
political campaign and manipulated voter registration rolls and vote
tallies to ensure its large margin of victory. ZANU-PF captured 78 out
of the 120 contested seats. Western observers declared the elections
fundamentally flawed.
Approximately 10 percent of would-be voters were turned away from
the polls, especially in opposition areas, in the March 2005
parliamentary elections. In all, more than 100,000 potential voters
appear to have been turned away. Most voters were rejected because they
tried to vote in the wrong constituency due to inadequately publicized
redistricting, and no longer appeared on the voter roll. Rejected
potential voters were likely to be disproportionately opposition voters
because the demographics matched those of MDC supporters. Critics noted
the process for registering voters was legal but confusing and some
voters may have been excluded from the voters roll intentionally. The
office of the registrar general, which maintains the voters roll, is
not independent from the Government.
Election observers also noted voter intimidation at polling
stations. Some polling stations were located in areas regarded as
intimidating to voters, such as at a police station or next to a local
ZANU-PF headquarters. At some stations, police officers and other
unidentified individuals recorded the names of those who voted, a
procedure intimidating to some voters. Some chiefs also reportedly
pressured villagers to vote for the ruling party. There were reports
that voters in some districts had been told that the translucent ballot
boxes would be used to note how individuals voted.
On election day in March 2005, the ZANU-PF candidate for Insiza,
Andrew Langa, threatened to shoot MDC polling agents at Silalatshani
Business Center as they were being deployed in readiness for the
election. The MDC polling agents reported the incident to the Gwanda
police station, but police took no action to prevent intimidation.
Consequently, the polling station opened without MDC polling agents.
Observers at numerous polling stations reported that in many cases
police, rather than election officials, communicated vote counts to the
tabulation centers, which exceeded the role of the police to maintain
order. Observers also reported that opposition party agents and
observers were not allowed to witness the vote tabulation in key
districts. Contrary to the Electoral Act, many polling stations did not
post their results.
These reports and conflicting election results issued by the ZEC,
the first only hours after the poll closed and the second a few days
later, suggested that the final toll was manipulated. Discrepancies
heavily favored the ruling party; of the 19 constituencies where the
final results differed by more than five thousand from the initial
reports, ZANU-PF candidates won 18. The number of rejected potential
voters combined with the discrepancies in the Government's announced
tallies exceeded the candidate's margin of victory in 24
constituencies, 20 of them won by ZANU-PF.
In September 2005 the Government used its two-thirds majority in
parliament to pass a constitutional amendment that established a 66-
member Senate. The Government was criticized for creating the Senate,
which was widely seen as a vehicle for patronage and a useless and
expensive body. It will sit for a single five-year term and has no
independent political authority.
The MDC's President called for a boycott of the elections. However,
several other MDC leaders opposed the boycott decision. Twenty-six
candidates ran under the MDC banner.
Of the 50 elected seats, ZANU-PF won 19 unopposed and an additional
24 on election day; MDC candidates won seven. However, the boycott
appeared to have been successful, as turnout was historically low, at
only 19 percent of eligible voters. In addition President Mugabe
appointed six seats, and the ruling party-controlled council of chiefs
appointed 10, giving ZANU-PF an overwhelming majority of seats.
There were few regional and no international observers.
Domestically, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) mounted a
small observation effort. However, ZESN observed that at some polling
stations there were much larger numbers of voters than at others, a
possible indication of fraud, and that the circumstances remained
heavily tilted toward the ruling party.
The ZEC, which was created in 2005, presided over three
parliamentary by-elections and country-wide rural council elections
during the year. The President appointed a large majority of ZEC
members. MDC reported that only a few of the names it submitted
appeared on the list that went to the President.
The Government invested immense powers in the presidency through
the Electoral Act, enacted in 2005, including full control of the voter
roll and registration, and the ability to change district lines without
notice on the eve of an election. Electoral officers often did not
operate in a fully open and transparent manner.
In July the Supreme Court found unconstitutional the process of
judicial appointments to the electoral court, which was established in
2005 to resolve electoral disputes. As a result of the Supreme Court's
decision, all pending and new complaints arising from elections must be
heard by the already overburdened ordinary courts.
In the by-elections and rural council elections during the year,
the Government's manipulation of the electoral process disenfranchised
voters and skewed elections in favor of ruling party candidates. In the
run-up to the rural council elections in October, ZEC disqualified
hundreds of opposition candidates for failure to meet obstructive
registration requirements, leaving the ZANU-PF candidates to run
unopposed in over one-third of the elections. According to the ZESN, a
local NGO dedicated to promoting democratic elections, one thousand
voters were excluded in Kadoma for improper registration, a sizable
percentage of the total turnout in that district. Also, the ruling
ZANU-PF party distorted the political campaign and manipulated voter
registration rolls. ZANU-PF allegedly prevailed on traditional leaders
in several rural areas to get out the vote for the ruling party. The
chiefs and headman in turn reportedly used pressure and threats on
voters. For example, in several districts in the Manicaland province,
ZESN reported that leaders forced their subjects to vote for ZANU-PF by
threatening to cut off access to government-supplied maize for those
who did not vote for the ruling party. Pre-election violence was not
widespread; however, in one instance ZANU-PF supporters allegedly threw
stones at the house belonging to Jonas Ndenda, the MDC mayoral
candidate in Kadoma, breaking windows, doors and the roof. Unlike in
previous years, election observers did not report voter intimidation at
polling stations.
The MDC split in 2005, ostensibly over participation in the newly-
recreated Senate, although long-simmering leadership divisions appear
to have been the root cause. Both factions claimed the MDC name and
logo. One faction, conventionally called the anti-Senate faction,
remained loyal to MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai and appeared to
maintain the bulk of grassroots support. Another faction,
conventionally called the pro-Senate faction, emerged under the
leadership of Arthur Mutambara. The pro-Senate faction held seven of 50
elected seats in the Senate at year's end.
On July 2, Member of Parliament (MP) Trudy Stevenson of the pro-
Senate faction of the MDC and four other party officials were attacked
after holding a rally in the Harare suburb of Tafara-Mabvuku. An
independent report commissioned by the MDC concluded that the CIO had
infiltrated the MDC and was probably involved, although the source of
the order and motivation for the attack remained unknown at year's end.
There were reports that the Government's partisan disbursement of
food and other material assistance to perpetuate public dependence on
the ruling party further bolstered support for ZANU-PF and subverted
electoral processes. In some areas a ZANU-PF card was required to
obtain food and agricultural inputs. In August the Zimbabwe Peace
Project (ZPP), a local NGO, documented 83 incidents of abuse of aid
based on political affiliation in Manicaland Province, including denial
of food and antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, as well as
exclusion from the basic education assistance module (BEAM), a national
financial assistance plan for school children (see Section 5). ZPP
reported that most of those affected were considered to be supporters
of the opposition.
The opposition also noted irregularities in the Budiriro voter roll
during the May by-elections, but these discrepancies were not enough to
prevent an anti-Senate MDC victory.
In 2004 the high court dismissed without explanation the first
phase of the MDC's legal challenge seeking nullification of the results
of the 2002 Presidential elections. The second phase, involving factual
evidence and witness testimony regarding the election's conduct, had
not begun by year's end. During the year the Government refused to turn
over ballot boxes to the MDC for use in its legal challenge to the 2002
Presidential vote.
On February 12, the Supreme Court rejected MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai's application to have it take over the 2002 election
challenge from the high court.
The President may unilaterally declare a state of public emergency
for a period of up to 14 days; has sole power to dissolve parliament
and to appoint or remove a vice President and any minister or deputy
minister; and directly appoints 20 of the 150 MPs, including 12
nonconstituency MPs, eight provincial governors who sit in parliament,
and six senators. The President also exerts great influence on the
process by which the country's chiefs (traditional rulers) select 10 of
their number to sit as MPs and 10 as senators. All 30 of the appointed
MPs have been consistent ZANU-PF supporters. While most of the Senate
appointments were ZANU-PF supporters, some appeared to chart relatively
neutral positions.
The legislature, which traditionally has been subordinate to the
executive branch, had a viable opposition that called on the Government
to be accountable and transparent. Some parliamentary committee
chairpersons gradually adopted a critical view of government policies
and criticized government mismanagement, especially in areas such as
agriculture and communications.
There were reports that the Government removed people from the
civil service and the military who were perceived as opposition
supporters. Additionally, the Government deployed soldiers and youth
service training center graduates to roadblocks erected nationwide in
August to enforce the currency conversion (see Section 2.d.). There
also were reports that the Government assigned soldiers and youth
service members to work in government ministries.
The Government routinely interfered with MDC-led local governments.
Commissions appointed by Minister of Local government Ignatius Chombo
continued to run the cities of Harare, Mutare, and Chitungwiza in place
of democratically elected MDC mayors.
The ruling party's candidates continued to benefit from the ZANU-
PF's control of the state- and party-owned firms that dominated the
country's economy and from its control of the state-monopolized
broadcast media (see Section 2.a.).
The Citizenship Act requires all citizens with a claim to dual
citizenship to renounce their claim to foreign citizenship under the
laws of the foreign country by January 2002 to retain their citizenship
and the right to vote. The act also revokes the citizenship of persons
who fail to return to the country in any five-year period. On December
30, the state-run newspaper the Herald reported that the Government
announced a decision to strip Trevor Ncube, owner of the local
independent newspapers the Standard and the Zimbabwe Independent, of
his Zimbabwean citizenship and refused to renew his passport because he
had a claim to Zambian citizenship and had not renounced it. Ncube
challenged the decision in the high court asserting he had no
entitlement to Zambian citizenship merely because his father was born
there. The case was pending at year's end. Legal rights groups
described the legislation and regulations as a government attempt to
disenfranchise citizens of perceived opposition leanings; the more than
200,000 commercial farm workers, many of whom have origins in
neighboring countries; and the approximately 30,000 mostly white dual
nationals. Persons with dual citizenship experienced difficulty
complying with the regulations because many other countries do not
provide procedures for renouncing citizenship. The 2003 Citizenship of
Zimbabwe Amendment Act removes the renunciation requirement for persons
born in the country with parents from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) countries or who were born in SADC countries with
parents from Zimbabwe.
There were 21 women in the 150-seat House of Assembly and 20 women
in the Senate, including the President of the Senate (see Section 5,
Women). There were seven women in the highest ranks in the executive
branch: the vice President, three ministers, a deputy minister, and two
governors. On July 6, President Mugabe appointed Rita Makarau as judge-
President of the Supreme Court, which is the most senior position of
the country's highest court. Makarau is the first woman to hold the
position. On September 25, however, the state-controlled daily
newspaper the Herald reported that the Minister of Local government,
Public Works and Urban Development Ignatius Chombo presented a country
position paper at the Fourth Africities Summit that found the
representation of women in local government was ``very low'' with no
female executive mayors and only two women leading local government
boards. Women participated in politics without legal restriction,
although according to local women's groups, husbands, particularly in
rural areas, commonly directed their wives to vote for the husband's
preferred candidates. The ZANU-PF congress allotted women one-third of
party positions and reserved 50 positions for women on the party's 180-
member central committee, which was one of the party's most powerful
organizations.
There were 10 members of minority groups in the cabinet, including
Vice President Joseph Msika. There were 36 members of minority groups
in the 216-seat House of Assembly, including 30 Ndebele, two whites,
and four Tonga.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was widespread
corruption in government. Implementation of the Government's ongoing
redistribution of expropriated, white-owned, commercial farms
substantially favored the ruling party elite and continued to lack
transparency. Top ruling party officials continued to hand-pick
multiple farms and register them in the names of family members to
evade the Government's one-farm policy. The Government continued to
allow individuals aligned with top officials to seize land not
designated for acquisition.
Top ruling party officials and entrepreneurs supporting the ruling
party received priority in distribution of the country's resources,
including priority access to limited foreign exchange and fuel. The
Government's campaign to provide housing plots and vending sites for
victims of Operation Restore Order (see Section 1.f.) mostly benefited
civil servants, security forces, and ruling party supporters.
There were continuing government efforts to combat corruption, but
they were ineffective and designed largely for show. A government-
appointed Anti-Corruption Commission was established in January 2005,
but had yet to register any notable accomplishments.
Prosecutions for corruption continued but were selective and
generally seen as politically motivated. The Government targeted
persons who had fallen out of favor with the ruling party or
individuals without high-level political backing. Prosecutions were
often for externalizing foreign currency, which was a common practice
among the political and business elites (see Section 1.d.).
The Government stated that the AIPPA was intended to improve public
access to government information; however, the law contains provisions
that restrict freedom of speech and press, and these elements of the
law were the ones the Government enforced most vigorously (see Section
2.a.). One NGO reported in 2005 that it made several information
requests under AIPPA, but the Government had not provided any
information. The NGO said it had taken the Government to court in
several cases, but the courts had not ruled in its favor.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated
in the country, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases; however, they were subject to government restrictions,
interference, and harassment. The Government monitored their activities
closely and was generally unresponsive to their concerns.
Domestic NGOs worked on human rights and democracy issues,
including lobbying for revision of POSA and AIPPA; increasing poor
women's access to the courts; constitutional and electoral reform;
raising awareness of the abuse of children; conducting voter education;
preserving the independence of the judiciary; and eliminating torture,
arbitrary detention, and restrictions on freedom of the press and
assembly. Major local human rights NGOs included the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum, ZLHR, Zimbabwe Peace Project, Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition, and Amani Trust.
During the year police arrested or detained NGO members, often in
connection with demonstrations or marches (see Section 2.b.).
The Government harassed some NGOs it believed opposed government
policies with raids on their offices and investigations into their
activities. On June 8, an intelligence officer from CIO raided the
offices of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), alleging
staff members had kidnapped a water authority official for an hour when
he came to the CHRA offices to disconnect the water supply for failure
to pay. On September 20, a magistrates' court cleared the CHRA staff of
the kidnapping charges.
The Government continued to use the state-controlled newspaper the
Herald to disparage and attack human rights groups. Articles typically
dismissed the efforts and recommendations of NGOs that were considered
critical of the Government as groups that merely did the bidding of
``western governments.'' In March the Government announced plans to
establish its own human rights commission, an effort designed to
circumvent efforts by international human rights organizations to
accurately report on the country's human rights situation.
In October 2005 the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare announced
new operational guidelines for NGOs. The guidelines require each NGO to
obtain clearance in each district and province in which it operates.
The Government continued to obstruct the activities of
organizations involved in humanitarian activities. NGOs continued to
report difficulties in carrying out their programs in rural areas. For
most of the year, the Government restricted feeding programs to
specific targets such as school feeding or home-based care programs.
During and after Operation Restore Order, the Government blocked some
efforts by local and international NGOs to provide humanitarian relief
to those affected by the operation (see Section 1.f.).
Unlike in the previous year, the Government did not threaten NGOs
with closure.
In February 2005 the African Union (AU) released a report by the
African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), which reports
to the AU, based on a human rights fact-finding mission the ACHPR
performed in the country in June 2002. The report contained allegations
of government complicity in or acquiescence to a wide range of rights
abuses, including torture and arbitrary arrest of opposition MPs and
human rights lawyers. The Government initially criticized the fact-
finding mission and rejected its conclusions. The Government did not
respond to a subsequent letter outlining remedies. After several
efforts by the Government to suppress the report, the ACHPR passed a
resolution in December 2005 condemning human rights abuses in the
country, especially in connection with the May 2005 Operation Restore
Order. During the year the Government continued to ignore the numerous
recommendations listed in the resolution.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law provide that no person can be deprived of
fundamental rights, such as right to life, liberty, and security of
person, based on his race, tribe, place of origin, political opinions,
color, creed, sex, or disability; however, the constitution allows for
discrimination, primarily against women, on the grounds of ``customary
law.'' Discrimination against women and persons with disabilities
remained problems. The Government and ruling party infringed on rights
to due process, citizenship, and property ownership in ways that
affected the white minority disproportionately.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, especially wife beating,
continued to be a serious problem and crossed racial, ethnic, and
economic lines. No legislation specifically addresses domestic abuse.
Musasa Project, a local NGO that works for the protection and promotion
of women's rights, reported that approximately one-third of women in
the country were in an abusive marital relationship. According to the
Minister of Women's Affairs, Gender, and Community Development Oppah
Muchinguri, approximately 60 percent of murder cases heard by the high
court directly related to violence in the home. Most cases of domestic
violence went unreported due to traditional sensitivities and fear of
economic consequences for the family. There were newspaper reports of
wife killings, and there were a few reports of prosecutions and
convictions for such crimes. In one reported case, a man received a 15-
year jail sentence for killing his wife in a domestic dispute. Domestic
violence legislation passed parliament and was waiting the President's
signature at year's end.
During the year, the Government conducted a public awareness
campaign in the state media and through pamphlets and billboards.
Musasa Project reported that treatment of victimized women varied
because authorities generally considered domestic violence to be a
private matter and usually only arrested an offender for assault if
there was physical evidence of abuse. Several women's rights groups
worked with law enforcement and provided training and literature on
domestic violence as well as shelters and counseling for women.
The criminal code defines sexual offenses as rape, sodomy, incest,
indecent assault, or immoral or indecent acts with a child or person
with mental disabilities. The act makes rape and nonconsensual sex
between married partners a crime; however, few cases of rape,
especially spousal rape, were reported to authorities because women
were unaware spousal rape was a crime and, particularly in rural areas,
feared losing the support of their families. The criminal code provides
for penalties up to life in prison for sexual crimes; however, there
were continued reports of rape, incest, and sexual abuse of women and
young girls. In many cases the victims knew their rapist. The criminal
code also makes it a crime to infect anyone knowingly with HIV/AIDS,
and the Government prosecuted some individuals for the crime.
Prostitution is illegal, and several civil society groups offered
anecdotal evidence that the country's worsening economic problems were
forcing more women and young girls, into prostitution for financial
survival. During the year there were numerous media reports regarding
concerted efforts by police to halt prostitution throughout the
country. Police arrested both prostitutes and their clients. A local
NGO reported that most prostitutes operated independently of pimps but
that a growing number of minors were using pimps for protection. There
were increasing reports that women and children were sexually exploited
in towns along the border with South Africa and Botswana (see Section
5, Trafficking).
Labor legislation prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace;
however, women commonly faced workplace sexual harassment, and there
were no reports of any prosecutions during the year.
There are laws aimed at enhancing women's rights and countering
certain traditional practices that discriminate against women; however,
women remained disadvantaged in society. Economic dependency and
prevailing social norms prevented rural women in particular from
combating societal discrimination. Despite legal prohibitions, women
still were vulnerable to entrenched customary practices, including the
practice of pledging a young woman to marriage with a partner not of
her choosing and the custom of forcing a widow to marry her late
husband's brother.
The law recognizes women's right to own property independently of
their husbands or fathers. Many women, however, continued to be unaware
of their property and inheritance rights. Divorce and maintenance laws
were favorable to women, but women generally lacked awareness of their
rights.
Women and children continued to be adversely affected by the
Government's ongoing campaign of forced evictions and the demolition of
homes and businesses in several cities and towns (see Section 1.f.).
Many widows who earned their income in the informal economy or by
renting out cottages on their property lost income when their market
stalls or cottages were destroyed.
Widows faced particular difficulties when forced to relocate to
rural areas. Traditionally, women joined their husband's family when
married and were considered an unwanted burden by their childhood
families. Likewise, they were sometimes unwelcome in their husband's
family in rural areas where resources were already strained.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender, and Community Development
did little to advance the cause of women beyond a public information
campaign and lobbying for a proposed Domestic Violence Bill. The
Government gave qualified women access to training in the military and
national service. Although there have been advances for women within
the armed forces, they continued to occupy primarily administrative
positions. According to the 2004 Zimbabwe Millennium Development Goals
Progress Report, women represented 30 percent of the civil service in
2002. A local NGO reported that in recent years women progressed in
health and education but in general were concentrated in the lower
echelons of the workforce, especially in the financial industry. Women
held positions of importance in the legislative and executive branches
of the Government (see Section 3, Elections and Political
Participation).
Several active women's rights groups concentrated on improving
women's knowledge of their legal rights, increasing their economic
power, combating domestic violence, and protecting women against
domestic violence and sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and
welfare remained weak. Little action was taken during the year on the
August 2005 National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
(NAP for OVC) designed to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children
are able to access education, food, health services, and birth
registration and were protected from abuse and exploitation. According
to one prominent child welfare advocacy group, the lack of funding
remained the primary challenge in addressing the protection and
promotion of welfare of children. Although legislation existed to
protect children's rights, it was difficult to administer and enforce.
In October in collaboration with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
and other partners, the Government launched a National Girls' Education
Strategic Plan to increase the likelihood of achieving universal
primary education and ensuring that girls can stay in school. Education
is compulsory and the Government placed responsibility on parents to
enforce attendance; however, it was not free. The Central Statistical
Office's (CSO) consumer price index statistics showed that school costs
increased nearly 846 percent from November 2005. The Child Protection
Society, a local NGO, reported that enrollment and attendance continued
to decline during the year because many families could not afford to
send all their children to school and economic hardships forced
children to drop out to work to supplement the household income. UNICEF
estimated 80 percent net primary school enrollment in 2004; however,
children's welfare activists believe the number to be much lower during
the year and in 2005 due to Operation Restore Order and the
displacement of thousands of children from their homes and schools (see
Section 1.f.).
In most regions of the country, fewer girls than boys attended
secondary schools. According to the 2004 Zimbabwe Millennium
Development Goals Progress Report, 42 percent of secondary school-age
boys and 40 percent of girls of the same age attended school. Of these,
82 percent of the boys and 73 percent of the girls completed secondary
school. The highest level achieved by most students was primary level
education. UNICEF figures through 2004 show a net secondary school
enrollment of 44 percent for boys and 42 percent for girls. If a family
was unable to pay tuition costs, it most often was female children who
left school. The Child Protection Society reported that girls were more
likely to drop out because they were more readily employable,
especially as domestic workers.
Child abuse, including incest, infanticide, child abandonment, and
rape continued to be serious problems during the year. The local NGO
Girl Child Network reported that in 32 of the 58 districts within which
it works, there were an average of 700 cases of child sexual abuse per
month in 2005. Anecdotal evidence suggested that a relative or someone
who lived with the child was the most likely abuser.
In March a local magistrate sentenced James Sangarwe to 22 years in
jail for the rape and sexual abuse of students at Macheke Primary
School in 2004. The Government also charged temporary teacher Edward
Chiripamberi and handyman Only Musengi; there was no new information
regarding their cases.
Girl Child Network and UNICEF reported that girls believed to be
virgins were at risk for rape due to the belief among some that having
sex with a virgin would cure men of HIV and AIDS.
Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of child deaths
or mutilations related to witchcraft.
The traditional practice of offering a young girl in marriage as
compensatory payment in interfamily disputes continued during the year.
Arranged marriage of young girls also continued. The legal age for a
civil marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Customary marriage,
recognized under the Customary Marriages Act, does not provide for a
minimum marriage age for either boys or girls; however, the Criminal
Code prohibits sexual relations with anyone younger than 16 years of
age. According to UNICEF, 29 percent of young women married as
children. Child welfare NGOs reported that they occasionally saw
evidence of underage marriages, particularly in isolated religious
communities or among HIV/AIDS orphans. The Musasa Project reported an
increase in instances where families pledged girls and unborn babies in
marriage in exchange for economic protection. Such girls often
``married'' well before the age of 12.
Local and regional NGOs reported instances of trafficking of
children and child prostitution (see Section 5, Trafficking).
The Government gave preference to national youth service graduates
among those entering and those seeking employment in the civil service,
especially in the security forces. The stated purpose of the training
camps was to instill national pride in youth, highlight the history of
the struggle for independence, and develop employment skills; however,
news reports quoted deserters as saying that the camps subjected
trainees to racist and partisan political indoctrination as well as
military training. There were credible reports that graduates were used
for political violence.
Child labor was a problem (see Section 6.d.).
There were an estimated 1.6 million HIV/AIDS orphans, and the
number was increasing. The number of AIDS orphans (including children
who lost one as well as both parents) was about 10 percent of the
country's population. Many grandparents were left to care for the
young, and, in some cases, children or adolescents headed families and
were forced to work to survive. AIDS orphans and foster children were
at high risk for child abuse. Some children were forced to turn to
prostitution as a means of income. According to local custom, other
family members inherit before children, leaving many children
destitute. Many such children were unable to obtain birth certificates,
which then prevented them from obtaining social services.
During the 2005 Operation Restore Order (see Section 1.f.), the
Government detained many street children and took them to transit camps
or juvenile detention centers. At year's end NGOs were uncertain how
the operation affected the number of children living on the streets,
which in previous years had risen dramatically.
The Government, with support from civil society, donors, and the
private sector, has a national secretariat to implement the NAP for
OVC. Both donors and the Government contributed to OVC activities, but
most programs were not adequately funded to reach the large number of
OVCs in the country. Among the projects designed to assist OVCs and
other needy children was the BEAM program, which paid school fees, and
the Children in Difficult Circumstances program (CDC), which paid other
related fees. A local child welfare NGO reported that, in comparison to
the high level of need, BEAM and other government funding only managed
to assist a very small number of children at any given school. There
also were reports that favoritism and corruption affected the
beneficiary selection process.
NGOs operated training centers and homes for street children and
orphans, and government officials referred children to these centers.
Trafficking in Persons.--No laws specifically or comprehensively
address trafficking in persons, and there continued to be anecdotal
reports that the country was a source, transit, and destination country
for trafficking in persons. The constitution and law prohibit forced or
compulsory labor, including by children, with the exception of working
for parents or the national youth service; however, there were reports
that such practices occurred (see Section 6.d.). Forced labor is
punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800.00), two years'
imprisonment, or both. It is a crime under the Criminal Code to
transport persons across the border for sex. The law provides for a
maximum fine of $20.00 (Z$5,000.00) and a maximum prison sentence of
two years (10 years if that person is under the age of sixteen) for
procuring another person to become a prostitute and have sex whether
inside or outside the country. Traffickers also can be prosecuted under
other legislation such as immigration and abduction laws.
The primary government authority to combat trafficking is the ZRP,
which relied on NGOs to alert them to any cases. In April the
Government formed an interministerial taskforce to coordinate efforts
to combat trafficking, but had yet to register any notable
accomplishments. However, several senior government officials attended
an International Organization for Migration seminar on trafficking in
November.
There was little information on the extent of external trafficking
beyond anecdotal reports of girls exchanging sex for passage across the
South African border, women lured to other countries with false job
promises, immigration officials of neighboring countries sexually
abusing children during deportation, children working as domestic or
agricultural workers, and employers requiring sex from undocumented
Zimbabwean workers in South Africa under threat of deportation. There
also were anecdotal reports that victims were trafficked to border
areas, into Botswana and South Africa, and through the country to South
Africa from Botswana, Ghana, and East Africa.
Anecdotal information suggested that citizens who emigrated to seek
a better life were exploited while employed illegally in a neighboring
country after being lured there by false employment schemes. The groups
at highest risk were HIV/AIDS orphans and displaced persons.
There were reports of child prostitution, trafficking in children,
and child labor. As with adults, reports suggested that those children
in desperate economic circumstances, especially those in families
headed by children, were most at risk. One local NGO reported that
traffickers took girls from rural areas to work as prostitutes in
brothels and lodges in cities under the false pretenses of job or
marriage promises. The NGO also reported that rural girls were
sometimes trafficked to farms as agricultural labor or to urban areas
as domestic labor, where they were sometimes sexually abused.
On June 4, the state-controlled newspaper the Sunday Mail reported
that a court sentenced a woman to a 48-month jail term for contravening
the Sexual Offenses Act when she lured a minor to the border with South
Africa with the promise of a nursing job, only to force her into
prostitution.
Victims suffering from child or domestic abuse were treated with
special procedures in victim-friendly courts, and trafficked persons
had the option to take cases before such courts; however, there was no
statistical tracking of trafficking prosecutions.
Local immigration and social services officials referred
trafficking victims to NGO-funded centers. On May 30, a center funded
by IOM opened in the town of Beitbridge on the border with South Africa
to provide various social and reintegration services to the large
number of illegal migrants repatriated from South Africa. Save the
Children Norway also offered services at the center specifically for
unaccompanied children and trafficking victims that included shelter
and referrals for medical attention.
On June 13, a local NGO launched an antitrafficking prevention and
protection project aimed at young girls, which was reported favorably
by state-run media. Since June the project has conducted research, held
antitrafficking workshops, distributed 2,000 brochures, and provided
shelter and victim's services to 14 young girls who may qualify as
trafficking victims. In August the NGO reported that many local
authorities were not familiar with the trafficking problem and lacked
the resources to thoroughly investigate cases, but were willing to act
when cases were brought to their attention. Local police referred
victims for assistance.
The state-run media prominently featured articles about trafficking
in persons, and the Government had prevention programs, such as BEAM
(see Section 5, Children) to provide alternatives for children at risk.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, access
to public places, and the provision of services; however, the lack of
resources for training and education severely hampered the ability of
persons with disabilities to compete for scarce jobs. The law
stipulates that government buildings should be accessible to persons
with disabilities, but implementation has been slow. NGOs continued to
lobby to include albinos in the definition of ``disabled'' under the
law. Persons with disabilities faced harsh societal discrimination.
Traditional belief viewed persons with disabilities as bewitched, and
children with disabilities often were hidden when visitors arrived.
According to the National Association of Societies for the Care of
the Handicapped, no attempts have been made to record statistics on the
infection levels of HIV/AIDS in persons with disabilities, although 10
percent of citizens had disabilities. The organization also charged
that except for a short period in the 1990s, instructions on the use of
condoms have never been distributed in Braille for the visually
impaired, and no efforts have been made to advertise condoms in sign
language for the deaf.
Operation Restore Order in May 2005 (see Section 1.f.) severely
affected persons with disabilities, and, according to the UN special
envoy's report on the operation, the Government held approximately 50
persons with physical and mental disabilities without care at a transit
camp separated from the rest of the camp population.
The Government broadcast a regular, prime-time program on state
radio to promote awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to government
statistics, the Shona ethnic group makes up 82 percent of the
population, Ndebele 14 percent, whites less than 1 percent, and other
ethnic groups 3 percent. There was some tension between the African
majority and the white minority, between the Shona majority and the
Ndebele minority, and among the various Shona subgroups.
The Government attempted to attribute the country's economic and
political problems to the white minority and western countries. On some
occasions, President Mugabe, members of his government, and the state-
controlled media attempted to reignite resentment of the white
minority. Ruling party supporters seldom were arrested or charged for
infringing upon minority rights, especially those of the white
commercial farmers targeted in the land redistribution program.
The disproportionate number of Shona-speaking teachers and
headmasters in Matabeleland schools remained a sensitive issue.
In August during the currency redenomination program, ethnic
Indian-owned businesses alleged that authorities unfairly targeted
their shops during raids, ostensibly searching for evidence of
involvement in speculative activities, money laundering, and hoarding
large sums of cash. The state-controlled media reported that during the
inspection by Reserve Bank officials of a prominent ethnic Indian
businessman's establishment, a large sum of cash was seized. In 2005
ZANU-PF officials reportedly demanded approximately the then equivalent
of $170 thousand (Z$1 billion) from businesses and families from the
minority ethnic-Indian community for the ruling party's election
campaign, and many complied, fearing retribution.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Over a period of years,
President Mugabe has publicly denounced homosexuals, blaming them for
Africa's ills. Although there was no statutory law proscribing the
activities of homosexuals, common law prevents homosexual men, and to a
lesser extent, lesbians, from fully expressing their sexual orientation
and, in some cases, criminalizes the display of affection between men.
On July 2, the 2004 amended criminal code became effective and broadens
the definition of sodomy to include ``any act involving physical
contact between males that would be regarded by a reasonable person to
be an indecent act.''
On August 5, six unidentified men approached the Gays and Lesbians
Association (GALZ) exhibit at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair,
seized GALZ literature, and forcibly removed the GALZ members from the
event. Police officers and security guards working at the event stood
by and watched without intervening. A nearly identical incident
occurred at the same book fair in 2005. GALZ staff members believed
these actions were part of an ongoing government campaign of
discrimination and harassment against homosexuals. No action was taken
against those who threatened the GALZ staff members in 2005 or during
the year.
The Government has a national HIV/AIDS policy that prohibits
discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS, and the law aims
to protect against discrimination of workers in the private sector and
parastatals. Despite these provisions, societal discrimination against
persons affected by HIV/AIDS remained a problem. Although there was an
active information campaign by international and local NGOs, the
Ministry of Health, and the National AIDS Council to destigmatize HIV/
AIDS, ostracism and condemnation of those affected by HIV/AIDS
continued.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Throughout the year
government-controlled newspapers, radio, and television stations
continued to selectively vilify citizens of European ancestry and to
blame them for the country's problems. In 2004 materials used at
National Youth Service Camps identified enemies of the state in racist
terms and demonized whites.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--While the Labor Relations Amendment
Act (LRAA) provides private and public sector workers with the right to
form or join unions without prior authorization, and workers exercised
these rights, some pro-ZANU-PF employers declared their shops off-
limits to the ZCTU, the national umbrella labor confederation.
Furthermore, the Government also restricts union activity indirectly by
defining all senior employees as managers even though such employees do
not enjoy benefits attached to the title. The 2005 Labor Amendment Bill
eliminated some previous public sector employee rights and excluded
such employees from protection under labor laws, placing them instead
under the Public Service Act, which does not provide for the right to
form and belong to trade unions, collective bargaining, strikes, or
alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Employees in positions
designated as managerial were excluded from general union membership.
Unions must be registered with the Ministry of Public Service, Labor,
and Social Welfare.
During the year approximately 800,000 persons were employed in the
formal sector, 37 percent of which belonged to the 36 unions that form
the ZCTU; approximately 65 percent of industries were unionized.
The Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), a government-
created alternative labor body, had few activities throughout the year.
During the two weeks prior to the ZCTU demonstration on September 13,
the ZFTU placed advertising in state-controlled newspapers with
messages intended to discourage worker participation and create
confusion about the level of support for the action. While the ZFTU
continued to support splinter unions in each economic sector, there was
no evidence that either employers or employees viewed the splinter
unions as legitimate. In addition to fostering confusion among workers,
splinter unions forced existing unions to spend scarce resources
guarding against declining membership. The splinter unions did not
bargain collectively, handle worker complaints, or provide worker
education.
During the year the Government openly targeted the ZCTU, declaring
it aligned with the opposition MDC and arresting ZCTU leaders at
various labor rallies. According to HRW, use of excessive force against
peaceful demonstrations has become a ``common occurrence.''
On September 13, police arrested more than 100 members of the ZCTU
and detained approximately 500 people, including labor leaders, to
prevent the labor movement from staging nationwide, nonviolent marches
planned for that day to protest for better wages, improved government
management of political and economic policies, and free access to HIV/
AIDS drugs. Police in Harare took 15 ZCTU leaders and activists to the
Matapi police station in Harare, where several unidentified men wearing
police uniforms clubbed and beat them, among the victims were
ZCTUScretary General Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU President Lovemore
Matombo, and ZCTU Vice President Lucia Matibenga. Chibebe suffered cuts
to the head, three broken bones, and severe bruising all over his body.
Matombo suffered a broken arm and bruising. Matibenga had whip marks
all over her back, a swollen neck, and a ruptured eardrum. Police
denied the group access to their attorney and medical treatment until
the next day. On September 15, the ZCTU leaders were released on bail,
and a trial was pending at year's end. On September 25, President
Mugabe made a public statement defending police treatment of the ZCTU
leaders, charging that the labor activists deserved the beating for
ignoring police orders. A widely-circulated video of the beatings at
the point of arrest clearly showed police actions were unprovoked. An
investigation into police treatment of the ZCTU demonstrators was
ongoing; however, none of the officers involved had been charged by
year's end.
In 2005 there were numerous attacks on ZCTU leaders by members of
government-sponsored affiliates or hired assailants. Police harassed
ZCTU leaders and raided and ransacked ZCTU offices. No action was taken
against the perpetrators.
Although the LRAA prohibits antiunion discrimination, in practice
union members faced discrimination and harassment. In January 2004 ZCTU
President Lovemore Matombo was dismissed from his job at the postal
service for union activities. ZCTU appealed the dismissal, but Matombo
had not been reinstated by year's end, reportedly as the consequence of
overloaded labor courts. A labor court handled complaints of such
discrimination under the mechanism for resolving cases involving
``unfair labor practices.'' The determining authority may direct that
workers fired due to antiunion discrimination be reinstated, although
this did not happen in practice.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) continued to criticize
the Government for ongoing interference with the unions' freedom of
association and abuse of labor leaders. The International Trade Union
Confederation also criticized government harassment of unions during
the year. The Government's immigration authorities denied entry to two
delegations of foreign labor unionists during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The LRAA
provides workers with the right to organize and permits unions to
bargain collectively over wages and conditions of employment, and
workers exercised this right in practice; however, government
harassment of union leaders and interference by ZFTU sometimes made
such negotiations difficult. Collective bargaining agreements applied
to all workers in an industry, not just union members. The 2005 Labor
Amendment Bill allows the minister of public service, labor, and social
welfare (minister of labor) to appoint members to advisory councils,
which resolve industrial disputes between labor and employers, without
consulting ZCTU or the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe. The law
also makes lower court rulings enforceable during an appeal.
During the year the Tripartite Negotiating Forum, a consultative
mechanism to discuss labor and social issues comprised of government,
business, and labor representatives, continued talks but did not
resolve any issues. ZCTU called for indexing wages according to the
poverty datum line (PDL), which calculates the minimum required for the
average family of five to pay basic expenses. In November, the PDL was
approximately $912 (Z$228,133) per month. According to one prominent
local economist, 80 percent of the country's population lived below the
PDL.
The minister of labor retained the power to veto agreements that he
believed would harm the economy, but he did not involve himself
directly in labor negotiations unless requested to do so by one of the
parties. The Labor Amendment Bill gives the minister unlimited time to
review lay-offs before they become effective. When no trade union
represented a specific sector, representatives of the organized
workers, such as the professional associations, met with the employer
associations under the mediation of labor officers from the Ministry of
Labor. Some employment councils had yet to reach an agreement or were
deadlocked awaiting court-supervised arbitration at year's end.
Employees in positions designated as managerial were excluded from the
collective bargaining process.
The Government continued to use POSA to limit the ZCTU and its
affiliates' ability to meet with and consult their constituencies,
although the law does not apply to labor unions. For example, unions
were prevented from holding meetings with their members, sometimes by
the police and under threat of arrest. Despite court rulings against
them, the police continued to monitor ZCTU and other labor union
meetings.
Although the LRAA explicitly recognizes the right to strike, it has
been circumscribed with procedural limits including 14-day advance
notice requirements, mandated 30-day reconciliation periods, possible
mandatory referral to binding arbitration, and at least 50 percent of
the employees must vote for the strike. The act prohibits ``essential
services'' employees from striking on the grounds that it ``endangers
immediately the life, personal safety, or health of the whole or any
part of the public.'' The law defines essential services broadly and
includes: fire personnel; employees engaged in the supply and
distribution of water; employees providing veterinary services; revenue
agents at ports; persons in the health care field; transport and
communications employees; railway engineers; licensed electricians; and
broadcast personnel during a state of emergency. The law also allows
that ``any nonessential service may be declared an essential service by
the minister if a strike in a sector, service industry, or enterprise
persists to the point that the lives, personal safety, or health of the
whole or part of the population is endangered.'' Managers also were
prohibited from striking, and, in some industries, the Government
defined most employees as managers. In practice the Government harassed
and arrested union leaders who called for strikes and union members who
attempted to participate in strikes.
Government-imposed delays prevented most employees and their unions
from declaring legal strikes, and those who participated in strikes
deemed illegal faced harsh sentences of up to five years in prison. On
July 13, junior doctors at government hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo
began a strike to demand better pay and working conditions. Deputy
Health Minister Edwin Muguti said the strike was illegal and ordered
the doctors back to work. The doctors returned to work in September as
negotiations with the Government continued for a long-term solution.
Junior doctors went on strike again in November and December, claiming
the Government still had failed to meet their demands. Negotiations
were ongoing at year's end.
Workers protesting health and safety standards or lack of equipment
may strike without the notification and arbitration procedure.
The Export Processing Zones Act states the LRAA shall not apply to
workers in export processing zones (EPZs); however, according to the
ZCTU, employers generally applied the same wages and standards in the
EPZs as in the general economy. The ZCTU has negotiated directly with
EPZ employers to allow some unions in the EPZ, although their number
and level of activity remained low.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, with the exceptions
of working for parents or the national youth service; however, there
were reports that such practices occurred (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).
Forced labor is punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20 (Z$800), two
years' imprisonment, or both. The traditional practice of offering a
young girl in marriage as compensatory payment in interfamily disputes
continued in rural areas (see Section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the LRAA, child labor is punishable by a maximum fine of $3.20
(Z$800), 2 years' imprisonment, or both; however, child labor was
common. Under the LRAA a child between the ages of 13 and 15 can work
as an apprentice or if the work is an integral part of (or in
conjunction with) ``a course of training or technical or vocational
education.'' The law further states that no person under 18 shall
perform any work likely to jeopardize that person's health, safety, or
morals. The status of children between 15 and 18 years of age is not
directly addressed, but 15 years of age is still the minimum for light
work, work other than apprenticeship, or work associated with
vocational education.
The CSO released the 2004 Child Labor Report in March. According to
the survey, approximately 46 percent of children between the ages of
five and 17 were engaged in economic activity. The unemployment rate
continued to grow, with some estimates as high as 80 percent, which
decreased the number of children employed in the formal sector.
However, the incidence of children who worked in the informal sector
continued to increase as more children worked to fill the income gap
left by ill, unemployed, or deceased relatives. Children often lacked
access to necessary safety equipment and training. Children worked in
the agricultural sector, as domestics, and as car-watchers. In addition
there were reports of an increasing number of girls engaged in
prostitution. Although the Government and NGOs increasingly discussed
the problem of child labor in the agricultural, domestic, and informal
sectors, they were unable to gather concrete data on the number of
cases.
Although the incidence of child labor on commercial farms decreased
as a result of land redistribution, most economically active children
still worked in the agriculture industry. The General Agricultural and
Plantation Workers' Union of Zimbabwe estimated that of the country's
approximate 200,000 farm workers, 10 percent were children under the
age of 16. The Employer's Confederation of Zimbabwe observed that
poverty was the main cause of child labor in the country. The Zimbabwe
National Council for the Welfare of Children reported that given the
increasingly difficult economic climate, coupled with the high number
of HIV/AIDS orphans and child-headed households, eradicating child
labor in the country would be difficult.
The Child Protection Society reported that new farmers used
children as cheap labor because they could not complain about working
conditions. UNICEF reported children working as independent contractors
so employers could evade the appearance of employing children. Zimbabwe
Domestic and Allied Workers Union observed employers bringing children
from their rural homes to work as domestics with parental consent. Save
the Children Norway-Zimbabwe reported that sugar businesses along the
Mozambique border at Catiyo used children to sell sugar across the
border, often with the complicity of their parents. Children in the
sugar business were paid less than adults and did not attend school.
Save the Children Norway-Zimbabwe also reported children working on tea
estates, which sent children to school in the morning and to work in
the afternoon and evening.
Some employers did not pay wages to child domestic workers,
believing they were assisting a child from a rural home by providing
housing and board. In addition employers paid the parents for the
child's work. Relatives often used AIDS-orphaned children as domestics
without pay. There were also reports from NGOs that police rounded up
street children and took them to work on farms without pay.
The Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Labor is
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but the department lacked
the human resources to carry out inspections or any other monitoring.
The Government implemented few new initiatives to prevent child labor.
In 2004 the Ministry of Labor promoted its BEAM and children in CDC
programs, which were designed to pay for school fees and other items
such as uniforms and books for children who could not afford to go to
school; however, fewer than 18 percent of children benefited from the
program in 2004. Several child welfare NGOs reported that BEAM and
other government programs focused on children were severely under
funded. Several child welfare NGOs reported that the Government used
access to BEAM and other humanitarian assistance as a political tool to
reward supporters and punish persons considered to be supporters of the
opposition (see Section 3).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum
wage except for agricultural and domestic workers. Government
regulations for each of the 22 industrial sectors continued to specify
minimum wages, hours, holidays, and required safety measures. The
minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family, and approximately 80 percent of the population lived below
the Government's poverty line. Monitoring systems were ineffective, and
many agricultural and domestic workers were remunerated below the
minimum wage.
Minimum wages in the formal sector changed continuously as a result
of the high inflation rate. Domestic worker minimum wages were
specifically separated from others; the latest monthly minimum wages,
established in March, were: gardener, $10.00 (Z$2,500); cook/
housekeeper, $11.00 (Z$2,656); child- or disabled-minder, $11.25
(Z$2,812); and child- or disabled-minder with Red Cross certification,
$12.00 (Z$2,968).
The maximum legal workweek is 54 hours, and the law prescribes a
minimum of one 24-hour rest period per week. No worker is allowed to
work more than 12 continuous hours; however, there was little or no
enforcement, particularly in the agricultural and domestic worker
sectors. Workers were unlikely to complain to authorities about
violations due to fear of losing their jobs. The public service
commission sets conditions of employment in the public sector. Health
and safety standards were determined on an industry-specific basis.
Many of the basic legal protections did not apply to the vast
majority of farm, mine, and domestic workers. In December the state
media reported 74 workplace fatalities and 5,082 injuries during the
year. As labor relations officers no longer existed in practice, the
Ministry of Labor relied heavily on voluntary compliance and reporting
by employers and employees to enforce applicable laws and regulations.
The Government designated the Zimbabwe Occupational Safety Council,
a quasi-governmental advisory body made up of six representatives each
from the Government, employers, and trade unions, to regulate safe work
conditions; however, budgetary constraints and staffing shortages, as
well as its status as an advisory council, made the council
ineffective. The NSSA continued to experience difficulty monitoring the
thousands of work sites across the country; however, it continued to
close shops and factories not in compliance. Workers have a legal right
to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to
continued employment but in practice risked the loss of their
livelihood if they did so.
__________
EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
----------
AUSTRALIA
Australia is a constitutional democracy with a federal
parliamentary government. Its population was approximately 20.7
million. Citizens periodically choose their representatives in free and
fair multiparty elections. John Howard began his fourth consecutive
term as prime minister in October 2004; his Liberal and National Party
coalition government held 87 of 150 seats in the lower house of the
Federal Parliament and 39 of 76 seats in the upper house. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. Problems were reported in a
few areas, including domestic violence against women and children,
particularly in Aboriginal communities, and societal discrimination
against Aboriginal people. During the year some Muslim leaders claimed
that anti-Muslim sentiment in the country was increasing. There was
continuing criticism by domestic labor unions and the International
Trade Union Confederation of the 2005 WorkChoices law and the 1996
Federal Workplace Relations Act, particularly in regard to the laws'
curbs on trade unions, restrictions on strikes, and emphasis on
individual employment contracts.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings. However, in September the Queensland State coroner
found that a man detained on Palm Island in 2004 had been beaten by the
police while in custody and had died as a result. In December, after
the Queensland State prosecutor declined to prosecute the police
officer involved, the Queensland premier appointed an independent
investigator to review the prosecutor's decision (See section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice. However, there were
occasional reports that police and prison officials mistreated suspects
in custody. Some indigenous groups charged that police harassment of
indigenous people was pervasive and that racial discrimination by some
police and prison custodians persisted (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology's annual
report on prison deaths, 34 persons died in prison custody in 2005.
Eighteen persons died of natural causes, and 16 deaths were self
inflicted.
Juvenile offenders under age 17 generally were incarcerated in
youth detention or training centers but could be sentenced to custody
in an adult prison upon conviction of a serious criminal offense such
as homicide. Since July 2005 children in immigration detention have
been housed in the community under ``residency determination
arrangements'' (see section 2.d.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Each of the country's
six state and two territorial jurisdictions has a separate police force
that enforces state and territorial laws. The Australian Federal Police
(AFP) enforce commonwealth laws. The minister for justice and customs
oversees AFP activities, while the state police forces report to the
respective state police ministers. The police forces generally do not
have problems with corruption and impunity. State and territorial
police forces have internal affairs units that investigate allegations
of misconduct and a civilian ombudsman's office that can either review
an investigation upon request of the complainant or initiate its own
inquiry into a complaint.
The police forces generally were effective; however, two
independent investigations into the assaults and rioting between white
and ethnic Arab youths in the Sydney area in December 2005, the results
of which were released in October, criticized the New South Wales
police for inadequate resources, training and communication.
Arrest and Detention.--Police officers may seek an arrest warrant
from a magistrate when a suspect cannot be located or fails to appear;
however, they also may arrest a person without a warrant if there are
reasonable grounds to believe the person has committed an offense.
Police must inform arrested persons immediately of their legal rights
and the grounds for their arrest, and arrested persons must be brought
before a magistrate for a bail hearing at the next sitting of the
court. However, legislation passed in December 2005 permits the police
to hold individuals in preventive detention for up to 24 hours without
charge if a senior police official finds it is ``reasonably necessary
to prevent a terrorist act or preserve evidence of such an act.''
Individuals may be detained for an additional 24 hours under an
extension of the initial court order. Bail generally is available to
persons facing criminal charges unless the person is considered to be a
flight risk or is charged with an offense carrying a penalty of 12
months' imprisonment or more. Attorneys and families were granted
prompt access to detainees.
The December 2005 antiterrorism law permits a judge to authorize
``control orders'' on individuals suspected of involvement with
terrorism-related activities. These orders may include a range of
measures, such as monitoring of suspects and house arrest, and may be
in effect for up to a year without the filing of criminal charges. If a
control order is still warranted after one year, a new order must be
sought from a court. Both the preventive detention and control order
provisions of the antiterrorism legislation expire after 10 years.
In August the Government withdrew legislation that would have
required all unauthorized asylum seekers who arrive in the country by
boat to be detained offshore while their asylum claims were processed
(see section 2.d.). In 2004 the High Court ruled that the Government
had the authority to detain asylum seekers indefinitely.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
There are federal, state, and territorial courts, which handle both
civil and criminal matters. The highest federal court is the High
Court, which exercises general appellate jurisdiction and advises on
constitutional issues. State and territorial supreme, district, and
county courts conduct most major criminal and civil trials, while the
magistrates' and specialists' courts (such as the children's court and
administrative tribunals) adjudicate less serious criminal and civil
cases and conduct preliminary hearings.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. In the
state district and county courts and the state and territorial supreme
courts, there generally is a judge and jury. The judge conducts the
trial, and the jury decides on the facts and on a verdict. Defendants
have the right to an attorney, and a government-funded system of legal
aid attorneys is available to low-income persons. The defendant's
attorney can question witnesses, present evidence on the defendant's
behalf, and access relevant government-held evidence. Defendants enjoy
the presumption of innocence and have the right to appeal the court's
decision or the sentence imposed.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is also an
administrative process at the state and federal levels to seek redress
for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
In October the state of Victoria supreme court ruled that it would
pursue a case of contempt of court against Melbourne Herald Sun
reporters Gerard McManus and Michael Harvey for refusing to reveal
their sources for an article published in February 2004 on government
plans to cut veterans' benefits. (Under a rule of practice called the
``Newspaper Rule,'' courts may exercise their discretion in ruling
whether disclosure of journalists' sources of information is necessary
in a particular case ``in the interest of justice.'') The court was
scheduled to hear the case in February 2007. At year's end the two
journalists were still working as political reporters for the Herald
Sun. In October 2005 the chief judge of the state of Victoria county
court filed the contempt charges against the two reporters after they
refused to give evidence or name their sources during court proceedings
against a government employee charged with ``unauthorized communication
of a document'' in the release of the information to the reporters.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was widely available and used by citizens.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--While the rights
of peaceful assembly and association are not codified in law, the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--On September 29, a single
bullet was fired from a stationary car into the window of a mosque in
Mirrabooka, a suburb of Perth, during evening prayers. No one was
injured, but the bullet narrowly missed some of the worshippers.
Following the incident the state government announced that it would
work with local officials and police to increase safety at all mosques
in the state. At year's end the police had no suspects or leads in
their investigation into the shooting.
In October two Muslim schools in Perth received threatening
telephone calls following controversial remarks by a Muslim cleric
implying that immodestly dressed women were responsible for rape (see
section 5). Police arrested a suspect and charged him with making the
calls; the case was pending at year's end.
Some Muslim leaders claimed that anti-Muslim sentiment in the
country was increasing in the wake of public debate about the
integration of Muslim immigrants into Australian society.
The country's Jewish community numbered approximately 84,000
persons. In the 12-month period ending September 30, the Executive
Council of Australian Jewry recorded 440 anti-Semitic incidents. This
was a 32.5 percent increase from the number recorded in the previous 12
months and the same as the number recorded for the October 2003 to
September 2004 period. Although the overall total was lower than the
record set in the year ending September 2002, it was 47 percent higher
than the average annual total since reports were first compiled in
1989. These incidents ranged from physical assault and/or property
damage to harassment and offensive written and electronic media. In
November a delegation from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
briefed 38 university vice chancellors in Sydney as part of a
discussion of the ongoing problem of anti-Semitism on university
campuses.
On October 14, a group of approximately 20 members of the
Australian Ocean Grove Football Club in Melbourne yelled racial
epithets at an Orthodox Jewish man as he walked by their bus with his
two children, and punched him in the face. Witnesses surrounded the bus
until police arrived. No charges were filed; however, the club
subsequently apologized and agreed to visit Melbourne's Holocaust
Museum.
At year's end the police investigation was ongoing in a December
2005 incident in which shots were fired at parked cars of Catholic
parishioners attending a church service in the Sydney suburb of Auburn.
In December the leader of a neo-Nazi group was released from
custody after reaching a plea agreement on charges of criminal damage
relating to, among other things, the vandalizing of a Perth synagogue
in 2004 (see section 5). Under the agreement he pled guilty to the
charges and agreed to leave the state of Western Australia. A
codefendant was free on bail at year's end pending a court hearing
scheduled for early 2007.
At year's end the state of Victoria court of appeal had not ruled
on an appeal by two Christian pastors of the Victoria civil and
administrative tribunal's 2004 ruling that they publish apologies, via
newspaper advertisements, for comments that the court held had vilified
Muslims. The Islamic Council of Victoria filed the complaint under
Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act in 2003.
The Government had a number of programs to promote anti-bias and
tolerance education, including an antiracism education campaign and
ongoing public awareness programs conducted by HREOC. In its annual
report the Executive Council on Australian Jewry cited these programs
as encouraging initiatives in responding to anti-Semitism and racism.
The Government also had a national action plan, developed in
coordination with a Muslim advisory group, to help bring law
enforcement agencies and Muslim communities together to resolve issues
of conflict and discrimination.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not address forced exile, but the Government did not
use it in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees subject to certain geographic and time constraints on claims
by those who previously sought asylum in a safe country of transit. In
practice the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government granted refugee status or asylum and facilitated local
integration.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government sets an annual quota on the number of refugee and
humanitarian visa grants it makes. In the period July 2005 through
June, a total of 14,144 visas were granted under the country's refugee
and humanitarian grant program. These included 12,758 visas for persons
overseas and 1,386 visas for persons already in the country. Of the
latter, 1,272 were initial protection visas. A further 14 temporary
humanitarian concern visas also were granted.
Noncitizens arriving at a national border without prior entry
authorization automatically are detained. Legal assistance is provided
upon request to detainees making an initial asylum claim or application
for lawful residence. Individuals may be released pending full
adjudication of their asylum claim only if they meet certain criteria
such as old age, ill health, or experience of torture or other trauma.
However, most did not meet release criteria and were detained for the
length of the asylum adjudication process. They were either released
upon receiving asylum and an appropriate visa or removed once it was
determined that they did not qualify for protection. During the year
some asylum seekers who had been intercepted at sea continued to be
housed in offshore detention centers in Nauru. In August one of the two
remaining detainees in Nauru was transferred to Australia for
psychiatric evaluation. In December a third country agreed to accept
the second of the two for resettlement. In September six additional
asylum seekers were sent to Nauru for processing of their claims and
remained detained there at year's end.
As of December 15, there were 638 persons in immigration detention,
including 62 in residence determination arrangements in the community.
Of these 638 persons, approximately half had been detained for less
than three months.
Noncitizens who arrive by boat and have their asylum claims
confirmed are granted a three-year temporary protection visa (TPV),
which provides full access to medical and social services but does not
authorize family reunification or allow travel abroad with reentry
rights. A permanent protection visa, which gives authority for family
reunification and reentry rights, may be granted to an applicant at any
stage of the asylum adjudication process. Denials of asylum claims may
be appealed on merit grounds to the Refugee Review Tribunal, and on
grounds of legal error to the Federal Court of Australia and, in
certain cases, to the High Court. The minister for immigration and
multicultural and indigenous affairs may exercise discretion and grant
a visa after the asylum seeker has exhausted the review process. TPV
and temporary humanitarian visa holders may apply for permanent visas
without leaving the country.
Although long delays in processing asylum applications were not a
significant problem during the year, a small number of asylum seekers
remained in detention, some for years, despite having exhausted the
appeal process. They could not be returned to their home country
because they lacked travel documents or could not obtain necessary
transit visas. In 2004 the High Court overturned the Federal Court of
Australia's 2003 ruling that the indefinite detention of asylum seekers
was unlawful. In May 2005 a new Removal Pending Bridging Visa (RPBV)
came into effect that allows the minister of immigration to grant a
visa to a person in immigration detention whose removal from the
country is not practical at that time. Holders of RPBVs may work,
access government services, including free medical care, and attend
public school.
Under a 2005 law children may be detained only as a last resort,
and no children were held in immigration detention centers during the
year. Instead, ``residency determination arrangements'' were made with
NGOs to place families with children in the community and assist them
with housing and living expenses until their immigration status was
resolved, subject to reporting requirements and a commitment to remain
available to the immigration department.
The country's immigration laws and detention policy continued to be
criticized by some human rights and refugee advocacy groups, which
charged that the sometimes-lengthy detentions violated asylum seekers'
human rights.
In August the Government withdrew proposed legislation from
Parliament that would have required all unauthorized boat arrivals in
the country to have their asylum claims processed offshore. The UNHCR
had expressed concern about the offshore processing proposal, noting
that it did not provide for all the protections and benefits available
to asylum seekers processed within the country.
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to countries
where they feared persecution, before their asylum claims were
considered and rejected. However, during the year refugee, church, and
human rights groups continued to express concern about the Government's
practices in repatriating unsuccessful asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage and mandatory voting.
Elections and Political Participation.--In October 2004 citizens
elected a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party to a
fourth three-year term of office. The opposition Australian Labor Party
(ALP) won all six state and two territorial elections held in 2003 for
New South Wales (NSW); 2004 for the Australian Capital Territory; 2005
for Western Australia (WA) and the Northern Territory (NT); and during
the year for Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania.
Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election.
There are no legal impediments to public office for women and
indigenous people. Both the Government and the opposition have declared
their intent to increase the numbers of women elected to public office.
As of October there were 64 women in the 226-seat Federal Parliament,
three female ministers in the 17-member federal government cabinet, and
five female ministers in the 30-member federal government ministry.
There was one woman among the eight premiers and chief ministers of the
six states and two territories, the chief minister of the NT. In 2005 a
woman was appointed to the High Court as one of seven justices.
Aboriginals generally were underrepresented among the political
leadership (see section 5). The term of the sole Aboriginal federal
senator expired on June 30, 2005. No Aboriginals were elected to the
Federal Parliament in 2004. There was one Aboriginal in the Tasmanian
state parliament, one in the NSW state parliament, two in the WA state
parliament, and four in the NT legislative assembly. The national
President of the ALP, Warren Mundine, is an Aboriginal.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The federal, state, and territorial governments have freedom of
information (FOI) laws, which provide the public with access to
government information. FOI requests generally are subject to both an
application and a processing fee. Federal law enables a person to
access and correct inaccurate personal information held by government
ministries and agencies and to access other government information that
has not been exempted to protect essential public interests or the
private or business affairs of others. An applicant, including foreign
media, may appeal a government decision to deny a request for
information to the quasi-legal Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT),
an executive body that reviews administrative decisions by government
entities. An adverse AAT decision may be appealed to the federal court
of Australia.
The Australian Press Association and others have criticized the FOI
application process as unduly lengthy and costly, particularly with
regard to requests for non-personal information. In September the High
Court upheld a 2005 federal court ruling that a government minister
properly withheld information about application of certain tax laws, on
the basis of the minister's certification that disclosure could
compromise the confidentiality of government decision making. The court
ruled that the Government need only show that the specific public
interest ground raised for withholding information was reasonable,
``even though there may be reasonable grounds the other way.'' The
Australian newspaper had brought the case after the Government denied
its request for the information. The media expressed concern that the
decision could allow the Government to deny public access to virtually
any information held by the executive on the basis of broad claims of
possible harm.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on sex, disability,
race, color, descent or national or ethnic origin, marital status, or
age. An independent judiciary and a network of federal, state, and
territorial equal opportunity offices effectively enforced the law. The
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) investigates
complaints of discrimination or breaches of human rights under the
federal laws that implement the country's human rights treaty
obligations.
Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, including
domestic abuse, and the Government enforced the law. Nonetheless,
violence against women remained a problem, particularly in Aboriginal
communities. In October 2004 the Office for Women, which monitors
women's rights and advises the federal government on issues affecting
women, published a report entitled The Cost of Domestic Violence to the
Australian Economy, which found that domestic violence cost the economy
$6.3 billion (A$8.1 billion) in the 12-month period from July 2002 to
June 2003. The report ranked domestic violence among the top five risks
to women's health. The federal Department of Family and Community
Services and the state departments of community services had programs
to both combat domestic violence and support victims of domestic
violence, and the federal, state, and territorial governments funded
numerous women's shelters.
In April there were press reports on widespread domestic violence
and child abuse in Aboriginal communities in Western Australia (see
section 5, Children). In May the NT state prosecutor reported hundreds
of cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse of women and children in
Aboriginal communities in the NT. The prosecutor noted that child
sexual assault in central Australia was happening at much higher rates
than was currently being reported to police, as was violence against
Aboriginal women and children. She also noted that the NT had no
mandatory reporting law for such crimes, and that many victims were
frightened of retribution within their communities if they reported the
abuse to police. Federal and territorial agencies acknowledged that
such abuses and the failure to report them were issues that needed to
be addressed, and they also launched investigations into specific
allegations.
In June the federal minister for indigenous affairs convened an
intergovernmental summit on domestic violence and child abuse in
indigenous communities. The summit participants agreed on the need for
a comprehensive approach and proposed a package of measures, with
funding of $100.8 million (A$130 million). In July the Council of
Australian governments approved the package and funding. Key components
of the plan included improved policing in remote areas, community legal
education, aiding the creation of indigenous support networks, more
alcohol and drug treatment programs, and a national unit to monitor
school attendance records of Aboriginal children.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
Government enforced the law effectively when cases were reported to the
authorities.
In October a senior Muslim cleric in Sydney made statements in a
sermon implying that immodestly dressed women, whom he compared to
``uncovered meat,'' invited rape. Many other Muslim leaders, as well as
the Government, opposition politicians, and human rights advocates,
condemned the remarks. The cleric stated that his remarks were taken
out of context, but he issued a formal apology and stated that he did
not condone rape.
It is a crime in all states and territories to perform female
genital mutilation (FGM) or to remove a child from the jurisdiction for
the purpose of having FGM performed; maximum penalties range from seven
to 21 years' imprisonment. There were no reports of new cases or
prosecutions for the offense during the year.
Prostitution is legal or decriminalized in several states and
territories, and the Governments of Victoria, Queensland, and the
Australian Capital Territory license brothels operating within their
borders. However, many brothels operated illegally. In some locations
state-funded sexual health services employees visited brothels to
educate workers about sexual health matters and to prevent worker
mistreatment. Local governments or prostitution licensing authorities
inspected brothels to assure compliance with planning laws and
licensing requirements, including health and safety regulations.
However, government officials faced difficulties enforcing health and
safety standards in illegal brothels. Trafficking in persons, primarily
women from Asia, for prostitution was a limited problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
The Sex Discrimination Act prohibits sexual harassment. The
independent federal sex discrimination commissioner, which is part of
HREOC, undertakes research, policy, and educational work designed to
eliminate discrimination between men and women.
The HREOC received 347 sex discrimination complaints from July 2005
through June. Twenty percent of the complaints alleged discrimination
based on pregnancy and 19 percent alleged sexual harassment. The
commission resolved 314 of the complaints, 44 percent by conciliation.
There were highly organized and effective private and public
women's rights organizations at the federal, state, and local levels.
Women have equal status under the law, and the law provides for pay
equity. In August the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimated
that women's full-time total average weekly earnings were 80.6 percent
of those of men.
Children.--The Government demonstrated its strong commitment to
children's rights and welfare through its publicly funded educational
and medical care systems. While the structure of education varied among
states and territories, all children between six and 15 years of age
are entitled to nine to 10 years of compulsory and free education. An
ABS survey issued in February found that the full-time school
participation rate for 15-year-olds as of August 2005 was 94.7 percent,
with most children completing grade 12. The student retention rate from
grades seven and eight to grade 12 was 81 percent for girls and 75.3
percent for boys. The Government provided universal health insurance
coverage to all citizens and lawful residents from birth on a co-
payment basis. The Government also provided a minimum benefit of 16.8
percent of the cost of a first child's childcare to all parents (with a
smaller benefit for additional children), which increased to as much as
100 percent for the lowest income families.
State and territorial child protection agencies investigate and
institute prosecutions of persons for child neglect or abuse. All
states and territories have laws or guidelines that require members of
certain designated professions to report suspected child abuse or
neglect. The federal government's role in child abuse prevention is
limited to funding research and education campaigns, developing an
action plan against the commercial exploitation of children, and
funding community-based parenting programs. According to the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, there were 46,154 substantiated cases
of child abuse and neglect from July 2004 to June 2005, the latest
period for which national statistics were available. These included
physical abuse (24 percent of cases), sexual abuse (10 percent),
emotional abuse (33 percent), and neglect (33 percent).
In April the press reported on widespread alcoholism and physical
and sexual abuse of children among remote indigenous communities in
Western Australia. As a result a number of Western Australian
Aboriginal elders supported a plan proposed by one of the elders to
separate children from their parents and place them in hostels in an
attempt to break the cycle of alcoholism and abuse. However, some other
Aboriginal leaders opposed the proposal. While the state of Western
Australia indicated tentative support for the plan, its immediate
response was to allocate $9.3 million (A$12 million) to build new
housing and provide more social services to the Aboriginal community.
In May the NT state prosecutor reported many cases of domestic
violence and child abuse in NT Aboriginal communities (see section 5,
Women).
In July the Attorney General of NSW released a report he had
commissioned entitled Breaking the Silence: Creating the Future--
Addressing Child Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities in New South
Wales. The report found that sexual assault of children was a
significant issue in all 29 indigenous communities visited by
researchers. The report found that in Aboriginal communities sexual
assault was not well understood to be a criminal offense and seldom was
reported. In response to these findings the NSW government announced it
was implementing 88 recommendations that flowed from the report.
The Government has enacted tough criminal laws aimed at restricting
the trade in, and possession of, child pornography; the law allows
suspected pedophiles to be tried in the country regardless of where the
crime was committed. The Child Sex Tourism Act prohibits child sex
tourism and related offenses for the country's residents and citizens
overseas and provides for a maximum sentence of 17 years' imprisonment
upon conviction. During the 12-month period ending June 30, the AFP
conducted 57 investigations. There were 26 prosecutions, with 14
convictions and five cases still pending before the courts at the end
of the fiscal year. During the year the Government continued its
awareness campaign to deter child sex tourism, through the distribution
of materials to citizens and residents traveling overseas. Child
protection NGOs raised community awareness of child trafficking. There
were no reports of children being trafficked into the country during
the year (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
but the country continued to be a destination for some trafficked women
in the sex industry.
Some women, primarily from the People's Republic of China, the
Republic of Korea, and Southeast Asia, were brought into the country
for the purpose of prostitution, sometimes entering with fraudulently
obtained tourist or student visas. Many of these women traveled to the
country voluntarily to work in both legal and illegal brothels, but
some reportedly were deceived or coerced into debt bondage or sexual
servitude. The Australian Crime Commission reported that deceptive
practices in contract terms and conditions, which often masked debt
bondage, appeared to be increasing among women in prostitution, while
deceptive recruiting practices appeared to be decreasing. Authorities
believed that sex trafficking networks were composed primarily of
individual operators or small crime groups that often relied on larger
organized crime groups to procure fraudulent documentation for the
trafficked women.
The Commonwealth Criminal Code comprehensively criminalizes
``people trafficking'' offenses, including sexual servitude, slavery,
and deceptive recruitment. These offenses carry penalties of up to 25
years' imprisonment for slavery, 15 years for sexual servitude, and
seven years for deceptive recruitment. Under the Child Sex Tourism Act,
it is an offense for citizens or residents to travel abroad to engage
in sex with minors under age 16 (see section 5, Children).
In June 2005 the Government expanded existing antitrafficking laws
to include new offenses for debt bondage, child trafficking, and
domestic trafficking, with penalties of up to 25 years in prison, and
in September 2005 ratified the UN Trafficking Protocol.
The AFP and the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
have lead roles in combating trafficking in persons. The AFP's
Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Team, a 23-member
mobile strike force, is responsible for investigating trafficking
syndicates operating in the country and abroad. State police forces
worked closely with the AFP to develop a comprehensive policing
strategy to counter trafficking in persons. Since 2004 the AFP has
opened 112 investigations and charged 22 persons for people trafficking
offenses. During the year the courts convicted four persons of
trafficking offenses and sentenced them to prison terms of up to 10
years.
An ambassador for people-smuggling issues is responsible for
promoting a coherent and effective international approach to combating
trafficking in persons (particularly in the Asia-Pacific region),
assisting in the negotiation of international agreements for the return
and resettlement of persons brought illegally into the country, and
working for the prosecution of traffickers in persons. The ambassador
coordinates the country's participation with Indonesia in the Bali
Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related
Transnational Crime. The Government has antitrafficking agreements with
Cambodia, Burma, Laos, and Thailand designed to improve international
cooperation and police investigations of trafficking syndicates. The
Government also funded awareness campaigns in source countries and
continued funding the Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People
Trafficking project. Underway in four countries--Thailand, Laos, Burma,
and Cambodia--the project focused on strengthening the criminal justice
process to combat trafficking in persons.
Within the country the Government continued an awareness campaign
targeting the sex industry and the community at large and widely
publicized criminal cases against traffickers. Trafficking victims
willing to cooperate with authorities in the investigation and
prosecution of traffickers qualify for a temporary visa and a range of
social services. Counseling, temporary shelter, and other assistance
were available to all trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment; education; access to
premises; provisions of goods, services (including health services),
and facilities; accommodation; purchase of land; activities of clubs
and associations; sport; and the administration of federal laws and
programs, and the Government effectively enforced the law.
The disability discrimination commissioner, which is part of HREOC,
promotes compliance with federal laws that prohibit discrimination
against persons with disabilities. The commissioner also promotes
implementation and enforcement of state laws that require equal access
and otherwise protect the rights of persons with disabilities. The law
also provides for mediation by HREOC of discrimination complaints,
authorizes fines against violators, and awards damages to victims of
discrimination.
HREOC's July 2005 to June 2006 annual report stated that 561
complaints of discrimination based on disability were filed during the
reporting period. Of these, 58 percent were employment related and 17
percent involved the provision of goods and services. The HREOC
resolved 512 complaints, 46 percent through conciliation.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--During the year leaders in the
ethnic and immigrant communities continued to express concern about
incidents of vilification and discrimination directed against
immigrants and minorities.
In December 2005, 31 persons were injured in assaults and rioting
between mostly white and ethnic Arab youths in the Sydney area. Two
independent investigations released in October indicated that
inadequate police resources, training, and communication were key
factors in the incidents (see section 1.d.).
In December the leader of the neo-Nazi Australian Nationalist
Movement, Jack Van Tongeren, was released under a plea agreement after
he agreed to plead guilty to charges of criminal damage and conspiracy
to cause arson in connection with incidents in 2004 in which several
Asian businesses and a synagogue in Perth were firebombed or sprayed
with racist graffiti. Under the plea agreement he also was required to
leave Western Australia.
According to HREOC's July 2005 to June annual report, the number of
racial discrimination complaints received rose to 259. Of the 259
reported cases, 48 percent involved employment, 18 percent involved
provision of goods and services, and 17 percent alleged ``racial
hatred.'' Persons born outside the country filed 62 percent of the
complaints, and Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders filed 23
percent.
Indigenous People.--In March 2005, after a Senate inquiry
criticized the Government's handling of Aboriginal affairs, Parliament
passed legislation abolishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Commission (ATSIC) and its subordinate regional entities; the National
Indigenous Council, a government-appointed advisory council established
in 2004, was retained as ATSIC's successor. While some Aboriginal
groups claimed that the Government's abolishment of ATSIC was an
attempt to silence its indigenous critics, other Aboriginal groups
welcomed the move as an attempt to refocus the domestic indigenous
policy debate on improving health and social conditions and away from
ATSIC's leadership team, which they viewed as impeding ATSIC's
effectiveness.
The Government's approach toward Aboriginals emphasized a
``practical reconciliation'' aimed at raising the health, education,
and living standards of indigenous people. A wide variety of government
initiatives and programs sought to improve all aspects of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander life. In 2005-06 the Government expended
$2.4 billion (A$3.1 billion) on services to indigenous people and in
2006-07 budgeted $2.6 billion (A$3.3 billion) for indigenous programs.
The Government initiated 24 programs in six different program areas to
improve the ability of indigenous people to access the same
opportunities as other citizens. These initiatives included access to
better food from special stores, better-quality education through
boarding school programs, and access to telecommunication and Internet
services.
The Government maintained a national network of ``Link Up'' offices
to provide family tracing, reunion, and other support to indigenous
families separated as a result of past government practices. However,
indigenous citizens continued to experience significantly higher rates
of imprisonment, inferior access to medical and educational
institutions, greatly reduced life expectancy rates, higher levels of
unemployment, and general discrimination. Poverty and below-average
educational achievement levels contributed significantly to Aboriginal
underrepresentation in national, territorial, and state political
leadership (see section 3).
According to a government report entitled Overcoming Indigenous
Disadvantage released in 2005, the life expectancy of an indigenous
person remained 20 years less than that of a nonindigenous person, and
the indigenous infant mortality rate was 2.5 times the rates found in
nonindigenous populations. A joint study by the ABS and the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare, released in August 2005, reported that
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders were twice as likely to be
hospitalized as other citizens. Much of the difference was found to be
a result of potentially preventable chronic conditions. On the other
hand, the report also noted that there were steady increases in
indigenous primary and secondary school enrollments between 1996 and
2004. Over the same period the proportion of working-age indigenous
people who were employed rose from 31 to 38 percent.
Although Aboriginal adults represented only 2.2 percent of the
adult population, according to the ABS they accounted for approximately
21 percent of the total prison population and were imprisoned at 11
times the rate of nonindigenous persons as of June 2004, down from 15
times the nonindigenous rate in 2002. More than 45 percent of
Aboriginal men between the ages of 20 and 30 years had been arrested at
some time in their lives. In 2004 Aboriginal juveniles accounted for
approximately 34 percent of those between the ages of 10 to 17 in
juvenile correctional institutions. Human rights observers noted that
socioeconomic conditions gave rise to the common precursors of
indigenous crime, including unemployment, homelessness, and boredom.
Indigenous groups charged that police harassment of indigenous
people, including juveniles, was pervasive and that racial
discrimination by police and prison custodians persisted. Human rights
groups and indigenous people alleged a pattern of mistreatment and
arbitrary arrests occurring against a backdrop of unofficial yet
systemic discrimination.
In September the Queensland State coroner found that in 2004 an
indigenous man detained for public drunkenness on Queensland's Palm
Island had been beaten by a police officer while in custody and had
died as a result. The coroner reported that the police failed to
investigate the death properly and that the man never should have been
arrested. She referred the matter to the Queensland Department of
Public Prosecutions (DPP) to decide whether the police officer should
be charged in relation to the death. The DPP declined to prosecute the
officer. In December, in response to an ensuing public outcry, the
Queensland attorney general appointed a retired NSW chief judge to
review the DPP's decision. The review was pending at year's end. In
November 2004 hundreds of Palm Island residents rioted after government
officials released the initial coroner's report in the case, which had
cleared the police of responsibility in the man's death. The Crime and
Misconduct Commission, requested by the Queensland State government to
investigate the case, subsequently agreed to join the investigation by
the Queensland State coroner.
The National Native Title Tribunal resolves native land title
applications through mediation and acts as an arbitrator in cases where
the parties cannot reach agreement about proposed mining or other
development of land. The 1993 Native Title Act removed the time limit
previously in effect for lodging native title claims, and Aboriginal
groups continued to express concern that the amended act limited the
future ability of Aboriginal people to protect their property rights.
In 2002 the High Court ruled that native title rights did not extend to
mineral or petroleum resources and that, in cases where leasehold
rights and native title rights were in conflict, leaseholder rights
prevailed.
On September 19, a federal court judge upheld a native title claim
by the Nyoongar Aboriginal community over a large portion of the
southwestern part of the state of Western Australia, including the
Perth area. The ruling allows the Nyoongar people to conserve and use
the area's natural resources but does not include land privately owned
or leased and areas where native title had already been extinguished.
The state of Western Australia and the federal government both appealed
the decision; the appeal was pending at year's end.
The one-billion-dollar (A$1.29 billion) indigenous land fund is a
special account that provides an ongoing source of funds for indigenous
people to purchase land for their use. It is separate from the Native
Title Tribunal and is not for payment of compensation to indigenous
people for loss of land or to titleholders for return of land to
indigenous people.
The NGO Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, which was set up in a
small structure on public land opposite the old parliament building
more than 30 years ago, worked to publicize Aboriginal grievances. The
tent embassy, which also encompassed an itinerants' camp, remained in
the same location despite continued efforts to relocate it by the
Government and some local indigenous groups who asserted that it was
not representative of the entire indigenous community. Other Aboriginal
NGOs included groups working on native title issues, reconciliation,
deaths in custody, and Aboriginal rights in general. International
NGOs, such as Amnesty International, also monitored and reported on
indigenous issues and rights.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In 2003 the NSW
government released a study of violence against homosexuals, which
found that more than half of the survey participants had experienced
one or more forms of abuse, harassment, or violence in the previous 12
months. The report also found that two or more persons who were unknown
to the victim perpetrated most incidents of harassment or violence and
that homosexuals of Middle Eastern background suffered exclusion,
assaults, and stalking from family or community members. Although no
more recent studies were available on the subject, there were anecdotal
media reports that such problems continued.
Federal and various state laws prohibit discrimination on the
grounds of HIV positive status. In the 12 months ending June 30, there
were 12 discrimination complaints lodged with the federal disability
discrimination commissioner, which is part of HREOC, on the grounds of
HIV/AIDS status. These complaints also were included in the total of
561 disability-related complaints to HREOC.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, including
public servants, the right of association domestically and
internationally and protection against antiunion discrimination, and
workers exercised these rights in practice. A 2005 ABS survey indicated
that union membership had decreased slightly over the previous 12
months to 22.4 percent of the workforce.
Unions carried out their functions free from government or
political control.
The 1996 Federal Workplace Relations Act (WRA), which contained
curbs on union power, restrictions on strikes (see section 6.b.), and
limits on redress and compensation claims by dismissed employees, was
substantially changed in December 2005 by the Workplace Relations
Amendment Act of 2005 (known as WorkChoices), which came into effect in
March. WorkChoices encourages the individualization of employment
relations at the expense of trade unions and industrial tribunals and
reduces the scope and significance of the traditional arbitration
system. The WRA and WorkChoices state that workers are free to join or
decline to join industrial associations and they prohibit
discrimination against individuals for membership or nonmembership in a
union. The umbrella trade union organization, the Australian Council of
Trade Unions (ACTU), objected to the 1996 law and WorkChoices, alleging
that they violate the right to assembly provided for in several
International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions that the Government
has signed.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Federal, state,
and territorial laws provide workers with the right to organize and
bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Under the WRA, negotiation of contracts covering wages and working
conditions shifted from the centralized awards system of the past to
enterprise-level agreements certified by the Australian Industrial
Relations Commission (AIRC). The WRA also provided for the negotiation
of Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) between employers and
individual workers, which were subject to fewer government regulations
than awards or enterprise bargaining agreements; however, AWAs had to
improve the basic working conditions contained in a relevant same-
sector award.
WorkChoices substantially changed the WRA. It replaced the
country's state labor relations systems with a single set of federal
labor relations rules. The law provides for five minimum standards of
employment: a minimum wage, annual leave, sick leave, unpaid parental
leave, and maximum working hours. All other workplace conditions are
negotiable, preferably at the workplace or enterprise level. The law
provides for collective workplace agreements as well as AWAs, although
by providing that an employer may require new employees to sign AWAs as
a condition of employment, the law favors this type of employment
agreement. Once an AWA is in force it cannot be displaced by a
collective agreement, but a collective agreement may be overridden by
an AWA.
Unions criticized as adversely affecting collective bargaining
rights Workchoices' provisions on ``prohibited content,'' which are
matters that the law prohibits from inclusion in workplace agreements;
such prohibitions include, for example, mandatory union involvement in
dispute settlement and remedies for unfair dismissal. The law also
provides for imposition of fines for violation of the ``prohibited
content'' provisions. The Government took the position that the
``prohibited content'' provisions were justified on the ground that
industrial agreements should relate only to the terms and conditions of
the employment itself. Although mandatory union involvement in dispute
settlement is ``prohibited content,'' the law permits employees to
appoint a bargaining agent, including a trade union representative, to
assist them in reaching a work agreement with the employer, including
an AWA.
The Office of the Employment Advocate approved 96,508 AWAs during
the three-month period ending December 31, an increase of 24 percent
compared with the previous three months. Of the 862,800 AWAs approved
from March 1997 through March 2006, 16 percent were in the retail
sector, 12 percent in manufacturing, 12 percent in property and
business services, 11 percent in accommodations, cafes and restaurants,
and the remainder in other sectors.
Under WorkChoices unions can enter certain workplaces to
investigate a suspected breach of the WRA or hold discussions with
employees. However, unions may only enter a workplace to investigate a
breach of an award or collective agreement if a union member is
carrying out work at the premises and the suspected breach affects a
union member. If all employees are on AWAs or there is a collective
agreement to which the union is not a party, a union does not have a
right of entry for discussion purposes.
Federal law first recognized an implicit right to strike in 1994.
The WRA significantly restricted this right. The law, as amended by
WorkChoices, subjects strikers to heavy fines for taking industrial
action during the life of an agreement and contains tough secondary-
boycott provisions. The law confines strikes to the period when unions
are negotiating a new enterprise agreement and specifies that strikes
must concern matters under negotiation. This is known as ``protected
action.'' Protected action provides employers, employees, and unions
with legal immunity from claims of losses incurred by industrial
action. WorkChoices requires industrial action to be authorized by a
secret ballot of employees; unions complained that this requirement was
unduly time consuming and expensive to implement. The law permits the
Government to stop strikes if they are judged to have an ``adverse
effect'' on the employer or damage third parties, but this provision
was not used during the year.
Unions, the ALP, and a number of international labor organizations
have criticized both the 1996 WRA and WorkChoices as violating workers'
rights. Shortly after WorkChoices was enacted in December 2005, the
state governments and several unions filed a legal challenge to it,
arguing that the federal government's constitutional authority to
regulate corporations could not be used to establish a nationwide
industrial relations policy superseding the states' labor laws.
(Previous federal labor legislation had been based on the federal
government's constitutional power of conciliation and arbitration.) On
November 14, the High Court dismissed the challenge and upheld the
federal government's claim that its constitutional power to make laws
with respect to corporations allows it to regulate workplace relations.
On November 30, labor unions and their supporters held a number of
rallies around the country to protest WorkChoices.
The Bureau of Statistics reported 352 industrial disputes for the
12 months ending June 30, a decrease of more than 38 percent from the
previous year; during the same period, total workdays lost due to
strikes fell by 23 percent to 187,100.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Legislation enacted
in 2005 explicitly prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by
children, and there were no reports that such practices occurred.
Trafficking in women was a limited problem (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There is no federally mandated minimum age of employment, but state-
imposed compulsory educational requirements, enforced by state
educational authorities, effectively prevented most children from
joining the work force full time until they were 15 or 16 years of age.
Federal and state governments monitored and enforced a network of laws,
which varied from state to state, governing the minimum school-leaving
age (see section 5), the minimum age to claim unemployment benefits,
and the minimum age to engage in specified occupations. The ACTU also
monitored adherence to these laws. On December 19, the country ratified
ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although a formal minimum wage
exists, it has not been directly relevant in wage agreements since the
1960s, since most workers received higher wages through enterprise
agreements or individual contracts. Differing minimum wages for
individual trades and professions covered approximately 80 percent of
all workers; all rates provided a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. WorkChoices created a new statutory agency, the
Australian Fair Pay Commission (FPC), to determine future minimum wage
increases. In October the FPC raised the federal minimum award wage to
$396.79 (A$511.86) per week from $375.50 (A$484.40) per week. An ACTU
spokesperson stated that they were pleased with the increase.
Over the past two decades, there has been a substantial increase in
the percentage of the workforce regarded as temporary workers. As of
September 30, there were 2.9 million persons (28.5 percent of the
workforce) employed as casual or temporary workers. Such employees were
not entitled to certain employment benefits such as sick leave or
annual leave but were paid at a higher hourly wage rate.
Federal or state occupational health and safety laws apply to every
workplace. The law provides federal employees with the right to cease
work without endangering their future employment if they believe that
particular work activities pose an immediate threat to individual
health or safety. Most states and territories have laws that grant
similar rights to their employees. At a minimum private sector
employees have recourse to state health and safety commissions, which
investigate complaints and demand remedial action.
Labor law protects citizens, permanent residents, and migrant
workers alike. Migrant worker visas require that employers respect
these protections and provide bonds to cover health insurance, worker
compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, and other benefits.
However, there were reports that some employers violated these
protections. For example, in February the Liquor, Hospitality and
Miscellaneous Workers' Union filed three cases with HREOC involving
migrant workers. The union alleged that some employers were exploiting
their foreign migrant workers, underpaying them, and threatening to
deport them if they complained. In October the immigration minister
ordered an investigation into allegations by the Australian
Manufacturing Workers Union that Filipino workers employed by a
Queensland company were underpaid and charged excessive rent for their
accommodations, and that three of the workers were dismissed after they
joined the union and sought better working conditions.
There were no reports of worker rights abuses in the country's
three inhabited dependent territories of Christmas Island, Cocos
(Keeling) Island, and Norfolk Island.
__________
BRUNEI
Brunei Darussalam is an Islamic country with a population of
approximately 383,000. It has been ruled by the same family for more
than 600 years. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah governed under emergency
powers that place few limits on his power. The legislative council that
was revived in 2004 met again during the year and expanded its activity
to include a debate of the Government budget, but otherwise it had only
a limited role in recommending and approving legislation. The sultan
maintained control over the security forces.
The following human rights problems were reported: inability of
citizens to change their government; arbitrary detention; limits on
freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association; restrictions on
religious freedom; discrimination against women; restricted labor
rights; and exploitation of foreign workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits mistreatment of prisoners, and there
were no reports of such mistreatment. Caning is mandatory for 42
criminal offenses, and it was included as part of the sentence in 80
percent of criminal convictions. Canings were carried out in the
presence of a doctor, who had the authority to interrupt the punishment
for medical reasons.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. Juveniles typically served their
sentences in adult detention centers but segregated from adults.
Several young offenders were housed at a juvenile rehabilitation
center. Conditions in detention cells at police stations were Spartan.
There were no reports that human rights monitors requested prison
visits, but foreign diplomats had consular access to detained
nationals. Family members were permitted to visit prisoners and bring
food.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides for a prompt
judicial determination regarding the validity of an arrest. However, in
practice the provisions, like the constitution itself, were superseded
through invocation of the emergency powers.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force and
the Internal Security Department are under the direct control of the
Prime Minister's Office. Both groups were considered free of major
corrupt practices, although there were reports of petty corruption
among traffic police. Police statistics reported 27 arrests involving
police and military personnel for criminal acts; one police officer was
prosecuted and convicted for corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--Normally a magistrate must endorse a warrant
for arrest. On rare occasions, warrants were issued without this
endorsement, such as when police were unable to obtain the endorsement
in time to prevent the flight of a suspect. Police officers have broad
powers to make arrests without warrants of persons caught in the
physical act of committing a crime. In such arrests, police may detain
a suspect for up to 48 hours before bringing the individual before a
magistrate.
The Internal Security Act (ISA) permits the Government to detain
suspects without trial for renewable two-year periods. ISA detainees
also were denied the right to legal counsel and were not presumed to be
innocent. The Government regularly convened an independent advisory
board consisting of executive and judicial branch officials to review
individual ISA detentions and recommend whether they should be renewed
for an additional two years. Information on some detainees was made
public only after their release.
The criminal procedure code allows for bail except in cases
indicated as ``discretionary'' by law. Detainees generally had prompt
access to lawyers and family visitations; however, police may deny
access in exceptional cases, such as probable belief of tampering with
a witness.
In July the Government released three persons--Haji Muslim bin Haji
Awang Tengah, Noordin bin Haji Ahmed Noor, and Haji Abdul Radzak bin
Haji Awang Damit--arrested in 2004 under the ISA for treason and
``subversive actions.''
At year's end seven of the persons detained in 2004 under the ISA
for involvement in a counterfeit ring remained in custody. Their
detentions were scheduled for review by the advisory board in 2007.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law does not provide
specifically for an independent judiciary, but the courts appeared to
act independently, and there were no known instances of government
interference with the judiciary. All higher court judges are appointed
by and serve at the pleasure of the sultan.
The judicial system consists of five levels of courts, with final
recourse in civil cases available through the Privy Council in London.
Trial Procedures.--The secular law, based on English common law,
provides citizens with a fair and efficient judicial process.
Procedural safeguards include the right to defense counsel, an
interpreter, and a speedy trial, as well as the right to confront
accusers. There is no legal provision to provide affordable legal
counsel for poor defendants, except in capital cases. In noncapital
cases, indigent defendants may act as their own lawyers in court.
The law lacks provisions to allow companies or individuals to sue
the Government, which traditionally resolves disputes with generous,
nonnegotiable settlements or in some cases simply refuses to settle.
Shari'a (Islamic law) supersedes secular law for Muslims in some
areas, including divorce, inheritance, and some sexual crimes. Shari'a
is not applied to non-Muslims.
On January 1, a bar association began operations to promote
lawyers' public accountability.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees; however, information was very
difficult to obtain.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no specific
provision of law to bring civil suit for human rights violations. In
customary practice, individuals may present written complaints about
rights violations to the sultan directly for review. Such complaints
are typically handled privately, and there were no reports of civil
remedies handled in this manner during the year. Individual government
servants who act outside their authority resulting in a civil wrong may
be subject to legal process for compensation. Civil courts are
generally unbiased. In the past an individual successfully sued a
police officer; however, during the year there were no reports of civil
suits against government officials.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law permits government intrusion into the privacy
of individual persons, families, and homes. Shari'a permits enforcement
of khalwat, an Islamic prohibition on the close proximity of a Muslim
and a member of the opposite sex other than a spouse or close male
relative. There continued to be numerous reports that religious
enforcement officers entered homes, buildings, and vehicles to detain
suspects. According to religious authorities, 389 khalwat cases were
reported between July 2005 and April.
The Government monitored the private e-mail and Internet chatroom
exchanges of citizens that it believed to be subversive (see section
2.a.). The Government employed an informant system as part of its
internal security apparatus to monitor suspected dissidents.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Under the emergency powers, the
Government significantly restricted freedom of speech and of the press.
Constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 allow members of the
legislative council to ``speak their opinions freely,'' but they are
prohibited from using language or exhibiting behavior deemed
``irresponsible, derogatory, scandalous, or injurious,'' and they may
be disqualified for ``disloyalty'' to the sultan among other offenses.
Under the Sedition Act, it is an offense to ``directly or
indirectly lower or adversely affect the rights, status position,
discretion, powers, privileges, sovereignty, or prerogatives of the
sultan, his spouse, successors, or other members of the royal family.''
The act also makes it an offense to ``directly or indirectly lower or
adversely affect the standing or prominence of the national philosophy,
the Malay Islamic Monarchy concept.'' This ideology permeates the
country's life and government administration. It promotes Islam as the
state religion and monarchical rule as the sole governing system, and
it upholds the rights and privileges of the Brunei Malay race.
The act also provides for the prosecution of any publisher,
proprietor, or editor of a newspaper that publishes matter having a
seditious intention. Publication of the newspaper may be suspended for
up to one year, and the publisher, printer, or editor can be prohibited
from publishing, writing for, or editing any other newspaper. Printing
equipment used in printing the newspaper can also be seized. Persons
convicted under the act face fines of up to $3,200 (B$5,000) and jail
terms of up to three years.
The law requires local newspapers to obtain operating licenses and
prior government approval of foreign editorial staff, journalists, and
printers. The law also gives the Government the right to bar
distribution of foreign publications and requires distributors of
foreign publications to obtain a government permit. The law allows the
Government to close a newspaper without giving prior notice or showing
cause. Journalists deemed to have published or written ``false and
malicious'' reports may be subjected to fines or prison sentences.
The country's largest daily newspaper in circulation, the Borneo
Bulletin, practiced self-censorship in its choice of topics to avoid
angering the Government. However, letters to the editor often included
comments critical of the Government's handling of certain social,
economic, and environmental issues. On occasion the Government
responded to public opinion on topics concerning social or
environmental problems and notably the delay of public services.
In July a second English-language daily paper, the Brunei Times,
was launched.
Foreign newspapers are routinely available, although the Government
must approve their distribution. Internet versions of foreign media are
routinely available.
Although the Government owned the country's only television
station, three Malaysian television channels were available, in
addition to two satellite television services, both of which offered
more than 75 channels each. Some content is subject to censorship based
on theme, but such censorship was not consistent.
Since there was no organized opposition, the Government's tolerance
of political criticism was not tested. In the past the Government
arrested those who attempted to propagate unwelcome political views.
Local media published limited reports on the activities of three
political parties (see section 3).
In June three persons--Isa bin Haji Jaya, William bin Rahman, and
Tuah bin Sabang--pled guilty to charges under the Sedition Act for
distributing a satirical, computer-generated video clip via mobile
telephone depicting immediate members of the royal family. The
individuals were sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of
$3,200 (B$5,000).
Internet Freedom.--The Government monitored the private e-mail and
Internet chatroom exchanges of citizens believed to be subversive.
There was anecdotal information that fear of government surveillance
reduced the number of visitors to the few existing Internet forums.
Unlike in the past, there were no reports that the Government blocked
access to forums hosted outside the country. The primary Internet
service provider was state owned.
In April the Attorney General's Chambers and Authority for Info-
Communications Technology Industry advised Internet service and content
providers to monitor for content contrary to public interest, national
harmony, and social morals. There were no reports of any government
action to enforce this advisory.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally
respected academic freedom; however, some researchers chose to publish
from overseas and under a pseudonym when they perceived that subject
matter pertaining to the country would not be well received.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Under the emergency powers, the Government significantly
restricted the right to assemble. According to the Societies Act,
public gatherings of 10 or more persons require a government permit.
Freedom to assemble for political purposes was not tested during the
year.
Freedom of Association.--Civil servants and security force
personnel, who together composed 60 percent of all employed citizens,
are not permitted to join political parties (see section 3). The
Government continued to restrict the activities of international
service organizations such as Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Lions, which
developed out of the established business community. Religious
regulations promulgated by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the
State Mufti's Office prohibited Muslims from joining these
organizations.
There were no politically oriented student associations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law states, ``The religion of Brunei
Darussalam shall be the Muslim religion according to the Shafi'i sect
of that religion: Provided that all other religions may be practiced in
peace and harmony by the person professing them in any part of Brunei
Darussalam.'' The Government controlled mosques, and the Ministry of
Religious Affairs prepared the weekly Friday sermons delivered in
mosques countrywide. The Government restricted the practice of non-
Islamic religions and non-Shafi'i Islamic groups, and it reinforced the
legitimacy of the observance of traditional and Islamic values through
its national ideology.
The Government used its internal security apparatus--including such
measures as surveillance, investigation, and, in the past, detention--
against persons whom it considered to be purveyors of radical Islam,
non-Muslims who attempted to proselytize, and religious groups that did
not belong to the official religion.
Registration is required by law for a group to worship communally.
An organization that fails to register can face charges of unlawful
assembly. All non-Shafi'i religious groups are required to register as
associations. There continued to be credible reports that certain
Christian groups were denied permission to register.
In the past the Government routinely restricted the practice of
non-Muslim religions by prohibiting proselytizing, occasionally denying
entry to foreign clergy, banning the importation of religious teaching
materials or scriptures such as the Bible, and denying requests to
expand or build new churches, temples, and shrines. In September 2005
the Government approved a request from the Anglican St. Andrew's Church
to undertake a major refurbishment of its building, and the project was
initiated during the year. However, at year's end work was halted after
local authorities withdrew construction permits on the grounds that the
construction work exceeded that approved in the original permit. An
application for a revised permit was submitted, but by year's end
authorities had not made a decision.
Non-Muslims who proselytize may be arrested or detained and held
without charges for an extended period of time; however, during the
year there were no reports that persons were arrested or detained for
proselytizing.
Muslims who wished to change or renounce their religion faced
considerable difficulties. Born Muslims faced both official and
societal pressure not to leave Islam. Permission from the Ministry of
Religious Affairs must be obtained, and there were no reports of anyone
requesting such permission. There were instances of persons, often
foreign women, who converted to Islam as a prelude to marrying Muslims,
as required by the country's Islamic law. Government statistics
reported that 8 percent of the 312 conversions to Islam during the year
were due to marriage. After the marriages took place, women who wished
to return to their former religion faced intense official pressure not
to do so or encountered extraordinary delays in obtaining permission.
Unlike in the past, there were no cases reported of divorced Muslim
converts who, because of official and societal pressure, remained
officially Muslim if they did not wish to do so.
Religious authorities strongly encouraged Muslim women to wear the
tudong, a traditional head covering, and the majority did so. Most
government departments and the uniformed services required female
Muslims to wear the tudong as part of their dress code. All government
schools and other educational institutions required students to wear
the tudong as part of their uniforms. At the national university,
foreign, non-Muslim students were encouraged but not required to do so.
Authorities continued to arrest Muslim persons for offenses under
Shari'a, such as khalwat and consumption of alcohol (see section 1.f.).
The Ministry of Education requires courses on Islam and the
national ideology and prohibits the teaching of other religions and
comparative religious studies. The ministry requires all students,
including non-Muslims, to learn the Jawi, the Malay language in Arabic
script. The International School of Brunei and the Jerudong
International School were exempt from these requirements, but both
offered voluntary, extracurricular Islamic instruction to Muslim
students. Private Christian schools were not allowed to give Christian
instruction but could offer voluntary, Islamic instruction to Muslim
students. However, the Government did not prohibit or restrict parents
from giving religious instruction to children at home.
The Government routinely censored magazine articles on other faiths
by blacking out or removing photographs of crucifixes and other
religious symbols. In addition, government officials prevented the
public display, distribution, and sale of items featuring non-Islamic
religious symbols.
The Government requires residents to carry an identity card that
states the bearer's religion. Visitors to the country were asked to
identify their religion on their landing cards.
Only Islamic groups belonging to the Shafi'i school were permitted
to organize public religious processions; however, during the year the
Government allowed a greater number of public lion dances to celebrate
the Chinese Lunar New Year than in the past.
The Government sponsored the attendance of a multifaith delegation
at the East Asian Religious Leaders Forum, held in Jakarta in February
with officials from various religions, and also at the International
Conference on Faith and Service, held in Manila in March.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's various
religious groups coexisted peacefully. There were no known Jewish
communities in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Generally the Government did not
restrict the freedom of movement of citizens, visitors, and permanent
residents. Government employees, both citizens and foreigners working
on a contractual basis, must apply for approval to go abroad, which was
granted routinely. The Government restricted the movements of former
political prisoners during the first year following their release.
Under the law the sultan may forcibly exile, either permanently or
temporarily, any person deemed a threat to the safety, peace, or
welfare of the country. However, since 1984 there have been no cases of
banishment of citizens.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and no legal provision exists for granting temporary refuge or refugee
status to those seeking such refuge or asylum. Under the law persons
arriving without valid entry documents and means of support are
considered illegal immigrants and are refused entry. There were no
reported cases of individuals seeking temporary refuge during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens did not have the right to change their government
peacefully, and civil servants were not permitted to join political
parties.
The same family has ruled the country for more than 600 years. In
1962 the then sultan invoked an article of the constitution that
allowed him to assume the emergency powers for two years. Sultan Haji
Hassanal Bolkiah renewed these powers in March. The state of emergency
places few limits on the sultan's power. The sultan also served as
prime minister, minister of defense, minister of finance, chancellor of
the national university, inspector general of the Royal Brunei Police
Force, and head of the Islamic faith.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 the sultan named an
appointed legislative council, which he revived after a 20-year
suspension; however, the council had no independent powers. Political
authority and control rested entirely with the sultan, while the
council provided a forum for public discussion of proposed government
programs as well as administrative deficiencies. In September 2005 the
sultan increased the membership of the legislative council to include
several indirectly elected members, comprising district and village
heads chosen by their peers. In March the legislative council held a
five-day session. Government departments were instructed to submit new
budget proposals to the council for its approval.
The country attempted, with limited success, to institutionalize a
form of popular representation based on a traditional system of village
chiefs elected by secret ballot by all adults. Candidates must be
approved by the Government and must be Malay or of a recognized
indigenous race. These leaders are expected to communicate
constituents' wishes through a variety of channels, including periodic
meetings, chaired by the minister of home affairs, with several
officials appointed by the sultan. Meetings between senior government
officials and mukim (a group of villages) representatives allow for
airing of local grievances and concerns; however, there were no records
of how often such meetings took place.
There were three registered parties in the country: the Brunei
Solidarity National Party; the Brunei People's Awareness Party; and the
largest, the Brunei National Development Party, founded in August 2005.
All three parties pledged their support to the sultan and the system of
government. Although they criticized administrative deficiencies, their
few activities received limited publicity, and they were hindered by
membership restrictions. However, several members and former members of
political parties were consulted informally about the program of the
legislative council.
Individuals sought to express their views or influence government
decisions and policies by posting messages to Internet discussion
boards, writing letters to local newspapers, and petitioning the sultan
or handing him letters when he appeared in public.
The lack of a representative, democratic government seriously
limited the role of both men and women in government and politics,
although women were limited to a greater extent than men. There were no
female ministers in the Government or the legislative council; however,
the sultan's sister, Princess Masna, was the second-ranking official in
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and there were female ambassadors,
judges, and other senior officials.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reliable
reports of corruption in the Government. In accordance with its ``zero
tolerance'' policy for corrupt practices, the Government successfully
prosecuted a number of low-level officials. At year's end investigation
continued in the case of a former government minister accused of
corruption in awarding government projects.
During the year the legislative council approved and the Government
published a summary of the fiscal year government budget. However, the
Government continued to restrict and classify as confidential some
information on the financial dealings of the Government and the royal
family.
The government-owned Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) released
information about Prince Jefri's noncompliance with the terms indicated
in the out-of-court settlement over the recovery of assets taken by the
prince. Prince Jefri--one of the sultan's younger brothers--had been
charged by the Government with fraud, misuse, and theft of government
property over his channeling funds through his failed Amadeo
Development Corporation while he was BIA chairman. In May the high
court ordered Prince Jefri to transfer all assets to BIA.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Few if any civil society organizations dealt directly with human
rights. A nongovernmental organization (NGO) seeking to operate in the
country is required to apply for permission under the Companies Act and
provide a list of members. The Government may suspend the activities of
a registered NGO if it deems such an act in the public interest.
The 513 registered NGOs generally were professional, business,
sports, or social associations. In the past the Consumers' Association
of Brunei attempted to address human rights, but the Government impeded
it from doing so. At year's end the association was still registered
but no longer active on human rights issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law does not contain specific provisions prohibiting
discrimination based on race, sex, disability, language, or social
status.
Women.--During the year there were 74 cases reported of domestic
violence against women. The criminal penalty for a minor domestic
assault is one to two weeks in jail and a fine. An assault resulting in
serious injury is punishable by caning and a longer jail sentence.
A special unit, staffed by female officers, existed within the
police department to investigate domestic abuse and child abuse
complaints. A hotline was available for persons to report domestic
violence. The Ministry of Culture's Social Affairs Services (SAS) Unit
provided counseling for women and their spouses. Based on individual
case circumstances, some female and minor victims were placed in
protective custody in the SAS-operated Taman Noor Hidaya shelter while
waiting for their cases to be brought to court.
Islamic courts, staffed by both male and female officials, offered
counseling to married couples in domestic violence cases. Officials did
not encourage wives to reconcile with flagrantly abusive spouses, and
Islamic courts recognized assault as grounds for divorce.
Female domestic servants, most of whom were foreign workers, also
were subjected to abuse (see sections 6.c. and 6.e.) by their
employers. While the level of violence generally was low, beating
servants or refusing them the right to leave the house on days off was
more prevalent. Since most foreign female domestics were highly
dependent on their employers, those subject to abuse often were
unwilling or unable to bring complaints, either to the authorities or
to their governments' embassies. However, when such complaints were
made, the Government generally was quick to investigate allegations of
abuse and impose fines and punishment as warranted. Several workers
settled assault cases out of court with their employers. Two foreign
embassies maintained shelters for domestic workers involved in disputes
with employers and were active in protecting their citizens' rights.
The law stipulates imprisonment of up to 30 years and caning with
not fewer than 12 strokes for rape; for the rape of a minor the penalty
is eight to 30 years' imprisonment and caning with not fewer than 12
strokes. The law does not criminalize spousal rape; it explicitly
states that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, as long as she
is not under 13 years of age, is not legally considered rape. According
to police statistics, there were 20 reported rape cases during the
year, 10 of which were referred to the Attorney General's Chambers. Of
the 10 cases, at year's end one was awaiting sentencing, one was
pending trial, two had been dropped, and the remaining were under
review.
Prostitution is illegal. Women who entered the country for purposes
of prostitution generally were tried, sentenced, and deported swiftly
(see section 5, Trafficking).
In accordance with certain local Islamic practices, women were
denied equal status with men in a number of important areas such as
divorce, inheritance, and custody of children. However, the law permits
female citizens to pass their nationality to their children and to own
property and other assets, including business properties.
Men were eligible for permanent positions in government service
whether or not they had university degrees, but married women without
university degrees were eligible to hold government positions only on a
month-to-month basis. Women in month-to-month positions cannot apply
for travel allowances for their husband and children; however, apart
from this, they receive allowance privileges equal to their male and
female counterparts in permanent positions. There were no men in month-
to-month positions except for those who were reemployed by the
Government after retirement.
Children.--No statistics were published regarding the welfare of
children. The strong commitment to family values within society, the
high standard of living, and government funding for children's welfare
provided most children a healthy and nurturing environment. Education
is free, compulsory, and universal for the first 12 years, after which
it is still free but no longer compulsory. The highest level of
education achieved by most children was completion of secondary school,
which normally consists of 12 to 14 years in school and ending at age
16 to 18, depending on which course of study--vocational, academic, or
arts--the student pursues. A significant percentage of students
continued on to tertiary education.
Medical care for all citizens, including children, was heavily
subsidized and widely available. With a few exceptions, involving small
villages in extremely remote areas, nutritional standards were high and
poverty was almost unknown.
Trafficking in Persons.--A statute outlaws trafficking and sexual
exploitation of women and girls. In addition, a variety of other laws,
primarily those related to prostitution and the protection of minors,
could be applied against sex traffickers. Immigration, labor, and
religious regulations that criminalize prostitution also served to
deter trafficking. There were very few identifiable cases of
trafficking; however, trafficking likely occurred in the labor context,
since foreign workers recruited from Indonesia, the Philippines,
Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh occasionally faced harsh, exploitative
conditions in which their freedom of movement was restricted (see
section 6.e.).
Under the Trafficking and Smuggling Persons Order, a person
convicted of trafficking persons, harboring smuggled persons, or
endangering the lives or safety of trafficked or smuggled persons can
be fined up to $606,060 (B$ one million), imprisoned for up to 30
years, and caned. A person convicted of facilitating trafficking or
smuggling persons can be fined up to $30,303 (B$50,000) and imprisoned
for up to 10 years. Immigration and other law enforcement officials
received training to investigate and prosecute suspected offenders and
to deal with trafficked victims under the terms of the 2004 law. Two
police officers participated in overseas training dealing with human
trafficking. There were no prosecutions for human trafficking for labor
or sexual exploitation.
The country had limited capacity to protect foreign trafficking
victims. There were no foreign NGOs to assist trafficking victims, and
victims were subject to prosecution for violations of immigration and
labor codes. There was no formal system of protection or benefits for
foreign trafficking victims. In cases where the Government considers a
victim to be a material witness in the prosecution of traffickers,
police will provide temporary protection and shelter as necessary for
prosecution. There were some protective measures for foreign workers,
but they were not uniformly applied. Some foreign embassies provided
protection services, including temporary shelter, for workers involved
in labor disputes.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not mandate accessibility
or other assistance for persons with disabilities. The Government
provided educational services for children with disabilities; however,
an independent review found that further coordination was needed at the
national level to provide uniform levels of support throughout the
country. In October the sultan announced an increase in support
payments to persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were a sizeable number of
``stateless'' persons and permanent residents, mostly ethnic Chinese
and including persons born and raised in the country, who were not
automatically accorded citizenship and its attendant rights. Since they
did not enjoy full privileges of citizenship, these individuals
traveled abroad as stateless persons, did not have the right to own
land, and were not entitled to subsidized medical care.
In May the sultan relaxed citizenship requirements, allowing the
Government to grant citizenship to applicants born in the country who
have resided there continuously for at least 10 years. Those born
outside the country must have resided in the country for at least 15
years. Other conditions include the ability to read and write in Malay
and understand local culture. The new law also allows expedited
citizenship for foreigners who have contributed to the nation's economy
and development. In addition, the new regulation allows male foreign
nationals who are married to female citizens to acquire citizenship.
Official statistics recorded a total of 2,601 persons granted
citizenship during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Under the Trade Unions Act, unions
are legal and must be registered with the Government. All workers,
including civil servants other than those serving in the military and
those working as prison guards or police officers, may form and join
trade unions; however, in practice there was no union activity in the
country. The Government did not encourage unions or facilitate their
formation, and employers in the industrial sector did not encourage
foreign workers to form unions. The three registered trade unions were
in the oil sector, had a total membership of less than 5 percent of
that industry's work force, and were inactive. There were more than
75,000 foreign workers in the country, including approximately 7,395
garment industry workers, none of whom were members of any trade union.
While the law permits the formation of trade union federations, it
forbids affiliation with international labor organizations unless there
is consent from the home affairs minister and Labor Department.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There was no
union activity in the country; therefore, employer discrimination
against union members did not arise. There is no legal foundation for
collective bargaining, and strikes are illegal. Wage and benefit
packages were based on market conditions.
There is a free trade zone in Muara Port, known as the Muara Export
Zone (MEZ). The labor laws are fully applicable in the MEZ.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that some foreign domestic workers worked under unacceptable
conditions (see section 6.e.). Other workers, most notably in the
garment industry, signed contracts with employment agents or other
sponsors in their home countries that reduced their promised salaries
through payments to the agencies or sponsors. The Government forbade
wage deductions to agencies or sponsors and mandated that employees
receive their full salaries; nevertheless, foreign workers continued to
pay high fees to manpower agents to obtain work in the country.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Various laws prohibit the employment of children under age 16. Parental
consent and approval by the Labor Commission is required for those
under 18. Female workers under 18 may not work at night or on offshore
oil platforms. The Department of Labor (DOL), which is part of the
Ministry of Home Affairs, effectively enforced laws on the employment
of children. There were no reports of violations of the child labor
laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Unemployment has grown in recent
years, primarily among younger persons. However, most employed citizens
commanded good salaries. There is no minimum wage. The standard work
week is Monday through Thursday and Saturday, with Friday and Sunday
off, allowing for two rest periods of 24 hours each week. Overtime is
paid for work in excess of 48 hours per week, and double time is paid
for work performed on legal holidays. Occupational health and safety
standards are established by government regulations. The DOL inspected
working conditions on a routine basis and also in response to
complaints. The DOL generally enforced labor regulations effectively,
but enforcement in the unskilled labor sector was lax, especially for
foreign laborers at construction sites. The DOL may close a workplace
where health, safety, or working conditions are unsatisfactory. The law
permits a worker to leave a hazardous job site without jeopardizing his
employment, but generally this did not occur.
According to International Monetary Fund data, approximately 75,000
foreign persons worked in the country. There were reports of foreign
maids and other domestic workers whose liberty was severely restricted
while working exceptionally long hours without being granted a day for
rest. There also were isolated reports of employers who beat domestic
employees or did not provide them with adequate food. The Government
prosecuted some cases; employers found guilty of abuses typically were
fined and asked to compensate the victim.
Government protective measures for foreign workers included arrival
briefings for workers, inspections of facilities, and a telephone
hotline for worker complaints. Government mediation continued to be the
most common means used to resolve labor disputes. Abusive employers
faced criminal and civil penalties. When grievances could not be
resolved, repatriation of foreign workers was at the expense of the
employer, and all outstanding wages were ordered paid. The majority of
abuse cases were settled out of court by the employer paying financial
compensation to the worker.
Since February 2005 the DOL has brought cases directly against
employers who did not pay their workers. Formerly, such cases were
brought by the Attorney General's Chambers and took much longer to
prosecute.
During the year the DOL recorded 42 complaints by domestic helpers
and 125 complaints by corporate/garment workers against employers who
failed to pay the workers' salaries. Eighteen of the complaints by
domestic helpers and 46 of the complaints by corporate/garment workers
were resolved, largely through employers paying compensation. The
remaining cases were pending administrative action at year's end.
In November 2005 members of the board of directors of a garment
factory were charged with 126 counts relating to unpaid salaries of 19
workers, and during the year an additional 54 charges were brought. At
year's end the case was awaiting trial pending resolution of legal
issues caused by the firm going into liquidation.
The Government also prosecuted employers who employed illegal
immigrants or did not process workers' documents, rendering them in
illegal status.
Immigration laws allow for prison sentences and caning for
overstaying workers and illegal immigrants seeking work, as well as for
foreign workers employed by companies other than their initial sponsor.
While the majority of prosecutions were for long-term overstayers, many
workers maintained their illegal status owing to their former
employers' negligence.
__________
BURMA
Since 1962 Burma, with an estimated population of 54 million, has
been ruled by a succession of highly authoritarian military regimes
dominated by the majority Burman ethnic group. The State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), led by Senior General Than Shwe, was the
country's de facto government, with subordinate peace and development
councils ruling by decree at the division, state, city, township, ward,
and village levels. Military officers wielded the ultimate authority at
each level of government. In 1990 prodemocracy parties won more than 80
percent of the seats in a general parliamentary election, but the
regime continued to ignore the results. The military government totally
controlled the country's armed forces, excluding a few active insurgent
groups.
The Government's human rights record worsened during the year. The
regime continued to abridge the right of citizens to change their
government. The Government detained five leaders of the 88 Generation
Students prodemocracy activists. The Government refused to allow the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisoners
privately. The army increased attacks on ethnic minority villagers in
Bago Division and Karen State designed to drive them from their
traditional land. In addition, the Government continued to commit other
serious abuses, including extrajudicial killings, custodial deaths,
disappearances, rape, and torture. The Government abused prisoners and
detainees, held persons in harsh and life-threatening conditions,
routinely used incommunicado detention, and imprisoned citizens
arbitrarily for political motives. National League for Democracy (NLD)
General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo
remained under house arrest. Governmental authorities routinely
infringed on citizens' privacy and resorted more frequently to forced
relocations. The Government restricted freedom of speech, press,
assembly, association, religion, and movement. The Government did not
allow domestic human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to
function independently, and international NGOs encountered a hostile
environment. Violence and societal discrimination against women
continued, as did forced recruitment of child soldiers, discrimination
against ethnic minorities, and trafficking in persons, particularly of
women and girls. Workers rights remained restricted, and forced labor,
including that of children, also persisted.
Ethnic armed groups allegedly committed human rights abuses,
including forced labor, although reportedly to a much lesser extent
than the Government. Some cease-fire groups also reportedly committed
abuses, including forced relocation of villagers in their home regions.
Armed insurgent groups and cease-fire groups also practiced forced
conscription of child soldiers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year
there were several cases of prisoners who died while in custody, some
under suspicious circumstances. The Government did not punish officials
responsible for the deaths.
On January 27, prison authorities at a labor camp in Ann, Rakhine
State, beat a prisoner to death after he killed a prison official who
had beat him for resting while constructing a road.
On March 17, members of the government-affiliated ``fire brigade''
and two police corporals, Tin Maung Oo and Myo Min Oo, reportedly beat
and killed former political prisoner Thet Naing Oo in public.
On March 25, Mandalay police arrested Wai Phyo Naung, alleging that
he was a drug trafficker. He died the next day in police custody
following brutal interrogation. The police claimed he hanged himself in
his cell, but the postmortem report revealed signs of torture and
beating.
On June 18, Lieutenant Zaw Lwin of Myo Hla Police Station, Bago
Division, arrested Ma Nyo Kyi with her eight-month-old baby without
filing charges. The next day police gave the baby to Ma Nyo Kyi's
husband and informed him that his wife had died of a heart attack. The
postmortem report revealed severe injuries caused by beating.
On July 16, Saw Stin Pho of Ta Khun Seik Village, Einme Township,
Ayeyarwady Division, was arrested with 17 others and taken to Pathein
Military Headquarters on suspicion of being connected to an alleged
sympathizer of the Karen National Union (KNU). He died on July 19 from
torture during interrogation by Military Security Affairs (MSA), which
reportedly gave $309 (400,000 kyats) as compensation to his wife, Naw
Htoo Bae Sae, and their six children. MSA released the other 16
persons, all of whom were severely traumatized by the harsh
interrogation.
The Government took no action to punish those responsible for
similar custodial deaths in 2005, including the following cases: NLD
member Aung Hlaing Win, who died in May after being arrested for
contacting an ``illegal organization'' in Thailand five years earlier;
labor activist Moe Naung, who reportedly died in Kawthoung in May
shortly after being arrested; NLD member Min Htoo Wai, who died in
Mawlamyine Prison of severe head injuries suffered on May 29 during a
beating received from prisoners who were encouraged by jailors Tun Tun
and Tin Maung Ohn; Saw Stanford of Tawako Village, Ayeyarwady Division,
who died in July at an interrogation center where he was brutally
beaten by soldiers from Light Infantry Brigade 93 in Myaung Mya
District; Htay Lwin of Aung Myay Thazan Township, Mandalay Division,
who died in October in police custody after a severe beating; Aung
Myint Thein of Bago, who died in November in Insein Prison from
undetermined causes (see sections 2.a. and 6.c.); and Ko Than Htaik,
who died in December after a severe beating by local peace and
development council (PDC) authorities (see section 6.c.). An NLD effort
to prosecute officials responsible for the deaths of Aung Hlaing Win
was rejected, and authorities did not reply to the NLD's petition
lodged following the death of Min Htoo Wai.
There was no report that action was taken against a Light Infantry
Battalion 514 commander who in 2004 beat a civilian to death at a
military checkpoint in Mong Kung Township, Shan State. Likewise, there
were no developments in the 2004 case of Maung Aye, who died after
being beaten while in police custody.
The Government persisted in its refusal to investigate or take
responsibility for the 2003 attack by government-affiliated forces on
an NLD convoy led by party leader Aung San Suu Kyi near the village of
Depeyin in which as many as 70 persons were killed. The fate of other
persons, including 31 prodemocracy supporters from the convoy, remained
unknown.
There were unverified reports of deaths and injuries caused by
security forces using civilians to clear landmines, particularly in
Karen State, where the army launched widespread attacks against ethnic
villages (see section 1.g.).
Small bombs detonated in Rangoon and other areas but caused little
damage. As in similar events in 2005, the Government blamed exile-based
groups but did not substantiate the claims.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that armed ethnic
groups committed killings.
b. Disappearance.--Private citizens and political activists
continued to ``disappear'' for periods ranging from several hours to
several weeks or more, and many persons never reappeared. Such
disappearances generally were attributed to authorities detaining
individuals for questioning without informing family members and to the
army's practice of seizing private citizens for portering or related
duties, often without notifying family members (see section 6.c.).
Little improvement was reported regarding requests for information
directed to the military services. In many cases, individuals who were
detained for questioning were released soon afterward and returned to
their families.
The whereabouts of persons seized by military units to serve as
porters, as well as of prisoners transferred for labor or portering
duties, often remained unknown. Family members generally learned of
their relatives' fates only if fellow prisoners survived and later
reported information to the families.
In its May report ``Eight Seconds of Silence: The Death of
Democracy Activists Behind Bars,'' the Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners--Burma (AAPP) meticulously documented 127 death
cases of political prisoners since 1988. Fifteen of these cases were
persons who disappeared while in custody. AAPP estimated there were
other death and disappearance cases about which it had no information.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--There are laws that prohibit torture; however, members of
the security forces reportedly tortured, beat, and otherwise abused
prisoners, detainees, and other citizens. They routinely subjected
detainees to harsh interrogation techniques designed to intimidate and
disorient.
In December 2005 the AAPP released a report on the ``brutal and
systematic'' torture that the Government inflicted on political
prisoners. Based on the testimony of 35 former political prisoners, the
report gave graphic details of the physical, psychological, and sexual
abuse the Government employed on dissidents, and it identified by name
many of the perpetrators. The report detailed the kinds of torture the
Government used, including severe beatings, often resulting in loss of
consciousness and sometimes death; repeated electrocution to all parts
of the body, including genitals; rubbing iron rods on shins until the
flesh comes off; burning with cigarettes and lighters; prolonged
restriction of movement for up to several months using rope and
shackles around the neck and ankles; repeatedly striking the same area
of a person's body for several hours; forcing prisoners to walk or
crawl on an aggregate of sharp stones, metal, and glass; using dogs to
rape male prisoners; and threatening female prisoners with rape.
According to the AAPP report, the ministers of home affairs,
defense, and foreign affairs form a three-person committee that
oversees the detention of political prisoners charged under the State
Protection Act. The report also indicated that during initial
interrogations torture is conducted mainly by MSA. Interrogations were
also conducted by the Bureau of Special Investigations and the Special
Branch (SB) of the police, which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
During the year at least six political prisoners died while in
custody (see sections 1.a. and 1.c.).
The armed forces routinely confiscated property, cash, and food,
and used coercive and abusive recruitment methods to procure porters.
Persons forced into portering or other labor faced extremely difficult
conditions, beatings, rape, lack of food, lack of clean water, and
mistreatment that at times resulted in death.
There were reports by NGOs and community leaders that the armed
forces continued to commit abuses against ethnic minorities, including
beatings, rape, forced mine clearing, and forced labor against
villagers in Bago Division, Chin State, Karen State, Mon State, Shan
State, and Tanintharyi Division.
Newly arrived refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) near
the Thai border reported that government soldiers in Shan, Kayah, and
Karen states continued to rape ethnic women and girls. On April 17, 20
soldiers reportedly gang-raped a woman of Kunhing Township, Shan State,
and then killed her. A 17-year-old Shan girl from Kunhing Township
reported that three soldiers of Battalion 527 raped her for two days on
May 15-16. A 10-year-old Shan girl from Mong Mai reported that a
soldier raped her in 2004 when she was eight years old. Many other
women reported they were raped by soldiers during the year and in
previous years.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison and labor camp
conditions generally remained harsh and life threatening. The
Department of Prisons operated approximately 35 prisons and 70 labor
camps (see section 6.c.). Food, clothing, and medical supplies
reportedly were in very short supply in prisons. There were reports
that authorities in some prisons forced prisoners to pay for their own
food. Bedding consisted of a single mat on the floor. Prisoners were
forced to rely on their families, who were allowed one or two visits
per month, for basic necessities. Prisoners were held without being
charged for weeks or months, and until a prisoner was officially
charged with a crime, families could not visit or send critical
supplementary food. HIV/AIDS infection rates in prisons reportedly were
high due to communal use of syringes for injections and sexual abuse by
other prisoners.
The Government continued to deny prisoners adequate medical care,
although medical services in prisons partially reflected poor health
care services available to the general population.
On January 24, five prisoners in Kalemyo Prison, Sagaing Division,
reportedly took the prison director hostage. Prison guards overpowered
the prisoners, severely beat them, and placed them in solitary
confinement. Two died of injuries in their cells; two days later prison
authorities took the other three for medical treatment, but they also
died. Twenty-seven other prisoners not directly involved in the
hostage-taking also were beaten, many severely.
During the year the health of several political prisoners
deteriorated, and several died while in prison. On January 10, Khin
Maung Lwin, a member of the Democracy Party, died in Putao Prison,
Kachin State, after eight years in various prisons. The officer in
charge of the prison, Tun Myint Thein, rejected repeated appeals for
medical treatment by Khin Maung Lwin's family, the ICRC, and the prison
doctor. On March 23, Ko Oo, an NLD member from Thayet Township, died
after six years as a political prisoner. He suffered from various
ailments, but prison authorities would not refer him for treatment. On
May 2, Shan political activist Myint Than died in Thandwe Prison,
Rakhine State, while serving a 79-year sentence. He reportedly suffered
a stroke and died after one month in a hospital. In mid-August Daw
Nyunt Yin of Thinganggyun Township, Rangoon Division, died in Insein
Prison, where she had been held since 1988 on charges of involvement in
prodemocracy activities. She reportedly vomited blood before she died
and did not receive qualified medical treatment. On October 16, student
leader Thet Win Aung died in Mandalay Prison, after being imprisoned
since 1998. Despite his 2002 hunger strike to protest the lack of
adequate medical treatment and the poor prison diet, prison authorities
continued to deny him adequate health care. On October 26, political
prisoner Maung San died in Mawlamyine Prison minutes after a paramedic
treated him for gastric pain. He was denied treatment by a qualified
doctor.
Prominent political prisoners who suffered from deteriorating
health included NLD members of parliament-elect (MPs-elect) Than Nyein,
May Win Myint, Naing Naing, and journalist Win Tin. The health of
writer Than Win Hlaing, held in Thayarwady Prison in Bago Division,
continued to deteriorate due to harsh prison conditions. He suffered
from kidney disease and diabetes, but prison authorities rejected his
family's appeals for medical treatment. Rohingya MP-elect Kyaw Min and
family reportedly experienced health problems after they were
imprisoned in 2005. The health of labor advocate Su Su Nway also
deteriorated, and she required hospitalization during her eight-month
imprisonment, which ended on June 6 (see section 6.c.).
The Government claimed that political detainees were separated from
common criminals. However, reports by prisoners indicated that
authorities frequently placed political prisoners in communal cells
where they were subjected to beatings and mistreatment by hard-core
criminals. On January 2, criminal prisoners in Insein Prison severely
beat three political prisoners--Aung San Myat, Thiha Tun, and Han Win
Aung. Prison officer Win Maung and other prison guards reportedly
allowed the attack and did not intervene.
In October two political prisoners in Mawlamyine Prison staged a
hunger strike to protest being housed with the criminal population
rather than held separately with political prisoners. The warden
confronted the prisoners and beat them. After other political prisoners
heard of the beatings, they staged their own protest, refusing to
return to their cells. Thereafter, the warden used criminal prisoners
to beat the political prisoners housed with them.
Women prisoners were held separately from men, and juvenile
prisoners (16 years old and under) were held separately from adults.
One jail existed specifically for juveniles in Meiktila, Mandalay
Division. Juvenile courts rarely sentenced juveniles to prison, instead
remanding them to reformatories located in Thayet, Magway Division, or
Twante, Rangoon Division, which were jointly managed by the Prison
Department and the Department of Social Welfare (DSW).
Beginning in November 2005, authorities insisted that
representatives of government-sponsored mass mobilization
organizations, including the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA), the Myanmar Women's Affairs Federation (MWAF), and
the Myanmar Red Cross, accompany the ICRC on all prison visits. After
failing to obtain government permission to maintain its international
practice of unfettered access to prisoners, the ICRC did not visit
prisons or labor camps during the year. The ICRC terminated some of its
traditional services, such as providing medications and soap to
detainees, because it could not verify that these supplies reached the
prisoners. The ICRC could no longer follow the cases of more than 4,000
detainees, including security detainees, minors, foreigners, and
prisoners who were especially vulnerable, such as the sick and aged.
During the year gains achieved earlier by the ICRC on prison problems,
including the right to talk in private with prisoners, make repeated
visits as desired, and have full access to most prisoners, were
suspended, as were its efforts to expand ICRC access to more detainees.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--There is no provision in the law
for judicial determination of the legality of detention, and the
Government routinely used arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention.
The law allows authorities to extend sentences after prisoners have
completed their original sentence, and the Government regularly used
this provision (see section 1.e.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are
auxiliary forces of the military and are under direct command of
military officers. They primarily deal with common crimes and do not
handle political crimes. The Myanmar Police Force falls
administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Corruption and
impunity were serious problems due to a government-imposed system
whereby police were required to collect funds for their operations.
Police typically required victims to pay substantial sums for crime
investigations and routinely extorted money from the civilian
population.
MSA officers and SB police officers are responsible for detaining
persons suspected of ``political crimes'' that are perceived to
threaten the Government. Once a person is detained, MSA officers, or in
some cases SB officers, take the prisoner to MSA regional interrogation
centers, where MSA officers interrogate the individual for a period
ranging from hours to months and can charge the person with a crime at
any time during the interrogation. Police frequently placed a hood on
those accused or suspected of political crimes upon arrest.
Arrest and Detention.--By law warrants for searches and arrests are
required; however, MSA and the police have special authority to conduct
searches and make arrests at will. The Government continued to arrest
and detain citizens for extended periods without charging them, often
under the Emergency Act of 1950, which allows for indefinite detention.
Bail is commonly offered in criminal cases, but it is rarely, if ever,
allowed for political prisoners. The Government regularly refused
detainees the right to consult a lawyer, denied them or their families
the right to select independent legal representation, or forced them to
use government-appointed lawyers.
The Government continued to use incommunicado detention and often
failed to inform detainees' relatives of the detentions until much
later. Authorities used prolonged solitary confinement to punish
prisoners.
Authorities continued to detain private citizens and political
activists, some of whom disappeared, at times temporarily (see section
1.b.).
National Democratic Party for Human Rights MP-elect Kyaw Min,
sentenced in 2005 to 47 years' imprisonment, and his wife, two
daughters, and a son, all sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment on
charges of having improper house registration documents, remained in
prison. Kyaw Min's sister-in-law, arrested in Kyaukphyu in 2005 for
traveling without permission and for residing in her husband's
household without authorized residential documents, was released after
completing her sentence.
Amnesty.--Authorities released political prisoners Su Su Nway and
Aye Myint (see sections 4 and 6.c.). Unlike in previous years, no MPs-
elect were released from prison. Instead, early in the year authorities
extended for another year the prison terms of NLD MPs-elect Than Nyein
and May Win Myint of Mayangone Township, Rangoon Division.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The judiciary is not independent
of the Government. The SPDC appoints justices to the Supreme Court who
in turn appoint lower court judges with the approval of the SPDC. These
courts adjudicate cases under decrees promulgated by the SPDC that
effectively have the force of law. The court system includes courts at
the township, district, state, and national levels.
Trial Procedures.--The Government continued to rule by decree and
was not bound by any constitutional provisions providing for fair
public trials or any other rights. Although remnants of the British-era
legal system remain formally in place, the court system and its
operation were seriously flawed, particularly in the handling of
political cases. The misuse of blanket laws--including the Emergency
Provisions Act, the Unlawful Associations Act, the Habitual Offenders
Act, and the Law on Safeguarding the State from the Danger of
Subversive Elements--and the manipulation of the courts for political
ends continued to deprive citizens of the right to a fair trial and
stifle peaceful dissent. Pervasive corruption further served to
undermine the impartiality of the justice system.
There is a fundamental difference between criminal and political
trial procedures. Some basic due process rights, including the right to
be represented by a defense attorney, were generally respected in
criminal cases but not in political cases that the Government deemed
especially sensitive. In criminal cases, defense attorneys generally
are permitted 15 days to prepare for trial, may call and cross-examine
witnesses, and can be granted a 15-day delay for case preparation.
However, their primary function is not to disprove their client's
guilt, which is usually a foregone conclusion, but rather to bargain
with the judge to obtain the shortest possible sentence for their
clients. Reliable reports indicated that senior government authorities
dictated verdicts in political cases, regardless of the evidence or the
law. Political trials are not open to the public.
None of the NLD members or the 153 prodemocracy supporters arrested
in association with the 2003 Depeyin attack were given public trials.
NLD members generally appeared to be able to retain the counsel of
lawyers without fear that the lawyers might be imprisoned; however,
lawyers were not always told when trials would begin. Approximately 14
lawyers remained imprisoned at year's end. Most had been sentenced
prior to 1998.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--At year's end there were
approximately 1,300 ``security detainees,'' including political
prisoners (approximately 1,150), arms merchants, violators of state
security laws, and those accused of fostering religious disturbances.
Because the Government usually charged political detainees for criminal
offenses, it denied holding any political prisoners.
On February 7, a court sentenced NLD members Ko Ko Myint and Thein
Zaw to seven-year prison terms for opium possession, allegedly planted
by authorities. Ko Ko Myint had completed a five-year jail sentence
three months earlier. Authorities in Rakhine State also prosecuted NLD
members San Shwe Tun and Aung Ban Thar, arrested in July 2005 for
foreign currency violations after authorities allegedly planted
Bangladeshi currency in their homes. In March the Sittwe court
sentenced them to three years for trading in illegal currencies, after
the district and state courts rejected a June 2005 appeal.
On March 25, authorities arrested Aung Thein, a former NLD member
from Thaketa Township, Rangoon Division, along with four others and
charged them with contacting opposition figures outside the country by
satellite telephone. Subsequently, Aung Thein was sentenced to 20
years, Thein Oo to 25 years, Aung Moe to 15 years, Khaing Mar Soe to 15
years, and Khin Maung Win to three years.
On July 31, authorities in Mandalay arrested Nyein Maung, a former
member of Madayar Township NLD Organizing Committee who had resigned
under pressure from the USA in June, and sentenced him to one year in
prison on charges of swearing at the husband of township judge Khin Mar
Yi.
On September 27, police arrested Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, and Htay
Kywe, former political prisoners and activists in the 88 Generation
Students group. On September 30, police arrested two more 88 Generation
Students activists, Min Zeya and Phone Cho. Phone Cho's brother, Thet
Win Aung, also a political prisoner, died in Mandalay Prison on October
16 (see section 1.c.). At year's end the five activists remained in
detention without charge. The law permits a court to detain a prisoner
without charge for up to two weeks, with the possibility of a second
two-week extension, and authorities continued to extend their detention
in different courts around Rangoon without producing them before a
judge.
The 88 Generation Students group organized a nationwide campaign to
collect signatures in support of the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and
all political prisoners, gathering more than half a million signatures.
On October 5, USA members (not police) arrested NLD volunteer Win Ko in
Letpadan Township, Bago Division, after he had gathered signatures from
an entire village in Monyo Township. The Letpadan Township Court
sentenced him to three years in prison on unsubstantiated charges of
participating in an unauthorized lottery and disrupting a civil servant
in the line of duty. On November 12, a court sentenced Win Ko and
colleague Phyo Zaw Latt to an additional 14 years for fraud and
conspiracy to commit fraud. Neither was permitted legal representation
during the secret trials. At year's end Win Ko remained in Paungde
Prison, Bago Division.
Hkun Htun Oo and Sai Nyunt Lwin, chairman and secretary
respectively of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and
eight other Shan leaders arrested in February 2005 remained in remote
prisons at the end of the year. Lawyers lodged appeals in late
February, but the judge summarily dismissed the appeals without
explanation. The Government conducted secret trials in Insein Prison of
the SNLD leaders on charges of subversion and eight other counts of
alleged political and economic misdeeds, including violating currency
exchange regulations. Hkun Htun Oo received two life sentences plus 53
years in prison, General Hso Ten received three life sentences plus 46
years in prison, and Sai Nyunt Lwin received three life sentences plus
25 years in prison.
Kyaw Khin, NLD MP-elect from Taunggyi, arrested in February 2005
and sentenced to 14 years for providing a list of Aung San Suu Kyi's
awards to a fellow university student, remained in prison at year's
end.
Sao Oo Kya of Hsipaw, member of the Shan State Consultative Council
sentenced in 2005 to 13 years in prison for defamation of the state and
violating the Hotel and Tourism Act, remained in prison.
University student Ja Naw, arrested in August 2005 in Momauk
Township, Kachin State, remained in prison at year's end. Fellow
students Win Moe and Bran Awng San, apprehended with Ja Naw, were
released after two weeks' detention. When arrested, the three had in
their possession educational compact discs on human rights issued by
Amnesty International, books opposing the Salween hydropower project,
and educational materials on antidrug matters.
Other political prisoners remaining in prison included 11 members
of the Mandalay Division NLD sentenced in 2004 to between seven and 22
years in prison for ``illegal association'' with an exile group in
Thailand; Than Than Htay and Tin Myint, NLD Township Executive members
from Magway and Rangoon divisions, sentenced with another NLD member in
2004 to seven years despite the lack of credible evidence; Ye Ye Win,
San Ya, and Ye Htet, members of NLD in Theinzayat Township in Mon
State, sentenced in 2004 to seven years in prison for contacting exile
groups in Thailand; five NLD members sentenced to life imprisonment in
2005 for possessing and distributing a leaflet titled ``An Appeal to
the Masses''; NLD member Kyaw Swe, sentenced in 2004 to five years'
imprisonment on charges of possessing an unregistered motorcycle and
obstructing authorities in the line of duty.
The Government routinely extended prison sentences under the Law
Safeguarding the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements. The
minister of home affairs has the right to extend unilaterally a prison
sentence on six separate occasions for two months, for a total of up to
one year. SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe can add five years to
a sentence. Unlike in previous years, the Government did not release
any prisoners being held under this law.
NLD General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest
without charge and without trial. On May 27, the anniversary of the
NLD's victory in the 1990 national elections, the SPCD extended her
detention for another year. Except for two live-in companions, who were
also forbidden to leave the compound, she remained incommunicado. NLD
Vice-Chairman Tin Oo also remained under house arrest without trial. On
February 14, authorities extended his house arrest for one year. By
year's end the other 151 persons arrested during and immediately
following the 2003 Depeyin attack had been released.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil judicial procedures
and remedies existed in principle, but in practice there was no
assurance that a complainant would receive a fair hearing. In 2005
lawyers filed an appeal that challenged Aung San Suu Kyi's detention
order under a law that protects the state from persons who want to
obstruct or destroy it. The law allows a government order to be
appealed directly to the cabinet, but the cabinet ignored the appeal.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Neither the abrogated 1974 constitution nor subsequent
legal measures provided for rights to privacy, and authorities
routinely infringed citizens' privacy. Through its intelligence network
and administrative procedures, the Government systematically monitored
the travel of all citizens and closely monitored the activities of many
citizens, particularly those known to be active politically.
Forced entry without a court order is legal. The law requires that
any person who spends the night at a place other than his registered
domicile must inform the police in advance. Any household that hosts a
person not domiciled there must maintain a guest list and submit it to
the police. While the law was selectively enforced, authorities
continued the increased level of enforcement implemented following the
2005 bombings in Mandalay and Rangoon. Ward-level officials stepped up
unannounced nighttime checks of residences for unregistered visitors.
During the year authorities in Rangoon Division began requiring
households to have ``family photographs'' taken for government agents
to use when conducting nighttime checks of residences. Households were
required to pay for the cost of their photographs, usually at
significantly higher than market rates, and permanently display in
their homes the photographs of authorized residents.
Security personnel regularly screened private correspondence,
telephone calls, and e-mail.
The authorities generally continued to discourage citizens from
subscribing directly to foreign publications (see section 2.a.).
The Government continued to control and monitor closely the
licensing and procurement of all two-way electronic communication
devices. Possession of an unregistered telephone, facsimile machine, or
computer modem is punishable by imprisonment. Users of unregistered
cordless telephones face up to three years in prison and a heavy fine.
Weak private property rights and poor land ownership records
facilitated involuntary relocations of persons by the Government. The
law does not permit private ownership of land but recognizes only
different categories of land-use rights, many of which are not freely
transferable. Postcolonial land laws also revived the precolonial
tradition that private rights to land were contingent upon the land
being put to productive use.
Forced relocations in rural areas increased during the year. The
forced relocations reportedly were accompanied by rapes, executions,
and demands for forced labor to build infrastructure for military units
(see sections 1.c., 1.g., and 2.d.). For decades successive military
governments have applied a strategy of forced relocation against ethnic
minority groups in an effort to deny support to armed ethnic groups.
Reports of forced relocation in urban areas continued to decrease;
however, the Government reportedly continued to forcibly relocate
households for ``security'' reasons. In Rangoon persons were forced to
leave homes or dwellings located on property that could be used for
commercial gain. In some cases those forced to move were poorly
compensated. The Government in Bago forced residents to move off their
land so that authorities could build an urban development project. The
land was later deemed unsuitable, but the residents were not allowed to
return. In November 2005 the Government ordered most civil servants to
relocate without their families to its new administrative capital Nay
Pyi Taw near Pyinmana, Mandalay Division, and would not allow them to
resign their jobs in lieu of moving. At year's end many civil servants
were forced to live separately from their families in Rangoon, due to
lack of family housing and schools.
There were numerous reports that government troops looted and
confiscated property and possessions from forcibly relocated persons or
from persons who were away from their homes. These materials often were
used for military construction. Diplomatic sources reported that
commandeering privately owned vehicles for military or VIP transport
without compensating the vehicle owners was commonplace throughout the
country. The practice was particularly widespread in Shan, Kayah, and
Karen states and in areas of Mon State and Bago Division.
In these same areas, thousands of civilians were displaced from
their traditional villages--which often were then burned to the
ground--and moved into settlements tightly controlled by SPDC troops in
strategic areas. In other cases, villagers who were driven from their
homes fled into the forest, frequently in heavily mined areas, without
adequate food, security, or basic medical care (see section 1.g.).
Forced relocations often generated large refugee flows to
neighboring countries or to parts of the country not controlled by the
Government. In some areas, the Government replaced the original
occupants with ethnic Burmans. In Karen State, army units forced or
attempted to force ethnic Karen to relocate to areas controlled by the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
There were several credible but unverified reports that the
Government confiscated property without paying compensation, and there
were several reports of government mistreatment and exploitation of
farmers. In December authorities in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State,
reportedly confiscated 5,000 acres of land from local farmers for the
army to raise crops. Colonel Ne Win from the Western Region Command
reportedly oversaw the land confiscation.
Military personnel also routinely confiscated livestock, fuel, food
supplies, fishponds, alcoholic drinks, vehicles, and money. Such abuses
were widespread. Regional commanders forced contributions of money,
food, labor, and building materials from civilians throughout the
country (see sections 1.c. and 6.c.).
Government and insurgent military units practiced forced
conscription, including of children (see sections 1.g. and 6.c.).
Government employees generally were prohibited from joining or
supporting political parties; however, this proscription was applied
selectively. The Government used coercion and intimidation to induce
persons, including nearly all public sector employees and students, to
join the Government's mass mobilization organizations--the USA, MWAF,
and Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association (MMCWA)--and attend
meetings in support of the regime (see section 2.a.). The Government
also used coercion to entice or force members of the NLD and other
opposition parties to resign, and it publicized the coerced
resignations in government media.
Marriages between female citizens and foreigners are banned, and
the Government ordered local attorneys not to be witnesses to such
marriages; however, the ban was not enforced.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
A few ethnic insurgent groups continued to battle the Government for
autonomy or independence, including the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S),
the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), and the KNU, through its
armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Despite a 2003
cease-fire between the KNU and the Government, during the year fighting
that began in September 2005 in Bago Division spread to many other
areas of northern Karen State.
Karen NGO sources reported that military operations increased from
January through July, with a major influx of government forces near
Nyaunglebin in Bago Division, Thandaung and Hpapun in northern Karen
State, and around Mawchi in Kayah State. After a lull during the
monsoon, the army resumed attacks on Karen civilian villages in the
area. The military operations resulted in serious human rights abuses.
An estimated 25,000 Karen villagers were forced to abandon their
villages and hide in the jungle as IDPs. Approximately 3,000 found food
and shelter in refugee camps in Thailand, while another 2,000 camped at
an IDP settlement near the Salween River. Others reportedly sought
shelter with relatives in government-controlled towns. The army denied
some villagers near Thandaung and Mawchi access to markets, and they
could not sell their farm produce or purchase rice. Credible sources
reported that whole villages around Mawchi and Thandaung were
desperately short of food. There were reports that government soldiers
destroyed a Karen village of approximately 25 houses located beyond
Thandaung at ``Mile 20'' and killed all of its inhabitants.
The Government claimed that the KNU attacked Karen villages and
forced them to flee in order to blame the Government for the problem.
However, Karen refugees who fled to Thailand reported that it was
government soldiers, not Karen forces, who shelled their villages and
regularly made them carry heavy loads--including artillery shells--
forcing them to flee. The refugees added that after they fled, they
learned that the soldiers burned their houses and granaries and
confiscated their farm animals. The refugees and IDPs reported that
after burning and pillaging the villages, the soldiers often planted
landmines to prevent the villagers from returning. The soldiers
sometimes shot and killed Karen villagers who attempted to return to
their villages to retrieve personal property.
In November government forces attacked the Karen village of Htee
Sar Pe in Mawchi Township, Kayah State, where they killed one person,
seriously injured another, and burned seven houses. They also burned 25
houses in nearby He Daw Khaw village, sparing only the church. At
year's end the villagers reportedly continued to hide in the
surrounding forest.
In central and southern Shan State, security forces continued to
engage the SSA-S. The military maintained a program of forced
relocation of villagers in the region that reportedly was accompanied
by killings, rapes, and other abuses of civilians.
Karen NGO sources indicated that human rights abuses increased in
Karen State during the year, despite intermittent peace talks. There
were reports of fighting between government soldiers and KNLA forces
west of Taungoo Township and in Nyaunglebin Township, Bago Division.
The highway east of Taungoo was closed past Mile 13 for several weeks
in September. Numerous Karen villages were attacked and burned and
hundreds of villagers fled into the jungle with limited supplies. At
year's end the army continued to embargo food supplies moving beyond
Mile 13.
During the year the army reportedly forced local villagers to
patrol railway lines near their villages at night, after explosions of
small improvised explosive devices reportedly occurred in Taungoo Town
and beside railway lines in Bago Division.
There were no reports that the Government investigated or otherwise
attempted to identify and punish those responsible for numerous acts of
killing, injury, and destruction committed against Karen communities,
including the July 2005 army massacre of 27 Karen villagers hiding on
an island off the coast of Palaw Township, Tanintharyi Division; the
December 2005 burning of 26 houses in Gee Gaw Pe Village near Mawchi,
Kayah State, which forced the 610 residents into hiding; the 2004 army
attacks on Karen villages in Shwegyin and Nyaunglebin townships, Bago
Division, which permanently displaced more than 4,700 civilians; the
2004-05 army attacks on civilians in Taungoo District, Bago Division;
and the 2004-05 forced labor imposed by the army on villagers in Mon
Township, northern Nyaunglebin Township, Bago Division.
At year's end army troops reportedly continued to pursue Karen
displaced persons who had fled to Taungoo District in Bago Division and
Hpapun Township in northern Karen State.
There were no reports of government investigation into past
incidents of rape in conflict areas and other ethnic minority areas,
including the four cases of rape in 2005 by government soldiers
reported by Mon community leaders; the 2005 rape of a 24-year-old woman
of Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, by Commander Shwe Aye of Kyanung
Taung police station; the 2005 alleged rape of a primary school teacher
from Myebon Township, Rakhine State, by Sergeant Major Thein Shwe from
Kyaun Thaya Naval Base; the 2004 gang-rape of a Shan woman and the rape
of an eight-year-old girl by army soldiers near the border with
Thailand; and the 2003-04 cases of rape by elements of the army in
southern Mon State.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law permits the Government to
restrict freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and the Government
continued to restrict these freedoms severely and systematically. The
Government continued to arrest, detain, convict, and imprison citizens
for expressing political opinions critical of the Government and for
distributing or possessing publications in which opposition opinions
were expressed (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.). Security services also
monitored and harassed persons believed to hold antigovernment
opinions.
The Government continued to use force to prohibit all public speech
critical of the regime by all persons, including by persons elected to
parliament in 1990 and leaders of political parties. The Government
pursued this policy consistently with few exceptions.
On March 29, authorities in Bago arrested four youths--Aung Than,
Zeya Aung, Aung Aung Oo, and Sein Hlaing--for publishing a poem
entitled ``The Strength of the Fighting Peacock,'' a symbol of the
prodemocracy movement. On June 9, the four were sentenced to prison
terms ranging from seven to 19 years for ``high treason.''
The NLD continued to press for substantive dialogue on political
reform and publicly voiced criticisms of the policies and actions of
the Government, including the jailing of dissidents (see sections 1.a.
and 1.d.). However, except for the 2005 case of a father and son
sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly obstructing an official
in the line of duty, the courts summarily dismissed all NLD legal
appeals.
The Government owned and controlled all domestic radio and
television broadcasting facilities and controlled content in all print
publications. The official media remained propaganda organs of the
Government and did not report opposing views except to criticize them.
Private media existed, but the Government's Press Scrutiny Board
tightly controlled all media and publications and took action against
any attempt to provide independent interpretation or comment on news.
The Ministry of Information issues licenses to private media publishers
as long as the media printed government-approved material. An estimated
one-third of private media licenses were held by government agents or
supporters. The remaining foreign news agencies had no expatriates
based in the country and relied on local stringers. Their bureau chiefs
were rarely permitted to enter on journalist visas, except when the
Government invited them to cover the National Convention.
On March 24, Thaung Sein and Moe Htun were sentenced to three years
in prison for taking photographs of buildings in the new capital Nay
Pyi Taw. No official prohibition exists against taking photographs
there; however, they were charged with operating a video business
without a license.
Many prominent writers and journalists remained in prison for
expressing their political views. Reporters Without Borders reported
that at least seven journalists remained in prison at the end of the
year, including Myat Swe (Sunny Swe) and his father Thein Swe, co-
owners of the English- and Burmese-language weekly newspaper Myanmar
Times; Thaung Tun; Than Win Hlaing; Monywa Aung-Shin; and Ne Min.
Journalist Win Tin, the former editor of the Hanthawady Daily
newspaper, in prison since 1989, was believed to be the longest serving
political prisoner (see section 1.c.). Government censorship boards
prohibited publication or distribution of works authored by those in
prison.
There were no reports that any imprisoned journalists were released
during the year.
All privately owned publications remained subject to prepublication
censorship by state censorship boards. Due in part to the time required
to obtain the approval of the censors, private news periodicals
generally were published weekly.
The Government forced private periodicals to publish articles and
photographs criticizing foreign embassies for visiting NLD headquarters
and meeting with student leaders. Government controls encouraged self-
censorship, and publications generally did not report domestic
political news or sensitive economic and political topics.
Imported publications remained subject to predistribution
censorship by state censorship boards, and possession of publications
not approved by the state censorship boards remained a serious offense.
Depending on the sensitivity of the material, government officials
often accepted bribes in return for allowing the importation of certain
books. The Government also restricted the legal importation of foreign
news periodicals and discouraged subscriptions to foreign periodicals
(see section 1.f.); however, foreign newspapers could be purchased in
Rangoon. Some foreign newspapers and magazines were distributed
uncensored, although the Government prohibited their importation
between May and August, shortly after they printed articles critical of
the Government.
The Government generally issued few visas to foreign journalists;
however, it again issued visas to foreign journalists when the National
Convention resumed on October 10. The Government held several press
conferences to convey its views on political problems. Representatives
of international media organizations and diplomats were invited to
attend.
Due to widespread poverty, limited literacy, and poor
infrastructure, radio remained a primary medium of mass communication.
News periodicals rarely circulated outside urban areas. The Government
continued to monopolize and control the content of the two domestic
radio stations. Foreign radio broadcasts, such as those of Radio Free
Asia, the Voice of America, the BBC, and the Democratic Voice of Burma
(DVB), remained the principal sources of uncensored information.
At year's end NLD member Hla Myint Than and eight others, convicted
in 2005 for contact with an ``illegal organization,'' possession of a
satellite telephone, and illegal travel to Thailand, remained in prison
under sentences of eight to 25 years (see section 6.a.).
The Government continued to monopolize and to control all domestic
television broadcasting tightly, offering only three channels,
including an armed forces channel. The general population was allowed
to register satellite television receivers for an expensive fee.
Illegal satellite television was also available, but access to
satellite television remained far beyond the reach of the majority of
the population.
The law makes it a criminal offense to publish, distribute, or
possess a videotape not approved by a state censorship board. The
Government continued to crack down on uncensored foreign videotapes and
DVDs, although pirated copies remained widely available on the street.
Internet Freedom.--No laws or regulations exist regarding
monitoring Internet communications or establishing penalties for the
exercise of freedom of expression via Internet. However, the Government
monitored Internet communications, and individuals could not freely
engage in such activities.
When Internet users spent a long time at one Web site, police
blocked access if they discovered the site was related to national
issues. E-mail messages sometimes took several days to arrive in the
receiver's inbox, often with attachments deleted. Citizens believed
this was due to the SB's censoring of incoming and outgoing e-mail.
The Government banned all Web sites critical of the regime and its
activities. Authorities also periodically banned all access to free e-
mail services such as Yahoo and Hotmail. After Googletalk and Skype Web
sites became popular means of long distance communication, resulting in
lost income for government telephone services, in June the minister of
communications, post, and telegraphs banned Internet telephone services
offered by Gmail, Gtalk, and Skype.
The Government blocked most Web sites containing words that it
considered suspicious, such as Burma, drugs, military government,
democracy, student movement, 8888, and human rights. Users could
sometimes reach the home pages of the DVB and BBC's Burma service, but
they could not access articles on the sites. Occasionally the
Government mistakenly blocked educational or other Web sites when its
software detected censored words.
There were no cases of arrest or punishment for the peaceful
expression of political, religious, or dissenting views in electronic
forums, including e-mail.
All Internet cafes displayed a notice that forbade users to access
political and pornographic sites but did not state a specific
punishment.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom. University teachers and professors remained subject
to the same restrictions on freedom of speech, political activities,
and publications as other state employees. The Ministry of Education
routinely warned teachers against criticizing the Government. It also
instructed them not to discuss politics at work, prohibited them from
joining or supporting political parties or from engaging in political
activity, and required them to obtain advance approval for meetings
with foreigners. Like all state employees, professors and teachers were
required to join the USA Teachers at all levels continued to be held
responsible for the political activities of their students. Foreigners
were not permitted to visit university campuses without prior approval
or attend any meetings involving students, including graduation
ceremonies.
In recent years the Government took a number of measures to limit
the possibility of student unrest. Undergraduate campuses were moved to
remote areas, teachers and students were warned that disturbances would
be dealt with severely, and most on-campus dormitories were closed. The
quality of education deteriorated to such an extent that many students
opted to use self-study or private tutoring. The Government placed
heavy security around other schools that were open, even during summer
vacation.
The Government tightly controlled the limited number of private
academic institutions in the country as well as their curricula.
Similar controls extended to Buddhist monastery-based schools,
Christian seminaries, and Muslim madrassas. During the year the
Government cracked down on private tuition classes and tried to ban the
practice. Aung Pe, a private teacher and NLD supporter, remained in
prison, reportedly in poor health, serving a three-year sentence for
alleged violation of the Private Tuition Act.
The Government strictly monitored and censored all cultural events.
In May the Government banned the famous comedian Zargana, previously
imprisoned for lampooning the regime, from giving public comedy
performances or from promoting or screening his new film, which
satirized Rangoon social life.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law limits freedom of assembly, and the Government
restricted it in practice. An ordinance officially prohibits
unauthorized outdoor assemblies of more than five persons, although the
ordinance was not enforced consistently. All NLD offices except its
Rangoon headquarters remained closed by government order, and the NLD
could not conduct party activities outside its headquarters building.
The nine other legally registered political parties were required to
request permission from the Government to hold meetings of their
members. Informal meetings involving NLD members occurred outside the
NLD office, such as regular Tuesday visits by a women's group to
Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda; however, security officials closely
monitored these activities, and the Government prohibited those
participating from wearing political pins, badges, jackets, and shirts
with political pictures or slogans.
The regime continued to bar the parliament elected in 1990 from
convening. After recessing the National Convention (NC) on January 31,
the regime reconvened it from October 10 to December 29, as part of its
``democracy road map'' that would nullify the results of the 1990
election and approve a new constitution. The regime selected all of the
delegates and prohibited them from discussing the convention freely,
threatening to enforce harsh laws against any who criticized the NC or
the draft constitution. Due to the limitations on open debate, the NLD
continued its 1995 decision to boycott the NC.
The Government at times interfered with the assembly of religious
groups (see section 2.c.).
Freedom of Association.--The Government restricted freedom of
association, particularly for NLD members, prodemocracy supporters, and
those who contacted exile groups. On June 9, Aung Than and Zeya Aung,
two of four persons charged for composing a poem, ``The Strength of the
Fighting Peacock,'' (see section 2.a.) were also charged under the 1950
Emergency Provision Act for contact with an ``illegal organization''
and for illegally crossing the border (to Thailand). They received 19-
year sentences and remained in Insein Prison at the end of the year.
Throughout the year the Government continued to coerce NLD members
to resign from the party and highlighted such resignations in
government-controlled media.
The Government compelled civil servants to join the USA and coerced
secondary school and college-level students to join when registering
for classes or just before examinations. The Government also coerced
skilled trade workers and professional association members to join the
USA. The MWAF and the MMCWA continued to coerce women to attend their
meetings and join their organizations. In November, on instructions of
township authorities, residents of each village in Shwebandaw Village
Tract, Aunglan Township, Magway Division, had to recruit five new
members to the USA. Similarly, Aunglan Township authorities required
Nga Pyin Village to recruit five new USA members and five new MWFA
members.
In general, freedom of association existed only for government-
approved organizations, including trade associations, professional
bodies, and the USA. Few secular, nonprofit organizations existed, and
those that did took special care to act in accordance with government
policy. There were 10 legally registered political parties, but most
were moribund. Authorities harassed and intimidated three of the
opposition parties. The seven other legal parties supported regime
policies in return for more favorable treatment.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Constitutional support for religious
freedom does not exist. There is no official state religion; however,
the Government continued to show preference for Theravada Buddhism, the
majority religion. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has a separate
department for the ``Promotion and Propagation of Sasana'' (Buddhist
Religion), and the Government continued to fund two state-run Buddhist
universities in Rangoon and Mandalay. Most registered religious
adherents generally were free to worship as they chose; however, the
Government imposed restrictions on certain religious activities and
promoted Buddhism over other religions. The Government also restricted
efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political
freedom.
Virtually all organizations, religious or otherwise, must register
with the Government. Although an official directive exempted
``genuine'' religious organizations from registration, in practice only
registered organizations were allowed to buy or sell property or open
bank accounts. Consequently, most religious organizations registered
with the Government.
There were no reported incidents of violence carried out by the
Government or its agents against religious groups.
The Government continued its efforts to control the Buddhist clergy
(Sangha). It tried members of the Sangha for ``activities inconsistent
with and detrimental to Buddhism'' and imposed on the Sangha a code of
conduct that was enforced by criminal penalties. The AAPP estimated
that there were 85 monks and novices in prison at the end of the year.
The Government did not hesitate to arrest and imprison Buddhist monks
who opposed the Government. The Government also subjected the Sangha to
special restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of
association. Members of the Sangha were not allowed to preach sermons
pertaining to politics. Religious lectures may not contain any words,
phrases, or stories reflecting political views. Sangha members must
distance themselves from politics, political parties, or members of
political parties. The Government prohibited any organization of the
Sangha other than the nine state-recognized monastic orders under the
authority of the State Clergy Coordination Committee (Sangha Maha
Nayaka Committee). The Government prohibited all religious clergy from
being members of a political party.
On August 13, authorities detained 11 HIV/AIDS activists at Maggin
Monastery near Rangoon as they prepared for a ceremony to honor HIV/
AIDS victims. Also in August local authorities pressured and
intimidated Sayadaw Einthariya, a monk from Mahasi Yeiktha Monastery in
Yenangyaung Township, Magway Division, to stop assisting HIV/AIDS
victims (see section 5).
On August 13, authorities in Toungup Township, Rakhine State,
arrested five Buddhist monks and 15 laymen at Bu Shwe Maw village
monastery. When the villagers reported to higher authorities about
excessive corruption by their village leaders, the leaders took revenge
on the villagers by claiming that the monastery allowed NLD members to
meet in its premises. At year's end the 20 remained in prison.
The Government continued to restrict the building of religious
structures by minority religious groups and limited their educational
and proselytizing activities, especially Christian and Muslim groups
that actively proselytize among Buddhists. The Government also
permitted the destruction of religious centers and schools.
In August Muslim sources in Rakhine State reported that NaSaKa, the
Government's border security force, ordered Rohingya Muslim communities
in Rathedaung Township to close religious buildings. The closure order
included five mosques, four madrassas, 18 premadrassas, and three Koran
reciting centers in eight villages, but at year's end authorities
allowed two madrassas to reopen. During the year NaSaKa conducted
arbitrary ``inspections'' of mosques in northern Rakhine State,
demanding that mosque officials show permits to operate the mosques.
When mosque officials could not produce the permits, NaSaKa officials
ordered congregation members to destroy the mosques. Congregation
members reportedly were forced to destroy a total of seven mosques in
Buthidaung and two mosques in Maungdaw during the year.
During the year the Full Gospel Assembly Church in Rangoon resumed
its activities after local ward officials briefed the leader of the
group on its responsibilities. In September 2005 authorities had
informed the congregation that they could no longer hold services
because the church was located in a residential area, even though the
mostly Chin congregation had been meeting there for more than 10 years
without incident.
In most regions of the country, Christian and Muslim groups that
sought to build small churches or mosques on side streets or other
inconspicuous locations occasionally were able to proceed, but based
only on informal approval from local authorities. These groups reported
that formal requests encountered long delays, generally were denied,
and could be reversed by a more senior authority.
The Government's pervasive internal security apparatus infiltrated
or monitored meetings and activities of virtually all organizations,
including religious ones. Religious activities and organizations were
subject to restrictions on freedom of expression and association.
The Government discriminated against non-Buddhists at the upper
levels of the public sector. Promotions within the armed forces and the
civil service were generally contingent on the candidates being
followers of Buddhism. There were no non-Buddhist members in the SPDC,
in the cabinet, or among active flag-rank officers of the armed forces.
The Government actively discouraged Muslims from entering military
service, and Christian or Muslim military officers who aspired to
promotion beyond the rank of major were encouraged to convert to
Buddhism. In some ethnic minority areas, such as Chin State, there were
reports that the SPDC offered troops financial and career incentives to
marry Christian Chin women, teach them Burmese, and convert them to
Buddhism.
Although authorities appear to have moved away from a campaign of
forced conversion, there continued to be evidence that other means were
used to entice non-Buddhists to convert to Buddhism. Christian Chins
were pressured to attend Buddhist seminaries and monasteries and
encouraged to convert to Buddhism. Christian Chins reported that local
authorities operated a high school that only Buddhist students could
attend and promised government jobs to the graduates. Christians had to
convert to Buddhism to attend. An exile Chin human rights group claimed
that local government officials placed the children of Chin Christians
in Buddhist monasteries in which they were given religious instruction
and converted to Buddhism without their parents' knowledge or consent.
Reports suggested that the Government sought to induce members of the
Naga ethnic group in Sagaing Division to convert to Buddhism by similar
means.
The Government discouraged proselytizing by all clergy.
Evangelizing religions, including some Christian denominations and
Islam, were most affected by these restrictions. In general the
Government has not allowed permanent foreign religious missions to
operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when it expelled nearly all
foreign missionaries and nationalized almost all private schools and
hospitals.
Buddhist doctrine remained part of the state-mandated curriculum in
all government elementary schools. Students could opt out of
instruction in Buddhism, and some did, but students of government
schools were required to recite a Buddhist prayer daily. Some Muslim
students were allowed to leave the room during this act, while at some
schools non-Buddhists were forced to recite the prayer.
Citizens and permanent residents of the country were required to
carry government-issued national registration cards that often
indicated religious affiliation and ethnicity. There appeared to be no
consistent criteria governing whether a person's religion was indicated
on his or her identification card. Citizens also were required to
indicate their religion on some official application forms, such as for
passports.
The Government allowed Muslims to go on the annual Hajj and
Buddhists to go on pilgrimage to Bodhgaya, India, although it limited
the number of pilgrims. An estimated 4,000 Muslims applied to go on the
Hajj, but by the end of November only 3,000 had received visas, due to
a more complicated process resulting from the relocation of government
offices to Nay Pyi Taw. An estimated 2,000 to 2,500 Buddhists made
pilgrimages to Bodhgaya.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In February violent clashes
broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in Magway Division. Responding
to rumors that Muslim men had raped a Burman woman near Sinbyukyun
Town, ethnic Burmans attacked and burned Muslim and ethnic Indian
homes, shops, and mosques. Rioting and looting spread to surrounding
towns in Chauk and Salin townships. Local security forces did not
intervene at first but later imposed a strict curfew in several towns
to prevent the violence from spreading further. Reliable sources said
authorities arrested 17 persons in Sinbyukyun and another 55 persons in
Chauk, mostly Muslims. Unofficial sources claimed that three persons
died and another 10 were injured in the riots. Three mosques in
Yenangyaung, Chauk, and Sagu were reportedly destroyed in the violence.
Authorities sealed off the mosques and did not permit Muslims to
rebuild them by the end of the period of this report. Authorities did
not conduct any official inquiries into the attacks.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of clashes between
Muslims and Buddhist monks in Rangoon and Arakan State.
There was one synagogue in Rangoon, which served a Jewish
congregation of eight local families. There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Although the Government restricted
freedom of movement, most citizens were able to travel within the
country. Exceptions included Muslims traveling to, from, and within
Rakhine State and some opposition political party members. However,
citizens' movements were closely monitored, and all were required to
notify local officials of their whereabouts (see section 1.f.).
Movement was restricted in areas of armed conflict. Citizens were
subjected to arbitrary relocation. Authorities prohibited NLD members
who traveled to Rangoon to attend party functions from lodging in the
city overnight.
The Government continued to hold NLD leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and
Tin Oo under house arrest and rigorously curtailed the freedom of
movement of other opposition political leaders (see section 1.d.). The
Government maintained close control over most ethnic leaders'
movements, requiring them to seek permission from the Government before
making any domestic trips.
Ethnic minority areas previously affected by conflict, such as the
large Karen areas of Ayeyarwady Division, continued to experience tight
controls on personal movement, including frequent military checkpoints
and monitoring by MSA. Bribes were extracted at checkpoints in border
areas. In Rakhine State many controls and checkpoints applied only to
the Muslim population (see section 5).
The Government tightly controlled the movement of Muslim Rohingyas,
who are not considered citizens, particularly in Buthidaung, Kyauktaw,
Maungdaw, and Rathedaung townships along the border between Rakhine
State and Bangladesh. The Government also required other noncitizens,
primarily ethnic South Asians and Chinese, to obtain prior permission
to travel internally. Nonetheless, the country's borders with China,
Thailand, Bangladesh, and India remained very porous, with significant
undocumented migration and commercial travel occurring.
An ordinary citizen needed three documents to travel outside the
country: a passport from the Ministry of Home Affairs, a revenue
clearance from the Ministry of Finance and Revenue, and a departure
form from the Ministry of Immigration and Population. To address the
problem of trafficking in persons, the Government continued to hinder
or restrict international travel for women, particularly those under 25
years of age.
The Government carefully scrutinized prospective travel abroad for
all passport holders. Rigorous control of passport and exit visa
issuance perpetuated rampant corruption, as applicants were forced to
pay bribes of up to $230 (300,000 kyat), the equivalent of a yearly
salary. The Government regularly denied passports on political grounds.
College graduates who obtained a passport (except for certain
government employees) were required to pay a fee to reimburse the
Government for the cost of their education. It frequently took several
months to receive a passport, particularly if the applicant was
unwilling to offer a bribe as incentive for speedier service.
Citizens who emigrated legally generally were allowed to return to
visit relatives, and some who lived abroad illegally and acquired
foreign citizenship also were able to return.
The Government permitted travel outside of Rangoon by foreign
diplomats and foreign UN employees based in Rangoon to designated
tourist sites without prior permission; all other travel required
advance permission and was regularly denied. The Government waived the
requirement for ICRC employees. The Government required all foreign and
local residents, except diplomats, to apply for authorization to leave
the country.
Restrictions on nonresident foreigners' travel to some areas of the
country were relaxed. The Government also inaugurated a ``visa on
arrival'' system for tour groups, which still required predeparture
application for a visa via the Internet. The country's embassies
generally issued tourist visas, valid for one month, within 24 hours of
application. However, certain categories of applicants, including human
rights advocates, journalists, diplomats, and political figures, were
denied entry visas regularly unless they were traveling under the aegis
of a sponsor acceptable to the Government and for purposes approved by
the Government.
The abrogated 1974 constitution did not provide for forced exile,
and the Government generally did not use it. However, in June the
Government revoked the passport of exile Chin dissident Salai Tun Than
to prevent him from returning.
The Government has not established legal arrangements to accept
Burmese citizens deported from other countries; however, in the past
the Government has accepted the return of several thousand illegal
migrants from Thailand and China.
Harassment, fear of repression, and deteriorating socioeconomic
conditions continued to force many citizens to leave for neighboring
countries and beyond. In border regions populated by minority ethnic
and religious groups, the Government continued its practices of forced
labor, confiscation of land, compulsory contributions of food and
money, and forced relocations. During the year there were credible and
widespread reports that security forces burned villages in Bago
Division, Karen State, and Kayah State and prevented the villagers from
returning (see section 1.g.).
These policies produced hundreds of thousands of refugees in
neighboring countries, particularly Thailand, India, Malaysia, and
Bangladesh, starting from 1984 and continuing to year's end.
Rohingya Muslims who returned to Rakhine State were not stigmatized
for having left but were discriminated against because of their
ethnicity. Returnees faced severe restrictions on their ability to
travel, engage in economic activity, obtain an education, and register
births, deaths, and marriages. Muslim youth from Rakhine State accepted
to universities and medical schools outside the state were unable to
enroll due to travel restrictions imposed upon them.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to NGOs, there were
more than 500,000 IDPs in the country at year's end.
Military forces continued to abuse thousands of villagers and drive
them from their homes, particularly during campaigns in Bago Division
and Karen, Kayah, and Shan states (see section 1.f.). Thai-based NGOs
reported that approximately 25,000 ethnic Karen became IDPs during the
year.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
The law does not provide for the granting of asylum or refugee status
and the Government has not established a system for providing
protection to refugees. However, there were no reports that persons
formally sought asylum in the country during the year, nor were there
reports of forced repatriation.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to
negotiate throughout the year for permission to work with ``communities
that are affected by displacement.'' The Government allowed the UNHCR
to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas in northern
Rakhine State whom the Government does not recognize as citizens.
In April the UNHCR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Ministry of Border Affairs (NaTaLa) that permitted the UNHCR to work
with implementing partners in the southeast region, including parts of
Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi Division, to which the UNHCR had
previously been denied access. Under the memorandum, UNHCR foreign
personnel also were permitted to monitor their project activities in
the region (see section 4).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens did not have the right to change their government. The
1947 constitution contained a clause that gave citizens the right to
recall elected MPs. The 1974 constitution contained a similar clause,
but there was no record that this clause was ever exercised. However,
the SPDC continued to prevent the parliament elected in 1990 from
convening. The regime continued its systematic use of coercion and
intimidation to deny citizens the right to change their government.
Since 1962 active duty military officers have occupied the most
important positions in the central government and in local governments,
and the SPDC placed active duty or retired military officers in senior-
level positions in almost every ministry. At year's end active duty or
retired military officers occupied 30 of 33 ministerial-level posts,
including that of prime minister as well as the mayoral posts in
Rangoon, Mandalay, and the new administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw.
Elections and Political Participation.--Following the NLD's victory
in the 1990 elections, the regime refused to implement the election
results and disqualified, detained, or imprisoned many successful
candidates (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.). It was believed that one MP-
elect fled the country during the year and another in 2005. In 2004 at
least four NLD MPs-elect fled the country.
In 1998 the NLD leadership joined other prodemocracy parties to
organize the Committee to Represent the People's Parliament on the
basis of written delegations of authority from a majority of the
surviving MPs-elect of the 1990 parliament. The committee considered
itself as acting on behalf of parliament until the parliament is
convened. In retaliation the Government launched a sustained and
systematic campaign to destroy the NLD without formally banning it;
authorities pressured many thousands of NLD members and local officials
to resign and closed party offices throughout the country. At year's
end 12 MPs-elect remained in prison for political reasons. Some had
been in prison since the early 1990s under harsh conditions.
In the 1990 election, 392 NLD members won seats. Of that number,
128 remained elected members. Self-exiles (20), deaths (74), and forced
resignations or barring (170) accounted for the balance. Those in the
last category resigned for various reasons. For example, the USA staged
rallies of ``no confidence'' against some of the elected members. The
USA and government officials pressured the families as well as the
members themselves.
On October 10, the regime reconvened the NC, first summoned in 1993
and in recess since January 31, as part of its seven-step ``democracy
road map'' that would nullify the results of the 1990 election and
adopt a new constitution. The regime convened the NC with more than
1,000 handpicked delegates, including representatives from 17 ethnic
cease-fire groups. However, it prohibited free debate on the drafting
of a new constitution and threatened to imprison persons for periods of
five to 20 years for any criticism of the process. Due to the
limitations on open debate, the NLD continued its 1995 decision not to
participate. The NC recessed on December 29.
UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari
visited the country in May and November and met with Senior General
Than Shwe as well as NLD General Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi and other
NLD leaders. By year's end the Government had failed to carry out
Gambari's request that authorities address human rights concerns and
expand dialogue with opposition leaders.
UN Secretary General's Special Envoy Tan Sri Razali Ismail resigned
in January, after Foreign Minister Nyan Win declined to meet with
Razali during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos in July 2005.
Women were excluded from political leadership. There were no female
or ethnic minority members of the SPDC, cabinet, or Supreme Court.
Members of certain minority groups also were denied full
citizenship and a role in government and politics (see section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was systemic at
all levels of the Government and society. Economists and
businesspersons considered it to be one of the most serious barriers to
investment and conducting business in the country.
A complex and capricious regulatory environment fostered
corruption. Authorities rarely and inconsistently enforced the
anticorruption statute and usually did so only when the regime's senior
generals wanted to take action against officials whose egregious
corruption had become an embarrassment. Beginning in July the
Government arrested more than 100 customs officials, including Director
General Colonel Khin Maung Linn, on charges of corruption. The head of
the National Defense College and his deputy were also forced to retire
amid charges of corruption.
The Government did not provide access to most official documents,
nor is there a law allowing for it. Most government data is classified
or tightly controlled. Government policymaking was not transparent,
with decision-making confined to the top layers of government, and new
government policies rarely were published or explained openly.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government did not allow domestic human rights organizations to
function independently, and it remained generally hostile to outside
scrutiny of its human rights record.
In addition to the ICRC and several UN agencies, approximately 35
nonpolitical, international humanitarian NGOs operated in the country.
A few others had a provisional presence while undertaking protracted
negotiations necessary to establish permanent operations in the
country. Many international humanitarian NGOs and UN agencies reported
increasing government pressure to curtail their activities, and access
by international personnel became more difficult.
In February the Government released guidelines for controlling the
activities of humanitarian organizations; however, the Burmese-language
version contained measures that were more restrictive than those in the
English-language version. UN agencies and NGOs negotiated with the
Government throughout the year to try to reach agreement on mutually
acceptable guidelines. Organizations already present in the country
reported few changes in their operations, and a multidonor consortium
to address HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis negotiated separate
arrangements.
The Government maintained travel restrictions on foreign
journalists (see section 2.a.), NGO staff, UN agency staff, and
diplomats in some regions. Human rights advocates regularly were denied
entry visas unless traveling under the aegis of a sponsor acceptable to
the Government and for purposes approved by the Government (see section
2.d.). The Government's monitoring of the movements of foreigners, its
frequent interrogation of citizens concerning contacts with foreigners,
its restrictions on the freedom of expression and association of
citizens, and its practice of arresting citizens who passed information
about government human rights abuses to foreigners impeded efforts to
collect or investigate human rights abuses. Reports of abuses,
especially those committed in prisons or ethnic minority areas, often
emerged months or years after the abuses allegedly were committed and
seldom could be verified.
Some international NGOs and UN agencies were required to have a
government representative accompany them on field visits, at the NGOs'
expense, although this rule was not consistently enforced (see section
1.f.). Foreign staff experienced difficulty obtaining permission to
travel to project sites.
The ICRC was forced to suspend its prison visits in late 2005 when
the regime ended ICRC's access to prisons to conduct private interviews
with prisoners (see section 1.c.). The ICRC also suspended its
activities in ethnic minority areas, due to restrictions of access to
conflict areas that prevented it from carrying out normal, independent
humanitarian operations. In November the Government ordered ICRC field
offices in Hpa-an, Kengtung, Mandalay, Mawlawmyine, and Taunggyi to
close but later ``clarified'' that instead of closing, the offices had
to cease all field activities, including protection, basic hygiene, and
health care, until further notice. The Government allowed the ICRC to
continue prosthetic services to mine victims in Hpa-an, Mandalay,
Taunggyi, and government prosthetics centers.
Under a new agreement signed with NaTaLa in April, the UNHCR
resumed projects in the southeast region with implementation partners,
and UNHCR foreign personnel carried out monitoring visits. In April
2005 the Government had withdrawn permission to the UNHCR to visit
these areas.
In July lawyer Aye Myint, who was arrested in October 2005 and
sentenced to seven years for advising farmers to contact the
International Labor Organization (ILO) when authorities confiscated
their land, was released following ILO pressure on the Government (see
section 6.c.). In 2003 he was arrested and sentenced to death for
contact with the ILO but was released in January 2005.
Despite repeated requests, the Government persisted in its refusal
to allow the UN special rapporteur for human rights to visit the
country during the year.
The Government received ILO complaints of labor violations and
stated that it was conducting investigations into the violations. Some
officials were arrested and prosecuted in January 2005 for forced labor
violations and spent several months in jail before being released (see
section 6.c.). However, in April 2005 the ILO liaison officer stopped
filing forced labor complaints with the Government because authorities
threatened to arrest complainants (see section 6.c.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The SPDC continued to rule by decree and was not bound by any
constitutional provisions concerning discrimination.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse,
remained a problem; however, because the Government did not maintain
statistics related to spousal abuse or domestic violence, it was
difficult to measure. There are no laws specifically against domestic
violence or spousal abuse, although there are laws related to
committing bodily harm against another person. The violations and
related penalties range from one year to life, in addition to possible
fines. The government-affiliated MWAF sometimes lobbied local
authorities, including the police, to investigate domestic violence
cases involving spousal abuse. As the MWAF is controlled by wives of
regime leaders, police usually investigated domestic violence cases
referred to them by the MWAF.
Rape is illegal; however, spousal rape is not a crime unless the
wife is under 14 years of age. If the victim is under 14, it is
considered rape with or without consent and carries a sentence of 10
years to life. In a case of spousal rape when the woman is between 12
and 14, the maximum sentence is two years; in a case of spousal rape
when the woman is under 12, the sentence is 10 years to life. Married
women often lived in households with extended families, where social
pressure tended to protect the wife from abuse. The Government did not
release statistics regarding rape; however, it stated that rape was not
common in populous urban areas but occurred more often in remote areas.
Nonetheless, it was generally considered unsafe for women to travel
during hours of darkness without a male escort, and employers typically
had to supply a bus or truck to return female workers to their homes at
night. Use of taxis at night was considered particularly hazardous for
women because of the risk of rape or robbery. Prostitutes traveling at
night typically had to pay substantial additional fees to taxi
operators or risk being raped, robbed, or turned over to the police.
There were credible reports from NGOs and diplomatic sources that
prostitutes taken into police custody were sometimes raped or robbed by
the police. Incidents of rape in conflict areas and other ethnic
minority areas continued, particularly by military personnel garrisoned
in those regions (see section 1.g.).
Prostitution is prohibited by law and punishable by three years in
prison; however, its prevalence grew in urban areas, particularly in
some of Rangoon's ``border towns'' and ``new towns,'' populated chiefly
by poor families who were relocated forcibly from older areas of the
capital.
There are no laws against sexual harassment.
Consistent with traditional culture, women kept their own names
after marriage and often controlled family finances. However, women
remained underrepresented in most traditional male occupations and were
effectively barred from certain professions, including the military
officer corps. Poverty affected women disproportionately. Women did not
receive equal pay for equal work on a consistent basis. Women legally
are entitled to receive up to 26 weeks of maternity benefits; however,
in practice these benefits often were not accorded them.
There were no independent women's rights organizations, although
there were several groups with some relationship to the Government. The
MWAF, chaired by the wife of Prime Minister General Soe Win, was the
leading ``nongovernmental'' women's rights organization. With branches
in all 14 states and divisions, it was the primary government
organization responsible for addressing women's interests. The MMCWA,
another government-controlled agency, provided assistance to mothers
and children. These organizations were closely allied with the
Government and conducted activities that furthered government
objectives. The Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs' Association, a
professional society for businesswomen, provided loans to women
starting new businesses. While not controlled by the Government, the
association enjoyed good relations with the Government and was allowed
to conduct its activities to support women in business.
Children.--Children under the age of 18 constituted approximately
40 percent of the population. Children were at high risk, as
deteriorating economic conditions forced destitute parents to take them
out of school to work in factories and teashops or to beg. Some were
placed in orphanages. With few or no skills, increasing numbers of
children worked in the informal economy or in the street, where they
were exposed to drugs, petty crime, risk of arrest, sexual abuse and
exploitation, and HIV/AIDS.
There was no adequate child protection or juvenile justice system.
Efforts in this regard were severely constrained by lack of resources.
The DSW provided limited social welfare services, but there were only a
few officially appointed social workers.
The Government continued to allocate minimal resources to public
education. According to official figures for fiscal year 2006-07 (April
through March), official expenditure allocations for the Ministry of
Education comprised 1.9 percent of the total national budget. Public
schooling was ostensibly provided free through the 10th standard
(approximately age 16). However, on average, public school teachers'
pay was equal only to approximately four dollars (5,300 kyat) per
month, far below subsistence wages, forcing many teachers either to
leave the profession or demand extra payments from their students.
Thus, many families had to pay to send their children to school, even
at the primary level. According to a Kachin women's group, families in
Kachin State had to pay as much as $230 (300,000 kyat) for their
children to attend 10th standard, an amount above the national average
annual income. In some areas where families were not able to afford
unofficial payments, teachers ceased work. In response to official
neglect, private institutions began to provide assistance in education,
despite a legal ban on private schools.
Education is compulsory through the 4th standard. The UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) reported that 50 percent of primary school students
dropped out of school before finishing the 4th standard. Rates of
school attendance were low, largely due to increasing economic
hardship, causing students to seek work as domestic helpers or waiters
at urban teashops. NGOs estimated that nationwide nearly one million
primary-age children did not attend school. There was no difference in
the attendance rate of boys and girls.
The Government promoted education at Buddhist monastic schools in
rural areas and subsidized Buddhist universities in Rangoon and
Mandalay. In ethnic minority areas, the Government often banned
teaching in local languages.
The Government cooperated with the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child. UNICEF reported close working relationships with the DSW and
the Ministry of Education, where it worked to support primary education
and produce children's storybooks in five minority languages. Faith-
based organizations, Buddhist monks and nuns, and private community-
based groups also provided educational and other support for children.
Children also suffered from the Government's severe neglect of
health care. According to official government figures, the budget for
the Ministry of Health in fiscal year 2006-07 amounted to 0.8 percent
of the total national budget.
There were no reports that the Government discriminated between
boys and girls in the provision of health care. Estimated mortality
rates for children under five years of age ranged from 66 (Ministry of
Health, 2003) to 109 (UN Development Program, 2004) deaths per 1,000
live births. Almost three-quarters of these deaths occurred within the
first year of life, with infant mortality rates from the same sources
ranging from 50 to 77 deaths per 1,000 live births, respectively. Many
of the infant deaths occurred in the first month of life. All data
sources estimated rural mortality to be at least 25 percent higher than
urban mortality, with the highest mortality in mountainous areas and
the central dry zone. According to UNICEF, up to 56 percent of child
deaths from age six to 59 months could be attributed to the effects of
malnutrition and infection. Countrywide, the prevalence of underweight
and stunting among children was 32 percent and wasting was 8.6 percent.
In 2005 the head of the World Food Program estimated that 33 percent of
children were chronically malnourished in spite of its food-for-work
programs in Shan State and the central dry zone.
The law prohibits child abuse, and the Government stated that child
abuse was not a significant problem. In 2004 the UN Committee on the
Rights of the Child concluded that it remained ``seriously concerned at
the lack of appropriate measures, mechanisms, and resources to prevent
and combat domestic violence, including physical and sexual abuse and
neglect of children; the limited number of services for abused
children; as well as the lack of data on the aforementioned.''
Child prostitution and trafficking in girls for the purpose of
prostitution--especially Shan girls who were sent or lured to
Thailand--persisted as a major problem (see section 5, Trafficking). In
Rangoon and Mandalay, diplomatic representatives noted widespread
employment of female prostitutes who appeared to be in their early
teens and for whom there was reportedly a high demand. Additionally,
some brothels offered young teenage ``virgins'' to their customers for
a substantial additional fee.
The official age of enlistment in the army is 18 years. The
Government stated that its official policy is to avoid conscripting
child soldiers; however, recruiters frequently ignored the policy. In
2004 the Government established the Committee for Prevention Against
Recruitment of Minors for Military Service, which purportedly issued
rules and regulations to punish those who recruit child soldiers. On
August 22, SPDC Secretary-1 Lieutenant General Thein Sein told the
committee that minors themselves were to blame for the problem because
they lied about their true age or did not inform their parents that
they had enlisted in the armed forces. Thein Sein claimed that when
parents came to military camps to take back their underage sons, the
children often were returned after the cases were investigated. In a
tacit admission that there remained underage soldiers in the armed
forces, Thein Sein stated that soldiers with stunted growth were not
sent to forward areas but were instead given light work duties at
military bases, and that illiterate youth were sent to army schools to
be educated.
According to Ministry of Defense sources, the army discharged 55
soldiers between February and May, including four who were underage. A
separate Ministry of Foreign Affairs report in November stated that as
of September the army had discharged 16 new recruits, four of whom were
underage. On October 24, the Government gave the ICRC a list of 17
complaints of recruitment of underage soldiers and declared the cases
were all resolved.
The army continued to use forced recruitment of child soldiers. On
March 21, government soldiers detained 17-year-old Maung Han Zaw who
lived in Tharkayta Township, Rangoon Division. A few days later his
parents traveled to Military Training School Number 5 at Yai Ni near
Pyinmana to bring their son home. The commanding officer, Captain Aye
Thit, allowed them to meet their son but would not permit him to return
home.
In May a unit of Light Infantry Brigade 365, commanded by Sergeant
Major Thein Tun, reportedly lured 11 ethnic Chin boys from an orphanage
in Myoma Ward, Tiddim, Chin State. After forcing them to work at
Kalemyo airport, the soldiers transported the orphans to a military
camp in Kalemyo, Sagaing Division, to become soldiers. Two older boys
who tried to escape were punished and transferred to Kalewa military
camp. One of the older boys, Vung Ki Thang, was reported to be only 15
years old.
On August 3, police at Meiktila, Mandalay Division, reportedly
arrested three 15-year-old children--Than Naing Aye, Lin Lin, and Yan
Lin Maung--on charges of theft. On August 22, police officer Min Aung
Thein reportedly sold the children to Taung Thone Lone army recruitment
center in Mandalay for $50 (65,000 kyat).
In the past army recruitment drives targeted children to meet
quotas for the ostensibly all-volunteer army, but anecdotal evidence,
at least in Rangoon, suggested this practice had become less common.
The Government invited UNICEF to visit military recruitment
centers, but UNICEF declined because it deemed government-organized
tours to be of little value. UNICEF offered to help reintegrate
discharged underage soldiers into society and to conduct awareness
workshops for trainers of military recruiters in international
humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the
country's child laws, and HIV/AIDS. The Government did not formally
respond to UNICEF's offer.
Ethnic minority cease-fire groups and insurgent armies,
particularly the United Wa State Army, also forcibly conscripted child
soldiers. Field observers reported seeing numerous Wa soldiers who
clearly were underage. Inaccessibility to the areas where these groups
operated made it difficult to obtain reliable data on the extent of the
problem among ethnic armies.
In January the Government claimed that a group of soldiers who
surrendered from the SSA-S included several teenagers, of whom the
youngest, Private Sai Yi, was 13 years old. Colonel Yot Suk, head of
SSA-S, denied that any of his soldiers were under the age of 18.
During the year representatives of the KNU and the KNPP, two ethnic
resistance groups, met with UNICEF and UNHCR representatives in
Thailand to request that they be removed from the list of groups who
recruited child soldiers. Admitting that the KNU recruited child
soldiers as recently as 2000, the KNU spokesperson claimed that the KNU
had adopted a policy not to accept underage recruits. However, the
spokesperson acknowledged the possibility that low-level officers in
the field could have continued to recruit children. On July 31, the KNU
wrote to the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for
Children and Armed Conflict to request that the UN remove it from the
list of armed groups who use child soldiers. The KNU claimed it was
against their policy to recruit underage soldiers and said it would
take action against anyone who recruited underage children into their
armed wing. The KNPP spokesperson said his group sent underage
volunteers to school.
In August a spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers noted that the Government remained very secretive about child
recruitment problems, while the KNU and the KNPP held open discussions
on the issue. The spokesperson estimated that there were fewer than 50
child soldiers in the two ethnic armies.
Several international NGOs and agencies promoted the rights of
children in the country, including the ICRC, World Vision, Save the
Children UK, CARE, UNICEF, the UN Development Program, and foreign
governments.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although there are laws specifically
prohibiting child prostitution and child pornography, they were not
enforced effectively. Trafficking, including of children, continued,
but there were no reliable statistics regarding its extent. Government
data showed that Thailand was the primary destination for trafficking
victims, with much smaller numbers going directly to China, Malaysia,
Bangladesh, Korea, and Macau.
Trafficking of women and girls to Thailand, China, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, Korea, Japan, and countries in the Middle East for sexual
exploitation, factory labor, and as household servants remained a
problem. Shan and other ethnic minority women and girls were trafficked
across the border from the north; Karen and Mon women and girls were
trafficked from the south. There was evidence that internal trafficking
generally occurred from poor agricultural and urban centers to areas
where prostitution flourished (trucking routes, mining areas, military
bases, and industrial estates) as well as along the borders with
Thailand and China. Men and boys also reportedly were trafficked to
other countries for sexual exploitation and labor. While most observers
believed that the number of these victims was at least several thousand
per year, there were no reliable estimates.
In a report released in May 2005, the Kachin Women's Association of
Thailand documented trafficking of Kachin girls and women to China
ostensibly to work but instead forced into prostitution or to become
brides to Chinese men who could not find local brides. Based on
interviews with 85 Kachin women who escaped their captors, 10 percent
were trafficked domestically and up to half became brides of Chinese
men, some in distant northeastern provinces of China.
Human traffickers appeared to be primarily free-lance, small-scale
operators using village contacts to feed victims to more established
trafficking brokers. Brokers were primarily foreign, but some Burmese
brokers operated in Thailand and China.
The penalties for trafficking women, children, and youth was 10
years to life; for trafficking men, five to 10 years; for fraud for the
purpose of trafficking, three to seven years; for using trafficked
victims for pornography, five to 10 years; for trafficking with an
organized criminal group, 10 years to life; for serious crime involving
trafficking, 10 years to life or death; for a public official accepting
money related to an investigation of the trafficking law, three to
seven years. All penalties also include the option of a fine.
The Government made limited progress against trafficking in
persons. The Government reported that in 2005 it convicted 68 human
traffickers out of 203 cases. Most received sentences of less than five
years, but during the year two traffickers received life sentences.
Since the Government did not accurately distinguish between human
traffickers and smugglers, the actual number of traffickers convicted
was probably less.
As in the previous year, the Government's pervasive security
controls, restrictions on access to information, and lack of
transparency prevented a comprehensive assessment of trafficking in
persons activities in the country. While experts agreed that human
trafficking from the country was substantial, no organization,
including the Government, was able or willing to estimate the number of
victims.
Officials recognized the importance of preventing cross-border
trafficking and prosecuting traffickers, but they did little to combat
domestic trafficking and took no action on forced labor. The Government
worked with the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking to sponsor
seminars for national, state/division, and lower level authorities and
received training from the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons
Project. New government guidelines issued early in the year reduced the
abilities of many international NGOs, including those working on
trafficking issues, to implement and monitor programs; however, many
activities were allowed to continue. In January the Government signed
the ASEAN Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Agreement. Cooperation
with Thailand and China on enforcement and repatriation continued to
increase.
UN agencies and NGOs credited the Government for demonstrating
political will to combat cross-border trafficking and for improving
cooperation with the international community. The Government increased
the size of the antitrafficking unit from 40 to 65 officers.
During the year the Government hosted national and state/division
level seminars to inform officials from relevant ministries about the
antitrafficking law enacted in September 2005. The Government
established a working group that began to revise the national action
plan to reflect the 2005 law.
The Ministry of Home Affairs maintained its position that there was
no complicity of government officials in trafficking; however,
corruption among local government officials was widespread. NGOs
reported that government officials were complicit in trafficking,
although it appeared limited to local and regional officials turning a
blind eye to trafficking activities. NGOs also reported that individual
police officials were likely involved in extorting money from economic
migrants and others leaving the country.
The Government had four vocational training centers and one house
to shelter female trafficking victims; male victims were temporarily
sheltered in training schools. The Government insisted that repatriated
victims stay for one month in these centers, where they were confined
against international norms of victim protection. During the year the
Government took action against 274 offenders and returned 419
trafficking victims, according to police reports.
The MWAF and the DSW provided some basic health and compulsory
counseling services and job training for trafficking victims before
turning them over to an NGO or returning them to their families.
However, government funding for these programs was very limited.
The Government made it difficult for single women to obtain
passports or marry foreigners, ostensibly to reduce the outflow of
women as victims of trafficking (see sections 1.f. and 2.d.). In
addition, regulations forbid females under the age of 25 from crossing
the border unless accompanied by a guardian, but most trafficked women
crossed the border without passports.
The Ministry of Home Affairs placed antitrafficking units at nine
locations known for frequent trafficking. With assistance from
international NGOs, the Government conducted training and advocacy
workshops and also approved nationwide television and radio
announcements and distribution of materials at the state/division
level.
Three international NGOs and some local NGOs offered poverty
alleviation and education programs designed to counter trafficking.
These programs were moderately successful.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Government did not actively
discriminate against persons with disabilities in employment, access to
health care, education, or in the provision of other state services,
but there were few official resources to assist persons with
disabilities. There were no laws mandating accessibility to buildings,
public transportation, or government facilities, and persons with
disabilities faced societal discrimination. There were several local
and international organizations that assisted persons with
disabilities, but most such persons had to rely exclusively on their
families to provide for their welfare.
Military veterans with disabilities received benefits on a priority
basis, usually a civil service job at equivalent pay. In principle,
official assistance to nonmilitary persons with disabilities included
two-thirds of pay for up to one year of a temporary disability and a
tax-free stipend for permanent disability; however, the Government did
not provide job protection for private sector workers who became
disabled.
The Ministry of Health is responsible for medical rehabilitation of
persons with disabilities, and the Ministry of Social Welfare is
responsible for vocational training. The Government operated three
schools for the blind, two for the deaf, two rehabilitation centers for
adults with disabilities, and two for children with disabilities.
However, the Government provided inadequate funds for its schools and
programs for persons with disabilities. Local NGOs ran four schools for
the blind.
The ICRC continued to provide rehabilitation services to victims of
landmine injuries, both civilian and military amputees. Besides running
an orthopedic rehabilitation center in Hpa-an, Karen State, the ICRC
also had an active outreach program to identify and refer amputees from
remote border villages to the its prosthetic services.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Wide-ranging governmental and
societal discrimination against minorities persisted. Animosities
between the country's many ethnic minorities and the Burman majority,
which has dominated the Government and the armed forces since
independence, continued to fuel active conflict that resulted in
serious abuses during the year. The abuses included reported killings,
beatings, torture, forced labor, forced relocations, and rapes of Chin,
Karen, Karenni, Rohingya, Shan, Mon, and other ethnic groups by SPDC
soldiers. Some armed ethnic groups also may have committed abuses, but
on a much smaller scale than the Government army (see sections 1.a.,
1.c., 1.f., and 1.g.).
Only persons who were able to prove long familial links to the
country were accorded full citizenship. Native-born but nonindigenous
ethnic populations such as Chinese, Indians, and Bengalis were denied
full citizenship and excluded from government positions. Members of the
Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State were not considered citizens
and continued to experience severe legal, economic, and social
discrimination. The Government denied citizenship to most Rohingyas on
the grounds that their ancestors did not reside in the country for one
year prior to the start of British colonial rule in 1824, as required
by the country's highly restrictive citizenship law.
Rohingya Muslims did not have access to state-operated schools
beyond primary education because the Government reserved secondary
state schools for citizens. Those excluded were also ineligible for
most civil service positions.
Persons without full citizenship faced restrictions in domestic
travel (see section 2.d.). They also were barred from certain advanced
university programs in medicine and technological fields.
Ethnic minority groups generally used their own languages at home.
However, throughout all parts of the country controlled by the
Government, including ethnic minority areas, Burmese remained the
mandatory language of instruction in state schools. Even in ethnic
minority areas, most primary and secondary state schools did not offer
instruction in the local ethnic minority language. There were very few
domestic publications in indigenous minority languages.
The Government continued to resettle groups of ethnic Burmans to
various ethnic minority areas through the establishment of ``model
villages'' in Rakhine State and other regions of the country (see
section 1.f.). Government jobs in ethnic minority regions, including as
teachers, were increasingly reserved for ethnic Burmans, according to
reports from Kachin and Kayah states.
There were ethnic tensions between Burmans and nonindigenous ethnic
populations, including South Asians, many of whom were Muslims, and a
rapidly growing population of Chinese, most of whom emigrated from
Yunnan Province. Chinese immigrants increasingly dominated the economy
of the northern part of the country.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Many citizens viewed
homosexuals with scorn. Penal code provisions against ``sexually
abnormal'' behavior were applied to charge gays and lesbians who drew
unfavorable attention to themselves. Nevertheless, homosexuals had a
certain degree of protection through societal traditions. Transgender
performers commonly provided entertainment at traditional observances.
Some were spirit (nat) worshippers and, as such, had special standing
in the society. They participated in a well-established week-long
festival held near Mandalay every year. The event was considered a
religious event, free of sexual overtones or activities, and was
officially approved by the Government. No one, including the military
or police, interfered with the festival.
HIV-positive patients were discriminated against, although HIV
activists reported that awareness campaigns helped to reduce
discrimination and stigma. However, some persons reportedly were
reluctant to visit clinics that treat HIV/AIDS patients for fear of
being suspected of having the disease.
In August local authorities pressured and intimidated Sayadaw
Einthariya, a monk from Mahasi Yeiktha Monastery in Yenangyaung, Magway
Division, to stop assisting HIV/AIDS victims, claiming it was
unsuitable conduct for a monk. He was threatened with arrest by the
township clergy coordination committee. The pressure appeared to be
inspired by political rather than religious considerations, since the
monk had cooperated with NLD activists supporting HIV/AIDS programs in
the absence of any viable government program for HIV/AIDS patients.
On August 13, authorities detained 11 HIV/AIDS activists at Maggin
Monastery near Rangoon as they prepared for a ceremony to honor HIV/
AIDS victims. The authorities claimed the group, which had ties to the
NLD and the 88 Generation Students, had not properly registered to stay
overnight at the monastery. The authorities reportedly pressured the
monastery to select a new senior abbot more supportive of the regime.
On August 14, the authorities released the activists without charging
them.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law permits workers to form trade
unions with the prior consent of the Government; however, no free trade
unions existed in the country.
Domestic and internationally affiliated unions are not allowed, nor
is individual membership in unions. The Government forbade seafarers
who found work on foreign vessels through the Seafarers Employment
Control Division from having contact with the International Transport
Workers' Federation, and the Government often refused to document
seafarers who were abroad. Without proper documentation, it was
impossible for a seafarer to find regular employment abroad.
The Government criminalized contact with the Federation of Trade
Unions--Burma, claiming it was a ``terrorist group.'' In November nine
persons were given prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years
after their arrest in July 2005 for allegedly contacting the federation
(see sections 1.a. and 2.a.). In November 2005 one such prisoner, Aung
Myint Thein, died while in custody (see sections 1.a., 1.d., 2.a., 2.b,
and 6.b.).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The Government
does not allow workers to organize or bargain collectively. The
Government's central arbitration board, which once provided a means for
settling major labor disputes, has been dormant since 1988, although
the Ministry of Labor reportedly played an arbitration role in settling
some disputes since then. Township-level labor supervisory committees
existed to address minor labor concerns. During the year authorities
intervened as a mediator in informal labor strikes to ensure peaceful
resolutions between workers and employers.
The Government unilaterally set wages in the public sector. In the
private sector, market forces generally set wages; however, the
Government pressured joint ventures to pay salaries no greater than
those of ministers or other senior government employees. Some joint
ventures circumvented this with supplemental pay or special incentive
systems. Foreign firms generally set wages near those of the domestic
private sector but followed the example of joint ventures in awarding
supplemental wages and benefits.
According to the law, labor strikes are prohibited, although
employees at a number of large factories organized informal strikes
during the year and in many cases won higher wages. Most strikes were
resolved without government intervention, but in some cases authorities
pressured workers and employers for resolution. Employers fired a
number of the strike organizers.
There are no export processing zones; however, there are special
military-owned industrial parks, such as Pyin-Ma-Bin, near Rangoon,
which attracted foreign investors, and the 2,000-acre Hlaing Thaya
Industrial Zone in Rangoon, where several companies operated. Labor
laws were applicable in all industrial zones and across all industries,
but they were not always enforced.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law provides for
the punishment of persons who impose forced labor on others. However,
government and military use of forced or compulsory labor remained a
widespread and serious problem, particularly targeting members of
ethnic minority groups. Throughout the country, international observers
verified that the Government routinely forced citizens to work on
roads, construction, and other maintenance projects. Citizens also were
forced to work in the military-owned industrial zones.
The Government's use of forced labor in support of military
garrisons or military operations remained serious in ethnic or
religious minority regions. According to credible NGO sources,
villagers were ordered to build or repair military camp infrastructure
and to perform other tasks within the camps, such as standing guard.
The same sources also reported that villagers were required to bring
lumber, at their own expense, to construct and repair military
facilities.
The ILO corroborated reports of serious forced labor abuses in
Rakhine State and continued to call upon the Government to stop the use
of forced labor. Local authorities continued to use forced labor to
complete major public works projects on time.
In May credible sources in Rakhine State reported that local
residents from the villages of Kyaukpan Du, Thawin Chaung, Inndin, Mrin
Lwet, Atwin Byin, Chut Byin, Owe Thima, Thein Daung, and Taungmaw from
Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships were forced to construct an 18-
mile-road over the Mayu mountain range between the model village of
Tazin Myint in Rathedaung Township and Kyaukpandu Village in Maungdaw
Township. Although the authorities promised each worker $0.38 (500
kyat) per day, they failed to pay them. When the villagers refused to
work any more, the authorities reportedly forced them to work at
gunpoint.
In September 2005 the NGO Amnesty International reported that the
requirement for porters decreased as armed resistance to the Government
lessened and the army established itself in former hostile territory.
However, the NGO claimed that the decreasing need for porters was
replaced with an increase in other types of forced labor as the army
built new barracks and other infrastructure. The report also noted that
the KNLA and the DKBA were guilty of some of the same abuses committed
by the army, including confiscation of food from already malnourished
villagers, who were forced to provide rice, livestock, and other
valuables to soldiers of both sides. During the year NGOs presented
credible evidence of increased use of ethnic Karen villagers as porters
by the army in its ongoing military attacks against Karen villages in
Bago Division, Karen State, and Kayah State.
In recent years the ILO and other international agencies have seen
changes in the Government's approach to conscripting forced labor. The
ILO reported that military units no longer tended to issue written
orders to village heads to provide forced labor but instead gave verbal
instructions. The ILO also reported that in some cases the Government
substituted demands for forced labor with demands for forced
contributions of materials, provisions, or money. Throughout the year
there were frequent and widespread reports of soldiers forcing
contributions of rice and other commodities from ethnic minority
villagers. The ILO reported that it appeared the Government
occasionally paid workers for forced labor, but the payments were
usually well below prevailing wage rates.
The ILO reported that since 2002 the Government increasingly
substituted prisoners not sentenced to hard labor for civilians as
forced laborers, possibly due to international pressure against the use
of civilians. There reportedly were new labor camps, but many were
temporary, existing only until the completion of a specific work
project. During the year the army reportedly transported convicts from
prisons throughout the country to serve as porters in its ongoing
military attacks against Karen villages in Bago Division, Karen State,
and Kayah State. The convicts faced dangers from minefields and
exposure to gunfire while working with inadequate food and no medical
care.
Reports of forced labor for smaller projects in villages
countrywide persisted. Authorities also continued to use forced labor
countrywide to maintain existing civil infrastructure, including
transportation and irrigation facilities. Authorities often allowed
households or persons to substitute money or food for labor for
infrastructure projects, but widespread rural poverty forced most
households to contribute labor. Parents routinely called upon children
to help fulfill their households' forced labor obligations (see section
6.d.).
There were reports from nearly every division and state that
authorities forced citizens to plant physic nut trees on public and
private property as part of the SPDC's campaign to produce more
biodiesel fuel. Those who tried to avoid planting physic nuts were
frequently threatened with fines if they did not participate.
In May businessmen reported that Light Infantry Battalion 141 and
Northern Commander Major General Ohn Myint forced ethnic Kachin in the
villages of Yinna Pinlong, Min Thar, Man Khin, Shwe Nyaung Pin, Hu Kat,
Ta Kat, and Nga Pyaw Daw in Kachin State to provide labor to upgrade
the road between Shinbo and Myitkyina. Besides working without pay, the
workers had to provide their own food and shelter. Those who could not
work reportedly had to find a substitute or pay a fine of $15.40
(20,000 kyat).
There were no developments in the November 2005 death of a man from
Tharat Cho Village in Ponnagyun Township, Rakhine State, who returned
home seriously ill after Battalion 550 officials forced him to help
construct a military base.
In December 2005 local PDC authorities in Myothit Village,
Ngathainggyaung Township, Ayeyarwady Division, arrested carpenter Ko
Than Htaik, detained him at the village PDC office, and severely beat
him. The authorities accused him of failing to provide involuntary
labor to build a road and not providing funds for village militia
training. His family admitted him to the local hospital, where he died
soon after as a result of the beating. The Yaykyay police arrested
local PDC officials who were involved in the beating, including Aung
Myint Thein, chairman of the village PDC.
The Government refused to pay compensation for the death of Win
Lwin, who died while performing forced labor in Magway Division in
2004.
From 2004, the first year that private citizens voluntarily
approached the ILO to report alleged violations, until September 2005
the ILO office in Rangoon received 102 cases of forced labor to
investigate. The ILO forwarded 59 of the cases to the Government's
committee on forced labor. The committee responded to all of the cases,
and a total of 10 persons were found guilty and sentenced. The
committee did not implement adequate mechanisms for the reporting,
investigation, and prosecution of incidents of forced labor.
Beginning in April 2005 the ILO stopped pursuing forced labor cases
because the Government stated that it would prosecute any person who
made what the Government deemed a ``false'' complaint. However, the ILO
liaison officer continued to receive credible reports of forced labor
throughout the year.
At its June conference, ILO members noted the Government's lack of
progress on forced labor issues and debated additional actions to
secure compliance. Members established deadlines for action on two
items: a moratorium on prosecution of forced labor complainants,
including existing prisoners and ongoing cases, by the end of July; and
agreement on a mechanism to handle forced labor claims by the end of
October. On June 6, the Government released Su Su Nway, a labor
activist imprisoned in 2005 who had successfully prosecuted local
officials from Kawhmu Township, Rangoon Division, on forced labor
charges. The Government also released a second prominent labor activist
during the year, and on September 20, it dropped a case against three
villagers, but it did not address other ILO concerns.
At its November meeting, ILO members reviewed possible further
actions, including referral to the International Court of Justice. On
November 17, the ILO Governing Body voiced its ``great frustration'' at
the Government's failure to agree on how to deal with complaints of
forced labor and requested that it ``conclude with the ILO such an
agreement as a matter of utmost urgency.''
Forced recruitment of soldiers, including children, continued (see
section 5).
The law does not specifically prohibit forced and bonded labor by
children, and forced labor by children continued to be a serious
problem (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets a minimum age of 13 for the employment of children, but in
practice the law was not enforced. Child labor was prevalent and highly
visible. Working children were noticeable in cities, employed primarily
in small or family enterprises. In the countryside, children worked in
family agricultural activities. Children working in the urban informal
sector in Rangoon and Mandalay often began work at very young ages. In
cities child workers were found mostly in the food processing, street
vending, refuse collecting, and light manufacturing industries, and as
restaurant and teashop attendants.
The law does not prohibit compulsory labor by children, and
children were subjected to forced labor. Authorities reportedly rounded
up teenage children in Rangoon and Mandalay and forced them into
porterage or military service (see section 5).
The DSW provided support and schooling for a small number of
orphaned children or others who were in some other way estranged from
their families. One of the aims of this assistance was to help the
children become more capable of resisting exploitation in the future.
No specific government agency existed to enforce child labor laws.
In December UNICEF completed a review of legal provisions for working
children found in 10 separate labor laws enacted from 1923 to 1993 and
subsequently made many recommendations for protecting children who
work.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Only government employees and
employees of a few traditional industries were covered by minimum wage
provisions. After a significant public service salary increase in
April, the minimum monthly wage for salaried public employees was set
at the market equivalent of $11.50 (15,000 kyat) for what was in effect
an eight-hour workday. The rate for day laborers was raised to $0.38
(500 kyat) per day. Various subsidies and allowances supplemented this
sum. Neither the minimum wage nor the higher wages earned by senior
officials provided a worker and family with a decent standard of
living. Low real wages in the public sector fostered widespread
corruption and absenteeism. In the private sector, urban laborers
earned approximately $0.38 to $0.75 (500 to 1,000 kyat) per day, while
rural agricultural workers earned approximately half that rate. Some
private sector workers earned substantially more: a skilled factory
worker earned approximately $19 (25,000 kyat) per month, according to
private sector employers.
A surplus of labor, a poor economy, and the lack of protection by
the Government continued to foster substandard conditions for workers.
The law prescribes a five-day, 35-hour workweek for employees in the
public sector and a six-day, 44-hour workweek for private and state
enterprise employees, with overtime paid for additional work. The law
also allows for a 24-hour rest period per week, and workers are
permitted 21 paid holidays per year; however, in practice such
provisions benefited only a small portion of the country's labor force,
since most of the labor force was engaged in rural agriculture or the
informal sector. The laws were generally enforced in the Government
sector, but there were frequent violations by private enterprises.
Numerous health and safety regulations existed, but the Government
did not make necessary resources available to enforce the regulations.
Although workers may remove themselves from hazardous conditions, many
workers could not expect to retain their jobs if they did so.
__________
CAMBODIA
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected government
and a population of approximately 13.8 million. Following elections in
2003, in 2004 the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by Prime Minister
Hun Sen, and the National United Front for a Neutral, Peaceful,
Cooperative, and Independent Cambodia (FUNCINPEC), led by Prince
Norodom Ranariddh, formed a coalition government. However, the CPP
dominated the three branches of government and other national
institutions, with most power concentrated in the hands of the Prime
Minister. Although the civilian authorities nominally controlled the
security forces, in practice security forces answered to the CPP
leadership.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. Government
agents committed extrajudicial killings, and security forces acted with
impunity. There was little political will to address the failure by
government authorities to adhere to the rule of law. Detainees were
abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh.
Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial
detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a
fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions, often accompanied by
violence, were a growing problem. The Government restricted freedom of
speech and press through the use of defamation and disinformation
suits, controlled or influenced the content of television and radio
broadcasts, and sometimes interfered with freedom of assembly.
Corruption was endemic and extended throughout all segments of society,
including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government. Domestic violence and child abuse occurred. Education of
children was inadequate, and trafficking in women and children
persisted. The Government offered little assistance to persons with
disabilities. Antiunion activity by employers and weak enforcement of
labor laws continued, and child labor remained a problem.
In a positive turn, in January the Government released five human
rights activists jailed in 2005 on charges of defamation and
incitement. Parliamentary immunity was restored to opposition leader
Sam Rainsy, who returned to the country without incident in February,
as well as to two other opposition parliamentarians. Opposition
parliament member Cheam Channy was released from prison following a
royal pardon. The Government also partially decriminalized defamation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed politically
motivated killings. However, human rights nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) reported that extrajudicial killings continued to occur.
During the year NGOs recorded at least 44 cases of extrajudicial
killings. NGOs noted that in 26 cases the perpetrators evaded justice
following the crimes; in the other cases the perpetrator was either
arrested or paid restitution to the victim's family. Nine killings were
committed by the military, four by police, two by bodyguards of
government officials or wealthy persons, two by guards in prisons or
rubber plantations, and one by a member of the forest authority. NGOs
also recorded that in at least two cases the perpetrators were
convicted, in five they were in detention awaiting trial, and in five
others financial restitution was paid to the victim's family as a
settlement; no further information was available in the remaining 32
cases.
On March 29, two suspects died while in police custody in Kandal
Province. According to the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee
(CHRAC), Pao Rum and Khat Thoeun died in separate districts after
police detained them for questioning about theft allegations. CHRAC
said that both suspects suffered massive internal injuries, serious
burns and bruises on their legs, and broken necks prior to their
deaths. The three police officers in charge of Pao Rum's custody in
Kandal Stoeung District were suspended pending an investigation into
Pao Rum's death. At year's end neither the courts nor the Ministry of
the Interior (MOI) had taken further action against the officers. CHRAC
reported that Koh Thom District police denied responsibility for the
death of Khat Thoeun, alleging that he had been beaten by a military
official before being brought to them. NGOs reported that a district
military official was detained, questioned for three days, and
released; police officers overseeing Khat Thoeun's custody were not
charged in the case. At year's end the investigation into Khat Thoeun's
death continued.
On June 7, Nong Sam died in a Siem Reap hospital from head injuries
received in a beating from Siem Riep provincial police officers.
According to an NGO investigation, the police officer in charge, Chhith
Bunchhay, arrested Nong Sam for beating his wife, who was also Chhith
Bunchhay's sister. A provincial court prosecutor investigated the case
but brought no formal charges against Chhith Bunchhay.
Guards of two prisons in Kampong Thom and Battambang killed 10
inmates during prison breaks. On April 9, a prison guard shot one of
three inmates attempting to escape from a prison in Kompong Thom
Province. The guard, who fled following the incident, was charged with
intentional murder, but at year's end authorities had not located him.
On June 18, during an attempted prison break from Battambang
provincial prison, nine inmates and one guard were killed inside the
prison when inmates took a guard hostage. Prison authorities did not
return the dead bodies to families as requested for a funeral but
buried them inside the prison compound. Authorities prohibited local
human rights staff from investigating the incident. Prison authorities
did not provide access to NGOs to investigate.
There were no confirmed reports of politically motivated killings
during the year. On April 21, Koeut Chhuon, the Sam Rainsy Party's
(SRP) second deputy chief of Yeang Communal Council in Preah Vihear
Province's Chamksan District, was killed. Based on preliminary reports,
neither human rights NGOs nor the police believed the killing was
politically motivated; however, at year's the investigation was
ongoing. On October 16, SRP activist Thoeung Thear was shot and killed
in Kampong Cham Province. A provincial court issued a warrant for the
arrest of Long Sopheak, the brother of the deputy district chief, who
was seen fleeing the scene, but he remained at large at year's end. On
November 18, Man Meth was shot and killed in Prey Veng Province. On
December 21, police arrested three persons for the killing. NGOs were
unable to confirm if the killing of either Theoung Thear or Man Meth
was politically motivated.
There were no developments in the 2005 killings of five SRP
activists or in the March 2005 case of an attempted escape from
Trapoeung Phlong Prison in which 19 prisoners and the prison director
were killed. At year's end the Phnom Pehn Appeals Court had taken no
action regarding the March 2005 killing of five protesters by
government security forces in the village of Kbal Spean.
On August 5, retired King Norodom Sihanouk stated to the families
of the two persons convicted in 2005 for the killing of union activist
Chea Vichea that he believed they were not the killers and asked the
Government to reconsider their cases. Chea Vichea's family and civil
society demanded that the Government free the two men, and an
eyewitness to the killing recanted an earlier statement to police
authorities and said neither man was responsible for the killing. On
October 6, the appeals court scheduled a hearing, but it was postponed
because one of the three judges was ill. At year's end no date had been
set for a new hearing, and the convicted persons remained in prison.
No legal action was taken against a police officer for the 2004
killing of a prisoner awaiting trial in Takeo Province.
There were no developments in the cases of a FUNCINPEC deputy
village chief or an SRP activist, who were killed in separate incidents
in 2004 in Kompot Province.
On August 2, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for
the arrest of Heng Pov, former under secretary of state of the Ministry
of Interior, who was charged with multiple counts of premeditated
killings and involvement in illegal arrests and detentions. He was
alleged to have been involved in the 2003 Sok Sethamony killing. Heng
Pov denied the allegations and sought political asylum abroad. On
September 18, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Heng Pov in
absentia for crimes including the murder of Judge Sok Sethamony and
sentenced him and five other police officials to 18 years in prison. On
December 21, Malaysian authorities deported Heng Pov, and he was taken
to Prey Sar Prison to begin serving his sentence. Authorities permitted
Heng Pov to meet with his legal counsel, but family members and NGOs
were not allowed to see him.
Casualties by mines and unexploded ordinances (UXO) remained high
but decreased sharply compared with 2005. According to the Cambodia
Mine/UXO Victim Information System, casualties from land mines and UXO
totaled 440 cases during the year, a decrease from 875 in 2005. The
casualties included 58 deaths, down from 168 deaths in 2005; 91
amputations, down from 173; and 58 other injuries, down from 534.
Vigilante justice as well as killings by mobs persisted. NGOs
reported that at least six persons were killed by mobs during the year.
Few perpetrators were arrested. In some instances authorities could not
protect suspects from angry mobs. NGOs noted that a majority of mob
killings were related to thefts, robberies, or suspected witchcraft. On
February 5, a man was beaten and killed following accusations that he
practiced witchcraft. No one was arrested in connection with the
killing. On August 5, Sam Roeun, suspected of stealing a boat, was
caught in Kratie Province's Prey Prosap District, placed in a sack
weighted with stones, and thrown into a river. Police stated that
villagers killed Sam Roeun because they did not trust the judicial
system. A human rights NGO based in Kratie reported that six villagers
were charged with Roeun's killing and detained at year's end awaiting
trial.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however,
beatings and other forms of physical mistreatment of prisoners
continued to be a serious problem.
There were credible reports that military and civilian police
officials used physical and psychological torture and severely beat
criminal detainees, particularly during interrogation. Human rights NGO
LICADHO reported that in the first six months of the year, authorities
tortured 96 detainees, of whom 78 were tortured in police custody and
18 in prisons. Based on interviews with thousands of detainees from 18
of the country's 24 prisons, LICADHO added that kicking, punching, and
pistol-whipping were the most common methods of physical abuse, but
techniques also included electric shocks, suffocation, caning, and
whipping with wire. ADHOC, another NGO monitoring human rights across
the country, recorded approximately 150 cases of physical assaults and
torture committed by police and military agents. The constitution
protects suspects from any form of torture; however, NGOs reported that
it was not uncommon for police to torture detained suspects until they
confessed to a crime. Based on LICADHO's report for the year, 191
suspects, including 14 women, were tortured while in police custody,
and 22 others were tortured in prison. According to ADHOC's interviews
during the year with 300 inmates in the country's 24 prisons, 55
inmates said they were tortured following their arrests and prior to
their detention in a prison. ADHOC's interviews disclosed that half of
the torture incidents occurred during police custody, while the other
half occurred during either military police custody or at the offices
of local authorities. Based on the responses of court officials, courts
used forced confessions as legal evidence during trial. Additionally,
government officials and those in their employment used violence to
suppress the weak. The NGOs noted that during the year there were 167
cases of physical assaults by local authorities, government agents, or
the bodyguards of the rich and powerful, compared to 154 cases in 2005
and 145 cases in 2004. The NGOs noted that the Government frequently
expressed ignorance of civil society's demands for abusers to be
brought to justice. The same report stated that authorities were
disciplined in only 15 percent of all cases.
On January 28, six police officers, including the head of the Phnom
Penh Municipal Police Minor Crime Unit, were arrested for torturing a
woman to death and other killings. On July 21, the Phnom Penh Municipal
Court convicted the officers and sentenced them to 12 years each in
prison.
On February 14, two policemen from Border Protection Unit 701
suspended a 13-year-old boy upside down and beat him; the policemen
accused the boy of assaulting the police. After NGO intervention, the
police officers paid approximately $500 (2.1 million riels) in
compensation to the boy. No legal actions were taken against the
officers.
On March 29, two suspects died in separate incidents due to police
brutality in two districts of Kandal Province. CHRAC found that both
died as a result of severe torture (see section 1.a.).
On April 18, following a dispute between Kong Salath and other
villagers, police commissioner Team Sangkriem of Tbeng Meanchey
District, Preah Vihear Province, and three other police agents detained
Kong Salath without a warrant and beat him while he was handcuffed and
his legs shackled. An NGO reported that the commissioner detained
Salath illegally for one night before he let Salath's father take him
for medical treatment. In June the commissioner was removed to another
province. At year's end the provincial court reportedly was awaiting
the results of a police investigation before deciding whether to take
legal action against the commissioner.
On April 24, Battambang military police arrested a motorist without
a warrant and accused him of robbery. The military police severely beat
him at the scene and additionally abused him and covered his head with
a sheet of plastic. Despite a complaint from a local human rights NGO
to a court and to the commander of the military police unit, by year's
end no disciplinary or legal actions had been taken against the abusive
officers.
On June 7, Nong Sam died in a Siem Reap hospital from head injuries
caused by a beating from a group of Siem Riep provincial police
officers (see section 1.a.).
On December 29-30, Tous Sdoeung died due to injuries sustained in
detention. Kompong Thom Provincial Police Chief Mao Pov confirmed that
the man was tortured by two military police officers. On December 29,
Sdoeung was reportedly arrested after burning down his own house and
beating his wife while drunk. His badly beaten body was returned to his
family the next day. Sdoeung's family initially agreed not to charge
the officers if $650 (approximately 2.73 million riels) in compensation
was paid, but they later appealed for more financial assistance and
filed a complaint seeking an additional $1,250 (approximately 5.25
million riels). The case was taken up by the provincial court, but at
year's end no action had been taken against the officers.
At year's end no legal action had been taken in the 2005 complaint
filed against a prison guard who allegedly mistreated a female prisoner
who refused his sexual advances, although according to NGO reports the
guard was transferred in June to another province.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards and were life threatening. Prison
conditions remained harsh, and government efforts to improve them
continued to be hampered by a lack of funds and weak enforcement. Human
rights organizations cited a number of serious problems, including
overcrowding, medical and sanitation problems, food and water
shortages, malnutrition, and poor security. According to prison
authority statistics, there were 10,250 inmates in prison as of
October, compared with 8,943 inmates in 2005. Despite the relocation of
three prisons to larger facilities--in Battambang, Kandal, and Kompong
Thom provinces--and renovations to other prisons during the year, most
prisons remained overcrowded. According to LICADHO, which monitored 18
of the 24 prisons, the 18 prisons had a capacity of 6,410 inmates but
held a total 8,835 inmates. Prison authority statistics recorded that
from January to November, 90 inmates died, mainly of AIDS and
tuberculosis. NGOs recorded that there were 12 prison escapes during
the year, resulting in 12 inmates killed, 24 recaptured, and 17 still
at large at year's end. NGOs reported that two inmates in Koh Kong
prison died in August, a few days following a fierce fight inside their
cell; however, prison authorities claimed both died of disease.
In 2005 an NGO noted that the average number of inmates placed in a
23-by-26-foot cell had increased from 45 to between 50 and 60. In some
prisons, after escape attempts authorities used shackles and held
prisoners in small, dark cells.
Government ration allowances for purchasing prisoners' food
routinely were misappropriated and remained inadequate, exacerbating
malnutrition and disease. Although during the year the Government
increased ration allowances from $0.23 (1,000 riels) to $0.36 (1,500
riels) per day for each prisoner's food, NGOs noted that food rations
for inmates were still inadequate. According to human rights
organizations, a culture of corruption existed whereby prisoners whose
families bribed prison authorities received better treatment than
prisoners who could not afford to pay bribes. Regulations permitted
families to provide prisoners with food and other necessities, and
prisoners depended on such outside assistance; however, families often
were compelled to bribe prison officials to be allowed to provide
assistance or to gain access to visit inmates. In 2005 NGOs reported
that 89 prisoners died for lack of food or medication or of disease
contracted or aggravated while incarcerated.
On April 9, prison guards shot and killed one of three inmates who
escaped prison in Kompong Thom Province (see section 1.a.).
On June 11, 12 pretrial detainees charged with murder escaped from
Prey Sar Prison. A prison guard suspected of helping the inmates was
arrested. NGOs blamed the escape on prison authorities' negligence and
corruption.
On June 18, nine inmates and a guard of the prison in Battambang
Province were killed inside the prison when inmates took the guard
hostage and tried to escape (see section 1.a.).
There were reports that officials demanded bribes before releasing
inmates who had served their full jail terms.
In most prisons there was no separation of adult and juvenile
prisoners, of male and female prisoners, or of persons convicted of
serious crimes and persons detained for minor offenses.
The Government generally continued to allow international and
domestic human rights groups to visit prisons and provide human rights
training to prison guards. However, NGOs reported that at times
cooperation from local authorities was limited. Prison monitoring NGOs
complained that beginning in March the Government curtailed their right
to monitor the country's 24 prisons. Battambang prison officials did
not give access to human rights organizations to investigate the
killing of nine inmates who were killed during their attempted June 18
escape. The MOI continued to require that lawyers, human rights
monitors, and other visitors obtain permission prior to visiting
prisoners. The MOI withheld such permission in some politically
sensitive cases. NGOs were not allowed to interview prisoners in
private.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government generally did not respect
these prohibitions. ADHOC reported that 90 persons were illegally
arrested and detained during the year. ADHOC believed that the actual
number of arbitrary arrests and detentions was higher, because some
victims in rural areas did not file complaints due to difficulty in
traveling to the NGO's offices or out of fear for their family's
security. According to ADHOC, police were at fault in more than half of
the cases, and members of the armed forces and military police were
responsible for almost 10 percent; the other cases were committed by
civil servants, local government officials, or officials from the
judiciary. ADHOC's report stated that most illegal detainees were
subsequently freed following detainee complaints, interventions by
human rights NGOs, or payment of bribes. Human rights NGOs noted that
approximately half of the cases were resolved by release of the victim
or payment of compensation to the victim as well as release. The other
cases generally went to court, and the victims were held until the case
was heard by a judge. The report concluded that neither legal nor
disciplinary actions were taken against the persons responsible for the
illegal actions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The General
Commissariat of the National Police, which is under the supervision of
the MOI, manages all civilian police units. The police forces are
divided into those who have the authority to make arrests, those
without such authority, and the judicial police. Military police are
permitted to arrest civilians only when authorized by local
governments.
Police officers acted with impunity, and in most cases the
Government took little or no action. There were reports that police,
prosecutors, investigating judges, and presiding judges received bribes
from owners of illegal businesses.
Police, prosecutors, and judges are required by law to investigate
all complaints, including those of police abuses; however, in practice
judges and prosecutors rarely conducted an investigation prior to a
public trial. The presiding judge passes down the verdict based on
written reports from police and witness testimonies. In general police
received little professional training. Police who failed to prevent or
respond to societal violence were rarely disciplined.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain a warrant
from a prosecutor prior to making an arrest, but police may arrest
without a warrant anyone caught in the act of committing a crime. The
law allows police to take a person into custody and conduct an
investigation for 48 hours, excluding weekends and government holidays,
before charges must be filed; however, authorities routinely held
persons for extended periods before charging them. Many prisoners,
particularly those without legal representation, had no opportunity to
seek release on bail. Accused persons legally are entitled to a lawyer,
but prisoners routinely were held for several days before gaining
access to a lawyer or family members. According to the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), such prolonged detention
largely was a result of the limited capacity of the court system.
Due to the limited ability to interview inmates during the year,
prison monitoring NGOs could not ascertain how many inmates had been
detained longer than the legal six-month pretrial detention period.
LICADHO reported at least 286 inmates had been detained longer than the
six-month limit. In addition, ADHOC reported that at least 40 convicts
were not aware of length of their jail terms; prison authorities
claimed that the judiciary did not tell them the verdicts.
On October 29, six persons from the provinces of Svay Rieng, Siem
Riep, and Kandal were arrested and charged by the Phom Pehn Municipal
Court with conspiracy to commit terrorism. Police alleged that the
suspects were plotting to bomb the annual Water Festival celebrations
in Phnom Penh, which attract an estimated million persons to the city.
However, the lawyer of the accused stated that no warrants were shown
to his clients when they were arrested, nor were they informed of the
charge. The lawyer also stated that the evidence that led to the
arrests had not been presented. Court officials replied that the
investigation was ongoing and evidence would be presented once the
investigation was complete.
CHRAC reported that in Phnom Penh on March 1, Phok Sambath, a
Special Airborne Brigade 911 soldier, was detained on orders of General
Chap Pheakday, the brigade commander, over a property dispute. On March
8, Sambath's family filed a complaint with human rights organizations.
The brigade commander claimed that Sambath was detained for not
reporting to duty. Following his release on April 13, Sambath told
CHRAC investigators that he had quit the military nearly one year
earlier but had not signed any paperwork to that effect; he added that
he had not received a salary during that time. CHRAC concluded that the
property dispute led to the detention, called the detention illegal,
and stated that military officials did not have the authority to judge
civil cases. At year's end the property dispute was in the Phnom Penh
Civil Court awaiting a decision.
In June Team Sangkriem, police commissioner of Preah Vihear
Province, and three police colleagues detained Kong Salath without a
warrant and severely tortured him before releasing him after one day.
The police commissioner was later transferred from his post following a
criminal complaint that an NGO filed with the provincial court. At
year's end the investigation was ongoing, and no legal action had been
taken against the commissioner (see section 1.c.).
On January 4, Pa Nguon Teang, who worked with human rights activist
Kem Sokha, was detained on defamation charges; the Government released
him after two weeks.
On January 11, human rights advocate Yeng Virak, arrested in
December 2005, was freed on bail. On January 17, Pa Nguon Teang and
three prisoners detained in 2005--radio station owner Mam Sonando,
detained in October 2005; labor activist Rong Chhun, also detained in
October 2005; and Kem Sokha, detained on December 31, 2005--were
released and their cases suspended. All had been detained on defamation
charges.
Amnesty.--On February 5, King Norodom Sihamoni granted pardons to
convicted opposition parliamentarians Sam Rainsy, Cheam Channy, and
Chea Poch (see sections 1.e. and 3).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, but the Government did not respect judicial
independence. The courts were subject to influence and interference by
the executive branch, and there was widespread corruption among judges,
prosecutors, and court officials.
The court system consists of lower courts, an appeals court, and a
Supreme Court. The constitution also mandates a Constitutional Council,
which is empowered to review the constitutionality of laws, and a
Supreme Council of the Magistracy, which appoints, oversees, and
disciplines judges. The composition of both councils heavily favored
the CPP.
There is a separate military court system, which suffered from
deficiencies similar to those of the civilian court system. The legal
distinction between the military and civil courts sometimes was ignored
in practice, and civilians have been called for interrogation by
military courts with no apparent jurisdiction in their cases.
On July 3, 17 local and 10 international judges as well as
coprosecutors for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia
(ECCC) were sworn in. On July 21, Ung Choeun, alias Ta Mok, considered
a potential defendant before the tribunal, died at a military hospital
in Phnom Penh; his death was attributed to old age, tuberculosis, and a
history of poor health. Ta Mok, under military detention since 1997,
was a zone secretary, Central and Standing Committee member, and
commander of the South East Regional Army of the Khmer Rouge.
At year's end the ECCC could not begin judicial performance due to
failure to finalize its internal rules. The delay drew increased public
concerns that senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge would die prior to the
beginning of or during the ECCC's mandate.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. Juries are not used; the
presiding judge possesses the authority to pass a verdict. Defendants
have the right to be present and consult with an attorney, confront and
question witnesses against them, and present witnesses and evidence on
their own behalf. If a defendant cannot afford an attorney, the court
is required to provide the defendant with free legal representation;
however, the judiciary lacked the resources to provide legal counsel,
and most defendants sought assistance from NGOs or went without legal
representation. Trials typically were perfunctory, and extensive cross-
examination usually did not take place. Defendants and their attorneys
have the right to examine government-held evidence relevant to their
cases; however, at times it was difficult for them to obtain such
access, especially if the case was political or involved a high-ranking
government official or well-connected member of the elite.
Defendants are entitled by law to the presumption of innocence and
the right of appeal, but due to pervasive corruption, defendants often
were expected to bribe judges to secure a verdict. A citizen's right to
appeal sometimes was limited by difficulty in transferring prisoners
from provincial prisons to the appeals court in Phnom Penh. Many
appeals thus were heard in the absence of the defendant.
A lack of resources, low salaries, and poor training contributed to
a high level of corruption and inefficiency in the judicial branch, and
the Government did not ensure due process. A report released in March
by the Center for Social Development, which monitored nearly 1,000
court cases in one year, indicated that only 15 percent included
witness testimony and 71 percent lasted less than 30 minutes. The
center's report found that access to lawyers increased in felony cases
from 85 percent in 2004 to 97 percent in 2005. Beginning in late 2005,
the President of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court banned all reporters
from staying inside the court compound following a trial; however, such
a ban is not codified in law (see section 2.a.).
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun remained in prison for the murder of
Chea Vichea, following a trial marked by serious irregularities and
condemned by international observers. On October 6, the appeals court
postponed a hearing for the two men. At year's end no date had been set
for the court to hear the appeal.
Judges and prosecutors often had little legal training. Early in
the year, the Royal School for Judges and Prosecutors began preparing a
second group of 55 trainees to become judges and prosecutors.
There remained a critical shortage of trained lawyers, particularly
outside Phnom Penh. Persons without means to secure counsel often were
effectively denied the right to a fair trial. According to the Bar
Association, approximately 30 percent of the country's 300 lawyers were
providing legal counsel to poor persons, although this was inadequate
to cover the legal needs of all of the country's poor. On August 18,
the Association of Lawyers Without Borders signed an agreement with the
Bar Association to fund 24 voluntary lawyers to provide legal services
to the poor in 21 provinces.
Sworn written statements from witnesses and the accused usually
constituted the only evidence presented at trials. The accused person's
statements sometimes were coerced through beatings or threats, and
illiterate defendants often were not informed of the content of written
confessions that they were forced to sign. In cases involving military
personnel, military officers often exerted pressure on judges of
civilian courts to have the defendants released without trial.
Court delays or corrupt practices often allowed accused persons to
escape prosecution. Government officials or members of their families
who committed crimes often enjoyed impunity. At year's end authorities
had taken no legal action in the case of the June 2005 killing of a man
in a house belonging to the family of a provincial police chief.
Although the courts prosecuted some members of the security forces
for human rights abuses, impunity for most of those who committed human
rights abuses remained a problem. In many criminal cases, the rich or
powerful usually paid money to victims and authorities to drop the
criminal charges against them. The authorities were known to urge
victims or their families to accept financial restitution in exchange
for dropping criminal charges (see section 1.a.).
On April 13, a police officer from the Anti-Drug Department and a
military policeman accidentally shot and severely injured
Sovansocheata, a singer in a Phnom Penh karaoke parlor. The officers
paid approximately $3,000 (12.3 million riels) to the injured woman to
settle the criminal case. At year's end neither the local court nor
local police authorities had taken legal action against the two
officers.
On April 26, Major Phat Sophal and Captain Sim Ry, both of Brigade
70, the military unit charged with defense of Phnom Penh in case of
political instability, were arrested by military police in Phnom Penh's
Tuol Kork District shortly after they shot and injured a woman. The two
officers were released hours later when their commander, General Mao
Sophan, intervened. The general subsequently said he punished the two
officers by shaving their heads. At year's end no legal action had been
taken against the two officers.
On July 1, Lim Srey, a worker in a garment factory, was shot and
severely injured by Kuch Panha, a military officer, who was firing at
someone throwing stones at his house. Local authorities arrested the
officer, but he was subsequently freed after paying an undisclosed
amount to the victim.
From November 11 to November 13, three police officers in Siem Riep
Province allegedly raped a 12-year-old girl at a police post. NGOs
helped the girl, who suffered from mental difficulties, file complaints
with the provincial court. The district deputy governor, whose son is
one of the accused, admitted to offering $500 (approximately 2.1
million riels) to the victim's family. The Siem Riep provincial police
applied for arrest warrants for the three suspects, but at year's end
the court had not acted on the request.
On April 21, in the retrial of three judges, two deputy
prosecutors, and two court clerks convicted in December 2005 of
corruption and corruption-related conspiracy, the Battambang Provincial
Court acquitted the seven officials. The prosecutor protested the new
verdicts and filed an appeal. At year's end the appeal was pending at
the appeals court. On June 4, the Supreme Council of Magistracy
reappointed five of the seven officials to their judicial posts and
dismissed one judge and one prosecutor.
At year's end the appeals court had taken no action in the March
2005 land eviction case in which more than 100 government security
agents killed five persons and injured eight others in the village of
Kbal Spean. According to NGOs, victims' families accepted the
Government's offer that returned some of the disputed land with land
titles to the families.
The Judicial Reform Council made no significant progress in
fulfilling its mandate to develop and implement reform measures. In
2005 the Government, in cooperation with legal experts from donor
countries, completed draft laws of the criminal and civil codes and
began reviewing them. During the year further action was held up by
government efforts to harmonize all the draft legislation.
Human rights groups continued to report that the Government
demonstrated its control of the courts by ordering the rearrest of
suspects released either by the courts or through extrajudicial
processes. Judges cited examples of interference from high-ranking
officials tasking them to make rulings in line with political
priorities.
Lawyers also noted that some police and prison officials, in
violation of the law and with apparent support from other government
officials, denied them the right to meet prisoners in private or for
adequate lengths of time.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
On February 5, opposition member of Parliament (MP) Cheam Channy,
convicted in August 2005 of organizing a shadow army and fraud, was
released from prison following a pardon by the King upon the Prime
Minister's request. The National Assembly also reinstated his
parliamentary immunity.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has a
judiciary in civil matters, and citizens are entitled to bring lawsuits
seeking damages for human rights violations. Generally, there are both
administrative and judicial remedies. However, the judiciary was
generally viewed as corrupt, politically biased, and weak, and persons
seldom filed complaints because they did not trust the judicial system.
The public was especially distrusting of the judiciary to act in a
transparent manner when a case was in conflict with the Government.
Enforcing a domestic court order was often problematic. Persons
occasionally turned to violence because of their lack of trust in the
courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for the privacy of residence and
correspondence and prohibits illegal searches; however, police
routinely conducted searches and seizures without warrants.
Due to the forced collectivization during Khmer Rouge rule and the
return of thousands of refugees, land ownership often was unclear, and
most landowners lacked adequate formal documentation of ownership.
Following the end of the Khmer Rouge insurgency, a rush to gain
possession of lands near potentially lucrative cross-border trade
routes exacerbated the ownership problem. Widespread land speculation
fueled disputes and increased tensions between poor rural communities
and wealthy speculators. The Cadastral Commission, established in 2002
to settle disputes over land that had not been registered or where an
owner had not been given a land certificate, continued to perform its
functions slowly. The courts under the Ministry of Justice remained
responsible for resolving disputes in cases where land had been
registered or disputants had been given land titles. On March 15, the
National Authority for Resolving Land Disputes was established to
adjudicate land cases, but it proved ineffective.
Problems of inhabitants being forced to relocate continued to occur
when powerful officials or businessmen colluded with local authorities.
Some persons also used the court system to intimidate the poor and
vulnerable into exchanging their land for meager compensation. One NGO
reported receiving 124 land-related cases in Phnom Penh and 12 other
provinces affecting a total number of 15,274 persons during the year.
Another NGO reported 460 cases of land disputes during the same period
that pitted individuals against local authorities and private
businesses. The poor often had no legal documents to support their land
claims and lacked faith in the judicial system due to the corruption
within the judiciary. Some of those expelled successfully contested
these actions in court, but the majority lost their cases.
On January 5, a provincial court ordered the arrest and detention
of two persons representing the Ekkareach commune in Ratanakiri
Province in a case that involved 108 families and the ownership of more
than 494 acres. Khet Sokhai, who claimed to own the 494 acres,
initially obtained 148 acres from villagers in 1996 but did not develop
the land for several years. In 2004 Sokhai started clearing the
surrounding land, where villagers lived and cultivated crops. The
villagers protested and filed a complaint with the Cadastral
Commission, which took no action. In late 2005 Sokhai filed a complaint
with a Ratanakiri court accusing two villagers of obstructing his land-
clearing activities. The men were arrested but later released. In early
January the Ratanakiri Court judge jailed two other villagers but later
released them. Villagers went to Phnom Penh to seek intervention from
the National Assembly and the Prime Minister's Office. The National
Assembly ordered the local authorities to take action to resolve the
problem in the villagers favor. The local authorities reportedly
ignored this order, and the attempt to obtain the land continued. An
NGO reported that ownership of the land was later transferred from
Sokhai to another individual named Piset. Villagers gave in to the
intimidation and threats and agreed to accept $3,000 (approximately
12.6 million riels) in compensation. On July 5, the provincial court
ruled that the land be handed to the new owner, which the villagers
willingly accepted.
On February 11, approximately 200 villagers of Ratanakiri's Pateh
Commune gathered in front of the Commune Office to protest the
confiscation of their land by a private company allegedly owned by a
sister of the minister of economics and finance. According to an NGO
report, the sister came to the area in 2004 trying to buy land from the
villagers. At first she used persuasion, but later she reportedly used
threats and intimidation with the help of local authorities. Facing the
choice of losing their land without compensation or receiving some
small payment, the villagers agreed to sell approximately 124 acres.
After a drinking party, villagers thumb-printed a document to sell 124
acres of their communal land; none of the villagers read the contract,
which in reality stipulated 1,236 in lieu of the agreed 124 acres. The
villagers filed complaints with an NGO's assistance, but the Ratanakiri
Provincial Court took no action.
On May 30, Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to redistribute 494,210
acres of land to 50,000 disenfranchised farmers in Sihanoukville. He
stated that the plan would involve taking the land from rich and
powerful officials and transferring it to the poor and landless farmers
as social land concessions. However, at year's end no land had been
redistributed.
At year's end the appeals court had taken no action in a land
dispute resulting in the March 2005 mass eviction in the village of
Kbal Spean that resulted in the deaths of five villagers and injuries
to several others (see section 1.e.).
At year's end the MOI had taken no action regarding a 2005 land
dispute involving indigenous Phnong hill tribe members in Mondulkiri
Province and a Chinese company. In August tribal representatives asked
the MOI to demarcate the land in question and cede it to the indigenous
community.
There were no developments in the 2004 land dispute involving
villagers in Pursat and Kompong Chnnang provinces and the Pheapimex
Company.
Land disputes were so prevalent that they no longer affected only
the poor and minority groups. Son Chhay, an outspoken SRP lawmaker, was
embroiled in a land dispute with the Apsara Authority, a government
agency, over 7.8 acres of land that he purchased in the 1990s in Siem
Riep. Earmarking the land for a planned Culture and Tourism City, the
Apsara Authority filed a case with the Siem Riep Provincial Court
demanding the lawmaker abide by a compulsory order to sell his land for
approximately $20,000 (84 million riels). The lawmaker demanded the
much higher market price of the land and requested that the Apsara
Authority prove that the land would be used for public good. On
December 18, the Siem Riep Provincial Court ruled in favor of the
Apsara Authority and ordered Son Chhay to sell his land at the price
stipulated by the compulsory order. At year's end the parliamentarian
said he planned to appeal the decision.
Forced evictions became an increasing occurrence in Phnom Penh, and
land disputes and evictions became more violent. During the year a
local NGO reported the arrest of, or charges against, 126 persons
related to land confiscation or forced evictions. Out of these cases,
117 persons were released, and nine were in detention.
In June more than 1,200 families of the Tonle Basac's Sambok Chab
community were moved to relocation sites more than 20 kilometers from
Phnom Penh. Three persons, including a journalist, involved in a
protest against the forceful eviction were arrested and charged with
incitement and destruction of public property. Another group of
approximately 200 families in the vicinity was also targeted for
eviction.
During the June eviction of Sambok Chap residents, local
authorities injured an 11-year-old girl and a pregnant woman while
destroying their makeshift tent. Enraged villagers rioted and destroyed
the buildings used as the village chief's office and attempted to kill
the security officer who caused the injuries. Four individuals,
including a journalist, were arrested and charged with incitement and
destruction of public property. On November 30, the Phnom Penh
Municipal Court sentenced the journalist and two other men to two
years' imprisonment for destroying public property. The defense lawyers
called the verdict unjust and said they would appeal.
In early June approximately 2,000 squatters confronted police
officers who were forcing them to leave government-owned land in Kampot
Province. The confrontation led to the destruction of wooden bridges
connecting the disputed area with the only road providing access to the
area. The squatters, who were villagers from other provinces, flocked
to Kampot's Chhouk District to stake claims, hoping to sell the land
later for profit. Six individuals were arrested for inciting persons to
stake land in the area. Another person was arrested later for
involvement in the case, and the court sought to arrest five others. On
November 28, the Kampot Provincial Court convicted the twelve persons,
including the five in absentia, and sentenced three of them to eight
years and the remainder to six years in prison for deforestation and
staking claims to state-owned land. NGOs representing the defendants
appealed the case.
On July 5, MOI forces evicted more than 168 families living near
the Preah Monivong Hospital in Phnom Penh. One woman was injured while
clashing with police officers. Most of the residents, some of whom were
government officials, had lived in the area since 1988. Families of
police officers received $1,300 (5.46 million riels) for relocation,
while other families received $500 (2.1 million riels). In addition to
the monetary compensation, each relocated family received a small plot
almost 22 miles from Phnom Penh. Infrastructure, including water and
electricity, schools, hospitals, and markets, was lacking at the
relocation site.
Early in the year, three of the five families remaining in Koh
Pich, a small island in the Tonle Bassac River, agreed to move with
compensation of $12 (50,400 riels) per square meter. The last two
families demanded the market value of $25 (105,000 riels) per square
meter for their land. In August the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ordered
the villagers to accept the municipality's offer. The families refused
and planned to appeal the court's decision. At year's end the appeal
court had taken no action in the case.
On August 7, more than 200 villagers from Kandal Province's Ang
Snoul District clashed with police officers who blocked them from
entering the city to protest a land dispute in their community.
Approximately 30 persons were injured; some needed medical treatment
for their injuries. Police reportedly used tear gas and electric batons
and fired into the air to stop the villagers.
Two land disputes in Prey Veng Province's Peam Chor District
resulted in one death and injuries to four others. The first dispute
involved 119 acres of land affecting 53 families. On December 14,
during a protest staged by villagers against the confiscation of their
land, local officials shot and killed a 17-year-old boy. Police did not
arrest those responsible for the killing; however, the provincial court
charged eight villagers involved in the dispute with robbery. On
December 5, local authorities injured two other villagers over the same
dispute. On November 26, in a separate dispute, a police officer shot
two villagers. The offender reportedly escaped.
Another high profile land dispute case in Koh Kong Province led to
the suspicious death of one man and injuries to a woman. In August 400
families in Koh Kong's Sre Ambel District protested the Ministry of
Agriculture's concessions of two adjacent 24,700-acre plots to two
companies owned by businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat. According
to law, the maximum concession cannot exceed 24,700 acres. When the
company started bulldozing the land for a sugarcane plantation,
affecting the villagers' crops and orchards, the villagers protested,
demanding that the company cease its operations and negotiate fair
compensation. The company agreed to compensate only those villagers who
could prove legal ownership and then forced some persons to accept
meager compensation ranging from approximately $35 to $71 (150,000 to
300,000 riels). NGOs pointed out that although many villagers did not
have land titles, they had lived there since the fall of the Khmer
Rouge, which under the law made them the owners of the land. On
December 15, a villager active in the confrontation was found dead from
axe wounds. Police said the death was unrelated to the land dispute. In
September security guards and police shot a woman in the foot during a
protest by villagers.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, these rights were not
always respected in practice. The Government used the weak and often
politically biased judiciary to file defamation and disinformation
suits to intimidate and silence antigovernment critics and outspoken
civil society leaders. Most reporters and editors privately admitted to
some self-censorship due to fear of government reprisal. The
constitution implicitly limits free speech by requiring that it not
adversely affect public security. The constitution also declares that
the King is ``inviolable.''
On January 17, the Government provisionally released four political
detainees being held on defamation charges: radio journalist and
Beehive/FM 105 owner Mam Sonando, labor leader Rong Chhun, Cambodian
Center for Human Rights (CCHR) President Kem Sokha, and CCHR employee
Pa Nguon Teang (see section 1.d.). While defamation charges were not
formally dropped against these individuals or against others who had
fled the country to avoid arrest on defamation charges--including
royalist politician Prince Sisowath Thomico and Cambodian Watchdog
Council members Man Nath, Ear Channa, and Chea Mony--the Government did
not pursue prosecution.
In August government authorities in Battambang Province confiscated
digital video discs (DVDs) with images that appeared to contradict
official police reports that nine prisoners killed themselves and a
hostage with a hand grenade in a June prison standoff, but the DVDs
remained readily available in Phnom Penh and other areas of the country
(see section 1.a.). An MOI spokesperson stated that the ministry hoped
to arrest the filmmaker and try him for compromising national security,
but at year's end no arrest had been made.
At the end of August, the National Assembly passed legislation that
many interpreted to limit the right of MPs to speak freely. The new law
declares that MPs may not use their parliamentary immunity to abuse
national security, social customs, or an individual's honor. In
addition, the law allows an MP to be arrested, charged, and detained
prior to the lifting of parliamentary immunity. At year's end no MP had
been charged under the new law.
The 1995 press law provides journalists with a number of rights,
including a prohibition on prepublication censorship and protection
from imprisonment for expressing opinions. However, the Government
continued to use the older UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia
(UNTAC) law to prosecute journalists and others on criminal defamation
charges rather than the 1995 press law, which treats defamation as a
civil matter. In May the National Assembly amended the UNTAC law to
eliminate imprisonment as a penalty for defamation, but judges can
still order large fines, which many citizens cannot afford to pay.
Furthermore, UNTAC Article 62, which covers the crime of
disinformation, continues to include prison sentences of up to three
years.
The Government and influential individuals used defamation suits,
both civil and criminal, as well as charges of disinformation in an
effort to silence critics. In June Prime Minister Hun Sen's nephew, Hun
To, filed a civil defamation lawsuit against You Saravuth, editor-in-
chief of the opposition newspaper Sralanh Khmer (Khmer Love) for
alleging that Hun To was involved in illegal land seizures. In July
senior FUNCINPEC official Prince Norodom Chakrapong filed a civil
defamation suit against the same newspaper for reporting on the
prince's activities in the early 1990s. In September the editor of
opposition newspaper Moneakseka Khmer (Khmer Conscience) was convicted
in absentia for disinformation for accusing Deputy Prime Minister Sok
An of corruption and was ordered to pay approximately $2,000 (8.4
million riels) in fines and $2,500 (10.5 million riels) in compensation
to Sok An. Also in September Julio Jeldres, the official biographer for
retired King Norodom Sihanouk, was convicted in absentia for defaming
Prime Minister Hun Sen in a private e-mail that was published in the
local press as a public statement. Jeldres was ordered to pay
approximately $2,000 (8.4 million riels) in fines and $2,500 (10.5
million riels) in compensation to the Prime Minister.
Journalists were also subject to other forms of harassment and
intimidation, including death threats. In the defamation case involving
Hun To and You Saravuth, You filed a countersuit against Hun To for
alleged death threats and subsequently fled to a third country, where
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) granted him asylum
status. In September television journalist Soy Sopheap received an
anonymous death threat after the Prime Minister criticized Soy's
popular television ``newspaper reading show,'' and station managers
removed the show from the air. In June a journalist with the newspaper
Samrek Yutekthor (Scream for Justice) was detained and charged with
destruction of public and private property. In an August 14 letter to
King Norodom Sihamoni, the Prime Minister refused to release the jailed
journalist, claiming that the reporter had committed criminal acts by
injuring policemen and inciting the burning of a local village office
during the attempted eviction of residents from the Tonle Bassac area
(see section 1.f.). There were also several instances in which
government officials seized film and cameras from journalists or
deleted digital photos, often linked to reporting on illegal logging or
forced land evictions.
All major political parties had reasonable and regular access to
the print media. Although the press law does not specifically permit
newspapers to receive financial support from political parties, in
general newspapers were aligned politically. Major newspapers that
published in the Khmer language received support from various political
parties. There were an estimated 20 Khmer-language newspapers published
regularly; more than half were considered pro-CPP, and at least two
newspapers were considered to support each of the other main political
parties--FUNCINPEC, the SRP, and the Norodom Ranariddh Party. Although
the three largest circulation newspapers were considered pro-CPP, most
newspapers criticized the Government frequently, particularly with
respect to corruption. Prime Minister Hun Sen and former FUNCINPEC
President Prince Norodom Ranariddh frequently came under strong attack
by opposition newspapers.
The Government, military forces, and ruling political party
continued to dominate the broadcast media and influence the content of
broadcasts. There were seven television stations, all controlled or
strongly influenced by the CPP. According to a 2001 report by the
UNHCHR, the procedures for licensing and allocation of radio and
television frequencies to the media were not impartial. Since 2003 the
Ministry of Information has refused to grant new broadcast licenses in
Phnom Penh, claiming that the Phnom Penh media market was saturated.
This policy affected principally the SRP and independent human rights
advocacy groups aligned with the opposition seeking to open new radio
and television stations. However, in September the Ministry of
Information and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization signed an agreement to establish a Kroeng-language radio
station in Ratanakiri Province, with the area's minority ethnic groups
being the target audience.
Despite being unable to obtain a broadcast license, the CCHR-
produced Voice of Democracy radio program, which included independent
and often antigovernment views, remained extremely popular and
continued broadcasting its program on the SRP-aligned radio station FM
93.5. Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) Khmer-language
programming was also regularly broadcast on Beehive/FM 105, and the
Women's Media Center signed a contract in September to broadcast VOA
and RFA programs on its FM 102 radio station.
The government-controlled national television and radio stations
broadcast taped sessions of National Assembly debates; however, in
several instances these broadcasts were censored. National radio and
television stations regularly broadcast some human rights, social
action, public health, education, and civil society programming
produced by domestic NGOs.
The Government continued to restrict media access to government
facilities. Although the constitution mandates media access to National
Assembly sessions, the National Assembly continued to ban reporters
from entering its grounds without authorization from the Assembly's
secretary general, due to limited space in the meeting hall. Reporters
have not been given free access to the courts since the October 2005
Penh Municipal Court order requiring reporters to obtain permission to
interview court officials and written permission for journalists to
bring recording devices into the courtroom. On July 7, the Council of
Ministers issued a directive prohibiting government officials and
employees from speaking to the media or the public about government
corruption.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. The Internet was widely available through Internet cafes and home
subscriptions in urban areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--In general there were no
legal impediments to academic freedom. However, scholars tended to be
careful when teaching politically related subjects for fear of
offending politicians. In September the Secretariat of the Ministry of
Religions and Cults ordered the removal of Tieng Narith as a professor
at the Buddhist University of the Royal Academy of Preah Sihanouk
Reach. The Government claimed that Tieng, without approval from his
supervisors, developed a classroom text that contained inaccuracies
about the country's history and inappropriately accused government
officials of crimes such as corruption and political assassinations.
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court subsequently charged the professor with
disinformation and detained him. His family claimed that he was
mentally ill; however, the results of a court-ordered psychiatric
examination were not made available to the court or the public. At
year's end Tieng remained in detention awaiting trial.
There were no government restrictions on cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of peaceful assembly,
but the Government did not respect this right in practice. The
Government required that a permit be obtained in advance of a march or
demonstration. The Government routinely did not issue permits to groups
critical of the ruling party. The Government cited the 2003 anti-Thai
riots, the need for stability, and public security as reasons for
denying permits. Police forcibly dispersed groups that assembled
without a permit, often resulting in minor injuries to some
demonstrators.
ADHOC reported that during the year police and military police
dispersed 46 protests, 11 of which were by labor protesters and 35 by
land protesters. Twenty-one land protesters were convicted, and 27
workers were subject to investigations. ADHOC added that 12 workers
resigned from their factory jobs due to their security concern. The
report noted that authorities frequently used criminal charges as a
tool to arrest protesters.
Civil society groups noted that authorities used violence and
excessive force to disperse protesters. On August 7, on the outskirts
of Phnom Penh, antiriot police used fired tear gas and electric batons
while firing automatic rifles into the air to disperse 200 land
protesters from Kandal Province who were attempting to march to the
National Assembly to ask for the release of their representative, who
had been arrested as part of the dispute.
The Phnom Penh Municipality denied permission to the Kampuchea Krom
community to demonstrate against the March 6 visit of Vietnamese Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai. The municipal authorities stated that they were
concerned about public order, security, and national dignity. The
community had planned to demand that the Government of Vietnam respect
human rights and freedom for ethnic Khmers in southern Vietnam.
Phnom Penh Municipal authorities denied a permit to labor unions
for a May 1 rally in a public area to observe International Labor Day.
The unions proceeded to march without a permit (see section 6.b.). On
August 1, armed police broke up a gathering of 50 protesters demanding
the release of the two men convicted of murdering labor union leader
Chea Vichea in 2004 (see section 1.a.).
On August 18, in a nationwide directive to Buddhist monks, the
Supreme Patriarch banned all monks from joining a strike, protest, or
insurrection of any form without a permit from the Supreme Patriarch
himself.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the Government did not enforce effectively the
freedom of association provisions of the labor law (see section 6.a.).
The Government did not coerce or forbid membership in political
organizations. Political parties normally were able to conduct their
activities freely and without government interference. On February 6,
opposition MPs Sam Rainsy, Cheam Channy, and Chea Poch were pardoned
and regained their parliamentary immunity.
Human rights organizations reported that some local authorities
warned members of certain political parties that if they continued to
support those parties, they would face a loss of residency rights,
confiscation of property, and a ban on using local infrastructure.
However, during the year there were no reports that such acts occurred.
Membership in the Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country from 1975 to
1979 and after its overthrow conducted an armed insurgency against the
Government, is illegal, as is membership in an armed group.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The constitution also prohibits discrimination based on
religion, and minority religions experienced little or no official
discrimination. Buddhism is the state religion, and more than 93
percent of the population was Buddhist. Ethnic Cham Muslims constituted
most of the remaining population.
The law requires all religious groups, including Buddhists, to
submit applications to the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs to
construct places of worship and conduct religious activities. However,
there is no penalty for failing to register. In 2003 the Ministry of
Cults and Religions issued an order prohibiting public proselytizing,
but the order was enforced only during the two-hour lunch period.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religions experienced
little or no societal discrimination. There was no known Jewish
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Government placed no restrictions on foreign travel. The
Government also did not restrict emigration or the return of citizens
who had left the country.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status, and the country is a signatory of the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
however, in practice the Government did not consistently respect the
law and has not implemented legislation pertaining to the 1951 UN
convention.
A human rights NGO based in Ratanakiri Province reported that in
August six Montagnards seeking asylum in the province were arrested and
deported to Vietnam without UNHCR review.
On May 27, Ratanakiri provincial authorities found the body of an
eight-year-old Montagnard girl in the Sesan River and returned it to
Vietnamese authorities. An NGO reported the body was that of one of
five Montagnards missing since May 25 when Vietnam's border authority
chased them and fired at them when they crossed a border stream to seek
asylum. However, a UNHCR investigation indicated that the refugees were
crossing in an overcrowded boat that overturned and the young girl
could not swim.
On August 25, police in Mondulkiri Province arrested two teenagers
of Phnong minority. The police, who were searching for Montagnards
reportedly hiding in the jungle, accused the two teenagers of providing
food to Montagnards. The police released the teenagers after one day.
On December 4, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced ethnic
Khmer Krom Vietnamese citizen Lam Huyen to three months in prison; he
was arrested on September 6 for guiding Montagnard asylum seekers to
Cambodia. UNHCR and UNHCHR intervention prevented his deportation to
Vietnam.
A human rights NGO claimed that local authorities at the border
with Vietnam increased their search for Montagnards when Vietnamese
authorities informed them about new arrivals of Montagnards. There were
unconfirmed reports that Vietnamese authorities offered incentive
awards to Cambodian border police who returned Vietnamese refugees to
Vietnam and that Vietnamese secret police were active on the Cambodian
side of the border.
A memorandum of understanding that the country signed in January
2005 with the UNHCR and the Government of Vietnam to resolve the
situation of Montagnards under UNHCR protection in Phnom Penh remained
the operating framework for the UNHCR in the country. However, a human
rights NGO based in Ratanakiri Province reported that in August six
Montagnards seeking asylum were arrested and deported to Vietnam
without UNHCR review.
Asylum seekers who reached the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh were
processed with government cooperation. During the year there were 277
new arrivals seeking asylum with the UNHCR. Of this number, 30 persons
were later identified as Cambodians. According to the UNHCR,
authorities deported 28 rejected Montagnard asylum seekers to Vietnam.
On December 6, 43 Montagnard refugees departed for a third country. At
year's end there were 235 Montagnards in refugee sites in Phnom Penh,
which included 78 refugees who arrived in previous years.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens generally exercised this right in
practice through periodic elections on the basis of universal suffrage.
Suffrage is voluntary for all citizens above the age of 18.
During the year the National Assembly approved a constitutional
amendment, later ratified by the Senate and the King, that changed the
electoral majority needed to form a government from two-thirds of the
National Assembly seats to a simple majority, which gave the CPP
further control over the legislative process.
Elections and Political Participation.--On January 22, the first
elections for the Senate were held to elect 57 of 61 total senators.
Parties and individuals were free to be candidates without
restrictions. By an indirect nongeneral system in which
parliamentarians and elected members of communal councils were eligible
to vote, the CPP won 45 seats, FUNCINPEC 10, and the SRP two. In
addition, two senators were appointed by the King and two others by the
National Assembly. The elections were conducted peacefully but drew
criticism from civil society for the indirect selection process.
Previously, political parties in the National Assembly and the King
appointed all members of the Senate.
The National Election Committee (NEC) was scheduled to hold
communal council elections on April 1, 2007. During the registration of
eligible voters and candidates prior to year's end, election monitoring
NGOs were concerned about increasing violence and intimidation
committed against political party activists and citizens. The NGOs
noted that a number of persons in Takeo Province were forced to take an
oath to become CPP members. At year's end NGOs had recorded at least 12
cases of obstruction to SRP and NGO education activities. The NGOs and
SRP found many irregularities during the distribution of voter
information notes and registration of candidates for the communal
elections. Most complaints centered on the NEC's delegation to the
mostly CPP-affiliated village chiefs the crucial task of providing each
voter with an updated information card containing the voter's personal
registration information. Voters had only a short amount of time to
update incorrect information or risk being turned away on election day.
Some village chiefs reportedly did not provide the cards to the voters
from the nonruling parties.
From May to July, the largely CPP-dominated commune councils
selected village chiefs through an indirect election process criticized
by civil society as unrepresentative and geared towards maintaining
CPP-control at the grassroots level. The Government argued that direct
elections would be too expensive and that the village chiefs have no
political role: Their position centered on traditional roles as
conflict mediators and authorizers of birth certificates and other
public documents issued by the commune councils. Despite their
purported apolitical role, the NEC announced in July that village
chiefs would assume responsibility for the distribution of over six
million voter information cards as well as informing unregistered
voters regarding the registration process. One NGO found that
approximately 1.7 million eligible voters did not receive voting
information from their village chiefs.
In the most recent National Assembly elections, held in 2003, the
CPP won 73 seats, FUNCINPEC 26, and the SRP 24. In 2004 the CPP and
FUNCINPEC formed a nominal coalition government, but the CPP dominated
the Government. All election observer groups noted improvements in the
elections but concluded they fell short of international standards.
Politically motivated violence was a problem, but it was less than
during previous elections. The Government took action against only some
alleged perpetrators and addressed other misconduct inconsistently.
Technical problems with the registration process and preparation of
voter lists effectively disenfranchised many citizens in the elections.
There also were incidents of voter intimidation by local officials. The
NEC failed to establish a credible process to resolve election
complaints. The appointment of NEC members by the MOI was not
transparent and left the NEC open to charges of political influence by
the ruling CPP.
During the 2003 elections there were improvements in media access
for registered parties, and open political debate and multiparty
debates were televised nationally for the first time; however,
electronic media coverage heavily favored the ruling CPP.
Some NGOs and political parties alleged that membership in the
dominant CPP party provided advantages, such as gifts or access to
government emergency aid.
In 2002 the Government held its first nationwide commune, local-
level elections. During the election campaign period, NGOs reported 25
FUNCINPEC and SRP activists and candidates were killed under suspicious
circumstances, including seven killings that human rights monitoring
organizations agreed were politically motivated. The election results
loosened the CPP's long hold on local governance. CPP commune chiefs
remained in 99 percent of the 1,621 communes; however, as a result of
the elections, power was shared with other parties in all but 148
communes. At year's end the MOI had not issued instructions for elected
commune councils to implement the Commune Administration Law describing
the power, duties, and functions of the councils.
Following a political compromise between the ruling party and the
SRP, King Norodom Sihamoni granted pardons in February to Sam Rainsy
and Cheam Channy; Chea Poch's charges were dropped. Subsequently, the
National Assembly voted to restore their immunity and parliamentary
status. Sam Rainsy returned from abroad on February 10.
On August 18, the Supreme Patriarch of Buddhism cancelled a 2002
ban that prohibited Buddhist monks from voting. However, in November he
warned monks against participating in any mass political movement
critical of the Government.
Traditional culture limited the role of women in government;
however, women took an active part in the 2003 elections. The number of
women in the National Assembly, Senate, and senior government positions
increased. There were 22 women in the 123-seat National Assembly, nine
women in the 61-seat Senate, and 24 women working as ministers,
secretaries of state, undersecretaries of state, and NEC officials.
Women also served as advisors, and there were 14 female judges at the
municipal, provincial, and appeals court levels. After the 2002 local
elections, women held 933 (8.3 percent) of the 11,261 commune council
seats.
Minorities also took part in the Government. There were four
members of minorities--two Cham and two tribal--in the National
Assembly. There also were six members of minorities--two Cham, two
tribal, and two Thai--in the Senate. At least eight officials in senior
positions in the Government were from minority groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was considered
endemic and extended throughout all segments of society, including the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Public
perception of corruption was widespread. Meager salaries contributed to
``survival corruption'' among low-level public servants, while a
culture of impunity enabled corruption to flourish among senior
officials. In January 2005 the Prime Minister instructed the Ministry
of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection to prepare a draft
anticorruption law. At year's end the draft was pending at the Council
of Ministers. The Prime Minister claimed that the draft law needed to
be harmonized with the criminal procedures code.
In June the World Bank announced that an audit revealed corruption
in World Bank-funded projects worth $68.4 million. The bank ordered a
halt to the projects and demanded the repayment of $7.6 million for
misprocurement. The Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and
Inspection, the body responsible for probing corruption, started an
investigation that led to the arrest of a director general of the
Ministry of Rural Development. On December 1, the Phnom Penh Municipal
Court released the arrested official on bail, citing lack of evidence.
The August 2005 National Archives Law allows unlimited access to
informational documents in the public archive. However, the law grants
access to other unspecified government documents only after 20 years,
and documents affecting national security and preservation of personal
lives would be released after 40 and 120 years, respectively. In
practice the Government occasionally denied access to information,
citing reasons of confidentiality or national security.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The Government
generally cooperated with human rights workers in performing their
investigations; however, there were numerous reports of lack of
cooperation or even intimidation by local authorities throughout the
country.
There were approximately 40 NGOs involved in human rights
activities, but only a small portion of them were actively involved in
organizing training programs or investigating abuses.
On March 15, upon request from NGOs, the Government ordered the
release of 18 persons who had been arrested or detained for having
connection with land disputes since late 2005.
While the central government generally was cooperative, human
rights NGOs faced a variety of threats and harassment from local
officials. These took the form of restrictions on gatherings sponsored
by NGOs, verbal intimidation, threats of legal action, bureaucratic
obstruction, and other acts of interference. During the year ADHOC
reported seven instances in which their activists and investigators
were detained or impeded in their work or intimidated by local
authorities. In addition, the Government did not provide full
cooperation with NGOs investigating the March killings of inmates in
the Battambang prison.
On May 22, a forest patrol team from the Wild Aid Organization and
the Ministry of Environment in Koh Kong Province's Mondul Seima
District briefly detained an ADHOC activist and destroyed film in her
camera after she had attempted to photograph a confrontation between
villagers and the patrol team. She filed a complaint with a prosecutor
of the provincial court a few days following the incident. The
prosecutor opened an investigation of the case but at year's end had
not issued a decision.
In May monitors from ADHOC, LICADHO, and CCHR were detained and
threatened at gunpoint by military police in Kampot Province while
investigating a land dispute. In another case, LICADHO reported that
unidentified armed forces threatened human rights monitors from two
local NGOs at gunpoint and kicked one in the stomach while they were
monitoring a land dispute in Mondulkiri Province.
Unlike in 2005, there were no credible threats against local NGO
staff providing shelter to trafficked victims and conducting
antitrafficking advocacy and investigations.
During the year UNHCHR conducted activities related to human rights
and the judiciary, and it maintained its headquarters in Phnom Penh and
a regional office in Battambang. The UN special representative for
human rights in Cambodia undertook his second mission in March
following his appointment in November 2005. In a public statement on
March 28, he emphasized the need for an independent and strong
judiciary to help root out the problem of impunity for deeply rooted
serious human rights abuses in the country. He also noted
disappointment that the Government had not disclosed information on
concessions of natural resources and noted that the information on land
concessions fell short of expectations.
The Cambodian Human Rights Committee, which the Government
established in 1998, remained largely inactive. The committee did not
have regular meetings or a transparent operating process.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex,
color, or language; however, the Government did not generally protect
these rights.
Women.--The law prohibits rape and assault; however, local and
international NGOs reported that violence against women, including
domestic violence and rape, was common. The domestic violence law,
passed in 2005, criminalizes domestic violence but does not
specifically set out penalties. However, article 41 of the UNTAC Law on
Battery and Injury can be used to penalize domestic violence offenses,
with penalties ranging from two months to five years' imprisonment.
Rape is a criminal offense and punishable by a prison sentence of
between five and 10 years, according to article 33 of the UNTAC law.
Spousal rape and domestic abuse are not recognized as separate crimes.
A case of spousal rape could be prosecuted as ``rape,'' ``causing
injury,'' or ``indecent assault,'' but such charges were rare.
According to an NGO that worked in three provinces, there were 827
cases of domestic violence, six of which resulted in death. During the
year the MOI's antitrafficking department investigated 614 cases of
violence against women and children, resulting in the arrest of 670
perpetrators and rescue of 784 victims. Of the 670 arrests, 477 were
for rape and attempted rape. Fourteen cases of rape resulted in the
death of the victims. During the year a legal advocacy NGO reported
representing 417 cases of violence against women and children,
including trafficking, domestic violence, and rape. Of the 417 cases,
166 were tried during the year, of which 114 resulted in convictions.
Defendants in the other cases were acquitted either for lack of
evidence or because the victims withdrew their complaints. The number
of cases likely underreported the scope of the problem, due to
ineffective enforcement and the fact that women were afraid to make
complaints against perpetrators. Despite the passage of the 2005
domestic violence law, NGOs reported that authorities continued to
avoid involvement in domestic disputes and victims frequently were
reluctant to pursue formal complaints.
Prostitution is prohibited constitutionally; however, there is no
specific legislation against working as a prostitute. Trafficking in
women for the purpose of prostitution was a serious problem, despite
laws against procuring and kidnapping for purposes of sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking). There were reports that
police abused prostitutes. Despite sporadic crackdowns on brothel
operators in Phnom Penh, prostitution and related trafficking
persisted. Estimates of the number of working prostitutes ranged from
14,725 to 18,250. Sex tourism was a problem, fueled by pervasive
poverty and the perception of impunity.
The labor law has provisions against sexual harassment in the
workplace, and the International Labor Organization reported that
sexual harassment in the industrial sector was rare. However, a 2005
NGO study conducted on women working in the beer promotion industry
reported widespread harassment.
A large number of NGOs provided training for poor and vulnerable
women that addressed social problems such as spousal abuse,
prostitution, and trafficking. A local media center produced and
broadcast programming on women's issues. NGOs provided shelters for
many women in crisis.
The constitution contains explicit language providing for equal
rights for women, equal pay for equal work, and equal status in
marriage. In practice women had equal property rights, the same legal
status to bring divorce proceedings, and equal access to education and
some jobs; however, cultural traditions continued to limit the ability
of women to reach senior positions in business and other areas. Women
often were concentrated in low-paying jobs and largely were excluded
from management positions. Men made up the vast majority of the
military, police, and civil service.
The Ministry of Women's Affairs, mandated to protect the rights of
women and promote gender equality in society, continued its Neary
Ratanak (Women as Precious Gems) program. The program aimed to improve
the image of women through gender mainstreaming, enhanced participation
of women in economic and political life, and protection of women's
rights. Demographic trends and a history of conflict have resulted in
increasing female participation in the labor force. In 2004 women made
up an estimated 54 percent of agricultural workers, 51 percent of
industrial work force, and 46 percent of service sector workers.
Children.--The constitution provides for children's rights, and the
Government made the welfare of children a specific goal. The Government
relied on international aid to fund most child social welfare programs,
resulting in only modest funds for problems that affect children.
Children were affected adversely by an inadequate education system.
Education was free, but not compulsory, through grade nine. Many
children either left school to help their families in subsistence
agriculture, began school at a late age, or did not attend school at
all. A 2005 Ministry of Education report stated that 91 percent of
eligible children were enrolled in primary school but only 26 percent
of eligible students attended junior high and 9 percent attended high
school. Despite an extensive school construction program, schools were
overcrowded and lacked sufficient equipment. In rural areas, schools
often provided only a few years of education. According to ministry
data, 46 percent of schools lacked drinking water, and 37 percent had
no toilets. Teachers' salaries were irregularly paid and inadequate to
support a decent standard of living, leading to demands for unofficial
payments from parents, which the poorest families could not afford. The
Government did not deny girls equal access to education; however,
families with limited resources often gave priority to educating boys.
In many areas, schools were remote and transportation was a major
problem. This especially affected girls because of safety concerns in
traveling between their homes and schools.
Children frequently suffered from malnutrition, and the health care
system was inadequate. According to the Demographic and Health Survey
2005 Preliminary Report, infant mortality was estimated at 65 per
1,000. It was also estimated that the child mortality rate was 19 per
1,000.
Child abuse was believed to be common, although no statistics were
available. A domestic NGO estimated that more than 1,200 street
children in Phnom Penh had no relationship with their families and more
than 10,000 children worked on the streets but returned to their family
homes in the evenings. An estimated 500 to 1,500 children lived with
their families on the streets in provincial towns. A local NGO reported
a monthly intake of approximately 60 street children into its shelter
for vocational and literacy training. The NGO reported observing 80 to
100 new children on the streets every month. The Ministry of Social
Affairs and Youth Rehabilitations (MOSAVY) provided lower statistics,
reporting 3,084 street children nationwide in 2005.
Child rape remained a serious problem; a local NGO reported 206
cases of rape committed on persons under the age of 18, five of which
resulted in death. During the year 21 cases of rape involving children
below five years of age were reported; five of the victims were as
young as three.
Sexual intercourse with a person under age 15 is illegal; however,
child prostitution and trafficking in children occurred (see section 5,
Trafficking). The first five-year program against child sexual
exploitation, which ended in 2005, emphasized prevention through
information dissemination and protection by law enforcement (see
section 5, Trafficking). The MOI reported the arrests of 12 foreign
pedophiles during the year.
The illegal purchase and sale of children for prostitution was a
problem. During the year raids on brothels rescued underage girls who
were trafficked for prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem in the informal sector of the economy
(see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the country was a source, destination, and transit country for
men, women, and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor.
A 2003 study estimated the number of trafficking victims in the sex
industry to be 2,000 victims, approximately 80 percent of whom were
Vietnamese women and girls. Some Vietnamese women and girls were
trafficked through the country for exploitation in the commercial sex
trade in other Asian countries.
Children were trafficked to Thailand and Vietnam for begging,
soliciting, street vending, and flower selling. The children frequently
were placed into debt bondage to beg or sell, or they formed part of
organized begging rings even when there was no debt or economic
hardship involved. A MOSAVY study found that 76 percent of trafficked
persons returned from Thailand came from families who owned land, 93
percent owned their own house and had no debt on the land or house, and
47 percent stated that their mother was the facilitator. There was an
increase in the trafficking of women to Malaysia to work in the sex
industry.
Trafficking victims, especially those trafficked for sexual
exploitation, faced the risk of contracting sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV/AIDS. In some cases victims were detained and
physically and mentally abused by traffickers, brothel owners, and
clients.
Local traffickers covered specific small geographic areas and acted
as middlemen for larger trafficking networks. Organized crime groups,
employment agencies, and marriage brokers were believed to have some
degree of involvement. Traffickers used a variety of methods to acquire
victims. In many cases victims were lured by promises of legitimate
employment. In other cases acquaintances, friends, and family members
sold the victims or received payment for helping deceive them. Young
children, the majority of them girls, were often ``pledged'' as
collateral for loans by desperately poor parents; the children were
responsible for repaying the loan and the accumulating interest.
The law establishes a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years for a
person convicted of trafficking in persons under 15 years of age; the
penalty is 10 to 15 years for trafficking persons age 15 or older.
According to the MOI, during the year police investigated 614 cases of
violence against women and children, including child sexual
exploitation, rape, debauchery, and human trafficking; the
investigations resulted in the arrest of 670 offenders, of whom 65 were
arrested for cross border and domestic trafficking. A legal advocacy
NGO brought 24 trafficking cases to court, of which nine went to trial.
Convictions were obtained in six cases, with sentences ranging from
three to 20 years' imprisonment and civil compensation issued to
victims ranging from approximately $715 to $950 (three million to four
million riel).
While the Government increased arrests and prosecutions of
traffickers and continued its support for prevention and protection
programs through collaboration with foreign and domestic NGOs and
international organizations, its antitrafficking efforts continued to
be hampered by reports of corruption and a weak judicial system. It was
widely believed that some law enforcement and other government
officials received bribes that facilitated the sex trade and
trafficking in persons.
In August the Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted three police
officers for trafficking-related corruption committed in 2005, gave
them sentences of five to seven years in prison, and ordered the return
of $9,000 (37.8 million riel) extorted from brothel owners in Kampong
Speu Province. One of the convicted officers began serving his
sentence, but the MOI stated that the other two officers would have to
be formally removed from their positions before they were arrested and
made to serve jail terms.
In January Meng Say, chief of the Phnom Penh antitrafficking unit,
was suspended for extorting money from South Korean nationals. In
August he was detained on extortion charges and at year's end was
awaiting trial.
The MOSAVY referred trafficking victims to NGOs, which provided
most assistance to the victims. The Government participated as a
partner in a number of these efforts; however, its contributions were
severely hampered by limited resources. Some victims were encouraged by
NGOs and the MOI to file complaints against perpetrators; however, in
the general climate of impunity, victim protection was problematic, and
victims were known to be intimidated into abandoning their cases. The
MOSAVY and NGOs reported that during the year 366 trafficking victims,
beggars, and porters, the majority (more than 70 percent) of whom were
children, were reintegrated into their communities.
Several government ministries were active in combating trafficking.
There was a Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile
Protection, and mechanisms existed for monitoring and reporting on
child sexual exploitation. There also were specialized MOI
antitrafficking divisions in all provinces and municipalities.
MOSAVY worked with the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) to repatriate trafficked victims from Thailand and Vietnam to
Cambodia, and from Cambodia to Vietnam. However, repatriation to
Vietnam continued to be a long and arduous process. The MOSAVY also
worked with the United Nations Children's Fund and local NGOs to manage
community-based networks aimed at preventing trafficking.
During the year the MOSAVY repatriated from Thailand and Vietnam
1,273 children, victims, and those vulnerable to becoming victims and
reintegrated them with their families. With financial and technical
support from IOM, MOSAVY repatriated four trafficked Vietnamese girls
to Vietnam.
In 2005 NGOs worked with the Ministry of Women's Affairs to
repatriate 23 victims of sex trafficking from Malaysia, bringing to 40
the number of repatriated victims from Malaysia since 2003. The MOI,
with help from the Ministry of Women's Affairs, was conducting an
investigation into the trafficking of women and girls to Malaysia for
prostitution. Although the Ministry of Women's Affairs had no
statistics concerning victims of trafficking from Malaysia during the
year, a local NGO reported that 33 trafficking victims from Malaysia
returned; however, it was not known if they were victims of sex
trafficking or labor trafficking.
The trafficking law contains no provisions to protect foreign
victims from being charged under the country's immigration laws, but
during the year there were no reported cases of trafficking victims
being treated as illegal immigrants.
In each of the provinces and municipalities, there existed
specialized antitrafficking and juvenile protection divisions, which
raided a number of brothels and rescued numerous victims, including
underage workers. The Government provided most rescued victims with
protection and worked with NGOs either to reunite the victims with
their families or place them in a shelter. Trafficking victims,
especially those exploited sexually, faced societal discrimination,
particularly in their home villages and within their own families, as a
result of having been trafficked.
During the year the owner and the managers of a notorious Phnom
Penh hotel and their accomplices, arrested in September 2005 for
trafficking, were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of four to
five years.
The Government used posters, television, radio, and traditional
local theater to raise public awareness of human trafficking. The
Ministry of Women's Affairs, in conjunction with IOM, continued its
major information campaign to raise awareness of trafficking in persons
and safe migration until September, when the project with IOM ended.
On May 6, the Government and the other five member states of the
Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking met in
Phnom Penh and agreed to approve the plan of action developed in March
2005 in Hanoi.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law explicitly prohibiting
discrimination against persons with disabilities. The Government does
not require that buildings or government services be accessible to
persons with disabilities. The Government prohibits persons with even
minor disabilities from being teachers in public schools.
According to a 1999 survey, there were 170,000 persons with
disabilities, including 24,000 persons missing at least one limb and
6,744 persons missing more than one limb. Disability due to landmines
accounted for 11.5 percent of persons with disabilities, while
disability due to congenital problems and disease accounted for 53
percent.
Programs administered by various NGOs brought about substantial
improvements in the treatment and rehabilitation of persons who had
lost limbs, but they faced considerable societal discrimination,
especially in obtaining skilled employment.
There are no legal limitations on the rights of persons with
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs, but the
Government did not make any concerted effort to assist them in becoming
more civically engaged. The Rehabilitation Department of the MOSAVY is
responsible for making policy to protect the rights of persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The rights of minorities under
the 1996 nationality law are not explicit; constitutional protections
are extended only to ``Khmer people.'' Citizens of Chinese and
Vietnamese ethnicity constituted the largest ethnic minorities. Ethnic
Chinese citizens were accepted in society, but animosity continued
toward ethnic Vietnamese, who were seen as a threat to the nation and
culture. Some groups continued to make strong anti-Vietnamese
statements. They complained of political control of the CPP by the
Vietnamese government, border encroachment, and other problems for
which they held ethnic Vietnamese at least partially responsible.
Indigenous People.--The Government often ignored efforts by
indigenous communities to protect their ancestral lands and natural
resources. In spite of the 2001 land law, which calls for the
registration of communal lands of indigenous people, little was done to
implement communal land titling. NGOs called for a moratorium on land
sales and land concessions affecting indigenous communities.
International and local NGOs were active in educating the
indigenous communities about their land rights and providing legal
representation in disputes.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal discrimination
against those infected with HIV/AIDS remained a problem in rural areas;
however, discrimination was moderated by HIV/AIDS awareness programs.
There was no official discrimination against those infected with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The labor law provides workers with
the right to form professional organizations of their choosing without
prior authorization, and private sector workers in the formal economy
are free to join the trade union of their choice. However, the
Government's enforcement of these rights was selective. Membership in
trade unions or employee associations is not compulsory, and workers
are free to withdraw from such organizations, although a few unions
attempted to intimidate workers who wanted to withdraw. Unions may
affiliate freely, but the law does not address explicitly their right
to affiliate internationally. While the law applies to foreign workers,
it does not apply to civil servants, including teachers, judges, and
military personnel, or to workers in the informal sector. Personnel in
the air and maritime transportation industries are not entitled to the
full protections of the law but are free to form unions.
Most workers were subsistence rice farmers, and although there was
an expanding service sector, most urban workers were engaged in small-
scale commerce, self-employed skilled labor, or unskilled day labor.
Only a small fraction (estimated at less than 1 percent) of the labor
force was unionized, and the nascent trade union movement was weak but
growing stronger. Unions suffered from a lack of resources, training,
and experience. Unions were concentrated in the garment and footwear
industries, where approximately 40 to 50 percent of the 333,144 workers
were union members. The Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers
Federation, formed in 2003, represented more than 3,757 hotel, casino,
and airport workers.
Due to prohibitions against public sector employees forming unions,
the Cambodia Independent Teachers Association (CITA) was registered as
an ``association'' and represented 8,000 members in 18 provinces and
municipalities. CITA experienced less interference from local
provincial authorities than in previous years but still faced
significant restrictions. For example, marches and other protests were
often forbidden. Another public sector association, the Cambodian
Independent Civil Servants' Association (CICA), represented more than
250 members from ministries, provincial departments, and commune
councils throughout the country. Many civil servants feared that they
would be subject to harassment or demotion if they joined CICA, leading
to a low number of official members.
The law requires unions and employer organizations to file a
charter and list of officers with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational
Training (MOLVT). The MOLVT had registered 1,026 factory unions, 26
national labor federations, and four national confederations (alliances
of several like-minded federations) since the law went into effect in
1997, including 193 unions and two federations during the year. Some
unions and federations complained of unnecessary delays and costs in
the registration process. In June the MOLVT refused to register the
Cambodian Labor Confederation, the first cross-sector union
confederation, on the grounds that constituent associations
representing civil servants and informal sector workers could not be
registered as part of a union confederation. Although all unions
collected dues from members, none was able to operate without outside
sources of financial support.
Of the 30 national labor federations, 24 were allied with the
Government, including 11 that were part of the progovernment Cambodian
Confederation of Trade Unions (CCTU). The remaining five federations
were independent of government ties; one of them had pro-opposition
leanings or support. There was credible evidence of management
involvement in some labor unions. In some factories, management
appeared to have established their own unions, supported promanagement
unions, or compromised union leaders. Independent union leaders
complained that the CCTU frequently intervened in the affairs of other
unions, extorted money from management in exchange for discouraging
workers from conducting legal strikes and demonstrations, and
threatened rival union leaders. There were also widespread complaints
that the Khmer Youth Federation of Trade Unions habitually threatened
strikes to extort money from management.
Enforcement of the right of association and freedom from antiunion
discrimination was poor. The Government's enforcement efforts were
further hampered by a lack of political will and by confused financial
and political relationships with employers and union leaders. The
Government also suffered from a lack of resources, including trained,
experienced labor inspectors, in part because it did not pay staff
adequate salaries. The MOLVT often decided in favor of employees but
rarely used its legal authority to penalize employers who defied its
orders.
During the year there were credible reports of antiunion harassment
by employers, including the dismissal of union leaders, in garment
factories and other enterprises. Employers sometimes relied on the
courts to dismiss or punish union leaders. In three cases, union
leaders were charged with inciting workers to strike and destroying
private property. On several occasions, dismissed union leaders
accepted cash settlements after unsuccessfully appealing to the
Government to enforce laws requiring their reinstatement. At other
times, the Government upheld labor rights. For example, during the year
the MOLVT formally warned 902 companies of legal violations, fined 19
companies, and sued 17 companies on behalf of workers. During the same
period the MOLVT sent 75 cases of unresolved labor disputes to the
Arbitration Council for arbitration.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively, but the
Government's enforcement of these rights was inconsistent. Wages were
set by market forces, except in the case of civil servants, whose wages
were set by the Government.
Since passage of the 1997 labor law, there has been confusion about
the overlapping roles of labor unions and elected shop stewards. In
2000 the MOLVT issued a regulation that gave trade union leaders roles
comparable to those of shop stewards and extended protection from
dismissal to certain union officers within an enterprise; however,
these protections for union leaders were not always respected by
employers.
During the year there were 13 collective bargaining agreements
registered with the MOLVT; most were conciliation agreements that did
not meet international collective bargaining standards. Only five
genuine collective bargaining agreements existed within the garment
industry. These agreements provided additional health and welfare
provisions such as extra sick leave and maternity leave, factory clinic
upgrades, and union-controlled welfare funds.
A 2001 regulation established procedures to allow unions to
demonstrate that they represent workers for purposes of collective
bargaining. The regulation also established requirements for employers
and unions regarding collective bargaining and provided union leaders
with additional protection from dismissal. The Bureau of Labor
Relations facilitated the process of union registration and
certification of ``most representative status'' for unions, which
entitled a union representing an absolute majority of workers in a
given enterprise to represent all of the workers in that establishment.
The MOLVT granted most representative status to 11 unions during the
year. Unions that applied for this status but had not received it
complained of unnecessary bureaucratic delays.
The law provides for the right to strike and protects strikers from
reprisal. The law stipulates that strikes can be held only after
several requirements have been met, including the failure of other
methods of dispute resolution (such as negotiation, conciliation, and
arbitration), a secret ballot vote of union membership, and a seven-day
advance notice to the employer and Ministry of Labor.
There was a significant increase in labor unrest from February to
June, leading to an unprecedented number of working days lost to
strikes in the garment industry. The MOLVT reported that 103 strikes
occurred during the year, nearly all of which violated prestrike legal
requirements. Union leaders, in contrast, maintained that twice as many
strikes had actually taken place. However, several unions admitted
their strikes were not in compliance with legal procedures. Other
unions complained that a severe lack of MOLVT involvement led to an
unprecedented increase in industrial strikes from February to June.
The Government allowed most strikes held at factories but denied
worker requests to hold protest marches outside of the factory
district. Police intervention in strikes generally was minimal and
restrained, even in those cases where property damage occurred. Police
presence at the few marches that occurred tended to be excessive and
often included a specialized police intervention unit.
On January 22, approximately 300 union and nongovernment
organization workers defied a municipal government ban and held a march
commemorating the second anniversary of the assassination of union
leader Chea Vichea. The march was peaceful, and there was no police
interference.
On May 1, police detained Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea
Mony and two of his colleagues as they attempted to lead more than
1,000 workers in a Labor Day march. When word of their release came two
hours later, fellow union leader Rong Chhun led the workers in a
peaceful march. However, there were reports of police interference and
violence in other parts of the city. Police reportedly blocked major
roads into Phnom Penh early in the morning in an effort to prevent
workers from entering the city. In addition, there were also many
unconfirmed reports of isolated clashes between workers and police
across the city, including allegations that police used electric batons
and water cannons to subdue workers.
On June 20, approximately 200 riot police officers forcibly broke
up a march involving more than 1,500 workers protesting the illegal
suspension of a union leader and urging a garment factory to comply
with an Arbitration Council award. Four protesters were seriously
injured, and 15 more protesters sustained minor injuries.
On August 7, three factory-level union leaders affiliated with FTU
were convicted of charges of illegal human confinement, marking the
first time that union leaders were convicted of felony charges. The
workers, who had been imprisoned since July 3, were sentenced to one
month and four days in prison and a three-year suspended jail term with
five years' probation. While the strike and subsequent worker blockade
of the factory were both illegal, no evidence emerged to support
allegations that managers were detained inside the factory.
At year's end the case of three Federation Union of Solidarity
leaders arrested in May 2005 on charges of extorting money from a
garment factory was pending.
On October 16, workers at Bright Sky garment factory in Phnom Penh
staged an illegal strike stemming from a dispute over short-term work
contracts. As the strike threatened to become violent, riot police
moved in to suppress the unrest. One female worker from a neighboring
garment factory was shot in the abdomen as she walked home after work,
and several Bright Sky workers alleged that they were beaten by police.
Police denied involvement in the shooting or beatings, claiming that
they only fired their weapons into the air and did not assault any
workers. Two workers were arrested but later released. A week after the
incident, the factory ended night shift production and dismissed the
entire night shift, arguing that night shift workers were behind the
October 16 disturbance and had been provoking labor unrest.
In spite of legal provisions protecting strikers from reprisals,
there were credible reports that workers were dismissed on spurious
grounds after organizing or participating in strikes. In some cases
strikers were pressured by employers to accept compensation and leave
their employment. There are potential remedies for such dismissals,
although none was particularly effective. The MOLVT can issue
reinstatement orders, but these often provoked management efforts to
pressure workers into resigning in exchange for a settlement.
Collective disputes, such as when multiple employees are dismissed, can
be brought before the Arbitration Council for a nonbinding decision.
Individual disputes can be bought before the court.
In September and October, 17 garment sector unions--representing
essentially all of the country's unionized garment workers--overcame
longstanding rivalries to negotiate collectively with the Garment
Manufacturers Association of Cambodia. Negotiations, which centered on
raising the minimum wage, progressed slowly with neither side willing
or able to compromise significantly. On October 19, the day before the
last scheduled negotiating session, the Government called a meeting of
the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), a tripartite group with probusiness
and progovernment leanings. The LAC approved a government plan to
increase the minimum wage by $5 (21,000 riels) per month effective
January 1, 2007. Independent labor observers were disappointed by the
Government action, as they had hoped for a compromise independent of
the LAC.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including forced labor by children, but the
Government did not enforce its provisions adequately. Involuntary
overtime remained widespread. Under the law, legal overtime work cannot
exceed two hours daily and must be voluntary; however, in practice
overtime was often extended beyond the legal limit, and employers used
coercion to force employees to work. Workers often faced fines,
dismissal, or loss of premium pay if they refused to work overtime.
There also were reports of isolated cases of forced labor by
domestic servants.
Forced child labor was a serious problem in the commercial sex
industry (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government has adopted laws to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace; however, enforcement was often weak. The law establishes
15 years as the minimum age for employment and 18 years as the minimum
age for hazardous work. The law permits children between 12 and 15 to
engage in ``light work'' that is not hazardous to their health and does
not affect school attendance.
No aspect of the law prohibiting child labor was adequately
enforced in the formal employment sector. No employer was prosecuted
for violating laws against child labor. MOLVT has responsibility for
child labor issues in both the formal and informal sectors of the
economy, but its labor inspectors played no role in the informal sector
or in enforcing the law in illegal industries. Within the formal
sector, labor inspectors conducted routine inspections of some
industries, such as garment manufacturing (where the incidence of child
labor is negligible), but in some industries with the highest child
labor risk, labor inspections were entirely complaint-driven.
Of children between ages five and 17, 53 percent were employed;
one-third of these children were older than 14. Approximately 71
percent of them worked in agricultural, farming, or forestry
activities; 21 percent in sales or service; and 7 percent in production
work.
The constitution prohibits forced or bonded child labor; however,
forced child labor was a serious problem in the commercial sex industry
(see section 5). Law enforcement agencies failed to combat child
prostitution in a sustained, consistent manner. Widespread corruption,
lack of transparency, inadequate resources, and staffing shortages
remained the most challenging obstacles.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires the MOLVT to
establish minimum wages based on recommendations from the Labor
Advisory Committee. The minimum wage was raised from $45 to $50
(189,000 to 210,000 riels) per month. This amount, which applied only
to garment and footwear factories, was generally respected during the
year. There was no minimum wage for any other industry.
Garment workers earned an average wage of $70 to $80 (294,000 to
336,000 riels) per month, including overtime and bonuses. Prevailing
monthly wages in the garment sector and many other professions were
insufficient to provide a worker and family with a decent standard of
living. Civil service salaries also were insufficient to provide a
decent standard of living, requiring government officials to secure
outside sources of income, in many cases by obtaining second jobs or
collecting bribes.
The law provides for a standard legal workweek of 48 hours, not to
exceed eight hours per day. The law stipulates time-and-a-half for
overtime and double time if overtime occurs at night, on Sunday, or on
a holiday; however, the Government did not enforce these standards
effectively. Workers in many garment factories reported that overtime
was excessive or involuntary or that they were required to work seven
days per week. Similarly, outside the garment industry, regulations on
working hours were rarely enforced.
The law states that the workplace should have health and safety
standards adequate to ensure workers' well-being. The Government
enforced existing standards selectively, in part because it lacked
trained staff and equipment. Work-related injuries and health problems
were common. Most large garment factories producing for markets in
developed countries met relatively high health and safety standards as
conditions of their contracts with buyers. Working conditions in some
small-scale factories and cottage industries were poor and often did
not meet international standards. Penalties are specified in the law,
but there are no specific provisions to protect workers who complain
about unsafe or unhealthy conditions. Workers who removed themselves
from unsafe working conditions risked loss of employment.
__________
CHINA
The People's Republic of China (PRC) is an authoritarian state in
which, as specified in its constitution, the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) is the paramount source of power. Party members hold almost all
top government, police, and military positions. Ultimate authority
rests with the 24-member political bureau (Politburo) of the CCP and
its nine-member standing committee. General Secretary Hu Jintao holds
the three most powerful positions as CCP general secretary, President,
and chairman of the Central Military Commission. The party's authority
rested primarily on the Government's ability to maintain social
stability; appeals to nationalism and patriotism; party control of
personnel, media, and the security apparatus; and continued improvement
in the living standards of most of the country's 1.3 billion citizens.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
Although the constitution asserts that ``the state respects and
preserves human rights,'' the Government's human rights record remained
poor, and in certain areas deteriorated. There were an increased number
of high-profile cases involving the monitoring, harassment, detention,
arrest, and imprisonment of journalists, writers, activists, and
defense lawyers, many of whom were seeking to exercise their rights
under law. The Government tightened restrictions on freedom of speech
and the press, including stricter control and censorship of the
Internet. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), both local and
international, continued to face increased scrutiny and restrictions.
As in previous years, citizens did not have the right to change their
government. Other serious human rights abuses included instances of
extrajudicial killings; torture and coerced confessions of prisoners;
and the use of forced labor, including prison labor. Legal reforms
continued to stall, as the party and state exercised strict political
control of courts and judges, and maintained closed trials and
administrative detention. Executions often took place on the day of
conviction or immediately after the denial of an appeal. A lack of due
process and new restrictions on lawyers further limited progress toward
rule of law. Individuals and groups, especially those considered
politically sensitive, continued to face tight restrictions on their
freedom to assemble; their freedom to practice religion, including
strengthened enforcement of religious affairs regulations implemented
in 2005; and their freedom to travel. The Government continued its
coercive birth limitation policy, in some cases resulting in forced
abortion and sterilization.
The Government failed to adequately protect refugees, and the
forced repatriation of North Koreans continued to be a grave problem.
Serious social conditions that affected human rights included endemic
corruption, trafficking in persons, and discrimination against women,
minorities, and persons with disabilities. The Government continued its
severe cultural and religious repression of minorities in Tibetan areas
and Xinjiang; in Xinjiang, trials and executions of Uighurs charged
with separatism continued.
The Government continued to pursue some criminal and judicial
reforms. China's highest court, the Supreme People's Court (SPC), began
implementing new appellate procedures for hearing death penalty cases
and took concrete steps towards reclaiming the death penalty review
power from provincial courts. In July the Supreme People's
Procuratorate (SPP) issued new regulations that detail criteria for
prosecuting official abuses of power, and clarified that police are
accountable when they use torture to coerce confessions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year
politically motivated and other arbitrary and unlawful killings
occurred, although no official statistics on deaths in custody were
available.
On September 30, People's Armed Police at the Nangpa La pass fired
at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans attempting to cross into Nepal,
killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and wounding others (see Tibet
Addendum).
In December 2005 police shot and killed at least three protesters
in Dongzhou Village, Guangdong Province. Villagers claimed that as many
as 20 villagers were shot and killed by paramilitary riot police, with
approximately 40 others missing. The Government said the shooting
occurred after protesters threw explosives at police and claimed that
three protesters were killed. On May 24, 13 villagers from Dongzhou
were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to seven years for
alleged crimes during the protest. Four government officials were given
internal warnings, but only the deputy director of the local Public
Security Bureau (PSB) was removed from his position.
Trials involving capital offenses sometimes took place under
circumstances involving severe lack of due process and with no
meaningful appeal. Some executions took place on the day of conviction
or failed appeal. In past years executions of Uighurs whom authorities
accused of separatism, but which some observers claimed were
politically motivated, were reported (see sections 1.e. and 5). The
Government regarded the number of death sentences it carried out as a
state secret. However, in March 2004 a National People's Congress (NPC)
deputy asserted that nearly 10,000 cases per year ``result in immediate
execution,'' a figure SPC and Ministry of Justice officials stated was
exaggerated. Foreign experts estimated that the country executed
between 5,000 and 12,000 persons each year. Media reports stated that
approximately 10 percent of executions were for economic crimes,
especially corruption. The SPC began implementing new appellate
procedures requiring it to review all death sentences, thus
consolidating and reclaiming the death penalty review power from
provincial courts. The SPC and SPP issued a joint interpretation to
establish specific guidelines for how local courts and procuratorates
should handle death penalty appeals. The SPC added three new tribunals
to conduct reviews of death sentences and hired hundreds of personnel
to staff the new tribunals, but at year's end it had not begun
exercising its reclaimed review authority. The SPC has not issued a
judicial interpretation to settle unresolved issues in the death
penalty review process and to clarify its own procedures for final
review (see section 1.e.).
b. Disappearance.--Tsewangnorbu, a Web master for a Web site run by
the Snow Country Tibetans, was not heard from after Gansu Province
security authorities shut down the Web site in March 2005, according to
NGOs. His whereabouts remained unknown. In October Shi Xiaoyu was
reportedly detained in Zhejiang Province after writing about labor
disputes online. His status remained unknown. Shanghai petitioner Chen
Xiaoming was detained by police in February, and his whereabouts remain
unknown.
At year's end the Government had not provided a comprehensive,
credible accounting of all those killed, missing, or detained in
connection with the violent suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen
demonstrations.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law forbids prison guards from extorting confessions
by torture, insulting prisoners' dignity, and beating or encouraging
others to beat prisoners. However, police and other elements of the
security apparatus employed widespread torture and degrading treatment
when dealing with some detainees and prisoners. UN Rapporteur on
Torture Manfred Nowak's March report to the UN Commission on Human
Rights blamed the prevalence of torture on institutional weakness and
lack of judicial independence in a system that pressures police to
solve cases and allows them wide discretion in matters of arrest and
detention.
Former detainees credibly reported that officials used electric
shocks, beatings, shackles, and other forms of abuse. In January four
teenagers from Anhui Province were released from custody. Media reports
said authorities were investigating three police officers on suspicion
of using torture to coerce false confessions from the teenagers. Public
security officials acknowledged that the teenagers' cases were
mishandled. In June authorities charged Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar
Abdurehim, three of Uighur businesswomen Rebiya Kadeer's sons, with
state security and economic crimes. Authorities beat Alim and Ablikim,
and Alim confessed to the charges against him after reportedly being
tortured. In October 2005 Falun Gong adherents Liu Boyang and Wang
Shuohui of Changchun, Jilin Province reportedly died in custody after
being tortured by police. Beijing-based petitioner leader Ye Guozhu was
reportedly tortured and abused in prison, including beatings with
electric batons, suspension from the ceiling by his arms, and shackled
and forced to sit in extreme positions for extended periods of time.
Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada was also reportedly tortured.
Approximately half of all alleged acts of torture occurred in pretrial
criminal detention centers or reeducation-through-labor centers.
In February the Ministry of Justice established punishments for
prison and reeducation-through-labor police who beat, or induce others
to beat, prisoners.
In March UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reaffirmed earlier findings
that torture remained widespread. Nowak reported that beatings with
fists, sticks, and electric batons continued to be the most common
tortures. He also found that prisoners continued to suffer cigarette
burns, prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and submersion in
water or sewage, and that they were made to hold extreme positions for
long periods, were denied medical treatment, and were forced to do hard
labor. Death row inmates were shackled or handcuffed 24 hours per day
and systematically abused to break their will and force confession.
According to Nowak, officials specifically targeted house church
groups, Falun Gong adherents, Tibetans, and Uighur prisoners for abuse.
Nowak found that procedural and substantive measures to prevent torture
were inadequate.
Since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, estimates of the
numbers of Falun Gong adherents who died in custody due to torture,
abuse, and neglect ranged from several hundred to a few thousand (see
section 2.c.). UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported in March that Falun
Gong practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged
torture while in government custody.
The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) began audio and video taping
of police interrogations in homicide and organized crime cases in an
attempt to prevent coerced confessions. In May the Government concluded
a campaign to curb coerced confessions. The campaign exposed 3,700
cases of official abuse and resulted in 1,924 prosecutions and 1,450
convictions.
On November 29, the PSB punished 100 alleged prostitutes and their
procurers in an act of public shaming in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Officials paraded the women in front of jeering crowds, revealed their
names and alleged crimes over a loudspeaker, and then sentenced them to
administrative detention without trial. According to reports, the
purpose of this campaign was to dissuade women from turning to
prostitution and intimidate men who patronized brothels.
Sexual and physical abuse and extortion were reported in some
detention centers. Falun Gong activists reported that police raped
female practitioners, including an incident in November 2005 at the
Dongchengfang police station in Tunzhou City, Hebei Province, in which
two women were raped while in detention.
According to foreign researchers, the country had 20 ankang
institutions (high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally
insane) directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security.
Persons committed to these institutions had no mechanism for objecting
to public security officials' determinations of mental illness. Some
dissidents, persistent petitioners, and others were housed with
mentally ill patients in these institutions. Patients in these
hospitals were reportedly given medicine against their will and
forcibly subjected to electric shock treatment. The regulations for
committing a person into an ankang psychiatric facility were not clear.
Credible reports indicated that a number of political and trade union
activists, underground religious believers, persons who repeatedly
petitioned the Government, members of the banned China Democratic
Party, and Falun Gong adherents were incarcerated in such facilities
during the year. These included Wang Miaogen, Wang Chanhao, Pan
Zhiming, and Li Da, who were reportedly held in an ankang facility run
by the Shanghai PSB. Activists sentenced to administrative detention
also reported they were strapped to beds or other devices for days at a
time, beaten, forcibly injected or fed medications, and denied food and
use of toilet facilities.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The Ministry of Justice
administered more than 700 prisons with a population of more than 1.8
million inmates, according to 2005 official statistics. In addition, 30
jails for juveniles held approximately 22,000 juvenile offenders. The
country also operated hundreds of administrative detention centers,
which were run by security ministries and administered separately from
the formal court system (see section 2.d.).
Conditions in penal institutions for both political prisoners and
common criminals generally were harsh and degrading. Prisoners and
detainees often were kept in overcrowded conditions with poor
sanitation. Prison capacity was an increasing problem in some areas.
Food often was inadequate and of poor quality, and many detainees
relied on supplemental food and medicines provided by relatives; some
prominent dissidents were not allowed to receive such goods.
During the year new reports from overseas medical and legal experts
asserted that the Government harvested organs from executed prisoners
without consent. At least one formal complaint was filed with the
Government by a family alleging that their executed son's organs were
harvested before the body was returned to the family for burial. In
July 2005 Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu confirmed that the
majority of organs used in transplants in the country come from
executed prisoners. A Ministry of Health directive prohibits buying and
selling human organs and tissues and requires that organ donations from
deceased individuals be ``handled according to society's ethical and
moral principles.'' However, new regulations that went into effect in
July focus on organ trade, which refers to persons voluntarily selling
their organs, a practice rare in China, but leave intact old provisions
that legalize organ harvesting if no one claims the body for burial.
Critics also assert that the regulations apply to Ministry of Health
hospitals but not military hospitals, where it is alleged that
transplants for foreigners were conducted.
Adequate, timely medical care for prisoners remained a serious
problem, despite official assurances that prisoners have the right to
prompt medical treatment. Labor activist Xiao Yunliang remained in
prison in very poor health. Other prisoners with health concerns
included democracy activists Qin Yongmin, Hua Di, Wang Sen, and He
Depu; Internet writers Yang Zili and Luo Yongzhang; labor activists Hu
Shigen and Zhang Shanguang; Inner Mongolian activist Hada; foreign
residents Yang Jianli and Wang Bingzhang; and religious prisoners Zhang
Rongliang, Liu Fenggang, and Gong Shengliang.
Acknowledging guilt was a precondition for receiving certain prison
privileges, including the ability to purchase outside food, make
telephone calls, and receive family visits. Prison officials often
denied privileges to those, including political prisoners, who refused
to acknowledge guilt.
Conditions in administrative detention facilities, such as
reeducation-through-labor camps, were similar to those in prisons.
Beating deaths occurred in administrative detention and reeducation-
through-labor facilities.
The law requires juveniles to be held separately from adults,
unless facilities are insufficient. In practice, children sometimes
were held with adult prisoners and required to work (see sections 1.d.
and 6.c.). Political prisoners were segregated from each other and
placed with common criminals, who sometimes beat political prisoners at
the instigation of guards. Newly arrived prisoners or those who refused
to acknowledge committing crimes were particularly vulnerable to
beatings.
The Government generally did not permit independent monitoring of
prisons or reeducation-through-labor camps, and prisoners remained
inaccessible to most international human rights organizations. In July
2005 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) opened a
regional delegation in Beijing, although the Government did not grant
the ICRC access to prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention
remained serious problems. The law permits police and security
authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging them.
Because the Government tightly controlled information, it was
impossible to determine accurately the total number of persons
subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. According to 2005 official
statistics, 500,000 persons were held in 310 reeducation-through-labor
camps. In 2004, special administrative detention facilities held more
than 350,000 offenders. The Government also confined some Falun Gong
adherents, petitioners, labor activists, and others to psychiatric
hospitals.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security apparatus
is made up of the Ministries of State Security and Public Security, the
People's Armed Police, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and the
state judicial, procuratorial, and penal systems. The Ministries of
State Security and Public Security were responsible for internal
security. SPP and SPC officials admitted that courts and prosecutors
often deferred to the security ministries on policy matters and
individual cases. The PLA was responsible for external security, but
also had some domestic security responsibilities.
The MPS coordinates the country's law enforcement, which is
administratively organized into local, county, provincial, and
specialized police agencies. Recent efforts have been made to
strengthen historically weak regulation and management of law
enforcement agencies; however, judicial oversight was limited, and
checks and balances were absent. Corruption at the local level was
widespread. Police officers reportedly coerced victims, took
individuals into custody without just cause, arbitrarily collected fees
from individuals charged with crimes, and mentally and physically
abused victims and perpetrators.
The SPP acknowledged continuing widespread abuse in law
enforcement. In July the SPP issued new standards for prosecuting
official abuses of power. Domestic news media reported the convictions
of several public security officials who had beaten to death suspects
or prisoners in their custody. Nonetheless, investigation of misconduct
typically only came in response to publicity, public pressure, and
persistent efforts by relatives of victims to petition the Government.
In July an SPP spokesperson said there were many abuse of power cases
that the procuratorates did not dare handle.
Arrest and Detention.--Public security organs do not require court-
approved warrants to detain suspects under their administrative
detention powers. After detention, the procuracy can approve formal
arrest without court approval. The courts, the procuracy, and public
security organs grant bail only in a small minority of cases. Access to
lawyers is limited before formal charges are filed, and lawyers
generally cannot discuss the substance of a detainee's case with the
detainee before formal charges are filed.
Administrative detention was frequently used to intimidate
political activists and prevent public demonstrations (see section
2.b.). The Government was reforming its administrative punishment
system, but reforms seek to codify rather than abolish it. In March the
new public order administrative punishment law went into effect. The
law provides for administrative review of detention decisions, bans
administrative detention of minors, the elderly, pregnant women, and
nursing mothers, places limits on interrogation, and limits the maximum
period for public order detentions to 20 days. However, the law also
establishes more severe punishments and creates 165 new offences
subject to administrative punishment, including illegal demonstrations,
disturbing social order in the name of religion, invasion of privacy,
and publication that incites ethnic or national hostility or
discrimination. Police continued to hold individuals without granting
access to family members or lawyers, and some trials continued to be
conducted in secret. Detained criminal suspects, defendants, their
legal representatives, and close relatives were entitled to apply for
bail; however, in practice few suspects were released on bail pending
trial.
Extended, unlawful detention remained a problem. In January the
Government reported to UN Special Rapporteur Nowak that there were no
serious cases of extended detention lasting more than three years and
that cases of persons held beyond lawful time limits were at an all-
time low. In May the SPP acknowledged that unlawful extended detentions
remain a problem and that authorities misused legal provisions to hide
this. Law enforcement officials continued to detain citizens for long
periods without formal charge or trial. A number of politically
sensitive individuals were held for periods longer than the time
authorized by law, which varied depending on the stage a case is in. In
some cases, investigating security agents or prosecutors sought
repeated extensions, resulting in pretrial detention of a year or
longer.
The Government used incommunicado detention. The law requires
notification of family members within 24 hours of detention, but
individuals were often held without notification for significantly
longer periods, especially in politically sensitive cases. Under a
sweeping exception, officials were not required to provide notification
if doing so would ``hinder the investigation'' of a case. In some cases
police treated those with no immediate family more severely.
Citizens who were reportedly detained with no or severely delayed
notice included HIV/AIDS activist Hu Jia, blind legal activist Chen
Guangcheng, attorney Zhu Jiuhu, petitioner advocate Hou Wenzhuo, and
writer Guo Feixiong (also known as Yang Maodong). On February 16, Hu
Jia was detained and held incommunicado for 41 days, until March 28
(see sections 1.d. and 4). During Hu's detention, police questioned him
about his contacts with rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. On August 15, Gao
was likewise detained and thereafter held incommunicado by government
authorities.
The law permits nonjudicial panels, called labor reeducation
panels, to sentence persons without trial to three years in
reeducation-through-labor camps or other administrative detention
programs. The labor reeducation committee is authorized to extend a
sentence up to one year. Defendants could challenge reeducation-
through-labor sentences under the administrative litigation law and
appeal for a reduction in, or suspension of, their sentences (see
section 1.e.). However, appeals rarely succeeded. Many other persons
were detained in similar forms of administrative detention, known as
``custody and education'' (for prostitutes and those soliciting
prostitutes) and ``custody and training'' (for minors who committed
crimes). Administrative detention was frequently used to intimidate
political activists and prevent public demonstrations (see section
2.b.). A special form of reeducation centers was used to detain Falun
Gong practitioners who had completed terms in reeducation through labor
but whom authorities decided to continue detaining.
Authorities arrested persons on charges of revealing state secrets,
subversion, and common crimes to suppress political dissent and social
advocacy. Citizens also were detained and prosecuted under broad and
ambiguous state secrets laws for, among other actions, disclosing
information on criminal trials, meetings, and government activity.
Information could retroactively be classified a state secret by the
Government. Citizens writing on the Internet were detained, arrested,
and sentenced on state secrets and subversion charges during the year
(see section 2.a.).
Among those specially targeted for arbitrary detention or arrest
during the year were current and former China Democracy Party (CDP)
activists, Falun Gong practitioners, domestic and foreign journalists,
unregistered religious figures, and former political prisoners and
their family members. Gao Zhisheng was detained and questioned several
times during the year. On August 15, authorities reportedly abducted
Gao from his sister's home in Shandong Province and thereafter detained
him. Gao's wife and children were under house arrest in Beijing. On
November 24, Gao Zhisheng's wife, Geng He, was attacked by local
officials while shopping in Beijing. In February activist Hu Jia
disappeared after launching a hunger strike protesting government
abuses. Officials held Hu for 41 days at an undisclosed location
without any legal formalities or notice to his family (see section
1.b.).
The Government continued to use house arrest as a nonjudicial
punishment and control measure against dissidents, former political
prisoners, family members of political prisoners, petitioners,
underground religious figures, and others it deemed politically
sensitive. In some cases house arrest involved constant monitoring, but
the target of house arrest was occasionally permitted to leave the home
to work or run errands. When outside the home, the subject of house
arrest was usually, but not always, under surveillance. House arrest
encompassed varying degrees of stringency but sometimes included
complete isolation in one's own home or another location under lock and
guard. In some instances security officials assumed invasive positions
within the family home, rather than monitoring from the outside.
Former senior leader Zhao Ziyang died in January 2005, after
spending more than 15 years under house arrest in Beijing for his
support of student demonstrations at Tiananmen in 1989. Zhao's former
aide Bao Tong remained under similar surveillance in his home. In
September 2005 blind legal advisor and family planning whistleblower
Chen Guangcheng was placed under house arrest without charge or trial
for nine months. Local authorities did not formally notify Chen of his
criminal detention until June 10 (see section 1.e.). On June 5,
activist lawyer Zheng Enchong was released from prison and placed under
house arrest. Several underground Catholic priests and bishops were
under house arrest for varying periods during the year. The longest
serving among them may be Bishop Su Zhimin, who has reportedly been
detained in a form of house arrest in Baoding, Hebei Province, since
1997. An unverified press report circulated in June stated that Bishop
Su had died in custody. The Government did not respond to this report.
Police continued the practice of placing under surveillance,
harassing, and detaining citizens around politically sensitive events,
including before the first anniversary of Zhao Ziyang's death in
January, the plenary sessions of the NPC and Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March, and the anniversary of the
founding of the PRC in October. Authorities in Xinjiang used house
arrest and other forms of arbitrary detention against those accused of
the ``three evils'' of extremism, splittism, and terrorism. Because
authorities failed to distinguish carefully between peaceful activities
supporting independence, ``illegal'' religious activities, and violent
terrorism, it was difficult to determine whether raids, detentions,
arrests, or judicial punishments were targeted at those peacefully
seeking political goals, those seeking worship, or those engaged in
violence (see section 5). Others held under house arrest for varying
periods during the year included Tiananmen activist Qi Zhiyou, Internet
writer Liu Di, underground Catholic bishops Jia Zhiguo and Wei Jingyi,
members of the Tiananmen Mothers organization and of the Independent
PEN Center for Freedom to Write. Family members of some detained
political prisoners reported being under house arrest or other
surveillance.
Officials deployed a wide range of tactics to obstruct the work of
lawyers representing sensitive clients, including unlawful detentions,
disbarment, intimidation, refusal to allow a case to be tried before a
court and physical abuse. According to the law, defense attorneys can
be held responsible if their client commits perjury, and prosecutors
and judges have wide discretion to decide what constitutes perjury.
According to the All-China Lawyers Association, since 1997 more than
500 defense attorneys have been detained. More than 80 percent were
acquitted, but the prosecutions nevertheless had a chilling effect on
attorneys' willingness to handle controversial defense cases. In 1990
Beijing attorneys handled an annual average of 2.64 criminal cases; by
2000 the figure had dropped to 0.78. Nationwide, attorneys handled an
average of only 0.72 criminal cases in 2004.
On June 10, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who publicized
local officials' abuses in family planning policies, was formally
arrested after nine months of informal house arrest. Local officials
physically abused Chen several times after he tried to file lawsuits
objecting to their abuses. Officials threatened attorneys and law
professors who rallied to defend Chen. In June and July, local
authorities obstructed attempts by lawyers to gather evidence in Chen
Guangcheng's defense. The night before Chen's August 18 trial, local
authorities detained Chen's lawyers on spurious charges, which were
later dropped. The following day, court-appointed attorneys effectively
conceded the case against Chen. On August 24, Chen was sentenced to
four years' and three months' imprisonment on dubious charges of
obstructing traffic and inciting others to destroy public property.
Chen's case was later remanded for retrial, where he was represented by
his own lawyers. However, courts affirmed Chen's original conviction
and sentence on retrial and then again on appeal.
In February lawyer Tang Jingling was beaten by thugs after visiting
Guo Feixiong, who was under house arrest after helping villagers
attempt to recall the elected village head of Taishi, Guangdong
Province. Police refused to investigate the incident. In April Tang,
who had begun practicing law at a second firm, was stripped of his
license to practice law and dismissed from that law firm.
According to the law, in routine criminal cases police can
unilaterally detain persons for up to 37 days before releasing them or
formally placing them under arrest. After a suspect is arrested, the
law allows police and prosecutors to detain a person for up to seven
months while public security organs further investigate the case.
Another one and one-half months of detention are allowed where public
security organs refer a case to the procuratorate to decide whether to
file charges. If charges are filed, authorities can detain a suspect
for an additional one and one-half month period between filing and
trial. However, in practice the police detained persons beyond the time
limits stipulated by law. In some cases, investigating security agents
or prosecutors sought repeated extensions, resulting in pretrial
detention of a year or longer. It was uncertain how many other
prisoners were similarly detained. Beijing authorities held New York
Times researcher Zhao Yan from September 17, 2004, until his trial on
June 16. Authorities asserted that the pretrial extension was justified
by special exceptions to the time limits, but Zhao and his lawyer
claimed that the extended pretrial detention was unlawful.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law states that the courts
shall exercise judicial power independently, without interference from
administrative organs, social organizations, and individuals. However,
in practice the judiciary was not independent. It received policy
guidance from both the Government and the CCP, whose leaders used a
variety of means to direct courts on verdicts and sentences,
particularly in politically sensitive cases. At both the central and
local levels, the Government and CCP frequently interfered in the
judicial system and dictated court decisions. Trial judges decide
individual cases under the direction of the trial committee in each
court. In addition, the CCP's law and politics committee, which
includes representatives of the police, security services,
procuratorate, and courts, had the authority to review and influence
court operations at all levels of the judiciary; in some cases the
committee altered decisions. People's congresses also had authority to
alter court decisions, but this happened rarely.
Corruption often influenced judicial decision making, and
safeguards against corruption were vague and poorly enforced (see
section 3). In 2005 378 judges were investigated for taking bribes, and
66 were found criminally liable. Local governments appointed judges at
the corresponding level of the judicial structure. Judges received
their court finances and salaries from these government bodies and
could be replaced by them. Local authorities often exerted undue
influence over the judges they appointed and financed.
The SPC is followed in descending order by the higher,
intermediate, and basic people's courts. These courts handle criminal,
civil, and administrative cases, including appeals of decisions by
police and security officials to use reeducationthrough-labor
and other forms of administrative detention. There were special courts
for handling military, maritime, and railway transport cases.
The CCP used a form of discipline known as shuang gui for
violations of CPP discipline, but there were reports of its use against
nonparty members. Shuang gui is similar to house arrest and can be
authorized without judicial involvement or oversight. Shuang gui
requires the CCP party member under investigation to submit to
questioning at a designated place for a set period of time. According
to regulations of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC)
governing shuang gui, corporal punishment is banned, the member's
dignity must be respected, and he or she is regarded as a comrade
unless violations are proved. Absent any legal oversight, it is unclear
how these regulations were enforced in practice.
Trial Procedures.--Trials took place before a judge, who often was
accompanied by ``people's assessors,'' lay persons hired by the court
to assist in decision making. According to statistics published during
the year, there were 48,211 people's assessors. According to law,
people's assessors had authority similar to judges, but in practice
they deferred to judges and did not exercise an independent jury-like
function.
The law gives most suspects the right to seek legal counsel shortly
after their initial detention and interrogation, although police often
circumvented defendants' right to seek counsel. Individuals who faced
administrative detention do not have the right to seek legal counsel.
The Government expanded the scope of legal aid and required
authorities to notify criminal defendants of their right to apply for
legal aid. Both criminal and administrative cases remained eligible for
legal aid, although 70 percent or more of criminal defendants still
went to trial without a lawyer. According to the Ministry of Justice,
during the first half of the year legal aid was granted in 124,800
cases. The number of government lawyers providing legal aid remained
inadequate to meet demand. Nonattorney legal advisors and government
employees provided the only legal aid options in many areas. According
to government statistics, more than 10,000 employees provided legal aid
at 3,155 legal aid centers. New regulations required law firms and
private attorneys to provide some legal aid. During 2005 courts waived
more than $158 million (RMB 1.27 billion) in litigation costs.
Government-employed lawyers often refused to represent defendants
in politically sensitive cases and defendants frequently found it
difficult to find an attorney. When defendants were able to retain
counsel in politically sensitive cases, government officials sometimes
prevented effective representation of counsel. From June to August,
local authorities obstructed lawyers' efforts to prepare Chen
Guangcheng's defense and detained Chen's lawyers the night before his
trial. During the trial, court-appointed defense counsel conceded much
of the case against Chen (see section 1.d.). After the initial trial,
officials obstructed Chen's lawyers' efforts to investigate and develop
their case. In some sensitive cases, lawyers had no pretrial access to
their clients, and defendants and lawyers were not allowed to speak
during trials. In practice criminal defendants often were not assigned
an attorney until a case was brought to court. For example, officials
detained prominent rights attorney Gao Zhisheng on August 15 on
``suspicion of involvement in criminal activity'' and subsequently
deprived Gao of his right to counsel by obstructing efforts to
formalize Gao's representation. Officials later claimed that Gao
declined representation by counsel. Even in nonsensitive criminal
trials, only one of seven defendants had legal representation,
according to credible reports.
The mechanism that allows defendants to confront their accusers was
inadequate; according to one expert, only 1 to 5 percent of trials
involved witnesses. In most criminal trials prosecutors read witness
statements, which neither the defendant nor his lawyer have an
opportunity to question. Approximately 95 percent of witnesses in
criminal cases did not appear in court to testify, in part due to
hardship or fear of reprisals. Although criminal procedure law says
pretrial witness statements cannot serve as the sole basis for
conviction, officials relied heavily on such statements to support
their cases. Defense attorneys had no authority to compel witnesses to
testify or to mandate discovery, although they could apply for access
to government-held evidence relevant to their case. In practice,
pretrial access to information was minimal, and the defense often
lacked adequate opportunity to prepare for trial.
The criminal justice system was biased toward a presumption of
guilt, especially in high-profile or politically sensitive cases. The
conviction rate for first-instance criminal cases rose slightly and
remained above 99 percent in 2005. In many politically sensitive
trials, which rarely lasted more than several hours, the courts handed
down guilty verdicts immediately following proceedings. Courts often
punished defendants who refused to acknowledge guilt with harsher
sentences than those who confessed. There was an appeals process, but
appeals rarely resulted in reversed verdicts. Appeals processes failed
to provide sufficient avenue for review, and there were inadequate
remedies for violations of defendants' rights. Nationwide, appeals
resulted in changed verdicts in only 0.36 percent of all cases,
including capital cases.
SPC regulations require all trials to be open to the public, with
certain exceptions, such as cases involving state secrets, privacy, and
minors. Authorities used the legal exception for cases involving state
secrets to keep politically sensitive proceedings closed to the public
and sometimes even to family members, and to improperly withhold access
to defense counsel. Under the regulations, foreigners with valid
identification are allowed the same access to trials as citizens, but
in practice foreigners were permitted to attend court proceedings by
invitation only. As in past years, foreign diplomats and journalists
sought permission to attend a number of trials only to have court
officials reclassify them as ``state secret'' cases, fill all available
seats with security officials, or otherwise close them to the public.
Some trials were broadcast, and court proceedings were a regular
television feature. A few courts published their verdicts on the
Internet.
There was no adversary system, no presumption of innocence, and
judges and prosecutors typically used an inquisitorial style to
question the defendant, who was often the only witness. The law affords
no right to remain silent, no protection against double jeopardy, and
no rules governing the type of evidence that may be introduced.
Police and prosecutorial officials often ignored the due process
provisions of the law. The lack of due process was particularly
egregious in death penalty cases. There were at least 68 capital
offenses, including nonviolent financial crimes such as counterfeiting
currency, embezzlement, and corruption. Executions were often carried
out on the date of conviction. In February the Guangdong High Court
announced that the death penalty could be applied in bag-snatching
cases. Previously, the maximum sentence was three years.
Following reports of wrongful murder convictions in 2005, the SPC
made reform of the death penalty review process a top priority. During
the year the SPC began implementing new appellate procedures for
hearing death penalty cases, in an effort to reclaim the death penalty
review power from provincial courts. The SPC added three new tribunals
to handle the death penalty review function and some provincial-level
high courts began conducting hearings in death penalty cases. The
Government also strengthened institutions, including legal aid centers,
to assist citizens with legal claims.
The Government regarded the number of executions a state secret.
Minors and pregnant women expressly were exempt from the death
sentence, although in the past the Government executed a few criminals
who were under age 18 at the time they committed an offense.
Courts lacked the independence and authority to rule on the
constitutionality of laws. The law permits organizations or individuals
to question laws and regulations they believe contradict the
constitution, but a constitutional challenge first requires
consultation with the body drafting the questioned regulation and can
only be appealed to the NPC. Accordingly, lawyers had little or no
opportunity to use the constitution in litigation.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Government officials continued
to deny holding any political prisoners, asserting that authorities
detained persons not for their political or religious views, but
because they violated the law; however, the authorities continued to
confine citizens for reasons related to politics and religion. Tens of
thousands of political prisoners remained incarcerated, some in prisons
and others in reeducation-through-labor camps or administrative
detention. The Government did not grant international humanitarian
organizations access to political prisoners.
Western NGOs estimated that approximately 500 persons remained in
prison for the repealed crime of ``counterrevolution,'' and thousands
of others were serving sentences under the state security law, which
authorities stated covers crimes similar to counterrevolution. Persons
who continued to be detained for counterrevolutionary offenses included
labor activist Hu Shigen; Inner Mongolian activist Hada; and dissidents
Yu Dongyue, Zhang Jingsheng, and Sun Xiongying. Foreign governments
urged the Government to review the cases of those charged before 1997
with counterrevolution and to release those who had been jailed for
nonviolent offenses under provisions of the Criminal Law, which were
eliminated when the law was revised. To date, no such review has
occurred. The Government maintained that counterrevolutionary prisoners
were eligible for parole and early release on an equal basis with other
prisoners but provided no evidence to support this assertion.
Amnesty International has identified by name more than 80 persons
who remained imprisoned or on medical parole for their participation in
the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations; other NGOs estimated that as many as
200 persons remained in prison for political activities connected to
the demonstrations.
Many political prisoners remained in prison or under other forms of
detention during the year, including journalists Zhao Yan, Shi Tao, and
Jiang Weiping; Internet writers Yang Zili and Xu Wei; labor activist
Yao Fuxin; China Democracy Party cofounder Qin Yongmin; political
dissident Yang Jianli; family planning whistleblower Chen Guangcheng;
Su Zhimin and other underground Catholic bishops; house Christian
activists Zhang Rongliang, Cai Zhuohua, and Liu Fenggang; Uighurs Tohti
Tunyaz and Dilkex Tilivaldi; Tibetans Jigme Gyatso, Tenzin Deleg, and
Gendun Choekyi Nyima; and Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada.
Political prisoners obtained parole and sentence reduction much less
frequently than ordinary prisoners.
Criminal punishments included ``deprivation of political rights''
for a fixed period after release from prison, during which the
individual is denied the already limited rights of free speech and
association granted to other citizens. Former prisoners sometimes found
their status in society, ability to find employment, freedom to travel,
and access to residence permits and social services severely
restricted. Former political prisoners and their families frequently
were subjected to police surveillance, telephone wiretaps, searches,
and other forms of harassment, and some encountered difficulty in
obtaining or keeping employment and housing (see section 1.f.).
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Courts deciding civil
matters suffer from internal and external limitations on judicial
independence. The State Compensation Law provides administrative and
judicial remedies for deprivations of criminal rights, such as wrongful
arrest or conviction, extortion of confession by torture, or unlawful
use of force resulting in bodily injury. In civil matters, prevailing
parties often find it difficult to enforce court orders, and resistance
to the enforcement sometimes extends to forcible resistance to court
police.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law states that the ``freedom and privacy of
correspondence of citizens are protected by law''; however, the
authorities often did not respect the privacy of citizens in practice.
Although the law requires warrants before law enforcement officials can
search premises, this provision frequently was ignored; moreover, the
PSB and prosecutors could issue search warrants on their own authority
without judicial consent, review, or consideration. Cases of forced
entry by police officers continued to be reported.
During the year authorities monitored telephone conversations,
facsimile transmissions, e-mail, text messaging, and Internet
communications. Authorities also opened and censored domestic and
international mail. The security services routinely monitored and
entered residences and offices to gain access to computers, telephones,
and fax machines. All major hotels had a sizable internal security
presence, and hotel guestrooms were sometimes bugged and searched for
sensitive or proprietary materials.
Some citizens were under heavy surveillance and routinely had their
telephone calls monitored or telephone service disrupted. The
authorities frequently warned dissidents and activists, underground
religious figures, former political prisoners, and others whom the
Government considered to be troublemakers not to meet with foreigners.
During the year police ordered many such citizens not to meet with
foreign journalists or diplomats, especially before sensitive
anniversaries, at the time of important government or party meetings,
and during the visits of high-level foreign officials. Security
personnel also harassed and detained the family members of political
prisoners, including following them to meetings with foreign reporters
and diplomats and urging them to remain silent about the cases of their
relatives. In 2005 family members of prisoners were discouraged or
prevented from meeting with the UN special rapporteur on torture.
Forced relocation because of urban development continued, and in
some locations, increased during the year. Protests over relocation
terms or compensation, some of which included thousands of
participants, were common, and some protest leaders were prosecuted
during the year (see sections 2.b. and 3). Many evictions in Beijing
were linked to construction for the 2008 Olympics. In rural areas,
relocation for major state projects, such as dams, and for commercial
development resulted in the forced relocation of millions of persons.
The country's birth planning policies retained harshly coercive
elements in law and practice. The laws restrict the rights of families
to choose the number of children they have and the period of time
between births. The penalties for violating the law are strict, leaving
some women little choice but to abort pregnancies. In addition,
implementation of the policy by local officials resulted in serious
violations of human rights. Reports of forced sterilizations and
abortions, in violation of the national law, continued to be documented
in rural areas. During the year officials in Chongqing municipality and
in Fujian Province reportedly forcibly sterilized women. In June
Western media reported that a woman fell to her death while fleeing
Anhui authorities who were trying to force her to abort twins.
The law standardizes the implementation of the Government's birth
limitation policies; however, enforcement varied significantly from
place to place. The law grants married couples the right to have one
birth and allows eligible couples to apply for permission to have a
second child if they meet conditions stipulated in local and provincial
regulations. Many provincial regulations require women to wait four
years or more after their first birth before making such an
application. According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the spacing
requirement was removed in eight and relaxed in 10 of 30 counties
across 30 provinces participating in UNFPA's ``Fifth Country Program.''
The law requires couples that have an unapproved child to pay a
``social compensation fee,'' which sometimes reached 10 times a
person's annual disposable income, and grants preferential treatment to
couples who abide by the birth limits. Although the law states that
officials should not violate citizens' rights, these rights, as well as
penalties for violating them, are not clearly defined. The law provides
significant and detailed sanctions for officials who help persons evade
the birth limitations.
Social compensation fees are set and assessed at the local level.
The law requires family planning officials to obtain court approval
before taking ``forcible'' action, such as detaining family members or
confiscating and destroying property of families who refuse to pay
social compensation fees. However, in practice this requirement was not
always followed.
The one-child limit was more strictly applied in the cities, where
only couples meeting certain conditions (e.g., both parents are only
children) were permitted to have a second child. In most rural areas
(including towns of under 200,000 persons), which included
approximately 60 percent of the country's population, the policy was
more relaxed, generally allowing couples to have a second child if the
first was a girl or had a disability. Central government policy
formally prohibits the use of physical coercion to compel persons to
submit to abortion or sterilization, although reports of physical
coercion to meet birth targets continued.
Provinces were responsible for implementation of the regulations.
All provincial-level governments except the Tibet Autonomous Region
(TAR) amended their regulations to conform to the new law. For example,
Anhui Province passed a law permitting 13 categories of couples,
including coal miners, some remarried divorcees, and some farm couples,
to have a second child. Ethnic minorities like the Uighurs and the
Tibetans are also allowed more than one child.
Seven provinces--Anhui, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Jilin,
and Ningxia--require ``termination of pregnancy'' if the pregnancy
violates provincial family planning regulations. An additional 10
provinces--Fujian, Guizhou, Guangdong, Gansu, Jiangxi, Qinghai,
Sichuan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Yunnan--require unspecified ``remedial
measures'' to deal with out-of-plan pregnancies.
In order to delay childbearing, the law sets the minimum marriage
age for women at 20 years and for men at 22 years. It continued to be
illegal in almost all provinces for a single woman to have a child.
Social compensation fees were levied on unwed mothers.
The country's population control policy relied on education,
propaganda, and economic incentives, as well as on more coercive
measures such as the threat of job loss or demotion and social
compensation fees. Psychological and economic pressures were common.
According to provincial regulations, the fees ranged from one-half to
10 times the average worker's annual disposable income. Those who
violated the child limit policy by having an unapproved child or
helping another to do so faced disciplinary measures such as job loss
or demotion, loss of promotion opportunity, expulsion from the party
(membership in which was an unofficial requirement for certain jobs),
and other administrative punishments, including in some cases the
destruction of property. In the case of families that already had two
children, one parent was often pressured to undergo sterilization.
These penalties sometimes left women with little practical choice but
to undergo abortion or sterilization. There were several rewards for
couples who adhered to birth limitation laws and policies, including
monthly stipends and preferential medical and educational benefits. The
National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) expanded a
number of programs to encourage smaller families. For example, new
pension benefits were made available nationwide for those who adhered
to birth limitation laws.
The law states that family planning bureaus will conduct pregnancy
tests on married women and provide them with unspecified ``follow-up''
services. Some provinces fine women who do not undergo periodic
pregnancy tests. For example, in Hebei fines ranges from $25 to $62.50
(RMB 200 to 500) and in Henan from $6 to $62.50 (RMB 50 to 500).
Officials at all levels remained subject to rewards or penalties
based on meeting the population goals set by their administrative
region. Promotions for local officials still depended in part on
meeting population targets. There continued to be sporadic reports of
violations of citizens' rights by local officials attempting to reduce
the number of births in their region. The most egregious reports
occurred in 2005 in Linyi, Shandong Province. International press
reports alleged that local official detained some 130,000 persons and
forced them to submit to abortions or sterilization procedures. At
least 7,000 persons were forcibly sterilized. Local officials profited
from this illegal system by charging detention fees. Local rights
activists documented several cases of forced late-term abortions.
According to law, citizens may sue officials who exceed their
authority in implementing birth-planning policy. However, local
officials retaliated with impunity against whistleblower Chen
Guangcheng for his work in exposing the Linyi family planning abuses.
In August Chen was sentenced to four years' and three months'
imprisonment on dubious charges of obstructing traffic and damaging
public property (see section 1.e.).
Laws and regulations forbid the termination of pregnancies based on
the sex of the fetus, but because of the intersection of birth
limitations with the traditional preference for male children,
particularly in rural areas, many families used ultrasound technology
to identify female fetuses and terminate these pregnancies (see section
5). The male-female birth ratio for first births was 118.58 to 100
(compared with norms of between 103 and 107 to 100), and in some parts
of the country, the ratio was even more skewed. For second births, the
national ratio was 152 to 100. While the NPFPC continued to deny a
direct connection between family planning and skewed sex ratios at
birth, it promoted expanded programs to raise awareness of the sex
ratio imbalance and to improve protection of the rights of girls.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, although the Government generally did not
respect these rights in practice. The Government interpreted the CCP's
``leading role,'' as mandated in the constitution, as superseding and
circumscribing these rights. The Government continued to threaten,
arrest, and imprison many individuals for exercising rights to free
expression. Internet essayists and journalists in particular were
targeted. Hunan writer Shi Tao, New York Times employee Zhao Yan, and
Hong Kong-based journalist for the Singapore's Straits Times Ching
Cheong remained in prison. In November Ching Cheong, who was tried in a
closed hearing in August, had his appeal denied by the Beijing High
People's Court. On December 19, Lu Jianhua, a former media commentator
and researcher at a top state-run academic institution, was sentenced
in closed proceedings to 20 years' imprisonment. Lu, who was originally
detained in December 2005, was found guilty of leaking state secrets in
August. The Government continued to control print, broadcast, and
electronic media tightly and used them to propagate government views
and CCP ideology. Such controls tightened during the year, and it was
increasingly difficult to express views that differed from the official
line on the Internet, through broadcast media, and in print. Media
outlets received regular guidance from the Central Propaganda
Department, which listed topics that should not be covered, including
politically sensitive topics. All media employees were under explicit
orders to follow CCP directives and guide public opinion. These
measures greatly restricted the freedom of journalists and Internet
writers to report the news and led to a high degree of self-censorship.
So long as the speaker did not publish views that challenged the
Communist Party or disseminate such views to overseas audiences, the
range of permissible topics for private speech continued to grow.
Political topics could be discussed privately and in small groups
without punishment, and minor criticisms of the Government were common
topics of daily speech. However, public speeches, academic discussions,
and speeches at meetings or in public forums covered by the media
remained circumscribed. Those who aired views that disagreed with the
Government's position on controversial topics risked punishment ranging
from disciplinary action at government work units to police
interrogation and detention. These restrictions and more formal
restrictions on freedom of the press and academic freedom had a
chilling effect on freedom of speech.
Some citizens continued to speak out and publish on controversial
topics, despite the Government's restrictions. For example, in January
Guangzhou Professor Yuan Weishi wrote an article in Freezing Point, a
popular investigative segment in the China Youth Daily newspaper,
calling for a reassessment of sensitive historical points, resulting in
a six-week suspension of the publication
Journalists who reported on topics that met with the Government's
or local authorities' disapproval continued to suffer harassment,
detention, and imprisonment.
Yang Xiaoqing, a reporter for the Beijing-based China Industrial
Economy News, was detained in January, charged with blackmail and
extortion in February and sentenced in June to one year in prison. Yang
reported for the newspaper on alleged corruption among county officials
in Hunan Province. Other journalists who remained in prison included
Huang Jinqiu, Li Changqing, Yu Huafeng, Li Minying, Cheng Yizhong, Yang
Xiaoqing, and Shi Tao. International NGOs reported that at year's end
32 journalists and 50 cyberdissidents remained in prison.
Detention of journalists and Chinese employees working for foreign
media outlets increased concern that the Government was attempting to
intimidate foreign correspondents and newspapers. In August the Beijing
Intermediate Court sentenced Hong Kong-born journalist Cheng Xiang
(more commonly known as Ching Cheong) of the Singapore Straits Times to
five years in prison for espionage. NGOs reported he was detained while
researching a story about former leader Zhao Ziyang, while the
Government claimed he accepted money from overseas intelligence groups.
New York Times employee Zhao Yan was sentenced in August to three years
in prison for fraud after a Beijing court unexpectedly dismissed
charges of divulging state secrets, which could have carried a 10-year
sentence. Zhao maintained his innocence, and his lawyer criticized the
courts for not allowing Zhao to testify, call on witnesses, or present
evidence to the court.
In addition, to criminal prosecution of writers, some government
officials used civil lawsuits and other punishments to intimidate
authors and block controversial writings. On October 25, writer Li
Jianping was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on the charges of
``incitement to subvert state power.'' In April 2005 Li was detained in
Zibo, Shandong Province, for posting articles critical of the CCP on
foreign Web sites. No verdict has issued from the August 2004 libel
trial of Anhui Province authors Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao over their
book China Peasant Survey (Nongmin Diaocha). The book, a best seller
until it was banned, described abuse and extortion of farmers by local
officials, one of whom sued the authors and their publishing house for
libel.
The Government continued to close publications and punish
journalists for printing material deemed too sensitive. In January the
propaganda department suspended publication of Freezing Point. A
January 11 Freezing Point essay by Zhongshan University professor Yuan
Weishi questioning key historical events recounted in school textbooks
drew the attention of the censors. In March, following the removal of
Freezing Point's editor-in-chief Li Datong and deputy editor Lu
Yuegang, the publication reappeared with a lengthy refutation of Yuan's
January essay. In February Chen Jieren, editor of the Public Interest
Times, was reportedly fired for publishing articles revealing financial
misconduct among local officials in Shaanxi Province. Also in February,
Li Yuanlong, a reporter for the Bijie Daily in Guizhou Province, was
charged with ``inciting to subvert state power,'' and in July he was
sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Li was reportedly arrested in
September 2005 for posting articles on the Internet about harsh living
conditions in rural Guizhou.
Newspapers could not report on corruption without government and
party approval, although authorities approved reports regarding some
high-profile cases. In September, when Shanghai party secretary Chen
Liangyu was dismissed from office, the Propaganda Department issued
strict guidelines forbidding unsanctioned commentary and ordering all
publications only to print Xinhua News Service reports. Publishers
printed original material at their own risk. During the year
journalists and editors who exposed corruption scandals frequently
faced problems with the authorities.
Propaganda authorities also restricted reporting about public
protests (see section 2.c.). Authorities also continued to block
reporting and prevented journalists from covering violent protests,
including student protests in June in Henan Province, where graduates
rioted after learning their university reneged on a pledge to list a
more prestigious school on their diplomas.
Officials continued to censor and ban some reporting on labor,
health, and environmental crises.
Transparency in the health sector improved compared with the
Government's cover up of the initial Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) outbreak in 2003. Central government officials pledged to
promptly report cases of avian influenza but acknowledged that local
authorities did not do so in some cases. International observers
acknowledged that transparency had improved with regard to avian
influenza but expressed concern about delays in reporting some human
and animal cases. Hong Kong media reported that the Guangzhou Bureau of
Health told hospitals to submit detailed interview outlines and
questions for approval two days before any media interview. Some
academics were unable to publish results of independent research into
contagious disease cases.
In 2005 the Government banned dozens of newspapers and confiscated
almost one million ``illegal'' political publications. There were a few
privately funded print publications but no privately owned television
or radio stations or Internet portals. The censorship process for
private and government media increasingly relied on self-censorship
and, in a few cases, post-publication sanctions. Nonetheless, the
Central Propaganda Department continued to list areas that were off
limits to media, and the Government maintained authority to approve all
programming.
By law, only government-approved publishing houses were permitted
to print books. The State Press and Publications Administration (PPA)
controlled all licenses to publish. No newspaper, periodical, book,
audio, video, or electronic publication may be printed or distributed
without the PPA and relevant provincial publishing authorities'
approval of both the printer and distributor. Individuals who attempted
to publish without government approval faced imprisonment, fines,
confiscation of their books, and other sanctions. The CCP exerted
control over the publishing industry by preemptively classifying
certain topics as off limits; selectively rewarding with promotions and
perks those publishers, editors, and writers who adhered to CCP
guidelines; and punishing with administrative sanctions and
blacklisting those who did not. Underground printing houses were
targets of periodic campaigns to stop all illegal publications,
including pornography and pirated computer software and audiovisual
products.
Many intellectuals and scholars exercised self-censorship,
anticipating that books or papers on political topics would be deemed
too sensitive to be published. Overt intervention by the PPA and the
Central Propaganda Department, which provides editorial guidelines for
all media, usually occurred after publication.
In past years officials reportedly destroyed Uighur books on the
grounds that Uighur groups used art and literature to distort
historical fact and advocate ethnic separatism. Uighur writers and
editors, including the editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal Korash
Huseyin, were jailed in 2005 for publishing stories that authorities
maintained advocated separatism (see section 5). Authorities continued
to ban books containing content they deemed controversial. Among the
most notable was Serve the People, a sexually explicit novel that
officials said debased Chairman Mao's image and Notes on Party History,
which exposed historical incidents that were reportedly embellished or
fabricated by the CCP.
The authorities continued to jam, with varying degrees of success,
Chinese-, Uighur-, and Tibetan-language broadcasts of the Voice of
America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the BBC. English-language
broadcasts on VOA generally were not jammed. Government jamming of RFA
and BBC appeared to be more frequent and effective. Internet
distribution of ``streaming radio'' news from these sources often was
blocked. Despite jamming overseas broadcasts, VOA, BBC, RFA, and Radio
France International had a large audience, including rights advocates,
ordinary citizens, and government officials.
Television broadcasts of foreign news, largely restricted to hotels
and foreign residence compounds, were occasionally subject to
censorship. Politically sensitive coverage in Chinese, and to a lesser
extent in English, was censored more than coverage in other languages.
``Public service announcements'' frequently interrupted news items
critical of the Government, particularly in the south, where television
programming from Hong Kong was available.
The Government prohibited some foreign and domestic films from
appearing in the country. In September the State Administration for
Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) imposed a five-year filmmaking ban
on director Lou Ye. SARFT banned Lou from showing his film Summer
Palace, which is set during the 1989 Tiananmen protests, because he
failed to obtain proper authorization. In February authorities detained
filmmaker and foreign resident Wu Hao after Wu arranged an interview
with rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. Wu, who was filming a documentary
about unregistered churches, was released in July. Earlier in the year,
SARFT banned distribution and screening of Mission Impossible III, on
grounds that it depicted Shanghai in an unflattering light. Other
foreign films banned during the year included Brokeback Mountain, based
on its depiction of homosexuality and Memoirs of a Geisha, due to the
controversy over ethnic Chinese actors playing Japanese characters.
Visas to enter the country were sometimes denied for political
reasons. For example, some foreign academics and journalists critical
of the country continued to be denied visas. Others who intended to
discuss human rights or rule of law issues also were denied visas.
Representatives of some international human rights organizations
reported that authorities denied their visa requests or restricted the
length of visas issued to them (see section 4).
Internet Freedom.--At year's end the China Internet Network
Information Center reported that the number of Internet users jumped to
140 million, the majority of which had broadband access to the
Internet. While the Government continued to encourage expanded use of
the Internet, it also took steps to monitor its use, control content,
restrict information, and punished those who violated regulations. New
restrictions aimed at increasing government control over the Internet
included stricter Web site registration requirements, enhanced official
control of online content, and an expanded definition of illegal online
content.
The country's Internet control system reportedly employed tens of
thousands of persons. The Government consistently blocked access to
sites it deemed controversial, such as sites discussing Taiwan and
Tibetan independence, underground religious and spiritual
organizations, democracy activists, and the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
The Government also at times blocked access to selected sites operated
by major foreign news outlets, health organizations, and educational
institutions.
The number of blocked sites appeared to increase around major
political events and sensitive dates. The authorities reportedly began
to employ more sophisticated technology enabling the selective blocking
of specific content rather than entire Web sites. Such technology was
also used to block e-mails containing sensitive content (see section
1.f.). The Government generally did not prosecute citizens who received
dissident email publications but detained individuals who
forwarded such messages. Individuals using the Internet in public
libraries were required to register using their national identity card.
Internet usage reportedly was monitored at all terminals in public
libraries.
The Ministry of Information Industry regulated access to the
Internet while the Ministries of Public and State Security monitored
its use. Regulations prohibit a broad range of activities that
authorities interpret as subversive or slanderous to the state,
including the dissemination of information that harms national unity or
endangers national security. Promoting ``evil cults'' was banned, as
was providing information that ``disturbs social order or undermines
social stability.'' Internet service providers (ISPs) were instructed
to use only domestic media news postings, to record information useful
for tracking users and their viewing habits, to install software
capable of copying e-mails, and to end immediately transmission of so-
called subversive material. Many ISPs practiced extensive self-
censorship to avoid violating broadly worded regulations.
In January several individuals were detained or imprisoned for
their Internet writing during the year. Former Fuzhou Daily journalist
and Internet essayist Li Changqing was sentenced to three years in
prison for ``spreading alarmist information.'' His Internet articles
supported jailed corruption whistleblower Huang Jingao. On March 17,
Ren Zhiyuan was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for ``subversion of
state power'' for an Internet article holding that persons may
rightfully overthrow tyranny through violent means. Ren was also
suspected of planning to organize an opposition group called the
``Mainland Democratic Front.'' On May 17, Internet essayist Yang
Tongyan (more commonly known as Yang Tianshui) was sentenced to 12
years in prison for posting on overseas Web sites articles calling for
the release of Chinese dissidents. Also in May, Internet author Guo
Qizhen, who was preparing to join a hunger strike to support lawyer Gao
Zhisheng and others, was detained for posting essays on a Web site
supporting human rights. On October 9, Guo was sentenced to four years'
imprisonment and three years' deprivation of political rights on the
charge of ``inciting subversion of state power.'' On October 12,
Internet writer Zhang Jianhong was arrested and charged with ``inciting
subversion of state power.'' The police took Zhang into custody on
September 6, removed disk drives and a telephone book from his house,
and questioned his wife about articles he posted on Web sites. On
August 12, Zan Aizong, chief correspondent of the Hangzhou Bureau of
the Beijing-based China Ocean News, was detained for publishing an
Internet piece criticizing the demolition of a nearby church. Zan was
released on August 18, but was promptly fired. In August Deng
Yongliang, another Internet essayist, was detained in Shandong
Province, where he had traveled to cover the trial of legal activist
Chen Guangcheng. Authorities released Deng in September but confiscated
his computer hard drive and mobile telephone.
During the year the Government continued its efforts to get
companies to sign a ``Public Pledge on Self Discipline for China's
Internet Industry.'' Several hundred companies signed the pledge,
including popular Chinese Internet companies like Sina.com and Sohu.com
and Yahoo's local partner Alibaba.com. Those who signed the pledge
agreed not to spread information that ``breaks laws or spreads
superstition or obscenity.'' They also promised to refrain from
``producing, posting, or disseminating pernicious information that may
jeopardize state security and disrupt social stability.'' According to
court documents, Yahoo provided information to security authorities,
including access to private e-mail accounts, used in the prosecution of
journalist Shi Tao for leaking state secrets. The company said it was
required to provide the information under national law and customs.
On April 9, 14 major Internet portals, including Sina.com,
Sohu.com, Baidu.com and Yahoo's Chinese Web site issued a joint
proposal calling for the Internet industry to censor indecent and
harmful information, spread the ideas of Hu Jintao, encourage
``passionate love of the motherland,'' and accept government
supervision. Chinese search engines such as Baidu.com and the China-
based search engines of Yahoo!, MSN and Google filtered search results,
including those relating to the Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and
human rights.
Official statistics showed that as of July, authorities shut down
approximately 700 online forums. In June authorities shut down Sina.com
and Sohu.com for several days to allow the popular Internet portals to
upgrade their filtering capabilities after censors found that the
portals failed to filter certain key words deemed politically harmful.
In July the Beijing Communications Administration shut down the Century
China Web site, a popular online forum for discussing current affairs
and historical issues, and several other sites. In August authorities
shut down China Consultation Net after the site published results of a
poll asking visitors whether the general secretary of the Communist
Party should be elected from among candidates competing for the
position.
Internet cafes must install software that allows government
officials to monitor customers' Internet usage. Internet users at cafes
were often subject to surveillance. Many cafes sporadically enforced
regulations requiring patrons to provide identification.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
respect academic freedom and increased controls on political and social
discourse at colleges, universities, and research institutes. Scholars
and researchers reported varying degrees of control regarding issues
they could examine and conclusions they could draw. Law professors were
warned not to propose abolition of the reeducation-through-labor
system. Scholar Xu Zerong received a nine-month sentence reduction in
September, but he remained in prison. Scholars studying religion
reported that the official Protestant church blocked some publications
it found objectionable. Authorities canceled university conferences
involving foreign and domestic academics on short notice when they
deemed the topics at issue to be too sensitive.
The Government continued to use political attitudes as criteria for
selecting persons for the few government-sponsored study abroad
programs but did not impose such restrictions on privately sponsored
students. In August Independent Chinese Pen Center (ICPC) member Wu Wei
was reportedly stopped at the Hong Kong border while on his way to
attend the ICPC's annual meeting (see section 2.d.).
Researchers residing abroad also were subject to sanctions from the
authorities when their work did not meet with official approval.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the Government severely
restricted this right in practice. The law stipulates that such
activities may not challenge ``party leadership'' or infringe upon the
``interests of the state.'' Protests against the political system or
national leaders were prohibited. Authorities denied permits and
quickly suppressed demonstrations involving expression of dissenting
political views.
Freedom of Assembly.--At times police used excessive force against
demonstrators. Demonstrations with political or social themes were
often broken up quickly and violently. Widespread market reforms and
rapid growth have resulted in increased social unrest, with large-scale
public disturbances on the rise for more than a decade. As in past
years, the vast majority of demonstrations during the year concerned
land disputes, housing issues, industrial, environmental, and labor
matters, government corruption, taxation, and other economic and social
concerns. During the first half of the year, public security
authorities reported 39,000 ``public order disturbances,'' a 2.5
percent decrease from the same period in 2005, although these
statistics were widely viewed as unreliable. While the scale of
disturbances and incidents varied, some included thousands of
participants. In April, for example, up to 3,000 riot police used tear
gas and water cannons to disperse 4,000 villagers gathered to protest
destruction of an unauthorized, farmer-initiated irrigation project in
Bomei Village, Guangdong Province. Land protests involving hundreds or
thousands of protesters also continued (see section 1.a.). In January
one villager died and as many as 100 were injured when police disrupted
3,000 residents at a sit-in convened over a land dispute in Zhongshan
City, Guangdong Province. In April more than 50 villagers were injured
when 1,000 riot police confronted 2,000 villagers peacefully protesting
a land dispute near Guangdong Province's Foshan City.
Authorities detained potential protesters before the June 4
anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the first anniversary of Zhao
Ziyang's death in January, and the March plenary sessions of the NPC
and CPPCC. Dissidents were detained around the time of other sensitive
events to head off public demonstrations (see section 1.d.). Labor
protests over restructuring of state-owned enterprises and resulting
unemployment continued, as did protests over environmental degradation
and major infrastructure projects, such as dams. All concerts, sports
events, exercise classes, or other meetings of more than 200 persons
required approval from public security authorities. In practice much
smaller gatherings also ran the risk of being disrupted by authorities.
Unlike previous years, there were no sizable incidents of anti-Japanese
protests.
The Government continued to wage a severe campaign against the
Falun Gong movement. Falun Gong practitioners were subject to close
scrutiny by local security personnel, and their personal mobility was
tightly restricted, particularly at times when the Government believed
public protests were likely.
Persons petitioning the Government continued to face restrictions
on their rights to assemble and raise grievances. Official news media
reported that citizens presented 12.7 million petitions to ``letters
and visits'' offices in 2005, but only 0.2 percent of petitions filed
received a response. Most petitions mentioned grievances about land,
housing, entitlements, the environment, or corruption. Petitioners
largely sought to present their complaints at national and provincial
``letters and visits'' offices but also targeted foreign embassies and
media to bring attention to their complaints.
Petitioners continued to face harassment, detention, and
incarceration. Petitioners in Liaoning and other provinces reported
being accosted by plainclothes police and brought back to their homes
before they could register their petitions in the capital. In June Fu
Xiancai, who petitioned the Government for compensation on behalf of
1.3 million persons forcibly relocated from their land due to the Three
Gorges Dam project, was paralyzed from the neck down as a result of a
beating he received at the hands of unidentified assailants.
Although regulations implemented in 2005 banned retaliation against
petitioners, reports of retaliation continued. This was partly due to
incentives provided to local officials by the central government to
prevent petitioners in their regions from raising complaints to higher
levels. Incentives included provincial cadre evaluations based in part
on the number of petitions from their provinces. This initiative aimed
to encourage local and provincial officials to resolve legitimate
complaints but also resulted in local officials sending security
personnel to Beijing and forcibly returning the petitioners to their
home provinces. Such detentions occurred both before and after the
enactment of the new regulations and often went unrecorded.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, but the Government restricted this right in practice. CCP
policy and government regulations require that all professional,
social, and economic organizations officially register with, and be
approved by, the Government. In practice these regulations prevented
the formation of truly autonomous political, human rights, religious,
spiritual, labor, and other organizations that might challenge
government authority. Implementation of these regulations tightened
during the year (see section 2.a.).
Authorities established a task force in 2005 to increase scrutiny
over NGOs, especially those with links overseas. Published reports said
the task force was part of a campaign initiated in response to the
``color revolutions'' in former Soviet republics and aimed to block
NGOs from fomenting political change. Security ministries participated
in this task force and questioned representatives of domestic and
international NGOs about their activities. International foundations,
NGOs involved in social and charitable activities, and groups dedicated
to combating discrimination against women, persons with disabilities,
and minorities were targets of the campaign, along with organizations
that focused on human rights issues.
Since 2004 according to official statistics, the number of
registered NGOs increased from 288,936 to 317,000. NGOs were required
to register with the Government. To register, an NGO must find a
government agency to serve as the NGO's organizational sponsor, have a
registered office, and hold a minimum amount of funds. Organizations
with social or educational purposes that had previously been registered
as private or for-profit businesses reportedly were requested to find a
government sponsor and reregister as NGOs during the year (see section
4). Experts estimated that, including both registered and unregistered
groups, there were perhaps as many as eight million quasi-governmental
organizations and NGOs.
Authorities supported the growth of some civil society
organizations that address social problems such as poverty and HIV/
AIDS. Over the past two years, officials increased measures aimed at
supervising and controlling civil society organizations; however,
various NGOs were still able to develop their own agendas, although the
registered organizations all came under some degree of government
control. Prominent activist Hu Jia resigned from an organization he
helped establish to assist HIV/AIDS orphans, citing pressure on the
organization's international donors. On November 24, HIV/AIDS activist
Wan Yanhai was detained for three days in Beijing. Wan was forced to
cancel an HIV/AIDS rights related workshop planned for November 26.
Officials reportedly were concerned because workshop attendees included
human rights lawyers (see section 5). A number of NGOs had support from
foreign secular and religious NGOs, and several were able to undertake
limited advocacy roles in public interest areas like women's issues,
the environment, health, and consumer rights. According to government
guidelines, NGOs must not advocate nonparty rule, damage national
unity, or upset ethnic harmony. Groups that disregarded guidelines and
unregistered groups that continued to operate could face administrative
punishment or criminal charges.
No laws or regulations specifically govern the formation of
political parties. But the CDP remained banned, and the Government
continued to monitor, detain, and imprison current and former CDP
members (see section 3). As in past years, individuals were charged
with and convicted of ``disclosing state secrets'' after passing
information to human rights NGOs based abroad (see section 4).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and laws provide for
freedom of religious belief and the freedom not to believe. However,
the Government sought to restrict religious practice to government-
sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to
control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. The
Government recognized five main religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam,
Protestantism, and Catholicism. A government-affiliated association
monitored and supervised the activities of each of these faiths.
Membership in these faiths as well as unregistered religious groups
grew rapidly. The Government tried to control and regulate religious
groups, especially groups that were unregistered.
The extent of religious freedom continued to vary widely within the
country. Freedom to participate in officially sanctioned religious
activity continued to increase in most areas. Religious activity grew
not only among the five main religions, but also among the Eastern
Orthodox Church and folk religions. Bibles and other religious texts
were available in most parts of the country. At the same time, some
unregistered groups continued to experience varying degrees of official
interference and harassment. Crackdowns against unregistered
Protestants and Catholics, Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists (see Tibet
Addendum) continued. The Government continued its repression of groups
that it determined to be ``cults'' and of the Falun Gong spiritual
movement in particular.
All religious venues were required to register with the State
Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) or its provincial or local
offices (known as Religious Affairs Bureaus (RABs). SARA and the RABs
were responsible for monitoring and judging whether religious activity
was ``normal'' and therefore lawful. SARA and the CCP's united front
work department provided policy guidance and supervision over
implementation of government regulations on religious activity.
New regulations governing religious affairs, which came into effect
in March 2005, delineated regulatory activities governing religious
affairs and consolidated official pronouncements within a legal
framework. However, the regulations provide general protection only for
freedom of ``religious belief,'' and not for expressions of belief. The
regulations protect only those religious beliefs categorized vaguely as
``normal.'' In practice, party doctrine guides resolution of religious
issues and implementation of the regulations. The regulations protect
the rights of registered religious groups, under certain conditions, to
possess property, publish literature, train and approve clergy, and
collect donations. However, the regulations have not created additional
room for lawful religious activity by groups not affiliated with the
five main religions. In this regard, the regulations merely codify past
practices and give authorities broad discretion to define which
religious activities are permissible.
The law requires religious groups to register places of worship.
Spiritual activities in places of worship that have not registered may
be considered illegal and participants can be punished. Government
officials stated that private homes where family and friends meet to
study the Bible would not be required to register, but venues for
formal worship services should be registered, even if such formal
worship takes place in a private home. Clergy need not be approved by
the Government but must be reported to the Government after being
selected pursuant to the rules of the relevant government-affiliated
religious association. Pressure on religious groups to register or to
come under the supervision of official ``patriotic'' religious
organizations continued during the year. Some groups registered
voluntarily, while a number registered under pressure; several groups
avoided officials in an attempt to avoid registration, and authorities
refused to register others. Various unofficial groups reported that
authorities refused them registration without explanation. The
Government contended that these refusals were mainly the result of
failure to meet requirements concerning facilities and meeting spaces.
Some religious groups were reluctant to comply with the regulations out
of principled opposition to state control of religion or due to fear of
adverse consequences if they revealed, as required, the names and
addresses of church leaders and members.
Local authorities' handling of unregistered religious groups,
especially Protestant ``house churches,'' varied widely. In certain
regions government supervision of religious activity was minimal, and
registered and unregistered Protestant and Catholic churches existed
openly side-by-side and were treated similarly by the authorities. In
such areas many congregants worshipped in both types of churches;
congregants in unregistered churches were also able to procure Bibles
at official churches. In some parts of the country, unregistered house
churches with hundreds of members met openly, with the full knowledge
of local authorities, who characterized the meetings as informal
gatherings. In other areas house church meetings of more than a handful
of family members and friends were strictly proscribed. House churches
often encountered difficulties when their membership grew, when they
arranged for the regular use of facilities for the purpose of
conducting religious activities, or when they forged links with other
unregistered groups.
Leaders of unauthorized groups were sometimes the target of
harassment, interrogation, detention, and physical abuse. Authorities
frequently disrupted house church meetings and retreats, detained and
questioned leaders and church members, and confiscated the personal
property of house church leaders and members. During the year thousands
of house church members were detained; a large number of these
detentions occurred in Henan Province.
Henan Province house Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang was convicted
in June of obtaining a passport through fraud and of illegal border
crossing. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Beijing-based house church Christian Liu Fenggang, who was convicted in
August 2004 with Xu Yonghai and Zhang Shenqi on charges of disclosing
state secrets, remained in prison. Liu provided an overseas Chinese
magazine information about abuse of Christians in the country. In
February Lou Yuanqi was reportedly detained for holding unauthorized
church services in Xinjiang. In April Li Huimin was reportedly
sentenced to reeducation in Henan Province for holding house church
meetings at his home. In May several house church activists were
detained in Henan Province's Fugou County, while several others
remained under detention. Persons associated with Protestant Christian
worship outside government-approved venues also were subject to
detention or abuse.
In July and August, according to the China Aid Association,
authorities in several provinces detained Protestant house church
members. On July 19, Henan Province authorities reportedly raided a
house church in Zhumadian, questioning more than 60 church members. On
July 21, Hubei Province officials reportedly raided a house church
meeting, questioning 20 church members. Officials later placed 10
church members under administrative detention lasting from 10 to 15
days. On July 24, Yunnan Province authorities reportedly detained four
house church members. On July 27, Anhui Province officials reportedly
raided a house church Sunday school, questioning approximately 40
individuals. Officials also placed pastors Cai Yili and Li Lizhong in
administrative detention for 16 days. On August 19, officials from the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reportedly raided a house church,
confiscating church property and warning church members that they could
only meet at registered churches.
As in previous years, there were reports that a number of Catholic
priests, lay leaders, and laypersons were beaten or otherwise abused.
In some localities, authorities reportedly pressured unregistered
clergy and laypersons to renounce ordinations approved by the Holy See,
join the official church, or face a variety of punishments including
fines, job loss, and detentions. On September 11, Bishop Wu Qinjing,
who was ordained in October 2005 with approval from the Holy See but
without government permission, was detained for five days and forced to
sign a document stating that his ordination was illegal.
Harassment of unregistered Catholic bishops, priests, and
laypersons, including government surveillance and detentions,
continued. On July 2, authorities detained unregistered Bishop Jia
Zhiguo for the tenth time since 2004; he was released on September 27.
Bishop Yao Liang, who is 82 years old, was arrested on July 30 and
remained under detention at year's end. There was no new information
about unregistered Bishop Su Zhimin, who has been unaccounted for since
his reported detention in 1997. In June an unverified press report
circulated that Bishop Su had died in custody. The Government did not
respond to requests for information in the case. Bishop An Shuxin,
Bishop Su's auxiliary bishop, was released on August 24, after 10 years
in prison. Officials permitted Bishop An's release when he accepted
recognition by the Government and did not force him to register with
the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA). In late September
unregistered Catholic priests Shao Zhoumin and Jiang Sunian were
detained in Shenzhen upon their return from Europe. Sources also
reported that Bishop Zhang Weizhu, Father Cui Xing, and Father Wang
Quanjun remained detained in Hebei Province. According to the foreign-
based Cardinal Kung Foundation, the whereabouts of Bishop Zhao
Zhendong, who was detained in December 2004, remained unknown. In Hebei
Province, officials detained a total of seven Catholic clerics and 90
laypersons.
The Government and the Holy See have not established diplomatic
relations and there was no Vatican representative on the Mainland. The
role of the pope in selecting bishops, the status of underground
Catholic clerics, and Vatican recognition of Taiwan remained obstacles
to improved relations.
Although the Government insisted that it retains power to impose
conditions on the appointment of Catholic bishops, registered Catholics
increasingly acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Holy See, and
the Vatican has approved most registered bishops appointed by the
Government prior to consecration. In April and May, CPA officials
consecrated two Catholic bishops without Vatican approval, reportedly
forcing registered Catholic clerics to participate in the
consecrations. The CPA also installed a bishop in Fujian Province, even
though he was consecrated in 2000 without Holy See approval.
In July officials demolished a large house church that was under
constructed in Zhejiang Province and reportedly beat hundreds of house
church members who arrived to protest the demolition. Officials
repeatedly denied requests for permission to build a church.
Traditional folk religions, such as Fujian Province's ``Mazu cult,''
were still practiced in some locations. They were tolerated to varying
degrees, often seen as loose affiliates of Taoism or as ethnic minority
cultural practices. However, the Government has labeled folk religions
``feudal superstition'' and sometimes repressed them. SARA established
a new administrative division responsible for the activities of folk
religions and religions outside the main five, including the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Buddhists made up the largest body of organized religious
believers. The traditional practice of Buddhism continued to expand
among citizens in many parts of the country. Tibetan Buddhists in some
areas had growing freedom to practice their faith. However, government
restrictions remained, particularly in cases in which the Government
interpreted Buddhist belief as supporting separatism, such as in some
Tibetan areas and parts of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. In
February emissaries of the Dalai Lama met with government officials, in
the fifth round of dialogue between the two sides since 2002 (see Tibet
Addendum).
Regulations restricting Muslims' religious activity, teaching, and
places of worship continued to be implemented forcefully in Xinjiang.
During the year authorities added women to the groups of persons
prohibited from entering mosques. Other groups formally prohibited from
entering mosques included children, CCP members, and government
workers. However, in practice women and children were not uniformly
barred from entering mosques. The Government continued to use
counterterrorism to justify religious repression of Uighur Muslims (see
section 5). Xinjiang authorities continued to detain and arrest persons
engaged in unauthorized religious activities and charged them with a
range of offences including state security crimes. Xinjiang authorities
often charged religious believers with committing the ``three evils''
of terrorism, separatism, and extremism. While targeted primarily at
Muslims, the tight control of religion in Xinjiang affected followers
of other religions as well.
The Government strictly controlled the practice of Islam, while the
state-controlled Islamic Association of China aligned Islamic practice
to CCP goals. However, in contrast to the heavy-handed approach to
Muslims in Xinjiang Province, officials in Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai
provinces approached religious affairs cautiously and were reluctant to
interfere overtly in Muslims' activities. Authorities reserved the
right to censor imams' sermons, and imams were urged to emphasize the
damage caused to Islam by terrorist acts in the name of the religion.
Certain Muslim leaders received particularly harsh treatment.
Authorities conducted monthly political study sessions for religious
personnel and the program continued through the year. In May the IAC
announced it would establish an office to manage pilgrimages to Mecca.
In the same month the China Islamic Conference passed a measure
requiring religious personnel to study ``new collected sermons''
compiled by an IAC committee, including messages on patriotism and
unity aimed at building a ``socialist harmonious society.''
According to one overseas organization, 179 practitioners of the
Sala order, a local Sufi branch of Islam, were arrested in August 2005
following a government ban on the movement. Although officials denied
the ban, they considered the movement dangerous. In August 2004 eight
Uighur Muslims in Hotan were reportedly charged with endangering state
security and scores were detained on charges of engaging in ``illegal
religious activities.'' In addition to the restrictions on practicing
religion placed on party members and government officials throughout
the country, teachers, professors, and university students in Xinjiang
were not allowed to practice religion openly.
Muslims were permitted to make pilgrimages abroad, but the
Government reportedly penalized those who arranged unauthorized
pilgrimages. Official reports noted that more than 9,700 Chinese
Muslims traveled to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage, which began on
November 29. This figure likely did not include participants who were
not organized by the Government, which numbered thousands in previous
years. Between July and September, thousands of Uighur Muslims, who
traveled to Pakistan to circumvent government-imposed controls on Hajj
participants, were stuck in Islamabad because they were denied visas by
the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Following demonstrations by the visa
applicants outside the Saudi Embassy, visas were granted to
approximately 1,000 applicants, although many more were forced to
return to Xinjiang.
The authorities permitted officially sanctioned religious
organizations to maintain international contacts that do not involve
``foreign control.'' However, what constitutes ``control'' is not
defined. Regulations on religious practice by foreigners include a ban
on proselytizing. Authorities generally allowed foreign nationals to
preach to other foreigners, bring in religious materials for personal
use, and preach to citizens at the invitation of registered religious
organizations. Despite a ban on missionary activities, many foreign
Christians teaching on college campuses openly professed their faith
with minimum interference from authorities provided their religious
activity remains discreet. Authorities permitted citizens who joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while they were outside
of China to hold services after they returned.
The authorities continued a general crackdown on groups considered
to be ``cults.'' These ``cults'' included not only Falun Gong and
various traditional Chinese meditation and exercise groups (known
collectively as qigong groups), but also religious groups that
authorities accused of preaching beliefs outside the bounds of
officially approved doctrine. Groups that the Government labeled cults
included Eastern Lightning, the Servants of Three Classes, the
Shouters, the South China Church, the Association of Disciples, the
Full Scope Church, the Spirit Sect, the New Testament Church, the Way
of the Goddess of Mercy, the Lord God Sect, the Established King
Church, the Unification Church, and the Family of Love. Authorities
accused some in these groups of lacking proper theological training,
preaching the imminent coming of the apocalypse or holy war, or
exploiting the reemergence of religion for personal gain. The
Government accused the Eastern Lightning group and some other
unregistered Christian groups of involvement in violence.
Actions against such groups continued during the year. Police also
continued their efforts to close down the underground evangelical group
Shouters, an offshoot of a pre-1949 indigenous Protestant group. Action
against the South China Church (SCC) continued. In August 2005
approximately 40 SCC members were detained in Hubei Province after
meeting with foreigners. According to an anonymous petition submitted
to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, SCC founder
Gong Shengliang and other imprisoned SCC members suffered serious
abuses in prison. Gong is serving a life sentence for rape, arson, and
assault, even though the women who testified against him in his
original trial in 2001 reported that police had tortured them into
signing statements accusing Gong of raping them. During the year Gong's
daughters reported that Gong was in poor health and had been beaten by
another inmate.
Public Falun Gong activity in the country remained negligible, and
practitioners based abroad reported that the Government's crackdown
against the group continued. Since the Government banned the Falun Gong
in 1999, the mere belief in the discipline (even without any public
manifestation of its tenets) has been sufficient grounds for
practitioners to receive punishments ranging from loss of employment to
imprisonment. Although the vast majority of practitioners detained have
been released, many were detained again after release (see section
1.e.). Falun Gong sources estimated that at least 6,000 Falun Gong
practitioners had been sentenced to prison, more than 100,000
practitioners sentenced to reeducation through labor, and almost 3,000
had died from torture while in custody. Some foreign observers
estimated that Falun Gong adherents constituted at least half of the
250,000 officially recorded inmates in reeducation-through-labor camps,
while Falun Gong sources overseas placed the number even higher. In
March UN Special Rapporteur Nowak reported that Falun Gong
practitioners accounted for 66 percent of victims of alleged torture
while in government custody.
Falun Gong members identified by the Government as ``core leaders''
have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment. More than a
dozen Falun Gong members have been sentenced to prison for the crime of
``endangering state security,'' but the great majority of Falun Gong
members convicted by the courts since 1999 have been sentenced to
prison for ``organizing or using a sect to undermine the implementation
of the law,'' a less serious offense. Most practitioners, however, were
punished administratively. Some practitioners were sentenced to
reeducation through labor. Among them, Yuan Yuju and Liang Jinhui,
relatives of a Hong Kong journalist working for a television station
supportive of Falun Gong, were sentenced to reeducation through labor
for distributing Falun Gong materials. Apart from reeducation through
labor, some Falun Gong members were sent to ``legal education'' centers
specifically established to ``rehabilitate'' practitioners who refused
to recant their belief voluntarily after release from reeducation-
through-labor camps. Government officials denied the existence of such
``legal education'' centers. In addition, hundreds of Falun Gong
practitioners have been confined to mental hospitals, according to
overseas groups (see section 1.d.).
Allegations of abuse of Falun Gong practitioners by the police and
other security personnel continued during the year (see section 1.c.).
In addition, multiple allegations of government-sanctioned organ
harvesting from Falun Gong prisoners surfaced. In April overseas Falun
Gong groups claimed that a hospital in Sujiatun, Shenyang, had been the
site of a ``concentration camp'' and of mass organ harvesting,
including from live prisoners (see section 1.c.). The Government opened
the facility to diplomatic observers and foreign journalists, who found
nothing inconsistent with the operation of a hospital.
Police continued to detain current and former Falun Gong
practitioners and place them in reeducation camps. Police reportedly
had quotas for Falun Gong arrests and targeted former practitioners,
even if they were no longer practicing. The Government continued its
use of high-pressure tactics and mandatory anti-Falun Gong study
sessions to force practitioners to renounce Falun Gong. Even
practitioners who had not protested or made other public demonstrations
of belief reportedly were forced to attend anti-Falun Gong classes or
were sent directly to reeducation-through-labor camps. These tactics
reportedly resulted in large numbers of practitioners signing pledges
to renounce the movement.
The Government supported atheism in schools. In March 2005 a
Foreign Ministry spokesman said the country had no national regulations
preventing children from receiving religious instruction, but said
religion should not interfere with public education. In practice local
authorities in many regions barred school-age children from attending
religious services at mosques, temples, or churches and prevented them
from receiving religious education outside the home.
The law does not prohibit religious believers from holding public
office; however, party membership is required for almost all high-level
positions in government, state-owned businesses, and many official
organizations. Communist Party officials have stated that party
membership and religious belief were incompatible. Government and CCP
officials reiterated that religious believers should resign their party
membership. The Routine Service Regulations of the People's Liberation
Army state explicitly that service members ``may not take part in
religious or superstitious activities.'' CCP and PLA personnel have
been expelled for adhering to Falun Gong beliefs.
Despite regulations encouraging officials to be atheists, some
party officials engaged in religious activity, most commonly Buddhism
or a folk religion. The NPC included several religious representatives.
NPC Standing Committee vice chairmen included Fu Tieshan, a bishop and
vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Religious
groups also were represented in the CPPCC, an advisory forum for
``multiparty'' cooperation and consultation led by the CCP, and in
local and provincial governments. CPPCC Standing Committee vice
chairmen included Pagbalha Geleg Namgyal, a Tibetan reincarnate lama.
Official religious organizations administered local religious
schools, seminaries, and institutes to train priests, ministers, imams,
Islamic scholars, and Buddhist monks. Students who attended these
institutes had to demonstrate ``political reliability,'' and all
graduates must pass an examination on their political as well as
theological knowledge to qualify for the clergy. The Government
permitted registered religions to train clergy and allowed an
increasing number of Catholic and Protestant seminarians, Muslim
clerics, and Buddhist clergy to go abroad for additional religious
studies, but some religion students had difficulty getting passports or
obtaining approval to study abroad. In most cases foreign organizations
provided funding for such training programs.
Authorities continued to prohibit the teaching of Islam to
elementary and middle school-age children in some areas, although
children studied Arabic and the Koran without restriction in many
others. Local officials stated that school-age children may not study
religion or enter mosques in Xinjiang. In August 2005 a teacher, Aminan
Momixi, and more than 30 students were reportedly detained for holding
Koran study sessions during school vacation. Authorities confiscated
their Korans and Muslim textbooks and the Government declined to
clarify Momixi's status. According to media reports, Xinjiang
authorities confiscated religious publications on many other occasions,
sometimes detaining those who possessed unapproved religious texts.
Religious organizations of all faiths, including those composed of
foreigners, were encouraged to engage in charitable activities and
social services. Religious organizations engaged in social services
faced obstacles registering with local authorities. These difficulties
were similar to those faced by nonreligious NGOs (section 2.b.).
The 2005 religious regulations permit authorized religious
organizations and venues to compile and print materials for internal
and public distribution, but require publications to be prepared in
accordance with national regulations. These regulations, in turn,
impose strict prior restraints on religious literature, even beyond the
restrictions on other types of publications. The regulations also
provide for government oversight of the appointment of religious
personnel.
The Government strictly punished the private publication of
religious works. In April pastor Liu Yuhua from Shandong was detained
in Linchu County on charges of operating an illegal business after he
was found distributing religious texts. In May house church pastor Wang
Zaiqing from Anhui was formally arrested. Foreign-based NGOs said the
arrest was in connection with his work publishing Bibles and religious
materials. In July 2005 Protestant Pastor Cai Zhuohua and two other
relatives were sentenced to three years, two years, and 18 months in
prison for operating an illegal business, stemming from their large-
scale publishing of Bibles and Christian literature without government
approval. According to reliable reports, the CCP officials described
the prosecution of Cai as one of the most important cases in the
campaign to prevent foreign infiltration under the cover of religion.
Media reports stated that authorities confiscated illegal religious
publications in Xinjiang. In February Xinjiang authorities reportedly
raided a minority-language printing market and seized ``illegally
printed'' religious posters. Also in February authorities announced
that in 2005 they had seized 9,860 illegal publications involving
religion, Falun Gong, or ``feudal superstitions.'' The Xinjiang
People's Publication House was the only publisher allowed to print
Muslim literature.
The supply of Bibles was adequate in most parts of the country, but
some members of underground churches complained that the supply and
distribution of Bibles, especially in rural locations, was inadequate.
Individuals could not order Bibles directly from publishing houses.
Customs officials continued to monitor for the ``smuggling'' of
religious materials into the country. There have been credible reports
that the authorities sometimes confiscated Bibles, Korans, and other
religious material.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses of religious practitioners or anti-Semitic acts during
the year. The Government does not recognize Judaism as an ethnicity or
religion.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration and Repatriation.--The law provides for some of these
rights; however, the Government generally did not respect them in
practice. Although the Government maintained restrictions on the
freedom to change one's workplace or residence, the national household
registration system continued to erode, and the ability of most
citizens to move within the country to work and live continued to
expand. However, the Government retained the ability to restrict
freedom of movement through other mechanisms. Authorities heightened
restrictions periodically, particularly curtailing the movement of
individuals deemed politically sensitive before key anniversaries,
visits of foreign dignitaries, and to forestall demonstrations.
The system of national household registration (hukou) underwent
further change during the year, as the country accumulated a more
mobile labor force. Rural residents continued to migrate to the cities,
where the per capita disposable income was more than quadruple the
rural per capita cash income. Nonetheless, many could not officially
change their residence or workplace within the country. Government and
work unit permission were often required before moving to a new city.
Most cities had annual quotas for the number of new temporary residence
permits that would be issued, and all workers, including university
graduates, had to compete for a limited number of such permits. It was
particularly difficult for peasants from rural areas to obtain
household registration in economically more developed urban areas.
The household registration system added to the difficulties rural
residents faced in changing to urban residency, even when they have
already relocated to urban areas and found employment. There remained a
floating population of between 100 and 150 million economic migrants
who lacked official residence status in cities. Without official
residence status, it was difficult or impossible to gain full access to
social services, including education. Furthermore, law and society
generally limited migrant workers to types of work considered least
desirable by local residents, and such workers had little recourse when
subjected to abuse by employers and officials. Some major cities
maintained programs to provide migrant workers and their children
access to public education and other social services free of charge,
but migrants in some locations reported that it is difficult to qualify
for these benefits in practice. Many cities and provinces continued
experiments aimed at abolishing the distinction between urban and rural
residents in household registration documents.
House arrest continued to be used as a nonjudicial punishment and
control measure against dissidents, family members of political
prisoners, petitioners, and others whom the Government or party deemed
politically sensitive or ``troublemakers'' (see section 1.d.).
Under the ``staying at prison employment'' system applicable to
recidivists incarcerated in reeducation-through-labor camps,
authorities denied certain persons permission to return to their homes
after serving their sentences. Some released or paroled prisoners
returned home but were not permitted freedom of movement.
The Government permitted legal emigration and foreign travel for
most citizens. Most citizens could obtain passports, although those
whom the Government deemed threats, including religious leaders,
political dissidents, and some ethnic minority members continued to
have difficulty obtaining passports (see Tibet Addendum). There were
reports that some academics faced travel restrictions around the year's
sensitive anniversaries, particularly the June 4 anniversary of the
Tiananmen Square massacre. There were instances in which the
authorities refused to issue passports or visas on apparent political
grounds. Members of underground churches, Falun Gong members, and other
politically sensitive individuals sometimes were refused passports and
other necessary travel documents. In March an individual in Guangxi
Province was reportedly barred from traveling outside the country
because he authored Internet articles critical of the CCP. In August
ICPC member Wu Wei was reportedly stopped at the Hong Kong border while
on his way to attend the ICPC's annual meeting. In September passport
control authorities without warning confiscated the passport of a
prominent labor rights lawyer as he was boarding a train to Hong Kong.
The law neither provides for a citizen's right to repatriate nor
otherwise addresses exile. The Government continued to refuse reentry
to numerous citizens who were considered dissidents, Falun Gong
activists, or troublemakers. Although some dissidents living abroad
have been allowed to return, dissidents released on medical parole and
allowed to leave the country often were effectively exiled. Activists
residing abroad have been imprisoned upon their return to the country.
While UNHCR reported that more than 2,000 Tibetans each year
crossed into Nepal, the Government continued to try to prevent many
Tibetans from leaving (see Tibet Addendum).
Protection of Refugees.--Although a signatory of the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
the law does not provide for the granting of refugee or asylum status.
The Government largely cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) when dealing with the resettlement of
ethnic Han Chinese or ethnic minorities from Vietnam and Laos resident
in the country. During the year the Government and UNHCR continued
ongoing discussions concerning the granting of citizenship to these
residents. Since the late 1980s, the Government has adopted a de facto
policy of tolerance toward the small number of persons, fewer than 100
annually, from other nations who registered with the Beijing office of
the UNHCR as asylum seekers. The Government permitted these persons to
remain in the country while the UNHCR made determinations as to their
status and, if the UNHCR determined that they were bona fide refugees,
while they awaited resettlement in third countries. However, the
Government continued to deny the UNHCR permission to operate along its
northeastern border with North Korea, arguing that North Koreans who
crossed the border were illegal economic migrants, not refugees.
During the year several thousand North Koreans were reportedly
detained and forcibly returned to North Korea. Many faced persecution,
and some may have been executed upon their return. Several hundred
North Koreans were permitted to travel to third countries after they
had entered diplomatic compounds or international schools in the
country. There were numerous credible reports of harassment and
detention of North Koreans in the country. The Government also arrested
and detained foreign journalists, missionaries, and activists, as well
as some citizens, for providing food, shelter, transportation, and
other assistance to North Koreans. The Government continued to detain
several foreigners in the Northeast, some on charges of alien
smuggling, but most for helping North Koreans enter the country. Jilin
Province's public security Web site reported that it had deported an
estimated 2,000 ``foreigners'' in 2004, most of who were believed to be
North Korean. According to NGOs, during the year North Korean agents
operated within the country to forcibly repatriate North Korean
citizens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law does not provide citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens cannot freely choose or change the
laws and officials that govern them. The CCP continued to control
appointments to positions of political power.
Elections and Political Participation.--According to the law, the
NPC is the highest organ of state power. Formally, it elects the
President and vice President, selects the premier and vice premiers,
and elects the chairman of the State Central Military Commission. In
practice the NPC Standing Committee, which is composed of 153 members,
oversaw these elections and determined the agenda and procedure for the
NPC. The NPC Standing Committee remained under the direct authority of
the CCP's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee. The NPC does not
have the power to set policy or remove government or party leaders.
In 2003 the NPC confirmed CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao as
President, and in 2004 Hu consolidated his power when he was also
appointed chairman of the Central Military Commission.
All of the country's approximately one million villages were
expected to hold competitive, direct elections for village committee
officials. Most provinces already have held four or five rounds of
village committee elections, according to the Ministry of Civil
Affairs. Foreign observers who monitored local village committee
elections judged those they observed to have been generally fair.
However, the Government estimated that one-third of all elections had
serious procedural flaws. Corruption, vote buying, and interference by
township-level and party officials continued to be problems. The law
permitted each voter to cast proxy votes for up to three other voters.
Many rural voters cast the maximum number of proxy votes, especially in
areas with significant out-migration.
Although the law includes a provision for recalling village
committee members, local implementing regulations have proven
sufficiently vague or cumbersome so as to prevent most attempted
recalls. In cases of alleged corruption, a handful of local legislative
deputies, but not village heads, have been recalled. In 2005 villagers
in Guangdong Province's Taishi Village were subjected to severe abuse
when they tried to recall village chief Chen Jinsheng, whom they
accused of embezzling village funds. Authorities resorted to violence,
intimidation, and other tactics to quash the recall attempt.
The election law governs elections of legislative bodies at all
levels. Under this law, citizens have the opportunity to vote for local
people's congress representatives at the county level and below,
although in most cases the nomination of candidates in those elections
was strictly controlled. Legislators selected people's congress
delegates above the county level. For example, provincial-level
people's congresses selected delegates to the NPC. Local CCP
secretaries generally served concurrently as the head of the local
people's congress, thus strengthening party control over legislatures.
During the year independent candidates not selected by local
authorities ran or attempted to run in people's congress elections held
at the local level across the country. While a small number of
independents were elected, in Hubei and Guangdong Provinces local
officials reportedly manipulated and pressured some candidates, who
mounted aggressive campaigns to prevent independents from being
nominated, and if nominated, from winning. Local police detained and
monitored independent candidates, seized campaign materials, and
intimidated supporters, family members, and friends. Some activists
also alleged that vote counts were rigged to ensure defeat. During the
year Taishi villagers failed in their attempt to nominate an
independent candidate for local people's congress representative,
allegedly because of ballot tampering and an illegal refusal to allow
proxy votes.
Although the party controlled appointments of officials to
government and party positions at all levels, some township, county,
and provincial elections featured experiments with increased
competition, including self-nomination of candidates, campaign speeches
by candidates, public vetting of nominees, and a two-tiered indirect
election system.
The CCP retained a monopoly on political power and forbade the
creation of new political parties. The Government recognized nine
parties founded prior to 1949, but not the CDP, an opposition party
founded in 1998 and subsequently declared illegal. Dozens of CDP
leaders, activists, and members have been arrested, detained, or
confined. One of the CDP's founders, Qin Yongmin, remained in prison at
year's end, as did others connected with a 2002 open letter calling for
political reform and reappraisal of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. On
September 14, authorities released CDP leader Zhu Yufu after he
completed a seven-year sentence for participating in prodemocracy
activities. On the same day, authorities detained CDP leader Chen
Shuqing on suspicion of inciting ``to subvert state power.'' More than
30 current or former CDP members reportedly remained imprisoned or held
in reeducation-through-labor camps, including Zhang Lin, Zhao
Changqing, Sang Jiancheng, He Depu, Yang Tianshui, Wang Rongqing, and
Jiang Lijun.
The Government placed no special restrictions on the participation
of women or minority groups in the political process. However, women
held few positions of significant influence in the CCP or government
structure. There was one female vice premier on the 24-member
Politburo. There was also one woman among the five state councilors.
The head of a key CCP organization, the United Front Work Department,
was a woman. During the year women headed one of the country's 28
ministries, and 25 women served at the level of vice minister or
higher.
The Government encouraged women to exercise their right to vote in
village committee elections and to stand for those elections, although
only a small fraction of elected members were women. In many locations,
a seat on the village committee was reserved for a woman, who was
usually given responsibility for family planning. At the end of 2005,
there were 13.6 million female party members, making up 19.2 percent of
the 70.8 million members of the Communist Party. Women constituted 20.2
percent of the NPC and 14.2 percent of the NPC Standing Committee. In
2002 the 16th Party Congress elected 27 women to serve as members or
alternates on the 198person Central Committee, a slight
increase over the total of the previous committee.
Minorities constituted 13.9 percent of the NPC, although they made
up approximately 8.4 percent of the population. All of the country's 55
officially recognized minority groups were represented in the NPC
membership. The 16th Party Congress elected 35 members of ethnic
minority groups as members or alternates on the Central Committee. The
only ministerial-level post, held by an ethnic minority was the Ethnic
Affairs post and there was one ethnic minority, Vice Premier Hui
Liangyu, on the Politburo. Minorities held few senior party or
government positions of significant influence (see section 5).
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained an
endemic problem. The National Audit Office found that 48 ministerial
level departments misused or embezzled approximately $685 million (RMB
5.51 billion) from the central government's 2005 budget, a 70 percent
increase over the amount reported in 2004. Corruption plagued courts,
law enforcement agencies, and other government agencies. In March 2000
foreign citizen Jude Shao was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for
tax evasion after allegedly refusing to pay bribes to local tax
auditors. He remained in prison at year's end, despite receiving a one-
year reduction in his sentence in September.
The courts and party agencies took disciplinary action against many
public and party officials during the year. According to the SPP's
March 11 report to the NPC, prosecutors filed and investigated 24,277
cases of embezzlement, bribery, or dereliction of duty; prosecuted
30,205 officials while investigating a total of 41,477 officials in
2005; and transferred 7,279 cases to judicial organs for prosecution.
The CCP's CDIC reported that 110,000 officials were disciplined for
breaking laws and party discipline in 2005. Inspection committees
stripped 11,071 persons of CCP membership, more than twice the number
in 2004. In some cases, sanctions administered by the CDIC reportedly
substituted for sanctions by courts and other legal agencies.
The country had no national freedom of information law, but many
local jurisdictions continued to enact freedom of information
regulations aimed at improving the public's communication with and
supervision over local government initiatives. Approximately 95 percent
of government ministries, provincial governments and prefecture-level
cities had Web sites, providing some, albeit restricted, public
information. However, citizens, local media, and foreign journalists
found it difficult to get information about government decision making,
especially before decisions were formally announced.
The Government experimented with various forms of public oversight
of government, including telephone hot lines and complaint centers,
administrative hearings, increased opportunity for citizen observation
of government proceedings, and other forms of citizen input in the
local legislative process, such as hearings to discuss draft
legislation. Citizens continued to file administrative lawsuits to seek
legal redress against government malfeasance. According to official
statistics, 95,707 administrative lawsuits were filed against the
Government in 2005, slightly more than in the previous year.
Petitioning officials directly and outside the court system was also a
common avenue used by citizens to redress grievances. Official media
reported that 12.7 million petitions were filed at the county level and
above in 2005, down from 13.7 million in 2004 (see section 2.b.).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government sought to maintain control over civil society
groups, halt the emergence of independent NGOs, and prevent what they
have called the ``westernization'' of China. The Government did not
permit independent domestic NGOs to monitor openly or to comment on
human rights conditions; existing domestic NGOs were harassed. The
Government tended to be suspicious of independent organizations and
increased scrutiny of NGOs with links overseas. Most large NGOs were
quasi-governmental in nature, and all NGOs had to be sponsored by
government agencies (see section 2.b.).
During the year the Government continued its intensified efforts to
monitor and control NGOs and used strict regulations to limit the
growth of independent civil society, which were first implemented in
2005.
An informal network of activists around the country continued to
serve as a credible source of information about many human rights
violations. The information was disseminated through organizations such
as the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and
Democratic Movement in China and the New York-based Human Rights in
China.
When permitted by authorities, the press reported about officials
who exceeded their authority and infringed on citizens' rights.
However, the Government remained reluctant to accept criticism of its
human rights record by other nations or international organizations. It
criticized reports by international human rights monitoring groups,
claiming that such reports were inaccurate and interfered with the
country's internal affairs. Representatives of some international human
rights organizations reported that authorities denied their visa
requests or restricted the length of visas issued to them (see section
2.d.). The government-established China Society for Human Rights is an
NGO whose mandate was to defend the Government's human rights record.
The Government maintained that each country's economic, social,
cultural and historical conditions influence its approach to human
rights.
The Government permitted the ICRC to open an office in Beijing,
although it did not authorize the ICRC to visit prisons. The Government
submitted to the UN its first compliance report on the International
Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights. The Government
continued unofficial discussions on human rights and prisoner issues
with a San Francisco-based human rights group, although the
Government's cooperation with the group was not as extensive as in
previous years.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
There were laws designed to protect women, children, persons with
disabilities, and minorities. However, in practice, some discrimination
based on ethnicity, gender, and disability persisted.
Women.--Violence against women remained a significant problem.
There was no national law criminalizing domestic violence, but the
Marriage Law provides for mediation and administrative penalties in
cases of domestic violence. In August 2005 the NPC amended the Law on
the Protection of Women's Rights specifically to prohibit domestic
violence, although critics complained that the provision fails to
define domestic violence. More than 30 provinces, cities, or local
jurisdictions passed legislation aimed at addressing domestic violence.
According to a 2004 survey by the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF),
30 percent of families had experienced domestic violence, and 16
percent of husbands had beaten their wives. The ACWF reported that it
received some 300,000 letters per year complaining about family
problems, mostly domestic violence. The actual incidence was believed
to be higher because spousal abuse went largely unreported. According
to experts, domestic abuse was more common in rural areas than in urban
centers. In response to increased awareness of the problem of domestic
violence, there were a growing number of shelters for victims. Most
shelters were government run, although some included NGO participation.
Rape is illegal, and some persons convicted of rape were executed.
The law does not expressly recognize or exclude spousal rape.
The law prohibits the use of physical coercion to compel persons to
submit to abortion or sterilization. However, intense pressure to meet
birth limitation targets set by government regulations resulted in
instances of local birth-planning officials using physical coercion to
meet government goals (see section 1.f.). In addition, women faced a
disproportionate burden due to the Government's enforcement of its
birth limitation laws and practices. Such laws and practices required
the use of birth control methods (particularly IUDs and female
sterilization, which according to government statistics, accounted for
more than 80 percent of birth control methods employed) and the
abortion of certain pregnancies.
Although prostitution is illegal, experts estimate that there were
1.7 to five million commercial sex workers in the country. The
commercialization of sex and related trafficking in women trapped tens
of thousands of women in a cycle of crime and exploitation and left
them vulnerable to disease and abuse (see section 5, Trafficking).
According to state-run media, one out of every five massage parlors in
the country was involved in prostitution, with the percentage higher in
cities. A 2004 Guangdong Province survey found that 74.2 percent of
massage parlor workers were involved in prostitution. Unsafe working
conditions were rampant among the saunas, massage parlors, clubs, and
hostess bars in cities. Research indicated that up to 80 percent of
prostitutes in some areas had hepatitis.
Although the Government made some efforts to crack down on the sex
trade, credible media reports claimed that some local officials were
complicit in prostitution, owned prostitution venues, or received
proceeds from such businesses. Prostitution involved organized crime
groups and businesspersons as well as the police and the military.
Actions to curtail prostitution had limited results. In 2004 according
to state-run media, an investigation of prostitution at entertainment
facilities in Guangdong Province led to the permanent closure of 15
percent and temporary closure of another 40 percent of the facilities
investigated. Courts have prosecuted persons involved in organizing and
procuring prostitutes.
The amended Law on the Protection of Women's Rights included a ban
on sexual harassment, stating ``the injured woman has the right to
complain to the work unit and the relevant department'' and may ``bring
a civil action in court for damages.'' Legal scholars and activists
praised the amendment but emphasized the law should also specifically
define what constitutes abusive behavior. Experts continued to suggest
that many victims did not report sexual harassment out of fear of
losing their jobs.
The Government has made gender equality a policy objective since
1949. The constitution states ``women enjoy equal rights with men in
all spheres of life.'' The Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and
Interests provides for equality in ownership of property, inheritance
rights, and access to education. Policies that once allotted work-unit
housing only to the husband have become gender-neutral, and an April
2005 Supreme Court interpretation emphasized that housing rights are
shared equally, even in cases of divorce. The State Council's National
Working Committee on Children and Women coordinated women's policy. The
ACWF was the leading implementer of women's policy for the Government.
Nonetheless, many activists and observers were concerned that the
progress made by women over the past 50 years was eroding. They
asserted that the Government appeared to have made the pursuit of
gender equality a secondary priority as it focused on economic reform
and political stability.
The Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests was
designed to assist in curbing gender-based discrimination. However,
women continued to report that discrimination, sexual harassment,
unfair dismissal, demotion, and wage discrepancies were significant
problems. Social organizations and the Government made efforts to
educate women about their legal rights. In a high-profile case in
September a Chinese actress made sexual harassment allegations against
a China Central Television (CCTV) director on her blog. Although the
director threatened to sue the actress for ``libel,'' the case has not
gone to court. Hundreds of thousands of Internet users expressed
support for the actress.
Women's networks, involving lawyers, activists, and the press, were
active in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities, highlighting problems
and calling for solutions to gender-based discrimination.
Nevertheless, women frequently encountered serious obstacles to the
enforcement of laws. According to legal experts, it was difficult to
litigate a sex discrimination suit because the vague legal definition
made it difficult to quantify damages. As a result very few cases were
brought to court. Some observers noted the agencies tasked with
protecting women's rights tended to focus on maternity-related benefits
and wrongful termination during maternity leave rather than on sex
discrimination, violence against women, and sexual harassment. Women's
rights advocates indicated that in rural areas, women often forfeited
land and property rights to their husbands in divorce proceedings.
The ACWF reported that 47 percent of laid-off workers were women, a
percentage significantly higher than their representation in the labor
force. Many employers preferred to hire men to avoid the expense of
maternity leave and childcare, and some lowered the effective
retirement age for female workers to 40 years of age (the official
retirement age for men was 60 years and for women 55 years). In
addition, work units were allowed to impose an earlier mandatory
retirement age for women than for men, which limits women's lifetime
earning power and career span. Lower retirement ages also reduced
pensions, which generally were based on the number of years worked. Job
advertisements sometimes specified height and age requirements for
women.
Women have less earning power than men, despite government policies
that mandate nondiscrimination in employment and occupation. According
to the UN's 2005 Human Development Report, nationwide women's salaries
overall were only 66 percent of men's salaries, while women in rural
areas earned only 60 percent of the income earned by males. Average
incomes of female executives and senior professionals were respectively
only 58 percent and 68 percent of their male colleagues' salaries. Most
women employed in industry worked in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs
and in sectors, such as textiles, which were particularly vulnerable to
restructuring of state-owned enterprises and layoffs. Women accounted
for 60 percent of those below the poverty line.
UNESCO reported that less than 2 percent of women between the ages
of 15 and 24 were illiterate. According to 2005 official government
statistics, women comprised 73.6 percent of all illiterate persons. In
some underdeveloped regions, the female literacy rate lagged behind the
male literacy rate by 15 percent or more.
A high female suicide rate continued to be a serious problem.
According to the World Bank and the World Health Organization, there
were approximately 500 female suicides per day. The suicide rate for
females was 25 percent higher than for males. Many observers believed
that violence against women and girls, discrimination in education and
employment, the traditional preference for male children, the country's
birth limitation policies, and other societal factors contributed to
the especially high female suicide rate. Women in rural areas, where
the suicide rate for women is three to four times higher than for men,
were especially vulnerable.
While the gap in the education levels of men and women narrowed,
differences in educational attainment remained a problem. According to
a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report, 61 percent of boys and 43
percent of girls in rural areas completed education higher than lower
middle school. Men continued to be overrepresented among the relatively
small number of persons who received a university-level education.
According to official statistics, in 2005 women accounted for 47.1
percent of undergraduate and college students, 43.4 percent of
postgraduate students, and 32.6 percent of doctoral students. Women
with advanced degrees reported discrimination in the hiring process as
the job distribution system became more competitive and market driven.
Children.--The law prohibits maltreatment of children and provides
for compulsory education. The State Council's National Working
Committee on Children and Women was tasked with carrying out policy
toward children.
The law provides for nine years of compulsory education for
children. However, in economically disadvantaged rural areas many
children did not attend school for the required period and some never
attended. Public schools were not allowed to charge tuition, but after
the central government largely stopped subsidizing primary education,
many public schools began to charge mandatory school-related fees to
meet revenue shortfalls. Such fees made it difficult for poorer
families and some migrant workers to send their children to school.
According to government statistics, 98.6 percent of children
nationwide were enrolled in elementary school. In 2005 the Government
reported that 51.4 percent of primary school students, 45.7 percent of
junior secondary school students, and 44.0 percent of senior secondary
school students were female. It was widely believed that the proportion
of girls attending school in rural and minority areas was smaller than
in cities.
In 2003 the UN special rapporteur on the right to education visited
and found that the Government failed to provide education to many
children of migrant workers and prohibited children from receiving
religious education. The special rapporteur expressed serious concern
about privatization of the costs of public education and reported that
the Government compelled parents to pay nearly half the costs of public
education, making education inaccessible to many children. The special
rapporteur also recommended the Government immediately ban the practice
of children performing manual labor at their schools to raise funds.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2004 statistics, the
infant mortality rate was 26 per 1,000 and the mortality rate for
children under five years of age was 31 per 1,000 live births. The Law
on the Protection of Juveniles forbids infanticide; however, there was
evidence that the practice continued. According to the National
Population and Family Planning Commission, a handful of doctors have
been charged with infanticide under this law. The law prohibits
discrimination against minors with disabilities and codifies a variety
of judicial protections for juvenile offenders. The physical abuse of
children can be grounds for criminal prosecution.
More than half of all boys and almost a third of all girls have
been physically abused, according to survey results released at a May
2005 conference in Beijing. The survey reported that 10 percent of boys
and 15 percent of girls have been sexually abused. These statistics
were among those publicized at a National Consultation on Violence
against Children, which the Government and UNICEF sponsored. However,
journalists were sanctioned for reporting on the rape of female
students as young as 10 in Shanxi and Guangdong provinces. A media ban
was also issued after a Nanjing newspaper publicized the forced
sterilization of mentally challenged teenagers in Nantong, Jiangsu
Province.
Despite government efforts to prevent kidnapping and the buying and
selling of children, these problems persisted in some rural areas, and
children were trafficked for labor purposes (see section 5,
Trafficking).
According to official statistics, during the year juvenile crime
fell after increasing sharply in 2005. In 2005 courts heard cases
involving 82,692 juvenile offenders, up 18 percent from 2004 when
courts heard cases involving 70,086 juvenile offenders. During the
first eight months of the year, 11.4 percent fewer juveniles were
convicted of crimes than during the same period in 2005. From 2000 to
2005, the annual increase in juvenile crime was approximately 11
percent. Abolition of the system of custody and repatriation in 2003
reduced the number of children detained administratively. Nonetheless,
more than 150,000 ``street children'' lived in cities, according to
state-run media. This number was even higher if the children of migrant
workers, who spend the day on the streets were included. Juveniles were
required by law to be held separately from adults, except when
facilities were insufficient. In practice children sometimes were
detained without their parents, held with adults, and required to
participate in forced labor (see sections 1.c. and 6.c.).
Female infanticide, sex-selective abortions, and the abandonment
and neglect of baby girls remained problems due to the traditional
preference for sons and the birth limitation policy (see section 1.f.).
Many families, particularly in rural areas, used ultrasound to identify
female fetuses and terminate pregnancies, even though this practice
remained illegal. An official study in Hainan Province found that 68
percent of abortions were of female fetuses. According to a 2002
survey, 35 percent of women in one rural township admitted to having an
abortion because of a preference for a male child. Female babies also
suffered from a higher mortality rate than male babies, contrary to the
worldwide norm. State media reported that infant mortality rates in
rural areas were 27 percent higher for girls than boys. Neglect of baby
girls was one factor in their lower survival rate. One study found the
differential mortality rates were highest in areas where women had a
lower social status and economic and medical conditions were poor.
The law forbids the mistreatment or abandonment of children. The
vast majority of children in orphanages were female; males in
orphanages were usually disabled or in poor health. Medical
professionals sometimes advised parents of children with disabilities
to put the children into orphanages.
The Government denied that children in orphanages were mistreated
or refused medical care but acknowledged that the system often was
unable to provide adequately for some children, particularly those with
serious medical problems. Adopted children were counted under the birth
limitation regulations in most locations. As a result, couples that
adopted abandoned baby girls were sometimes barred from having
additional children.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits human
trafficking, trafficking in persons remained a serious problem. The
country was both a source and destination country for trafficking in
persons. Most trafficking was internal for the purposes of forced labor
and forced marriage. Some cases involved trafficking of women and girls
into forced prostitution in urban areas, and some reports suggested
that certain victims, especially children, were sold into forced labor.
In many cases, women and children were lured abroad with false promises
of employment and then trafficked into prostitution or forced labor.
Domestic and cross-border trafficking continued to be significant
problems, although the exact numbers of persons involved could only be
estimated due to a huge itinerant population of approximately 150
million. The MPS opened 2,884 trafficking cases involving female
children in 2005. During this same period, the MPS resolved 2,471 cases
and rescued 3,977 women and children. During the year Vietnamese
authorities reported that 167 women and children were rescued from
traffickers in China, an increase of 64 percent from the same period in
2005.
Some experts and NGOs suggested that a shortage of marriageable
women fueled the demand for abducted women, especially in rural areas.
They argued that the serious imbalance in the male-female sex ratio at
birth, the tendency for many village women to leave rural areas to seek
employment, and the cost of traditional betrothal gifts all made
purchasing a wife attractive to some poor rural men. Some men recruited
women from poorer regions, while others sought help from criminal
gangs. Criminal gangs either kidnapped women and girls or tricked them
with promises of jobs and higher living standards, only to be
transported far from their homes for delivery to buyers. Once in their
new ``family,'' these women were ``married'' and sometimes raped. Some
accepted their fate and joined the new community; others struggled and
were punished; a few escaped. Some former trafficking victims became
traffickers themselves, lured by the prospect of financial gain.
According to UN reports, most women and girls trafficked from
abroad came from North Korea and Vietnam. Others came from Burma, Laos,
Russia, and Ukraine. They were trafficked into the country for sexual
exploitation, forced marriage, and indentured servitude in domestic
service or businesses. Past reports noted that trafficking of North
Korean women and girls into the country to work in the sex industry was
widespread in the northeastern part of the country, but reliable
sources suggested that the practice has decreased. North Korean women
reportedly were sold for approximately $380 to $1,260 (RMB 3,040 to
10,080). Women reportedly were also trafficked from Vietnam for the
purpose of forced marriage. The UN reported that Chinese citizens were
most often trafficked to Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and
the United States. Second-tier destinations included Australia,
European countries, Canada, Japan, Italy, Burma, Singapore, South
Africa, and Taiwan.
Trafficked persons became entangled with alien smuggling rings,
which often had ties to organized crime and were international in
scope. Persons trafficked by alien smugglers paid high prices for their
passage to other countries, where they hoped that their economic
prospects would improve. There were credible reports that some promised
to pay from $30,000 to $50,000 (RMB 240,000 to RMB 400,000) each for
their passage. Upon arrival, many reportedly were forced to repay
traffickers for the smuggling charges and their living expenses by
working in specified jobs for a set period of time. Living and working
conditions for trafficked persons were generally poor. Traffickers
restricted their movements and confiscated their travel documents.
Threats to report trafficking victims to the authorities or to
retaliate against their families if they protested made trafficked
persons even more vulnerable. When arrested and brought to court, human
smugglers received five- to ten-year jail sentences and fines up to
$6,000 (RMB 48,000). In very serious cases, courts imposed life
imprisonment or the death penalty.
MPS officials stated that repatriated victims of trafficking no
longer faced fines or other punishment upon their return. However,
authorities acknowledged that errors sometimes occurred because of
corruption among police, provisions allowing for the imposition of
fines on persons traveling without proper documentation, and the
difficulty in identifying victims. Trafficking victims often lacked
proper identification, which made it difficult to distinguish them from
person who illegally crossed borders.
Kidnapping and the buying and selling of children for adoption
continued, particularly in poor rural areas. There were no reliable
estimates of the number of children trafficked. Domestically, most
trafficked children were sold to couples unable to have children,
particularly sons. In the past, most infants rescued were male, but
increased demand for children has reportedly driven traffickers to
focus on females as well.
Children were also trafficked from poorer interior areas to
relatively more prosperous areas for work. Traffickers reportedly often
enticed parents to relinquish their children with promises of large
remittances their children would be able to send home. Some children
worked in factories but many ended up under the control of local gangs
and were induced to commit petty crimes such as purse snatching.
The purchase of women was criminalized in 1991 when the NPC
Standing Committee enacted its ``Decision Relating to the Severe
Punishment of Criminal Elements Who Abduct and Kidnap Women and
Children.'' This decision made abduction and sale separate offenses.
Between 2001 and 2005, police opened more than 28,000 trafficking
cases, arrested more than 25,000 suspected traffickers, and rescued
more than 35,000 victims. In July, 28 members of a trafficking ring in
Guangdong Province received sentences ranging from two years
imprisonment to the death penalty. The ring had forced 10 women into
prostitution. In 2005 10 members of a Guangzhou baby smuggling ring
were convicted of smuggling 37 male infants. According to several media
reports the average price was U.S. 1,250 (RMB 10,000) per child,
although other media reports quoted a range of prices from several
thousand to a few hundred dollars per child.
Despite government efforts to eliminate trafficking in women and
children, the problem persisted. There were reports of local officials'
complicity in both alien smuggling and in prostitution, which sometimes
involved trafficked women. In some cases, village leaders sought to
prevent police from rescuing women who had been sold to villagers.
The two principal organs responsible for combating trafficking were
the MPS and the State Council's Work Committee for Women and Children.
In addition, the SPC, the SPP, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the
Central Office in Charge of Comprehensive Management of Public Order,
and the Legislative Office of the State Council played roles in this
area. It was central government policy to provide funds to provincial
and local police to house victims and return them to their homes.
Government-funded women's federation offices provided counseling on
legal rights, including the options for legal action against
traffickers, to some victims. The ACWF assisted victims in obtaining
medical and psychological treatment.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law protects the rights of persons
with disabilities and prohibits discrimination; however, conditions for
such persons lagged far behind legal dictates, failing to provide
persons with disabilities with access to programs designed to assist
them. According to the official press, all local governments have
drafted specific measures to implement the law.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the China Disabled Persons
Federation, a government-organized civil association, were the main
entities responsible for persons with disabilities. According to the
China Disabled Persons' Federation, there were 60 million persons with
disabilities. According to government statistics, 3,335 educational and
vocational centers provided training and job-placement services for
persons with disabilities. During the year 572,000 persons with
disabilities received education or training. However, some 1.2 million
urban and 3.4 million rural persons with disabilities were unemployed.
Nationwide, 275,000 school-age children with disabilities did not
attend school. Nearly 100,000 organizations exist, mostly in urban
areas, to serve those with disabilities and protect their legal rights.
The Government, at times in conjunction with NGOs, sponsored programs
to integrate persons with disabilities into society. However,
misdiagnosis, inadequate medical care, stigmatization, and abandonment
remained common problems.
According to reports, doctors frequently persuaded parents of
children with disabilities to place their children in large government-
run institutions, where care was often inadequate. Those parents who
chose to keep children with disabilities at home generally faced
difficulty finding adequate medical care, day care, and education for
their children. Government statistics showed that almost one-quarter of
persons with disabilities lived in extreme poverty. Unemployment among
adults with disabilities remained a serious problem. Standards adopted
for making roads and buildings accessible to persons with disabilities
were subject to the Law on the Handicapped, which calls for their
``gradual'' implementation; compliance with the law was lax. Students
with disabilities were discriminated against in access to education.
The law permits universities legally to exclude otherwise qualified
candidates from higher education.
The law forbids the marriage of persons with certain acute mental
illnesses, such as schizophrenia. If doctors find that a couple is at
risk of transmitting disabling congenital defects to their children,
the couple may marry only if they agree to use birth control or undergo
sterilization. The law stipulates that local governments must employ
such practices to raise the percentage of healthy births. Media reports
publicized the forced sterilization of mentally challenged teenagers in
Nantong, Jiangsu Province.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2000 census,
the population of the country's 55 officially recognized ethnic
minorities totaled 106.4 million, or 8.4 percent of the total
population. Additionally some citizens identified themselves as members
of unrecognized ethnic minorities. Most minority groups resided in
areas they traditionally inhabited. Government policy provides members
of recognized minorities with preferential treatment in birth planning,
university admission, access to loans, and employment. In May 2005 new
regulations designed to enhance minority preferences in education
became effective. Nonetheless, in practice the majority Han culture
often discriminated against minorities. Most minorities in border
regions were less educated, and job discrimination in favor of Han
migrants remained a serious problem even in state-owned enterprises. In
June the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps announced that it
would recruit 840 employees from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region,
designating nearly all of the job openings for Han Chinese. Racial
discrimination was the source of deep resentment in some areas, such as
Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet. As part of the Government's
emphasis on building a ``harmonious society,'' the Government
downplayed racism against minorities and tension among different ethnic
groups. But even in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin
Province, which the Government recognized as the most ``harmonious''
ethnic area, there is a perceived ceiling in career advancement for
ethnic Koreans.
Incomes in minority areas remained well below those in other parts
of the country, particularly for minorities. Han Chinese benefited
disproportionately from government programs and economic growth. Many
development programs disrupted traditional living patterns of minority
groups and included, in some cases, the forced relocation of persons
(see section 2.d.).
The Government's policy to encourage Han migration into minority
areas resulted in significant increases in the population of Han
Chinese in Xinjiang. According to 2005 statistics published by Xinjiang
officials, nine million of Xinjiang's 19.6 million official residents
were Uighur. Approximately 7.8 million Xinjiang residents were Han (40
percent of the total population), up from 300,000 Han in 1949 (6
percent of the total population). Significant numbers of Kazakhs, Hui,
Kyrgyz, and other minorities also lived in Xinjiang. Official
statistics underestimated the Han population because they did not count
the tens of thousands of Han Chinese who were long-term ``temporary
workers.'' The migration of ethnic Han into Xinjiang in recent decades
caused the Han-Uighur ratio in the capital of Urumqi to shift from 20
to 80 to 80 to 20 and was a source of Uighur resentment. According to
2005 figures, non-Tibetan residents of the TAR comprised 5.9 percent of
the population, but that figure did not include a large number of long-
term Han Chinese ``temporary'' residents. Their presence also caused
resentment among some Tibetans (see Tibet Addendum).
Minorities constituted 14 percent of the NPC, which was higher than
their percentage in the population. According to a 1999 government
report, 2.7 million minority officials served in the Government. A
Xinhua report claimed that more than 25 percent of Inner Mongolia's
cadres were ethnic minorities, even though ethnic minorities
constituted only 21 percent out of the region's population of 23.79
million. A government report stated that ethnic minority representation
in the NPC was 62.7 percent in Xinjiang, 68.2 percent in Tibet, 58.8
percent in Guangxi, 59.8 percent in Ningxia, and 40.7 percent in Inner
Mongolia.
Nonetheless, Han officials held the most powerful party and
government positions in minority autonomous regions, particularly
Xinjiang. In April 2005 the Government announced that 500 of 700 new
government jobs in Southern Xinjiang would be reserved for Han Chinese.
In September 2005 the Xinjiang Daily announced that 947 Han cadres were
being sent to areas where ethnic unrest had occurred. Han Chinese also
held a majority of positions in security services, including special
border brigades and new counterterrorism brigades that had some police
powers.
The Government continued moving away from the two-track school
systems that used either standard Chinese or the local minority
language and toward a new system that required schools to teach both
standard Chinese and local minority languages or to teach standard
Chinese only. Prior to adopting the new policy, the vast majority of
Uighur children in Xinjiang attended Uighur-language schools and
generally received an hour's Chinese-language instruction per day.
Graduates of minority language schools typically needed intensive
Chinese study before they could handle Chinese-language course work at
a university. The dominant position of standard Chinese in government,
commerce, and academia put graduates of minority-language schools who
lacked standard Chinese proficiency at a disadvantage. Koranic
education was tightly controlled and use of Arabic in public schools is
forbidden (see section 2.c.). During the year the Government allocated
an additional $15 million (RMB 120 million) to build new schools and
support technical training for minority students who drop out before
high school.
A campaign in Xinjiang targeting the ``three evils'' of religious
extremism, splittism, and terrorism continued. Authorities in Xinjiang
regularly grouped together individuals or organizations involved in the
three evils, making it difficult to determine whether particular raids,
detentions, or judicial punishments were targeted at those peacefully
seeking to express their political and religious views or those who
engaged in violence (see section 2.c.). The Government's war on terror
continued to be used as a pretext for cracking down harshly on Uighurs
expressing peaceful political dissent and on independent Muslim
religious leaders. In December 2003 the Government published an ``East
Turkestan Terrorist List,'' which labeled organizations such as the
World Uighur Youth Congress and the East Turkestan Information Center
as terrorist entities. These groups openly advocated East Turkestan
independence, but only one group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement
was designated by the UN as a terrorist organization.
Uighurs were sentenced to long prison terms and many were executed
on charges of separatism. During a previous ``strike hard'' campaign,
which officially concluded in 2003, authorities stated they prosecuted
more than 3,000 cases in Xinjiang and held mass sentencing rallies
attended by more than 300,000 persons. By its own account, from January
to August 2004 the Government broke up 22 groups engaged in what it
claimed were separatist and terrorist activities and meted out 50 death
sentences to those charged with separatist acts. In February 2005
Uighur writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin was sentenced to 10 years in prison
after publishing a short story which authorities claimed advocated
separatism. In April 2005 writer Abdulla Jamal was detained in
Xinjiang, reportedly for writings that promoted Uighur independence. In
August 2005 10 individuals reportedly were arrested for possession of
pamphlets and audiotapes that called for an independent state. Later in
the year, editor of the Kashgar Literature Journal Korash Huseyin was
sentenced to three years in prison. In October 2005 Ismail Semed, an
ethnic Uighur from Xinjiang, was reportedly convicted and sentenced to
death on charges of ``attempting to split the motherland'' and other
counts related to possession of firearms and explosives. In 2003 Uighur
Shaheer Ali was executed after being convicted of terrorism.
In June authorities charged Alim, Ablikim, and Qahar Abdurehim,
three of Uighur activist and businesswoman Rebiya Kadeer's sons, with
state security and economic crimes. Authorities reportedly beat and
tortured Alim and Ablikim, and Alim reportedly confessed to the
charges. On July 10, officials indicted Alim and Qahar and placed other
family members under house arrest and surveillance.
In 2004 Uighur Dilkex Tilivaldi was detained after meeting a
foreign journalist. The Government refused to clarify his whereabouts
(see section 1.e.).
Possession of publications or audiovisual materials discussing
independence or other sensitive subjects was not permitted. According
to reports, possession of such materials resulted in lengthy prison
sentences.
Officials in the region defended the campaign against separatism as
necessary to maintain public order and continued to use the threat of
violence as justification for extreme security measures directed at the
local population and visiting foreigners.
Han control of the region's political and economic institutions
also contributed to heightened tension. Although government policies
brought economic improvements to Xinjiang, Han residents received a
disproportionate share of the benefits.
Inner Mongolian cultural activist Hada continued to serve a 15-year
sentence during the year (see sections 1.c. and 1.e.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The household
registration system continued to result in widespread discrimination
against Chinese from rural areas. Because they could not change their
household registrations, many migrants living and working in urban
areas were denied access to public services such as education and
health care, as well as pension benefits, unemployment, and other
social insurance programs. Where public services were available to
migrant families, they rarely reached a standard equal to those of
registered urban residents.
No laws criminalize private homosexual activity between consenting
adults. Societal discrimination and strong pressure to conform to
family expectations deterred most gay individuals from publicly
discussing their sexual orientation. Published reports stated that more
than 80 percent of gay men married because of social pressure. In what
officials said was a campaign against pornography, authorities blocked
the overseas Web site gaychinese.net for three months. Other Internet
sites on gay issues that were not sexually explicit were also blocked
during the year.
Under the new contagious disease law and adopted regulations,
employment discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B
is forbidden, and provisions allow such persons to work as civil
servants. However, discrimination against the estimated 650,000 persons
with HIV/AIDS and approximately 10 million hepatitis B carriers
remained widespread in many areas. Hospitals and physicians sometimes
refused to treat HIV-positive patients. During the year a number of
hepatitis B carriers sued local government institutions to enforce
their rights to work and study. While they won judgments in some cases,
widespread discrimination remains. In October the Ministry of Health
criticized local officials in Urumqi, Xinjiang for expelling 19
hepatitis B carriers from public schools. The criticism was carried in
the national press, but no remedies were reported. Persons with HIV/
AIDS likewise suffered discrimination and local governments sometimes
tried to suppress their activities. In April Jilin Province authorities
blocked a group of HIV-positive persons from accepting free travel to
visit the Great Wall. At the same time, international involvement in
HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment, as well as central government
pressure on local governments to respond appropriately, brought
improvements in some localities. Some hospitals that previously refused
to treat HIV/AIDS patients now have active care and treatment programs,
because domestic and international training programs improved the
understanding of local healthcare workers and their managers. In
Beijing, dozens of local community centers encourage and facilitate
HIV/AIDS support groups.
Some NGOs working with HIV/AIDS patients and their family members
continued to report difficulties with local government, particularly in
Henan Province where thousands were infected in government-run blood
selling stations during the 1990s. Henan authorities were successful in
providing free treatment to persons with HIV/AIDS. However, foreign and
local observers noted that local governments were reluctant or even
hostile towards coordinating efforts with NGOs and preferred to work
independently.
Scholarly studies by Chinese indicated that discrimination in
employment based on height and physical appearance was both legal and
common.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides for the
freedom of association, in practice workers were not free to organize
or join unions of their own choosing. The All-China Federation of Trade
Unions (ACFTU), which was controlled by the CCP and chaired by a member
of the Politburo, was the sole legal workers' organization. The trade
union law gives the ACFTU control over all union organizations and
activities, including enterprise-level unions, and requires the ACFTU
to ``uphold the leadership of the Communist Party.'' Independent unions
are illegal. In some cases the ACFTU and its constituent unions
influenced and implemented government policies on behalf of workers;
however, the CCP used the ACFTU to communicate with and control
workers.
Already established in the state-owned sector, where union
representatives frequently held senior management positions, the ACFTU
worked throughout the year to establish its unions in the nonstate-
owned sector. Union membership is low in both domestic and foreign-
invested private companies. During the year the ACFTU began a campaign
to establish unions in foreign-invested enterprises. By year's end, the
ACFTU claimed to have established unions in 60 percent of foreign-
invested enterprises and 31 percent of all nonpublic enterprises. In
2005 the ACFTU reported that its membership had reached 150.3 million
or 69 percent of the 217 million urban workers, an increase of 9.7
percent over the previous year.
Since 2004 ACFTU has made efforts to expand control over
nonunionized workers. A large rural labor force, consisting of
approximately 540 million persons, including 300 million agricultural
workers, was unorganized; farmers had no union or similar organization.
Few of the 130 million rural residents working in township and village
enterprises were unionized. Of the 100 to 150 million rural migrants
who worked in the cities, the ACFTU claimed that a total of 14 million
had joined the union. The Ministry of Construction reported that 11
million of the 40 million migrant workers in the construction industry
were union members. However, most migrants working in low-value-added
jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors were not represented and
were easily exploited. Although migrant workers were first permitted to
join the union in 2003, by year's end only 13.8 percent of the migrant
workforce was ``unionized,'' and it was not clear what benefits they
derived from union membership.
Although the law states that trade union officers at each level
should be elected, most were appointed by higher levels of the ACFTU,
often in coordination with employers. In areas where an experimental
program allowed direct election of union officers, regional ACFTU
offices and local party authorities retained control over the selection
and approval of candidates.
Some workers acted outside the ACFTU structure to demand back
wages, pension or health insurance contributions, or other benefits
owed by employers. The Government took action against some of these
workers, especially when they engaged in organized campaigns. Some
workers who complained to local labor and social security bureau
offices about working conditions reported that they faced harassment
from their employers and police, and sometimes from labor bureau
officials. During the year labor rights activists complained throughout
the year of police surveillance, including interviews with police and
police background investigations of their family members. In November
Shenzhen officials investigated the activities of five labor NGOs for
their involvement in an organized petition drive to reduce labor
arbitration fees. Shenzhen authorities confiscated several computers
and shut down two of the NGOs.
The trade union law provides specific legal remedies against
antiunion discrimination and specifies that union representatives may
not be transferred or terminated by enterprise management during their
term of office. Collective contract regulations provide similar
protections for employee representatives during collective
consultations. The degree to which these provisions were enforced was
unknown.
Labor activist Xiao Yunliang was released on February 23, three
weeks before the end of his four year prison sentence. According to
human rights NGOs, Xiao and his family continued to suffer harassment
after his release. Other labor activists, detained in previous years,
were reportedly still in detention at year's end. These included Yao
Fuxin, Shao Liangchen, Hu Shigen, Wang Sen, Zhang Shanguang, He
Chaohui, Yue Tianxiang, Miao Jinhong, Ni Xiafei, Huang Xiangwei, Li
Xintao, Kong Jun and Du Hongqi, Gao Hongming, Hu Mingjun, Li Wangyang,
Liu Zhihua, Luo Mingzhong, Luo Huiquan, Ning Xianhua, She Wanbao, Wang
Miaogen, Yang Jianli, and Zhao Changqing.
Civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who had defended the rights of
Chinese workers, labor activists and other rights activists for many
years, was detained in August and later arrested on September 21 on
``suspicion of inciting subversion of state power.'' His office was
suspended by the Beijing Bureau of Justice for one year in November
2005 shortly after he sent a letter to the President and premier,
calling for an end to widespread detention of activists and after he
had refused to withdraw from politically sensitive legal cases as
demanded by Beijing officials.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The labor law
permits collective bargaining for workers in all types of enterprises;
however, in practice, collective bargaining fell far short of
international standards. Under the law, collective contracts are to be
developed through collaboration between the labor union and management
and should specify such matters as working conditions, wage scales, and
hours of work.
The trade union law specifically addresses unions' responsibility
to bargain collectively on behalf of workers' interests. Regulations
required the union to gather input from workers prior to consultation
with management and to submit collective contracts to workers or their
congress for approval, but it was not clear to what extent these
provisions were carried out in practice. Moreover, without the right to
strike, workers had only a limited capacity to influence the
negotiation process. In the private sector, where official unions were
few and alternative union organizations were unavailable, workers faced
substantial obstacles to bargain collectively with management. The
revised company law, which was passed in October 2005, recognizes the
role of the labor union in representing employees in signing a
collective agreement with a company. It also provides for employee
congresses to enable employees to play a role in the democratic
management of the company.
At the end of 2005 the ACFTU reported that collective contracts
covered 103.8 million workers. Many of these contracts only covered
wages. Officials estimated that 80 percent of collective contracts are
prefabricated contracts adopted with no negotiation. Collective
contracts generally served as minimum standards for individual
contracts between employers and employees and generally mirrored the
law and local minimum labor standards.
The law provides for labor dispute resolution through a three stage
process: in-house mediation, labor arbitration, and litigation. The
ACFTU reported that in all of 2005 there were 294,000 disputes, a 17
percent increase over 2004. Two-thirds of these concerned wage or
social welfare insurance benefits. According to academics, collective
disputes made up 6 percent of the total but accounted for 55 percent of
the workers involved in the disputes. A smaller percentage of disputes
settled through mediation in the workplace than in previous years, a
fact some academics attributed to the conflict between the ACFTU's dual
roles as convener of the mediation body and as worker representative.
The law does not provide for the right to strike. The trade union
law acknowledges that strikes may occur, in which case the union is to
reflect the views and demands of workers in seeking a resolution of the
strike. Some observers interpreted this provision to offer a
theoretical legal basis for the right to strike. However, the
Government continued to treat worker protests as illegal
demonstrations, indicating that there was still no officially accepted
right to strike.
Worker protests occurred throughout the year (see sections 2.b. and
3). Most involved actual or feared job loss, wage or benefit arrears,
allegations of owner/management corruption, dissatisfaction with new
contracts offered in enterprise restructuring, failure to honor
contract terms, or discontent over substandard conditions of
employment. In November the Hong Kong press reported that 1,000 laid-
off former employees of a bankrupt automobile factory in Gansu Province
surrounded the company headquarters, alleging that the company did not
pay agreed severance compensation. In August bus drivers in Huaibei,
Anhui Province started a spontaneous strike to protest changes in their
wages and benefits. While some protests were tolerated, the Government
took swift action to halt protests that became large or that officials
deemed embarrassing.
On February 10, more than 1,000 workers at a textile factory in
Shandong staged a strike against low pay and pay disparity in favor of
the managers. On March 13, 3,000 to 4,000 workers at a textile factory
in Kunming staged a four-day strike against the plant's restructuring
and compensation plans. On April 3, thousands of workers at a Hong
Kong-owned furniture factory in Shenzhen staged a protest against long
working hours and exploitative and abusive treatment. In July more than
1,000 workers at a plastic toy factory in Dongguan, Guangdong Province,
rioted over allegations of inadequate pay and working conditions,
particularly excessive overtime, and protesters clashed with police and
company security. Dozens of workers were detained after the two-day
protest. In August bus drivers in Huaibei, Anhui Province started a
spontaneous strike to protest changes in their wages and benefits. On
November 13, more than 1,000 workers of a state-owned, transportation
enterprise in Gansu province staged a protest against the company's
restructuring plan, which forced 1,448 workers to sign a ``laid-off''
agreement. In some cases protesting workers were offered payments that
met at least a portion of their demands. On November 9, the Shenzhen
Migrant Workers Association was forcibly closed down for organizing a
mass petition to lower the Government's labor dispute arbitration fee
(see section 6.a.). Police sometimes detained protest leaders and
dispersed demonstrations. In December 50 laid-off middle managers from
a state-owned bank were detained when they tried to take a
demonstration to the Beijing district where most senior government
leaders lived.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, forced
labor was a serious problem in penal institutions. Detainees in
reeducation-through-labor facilities were required to work, often with
little or no remuneration. In some cases prisoners worked in facilities
directly connected with penal institutions; in other cases they were
contracted to nonprison enterprises. Former prison inmates reported
that workers who refused to work in some prisons were beaten.
Facilities and their management profited from inmate labor.
The Government cooperated throughout the year to resolve a number
of cases that alleged products produced with prison labor were exported
to a foreign country. Although the Government prohibits forced and
compulsory labor by children, some child trafficking victims were
reportedly sold into forced labor (see section 5).
It remained common for employers to withhold several months' wages,
or to require unskilled workers to deposit several months' wages, as
security against the workers departing early from their labor
contracts. Although this practice was illegal, the Government did not
emphasize controlling it.
On March 27, 31 migrant workers, including child workers, were
freed from a Shanxi Province brickworks where they were forced to work
between 14 to 18 hours a day with no pay under close 24 hour scrutiny
by a work gang leader and six guards.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 16, but the
Government had not adopted a comprehensive policy to combat child
labor. The labor law specifies administrative review, fines, and
revocation of business licenses of those businesses that illegally hire
minors. The law also stipulates that parents or guardians should
provide for children's subsistence. Workers between the ages of 16 and
18 were referred to as ``juvenile workers'' and were prohibited from
engaging in certain forms of physical work, including labor in mines.
A decree prohibiting the use of child labor provides that
businesses illegally hiring minors or in whose employ a child dies will
be punished via administrative review, fines, or revocation of their
business license. The decree further provides that underage children
found working should be returned to their parents or other custodians
in their original place of residence.
According to a study by a Hong Kong-based labor rights NGO, the use
of child labor is on the rise along the country's eastern coast in
recent years. While poverty remains the main reason, inadequacy of the
mandatory education system, rising market demand due to labor shortage
and potential child labor supply outside the formal labor market also
contribute to this long-term problem.
Reliable statistics on the prevalence of child labor are not
available. The Government acknowledged the problem of child labor, and
noted that it was relatively prevalent in certain industries. The
Government also maintained that the country did not have a widespread
child labor problem and that the majority of children who worked did so
to supplement family income, particularly in impoverished rural areas.
Although nine years of education (through age 16) is compulsory, the
high cost of basic education caused some children to drop out of school
to seek work; other children worked while in school. In March Premier
Wen Jiabao pledged that the Government would eliminate tuition fees for
rural students receiving compulsory education by the end of the year,
beginning with the poorest regions. Tuition fees have since been
eliminated in many areas but other miscellaneous costs (food,
textbooks, etc.) are a major burden, especially for rural residents.
State-run media reported on provincial bureau investigations into
child labor cases, as well as punishment of factory owners who employed
children. In one well-publicized case in August, authorities in Ningbo
rescued more than 70 middle-school students used as laborers at a grape
cannery under the guise of a summer work-study program. In general
there was little follow-up on whether children involved in such cases
continued to work outside the home.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage. The labor law requires local governments to set their own minimum
wage according to standards promulgated by the Ministry of Labor and
Social Security. These standards include the minimum cost of living for
workers and their families, levels of economic development and
employment in the area, as well as the level of social insurance and
other benefits contributions paid by the employees themselves. The
regulation states that labor and social security bureaus at or above
the county level are responsible for enforcement of the law. It
provides that where the ACFTU finds an employer in violation of the
regulation, it shall have the power to demand that the department of
labor and social security deal with the case, although it was not clear
how that provision was implemented in practice.
In March the NPC issued a report on the implementation of the labor
law, based on an intensive 2005 survey of labor conditions. The report
stated that that the minimum wage system was not fully implemented,
that there was no regular mechanism for increasing wages in many
places, and that wage arrears continued to occur. However in many
locations a shortage of unskilled labor continued to push wages up,
causing several major cities in Guangdong province to increase the
minimum wage by 17 to 42 percent during the year.
Wage arrearages to employees of state-owned and private enterprises
remained common, especially among migrant workers. According to a
government report published in April, 35 percent of rural migrant
workers reported having difficulty obtaining wages on time, while
nearly 16 percent had trouble obtaining wages. Some migrant workers
received wages once a year, when settling with employers prior to
returning to their home districts for the lunar New Year. The
Government continued its campaign to recover payment of missing wages
and insurance contributions, and some localities took action to remedy
wage arrears, with varying degrees of success. Some provinces
promulgated regulations requiring companies to establish wage guaranty
funds, in which employers are required to deposit a percentage of
project costs into government-controlled accounts for use to pay back
wage claims to workers. In February the Shenzhen city Labor and Social
Security Bureau sanctioned 1,300 companies and imposed $5.8 million (47
million RMB) in fines for not paying wages. In June Guangdong
authorities blacklisted 30 construction companies for failure to pay
wages, making them ineligible for city-funded projects. In August the
SPC issued a judicial interpretation allowing unpaid workers holding
vouchers from their employers to take their cases directly to court,
without first going through the lengthy process of labor mediation and
arbitration. Legal aid lawyers reported that this judicial decision has
been very effective in reducing the time it takes to resolve wage
arrears cases.
Other widespread, illegal practices effectively reduced workers'
wages. These included arbitrary fines and wage deductions levied by
employers for such breaches of company rules as talking to fellow
employees, talking back to supervisors, or standing or sitting
improperly on the job. Many employers used an ``extended shift''
system, in which the employer sets an unrealistic production target
that workers cannot achieve within designated work hours. Workers must
then work overtime without additional compensation to meet the target,
sometimes resulting in actual hourly wages that are below the legal
minimum wage.
The NPC report also found that excessive overtime was common. The
labor law mandates a 40-hour standard workweek, excluding overtime, and
a 24-hour weekly rest period. It also prohibits overtime work in excess
of three hours per day or 36 hours per month and mandates a required
percentage of additional pay for overtime work. However, these
standards were regularly violated, particularly in the private sector
and in enterprises that use low-skilled migrant or seasonal labor. A
survey conducted by a human resources firm found that 80 percent of
respondents worked overtime often, while only 30 percent were paid
premium wages for overtime. Many areas of the country experienced
shortages of migrant and skilled workers during the year, in part due
to worker dissatisfaction with low wages and poor working conditions.
Social auditors found that factories routinely falsified overtime and
payroll records. In August a Shenzhen court accepted a libel complaint
from an employer against two journalists who had reported on illegal
overtime conditions in a factory, although the employer subsequently
dropped the case.
The NPC report found that working conditions in locations it
surveyed were substandard. The State Administration for Work Safety
(SAWS) also acknowledged that occupational health and safety concerns
remained serious. SAWS, which was elevated to ministry status in 2005,
continued to develop the national framework for work safety. The
Ministry of Health was responsible for the prevention and treatment of
occupational illness, while SAWS was responsible for workplace health
supervision. In June the law was amended to provide for criminal
sanctions against individuals responsible for industrial accidents. In
August SAWS announced a five-year, $58 billion (467.4 billion RMB) plan
to invest in safety projects, including coal mine accident prevention,
in an effort to reduce the industrial accident rate.
While inadequate and poorly enforced occupational health and safety
laws and regulations continued to put workers' health and lives at
risk, there was a decline in reported accidents and fatalities compare
to the previous year. During the year official statistics reported that
industrial accidents killed 14,382 workers, a decrease of 9.4 percent
from the previous year. There were 95 incidents involving more than 10
fatalities (a total of 1,570 fatalities), 49 percent fewer incidents
than in 2005.
The coal industry continued to suffer the largest number of
accidents and fatalities as soaring demand and increasing prices drove
companies to increase production of coal. During the year the number of
deaths in coal mine accidents fell to 4,746, a decline of 20 percent
from 2005. The Government took other steps throughout the year to
improve mine safety. However, allegations of local government
complicity in the cover-up of mining disasters continued.
The central government announced plans to close 2,652 unsafe small
coal mines during the year, but extended the deadline to the first half
of 2007 following resistance from local governments. Throughout the
year, central and provincial authorities punished a number of mine
managers and local government officials for their involvement in coal
mine accidents.
Many factories that used harmful materials or processes not only
failed to protect their workers against the ill effects of such
materials or processes but failed to inform them about the hazards,
neglected to provide them with health inspections as required by law,
and when they fell ill, denied their claims for compensation. The
Ministry of Health said that pneumonoconiosis, a chronic respiratory
disease caused by inhaling metallic or mineral particles, remained the
single most prevalent occupational disease in China. The official
number of pneumonoconiosis cases was 440,000, although some observers
reported that it may have affected as many as five million workers,
including coal miners and jewelry workers. In February SAWS ordered the
closing of 35,842 companies due to safety concerns.
The Government reported that 102 million workers participated in
the country's work-injury insurance system, an increase of 17 percent
over the previous year. However, NGOs reported that local labor and
social security bureaus frequently rejected claims for compensation by
workers because employers failed to provide them with documentation as
required by law. Workers showed a willingness to use lawsuits to pursue
injury and illness claims against employers, but there were few sources
of legal aid available.
The work safety law states that employees have the right, after
spotting an emergency situation that threatens their personal safety,
to evacuate the workplace. Employers are forbidden to cancel the labor
contracts or reduce the wages or benefits of any employee who takes
such action. In practice such protective provisions were difficult to
enforce. There were reports of serious accidents in which miners were
killed when mine managers forced them to continue work under unsafe
conditions.
The NPC report stated that infringement of workers' rights was
widespread in 2005, and this situation continued during the year. In
addition to citing poor labor law enforcement, the NPC noted that labor
contracts are seldom executed, and when they were, that contract terms
were too short and not in compliance with the law. NPC inspection
results in 2005 showed that only 20 percent of employees signed labor
contracts in small- and medium-sized nonpublic enterprises. This
situation continued during the year. The lack of written labor
contracts made it much more difficult for workers whose rights had been
violated to seek redress through administrative processes or through
the courts. The widespread use of labor contracting agencies to supply
manpower also created legal gray areas that made labor law enforcement
more difficult.
TIBET
The United States recognizes the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and
Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties in other provinces to be a
part of the People's Republic of China. The Tibetan population within
the TAR was 2.4 million, while in autonomous prefectures and counties
outside the TAR the Tibetan population was 2.9 million. The Government
strictly controlled information about, and access to, Tibetan areas,
making it difficult to determine accurately the scope of human rights
abuses.
The Government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China
remained poor, and the level of repression of religious freedom
remained high. The Government continued to strongly criticize the Dalai
Lama and to associate Tibetan Buddhist religious activity with
separatist sympathies. The preservation and development of the unique
religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage of Tibetan areas and the
protection of Tibetan people's fundamental human rights continued to be
of concern. Authorities continued to commit serious human rights
abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, house arrest
and surveillance of dissidents, and arbitrary restrictions on free
movement.
Positive developments in Tibetan areas included a fifth round of
dialogue between the Government and envoys of the Dalai Lama. In March
authorities permitted released political prisoner Phuntsog Nyidrol to
travel overseas to receive medical treatment.
Deprivation of Life.--On September 30, People's Armed Police at the
Nangpa La pass shot at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans, attempting
to cross into Nepal, killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and
wounding others. Although officials claimed the police officers shot in
self-defense, eyewitness accounts, including footage shot by a European
film crew, showed that soldiers were unprovoked and fired at the
Tibetans from a distance (see Torture and Freedom of Movement
sections).
In April monastery and Religious Affairs Bureau (RAB) officials
claimed Ngawang Jangchub's death in October 2005 was due to medical
problems he had suffered from since childhood. According to other
reports, he committed suicide. His death followed a heated dispute with
the monastery's ``work team'' over the intensification of the patriotic
education campaign at the monastery, the expulsion of five monks, and
his refusal to denounce the Dalai Lama.
Torture.--The security apparatus employed torture and degrading
treatment in dealing with some detainees and prisoners. Tibetans
repatriated from Nepal reportedly continued to suffer torture and other
abuse in detention centers, including electric shocks, exposure to
cold, and severe beatings, and were forced to perform heavy physical
labor. Many were required to pay fines upon release.
According to news reports, more than 30 of the 70 Tibetans fired
upon by soldiers at Nangpa La were captured, incarcerated, and tortured
in a labor camp. A 15-year-old member of the group who later reached
India reported to international media that three dozen of the Tibetans
captured by soldiers were tortured with cattle prods and forced to do
hard labor (see Deprivation of Life and Freedom of Movement sections).
According to a new report from the International Campaign for Tibet
(ICT), a group of 50 refugees was previously fired upon by Chinese
troops in October 2005 at the same pass. After the shooting began the
group scattered, and 23 Tibetans were reportedly arrested, detained,
tortured, and interrogated at an army camp in Dingri County. The
whereabouts of the remaining 27 refugees were unknown (see Freedom of
Movement section).
On August 15, Nun Phuntsog Nyidrol, who was released in 2005 after
serving 15 years in prison for participating in peaceful protests,
testified before the UN Human Rights Council that government
authorities severely beat and tortured her while in prison.
Prison authorities reportedly subjected Jigme Gyatso to beatings
and solitary confinement following a December 2005 meeting with UN
Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak in Drapchi Prison.
Prison Conditions.--Prisoners in Tibetan areas were generally
subject to the same prison conditions as in other areas of the country.
Forced labor was used in some prisons, detention centers,
reeducationthrough-labor facilities, and prison work sites. The
law states that prisoners may be required to work up to 12 hours per
day, with one rest day every two weeks, but these regulations often
were not enforced. Conditions in administrative detention facilities,
such as reeducation-through-labor camps, were similar to those in
prisons.
Political prisoner Rinzin Wangyal (also known as Rinwang)
reportedly died in prison in late 2004 of unknown causes. There was no
official confirmation of Rinzin Wangyal's death, nor was his body
handed over to his family.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Arbitrary arrest and detention
remained serious problems in Tibetan areas. The law permits police and
security authorities to detain persons without arresting or charging
them.
In August the ICT reported the March 2005 arrest of Lhasa history
teacher Dolma Kyab. He was reportedly serving a 10-year sentence in
Qushui Prison on charges of ``endangering state security.'' In August
Bureau of Justice authorities in Lhasa denied he was detained.
Authorities reportedly detained six Tibetans from Sichuan Province
for allegedly handing out leaflets advocating Tibetan independence. In
early June Yiga, a former nun, and two lay women, Sonam Choetso and
Jampa Yangtso, all from Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan, were detained in
Lhasa. On June 1 and 2, respectively, Kayi Doega, a layman, and Sonam
Lhamo, a nun from Geci Nunnery, were detained in Ganzi Prefecture on
the suspicion they had organized the protest.
In late August authorities arrested Yiwang, a 16-year-old Tibetan
girl from Ganzi Prefecture in Sichuan, for her involvement in the
campaign. No information on her trial or sentence was available.
According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), on August 23
security officials arrested Khenpo Jinpa, the abbot of Choktsang
Taklung Monastery in Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Khenpo Jinpa
was reportedly arrested on suspicion of involvement in displaying
proindependence posters at the monastery.
According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
(TCHRD), on November 23 authorities reportedly arrested five monks who
refused to take part in the ``patriotic education campaign'' that began
in October 2005 at the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa. The monks, who were
identified as Ngawang Namdrol, Ngawang Nyingpo, Ngawang Thupten,
Ngawang Phelgey, and Phuntsok Thupwang, reportedly refused to denounce
the Dalai Lama and recognize Tibet as part of China. In April monastery
officials denied the five had been arrested and said they were expelled
from the monastery and had returned to their homes (see Freedom of
Religion section).
On February 24, eight Tibetans were detained in Sichuan Province
during a fur-burning campaign. They were released in March without
being charged (see Freedom of Religion section).
In August 2005 four Tibetans who were detained after the burning of
a slaughterhouse in Sichuan Province reportedly remained in detention
in Derge County. Sherab Yonten, Sonam Gyelpo, and two others whose
names are unknown continued to be held without charges and without
access to relatives or defense counsel. Soepa, originally detained with
the others, was released after going blind in custody due to alleged
beatings and lack of access to medical care. Dawa, also originally
detained with the others, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment
(see Political Prisoners section).
In July 2005 monk Tsering Dhondup reportedly was detained after he
allegedly wrote a ``request for prayer'' mentioning the Dalai Lama.
According to RFA, the monastery disciplinarian who read the request for
prayer, Changchup Gyaltsen, reportedly was also expelled from the
monastery.
On May 23, 19-year-old monk Thubten Samten reportedly disappeared
from his room in the Sera Monastery. According to the TCHRD, sources
believe police arrested him for displaying pictures in his room of the
Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and the Tibetan national flag. His
whereabouts remained unknown.
In June border police near Tingri reportedly arrested 13 Tibetans
who were planning to cross the border to Nepal. The detainees were male
and in their twenties and early thirties. There were no reports on the
whereabouts of those arrested.
Jigme Gyatso continued to serve a sentence for counterrevolution
despite a November 2000 UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
statement that he was merely ``exercising the right to freedom of
peaceful assembly.''
Chadrel Rinpoche remained under house arrest for leaking
information about the selection of the Panchen Lama. Officials denied
requests by diplomatic observers to visit with him.
On February 26, former nun and schoolteacher Nyima Choedron, who
was detained in 1999 and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, had the
remainder of her sentence commuted and was released from the TAR
Prison.
On March 9, the ICT reported that Nyima Choedron's partner, Bangri
Chogtrul Rinpoche, a schoolteacher and founder of the Gyatso children's
home and school who was also detained in 1999, remained in prison on
charges of ``splittism.''
Political Prisoners.--Due to the lack of independent access to
prisoners and prisons, it was difficult to ascertain the number of
Tibetan political prisoners. According to the Congressional-Executive
Commission on China's Political Prisoner Database (CECC PPD), in
December there were 105 known cases of political prisoners, although
the exact figure may be higher. Based on information available for 70
political prisoners, the average sentence was 10 years and 11 months,
and 69 percent were monks or nuns. Approximately 52 political prisoners
remained in prison in Lhasa, most serving sentences on the charge of
``counterrevolution,'' which was dropped from the criminal law in 1997.
Authorities have stated that acts previously prosecuted as
counterrevolutionary crimes continue to be considered crimes under
antisubversion laws. The CECC PPD showed that 57 Tibetan political
prisoners were imprisoned in the TAR, 29 in Sichuan Province, 12 in
Qinghai Province, four in Gansu Province, and three in Beijing. The
overall number of reported political prisoners in Tibetan areas dropped
to 105 from 117 in 2005.
An unknown number of Tibetans were serving sentences in
reeducation-through-labor camps and other forms of administrative
detention not subject to judicial review.
In October the TCHRD reported that Dawa (also called Gyaltsen
Namdak) was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for allegedly
distributing pamphlets containing political material. Dawa was arrested
in May. He reportedly remained in Chushul Prison at year's end.
On September 6, authorities reportedly charged monk Lobsang Palden
from Ganzi Monastery for initiating separatist activities. On August
15, he reportedly was arrested in Sichuan Province after police
searched his room and found photographs of the Dalai Lama.
In May the Dui Hua Foundation released new information on the
sentencing of monk Choeying Khedrub from Nagchu Prefecture. He was one
of six men detained in 2000 for ``endangering state security'' and
``supporting splittist activities.'' Choeying Khedrub reportedly was
sentenced to life in prison in 2001. He was one of only two Tibetans
known to be serving life sentences for political offenses. The other
was Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a senior monk. He initially was sentenced to
death for allegedly causing explosions and inciting the separation of
the state; in January 2005 his sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment.
In November the TCHRD reported that Sonam Gyalpo, a Lhasa tailor
arrested in 2005, was sentenced in the middle of the year to 12 years'
imprisonment on charges of splittism and destroying national unity.
Monk Namkha Gyaltsen, a chant master from Ganzi Monastery in
Sichuan Province, was serving an eight-year sentence in Ganzi Prison
for allegedly posting, displaying, and circulating Tibetan independence
pamphlets in Ganzi in 2005. Authorities denied access to visitors, and
his condition remained unknown.
In January a court in Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province, reportedly
sentenced five Tibetan monks and nuns to up to three years'
imprisonment for displaying and distributing posters in 2005 that were
critical of the Government. According to the Free Tibet Campaign, nuns
Choekyi Drolma and Tamdrin Tsomo and monk Dargyal Gyatso were sentenced
to three years' imprisonment and nun Yonten Tsomo and monk Yamyang
Samdrub to 18 months' imprisonment. Nun Yonten Tsomo was released at
the end of the year. The charges against the monks and other nuns were
unknown.
In January Gendun, a monk and teacher of traditional monastic dance
from Amdo, was sentenced to four years in prison after he spoke about
Tibetan culture and history at a teacher training college in February
2005. Twenty monks, students, and teachers detained in connection with
his case reportedly were released soon after they were detained.
Other political prisoners in detention at year's end included: monk
Sonam Phuntsog; Tashi Gyaltsen, Tsultrim Phelgyal, Tsesum Samten,
Jhamphel Gyatso, and Lobsang Thargyal from Dakar Treldzong Monastery in
Qinghai Province; Jigme Dasang, a monk from Kumbum Monastery in Qinghai
Province; Ngawang Phulchung, a monk from Drepung Monastery; Tibetan
Buddhist monk Jigme Gyatso; and Lobsang Khedrub and Gyalpo.
The status of the following persons arrested in 2004 remained
unconfirmed at year's end: Nyima Dorjee and Lobsang Dorjee, who were
arrested for hanging proindependence posters on government buildings;
Choeden Rinzen, who was arrested for possessing pictures of the Dalai
Lama and the Tibetan National flag; Dejor, Tsering Dawa, and Datsok,
who were detained after clashing with Chinese workers over a mining
project; and Nyima Tenzen and Sonam Nyidup, who protested their
detention by shouting proindependence slogans in a bar.
Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Legal safeguards for Tibetans
detained or imprisoned were inadequate in both design and
implementation. Most judges had little or no legal training. According
to an official of the TAR Bureau of Justice, all seven cities and
prefectures had established legal assistance centers, which offered
services in the Tibetan language. Justice Bureau officials confirmed
that there is a new prisoner appointment application by which prisoners
may request a meeting with a government-appointed attorney.
Nevertheless, many defendants still did not have access to legal
representation. Moreover, their trials were cursory and closed if
issues of state security were involved. Under the law, maximum prison
sentences for crimes such as ``endangering state security'' and
``splitting the country'' were 15 years for each count, not to exceed
20 years in total. Such cases mainly concerned actions alleged to be in
support of Tibetan independence, and activities did not have to be
violent to be illegal or to draw a heavy sentence.
Freedom of Speech and Press, Including Internet Freedom.--The
Tibetan-language services of Voice of America and RFA, as well as of
the Oslo-based Voice of Tibet, suffered from the same jamming of their
frequencies by authorities as Chinese-language services. However,
Tibetans were able to listen to the broadcasts at least some of the
time.
During the year the Tibet Culture Web site, a domestic site devoted
to contemporary Tibetan culture, was shut down intermittently. In July
authorities closed Internet blogs of well-known Tibetan author Oser. In
press reports the writer speculated the closure was due to her posting
of a picture of the Dalai Lama and expression of birthday wishes for
him.
Freedom of Religion.--The level of repression in Tibetan areas
remained high, and the Government's record of respect for religious
freedom remained poor during the year. The law provides for freedom of
religious belief, and the Government's 2004 white paper on Regional
Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet states, ``Tibetans fully enjoy the freedom of
religious belief.'' However, the Government maintained tight controls
on religious practices and places of worship in Tibetan areas. Although
authorities permitted many traditional practices and public
manifestations of belief, they promptly and forcibly suppressed
activities they viewed as vehicles for political dissent or advocacy of
Tibetan independence, such as religious activities venerating the Dalai
Lama (which the Government described as ``splittist'').
On August 8, the newly appointed party secretary in the TAR, Zhang
Qingli, sharply criticized the Dalai Lama, describing him in an
interview with a foreign magazine as a ``false religious leader'' and
dismissing his ``middle way'' approach as ``splittism.'' In a May 16
address to Party officials in Lhasa, Zhang said the Communist Party was
engaged in a ``fight to the death struggle'' against the Dalai Lama and
his supporters. According to the Xinhua News Agency, in a July press
conference TAR Chairman Champa Phuntsok described the Dalai Lama as a
``politician in Buddhist robes and Italian shoes.''
Approximately 615 Tibetan Buddhist religious figures held positions
in local people's congresses and local Chinese people's political
consultative conferences in the TAR. However, the Government continued
to insist that CCP members and senior employees adhere to the CCP's
code of atheism, and routine political training for cadres continued to
promote atheism. TAR officials confirmed that some RAB officers were
members of the CCP and that religious belief was incompatible with CCP
membership. However, some lower-level RAB officials practiced Buddhism.
The atmosphere for religious freedom varied from region to region.
Conditions were more relaxed in some Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
Monks outside the TAR who want to study in the TAR are required to
get official permission from the RAB, although such permission was not
readily granted. Sources said that ethnic Han Chinese monks generally
were not allowed to undertake religious study in the TAR. Although
Tibetan monks were not allowed to conduct large-scale religious
teachings outside Tibetan areas, many monks continued to give private
teachings to audiences in non-Tibetan regions of China.
Monasteries in the TAR were not allowed to establish any
relationship with other monasteries or hold joint religious activities.
Monasteries are required to report to the local government and request
permission to hold any large or important religious events or to build
new temples.
In February and March Tibetan Buddhists in Qinghai and Sichuan
Provinces and the TAR carried out animal pelt-burning campaigns to
destroy wild animal pelts traditionally worn in Tibetan clothing. The
activities were a response to a call from the Dalai Lama during January
Kolachakara celebrations in India to increase awareness of wildlife
protection. Authorities banned the public burnings, which they saw as
demonstrations of loyalty to the Dalai Lama, and detained some
participants in Ganzi, Sichuan Province (see Arbitrary Arrest and
Detention section).
In June an overseas Web site reported that the Government began a
political education campaign for school children in Ganzi Prefecture,
Sichuan Province, to prevent involvement in the animal pelt-burning
campaign.
In February envoys of the Dalai Lama came to China for the fifth
round of talks since 2002. In his public remarks, the Dalai Lama
continued to call for a ``middle way'' approach, which included
``meaningful autonomy'' for Tibet but not independence.
Security was intensified during the Dalai Lama's birthday,
sensitive anniversaries, and festival days in the TAR and in some other
Tibetan areas as well. The prohibition on celebrating the Dalai Lama's
birthday on July 6 continued. Government officials reportedly ordered
Tibetans working for the Government to refrain from going to temples
during the Saga Dawa festival in May or risk losing their jobs.
In early September authorities permitted Buddhists in Gansu
Province's Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to celebrate the
festival of Kalachakara, which was originally scheduled for July 6, the
birthday of the Dalai Lama, but then postponed by authorities.
In December Tibetan government workers, retired staff and cadres,
students, and party members were banned from participating or observing
celebrations of the Gaden Ngachoe Festival, which commemorates the
death of a 14th-century Buddhist teacher and founder of the Gelugpa
school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Government officials maintained that possessing or displaying
pictures of the Dalai Lama was legal. However, authorities appeared to
view possession of such photos as evidence of separatist sentiment when
detaining individuals on political charges. Pictures of the Dalai Lama
were not openly displayed in most major monasteries and could not be
purchased openly in the TAR.
During the year international observers saw pictures of a number of
religious figures, including the Dalai Lama, displayed more widely in
some Tibetan areas outside the TAR. The Government continued to ban
pictures of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama
as the Panchen Lama. Photos of the ``official'' Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen
Norbu, were not widely displayed, most likely because most Tibetans do
not recognize him as the Panchen Lama.
TAR Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau officials confirmed that
the TAR had approximately 46,000 Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns and
more than 1,700 venues for Tibetan Buddhist activities. Officials cited
almost identical figures since 1996, although the number of monks and
nuns has dropped at many sites due to the patriotic education campaign
and the expulsion of many monks and nuns who refused to denounce the
Dalai Lama or who were found to be ``politically unqualified.'' These
numbers represented only the TAR, where the number of monks and nuns
was strictly controlled. According to statistics collected by the China
Center for Tibetan Studies, a government research institution, there
were 1,535 monasteries in Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
Government officials closely associated Buddhist monasteries with
proindependence activism in Tibetan areas of China. Spiritual leaders
encountered difficulty reestablishing historical monasteries due to
lack of funds, general limitations on monastic education, and lack of
authorization to build and operate religious institutions; officials in
some areas contended such religious institutions were a drain on local
resources and a conduit for political infiltration by the Tibetan exile
community.
The Government stated there were no limits on the number of monks
in major monasteries and that each monastery's democratic management
committee (DMC) decided independently how many monks the monastery
could support. However, the Government exercised strict control over
most monasteries through the DMCs and imposed strict limits on the
number of monks in major monasteries, particularly within the TAR. The
Government had the right to disapprove any individual's application to
take up religious orders, although there were no known reports of the
Government exercising this right during the year. Authorities limited
the traditional practice of sending young boys to monasteries for
religious training by means of regulations that forbade monasteries
from accepting individuals under the age of 18. Nevertheless, many
monasteries continued to admit younger boys, often delaying their
formal registration until age 18.
The Government continued to oversee the daily operations of major
monasteries. The Government, which did not contribute to the
monasteries' operating funds, retained management control of
monasteries through the DMCs and local RABs. Regulations restricted
leadership of many DMCs to ``patriotic and devoted'' monks and nuns and
specified that the Government must approve all members of the
committees. At some monasteries government officials also sat on the
committees.
The quality and availability of high-level religious teachers in
the TAR and other Tibetan areas remained inadequate; many teachers were
in exile, older teachers were not being replaced, and those remaining
in Tibetan areas outside the TAR had difficulty securing permission to
teach in the TAR. DMCs at several large TAR monasteries used funds
generated by the sales of entrance tickets or donated by pilgrims for
purposes other than the support of monks engaged in full-time religious
study. As a result, some ``scholar monks'' who had formerly been fully
supported had to engage in income-generating activities. Some experts
were concerned that, as a result, fewer monks will be qualified to
serve as teachers.
Government officials claimed that the patriotic education campaign,
which often consisted of intensive, weeks-long sessions conducted by
outside work teams, ended in 2000. However, monks and nuns continued to
undergo political education on a regular basis. Numerous credible
sources reported that political education sessions intensified in Lhasa
beginning in April 2005. In July 2005 18 monks were expelled from Sera
Monastery, and eight others were detained before they were to be tested
on the contents of political education materials. In October 2005 RFA
reported that 40 of the approximately 50 nuns residing at the Gyarak
Nunnery near Lhasa were expelled for refusing to participate in
political education.
In August officials from the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs
told diplomatic observers that political education was carried out for
all citizens, not just monks and nuns. Because the primary
responsibility for conducting political education shifted from
government officials to monastery leaders, the form, content, and
frequency of training at each monastery appeared to vary widely.
However, conducting such training remained a requirement and has become
a routine part of monastic management.
In April religious authorities in the TAR stated that five Drepung
Monastery monks had been expelled from the monastery in October 2005
for failing to satisfactorily participate in political education
classes. Reports from international media sources indicated that the
monks had been detained (see Arbitrary Arrest and Detention section).
During the year the official Ganzi Prefecture government Web site
reported that in 2005 the permanent work team at Serthar Buddhist
Institute destroyed 74 illegal houses in the monastery during its
``management of religious work.'' The same Web site reported that 853
houses were destroyed and 1,100 monks and nuns were evicted from the
Yachen Monastery.
Diplomatic observers repeatedly have been denied access to Nenang
Monastery to verify the well-being of Pawo Rinpoche, who was recognized
by the Karmapa Lama in 1994 and has lived under strict government
supervision since that time.
The Government routinely asserted control over the process of
finding and educating reincarnate lamas. The Panchen Lama is Tibetan
Buddhism's second most prominent figure, after the Dalai Lama. The
Government continued to insist that Gyaltsen Norbu is the Panchen
Lama's 11th reincarnation. The Government continued to deny access to
Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 11th
Panchen Lama, and his whereabouts were unknown. Government officials
claimed he was under government supervision at an undisclosed location
for his own protection and attended classes as a ``normal schoolboy.''
While the overwhelming majority of Tibetan Buddhists recognized Gendun
Choeki Nyima as the Panchen Lama, Tibetan monks claimed that they have
been forced to sign statements pledging allegiance to Gyalsten Norbu,
who the Government selected. The CCP also urged its members to support
the ``official'' Panchen Lama.
In 2005 diplomatic officials met the seven-year-old child approved
by the Government as the seventh reincarnation of Reting Rinpoche. His
appointment was reportedly disputed by many of the monks at Reting
Monastery in 2000 because the Dalai Lama did not recognize the
selection. The Reting Rinpoche's religious training was closely
supervised by the Government through the selection of his religious and
lay tutors.
In August Gyaltsen Norbu traveled to his home town in Nagchu
Prefecture for the first time since 1995. According to press reports,
he presided over a blessing ritual for 4,000 local persons.
The Government claimed that since 1949 it has contributed
approximately $36 million (RMB 300 million) to renovate and open more
than 1,400 monasteries and to repair cultural relics, many of which
were destroyed before and during the Cultural Revolution.
Despite the Government's efforts, many monasteries destroyed during
the Cultural Revolution were never rebuilt or repaired, and others
remained only partially repaired. Government funding of restoration
efforts ostensibly supported the practice of religion but also promoted
the development of tourism in Tibetan areas. Most recent restoration
efforts were funded privately, although a few religious sites also
received government support for reconstruction projects during the
year.
Freedom of Movement.--The law provides for the freedom to travel;
however, in practice the Government strictly regulated travel and
freedom of movement of Tibetans, especially within the TAR. Many
Tibetans, particularly those from rural areas, continued to report
difficulties obtaining passports.
The Government also regulated foreign travel to the TAR. In
accordance with a 1989 regulation, foreign visitors (excluding
individuals from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) were required to obtain
an official confirmation letter issued by the Government before
entering the TAR. Most tourists obtained such letters by booking tours
through officially registered travel agencies. While none of the TAR's
70 counties were officially closed to foreigners, access for foreigners
to many areas of the TAR remained problematic.
Official visits to the TAR were supervised closely and afforded
delegation members very few opportunities to meet local persons not
previously approved by the authorities. Foreigners could travel freely
in most Tibetan areas outside the TAR.
Tibetans continued to encounter substantial difficulties and
obstacles in traveling to India for religious and other purposes. The
Government placed restrictions on the movement of Tibetans during
sensitive anniversaries and events and increased controls over border
areas at these times. There were reports that in January individuals
returning to Tibet from the Kolachakara celebrations in India were
required to register with authorities in the TAR. There were reports of
arbitrary detention of persons, particularly monks, returning from
Nepal. Detentions generally lasted for several months, although in most
cases no formal charges were brought. In June border police near Tingri
reportedly arrested 13 Tibetans who were planning to cross the border
into Nepal (see Arbitrary Arrest and Detention section).
On September 30, Chinese border forces at the Nangpa La pass shot
at a group of approximately 70 Tibetans who were attempting to cross
into Nepal, killing 17-year-old nun Kelsang Namtso and injuring others.
The group included monks, nuns, and children. Eyewitness accounts
reported that soldiers fired at the group from a distance. These
accounts appeared to contradict claims made shortly after the incident
by state-controlled media, which claimed the group had attacked the
border troops. Forty-three members of the group arrived in Katmandu.
Other members of the group were caught by soldiers, and photographs of
the incident showed soldiers standing watch over a group of children. A
15-year-old member of the group who later reached India reported to
international media that three dozen of the Tibetans captured by
soldiers were tortured with cattle prods and forced to do hard labor.
The whereabouts of the remaining members of the group were unknown (see
Deprivation of Life and Torture sections).
According to a report from the ICT, a group of 50 refugees was
previously fired upon by Chinese troops in October 2005 at the same
pass (see Torture section).
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that
during the year 2,405 Tibetans arrived at the Tibet Reception Center
(TRC) in Nepal, compared with 3,395 in 2005. During the year departures
were higher than arrivals, with 2,946 Tibetans departing the TRC for
India. This was due to a backlog at the TRC at the end of 2005.
Nevertheless, thousands of Tibetans, including monks and nuns,
visited India via third countries and returned to China after temporary
stays. The majority of Tibetans who transited via Nepal to India were
young, with ages ranging from six to 30, and the main reason they
migrated was the lack of Tibetan-language educational facilities and
opportunities for religious education.
The Karmapa Lama, leader of Tibetan Buddhism's Karma Kagyu sect and
one of the most influential religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism,
remained in exile following his 1999 flight to India. The Karmapa Lama
stated that he fled because of the Government's controls on his
movements and its refusal either to allow him to go to India to be
trained by his spiritual mentors or to allow his teachers to come to
him.
National Minorities.--Tibetans made up 94 percent of the population
of the TAR. Government-sponsored development and new economic
opportunities attracted migrant workers from China's large transient
population to Tibetan areas. The result was a net increase in the non-
Tibetan share of the TAR population from approximately 4 percent in
1990 to 6 percent in 2000. However, TAR census figures did not include
a large number of long-term Han residents, such as cadres, skilled
workers, unskilled laborers, military and paramilitary troops, and
their dependents.
Migrants to the TAR were overwhelmingly concentrated in cities and
towns, while Tibetans continued to make up nearly 98 percent of the
rural population. One official estimate put the number of Han residents
in Lhasa at 100,000 out of a total population of approximately 409,500,
although many observers estimated that more than half of Lhasa's
population was Han Chinese. Small businesses, mostly restaurants and
retail shops, run by Han and Hui migrants predominated in cities
throughout the Tibetan areas.
In Tibetan areas outside the TAR, Tibetans increased their majority
share as natural population growth outpaced net migration by non-
Tibetans.
Family planning policies permitted Tibetans and members of other
minority groups to have more children than Han. Urban Tibetans,
including Communist Party members, and some ethnic Han Chinese living
in Tibetan areas were generally permitted to have two children. Rural
Tibetans were encouraged, but not required, to limit births to three
children.
The TAR is one of China's poorest regions, and Tibetans are one of
the poorest groups; malnutrition among Tibetan children continued to be
widespread in many areas of the TAR.
In 2005 the Government launched a campaign known as Ramdrang
Rangdrik (Do It Yourself program). Ostensibly aimed at relocating
Tibetans and improving their housing conditions, the campaign required
villagers to build houses according to strict official specifications
within two to three years, often forcing them to go into debt to cover
construction costs. According to Human Rights Watch, Tibetans were told
that modern houses were necessary to make a good impression on visitors
and tourists. However, many of the houses did not have water or
electricity and were often smaller than traditional Tibetan homes.
In 2005 state media reported that Tibetans and other minority
ethnic groups made up 75 percent of all government employees in the
TAR. However, Han Chinese continued to hold key positions, including
party secretary of the TAR. Tibetans holding government positions were
prohibited from worshipping at monasteries or practicing their
religion.
Some Tibetans reported that they experienced discrimination in
employment and claimed Han Chinese were hired preferentially for many
jobs and received greater pay for the same work. In recent years some
Tibetans reported that it was more difficult for Tibetans than Han to
get permits and loans to open businesses. The use of the Chinese
language was widespread in urban areas, and many businesses limited
employment opportunities for Tibetans who did not speak Chinese.
The TAR tourism bureau continued its policy of refusing to hire
Tibetan tour guides educated in India or Nepal. Government officials
have stated that all tour guides working in the TAR were required to
seek employment with the Tourism Bureau and pass a licensing exam on
tourism and political ideology. The Government's stated intent was to
ensure that all tour guides provide visitors with the Government's
position opposing Tibetan independence and the activities of the Dalai
Lama.
Women and Children.--There were no formal restrictions on women's
participation in the political system, and women held many lower-level
government positions. However, women were underrepresented at the
provincial and prefectural levels of government. According to an
official Web site, female cadres in the TAR accounted for more than 30
percent of the TAR's total cadres.
Prostitution was a growing problem in Tibetan areas, and hundreds
of brothels operated semi-openly in Lhasa. International development
workers in the TAR reported there were no reliable data on the number
of commercial sex workers employed in Lhasa and Shigatse, the TAR's two
largest cities, although some estimates placed the number of sex
workers as high as 10,000. Some of the prostitution occurred at sites
owned by the CCP, the Government, and the military. Most prostitutes in
the TAR were Han women, mainly from Sichuan. However, some Tibetans,
mainly young girls from rural or nomadic areas, also worked as
prostitutes. The incidence of HIV/AIDS among prostitutes in Tibetan
areas was unknown, but lack of knowledge about HIV transmission and
economic pressures on prostitutes to engage in unprotected sex made
them particularly vulnerable.
Both Tibetan and Chinese are official languages in the TAR, and
both languages were used on public and commercial signs. However, the
Chinese language was spoken widely and was used for most commercial and
official communications. The use of both languages was also impacted by
the rate of illiteracy among Tibetans, which the CECC Annual Report
reported was more than five times higher (47.55 percent) than the
national average (9.08 percent), according to the 2000 census data. The
TAR rate of illiteracy (47.25 percent) was the highest in the country
and was nearly twice as high as in the second-ranked Qinghai Province
(25.22 percent). Primary school was the only level of educational
attainment for which data showed Tibetans nearly on par with the
national average. In practice many pupils in rural and nomadic areas
received only one to three years of schooling. The illiteracy rate of
youth and adults in the prime of life fell from 95 percent before 1959
to 22 percent at the end of 2004. However, the illiteracy rate for this
group was much higher than 22 percent in some areas.
The Government established a comprehensive national Tibetan-
language curriculum, and many elementary schools in Tibetan areas used
Tibetan as the primary language of instruction. Tibetan students were
also required to study Chinese, and Chinese was generally used to teach
certain subjects, such as arithmetic and science. In middle and high
schools--even some officially designated as Tibetan schools--teachers
often used Tibetan only to teach classes in Tibetan language,
literature, and culture and taught all other classes in Chinese. As a
practical matter proficiency in Chinese was essential to receive a
higher education. China's most prestigious universities provided
instruction only in Chinese, while the lower-ranked universities
established to serve ethnic minorities allowed study of only some
subjects in Tibetan. Opportunities to study at Tibetan-language schools
were greater in the TAR, while opportunities to study at privately
funded Tibetan-language schools and to receive a traditional Tibetan-
language religious education were greater in Tibetan areas outside the
TAR.
Authorities in Tibetan areas required professors and students at
institutions of higher education to attend political education sessions
and limited course studies and materials in an effort to prevent
separatist political and religious activities on campus. Students at
Tibet University were prohibited from engaging in religious practice.
The Government controlled curricula, texts, and other course materials.
Protection of Cultural Heritage.--Rapid economic growth, the
expanding tourism industry, and the introduction of more modern
cultural influences have disrupted traditional living patterns and
customs and threatened traditional Tibetan culture. Residents lacked
the right to play a role in protecting their cultural heritage.
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan experts, and other observers expressed
concern that development projects and other central government policies
would continue to promote a considerable influx of Han Chinese, Hui,
and other ethnic groups into the TAR and benefit these groups
disproportionately. There was widespread concern that the opening of
the Qinghai-TAR railroad in April would increase this migration and
threaten traditional culture and the demographic dominance of Tibetans.
On July 1, General Secretary Hu Jintao traveled to Lhasa to
inaugurate the Qinghai-TAR railroad. In September official press
reports stated that the line had carried 272,700 passengers and 37,400
tons of freight since entering service. Approximately 40 percent of the
passengers were tourists, 30 percent business persons, and the
remainder students, transient workers, traders, and persons visiting
relatives in Tibet.
Although the Government made efforts in recent years to restore
some of the physical structures and other aspects of Tibetan Buddhism
and Tibetan culture damaged or destroyed during the Cultural
Revolution, repressive social and political controls continued to limit
the fundamental freedoms of Tibetans and risked undermining Tibet's
unique cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong, with a population of approximately seven million, is a
Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China
(PRC). The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong
Kong and the SAR's constitution, the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (hereafter
referred to as the Basic Law), specify that Hong Kong will enjoy a high
degree of autonomy except in matters of defense and foreign affairs. In
June 2005 following the resignation of former Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa, Donald Tsang, the acting chief executive, was elected
unopposed as chief executive. Legislative Council (Legco) members were
elected in 2004 to four-year terms. Although the elections were
generally considered free and fair, in the months leading up to the
elections there were allegations of intimidation of voters and
political commentators. The civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, although core issues remain.
Residents were limited in their ability to change their government,
and the legislature was limited in its power to affect government
policies. Self-censorship remained a problem, as did violence and
discrimination against women. Workers were also restricted from
organizing and bargaining collectively.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Basic Law and Hong Kong Bill of Rights prohibits
torture and other abuse by the police, and the Government generally
observed the prohibition in practice. From January to June, there were
303 allegations of assault by police officers on persons in or not in
custody; however, none alleged torture or were substantiated by the
Complaints Against Police Office (CAPO) (see section 1.d.). In August
an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka lodged a complaint with CAPO that he
was assaulted by police when being pushed into a police car after being
apprehended for overstaying in Hong Kong. As of year's end, the
complaint was still being investigated.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and although the Government
permitted visits by independent human rights observers, there were no
requests during the year. Media visit requests were permitted, and
local justices of the peace regularly conducted unannounced prison
inspections. Prison overcrowding continued to be a problem, although
the construction of a new immigration detention center in Tuen Mun in
2005 eliminated the need to put immigration offenders in prison with
convicted criminals. For the first six months of the year, the average
prison occupancy rate for the 24 prisons was 104 percent. Overcrowding
was most serious in maximumsecurity prisons, which operated at
an average occupancy rate of 119 percent.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Common law, legal precedent, and
the Basic Law provide substantial and effective legal protection
against arbitrary arrest or detention, and the Government generally
observed these provisions in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is led
by a uniformed police commissioner who reports to the secretary for
security--a member of the chief executive's cabinet. The force had
approximately 28,700 officers and was divided into five departments
with both headquarters and regional formations. Corruption and impunity
were not significant problems within the force. Police officers are
subject to disciplinary review by CAPO and the civilian Independent
Police Complaints Council (IPCC) in cases of alleged misconduct.
Disciplinary action can range from warnings to dismissal. Criminal
proceedings may be undertaken independently of the disciplinary process
under Section 3 of the Crimes (Torture) Ordinance, punishable by life
imprisonment. CAPO investigates allegations of excessive use of force,
and IPCC monitors and reviews their work.
Arrest and Detention.--Suspects were apprehended openly with
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized
official. Suspects must also be charged within 48 hours or released,
and the Government respected this right in practice. There is a
functioning bail system, and detainees are allowed prompt access to a
lawyer and family members. Incommunicado detention was not a problem.
The law provides accused persons with the right to a prompt judicial
determination. During the year the average length of preconviction
incarceration was 63 days.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The judiciary, underpinned by the Basic Law's
provision that the common law tradition be maintained, provided
citizens with a fair and efficient judicial process. Under the Basic
Law, the courts may interpret those provisions of the Basic Law that
address matters within the limits of the SAR's autonomy. The courts
also interpret provisions of the Basic Law that touch on PRC central
government responsibilities or on the relationship between the central
authorities and the SAR. However, before making final judgments on
these matters, which are not subject to appeal, the courts must seek an
interpretation of the relevant provisions from the standing committee
of the National People's Congress (NPC).
The Basic Law requires the courts to follow the standing
committee's interpretation of Basic Law provisions, although judgments
previously rendered are not affected. As the final interpreter of the
Basic Law, the standing committee of the NPC also has the power to
self-initiate interpretations of the Basic Law, as it did in April 2004
when it ruled out universal suffrage in Hong Kong's 2007 and 2008
elections (see section 3). The NPC's mechanism for interpretation is
its Committee for the Basic Law, composed of six mainland and six Hong
Kong members. The chief executive, the President of the Legco, and the
chief justice nominate the Hong Kong members. Human rights and lawyers'
organizations have expressed concern that this process, which
circumvents the Court of Final Appeal's power of final adjudication,
could be used to limit the independence of the judiciary or could
degrade the courts' authority. In 2005 critics argued that the Basic
Law and the resulting interpretation from the NPC standing committee on
the question of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's successor's term of
office was an attempt to circumvent the judicial process. In response
to the request, the NPC standing committee ruled in April that Tung's
successor should serve out only the remaining two years of Tung's term
rather than a full five-year term. Critics argued that the request, and
the resulting NPC interpretation, sought to circumvent the judicial
process. The Government argued that the need to resolve the issue
quickly left insufficient time for a lengthy judicial review.
The Court of Final Appeal is the SAR's supreme judicial body. An
independent commission nominates judges. The chief executive is
required to appoint those nominated, subject to endorsement by the
legislature. Nomination procedures ensure that commission members
nominated by the private bar have a virtual veto on the nominations.
The Basic Law provides that, with the exception of both the chief
justice and the chief judge of the high court, who are prohibited from
residing outside Hong Kong, foreigners may serve on the courts. During
the year approximately 18 percent of all judges and judicial officers
were expatriates, with 15 of 16 Court of Final Appeal judges being
expatriates. Judges have security of tenure until retirement.
Under the Court of Final Appeal is the high court, composed of the
court of appeal and the court of first instance. Lower judicial bodies
include the district courts, which have limited jurisdiction in civil
and criminal matters; the magistrates' courts, which exercise
jurisdiction over a wide range of criminal offenses; the coroner's
court; the juvenile court; the lands tribunal; the labor tribunal; the
small claims tribunal; and the obscene articles tribunal
Trial Procedures.--The Basic Law provides for the right to a fair
public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right in practice. Trials are by jury except at the magistrate court
level. The judiciary provides citizens with a fair and efficient
judicial process. An attorney is provided at the public's expense if
defendants cannot afford counsel. Defendants can confront and question
witnesses testifying against them and present witnesses to testify on
their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants have the right of
appeal.
Defendants generally enjoy a presumption of innocence. However,
under prosecution rules, there is a presumption of guilt in official
corruption cases. Under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, a current
or former government official who maintains a standard of living above
that commensurate with his official income, or controls monies or
property disproportionate to his official income is, unless he can
satisfactorily explain the discrepancy, guilty of an offense. The
courts have upheld this ordinance in practice.
According to the Basic Law, English may be used as an official
language by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. For
historical reasons and because of the courts' reliance on common law
precedents, almost all civil cases and most criminal cases were heard
in English. In recent years the Government has developed a bilingual
legal system. It has increased the number of officers in the legal aid
department proficient in spoken Cantonese and written Chinese, and
extended the use of bilingual prosecution documents and indictments.
All laws are bilingual, with English and Chinese texts being equally
authentic. All courts and tribunals may operate in either Cantonese or
English. Judges, witnesses, the parties themselves, and legal
representatives may each decide which language to use at any point in
the proceedings.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters, and there were no problems
enforcing domestic court orders (see section 2.b.).
Property Restitution.--The Government enforced court orders with
respect to restitution or compensation for taking private property
under domestic law.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Basic Law prohibits arbitrary interference with
privacy, family, home, and correspondence, and the Government generally
respected these prohibitions in practice.
In February the high court ruled that a 2005 executive order
authorizing covert surveillance activities by law enforcement agencies
had no legal effect and a decades-old wiretapping law violated the
Basic Law. This decision followed a series of court rulings in 2005
where government evidence collected through covert surveillance was
barred from criminal trials because the courts said it was collected
without legal authorization. In August Legco passed a new law
regulating the use of covert surveillance and the interception of
telecommunications and postal communications. The law establishes a
two-tiered system for granting approval for surveillance activities,
under which surveillance of a more intrusive nature requires the
approval of a judge and surveillance of a less intrusive nature
requires only the approval of a senior law enforcement official.
Authorization to conduct covert surveillance can only be granted to
prevent or detect ``serious crime'' or protect ``public security.''
Applications to intercept telecommunications must involve crimes with a
penalty of at least seven years imprisonment, while applications for
covert surveillance must involve crimes with a penalty of at least
three years imprisonment or a fine of at least $128,000 (HK$1 million).
Some lawmakers and civil rights activists criticized the legislation
for granting too much power to the police. The chief executive
dismissed the criticism, saying the law was fairer and more protective
of privacy than similar laws in the world's most open democracies. The
Government did not reveal the number of authorizations granted to
conduct such activities. After taking office in August, Justice Woo
Kwok-hing, the commissioner on interception of communications and
surveillance, received multiple complaints citing unlawful surveillance
activities. Justice Woo publicly vowed to investigate each complaint.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data,
established under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO), works
to prevent the misuse, disclosure, or matching of personal data without
the consent of the subject individual or the commissioner. PDPO is not
applicable to PRC government organs in Hong Kong. As of year's end, the
Government was considering whether it should be made applicable to PRC
bodies. Under certain exemptions for purposes related to safeguarding
the security, defense, or international relations of Hong Kong, and for
the prevention, detection, or prosecution of a crime, Hong Kong
authorities may be allowed to transfer personal data to a PRC body.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. Accusations of media self-censorship continued
during the year. Most media outlets were owned by businesses with
interests on the mainland, making them vulnerable to self-censorship.
The Hong Kong Journalist Association's 2005 annual report noted that
there ``is a continued perception that some sections of the media are
engaged in self-censorship.'' In 2005 the University of Hong Kong
conducted a public opinion poll that said that 50 percent of
respondents believed the media practiced self-censorship.
In February four men broke into the offices of the Falun Gong-owned
daily newspaper Epoch Times and destroyed a piece of machinery in the
paper's print shop. Epoch Times had just opened the print shop a few
weeks prior to the break-in after experiencing difficulties in hiring a
local printing company. In 2005 the printing company that Epoch Times
had been using refused to renew their contract, and the Falun Gong
alleged the contract was canceled because the company feared business
reprisals from its mainland clients. In addition to printing its daily
paper, Epoch Times used the new shop to print large volumes of their
Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a series of editorials
offering a critical history of the Chinese Communist Party. At year's
end police investigators had collected evidence at the crime scene but
had made no arrests in connection with the break-in. After brief
initial reports in local papers, the incident received no follow-up
media coverage, which some observers said was an obvious case of media
self-censorship.
The publishing or importation of print or other media in Hong Kong
are subject to regulation by a few provisions to safeguard the interest
of readers. For example, the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles
Ordinance guards against the inclusion of obscene materials in print
and other media not regulated by the Broadcasting Ordinance. In August
peephole-style photos of popular Hong Kong singer Gillian Chung, taken
backstage at a concert in Malaysia and published in the Hong Kong
weekly Easy Finder, sparked debate among government, local media, and
women's rights activists on the proper balance between press freedom
and the right to privacy. Gillian Chung filed a writ with Kong Kong's
High Court (Obscene Articles Tribunal) on August 28, seeking an
injunction against further publication and an order for Easy Finder to
surrender all existing copies of the photos. At year's end the case had
not been decided, but government officials, including the chief
executive and Legco members, called for fresh discussions on the
controversial legal nexus between privacy, press freedom, and covert
surveillance.
In August legislator Albert Ho was attacked and beaten with clubs
by three assailants in what appeared to be a premeditated attack. While
the exact motivation for the assault remained a mystery, local
observers said it was likely connected to his legal work rather than
his government activities. The chief executive vowed that the
assailants would be brought to justice. As of year's end, five arrests
had been made in connection with the attack, but the investigation
continued. In 2005 two employees of the local daily newspaper Ming Pao
were slightly injured by a small package bomb that was addressed to the
paper's editor. An accompanying letter denounced the paper's executives
for publishing an unspecified article. As of November, the
perpetrator's identity and exact motivation remained a mystery.
In 2005 a radio talk show host resigned from his position, saying
that he was denied a primetime slot because of his outspoken views
regarding greater democracy in Hong Kong. The same talk show host had
previously resigned in 2004 for unexplained reasons but later returned
to his job and was given a Saturday evening time slot. This followed
the resignation in 2004 of two other popular radio talk show hosts, who
were known for their antigovernment and antimainland rhetoric, due to
alleged intimidation. The police investigated the allegations but
determined there was not enough evidence to file charges.
Questions continued during the year over whether the Government was
infringing on the editorial independence of the government-owned Radio
Television Hong Kong (RTHK). In February the Government unveiled plans
to set up an audit team to monitor RTHK following allegations of poor
financial controls, management problems, and a failure to comply with
government rules and procedures. Critics believed the Government's
August decision to replace the retiring RTHK deputy director with a
civil servant lacking in journalism experience could further erode
RTHK's editorial independence. In September the Committee on Review of
Public Service Broadcasting proposed RTHK's governing board comprise up
to 15 members, with up to four of them directly appointed by the chief
executive and nine appointed based on nominations from professional
sectors. These 13 board members would appoint the broadcaster's chief
executive officer, who would serve on the board along with a staff
representative. The proposal, according to the review committee's
chairman, aimed to minimize political intervention in the broadcaster,
but media pundits were mixed over the level of press freedom offered by
the proposal.
International media organizations operated freely. Foreign
reporters needed no special visas or government-issued press cards for
Hong Kong.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were generally no
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Government routinely
issued the required permits for public meetings and demonstrations.
Under the Public Order Ordinance, demonstration organizers must
notify the police of their intention to demonstrate one week in
advance, unless an exception is granted. The police accept shorter
notice if groups can satisfy the commissioner of police that earlier
notice could not have been given for a march involving more than 30
persons and for an assembly of more than 50 persons. The police must
explicitly object within 48 hours, and if there is no reply, it is
assumed there is no objection. The ordinance also empowers police to
object to demonstrations on national security grounds, although that
portion of the law has never been invoked. If the police object,
demonstration organizers may appeal to a statutory appeals board
comprising members from different sectors of society. Both the board's
proceedings and the police's exercise of power are subject to judicial
review.
Falun Gong practitioners regularly conducted public protests
against the crackdown on fellow practitioners in the PRC. In 2005 the
Court of Final Appeal overturned the convictions of eight Falun Gong
practitioners who had been charged with obstructing and assaulting
police officers during a sit-in protest in 2002. The ruling was viewed
as an important affirmation of Hong Kong's fundamental freedom of
assembly, demonstration, and expression under the Basic Law. In August,
15 of the protesters arrested during the sit-in filed a $192,000
(HK$1.5 million) civil claim against the police for unlawful arrest and
false imprisonment. At year's end the case was pending.
Freedom of Association.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected these provisions in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While Falun Gong practitioners
freely and openly practiced their beliefs, they have been routinely
subjected to more subtle forms of discrimination. In February the
offices of the Falun Gong-owned daily newspaper Epoch Times were
attacked and vandalized (see section 2.a.). In 2005 an international
hotel chain canceled a conference room reservation that Epoch Times had
made for a forum on the future of China. A Falun Gong spokesperson said
that once it became widely known that the Falun Gong had sponsored the
conference, a replacement facility could not be found.
Hong Kong's small Jewish community had excellent relations with the
rest of society, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during
the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Basic Law provides residents freedom
of movement, freedom of emigration, and freedom to enter and leave the
territory, and the Government generally respected these rights in
practice, with some prominent exceptions. Most residents easily
obtained travel documents from the SAR government. There were limits on
travel to the mainland imposed by the PRC government.
The Government does not recognize the Taiwan passport as valid for
visa endorsement purposes.
The law does not provide for, and the Government did not use,
forced exile.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the Government
denied entry to persons it considered politically controversial. In
2005 Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou was unexpectedly denied a visa to attend
a University of Hong Kong seminar on culture and city management. The
Government refused to give a reason for the denial.
In 2004 a New Zealand citizen and Falun Gong practitioner was
denied entry to Hong Kong for unspecified reasons. Also in 2004 the
Government barred 41 Falun Gong practitioners from entering the SAR for
``security reasons.'' Most of the practitioners were attempting to
attend Falun Gong's annual conference, which attracted approximately
700 persons. Four of those denied entry filed a judicial review. As of
October the Court of Final Appeal had not issued a ruling in the case.
Also in 2004 the Government denied a request to allow two 1989
Tiananmen Square student leaders to enter the SAR to participate in a
conference focused on the Tiananmen Square massacre. Earlier that year
other Tiananmen Square student leaders had been allowed to enter to
engage in uncontroversial activities.
PRC authorities do not permit some Hong Kong human rights activists
and prodemocracy legislators to visit the mainland; however, this
policy has been relaxed in recent years.
Protection of Refugees.--The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol do not extend to Hong Kong,
and the SAR eliminated its temporary protection policy. The director of
immigration has discretion to grant refugee status or asylum on an ad
hoc basis, but only in cases of exceptional humanitarian or
compassionate need. The Immigration Ordinance does not provide
foreigners any right to have asylum claims recognized. The Government
practice was to refer refugee and asylum claimants to a lawyer or to
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Those
granted refugee status, as well as those awaiting UNHCR assessment of
their status, received a UNHCR subsistence allowance but were not
allowed to seek employment or enroll their children in local schools.
In May the UNHCR stopped providing financial support to those
individuals awaiting status assessment due to budget cuts. In response,
the Government began offering limited allowances to adult claimants
through its social welfare department. The UNHCR worked with potential
host country representatives to resettle those few persons designated
as refugees. Government policy is to repatriate all illegal immigrants,
including those who arrive from the mainland, as promptly as possible.
During the first half of the year, 1,486 illegal PRC immigrants were
repatriated to the mainland.
In August six asylum seekers staged a hunger strike at an
immigration detention center in protest of their detention while
awaiting adjudication of their status. The detention center held
approximately 120 asylum seekers, and about one-quarter of those had
been held for more than six months while their claims for asylum under
the UN Convention Against Torture were considered by the Government.
Legislators responded by passing a motion urging the Government to
cooperate with the UNHCR to speed up processing of asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The right of residents to peacefully change their government is
limited by the Basic Law, which provides for the selection of the chief
executive by an 800-person election committee (composed of individuals
who are directly elected, indirectly elected, and appointed). The Basic
Law provides for the direct election of only 30 of the 60 Legco
members, and the inclusion of appointed members to the elected district
councils. The approval of the chief executive, two-thirds of the
legislature, and twothirds of Hong Kong's NPC delegates is
required to place an amendment of the Basic Law on the agenda of the
NPC, which, under the Basic Law, has the sole power to amend the Basic
Law.
The Basic Law states that ``the ultimate aim is the selection of
the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly
representative nominating committee in accordance with ``democratic
procedures.'' Similarly, the Basic Law states that the ``ultimate aim
is the election of all the members of Legco by universal suffrage.''
However, in 2004 the NPC standing committee rejected universal suffrage
in Hong Kong in the 2007 and 2008 elections.
The Committee on Governance and Political Development held its last
meeting in late November. In early November, despite the chief
executive's silence on a timetable for universal suffrage at the Policy
Address, the chief secretary said that greater democracy and political
reforms require ``more on trust, and less on fundamentalism and
posturing.'' In October the secretary for constitutional affairs
proposed that a 1,600-strong Nominating Committee could be set up to
vet future chief executive candidates to ensure they were acceptable to
Beijing.
The Government is authorized to exercise a high degree of autonomy
and to enjoy executive, legislative, and independent judicial power. It
contains an executive branch staffed by a professional and independent
civil service and a two-tiered legislative branch consisting of the
Legco and 18 district councils.
Elections and Political Participation.--In March 2005 Chief
Executive Tung Chee-hwa unexpectedly resigned citing health concerns.
Tung's resignation sparked a debate over the appropriate length of term
for his replacement under the Basic Law. In 2004 the Hong Kong
government took the explicit position that the ``the term of the chief
executive of the Hong Kong SAR shall be five years.'' The Government
abruptly changed that position following Tung's resignation, holding
that the legislative intent of the Basic Law was that a chief executive
returned through a by-election should only serve out the remaining term
of the outgoing chief executive. After legislators raised the prospect
of filing for judicial review by the Hong Kong courts, the Government
requested an interpretation by the NPC Standing Committee to clarify
the issue. In April the Standing Committee of the NPC issued an
interpretation of the Basic Law stating that Tung's replacement should
only serve the remaining two years of Tung's term. The interpretation,
which was regarded by many as inconsistent with the Basic Law, raised
questions about the central government's commitment to the rule of law
in Hong Kong and respect for Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy.
In June 2005, after a 10-day campaign, former chief secretary
Donald Tsang secured 710 of the 800 election committee nominating
votes. This was enough to ensure that his two declared challengers,
Democratic Party Chairman Lee Wing-tat and Independent legislator Chim
Pui-cheng, could not obtain the 100 nominations required to contest the
election. Tsang was sworn in on June 24 in Beijing.
In April 2004 the NPC standing committee issued a self-initiated
interpretation of the Basic Law, cutting short local debate and
rejecting universal suffrage for Hong Kong in the 2007 and 2008
elections. The NPC also determined that the current 50-50 ratio for
directly elected geographic seats and indirectly elected functional
constituency seats in Legco must remain indefinitely in place. In
addition, the NPC narrowed the circumstances in which Legco members
would be permitted to initiate legislation. The NPC decision left room
for amendments to the election processes, albeit strictly within the
limits dictated by the NPC standing committee.
In December 2005 a government plan to make modest changes to the
electoral procedures for selecting the chief executive and Legco
members failed to gain the required two-thirds majority in Legco. The
plan called for increasing the size of the chief executive election
committee and adding five seats each to both the geographic and
functional constituencies. All ``no'' votes came from prodemocracy
members, who decried the legislation's lack of a roadmap and timeline
for the introduction of universal suffrage.
Legco members were elected in 2004 to four-year terms, and despite
some minor problems, including an insufficient supply of ballot boxes
and intimidation of voters and political commentators, the elections
were considered free and fair. Prodemocracy candidates won 18 of the 30
directly elected geographic seats and 25 seats overall. There were
199,539 persons eligible to vote in the functional constituencies.
The Basic Law substantially limits the ability of the legislature
to influence policy by requiring separate majorities among members
elected from geographical and functional constituencies to pass a bill
introduced by an individual member. Another Basic Law provision
prohibits Legco from putting forward bills that affect public
expenditure, political structure, or government policy. Bills that
affect government policy cannot be introduced without the chief
executive's written consent. The Government has adopted a very broad
definition of ``government policy'' in order to block private member
bills, and the President of Legco has upheld the Government's position.
In August, legislator Leung Kwok-hung launched a judicial review
challenging Legco President Rita Fan's refusal to table many private
member amendments during debate over the Interception of Communications
and Surveillance bill. Fan rejected the amendments on the grounds that
they violated Article 74 of the Basic Law, which prohibits individual
members from introducing legislation that affects government
expenditure or existing government policy. However, because Article 74
places no explicit restrictions on the amendment process, Leung and his
attorney argued that Fan's decision violated the Basic Law. Hearings on
the case began in mid-November and were ongoing at year's end.
District councils are responsible for advising the Government on
matters affecting the well-being of district residents, the provision
and use of public facilities, and the use of public funds allocated for
local public works and community activities. The District Council
Ordinance gives the chief executive authority to appoint 102 out of 529
of the district councilors, and he exercises this power in practice.
Hong Kong sends 36 delegates to the PRC's National People's
Congress. In 2002 Hong Kong's NPC delegates were elected to a
fiveyear term by an NPC-appointed committee of 955 residents.
Politicians and human rights activists criticized the election process
as undemocratic and lacking transparency. In 2004 two local NPC
delegates won directly elected seats in the Legco. One NPC delegate
lost his bid for a directly elected Legco seat.
Women held 11 of the 60 Legco seats and made up between 17 and 23
percent of membership in the major political parties. The President of
the Legco was a woman, as were the heads of several government
departments. More than one-third of civil servants were women, and two
of the 15 most senior government officials were women.
There were no ethnic minorities in the Legco, but there were a
number of ethnic minorities in senior civil service positions.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were only isolated
reports of government corruption during the year, and the Government
sought to combat official corruption through the Prevention of Bribery
Ordinance and the ICAC. The law provides for access to government
information, and in practice such information was provided to both
citizens and noncitizens, with exceptions that are narrowly defined and
could be appealed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views. Prominent
human rights activists critical of the PRC also operated freely and
maintained permanent resident status in Hong Kong, but some overseas
dissidents have in recent years had difficulty gaining entry to the
SAR.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides that all residents are equal, and the Government
enforced these rights in practice.
Women.--The Government continued to be criticized for failing to
adequately address the growing problem of domestic violence. Local
public health officials, politicians and women's groups remained
concerned about violence against women, particularly among new
immigrants from the mainland. The Domestic Violence Ordinance allows
victims to seek a threemonth injunction, extendable to six
months, against an abuser. The ordinance does not criminalize domestic
violence directly, although abusers may be liable for criminal charges
under other ordinances, including the Crime Ordinance and the Offences
Against the Person Ordinance. The Government enforced the law and
prosecuted violators, but sentences typically consisted only of
injunctions or restraining orders. Between January and March, there
were 968 cases of domestic violence reported to the Social Welfare
Department, which receives reports from the police, social workers, the
health department, and volunteer organizations.
In November a man allegedly killed his wife and two children,
despite four calls to police by the family following disputes in the
two years preceding the killings. All four calls to police were
referred by police to the Social Welfare Department, since none
involved violence; however, press reports criticized both police and
the department for a lack of sensitivity in handling domestic violence
cases. Similarly, in 2004 a mother and her two daughters were killed in
an act of domestic violence hours after unsuccessfully seeking help at
a police station. The mother had previously sought help from government
social workers. A 2005 coroner's inquest into the murder recommended
sweeping changes to existing guidelines to combat domestic violence.
The police department implemented some of the recommendations, and the
Social Welfare Department announced a ``zero tolerance policy'' toward
domestic violence. In 2005 the executive director of Harmony House, an
NGO that provides services to victims of domestic violence, said that
between April 2004 and April 2005, 263 women were admitted to shelters
to escape domestic violence--the highest figure in five years. A 2005
University of Hong Kong survey found that one in five families had
experienced some form of domestic violence.
In January the government-sponsored Women's Commission released a
report providing a strategy for addressing domestic violence, including
plans on empowering victims, preventing violence, timely and effective
intervention, and community education and support.
In March the Government introduced two pilot projects under the
Batterer Intervention Program and a new 24-hour service for victims of
sexual violence.
In August Permanent Secretary for Health and Welfare Sandra Lee
told the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women Committee that the Government would seek
to strengthen the Domestic Violence Ordinance in the following three
areas: extend the scope of coverage to include ex-spouses and ex-
cohabiters; extend the criteria for attachment of a power of arrest to
an injunction order to psychological harm; and increase the duration of
the injunction order. NGOs said there was an urgent need to amend the
law to make domestic violence a crime directly under the Domestic
Violence Ordinance. The legislator representing the social welfare
sector accused the Government of doing too little to fight domestic
violence.
These initiatives were in addition to other government programs
that assisted women, such as family life education counseling, a hot
line service, temporary housing, legal aid, and child protective
services. The Government also sponsored public education and media
programs through the women's commission to promote public awareness of
domestic violence and encouraged women to seek early professional
assistance.
There were 38 cases of rape reported to the police during the first
half of the year. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
criminalizes marital rape and the Crimes Ordinance expressly states
that ``unlawful sexual intercourse'' could be applied both outside and
inside the bounds of marriage. During the first half of the year, 554
indecent assault cases were reported to the police.
Prostitution is legal, but there are laws against activities such
as causing or procuring another to be a prostitute, living on the
prostitution of others, or keeping a vice establishment. Hong Kong is a
transit and destination point for persons trafficked for the purposes
of sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking.).
The Sex Discrimination Ordinance prohibits sexual harassment of
women seeking employment or already working in an organization. The
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reported 48 sexual harassment
complaints.
Women faced discrimination in employment, salary, welfare,
inheritance, and promotion. A survey released in 2004 found that nearly
80 percent of women workers believed they were victims of
discrimination.
The percentage of women employed in professional fields, including
sciences and engineering, law, teaching, accounting, social sciences,
health, and medicine, increased slightly during the year. As of June,
37 percent of professionals employed in these fields were women, versus
33.5 percent in June 2005. Approximately 21 percent of judicial
officers and judges were women. In the Legco, women held 11 of the 60
seats. According to a survey released in 2004, approximately three-
quarters of private companies had women in senior management positions,
and women occupied more than a quarter of senior management posts.
Women were still disproportionately represented in the lower echelons
of the work force.
The law treats men and women equally in terms of property rights in
divorce settlements and in inheritance matters, although women still
faced discrimination based on traditional practices, such as in the
inheritance of homes in rural areas of the New Territories.
Children.--The Government supported children's rights and welfare
through well-funded systems of public education, medical care, and
protective services. The Education Department provided schooling for
children between six and 15 years of age and placement services for
non-Chinese speaking children. Education is free and compulsory through
grade nine. Nearly 100 percent of school-age children attended school,
and boys and girls attended in equal proportions. The Government
supported programs for custody, protection, day care, foster care,
shelters, small group homes, and assistance to families.
The Domestic Violence Ordinance mandates substantial legal
penalties for acts of child abuse such as battery, assault, neglect,
abandonment, sexual exploitation, and child sex tourism, and the
Government enforced the law.
During the first half of the year, there were 616 child abuse cases
reported to the police: A total of 264 involved physical abuses
(referring to victims less than 14 years of age), and 352 involved
sexual abuses (referring to victims less than 17 years of age). In 2005
a University of Hong Kong survey found that almost one in three
children had been abused.
The Government provided parent education programs in all 50 of the
Department of Health's maternal and child health centers, which
included instruction on child abuse prevention. It also provided public
education programs to raise awareness of child abuse and alert children
about how to protect themselves. The Social Welfare Department provided
child psychologists for its clinical psychology units and social
workers for its family and child protective services units. The
department also commissioned research on domestic violence, including
child abuse. The police maintained a child abuse investigation unit and
a child witness support program. A child care center law helps prevent
unsuitable persons from providing childcare services and facilitates
the formation of mutual help childcare groups.
The Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance criminalizes the
making, production, distribution, publication, advertising, and
possession of child pornography. It also prohibits the procurement of
children for making pornography, extends the application of certain
sexual offense provisions to acts committed against children outside of
Hong Kong, and prohibits any arrangement or advertising relating to
commission of those acts. The law carries a penalty of up to five
years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $128,500 (HK$1 million) for
possession of child pornography.
In September 2005 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC) recommended that the Government create a single unified law or
policy pertaining to children, establish a body representing children's
views, ban corporal punishment, establish a poverty line, abolish life
sentences for minors, and increase funding for child welfare programs.
However, the Government did not implement the UNCRC recommendations
during the year.
The Government provided subsidized, quality medical care for all
children who were residents.
The age of criminal responsibility for children is 10 years of age.
During the first half of the year, there were 59 youths under the age
of 16 who were incarcerated: nine in prison; seven in training centers;
12 in detention centers; and 31 in rehabilitation centers.
Trafficking in Persons.--There is no law prohibiting trafficking in
persons. There are various laws and ordinances that allow law
enforcement authorities to take action against traffickers. Despite
robust efforts by the SAR government to stop such activities, Hong Kong
was a point of transit and destination for a small number of persons
trafficked for sexual exploitation from China and Southeast Asia. It
was difficult for the Government to identify trafficking victims from
among the larger group of illegal immigrants.
Nearly all foreign prostitutes came to Hong Kong willingly to
engage in prostitution. Most came from rural areas of the mainland,
Thailand, or the Philippines on 14-day tourist visas, although a very
small number entered using forged documents. The overwhelming majority
were women, although an increasing number of young men were coming to
Hong Kong to work as homosexual prostitutes. While many came on their
own, some were lured to the SAR by criminal syndicates and promises of
financial rewards. Prostitutes were typically required to repay the
syndicates the cost of their airfare, lodging, and food. Some were
forced to stay longer than they anticipated, or work more than they
expected, to repay their debts. Prostitutes were sometimes required to
give their passports to the syndicates until the debt was paid. When
their visas expired, many would travel to Macau or Shenzhen for a day,
and then reenter Hong Kong. Immigration officials were well aware of
this practice and would deny reentry if they suspected such abuse.
Despite the involvement of syndicates in bringing prostitutes to Hong
Kong, very few women were forced, or coerced, to work as prostitutes.
During the year the Government reported one suspected case of
trafficking. Two Philippine women reported they were recruited by
another Philippine woman to come to Hong Kong to work as bar
waitresses. The alleged victims claimed they were forced to work as
prostitutes upon arrival and they had successfully escaped after one
week. The alleged victims filed affidavits to the Philippine Consulate
General and left Hong Kong. The case was reported to the police. One
suspect was arrested but denied the allegation, and the investigation
was underway.
In recent years traffickers have used forged or illegally obtained
travel documents to attempt to smuggle persons through the Hong Kong
airport, but it was not a serious problem throughout the year. In 2004
the Immigration Department established the Anti-Illegal Migration
Agency to target human smugglers and other travelers using fraudulent
documents. The agency had 60 officers stationed at the Hong Kong
International Airport. The number of fraudulent documents seized at the
airport declined sharply during the first half of the year due to the
presence of these officers. Authorities apprehended 834 persons with
forged travel documents in the first half of the year, versus 1,288
during the same period in 2004. During the year there were no known
reports of persons being trafficked into the SAR to work as domestic
workers.
Provisions in the Immigration Ordinance, the Crimes Ordinance, and
other relevant laws enabled law enforcement authorities to take action
against trafficking in persons. The courts can impose heavy fines and
prison sentences up to 14 years for activities such as arranging
passage of unauthorized entrants; assisting unauthorized entrants to
remain; using or possessing a forged, false, or unlawfully obtained
travel document; and aiding and abetting any person to use such a
document. The security bureau is responsible for combating migrant
trafficking and overseeing the police, customs, and immigration
departments, which are responsible for enforcing antitrafficking laws.
Law enforcement officials received special training on handling and
protecting victims and vulnerable witnesses, including victims of
trafficking.
The Government provided legal aid to those taking legal action
against an employer, and immunity from prosecution for those who assist
in the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. The Social Welfare
Department and local NGOs also provided an array of social services to
victims of trafficking. The Government did not provide funding to
foreign or domestic NGOs for services to victims. The Government also
tried to prevent trafficking by distributing pamphlets in a wide range
of languages to workers about their rights.
Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with
physical and mental disabilities persisted in employment, education,
and the provision of some public services. The Disability
Discrimination Ordinance calls for improved building access and
sanctions against those who discriminate. Despite inspections and the
occasional closure of noncompliant businesses under the Buildings
Ordinance, access to public buildings (including public schools) and
transportation remained a serious problem for persons with
disabilities.
The Government offered an integrated work program in sheltered
workshops and provided vocational assessment and training. No
comprehensive statistics were available on the number of persons with
disabilities in the work force, but the last government survey
conducted in 2000 estimated that there were approximately 269,500
persons with one or more disabilities, including 225,600 persons with
physical disabilities and 52,700 with mental disabilities. According to
the survey, of the 269,500 persons with disabilities, 52,500 were
employed and 59,700 were considered ``economically active,'' including
small business owners and street vendors. However, a consortium of
organizations representing persons with disabilities reported in 2002
that approximately 700,000 residents were disabled, approximately half
of whom were able to work. As of March there were 3,256 persons with
disabilities employed as civil servants out of a total civil service
work force of 156,436. During the first half of the year, the Labor
Department's Selective Placement Division found jobs for 1,637 of 2,670
disabled job seekers. As of September 2005, 1.32 percent of 795,000
students were disabled; approximately 37 percent of these students
studied at mainstream schools.
The EOC sponsored a variety of activities to address discrimination
against persons with disabilities, including youth education programs,
distributing guidelines and resources for employers, carrying out media
campaigns, and cosponsoring seminars and research.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association and the right of workers to establish and join
organizations of their own choosing. Trade unions must register under
the Trade Unions Ordinance. The basic precondition for registration is
a minimum membership of seven persons.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize; however, it does not guarantee the
right to collective bargaining. The 1997 Employment and Labor Relations
(Miscellaneous Amendments) Ordinance removes the legal stipulation of
trade unions' right to engage employers in collective bargaining. The
ordinance bans the use of union funds for political purposes, requires
the chief executive's approval before unions can contribute funds to
any trade union outside of the SAR, and restricts the appointment of
persons from outside the enterprise or sector to union executive
committees. In a few trades, such as tailoring and carpentry, wage
rates were determined collectively in accordance with established trade
practices and customs rather than a statutory mechanism, but collective
bargaining was not practiced widely. Unions were not powerful enough to
force management to engage in collective bargaining. The Government did
not engage in collective bargaining with civil servants' unions.
The workplace consultation promotion unit in the Labor Department
facilitated communication, consultation, and voluntary negotiation
between employers and employees. Tripartite committees for each of the
nine sectors of the economy included representatives from some trade
unions, employers, and the Labor Department.
Work stoppages and strikes are legal. There are some restrictions
on this right for civil servants. Although there is no legislative
prohibition of strikes, in practice most workers had to sign employment
contracts that typically stated that walking off the job is a breach of
contract, which could lead to summary dismissal. In addition, there is
no legal entitlement to reinstatement in the case of unfair dismissal.
There was one minor labor stoppage during the year. In June more
than 200 bus drivers staged a one-day sit-in over wages, but a larger
strike was averted when a last-minute agreement was reached. There are
no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor. Although the law does not specifically
prohibit forced or compulsory labor by children, there were no reports
that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Employment of Children Regulations prohibits employment of children
under the age of 15 in any industrial establishment. Children ages 13
and 14 may work in certain nonindustrial establishments, subject to
conditions aimed at ensuring a minimum nine years of education and
protection of their safety, health, and welfare. The Labor Department
conducted regular workplace inspections to enforce compliance with the
regulations. During the first half of the year, the Labor Department
conducted 79,968 inspections and discovered three suspected violations
of the Employment of Children Regulations. Two cases involved the
employment of children ages 13 and 14 without valid school attendance
certificates and written parental consent, whereas the other case
involved the employment of a child entertainer age 14 working beyond
the stipulated hours of work. As of year's end, the Government was
assessing the evidence for prosecution. The regulations limit work
hours in the manufacturing sector for persons 15 to 17 years of age to
eight hours per day and 48 hours per week between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
They also prohibit, for persons less than 18 years of age, overtime in
industrial establishments with employment in dangerous trades.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no statutory minimum
wage except for domestic workers of foreign origin. Aside from a small
number of trades where a uniform wage structure exists, wage levels
customarily are fixed by individual agreement between employer and
employee and are determined by supply and demand. Some employers
provided workers with various kinds of allowances, free medical
treatment, and free subsidized transport. The average wage provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Two-income
households were the norm. There are no regulations concerning working
hours, paid weekly rest, rest breaks, or compulsory overtime. In
October the chief executive for the first time acknowledged the need to
study the issue of a minimum wage and limits on working hours.
In 2001 the SAR government was criticized by the UN Committee on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights for failure to establish
regulations on a statutory minimum wage, maximum working hours, paid
weekly rest, rest breaks, compulsory overtime, and protection against
unfair dismissal. In 2004 the Government referred the issue of a
minimum wage and maximum working hours to the labor advisory board. As
of October the board was still considering the issue. In early October
as many as 50 trade unions and associations protested the Government's
slow progress towards a minimum wage and accused it of exploiting the
underprivileged and colluding with big business. Moreover, there was no
broad consensus in the community on these issues, which were debated by
legislators, academics, and the public. Nevertheless, the Labor
Department actively sought to improve working conditions by encouraging
consultations, meetings, and seminars with industry-based committees
comprising representatives of government, employers' associations, and
trade unions. Such committees included the tripartite committee for the
cargo transport industry and the committee for the property management
industry.
The minimum wage for foreign domestic workers was approximately
$435 per month (HK$3,400, as of June 2006). The standard workweek was
48 hours, but many domestic workers worked much longer hours. The
standard contract law requires employers to provide foreign domestic
workers with housing, worker's compensation insurance, travel
allowances, and food or a food allowance in addition to the minimum
wage, which together provide a decent standard of living. Foreign
domestic workers can be deported if dismissed. During the first seven
months of the year, four employers were convicted for labor law
maltreatment violations under the Employment Ordinance relating to the
employment of foreign domestic workers. During the first seven months
of the year 124 foreign domestic workers filed criminal suits for other
types of maltreatment, including rape, indecent assault, and wounding
and serious assault, 75 of which were prosecuted.
The Occupational Safety and Health Branch of the Labor Department
are responsible for safety and health promotion, enforcement of safety
management legislation, as well as policy formulation and
implementation.
The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, the
Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance, the Boilers and Pressure
Vessels Ordinance, and their 35 sets of subsidiary regulations regulate
safety and health conditions. During the first half of the year, the
Labor Department conducted 63,156 workplace inspections and issued 959
summonses, resulting in a total of $965,295 (HK$7,529,300) in fines.
Worker safety and health has improved over the years, but serious
problems remained, particularly in the construction industry. During
the first half of the year, there were 10,048 occupational injuries, of
which 3,667 were classified as industrial accidents. There were five
fatal industrial accidents. Employers are required under the Employee's
Compensation Ordinance to report any injuries sustained by their
employees in work-related accidents. There is no specific legal
provision allowing workers to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
MACAU
Macau, with a population of approximately 500,000, is a Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and
the SAR's 1993 constitution, the Basic Law of the Macau SAR (hereafter
referred to as the Basic Law), specify that Macau will enjoy a high
degree of autonomy, except in defense and foreign affairs. The
Government is led by a chief executive, chosen by a 300-member election
committee, which in turn is chosen by a preparatory committee composed
of 60 SAR and 40 mainland representatives appointed by the National
People's Congress (NPC). In 2004 Chief Executive Edmund Ho was
reelected to a second five-year term. The Basic Law significantly
circumscribes the power of the Legislative Assembly. In September 2005
voters elected 12 of the legislature's 29 members in direct elections
based on geographical constituencies. Interest groups in functional
constituencies elected 10 others, and the chief executive appointed the
remaining seven members. The Basic Law does not posit the election of
all members of the legislature by universal suffrage as an ultimate
aim. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, some problems remained, most notably limits on
citizens' ability to change their government.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The Basic Law, as well as the Criminal Code, prohibits
such practices, and the Government generally respected this law in
practice. Between January and July, there were 11 reports of police
brutality, compared with 18 reports for the same period in 2005, and
none involved acts of rape, sexual abuse, medical abuse, or hazing.
There were no reports of deaths in police custody.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and although the Government
permitted visits by independent human rights observers, there were no
requests during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Basic Law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Civilian authorities,
specifically the secretary for security, supervised and controlled the
police. The Public Security Police were well disciplined and corruption
and impunity were not problems. The Commission Against Corruption (CAC)
acted to preclude problems with corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--Police must present persons remanded in
custody to an examining judge within 48 hours of detention. The
examining judge, who conducts a pretrial inquiry in criminal cases, has
a wide range of powers to collect evidence, order or dismiss
indictments, and determine whether to release detained persons. The
accused person's counsel may examine the evidence. The law provides
that cases must come to trial within six months of an indictment. Data
on the average length of pretrial incarceration was not available
because courts do not keep detailed records on detention; however, the
criminal procedure code mandates that pretrial detention is limited to
between six months to three years, depending on the criminal charges
and progress of the judicial system. Judges often refused bail in cases
where sentences could exceed three years.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Basic Law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
There are four courts: the primary court, with general jurisdiction
of first instance; the administrative court, with jurisdiction of first
instance in administrative disputes; the court of second instance; and
the court of final appeal. The courts have the power of final
adjudication in all cases that are within the authority of the SAR. The
courts also may rule on matters that are ``the responsibility of the
Central People's government or concern the relationship between the
central authorities and the [Special Administrative] Region.'' However,
before making their final judgment, one which is not subject to appeal,
the courts must seek an interpretation of the relevant provisions from
the NPC's Standing Committee. When the Standing Committee makes an
interpretation of the provisions concerned, the courts, in applying
those provisions, ``shall follow the interpretation of the Standing
Committee.'' The Standing Committee must consult the NPC's Committee
for the Basic Law of the SAR before giving an interpretation of the
law. This committee is composed of 10 members, five from the SAR and
five from the mainland. The chief executive, the President of the SAR
Legislative Assembly, and the President of the court of final appeal
nominate the SAR members.
The Basic Law provides for the use of Portuguese, in addition to
Chinese, as an official language used by executive authorities, the
legislature, and the judiciary. The need to translate laws and
judgments from Portuguese and a severe shortage of local bilingual
lawyers and magistrates hampered development of the legal system. At
year's end there were 124 lawyers in private practice in the SAR: 66
spoke Cantonese, 19 could read and write Cantonese and Mandarin, and
117 could read and write Portuguese. The Government sponsored a
postgraduate training program for magistrates who had received legal
training outside of the SAR. The judiciary was relatively inexperienced
and lacked locally trained lawyers. There were 29 practicing judges,
six of whom were Portuguese.
According to the Basic Law, the chief executive appoints judges at
all levels, acting on the recommendation of an independent commission,
which he appoints. The commission is composed of local judges, lawyers,
and ``eminent persons.'' The Basic Law stipulates that judges must be
chosen on the basis of their professional qualifications. Judges may be
removed only for criminal acts or an inability to discharge their
functions. With the exception of the chief justice, who must be a
Chinese citizen with no right of abode elsewhere, foreigners are
permitted to serve as judges under the Basic Law.
Trial Procedures.--The Basic Law provides for the right to a fair
trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. By
law trials are open to the public, except when publicity could cause
great harm to the dignity of the persons, to public morals, or to the
normal development of the trial. The Basic Law provides for an accused
person's right to be present during proceedings and to choose an
attorney or request that one be provided at government expense. The
Organized Crime Ordinance provides that ``certain procedural acts may
be held without publicity and witness statements read in court are
admissible as evidence.'' There also are additional restrictions on
granting bail and suspended sentences in organized crime cases.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases, and have a right of appeal.
The judiciary provides citizens with a fair and efficient judicial
process; however, due to an overloaded court system, a period of up to
a year sometimes passed between filing a civil case and its scheduled
hearing.
A public prosecutor general heads the Public Prosecutions Office,
which enjoys substantial autonomy from both the executive and the
judiciary. The Basic Law stipulates that the Public Prosecutions
Office's functions be carried out without government interference, and
the Government respected the law in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures.--There is an independent and impartial
judiciary for civil matters, and there were no problems enforcing
domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The Basic Law prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Basic Law provides for freedom
of speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected
these rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom. An
independent press and an effective judiciary contributed to freedom of
speech and the press.
The dominant newspapers, mainly Chinese-language, supported PRC
government positions in their editorial line. The Union for Democracy
Development Macau (UDDM), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) headed
by prodemocracy legislators, charged that newspapers did not give equal
attention to liberal and prodemocracy voices. In February 2005 the
chief editor of Open Magazine--which is openly critical of the mainland
Chinese government--was refused entry to the SAR ``based on Macau
Special Administrative Region internal security guidelines,'' according
to a letter from the Government. The editor had been barred from the
mainland for a number of years, although this was the first time he was
barred from the SAR. At year's end the case was under investigation by
the chief executive's office.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom and cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The Basic Law
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts during the year, and the size of the SAR's Jewish
population remained extremely small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Basic Law provides for these rights,
and the Government generally respected them in practice.
In 2005 government immigration officials refused entry to a Hong
Kong resident who was a spokesperson for the Falun Gong. The
spokesperson had been granted entry to the SAR many times without
incident. During the year the same practitioner was denied entry at
least four times, although the specific reasons for denial were not
made clear by the Government. Some members of the media who were openly
critical of the mainland government were also refused entry (see
section 2.a.).
The Basic Law prohibits forced exile by guaranteeing the right of
permanent residents to leave and enter the SAR, and the Government
generally respected the law in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The Basic Law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government granted refugee status or asylum
and provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution. The migration department
cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in handling
refugees. There were no applications for refugee status during the
year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The Basic Law restricts citizens' ability to change their
government. The Government was led by a chief executive, chosen by a
300-member election committee, which in turn was chosen by a 100-member
preparatory committee, composed of 60 SAR and 40 mainland
representatives appointed by the NPC.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Chief Executive
Edmund Ho was reelected to a second five-year term.
In September 2005, in accordance with the Basic Law, the SAR's
democratic development was enhanced when a record 58 percent of
registered voters participated in the SAR's third legislative
elections, and voters directly elected 12 of the 29 members of the
Legislative Assembly from geographic constituencies. Local community
interests, such as business, labor, professional, welfare, cultural,
educational, and sports associations, indirectly elected 10 members,
and the chief executive appointed seven members.
There are limits on the types of legislation that legislators may
introduce. The Basic Law stipulates that legislators may not initiate
legislation related to public expenditure, the SAR's political
structure, or the operation of the Government. Proposed legislation
relating to government policies must receive the chief executive's
written approval before they are submitted.
A 10-member executive council functions as an unofficial cabinet,
approving all draft legislation before it is presented in the
Legislative Assembly.
There were six women in the 29-member assembly, including the
President of the assembly. Women also held a number of senior positions
throughout the Government. There were three ethnic minorities in the
29-member assembly. One member of the executive council was also an
ethnic minority, as was the police commissioner.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The CAC investigates
public sector corruption and has the power to arrest and detain
suspects. Between January and August, the CAC received 309 complaints
against public officials in a variety of agencies. The CAC pursued 28
of these complaints, 25 of which were criminal cases and three were
administrative cases. The CAC transferred eight cases to the Public
Prosecutions Office. A monitoring body established to review complaints
of maladministration or abuse by the CAC did not receive any complaints
during the same period.
The law does not provide for public access to government
information. However, the executive branch published online, in both
Chinese and Portuguese, an extensive amount of information including
laws, regulations, ordinances, government policies and procedures, and
biographies of government officials. The Government also issued a daily
press release on topics of public concern. The information provided by
the legislature was less extensive. For example, it did not publish a
legislative agenda or a list of pending bills.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic human rights groups generally operated without
government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on
human rights cases. Government officials often were cooperative and
responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Basic Law stipulates that residents shall be free from
discrimination, irrespective of their nationality, descent, race, sex,
language, religion, political persuasion, ideological belief,
educational level, economic status, or social condition, and the
Government effectively enforced the law. In addition, many local laws
carry specific prohibitions against discrimination, although there is
no specific law for combating discrimination. For example, under the
law that established the general framework for the educational system,
access to education was stipulated for all residents regardless of
race, religious, political, or ideological beliefs.
Women.--The Government effectively enforced criminal statutes
prohibiting domestic violence against women and prosecuted violators;
however, various NGOs and government officials consider domestic
violence against women to be a growing problem. In the first half of
the year, 170 cases of spousal abuse were reported to the police;
however, because there is no independent category of spousal abuse in
the SAR's court case classification system, there was no data on
convictions.
Domestic violence is punishable by one to 15 years in prison. In
the case of spousal abuse and violence against minors, the penalty is
two to eight years' imprisonment, and five to 15 years if the abuse
leads to the death of the victim. There was no data on reported cases
of spousal abuse and violence against minors.
The Government provided hospital treatment for victims of abuse,
and medical social workers counseled victims and informed them about
social welfare services. The Government may provide victims of domestic
violence with public housing until their complaints are resolved, but
it did not reserve facilities expressly for this purpose.
Private and religious groups sponsored programs for victims of
domestic violence, and the Government supported and helped to fund
these organizations and programs. The Bureau for Family Action, a
government organization subordinate to the Department of Family and
Community of the Social Welfare Institute, helped female victims of
domestic violence by providing a safe place for them and their children
and furnishing advice regarding legal actions against the perpetrators.
A family counseling service was available to persons who requested such
services at social centers. Two government-supported religious programs
also offered rehabilitation programs for female victims of violence.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
Government effectively enforced the law. In the first half of the year,
there were five reported rapes.
Prostitution is legal, but procuring is not. Trafficking in persons
also is illegal; however, there were 10 suspected cases of trafficking
in women involving 17 victims for the purposes of prostitution (see
section 5, Trafficking).
There is no law specifically addressing sexual harassment, although
there is a law prohibiting harassment in general. Sexual harassment was
not considered to be a major problem.
Equal opportunity legislation applicable to all public and private
organizations mandates that women receive equal pay for equal work,
prohibits discrimination based on sex or physical ability, and
establishes penalties for employers who violate these guidelines. The
law allows for civil suits, but few women took their cases to the Labor
Affairs Bureau or other entities. There were no reported cases alleging
sexual discrimination during the first half of the year.
Women also have become more active and visible in business;
however, wage discrimination occurred in certain sectors of the job
market, notably construction.
Children.--The Government protected the rights and welfare of
children through the general framework of civil and political rights
legislation that protects all citizens. The law specifically provides
for criminal punishment for sexual abuse of children and students,
statutory rape, and procurement involving minors.
School attendance is compulsory for all children between ages five
and 15. Basic education was provided in government-run schools and
subsidized private schools, and it covered the preprimary year, primary
education, and general secondary education. The Education Department
provided assistance to families that could not pay school fees. The
children of illegal immigrants were excluded from the educational
system. Experts believed this exclusion affected only a few children.
Boys and girls attended school in equal proportions, and the Government
provided free medical care for all children.
Child abuse and exploitation were not widespread problems. In the
first half of the year, nine cases of child abuse were reported to the
Health Department and 80 cases of offenses against the physical
integrity of minors were reported to the police. During the same
period, the police received two reports of rape of minors and eight
reports of sexual abuse of minors.
Trafficking in Persons.--The Basic Law makes trafficking in persons
a crime punishable by two to 15 years in prison; however, there was no
law that specifically addressed trafficking persons into the SAR. The
law increases penalties by one-third (within minimum and maximum
limits) if the victim is under 18 years of age. If the victim is under
14 years of age, the penalty is increased by five to 15 years. If the
trafficker rapes the victim, the two offenses are treated as different
crimes. The Government has other statutes that it can use to prosecute
such traffickers. For example, although prostitution is not illegal, a
``procurement'' law makes it a crime to instigate, favor, or facilitate
the practice of prostitution by another person for the purposes of
profit or as a way of life.
The country is a transit and destination point for women trafficked
for the purposes of prostitution. While the overwhelming majority of
foreign prostitutes entered the country voluntarily, there was evidence
that some had been deceived or coerced into participating in the
country's commercial sex trade. During the year press reports and NGOs
stated that some prostitutes lived in poor conditions under threats of
violence and coercion.
No information was available on government investigations into
cases of procurement. While most known cases involved women who were
believed to be willing participants in the sex industry, 17 women
claimed to have been brought to the SAR under false pretenses, and four
complained of abuse. SAR authorities believed that Chinese, Russian,
and Thai criminal syndicates were involved in bringing women to the SAR
for the purposes of prostitution. Prostitutes were primarily from
mainland China, Mongolia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Vietnam, and
Thailand.
There were no government assistance programs for victims of
trafficking, and no NGOs focused specifically on trafficking-related
problems; however, there were charitable organizations that provided
assistance and shelter to women and children who were the victims of
abuse.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law mandates access to buildings
for persons with disabilities, and the Government generally enforced
these provisions in practice. There were no reports of discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, or
provision of state services.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although no specific laws
prohibit discrimination on the basis of racial or ethnic background,
the Government generally respected the rights of ethnic minorities,
particularly the Macanese (Eurasians who comprise approximately 2
percent of the population). Although Portuguese officials no longer
dominated the civil service, the Government bureaucracy and the legal
system placed a premium on knowledge of the Portuguese language, which
was spoken by approximately 2 percent of the population. During the
year the Government conducted its first census since 2001, but updates
on the racial and ethnic composition of the population had not been
released as of year's end. The Chinese language has official status,
and the use of Chinese in the civil service has grown in recent years.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirement, and the Government generally
respected this right in practice. The Basic Law stipulates that
international labor conventions that applied before the handover remain
in force. The UDDM expressed concern that the local law contains no
explicit provisions that bar discrimination against unions. The law
also specifically excludes public servants and migrant workers from
labor law protections.
Nearly all private sector unions were part of the proPRC
Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), or the Macau Chamber of Commerce
(both of which are listed as associations, commonly the case for
unions), and they tended to stress the importance of stability and
minimum disruption of the work force. The UDDM and some local
journalists claimed that the FTU was more interested in providing
social and recreational services than in addressing trade union
problems such as wages, benefits, and working conditions. At the
beginning of the year, there were 567 registered unions. All classes of
workers have the right to join a union. There was no data on the
percentage of unionized workers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides that agreements concluded between employers and workers shall
be valid, but there is no specific statutory protection that provides
for the right to collective bargaining; however, the Government did not
impede or discourage collective bargaining. Market forces determined
wages. Unions tended to resemble local traditional neighborhood
associations, promoting social and cultural activities rather than
workplace problems. Local customs normally favored employment without
the benefit of written labor contracts, except in the case of migrant
labor from the mainland and the Philippines. Pro-PRC unions
traditionally have not attempted to engage in collective bargaining.
There is no specific protection in local law from retribution if
workers exercise their right to strike. The Government argued that
striking employees are protected from retaliation by labor law
provisions, which require an employer to have ``justified cause'' to
dismiss an employee; the Government generally enforced these
provisions. Strikes, rallies, and demonstrations were not permitted in
the vicinity of the chief executive's office, the Legislative Assembly,
and other key government buildings.
In May approximately 3,000 workers from eight independent labor
unions representing unskilled laborers and construction workers held a
demonstration against the chief executive. The demonstration turned
violent when protesters confronted riot police as they attempted to
march on government headquarters. The theme of the demonstration was to
``drive out illegal workers and cut imported labor.'' Twenty-five
police officers were reportedly injured and four protesters arrested
during the demonstration. Prodemocracy legislator Antonio Ng voiced his
support for the demonstration and called on the Government to formulate
labor importation policies in a transparent way with prior public
consultation.
In December approximately 600 workers and citizens protested labor
issues and corruption in Macau. In contrast to the labor demonstrations
in May, the protests were nonviolent. Workers who believed that they
were dismissed unlawfully may bring a case to court or lodge a
complaint with the Labor Department or the high commissioner against
corruption and administrative illegality, who also functions as an
ombudsman.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits minors under the age of 16 from working, although minors
between the ages of 14 and 16 can be authorized to work on an
``exceptional basis.'' Some children reportedly worked in family-run
businesses and on fishing vessels, usually during summer and winter
vacations. Local laws do not establish specific regulations governing
the number of hours these children can work, but International Labor
Organization conventions were applied. The Labor Department enforced
the law through periodic and targeted inspections, and violators were
prosecuted. In July 2005 the Labor Department Inspectorate conducted a
special inspection specifically aimed at enforcing child labor laws.
During this inspection 476 companies were visited, and 17 were found to
have violated child labor laws by employing 29 minors ages 14 to 16. A
similar inspection was conducted during the year, but data from it was
not available at year's end.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Local labor laws establish the
general principle of fair wages and mandate compliance with wage
agreements, but there was no mandatory minimum wage. Average wages
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. In his
policy address in November, Chief Executive Ho stated that government
cleaning and security contractors would enjoy a minimum wage starting
next year but did not say what the wage would be.
Labor legislation provides for a 48-hour workweek, an eight-hour
workday, paid overtime, annual leave, and medical and maternity care.
Although the law provides for a 24-hour rest period for every seven
days of work, workers frequently agreed to work overtime to compensate
for low wages. The Labor Department provided assistance and legal
advice to workers on request.
The Labor Department enforced occupational safety and health
regulations, and failure to correct infractions could lead to
prosecution. In 2005 the Labor Department inspectorate conducted 4,508
inspections and uncovered 3,195 violations carrying fines totaling
approximately $194,000 (1.5 million patacas). Data on Labor Department
inspections throughout the year was not available. From January to
September, there were five workrelated deaths. Although the law
includes a requirement that employers provide a safe working
environment, no explicit provisions protected employees' right to
continued employment if they refused to work under dangerous
conditions.
Migrant workers, mainly from the PRC and Southeast Asia, made up
approximately 10.3 percent of the work force. In May several thousand
workers and union members marched in demand of more effective measures
to prevent the hiring of illegal workers and to limit the number of
imported workers (see section 6.b.). They often received less than
local residents for performing the same job, lived in controlled
dormitories, worked 10 to 12 hours per day, and owed large sums of
money to labor-importing companies for purchasing their jobs. They had
no collective bargaining rights and no legal recourse in the case of
unfair dismissal.
__________
CHINA (TAIWAN ONLY)
Taiwan's population of 23 million is governed by a President and
parliament chosen in multiparty elections. In 2004 President Chen Shui-
bian of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was reelected in a close
election. The opposition coalition made up of the Kuomintang (KMT) and
the People First Party (PFP) won 114 of the 225 Legislative Yuan (LY)
seats. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The authorities generally respected the human rights of citizens;
however, there continued to be problems reported in the following
areas: corruption by officials, violence and discrimination against
women, trafficking in persons, and abuses of foreign workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution stipulates that no violence, threat,
inducement, fraud, or other improper means should be used against
accused persons. Several human rights nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) stated they had not received any reports of physical abuse of
persons held in police custody. One NGO received several police abuse
complaints, but was unable to substantiate the reports. Unlike in
previous years, lawyers and legal scholars did not complain of police
abuse occurring when interrogations were not recorded or when attorneys
were not present.
The primary responsibility for investigating torture and
mistreatment lies with prosecutors. The Control Yuan (CY), the highest
government oversight agency, also investigates such cases.
The law allows suspects to have attorneys present during
interrogations, primarily to ensure that abuse does not take place (see
section 1.d.). The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) stated that each
interrogation was audiotaped or videotaped and that any allegation of
mistreatment was investigated. Police were subject to severe punishment
for abusing their authority in arresting or detaining suspects or using
threats of violence to extract evidence.
The criminal code provides that criminal charges must be based on
legally obtained evidence. A confession by a defendant or accomplice,
without other evidentiary support, is not sufficient to convict a
defendant. Police must investigate allegations that a confession was
illegally obtained before proceeding to other evidence.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. Prison overcrowding was a
growing problem. As of December prisons operated at 119 percent of
design capacity.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police
Administration (NPA) of the Ministry of Interior (MOI) has
administrative jurisdiction over all police units. City mayors and
county magistrates appoint city and county police commissioners from
candidates recommended by the NPA. Mayors and magistrates are
responsible for maintaining order and assessing the performance of
police commissioners within their jurisdiction.
Police corruption continued to be a problem. In July four police
officers and their police chief were indicted on suspicion of taking
bribes to conceal a gambling ring. In November three officers were
detained for accepting bribes from illegal casinos, and another officer
was indicted for leaking investigation information to a criminal group
suspected of kidnapping.
Following a spate of police corruption scandals the MOI announced
in November that it would increase inspection of the police and require
police chiefs to cooperate closely with prosecutors' investigations.
Prosecutors and the CY are responsible for investigating allegations of
police malfeasance. The NPA also has an inspector general and an
internal affairs division that conduct internal police investigations.
Police officers and senior officials suspected of corruption are
prosecuted and punished upon conviction.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may legally detain without a warrant
anyone they suspect of committing a crime when the punishment would be
imprisonment of five years or more if there is ample reason to believe
the person may flee. When circumstances are too urgent to apply for a
summons prior to questioning, police may question a person without
first obtaining the required summons from a public prosecutor. However
after detaining a suspect, the authorities must immediately apply to a
prosecutor for a warrant in order to detain the arrestee for up to 24
hours and must give written notice to the detainee or a designated
relative or friend, stating the reason for the arrest or questioning.
If the prosecutor rejects the application for a warrant, the police
must release the detainee immediately. Indicted persons may be released
on bail at judicial discretion. By law, prosecutors must apply to the
courts within 24 hours after arrest for permission to continue
detaining an arrestee. The duration of this pretrial detention is
limited to two months and, with court approval, a single extension of
an additional two months. Limits also apply to detention during trial.
If a crime is punishable by less than 10 years' imprisonment, then no
more than three extensions of two months each may be granted during the
trial and appellate proceedings. During a second appeal, only one
extension may be granted. The authorities generally observed these
procedures, and trials usually took place within three months of
indictment.
During an interrogation the law requires that the police inform a
suspect of; the specific charges in question, the right to remain
silent, the right to counsel, and the right to ask the police to
investigate evidence that would be favorable to the suspect. If the
charges are subsequently amended, the police must inform the suspect.
The authorities generally respected a detainee's request to have a
lawyer present during the investigation phase. When a detainee requests
legal counsel, police must wait at least four hours for a lawyer before
proceeding with an interrogation. Although the law requires that
indigent persons be provided legal counsel during trials, it does not
provide for legal counsel during interrogations.
Confessions from interrogations conducted in the evenings generally
are not to be used as evidence; allegations that a confession was
obtained illegally are to be investigated before it can be used in a
trial. With the exception of urgent circumstances, when such equipment
is unavailable, interrogations must be audiotaped or videotaped, and
when written reports of interrogations are in conflict with evidence in
audiotapes and videotapes, the contradictory interrogation may not be
used as evidence.
Some human rights advocates claimed that the rules did not provide
adequate protection since suspects often did not have legal
representation during interrogation. Informed observers continued to
report that public defense counsels did not appear until the final
argument of a trial and that they seldom spent adequate time discussing
the case with their clients. In response to this complaint, courts
continued allowing appointment of private attorneys or public defense
counsel for detainees. In a first trial, courts require that counsel
interview the detainee at least once before each hearing and, in an
appeal, whenever the detainee requests an interview.
On January 11, the Judicial Yuan (JY) approved a pilot legal aid
program to provide indigent suspects with counsel during initial police
questioning. The program, started in November, recruited volunteer
attorneys and worked with the NPA to establish clear procedural
guidelines. A NGO, the Legal Aid Foundation of Taiwan, also provided
professional legal services to the indigent.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. Although the Government made efforts to
eliminate corruption and to diminish political influence in recent
years, residual problems remained (see section 3).
The JY, headed by a President and vice President, is one of the
five coequal branches of the political system and includes the 15-
member Council of Grand Justices (CGJ), which interprets the
constitution as well as laws and ordinances. Subordinate JY organs
include the Supreme Court, high courts, district courts, the
administrative court, and the Committee on the Discipline of Public
Functionaries. An administrative court provides judicial review of
administrative decisions.
Active-duty military personnel are subject to the military justice
system. Except in exigent circumstances, a military court-issued
warrant is required to arrest a suspect or to search a person or place.
A search incident to arrest does not require a separate warrant.
Suspects are entitled to counsel during interrogation. Suspects can be
detained up to 60 days, which can be extended upon a showing of good
cause. Trial must take place no later than 90 days after arrest.
Defendants are entitled to counsel during trial and are entitled to
collect and present evidence in their defense. Defendants are presumed
innocent until proven guilty. Cases are tried before one or more
military judges. Established guidelines limit judges' sentencing
discretion. Defendants can appeal convictions to higher military courts
and then to the civilian court system. Critics contend that since
military prosecutors and judges are usually officers in the same unit
and under the same command, there is insufficient separation between
them to properly safeguard a defendant's interests.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution establishes the right to a fair
trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Judges, rather than juries, decide cases; all judges are appointed by,
and are responsible to, the JY. In a typical court case, a single judge
rather than a defense attorney or prosecutor interrogates parties and
witnesses. The judge may decline to hear witnesses or to consider
evidence that a party wishes to submit if the judge considers it
irrelevant; a refusal to hear evidence may be a factor in an appeal.
Trials are public, but attendance at trials involving juveniles or
potentially sensitive issues that might attract crowds may require
court permission. A defendant's access to government-held evidence is
determined by the presiding judge on a case-by-case basis. All
defendants are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and criminal
procedure rights are extended to all persons without limitation.
A defendant has the right to an attorney. If the defendant is
charged with committing a crime for which the penalty is three or more
years' imprisonment or if the defendant is indigent, the judge may
assign an attorney. Attorneys assigned to defendants generally assisted
once an indictment was filed and at trial but usually were not present
during police interrogations. Although the Government took measures to
strengthen the effectiveness of defense representation, some human
rights lawyers argued that more improvements were necessary. The law
states that a suspect may not be compelled to testify and that a
confession shall not be the sole evidence used to find a defendant
guilty. All convicted persons have the right to appeal to the next
higher court level. Persons sentenced to terms of imprisonment of three
years or more may appeal beyond that level. The Supreme Court
automatically reviews life imprisonment and death sentences. It is
unconstitutional to allow the confessions of accomplices to be used as
the only evidence to convict a defendant.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--District courts are the
courts of first instance for the trial of civil monetary and non-
monetary claims, including those seeking redress for human rights
violations. High courts hear appeals from the district courts. The
Supreme Court is the final court of appeal and will review judgments of
the high courts, but only on questions of law, not fact. A separate
two-tier administrative court system resolves disputes arising from
administrative laws. Courts are empowered to attach assets and issue
provisional and permanent injunctions. There were no reports of
problems enforcing domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution protects the right to privacy and
this was generally respected in practice. The law requires prosecutors
to obtain judicial approval of search warrants, except when incidental
to arrest or when there are concerns that evidence may be destroyed.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of police misusing the
search-incidental-to-arrest provision. The police must report any
incidental search to a prosecutor or the court within 24 hours. The
court must decide whether the incidental search violated the law. A
police officer convicted of conducting an illegal search may be given a
sentence of up to one year in prison.
The law imposes severe penalties for unauthorized wiretapping. The
law provides that judicial and security authorities may file a written
request to a prosecutor's office to monitor telephone calls to collect
evidence against a suspect involved in a major crime. The MOJ and the
police used wiretapping as an investigative tool. According to the MOJ
prosecution department, the annual number of approved wiretappings has
steadily increased from 19,845 in 2004 to 24,117 in 2005, and to 25,556
through November.
Homosexual rights advocacy groups claim that government law
enforcement agencies monitored Internet chat room and bulletin-board
exchanges between adults (see section 2.a.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Government and political party officials are forbidden from holding
positions in broadcast media companies. Government entities and
political parties were required to divest themselves of all radio and
broadcast companies by December 2005. On April 21, the Government
donated its 70 percent share of China Television System (CTS) to the
Public Television Service (PTS). The two companies merged into the
Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS), which was privatized on July 1. By
year's end the Government had not sold its 47 percent stake in Taiwan
Television Enterprise (TTV). Critics argued that more needed to be done
to insulate broadcast news media from political influence.
On February 22, the National Communications Commission (NCC)
convened for the first time. On July 21, the CGJ determined that the
system for appointing commissioners was unconstitutional, but allowed
the sitting commissioners to remain in office until new commissioners
could be appointed.
In April the NCC reinstated the license of cable news channel
Eastern TV. The Government Information Office (GIO) had revoked the
license in 2005, provoking charges that it had infringed on press
freedom and hurt the livelihoods of broadcast journalists. On July 12,
Eastern TV resumed operations.
In May the Executive Yuan Administrative Appeals Review Committee
reversed another controversial GIO decision. In November 2005 GIO
levied a $30,000 (NT$1 million) fine on TVBS, a Hong Kong-invested
satellite broadcast station. GIO alleged TVBS had exceeded the 50
percent cap on foreign ownership. GIO was ordered to return the fine.
TVBS, which had been a vocal critic of government corruption, had
accused the GIO of a ``political witch hunt.''
Also in May the NCC decided to halt a GIO plan to restructure
publicly owned radio networks and to reorganize the distribution of
frequencies. Instead the NCC proposed to open new FM frequencies for
commercial use. The NCC plan was expected to create a mechanism for the
commercial sale and transfer of radio frequencies and formal procedures
for their recovery and reassignment by the Government.
There was a vigorous and active free press. Critics alleged that
dependency upon government advertising revenue and loans from
government-controlled banks deterred media outlets from criticizing the
Government. The Government denied using loans or advertising revenue to
manipulate the media. On April 30, the Executive Yuan terminated its
media purchasing program.
On September 16, supporters of President Chen Shui-bian attacked
four television journalists covering a pro-Chen demonstration. Police
arrested some of the attackers, who claimed the journalists were biased
against the President.
For three consecutive days in April a Taipei court ordered a United
Daily News reporter named Kao to pay a fine of $1,000 (NT$30,000) per
day until he revealed the source for a report that caused the stock of
a company to lose two-thirds of its value. Kao was convicted of aiding
criminal activities and disrupting the financial market. Kao refused to
disclose his source, decried his conviction as a ``serious violation of
press freedom,'' and filed an appeal. The public reacted negatively to
the conviction and the fine was suspended.
By law the police may seize violent or pornographic material. The
police must request search warrants from prosecutors to conduct such
seizures (see section 1.f.).
On October 26, the Constitutional Court (CC) held that freedom of
publication is not an absolute right, stipulating that certain sexually
explicit materials are protected only as long as they are properly
packaged and labeled. Based on the CC interpretation, the owner of a
gay bookstore appealed his 2005 conviction for violating the criminal
code, which bans the sale, circulation, and public display of obscene
publications. The owner argued the magazines were legally imported from
Hong Kong and had been properly packaged in opaque wrappers as required
by adult publications ordinances.
The GIO, which requires that any publications imported from
mainland China be sent to the GIO Publications Department for screening
before sale or publication, has the authority to ban importation of
publications that advocate communism or the establishment of united
front organizations, endanger public order or good morals, or violate
laws. Nevertheless, a wide variety of mainland China-origin material
was accessible through the Internet as well as in retail stores. Cable
television systems were required to send imported material to the GIO
for screening and to convert subtitles from the simplified characters
used in mainland China to traditional characters before broadcasting.
The media occasionally infringed on individuals' right to privacy.
The media often taped and aired police interrogations and entered
hospital rooms when the patient was unable to prevent such entry. The
electronic media also frequently ignored individuals' requests to
respect their privacy. In August a prominent sports figure announced
that he would no longer accept interviews by the media because
reporters had harassed his parents. He reversed his decision eight days
later, after the media agreed to respect his and his parents' privacy.
Internet Freedom.--There were generally no government restrictions
on access to the Internet, with the following exceptions:
In September the Ministry of National Defense investigated a
military pilot who took a picture of the Presidential plane while
flying escort. The pilot's girlfriend posted the photograph on her Web
site, with commentary critical of the President. Military authorities
argued that the posting of the photograph was a breach of national
security.
In October 2005 the GIO promulgated regulations that restricted
access to certain Internet sites based on an Internet content rating to
persons 18 years of age or older. Rules required restricted material to
be clearly marked.
Homosexual rights advocacy groups claim that government law
enforcement agencies monitored Internet chat room and bulletin-board
exchanges between adults. Several NGOs reported that law enforcement
officials prosecuted and punished adults for posting sexually
suggestive messages. According to one NGO, police used Internet network
addresses to identify individual perpetrators, who were then charged.
Critics noted the law has no age limitation and asserted that police
enforcement against adults violated free speech rights.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law prohibits teachings,
writings, or research that advocate communism or communist united front
organizations, which endanger the public order or good morals, or
violate regulations or laws. The Government did not otherwise restrict
academic freedom.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and authorities
generally respected these rights in practice. Although the National
Security Law gives the Government the authority to prevent
demonstrations advocating communism or the division of the national
territory, pro-independence and pro-reunification demonstrations took
place without government interference.
Under the Civic Organizations Law, the Constitutional Court, which
is made up of the CGJ, has the power to dissolve political parties.
Grounds for dissolution include objectives or actions that are deemed
to jeopardize the existence of the ``Republic of China.'' The
Constitutional Court heard no cases under this law during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the authorities generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The generally amicable
relationship among religions in society contributed to religious
freedom.
The Jewish community consisted of approximately 150 members. There
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides these rights,
and the Government generally respected them in practice.
All travelers from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are
required to have invitations from sponsors and are subject to approval
by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). PRC tourists must travel in
groups, stay at designated hotels, and return to their hotel rooms by
10 p.m. PRC tour groups must be chaperoned by a Taiwan travel agency,
which is required to post a $29,000 (NT$1 million) bond for each group.
The bond is forfeited if any tour group member is involved in legal
problems or is reported missing. The Tourism Bureau must be notified in
advance of any change to a tour group itinerary. PRC visitors who come
to the country for family and business purposes are required to
regularly report their location to the police. They are also prohibited
from seeking employment in the country.
Regulations require that PRC spouses of Taiwanese citizens who
apply for a national identification card pass a security clearance.
PRC journalists were granted a maximum stay of 30 days. PRC
national news outlets China Central Television (CCTV), China National
Radio, and China News Service regularly assign up to two journalists in
the country at a time. At year's end there were six journalists from
these news agencies on one-month assignments in Taiwan.
In March 2005 after the PRC adopted the Anti secession Law, Xinhua
News Agency and People's Daily were temporarily barred from posting
journalists to Taiwan. Subsequently, journalists from these two news
organizations were permitted to visit the country but were not granted
the maximum one-month stay.
The law does not provide for forced exile, and it was not
practiced.
According to the Cross-Strait Relations Act, Taiwan citizens
residing in the PRC will lose Taiwan citizenship if they do not return
within four years. They may apply to recover citizenship through
relatives or a legal representative. Applications to recover
citizenship were regularly granted, and there were no reports of
rejected applications.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status. All PRC citizens unlawfully present are
required by law to be returned to the PRC, including trafficking in-
persons victims (see section 5). Although the authorities were
reluctant to return to the mainland those who might suffer political
persecution, they regularly deported mainlanders who illegally entered
the island for what were presumed to be economic reasons.
During the year authorities regularly renewed two PRC democracy
activists' three-month temporary visas and continued to provide them
financial support. However their requests for long-term visas were
denied and the two continued to seek asylum in a third country. They
first entered Taiwan illegally in 2004 by fishing boat, and requested
asylum. After brief confinement in a detention center, they were
released and allowed freedom of movement.
Throughout the year the Government repatriated illegal immigrants
to their countries of origin. According to MOI, the total number of
illegal PRC immigrants deported to the mainland declined, from 2,352 in
2005 to 1,596 during the year. At year's end, 480 illegal PRC
immigrants were in detention centers awaiting repatriation.
PRC illegal immigrants continued to wait long periods in detention.
During the year their average wait time before repatriation was 377
days. By comparison, non-PRC illegal aliens averaged just 37 days in
detention before repatriation. MOI claimed that some PRC detainees gave
false name and age information, making it difficult for PRC authorities
to properly identify them. Some were charged with criminal acts and
must await trial and sentencing before repatriation. MOI also faulted
PRC authorities for causing procedural delays.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--According to the law,
candidates are free to run for any office in an election as long as
they meet all requirements. Both the DPP and the KMT utilized a
combination of public opinion polls and primary elections to select
candidates. Independent candidates were common. The law specifies and
regulates the maximum budget each candidate can spend in an election.
In general, individuals and parties were given full freedom within the
confines of the law to participate in elections.
On December 9, the KMT candidate was elected mayor of Taipei by a
sizeable margin, and the DPP candidate was elected mayor of Kaohsiung
by less than 1,200 votes (0.12 percent). The Kaohsiung mayoral
candidates traded accusations of vote-buying, but at year's end the
courts declined to order a recount, citing insufficient evidence. By
early December prosecutors had received 463 complaints of vote-buying
related to the mayoral and city council races in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
In December 2005 the KMT defeated the DPP in island-wide city,
county and local government elections. Despite allegations of vote-
buying and isolated cases of unethical campaign practices, the
elections were viewed as free and fair.
In the 2004 Presidential election, President Chen Shui-bian was re-
elected and in the 2004 legislative elections, the opposition KMT-PFP
coalition won a narrow majority in the LY. Both elections were hotly
contested in an intense partisan atmosphere but generally were regarded
as free and fair. An apparent assassination attempt against President
Chen and Vice President Lu on the eve of the vote and the extremely
close election result continued to be matters of controversy. In August
2005 the Supreme Court prosecutor's office concluded that the
assassination attempt was made by a retired construction worker, Chen
Yi-hsiung, who committed suicide after the incident. The KMT-PFP
opposition rejected the report and in May established a second
investigation committee. The report from the second committee alleged
the assailant had not committed suicide but was murdered. The results
of both investigations were delivered to the Tainan district
prosecutor's office.
On January 19, Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's second female vice
premier. Vice President Annette Lu was re-elected to a second term in
2004. Six of the 48 cabinet members were women. Three of the 21 members
of the Examination Yuan were women. Three of the 13 grand justices were
women. Three of the 15 members of the DPP central standing committee
and 12 of the 30 members of the DPP central executive committee were
women. Ten of the 31 members of the KMT central standing committee were
women. There were 46 women in the 221-member LY. According to
constitutional amendments passed in June 2005, at least half of the
nominees for at-large overseas legislators must be women.
Aborigine representatives participated in most levels of the
political system. They held eight reserved seats in the LY, half of
which were elected by plains Aborigines and half by mountain
Aborigines. Aborigines accounted for about 2 percent of the population;
their allocation of legislative seats was almost twice their
proportional representation. An Aborigine served as Chairman of the
Council of Aboriginal Affairs.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were allegations of
government corruption during the year. However, the Government
continued to take action to combat corruption in the executive and
judicial branches of government. Allegations of vote buying continued,
although all political parties committed publicly to ending the
practice.
In February regulations went into effect that required political
appointees to the cabinet (Executive Yuan) and its subordinate agencies
to place all financial assets into a trust within three months of
assuming office and, for those already in office, within three months
of the effective date of the regulations.
President Chen's son-in-law was indicted for insider trading and
embezzlement in May. First lady Wu Shu-chen was also accused of
questionable financial dealings. On June 27, the legislature rejected a
motion to recall President Chen. In late July prosecutors began an
investigation of alleged misuse of Presidential office accounts by the
President, his wife, and several officials from the Presidential
office. Two weeks of mass demonstrations took place in September
calling for the President's resignation. On October 13, a second
legislative motion to recall President Chen failed. The first lady was
indicted for corruption, on November 3, as were several officials of
the Presidential office for offenses related to the alleged improper
use of Presidential office funds. Although not indicted because of
Presidential immunity, the President was named as an involved party. A
third motion to recall President Chen failed on November 24.
During the year a number of senior government officials were also
investigated for corruption, including former Presidential office
deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan, former head of the cabinet-level
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Kong Jaw-sheng and former
director general of the FSC's Examination Bureau, Lee Chin-chen, who
was sentenced to 10 years in prison for facilitating insider trading.
Several senior Kaohsiung officials were named as suspects in the
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corporation labor scandal. Keelung City mayor
Hsu Tsai-li was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption.
Several former vice ministers and deputy ministers were also under
investigation for alleged corruption.
By November prosecutors had indicted 1,487 persons on various
corruption charges and had convicted 1,252 persons. Of those accused,
77 were high-ranking government officials, 244 were mid-level, 394 were
low-level, and 58 were elected officials.
In November 2005 the Public Officials Election and Recall Act was
revised to stiffen penalties for those convicted of vote-buying. As a
result, those convicted face a mandatory jail sentence of three to 10
years.
In December 2005 the LY passed the Access to government Information
Law. Under the law, all government information must be made available
to the public upon request, except national secrets, professional
secrets, personal information, and intellectual property rights. All
citizens, including those living overseas, and all companies and groups
registered in the country, as well as foreign citizens whose countries
do not prohibit Taiwan citizens from applying for access to their
government information, can submit information requests and can
administratively appeal if such requests are denied.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equality of citizens before the law
``irrespective of sex, religion, race, class, or party affiliation.''
It also provides for the rights of persons with disabilities.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and
rape, remained a serious problem. The law allows prosecutors to take
the initiative in investigating complaints of domestic violence without
waiting for a spouse to file a formal lawsuit. As of November, 2,038
persons had been prosecuted for domestic violence, and 1,527 persons
had been convicted. Typically persons convicted in domestic violence
cases were sentenced to less than six months in prison. Strong social
pressure not to disgrace their families discouraged abused women from
reporting incidents to the police.
By November, 61,508 cases of domestic violence were reported,
representing a projected 9 percent increase of reported cases over
2005. MOI cited this as evidence that women were more willing to report
domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime and remained a serious
problem; its victims were socially stigmatized. Experts estimated that
the total number of rapes was 10 times the number reported to the
police. The law provides protection for rape victims. Mentally
handicapped victims and those under 16 years of age are allowed to
testify via a two-way television system. Rape trials may not be open to
the public unless the victim consents. By regulation, doctors, social
workers, police, and prosecutors jointly question victims of sexual
abuse to reduce the number of times a victim is questioned. The law
permits a charge of rape without requiring the victim to press charges.
The law establishes the punishment for rape as not less than five
years' imprisonment, and those convicted usually were given prison
sentences of five to 10 years. According to the MOI, 6,601 reports of
rape or sexual assault were filed during the year. Prosecutors tried
1,825 of those cases and convicted 1,535 persons. Women's rights
activists criticized law enforcement for bringing only a small
percentage of perpetrators to justice.
The law requires all city and county governments to establish
violence prevention and control centers to address domestic and sexual
violence, child abuse, and elderly abuse. These government-funded
centers provided victims with protection, medical treatment, emergency
assistance, shelter, legal counseling, and education and training on a
24-hour basis. As of November the centers obtained 26,143 protection
orders from the courts.
Prostitution was illegal. Prostitution, including child
prostitution, was a problem. Trafficking in women remained a problem
(see section 5, Trafficking). Authorities reported that the number of
prostitutes from Southeast Asian countries, mainly Vietnam, Indonesia,
and Cambodia, increased.
During the year authorities arrested 380 Southeast Asian women for
prostitution, a 73 percent increase over 2005. Those arrested included
186 women from Vietnam, 105 from Indonesia, and 55 from Thailand. At
the same time, prostitution arrests of women from the PRC, Hong Kong,
and Macau declined sharply. During the year 664 PRC women who had
entered Taiwan legally were arrested for prostitution, a decrease of 48
percent from 2005. Seventeen illegal PRC entrants were also arrested
for prostitution, a 66 percent drop from 2005. There were reports of a
growing trend of teenagers and young women being lured into
prostitution by Internet advertisements promising employment, large
salaries, and adventure.
The law prohibits sex discrimination. The law also stipulates that
measures be taken to eliminate sexual harassment in the workplace. The
Gender Equality in Employment Act (GEEA) provides for equal treatment
with regard to salaries, promotions, and assignments. The GEEA entitles
women to request up to two-years of unpaid maternity leave and forbids
termination because of pregnancy or marriage. Despite the law, women
continued to be denied maternity leave or were forced to quit jobs due
to marriage, age, or pregnancy. Women's advocates noted that women
continued to be promoted less frequently, occupied fewer management
positions, and worked for lower pay than their male counterparts. Women
make up 42 percent of the total workforce, and 50 percent of the
service industry workforce. According to the Council on Labor Affairs
(CLA), salaries for women averaged 85 percent of those for men
performing comparable jobs.
During the year a poll reported that most women were unaware of or
did not understand their employment rights. Women's rights activists
urged the Government to more actively promote workplace gender
equality. Most city and county administrations formed committees to
deal with complaints of sexual discrimination in the workplace.
In February the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act went into effect.
Sexual harassment is a crime. Violators face fines of $3,000 to $30,000
(NT$100,000 to NT$1,000,000) and imprisonment for up to two years. All
levels of government and larger private employers were required to
enact preventive measures and establish complaint procedures to deter
sexual harassment. Hot lines were established in several major cities,
but reporting levels were well below expectations. Women's groups
criticized the Government's implementation of the law as ineffective,
and attributed low reporting rates to inadequate publicity.
Since 1987 the country has registered more than 370,000 marriages
to foreigners, mostly women from China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and
Thailand. During the year 20 to 30 percent of all marriages were to
foreign-born spouses and 13 percent of all births were to foreign-born
mothers. Government regulations do not adequately protect the rights of
foreign spouses, especially those with children from the marriage.
Foreign spouses are initially issued a visitor's visa, which
usually must be renewed outside the country. Foreign spouses cannot
apply for citizenship until they have resided in the country for three
consecutive years. They are required to relinquish their home country
citizenship in order to apply. Citizenship is typically granted after
the fourth consecutive year of residence; thus, for one year foreign
spouses are technically stateless. Without citizenship, foreign spouses
can be deported if their visas expire. In one high-profile case, a
married Taiwanese man named Chan used another man's identity to marry a
Cambodian woman, who bore him twins. When the woman's visa expired, she
was unable to renew it because her registered husband, named Yao, had
died. The Cambodian woman was deported, and Chan arranged with the
authorities to adopt the twins. The mother of the twins appealed to a
legislator for help. At year's end the MOI had not decided whether the
twin's mother was entitled to custody, or if she would be permitted to
return to the country.
Foreign spouses were targets of discrimination both inside and
outside the home. Most cross-border marriages were arranged by brokers,
whose advertisements in Taiwan were frequently degrading to women. For
fees ranging from $7,000 to $12,000 (NT$250,000 to $400,000), brokers
typically flew clients to other Southeast Asian cities, where they
could choose from a group of eligible women recruited by the broker.
The marriage and necessary paperwork were usually completed within a
week. Several reports suggested that this commercialized process
likened foreign spouses to property and contributed to their
mistreatment. A MOI report concluded that social and economic
marginalization contributed to an abnormally high rate of domestic
violence in cross-border marriages. Traffickers abused the spousal visa
program to bring foreign women into the country for prostitution.
Politicians publicly disparaged foreign spouses, which contributed to
negative stereotypes.
To assist the growing number of foreign born spouses authorities
took steps to help integrate them into society, including offering free
Mandarin language and child-raising classes and counseling services at
community outreach centers. The government-funded Legal Aid Foundation
expanded its services to include an out reach to foreign spouses that
included a hot line established to receive complaints. The MOI
continued to operate its hot line service with staff conversant in
Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Indonesian, English, and Chinese. As of
November the service had received 651 calls from non-Chinese speakers.
On October 1, Chunghwa Telecom, in collaboration with a local NGO,
activated a similar free nationwide telephone hot line which provided
assistance to foreign born spouses.
Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare
of children, and the law included provisions to protect them. Education
for children between six and 15 years of age was free, universal,
compulsory, and enforced. According to government statistics, 99
percent of school-age children attended primary and junior high school.
Children were provided health care under the national health insurance
plan.
Child abuse continued to be a widespread and growing problem.
According to 2005 MOI statistics, reports of child abuse rose by 26
percent over 2004. During the year this trend continued. Through
September, 9,984 cases had been reported, including cases of physical,
mental, or sexual abuse or harm due to guardian neglect, marking a
projected increase of 24 percent over 2005. Approximately 90 percent of
abusers were parents, relatives, or caregivers. Hospitals, schools,
social welfare organizations, or the police reported 60 percent of all
cases, with 40 percent of reports coming from family members or the
public. Fifty percent of all cases were reported through the child
abuse hot line. The central government, local governments, and private
organizations continued efforts to identify and assist high-risk
children and families, and to increase public awareness of child abuse
and domestic violence.
In July the central and local governments began a $100 (NT$3,000)
per month per child subsidy program to reduce financial stress on
lower-income families deemed to be at high risk for child abuse. The
central government paid 70 percent of the $6.4 million (NT$198 million)
program, with local governments contributing the rest. The program was
expected to help as many as 15,000 underprivileged children. The
Government also allocated $1 million (NT$31.5 million) to hire an
additional 140 social workers to serve as child welfare case managers.
MOI tripled funding for social welfare groups to $3 million (NT$135
million) to support their efforts to identify and assist high-risk
children and families, and to increase public awareness of child abuse
and domestic violence.
By law, persons discovering cases of child abuse or neglect must
notify the police, social welfare, or child welfare authorities. Child
welfare specialists must make such notification to county or city
governments within 24 hours, and authorities must respond with
appropriate measures within 24 hours. County or city officials are
required to submit a request for investigation to a supervisory agency
within four days. Both the MOI children's bureau and NGO specialists
monitored cases to ensure that these requirements were met. A hot line
accepted complaints of child abuse and offered counseling. Courts were
authorized to appoint guardians for children who lost their parents or
whose parents were deemed unfit.
The MOI provided guidance to local governments for day-care
facilities and for children's halfway houses and education centers.
Financial subsidies were provided to low-income families with children
in day-care facilities and to local governments to promote child
protection efforts.
The law prohibited advertisements in the media tied to the sex
trade. Persons could be indicted and convicted for patronizing underage
prostitutes in foreign countries; adding to penalties imposed on
citizens arrested abroad for having sex with minors. These laws were
enforced in practice.
Solicitors of child prostitutes under the age of 14 faced sentences
of three to 10 years in prison. Those who patronized prostitutes
between the ages of 14 to 16 were sentenced to three to seven years.
Solicitors of child prostitutes older than 16 but younger than 18 faced
up to one year in prison or hard labor, or a fine up to $100,000 (NT$3
million).
During the year 997 persons were indicted and 887 persons were
convicted of violating the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction
Prevention Act, which criminalized possession and distribution of child
pornography and child prostitution. This was a 16 percent increase in
indictments but a 5 percent decrease in convictions from 2005. The law
also required the publication of the names of violators in newspapers.
Trafficking in Persons.--There was no comprehensive trafficking
law, although most forms of trafficking were criminalized through a
number of statutes. The law did not address prevention of trafficking
or victim protection, which authorities nonetheless provided on an ad
hoc basis. The MOJ and the MOI were responsible for combating
trafficking.
Trafficking in persons remained a serious problem. The country
continued to be a destination for women and girls, mainly from the PRC.
These individuals were trafficked for the purpose of sexual
exploitation and forced labor. There were numerous reports of women
from Southeast Asian countries, primarily from Vietnam, Cambodia, and
Thailand, being forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade after
receiving fraudulent offers of employment. There also were reports of
Taiwanese women being trafficked for sexual exploitation purposes to
Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other
countries.
During the year 261 persons were indicted for trafficking related
offenses, this represented a 25 percent increase over 2005. Of those
indicted, 92 persons were convicted, a 16 percent decrease from 2005.
Of those convicted, 74 persons were found guilty of exploiting children
for prostitution. Of those defendants, 29 were sentenced to five to
seven years in prison, 16 were sentenced for three to five years, and
20 received sentences of one to three years. Another 12 defendants were
convicted of forced prostitution. Two of them were sentenced to 10 to
15 years; three were sentenced to seven to 10 years; one was sentenced
to five to seven years; and four were sentenced to three to five years.
Five defendants were convicted of forced prostitution of a minor: two
were sentenced to 10 to 15 years; two received seven to 10 years; and
one was sentenced to one to two years. One defendant was convicted of
human trafficking and received a prison sentence of seven to 10 years.
NGOs reported that traffickers continued to use fraudulent
marriages as a method for human trafficking, in part because penalties
for ``husbands'' were lenient. Foreign spouses, mainly from the PRC,
but also from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, were lured
to the country by marriage brokers, only to be forced into prostitution
or exploitative labor. To counteract this trend the country reinstated
a face-to-face interview requirement in January 2005 for Vietnamese
women seeking to marry Taiwanese men. Mainland Chinese spouses were
also required to undergo face-to-face interviews.
On June 6, MOI banned the formation of new cross-border matchmaking
companies and announced that existing firms would be subject to
stricter regulations and monitoring.
In July the Kaohsiung prosecutor's office indicted eight
individuals suspected of trafficking Vietnamese women for prostitution.
Prosecutors requested sentences ranging from 20 years to life.
Prosecutors also investigated allegations that local hospitals had
colluded with traffickers to conduct illegal abortions on Vietnamese
spouses.
In October a senior immigration official and 10 others were
arrested for helping smuggle at least 80 Chinese women into the country
for prostitution over a six month period.
NGOs and the media continued to report many incidents of physical
and mental abuse. NGOs and academics asserted that more government
regulation was needed to reduce deceptive marriage brokering and
marriages of convenience for illegal purposes.
NPA officials stated that increasing law enforcement pressure on
smuggling rings had forced traffickers to rely on other methods,
including sham marriages. Ninety percent of those smuggled, both men
and women, were from Fujian Province. Authorities continued to fund NGO
anti trafficking prevention programs targeting minors and Southeast
Asian women married to Taiwanese men. Taiwan also funded anti
trafficking publicity campaigns in source countries.
According to a report released in February by the Coast Guard
Administration (CGA), the total number of illegal immigrants from the
PRC, especially women, continued to drop. Through September 319 illegal
Chinese immigrants were arrested, 28 of whom were women. In 2005 the
CGA intercepted 1,069 Chinese nationals smuggled into the country; 182
of whom were women.
Labor trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs reported that
foreign laborers often contracted for one type of employment, but were
diverted to another (see section 6.e.).
Authorities took several steps to combat trafficking and to
repatriate illegal immigrants; including increased efforts to detect
and disrupt criminal syndicates that smuggled migrants and trafficking
victims. Officials also exchanged information with foreign law
enforcement and immigration counterparts, especially those in
Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities and sets minimum fines for
violations. Through September there were 969,000 persons identified as
having mental or physical disabilities.
The law stipulates that the Government must provide services and
programs to the disabled population. Free universal medical care was
provided to persons with disabilities. NGOs continued to note that more
public nursing homes were needed and current programs, such as home
care services, needed to be expanded to meet the growing needs of the
disabled population, including the growing numbers of elderly persons.
The law requires all private enterprises with more than 100
employees to hire at least one disabled person per 100 workers. For all
government offices, public schools, and public enterprises with 50 or
more employees, disabled employees must comprise at least 2 percent of
their total workforce. For each unmet quota position, both public and
private organizations are required to pay into the Disabled Welfare
Fund (DWF) an amount equal to one basic monthly salary or approximately
$500 (NT$15,840). As of September persons with disabilities constituted
approximately 2 percent of the public sector workforce.
The law provides monetary assistance for up to five years, and
additional support through other programs, for those with occupational
injuries. NGOs maintained that the Government needed to extend the
current five-year limit and liberalize the qualifications for
assistance.
By law, new public buildings, facilities, and transportation
equipment must be accessible to persons with disabilities, and this
requirement was generally met. Violations resulted in fines of $1,800
to $9,100 (NT$60,000 to $300,000). The MOI guided local government
efforts to budget for, develop, and implement refitting guidelines.
Handicap-accessible public transportation, although limited to larger
cities, increased to 224 special vehicles, including 32 low-chassis
buses. Additional handicap-priority seating was installed in 233 buses.
Five hundred buses were equipped with new handrails and 460 were
equipped with anti skid flooring. NGOs stated that more vehicles were
needed to accommodate demand.
Indigenous People.--The only non-Chinese minority group consisted
of the aboriginal descendants of Malayo-Polynesians, who were well
established on the island when the first Chinese settlers arrived.
According to MOI statistics, Aborigines accounted for approximately 2
percent of the population. More than 70 percent of the Aborigines were
Christian, while the dominant Han Chinese were largely Buddhist or
Taoist. The civil and political rights of Aborigines were protected
under law (see section 3). The LY amended the constitution in 1992 and
again in 1997 to upgrade the status of aboriginal people, protect their
right of political participation, and ensure their cultural,
educational, and business development. In addition, the authorities
also instituted social programs to help Aborigines assimilate into the
dominant Chinese society.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to gay rights
activists, anti-homosexual violence was rare, but societal
discrimination against homosexuals and persons with HIV and AIDS was a
problem. It was reported that some politicians and religious groups
made derogatory remarks about the homosexual community. Free speech
advocates alleged the Government prejudicially applied obscenity laws
to punish a seller of legally imported gay pornography (see section
2.a.).
There were no laws prohibiting homosexual activities. While the
authorities were committed to protecting homosexual rights,
discrimination against some groups continued.
The 2004 Gender Equality Education Law stipulated that except for
traditionally male- or female-only schools, educational institutions
cannot discriminate against prospective employees or students based on
gender or sexual preference. All schools were obligated to establish
curricula to foster greater tolerance of non-traditional gender roles.
Homosexual rights activists welcomed the law but criticized government
enforcement as inadequate.
On September 17, some 5,000 persons took part in the fourth annual
gay rights rally; calling for society to respect the civil rights of
the country's estimated one million homosexuals.
The national health insurance system provides free screening and
treatment, including antiretroviral therapy, for the estimated 12,000
HIV-infected nationals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The right to unionize is protected by
law but is highly regulated. At present, approximately 28 percent of
the 10.4 million labor force belongs to one of the 4,352 registered
labor unions. Many of them are also members of one of the eight
country-wide labor federations.
Workers other than teachers, civil servants, and defense industry
workers, are protected by the Labor Union Law (LUL). Under the LUL,
employers may not refuse employment to, dismiss, or otherwise unfairly
treat workers because of their union-related activities. The LUL
requires that labor union leaders be elected regularly by secret
ballot, and in recent years workers tended to reject management-
endorsed union slates. However, in practice employers sometimes
dismissed labor union leaders without reasonable cause or laid them off
first during employee cutbacks. According to the Taiwan Federation of
Trade Unions (TFTC) and the Taiwan Labor Front, the law has no specific
penalties for violations.
Some public employees, including teachers, civil servants, and
defense industry workers have only limited rights to form unions. These
restrictions have led to a long running dispute between government
authorities and groups that represent teachers and civil servants.
Teachers and civil servants are allowed to form professional
associations to negotiate with authorities but are not allowed to
strike. A teachers' union has been established since 2003 but has not
been recognized by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA). Domestic workers
have no right to organize.
A number of laws and regulations limit the right of association.
While labor unions may draw up their own rules and constitutions, they
must submit those rules and constitutions to their county and city
governments as well as the CLA for review. Labor unions may be rejected
or dissolved if they do not meet certification requirements or if their
activities disturb public order. During the year for example, employees
from two different financial companies attempted to form a union under
the name of their parent holding company. The CLA rejected the bid,
citing a law which forbids employees from different companies from
forming a single union.
In 1971 the PRC replaced Taiwan in the International Labor
Organization (ILO). However, Taiwan's Chinese Federation of Labor
attends the ILO annual meetings as an affiliate of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Except for some
public employees, the law gives workers the right to organize, bargain,
and act collectively. As of March there were 233 collective agreements
in force; however, they covered only a small proportion of the labor
force, and 78 percent of industrial labor unions had no collective
agreements.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. However, the law imposes restrictions that in
practice make it difficult to strike legally, which undermines the
usefulness of collective bargaining. For example, the law requires
mediation of labor/management disputes when authorities deem disputes
to be sufficiently serious or to involve ``unfair practices.'' The law
forbids both labor and management from disrupting the ``working order''
when either mediation or arbitration is in progress. Moreover, labor
unions are only allowed to strike over issues of compensation and
working schedules. The law mandates stiff penalties for violations of
no-strike and no-retaliation clauses. Employers in the past sometimes
ignored the law and dismissed or locked out workers without any legal
action being taken against them, although no such cases were reported
during the year.
Recent efforts to privatize state-run enterprises resulted in
rising tensions between labor unions and the authorities. In the last
few years, strikes and protests by labor unions at Business Bank of
Taiwan, Changhwa Commercial Bank, Taiwan Power Company, and Chunghwa
Telecom have delayed privatization efforts. From January to November,
75,351 persons had been involved in labor disputes, compared with
77,260 during the same period of 2005.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including forced and compulsory labor by
children. However, the authorities prosecuted several cases of forced
child prostitution and there was evidence of labor trafficking (see
section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Labor Standards Law (LSL) stipulates age 15, the age at which
compulsory education ends, as the minimum age for employment. County
and city labor bureaus effectively enforced minimum-age laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The LSL addresses rights and
obligations of employees and employers. The law also provides standards
for working conditions and health and safety precautions. By year's end
the LSL covered an estimated 6 million of Taiwan's 7.6 million salaried
workers. Those not covered included nursery workers, gardeners,
bodyguards, teachers, doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and domestic
workers.
The minimum monthly wage is $500 (NT$15,840). While sufficient in
less expensive areas, this wage did not assure a decent standard of
living for a worker and family in urban areas such as Taipei. The
average manufacturing wage was more than double the legal minimum wage,
and the average wage for service industry employees was even higher.
Legal working hours were 336 hours per eight-week period (for an
average of 42 hours per work week). While a five-day work week was
mandated for the public sector, according to a CLA survey, 55 percent
of private sector enterprises also reduced the normal workweek to 5
days.
The law provided standards for working conditions and health and
safety precautions and gave workers the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment.
Although the CLA conducted publicity campaigns during the year to
increase public awareness of the law and operated telephone hot lines
to accept complaints of LSL violations, there was widespread criticism
that the CLA did not effectively enforce workplace laws and
regulations. During the first 10 months of the year 128,992 inspections
were completed. This was a 45 percent increase over the same period in
2005. This increase was due in part to the expansion of the CLA
inspector corps by 150. Over 440 inspectors were responsible for
supervising approximately 300,000 enterprises covered by the
Occupational Safety and Health Law.
The CLA did not provide the same protection to foreign workers that
it did to citizens. The LSL did not cover the more than 148,000 foreign
workers employed as nursing caregivers or the 2,000 employed as
housekeepers. According to an ITUC report released in June, 333,000
legal migrant workers suffered wage discrimination. These workers were
not allowed to take leadership positions in unions, making them
vulnerable to exploitation. In addition, migrant workers were often
depicted by local media as dangerous or criminal.
No domestic workers were entitled to the minimum wage. Although the
minimum wage was not a legal obligation, most domestic workers were
hired through brokers who negotiated the minimum wage to ensure that
the worker earned enough to cover the brokers' fees. Of the $500
(NT$15,840) a month typically paid to domestic caretakers, after
deductions by brokers, most domestic caretakers reportedly received
only $100 (NT$3,000) to $200 (NT$6,000) per month in the first two
years of working in Taiwan. Domestic workers could change jobs only
under rare circumstances and were often not fully informed of available
recourse in the event of abuse.
On January 16, CLA launched the Foreign Workers Service Center at
the international airport. The service center provided orientation
services to arriving workers and dispute resolution services to those
departing the country. Service center telephones were located
throughout the airport to facilitate the filing of complaints. As of
June the center's multilingual staff had responded to 65,538 service
requests, including 124 petitions filed by workers facing deportation.
Five workers were exempted from deportation and transferred to shelters
to help authorities investigate abuse allegations.
On March 13 and 14, approximately 2,000 Thai factory workers in
Kaohsiung city held a strike to seek equal treatment. CLA, with the
help of the Yunlin county government and Thailand trade and economic
office, quickly negotiated a settlement that addressed most of the
workers' demands. A similar strike took placed a few weeks earlier in
another factory in Kaohsiung.
On March 31, 630 Thai construction workers employed by the
Kaohsiung Railway Transit Corporation (KRTC) stopped work for one day
to protest unpaid overtime work, increased medical expenses,
substandard living conditions, and inadequate meals. KRTC management
met with labor representatives and agreed to treat the strike as a
holiday. Workers resumed work the next day.
On November 1, a package of new foreign labor regulations went into
effect. Employers of foreign workers were required to agree to a
``living management plan,'' specifying an employee's work hours,
overtime provisions, living quarters, meal program, and free time. CLA
inspectors were required to inspect a foreign worker's living and work
environment within 72 hours of the worker's arrival in the country. For
companies employing over 100 foreign workers, work and living facility
inspections were required every three months. To prevent employers from
deporting foreign workers without just cause, CLA required all contract
terminations to be witnessed and approved by an appropriate city or
county government official.
On November 8, the LY passed legislation establishing the National
Immigration Agency (NIA). During the year the new agency consolidated
elements of the National Police Agency, Council for Labor Affairs, MOI,
and other agencies. NIA's director assumed responsibility for all
immigration-related policies and procedures for foreign workers,
foreign spouses, immigrant services, and repatriation of illegal
immigrants.
Labor trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs reported that
foreign laborers often contract for one type of employment, but were
diverted to another. Both brokers and employers profited from this
bait-and-switch tactic. Brokers charged much more for high-wage factory
jobs than for low-wage domestic worker positions. NGOs reported that
many foreign workers who paid to secure a high-wage factory job were
offered low-wage domestic work once in the country. In addition, many
foreign workers who contracted to do domestic work were instead forced
to work in factories, then paid the lower domestic worker wage.
In addition to labor trafficking risks, NGOs urged authorities to
address other issues facing foreign workers: an abusive broker system,
the lack of rights and legal protections, and the risk of retaliatory
deportation. Brokers regularly charged high fees.
On August 3, CLA announced plans to intensify inspection and
oversight of brokerage companies. Brokerage companies were rated based
on legal compliance. Company ratings were published to encourage good
management practices. Lower-rated companies were targeted for more
frequent inspection, and were subject to closure.
The country imposed strict quotas on the number of foreign workers
admitted each year. According to several NGOs, the lack of legal
protection coupled with fear of retaliatory deportation prevented
workers from protesting substandard or even dangerous working
conditions. These fears were compounded for those foreign workers
unable to speak Chinese.
According to CLA, an employer convicted of illegally changing the
place or nature of a foreign worker's employment was subject to a fine
ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 (NT$30,000 to $150,000). Anyone convicted
of illegally hiring foreign workers or transferring a foreign worker to
another employer was fined $5,000 to $25,000 (NT$150,000 to $750,000).
On April 20, CLA adopted a mandatory maximum fine policy to
strengthen deterrence. However, county labor officials continued to
assess fines at less than the available maximums. According to CLA,
existing laws required labor authorities to annul an employer's permit
to recruit or employ foreign workers if the employer failed to cure a
violation within a specified time or if the employer committed a second
violation.
During the year 308 employers were fined for hiring illegal foreign
workers, 1,584 were fined for hiring foreign workers without a
government permit, 110 employers were fined for unlawfully transferring
employment of a foreign worker to another employer, and 618 employers
were cited for unlawfully changing a foreign worker's job or place of
employment. Of the 110 employers fined for unlawfully transferring
employment of a foreign worker to another employer, only 25 were
assessed the maximum $25,000 (NT$750,000) fine. Employers cited for
other types of foreign labor violations were often assessed only the
minimum fine.
Foreign worker rights groups urged the Government to extend the
work permits of foreign workers forced to seek shelter from employer
abuse or sexual assault. Foreign workers were allowed to work in the
country for three years. Under the law, once a worker files a complaint
against the employer, the worker can not resume work until the abuse
case is closed, which can take more than a year; this waiting period is
included in the three-year work period. Many foreign workers, still
burdened with broker fees and other debts, chose to work illegally,
rather than face such a long period without income. Foreign workers who
worked illegally faced heavy fines, mandatory repatriation, and were
permanently barred from re-entering the country, regardless of the
circumstances.
There were 24 CLA-funded labor consultation service centers located
throughout the country. These centers provided counseling, legal aid,
and labor dispute resolution services. They also operated toll-free
multilingual hot lines. Through December the service centers responded
to 71,613 inquiries, of which 7,497 were related to labor disputes.
Thirteen overnight-stay shelters were available to foreign workers
in need. Twelve shelters were operated by NGOs, two of which were
wholly supported by funding from the Taipei and Kaohsiung city
governments. One shelter was operated by the Indonesian foreign
representative office.
__________
EAST TIMOR
East Timor is a parliamentary republic with a population of
approximately 925,000. Its first parliament was formed from the 88-
member constituent assembly chosen in free and fair, UN-supervised
elections in 2001. The 41-member cabinet was dominated by the Fretilin
Party, which won the majority of assembly seats. Xanana Gusmao, elected
in free and fair elections in 2002, was President and head of state.
During much of the year, the civilian authorities did not have
effective control of the security forces. There were a series of deadly
clashes between the national defense force (F-FDTL) and a variety of
dissident military, police, and civilian forces. Mob and gang violence
in the capital was widespread and tens of thousands of Dili residents
were displaced. On May 26, at the request of the Government, Australian
forces subsequently joined by forces from New Zealand, Malaysia, and
Portugal, began arriving and assumed responsibility for security in the
capital. President Gusmao assumed security powers, and on June 27,
Fretilin's secretary general, Mari Alkatiri, resigned as prime minister
and was replaced two weeks later by Jose Ramos-Horta. On August 25, the
UN Integrated Mission for East Timor (UNMIT) took over policing
responsibilities, but international military forces remained under a
joint Australian-led command.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems. The most severe human
rights violations took place in April and May when over 30 unlawful
killings committed by security forces, rebel groups, mobs, or gangs
occurred. Excessive use of force and abuse of authority by police was a
problem. Problems with the justice sector often deprived citizens of
due process and an expeditious and fair trial. Internal conflict
resulted in the displacement of approximately 150,000 people, primarily
residents of the capital. Domestic violence, rape, and sexual abuse
were problems. Societal divisions based on regional origin (eastern
versus western) emerged as a major problem during the year, resulting
in widespread discrimination, segregation, and violence, particularly
in the capital.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year
security forces and other actors committed more than 30 killings. Many
of these killings were politically motivated and took place in April
and May.
On January 6, officers of the Border Patrol Unit (BPU) encountered
three men illegally on the Timorese side of the border who were alleged
members of 1999-era anti-independence militias who had been living in
Indonesia. In the ensuing clash, the three men were shot and killed,
and there were allegations that the BPU used excessive force. The
Indonesian government protested the killings and called for a joint
investigation, to which the East Timor government agreed. By year's end
there were no known developments.
On April 28, rioting broke out during a demonstration by a large
number of former F-FDTL personnel who had been involuntarily discharged
and their civilian supporters. The rioting prompted a police and
military response and resulted in six confirmed deaths during April 28
and 29. Two civilians were shot and killed in the vicinity of the
Government Palace where the riots began; no perpetrators were
identified. As the riots moved through the city, an additional civilian
was shot to death; the UN Special Commission of Inquiry (COI), which
investigated the events of April 28 and 29 and May 23 through 25,
established that at least one Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) officer
fired shots into the crowd most likely causing the death. Later on the
28th another civilian was shot and killed by a member of the F-FDTL.
The COI found that this action may have been legitimate self-defense,
but advised further investigation. Between the night of April 28 and
the morning of April 29, following the formal intervention of the F-
FDTL in response to the rioting, two civilians were killed in the
Tasitolu area while it was under military control. No individuals were
identified as responsible. There were allegations that the F-FDTL
massacred approximately 60 civilians in Tasitolu; however, the COI
noted that while ``other deaths may have occurred'' in addition to the
two confirmed, extensive efforts found no evidence of a massacre. The
employment of the F-FDTL for riot control duties was alleged to have
been illegal and emerged as a major point of contention in the
aftermath of the riots.
On May 23, a clash between an F-FDTL unit and the dissident
commander of the F-FDTL Military Police, Major Alfredo Reinado, and his
group, resulted in five deaths, including a civilian. A police officer
and an F-FDTL officer were killed, each in separate incidents while
traveling through the conflict area. In addition, two members of Major
Reinado's group were killed. According to the COI Reinado and his group
are ``reasonably suspected of having committed crimes against life and
the person.'' In late July Reinado and a number of his men were
arrested for arms offenses in Dili and held pending investigation into
murder charges. However, on August 30, the group escaped from prison,
citing among other things the expiration of their 30-day detention
period without renewal as justification for their escape. No
significant efforts to recapture them ensued, and at year's end the F-
FDTL commander and the Government were pursuing dialogue with Reinado.
On May 24 and 25, armed confrontation involving the F-FDTL and
groups of armed persons, including police officers, civilians, and
members of the group of dismissed soldiers known as the
``petitioners,'' resulted in as many as nine deaths. Precise
information on the identity and numbers of the dead was not available,
but some civilians not involved in the confrontation were killed.
Also on May 24, police and other actors attacked the house of the
F-FDTL commander, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, resulting in the
death of a police officer.
On May 25, F-FDTL soldiers opened fire on a group of unarmed police
officers who were departing their headquarters under UN escort in
accordance with a ceasefire agreement negotiated by UN police and
military officials with the F-FDTL commander. Eight police officers
were confirmed to have died as a result of the attack, and 27 were
seriously injured. According to the COI's findings, at least six F-FDTL
officers were involved in the shooting. At year's end the prosecutor
reportedly was investigating this case.
On May 8, in Ermera District members of a mob stabbed and killed a
UIR officer. The officer was part of an escort for the regional
secretary of state. The mob had surrounded and threatened the party;
the officers negotiated with the mob, disarmed and removed their flak
jackets and began to depart, but members of the mob pulled two officers
out of their vehicle and stabbed them. At year's end the prosecutor
general had identified 12 suspects in this attack, but further
investigations remained pending.
On May 25, six persons were killed when the house they were in was
attacked and set on fire by a crowd. The victims were all members of
the same family, reportedly relatives by marriage of the then-minister
of interior, and included four children. The COI was unable to identify
any specific suspects but listed 27 persons warranting further
investigation. At year's end no further progress was known to have been
made on this case.
On May 25, a man was killed in Dili while driving through a road
block set up by a former independence fighter and his men who were
armed by the F-FDTL the previous day. While manning the roadblock, the
group fired on two vehicles, causing the death as well as two gunshot
injuries. In July the leader of the group surrendered, and at year's
end he remained in pretrial detention.
Mob and gang violence emerged as a significant problem in late May
and early June and continued to plague Dili through the end of the
year; the violence caused a number of deaths. In several cases victims
were targeted based on eastern or western geographical origin, although
the cause of the violence could not be easily explained. Later in the
year, conflicts between martial arts groups and other membership
organizations became more prevalent amid allegations of political
motives in some of these clashes.
In the case of a police (PNTL-National Police of East Timor)
officer who died in February 2005 apparently as a result of an assault
by other PNTL officers in December 2004, three of the suspects were
sentenced to 1+ months for minor assault charges as the court concluded
that there was insufficient evidence to link the assault with the
subsequent death.
There were no new developments in the case of the Colimau 2000
member killed in Bobonaro district in January 2005.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected the prohibition against torture; however, there
were incidents of cruel or degrading treatment by police officers, of
abuses against civilians during domestic conflict; and of abuses by
vigilante and other societal groups.
Although the PNTL ceased functioning in Dili by the end of May (see
section 1.d.), police in other districts continued to operate through
the year. The majority of human rights abuse complaints submitted to
the provedor (ombudsman) involved the police and the most common
complaint was of use of violence or excessive force. In addition, human
rights monitoring organizations noted some cases of excessive force
employed by international forces and police. Several such cases were
referred to the provedor.
Delay or refusal by police to investigate allegations of rape or
domestic violence was a common problem (see section 5).
Rioting and mob action, and the response of the police and later
the armed forces on April 28 and 29, resulted in several civilian
deaths, a number of civilian injuries, and cases of arbitrary arrest
(see sections 1.a. and 1.d.). During rioting on April 28, in the
vicinity of the Government Palace, four persons suffered firearms
injuries, including three civilians and a police officer, a civilian
and a police officer suffered other serious injuries. Shortly
thereafter on April 28, demonstrators escorted by police encountered a
hostile crowd in the Comoro market area of Dili. In the resulting
incident, a number of shots were fired both by members of the police
(UIR) and from the crowd. Eight civilians suffered firearms injuries
and two suffered other serious injuries. Two police also suffered
serious injuries. Later the same day, during a confrontation between a
violent mob and members of the F-FDTL, a soldier suffered a minor
grenade injury and two civilians suffered firearms injuries. During
continued F-FDTL operations in the Tasitolu area of Dili during the
afternoon of April 28 through the morning of April 29, four civilians
were wounded.
During armed confrontation in Dili between members of the F-FDTL
and the police on May 25, two civilians suffered gunshot injuries at
the hands of a former independence fighter and his followers who had
been armed by the F-FDTL and ordered to set up a road block in Dili to
apprehend members of the police. First, a priest driving through the
checkpoint was shot and injured, then shortly thereafter, the persons
manning the roadblock fired on another vehicle, killing a civilian (see
section 1.a.) and injuring another.
Widespread mob and gang violence was a significant problem in Dili
in April through June and continued to be an issue through the
remainder of the year. There were a number of incidents involving
members of the national police. For example, on September 1, at least
one member of the police was involved in a shooting incident at an
internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Dili resulting in several
injuries. He was arrested the same day and was in pretrial detention at
the end of the year. Allegations of police involvement in mob violence
were being investigated by UN police in coordination with the Ministry
of Interior as part of a vetting process required before police could
return to duty. This vetting was ongoing at year's end. There were also
numerous allegations that members of the F-FDTL, the Government, and
the opposition were involved in instigating mob and gang violence.
Tensions between easterners and westerners were frequently an
element in these incidents, with attacks on easterners by westerners
being the most frequent, but the reverse also taking place regularly
(see section 5).
During the rioting of April 28, approximately 100 homes, primarily
belonging to persons from the eastern districts, were targeted and
burned. An estimated 2,000 additional houses were burned or otherwise
destroyed in mob or gang attacks in June and July, and arson attacks
continued to be a problem through year's end. Other abuses included
illegal checkpoints set up to target persons based on geographic origin
or membership in specific groups; intimidation of IDP camp residents by
groups operating both in and outside of the camps; and attacks and
intimidation of communities or individuals.
During the year there were accusations of abuses by international
peacekeeping forces. Most of these accusations appeared to be part of a
politically inspired effort to discredit the international forces.
There were no known judicial or administrative actions in the cases
of the January 2005 border police beating of an Indonesian citizen for
illegally crossing the border; the March 2005 police beating of two men
and one woman arrested without warrant in Cailaco; the June 2005 police
beating and threatening of a man accused of assaulting the wife of a
PNTL officer; or the allegations of police abuse during a July 2005
operation against the Comite Popular de Defesa-Republica Democratica.
A 2004 case in which four PNTL officers severely beat a detainee in
Baucau went to trial. Two of the accused received light sentences; the
other two were acquitted.
Lawyers for the alleged victims attempted to pursue the November
2005 case in which the minister of interior (who resigned in May) and
three of his bodyguards beat the passengers of a truck involved in a
traffic incident. However, following the late May looting of government
offices, including that of the prosecutor general, it was discovered
that the case file was missing. The lawyers reconstituted the file and
at year's end were continuing to pursue the case.
There were no developments in the July 2005 case of an F-FDTL
captain and members of the military police detaining and beating a man
involved in an alleged assault on the captain.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--There were three
government-run prisons, located in Dili, Baucau, and Gleno. During the
year international forces set up additional detention facilities in
Dili. Prison conditions generally met international standards; however,
government-run prison facilities were not well maintained. The provedor
noted that in Dili's Becora prison, inmates' movement was extremely
restricted movement due to lack of sufficient prison guards.
Two full-time social workers dealt with juveniles, women, elderly,
and mentally ill inmates. All prisons operated at or very near capacity
throughout the year.
The Government and international forces permitted prison visits by
the International Committee of the Red Cross and independent human
rights observers. The provedor was able to conduct almost daily
detainee monitoring in Dili and observed that ``international forces
are cooperating extremely well--allowing confidential access to
detainees and providing regular information.''
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, there were instances in which these
provisions were violated. A number of persons were arrested and
detained but ultimately not charged with crimes. In many cases this was
explained by misunderstandings because an investigation exculpated the
suspect, or because no judge was available to conduct the required
detention review. However, the circumstances of other cases suggested
that law enforcement officers may have held detainees as punishment.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
consisted of approximately 3,300 members, including specialized units.
After deadly clashes involving PNTL, F-FDTL, and dissident forces in
late May, the approximately 1,200 Dili-based police, including regular
police and specialized units, ceased to function in any law enforcement
capacity and most police posts were abandoned. The Government requested
international intervention, and international military and police
forces began arriving on May 26 to assume responsibility for security
in Dili. Under an August 25 UN resolution, responsibility for security
in Dili was transferred to UN police, but international military forces
operating separately from the UN also assisted in maintaining security.
UN police undertook a vetting process to reintegrate Dili-based
police into police operations. At year's end over 1,000 police had
registered for the process and vetting was ongoing. More than 200
police had been vetted and undergone reintegration training and were
working alongside UN police as trainees. A number of police did not
pass the vetting process and were on suspension pending further
investigation. At year's end there was some confusion regarding the
vetting process as the Ministry of Interior had begun a separate
parallel vetting process. Efforts were underway to coordinate the two
processes.
Each of the country's 13 districts has a district commander who
normally reports to the national police commissioner; at year's end,
however, district commanders were reporting to UN police headquartered
in Dili. The PNTL remained poorly equipped and under-trained, and it
was subject to numerous credible allegations of abuse of authority (see
section 1.c.), mishandling of firearms, and corruption. The COI report
noted that divisions within the PNTL were exacerbated by the former
minister of interior's undermining of the chain of command by giving
operational orders for personal or politically partisan reasons.
Prior to the April-May crisis, a professional ethics office within
the police was responsible for tracking and investigating allegations
of police misconduct, however, its effectiveness was hampered by lack
of resources and political interference. The COI report noted that
several officers suspected of criminal conduct during the crisis had
previously been the subjects of disciplinary complaints, but no or
light penalties had been imposed. In general, sanctions for police
misconduct were rare.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicial warrants prior to
arrests or searches, except in exceptional circumstances; however, this
provision was often violated. A chronic and extreme shortage of
prosecutors and judges outside of the capital, further exacerbated by
the crisis, contributed to police inability to obtain required
warrants.
Lack of local knowledge and language ability by international
police personnel led to cases in which police failed to inform
detainees in a timely fashion of the reason for detention, to give
detainees early access to legal assistance, or to inform detainees'
family members of the detention.
Government regulations require a hearing within 72 hours of arrest
to review the lawfulness of the arrest and detention and also to
provide the right to a trial without undue delay. During these hearings
the judge may also determine whether the suspect should be released
because evidence is lacking or the suspect is not considered a flight
risk. Because of a shortage of magistrates, exacerbated during the year
as many international judges departed before replacements arrived, some
suspects were forced to wait longer than 72 hours for a hearing.
However, according to human rights observers, police increasingly
followed the practice of simply releasing suspects after 72 hours in
the absence of a judge to review the detention. In areas that did not
have a local magistrate or where authorities lacked means to transport
suspects to a hearing, this situation was particularly acute and
contributed to an atmosphere of lawlessness and impunity.
The law provides for access to legal representation at all stages
of the proceedings, and provisions exist for providing public defenders
to indigent defendants. However, there was an extreme shortage of
qualified public defenders, and many indigent defendants relied on
lawyers provided by legal aid organizations. A number of defendants
assigned public defenders reported that they had never seen their
lawyer, and there were concerns that some low priority cases were being
delayed indefinitely while suspects remained in pretrial detention.
During their intervention in response to the rioting on April 28,
the F-FDTL arrested approximately 30 persons. All were transferred to
the police and most were released within 24 to 48 hours. The legal
basis for the F-FDTL making these arrests was not clear. According to
the COI report, ``the Government did not follow the procedures
established by the Organic Law of the F-FDTL'' in employing the F-FDTL.
Moreover, there was no clear communication, written or otherwise,
regarding ``the degree of intervention by military authorities and
powers conferred and the manner of cooperation between the F-FDTL and
(the national police).'' The provedor also assessed these arrests as
illegal.
A 2003 ruling by the Court of Appeals stated that the pretrial
detention limit of six months and the requirement that such detentions
be reviewed every 30 days need not apply in cases involving certain
serious crimes; however, the 30-day review deadline was missed in a
large number of cases involving less serious crimes, and a majority of
the prison population consisted of pretrial detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides that judges shall
perform their duties ``independently and impartially'' without
``improper influence'' and requires public prosecutors to discharge
their duties impartially. These provisions generally were respected.
However, the country's judicial system faced a wide array of challenges
including concerns about the impartiality of some judicial organs, a
severe shortage of qualified personnel, a complex and multi-sourced
legal regime, and the fact that the majority of the population does not
speak Portuguese, the language in which the laws are written and the
courts operate. Even under normal circumstances, access to justice was
notably constrained. During the year the national crisis resulted in a
number of high profile and complex criminal cases as well as a marked
increase in violent crime overall, further burdening the system. The
COI report noted that, despite the events of April and May, the
judicial system continued to function, albeit in a limited manner.
Nevertheless, the report concluded that the country has ``a minimally
functioning judicial system.''
During the year political and other considerations at times
influenced the proceedings of both the public prosecutor and the Court
of Appeals. Two separate UN commissions concluded that the prosecutor
general was insufficiently independent and viewed his constitutional
accountability to the President as requiring that he ``follow the
policy of the latter in relation to prosecutions.''
There were also concerns during the year that the Court of Appeals
was influenced by political considerations in its decisions.
On August 11, the Court of Appeals upheld the Fretilin Party's
decision to hold leadership elections through a public show of hands
although the law on political parties appears to stipulate that such
elections are to be by secret ballot. The court argued that the 10-day
procedural deadline for filing a suit had not been met and that the
political party law did not in fact stipulate that all leadership
elections must be by secret ballot. There was a widespread perception
that political considerations outweighed full examination of the
applicable laws in this decision. The COI noted that it received
reports of political influence in cases related to the April and May
crisis and a ``lack of public confidence in the impartiality of the
investigation and prosecution process.''
The court system includes four district courts (Dili, Baucau, Suai,
and Oecussi) and a national Court of Appeals in Dili. The Ministry of
Justice is responsible for administration of the courts and prisons and
also provides defense representation. The prosecutor general is
responsible for initiating indictments and prosecutions. Until a
supreme court is established, the Court of Appeals is the country's
highest tribunal.
Establishing justice sector institutions and recruiting and
training qualified judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys proved
difficult, and the judicial system was heavily dependent on
international personnel. In January 2005 the President of the Court of
Appeals announced that all 22 sitting judges failed qualifying exams
and were therefore required to step down. Exceptions were made for
judges on the Court of Appeals, the Special Panels for Serious Crimes,
and the National Election Commission. In May 2005 it was announced that
all of the prosecutors and public defenders who had taken their
qualifying exams had failed. Although 11 national judges returned to
work as probationary judges during the year, international judges
continued to serve as the primary judges in all cases involving
potential sentences of five or more years. The departure of
international judges and prosecutors in early August, without
replacements having arrived, resulted in additional disruption to the
judicial system during a critical period. The public defender's office
was staffed by seven national probationary defenders and three
international public defenders. Private lawyers continued to represent
the majority of defendants in the district courts.
Personnel shortages and administrative issues disproportionately
affected the operations of the Baucau, Oecussi, and Suai district
courts, which operated at irregular intervals throughout the year. The
trial process often was hindered by nonattendance of witnesses due to
lack of proper notification or lack of transportation. The functioning
of the Dili district court and the Court of Appeals was severely
disrupted by the April and May events. Full trials did not resume in
the Dili district court until mid-July. The Court of Appeals suffered
similar disruption, including looting of computer, translation, and
transportation equipment.
The shortage of qualified prosecutors and technical staff in the
office of the prosecutor general hampered the work of the office and
resulted in a large case backlog. This was exacerbated by the late May
looting of the office's files, forensic evidence, and computers.
National probationary prosecutors returned to work during the year, but
sensitive cases related to the crisis were handled by international
prosecutors. There were six international prosecutors and 12 national
prosecutors (nine probationary), including the prosecutor general. At
year's end there was a nationwide case backlog of over 2,500. The
amount of time for cases to come to trial varied significantly, with
some delayed for years and others tried within months of accusations.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial;
however, the severe shortages of qualified personnel throughout the
system led to some trials that did not fulfill prescribed legal
procedures. Trials are before judges. Except for sensitive cases, such
as crimes involving sexual assault, they are public; however, this was
inconsistently applied. Defendants have the right to be present at
trials and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. Attorneys
are provided to indigent defendants. Defendants can confront hostile
witnesses and present witness and evidence. Defendants and their
attorneys have access to government-held evidence. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal to higher courts.
The legal regime is complex and inconsistently applied. Pending
development of a complete set of national laws, Indonesian laws and the
UN's transitional regulations remained in effect. The constitution
stipulates that UN regulations supersede Indonesian laws; however, this
was inconsistently applied. For example, in a 2004 decision the Court
of Appeals declared that a UN executive order decriminalizing
defamation did not effectively overrule an Indonesian law under which
defamation is criminalized (see section 2.a.). There was concern that
this decision could undermine the precedence of laws stipulated within
the constitution. Also of concern was confusion regarding how to apply
different sources of law, particularly in criminal cases where the
Indonesian penal code remained in effect but procedure was governed by
a national criminal procedure code.
The Court of Appeals operated primarily in Portuguese. The UN
regulations, many of which remained in force, were available in
English, Portuguese, and Indonesian, as well as in Tetum, the language
most widely spoken in the country. Laws enacted by parliament, intended
to supplant Indonesian laws and UN regulations, were published in
Portuguese with very few available in Tetum. Litigants, witnesses, and
criminal defendants often were unable to read the new laws. Trials are
required to be conducted solely in Portuguese and Tetum. However, the
quality of translation provided in court varied widely, and
translations to Tetum were often incomplete summaries rather than
thorough translations.
During the year concerns arose over the lack of witness protection
arrangements. In many violent crimes, witnesses were unwilling to
testify because of the high potential for retribution against
themselves or their families. No national law provided for witness
protection, and an Indonesian law on witness protection was not
applied. Reports of witness intimidation and nonappearance of witnesses
were widespread. Court personnel also reported increased concern
regarding their safety. This contributed to a widespread public
perception that crimes could be committed with impunity and that
vigilantism or personal revenge were the only avenues available to
address criminal accountability.
The COI was mandated in response to a request from the Government
to ``establish the facts and circumstances relevant to incidents that
took place on April 28 and 29 and May 23, 24, and 25 and related events
or issues that contributed to the crisis.'' Its October 17 report
provided a detailed narrative of the events, including an assessment of
individual and institutional responsibility.
The COI report recommended the prosecution of over 60 individuals
for criminal culpability in the April and May events, including police
officers who allegedly took part in deadly incidents; the former
minister of interior, Rogerio Lobato; six F-FDTL officers alleged to
have been involved in the shooting of unarmed police; the top
leadership of the F-FDTL; and the former minister of defense. In
addition, it recommended the investigation of more than 60 others for
possible involvement in these crimes. Also recommended for prosecution
were several civilians alleged to have received illegal weapons
transfers or to have been involved in deadly incidents in late May, as
well as the dissident military police commander, alleged to have been
responsible for initiating deadly clashes with the F-FDTL on May 23.
Among the individuals recommended for further investigation was the
former prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, for possible complicity in
illegal arms transfers.
The COI recommended that criminal cases related to the April and
May events be handled within the domestic judicial system, but with a
significant role for international prosecutors and judges. It
recommended that international actors working within the prosecutor
general's office play the lead role. For those cases where a panel of
judges was required (the criminal procedure code requires a panel of
three judges for crimes involving a potential sentence of five or more
years), the report recommended that the panels be composed of two
international and one national judge.
The trial of former minister of interior Rogerio Lobato and several
codefendants was scheduled to commence on November 30. Due to the
absence of one of the codefendants, the judges adjourned the trial
until January 2007. No other trials related to the April and May events
were scheduled by year's end. The status of investigations and the
preparation of indictments were ongoing at year's end.
The Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) was responsible for investigations
and indictments concerning crimes that occurred in 1999, including
genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual offenses,
and torture. Pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions, the SCU
ceased its investigations in November 2004 and ceased virtually all
other operations in August 2005. At the time of its closure, the SCU
had filed 95 indictments against 391 persons. Of these, 290 remained at
large in Indonesia with little chance of being returned to stand trial.
In 2000 the transitional administration also established the Special
Panels on Serious Crimes within the Dili district court to try those
charged with the mass killings and other gross human rights violations
committed in 1999. As of their adjournment in May 2005, the special
panels had issued 84 convictions, three acquittals (one of which was
later overturned by the Court of Appeals), and 13 indictment
dismissals. In June an academic study of the serious crimes process
criticized the UN for failing to ensure proper leadership and staffing
throughout the process and noted ``a significant number of cases in
which the rights of the accused appeared to have been compromised due
to severely inadequate defense and appeals process and flawed
jurisprudence.''
Although the special panels were adjourned, they can be
reconstituted whenever needed as long as they meet the requirement of
consisting of two international and one local judge. Several serious
crimes suspects arrested in 2005 remained in pretrial detention.
The August 25 UN Security Council Resolution calls for ``the
provision of a team of experienced investigative personnel, to resume
investigative functions of the former Serious Crimes Unit, with a view
to completing investigations into outstanding cases of serious human
rights violations committed in the country in 1999.'' At year's end
this had not yet been implemented. International observers familiar
with the serious crimes process expressed concern that providing only
investigations assistance without the inclusion of assistance to
prosecute new cases would produce little progress on accountability for
1999.
The SCU worked closely with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of East Timor (CAVR). While the SCU is mandated to investigate and
prosecute crimes against humanity committed in 1999, the CAVR
investigated less egregious human rights violations that occurred
between April 1974 and October 1999. CAVR also facilitated
reconciliation between victims and perpetrators of these violations
(see section 4). The President presented the CAVR final report to the
UN Secretary General on January 20.
The Ad Hoc Tribunal, based in Indonesia, failed to achieve
accountability for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in
1999. In February 2005 the UN appointed a Commission of Experts (COE)
to evaluate the Ad Hoc Tribunal and the SCU and recommend the next
steps for achieving accountability. The COE concluded that the serious
crimes process in East Timor had ``ensured a notable degree of
accountability for those responsible for the crimes committed in 1999''
but the Ad Hoc Tribunal in Indonesia was ``manifestly inadequate.'' The
COE report recommended continued UN support of the serious crimes
process in East Timor so that investigation, indictment, and
prosecution of perpetrators could continue (see section 4).
In 2004 the Governments of Indonesia and East Timor agreed to form
a bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission (TFC) to address human
rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 (see section 4). The
TFC was inaugurated in August 2005. The COE report criticized the TFC's
terms of reference as contradicting international standards that
prohibit impunity for crimes against humanity. Although the TFC
continued to meet throughout the year, little evident progress was
made. The TFC's mandate was extended to August 2007.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil judicial procedures
were plagued by the same problems encountered by the judicial system as
a whole, including huge backlogs of cases, a complex and inconsistently
applied legal regime, and concerns about the impartiality of some
judicial organs. Political influence has especially been brought to
bear on civil cases involving business or property disputes. Court
orders in some of these latter cases have not been enforced. Alleged
human rights abuses have been presented to the provedor's office (see
Section 4).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice; however, there were
a few reports of arbitrary interference with privacy and home.
There were cases of authorities entering homes without judicial
authorization. For example, during an intensive effort by the
international forces to recover illegal weapons, there were several
reports that international military officers entered homes without
securing warrants. Officers maintained that in some of these cases,
warrants could not be obtained because the courts were not operating
and in others they had to act expeditiously.
A 2003 land law broadly defines what property belongs to the
Government; and has been criticized as disregarding many private
claims.
A large number of Dili residents arrived as internal migrants since
1999 and occupied empty houses or built houses on empty lots. The
majority of properties in Dili are deemed state property, and the
Government evicted persons from land identified as state property at
times with little notice and with no due process. For example, in
November several families were instructed to vacate the property on
which they lived in order for the Government to build new housing.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice; however, there were instances in which government
officials attempted to interfere with these rights.
Individuals could generally criticize the Government without
reprisal, and a UN executive order decriminalized defamation. However,
in 2004 the Court of Appeals decided that the executive order did not
overturn the Indonesian statutes that define libel and defamation as
criminal offenses and the Indonesian criminal defamation statutes still
applied (see section 1.e.). In January the then-prime minister pressed
charges against the head of the main opposition party, accusing him of
defamation for remarks linking the Prime Minister to corruption. Many
journalists were reluctant to pursue investigations on sensitive topics
for fear of reprisals. A journalist who published a rare expose on
corruption in a government office received threatening phone calls
following the story's publication (see section 3).
In December 2005 the cabinet passed a penal code that included
provisions criminalizing defamation and insults to a person's
``honor.'' Following an intense national debate, the President sent the
law back to the cabinet without promulgating it. The Alkatiri
government fell before the bill could be reintroduced. At year's end
officials asserted that the criminal defamation provisions of the
Indonesian penal code still apply.
There were three daily newspapers, three weeklies, and several
newspapers that appeared sporadically. All frequently criticized the
Government and other political entities editorially.
Broadcast news, especially radio, was the most widely accessible
news medium in the country, but its reach was limited. Few people
outside of the capital regularly had access to any form of news. The
Public Broadcast Service (PBS) owned and operated a radio station and a
television station. The PBS radio service was available in all 13
districts but on a fluctuating and uncertain basis. The PBS television
broadcast was available only in Dili and nearby towns. In addition to
the PBS radio station, there were 18 community radio stations,
including at least one in each district. However, only a few operated
dependably (in Los Palos, Baucau, and Dili), while many were frequently
inoperative due to technical or resource problems, and most operated
only a few hours a day. Few community radio stations provided any news
content.
Instability, mob violence, and threats during the height of the
crisis in May and June resulted in the temporary closure of all
national media outlets for varying periods of time and constricted many
journalists ability to report on developments. During this period there
were frequent reports of threats and attacks on journalists and media
organizations. For example, in late June a mob attacked the PBS
headquarters following the broadcasting of a speech by the recently
resigned prime minister. Also in late June, two members of the
distribution staff of the daily newspaper Timor Post were attacked,
apparently because of an interview the newspaper published with a
person who had alleged that former government officials had armed gangs
to attack members of the opposition. UN police investigated the attack
against the newspaper staff. At year's end although the situation was
somewhat improved, media outlets continued to report that journalists
remained constrained in their work due to fear of violence.
During the year there was increased concern about encroachments on
the independence of PBS. In September the PBS board of directors
dismissed the PBS's managing director. Media observers judged the
dismissal to be a response to the managing director's criticism of a
government minister's interference in PBS's editorial policies. There
were also reports of increased micro-management and political
interference by the President of the board and of pressure on
journalists to avoid reporting criticism of national leaders.
Internet Freedom.--Although Internet access in the country was
limited, there were no government restrictions on access to the
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful expression
of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did
not restrict academic freedom; however, a 2004 law requires that
academic research on Tetum and other indigenous languages be approved
by the National Language Institute. There were no reports during the
year that this law had been applied to prevent academic research or to
punish researchers. Nor were there any reports of interference with
cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for the freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights.
Freedom of Assembly.--On January 16, a law on assembly and
demonstrations was promulgated, which establishes guidelines for
obtaining permits to hold demonstrations and, also requires police be
notified four days in advance of any demonstration or strike. The law
also stipulates that demonstrations cannot take place within 100 yards
of government building or facilities, diplomatic facilities, or
political party headquarters. In practice demonstrations were allowed
to take place without the requisite advance notification and the 100-
yard regulation was rarely observed.
During June competing antigovernment and progovernment
demonstrations took place in Dili, involving thousands of participants
from the districts. International forces, in coordination with
government authorities, provided extensive security and, in some cases,
limited the length of the demonstrations or their locations. These
arrangements generally facilitated the peaceful conduct of the
demonstrations and were considered by human rights observers to be
justified given the precarious security environment.
Freedom of Association.--There were reports during the year of
political parties, particularly opposition parties, being prevented
from raising their party flags or from holding meetings in areas
identified as strongholds of another party. Such incidents sometimes
took place with the involvement of local government officials or
police.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. An overwhelming majority of the population was Roman
Catholic, and the Catholic Church was the dominant religious
institution. There were small Protestant and Muslim minorities who were
generally well integrated into society. The issues, including religious
education in the public school curricula, which inspired the large-
scale, antigovernment demonstrations organized by Roman Catholic Church
officials in April and May of 2005 did not arise during the year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Outside of the capital, non-
Catholic religious groups were at times regarded with suspicion. In
past years there were occasional reports of threats or assaults against
Protestant missionaries; however, there were no reports of such
incidents during the year.
There is no indigenous Jewish population, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice; however, during
large-scale, antigovernment demonstrations in Dili in April and May
2005, police roadblocks at times stopped participants coming from
outlying areas. In contrast several large-scale demonstrations occurred
during the year with no attempts to block access.
During the crisis beginning in April, and through the remainder of
the year, there were numerous incidents of dissident groups, gangs, and
other groups preventing freedom of movement. In early May a group of
dissident military police established an armed checkpoint near the town
of Gleno, Ermera District, preventing travel into Dili. During the
remainder of the year there were frequent occurrences of illegal,
temporary checkpoints set up in Dili, often designed to target people
from certain parts of the country or members of a particular group. The
tension between people from the eastern and western areas of the
country led to a large number of people feeling that they did not have
freedom of movement within the country. Within the capital where these
divisions were most marked, many neighborhoods became exclusively
eastern or western, and members of one group did not feel free to
travel to or through the other group's area.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Approximately 150,000
residents of Dili were displaced from their homes during the year as a
result of the crisis that began in late April. Initial displacement
occurred in response to the April 28 riots and the response by security
forces. In early May thousands of Dili residents fled their homes as
rumors of impending clashes between security forces and dissident
forces circulated. In late May several days of actual clashes between
regular and dissident forces and between police and military caused
additional displacements. Widespread mob violence, often targeting and
driving out selected populations and individuals, further exacerbated
the IDP situation. Widespread destruction meant that many IDPs had no
place to which to return. Illegal occupation of temporarily abandoned
properties and the unresolved state of many conflicting land and
property claims further complicated return (see section 1.f.).
While all groups and levels of society were represented in the IDP
population, humanitarian workers observed a greater proportion of
easterners. By year's end a large number of IDPs had left the camps.
Many returned to their homes, but many others lacking this option moved
into houses with relatives, or in many cases returned to their home
districts. It was not known to what extent the recent unrest resulted
in a permanent reallocation of the population throughout the country.
At year's end an estimated 25,000 IDPs remained in camps in Dili and as
many as 70,000 remained displaced in the districts.
The Government worked closely with domestic and international
humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to IDPs both in Dili
and the districts. The Government's initial response to the
humanitarian needs, carried out under the leadership of the minister of
labor, was judged effective and well-coordinated. However, as time went
on, the response became less effective due to the added involvement of
other government ministries and the UN agencies that arrived on the
scene. Decision making became slow and hampered by competing political
considerations. At year's end despite months of discussion regarding
the need to prepare for the rainy season and to close several camps
where there were significant security concerns, the problem camps
remained in place and few camps had made the necessary preparations for
the rains.
The provedor, in partnership with the Human Rights Monitoring
Network, conducted crisis-related human rights monitoring in IDP camps
beginning in June. The network did not find a significant increase in
human rights abuses.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum; however,
there were concerns that the country's regulations governing asylum and
refugee status may preclude genuine refugees from proving their
eligibility for such status. For example, persons who wish to apply for
asylum have only 72 hours to do so after entry into the country.
Foreign nationals already present in the country have only 72 hours to
initiate the process after the situation in their home country becomes
too dangerous for them to return safely. A number of human rights and
refugee advocates maintained that this time limit contravenes the 1951
Convention. These advocates also expressed concern that no written
explanation is required when an asylum application is denied.
There were no new asylum applications during the year. At the end
of the year, there were seven pending cases, originally submitted in
2004, still awaiting final decision. After the promulgation of the 2003
Immigration and Asylum Act, the Government assumed responsibility from
the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for
adjudicating asylum claims. Throughout the year UNHCR continued to
mentor immigration officials to ensure that asylum applications were
processed according to treaty guidelines. The Government instituted a
process whereby all asylum applications must be approved by the
minister of the interior. This requirement led to delays.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully through periodic elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2002 Xanana Gusmao was
inaugurated as the first President, and, in accordance with the
constitution, the members of the constituent assembly were sworn in as
the first national parliament. Mari Alkatiri became the first prime
minister. However, on June 27, under great political pressure including
allegations of complicity in illegally arming civilians, Alkatiri
resigned. On July 10, Jose Ramos-Horta, who previously held the
position of foreign minister, was sworn in as prime minister. He was
also simultaneously holding the position of minister of defense, a
portfolio he assumed when the former minister resigned in May. The 88-
member assembly, elected in a generally free and fair election in 2001,
was charged with writing a constitution, which was completed in 2002
and came into effect upon independence. Some observers criticized the
constitutional provision that allowed the constituent assembly
automatically to become the parliament and scheduled the first
parliamentary election five years after independence. Fretilin held 55
of the 88 parliamentary seats.
In 2004 the Government, with oversight by independent election
authorities and assisted by UN advisors, carried out voter
registration, and the list of registered voters was published for
public scrutiny. The resulting voter database was used for local
elections in 2004-05 and is to be maintained and updated for future
Presidential and parliamentary elections.
In December the laws that will govern future national elections
were promulgated. These laws were seen by many as reflecting the ruling
party's preferences rather than broad national consensus. Concerns were
raised regarding the independence of the Technical Secretariat for
Election Administration, which under the law will continue to report to
a ministry headed by a prominent member of the ruling party.
In November and December, a UN independent electoral certification
team conducted two assessment missions concerning the national
elections scheduled for 2007. The resulting reports highlighted a
number of aspects of the election laws that fell short of meeting
certification benchmarks.
There were 23 women in the 88-seat assembly. Women held three
senior cabinet positions--minister of state, minister of public works,
and minister of finance and planning--and four vice minister positions.
Two of the four judges on the appeals court were women, one national
and one international.
The country's small ethnic minority groups were well integrated
into society. The number of members of these groups in parliament and
other government positions was uncertain.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year there were
credible reports of corruption in government institutions. The office
of the provedor by law is the institution charged with leading national
anticorruption activities and has the authority to refer cases for
prosecution. During the year the provedor investigated the Government
procurement process. The anticorruption division of the provedor's
office investigated 12 cases of alleged corruption and 59 cases of
``maladministration.'' Most cases submitted to the provedor involved
allegations of corruption by mid-level officials but some involved
senior-level cases. There continued to be credible reports of petty
corruption at the nation's port. In addition, customs and border
officials were suspected of facilitating the smuggling of gasoline,
tobacco, and alcohol across the border from Indonesia. An investigative
report on alleged corruption in the Timor Sea Office was published in a
local newspaper in December with details regarding official resources
and equipment being redirected for personal use. Such practices are
believed to exist in many government institutions. The lack of
resources for many district police operations was alleged to result in
part from resources being diverted to personal use.
The Office of the Inspector General, the Government's internal
oversight office, carried out investigations into eight cases of
maladministration or possible corruption during the year and conducted
two audits.
The law stipulates that all legislation, Supreme Court decisions,
and decisions made by government bodies must be published in the
official gazette. If not published they are null and void. Regulations
also provide for public access to court proceedings and decisions and
the national budget and accounts. In practice there were concerns that
public access to information was constrained. For example, the official
gazette was published only in Portuguese, although it is required by
law to be published in Tetum as well. Moreover, its irregular
publishing schedule and varying cost meant that few journalists, public
servants, or others had regular access to it or knew how to access it.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) played an active role in assisting and advising in
the development of the country, and numerous NGOs were established over
the last few years. Following the events of April and May, the
Government relayed a request to the UN to conduct a special inquiry to
establish the facts and responsibility for the crimes committed. The UN
COI was given full access to all relevant documents and persons to
conduct its inquiry. A number of national and international NGOs, in
coordination with the provedor, monitored human rights issues in IDP
camps, resulting from the crisis.
According to the controversial 2003 Immigration and Asylum Act,
foreigners are prohibited from taking part in political activities.
This provision could preclude foreigners and international NGOs from
assisting labor unions or projects to promote the development of civil
society, and it could also allow the Government to restrict
noncitizens' monitoring of the criminal or judicial systems. However,
to date, the act's provisions have not been applied this way.
In March the Office of the Provedor for Human Rights and Justice,
established in 2004, officially began its work. The provedor was
responsible for the promotion of human rights, anticorruption, and good
governance, and he has the power to investigate cases, monitor the
observance of human rights, anticorruption and good governance
standards, and make recommendations to the relevant authorities. On
June 30, in accordance with his mandate, the provedor submitted the
office's first annual report to parliament. The report noted that the
provedor had received 75 complaints, including 40 from 2005. More than
a third of these complaints involved allegations against the police.
Most of the complaints, including most of those against the police,
were allegations of human rights abuses. The provedor's offices were
located in Dili and had limited ability to conduct outreach or other
activities in the districts.
In April the Government appointed a ``Commission of Notables,''
chaired by the minister of state administration, to investigate the
claims of the approximately 600 involuntarily discharged soldiers known
as the ``petitioners'' (see section 6.b.). After several months of
inaction, the Prime Minister gave the commission a deadline of October
30, but by year's end, the commission had not announced its findings.
The Government started distributing subsidies to the petitioners in
December.
The CAVR, which was charged with inquiring into human rights
violations that occurred between April 1974 and October 1999, presented
its final report to the President in October 2005, and then to
Parliament the following month. The report has been disseminated by
international NGOs, but no public distribution has taken place within
the country (see section 1.e.).
The UN-appointed Commission of Experts to evaluate the Indonesian
and East Timorese procedures and to recommend the next steps for
achieving accountability for human rights violations committed in 1999
concluded that the serious crimes process in East Timor had ``ensured a
notable degree of accountability for those responsible for the crimes
committed in 1999'' but that the Ad Hoc Tribunal in Indonesia was
``manifestly inadequate.''
The Governments of Indonesia and East Timor bilateral Truth and
Friendship Commission, inaugurated in August 2005, addressed human
rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 (see section 1.e.).
The COE report criticized the TFC's terms of reference as contradicting
international standards that prohibit impunity for crimes against
humanity. The TFC was based in Bali and held a number of meetings
during the year. Its one-year mandate has been extended by an
additional year. Observers have noted slow progress to date and many
concluded that it is unlikely to produce a substantive result.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Government regulations prohibit all forms of discrimination.
Nonetheless, violence against women was a problem, and discrimination
against women, persons with disabilities, and members of minority
groups occurred.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a significant problem
and often was exacerbated by the reluctance of authorities to respond
aggressively. Many authorities regarded it as a family issue rather
than a criminal matter, and victims, under pressure to resolve cases
within the family, were frequently reluctant to report abuse. In many
cases a lack of resources was an element in official inaction and
failure to investigate or prosecute cases involving violence against
women. The police were particularly slow to pursue cases where the
accused occupied a position of power. Police also at times came under
pressure from community members to ignore cases of domestic violence or
sexual abuse.
Although rape is a crime, failures to investigate or prosecute in
cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse were common as were long delays.
For example, in July police in Suai relayed an investigation report to
prosecutors for a sexual assault that had occurred earlier that month;
however, by year's end no judicial action had been taken on the case.
Spousal rape under applicable Indonesian law is not a crime.
Cases of domestic violence and sexual crimes were generally handled
by the PNTL's Vulnerable Persons Units (VPUs). Women's organizations
assessed the VPUs' performance as variable, with some actively pursuing
cases while others preferring to handle them through mediation or as
family matters. The national and the Dili district VPUs ceased
operating in May as a result of the crisis. In November the work of the
national VPU resumed under the UN policing mission, but at year's end
the Dili district VPU was still not operational. Advocacy organizations
noted that the Dili VPU previously had handled a large number of cases
and its absence represented a significant decrease in law enforcement
resources in this area. Other district VPUs continued to operate but
were severely constrained by lack of support and resources.
Government regulations prohibit persons from organizing
prostitution; however, under the Court of Appeals' interpretation of
Indonesian laws, prostitution is not illegal. Nonetheless in past
years, there were reports of women being arrested for prostitution.
In 2004 a local NGO conducted a study on prostitution and
trafficking and estimated that there were up to 358 sex workers in the
capital, of whom approximately 115 were possible trafficking victims.
Late in the year, concern increased that the country was being targeted
as a source for trafficking; suspects were detained and at year's end
an investigation was proceeding (see section 5, Trafficking).
There was no law prohibiting sexual harassment, and sexual
harassment was reportedly widespread, particularly within some
government ministries and the police.
There were no reports of gender-based employment discrimination;
however, women usually deferred to men when job opportunities arose at
the village level.
Some customary practices discriminate against women. For example,
in some regions or villages where traditional practices hold sway,
women may not inherit or own property.
A UN-created gender affairs unit continued as the Office for the
Promotion of Equality (OPE) within the Prime Minister's office. The
unit worked with government ministries and departments to promote
gender equality and coordinated activities to reduce gender-based
violence. Some activities of the OPE, including coordination of gender-
based violence training for police, ceased after the onset of crisis in
April as the office's attention shifted to IDP-related issues.
Women's organizations offered some assistance to female victims of
violence including shelters for victims of domestic violence and
incest; a safe room at the national hospital for victims of domestic
violence and sexual assault; and escorts to judicial proceedings.
Women's and human rights monitoring organizations formed a committee to
monitor violence against women in the IDP camps and to train the camp
managers to identify and pursue such cases.
Children.--The constitution stipulates that primary education shall
be compulsory and free; however, no legislation has been adopted
establishing the minimum level of education to be provided, nor has a
system been established to ensure provision of free education.
According to UN statistics, approximately 20 percent of primary school-
age children nationwide were not enrolled in school; the figures for
rural areas were substantially worse than those for urban areas.
During the year education was adversely affected by the crisis as
both children and teachers were displaced. Dili was the most affected
area with all schools shut at the onset of the crisis and most reopened
only in September. Key problems faced by schools in Dili included their
use as camps for IDPs affecting their ability of resume classes;
vandalism and looting, leaving them without the necessary facilities,
furniture, equipment, and materials; a shortage of teachers as many
fled to the districts; and security issues affecting school attendance.
Many students living in IDP camps joined schools near their camp. Camp-
based education support was provided at the Airport IDP camp as this
was one of two camps with a large school-age population not attending
school. Camp-based education could not be provided at the Metinaro IDP
camp due to camp management and space allocation constraints.
A country-wide survey of school attendance of students and teachers
was conducted in November and December to update education data and
assess the effect of crisis. At year's end results of the survey were
not yet available.
Poor health facilities throughout the country contributed to high
mortality rates for infants and children under five. The major causes
of death among children were combinations of infectious diseases,
persistent malnutrition, and parasites. The low rate of vaccinations
against communicable diseases was a serious problem. Immunization
coverage for children below one year of age increased from 55 percent
in 2005 to 62 percent during the year. An emergency measles campaign
conducted in IDP camps and neighboring communities, reached 166,840
children from six months to 15 years of age. According to estimates by
UN agencies 46 to 56 percent of children under age five were
underweight.
Domestic violence, including violence against children and child
sexual assault, was a significant problem. Some commercial sexual
exploitation of minors occurred. The Indonesian penal code, which
remains in effect pending the promulgation of a national penal code, is
ambiguous regarding statutory rape, specifying only that it is a crime
to have intercourse with someone who has not reached the age of consent
for marriage. This age is specified as 15 in the Indonesian civil code.
As a result of the displacement of up to 170,000 persons, thousands
of children were exposed to risks. The capacity of the state,
communities, and families to protect children has been seriously
challenged. According to the UN Children's Fund, many children showed
signs of stress, including increased aggressive behaviour, withdrawal,
and difficulty sleeping.
Incidents of child abuse, including sexual abuse, were reported
both inside and outside the IDP camps. Underreporting of child abuse
and gender-based violence was a problem prior to the crisis and with
the breakdown in referral and reporting systems it is likely that the
actual number of cases was far greater than those reported. Since the
crisis there has been a significant drop in the number of reported
cases. The absence of the Dili police VPU contributed to this problem.
The Ministry of Labor and Community Reinsertion has dealt with some
30 unaccompanied or separated children as a result of the crisis. The
majority of these children were reunited with their families or care-
givers. The National Division of Social Services dealt with
approximately 50 cases of children in conflict with the law.
Trafficking in Persons.--The 2003 Immigration and Asylum Act
prohibits trafficking in women and children, whether for prostitution
or for forced labor; however, in recent years there have been reports
of women and girls trafficked into the country for prostitution. In
addition, during the year there was increased concern that the country
could be targeted as a source country for trafficking.
In 2004 a local NGO conducted a baseline study of human trafficking
and the sex industry and estimated that as many as 115 foreign sex
workers in the capital might be victims of trafficking. Several
establishments in the capital were known commercial sex operations and
were suspected of being involved in trafficking. Although there has
been no recent study, reliable sources estimated that the number of
foreign trafficking victims remained approximately the same. During the
year domestic trafficking was a growing concern, with an increased
number of citizens exploited as sex workers. Trafficking victims in the
country were almost exclusively forced to work in the sex industry.
Reports of trafficking for forced labor have not been verified.
While the police conducted raids on brothels and massage parlors in
Dili during the year, credible reports indicated that some police and
customs officials colluded with such establishments or with those who
trafficked foreign women into the country to work in them. In May
Dili's VPU, which had primary responsibility for investigating
trafficking cases, ceased to function along with the rest of the Dili-
based PNTL and at year's end had not been reconstituted.
Although the country was not previously a source for trafficking
victims, there was evidence during the year that it was being targeted.
Beginning in October dozens of young women were approached regarding
overseas job offers. UN police investigations resulted in detentions,
and at year's end investigations were ongoing. It was generally thought
that this scheme was intended to force the women into prostitution
overseas.
There was widespread ignorance about the trafficking issue.
Trafficking victims did not understand their rights or know who to
contact for assistance. Police were uninformed about the nature of
trafficking, how to recognize it, and how to handle cases. Potential
trafficking victims in country were unaware of the risks of accepting
overseas employment.
There have been no government-run antitrafficking education
campaigns, and the Government does not financially support any
antitrafficking programs. However, the Government cooperated with
various international and NGO programs. In 2005 UN authorities and the
Government established a working group headed by the International
Organization for Migration to monitor and control trafficking. The
Alola Foundation, an NGO headed by First Lady Kirsty Sword Gusmao,
provided assistance to female victims of trafficking and advised the
Government on trafficking-related issues.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution protects the
rights of persons with disabilities, the Government had not enacted
legislation or otherwise mandated accessibility to buildings for
persons with disabilities, nor does the law prohibit discrimination
against persons with disabilities. There were no reports of
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, or the provision of other state services; however, in many
districts children with disabilities were unable to attend school due
to accessibility problems. Training and vocational initiatives did not
address the needs of persons with disabilities. During the year some
persons with mental disabilities faced discriminatory or degrading
treatment due in part to a lack of appropriate treatment resources or
lack of referral to existing resources.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Tensions between persons from
the eastern districts (lorosae) and persons from the western districts
(loromonu) were a major element in the April and May national crisis.
Historically there had been some tension between East and West, but it
was an occasional irritant rather than a major issue. These geographic
divisions emerged as a defining factor as the crisis affected the
capital, and at year's end many of Dili's neighborhoods had become
essentially segregated. The causes involved dynamics within the
security institutions, socioeconomic pressures in the capital,
conflicting views regarding the role of different groups in the
independence struggle, and increasingly bitter political divisions.
The crisis began with claims by hundreds of soldiers that they were
disadvantaged due to their western identities. Loromonu made up the
majority of the population in Dili, and many associated the lorosae
population with the controversial F-FDTL intervention on April 28-29.
The violence and divisions impacted all communities, but the lorosae
population of Dili bore a disproportionate burden as the crisis
progressed. Thousands of lorosae were displaced from their homes due to
fear of violence, many had their houses burned, and many came under
attack if they refused to abandon their homes or attempted to return.
Toward the end of the year, the lorosae-versus-loromonu dynamic had
largely dissipated as an element in violent clashes in Dili, supplanted
by an upsurge in fighting between competing martial arts groups.
However, many Dili neighborhoods remained divided and some observers
thought the reduction in lorosae-loromonu violence was a result of the
segregation process having run its course.
Relations are generally good between the ethnic majority and
members of several small ethnic minority groups; however, there were
occasional reports of discrimination against ethnic Chinese (who
constitute less than 1 percent of the population) and ethnic-Malay
Muslims.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The country has a labor code based on
the International Labor Organization's standards. The law permits
workers to form and join worker organizations without prior
authorization. Unions may draft their own constitutions and rules and
elect their representatives; however, attempts to organize workers
generally were slowed by inexperience and a lack of organizational
skills. In 2004 the Government established official registration
procedures for trade unions and employer organizations.
The Immigration and Asylum Act prohibits foreigners from
participating in the administration of trade unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--While
collective bargaining is permitted, workers generally had little
experience negotiating contracts, promoting worker rights, or engaging
in collective bargaining and negotiations.
The law provides for the right to strike, but few workers exercised
this right during the year.
Approximately 400 soldiers were on strike from early February until
March over working conditions and alleged discrimination (see section
5). On March 16, they, along with approximately 200 additional soldiers
who had been chronically absent without leave, were discharged from the
F-FDTL after they refused orders to end the strike and return to their
barracks. The underlying grievances and the subsequent activities of
this group were important elements of the subsequent tensions and civil
unrest.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Government
regulations prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by
children, and such practices were not known to occur.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor code largely prohibits children under 18 from working; however,
there are circumstances under which children between the ages of 15 and
18 can work, and there are even exceptional exemptions for children
under 15. The minimum age did not apply to family-owned businesses, and
many children worked in the agricultural sector. Child labor in the
informal sector was a major problem. In practice enforcement of the
labor code outside of Dili was limited.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The labor code does not
stipulate a minimum wage; however, employers generally used and
employees expected a wage of $85 (the U.S. dollar is the country's
official currency) per month as a minimum standard. This amount
provided a basic standard of living for a worker and family. The labor
code provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours, and standard
benefits such as overtime and leave, and minimum standards of worker
health and safety. A National Labor Board and a Labor Relations Board
exist, and there are no restrictions on the rights of workers to file
complaints and seek redress. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from hazardous conditions without jeopardizing employment;
however, it was not clear that they could avail themselves of this
right in practice.
__________
FIJI
Fiji is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 850,000. The constitution provides for an elected
President, prime minister, and parliament, but on December 5, armed
forces commander Commodore Voreque Bainimarama overthrew the Government
of Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of the Soqosoqo Duavata ni
Lewenivanua (SDL) party in a bloodless coup d'etat and announced the
establishment of an interim military government. Bainimarama declared
himself acting President and on December 6 dissolved the Parliament.
Bainimarama asserted that the Qarase government was corrupt, that it
had manipulated the May election that returned it to power, and that it
unfairly favored indigenous Fijian interests. Qarase was elected prime
minister in 2001, and Parliament reelected him following multiparty
parliamentary elections in May deemed generally free and fair. Prior to
the coup the civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the police but were unable to maintain effective control of
the military forces. In the months before the coup the military had
publicly threatened to force the Government to resign if it did not
comply with certain military demands.
Prior to the December coup the Government generally respected the
human rights of its citizens, although there were serious problems in
some areas. The human rights situation deteriorated greatly following
the coup. The takeover denied citizens the right to change their
government peacefully. On December 5, Bainimarama proclaimed a state of
emergency, significantly restricting constitutional provisions for
freedom of expression and assembly, and the right to privacy, subject
to the military's interpretation and without recourse to the courts.
The military government arbitrarily detained, and sometimes abused,
coup opponents; conducted searches without warrants; engaged in
intimidation of the media; and restricted the right to assemble
peacefully. Other problems during the year included poor prison
conditions; attacks against religious facilities, particularly Hindu
temples; government corruption; continuing deep divisions between
indigenous Fijians (55 percent of the population) and Indo-Fijians (37
percent); violence and discrimination against women; and child
prostitution.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were some reports of abuses by police during the year. The military
committed numerous abuses after the December 5 coup.
Reported incidents of police beatings and other abuse of
apprehended persons and prisoners prior to the coup were investigated
and, when appropriate, offending officers were prosecuted and punished.
All such cases appeared to be isolated incidents, not condoned by
supervisory officers. At year's end the investigation into a 2005 case
in which the police allegedly failed to obtain prompt medical treatment
for a suspect injured during apprehension was still ongoing.
Following the coup there were numerous incidents of the Republic of
Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) detaining without a warrant and abusing
persons who had voiced opposition to the coup or who supported a return
to democratic government. In the late hours of December 24 and early
hours of December 25, soldiers took six prodemocracy supporters from
their homes, including young persons who had erected a ``prodemocracy
shrine'' outside a house in Lami (see section 2.a.), and brought them
to the RFMF's Queen Elizabeth barracks, where they reportedly were
beaten, stepped on, and threatened with weapons. They were then forced
to run several miles through Suva followed by soldiers in vehicles.
Also on December 25, the military seized five young men in a Suva
suburb and made them strip to their underwear and crawl through drain
pipes before being dropped at a remote jungle location to find their
way home. In another incident soldiers seized a former government
minister overheard in a bar criticizing Bainimarama, roughed him up,
and made him run around a track at gunpoint. Some women detained by the
military for speaking out against the coup were sexually molested.
The number of complaints to the Fiji Human Rights Commission
(FHRC), a constitutionally mandated statutory body, for violation of
the right to freedom from cruel and degrading treatment and torture
declined over the previous four years. Formal complaints to the FHRC
following the coup did not increase significantly by year's end despite
alleged military abuses; according to human rights observers this
reflected a climate of intimidation and fears of reprisal after the
coup.
Following allegations by human rights nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) of FHRC inaction over rights abuses, the FHRC director stated
she would investigate such cases if formal complaints were made.
However, on December 27, she also warned members of the public that not
all their rights, including that to free speech, could still be
exercised freely and lawfully under the state of emergency (see section
4). Although the state of emergency was initially declared on December
5, the details on how constitutional rights had been affected were not
made publicly known until December 29.
The law permits corporal punishment as a penalty for criminal acts;
however, in 2002 the Court of Appeal ruled that corporal punishment in
the penal system was unconstitutional. The FHRC conducted periodic
training courses for police, prison officers, and military personnel,
using a human rights manual based on international standards.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards. The national prison system was seriously
underfunded, with deteriorating infrastructure and poor delivery of
essential services. The system had insufficient beds, inadequate
sanitation, and a shortage of basic necessities. There were a large
number of prison escapes during the year.
In some cases pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners were held
together. Courts released pretrial detainees, including some facing
serious charges, on bail to minimize their exposure to an unhealthy and
overcrowded prison environment. Upon instructions from the High Court,
the FHRC compiled reports for the court of inhumane conditions within
the Suva prison's facility for those awaiting trial. Based on the
reports the High Court declared conditions in the Suva prison to be in
breach of the constitution and granted bail on these grounds for
several pretrial detainees. Prison authorities subsequently closed the
main cell block of the Suva prison.
Family members were routinely permitted to visit prisoners.
The Qarase government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. During the year the International Committee for the Red
Cross (ICRC) visited detention facilities and interviewed detainees.
Persons detained by the military following the coup were typically held
in cells at the main military barracks in Suva for very brief periods,
generally overnight. No independent human rights observers were
permitted to visit the military detention cells.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the civilian government generally
observed these prohibitions. However, from the December 5 coup through
the end of the year, military personnel detained numerous persons
without warrants for interrogation and intimidation and, in some cases,
brief incarceration. None of those detained appeared before any court.
The military and the director of the FHRC cited the military's state of
emergency proclamation as the basis for the detentions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Home
Affairs oversees the Fiji Police Force, which is responsible for law
enforcement and the maintenance of internal security. The RFMF is
responsible for external security. The RFMF maintained that it has a
broad constitutional responsibility for national security that also
extends to domestic affairs; many constitutional scholars in the
country disagreed with that assertion.
The police maintained a network of 31 stations and 54 police posts
throughout the country. Policing of more remote and smaller islands was
done through regularly scheduled visits. The Government continued a
program initiated in 2003 to improve policing standards and combat
corruption. The police internal affairs unit is required to investigate
complaints of police brutality. Allegations of corruption were
investigated, and disciplinary and criminal cases initiated. Some
officers were removed from the force. Although there were improvements
in discipline and accountability, corruption remained a problem.
Following the December coup the interim military government
dismissed the police commissioner, his deputy, and the assistant
commissioner for crime; named a military officer as interim
commissioner; and instituted joint military and police operations to
maintain public order.
The interim military government took no action against military
personnel alleged to have committed abuses against coup opponents and
prodemocracy activists.
Arrest and Detention.--Police officers may arrest persons without a
warrant for violations of the penal code. Police also arrest persons in
response to warrants issued by magistrates and judges. Arrested persons
must be brought before a court without ``undue delay,'' normally
interpreted to mean within 24 hours, with 48 hours as the exception.
Detainees have the right to a judicial review of the grounds for their
arrest. There was a well-functioning bail system.
Prior to the coup there were no claims of incommunicado or
arbitrary detention. After the coup the military detained, and in most
cases briefly held incommunicado, a number of persons who publicly
opposed its takeover. Reports indicated that the detentions were
usually for several hours, typically overnight, and included threats
and abuse (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
The Legal Aid Commission provided counsel to some indigent
defendants in criminal cases, a service supplemented by voluntary
services from private attorneys.
The courts had a significant backlog of cases, and processing was
slowed by, among other things, a shortage of prosecutors and judges. As
a result some defendants faced lengthy pretrial detention.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. However, there were allegations that some
judges held biases stemming from events surrounding the 2000 coup.
Perceived bias led one High Court justice to request a ruling from the
Supreme Court in late 2005 to bar another High Court justice from
hearing the appeal of a verdict in a coup-related trial. In April the
Supreme Court denied the request.
The country's judicial structure is patterned on the British
system. The principal courts are the magistrate's courts, the High
Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. In addition to its
jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, the High Court has special-
interest jurisdiction on behalf of the public and is empowered to
review alleged violations of individual rights.
Except for the family court, there are no special civilian courts.
Military courts try members of the armed forces, and there is an
internal police tribunal mechanism.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants have the right to a public trial and to counsel. The
Legal Aid Commission, supplemented by voluntary services of private
attorneys, provided free counsel to some indigent defendants in
criminal cases. Most cases were heard in the magistrate's courts, but a
case cannot be tried in a magistrate's court without the defendant's
consent. Absent such consent, cases are tried in the High Court. Trials
in the High Court provide for the presence of assessors, typically
three, who are similar to jurors but only advise the presiding judge.
Magistrates are not authorized to impose prison sentences longer than
10 years. Sentences in the magistrate's courts in most domestic and
family law cases were relatively light. Defendants enjoy a presumption
of innocence and can question witnesses, present evidence on their own
behalf, and access government-held evidence relevant to their case. The
right of appeal exists but often was hampered by delays in the process.
Although the majority of the key participants in the 2000 coup have
been charged and tried, several investigations continued during the
year. At year's end approximately 50 defendants were still awaiting
trial on charges related to that coup.
On December 11, the High Court acquitted former Prime Minister
Sitiveni Rabuka of two charges relating to a November 2000 mutiny
linked to the 2000 coup. The trial assessors were split on whether
Rabuka was guilty of the charges, and the judge ruled that Rabuka's
guilt had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The military court system provides for the same basic rights as the
civilian court system, although bail is granted less frequently in the
military system. During the year 20 former soldiers serving sentences
for their roles in the November 2000 mutiny were retried by court
martial; the civilian Court of Appeal had ordered the retrial in
November 2005 on technical grounds. In separate decisions in February
and August, all 20 were again found guilty. The retrial appeared to
have been conducted fairly.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or long-term political detainees. Following the
coup several human rights activists and others were detained briefly
for making statements against the coup or the interim military
government, or in support of a return to democracy.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is access to a court to
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights
violations. In the event of a human rights violation, an individual
also can make a complaint to the FHRC, which, prior to the coup,
frequently resolved complaints through conciliation without referring
them to the courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice prior to
the December coup. Following the December coup RFMF forces searched
without warrants the homes and offices of a number of persons the
military accused of corruption. Soldiers also repeatedly entered
private property without warrants to warn and threaten persons who
spoke publicly against the takeover.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice prior to the December coup.
In December the interim military government repeatedly attempted to
impede criticism of its takeover. On December 6, RFMF troops told
prodemocracy activists to remove a ``shrine to democracy'' they had
erected outside a house in the Suva suburb of Lami. On December 9,
individuals in civilian clothes and carrying a firearm vandalized the
display. On the night of December 24, the house where the democracy
shrine had been established was broken into and ransacked, and the
shrine vandalized again. The RFMF briefly detained and physically
abused a number of prodemocracy advocates and others who criticized the
military government, including those who had set up the democracy
shrine (see section 1.c.). The RFMF issued warnings to a number of
persons who wrote letters to the media critical of the coup; some were
detained, interrogated, and abused in barrack cells by the military.
Two prominent women's and human rights advocates who criticized the
takeover reported receiving rape threats by telephone that were
believed to have come from members of the RFMF.
Prior to the coup the independent media were active and expressed a
wide variety of views without restriction in English, Fijian, and
Hindi. The country's television news production was owned and operated
by Fiji One, one of two national noncable television stations. A trust
operating on behalf of the provincial councils owned 51 percent of Fiji
One; the remainder was privately held. The Government owned the Fiji
Broadcasting Corporation, which operated four radio stations. The
Qarase government also had shares in two daily newspapers, the Daily
Post and the Fiji Sun; however, there were no reports that the
Government attempted to censor their content. There were several
thriving independent radio stations broadcasting in English, Fijian,
and Hindi.
Following the announcement of the military takeover, the RFMF sent
soldiers to various media outlets in an attempt to censor reporting of
the event. A major daily newspaper temporarily suspended publication in
protest. The military censors were withdrawn the next day, and the RFMF
commander stated that the media would be free to publish without
restriction but also stated that ``inciting comments'' would not be
tolerated. On December 13, the editor of the Daily Post newspaper, a
foreign national, reported that an army officer visited his office and
told the paper to tone down its reporting on the coup. The RFMF briefly
took the editor into custody and threatened to deport him but by year's
end had not done so. On a radio talk show on December 22, Bainimarama
stated that if prodemocracy activists did not ``shut their mouth,'' the
military would ``shut it for them.'' On December 24, an office
belonging to the co-owner of a monthly magazine, who had written an
article criticizing the military takeover, was gutted by a fire of
unexplained origin. Media self-censorship increased after the coup.
The Media Council, a private watchdog group of media and academic
figures, receives and seeks to resolve complaints of bias and
malfeasance within the media. Following the December coup the council
publicly denounced military efforts to censor free speech and press.
During the year media and civil liberties advocates widely criticized a
Qarase government bill to establish a government-appointed broadcast
licensing authority, stating it would likely infringe on freedom of the
press. The bill was undergoing revision by the cabinet when the coup
occurred.
Legislation pertaining to the press is contained in the Newspaper
Registration Act and Press Correction Act. Under these acts all
newspapers must register with the Government before they can publish.
The acts give the minister of information sole discretionary power to
order a newspaper to publish a ``correcting statement'' if, in the
minister's view, a false or distorted article was published. A
newspaper refusing to publish the minister's correction can be sued in
court and, if found guilty, fined. Individuals in such cases can be
fined, imprisoned for six months, or both. These acts authorize the
Government to arrest any person who publishes ``malicious'' material.
This would include anything the Government considered false, likely to
create or foster public alarm, or result in ``detriment'' to the
public. However, this authority has never been used.
The 1992 Television Decree permits the Government to influence
programming content. The civilian government did not attempt to use the
programming authority during the year. However, the interim military
government attempted to censor television news broadcasts that featured
deposed Prime Minister Qarase.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Academic freedom was
generally respected; however, government work-permit stipulations
prohibit foreigners from participating in domestic politics. University
of the South Pacific contract regulations effectively restrict most
university employees from running for or holding public office or
holding an official position with any political party.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice prior to the
December coup, with some limitations. Although civic organizations were
regularly granted permits to assemble, permits for most political
demonstrations and marches were denied.
After the coup the Government effectively suspended the
constitutional right of freedom of assembly. No permits to march or
demonstrate were issued. On December 14, a group of human rights
activists staged a small, unannounced march through downtown Suva and
were subsequently warned by the military against further such actions.
Police broke up a very small demonstration by a group of activists,
held during a meeting of the Great Council of Chiefs concerning the
coup, and briefly held the demonstrators for questioning. The military
authorities tolerated a small weekly prayer vigil organized by human
rights groups at a Suva city church.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice prior to the coup. Following the coup the interim military
government did not restrict persons from joining NGOs, professional
associations, or other private organizations, but it targeted for
threats and harassment members of NGOs who criticized the coup (see
sections 2.a. and 4).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The majority of citizens (52 percent) are Christian, and
government-sponsored meetings and events often begin with a Christian
prayer.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Racial polarization was
reflected in religious differences, which were largely along ethnic
lines; this contributed to political problems. Most ethnic Fijians were
Christians, and most Indo-Fijians were Hindu, with a sizable minority
of Muslims. The dominant Methodist Church has closely allied itself
with the interests of the pro-indigenous Fijian movement.
Break-ins, vandalism, and arson directed at houses of worship,
predominantly Hindu temples, were common. The attacks were broadly
viewed as reflections of intercommunal strife, although there was often
evidence that theft also was a contributing factor. There was no known
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice prior
to the December coup. In December the RFMF established armed military
checkpoints in the Suva, Nadi, and Lautoka areas.
A prominent group of six democracy activists who repeatedly defied
the military's demands that they cease their activities were banned
from leaving the country following their interrogation and abuse on
December 25 (see section 1.c.).
The law prohibits forced exile, and prior to December the
Government did not practice it. However, in December the military
government prohibited ousted Prime Minister Qarase from leaving his
home island of Lau, where he flew after the coup.
Protection of Refugees.--The law includes provisions for providing
refugee and asylum status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. During the
year the Government was in the process of establishing a system for
providing protection for refugees, but implementing regulations
endorsed by the Qarase cabinet in August had not come into effect by
year's end. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the forced return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees. The Government received no applications for refugee
status or asylum during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, but on December 5, RFMF commander Bainimarama
overthrew the lawfully elected government of Prime Minister Qarase,
declared himself acting President, and on December 6 dissolved
Parliament.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections,
held in May, were judged generally free and fair. Party politics was
largely race based, although this did not limit participation in the
political process. The governing SDL party was primarily ethnic Fijian,
and the Fiji Labor Party (FLP), the second largest party, was primarily
Indo-Fijian, although both parties had membership across racial lines.
After the elections, compelled by constitutional provisions, the two
parties formed a multiparty cabinet consisting of 14 members from the
SDL, nine members from the FLP, and one independent.
After the December 5 coup, Bainimarama appointed Jone Baravilala
Senilagakali, a military physician, as interim prime minister to
replace Qarase. Bainimarama also declared that he had assumed
Presidential powers, replacing President Ratu Josefa Iloilo.
Prior to Parliament's dissolution by the RFMF, there were eight
women in the 71-seat House of Representatives and five women in the 32-
member Senate. There were three women in the Qarase cabinet and two
female assistant ministers. According to the Asian Development Bank,
women held only about 16 percent of senior government executive
positions. Women played important roles in the traditional chiefly
system and could be chiefs in their own right.
Prior to the coup there were 29 Indo-Fijians in the House of
Representatives and six in the Senate. There were eight Indo-Fijian
cabinet ministers and one Indo-Fijian assistant minister in the Qarase
government. Indo-Fijians, who accounted for 37 percent of the
population, continued to be underrepresented at senior levels of the
civil service and in the military. Indo-Fijians comprised approximately
35 percent of the civil service overall.
The political primacy of indigenous Fijians is to some extent
enshrined in the constitution, which mandates that 14 of Parliament's
32 senators be appointed by the indigenous Fijian Great Council of
Chiefs, a hereditary body, and one by the Rotuma Island Council. The
remainder are appointed by the Government and opposition. This
arrangement essentially ensured indigenous Fijians effective control in
the Senate. Under the 1997 constitution, the Prime Minister and the
President may be of any race. The constitution established a 71-member
lower house with 25 seats open to any ethnicity and 46 seats allocated
to different ethnic communities. The open seats are apportioned into
districts of approximately equal population. Of the 46 communal seats,
23 are allotted to indigenous Fijians, 19 to Indo-Fijians, three to
``general voters'' (for the most part mixed-race, Caucasian, and East
Asian voters), and one to Rotumans (an ethnically distinct Polynesian
group). These allotments were generally proportional to the ethnic
composition of the country's population in 1996.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption within
government, including the civil service, was a significant problem. The
media continued to raise numerous allegations of nonaccountability,
bribery, abuse of office, fraud, misuse of public property, financial
mismanagement, failure to complete statutory audits, and conflicts of
interest regarding officials and ministries. In November a Suva court
sentenced former Agriculture Ministry chief executive officer Peniasi
Kunatuba to four years in prison on corruption charges. The charges
involved a large-scale scam and misuse of public monies by the Ministry
of Agriculture during 2000 and 2001. In some ministries transparency
was virtually nonexistent. The constitution gives the auditor general
the right to audit all national and local government bodies. In its
annual report to Parliament, the auditor general's office highlighted
numerous instances of corrupt practices in government offices and
ministries.
In May an individual imprisoned for his participation in the 2000
coup was released from prison to serve his sentence extramurally. This
release and numerous similar releases in 2005 were widely seen as
politically motivated.
The interim military government, citing general corruption,
summarily dismissed from office a large number of senior career
bureaucrats and office holders under the Government of ousted Prime
Minister Qarase, but by year's end did not produce specific evidence of
corruption in their cases or other specific cause for dismissal beyond
their association with that government.
Although the 1997 constitution instructs Parliament to enact a
freedom of information law as soon as practicable, no such law has been
enacted. In practice the Government was sometimes responsive to
requests for government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Prior to the coup a number of domestic and international human
rights groups generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their
views.
There were several nongovernmental organizations that concentrated
on a variety of local human rights causes, such as the Regional Rights
Resource Team, the Pacific Center for Public Integrity, the Citizens'
Constitutional Forum, the Fiji Women's Rights Movement and the Fiji
Women's Crisis Center. A number of UN organizations concerned with
human rights, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, the International Labor Organization, the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF), and the UN Development Fund, had regional offices in the
country and worked actively with the Government on various human rights
issues. The ICRC continued to operate in the country.
The interim military government stated that it was committed to
respecting human rights, but the RFMF harassed, threatened, and abused
members of local human rights NGOs who criticized the coup and the
military (see sections 1.c. and 2.a.).
Prior to the coup the FHRC appeared to be impartial and independent
and generally operated without government interference. The FHRC
received and investigated reports of human rights violations and
requests for assistance, some involving alleged abuses by the military,
police, and prison officials. The FHRC issued widely distributed
quarterly and annual reports on its work. In June the FHRC published a
lengthy report on the Government's affirmative action programs. The
FHRC criticized the programs, which primarily benefited indigenous
Fijians, as discriminatory and unconstitutional (see section 5). Prime
Minister Qarase dismissed the report as politicized, and the Government
announced it would undertake its own review of the programs.
Following the coup the director of the FHRC repeatedly failed to
publicly object to some significant human rights abuses by the
military. After the December 25 incident in which prodemocracy
activists were detained and abused by RFMF members (see section 1.c.),
the director stated she would investigate the incident but also advised
persons speaking out against the military takeover to bear in mind that
they did so at their own risk, since their rights were curtailed under
the state of emergency. An FHRC commissioner strongly criticized the
director's statements and her failure to take action in support of
persons abused by the RFMF. The interim military government called on
persons claiming human rights violations to report them to the military
authorities.
The Qarase government's controversial 2005 Reconciliation,
Tolerance, and Unity Bill, which provided for the possibility of
amnesty for certain participants in the 2000 coup, was not enacted
prior to the May elections. In late 2005, following widespread
criticism of the bill, a parliamentary committee recommended
substantial changes to the legislation, including changes to its
amnesty provisions. In November, under continuing military pressure,
the Government announced that the bill's controversial amnesty
provisions had been removed, but a revised bill had not yet been
introduced into Parliament when the December coup occurred. There also
was extensive criticism by human rights groups of two other
controversial pieces of legislation announced by government following
the May elections. The bills, on indigenous Fijian foreshore fishing
rights and an indigenous land rights tribunal, were undergoing a
parliamentary hearing when the coup took place.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, place
of origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, color, primary language,
economic status, age, or disability. The Government generally enforced
these provisions effectively, although there were problems in some
areas.
The constitution also cites the ``paramountcy'' of Fijian interests
as a guiding principle for the protection of the rights of indigenous
citizens. A compact included in the constitution specifically provides
for affirmative action and ``social justice'' programs to ``secure
effective equality'' for ethnic Fijians and Rotumans, ``as well as for
other communities.'' The compact chiefly benefited the indigenous
Fijian majority.
Women.--Domestic abuse, rape, incest, and indecent assault were
significant problems. Police practiced a ``no-drop'' policy, under
which they pursued investigations of domestic violence cases even if a
victim later withdrew her accusation. The police generally were more
responsive to domestic violence cases than in the past. Nonetheless,
courts often dismissed cases of domestic abuse and incest or gave the
perpetrators minimal sentences. The head of the Fiji Women's Rights
Movement reported that following the coup soldiers forcibly took a
battered wife who had fled to her parents' home back to her husband.
Incest was widely believed to be underreported. Traditional practices
of reconciliation between aggrieved parties were sometimes taken into
account to mitigate sentences in domestic violence cases, particularly
in cases of incest. An active women's rights movement sought to raise
public awareness about domestic violence.
Four women's crisis centers funded by foreign governments operated
in the country. The centers offered counseling and assistance to women
in cases of domestic violence, rape, and other problems, such as child
support.
The women's rights movement pressed for more severe punishments for
rape. Sentences varied considerably. Rape cases heard in the lower
magistrate's courts typically resulted in shorter sentences. Women's
groups continued to urge that all rape cases be heard in the High
Court, where lengthier sentences are available. The Court of Appeal has
ruled that 10 years is the minimum appropriate sentence in child rape
cases. Women's activists continued to press for criminalization of
spousal rape.
Prostitution is illegal, but it occurred, particularly in cities.
Sex tourism is prohibited by law but reportedly occurred, particularly
in tourist centers such as Nadi and Savusavu, including cases involving
children. Reportedly taxi drivers acted as middlemen, facilitating the
commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, but laws
against ``indecent assaults on females'' prohibit offending the modesty
of women and could be used to prosecute sexual harassment cases.
According to a recent survey, one in three women has been sexually
harassed in the workplace.
The Women's Crisis Center provided a gender awareness program to
educate soldiers and police officers about women's concerns.
Women have full rights of property ownership and inheritance but
often were excluded from the decision-making process on disposition of
communal land. Many women were successful entrepreneurs. Other than a
prohibition on working in mines, there were no legal limitations on the
employment of women. Women generally were paid less than men for
similar work. According to the Asian Development Bank, only about 30
percent of the economically active female population was engaged in the
formal economy, and of these a large proportion worked in semi-
subsistence employment or self-employment.
Children.--The Government devoted 18 percent of the national budget
to education and also worked to improve children's health and welfare.
School is mandatory until age 15, but the inability of some families to
pay school fees and bus fares limited attendance for some children.
There was no significant difference between the school enrollment rates
for boys and girls.
The Government provided free medical care for children at public
health centers and hospitals, including immunizations in primary
schools.
Corporal punishment was common both in homes and in schools,
despite a Ministry of Education policy forbidding it in the classroom.
Increasing urbanization, overcrowding, and the breakdown of traditional
community and extended family-based structures led to an increasing
incidence of child abuse. Multiple reports suggested that child
prostitution increased during the year. Child prostitution was evident
in poverty-stricken urban areas and among homeless urban youth (see
section 5, Trafficking). Urban migration and the subsequent breakdown
of community structures, children from outer islands living with
relatives while attending high school, and homelessness all appeared to
be factors that increased a child's chance of being exploited for
commercial sex.
Increasing urbanization led to more children working as casual
laborers, often with no safeguards against abuse or injury.
Trafficking in Persons.--A November 2005 law prohibits trafficking
in persons, and there were no substantiated reports of trafficking to
or from the country during the year. There were some reports of
children trafficked within the country during the year. Many observers
cited poverty as the primary underlying reason for sexual exploitation
of children.
The antitrafficking law provides for penalties of up to 20 years'
imprisonment and fines up to $442,000 (F$750,000) for convicted
traffickers.
The Government did not sponsor or provide assistance to any
programs specifically to combat or prevent trafficking in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--All persons are considered equal under
the law, including persons with disabilities, and discrimination
against persons with physical disabilities in employment, education,
provision of housing and land, or provision of other state services is
illegal. In addition the law provides for the right of access to places
and modes of transport generally open to the public and obliges
proprietors of such places and services to ``facilitate reasonable
access for disabled persons to the extent provided by law.'' The 2004
public health regulations provide penalties for noncompliance; however,
there was very little enabling legislation on accessibility for persons
with disabilities, and there was little or no enforcement of laws
protecting persons with disabilities. Although building regulations
issued in 2004 require new public buildings to be accessible to persons
with disabilities, according to an FHRC survey of 70 percent of public
facilities in the capital, only a single fast food restaurant was fully
accessible. There were only a handful of disabled-accessible vehicles
in the country. There were a number of community organizations to
assist those with disabilities, particularly children.
Persons with mental disabilities largely were separated from
society and typically were supported at home by their families.
Institutionalization of persons with severe mental disabilities was in
a single overcrowded, underfunded public facility in the capital. There
were a few special schools for persons with physical, cognitive, and
sensory disabilities; however, costs and location limited access.
Opportunities for a secondary school education for those with
disabilities were very limited. Persons with disabilities in rural
settings found it difficult to access special services.
The government-funded Fiji National Council for Disabled Persons
worked to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Several NGOs
also promoted attention to the needs of persons with various
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Tension between ethnic Fijians
and Indo-Fijians has been a longstanding problem. The constitution
notes that ``the composition of state services at all levels must be
based on the principle of reflecting as closely as possible the ethnic
composition of the population,'' but it also specifies the
``paramountcy of Fijian interests'' as a protective principle (see
section 3).
Prior to the coup the Qarase government pursued a policy of
political predominance for ethnic Fijians. Land tenure remained a
highly sensitive and politicized issue. Ethnic Fijians communally held
approximately 85 percent of all land, the Government held another 3.6
percent, and the remainder was freehold land, which private individuals
or companies may hold.
Ethnic Fijians' traditional beliefs, cultural values, and self-
identity are intimately linked to the land. Most cash-crop farmers were
Indo-Fijians, the majority of whom were descendants of indentured
laborers who came to the country during the British colonial era.
Virtually all Indo-Fijian farmers were obliged to lease land from
ethnic Fijian landowners. Many Indo-Fijians believed that their very
limited ability to own land and their subsequent dependency on leased
land from indigenous Fijians constituted de facto discrimination
against them. A pattern of refusals by ethnic Fijian landowners to
renew expiring leases resulted in evictions of Indo-Fijians from their
farms and their displacement to squatter settlements. This situation
contributed significantly to communal tensions. Many indigenous Fijian
landowners in turn believed that the rental formulas included in the
national land tenure legislation discriminated against them.
In June the FHRC reported the results of its investigation into
complaints by the FLP, the Citizens Constitutional Forum, and the Fiji
Teachers Union that the Government's affirmative action programs
unconstitutionally favored indigenous Fijians over ethnic minorities.
The FHRC found the complaints to be valid and stated that the
Government's programs did not meet the legal standards of the
constitution and law. In response the Government indicated it would
conduct its own internal review. A cabinet subcommittee on equal
opportunity and human rights was reviewing the programs when the coup
occurred. The programs were still in place at year's end.
Unlike in the previous year, the ethnic Chinese community appeared
to be less of a target for violent attacks. Police worked with the
Chinese Association of Fiji to address the issues raised by a number of
such attacks in 2005.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The constitution
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but
preexisting statutes criminalize homosexual acts. At year's end the
director of public prosecutions was awaiting a hearing on his appeal of
the August 2005 court decision that overturned a magistrate's court's
April 2005 conviction of a local citizen and an Australian tourist for
engaging in consensual homosexual acts. The magistrate's court had
sentenced the men to two years in prison. Homosexuality continued to be
a hotly debated issue, and during the year church groups again urged
the Government to amend the constitution to eliminate its provision
prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law protect the
right of workers to form and join unions, elect their own
representatives, publicize their views on labor matters, and determine
their own policies, and the authorities respected these rights in
practice. An estimated 36 percent of the work force was unionized.
All unions must register with, but are not controlled by, the
Government. While certain unions were ethnically based, both Indo-
Fijians and ethnic Fijians held leadership roles in the trade union
movement.
The Employment Act makes it an offense for an employer to victimize
any worker or make it a condition of employment for a worker not to
belong to a union. Unions reported some cases of victimization of
workers who expressed a desire to join a union, but the Ministry of
Labor reported that it was unable to verify these cases, and no
employers were prosecuted.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers have
the right to organize and bargain collectively. However, wage
negotiations generally were conducted at the level of individual
companies rather than on an industry-wide basis. Employers are required
to recognize a union if more than half of the employees in a workplace
have signed membership cards; no ballots are held to determine
representation. The Government has the power to order recalcitrant
employers to recognize unions, and it has done so in the past.
Traditional key sectors of the economy, including sugar and tourism,
were heavily unionized. Although the law allowed unionization, union
organizers' jobs were not protected, resulting in low unionization in
some sectors.
Strikes are legal, except in connection with union recognition
disputes. Trade unions can conduct secret strike ballots without
government supervision. To carry out a legal strike, organizers must
give an employer 28 days' notification. The Ministry of Labor also must
be notified of the dispute and receive a list of all striking
employees, and the starting date and location of the strike. This
requirement is intended to give organizers, unions, employers, and the
ministry time to resolve the dispute prior to a strike. There were some
strikes during the year. Most disputes, including those in which strike
action was deemed illegal, were settled by referral to a permanent
arbitrator.
Union organizers were occasionally vulnerable to dismissal or to
other interference by employers, particularly when operating on company
premises, although in theory they have legal protection.
Export processing zones (EPZs) are subject to the same laws as the
rest of the country. With the decline of the garment industry in the
country, the number of workers employed in the EPZs also declined. The
Fiji Trade Union Congress reported that it was able to negotiate
collective bargaining agreements with some employers in the EPZs, but
that not all employers were cooperative.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no confirmed reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Inadequate enforcement of existing child labor regulations failed to
fully protect children from exploitation in the workplace. Under the
law children under age 12 may not be employed except in a family-owned
business or agricultural enterprise. Children between ages 12 and 15
may be employed on a daily wage basis in nonindustrial work not
involving machinery, provided they return to parents or guardian every
night. Persons between the ages of 15 and 17 may be employed in certain
occupations not involving heavy machinery; however, they must be given
specified hours and rest breaks. In practice the Ministry of Labor had
few or no resources to investigate reports of child labor. There were
only two inspectors at the ministry who conducted annual workplace
inspections, and there were no inspectors to investigate reports of
child labor violations. There was no comprehensive policy to eliminate
the worst forms of child labor. During the year migration of rural
youth to urban areas continued, and youths continued to find employment
in the informal sector, including work as shoeshine boys, casual
laborers, and prostitutes. There were reports of trafficking in
children during the year (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no single, national
minimum wage, although the Ministry of Labor set minimum wages for
certain sectors. Entry-level wages in unregulated sectors, especially
service industries, provided a sparse and often only marginally
adequate standard of living for a worker and family. There was no
single national limitation on maximum working hours for adults;
however, there were restrictions and overtime provisions in certain
sectors. Other than a prohibition on working in mines, there were no
limitations on the type of work female employees could perform. Workers
in some industries, notably transportation and shipping, worked
excessive hours.
There are workplace safety regulations, a worker's compensation
act, and an accident compensation plan. Safety standards applied
equally to citizens and foreign workers; however, government
enforcement of safety standards suffered from a lack of trained
personnel and delays in compensation hearings and rulings. Unions
generally monitored safety standards in organized workplaces; however,
many work areas did not meet standards and were not monitored by the
Ministry of Labor for compliance. In response to public complaints, the
Ministry of Labor condemned some facilities as unfit for occupation.
The law accords employees the right to remove themselves from a
hazardous work site without jeopardizing their employment, but most
feared the loss of their jobs if they did so.
__________
INDONESIA
Indonesia is a multiparty republic with a population of
approximately 245 million. In 2004 Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono became the
country's first directly elected President in elections that
international observers judged to be free and fair. Voters also chose
two national legislative bodies in 2004: the House of Representatives
(DPR) and the newly created House of Regional Representatives (DPD).
While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces, in some instances elements of the security forces
acted independently of civilian authority.
The Government generally has been unable to adequately address
serious human rights abuses committed in the past. Inadequate
resources, weak leadership, and limited accountability contributed to
continued abuses by security force personnel, although with sharply
reduced frequency and gravity than under past governments. The
following human rights problems occurred during the year: unlawful
killings by security force personnel, terrorists, vigilante groups, and
mobs; torture; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary detentions; a corrupt
judicial system; warrantless searches; infringements on free speech;
restrictions on peaceful assembly; interference with freedom of
religion by private parties, sometimes with complicity of local
officials; intercommunal religious violence; violence and sexual abuse
against women and children; trafficking in persons; failure to enforce
labor standards and violations of worker rights, including forced child
labor.
During the year the implementation of the Aceh peace accord, signed
in 2005, continued to yield substantial legal and judicial
improvements. No unlawful disappearances occurred; human rights
observers were given open access to the province; and the year marked
the election of a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leader as governor.
Domestic and international observers judged the elections to be free
and fair. In the legal area the Government added Confucianism to the
list of officially recognized faiths; a new law gave important
citizenship rights to foreign spouses of citizens and the children of
such marriages; court decisions applied the more expansive press law
rather than the more punitive criminal law in press freedom cases; and
the Constitutional Court declared articles of the penal code
criminalizing defamation of the President and vice President
unconstitutional.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--During the year
there was a sharp decrease in unlawful killing by security forces,
particularly in the conflict areas of Aceh and Papua. However, the
Government, in the past, rarely investigated such killings and largely
failed to hold soldiers and police accountable for killings and other
serious human rights abuses that occurred in past years.
On January 20, soldiers opened fire on a crowd in Paniai, Papua
killing one Papuan and wounding two others. The Indonesian Armed Forces
(TNI) is reportedly investigating the incident. At year's end no
charges had been filed.
On March 6, a man on a motorcycle, trying to evade a police
roadblock in Peudawa, East Aceh, died. Police maintained that death was
the result of a fall; local residents and others maintained that he was
shot by police and that other bystanders on the scene were shot and
wounded as well. An investigation reportedly was underway, but no
results had been released at year's end.
On May 17, police in Wamena, Papua, shot and killed two persons in
a crowd trying to block the arrest of a local official on corruption
charges. There were no further developments at year's end.
On July 3, TNI personnel reportedly shot and killed a former GAM
member in Keude Paya Bakong, North Aceh, in what may have been a
traffic dispute. No new developments were reported at year's end.
On August 19, Deny Lewol was arrested by police in Benteng, Ambon
City, Maluku. He reportedly was beaten while in custody at the Benteng
police station and later died at the hospital (see section 1.c.).
There were no known developments regarding the 44 civilians and 37
GAM members whom the Human Rights Nongovernmental Organization
Coalition in Aceh reported were killed during 2005.
There were no known developments regarding the following 2005
cases: the January incident in Bireuen, Aceh, during which six members
of the TNI special forces (Kopassus) reportedly killed two men and
injured another; the January incident in Nabire, Papua, in which TNI
personnel allegedly beat local Papuan residents leaving seven seriously
injured and one, Miron Wonda, dead; the April incident in Mulia City,
the capital of Puncak Jaya Regency, during which the police shot and
killed Tolino Iban Giri and arrested eight other persons; the report
that TNI and Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel killed three
suspected rebels after capturing them during a joint operation in Serba
Jaya village in Aceh Jaya District.
The Government made no significant progress establishing
accountability for the following 2004 abuse cases: the beating death of
an East Java resident by police; the killing of three persons who
allegedly tried to escape police custody in Sragen, Central Java; the
killings of Hermansyah and Ade Candra, who allegedly tried to escape
police questioning in Pekanbaru; the police shooting in Poso that
injured Bambang, a wrongly accused murder suspect.
On October 4, the Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of
Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto for the 2004 poisoning death of prominent
human rights activist Munir Thalib. The Court upheld Pollycarpus's
conviction and two-year sentence on lesser charges of falsifying
official documents. On December 25, Pollycarpus received a three-month
remission for good behavior and was released from prison, having served
21 months. A report on the case prepared by a Presidentially appointed
fact-finding team in 2005 was not publicly released but, according to
press reports, concluded that Munir's killing was a conspiracy and
recommended investigation of former and current officials of the State
Intelligence Agency and of Garuda airlines officials. Munir's widow
publicly expressed disappointment with the Supreme Court ruling. She
had previously called on the President to establish a new investigation
team with more power than the previous one. President Yudhoyono has
publicly promised that the Government would find and try all those
responsible for the killing. On December 29, after a meeting with
President Yudhoyono, the national police chief declared that the police
were continuing to pursue new evidence in the case.
During the year the Indonesian Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM)
investigated the 1998 killing of four students at Trisakti University
and nine demonstrators at Semanggi intersection and the 1999 killing of
an additional four demonstrators at Semanggi; it concluded that the
killings were gross human rights violations. Komnas HAM submitted these
cases to the Attorney General's office (AGO) for prosecution; however,
the AGO argued that it could not prosecute these cases unless the DPR
classified them as gross human rights violations. In February DPR
Speaker Agung Laksono said that the DPR would not reconsider its 2001
decision that these cases were not gross human rights violations.
In August 2005 the Governments of Indonesia and East Timor
established the Truth and Friendship Commission (TFC) to address the
human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 1999. The
mandate of the TFC has been extended to August 2007. The TFC
prioritized 14 cases to be addressed, including the Liquica killing,
the ambush of Suai Church, and the shooting in the house of Mario
Carrascalao (see section 1.e.).
During the year, there were no reports of known killings by the GAM
or the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
In 2005 the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Commission for
Disappearances and Victims of Violence Aceh reported that GAM killed
seven civilians; the Human Rights NGO Coalition reported that GAM
killed 17 soldiers during 2005. There were no known developments in
these cases.
In May 2005 GAM rebels allegedly shot and killed a seven-year-old
boy in North Aceh Regency during a rebel ambush of a vehicle carrying
the boy. The incident left 10 others, including three soldiers,
injured. There were no known developments in this case.
There was no known progress in the following cases from 2004: the
four civilians found dead in a jungle near Peureulak, East Aceh; the
killing of civilian Cut Musdaifah in Wakheuh village; the alleged GAM
killing of local legislature candidate Muhammad Amin; and the shooting
death of a paramedic in South Aceh.
In March 2005 in Mulia, Papua, according to the military district
command, an unknown person, believed to be an OPM member, shot and
killed local civilian Tinius Tabuni. There was no known progress in
this case.
On November 7, a Central Jakarta court sentenced OPM guerrilla
Anthonius Wamang to life in prison for the 2002 murder of two American
citizens and an Indonesian citizen in Timika, Papua. Two co-defendants
were convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to seven years.
Four other defendants were convicted of assisting the conspiracy and
sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The courts tried a number of suspects in connection with major
terrorist incidents. On September 14, the Denpasar District Court in
Bali announced the final of four convictions of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
associates for their role in the October 2005 Bali suicide bombings,
which killed 19 persons and injured more than 100 in the tourist areas
of Kuta and Jimbaran. The Bali Court used the country's 2003
Counterterrorism Law and the Criminal Code to hand down sentences for
charges that varied from assembling explosives linked to the attacks to
hiding the suspected architect of the bombing, Noordin Top, and
facilitating his use of the Internet to spread the group's violent
ideology. The stiffest sentences were given to Mohammad Cholily (18
years) and Anif Solchanudin (15 years), in each case exceeding the
prosecutor's recommendations. The court handed down sentences for Abdul
Aziz and Widiyarto that were two years less than the 10 recommended by
prosecutors. Following the convictions, lawyers for Cholily,
Solchanuddin, and Widiyarto filed appeals, which were withdrawn at the
insistence of the convicted men.
On December 6, lawyers for the three men convicted of carrying out
the 2002 Bali bombing, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas), and Imam
Samudra, filed requests for judicial review of their convictions. The
attorneys argued that the 2003 antiterror law, which was passed after
the bombing and under which the bombers were convicted, could not be
applied retroactively. At year's end, the review was underway.
On December 13, the Surabaya district court sentenced Ahmed Arif
Hermansyah to three years in prison for hiding explosives that were
used in the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, which
killed 10 and injured more than 150 people.
On December 21, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction for
conspiracy of JI spiritual leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in connection with
the 2002 Bali bombings. After a key witness renounced his statement
that Ba'asyir had attended meetings where the bombings had been
discussed, the court decided there was insufficient evidence to uphold
Ba'asyir's conviction. Ba'asyir had already completed his prison
sentence.
The courts continued with prosecutions related to the 2003 Marriott
hotel bombing that killed 12 persons. On May 1, the South Jakarta
District Court sentenced Muhammad Iqbal (alias Bayhaqi) to four years
for aiding terrorists and smuggling weapons; Abdullah Sunata (alias
Arman) was sentenced to seven years for financing terrorists and
withholding information on Noordin Top; Joni Ahmad Fauzani and Joko
Sumanto were found guilty of helping to conceal Top and received four-
year sentences.
Religious and ethnic conflict in Central Sulawesi abated somewhat
during the year. The number of murders declined from 37 in 2005 to
eight, and the number injured due to religious or ethnic attacks
declined from 104 to three. A new provincial police chief and 1,000
additional police improved security which reduced violence in the
province.
On January 25, the Poso police chief survived an attack by an
assailant on a motorbike when a bullet narrowly missed his head. On
September 6, a 50-year-old male was killed when a bomb exploded in
Tangkura village of Poso Pesisir subdistrict. On September 9, a bomb
exploded in Kawua, South Poso, killing one person. No arrests have been
made. On October 1, a Christian woman was stabbed and killed while
riding public transportation through a predominantly Muslim area of
Poso City. On October 16, an unidentified gunman shot and killed
Reverend Irianto Kongkoli in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Police continued
to investigate but had made no arrests at year's end.
Government and police continued to make some progress in handling
conflicts in Central Sulawesi and Maluku. Police made stronger efforts
to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those involved in violence. On
May 8, provincial police captured two men, Hasanuddin and Taufik,
believed to be the perpetrators of the October 2005 beheadings of three
Christian schoolgirls near Poso. Taufik admitted to participating in
the beheadings and the murder of Helmi Tobiling in 2004. At year's end
Taufik was awaiting trial. Based on information provided by Hasanuddin
and Taufik, police arrested five additional suspects for a number of
outstanding crimes over the last several years: Jendra (alias Asrudin),
Irwanto Irano, Lilik Purwanto (alias Haris), Nano Maryono, and Abdul
Muis in Toli-Toli, Central Sulawesi. Police provided local media with a
video in which Hasanuddin, Purwanto, Jendra, and Irano confessed to the
2005 beheadings of the three schoolgirls and named two other co-
conspirators. On the same video Irano also confessed to participating
in the May 2005 Tentena market bombing as well as the 2004 Immanuel
Church bombing. Lilik Purwanto confessed to murdering Poso prosecutor
Ferry Silalahi and Reverend Susianti Tinulele and to bombing the
Immanuel Church and the Anugerah Central Sulawesi Protestant Church in
2004. At year's end neither Purwanto nor Irano had been charged for
these crimes.
In November 2005 police arrested four men, Parlin, Nurdin, Arsam,
and Alfitzar, in connection with the November 2005 beheading of a
Muslim girl in Palu. At year's end all four had been convicted of
involvement in the murder.
On September 22, Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva, and Marianus
Riwu were executed for their roles in connection with sectarian
violence in Poso in 2000 and in the murder of 191 Muslims in a school.
The executions led to violence in areas of Flores and West Timor, Nusa
Tenggara Province, and in Central Sulawesi. In Flores, 3,000 persons
rioted and burned down at least three government buildings. In
Kefamananu and Atambua, West Timor, between 3,000 and 5,000 persons
rioted, destroying government buildings, homes, and vehicles. In
Central Sulawesi, on the same day as the executions, two Muslims, Arham
Badaruddin and Rendi Rahman, were pulled from their car and killed
while passing through Taripa, a predominantly Christian village.
According to the local police, an autopsy revealed that the men were
beaten to death with a blunt object. Police arrested 17 people for
participating in the killings, all of whom admitted their involvement.
The suspects told police that the victims were killed because of the
executions of Tibo, Riwu, and Da Silva. At year's end, the suspects
were awaiting trial. Several other incidents occurred following the
executions, including three small bombings, attacks on both Muslims and
Christians, and an attack on the Central Sulawesi police chief that
resulted in the mobbing and destruction of his police helicopter by a
crowd of 5,000. Police continued to investigate convicted murderer
Fabianus Tibo's accusation that 16 other Christians masterminded the
Central Sulawesi violence. In April Central Sulawesi police again
questioned 10 out of the 16 people named by Tibo.
Maluku Province saw greatly reduced ethnic and religious tensions
during the year, and religious leaders met frequently and openly to
discuss local events while cooperating to maintain peace and security
in the province. During the year four murders and two injuries from
violent attacks occurred in Maluku Province; in 2005 four murders and
13 injuries were reported.
In February the Ambon state court sentenced Ongen Pattimura to life
in prison and Muthalib Patty to 15 years in prison for their roles in
killing two persons and injuring two others during the February 2005
attack on the ``Villa'' Karaoke Club in Hative Besar, Ambon. The Ambon
district court also sentenced Syamsudin (alias Fatur or Andi) to life
in prison for his role in planning the attack.
On April 26, Ambon district court sentenced Zainuddin Nasir to 20
years in prison for his role in the 2004 attack on Wamkana village of
Buru Island, during which attackers fired on the village from a
speedboat, killing three and injuring four.
On September 12, the Ambon state court sentenced Syarif Tarabubun
to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the ``Villa'' attack.
Police originally arrested Tarabubun, a police officer, in November
2005 as a suspect in a number of terrorist actions, including the
killings at Wamkana in March 2005, the attack on the ``Villa'' Karaoke
club in February 2005, and the May 2005 attack on a Brimob operations
command post in Loki Village, Piru District in West Seram Island,
Maluku Province, which killed seven persons, including five police
officers.
During the year the Ambon district court convicted three men for
participating in a series of attacks in 2004 and 2005. On February 13,
the court sentenced Asep Djaja to death for his involvement in the May
2004 Wamkana attack and the May 2005 Loki attack. The sentence was
reduced to life imprisonment on appeal. The court also sentenced
Nazaruddin Mochtar (alias Abu Gar) to nine years in prison for his
involvement in the Loki attack. On April 13, the court convicted
Abdullah Umamit of involvement in the Loki attack and the 2004 Batu
Merah grenade attack, which injured five persons in a Muslim
neighborhood. The incident provoked Muslim residents to attack a bus in
March 2005, killing four and injuring 14 Christian passengers. There
has been no progress on the bus attack investigation.
On March 16, protesters in Abepura, Papua Province, killed three
policemen and an air force intelligence sergeant. According to a
Federation of Papuan Churches report, a civilian, Jeni Hisage, was
shot, beaten, and killed by police in the aftermath of the riot.
b. Disappearance.--In the past Aceh Province was the scene of
numerous disappearances. During the year there were no known
disappearances in Aceh. On November 6, in a speech in Aceh, the TNI
commander said that the TNI no longer engaged in kidnapping. The
Government reported little progress in accounting for persons who
disappeared in previous years or in prosecuting those responsible for
those disappearances.
During 2005, according to the Human Rights NGO Coalition, 31
civilians and one GAM member were kidnapped in Aceh; 46 civilians and
four GAM members reportedly were kidnapped in 2004. Security forces
were implicated in some of the disappearances.
There has been no known progress in the 2004 case of a wounded 16-
year-old boy whom police allegedly took into custody, or in the cases
of Mukhlis and Zulfikar, members of the local NGO Link for Community
Development. There was no known progress regarding the 2004
disappearances of elementary school teachers Muhammad Amin Alwi and
Hasballah, who were forcibly taken by 10 armed men in military uniforms
in Nagan Raya Regency.
In February 2005 GAM members allegedly kidnapped four persons,
including an eight-year-old child, and demanded a ransom. Their
whereabouts remained unknown at year's end.
In 2004 Pentecostal minister Jokran Hardi Ratu (alias Jarok Ratu)
was abducted in South Buru Island, Maluku Province. Abdullah Umamit,
who was serving a life sentence for his involvement in the Loki attack
(see section 1.a.), was also convicted in the kidnapping of minister
Ratu. Umamit admitted in the investigation report that he kidnapped and
killed the minister and then threw the body into the sea.
On September 30, a Komnas HAM ad hoc team submitted to the AGO the
results of their inquiry into the 1998 abductions of between 12 and 14
pro-democracy activists; the findings had been previously announced
publicly in September 2005. Despite refusals from military personnel to
cooperate in the investigation, Komnas HAM concluded that all victims
still missing were dead and identified suspects for an official
investigation without publicly releasing their names. During the year
the AGO took no action, stating that it could not prosecute these
crimes unless the DPR declared them gross human rights violations (see
section 1.a.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution states that every person shall have the
right to be free from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. The law
makes it a crime punishable by up to four years in prison for any
official to use violence or force to elicit a confession; however, law
enforcement officials widely ignored such statutes. Security forces
continued to employ torture and other forms of abuse. The Government
made some efforts to hold members of the security forces responsible
for acts of torture. During the year the use of torture to obtain
confessions from suspects was most apparent in Papua. Torture was
sometimes used to obtain confessions, punish suspects, and seek
information that incriminated others in criminal activity. Security
forces also allegedly used torture to extort money from villagers.
Reliable figures on the number of incidents of torture that occurred
during the year were difficult to obtain. Torture and other abuse
included random beatings, bitings, whippings, slashings, and burnings.
The Catholic Peace and Justice Secretariat (CPJS) reported that
police arrested more than 20 Papuans following the March 16 Abepura
incident, in which three policemen and an air force sergeant were
killed (see sections 1.a. and 2.b.). CPJS staff visited the detainees
and reported visible signs of abuse on detainees' faces. On August 28,
a police officer named Novril beat one of the Abepura defendants,
Nelson Rumbiak, in front of the Abepura Penitentiary (see section
2.b.). Novril was escorting Rumbiak from the Jayapura District Court
where Rumbiak had testified that police had beaten him and others
following the March 16 incident. The Jayapura police disciplinary
committee sentenced Novril to 21 days' detention.
In Aceh Province the Human Rights NGO Coalition reported 17 cases
of human rights violations committed by security forces against
civilians and two cases against former GAM members during the year,
compared with violations of 80 civilians' rights in 2005. In September
2004 Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported widespread abuse of prisoners in
Aceh by security forces, including electric shocks and beatings with
wooden beams and gun butts. The Government announced it would
investigate the allegations; however, there were no known
investigations.
On January 20, security officers opened fire on a group of
protesters outside a police station in Paniai Regency, Papua Province,
killing one person and injuring two others (see section 1.a.).
Following the May 17 incident in Wamena, Papua, in which police
killed two persons in a crowd trying to prevent the arrest of a local
official (see section 1.a.), police allegedly detained more than 100
villagers, including women and children, and required them to sit in
the sun in front of the police station for nearly four hours.
During the year the Government reported no progress in prosecuting
those responsible for acts of torture committed in Aceh in past years,
including those cases detailed in reports by HRW and Amnesty
International (AI).
During the year 15 persons were publicly caned in Aceh for offenses
under Shari'a (Islamic law) such as gambling, consumption of alcohol,
and being alone with members of the opposite sex who were not blood
relatives, a sharp reduction from 2005, when at least 88 people were
caned (see section 2.c.).
Military personnel and police officers were responsible for
mistreatment and other cruel acts during the reporting period. In March
Rosidi from Ra'ab, East Java, was arrested and accused of running an
illegal lottery. According to the head of the village, Rosidi was in
good health when he was taken to the police station. Following a severe
beating, he was rushed to Dr. Sutomo Hospital in Surabaya. On March 27,
Probolinggo police arrested three officers accused of the beating. At
year's end no details of punishment were available.
On August 19, Deny Lewol was arrested by police in Benteng, Ambon
City, Maluku. He was beaten while in custody at the Benteng police
station and died at the hospital. A group of persons subsequently
attacked and destroyed the Benteng police station. A crowd of hundreds
brought his body to the Maluku police to protest. On August 20, Maluku
provincial police arrested and charged three members of Maluku
provincial police intelligence (Luis Nusamara, Albert Wattimena, Raders
Ralahalu) and one civilian, Robert Latuheru, in the death. At year's
end they were awaiting trial.
No known disciplinary action has been taken in the September 2005
attack by a group of Brimob officers in Kampu Pisa, North Maluku, which
injured 12 persons. The deputy chief of the North Maluku Brimob unit
had promised to punish the attackers.
On January 16, the Makassar military court sentenced three army
soldiers to 10-week jail sentences and fines of $0.55 (Rp 5,000) each
for their involvement in the November 2005 attack on Banrimanurung
village in South Sulawesi. Investigators from the Makassar military
police found that 25 soldiers were involved in the attack, which
injured three persons and destroyed 50 houses, four cars, and three
motorcycles. The attack was triggered by an incident the previous week
when villagers punched a soldier.
On August 20, Subiyanto, a police officer from the Probolinggo
police precinct, beat and kicked five-year-old Rian Amarullah.
Amarullah required hospitalization for his injuries. According to a
source in the police unit, Subiyanto was drunk and hit three other men
who saw the incident. Probolinggo police arrested Subiyanto. On August
23, Subiyanto reportedly committed suicide, hanging himself in his
cell. In Poso, in November 2005 two schoolgirls, Ivon Nathalia and Siti
Nuraini, were shot as they walked in the street. They stated that one
of the perpetrators was a Poso police sergeant. Central Sulawesi Police
Chief Oegroseno formed a special task force to investigate the incident
and other shooting incidents that had occurred in Central Sulawesi,
possibly involving police officers. On April 10, Central Sulawesi
police arrested a police sergeant for the shooting of the two
schoolgirls. At year's end, no further information about the
investigation was available.
There was no reported progress in the investigation of the 2004
case of the TNI soldiers in Kampung Meureu Baro-Indrapuri who
repeatedly raped a 16-year-old girl over a period of several months,
leaving her pregnant.
On March 24, Hendra Saputra, a cadet at the Semarang Police
Academy, was beaten, kicked, and subjected to electric shocks by five
senior cadets in a hazing incident. He suffered serious brain injuries
as a result. In November five cadets were charged with torturing
Saputra. The five cadets were not suspended from the police academy and
their ongoing police academy duties delayed the start of the trial
until December. The court had not reached a verdict at year's end.
Mobs carried out vigilante justice, but reliable statistics on such
actions were not available. Incidents of theft or perceived theft
triggered many such incidents. On September 6, in West Jakarta, a mob
beat and blinded in one eye a man who attempted to steal a woman's
cellular telephone. Police saved him from being burned alive.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions at the
country's 365 prisons and detention centers were harsh, and
overcrowding was widespread. Occupancy frequently was two or three
times over recommended capacity. Guards regularly mistreated inmates
and extorted money from them. There were widespread reports that the
Government did not supply sufficient food to inmates, and family
members often brought food to supplement their relatives' diets. Family
members reported that prison officials often sought money to allow
relatives to visit inmates. Unruly detainees were held in solitary
confinement for up to six days on a rice-and-water diet.
The wealthy or privileged had access to better treatment in prison.
The country's most famous inmate, Hutomo ``Tommy'' Suharto, the son of
former President Suharto, reportedly left his Central Java prison cell
for Jakarta every month via helicopter and stayed at a luxury hotel
while being treated at Subroto Army Hospital for a benign tumor behind
his eye. In 2002 the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Tommy to
15 years in prison for hiring two men to kill Supreme Court Justice
Syaifuddin Kartasasmita, who had convicted him for corruption. On
appeal, the Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 10 years. While
serving his sentence, Tommy received regular remissions of between six
months and one year for ``good behavior,'' and he was released
conditionally on October 30.
Most children convicted of serious crimes served their sentences in
juvenile prisons. However, in the arrest and trial phases, authorities
held juveniles in detention centers with adults (see section 5). In
theory, prisons held those convicted by courts, while detention centers
held those awaiting trial; however, in practice, pretrial detainees at
times were held with convicted prisoners.
There were no official restrictions on prison visits by human
rights monitors, and prison officials granted varying degrees of
access, including to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law contains provisions
against arbitrary arrest and detention but lacks adequate enforcement
mechanisms, and authorities routinely violated it. The law provides
prisoners with the right to notify their families promptly and
specifies that warrants must be produced during an arrest. Exceptions
are allowed if, for example, a suspect is caught in the act of
committing a crime. The law allows investigators to issue warrants;
however, at times authorities made arrests without warrants.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The President appoints
the national police chief, subject to DPR confirmation. The police
chief reports to the President but is not a full member of the cabinet.
The national police force has approximately 250,000 officers deployed
throughout the 33 provinces. The police maintain a centralized
hierarchy, and locally deployed forces formally report to their
national headquarters rather than to local governments. The military is
responsible for external defense, but also has a residual obligation to
support the police in their domestic security responsibilities. In
Aceh, the Shari'a police, a provincial body, is responsible for
enforcing Shari'a law. During the year international NGOs noted
improvement in the degree of police crime-fighting professionalism and
an increased emphasis on law enforcement ethics. Overall, however,
police professionalism remained low, as did their respect for human
rights and effectiveness at investigating human rights abuses. Impunity
and corruption remained significant problems. There were instances in
which the police failed to respond to mob or vigilante violence. Police
commonly extracted bribes, ranging from minor payoffs in traffic cases
to large bribes in criminal investigations. From January to October,
the Division of Profession and Security (Propam) reportedly
investigated 5,486 police officers, including high-level officials,
across the country, resulting in 240 dismissals. Other punishments
varied from demotion to criminal prosecution.
In August Propam ordered that Southwest Sulawesi Police Chief
Brigadier General Edhy Susilo be removed from his position following a
disciplinary hearing on sexual harassment charges. On September 16, the
provincial chief of police in East Kalimantan, Inspector General Djosua
Sitompul, was removed from his position on suspicion of involvement in
illegal logging.
On September 26, the South Jakarta District Court found Brigadier
General Ismoko guilty of receiving bribes and sentenced him to 20
months in prison. In the same case, Commissioner General Suyitno
Landung, the former head of the Criminal Investigation Division and an
instructor at the National Institute of Defense, was arrested in
December 2005 on suspicion of accepting bribes. On October 10, Landung
was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is the highest-ranking police
official to be jailed for corruption.
On December 4, Senior Commissioner Erick Bismo, the deputy police
chief in Rembang, Central Java, was removed from his position for
allegedly beating 26 subordinates.
Arrest and Detention.--A defendant may challenge the legality of
his arrest and detention in a pretrial hearing and may sue for
compensation if wrongfully detained; however, defendants rarely won
pretrial hearings and almost never received compensation after being
released without charge. Military and civilian courts rarely accepted
appeals based on claims of improper arrest and detention. The law
limits periods of pretrial detention. Police are permitted an initial
20-day detention, which can be extended to 60 days; prosecutors may
detain a suspect 30 days initially, with a 20-day extension permitted.
Prosecutors may extend police detention periods, and a district court
may further extend prosecutors' detention of a suspect. The district
and high courts may detain a defendant up to 90 days during trial or
appeal, while the Supreme Court may detain a defendant 110 days while
considering an appeal. In addition, the law allows detention periods to
be extended up to an additional 60 days at each level if a defendant
faces a possible prison sentence of nine years or longer or if the
individual is certified to be mentally or physically disturbed.
Authorities generally respected these limits in practice. The
antiterrorism law allows investigators to detain any person who, based
on adequate preliminary evidence, is strongly suspected of committing
or planning to commit any act of terrorism for up to four months before
charges must be filed.
In areas of separatist conflict, such as Papua, police frequently
and arbitrarily detained persons without warrants, charges, or court
proceedings. The authorities rarely granted bail, frequently prevented
access to defense counsel during investigations, and limited or
prevented access to legal assistance from voluntary legal defense
organizations.
In the aftermath of the March 16 Abepura incident in which three
police officers were killed, police allegedly physically abused and
arbitrarily arrested suspects. Only one of the persons arrested was on
the list of suspects issued by local police immediately after the
incident. According to human rights groups, the persons arrested were a
combination of student activists and innocent bystanders implicated
during the interrogation of other suspects (see sections 1.a., 1.e.,
and 2.b.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for judicial
independence. In practice the judiciary became increasingly independent
but remained influenced at times by the executive branch, the military,
business interests, and politicians. The Constitutional Court
demonstrated significant independence and, in some major cases, ruled
against the Government. Low salaries continued to encourage corruption,
and judges were subject to pressure from government authorities, which
often influenced the outcome of cases.
Under the Supreme Court are general, religious, military, and
administrative courts. The law provides for the right of appeal. The
Supreme Court normally considers only the lower court's application of
the law. Another avenue for appeal is the judicial review process.
Judicial review allows the Supreme Court to revisit cases that have
already been decided (including by the Supreme Court itself), provided
that there is new evidence that was not available during earlier
trials. Parallel to the Supreme Court is the Constitutional Court,
which is empowered to review the constitutionality of laws, settle
disputes between state institutions, dissolve political parties,
resolve certain electoral disputes, and decide allegations of treason
or corruption against the President or vice President.
In August 2005 the President inaugurated the Judicial Commission
with a mandate to propose candidates for appointment as justices to the
Supreme Court and to monitor and ensure the integrity of judges. In an
August 23 verdict, the Constitutional Court stripped the Judicial
Commission of an oversight role and concluded that the law establishing
the commission did not clearly state what the body would monitor. Legal
experts criticized the court's decision as counter to efforts to combat
corruption. During the year the commission received a total of 473
reports about the conduct of judges.
The judicial branch theoretically is equal to the executive and
legislative branches, and it has the power of judicial review of laws
passed by the DPR; government regulations; and Presidential,
ministerial, and gubernatorial decrees. In practice the judiciary was
less influential than the executive and legislative branches. In each
of the country's 2,418 district courts, a panel of judges conducts
trials by posing questions, hearing evidence, deciding on guilt or
innocence, and assessing punishment. Both the defense and prosecution
can appeal verdicts. At times judges reversed initial judgments in the
appeals process and sometimes lengthened or shortened sentences.
In the aftermath of the March 16 Abepura civil disorder, police
arrested a total of 24 persons on charges ranging from murder to
assault to obstructing an officer in the performance of official
duties; at year's end 22 had been convicted and given sentences ranging
from four months to 15 years in jail. The trials of the remaining two
were in progress at year's end. Human rights activists raised serious
questions about the fairness of the trials. They noted the lack of
positive identifications of suspects by police in most cases, the
admission of physical evidence without proper foundation being laid,
and alleged that the judicial panel was biased against the defendants.
Komnas HAM was asked to investigate the trials, but, at year's end, it
had not yet decided whether to open an investigation (see sections
1.a., 1.d., and 2.b.).
Trial Procedures.--The law presumes that defendants are innocent
until proven guilty. It also permits bail, which was used rarely in
areas of separatist conflict. Court officials sometimes accepted bribes
in exchange for granting bail. Defendants have the right to confront
witnesses and call witnesses in their defense. An exception is allowed
in cases in which distance or expense is deemed excessive for
transporting witnesses to court; in such cases, sworn affidavits may be
introduced. The courts allowed forced confessions, particularly in
conflict areas, and limited the presentation of defense evidence.
Defendants have the right to avoid self-incrimination but generally
were required to give testimony before the conclusion of a trial.
However, in practice, defendants regularly refused to answer questions.
The law gives defendants the right to an attorney from the time of
arrest and at every stage of examination, and requires that counsel be
appointed in cases involving capital punishment or a prison sentence of
15 years or more. In cases involving potential sentences of five years
or more, the law requires the appointment of an attorney if the
defendant is indigent and requests counsel. In theory, indigent
defendants may obtain private legal assistance, and NGO lawyer
associations provided free legal representation to indigent defendants.
For example, the Women's Legal Aid Foundation (LBH-Apik) represented
many women who otherwise could not afford representation. In many cases
procedural protections, including those against forced confessions,
were inadequate to ensure a fair trial.
On August 11, President Yudhoyono signed the Witness and Victim
Protection Act, which is intended to protect witnesses who testify or
provide information to investigators from harm and threats to their
safety and security. The law provides security to witnesses and
victims, and their family members. In the past many witnesses were
reluctant to testify in court for fear of defamation charges. The
Witness and Victim Protection Act does not shield against defamation
charges.
Widespread corruption throughout the legal system continued. Bribes
and extortion influenced prosecution, conviction, and sentencing in
countless civil and criminal cases. On January 3, investigators from
the AGO and the national police took Judge Herman Alossitandi into
custody after he allegedly attempted to extort $22,000 (200 million
rupiah) from Walter Sigalingging, a key witness in a $34.5 million (311
billion rupiah) graft case involving the former head of the state
social security agency. The Supreme Court ordered the Jakarta High
Court to set up a disciplinary council and move forward with the
possible suspension of Alossitandi. On June 26, Alossitandi was
sentenced to 4+ years in prison and fined $22,000 (200 million rupiah).
On September 6, the Anti-Corruption Court sentenced Suparman, a
former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator, to eight
years' imprisonment and fined him $22,000 (200 million rupiah) for
corruption and blackmailing a witness. The judges concluded Suparman
abused his authority as a KPK investigator to extort money and goods
from Tintin Surtini, a witness in a corruption case.
On December 19, the Constitutional Court ruled that the legal
provision creating the Anti-Corruption Court was unconstitutional but
permitted the court to continue functioning for three more years.
During the year the National Ombudsman Commission reported that it
received 102 complaints of judicial corruption involving judges,
clerks, and lawyers. This represented 13 percent of all corruption
complaints, a reduction from 2005, when 36 percent of complaints
related to judicial corruption. Key individuals in the justice system
not only accepted bribes but also appeared to turn a blind eye to other
government offices suspected of corruption.
Most judges earned $200 to $256 (1.8 million to 2.3 million rupiah)
per month, while a judge with three decades' experience earned
approximately $660 (5.94 million rupiah) per month; Supreme Court
justices earned between $1,540 and $2,640 (14 to 24 million rupiah) per
month. During the year the Government issued a Presidential instruction
to adjust the salary of judges to $1,100-1,600 (10 to 15 million
rupiah) per month. At year's end this decision had not been
implemented.
Apart from the handful of soldiers who were tried in human rights
courts, hundreds of low-level and sometimes mid-level soldiers were
tried in military court, including for offenses that involved civilians
or occurred when soldiers were not on duty. If a soldier was suspected
of committing a crime, military police investigated and then passed
their findings to military prosecutors, who decided whether or not to
prepare a case. While administratively managed by the TNI, military
prosecutors and judges were responsible to the AGO and the Supreme
Court for the application of laws. However, under the ``one roof
system'' adopted in 2004, the Supreme Court exercises administrative
control over military and religious courts. A three-person panel of
military judges heard trials while the military high court and the
military supreme court heard appeals. Some civilians criticized the
short length of prison sentences imposed by military courts. TNI legal
officials noted that all personnel sentenced to terms of three months
or longer, regardless of their record or length of service, were
discharged from military service.
Four district courts adjudicated cases of gross human rights
violations. The law provides for each court to have five members,
including three non-career human rights judges, who are appointed to
five-year terms. Verdicts can be appealed to the standing high court
and the Supreme Court. The law provides for internationally recognized
definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity, and command
responsibility, but it does not include war crimes as a gross violation
of human rights.
In September 2005, in its first verdict, the country's first
permanent human rights court in Makassar, South Sulawesi, found that
the police attacks in 2000 against almost 100 victims in Abepura,
Papua, were not ``crimes against humanity'' (see section 2.b.). The
court dismissed all charges against Brimob Brigadier General Johny
Wainal Usman and South Sulawesi Police High Commissioner Daud
Sihombing. The court also denied the victims' request for
rehabilitation and compensation. Prosecutors appealed the verdict to
the Supreme Court, which had not issued a decision by year's end (see
section 1.a.).
On March 13, the Supreme Court acquitted Noer Muis of all charges
and sentenced Eurico Guterres to 10 years in jail for charges in
connection with atrocities that occurred during 1999 in three East
Timor locations: Liquica, Dili, and Suai. Of the 18 original
defendants, only Guterres received a jail sentence. Guterres filed for
a judicial review and the hearing was held on October 2. At year's end
no decision had been issued. Six of the 18 originally were convicted at
the trial level. In 2004 the Jakarta High Court overturned four of the
sentences. Later in 2004 the Supreme Court acquitted a fifth.
By 2005 East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit had indicted a total of
391 individuals for crimes against humanity committed during and after
the 1999 referendum; however, 290 of these individuals remained at
large with little chance of being returned to East Timor to stand
trial. The UN sent a Commission of Experts to Indonesia in 2005 to
evaluate the Indonesian ad hoc tribunal and the Serious Crimes Unit and
to recommend next steps for achieving accountability. The commission
recommended that either Indonesia retry the perpetrators of violence
within six months or that the cases be tried before an international
tribunal. The commission also included the possibility of an
exceptional International Criminal Court investigation (that would
extend the court's jurisdiction to crimes committed before its
establishment) if its recommendations were not implemented.
In August 2005 Indonesia and East Timor established the TFC to
address the human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in
1999. The mandate of the TFC has been extended to August 2007.In
January and February, the Supreme Court acquitted Captain Sutrisno
Mascung, retired army major general Pranowo, and 10 subordinates of all
charges stemming from the 1984 Tanjung Priok incident, in which dozens
and perhaps hundreds of persons were shot and killed. The court held
that the Tanjung Priok incident was a criminal case, not a human rights
one. In 2003 the ad hoc human rights tribunal for the 1984 Tanjung
Priok incident heard the cases of 16 defendants, including Pranowo;
retired army major general Rudolf Adolf Butar-Butar; army major general
Sriyanto Muntrasan, the commander of Army Special Forces; and other
lower-ranked military officers and enlisted personnel under the command
of Captain Sutrisno Mascung. All of the defendants faced charges of
crimes against humanity. The tribunal sentenced Butar-Butar to 10 years
in prison and found 13 others guilty and sentenced them to two or three
years in jail. The prosecutors had requested 10-year sentences. The
court found Pranowo and Muntrasan not guilty. In July 2005 the high
court overturned all 14 convictions and upheld the lower court's
finding that Pranowo and Muntrasan were not guilty as well.
In 2004 Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan inaugurated the
first Shari'a courts in Aceh. Under the system, 19 district religious
courts and one court of appeals heard cases. The courts heard only
cases involving Muslims and used decrees formulated by the Aceh local
government rather than the penal code. In 2003 the provincial
legislature passed laws that included caning among the punishments that
the Shari'a court may administer as punishment for persons found guilty
of gambling, drinking, or being alone with a non-related member of the
opposite sex (see sections 1.c. and 2.c.).
Political Prisoners and DetaineesIn accordance with the 2005
Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of
Indonesia and GAM, the Government unconditionally released prisoners
and detainees held due to the Aceh conflict. The Government facilitated
reintegration of released prisoners, which proceeded without violence.
The Government continued to hold a relatively small number of former
GAM personnel whom it maintained had been convicted on criminal
charges.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Widespread corruption
exists at all levels of the civil legal system. Bribes, extortion, and
political considerations influenced the outcomes in large numbers of
civil cases.
The civil court system can be used to seek damages for victims of
human rights violations. However, corruption and political influence
over the civil court system limit access of victims to this remedy.
On December 8, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) created in 2004 by the DPR was
unconstitutional (see section 4). The Constitutional Court chief
justice stated that the Government's lack of progress in appointing the
TRC's members was one factor in its decision.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law requires judicial warrants for searches except
for cases involving subversion, economic crimes, and corruption. The
law also provides for searches without warrants when circumstances are
``urgent and compelling.'' Security officials occasionally broke into
homes and offices. The authorities occasionally conducted surveillance
on individuals and their residences and monitored telephone calls.
Corrupt officials sometimes subjected migrants returning from abroad,
particularly women, to arbitrary strip searches, theft, and extortion
at special lanes set aside at airports for returning workers. Under the
special autonomy arrangement in Aceh, Shari'a courts and police have
been established to enforce locally drafted laws which ban Muslims
from, among other things, drinking alcohol, gambling, and being in
close proximity to a member of the opposite sex to whom one is not a
close blood relation. The special police charged with upholding Shari'a
conducted warrantless searches during the year.
In December the DPR passed a law reaffirming a longstanding
requirement that the National Identity Card (KTP), which all citizens
are required to carry, identify the holder's religion. NGOs charged
that this feature of the KTP undermined the country's pluralistic
tradition and endangered cardholders who traveled through areas of
interreligious conflict.
Members of the six religions officially recognized by the
Government--Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and
Confucianism--had little or no trouble obtaining identification cards.
On February 24, the Government issued a decree officially recognizing
Confucianism, and Confucians are now able to get KTPs which list
Confucianism as their religion (see section 2.c.). Members of
unrecognized religious groups such as the Sikhs or Baha'is remained
unable to obtain KTPs unless they consented to listing themselves as
belonging to one of the officially recognized religions. Also, low-
level officials and village heads responsible for issuing KTPs often
demanded small bribes or made the process very cumbersome, which made
it difficult for disadvantaged groups such as itinerant workers, the
poor, religious minorities, and the homeless to obtain KTPs.
In many parts of the country, particularly in Kalimantan and Papua,
local residents believed that the government-sponsored transmigration
program interfered with their traditional ways of life, land usage, and
economic opportunities. No new families have transmigrated under
government auspices since 2004. The Government continued to support at
least 71,748 households moved in previous years from overpopulated
areas to 361 isolated and less developed areas in 26 provinces.
The Government used its authority, and at times intimidation, to
appropriate land for development projects, often without fair
compensation. In other cases, state-owned companies were accused of
endangering resources upon which citizens' livelihood depended. In May
2005 President Yudhoyono signed a decree on land acquisition for public
use, which allows the Government to acquire land for public development
projects even if landowners have not agreed on the amount of
compensation. A number of NGOs argued that the decree served the
interests of wealthy developers at the expense of the poor.
Land disputes generated charges of unfair evictions and the use of
excessive force by security officials. The NGO Jakarta Residents Forum
estimated that security officials evicted at least 6,000 persons in 13
areas during the year compared with 5,000 in 2005.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and freedom of the press; however, the
Government at times restricted these rights in practice. A vigorous,
independent media operated in the country and generally expressed a
wide variety of views without restriction. During the year trials were
held for two men charged with criminal defamation for ``insulting the
President,'' but in December the Constitutional Court ruled these
articles of the criminal code unconstitutional. At least three persons
were arrested for raising separatist flags. In addition, politicians
and powerful businessmen often filed criminal or civil complaints
against journalists whose articles they found insulting or offensive.
During the year some journalists faced threats or violence.
During the year there was a vigorous debate over proposed revisions
to the criminal code. Among the more controversial provisions were ones
that would protect government officials and the state ideology
(Pancasila) from defamation and would criminalize pornography and
certain acts deemed pornographic. The revisions were still under debate
at year's end.
Three chief editors were charged with the crime of publicly
expressing or inciting animosity and defamation towards Islam after
they published controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
However, only Teguh Santosa, editor of the news Web site Rakyat Merdeka
Online, was brought to court. On September 20, the South Jakarta
District Court dismissed the charges against Santosa saying the
prosecution had used an improper legal argument against him. The judges
accepted the defense lawyers' argument that journalists should not be
tried under the criminal code, but rather under the press law.
On June 28, police arrested student activist Fahrur Rahman for
burning pictures of the President and vice President in a student
demonstration. On October 30, Rahman was convicted and sentenced to
three months in jail. On August 3, the North Jakarta district court
tried lawyer Eggi Sudjana on charges of defamation for criticizing the
President for allegedly accepting gifts of luxury cars for his son and
three of his aides from a businessman. Sudjana asked the Constitutional
Court to review the two provisions of the criminal code which
criminalize defamation of the President and vice President. On December
7, the Constitutional Court declared the two provisions
unconstitutional.
On April 28, police arrested Popy Egenderph, Jhon Sahureka, and
Dominggus Saranamual for their involvement in raising the separatist
South Maluku Republic flag in the Kudamati area. Popy had been the
target of police investigation since 2004 because of her involvement in
coordinating such actions as a flag-raising in front of the residence
of Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) leader Alex Manuputy in 2004. Police
were also investigating the involvement of Sahureka and Saranamual in
the FKM.
Although the Government did not formally restrict foreign
journalists from traveling to the provinces of Papua and West Irian
Jaya, as a matter of practice the Government expected journalists to
request permission through the foreign ministry or, if abroad, through
the nearest Indonesian embassy. The Government approved some requests
and denied others. Some journalists traveled to Papua without specific
government permission. There were no reports of restrictions on
journalists traveling to previous areas of conflict in Aceh, Maluku,
North Maluku, and Sulawesi.
Journalists faced violence and intimidation from police, soldiers,
government officials, rebels, thugs, students, and ordinary citizens.
During the year the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) recorded
at least 53 acts of violence against journalists, including physical
attacks as well as verbal threats and lawsuits. One journalist was
murdered, four faced lawsuits, 17 were threatened, and 31 were
attacked. AJI found the most dangerous provinces for journalists were
Jakarta (16 cases of violence), East Java (seven cases), and West Java
(six cases). Mobs and thugs committed 15 acts of violence, government
officials (district heads, regents, governors, ministerial staff) and
the police were each responsible for seven.
On April 29, freelance reporter Herliyanto was found dead with
numerous stab wounds to his head, neck, stomach, and back in a teak
plantation near Tarokan village, East Java. Herliyanto was
investigating corruption allegations involving school construction
funds in Tulupari village. Police ruled out robbery as a motive but did
not say publicly whether the killing was linked to his reporting.
On June 13, unknown persons attacked a group of journalists from
Jakarta who were on assignment in Kutai Kertanegara, East Kalimantan.
The journalists were invited by the governor to cover preparations for
the 2008 National Sports Week. Police arrested 10 attackers. Several
were known delinquents and one was a tribal leader from the Kutai
Kertanegara Forestry Service.
On several occasions during the year, an extremist group, the
Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), sought to limit freedom of expression
through intimidation. In April the country's first edition of Playboy
magazine was published and sparked protests although it contained no
nudity. The police charged four models and the chief editor of the
magazine in a lawsuit filed by FPI and a group called the Indonesian
Anti-Piracy and Pornography Society. The editor's trial began in
December and continued through year's end. On April 12, approximately
300 FPI activists attacked the building housing the magazine's office,
causing damage and injuring two police officers. They demanded that the
magazine cease publication. The police arrested three of the FPI
members. The publisher moved the magazine's operations from Jakarta to
Bali.
On February 9, the Supreme Court overturned Tempo magazine chief
editor Bambang Harymurti's 2004 criminal defamation conviction in a
case stemming from an article that suggested that prominent businessman
Tomy Winata stood to benefit from a fire that destroyed a Jakarta
market. In overturning the conviction, the Supreme Court ruled that the
press law should be used in defamation cases against journalists
instead of the criminal law.
During the year the Government took no legal action against any
person responsible for crimes committed against journalists in 2004 and
2005.
In 2002 the Government enacted a broadcasting law that established
an impartial broadcasting commission (KPI) and designated the state as
the sole authority to issue broadcasting licenses. In November 2005 the
Government issued four implementing regulations banning live broadcast
of regularly scheduled foreign programs by domestic carriers and giving
the broadcast licensing authority to the Ministry of Communications and
Information. Although some stations continued to air live broadcasts of
foreign news reports, others delayed them to comply with the law. The
2002 law does not specify whether the ministry or the KPI controls
issuance of broadcast licenses, so broadcasters continued to apply to
both. In May both KPI and a coalition of NGOs separately requested that
the Supreme Court review the 2005 implementing regulations, arguing
they infringe on media freedom. At year's end the Supreme Court had not
issued a decision in either case.
Despite incidents of violence and intimidation of the press,
members of the press continued aggressive reporting on such issues as
corruption, the Munir murder case, and environmental degradation.
Regional media increasingly prospered. In addition, moderate Islamic
publications continued to increase in number and popularity. Internet
Freedom
In November, the Ministry of Information issued a decree creating
an agency aimed at preventing online crime among local users. Under the
decree, Internet cafes are required to provide the identities of
Internet users to the agency on a monthly basis. The Ministry of
Communication and Information denied that this agency would monitor
online content. Human rights NGOs formed a team to monitor
implementation of the decree.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The March 16 Abepura
incident, in which three police officers and an air force
noncommissioned officer were killed, occurred near Cendrawasih
University. In the aftermath police swept the dormitories in search of
suspects. Many students reportedly fled the university, and it was
forced to close for 10 days.
The government-supervised Film Censorship Institute continued to
censor domestic and imported movies for content deemed pornographic or
religiously offensive.
In December the Jakarta film festival showed the documentary film A
Hero's Journey about East Timor President and former Indonesian
prisoner Xanana Gusmao. Media coverage of the film was limited. The
Film Censorship Institute reportedly prevented the planned showing of
three other films at the festival, all of which touched upon
politically sensitive topics: East Timor, the 2002 Bali bombing, and
the Aceh conflict.
In July the women's chapter of FPI, the Mujahidah FPI, claimed that
Miss Indonesia's participation in the Miss Universe contest violated an
education minister's decree forbidding the holding of beauty contests.
FPI also reported members of the Miss Indonesia Foundation to the
police for their involvement in sending Miss Indonesia to the contest.
Although the case remained open, no charges had been filed at year's
end.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right; however, the Government restricted this
right in conflict areas. The law generally does not require permits for
social, cultural, or religious gatherings; however, any gathering of
five or more persons related to political, labor, or public policy
requires police notification, and demonstrations require a permit.
Although the Papua Special Autonomy Law permits flying a flag
symbolizing Papua's cultural identity, on January 28, police arrested
Jacob Mamori for hoisting the Papuan Morning Star Flag. Soon after he
was described as being mentally deranged and was released. On May 11,
police refused permission for a May 12 seminar at Cendrawasih
University on the topic ``the demand for Freeport closure.''
There were instances when police showed notable restraint in
dealing with violent demonstrations. For example, on March 16 in
Abepura, approximately 150 demonstrators, including students from
Cendrawasih University, blocked off roads for two days in front of the
university demanding the closure of the foreign-owned Freeport mine in
Timika. Demonstrators and students attacked the police and, with large
rocks, beat to death three police officers and one member of the air
force. In response, police used tear gas and fired rubber bullets at
the crowd (see sections 1.a., 1.d., and 1.e.).
On May 3, the police used tear gas and water cannons in confronting
labor demonstrators who had torn down the gates to the parliament
compound, set fire to tires, and thrown stones at the police (see
section 6.b.).
On other occasions police took no action to protect persons being
attacked by mobs. On February 4, a mob in West Lombok attacked the
houses of Ahmadiyah sect members, destroying 27 houses and leaving 137
people homeless. On March 17, a mob in Central Lombok attacked another
Ahmadiyah settlement, destroying 45 homes. In each incident, police
received information that an attack was imminent, but took no action to
prevent it. In July a mob ransacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in Bogor, West
Java (see section 2.c.).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected it in practice. The
Communist Party was banned in 1966.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for ``all
persons the right to worship according to his or her own religion or
belief'' and states that ``the nation is based upon belief in one
supreme God.'' The Government generally respected the former provision,
but until recently only five faiths--Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism,
Hinduism, and Buddhism--received official recognition in the form of
representation at the Ministry of Religious Affairs. However, in
February the Government recognized Confucianism as a formal religion
following a statement by President Yudhoyono on the celebration of the
Chinese New Year (most Confucians in the country are ethnic Chinese).
On February 24, the Home Affairs Ministry issued a regulation requiring
local and provincial administrations to provide administrative services
to Confucians, such as issuing marriage licenses and identification
documents which denote the bearer's Confucian religious affiliation.
Other religious groups were able to register with the Government, but
only with the Ministry of Home Affairs and only as social
organizations. These groups experienced official and social
discrimination. The law does not recognize atheism, and in practical
terms requires all persons to identify themselves with one of the six
faiths acknowledged by the Government.
The civil registration system continued to discriminate against
members of minority religions. Civil registry officials refused to
register the marriages or births of children of animists, members of
the Baha'i faith, and others because they did not belong to one of the
six officially recognized faiths. According to the Hindu association
Parisadha Hindu Dharma Indonesia, Hindus, particularly in North
Lampung, Southeast Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and some areas in East Java,
despite official recognition of their religion, sometimes had to travel
some distance to register marriages or births because local officials
would not perform the registration.
Persons whose religion was not one of the six officially recognized
faiths, as well as persons of Chinese descent, had difficulty obtaining
a KTP, which was necessary to register marriages, births, and divorces.
Several NGOs and religious advocacy groups urged the Government to
delete the religion category from the KTPs, but the DPR passed
legislation in December retaining it (see section 1.f.). Men and women
of different religions experienced difficulties in marrying and in
registering marriages. The Government refused to register a marriage
unless a religious marriage ceremony had taken place. However, very few
religious officials were willing to take part in a wedding involving a
man and woman of different faiths. For this reason, some brides and
grooms converted to their partner's religion. Others resorted to
traveling overseas to wed. In July 2005 the Indonesian Council of
Ulemas (MUI) reaffirmed its 1980 ban on marriages between persons of
different faiths. MUI edicts are influential but do not have legal
standing.
On March 21, the ministers of religious affairs and home affairs
signed a joint ministerial decree on the establishment of houses of
worship, which replaced a 1969 joint ministerial decree, and declares
that a permit for a house of worship can be issued if it is petitioned
in a signed statement by at least 90 congregation members and 60 other
community members. The petition must then be approved by both the local
head of the Religious Affairs Department and the local office of the
Communication Forum for Religious Harmony. The joint ministerial decree
was in part a response to attacks on unregistered houses of worship.
The decree was intended to make it easier to open houses of worship by
reducing the number of other community members who must sign the
petition. Some groups criticized the new rules for retaining the
requirement that community members consent to establishment of houses
of worship. These groups also noted that the high number of
congregation members required to sign the petition limited the ability
of small congregations to register and to exercise their constitutional
right to freedom of worship.
In Central Sulawesi and Maluku, NGOs worked closely with religious
leaders and the local community to promote mutual respect and
cooperation among religions. Muslim and Christian groups in Poso/Palu
were communicating better and interacting more intensively.
In March in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, approximately 100 members of
the militant Islamic group Laskar Jundullah ransacked an office/house
of two foreign university lecturers/linguists, accusing the two long-
term residents of translating the Bible into the local dialect and
demanding the two leave the country for allegedly trying to convert
residents to Christianity. The local police dispersed the crowd, after
allowing them to ``search'' the couple's house.
In September 2005 a court in West Java sentenced three women to
three years in prison each for proselytizing based on their inclusion
of Muslim children, albeit with parental permission, in Christian
Sunday school activities. On February 7, the Supreme Court denied their
appeal. In November 2005 a non-Indonesian and a citizen working on a
dam project in Madura were arrested following accusations that they
were trying to corrupt the Muslim community. On March 29, the non-
Indonesian was found guilty of misusing his visa and sentenced to four
months in jail. After serving his sentence, he was deported. The
citizen was sentenced to 2+ years in jail.
During the year the Government took no concrete steps to implement
controversial provisions of the education law that require schools to
provide religious instruction to students in their own faith.
As in previous years, some political parties advocated amending the
constitution to adopt Shari'a on a nationwide basis, but most
parliamentarians and the country's largest Muslim social organizations
remained opposed to the proposal. There were no attempts by the
national parliament or local legislatures to amend the constitution to
adopt Shari'a laws. However, local governments have issued Shari'a-
based local laws. Some human rights groups argue that these religiously
based laws are illegal, since the Government of Indonesia's regional
autonomy law prohibits local laws from dealing with religion. Others
argue that the Shari'a based laws violate constitutional provisions
that proscribe religiously based laws. The central authorities have not
challenged the issuance of such local regulations.
According to the Indonesian Women's Coalition, more than 56
Shari'a-based local laws have been issued throughout Indonesia. These
include laws requiring that women wear headscarves in public, that
village heads be able to read the Koran (in Arabic), and that prohibit
drinking alcohol and gambling.
In Aceh, in accordance with Aceh's special autonomy arrangement,
the Government continued to establish Shari'a courts, which heard only
cases involving Muslims and did not enforce the national penal code but
rather qanuns, decrees formulated by the Aceh government and approved
by the provincial legislature. The qanuns cover such ``immoral
behavior'' as extramarital contact between a man and woman, gambling,
and the production, distribution, or consumption of alcohol.
Extramarital contact warrants from three to nine lashes, consumption of
alcohol 40 lashes, and gambling six to 12 lashes. During the year a
total of 15 persons were caned.
Members of the Banda Aceh Shari'a office, supported by local
police, enforced headscarf use by Muslim women. In a series of December
sweeps, Aceh's Shari'a police raided more than 30 beauty salons for
allowing ``improper contact'' between men and women that, they alleged,
could lead to adultery. The police also arrested local women for not
wearing headscarves.
Courts sentenced several persons to jail for insulting Islam.
On May 17, the Palu District Court sentenced eight followers of
Madi, a fugitive sect leader, to nine months in jail for their
involvement in a October 2005 clash that left five dead, including
three police officers. Two other suspects were acquitted of all
charges.
As in previous years, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan,
many local governments ordered either the closure or limited operating
hours for various types of ``entertainment'' establishments,
particularly bars and nightclubs not located in five star hotels.
Government and mainstream Islamic leaders called on fringe groups not
to carry out vigilante closings of establishments that violated these
decrees, and these radical groups complied.Societal Abuses and
Discrimination
The Ahmadiyah Islamic sect, considered heretical by many mainstream
Muslims, was attacked by mobs on several occasions, sometimes with
elements of the authorities assisting the attackers or acquiescing in
the attack. The Government has not sought to punish the perpetrators of
these attacks (see section 2.b.). At year's end the Ahmadiyah compound
in Bogor, West Java, which was attacked and damaged in July 2005,
remained sealed, although Ahmadiyah members were able to use the office
facilities in a limited fashion.
On February 4, between 500 and 1,000 local residents attacked an
Ahmadiyah housing complex in Gegerungan, injuring six persons and
destroying all 25 homes. The 137 residents were forced to take shelter
in an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Mataram, the Lombok
provincial capital. The village head informed police of the impending
attack but the police were unable or unwilling to stop the violence.
Police arrested three participants in the violence after the situation
calmed, but they were subsequently released and no further action was
taken. An alleged provocateur of the violence was also later arrested,
but was released when an angry crowd showed up at the police station
holding him. No one has been charged with any crime in the incident.
On March 17, members of the Anti-Ahmadiyah Alliance destroyed homes
of Ahmadiyah members in Prapen, Central Lombok Regency, causing the
evacuation of 45 people to the Ahmadiyah IDP camp in Mataram. There
were no arrests after this attack.
At year's end 182 Ahmadiyah members were living as IDPs in
government barracks in Mataram. Police would not allow them to return
and rebuild their homes until the local government decided what to do
about them. Local political and religious leaders blamed the
Ahmadiyah's plight on their unwillingness to ``return to the flock'' of
mainstream Islam.
On February 15, the Regent of Bulukumba closed the Ahmadiyah mosque
in Ujung Loe district of Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi. Hundreds of
persons demanded that Ahmadiyah followers leave the village.
On April 29, dozens of unidentified people vandalized the Ahmadiyah
mosque in Ranowila, South Sulawesi Province, while Ahmadiyah followers
were commemorating the Prophet Mohammad's birthday. No injuries or
arrests were reported.
On October 24, a group attacked a mosque belonging to the
Ahmadihyah sect in Buton regency, South Sulawesi, while the group was
performing Idul Fitri prayers. Buton police prevented the attackers
from setting the mosque on fire and evacuated members of the sect. No
arrests were made.
On October 25, followers of Ahmadiyah clashed with local community
members in Manislor, West Java, causing damage to the Ahmadiyah mosque
and the house of a local resident. No arrests were made.
On October 27, a mob in Bogor, West Java, dragged Muslim cleric
Alih bin Hadi from his mosque and beat him to death. Members of the
local community had contended for some time that Alih, who was a member
of a group called Yayasan Karisma Usada Mustika, was delivering
heretical sermons; the MUI was also looking into charges of heresy. In
December 2005, Alih agreed to leave Bogor and stop preaching but
returned to Bogor during the fall of this year. At year's end an
investigation was ongoing.
Religiously motivated violence and vigilante acts in Central
Sulawesi, Maluku, and North Maluku occurred less frequently than in
previous years. However, Central Sulawesi continued to experience
sporadic bombings, shootings, and other violence in spite of broad
societal support for security restoration and reconciliation. During
the year the police withdrew some forces from areas of the Poso
Regency, bombing and other attacks increased in an apparent effort to
provoke renewed intercommunal violence. On March 22, a small bomb
exploded in front of the Poso Nursing Academy causing no injuries.
Another detonated in the empty Eklesia church in Poso on July 1. An
explosion took place in front of the residence of the Poso police chief
on August 3. On October 16, an unidentified gunman shot and killed
Reverend Irianto Kongkoli in Palu, Central Sulawesi (see section 1.a.).
The indigenous Jewish population is small. Sabili, a radical
Islamic publication and the country's second largest magazine by
circulation, regularly published articles with anti-Semitic statements
and themes. During the year a commercial company, Trustco Multimedia,
circulated an interactive computer disk (cd) with material on the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which included a ``game'' entitled
``Shoot the Jews.'' PKS denied any connection with the cd and requested
Trustco Multimedia remove it from circulation.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution allows the Government
to prevent persons from entering or leaving the country, and sometimes
the Government restricted freedom of movement. The Law on Overcoming
Dangerous Situations gives military forces broad powers in a declared
state of emergency, including the power to limit land, air, and sea
traffic; however, the Government did not use these powers. The
Government continued to restrict freedom of movement for foreigners
through a system of ``travel letters,'' required for Papua. Enforcement
was inconsistent. In June two foreign citizens were detained and
deported for misusing their tourist visas to attend a meeting of a
local tribal group in Papua Province. Under the 2005 Helsinki MOU
between the Government and GAM, special national identity cards for
Acehnese were no longer issued. However, at year's end many Acehnese
continued to use Aceh-specific identity cards, as the Government had
not yet issued national identity cards in all parts of the province.
The Government prevented at least 1,167 persons from leaving the
country during the year. The AGO and the High Prosecutor's office
prevented most of these departures. Some of those barred from leaving
were delinquent taxpayers, convicted or indicted persons, and persons
otherwise involved in legal disputes.
On April 19, a noncitizen was barred from entering the country. The
individual had been detained by the authorities in 2005 for illegally
entering Aceh, and was jailed and deported in 2003 for associating with
Acehnese rebels. On September 14, five foreign journalists were
deported from Jayapura, Papua, for not possessing appropriate
permission to cover news in the area. The five journalists came to
Jayapura as tourists but then allegedly engaged in journalistic
activities without the permission of the Foreign Ministry.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Internal Displacement
Monitoring Center (IDMC) reported that there were between 200,000 and
350,000 IDPs in the country, between 140,000 and 150,000 of whom were
in Aceh, almost all the result of the 2004 tsunami. Some of the Aceh
IDPs lived in temporary shelters, while others stayed with host
families or were integrated into local communities.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. However, in practice, there were no reports of the forced
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government cooperated with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), which maintained an office in Jakarta, for assisting refugees
and asylum seekers. At year's end there were 61 UNHCR-recognized
refugees and 265 asylum seekers living in the country. Some were
applicants and others were dependents. Most were from Iraq, Burma,
Nigeria, or Sri Lanka.
The above figures do not include approximately 10,000 former
refugees from East Timor who resided in West Timor at year's end,
according to the UNHCR and the National Coordinating Board for Disaster
and the IDMC. The precise number of East Timorese refugees is a matter
of debate; the East Nusa Tenggara Governor cited a figure of 104,436
individuals remaining in West Timor.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
The constitution provides for national elections every five years.
The security forces lost their appointed DPR seats in October 2004 with
the inauguration of the new legislature. DPR members automatically are
members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which until
October 2004 included regional and government appointed
representatives. In October 2004 the MPR became a fully elected body
consisting of the 550 DPR members and the 128 members of the DPD.
Elections and Political Participation.--Domestic and international
observers monitored peaceful, first-ever, direct local elections to
choose provincial- and district-level executives beginning in June
2005. During the year the Government held 54 local elections: six for
governor, seven for mayor, and 41 for regent. Observers generally
perceived the local elections as free and fair and, with a few
exceptions, without incident affecting the outcome.Most instances of
violence involved supporters of losing candidates attacking local
election offices.
In 2004 President Yudhoyono became the country's first directly
elected President. Domestic and international observers monitored the
legislative and Presidential elections, organized by an independent
election commission, and considered the elections free and fair. The
national elections featured high voter turnouts, an absence of any
notable violence, and broad public acceptance of the results.
All adult citizens are eligible to vote except members of the
military and the police, convicts serving a sentence of five years or
more, persons suffering from mental disorders, and persons deprived of
voting rights by an irrevocable verdict of a court of justice.
There were no legal restrictions on the role of women in politics.
During the year women held four of 36 cabinet seats. The current
election law includes a nonbinding call for parties to select women for
at least 30 percent of the candidate slots on their party lists. In the
2004 elections, 61 women were elected to the 550-seat DPR, an increase
from 1999, when 44 women held seats in the 500-seat DPR. In the DPD, 27
of the 128 members were women. During the year a woman was elected
governor of Banten Province; and women won six district chief positions
in local elections, raising, the total number of female district chiefs
to 18. Women are greatly underrepresented in local government in some
provinces; for example, in Aceh the highest positions held by women are
two deputy mayor and deputy regent positions.With the exception of Aceh
Province, where non-Muslims are effectively blocked from political
office by a requirement that all candidates must demonstrate their
ability to read the Koran in Arabic, there were no legal restrictions
on the role of minorities in politics. There were no official
statistics on the ethnic backgrounds of legislators in the DPR.
President Yudhoyono's cabinet consisted of a plurality of Javanese,
with others being of Sundanese, Bugis, Batak, Acehnese, Papuan,
Balinese, Arab, and Chinese heritage. The authorities swore in a
directly elected governor for West Irian Jaya on July 24, and for Papua
Province on July 26.
On December 11, Aceh held its first direct elections for regents,
mayors, and governor since the 2005 peace accord. Domestic and
international observers judged the elections to be free and fair. A
former GAM field commander won the gubernatorial election and GAM-
affiliated candidates won positions in six local and district
governments.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
domestic and international perception that corruption was a part of
daily life. Soon after taking office, the President established the
Corruption Eradication Commission, giving it a broad investigative
mandate. On February 7, former minister of religion Said Agil Hussein
Munawar was sentenced for illegally spending approximately $78.7
million (709 billion rupiah) entrusted to his ministry by Muslims
wanting to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Supreme Court
reaffirmed the decision in August. On August 25, Theodorus F. Toemion,
former chief of the National Investment Board, was sentenced to six
years in prison and fined $33,300 (300 million rupiah) for embezzling
$3.3 million (3 billion rupiah). On November 30, former minister of
oceans and fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri was detained in connection with an
investigation into his management of an off-budget fund.
The AJI reported no problems for the media in obtaining
unclassified public documents from the Government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government met with local NGOs, responded to their inquiries,
and took some actions in response to NGO concerns. Following the 2004
murder of human rights activist Munir, the President formed a fact-
finding team (TPF) consisting of leading members of the NGO community,
prosecutors, and a senior police officer. However, the President did
not release the TPF's report, which, according to press reports, called
for the investigation of former and active officials of the State
Intelligence Agency in connection with Munir's death (see section
1.a.). After Pollycarpus's murder conviction for Munir's killing was
overturned in October (see section 1.a.), the police reconstituted an
investigatory team. The chief of the national police stated that police
were continuing to pursue leads in the case.
Domestic human rights organizations were subjected to monitoring,
harassment, and interference by the Government; however, they actively
advocated improvements to the Government's human rights performance.
Including the October reversal of Pollycarpus' conviction for Munir's
murder, Komnas HAM reported that since 2000, 14 human rights activists
had been killed, and no perpetrators had been brought to justice. There
were no reports of human rights activists killed since 2004.
NGOs in Papua reported widespread monitoring of their activities by
intelligence officials as well as threats and intimidation. Activists
reported that intelligence officers took their pictures surreptitiously
and sometimes questioned their friends and family members regarding
their whereabouts and activities.
There were no reports of government interference with the large
number of international and domestic NGOs in Aceh to help with the
relief and reconstruction following the 2004 earthquake and tsunami,
and human rights organizations had full access to the province.
The Government generally viewed outside investigations or foreign
criticism of its human rights record as interference in its internal
affairs. The security forces and intelligence agencies tended to regard
with suspicion foreign human rights organizations, particularly those
operating in conflict areas. Government monitoring of foreigners was
apparent in conflict areas. Some domestic human rights organizations
expressed concern about the possible negative consequences of
contacting foreigners.A number of government agencies and affiliated
bodies addressed human rights problems, including the Ministry of Law
and Human Rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of
Women's Empowerment, and Komnas HAM. However, in recent years Komnas
HAM's efforts to expose human rights violations and bring perpetrators
to account were undermined by a number of court decisions regarding its
jurisdiction or authority. In 2003 a Jakarta court refused to subpoena
former and active military officers who had ignored Komnas HAM
summonses to face questioning about 1998 riots, which claimed more than
1,200 lives. In June 2005 the TNI stated it could not cooperate with
attempts by Komnas HAM to summon retired and active-duty generals to
answer questions about the abduction of pro-democracy activists between
1997 and 1998. The TNI insisted that Komnas HAM first obtain permission
from the DPR (see section 1.b.). By law, severe human rights violations
that occurred before 2000 could be investigated only by an ad hoc human
rights courts, not Komnas HAM. Such a court could be formed only by a
decision of the DPR, but for the DPR to know enough about an incident
to approve the formation of a court, a thorough investigation was
necessary. The resulting stalemate continued to block progress toward
accountability. In June Komnas HAM asked the Attorney General for
permission to visit places where the victims were taken during the
abduction. In July Komnas HAM also wrote to the Central Jakarta
District Court to summon retired and active-duty generals for
questioning. These efforts apparently were fruitless, and the Komnas
HAM team that worked on this issue from October 2005 was disbanded in
September.
In 2005 the Government, in cooperation with East Timor, formed a
bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission (see section 1.e.) to
investigate alleged human rights abuses that occurred in East Timor.
In 2004 the DPR passed legislation to establish a TRC to
investigate human rights violations before making recommendations to
the President regarding amnesty for abusers and rehabilitation for
their victims. The TRC was empowered to recommend amnesty for a
confessed violator, even without the victim's consent. The law also
stipulated that cases resolved by the commission could not later be
filed in a human rights court. Human rights activists filed an appeal
with the Constitutional Court, questioning the constitutionality of two
articles: a provision permitting payment of compensation before a
finding of guilt and the prohibition on TRC cases being filed in human
rights courts. On December 8, the Constitutional Court ruled the entire
TRC act unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court chief justice stated
that the Government's lack of progress in selecting the 21 TRC members
factored into its decision.
The Law on the Government of Aceh promulgated in August states that
a Human Rights Court will be established in Aceh within one year and
that the judgments passed by the Human Rights Court may prescribe
compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation for the victims of human
rights violations.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution does not explicitly prohibit discrimination based
on gender, race, disability, language, or social status. It provides
for equal rights for all citizens, both native and naturalized.
However, in practice, the Government failed to defend these rights
adequately.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic abuse and other forms of
violence against women. However, rape and domestic violence were
problems.
Violence against women remained poorly documented. Nationwide
figures were unavailable. The National Commission for Women's Rights
reported that in 2005 (the most recent statistics available) there were
20,931 cases of violence handled by 215 NGOs in 29 provinces, and the
local press reported that violence against women continued to increase.
In East Java incidents of violence against women continued to increase
both in number and severity. The East Java Integrated Service Center
recorded 213 cases of violence against women and children in the first
half of the year, compared with approximately 300 cases of violence
against women and children in all of 2005. Most East Java NGOs working
on women and children's issues believed the real figure was far higher,
noting the tendency of many victims to keep silent. During the year at
least 10 cases were prosecuted under the 2004 Domestic Violence Act,
with punishments ranging from three to 18 months' imprisonment. Two
types of crisis centers were available for abused women: government-run
centers in hospitals and NGO centers in the community. Reliable
nationwide statistics on the incidence of rape were unavailable. The
legal definition of rape is narrow and excludes some acts that would
commonly be treated as rape in other countries, such as marital rape.
Sentencing was a problem. Although rape is punishable by four to 12
years in jail, and the Government jailed perpetrators for rape and
attempted rape, most convicted rapists were sentenced to the minimum or
less.
In past years rapes by members of the security forces occurred in
Aceh. The TNI did not prosecute any of its personnel for rape.
Nationwide, the police operated more than 200 ``special crisis
rooms'' or ``women's desks'' where female officers received criminal
reports from women and child victims of sexual assault and trafficking,
and where victims found temporary shelter. During the year the police
opened trafficking victims' rehabilitation recovery centers in
Pontianak (West Kalimantan) and Makassar (South Sulawesi).
The legal differentiation between a woman and a girl was not clear.
The law sets the minimum marriageable age at 16 for a woman (and 19 for
a man), but the Child Protection Law states that persons under age 18
are children. A girl who marries has adult legal status. Girls
frequently marry before reaching the age of 16, particularly in rural
areas. Female genital mutilation (FGM) was practiced in some parts of
the country, including West Java. Complications reportedly were
minimal. Some NGO activists dismissed any claims of mutilation, saying
the ritual as practiced in the country was largely symbolic. In April
the Ministry of Health banned FGM by doctors and nurses. However,
symbolic female circumcisions that do not involve physical damaging of
the child could be carried out and violators of the ban did not face
prosecution.
Prostitution is not specifically addressed in the law. However,
many officials interpret ``crimes against decency/morality'' to apply
to prostitution. Child prostitution is illegal. While contrary to
societal and religious norms, prostitution was widespread and largely
tolerated. Security forces reportedly participated in the running of
brothels or protection rackets, which shielded brothels from
prosecution. International sex tourism took place, especially on the
islands of Batam and Karimun, both near Singapore.
Although it is not explicitly mentioned, sexual harassment is
against the law and is actionable under the criminal code. In the most
recent statistics available, the State Ministry of Women's Empowerment
said in 2004 that 90 percent of women and 25 percent of men have been
victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.
State policy and the law state that women have the same rights,
obligations, and opportunities as men. However, the law also states
that women's participation in the development process must not conflict
with their role in improving family welfare and educating the younger
generation. Marriage law designates the man as the head of the family.
Women in many regions of the country, particularly in Papua, complained
about differential treatment based on gender.
Although legal scholars believed that local governments lacked
authority to legislate on religious matters, local governments
increasingly passed Shari'a-based local laws that some human rights and
women's activists believed discriminate against women. The central
government has not challenged the validity of these regulations. In
2005 the local government of Tangerang, Banten, issued a local
regulation prohibiting women who behave like prostitutes and who are
unaccompanied by male relatives, from frequenting public areas in
Tangerang after dark. The law also prohibits public displays of
affection. Violation of this law is punishable by three months'
imprisonment or a maximum fine of $1,666 (15 million rupiah). Many
activists protested the law because of its potential to lead to
wrongful arrests of innocent women. On February 27, public order
officers arrested the pregnant wife of an elementary school teacher
(for suspected prostitution) as she waited unaccompanied for public
transportation. She filed a lawsuit against Tangerang Mayor Wahidin
Halim for wrongful arrest and defamation of character. On August 29,
the Tangerang District Court ruled in favor of the mayor.
Divorce is available to both men and women. Muslims who sought
divorce generally turned to the Shari'a-based family court system as a
faster and cheaper alternative to the national court system. Non-
Muslims obtained divorces through the national court system. Due to
prejudicial attitudes, women often faced a heavier evidentiary burden
than men, especially in the Shari'a-based family court system. Although
both Islamic and national courts may award alimony, many divorcees
received no alimony, since there was no system to enforce such
payments. Men and women both keep the separate property they owned
before marriage. If there is no prenuptial agreement, joint property is
divided equally. The law requires a divorced woman to wait a certain
period of time before remarrying; a man can remarry immediately. On
August 1, the President signed a citizenship law to end longstanding
discrimination against Chinese-Indonesians and Indonesian women with
foreign spouses. Among other things, the law revises the definition of
``indigenous Indonesian'' to include all citizens who have never
assumed foreign citizenship; enables foreign spouses, including males,
to seek citizenship after living in the country for five consecutive
years or 10 accumulated years; entitles foreign-born spouses to
permanent resident status after they reside in the country for a
stipulated period of time; and allows a child born to a citizen parent
and a foreign parent to maintain dual citizenship until age 18, at
which point the child would have to choose citizenship.
During the year the Government continued to implement Shari'a in
Aceh (see section 2.c.). The most visible impact on women's rights
appeared to be the enforcement of dress codes. In Banda Aceh, Shari'a
police briefly detained improperly dressed women in the Shari'a
enforcement office, where the women were lectured on appropriate
attire. In February media reported on a protest against the Shari'a
police's humiliation of women in Banda Aceh. In Western Aceh, Shari'a
police publicly humiliated women they considered improperly dressed by
cutting off their clothes. Local governments and groups in other areas
also undertook campaigns to promote conformity by women with the
precepts of Shari'a. Some women told reporters that they felt
humiliated when detained for dress code violations. In West Sumatra the
governor approved a regulation requiring all female civil servants,
regardless of religion, to wear headscarves.
Women faced discrimination in the workplace, both in hiring and in
gaining fair compensation. In 2003, the latest year for which
statistics are available, the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
Jakarta office reported that, on average, women's earnings were 68
percent of that of men. According to the Government, 41 percent of all
civil servants were women but they accounted for less than 7 percent of
senior government officials. Some activists said that in manufacturing,
employers relegated women to lower-paying, lower-level jobs. Many
female factory workers were hired as day laborers instead of as full-
time permanent employees, and companies were not required to provide
benefits, such as maternity leave, to day laborers. By law, if a couple
both worked for a government agency, the couple's head-of-household
allowance was given to the husband.
Organizations around the country promoted women's rights or
otherwise addressed women's issues during the year, including
Solidaritas Perempuan, Mitra Perempuan, LBH-Apik, and the International
Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC).
Children.--The Government stated its commitment to children's
rights, education, and welfare, but it devoted insufficient resources
to fulfill that commitment. Although the law provides for free
education, in practice most schools were not free of charge, and
poverty put education out of the reach of many children. Child labor
and sexual abuse were serious problems. In 2003 the leader of the
National Commission for Child Protection identified the most pressing
problems related to the country's youth as child labor, child
trafficking, child prostitution, street children, children in conflict
areas, and undernourished children. The Child Protection Act addresses
economic and sexual exploitation of children as well as adoption,
guardianship, and other problems; however, some provincial governments
did not enforce its provisions.
By law children are required to attend six years of elementary
school and three years of junior high school; however, in practice, the
Government did not enforce these requirements. According to the
Government's 2004 National Socio-Economic Household Survey, school
enrollment rates were 96.1 percent for children ages seven to 12, 79.2
percent for children ages 13 to 15, and 49.8 percent for children ages
16 to 18. Although girls and boys ostensibly received equal educational
opportunities, boys were more likely to finish school.
Monthly fees for public schools varied by province and were based
on average incomes. Tuition, transportation, and school materials,
could cost a family between $444 and $777 (four million to seven
million rupiah) per year for each primary and secondary student. In
June 2005 the ILO conducted a limited child labor survey in areas
within five provinces (North Sumatra, East Kalimantan, West Java, East
Java and South Sulawesi), which revealed that one in five school-age
children from low-income families had no access to education and
experienced various kinds of exploitation at work--both in the formal
and informal sectors. The survey also found that of 2,438 school-age
children below 15 years of age, 19 percent were not attending school.
It was unclear how many children were forced to leave school to help
support their families. In some remote areas of East Java, lack of
nearby school locations contributed to drop out rates as high as 50
percent and led children to seek work. In some areas, parents and
watchdog groups complained that corruption among public servants
severely undermined the quality of education. The 2004 tsunami and the
lingering effects of conflicts continued to disrupt the education of
significant numbers of children in the coastal areas of Aceh.
Many children grew up in unhealthy circumstances. Malnutrition
remained a serious problem. The country's infant mortality rate
remained high. According to Bureau of Statistics data for the year,
there were 36 deaths for every thousand live births.
During the year malnutrition continued to be a problem in East Nusa
Tenggara Province. More than 17,000 children were believed to be
suffering from malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara as of September, an
increase from the 2005 figure of 12,000. As of August, 21 infants had
died of acute malnutrition, a decrease from 59 such deaths during the
first eight months of 2005.
Child abuse is prohibited by law, but government efforts to combat
it generally have been slow and ineffective. NGOs reported that it
continued to take excessively long to bring a child rape case to court
and that mechanisms for reporting and dealing with child abuse were
vague. The East Java Children's Protection Agency (LPA) estimated that
the number of cases of physical and sexual violence against children
increased during the year. In most cases, the offender was a parent of
the victim. Commercial sexual exploitation of children continued to be
a serious problem. The number of child prostitutes in the country was
unclear; however, a 2004 ILO assessment estimated there were
approximately 21,000 child prostitutes on the island of Java. In 2003 a
team of NGO and government health officials visited a prostitution
complex in Riau Province and estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the 365
female prostitutes there were less than 18 years of age. Many teenage
girls were forced into or found themselves caught in debt bondage. At
times law enforcement officials treated child prostitutes as criminals
rather than victims. Women's rights activists and religious groups
accused government officials, particularly police and soldiers, of
operating or protecting brothels that employed underage prostitutes.
Corrupt civil servants issued identity cards to underage girls,
facilitating entry into the sex trade. According to official East Java
government statistics, there were approximately 4,000 child prostitutes
in East Java, 30 percent of the total number of recorded prostitutes;
there were approximately 3,000 child prostitutes in Central Java; and
194 in the city of Yogyakarta. There also were reports of sexual
exploitation of boys. During the year NGOs reported that long-active
pedophile rings continued to operate in Bali, and authorities arrested
at least one foreign national and deported another for pedophilia.
There were cases in which employment brokers paid parents advances
of future salaries to be earned by their daughters. The child was
required to repay the employment brokers. Researchers described a
``culture of prostitution'' in some parts of the country, where parents
encouraged their daughters to work as big-city prostitutes and send the
proceeds home. NGO observers said many girls were forced into
prostitution after failed marriages they had entered into when they
were 10 to 14 years of age. There was no obvious violation of the law,
because their paperwork identified them as adults due to the fact they
were once married. In 2004 the latest year for which data was
available, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration reported 2.86
million child workers in its national labor survey; however, this was
far lower than the figure cited in a 2003 ILO report of 8 million
children under 18 doing the work of adults (see section 6.d.).
In East Java, local NGOs reported that the Government paid little
attention to the rights of juvenile offenders. In Surabaya, juveniles
were held in the same detention facilities as adults during pre-trial
and trial phases of detention. The only prison for juveniles in Blitar,
East Java, is far from the population centers of the province. As of
July, there were 126 juveniles in the Blitar prison. According to the
LPA, the physical conditions were inhumane. Most juveniles from
Surabaya were remanded to Surabaya-area adult facilities. Juveniles
frequently experienced abuse while in detention. There were no further
developments regarding the July 2005 allegation by four juveniles in
the Rungkut area of Surabaya that police injured their knees and legs
during an interrogation. The head of the local police denied the
accusation. Substantial numbers of street children were apparent in
Jakarta and the provinces of East Java, West Java, North Sumatra, and
South Sulawesi. Surabaya, in East Java, was home to approximately 8,000
street children, many reportedly susceptible to sexual abuse and
violence. Approximately 40 shelters in the province provided services
to such children. The Jakarta City government opened a shelter in 2004
with the capacity for approximately 200 children. The Government
continued to fund other shelters administered by local NGOs and paid
for the education of some street children.
A number of NGOs promoted children's rights, including Child
Advocacy Network, National Commission on Child Protection, Center for
Study and Child Protection, and Foundation for Indonesian Child
Welfare.
Trafficking in Persons.--Trafficking in persons is illegal under
the law; however, the law is not comprehensive in its definition of
trafficking. During the year persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country for the purposes of prostitution and forced labor,
including instances of debt bondage. Internal trafficking was a
significant problem. Although the criminal code lacks an adequate legal
definition of trafficking in persons, a variety of laws are applied in
cases of trafficking and related offenses. The penal code prohibits
trade in women and male minors but is silent on female minors. The
Child Protection Act provides for prison sentences of three to 15
years, plus fines for child traffickers. For cases involving underage
victims, police and prosecutors used the Child Protection Act, a change
from previous reliance on the penal code with its weaker sentencing
guidelines. Prior to 2004 judges rarely sentenced traffickers to more
than three years in prison; however, during the year sentences for
trafficking convictions continued to increase. Judges imposed heavier
sentences on child traffickers, with convictions regularly resulting in
five- or six-year jail terms.
During the year the Government, NGOs, and the media reported that
women were trafficked to Malaysia, Japan, the Middle East (including
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other
destinations. Malaysia was the destination for the greatest number of
credibly documented cases of female trafficking victims. An
undetermined number of women from China, Thailand, Eastern Europe, and
Central Asia were trafficked into the country for sexual exploitation.
Reliable figures were not available on the number of persons
trafficked. A 2003 study by the NGO Solidarity Center and the ICMC
estimated that between 2.4 and 3.7 million women and children worked in
the vulnerable categories of migrant workers, sex workers, and child
domestic workers (see section 5, Children). Within these categories,
the estimated total number of children ranged from 254,000 to 422,000.
These were not estimates of victims but rather of women and children
vulnerable to trafficking.
There is little reliable data regarding human trafficking victims
in eastern Indonesia. However, the LPA estimated that at least 100,000
women and children would be trafficked from, to, or through East Java
during the year. They also believed that the number of trafficking
victims increases between 5 and 10 percent per year. The women's
division of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama,
believed that the number of victims of trafficking in East Java doubles
annually. Based on East Java police data, there were 14,896 trafficking
victims in East Java from January to July. The Surabaya NGO Abdi Ahsi
reported that 3,000 women per year were trafficked from rural East Java
to one of the large prostitution areas in Surabaya.
In West Nusa Tenggara Province, 3,336 cases of ``overseas worker
problems'' were referred to the Panca Karsa Foundation (PCF) in
Mataram, Lombok, by the victims and their families during the first six
months of the year. These cases ranged from workers not receiving the
jobs or salaries they were promised, to torture and rape by employers
and employment agents. PCF estimated that at least 10,000 to 15,000
persons were trafficked annually by extensive illegal networks
operating in the province.
A notable West Nusa Tenggara case occurred in mid-2005 in Krukah
subdistrict, East Lombok. Two 12-year-old girls escaped involuntary
captivity and were referred to the Mataram Legal Aid Society. They
complained that they had given $320 (3,000 rupiah) to an overseas
worker agency that promised the girls jobs as domestic workers abroad.
They said that the agents held them captive and raped them. The NGO LBH
APIK notified the police, who conducted a raid, which discovered 55
other young girls being held captive under conditions that included
rape and torture. The perpetrators were arrested, eventually convicted
of defrauding the girls' parents of the placement fees, and sentenced
to nine months in prison. Public outrage over this case led the East
Lombok government to pass the province's first antitrafficking
regulations during the year, empowering local police to combat
trafficking more effectively.
The Singkawang District of West Kalimantan remained well known as
an area from which poor, ethnic Chinese women and teenage girls between
the ages of 14 and 20 were recruited as ``mail order'' brides for men,
primarily in Taiwan but also in Hong Kong and Singapore. In some cases
the women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and slave-like
servitude. In many cases traffickers recruited girls and women under
false pretenses. One tactic was to offer young women in rural areas
jobs as waitresses or hotel employees in distant regions, including
island resorts. After the new recruits arrived and incurred debts to
their recruiters, they learned that they had been hired as prostitutes.
In October 2005 Jakarta police arrested two persons for duping at least
51 women with offers to work in Japan as ``cultural performers.'' Once
in Japan, the women were exploited as prostitutes. No developments in
this case were reported during the year.
Many victims became vulnerable to trafficking during the process of
becoming migrant workers. Many unauthorized recruiting agents operated
throughout the country and were involved in trafficking to various
degrees, and some government-licensed recruiting agents also were
implicated in trafficking. Recruiting agents often charged exorbitant
fees leading to debt bondage and recruited persons to work illegally
overseas, which increased the workers' vulnerability to trafficking and
other abuses. According to Solidarity Center, hundreds of Burmese
fishermen, apparently forced to work on Thai fishing boats, either
escaped or were abandoned in Tual, a small island in Maluku Province,
where they lived in difficult conditions. In 2004 immigration officials
forcibly deported a number of Burmese fishermen to Thailand via foreign
fishing vessels. In 2005 the Burmese Seafarers Union estimated that
there were still more than 100 Burmese seafarers living near Tual but
did not anticipate further deportations. The Southeast Maluku police
and the local Maritime and Fishery Office estimated that there were
about 500 Thai and Burmese working as fishermen in Tual during the
year.
From January until mid-October, the national police trafficking
unit reported investigations of 91 suspects involving 437 victims,
compared with 82 suspects and 143 victims for all of 2005. Police have
submitted 23 cases to prosecutors and continue to investigate 24 cases,
compared with 12 cases submitted in 2005. The AGO created a
Transnational Crime Task Force, which began operating in July and which
is pursuing 10 trafficking cases. Many of the traffickers are members
of well financed crime syndicates. During the year courts convicted 18
traffickers, a slight increase over 2005. According to NGOs,
convictions resulted in an average jail sentence of four years, an
increase from 2.25 years in 2005.
East Java police demonstrated improved commitment in combating
trafficking, resulting in increased numbers of investigations, arrests,
and detainments. However, relatively few cases resulted in successful
prosecutions. It is unclear whether police were unable to gather
sufficient evidence to secure convictions or if corruption of
prosecutors and judges interfered with the prosecution of these cases.
On March 13, police officers from Rogojompi precinct, Banyuwangi
arrested Lemahbangdewo village head Suwardi for allegedly trafficking
two girls from his village. No charges were filed.
In March Jember police arrested Burawi and Santo on suspicion of
trafficking a girl from Jember, East Java. In November the Jember
district court convicted Burawi and Santo for trafficking and sentenced
them to seven and six years in prison, respectively.
On March 22, Surabaya police arrested a couple named Jatimah (alias
Yati) and Nur Iman as members of a large human trafficking syndicate in
Surabaya. No charges were filed.
In March, Surabaya police arrested Saka Baharuddin, owner of
``Wisma Barbara'' brothel, on trafficking charges. He was convicted and
sentenced to two months in jail. On June 19, Surabaya police again
arrested Baharudin, on trafficking charges. In July police forwarded
the file of Baharudin to the Surabaya prosecutors' office. On September
6, the prosecutors' office returned the case to the police as
incomplete. Police released Baharudin on September 16. No charges were
filed.
On May 8, Surabaya police arrested two members of a trafficking
syndicate in the city's ``Moro Seneng'' prostitution complex. They
allegedly trafficked 14 juvenile girls for prostitution. Their trial
was still pending.
On May 30, Nganjuk police in East Java arrested Sudarwati on human
trafficking charges. In September she was convicted of trafficking
girls from East Java to East Kutai, East Kalimantan and sentenced to 4+
years in prison. She was the second person convicted under East Java's
Child Protection Law.
On July 20, Krembangan police in Surabaya rescued two female
trafficking victims and arrested three alleged traffickers, Alexander
Go, Yola (alias Candra Asri), and Lisawati.
The basic three-month course that all police officers received did
not include training on countertrafficking in persons. During the year
international agencies continued to provide police with specific
counter-trafficking training. Trafficking falls under the purview of
the Criminal Investigation Department, which has a dedicated
antitrafficking unit with operational and coordinating
responsibilities. During the year 40 officers trained in
countertrafficking were assigned to train police nationwide.
Credible sources noted that individual security force members were
involved in setting up and protecting brothels. Traffickers and brothel
owners reportedly paid protection money to security force members. An
NGO survey of trafficking in Papua concluded that military members
operated or protected brothels that housed trafficking victims. Apart
from police and soldiers, some government officials were complicit in
trafficking, particularly in the production of false documents. The
prevalence and ease of obtaining fraudulent national identity cards,
which could document children as adults, contributed to the trafficking
problem. Within society and the Government, there was continued
reluctance to acknowledge that prostitution was a major problem. During
the year the Government continued to implement the 2002-07 National
Action Plan to counter trafficking of women and children. The Child
Protection Act prohibits economic and sexual exploitation of children
and also child trafficking. The act specifies severe criminal penalties
and jail terms for persons who violate children's rights, including by
trafficking in persons. The Government, with the help of NGOs,
conducted public education efforts on trafficking. In September the
Ministry of Women's Empowerment held a series of workshops on debt
bondage to raise awareness and develop a coordinated approach to this
issue.
During the year the Government established a trial program to help
trafficking victims reintegrate into society, thereby mitigating the
risk of people becoming two-time victims, and opened a trafficking
victims' shelter in Batam. Police, prosecutors and judges attended
workshops on enforcement of antitrafficking laws, and in some provinces
government officials and civil society formed committees to stop
trafficking. Prosecutors began identifying trafficking cases as such, a
step that will help track success in bringing traffickers to justice.
Overall, government and society became increasingly aware of
trafficking and the special rehabilitation needs of trafficking
victims.
Nevertheless, the Government faced several challenges in battling
trafficking, including: a limited budget; a lack of awareness of the
trafficking issue across a full range of government agencies; uneven
collection of data related to trafficking, especially with respect to
prosecutions and investigations; and the need for capacity building in
the Government's ability to report on and collect information about
trafficking within the country's borders. International organizations
have witnessed collusion by immigration officials with traffickers at
transit points, making victims more vulnerable to traffickers at border
and transit points.
Domestic NGOs, with international support, led efforts to monitor
and prevent trafficking, frequently in coordination with government
agencies. These NGOs included the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant
Workers Advocacy, LBH-Apik, Women's Aid and Protection Group, Women's
Coalition (Koalisi Perempuan), Solidaritas Perempuan, and Pusaka.
National and local assistance to trafficking victims increased
compared with previous years but remained small in comparison with the
scope of the problem. In general government assistance was modest and
focused on citizens trafficked abroad, while domestic assistance was
minimal. The Government and community groups have a number of shelters
in Dumai, Riau Province; Nunukan, East Kalimantan Province; West
Kalimantan Province; Jakarta; North Sumatra; and North Sulawesi. The
police operated more than 200 women's desks, units established to help
women and children who fall victim to violence including trafficking.
The women's desks provided temporary shelter, special police handling,
and some legal services for victims. The women's desks often cooperated
with local NGOs to provide medical and psychological services and
longer-term shelter. However, distrust of police discouraged some
victims from using these desks. The Government's policy is to ``treat
persons who are trafficked not as criminals but as victims who need
help and protection.'' During the year the People's Welfare
Coordinating Ministry and the Ministry of Women's Empowerment continued
to reinforce this policy in public settings and training programs for
police and other officials. However, local government and police
practice varied, particularly in the lower ranks of law enforcement
agencies. Local governments, exercising greater authority under the
country's decentralization program, sometimes enacted laws or
regulations that tended to treat those trafficked for sexual
exploitation as criminals, contrary to national policy. In many
instances, government officials and police actively protected and
assisted victims. In other cases, police treated victims such as
trafficked prostitutes as criminals, subjected them to detention, and
took advantage of their vulnerability to demand bribes and sexual
services. Police and immigration officials periodically rounded up
foreign prostitutes and quickly deported them without any reported
screening for potential trafficking victims. The media and lower-level
officials, including police, often failed to protect victims'
identities and commonly provided victims' names to the public. The
Government encouraged victims to assist in the investigation and
prosecution of traffickers, but victims frequently were reluctant or
refused to provide testimony due to shame and fear of retribution
against themselves or their families. The new Victim Protection Law was
intended to encourage witnesses and victims to come forward with
testimony to enable successful prosecutions (see section 1.e.).
During the year the Government established an educational pilot
program in East Java and East Nusa Tenggara to raise awareness of
trafficking among housewives, religious leaders, out-of-school
children, and parents.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Government classified persons with
disabilities into four categories: blind, deaf, mentally disabled, and
physically disabled. The constitution requires the Government to
provide them with care; however, ``care'' is not defined, and the
provision of education to children with disabilities never was inferred
from the requirement. The law also mandates accessibility to public
facilities for persons with disabilities; however, the Government did
not enforce this provision. Few buildings and virtually no public
transportation facilities provided such accessibility. The law requires
companies that employ more than 100 workers to set aside 1 percent of
their positions for persons with disabilities. However, the Government
did not enforce the law, and persons with disabilities faced
considerable discrimination.
In urban areas only a few city buses offered wheelchair access, and
many of those have had their hydraulic lifts vandalized, rendering them
unusable.
In 2003 the Government stated the country was home to 1.3 million
children with disabilities, but only 55,000 of them attended school.
The actual number of children with disabilities was believed to be much
higher. The law provides children with disabilities with the right to
an education and rehabilitative treatment. A government official
alleged that many parents chose to keep children with disabilities at
home; however, many schools refused to accommodate such children,
stating they lacked the resources to do so. According to the
Government, there were 1,234 schools dedicated to educating children
with disabilities; 960 of them were run privately. Some young persons
with disabilities resorted to begging for a living.
Human rights activists in Surabaya reported that discrimination
against persons with disabilities existed in employment and education.
In 2004 the Surabaya city government refused a civil service candidate
with disabilities claiming that she did not fulfill health
requirements. In May 2005 the Surabaya Administrative Court ruled in
her favor. City officials appealed to the Supreme Court to uphold their
actions. At year's end the case was still pending and the city
government had not issued a policy to allow persons with disabilities
to apply for civil service jobs.
Few companies in East Java provided facilities for persons with
disabilities and fewer companies employed disabled persons.
Accessibility to public facilities for disabled persons in eastern
Indonesia was limited. In November Surabaya's new airport opened and
reportedly was not accessible for disabled persons. Lack of funds was
generally cited as the primary reason for not improving accessibility.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government officially
promotes racial and ethnic tolerance. Ethnic Chinese accounted for
approximately 3 percent of the population, by far the largest
nonindigenous minority group, and played a major role in the economy.
Instances of discrimination and harassment of ethnic Chinese continued
to decline compared with previous years. Recent reforms increased
religious and cultural freedoms. However, some ethnic Chinese noted
that public servants still discriminated against them when issuing
marriage licenses and in other services and often demanded bribes for a
citizenship certificate, although such certificates were no longer
legally required. An attorney advocate for the rights of ethnic Chinese
noted 50 articles of law, regulation, or decree that discriminated
against ethnic Chinese citizens. During the year President Yudhoyono
revoked a previous Presidential decree that required special permits to
engage in Chinese cultural and religious celebrations. The new
citizenship law explicitly states that an Indonesian citizenship
certificate, which ethnic Chinese often had a difficult time obtaining,
is not required to establish citizenship. NGOs such as the Indonesia
Anti-Discrimination Movement urged the Government to revoke the
remaining discriminatory articles.
The ethnic Chinese community in Surabaya established an anti-
discrimination organization, Sikad, on September 27, to address
discrimination problems faced by ethnic Chinese.
In May hundreds of students threatened to attack Chinese-
Indonesians in Makassar, South Sulawesi, if the police failed to
investigate the death of a maid after she was allegedly tortured by her
Chinese-Indonesian employer.
On August 7, dozens of university students held violent protests
and threatened to expel ethnic Chinese from Makassar after a Chinese-
Indonesian man was accused of attempting to rape his maid. No
casualties were reported during the protests. Five students were
detained and questioned at Makassar police headquarters following the
protest.
There were no reports of overt discrimination against Acehnese
outside the province. Some Acehnese continued using a national identity
card specific to Aceh. The 2005 Helsinki MOU between the Government and
GAM included a provision to issue Acehnese standard national identity
cards by April. This had not been completed by the end of the year.
Indigenous People.--The Government views all citizens as
``indigenous''; however, it recognizes the existence of several
``isolated communities'' and their right to participate fully in
political and social life. These communities include the myriad Dayak
tribes of Kalimantan, families living as sea nomads, and the 312
officially recognized indigenous groups in Papua. During the year
indigenous people, most notably in Papua, remained subject to
widespread discrimination, and there was little improvement in respect
for their traditional land rights. Mining and logging activities, many
of them illegal, posed significant social, economic, and logistical
problems to indigenous communities. The Government failed to prevent
domestic and multinational companies, often in collusion with the local
military and police, from encroaching on indigenous people's land. In
Papua tensions continued between indigenous Papuans and migrants from
other provinces, between residents of coastal and inland communities,
and among tribes. Some in the indigenous community accused the
newcomers of price gouging and condescension, while some newcomers
claimed that indigenous Papuans treated them with resentment and
suspicion. In Central Kalimantan, relations between indigenous Dayaks
and ethnic Madurese transmigrants remained poor in the wake of 2001
interethnic violence. However, between 30,000 and 57,000 displaced
ethnic Madurese had returned to Central Kalimantan by the end of 2005.
Despite interethnic tensions, local elections were orderly and
relatively peaceful. Relations between the two groups also remained
poor in West Kalimantan, where former residents of Madurese descent
were obstructed in their attempts to reclaim their property.
Human rights activists said that the government-sponsored
transmigration program violated the rights of indigenous people, bred
social resentment, and encouraged the exploitation and degradation of
natural resources on which many indigenous persons relied. In some
areas, such as parts of Sulawesi, the Malukus, Kalimantan, Aceh, and
Papua, relations between transmigrants and indigenous people were poor.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal
discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. Some individuals received
prejudicial treatment at medical centers, saw their confidential
laboratory results released or had their identity published in a
newspaper. In most, if not all such cases, the Government failed to
take corrective action. In Papua, where the incidence of HIV infection
is the highest in the country, community members and even families
often stigmatized and ostracized those known to be infected with the
virus. However, the Government encouraged tolerance, took steps to
prevent new infections, and drew up plans to subsidize antiretroviral
drugs.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides broad rights of
association for workers, and workers exercised these rights. The law
allows workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers did so in
practice. The law stipulates that 10 or more workers have the right to
form a union, with membership open to all workers, regardless of
political affiliation, religion, ethnicity, or gender. Private sector
workers are by law free to form worker organizations without prior
authorization, and unions may draw up their own constitutions and rules
and elect representatives. The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration
(the manpower ministry) records, rather than approves, the formation of
a union, federation, or confederation and provides it with a
registration number. During the year, some unions reported local
manpower ministry offices prejudicially recommended denial of
registration. During the year one union federation registered with the
manpower ministry, bringing the total number of registered federations
to 88. Ministry officials noted that only 64 federations recorded by
the ministry had verifiable members. The vast majority of union members
belonged to one of three union confederations: the All-Indonesia Trade
Union Confederation (KSPSI), the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union
Confederation (KSBSI), and the Indonesian Trade Union Congress. In
addition more than 11,000 workplace-level units were registered with
the manpower ministry, a drop from the 18,000 reported in 2005, which
were based on unions' self-reported data.
According to the Government, the country's total labor force
consisted of approximately 110 million workers, 42 percent of whom
worked in the agricultural and forestry sector. From April to September
2005, the manpower ministry conducted a survey of union membership, the
results of which indicated a significantly reduced number of union
members compared with previous estimates. In the past, the Government
had relied upon unions' self-reported membership statistics. The
manpower ministry estimated total trade union membership at 3.4 million
workers, less than 4 percent of the total workforce. However, this
figure of 3.4 million union members is 14 percent of the regular,
formal sector workforce of 23.8 million (a category that excludes the
self-employed, employers, casual workers, and unpaid workers).
The law recognizes civil servants' freedom of association and right
to organize, and employees of several ministries formed employee
associations; union organizations sought to organize these workers.
Unions also sought to organize state-owned enterprise (SOE) employees,
although they encountered resistance from enterprise management, and
the legal basis for registering unions in SOEs remained unclear.
The law allows the Government to petition the courts to dissolve a
union if it conflicts with the state ideology of Pancasila or the
constitution, or if a union's leaders or members, in the name of the
union, commit crimes against the security of the state and are
sentenced to at least five years in prison. Once a union is dissolved,
its leaders and members may not form another union for at least three
years. There were no reports that the Government dissolved any unions
during the year. The law prohibits anti-union discrimination by
employers and others against union organizers and members and provides
penalties for violations; however, the Government did not effectively
enforce the law in many cases. There were frequent, credible reports of
employer retribution against union organizers, including dismissals and
violence that were not prevented effectively or remedied in practice.
Some employers warned employees against contact with union organizers.
Some unions claimed that strike leaders were singled out for layoffs
when companies downsized. Legal requirements existed for employers to
reinstate workers fired for union activity, although in many cases the
Government did not enforce this effectively.
On May 19, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the State
Administrative High Court and the lower courts that the workers
dismissed following an April 2005 strike be reinstated and receive back
pay. On July 19, the union and company reached an agreement whereby the
company would compensate the workers for back pay and provide a
severance payment. In turn the workers renounced their right to be re-
hired. The workers at a private security firm in Jakarta, Group4/
Securicor, went on strike over the firm's plans to reduce benefits
following a merger. According to the NGO Solidarity Center, in May
2005, Jakarta police called in for questioning and intimidated four
union leaders. The police reportedly explained that they were
investigating the union leaders for possible charges of defamation and
asked them to identify other workers from photographs taken at a lawful
union demonstration in April 2005. The company terminated 200 workers
and refused to rehire them, despite a decision by the local manpower
officer that the strike was legal and the strikers should be rehired.
In October 2005 a labor dispute resolution committee awarded the
workers two months' salary.
On March 13, the independent Indonesian Union Federation (IUF) held
a mass rally in Surabaya to demand government intervention against
anti-union activities at PTPN X, and to ensure inclusion of the
federation's locals in collective bargaining at both state-owned
complexes, and to reinstate IUF-affiliated Federation of Sugar
Plantation and Mill Workers President Daud Sukamto, who was fired from
his job at a plantation in Central Lampung in 2005 for ``gross
misconduct'' after recommending that his union reject a management wage
proposal during labor negotiations. In June the ILO's Freedom of
Association Committee concluded that Sukamto's termination violated the
right to conduct legitimate trade union activity and called on the
Government to reinstate him.
In August Amnesty International called on the Government to release
six imprisoned trade union leaders, who were arrested following a
strike and demonstration at a palm oil plantation in Riau Province in
September 2005.
In September the state-owned workers' insurance company, PT
Jamsostek, demoted two Jamsostek union members and transferred twelve
others in connection with a union vote of no confidence in company
management. More than 40 workers at a branch office in Banten staged a
demonstration at the company's main office in Jakarta, demanding the
cancellation of the demotions and transfers. In October legislators
called on the Government to end the labor conflict. All the affected
workers sued the company seeking reinstatement. At year's end the cases
were still pending.
On October 30, KSBSI filed 20 complaints with the manpower ministry
on behalf of workers who claimed they had been denied the right to form
unions. Many of them had been reportedly dismissed without severance
payment or demoted despite their having cases pending in the labor
court.
The Industrial Relations Disputes Settlement Act together with the
Trade Union Act and the Manpower Act constitute the revised legal basis
for industrial relations and worker rights. The Disputes Settlement Act
stipulates a system of tripartite labor courts, replacing the previous
tripartite committees. The act also outlines settlement procedures
through mediation and arbitration. The ILO provided assistance in the
development of the law. By the end of 2005, the Government had
established the new labor courts in all 33 provinces.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the
Government often did not protect this right in practice. The law
provides for collective bargaining and allows workers' organizations
that register with the Government to conclude legally binding
collective labor agreements (CLAs) with employers and to exercise other
trade union functions. The law includes some restrictions on collective
bargaining, including a requirement that a union or unions represent
more than 50 percent of the company workforce to negotiate a CLA. The
Manpower Development and Protection Act (Manpower Act), which regulates
collective bargaining, the right to strike, and general employment
conditions does not apply to SOEs. Although the law was written with
ILO technical assistance, some unions claimed that it contains
inadequate severance benefits and protection against arbitrary
terminations and does not sufficiently restrict against outsourcing and
child labor. The Government continued to issue implementing decrees for
the Manpower Act.
The Government planned to revise the 2003 Labor Law to make
Indonesia more competitive and attractive to foreign investors.
However, labor unions voiced opposition to the plan, and on May 1,
international Labor Day, tens of thousands of workers protested
peacefully on the streets of Jakarta and other cities against the
proposed revisions, which would have made it easier for employers to
hire and fire workers by reducing severance payments and allowing
companies to employ workers for up to five years without a contract. On
May 3, tens of thousands of workers again took to the streets in
opposition to modifying the labor law. The rally turned violent when
protesters took down the main gate of the parliament compound, set fire
to tires and threw stones at the police. In response, police fired tear
gas and water cannons. Police also detained 13 members of the KSPSI. On
September 13, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration announced
that the Government had dropped its plan to revise the labor law and
instead would issue government regulations detailing termination
procedures and severance payments for workers to give them more job
certainty.
According to the manpower ministry, during the year there were
9,168 CLAs in effect between unions and private companies. Company
regulations, allowed for under government regulations, substituted for
CLAs in another 36,652 companies, many of which did not have union
representation. The Manpower Act requires that employers and workers
form joint employer/worker committees in companies with 50 or more
workers, a measure to institutionalize communication and consensus
building. However, the number of such bodies did not increase
significantly after passage of the act. All workers, whether or not
union members, have the legal right to strike, except for public sector
workers and those involved in public safety activities. The law allows
workers in these latter categories to carry out strikes if they are
arranged so as not to disrupt public interests or endanger public
safety. Private sector workers exercised their right to strike, as did
those in state enterprises, although the latter did so with less
frequency. The large majority of government-recorded strikes involved
nonunion workers. Unions or workers' representatives must provide seven
days' notice to carry out a legal strike. The law calls for mediation
by local manpower ministry officials but does not require government
approval of strikes. Workers and employers rarely followed dispute
settlement procedures, and workers rarely gave formal notice of the
intent to strike because manpower ministry procedures were slow and had
little credibility among workers. The number of government-recorded
strikes had declined in recent years, from 220 strikes involving more
than 97,000 workers in 2002, to 125 strikes involving some 56,082
workers in 2005. During the year, the number of strikes rose to 282
involving 595,783 workers. According to the manpower ministry, the
increase was due to protests of the Government's proposed labor law
reform.
The underpayment or nonpayment of legally required severance
packages precipitated strikes and labor protests. The Solidarity Center
documented cases in which foreign employers in the garment and footwear
industry, faced with falling orders and plant closures, fled the
country to avoid making legally required severance payments. Labor
activists also reported that factory managers in some locations
employed thugs to intimidate and assault trade union members who
attempted to organize legal strike actions. At times the police
intervened inappropriately and with force in labor matters, usually to
protect employers' interests. In April 2005 the national police adopted
new guidelines for ``handling law and order in industrial disputes,''
developed with the assistance of the ILO.
On July 31, police shot labor leader Samsir Hasibuan during a labor
dispute near Medan at P[.] T. Cipta Mebelindo Lestari, a furniture
manufacturer. According to Hasibuan, police dragged him from his house
after the demonstration ended. The police maintained he was shot in
front of the factory gate after protesters became violent. According to
Medan human rights advocates, police later coerced Hasibuan into
signing a document accepting representation by a police-provided
attorney by police beating on his injured knee. He and two other labor
leaders remained in jail but were allowed to have their own attorney.
Other strikers whom the company could identify were all fired.
In September 2005 the management of a palm oil plantation in Riau
province, P[.] T. Musim Mas, fired approximately 700 workers for
striking in protest of the termination of nine union leaders. In June
the Indonesian Union of Wood and Forestry Workers signed an agreement
with the company to provide severance pay to strikers, but the workers
were not rehired.
On December 8, Kompas newspaper fired union activist Bambang
Wisudo. Kompas claimed that Wisudo was fired on grounds that he refused
a transfer to Ambon, but the Association of Independent Journalists
stated that he was fired for demanding that the newspaper respect the
right of employees to profit-sharing.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
special economic zones (SEZs). However, nongovernmental observers,
including the Solidarity Center, described stronger antiunion sentiment
and actions by employers in SEZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced labor or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there
were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). The
Government tolerated forms of compulsory labor practiced in the migrant
worker recruitment process. The unscrupulous practices of migrant
worker recruiting agencies, and poor enforcement of government
regulations often led to debt bondage and extended unlawful confinement
(see section 5). According to press reports and research by the
Solidarity Center, recruiting agencies frequently kept migrant workers
in holding centers for months before sending them abroad. While in the
holding centers, migrant workers normally did not receive pay, and
recruiters often did not allow them to leave the centers. In most
instances, workers were forced to pay recruiters for the cost of their
forced stay, which resulted in large debts to the recruiters. During
the year the manpower ministry took limited measures to enforce
existing labor laws that prevent employment agencies from trafficking
workers through debt bondage and thus protect workers against internal
and external trafficking. During the year police and manpower ministry
officials conducted raids on 32 licensed and six illegal migrant worker
holding centers in Jakarta, targeting those that forcibly held
prospective workers, both adults and children, some in inhumane
conditions. The raids resulted in the release of 3,438 prospective
workers, and the arrests of eight suspects. The manpower ministry was
unable to provide information on the disposition of 20 arrest cases
arising from the raids conducted in 2004 and 2005.
Under a Malaysia-Indonesia agreement, as of June, Indonesians
working in Malaysia's informal sector are to be accorded basic labor
rights including a monthly minimum wage, a mandatory day off per week,
and paid annual leave for a home visit. However, activists stated that
the agreement often protects Malaysian employers to the detriment of
Indonesian workers.
Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits children from working in hazardous sectors and the worst
forms of child labor, including mining, skin diving, construction,
prostitution, and offshore fishing platforms. However, the Government
did not enforce these laws effectively. Law, regulations, and practice
acknowledged that some children must work to supplement family incomes.
The Manpower Act prohibits the employment of children, defined as
persons under 18, except for those 13 to 15 years of age, who may work
no more than three hours per day and only under a number of other
conditions, such as parental consent, no work during school hours, and
payment of legal wages. The law does not appear to address exceptions
for children ages 16 to 17. The law addresses economic and sexual
exploitation, including child prostitution, child trafficking, and the
involvement of children in the narcotics trade, and provides severe
criminal penalties and jail terms for persons who violate children's
rights.
The Government has a national action plan to eliminate the worst
forms of child labor, as well as separate national action plans for
combating trafficking and for eliminating the commercial sexual
exploitation of children. Child labor remained a serious problem in the
country. An estimated six to eight million children exceeded the legal
three-hour daily work limit, working in agriculture, street vending,
mining, construction, prostitution, and other areas. More children
worked in the informal than the formal sector. Some children worked in
large factories, but their numbers were unknown, largely because
documents verifying age could be falsified easily. Children worked in
industries such as rattan and wood furniture, garment, footwear, food
processing, and toy making, and also in small-scale mining operations.
Many girls between 14 and 16 years of age worked as live-in domestic
servants. The ILO estimated that there were 2.6 million domestic
workers in the country, of whom at least 688,000 were children.
According to a 2005 Human Rights Watch report, children between 12 and
15 years of age worked 14 to 18 hours per day, seven days a week from 4
a.m. to 10 p.m. with employers who often subjected them to physical and
sexual threats. Many child servants were not allowed to study and were
forced to work long hours, received low pay, and generally were unaware
of their rights. The law and regulations prohibit bonded labor by
children; however, the Government was not effective in eliminating
forced child labor, which remained a serious problem. A significant
number of children worked against their will in prostitution,
pornography, begging, drug trafficking, domestic service, and other
exploitative situations, including a small number on fishing platforms
(see section 5). Social and cultural resistance remained a challenge in
addressing child labor. Many parents disagreed with government efforts
to restrict children from working, arguing that the Government offered
inadequate economic support to guarantee these families' welfare.
Enforcement of child labor laws remained largely ineffective.
Despite legislative and regulatory measures, most children who worked,
including as domestics, did so in unregulated environments. Anecdotal
evidence suggested that local labor officials carried out few child
labor investigations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Provincial and district
authorities, not the central government, establish minimum wages, which
vary by province, district, and sector. Provincial authorities
determined provincial minimum wage levels based on proposals by
tripartite (workers, employers, and government) provincial wage
commissions. The provincial minimum wage rates establish a floor for
minimum wages within the province. Local districts set district minimum
wages using the provincial levels as references. Districts also set
minimum wages in some industrial sectors on an ad hoc basis. Provinces
and districts conducted annual minimum wage rate negotiations, which
often produced controversy and protests. The minimum wage levels set by
most local governments did not provide a worker and family with a
decent standard of living. Most province-level minimum wage rates fell
below the Government's own calculation of basic minimum needs. During
the year Aceh offered the highest minimum wage level of approximately
$91 (820 thousand rupiah) per month, while the manpower ministry
reported official minimum wages as low as $43 (390 thousand rupiah) per
month in one area.
Local manpower officials are responsible for enforcing minimum wage
regulations. Enforcement remained inadequate, particularly at smaller
companies and in the informal sector. In practice, official minimum
wage levels applied only in the formal sector, which accounted for 35
percent of the workforce. Labor law and ministerial regulations provide
workers with a variety of benefits. Persons who worked at more modern
facilities often received health benefits, meal privileges, and
transportation. The law also requires employers to register workers
with and pay contributions to the state-owned insurance agency
JAMSOSTEK.
The law establishes a 40-hour workweek, with one 30-minute rest
period for every four hours of work. Companies often required a five
and a half- or six-day workweek. The law also requires at least one day
of rest weekly. The daily overtime rate was 1+ times the normal hourly
rate for the first hour and double the hourly rate for additional
overtime, with a maximum of three hours of overtime per day and no more
than 14 hours per week. Workers in industries that produced retail
goods for export frequently worked overtime to meet contract quotas.
Unions complained that companies relied upon excessive overtime in some
garment and electronics assembly plants, to the detriment of workers'
health and safety. Observance of laws regulating benefits and labor
standards varied between sectors and regions. Employer violations of
legal requirements were fairly common, resulting in some strikes and
protests. The Solidarity Center reported that workers in the garment
industry worked extremely long hours but because their pay slips do not
specify the amount of overtime paid, workers cannot be certain they are
fully compensated for overtime. The manpower ministry continued to urge
employers to comply with the law; however, government enforcement and
supervision of labor standards were weak. Both law and regulations
provide for minimum standards of industrial health and safety. In
practice, the country's worker safety record was poor. JAMSOSTEK
reported 70,069 accidents in the first nine months of the year,
compared with 99,023 for the whole of 2005. Local officials have
responsibility for enforcing health and safety standards. In larger
companies, the quality of occupational health and safety programs
varied greatly. Health and safety standards in smaller companies and in
the informal sector tended to be weaker or nonexistent. Workers are
obligated to report hazardous working conditions, and employers are
forbidden by law from retaliating against those who do report hazardous
working conditions; however, the law was not enforced effectively.
__________
JAPAN
Japan is a parliamentary democracy with a population of
approximately 127.7 million. Sovereignty is vested in the citizenry,
and the emperor is defined as the symbol of state. Shinzo Abe, who
replaced Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister on September 26, headed a
coalition composed of the Liberal Democratic Party and the New Komeito
Party. The most recent national elections, held in September 2005, were
generally considered free and fair. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens.
However, violence against women and children continued, as did sexual
harassment. Despite government efforts to combat human trafficking, it
remained a widespread problem. Societal discrimination against women as
well as burakumin, Ainu, and other ethnic minorities was prevalent
throughout the country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice. Unlike in past years,
there were no reports of violence against prisoners or detainees. Human
rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that treatment of
prisoners improved after revisions to the law took effect in May.
At year's end a number of prisoner abuse and neglect cases were
pending in courts, including the appeal of an assistant police
inspector found guilty of raping a female suspect in 2005 and the civil
case against three police officers convicted for the 2004 death of a
suspect being held in a police detention center.
The Government continued its practice of denying death-row inmates
and their families information about the date of execution. Families of
condemned prisoners were not notified of the execution until after the
fact. Condemned prisoners were held in solitary confinement for an
average of seven years and five months until their execution. They were
allowed visits by their families and lawyers, and a new law scheduled
to take effect in 2007 would allow access by persons other than family
members or lawyers.
Prisoners' rights NGOs reported that prison management officials
regularly abused the rules on solitary confinement for prisoners.
Although the Prison Law Enforcement Regulation stipulates the maximum
time prisoners may be held in solitary confinement, the regulation
gives wardens broad leeway. Punitive solitary confinement may be
imposed for a maximum of 60 days, but prison operating procedures allow
wardens to keep prisoners in ``isolation'' solitary confinement
indefinitely.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. However, several facilities were
overcrowded and unheated and provided inadequate food and medical care.
NGOs reported that inmates in some institutions were given insufficient
clothing and blankets to protect themselves against cold weather. A
prisoner in Saga City was refused medical attention for almost two
years despite severe medical symptoms, according to press reports. When
the prisoner was finally able to see a doctor, he was diagnosed with
advanced intestinal cancer.
Unlike in past years, there were no reports of rape or brutality
against prisoners. The Ministry of Justice reported that 15 prisoners
committed suicide in 2005.
Minors were sometimes held in the same correctional facility as
adults. NGOs reported that as of December, two 16-year-old Kurdish
immigrants had been held in an Ibaraki Prefecture immigration detention
center alongside adults for more than three months.
Access to prisoners, while still restricted, continued to become
easier. During the year the Ministry of Justice implemented regulations
established by the revised law for prison management that set up
independent inspection committees. The committees included physicians,
lawyers, and NGO representatives. Prisoners' rights advocates reported
that the committees visited many prisons supervised by the Ministry of
Justice. However, by year's end the National Police Agency (NPA) did
not have a similar program for police-operated detention centers.
Access to these facilities was limited and strictly controlled by
police officials.
Prison rules on correspondence became less restrictive during the
year. Although prison management officials continued to inspect and
occasionally censor inmate mail for security reasons, limits were no
longer placed on the amount of mail that inmates could receive or on
the number of their correspondents.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces are
responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the
country. The military forces are responsible for external security and
have limited domestic security responsibilities. Corruption and
impunity were not reported as significant problems within either
national or local police forces. The National Public Safety Commission,
an independent body under the Prime Minister's jurisdiction, oversees
the NPA.
The law permits persons to lodge complaints against police with
national and local public safety commissions. The commissions have the
authority to direct police to conduct internal investigations. NGOs
criticized the commissions for lacking independence from or sufficient
authority over police agencies.
Arrest and Detention.--Persons were apprehended openly with
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized
official, and detainees were brought before an independent judiciary.
The law provides detainees the right to a prompt judicial
determination of the legality of the detention, and authorities
respected this right in practice. The law requires authorities to
inform detainees immediately of the charges against them. Authorities
usually hold suspects in police-operated detention centers for an
initial 72 hours. A judge must interview a suspect prior to further
detention. The judge may extend preindictment custody by up to two
consecutive 10-day periods. Prosecutors routinely sought and received
these extensions. Prosecutors may also apply for an additional five-day
extension.
The code of criminal procedure allows detainees, their families, or
representatives to request that the court release an indicted detainee
on bail. However, bail was not available before indictment to suspects
held in police-operated detention centers. More than 25 percent of
persons arrested were released without being indicted.
Police and prosecutors have the power to limit suspects' access to
their legal counsel. Suspects may be detained for up to 23 days without
access to counsel. Counsel may not be present during interrogations at
any time. A court-appointed attorney is not approved until after
indictment; suspects must rely on their own resources to hire an
attorney before indictment. Local bar associations provided detainees
with limited free assistance. Family members were allowed to meet with
detainees, but only in the presence of a detention officer.
In contrast to government claims, critics said that access to
counsel was limited both in duration and frequency. Critics also
alleged that allowing suspects to be detained by the same authorities
who interrogated them heightened the potential for abuse and coercion.
The Government countered that cases where persons were sent to police
detention facilities tended to be those in which the facts were not in
dispute. According to government statistics, more than 98 percent of
arrested suspects were sent to police detention facilities. The other 2
percent were held in Ministry of Justice-operated preindictment
detention centers.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
There are several levels of courts, including family and summary
courts, district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court, which
serves as the court of final appeal. Criminal trials normally begin at
the district court level. Verdicts may be appealed to a higher court
and ultimately to the Supreme Court.
The law provides for a speedy trial, and the Government generally
followed this practice. The average length of a criminal trial in 2005
was 3.2 months.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The law
extends this right to all citizens, and it also ensures that each
charged individual receives a public trial by an independent civilian
court, has access to defense counsel, and has the right to cross-
examine witnesses. There is no trial by jury. A defendant is presumed
innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and defendants cannot
be compelled to testify against themselves.
Most cases are decided before they reach the courts. Safeguards
exist to ensure that suspects cannot be compelled to confess to a crime
or convicted when a confession is the only evidence, but a manual of
police interrogation procedures showed that police investigators are
authorized to use heavy pressure to extract confessions from detainees.
According to legal advocacy NGOs, the majority of detainees who were
indicted confessed while in police custody. The use of police-operated
detention centers, which puts suspects in the custody of their
interrogators, has been on the rise for more than 30 years, from 82
percent of all arrests in 1970 to 98 percent in 2004. More than 99
percent of cases that appeared in a trial court resulted in conviction.
Although the law provides for access to counsel, a significant
number of defendants reported insufficient access to legal counsel. The
Government contended that the right of defendants to consult with
attorneys could be restricted when compatible with the spirit of the
constitution.
Trial procedures favor the prosecution. The law does not require
full disclosure by prosecutors, and material that the prosecution does
not use in court may be suppressed. Critics claimed that the legal
representatives of some defendants did not receive access to relevant
material in the police record.
The language barrier was a serious problem for foreign defendants.
No guidelines exist to ensure effective communication between judges,
lawyers, and non-Japanese-speaking defendants. No standard licensing or
qualification system exists for court interpreters, and trials
proceeded even if no translation or interpretation was provided to the
accused. Several foreign detainees claimed that police urged them to
sign statements in Japanese that they could not read and that were not
translated adequately.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Cases involving human rights
violations have been brought before these courts (see section 1.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Persons regularly used the widely available Internet connections.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Allegations by the Unification Church that the Government was
unresponsive to claims that its members were being abducted and
deprogrammed decreased.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Relations among religious
groups were generally amicable. An estimated 200 Jewish families lived
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government generally cooperated with the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. However, in February two Kurdish men were deported before
being able to exercise their legal right to appeal the denial of their
application for asylum.
The Government granted refugee status or asylum in only a small
number of cases. Of 384 claims submitted to the Ministry of Justice in
2005, the Government granted refugee status to 46 persons. The country
also provided temporary protection to 97 individuals who did not
qualify as refugees under either the 1951 Convention or the 1967
Protocol. During the year the Government did not accept any refugees
for resettlement.
Refugees faced the same patterns of discrimination that ethnic
minorities did: reduced access to housing, education, and employment.
Persons whose refugee status was pending or on appeal did not have the
legal right to work or receive social welfare, rendering them
completely dependent on overcrowded government shelters or the support
of NGOs (see section 5).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The country held its most
recent national elections in September 2005. There were few reported
irregularities, and the elections were judged to be generally free and
fair.
Except for a brief hiatus in the 1990s, the Liberal Democratic
Party has been reelected as the dominant party in every government
since the mid-1950s. There were no government restrictions on the
political opposition. Individuals could freely declare their
candidacies and run for election.
There were 34 women elected to the 242-member upper house and 45
women elected to the 480-member lower house, representing the highest
number of women elected to the lower house since women first entered
the Diet in 1946. In September the Prime Minister appointed two women
to his 18-member cabinet. On a regional level, there were five female
governors and five female deputy governors, which represented a greater
number of women holding public office at that level than in the past.
NGOs reported that two members of the burakumin minority were
elected to the Diet in 2005.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. According to NPA
figures for January through June, there were 42 cases involving bribery
and 17 cases of bid rigging, compared with 39 for bribery and nine for
bid rigging during the same period in 2005.
Corruption scandals led to public calls for reform. One major bid-
rigging case involved the Defense Facilities Administration Agency and
the governors of three prefectures. In August an Osaka prison warden
was arrested for taking a bribe from an inmate who was a member of an
organized crime family. Investigators also uncovered a 12-year pattern
of widespread corruption in the Gifu prefectural government.
On December 8, the law to prevent collusive bid rigging by
government officials was revised and enacted. The new law sets
penalties for government officials involved in bid rigging to
imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or fines of up to
$21,000 (2.5 million yen).
The public has the legal right to access government information.
There were no reports that the Government denied legal requests for
information or required information seekers to pay prohibitive fees to
gain access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without governmental restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, and social status. Although the Government
generally enforced these provisions, discrimination against women,
ethnic minority groups, and foreigners remained a problem.
Women.--Although prohibited by law, domestic violence against women
persisted. District courts may impose six-month restraining orders on
perpetrators of domestic violence and impose sentences of up to one
year in prison or fines of up to $8,500 (one million yen). The law
covers common-law marriages and divorced individuals; it also
encourages prefectures to expand shelter facilities for domestic abuse
victims and stipulates that local governments offer financial
assistance to 40 private institutions already operating such shelters.
Because domestic violence often went unreported due to social and
cultural pressures, NPA statistics on violence against women most
likely understated the magnitude of the problem. In 2005 spousal
violence consultation assistance centers received 51,358 consultations.
According to NPA statistics, in 2005 there were 16,888 reported cases
of domestic violence. Police were quick to respond to calls for
assistance; they also trained victims in basic self-defense and taught
them how to file restraining orders.
The law criminalizes all forms of rape, including spousal rape, and
the Government generally enforced the law effectively. According to
government statistics, 2,076 rapes were reported in 2005, and courts
handed out 132 convictions. Out of 104 reported gang rapes, there were
five convictions in 2005. Gang rape is punishable by a minimum penalty
of four years in prison. Many local governments maintained special,
female-staffed consultation departments in police stations to provide
confidential assistance to female victims.
Sexual harassment in the workplace remained widespread. In 2005 the
Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) received 7,894 reports of
such harassment. The law includes measures to identify companies that
fail to prevent sexual harassment, but it does not include punitive
measures to enforce compliance other than publicizing the names of
offending companies. The Government has established hotlines and
designated ombudsmen to handle complaints of discrimination and sexual
harassment. In December 2005 the MHLW notified labor bureaus nationally
that mental illness resulting from sexual harassment could be
compensated under the law. The Government also supported private
companies and public institutions that made voluntary efforts to
prevent sexual harassment. Local governments and private rail operators
enforced measures to address the widespread problem of groping and
molesting female commuters. Several railway companies maintained women-
only rail cars on various trains, and an antigroping ordinance makes
first-time offenders subject to imprisonment.
The law prohibits sexual discrimination and provides women the same
rights as men. A Council for Gender Equality monitored enforcement; its
high-level members included the chief cabinet secretary, cabinet
ministers, and Diet members. During the year the council regularly met
to examine policies and monitor progress on gender equality.
Inequality in employment remained entrenched in society. Although
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication statistics showed that
women composed 41.6 percent of the labor force, the average monthly
wage for women was $1,900 (222,500 yen), less than two-thirds of the
monthly wage that men earned ($2,890, or 337,800 yen). Many private
sector companies directed men into higher paying managerial jobs while
steering equally qualified women into lower paying clerical work.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread. Sex tourism was not a
significant problem. The Government continued to address the problem of
trafficking in women for prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
The issue of ``comfort women,'' or women forced into sexual slavery
for Japanese troops in World War II, continued to draw controversy. In
1993 then chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono officially acknowledged
that the Imperial Japanese Army forced women from the Korean Peninsula
and elsewhere into sexual slavery for soldiers. As part of its efforts
to atone for the damage, in 1995 the Government established the Asian
Women's Fund (AWF), which sent a signed apology from the Prime Minister
along with privately raised financial compensation to each victim.
Although many victims refused to accept the atonement money, from 1995
to 2002 the AWF successfully distributed compensation to 285 former
comfort women.
Critics of the policy towards comfort women maintained that the
apology letter from the Prime Minister took moral but not legal
responsibility for the suffering endured by the comfort women. Human
rights NGOs also called for the Government to pay direct compensation
to victims and rejected the Government's position that the San
Francisco Peace Treaty absolved the Government of any obligation to pay
direct restitution. During the year some politicians fueled the
controversy by calling for a reexamination of the comfort women issue.
Children.--The Government is committed to the rights and welfare of
children, and in general children's rights were protected adequately.
Public school education is provided for up to 12 years. Primary
education is free and compulsory through the lower secondary level (age
15 or the ninth grade). Education was widely available through age 18
to students who met minimum academic standards at the upper secondary
level. Society placed an extremely high value on education, and
enrollment levels for both boys and girls through the upper secondary
level exceeded 94.4 percent, according to the Government. There were no
differences in the treatment of girls and boys at any level of school.
The Government provides universal health care for all citizens,
including children.
Reports of child abuse continued to increase. In 2005 there were
34,451 reported cases of child abuse, a 45 percent increase over the
previous year. A total of 37 children died in 2005 after being abused,
according to the NPA. The law grants child welfare officials the
authority to prohibit abusive parents from meeting or communicating
with their children. The law also bans abuse under the guise of
discipline and obliges teachers, medical doctors, and welfare officials
to report any suspicious circumstances to a local child-counseling
center or municipal welfare center.
Law enforcement officials were not able to participate in some
international child pornography investigations because the access,
downloading, and possession of child pornography was legal.
Trafficking of minors, teenage prostitution, and dating for money
also continued to be problems (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--Human trafficking remained a widespread
problem despite significant efforts by the Government, including
stricter visa requirements and the authorization of a temporary legal
immigration status for victims. The country remained a destination and
transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for commercial
sexual exploitation. Victims came from China, Southeast Asia, Eastern
Europe, and to a lesser extent Latin America. Unlike in past years,
internal trafficking of Japanese girls for sexual exploitation was not
a significant problem.
Brokers in the countries of origin recruited women and sold them to
intermediaries or employers, who in turn subjected them to debt bondage
and coercion. Agents, brokers, and employers involved in trafficking
for sexual exploitation usually had ties to organized crime.
Women trafficked to the country generally were employed as
prostitutes under coercive conditions in businesses licensed to provide
commercial sex services. Sex entertainment businesses included strip
clubs, sex shops, hostess bars, private video rooms, escort services,
and mail-order video services.
Most women trafficked into the sex trade had their travel documents
taken away and their movements strictly controlled by their employers.
Victims were threatened with reprisals to themselves or their families
if they tried to escape. Employers often isolated the women, subjected
them to constant surveillance, and used violence to punish them for
disobedience. NGOs reported that in some cases brokers used drugs to
subjugate victims.
Debt bondage was another method traffickers used to control their
victims. Before arrival in the country, trafficking victims generally
did not understand the size of the debts they would owe, the amount of
time it would take them to repay the debts, or the conditions of
employment to which they would be subjected upon arrival. Women
typically faced debts upon commencement of their contracts from $26,000
to $43,000 (three million to five million yen). In addition, they had
to pay their employer for their living expenses, medical care (when
provided by the employer), and other necessities. ``Fines'' for
misbehavior added to the original debt over time; in general the
process that the employers used to calculate these debts was not
transparent. Employers also sometimes ``resold,'' or threatened to
resell, troublesome women or women found to be HIV positive, thereby
increasing the victims' debts and often leading to even worse working
conditions.
In addition to organizing antitrafficking conferences that included
NGO participation, the NPA made significant improvements in its
handling of trafficking cases and identification of victims.
Nevertheless, there continued to be isolated reports that police failed
to identify victims adequately or declined to investigate suspected
brokers when presented with information obtained from trafficking
victims. NGOs reported that police and immigration officers
occasionally neglected to classify a woman working in abusive
conditions as a victim because she willingly entered into an agreement
to work illegally in the country. Government statistics probably
understated the scope of the problem because they did not always
include persons who agreed to one kind of work but were forced into
prostitution by fraud or coercion.
The Government expanded efforts to protect victims of trafficking.
In addition to allocating funds to subsidize private shelters, the MHLW
encouraged police and immigration officers to use its preexisting
network of shelters for domestic violence victims as temporary housing
for foreign trafficking victims awaiting repatriation. The Government
paid for victims' medical care and subsidized repatriation through a
grant to the International Office of Migration (IOM). The MHLW reported
that in 2005 112 women were protected in private and public shelters,
and IOM representatives stated that they helped 50 women return home
with the Government's support.
Originally used only as shelters for victims of domestic violence,
the Government shelters lacked the resources needed to provide adequate
services to trafficking victims. Private NGO shelters that specialized
in assisting victims of human trafficking had full-time staff able to
speak seven or more languages, but the MHLW shelters had to rely on
interpretation services from outside providers. Without sufficient
counseling in their native language by professionals familiar with the
special needs of trafficking victims, foreign women staying at
government shelters elected to repatriate as quickly as possible.
Although the Government reserved funds to subsidize victims' stays in
private shelters, very few victims were referred to the specialized NGO
facilities.
A suspended sentence remained the most common punishment for those
convicted of trafficking-related crimes. According to Ministry of
Justice statistics, in 2005 only six of 75 convictions resulted in
incarceration, with an average two-year sentence. All but one of the
six offenders who were imprisoned were foreigners. Police, government
officials, and NGO representatives agreed that organized crime
syndicates (the yakuza) were the controlling investors in the sex
industry, but only one yakuza member was prosecuted. Ministry of
Justice officials declared that it was ``difficult to tell the level of
involvement'' of the owners of bars and clubs selling the sexual
services of trafficking victims. However, NPA officials claimed it was
difficult to build cases without a program to encourage victim
testimony, long-term undercover work by the police, or the ability to
plea bargain. In addition, an entrenched reluctance to move against the
sex establishments persisted, according to NGO lawyers, who noted that
although buying sexual services is illegal, clients were never arrested
and the establishments were permitted to operate relatively
unconstrained.
Coercive control of ``foreign trainees'' in some companies was
increasingly reported by the media (see section 6.e.).
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, and access to health care, and the Government effectively
enforced these provisions.
Persons with disabilities generally were not subject to overt
discrimination in employment, education, or provision of other state
services; however, in practice they faced limited access to these
services.
During the year the revised law to promote employment of persons
with disabilities went into effect, mandating that the Government and
private companies hire fixed minimum proportions of persons with
disabilities (including mental disabilities). Companies with more than
300 employees that do not comply must pay a fine of $425 (50,000 yen)
per position per month. As of June public employment of persons with
disabilities exceeded the minimum, but the private sector lagged behind
despite increases over 2005, according to MHLW statistics.
In December revisions to accessibility laws mandated that new
construction projects for public use must include provisions for
persons with disabilities. In addition, the Government allows operators
of hospitals, theaters, hotels, and other public-use facilities to
receive low-interest loans and tax benefits if they upgrade or install
features to accommodate persons with disabilities.
The Government supported the right of persons with disabilities to
participate in civic affairs.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Burakumin (descendants of
feudal era ``outcasts'') and ethnic minorities experienced varying
degrees of societal discrimination, some of it severe and longstanding.
The approximately three million burakumin, although not subject to
governmental discrimination, frequently were victims of entrenched
societal discrimination, including restricted access to housing,
education, and employment opportunities.
During the year a banned ``black book'' cataloguing burakumin
lineages for the purpose of discriminating against them was found in a
major company office. This discovery dispelled the widely held belief
in society that the book was no longer published and that
discrimination against the burakumin had ended. NGOs reported that
discrimination was still extensive outside major metropolitan areas.
Despite improvements in legal safeguards against discrimination,
the country's large populations of Korean, Chinese, Brazilian, and
Filipino permanent residents--many of whom were born, raised, and
educated in Japan--were subject to various forms of deeply entrenched
societal discrimination, including restricted access to housing,
education, and employment opportunities. There was a widespread
perception among citizens that ``foreigners,'' often members of Japan-
born ethnic minorities, were responsible for most of the crimes
committed in the country. The media fostered this perception despite
the fact that the ``foreigner"-committed crime rate was much lower than
the rate of crimes committed by citizens, according to the Ministry of
Justice.
Aliens with five years of continuous residence are eligible for
naturalization and citizenship rights. However, many immigrants
struggled to overcome obstacles to naturalization, including the broad
discretion available to adjudicating officers and the great emphasis on
Japanese-language ability. Naturalization procedures also require an
extensive background check, which includes inquiries into the
applicant's economic status and assimilation into society. The
Government defended its naturalization procedures as necessary to
ensure the smooth assimilation of foreigners into society.
Indigenous People.--Conditions improved for the estimated 27,000
indigenous Ainu that lived in the country. Ending a long history of
oppressing the Ainu, in 1997 the parliament passed the Law for the
Promotion of the Ainu Culture and Dissemination and Advocacy for the
Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture (Culture Promotion Law).
The law recognized the Ainu as an ethnic minority, required all
prefectural governments to develop basic programs for promoting Ainu
culture and traditions, canceled previous laws that discriminated
against the Ainu, and required the Government of Hokkaido to return
Ainu communal assets. Although the Ainu enjoyed the same rights as all
other citizens, they faced the same patterns of discrimination that all
ethnic minorities encountered (see section 5, National/Racial/Ethnic
Minorities).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and the Government effectively enforced the law. Unions
were free of government control and influence; however, governed by a
separate law, public service employees' basic union rights are
considerably restricted, which the International Labor Organization
described as ``tantamount to prior authorization'' to form unions.
Approximately 18.7 percent of the total workforce was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Except for
public sector workers and employees of state-owned enterprises, the law
allows unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right. Collective bargaining is protected by
law and was freely practiced. Unions have the right to strike, and
workers exercised this right in practice.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law bans the exploitation of children in the workplace, and the
Government effectively implemented the law. The MHLW is responsible for
enforcement. Both societal values and the rigorous enforcement of the
law protect children from exploitation in the workplace. By law
children under the age of 15 may not be employed, and those under 18
may not be employed in dangerous or harmful jobs. An exception is made
for children in the entertainment industry, who may begin work at age
13. Other than victims of human trafficking (see section 5), child
labor was not a problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wages are set on a
prefectural and industry basis, with the input of tripartite (workers,
employers, and public interest) advisory councils. Employers covered by
a minimum wage must post the relevant minimum wages, and compliance
with minimum wages was considered widespread. Minimum wage rates
ranged, according to prefecture, from $5.21 (610 yen) to $6.15 (719
yen) per hour. The minimum daily wage provided a decent standard of
living for a worker and family.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek for most industries and
mandates premium pay for hours worked above 40 in a week or above eight
in a day. However, it was widely accepted within the population that
workers, including those in government jobs, routinely exceeded the
hours outlined in the law. Labor unions frequently criticized the
Government for failing to enforce maximum working hour regulations.
Activist groups claimed that employers exploited illegal foreign
workers, who often had little or no knowledge of the Japanese language
or their legal rights. The Government tried to reduce the inflow of
illegal foreign workers by prosecuting employers of such workers.
Citizen groups worked with illegal foreign workers to improve their
access to information on worker rights.
The ``foreign trainee'' program came under increasing scrutiny for
human rights abuses, and the media reported investigations into abusive
company practices. In some companies trainees earned less than the
minimum wage, and their wages were automatically deposited in company-
controlled accounts, despite the fact that such deposits are illegal.
In addition, employers sometimes confiscated their travel documents and
controlled their movements to ``prevent escape.''
The Government sets occupational health and safety standards, and
the Ministry of Labor effectively administered the various laws and
regulations governing occupational health and safety. Labor inspectors
have the authority to suspend unsafe operations immediately, and the
law provides that workers may voice concerns over occupational safety
and remove themselves from unsafe working conditions without
jeopardizing their continued employment.
__________
KIRIBATI
Kiribati is a constitutional multiparty republic with a population
of approximately 92,000. The President exercises executive authority
and is popularly elected for a four-year term. The legislative assembly
nominates at least three, and no more than four, Presidential
candidates from among its members. The most recent parliamentary and
Presidential elections, held in May and July 2003 respectively, were
considered generally free and fair. Anote Tong of the Boutokan te Koaua
party was elected President. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse. There were instances of
extrajudicial communal justice. Government corruption, violence and
discrimination against women, child abuse, and child prostitution also
were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them. Traditional village
practice permits corporal punishment for criminal acts and other
transgressions. On some outer islands, village associations
occasionally ordered strokes with palm fronds to be administered for
public drunkenness and other minor offenses, such as petty theft.
Communal justice in the form of beatings and banishment sometimes
occurred.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. Children under age 16
usually were not incarcerated. There was no separate facility for
juvenile offenders. Juveniles age 16 to 17 generally may be detained no
longer than a month in the adult facility; however, for more serious
offenses, such as murder, juveniles over the age of 16 can be held in
custody for more than a month and can be sentenced to longer terms.
Pretrial detainees accused of serious offenses who did not meet bail
were held with convicted prisoners. Persons charged with minor offenses
normally were released on their own recognizance pending trial.
Family members and church representatives were allowed access to
prisoners. Diplomats and senior judicial officials visited the prisons,
including some unannounced visits, and reported no problems.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The commissioner of
police and prisons, who reports directly to the Office of the
President, heads the police force. There are three superintendents
under the commissioner responsible for crime and security, prisons, and
administrative functions respectively. The force consisted of
approximately 300 police officers and 40 correctional officers and was
reasonably effective in maintaining law and order. Police corruption
and impunity generally were not serious problems. The police
commissioner is responsible for investigating allegations of police
misconduct, and police officers occasionally were dismissed.
Arrest and Detention.--In most cases magistrates issued warrants
before an arrest was made. Persons taken into custody without a warrant
must be brought before a magistrate within 24 hours or within a
reasonable amount of time when arrested in remote locations. The law
requires that arrested individuals be informed of their rights, which
include the right to legal counsel during questioning and the right not
to incriminate themselves. Two police officers must be present at all
times during questioning of detainees, who also are provided the option
of writing and reviewing statements given to police. Many individuals
were released on their own recognizance pending trial, and bail was
granted routinely for many offenses. Detainees were allowed prompt
access to legal counsel.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judiciary consists of magistrates' courts, the High Court, and
the Court of Appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. There is no trial by jury. An accused person must be informed of
the charges and be provided adequate time and facilities to prepare a
defense. The law also provides for the right to confront witnesses,
present evidence, and appeal convictions. Defendants facing serious
criminal charges are entitled to free legal representation. Procedural
safeguards are based on British common law and include the presumption
of innocence until proven guilty.
Cases of extrajudicial traditional communal justice, in which
village elders decide cases and mete out punishment, remained a part of
village life, especially on remote outer islands. In the past there
were reports that in extreme cases, those deemed guilty were banished
from an island or even killed; however, the incidence of communal
justice was declining under pressure from the codified national law.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, as well as access to a court
to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human rights
violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and with some limitations, the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. Under the
Newspaper Registration Act, newspapers are required to register with
the Government, but there were no reports that the Government denied
registration to any publication.
The country had three weekly newspapers: one government owned, one
church owned, and one privately owned. The Government also owned AM and
FM radio stations in Tarawa. There was one privately owned FM radio
station. Churches published newsletters and other periodicals.
In March a journalist formerly employed by Radio Kiribati lost his
appeal against the Government for wrongful dismissal. In December 2005
he was dismissed from his employment after refusing to reveal his
sources for a report about a case of alleged corruption involving the
auditor general.
Opposition politicians claimed that local media were constrained
from reporting on a corruption case involving alleged improper
allocation of university scholarships (see section 3).
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful expression
of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice. Unlike in 2005, there
were no refusals for demonstration permits during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. The
law prohibits government restrictions on citizens' freedom of movement;
however, it does not restrict such actions by village councils.
The law provides for the forced expulsion from the country of a
convicted person, if ``in the interests of'' defense, public safety,
order, morality, health, or environmental conservation. The Government
has not used forced exile; however, on rare occasions village councils
have banished persons from a specific island within the country,
usually for a fixed period of time. The legality of this form of
punishment has never been challenged.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. There were no applications for refugee resettlement or asylum
during the year, and the country had no formal association with the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The legislature has 42
members: 40 are elected by universal adult suffrage, the Rabi Island
council of I-Kiribati (persons of Kiribati ancestry) in Fiji selects
one, and the Attorney General is an ex officio member. The most recent
parliamentary elections were held in May 2003. Then-opposition leader
Anote Tong of the Boutokan Te Koaua party was elected President in July
2003. The elections were considered generally free and fair. The
Government party and allied independents together held 25 legislative
seats. Candidates and parties were free to stand for election. There
were no government restrictions on political opponents. Elected village
councils run local governments in consultation with traditional village
elders.
There were two women, including the vice President, in the 42-
member legislature, and the head of the civil service was a woman. No
women sat on the High Court.
Members of minorities have held cabinet positions in the past. The
President and several members of the legislature were of mixed descent.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Nepotism, based on tribal,
church, and family ties, was prevalent. The auditor general (AG) is
responsible for oversight of government expenditures. In reality the AG
lacked sufficient resources, and findings of misappropriations and
unaccounted-for funds were generally ignored, or the investigations
were inconclusive.
During the year there were allegations that nationally funded
university scholarships were not fairly awarded. Several public
servants stated that the original list of individuals eligible for
scholarships on the basis of test scores was later replaced by another
list, and that the substitution unfairly denied scholarships to some
individuals. A commission of inquiry's report on the matter was not
made public. One whistleblower public servant was dismissed from his
job after allegations of the scholarship misallocations were made.
No specific law provides for citizen or media access to government
information. In practice the Government was fairly responsive to
individual requests for information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no restrictions on the formation of local human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but none have been formed. There
were no restrictions on operations by international human rights
groups. Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their
views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
national origin, color, or creed, and the Government observed these
prohibitions in practice; however, only native I-Kiribati may own land.
Society is fundamentally egalitarian and has no privileged class.
Women.--Spousal abuse and other forms of violence against women
were significant problems. Alcohol abuse frequently was a factor in
attacks on women. The law does not address domestic violence
specifically, but general common law and criminal law make assault in
all forms illegal. The law provides for penalties of up to six months'
imprisonment for common assault and up to five years' imprisonment for
assault involving bodily harm. Rape, including spousal rape, is a
crime, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, but sentences were
typically much shorter. Prosecutions for rape and domestic assault were
infrequent, largely due to cultural taboos on reporting such crimes and
police attitudes encouraging reconciliation over prosecution.
Prostitution is not illegal, and child prostitution was highlighted
as a problem by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other international
NGOs (see section 5, Children). Procuring sex and managing brothels are
illegal; however, the lack of a law against prostitution hindered the
ability of the police to restrict these activities.
The law does not specifically prohibit sex tourism. There were
multiple reports of foreign fishermen engaging in sexual acts with
minors (see section 5, Children). Obscene or indecent behavior is
banned.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, which sometimes
occurred but generally was not regarded as a major problem.
The law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender,
and the traditional culture, in which men are dominant, impeded a more
active role for women in the economy. Nevertheless, women were slowly
finding work in unskilled and semiskilled occupations. Women filled
many government office and teaching positions. The law prohibits night
work by women except in certain specified occupations, including health
worker, pharmacist, business manager, theater employee, and hotel, bar,
and restaurant worker; however, there were no reported prosecutions
based on this ordinance. Statistics generally were not well collected
in the country, and data on the participation of women in the work
force and on comparative wages were unavailable. Women have full rights
of ownership and inheritance of property as well as full and equal
access to education.
Children.--Within its limited financial resources, the Government
made adequate expenditures for child welfare. Primary education is
compulsory, free, and universal for children between the ages of six
and 14 years. In practice the Government did not enforce primary school
attendance. According to the Department of Statistics, 93.5 percent of
all school-age children attended primary school. Boys and girls had
similar attendance rates. The approximately 40 percent of primary
school graduates who pass a national examination qualify for three
additional years of subsidized junior secondary and four years of
subsidized senior secondary education; a small fee was charged to other
students who wished to matriculate at these levels. There were
allegations that university scholarships were awarded unfairly (see
section 3).
The Government provided free medical services for children.
Chronic alcohol abuse leading to child abuse (physical and
occasionally sexual) and neglect continued to be a serious problem.
There is a police unit specifically focused on child and family
violence.
UNICEF and other international NGOs identified child prostitution
as a problem. Specifically, workers on foreign fishing vessels often
exploited underage girls. A study conducted in June 2005 by the
National Youth Commission of the Republic of Korea and a Korea-based
children's rights group, and a regional report on commercial sexual
exploitation of children in the Pacific published during the year by
UNICEF, both highlighted commercial sexual exploitation of underage
girls by crew members of foreign fishing vessels that stopped in
Kiribati. The reports estimated that approximately 20 to 80 girls were
involved in such prostitution. Some of the girls worked as prostitutes
in bars frequented by crewmembers, and local I-Kiribati often acted as
facilitators, delivering girls to the boats. According to the reports
the girls generally received cash, food, or goods in exchange for
sexual services. The lack of a legal ban on prostitution hindered
police efforts to stem the practice, which continued. During the year
the Government, with assistance from UNICEF and other NGOs, was working
on a national plan to combat child prostitution and child sexual abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, but there were no reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there were
no complaints of discrimination in employment, education, or the
provision of other state services for persons with mental or physical
disabilities. Accessibility of buildings for persons with disabilities
has not been mandated, and special accommodations for persons with
disabilities were basically nonexistent. The central hospital on Tarawa
had a wing for persons with mental disabilities, and there was a
psychiatrist working on Tarawa.
There was no government agency specifically responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom
of association, and workers are free to join and organize unions;
workers exercised these rights in practice.
More than 80 percent of the adult workforce was occupied in fishing
or subsistence farming. The small wage-earning workforce had a
relatively strong and effective trade union movement. An estimated 10
percent of wage-earning workers were union members. There were no
official public sector trade unions, but nurses and teachers belonged
to voluntary employee associations similar to unions and constituted
approximately 30 to 40 percent of total union and association
membership.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
protects workers from employer interference in their right to organize
and administer unions. The Government did not control or restrict union
activities; however, unions must register with the Government. The law
provides for collective bargaining. The Government sets wages in the
large public sector. In a few statutory bodies and government-owned
companies, however, employees could negotiate wages and other
conditions. In the private sector, individual employees also could
negotiate wages with employers. In keeping with tradition, negotiations
generally were nonconfrontational. There were no reports of antiunion
discrimination, and there were mechanisms to resolve any complaints
that might arise.
The law provides for the right to strike, but no strikes have taken
place since 1980.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred. The prohibition does not mention specifically
forced and compulsory labor by children; however, there were no reports
that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under age 14. Children through
the age of 15 are prohibited from industrial employment and employment
aboard ships. Labor officers from the Ministry of Labor and Human
Resources Development generally enforced these laws effectively.
Children rarely were employed outside the traditional economy.
Underage girls were solicited for prostitution (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The wage-earning workforce
consisted of approximately 8,000 persons, mostly employed on the main
atoll of Tarawa, the political and commercial capital. The remainder of
the working population worked within a subsistence economy. There is no
official minimum wage, but the Labor Ministry estimated the ``non-
legislated'' minimum to be between $1.24 and $1.32 (A$1.60 to A$1.70)
per hour in practice. There is provision for a minimum wage at
ministerial discretion, but it has never been implemented. In 2004 the
Asian Development Bank reported that approximately one half of the
population lived below the national basic needs poverty line. Income
tended to be pooled within individual extended families. The standard
wage income provided a marginally decent standard of living for a
worker and family. There is no legislatively prescribed workweek.
Workers in the public sector (80 percent of the wage-earning workforce)
worked 36, hours per week, with overtime pay for additional hours.
Employment laws provide rudimentary health and safety standards for
the workplace. For example, employers must provide an adequate supply
of clean water for workers and ensure the availability of sanitary
toilet facilities. Employers are liable for the expenses of workers
injured on the job, but a lack of qualified personnel hampered the
Government's ability to enforce employment laws. Workers do not have
the right to remove themselves from hazardous work sites without
risking loss of employment.
__________
DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea\1\ (DPRK or North Korea)
is a dictatorship under the absolute rule of Kim Jong-il, general
secretary of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) and chairman of the
National Defense Commission, the ``highest office of state.'' The
country has an estimated population of 22.7 million. Kim's father, the
late Kim Il-sung, remains ``eternal President.'' Elections held in
August 2003 were not free or fair. There was no civilian control of the
security forces, and members of the security forces committed numerous
serious human rights abuses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Note on Sourcing: The United States does not have diplomatic
relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. North Korea
does not allow representatives of foreign governments, journalists, or
other invited guests the freedom of movement that would enable them to
fully assess human rights conditions or confirm reported abuses. This
report is based on information from interviews, press reports,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reports, and refugee testimony
obtained over the past decade, and supplemented where possible by
information drawn from more recent reports from visitors, both private
and official, to the country and NGOs working on the Chinese border.
Refugee testimony is often dated because of the time lapse between
refugee departures from North Korea and contact with NGOs or officials
able to document human rights conditions. The report cites specific
sources and time frames wherever possible, and reports are corroborated
to the best of our ability. While limited in detail, the information in
this report is indicative of the human rights situation in North Korea
in recent years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and the regime
continued to commit numerous serious abuses. The regime subjected
citizens to rigid controls over many aspects of their lives. Citizens
did not have the right to change their government. There continued to
be reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary
detention, including of political prisoners. Prison conditions were
harsh and life-threatening, and torture reportedly was common. Pregnant
female prisoners reportedly underwent forced abortions, and in other
cases babies reportedly were killed upon birth in prisons. The
judiciary was not independent and did not provide fair trials. Citizens
were denied freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association,
and the Government attempted to control all information. The Government
restricted freedom of religion, citizens' movement, and worker rights.
There continued to be reports of severe punishment of some repatriated
refugees. There were widespread reports of trafficking in women and
girls among refugees and workers crossing the border into China.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Defector and refugee
reports indicated that in some instances the regime executed political
prisoners, opponents of the regime, repatriated defectors, and others,
including military officers suspected of espionage or of plotting
against Kim Jong-il. The law prescribes the death penalty for the most
``serious'' or ``grave'' cases of ``antistate'' or ``antination''
crimes, including: active participation in a coup or plotting to
overthrow the state; acts of terrorism for an antistate purpose;
treason, which includes defection or handing over state secrets; and
suppressing the people's movement for national liberation. In March the
Government added ``cutting electric power lines or communication lines
and illegal drug transactions'' to the list of antistate crimes
punishable by death. In September a Japanese television station
broadcast a video allegedly filmed in South Hamkyong Province. The
video depicted the trial and public execution of Yoo Bun-hee. In the
past border guards reportedly had orders to shoot to kill potential
defectors, and prison guards were under orders to shoot to kill those
attempting escape from political prison camps. During the year a North
Korean defector reported that he witnessed two public executions, one
in 2000 and one in 2003, of prisoners who had attempted to escape the
Yodok prison camp.
Religious and human rights groups outside the country alleged that
some North Koreans who had contact with foreigners across the Chinese
border were imprisoned or killed (see section 2.c.). However, anecdotal
evidence from refugees suggested that refugees forcibly repatriated
from China were generally being treated less harshly than in past
years.
In March the Government reportedly sentenced Son Jong-nam to death
for espionage. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) claimed the
sentence was the result of his contacts with Christian groups in China,
proselytizing activities, and alleged sharing of information with his
brother in the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea). Because the DPRK
effectively bars outside observers from investigating such reports, it
was not possible to verify the DPRK's claims about Son's activities or
determine whether he was executed.
As recently as 2004, defectors reported that prison camp
authorities mandated forced abortions and, in other cases, authorized
infanticide. Prisoners reportedly continued to die from beatings,
disease, starvation, or exposure (see section 1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--The Government was responsible for cases of
disappearance. Defectors in recent years claimed that state security
often apprehended individuals suspected of political crimes and sent
them, without trial, to political prison camps. There are no
restrictions on the ability of the Government to detain and imprison
persons at will and to hold them incommunicado.
According to Amnesty International (AI), in August Lee Kwang-soo,
who defected to the ROK in March, learned that 19 members of his family
in the DPRK reportedly had disappeared after his defection.
Japan continued to seek further information about the cases of 11
officially designated Japanese nationals believed to have been abducted
by DPRK government entities, despite the DPRK's insistence that the 11
were either dead or were never in North Korea. Japan also hoped to gain
answers regarding other cases of suspected abductions of Japanese
nationals.
Credible reports indicated that the DPRK has also kidnapped other
nationals from locations abroad. However, the Government continued to
deny its involvement in the kidnappings of non-Japanese citizens.
The ROK government estimated that approximately 485 civilian South
Koreans who were abducted or detained by the DPRK since the end of the
Korean War remained in the DPRK. A number of South Korean prisoners of
war (POWs) and missing in action were also believed to remain in the
DPRK.
The whereabouts of defector Kang Gun remained unknown. In 2005 AI
reported that Kang may have been kidnapped from China by North Korean
agents.
At year's end the whereabouts of South Korean missionary Kim Dong-
shik, who disappeared in 2000 near the China-DPRK border, remained
unknown.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The penal code prohibits torture or inhumane treatment;
however, many sources continued to confirm its practice. According to a
2003 report by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea,
torture was ``routine'' and ``severe.'' Methods of torture and other
abuse reportedly included severe beatings, electric shock, prolonged
periods of exposure, humiliations such as public nakedness, confinement
for up to several weeks in small ``punishment cells'' in which
prisoners were unable to stand upright or lie down, being forced to
kneel or sit immobilized for long periods, being hung by one's wrists,
being forced to stand up and sit down to the point of collapse, and
forcing mothers recently repatriated from China to watch the
infanticide of their newborn infants. Defectors continued to report
that many prisoners died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure,
or a combination of these causes.
During the year a North Korean defector reported that, upon his
repatriation from China in 2000, authorities forced him to crouch for
long periods of time with a wooden pole placed between his calves and
thighs; while crouching, booted guards would stomp on the top of his
legs, crushing his toes and hyperextending his knees. He also reported
that interrogators forced him to kneel forward onto fire-heated iron
plates.
In September 2005 a defector reported that she lost the use of her
feet due to severe beatings she received from police for attempting to
leave the country.
Over the years there have been unconfirmed reports from a few
defectors alleging the testing on human subjects of a variety of
chemical and biological agents up through the early 1990s.
According to refugee reports, officials continued to prohibit live
births in prison and ordered forced abortions, particularly in
detention centers holding women repatriated from China. According to
defectors, in some cases of live birth, prison guards killed the infant
or left it for dead. In addition guards reportedly sexually abused
female prisoners.
In April Cho Chang-ho, a former ROK POW who escaped in 1994,
testified that the Government held ROK POWs in various types of prison
camps and forced them to work in coal mines and other types of forced
labor. Cho reported POWs faced daily abuses, beatings, and threats.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--An estimated 150,000 to
200,000 persons were believed to be held in detention camps in remote
areas. NGO, refugee, and press reports indicated that there were
several types of detention centers and camps, including forced labor
camps; separate camps reportedly existed for political prisoners. Using
commercial satellite imagery to bolster their assertions about the
existence of the camps and point out their main features, defectors
claimed the camps covered areas as large as 200 square miles. The camps
appeared to contain mass graves, barracks, work sites, and other prison
facilities. The Government continued to deny the existence of political
prison camps.
Reports indicated that conditions in the camps for political
prisoners were harsh, and many prisoners were not expected to survive.
During the year a former Yodok prisoner reported prisoners were
expected to provide their own clothing, and food rations were barely
life-sustaining. He reported that four or five persons per month died
from malnutrition of approximately 200 to 250 persons in his
``village.''
Reeducation through labor was a common punishment and consisted of
forced labor such as logging, mining, or tending crops under harsh
conditions. Reeducation involving memorizing speeches by Kim Jong-il
and forced self-criticism sessions focused on work performance were
also a standard practice. According to refugees, in some places of
detention, prisoners were given little or no food and were denied
medical care. Sanitation was poor, and former labor camp inmates
reported they had no changes of clothing during their incarceration and
were rarely able to bathe or wash their clothing.
The Government did not permit inspection of prisons or detention
camps by human rights monitors.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The penal code reflects the
principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without a law), but gaps
remained between principles and practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The internal security
apparatus includes the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the State
Security Department. Reports of diversion of food aid to the military
and regime officials and of official quid-pro-quo bribery were
indicative of corruption in the security forces.
Arrest and Detention.--Members of security forces arrested and
transported citizens to prison camps without trial.
There were no restrictions on the Government's ability to detain
and imprison persons at will or to hold them incommunicado. Family
members and other concerned persons reportedly found it virtually
impossible to obtain information on charges against detained persons or
the lengths of their sentences. Judicial review of detentions did not
exist in law or in practice.
Entire families, including children, reportedly have been
imprisoned when one member of the family was accused of a crime (see
section 1.f.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution states that
courts are independent and that judicial proceedings are to be carried
out in strict accordance with the law; however, an independent
judiciary did not exist. The constitution mandates that the central
court is accountable to the Supreme People's Assembly, and the criminal
code subjects judges to criminal liability for handing down ``unjust
judgments.'' Furthermore, individual rights are not acknowledged.
Trial Procedures.--The Public Security Ministry dispensed with
trials in political cases and referred prisoners to the State Security
Department for punishment. Little information was available on formal
criminal justice procedures and practices, and outside access to the
legal system was limited to show trials for traffic violations and
other minor offenses.
The constitution contains elaborate procedural protections, stating
that cases should be heard in public, except under circumstances
stipulated by law. The constitution also states that the accused has
the right to a defense, and when trials were held the Government
reportedly assigned lawyers. Some reports noted a distinction between
those accused of political crimes and common criminals and claimed that
the Government offered trials and lawyers only to the latter. There was
no indication that independent, nongovernmental defense lawyers
existed.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The Government considered
critics of the regime to be political criminals. Reports from past
years described political offenses as including sitting on newspapers
bearing Kim Il-sung's picture, mentioning Kim Il-sung's limited formal
education, or defacing photographs of the Kims. The number of political
prisoners and detainees remained unknown.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Article 69 of the
Constitution states that ``[c]itizens are entitled to submit complaints
and petitions. The state shall fairly investigate and deal with
complaints and petitions as fixed by law.'' Under the Law on Complaint
and Petition, citizens are entitled to submit complaints to stop
encroachment upon their rights and interest or seek compensation for
the encroached rights and interest.
In 2001 the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern that
``there is no independent national institution for the promotion and
protection of human rights.'' It stated that article 69 of the
constitution and the Law on Complaint and Petition are ``no substitute
for such an independent monitoring body'' and recommended
``establishment of a national human rights institution.''
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution provides for the inviolability of
person and residence and the privacy of correspondence; however, the
Government did not respect these provisions in practice. The regime
subjected its citizens to rigid controls. The Government relied upon a
massive, multilevel system of informers to identify critics and
potential troublemakers. Entire communities sometimes were subjected to
security checks. Possessing ``antistate'' material and listening to
foreign broadcasts were crimes that could subject the transgressor to
harsh punishments, including up to five years of labor reeducation.
The Government monitored correspondence and telephone
conversations. Private telephone lines operated on a system that
precluded making or receiving international calls; international phone
lines were available only under restricted circumstances. Reportedly
there were several separate phone networks: one for international
calls, which was available to foreigners; another for foreign
embassies; and a third for the domestic needs of citizens. Foreign
diplomats in Pyongyang stated that the local network was subdivided
further so phone use remained a privilege. Although a government-
controlled cellular phone network existed, cell phone use was banned
for the general population since 2004. However, visitors to Pyongyang
continued to report an increase in the number of persons with cell
phones. NGOs also reported that migrants obtained cell phones in China
and used them on a limited basis in border areas of the DPRK on the
Chinese network. During the year North Korean defectors reported
contacting their relatives in the country via this network. Foreign
visitors to the country were required to leave their cell phones at
their point of entry for the duration of their stay. Foreigners were
allowed to have North Korean mobile phones, although in practice few
did.
Allegations continued to circulate that imprisonment and execution
had been ordered for individuals who made statements at home that were
critical of the regime.
In the late 1950s the regime began dividing society into three
classes: ``core,'' ``wavering,'' and ``hostile.'' Security ratings were
assigned to individuals; according to some estimates, nearly half of
the population was designated as either ``wavering'' or ``hostile.''
Loyalty ratings determined access to employment, higher education,
place of residence, medical facilities, and certain stores. They also
affected the severity of punishment in the case of legal infractions.
Citizens with relatives who fled to the ROK at the time of the Korean
War were classified as part of the ``hostile class.'' Between 20 and 30
percent of the population was considered potentially hostile. Members
of this class were subject to discrimination, although defectors
reported their treatment had improved in recent years. Economic reforms
may have eroded rigid loyalty-based class divisions to some extent,
although growing economic disparities also resulted from price and wage
reforms. In his August 2005 report, the UN special rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in North Korea stated that ``while this
practice may have been abolished in law, it seems to persist and is
implied by the testimonies of those who leave the country in search of
refuge elsewhere.''
Citizens of all age groups and occupations remained subject to
intensive political and ideological indoctrination. The cult of
personality of Kim Jong-il and his father remained an important
ideological underpinning of the regime, at times seeming to resemble
tenets of a state religion. The Government continued to emphasize a
``military first'' policy along with juche principles (often described
as extreme self-reliance). Indoctrination was intended to ensure
loyalty to the system and the leadership, as well as conformity to the
state's ideology and authority.
Indoctrination was carried out systematically through the mass
media, schools, and worker and neighborhood associations. According to
North Korean media, Kim Jong-il frequently told officials that
ideological education must take precedence over academic education in
the nation's schools. Indoctrination continued to involve mass marches,
rallies, and staged performances, sometimes including hundreds of
thousands of persons.
Collective punishment reportedly was practiced. Entire families,
including children, have been imprisoned when one member of the family
was accused of a crime. The March decree on cutting electric power or
communication lines and illegal drug transactions states that a
violator's family shall be ``expelled.''
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government prohibited
the exercise of these rights in practice. Articles of the constitution
that require citizens to follow ``socialist norms of life'' and to obey
a ``collective spirit'' took precedence over individual political and
civil liberties. In February international media reported that 21 North
Korean cheerleaders who had participated in the Busan Asian Games in
2002 had been imprisoned in the Daeheung prison camp, reportedly for
discussing what they had seen in the ROK upon their return to the DPRK.
According to the UN special rapporteur's January report, the Government
banned discussion of Kim Jong-il's succession at the end of 2005, after
media speculation on the topic.
The constitution provides for the right to petition. However, when
anonymous petitions or complaints about state administration were
submitted, the State Security Department and MPS sought to identify the
authors, who could be subjected to investigation and punishment.
The Government sought to control virtually all information. There
was no independent media. The Government carefully managed visits by
foreigners, especially foreign journalists.
On occasion, when it served its agenda, the Government allowed
foreign media to cover certain events. During visits by foreign
leaders, groups of foreign journalists were permitted to accompany
official delegations and to file reports. In all cases journalists were
strictly monitored. They generally were not allowed to talk to
officials or to persons on the street, and cellular or satellite phones
were held at the airport for the duration of a visitor's stay (see
section 1.f.). In March a group of 24 South Korean reporters covering
family reunions at Kumgangsan left in protest after officials prevented
two broadcasters from transmitting stories and asked one reporter to
leave. Reporters without Borders reported that in May North Korean
authorities blocked the arrival of 200 ROK journalists to the Kaesong
Industrial Complex (KIC) after the ROK press criticized North Korea's
decision to halt a railroad project between the two countries.
Domestic media censorship continued to be enforced strictly, and no
deviation from the official government line was tolerated. The
Government prohibited listening to foreign media broadcasts except by
the political elite, and violators were subject to severe punishment.
Radios and television sets, unless altered, received only domestic
programming; radios obtained from abroad must be altered to operate in
a similar manner. During the year the Government attempted to jam all
foreign radio broadcasts. In October the Government condemned the
activities of a defector-run broadcasting station and urged ROK
authorities to shut down the organization. During the year there was
evidence that radios were more accessible than in the past due
primarily to corrupt border guards. Some NGOs reported that more
defectors said they had listened to foreign broadcasts than in previous
years. Numerous NGOs reported that Chinese and South Korean DVDs
smuggled from China were available in the northern border area and
perhaps in Pyongyang.
Internet Freedom.--Some deluxe hotels in Pyongyang offered Internet
service in the rooms of foreign visitors when it was ordered in
advance. Internet access for citizens was limited to high-ranking
officials and other designated elites, including select university
students. This access was granted via international telephone lines
through a provider in China, as well as a new local connection that was
linked with a German server. NGO and press reports claimed that the
DPRK established an ``intranet'' in 2004, available to a slightly
larger group of users including an elite grade school, selected
research institutions, universities, factories, and a few individuals.
The Korean Communication Corporation acts as the gatekeeper,
downloading only acceptable information for access through the
intranet. Reporters Without Borders reported that some e-mail access
existed through this network.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government has long
restricted academic freedom and controlled artistic and academic works.
A primary function of plays, movies, operas, children's performances,
and books was to buttress the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-
sung and Kim Jong-il.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government did not respect this provision in practice and continued
to prohibit public meetings without prior authorization.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association; however, the Government failed to respect this provision
in practice. There were no known organizations other than those created
by the Government. Professional associations existed primarily to
facilitate government monitoring and control over organization members.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for ``freedom of
religious belief''; however, in practice the Government severely
restricted religious freedom, except that which was supervised by
officially recognized groups linked to the Government. The law also
stipulates that religion ``should not be used for purposes of dragging
in foreign powers or endangering public security.'' Genuine religious
freedom did not exist.
The personality cult of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il remained a
virtual civil religion that provided a spiritual underpinning for the
regime. Refusal on religious or other grounds to accept the leader as
the supreme authority exemplifying the state and society's needs was
regarded as opposition to the national interest and continued to result
in severe punishment. In his January report, the UN special rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in the DPRK observed that ``the
regime's emphasis is to inculcate religiously upon the people from a
young age a belief in and total adherence to the past and current
political leadership, coupled with massive ideological mobilization
akin to cult worship.''
In its 2002 report to the UN Commission on Human Rights, the
Government reported the existence of 500 ``family worship centers,''
although the existence of such centers has not been independently
confirmed. Some unconfirmed reports indicated that such worship centers
were tolerated as long as they did not openly proselytize or have
contact with foreign missionaries. There continued to be unconfirmed
reports of underground Christian churches.
On August 13, the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church opened in
Pyongyang. Most of the 300 Buddhist temples in the country were
regarded as cultural relics, but in some of them religious activity was
permitted. Monks reportedly resided at a few temples that were being
restored, although they were expected to serve primarily as guides for
South Korean tourists.
Several government-sponsored religious organizations served as
interlocutors with foreign church groups and international aid
organizations. Foreigners who met with representatives of these
organizations reported that some were genuinely religious, while others
appeared to have little knowledge of religious doctrine or teachings.
Some foreigners who visited the country stated that church services
contained political content supportive of the regime in addition to
religious themes. The 2005 Korea Institute for National Unification's
white paper on human rights in North Korea indicated that the regime
used authorized religious entities for external propaganda and
political purposes and strictly barred local citizens from entering
places of worship. Ordinary citizens considered such sites to be
primarily ``sightseeing spots for foreigners.''
There were reports that the Government channeled to the KWP funds
and goods that had been given to government-approved churches. There
were unconfirmed reports that the nonreligious children of religious
believers may be employed at midlevels of the Government. In the past
such individuals suffered broad discrimination with sometimes severe
penalties or even imprisonment.
Overseas religious relief organizations have been active in
responding to the country's food crisis; however, they have been denied
access to many areas of the country and their movement restricted and
closely monitored.
According to some defectors, the Government increased repression
and persecution of unauthorized religious groups in recent years. These
defectors reported that persons engaging in religious proselytizing,
persons with ties to overseas evangelical groups, and repatriated
persons who contacted foreigners while outside the country were
arrested and subjected to harsh punishment. During the year defectors
asserted that North Koreans who received help from foreign churches
were considered political criminals and received harsher treatment.
This has included imprisonment, prolonged detention without charge,
torture, and execution. According to defector reports, the Government
was concerned that faith-based South Korean relief and refugee
assistance efforts along the northeast border of China had both
humanitarian and political goals.
Religious and human rights groups outside the country continued to
provide numerous unconfirmed reports that members of underground
churches have been beaten, arrested, detained in prison camps,
tortured, or killed because of their religious beliefs in prior years.
Members of underground churches connected to border missionary activity
were regarded as subversive elements.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no known Jewish
population, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for the ``freedom to
reside in or travel to any place''; however, the Government did not
respect these rights in practice. During the year the Government
continued to attempt to control internal travel. Numerous reports
suggested that internal travel rules were relaxed to allow citizens to
search for food, conduct local market activities, or engage in
enterprise-to-enterprise business activities.
Only members of a very small elite and those with access to
remittances from overseas had access to personal vehicles, and movement
was hampered by the absence of an effective transport network and by
military and police checkpoints on main roads at the entry to and exit
from every town. Use of personal vehicles at night and on Sundays was
restricted. According to NGO reports, in response to a scarlet fever
outbreak, the Government banned travel to or from infected areas and
closed schools.
The Government strictly controlled permission to reside in, or even
to enter, Pyongyang, where food supplies, housing, health, and general
living conditions were much better than in the rest of the country.
The regime limited issuance of exit visas for foreign travel to
officials and trusted businessmen, artists, athletes, academics, and
religious figures. Short-term exit papers were available for some
residents on the Chinese border to enable visits with relatives or to
engage in small-scale trade. During the year press reports claimed that
the DPRK and China had ended their visa waiver program for short-term
visitors.
In the past the Government engaged in forced internal resettlement
to relocate tens of thousands of persons from Pyongyang to the
countryside. Sometimes this occurred as punishment for offenses,
although social engineering was also involved. For example, although
disabled veterans were treated well, other persons with physical and
mental disabilities, as well as those judged to be politically
unreliable, have been sent out of Pyongyang into internal exile.
The Government did not allow legal emigration, although officials
in border areas reportedly often have taken bribes from, or simply let
pass, persons crossing the border into China without required permits.
During the year official media reported periodic crack-downs on this
practice, with a stepped-up military presence along the border.
Substantial numbers of North Koreans have crossed the border into
China over the years, and NGO estimates of those that lived there
during the year ranged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
Some settled semipermanently in northeastern China, others traveled
back and forth across the border, and still others sought asylum and
permanent resettlement in third countries. There was evidence that the
number of North Koreans crossing into China leveled off during the
year, after declining in 2005. A few thousand North Koreans were able
to gain asylum in third countries during the year.
The law criminalizes defection and attempted defection, including
the attempt to gain entry to a foreign diplomatic facility for the
purpose of seeking political asylum. Individuals who cross the border
with the purpose of defecting or seeking asylum in a third country are
subject to a minimum of five years of ``labor correction.'' In
``serious'' cases defectors or asylum seekers are subject to indefinite
terms of imprisonment and forced labor, confiscation of property, or
death. Many would-be refugees who were returned involuntarily were
imprisoned under harsh conditions (see section 1.a. and 1.c.). Some
sources indicated that the harshest treatment was reserved for those
who had extensive contact with foreigners. In March China reported it
repatriated a North Korean asylum seeker known as Kim Chun-hee, despite
requests from the international community to treat her humanely. Kim's
whereabouts remained unknown. In October Chinese police arrested and
deported to North Korea nine relatives of South Korean POWs; one NGO
reported that the nine were likely in prison in the DPRK, but their
whereabouts were unknown.
Reports from defectors indicated that the regime was
differentiating between persons who crossed the border in search of
food, who might be sentenced only to a few months of forced labor or in
some cases merely issued a warning, and persons who crossed repeatedly
or for political purposes, who were sometimes sentenced to heavy
punishments. The law stipulates a sentence of up to two years of
``labor correction'' for the crime of illegally crossing the border.
According to the UN special rapporteur's August 2005 report, there was
a new policy to enable persons leaving the country for nonpolitical
reasons to return with the promise of a pardon under the penal code.
Other NGO reports indicated that North Koreans returning from China
were often able to bribe North Korean border guards into letting them
freely pass across the border. Several NGOs operating in the region
confirmed that punishments seemed to be less severe than in the past.
During the year a North Korean who fled the country in 2004 reported
that repatriated North Koreans generally were sentenced to six months
of hard labor at a labor training camp and then released. He reported
that, in certain cases, such as when defectors were accused of
denouncing the DPRK, punishments could be harsher.
The Government permitted an increasing number of overseas Koreans
to visit relatives in North Korea over the past decade.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, nor has the
Government established a system for providing protection for refugees.
The Government had no known policy or provision for refugees or asylees
and did not participate in international refugee fora.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens do not have the right to change their government
peacefully. The KWP and the Korean People's Army, with Kim Jong-il in
control, dominated the political system. Little reliable information
was available on intraregime politics. The legislature, the Supreme
People's Assembly (SPA), meets only a few days per year to rubber-stamp
resolutions presented by the party leadership.
The Government justified its dictatorship with nationalism and
demanded near deification of both Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. The
military first policy and ``our style socialism'' mark the twin pillars
of the Government's ideology under Kim Jong-il's direction. Military
first touts the People's Army as the main ideological force of the
revolution, and ``our style socialism'' emphasizes the supposed
superiority of the North Korean method of governance.
Elections and Political Participation.--In an effort to give the
appearance of democracy, the Government has created several ``minority
parties.'' Lacking grassroots organizations, they existed only as
rosters of officials with token representation in the SPA. Free
elections have never existed, and the regime regularly criticized the
concept of free elections and competition among political parties as an
``artifact'' of ``capitalist decay.''
Elections to the SPA are held every five years. Provincial, city,
and county assemblies were held irregularly. Elections were not free
and fair. Elections were held in 1990, 1998, and in 2003; the outcomes
of all were virtually identical. The Government openly monitored
voting, resulting in nearly 100 percent participation and 100 percent
approval rate.
Women reportedly made up 20 percent of the membership of the SPA as
of the 2003 elections, but only approximately 4 percent of the
membership of the central committee of the KWP.
The country is racially and ethnically homogenous. Officially there
are no minorities, and there is, therefore, no information on minority
representation in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Reports of diversion of
food aid to the military and government officials and of quid pro quo
bribery were indicative of corruption in the Government and security
forces. The Government continued to deny any diversion of food aid,
although it hinted that it was combating internal corruption.
There are no known freedom of information laws. The Government has
not taken steps towards transparency that would make it eligible for
membership in international financial institutions.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no independent domestic organizations to monitor human
rights conditions or to comment on the status of such rights. The
Government's North Korean Human Rights Committee has denied the
existence of any human rights violations in the country. The Government
decried international statements about human rights abuses in the
country as politically motivated and an interference in internal
affairs. The Government said that criticism of its human rights record
was an attempt by some countries to cover-up their own abuses, and said
that such hypocrisy undermined human rights principles. In December the
UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the country's human
rights record. In November 2005 in a meeting with the UN high
commissioner on human rights, the DPRK's permanent representative to
the UN office in Geneva rejected the high commissioner's offer to work
with the DPRK on human rights treaty implementation.
The Government ignored requests for visits from international human
rights NGOs. The NGO community and numerous international experts
continued to testify to the grave human rights situation in the country
during the year.
North Korea emphasized that it had ratified most UN human rights
instruments.
The Government has not allowed UN Special Rapporteur on the
Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK Vitit Muntarbhorn to visit the
country to carry out his mandate. In response to a letter from the
special rapporteur, the Government wrote in a December 2005 letter that
it did not recognize his mandate and therefore did not wish to
communicate with him on human rights issues. Muntarbhorn has issued
several reports documenting the country's human rights abuses. The
European Parliament also passed a resolution on the issue of North
Korean human rights in June.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution grants equal rights to all citizens. However, the
Government has never granted its citizens most fundamental human rights
in practice, and there continued to be pervasive discrimination on the
basis of social status.
Women.--The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights
in the DPRK reported that violence against women was a significant
problem both in and out of the home. Women in prison camps reportedly
were subject to rape and forced abortions (see section 1.c.).
There continued to be reports of trafficking in women and young
girls who had crossed into China (see section 5, Trafficking).
The constitution states that ``women hold equal social status and
rights with men''; however, although women were represented
proportionally in the labor force, few women had reached high levels of
the party or the Government. Working-age women, like men, were required
to work. They were thus required to leave preschool-age children in the
care of elderly relatives or in state nurseries. According to the law,
women with large families are permitted to work shorter hours. During
the year approximately two-thirds of the refugees who found safe haven
in the ROK were women.
Children.--The state provides 11 years of free compulsory education
for all children. However, in the past some children were denied
educational opportunities and subjected to punishments and
disadvantages as a result of the loyalty classification system and the
principle of ``collective retribution'' for the transgressions of
family members (see section 1.f.).
Like others in society, children were the objects of intense
political indoctrination; even mathematics textbooks propound party
dogma. In addition, foreign visitors and academic sources reported that
from an early age, children were subjected to several hours a week of
mandatory military training and indoctrination at their schools.
The World Food Program's (WFP) Protracted Relief and Recovery
Operation, which went into effect in June, aspired to provide
nutritional assistance to 1.9 million persons, primarily children and
pregnant or nursing women, through targeted feeding programs in
schools, hospitals, and orphanages. A nutrition survey carried out in
2004 by the UN Children's Fund and the WFP, in cooperation with the
Government, found that in the sample of 4,800 children under six, 23
percent were underweight, 37 percent were stunted (chronic
malnutrition, measured by height for age) and 7 percent suffered from
``wasting'' (acute malnutrition, measured by weight for height). The
survey also found that 32 percent of mothers with children under two
were malnourished, and 35 percent were anemic.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has repeatedly
expressed concern over de facto discrimination against children with
disabilities and the insufficient measures taken by the state to ensure
these children had effective access to health, education, and social
services.
Information about societal or familial abuse of children remained
unavailable. There were reports of trafficking in young girls among
persons who had crossed into China (see section 5, Trafficking).
School children sometimes were sent to work in factories or in the
fields for short periods to assist in completing special projects or in
meeting production goals (see section 6.c.). Children were also used in
cultural activities and, according to academic reports, were subjected
to harsh conditions during mandatory training sessions.
Trafficking in Persons.--There were no known laws specifically
addressing the problem of trafficking in persons, and trafficking of
women and young girls into and within China continued to be widely
reported. Some women and girls were sold by their families or by
kidnappers as wives or concubines to men in China; others fled of their
own volition to escape starvation and deprivation. A network of
smugglers reportedly facilitated this trafficking. According to
defector reports, many victims of trafficking, unable to speak Chinese,
were held as virtual prisoners, and some were forced to work as
prostitutes. According to some defectors, traffickers sometimes abused
or physically scarred the victims to prevent them from escaping.
Persons With Disabilities.--Traditional social norms condone
discrimination against persons with physical disabilities. Although
veterans with disabilities were treated well, other persons with
physical and mental disabilities have been sent out of Pyongyang into
internal exile. The Government passed a law in 2003 on the protection
of persons with disabilities, ensuring equal access for persons with
disabilities to public services; however, implementing legislation has
not been passed. According to a report released in April by the World
Association of Milal, approximately 3.4 percent of the population was
disabled. According to the report, more than 64 percent of persons with
disabilities lived in urban areas. During the year a North Korean who
defected in 2005 reported that ``there are no people with physical
defects in North Korea'' because babies born with disabilities were
killed in a practice encouraged by the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom
of association; however, this provision has never been respected in
practice. There were no known labor organizations other than those
created by the Government. The KWP purportedly represents the interests
of all labor. There was a single labor organization, the General
Federation of Trade Unions of Korea. Operating under this umbrella,
unions functioned on the classic Stalinist model, with responsibility
for mobilizing workers to support production goals and for providing
health, education, cultural, and welfare facilities.
The country was not a member of the International Labor
Organization, but it had observer status.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers do not
have the right to organize or to bargain collectively. Factory and farm
workers were organized into councils, which had an impact on management
decisions. Unions do not have the right to strike.
There was one special enterprise zone (SEZ) in the Rajin-Sonbong
area. The same labor laws that applied in the rest of the country
applied in the Rajin-Sonbong SEZ, and workers in the SEZ were selected
by the Government.
At year's end 18 South Korean companies were producing goods at the
KIC. A North Korean agency provides candidates for selection by the
South Korean companies; there are approximately 10,000 workers
currently employed at the site. Special regulations covering labor
issues were negotiated for the management of the area, and the
respective assemblies of both North and South Korea approved the
Kaesong Industrial Complex Act. Under this agreement, North Korean
workers in the KIC were guaranteed a monthly minimum wage of
approximately $50. Employing firms reported that, with overtime, the
average worker earned about $67 before deductions. Although the special
laws governing the KIC require direct payment to the workers, the wages
were paid to the Government, which withheld a portion for social
insurance and other benefits and then remitted the balance (reportedly
about 70 percent) to the workers in an unknown combination of coupons,
which could be exchanged for staple goods, and North Korean won,
converted at the official exchange rate. Due to the lack of
transparency, it was difficult to determine how much workers ultimately
took home.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The laws prohibit
forced or compulsory labor. However, the Government sometimes mobilized
the population for construction and other voluntary labor projects,
including on Sundays, the one day off a week; the 2005 rice planting
and harvesting effort, designed by the Government to help boost the
country's food production, was an example of such projects. Following
severe flooding in July, several NGOs observed mobilized work groups,
including both soldiers and private citizens, engaged in infrastructure
reconstruction projects. According to a South Korean press report, the
Government required high school and college students to participate in
unpaid ``voluntary work,'' particularly rice planting efforts, during
their vacation. A North Korean defector interviewed by the UN special
rapporteur reported that the Government sometimes took young people
from the street and forced them to work on the farms. The Government
also frequently gathered large groups together for mass demonstrations
and performances. ``Reformatory labor'' and ``reeducation through
labor'' have traditionally been common punishments for political
offenses. Forced and compulsory labor, such as logging and tending
crops, continued to be the common fate of political prisoners.
The penal code requires that all citizens of working age must work
and ``strictly observe labor discipline and working hours.'' According
to the penal code, failure to meet economic plan goals can result in
two years of ``labor correction.''
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
According to the law, the state prohibits work by children under the
age of 16 years, and the penal code criminalizes forced child labor.
Still, school children may be assigned to factories or farms for short
periods to help meet production goals and to other work such as snow
removal on major roads.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--No data were available on the
minimum wage in state-owned industries. Since the 2002 economic
reforms, wages have become the primary form of compensation, and
factory managers have had more latitude to set wages and provide
incentives. Workers were expected to use some of their increased income
to pay for services that had previously been provided either free or at
highly subsidized rates by the state, such as rent for housing and fees
for transportation. While education and medical care technically
remained free, educational materials and medicines appeared available
only for purchase in markets.
Class background and family connections could be as important as
professional competence in deciding who received particular jobs, and
foreign companies that have established joint ventures continued to
report that all their employees must be hired from registers screened
by the authorities.
The constitution stipulates an eight-hour workday; however, some
sources reported that laborers worked longer hours, perhaps including
additional time for mandatory study of the writings of Kim Il-sung and
Kim Jong-il. The constitution provides all citizens with a ``right to
rest,'' including paid leave, holidays, and access to sanitariums and
rest homes funded at public expense; however, the state's willingness
and ability to provide these services was unknown. Foreign diplomats
reported that workers had 15 days of paid leave plus paid national
holidays. Some persons were required to take part in mass events on
holidays, which sometimes required advance practice during work time.
Workers were often required to ``celebrate'' at least some part of
public holidays with their work units and were able to spend a whole
day with their families only if the holiday lasted for two days.
Many worksites were hazardous, and the rate of industrial accidents
was high. The law recognizes the state's responsibility for providing
modern and hygienic working conditions. The penal code criminalizes the
failure to heed ``labor safety orders'' pertaining to worker safety and
workplace conditions only if it results in the loss of lives or other
``grave loss.'' In addition workers do not have an enumerated right to
remove themselves from hazardous working conditions.
North Koreans suffered human rights abuses and labored under harsh
conditions while working abroad for North Korean firms and under
arrangements between the North Korean government and foreign firms.
According to press reports, North Korean contract laborers worked in
the Czech Republic, Poland, Mongolia, Russia, Libya, Saudi Arabia,
Bulgaria, and Angola. In most cases employing firms paid salaries to
the North Korean government, and it was not known how much of that
salary the workers actually received. Workers were typically watched
closely by North Korean government officials while overseas and
reportedly did not have freedom of movement outside their living and
working quarters. For example, according to the Czech Republic Ministry
of Labor, approximately 400 North Korean women worked in garment and
leather factories in several locations throughout the Czech Republic.
The Czech Labor Ministry investigated their situation and concluded
that although the situation was ``troubling'' in several aspects, the
women were working voluntarily. North Koreans sought opportunities to
work abroad, and most were vetted by the party for their ideological
health and background.
It was reported that wages of some of the several thousand North
Koreans reportedly employed in the Russian Far East were withheld until
the laborers returned home, making them vulnerable to deception by
North Korean authorities, who promised relatively high payments. AI
charged that a 1995 bilateral agreement with North Korea allowed the
exchange of free labor for debt repayment, although the Russian
government claimed that a 1999 intergovernmental agreement gave North
Koreans working in Russia the same legal protections as Russian
citizens.
__________
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
The Republic of Korea (Korea) is a constitutional democracy
governed by a President and a unicameral legislature. The country has a
population of approximately 48 million. In April 2004, in a free and
fair election, President Roh Moo-hyun's Uri Party obtained a majority.
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Domestic
violence, rape, and child abuse remained serious problems. Women,
persons with disabilities, and minorities continued to face societal
discrimination. The country was a country of origin, transit, and
destination for trafficking in persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
However, in 2005 the National Human Rights Commission found that
two demonstrators probably died as a result of police violence (see
section 2.b.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits mistreatment of suspects, and officials
generally observed this prohibition in practice. However, the National
Human Rights Commission determined that the Seoul Detention Center
submitted false reports to senior authorities in an attempt to cover up
the sexual assault by a male prison guard on a female inmate in
February. The guard was subsequently sentenced to four years in prison.
The Government continued to investigate incidents of possible abuse
under the country's former military regimes. As of September, the
Commission for the Restoration of Honor and Compensation to Activists
of the Democratization Movement, established to review cases in which
political activists may have been tortured, had reviewed 10,078 of
11,990 reported cases since 2000 and determined that compensation was
due in 2,596 of them.
There were a number of incidents, including assaults related to
military hazing.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions. However, rules regarding arrest and detention under the
National Security Law (NSL) are vague. For example, the NSL defines
espionage in broad terms and permits the authorities to detain and
arrest persons who commit acts viewed as supporting North Korea and
therefore deemed dangerous to the country. The NSL permits the
imprisonment for up to seven years of anyone who ``with the knowledge
that he might endanger the existence or security of the state or the
basic order of free democracy, praised, encouraged, propagandized for,
or sided with the activities of an antistate organization.'' The legal
standard for what constitutes ``endangering the security of the State''
is vague. Thus, persons could be arrested for the peaceful expression
of views that the Government considered pro-North Korean or antistate.
Between January and September authorities arrested 11 persons for
alleged NSL violations.
The UN Human Rights Committee has termed the NSL ``a major obstacle
to the full realization of the rights enshrined in the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.'' Proposals to annul or
substantially revise the NSL were sparked again during the year after a
teachers' union published a pamphlet using text from a North Korean
state document. A university professor who was arrested under the NSL
late last year for publishing unpopular columns about the Korean War
was subsequently found guilty of violating the NSL and was dismissed
from his job. In May he was sentenced to two years of prison with a
stay of execution of three years. At year's end the case was under
appeal.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Korean National
Police Agency (KNPA) is under the Ministry of government Administration
and Home Affairs. The approximately 93,000-member force has a national
headquarters in Seoul, five special agencies, including the Maritime
Police, 13 provincial headquarters, 220 police stations, and 3,389
branch offices. The KNPA was considered well disciplined, and
corruption and impunity were not major problems. The KNPA conducts
internal investigations of alleged wrongdoing by the police, but
citizens also are able to file a claim directly with the National Human
Rights Commission to investigate any allegations of wrongdoing.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants in cases of
arrest, detention, seizure, or search, except if a person is
apprehended while committing a criminal act or if a judge is not
available and the authorities believe that a suspect may destroy
evidence or escape capture if not quickly arrested. In such cases,
judges must issue arrest warrants within 48 hours after the suspect is
apprehended, or within 72 hours if a court is not located in the same
county. Police may detain suspects who appear voluntarily for
questioning for up to six hours but must notify the suspects' families.
The police generally respected these requirements.
Authorities generally must release an arrested suspect within 20
days unless an indictment is issued. An additional 10 days of detention
is allowed in exceptional circumstances.
There is a bail system, but human rights lawyers said bail
generally was not granted for detainees who were charged with
committing serious offenses, might attempt to flee or harm a previous
victim, or had no fixed address. The law provides for the right to
representation by an attorney, including during police interrogation.
There were no reports of access to legal counsel being denied.
Amnesty.--In August the Government granted a special amnesty to 142
prisoners and paroled another 750. The list also included three
politicians who had been convicted of illegal fundraising.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. Of the nine justices on the constitutional
court, three are appointed by the President, three are elected by the
National Assembly, and three are designated by the chief justice of the
Supreme Court. Although judges do not receive life appointments, they
cannot be fired or transferred for political reasons. The prosecutor's
office, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), has
shown increased independence and impartiality in recent years.
Local courts are presided over by judges who render verdicts in all
cases. Both defendants and prosecutors can appeal a verdict or a
sentence to a district appeals court and to the Supreme Court.
Constitutional challenges can be taken to the constitutional court.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are open to the public, but a judge may
restrict attendance if he believes spectators might disrupt the
proceedings. There is no trial by jury. Court-appointed lawyers are
provided by the Government (at government expense) in cases where the
defendant cannot afford to provide his or her own legal counsel. When a
person is detained, the initial trial must be completed within six
months of arrest. Judges generally allowed considerable scope for
examination of witnesses by both the prosecution and defense. The law
provides defendants with a number of rights in criminal trials,
including the presumption of innocence, protection against self-
incrimination, freedom from retroactive laws and double jeopardy, the
right to a speedy trial, and the right of appeal. Although the law
prohibits double jeopardy, the courts interpreted this provision to
mean that a suspect cannot be indicted or punished more than once for
the same crime, while the prosecution can appeal a not-guilty verdict
or a sentence it considers excessively lenient. Therefore, a suspect
may be tried more than once for the same crime.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--It was difficult to estimate
the number of political prisoners because it was unclear whether
persons were arrested for exercising the rights of free speech and
association, or were detained for committing acts of violence or
espionage. Minganhyup, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), reported
that as of September the Government had prosecuted 129 persons for
their political beliefs. As of August the Government had convicted 252
conscientious objectors who failed to report for military service.
There were no reports of political detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. Some human rights
groups raised concerns about possible government wiretapping abuse. The
Anti-Wiretap Law lays out broad conditions under which the Government
may monitor telephone calls, mail, and other forms of communication for
up to two months in criminal investigations and four months in national
security cases. The Ministry of Information and Communication said that
between January and June, the Government conducted 528 cases of
wiretapping, down 11 percent from the 550 cases during the same time
period in 2005. Telecommunications companies also reported providing
more than 35 percent fewer phone records to law enforcement agencies
when compared with last year.
The Government continued to require some released prisoners to
report regularly to a probation officer under the Social Surveillance
Law.
The NSL forbids citizens from listening to North Korean radio in
their homes or reading books published in North Korea if the Government
determines that the action endangers national security or the basic
order of democracy in the country (see section 1.d.). However, this
prohibition was rarely enforced, and the viewing of North Korean
satellite telecasts in private homes is legal.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. However, under the NSL, the Government may limit
the expression of ideas that authorities consider Communist or pro-
North Korean (see section 1.d.). Proposals to annul or substantially
revise the NSL failed to reach a majority in the National Assembly.
In January 2005 the National Assembly passed a law that allows the
Fair Trade Commission to impose restrictions on publishers if any one
newspaper has more than 30 percent of the market or if three major
newspapers have a combined market share of 60 percent or more. The law
also requires press owners to report their circulation and advertising
revenue to a Press Development Committee. In June the Constitutional
Court ruled that some parts of the law, including the market share
issue, were unconstitutional.
The state-owned radio and television network maintained a
considerable degree of editorial independence in its news coverage.
Internet Freedom.--The Government blocked violent and sexually
explicit Web sites and required site operators to rate their site as
harmful or not harmful to youth, based on the country's
telecommunications laws that ban Internet service providers from
offering harmful information for youth. The Government also continued
to block North Korean Web sites that it deemed inappropriate. The
Government also blocked the sale of video games that featured North
Korea in a negative way.
According to the 2005 Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development data, 92.7 percent of households had access to the
Internet. In addition to Internet access from home, public Internet
rooms were widely available and inexpensive.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The Law on Assembly and
Demonstrations prohibits assemblies that are considered likely to
undermine public order. The law requires that the police be notified in
advance of demonstrations of all types, including political rallies.
The police must notify organizers if they consider an event
impermissible under this law; however, police routinely approved
demonstrations.
During the year demonstrators on several occasions used steel bars,
rocks, and other weapons to attack police. Violence erupted in
demonstrations involving labor disputes, trade issues, and U.S. Forces
Korea base consolidation. In December 2005 the National Human Rights
Commission found that two demonstrators allegedly died as a result of
police violence, and the President apologized for the incident in a
nationally publicized address. The protesters had participated in a
November 2005 rally during which demonstrators armed with wooden sticks
and fire bombs clashed with police armed with batons and plastic
shields. It was determined that the officers who were likely to have
caused the deaths of the protestors could not be identified given the
nature of the confrontation between the large group of police and
protestors. The commissioner-general of the KNPA took responsibility
for the police actions and resigned a few days after the commission
issued its ruling.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Associations operated freely, except those deemed by the
Government to be seeking to overthrow the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The small Jewish population
was comprised almost entirely of expatriates. There were no reports of
anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Most citizens could move freely
throughout the country; however, government officials had discretion to
restrict the movement of some former prisoners and North Korean
defectors. While foreign travel generally was unrestricted, the
Government must approve travel to North Korea. Travelers going to
places other than Kaesong or Mt. Geumgang must receive a briefing from
the Ministry of Unification prior to departure and demonstrate that
their trip does not have a political purpose and is not undertaken to
praise North Korea or criticize the Government. In October a group of
50 South Koreans traveled to visit a national cemetery in Pyongyang
after receiving government approval. Under the NSL, the cemetery
commemorating patriotic martyrs previously was off-limits.
The law does not include provisions for forced exile of its
citizens, and the Government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. In practice the Government
generally provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution; however, the
Government did not routinely grant refugee status or asylum. Those few
asylum-seekers who were recognized as refugees were provided with basic
documentation but frequently encountered problems in exercising their
rights. In particular, their protected status was not always recognized
by all government departments, and refugees, like other foreigners,
were frequently subjected to various forms of informal discrimination.
Government guidelines provide for offering temporary refuge in the case
of a mass influx of asylum seekers and an alternative form of
protection, a renewable, short-term permit, to those who met a broader
definition of ``refugee.'' Between January and December the Government
received 278 refugee applications (not including North Koreans).
Between July 1994, when the Government first accepted applications, and
December, the Government approved 52 of 724 applications. The
Government continued to work with the UNHCR to bring its refugee
processing up to international standards; however, a complex procedure
and long delays in decision making continued to be problems.
The Government continued its longstanding policy of accepting
refugees from North Korea, who are entitled to citizenship in the ROK.
The Government resettled 2,023 North Koreans during the year, resulting
in a total of approximately 9,800 North Koreans resettled in the
country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage for all citizens 20 years of age or older. Elections are held
by secret ballot.
Elections and Political Participation.--A free and fair national
assembly election was held in April 2004. After by-elections in July,
the ruling Uri Party maintained a plurality of 141 of 299 seats in the
National Assembly.
In general elections, 50 percent of each party's candidates on the
proportional ballot must be women, and 30 percent of each party's
geographical candidates must be women. As a result, in the 2004
elections 39 women were elected to the 299-seat legislature. At year's
end three of the 19 National Assembly committees were chaired by women.
In the Supreme Court, two of 14 justices were women, and in the
cabinet, two of 19 ministers were women. In April the first female
prime minister, Han Myeong-sook, was confirmed by the National
Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--On taking office,
President Roh encouraged prosecutors to investigate political parties
and politicians for corruption. Several investigations involved his
close aides.
The country has a Freedom of Information Act, which went into
effect in 1998.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law forbids discrimination on the basis of gender, religion,
disability, age, social status, regional origin, national origin,
ethnic origin, physical condition or appearance, marital status,
pregnancy and child delivery, family status, race, skin color, thought
or political opinion, record of any crime for which punishment has been
fulfilled, or sexual orientation or medical history, and the Government
generally respected these provisions. However, traditional attitudes
limited opportunities for women, persons with disabilities, and ethnic
minorities. While courts have jurisdiction to decide discrimination
claims, many of these cases were instead handled by the National Human
Rights Commission.
Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. Between January
and July the MOJ registered 6,549 cases of domestic violence and
prosecuted 1,153 cases. The Special Act on the Punishment of Domestic
Violence defines domestic violence as a serious crime and enables
authorities to order offenders to stay away from victims for up to six
months. Offenders may also be placed on probation or ordered to see
court-designated counselors. The law also requires police to respond
immediately to reports of domestic violence, and the police generally
were responsive. The Government has established some shelters for
battered women and has increased the number of childcare facilities,
giving women in abusive situations more options. However, women's
rights groups said these measures fell far short of effectively dealing
with the problem.
In 2005 the National Assembly eliminated the household registration
system that made women legally subordinate to the male family head. The
reforms also allowed remarried women to change their children's family
name to their new husband's name and ended the six-month waiting period
to remarry that was directed only at women. The family law permits
women to head a household, recognizes a wife's right to a portion of
the couple's property, and allows a woman to maintain greater contact
with her children after a divorce. Although the law helped abused women
who chose to divorce, there remained a stigma of divorce and little
government or private assistance for divorced women. These factors,
plus the fact that divorced women had limited employment opportunities,
led some women to stay in abusive situations. However, according to a
National Statistical Office report, 44.8 percent of marriages ended in
divorce.
Rape remained a serious problem. Between January and August there
were 4,917 reported cases of rape and 2,281 prosecutions. Many rapes
were believed to have gone unreported because of the stigma associated
with being raped. The activities of a number of women's groups
increased awareness of the importance of reporting and prosecuting
rape, as well as of offenses such as sexual harassment in the
workplace. According to women's rights groups, cases involving sexual
harassment or rape frequently went unprosecuted, and perpetrators of
sex crimes, if convicted, often received light sentences. The penalty
for rape is three years' imprisonment; if a weapon is used or two or
more persons commit the rape, punishment may be a maximum of life
imprisonment. In 2004 the courts set a precedent by prosecuting spouses
in cases of spousal rape, although there is no specific statute that
defines spousal rape as illegal.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread. In 2004 the Government
passed sweeping antiprostitution and antitrafficking legislation that
provided protection for the victims of prostitution and enhanced
punishment for those engaged in prostitution. There are no laws that
specifically addressed sex tourism. Some NGOs also expressed concern
that sex tourism to China and Southeast Asia was becoming more
prevalent.
The law defines sexual harassment as a form of gender
discrimination. The Gender Discrimination Prevention and Relief Act
covers almost all kinds of human relations--including, for example,
relations between teachers and students and citizens and civil
servants. Nevertheless, sexual harassment continued to be a problem.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea received 99 cases of
sexual harassment in the past year.
Relative to other developed countries, few women worked in
managerial positions or earned more than a median income, and gender
discrimination in the workplace remained a problem. According to the
Korea Women's Development Institute, the average working woman earned
64 percent of what a man made in a comparable job. The Equal Employment
Act penalizes companies found to discriminate against women in hiring
and promotions. A company found guilty of practicing sexual
discrimination could be fined up to $4,399 (5 million won) and have its
name published in the newspaper. The law also provides for a public
fund to support victims in seeking legal redress. Nevertheless, some
government agencies' preferential hiring of applicants with military
service (nearly always men) perpetuated legal barriers against women,
despite a constitutional court ruling that such preferential hiring was
unconstitutional. A recent poll showed that 79 percent of women
responded that they had experienced some form of discrimination in the
workplace, usually in the form of job duties and pay.
Women had full access to education, and social mores and attitudes
were improving gradually. For example, the major political parties made
more efforts to recruit women, and an increasing number of women
occupied key political positions, including that of prime minister.
Children.--The Government demonstrated its commitment to children's
rights and welfare through public education. The Government provided
high-quality elementary education to all children free of charge.
Education is compulsory through the age of 15, and most children
obtained a good secondary education. Enrollment rates for elementary
school were at 98.8 percent as of 2005. Boys and girls have equal
access to education. High-quality health care was widely available to
children.
As of June, 4,548 cases were registered with the National Child
Protection Agency, of which 2,561 were determined to be abuse cases. In
2005 the Ministry of Health and Welfare increased requirements for
child abuse reporting. In the past child abuse reporting was limited to
employees of welfare institutes, teachers, medical professionals, and
social workers. The new measure includes lawyers, private institute
instructors, and kindergarten teachers.
The Youth Protection Law provides for prison terms of up to three
years or a fine of up to $17,680 (20 million won) for owners of
entertainment establishments who hire persons under the age of 19. The
Commission on Youth Protection's definition of ``entertainment
establishment'' includes facilities such as restaurants and cafes where
children are hired illegally as prostitutes. The Juvenile Sexual
Protection Act establishes a maximum sentence of 25 years' imprisonment
for the brokerage and sale of the sexual services of persons younger
than 19 years of age. It also establishes prison terms for persons
convicted of the purchase of sexual services of youth under the age of
19 (see section 5, Trafficking). Based on this law, the commission
publicized the names of those who had committed sex offenses against
minors. The National Youth Commission said in 2005 that Korean
fishermen were greatly responsible for the commercial sexual
exploitation of children in Kiribati. As a result, the Ministry of
Maritime Affairs and Fisheries undertook a program to educate the
fishermen, but no criminal charges were filed.
With a birthrate of 1.08 boys for every girl, the traditional
preference for male children continued. Although the law bans fetal
testing except in cases in which a woman's life is in danger,
hereditary disease could be transmitted, or in cases of rape or incest,
such testing and the subsequent abortion of female fetuses frequently
occurred. The Government continued an education campaign aimed at
eradicating gender-preference abortions, which are already prohibited
by law.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
nevertheless, the country was a country of origin, transit, and
destination. As a country of origin, women were trafficked primarily
for sexual exploitation to the United States, sometimes through Canada
and Mexico, as well as to other Western countries and Japan. Relatively
small numbers of economic migrants, seeking opportunities abroad, were
believed to have become victims of trafficking as well.
The country was a transit point for alien smugglers, including
human traffickers. There were reports of the falsification of
government documents by travel agencies; many cases involved the
trafficking or smuggling of Korean citizens to Western countries. In
addition to trafficking by air, transit traffic occurred in the
country's territorial waterways by ship.
Unlike in previous years, Chinese women were not known to have been
trafficked through the country to the United States and other parts of
the world. However, women from Russia, other countries of the former
Soviet Union, China, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian
countries were trafficked to the country for sexual exploitation and
domestic servitude. They were recruited personally or answered
advertisements and were flown to Korea, often with entertainer or
tourist visas. In an effort to curb abuse, the Government restricted
issuance of certain types of entertainer visas. In 2005 the Government
issued 4,293 entertainer visas. Once these visa recipients were in the
country, employers in some instances held victims' passports. There was
no credible evidence that officials were involved in trafficking.
Legislation targeting prostitution and human trafficking
implemented in 2004 led to a decline in the overall number of red-light
districts and prostitutes. According to the National Police Agency, the
number of prostitutes dropped from 5,500 in 2004 to 2,660 during the
year, and the number of red-light districts dropped from 1,679 in 2004
to 1,097 during the year. However, as prostitution continued to move
underground and overseas, accurate numbers were difficult to estimate.
In recent years prostitution has become more prevalent in massage
parlors rather than traditional brothels. A recent survey by the Korean
Institute for Criminology found that 60 percent of men who had
purchased sexual favors in the past year had done so through a massage
parlor. The Internet was also used more frequently to arrange sexual
encounters in private homes and hotels. Despite reports of prostitution
crackdowns involving thousands of suspects, on average, only 15 percent
of those who were booked for investigation were actually prosecuted.
The Juvenile Sexual Protection Act imposes lengthy prison terms for
persons convicted of sexual crimes against minors (see section 5,
Children). The KNPA and the MOJ were principally responsible for
enforcing antiprostitution laws. While many credited the laws with
increasing societal awareness of prostitution as a crime, some
observers believed the new laws were not being enforced to their
fullest potential. The Government continued to support a public
awareness campaign, a victim support hot line, and a reward system for
information leading to the arrest of traffickers.
The Government maintained a network of shelters and programs to
assist victims. As of June 482 Korean women were housed in 40 shelters
and 22 foreign women were in three shelters. Victims were also eligible
for medical, legal, vocational, and social support services. Many of
these services were provided in conjunction with NGOs. The MOJ
continued to educate male offenders about the antiprostitution and
antitrafficking laws. During the year 11,216 men participated in the
program.
Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, or the provision of other state
services is illegal. The law states, ``No one shall be discriminated
against in all areas of political, economic, social, and cultural life
on the grounds of disability.'' The Government took measures to
increase opportunities and access for persons with disabilities.
Although many public facilities remained inadequate, most Seoul
sidewalks were designed to alert the sight-impaired, intersections had
audible cross-signals, and nearly all subway stations were equipped
with elevators, wheelchair lifts, or both.
Firms with more than 300 employees are required by law either to
hire persons with disabilities or pay a fine. Nevertheless, the hiring
of persons with disabilities remained significantly below target
levels. Persons with disabilities made up less than 1 percent of the
work force.
Many persons with disabilities lived in group facilities or
rehabilitation centers, where there were periodic reports of physical
and sexual abuse.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is racially
homogeneous, with no sizable populations of ethnic minorities. However,
international marriages were becoming increasingly common. During the
year approximately 14 percent of marriages were with foreigners,
primarily the result of brokered marriages between Korean men and women
from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Such marriages accounted for
36 percent of marriages in rural areas. According to the MOJ, the
number of foreign women married to Korean men living in Korea stood at
66,659 at the end of 2005. Except in cases of naturalization,
citizenship is based on parentage, not place of birth, and persons must
show their family genealogy as proof of citizenship. Naturalization is
a difficult process requiring detailed applications, a long waiting
period, and a series of investigations and examinations. Because of the
difficulty of establishing Korean citizenship, those not ethnically
Korean remained ``foreign,'' thus disqualifying them legally from
entering the civil service and, in practice, being hired by some major
corporations. Foreign workers continued to report difficult working
conditions. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of unduly
aggressive police crackdowns on illegal migrants. Amerasians faced no
legal discrimination, and informal discrimination appeared to be on the
decline.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Age discrimination
continued to be a problem. For example, the National Human Rights
Commission criticized airline companies' policy of not hiring women
over the age of 25 as crew members.
During the year a United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic
estimated that the country had approximately 13,000 persons with HIV or
AIDS, although the Government recorded only 4,229 official cases. The
AIDS Prevention Act, enacted in 1987, ensures the confidentiality of
persons with HIV/AIDS and protects individuals from discrimination. The
Government supported rehabilitation programs and shelters run by
private groups and subsidized medical expenses from the initial
diagnosis. The Government operated a Web site with HIV/AIDS information
and a telephone counseling service. Some observers claimed that persons
with HIV/AIDs suffered from severe societal discrimination and social
isolation.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
right to associate freely. A new law, which took effect in January,
allows public servants to organize unions; however, the unions
protested the law, as it bans them from taking collective action. In
September the Federation of government Employees submitted an
application to the Ministry of Labor for the establishment of a legal
union that was subsequently approved.
Labor law changes in 1997 authorized the formation of competing
unions starting in 2002, but implementation was postponed until 2007 by
mutual agreement among members of the Tripartite Commission, which
included representatives of government, labor, and management (see
section 6.b.). In September the commission again decided to delay
implementation until the end of 2009.
The ratio of organized labor in the entire population of wage
earners was approximately 11 percent, or 1.5 million unionists from a
total of 14 million workers. The country has two national labor
federations, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and the
Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), and an estimated 1,600 labor
unions. The FKTU and the KCTU were affiliated with the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Most of the FKTU's constituent
unions maintained affiliations with global union federations, as did
the KCTU Metalworkers Council. In protest of government policies
perceived to be antilabor, the FKTU and KCTU officially withdrew from
the Tripartite Commission, although the FKTU rejoined in February and
served as the labor chairman.
The Government recognized a range of other labor federations,
including independent white-collar federations representing hospital
workers, journalists, and office workers at construction firms and at
government research institutes. Labor federations not formally
recognized by the labor ministry have generally operated without
government interference, with the exception of the Korean government
Employees Union, which was forced out of its offices in September after
failing to register as an official union before the specified deadline.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the workers' right to collective bargaining and collective
action, and workers exercised these rights in practice. This law also
empowers workers to file complaints of unfair labor practices against
employers who interfere with union organizing or who discriminate
against union members. Employers found guilty of unfair practices can
be required to reinstate workers fired for union activities. However,
forced reinstatement has been used less frequently because employers
have taken extra precautions when laying off union members.
Under the Special Act on Public Servants' Unions that went into
effect on January 28, public servants are allowed to organize trade
unions and bargain collectively, although the act restricts the public
service unions from collective bargaining on topics such as
policymaking issues and budgetary matters.
Under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, unions
must submit a request for mediation to the Labor Relations Commission
before a strike. In most cases the mediation must be completed within
10 days; in the case of essential services, within 15 days. Once a
dispute is referred to arbitration, striking is prohibited. Management
can initiate criminal proceedings against an illegal strike. Arrest
warrants can be issued against union leaders, and striking workers can
be removed by police from the premises and prosecuted, along with union
leaders, and sentenced under the penal code for ``obstruction to
business.'' Labor laws prohibit retribution against workers who have
conducted a legal strike and allow workers to file complaints of unfair
labor practices against employers.
On July 13, subcontractors of POSCO Steel Company entered the
corporate headquarters in Pohang and remained for eight days. The
President spoke out against the strike labeling the action ``illegal,''
which prompted the workers to disband with only minor conflicts with
police.
Strikes are prohibited for most government officials and for those
who produce mainly defense goods. A total of 80 strikes occurred
between January and July, with 89,202 participating workers. During the
same period in 2005, 105,577 persons participated in 228 strikes. By
law, unions in enterprises determined to be of ``essential public
interest"--including railways, utilities, public health, the Bank of
Korea, and telecommunications--can be ordered to submit to government-
ordered arbitration. Although arbitration was not used, the threat of
arbitration effectively brought to conclusion a Korean Power strike in
September and a medical workers strike in August.
There is no independent system of labor courts. Semijudicial
agencies such as the Central and Local Labor Relation Commissions
mediate or arbitrate labor disputes based on the Trade Union and Labor
Relation Adjustment Act. Each commission is composed of equal numbers
of representatives of labor and management, plus neutral experts who
represent the ``public interest.'' The Labor Relations Commission can
decide on remedial measures in cases involving unfair labor practices
and can mediate or arbitrate labor disputes in sectors deemed essential
to public welfare.
The Government originally designated enterprises in the two export
processing zones (EPZs) as public interest enterprises. Workers in
these enterprises gradually were given the rights enjoyed by workers in
other sectors of the economy; however, foreign companies are exempt
from many of these labor standards. Foreign-invested enterprises
located in free economic zones are exempt from articles 54, 57, and 71
of the Labor Standards Act, which mandate monthly leave, paid holidays,
and menstruation leave for women; article 31 of the Honorable Treatment
and Support of Persons of Distinguished Services to the State Act,
which gives preferential treatment to patriots, veterans, and their
families; article 24 of the Employment Promotion and Vocational
Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act, which obligates companies with
more than 300 persons to recruit persons with disabilities for at least
2 percent of its workforce; article 12 of the Employment Promotion for
the Aged Act, which encourages companies to reserve 3 percent of their
workforce for workers over 55 years of age; and articles 4 and 12 of
the Act on the Protection of the Business Sphere of Small and Medium
Enterprises and Promotion of Their Cooperation, which restrict large
companies from participating in certain business categories. Labor
organizations are permitted in EPZs.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
labor standards law prohibits the employment of persons under age 15
without a special employment certificate from the Labor Ministry.
Because education is compulsory through middle school (approximately
age 15), few special employment certificates were issued for full-time
employment. To obtain employment, children under age 18 must obtain
written approval from either parents or guardians. Employers can
require minors to work only a limited number of overtime hours and are
prohibited from employing them at night without special permission from
the Labor Ministry. These regulations were enforced through regular
inspections, and child labor was not considered a problem.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage is reviewed
annually. As of December the minimum wage was $2.92 (3,100 won) per
hour, $23.38 (24,800 won) per day. The FKTU and other labor
organizations asserted that the existing minimum wage did not meet the
basic requirements of urban workers. According to the National
Statistical Office, the size of the population living below the
official poverty level reached 18 percent in 2005, an increase of 1.1
percent from 2003.
As of 2004 the five-day workweek system was adopted for employees
of large conglomerates, publicly owned companies, banks, and insurance
companies with 1,000 registered workers or more, reducing working hours
to 40 hours a week. Companies with more than 300 employees adopted the
shortened workweek in 2005. Labor laws mandate a 24-hour rest period
each week. Labor laws also provide for a flexible hours system, under
which employers can require laborers to work up to 44 hours during
certain weeks without paying overtime, so long as average weekly hours
for any given two-week period do not exceed 40 hours. If a union agrees
to a further loosening of the rules, management may ask employees to
work up to 56 hours in a given week. Workers may not be required to
work more than 12 hours per working day. Unions claimed that the
Government did not enforce adequately the maximum workweek provisions
at small companies. The amended labor standards law also provides for a
50 percent higher wage for overtime.
As of August there were 196,288 foreigners, mostly from China,
Bangladesh, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam,
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, working legally in the country.
They often faced difficult working conditions but tolerated the
conditions in order to keep their employment status. Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports of unduly aggressive police crackdowns.
The Government continued its crackdown on illegal foreign labor.
The Government continued to utilize its employment permit system
designed to increase protections and controls on foreign workers while
easing the labor shortage in the manufacturing, construction, and
agricultural sectors. Under the system, permit holders may work in
certain industries only and have limited job mobility but generally
enjoy the same rights and privileges, including the right to organize,
enjoyed by domestic workers. Foreign workers are limited in their
freedom to change jobs. Before changing jobs, the employee's place of
work must close down or the worker must have proof of physical abuse at
the hand of the employer. If the worker does not find a new employer
within two months, he or she becomes ``illegal.'' The MOJ estimated
that there were almost 186,000 illegal workers in Korea.
Foreign workers working as language teachers continued to complain
that the language institutes for which they worked frequently violated
employment contracts, but employers reported there were a large number
of foreign teachers who did not fully honor their work contracts.
Contract and other ``nonregular'' workers accounted for a
substantial portion of the workforce. According to the Government,
there were approximately 5.48 million nonregular workers, approximately
37 percent of the workforce. Labor unions and other groups believed
that the actual number of workers could have been as high as 8.5
million workers. In general nonregular workers performed work similar
to regular workers but received approximately 60 percent of the wages.
A new bill passed in February attempts to cut the disparity in pay to
20 percent. Further, most nonregular workers were ineligible for
national health and unemployment insurance and other benefits.
The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency is responsible for
implementing industrial accident prevention activities. The Government
set health and safety standards, but the accident rate was high by
international standards. In 2005 there were 2,493 fatalities related to
industrial accidents, a decline of 11.8 percent over the previous year.
The Ministry of Labor believed that the ``Fatal Accident Prevention
Program'' launched in 2005 contributed to the reduction in fatalities.
In particular, the number of fatalities caused by the 10 most
vulnerable construction areas, including those performed near openings
or those performed without installing scaffolding, decreased by more
than 32 percent from 2004 numbers. According to the Korea Occupational
Safety and Health Act, an employer may not dismiss or otherwise
disadvantage an employee who interrupts work and takes shelter because
of an urgent hazard that could lead to an industrial accident.
__________
LAOS
The Lao People's Democratic Republic is an authoritarian,
communist, one-party state ruled by the Lao People's Revolutionary
Party (LPRP). Based on the 2005 census, the country had an estimated
population of 5.6 million. Although the 1991 constitution outlines a
system composed of executive, legislative, and judicial branches, in
practice the LPRP continued to control governance and the choice of
leaders at all levels through its constitutionally designated ``leading
role.'' The most recent National Assembly election was held in April.
In June the National Assembly elected the President and vice President
and ratified the President's selection of a prime minister and cabinet.
The LPRP generally maintained effective control of the security forces,
but on occasion elements of the security forces acted outside the
LPRP's authority.
The Government's overall human rights record worsened during the
year. Citizens continued to be denied the right to change their
government. Government agents committed unlawful killings. Prison
conditions were harsh and at times life threatening. Corruption in the
police and judiciary persisted. The Government infringed on citizens'
right to privacy and did not respect the right to freedom of speech,
the press, assembly, or association. Local officials at times
interfered with religious freedom and restricted citizens' freedom of
movement. There were no domestic nongovernmental human rights
organizations. Trafficking in persons, especially women and girls for
prostitution, remained a problem, as did discrimination against
minority groups, such as the Hmong. Workers' rights were restricted.
The Government continued to deny ever holding a group of 27 Hmong, most
of them children, who were deported from Thailand in December 2005.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government
or its agents; however, human rights nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) reported that the Government or its agents carried out several
unlawful killings.
Amnesty International and the U.S. based Fact Finding Commission
alleged that on April 6 in Vientiane Province, Lao People's Army (LPA)
troops killed 26 unarmed Hmong, 25 of them women and children, who were
foraging for food. Despite evidence of the killing, the Government
dismissed the incident as a fabrication and refused to investigate.
On June 8, in the capital of the former Saisomboun Special Zone,
two police officers allegedly killed a Hmong farmer who was a cousin of
a Hmong insurgent leader. His six-year-old son was also shot and,
despite suffering life-threatening injuries, was refused treatment at
the local hospital. The Government reported that the incident was
carried out by unknown assailants and was the result of a business
dispute. Authorities did not investigate the killing.
In northeast Thailand, four foreign and two Thai citizens, all of
Lao ethnicity and connected to the former Lao regime, were killed. On
January 18, a husband and wife who claimed kinship to royalty under the
former Lao regime were killed in Nongkai. On May 11, an ex-soldier
under the former Lao regime and his wife were killed in Ubon
Ratchathani. On December 13, another two men, one an ex-soldier and one
an ex-policeman under the former Lao regime, were also killed in Ubon
Ratchathani. Thai authorities were investigating all of these cases at
year's end. Press reports and NGOs alleged Lao government complicity in
these killings; however, the Government denied any involvement and did
not investigate the incidents.
There were no developments in the cases of persons allegedly killed
by police in previous years, including the December 2005 death of Aloun
Voraphom, a Protestant pastor who was killed in Pak Kading District;
the 2004 killing of five ethnic Hmong children, allegedly committed by
LPA members, in the former Saisomboun Special Zone; and the 2004 death
of an ethnic Hmong man, Khoua Lee Her, who reportedly died while
incarcerated in Houaphanh Province.
Clashes between insurgent and military forces resulted in an
unknown number of deaths of civilians, insurgents, and military forces.
During the year insurgents reported increased military pressure from
LPA forces against their encampments in Bolikhamsai, Xieng Khouang,
Luang Prabang, and Vientiane provinces as well as the former Saisomboun
Special Zone. Much of the LPA's pressure was intended to starve the
remnants of insurgent families from their jungle dwellings. According
to insurgent reports, the attacks and starvation campaigns resulted in
dozens of deaths and injuries of persons, mostly women and children
(see section 1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--The Government continued to deny that it had
detained 26 Hmong children deported from Thailand in December 2005.
After Thai authorities provided evidence of the deportation to Laos'
Bolikhamsai Province, government officials privately acknowledged that
the Government was holding the children but later denied that it ever
had the children or knew of their whereabouts (see sections 1.d., 2.c.,
and 2.d.).
There were no developments in the 2004 disappearance of Cher Wa
Yang, an ethnic Hmong schoolteacher from the former Saisomboun Special
Zone.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits the beating or torture of an arrested
person. In practice members of the police and security forces sometimes
abused prisoners, especially those suspected of associations with the
insurgency; however, there were anecdotal reports that abuse decreased,
and during the year there were no verifiable reports of prisoner abuse.
Detainees have sometimes been subjected to beatings and long-term
solitary confinement in completely darkened rooms, and in many cases
they were detained in leg chains or wooden stocks for long periods.
Former inmates reported that degrading treatment, the chaining and
manacling of prisoners, and solitary confinement in small unlit rooms
were standard punishments in larger prisons, while smaller provincial
or district prisons employed manacles and chains to prevent prisoners
from escaping. In April a Christian man was placed under house arrest
in Salavan Province, reportedly for refusing the village chief's order
to recant his faith, and was held in hand and ankle stocks for 10 days
(see sections 1.d. and 2.c.).
During the year the Government increased military pressure against
insurgent encampments in Bolikhamsai, Xieng Khouang, Luang Prabang, and
Vientiane provinces as well as the former Saisomboun Special Zone.
Insurgents reported that such actions resulted in dozens of deaths and
injuries of persons, mostly women and children (see section 1.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied
widely but in general were harsh and occasionally life threatening.
Prisoners in larger, state-operated facilities in Vientiane generally
fared better than those in provincial prisons. Food rations were
minimal, and most prisoners relied on their families for subsistence.
Most larger facilities allowed prisoners to grow supplemental food in
small vegetable gardens. Prison wardens set prison visitation policies.
Consequently, in some facilities families could make frequent visits,
but in others visits were severely restricted. Credible reports
indicated that ethnic minority prisoners and some foreign prisoners
were treated particularly harshly. Former prisoners reported that
incommunicado detention was used as an interrogation device and against
perceived problem prisoners; however, there were fewer reports of its
use. Although most prisons had some form of clinic, usually with a
doctor or nurse on staff, medical facilities were extremely poor, and
medical treatment for serious ailments was unavailable. In some
facilities prisoners could arrange treatment in outside hospitals if
they could pay for the treatment and the expense of police escorts.
Prisons held both male and female prisoners, although they were
placed in separate cells. In some prisons juveniles were housed with
adult prisoners. International organizations opposed the Government's
plan to construct a separate facility to serve juvenile detainees,
arguing that juveniles would best be kept in segregated sections of
adult prisons located close to their homes and families. Most juveniles
were in detention for narcotics offenses or petty crimes. Rather than
send juveniles to prisons, authorities used drug treatment facilities
as holding centers for juvenile offenders. While conditions in
treatment facilities were generally better than those in prisons,
conditions were nevertheless Spartan and lengths of detention
indefinite. During the year the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) began
counting child detainees, but the Government stopped the organization's
activities shortly after the project began. At the time the project was
halted, UNICEF had counted more than 600 child detainees in various
provincial prisons.
The Government did not permit regular independent monitoring of
prison conditions. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
continued its longstanding efforts to establish an official presence in
the country to carry out its mandate of monitoring prison conditions,
but at year's end the Government had not granted the ICRC's request.
The Government at times provided UN and nongovernmental organization
(NGO) personnel access to some juvenile detention facilities, but such
access was strictly limited.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, in practice the Government did not
respect these provisions, and arbitrary arrest and detention persisted.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of Public
Security (MoPS) maintains internal security but shares the function of
state control with the Ministry of Defense's security forces and with
LPRP and popular fronts. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with MoPS
support, is responsible for oversight of foreigners, including ensuring
that foreigners do not visit sensitive areas or have sexual relations
with citizens. The MoPS includes local police, traffic police,
immigration police, security police (including border police), and
other armed police units. Communication police are responsible for
monitoring telephone and electronic communications. The armed forces
are responsible for external security but also have domestic security
responsibilities that include counterterrorism and counterinsurgency
activities as well as control of an extensive system of village
militias.
Impunity was a problem, as was police corruption. Many police
officers used their authority to extract bribes from citizens. Corrupt
officials reportedly were rarely punished. There was no formal
mechanism for investigating police abuse. In theory the Government's
National Audit Committee has responsibility for uncovering corruption
in all government ministries, including the MoPS, but in practice the
office's investigative activities were minimal. Lower-level officials
were on occasion arrested and punished for corruption. During the year
several customs officials were reportedly dismissed for corruption.
Police are trained at the National Police Academy, but the extent
to which the academy's curriculum discusses corruption was unknown. At
the instruction of the LPRP, the government-controlled press rarely
reported cases of official corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--Police and military forces both had powers
of arrest, although normally only police carried out these powers.
Police agents exercised wide latitude in making arrests, relying on
exceptions to the requirement that warrants are necessary except to
apprehend persons in the act of committing crimes or in urgent cases.
Police reportedly sometimes used arrest as a means to intimidate
persons or extract bribes. There were reports that military forces
occasionally arrested or detained persons suspected of insurgent
activities.
There is a one-year statutory limit for detention without trial.
The length of detention without a pretrial hearing or formal charges is
also limited to one year. The Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG)
reportedly made efforts to ensure that all prisoners were brought to
trial within the one-year limit, but the limit sometimes was ignored.
The OPG must authorize police to hold a suspect pending investigation.
Authorization is given in three-month increments, and a suspect must be
released after a maximum of one year if police do not have sufficient
evidence to bring charges. There is a bail system, but its
implementation was arbitrary and in practice often amounted to a bribe
to prison officials for a prisoner's release. Prisoner access to family
members and a lawyer was not assured. Incommunicado detention was a
problem; however, it was used less frequently than in the past (see
section 1.c.). A statute of limitations applies to most crimes. Alleged
violations of criminal laws at times led to lengthy pretrial detentions
without charge and minimal due process protection of those detained.
Authorities sometimes continued to detain prisoners after they had
completed their sentences, particularly in cases where prisoners were
unable to pay court fines. In other cases prisoners were released
contingent upon their agreement to pay fines at a later date.
On April 1, a Christian man in Salavan Province's Tabeng Village
was placed under house arrest for several months, reportedly without
charges, for refusing to recant his faith. During the first 10 days of
his house arrest, he was reportedly placed in wrist and ankle stocks.
He was reportedly released from house arrest in October (see sections
1.c. and 2.c.). On August 11, two ethnic minority Christians were
arrested in Savannakhet Province's Xephone District, reportedly for
being outspoken about their Christian faith and for their perceived
prowestern views. At year's end the two remained in prison without
charge.
On November 17, 11 ethnic Khmu Christians were arrested in Khon
Kean Village, Vientiane Province, along with two foreign citizens. The
foreigners were released after three weeks' detention and the reported
payment of a $9,000 fine. Two additional Khmu Christians from Khon Kean
Village were subsequently arrested, and at year's end the 13
individuals remained incarcerated (see section 2.c.).
During the year authorities arrested, with no apparent charges or
with questionable charges, a total of approximately 49 Christians due
to their efforts to practice their religion, refusal to give up their
religious beliefs, or suspicions that they were pro-western or opposed
to the Government.
At year's end a group of 27 Hmong Christians, 26 of whom were
children, were presumed to remain in detention. In December 2005 the
Government detained them after Thai authorities unofficially deported
them to Bolikhamsai Province (see sections 1.b., 2.c., and 2.d.).
Early in the year authorities in Phine District, Savannakhet
Province, released two ethnic Brou who, after refusing to cease their
religious activities, were convicted in mid-2005 on charges of
``illegal weapons trafficking.''
There were no reports that police administratively overruled court
decisions by detaining exonerated individuals. However, local police
reportedly continued to detain persons who had been ordered released by
higher authorities. There were no known instances of police being
reprimanded or punished for such behavior. The OPG made efforts to
encourage compliance with the law regarding detention of suspects but
acknowledged that police widely continued to ignore the law's
provisions.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for the
independence of the judiciary and the OPG; however, senior government
and party officials influenced the courts, although to a lesser degree
than in the past. Impunity was a problem, as was corruption.
Reportedly, some judges could be bribed. The National Assembly may
remove judges from office for ``impropriety''; however, according to
government sources, since 1991 only one judge at the district level has
been removed for improper behavior.
The people's courts have four levels: district courts, municipal
and provincial courts, a court of appeals, and the Supreme People's
Court. In 2004 the Supreme Court established a commercial court, family
court, and juvenile court. Decisions of the lower courts are subject to
review by the Supreme Court, but military court decisions are not. Both
defendants and prosecutors in civilian courts have the right to appeal
adverse verdicts. There are instances in which civilians may be tried
in the military courts, but this was rare.
Trial Procedures.--Court judges, not juries, decide guilt or
innocence. All judges were Communist Party members. Trials that involve
certain criminal laws relating to national security, state secrets,
children under the age of 16, or certain types of family law are
closed. The law provides for open trials in which defendants have the
right to defend themselves with the assistance of a lawyer or other
persons. Defense attorneys are provided at government expense only in
cases involving children, cases for which there is the possibility of
life imprisonment or the death penalty, and cases that are considered
particularly complicated, such as those involving foreigners. The law
requires that authorities inform persons of their rights and states
that defendants may have anyone assist them in preparing written cases
and accompany them at their trials; however, only the defendant may
present oral arguments at a criminal trial. Defendants are permitted to
question witnesses and can present witnesses and evidence on their own
behalf. Court litigants may select members of the Lao Bar Association
to represent them at trials. The association, with a membership of
nearly 50 private attorneys, is nominally independent but receives some
direction from the Ministry of Justice. For several reasons, including
a lack of funds, shortage of attorneys, and the general perception that
attorneys cannot affect court decisions, most defendants did not choose
to have attorneys or trained representatives.
Under the law defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. However,
in practice judges usually decided guilt or innocence in advance,
basing their decisions on the result of police or the prosecutor's
investigation reports. Most trials, including criminal trials, were
little more than pro forma examinations of the accused, with a verdict
having been reached beforehand. Defendants have the right of appeal.
Most of the country's 450 judges had only basic legal training, and
many provincial and district courts had few or no reference materials
available to which judges could refer for guidance. The National
Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee occasionally reviewed Supreme Court
decisions for ``accuracy'' and returned cases to the court or the OPG
for review when the committee believed decisions were reached
improperly.
There were no developments in the 2003 arrest of three Hmong
porters in Xieng Khouang Province. The three were arrested along with
two foreign journalists and their foreign interpreter. The foreign
journalists and interpreter were released, but the three porters were
charged with having conspired with ethnic Hmong villagers in the
killing of a local militia member and given long prison sentences. One
later escaped, but at year's end the other two remained in custody.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were three known
political prisoners. Colonel Sing Chanthakoumane, a former government
official, was serving a life sentence after a 1990 trial that was not
conducted according to international standards. Sing reportedly was
very ill, but the Government ignored numerous requests to release him
on humanitarian grounds. He was the sole remaining reeducation camp
inmate from the old regime. At least two persons, Thongpaseuth Keuakoun
and Seng-aloun Phengboun, who were arrested in 1999 for attempting to
organize a prodemocracy demonstration in Vientiane, continued to serve
10-year sentences for antigovernment activities.
Other political prisoners may have been arrested, tried, and
convicted under laws relating to national security that prevent public
court trials. However, there was no reliable independent method to
ascertain accurately their total number.
Based on information provided by former prisoners, a small but
unknown number of persons, particularly Hmong suspected of insurgent
activities, were detained for allegedly violating criminal laws
concerning national security.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for
independence of the judiciary in both criminal and civil matters. If
civil or political rights are violated, one may seek judicial remedy in
a criminal court or pursue an administrative remedy from the National
Assembly under the Law on Public Complaints. In regard to social and
cultural rights, one may seek remedy in a civil court. Despite some
improvement following the creation of the Department of Law Enforcement
in 2000, enforcement of court orders remained a problem.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law generally protects privacy, including that of
mail, telephone, and electronic correspondence, but the Government
reportedly violated these legal protections in situations when there
was a perceived security threat.
The law prohibits unlawful searches and seizures. By law police
must obtain search authorization from a prosecutor or a panel of
judges, but in practice police did not always obtain prior approval,
especially in rural areas. Security laws allow the Government to
monitor individuals' movements and private communications, including
via cellular telephones and e-mail (see section 2.a.).
The MoPS regularly monitored citizens' activities through a vast
surveillance network. An informal militia in urban and rural areas,
operating under the aegis of the armed forces, had responsibility for
maintaining public order and reporting ``undesirable elements'' to
police. Militia units were usually more concerned with addressing petty
crime, robberies, and instances of moral turpitude than with political
activism, although in remote rural areas where the Hmong insurgency was
active, the militia also played a role in providing security against
insurgents. Members of the LPRP's many front organizations, including
the Lao Women's Union, the Youth Union, and the Lao Front for National
Construction (LFNC), served as watchdogs over the citizenry at all
levels of society. The MoPS also maintained a network of secret police
whose job was to monitor the citizenry in order to prevent acts
threatening the Government.
The Government monitored the e-mails of private citizens. All
Internet service providers were licensed by the Government and were
required to report quarterly to the Prime Minister's Office regarding
their activities (see section 2.a.).
The Government continued its program to relocate highland slash-
and-burn farmers, most of whom belonged to ethnic minority groups, to
lowland areas in keeping with its plan to end opium production by the
end of 2005 and slash-and-burn agriculture by 2010. In some areas
district and provincial officials used persuasion to convince villagers
to move to relocation areas. In other areas villagers relocated
spontaneously to be closer to roads, markets, and government services.
Although the Government's resettlement plan called for compensating
farmers for lost land and providing resettlement assistance, this
assistance was not available in many cases or was insufficient to give
relocated farmers the means to adjust to their new homes and new way of
life. Moreover, in some areas farmland allotted to relocated villagers
was of poor quality and unsuited for intensive rice farming. The result
was that some relocated villagers experienced increased poverty,
hunger, malnourishment, susceptibility to disease, and mortality rates.
The Government relied on assistance from NGOs, bilateral donors, and
international organizations to cover the needs of those recently
resettled, but such assistance was not available in all areas.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of forced resettlement during
the year.
Local officials confiscated lands of Christians in one area of
Oudomsay Province in February but returned the land after a few months
(see section 2.c.).
The Government allowed citizens to marry foreigners only with prior
approval. Premarital cohabitation was illegal. Although the Government
routinely granted permission to marry, the process was lengthy and
burdensome and offered officials the opportunity to solicit bribes.
Marriages to foreigners without government approval could be annulled,
with both parties subject to arrest and fines.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, in practice the Government severely
restricted political speech and writing. The Government also prohibited
most criticism that it deemed harmful to its reputation. The law
forbids slandering the state, distorting party or state policies,
inciting disorder, or propagating information or opinions that weaken
the state. Citizens who lodged legitimate complaints with government
departments generally did not suffer reprisals; criticism of a more
general nature or targeting the party leadership could lead to censure
or arrest.
The state owned and controlled most domestic print and electronic
media. Local news in all media reflected government policy. Television
talk shows and opinion articles referred only to differences in
administrative approaches. Although domestic television and radio
broadcasts were closely controlled, the Government made no effort to
interfere with television and radio broadcasts from abroad. Many
citizens routinely watched Thai television or listened to Thai radio,
including news broadcasts. Citizens had 24-hour access to CNN and the
BBC as well as other international stations accessible via satellite
and cable television. The Government required registration of receiving
satellite dishes and payment of a one-time licensing fee, largely as a
revenue-generating measure, but otherwise made no effort to restrict
their use. A Chinese-owned company provided cable television service to
subscribers in Vientiane. This government-registered cable service
offered Thai and international news and entertainment programs without
restriction from authorities.
The Government permitted the publication of several privately owned
periodicals of a nonpolitical nature, including periodicals
specializing in business, society, and trade topics. While government
officials did not review in advance all articles in these periodicals,
they reviewed them after publication and imposed penalties on
periodicals that carried articles that did not meet government
approval. A few Asian and Western newspapers and magazines were
available through private outlets that had government permission to
sell them.
Foreign journalists were required to apply for special visas and
were restricted in their activities. The authorities did not allow
journalists free access to information sources, but journalists often
were allowed to travel without official escorts. When escorts were
required, journalists had to pay daily fees for their services.
Authorities prohibited the dissemination of materials deemed
indecent, subversive of ``national culture,'' or politically sensitive.
Any person found guilty of importing a publication considered offensive
to the national culture faced a fine or imprisonment for up to one
year. Decree 92 on religious practice permits the publication of
religious material with permission from the LFNC. Although several
religious groups sought such permission, at year's end no Christian or
Baha'i groups had received authorization to publish religious materials
(see section 2.c.).
Internet Freedom.--The Government controlled all domestic Internet
servers and occasionally blocked access to Internet sites that were
deemed pornographic or were critical of government institutions and
policies. The Government also sporadically monitored e-mail. Highly
restrictive regulations regarding Internet use by citizens
significantly curtailed freedom of expression. ``Disturbing the peace
and happiness of the community'' and ``reporting misleading news'' are
criminal acts. The Prime Minister's Office required all Internet
service providers to submit quarterly reports and link their gateways
to facilitate monitoring, but the Government's ability to enforce such
regulations appeared to be limited. Fearful of monitoring by the
authorities, many citizens used the Internet services of a growing
number of Internet cafes rather than personal computers for private
correspondence.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The law provides for
academic freedom, but in practice the Government imposed restrictions.
The Ministry of Education tightly controlled curriculums in schools,
including private schools and colleges, to ensure that no subjects were
taught that might raise questions about the political system.
Both citizen and noncitizen academic professionals conducting
research in the country may be subject to restrictions on travel,
access to information, and publication. The Government exercised
control, via requirements for exit stamps and other mechanisms, over
the ability of state-employed academic professionals to travel for
research or obtain study grants, but it actively sought such
opportunities worldwide and approved virtually all such proposals.
Films and music recordings produced in government studios were
required to be submitted for official censorship; however, uncensored
foreign films and music were easily available in video and compact disc
format. The Ministry of Information and Culture repeatedly attempted to
impose restrictions aimed at limiting the influence of Thai culture in
Lao music and entertainment, but these restrictions were widely ignored
and appeared to have little effect.
The Government did not interfere with cultural events unless it
considered such events antigovernment. During the year there were no
reports that the Government forced the cancellation of cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. The law prohibits
participation in organizations that undertake demonstrations, protest
marches, or other acts that cause ``turmoil or social instability.''
Participation in acts deemed to cause turmoil or social instability,
such as protest marches, is punishable by prison terms of one to five
years. Defendants tried for crimes against the state could face
sentences of up to 20 years or execution.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides citizens the right to
organize and join associations, but the Government restricted this
right in practice. The Government registered and controlled all
associations and prohibited associations that criticized the
Government. Political groups other than popular front organizations
approved by the LPRP were forbidden. Although the Government restricted
many types of formal professional and social associations, informal
nonpolitical groups were able to meet without hindrance. The Government
permitted the creation of some associations of a business nature, such
as allowing hotel owners and freight forwarders to create their own
business associations. The Government also began permitting the
establishment of nonprofit organizations designed to promote science
and agriculture. The Prime Minister's Office oversees the small but
growing number of organizations that have registered to conduct
activities in these areas.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the authorities, particularly at the local level,
interfered with this right.
Although the state is secular, the LPRP and the Government
supported Theravada Buddhism, which was followed by more than 40
percent of the population and was the faith of nearly all of the ethnic
Lao population. The law does not recognize a national religion, but the
Government's support for and oversight of temples and other facilities
and its promotion of Buddhist practices gave Buddhism an elevated
status among the country's religions.
During the year local authorities arrested or detained
approximately 49 Christians in Luang Namtha, Savannakhet, Salavan,
Oudomsay, Bolikhamsai, and Vientiane provinces. Authorities detained a
group of 27 Hmong Christians, including 26 children, who had been
deported from Thailand in December 2005 (see sections 1.b., 1.d., and
2.d.). On April 1, a Christian man in Salavan Province was arrested and
initially placed in ankle and wrist stocks after refusing the village
chief's order to recant his faith. After 10 days the stocks were
removed, but he remained under house arrest before being released in
October (see section 1.c.).
On November 17, 11 ethnic Khmu Christians were arrested in Khon
Kean Village, Vientiane Province, along with two foreign citizens. The
Khmu Christians reportedly were arrested for collaborating with the two
foreigners, who had preached at a Christian celebration and videotaped
interviews with some church members. The two foreigners were released
after three weeks' detention and the reported payment of a $9,000 fine.
Two additional Khmu Christians from Khon Kean Village were subsequently
arrested. Among the 13 arrested, three pastors were imprisoned in
Thongharb Prison, and 10 other church leaders remained in detention in
Hin Heup, Vientiane Province, at year's end (see section 1.d.).
On December 20, five ethnic Yao Christians in Luang Namtha Province
were arrested for building a church without proper authorization. On
December 26, authorities arrested one additional member of the group.
The six church leaders had received village approval for the church's
construction, but when district officials ordered them to stop
construction, they reportedly continued without district approval.
Ethnic minority Christians were sometimes arrested under what were
alleged to be false charges because of their faith. In midyear a
Christian in Oudomsay's Nam Heang Village reportedly was arrested for
having ammunition at his home. He was held for two months and released
contingent upon his agreement to pay a $200 (two million kip) fine.
Church leaders, noting the man had recently completed three years of
military service, alleged that the village chief, known to be anti-
Christian, used the ammunition as an excuse for the arrest. On August
11, two Christians in Savannakhet's Xephone District were imprisoned
for being outspoken about their faith and for what the village chief
regarded as prowestern views. The Government reported that the men were
sentenced to six months' imprisonment, to be followed by one year's
probation for ``dividing society and damaging solidarity.'' At year's
end the men remained in prison.
Early in the year authorities reportedly released two ethnic Brou
Christian men convicted of weapons trafficking in Savannakhet in 2005.
However, some in the religious community said the two were never
convicted and were held at a police facility until their families were
able to pay fines to the police. Members of the religious community
believed the arrests were due to their religious beliefs and said that
many non-Christians in the community were also selling ammunition but
were not arrested. Community members also believed that the men's
arrest and detention was motivated by local officials' desire to force
them to renounce their faith.
In August Lao Evangelical Church member Nyoht, sentenced in 1999 to
12 years' imprisonment for treason and sedition, died following a
period of illness. Another church member, Thongchanh, sentenced to 15
years in prison at the same time, remained incarcerated. Some persons
believed their conviction was due to their proselytizing activities.
The constitution prohibits ``all acts of creating division of
religion or creating division among the people.'' The LPRP and the
Government used this to justify restrictions on religious practice by
all religious groups, including the Buddhist majority and animists.
Although official pronouncements acknowledged the positive benefits of
religion, they also emphasized its potential to divide, distract, or
destabilize. The constitution notes that the state ``mobilizes and
encourages'' Buddhist monks and novices as well as priests of other
religions to participate in activities ``beneficial to the nation and
the people.''
Authorities continued to be suspicious of non-Buddhist religious
communities, including some Christian groups. Local authorities,
apparently in some cases with encouragement from government or LPRP
officials, singled out Protestant groups, both those officially
recognized by the LFNC and those that were not recognized, as a target
of abuse.
Decree 92 permits minority religious groups to engage in a number
of activities previously considered illegal, such as proselytizing and
printing religious material; however, it requires religious groups or
individuals to obtain permission in advance for these activities, in
most cases from the LFNC. Although the intent of the decree was to
clarify the rights and responsibilities of religious groups, many
minority religious leaders complained that it was too restrictive in
practice. The requirement that religious groups obtain permission,
sometimes from several different offices, for a broad range of
activities greatly limited the freedom of these groups.
The LFNC has recognized two Protestant groups: the Lao Evangelical
Church (LEC), which is the umbrella Protestant church, and the Seventh-
day Adventist Church. The LFNC refused to recognize congregations such
as the Methodists, who operated independently.
The Government's tolerance of religion varied by region. In most
parts of the country, members of long-established congregations had few
problems in practicing their faith, although long-time congregations in
some parts of Savannakhet and Luang Prabang provinces continued to face
restrictions from local authorities. Authorities sometimes advised new
congregations to join the LEC, despite clear differences between the
groups' beliefs. In some areas, such as Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang
provinces, independent congregations were ordered to join the LEC or
face sanctions, including arrests of their leaders. In other areas,
however, authorities allowed congregations not affiliated with the LEC
or Seventh-day Adventists to continue their worship unhindered.
The LFNC often sought to intervene with local governments in cases
where minority religious practitioners, particularly Christians, had
been harassed or mistreated; however, incidents of religious
intolerance by local officials continued in some areas. Although
officials in a few urban areas--notably Vientiane City, Savannakhet,
and Pakse--were relatively tolerant of Christian religious practice,
government authorities in many regions restricted the practice of
properly registered religious groups. Officials in Savannakhet
Province's Muang Phine District arrested and detained religious
believers without charges, apparently as a means of forcing them to
change their religious beliefs (see section 1.d.). Authorities in other
areas used threats of arrest as a means of intimidating local religious
communities. Local officials in some parts of the country also
threatened to withhold government identification cards and household
registration documents as well as deny educational benefits to those
who did not give up their religious beliefs. Local officials
confiscated lands of Christians in one area of Oudomsay Province in
February but reportedly returned them after a few months.
The Roman Catholic Church was unable to operate effectively in the
northern part of the country, and church members had only intermittent
contact with the bishop of Luang Prabang, who lived in Vientiane. The
small Catholic communities in Luang Prabang, Sayaboury, and Bokeo
provinces sporadically held services in members' homes, but there were
no priests in the areas, and pastoral visits from Vientiane were
infrequent.
On June 18, the Government allowed the Catholic Church to ordain
the country's first new priest in 30 years, after forcing a
cancellation of the event in 2005. The Government allowed the Catholic
Church to ordain two additional priests on December 9 and another on
December 30.
In contrast with 2005, there were no reports that authorities
arrested or detained persons bringing Bibles into the country.
Followers of the Baha'i Faith were able to practice their religion
without hindrance in Vientiane City and in Savannakhet and Khammouane
provinces. Small Baha'i groups faced fewer restrictions from local
authorities than in the past. The small Muslim community in Vientiane
was able to practice its religion without hindrance.
Animists generally experienced no interference from the Government
in their religious practices, which varied extensively among the
approximately 70 identified ethnic groups and tribes in the country.
However, the Government actively discouraged animist practices that it
regarded as outdated, unhealthful, or illegal, such as the practice in
some tribes of infanticide of those with birth defects or of keeping
the bodies of deceased relatives in homes.
Officials in Savannakhet Province continued to refuse requests by
the Christian congregation in the village of Khamsan for the return of
their church building, seized by authorities many years earlier. In
several areas authorities continued to deny requests by local
congregations to construct permanent church buildings, but in other
areas officials permitted the construction or renovation of churches.
Authorities in some regions used intimidation or threats of expulsion
to force Christians to renounce their religious faith, particularly in
parts of Savannakhet, Salavan, and Oudomsay provinces (see section
1.f.).
Officials in some areas were suspicious of persons who converted to
Christianity. Two Christians arrested in Savannakhet Province on August
11 were said to be relatively new converts and among the most vocal
Christians in the community (see section 1.d.).
The Government strictly prohibited foreigners from proselytizing,
although it permitted foreign NGOs with religious affiliations to work
in the country. Foreign persons who distributed religious material were
subject to arrest or deportation. Although Decree 92 permits
proselytizing by religious practitioners provided they obtain
permission for such activities from the LFNC, the LFNC did not grant
such permission, and persons found evangelizing risked harassment or
arrest. In May authorities arrested two foreign citizens in Bokeo
Province for proselytizing and, after holding them for two days,
expelled them from the country.
The Government permits the printing, import, and distribution of
Buddhist religious material, but it made no such concessions to the
printing or import of religious material and literature by non-Buddhist
faiths. Decree 92 authorizes the printing of religious material,
provided permission is obtained from the LFNC, but the LFNC did not
grant permission to Christian congregations. The Government required
and usually granted permission for formal links with coreligionists in
other countries for all recognized religions; however, in practice the
distinction between formal and informal links was unclear, and
relations with coreligionists generally were established without
difficulty.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--For the most part, the various
religious communities coexisted amicably. There was no known Jewish
community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic
acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, but
in practice the Government restricted some of them. Citizens who
traveled across provincial borders are not required to report to
authorities; however, in designated security zones officials
occasionally set up roadblocks and checked travelers' identity cards.
Citizens who sought to travel to contiguous areas of neighboring
countries could do so with travel permits that generally were easily
obtained from district offices. Those wishing to travel farther abroad
were required to apply for passports and exit visas. While the
Government usually issued these documents for a fee, officials at the
local level sometimes denied some persons permission to apply for
passports and exit visas. Authorities restricted access by foreigners
to certain areas, such as the former Saisomboun Special Zone, an area
previously administered by military forces, or remote districts in
Xieng Khouang and Bolikhamsai provinces, where antigovernment
insurgents continued to operate.
The Government did not use forced exile; however, a small group of
persons, who fled the country during the 1975 change in government and
were tried in absentia for antigovernment activities, did not have the
right of return.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol,
but the Nationality Law provides for asylum and the protection of
stateless persons. In practice the Government did not provide
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution, and did not routinely grant refugee or
asylum status. However, the Government showed some flexibility in
dealing pragmatically with individual asylum cases.
In the years following their return, citizens who had temporarily
sought refuge abroad were subject to greater scrutiny by the
authorities than were other citizens. However, these returnees have
largely reintegrated and no longer received unusual attention from
officials. Many who fled after the 1975 change of government have
returned to visit relatives, some have stayed and gained foreign
resident status, and some have reclaimed citizenship successfully.
The Government continued to refuse the request from the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to reestablish a presence
in the country to monitor the reintegration of former refugees who
returned under UNHCR's resettlement program. The Government stated that
the UNHCR's mandate expired in 2001 and all former refugees had been
successfully reintegrated. However, there were estimates that since
June 2005 more than 2,000 Hmong had surrendered, mainly in the
provinces of Xiang Khouang, Bolikhamsai, and Vientiane (part of which
composed the former military-administered Saisomboung Special Zone).
During the year the Government continued to deny that it had
detained 26 Hmong children, but many sources indicated the children had
been held in various government detention facilities since December
2005. In November 2005 Thai authorities in Petchaboon Province arrested
a group of ethnic Hmong, most of them girls, who had fled to Thailand
and were living in a holding camp in Petchaboon Province. The Thai
government later confirmed that it had unofficially deported the group
of 27 persons, 26 of whom were children, to Laos in early December
2005. Lao authorities initially refused to acknowledge the presence of
the group but then privately indicated that they were holding them;
however, later they denied that they ever held the group or knew of its
whereabouts. At year's end the case remained unresolved.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens do not have the right to change their government. Although
the constitution outlines a system composed of executive, legislative,
and judicial branches, the LPRP controlled governance and the
leadership at all levels through its constitutionally designated
``leading role.''
Elections and Political Participation.--The law provides for a
representative National Assembly, elected every five years in open,
multiple-candidate, fairly tabulated elections, with voting by secret
ballot and universal adult suffrage. However, the constitution
legitimizes only a single party, the LPRP; all other political parties
are outlawed. Election committees, appointed by the National Assembly,
must approve all candidates for local and national elections.
Candidates do not need to be LPRP members, but in practice almost all
were.
The National Assembly chooses a Standing Committee, generally based
on the previous Standing Committee's recommendation. Upon the
committee's recommendation, the National Assembly elects or removes the
President and vice President. The committee has the mandate to
supervise all administrative and judicial organizations and the sole
power to recommend Presidential decrees. It also appoints the National
Election Committee, which has powers over elections, including approval
of candidates. Activities of the Standing Committee were not fully
transparent.
The National Assembly, upon the President's recommendation, elects
the Prime Minister and other ministers of the Government. The 115-
member National Assembly, elected in April under a system of universal
suffrage, approved the LPRP's selection of the President at its
inaugural session in June, when it also ratified the President's
selection of a new prime minister and cabinet. The National Assembly
may consider and amend draft legislation, but only permanent
subcommittees of the Assembly may propose new laws. The law gives the
right to submit draft legislation to the Standing Committee and the
ruling executive structure.
There were 29 women in the 115-member National Assembly and four
women in the 55-member LPRP Central Committee, one of whom was also a
member of the seven-member Standing Committee. There was one woman in
the 11-member Politburo and one in the Prime Minister's Office, who
also served as minister of the civil service and public administration
authority. The minister of labor and social welfare was a woman.
There were seven Lao Soung (members of highland dwelling tribes)
and 16 Lao Theung (from midslope dwelling tribes) in the National
Assembly. Most Assembly members were ethnic Lao, who also dominated the
upper echelons of the LPRP and the Government. Three of the 28 cabinet
ministers were members of ethnic minority groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception that many officials within the executive and judicial
branches of the Government were corrupt. Wages of all government
officials were extremely low, and many officials, such as police
members, had broad powers that they could easily abuse. Early in the
year there reportedly was some action taken against corrupt customs
officials. The LPRP's measures to suppress all information that would
lead citizens to conclude the party was flawed ensured that there was
no public censure of corrupt officials who were party members.
There are no laws providing for public access to government
information, and in general the Government closely guarded the release
of any information pertaining to its internal activities, deeming such
secrecy necessary for ``national security.''
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no domestic human rights NGOs, and the Government does
not have a formal procedure for registration of such groups. Any
organization wishing to investigate and publicly criticize the
Government's human rights policies would face serious obstacles, if it
were permitted to operate at all.
The Government only sporadically responded in writing to requests
for information on the human rights situation from international human
rights organizations. However, the Government maintained human rights
dialogues with several foreign governments and continued to receive
training in UN human rights conventions from several international
donors.
The Government maintained contacts with the ICRC. The Government
continued to translate international human rights and humanitarian law
conventions with ICRC support. Since the 2001 closing of the UNHCR
office, the Government has not permitted UNHCR personnel to conduct
monitoring visits to the country.
A human rights division, established in 2005 in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs' Department of International Treaties and Legal
Affairs, has responsibility for investigating allegations of human
rights violations. However, in practice the division appeared to be a
correspondence unit with responsibility for answering letters of
inquiry regarding alleged human rights abuses and apparently had no
authority to perform or request investigations. The Foreign Ministry on
occasion responded to inquiries from the UN regarding its human rights
situation.
The Government at times permitted limited access by international
organizations and NGOs to provide food and other material assistance to
former insurgents who had accepted government resettlement offers.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal treatment under the law for all
citizens without regard to sex, social status, education, faith, or
ethnicity. The 1990 Family Law also includes provisions providing for
equal treatment without regard to social status. The Government at
times took action when well-documented and obvious cases of
discrimination came to the attention of high-level officials, although
the legal mechanism whereby citizens may bring charges of
discrimination against individuals or organizations was neither well
developed nor widely understood among the general population.
Women.--There were reports that domestic violence against women
occurred, but such violence did not appear to be widespread. There was
no evidence of police or judicial reluctance to act on domestic abuse
cases. Spousal abuse is illegal. Rape reportedly was rare. In rape
cases that were tried in court, defendants generally were convicted
with penalties ranging from three years' imprisonment to execution.
Spousal rape is not illegal. Penalties for domestic abuse may include
both fines and imprisonment.
Prostitution is illegal, with penalties ranging from three months
to one year in prison. However, in practice antiprostitution laws
generally were not enforced, and in some cases officials reportedly
were involved in the trade. Trafficking in women and girls for
prostitution, both to Thailand and internally, was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking). Sexual relations with foreigners are forbidden
under what the Government refers to as a ``special law,'' and police
occasionally arrested both citizens and foreigners for having sexual
relations outside of marriage.
Sexual harassment was rarely reported, and the actual extent was
difficult to assess. Although sexual harassment is not illegal,
``indecent sexual behavior'' toward another person is illegal and
punishable by six months' to three years' imprisonment.
The law provides for equal rights for women, and the Lao Women's
Union operated nationally to promote the position of women in society.
The law prohibits legal discrimination in marriage and inheritance.
Discrimination against women did not appear common; however, varying
degrees of traditional, culturally based discrimination persisted, with
greater discrimination practiced by some hill tribes. Many women
occupied responsible positions in the civil service and private
business, and in urban areas their incomes were often higher than those
of men.
During the year the Prime Minister issued a decree making the 2004
Law on Women fully enforceable. The law establishes penalties for
crimes against women that are significantly more severe than those
contained in the criminal code. The law defines trafficking and
violence against women and children as criminal actions and provides
for the protection of victims internally and by international agencies.
Children.--Although the Government has made children's education
and health care a priority in its economic planning, funding for
children's basic health and educational needs remained inadequate, and
the country had a very high rate of infant and child mortality.
Education is free and compulsory through the fifth grade; however, high
fees for books and supplies and a general shortage of teachers in rural
areas prevented many children from attending school. Although not
reliable, 2005 census data claimed that 67 percent of primary school-
age children, 81 percent of junior high school-age children, and
approximately 41 percent of high school-age children were enrolled in
school. In contrast, the UN Development Program estimated that almost
40 percent of children did not attend primary school and only 10
percent entered secondary school. There was a significant difference in
the educational opportunities offered to boys and girls. While figures
were not reliable, literacy rates for girls were approximately 10
percent lower than for boys in general. However, according to
government policy an equal number of men and women were accepted by the
national university.
The law prohibits violence against children, and violators were
subject to stiff punishments. Reports of the physical abuse of children
were rare.
Trafficking in girls for prostitution and forced labor was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). Other forms of child labor
generally were confined to family farms and enterprises (see section
6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits abduction and trade in
persons as well as detaining persons against their will, procuring
persons for commercial sex, and prostitution; however, trafficking in
persons, particularly women and girls, was a problem. The 2004 Law on
Women includes provisions protecting women and children from
trafficking and domestic violence and imposes stiff penalties on
traffickers (see section 5, Women).
The country was primarily a country of origin for trafficking in
persons, including girls ages 13-16, and, to a much lesser extent, a
country of transit. The primary destination country was Thailand. There
was almost no effective border control. There was little reliable data
available on the scope and severity of the problem until recently, when
studies conducted between 2004 and year's end indicated that the scale
of economic emigration, mostly by young persons between the ages of 15
and 30, was far greater than previously supposed. Approximately 7
percent of the total sample population in three southern provinces
migrated, primarily to Thailand, either seasonally or permanently, and
approximately 55 percent of the migrants were female. Thai authorities
estimated that at least 180,000 undocumented Lao worked in Thailand,
while other estimates suggested the number was higher. An unknown
number of these persons were actually trafficked in some sense of the
term. Internal trafficking of mostly minority girls and women
increased, with many minority victims working in the sex services trade
in the northern part of the country. According to one study, a very
small number of female citizens also were trafficked to China to become
brides for Chinese men.
Most trafficking victims were lowland Lao, although small numbers
of minority women also were victimized by traffickers, and the number
of minority trafficking victims was increasing. Minority groups were
particularly vulnerable because they did not have the cultural
familiarity or linguistic proximity to Thai that Lao-speaking workers
could use to protect themselves from exploitative situations. A much
smaller number of trafficked foreign nationals, especially Burmese and
Vietnamese, transited through the country.
Many labor recruiters in the country were local persons with cross-
border experience and were known to the trafficking victims. For the
most part, they had no connection to organized crime, commercial sexual
exploitation, or the practice of involuntary servitude, but their
services usually ended once their charges reached Thailand, where more
organized trafficking operations operated.
There were few reports of official involvement in trafficking;
however, anecdotal evidence suggested that local officials knew of
trafficking activities, and some may have profited from them.
Before the antitrafficking provisions in the 2004 Law on Women went
into effect, the Government had prosecuted only a handful of
traffickers, according to available information. All were prosecuted
under other criminal statutes. The Law on Women became enforceable in
February when the Prime Minister issued implementing regulations. While
the Government worked to publicize the law, at year's end it had not
been fully disseminated. Based on reports provided by the Lao Anti-
People's Trafficking Unit (LAPTU), the primary law enforcement unit
responsible for investigating human trafficking cases, the Government
prosecuted five persons for human trafficking-related offenses, and
eight cases were pending court action. The average penalty of the five
that were convicted was six-and-a-half years' imprisonment and fines
ranging from $500 (five million kip) to $3,500 (35 million kip). Only
one person, arrested in August, was charged under the amended penal
code that specifically addresses human trafficking. LAPTU officers
participated in joint investigations with their Thai counterparts from
northeast Thailand.
The Government became more involved in countering the worst forms
of trafficking and the exploitation of underage persons, chiefly
through cooperation with international NGOs working on trafficking
problems. In August the Government hosted a meeting of the Coordinated
Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking and also held its
first national workshop on antitrafficking.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (MLSW) had a unit devoted
to children with special needs, including protection of trafficking
victims and prevention of trafficking. The MLSW also maintained two
small-scale repatriation assistance centers for returned victims of
trafficking, but their effectiveness was limited by a small budget,
inadequate international assistance, and a lack of trained personnel.
The centers also served victims of domestic violence. The MLSW and the
Lao Women's Union conducted pilot studies on antitrafficking
information campaigns and began to pursue antitrafficking efforts more
actively in conjunction with NGOs. Financial constraints limited the
cash contributions the Government could make, but it offered the
services of ministerial personnel and meeting venues to NGOs doing
antitrafficking work.
In October the NGO Assistance for Women in Distressing Situations
(AFESIP) established a shelter in Vientiane Municipality to aid victims
of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, particularly those in
need of long-term counseling and assistance.
The Lao Women's Union and the Youth Union, both party-sanctioned
mass organizations, offered educational programs designed to inform
girls and young women about the schemes of recruiters for brothels and
sweatshops in neighboring countries and elsewhere. These organizations
were most effective in disseminating information at the grassroots
level.
In the past some trafficking victims were punished for improper
documentation or for crossing the border illegally. In July the
Government reissued a 2004 order to stop the practice of fining
returnees and followed up with training for local immigration officials
in some areas. With support from UNICEF, the National Commission for
Mothers and Children continued an active program of support for
victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution provides citizens
protection against discrimination but does not specify that these
protections apply to persons with disabilities. Regulations promulgated
by the MLSW and the Lao National Commission for the Disabled protect
such persons against discrimination; however, the regulations lack the
force of law. The law does not mandate accessibility to buildings or
government services for persons with disabilities, but the MLSW has
established regulations regarding building access and built some
sidewalk ramps in Vientiane.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides for equal
rights for all minority citizens, and there is no legal discrimination
against them; however, societal discrimination persisted. Moreover,
critics charged that the Government's resettlement program for ending
slash-and-burn agriculture and opium production adversely affected many
ethnic minority groups, particularly in the north. The program requires
that resettled persons adopt paddy rice farming and live in large
communities, ignoring the traditional livelihoods and community
structures of these minority groups. The program has led to an active
debate among international observers about whether the benefits of
resettlement promoted by the Government--access to markets, schools,
and medical care for resettled persons--outweigh the negative impact on
traditional cultural practices (see section 1.f.).
The Government encouraged the preservation of minority cultures and
traditions; however, due to their remote location and inaccessibility,
minority tribes had little voice in government decisions affecting
their lands and the allocation of natural resources from their areas.
The Hmong are one of the largest and most prominent highland
minority groups. There were a number of Hmong officials in the senior
ranks of the Government and LPRP, including at least five members of
the LPRP Central Committee. However, societal discrimination continued
against the Hmong (as well as other ethnic minorities), and some Hmong
believed their ethnic group could not coexist with the ethnic Lao
population. This belief has fanned separatist or irredentist beliefs
among some Hmong. In recent years the Government focused limited
assistance projects in Hmong areas to address regional and ethnic
disparities in income. The Government also provided for Hmong and Khmu
language radio broadcasts but reportedly denied Khmu requests to use
the Lao script as their official written language. The Khmu language
does not have its own writing system.
There were no substantiated reports of attacks by Hmong insurgent
groups during the year. Nonetheless, the Government leadership
maintained its suspicion of Hmong irredentist desires, which resulted
in increased efforts by security forces to eliminate scattered pockets
of insurgents and their families in remote jungle areas (see section
1.a.).
There were reports of scattered surrenders of groups associated
with the insurgency, often consisting of one or two families but also
including a group of 350 ethnic Hmong in October in Vientiane Province.
On December 13, another group of more than 400 Hmong surrendered to
authorities in Xiang Khouang Province. While there were no reports of
violence against those who surrendered, the Government did not handle
the surrenders in a transparent manner and refused to allow
international observers. At year's end the status and welfare of these
groups remained unknown.
For several years the Government has had a vaguely defined policy
of giving resettlement assistance and ``amnesty'' to insurgents who
surrender to authorities. At least partially in response to charges
that it was trying to kill all insurgent elements, the Government used
family members of insurgents living in the forest and former insurgents
to approach these groups to urge them to surrender. Throughout the late
1990s and early 2000s, small groups accepted this offer and received
small amounts of resettlement assistance from the Government,
especially in Vientiane, Bolikhamsai, and Xieng Khouang provinces and
in the Saisomboun Special Zone. In some areas, such as in Bolikhamsai,
the program included job training, land, and equipment for farming.
However, in some cases the assistance was less than had been promised.
Moreover, because of their past activities, amnestied insurgents
continued to be the focus of government suspicion and scrutiny.
The Government generally refused offers from the international
community to assist surrendered insurgents directly, but it allowed
some aid from the UN and other international agencies to reach them as
part of larger assistance programs (see section 2.d.). The Government
continued to refuse international observers permission to visit the 170
insurgents who surrendered in June 2005 or to provide them with
promised food and assistance.
The constitution states that foreigners and stateless persons are
protected by ``provisions of the laws,'' but in practice they did not
enjoy such protection.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Within lowland Lao
society, despite wide and growing tolerance of homosexual practices,
societal discrimination persisted against such practices.
There was no official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS,
but social discrimination existed. The Government actively promoted
tolerance of those with HIV/AIDS, and during the year it conducted
awareness campaigns to educate the population and promote understanding
toward such persons.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Under the law workers may form unions
in private enterprises without previous authorization as long as they
operate within the framework of the officially sanctioned Federation of
Lao Trade Unions (FLTU), which in turn is controlled by the LPRP.
However, most of the FLTU's approximately 99,000 members worked in the
public sector.
The Government employed the majority of salaried workers, although
this situation was changing as the Government privatized state
enterprises and otherwise reduced the number of its employees.
Subsistence farmers made up an estimated 85 percent of the work force.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no
right to organize and bargain collectively. The law stipulates that
disputes be resolved through workplace committees composed of
employers, representatives of the local labor union, and
representatives of the FLTU, with final authority residing in the MLSW.
According to NGOs and embassies based in Vientiane, the law generally
was not enforced by the MLSW, especially in dealings with joint
ventures in the private sector. Labor disputes reportedly were
infrequent. According to labor activists, the FLTU needed government
permission to enter factories and had to provide advance notice of such
visits, rendering it powerless to protect workers who filed complaints.
The Government sets wages and salaries for government employees, while
management sets wages and salaries for private business employees.
Strikes are not prohibited by law, but the Government's ban on
subversive activities or destabilizing demonstrations (see section
2.b.) made strikes unlikely, and none were reported during the year.
The law stipulates that employers may not fire employees for
conducting trade union activities, lodging complaints against employers
about law implementation, or cooperating with officials on law
implementation and labor disputes, and there were no reports of such
cases. Workplace committees were one mechanism used for resolving
complaints, but there was no information on how effective these
committees were in practice.
There was one export processing zone under development. It was part
of the Savan-Seno Special Economic Zone in Savannakhet Province. Three
companies signed agreements to rent land in the zone, but at year's end
the zone was not operational. Labor laws apply to the zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced labor except in time of war or national disaster, during which
time the state may conscript laborers. The law also prohibits forced or
compulsory labor by children; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Under the law children under age 15 may not be recruited for employment
except to work for their families, provided the work is not dangerous
or difficult. Many children helped their families on farms or in shops,
but child labor was rare in industrial enterprises. Some garment
factories reportedly employed a very small number of underage girls.
The Ministries of Public Security and of Justice are responsible for
enforcing these provisions, but enforcement was ineffective due to a
lack of inspectors and other resources.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The daily minimum wage was
approximately $2.90 (29,000 kip), which was insufficient to provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most civil servants
received less than the minimum wage but often received other government
benefits and housing subsidies. Some piecework employees, especially on
construction sites, earned less than the minimum wage.
The law provides for a workweek limited to 48 hours (36 hours for
employment in dangerous activities) and at least one day of rest per
week.
The law provides for safe working conditions and higher
compensation for dangerous work. Employers are responsible for
compensating a worker injured or killed on the job, or the worker's
family. This requirement was generally fulfilled by employers in the
formal economic sector. The law also mandates extensive employer
responsibility for those disabled while at work, and this provision
appeared to be enforced adequately. Although workplace inspections
reportedly have increased over the past several years, the MLSW lacked
the personnel and budgetary resources to enforce the law effectively.
The law has no specific provision allowing workers to remove themselves
from a dangerous situation without jeopardizing their employment.
There were a number of illegal immigrants in the country,
particularly from Vietnam and China, and they were vulnerable to
exploitation by employers. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that
children from illegal immigrant Vietnamese families sold goods on the
streets of Vientiane.
__________
MALAYSIA
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy with a population of
approximately 26.6 million. It has a parliamentary system of government
headed by a prime minister selected through periodic multiparty
elections. The National Front, a coalition of political parties
dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has held
power since 1957. The most recent national elections, in March 2004,
were conducted in a generally transparent manner, but the opposition
complained of the ruling coalition's exploitation of the powers of
incumbency. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The Government
abridged citizens' right to change their government. The Government
maintained no independent body to investigate deaths that occurred
during apprehension by police or while in police custody. Other
problems included police abuse of detainees, overcrowded prisons, use
of the Emergency Ordinance and other statutes to arrest and detain
persons without charge or trial, and persistent questions about the
impartiality and independence of the judiciary. The Government
continued to restrict freedom of press, association, and assembly and
placed some restrictions on freedom of speech, including prohibitions
of organized public discussions about ``sensitive'' religious topics.
Violence against women remained a problem. The country was a
destination and transit point for trafficking in women and girls for
the purposes of prostitution and domestic servitude. Longstanding
government policies gave preferences to ethnic Malays in many areas.
Workers' rights were impeded by long court backlogs and limitations on
the right to organize unions in some industries. Migrant workers faced
some discrimination and exploitation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings during the
year. Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that police
killed 20 persons while apprehending them, up from nine such killings
in 2005. Local NGOs also reported that 19 persons died in police
custody during the year, up from eight such deaths in 2005.
The law empowers magistrates and public prosecutors to investigate
deaths of persons in police custody and to charge those responsible. In
April the director of the federal criminal investigation department
stated that magistrates had absolved police of blame in 39 of the 96
deaths in their custody between 2000 and March. Magistrates determined
those cases to be ``sudden deaths'' involving no police culpability.
The remaining cases were in various stages of investigation. At year's
end no prosecutions had been initiated as a result of the
investigations, and no investigation results had been released.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--No law specifically prohibits torture; however, laws that
prohibit ``committing grievous hurt'' encompass torture. There were no
reports of torture by police. According to the Government, every report
of abuse of prisoners was investigated; however, the Government
generally did not release information on the results of internal police
investigations, and whether those responsible for abuses were punished
was not always known.
In July parliament passed amendments to the criminal procedure code
(CPC) that banned the use of nude ear squats and codified new body
search procedures designed to ensure that police conduct searches in a
more dignified and standardized manner. The amendments were in response
to a November 2005 incident in which police forced a detained woman
suspected of harboring narcotics to strip naked, hold her ears, and
squat repeatedly in front of a policewoman. Police authorities later
confirmed that such squats were standard police procedure at detention
facilities for females suspected of committing narcotics offenses and
were intended to expose or dislodge hidden contraband. A male policeman
who surreptitiously filmed the female detainee's nude squats was
dismissed from the police force.
Criminal law prescribes caning as an additional punishment to
imprisonment for those convicted of some nonviolent crimes, such as
narcotics possession, criminal breach of trust, and alien smuggling.
The law prescribes up to six strokes of the cane for both illegal
immigrants and their employers. In February the Government offered
approximately $2,300 (8,340 ringgit) to a legal Nepalese worker who was
mistakenly detained for 51 days and caned prior to his deportation. The
worker refused the settlement offer, calling the amount insufficient to
compensate for his pain and suffering.
Judges routinely included caning in sentences of those convicted of
such crimes as kidnapping, rape, and robbery. Some state Shari'a
(Islamic) laws, which bind only Muslims, also prescribe caning (see
section 1.e.). The caning, carried out with a half-inch-thick wooden
cane, commonly causes welts and at times scarring. Males older than 50
and women are exempted from caning. Male children 10 years of age and
older may be given up to 10 strokes of a ``light cane'' (see section
5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison overcrowding
remained a serious problem. Prison overcrowding was concentrated near
major cities, with several facilities experiencing occupancy rates more
than 50 percent above capacity. The Internal Security Ministry stated
that five new prisons were under construction at year's end, and five
additional prisons were scheduled to be completed by 2010. In September
officials from Suhakam, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia,
reported that detainees under investigative detention or awaiting trial
accounted for a significant portion of the prison overcrowding problem.
On September 19, the Government announced that it would hire additional
judges, in an effort to reduce the backlog of pending court cases (see
section 1.e.).
The Internal Security Ministry stated in September that 42,483
individuals were incarcerated in prisons and illegal-migrant detention
centers.
NGOs and international organizations involved with migrant workers
and refugees made credible allegations of inadequate food and medical
care, poor sanitation, and abuse by guards in the 15 government
detention camps for illegal immigrants. Immigrant detainees were not
medically screened prior to placement in the camps. An NGO with access
to the camps claimed that overcrowding and deficient sanitation
sometimes facilitated the spread of disease. During the year local NGOs
were allowed into the camps with mobile medical clinics.
The Government does not have an agreement with the International
Committee of the Red Cross permitting prison visits. NGOs and the media
generally were not permitted to monitor prison conditions. However,
during the year Suhakam officials visited various prisons and
immigration detention camps on an ad hoc basis.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continued to have
unlimited access to the country's immigration detention camps. During
the year UNHCR staff members conducted numerous visits at various
prisons and immigration detention facilities located throughout the
country.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution stipulates that
no person may be incarcerated unless in accordance with the law.
However, the law allows investigative detention, designed to prevent a
criminal suspect from fleeing or destroying evidence while police
conduct an investigation. Several laws also permit preventive detention
to incarcerate an individual suspected of criminal activity or to
prevent a person from committing a future crime. Such laws severely
restrict, and in some cases eliminate, access to timely legal
representation and a fair public trial.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Malaysia
Police is under the command of the inspector general of police (IGP),
who reports to the minister of internal security. For the past several
years, the Prime Minister also served as the minister of internal
security. The IGP is responsible for organizing and administering the
police force. Police functions generally are divided into five areas:
enforcement of law and order, maintenance of national peace and
security, prevention and detection of crimes, arrest and prosecution of
offenders, and gathering of security intelligence. The police force
consisted of approximately 93,000 officers, of which 4,500 were women.
A 2005 police commission report on reform noted a rising incidence
of police corruption and stated that it was endemic. Police offenses
listed in the report included accepting bribes, theft, and rape;
punishments included suspension, dismissal, and demotion. According to
police statistics, the number of disciplinary actions against police
officers had steadily declined--1,444 in 2003, 1,200 in 2004, and 886
in 2005. Warnings and fines accounted for 48 percent and 36 percent,
respectively, of all disciplinary punishments of police officers during
the year. In addition, a police spokesman stated that an average of 10
senior police officers and 80 to 100 lower-ranked policemen were
charged with corruption each year. During the first 10 months of the
year, the police dismissed 46 officers, compared with 77 dismissals
during all of 2005.
As in 2005, the Government continued to focus most of its police
reform efforts on improving the salaries, quarters, and general living
conditions of police officers. The status of other reforms recommended
in the 2005 police commission report, including the formation of an
Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC),
remained uncertain. On March 16, the Prime Minister stated that 65
percent of the commission's 125 recommendations had been implemented.
On March 21, the Internal Security Ministry submitted a chart to
parliament that identified whether each recommendation had been
implemented but provided no subsidiary information that allowed
independent observers to verify the Government's claims. NGO leaders
complained that the Government's efforts to implement the commission's
recommendations lacked transparency.
While the Prime Minister initially supported creation of an IPCMC,
police leaders strongly resisted such a body. In late May the police
Web site contained a quote from a senior police official that
threatened police support for opposition candidates during the next
general election if the Government did not abandon forming the IPCMC.
Following a strong counterresponse by National Front politicians, the
IGP publicly reversed his earlier opposition and stated that neither he
nor other police officers would oppose formation of the IPCMC. All
anti-IPCMC commentary on the police Web site was removed, but by year's
end the Government had not established an IPCMC.
The police training center continued to include human rights
awareness training in its courses. In March the country's 145 district
police chiefs attended a mandatory three-day human rights seminar. In
addressing the district chiefs, the IGP urged them to respect suspects'
human rights and not tolerate misbehavior by police officers under
their command.
Arrest and Detention.--The law permits police to arrest individuals
for some offenses without a warrant and hold suspects for 24 hours
without charge. A magistrate may extend this initial detention period
for up to two weeks. Although police generally observed these
provisions, the 2005 police commission report noted that police
sometimes released suspects and then quickly rearrested them and held
them in investigative custody. Police often denied detainees access to
legal counsel and questioned suspects without giving them access to
counsel. Police justified this practice as necessary to prevent
interference in ongoing investigations, and judicial decisions
generally upheld the practice. The commission stated that an ``arrest
first, investigate later'' mentality pervaded some elements of the
police force and recommended that detention procedures be reviewed to
prevent abuse.
The CPC allows the detention of a person whose testimony as a
material witness is necessary in a criminal case if that person is
considered likely to flee. Bail is usually available for those accused
of crimes not potentially punishable by life imprisonment or death. The
amount and availability of bail is determined at the judge's
discretion. When bail is granted, accused persons must usually
surrender their passports to the court.
On July 27, parliament passed a series of amendments to the CPC
that strengthened the rights of criminal suspects during their initial
detention period. The amendments require an arresting officer to inform
a detainee of the reason for his arrest and enable the suspect to
contact his lawyer and family free of charge within 24 hours of arrest.
In addition, the amendments limit investigative custody to a maximum
period of seven days for crimes punishable by less than 14 years of
incarceration. Judges are allowed to extend the first detention
application for up to four days, followed by an additional three-day
period if requested by police. For crimes potentially punishable by 14
years or more in custody, a judge is allowed to grant up to seven days'
detention on the first application, followed by a maximum of seven
additional days based on a second application. NGO leaders praised
these amendments as a significant step toward reducing historical
abuses of the detention process by police.
Crowded and understaffed courts often resulted in lengthy pretrial
detention, sometimes lasting several years.
On November 15, the federal Islamic Development Department (Jakim)
announced revised guidelines for conducting raids on premises where
Muslims are suspected of engaging in offenses such as gambling and
consumption of alcohol. Although Jakim enforcement officers need not be
escorted by police during their raids, the new guidelines authorize
Jakim officials to enter any private premises without a warrant if they
deem swift action to be necessary.
Four preventive detention laws permit the Government to detain
suspects without normal judicial review or filing formal charges: the
Internal Security Act (ISA), the Emergency (Public Order and Prevention
of Crime) Ordinance, the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures)
Act, and the Restricted Residence Act.
The ISA empowers police to arrest without warrant and hold for up
to 60 days any person who acts ``in a manner prejudicial to the
national security or economic life of Malaysia.'' During the initial
60-day detention period in special detention centers, suspects are not
always given access to counsel. Upon the recommendation of an advisory
board, the internal security minister may authorize further detention
for up to two years, with an unlimited number of two-year periods to
follow. Some of those released before the end of their detention period
are subject to ``imposed restricted conditions.'' These conditions
limit freedom of speech, association, and travel inside and outside the
country. Since 1960 more than 10,500 persons have been arrested under
the ISA, of whom more than 4,100 were detained beyond the initial 60-
day detention period and 2,000 were subjected to restriction orders.
Even when there are no formal charges, the ISA requires that
authorities inform detainees of the accusations against them and permit
them to appeal to an advisory board for review every six months.
However, advisory board decisions and recommendations are not binding
on the internal security minister, not made public, and often not shown
to the detainee. In past years local human rights NGOs claimed that
police at times intimidated and harassed family members of ISA
detainees to prevent them from taking legal action against the police.
The 1988 ISA amendments circumscribe judicial review of ISA
detentions. The Bar Council has asserted that ISA detentions should be
subject to full judicial review; however, the courts do not concur with
this interpretation and limit their review to procedural issues.
Detainees freed by judicial order nearly always were immediately
detained again. Following several successful procedural challenges to
ISA detentions, the Federal Court ruled that the courts should not
intervene in matters of national security and public order.
In August the Abolish ISA Movement, a local NGO, stated that there
were 97 persons in detention under the ISA, following the release of 11
ISA detainees during the year. The 97 detainees included 59 suspected
of involvement with terrorist groups, 22 held for forging currency, and
16 held for falsification of documents or other offenses. According to
Suaram, a local human rights NGO, none were formally charged with a
criminal offense. Among those detained were members of the opposition
Islamic Party (PAS), including Nik Adli, son of the PAS spiritual
leader. In October the Government paroled Adli and 16 other ISA
detainees previously accused of involvement with terrorist groups. The
released detainees were required to remain within a fixed area of
residence and were prohibited from international travel.
Under the Emergency Ordinance, the internal security minister may
issue a detention order for up to two years against a person if he
deems it necessary for the protection of public order, ``the
suppression of violence, or the prevention of crimes involving
violence.'' On August 26, senior representatives from the Bar Council
and Suaram criticized the ordinance and said that 712 persons were
being held under the ordinance at the Simpang Renggam detention
facility. Council and Suaram representatives stated that the ordinance
was being used to detain alleged criminals when police lacked
sufficient evidence to support a traditional prosecution. For example,
in June a high court judge ordered the release of 13 men held at
Simpang Renggam prison for more than two years under the Emergency
Ordinance for various offenses. Fearing their rearrest under the
ordinance, and assisted by friends and family members, the 13 men
attempted to escape as they were transported from the prison to a
police station. Police immediately captured eight of the men and
rearrested them under the ordinance. The other five men initially
escaped but were later recaptured and incarcerated again under the
ordinance. At year's end the men remained detained at Simpang Renggam
prison.
Provisions of the Dangerous Drugs Act give the Government specific
power to detain suspected drug traffickers without trial for up to 39
days before the internal security minister must issue a detention
order. Once an order is issued, the detainee is entitled to a court
hearing, which may order the detainee's release. Suspects may be held
without charge for successive two-year intervals with periodic review
by an advisory board, whose opinion is binding on the minister.
However, the review process contains none of the procedural rights that
a defendant would have in a court proceeding. Police frequently
detained suspected narcotics traffickers under this act after the
traffickers were acquitted of formal charges. According to the National
Anti-Drug Agency, the Government detained 2,020 persons under the
preventive detention provisions of the act during the first 10 months
of the year, compared with 2,247 persons during the same period in
2005.
The Restricted Residence Act allows the minister of internal
security to place individuals under restricted residence away from
their homes. These persons may not leave the residential district
assigned to them, and they must present themselves to police on a daily
basis. As under the ISA, the term of detention may be renewed every two
years. The minister is authorized to issue the restricted residence
orders without any judicial or administrative hearings. The Government
continued to justify the act as a necessary tool to remove suspects
from the area where undesirable activities were being conducted.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Three constitutional articles
provide the basis for an independent judiciary, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice. However, other
constitutional provisions, legislation restricting judicial review, and
additional factors limited judicial independence and strengthened
executive influence over the judiciary.
The constitution provides that judicial powers be conferred by
parliament rather than vested directly in the courts. It also confers
certain judicial powers on the Attorney General, including the
authority to instruct the courts on which cases to hear, the power to
choose venues, and the right to discontinue cases. The Attorney General
has control and direction of all criminal prosecutions under the CPC
and has assumed responsibility for judicial assignments and transfers.
Senior judges are appointed based on the recommendation of the Prime
Minister.
Members of the bar, NGO representatives, and other observers
expressed serious concern about the general decline of judicial
independence, citing a number of high-profile instances of arbitrary
verdicts, selective prosecution, and preferential treatment of some
litigants and lawyers. On November 21, the chief justice publicly
called on the Government to transfer supervision of judges operating
below the high-court level to the judiciary, citing the potential for
government interference if they remain as civil servants. The Bar
Council immediately endorsed the chief justice's comments. At year's
end the Government had not responded to the chief justice's
recommendation.
Minor civil suits and criminal cases are heard by sessions courts.
High courts have original jurisdiction over all criminal cases
involving serious crimes. Juvenile courts try offenders below age 18.
The special court tries cases involving the King and the sultans. The
court of appeal has appellate jurisdiction over high court and sessions
court decisions. The Federal Court, the country's highest court,
reviews court of appeal decisions.
Indigenous peoples in the states of Sarawak and Sabah have a system
of customary law to resolve matters such as land disputes between
tribes. Additionally, penghulu (village head) courts may adjudicate
minor civil matters, but these were rarely used.
The armed forces have a separate system of courts.
Trial Procedures.--The secular legal system is based on English
common law. The constitution states that all persons are equal before
the law and entitled to equal protection of the law. Trials are public,
although judges may order restrictions on press coverage. Juries are
not used. Defendants have the right to counsel at public expense if
requested by an accused individual facing serious criminal charges.
Strict rules of evidence apply in court. Defendants may make statements
for the record to an investigative agency prior to trial. Limited
pretrial discovery in criminal cases impeded defendants' ability to
defend themselves. Defendants are presumed innocent and may appeal
court decisions to higher courts. The 1964 Judiciary Court Act limits a
defendant's right to appeal in some circumstances. The Government
stated that the limits expedite the hearing of cases in the upper
courts, but the Bar Council declared that the act imposes excessive
restrictions on appeals.
The Essential (Security Cases) Regulations restrict the right to a
fair trial by lowering the standard for accepting self-incriminating
statements by defendants as evidence in firearm and certain national
security cases. The regulations also allow authorities to hold the
accused for an unspecified time before making formal charges.
Even when the Essential Regulations were not invoked, police
sometimes used other tactics to limit the legal protections of
defendants. For example, during a trial police summoned and
interrogated witnesses who had previously given testimony that was not
helpful to the prosecution. Police also used raids and document
seizures to harass defendants, but there were no reports that police
used such tactics during the year.
Contempt of court charges also restricted the ability of defendants
and their attorneys to defend themselves; however, the use of such
charges appeared to be decreasing.
In July the Attorney General's directive regarding confessions
became law after parliament passed a CPC amendment regarding police-
obtained confessions (see section 1.d.). In August 2005 the Attorney
General issued a directive that banned the use of such confessions in
the prosecution of criminal cases unless the public prosecutor
explicitly allowed the confession. The Attorney General claimed that it
would significantly reduce accusations of police abuse in obtaining
confessions as well as force the police to become more proactive and
thorough in criminal investigations. A deputy public prosecutor stated
that the directive would enable speedier trials, since judges would no
longer need to rule on the admissibility of confessions. Both Suhakam
and the Bar Council publicly praised the CPC amendment. Senior police
officials stated that the restrictions on confessions would place
greater demands on the investigative resources of police. Several NGO
leaders warned that this could result in greater use of preventive
detention laws against suspected criminals.
Certain provisions of the Anticorruption Act impinge on the
presumption of a public office holder's innocence, such as the
requirement that accused persons prove that they acquired monetary and
other assets legally. Failure to satisfy the court's demand for a
satisfactory explanation can result in imprisonment of up to 20 years
and a fine. In practice few such cases have been brought.
Shari'a laws are administered by state authorities through Islamic
courts and bind all Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Malays. The laws
and the degree of their enforcement varied from state to state. Shari'a
courts do not give equal weight to the testimony of women. Many NGOs
also complained that women did not receive fair treatment from Shari'a
courts, especially in matters of divorce and child custody (see
sections 2.c. and 5).
At year's end the Attorney General's review of amendments to the
Islamic Family Law Act continued (see sections 2.c. and 5). In December
2005 parliament passed the amendments to harmonize Shari'a throughout
the country. The Attorney General undertook the revision following
protests by NGOs about several provisions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The structure of the civil
judiciary mirrors that of the criminal courts. The subordinated courts
(magistrate's and sessions) have jurisdiction in criminal as well as
civil matters. Many minor civil cases involving Muslims are handled in
Shari'a courts pursuant to both constitutional provisions and
subsequent court decisions that delineated their jurisdictional sphere
of responsibility.
The high courts have general supervisory and revisionary
jurisdiction over all the subordinate courts as well as jurisdiction to
hear appeals from the subordinate courts in civil matters. The high
courts generally hear civil cases involving claims in excess of $69,400
(250,000 ringgit), other than actions involving motor vehicle accidents
and disputes between landlords and tenants. Civil cases have routinely
been elevated into the court of appeal and the Federal Court.
A large case backlog often resulted in delayed provision of court-
ordered relief for civil plaintiffs. As of June 30, approximately
320,000 civil cases remained collectively backlogged in the sessions,
magistrate's, and high courts. The chief justice of the Federal Court
advocated reappointment of retired judges on an ad hoc basis to reduce
the case backlog. On September 19, the Government announced that it
would increase the number of high court and appeals court judges from
72 to 95, and by year's end 82 judges were in place.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Various laws prohibit such actions; however,
authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights in some cases.
Provisions in the security legislation allow police to enter and search
without a warrant the homes of persons suspected of threatening
national security (see section 1.d.). Police also may confiscate
evidence under these provisions. Police used this legal authority to
search homes and offices, seize books and papers, monitor
conversations, and take persons into custody without a warrant. The
Government monitored e-mails sent to Internet blog sites and threatened
detention for anyone sending content over the Internet that the
Government deemed to threaten public order or security (see section
2.a.).
The Anticorruption Act empowers a deputy public prosecutor to
authorize the interception of any messages sent or received by a
suspect through any means of communication, once a written application
has been received from a senior police official involved in an official
investigation. Information obtained in this way is admissible as
evidence in a corruption trial.
Passed by parliament in July and scheduled to take effect on
January 1, 2007, antiterrorism amendments to the penal code and CPC
provide government security forces broader authority to surreptitiously
install surveillance devices on private property. In addition, public
prosecutors are allowed to authorize police to intercept postal and
telecommunications messages if a prosecutor judges these likely to
contain information regarding a terrorist offense. Intercepted
communications from such efforts are admissible in court.
The law permits the Internal Security Ministry to place criminal
suspects under restricted residence in a remote district away from
their homes for two years (see section 1.d.).
The Government bans membership in unregistered political parties
and organizations (see sections 2.b. and 3).
Certain religious issues posed significant obstacles to marriage
between Muslims and adherents of other religions (see section 2.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides each
citizen with ``the right to freedom of speech and expression'';
however, some important legal limitations exist. In practice the
Government restricted freedom of expression, and journalists practiced
self-censorship. According to the Government, restrictions were imposed
to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with
other countries.
The law provides that freedom of speech may be restricted by
legislation ``in the interest of security (or) public order.'' For
example, the Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues defined as
sensitive, such as racial and religious matters. The Sedition Act, the
Official Secrets Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act,
criminal defamation laws, and other laws were used to restrict or
intimidate dissenting political speech.
The election law makes it an offense for a candidate to ``promote
feelings of ill will, discontent, or hostility.'' Violators could be
disqualified from running for office.
Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in
jail, a fine, or both. The Centre for Independent Journalism, a local
NGO, claimed that the threat of imprisonment and large monetary
judgments for criminal defamation reinforced self-censorship.
Print journalism was dominated by nine national daily newspapers--
three in English, two in Malay, and four in Chinese. Parties in the
ruling coalition owned or controlled a majority of shares in two of the
three English and both Malay dailies. Politically well-connected
businessmen owned the third English-language newspaper and, following a
controversial private sale in October, all four major Chinese-language
newspapers. In October a group of 45 NGOs issued a joint press
statement describing the ownership concentration of Chinese-language
newspapers as ``detrimental to press freedom and democratic space.''
Self-censorship and biased reporting in the print media, while
common, were not uniform; the English-, Malay-, and Chinese-language
press sometimes provided balanced reporting on sensitive issues. The
mainstream press occasionally printed editorials and interviews with
opposition leaders that included criticism of government policy.
Observers believed this indicated the Government had relaxed its
interpretation and enforcement of press restrictions. However, the
restrictions remained unamended and were reasserted several times
during the year.
In August, following a series of controversial public forums at
which constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and the legal
supremacy of the constitution were discussed (see section 2.c.), the
Prime Minister publicly called on forum organizers, news media, and
Internet content providers to cease public discourse about
``sensitive'' religious issues. On August 21, the Government's law
minister stated that the Government would take legal action against
those who ignored the Prime Minister's directive. In the months
following these statements and until year's end, public debate and
media reporting on religious issues were significantly reduced.
The Printing Presses and Publications Act limits press freedom.
Under the act, domestic and foreign publications must apply annually to
the Government for a permit. The act makes publication of ``malicious
news'' a punishable offense and empowers the minister of internal
security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public
order, morality, or national security. The act also prohibits court
challenges to suspension or revocation of publication permits.
According to the Government, these provisions ensured that ``distorted
news'' was not disseminated to the public.
In February and March, following publication and broadcast of
several caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that were deemed highly
offensive by most Muslims in the country, the Government suspended
publication of three daily newspapers (including permanent suspension
of the Sarawak Tribune), prompted an apology from a fourth newspaper,
and accepted the apologies of two of the four free-to-air television
channels that ``inadvertently'' broadcast the caricatures.
In January the two chief editors of the second-largest Chinese-
language daily newspaper, the China Press, were compelled to resign
after the newspaper mistakenly identified a woman who was forced by
police to do nude squats while in detention (see section 1.c.). The
China Press identified the woman as a Chinese national, although she
was actually an ethnic Chinese Malaysian. The deputy prime minister
said the misstatement regarding her nationality had negatively impacted
the perceptions of current and potential Chinese tourists. He
acknowledged the Government's role in the editors' forced resignations,
saying it was a ``reminder'' to newspapers to be more responsible. The
China Press published a front page apology in an apparent effort to
prevent suspension of its publishing permit.
On November 7, the Internal Security Ministry suspended the weekend
edition of the English-language daily newspaper Malay Mail, following
publication of an edition focused on teenagers and sex. The weekend
edition and its editor remained suspended at year's end, pending
completion of the Government's investigation. The Malay Mail parent
company's chief executive publicly apologized for the edition's
publication.
Government power over annual license renewal and other policies
created an atmosphere that inhibited independent or investigative
journalism and resulted in extensive self-censorship. Government
officials continued to argue that the act helped to preserve harmony
and promote peaceful coexistence in a multiracial country. In November
2005 the deputy internal security minister stated that during the first
nine months of 2005, the Home Affairs Ministry had inspected more than
one million foreign publications to assess whether their content
threatened national security, public order, or morality. During that
time the ministry blocked 8,812 (mostly English-language) titles and
confiscated more than 431,000 copies of books, newspapers, magazines,
and comic books. During the year the ministry continued to review,
censor, and confiscate many foreign publications.
The Government continued to permit publication of haze levels
whenever air quality deteriorated significantly. Until August 2005 the
Government had banned publication of such information.
The appeal of human rights monitor Irene Fernandez remained
pending. In 2003 she was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for
malicious publication of false material regarding abuse and torture of
migrant workers at detention camps.
Publications of opposition parties, social action groups, unions,
and other private groups actively covered opposition parties and
frequently printed views critical of government policies. However, the
Government retained significant influence over these publications by
requiring the annual renewal of publishing permits and limiting
circulation only to organization members. Unlike in the past, the
Government brought no libel suits against the media during the year.
Printers, who also must have their permits renewed annually, often
were reluctant to print publications that were critical of the
Government.
Radio and television stations were more restricted than the print
media and were almost uniformly supportive of the Government's news
coverage and commentary. News of the opposition was tightly restricted
and reported in a biased fashion. In the weeks prior to the Sarawak
state assembly election on May 20, opposition parties and candidates
received very little coverage--positive or otherwise--in Sarawak's
mainstream media outlets, which were controlled by National Front
constituent parties. Opposition party representatives claimed that one-
sided media coverage impeded their ability to reach voters (see section
3).
Broadcasting licenses permit only Malay-language news from 8:00 to
9:00 p.m., except on a Ministry of Information channel. Internet
television faced no such restrictions, and PAS continued daily Internet
television broadcasts. At year's end no other material provider of
Internet television content had emerged.
The Government censored and banned books for profanity, nudity,
sex, violence, and certain political and religious content. In June the
Government banned 18 books, many with religious themes (see section
2.c.). Television stations censored programming in line with government
guidelines. The Government banned some foreign newspapers and magazines
and, infrequently, censored foreign magazines or newspapers, most often
for sexual content; however, the Internet provided a means to bypass
such restrictions. The Government maintained a ``blacklist'' of local
and foreign performers, politicians, and religious leaders who were not
allowed to appear on television or radio broadcasts.
The Government generally restricted remarks or publications that
might incite racial or religious disharmony; it also attempted to
restrict the content of sermons at mosques in the states controlled by
the governing coalition. Some state governments banned certain Muslim
clergymen from delivering sermons. The Religious Affairs Department
continued to conduct background checks on all clergymen (see section
2.c.). The Government also cracked down on the distribution and sale of
the opposition party's video compact discs and audiocassettes. The
Government maintained its ban on the weekly Chinese-language newspaper
Epoch Times.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet; however, on August 1, the Prime Minister stated that
the Government would closely monitor the content of Internet Web sites
and blogs that published ``seditious material.'' At least one Internet
news provider complained that the police actively monitored his Web
site for ``seditious'' or ``offensive'' content.
While individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail,
Internet users were subject to the same speech-restricting laws as non-
Internet users. Internet access was freely available, and Internet
subscriptions totaled approximately 11 million at year's end; however,
criminal defamation and preventive detention laws generated significant
self-censorship from local Internet content sources such as bloggers,
Internet news providers, and NGO activists.
The Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) requires certain
Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. In
the past the Government stated that it did not intend to impose
controls on Internet use but noted that it would punish the ``misuse''
of information technology under the CMA. During the year the Government
did not use licensing provisions under the CMA to interfere with
Internet access or to restrict Internet content.
The CMA also permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog
for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a
court deems offensive. In July 2005 police raided the home of the
editor of Malaysia Today, an independent Internet news provider, and
seized two computers after Malaysia Today published corruption
allegations against royal family members in the state of Negeri
Sembilan. No legal action was taken against the editor, but at year's
end his computers had not been returned to him.
Investigations of Malaysiakini, the country's largest independent
Internet news organization, continued. On July 31, police commenced an
investigation of Malaysiakini, following an erroneous initial newsflash
by the organization that identified police officials as possible
participants in an assault on former prime minister Mahathir. That
investigation continued despite a public offer of apology to police by
Malaysiakini's editor-in-chief. A second ongoing investigation
concerned Petronas' September 2005 accusation of criminal defamation.
On March 22, police seized the computers of an Internet columnist
after he published reports of alleged financial wrongdoing by the
chairman of Malaysian Airlines. The columnist said that the police did
so to locate the information source used for his column. The case
against him ceased upon the columnist's death on April 28 from natural
causes.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government placed some
restrictions on academic freedom, particularly the expression of
unapproved political views, and enforced restrictions on teachers and
students who expressed dissenting views. The Government continued to
require that all civil servants, university faculty, and students sign
a pledge of loyalty to the King and the Government. Opposition leaders
and human rights activists claimed that this was intended to restrain
political activity among civil servants, academics, and students.
Although faculty members sometimes were publicly critical of the
Government, there was clear self-censorship among public university
academics whose career advancement and funding depended on the
Government. Private institution academics practiced self-censorship as
well, fearing that the Government might revoke the licenses of their
institutions. The law also imposes limitations on student associations
and on student and faculty political activity (see section 2.b.).
The Government has long stated that students should be apolitical
and used that assertion as a basis for denying political parties access
to student forums. According to student leaders, students who signed
antigovernment petitions sometimes were expelled or fined. The
Government enforced this policy selectively and did not refrain from
spreading government views on political issues among students and
teachers.
The Government censored and banned films for profanity, nudity,
sex, violence, and certain political and religious content. Films
banned during the year included Brokeback Mountain, due to its
references to homosexuality, and a locally produced film, The Last
Communist, about the communist insurgency in the country from 1948 to
1960.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution states that all citizens have ``the right
to assemble peaceably and without arms''; however, the Government
placed significant restrictions on this right through usage of the
Public Order Ordinance and the Police Act. The ordinance restricts
public assemblies that could damage security and public order, while
the act requires police permits for all public assemblies except for
workers on picket lines. Police define a public assembly as a gathering
of five or more persons.
The decision to grant a permit rests with the district police
chief; however, senior police officials and political leaders have
influenced the grant or denial of some permits. Police granted permits
routinely to government and ruling coalition supporters but used a more
restrictive policy with government critics, opposition parties, and
human rights activists.
On May 28, riot police used water cannons and batons to disperse
approximately 500 demonstrators gathered in front of Kuala Lumpur's
Petronas twin towers. Led by opposition members of parliament, the
crowd protested the Government's decisions to increase government-fixed
(and subsidized) prices for gasoline and electricity. Police arrested
20 protesters and reportedly beat several others as they attempted to
flee the area. No one was seriously injured, but two protesters
required medical treatment.
While protesting the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, 68
ethnic Burmese persons were arrested in June 2005 and accused of
participating in an illegal assembly. Initially, all of the detainees
reportedly pleaded not guilty, claimed their right to a trial, and were
remanded to prison. During the course of the proceedings, 34 of them
changed their plea to guilty and were transferred from prison to an
illegal-migrant detention center. The other 34 were released from
prison in June after the prosecution withdrew its case against them.
One of the 68 protesters remained in detention at year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for the right of
association; however, the Government placed significant restrictions on
this right, and certain statutes limit it. Under the Societies Act,
only registered organizations of seven or more persons may function as
societies. The Government sometimes refused to register organizations
or imposed conditions when allowing a society to register. The
Government prohibited the Communist Party and affiliated organizations
from registering and has blocked the registration of the Socialist
Party of Malaysia since 1999 (see section 3). The Government also has
the power to revoke the registration of an existing society for
violations of the act, a power that it enforced selectively against
political opposition groups.
The Universities and University Colleges Act also restricts freedom
of association. This act mandates university approval for student
associations and prohibits student associations and faculty members
from engaging in political activity. Many students, NGOs, and
opposition political parties called for the repeal or amendment of the
act. A number of ruling coalition organizations and politicians also
supported reexamination of the act, but the Government argued that the
act still was necessary.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government placed some restrictions on this
right. Islam is the official religion, but the Government significantly
restricted the practice of Islamic beliefs other than Sunni Islam. Non-
Muslims, which included large Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh
communities, were free to practice their religious beliefs with few
restrictions. The Government provided financial support to an Islamic
religious establishment and also provided more-limited funds to non-
Islamic religious communities. State authorities imposed Islamic
religious laws administered through Islamic courts on all ethnic Malays
(and other Muslims) in some civil matters but generally did not
interfere with the religious practices of the non-Muslim community.
The Registrar of Societies, under the Ministry of Home Affairs,
registers religious organizations. Registration enables organizations
to receive government grants and other benefits. Various religious
groups were not recognized as such by the Government, and they
sometimes registered themselves as businesses under the Companies Act
to operate legally.
Prime Minister Abdullah, a proponent of Islam Hadari
(``civilizational Islam''), continued to emphasize religious tolerance
towards all faiths. In January non-Muslim cabinet members presented a
memorandum to the Prime Minister calling for a review of constitutional
provisions affecting the legal rights of non-Muslims. Following
protests from several Muslim leaders within the governing coalition and
a commitment by the Prime Minister to address the non-Muslim ministers'
concerns, the ministers withdrew their memorandum. The Prime Minister
stated publicly that the constitution provided sufficient protection of
religious freedom and therefore should not be reviewed or amended.
The Government maintained that views held by ``deviant'' groups
endangered national security. According to the Jakim Web site, 56
deviant teachings were identified and prohibited to Muslims as of
year's end. They included Shi'a, transcendental meditation, and Baha'i
teachings. The Government asserted that ``deviationist'' teachings
could cause divisions among Muslims. Jakim established written
guidelines concerning what constituted ``deviationist'' behavior or
belief. State religious authorities, in making their determinations on
these matters, generally followed the federal guidelines. Members of
groups deemed ``deviationist'' were arrested and detained, with the
consent of a Shari'a court, in order to be ``rehabilitated'' and
returned to the ``true path of Islam.'' The religious affairs minister
stated that members of these groups were subject to prosecution,
detention under the ISA, or rehabilitation. Neither the Government nor
religious authorities provided data on the number of persons subjected
to prosecution or rehabilitation.
At year's end cases were pending against 69 of 70 followers of Ayah
Pin, leader of the Sky Kingdom religious group, arrested in July 2005.
One of the arrested followers agreed to undergo religious
rehabilitation (see section 1.e.).
On November 14, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS)
detained 107 persons, including several children, during a raid in
Kuala Lumpur against suspected followers of the banned al-Arqam Islamic
group. The Government banned al-Arqam in 1994, and Ashaari Muhammad,
the leader of its approximately 10,000 followers, subsequently spent 10
years under restricted residence. Ashaari established a holding
company, Rufaqa Corporation, to manage his business interests while
detained under restricted residence. At year's end Rufaqa was under
investigation for allegedly supporting the revival of the al-Arqam
group. Four of its leaders were charged with disobeying a national
fatwa (Islamic ruling) issued by Jakim against al-Arqam's teachings,
and they were in detention at year's end. The remaining alleged al-
Arqam followers were released.
The Government generally respected non-Muslims' right of worship;
however, state governments have authority over the building of non-
Muslim places of worship and the allocation of land for non-Muslim
cemeteries. Approvals for building permits sometimes were granted very
slowly. Minority religious groups reported that state governments
sometimes blocked construction using restrictive zoning and
construction codes.
The Government demolished unregistered religious statues and places
of worship. Several NGOs complained of the demolition of unregistered
Hindu temples and shrines located on both private and government-owned
lands. The structures were often constructed on privately owned
plantations prior to independence in 1957, which were later transferred
to government ownership. In March state officials in Negeri Sembilan
announced their intention to demolish an unregistered Hindu temple
believed to be 150 years old. The temple sat on state-owned land zoned
for road construction in 1956 and was regularly used by approximately
300 worshippers. In May persons who used the temple sought a court
injunction against the pending demolition. The court case remained open
at year's end.
In July, following an 11-year dispute, a high court judge prevented
a developer in Pahang State from destroying a Hindu temple on land
purchased by the developer. The judge ruled that the temple existed on
the land prior to the purchase and had the right to coexist on the
land.
In practice Muslims are not permitted to convert to another
religion. In several court rulings during the year, secular courts
ceded jurisdiction to Islamic courts in matters involving conversion to
or from Islam. Shari'a courts routinely denied conversion requests. In
September 2005 the court of appeal denied the request of Lina Joy, a
Muslim woman who had converted to Christianity, to change the religion
designated on her national identity card. Joy appealed the decision to
the Federal Court, and in April, citing the case as ``a matter of
general public interest,'' the Federal Court agreed to hear her appeal
and address the degree to which Shari'a courts have jurisdiction over
determinations of Muslim apostasy. At year's end the court had made no
ruling.
The Federal Court made no decision in the appeal of a non-Muslim
woman involving the disposition of the remains of her Hindu spouse, who
allegedly converted to Islam before his death. Despite her claim that
there was no clear evidence of the conversion, Islamic religious
authorities buried the man with Muslim rites. A similar case arose
following the November 29 death of a Catholic man who had converted to
Islam in 1990 after marrying a Muslim woman and then converted back to
Catholicism in 1999. JAIS prevented the man's Catholic wife and
children from claiming his body for nine days, asserting that the man
remained a Muslim until his death. Following intervention by the
Attorney General and acting at the behest of the cabinet, Selangor
State Islamic authorities withdrew their claim on the man's body; he
received a Catholic funeral, and his family cremated his remains.
Article 11, an NGO named after the freedom of religion clause in
the constitution, organized four public forums to discuss the perceived
erosion of constitutional protection of non-Muslims' religious freedom.
The last three events sponsored were either canceled or shortened at
the request of police, following the actual or threatened appearance of
a large number of Muslim protesters. As debate over religious topics
intensified, in July and August the Prime Minister warned both
mainstream and Internet-based media to refrain from publicizing debates
about contentious religious issues (see section 2.a.). He also directed
all NGOs--both Muslim and non-Muslim--to cease all public statements
and activities that could generate further religious controversy.
Article 11 held no further public discussions during the remainder of
the year.
Proselytizing of Muslims by members of other religions is strictly
prohibited, although proselytizing of non-Muslims faced no obstacles.
On November 5, police reacted quickly and forcefully to protect
worshippers at a Catholic church in Ipoh, when more than 1,000 Muslims
gathered to protest the rumored baptism of several hundred Muslim
children. The rumor was false, and the IGP subsequently declared that
those responsible for initiating the rumor were a threat to public
order and national security. The Prime Minister declared that the
parties responsible for starting the rumor should be severely punished.
On November 20, police detained a married couple from Ipoh on suspicion
of starting the rumor. The couple was later released on bail, and at
year's end the Government had not decided whether to charge the couple.
According to the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhists,
Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Taoists, the Government restricted visas
for foreign clergy under the age of 40 to inhibit ``militant clergy''
from entering the country. While representatives of non-Muslim groups
did not sit on the immigration committee that approved visa requests
for clergy, the committee asked the consultative council for its
recommendations. An August 2005 decision by the Selangor state
religious authorities to withhold support for visa applications by
foreign Muslim imams and religious teachers remained in effect at
year's end. Local media reported that the decision largely targeted the
ethnic Indian Muslim community, in an effort to increase the number of
``homegrown'' imams. Ethnic Indian religious leaders expressed concern
that some mosques and religious schools might need to be closed.
Religious education according to a government-approved curriculum
is compulsory for Muslim children. Muslim civil servants are required
to attend Islamic religious classes taught by government-approved
teachers.
The Government discouraged but did not ban distribution in
peninsular Malaysia of Malay-language translations of the Bible,
Christian tapes, and other printed materials. The distribution of
Malay-language Christian materials faced few restrictions in the
eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. In June the Government banned 18
books, many with religious themes, including The Battle for God, by
Karen Armstrong. Two previous books by Armstrong, A History of God and
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, were banned in 2005.
The Government continued to monitor the activities of the Shi'a
minority, and state religious authorities reserved the right to detain
members of what they considered Islamic ``deviant sects'' under the
ISA. According to the Government, no individuals were detained under
the ISA for religious reasons during the year.
The Government generally restricted remarks or publications that
might incite racial or religious disharmony. This included some
statements and publications critical of particular religions,
especially Islam. The Government also restricted the content of sermons
at mosques. In recent years both the Government and the opposition
Islamic party PAS have attempted to use mosques in the states they
control to deliver politically oriented messages. Several states have
attempted to ban opponent-affiliated imams from speaking at mosques.
Some states also announced measures including vigorous enforcement of
existing restrictions on the content of sermons and replacement of
mosque leaders and governing committees (see section 2.a.).
In family and religious matters, Muslims are subject to Shari'a.
According to some women's rights activists, women were subject to
discriminatory interpretations of Shari'a and inconsistent application
of the law from state to state. In December 2005 parliament approved a
series of amendments to the Islamic Family Law Act intended to
harmonize Shari'a family law throughout the country. However, the Prime
Minister ordered a review of amendments to the act before they were
gazetted into law; the review continued at year's end (see sections
1.e. and 5).
In Kelantan State local authorities enforced wearing of headscarves
by Muslim women and imposed fines for violators. In March the IGP
stated that all female police officers, including non-Muslims, should
wear headscarves during public ceremonies. The President of the Bar
Council called on the IGP to withdraw the directive, but the policy
remained in effect.
During the year the PAS-led state government in Kelantan reversed
several previously enacted Islamic law-related prohibitions. The state
government allowed operation of gender-segregated cinemas and concert
venues, fashion shows limited to female attendees, and billiard centers
for men only; however, state authorities continued to ban traditional
Malay dance theaters, prohibited advertisements depicting women not
fully covered by clothing, enforced wearing of headscarves by Muslim
women, and imposed fines for violators. In May a case challenging
Islamic penalties for theft, robbery, illicit sex, consumption of
alcohol, and renunciation of Islam in Kelantan State was withdrawn from
the Federal Court. In December the Kelantan state government enacted a
by-law against ``indecent dressing'' by Muslim women working in retail
outlets and restaurants. The dress code requires headscarves and allows
only faces and hands to be exposed. The law also stipulates that non-
Muslim women should avoid dressing ``sexily or indecently.'' Women who
violate the dress code can be fined up to $139 (500 ringgit). Women's
rights leaders and the minister of women, family, and community
development criticized the new law as overly restrictive.
The Government provided no statistics regarding raids by federal
religious police of nightclubs and similar places during the year. The
religious affairs minister stated that 28 such raids had been conducted
in Kuala Lumpur between 2002 and January 2005.
On September 14, a Shari'a court sentenced a Muslim man and woman
each to a fine of $792 (2,850 ringgit) or seven months in jail for
committing khalwat, or ``close proximity'' (the charge usually used to
prosecute premarital or extramarital sexual relations) near Kuala
Lumpur in December 2005. The maximum sentence for khalwat is a maximum
of two years in jail, a fine $833 (3,000 ringgit), or both.
On October 12 on the island of Langkawi, a married foreign tourist
couple was awakened at 2 a.m. by six Muslim religious enforcement
officials. The officials suspected the couple of engaging in khalwat
and demanded to see their marriage certificate. The couple was
Christian and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of the
religious authorities. Following a brief standoff with the religious
authorities in their rented condominium, the couple filed a police
report. Langkawi tourism officials subsequently issued an apology to
the couple.
On June 13, the National Fatwa Committee (the primary advisory body
to the National Fatwa Council that guides Muslims on religious matters)
announced its resolution that Muslims should not attend traditional
``open house'' festivals in honor of other religions' holidays.
According to news reports, the committee said such gatherings could
erode Muslims' faith and lead to blasphemy. The minister of culture,
arts, and heritage called the recommendation regrettable, stating that
it undermined efforts to improve racial and religious harmony.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Relations among religious
groups were generally amicable, although the public discourse between
Muslims and non-Muslims about religious issues became strained during
the year (see section 2.a.). In August a leaflet was widely distributed
that contained a death threat against a prominent Muslim human rights
lawyer who had played a leading role in organizing Article 11
discussions and publicly warned against the encroachment of Shari'a
upon the jurisdiction of the civil court system. Political and
religious leaders from across the religious spectrum criticized the
leaflet. However, several NGO leaders and opposition party politicians
noted that government criticism of the death threat was muted; no
cabinet level minister publicly condemned it. At year's end police
continued their investigation of the death threat.
No reliable estimate of the country's Jewish population was
available, and there was no locally based Jewish community or synagogue
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.For a more
detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious Freedom
Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice,
although there were restrictions in some circumstances. The eastern
states of Sabah and Sarawak controlled immigration and required
citizens from peninsular Malaysia and foreigners to present passports
or national identity cards for entry.The Government regulated the
internal movement of provisionally released ISA detainees. The
Government also used the Restricted Residence Act to limit movements of
those suspected of some criminal activities (see section 1.d.).
Citizens must apply for government permission to travel to Israel.
The constitution provides that no citizen may be banished or
excluded from the country. However, according to the terms of a 1989
peace agreement, Chin Peng, the former leader of the communist
insurgency in the country, continued to live in exile in Thailand and
was denied permission to return.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government did not provide protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, but the Government generally did not deport such
individuals recognized as persons of concern by the UNHCR. The
Government did not grant refugee status or asylum, but it cooperated
with the UNHCR and generally did not impede other humanitarian
organizations from assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government continued to deport some asylum seekers and refugees
but allowed certain asylum seekers and persons of concern to remain,
pending resettlement to other countries. The Government generally did
not distinguish between asylum seekers and illegal immigrants,
detaining them in the same camps. Detention facilities were overcrowded
and lacked medical facilities. Local human rights NGOs alleged that
detainees were sometimes abused by prison officials and received
inadequate food.
A group of Thai citizens who illegally entered the country in
August 2005 remained in an illegal-migrant detention center. Due to
several births, their number had grown from 131 to 134.
At year's end the UNHCR listed 37,170 persons as refugees, of whom
40 percent were Indonesians from Aceh Province and 58 percent were
Burmese citizens. The UNHCR received 9,091 new applications for refugee
status during the year, down from 15,166 applications in 2005.
The UNHCR stated that 9,186 persons had active asylum cases pending
in the country, of whom 74 percent were Burmese citizens. During the
year the UNHCR submitted 3,501 refugee cases to third countries for
resettlement consideration, and 1,220 refugees were resettled out of
the country.
The UNHCR identified 2,996 persons arrested during the year as
asylum seekers, recognized refugees, or individuals granted ``temporary
protection.'' The UNHCR facilitated the release of 3,333 individuals
from police lockups and immigration detention camps. Police and
immigration officials continued to observe an August 2005 directive not
to arrest or detain persons solely for immigration violations if they
had been granted UNHCR refugee or asylum-seeker status.
The Government issued temporary residence permits (IMM 13
documents) to more than 30,000 refugees from Aceh between 2005 and
year's end. The permits, which allow recipients to gain lawful
employment and access to education and health care, were largely
subject to renewal on an annual basis. On August 1, the Government
began to register approximately 12,000 Rohingya refugees, as the
initial step toward provision of IMM 13 documents. However, the
Government quickly halted the registration process, following charges
of corruption against intermediaries who facilitated the registration
process. At year's end the Government had not resumed the IMM 13
registration process.
While holders of IMM 13 documents were allowed to send their
children to private schools, the Government refused to allow these
children into the public school system on a cost-free basis. However,
refugee parents who held IMM 13 documents generally lacked sufficient
funds to afford private schooling for their children.
To find and detain illegal migrants, the Home Affairs Ministry
relied primarily upon a People's Volunteer Corps, known as RELA and
consisting of approximately 440,000 citizens, to accompany police and
immigration officials on raids. Following repeated media reports of
alleged abusive behavior and inappropriate language by RELA members
during raids, in February the ministry stated that only a small
minority of RELA members would be allowed to participate in operations
against illegal migrants and that RELA officers remained prohibited
from body-searching a suspect.
The immigration law provides for six months in prison and up to six
strokes of the cane for immigration violations. In practice, delays in
processing travel documents led to the detention of many illegal
immigrants in camps for more than a year (see section 1.d.).
In July several NGO leaders reported that conditions in immigrant
detention centers had not materially improved, largely due to
inadequate funding for food, medical care, and infrastructure
maintenance, despite the fact that in 2005 the Prisons Department took
over management of the centers from the Immigration Department.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic elections based on universal suffrage; however, while votes
generally were recorded accurately, there were irregularities that
affected the fairness of elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--Opposition parties were
unable to compete on equal terms with the governing coalition (which
has held power at the national level since independence in 1957)
because of significant restrictions on campaigning, freedom of assembly
and association, and access to the media. Nevertheless, opposition
candidates campaigned actively, with some success in past state and
national elections. In the most recent national elections, held in
2004, opposition parties captured 19 of 219 parliamentary seats and 52
of 505 state assembly seats.
The lack of equal access to the media was one of the most serious
problems encountered by the opposition in the 2004 national elections
(see section 2.a.). Opposition leaders also claimed that the election
commission was under government control and did not carry out its
duties impartially. There were numerous opposition complaints of
irregularities by election officials during the 2004 campaign; however,
most observers concluded that they did not substantially alter the
results. Allegations were lodged of voter rolls being inflated by
illegally registered ``phantom'' voters reportedly brought in from
other districts to vote in tightly contested districts, nonregistered
voters using fictitious names or the names of dead voters still listed
on the voter rolls, and noncitizens illegally registered to vote. In
addition, ballots were marked with a serial number that could be
matched against a voter's name. Prior to the Sarawak state assembly
election on May 20, the election commission disallowed such ballot
marking for all future state and national elections.
On November 18, the election commission announced that it had
eliminated the names of more than 180,000 deceased voters from the
electoral rolls during the preceding three months. As a result of the
commission's ongoing efforts, the election commission chairman
estimated that the election rolls for the next general election would
contain approximately 9.8 million names, compared with the 10.3 million
names registered for the 2004 election.
Following the May election in Sarawak, a local NGO criticized the
data quality of Sarawak's elector rolls, commenting that they increased
the likelihood of voting fraud. Upon examination of 14 of Sarawak's 71
electoral districts, the NGO reported in August that more than 35
percent of the districts' 230,000 electors had no address listed on the
elector rolls. In addition, in some cases more than 50 voters were
simultaneously registered to a single address. Despite problems with
the elector rolls and very little press coverage from Sarawak's
mainstream media sources, controlled by National Front constituent
parties, opposition parties increased their representation in the 71-
seat state assembly from one seat to eight.
The constitution states that parliamentary constituencies should
have approximately equal numbers of eligible voters; however, in
practice the numbers varied significantly. The constitution also states
that greater weight should be given to rural constituencies. In 2003,
following nationwide redistricting, 25 new parliamentary seats were
added, primarily in states in which the ruling coalition was strong.
The opposition complained that the two states it controlled prior to
the 2004 elections did not receive any new seats and that the
redistricting was undertaken to weaken the opposition. Observers agreed
that the redistricting favored government candidates for parliamentary
seats but believed it had less influence on elections for state seats.
The Malay-based UMNO party dominated the ruling National Front
coalition. Since 1969 the National Front coalition has maintained at
least a two-thirds majority in parliament, which enabled the Government
to amend the constitution at will.
Over the years power increasingly has been concentrated in the
Prime Minister, and parliament's function as a deliberative body has
deteriorated. Legislation proposed by the Government rarely was amended
or rejected, while legislation proposed by the opposition was not given
serious consideration. Parliamentary procedures allow the speaker of
parliament to suspend members, establish restrictions on tabling
questions, edit written copies of members' speeches before delivery,
and severely restrict members' opportunities to question and debate
government policies. Nonetheless, government officials often faced
sharp questioning in parliament, and this was reported in the press in
greater detail than in the past.
After the 1969 race riots, the Government abolished elected local
government in favor of municipal committees and village chiefs
appointed by state governments. Under the Local government Act,
elections of public officials were confined to state assemblies and the
federal parliament. Some politicians and NGO activists advocated the
reintroduction of local government elections. Some ruling party
municipal officials noted that local bodies were simply ``rubber
stamps'' for the Government.
On July 24, the Government refused to register the Malaysian Dayak
Congress, a new opposition political party in Sarawak. The registrar of
societies provided no public justification for the refusal. On August
16, the court of appeal unanimously upheld a high court ruling that
supported the Government's decision to withhold nationwide registration
for the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), based in Selangor State. The
court of appeal did not base its decision on the Government's claim
that national registration of the party would negatively impact
national security. Instead, the three judges stated that the PSM lacked
representatives in its leadership committee from the requisite minimum
seven states and therefore could not receive formal recognition as a
national political party. PSM leaders appealed the case to the Federal
Court, where it remained pending at year's end.
Women faced no legal limits on participation in government and
politics. At the end of the year, three of 33 cabinet ministers were
women. Women held 21 of 219 seats in the lower house and 17 of the 64
senate seats.Ethnic minorities were well represented in cabinet-level
positions in government as well as in senior civil service positions.
In practice the political dominance of the Malay majority meant that
ethnic Malays held the most powerful senior leadership positions.
Nonetheless, non-Malays filled 10 of the 33 ministerial posts and 21 of
35 deputy minister positions.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a broadly held
perception of widespread corruption and cronyism within the governing
coalition and in government institutions. As of November the Anti-
Corruption Agency (ACA) employed approximately 1,800 staff members
nationwide. According to the ACA director general, the agency initiated
the arrest of 339 individuals during the first nine months of the year,
resulting in 205 prosecutions. During the same period the ACA reviewed
8,614 corruption allegations against public officials; most were not
pursued due to lack of evidence. The ACA stated that more than 90,000
citizens participated in the agency's anticorruption talks,
exhibitions, and seminars during the year.
In May the ACA launched an investigation into an UMNO member of
parliament accused of attempting to circumvent customs duties on
imported logs. The Government formed a four-person panel, headed by the
deputy prime minister and other National Front politicians, to
investigate the matter. The panel had not completed its investigation
by year's end.
On December 7, a high court judge agreed to hear the appeal and
stay the sentence of a former municipal council President who was
convicted on four corruption charges, including solicitation of bribes
from a property developer. On November 29, he was sentenced to four
years in jail and fined $113,000 (405,000 ringgit).
There was no law designed to facilitate citizens' requests for
government statistics or other information collected and compiled by
the Government. Individual members of parliament were allowed to
request and obtain such information on an ad hoc basis, some of which
was then made available to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views. However, under
Prime Minister Abdullah there generally was a more cooperative
atmosphere toward human rights NGOs.
The Government generally did not encourage international human
rights organizations to form domestic branches; however, it usually did
not restrict access by representatives of those organizations.
Suhakam was generally considered a credible monitor of the human
rights situation and a check on police activities. Suhakam is not
empowered to inquire into allegations relating to ongoing court cases
and must cease its inquiry if an allegation under investigation becomes
the subject matter of a court case. In its most recent annual human
rights report, published in May, Suhakam focused on the rights of women
and children, older persons, and persons with disabilities; land rights
for native tribes; and Suhakam's provision of human rights awareness
training for teachers and their pupils. In addition, the report
criticized prison conditions, deaths in police custody, detentions
without trial, lengthy delays in the disposal of court cases, and some
government-imposed restrictions on freedom of assembly. The report
recommended enactment of freedom of information legislation, requested
a review of the ISA, and recommended legislative amendments to uphold
the right to peaceful assembly.
Suhakam commissioners traveled throughout the country to educate
community leaders, including police officials, on the importance of
human rights. Commissioners also made several visits to prisons
throughout the country to monitor conditions. They repeatedly noted
that a major unresolved challenge was the slow government response to
their reports on major topics that touched on fundamental liberties.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal protection under the law and
prohibits discrimination against citizens based on sex, religion, race,
descent, or place of birth. However, the constitution also provides for
the ``special position'' of ethnic Malays and the indigenous peoples of
the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak (collectively, bumiputras), and
discrimination based on this provision persisted. Government policies
and legislation gave preferences to bumiputras in housing, home
ownership, awarding of government contracts and jobs, educational
scholarships, and other areas. Nonbumiputras regularly complained about
these preferences, arguing that government subsidies for disadvantaged
persons should be dispensed without regard to race.
Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. Reports of rape
and spousal abuse drew considerable government, NGO, and press
attention. The Domestic Violence Act of 1994 addresses violence against
women in the home. Under the act, anyone who willfully contravenes a
protection order by using violence against a protected person may be
punished by imprisonment of up to one year and a maximum fine of $556
(2,000 ringgit); however, violators were commonly punished under the
penal code, which carries the same penalty. In extreme cases involving
``grievous hurt'' inflicted using a deadly weapon, the maximum
imprisonment increases to 20 years. Women's groups criticized the act
as inadequate and called for amendments to strengthen it. In their
view, the act fails to protect women in immediate danger because it
requires separate reports of abuse to be filed with both the Social
Welfare Department and the police, causing delay in the issuance of a
restraining order against the perpetrator. Women's rights activists
also highlighted the fact that the act's incorporation into the penal
code limits legal protection for victims to cases in which visible
evidence of physical injury is present, despite its interpretation to
include sexual and psychological abuse. As in 2005, NGOs working on
women's rights claimed that police enforcement continued to be
lax.Although the Government, NGOs, and political parties maintained
shelters and offered other assistance to battered spouses, activists
asserted that support mechanisms for victims of domestic violence
remained inadequate. There was a sexual investigations unit at each
police headquarters to help victims of sexual crimes and abuse. Police
responses and sensitivity to complaints of domestic violence continued
to improve, but women's rights activists claimed that police needed
additional training in handling domestic abuse and rape cases.
The 2005 police commission report noted that police abuses of
women's rights were largely the result of a lack of adherence to
existing laws and the police code of conduct. In response, police in
Kuala Lumpur assigned female officers in each police district to work
exclusively on domestic violence cases and provide basic counseling to
victims.
Some Shari'a experts urged Muslim women to become more aware of the
provisions of Shari'a that prohibit spousal abuse and provide for
divorce on grounds of physical cruelty. Provisions in state Shari'a
laws, however, generally prohibit wives from disobeying the ``lawful
orders'' of their husbands and present an obstacle to women pursuing
claims against their husbands in Shari'a courts. Muslim women were able
to file complaints in civil courts.
Spousal rape is not a crime. CPC and penal code amendments approved
by parliament in July do not define marital rape, although a husband
may be charged for causing hurt to his wife while attempting to force
sexual relations with her. By year's end the Government had not amended
the penal code to explicitly include spousal rape as an offense,
despite recommendations in 2004 from Suhakam and local NGOs.
Another amendment approved in July stipulates that the courts may
decide the minimum jail term for a man convicted of statutory rape of a
girl age 15 years or less. Prior to the amendment, the penal code had
stipulated minimum jail sentences for such behavior. In addition, an
amendment prohibits a person in authority from using his position to
intimidate a subordinate into having sexual relations.
According to the police, 2,012 rapes were reported during the first
10 months of the year, compared with 1,931 in all of 2005. Over the
same time periods, domestic violence incidents reported to police
totaled 2,699 and 3,093, respectively. Many government hospitals had
crisis centers where victims of rape and domestic abuse could make
reports without going to a police station. NGOs and political parties
also cooperated in providing counseling for rape victims, but cultural
attitudes and a perceived lack of sympathy from the largely male police
force resulted in many victims not reporting rapes. According to the
Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (MWFCD) and a
leading women's NGO, only 10 percent of rape cases were reported to
police. The penal code states that rape is punishable by a prison term
of up to 30 years, caning, and a fine. On September 3, a sessions court
sentenced a child rapist to 62 years in prison and five cane strokes
for raping six children ages nine to 14 during eight days in July.
Women's groups noted that while other rapists also received heavy
punishments, including caning, some rapists received inadequate
punishments.
Prostitution by citizens is not a criminal offense, although
Muslims engaged in prostitution could face civil penalties under
Shari'a for engaging in sexual relations out of wedlock. Foreign
prostitutes were routinely arrested for violating the terms of their
nonimmigrant visas. Pimping, or financially benefiting from the
prostitution activities of others, is illegal and was prosecuted.
During the first 10 months of the year, police arrested 4,727
foreigners suspected of involvement in prostitution, compared with
6,484 such persons arrested during all of 2005. Chinese nationals
accounted for the largest percentage of these arrests (42 percent),
followed by Indonesians (23 percent), Thais (18 percent), and Filipinas
(10 percent). Police were accused of profiling female Chinese nationals
as potential prostitutes, following several highly publicized arrests
(see section 1.c.). In March a police spokesman stated that an
estimated 142,000 women were involved in prostitution.
The country was a destination, transit, and, to a lesser extent,
source country for trafficking in women for purposes of prostitution
and domestic servitude (see section 5, Trafficking).
A government code of conduct provides a detailed definition of
sexual harassment and attempts to raise public awareness of the
problem, but women's groups advocated passage of a separate law on
sexual harassment in lieu of the voluntary code. The Malaysian
Employers Federation opposed any attempt to legislate against sexual
harassment in the workplace, arguing that government-imposed policies
would unduly restrict the management of labor relations. Amendments to
the Employment Act passed in March require employers to act within two
weeks to address complaints of sexual harassment filed by a worker.
Polygyny is allowed and practiced to a limited degree. Islamic
inheritance law generally favors male offspring and relatives. There
was a small but steadily increasing number of women obtaining divorces
under the provisions of Shari'a that allow for divorce without the
husband's consent.
Women's rights advocates asserted that women faced discriminatory
treatment in Islamic courts due to prejudicial interpretation of
Islamic family law and the lack of uniformity in the implementation of
such laws among the various states. In addition, the country had no
female Shari'a court judges. In December 2005 parliament passed
amendments to the Islamic Family Law Act to harmonize Shari'a
throughout the country. Following sustained public pressure by women's
rights leaders early in the year, the Prime Minister ordered a review
of the amendments before they were gazetted into law; the review
continued at year's end.
Non-Muslim women are subject to civil law. The Guardianship of
Women and Infants Act gives mothers equal parental rights. Four states
extend the provisions of the act to Muslim mothers, and women's groups
urged the other states to do the same.
The Government undertook a number of initiatives to promote
equality for women and the full and equal participation of women in
education and the work force. In January the state of Johor appointed
the first woman to head a state's civil service. In another
unprecedented move, in April women were selected to lead two of the
country's 17 public universities. In 2005 women comprised 63.4 percent
of all university students and more than half of all university
graduates in the scientific and medical fields. According to the
National Union of Bank Employees, 65 percent of its members were women,
but only one of eight principal banking officials was a woman. Women
comprised approximately 10 percent of board members at publicly traded
companies during each year from 2000 to 2005. At the end of 2005, women
accounted for a significant portion of the country's lawyers (45
percent), accountants (43 percent), and medical doctors (37 percent).
Children.--The Government has demonstrated a commitment to
children's rights and welfare and allocated approximately 25 percent of
the national budget to education. The Government provides free
education for children through age 15. Although primary education is
compulsory, there is no enforcement mechanism governing school
attendance. Attendance at primary school was 96 percent, while
secondary school attendance was 82 percent. There was no difference in
the treatment of girls and boys at the primary and secondary levels. A
variety of programs provided low-cost health care for most children.
The law prescribes severe punishments for child trafficking, abuse,
molestation, neglect, and abandonment. The law allows that a maximum of
10 strokes with a ``light cane'' be applied to male children between
ages 10 to 18.
The Government recognized that sexual exploitation of children and
incest were problems. Incest in particular was a problem in rural
areas. The law provides for six to 20 years' imprisonment and caning
for individuals convicted of incest. The police stated that 295 cases
of incest were reported in 2005, down from 334 cases in 2004. In past
years the majority of incest cases involved children under 15 years of
age. The testimony of children is accepted only if there is
corroborating evidence. This posed special problems for molestation
cases in which the child victim was the only witness.
Statutory rape occurred and was prosecuted. However, Islamic law
provisions that consider a Muslim girl an adult after her first
menstruation sometimes complicated prosecution of statutory rape. Such
a girl may be charged with khalwat, even if she is under the age of 18
and her partner is an adult. Thus Shari'a courts sometimes punished the
victims of statutory rape. Although Shari'a courts sometimes were more
lenient with males charged with khalwat, in many cases Muslim men were
charged and punished for statutory rape under civil law.
Child prostitution existed, but child prostitutes often were
treated as delinquents rather than victims (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Child labor occurred in certain areas of the country (see section
6.d.).
Sabah State had a problem of street children. Estimated to number
anywhere from a few score to a few hundred, they were born in the
country to illegal immigrant parents who had been deported. These
children lacked citizenship and access to government-provided support.
Trafficking in Persons.--There is no law that specifically and
comprehensively criminalizes trafficking in persons. However, the Child
Act prohibits all forms of trafficking of children under 18, and the
penal code addresses procurement of women for the purpose of
prostitution. The Government also uses other laws, such as the
Immigration Act, the Restricted Residence Act, and the ISA, to arrest,
prosecute, and detain traffickers.
The country was a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and
transit point for men and women trafficked for the purposes of sexual
exploitation and forced labor. Foreign trafficking victims, mostly
women and girls from the People's Republic of China, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, were trafficked to
the country for commercial sexual exploitation. These women often
worked as karaoke hostesses, ``guest relations officers,'' and
masseuses. Some Malaysian women, primarily of Chinese ethnicity, were
trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation. Some economic migrants
working as domestic servants or laborers in the construction and
agricultural sectors faced exploitative conditions that met the
definition of involuntary servitude (see section 6.e.).
According to police, the Bar Council, and Suhakam, many foreigners
found to be involved in prostitution were possible trafficking victims.
Foreign embassies, NGOs, and government authorities reported that at
least 300 to 400 trafficking victims were rescued and repatriated in
each of the past two years, although the rescues did not lead to a
significant number of arrests and prosecutions of traffickers. There
were allegations of corruption among law enforcement personnel, since
some trafficking victims were known to pass through two or more ports
of entry without travel documents.
A small number of Malaysian women and girls were trafficked for
sexual purposes, mostly to Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but
also to Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States. According to
police and ethnic Chinese community leaders, female citizens who were
victims of trafficking were usually ethnic Chinese, although ethnic
Malay, ethnic Chinese, and ethnic Indian women also worked as
prostitutes domestically. Police and NGOs believed that criminal
syndicates were behind most of the trafficking. Information from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs indicated that fewer than 100
Malaysian women were trafficked to other countries during the year and
that the number had declined in recent years.
Foreign trafficking victims were kept compliant through involuntary
confinement, confiscation of travel documents, debt bondage, and
physical abuse. During the year there were reports of foreign women
escaping from apartments where they were held against their will and
forced to serve as unwilling prostitutes. According to news reports,
these women said that they were lured to the country by promises of
legitimate employment but were forced into prostitution upon their
arrival in the country.
The penal code includes extensive provisions that prohibit buying
or selling any person, using deceitful means to bring anyone into or
out of the country, and wrongfully restraining (defined to include
using threats, withholding clothing, or holding a person's passport)
any person with the intention to use that person for prostitution.
Punishment for these offenses includes a maximum 15-year prison term,
caning, and a fine, to be determined at the discretion of the
sentencing judge. During the first 10 months of the year, police
arrested 22 individuals under sections of the penal code that
criminalize procuring and brothel operations, compared with 34 such
arrests during all of 2005. During the first 10 months of the year,
police arrested 16 individuals under the Restricted Residence Act for
allegedly arranging prostitution activities, compared with 64 such
arrests during 2005. In addition, six individuals were detained under
the Emergency Ordinance for vice activities during the first 10 months
of the year, compared with two such detentions during 2005. In
September the IGP stated that police had arrested 143 pimps since June
2003 and detained 126 persons under the RRA, plus 18 under the
Emergency Ordinance.
In March, based on information supplied by Thai NGOs, police in
Kuala Lumpur conducted raids in Johor and rescued two Thai trafficking
victims under age 18 and three adult Thai victims.
The Government assisted some underage prostitutes and rescued some
trafficked women and girls. During the year police implemented a
referral system to place foreign trafficking victims in shelters
operated by NGOs and certain foreign embassies. However, shelter space
in private shelters remained inadequate to hold all identified victims,
and those whom shelters could not accept were transferred to
immigration detention facilities for deportation processing. At year's
end the Government had not implemented training programs that would
enable systematic screening and identification of trafficking victims
from among the illegal migrants processed by police and immigration
authorities. In September the IGP publicly called for the Government to
enact comprehensive antitrafficking legislation and stressed the need
for the law to include provisions for victim protection, shelters,
repatriation, and prevention of retrafficking.
A number of foreign embassies arranged temporary shelter for their
respective trafficking victims and assisted in their repatriation. The
Indonesian embassy compound in Kuala Lumpur contained a separate
shelter facility that typically held more than 150 female victims of
employer abuse and of sexual and labor trafficking. The Indonesian
embassy assisted up to 800 victims during the year.
The MWFCD, as well as senior immigration and police officials,
stated that a comprehensive antitrafficking law was needed to treat
trafficked women as victims rather than as illegal immigrants. The
ministry stated that, lacking such legislation, it could not legally
establish a shelter for trafficked women.
Persons With Disabilities.--Neither the constitution nor other laws
explicitly prohibit discrimination based on physical or mental
disabilities, but the Government promoted public acceptance and
integration of persons with disabilities.
The Government did not discriminate against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, or in the provision of other
state services. A public sector regulation reserves 1 percent of all
public sector jobs for persons with disabilities. The Government did
not mandate accessibility to transportation for persons with
disabilities, and few older public facilities were adapted for such
persons. New government buildings were generally outfitted with a full
range of facilities for persons with disabilities. The budget for the
fiscal year included additional tax benefits for persons with
disabilities and their spouses.
A code of practice serves as a guideline for all government
agencies, employers, employee associations, employees, and others to
place suitable persons with disabilities in private sector jobs.
Suhakam recommended legislation to address discriminatory practices and
barriers facing persons with disabilities, and it organized dialogues
among persons with disabilities, government departments, and NGOs to
promote awareness of the rights of persons with disabilities.
Special education schools existed but were not sufficient to meet
the needs of the population with disabilities. The Government undertook
initiatives to promote public acceptance of persons with disabilities,
make public facilities more accessible to such persons, and increase
budgetary allotments for programs aimed at aiding them. Recognizing
that public transportation was not ``disabled-friendly,'' the
Government maintained its 50 percent reduction of the excise duty on
locally made cars and motorcycles adapted for persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law and government policy
provide for extensive preferential programs designed to boost the
economic position of bumiputras. Such programs limited opportunities
for nonbumiputras in higher education, government employment, business
permits and licenses, and ownership of land. According to the
Government, these programs were necessary to ensure ethnic harmony and
political stability. Ethnic Indian citizens, who did not receive such
privileges, remained among the country's poorest groups.
In August the minister of higher education stated that the nation's
17 public universities employed few nonbumiputra deans. At the
University of Malaysia, 19 of 20 deans were bumiputras; in many other
universities deans were exclusively bumiputras. They also accounted for
more than 85 percent of the country's almost 900,000 civil servants at
the end of 2005. The percentage has steadily increased over previous
decades. Bumiputras accounted for approximately 95 percent of the
almost 410,000 applications for civil service jobs that the Government
received in 2005.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people (the descendants of the
original inhabitants of the peninsular region of the country and the
Borneo states) generally enjoyed the same constitutional rights as the
rest of the population. However, in practice federal laws pertaining to
indigenous people of the peninsular region, known as the Orang Asli,
vest considerable authority in the non-Orang Asli minister for rural
development to protect, control, and otherwise decide issues concerning
this group. As a result, indigenous people in peninsular Malaysia had
very little ability to participate in decisions that affected them.
The Orang Asli, who numbered approximately 149,500, constituted the
poorest group in the country. According to government statistics,
approximately 77 percent of Orang Asli households were categorized as
living below the poverty level. A government-sponsored national
advisory council monitored the development of Orang Asli, but only five
of the council's 17 members were Orang Asli. In addition, only one
Orang Asli held a management position in the Government's Department of
Orang Asli Affairs. Under its ninth economic plan covering the years
2006-10, the Government allocated slightly more than $100 million
(361.8 million ringgit) for development projects for the Orang Asli.
These focused on improving health, preschool education, infrastructure,
and economic activities. The plan included an additional $28 million
(100 million ringgit) for development of lands inhabited by the Orang
Asli.
The dropout rate among Orang Asli students remained high.
Government statistics as of November indicated that 26,000 Orang Asli
pupils were registered at the primary school level, while only 8,700
students were registered in secondary schools. In March the minister of
rural and regional development stated that the dropout rate among Orang
Asli children was more than 50 percent in secondary schools.
Under the Aboriginal People's Act, the Orang Asli were permitted to
live on designated land as tenants-at-will, but they did not possess
land rights. Observers reported that over the years the total area of
land reserved for Orang Asli had decreased, and some land previously
set aside as Orang Asli reserve had been rezoned for development.
The uncertainty surrounding Orang Asli land ownership made them
vulnerable to exploitation. Logging companies continued to encroach on
land traditionally held by Orang Asli and other indigenous groups in
the Borneo states. Indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak continued to
protest encroachment by state and private logging and plantation
companies onto land that they considered theirs under native customary
rights. After four Suhakam commissioners visited impoverished natives
of the large Penan tribe September 17-19 in Sarawak, they stated that
living conditions of the Penan people had not improved during the past
five years. The commissioners also found that the vast majority of the
Penan people visited were not registered as citizens by the Government.
A case regarding ownership of the land used for the construction of
the Kuala Lumpur International Airport remained pending at year's end.
In September 2005 the court of appeal upheld a high court ruling that
the Temuans, an Orang Asli group in peninsular Malaysia, were the
rightful owners of the land and ordered the Selangor state government
pay compensation; however, the Government appealed the decision. On
November 21, the Federal Court agreed to hear the appeal initiated by
the state of Selangor and the federal government. At year's end no
decision had been issued.
Laws allowing condemnation and purchase of land do not require more
than perfunctory notifications in newspapers, to which indigenous
people may have no access. In past years this led to indigenous people
being deprived of their traditional lands with little or no legal
recourse. However, during the year there were no reports of such acts.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although there are no
laws that prohibit homosexuality, laws against sodomy and ``carnal
intercourse against the order of nature'' exist and were enforced.
Religious and cultural taboos against homosexuality were widespread.
The Government's response to HIV/AIDS was generally nondiscriminatory,
although stigmatization of AIDS sufferers was common.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law most workers have the right to
engage in trade union activity, but only 9.5 percent of the labor force
was represented by trade unions. Those restricted by law from joining a
union include public sector workers categorized as ``confidential'' and
``managerial and executive,'' as well as defense and police officials.
With certain limitations, unions may organize workplaces, bargain
collectively with employers, and associate with national federations.
In theory foreign workers can join a trade union; however, the
Immigration Department placed conditions on foreign workers' permits
that effectively barred them from joining a trade union (see section
6.e.).
The Trade Unions Act prohibits interfering with, restraining, or
coercing a worker in the exercise of the right to form trade unions or
participation in lawful trade union activities. However, the act
restricts a union to representing workers in a ``particular
establishment, trade, occupation, or industry or within any similar
trades, occupations, or industries.'' The director general of trade
unions may refuse to register a trade union and in some circumstances
may also withdraw the registration of an existing trade union based on
provisions outlined in the act. When registration is refused,
withdrawn, or canceled, a trade union is considered an unlawful
association. During the year the director general canceled the
registrations of five trade unions. None of the cancellations was
challenged in court.
Trade unions from different industries may join in national
congresses, but such congresses must register separately as societies
under the Societies Act (see section 2.b.).
Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) officials continued to
express frustration about delays in the settlement of union recognition
disputes. While the Industrial Relations Act requires that an employer
respond to a union's request for recognition within 21 days of
application, it was not uncommon for such applications to be refused
and unions to go unrecognized for one to four years. At year's end 21
trade union applications were pending approval.
Government policy inhibited the formation of national unions in the
electronics sector, the country's largest industry. The Government
stated that establishment of national unions in the electronics sector
would impede foreign direct investment and negatively impact the
country's international competitiveness in the sector; government
leaders stated that enterprise-level unions were more appropriate for
the electronics industry. According to MTUC officials, 150,000
electronics workers were unable to organize, and only eight in-house
unions existed in the electronics industry.
Unions maintained independence from both the Government and
political parties, but individual union members may belong to political
parties. Although by law union officers may not hold principal offices
in political parties, individual trade union leaders have served in
parliament. Trade unions were free to associate with national labor
congresses, which exercised many of the responsibilities of national
labor unions, although they cannot bargain on behalf of local unions.
Trade unions were permitted to affiliate with international trade
union organizations, such as global union federations and the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, subject to the
approval of the director general of trade unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Workers have
the legal right to organize and bargain collectively, and collective
bargaining was widespread in those sectors where labor was organized.
There are two national labor organizations. The MTUC is a society
of trade unions in both the private and government sectors and is
registered under the Societies Act. As such, the MTUC does not have
collective bargaining or industrial action rights but provides
technical support for affiliated members. The other national
organization is the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and
Civil Service (CUEPACS), a federation of public employee unions
registered under the Trade Unions Act.
CUEPACS is an umbrella organization that included 127 distinct
civil servant unions with approximately 300,000 members of a total of
one million civil servants, represented by an estimated 160 unions.
Teacher unions accounted for 140,000 of CUEPACS' 300,000 members.
CUEPACS holds talks with the Government through three National Joint
Councils (NJCs) that represent three types of workers: managerial and
professional, science and technology, and general (all other types of
workers, such as clerical and support staff). The Government
established the NJC system to have NJCs serve as aggregating,
intermediary negotiating bodies between the Government and the various
unions served by CUEPACS. NJC members are elected from constituent
unions. While an individual civil service union may approach the
Government directly on narrow issues that affect only that particular
union or its members, broader issues that affect the entire civil
service flow up to CUEPACS and then to one of the NJCs, depending on
the type of civil servants involved.
Government regulations limited CUEPACS' negotiating power and
virtually eliminated its right to organize strikes. During the year
CUEPACS sought to obtain a minimum wage for civil servants; however, by
year's end the Government had announced no plans to institute a minimum
wage for public or private sector workers.
The Government placed limits on collective bargaining agreements in
companies designated as having ``pioneer status.'' The MTUC continued
to object to legal restrictions on collective bargaining in ``pioneer''
industries. On September 21, approximately 1,000 factory workers from
200 factories nationwide held a protest outside parliament. They
demanded a national minimum wage of $250 (900 ringgit) per month, a
national union for electronics workers (prohibited by the Government,
due to the electronics industry's ``pioneer'' status), reduced working
hours, and an increase in paid maternity leave from 60 to 90 days. At
year's end the Government had not responded to their demands.
Charges of discrimination against employees engaged in organizing
union activities may be filed with the Ministry of Human Resources or
the industrial court. Critics alleged that the industrial court was
slow in adjudicating worker complaints when conciliation efforts by the
Ministry of Human Resources failed. In addition, beginning in 2004 the
court introduced voluntary mediation as a means for faster case
settlements. During the first eight months of the year, mediation was
initiated for 95 industrial court cases, with 27 settlements recorded.
During 2005 a total of 186 cases were mediated, resulting in 93
settlements. The industrial court does not enforce its own awards, and
unions complained that employers often ignored the court's judgments
with impunity.
The Government holds that issues of transfer, dismissal, and
reinstatement are internal management prerogatives; therefore, they are
excluded from collective bargaining, which is not in accordance with
International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. The minister of human
resources can suspend for up to six months any trade union deemed to be
used for purposes prejudicial to or incompatible with security or
public order. The Government has taken no such action during the past
several years.
Although strikes are legal, the right to strike is severely
restricted. The law contains a list of ``essential services'' in which
unions must give advance notice of any industrial action. The list
includes sectors not normally deemed essential under ILO definitions.
MTUC officials said that requirements imposed by the authorities were
so stringent that it was almost impossible to strike. According to
Ministry of Human Resources statistics, only one minor strike occurred
during the first nine months of the year, compared with 10 strikes
during 2005. Employees in the public sector do not have the right to
collective bargaining.
The Industrial Relations Act requires the parties to notify the
Ministry of Human Resources that a dispute exists before any industrial
action may be taken. The ministry's Industrial Relations Department
then may become involved actively in conciliation efforts. If
conciliation fails to achieve settlement, the minister has the power to
refer the dispute to the industrial court. Strikes or lockouts are
prohibited while the dispute is before the industrial court. The act
prohibits employers from taking retribution against a worker for
participating in the lawful activities of a trade union. However, some
trade unions questioned the effectiveness of the provisions.
Companies in free trade zones (FTZs) must observe labor standards
identical to those in the rest of the country. Many workers in FTZ
companies were organized, especially in the textile and electrical
products sectors.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally
enforced this prohibition. Certain laws allow imprisonment with
compulsory labor as punishment for persons who express views opposed to
the established order or who participate in strikes. However, these
laws were not applied.
Some of the estimated 320,000 foreign women employed as household
workers were subjected to physical abuse and forced to work under harsh
conditions. While the Workmen's Compensation Act and the Employment Act
provide a minimum standard of protection to workers, in several
important respects they do not apply to household employees (see
section 6.e.).
The Government prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children,
and there were no reports that such practices occurred in the formal
sector, although some child household employees worked in conditions
amounting to forced labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children younger than age 14 but
permits some exceptions, such as light work in a family enterprise,
work in public entertainment, work performed for the Government in a
school or in training institutions, or work as an approved apprentice.
In no case may children work more than six hours per day, more than six
days per week, or at night.
Child labor occurred in certain areas of the country. There was no
reliable estimate of the number of child workers. Most child laborers
worked informally in the agricultural sector, helping their parents in
the field; however, only adult members of the family received a wage.
In urban areas, child labor could be found in family food businesses,
night markets, and small-scale industries. Government officials did not
deny the existence of child labor in family businesses but maintained
that foreign workers had largely replaced child labor and that child
labor provisions were vigorously enforced. Some children were exploited
in the commercial sex industry (see section 5).
Mechanisms for monitoring workplace conditions were inadequate, and
the resolution of most abuse cases frequently was left to private, for-
profit labor agencies that were themselves often guilty of abuses.
Bilateral labor agreements with Indonesia do not provide adequate
protections for household workers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no minimum wage
provision governing all workers, as the Government preferred to allow
market forces to determine wages. Prevailing market wages generally
provided a decent standard of living for citizens, although not for all
migrant workers. Wage councils, established by a 1947 act to provide a
recommended minimum wage for sectors in which the market wage was
determined insufficient, had little impact on wages in any sector.
According to MTUC officials, the wage councils had not met for more
than 15 years, and their recommended wages have long been obsolete.
Plantation workers generally received production-related payments
or daily wages. Under a 2003 agreement, plantation workers received a
minimum wage of $97 (350 ringgit) per month. Proponents of the
agreement said that productivity incentives and bonuses raised the
prevailing wage to nearly $194 (700 ringgit).
Under the Employment Act, working hours may not exceed eight hours
per day or 48 hours per workweek of six days. Each workweek must
include a 24-hour rest period. The act also sets overtime rates and
mandates public holidays, annual leave, sick leave, and maternity
allowances. The Labor Department of the Ministry of Human Resources is
responsible for enforcing the standards, but a shortage of inspectors
precluded strict enforcement.
Significant numbers of contract workers, including numerous illegal
migrants, worked on plantations and in other sectors. According to
statistics from the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW),
foreign workers made up 50 percent of the plantation work force;
however, the true number may have been higher, since illegal immigrants
were not counted. Working conditions for these laborers compared poorly
with those of direct-hire plantation workers, many of whom belonged to
the NUPW.
Work-related accidents were especially high in the plantation
sector. According to the Human Resources Ministry, 14 percent of all
reported industrial accidents during 2004 occurred on plantations. On
September 12, the deputy prime minister reported that over the past 12
years industrial accidents had declined by 60 percent, to fewer than
44,000 in 2005. He stated that there had been an average of 14 work-
related deaths per 100,000 workers over the past several years, adding
that the number compared unfavorably with much lower work-related death
rates in highly developed countries.
As of September 30, almost 1.9 million legal migrant workers worked
mainly in manufacturing (33 percent), plantations (23 percent), as
maids (18 percent), and in construction (16 percent). According to the
Ministry of Human Resources, as of September 30, the legal foreign
workers came from Indonesia (64 percent), Nepal (10 percent), India (7
percent), Burma (5 percent), Vietnam (5 percent), Bangladesh (3
percent), Pakistan (1 percent), the Philippines (1 percent), and other
countries (4 percent). Among legal foreign workers, Indonesian workers
accounted for 92 percent of domestic helpers, 89 percent of plantation
workers, and 81 percent of construction workers. The deputy prime
minister stated that between 300,000 and 500,000 illegal migrants also
worked in the country, but several union leaders and state politicians
believed that the number of illegal migrants could exceed one million.
Foreign workers, particularly if they were illegal aliens,
generally did not have access to the system of labor adjudication.
However, the Government investigated complaints of abuses, attempted to
inform workers of their rights, encouraged workers to come forward with
their complaints, and warned employers to end abuses. Like other
employers, labor contractors may be prosecuted for violating the law.
According to the results of a survey conducted during the year by the
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, the average monthly wage of
foreign workers engaged in the manufacturing sector was $161 (581
ringgit).
The Workmen's Compensation Act covers both local and foreign
workers but provides no protection for foreign household workers.
According to the Government, foreign household workers are protected
under the Employment Act with regard to wages and contract termination.
However, these workers are excluded from provisions of the act that
would otherwise ensure that they received one rest day per week, an
eight-hour work day, and a 48-hour work week.
Employers sometimes failed to honor the terms of employment and
abused their household workers. Only household workers ages 25 to 45
were allowed into the country, according to Immigration Department
officials. They were not allowed to bring family members into the
country while employed. The terms of the contract for Indonesian maids,
who comprised approximately 92 percent of all foreign household
workers, were often vague and open to abuse. The typical contract
provided for a monthly salary of $111 (400 ringgit) but did not specify
the number of working hours per day. NGOs reported that many Indonesian
household workers were required to work 14 to 18 hours a day, seven
days a week. The contract for Filipina household workers included more
comprehensive protections, but both groups suffered from a lack of
education concerning their legal rights. The Government of the
Philippines doubled the minimum contractual wage rate for the
approximately 12,000 Filipina household workers in the country to $400
per month, beginning December 15, which the embassy estimated would
reduce the number of Filipina household helpers in the country by at
least 60 percent.
In May the Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with Indonesia stipulating that all household workers must sign a
contract with their employer. The contract's terms and conditions,
including the maid's salary and working hours, are freely negotiable.
Under the MOU, an employer is obliged to open a bank account in the
maid's name and deposit her salary into the account on a monthly basis.
In addition, employers are required to purchase life and disability
insurance for their household workers. Maids are allowed to take
contract grievances to the labor court. The MOU contains no provisions
regarding mandatory leave or overtime payments for maids. At year's end
the Government had not released the MOU's full text to the public. This
led several workers' rights lawyers and NGO leaders to question the
Government's commitment to enforce the MOU's provisions.
Some workers alleged that their employers subjected them to inhuman
living conditions, withheld their salaries, confiscated their travel
documents, and physically assaulted them. Workers have the right to
take legal action against abusive employers. According to NGOs, the
courts generally sided with employees and ruled that employers must pay
all back salary and compensate plaintiffs for injuries, but long delays
in court proceedings and rulings often precluded aggrieved foreign
workers from seeking redress through the court system.
Legal and illegal foreign workers from Indonesia, Nepal, India,
Burma, Vietnam, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and other countries
constituted approximately 20 percent of the work force. Illegal foreign
workers have no legal protection under the law and have no legal
recourse in cases of abuse.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act covers all sectors of the
economy except the maritime sector and the armed forces. The act
established a national Occupational Safety and Health Council, composed
of workers, employers, and government representatives, to set policy
and coordinate occupational safety and health measures. It requires
employers to identify risks and take precautions, including providing
safety training to workers, and compels companies that have more than
40 workers to establish joint management-employee safety committees.
The act requires workers to use safety equipment and cooperate with
employers to create a safe, healthy workplace. Employers or employees
that violate the act are subject to substantial fines or imprisonment
for up to five years, although the MTUC complained that some employers
flouted the rules with impunity. There are no specific statutory or
regulatory provisions that provide a right for workers to remove
themselves from dangerous workplace conditions without arbitrary
dismissal.
__________
MARSHALL ISLANDS
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a constitutional republic
with a population of approximately 56,000. In November 2003 voters
elected the parliament (Nitijela) in generally free and fair multiparty
elections. The President is elected by majority Nitijela vote. In
January 2004 the Nitijela elected President Kessai Note of the United
Democratic Party (UDP) to a second four-year term. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, prison conditions, government corruption, violence
against women, child abuse, and lack of worker protections were areas
of concern.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions did not
meet international standards. All 47 male prisoners were held in a
single facility attached to police headquarters, consisting of three
interconnected rooms and four small cells. On-duty police officers also
served as guards, separated from the jail area by a closed door.
Lighting, ventilation, and sanitation were inadequate, and there was no
program to ensure regular access to outside activity. Security was
poor.
Some male juveniles were held together with adults; as juvenile
crimes increased in number and seriousness over the past several years,
the courts tried more male juveniles as adults and ordered them held
with the general prison population. Pretrial detainees were not
separated from the general prison population. There were no prison
facilities for female prisoners, including juveniles; they generally
were held under house arrest. During the year the one female juvenile
prisoner was held in a separate office in the jail vacated to
accommodate her.
During the year the Government permitted a prison visit by
independent journalists, who subsequently published an article on
prison conditions in the Marshall Islands Journal newspaper. There were
no other requests for visits by independent human rights observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There are local police
forces, and there is a national police force under the Ministry of
Justice. In most situations police officers did not carry firearms and
generally used the minimum force necessary to detain a suspect.
Although there were some instances of police corruption, it was not
widespread. There is a director of investigations in the Attorney
General's Office to handle allegations of police abuse and corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the constitution and law, a warrant
issued by a court is required for an arrest if there is adequate time
to obtain one; however, the courts have interpreted this provision to
exempt situations such as a breach of the peace or an ongoing felony.
Detainees may request bond immediately upon arrest for minor offenses;
most serious offenses require the detainee to remain in jail until a
hearing can be arranged, normally the morning after arrest.
In May a public defender charged that on several occasions police
and immigration officers detained nationals of the People's Republic of
China (PRC) for immigration violations without first obtaining an
arrest warrant and in some cases held the individuals in jail two to
three days without filing charges. The Attorney General's Office
responded that the officers had acted within the law since a violation
of the Immigration Act is deemed to be an ongoing felony.
Families had access to detainees, and detainees have the right to
lawyers of their choice. There was a functioning system of bail, and
the Government provides a lawyer if the defendant is indigent.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judiciary consists of a Supreme Court with appellate
jurisdiction, a High Court with general jurisdiction in civil and
criminal matters and appellate jurisdiction over subordinate courts at
the district and community levels, and a Traditional Rights Court with
jurisdiction in cases involving customary law and traditional practice.
The cabinet appoints judges.
Few citizens were trained in the law, and the judicial system
relied heavily on noncitizen public prosecutors and defense attorneys.
Lower court judges were citizens; the higher courts relied on
noncitizen judges, in part to prevent conflicts of interest in the
small, highly interrelated society. The chief justice of the High Court
is a foreign national appointed for a 10-year term.
During the year the High Court chief justice, with foreign
assistance, continued work on development of a judicial training
program and improvements in trial procedures.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Defendants can choose either a bench trial or a four-member jury
trial. In recent years defendants increasingly opted for jury trials,
which had a higher rate of acquittals. Defendants enjoy a presumption
of innocence and have the right to counsel, to question witnesses, to
access government-held evidence, and to appeal convictions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no separate
judiciary in civil matters, but there are administrative remedies for
alleged wrongs as well as judicial remedies within the general court
system.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Individuals generally could criticize the Government privately or
publicly without reprisal. In July, however, one incident that
questioned the right to freedom of speech occurred when a special
interim committee of the Nitijela summoned the President of the Chamber
of Commerce to answer inquiries regarding a letter the chamber sent to
the speaker of the Nitijela and the Marshall Islands Journal condemning
travel of certain elected officials to the PRC. The committee
criticized both the letter and similar comments made by the chamber
President in an interview with Radio New Zealand. Although the Nitijela
took no action against the chamber, the committee's public scolding of
chamber leaders led some members of the public to express concern about
censorship.
During the year the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Women United
Together in the Marshall Islands (WUTMI) broadcast its outreach
programs on the government-owned radio station under the auspices of a
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL) program grant.
Previously the Government had denied permission to WUTMI for weekly
broadcasts, and after the PREL program was completed in September, the
Government again denied WUTMI access to weekly public broadcasting;
however, WUTMI's General Assembly meetings were broadcast on the
government-owned station.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including
anti-Semitic acts. There were few known individuals of Jewish
background in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not
employ this practice.
Protection of Refugees.--Although not a signatory, the Government
adhered to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
and its 1967 Protocol, and it cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees; however, it has granted asylum in the past.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Executive power is
centralized in the President and his cabinet. The legislature consists
of the Nitijela and a council of chiefs (Iroij), which serves a largely
consultative function dealing with custom and traditional practices.
Citizens 18 years of age and older elect the 33-member Nitijela and
mayors by secret ballot every four years. Elections for the Nitijela
were held in November 2003; President Kessai Note's UDP won a majority
of the seats, and the Nitijela reelected him in January 2004.
There were no widespread allegations of electoral fraud, but the
complex electoral system, which grants voters the option of voting
where they have land rights instead of where they reside, requires
almost every polling place to provide for voters from many other
districts. A significant number of absentee ballots also were cast in
the 2003 elections. As a result several close elections generated
formal complaints against election officials for alleged mishandling of
ballots and other problems, including some allegations of favoritism.
The courts did not overturn any electoral commission decisions.
Individuals and parties can freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election. There are no restrictions on the formation of
political parties, although many candidates prefer to run independently
or loosely aligned with informal coalitions. The law prohibits
political activity by foreigners.
There are no legal impediments to women's participation in
government and politics; however, traditional attitudes of male
dominance, women's cultural responsibilities, traditionally passive
roles, and the generally early age of pregnancies made it difficult for
women to obtain political qualifications or experience. There was one
woman in the Nitijela and four women in the 12-seat House of Iroij.
There were no female judges, but the chief public defender was a woman.
There were a number of women in prominent appointive government
positions, including the secretary of education, secretary of health,
secretary of foreign affairs, director of the Social Security
Administration, and banking commissioner.
There were very few members of minority groups who were citizens,
and there were no members of minorities in the legislature.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--According to the general
audit report of 2003, performed by an independent accounting firm,
government corruption was a problem, including instances of misuse of
public funds and irregularities in the collection of certain taxes. In
2005 the Ministry of Finance was reorganized in an effort to increase
accountability. The Attorney General's Office is responsible for
investigating cases of alleged corruption, but only a few cases have
been prosecuted. No high-level elected official has ever been indicted
for corruption. In March the chief immigration officer was dismissed
for alleged improper professional conduct.
The law does not provide specifically for public access to
government information. Although there is no specific statutory basis
for denying such information, the Government has taken the position
that the burden for overcoming a denial of access rests with the
public, and a court filing showing the reason the information is
required is often necessary.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Human rights groups generally operated without government
restriction, but few local groups have been formed. The Government was
not always responsive to NGOs' concerns. The NGO WUTMI worked on
women's, children's, and family issues and played a significant role in
social issues.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex,
race, color, language, national or social origin, place of birth, and
family status or descent, and the Government generally observed these
provisions.
Women.--Spousal abuse was common. Domestic violence was not
condoned, and most assaults occurred while the assailant was under the
influence of alcohol. According to a 2003 WUTMI survey, more than 80
percent of women had been affected by spousal abuse. Violence against
women outside the family occurred, and women in urban centers risked
assault if they went out alone after dark. Police generally responded
to reports of rape and domestic assault, and the Government's health
office provided counseling in reported spousal and child abuse cases,
but many cases apparently went unreported. Rape and assault are
criminal offenses, with penalties of up to 25 years' imprisonment for
first-degree sexual assault, but women involved in domestic violence
were reluctant to prosecute spouses in the court system. Most observers
believe that few sexual offenses are prosecuted because cultural
constraints may discourage victims from reporting such crimes to the
police.
During the year there were three reported incidents of sexual
assault against foreign women. In one case a juvenile was charged with
three counts of sexual assault, one count of burglary, and one count of
disturbing the peace. He was found not guilty of sexual assault but was
sentenced to 18 months in prison on the other two charges. In the
second case a juvenile pled guilty to first-degree sexual assault and
was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, with five years suspended. The
third case, which involved alleged sexual fondling of a teacher on an
outer atoll, was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence.
Women's groups under the WUTMI umbrella continued to publicize
women's issues and promote a greater awareness of women's rights.
Prostitution is illegal but continued to occur, particularly on the
Majuro and Kwajalein atolls. Organized prostitution on Majuro, run
primarily by foreigners, no longer catered only to the crews of foreign
fishing vessels. There were no specific reports of violence against
prostitutes, although the Government assumed that it existed. The
Government prosecuted and expelled several individuals who had
overstayed their visas, could show no income or other evidence of
support, and were alleged to be involved in prostitution.
There is no law against sex tourism, but none has been reported.
Sexual harassment is not prohibited by law but was not considered a
widespread or serious problem.
The inheritance of property and of traditional rank is matrilineal,
with women occupying positions of importance in the traditional system,
although control of property often was delegated to male family members
on behalf of female landowners. Many educated women held prominent
positions, particularly in government (see section 3); however, while
female workers were very prevalent in the private sector, many were in
low-paying jobs with little prospect for advancement. The traditional
authority exercised by women has declined with growing urbanization and
movement of the population away from traditional lands; nonetheless,
many observers believed women continued to be a significant social
force.
Children.--The Government showed a commitment to children's welfare
through its programs of health care and free education, but these have
not been adequate to meet the needs of the country's increasing
population.
Education was compulsory and universal, and the national government
did not charge school fees. However, individual public schools were
permitted to charge modest registration fees to help support their
programs, and some schools did so. A 2004 law expanded compulsory
education from six- to 14-year-olds to four- to 18-year-olds, but the
Government lacked the resources to implement the expanded mandate.
It was estimated that up to 20 percent of elementary-school-age
children did not attend school on a regular basis. In many cases this
was because they lived too far away from a school or their families
could not afford the annual registration fee (which varied by school
but averaged approximately $10) or incidental expenses. (The U.S.
dollar is the national currency.) The lack of school lunch programs in
most public schools was cited as another factor that contributed to
absenteeism and poor performance. Despite the 2004 law extending
compulsory education through age 18, there were not enough high school
facilities to accommodate all high-school-age children. Admission to
high school continued to be by competitive examination; not all
children qualified to attend. The Government's enrollment report
indicated that only two-thirds of those completing eighth grade
attended high school. Approximately 50 percent of high school
students--or one-third of those who started elementary school--
eventually graduated.
There were five public high schools in the country: two in Majuro
and one each on Jaluit, Kwajalein, and Wotje. In addition there were a
dozen private high schools, which were open to all who were able to pay
the private school tuition. The Government provided subsidized
essential medical services for all citizens, including children.
The law sets age 16 as the minimum age of consent for sexual
activity. Convictions for violation of the law are punishable by up to
25 years in prison, depending on the degree of the offense. Child abuse
and neglect are criminal offenses, but public awareness of children's
rights remained low. The law requires teachers, caregivers, and other
persons to report instances of child abuse and exempts them from civil
or criminal liability as a consequence of making such a report.
Nonetheless, there were few reports and few prosecutions. Child abuse
and neglect were considered to be on the increase. In July the Supreme
Court dismissed the appeal by a foreigner of his 2004 conviction for
attempted rape and attempted incest against his minor daughter, a
citizen of the country, on the ground that his appeal failed to comply
with prescribed rules of procedure. A deportation proceeding against
him was pending at year's end.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution prohibits
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities,
and there are no restrictions on the right of persons with disabilities
to vote or participate in civic affairs. There was no apparent
discrimination against persons with physical or mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services; however, there were no building codes and no
legislation mandating access for persons with disabilities.
There were approximately 50 persons who could be medically defined
as psychotic. When these individuals demonstrated dangerous behavior,
they were imprisoned with the general prison population and visited by
a doctor. On occasions when prison officials protested disruptions
caused by this practice, other arrangements, such as house arrest, were
made.
There is no government agency specifically charged with protecting
the rights of persons with disabilities. The Attorney General is
responsible for handling court cases involving complaints of
discrimination against persons with disabilities, but no such cases
were brought during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
free association in general, and the Government interpreted this right
as allowing the existence of labor unions, although none have been
formed to date. With few major employers, there were few opportunities
for workers to unionize, and the country has no history or culture of
organized labor.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no
legislation concerning collective bargaining or trade union
organization. Wages in the cash economy were determined by market
factors in accordance with the minimum wage and other laws.
The law does not provide for the right to strike, and the
Government has not addressed this issue.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
involuntary servitude, and there were no reports of its practice among
citizens. Officials suspected that some forced or compulsory labor
existed among the illegal alien population. In August the Nitijela
passed immigration and labor bills designed to deter illegal entry into
the country and illegal employment activities of third country
nationals. During the year five PRC national women charged that after
they began working in a Majuro restaurant and bar in 2005, the owner,
PRC national Xu Xin, withheld the pay they were promised and forced
them to engage in acts of prostitution, threatening to have them
arrested if they refused to comply. They also alleged that they paid Xu
$1,500 each to obtain extended entry and work permits, but never
received the permits. In August Xu was charged with five counts of
prostitution and one count of public nuisance. She also was charged
with illegal employment of aliens in a separate case. However, she left
the country before the cases came to trial. The five victims
voluntarily left the country by year's end.
The law does not specifically prohibit forced and compulsory labor
by children; however, there were no reports that such practices
occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There is no law or regulation setting a minimum age for employment of
children. Children typically were not employed in the wage economy, but
some assisted their families in fishing, agriculture, retailing, and
other small-scale enterprises.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law establishes a minimum
wage of two dollars per hour for both government and private sector
employees. The national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family. In the subsistence economy, however,
extended families were expected to help less fortunate members, and
there were often several wage earners to support each family. The
Ministry of Resources and Development adequately enforced the minimum
wage regulations. Foreign employees and Marshallese trainees of private
employers who had invested in or established a business in the country
were exempt from minimum wage requirements. This exemption did not
affect a significant segment of the workforce.
There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work or
occupational safety and health. On Sunday most businesses were closed,
and persons generally refrained from working.
A government labor office makes recommendations to the Nitijela on
working conditions, such as the minimum wage, legal working hours and
overtime payments, and occupational health and safety standards, and
the office periodically convenes board meetings that are open to the
public. No legislation specifically gives workers the right to remove
themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment, and no legislation protects
workers who file complaints about such conditions. The law protects
foreign workers in the same manner as citizens.
__________
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA
The Federated States of Micronesia is a constitutional republic
composed of four states: Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap. Its
population was approximately 107,000. Voters elect a unicameral
legislature that elects the President from among its members for a
four-year term. There were no formal political parties. Congress chose
Joseph J. Urusemal as President in May 2003. The most recent elections
for Congress, held in March 2005, were considered generally free and
fair. Individual states enjoy significant autonomy, and traditional
leaders retain considerable influence in some states. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse; however, government efforts to
address societal problems such as family violence were constrained by
traditional society. Reported human rights problems included judicial
delays, government corruption, discrimination against women, domestic
violence, and child neglect.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed torture; however, there
were occasional reports of physical abuse by police.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards; however, during the year Pohnpei
and Chuuk states' underfunded corrections divisions failed to provide
nutritionally adequate meals to prisoners.
Each of the four state jails included a separate cell for female
prisoners. Since women rarely were detained, these cells typically were
used to separate disruptive male prisoners from the general prison
population. There were no designated juvenile detention facilities;
however, juvenile crime was rare, and the states typically have decided
against incarceration of juveniles. Pretrial detainees usually were
held together with convicted prisoners. All four states used separate
jail cells to house persons with mental illnesses but no criminal
background. In February one mentally ill person killed another mentally
ill person in the Yap State jail. The assailant was placed under
maximum security at the jail, and one correctional officer was
suspended for 30 days for negligence. The case was still under
investigation at year's end.
The question of prison visits by human rights observers did not
arise during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Each state has a
department of public safety composed of police, corrections, fire, and
emergency response functions. The directors of public safety are state
cabinet-level positions. There is a small national police force under
the Department of Justice. Some municipalities also have small police
forces. Many citizens prefer to rely on customary and traditional
remedies to resolve criminal and civil matters.
Under measures introduced by the Chuuk State governor to reform the
state's underqualified and politicized police force, applicants for the
police force are reviewed by a selection panel and must meet certain
criteria to be hired. Police training also was increased. There were
fewer reports of police favoritism toward relatives and physical abuse
by the Chuuk State police after the state established an internal
affairs division to address police abuses, although these remained
matters of concern.
Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are required for arrests, and
detainees were promptly advised of the charges against them. Detainees
must be brought before a judge for a hearing within 24 hours of arrest,
and this requirement was generally observed in practice. Most arrested
persons were released on bail, which usually was set at low levels
except in cases involving flight risk. Detainees had prompt access to
family members and lawyers. All defendants have the right to counsel;
however, the public defender's office was underfunded, and not all
defendants received adequate legal assistance in practice.
During the year the mayor of Udot in Chuuk State was convicted in
two separate trials of violating a voter's civil rights, resisting
arrest, and threats and other improper influence in official or
political matters. He served approximately five months of a one-year
prison sentence and was on parole at year's end. The charges stemmed
from a 2002 incident in which supporters of the mayor, including local
police, disarmed and briefly detained national government officials who
had attempted to serve a search warrant on the mayor in connection with
an investigation of his alleged misuse of public funds.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The President, with the advice and consent of
the legislature, appoints the three justices of the Supreme Court. Each
state also has a supreme court, and some municipalities have local
courts. Some states have additional courts to deal with land disputes.
The formal legal system coexists with traditional, mediation-based
mechanisms for resolving disputes and dealing with offenders at the
local level.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are
public, although juveniles may have closed hearings. Judges conduct
trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and have the right to counsel, to question
witnesses, to access government-held evidence, and to appeal
convictions. There is a national public defender system with an office
in each state. Despite these provisions cultural resistance to
litigation and incarceration as methods of maintaining public order
allowed some persons to act with impunity. Serious cases of sexual and
other assault and even murder have not gone to trial, and suspects
routinely were released indefinitely. Bail, even for major crimes,
usually was set at low levels (see section 1.d.).
Delays in some judicial appointments and underfunding of the court
system hampered the judiciary's ability to function efficiently.
Shortages or unavailability of court personnel and services
occasionally hampered the right to a speedy trial.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. The Supreme Court would hear
lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation. There are no nonjudicial administrative remedies available.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution contains an express right to privacy
that prohibits such actions, and the Government generally respected
these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of ``expression'' but not specifically of ``speech'' or of
``the press''; however, the Government generally respected each of
these rights in practice.
Although there were no government restrictions, the number of
independent media outlets was very small. There also was a lack of
consistently reliable access to broadcast media. For example, the
Government radio stations on Yap, Pohnpei, and Chuuk remained off the
air much of the year, in Yap's case due to typhoon-related damage and
in the two other cases due to technical problems. Chuuk's cable
television station ceased operations due to an unreliable power supply
and financial problems.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for freedom of
movement within the country. It does not address foreign travel,
emigration, or repatriation, but in practice none of these were
restricted.
The law does not explicitly prohibit forced exile; however,
statutes that prescribe punishments for crimes do not provide for the
imposition of exile, and the Government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Legislation
introduced in Congress in November 2005 to establish a system for
providing protection to refugees in accordance with the convention and
protocol was still pending at year's end. In practice the Government
provided protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution. The Government did not grant
refugee status or asylum, and there were no requests for refugee status
or asylum during the year. The Government cooperated with the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The 14-member Congress is
elected by popular vote from each state. Congress then chooses the
President and vice President by majority vote from among its four at-
large senators. Elections for Congress were last held in March 2005.
The elections were generally free and fair; however, there were
serious discrepancies and evidence of fraud in two ballot boxes in
Chuuk State. A court-ordered revote was held in one case, resulting in
the incumbent's defeat. In the second case, the director of elections
determined that exclusion of the suspect ballot box's results would not
affect the outcome in that electoral district.
State governors, state legislators, and municipal governments are
elected by direct popular vote. Individuals can freely declare their
candidacy and stand for election. There are no restrictions on the
formation of political groups; however, there have been no significant
efforts to form organized political parties, and none exist. Political
support generally was sought from family and allied clan groupings, as
well as religious groups.
Cultural factors in the male-dominated society limited women's
representation in government and politics. Women were well represented
in the middle and lower ranks of government at both the federal and
state level, and women held the federal cabinet-level positions of
attorney general and public defender.
There was one woman in the 23-seat Pohnpei State legislature and no
women in the other state legislatures or in the national legislature.
The country is a multicultural federation, and both the legislature
and the Government included persons from various cultural backgrounds.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
a problem, particularly in Chuuk State. Following the 2004 convictions
of the then speaker of Congress, one other member of Congress, and two
former members on charges relating to misuse of government funds, the
Attorney General's Office investigated and indicted other Chuuk
politicians for corrupt practices, although one indicted member of
Congress retained his seat in the March 2005 elections. The indicted
member's trial in the Chuuk State supreme court was scheduled for
December; however, the judge appointed to hear the case recused
himself, and at year's end the chief justice had not yet appointed a
new judge to handle the case.
There is no national law providing for public access to government
information. Under rules in effect during the year, the speaker of
Congress can declare any congressional documents confidential. State
laws and practices varied. Legislative hearings and deliberations
generally were open to the public. The Pohnpei State legislature's
proceedings were televised, and Yap's were broadcast on FM radio.
Information from other branches of government also was accessible;
however, retrieval sometimes was complicated and delayed by the loss or
mishandling of records and by the concern of lower level administrative
personnel with verifying that release of the particular information
requested was permissible. There were no reported cases of government
denial of access to media; however, there were only a small number of
media outlets, and their reporting resources were limited.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Although there were no official restrictions, no local groups
concerned themselves exclusively with human rights. There were groups
that addressed problems concerning the rights of women and children,
and the Government cooperated with these groups.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law provide explicit protection against
discrimination based on race, sex, or language. The Attorney General
successfully prosecuted one civil rights case against a municipal mayor
in Chuuk State.
Women.--Reports of spousal abuse, often severe, continued during
the year. Although assault is a crime, there are no specific laws
against domestic abuse, and there were no governmental or private
facilities to shelter and support women in abusive situations.
Effective prosecution of offenses was rare. In many cases victims
decide against initiating legal charges because of family pressure,
fear of further assault, or belief that the police will not involve
themselves actively in what is seen as a private family problem.
Sexual assault, including rape, is a crime. Sexual assault
involving a dangerous weapon or serious physical or psychological harm
to the victim is punishable by up to nine years' imprisonment in Chuuk
and 10 years' imprisonment in the other three states, or a fine of up
to $20,000 in Kosrae and $10,000 in the other states. (The U.S. dollar
is the national currency.) If neither of these factors is involved, the
assault is punishable in all states by up to five years' imprisonment
or a fine. However, few cases were reported or prosecuted. There is no
specific law against spousal rape. According to police and women's
groups, there were a number of reports of physical and sexual assaults
against women, both citizens and foreigners, outside the family
context. In this traditional society, unmarried women sometimes were
considered to have invited such violence by living or traveling alone.
Within the traditional extended family unit, violence, abuse, and
neglect directed against spouses or children were deemed offenses
against the family, not just the individual victims, and were addressed
by a complex system of familial sanctions. However, traditional methods
of coping with family discord have been breaking down with increasing
urbanization, monetization of the economy, and greater emphasis on the
nuclear family. No government agency, including the police, has
succeeded in replacing the extended family system or in addressing the
problem of family violence directly.
Prostitution is illegal and was not a major problem. The law does
not prohibit sex tourism specifically, but it was not a problem. The
law does not prohibit sexual harassment, which appeared to be
pervasive, although seldom reported.
Women have equal rights under the law, including the right to own
property, and there were no institutional barriers to education or
employment. Women received equal pay for equal work. There continued to
be extensive societal discrimination against women, although women were
active and increasingly successful in private business. There was an
active national women's advisory council that lobbied the Government.
Additionally, several small NGOs were interested in women's issues,
particularly those associated with family violence and abuse. The
Women's Interest Section of the Department of Health, Education and
Social Affairs worked to protect and promote women's rights.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare
through its programs of health care and education; however, these
programs were inadequate to meet the needs of the population,
particularly in an environment in which the extended family was
breaking down. Health officials and religious leaders ran peer-support
and family-care groups to address factors that could contribute to
youth suicides.
A compulsory education law requires all children to begin school at
age six, but not all did so. A shortage of qualified teachers and lack
of textbooks hampered progress. Education was free, and there was no
difference between the education of boys and girls. Education levels
differed among the states, but on average 75 percent of children
finished eighth grade, 55 percent finished ninth grade, and 35 percent
finished high school. Children may leave school when they reach the age
of 14 or after completing the eighth grade, whichever comes first.
The Government administered an immunization program throughout the
country and provided some vitamin supplements.
There were some anecdotal reports of child abuse and neglect, but
no reliable statistics were available.
Trafficking in Persons.--National and state laws do not
specifically prohibit trafficking in persons; however, there were no
reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination in
public service employment against persons with disabilities. Children
with physical or mental disabilities, including learning disabilities,
were provided with special education, including instruction at home if
necessary; however, such classes were dependent on foreign funding.
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, access to health care, or provision of
other state services; however, persons with disabilities usually did
not seek employment outside the home.
Neither laws nor regulations mandate accessibility to public
buildings or services for persons with disabilities. Some private
businesses provided special parking spaces and wheelchair ramps.
The national health services department was responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Due to the lack of facilities for treating mentally ill persons,
some persons with mental illnesses but no criminal background were
housed in jails. The authorities provided separate rooms in jails for
persons suffering from mental illness, and the state health services
departments provided medications to the patients. During the year a
mentally ill person killed another mentally ill person in the Yap State
jail (see section 1.c.).
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Each of the country's four
states has a different language and culture. Traditionally the state of
Yap had a caste-like social system with high-status villages, each of
which had an affiliated low-status village. In the past those who came
from low-status villages worked without pay for those with higher
status. In exchange those with higher status offered care and
protection to those subservient to them. The traditional hierarchical
social system has been gradually breaking down, and capable people from
low-status villages can rise to senior positions in society.
Nonetheless, the traditional system continued to affect contemporary
life, with individuals from low-status villages still likely to defer
to those with higher status. Persons from low-status backgrounds tended
to be less assertive in advocating for their communities' needs with
the Government. As a result low-status communities sometimes continued
to be underserved.
The national and state constitutions prohibit noncitizens from
purchasing land, and a 2002 law limits the occupations that noncitizens
may fill. The national Congress grants citizenship to non-Micronesians
only in rare cases. There is no permanent residency status. However,
for the most part noncitizens shared fully in the social and cultural
life of the country.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Under the constitution citizens have
the right to form or join associations, and national government
employees by law may form associations to ``present their views'' to
the Government without coercion, discrimination, or reprisals. For a
variety of reasons, including the fact that most private-sector
employment was in small-scale, family-owned businesses and citizens
were not accustomed to collective bargaining, there were neither
associations nor trade unions. Although foreign workers have the right
to form unions, they have not done so.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--No law deals
specifically with trade unions or with the right to collective
bargaining, and there were no reports of collective bargaining
agreements during the year. Individual employers, the largest of which
were the national and state governments, set wages. There is no
specific right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred. This prohibition does not mention specifically
forced and compulsory labor by children, but there were no reports that
such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
National and state laws do not establish a minimum age for employment
of children. In practice there was no employment of children for wages;
however, children often assisted their families in subsistence farming
and in family-owned shops.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The four state governments have
established minimum wage rates for government workers. Pohnpei had a
minimum hourly wage rate of $2.00 for government and $1.35 for private-
sector workers. The other three states have established minimum hourly
rates only for government workers: $1.25 for Chuuk, $1.49 for Kosrae,
and $0.80 for Yap. The minimum hourly wage for employment with the
national government was $2.64. These minimum wage structures and the
wages customarily paid to skilled workers were sufficient to provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was
enforced through the tax system, and this mechanism was believed to be
effective.
There are no laws regulating hours of work (although a 40-hour
workweek was standard practice) or prescribing standards of
occupational safety and health. A federal regulation requires that
employers provide a safe workplace. The Department of Health has no
enforcement capability, and working conditions varied in practice.
There is no law for either the public or private sector that
permits workers to remove themselves from dangerous work situations
without jeopardy to their continued employment.
Foreign workers were not subjected to abuse or deported without
cause. They have the right to a hearing if facing deportation. Foreign
garment factory workers who lost their jobs when their employing
factory closed were repatriated by the employer.
Working conditions onboard some Taiwan- and People's Republic of
China-owned fishing vessels operating in the country's waters were very
poor. Crewmen reported a high incidence of injuries, beatings by
officers, and nonpayment of salary.
__________
MONGOLIA
Mongolia, with a population of approximately 2.6 million, is a
multiparty, parliamentary democracy. The constitution establishes a
hybrid Presidential-parliamentary system of government. Observers noted
minor irregularities in the 2005 Presidential elections. Parliament
(the State Great Hural), with the agreement of the President, selects
the Prime Minister, who is nominated by the majority party. In January
a new ``unity'' coalition government replaced the coalition government
formed in September 2004, and parliament confirmed M. Enkhbold of the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) as prime minister. While
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces, there were a few instances in which individuals in the
security forces committed abuses.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, the following human rights problems were noted:
police abuse of prisoners and detainees; impunity; poor conditions at
prisons and pretrial detention centers; arbitrary arrest, lengthy
detention, and corruption within the judicial system; criminal
defamation laws resulting in self-censorship by the press; continued
refusal by one province to register Christian churches; sweeping
secrecy laws and a lack of transparency; endemic domestic violence
against women; international trafficking of persons; and some domestic
cases of child prostitution.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
abuse by security forces likely caused some deaths during the year. In
May the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported that police
abuse of suspects resulting in death was a persistent problem over the
years, and it cited numerous examples. There often was a lag time in
reporting and investigating cases, and examples of new deaths in police
custody during the year were not readily available.
The June 2005 death of a man beaten in a detention facility
remained officially under investigation at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police
(especially in rural areas) occasionally beat prisoners and detainees,
and the use of unnecessary force--particularly to obtain confessions--
in the arrest process was common.
In its annual report, the NHRC condemned persistent abuse of
suspects, including some cases resulting in death (see section 1.a.).
Among 1,338 detainees the NHRC surveyed at eight pretrial detention
centers in 2005, over 70 percent said they had confessed under duress
or actual force. In many credible cases, suspects were placed in cells
with violent inmates whom investigators had instructed to coerce
confessions. In 2005 at the end of a fact-finding visit conducted at
the invitation of the Government, the UN special rapporteur on torture
publicly expressed concern about the persistence of incidents of
torture, particularly in police stations and pretrial detention
facilities.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in pretrial
detention and prison facilities were poor. Insufficient food, heat, and
medical care threatened the health and life of inmates. The NHRC annual
report declared that no detention facility met the country's own
standards and found little or no progress since a 2004 inspection
revealed severe deficiencies. Overcrowding continued to be a problem.
The number of prisoners in the central detention facility in
Ulaanbaatar was sometimes 50 percent over intended capacity, resulting
in many detainees having less than nine square feet of space each.
However, in late December officials reported 698 detainees at the
facility, only slightly over capacity, probably reflecting releases
after the June amnesty (see section 1.d.).
Prison staff members, including guards, social workers, and medical
staff, received human rights training. The Ministry of Justice and Home
Affairs (MOJHA) Department for the Enforcement of Court Decisions
monitored conditions in prisons and detention facilities, but new laws
and procedures were not publicized widely.
Many inmates entered prison infected with tuberculosis or
contracted it in prison. The Government's tuberculosis hospital
provided treatment for a large number of prisoners and generally
isolated infected persons from the general prison population. While the
number of inmates who died from the disease declined significantly over
the years, infection in prisons and detention facilities and poor
treatment for the disease remained serious concerns.
Outside of Ulaanbaatar, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 who
were charged with crimes were sometimes kept in the same detention
centers as adult prisoners.
Improvements in detention and prison conditions outside the capital
were minimal. At least two domestic and six foreign nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) worked to improve conditions in prisons and
detention centers by providing clothing, food, books, English-language
instruction, and vocational training in computers and trades.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights monitors,
foreign diplomats, and journalists.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law provides that no person
shall be searched, arrested, detained, or deprived of liberty except by
specified procedures; however, arbitrary arrest and detention remained
problems. General public awareness of basic rights and judicial
procedures, including rights with regard to arrest and detention
procedures, was limited, especially in the countryside.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Security forces are
under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense (MOD), MOJHA, and the
General Intelligence Agency (GIA). Military forces under the MOD are
responsible for external security, and the MOD also handles civil
defense, giving it a role in internal security. National police operate
under the MOJHA, and during peacetime the national border security
guard force is also under MOJHA control. The GIA, formerly the State
Security Agency, is responsible for both internal security and foreign
intelligence collection and operations. The GIA's civilian head has
ministerial status and reports directly to the Prime Minister.
There was general agreement that corruption in law enforcement
agencies was endemic, although the Government did take some limited
steps against the problem. The NHRC annual report concurred with the
2005 judgment of the UN special rapporteur on torture that police who
abused detainees operated in a climate of impunity (see section 1.c.).
Laws and mechanisms to investigate police abuses were also inadequate.
There were some efforts by the Government to improve training and
professionalism of the police, but progress was slow.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may arrest persons suspected of a
crime and hold them for up to 72 hours before a decision is made to
prosecute or release them. Arrest without a warrant was fairly common.
According to the NHRC, 919 out of 978 persons detained in the main
pretrial detention center near Ulaanbaatar were arrested under the
``pressing circumstances'' exception to the requirement that a warrant
should be obtained from a judge prior to arrest. Under the criminal
code, a court order must be requested to continue holding a suspect
after 24 hours. If a court order is not granted within 72 hours, the
suspect must be released.
The maximum pretrial detention with a court order is 24 months; an
additional six months are allowed for particularly serious crimes such
as murder. Detainees may be released on bail with approval of a
prosecutor.
A detainee has the right to a defense attorney during this period
and during all subsequent stages of the legal process. If a defendant
cannot afford a private attorney, the Government must appoint an
attorney. However, many detainees were not made aware of this right and
did not assert it. There was a shortage of public-funded and pro bono
attorneys for low-income defendants, particularly outside of
Ulaanbaatar. The low quality of attorney training and the bureaucratic
obstacles faced by attorneys and defendants were chronic problems.
According to an administrative regulation, if a person is wrongly
charged with a crime, the Government must restore the person's rights
and reputation and provide compensation; however, this regulation was
rarely followed in practice.
A person forcibly abducted from France for questioning in
connection with the 1998 killing of former infrastructure minister and
Member of Parliament Sanjaasuren Zorig was released in February because
of ill health, and he died in April. Before his release, he had been
serving a jail sentence for a fraud conviction unrelated to the Zorig
killing.
Amnesty.--In June parliament passed an amnesty law in conjunction
with the 800th anniversary of the establishment of a Mongolian state.
Under the amnesty, authorities released about 700 prisoners in July and
exempted others from prosecution or imposition of punishment. Prisoners
released under the law included women 55 years and older, men 60 years
and older, children, prisoners with disabilities, and some prisoners
with children.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, corruption and outside influence were
problems.
The judiciary consists of district, provincial, and separate
constitutional and supreme courts. The 11-member Supreme Court is the
court of final appeal, hearing appeals from lower courts and cases
involving alleged misconduct by high-level officials. District courts
primarily hear routine criminal and civil cases, while more serious
cases, such as murder, rape, and grand larceny, are sent to the
provincial courts. Provincial courts also serve as the appeals court
for lower court decisions. The Constitutional Court, which is separate
from criminal courts, has sole jurisdiction over constitutional
questions. The General Council of Courts, an administrative body within
the MOJHA, nominates candidates for vacancies on the courts; the
President has the power to approve or refuse such nominations. The
council also is charged with protecting the rights of judges and
providing for the independence of the judiciary. The military judicial
system was abolished in 1993; since then, all military cases have been
handled in civilian courts.
Trial Procedures.--According to law, all accused persons have the
right to due process, legal defense, and a public trial by judge.
Juries are not used. Closed proceedings are permitted in cases
involving state secrets, rape cases involving minors, and other cases
as provided by law. Defendants may question witnesses, present
evidence, and appeal decisions. The law provides that defendants are
innocent until proven guilty. There was a shortage of state-provided
defense lawyers, and many defendants lacked adequate legal
representation. There was a heavy reliance on confessions, many of
which were coerced by police (see section 1.c.). Judges often relied on
questionable confessions in convicting defendants.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Enforcement of court
orders was a problem. Although victims of police abuse were able by law
to sue for actual damages, the NHRC annual report noted that the many
problems with the law made it useless in checking police abuse or
compensating victims.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However, the head
of the GIA, with the knowledge and consent of the Prime Minister, was
allowed to direct the monitoring and recording of telephone
conversations. The extent of such monitoring was unknown. Police
wiretaps must be approved by the prosecutor's office and were
authorized for two weeks at a time.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. However, government interference with licensing and
indirect intimidation of the press, particularly broadcast media,
remained a concern.
A variety of newspapers and other publications represented both
major political party and independent viewpoints. Due to transportation
difficulties, unreliable postal service, and fluctuations in the amount
of newsprint available, not all publications were available in rural
areas. The media law bans censorship of public information and any
legislation that would limit the freedom to publish and broadcast. The
Government monitored all media for compliance with antiviolence,
antipornography, anti-alcohol, and tax laws.
While there was no direct government censorship, the press alleged
indirect censorship in the form of government and political party
harassment, such as frequent libel lawsuits and tax audits. The law
places the burden of proof on the defendant in libel and slander cases.
An NGO study indicated that between 2001 and 2005 there were a total of
151 civil defamation suits and five criminal defamation cases filed
against journalists by private individuals and officials. During the
year there were two successful criminal defamation suits against
journalists who had written articles suggesting the President had
engaged in corrupt activities. The plaintiffs in both cases were other
persons mentioned in the articles. A court imposed fines of $2,600 (3
million tugrik) and $1,700 (2.1 million tugrik), which were not
collected after both journalists benefited from the amnesty law passed
in June (see section 1.d.). Another journalist lost a civil defamation
case filed by a bank after she wrote an article claiming that the
President might own part of the bank. She was ordered to pay $8,600 (10
million tugrik) in damages.
Officials as well as private citizens unhappy with news reports
subjected journalists to physical intimidation and other threats. In
some instances, representatives from print and electronic media
covering protests alleged that police briefly detained them or scuffled
with them to prevent coverage. Journalists objected to police efforts
in May to forestall television news photographers from covering a
police action to clear demonstrators from Ulaanbaatar's central square,
and to police action during the arrest in late October of a prominent
civil movement demonstrator on assault charges. As a result of all
these problems, some media practiced self-censorship. However, other
independent media outlets at times were strongly critical of the
Government.
While the print media were relatively free of political
interference, broadcast media were not. A lack of transparency during
the tender process, as well as lack of a truly independent licensing
authority, inhibited fair competition for broadcast frequency licenses
and benefited those with political connections. At the provincial
level, local government control of the licensing process similarly
inhibited the development of independent television stations.
While there were several broadcast and cable television stations in
Ulaanbaatar, Mongol TV remained the major source of television
programming in rural areas. However, four additional VHF stations and
several cable television providers made inroads and provided
alternatives. During the year additional television stations began to
broadcast in rural areas.
The national council created by a 2005 law that shifted Mongol
Radio and TV to ``public'' status began work during the year but was
plagued by public splits and allegations that a majority of members
were partisans of the MPRP, rather than truly independent. Under the
new law, the main financial sources for the stations are license fees,
state subsidies, and sponsorship.
Due to local government control over the licensing process, local
entities reported difficulties in acquiring licenses for local radio
stations. However, one independent radio station broadcast widely, and
there were increasing numbers of small local FM stations.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
A variety of demonstrations took place on Sukhbaatar Square and at
the nearby building housing parliament and the offices of the President
and prime minister. Most of those staging the demonstrations had not
filed applications for permits. Demonstrators frequently erected tents
on the square and stayed for days. Police generally allowed such
demonstrations to proceed unhindered but in some cases forcibly removed
the protesters after demonstrators ignored police warnings to disperse.
No serious injuries were reported as a result of these police actions.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Religious groups were required to register with the MOJHA. Local
assemblies have the authority to approve applications at the local
level, while the MOJHA's role is to issue the registration once local
approval is obtained. Registration and re-registration were burdensome
for all religious groups and could take years. The length and
documentation requirements of the process discouraged some
organizations from applying. Ulaanbaatar authorities approved 15
churches during the year; one approved in May had first applied in
2003. No churches were known to have been refused registration in
Ulaanbaatar. Authorities in Tov aimag (province), near Ulaanbaatar,
routinely denied registration to churches, and no churches were
registered in that province.
The Kazakh Muslim minority, whose population of approximately
100,000 was primarily concentrated in the western part of the country,
generally enjoyed freedom of religion. However, the Government
monitored the Kazakh community closely for any activity that could be
construed as ``Kazakh political separatism'' or ``terrorism.''
Under the law, the Government may supervise and limit the number of
clergy and places of worship for organized religions. The Government
used the registration process as a mechanism to limit the number of
places for religious worship; however, there were no reports that it
limited the number of clergy during the year.
The law does not prohibit proselytizing, but it forbids the use of
incentives, pressure, or ``deceptive methods'' to introduce religion.
In addition, a Ministry of Education directive bans mixing foreign
language or other training with religious instruction.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts during the year. There was no identified Mongolian Jewish
population, and the number of resident Jews was very small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol. The
law does not provide asylum or refugee status, and the Government has
not established a system for providing protection to refugees. In
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, but it
did not routinely grant refugee or asylum status.
Several hundred North Koreans reportedly entered the country from
China, and the Government allowed them to be resettled elsewhere. The
Government's concerns about the potential for large numbers of migrants
to arrive from neighboring countries increased opposition to accession
to the 1951 UN convention.
The Government continued talks with representatives of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees on refugee and asylum issues.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, and largely free and fair, elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. The law limits the President to two four-year
terms; parliamentary and local elections are held separately, also for
four-year terms.
The law provides that the majority party in parliament, in
consultation with the President, shall appoint the Prime Minister. The
demarcation of powers between the President and the Prime Minister has
been the subject of several constitutional amendments and court
challenges. Members of parliament may serve as cabinet ministers. There
is no requirement that the Prime Minister or other ministers be a
member of parliament.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the 2005 Presidential
election won by N. Enkhbayar, observers found a variety of minor
irregularities in the election process, but no major problems were
cited. In a September parliamentary by-election, observers found some
minor problems but no major irregularities. The campaign and balloting
processes for the June 2004 parliamentary elections were marred by
violations and inconsistencies. Two seats were disputed and resolved in
court in 2005.
There were 20 registered political parties, including two new
parties registered during the year; seven parties were represented in
parliament.
Major changes enacted in late 2005 will affect the next
parliamentary elections, slated for 2008. Under the changes, members of
parliament will be elected from multi-member constituencies instead of
individual constituencies. Each province and district of Ulaanbaatar
will be a constituency, and voters will cast separate votes for two to
four members of parliament who will represent the constituency. The new
law also provides that citizens living abroad will be able to vote,
although arrangements for accomplishing this had not yet been worked
out.
There were no legal impediments to the participation of women or
minorities in government and politics. There were five women in the 76-
member parliament. No women were included in the cabinet or the Supreme
Court. Women and women's organizations were vocal in local and national
politics and actively sought greater female representation in
government policymaking. The new parliamentary election law stipulates
that at least 30 percent of candidates nominated in future general
elections must be women.
There were three ethnic Kazakhs serving in parliament.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was perceived
to be a growing problem at both lower and upper levels of government.
The NGO Transparency International reported a perception of rampant
corruption in the country. Corruption was particularly severe in the
police, the judiciary, customs, and other elements of government. In
July parliament passed an anticorruption law that included provisions
for a new anticorruption agency. The law went into force on November 1,
and in late December, parliament approved the President's nominee to
head the new agency. As well as providing additional investigatory
capacity for corruption crimes, the new agency will oversee the filing
of asset and income disclosure forms by all civil servants. This
information on senior officials is to be published annually beginning
in 2008.
Government and parliamentary decision making was not sufficiently
transparent, and public legislative hearings were rare. The far-
reaching State Secrets Law inhibited freedom of information, government
transparency, and accountability. There were public calls to amend the
law and implement the equivalent of a freedom of information act.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
With assistance from the UN Development Program, a local
representative in each provincial assembly monitored human rights
conditions, among other duties.
The National Commission on Human Rights consists of three senior
civil servants nominated by the President, the Supreme Court, and
parliament for terms of six years. The NCHR is responsible for
monitoring human rights abuses, initiating and reviewing policy
changes, and coordinating with human rights NGOs. The NCHR reports
directly to parliament. In its annual reports, the NCHR repeatedly
criticized the Government for abuses of the power of arrest and
detention, poor conditions in detention and prison facilities, lengthy
detentions without trial, and failure to implement laws related to
human rights. The reports also faulted parliament and the courts for
failing to protect human rights fully. In May a plenary session of
parliament discussed the NCHR's report for the first time. In June
parliament directed the Government to take measures to prevent human
rights violations in criminal proceedings, including drafting
amendments to the Civil Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to conform
to the International Convention against Torture, and to eradicate
violations of human rights reported by the NHRC. Parliament also
budgeted money to build a new pretrial detention facility in
Ulaanbaatar.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law states that ``no person shall be discriminated against on
the basis of ethnic origin, language, race, age, sex, social origin, or
status,'' and that ``men and women shall be equal in political,
economic, social, cultural fields, and family.'' The Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a serious problem. Rape
and domestic abuse are illegal, and offenders can be prosecuted after
formal charges have been filed. In 2005 a comprehensive law
specifically dealing with domestic violence came into effect. As of
August all 37 cases prosecuted under the law resulted in convictions.
The law requires police to accept and file complaints, visit the site
of the incidents, interrogate the offenders and witnesses, explain the
law, impose administrative criminal penalties, bring victims to refuge,
and transfer custody of the relatives if necessary. It outlines the
role of social welfare organizations and NGOs and also provides for the
following sanctions on offenders: expulsion from home or separate
accommodations, prohibitions on the use of jointly owned property,
prohibitions on meeting victims and on access to minors, compulsory
training aimed at behavior modification, and compulsory treatment for
alcoholism.
There were no reliable statistics regarding the extent of domestic
abuse, but qualified observers believed that it affected as much as
one-third of the female population. Virtually all of those who
committed violent crimes in the home were men, and women typically were
the victims. In recent years domestic abuse has become more violent,
including increases in the number of murders. After many years of
government and societal denial, there was increasing public and media
discussion of domestic violence, including spousal and child abuse.
However, the perception remained that domestic abuse was either a
family issue or not a problem. In recent years economic and societal
changes created new stresses on families, including loss of jobs,
inflation, and lowered spending on social and educational programs.
Some statistics showed that more than 60 percent of family abuse cases
were related to alcohol abuse. The high rate of alcohol abuse
contributed to increased instances of family abuse and abandonment and
added to the number of single-parent families, most of which were
headed by women. Women were hesitant to ask authorities to prosecute
cases of domestic abuse because of likely long-term detention of
spouses and the resulting loss of household income.
The Family Law details rights and responsibilities regarding
alimony and parents' rights, and it is intended to bring about timely
dispute settlement and ameliorate the causes of some domestic violence.
The National Center against Violence operated branches in two districts
of Ulaanbaatar and eight provinces. There were four shelters for
victims of domestic abuse, largely funded by foreign charitable
organizations.
There is no law specifically prohibiting spousal rape. Rape,
including spousal rape, remained a problem. During the year there were
314 cases of rape reported to authorities, down slightly from 320 cases
in 2005; however, many rapes were not reported. NGOs stated that police
procedures were stressful to traumatized rape victims and tended to
discourage reporting of the crime. According to NGOs, police referred
for prosecution a minority of cases, largely on the basis that there
was insufficient evidence for prosecution.
Prostitution is legal. However, public solicitation for
prostitution and organizing prostitution remained illegal. There were
reports that some women worked in the sex trade elsewhere in Asia and
other countries; an unknown number of them were trafficked (see section
5, Trafficking).
There are no laws against sexual harassment. According to NGOs,
there was a lack of awareness on what constitutes inappropriate
behavior, making it difficult to gauge the actual extent of the
problem.
The law provides men and women with equal rights in all areas. By
law, women are to receive equal pay for equal work and have equal
access to education. Women represented approximately half of the work
force, and a significant number were the primary wage earners for their
families. The law prohibits women from working in certain occupations
that require heavy labor or exposure to chemicals that could affect
infant and maternal health, and the Government effectively enforced
these provisions. Many women occupied midlevel positions in government
and business, and many were involved in the creation and management of
new trading and manufacturing businesses.
There was no separate government agency to oversee women's rights;
however, there was a national council to coordinate policy and women's
interests among ministries and NGOs, and the Ministry of Social Welfare
and Labor had a Division for Women and Youth Issues. There were
approximately 40 women's rights groups that concerned themselves with
issues such as maternal and child health, domestic violence, and equal
opportunity.
Children.--Increased societal stress on the family structure had
adverse effects on many children. Although the Government was unable to
keep pace with the educational, health, and social needs of this
rapidly growing segment of the population, in principle it remained
committed to children's rights and welfare. The Government provided
children with free and compulsory public education through the age of
16; however, family economic needs and state budgetary troubles made it
difficult for some children to attend school. In practice, female
children over the age of 15 had better opportunities to complete their
education than male children, because teenage males often were required
to work at home, and schools generally were located far from homes (see
section 6.d.). In addition, there continued to be a severe shortage of
teachers and teaching materials at all educational levels.
There was growing awareness that child abuse, often associated with
parental alcoholism, was a problem. In conjunction with efforts to
counter violence against women, NGOs began to address the problem.
By year's end the national police documented 156 cases of suspected
underage prostitution. In addition, there were some known or suspected
cases of international trafficking of girls under age 18 (see section
5, Trafficking). In June Chinese police returned a 17-year-old boy who
reported that he had been taken across the border and forced to steal.
Although society has a long tradition of raising children in a
communal manner, societal and familial changes orphaned many children.
The Government was more willing than in the past to admit the extent of
the problem, but it lacked the resources to improve the welfare of
children who became victims. NGOs continued to assist orphaned and
abandoned children. Experts estimated that there were approximately
1,300 homeless children, of whom about 70 lived on the street; the
remainder lived in shelters. Female street children, who accounted for
one-third of all street children, sometimes faced sexual abuse. The
Government established the National Committee for Children to address
this and other child welfare problems. There were two government-funded
but privately owned and administered shelters, one for children up to
age three and the other for children ages three to 16. Foreign
charities operated more than 40 other shelters.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law specifically prohibits trafficking
in women and children; however, there was evidence that some females,
including girls under 18, working in prostitution in other countries,
were victims of trafficking rings. The country was both a source and
transit point for trafficking. Most victims were trafficked to the
People's Republic of China or Macau, to which citizens are able to
travel without visas. However, cases in destinations such as South
Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Israel, Turkey, Switzerland, and Hungary were
alleged or confirmed.
During the year police investigated 12 cases of trafficking abroad
involving 25 victims. While they did not refer most cases to
prosecutors because of insufficient evidence or other problems, police
did refer four cases for prosecution. At the end of the year, three of
these cases remained under consideration by prosecutors, and one had
been dropped due to lack of evidence. In January a court convicted a
woman and sentenced her to more than 10 years in prison for trafficking
to Macau; this was the first conviction won under the antitrafficking
offense included in 2002 revisions to the criminal code.
Although most officials and NGOs found it difficult to estimate the
extent of trafficking, increasing attention was focused on the problem.
According to a study during the year, those most vulnerable to
trafficking were between 19 and 35 years of age, with the highest risk
associated with low-income and unemployed females. Many victims were
lured abroad by offers to study or work, while others wittingly went
abroad as sex workers but found themselves in coercive situations.
Preventive steps to combat trafficking, such as increased law
enforcement measures, were very limited. As a result, it was not
difficult to traffic persons across the country's borders. Some NGO
experts believed that members of the police sometimes were involved in
trafficking young women and helping facilitate their movement across
borders.
Protections for victims and witnesses were extremely limited, which
discouraged them from coming forward. Furthermore, social stigma
inhibited victims from telling their stories. The Government had
limited resources and divergent priorities and provided no direct
assistance for trafficking victims. NGOs offered support when possible,
and the Government relied on NGOs to increase awareness and initiate
prevention programs. During the year authorities began to implement the
national action plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation of
women and children, which included enhanced efforts by Mongolian
diplomatic missions to combat the problem and assist victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The labor law prohibits discrimination
in employment and education against persons with disabilities. The law
also requires the Government to provide benefits according to the
nature and severity of the disability, which it did. The Law on Social
Protection of the Disabled gives provincial governors and the
Ulaanbaatar governor the responsibility to work with provincial
councils and the Ulaanbaatar city council to develop and implement
measures to protect persons with disabilities. However, NGOs claimed
that the Government did little to implement such measures, and in
practice most persons with disabilities could not find jobs. The law
requires companies employing more than 50 persons to hire at least
three persons with disabilities.
The Government provided tax benefits to enterprises that hired
persons with disabilities, whom some firms hired exclusively. Persons
injured in industrial accidents had the right to reemployment when
ready to resume work, and the Government offered free retraining at a
central technical school. There were several specialized schools for
youth with disabilities, but these students also were free to attend
regular schools. There is no law mandating access to buildings for
persons with disabilities, which made it difficult for these persons to
participate fully in public life. Persons with disabilities
demonstrated for higher government subsidies. Government pensions for
persons with disabilities were approximately $23 (26,500 tugrik) per
month. Some 30 NGOs participated in activities assisting approximately
40,000 persons with disabilities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no official
discrimination against those with HIV/AIDS; however, some societal
discrimination existed.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles all workers to form
or join unions and professional organizations of their choosing, and
the Government respected this right in practice. However, some legal
provisions restrict these rights for groups such as foreign workers,
public servants, and workers without employment contracts.
Union officials estimated that union membership declined over the
years to 220,000, which represented less than one-quarter of the
workforce. Workers who were self-employed or who worked at small firms
generally did not belong to unions. No arbitrary restrictions limited
who could be a union official, and officers were elected by secret
ballot.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
regulates relations among employers, employees, trade unions, and the
Government. The Government's role is limited to ensuring that contracts
meet legal requirements concerning hours and conditions of work. Wages
and other conditions of employment are set between employers, whether
state or private, and employees, with trade union input in some cases.
The Labor Dispute Settlement Commission resolves disputes involving an
individual; disputes involving groups were referred to intermediaries
and arbitrators for reconciliation.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. If an employer fails to comply with a
recommendation, employees may exercise their right to strike. The law
protects worker rights to participate in trade union activities without
discrimination. However, the Government does not allow intervention in
collective bargaining by third parties and prohibits third parties from
organizing a strike. The International Labor Organization Committee of
Experts described this as a ``serious restriction on the free
functioning of trade unions'' and requested the Government to change
it.
Persons employed in essential services, which the Government
defines as occupations critical for national defense and safety,
including police, utility, and transportation workers, do not have the
right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law specifically
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and the Government generally
enforced this provision. Although most prisoners were required to work
as part of their sentences, they received monetary compensation to send
to their families or use to buy food, books, and sanitary items.
Prisoners in maximum security or serving custodial prison sentences of
less than six months were excluded from compulsory labor.
Beginning in 2004, North Korean laborers were employed under
contracts between the North Korean Ministry of Light Industry and
private companies, with government approval, primarily in the
construction and service industries. Approximately 200 North Korean
workers brought in through official channels worked in the country
during the year. The contract terms generally required that the
laborers return to North Korea at the end of the contract. The Ministry
of Social Welfare and Labor did not monitor the working or living
conditions of these workers. Allegedly some North Korean workers were
not free to leave their employment or complain if work conditions were
unacceptable. These workers, who reportedly were monitored closely by
``minders'' from their government, did not routinely receive direct and
full salary payments. In addition, possible pressure on family members
in North Korea raised additional concerns that the labor of these
workers was not fully voluntary.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits children under the age of 16 from working, although those
who are 14 or 15 years of age may work up to 30 hours per week with
parental consent. Those under age 18 may not work at night, engage in
arduous work, or work in hazardous occupations such as mining and
construction. Labor inspectors assigned to regional and local offices
were responsible for enforcement of these prohibitions, as well as all
other labor regulations. These inspectors have the authority to compel
immediate compliance with labor legislation, but enforcement was
limited, due to the small number of labor inspectors and the growing
number of independent enterprises.
Children worked informally in petty trade, scavenging in dumpsites,
in unauthorized small-scale mining, and herding animals. Increasing
alcoholism and parental abandonment made it necessary for many children
to have an income to support themselves, their siblings, and sometimes
their parents. Estimates placed the number of children in the labor
force as high as 58,000.
In addition, due to economic pressures, many children, especially
teenage boys in the countryside, dropped out of school before age 18
(see section 5). Children most often herded family livestock, but
reports of children working in factories or coal mines continued.
The Government prohibits forced and compulsory labor by children
and effectively enforced this prohibition.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage
established for the year was approximately $46 (53,000 tugrik) per
month. This minimum wage, which applied to both public and private
sector workers and was enforced by the labor ministry, did not provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The standard legal workweek is 40 hours, and there is a minimum
rest period of 48 hours between workweeks. By law, overtime work is
compensated at either double the standard hourly rate or by giving time
off equal to the number of hours of overtime worked. Pregnant women and
nursing mothers are prohibited by law from working overtime. For those
16 and 17 years of age, the workweek is 36 hours, and overtime work is
not allowed. These laws generally were enforced in practice.
There were increasing numbers of Chinese workers in low-wage
construction jobs, who often lived under spare conditions, but
generally enjoyed the same protections as citizens. However, due to
various pressures and restrictions, a small number of North Korean
workers in the construction and service industries may not have been
able to speak out about working conditions (see section 6.c.).
Laws on labor, cooperatives, and enterprises set occupational
health and safety standards. However, the near-total reliance on
outmoded machinery and problems with maintenance and management led to
frequent industrial accidents, particularly in the mining, power, and
construction sectors. Enforcement of occupational health and safety
standards was inadequate. The labor monitoring unit employed only 73
inspectors to inspect a growing number of enterprises throughout the
country. According to the law, workers have the right to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations and still retain their jobs.
__________
NAURU
Nauru is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 9,200. The most recent parliamentary elections, held in
October 2004, were generally free and fair. There were no formal
political parties. The unicameral Parliament elects one of its members
to be the President, who is both chief of state and head of government.
In October 2004 Parliament reelected President Ludwig Scotty. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security force.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. A few human rights problems
were reported, including frequent judicial delays, some restrictions on
the activities of certain religions, and social and economic
marginalization of stranded foreign former mine workers until their
repatriation in midyear. Despite the ostensible deactivation of
Australia's refugee processing center in the country, a small number of
asylum seekers remained held there in isolated, Spartan conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
austere but generally met international standards.
The Government affirmed it would permit visits by independent human
rights observers, but none were reported. Prison visits by church
groups and family members were permitted.
Since 2001 the country has hosted a refugee processing and
detention center funded by Australia and operated by the International
Organization for Migration (IOM). Australian human rights organizations
and some politicians have repeatedly expressed concern about the
detention center's isolation and austere conditions, and called for the
asylum seekers to be removed from Nauru. Early in the year the facility
was declared deactivated, and its two remaining asylum seekers, both
Iraqi nationals, were moved to an administrative building outside the
center. In August one of the two was moved to Australia, and in
December a third country agreed to accept the second for resettlement.
However, in September seven Burmese asylum seekers were transferred
from a refugee detention facility on Australia's Christmas Island to
Nauru for further processing, effectively re-opening the detention
center (see section 2.d.).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has no
military force. The Ministry of Justice oversees the 109-member police
force. Under a cooperative agreement, Australian Federal Police
officers were seconded to the country's police force to facilitate
organizational reforms and training and to increase police
accountability, skills, professionalism, and community responsiveness.
There were no reported cases of police corruption or impunity.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests are made openly, based either on
warrants issued by authorized officials or for proximate cause by a
police officer witnessing a crime. Police may hold a person for no more
than 24 hours without a hearing before a magistrate. There was a
functioning bail system. Authorities confiscated the passports of some
accused persons released on bail to prevent flight. The law provides
for accused persons to have access to legal assistance, but in practice
qualified assistance was not always readily available.
Judicial delays were a problem. The lack of qualified magistrates
and judges, coupled with severe financial constraints, caused delays of
up to two years, during which defendants were released from detention
to await trial.
Human rights activists continued to assert that the detention by
Australian authorities of asylum seekers in Nauru was in violation of
both countries' constitutions. The courts of both countries have ruled
that the detention arrangements are legal.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The Supreme Court is the highest court addressing constitutional
issues; it is presided over by the chief justice. Parliament cannot
overturn court decisions. Under the Appeals Act, the High Court of
Australia may review criminal and civil cases, but this rarely was
done. A resident magistrate presides over the district court, and also
the family court as chairman of a three-member panel. Three lay
magistrates handle simple cases; serious matters are given directly to
the Supreme Court.
The constitution also provides for two quasi-courts: the Public
Service Appeal Board and the Police Service Board. The chief justice
presides over both boards.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Procedural safeguards are based on English common law. They include the
presumption of innocence; the right to be informed promptly of charges;
a guarantee of adequate time and facilities to prepare a defense; the
right to confront witnesses, present evidence, and appeal convictions;
the right to trial by jury; and a prohibition on double jeopardy and
forced self-incrimination. Trials are public, defendants have the right
to legal counsel, and a representative for the defense is appointed
when required ``in the interest of justice.'' Bail and traditional
reconciliation mechanisms rather than the formal legal process were
used in many cases--usually by choice but sometimes under communal
pressure.
Stranded contract workers from Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the People's
Republic of China (PRC) who formerly worked in the moribund mining
sector did not have recourse to effective communal assistance and were
disadvantaged in complaints against citizens. There were only two
trained lawyers, and many persons were represented in court by
``pleaders,'' trained paralegals certified by the Government.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of ``expression,'' and the Government generally respected
freedom of speech and of the press in practice.
Although there were no government restrictions, there were no
independent media except for a sporadically published private
newsletter highly critical of the Government.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government restricted this right in some cases.
The Government continued to prevent members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) and the Jehovah's Witnesses from
practicing their religion freely and openly and from carrying out
missionary work. Members of these religions were subject to arbitrary
licensing and immigration requirements.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among
religions generally were amicable, although there was a degree of
societal intolerance toward religions other than established Christian
denominations. There was no known Jewish community, and there were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Neither the constitution nor law
specifically provides for these rights, but the Government generally
respected them in practice.
Neither the constitution nor law prohibits forced exile; however,
the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol; the country
is a party to neither. Although the Government has not established a
system for providing protection to refugees, under its 2001 agreement
with Australia establishing refugee processing centers, the country
undertook not to commit refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared prosecution. However, according to IOM statistics
cited in testimony before an Australian Senate inquiry in June, 32
Afghan children registered as unaccompanied when brought to Nauru in
2001 for processing were subsequently returned to Afghanistan. Nine
were still under 18 years of age at departure. The Government did not
accept refugees for resettlement, nor did it grant refugee status or
asylum. However, the Government cooperated with the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
Beginning in 2001 the country hosted an Australian government
processing center for persons seeking asylum in Australia who had been
apprehended at sea while attempting to enter Australia illegally. These
persons were granted visas and detained under national law while their
status as refugees was determined and possible applications for asylum
in Australia or elsewhere were adjudicated. They were held in
facilities funded by Australia but administered by IOM officials. The
UNHCR took a limited role, on ``an exceptional basis,'' in conducting
refugee determinations of some applicants when the processing centers
were first opened. In subsequent years the UNHCR also assisted in
resettling some successful applicants in other countries, but it was
not active during the year.
At the beginning of the year two Iraqi refugees deemed by Australia
to be security risks remained in the country. In August one was
transferred to Australia for psychiatric evaluation, and in December a
third country agreed to accept the second of the two for resettlement.
In September seven Burmese asylum seekers were sent to Nauru for
further processing of their applications by Australia and remained
there at year's end. The Government had publicly urged Australian
authorities to resolve the case of the remaining Iraqi national and
stated that the new arrivals must be processed more expeditiously than
past cases, or the Government would impose substantially higher,
punitive visa fees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens 20 years and
older, in compulsory voting, directly elect an 18-member unicameral
parliament for a term of three years. Following general elections in
October 2004, Parliament reelected Ludwig Scotty as President. Multiple
candidates stood for all parliamentary seats in each of the country's
eight constituencies.
There are no legal impediments to participation in politics by
women, but in general women traditionally have been less prominent in
politics than men. There were no women in the 18-seat Parliament or the
cabinet. Women held some senior civil service positions, including the
head of the civil service and the Presidential counsel.
There were no members of minorities in Parliament or the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--In recent years Parliament
took corrective measures to combat corruption in government and in
publicly owned corporations. Over prior decades loose controls on the
enormous revenues generated by phosphate mining led to mismanagement
and misappropriation of vast sums of public funds. With the decline of
the mining sector and its near end after 2000, the country went from
great wealth to de facto bankruptcy. Financial and regulatory crises,
accompanied by continued corruption and severe national impoverishment,
dominated national politics from the late 1990s. The 2004 elections
were widely interpreted as a victory for reformists dedicated to
addressing corruption, increasing transparency, and addressing economic
problems. During the year the Government continued its efforts to
increase accountability and further reform the financial sector.
Nonetheless, there were isolated reports of government corruption
during the year.
There are no legal provisions providing for public access to
government information, and the Government did not freely provide such
access.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no government restrictions on establishing local human
rights organizations, but no such groups have been formed. There were
no reports that the Government sought to constrain the creation of such
bodies. The Government remained highly defensive in response to
accusations that it was violating the human rights of those persons
held in the processing center. The Government worked harmoniously with
the IOM, which co-managed the processing center with Australian
authorities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of race,
place of origin, color, creed, or sex, and the Government generally
observed these provisions.
Women.--The Government kept no statistics on the incidence of
physical and domestic abuse against women. However, credible reports
indicated that sporadic abuse, often aggravated by alcohol use,
occurred. Families normally sought to reconcile such problems
informally and, if necessary, communally. The police and judiciary
treated major incidents and unresolved family disputes seriously.
Spousal rape is not specifically a crime, but rape is a crime and
police investigate and file charges if allegations of rape are made
against a spouse. Prostitution is illegal and was not widespread. Some
forms of sexual harassment are crimes, and sexual harassment was not a
serious problem.
The law grants women the same freedoms and protections as men. The
Government officially provides equal opportunities in education and
employment, and women are free to own property and pursue private
interests. However, in practice societal pressures and the country's
impoverished economic circumstances often limited opportunities for
women to exercise these rights fully. The Women's Affairs Office was
responsible for promoting professional opportunities for women.
Children.--Government resources for education and health care for
children were severely constrained by the country's economic crisis.
Education is compulsory until age 16, but in practice not all school-
age children attended school. The Asian Development Bank reported that
in 2003, 83 percent of girls and 84 percent of boys of primary school
age attended school. At the secondary school level, only 50 percent of
eligible girls and 46 percent of boys attended school. More recently
the Government declared that truancy was as high as 60 percent in some
schools. Most children did not complete secondary school. Government
health care was free, but facilities and services provided were
minimal. Prior to their repatriation (see section 6.e.), foreign
workers left unemployed and stranded by the virtual closure of the
phosphate mines complained that health and educational services to
their children were inferior to those provided to citizens.
Child abuse statistics were not compiled, and there were no
reported cases of child abuse or child prostitution during the year.
However, anecdotal evidence indicated that abuse occurred.
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law do not prohibit
trafficking in persons, but there were no reports of persons trafficked
to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities. Nonetheless, there
was no reported discrimination against persons with disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
state services. No legislation mandates services for persons with
disabilities or access to public buildings. Department of Education
teachers provided rudimentary schooling for a small group of students
with disabilities, holding classes in a teacher's home as no classroom
was available. The country's economic crisis has led to an overall
deterioration in funding for health care facilities and services,
including for persons with disabilities. There were no restrictions on
the rights of persons with disabilities to vote or participate in civic
affairs, nor was there specific government support to facilitate the
exercise of these rights by persons with disabilities.
There was no government agency with specific responsibility for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
There are no formal mechanisms to protect persons with mental
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--A pattern of theft, property
damage, and violence directed at the ethnic Chinese community continued
during the year. Ethnic Chinese composed 5 to 8 percent of the
population. Police attributed most attacks on ethnic Chinese to
economic motivations and noted a general trend of theft-related attacks
against the country's few private businesses, such as stores and
restaurants.
Former mining industry workers from other Pacific islands
(primarily Tuvalu and Kiribati) and the PRC, who were unemployed and
stranded in the country, experienced discrimination. The foreign
workers previously had been provided free housing as part of their
contracts, and they continued to occupy this housing. However, it was
no longer maintained by the mining company and had become derelict and
badly overcrowded. Between July and October the workers from other
Pacific islands and their families were repatriated to their home
countries, but an estimated 130 to 150 Chinese workers remained at
year's end (see section 6.e.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for the
right of citizens to form and belong to trade unions or other
associations. However, the country has virtually no labor laws, nor
does it have any formal trade unions. Historically, the transient
nature of the mostly foreign workforce hampered efforts to organize
trade unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The right to
strike is not protected, prohibited, or limited by law. Although there
were no legal impediments, collective bargaining did not take place. A
tiny private sector, mostly family-run stores and restaurants, employed
approximately 1 percent of salaried workers. Salaries, working hours,
vacation periods, and other employment matters for government workers
are nominally governed by public service regulations. However, as a
consequence of the economic crisis, all civil servants,
parliamentarians, and members of government were paid a common salary
of approximately $108 (A$140) every other week.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, and there were no reports that
such practices occurred. Although the law does not specifically mention
forced or compulsory labor by children, there were no reports that such
practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets the minimum age of employment at 17. The only two significant
employers, the Government and the phosphate industry, honored this
rule. Some children under 17 worked in small, family-owned businesses.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As an emergency measure, the
Government decreed a single maximum public servant wage equal to
approximately $108 (A$140) every two weeks, which did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The measure was
valid for all civil servants, including parliamentarians and government
ministers. This represented a major salary reduction for most workers
and families. However, prior to the wage measure, public service
salaries often went unpaid, frequently for months.
Approximately 460 foreign workers from other Pacific islands and
the PRC formerly employed in the phosphate industry and approximately
1,100 of their family members remained in the country at the beginning
of the year. Previously they and their families received free housing,
utilities, medical treatment, and often a food allowance. Their former
employer, the state-owned phosphate mining company, was virtually
defunct and unable to meet unpaid wage claims. The Government paid the
foreign workers a stipend of $39 (A$50) every other week, barely enough
to survive. They continued to occupy company housing at no cost, but
their circumstances were dire. After the Government of Taiwan agreed to
finance payment of unpaid back wages for the workers from other Pacific
islands, these workers and their families were repatriated to their
home countries. An estimated 130 to 150 workers from the PRC did not
receive back wages and remained in the country; at year's end the
Government was seeking their repatriation by the PRC government.
By regulation the workweek in both the public and private sectors
was 35 hours for office workers and 40 hours for manual laborers.
Neither the law nor regulations stipulate a weekly rest period;
however, most workers observed Saturdays and Sundays as holidays.
The Government sets some health and safety standards. The phosphate
industry had a history of workplace health and safety requirements and
compliance, but with the decline of the industry, enforcement of these
regulations was lax. During the year a gradual revival of the industry
was accompanied by accusations that unfiltered dust discharge from the
phosphate plant exposed workers and the surrounding communities to a
significant health hazard. An arson attack on a plant conveyor belt was
reportedly related to the dust issue. The Government did not act to
eliminate the problem, citing high costs.
__________
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy with a population of 4.2
million. Citizens periodically choose their representatives in free and
fair multiparty elections. The 121-member Parliament is elected in a
mixed-member, proportional representation system, with seven seats
reserved for members of the native Maori population. The most recent
elections were held in September 2005. The Labor Party won 50
parliamentary seats and formed a minority coalition government; Helen
Clark remained prime minister. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. There were disproportionate
societal problems for indigenous people.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
In the August 2004 police killing of a man who attacked his wife
and police officers with a knife, the Independent Police Complaints
Authority concluded that the officer acted lawfully and that the force
used was justified under the circumstances.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected this prohibition in practice. During the year there
were some complaints that individual members of the police committed
abuses. The Independent Police Complaints Authority handled complaints
of police abuse, ranging from use of abusive language to allegations of
complicity in deaths.
On March 31, a jury found an assistant police commissioner and two
former police officers not guilty of charges of rape. The three men
were arrested in March 2005 for sexual offenses against two women in
Rotorua dating back to 1986. Another woman made separate allegations of
rape against the same three men; that case was scheduled to go to trial
in 2007.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by human rights observers.
In the 12-month period ending June 30, there were seven serious
assaults on staff by inmates and 18 assaults of inmates by other
inmates. During the same period there were eight recorded unnatural
deaths in custody, including six suicides.
Overcrowding was a problem during the year, but the situation
improved compared with the previous year due to added prison capacity.
For the 12-month period ending June 30, the prison population averaged
7,605, an average occupancy rate of approximately 98 percent. As of
June 30, there were 7,210 male prisoners and 414 female prisoners,
while prison capacity was 7,395 beds for male prisoners and 455 for
female prisoners.
To alleviate overcrowding, during the year the Government continued
expansion and new prison construction efforts, used double bunking at
prisons, and housed prisoners in police and court cells. In June the
Auckland Women's Corrections Facility opened, and its full 286-bed
capacity was operational by year's end.
Juvenile detainees come under the jurisdiction of Child, Youth, and
Family Services (CYFS) rather than the police. In October 2005, to
relieve pressure on overcrowded facilities, CYFS completed a new youth
justice facility, raising to 102 the number of beds available for
juvenile pretrial detainees and juvenile offenders serving residential
orders. As of December 20, a total of 673 juveniles spent a combined
2,036 nights in police cells during the year while waiting for a bed in
a youth justice residence. Of these, 370 were later placed in a youth
justice residence, 169 were released on bail, 133 were placed in the
community, and one remained in a police cell.
On August 25, an adult detainee killed a 17-year-old juvenile
detainee while both were being transported from court back to jail. The
man who killed the juvenile pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced
to life imprisonment with an 18-year non-parole period. At year's end
several investigations and projects to improve procedures for
separating juvenile and adult prisoners and detainees were ongoing.
Following the August killing, the Public Prisons Service instituted a
requirement that prison managers complete a risk assessment for all
prisoner and detainee escorts, including escorts to and from court
hearings, to address the risk of possible harm by a prisoner or
detainee to self or others or risk to a prisoner or detainee from
others. Previously such an assessment was required only in cases
involving prisoners or detainees deemed at risk for self-harm.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police
commissioner, appointed by the governor general, is the chief executive
of the police force and reports to the minister of police. A board of
commissioners, consisting of the commissioner and two deputy
commissioners, is responsible for high-level leadership and makes
decisions on police strategy, governance, and performance management.
The police are organized into 12 districts. There are three operational
branches: general duties, criminal investigation, and traffic safety.
Allegations of corruption or impunity are referred to the Independent
Police Complaints Authority, which can refer cases directly to
Parliament. The police generally did not have problems with corruption
and impunity.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may arrest a suspect without a
warrant if they have reasonable cause. Police also may request a
warrant from a district court judge. Police may enter premises without
a warrant to arrest a person if they reasonably suspect the person of
committing a crime on the premises, or if they have found the person
committing an offense and are in pursuit. Police must inform arrested
persons immediately of their legal rights and the grounds for their
arrest.
After a suspect has been arrested and charged, police have the
power to release the person on bail until the first court appearance.
That bail comes to an end at the first court appearance and is distinct
from court bail. Court bail is granted unless there is good reason to
believe that the suspect would flee or is likely to be a danger to the
community. Police bail is not normally granted for more serious
offenses such as serious assault or burglary. Attorneys and families
were granted prompt access to detainees.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The Supreme Court is the country's highest court of appeal. It is
composed of the chief justice and four other judges appointed by the
governor general. Below the Supreme Court is the Court of Appeal; it
hears appeals from the High Court, which has original jurisdiction for
major crimes and important civil claims. The Court of Appeal also hears
appeals on decisions of the district courts in serious criminal
matters. The High Court hears appeals from lower courts and reviews
administrative actions. Remaining original jurisdiction rests with the
63 district courts. Special courts include the employment court, family
court, youth court, Maori land court, Maori appellate court, and
environment court. The country's military forces have their own court
system, with a courts martial and a courts martial appeals court;
appeals from the courts martial appeals court may be made to the Court
of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Defendants
enjoy the rights found in other common-law jurisdictions, including a
presumption of innocence, a right to a jury trial, a right of appeal,
and the right to counsel, to question witnesses, and to access
government-held evidence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, which includes access to the
Human Rights Review Tribunal and other courts to bring lawsuits seeking
damages and other remedies for alleged human rights abuses. There are
also administrative remedies for alleged wrongs through the Human
Rights Commission (HRC) and the Office of Human Rights Proceedings.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish community numbered
approximately 10,000 persons. In August a Jewish synagogue in
Christchurch was vandalized; derogatory language was spray painted on a
walkway and swastikas were etched into a plaque. The case was under
investigation at year's end.
The government-funded HRC actively promoted religious tolerance.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
There is no statutory authority for imposing a sentence of exile,
and the Government did not practice forced exile.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The Government
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers. The Government also provided protection to individuals
who may not qualify under the definition of the 1951 Convention and the
1967 Protocol. Under its refugee quota, the Government resettles up to
750 UNHCR-approved refugees per year. In the 12-month period ending
June 30, the Government approved 741 persons for refugee status.
During the year asylum seeker and former member of the Algerian
Parliament Ahmed Zaoui continued to be the subject of a national
security risk certificate issued by the Security Intelligence Service,
which continued its review of the certificate at year's end. Zaoui was
released from detention on bail by order of the Supreme Court in 2004.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentarians are
elected under a mixed-member, proportional representation system. In
the most recent general elections, held in September 2005, the Labor
Party won 50 of 121 parliamentary seats and formed a minority
government with Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (one seat) and support
from the center-right New Zealand First (seven seats) and United Future
(three seats) parties. The Labor Party also had a cooperation agreement
with the Green Party (six seats). Three other political parties were
represented in Parliament: the National Party (48 seats), Maori Party
(four seats), and ACT party (two seats). Executive authority is vested
in a 20-member cabinet led by the Prime Minister.
Women participated fully in political life. There were 39 women in
the 121-seat Parliament. There were seven women (including the Prime
Minister) on the executive council, which comprises 28 ministers (20
within the cabinet and eight outside the cabinet). The cabinet included
five women. The Prime Minister, the speaker of the house, and the chief
justice of the Supreme Court were women. There were three women in the
25-seat Parliament of the dependent territory of the Cook Islands and
three women in the 20-seat Parliament of the dependent territory of
Niue.Seven seats in Parliament are reserved for persons of Maori
ancestry. The number of Maori seats is adjusted every five years, based
on the number of persons of Maori ancestry who register to vote on the
Maori electoral roll.
There were 21 Maori in Parliament, including the seven reserved
seats; three members of Pacific Island origin; and one member each of
East and South Asian heritage. The cabinet included at least two
members with Maori ancestry.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, to be
provided within 20 working days of a request. Information must be made
available unless a good reason, such as concern for national security,
exists for not doing so. The requester must be provided with an
estimate of any fees before the information is provided.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were very cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex,
disability, and national or ethnic origin, and the Government actively
enforced it.
Women.--Violence against women affected all socioeconomic groups.
According to a national survey of crime victims conducted in 2001 and
released in 2003, an estimated 32 percent of Maori, 17 percent of
persons of European ancestry, and 12 percent of Pacific Islanders
reported violent abuse by a heterosexual partner at least once in their
lifetime; these figures included both men and women. One in four of the
women included in the survey reported experiencing violent behavior
from a partner at least once. Assault by a male on a female is a crime
punishable by up to two years' imprisonment. In the 12-month period
ending June 30, there were 6,674 prosecutions involving assault by a
male on a female. Of these prosecutions, 49 percent involved Maori men,
31 percent men of European ancestry, and 15 percent Pacific Islanders.
Although Maori women and children constituted less than 10 percent
of the population, during the 12-month period ending June 30, 52
percent of the 24,968 women and children who used the National
Collective of Independent Women's Refuges were Maori; 33 percent were
of European ancestry, and 5 percent were Pacific Islanders.
In March 2005 the Government established the Task Force for Action
on Violence within Families to coordinate a variety of government
initiatives to eliminate family violence, including continuation of its
Te Rito program, a national strategy to address all forms and degrees
of domestic violence. In July the taskforce issued its first report,
recommending a $9.9 million (NZ$14 million) national awareness
campaign, enhanced power for police to enforce protection orders, a
$6.3 million (NZ$9 million) funding increase for nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) dealing with family violence, and establishment of
three dedicated family violence courts in the Wellington region and one
in Auckland. Consistent with the task force recommendations, the
Government provided funding in the 2006 budget for family violence
prevention services and a public awareness (``social marketing'')
program.
The Government partially funded women's shelters, rape crisis
centers, sexual abuse counseling, family violence networks, and
violence prevention services. From July 2005 through June, the Family
Violence Intervention Program provided training for an additional 2,600
social benefits staff, bringing the total number of staff trained to
4,000. The program is designed to improve the Government's response to
clients facing issues of family violence.The law penalizes rape,
including spousal rape. In the period July 2005 through June, there
were eight recorded cases of spousal rape and one conviction on that
charge. There were two recorded cases of unlawful sexual connection
with a spouse and one conviction. Rape crisis groups existed throughout
the country and included centers focusing specifically on Maori and
Pacific Islanders.
It is illegal to perform female genital mutilation (FGM) or to
remove a child from the country to carry out the procedure; violations
of the law are punishable by up to seven years in prison. The
Government funded a national FGM education program.
Prostitution is legal. The Prostitution Reform Act sets a minimum
age of 18 to work in the sex industry, gives prostitutes the same
workplace protections as other industries, and provides for a licensing
regime for brothels. The law also eliminates a client's defense of
claiming ignorance that a person engaged in commercial sexual activity
was under 18, and it extends culpability to any person who receives
financial gain from such activity involving an underage person. The law
prohibits sex tourism, and citizens who commit child sex offenses
overseas can be prosecuted in New Zealand courts. During the year there
were no reports of abuse or of the involuntary detention of women
involved in prostitution, and no reports of such persons having
passports held until employer bonds were repaid.
The Prostitution Reform Act also established a statutory
Prostitution Law Review Committee (PLRC) to review the act within three
to five years of its enactment (by June 2008), including an assessment
of the act's impact on the number of persons engaged in prostitution,
and the nature and adequacy of resources available to assist persons in
avoiding or leaving employment in the commercial sex industry. The
Government also had an agreement with the United Future Party to review
the act to ``address problems associated with street soliciting, under
age involvement and local authority control over brothel zoning.'' In
April 2005 the PLRC published a baseline profile of the commercial sex
industry as a basis for comparison in future years' reviews.
The law prohibits sexual harassment. The HRC published fact sheets
on sexual harassment and made sexual harassment prevention training
available to schools, businesses, and government departments on a
regular basis.The Ministry of Women's Affairs addresses problems of
discrimination and gender equality, and there is a minister of women's
affairs in the cabinet. While the law prohibits discrimination in
employment and in rates of pay for equal or similar work, the
Government acknowledged that a gender earnings gap persisted in
practice. A unit dedicated to this issue within the Department of Labor
administers a $704,000 (NZ one million dollars) annual fund supporting
employer and union initiatives to promote pay and employment equity.
During the year women earned 87 percent of the average hourly earnings
for men.
Children.--The law provides specific safeguards for children's
rights and protection. The Government demonstrated its commitment to
children's rights and welfare through its well-funded systems of public
education and medical care. The Government provides 14 weeks of
government-funded, paid parental leave to care for children born after
December 2005 or adopted children under the age of six. The Government
extended the paid leave benefit to self-employed parents beginning July
1. The Office of the Commissioner for Children played a key role in
monitoring violence and abuse against children.
The law provides for compulsory, free, and universal education
through age 16, and the Government effectively enforced the law. As of
July on average 99 percent of children ages six to 16 were enrolled in
formal education. There was equal access to education for boys and
girls, with nearly 75 percent of girls and 50 percent of boys enrolling
in university studies. The Government provided free health care to all
children under age five. Child abuse continued to be of concern to the
Government. The Government promoted information sharing between the
courts and health and child protection agencies to identify children at
risk of abuse. For the period July 2005 through June, there were 20,833
applications to Family Court for guardianship and parenting orders
under the Guardianship Act or Care of Children Act and 7,782
applications for protection orders under the Domestic Violence Act.
There were 630 prosecutions and 254 convictions involving assaults
on children in the 12-month period ending June 30.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The Department of Internal Affairs' Censorship Compliance Unit
actively policed images of child sex abuse on the Internet and
prosecuted offenders. The Government maintains extraterritorial
jurisdiction over child sex offenses committed by the country's
citizens abroad.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to or from the
country. No new confirmed cases of internationally trafficked persons
have been brought to the attention of the authorities since 2001,
although there was evidence that some women from Asia, and more
recently the Czech Republic and Brazil, were working illegally in the
country as prostitutes. Although prostitution has been decriminalized
(see section 5, Women), it remains illegal for nonresidents to work in
the commercial sex industry.
In December 2005 the UN's special rapporteur on human trafficking
asserted in the press that although in many cases such groups as
migrant workers, mail-order brides, foreign fishermen, and those in
arranged marriages enter the country voluntarily, they could be at risk
of losing their autonomy and becoming victims of trafficking.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children was a problem. A PLRC
study completed in 2004 estimated that approximately 200 young persons
under the age of 18 were working as prostitutes.
The Government has signed the relevant international instruments
dealing with trafficking and has adopted tough domestic legislation to
criminalize trafficking, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison and
fines of up to $352,000 (NZ$500,000). Laws against child sexual
exploitation and slavery carry penalties of up to 14 years in prison.
Under the Prostitution Reform Act, it is illegal to use a person under
18 years of age in prostitution.
Two prosecutions begun previously were completed during the year.
In the first case two women were convicted in Wellington of employing a
14-year-old and a 17-year-old girl in a brothel and were sentenced to
community service. The brothel owner was sentenced to 300 hours, with
her health considered as a mitigating factor, and the receptionist was
sentenced to 180 hours. In the second case a man in Wellington was
convicted of seeking commercial sex with a person under the age of 18,
following a sting operation by police. He was sentenced to nine months'
supervision and forfeiture of $620 (NZ$880); a mental disorder was
considered as a mitigating factor in his case.
During the 12-month period ending June 30, two cases initiated
against individuals for assisting a person under 18 to provide sexual
services were dismissed due to insufficient evidence. At year's end a
man faced charges in Christchurch for recruiting a 14-year-old girl and
a 16-year-old girl to provide sexual services in his brothel. That case
was scheduled to be heard in 2007.
The Department of Labor has primary responsibility for coordinating
government efforts to combat trafficking in persons. Other agencies
involved in antitrafficking efforts included the police; the HRC; the
Department of Child, Youth, and Family; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade; the Ministry of Justice; and the Ministry of Health.
During the year the Government continued work on its national plan
of action against trafficking in persons, begun in 2005, addressing the
areas of prevention, protection, prosecution, and victim reintegration.
There was strong coordination on antitrafficking matters between the
Government and NGOs, and an extensive infrastructure of government and
NGO assistance programs was available to victims of trafficking,
including short-term sanctuary, witness protection, access to medical
services, and safe repatriation.
The Government also had a national plan of action against the
commercial exploitation of children developed in concert with NGOs, and
operated programs to reintegrate children out of prostitution through
vocational training and educational opportunities. The Government also
worked to address trafficking in children by providing funding for NGO
outreach programs in Auckland and Christchurch that provided
accommodations and other support for young persons at risk for
involvement in prostitution. In May the Government published the
results of a 2005 progress review of the national action plan, which
reported increased government funding for victim support and sustained
funding for community outreach.
Shakti Migrant Services Trust, an antitrafficking NGO, reported
abuses resulting from the immigration of Indian women for arranged
marriages and provided services to abused women through four refuges
located in three cities: Auckland, Christchurch, and Tauranga.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
places and facilities, and the provision of goods, services, and
accommodation. Compliance with access laws varied. The Government is
prohibited from discrimination on the basis of physical or mental
disability, unless such discrimination can be ``demonstrably
justified.'' Of the 5,707 inquiries and complaints that the HRC
received during the 12-month period ending June 30, it received more
complaints of discrimination based on disability than for any other
type of discrimination (21.1 percent of all inquiries and complaints).
In its action plan for human rights released in February 2005, the HRC
noted that persons with disabilities faced major barriers in obtaining
and retaining employment and earning adequate income. The Government
supported equal access for persons with disabilities to polling
facilities, as well as their general participation in civic affairs.
Following the 2005 general elections, the Ministry of Justice
commissioned a survey that included questions directed at persons with
disabilities about their experience with polling procedures. Sixty-one
percent of persons with disabilities who responded rated their
experience as ``excellent,'' and 31 percent rated it as ``very good.''
The Government's Office for Disabled Issues worked to protect and
promote the rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, during
the year both the HRC and the Mental Health Commission continued to
address mental health issues in their antidiscrimination efforts.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Pacific Islanders, who made up
6.5 percent of the population, experienced societal discrimination and
as of June 30 accounted for approximately 10.4 percent of prison
inmates and 28.7 percent of those serving community sentences. In July
2005 the Department of Corrections launched its Pacific Strategy 2005-
08, designed to reduce the crime rate and recidivism among Pacific
Islanders through the use of culturally based techniques. Asians, who
as of June 30 made up 3.9 percent of the population, also reported
discrimination.
Indigenous People.--Approximately 15 percent of the population
claimed at least one ancestor from the country's indigenous Maori or
Moriori minorities. The law prohibits discrimination against the
indigenous population; however, there was a continuing pattern of
disproportionate numbers of Maori on unemployment and welfare rolls, in
prison, among school dropouts, in infant mortality statistics, and
among single-parent households. During the year the special rapporteur
on human rights and fundamental freedoms from the UN Commission on
Human Rights (UNCHR) released a report to the UNCHR on his November
2005 visit to the country at the Government's invitation to obtain
information on human rights related to treaty settlements and
indigenous economic, social and cultural rights in general. The report
was critical of the Government's handling of indigenous claims to land.
Maori continued to constitute half the prison population and 17
percent of persons serving community sentences. The Government
addressed the problem of recidivism among Maori through Maori focus
units and special cultural assessments of Maori offenders.
Government policy recognized a special role for indigenous people
and their traditional values and customs, including cultural and
environmental issues that affected commercial development. The Ministry
of Maori Development, in cooperation with several Maori NGOs, sought to
improve the status of indigenous people. A special tribunal established
in 1975 continued to hear Maori tribal claims to land and other natural
resources stemming from the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
Legislation enacted in 2004 regulates ownership of the foreshore
(the land between high and low tide) and the seabed. The law grants
ownership of the foreshore and seabed to the state and provides for
universal public access. It also established a mechanism to accommodate
customary indigenous rights of land use, including preservation of
existing fishing rights. This legislation was the focus of protests by
Maori groups asserting customary title to the land and by non-Maori
groups opposing such claims.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
form and join organizations of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this
right in practice. Nearly all unionized workers were members of the
Council of Trade Unions, a federation that included unions representing
various trades and locations. A few small, independent labor unions
also existed. Unions represented approximately 22 percent of all wage
earners.
Labor organization was rudimentary in the territory of Tokelau
(population 1,400) and in the Freely Associated State of Niue
(population 2,200). In the more developed Associated State of the Cook
Islands (population 21,000), most workers in the public sector, the
major employer, belonged to the Cook Islands Workers' Association, an
independent local union. Industrial relations in the Cook Islands are
governed by a simplified version of national legislation. The law
prohibits uniformed members of the armed forces from organizing unions
and bargaining collectively. Sworn police officers (which includes all
uniformed and plainclothes police but excludes clerical and support
staff) are barred from striking or taking any form of industrial
action. However, police have freedom of association and the right to
organize and to bargain collectively. Disputes that cannot be settled
by negotiation between the police association and management are
subject to compulsory, final-offer arbitration.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right of workers to organize and contract
collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The Employment Relations Act governs industrial relations and
promotes collective bargaining. In order to bargain collectively,
unions must be registered, be governed by democratic rules, be
independent, and have at least 15 members. Unions may not bargain
collectively on social or political issues.
The number of strikes increased during the year. During the 12-
month period ending June 30, 59 work stoppages ended and one was
ongoing. This was the highest number of work stoppages since 1997.
There were no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions effectively; however, there were
reports of commercial sexual exploitation of children (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Department of Labor inspectors effectively enforced a ban on the
employment of children under the age of 15 in manufacturing, mining,
and forestry. Children under age 16 may not work between the hours of
10 p.m. and 6 a.m. By law children enrolled in school may not be
employed, even outside school hours, if such employment would interfere
with their education.
There were reports of children involved in the commercial sex
industry (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--A 40-hour workweek is
traditional. There are legal limits regarding hours worked. There is
premium pay for overtime work. The law does not provide specifically
for a 24-hour rest period weekly; however, management and labor have
accepted the practice, and it was the norm. The law provides for a
minimum three-week annual paid vacation and 11 paid public holidays.
The minimum wage was approximately $7.20 (NZ$10.25). Combined with
other regularly provided entitlements and welfare benefits for low-
income earners, this wage generally was adequate to provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. There was a separate youth
minimum wage of approximately $5.75 (NZ$8.20) for younger workers (ages
16 to 17). A majority of the work force earned more than the minimum
wage.
Raising the minimum wage was a significant campaign issue during
the September 2005 general election. Both the New Zealand First and the
Green parties concluded agreements with the Government to continue
annual increases in the minimum wage with a target of $8.45 (NZ$12.00)
by the end of 2008, economic conditions permitting.Extensive laws and
regulations govern health and safety issues. Employers are obliged to
provide a safe and healthy work environment, and employees are
responsible for their own safety and health, as well as ensuring that
their actions do not harm others.
Workers have the legal right to strike over health and safety
issues, as well as the right to withdraw from a dangerous work
situation without jeopardy to continued employment. Department of Labor
inspectors effectively enforced safety and health rules, and they had
the power to shut down equipment if necessary. The Department of Labor
normally investigated reports of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions
within 24 hours of notification.
__________
PALAU
Palau is a constitutional republic with a population of
approximately 20,900. The country is organized politically into 16
states. The President, the vice President, and members of the
legislature (the Olbiil Era Kelulau) are elected for four-year terms.
There were no political parties. In generally free and fair elections
held in November 2004 President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. was reelected,
and Elias Camsek Chin was elected vice President. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control over the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. Problems were reported in a few areas, including government
corruption, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and
discrimination against, and some abuse of, foreign workers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in the
country's sole prison, although primitive, generally met international
standards, but overcrowding worsened during the year, aggravated by a
growth in the inmate population as a result of increased convictions
and mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses and other crimes. The
few female prisoners were housed in separate cells but were permitted
to mingle with male inmates during daylight hours.
No visits by independent human rights observers were requested or
made during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, a
force of approximately 160 officers within the Bureau of Public Safety,
maintains internal security and performs both police and emergency
response functions. Koror State and Peleliu State also have marine
police (``rangers'') who patrol their respective state waters.
Typically law enforcement personnel receive training both locally and
abroad. The police generally were considered effective. Police
corruption and impunity were not major problems, and an internal
affairs officer within the bureau investigates reports of police
misconduct. There also is a special prosecutor with authority to
investigate reports of misconduct by government employees.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests.
Warrants are prepared by the Office of the Attorney General and signed
by a judge. The law provides for a prompt judicial determination of the
legality of detention, and this was observed in practice. Detainees
were informed promptly of the charges against them and had prompt
access to family members and lawyers. If a detainee could not afford a
lawyer, the public defender or a court-appointed lawyer was available.
There was a functioning system of bail.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, the Land Court, and
the Court of Common Pleas. The constitution also provides for a
national court, but other courts absorbed its caseload and it was
inactive. The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court from a
list submitted by a judicial nominating commission. Appointments are
for life.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The
Government has an independent special prosecutor and an independent
public defender system.
Trials are public and are conducted by judges; there are no juries.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and a right of appeal. They
can question witnesses, present evidence on their own behalf, and
access government-held evidence in their cases.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters for lawsuits involving
allegations of human rights violations. Remedies were available and
enforced.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Government required religious organizations to obtain charters
as nonprofit organizations from the Office of the Attorney General.
This process was not protracted, and the Government did not deny any
groups charters during the year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including
anti-Semitic acts. There was no known Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum.
There were no cases during the year involving the issue of
cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The legislature consists of
two houses: the nine-member Senate and the 16-member House of
Delegates. Legislators are elected by popular vote every four years:
senators on a national basis, and delegates on a state basis. The
President and vice President also are elected every four years, and
there is no limit on the number of terms they may serve, except that
the President may serve only two consecutive terms. Although there have
been political parties in the past, there were none during the year. In
November 2004 President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., was reelected, and
Elias Camsek Chin was elected vice President. The Council of Chiefs,
consisting of the highest traditional chiefs from each state, advises
the President on traditional laws and customs.
There are no legal impediments to women's participation in
government and politics. There were no women in the 25-member national
legislature. There were women candidates in the 2004 general elections,
but none were elected. Women constituted 14 percent of state
legislators. There were two women serving as state governors during the
year. Two of the three associate justices of the Supreme Court were
women.
There were two members of minorities in the 16-member House of
Delegates.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
a problem, which the Government took some steps to address.
The special prosecutor has authority to investigate allegations of
corrupt practices. In May the governor of Ngiwal State was convicted of
grand larceny, forgery, and other offenses for diverting over $11,000
in state funds (the U.S. dollar is the national currency) to his
personal use and for other misconduct. The special prosecutor had
brought charges against him in June 2005. Following his conviction the
legislature removed him from office. In June he was sentenced to nine
years' imprisonment (later reduced to two and a half years) and began
serving his sentence in July. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to
pay $23,000 in restitution.
The law provides for the right of citizens and noncitizens to
examine government documents and observe official deliberations of any
government agency, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international groups concerned with human
rights, including the Palau Red Cross Society and many church groups,
generally operated without government restriction. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views. During the year there
were no known allegations or investigations by such groups of human
rights abuses.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, place
of origin, language, social status, or clan affiliation, and the
Government generally observed these provisions.
Women.--The Ministry of Health's Office of Victims of Crimes
reported 89 incidents of domestic violence in fiscal year 2005 (October
1, 2004 to September 30, 2005, the latest statistics available), a
continuation of an upward trend in domestic violence cases over the
past few years. According to the Office of the Attorney General, the
Ministry of Health, and women's groups, only a relatively small number
of cases were reported to the authorities. Alcohol and drug abuse
increasingly contributed to this problem. Although assault is a
criminal offense, punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine of
up to $100, and the police responded when such cases were reported,
women were reluctant to prosecute their spouses. The Government
conducted public education efforts to combat domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime punishable by a maximum of
25 years' imprisonment, and such crimes were uncommon. There was one
conviction for rape during the year.
Prostitution is illegal, but it was a problem. There were reports
of women being trafficked to the country from the People's Republic of
China (PRC), Taiwan, and the Philippines to work in karaoke bars as
hostesses and prostitutes (see section 5, Trafficking). There was one
conviction for trafficking for prostitution during the year.
Sex tourism is illegal and was not a problem. Sexual harassment is
illegal and did not appear to be a major problem.
The inheritance of property and of traditional rank is matrilineal,
with women occupying positions of importance within the traditional
system. There were no reported instances of unequal pay for equal work
or sex-related job discrimination.
Local women's groups organized an annual women's conference that
focused on women's and children's issues, including health, education,
drug abuse, prostitution, and traditional customs and values.
Government officials, including the President, vice President,
ministers, and traditional chiefs, participated in the conference to
discuss these issues. The 13th annual women's conference held in March
continued to focus on these subjects.
Children.--The Government provided a well-funded system of public
education for children. There was no difference in the treatment of
girls and boys in educational opportunities or in the availability of
scholarships to attend postsecondary education abroad. Education was
free, universal, and mandatory from ages six to 17. Of the 94 percent
of school-age children who attended school in 2005, 97 percent finished
elementary school and 78 completed high school. Girls and boys received
equal treatment in health care services.
The Office of Victims of Crimes reported 31 incidents of child
abuse in fiscal year 2005, compared with 21 in fiscal year 2004 (the
latest statistics available). The Office of the Attorney General has
prosecuted such cases successfully. On November 1, a male nurse was
sentenced to five years' imprisonment for molesting a 10-year-old
patient. However, the sentence subsequently was reduced to one year,
which he was serving at year's end.
Children's rights generally were respected, although there were
isolated reports of child neglect. Commercial sexual exploitation of
children was neither accepted within society nor practiced.
The annual women's conference (see section 5, Women) held in March
included discussion of children's issues, such as education and drug
abuse among youth.
Trafficking in Persons.--An antitrafficking law prohibits such
practices, with penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of
up to $50,000 for exploiting or otherwise profiting from a trafficked
person; up to 25 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for
trafficking involving force, fraud, or deception; and up to 50 years'
imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000 for trafficking involving a
child ``by any means for the purpose of exploitation.'' There are also
laws against slavery, fraud, and prostitution. There have been reports
of women and some men being trafficked to the country from the PRC,
Taiwan, and the Philippines to work in karaoke bars as hostesses and
prostitutes, as domestics in private homes, and on construction sites.
In April two men from the PRC were convicted under the
antitrafficking law of exploiting a trafficked person and attempted
bribery. In August they were deported to the PRC after paying a $12,000
fine. The men had trafficked a PRC national woman into the country and
subsequently tried to bribe immigration officers to allow them to
proceed with the woman to Guam without proper visas. The trafficked
woman also was deported to the PRC.
In August a local restaurant owner, his wife, and two PRC nationals
were charged with trafficking in persons, exploiting trafficked
persons, prostitution, money laundering, assault and battery, and other
offenses after they allegedly forced two Filipina women into
prostitution and threatened the women to keep them from notifying the
authorities. The case was still pending at year's end.
The Divisions of Immigration and Labor and the Office of the
Attorney General are involved in combating trafficking; however, the
Government lacked the resources and expertise to address the problem in
practice. There was no formalized assistance available for victims, and
victims normally were detained, jailed, or deported if they committed a
crime such as prostitution. No nongovernmental organizations
specifically addressed trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law includes the Disabled Persons'
Anti-Discrimination Act and the Programs and Services for Handicapped
Children Act, which cover both persons with mental disabilities and
persons with physical disabilities, and the Government enforced the
provisions of these acts. No discrimination was reported against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or the provision of other state services. The Government provides
a monthly stipend of $50 for persons with disabilities. The law
mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the
Government generally enforced these provisions in practice. The public
schools have established special education programs to address problems
encountered by persons with disabilities.
There were no government restrictions on the right of persons with
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs.The Government
agency Ngak Mak Tang (``Everyone Matters'') has responsibility for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits noncitizens
from purchasing land or obtaining citizenship. A majority of citizens
viewed negatively the rapid increase over the past several years in
foreign workers, who, according to estimates during the year,
constituted nearly 30 percent of the population and 46 percent of the
work force. Foreign residents were subjected to some forms of
discrimination and were targets of petty, and sometimes violent,
crimes, as well as other random acts against person and property.
Foreign residents made credible complaints that the authorities did not
pursue or prosecute crimes against noncitizens with the same vigor as
crimes against citizens.
Noncitizens are officially excluded from the minimum wage law (see
section 6.e.). In addition some foreign nationals experienced
generalized discrimination in employment, pay, housing, education, and
access to social services, although the law prohibits such
discrimination. While precise data was unavailable, there continued to
be anecdotal reports of the abuse of foreign workers by employers (see
section 6.e.).
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of all
persons to assemble peacefully and to associate with others for any
lawful purpose, including the right to join and organize labor unions.
However, there were no active labor unions or other employee
organizations; the majority of businesses were small-scale, family-run
enterprises employing relatives and friends.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--There is no law
concerning trade union organization or collective bargaining. Wages in
the cash economy were determined by market factors.
The law does not provide for the right to strike, and the
Government has not addressed this issue.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
slavery or involuntary servitude except to punish crime. Although the
law does not prohibit specifically forced or compulsory labor by
children, there were no reports that such practices occurred.
Some foreign workers, particularly domestic helpers and unskilled
laborers, reportedly were forced to accept jobs different from those
for which they were recruited. Employers sometimes verbally threatened
or withheld passports and return tickets of foreign workers desiring to
leave unfavorable work situations.
In August a local restaurant owner, his wife, and two PRC nationals
were charged with trafficking in persons and other offenses after
allegedly forcing two Filipina employees into prostitution (see Section
5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law states that the Government shall protect children from
exploitation. There is no minimum age for employment. Children
typically were not employed in the wage economy, but some assisted
their families with fishing, agriculture, and other small-scale family
enterprises.
By regulation no foreigner under age 21 may be admitted into the
country for employment purposes, and the Government generally enforced
this regulation effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law sets the minimum wage at
$2.50 per hour, but foreign workers are not included under the minimum
wage law. It generally was assumed that legislators specifically
exempted foreign contract workers from the minimum wage law to ensure a
continued supply of low-cost labor in industries that the legislators
often control. The national minimum wage provided a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. Anecdotal evidence indicated that
unskilled workers (usually foreigners) for commercial firms were paid
only $1.50 to $2.00 per hour; however, foreign workers usually were
provided, in addition to their wages, basic accommodations and food
gratis or at nominal cost. Although these wages were low, the country
continued to attract large numbers of foreign workers from the
Philippines, Vietnam, and China. During the year there were more than
4,000 foreign nationals with work permits in the country; of these, 65
percent were from the Philippines, 7 percent from Vietnam, and 6
percent from the PRC.
There is no legislation concerning maximum hours of work, although
most businesses are closed on either Saturday or Sunday. The Division
of Labor has established some regulations regarding conditions of
employment for nonresident workers. The division may inspect the
conditions of the workplace and employer-provided housing on the
specific complaint of the employees, but actual enforcement was
sporadic. Working conditions varied in practice.
Although there are occupational and safety standards, no law
specifically gives workers the right to remove themselves from
situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to
their continued employment, and no law protects workers who file
complaints about such conditions. Anecdotal evidence suggested that
noncitizens would likely lose their employment if they removed
themselves from occupational situations that endangered health or
safety. There were no reports to the Government of violations of
occupational health or safety standards during the year.
Reports of mistreatment of foreign workers by their employers
continued during the year. The foreign workers most likely to be abused
were those who worked under contracts as domestic helpers, farmers,
waitresses, beauticians, hostesses in karaoke bars and massage parlors,
construction workers, and other semiskilled workers, the majority of
whom were from the Philippines, Vietnam, and the PRC. The most commonly
reported abuses included misrepresentation of contract terms and
conditions of employment, withholding of pay or benefits, and
substandard food and housing. There have, at times, been complaints of
physical abuse. In a number of instances local authorities took
corrective action when alerted by social service and religious
organizations. Nonetheless, foreign workers often were reluctant to
seek legal redress for fear of losing their employment and, thus,
permission to remain in the country.
__________
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Papua New Guinea is a federal multiparty parliamentary democracy
with a population of approximately 6.1 million and more than 800
indigenous tribes. Citizens elect a unicameral parliament. The most
recent general elections were held in 2002; there were localized
instances of voter intimidation, violence, and influence peddling. A
coalition government, led by Prime Minister Michael Somare, was formed
following the election. While civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, there were some instances in
which elements of the security forces acted independently of government
authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Human
rights abuses included arbitrary or unlawful killings by police; police
abuse of detainees, including of children; poor prison conditions;
lengthy pretrial detention; infringement of citizens' privacy rights;
government corruption; violence and discrimination against women and
children; discrimination against persons with disabilities; and
continuing intertribal violence.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
police killed a number of persons during the year. According to police
reports, most killings occurred during gunfights with criminal suspects
who were resisting arrest. However, public concern about police
violence continued. On September 29, police reportedly shot four
individuals suspected of armed robbery, killing one. On November 3,
police reportedly killed one person in an exchange of gunfire at a Port
Moresby hotel. The police members involved in the killings were
suspended pending investigation of each case, but no results had been
released at year's end.
Investigation continued of an October 2005 incident at the Porgera
primary school in Enga Province in which police killed three persons
and reportedly injured at least 20 others; however at year's end police
had not sent the cases to the public prosecutor.
As modern weapons, including assault rifles, became more readily
available, the number of deaths resulting from violent tribal conflicts
continued to increase (see section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however,
individual police members frequently beat and otherwise abused suspects
during arrests, interrogations, and in pretrial detention. There were
numerous press accounts of such abuses, particularly against young
detainees.
In January correction officers at Buimo prison beat and sexually
abused young male detainees by forcing them to have anal sex with each
other. At year's end no action had been taken against the officers, and
they continued to work at the prison. In October the nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported continued
widespread police abuse of children in custody, including severe
beatings and sexual abuse.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor, and the prison system suffered from serious underfunding. Neither
prisons nor police detention centers had medical care facilities. In
some police holding cells, detainees lacked bedding and sufficient food
and water. Overcrowding in the prisons was a serious problem. During
most of the year, 15 of the country's 17 jails were operational;
however, some prisons remained closed because of life-threatening
conditions. Some prisons and police stations in urban areas were
seriously overcrowded. In rural areas infrequent court sessions and
bail restrictions for certain crimes exacerbated overcrowding (see
section 1.d.).
Male and female inmates usually were housed separately, but some
rural prisons lacked separate facilities, and there were reports of
assaults on female prisoners. There were no separate facilities for
juvenile offenders; however, in some prisons juveniles were provided
with separate sleeping quarters. HRW reported that juveniles routinely
were held with adults in police lockups, placing them at risk of rape
and other forms of violence. Pretrial detainees were not separated from
convicted prisoners. HRW reported that 75 percent of all children were
assaulted while in police custody.
Prison escapes were common, even from high-security installations.
On September 6, at least 22 detainees reportedly escaped from the Lae
police station jail.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A commissioner who
reports to the minister for internal security heads the country's
national police force, the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary.
Internal divisions related to clan rivalries and a serious lack of
resources negatively impacted police effectiveness throughout the year.
In October the National Executive Council suspended the commissioner
who had replaced much of the police leadership in an effort to address
corruption and inefficiency. During the year some police officials were
suspended for involvement in corruption or other criminal activity.
Police shootings are investigated by the police department's
Internal Affairs Office and reviewed by a coroner's court. If the court
finds that the shooting was unjustifiable or due to negligence, the
police officers involved are tried. Families of persons killed or
injured by police may challenge the coroner's finding in the National
Court, with the assistance of the Public Solicitor's Office. Cases of
accidental shootings of bystanders by police during police operations
are also investigated and reviewed by a coroner's court.
During the year the Government continued to negotiate with
Australia the implementation of a scaled-down version of the
Australian-sponsored Enhanced Cooperation Program, under which
Australian federal police officers would work alongside the
constabulary to improve police practices. The program was terminated in
May 2005 when the Supreme Court ruled that immunity of Australian
officers from prosecution in local courts, which had been a condition
of the program, was unconstitutional.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law, to make an arrest police must
have reason to believe that a crime was committed, is in the course of
being committed or will be committed. A warrant is not required, and
police made the majority of arrests without one. Citizens may make
arrests under the same standards as the police, but this was rare in
practice. Police, prosecutors, and citizens may apply to a court for a
warrant; however, police normally did so only if they believed it would
assist them in carrying out an arrest.
Under the law, only National or Supreme Court judges may grant bail
to persons charged with willful murder or aggravated robbery. In all
other cases, the police or magistrates may grant bail. Arrested
suspects have the right to legal counsel, be informed of the charges
against them, and have their arrests subjected to judicial review;
however, the Government did not always respect these rights. Access to
counsel by detainees was not a problem during the year. There were
reported instances of politicians directing or bribing police officials
to arrest or intimidate individuals seen as political enemies or as
possible whistle-blowers on corruption or misuse or theft of public
assets.
Due to very limited police and judicial resources and a high crime
rate, suspects often were held in pretrial detention for lengthy
periods. Although pretrial detention is subject to strict judicial
review through continuing pretrial consultations, the slow pace of
police investigations and occasional political interference or police
corruption frequently delayed cases for months. Additionally, circuit
court sittings were infrequent because of a shortage of judges and
travel funds. Some detainees were held in jail for more than two years
because of shortages of judges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The Supreme Court is the final court of
appeal and has original jurisdiction on constitutional matters. The
National Court hears most cases and appeals from the lower district
(provincial) courts. There also are village courts headed by lay
persons (generally local chiefs, known as ``big-men''), who judge minor
offenses under both customary and statutory law.
Trial Procedures.--The legal system is based on English common law.
The law provides for due process, including a public trial, and the
court system generally enforced these provisions. Judges conduct trials
and render verdicts; there are no juries. Defendants have the right to
an attorney. The public solicitor's office provides legal counsel for
those accused of ``serious offenses'' who are unable to afford counsel.
Serious offenses are defined as charges for which a sentence of two
years or more is the norm. Defendants and their attorneys may confront
witnesses, present evidence, plead cases, and appeal convictions. The
shortage of judges created delays in both the process of trials and the
rendering of decisions (see section 1.d.). During the year development
aid was provided for training and education of the judiciary. Since
2003, as part of an intensive effort by an intergovernmental juvenile
justice working group, progress has been made in establishing seven
juvenile courts. In addition, police established a unit to divert
minors from the formal justice system and monitor their treatment by
police.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. District courts could order
``good behavior bonds,'' commonly called ``protection orders,'' in
addition to ordering that compensation be paid for violation of human
rights. However, courts had difficulty in enforcing judgments.
Additionally, many human rights matters were handled by village courts,
which were largely unregulated. Village and district courts were often
hesitant to interfere directly in domestic matters. Village courts
regularly ordered compensation be paid to an abused spouse's family in
cases of domestic abuse rather than issue a domestic court order.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions; however,
there were instances of abuse. Police raids and searches of illegal
squatter settlements and the homes of suspected criminals often were
marked by a high level of violence and property destruction. Police
units operating in highland regions sometimes used intimidation and
destruction of property to suppress tribal fighting (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. All newspapers included a variety
of editorial viewpoints and reported on controversial topics. There was
no evidence of officially sanctioned government censorship; however,
newspaper editors complained of intimidation tactics aimed at
influencing coverage.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly; however,
the Government often limited this right in practice. Public
demonstrations require police approval and 14 days' notice. In recent
years police, asserting a fear of violence from unruly spectators,
rarely gave approval. Police reportedly received no requests for such
approval during the year. However, various groups ignored the legal
notice requirements and held meetings and rallies throughout the year.
Groups also issued challenges to the requirements, citing conflicts
with the constitution. In February Greenpeace held a peaceful anti-
illegal logging demonstration in downtown Port Moresby. On March 24,
NGOs and concerned citizens marched against rape in Port Moresby. There
were reports that police intimidated groups attempting to demonstrate
during international conferences and events.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Associations wishing to open a bank account and conduct
financial transactions must register with the Government. The process
of registration was slowed by bureaucratic inefficiency, but there was
no policy of denying registration. International affiliation of church
and civic groups was permitted freely.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Department of Education set aside one hour per week for
religious instruction in the public schools. Religious representatives
taught the lessons, and parents chose the class their children would
attend. There were no classes for members of non-Christian religions,
due in part to a lack of qualified instructors, and children whose
parents did not wish them to attend the classes were excused.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationship among
religious groups in society was generally amicable. There was no known
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice. The
law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--Although a party to the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the
Government has not enacted enabling legislation and has not established
a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice the
Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may not
qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol.
During the year the Government continued to provide protection with
support from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to approximately
2,700 persons residing at the East Awin refugee settlement who fled the
Indonesian province of Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Approximately 5,000
additional refugees lived in villages adjacent to the border with
Indonesia.
Registered refugees residing in the East Awin refugee settlement
were granted a residence permit that allowed them to travel freely
within the country but not to travel abroad.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Voters elect a unicameral parliament with 109 members from all 19
provinces and the National Capital District. Any citizen may stand for
election; members of Parliament (MPs) must be at least 25 years of age.
Because of the large number of candidates, some MPs have won an
election with less than 10 percent of the total votes cast under the
old ``first past the post'' system, which was replaced with a limited
preferential voting (LPV) system after the last national election in
2002.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent general
election was held in June 2002. Of the 109 seats in Parliament, 77
changed hands. Prime Minister Michael Somare formed a coalition
government following the election. Fraud, voter intimidation, theft of
ballot boxes, and violence, including rape and murder, marred the
election in parts of the country. Due to widespread violence, the
Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea declared elections in six
electorates of the Southern Highlands Province a failure. New elections
in those districts, financed by Australia and accompanied by very
little violence, were held successfully in 2003. All by-elections held
after the 2002 national election were conducted using the LPV system.
Early in the year the Election Commission discarded all old
electoral rolls and held large-scale registration drives to prepare new
rolls. Many voters who claimed to have registered were turned away from
the polls in provincial and district by-elections held in August. The
government-operated National Research Institute reported allegations of
bribery and interference in these by-elections.
The law provides that a losing candidate may dispute an election
result by filing a petition with the National Court. Such petitions may
question actions of the winning candidate and his supporters or allege
malfeasance by the election officials. The procedure is fair but time
consuming and expensive both to initiate and to defend.
There is no law limiting political participation by women, but the
deeply rooted patriarchal culture impeded women's full participation in
political life. There was one woman in the 109-seat Parliament,
compared with two in the previous parliament. She served as minister of
community development, the only cabinet position held by a woman. There
were no female Supreme Court justices or provincial governors.
There were six minority (non-Melanesians) members in the
Parliament. Of these, three were in the cabinet, and two were
provincial governors.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption at all levels
of government was a serious problem, primarily because clan-related
obligations continued to undermine allegiance to constituents or to the
country as a whole.
In March the minister for national planning and monitoring stepped
down following referral to the public prosecutor for misconduct. Later
he was reappointed to the cabinet. At year's end his case was being
reviewed by the leadership tribunal. In August a leadership tribunal
found a provincial governor guilty of misconduct in office but
reinstated him. Another provincial governor was suspended in September,
following referral by the ombudsman for alleged misuse of government
funds. At year's end more than 50 government officials were under
investigation by the ombudsman's office.
No law provides for public access to government information. The
Government published frequent public notices in national newspapers and
occasional reports on specific topics facing the Government; however,
it generally was not responsive to individual requests, including media
requests, for access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no official barriers to the formation of human rights
groups. The Government cooperated with both domestic and international
human rights NGOs but at times was slow in responding to their requests
for information. The International and Community Rights Advocacy Forum,
an umbrella group, concentrated on human rights and the environment
during the year. The Government did not have a human rights ombudsman
or commission.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides for equal protection under the law
irrespective of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, color,
creed, religion, or sex. Despite these constitutional and other legal
provisions, women often faced discrimination. Geographic diversity
prevented any one tribe or clan from dominating the country. Successive
governments, based on loose coalitions, have consistently avoided
favoring any group. Skirmishes and conflicts tended to be based on
disputes between clans over issues such as boundaries, land ownership,
and injuries and insults suffered by one clan at the hands of another;
they were not ethnically based.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and
gang rape, was a serious and prevalent problem. In September Amnesty
International issued a report highly critical of government efforts to
address violence against women. Domestic violence was common and is a
crime. However, since most communities viewed domestic violence as a
private matter, few victims pressed charges, and prosecutions were
rare. Widespread sexual violence committed by police and their
unresponsiveness to complaints of sexual or domestic violence served as
barriers to reporting by both women and men. Traditional village mores,
which served as deterrents against violence, were weakening and were
largely absent when youths moved from their villages to larger towns or
to the capital. Although rape is punishable by imprisonment and
sentences were imposed on convicted assailants, few rapists were
apprehended. The willingness of some communities to settle incidents of
rape through material compensation rather than criminal prosecution
made the crime difficult to combat.
On July 18, a reserve police officer sexually assaulted a six-year-
old girl in a Chinatown police station in Lae when her mother left her
there while buying food. Following public protest, police arrested and
charged the man. On August 8, HRW visited both Buimo prison and town
police stations in Lae, but officials at each place claimed the man was
detained in the other location. At year's end no officers had been
prosecuted for the beatings and gang rape of women and girls arrested
in the raid on the Three Mile Guest House in 2004. In January Madang
provincial governor James Yali was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment
after being found guilty for the rape of his sister-in-law in 2005, but
at year's end he remained free and serving as an MP and provincial
governor, pending appeal.
Violence committed against women by other women frequently stemmed
from domestic disputes. In areas where polygyny was customary, an
increasing number of women were charged with murdering one of their
husband's other wives. According to HRW, 65 percent of women in prison
had been convicted for attacking or killing another woman.
Prostitution is illegal; however, the laws were not enforced, and
the practice was widespread. There were no reports of sex tourism
during the year. Sexual harassment is not illegal, and it was a
widespread problem.
The laws have provisions for extensive rights for women dealing
with family, marriage, and property disputes. Some women have achieved
senior positions in business, the professions, and the civil service;
however, traditional discrimination against women persisted. Many
women, even in urban areas, were considered second-class citizens. In
May the Asia Development Bank issued a country gender assessment that
described a society in which women continued to face severe
inequalities in all spheres of life: social, cultural, economic, and
political.
Village courts tended to impose jail terms on women found guilty of
adultery while penalizing men lightly or not at all. By law a district
court must endorse orders for imprisonment before the sentence is
imposed, and circuit-riding National Court justices frequently annulled
such village court sentences. Polygyny and the custom in many tribal
cultures of paying a bride price tended to reinforce the view that
women were property. In addition to the purchase of women as brides,
women also sometimes were given as compensation to settle disputes
between clans. The courts have ruled that such settlements denied the
women their constitutional rights.
According to statistics published in the UN Children Fund's
(UNICEF) human development report in 2005, women continued to lag
behind men in literacy and education due to discrimination. Adult
literacy was 64 percent; 57 percent of women were literate, compared
with 71 percent of men. The maternal mortality rate was approximately
370 deaths per 100,000 live births, based on data for the period 1990-
2004.
During the year the Ministry of Community Development was
responsible for women's issues and had considerable influence over the
Government's policy toward women.
Children.--Independent observers generally agreed that the
Government did not dedicate significant resources to protecting the
rights and welfare of children. Religious and secular NGOs operated
programs to protect and develop youth and children. In the past
children were well cared for within the family and under traditional
clan and village controls; however, small-scale studies indicated that
this situation has changed over the last decade, especially in areas
where households have become isolated from the extended family support
system and depend on the cash economy for a livelihood.
Primary education was not free, compulsory, or universal.
Substantial fees were charged and posed a significant barrier to
children's education. According to a 2005 UNICEF report, the primary
school enrollment rate was 79 percent for boys and 69 percent for
girls, based on 2000-04 data. Many children did not progress further
than primary school. Government-provided free medical care for
citizens, including children, was no longer available due to budget
cuts and deteriorating infrastructure, particularly in rural areas.
Boys and girls had equal access to medical care, but many children did
not have effective care. Many villages were geographically isolated,
and malnutrition and infant mortality rates were very high. Nearly 70
of every 1,000 children born did not survive their first year.
Sexual abuse of children was believed to be frequent. There were
cases of commercial sexual exploitation of children in urban areas,
including children working in bars and nightclubs. HRW documented
numerous instances of police abuse of children (see section 1.c.). Some
children were forced to work long hours as domestic servants in private
homes, often to repay a family debt to the ``host'' family.
The legal age for marriage is 18 for boys and 16 for girls. There
is a lower legal marriage age (16 for boys and 14 for girls) with
parental and court consent. However, customary and traditional
practices allow marriage of children as young as age 12, and child
marriage was common in many traditional, isolated rural communities.
Child brides frequently were taken as additional wives or given as
brides to pay family debts and often were used as domestic servants.
Child brides were particularly vulnerable to domestic abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons. There were reports of trafficking within the country. Custom
requires the family of the groom to pay a ``bride price'' to the family
of the bride. While marriages were usually consensual, women and female
children were sometimes sold against their will. There were also
reports of Asian women being trafficked into the country to work in the
sex industry. Transactional sex was common and often involved the
sexual exploitation of children.
The Government investigated allegations of corruption among
officials dealing with passport issuance and immigration. The
allegations primarily involved the illegal issuance of residence and
work permits for Chinese or South Asian nationals migrating to the
country. Nevertheless, there was concern that the country may be have
been used as a route for trafficking in persons to Australia.
Persons With Disabilities.--Persons with disabilities faced
discrimination in education, training, and employment. Through the
National Board for the Disabled, the Government provided funds to a
number of NGOs that provided services to persons with disabilities. The
Government provided free consultation and treatment for persons with
mental disabilities; however, such services were rarely available
outside major cities, and the Government did not provide other programs
or services. Apart from the traditional clan and family system,
services and health care for persons with disabilities did not exist in
several provinces. No legislation mandates accessibility to buildings.
Most persons with disabilities did not find training or work outside
the family structure.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Centuries-old animosities among
isolated tribes, a persistent cultural tradition of revenge for
perceived wrongs, and the lack of police enforcement sometimes resulted
in violent tribal conflict in the highland areas. In the last few years
the number of deaths resulting from such conflicts has risen due to the
availability of modern weapons. Tribal fighting continued in Western
Highlands Province. The prevalence of high-powered small arms prevented
police intervention.
On February 7, persons from a neighboring village reportedly burned
down more than 80 houses in Bau Village in Madang Province. One person
was reported hospitalized and two were reported missing in the
incident. Police investigated the incident; however, at year's end the
results of the investigation were not known.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
government discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS; however, there
was a strong societal stigma attached to HIV/AIDS infection that
prevented individuals from seeking HIV/AIDS related services, and there
were reports that companies have dismissed HIV-positive employees after
learning of their condition.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form and join labor unions, subject to registration by the Department
of Labor and Industrial Relations. The Government did not use
registration to control unions; however, an unregistered union has no
legal standing and thus cannot operate effectively. An estimated half
of the approximately 250,000 wage earners in the formal economy were
organized and were members of approximately 50 trade unions. Most
unions representing private-sector workers were associated with the PNG
Trade Union Congress, which is affiliated with International Trade
Union Confederation. The Public Employees Association represented an
estimated 30,000 persons employed by national, provincial, and
municipal governments, or one-third of the public sector work force.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against union
leaders, members, and organizers; however, it was enforced selectively.
Unions were independent of the Government and of political parties.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to engage in collective bargaining and to join
industrial organizations, and workers exercised these rights in
practice. Under the law, the Government has discretionary power to
cancel arbitration awards or declare wage agreements void when they are
contrary to government policy. The International Labor Organization has
criticized this law. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
and the courts are involved in dispute settlement. Wages above the
minimum wage were set through negotiations between employers and
employees or their respective industrial organizations.
The law provides for the right to strike, although the Government
can and often does intervene in labor disputes to require arbitration
before workers can legally strike. The law prohibits retaliation
against strikers; however, it was not always enforced. Employees of
some government-owned enterprises went on strike on several occasions
during the year, primarily to protest against privatization policies or
in pay disputes. These strikes were brief and ineffective. In May an
estimated 1,000 teachers in the National Capital District went on
strike for several days over a pay dispute.
At year's end no decision had been made regarding the legality of a
December 2005 nurses' strike or the disciplinary actions taken against
nurses who participated in the strike.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
forbids slavery and all forms of forced or compulsory labor, including
that performed by children, and there were no reports that such
practices occurred in the formal economy. Some children were obliged to
work long hours as domestic servants in private homes (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law establishes the minimum working age as 16; for hazardous work, the
minimum age is 18. However, children between the ages of 11 and 18 may
be employed in a family business or enterprise provided they have
parental permission, a medical clearance, and a work permit from a
labor office. This type of employment was rare, except in subsistence
agriculture. Work by children between the ages of 11 and 16 must not
interfere with school attendance. Some children under 18 worked in bars
and nightclubs (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Minimum Wage Board, a
quasigovernmental body with labor and employer representatives, sets
minimum wages for the private sector. The national youth wage, for new
entrants into the labor force between 16 and 21 years of age, was set
at 75 percent of the adult minimum wage. The minimum wage was $12.75
(37.50 kina) per week, and although it was above the national per
capita income, the minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family who lived solely on the cash economy.
The law regulates minimum wage levels, allowances, rest periods,
holiday leave, and overtime. Although the Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations and the courts attempted to enforce the minimum
wage law, enforcement was not effective. The law limits the workweek to
42 hours per week in urban areas and 44 hours per week in rural areas.
The law provides for at least one rest period of 24 consecutive hours
every week; however, enforcement was lax. Enforcement of the Industrial
Health and Safety Law and related regulations is the responsibility of
the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The law requires that
work sites be inspected on a regular basis; however, due to a shortage
of inspectors, inspections took place only when requested by workers or
unions. Workers' ability to remove themselves from hazardous working
conditions varied by workplace. Unionized workers had some measure of
protection in such situations.
The law protects legal foreign workers. The few illegal foreign
workers lacked full legal protection.
__________
PHILIPPINES
The Philippines, with a population of 87 million, is a democratic
republic with an elected President, an elected bicameral legislature,
and a multiparty system. The May 2004 national elections for President
and both houses of congress continued to be a source of contention,
with unsuccessful attempts in 2005 and during the year to impeach the
President on grounds of alleged election fraud. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces; however,
some elements of these security forces committed human rights abuses.
During the year there were a number of arbitrary, unlawful, and
extrajudicial killings apparently by elements of the security services
and of political killings, including killings of journalists, by a
variety of actors. Many of these killings went unsolved and unpunished,
contributing to a climate of impunity, despite intensified government
efforts during the year to investigate and prosecute these cases.
Members of the security services committed acts of physical and
psychological abuse on suspects and detainees, and there were instances
of torture. Arbitrary or warrantless arrests and detentions were
common. Trials were delayed and procedures were prolonged. Prisoners
awaiting trial and those already convicted were often held under
primitive conditions. Corruption was a problem in all the institutions
making up the criminal justice system, including police, prosecutorial,
and judicial organs. During a brief ``state of emergency'' in February,
there was some attempted interference in freedom of the press and in
the right of assembly. In addition to the killings mentioned above,
leftwing and human rights activists were often subject to harassment by
local security forces. Problems such as violence against women and
abuse of children, child prostitution, trafficking in persons, child
labor, and ineffective enforcement of worker rights were common.
In addition to killing soldiers and police officers in armed
encounters, the New People's Army (NPA, the military wing of the
Communist Party) killed local government officials, and ordinary
civilians, including through the use of landmines, and were suspected
in many of the killings of leftwing activists. The NPA also used
underage soldiers in combat roles. Terrorist groups committed bombings
that caused civilian casualties, and these groups also used underage
soldiers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Security forces and
antigovernment insurgents committed a number of arbitrary and unlawful
killings. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigated 296
complaints of killings between January and November, compared with a
total of 453 complaints of killings during 2005. The CHR suspected
personnel from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of
the Philippines (AFP) in a number of the killings of leftist activists
operating in rural areas that it investigated during the year. A number
of allegations of summary executions by government security forces were
referred to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Task Force Detainees
of the Philippines (TFDP); TFDP was unable to investigate all of these
allegations, but it did document the summary executions of 20
individuals by government forces through December.
On May 12, the Department of Interior and Local government formed
``Task Force Usig'' within the PNP to investigate the killings of
activists and journalists (see section 2.a.). Through December, the
task force recorded 142 killings since 2001; 68 of these led to cases
filed in court, with one conviction so far, and the remainder still
under investigation.
On August 20, President Arroyo created an independent commission
headed by former supreme court justice Jose A. Melo to investigate
patterns in the killings of journalists and leftist activists and to
make policy and legislative recommendations for dealing with the
problem. The commission completed its investigation in December and was
expected to submit its report to the President in January 2007.
The following are examples of arbitrary and unlawful killings
during the year:
On April 12, a gunman, subsequently identified as a police officer,
shot and killed environmental activist Elpidio de la Victoria in
Talisay City, Cebu. The police officer was allegedly acting as a hired
gunman for a private businessman. On September 18, a trial court judge
in Cebu convicted police officer Marcial Ocampo and sentenced him to 20
to 40 years in prison.
On May 29, three assailants on a motorcycle shot and killed Sotero
Llamas, a former adviser of the Communist Party (CPP)-aligned National
Democratic Front (NDF) in Tabaco City, Albay Province. Task Force Usig
identified two suspects, an alleged former NPA commander and a
discharged former Philippine Army member. Witnesses were identified and
murder charges were filed, although by year's end no arrests had been
made.
On July 31, unidentified men in two vans fired on Constancio
Claver, a doctor and provincial leader of Bayan Muna, and his wife
Alice, local coordinator of the same group, in Tabuk, Kalinga Province,
wounding Constancio and killing his wife. The PNP chief relieved the
head of the Kalinga police from his post in order to create a climate
of trust in the course of investigation. On September 22, the PNP
Criminal Investigation Group filed charges of murder and three counts
of frustrated murder against a Kalinga police officer, who was also the
bodyguard and driver of the relieved police chief. At year's end, the
suspect was in restrictive police custody and the case was with the
local prosecutor for preliminary investigation.
On August 3, approximately 10 masked gunmen shot and killed United
Methodist Church pastor Isaias Santa Rosa in Daraga, Albay. Santa Rosa
was a member of a Bicol region leftist farmers' group. His family
alleged that the gunmen tortured him and forced him to confess that he
was a communist rebel. The police found another dead man at the site of
the incident, later identified as an army military intelligence group
corporal, whom Santa Rosa's family alleged was among the group of armed
men. The police were still investigating the case as of the end of
December.
Investigations of cases from 2004 and 2005, including killings of
judges (see section 1.e.), were still ongoing:
In March 2005 gunmen killed a leader of Bayan Muna and a priest of
the Aglipayan Church who were involved in supporting a strike by
plantation workers in Tarlac Province; officials arrested a suspect in
the case of the priest's killing. At year's end, a trial was underway
in a Tarlac court, and the suspect was still detained.
The CHR has not released a final report of its investigation of the
2004 killing by security forces of seven persons during the strike of
plantation workers in Tarlac Province.
There were no developments in the investigation of the March 2005
killing of Bayan Muna coordinator Felidito Dacut. Task Force Usig
alleged that members of the CPP/NPA Eastern Visayas Regional Party
Committee were possible suspects.
The killings of United Church of Christ in the Philippines pastors
in May and August 2005 were still under investigation at year's end.
Two members of the Philippine Army were charged with murder for the
October 2005 killing of Ricardo Ramos, a leader of the sugar workers'
union at the Hacienda Luisita, Tarlac Province. The criminal case was
under preliminary investigation by a local prosecutor, although it was
on trial in a military court at year's end.
The trial in the case of the 2004 killing of Bayan Muna members
Juvy Magsino and Leyma Fortu in Mindoro Oriental was ongoing in a
Quezon City trial court at year's end. In 2004 the police arrested one
suspect, allegedly a hired gun, on murder charges; another unidentified
suspect was still at large.
On September 13, Task Force Usig filed charges against a former
police officer in the 2004 killing of human rights activist Jacinto
Manahan. At year's end, the case was still under preliminary
investigation by the local prosecutor and the suspect had not been
arrested.
In recent years, there have been deaths as a result of military
hazing. There were no developments in the 2004 case of a PNP cadet who
died allegedly from maltreatment during training. On February 3, the
Sandiganbayan (antigraft court) dismissed criminal charges against five
officials of the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy who were accused as
accomplices in the 2001 death of a freshman cadet as a result of
hazing.
Government forces killed a number of civilians during clashes with
antigovernment forces and with the terrorist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and
the NPA (see section 1.g.).
The terrorist group ASG and the Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM)
continued to kill civilians in bombings throughout the year (see
section 1.g.). In March ASG terrorists bombed a convenience store in
Jolo City, killing five civilians and wounding 25 others. Authorities
suspected the ASG of bombings in Mindanao during August 2005 that
injured dozens of civilians. An Indonesian ranking member of the
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, an operative of the RSM, and an ASG
member were sentenced to death in October 2005 for the 2005 Valentine's
Day bombing in Manila, which killed four people. Indonesian authorities
arrested an Al-Qaeda-linked suspect in two simultaneous February 2005
Mindanao bombings.
At year's end, the trial of five alleged Moro Islamic Liberation
Front (MILF) members for the 2003 Davao airport and seaport bombing was
underway.
Communist insurgents, mainly from the NPA, continued to kill
political figures, military and police officers, and civilians,
including suspected military and police informers. On June 13, NPA
rebels killed nine soldiers of the 50th Infantry Battalion and injured
three others during an ambush in Ilocos Sur. In 2004 authorities
arrested and charged 15 suspected NPA members for the killing of the
police chief of Angat, Bulacan. There have been no known developments
in the case since the arrests.
Vigilante groups are suspected of conducting summary killings of
suspected criminals in two major cities and local officials appeared to
condone and even encourage them. Through December, Kabataan Consortium,
a group of human rights NGOs, documented 76 apparent vigilante killings
in Davao City, Mindanao. In Cebu City in the Central Visayan Region,
more than 70 persons were killed through December. The cities of Toledo
and Carcar on Cebu island also saw apparent illegal killings. Most of
the victims were suspected of involvement in criminal activities, and
the killings appeared to have popular support. The authorities made no
arrests in these cases. A court dismissed two cases filed in 2004 in
Davao because the victims' relatives withdrew their complaints. In June
2005 the Office of the Ombudsman suspended four police officers in
Davao for failing to solve extrajudicial killings in their
jurisdiction; however, in July 2005 the court of appeals reinstated
them.
b. Disappearance.--According to local human rights NGOs, government
forces were responsible for disappearances. Through December the
domestic NGO Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearances (FIND)
documented 72 victims of involuntary disappearance: 31 were found
alive, four were found dead, and 37 remained missing; FIND suspected
government forces in 33 cases, while unidentified armed men were
suspected in the remaining 14 cases. Task Force ``Usig'' documented six
cases of forced disappearance of activists since 2001. Only one case
has been filed in court, but no arrests had been made at year's end.
On May 22, five supporters of former President Joseph Estrada were
surreptitiously taken into custody, suspected of plotting rebellion.
Initially, the Government denied any involvement in their
disappearance, but on May 24 authorities admitted holding them and
released them on May 27.
On June 26, unidentified gunmen in Bulacan Province abducted
University of the Philippines (UP) student Karen Empeno, former UP
student council officer Sherlyn Cadapan, and local citizen Manuel
Merino. The three reportedly were blindfolded and forced to board a
``jeepney'' (small commercial passenger vehicle) at gunpoint. The
leftist human rights group Karapatan alleged that the Philippine Army's
7th Infantry Division was responsible for the abduction. On July 19,
the Supreme Court ordered the chief of AFP Northern Luzon Command, the
commander of the 7th Infantry Division, and two other military
officials to present the three victims to the Court of Appeals.
However, these officials denied the AFP was holding them. At year's
end, the three were still missing. The Melo Commission investigated the
case; however, there were no publicly known developments regarding the
investigation at year's end.
In August 2005 leftist political activists Armando Barquillo and
Lirio de Castro were released a month after heavily armed men abducted
them in Cavite City. They alleged that their abductors were military
intelligence agents.
Efforts to locate three members of Bayan Muna reportedly abducted
in Manila in 2004 by 10 armed men were unsuccessful. FIND claimed the
Intelligence Service of the AFP was responsible.
Some victims' families complained that the courts and police failed
to address adequately their complaints concerning disappearances in
which security forces were suspected. Evidence of a kidnapping or
killing is required in order to file charges. FIND and Amnesty
International's Manila office continued to support the efforts of
victims' families to press charges. In most cases, evidence and
documentation were unavailable, and convictions were rare. Out of 16
court cases related to disappearances of concern to FIND, none had been
resolved as of year's end. In May FIND filed a petition for a writ of
habeas corpus against the suspected perpetrators in one case involving
two victims, but as of year's end the court had not granted the
petition. Judicial inaction on the vast majority of disappearances
contributed to a climate of impunity and undermined public confidence
in the justice system.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits torture, and evidence obtained
through its use is inadmissible in court; however, members of the
security forces and police were alleged to have routinely abused and
sometimes tortured suspects and detainees. The CHR provides the police
with mandatory human rights training, and senior PNP officials appeared
receptive to respecting the human rights of detainees; however, rank-
and-file awareness of the rights of detainees remained inadequate.
The TFDP stated that torture remained an ingrained part of the
arrest and detention process. Common forms of abuse during arrest and
interrogation reportedly included striking detainees and threatening
them with guns. The TFDP reported that arresting officers often carried
out such beatings in the early stages of detention.
A human rights NGO, the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights
Advocates, also reported that police used excessive force in
apprehending suspects.
Within the AFP, the CHR continued to observe greater sensitivity to
the need to prevent human rights violations. CHR is required to
determine whether an officer being considered for promotion has a
history of human rights violations (see section 4); however, a negative
CHR finding does not preclude promotion. The CHR also vets PNP officers
at the senior superintendent level. Nevertheless, abuses still
occurred. Human rights activists complained of abuses by security
forces against suspected ASG and NPA members in captivity. According to
the Moro Human Rights Center, some members of the AFP continued to beat
ASG suspects.
The TFDP documented seven cases of torture involving 20 victims
from January to December. The CHR investigated 11 cases of alleged
torture during the year. The suspects in these cases mostly were
members of PNP.
In April 2005 four farmers in Laak, Mindanao, accused the AFP of
torturing them as suspected NPA collaborators. The CHR began an
investigation but had not yet released any conclusion as of year's end.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
rudimentary and sometimes harsh. Provincial jails and prisons were
overcrowded, lacked basic infrastructure, and provided prisoners with
an inadequate diet. Jails managed by the Bureau of Jail Management and
Penology (BJMP) in metropolitan Manila usually operated at about 240
percent of designed capacity. An on-going jail decongestion program by
BJMP resulted in the early release, using applicable laws, of more than
3,500 inmates. BJMP's establishment of new facilities for women inmates
and its implementation of the new law on juvenile justice also
contributed to the decrease in jail overcrowding from 2005.
Prison administrators budgeted a daily subsistence allowance of
about $0.78 (P40) per prisoner. Prison inmates often depended on their
families for food because of the insufficient subsistence allowance and
the need to bribe guards to receive food rations.
The slow judicial process exacerbated the problem of overcrowding.
Some inmates took turns sleeping. Some prison wardens reportedly
allowed wives or children to move in with inmates or stay in the prison
compound because they could help feed the prisoners. Lack of potable
water and poor ventilation continued to cause health problems in jails.
On May 16, President Arroyo signed the Juvenile Justice and Welfare
Act, which, among other reforms, changed the age of criminal
responsibility from nine to 15 years of age. Under the new law,
children caught committing crimes are to be turned over to juvenile
justice and welfare councils to be placed in programs supervised by
local social welfare officers. The law also prohibits the detention of
minors in jails while undergoing trial and exempts convicted minors
from the death penalty.
There were reports of widespread corruption among prison guards.
Guards sometimes demanded that prisoners pay to receive food, to use
sanitary facilities, and to avoid beatings by other prisoners. Jail
administrators reportedly delegated to senior inmates authority to
maintain order. The CHR and TFDP reported that beatings by prison
guards and other inmates were common but that prisoners, fearing
retaliation, refused to lodge complaints. Corruption appeared to be a
problem at higher levels of authority within the prison system as well.
Favored inmates reportedly enjoyed access to prostitutes and drugs.
There were reports that guards abused prisoners. Women in police
custody were particularly vulnerable to sexual and physical assault by
police and prison officials. Victims often were afraid to report
incidents (see section 5). Some detainees at Bureau of Immigration
detention centers reportedly gained release by making cash payments to
guards.
Through December, the BJMP recorded 27 successful prison escapes
involving 52 inmates; 16 were recaptured and 36 remained at large.
Police blamed the escapes on lenient security and the poor quality of
detention facilities.
On February 28, the CHR released a report on a March 2005 escape
attempt during which three guards were killed and which ended in the
deaths of 22 inmates. The CHR concluded that the authorities used
excessive force, that inmates were summarily executed, and that inmates
were maltreated after a police assault. The CHR report also recommended
that the Department of Justice (DOJ) create a committee to investigate
and determine the criminal liability of the police units; however, by
year's end, the DOJ had not received a formal complaint from the CHR to
investigate these police units.
According to regulations, male and female inmates are to be held in
separate facilities and, in national prisons, overseen by guards of the
same sex; however, there were anecdotal reports that these regulations
were not uniformly enforced. In provincial and municipal prisons, male
guards sometimes supervised female prisoners directly or indirectly.
Although prison authorities attempted to segregate children, in some
instances they were held in facilities not fully segregated from adult
male inmates (see section 5). Only 223 out of 1,100 jails managed by
the BJMP and PNP had separate cells for minors, while 345 jails had
separate cells for females. During the year the BJMP established two
detention centers exclusively for women. Approximately 1,200 women
inmates were transferred to these new facilities, located in Metro
Manila and in Cebu City. More than 300 minor inmates were transferred
to three youth centers in compliance with the new law on juvenile
justice. In Bureau of Immigration detention facilities, male and female
inmates are segregated by sex, but male guards oversaw both sexes.
International monitoring groups, including the International
Committee of the Red Cross, were allowed free access to jails and
prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law requires a judicial
determination of probable cause before issuance of an arrest warrant
and prohibits holding prisoners incommunicado or in secret places of
detention; however, in a number of cases, police arrested and detained
citizens arbitrarily. Through December, the TFDP documented 35 cases of
illegal arrest and detention involving 114 victims.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Department of
National Defense directs the AFP, which shares responsibility for
counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations with the PNP. The
Department of Interior and Local government directs the PNP, which is
responsible for enforcement of law and order and urban
counterterrorism; however, governors, mayors, and other local officials
have considerable influence. The 115,000-member PNP has deep-rooted
institutional deficiencies and suffered from a widely held and accurate
public perception that it was corrupt. The PNP's Internal Affairs
Service remained largely ineffective. Members of the PNP were regularly
accused of torture, of soliciting bribes, and of other illegal acts.
Efforts were underway to reform the institution in part to counter a
widespread impression of official impunity. From January to November,
the PNP dismissed 89 policemen. Of the 2,859 administrative cases filed
against PNP officers and personnel, 1,398 were resolved, 944 remained
under preliminary investigation, 391 underwent summary hearings, and
the remaining 126 were filed with the People's Law Enforcement Board, a
body composed of local government officials and NGO representatives
that receives complaints filed against members of the PNP in the
regions. In 2005 the PNP initiated a Transformation Program aimed at
systematic institutional reform.
Arrest and Detention.--Detainees have the right to a judicial
review of the legality of their detention and, except for offenses
punishable by a life sentence, the right to bail; however, only 6.5
percent of detainees were able to post bail. Authorities are required
to file charges within 12 to 36 hours of arrests made without warrants,
with the time given to file charges increasing with the seriousness of
the crime. Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem (see section
1.e.). In 2005 the courts released 67 detainees who had been held in
jail for periods equal to or longer than the maximum prison terms they
would have served if convicted. Through November only two detainees
were released under this circumstance.
The NPA, as well as some Islamic separatist groups, were
responsible for a number of arbitrary detentions, often in connection
with informal courts set up to try military personnel, police, local
politicians, and other persons for ``crimes against the people'' (see
section 1.e.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the judicial system suffered from
corruption and inefficiency. Personal ties and sometimes venality
resulted in impunity for some wealthy and influential offenders and
contributed to widespread skepticism that the judicial process could
ensure due process and equal justice. The Supreme Court continued
efforts to ensure speedier trials and to sanction judicial malfeasance
and was in the midst of a five-year program to increase judicial branch
efficiency and raise public confidence in the judiciary.
In September 2005 a regional trial court judge was killed in her
house in Natividad, Pangasinan. Police identified two suspects, but a
judge dismissed the case and did not issue arrest warrants against the
two for lack of probable cause. In January police arrested six suspects
for the December 2005 murder of a Pasay City regional trial court
judge; their trial was on-going at year's end. Trials in the 2004
killings of two judges were also underway at year's end, and
prosecutors filed charges in the third case. Ten cases of the killing
of judges remained under investigation at year's end.
The national court system consists of four levels: local and
regional trial courts; a national court of appeals divided into
seventeen divisions; a 15-member Supreme Court; and an informal local
system for arbitrating or mediating certain disputes outside the formal
court system. The Sandiganbayan, the Government's anticorruption court,
hears criminal cases brought against senior officials. A Shari'a
(Islamic law) court system, with jurisdiction over domestic and
contractual relations among Muslim citizens, operates in some Mindanao
provinces.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides that those accused of crimes be
informed of the charges against them, have the right to counsel, and be
provided a speedy and public trial before a judge. Defendants are
presumed innocent and have the right to confront witnesses against
them, to present evidence, and to appeal convictions. The authorities
respected the right of defendants to be represented by a lawyer, but
poverty often inhibited a defendant's access to effective legal
representation. Skilled defense lawyers staffed the Public Attorney's
Office (PAO), but their workload was large and resources were scarce.
The PAO provides legal representation for all indigent litigants at
trial; however, during arraignment, courts may at their option appoint
any lawyer present in the courtroom to provide counsel to the accused.
According to the law, cases should be resolved within set time
limits once submitted for decision: 24 months for the Supreme Court; 12
months for the Court of Appeals; and three months for lower courts.
However, these time limits are not mandatory, and, in effect, there
were no time limits for trials.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. In 2005 the UN
Development Program (UNDP) and the Supreme Court released a study that
found that the average trial takes over three years. Trials take place
in short sessions over time and as witnesses become available; these
non-continuous sessions created lengthy delays. Furthermore, there was
a widely recognized need for more prosecutors, judges, and courtrooms.
Judgeship vacancy rates were high; of the total 2,152 trial court
judgeships (including Shari'a courts), 628 (29 percent) were vacant, a
small decline from 2005. Courts in Mindanao and other poorer provinces
had higher vacancy rates than the national average. Shari'a court
positions were particularly difficult to fill because of the
requirement that applicants be members of both the Shari'a Bar and the
Integrated Bar. All five Shari'a district court judgeships and 41
percent of circuit court judgeships remained vacant. Shari'a courts do
not have criminal jurisdiction.
The NPA continued to subject military personnel, police, local
politicians, and other persons to its so-called courts for ``crimes
against the people.'' The NPA executed some of these ``defendants.''
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front also maintained similar ``people's
courts.''
In the past, international and domestic NGOs criticized many court
proceedings that resulted in death sentences, asserting that the
judicial system did not ensure due process and legal representation. On
June 24, the Government formally abolished the death penalty.
Political Prisoners.--Various human rights NGOs maintained lists of
incarcerated persons they alleged to be political prisoners. Through
December, the TFDP said that there were 233 political prisoners.
Typically, there was no distinction in these lists between detainees
and prisoners, and the majority of persons listed have not been
convicted. Some NGOs asserted that it was frequent practice to make
politically motivated arrests of persons for common crimes and to
continue to detain them after their sentences expired. The Government
used NGO lists as one source of information in the conduct of its
pardon, parole, and amnesty programs, but it did not consider the
persons listed to be political detainees or prisoners. The CPP/NPA
demanded that their members under detention by the PNP or AFP be
treated as political prisoners as one of the preconditions for resuming
peace talks with the Government.
During the year, the Government did not release any persons whom
NGOs claimed were political prisoners.
The Government permitted access to alleged political prisoners by
international humanitarian organizations.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary is
independent and impartial in civil matters. Complainants have access to
local trial courts to seek damages for, or cessation of, human rights
abuses. There are administrative remedies as well as judicial remedies
for alleged wrongs; however, corruption is widespread in the judiciary,
and cases were often dismissed. The Commission on Human Rights keeps a
database of alleged human rights violators, including those in the AFP
or PNP. The CHR also investigates cases of alleged human rights
violations. However, it has no prosecutorial power and can only refer
cases with probable cause to local prosecutors.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides that a judge may issue search
warrants on a finding of probable cause; however, while the Government
generally respected restrictions on search and seizure within private
homes, searches without warrants occurred. Judges declared evidence
obtained illegally to be inadmissible.
The Government generally respected the privacy of its citizens;
however, leaders of communist organizations and rural-based NGOs
complained of what they described as a pattern of surveillance and
harassment.
Forced resettlement of urban squatters, who made up at least 30
percent of the urban population, continued during the year. The law
provides certain protections for squatters; eviction was often
difficult, especially because politicians recognized squatters' voting
power. Government relocation efforts were constrained by budget
problems, and the issuance of land titles to squatters targeted by
displacement was limited, but the Government successfully completed a
two-year program to relocate in new housing approximately 20,000
squatter families from what will be a new ``Northrail'' project from
Manila to Northern Luzon.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Some citizen groups complained that the AFP, in confronting the
terrorist ASG and NPA, illegally detained citizens, destroyed houses,
displaced residents, and shelled villages. NGOs also accused the police
of wrongful detention, excessive force, and extrajudicial killings (see
section 1.c.).
On January 31, a clash between the AFP and NPA rebels in Santa
Ignacia, Tarlac, resulted in at least 10 casualties; three of whom were
civilians. The human rights group Karapatan alleged that the military
was responsible for the civilian deaths. On May 18, AFP fire in an
encounter with NPA rebels in Bulan, Sorsogon, allegedly killed a
civilian.
On a number of occasions, ASG and RSM bombings killed and wounded
civilians. On October 10, bombs in Makilala, North Cotabato, and in
Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat, killed eight persons and wounded at least 30
others. On October 18, an explosion near a police camp in Jolo, Sulu,
killed at least three persons. The authorities identified the ASG as
responsible for these attacks. Throughout the year, clashes between the
AFP, Jemaah Islamiyah, and ASG, mostly in the Zamboanga peninsula and
Sulu archipelago, contributed to the displacement of civilians.
During the year, the NPA killed political activists, mayors, other
civilians, and military and police personnel. The NPA also harassed
businesses and burned buses to enforce the collection of
``revolutionary taxes.'' On July 24, NPA personnel detonated two
landmines on a highway in Surigao del Sur Province, seriously wounding
five passengers in a jeepney and 10 pedestrians. Subsequently, a
spokesman for the NDF said that the injuries to civilians were
unfortunate but that the NPA will not give up its ``legitimate right''
to use landmines. The AFP reported that the NPA killed at least 191 AFP
and PNP personnel from January to December. The NPA continued actively
to recruit minors both as combatants and noncombatants (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and, except for a few instances during a week-
long imposition of a state of national emergency, the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
The Government owned several television and radio stations;
however, most print and electronic media were privately owned. The
media were active and expressed a wide variety of views without
restriction. Broadcast and print media were freewheeling and often
criticized for lacking rigorous journalistic ethics. They tended to
reflect the particular political or economic orientations of owners,
publishers, or patrons, some of whom were close associates of present
or past high-level officials. Special interests often used bribes and
other inducements to solicit one-sided and erroneous reports and
commentaries that supported their positions.
Journalists continued to be murdered. The National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) recorded 12 journalists killed
during the year. Task Force Usig classified two of these cases as work-
related slayings. According to the task force, seven of more than 70
cases of journalist killings since 1986 resulted in convictions. On
October 6, a Cebu City trial court convicted three men for the March
2005 murder of journalist Marlene Esperat. One suspect, a former AFP
member who had turned state witness for the case, was acquitted for
lack of evidence. On November 27, the same court dismissed a
prosecutor's motion to reinstate the murder cases, which were earlier
dismissed by the Tacurong trial court, against two regional officials
of the Department of Agriculture, who allegedly planned the killing.
On May 22, two gunmen shot and killed Fernando Batul, a radio
commentator and former vice-mayor of Puerto Princesa City. The
authorities arrested a police officer, and a murder case has been filed
against the officer and another unidentified suspect.
The trial of the four suspects in the May 2005 killing of Philip
Agustin, editor of a local newspaper in Dingalan, Aurora Province, was
still on-going. In May the Mayor of Dingalan, charged as co-conspirator
in the case, surrendered to the authorities.
On March 6, a regional trial court acquitted a former police
officer in the 2004 killing of radio broadcaster Ely Binoya in
Sarangani Province. The international NGO Reporters without Borders
termed the court decision ``unacceptable.''
On July 28, suspects in the 2004 murder of Ilocos Norte radio
commentator Roger Mariano were arraigned and a trial was underway in a
Manila trial court. The two suspects, including a police officer, were
detained in the Manila City Jail. Two other suspects remained at large
as of end of November.
There were no developments with regard to the 2004 murders of a
newspaper writer in Batangas and of radio commentator Edward Balida.
Human rights NGOs frequently criticized the Government for failing
to protect journalists. The NUJP accused the police and the Government
of failing adequately to investigate these killings and of subjecting
journalists to harassment and surveillance. In some situations, it was
difficult to discern if violence against journalists was carried out in
retribution for their profession or if these journalists were the
victims of random crime. According to a study released by the Center
for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) in September 2005, most of
the slain journalists were not professionally trained as journalists or
formally accredited to any national media organization. CMFR listed 61
journalists killed since democracy was restored in 1986.
On February 24, President Arroyo imposed a state of national
emergency and shortly thereafter the police occupied the premises of
the opposition-leaning Daily Tribune. The police officers confiscated
copies of the mock-up copy of the newspaper's next issue and
photographs. On March 3, after the President lifted the state of
national emergency, the police left the newspaper's office. The
newspaper's publisher and two columnists were subsequently charged with
incitement to sedition. At year's end, the case was in preliminary
investigation with the DOJ. The three accused filed separate motions to
dismiss the case against them and were awaiting DOJ's resolution. On
May 3, the Supreme Court upheld the validity of the imposition of a
state of national emergency, but ruled the raid on the newspaper an
attack on press freedoms and hence illegal.
On October 17, a number of media groups accused the President's
husband of seeking to muzzle the press through a series of libel suits.
Over the last two years, 43 reporters, columnists, editors, publishers,
and a subscription manager reportedly faced lawsuits filed by the
President's husband over stories alleging corruption and electoral
fraud by the President and her husband. A Manila trial court issued
warrants of arrest on October 16 against nine of the accused in the
libel cases, including a former opposition senator.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in peaceful
expressions of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access is widely available.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--In June 2005 the
intelligence service of the AFP released a presentation, ``Know Your
Enemy,'' listing some press unions and student organizations as
``enemies of the state'' or communist fronts. The Government did not
otherwise interfere with academic freedom, and there were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and, except for a
few instances during the brief imposition of a state of national
emergency, the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Although the law requires that groups request a permit to hold a rally,
the Government at times followed an unwritten policy of allowing
rallies to occur without requiring the filing of a request.
On February 24, President Arroyo declared a state of national
emergency, and all rally permits were cancelled. The police dispersed
rallies commemorating the 1986 ``people's power'' demonstrations, which
culminated in the ouster of the Marcos regime, and those calling for
the ouster of President Arroyo. The police detained UP professor and
newspaper columnist Randy David at one of the rallies; he was released
after a few hours.
In September 2005, President Arroyo declared that the police and
armed forces would no longer exercise ``maximum tolerance'' in dealing
with protesters. The administration urged municipalities to enforce
strictly the requirements that protests be staged in designated areas
and only with government permits. In practice, there did not appear to
be any notable change in the way the authorities dealt with
demonstrators. On April 25, the Supreme Court declared the September
2005 policy unconstitutional and upheld the policy of maximum tolerance
in dealing with rallies and public demonstrations. On May 3, while
upholding the constitutionality of the February 24 declaration of a
state of national emergency, the Supreme Court declared illegal the
warrantless arrest of Randy David and other protesters during a rally
and the dispersal of the rally. The court found that there was no proof
that those detained committed acts that would constitute ``lawless
violence, invasion, or rebellion,'' and that the security forces
therefore had no legal authority to curtail the rights of due process,
peaceable assembly, and free speech.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Although
Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism, was the predominant
religion, there is no state religion, and church and state are legally
separate.
The Government's campaign against the ASG terrorist group and RSM
led some human rights NGOs to accuse the police and military of
unfairly targeting Muslims for arrest and detention. However, most
observers believed that discrimination against Muslims was grounded in
cultural differences, not religious beliefs or practices. There were
some reports of Muslim discrimination against Christians in areas where
Muslims were the majority.
Intermittent government efforts to integrate Muslims into political
and economic society achieved only limited success. Many Muslims
claimed that they continued to be underrepresented in senior civilian
and military positions and cited the lack of proportional Muslim
representation in national government institutions (see section 3).
Predominantly Muslim provinces in Mindanao lagged far behind the rest
of the country in most aspects of socioeconomic development. The
percentage of the population under the poverty level in the Autonomous
Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) was almost twice as high as the
national average, with per capita income of $309 (P15,760) per year.
The teaching of religious classes in public schools is permitted
with the written consent of parents, provided that it is conducted at
no cost to the Government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Historically, the Christian
majority has marginalized Muslims. The national culture, with its
emphasis on familial, tribal, and regional loyalties, created informal
barriers whereby access to jobs or resources is provided first to those
of one's own family or group network. Muslims reported difficulty
renting rooms or being hired for retail work if they used their real
names or wore distinctive Muslim dress. As a result, some Muslims used
Christian pseudonyms and did not wear distinctive dress when applying
for housing or jobs.
An estimated 400 to 1,000 Jews lived in the country. There were no
reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. Travel abroad was
limited only in rare circumstances, such as when a citizen has a
pending court case. Government authorities discouraged travel by
vulnerable workers to areas in which they face personal risk (see
section 5).
The Government retained its formal yet ineffective ban on travel to
Iraq to work. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
sought to limit departures for work abroad to persons the POEA
certified as qualified for the jobs. Millions of citizens worked
overseas and remitted money home. Such remittances accounted for
approximately 11 percent of the gross national product.
Forced exile is illegal, and the Government did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Clashes between the AFP and
elements of MILF insurgents in Maguindanao Province during the period
from June to August resulted in approximately 40,000 persons being
displaced. In 2005 approximately 85,000 persons were displaced as a
result of clashes in Sulu from February to April between the AFP and a
faction of the Moro National Liberation Front aligned with the ASG.
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD),
at year's end the total number of IDPs was 59,886 persons. Since 2004
DSWD has established 707 shelter units to resettle IDPs in other
southern Mindanao regions and the ARMM. Other agencies, including UNDP,
the Mindanao Emergency Relief Network, and the Red Cross provided food
and essential items such as medicine, blankets, mosquito nets, and soap
to IDPs.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is a party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
however, there is no comprehensive legislation that provides for
granting refugee status or asylum. In practice the Government provided
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they fear persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum. The
refugee unit in the DOJ determined which asylum seekers qualify as
refugees; such determinations in practice implemented many of the basic
provisions of the 1951 Convention. The Government cooperated with the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. The Government also
provided temporary protection to individuals who may not qualify as
refugees under the 1951 Convention or its 1967 Protocol. This was the
case for some 1,500 Vietnamese asylum seekers who were found not to be
refugees under the UNHCR-administered Comprehensive Plan of Action in
the 1990s. Following the closure of the one remaining refugee camp on
Palawan in 1997, the Government permitted these former asylum seekers
to remain in the country. However, none in this group were granted
legal status.
Subsequently the Government allowed processing for resettlement of
this group, many of whom were resettled in the United States. An
estimated 176 persons, most of whom married Philippine citizens,
remained in legal limbo: ineligible for resettlement in other countries
and not granted permanent asylum.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through periodic
elections that largely were free and fair and held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 national elections
were held for President, senators, representatives, provincial
governors, and local government officials. Voter turnout was high, with
approximately 74 percent of eligible voters participating; however,
voting was marred by numerous irregularities. An election monitoring
survey conducted by a consortium of three international NGOs concluded
that an antiquated voting system, system error, and improper management
of registration databases disenfranchised thousands of voters.
Widespread reports indicated that local politicians and their
supporters engaged in vote buying and that conditions did not ensure
that balloting was secret. Observers also received reports of NPA
activists imposing ``permission to campaign'' fees on local candidates.
The 2004 election marked the first time that overseas Filipinos
were able to vote. Approximately 230,000 of 354,000 registered overseas
voters, or 65 percent, actually voted, a small portion of the millions
of Filipinos working overseas. The low rate of registration was
attributed by election NGOs to lack of information about the
procedures, inaccessible registration centers, strict employers who did
not allow overseas workers to take a day off, and the requirement that
voters execute an affidavit to return to the country to reside within
three years.
The Commission on Elections did not allow first-time voters among
squatters in communities of the urban poor to register for the
elections unless they could prove that they were bona fide residents of
their locale. NGOs estimated that this registration residence
requirement deprived one million squatters of the right to vote. Among
those who did register, vote buying was common and many residents
accepted bribes to vote in a certain way or to act as ``flying
voters,'' voting in several precincts.
There were no restrictions in law or practice on participation by
women and members of minorities in politics. Many women, including the
President, held positions of leadership and authority. There were four
women in the 24-seat Senate and 37 women in the 236-seat House of
Representatives. There were two women in the 23-member Cabinet, five
female associate justices on the 15-member Supreme Court, and 14 female
governors.
Along with many other citizens, Muslims argued that electing
senators from a nationwide list favored established political figures
from the Manila area, to the disadvantage of Muslims. Election of
senators by region would require a constitutional amendment, which many
Muslims and members of other groups underrepresented in the national
legislature favored. There were no Muslim cabinet members and no Muslim
senators. There were 12 Muslim members in the 236-seat House of
Representatives, including some elected from Christian majority
districts.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--A justifiable public
perception of corruption in the judicial, executive, and legislative
branches remained high. Both the Government and the private sector have
established a number of anticorruption bodies, including an Ombudsman's
Office and an anticorruption court. Cases were opened against mid-level
officials in the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Bureau of
Customs, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. During the year, several
elected figures, including the opposition mayors of Makati and Pasay
City and administration mayors of Baguio and Santa Rosa City, Laguna
Province, were suspended from their offices on corruption-related
charges. In October the Court of Appeals issued a 60-day temporary
restraining order on the suspension of the mayor of Makati. The mayors
of Pasay, Baguio, and Santa Rosa remain suspended as of end of
November.
The law provides for the right to information on matters of public
concern, and the Supreme Court has affirmed this provision. However,
denial of such information often occurred when the information related
to an anomaly or irregularity in government transactions. Much
government information was not available electronically and was
difficult to retrieve.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A large and active group of human rights NGOs generally operated
without government interference, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Most government officials were
responsive to NGO views. Human rights activists continued to encounter
occasional harassment, mainly from security forces or local officials
from the area in which incidents under investigation took place.
On December 6, shortly before a planned regional summit hosted by
the Government, a foreign labor rights activist was denied entry into
the country and a security officer showed him a list of international
human rights advocates who would not be allowed into the country.
The CHR is an independent agency mandated to protect and promote
human rights. It is empowered to investigate all human rights
violations and to monitor the Government's compliance with
international human rights treaty obligations. The CHR has nonbinding
authority to clear on military promotions. The commission has a
chairperson and four members. CHR monitoring and investigating
continued to be hamstrung by insufficient resources. Approximately one-
third of the country's 42,000 barangays (villages) had human rights
action centers, which coordinated with CHR regional offices; however,
the CHR's regional and subregional offices remained understaffed and
underfunded. The CHR nationwide budget for the year was $3.87 million
(P197.38 million).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination against women, children, and
minorities; however, vague regulations and budgetary constraints
hindered implementation of these protections.
Women.--Violence against women, both in and out of the home,
remained a serious problem. The 2004 Anti-Violence Against Women and
their Children Act criminalizes physical, sexual, and psychological
harm or abuse to women and their children committed by their spouses or
partners. Through December the PNP reported 1,269 cases under the act
and 1,892 other cases of wife battering and physical injuries under
older laws. This number likely underreported significantly the level of
violence against women in the country. A 2003 survey by the NGO Social
Weather Station found that 12 percent of men admitted having physically
harmed women (39 percent of these respondents indicated violence
against their wives, 15 percent against their girlfriends, and 4
percent against their partners). Women in the same survey cited the
following reasons for not reporting violence: embarrassment, not
knowing how or to whom to report, belief that the violence was
unimportant, and belief that nothing would be done.
The PNP and DSWD both maintained help desks to assist victims of
violence against women and to encourage the reporting of crimes. With
the assistance of NGOs, officers received gender sensitivity training
to deal with victims of sexual crimes and domestic violence.
Approximately 7 to 8 percent of PNP officers were women. The PNP has a
Women and Children's Unit to deal with these issues
Rape continued to be a problem, with most cases going unreported.
During the year, the PNP reported 685 rape cases There were reports of
rape and sexual abuse of women in police or protective custody--often
women from marginalized groups, such as suspected prostitutes, drug
users, and lower income individuals arrested for minor crimes.
Spousal rape and abuse are also illegal, but enforcement was
ineffective.
Prostitution is illegal but was a widespread problem. Many women
suffered exposure to violence through their recruitment, often through
deception, into prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking). Penalties
for prostitution are light, but detained prostitutes were sometimes
subjected to administrative indignities and extortion. The DSWD
continued to provide temporary shelter and counseling to women engaged
in prostitution. From January to September, DSWD provided temporary
shelter and counseling to 68 women who were victims of involuntary
prostitution. Some local officials condoned a climate of impunity for
those who exploited prostitutes. There were no convictions under the
provision of the law criminalizing the act of engaging the services of
a prostitute.
Sex tourism and trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation and
forced labor were serious problems. An antitrafficking law outlaws a
number of activities specifically related to trafficking and provides
stiff penalties for convicted offenders (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment. However, sexual harassment in
the workplace was thought to be widespread and underreported due to
victims' fear of losing their jobs. Female employees in special
economic zones (SEZs) were particularly at risk; most were economic
migrants who had no independent workers' organization to assist with
filing complaints. Women in the retail industry worked on three- to
five-month contracts and were often reluctant to report sexual
harassment for fear their contracts would not be renewed.
The law does not provide for divorce, although courts generally
recognize the legality of divorces obtained in other countries if one
of the parties is a foreign national. The Government recognizes
religious annulment, but the process can be costly, which precludes
annulment as an option for many women. Many lower-income couples simply
separated informally without severing their marital ties. The family
code provides that in child custody cases resulting from annulment,
illegitimacy, or divorce in another country, children under the age of
seven are placed in the care of the mother unless there is a court
order to the contrary. Children over the age of seven normally also
remained with the mother, although the father could dispute custody
through the courts.
In law, but not always in practice, women have most of the rights
and protections accorded to men. Women continued to face some
discrimination in employment, despite the fact that more women than men
have secondary and higher education degrees. Unemployment rates for
women remained higher than for men.
The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, composed of
10 government officials and 13 NGO leaders appointed by the President,
acted as an oversight body whose goal is to press for effective
implementation of programs benefiting women.
Children.--The Government devoted considerable resources to the
education, welfare, and development of children. The Department of
Education (DepEd) had the largest budget of any cabinet department:
12.3 percent of the national budget. Nevertheless, children faced
serious problems.
Elementary and secondary education is free and is compulsory
through age 11, but the quality of education remained poor due in part
to inadequate resources. During the year according to DepEd figures,
the estimated annual per pupil expenditure for basic education was $115
(P5,875). The DepEd budget for this year was $2.16 billion (P110
billion). The public school enrollment rate for 2005-06 was 74 percent,
slightly down from 76 percent for the 2004-05 school year. According to
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) statistics, girls and boys attend school in
approximately equal numbers.
According to government reports, 68.3 percent of children were well
nourished, and 70 percent were fully immunized. The child mortality
rate was 42 out of 1,000 children under age five. Most of the
malnourished children were in villages in the southern provinces of
Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, and Tawi-Tawi. According to UNICEF data
from 1996 to 2004, 28 percent of children under age five were
moderately or severely underweight.
Child abuse remained a problem. DSWD offices served 6,234 victims
of child abuse from January to September, of whom 70 percent were
girls. Approximately 50 percent of the girls were victims of sexual
abuse, while 5 percent (198 girls) were victims of sexual exploitation.
The majority of the boys had been abandoned or neglected. Several
cities ran crisis centers for abused women and children. The problem of
foreign pedophiles continued, and the Government continued to prosecute
accused pedophiles vigorously. Some children also were victims of
police abuse while in detention for committing minor crimes. In March
2005 the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies released a
report highlighting child pornography as a significant problem in the
country.
Child prostitution continued to be a serious problem (see section
5, Trafficking). During the year the Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE) ordered the closure of three establishments for allegedly
prostituting minors. The trials for these cases were on-going at year's
end.
During the year the NPA and ASG targeted children for recruitment
as combatants and noncombatants. There were an estimated 2,000 child
soldiers in the country. By mid-year, an International Labor
Organization (ILO)-led program demobilized and reintegrated into
society 300 children. The NPA claimed that it assigned persons 15 to 18
years of age to self-defense and noncombatant duties; however, there
were reports that the NPA continued to use minors in combat. In a July
2004 report, the Council for Welfare of Children estimated that
children constituted between 13 to 18 percent of armed rebel
combatants. In the last several years, the AFP on numerous occasions
captured or killed NPA fighters who turned out to be minors.
The ASG also recruited teenagers to fight and participate in its
activities. There were reports that a significant number of ASG members
staffing the groups' camps were teenagers. The AFP stated that some
Islamic schools in Mindanao served as fronts to indoctrinate children
and that the ASG used children as couriers and spies.
According to UNICEF and ILO studies, approximately 2.4 million
children were exposed to hazardous working environments, such as
quarries, mines, and docksides (see section 6.d.). Since 1995, only
four persons have been convicted of violating the child labor law.
The Government estimated that there were at least 22,000 street
children nationwide, but UNICEF estimated that there were approximately
250,000 street children. Welfare officials believed that the number
increased as a result of widespread unemployment in rural areas. Many
street children appeared to be abandoned and engaged in scavenging or
begging.
A variety of national executive orders and laws provide for the
welfare and protection of children. Police stations have child and
youth relations officers to ensure that child suspects are treated
appropriately. However, procedural safeguards were often ignored in
practice. The BJMP stated that approximately 1,400 minors were held on
``preventative detention'' while their trials were ongoing, and only 72
of them actually were convicted and serving their sentences. Many child
suspects were detained for extended periods without access to social
workers and lawyers, and were not segregated from adult criminals. NGOs
believed that children held in integrated conditions with adults were
highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, recruitment into gangs, forced
labor, torture, and other ill treatment. There were also reports that
many children detained in jails appeared to have been arrested without
warrants.
In April Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered a nationwide
review of cases of juvenile offenders. During the year government
agencies and NGOs worked to segregate juvenile offenders, secure the
release of minors wrongfully imprisoned, and transfer others to
rehabilitation centers. DSWD ran 11 regional youth rehabilitation
centers for juvenile offenders. There were three detention centers for
children in Manila. On May 16, President Arroyo signed the Juvenile
Justice and Welfare Act, which, among other reforms, changes the age of
criminal responsibility from nine to 15 years of age. Under the new law
children caught committing crimes are to be turned over to juvenile
justice and welfare councils to be placed in diversion programs
supervised by local social welfare officers. The law also prohibits the
detention of minors in jails while undergoing trial and exempts
convicted minors from the death penalty (see section 1.d.).
A number of NGOs actively promoted children's rights.
Trafficking in Persons.--Trafficking in persons is prohibited under
a comprehensive 2003 antitrafficking law, which defines several
activities related to trafficking in persons as illegal and imposes
stiff penalties--up to life imprisonment--for convicted offenders.
Nonetheless, trafficking remained a problem in the country. The country
was a source, transit, and destination country for internationally
trafficked persons for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced
labor. Internal trafficking remained a serious problem. NGOs and
government agencies estimated that from 300,000 to 400,000 women and
from 60,000 to 100,000 children were trafficked annually. The most
serious problem appeared to be the trafficking of women across
international borders for purposes of sexual exploitation. Organized
criminal gangs typically trafficked persons from China through the
country to other destinations, although occasionally the country was
the final destination. Although the Government pursued trafficking-
related cases under the antitrafficking law as well as other related
laws, its efforts were hampered by slow processing times in the courts,
resource constraints within law enforcement agencies, and corruption.
In 2005 the DOJ assigned an additional 10 prosecutors to handle the
preliminary investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases at the
national level, bringing the total to 14, in addition to other
prosecutors in the regional trial courts. The principal investigative
agencies were the National Bureau of Intelligence, the Bureau of
Immigration, and the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
The Government cooperated with international investigations of
trafficking.
Both adults and children were trafficked domestically from poor,
rural, areas in the southern and central parts of the country to major
urban centers, especially Metro Manila and Cebu, but also increasingly
to cities in Mindanao. A significant percentage of the victims of
internal trafficking were from Mindanao and were fleeing the poverty
and violence in their home areas. Approximately 75 percent of the
trafficking victims provided with temporary shelter and counseling by
the NGO Visayan Forum Foundation were from Mindanao. The Visayan region
was also a source of trafficking victims. Women and girls were far more
at risk of becoming victims of trafficking than men and boys.
The Virlanie Foundation, a local child protection NGO, estimated
that there were at least 20,000 child prostitutes in the country, most
in the Metro Manila area. Other NGOs estimated that as many as 100,000
children were involved in the commercial sex industry. Most of these
children were girls, and nearly all had dropped out of school. These
children came from very poor families with unemployed or irregularly
employed parents.
The Virlanie Foundation offered housing, training, and counseling
services to child prostitutes. An ILO program resulted in more than
6,000 children being removed or prevented from engaging in the worst
forms of child labor, including the commercial sex industry.
Traffickers targeted persons seeking overseas employment. Millions
of Filipinos work overseas, about 10 percent of the population and 20
percent of the workforce. An estimated 10 percent of gross national
product comes from these workers' remittances. Most recruits were
females ages 13 to 30 from poor farming families. The traffickers
generally were private employment recruiters and their partners in
organized crime. Many recruiters targeted persons from their own
hometowns, promising a respectable and lucrative job.
In December 2005 five persons were convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment under the antitrafficking law, one of whom remained at
large. Three other convicted persons received light sentences as a
result of plea bargains. As of December, an estimated 71 trafficking in
persons cases were pending or had trials underway, the DOJ was
considering charges in another 85 cases.
In June 2005 the NGO International Justice Mission (IJM) and the
DOJ filed criminal trafficking charges against a Manila police officer,
the first public official to be charged under the antitrafficking law.
In July 2005 DOLE ordered the permanent closure of a brothel owned by
the police officer, allegedly employing minors. At year's end the
criminal case against the police officer was ongoing.
In August 2005 Malaysian authorities rescued and expatriated four
Filipino women who were allegedly victims of trafficking. The four were
recruited in Davao del Norte Province to work as entertainers in Brunei
but were taken instead to Malaysia. A case was filed under the
antitrafficking law against the suspected traffickers at the municipal
court in Carmen, Davao Del Norte. An arrest warrant was issued, but the
accused eluded arrest and at year's end was still at large.
Victims faced exposure to sexually transmitted or other infectious
diseases, and were vulnerable to beatings, sexual abuse, and
humiliation.
There was anecdotal evidence that some lower-level officials such
as customs officers, border guards, immigration officials, local
police, or others received bribes from traffickers or otherwise
facilitated trafficking. In August the DOJ launched an investigation
into an alleged extortion racket among immigration officials in Cebu.
Immigration officers allegedly accepted payments ranging from $4,000 to
$12,000 (P200,000 to P600,000) in exchange for the entry of
undocumented aliens from India, Pakistan, China, and Korea. The
investigation remained ongoing at year's end.
On July 19, IJM and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection
group rescued seven minors who were allegedly trafficked for
prostitution in Manila. The case was filed in court; however, the three
accused were yet to be arraigned as they remained at large at year's
end.
The Government devoted significant resources to assist and protect
victims. The concept of a trafficked person as a victim rather than a
perpetrator was strong. The Government, in conjunction with NGO
partners, assisted victims by providing temporary residency status and
relief from deportation; shelter; and access to legal, medical, and
psychological services. As of September, DSWD had provided temporary
shelter and social services to 32 women and 83 juvenile victims of
trafficking. In 2005 DSWD provided services to 74 women victims of
illegal recruitment, 141 victims of involuntary prostitution, and 112
victims of trafficking.
DSWD and many private groups have established shelters and
rehabilitation centers. DSWD provided economic aid to victims,
including residential care. Additional protective services included hot
lines for reporting cases and the operation of 24-hour halfway houses
in 13 regions of the country to assist victims. Although the Government
provided some funding to domestic and foreign NGOs for services to
victims, religious groups, multinational donor agencies, and private
foundations typically funded most of the budgets for these NGOs.
The Government rarely deported or charged victims of trafficking
with crimes; however, police sometimes charged alleged prostitutes with
vagrancy. No reliable statistics indicating whether these individuals
were victims of trafficking were available.
Victims may file civil suits or seek legal action against
traffickers. Most victims who chose to do so filed charges of illegal
recruitment. However, the Government lacked the resources to pursue
these cases effectively. IJM, employing private Filipino investigators
and prosecutors, coordinated with the Government in an effort to
increase the number of pro bono prosecutions on behalf of victims of
trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. IJM gathered evidence
against establishments that employ prostitutes and children, and shared
this information with the National Bureau of Investigation and the PNP.
IJM's private prosecutors then filed criminal cases for sexually abused
women and children. Cases were prosecuted in coordination with DOJ
prosecutors. As of December, IJM had filed 23 cases under the
antitrafficking in persons law, 11 during the year.
Numerous government agencies and officials, as well as NGOs and
international organizations, continued to support public information
campaigns against trafficking. The Government supported programs to
prevent trafficking, such as the promotion of women's participation in
economic decision making and efforts to keep children in school. The
Government provided skills training to women, lessening the need for
them to go to urban centers or overseas for employment. However,
funding remained limited.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for equal physical
access for persons with both physical and mental disabilities to all
public buildings and establishments and for the ``rehabilitation, self-
development, and self-reliance of disabled persons and their
integration into the mainstream of society.'' The DOLE's Bureau of
Local Employment (BLE) maintained registers of persons with
disabilities indicating their skills and abilities. BLE monitored
private and public places of employment for violations of labor
standards regarding persons with disabilities and also promoted the
establishment of cooperatives and self-employment projects for persons
with disabilities.
Estimates of the number of persons with disabilities in the country
varied significantly. The National Council for the Welfare of Disabled
Persons estimated that persons with disabilities make up 10 percent of
the population. The 2000 census registered 992,000 persons with
disabilities; 580,000 were registered with the Department of Health as
of July. Advocates suspected the data were incomplete due to the social
stigma attached to persons with disabilities. It was estimated that
most persons with disabilities were younger than 65 years of age and
lived at home with their families. Assisted living centers were
understaffed and underfunded. DSWD operated two assisted living centers
in Metro Manila, and five community-based vocational centers for
persons with disabilities nationwide.
Advocates for persons with disabilities contended that equal-access
laws were ineffective because implementing regulations were weak,
funding was inadequate, and government programs were inadequately
focused on integration. Many public buildings, particularly older ones,
lacked functioning elevators. Many schools had architectural barriers
that made attendance difficult for persons with disabilities.
Government efforts to improve access to transportation for persons
with disabilities have been halting. Only one of Manila's light rail
lines was wheelchair-accessible, and many stops had out-of-service
elevators. Buses lacked wheelchair lifts, and there were reports of
drivers who failed to stop for passengers in wheelchairs. A small
number of sidewalks had wheelchair ramps, but garbage cans and street
vendors often blocked access. Many of the sidewalk wheelchair ramps
were crumbling or too steep. The situation was worse in many smaller
cities and towns.
Indigenous People.--Indigenous people lived throughout the country
but primarily in the mountainous areas of northern and central Luzon
and in Mindanao. They accounted for approximately 14 percent of the
national population, with over 60 percent of the total in Mindanao.
Although no specific laws discriminate against indigenous people, the
remoteness of the areas that many inhabit and cultural bias prevented
their full integration into society. Indigenous children suffered from
lack of health, education, and other basic services. NGOs estimated
that up to 70 percent of indigenous youth leave or never attend school
because of the discrimination they experienced.
Indigenous people suffered disproportionately from armed conflict,
including displacement from their homes, because they often inhabit
mountainous areas also favored by guerrillas. Their lands were often
the sites of armed encounters, and various parties to the fighting
recruited many indigenous people.
A National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), staffed by
tribal members, implements constitutional provisions to protect
indigenous people. During the year, NCIP had a budget of $7.94 million
(P405 million). At year's end, the NCIP had awarded Certificates of
Ancestral Land and Ancestral Domain Titles covering over 2.75 million
acres of land claimed by indigenous people in the country. It awarded
such ``ancestral domain lands'' on the basis of communal ownership,
stopping sale of the lands by tribal leaders. The law requires a
process of informed consultation and written consent by the indigenous
group to allow mining on tribal lands, and assigns indigenous groups
the responsibility to preserve their domains from environmentally
inappropriate development. The Government was slow to implement the
legislation, primarily because of opposition from mining and
agribusiness interests, but some limited progress was made.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers, including most public employees, with the exception of the
military and the police, to form and join trade unions. Trade unions
are independent of the Government. Unions have the right to form or
join federations or other labor groups.
Through November the Bureau of Labor Relations reported 128
registered labor federations and more than 15,000 private sector
unions, a slight decline from the number of unions registered in 2005.
The 1.6 million union members represented 4.4 percent of the total
workforce of 35.9 million. The number of firms using contractual labor,
primarily large employers, continued to grow. There were 1,531 public
sector unions, with a total membership of 291,343 or about 19 percent
of the total public sector labor force.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
alleged that a new union may be registered only if it represents at
least 20 percent of workers in a bargaining unit and that the law
requires 10 unions before a federation can be formed. The ICFTU had two
complaints pending before the ILO regarding these requirements.
The ICFTU and other labor rights advocacy groups expressed alarm at
killings, abductions, and other attacks on 19 labor leaders and
supporters since September 2005 and urged the Government to greater
efforts in investigating these attacks (see section 1.a.).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively. The labor
code provides for this right for employees both in the private sector
and in government-owned or controlled corporations. A similar right is
afforded to most government workers. Approximately 5 percent of the
work force was organized. Collective bargaining was practiced; however,
it is subject to hindrance and union leaders may be subject to
reprisal. International labor organizations noted that collective
bargaining in the public sector is limited and that the right to strike
is banned outright for public sector workers. Through November the
number of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements declined
to approximately 241,600 (approximately 11 percent of union members)
from 296,000 in 2005. There are no special laws or exemptions from
regular labor laws in SEZs.
Allegations of intimidation and discrimination in connection with
union activities are grounds for review before the quasi-judicial
National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) as possible unfair labor
practices. However, unions maintained that widespread ignorance of
basic standards and rights was a major obstacle to union organization.
Before disputes reach the NLRC, the DOLE provides the services of a
mediation board, which settles most of the unfair labor practice
disputes raised as grounds for strikes before the strikes may be
declared. The DOLE, through the mediation board, also worked to improve
the functioning of labor-management councils in companies that already
had unions.
Subject to certain procedural restrictions, strikes in the private
sector are legal; however, unions are required to provide strike
notice, respect mandatory cooling-off periods, and obtain majority
member approval before calling a strike. By law, the reason for
striking must be relevant to the labor contract or the law, and all
means of reconciliation must have been exhausted. The DOLE secretary
may intervene in some labor disputes by assuming jurisdiction and
mandating a settlement if the secretary decides that the industry
involved in the strike is vital to national security. From January to
November, DOLE reported that there were 12 strikes involving 1,415
workers; in 2005 there were 26 strikes involving approximately 8,000
workers.
On September 25 and 27, unions of two garment factories in the
Cavite Economic Zone alleged that guards and local police illegally and
violently dispersed their strikes. These strikes were launched after
the management of the two companies refused to negotiate a collective
bargaining agreement with the unions, despite DOLE's certification of
the unions as exclusive bargaining agents. The unions filed with the
CHR charges of illegal dispersal, physical injuries, and food blockade
against the economic zone authority and the local police. The CHR
investigation was on-going as of year's end.
Although the labor code provides that union officers who knowingly
participate in an illegal strike may be dismissed and, if convicted,
imprisoned for up to three years, there has never been a conviction
under this provision.
Trade union officials reported that underpayment of the minimum
wage and the use of contract employees to avoid the payment of required
benefits were common practices, including in the government-designated
SEZs, where tax benefits were used to encourage the growth of export
industries. Dismissal or threatened dismissal of union members also was
common. Labor groups alleged that companies in the SEZs have used
frivolous lawsuits as a means of harassing union leaders.
Labor law applies uniformly throughout the country, including the
SEZs; however, local political leaders and officials who govern the
SEZs attempted to frustrate union organizing efforts by maintaining
union-free or strike-free policies. A conflict over interpretation of
the SEZ law's provisions for labor inspection created further obstacles
to the enforcement of workers' rights to organize. DOLE can conduct
inspections of local SEZ establishments, although local SEZ directors
claimed authority to conduct their own inspections as part of the
zones' privileges intended by congress. Hiring often was controlled
tightly through SEZ labor centers. Union successes in organizing in the
SEZs have been few and marginal. In the Subic SEZ, only one firm was
unionized. Some mainstream unions declined to mount a major unionizing
effort in the lower-wage SEZ industries, such as the garment industry.
They considered it unpromising in view of both the organizers'
restricted access to the closely guarded zones and the rapid turnover
of the young, mainly female, staff who worked on short-term contracts
in the zones' many electronics and garment factories.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced labor, including forced and compulsory labor by children;
however, despite the Government's efforts, there were some reports of
forced and compulsory labor, particularly by children, mainly in
prostitution, drug trafficking, and other areas of the informal sector
(see sections 5 and 6.d.). The legal minimum age for employment as a
domestic worker is 15. However, an estimated 2.1 million children 17
years of age or younger, including 880,000 under 15, were employed.
Some recruiters reportedly brought children to work in Manila or other
cities under terms that involved a ``loan'' advanced to their parents
that the children were obliged to repay through their work. The DOLE
continued to address the problem of underage workers in family work
settings with prosecutions and fines of violators (see sections 5 and
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15, except
under the direct and sole responsibility of parents or guardians, or in
cases in which employment in cinema, theater, radio, or television is
essential to the integrity of the production. The law allows employment
of those between the ages of 15 and 18 for such hours and periods of
the day as are determined by the DOLE secretary but forbids the
employment of persons less than 18 years of age in hazardous or
dangerous work. However, child labor remained a common problem, and a
significant number of children were employed in the informal sector of
the urban economy or as unpaid family workers in rural areas--some as
bonded laborers (see section 6.c.). The Government estimated that there
were approximately four million working children, about half of whom
were exposed to hazardous working environments, such as quarries and
mines, docksides, and fishing boats, which are defined in the nation's
laws as among the worst forms of child labor.
Most child labor occurred in the informal economy, often in family
settings. The Government rarely sought to prosecute a poor family
because it had a working child. Nevertheless, the Government, in
coordination with a number of domestic NGOs and international
organizations, implemented programs to develop other, safer options for
children, return them to school, and offer families viable economic
alternatives to child labor. Although the Government made attempts to
devote more resources to child labor programs this year, resources
remained inadequate.
The Government and NGOs implemented programs to prevent the
engagement of children in exploitative child labor; they educated
communities on child labor and provided counseling and other activities
for children. The DOLE and the DepEd worked with NGOs, UNICEF, and the
ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to assist
children to return to school. The Government also imposed fines and
instituted criminal prosecutions for child labor violations in the
formal sector, such as in manufacturing. Between January and September,
the DOLE continued its efforts to rescue exploited child workers,
rescuing 201 minors in 44 different operations, compared with 63
operations involving 151 minors in 2005. The Employers Confederation of
the Philippines pursued an active and highly visible program against
child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage did
not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Tripartite regional wage boards set minimum wages, and the highest
minimum wage rates were in the National Capital Region, where the
minimum daily wage for nonagricultural workers was $7 (P350). The
lowest minimum wages were in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,
where the daily agricultural wage was $4 (P200). The regional wage
board orders covered all private sector workers except domestic
servants and others employed in the personal service of another person.
Boards exempted some employers because of factors such as business
size, industry sector, export intensity, financial distress, and level
of capitalization. These exemptions excluded substantial numbers of
workers from coverage under the law. Reportedly 225 businesses in Metro
Manila requested exemptions from the minimum wage order issued in July.
However, as of the end of November, the wage board for Metro Manila had
not yet granted any exemptions. As of December, the regional wage
boards approved 366 out of 525 employer applications for exemptions
from the minimum wage orders issued in 2005. The regional boards
received an additional 287 applications for exemptions from the 2006
minimum wage orders; 46 of which were approved as of October. Unions
have filed complaints about the minimum wage exemption policies.
Violation of minimum wage standards was common. Many firms hired
employees for less than the minimum apprentice rates, even if there was
no approved training in their production-line work. As of June, 16
percent of commercial establishments inspected by DOLE were out of
compliance with the prevailing minimum wage. The DOLE acknowledged that
the shortage of inspectors made the law difficult to enforce. In
addition to fines, the Government also made use of administrative
procedures and moral suasion to encourage employers to rectify
violations voluntarily. Complaints about nonpayment of social security
contributions, bonuses, and overtime were particularly common with
regard to companies in SEZs.
By law, the standard legal workweek is 48 hours for most categories
of industrial workers and 40 hours for government workers, with an
eight-hour per day limit. The Government mandates an overtime rate of
125 percent of the hourly rate on ordinary days and 130 percent on rest
days and holidays. The law mandates one day of rest each week. However,
there is no legal limit on the number of overtime hours that an
employer may require. The DOLE conducted only sporadic inspections to
enforce limits on workweek hours. The DOLE's 208 labor inspectors made
nearly 10,500 inspections by June to check on companies' compliance
with general labor and working standards.
The law provides for a comprehensive set of occupational safety and
health standards. The DOLE has responsibility for policy formulation
and review of these standards, but with too few inspectors nationwide,
local authorities often must carry out enforcement. The DOLE continued
a campaign to promote safer work environments in small enterprises.
Statistics on actual work-related accidents and illnesses were
incomplete, as incidents (especially in agriculture) were
underreported. Workers do not have a legally protected right to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations without risking loss of
employment.
The Government and several NGOs worked to protect the rights of the
country's overseas citizens, most of whom were temporary or contract
workers. The Government placed financial sanctions on and criminal
charges against domestic recruiting agencies found guilty of unfair
labor practices. Although the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration registered and supervised domestic recruiters' practices
successfully, the authorities sometimes lacked sufficient resources to
ensure workers' protection overseas. It sought cooperation from
receiving countries and proposed migrant worker rights conventions in
international forums. The Government also provided assistance through
its diplomatic missions in countries with substantial numbers of
migrant workers.
The labor laws protect foreign workers in the country. Foreign
workers must obtain work permits and may not engage in certain
occupations. Typically their work conditions were better than those
faced by citizens.
__________
SAMOA
Samoa is a parliamentary democracy that incorporates traditional
practices into its governmental system. The country has a population of
approximately 177,000. Executive authority is vested in the head of
state, Malietoa Tanumafili II, who holds the position for life.
Parliament, elected by universal suffrage, is composed primarily of the
heads of extended families, or matai. The most recent elections, held
in March, were marred by charges of bribery. As a result of election
challenges filed by losing candidates, the Supreme Court ordered 10 by-
elections. The Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has dominated
parliament as the majority party for the past six terms. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the national
police force.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, some human rights problems remained, including local
limitations on religious freedom, discrimination against women and non-
matai, and poor prison conditions.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings. In August the ombudsman's office reopened the
investigation of a 2005 case in which police officer Tupou Ainu'u was
found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of a man in police
custody. The investigation was ongoing at year's end
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
continued to deteriorate, especially for male inmates. Only basic
provisions were provided with respect to food, water, and sanitation.
Diplomatic observers reported that each concrete cell held
approximately 15 inmates. Most of the cells had gravel floors, no
toilets, poor ventilation, and almost no lighting. Meals were served
through the cell bars. The Government made efforts to improve prison
conditions, including constructing 10 new cells. Juveniles were not
held in separate facilities; however, during the year the Government
began construction on a new separate juvenile detention center.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers; however, there were no known requests during the year. The
Government permitted family members and church representatives to visit
prisons every two weeks.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a small
national police force and no external defense force. Enforcement of
rules and security within individual villages is vested in the fono
(Council of Matai). Judgments by the fono usually involved fines or,
more rarely, banishment from the village.
The police, prison guards, and firefighters all belong to one
consolidated national service. A commissioner appointed to a three-year
term heads this service. He is assisted by four assistant commissioners
and reports to the minister of police. Corruption and impunity were not
significant problems among the police; however, a lack of resources
limited police effectiveness.
Arrest and Detention.--The Supreme Court issues arrest warrants
based on sufficient evidence. The law provides for the right to a
prompt judicial determination regarding the legality of detention, and
the authorities generally respected this right in practice. Detainees
are informed within 24 hours of the charges against them, or they are
released. There was a functioning system of bail. Detainees were
allowed prompt access to family members and a lawyer of their choice.
If the detainee is indigent, the Government provides a lawyer.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judiciary consists of the district court, the Lands and Titles
Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. The district court
has jurisdiction over matters involving values less than $4,000
(WST$10,000) and criminal offenses with penalties less than five years.
The Lands and Titles Court has jurisdiction over all lands and titles
cases. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over matters of more than
$4,000 (WST$10,000) and criminal offenses with penalties of more than
five years. The Court of Appeal is the highest court. It has appellate
jurisdiction only and can review the rulings of any other court. It is
composed of a panel of retired New Zealand judges and sits once a year
for several weeks.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The accused
person must be charged within 24 hours. A trial judge examines evidence
and determines if there are grounds to proceed. Defendants have the
presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Trials are public, and
juries are used. Defendants have the right to be present and to timely
consultation with an attorney, at public expense if required.
Defendants may confront witnesses and present witnesses and evidence on
their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence, and defendants have the right to appeal a
verdict.
Many civil and criminal matters were handled by village fono, which
varied considerably in their decision-making styles and the number of
matai involved in the decisions. The law recognizes the decisions of
the fono and provides for limited appeal to the Lands and Titles Court
and the Supreme Court. The nature and severity of the dispute
determines which court receives an appeal. For all lands and titles
appeals, the Lands and Titles Court first uses its own appellate court
presided over by the President, after which appeals may be taken up to
the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal if necessary. For other civil
and criminal disputes, appeals may be taken first to the Supreme Court
and later to the Court of Appeal if necessary. According to a 2000
Supreme Court ruling, fono may not infringe upon villagers' freedom of
religion, speech, assembly, or association (see section 2.c.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Lands and Titles Court
is an independent and impartial court that deals with civil matters,
including human rights violations. The Lands and Titles Court hears
disputes concerning the use or ownership of land and the use or
ownership of a matai title. Within their jurisdictions, other courts
can also provide independent and impartial means to redress human
rights violations, as indicated above in this section.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However, there is
little or no privacy in villages, where there can be substantial
societal pressure on residents to grant village officials access
without a warrant.
In accordance with traditional law, village fono may impose a
punishment of banishment (see section 2.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. There were three television stations (one
government-controlled) and three newspapers (also one government-
controlled). The independent media were generally active and expressed
a wide variety of views without restriction. The law stipulates
imprisonment for any journalist who, despite court order, refuses to
reveal a confidential source upon request from a member of the public.
However, there has been no court case invoking this law.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expressions of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events. However, under a
1998 amendment to the Films Control Act, the official government censor
is required to ban any film that might hinder stability and social
order. During the year, the Government banned from public viewing one
motion picture considered likely to promote interreligious strife.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The
constitution acknowledges an ``independent state based on Christian
principles and Samoan custom and traditions''; however, there is no
official or state denomination. The law grants each person the right to
change religion or belief and to worship or teach religion alone or
with others, but in practice the matai often choose the religious
denomination of their extended family. There were instances during the
year where fono imposed restrictions on the introduction and practice
of new religions and faiths. The courts ruled in several high-profile
cases in which village fono attempted to limit religious observance to
existing churches (primarily the Congregational Christian Church of
Samoa, the Catholic Church, and the Methodist Church). Those negatively
affected by such attempts were primarily the relatively new, fast-
growing evangelical and interdenominational Christian movements. In
such cases, the fono allowed village persons to travel outside their
village to attend religious services (see Section 2.d.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no significant
reports of societal religious discrimination or anti-Semitic acts. For
a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious
Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. However,
traditional law governs villages, and village fono regularly banned
citizens from village activities or banished citizens from the village
for failing to conform to village laws or obey fono rulings. In some
cases civil courts have overruled banishment orders. During the year
one person was banished from his village for attempting to establish a
new church, allegedly due to a lack of advance consultation with the
fono. The person affected appealed to the Lands and Titles Court, which
ruled in his favor.
The law prohibits exile, and the Government did not use it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government was prepared to cooperate with the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees, but the need did not arise during
the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections
were in March, but they were marred by charges of bribery. As a result
of election challenges filed by losing candidates, the Supreme Court
ordered 10 by-elections. By year's end, the by-elections had not all
been conducted and not all results were finalized. The HRPP has
dominated the political process, winning seven consecutive elections
since 1982.
The law does not prohibit the formation of opposition parties,
although none currently exist. In October the leader of the recognized
opposition, the Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP), resigned due to
internal party conflict. His resignation, together with that of another
SDUP member, reduced the SDUP below the eight members required for
recognition as a party in parliament.
While the constitution gives all citizens above the age of 21 the
right to vote and run for office, by social custom candidates for 47 of
the 49 seats in the parliament are drawn from the approximately 25,000
chiefs. Matai are selected by family agreement; there is no age
qualification. Although both men and women are permitted to become
matai, 95 percent of matai were men. Matai controlled local government
through the village fono, which were open to them alone.
During the year the number of women matai and women participating
in politics increased, with three women seated in the 13-member
cabinet, two women serving as heads of constitutional offices, four
women as chief executive officers of government ministries, and two
women as chief executive officers of government corporations. There
were five women in the 49-member Parliament.
The political rights of citizens who are not of ethnic Samoan
heritage are addressed by the reservation of two parliamentary seats
for ``at large'' members of parliament (MP). One of the at large
cabinet ministers was an at-large MP of mixed European-Samoan heritage.
Citizens of mixed European-Samoan or Chinese-Samoan heritage were well
represented in the civil service.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. During 2004 and 2005,
charges were brought against several current and former employees of
the Ministry of Health and the Department of Customs for theft of
government funds, and the chief executive officer of the Ministry of
Health was suspended. One senior officer from the Department of Customs
was charged with theft as a public servant. At year's end the trial
concerning the former chief executive officer of the Ministry of Health
was pending.
The law provides for an ombudsman to investigate complaints against
government agencies, officials, or employees, including allegations of
corruption. The ombudsman may require the Government to provide
information relating to a complaint.
Under the law, government information is subject to disclosure in
civil proceedings involving the Government, unless the information is
considered privileged or its disclosure would harm the public interest.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally respected this
in practice. However, politics and culture reflected a heritage of
matai privilege and power, and as such members of certain families had
some advantages.
Women.--The law prohibits abuse of women, but common social
attitudes tolerated their physical abuse within the home, and such
abuse was common. Delay in adopting amendments to the current fono law
prevented police from interfering in domestic violence. Domestic abuses
typically went unreported due to social pressure and fear of reprisal.
Village fono typically punished domestic violence offenders, but only
if the abuse was considered extreme (i.e. visible signs of physical
abuse). Village religious leaders were also permitted to intervene in
domestic disputes. When police received complaints from abused women,
the Government punished the offender, including by imprisonment. The
Government did not keep statistics on domestic abuse cases but
acknowledged the problem to be one of considerable concern.
Many cases of rape went unreported because common social attitudes
discourage such reporting. Rape is illegal, although spousal rape is
not illegal. In recent years authorities noted a considerable number of
reported cases of rape, as women slowly became more forthcoming with
police. Rape cases that reached the courts were treated seriously.
Convicted offenders often received sentences of several years'
imprisonment. During the year reporting of sexual crimes to the police
reportedly improved.
Prostitution is illegal but was not a major problem. The law does
not address sex tourism specifically; however, it was not a problem.
The law prohibits sexual harassment; it was not a widespread problem
but was believed to be underreported.
Women have equal rights under the constitution and statutory law,
and the traditional subordinate role of women is changing, albeit
slowly, particularly in the more conservative parts of society. The
Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development oversees and helps
secure the rights of women. To integrate women into the economic
mainstream, the Government sponsored numerous programs, including
literacy programs and training programs for those who did not complete
high school.
Children.--The Government made a strong commitment to the welfare
of children through the implementation of various youth programs by the
Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development in collaboration
with the ministries of Education and Health. Education is compulsory
through age 14; however, the Government did not enforce this law.
Public education was not free, and students were required to pay some
school fees. Boys and girls were treated equally and attended school in
approximately equal percentages. Most children attended school through
junior high school.
The Division for Women of the Ministry of Women, Community, and
Social Development, carried out several programs for women and young
people on a range of issues, including human rights. These issues were
facilitated and taught in the context of the Convention on the Rights
of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
The Government provided health care for children at public
hospitals for minimal charge. The Ministry of Health and the Samoa
Family Health Association undertook efforts to improve access to its
services by women and children. Law and tradition prohibit severe abuse
of children, but both tolerate corporal punishment. A recent rise in
reported cases of child abuse appeared to be due to the rise to
citizens' increased awareness of the need to report physical,
emotional, and sexual abuse of children. The Government aggressively
prosecuted such cases. There were no reports of commercial sexual
exploitation of children.
The Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration, in collaboration
with nongovernmental organizations, carried out other educational
activities address domestic violence and inappropriate behavior between
adults and children, and to promote human rights awareness.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons. There were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country during the year.
A transnational crimes unit monitored crimes related to trafficking
in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law pertaining specifically
to the status of persons with disabilities or regarding accessibility
for them. Tradition dictates that families care for persons with
disabilities, and this custom was observed widely in practice. There
were no reports of discrimination against persons with disabilities in
the areas of employment, education, access to health care, or in the
provision of other state services. Many public buildings were old, and
only a few were accessible to persons with disabilities. Most new
buildings provided better access, including ramps and elevators in most
multistory buildings.
The Ministry of Women, Community, and Social Development has
responsibility for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers legally have unrestricted
rights to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. There
were no practical limitations to union membership, and approximately 20
percent of the private sector workforce was unionized. The Public
Service Association (PSA) functioned as a union for all government
workers, who comprised approximately 80 percent of the paid workforce,
excluding the self-employed.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides workers with the right to organize and bargain collectively,
and workers exercised this right in practice. The PSA engages in
collective bargaining on behalf of government workers, including
bargaining on wages. Under the law, arbitration and mediation
procedures are in place to resolve labor disputes, although such
disputes rarely arise.
The Supreme Court has upheld the right of government workers to
strike, subject to certain restrictions imposed principally for reasons
of public safety, and workers have exercised this right. In September
2005 government doctors organized for more pay and better working
conditions. The Attorney General and the Ministry of Health deemed the
strike illegal and ordered the doctors to return to work. The doctors
defied the order, and a government commission was formed and tasked
with investigating the doctors' complaints. The commission's report was
approved by the cabinet, but the doctors on strike rejected it. At
year's end few of the doctors had returned to work.
Workers in the private sector have the right to strike, but there
were no private sector strikes during the year. There are no special
laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the sole export
processing zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but matai frequently
called upon persons, including minors, to work for their villages. Most
persons did so willingly; however, the matai may compel those who do
not (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--It
is illegal to employ children under the age of 15 except in ``safe and
light work.'' The Ministry of Labor refers complaints of illegal child
labor to the Attorney General for enforcement; however, no cases were
prosecuted during the year. Children frequently were seen vending goods
and food on Apia street corners. The Government has not made a
definitive determination as to whether this practice violates the
country's labor laws, which cover only persons who have a place of
employment. Although the practice may constitute a violation of the
law, local officials mostly tolerated it. There were no reports of
compulsory labor by children; however, the law does not apply to
service rendered to the matai or family members, some of whom required
children to work for the village, primarily on village farms. The
extent of this practice varied by village, but it generally did not
significantly disrupt children's education.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law establishes for the
private sector a 40-hour workweek and an hourly minimum wage. In
September 2005, the minimum wage was increased to $0.72 (WST$2.00) per
hour, which did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. An advisory commission to the minister of labor sets
minimum wages. Wages in the private sector are determined by
competitive demand for the required skills. Minimum wage rates were
sufficient only when supplemented by subsistence farming and fishing.
The law also establishes certain rudimentary safety and health
standards, which the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Labor is
responsible for enforcing. However, independent observers reported that
safety laws were not enforced strictly, except when accidents
highlighted noncompliance. Many agricultural workers, among others,
were inadequately protected from pesticides and other dangers to
health. Government education and awareness programs addressed these
concerns by providing appropriate training and equipment to
agricultural workers for adequate protection from pesticides and other
dangers to health. Safety laws do not apply to agricultural service
rendered to the matai. While the law does not address specifically the
right of workers to remove themselves from dangerous work situations,
the commissioner of labor investigates such cases, without jeopardy to
continued employment. Government employees are covered under different
and more stringent regulations, which were enforced adequately by the
Public Service Commission.
The Occupational Safety Hazard Act includes provisions covering the
safety and health of workers in both the private and public sectors.
The act also covers persons who are not workers but who are lawfully on
the premises or within the workplace during work hours. Workplace
safety and health were monitored strictly by the Ministry of Commerce,
Industry, and Labor through occupational safety hazard inspectors. Work
accidents were investigated when reports were received.
__________
SINGAPORE
Singapore is a parliamentary republic in which the People's Action
Party (PAP), in power since 1959, overwhelmingly dominates politics.
The population was approximately 4.35 million, with foreign workers
accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total. Opposition parties exist,
and parliamentary elections take place at regular, constitutionally
mandated intervals (most recently in May). The PAP holds 82 of 84
elected parliamentary seats and all ministerial positions. The civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government has broad powers to limit citizens' rights and to
handicap political opposition, which it used. Caning is an allowable
punishment for numerous offenses. The following human rights problems
were reported: preventive detention, executive influence over the
judiciary, infringement of citizens' privacy rights, restriction of
speech and press freedom and the practice of self-censorship by
journalists, restriction of freedom of assembly and freedom of
association, some restriction of freedom of religion, and some
trafficking in persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions. On February 9, an inmate held
in a courthouse cell claimed a policeman punched him twice when the
inmate was found smoking and in possession of cigarettes and a lighter.
The inmate was sent for a medical examination and filed charges against
the policeman. The subordinate courts found the accused policeman
guilty on March 29 and on April 4 sentenced him to four months in jail.
The penal code mandates caning, in addition to imprisonment, as
punishment for approximately 30 offenses involving violence, such as
rape and robbery, and for nonviolent offenses such as vandalism, drug
trafficking, and violation of immigration laws. Caning is discretionary
for convictions on other charges involving the use of force, such as
kidnapping or voluntarily causing grievous hurt. All women, men over
age 50 or under age 16, and anyone determined medically unfit are
exempt from punishment by caning. During the year 5,984 convicted
persons were sentenced to caning. Approximately 95 percent of caning
sentences were carried out.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions, while
Spartan, generally met international standards.
The Government did not allow human rights monitors to visit
prisons; however, diplomatic representatives were given consular access
to citizens of their countries.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are
responsible for routine security within the country and for border
protection, including action against illegal immigrants. The Internal
Security Act (ISA) authorizes the Internal Security Department in the
Ministry of Home Affairs to counter perceived threats to the nation's
security such as espionage, international terrorism, threats to racial
and religious harmony, and subversion. The police force was well
trained and highly disciplined. Corruption was not a problem, and the
police effectively maintained internal law and order. The Corrupt
Practices Investigation Bureau, an independent agency under the Prime
Minister's Office, investigates all allegations of corruption including
police corruption. Allegations of criminal offenses by police officers
are investigated either by a police division other than the unit to
which the accused are assigned or, in cases involving complaints of
serious misconduct, by the Internal Investigation Division at police
headquarters.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that, in most instances,
arrests are to be carried out after issuance of an authorized warrant;
however, some laws, such as the ISA, provide for arrests without
warrants. Those arrested under warrants must be charged before a
magistrate within 48 hours. The majority of those arrested were charged
expeditiously and brought to trial. A functioning bail system exists,
but no commercial bail bond services were available. Those who face
criminal charges are allowed counsel; however, there was no access to
counsel during an initial arrest and investigation before charges were
filed. The Law Society administered a legal aid plan for those who
could not afford to hire an attorney. In death penalty cases, the
Supreme Court appoints two attorneys for defendants who are unable to
afford their own counsel.
Some laws--the ISA, the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act
(CLA), the Misuse of Drugs Act (the drug act), and the Undesirable
Publications Act (UPA)--have provisions for arrest and detention
without a warrant or judicial review. The ISA has been employed
primarily against suspected security threats. In the past, these
threats were Communist related; however, in recent years, the ISA has
been employed against suspected terrorists. The CLA has been employed
primarily against suspected organized crime and drug trafficking.
The ISA and the CLA permit preventive detention without trial for
the protection of public security, safety, or the maintenance of public
order. The ISA gives broad discretion to the minister for home affairs,
at the direction of the President, to order detention without filing
charges if it is determined that a person poses a threat to national
security. The initial detention may be for up to two years and may be
renewed without limitation for additional periods of up to two years at
a time. Detainees have a right to be informed of the grounds for their
detention and are entitled to counsel. However, they have no right to
challenge the substantive basis for their detention through the courts.
The ISA specifically excludes recourse to the normal judicial system
for review of a detention order made under its authority. Instead,
detainees may make representations to an advisory board, headed by a
Supreme Court justice, which reviews each detainee's case periodically
and must make a recommendation to the President within three months of
the initial detention. The President may concur with the advisory
board's recommendation that a detainee be released prior to the
expiration of the detention order, but he is not obligated to do so.
At year's end, 34 detainees were being held under the ISA as
suspected terrorists. Of these detainees, 31 were suspected of
belonging to the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and three were
suspected of membership in the Philippines-based Moro Islamic
Liberation Front. In January Indonesian authorities arrested Mas
Selamat Kastari, alleged leader of the Singapore branch of JI, and
deported him to Singapore where he was detained under the ISA.
At year's end, 26 others were on restriction orders (ROs); this
number included both released detainees and suspected terrorists who
were never arrested. A person subject to an RO must seek official
approval for a change of address or occupation, for overseas travel, or
for participation in any public organization or activity.
The CLA comes up for renewal every five years. When Parliament
renewed the CLA in 2004, it amended it to allow taking DNA samples.
Under the CLA, the minister for home affairs may order preventive
detention, with the concurrence of the public prosecutor, for an
initial period of one year, and the President may extend detention for
additional periods of up to one year at a time. The minister must
provide a written statement of the grounds for detention to the
Criminal Law Advisory Committee (CLAC) within 28 days of the order. The
CLAC then reviews the case at a private hearing. CLAC rules require
that detainees be notified of the grounds of their detention at least
10 days prior to this hearing, in which a detainee may represent
himself or be represented by a lawyer. After the hearing, the committee
makes a written recommendation to the President, who may cancel,
confirm, or amend the detention order. However, persons detained under
the CLA have recourse to the courts via an application for a writ of
habeas corpus. Persons detained without trial under the CLA are
entitled to counsel, but they may challenge the substantive basis for
their detention only to the CLAC. The CLA is used almost exclusively in
cases involving narcotics or criminal organizations and has not been
used for political purposes. At the end of 2005, 211 persons were
detained under the provisions of the CLA; more recent statistics were
not available. Persons who allege mistreatment while in detention may
bring criminal charges against government officials alleged to have
committed such acts.
Both the ISA and the CLA contain provisions that allow for modified
forms of detention such as curfews, residence limitations, requirements
to report regularly to the authorities, limitations on travel, and, in
the case of the ISA, restrictions on political activities and
association.
The drug act permits detention without trial. Under the drug act,
the director of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) also may commit--
without trial--suspected drug abusers to a drug rehabilitation center
for a six-month period, which is extendable by a review committee of
the institution for up to a maximum of three years. As of December 432
persons were held in drug rehabilitation centers. Under the
Intoxicating Substances Act, the CNB director may order the treatment
of a person believed to be an inhalant drug abuser for up to six
months. Other sections of the drug act allow for capital punishment or
incarceration of persons found guilty of narcotics trafficking offenses
(see section 1.e.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence; however, in practice laws that limit judicial review
permit restrictions on constitutional rights. Some judicial officials,
especially supreme court judges, have ties to the ruling party and its
leaders. The President appoints judges to the Supreme Court on the
recommendation of the Prime Minister and in consultation with the chief
justice. The President also appoints subordinate court judges on the
recommendation of the chief justice. The term of appointment is
determined by the Legal Service Commission, of which the chief justice
is the chairman. Under the ISA and the CLA, the President and the
minister for home affairs have substantial de facto judicial power,
which explicitly (in the case of the ISA) or implicitly (in the case of
the CLA) excludes normal judicial review. These laws provide the
Government with the power to limit, on vaguely defined national
security grounds, the scope of certain fundamental liberties that
otherwise are provided for in the constitution.
Government leaders historically have used court proceedings, in
particular defamation suits, against political opponents and critics
(see sections 2.a., 2.d., and 3). Both this practice and consistent
awards in favor of government plaintiffs raised questions about the
relationship between the Government and the judiciary and led to a
perception that the judiciary reflected the views of the ruling party
in politically sensitive cases. On February 10, the High Court declared
opposition politician Chee Soon Juan bankrupt for failing to pay libel
damages awarded to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Mentor
Lee Kuan Yew in January 2005 for $316,455 (S$500,000) for comments made
by Chee in the 2001 election campaign. Following the bankruptcy
hearing, Chee criticized the judiciary for ``lack of independence and
fairness,'' and on February 15, the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC)
moved to have Chee found in contempt of court. Supreme Court Justice
Lai dismissed defense claims that the AGC had no standing since the
bankruptcy court should have taken any contempt action on February 10;
Lai also dismissed defense arguments of fair comment and free speech,
found Chee guilty, and sentenced him to one day in jail and a $3,600
(S$6,000) fine. Chee refused to pay the fine and spent eight days in
prison. Chee and his associates faced a variety of other charges during
the year, which greatly handicapped their opposition political
activities. In particular, on June 20, Chee's attorney M. Ravi appeared
before the Disciplinary Committee of Law Society to respond to a
complaint a judge lodged against him regarding his behavior in a 2003
case. The disciplinary committee fined Ravi $1,250 (S$2,000) and
referred his case to the Court of Three Judges, the legal profession's
highest disciplinary body, which has the authority to suspend him from
the practice of law. On October 27, the court suspended Ravi from
practicing for one year.
The judicial system has two levels of courts: the Supreme Court,
which includes the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and the
subordinate courts. Subordinate court judges and magistrates as well as
public prosecutors are civil servants whose specific assignments are
determined by the Legal Service Commission, which can decide on job
transfers to any of several legal service departments. The subordinate
courts handle the great majority of civil and criminal cases in the
first instance. The High Court may hear any civil or criminal case,
although it generally limits itself to civil matters involving
substantial claims and criminal matters carrying the death penalty or
imprisonment of more than 10 years. The Court of Appeal is the highest
and final court of review for matters decided in the subordinate courts
or the High Court. Supreme Court justices may choose to remain in
office until the mandatory retirement age of 65, after which they may
continue to serve at the Government's discretion for brief, renewable
terms at full salary. In addition, the law provides for Islamic courts
whose authority is limited to Islamic family law, which is applicable
only to Muslims.
A two-tier military court system has jurisdiction over all military
personnel, civilians in the service of the armed forces, and volunteers
when they are ordered to report for service. The system handles
approximately 450 cases each year. The Military Court of Appeal has the
jurisdiction to examine an appeal from a person convicted by a
subordinate military court. Trials are public, and the defendants have
the right to be present. An accused individual also has the right to
defense representation.
Trial Procedures.--The judicial system provides citizens with an
efficient judicial process. In normal cases the criminal procedures
code provides that a charge against a defendant must be read and
explained to him as soon as it is framed by the prosecution or the
magistrate. Trials are public and heard by a judge; there are no jury
trials. Defendants have the right to be present at their trials and to
be represented by an attorney; the Law Society administers a criminal
legal aid plan for those who cannot afford to hire an attorney.
Defendants also have the right to question opposing witnesses, to
provide witnesses and evidence on their own behalf, and to review
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal in most cases. Despite
the general presumption of innocence, the drug act stipulates that a
person who the prosecution proves has illegal narcotics in his
possession, custody, or control shall be assumed to be aware of the
substance and places the burden on the defendant to prove otherwise.
The same law also stipulates that, if the amount of the narcotic is
above set low limits, it is the defendant's burden to prove he did not
have the drug for the purpose of trafficking. Convictions for narcotics
trafficking offenses carry lengthy jail sentences or the death penalty,
depending on the type and amount of the illegal substance. Persons
charged with a capital offense under the the drug act have the right to
a public trial and to appeal conviction.
The constitution extends these rights to all citizens; however,
persons detained under the ISA or CLA are not entitled to a public
trial. In addition, proceedings of the advisory board under the ISA and
CLA are not public (see section 1.d.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no
differentiation between civil and criminal judicial procedures. The
subordinate courts handle the majority of civil cases. Access to the
courts is open, and citizens and residents have the right to sue for
infringement of human rights. However, there has been no known attempt
to use legal action against the Government for human rights violations.
In fact, despite their sometimes heavy-handed tactics against the
opposition, the Government was careful to ensure that their actions
were within the constitution and the law.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution does not address privacy rights;
remedies for infringement of some aspects of privacy rights are
available under statutory or common law. The Government generally
respected the privacy of homes and families; however, it had a
pervasive influence over civic and economic life and sometimes used its
broad discretionary powers to infringe on these rights. To prevent
housing segregation, the Government enforced ethnic ratios in publicly
subsidized housing where the majority of citizens lived (see section
5). Normally the police must have a warrant issued by a court to
conduct a search; however, they may search a person, home, or a
property without a warrant if they decide that such a search is
necessary to preserve evidence. The Government has wide-ranging
discretionary powers under the ISA, CLA, the drug act, and UPA to
conduct searches without a warrant if it determines that national
security, public safety and order, or the public interest is at risk.
Defendants may request judicial review of such searches.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Internal Security
Department and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Board, have
extensive networks for gathering information and conducting
surveillance and highly sophisticated capabilities to monitor telephone
and other private conversations. No court warrants are required for
such operations. The law permits government monitoring of Internet use.
It was believed that the authorities routinely monitored telephone
conversations and the use of the Internet. It was widely believed that
the authorities routinely conducted surveillance on some opposition
politicians and other government critics.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and freedom of expression but permits official
restrictions on these rights, and in practice the Government
significantly restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in self-
censorship among journalists; however, there was a moderate level of
ongoing debate in newspapers and on the Internet on some public issues
such as rising income inequality and the role of foreign workers in the
country.
Under the ISA, the Government may restrict or place conditions on
publications that incite violence, counsel disobedience to the law,
have the potential to arouse tensions in the country's diverse
population, or might threaten national interests, national security, or
public order. While the ISA has not been invoked in recent years
against political opponents of the Government, political opposition and
criticism remained restricted by the Government's authority to define
these powers broadly.
Government leaders urged that news media support the goals of the
elected leadership and help maintain social and religious harmony. In
addition, strict defamation and press laws and the Government's
demonstrated willingness to respond vigorously to what it considered
personal attacks on officials sometimes led journalists and editors to
moderate or limit what was published.
In 2004 the Government relaxed provisions of the Public
Entertainment and Meetings Act (PEMA), which requires a permit for
virtually any form of public speech or entertainment (see section
2.b.). Citizens do not need a permit to speak at indoor public
gatherings outside the hearing or view of nonparticipants, unless the
topic refers to race or religion. Nevertheless, police continued to
invoke the PEMA for minor public protests. In January the police warned
a group of female high school students that their plan to sell t-shirts
commemorating the 2005 ``White Elephant'' protest might violate the
PEMA.
On November 23, opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and two
supporters were convicted and fined for speaking in public without a
permit (see sections 1.e., 2.d., and 3). Police testified that they
observed Chee giving speeches rather than a sales talk for his Social
Democratic Party newsletter. On November 23, in lieu of paying a $3,268
(S$5,000) fine, Chee began serving a five-week jail term.
Government restrictions limit the ability to speak freely at the
Speakers' Corner in a public park. Prospective speakers must be
citizens, must show their identification cards, and must register in
advance with the police. While it was not necessary to declare speech
topics in advance, government regulations governing the Speakers'
Corner state that ``the speech should not be religious in nature and
should not have the potential to cause feelings of enmity, ill will, or
hostility between different racial or religious groups.''
On September 24, a journalist for the Epoch Times, a newspaper
affiliated with the Falun Gong movement, was denied entry and asked to
leave the country.
The Government strongly influenced both the print and electronic
media. Two companies, Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) and
MediaCorp, own all general circulation newspapers in the four official
languages--English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. MediaCorp is wholly
owned by the Government investment company. SPH is a private holding
company with close ties to the Government; the Government must approve
(and can remove) the holders of SPH management shares, who have the
power to appoint or dismiss all directors or staff. As a result, while
newspapers printed a large and diverse selection of articles from
domestic and foreign sources, their editorials, coverage of domestic
events, and reporting of sensitive foreign relations issues usually
closely reflected government policies and the opinions of government
leaders. The Government sets formal and informal constraints on the
media; for example, a visiting academic whose views on religion the
Government considered unconventional was allowed to speak, but the
media reportedly was restricted with regard to coverage of the speech.
Columnists' opinions and letters to the editor expressed a moderate
range of opinions on public issues. The international nongovernmental
organization (NGO) Reporters Without Borders noted strong government
and ruling party influence over the media as well as continued
censorship and self-censorship.
Government-linked companies and organizations operated all domestic
broadcast television channels and almost all radio stations. Only one
radio station, the BBC World Service, was completely independent of the
Government. Some Malaysian and Indonesian television and radio
programming could be received, but satellite dishes were banned, with
few exceptions. Cable subscribers had access to seven foreign
television news channels and many entertainment channels, including
some with news programs; these were not censored.
The Media Development Authority (MDA), a statutory board under the
Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Arts (MICA), continued
to censor broadcast media, Internet sites, and all other media,
including movies, video materials, computer games, and music. Banned
publications consisted primarily of sexually oriented materials but
also included some religious and political publications. Both MDA and
MICA developed censorship standards with the help of a citizen advisory
panel. The ISA, the UPA, and the Films Act allow the banning, seizure,
censorship, or restriction of written, visual, or musical materials by
these agencies if they determine that such materials threaten the
stability of the state, contravene moral norms, are pornographic, show
excessive or gratuitous sex and violence, glamorize or promote drug
use, or incite racial, religious, or linguistic animosities. The MDA
has the power to sanction broadcasters for airing what it believes to
be inappropriate content. All content airing between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
must be suitable for viewers of all ages.
A substantial number of foreign media operations were located
within the country, and a wide range of international magazines and
newspapers can be purchased uncensored. However, under the Newspaper
and Printing Press Act (NPPA), the Government may limit the circulation
of foreign publications that it determines interfere with domestic
politics. The NPPA requires foreign publications that report on
politics and current events in Southeast Asia, with circulation of 300
or more copies per issue, to register, post a $126,582 (S$200,000)
bond, and name a person in the country to accept legal service. The
Government has granted exemptions to 19 of the 24 publications to which
these requirements could apply. On September 28, the Government banned
the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) for failing to comply with the
NPPA. Importation or possession of FEER for sale or distribution was an
offense. Readers could access FEER through the Internet. Newspapers
printed in Malaysia cannot be imported.
The Government may limit (or ``gazette'') the circulation of
publications. The Government also may ban the circulation of domestic
and foreign publications under provisions of the ISA and the UPA. The
Broadcasting Act empowers the minister for information, communication,
and the arts to gazette or place formal restrictions on any foreign
broadcaster deemed to be engaging in domestic politics. Once gazetted,
a broadcaster can be required to obtain express permission from the
minister to continue broadcasting in the country. The Government may
impose restrictions on the number of households receiving a
broadcaster's programming, and a broadcaster can be fined up to $63,291
(S$100,000) for failing to comply.
Under the country's defamation laws, some plaintiffs can easily win
substantial judgments for damages and legal costs. Conviction on
criminal defamation charges can result in a prison sentence of up to
two years, a fine, or both. Threats of defamation actions often
persuaded newspapers and others to apologize and pay damages for
perceived slights. On August 22, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew sued FEER for defamation over an article
that questioned whether the Government's ``squeaky-clean'' reputation
was deserved. In September 2005 a regional financial magazine,
FinanceAsia, apologized to top national leaders for an article that
described Temasek Holdings, the Government's key state investment
entity, as ``the Lee family trust.'' The magazine also agreed to pay
undisclosed damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister
Goh Chok Tong, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, and Temasek and its board
members.
Critics charged that government leaders used defamation lawsuits or
threats of such actions to discourage public criticism and intimidate
opposition politicians and the press. The unbroken success of
government leaders' suits in the last decade has fostered public
caution about political speech, prompted a culture of self-censorship
within the news media, and inhibited opposition politics. During the
last decade, ruling party leaders have sued opposition politicians for
defamation of individual government leaders on several occasions. In
May Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew
sued the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) executive committee and the
publisher of its newsletter for allegedly defamatory comments about the
Government's handling of a 2005 corruption and mismanagement scandal
affecting the National Kidney Foundation. The publisher and the entire
SDP executive committee, with the exception of executive committee
members Chee Soon Juan and his sister, Chee Siok Chin, apologized
publicly. The two Chees refused to apologize, and on September 13, the
High Court found them guilty of defamation. The court had not set
damages by year's end. Earlier the High Court convicted Chee Soon Juan
for contempt of court for questioning the independence of the
Singaporean judiciary in connection with his February 10 (see section
1.e.) bankruptcy hearing, which stemmed from an earlier defamation
case.
Internet Freedom.--Although residents generally have unrestricted
access to the Internet, the Government subjected all Internet content
to the same rules and standards as traditional media. Using a framework
of Web site licenses, the MDA also regulates access to material on the
Internet. Internet service providers (ISPs) are required to ensure that
content complies with the MDA's Internet code of conduct. The MDA also
regulates Internet material by licensing the ISPs through which local
users are required to route their Internet connections. The law permits
government monitoring of Internet use, and the Government closely
monitored Internet activities such as blogs and podcasts as sources of
political dissent, including before the May election. On April 3, MICA
prohibited the use of podcasts and videocasts as campaign tools during
the election period. It is unclear whether this prohibition will remain
in effect for future elections. Although there has been no shut down of
blogs, on July 7, the state-owned newspaper Today eliminated a popular
blogger's column after the Government complained that his comments on
economic policy ``distorted the truth.'' On July 22, another blogger
received a warning after he posted cartoons mocking Jesus Christ on his
online journal. The MDA was empowered to direct service providers to
block access to Web sites that, in the Government's view, undermined
public security, national defense, racial and religious harmony, and
public morals. Although the MDA ordered ISPs to block 100 specific Web
sites that the Government considered pornographic, in general the
Government actually focused on blocking only a small number of sites.
Political and religious Web sites must register with the MDA.
In the past the Government has prosecuted persons for making
allegedly racist remarks on the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--All public institutions of
higher education and political research have limited autonomy from the
Government. Although faculty members are not technically government
employees, in practice they were subject to potential government
influence. Academics spoke and published widely and engaged in debate
on social and political issues. However, they were aware that any
public comments outside the classroom or in academic publications that
ventured into prohibited areas--criticism of political leaders or
sensitive social and economic policies, or comments that could disturb
ethnic or religious harmony or that appeared to advocate partisan
political views--could subject them to sanctions. Publications by local
academics and members of research institutions rarely deviated
substantially from government views.
The Films Act bans political advertising using films or videos as
well as films directed towards any political purpose. The act does not
apply to any film sponsored by the Government, and the act allows the
MICA minister to exempt any film from the act. On August 5, the MDA
withdrew the entertainment license of a play 30 hours before it was set
to open, citing its purported negative portrayal of Muslims. In March
2005 under government pressure a local filmmaker withdrew his film
Singapore Rebel, about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, from the
Singapore International Film Festival. Police questioned the filmmaker
about his film in March 2006 and in May and August 2005. Authorities
claimed his film violated the Films Act, which prohibits films
``directed towards any domestic political end.'' In August the police
closed the case with a warning. Other restrictions tightly control the
types of campaign materials that can be distributed by or about
candidates and parties during an election.
A list of banned films was available on the MDA Web site. Certain
films that have been barred from general release may be allowed limited
showings, either censored or uncensored, with a special rating. In
practice censorship standards have been significantly relaxed in recent
years for live theater performances. Plays with overtly sexual or
antiruling party themes have been permitted.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides citizens the right to peaceful
assembly but permits Parliament to impose restrictions ``it considers
necessary or expedient'' in the interest of security, public order, or
morality; in practice the Government restricted this right. Public
assemblies of five or more persons, including political meetings and
rallies, require police permission; however, in 2004 the Government
relaxed rules so that citizens no longer need permits for some indoor
speaking events (see section 2.a.). Spontaneous public gatherings or
demonstrations were virtually unknown. On July 15, nine persons
associated with Falun Gong were charged with illegal assembly for
gathering without a permit in October 2005. On August 18, one foreign
member of the Falun Gong was asked to leave Singapore after prosecutors
dropped a public nuisance charge against her for protests outside the
Chinese embassy in July.
The Government closely monitored political gatherings regardless of
the number of persons present. During the International Monetary Fund
and World Bank Joint Annual Meetings held in Singapore September 19-20,
the Government did not authorize any public demonstrations. Accredited
NGOs were allowed to protest in the lobby of the conference hall. On
September 9, immigration officials asked three activists from People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to leave the country for having
planned to stage a public protest. On September 12, the Government
announced it would bar 27 individuals representing eight NGOs from
entering the country to attend the conference. They were deemed a
threat to security and public order. The decision was amended on
September 15 to permit 22 of the 27 to enter the country. On September
16, police prevented Chee Soon Juan from carrying out a protest march.
Plain-clothed police officers often monitored political gatherings.
In July 2005 the police attended and videotaped a book launch by
opposition figure Chee Soon Juan. After his presentation, the police
questioned Chee and seized a video of protests by Hong Kong residents
that was playing in the background. The police claimed that Chee did
not have a certificate for public display of the video. Persons who
wished to speak at a public function, excluding functions provided by
or under the auspices of the Government, needed to obtain a public
entertainment license from the police; however, regulations exempt some
cultural events (such as Chinese operas or lion dances), requiring
seven days' advance notice to the police in lieu of a permit.
In August the Government approved a gay and lesbian festival that
included movie showings, book signings, and theater performances. In
July 2005 the police had denied a permit for the fourth annual gay and
lesbian beach festival, after having approved the festival in prior
years.
Freedom of Association.--Most associations, societies, clubs,
religious groups, and other organizations with more than 10 members are
required to register with the Government under the Societies Act. The
Government denied registration to groups that it believed were likely
to have been formed for unlawful purposes or for purposes prejudicial
to public peace, welfare, or public order. The Government has absolute
discretion in applying criteria to register or dissolve societies.
During the year the Registry of Societies received 336 registration
applications of which two were denied. The Government prohibits
organized political activities except by groups registered as political
parties or political organizations. This prohibition limits opposition
activities and contributes to restricting the scope of unofficial
political expression and action (see section 3). The prohibition
affected the PAP less because of its long domination of the Government
and its overwhelming parliamentary majority; the PAP traditionally was
able to use nonpolitical organizations such as residential committees
and neighborhood groups for political purposes far more extensively
than opposition political parties were. Political parties and
organizations are subject to strict financial regulations, including a
ban on receiving foreign donations. Due to laws regulating the
formation of publicly active organizations, there were few NGOs apart
from nonpolitical organizations such as religious groups, ethnically
oriented organizations, and providers of welfare services.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion; however, the Government restricted this right in some
circumstances. The constitution provides that every citizen or person
in the country has the right to profess, practice, or propagate his
religious belief so long as such activities do not breach any other
laws relating to public order, public health, or morality.
All religious groups were subject to government scrutiny. These
groups must be registered under the Societies Act. The Maintenance of
Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) gives the Government the power to restrain
leaders and members of religious groups and institutions from carrying
out political activities, ``exciting disaffection against'' the
Government, creating ``ill will'' between religious groups, or carrying
out subversive activities. Violation of a restraining order issued
under the MRHA is a criminal offense. The act also prohibits judicial
review of its enforcement or of any possible denial of rights arising
from its implementation.
The Government played an active but limited role in religious
affairs. It did not tolerate speech or actions, including those of a
religious nature, that it interpreted as adversely affecting racial and
religious harmony. In June MDA officials visited an Islamic bookstore
and asked the owner to remove radical Islamic literature, which he did
immediately. The Government may issue restraining orders barring
participation in activities adversely affecting religious harmony. The
Presidential Council for Religious Harmony reviews such orders and
makes recommendations to the President on whether to confirm, cancel,
or alter a restraining order. The Presidential Council for Minority
Rights examines all pending legislation to ensure it is not
disadvantageous to a particular group, reports to the Government on
matters that affect any racial or religious community, and investigates
complaints. The Government maintains a relationship with the Muslim
community through the Islamic Religious Council (MUS, which was
established under the Administration of Muslim Law Act. The MUSadvises
the Government on the Muslim community's concerns, drafts a weekly
approved sermon, maintains regulatory authority over Muslim religious
matters, and oversees a fund financed by voluntary payroll deductions
and used for mosque-building and social and educational purposes.
Under the Societies Act, the Government deregistered and banned
meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1972 and in 1982 dissolved the
Unification Church. While the Government did not outlaw the profession
or propagation of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and does not
arrest members merely for being believers, the result of deregistration
was to make meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses illegal. The community
numbered approximately 2,000 in the country, and members of Jehovah's
Witnesses continued to refuse to perform national military service. The
Government also banned all written materials published by the Jehovah's
Witnesses' publishing affiliates, the International Bible Students
Association and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. A person in
possession of banned literature can be fined up to $1,140 (S$2,000),
and for holding a meeting, the fine can be as high as $2,280 (S$4,000).
In August one member of Jehovah's Witnesses was charged with three
counts of importation of banned literature. He was convicted on two
counts and fined $3,420 (S$6,000). In 2004 the authorities briefly
detained 11 persons for attempting to bring Jehovah's Witnesses'
publications into the country. One individual received a warning.
Missionaries, with the exception of members of Jehovah's Witnesses
and representatives of the Unification Church, were permitted to work,
publish, and distribute religious texts. However, while the Government
did not prohibit evangelical activities, in practice it discouraged
activities that could upset intercommunal relations, such as
unsolicited public proselytizing.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no significant
reports of societal religious discrimination or of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides citizens the
right to move freely throughout the country; however, while the
Government generally respected this right in practice, it limited this
right in a few respects. For example, citizens' choice of where to live
sometimes was limited by the Government's legal requirement for ethnic
balance in publicly subsidized housing, in which the great majority of
citizens lived (see section 5). The Government required all citizens
and permanent residents over the age of 15 to register and to carry
identification cards. The Government may refuse to issue a passport and
did so in the case of former ISA detainees. Under the ISA a person's
movement may be restricted (see section 1.d.). According to official
press releases, at year's end there were 26 suspected terrorists
subject to such restrictions. Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan (see
sections 1.e., 2.a., and 3), considered bankrupt under the terms of the
Bankruptcy Act, was prevented from leaving the country in April. On May
7, opposition politician James Gomez was stopped from leaving the
country and questioned for eight hours regarding a complaint filed
against him by the Election Department; on May 13, his passport was
returned and permission to travel was granted.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the country did not employ it.
The right of voluntary repatriation was extended to holders of
national passports. The Government actively encouraged citizens living
overseas to return home or at least to maintain active ties with the
country. A provision of the law allows for the loss of citizenship by
citizens who resided outside the country for more than 10 consecutive
years, but it was not known to have been used.
Men are required to serve 24 months of national service upon
turning 18 years of age. They also are required to undergo reserve
training up to the age of 40 (for enlisted men) or 50 (for officers).
Male citizens with national service reserve obligations are required to
advise the Ministry of Defense if they plan to travel abroad. Boys age
13 to 16.5 years are issued passports that are valid for five years but
are required to obtain exit permits for trips longer then three months.
From the age of 16.5 until the age of enlistment, male citizens are
granted one-year passports and are required to apply for exit permits
for travel that exceeds three months. A bond of $47,468 (S$75,000) is
needed for exit permits of two years or more for both age groups.
The law stipulates that former members of the Communist Party of
Malaya (CPM) residing outside the country must apply to the Government
to be allowed to return. They must renounce communism, sever all
organizational ties with the CPM, and pledge not to engage in
activities prejudicial to the country's internal security. In addition,
the law requires them to submit to an interview by the Internal
Security Department and to accept any restrictive conditions imposed on
them.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a party to the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In
practice the Government provides protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution, but does
not grant refugee or asylum status.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully. Opposition parties can contest elections, and
the voting and vote-counting systems are fair and free from tampering;
however, the PAP, which has held power continuously and overwhelmingly
for more than four decades, has used the Government's extensive powers
to place formidable obstacles in the path of political opponents.
Elections and Political Participation.--Following the May 6
elections, the PAP (having captured 66.6 percent of the vote) held 82
of 84 elected seats; the opposition Singapore Democratic Alliance (13.1
percent) and the Workers' Party (16.3 percent) each held one seat. The
opposition continued to criticize what it described as PAP abuse of its
incumbency advantages to handicap opposition parties. The PAP
maintained its political dominance in part by developing voter support
through effective administration and its record in bringing economic
prosperity to the country, and in part by manipulating the electoral
framework, intimidating organized political opposition, and
circumscribing the bounds of legitimate political discourse and action.
The belief that the Government might directly or indirectly harm the
employment prospects of opposition supporters inhibited opposition
political activity; however, there were no confirmed cases of such
retaliation. As a result of these and other factors, opposition parties
were unable to seriously challenge the ruling party. The PAP claimed
that the lack of an effective opposition was due to disorganization,
weak leadership, and absence of persuasive alternative policies.
The country has a parliamentary system in which the majority party
in Parliament has the authority to constitute the Government, which is
headed by a prime minister. The parliamentary term is for no more than
five years after the first sitting of Parliament following a general
election. Parliament may be dissolved early by Presidential
proclamation, which normally follows a request by the Prime Minister.
Elections must be held within three months of Parliament's dissolution.
The constitution allows a parliamentary committee to select and the
President to appoint nominated members of parliament (MPs) to serve 2+-
year terms without facing election. A constitutional amendment requires
at least three opposition MPs. Therefore, if fewer than three are
elected, the Government will appoint a ``nonconstituency MP,'' who is
the opposition candidate who obtains the highest share of the vote
without winning a seat. Nonconstituency MPs and nominated MPs can
participate in parliamentary debate and can vote on some, but not all,
types of legislation.
The PAP has an extensive grassroots system and a carefully
selected, highly disciplined membership. The establishment of
government-organized and predominantly publicly funded Community
Development Councils (CDCs) has further strengthened the PAP's
position. The CDCs promote community development and cohesion and
provide welfare and other assistance services. The PAP dominates the
CDCs even in opposition-held constituencies and has threatened to
withdraw publicly funded benefits.
The PAP completely controlled key positions in and out of
government, influenced the press and courts, and limited opposition
political activities. Often the means were fully consistent with the
law and the normal prerogatives of the Government, but the overall
effect (and many argued the ultimate purpose) was to disadvantage and
weaken political opposition. Since 1988 the PAP changed all but nine
single-seat constituencies into group representational constituencies
(GRCs) of five to six parliamentary seats, in which the party with a
plurality wins all of the seats. According to the constitution, such
changes are permitted to ensure ethnic minority representation in
Parliament; each GRC candidate list must contain at least one Malay,
Indian, or other ethnic minority candidate. These changes made it more
difficult for opposition parties, all of which had very limited
memberships, to fill multimember candidate lists.
Although political parties legally were free to organize, they
operated under the same limitations that applied to all organizations,
and the authorities imposed strict regulations on their constitutions,
fundraising, and accountability (see section 2.b.). There were 24
registered political parties in the country; however, only six of these
were active. Political parties and organizations were subject to strict
financial regulations, including a ban on receiving foreign donations.
Government regulations hindered attempts by opposition parties to rent
office space in government housing blocks or to establish community
foundations. In addition, government influence extended in varying
degrees to academic, community service, and other NGOs.
The Films Act bans political films and recorded televised programs,
which further puts opposition parties at a disadvantage since they
received less coverage in the government-influenced press and media. A
filmmaker was investigated for a film about opposition leader Chee Soon
Juan that allegedly violated the Films Act (see section 2.a.). The ban,
which ostensibly exists to prevent the sensationalist or emotional
effect that video or film productions could have on political issues,
applies to the PAP as well as to the opposition parties. The law
regulates the use of the Internet by political parties and others for
political purposes during election campaigns (see section 2.a.).
The threat of civil libel or slander suits, which government
leaders have often used against political opponents and critics and
consistently won, had a stifling effect on the full expression of
political opinion and disadvantaged the political opposition (see
section 2.a.). Large judgments in libel suits can lead to bankruptcy,
and, under the law, bankrupt persons are ineligible to sit in
Parliament. The law also provides for criminal defamation offenses.
In the past, the Government used parliamentary censure or the
threat of censure to humiliate or intimidate opposition leaders.
The duties of the President are largely ceremonial. Nonetheless,
the President has significant budget oversight powers, as well as some
powers over civil service appointments and internal security affairs.
The law provides for a popularly elected President to be elected for a
six-year term from among candidates who are approved by a
constitutionally prescribed committee selected by the Government. In
August 2005 the committee decided that the PAP-endorsed incumbent,
President S.R. Nathan, was the only qualified candidate out of four
applicants. The election was cancelled and Nathan was inaugurated for a
second term in September 2005. The Government placed significant
obstacles in the way of opposition political figures' Presidential
candidacies. For example, opposition members were much less likely to
satisfy the requirement that candidates have experience in managing the
financial affairs of a large institution, since many of the country's
large institutions were government run or linked to the Government.
Voting is compulsory, and 95 percent of eligible voters voted.
There is no legal bar to the participation of women in political life;
women held 17 of the 84 elected parliamentary seats compared with 10 in
the previous parliament. As of October there were three female
ministers of state, although none of cabinet rank. Three of the 14
Supreme Court justices were women.
There are no restrictions in law or practice against minorities
voting or participating in politics; they actively participated in the
political process and were well represented throughout the Government,
except in some sensitive military positions. Malays made up
approximately 14 percent of the general population and hold
approximately the same percentage of elected seats in Parliament.
Indians made up approximately 9 percent of the general population and
held approximately 11 percent of the elected seats in Parliament.
Minority representation in Parliament is, in part, the result of a
legal requirement that candidate slates in every multiseat constituency
have at least one minority representative. There was one ethnic Malay
minister and three ethnic Indian ministers. Three of the 14 members of
the Supreme Court were ethnic Indian; there were no Malays on the
court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year, and the Government actively
prosecutes officials involved in corruption.
There are no laws that specifically provide for public access to
government information; however, significant amounts of information
were available on government Web sites.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Efforts by independent organizations to investigate and evaluate
government human rights policies faced the same obstacles as those
faced by opposition political parties. NGOs were subject to
registration under the Societies Act (see section 2.b.). Some domestic
NGOs criticized restrictions on human rights or suggested changes that
would relax or remove restrictions.
There is a Presidential Council on Minority Rights that monitors
pending legislation for anything possibly disadvantageous to minorities
(see section 5).
The Government permitted international human rights organizations
to observe human rights-related court cases.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution states that all persons are equal before the law
and entitled to the equal protection of the law, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice; there is no explicit
provision granting equal rights for women and minorities. Mindful of
the country's history of intercommunal tension, the Government took
measures to ensure racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural
nondiscrimination. Social, economic, and cultural benefits and
facilities were available to all citizens regardless of race, religion,
or gender. Men do not have the right to seek alimony from their wives
in cases of divorce or separation.
Women.--The law criminalizes domestic violence and sexual or
physical harassment; however, violence or abuse against women occurred.
A victim of domestic violence can obtain court orders barring the
spouse from the home until the court is satisfied that the spouse
ceased aggressive behavior. The number of court orders for protection
against violent family members has increased in recent years, in part
because the definition of violence includes intimidation, continual
harassment, or restraint against one's will. The law prescribes
mandatory caning and a minimum imprisonment of two years for conviction
on any charge of ``outraging modesty'' that caused the victim fear of
death or injury. The press gave prominent coverage to instances of
abuse or violence against women. There were several organizations that
provided assistance to abused women. The Association of Women for
Action and Research ran a hot line that offered counseling and legal
advice. The Family Protection and Welfare Service, an office of the
Ministry of Community Development, Youth, and Sports, documented
physical and psychological abuse and provided counseling and other
support services to abused women. The Star Shelter accepted children,
women, and men and can accommodate up to 30 persons. The Government
reported that, in 2005, 284 men applied for personal protection orders
against their wives compared to 1,627 applications from women against
their husbands. The Government enforced the law against rape, which
provides for imprisonment of up to 20 years and caning for offenders.
Under the law rape can be committed only by a man, and spousal rape is
not a crime; however, husbands who force their wives to have
intercourse can be prosecuted for other offenses, such as assault.
During the year 10 persons were prosecuted for rape; including cases
from 2005 there were eight convictions, seven persons awaiting trial,
and one case of a discharge not amounting to acquittal. The Ministry of
Education and the police both carried out programs aimed at preventing
rape.
Prostitution itself is not illegal; however, public solicitation,
living on the earnings of a prostitute, and maintaining a brothel are
illegal. The authorities periodically carried out crackdowns on
solicitation for prostitution and arrested and deported foreign
prostitutes, particularly when their activities took place outside
informally designated red light areas. In practice police unofficially
tolerated and monitored a limited number of brothels; prostitutes (the
great majority of whom were foreign and working illegally) in such
establishments were required to undergo periodic health checks and
carry a health card.
There are no specific laws prohibiting stalking or sexual
harassment; however, the Miscellaneous Offenses Act and laws
prohibiting insults to modesty were used successfully to prosecute
these offenses. Sexual harassment was not considered a significant
problem.
As of 2004 women accounted for 55 percent of civil service
employees. They enjoyed the same legal rights as men, including civil
liberties, employment, commercial activity, and education. The Women's
Charter gives women, among other rights, the right to own property,
conduct trade, and receive divorce settlements. Muslim women enjoyed
most of the rights and protections of the Women's Charter. For the most
part, Muslim marriage law falls under the administration of the Muslim
Law Act, which empowers the Shari'a (Islamic law) court to oversee such
matters. The laws allow Muslim men to practice polygyny, although
requests to take additional spouses may be refused by the Registry of
Muslim Marriages, which solicits the views of an existing wife or wives
and reviews the financial capability of the husband. During the year,
there were 44 applications for polygynous marriage, and 13 applications
were approved. Both men and women have the right to initiate divorce
proceedings; however, in practice women faced significant difficulties
that often prevented them from pursuing proceedings. This included the
lack of financial resources to obtain legal counsel.
During the year women constituted 43 percent of the labor force and
were well represented in many professions. The percentage of women
between ages of 30 and 54 in the workforce increased from 60.3 percent
in 2000 to 66.4 percent in 2005. However, they held few leadership
positions in the private sector and no ministerial positions in the
Government. Women were overrepresented in low-wage jobs such as clerks
and secretaries; although some women held senior corporate leadership
positions. Salaries for women ranged upwards from 62 percent of men's
salaries depending on the occupational grouping. In some occupations
women earned more than their male counterparts. Observers noted that
the wage differential was smaller in professional jobs and that wage
disparities could be attributed in part to differences in average
educational levels and work experience.
Children.--The Government demonstrated a strong commitment to
children's rights and welfare through well-funded systems of public
education and medical care, and access was equal for all children. Six
years of public (or government-recognized private) education is
compulsory for all children. Virtually 100 percent of children were
enrolled through grade 6, and the dropout rate for secondary school was
low. The Children and Young Persons Act created a juvenile court system
and established protective services for orphaned, abused, and
``troubled'' children, and those with disabilities. The Ministry of
Community Development, Youth, and Sports (MCYS) worked closely with the
National Council for Social Services to oversee children's welfare
cases. Voluntary organizations operated most of the homes for children,
while the Government funded from 50 to 100 percent of living expenses
and overhead, as well as expenses for special schooling, health care,
and supervisory needs.
Some child prostitution occurred. During the year 60 female
prostitutes under the age of 18 were arrested, compared with 48 in
2005. In 2004, 35 of the more than 5,239 foreign women arrested for
prostitution were believed to be under the age of 18. There is no legal
prohibition on commercial sex with ``consenting'' partners ages 16 and
17. The law criminalizes consensual sex between a minor female (under
16) and a male and prescribes punishment for the male participant of up
to five years in prison and a fine of up to $6,329 (S$10,000). The
authorities have the power to detain persons under the age of 21 who
are believed to be engaged in prostitution, as well as to prosecute
those who organize or profit from prostitution, who bring women or
girls to the country for prostitution, or who coerce or deceive women
or girls into prostitution. In March the MCYS funded a leaflet campaign
by a local women's group to fight sex tourism.
The MCYS sponsored activities promoting children's causes,
including family stability. The ministry and several NGOs focused on
keeping fathers involved in their children's lives and on preventing
child abuse.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons occurred.
The three major laws that govern trafficking and prostitution are
the Women's Charter, the Children and Young Persons' Act, and the penal
code. Trafficking in women and children, regardless of whether it is
related to prostitution, is punishable by up to five years'
imprisonment, a $6,329 (S$10,000) fine, and caning. Traffickers could
be prosecuted under provisions governing kidnapping, abduction,
slavery, and forced labor, which carry maximum punishments of 10 years'
imprisonment and a fine. Convicted traffickers could be found guilty of
violating more than one law. There was no specific campaign to combat
or prevent the use of fraud or coercion to recruit foreign women as
prostitutes, although some persons were prosecuted and punished for
crimes involving such acts.
There were no reports of any official involvement in trafficking in
persons.
In practice successful investigation and prosecution of trafficking
in persons required that victims remain in or return to the country to
testify. Victims were urged by police to remain in the country until a
case was prosecuted, and generally they did; some abused domestics who
left were brought back to testify. Victims did not receive government
assistance during this period or at other times and sometimes were not
granted permission for alternative employment and were dependent on
support from their embassy. Laws prohibiting the harboring, aiding, or
abetting of illegal immigrants could hamper assistance to trafficking
victims by putting NGOs in the position of harboring a victim who has
no legal status; however, the authorities did not appear to investigate
or prosecute such assistance. The authorities notified embassies of the
arrest of nationals, including for prostitution-related offenses, and
allowed consular access. Prostitutes rarely contacted embassies
voluntarily, unless detained for solicitation or immigration offenses
during police sweeps. However, victims of crimes, including domestics
alleging abuse, sometimes requested and received assistance from their
embassies.
Persons With Disabilities.--The Government maintained a
comprehensive code on barrier-free accessibility; this established
standards for facilities for persons with physical disabilities in all
new buildings and mandated the progressive upgrading of older
structures. There was no legislation addressing equal opportunities for
persons with disabilities in education or employment; however, the
National Council of Social Services, in conjunction with various
voluntary associations, provided an extensive job training and
placement program for persons with disabilities. The Government also
ran vigorous campaigns to raise public awareness of issues confronting
persons with disabilities and the services available to them. A tax
deduction of up to $63,291 (S$100,000) was available to employers to
defray building modifications to benefit employees with disabilities.
Informal provisions in education have permitted university
matriculation for the visually impaired, the hearing impaired, and for
students with other physical disabilities. There were 21 special
education schools that enrolled more than 4,800 students. Currently,
one out of every six primary schools and one out of every seven
secondary schools are equipped with full-handicap facilities. The
Government provided funds for six childcare centers to take in 60
children with special needs.
The Government allowed a tax deduction of up to $1,898 (S$3,500)
per individual for families caring for a sibling, spouse, or child with
a disability. Mental and physical disabilities were treated in the same
way. Press coverage of the activities and achievements of persons with
disabilities was extensive, and discrimination or abuse of persons with
disabilities did not appear to be a problem.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnic Malays constituted
approximately 14 percent of the population. The constitution
acknowledges them as the indigenous people of the country and charges
the Government to support and to promote their political, educational,
religious, economic, social, cultural, and language interests. The
Government took steps to encourage greater educational achievement
among Malay students as a key to economic advancement. However, ethnic
Malays have not yet reached the educational or socioeconomic levels
achieved by the ethnic Chinese majority, the ethnic Indian minority, or
the Eurasian community. Malays remained underrepresented at senior
corporate levels and, some assert, in certain sectors of the Government
and the military. This reflected their historically lower educational
and economic levels, but some argued that it also was a result of
employment discrimination. The Government has issued guidelines that
call for eliminating language referring to age, gender, or ethnicity in
employment advertisements; restrictive language pertinent to job
requirements, such as ``Chinese speaker'' or ``physically strong''
remains acceptable. These guidelines were generally followed.
The Presidential Council on Minority Rights examined all pending
bills to ensure that they were not disadvantageous to a particular
group. It also reported to the Government on matters that affected any
racial or religious community and investigated complaints.
The Government enforced ethnic ratios for publicly subsidized
housing, where the majority of citizens live and own their own units.
The policy was designed to prevent ethnic or racial ghettos and to
achieve an ethnic mix more or less in proportion to that of society at
large. When a housing development was at or near the limit for a
particular ethnic group, it could be difficult for owners to sell their
apartments and force them to sell to a person of an underrepresented
group, potentially at a price below market value.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Some individuals with
HIV/AIDS claimed that they were socially marginalized and faced
employment discrimination if they revealed they were suffering from the
disease. The Government discouraged discrimination, supported
initiatives that countered misperceptions about HIV/AIDS, and praised
employers that welcomed workers with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides all
citizens the right to form associations, including trade unions;
however, Parliament may impose restrictions based on security, public
order, or morality grounds. The right of association was restricted by
the Societies Act and by labor and education laws and regulations.
Under these laws any group of 10 or more persons is required to
register with the Government. The Trade Unions Act authorizes the
formation of unions with broad rights, albeit with some narrow
restrictions such as prohibitions on the unionization of uniformed
personnel or government employees. The Amalgamated Union of Public
Employees was declared exempt from these provisions, and its scope of
representation was expanded over the years to cover all public sector
employees except the most senior civil servants.
The Trade Unions Act restricts the right of trade unions to elect
their officers and whom they may employ. Foreigners and those with
criminal convictions may not hold union office or become employees of
unions. However, the minister of manpower could grant exemptions. The
Trade Unions Act limits the objectives on which unions can spend their
funds and prohibits payments to political parties or the use of funds
for political purposes. In 2004 the national labor force was made up of
approximately 2.18 million workers, nearly 420,000 of whom were
represented by 68 unions. Almost all of the unions (which represented
virtually all of the union members) were affiliated with the National
Trade Union Congress (NTUC), an umbrella organization with a close
relationship with the Government.
The NTUC acknowledged that its interests were linked closely with
those of the ruling PAP, a relationship often described by both as
symbiotic. The NTUC's secretary general, Lim Boon Heng, a PAP MP, was a
member of the cabinet as minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Young
PAP MPs with no union experience were often elected to leadership
positions in the NTUC or a member union. The NTUC policy prohibited
union members who supported opposition parties from holding office in
affiliated unions. While the NTUC is financially independent of the
PAP, the two shared a common ideology and worked closely with
management in support of nonconfrontational labor relations. The NTUC
is free to associate regionally and internationally.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Collective
bargaining was a normal part of labor-management relations in the
industrial sector. Collective agreements must be certified by the
tripartite Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) before going into effect.
The IAC could refuse certification at its discretion on the ground of
public interest. Transfers and layoffs were excluded from the scope of
collective bargaining. However, in practice employers consulted with
unions on both issues, and the Tripartite Panel on Retrenched Workers
issued guidelines calling for early notification to unions of layoffs.
Agreements between management and labor were renewed every two to three
years, although wage increases were negotiated annually. The National
Wages Council (NWC), a group composed of labor, management, and
government representatives, issues yearly guidelines on raises and
bonus pay that serve as the starting point for bargaining agreements.
Subject to negotiation in each enterprise, up to 10 percent of salaries
were considered ``variable'' each month, allowing companies to
eliminate that portion of pay if there were financial problems.
Workers in ``essential services'' are required to give 14 days'
notice to an employer before striking, and there is a prohibition on
strikes by workers in the water, gas, and electricity sectors. Other
workers have the legal right to strike but rarely did so. There were no
specific laws that prohibited retaliation against strikers. The law
provides that before striking, unionized workers must vote in favor of
the strike by secret ballot.
Most disagreements were resolved through informal consultations
with the Ministry of Manpower. If conciliation fails, the disputing
parties usually submit their case to the IAC, which is composed of
representatives from labor and management, and chaired by a judge. In
limited situations, the law provides for compulsory arbitration, which
has not been used since 1980. Besides these labor dispute mechanisms
and the close working relationship and shared views among labor,
management, and the Government, the maintenance of labor peace has been
a product of high economic growth rates, regular wage increases, and a
high degree of job mobility in a virtual full-employment economy.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government enforced the Employment Act, which prohibits employment of
children under the age of 12. Restrictions on the employment of
children between the ages of 12 and 16 are rigorous and fully enforced.
Children under the age of 14 generally are prohibited from employment
in the industrial sector. Exceptions include family enterprises;
children may work in a business in which only members of the same
family are employed. A child of 12 or older may be employed in light
work, subject to medical clearance. Employers must notify the
commissioner of labor within 30 days of hiring a child between the ages
of 14 and 16 and attach a medical certification of the child's fitness
for employment. The incidence of children in permanent employment was
low, and abuses were almost nonexistent.
Ministry of Manpower regulations prohibit night employment of
children and restrict industrial work for children between the ages of
14 and 16 to no more than seven hours a day, including the hours spent
in school. Children may not work on commercial vessels, with moving
machinery, on live electrical apparatus lacking effective insulation,
or in any underground job. The minister of manpower effectively
enforced these laws and regulations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There are no laws or regulations
on minimum wages or unemployment compensation; however, the NWC
monitored the economy and made annual recommendations to the Government
concerning wage guidelines. The NWC urged companies to adopt a monthly
variable component in computing wages. The labor market generally
offered good working conditions and relatively high wages, which
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The Employment Act sets the standard legal workweek at 44 hours and
provides for one rest day each week.
The Ministry of Manpower effectively enforced laws and regulations
establishing working conditions and comprehensive occupational safety
and health laws. Enforcement procedures, coupled with the promotion of
educational and training programs, were implemented to reduce the
frequency of job-related accidents. While workers have the right under
the Employment Act to remove themselves from a dangerous work
situation, their right to continued employment depended upon an
investigation of the circumstances by the Ministry of Manpower.
Because of a domestic labor shortage, approximately 600,000 foreign
workers were employed legally, constituting approximately 30 percent of
the total work force. There were no reliable estimates of the number of
foreigners working illegally. Most foreign workers were unskilled
laborers and household servants from other Asian countries. Foreign
workers faced no legal wage discrimination; however, they were
concentrated in low-wage, low-skill jobs and were often required to
work long hours. Most foreign construction workers live on worksites in
substandard conditions. From April 2005 to April 2006, the Ministry of
Manpower fined 13 employers between $126 (S$200) to $1,265 (S$2,000)
each for failing ministry checks on workers' quarters. The number of
employers who failed checks rose sharply during this period, with 506
of 766 employers receiving warnings. Only 105 contractors were warned
in 2004.
Although the great majority of the approximately 150,000 maids
(mainly from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka) worked under
clearly outlined contracts, their low wages, dependence on their
employers for food and lodging, and relative isolation made them
vulnerable to mistreatment and abuse. The authorities fined or
imprisoned employers who abused maids. On February 7, the district
court sentenced a housewife to two weeks in jail for ordering her maid
to stand on a ledge to hang laundry, leading to her fall and subsequent
death. On March 29, the district court convicted a man of molesting his
maid in 2005. On April 19, a woman who assaulted her maid in 2003 was
sentenced to one month in jail. Debate on how to prevent abuse of maids
was ongoing. In February the Ministry of Manpower launched a demerit
points system which penalizes employment agencies for violating
government regulations. The accumulated points are shown on the
ministry's Web site to help potential employers identify errant
agencies. Agencies with too many demerits face license suspension. The
Ministry of Manpower sets the minimum age for maids at 23 and requires
all maids to show that they had eight years of formal education before
allowing them to enter. All new maids and new employers of maids must
undergo mandatory training on maids' rights and responsibilities. Maids
must take a written entrance exam that covers topics such as safety and
English comprehension.
Most maids worked six days per week from early morning until late
in the evening. Effective November 1, the Ministry of Manpower requires
an employer to deposit a maid's salary directly into her bank account
if she requests it. It also regularly distributes pamphlets in four
different languages alerting maids to their rights. On September 15,
the Employment Agencies Singapore, a nongovernment agency that
accredits the country's approximately 500 maid agencies, implemented a
new standard employment contract for maids that provides a compulsory
day off each month or cash compensation. On July 21, the international
NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) had criticized the standard contract as
inadequate since there was no government requirement that maids receive
one day off a month.
Maids often had to set aside most or all of their wages for the
first several months of employment to reimburse their placement agents.
Work permits for low-wage foreign workers could be cancelled if a
worker applied to marry or married a citizen or permanent resident.
The Employment Act protects foreign workers such as the many
employed in the construction industry; however, domestic servants are
not covered by the act and are not eligible for limited free legal
assistance from the Government. However, the Ministry of Manpower
offered conciliation services for all employees, foreign or local. The
Foreign Workers Unit of the ministry provided free advisory and
mediation services to foreign workers experiencing problems with
employers. The Government allowed complainants to seek legal redress
and operated a hot line for maids. In December a migrant workers
advocacy group and a telephone company established a help line to
advise migrant workers in distress.
__________
SOLOMON ISLANDS
The Solomon Islands is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 538,000. Citizens elect a single-chamber
parliament of 50 members. Executive authority is vested in the Prime
Minister, who is elected by a majority vote of parliament, and his
cabinet. A new parliament was elected in April with Snyder Rini as
prime minister. However, rioting broke out in the capital city of
Honiara calling for his resignation, and soon after parliament elected
Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister. Between 1998 and 2003, conflict
between two of the main ethnic groups in the country--the Malaitans and
the Guadalcanalese--led to a serious deterioration in the human rights
situation. In 2003 the Regional Assistance Mission for Solomon Islands
(RAMSI), a multinational police-centered force organized by Australia,
arrived in the country at the Government's invitation to assist in
restoring law and order and rebuilding the country's institutions.
While law and order was largely restored, rioting occurred following
the formation of a new government after the April elections. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Human rights
problems included lengthy pretrial detention, government corruption,
and violence and discrimination against women and minorities.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed unlawful or
arbitrary killings.
Since 2003 RAMSI investigated, arrested, and brought to trial a
number of police officers and militants who allegedly committed murder
and other criminal acts (see sections 1.c. and 1.d.). At year's end
prosecutions continued. Arrests included senior political figures, one
of whom was a former cabinet minister charged with, among other things,
being an accomplice to murder. While he was released on bail earlier in
the year, authorities arrested him on charges relating to the April
rioting. He remained in custody awaiting trial on the earlier charges
at year's end.
Edmund Sae, a former police sergeant arrested for murder in the
2003 killing of retired police commissioner Sir Frederick Soaki, and
who subsequently escaped from custody, remained at large at year's end.
In December 2004 an Australian Federal Police officer attached to
RAMSI was shot and killed while on patrol in Honiara. Police arrested
four suspects and charged them with murder in the case; the trial for
two of the suspects began in October.
In October 2005 a Honiara court convicted three former members of
the Guadalcanal Liberation Front for the 2003 murders of six members of
the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious order, and sentenced
them to life imprisonment. In August the court tried a fourth suspect,
a juvenile, separately, convicted him of murder, and sentenced him to
life imprisonment. In March 2005 a court convicted former Guadalcanal
Liberation Front leader Harold Ke'ke and two codefendants for the 2002
murder of cabinet minister Father Augustine Geve and sentenced them to
life imprisonment. Ke'ke stood trial on 14 additional counts of murder
during the year.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
confirmed reports of such practices by the police during the year.
There were a few allegations by detainees that they were mistreated by
police during questioning.
Since its arrival in 2003, RAMSI apprehended and charged persons
allegedly responsible for human rights abuses and other criminal acts.
More than 240 persons, including approximately 40 police officers,
Ke'ke, and other militants, were arrested. Authorities lodged more than
600 charges against them. Many of those arrested were tried and
convicted in 2005, while others were awaiting trial at year's end.
Authorities made more arrests following the riots in April.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers, including the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC also
facilitated visits by family members of some prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A commissioner who
reports to the minister of police heads the Royal Solomon Islands
Police (RSIP) force of approximately 1,050 members. This force is
supported by 250 RAMSI officers, who serve in line positions and in
logistical and finance support. During the year an Australian police
official served as commissioner on a contract funded by the Australian
government. However, on December 22, authorities declared him an
``undesirable immigrant'' while he was out of the country and did not
allow him to return. At year's end the police commissioner position
remained vacant. There were 43 police stations open throughout the
country.
While the police were more effective under RAMSI, the RSIP
continued to be weak in investigation and reporting. The police service
has an inspection unit to monitor police discipline and performance.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for a judicial
determination of the legality of arrests. Detainees generally were
informed promptly of the charges against them. Detainees have the right
to counsel. The public solicitor's office provided legal assistance to
indigent defendants. Detainees had prompt access to family members and
to counsel. Officials found to have violated civil liberties were
subject to fines and jail sentences. There was a functioning system of
bail. However, delays in adjudication of the large number of cases
before the courts resulted in lengthy pretrial detention for some
prisoners.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judicial system consists of the High Court, the Court of
Appeals, and magistrate's courts. RAMSI expanded the public solicitor's
staff to 16, of whom 10 were foreign nationals. The number of public
prosecutors increased to 12, including eight foreign nationals. During
the year three magistrate's courtrooms were upgraded, and a children's
court was introduced.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Trial procedures normally operated in accordance with British
common law, with a presumption of innocence, access to attorneys, and
the right to access government-held evidence, confront witnesses, and
appeal convictions. Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there
are no juries. Accused persons are entitled to counsel.
Backlogs in the investigation and prosecution of cases remained a
problem at year's end (see section 1.d.), but all persons in custody
prior to September had initial trial dates assigned.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters; local courts and
magistrate's courts have civil jurisdiction. In addition, the
constitution provides that any person whose rights or freedoms have
been contravened may apply directly to the High Court for redress.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Individuals were allowed to criticize the Government publicly and
privately without reprisal. The Government did not attempt to impede
criticism.
There were three independent newspapers, one daily and two weekly.
One independent television station broadcast for four hours per day.
One government-sponsored and two independent radio stations operated
during the year. The independent media were active and expressed a wide
variety of views without restrictions.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the
Government generally respected this right in practice. Demonstrators
must obtain permits, which the Government generally granted.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, but at times the Government restricted this right. The
Government has outlawed the principal militant groups. Other groups
associated freely, and a good governance oversight group, the Civil
Society Network, continued to raise issues of concern with the
Government.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The public school curriculum included a 30-minute daily class of
religious instruction, the content of which was agreed upon by the
Christian churches; students whose parents did not wish them to attend
the class were excused. However, the Government did not subsidize
church schools that did not align their curriculums with governmental
criteria. Although non-Christian religions theoretically can be taught
in the schools, there was no such instruction in practice.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal abuses or discrimination, including anti-Semitic acts. The
Jewish community was very small.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not use it.
Native-born citizens may not be deprived of citizenship on any grounds.
Protection of Refugees.--Although party to the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. However, the Government cooperated with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees and the Red Cross in assisting refugees
and asylum seekers and did not return persons to a country where they
feared persecution.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage for persons 18 years of age and older.
Elections and Political Participation.--The April national
parliamentary elections were regarded as generally free and fair,
although there was evidence of vote buying. Changes of government
occurred on several occasions since independence, due to the
resignation of the Prime Minister or parliamentary votes of no
confidence. On April 18, rioting broke out in Honiara immediately
following the election of Snyder Rini as prime minister. Rini resigned
on April 26. Parliament elected Manasseh Sogavare as prime minister on
May 4.
Male dominance in government limited the role of women. There were
no women in the 50-member parliament. Four women served as permanent
secretaries in the Government.
There were two minority (non-Melanesian) members in parliament,
neither of whom were in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption and
impunity in both the executive and legislative branches continued to be
problems. While there was progress made at lower levels of government
as over 140 RAMSI officials worked directly with government
counterparts, the auditor general released a report on corruption in
October that was very critical of the Government. In May Prime Minister
Sogavare appointed Charles Dausabea and Nelson Ne'e to the cabinet.
Both had been arrested in April and were awaiting trial at year's end
for their roles in the April riots. On September 21, Prime Minister
Sogavare appointed Julian Moti to be attorney general. The Australian
government sought Moti on child sex charges, and the Solomon Islands
police commissioner arrested Moti on October 10 for illegally entering
the country. Moti was facing possible extradition to Australia at
year's end.
During the year corruption-related charges were lodged against a
number of current and former government officials. On October 18,
authorities charged the immigration minister with multiple offenses
related to Moti's illegal entry but later cleared him of all charges.
At year's end trials were pending for a number of other officials
charged with corruption.
In 2004 and 2005 a former East Honiara member of parliament and a
former cabinet minister charged with official corruption involving the
granting of certificates of naturalization to Chinese nationals were
both acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence. The Government
appealed the cases to the High Court; the appeal had not been heard at
year's end.
No law provides for public access to government information. In
practice the Government generally was responsive to inquiries from the
media during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
The constitution provides for an ombudsman, with the power to
subpoena and to investigate complaints of official abuse, mistreatment,
or unfair treatment. While the ombudsman's office has potentially far-
ranging powers, it was limited by a shortage of resources. It organized
occasional workshops and undertook a few tours during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that no person--regardless of race, place
of origin, political opinion, color, creed, or disability--shall be
treated in a discriminatory manner with respect to access to public
places. The constitution further prohibits any laws that would have
discriminatory effects and provides that no person should be treated in
a discriminatory manner by anyone acting in an official capacity.
Despite constitutional and legal protections, women remained the
victims of discrimination in this male-dominated society. Unemployment
was high, and there were limited job opportunities for persons with
disabilities.
Women.--Although statistics were unavailable, incidents of domestic
violence appeared to be common. The law does not address domestic
violence; however, there are provisions against common assault and
rape. In the rare cases of domestic abuse that were reported, victims
often dropped charges before the court appearance, or the case was
settled out of court. The magistrate's courts dealt with physical abuse
of women as with any other assault, although prosecutions were rare. In
part due to the breakdown in law and order and the lack of an
effective, functioning police force after June 2000, women and teenage
girls in particular were vulnerable to abuse, including rape. Following
RAMSI's arrival, rape charges were brought against a number of persons.
As part of a new police curriculum, officers received specialized
training on how to work with victims of rape.
Violence against women, including rape and domestic abuse, remained
a serious problem. Among the reasons cited for the failure to report
many incidents of abuse were pressure from male relatives, fear of
reprisals, feelings of shame, and cultural taboos on discussion of such
matters. In May 2005 the police established a sexual assault unit,
staffed mostly by female officers, to combat the problem. The unit was
well received by the public; women felt more comfortable reporting
abuses. Approximately 300 cases of sexual assault were reported during
the year. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) conducted awareness
campaigns on family violence during the year. There were two church-run
facilities for abused women and an NGO-supported family center that
provided counseling, legal assistance, and other support services for
women.
Prostitution is illegal, but the statutes were not enforced. There
is no law specifically against sex tourism, although such offenses
could be prosecuted under laws against prostitution. There were some
press reports of sex tourism during the year, but no specific cases
were reported to the police.
Sexual harassment is not prohibited by law and was a problem.
The law accords women equal legal rights, including the right to
own property. However, women were limited to customary family roles,
and this situation prevented women from taking more active roles in
economic and political life. A shortage of jobs also inhibited the
entry of women into the work force. The majority of women were
illiterate; this was attributed in large part to cultural barriers. The
National Council of Women and other NGOs attempted to make women more
aware of their legal rights, including voting rights, through seminars,
workshops, and other activities. The Government's Women's Development
Division also addressed women's issues.
Children.--Within the limits of its resources, the Government was
committed to the welfare and protection of children. During the year
major foreign assistance continued to bolster the educational system.
Approximately 50 classrooms were added to existing primary schools, and
30 classrooms were added to existing high schools. Education was not
compulsory, and the high cost of school fees severely limited
attendance at secondary and higher institutions. A higher percentage of
boys than girls attended school. Most children at the primary school
level, where fees were eliminated in 2005, attended school. All medical
care for children was free; however, the lack of resources seriously
reduced the quality and availability of medical care.
The law grants children the same general rights and protections as
adults, and there are laws designed to protect children from sexual
abuse, child labor, and neglect. Children generally were respected and
protected within the traditional extended family system, in accordance
with a family's financial resources and access to services, although
some cases of child abuse were reported. Virtually no children were
homeless or abandoned.Both boys and girls may legally marry at age 15,
and the law permits marriage at age 14 with parental and village
consent. However, marriage at such young ages did not appear to be
common.
Several hundred children (generally boys) under the age of 18 were
active combatants during the ethnic conflict or assisted in militants'
camps. Many of these underage militants joined criminal gangs
immediately following the conflict, but most returned to their villages
and reentered civil society.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law does not prohibit
trafficking in persons, there were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There is no law or national policy on
persons with disabilities, and no legislation mandates access to
buildings for such individuals. Their protection and care is left to
the extended family and NGOs. With high unemployment countrywide and
few jobs available in the formal sector, most persons with
disabilities, particularly those in rural areas, did not find work
outside of the family structure.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for protecting the
rights of persons with disabilities.
The country had one educational facility for children with
disabilities, which was supported almost entirely by the Red Cross. An
education unit at the College of Higher Education, staffed by
Australian volunteers, trained teachers in the education of persons
with disabilities. Such training was compulsory for all student
teachers at the college. Persons with mental disabilities were cared
for within the family structure; there were very limited government
facilities for such persons. The Kilufi Hospital in Malaita operated a
10-bed ward for the treatment of psychiatric patients.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country is composed of more
than 27 islands with approximately 70 language groups. In the
precolonial era these groups existed in a state of continual warfare
with one another, and even today many islanders see themselves first as
members of a clan, next as inhabitants of their natal island, and only
third as citizens of their nation. Over the past century, and
particularly since World War II, many persons from the poor, heavily
populated island of Malaita settled on Guadalcanal, the island on which
the capital of Honiara is located. The tensions and resentment between
the Guadalcanalese and the Malaitans on Guadalcanal culminated in
violence beginning in 1998, when Guadalcanalese militants began a
campaign of threats and intimidation against Malaitans on Guadalcanal.
Civilians were the victims of abuse by both sides. The presence of
RAMSI greatly reduced ethnic tension between Malaitans and
Guadalcanalese, although underlying problems between the two groups
remained to be addressed, including issues related to jobs and land
rights.
There was societal discrimination against ethnic Chinese. The April
18-19 riots were directed almost exclusively against Chinese business
interests. The Chinatown section of Honiara was burned down during the
rioting. No deaths were reported in the rioting, but several ethnic
Chinese were injured. Australians were also targets of discrimination
and threats of violence.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Same-sex relationships
are illegal, and persons engaged in same-sex relationships were often
the subject of societal discrimination. While there were fewer than 200
confirmed HIV/AIDS cases, there were reports that HIV-positive
individuals were often disowned by their families.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution implicitly
recognizes the right of workers to form or join unions, to choose their
own representatives, to determine and pursue their own views and
policies, and to engage in political activities. The courts have
confirmed these rights, and workers exercised them in practice. Only
about 10 percent of the population participated in the formal sector of
the economy. According to the chief of trade unions, approximately 55
percent of employees in the public sector and 25 percent of those in
the private sector were organized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and to bargain collectively, and
unions exercised these rights. Wages and conditions of employment were
determined by collective bargaining, usually at the level of individual
firms. Disputes between labor and management that cannot be settled
between the two sides are referred to the Trade Disputes Panel (TDP)
for arbitration. The three-member TDP, composed of a chairman appointed
by the judiciary, a labor representative, and a business
representative, is independent and neutral.
The law permits strikes. Private sector disputes usually were
referred quickly to the TDP for arbitration, either before or during a
strike. In practice the small percentage of the work force in formal
employment meant that employers had ample replacement workers if
disputes were not resolved quickly. However, employees are protected
from arbitrary dismissal or lockout while the TDP is deliberating.
During most of the year the lengthy standoff continued between the
National Union of Workers and the Russell Islands Plantation Estate,
and the TDP had the dispute under review. In addition, in March
approximately 160 Solomon Islands Ports Authority employees went on
strike when negotiations with management over a backlog of claims ended
in a deadlock. The strike ended after the dispute was referred to the
TDP.
The law protects workers against antiunion activity, and there were
no areas where union activity was officially discouraged.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred, except as part of a court
sentence or order.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law forbids labor by children under the age of 12, except light
agricultural or domestic work performed in the company of parents.
Children under age 15 are barred from work in industry or on ships;
those under age 18 may not work underground or in mines. The
commissioner of labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws,
but few resources were devoted to investigating child labor cases.
Given low wages and high unemployment, there was little incentive to
employ child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage rate is $0.20
(SI$1.50) per hour for all workers except those in the fishing and
agricultural sectors, who receive $0.17 (SI$1.25). The legal minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for an urban family
living entirely on the cash economy. However, most families were not
dependent solely on wages for their livelihoods.
The law regulates premium pay, sick leave, the right to paid
vacations, and other conditions of service. The standard workweek is 45
hours and is limited to six days per week. There are provisions for
maternity leave and for premium pay for overtime and holiday work.
Both an active labor movement and an independent judiciary provided
enforcement of labor laws in major state and private enterprises. The
commissioner of labor, the public prosecutor, and the police are
responsible for enforcing labor laws; however, they usually reacted to
complaints rather than routinely monitoring adherence to the law. The
extent to which the law was enforced in smaller establishments and in
the subsistence sector was unclear. Safety and health laws appeared to
be adequate. The Safety at Work Act requires employers to provide a
safe working environment and forbids retribution against an employee
who seeks protection under labor regulations or removes himself from a
hazardous job site. Laws on working conditions and safety standards
apply equally to foreign workers and citizens.
__________
THAILAND
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, with a population of more
than 65 million. The King is revered and exerts strong informal
influence. On September 19, in a bloodless coup d'etat, military coup
leaders overthrew the Government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
which had won reelection in February 2005 in an election viewed as
generally free and fair but marred by widespread vote buying. The coup
leaders repealed the constitution, abolished parliament, declared
martial law, and issued several decrees limiting civil liberties. On
October 1, the military coup leaders, taking the name the Council for
National Security (CNS), promulgated an interim constitution and
established an interim government.
Following the September 19 coup, the CNS imposed some limits on
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. Prior
to the coup, the Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were significant problems, some of which
continued under the interim government. During the year security forces
continued to use excessive force against criminal suspects and
committed or were connected to dozens of extrajudicial, arbitrary, and
unlawful killings. Reports of disappearances in the southern provinces,
in many cases after the missing allegedly had been questioned by
security officials, continued. There were reports that police tortured,
beat, and otherwise abused detainees and prisoners, generally with
impunity. The use of defamation suits and, in some cases, charges of
sedition encouraged self-censorship by the media and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs). Human rights workers, particularly those focusing
on disappearances and the violence in the South, experienced government
harassment. The country continued to be a source, transit, and
destination for trafficking in women and children for a variety of
purposes, including indentured servitude, forced labor, and
prostitution. Members of hill tribes without proper documentation
continued to face restrictions on their movement, could not own land,
and were not protected by labor laws.
Violence by ethnic Malay separatist insurgents in the southern part
of the country against symbols and representatives of government
authority as well as against civilians resulted in hundreds of killings
in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani, and Songkhla. The
Thaksin government imposed an emergency decree for these provinces in
July 2005 giving the police and civilian authorities significant powers
to restrict certain basic rights and delegating certain internal
security powers to the armed forces; the Emergency Decree also provides
security forces broad immunity from prosecution. A separate martial law
was decreed in September after the military coup, which provided a
broader range of powers to the military alone.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the Government
or its agents; however, security forces continued to use excessive,
lethal force against criminal suspects and committed or were connected
to numerous extrajudicial, arbitrary, and unlawful killings, including
killings by security force personnel acting in a private capacity.
On March 27, gunmen in a pickup truck shot and killed Saharat
Suramit, a land rights and forest encroachment issues activist from
Sisaket. No suspects were detained and the case remains open.
On May 27, gunmen in a pick-up truck shot and killed former Thai
Rak Thai (TRT) member of parliament (MP) Kobkul Nopamornbodee. A police
bodyguard who was with her in the vehicle survived the shooting.
Authorities arrested five of the alleged gunmen, including a
subdistrict chief from Petchaburi. The sixth suspect, Sa-ngad
Phumpheng, committed suicide before he could be apprehended. A former
senator, Napintorn Srisunpang, was charged with planning the attack. He
surrendered to police and was released on bail. The charges against
Jamron Omthong and Suppharit Omthong were dismissed. Anont Phanrat,
Winyu Ratanawannee, and Anantasak Srisawas were charged, and at year's
end their cases were pending trial. Public prosecutors were considering
whether to prosecute Napintorn Srisunpang.
On August 17, Mr. Charan Iamphaibun, a leading activist for the
Democrat Party in Prachinburi was shot and killed while in bed at his
residence. No arrests were made, and at year's end the investigation
was ongoing.
On October 20, unknown persons shot and killed Muhammad Dunai
Tanyeeno, a village headman and human rights activist in Narathiwat. He
had actively assisted some of the 58 defendants in the 2004 Tak Bai
case, in which 78 Muslim detainees died of asphyxiation (see sections
1.e and 1.g.). On October 3, he helped organize a meeting between a
group called the Network for the Affected Population in Relation to
Southern Violence and the newly appointed regional army commander. No
arrests were made, and at year's end an investigation was ongoing.
On December 31, unknown persons conducted a series of bomb attacks
at eight locations in Bangkok and Nonthaburi. Three persons were killed
and 32 injured.
Bombings and targeted attacks occurred on an almost daily basis in
the four southernmost provinces, resulting in deaths and injuries.
Separatist violence directed against government and religious
representatives, including teachers, monks, as well as district and
municipal officials occurred throughout the year (see section 1.g.).
There were no developments with regard to the alleged October 2005
suicides of three Karen detainees.
There were no developments with regard to the August 2005 killing
of Satopa Yushoh or the 2004 killings at Krue Se mosque; there were
developments with regard to the September 2005 mob-killing of two
marines and the 2004 killing of Ilmin Nehlae (see section 1.g.).
On November 2, the interim prime minister apologized for the 2004
deaths of 85 Muslims (78 of whom were asphyxiated while under
detention) following a violent demonstration at Tak Bai. On November 6,
the interim government announced that it would drop all charges against
the demonstrators.
A November CNS white paper cited the 2003 extrajudicial killing of
approximately 1,300 suspected drug traffickers during the Thaksin
government's ``War on Drugs'' campaign as one of justifications for the
September 19 coup. On December 14, the Ministry of Justice's Department
for Special Investigations opened four investigations of possible
extrajudicial killings associated with the 2003 War on Drugs.
Procedures for investigating suspicious deaths, including deaths
occurring in police custody, required that the prosecutor, a forensic
pathologist, and a local administrator participate in the investigation
and that family members have legal representation at the inquests.
However, these procedures often were not followed. Families rarely took
advantage of a provision in the law that allows them to bring personal
lawsuits against police officers for criminal action during arrests.
According to the Ministry of Interior's Investigation and Legal
Affairs Bureau, during the first six months of the year, 534 persons
died in prison or police custody, 20 due to the actions of police
officers. During all of 2005, 1,139 persons died in prison or police
custody, 63 due to the actions of police officers. Authorities
attributed most of these deaths to natural causes. Following an
investigation into the 2003 death of a detainee at the Kanchanaburi
police station, the provincial public prosecutor charged a police
corporal with murder. In 2005 the provincial court dismissed the case
due to lack of sufficient evidence. No appeal was filed.
The two gunmen charged in the 2004 killing of environmental
activist Charoen Wataksorn confessed to the shooting but reportedly did
not implicate in their confession three others suspected of planning
the murder. During the year both men died in prison, prison officials
attributed their deaths to natural causes. Some human rights groups
requested an independent examination of the bodies, but none was
granted. At year's end the trial of the other three suspects continued.
There were developments in the investigations of some of the 2005
campaign period killings of political activists. Five gunmen and the
alleged planner, a Mahachon Party candidate, were arrested for the
murder of Thiwa Phakpuppha, a TRT Party activist in Ayutthaya Province.
Charges against the Mahachon Party candidate were later dropped; the
trials of the five alleged gunmen were ongoing at year's end. The
alleged planner and gunman also were arrested for the killing of
Worayut Wutthaphanit, a candidate for the Nong-ri Tambon Administration
Organization chairmanship. The gunman pleaded guilty, while the alleged
planner maintained his innocence. At year's end the trial was ongoing.
There were no developments with regard to other 2005 campaign period
killings.
There were no developments with regard to the 2005 killings of
journalists Phruttiphong Marohabut in February, Kiat Saetang also in
February, Manop Ratanajaroongporn in June, and Santi Lamaneenil in
November (see section 2.a.).
The investigation into the 2004 killing of Rapin Ruankaew, a
Pattani provincial court judge, led to the arrest of one suspect,
Abdunlo Pasi. At year's end his trial was ongoing. At year's end
suspected accomplices Abdun Kama, Bueraheng Mama, and Unnungwa Kaso
were at large.
In September 2005 a former village headman and four subordinates
were sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of six Burmese migrant
workers in Mae Sot. The defendants appealed the sentence, and at year's
end the case remained pending in the appellate court.
According to the Thailand Mine Action Center, through August 31,
four persons were reported injured by landmines. These incidents were
attributed to recent conflicts on the Burmese border.
b. Disappearance.--NGOs expressed great concern over reported
disappearances in the southern provinces. In many cases the missing
persons allegedly disappeared after being questioned by security
officials. Estimates of the number of disappeared varied widely but
appeared to be more than 50, mostly Muslim men (see section 1.g.). On
November 2, on the same occasion when he apologized for the Tak Bai
deaths (see section 1.a.), the interim prime minister said he would
investigate cases in which the Government was suspected in the
disappearance of alleged insurgents.
On January 12, four of the five police officers charged in the 2004
robbery and abduction of Muslim attorney and human rights activist,
Somchai Neelapaijit, were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The fifth
accused, Police Major Ngern Thongsuk, was convicted of coercion for his
role in forcing Somchai into a car. Thongsuk was released on bail
pending an appeal. There were allegations that witnesses in the case
were intimidated. Somchai's wife and some NGO representatives who were
monitoring the trial also were threatened. Human rights organizations
and legal advocacy groups expressed serious concerns over inadequate
and improper investigative procedures, inadequate protection of
witnesses, and irregularities in the prosecution's handling of the
case. On October 31, CNS head and army commander General Sonthi
Boonyaratkalin said publicly that a close aide of deposed prime
minister Thaksin may have been involved in Somchai's disappearance. On
November 3, the Attorney General's Office announced that it had
received evidence confirming Somchai's death. It also announced that it
was preparing to issue arrest warrants for several suspects. Activists
involved in the case expressed concern that arrest warrants not be
issued until the prosecutors had a case suitable to bring to trial.
Following an investigation into the alleged 2004 abduction by five
police officers of Sukip-li Asae in Narathiwat, the Narathiwat
Provincial Court determined that the accusation was unfounded and
dropped all charges against the officers.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution
prohibited such practices; however, NGOs and legal organizations
continued to report that members of the police occasionally tortured
and beat suspects to obtain confessions. On September 19, the military
coup leaders revoked the constitution and decreed martial law. Legal
experts maintained that the interim constitution incorporates by
reference all of the protections contained in the 1997 constitution and
specific laws pertaining to prohibition of torture and other cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment remain in force. During the period of
martial law, there were no confirmed reports of torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment. During the year there were newspaper
reports of numerous cases in which citizens accused police of using
brutality, threatening false charges, and extorting bribes.
Investigations were undertaken in most of the cases, including several
in which the accused police officers were suspended pending the results
of internal investigations.
On April 17, Sakhon Khamto was detained by police for allegedly
kidnapping a newborn infant from Lop Buri Hospital. While in police
custody, Sakhon confessed to the kidnapping; however, on April 18,
after witnesses failed to positively identify her, Sakhon was released.
She immediately retracted her confession and filed a suit against the
police claiming that she was beaten and forced to confess. On April 22,
an unrelated individual in another part of the country was apprehended
with the kidnapped child. Sakhon filed a complaint against the police
and sought the assistance of the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC). The NHRC assisted the investigation, but Sakhon was unable to
positively identify the officer who abused her.
An investigation was opened into the complaint that in October
2005, a police officer in Tak Province forced his way into a home,
threatened and beat an older woman, and tried to rape an 18-year-old
Burmese migrant worker. At year's end no arrests had been made.
The five persons represented by lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (see
section 1.b.) in a 2004 alleged police torture case dropped the charges
filed against the police officers involved.
At year's end Police Major Kriangsak Thipchoi, suspended for his
part in a 2004 case involving the claim by a married couple that they
were beaten and robbed while under detention for 102 days without
charge at the Lumpini police station in Bangkok, was being investigated
by the National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) for ``abusing
authority.''
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions were
poor and overcrowded. The prison population of approximately 149,000
inmates was held in 135 prisons and detention centers designed for
110,000 prisoners. Sleeping accommodations were insufficient. Medical
care was inadequate, and communicable diseases were widespread in some
prisons. The corrections department employed 17 full-time doctors, 306
full-time nurses, and eight full-time dentists. There were also a small
number of part-time doctors to supplement the permanent medical staff.
Prisoners who are seriously ill may be transferred to provincial or
state hospitals.
Prison authorities sometimes used solitary confinement of not more
than three months to punish male prisoners who consistently violated
prison rules or regulations. They also used heavy leg irons to control
prisoners who were deemed escape risks and for prisoners serving life
sentences or facing the death penalty.
On September 14, prisoners in the Nakhon Si Thammarat provincial
prison rioted and briefly took over the prison. The prisoners demanded
that five wardens be removed and investigated for alleged physical
abuse and theft of prisoner's personal items. Corrections department
authorities agreed to remove and investigate the five. The protest
ended peacefully after approximately eight hours.
Approximately 27 percent of the total prison population were
pretrial detainees, who were not segregated from the general prison
population. Men, women, and children often were held together in police
station cells pending indictment. During the year the Government opened
12 new juvenile detention centers, and separate facilities for juvenile
offenders were available in all of the country's 76 provinces; but in
some locations juveniles were detained with adults.
Conditions in Bangkok's Suan Phlu immigration detention center met
minimum international standards; however, conditions in nine provincial
detention centers remained poor. Immigration detention facilities were
administered by the Immigration Police Bureau, which reported to the
Office of the Prime Minister and were not subject to many of the
regulations that governed the regular prison system. There were
credible reports that guards physically abused detainees in some
detention centers. Overcrowding and a lack of basic medical care
continued to be serious problems.
Access to prisons was not restricted, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers and the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Prior to the September 19 coup
d'etat, the constitution prohibited arbitrary arrest and detention;
however, government forces occasionally arrested and detained persons
arbitrarily. On September 19, the military coup leaders revoked the
constitution and decreed martial law. During the period of martial law,
four former high-level government officials were detained without
formal charges. All four were released on October 1, on the same day
that the interim constitution was promulgated. On November 28, the
Government announced it would lift martial law in 41 of the country's
76 provinces as well as in some districts of the remaining provinces.
By year's end, however, the Government had not submitted the decree
lifting martial law to the palace for the king's signature, required
for the decree to come into effect.
The emergency decree covering the southern provinces grants
authorities the power to detain suspects for up to 30 days without
charge, and make searches and arrests without warrants.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Royal Thai Police
(RTP) is under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister and a 20-
member police commission. The RTP consisted of approximately 213,000
officers in 10 geographic regions. The police commissioner-general is
appointed by the Prime Minister and subject to cabinet and royal
approval. The border patrol police have special authority and
responsibility in border areas to combat insurgent or separatist
movements. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the military coup
leaders declared martial law, which gave the military authority over
civilian institutions including the police, regarding the maintenance
of public order.
Corruption remained widespread among police officers. Police
officials suggested that low pay made them susceptible to bribes. There
were reports that police tortured, beat, and otherwise abused detainees
and prisoners, generally with impunity. Complaints of police abuse can
be filed directly with the superior of the accused police officer, the
Office of Inspector General, or the police commissioner-general. The
NHRC, the Law Society of Thailand, the NCCC, and the Office of the
Prime Minister also accept complaints of police abuse and corruption,
as does the Office of the Ombudsmen. When the police department
receives a petition, an internal investigation committee first takes up
the matter and may temporarily suspend the officer during the
investigation. Various administrative penalties exist, and serious
cases can be referred to the criminal court. The Police Department
reported that as of August, 255 officers were charged with criminal
offenses during the year. Of these 97 were charged with murder or
attempted murder. Through August the NHRC received 68 complaints of
police abuse compared to 132 such complaints in 2005.
Some police officers were involved in facilitating prostitution and
trafficking in women and children (see section 5). On August 25, a
police lieutenant colonel from Doi Luang police station in Chiang Rai
was arrested and charged with trafficking nine Burmese laborers.
Arrest and Detention.--In practice the system for issuing arrest
warrants was subject to misuse by police officers who provided false
evidence to courts to obtain arrest warrants. By law persons must be
informed of likely charges against them immediately after arrest and
must be allowed to inform someone of their arrest. The law provides for
access to counsel for criminal detainees; however, lawyers and human
rights groups claimed that local police often ignored this and
conducted interrogations without providing access to an attorney.
Lawyers working in the southern provinces reported that under the
emergency decree they were denied adequate access to detained clients.
Foreign prisoners sometimes were pressured to sign confessions without
the benefit of a competent translator.
Under normal conditions the law requires the police to submit
criminal cases to prosecutors for the filing of court charges within 48
hours of arrest, with extensions of up to three days permitted. Police
may seek court permission to hold suspects for additional periods (up
to a maximum of six months for the most serious offenses) to conduct
investigations. Laws and regulations place offenses for which the
maximum penalty is less than three years under the jurisdiction of the
district courts, which have different procedures. In these cases,
police are required to submit cases to public prosecutors within 72
hours of arrest. Lawyers reported that police rarely brought cases to
court within the 48-hour period. According to the Law Society of
Thailand, pretrial detention of criminal suspects for up to 60 days was
common. As in previous years, several Burmese activists were arrested
and held, generally on immigration violation charges.
Under martial law, the military had the authority to detain persons
without charge for a maximum of seven days. Following the September 19
coup, the coup leaders detained a number of former government officials
and TRT party loyalists. Most of these persons were held for several
hours and then released. Four high-ranking former government officials,
the former deputy prime minister Chidchai Wannasatht, the former
secretary general to the Prime Minister Prommin Lertsuridej, the former
minister in the Prime Minister's Office Newin Chidchob, and the former
minister of natural resources and the environment, Yongyuth Tiyapairat,
were detained on September 19 and released on October 1.
The law provides defendants the right to bail, and the Government
generally respected this right. However, some human rights groups
reported that police frequently did not inform detained suspects of
their right to bail or refused to recommend bail after a request for
bail was submitted.
The emergency decree in effect in Yala, Narathiwat, and Pattani
provinces, plus parts of Songkhla, allowed authorities to arrest and
detain suspects for up to 30 days without charge. After the expiration
of these 30 days, authorities could begin holding suspects under normal
criminal law. Unlike martial law, these detentions required the consent
of a court of law. According to the Government, 454 persons were
arrested under these provisions as of April and 66 cases had gone to
court. It is unclear whether any persons were detained in the South
under the auspices of martial law alone.
Amnesty.--In June, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the king's
coronation, the Government released approximately 25,000 prisoners. The
freed prisoners were nonviolent offenders.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Prior to the September 19 coup,
the constitution provided for an independent judiciary. Following the
coup, the coup leaders repealed the constitution and issued a decree
announcing that all courts with the exception of the Constitutional
Court would continue to operate as normal. While the judiciary
generally was regarded as independent, it was subject to corruption and
outside influences. According to human rights groups, the lack of
progress in several high-profile cases involving alleged abuse by the
police and military diminished the public's trust in the justice system
and discouraged some victims of human rights abuses (or their families)
from seeking justice.
The civilian judicial system has three levels of courts: courts of
first instance, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court. Prior to the
coup, there was an independent Constitutional Court. On September 19,
the coup leaders dissolved the Constitutional Court and on October 1,
established a Constitutional Tribunal composed of justices from the
Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Justice. A
separate military court hears criminal and civil cases pertaining to
military personnel as well as those brought during periods of martial
law. Islamic (Shari'a) courts hear only civil cases concerning members
of the Muslim minority. The law provides for access to courts or
administrative bodies to seek redress, and the Government generally
respected this right.
Trial Procedures.--There is no trial by jury. A single judge
decides trials for misdemeanors; two or more judges are required for
more serious cases. Court procedures enacted in 2004 somewhat
alleviated delays; however, a large backlog of cases remained, and
trials still could go on for months or even years. While most trials
are public, the court may order a closed trial, particularly in cases
involving national security, the royal family, children, or sexual
abuse. Under the 1997 constitution, justices nominated to the Supreme
Administrative Court had to be confirmed by the Senate; under the
interim constitution procedures are undefined. All other judges are
career civil servants whose appointments are not subject to
parliamentary review.
The law provides for the presumption of innocence. In ordinary
criminal courts, defendants enjoy a broad range of legal rights,
including access to a lawyer of their choosing. A government program
provided free legal advice to the poor, but indigent defendants were
not provided with counsel at public expense automatically. The court
was required to appoint an attorney in cases where the defendant was a
minor and in cases where possible punishment was imprisonment. Most
free legal aid came from private groups, including the Law Society of
Thailand and the Thai Women Lawyers Association. There is no discovery
process, so lawyers and defendants do not have access to evidence prior
to the trial.
Several NGOs expressed concern over the lack of adequate protection
for witnesses, particularly in cases involving alleged wrongdoing by
the police. In 2003 the Government created the Office of Witness
Protection in the Ministry of Justice. The office had limited resources
and primarily played a coordinating role. In most cases, actual witness
protection was provided by the police. Witnesses, lawyers, and
activists involved in cases of alleged police abuse report that
protection was inadequate and they were intimidated by the police sent
to provide protection.
Although no police or military personnel were prosecuted in
relation to the death of 78 Muslim detainees following violent
demonstrations in Tak Bai in 2004 (see section 1.g.), the Government
charged 99 demonstrators with offenses including obstruction of
government officials, assembling to breach the peace, and refusing to
disperse when ordered. A trial for 57 defendants began in April; the
proceedings were delayed by the failure of key prosecution witnesses
(including high-ranking police and military officers) to appear in
court. The Government took no action against these witnesses. On
November 3, the Government announced that it had dropped all charges
against the protesters due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for
access to courts and administrative bodies to seek redress in civil
matters, and the Government generally respected this right.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home or
Correspondence.--Prior to the September 19 coup, the constitution
prohibited such actions with some exceptions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. With a few
exceptions, including crimes in progress, police are required to obtain
a warrant from a court prior to conducting a search. The law provides
standardized procedures for issuing warrants. Following the coup, the
coup leaders repealed the constitution and decreed martial law. During
the period of martial law, the military has the authority to conduct
searches without a warrant, although there were no reports that this
authority was used.
The Emergency Decree covering the southern provinces also allows
authorities to make searches and arrests without warrants. The Law
Society of Thailand received multiple complaints from persons in the
South claiming that security forces abused this authority; however, the
Emergency Decree provides security forces broad immunity from
prosecution. At year's end both the Emergency Decree and martial law
were in force in the southernmost provinces. The Government maintained
that both were needed since the Emergency Decree pertained to the
police and civilian authorities while martial law pertained to the
military.
Reports of police conducting warrantless searches for narcotics in
villages in the northern provinces declined. Warrantless searches are
permitted in cases in which there is reasonable suspicion and an urgent
search is deemed necessary.
Security services monitored persons, including foreign visitors,
who espoused extremist or highly controversial views.
In late June National Human Rights Commissioner Vasant Panich
reported that he and his family were under intense surveillance by the
Government. Commissioner Vasant closely monitored cases of human rights
violations in the South and worked on the case of missing human rights
lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit (see section 1.b.). Between June 27 and 28,
Vasant reported being followed and receiving multiple phone calls from
unidentified persons. Vasant claimed that the type of surveillance he
was under closely resembled that experienced by Somchai prior to his
disappearance in 2004. Concerns that Vasant was being targeted for
abduction were widely publicized, and Vasant reported that the
surveillance diminished.
During the year Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of Somchai
Neelaphaijit, reported receiving numerous threats. Angkhana was a co-
plaintiff in the case against police for the abduction of her husband
and an outspoken critic of forced disappearances. Angkhana reported
regularly receiving threatening telephone calls and being followed. On
January 12, she reported that her car was broken into and searched
while parked at the criminal court building where she was attending the
reading of the verdict against police officers charged with abducting
Somchai (see section 1.b.). In early November she reported increased
surveillance and threats following statements by the Government and the
CNS that it had evidence linking a former Thaksin aide to the
disappearance of Somchai.
Members of indigenous hill tribes continued to face forced
evictions and relocation. Due to lack of proof of citizenship and land
ownership, they were forced to move from areas they had cultivated for
decades. Conflicts occurred when the land on which they lived was
converted to forest conservation areas. Court hearings in the case of
the 2004 raid on Palong Pang Daeng Village and the arrest of 48 persons
were scheduled to begin in 2007.
In 2004 the Government embarked on a ``New Model of Forested
Villages'' project covering approximately 10,866 villages in 70
provinces. Under this project land that tribal villagers had cultivated
for more than a hundred years was declared state land, and the
indigenous hill tribes became illegal trespassers and faced forcible
eviction and other penalties. During the year the project was abandoned
due to public discontent and lack of budgetary resources.
A land committee was established under the National Poverty
Reduction Program to deal with land disputes in areas affected by the
2004 tsunami. By June, according to the Asian Coalition for Housing
Rights, 13 communities had resolved conflicts and received long-term
land tenure. An additional 76 communities continued efforts to resolve
land disputes.
In 2005 the Government ordered Burmese refugees with Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) documentation who were
working in cities (the ``urban Burmese'') to relocate to refugee camps
on the Burma border. According to the UNHCR, more than 1,800 registered
refugees transferred to camps during the year, while 340 failed to
report for transfer. Those who remained in cities risked arrest and
deportation (see section 2.d.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflict.--
The internal conflict in the Muslim-majority southernmost provinces
continued throughout the year. An emergency decree in effect for these
provinces (Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and portions of Songkhla) gave
the police and civilian authorities significant powers to restrict
certain basic rights and delegated certain internal security powers to
the armed forces. Martial law decreed in September after the military
coup gives a broader range of power to the military alone. There were
reports of abuses by security forces; however, the emergency decree
provides security forces broad immunity from prosecution. Insurgents
carried out bombings and targeted attacks on an almost daily basis
resulting in death and injuries.
The interim government made a number of conciliatory gestures
towards southern Malay-Muslims, including repeated statements that it
was prepared to talk with separatists and that it intends to lift the
emergency decree in January 2007 and apologizes for the Tak Bai
killings. Government forces were blamed for the disappearances of more
than 50 persons in the South.
In August 2005 unknown attackers shot and killed Satopa Yushoh, an
imam in Narathiwat Province. Before dying, Satopa reportedly said he
was shot by government soldiers. At year's end there were no
developments in this case.
In 2004 elements of the police and military killed more than 100
persons while repelling multiple attacks in Yala, Pattani, and
Narathiwat provinces by unnamed separatist Muslim men. Of this total,
32 were killed at Krue Se mosque in Pattani, when security forces
stormed the mosque after a nine-hour standoff. According to an official
independent commission report on the Krue Se mosque incident, the
commander on the scene ordered the raid after failed negotiations and
the deaths of three soldiers. Civilian authorities in Bangkok,
including the deputy prime minister in charge of security, claimed that
the raid was conducted without their approval. The commission concluded
that force was used when negotiations would have been more appropriate
and that the level of force employed was excessive.
In 2004 Ilmin Nehlae reportedly was shot and killed while under
control of paramilitary rangers. Five paramilitary soldiers were
charged with murder. At year's end the case was being prosecuted in the
Yala Provincial Court and all five defendants were free on bail.
Also in 2004, 78 Muslim detainees being transported to an army camp
after a violent demonstration in Tak Bai, Narathiwat Province, died
from asphyxiation after police and military forces stacked them
horizontally onto truck beds for transport. An independent commission
reported that three senior security officials, including the Fourth
Army commanding general, failed to properly perform their duty and
responsibility to monitor their subordinates in transporting detainees
in a humane manner. The commission stated that seven persons remained
missing. The Government directed the Ministry of Defense to conduct a
disciplinary investigation of the three senior officers, and it also
directed the police to conduct a criminal investigation. Three generals
were placed in inactive status, but no police or military personnel
were prosecuted for these actions. Although the Government paid some
compensation to the victims' families, the Law Society of Thailand
filed a suit on behalf of the families demanding approximately $3.39
million (127 million baht) in compensation from various national- and
provincial-level agencies including the military and the police. On
November 2, the interim prime minister traveled to the South and
offered a public apology for abuses at the hands of security officers.
On November 7, the Government offered the families a total of $1.12
million (42 million baht) in compensation for dropping the outstanding
civil suit.
In February 2005 Prime Minister Thaksin established the 50-member
National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to build ``peace and
reconciliation'' in the South. In April 2005 the NRC released a report
on the Tak Bai incident, which reached conclusions similar to those of
the independent commission. In April 2005 the NRC released a report on
the Krue Se mosque incident. The majority of commission members felt
that the military had handled the matter poorly and had not exhausted
all possible peaceful solutions before raiding the mosque. Other
commissioners felt that it was impossible to tell whether the force had
in fact been excessive.
In June the NRC released its final report and recommendations. The
NRC determined that the violence in the South stemmed from economic and
cultural factors, as well as from ``unconstrained abuses of
administrative power'' and ``injustices arising from the existing
judicial process and administrative system.'' The NRC further
determined that religion was not the cause of violence but that it was
used as a justification by some militants to ``legitimize their violent
methods.'' The report offered a wide range of recommendations for the
Government to address the problems in the South and promote
reconciliation including: passage of an act that would create
administrative mechanisms to unify government strategy and strengthen
civil society; establishing an unarmed community security force
composed of civilians, military, and police; engaging in dialogue with
militants; and encouraging the Government to ``deal decisively with
state officials against whom abuse-of-power complaints have been
made.'' The Thaksin government acknowledged receipt of the report, but
took no actions specifically to address NRC recommendations. On
November 1, the interim government reestablished the Southern Border
Province Administration Center, which had been dissolved under the
Thaksin government, to coordinate government actions in the South and
serve as a mechanism through which the local population can file
complaints about government misconduct. The interim prime minister also
pledged to use the NRC report as the basic guideline for government
action in the South.
Separatist violence continued throughout the year. The separatists
frequently targeted government and religious representatives, including
teachers, monks, as well as district and municipal officials. Among the
most notable incidents were: the June 15 coordinated bombing of 40
separate locations including government offices and police stations;
the occurrence of over 100 violent incidents across the region on the
night and early morning of August 1-2, including a large explosion
along a rail line which killed three police officers; and the bombing
of 22 bank branches on August 31. Continued violence against teachers
and a spate of more than 10 school arsons in early November also forced
the closing of 944 schools in the South on November 27 (see section 5).
These schools reopened in early December. Among the most notable acts
of violence were the assassination of a government primary school
teacher while he was teaching class on July 24 and the shooting and
burning of another teacher in front of his students on November 24.
Bombings and targeted killings, sometimes in public areas, resulted in
death and injury on an almost daily basis.
While the insurgents typically targeted ``figures of authority,''
the instances of attacks on civilians increased. On September 16,
coordinated explosions in the shopping areas of Hat Yai City in
Songkhla Province killed four and injured 59. Mid-November witnessed
the shooting deaths of over 30 civilians.
During the year the Government began supporting civilian defense
volunteers from villages in the South. Volunteers received basic
training and some received weapons. Over the course of the year,
militants increasingly targeted these civilian volunteers. For example,
on August 28, a defense volunteer in Sungai Padi District, Narathiwat,
was shot multiple times, his head was nearly severed, and his ears were
cut off.
In September 2005 ethnic Malay villagers in Narathiwat Province
tortured and killed two marines whom they believed had been involved in
the murder of two civilians. A total of 34 persons were initially
arrested in connection with the killing, although a number subsequently
were released. Prosecutors plan to bring charges against 30 suspects,
some of whom remain in police custody. The case has yet to come to
trial.
As of September, 24 families from the southern provinces filed
official complaints alleging that members of their families (all young
men between the ages of 20 and 22) were abducted. At least 23 of these
families have accepted monetary compensation from the Government of
approximately $2,700 (100,000 baht). The Central Institute of Forensic
Science obtained court authority to exhume roughly 400 unidentified
bodies from cemeteries in the South, and the Government collected DNA
samples from members of the families who had filed complaints. Due to
budgetary constraints and provincial governors' reluctance to allow
remains to be transported across provincial borders to a central
forensics facility, the work of identifying the bodies has yet to
begin. The NHRC and other human rights organizations expressed
confidence that, if this effort moves forward, more families in the
South will come forward to report disappearances.
On May 29, Wae-halem Kuwaekama was abducted in Joh Airong District,
Narathiwat. According to villagers, soldiers frequently harassed Wae-
halem and warned him that his name was on a list of suspected
insurgents. Several weeks before his disappearance, Wae-halem and
several other villagers were detained for 12 days at the army
interrogation center in Bo Thong District, Pattani. No charges were
ever filed. Following his disappearance, Wae-halem's family filed a
missing persons report with the police. They also filed a complaint
with the Independent Commission on Justice and Civil Liberties for the
Southern Border Provinces, an independent governmental agency that
reports directly to the Prime Minister. At year's end Wae-halem's
whereabouts remained unknown.
At year's end no charges had been filed against police personnel in
the case of four Muslim men acquitted of charges of alleged membership
in a terrorist organization who claimed that police had beaten them
while they were in custody.
In 2004 five suspects in a raid on a Narathiwat military camp
alleged that police beat and administered electric shocks to them in
order to obtain confessions. The suspects filed a formal complaint with
the Ministry of Justice through their lawyer, Somchai Neelapaichjit,
who subsequently disappeared and was presumed dead (see section 1.b.).
Police opened an internal investigation but the five dropped their
complaint.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--Prior to September 19, the
constitution, with some exceptions, provided for freedom of speech and
of the press. While individuals could criticize the Government publicly
and privately without official reprisal, there were incidents in which
the Government limited freedom of speech. The Government consistently
pressured the media, particularly the broadcast media, to limit
dissenting views through threats of libel suits and other means. The
Government and its allies owned all the major broadcast media, and
large shares of the newspaper sector. The Government shut down
community radio stations and Web sites critical of the ruling party,
although these stations were able to reopen. The courts continued to
issue rulings that helped protect press freedoms. Following the coup
d'etat, the constitutional provisions regarding the rights of freedom
of speech and freedom of the press were suspended, and in practice
these rights were limited, particularly in the immediate aftermath of
the coup. Legal experts opined that the interim constitution
incorporates by reference the legal protections contained in the 1997
constitution.
By law the Government may restrict freedom of speech and freedom of
the press to preserve national security, maintain public order,
preserve the rights of others, protect public morals, and prevent
criticism of the royal family and insults to Buddhism. The law permits
police to close newspapers or printing presses in times of war or
national emergency, but only with a court order. The law allows police
to restrict or confiscate publications and other materials for
disturbing the peace, interfering with public safety, or offending
public morals. The Government could restrict print or broadcast media
by specific legislation in times of crisis and did so through the
Emergency Decree imposed in July 2005. The decree empowered the
Government ``to prohibit publication and distribution of news and
information that may cause the people to panic or with an intention to
distort information.'' The Emergency Decree also authorized the
Government to censor newspapers and ban publications, although these
powers were not used.
On September 20, the military coup leaders ordered the Ministry of
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to ``censor, prevent,
block, and destroy dissemination'' of information carried on the
telecommunications networks that contained ``articles, messages, verbal
speech, or any other discourse'' that could undermine the coup leaders.
On the same day, the coup leaders issued an announcement that sought
``cooperation from the mass media--(in) joint efforts to disseminate
factual and constructive news and information.'' During the remainder
of the year, print and broadcast media nonetheless reported news
critical of the interim government and CNS and continued to report the
statements and activities of the former prime minister.
Prior to September 19, print media criticism of political parties,
public figures, and the Government was common and vigorous. Journalists
generally were free to comment on government activities without fear of
official reprisal; however, the print media routinely practiced self-
censorship, particularly with regard to the monarchy and national
security. The Government and its allies exerted strong pressure on the
print media. According to NGOs, including the Thai Journalists
Association (TJA), the Government controlled the media through direct
ownership, the threat of withdrawing financial support and
advertisements, constraints on the flow of information, and pressure on
journalists and activists.
Libel suits were used to encourage self-censorship. In October 2005
the Prime Minister filed a series of six civil and criminal libel suits
against the Phujatkarn newspaper; its owner, Sondhi Limthongkul, an
outspoken critic of the Government; and his associates. The lawsuits
were withdrawn in December 2005, following disapproving remarks by the
king.
In 2004 the Shin Corporation, owned by the then prime minister's
family, filed a libel suit against media activist Supinya Kangnarong.
On March 15, the Criminal Court acquitted Supinya, and the Shin
Corporation withdrew a civil case against her on May 11.
Some of the country's largest advertisers were state owned and
newspaper editors reported that these companies threatened to withdraw
lucrative advertising contracts if a newspaper did not soften its
antigovernment editorial tone.
Journalists also expressed concern about government public
relations tools presented to the public as neutral media outlets. On
September 4, the TJA issued a statement denouncing ``phony'' print and
Internet media, which failed to identify themselves as government
controlled. The TJA claimed they were designed to discredit the
conventional media.
Prior to the September 19th coup, the Government and its allies
owned large stakes in many prominent newspapers.
State entities and government allies controlled and owned almost
all radio and television stations. The Government owned and controlled
524 officially registered ``regular'' AM and FM stations, while the
military and police services retained ownership of 230 radio stations,
ostensibly for national security purposes. Other owners of national
broadcast media included the Government's Public Relations Department
(PRD). Almost all of the stations were leased to commercial companies.
Radio stations must renew their licenses every year, and radio
signals were broadcast via government transmitters. Stations are
required by law to broadcast 30-minute government-produced newscasts
twice daily. The country's estimated 2,000 to 3,000 community radio
stations operated under somewhat different regulations. Because
broadcast regulations restrict radio frequencies to government
entities, these stations technically operated outside the law, but most
were allowed to continue broadcasting provided they registered with the
Government. In the last two years, the Government closed 17 community
radio stations including 92.25, a station critical of the Government,
for violating rules on antenna height or signal strength. During the
year, 92.25 was allowed to operate with a shorter antenna.
Until January Prime Minister Thaksin's family controlled the Shin
Corporation which owned iTV, the country's only independent nonstate-
owned broadcast television station.
The appointment of a National Broadcast Commission tasked with
reallocating all broadcast frequencies and regulating the broadcast
media remained in limbo. During the year the selection committee again
selected 14 individuals, and the courts again rejected the nominees.
Self-censorship in the broadcast media was evident even before the
coup. Producers and reporters who criticized the Government faced
political or economic repercussions, such as reassignment to other
duties in a publication, termination of a broadcast program, loss of
advertising, politically motivated libel suits, or removal from a role
in the production or presentation of a broadcast program. There were
credible reports that the political opposition had difficulty getting
broadcast time due to fears of offending the Government. On August 20,
broadcast journalists at a TJA seminar admitted they employed self-
censorship to ensure they remained on air and avoided government
harassment.
In the days following the September 19 coup d'etat, broadcast
media, particularly television, was closely monitored. On the night of
the coup, armed soldiers deployed to television and radio stations
throughout Bangkok. All regular television programming ceased, and all
broadcast stations aired programming from the army-owned and operated
Channel 5. By mid-morning on September 20 these stations had returned
to ``regular'' programming, mostly light entertainment and
informational shows. Newscasts continued to air at their regularly
scheduled times, and reports included factual, although positively
slanted, news of the coup. Soldiers in the stations reportedly
requested news producers not to air negative reports on the coup. Armed
troops remained deployed at the stations for several weeks. The
privately operated United Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) cable network
blocked CNN and BBC on the night of the coup. For the next few weeks,
UBC continued to occasionally block the signal when those networks
aired images of former prime minister Thaksin.
The ICT also banned radio programs with call-in formats and asked
television programs not to broadcast text-messages from viewers on
screen. Programming gradually returned to normal over the subsequent
weeks.
Soon after the coup, the local branches of the PRD asked hundreds
of community radio stations in the North and Northeast to cease
broadcasting. An army representative explained that the stations were
too difficult to monitor to ensure that they were not broadcasting pro-
Thaksin information. Within two weeks, most of these stations had
permission to resume operating.
At year's end there was no resolution of the following cases of
journalists killed in 2005: the February killing of Phruttiphong
Marohabut, a cameraman for iTV, in Pattani Province; the February
killing of Kiat Saetang, editor of the Hat Yai Post, in Pattani
Province; the June killing of Manop Ratanajaroongporn, in Phang Nga
Province; and the November killing of Santi Lammaneenil, owner of the
Pattaya Post and freelance reporter. All were believed to have been
killed for their politically sensitive reporting.
On February 6, the Special Police Branch wrote to all print media
asking them not to reprint or publish excerpts from the book The King
Never Smiles, written by Paul Handley and published overseas. Imports
were also banned.
Internet Freedom.--Individuals and groups could generally engage in
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by
electronic mail; however, there were some limitations. The ICT cyber
inspection team is responsible for censorship. Prior to the September
19 coup, most banned Web sites featured pornography or offered illegal
products. The Government distributed a blacklist of approximately 4,000
Web sites, both domestic and foreign, to government and private
Internet service providers (ISPs). Compliance by the ISPs in blocking
routine access to these Web sites was universal.
Following the coup many popular Web sites banned political topics
in their chat rooms. Anticoup political messages and blogs continued on
other Web sites. ICT blocked two local Web sites explicitly critical of
the coup. BBC reported that parts of its Web site, which featured
commentary on the possible role of the King, also were blocked.
In response to persistent violence in the South, the Government
continued to block Web sites viewed as threatening to national
security. In 2004 authorities blocked access to the Pattani United
Liberation Organization Web site, which advocated Muslim separatist
ideas and violence. Internet providers enforced the ban, informing
their customers that they had blocked access to the Web site.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom, either before or after the coup.
Cultural events may be censored, usually for reasons of public
decency. Under the 1930 Film Act, theater owners and broadcasters must
submit films they plan to show to the film censorship board for review.
The board may ban a film if offending portions are not deleted. Reasons
for censoring films include violating moral or cultural norms and
disturbing the public order or national security. Theater owners and
broadcasters frequently censored films themselves before submitting
them to the board. According to the board, no films have been banned
since 2003.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--Prior to September 19, the constitution provided for freedom
of assembly and association, and the Government generally respected
these rights in practice. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the
coup leaders repealed the constitution and decreed martial law. On
September 20, the coup leaders prohibited gatherings of more than five
persons for political purposes. On September 21, the coup leaders
issued a decree prohibiting all political gatherings or political
activities by political parties. A similar decree on September 24
prohibited all political gatherings or activities of local and
provincial government officials. Although there were no credible
reports of reprisals by the authorities for violation of these decrees,
many NGOs and civil liberty advocacy groups expressed concern that they
inhibited individuals from exercising their rights of assembly and
association. On November 9, the National Legislative Assembly voted to
lift the decree prohibiting gatherings of more than five persons for
political purposes. The restriction was formally lifted on December 27.
The Emergency Decree for the southern provinces allows the
Government to limit freedom of assembly, but this provision was not
used during the year.
Between January and April, the People's Alliance for Democracy
(PAD--a coalition of NGOs) staged a series of massive antigovernment
demonstrations in Bangkok and other cities around the country. The
demonstrations, some drawing as many as 100,000 to 200,000
participants, were peaceful. Although demonstrators in Bangkok did not
always possess the proper permits for some of the actions they staged,
the authorities consistently allowed demonstrations to proceed without
incident. On April 23, PAD was forced to cancel a seminar in Udon Thani
after a pro-Thaksin group of several hundred people began pelting PAD
organizers with stones and other objects.
On August 19, a small group of protesters shouting anti-Thaksin
slogans at an event attended by Prime Minister Thaksin in a Bangkok
shopping mall were restrained and some were reportedly beaten by
plainclothes security guards. On August 21, a small group of protesters
shouting anti-Thaksin slogans outside another shopping mall were beaten
by two men while police officers stood by watching. Television cameras
filming the demonstration captured the attack and police inaction.
Three demonstrators were injured in the assault. The two men later
surrendered to police and were charged with assault.
Freedom of Association.--Both before and after the September 19
coup, the laws provided for and the authorities generally respected the
right to freedom of association. On September 21, the coup leaders
announced a suspension on the registration and formation of new
political parties.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the
constitution provided for freedom of religion, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice; however, it restricted the
activities of some groups. The constitution required that the monarch
be a Buddhist. The state religion in effect is Therevada Buddhism;
however, it is not designated as such. Following the September 19 coup
d'etat, there were no credible reports of additional restrictions
placed on religious freedom.
The Government played an active role in religious affairs. Under
the Religious Organizations Act, a new religion can be registered if a
national census shows that it has at least 5,000 adherents, represents
a recognizably unique theology, and is not politically active. To
register, a religious organization also is required to be accepted into
one of the five officially recognized ecclesiastical groups: Buddhist,
Muslim, Catholic (which includes four Protestant sub-groups), Brahmin-
Hindu, and Sikh. Since 1984 the Government has not recognized any new
religious groups. Government registration conferred some benefits,
including access to state subsidies, tax-exempt status, and
preferential allocation of resident visas for organization officials.
Unregistered religious organizations did not receive these benefits but
operated freely in practice.
The repealed 1997 constitution required the Government ``to
patronize and protect Buddhism and other religions.'' The Government
subsidized activities of the three largest religious communities
(Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian).
The 1962 Sangha Act specifically prohibits the defamation or insult
of Buddhism and the Buddhist clergy. The penal code prohibits the
insult or disturbance of religious places or services of all of the
recognized religions in the country. Followers of the Santi Asoke sect
of Buddhism were unable to legally refer to themselves as Buddhists
because of theological disagreements with the sangha council, but they
were able to practice their faith without restriction.
The Government stationed troops to protect religious practitioners
and structures in communities where the potential for violence existed
and provided armed escort for Buddhist monks where necessary.
Religious instruction is required in public schools at both the
primary and secondary education levels.
In the past, traditional Islamic pondok schools were not required
to register with the Government and had no government oversight or
funding. Following the outbreak of violence in the southern provinces,
registration with the Government was made mandatory. By July the
Government had registered 372 pondok schools in the provinces of Yala,
Pattani, and Narathiwat. Observers estimated that as many as 1,000
pondok schools operated in the South.
Muslims, who represented between 5 and 10 percent of the population
nationwide and constituted the majority in four of the five
southernmost provinces, experienced some economic discrimination. The
Government attempted to address the problem by maintaining longstanding
policies designed to integrate Muslim communities into society through
developmental efforts and expanded educational opportunities. However,
these efforts were often resisted amid charges of forced assimilation.
Muslims outside of the southern provinces were much better integrated
into society.
Government officials reportedly continued to monitor Falun Gong
members. The Falun Gong's long-pending application for official
registration was denied in October 2005. The Falun Gong group's
application to the police to print and distribute a weekly magazine was
still pending at year's end. In December 2005 eight Falun Gong
practitioners were arrested following a week of peaceful protests
outside the Chinese embassy. Three were released later that month, and
the remaining five were released in January.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Violence committed by
suspected Islamic militants in the southern provinces of Narathiwat,
Pattani, Songkhla, and Yala affected the ability of some Buddhists in
this predominantly Muslim region to undertake the full range of their
traditional religious practices. Buddhist monks and temples have been
targeted for attack. A number of monks reported that they no longer
were able to travel freely through southern communities. Monks also
claimed that, due to fear of being targeted by militants, laypersons
sometimes declined to assist them in their daily activities. During the
year one Buddhist layperson and one Muslim layperson were beheaded,
compared with nine in 2005.
Many persons presumed that the killing of Buddhist civilians was
intended to increase interfaith tensions. While the level of tension
between local Muslim and Buddhist communities was heightened, it did
not result in open communal conflict (see section 5). During the year a
number of Buddhist families were displaced and sought shelter in
Buddhist temples (see section 2.d.).
A group of Hmong refugees sheltered in Thailand complained of
desecration of Hmong graves. According to wat authorities, the Wat Tham
Krabok monastery provided a portion of its private land to the refugees
for use as a cemetery. The cemetery expanded beyond the land allocated
and decomposing remains reportedly contaminated ground water. The
monastery contracted with a Buddhist organization to disinter the
remains outside the allocated area and relocate them to a more suitable
site, pending cremation. Approximately 800 bodies were removed in the
fall of 2005.
The indigenous Jewish community is small, and there were no reports
of anti-Semitic incidents.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat,
the constitution provided for the right of citizens to change their
residence or workplace, and the authorities generally respected this
right in practice; however, there were some exceptions. Following the
September 19 coup, there were no credible reports of additional
restrictions placed on freedom of movement. Longstanding written
restrictions remained in effect on the travel and domicile of certain
Vietnamese and Chinese resident aliens. A large number of these persons
and their descendants received full citizenship in recent years (see
section 5).
Other longtime noncitizen residents, including hundreds of
thousands of ethnic Shan and tens of thousands of members of other
tribes, were required to seek permission from local authorities or the
army for foreign and domestic travel. Registered resident aliens moved
freely within the country.
Members of hill tribes who have not been granted citizenship were
issued color coded identity cards which reflect restrictions on their
freedom of movement as well as other restrictions. The cards often
prohibit travel outside their province or district without permission
from the district head. Offenders are subject to heavy fines and jail
terms. Persons with no card may not travel at all (see section 5).
Migrant workers may only work in certain provinces. The Government
continued to offer illegal migrants the opportunity to be legally
registered. Registration must be renewed each year. As of August, more
than 746,000 migrants had registered, three-fourths of them from Burma.
In August the Government announced an agreement with the Government of
Burma to allow Burmese migrants working in Thailand the opportunity to
apply for temporary passports at select Burmese border crossings.
Burmese possessing these temporary passports would be able to legally
re-enter Thailand and work. The travel document would not be valid for
travel to third countries. Similar agreements are in place with the
Governments of Laos and Cambodia. On November 7, the Government of
Burma announced the opening of three new offices to issue these
temporary passports in the Burmese border towns of Myawaddy, Kawthong,
and Tachilek.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not practice
it. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, there were no reports of
forced exile. Former prime minister Thaksin remained outside of the
country. The CNS stated that he should not consider returning to the
country before martial law has been lifted.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--In November insurgent
violence caused approximately 55 Buddhist families from two villages in
Yala Province to seek shelter in a Buddhist temple. At year's end they
remained displaced.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol
and the law does not provide for granting asylum or refugee status;
however, the Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. Late in the year
cooperation with UNHCR deteriorated as the authorities detained
increasing numbers of Hmong, North Korean, and Burmese Rohingya asylum
seekers and refugees.
During the year asylum seekers of many nationalities, the large
majority of whom were Burmese, received temporary protection. The
Government continued to allow the UNHCR to monitor the conditions of
the approximately 150,000 Burmese refugees living in nine camps along
the Burmese border but prohibited the UNHCR from maintaining a
permanent presence in the border camps. NGOs provided basic needs
assistance in the camps.
In 2005 provincial admission boards (PAB) were established, with
UNHCR participation, to replace UNHCR in determining refugee status for
Burmese nationals. UNHCR continued its refugee status determination
process for all other nationalities. During the year the PABs formally
admitted more than 26,000 refugees into camps. Many of these previously
lived in the camps without formal permission. The Government agreed to
permit third-country resettlement of camp refugees, and there was some
resettlement from the camps during the year.
The Government allowed NGOs to provide food, medical services,
housing, and other services to Burmese refugees who may have valid
refugee claims but who reside outside the camps. Government officials
periodically arrested Burmese outside designated camps as illegal
aliens. Those arrested generally were taken to the border and released
without being turned over to Burmese authorities.
In March 2005 the authorities ordered urban Burmese refugees (see
section 1.f.) to relocate to refugee camps near the border or face
arrest and deportation and loss of their chance for third-country
resettlement for being in the country illegally. According to the
UNHCR, more than 1,800 transferred to camps during the year, while 340
did not. NGOs protested that difficult conditions in the camps would be
exacerbated by the influx of new refugees and that Burmese journalists
and activists from urban areas would be unable to continue their work.
Many in this group departed for resettlement in third countries.
In addition to the urban Burmese refugees, UNHCR reported that it
registered more than 11,000 additional Burmese asylum seekers outside
of camp settings. Under government policy, they must first transfer to
holding centers in the camps before the PABs will consider their cases.
Some have transferred to the camps, but very few have been screened by
the PABs.
During the year the Government permitted NGOs to expand
occupational training and income generation programs in the camps.
The Government adopted a tougher approach to resolve the situation
of the approximately 7,500 Hmong who congregated in Huay Nam Khao,
Phetchabun Province, some of whom appeared to have valid refugee
claims. The Government reserved the right to repatriate the group to
Laos and has not granted the UNHCR permission to interview them to
determine their refugee status out of concern that allowing status
determination would attract more Hmong from Laos to enter the country
to seek asylum. In November 2005 27 Hmong from this group, including 26
minors, were picked up by local authorities and irregularly deported to
Laos. At year's end the Lao government continued to deny knowledge of
the whereabouts of these individuals.
In June approximately 230 Hmong fled Laos attempting to join the
Huay Nam Khao group. They were arrested by Thai authorities and placed
in separate detention facilities spread out across Phetchabun Province.
On August 15, authorities transported 31 members of this group to a
remote area of the Laos border and reportedly left them on the border
with several days supply of food. On November 15, following formal Lao
government agreement to repatriate Hmong, a group of 53 Hmong were
deported to Laos. None had received access to UNHCR or other screening
of their asylum claims. Their status and whereabouts were unclear. On
November 17, a group of 152 Hmong, many with UNHCR refugee status, was
arrested in Bangkok and taken to the border city of Nong Khai. There
they faced the risk of deportation, or refoulement for those with UNHCR
refugee status. In response to pleas on behalf of the group by UNHCR,
NGOs, and foreign governments the return of this group was temporarily
halted.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Prior to September 19, the constitution provided citizens the right
to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this
right in practice through periodic free and fair elections held on the
basis of universal suffrage. On September 19, after seizing control of
the Government in a military coup d'etat, the ruling coup leaders
repealed the constitution, abolished both houses of the parliament, and
deposed the Prime Minister and his cabinet. National elections
scheduled for October 15 were cancelled. The interim constitution,
promulgated on October 1, sets the framework for the adoption of a new
constitution with elections to follow.
Elections and Political Participation.--In February 2005 national
elections, then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's TRT Party won an
absolute majority of 377 seats in the 500-seat lower house of
parliament and formed a government without entering into a coalition.
On February 24, amid massive antigovernment street demonstrations and
growing calls for his resignation, Thaksin dissolved the lower house of
parliament and called for elections to be held on April 2. The three
main opposition political parties boycotted the snap elections.
The April 2 election and subsequent by-elections did not result in
a full lower house. Election laws required candidates running unopposed
to garner the votes of at least 20 percent of the electoral base in
their constituency. TRT candidates running unopposed in at least 13
constituencies were unable to reach the 20 percent threshold. As such,
the lower house was unable to convene an opening session or elect a new
prime minister.
On May 8, the Constitutional Court ruled that the April 2 election
was unconstitutional. The court also ruled that the results of that
election were null and void and that new elections must be held for the
lower house. The decisions were based on the court's finding that the
election was set too soon after parliament's dissolution and that the
positioning of the voting booths at the polling stations violated voter
confidentiality.
In the wake of the court ruling, one election commissioner
resigned, but three remained in office. On July 25, the courts
convicted the remaining three electoral commissioners on charges that
they violated election laws in ways that favored the ruling TRT Party.
Meanwhile, the national election process for the 200-seat upper
house of parliament (Senate) held on April 19 generally was viewed as
free and fair; however, it was marred by widespread reports of vote-
buying, a recurrent problem, especially in the northeast of the
country. A spate of election-day attacks in Narathiwat and Yala
provinces targeted several polling stations and vehicles transporting
ballots. Four persons were killed and over 20 were injured. Senators-
elect were unable to assume their posts because only 180 were confirmed
by the election commission before it ceased functioning.
On October 1, following the September 19 coup d'etat, the ruling
coup leaders promulgated an interim constitution and appointed retired
general Surayud Chulanot to serve as prime minister of an interim
government. The interim constitution did not provide citizens the right
to change their government peacefully; however, it did establish a
process by which a new constitution would be drafted and submitted to a
public referendum.
Prior to its dissolution in February, there were 52 women in the
500-member House of Representatives. There were 21 women in the
outgoing 200-member Senate. Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat there
was one woman in the 38-member caretaker cabinet. Women hold two
cabinet positions in the interim government: minister attached to the
Prime Minister's Office and minister of culture. Although half of civil
service employees were women, women held only 15 percent of senior
positions.
Few members of ethnic minorities held positions of authority in
national politics. Muslims from the South held significant elected
positions, although they continued to be underrepresented in appointed
local and provincial government positions. There were eight Muslim and
two Christian outgoing senators and 24 Muslim and six Christian members
of the House of Representatives prior to its dissolution. One MP was a
hill tribesman. General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council
for National Security, is a Muslim, as is Interior Minister Aree
Wongarya.
From 1992 through 2005, there were six national multiparty
elections, which transferred power to successive governments through
peaceful, democratic processes. Voting was compulsory.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the
executive branch was widely acknowledged by the public and was cited by
the coup makers as one of the principal justifications for the
September 19 coup d'etat. Prior to the September 19 coup, the NCCC was
moribund as new commissioners had not been appointed to replace the
commissioners who resigned in May 2005. The commission continued
administrative functions, but investigations could not be concluded
until new commissioners were appointed.
Anticorruption efforts under the Thaksin government were also
hampered by a 2004 court ruling against the procedures used in
appointing the auditor-general, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka. Jaruvan was
out of office from July 2004 through February, when she was able to
return to her position as auditor-general after the King refused to
approve the appointment of a new candidate and efforts to replace
Jaruvan were abandoned.
Following the September 19 coup d'etat, the coup leaders took
several actions aimed at enhancing efforts to investigate corruption
under the ousted government. On September 20, the coup leaders placed
full authority to audit all public agencies under auditor-general
Jaruvan by dissolving both the State Audit Commission and the
supervisory board of the Office of the Auditor-General. On September
22, the coup leaders appointed nine new NCCC commissioners. On
September 24, the coup leaders established the Assets Examination
Committee (AEC) that was specifically charged with investigating cases
of alleged corruption in the Thaksin government. The AEC included
Auditor-General Jaruvan, the secretary general of the NCCC, and several
other prominent figures.
There were a number of high-profile allegations of corruption
during the year. The controversial $1.9 billion sale of Shin
Corporation, which was owned by Prime Minister Thaksin's family, was
under investigation for the allegedly illegal foreign ownership
structure arranged to facilitate the sale. Investigations also
continued into various allegations of corruption involving construction
and procurement at Bangkok's new international airport.
Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution provided
access to public information. If a government agency denied a citizen's
request for information, a petition could be made to the official
information commission. In 2005 more than 90 percent of the petitions
were approved. Requests for public information could be denied for
reasons of national security, law enforcement, and public safety.
Following the September 19 coup, laws providing access to public
information remained in force. There were no reports of government
agencies denying citizens' requests for information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights
organizations generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
However, NGOs that dealt with sensitive political issues, such as
the Burmese democracy movement and opposition to government-sponsored
development projects, faced periodic harassment. Human rights workers
focusing on disappearances and the violence in southern Thailand were
particularly vulnerable to government harassment. Very few NGOs were
accorded tax-exempt status, which sometimes hampered the ability of
domestic human rights organizations to secure adequate funding.
Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of Somchai Neelaphaijit, reported
regularly receiving threatening phone calls and being followed (see
sections 1.b. and 1.f.).
In late June National Human Rights Commissioner Vasant Panich
reported that he and his family were under surveillance by government
agents (see section 1.f).
On September 15, a human rights advocate who worked as a researcher
for the NRC and other human rights organizations, was stopped while
driving on the Pattani-Narathiwat highway and searched by two armed men
who refused to present identification. The human rights advocate
claimed the men accused him of assisting separatist insurgents by
investigating and exposing human rights abuses by government officials.
On September 17, he fled his home in Pattani after receiving scores of
threatening phone calls and being followed for several days by unmarked
cars. In September 2005 this same individual was shot and injured while
riding his motorcycle in Pattani Province. He reported he was targeted
because of his human rights activities.
On October 20, Muhammad Dunai Tanyeeno, a human rights defender in
Narathiwat was shot and killed near his home (see section 1.a.).
Muhammad Dunai worked to assist villagers affected by the violence in
the South and had actively assisted some of the 58 defendants in the
Tak Bai case (see sections 1.e. and 1.g.).
Some members of the domestic NGO Assembly of the Poor reported that
the Government threatened to file charges of treason and otherwise
intimated them because of their activities. The threat of arrest
hindered their work.
Government officials met and cooperated with visitors from the ICRC
and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights throughout
the year. In June the foreign minister attended the 33rd Session of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Baku, Azerbaijan, as an
observer. At that meeting, the OIC resolved to continue efforts with
the Government to seek just solutions to the problems of Muslims in
southern Thailand.
In 2004 the UN Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings requested permission to
visit the country following the October incident in Tak Bai (see
section 1.g.). Although the country provided a detailed response to the
inquiry by the special rapporteur, the visit did not take place. In
August and November 2005, the special rapporteur again requested
permission to visit, but the visit did not take place.
The NHRC was active during the year. As an independent government
entity, it submitted an annual evaluation of the human rights
situation, proposed policies and recommendations for amending laws to
the National Assembly, promoted measures to educate citizens on human
rights, and investigated human rights abuses. Modest staffing and
resources, as well as the lack of power to prosecute or to punish
violators, hampered the NHRC's ability to carry out its mandate.
According to NHRC commissioners, the Government rarely responded to
NHRC proposals or recommendations. In a May 2005 report on the Tak Bai
incident, the NHRC concluded that officials had violated the human
rights of the Tak Bai detainees and called on the Government to
compensate victims and their families and to review its southern
policy. The NHRC publicly appealed to the Prime Minister to do away
with the emergency decree.
In February 2005 the Prime Minister established the 50-member
National Reconciliation Commission to build ``peace and
reconciliation'' in the South. In June the NRC released its final
report and recommendations. The Government acknowledged receipt of the
report, but did not take any actions specifically to address NRC
recommendations. The interim prime minister pledged to use the NRC
report as the basic guideline for government action in the South (see
section 1.g.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution provided
for equal treatment without respect to race, gender, religion,
disability, language, or social status; however, in practice, some
discrimination existed, and government enforcement of equal protection
statutes was uneven. Following the September 19 coup d'etat, specific
laws pertaining to the provision of equal treatment without respect to
race, gender, religion, disability, language, or social status were
unaffected and there were no credible reports of increased
discrimination based on these factors. The interim constitution
contained provisions that provided for basic human rights, although
equal rights and protections against societal abuses were not
specifically addressed.
Women.--Domestic violence against women was a significant problem,
and there were no specific laws addressing the problem. A few domestic
violence crimes were prosecuted under provisions for assault or
violence against a person. Domestic violence often went unreported, and
the police often were reluctant to pursue reports of domestic violence.
Reliable statistics on rates of domestic violence were difficult to
obtain, but in November 2005 the public health minister noted that the
number of reported cases of abuse had increased from five per day in
2002 to 28 per day in 2005. Approximately half of these cases involved
sexual abuse. It was unclear whether the increase reflected an increase
in violence or an increased public awareness of the problem and an
increased willingness on the part of battered women to report it to
authorities. Also in November 2005 the World Health Organization
released findings of a study that showed 41 percent of women in Bangkok
and 47 percent of women in rural areas had experienced physical or
sexual abuse by an intimate partner. NGO-supported programs included
emergency hot lines, temporary shelters, counseling services, and a
television program to increase awareness of domestic violence, HIV/
AIDS, and other issues involving women. The Government's ``one-stop''
crisis centers, located in state-run hospitals, continued to care for
abused women and children but faced budget difficulties.
Rape is illegal. Through November the police reported 5,060 rape
cases nationwide, including five cases where the victim was killed.
Suspects were arrested in 2,047 of these cases, including four of the
cases resulting in the victim's death. There were 4,693 reported rapes
in 2005. There are no provisions for prosecuting spousal rape.
According to academics and women's rights activists, rapes and domestic
assaults were underreported, in part because law enforcement agencies
were perceived to be incapable of bringing perpetrators to justice.
Police sought to change this perception and encouraged women to report
sexual crimes through the use of female police officers in metropolitan
Bangkok and in three other provinces. The law specifies a range of
penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault, depending on the age of
the victim, the degree of assault, and the physical and mental
condition of the victim after the assault. The minimum penalty is from
four to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of $200 to $1,000 (8,000 to
40,000 baht). If firearms or explosives are used, or if it is a gang
rape, the penalty increases to 15 to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine
of $750 to $1,000 (30,000 to 40,000 baht). Life imprisonment or
execution is possible for cases in which the victim is injured or
killed. A sentence of four to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine ranging
from $200 to $1,000 (8,000 to 40,000 baht) is imposed for statutory
rape of a child less than 15 years of age. If the victim is less than
13, the jail term ranges from seven years' to life imprisonment. The
law also provides that any individual convicted for a second time for
the same criminal offense within two years is liable to increased
penalties for recidivism. Victims of sexual abuse were eligible to
receive state financial aid of up to $750 (30,000 baht).
Prostitution is illegal, although it is practiced openly throughout
the country. Local officials with commercial interest often protected
prostitution (see sections 1.d. and 5, Trafficking). Trafficking in
women and children for prostitution was a serious problem (see section
5, Trafficking). Government and NGO estimates of the number of women
and children engaged in prostitution varied widely. Ministry of Social
Development and Human Security figures estimated there were 57,500
prostitutes working in the country. However, NGOs reported between
200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes. The illegal nature of the work and the
high incidence of part-time prostitutes made precise numbers difficult
to assess. In 2000 the Commission on Women's Affairs estimated that
approximately 20 percent of prostitutes were children. There were
reports that women were forced into prostitution in border areas, but
the number of such cases was difficult to determine. Most prostitutes
were not kept under physical constraint, but a large number worked
under debt bondage (see section 5, Trafficking). The law forbids child
prostitution and subjects customers who patronize child prostitutes to
criminal sanctions (see section 5, Children). NGOs and government
agencies provided shelter, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs
for children and women involved in the sex industry.
Sex tourism was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law makes sexual harassment illegal but covers only persons
working in the formal sector. NGOs claimed that the legal definition of
harassment was vague and prosecution of harassment claims difficult.
Between July 2005 and August 2006, the civil service commission's
sexual harassment and bullying hot line recorded approximately 250
cases. All complaints were investigated, but prosecution or
disciplinary action was rarely sought because most callers only wanted
to seek consultations. Some complaints may have been settled out of
court.
The law provides for the equality of all citizens; however, some
inequalities in the law remained. For example, a man may sue for
divorce on the grounds that his wife committed adultery, but a woman
faces the additional legal burden of proving that her husband publicly
has acknowledged another woman as his wife.
Women had equal access to higher education, and more than half of
university graduates were women. However, police and military academies
(except for the nursing academy) did not accept female students,
although a significant number of instructors at the military academies
were women. According to the national statistics office, in 2005, women
constituted 46 percent of the labor force and held an increasing share
of professional positions. Women composed 58 percent of professional
workers and 51 percent of technical workers but only 29 percent of
administrators and managers. Women were able to own and manage
businesses freely. Government regulations require employers to pay
equal wages and benefits for equal work, regardless of gender.
Nonetheless, discrimination in hiring was common, and women were
concentrated in lower-paying jobs. In practice women received lower pay
for equal work in virtually all sectors of the economy.
The National Human Rights Commission Act specifies that at least
one-third of the members of the NHRC be women; during the year, five of
the 11 commissioners were women. The Women and Constitution Network, a
league of more than 50 women's organizations, advocated legal reforms
to address inequities in the treatment of women. The organization
actively campaigned for gender-equality clauses in legislation and for
strengthening a proposed law on domestic violence.
Children.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution
provided children equal protection under the law. Following the
September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution was repealed but laws
pertaining to equal protection for children were unaffected. Education
is compulsory for nine years, and school tuition is free for 12 years.
In general girls and boys attended primary and secondary schools in
equal numbers. An estimated 96 percent of children completed grade six,
80 percent completed grade nine, and 79 percent completed grade 12.
Girls are prohibited by religious practice from enrolling in religious
schools restricted to Buddhist monks or novices. During the year
violence in the southern provinces, and particularly violence aimed at
public school teachers, sporadically forced the temporary closure of
public schools and disrupted the educational process in those areas
(see section 1. g.).
Children were tried in the same courts as adults and detained with
adults in some regions of the country. There were 94 Juvenile
Observation and Protection Centers for underage offenders, with at
least one such facility located in each of the country's 76 provinces.
The law provides for the protection of children from abuse, and
laws on rape and abandonment carry harsher penalties if the victim is a
child. A nationwide, government-sponsored poll of high school students
found that 5 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls had encountered
sexual harassment. During the year police were reluctant to investigate
abuse cases, and rules of evidence made prosecution of child abuse
difficult. The law is designed to protect witnesses, victims, and
offenders under the age of 18, and procedures with a judge's consent
allow children to testify on videotape in private surroundings in the
presence of a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other social worker.
However, many judges declined to use videotaped testimony, citing
technical problems and the inability to question accusers and
defendants directly in court. Persons charged with pedophilia are
charged under appropriate age of consent and prostitution laws.
Victims' testimony is handled under the provisions of the Child
Friendly Procedure Act.
Trafficking in children, including for commercial sexual
exploitation, remained a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Pedophilia continued, both by citizens and by foreign sex tourists. The
Government, university researchers, and NGOs estimated that there were
as many as 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes less than 18 years of age, not
including foreign migrants. The Prostitution Prevention and Suppression
Act makes child prostitution illegal and provides for criminal
punishment for those who use prostitutes under age 18. Parents who
allow a child to enter into prostitution also are punishable. During
the year there were a few arrests and no prosecutions of parents who
allowed a child to enter into prostitution. Custom and tradition made
it rare for children to accuse their parents in court proceedings.
Child labor remained a problem (see section 6.d.).
There were believed to be approximately 20,000 street children in
major urban centers. The children were referred to government-provided
shelters, but many, especially foreign migrants, reportedly avoided the
shelters due to fear of being detained and expelled from the country.
Approximately 280 street children were repatriated to Laos, Cambodia,
and Burma during the year. According to the Government, citizen street
children were sent to their home provinces and placed in occupational
training centers.
Street children were often left out of national reports on child
labor issues, and national statistics on street children often included
only citizens.
Street children were often exploited by organized gangs as beggars
or to sell flowers or other items. Many of these children were forced
to turn over their daily earnings to the gang and were paid less than a
dollar (34 baht) a day. There were reports of street children who were
bought, rented, or forcibly ``borrowed'' from their parents or
guardians in order to beg alongside women on sidewalks and overpasses.
This was particularly true in areas of the capital frequented by
tourists. Working conditions for these children were poor, leaving them
exposed to the elements for long periods of time and open to further
exploitation.
There were many local NGOs that worked to promote children's
rights. Employers' organizations, such as the Employers' Confederation
of Thailand, also were involved in child labor issues. These
organizations received good working support from the Government.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the country was a source, transit, and destination for
trafficking in women and children for a variety of purposes, including
indentured servitude, forced labor, and prostitution. Some local
officials, immigration officers, and police reportedly either were
involved in trafficking directly or took bribes to ignore it. Penalties
vary according to the age of the victim and the method of trafficking.
In general the law provides for imprisonment of a year to life and
fines of $50 to $1,000 (2,000 to 40,000 baht). For offenses against
children between 15 and 18 years of age, the potential punishment is
three to 15 years of imprisonment and a fine of $150 to $1,000 (6,000
to 40,000 baht). For offenses against children under 15 years of age,
the penalty ranges from five to 20 years' imprisonment and a fine of
$250 to $1,000 (10,000 to 40,000 baht). If the offense is committed
with deceit, threat, physical assault, immoral influence, or other
mental coercion, the sentences and fines may be increased by one-third.
In general the Government cooperated with governments of other
countries in the investigation of transnational crimes, including
trafficking. The country has signed bilateral antitrafficking
memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with Cambodia and Laos. Receiving
countries generally initiated trafficking case investigations. The
Government continued to investigate rings associated with smuggling
female citizens abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted 270
Thai women and girls, most victims of sexual exploitation, to return
from abroad in 2005 (down from 316 in 2004). The police reported that
146 trafficking in persons cases were filed in the judicial system
during 2005, representing an increase from 134 cases in 2004. The
convictions from the 2004 cases included a March 2005 85-year sentence
to a Cambodian woman for procuring women and underage girls for
prostitution.
The law allows for extradition of citizens; however, no citizens
were extradited for trafficking-related offenses. Requesting-country
nationals charged with trafficking-related crimes, including
pedophilia, were extradited to Japan, Australia, Germany, and the
United States.
Some portion (thought by the UN, NGOs, and the Government to be a
minority) of the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 sex industry workers in
the country were either underage or in involuntary servitude or debt
bondage. Women and children (particularly girls) tended to be the most
frequent trafficking victims. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the
trafficking of men, women, and children into such fields as commercial
fisheries or sweatshop work was significant. Young migrant women and
girls, particularly from Laos, were found employed in indentured
servitude. NGOs assisted some victims to obtain back wages from abusive
employers.
Within the country women were trafficked from the impoverished
Northeast and the North to Bangkok for sexual exploitation. However,
internal trafficking of women appeared to be on the decline, due to
prevention programs and better economic opportunities. Women also were
trafficked to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain, Australia, South
Africa, Europe, and the United States chiefly for sexual exploitation
but also for sweatshop labor. Men were trafficked into the country for
commercial fisheries and farm, industrial, and construction labor.
Prosecution of traffickers of men was complicated by the lack of
coverage in the law.
Women and men were trafficked from Burma, Cambodia, the People's
Republic of China (PRC), and Laos for labor and sexual exploitation.
Boys and girls were trafficked chiefly from Burma and Cambodia
primarily for sexual exploitation and to work in begging gangs. The
Government screened trafficking victims from Cambodia and Burma through
cooperation between the police and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM). Law enforcement officials identified victims of
trafficking and referred them to one of six regional government
shelters.
Entire families occasionally were trafficked for labor in
sweatshops. Underage boys reportedly were brought into the country for
specialized work in which small size was an advantage. According to
domestic NGOs, girls between the ages of 12 and 18 continued to be
trafficked from Burma, southern PRC, and Laos to work in the commercial
sex industry. Social workers noted that young girls were prized because
clients believed that they were free of sexually transmitted diseases.
Persons trafficked from the PRC often were in transit to other
countries, although women and girls from Yunnan Province generally were
destined for brothels in the North. Victims of trafficking were often
lured into the country or for transit to other countries, with promises
of restaurant or household work and then were pressured or physically
forced into prostitution.
The lack of citizenship status for some hill tribe women and
children was a strong risk factor for becoming victims of trafficking.
Although members of this group were not a large percentage of
trafficking victims, they continued to be found in disproportionately
large numbers in situations entailing severe forms of trafficking. In
April the Government repatriated 10 hill tribe women lacking
citizenship who had been trafficked to Malaysia for prostitution in
2004. The women were repatriated after providing documentation of their
prior residency or birth in the country.
Trafficking within the country and from neighboring countries into
the country tended to be carried out by loosely organized small groups
that often had close ties in the source communities. Burmese, Laotian,
Cambodian, and Thai individuals were involved in labor trafficking
along the border. Informal chains of acquaintance often were used to
recruit victims. In some cases, the traffickers themselves were former
victims, particularly where the sex industry was the destination.
The trafficking of Thai prostitutes abroad, and that of PRC
nationals using the country as a transit point, was done by
sophisticated and well-financed international criminal syndicates that
sometimes cooperated with each other.
The majority of prostitutes were not kept under physical
constraint, but a large number worked in debt bondage. Brothel
procurers reportedly advanced parents a substantial sum against their
child's future earnings. The child was then obligated to work in a
brothel to repay the loan.
Because foreign women frequently were unable to speak the language
and were considered illegal immigrants, they were particularly
vulnerable to physical abuse and exploitation. Some women were lured
into the country with promises of jobs as waitresses or domestic
helpers but ended up working as prostitutes. Reports of labor
trafficking were also received from Burmese migrant workers who were
ostensibly offered jobs in the food processing industry, but were later
induced or forcibly transported to work on fishing vessels. In
September police raided a shrimp processing factory in Samut Sakhon and
found more than 100 Burmese workers who had been held on the premises
against their will.
Illegal immigrants had no rights to legal counsel or health care if
arrested. In 2004 a series of MOUs among government agencies and
between the Government and domestic NGOs provided some detailed police
procedures to assist with the problem of trafficked persons being
detained by the authorities. The agreements stated that the training of
police officers would include instructions to treat such persons as
victims of human trafficking rather than as illegal immigrant workers.
Instead of being deported, they would become the responsibility of the
public welfare department. However, implementation of the MOUs has been
erratic, due to insufficient training of law enforcement officials and
their unfamiliarity with the law.
Official corruption facilitating the most severe forms of
trafficking in persons was generally at the low- and mid-levels. Police
personnel were poorly paid and were accustomed to taking bribes to
supplement their income. There was no evidence that high-level
officials benefited from or protected the practice. Compromised local
police protected brothels and other sex venues, as well as factories,
from surprise raids. Officials found complicit in any part of the
illegal economy rarely were prosecuted but instead were moved to
positions thought to limit opportunities for future corruption.
Several NGOs, both local and international, and government agencies
worked with trafficking victims. The Government worked with the
International Labor Organization's International Program on the
Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) to implement antitrafficking
projects to reduce the incidence of trafficking of children for labor
and sexual exploitation. However, funds for fighting trafficking or
aiding its victims were limited.
In general victims awaiting repatriation were brought to
government-run shelters or, in the case of noncitizens, to NGO-run
shelters. The repatriation process took up to six months. Between
October 2005 and September 2006, the main government shelter in Bangkok
received 390 women and children from neighboring countries and 164
citizens, including women found in voluntary prostitution and domestic
abuse cases. There were no reliable statistics on how many of these
persons were victims of trafficking. The Government provided food,
medical care, and limited psychological counseling.
Trafficking victims received some legal assistance from NGOs and
Department of Welfare officials, and they generally were informed of
the option of pursuing legal action against the trafficking
perpetrators. Relatively few opted to do so; language barriers,
illiteracy, distrust of government officials, the lengthy legal
processes, and fear of the traffickers played a role. Trafficked
victims residing illegally in the country were not allowed to obtain
employment while awaiting repatriation, even if they were involved in
legal proceedings against the trafficker.
The Government continued cooperative arrangements with NGOs and
local industries, especially the hotel industry, to encourage youths
(particularly girls) to find employment outside of the sex industry and
other exploitative work. Vocational training programs aimed at high
school students also received funding. Although the vocational training
was not intended explicitly for trafficking prevention, the practical
effect was to increase the range of choices for recent school
graduates.
Persons With Disabilities.--Prior to the September 19 coup d'etat,
the constitution mandated access to public buildings for persons with
disabilities, but laws implementing the provisions were never fully
enacted. In July 2005 a law was enacted providing that newly
constructed buildings have facilities for persons with disabilities.
Activists continued to work to amend laws that allow employment
discrimination against persons with disabilities. Persons with
disabilities were legally precluded from working as police officers and
as persons providing medicinal massages, although the Ministry of
Health stated that it welcomed the registration of persons with
disabilities as medical masseurs.
Persons with disabilities who register with the Government are
entitled to free medical examinations, wheelchairs, and crutches. As of
August, 568,927 persons had registered as disabled. The Government
provided five-year, interest-free small business loans for persons with
disabilities. As of September, approximately 5,600 loans have been
granted.
During the year approximately 238,000 children with disabilities
attended school. The Government reported that 13,286 students were
enrolled in the 43 special schools for students with disabilities; the
remaining students were enrolled in regular public schools. The
Ministry of Education reported that there were 76 centers nationwide
offering special education programs for preschool-age children.
Nationwide, there were nine government-operated and 12 NGO-operated
training centers for persons with disabilities. In addition there were
eight private associations providing occasional trainings for persons
with disabilities. There were reports of schools turning away students
with disabilities. In April 2005 the minister of education received a
petition requesting that the Government guarantee educational
opportunities for persons with disabilities. A 2002 report by the
National Statistics Office said that 23 percent of registered persons
with disabilities had graduated from junior high school.
Many persons with disabilities who found employment were subjected
to wage discrimination. The law requires private firms to hire one
person with a disability for every 200 other workers or contribute to a
fund that benefits persons with disabilities, but this provision has
never been enforced. Government officials estimated that between 20 and
30 percent of firms disregarded the law. Some state enterprises had
discriminatory hiring policies.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Former belligerents in the
Chinese civil war and their descendants, who have been in the country
since the end of the civil war, and children of Vietnamese immigrants,
who resided in five northeastern provinces, lived under laws and
regulations that could restrict their movement, residence, education,
and occupation (see section 2.d.). During the year approximately 2,300
of the Vietnamese and their descendants and 1,000 Chinese and some of
their descendants were granted full citizenship.
Violence in the South exacerbated social prejudices against
Muslims; however, there were no outbreaks of communal violence between
the Buddhist and Muslim communities. Many Muslims complained of
societal discrimination both by Buddhist citizens and by the central
government. Many Muslims complained that Thai-language newspapers
present a negative image of Muslims and of their communities,
associating them with terrorists.
Insurgent groups in the South spread propaganda against Buddhists
in the form of threatening pamphlets and flyers. There were also
reports that some religious schools in the South preached hatred for
non-Muslims, as well as for Muslims who cooperated with the Government
and security forces (see section 2.c.).
Indigenous People.--Members of hill tribes without proper
documentation continued to face restrictions on their movement, could
not own land, and were not protected by labor laws, including minimum
wage requirements. Freedom of movement was often dependent on their
residency status, which was identifiable by the color of their identity
cards (see section 2.d.). Citizenship is not automatically granted to
children born to persons living illegally or without status in the
country. Lack of citizenship makes hill tribe persons vulnerable to
abuses and exploitation, such as trafficking (see section 5,
Trafficking). They sometimes were denied adequate education and health
care. Those residing in national parks or wildlife sanctuaries were
subject to eviction (see section 1.f.). As noncitizen residents, they
also were barred from participating in the political process (see
section 3).
In recent years regulations eased the requirements to establish
citizenship by allowing a wider range of evidence, including testimony
from references and empowering local officials to decide cases.
According to the Registration Administration Bureau of the Ministry of
Interior, roughly 60 percent of potentially eligible candidates have
received citizenship under the regulations. Although the Government was
supportive of efforts to register citizens and to educate eligible hill
tribe persons about their rights, activists reported that widespread
corruption and inefficiency at all levels, including among highland
village headmen and government officials, contributed to a backlog of
pending citizenship applications.
Hill tribe members continued to face societal discrimination
arising in part from the belief that they were involved in drug
trafficking and environmental degradation. Hill tribes occasionally
were subjected to indiscriminate searches of villages for illegal drugs
(see section 1.f.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--HIV/AIDS was estimated
to have infected approximately 1.5 percent of the population. During
the year the Government took measures to improve its support of persons
with HIV/AIDS. The Government aggressively implemented a program to
provide anti-retroviral drugs and, as of September, more than 80,000
HIV/AIDS sufferers were receiving such drugs. The Government provided
funds to HIV/AIDS support groups and continued public debate at the
highest levels of political leadership. Societal discrimination against
persons with AIDS most often was found in the form of a psychological
stigma associated with rejection by family, friends, and the community.
There were reports that some employers refused to hire persons who
tested positive following employer-mandated blood screening.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Prior to the September 19 coup
d'etat, the constitution allowed all private sector workers to form and
join trade unions of their choosing without prior authorization. Laws
pertaining to private sector workers rights to form and join trade
unions were unaffected by the coup and its aftermath; however, the law
provides inadequate protection to workers who participate in union
activities. The law prohibits antiunion actions by employers; however,
it also requires that union officials be full-time employees of the
company, which makes them vulnerable to employers seeking to discipline
workers who serve as union officials or who attempt to form unions.
Union leaders and academic observers reported that employers often
discriminated against workers seeking to organize unions. The law does
not protect workers from employer reprisal for union activities prior
to the registration of the union, and employers could exploit this
loophole to defeat efforts at union organization. During the year
employers used loopholes in the Labor Relations Act to fire union
leaders prior to government certification of unions. Trade union
leaders can be dismissed for any reason, provided severance payment is
made. In such circumstances the law does not provide for reinstatement.
The labor court reinstated employees in some cases where dismissal
resulted from union activity and was illegal. However, because the
reinstatement process was lengthy and cost prohibitive for the
employee, most cases were settled out of court through severance
payments to the employee. There were no punitive sanctions for
employers.
Union officials must be full-time employees of the company or state
enterprise. This prohibition against permanent union staff limited the
ability of unions to organize and be politically active. The Labor
Relations Act allows only two outside government-licensed advisors to a
union, and the Ministry of Labor often blocked the registration of
labor advisors whom it deemed too activist. Union leaders and outside
observers complained this interfered with the ability to train union
members and develop expertise in collective bargaining, and led to
rapid turnover in union leaders.
Less than 4 percent of the total work force but nearly 11 percent
of industrial workers and more than 50 percent of state enterprise
workers were unionized. Cultural traditions, unfamiliarity with the
concept of industrial relations, efforts by the Government and the
private sector to diminish union cohesiveness, and the sizeable
agricultural and informal sectors (where unions are not permitted) were
cited as reasons for low rates of labor organization.
State enterprise employees can join organizations of workers in the
private sector, but only at the level of confederations. This
restriction effectively divided the trade union movement along state
enterprise and private sector lines. However, unofficial contacts at
the union level between public and private sector workers continued,
and the Government did not interfere with these relationships. Unions
in state-owned enterprises generally operated independently of the
Government and other organizations. Internal conflicts, corruption, and
a lack of leadership weakened the labor movement.
Civil servants including public school teachers are prohibited from
forming or registering a union. They are allowed to form and register
only as associations, which have no right to bargain collectively.
Noncitizen migrant workers, whether registered or illegally
present, did not have the right to form unions or serve as union
officials; however, registered migrants may be members of unions
organized and led by citizens. The Ministry of Labor required foreign
workers to renew their temporary work status annually. About three-
fourths of these foreign workers were from Burma (see section 2.d.).
Few, if any, of the registered migrants joined unions. During the year
a substantial number of migrant workers worked in factories near border
crossing points, where labor laws were routinely violated and few
inspections were attempted to verify compliance with the law.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right of citizen private-sector workers to organize
and bargain collectively; however, the Government's efforts to protect
this right were weak. The law defines the mechanisms for collective
bargaining and for government-assisted conciliation and arbitration in
cases under dispute. In practice genuine collective bargaining occurred
only in a small fraction of workplaces, and in most instances, it
continued to be characterized by a lack of sophistication on the part
of worker groups and autocratic attitudes on the part of employers.
Wage increases for most workers came as a result of increases in the
minimum wage rather than as a result of collective bargaining. The
process of setting minimum wages locally through provincial tripartite
wage committees may further limit union influence; many of these
provincial committees excluded labor representatives and placed factory
managers on the wage committees to represent worker interests. The
minimum wage increase in the year again did not keep pace with
inflation. The Government sets wages for state enterprise employees
under the State Enterprise Labor Relations Act (SELRA) (see section
6.e.). Wages for civil servants are determined by the Ministry of
Finance.
The Government has the authority to restrict private sector strikes
that would affect national security or cause severe negative
repercussions for the population at large; however, it seldom invoked
this provision and did not do so during the year. Labor law also
forbids strikes in ``essential services,'' which are defined much more
broadly than in the ILO criteria, and include sectors such as
telecommunications, electricity, water supply, and public
transportation as essential services. The law also prohibits
termination of employment of legal strikers; however, some employers
used unfavorable work assignments and reductions in work hours and
bonuses to punish strikers. Employers are legally permitted to hire
workers to replace strikers. SELRA provides public sector employees in
state enterprises the same rights to organize as exist in the private
sector. SELRA prohibits lockouts by employers and strikes by state
enterprise workers. Strike action in the private sector was constrained
by the legal requirement to call a general meeting of trade union
members and to have a strike approved by 50 percent of unionists.
During the year there were three legal strikes involving 348 workers,
and there were six lockouts involving 803 workers.
A system of labor courts exercises judicial review over most
aspects of labor law for the private sector; however, there was
documented abuse in the system, including evidence that awards to
workers were ignored or not paid in full. Issues of collective labor
relations are adjudicated through the Tripartite Labor Relations
Committee, and are subject to review by the labor courts. Workers could
also seek redress through the NHRC and the Parliamentary Committee on
Labor and Social Welfare, although this committee ceased functioning
during the year. The law authorizes the Ministry of Labor to refer any
private sector labor dispute for voluntary arbitration by a government-
appointed group other than the Labor Relations Committee. Although the
legal authority seldom was used, the ILO viewed this provision as
acceptable only in defined essential services. Redress of grievances
for state enterprise workers is handled by the State Enterprise
Relations Committee. Labor leaders generally were satisfied with the
treatment that their concerns received in these forums, although they
complained that union leaders unjustly dismissed were awarded only back
wages with no punitive sanctions against the employer. This limited any
disincentive for employers to fire union organizers and activists.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones (EPZs), in which wages and working conditions
often were better than national norms. However, union leaders alleged
that employers' associations were organized to cooperate in
discouraging union organization. Unions existed in the automobile and
petroleum production facilities located in EPZs.
In recent years labor brokerage firms have used a ``contract labor
system'' under which workers sign an annual contract. Contract laborers
are not covered under the Labor Relations Act or the Labor Protection
Act. These workers lacked the ability to bargain collectively over wage
and benefit issues. Although they may perform the same work as direct-
hire workers they were paid less and received fewer, or no, benefits.
Attempts by registered migrant workers to carry out work stoppages
to demand minimum and back wages, along with better working conditions,
often led to deportations, resulting from apparent collusion between
factory owners and local government immigration officials. There
continued to be credible reports of NGO personnel being assaulted while
trying to assist migrant workers.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--Prior to the
September 19 coup d'etat, the constitution prohibited forced or
compulsory labor, including by children, except in the case of national
emergency, war, or martial law; however, the Government was unable to
enforce these provisions effectively in the large informal sector.
Following the September 19 coup d'etat, laws pertaining to prohibition
of forced or compulsory labor were unaffected, and there were no
reports that the Government engaged in or tolerated forced or
compulsory labor. During the year there continued to be reports of
sweatshops in which employers prevented workers, primarily foreign
migrants, from leaving the premises. There were no estimates of the
number of such sweatshops, but the large number of migrants from Burma,
Cambodia, and Laos created opportunities for such abuse. NGOs and the
ILO reported that thousands of underage boys and girls were brought
into the country for labor on farms or in sweatshops, and very young
children were used to work in street begging gangs.
Problems encountered by Thai citizens working overseas highlighted
the problem of exploitative labor supply agencies that charged heavy
and illegal recruitment fees often equal to all of a worker's first and
second year earnings. In many cases recruited workers did not receive
the terms they were promised and incurred significant debt.
Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see section
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--In
general sufficient legal protections exist for children in the formal
economic sector. The Labor Protection Act is the primary law regulating
employment of children under the age of 18. Employment of children
under 15 is prohibited. However, the law does not cover the
agricultural and informal sectors, including domestic work, which
employ the majority of persons in the workforce, including many child
workers. The law allows for issuance of ministerial regulations to
address sectors not covered in the law, and since 2004 regulations
increased protections for child workers in domestic and agricultural
sector work. The minimum working age is coordinated with the mandatory
national educational requirement. On February 28, as part of its
strategy to strengthen child labor laws and enforcement procedures, the
Government approved the appointment of the National Committee on
Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
Child labor remained a problem, particularly in small-scale
industry and agricultural sectors. Contradictory surveys by various
government agencies, which largely ignored foreign children and those
in illegal industries, made estimating the scope of the phenomenon
difficult. According to a study funded by the Ministry of Labor and the
ILO, child labor abuse of citizens was declining and citizen children
made up less than 1 percent of the workforce. Abuse of underage migrant
workers, especially from Burma, however, was widespread and continuing
to increase.
The law permits the employment of children between the ages of 15
and 18 only in ``light work,'' where the lifting of heavy loads and
exposure to toxic materials or dangerous equipment or situations is
limited. The law prohibits employment of children at night (from 10
p.m. to 6 a.m.) or in places in which alcohol is served. It was
estimated that approximately one million children worked on family
farms. NGOs reported that 2 to 4 percent of children between the ages
of six to 14 worked illegally in urban areas; such children were at
risk of becoming victims of other abuses of labor laws. Most underage
workers in urban areas worked in the service sector, primarily in
gasoline stations, small-scale industry, and restaurants. Child labor
was less evident in larger export-oriented factories. A police raid in
September discovered 18 migrant workers under the age of 16 working in
a shrimp processing factory south of Bangkok. NGOs also reported
extensive child labor in garment factories along the Burmese border, in
Mae Sot Province. However, there was no comprehensive survey of child
labor throughout the country, since NGOs often did not have access to
shop-house factories. NGOs reported child domestic workers were
predominantly migrants from Burma, Cambodia, and Laos. Most were in the
country illegally, increasing their vulnerability to exploitation.
Minimum wage and age provisions of the Labor Protection Act do not
apply to domestic workers, some of whom were believed to be less than
15 years of age; however, recently issued regulations extended
protections to children in the domestic and agricultural sectors. Thus
far any effects of these regulations have not been measured.
The worst forms of child labor occurred in the country. Children
(usually foreign) were exploited in street selling, begging, and
prostitution in urban areas, sometimes in a system of debt bondage.
Some were sold or otherwise trafficked by parents or other relatives.
The Government implemented guidelines in cooperation with the IOM to
improve the screening of trafficking victims among child beggars and
street vendors from Cambodia or Burma (see section 5). A 2004 ILO study
noted that drug merchants in Bangkok used male children as delivery
boys. Narcotics sellers preferred children because they were
undemanding and were not charged as adults if arrested. Instead they
were sent to police-run correctional homes.
The Ministry of Labor is the primary agency charged with enforcing
child labor laws and policies. During the year there were 2,354 labor
inspection officers, including labor ministry officials and policemen
who registered as labor inspection officers. Enforcement of child labor
laws was not rigorous, and only 736 of the registered inspection
officers routinely performed inspections. There were 36,062 inspections
at 31,173 establishments in 2005. Inspectors usually responded only to
specific public complaints, reports of absences by teachers, or reports
in newspapers. Their inclination when dealing with violators was to
negotiate promises of better future behavior rather than seek
prosecution and punishment. The legal requirement for a warrant
hampered inspection of private homes to monitor the welfare of child
domestic workers. In 2005 child labor inspections and investigations
were performed in 543 firms; eight of the workplaces inspected revealed
serious violations, such as employing underage workers.
In 2004 the Government registered 79,200 migrant children 15 years
of age and younger, the first time minors had been given temporary
residence permits under migrant labor policy. Government officials
stated the new measure would permit foreign children access to the
public school system. NGOs reported that this new provision was
implemented only if the employer of the migrant parent provided
evidence regarding the parent's status to school authorities. In most
cases the employer did not do so.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage ranged from
$3.75 to $4.94 (140 baht to 184 baht) per day, depending on the cost of
living in various provinces. The minimum wage was set by provincial
wage committees that sometimes included only employer representatives.
This wage was not adequate to provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. The official poverty rate was 83 cents (31 baht) per
day, which permitted survival only in areas where subsistence
agriculture was possible. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for
ensuring that employers adhere to minimum wage requirements (applicable
to the formal sector); however, nationwide, academics estimated one-
third of formal sector workers received less than the minimum wage,
especially those in rural provinces. Despite encouragement of employees
to report violations to labor inspectors, the enforcement of minimum
wage laws was mixed. Many labor laws, including the minimum wage law,
do not apply to undocumented workers, primarily hill tribe members and
illegal aliens. An estimated one to two million unskilled and
semiskilled migrant workers worked for wages that were approximately
one-half the minimum wage.
The Government mandated a uniform workweek of 48 hours, with a
limit on overtime of 35 hours per week. Employees engaged in
``dangerous'' work, such as in the chemical, mining, or other
industries involving heavy machinery, legally may work a maximum of 35
hours per week and are not permitted overtime. The petrochemical
industry is excluded from these regulations. There were reported
incidents of employees forced to work overtime, with punishments and
dismissals for workers who refused.
Working conditions varied widely. The official rate of injury from
industrial accidents remained relatively constant over the last 10
years at 4.5 percent of the total work force. The Ministry of Labor
stated that the average annual rate of work-related deaths was 15 per
100,000 workers. However, these rates applied only to industrial sector
workers; the rate of incidents occurring in the larger informal and
agricultural sectors, and among migrant workers, was thought to be
higher. Occupational diseases rarely were diagnosed or compensated, and
few doctors or clinics specialized in them. The approximately 50,000
young migrant women employed in textile factories along the Burma
border, had limited and substandard medical options, and many suffered
from stress-related disorders and complications resulting from
abortions. In medium-sized and large factories, government health and
safety standards often were applied, but enforcement of safety
standards was lax. In the large informal sector, health and safety
protections were substandard.
Provisions of the Labor Protection Act include expanded protection
for pregnant workers by prohibiting them from working on night shifts,
overtime, holidays, or working with dangerous machinery or on boats.
Despite the act's prohibition on dismissing pregnant workers regardless
of their nationalities, there were reports of employers of migrant
women firing those who became pregnant.
The Ministry of Labor promulgates health and safety regulations
regarding conditions of work; however, the inspection department
enforced these standards ineffectively, due to a lack of human and
financial resources. There is no law affording job protection to
employees who remove themselves from dangerous work situations.
Redress for workers injured in industrial accidents was rarely
timely or sufficient. Few court decisions were handed down against
management or owners involved in workplace disasters.
Despite the new registration process, migrant workers, especially
from Burma, remained especially vulnerable to poor working conditions
due to a lack of labor rights. According to Amnesty International, they
were routinely paid well below the minimum wage, worked long hours in
unhealthy conditions, and were at risk of arbitrary arrest and
deportation. An ILO report during the year indicated that 35 to 50
percent of migrant workers in the agriculture, fishing, and
manufacturing sectors had their identification and registration papers
held by employers, which limited the workers' freedom of movement. In
addition, 60 percent of domestic workers surveyed said they were not
allowed to leave their work premises, while 82 percent said they worked
more than 12 hours a day.
Enforcement of workplace laws and regulations is the responsibility
of the Ministry of Labor's Department of Labor Protection and Welfare.
The department has fewer than 700 fulltime inspectors to monitor more
than 340,000 workplaces. Although the department has undertaken
initiatives to hire additional inspectors and to deputize local
government officials, the shortage of human and other resources
significantly impeded effective enforcement of labor laws.
__________
TONGA
The Kingdom of Tonga is a constitutional monarchy with a population
of approximately 110,000. Political life is dominated by the King, the
nobility, and a few prominent commoners. In September King Taufa'ahau
Tupou IV died and was succeeded by his eldest son, King Siaosi Tupou V.
The most recent election for ``people's representative'' seats in
Parliament, held in March 2005, was deemed generally free and fair.
There were several nascent political parties. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The country's human rights record remained deficient. Citizens
lacked the ability to change their government. However, in March the
King appointed a non-noble as prime minister, and in October a
parliamentary national committee formed in 2005 to explore the
possibility of expanding political rights issued a report recommending
an all-elected parliament, with 17 ``people's representatives'' and
nine nobles' representatives. There were allegations of police and
defense force abuses of some persons arrested under a state of
emergency decree following a major riot in the capital of Nuku'alofa on
November 16, which occurred after initially peaceful political
demonstrations turned violent. There was also severe, temporary
detention center overcrowding as a result of the post-riot arrests. A
member of Parliament (MP) was charged with sedition when exercising his
right to free speech. Government corruption was a problem, and
discrimination against women continued.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, in December an
employee of a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) issued a report
alleging abuse by the Tonga Defense Services (TDS) and police of some
of the persons arrested following rioting in Nuku'alofa on November 16
(see section 2.b.). The NGO's board later disavowed the report, citing
differences with the author's methodology and conclusions and his
failure to clear the report prior to release. The Tonga Evangelical
Union also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister expressing concern over
reports of abuses, including violence towards underage detainees. The
Government stated it would investigate the charges. There were also
reports of gratuitous violence used during more routine arrests,
detentions, and other encounters with the TDS and police.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. Unlike in 2005, there were no
reports that prisoners were collectively punished after the misbehavior
or escape of individual inmates.
Prior to the November 16 riot, no NGOs attempted to monitor prison
or detention center conditions. However, following the arrests of more
than 900 riot suspects and allegations of overcrowding and mistreatment
of detainees, in early December the Tonga Red Cross visited the
Nuku'alofa prison and local police jails where the suspects were held.
The Red Cross reported overcrowding and unhygienic conditions in the
detention facilities.
Also in December a report issued by an employee of a local NGO,
later disavowed by the NGO, alleged inhumane conditions for pretrial
detainees following the large number of arrests through year's end in
connection with the riot. According to the report the main detention
center--the Nuku'alofa police station--had seven cells designed to hold
up to 16 persons each, but at times there were up to four times that
many detained in a cell. The report also noted detainee complaints of
inadequate food, toilets, and washing facilities. There were
allegations that some detainees were left handcuffed for several days.
Some juveniles at the facility reportedly were held together with
adults.
Church representatives and family members were permitted to visit
prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions. Human rights lawyers claimed that the arrests of
suspected November 16 rioters were illegal. They argued that special
arrest powers granted under the post-riot state of emergency decree
could only apply prospectively, not retroactively to participation in
the rioting.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security apparatus
consists of the TDS and a police force. The minister of defense
controls the TDS force, which is responsible for external security. The
police are normally responsible for internal security, but under the
state of emergency declared following the November riot, the TDS also
shared domestic security duties with the police.
The minister of police and prisons directs the police force of
approximately 470 persons. Incidents of bribe taking and other forms of
corruption in the police force reportedly occurred. Reports of
corruption and other public complaints were referred to a specific
police office that conducts internal investigations and, if necessary,
convenes a police tribunal. Entry-level police training included
training on corruption and transparency.
The police force was unable to respond adequately to the large-
scale rioting on November 16 (see section 2.c.). Following the riot the
Government declared a state of emergency and deployed the TDS to assist
the police in maintaining internal security and in locating and
arresting persons suspected of participating in the violence. The state
of emergency was still in effect at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides for the right to judicial
determination of the legality of arrest, and this was observed in
practice prior to the state of emergency declaration. Under normal
circumstances police have the right to arrest detainees without a
warrant, but detainees must be brought before a local magistrate within
24 hours. Under the state of emergency the period can extend to 48
hours. Following the November 16 riot in Nuku'alofa, some detainees
were held for several days without seeing a magistrate.
In most cases magistrates set bail. The law permits unlimited
access by counsel and family members to detained persons. However, some
persons detained after the November rioting reportedly were not allowed
to contact an attorney or family members.
Amnesty.--The King has the power to grant amnesty, but unlike in
2005, he did not use it during the year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The judiciary tended to provide citizens with
a fair and efficient judicial process. The highest-ranking judges
historically have been foreign nationals. Judges hold office ``during
good behavior'' and otherwise cannot be dismissed during their terms.
The court system consists of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court
(which has original jurisdiction over all major cases), the police
magistrate's court, a general court, a TDS court-martial, a court
tribunal for the police force, and a court of review for the Inland
Revenue Department. The Court of Appeal is the highest court. The
king's privy council presides over cases relating to disputes over
titles of nobility and estate boundaries.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
The law applies to all citizens without exception. A court may not
summon anyone without providing a written indictment stating the
charges. Trials are public, and defendants have the option to request a
seven-member jury. Defendants are presumed innocent, may question
witnesses against them, and have access to government-held evidence.
Lawyers have free access to defendants. Defendants have the right to be
present at their trials and to consult with an attorney in a timely
manner. Public defenders are not provided, but local lawyers
occasionally take pro bono cases. Defendants have the right of appeal.
The TDS and the police force both have tribunals. These tribunals
cannot try civilians.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Any violation of a human
right provided for in the law can be addressed in the courts. There are
no nonjudicial administrative remedies in such matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. However,
under the state of emergency, police and TDS personnel entered homes
without search warrants and searched for stolen goods and suspects in
the weeks following the November 16 riot.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government did not always
respect these rights in practice. In May it took legal action against a
prodemocracy MP for veiled criticism of the King and in November it
forced the closure of a private television broadcaster critical of
government.
Individuals generally were free to criticize the Government without
reprisal. However, in May leading prodemocracy MP Akilisi Pohiva was
charged with sedition after his organization displayed banners quoting
biblical scripture in a public park. The Government interpreted the
banners as a criticism of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. Members of the
prodemocracy movement saw this charge as an attempt to intimidate them.
The Government later dropped the charges.
In March 2005 Piveni Piukala, a former employee of the monopoly
power company partially owned by King Siaosi Tupou V, made public
allegations of excessively high salaries and other problems within the
company. In June 2005 he was arrested for allegedly having illegally
retrieved information from the company's computers. At year's end he
remained free on bail awaiting trial.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views, generally without restriction. However, the number of local
independent media outlets was limited.
The Overseas Broadcasting Network (OBN), one of only two private
television stations in the country, provided generous airtime to
prodemocracy leaders in the weeks prior to the November 16 riot. Days
before November 16, the Government prevented the station from
broadcasting. The Government alleged that OBN did not have a lease on
its station land or a valid broadcast license. Both issues had been in
litigation. Prodemocracy activists believed that OBN was shut down to
stop political speech critical of government.
Government-controlled media outlets were criticized for exercising
self-censorship. While there was little editorializing in the
government-owned media, opposition opinion in the form of letters to
the editor, along with government statements and letters, appeared
regularly. From time to time the national media carried comments,
including some by prominent citizens, critical of government practices
and policies. Under Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) guidelines,
religious programming on Radio Tonga must be confined ``within the
limits of the mainstream Christian tradition'' (see section 2.c.).
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Lack of infrastructure limited access to a certain extent, but there
were Internet cafes available in the larger towns in all three of the
country's island groups.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
On June 1, approximately 1,000 civil servants and prodemocracy
activists marched through the capital and presented a petition to the
royal family demanding immediate political reforms. The Government
permitted the march, but police arrested 32 participants for allegedly
refusing to comply with police instructions. Two of the accused were
found guilty of obstructing a government servant and disorderly
behavior in public. The convictions were upheld on appeal. The
remaining 30 individuals were released pending a hearing, which had not
yet been held at year's end.
On November 16, large gatherings of proreform and antireform
demonstrators in downtown Nuku'alofa verbally confronted each other and
urged Parliament to back their respective views (see section 3). After
Parliament did not meet to vote on a particular reform plan, violence
broke out. Several thousand rioters roamed through the city's downtown
business district. Numerous buildings were attacked, looted, and
burned. Government buildings, businesses associated with the royal
family and government officials, and Chinese- and Indian-owned shops
were particular targets. Seven persons died after apparently becoming
trapped in a burning building. Since the building's owners reported
that all their employees were accounted for, the authorities believed
some or all of the victims may have been participants in the riot, but
this was not confirmed by year's end. In November and December the
authorities arrested over 900 persons on charges connected to the riot;
their cases were pending at year's end. An employee of a local NGO and
the head of the Tonga Evangelical Union alleged that TDS and police
officers mistreated some of those arrested; the Government denied the
charges (see section 1.c.).
The law permits political parties to register under an
``incorporated societies'' statute. Since 2002 four parties have been
registered (see section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. However, the dominant Christian religion shows its influence
in a constitutional provision that Sunday, the Sabbath, is to be ``kept
holy'' and that no business can be conducted ``except according to
law.'' Although an exception was made for bakeries, hotels, resorts,
and restaurants that are part of the tourism industry, the Sabbath day
prohibition was otherwise enforced strictly for all businesses,
regardless of the business owner's religion.
TBC guidelines require that religious programming on Radio Tonga be
confined ``within the limits of the mainstream Christian tradition.''
The TBC did not allow members of the Baha'i Faith to discuss the tenets
of their religion or refer to the founder, Baha'ullah, by name.
Similarly, the TBC did not allow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints (Mormons) to discuss its founder, Joseph Smith, or the Book
of Mormon by name. However, members of the Baha'i Faith used a
privately owned radio station for program activities and the
announcement of functions, and Mormons and members of some other faiths
were permitted to use Radio Tonga for the announcement of church
activities. A government-owned newspaper occasionally carried news
articles about Baha'i activities or events, as well as those of other
faiths.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The relationships among
religions generally were amicable. There were no reports of societal
abuse or discrimination against religious groups, including anti-
Semitic acts. There was no known resident Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
prior to the declaration of a state of emergency in November, the
Government generally respected them in practice. Under the state of
emergency the Government restricted free movement in and around the
Government and central business district of the capital. In December
the magistrate's court issued a restraining order under the country's
bail act that prohibited 81 named suspects in the rioting from
departing the country.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not
employ it in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. No persons were known to have applied for refugee status or
temporary protection.
The Government was not approached during the year by the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or other humanitarian
organizations to assist with refugees or asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens do not have the ability to change their leaders or system
of government. The King and 33 hereditary nobles dominated political
life. They asserted authority largely through control of substantial
landholdings and their dominant numbers in Parliament. While the
constitution allows the monarch broad powers, many of which do not
require Parliament's endorsement, at times the King permitted
Parliament to operate without his guidance. The King appoints the Prime
Minister. He also appoints and presides over the privy council (called
the cabinet when the King or regent is not presiding), which makes
major policy decisions. The cabinet is composed of as many as 13
ministers and two governors; it includes nobles and commoners, all
serving at the king's pleasure. In March the King appointed a commoner
as prime minister, the first such appointment since the late 1800s.
This followed a move in 2005 in which the current prime minister and
another of the nine elected ``people's representatives'' were appointed
to the cabinet--the first time elected ``people's representatives''
served as cabinet ministers.
The unicameral Parliament consists of the cabinet members, nine
nobles elected by their peers, and nine representatives elected by the
general population. The King appoints the speaker from among the
representatives of the nobles. Cabinet members and nobles often voted
as a bloc.
Elections and Political Participation.--Only citizens 21 years or
older and resident in the country may vote. March 2005 elections for
the Parliament's nine ``people's representatives'' were deemed to be
generally free and fair and resulted in a strong showing for
prodemocracy candidates. Subsequent by-elections also resulted in the
election of prodemocracy candidates.
Nobles and cabinet members associated with the royal family have
traditionally dominated the Parliament and government. For several
decades there has been a building democracy movement and since 2005
three proreform political parties have been registered.
Prodemocracy groups staged demonstrations in September 2005 and in
June and presented petitions to the king's representative that called
for constitutional changes, including a popularly elected parliament.
The King did not specifically respond to these petitions. In October
2005 Parliament commissioned the National Committee on Political Reform
(NCPR) to ask citizens around the nation and abroad for recommendations
about necessary political changes. The committee met with groups of
citizens throughout the country and expatriate groups in New Zealand,
Australia, and the United States. In late August the committee
presented a report of its findings to the King, and on October 3, it
presented its report to Parliament. The report recommended an elected
parliament, with an increase from nine to 17 in the number of MPs
elected by the general public; the 33 nobles would continue to elect
nine MPs from among their number. The Prime Minister would be selected
by the King from and would select cabinet members from among the 26
elected MPs. In response to the report the cabinet suggested the
formation of a tripartite committee to review the NCPR's
recommendations as well as an alternative proposal for more limited
reforms made by the Prime Minister.
On November 16, citing security concerns due to proreform and
antireform demonstrations in front of Parliament House, the Parliament
did not meet to vote and thus took no action on reform recommendations.
The large proreform demonstration subsequently degenerated into a group
of several thousand rioters who attacked, looted and burned numerous
buildings in the central business district (see Section 2.b.). In a
last-minute meeting with prodemocracy leaders aimed at calming the
crowds outside his office, the Prime Minister agreed to support a
reform plan for a 30-member parliament with 21 representatives elected
by the general populace and nine representatives elected by the nobles,
to be implemented beginning with elections in January 2008. The
agreement came too late to head off the riot. Under the constitution
any agreement on reforms would have to be passed by Parliament and
approved by the King before it could go into effect, and Parliament
took no further action on reform proposals by year's end. In a speech
on November 22 to close Parliament, the King affirmed that political
reform should continue and requested that all political factions work
to negotiate terms of a compromise reform plan before the next opening
of Parliament in May 2007.
There was one woman in the 34-member Parliament. A woman may become
queen, but the constitution forbids a woman to inherit other noble
titles or become a chief. There was one female government minister.
Women held several other significant government posts, including that
of ambassador and permanent representative to the UN.
There was no minority participation in government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
government corruption during the year. Officials working in the main
port reportedly took bribes in exchange for not charging the full
amount of port and duty tax. In January the speaker of Parliament was
convicted of evading customs duties and bribery of a customs officer
and stripped of his position as well as his chiefly rank and title. He
also was fined $9,780 (T$20,000).
In addition government preferences appeared to benefit unfairly
businesses associated with members of the royal family.
At year's end the Government was considering a controversial
measure that would close down a number of bonded warehouses at the port
in an effort to fight corruption.
The law does not specifically allow for public access to government
information, and such access was a problem, especially when the
Government deemed the information sensitive.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There are no legal barriers to the formation of domestic human
rights NGOs. Some domestic NGOs dealt with human rights issues.
Government officials were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their
views. Claims of mistreatment of detainees in the wake of the November
riot led to ad hoc investigations by several domestic NGOs (see section
1.c.). There were no restrictions on operations by international human
rights groups. After the post-riot allegations of mistreatment of
detainees, two UN agencies requested information from the Government
and asked to visit the country to conduct further investigations. These
requests were pending at year's end.
Government offices include a commission on public relations that
investigates and seeks to resolve complaints about the Government.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law confirms the special status of members of the royal family
and the nobility. While social, cultural, and economic facilities were
available to all citizens regardless of race and religion, members of
the hereditary nobility had substantial advantages, including control
over most land and a generally privileged status.
Women.--Domestic violence against women seldom was publicized;
however, according to local women's groups, it was very common.
Domestic violence can be prosecuted under laws against physical
assault, but in practice prosecutions were very rare. When abuse was
reported to the police, victims were often encouraged to return to
their homes. There were shelters for abused and troubled women, and the
Free Wesleyan Church operated a hot line for women in trouble.
Rape is punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment. The law does
not recognize spousal rape. The incidence of rape appeared to be
infrequent, although there were no reliable statistics. There was one
conviction for indecent assault on a minor during the year.
Under a Ministry of Health policy, a woman is not permitted to
undergo a tubal ligation at a public hospital without the consent of
her husband or, in his absence, her male next-of-kin.
Prostitution is not illegal, but activities such as soliciting in a
public place, procuring, operating a brothel, and trading in women are
criminal offenses. During the year there was an increase in
prostitution for men from foreign fishing vessels, especially among
women under the age of 18. Sexual harassment is not a crime, but
physical sexual assault could be prosecuted as indecent assault. Sexual
harassment sometimes occurred, but it was not a major problem.
Inheritance laws, especially those concerned with land,
discriminate against women. Women can lease land, but inheritance
rights pass through the male heirs. Under the inheritance laws, the
claim to a father's estate by a male child born out of wedlock takes
precedence over the claim of the deceased's widow or daughter. If there
are no male relatives, a widow is entitled to remain on her husband's
land as long as she does not remarry or engage in sexual intercourse.
In August the cabinet asked the Ministry of Lands to consider
amendments to the country's land laws to allow women to inherit
registered land allotments in the absence of a male heir. The
inheritance would then continue to the woman's first male descendant.
The proposal was a subject of considerable national debate during the
year; it was still under consideration by the ministry at year's end.
The Office of Women within the Prime Minister's Office is
responsible for facilitation of development projects for women. During
the year the office assisted women's groups in setting up work
programs.
Women who rose to positions of leadership usually had links with
the nobility. Some female commoners held senior leadership positions in
business.
The nongovernmental Center for Women and Children focused on
domestic abuse and improving the economic and social conditions of
women and offered counseling to women in crisis. Several religiously
affiliated women's groups also advocated for women's legal rights.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare, and it provided some funding for children's welfare. Education
is compulsory from ages six to 14. Education was available for all
children through high school, and almost all children attended school.
Education was free at the primary level, but students were required to
pay school fees at the secondary level.
The Government provided free basic medical care to children.
There were some reports of child abuse. There was one conviction
for indecent assault on a minor (see section 5, Women).
There were reports that workers on foreign fishing vessels
solicited underage girls for prostitution (see section 5, Women).
Trafficking in Persons.--While the law does not specifically
address trafficking in persons, violators could be prosecuted under
antislavery statutes. There were no reports that persons were
trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There are no mandated provisions for
services for persons with disabilities. The Tonga Red Cross Society
operated a school for children with disabilities and conducted
occasional home visits. There were complaints of discrimination in
employment, education, and provision of other government services. The
queen ran a center providing accommodation and meals for adults with
disabilities. There were no programs to ensure access to buildings for
persons with disabilities.
There were no restrictions on the right of persons with
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs. There was no
specific government agency with responsibility for protecting the
rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the Ministry of
Labor, ownership and operation of food retail stores in the country has
been legally restricted to citizens since 1978. Despite this policy the
retail sector in many towns has become increasingly dominated by
foreigners, particularly Chinese nationals. The Immigration Department
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attempted to enforce the
restrictions in an effort to curb growing illegal immigration. Although
some foreigners left as a result of the policy, others moved to
nonrestricted sectors of the economy. There were reports of crime and
societal discrimination targeted at members of the Chinese minority.
Chinese- and Indian-owned shops were among the buildings targeted by
rioters in Nuku'alofa on November 16 (see section 2.b.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons who engaged in
openly homosexual behavior faced societal discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers gained the right to form
unions under the 1964 Trade Union Act, but regulations on the formation
of unions were never promulgated, and there were no official unions.
The Friendly Islands Teachers Association and the Tonga Nurses
Association were incorporated under the Incorporated Societies Act;
however, they had no formal bargaining rights under the act. The Public
Servants Association acted as a de facto union representing all
government employees during the six-week, nationwide civil servants'
strike for a wage increase in 2005.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
collective bargaining, but there were no implementing regulations. In
2005 the Government and public sector employees engaged in collective
bargaining to resolve a strike by civil servants for higher wages. The
Government ultimately granted a wage increase.
The Trade Unions Act provides workers with the right to strike, but
implementing regulations were never formulated. There were no strikes
during the year.
Labor laws apply in all sectors of the economy, including the two
small export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred among citizens. In March three
Bangladeshi nationals alleged that after they came to the country in
August 2005 to work for a local business they were obliged to work long
hours and were not paid their promised salaries. One of the men alleged
that the company chairman's wife assaulted him after he contacted a
lawyer for assistance. The company denied the charges and claimed that
the men's salaries had been sent directly to their families in
Bangladesh. At year's end the assault charge was still pending, but the
plaintiffs were not actively pursuing the case.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Although there is no legislation prohibiting child labor, the practice
did not exist in the wage economy.
There were reports of underage girls involved in prostitution (see
section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no minimum wage law,
although there are government guidelines for wage levels. According to
the Asian Development Bank, in 2005, 23 percent of 16 communities
surveyed earned less than $14 (T$29) per person per week, which did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Labor laws
and regulations, enforced by the Ministry of Labor, Commerce, and
Industries, limited the workweek to 40 hours. The ministry enforced
laws and regulations in the wage sector of the economy, particularly on
the main island of Tongatapu, but enforcement in the agricultural
sector and on the outer islands was less consistent.
Few industries exposed workers to significant danger, and
industrial accidents were rare. The Government seldom addressed
industrial safety standards, including the right of workers to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations.
__________
TUVALU
Tuvalu is a parliamentary democracy and British Commonwealth member
with a population of approximately 11,000. In August citizens elected a
15-member unicameral parliament in generally free and fair elections.
There were no formal political parties. Following the elections a loose
coalition of eight members of Parliament formed a new government and
selected Apisai Ielemia as prime minister. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the police, the only security
force.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary generally provide effective means
of addressing individual instances of abuse. However, there were a few
areas of concern. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and members of
the public alleged that certain members of government were corrupt.
Traditional customs and social patterns led to and perpetuated
religious and social discrimination, including discrimination against
women.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them.
Local hereditary elders exercise discretionary traditional
punishment and disciplinary authority. This includes the right to
inflict corporal punishment for infringement of customary rules, which
can be at odds with the national law. However, during the year there
were no reports of such corporal punishment.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by local church representatives. At least one independent
international human rights observer also visited prison facilities
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Office of the Prime
Minister oversees the country's only security force, the 73-member
national police service. Most police were stationed on Funafuti Island,
with one regular and one auxiliary officer serving on each of the other
islands. The police generally were regarded as professional and
effective, although women's rights advocates criticized them for
failing to take the issue of domestic violence seriously enough.
Senior officers investigate allegations of police abuse on a case-
by-case basis, and the police commissioner reviews any proposed
punishment. Corruption and impunity were not significant problems.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law permit arrests
without warrants if a police officer witnesses the commission of an
unlawful act or has ``reasonable suspicion'' that an offense is about
to be committed. Police estimated that approximately 80 percent of
arrests were of this type. The police may hold a person arrested
without a warrant for no more than 24 hours without a hearing before a
magistrate. When a court issues an arrest warrant, the maximum
permissible detention time before a hearing must be held is stated on
the warrant and normally is one to two weeks.
There was a functioning system of bail. Arrested persons generally
were promptly informed of the charges against them, although
bureaucratic delays sometimes occurred (see section 1.e.). Detainees
had prompt access to family members and to the people's lawyer (public
defender); the country had no attorneys in private practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
There is a two-tier judicial system. Higher courts include the High
Court, the Court of Appeal, and the Sovereign in Council (Privy
Council) in the United Kingdom. Lower courts consist of senior and
resident magistrates, the island courts, and the land court. A
nonresident expatriate chief justice appointed by the governor general
presides over the High Court, which generally sits twice a year.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right.
Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there are no juries. The
accused must be informed of the nature of the offenses with which they
are charged and provided the time and facilities required to prepare a
defense. The public defender expressed concern that on occasion
bureaucratic delays resulted in several months passing before an
accused was informed of the charges. The law provides for a presumption
of innocence and the right to confront witnesses, present evidence, and
appeal convictions. Procedural safeguards are based on British common
law. The services of the independent public defender are available to
all citizens without charge.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, but the Government occasionally
limited these rights in practice.
Citizens were free to criticize the Government publicly or
privately without reprisal, and there were no reports that the
Government sought to impede such criticism.
There were no private, independent media. The Tuvalu Media
Corporation (TMC), a public corporation, controlled the country's sole
radio station and a monthly newsletter. Local news, information, and
music were broadcast five and a half hours per day. The remaining radio
programming consisted of rebroadcasts of BBC programs. There was no
television. Videotapes circulated freely and were widely available;
however, pornography in all forms is illegal. Following previous
criticism of government influence and self-censorship at the TMC, human
rights activists reported that the TMC's limited coverage of political
and human rights issues, including coverage critical of the Government,
increased somewhat during the year. Following his August election new
Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia called for a freer media, and after some
initial differences regarding their relationship with the new
government, the media reported less government interference.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
However, the relative lack of telecommunications infrastructure,
especially beyond the capital island of Funafuti, and relatively high
costs restricted public access to and use of the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the High Court has held that traditional village
authorities may restrict this right in certain circumstances.
The constitution also states that the laws are to be based on
Christian principles. Despite official tolerance, religious homogeneity
(more than 90 percent of citizens are members of the Church of Tuvalu,
a Congregationalist denomination) and traditional structures of
communal life posed practical barriers to the introduction and spread
of other religious beliefs. The law requires churches to register, and
they must have a minimum of 50 members to do so.
In December 2005 the Tuvalu Brethren Church appealed an October
2005 ruling by the High Court that the constitution permits local
traditional authorities to restrict the constitutional right to
religious freedom in defense of traditional mores. In May 2005 the
Brethren Church had filed a complaint against the traditional island
council of Nanumaga after the council banned the introduction of new
religions to that island and ordered church members to stop further
proselytizing.
In April the Nanumaga council passed a further resolution banning
all new churches and threatening local council workers with dismissal
if they worshipped with the Brethren Church. In June the council
dismissed without proper notice five council workers who were Brethren
Church members. At year's end the Court of Appeal had not yet met to
consider the case.
In January the council of elders on Funafuti Island issued a
resolution prohibiting the establishment or practice of ``any new
religion'' not already established on the island and specifically
prohibiting the construction of a Brethren church. In June the High
Court issued a temporary injunction prohibiting any actions against the
Brethren Church and its missionary work on Funafuti. The court briefly
considered the case at its October session but then adjourned until
2007.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a degree of societal
intolerance toward religions other than established Christian
denominations, particularly on the outer islands. There was no known
Jewish community, and there were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
practice it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum. The
Government maintained its general cooperation with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations,
but the issue of assisting refugees and asylum seekers did not arise
during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Citizens freely and
directly elect a 15-member unicameral parliament with a normal term of
four years. Each of the country's eight main islands is administered by
a six-person council, also elected by universal suffrage to four-year
terms. The minimum voting age is 18 years.
The most recent general elections, held in August, were generally
free and fair. An eight-member majority of the newly elected Parliament
selected Apisai Ielemia, a former opposition parliamentarian, as prime
minister, replacing Maatia Toafa.
There were no formal political parties; however, Parliament has
tended to divide between an ad hoc faction with at least the necessary
eight votes to form a government and an informal opposition faction.
Participation by women in government and politics was limited,
largely due to traditional perceptions of women's role in society.
There were no female members of Parliament or cabinet ministers. Two
women ran for election to Parliament in August but both lost.
There were no members of minorities in the legislature or the
cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Laws against corruption
are weak. There was a widespread public perception that the Government
lacked transparency and accountability, that public funds sometimes
were mismanaged, and that government officials benefited unfairly from
their positions, particularly in regard to overseas travel and related
payments and benefits. The electoral defeat of the previous government
in August was attributed in part to the introduction of new, increased
travel benefits for government officials at a time of economic
hardship. As one of its first acts, the newly elected government banned
overseas travel by government officials other than in exceptional
cases.
The law provides for annual, public ministerial reports, but
publication was spotty and often nonexistent. The Auditor General's
Office, responsible for providing government oversight, was underfunded
and lacked serious parliamentary support. Consequently it had
inadequate staff and resources.
There is no law providing for public access to government
information. In practice the Government was only somewhat cooperative
in responding to individual requests for such information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no local NGOs concerned entirely with human rights,
although there were no known barriers to their establishment. Some
human rights advocates, such as the Tuvalu National Council of Women,
operated under the aegis of the Tuvalu Association of Nongovernmental
Organizations, which was composed primarily of religious organizations.
The people's lawyer, who served as a public defender, also monitored
sentencing, equality before the law, and human rights issues in
general. This institution, which at times has been critical of the
Government, nonetheless was supported by the Government, which
frequently sought its advice. The few other local organizations
involved in human rights issues generally operated without government
restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human
rights cases. However, opportunities to publicize such information
locally were severely limited due to the lack of local print and
electronic media. Government officials were somewhat cooperative and
responsive to local organizations' views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and
place of origin, and the Government generally enforced these
prohibitions. The Tuvalu National Council of Women has urged the
Government to amend the law to specifically prohibit discrimination on
the basis of gender, but no action was taken on this proposal during
the year.
Women.--Reports of violence against women were rare. Women's rights
observers reported, however, that it was not possible to estimate
accurately the incidence of domestic violence, due to a lack of data.
They criticized the police for seeking to address violence against
women using traditional and customary methods of reconciliation rather
than criminal prosecution. The law does not address domestic violence
specifically. Acts of domestic violence are prosecuted under the
assault provisions of the penal code. The maximum penalty for common
assault is six months' imprisonment, and for assault with actual bodily
harm, it is five years. Domestic violence was not a source of broad
societal debate. However, the Women's Department of the Ministry of
Home Affairs sponsored a well-received national radio discussion on
violence against women, in which the police encouraged women to report
domestic violence. The police practiced a ``no drop'' policy under
which they cannot drop charges in cases of domestic violence. There
were no shelters or hot lines for abused women. Rape is a crime
punishable by a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment, but
spousal rape is not included in the legal definition of this offense.
Prostitution and sex tourism are illegal and were not problems. The
law does not prohibit sexual harassment specifically but prohibits
indecent behavior, which includes lewd touching. Sexual harassment was
not a significant problem.
Although the constitution provides that its bill of rights
provisions apply to all regardless of ``race, place of origin,
political opinions, color, religious beliefs or lack of religious
beliefs, or sex,'' its provision on freedom from discrimination omits a
specific reference to discrimination based on gender. Women's rights
advocates have cited this contradiction as denying women full
constitutional rights and freedoms. In January 2005, as part of its
decision in a child custody case, the High Court stated that the
omission of gender as a ground of discrimination in the constitution
was deliberate and there is no constitutional protection against gender
discrimination. The court also stated that although the country
ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the lack of implementing
legislation meant that CEDAW has no effect on the treatment of women
under national law.
The law generally treats men and women equally, but there remained
some areas in which the law contributed to an unequal status for women.
For example, the land inheritance rights of the Tuvalu Lands Code are
based in part on customary practices. If survivors cannot agree on the
settlement of an estate, the law specifically provides for sons to
inherit a greater share of property than daughters, although the law
allows appeal of such property distributions. In addition the Native
Lands Ordinance states that after the age of two any illegitimate
child, if accepted by the father, shall reside with him or his
relations.
In practice women held a subordinate societal position, constrained
both by law in some areas and by traditional customary practices.
Nonetheless, women increasingly held positions in the health and
education sectors and were more active politically. In the wage
economy, men held most higher-paying positions, while women held the
clear majority of lower-paying clerical and retail positions.
Children.--Government funding for children's welfare was reasonable
within the context of its total available resources. Education was
free, compulsory, and universal for children through age 13. Primary
school enrollment rates were 87 percent for boys and 88 percent for
girls, according to the Asian Development Bank. However, only about
one-third of secondary-school-age children (ages 15 to 19) attended
school. The attendance rate for girls at the secondary school level was
approximately 10 percent higher than that for boys and approximately 40
percent higher in the last two years of secondary school. Students
competed for academic scholarships to attend universities overseas or
participated in vocational training focusing on subsistence farming and
maritime training for men and computer or other business training for
women. The Government provided free medical care for children through
age 18.
The Government did not compile child abuse statistics, and there
were no reported cases of child abuse or child prostitution during the
year. However, anecdotal evidence indicated that child abuse occurred.
Corporal punishment, in the form of strokes of a cane or paddle, was
common in schools.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits procurement of persons
within and across borders for purposes of prostitution. It does not
mention or prohibit trafficking specifically, but there were no reports
that persons were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--Neither the constitution nor the law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of physical or mental disability.
There were no known reports of discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, or the provision of other state
services, nor were there restrictions on the right of persons with
disabilities to vote or participate in civic affairs. However,
supplementary state services to address the special needs of persons
with disabilities were very limited. There are no mandated
accessibility provisions for persons with disabilities.
There was no government agency with specific responsibility for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
association. Workers were free to organize unions and choose their own
labor representatives, but most of the population lacked permanent
employment and was engaged in subsistence activity.
Public sector employees such as civil servants, teachers, and
nurses were members of professional associations that did not have
union status. The only registered trade union, the Tuvalu Seamen's
Union, had approximately 1,100 members, who worked on foreign merchant
vessels.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for conciliation, arbitration, and settlement procedures in
cases of labor disputes. Although there are provisions for collective
bargaining, in practice the few individual private sector employers set
their own wage scales. Both the private and public sectors generally
used nonconfrontational deliberations to resolve labor disputes.
The law provides for the right to strike, but no strike has ever
taken place.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits children under age 14 from working in the formal labor
market. The law also prohibits children under age 15 from industrial
employment or work on any ship and stipulates that children under age
18 are not allowed to enter into formal contracts, including work
contracts. Children rarely were employed outside the traditional
economy of subsistence farming and fishing.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage, set by the
Government, was barely sufficient to allow a worker and family in the
wage economy to maintain a decent standard of living. The biweekly
minimum wage in the public sector was $99 (A$130), regardless of sex
and age. In most cases the private sector adopted the same minimum wage
rate.
The Ministry of Labor may specify the days and hours of work for
workers in various industries. The law sets the workday at eight hours.
The majority of workers were outside the wage economy, which was
primarily on the main island.
The law provides for rudimentary health and safety standards. It
requires employers to provide an adequate potable water supply, basic
sanitary facilities, and medical care. The Ministry of Labor is
responsible for the enforcement of these regulations, but in practice
it provided only minimum enforcement.
Workers can remove themselves from work situations that endanger
health or safety without jeopardy to their jobs; the law also protects
legal foreign workers.
__________
VANUATU
Vanuatu is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a population
of approximately 218,000. The constitution provides for parliamentary
elections based on universal suffrage every four years. The 52-member
Parliament elects the Prime Minister as the head of government. An
electoral college composed of the members of Parliament (MPs) and the
chairmen of the country's six provincial government councils elects the
President as the head of state for a five-year term. The President's
powers are largely ceremonial. The Council of Chiefs provides
recommendations on matters relating to custom and traditional
practices. The most recent elections, held in July 2004, were
considered generally free and fair. Prime Minister Han Lini's
government, a seven-party coalition, enjoyed relative political
stability during the year, surviving a vote of no confidence in March.
The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces; however, police officials on occasion have acted
peremptorily or at the direction of senior politicians.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. These included
poor prison conditions, arrests without warrants, an extremely slow
judicial process, government corruption, and violence and
discrimination against women.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices, and there were
no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions were poor at
the small, dilapidated prisons. Security at all facilities was poor,
and there were frequent prisoner escapes. In December 2005 the
Government released 52 prisoners, citing poor prison sanitation and
overcrowding as the reasons for the release. In October a new temporary
prison was opened in Luganville, which helped to reduce overcrowding
and improve sanitation. Pretrial detainees usually were held in the
police lockup rather than the prison. Persons deemed mentally unfit to
stand trial were held with the general prison population. At least one
juvenile was held together with adults.
Over the year the Government began a modernization program to
replace outdated prisons. An amended Vanuatu Correction Services Act
took effect in August, creating a new Department of Correctional
Services. In October and November, over 30 newly hired and trained
civilian correctional and probation officers replaced police wardens in
all facilities.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, although there were no requests for visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The commissioner of
police heads the police force of approximately 500 officers, including
a police maritime wing, and the paramilitary Vanuatu Mobile Force
(VMF). A new commissioner of police assumed command of the police force
in September. Police effectiveness was hampered by a lack of resources
and by internal rivalries. The Police College Recruitment Office
conducted interviews for 60 new officer positions in October, marking
the first recruitment of new officers in seven years. Corruption and
impunity were not major problems; however, there were some instances of
corruption, and there have been some instances in which police have
acted without proper authorization at the behest of politicians.
Arrest and Detention.--A warrant issued by a court is required for
an arrest; however, police made a small number of arrests without
warrants during the year. The constitutional provision that suspects
must be informed of the charges against them generally was observed in
practice.
A system of bail operated effectively; however, some persons not
granted bail spent lengthy periods in pretrial detention due to
judicial inefficiency. Judges, prosecutors, and police complained about
large case backlogs due to a lack of resources and limited numbers of
qualified judges and prosecutors. Years could pass before a case is
brought to trial. Detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and
family members. A public defender's office provides counsel to indigent
defendants.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Magistrates' courts deal with most routine legal matters. Island
courts are present at the local level, with limited jurisdiction in
civil and criminal matters. The Supreme Court, an intermediate-level
court, has unlimited jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters and
considers appeals from the magistrates' courts. The President appoints
the chief justice of the Supreme Court after consultation with the
Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition; the three other
justices are appointed by the President on the advice of the Judicial
Services Commission. The Appeals Court is the highest appellate court.
It comprises at least three judges, including at least two judges from
the Supreme Court, and often includes senior judges from other common-
law countries in the region. Judges cannot be removed without cause.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
However, the judiciary was relatively weak and inefficient, and some
defendants spent extended periods in pretrial detention as a result
(see section 1.d.). The judicial system is derived from British common
law. Judges conduct trials and render verdicts; there are no juries.
The courts uphold constitutional provisions for a fair public trial; a
presumption of innocence until guilt is proven; a prohibition against
double jeopardy; a right to judicial determination of the validity of
arrest or detention; a right to question witnesses; and a right of
appeal to a higher court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters; however, police were
reluctant to enforce domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
The Government controlled the country's one AM and one FM radio
station and a limited-service television station that broadcast only to
the capital of Port Vila and the second-largest city, Luganville.
Access to international news and information also was available through
private subscription satellite television service. There was one
independent daily newspaper and one independent weekly newspaper.
During the year most international correspondents, government-owned
media, and the independent press reported criticisms of political
leaders freely and apparently without hindrance. However, at times some
individual politicians and their supporters have attempted to
intimidate the media, although with no apparent effect. In March
members of a police rugby team allegedly assaulted a reporter during a
rugby match. The day after his newspaper published a report of this
incident, seven police officers arrested and briefly held Marc-Neil
Jones, editor of the Daily Post newspaper, allegedly in retaliation for
criticism of the behavior of the police rugby team. The police
commissioner suspended one officer involved in the assault, and this
suspension was lifted in December. The officers involved in the arrest
were required to issue an apology, which was reportedly never
delivered.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The Government provided some financial assistance for the
construction of churches affiliated with member denominations of the
Vanuatu Christian Council, provided grants to church-operated schools,
and paid teachers' salaries at church-operated schools in existence
since the country's independence. These benefits were not available to
non-Christian religious organizations. Government schools also
scheduled weekly religious education classes conducted by
representatives of Council churches. Students whose parents did not
wish them to attend the classes were excused. Non-Christian religions
were not permitted to give religious instruction in public schools.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's Jewish community
was limited to a few expatriates, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not address forced exile, but the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government did not provide protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government did not grant refugee status or
asylum. The Government had no association with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary
elections were last held in July 2004 and were considered generally
free and fair. During the year no further action was taken against
alleged participants in the burning of several ballot boxes on the
island of Tanna during the elections. Parliamentary majorities have
been unstable, with frequent motions for votes of no confidence in the
Government.
Traditional attitudes regarding male dominance and customary
familial roles hampered women's participation in economic and political
life. There were two women in the 52-member Parliament. There was one
woman in the cabinet.
There were at least two members of minorities (non-Melanesians) in
Parliament, one of whom was in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year. The law provides for
the appointment of public servants on the basis of merit; however, in
practice political interference at times has hampered the effective
operation of the civil service. The Court of Appeal found several
officials from the Vanuatu Maritime Authority not guilty in a 2005 case
involving criminal conspiracy for alleged mishandling the awarding of
licenses and contracts.
No law provides for public access to government information. In
practice governmental response to requests for information from the
media was inconsistent.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated
without government restriction, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally
cooperative and responsive to their views.
The President appoints a government ombudsman to a five-year term
in consultation with other political leaders. The law requires that the
Public Service Commission, not the ombudsman, appoint members of the
ombudsman's staff and authorizes the presence of legal counsel during
interviews with the ombudsman. Since its establishment, the ombudsman's
office has issued a number of reports critical of government
institutions and officials. However, the ombudsman did not have
adequate resources. The ombudsman did not have independent power to
prosecute, and the results of its investigations may not be used as
evidence in court proceedings.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, place of
origin, religious or traditional beliefs, political opinion, language,
or sex; however, women remained victims of discrimination in the
tradition-based society.
Women.--Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, was
common, although no accurate statistics existed. There are no specific
laws against domestic violence; courts occasionally prosecuted
offenders using common law assault as a basis for prosecution. Under a
2002 revision of the civil procedure rules, magistrates have the
authority to issue domestic violence protection orders. However, most
cases of violence against women, including rape, went unreported
because women, particularly in rural areas, were ignorant of their
rights or feared further abuse. Although rape is a crime, with a
maximum penalty of life imprisonment, spousal rape is not cited
specifically in the law, and police frequently were reluctant to
intervene in what were considered domestic matters. There were no
government programs to address domestic violence, and media attention
to the abuse was limited. Churches and other NGOs ran facilities for
abused women. NGOs such as the National Council of Women and the
Vanuatu Women's Center also played an important role in educating the
public about domestic violence, but did not have sufficient funding to
fully implement its programs.
Prostitution is illegal and was not regarded as a serious problem.
Although there is no law against sex tourism, no incidents were
reported. Sexual harassment is not illegal and was a problem.
While women have equal rights under the law, they are only slowly
emerging from a traditional culture characterized by male dominance, a
general reluctance to educate women, and a widespread belief that women
should devote themselves primarily to childbearing. The majority of
women entered into marriage through ``bride-price payment,'' a practice
that encouraged men to view women as property. Women also were barred
by tradition from land ownership. Many female leaders viewed village
chiefs as major obstacles to social, political, and economic rights for
women. Women interested in running for public office received
encouragement and help from the NGO Vanuatu Women in Politics.
On November 27, the National Parliament ratified the optional
protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.
Children.--Access to education was limited, and school attendance
was not compulsory. Less than 35 percent of all children advanced
beyond elementary school due to a shortage of schools and teachers
beyond grade six. Boys tended to receive more education than girls.
Although attendance rates were similar in the early primary grades
(approximately 79 percent for boys and 78 percent for girls), fewer
girls advanced to the higher grades. A significant portion of the
population, perhaps as high as 50 percent, was functionally illiterate.
Medical services were free, and there was an immunization program;
however, the Government had few resources for medical care,
particularly in outlying provinces where there were no hospitals.
Child abuse was not believed to be extensive; however, the
Government did little to combat the problem. NGOs and law enforcement
agencies reported increased complaints of incest and rape of children
in recent years, but no statistics were available. Children generally
were protected within the traditional extended family system. Members
of the extended family played an active role in a child's development.
Virtually no children were homeless or abandoned.
The legal age for marriage is 21, although boys between 18 and 21
and girls between 16 and 21 may marry with parental permission. In
practice, in rural areas and some outer islands, some children married
at younger ages.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not specifically prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, there were no reports that persons
were trafficked to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no governmental or national
policy on persons with disabilities and no legislation mandating access
to buildings for them. There were no special programs to assist persons
with disabilities. Their protection and care was left to the
traditional extended family and to NGOs. Due to high rates of
unemployment, there were few jobs available for persons with
disabilities. Persons with mental illness generally did not receive
specialized care; they usually were attended by members of their
extended families.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Most of the population is
Melanesian. Small minorities of Chinese, Fijians, Vietnamese, Tongans,
and Europeans generally were concentrated in two towns and on a few
plantations. Most of the land belongs to indigenous tribes and cannot
be sold, although prime real estate was increasingly leased to others.
Within the limits of this system of land tenure, there generally were
no reports of discrimination against ethnic minorities; however, only
indigenous farmers can legally grow kava, a native herb, for export.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides all workers with the
right to organize and join unions, and workers exercised this right in
practice. Approximately 25,000 persons participated in the formal
economy as wage earners. Combined union membership in the private and
public sectors was approximately 1,000. The two existing trade unions,
the Vanuatu Teacher's Union and the Vanuatu National Worker's Union,
were independent of the Government. They were grouped under an umbrella
organization, the Vanuatu Council of Trade Unions (VCTU). The high
percentage of the population still engaged in subsistence agriculture
and fishing precluded extensive union activity. Unions require
government permission to affiliate with international labor
federations. The Government has not denied any union such permission.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Unions
exercised the right to organize and bargain collectively. They
negotiated wages and conditions directly with management. If the two
sides cannot agree, the matter is referred to a three-member
arbitration board appointed by the minister of home affairs. The board
consists of one representative from organized labor, one from
management, and the senior magistrate of the Magistrate's Court. While
a dispute is before the board, labor may not strike and management may
not dismiss union employees. However, unions and management generally
reached agreement on wages without arbitration.
In August 2005 employees of Air Vanuatu held a one-day strike to
protest proposed layoffs. Police refused to issue a demonstration
permit to the National Workers Union, which sought to march in support
of the Air Vanuatu workers. In September 2005 the airline dismissed 26
employees, and the National Workers Union later alleged that police and
VMF members threatened union members who were picketing. According to
the union, the picketers were warned that they would lose their jobs if
they did not stop their protest and return to work. Air Vanuatu denied
the union's allegations and asserted that the authorities were brought
in only to ensure normal operations at the airport.
In March frustration over the Government's inaction in these and
other industrial disputes led 58 unionists with the National Workers
Union to stage actions at Air Vanuatu, Eric Wong store, Vanuatu
Abattoir Ltd., and Unelco. The unionists were subsequently charged with
unlawful assembly, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted arson. In
September the unionists were found guilty of unlawful imprisonment and
attempted arson.
Complaints of antiunion discrimination are referred to the
Department of Labor. During the year there were reports made by
unionists of employer violations of ratified International Labor
Organization (ILO) conventions, although all investigations were
ongoing as of year's end.
While the law does not require union recognition, it prohibits
antiunion discrimination once a union is recognized. The law prohibits
retaliation for legal strikes. In the case of private-sector employees,
complaints of violations are referred to the Department of Labor for
conciliation and arbitration. In the public sector, the Public Service
Commission handles complaints of violations. Unions are required by law
to give 30 days' notice of intent to strike and to provide a list of
the names of potential strikers. The Government ratified the eight core
ILO conventions in August.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there
were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits children under age 12 from working outside family-owned
agricultural production, where many children assisted their parents.
The employment of children from 12 to 18 years of age was restricted by
occupational category and conditions of labor, including employment in
the shipping industry and nighttime employment. The Department of Labor
effectively enforced these laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Department of Labor
effectively enforced a legislated minimum wage. In September 2005
Parliament set the minimum wage at approximately $189 (20,000 vatu) per
month, a substantial increase from the $151 (16,000 vatu) rate in place
since 1995. The minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of
living for an urban worker and family. However, most families were not
dependent solely on wages for their livelihood, supplementing incomes
through subsistence farming. Various laws regulated benefits such as
sick leave, annual vacations, and other conditions of employment, such
as a 44-hour maximum workweek that included at least one 24-hour rest
period.
The Employment Act, enforced by the Department of Labor, includes
provisions for safety standards. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their
continued employment. However, the safety and health law was inadequate
to protect workers engaged in logging, agriculture, construction, and
manufacturing, and the single inspector attached to the Department of
Labor could not enforce the law fully. Laws on working conditions and
safety standards apply equally to foreign workers and citizens.
__________
VIETNAM
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an authoritarian state ruled
by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Its population is
approximately 84.1 million. The CPV's constitutionally mandated primacy
and the continued occupancy of all key government positions by party
members allowed it to set national policy. However, the CPV continued
to reduce its formal involvement in government operations and allowed
the Government to exercise significant discretion in implementing
policy. There were no other legal political parties. The most recent
National Assembly elections, held in 2002, were neither free nor fair,
since all candidates were chosen by the CPV's Vietnam Fatherland Front
(VFF), an umbrella group that monitored the country's popular
organizations. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained unsatisfactory. Some
government officials, particularly at the local level, continued to
commit abuses despite a concerted push by central authorities to
address abuse concerns, especially of religious freedom. Citizens could
not change their government, and political opposition movements were
officially prohibited and some activists arrested, although several
nascent opposition organizations were not completely suppressed. The
Government sought to reinforce its controls over the press and the
Internet. In a few instances, police abused suspects during arrest,
detention, and interrogation. Prison conditions were often severe but
generally did not threaten the lives of prisoners. Security forces
generally operated with impunity, and there was one credible report of
an extrajudicial killing by security forces. Individuals were
arbitrarily detained for political activities. Persons were denied the
right to fair and expeditious trials. The Government limited citizens'
privacy rights and freedom of speech, press, assembly, movement, and
association. The Government maintained its prohibition of independent
human rights organizations. Violence and discrimination against women
persisted, as did limited child prostitution and trafficking in women
and children, although the Government intensified its efforts to combat
trafficking. Some ethnic minority groups suffered societal
discrimination. The Government continued to limit workers' rights,
especially to organize independently.
The Government's economic reforms and the rising standard of living
continued to reduce CPV and government control over, and intrusion
into, daily life. The Government also continued to forge greater links
with the outside world, with a corresponding change in attitude toward
human rights. The Government released its sole remaining prisoner
recognized as having been incarcerated for reasons connected to his
faith, as well as all but two of those widely regarded as political
prisoners. Conditions for most religious believers were markedly
improved from previous years; in particular, hundreds of Protestant
congregations were legalized throughout the country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there was one credible report of an extrajudicial killing by security
forces. According to persons in the Central Highlands, in mid-July Y
Ngo Adrong, an ethnic Jarai, was arrested in Ea Hleo District in Dak
Lak Province, reportedly for using a cellular telephone to communicate
with members of the ethnic minority community abroad. Subsequently,
police announced that Adrong hanged himself in his prison cell,
although bruises on his torso strongly suggested that he died from a
beating. Police reportedly refused to allow unfettered access to the
body and paid approximately $1,000 (15 million VND) in compensation to
the family.
There were no developments in identifying and punishing police
members responsible for the 2004 killings of protesters in the Central
Highlands.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits physical abuse; however, police
sometimes physically mistreated suspects while arresting them or
holding them in custody.
In June commune-employed security officers detained and beat two
Protestants belonging to an unregistered house church in Thanh Hoa
Province. In July commune officers beat two women of the same group
after they attempted to visit the home used by the congregation as a
place of worship. The provincial security department reportedly
investigated the incidents. In September two commune security officers
received administrative punishment from the commune leadership in
connection with the June incident (see section 2.c.).
There were credible reports that in July a member of an ethnic
minority died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody in
the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak (see section 1.a.). There was
no apparent official investigation, and local police reportedly sought
to suppress information on the incident.
In August in Ho Chi Minh City, at least one political activist
reported that police beat him about the head and neck while
interrogating him about his activities.
In September police struck and manhandled political activist Pham
Hong Son as they detained him following his visit to the Hanoi
residence of dissident Hoang Minh Chinh. After several hours of
interrogation, police released Son without charge.
On November 2, political dissident Bui Kim Thanh was involuntarily
committed to the national mental hospital in Dong Nai Province. Thanh,
a member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), was responsible for
providing legal support and organizing individuals with land disputes
in the south against the Government. The Government refused foreign
observers' requests to meet with Thanh or discuss her case with police
or hospital officials.
There was no discernable official follow-up in the September 2005
beating of two ethnic Dzao Protestants in the Central Highlands
province of Kon Tum.
Unlike in previous years, there were no credible reports that
ethnic minority Protestants were forced to perform acts against their
religious beliefs.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions could be
severe but generally did not threaten the lives of prisoners.
Overcrowding, insufficient diet, and poor sanitation reportedly
remained serious problems in many prisons. Prisoners had access to
basic health care, with additional medical services available at
district- or provincial-level hospitals. Prisoners generally were
required to work but received no wages (see section 6.c.). Diplomatic
observers reported Spartan but generally acceptable conditions.
Prisoners reportedly were sometimes moved to solitary confinement,
where they were deprived of reading and writing materials, for periods
of up to several months.
The Government did not permit the International Committee of the
Red Cross or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to visit prisons.
Diplomatic observers were permitted to visit at least two prisons in
the southern area of the country.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government continued to arrest and
detain citizens for their political activities.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Internal security
primarily is the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Security
(MPS); however, in some remote areas the military is the primary
government agency and provides public safety functions, including
maintaining public order in the event of civil unrest. The MPS controls
the police, a special national security investigative agency, and other
internal security units. It also maintains a system of household
registration and block wardens to monitor the population, concentrating
on those suspected of engaging, or likely to engage, in unauthorized
political activities, but this system became less pervasive in its
intrusion into most citizens' daily lives.
Police organizations exist at the provincial, district, and local
levels and are subject to the authority of the people's committees at
each level. The police were generally effective at maintaining
political stability and public order, but police capacities, especially
investigative, were very low. Police training and resources were
inadequate. Corruption was a significant problem among the police force
at all levels, and most police officers acted with impunity. Internal
police oversight structures existed but were subject to political
influence. The reported punishment of two commune-level security
officers in Thanh Hoa Province for abusing a detainee was unprecedented
(see section 1.c.).
Arrest and Detention.--The criminal procedure code outlines the
process by which individuals are taken into custody and treated until
they are brought before a court or other tribunal for judgment. The
Supreme People's Procuracy (the public prosecutor) issues arrest
warrants, generally at the request of police; however, police may make
an arrest without a warrant on the basis of a complaint filed by any
person. The procuracy issues retroactive warrants in such cases. The
procuracy must issue a decision to initiate a formal criminal
investigation of a detainee within nine days; otherwise, police must
release the suspect. In the past this requirement was often
circumvented, but during the year most detainees apparently were
promptly informed of the charges against them.
The investigative period may last from three months for ``less
serious'' offenses (punishable by up to three years' imprisonment) to
16 months for ``exceptionally serious'' offenses (punishable by more
than 15 years' imprisonment or capital punishment), or 20 months for
national security cases. The code further permits the procuracy to
request additional two-month periods of detention after an
investigation to consider whether to prosecute a detainee or ask the
police to investigate further. There was no functioning bail system or
equivalent system of conditional release. Time spent in pretrial
detention counts toward time served upon conviction and sentencing.
Although legal counsel is a constitutional right for all persons
accused of crimes, a scarcity of trained lawyers made prompt detainee
access to an attorney rare. In general only persons formally charged
with capital crimes were assigned lawyers.
By law detainees are permitted access to lawyers from the time of
their detention, but bureaucratic delays frequently limited initial
detainee contacts with their attorneys. In national security cases,
authorities can delay defense lawyers' access to clients until after an
investigation has ended and the suspect has been formally charged with
a crime. Lawyers must be informed of and allowed to attend
interrogations of their clients. They must also be given access to case
files and be permitted to make copies of documents. Attorneys were
generally able to exercise these privileges. However, in the case of an
interrogation, a defendant first must request the presence of a lawyer,
and it was not clear whether authorities always advised defendants of
this privilege.
Police generally informed family of detainees' whereabouts;
however, family members were allowed to visit a detainee only with the
permission of the investigator. Prior to a formal indictment, detainees
also have the right to notify family members. A number of detainees
held for investigation of purported national security violations were
reportedly denied family visits or access to legal counsel.
Courts may sentence persons to administrative detention of up to
five years after completion of a sentence. In addition, police or mass
organizations can propose that one of five ``administrative measures''
be imposed by people's committee chairpersons at district and
provincial levels without a trial. The measures include terms ranging
from six to 24 months in either juvenile reformatories or adult
detention centers and generally were applied to repeat offenders with a
record of minor offenses, such as committing petty theft or
``humiliating other persons.'' Chairpersons may also impose terms of
``administrative probation,'' which generally was some form of
restriction on movement and travel. In December the Government
announced a plan to abolish Decree 31, the directive authorizing
administrative detention, but at year's end the decree remained in
force.
Arbitrary detentions, particularly for political activists,
remained a problem. In February police officers detained Do Nam Hai and
Nguyen Khac Toan after they entered an Internet cafe in Hanoi. They
were released after a six-hour interrogation.
At year's end Truong Quoc Huy remained in detention after he was
rearrested in August on charges related to his continued political
activism, including an accusation of ``attempting to undermine national
unity.'' In October 2005 police in Ho Chi Minh City detained Huy, his
two brothers--Truong Quoc Tuan and Truong Quoc Nghia--and his
girlfriend Lisa Pham on charges of attempting to overthrow the
Government. The police released Nghia almost immediately and Tuan two
weeks later. Pham, a legal permanent resident of another country, and
Huy remained in custody until July. Police believed that Pham and Huy
had been participating in a Web chat forum called ``the voice of people
in Vietnam and abroad.'' The arrestees also may have sought to
distribute antigovernment flyers in Ho Chi Minh City. The content of
the documents and Web chats was unknown. Police reportedly first
downgraded the charges to ``propagandizing against the Government'' and
then released Pham and Huy without pressing charges.
In December at least 10 and as many as 16 other political and
social activists reportedly were detained, including Vu Hoang Hai and
Nguyen Ngoc Quan, who were arrested for activities to ``overthrow the
people's government.'' Hai, Quan, and an unknown number of others
remained in detention at year's end.
In September Pham Hong Son was briefly detained and reportedly
struck by police (see section 1.c.).
There were some reports that government officials in the Central
and Northwest Highlands temporarily detained ethnic minority
individuals for communicating with the ethnic minority community abroad
during the year.
A lack of transparency and information made it impossible to
calculate percentages of pretrial detainees in the overall prison
population or their average length of detention.
Prominent political dissidents Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Khac Toan,
who were amnestied during the year, were subject to administrative
detention in the form of official restrictions on their movements (see
section 2.d.). Occasionally they were confined to their homes, but both
individuals were allowed some movement within Hanoi, including visits
to other dissidents.
Catholic priest Nguyen Van Ly, amnestied in February 2005, remained
under administrative probation. However, he was able to travel within
the country with the prior approval of Thua Thien Hue provincial
officials. Senior leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
(UBCV) remained under ``pagoda arrest,'' although the Government denied
that such orders existed, but they were allowed some movement within
the country. For example, in July UBCV General Secretary Thich Quang Do
left his pagoda to meet with diplomats. In September UBCV leaders were
able to travel to Ho Chi Minh City without restriction to visit the
ailing church patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. Other religious and
political activists were subject to varying degrees of informal
detention in their residences (see sections 2.c. and 2.d.).
Amnesty.--During the year the central government and provincial
councils amnestied 5,851 prisoners in two groups. In addition, 12,516
provincial inmates had their sentences reduced. Several high-profile
prisoners benefited from these amnesties, including political and
religious activists such as Nguyen Khac Toan, Pham Hong Son, Do Van My,
and Ma Van Bay.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for the
independence of judges and lay assessors; however, in practice the CPV
controlled the courts at all levels by retaining effective executive
power to appoint judges. Most, if not all, judges were members of the
Communist Party and were chosen at least in part for their political
reliability. As in past years, the entire judicial system was strongly
distorted by political influence, endemic corruption, and inefficiency.
CPV influence was particularly notable in high-profile cases and others
in which a person was charged with challenging or harming the CPV or
the state.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme People's Court (SPC); the
provincial and district people's courts; military tribunals;
administrative, economic, and labor courts; and other tribunals
established by law. Each district has a people's court, which serves as
the court of first instance for most domestic, civil, and criminal
cases. Each province also has a people's court, which serves as the
appellate forum for district court cases as well as court of first
instance for other cases. The SPC, which reports to the National
Assembly, is the highest court of appeal and review. Administrative
courts adjudicate complaints by citizens about official abuse and
corruption. There are also special committees to help resolve local
disputes.
There was a shortage of trained lawyers and judges, and there was
no independent bar association. Low judicial salaries hindered efforts
to develop a trained judiciary. The few judges who had formal legal
training often had studied abroad only in countries with communist
legal traditions.
Government training programs to address the problem of inadequately
trained judges and other court officials were underway. Foreign
governments and the UN Development Program provided assistance;
however, the lack of openness in the criminal judicial process and the
continuing lack of independence of the judiciary hampered progress.
Courts of first instance at district and provincial levels include
judges and lay assessors, but provincial appeals courts and the SPC are
composed of judges only. People's councils appoint lay assessors from a
pool of candidates suggested by the VFF. Lay assessors are required to
have ``high moral standards,'' but legal training is not necessary.
Military tribunals, although funded by the Ministry of National
Defense (MND), operate under the same rules as other courts. The MND is
represented on the judicial selection panels, and the head of the
military tribunal system is the deputy head of the SPC. Military
tribunal judges and assessors are military personnel, chosen jointly by
the SPC and the MND but supervised by the SPC. The law gives military
courts jurisdiction over all criminal cases involving military
entities, including military-owned enterprises. The military has the
option of using the administrative, economic, or labor courts for civil
cases.
Trial Procedures.--Trials generally were open to the public, but in
sensitive cases judges closed trials or strictly limited attendance.
Defendants have the right to be present and have a lawyer, although not
necessarily the lawyer of their choice, and this right was generally
upheld in practice. Defendants unable to afford a lawyer were generally
provided one only in cases with possible sentences of life imprisonment
or capital punishment. The defendant or the defense lawyer has the
right to cross-examine witnesses; however, there were credible reports
of cases in which neither defendants nor their lawyers were allowed to
access government evidence in advance of the trial, cross-examine
witnesses, or challenge statements. Lawyers often had little time
before trials to examine evidence against their clients. Although the
constitution provides that citizens are innocent until proven guilty,
in the past some lawyers complained that judges generally presumed
guilt. Convicted persons have the right to appeal. Courts did not
publish their proceedings.
In the past there were credible reports that defense lawyers were
pressured not to take as clients religious or democracy activists
facing trial; however, there were no such reports during the year.
The public prosecutor brings charges against an accused and serves
as prosecutor during trials. According to the criminal procedures code,
courtroom procedures were to continue the change from an
``investigative'' system, in which the judge leads the questioning, to
an ``adversarial'' system, in which prosecutors and defense lawyers
advocate for their respective sides. The change was intended to provide
more protections for defendants and prevent judges from coercing
defendants into confessing guilt; however, the extent to which this
change was implemented in practice remained unclear.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reliable
estimates of the number of political prisoners. The Government held at
least two political detainees at year's end but claimed that it did not
hold any political prisoners. In the past such persons were usually
convicted of violating national security laws or general criminal laws.
At year's end nine Cao Dai church members sentenced in July 2005 to
between three and 13 years in prison remained incarcerated. They
reportedly were convicted of disseminating literature against the
Government during a 2004 Association of South East Asian Nations
conference in Phnom Penh. Cambodian police arrested the group and
expelled them to Vietnam, where they reportedly were arrested for
possession of ``hostile documents.''
Journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, convicted in 2003 of ``espionage,'' and
former policeman Phan Van Ban, convicted in 1985 for participating in
an organization that called for political change, remained in prison.
As with the general prison population, the Government did not allow
humanitarian organizations access to these political prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no clear or
effective mechanism for pursuing a civil action to redress or remedy
abuses by authorities. Civil suits are heard by ``administrative''
courts, civil courts, and criminal courts, which all follow the same
procedures as in criminal cases and are adjudicated by members of the
same body of judges and lay assessors. All three levels were subject to
the same problems of corruption, lack of independence, and
inexperience. Officials reported that, in theory, a citizen seeking to
press a complaint is required first to petition the officer accused of
committing a human rights violation for permission to refer the
complaint to the administrative courts. If a petition is refused, the
citizen may refer it to the officer's superior. If the officer or his
superior agrees to allow the complaint to be heard, the matter is taken
up by the administrative courts. If the administrative courts agree
that the case should be pursued, it is referred either to the civil
courts for suits involving physical injury seeking redress of less than
20 percent of health care costs resulting from the alleged abuse, or to
the criminal courts for redress of more than 20 percent of such costs.
In practice this elaborate system of referral and permission ensured
that citizens had little effective recourse to civil or criminal
judicial procedures to remedy human rights abuses, and few legal
experts had experience with the system.
Property Restitution.--By law citizens must be compensated when
they are resettled to make way for infrastructure projects, but there
were widespread complaints, including from the National Assembly, that
compensation was not fair or was delayed.
Beginning in midsummer in Ho Chi Minh City, disgruntled groups from
the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh City region conducted a steady
stream of small, peaceful protests over disputes related to land
expropriation and land compensation by the state. Police generally did
not interfere with the protesters, who positioned themselves in front
of government buildings in downtown Ho Chi Minh City (see section
2.b.).
Some members of ethnic minorities in the Central and Northwest
Highlands continued to complain that they had not received proper
compensation for past seizures of their land, which was given to
government-owned coffee and rubber plantations (see section 1.f.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law provides for the right to privacy of home and
correspondence; however, the Government restricted this right
significantly. Household registration and block warden systems existed
for the surveillance of all citizens but usually did not intrude on
most citizens. Authorities focused on persons whom they regarded as
having dissenting views or suspected of being involved in unauthorized
political or religious activities.
Forced entry into homes is not permitted without orders from the
public prosecutor; however, security forces seldom followed these
procedures but instead asked permission to enter homes, with an implied
threat for failure to cooperate. Some individuals refused to cooperate
with such ``requests.'' In urban areas police generally left when faced
with noncompliance.
Government authorities opened and censored targeted persons' mail,
confiscated packages and letters, and monitored telephone
conversations, e-mail, and facsimile transmissions. The Government cut
the telephone lines and interrupted the cellular telephone service of a
number of religious and political activists and their family members
(see section 5).
The Government sought to tighten control of the Internet with a
regulation that requires Internet agents, such as cybercafes, to
register the personal information of their customers and store records
of Internet sites visited by customers. The Government also monitored
e-mail, searched for sensitive key words, and regulated Internet
content (see section 2.a.).
The Government did not have an official policy of forced
resettlement. However, the Government resettled some citizens to make
way for infrastructure projects, and there were widespread reports that
compensation was either not fair or was not paid in a timely manner.
Some resettled individuals reportedly returned to their ancestral
villages in Son La and Dien Bien provinces after being forced to move
during the year (see section 1.e.).
Membership in the CPV remained a prerequisite to career advancement
for all government and government-linked organizations and businesses
(see section 3). However, economic diversification made membership in
the CPV and CPV-controlled mass organizations less essential to
financial and social advancement.
The Government continued to implement a family planning policy that
urged families to have no more than two children, but the policy
emphasized exhortation rather than coercion. The Government can deny
promotions and salary increases to government employees with more than
two children, but it was unclear if this policy was enforced.
Government officials expressed growing concern that family planning
efforts were failing.
Democracy activist Nguyen Dan Que, released from prison in February
2005, remained subject to government surveillance and low-level
harassment. Other political dissidents had their writings, computers,
and electronics seized and their landline and cellular telephone
services cut. Local officials harassed some family members of political
or religious activists. In September the wife and extended family of
dissident Pham Hong Son had their telephone lines cut soon after his
release.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the Government significantly
restricted these freedoms, particularly with respect to political
speech and social commentary. Both the constitution and the criminal
code include broad national security and antidefamation provisions that
the Government used to restrict such freedoms. The criminal code
defines the crimes of ``sabotaging the infrastructure of Socialism,''
``sowing divisions between religious and nonreligious people,'' and
``conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam'' as
serious offenses against national security. The code also expressly
forbids ``taking advantage of democratic freedoms and rights to violate
the interests of the state and social organizations.''
The CPV, the Government, and the party-controlled mass
organizations controlled all print, broadcast, and electronic media.
The Government exercised oversight through the Ministry of Culture and
Information (MOCI) and supplemented its control through pervasive party
guidance and national security legislation sufficiently broad to ensure
effective self-censorship by the domestic media.
In October the MOCI issued formal decisions suspending the
publication of two newspapers for one month. The ministry wrote in the
decisions that the two newspapers, Cong Ly (Justice) and Thoi Dai
(Era), had published false reports of alleged problems with newly
issued polymer dong currency notes. The ministry noted that the
reporting violated certain articles of the press law and that the
newspapers had failed to comply with official instructions on how to
cover the issue.
The following day, in a similar but reportedly unrelated
development, the MOCI revoked the operating license of Kinh Doanh va
San Pham (Business and Product) magazine. The ministry declared that
the magazine had failed to follow directives laid out in its licensing
agreements. It reported that despite repeated warnings, the magazine
had continued to publish articles that created a ``negative social
impact.''
The law requires journalists to pay monetary damages to individuals
or organizations harmed as a result of their reporting, even if the
reports are true. Independent observers noted that the law served to
limit investigative reporting. Several media outlets continued to test
the limits of government press restrictions by publishing articles that
criticized actions by CPV and government officials. During the year
there were press reports about topics that generally were considered
sensitive, such as the prosecution on corruption charges of high-
ranking CPV and government officials. Nonetheless, the freedom to
criticize the CPV and its senior leadership remained restricted.
Occasional criticism of officials and official associations appeared in
local press.
The law allows citizens to complain openly about inefficient
government, administrative procedures, corruption, and economic policy.
In general citizens freely exercised this right, but the Government
considered any overt political criticism stemming from such commentary
a crime. Attempts to organize those with complaints to facilitate
action are considered proscribed political activities. Senior
government and party leaders traveled to many provinces reportedly to
try to resolve citizen complaints. Corruption related to land use was
widely publicized in the press.
The Government continued to prohibit speech that questioned the
role of the CPV, criticized individual government leaders, promoted
pluralism or multiparty democracy, or questioned policies on sensitive
matters such as human rights or the border agreement with China. The
line between what constituted private speech and public speech in those
areas continued to be arbitrary. In February and March, in the lead-up
to the 10th party congress, newspapers and other media outlets carried
a series of articles ostensibly written by private citizens that
together constituted an unprecedented discussion of the CPV's role in
society. Independent observers generally concluded that the articles
represented varying opinions within factions of the Government rather
than independent criticism. The range of opinions ran the gamut from
strong support of the status quo to guarded advocacy of a multiparty
approach. Some observers dismissed this nascent political ``debate'' as
staged. The media discussion ceased following the conclusion of the
congress; however, there were echoes of some of the ideas expressed by
the media in indirect National Assembly discussion of the CPV during
its May session.
In August and September police detained a foreign citizen and six
other political activists affiliated with the People's Democracy Party
of Vietnam (PDPV), which reportedly advocated peaceful political change
and opposed the country's single-party rule. Other activists belonging
to a second peaceful political activist organization--the 8406 Bloc--
also faced harassment and detention. At year's end four members of the
8406 Bloc were in detention. Bui Kim Thanh, a land rights activist
affiliated with the DPV, was involuntarily committed to a mental
institution (see section 1.c.). At least seven and possibly another
eight activists of the PDPV and the Union of Workers and Farmers also
reportedly were under detention. Other prominent political activists,
such as Do Nam Hai and Pham Hong Son, faced harassment, repeated police
questioning sessions, and administrative measures taken against them in
response to their political activities.
Democracy activist Nguyen Dan Que, released in February 2005,
remained subject to government surveillance and low-level harassment.
Political activist Tran Khue also remained subject to surveillance and
episodic harassment, such as the cutting of his telephone and Internet
lines.
In a Web chat forum in May hosted by Tienphong Online, frank
discussions on sexuality and persons with HIV/AIDS were not censored,
although these were normally taboo subjects. In a July Web chat with a
senior foreign diplomat at the same online agency, editors censored
major portions of the diplomat's comments on human rights and religious
freedom, although his comment that ``we believe that Vietnam can
achieve more prosperity and advancement by giving more room for
political activities'' remained posted.
Some persons who expressed alternative opinions on religious or
political issues were not allowed to travel abroad (see section 2.d.).
Published reports on high-level government corruption and
mismanagement have become more frequent and prominent in recent years.
In March and April the press extensively reported a corruption story
involving Project Management Unit 18 (PMU-18), a government office
handling large infrastructure projects, some with substantial foreign
contributions (see section 3).
Foreign journalists must be approved by the Foreign Ministry's
press center, and they must be based in Hanoi. The number of foreign
staff allowed was limited, and local staff who worked for foreign media
also were required to be registered with the ministry. It was difficult
for foreign media outlets to hire local photographers and receive
approval for their accreditation. In November two ethnic Vietnamese
journalists with foreign citizenship were arbitrarily refused visas to
travel to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Police and government officials also reportedly prevented political and
social activists from meeting with foreign journalists who traveled to
Ho Chi Minh City to cover the visit of a foreign leader. The press
center monitored journalists' activities and decided on a case-by-case
basis whether to approve requests for interviews, photographs, filming,
or travel, which must be submitted five days in advance. By law foreign
journalists are required to address all questions to government
agencies through the Foreign Ministry, although it appeared that this
procedure often was ignored in practice. Foreign journalists generally
received visas valid for six months.
The Government generally required religious publishing to be done
through a government-owned religious publishing house; however, some
religious groups were able to copy their own materials or import them,
subject to government approval (see section 2.c.). There were reports
that the Government relaxed restrictions somewhat on the printing and
importation of some religious texts, including in some ethnic minority
languages. However, in a few cases unauthorized religious materials
were confiscated and the owners either fined or arrested.
Foreign-language editions of some banned books were sold openly by
street peddlers. Foreign-language periodicals were widely available in
cities; however, the Government occasionally censored articles about
the country and sometimes delayed the availability of a foreign
periodical because of sensitive articles. The Government generally did
not limit access to international radio, except to Radio Free Asia
(RFA) and the Far East Broadcasting Corporation, which it continued to
jam periodically.
The law limits access to satellite television to top officials,
foreigners, luxury hotels, and the press, but it was not enforced
uniformly, and an increasing number of persons in urban and some rural
areas had access to television programs via home satellite equipment or
cable. Cable television, including foreign-origin channels, was
available to subscribers living in urban areas, although the Government
periodically blocked many subscribers from receiving certain news
channels, including CNN and the BBC. When service was not blocked, it
was usually subject to a 30-minute delay. Satellite dishes picking up
pirated satellite signals from Thailand and the Philippines were
increasingly common.
Internet Freedom.--The Government allowed access to the Internet
through a limited number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), all of
which were state-owned joint stock companies. The Government forbids
direct access to the Internet through foreign ISPs, requires domestic
ISPs to store information transmitted on the Internet for at least 15
days, and also requires ISPs to provide technical assistance and
workspace to public security agents to allow them to monitor Internet
activities. The Government also requires Internet agents, such as
cybercafes, to register the personal information of their customers,
store records of Internet sites visited by customers for 30 days, and
cooperate with public security officials.
In July the Ministry of Post and Telematics instructed all ISPs to
install in their Internet kiosks new control software designed to
record information on users and their Internet behavior and send the
information to the ISPs' servers to be stored for a year. The software
also contained an identification system that allows ISPs to identify
the user and what the user does during an Internet session. To use
Internet kiosks, customers must provide personal details to acquire a
username and password, granted and controlled by the ISP. Customers
then can use the acquired username and password to browse the Internet.
Alternatively, a customer can provide a personal national identity card
to gain Internet access. It was not clear how fully these provisions
were being followed in practice, and many cybercafes did not register
the personal details of their clients. At least some home asymmetric
digital subscriber line (ADSL) Internet subscribers had all Internet
usage monitored by the newly installed software and hardware system.
On January 6, the CPV-controlled Nhan Dan daily newspaper carried a
commentary rejecting a Reporters Without Borders' characterization of
Vietnam and 14 other countries as ``enemies of the Internet'' and its
allegations about the impeded development of the Internet in the
country. The newspaper cited the robust development of the Internet,
including the CPV's guidelines on Internet application and the
Government's approval of an Internet development plan for the period
2001-05. The newspaper also reported that the country had registered an
Internet growth rate of 20 percent annually since 2001, with more than
eight million users, or one-tenth of the total population. ``While
recognizing the benefits of the Internet, the Party and State of
Vietnam are also aware of the dark side of this global information
network and have adopted proper measures to minimize the movement of
negative information into the country,'' the newspaper stated, adding
it was ``necessary that all countries in the world, not only Vietnam,
take measures to safeguard their traditional cultural values.''
On March 11, police raided a cybercafe and arrested an Internet
user in Hanoi while he was taking part in a discussion forum on
democracy. The individual's status was not known at year's end.
The Government used firewalls to block Web sites that it deemed
politically or culturally inappropriate, including sites operated by
exile groups abroad. The Government occasionally restricted access to
the RFA and Voice of America Web sites during the year, as well as
sites operated by overseas dissident groups. Local press occasionally
wrote stories based on RFA broadcasts.
The Government required owners of domestic Web sites, including
those operated by foreign entities, to register their sites with the
Government and submit their Web site content to the Government for
approval.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom, and foreign field researchers often were questioned
and monitored. However, the Government continued to permit a more open
flow of information, including in the university system, than in
previous years. Local librarians increasingly were being trained in
professional skills and international standards that supported wider
international library and information exchanges and research. Foreign
academic professionals temporarily working at universities in the
country were allowed to discuss nonpolitical issues widely and freely
in classes, but government observers regularly attended classes taught
by both foreigners and citizens. Security officials occasionally
questioned persons who attended programs on diplomatic premises or used
diplomatic research facilities. Nevertheless, requests for materials
from foreign research facilities increased. Academic publications
usually reflected the views of the CPV and the Government.
The Government controlled art exhibits, music, and other cultural
activities; however, it generally allowed artists broader latitude than
in past years to choose the themes for their works. Many artists
obtained permission to exhibit their works abroad and received
passports to attend the exhibits and export permits to send their works
out of the country. Additionally, a number of foreign embassies and
consulates were able to conduct a wider variety of cultural activities
than in the past.
From June to November, two state-run institutions--the Vietnam
Museum of Ethnology and the Vietnam Revolutionary Museum--showed a
groundbreaking exhibit called ``Hanoi Life under the Subsidy Economy,
1975-1986,'' which included taped interviews of poets and journalists
criticizing failed economic policies and censorship of artistic works
during that period, a marked departure from any exhibit previously on
display to the general public.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The right of assembly is restricted by law, and the
Government restricted and monitored all forms of public protest or
gathering. Persons wishing to gather in a group are required to apply
for a permit, which local authorities can issue or deny arbitrarily. In
general the Government did not permit demonstrations that could be seen
as having a political purpose. Persons routinely gathered in informal
groups without government interference; however, the Government
restricted the right of some unregistered religious groups to gather in
worship.
As in previous years, there were reports from the Northwest
Highlands and Central Highlands that officials prevented meetings of
some Protestant believers or dispersed those meetings when they
occurred (see section 2.c.). In the Central Highlands province of Dak
Lak, as many as 100 congregations affiliated with the Southern
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) were not permitted to gather to
worship.
During the year peaceful small protests of farmers demanding
redress for land rights issues frequently took place in front of
government buildings in Hanoi. Police monitored these protests but did
not disrupt them.
During the summer groups from the Mekong Delta and the Ho Chi Minh
City region conducted small protests over land disputes. Police
generally did not interfere with the protesters--mainly elderly women--
who positioned themselves in front of government buildings in downtown
Ho Chi Minh City. Police cordoned off the protesters from passersby and
sought, sometimes by means of intimidation, to minimize protesters'
contact with legal and political activists. In September a senior
police official met with protesters and declared that the Government
and police would carefully examine their cases, but he cautioned that
protesters could not carry signs that had ``down with corrupt
government'' and that authorities would show ``no mercy'' with those
who took advantage of the land disputes to work against the Government.
The protests stopped soon thereafter, but there was no indication that
the Government resolved the underlying grievances.
Freedom of Association.--The Government restricted freedom of
association. Opposition political parties were not permitted. The
Government prohibited the legal establishment of private, independent
organizations, insisting that persons work within established, party-
controlled mass organizations, usually under the aegis of the VFF.
However, some entities, particularly unregistered religious groups,
were able to operate outside of this framework with little or no
government interference (see section 2.c.).
On June 6, several political dissidents led by Hoang Minh Chinh in
Hanoi and Tran Khue in Ho Chi Minh City announced the formation of a
new political group, the Democratic Party of Vietnam. In response,
police occasionally harassed its members. It was not clear how large or
active the party was after its formation, but independent observers
generally characterized the organization as ``a group of idealists''
rather than an activist group.
In April a larger group of political activists largely based in the
southern and central regions of the country formed the 8406 Bloc, which
calls for the creation of a multiparty state. The 8406 Bloc claimed at
least 2,000 supporters inside the country, although this claim was
impossible to verify. At least four members of the 8406 Bloc were
detained, and others faced severe harassment for their peaceful
political activities. Authorities also arrested at least five members
of another activist group, the People's Democratic Party of Vietnam
(PDP-VN), and a related group, the United Workers' Farmers' Union.
Members of the PDP-VN were advocating for the elimination of Article 4
of the constitution, which legally codifies Communist Party supremacy.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Although the constitution and government
decrees provide for freedom of worship, the Government restricted
religious freedom to a significant degree. However, during the year the
Government continued to relax restrictions, and participation in
religious activities continued to grow significantly.
In June commune-employed security officers detained and beat two
Protestants belonging to an unregistered house church in Thanh Hoa
Province. The incident resulted partly from a familial dispute
involving members of the church and neighborhood leaders. However, in
July commune officers beat two women of the same group after they
attempted to visit the home used by the congregation as a place of
worship. In all instances the provincial security department reportedly
conducted investigations into alleged official abuse. In September two
commune security officers received administrative punishment from the
commune leadership in connection with the June incident (see section
1.c.).
Hong Thien Hanh, leader of the small To Dinh Tan Chieu Minh Cao Dai
religious group in Tien Giang Province, remained in prison serving an
eight-year sentence after being convicted in 2005 on charges of
engaging in illegal religious activities and defrauding his followers.
Some independent Cao Dai confirmed the Government's fraud allegations
against Hanh.
By year's end most churches affiliated with the government-
recognized SECV in the Central Highlands were able to operate, although
the process of according the congregations full legalization remained
slow. At least 29 Protestant churches affiliated with the government-
recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam North were granted
registration in the Northwest Highlands during the year as part of a
pilot program to accelerate registrations in the region. Two small
Buddhist groups, a Danang-based Protestant organization, and two
Protestant house church organizations based in Ho Chi Minh City
received national-level registration. Registrations for the Baha'i
Faith and additional Protestant house church organizations awaited
registration at year's end. Congregations belonging to previously
recognized faiths were able to register their activities and places of
worship.
The 2005 government framework on religion maintained overall
government control of religious organizations and kept in place
significant limitations on education, medical, and charitable work by
religious groups. The Government continued to use the recognition and
registration processes to monitor and limit the activities of church
organizations. The Government officially recognized Buddhist, Roman
Catholic, Protestant, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, and Muslim religious
organizations. To obtain recognition a group must obtain government
approval of its charter and leadership. Official approval is required
for the registration of new congregations and places of worship,
ordination of clerics, establishment of religious teaching
institutions, and entry of students into those institutions. Officially
recognized religious organizations were able to operate with increasing
ease throughout most of the country, and followers of these religious
bodies were usually able to worship without government harassment even
if their local congregation was not registered.
The law mandates that the Government act in a time-bound and
transparent fashion, but the approval process for recognition and
registration could be slow and nontransparent. Some local authorities
continued to demand that even recognized religious organizations
provide lists of all members of subcongregations as a precondition to
registration, although this requirement is not codified in the legal
framework on religion. Some registered congregations in the northern
region and the Northwest Highlands complained that officials used such
lists to keep unlisted members from participating in services. Annual
activities by congregations also must be registered with authorities,
and activities not on the accepted annual calendar require separate
government approval.
In addition to officially recognized religious denominations,
numerous nonrecognized denominations operated in the country, including
independent Buddhists, Baptists, Mennonites, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Mormons, the Baha'i Faith, independent Cao Dai and Hoa Hao groups, and
ethnic Cham Hindus. Some nonrecognized Protestant groups received what
appeared to be local official recognition of their organizations. In
addition to the three Protestant groups that received national
registration, a fourth group affiliated with the Mennonites had its
registration pending in other provinces.
As in past years, official oversight of recognized religions and
their registered subcongregations, as well as problems faced by
followers of nonrecognized religions or unregistered subcongregations
of recognized religions, varied widely from locality to locality, often
as a result of ignorance of national policy or varying local
interpretations of the policy's intent. In general, central-level
efforts to coordinate proper implementation of the Government's
religious framework reduced the frequency and intensity of religious
freedom violations. Nevertheless, activities of nonrecognized and
unregistered religious groups remained technically illegal, and these
groups occasionally experienced harassment. The level of harassment
declined in comparison with previous years, and the vast majority of
unregistered churches and temples were allowed to operate without
interference.
The Government actively discouraged contacts between the illegal
UBCV and its foreign supporters, although such contacts continued. The
Government appeared to show increasing tolerance for unofficial
contacts made by Protestant and Catholic groups with foreign
counterparts. Police routinely questioned some persons who held
alternative religious or political views, such as UBCV monks and
certain Catholic priests. Police continued to restrict the free
movement of UBCV monks and expelled at least two UBCV members from
their pagodas in the Mekong Delta and in Khanh Hoa Province. According
to credible reports, police in the Central Highlands restricted the
activities of, and at times detained, persons based on a suspicion that
the form of Protestant religion that they were practicing encouraged
ethnic minority separatism.
In Ho Chi Minh City, local officials demolished a portion of
Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang's home that was built without proper
zoning approval. Government officials reportedly also discouraged Quang
from participating in a December registration briefing sponsored by the
Government under the legal framework on religion with other Ho Chi Minh
City-based Protestant groups. The authorities refused to accept all but
a handful of registration applications from Quang's group.
There were no reports of police interference with other Protestant
activities in Ho Chi Minh City. In August the city authorized the
government-recognized SECV to build a new seminary complex within city
limits. Reports of harassment of Protestant groups in the Northwest
Highlands continued to decline.
With the exception of up to 20 congregations in Dak Lak Province
that faced limits on the size of gatherings, church leaders report that
SECV-affiliated Protestant groups in the Central Highlands that the
Government ordered closed in 2001 had resumed operations, and a small
but growing number--fewer than 80--were officially recognized. The
United World Mission Church, based in Danang but active throughout the
Central Highlands, also received registration during the year and
reported improved treatment for its congregations. More than 1,000
unregistered Protestant congregations among ethnic minority groups in
the northern region and the Northwest Highlands, the Hmong in
particular, formally began registration proceedings with local
authorities.
In September the SECV was able to hold an organizational meeting in
Nha Trang to select church officials without government interference.
There were few credible allegations of forced renunciations during
the year. However, in September leaders of a house church organization
based in Ho Chi Minh City reported that local officials and village
elders in a remote rural village in central Coastal Ninh Thuan Province
used the threat of withholding government benefits and social ostracism
to induce 30 ethnic minority individuals to abandon Protestantism and
return to traditionalist beliefs. However, local officials later
resolved their differences with the church leader, and three families
reportedly readopted Protestantism, while others chose to continue to
follow traditional beliefs.
In Quang Ngai Province, a congregation leader, whom local officials
previously had attempted to force to renounce his faith, and another
leader of his group received government permission to attend pastoral
training classes.
Articles in some provincial newspapers encouraged local authorities
and ethnic minority groups to favor animist and traditional beliefs and
to reject Protestantism.
Early in the year, police in Kon Tum Province reportedly harassed
two Protestant believers and beat them. Official complaints to
provincial authorities about the alleged police abuse reportedly went
unanswered.
There were no credible reports that ethnic minority Protestants
were made to sign a formal, written renunciation of their faith or
undergo a symbolic ritual. At year's end no local officials had been
punished for forcing an ethnic minority pastor in Ha Giang Province to
renounce his faith in 2005; however, his congregation was able to
gather for worship.
Buddhists practicing their religion under the Vietnam Buddhist
Sangha Executive Council, the officially sanctioned Buddhist governing
council, were generally free to practice their religion. While these
constituted the vast majority of Buddhists, the Government continued to
harass members of the banned UBCV and prevented them from conducting
independent religious activities outside their pagodas. Since 2003
senior UBCV leaders, including Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Thich
Quang Do, have been confined to their pagodas and had restrictions on
their ability to travel and meet with followers (see section 2.d.).
Until September Thich Quang Do's attempts to meet with Thich Huyen
Quang were blocked repeatedly. However, foreign diplomats were able to
meet with Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do on several
occasions during the year. In September the Government allowed Thich
Quang Do and 19 other UBCV leaders to meet with Thich Huyen Quang
during his hospitalization in Ho Chi Minh City.
Although the Government technically maintained veto power over
Vatican appointments of Catholic bishops, under the 2005 framework on
religion it continued to ease restrictions on the Roman Catholic Church
and did not veto any candidates submitted by the Church for bishoprics.
During the year a new bishop was appointed for the newly created Ba Ria
Vung Tau Diocese. The Government reduced restrictions on the size and
frequency of entering classes for Catholic seminaries. It also approved
the creation of a new seminary in Xuan Loc Diocese, which technically
would operate as a satellite of the Ho Chi Minh City seminary. The Ho
Chi Minh City government continued to facilitate certain charitable
activities of the Catholic Church in combating HIV/AIDS. A number of
Catholic clergy reported a continued easing of government control over
activities in certain dioceses during the year. In many places local
government officials allowed the Catholic Church to conduct religious
education classes (outside regular school hours) and some charitable
activities. The Government continued low-level discussions to normalize
diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
At least 10 Hoa Hao church followers remained in prison on
accusations of playing key roles in a protest and clash with the police
following a June 2005 religious event. Hoa Hao monks and believers
following the government-approved Hoa Hao Administrative Council (HHAC)
were allowed freedom to practice their faith. Monks and followers who
belonged to dissident groups or declined to recognize the authority of
the HHAC suffered restrictions. In June a hunger strike by some Hoa Hao
dissidents in the Mekong Delta triggered a standoff with police;
however, the incident was defused without violence. Some organizers of
the June incident were detained later in the year.
The Government restricted and monitored all forms of public
assembly, including assembly for religious activities. Large regularly
scheduled religious gatherings were allowed, such as Protestant and
Catholic Christmas celebrations, the Catholic celebrations at La Vang
Pilgrimage Center in Quang Tri Province, and the Cao Dai celebrations
in Tay Ninh Province. The Hoa Hao were allowed to hold large public
gatherings to commemorate some traditional anniversaries.
Open adherence to a religious faith generally did not disadvantage
persons in civil, economic, or secular life, although it would prevent
advancement in government and military careers. However, there were
some reports that ethnic minority boarding schools discriminated
against children from religious, especially Protestant, families.
Religious practice does not preclude membership in the CPV. Some
government and CPV officials admitted that they followed traditional
and Buddhist religious practices.
Foreign missionaries may not operate openly as religious workers in
the country, although many undertook humanitarian or development
activities with government approval.
A government publishing house oversees the publishing of all
religious materials. Many Buddhist sacred scriptures, Christian Bibles,
and other religious texts and publications, including some in ethnic
minority languages, were printed by government-approved organizations.
The Government allowed religious travel for some religious persons.
Muslims were permitted to make the Hajj, and more Buddhist, Catholic,
and Protestant officials were able to travel and study abroad. The
Government allowed many Catholic bishops and priests to travel freely
within their dioceses and allowed greater, but still restricted,
freedom for travel outside these areas, particularly in ethnic areas.
Many Protestant house church leaders traveled overseas and within the
country during the year. In the past government officials discouraged
officially recognized clergy from entering the provinces of Son La,
Dien Bien, Lai Chau, as well as Ha Giang and other ``sensitive''
ethnic-minority highlands border provinces; however, some Protestant
and Catholic leaders reported that this policy eased significantly
during the year.
The Government continued to be wary of overseas travel by religious
leaders of nonrecognized groups not first coordinated with authorities.
In one case members of a large Baptist group returning from a retreat
in Cambodia were stopped and questioned by authorities, although there
were no subsequent reports of repercussions against them. Authorities
reportedly continued to refuse to return the passport of a Protestant
pastor who made an unauthorized visit abroad in 2004.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In general relations among the
various religious communities continued to be amicable, and there were
no known instances of societal discrimination or violence based on
religion. There was limited cooperation between the Catholic Church and
the government-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha on charitable
activities such as the fight against HIV/AIDS. There was no indigenous
Jewish community in the country, and there were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides that citizens
``shall enjoy freedom of movement and of residence within the country--
(and) freely travel abroad and return home--in accordance with the
provisions of the law''; however, the Government imposed some limits on
freedom of movement. Local authorities sometimes required members of
ethnic minority groups to obtain permission to travel outside certain
highland areas, including in some cases travel outside their own
villages.
Political dissidents Pham Hong Son and Nguyen Khac Toan, who were
amnestied during the year, were subject to official restrictions on
their movements (see section 1.d.).
The 2004 decision by the Prime Minister's Office regarding travel
to certain areas remained in effect. It requires citizens and resident
foreigners to obtain a permit to visit border areas, defense
facilities, industrial zones involved in national defense, areas of
``national strategic storage,'' and ``works of extreme importance for
political, economic, cultural, and social purposes.''
Local officials reportedly informally discouraged some clergy from
traveling domestically, even within their own provinces, especially
when travel to ethnic minority areas was involved (see section 2.c.).
During the year the National Assembly passed a controversial new
Law on Residence which allows the MPS to retain the current system of
residence registrations, in spite of strong opposition from many
legislators. During the debate of the law, Assembly members echoed a
common public concern that the residence registration violates the
freedom of residency stipulated in the constitution. Many citizens
believed that this government practice effectively acted as a barrier
for individuals and families to move within the country and become
legal residents of a new province or city, and that it has become an
infamous example of excessive government bureaucracy. Legal residency
is needed to buy property. MPS officials successfully argued that they
must maintain this system for the sake of social order and security.
The MPS restricts the number of residency registrations given out, for
example, for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Many persons continued to move without approval, especially migrant
or itinerant laborers moving from rural areas to cities in search of
work. Moving without permission hampered persons in obtaining legal
residence permits. Foreign passport holders must register to stay in
private homes, although there were no known cases of local authorities
refusing to allow foreign visitors to stay with friends and family.
Citizens are also required to register with local police when they stay
overnight in any location outside of their own homes; the Government
appeared to have enforced these requirements more strictly in some
districts of the Central and Northern Highlands. However, some ethnic
minority individuals from the Central Highlands encountered no problems
when they traveled to Ho Chi Minh City to process family reunification
visas.
During the APEC summit, there were many reports of arbitrary
government arrests and temporary detention of those deemed a threat or
a potential embarrassment to the Government. Some of the reports were
exaggerated, but others were substantiated by foreign diplomats. In
general the Government did not hesitate to arbitrarily detain those
whom they deemed a potential threat to government and Communist Party
control.
The Government again allowed fact-finding and monitoring visits by
the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and foreign
diplomatic mission representatives to the Central Highlands. In general
these trips were monitored but not hindered by local government
authorities. The Government granted the UNHCR and foreign diplomatic
staff access to local citizens of interest. The UNHCR and foreign
diplomats saw some resistance from lower-level officials in permitting
private interviews of returnees. Local policemen often were present
during UNHCR returnee interviews. Earlier in the year a separate
foreign observer mission reported government officials disguised as
local village elders. Nevertheless, the UNHCR and foreign diplomats
separately concluded that provincial governments continued to honor
their obligations to attempt to peacefully reintegrate ethnic minority
returnees from Cambodia.
The UNHCR reported that by the end of the year, local authorities
had received unprecedented training on UNHCR mandates for returnees.
The UNHCR reported a general feeling of ``more openness'' during their
monitoring visits and a better filtering of information from national
to provincial to local government levels, due in part to World Trade
Organization accession and APEC summit preparations.
UNHCR representatives reported that the overall environment for
ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands improved, despite an
increase in the number of persons illegally going to Cambodia during
the year. They stated that there was ``no general threat'' of systemic
discrimination against ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.
Although the Government no longer required citizens traveling
abroad to obtain exit or reentry visas, the Government sometimes
refused to issue passports. In the past the Government did not allow
some persons who publicly or privately expressed critical opinions on
religious or political issues to travel abroad. Authorities continued
to deny political activist Tran Khue a passport to travel to Europe and
the United States. However, provincial governments in the Central
Highlands consistently facilitated the passport issuance and travel of
ethnic minority individuals traveling legally to the United States on
family reunification visas.
Citizens' access to passports sometimes was constrained by factors
such as bribery and corruption. Immigrant visa applicants sometimes
encountered local officials who arbitrarily delayed or denied passport
issuance based on personal animosities, on the officials' perception
that an applicant did not meet program criteria, or to extort a bribe.
Unlike in past years, there appeared to be no restrictions on the
ability of family members of ethnic minorities granted refugee status
abroad to obtain documents and passports to rejoin their spouses
abroad.
The law does not provide for forced internal or external exile;
however, cases amounting to de facto exile continued to occur. In 2003
several UBCV leaders were forcibly returned to their home pagodas and
placed under official or unofficial administrative detention there (see
section 2.c.). Protestant pastor Nguyen Nhat Thong has been forced to
reside in a remote village in Binh Thuan Province since 1979. He has
been allowed to travel outside the village since 1986, but he must ask
for the permission of local authorities each time. Protestant pastor
Nguyen Lap Ma, who had been forced to reside in an isolated village in
Can Tho Province since 1982, received a passport and was resettled in
another country.
The U.S. Government continued to process immigrants and refugee
applicants for admission and resettlement, including family
reunification cases and Amerasians. Travel under other refugee
categories had virtually ceased as the relevant programs were closed to
new applicants in the mid-1990s. However, due to concerns that some
former reeducation camp detainees, former U.S. Government employees,
and former U.S. organization employees had been unable to apply or
complete the application process, on June 25 a two-year application
period opened for such persons. By year's end several hundred persons
had departed the country under this process and through related family
reunification cases.
The Government generally permitted citizens who had emigrated
abroad to return to visit. However, the Government refused to allow
some citizen activists living abroad to return. For example, exiled
activist Pastor Paul Tran Dinh Ai was denied entry at Ho Chi Minh City
airport in February when he attempted to visit his mother. By law the
Government considers anyone born in the country to be a citizen, even
if the person has acquired another country's citizenship, unless a
formal renunciation of citizenship has been approved by the President.
However, in practice the Government usually treated overseas Vietnamese
as citizens of their adopted country. Emigrants were not permitted to
use Vietnamese passports after they acquired other citizenship. The
Government generally encouraged visitation by such persons but
sometimes monitored them carefully.
Following April 2004 protests in the Central Highlands, a number of
ethnic minorities hid in forests and rubber plantations, and some
attempted to flee across the border into Cambodia. Vietnamese police
attempted to block these potential refugees and reportedly crossed the
border into Cambodia. The UNHCR received approximately 775 ethnic
minority refugees in its camps in Cambodia. Thirteen potential refugees
who received UNHCR protection in Phnom Penh independently returned to
Vietnam in October 2004. According to authorities, the 13 persons
returned safely to their homes; however, newspaper accounts reported
that they were interviewed extensively by authorities upon their
return.
In January 2005 the Government signed a tripartite Memorandum of
Understanding on the Settlement of Issues Relating to the Vietnamese
Central Highlands Ethnic Minority People in Cambodia with the
Government of Cambodia and the UNHCR to facilitate the return of all
ethnic minority individuals in Cambodia who did not qualify for third-
country resettlement. The UNHCR and various foreign diplomats were
subsequently permitted to visit ethnic minority returnees from Cambodia
after their arrival in the Central Highlands.
The UNHCR reported that 228 Vietnamese ethnic minority individuals
from the Central Highlands arrived in Cambodia during the year.
Approximately 50 individuals returned under the auspices of the 2005
agreement.
Protection of Refugees.--The country is not a signatory to the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
After North Korean asylum seekers entered foreign diplomatic missions
in Hanoi in July 2005, the Government called on diplomatic missions and
international organizations to hand over to local authorities any
third-country intruders, whom the Government considers to be
immigration law violators. There were no reports at year's end that the
Government had invoked this new policy.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution does not provide for the right of citizens to
change their government peacefully, and citizens could not freely
choose and change the laws and officials that govern them. All
authority and political power is vested in the CPV, and the
constitution delineates the leadership of the CPV. Political opposition
movements and other political parties are illegal. The CPV Politburo,
led by a triumvirate consisting of CPV General Secretary Nong Duc Manh,
State President Nguyen Minh Triet, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,
is the supreme decision-making body in the country, although it
technically reports to the CPV Central Committee.
The Government continued to restrict public debate and criticism to
certain aspects of individual, state, or party performance determined
by the CPV itself. No public challenge to the legitimacy of the one-
party state was permitted; however, there were instances of
unsanctioned letters critical of the Government from private citizens,
including some former senior party members, that circulated publicly.
Several small opposition political groupings that established
themselves during the year were tolerated, although police harassment
of members gradually increased (see section 2.b.).
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent elections
to select members of the National Assembly were held in 2002. The
elections were neither free nor fair, since all candidates were chosen
and vetted by the CPV's VFF, an umbrella group that monitored all of
the country's popular organizations. Consequently, 90 percent of the
delegates were CPV members, and non-CPV members were only nominally
independent.
The Law on Election of Deputies to People's Councils provided for
higher numbers of female and minority candidates, more candidates per
position, and fewer party members standing for seats in people's
council elections at all levels than in previous elections.
Nonetheless, for the 2004 people's councils elections at the district
level, the party-controlled VFF approved all candidates, as it did for
national and provincial assembly elections. Although voting is not
compulsory, election officials applied many means to persuade citizens
to vote, including using public address systems to ask late-voting
citizens by name to come to the polls. The Government claimed a 99.7
percent voter turnout for the 2004 people's councils election. Proxy
voting in that election, while illegal, appeared widespread. In
addition, most voting was finished by 10 a.m., although polls were
required to stay open until 7 p.m.
The National Assembly, although subject to the control of the CPV
(all of its senior leaders and 90 percent of its members were party
members), increasingly served as a forum for the expression of local
and provincial concerns, a critic of corruption and inefficiency, and
an arena for debating progress in improved transparency for the legal
and regulatory systems. In the past it did not initiate legislation and
did not pass legislation that the CPV opposed, but the National
Assembly continued to assert itself as a legislative body during the
year. The CPV's nominees for the three top positions in the Government
(below party general secretary) made brief presentations to the
Assembly before their candidacies were voted on. Assembly members'
displeasure over the Government's reaction to corruption scandals was
evident in low votes returned on several CPV candidates tainted by the
scandals and in question-and-answer sessions with government ministers.
In an unprecedented development, some deputies also indirectly
criticized the CPV's preeminent position in society.
CPV officials occupied most senior government and National Assembly
positions and continued to have the final decision on key issues.
The law provides the opportunity for equal participation in
politics by women and minority groups. Women held a number of important
government positions, including the vice presidency. There were 136
women in the 498-seat National Assembly. There were three women at the
ministerial level but none in the Politburo. There were few women in
provincial-level leadership positions.
There were 87 ethnic minority members in the National Assembly and
two ethnic minority members serving in cabinet-level positions. The CPV
general secretary was a member of the Tay ethnic minority group;
however, the number of minorities in the executive branch of government
or within the party at a national-level did not accurately reflect
their proportion (15 percent) of the population.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption continued to be
a major problem. The Government showcased its efforts to fight
corruption, including publicizing budgets at different levels of
government and streamlining government inspection measures. Cases of
government officials accused of corruption were publicized widely (see
section 2.a.). In March and April, the press extensively reported a
corruption story involving PMU-18, a government office handling large
infrastructure projects, some with substantial foreign contributions.
The press revealed that Bui Tien Dung, the head of PMU-18, was part of
a betting ring. Deputy Minister of Transportation Nguyen Viet Tien was
implicated in the scandal by a March 28 MPS report and required to step
down; on March 30, a spokesman for the Prime Minister declared that
``the transport minister must take responsibility, and after that
deputy ministers must follow.'' On April 1, the CPV announced that a
proposal to remove Transport Minister Dao Dinh Binh had been submitted
to the Politburo. Binh submitted his resignation on April 3; however,
he was not formally punished despite significant protests from National
Assembly deputies. In late November the Government Inspectorate also
found that two local party officials in Quang Ngai Province had
illegally allowed their relatives to use large stocks of land for
personal use; the party eventually removed the officials from their
positions. In December the inspectorate found party officials had
misused $4.3 million (685 billion VND) intended for the upgrade of
Highway 5, although it remained unclear if anyone would be punished in
connection to the scandal.
During the year senior government officials in Khanh Hoa Province
faced sanction, investigation, and possible imprisonment for a corrupt
land deal. In August the director of one of Ho Chi Minh City's most
prestigious high schools was arrested for corruption. The cases
remained under investigation for possible prosecution.
At year's end neither Vice Minister of Trade Mai Van Dau nor his
son, Mai Thanh Hai, had been tried after their 2004 indictment on
charges of accepting bribes in exchange for arranging textile quotas.
In accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Normative
Documents, the Official Gazette published most legal documents in its
daily publication. Party documents such as Politburo decrees were not
published in the Gazette.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
The Government does not permit private, local human rights
organizations to form or operate. The Government generally did not
tolerate attempts by organizations or individuals to comment publicly
on government human rights practices, and it used a wide variety of
methods to suppress domestic criticism of its human rights policies,
including surveillance, limits on freedom of assembly, interference
with personal communications, and detention.
The Government generally prohibited private citizens from
contacting international human rights organizations, although some
activists did so. The Government generally did not permit visits by
international NGO human rights monitors; however, it allowed
representatives from the press, UNHCR, foreign governments, and
international development and relief NGOs to visit the Central
Highlands. The Government criticized almost all public statements on
human rights issues by international NGOs and foreign governments,
although criticism was muted compared with previous years.
The Government generally was willing to discuss human rights
problems bilaterally with some foreign governments, and several foreign
governments continued official talks with the Government concerning
human rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, ethnicity,
religion, or social class; however, enforcement of these prohibitions
was uneven. While many persons formerly interned in reeducation camps
on the basis of association with the pre-1975 government were well
integrated into society, some continued to report varying levels of
discrimination as they and their families sought access to housing,
education, and employment. In the past some military veterans of the
pre-1975 South Vietnamese government and their families faced economic
hardship as a result of past employment restrictions and
discrimination. Few of these prohibitions remained, and the declining
percentage of war veterans belonging to the labor force also lessened
the incidence of such discrimination.
Women.--The law prescribes punishment ranging from warnings to up
to two years' imprisonment for ``those who cruelly treat persons
dependent on them", but the police and legal system were generally not
equipped to deal with cases of domestic violence. Officials
increasingly acknowledged domestic violence, which also was discussed
more openly in the media. Domestic violence against women reportedly
was common, although there were no firm statistics measuring the extent
of the problem. Hotlines for victims of domestic violence operated by
domestic NGOs existed in some major cities. There were no reports of
police or judicial reluctance to act on domestic abuse cases.
Approximately two-thirds of divorces reportedly were due in part to
domestic violence. The divorce rate has risen in the past few years,
but many women remained in abusive marriages rather than confront
social and family stigma as well as economic uncertainty.
It is a crime to use violence, threaten violence, take advantage of
a person who is unable to act in self-defense, or resort to trickery to
have sexual intercourse with a person against that person's will. This
appears to criminalize rape, spousal rape, and in some instances sexual
harassment; however, there were no known instances of prosecution for
spousal rape or sexual harassment.
Prostitution is illegal, but enforcement was uneven. Estimates
varied widely, but some NGOs estimated that there were 300,000
prostitutes in the country, including those who engaged in prostitution
part-time or seasonally. As in past years, some women reportedly were
coerced to work as prostitutes, often victimized by false promises of
lucrative work (see section 5, Trafficking). Many more women felt
compelled to work as prostitutes because of poverty and a lack of other
employment opportunities. There were continued reports that some
parents coerced daughters into prostitution or made extreme financial
demands that compelled them to engage in prostitution, since parents
often expected an eldest daughter to assume responsibility for a
significant part of a family's finances. The Vietnam Women's Union as
well as international NGOs engaged actively in education and
rehabilitation programs to combat these abuses.
While there is no legal discrimination, women faced societal
discrimination. Despite the large body of legislation and regulations
devoted to the protection of women's rights in marriage as well as in
the workplace and labor code provisions that call for preferential
treatment of women, women did not always receive equal treatment.
In November the National Assembly passed the country's first-ever
Law on Gender Equality. The law was considered an acknowledgement by
leadership that sex discrimination is a serious problem. It aims to
redress wage and other gaps and rationalize existing gender-related
statutes. The law also calls for the establishment of a government
agency to implement the law and promote public education about gender
equality. While the National Assembly consulted with the international
donor community on the development of the law, and the law is seen as
forward-thinking in many areas, UN representatives stated that there
are parts of the new law not compatible with the UN Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, alluding in
part to the Government's maintenance of a lower retirement age for
women than for men.
The Women's Union continued to promote women's rights, including
political, economic, and legal equality and protection from spousal
abuse. The Women's Union also operated microcredit consumer finance
programs and other programs to promote the advancement of women.
Children.--International organizations and government agencies
reported that despite the Government's promotion of child protection
and welfare, children continued to be at risk of economic exploitation.
While education is compulsory through the age of 14, authorities did
not enforce the requirement, especially in rural areas where government
and family budgets for education were strained and where children were
needed for agricultural labor. Some street children in Ho Chi Minh City
and Hanoi participated in night education courses. The culture's strong
emphasis on education led parents who could send children to school to
do so rather than allow them to work. The public school system includes
12 grades. More than 90 percent of children attended primary grades;
however, the percentage that attended lower and upper secondary school
was much lower. Secondary school enrollments were at less than 75
percent of eligible students for lower secondary and less than 50
percent for upper secondary. Enrollments were lower at all educational
levels in remote mountainous areas, although the Government operated a
system of subsidized boarding schools through the high-school level for
high-aptitude ethnic minority students. The Government also had a
program of preferential placement for ethnic minority individuals
seeking university entry. Religious groups operated some orphanages,
despite the Government's prohibition on such activities, and sent the
children to public schools during the day.
The Government continued a nationwide immunization campaign, and
the government-controlled press regularly stressed the importance of
health and education for all children. While reports from domestic
sources indicated that responsible officials generally took these goals
seriously, concrete actions were constrained by limited budgets.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), despite
growth in incomes over the past decade, severe malnutrition remained a
problem; approximately 39 percent of children under five years of age
were underweight during the 1995-2000 period.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that child abuse occurred, but there
were no studies on the extent of such abuse.
Widespread poverty contributed to child prostitution, particularly
of girls but also of some boys, in major cities. Many prostitutes in Ho
Chi Minh City were under 18 years of age. Some child prostitutes, such
as those from abusive homes, were forced into prostitution for economic
reasons.
Some children were trafficked domestically, and others were
trafficked to foreign destinations for the purpose of sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking). Domestic trafficking also
included incidents of beggar children and flower-selling rings,
especially in the urban centers of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
Government officials prosecuted one such case, originating in Hue.
Other children were trafficked from Cambodia into Ho Chi Minh City.
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs
(MOLISA), there were 21,869 street children in the country as of
February 2003. Street children were vulnerable to abuse and sometimes
were abused or harassed by police. International NGOs documented
numerous cases of Cambodian children trafficked to Ho Chi Minh City for
work in begging and flower-selling rings. In August the Vietnam Women's
Union, in cooperation with the Government of China and UNICEF,
organized a Children's Forum on antitrafficking. Youth unions also
launched awareness campaigns.
Trafficking in Persons.--The penal code prohibits trafficking in
women and children, but trafficking, in particular trafficking in women
and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, remained a
significant problem. Documentation of known trafficking cases as well
as the level of case adjudications and prosecutions increased, while
the Government became more open in identifying and prosecuting
trafficking cases and public awareness rose. The transnational element
to Vietnam-sourced trafficking also increased along with an increase in
economic growth, globalization of the economy, and the gap between rich
and poor.
A Central Coordination Office within the MPS's Criminal Department
was set up during the year to coordinate government efforts in
identification and prosecution of trafficking cases and assist in
prevention and training activities. In addition, several law
enforcement officers were trained under western standards.
During the year the Government signed an antitrafficking memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with China, similar to the MOU signed with
Cambodia in 2005, which resulted in increased cooperation on border
security, identification and prosecution of trafficking cases, and
assistance and reintegration procedures for victims. With assistance
from the UN and the international donor community, training of law
enforcement officials increased, training manuals were developed and
institutionalized, and law enforcement institutions and the court
system began increasing their capacities. Several international NGOs
worked in the field of trafficking in the country.
There were few documented cases of trafficking in adult persons for
labor during the year; however, deceitful and fraudulent overseas labor
contracts and recruiting remained a problem. MOLISA reported that some
workers of state-owned labor companies who were recruited and sent
abroad suffered conditions akin to involuntary servitude or forced
labor. MOLISA reported incidents within the Malaysian construction
industry (see section 6.e.).
The country was a source for trafficking in persons. Women were
trafficked primarily to Cambodia, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, and South
Korea for sexual exploitation. Chinese police stated that they had
rescued more than 1,800 trafficking victims on the China-Vietnam border
between 2001 and 2005. Some women also were trafficked to Hong Kong,
Macau, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There also
were reports that some women going to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, South
Korea, and China for arranged marriages were victims of trafficking.
The Government estimated that approximately 10 percent of women in
arranged marriages with Chinese men may have become trafficking
victims. Some women and children also were trafficked within the
country, usually from rural to urban areas. There were no reported
incidents of trafficking of adult males during the year.
Some children were trafficked within the country, and others to
foreign destinations, for the purpose of prostitution. An NGO advocate
estimated that the average age of trafficked girls was between 15 and
17. Some reports indicated that the ages of girls trafficked to
Cambodia typically were even lower.
Individuals also were convicted in cases in which parents received
payments in exchange for giving up their infant children for adoption.
In addition, there was anecdotal evidence that small children and
infants were sometimes kidnapped and sold to traffickers in China.
Children also were trafficked to other countries. Mass organizations
and NGOs continued to operate programs to reintegrate trafficked women
and children into society. During the year programs designed to provide
protection and reintegration assistance for trafficking victims through
psychosocial support and vocational training, as well as to supplement
regional and national prevention efforts by targeting at-risk
populations for similar services, increased in the north of the
country.
There were reports that some women from Ho Chi Minh City and the
Mekong Delta who left the country to marry men from Taiwan were forced
into prostitution after their arrival in Taiwan. There was reported
trafficking in women to the Macau Special Administrative Region of
China with the assistance of organizations in China that were
ostensibly marriage service bureaus, international labor organizations,
and travel agencies. After arrival, women were forced into conditions
similar to indentured servitude; some were forced into prostitution. In
2005 visa issuance standards for Taiwanese marriages were tightened
considerably, and the number of problematic or fraudulent marriages
declined significantly as a result.
Poor women and teenage girls, especially those from rural areas,
were most at risk for being trafficked. MPS and UNICEF research
indicated that trafficking victims could come from any part of the
country but were concentrated in certain northern and southern border
provinces, especially the Mekong Delta and central province of Thanh
Hoa. Some were sold by their families as domestic workers or for sexual
exploitation. In some cases traffickers paid families several hundred
dollars in exchange for allowing their daughters to go to Cambodia for
an ``employment offer.'' Many victims faced strong pressure to make
significant contributions to the family income; others were offered
lucrative jobs by acquaintances. False advertising, debt bondage,
confiscation of documents, and threats of deportation were other
methods commonly used by the traffickers, spouses, and employers.
Individual opportunists and informal networks, as well as some
organized groups, lured poor, often rural, women with promises of jobs
or marriage and forced them to work as prostitutes (see section 5,
Women). The Government stated that organized criminal groups were
involved in recruitment, transit, and other trafficking-related
activities. Organized crime was on the rise, and Vietnam-sourced
trafficking operations were uncovered in Europe.
Throughout the year the Government increased efforts to prosecute
traffickers. The law provides for prison sentences of two to 20 years
for each offense for persons found guilty of trafficking women, and
between three years and life in prison for each offense for persons
found guilty of trafficking children. Hundreds of traffickers have been
convicted and imprisoned. The Government worked with international NGOs
to supplement and strengthen law enforcement measures and institutions
and also cooperated with other national governments to prevent
trafficking. It also cooperated closely with other countries within the
frameworks of Interpol, its Asian counterpart, and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.
While reliable statistics on the number of citizens who were
victims of sex-related trafficking were not available, there was
evidence that the number has grown in recent years. The Criminal Police
Department of the MPS, the Ministry of Justice, the Border Guard
Command, and the Social Evils Department of MOLISA were the main
government agencies involved in combating trafficking, with significant
collaboration from the Women's Union. Police took an increasingly
active role in investigating trafficking during the year, including
training a dedicated antitrafficking force and building a conviction
record. Late in the year, Ho Chi Minh City police reportedly uncovered
a ring trafficking women to Malaysia, similar to another ring broken up
in 2005.
Official institutions, including MOLISA, the Women's Union, the
Youth Union, and the Committee for Population, Family, and Children,
continued active programs aimed at prevention, public awareness, and
victims' protection. These programs included warning women and girls of
these dangers, repatriation programs, and vocational training for
teenage girls in communities considered vulnerable to trafficking.
Government agencies worked closely with the International Organization
for Migration, the Asia Foundation, and other international NGOs to
provide temporary shelter, medical services, education, credit,
counseling, and rehabilitation to returned trafficking victims.
Throughout the year security agencies with border control
responsibility received training in investigative techniques to prevent
trafficking. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime, funded with support from
the Australian, French, and United Kingdom governments, had a three-
year program with the MPS in strengthening law enforcement
institutions.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law requires the state to protect
the rights and encourage the employment of persons with disabilities;
however, the provision of services to such persons was limited.
Government agencies worked with domestic and foreign organizations to
provide protection, support, physical access, education, and
employment. The Government operated a small network of rehabilitation
centers to provide long-term, inpatient physical therapy. Several
provinces, government agencies, and universities had specific programs
for those with disabilities.
Educational opportunities for children with disabilities were poor
but improving. Slightly more than 10 percent of children with
disabilities were enrolled in school. The Government worked with donor
countries and international NGOs to train additional teachers for
students with disabilities.
The law provides for preferential treatment for firms that recruit
persons with disabilities and for fines on firms that do not meet
minimum quotas that reserve 2 to 3 percent of their workforce for
workers with disabilities; however, the Government enforced these
provisions unevenly. Firms that have 51 percent of their employees with
disabilities can qualify for special government-subsidized loans.
During the year the Government provided $750,000 (12 billion VND) for
vocational training for persons with disabilities. Measures enacted in
2002 require that the construction or major renovation of new
government and large public buildings include access for persons with
disabilities. The Ministry of Construction trained architects and
engineers in the requirements.
The Government worked closely with international groups in
implementing programs to increase access by persons with disabilities
to education and employment.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Although the Government
officially was opposed to discrimination against ethnic minorities,
longstanding societal discrimination against ethnic minorities remained
a problem. With the significant economic growth that has occurred,
especially in the last five years, some improvement in this area was
reported, although the improved economic conditions largely evaded
ethnic minorities. The Government continued to implement policies to
narrow the gap in the standard of living by granting preferential
treatment to domestic and foreign companies that invested in highland
areas, which are heavily populated with ethnic minorities.
The Government also had infrastructure development programs that
targeted poor, largely ethnic minority areas and established
agricultural extension programs for remote rural areas. The Government
operated special schools for ethnic minorities in many provinces,
including subsidized boarding schools at the high-school and middle-
school levels, and offered special admission and preparatory programs
as well as scholarships and preferential admissions at the university
level.
The Government resettled some ethnic minorities from inaccessible
areas to locations where basic services were easier to provide;
however, the resettlement sometimes diluted the political and social
solidarity of these groups. The Government acknowledged that one of the
goals of resettlement was to persuade the minorities to change from
traditional slash-and-burn agricultural methods to sedentary
agriculture. This resettlement program also had the effect of making
more land available to ethnic Vietnamese migrants and state-owned
plantations.
Some members of ethnic minority groups continued to flee to
Cambodia and Thailand, reportedly to seek greater economic opportunity
or shortcuts to immigration to other nations. During the year
approximately 20 Vietnamese Hmong were detained along with a larger
group of Laotian Hmong in Thailand, reportedly claiming that they were
escaping ethnic and religious pressures in the northern region and the
Northwest Highlands, although conditions for religious freedom
significantly improved in the north during the year. Government
officials continued to monitor some highland minorities closely,
particularly several ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, because of
concern that the form of Protestant religion they were practicing
encouraged ethnic minority separatism. Hmong Protestants in the
northwest provinces were also subject to special attention for
practicing their religion without official approval, although the great
majority of Hmong believers were able to worship without difficulty,
and conditions for religious freedom significantly improved in the
north (see section 2.c.).
The Government continued to impose extra security measures in the
Central Highlands, in response to fears of ethnic minority separatist
activity. There were some reports that ethnic minority individuals
using cellular telephones to call the ethnic minority community abroad
were a special target of police attention. There were numerous reports
that ethnic minorities seeking to cross into Cambodia were returned by
Vietnamese police operating on both sides of the border, sometimes
followed by beatings and detentions; however, the Government also
continued to implement measures to address the causes of ethnic
minority discontent and initiate new measures as well. These included
special programs to improve education and health facilities and expand
road access and electrification of rural communities and villages. The
Government allocated land to ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands
through a special program, but there were complaints that
implementation of these special programs was uneven.
The Government continued a program to conduct classes in some local
ethnic minority languages up to the fifth grade. The Government worked
with local officials to develop a local language curriculum. The
Government appeared to implement this program more comprehensively in
the Central Highlands than in the mountainous northern and northwestern
provinces. The Government broadcast radio and television programs in
ethnic minority languages in some areas. The Government also instructed
ethnic Kinh officials to learn the language of the locality in which
they worked; however, implementation was not widespread. Provincial
governments continued initiatives designed to increase employment,
reduce the income gap between ethnic minorities and ethnic Kinh, and
make officials sensitive and receptive to ethnic minority culture and
traditions.
The Government allowed the UNHCR and western diplomats extensive
access to interview and monitor ethnic minority individuals returned to
the Central Highlands from Cambodia under a tripartite MOU established
with Cambodia and the UNHCR in 2005. Western observers were
increasingly allowed to conduct private interviews with these
individuals. There was little credible evidence that ethnic minority
returnees faced discrimination in the Central Highlands during the
year.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no evidence of
official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, but there was
substantial societal discrimination against such persons. There were
multiple credible reports that persons with HIV/AIDS lost jobs or
suffered from discrimination in the workplace or in finding housing. In
a few cases, children of persons with HIV/AIDS were barred from
schools, although this is against the law. With the assistance of some
foreign donors, the national government and some provincial authorities
took steps to treat, assist, and accommodate persons with HIV/AIDS;
decrease societal stigma and discrimination; and increase dignity,
although overall consistency was lacking. Religious charities were
sometimes permitted to operate in this area.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers are not free to join or form
unions of their choosing. The CPV controls the single trade union, the
Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (VGCL), an umbrella organization
that approves and manages a range of subsidiary labor unions organized
according to location and industry. According to December 2005 data,
the VGCL claimed 5.4 million members, or an estimated 48.8 percent of
the approximately 11.1 million wage earners. Of these, 36.5 percent
worked in the public sector, 33.1 percent in state-owned enterprises,
and 30.4 percent in the private sector. The VGCL claimed that its
membership represented 95 percent of public sector workers and 90
percent of workers in state-owned enterprises. Approximately 1.7
million union members worked in the private sector, including in
enterprises with foreign investment (more than 700,000 persons). The
vast majority of the workforce was not unionized, as more than 33
million of the 44 million total laborers lived in rural areas and
engaged in activities such as small-scale farming or worked in small
companies and the informal private sector.
Union leaders influenced key decisions, such as amending labor
legislation, developing social safety nets, and setting health, safety,
and minimum wage standards. However, the VGCL asserted that authorities
did not prosecute some violations of the law. MOLISA acknowledged
shortcomings in its labor inspection system, emphasizing that the
country had an insufficient number of labor inspectors. The VGCL
stated, and MOLISA acknowledged, that low fines on firms for labor
violations failed to act as an effective deterrent against law
violations. On June 7, at a National Assembly session, VGCL Standing
Chairman Dang Ngoc Tung criticized law enforcement and stated that
remedies had not been strong enough. Tung provided an example in which
an enterprise had employed 5,000 workers but had made social insurance
contributions for only 2,000 employees, retaining for itself as much as
$187,500 (three billion VND) in social insurance contributions. Tung
stated that labor authorities imposed only a $1,250 (20 million VND)
fine on the firm for the violation, and subsequently the employer
continued to violate the law.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the UN Development
Program continued to cooperate on a large multiyear technical
assistance program to strengthen labor law implementation. The program
involved projects to improve industrial relations, including collective
bargaining and dispute settlement, encourage job promotion for young
women, and improve occupational safety and health, among other
objectives. During the year the ILO concluded a project to eliminate
child labor.
The VGCL had relations with 140 labor organizations in 91
countries, 20 NGOs and UN organizations, and 20 international and
regional occupational trade unions.
According to the trade union law, VGCL's industrial union
subsidiaries are also allowed to join international trade unions in
conformity with their activity objectives.
The labor code requires enterprises to facilitate employee efforts
to join the union and prohibits antiunion discrimination on the part of
employers against employees who seek it, but enforcement was uneven.
Toan Cau SH Trading Company's 681 workers in Quoc Oai District of Ha
Tay Province, who had been working since September 2005, were
prohibited from establishing a union. The company ignored not only the
workers' request to set up a trade union but also a similar appeal from
the representative of Quoc Oai trade union.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--By law the
provincial or metropolitan branch of the VGCL is responsible for
organizing a union within six months of the establishment of any new
enterprise, and management is required to cooperate with the union. In
actuality only 85 percent of state-owned enterprises, 60 percent of
foreign-invested enterprises, and 30 percent of private enterprises
were unionized.
The law provides VGCL-affiliated unions the right to bargain
collectively on behalf of workers. However, according to a June ILO
report on industrial relations, only 6 percent of workers in the four
most industrialized provinces were represented by collective labor
agreements. The ILO noted that collective bargaining agreements, if
they existed, were vague and tended simply to repeat the law, lacking
key specifics on salary increases for seniority, overtime, and
nonsalary benefits.
In November the National Assembly passed an amendment to the labor
code that revised chapter 14, pertaining to strikes. The Government
deemed the amendment necessary because nearly all of the more than
1,200 strikes held since 1995 were de jure illegal. A wave of strikes
in late 2005 and early in the year created a further impetus for the
amendment. Labor experts had criticized the previous legally required
conciliation and arbitration processes as overly lengthy and
complicated. At the same time, enterprises and local authorities had
failed to establish required dispute resolution bodies. The amendment
clarifies the procedures for holding strikes legally and for the first
time allows workers to choose their own representatives to negotiate
disputes at enterprises where no union exists. In the past the VGCL was
the sole organization allowed to represent workers.
While the amended law does not allow for independent unions, it
states that the negotiation of disputes can be led and organized by
``relevant entities'' when the enterprise in question does not have a
union. MOLISA officials characterized the change as significant because
large numbers of workers were not unionized. A key feature of the
amended law is that it shortens the time for resolving disputes by half
and divides labor disputes into those over rights and those over
interests. Collective labor disputes over rights must be routed through
a conciliation council and, if the council cannot resolve the issue, to
the chairman of the district-level people's committee. In collective
labor disputes over interests, workers must take their claims through a
process involving a conciliation council, or a district-level labor
conciliator where no union is present, and if no resolution is
obtained, a provincial arbitration council before a legal strike can be
held. Unions (or workers' representatives where no union is present)
have the right either to appeal decisions of provincial labor
arbitration councils to provincial people's courts or to go on strike.
Individual workers may take cases directly to the people's court
system, but in most cases they may do so only after conciliation has
been attempted and failed. The amendment also stipulates that workers
on strike will not be paid wages while they are not at work.
Strikes that began at South Korean and Taiwanese foreign-invested
firms in the southern region soon spread to domestically-owned firms in
that area and also to firms in other areas of the country. The VGCL and
MOLISA maintained that the vast majority of strikes occurred over wages
and employers' labor regulation violations; however, the ILO noted that
outdated industrial relations mechanisms contributed to the tensions.
Specifically, the ILO mentioned a lack of capacity at the VGCL at the
local level to mediate labor disputes, the weakness of collective
bargaining agreements at enterprises, and poor enforcement of labor
laws.
According to MOLISA, 303 strikes took place in the first six months
of the year, more than twice the number that took place in all of 2005,
itself a record year for strikes. Of the 303 strikes, 224 involved
foreign-invested enterprises, 76 occurred in domestic private firms,
and only three affected state-owned firms. Approximately 75 percent of
the strikes took place in the textile, shoe-making, and processing
industries, and 90.9 percent of the strikes occurred in Ho Chi Minh
City and Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces. Strikes typically did not
follow the authorized conciliation and arbitration process and thus
were technically illegal, but the Government tolerated them and took no
action against the strikers. The law prohibits retribution against
strikers, and there were no reports of retribution. In some cases the
Government disciplined employers for the illegal practices that led to
strikes.
The law prohibits strikes in 54 occupational sectors and businesses
that serve the public or are considered by the Government to be
important to the national economy and defense. A subsequent decree
defines these enterprises to be those involved in electricity
production; post and telecommunications; railway, maritime, and air
transportation; banking; public works; and the oil and gas industry.
The law also grants the Prime Minister the right to suspend a strike
considered detrimental to the national economy or public safety.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones and industrial zones. There was anecdotal
evidence that the Government enforced the laws more actively in the
zones than outside them.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that thousands of children worked in exploitative situations
(see section 6.d.). Some women were coerced into prostitution (see
section 5).
Prisoners routinely were required to work for little or no pay.
They produced food and other goods used directly in prisons or sold on
local markets, reportedly to purchase items for their personal use.
On April 5, the Government abolished an ordinance requiring all
male citizens between 18 and 45 years of age and female citizens
between 18 and 35 years of age to perform 10 days of annual public
labor. In December 2005 a government taskforce finished a year-long
survey of forced labor, and at year's end it was reviewing all legal
regulations related to forced labor with the aim of signing ILO
conventions 29 and 105 on forced labor.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor was a problem. The law prohibits most child labor but
allows exceptions for certain types of work. The law sets the minimum
age for employment at 18, but enterprises may hire children between 15
and 18 if the firm obtains permission from parents and MOLISA. Based on
a living standards survey conducted in previous years, MOLISA reported
in June that approximately 30 percent of children between the ages of
six and 17 participated in economic activities, 44.7 percent of them
between 15 and 17, 16.4 percent between 11 and 14, and 1.2 percent
between six and 10. MOLISA further calculated that 1.2 percent of
children between six and 10 worked, 16.4 percent of children between 11
and 14 worked, and 44.7 percent of children between 15 and 17 worked.
Observers noted that the estimate may have understated the number of
children who participated in such activities, since many more children
worked in the informal sector, usually on family farms or in family
businesses not within the scope of the law. According to the Vietnam
Commission for Population, Family, and Children, as of December 31,
2005, there were 7,699 street children in the country, although
estimates of the numbers of such children in previous years were
considerably higher. In 2005 a total of 2,032 street children were
assisted in returning to their homes.
By law an employer must ensure that workers under 18 do not
undertake hazardous work or work that would harm their physical or
mental development. Prohibited occupations are specified in the labor
law. The law permits children to register at trade training centers, a
form of vocational training, from the age of 13. Children may work a
maximum of seven hours per day and 42 hours per week and must receive
special health care.
In rural areas children worked primarily on family farms and in
other agricultural activities. In some cases they began work as young
as age six and were expected to do the work of adults by the time they
were 15. In urban areas children also worked in family-owned small
businesses. According to a 2002-03 living standard survey, 88.5 percent
of children who worked did so in household businesses and family-owned
small businesses, while the remainder were occupied in wage-earning
work. Migration from rural to urban settings exacerbated the child
labor problem, because unauthorized migrants were unable to register
their households in urban areas. This meant that their children could
not attend public schools and families had less access to credit.
Officials stated that juveniles in education and nourishment centers,
which functioned much as reform schools or juvenile detention centers,
were commonly assigned work for ``educational purposes.''
A 2004 study of child labor in Ho Chi Minh City found cases in
which parents in poor families entered into ``verbal agreements'' with
employers, who then put their children to work. An ILO- and MOLISA-
sponsored study of four groups of child workers conducted by Hanoi
National University of Vietnam's Center for Women Studies found that
the salaries of children in domestic labor were sent directly to the
parents. Most children in the study rarely used the wages for
themselves, although some were able to pay their school fees with part
of their salary. The study also noted that the working hours and income
of children engaged in coal sorting and fishing were to some degree
managed by their families.
Government officials may fine and, in cases of criminal code
violations, prosecute employers who violate child labor laws. While the
Government committed insufficient resources to enforce effectively laws
providing for children's safety, especially for children working in
mines and as domestic servants, it detected some cases of child
exploitation, removed the children from the exploitative situations,
and fined the employers. In September Ho Chi Minh City police uncovered
two unlicensed textile businesses that forced children between the ages
of 12 and 17 to work 15 to 19 hours a day. The employers also allegedly
physically abused the children.
International donor assistance targeted the problem of child labor.
The Government also continued programs to eliminate persistent child
labor, with a particular focus on needy families and orphans.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law requires the Government
to set a minimum wage, which is adjusted for inflation and other
economic changes. In January, amid the wave of strikes at foreign-
invested firms, the Government raised the official monthly minimum wage
for unskilled laborers at foreign-investment joint ventures by 40
percent to $54.40 (870,000 VND) in the urban districts of Hanoi and Ho
Chi Minh City; $49.40 (790,000 VND) in the suburban districts of Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh City, and several other industrial districts and towns; and
$44.40 (710,000 VND) elsewhere in the country. The Government may
temporarily exempt certain joint ventures from paying the minimum wage
during the first months of an enterprise's operations or if the
enterprise is located in a very remote area, but the minimum monthly
wage in these cases can be no lower than $44.40 (710,000 VND). On
October 1, the official monthly minimum wage of the state sector
increased to $28 (450,000 VND). This amount remained inadequate to
provide a worker and family a decent standard of living. The new salary
policy benefited more than 10 million persons and 1.8 million
pensioners and social insurance beneficiaries. However, state-owned
enterprises consistently paid more than the state-sector minimum wage.
The number of workers who received government-subsidized housing
decreased. Many workers received bonuses and supplemented their incomes
by engaging in entrepreneurial activities. Households frequently
included more than one wage earner.
The Government set the workweek for government employees and
employees of companies in the state sector at 40 hours, and it
encouraged the private business sector and foreign and international
organizations that employed local workers to reduce the number of hours
in the workweek to 40 hours but did not make compliance mandatory.
The law sets normal working hours at eight hours per day, with a
mandatory 24-hour break each week. Additional hours require overtime
pay at one and one-half times the regular wage, two times the regular
wage for weekdays off, and three times the regular wage for holidays
and paid leave days. The law limits compulsory overtime to four hours
per week and 200 hours per year but provides for an exception in
special cases, where this maximum can be up to 300 overtime hours
worked annually, subject to stipulation by the Government after
consulting with VGCL and employer representatives. The law also
prescribes annual leave with full pay for various types of work. It was
unclear how well the Government enforced these provisions.
According to the law, a female employee who is engaged, pregnant,
on maternity leave, or raising a child under one year of age cannot be
dismissed unless the enterprise closes. Female employees who are at
least seven months' pregnant or are caring for a child under one year
of age cannot work overtime, at night, or in locations distant from
their homes.
The law requires the Government to promulgate rules and regulations
that ensure worker safety. MOLISA, in coordination with local people's
committees and labor unions, is charged with enforcing the regulations.
In practice enforcement was inadequate because of low funding and a
shortage of trained enforcement personnel. The VGCL reported that there
were more than 300 labor inspectors in the country but that at least
600 were needed. On-the-job injuries due to poor health and safety
conditions in the workplace were a problem. The greatest number of
occupational injuries was caused by machinery such as rolling mills and
presses. In 2005 36.3 percent of fatalities were caused by construction
accidents, and 14.3 percent of occupational injuries were caused by
mining accidents. According to MOLISA statistics from 60 of 64
provinces, in 2005 there were 3,691 injuries and 473 fatalities
resulting from 4,050 work-related accidents. In 2004 statistics from 64
provinces showed 6,186 injuries and 575 fatalities resulting from 6,026
work-related accidents (some involving multiple workers).
There was evidence that workers, through labor unions, were
effective in improving working conditions. Some foreign companies with
operations in the country performed independent monitoring of problems
at their factories. Companies reported that MOLISA or provincial labor
agencies performed labor and occupational safety and health inspections
at enterprises when they learned of serious accidents or when there
were reports of hazardous conditions.
The law provides that workers may remove themselves from hazardous
conditions without risking loss of employment; however, it was unclear
how well this stipulation was enforced. MOLISA stated that there were
no worker complaints of employers failing to abide by the law.
Recognizing that labor exports were a lucrative source of income
for the country, the Government planned to send 80,000 to 90,000
additional citizens overseas each year until 2010, adding to the
400,000 workers already abroad at the end of the year. To promote and
regulate the growing industry, restrict the number of laborers taking
illegal jobs abroad for higher pay, and address international community
concerns over a lack of worker protections afforded to Vietnamese guest
workers, in November the Government passed an export labor law (see
section 5).
__________
EUROPE AND EURASIA
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ALBANIA
The Republic of Albania is a parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 3.6 million. Legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral People's Assembly (parliament), which elects
both the Prime Minister and the President. The Prime Minister heads the
Government, while the presidency is a largely ceremonial position with
limited executive power. Parliamentary elections held in July 2005 did
not fully comply with international standards but were generally
considered a step forward in the country's democratic development.
Although delayed, a peaceful transition of power occurred in September.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control over the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were significant problems in several areas.
Arrest and pretrial detention conditions continued to be an area of
great concern with cases of abuse, violence, and inhuman conditions
reported. Police corruption and impunity continued to be a problem.
There were societal killings and an atmosphere of fear in some areas
due to traditional blood feuds. Societal violence and discrimination
against women and children were a problem, as was trafficking in
persons. Societal discrimination against homosexuals, Roma, and Balkan-
Egyptians also continued.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings; however, the country continued to experience high
levels of societal killings. Many killings occurred as the result of
individual or clan vigilante actions connected to traditional ``blood
feuds'' or to criminal gang conflicts. According to the interior
ministry, at least five persons were killed during the year in blood
feuds based on the medieval Code of Lek Dukagjini (the kanun).
Approximately six persons were killed for revenge. The National
Reconciliation Committee (NRC), a nongovernmental organization (NGO)
that worked on blood feud issues, estimated that there were as many as
78 deaths from feuds nationwide.
According to the NRC, approximately 860 families were effectively
self-imprisoned during the year due to blood feuds. Property disputes
accounted for four-fifths of formally declared blood feuds, with the
remainder pertaining to issues of honor or violations of the home
(e.g., theft, trespassing, etc.). The NRC estimated that there were
several hundred additional blood feuds stemming from trafficking, which
are typically not formally declared out of shame. Of the 738 families
reported effectively self-imprisoned in 2005, 166 left the country,
including 93 families that sought formal political asylum in other
countries.
The NRC claimed that fear of revenge prevented approximately 182
children from attending school, 86 of whom were permanently confined to
their houses. Traditionally under the kanun, which was practiced
particularly in the northern part of the country, only adult males are
acceptable targets in blood feuds. However, women and children often
were killed or injured in attacks because the kanun was not always
strictly observed.
According to the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation of Disputes
Foundation, the phenomenon of blood feuds was intensified in the
northern part of the country as a result of increased internal
migration. Mountain villagers, who were most likely to follow the
kanun, migrated to low-lying areas, cities, and towns, and many
constructed homes on disputed land, triggering a blood feud.
The 2004 murder of Emin Spahija, head of the NGO Peace Missionaries
League that worked exclusively on blood feud issues was still on going.
A suspect was arrested but has not yet been formally charged.
In May 2005 the parliament approved a law establishing a
coordination council, chaired by the President, to develop a national
strategy against blood feuds and to coordinate activities of government
agencies. The council was inactive during the year.
The court of serious crimes tried blood feud cases. Under the
Criminal Code, premeditated murder, when committed for revenge or a
blood feud, is punishable by 20 years' or life imprisonment.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions; however,
the police and prison guards at times beat and abused suspects and
detainees. The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) and the Albanian Human
Rights Group (AHRG) continued to report that police nationwide used
excessive force or inhumane treatment. According to the AHRG, most
mistreatment took place at the time of arrest or initial detention.
Roma, Balkan-Egyptians, and homosexuals were particularly vulnerable to
police abuse (see section 5).
In July the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) released a report based on its 2005 inspection of the
country's prisons and detention centers. The report detailed widespread
inhumane treatment and physical abuse of prisoners and detainees.
During the year there were reports that police in various parts of the
country, such as Korca and Vlora, beat and mistreated persons during
their arrest or while in pretrial detention.
In May 2005 Besnik Kosturi filed charges against a Korca criminal
police officer, Oltion Agolli, for mistreatment. The officer reportedly
beat Kosturi for refusing to provide information on a pending case.
Medical experts verified the abuse and the officer was suspended. The
case was sent to the Korca district prosecutor's office, which declined
to initiate formal proceedings due to lack of evidence.
In May the Vlora Office of Internal Police Control gathered
information in the case of Arben Belaj against Dritan Veizaj, a member
of the Vlora special police force, for allegedly beating Belaj. The
information was forwarded to the Vlora District Military Prosecution
and Veizaj was suspended from his duties pending the final court
outcome.
The Shkodra District Military Prosecution investigated the 2005
case of Frendi Ndoci against Pjerin Lazri and other Shkodra police
officers for allegedly beating him at the police commissariat. Lazri
was found guilty and fined approximately $830 (80,000 lek).
At times police abused juvenile detainees. According to the
Children's Human Rights Center of Albania (CHRCA), police sometimes
used threats, violence, and torture to extract confessions from minors.
In June Amarildo Perfundi, an 18-year-old high school student from
Korca, was taken into custody for questioning for theft. Shortly after
being released, Perfundi committed suicide. Several human rights
organizations in the country criticized police handling of the case,
citing psychological trauma and abuse on the part of police. The
ombudsman investigated and found that the police had not followed legal
procedures for arrest, detention, and questioning. The ombudsman
concluded that the psychological trauma Perfundi sustained led him to
commit suicide. Upon the recommendation of the ombudsman, the two
officers involved, Altin Gusho and Gezim Mullai, were dismissed for
failure to follow correct procedures. The case was forwarded to the
district prosecutor's office for investigation and possible
prosecution. The prosecutor found that there was insufficient evidence
to bring charges against Gusho, and he was subsequently reinstated.
Formal charges have been filed against Mullai.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that police beat
protesters. However, the civic activist organization Mjaft! reported
that police stood by without taking action as a government supporter
physically assaulted a Mjaft! participant in a protest (see section
2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--The Ministry of Justice
operated all prisons and some pretrial detention facilities. Most
pretrial facilities were collocated with police commissariats and were
operated by the Ministry of the Interior. The July CPT report stated
that conditions inside the prisons and detention centers remained poor
and were marked by decrepit conditions, overcrowding, poor food
quality, physical abuse of detainees, and a lack of medical care. The
Ministry of Justice's Directorate of Prisons asserted that many of the
problems highlighted in the CPT report have been corrected in the
prisons and detention facilities that it operated. The AHC confirmed
that conditions in the Ministry of Justice run detention facilities
were steadily improving, but that little or no progress had been made
in the Ministry of Interior run detention facilities that held 80
percent of all detainees. A project to close all Ministry of Interior
facilities and to move all detainees to Ministry of Justice run
facilities has been underway since 2003.
The AHRG and the AHC singled out Ministry of Interior-run
facilities as the most egregious violators of human rights. According
to the Directorate of Prisons, the Government had no plans to
rehabilitate Ministry of Interior run-facilities in anticipation of
their eventual closure and replacement by Ministry of Justice run
facilities. In addition to substandard infrastructure, AHC reported
that Ministry of Interior-run facilities were operated under internal
regulations which did not respect the rights of detainees to health
care, adequate hygiene, and access to fresh air, recreation, and media.
By year's end there were four additional Ministry of Justice
facilities under construction, including a mental health facility in
Durres.
In September the AHC reported that detainees at the Ministry of
Interior-run detention facility in Berat rioted and set fire to their
bedding materials to protest poor treatment and conditions. As a
result, the AHC recommended to the Government that the treatment of all
pretrial detainees in the country should be governed by the 2005
Ministry of Justice regulations and that the harsher 1999 Ministry of
Interior regulations should be abandoned. According to the AHC, the
Ministry of Interior regulations are not only outdated, but also
contain provisions that are contrary to laws regarding the rights and
treatment of prisoners.
Overcrowding remained a serious problem in prisons and detention
centers. The director of prisons reported that, as of December, there
were 3,060 persons held in prisons designed for 2,718 and 752 persons
in pretrial detention facilities designed for 671. According to the
director of prisons, all of the 50 convicted criminals that in 2005
were serving sentences in pretrial detention facilities had been
transferred to prisons. This number did not include the 40 to 50
convicted prisoners who may be in pretrial detention facilities at any
time awaiting transfer to prison.
Pretrial detention conditions at the Ministry of Justice run Lezhe
prison, one of the largest in the country, improved substantially
during the year. With foreign donor support, the physical conditions
were ameliorated and prison guards and administrators received human
rights training.
Poor quality and insufficient food continued to be a concern,
particularly for prisoners who did not have relatives nearby to provide
food. In September 2005 the ombudsman's office inspected the
Commissariat Four detention facility in Tirana and other district
detention facilities and determined that eight Chinese nationals (six
men and two women detained for possessing illegal documents) and other
detainees were not being fed. The ombudsman requested that the Prime
Minister's office and ministries of interior and justice take immediate
measures to assist the detainees and the situation was corrected. In
addition, the Chinese nationals were given the opportunity to speak via
telephone with relatives.
According to the General Directorate of Prisons, there were 80
women serving in Prison 325 for women in Tirana and 47 women in
pretrial detention. A nursery was constructed at Prison 325 and in
September it housed two children.
Juvenile convicts and detainees were separated from adults. There
were no reported cases of sexual abuse of minors. All convicted minors
were held in the juvenile wing of the Vaqarr prison where they received
basic education. The CHRCA reported that minors still used the same
recreation and hygienic facilities as adult detainees, although at
different times.
The director of prisons acknowledged that the physical abuse of
prisoners and corruption of prison guards and officials was a major
problem. During the year, 178 guards and officials were dismissed for
corruption or misconduct and charges were pending against five high-
level prison officials for corruption (see section 3).
The Government permitted international human rights observers to
visit both pretrial detention centers and prisons; there were no
reports of refusals to permit access for inspections by domestic
independent human rights monitors.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports
that police occasionally arbitrarily arrested and detained persons.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In 2005 the Ministry of
Public Order and the Ministry of Local government were combined as a
new Ministry of the Interior. Local police units reported to the
Ministry of the Interior and were the main force responsible for
internal security. The military has a special 90-person commando unit,
which operates in an antiterrorist role under the minister of defense.
The law allows the minister of interior to request authority over this
unit during a domestic crisis. The State Intelligence Service (SHISH)
is responsible for both internal and external intelligence gathering
and counterintelligence. The Albanian State Police (ASP) employed
approximately 12,000 officers.
The overall performance of law enforcement remained weak.
Unprofessional behavior and corruption remained major impediments to
the development of an effective civilian police force. According to the
Ministry of the Interior, only 40 percent of police officers received
training beyond basic, despite assistance from foreign governments.
Corruption remained a problem among police forces, and low salaries
and widespread corruption throughout society made the problem difficult
to combat. The Ministry of the Interior's Office of Internal Control
engaged in the prevention, discovery, and documentation of corruption
and other criminal activity committed by police.
Between January 2005 and October, the Office of Internal Control
received 127 complaints from the public and conducted 132
investigations. Of these, charges against two officers were dismissed
as baseless. In 35 other cases, there was sufficient evidence for
authorities to arrest officers on suspicion of having committed
criminal acts. A total of 98 police officers (including 37 of middle to
high rank) were charged with offenses, including counterfeiting and
illegal issuance of travel documents and assistance to illegal border
crossing. Approximately 70 officers were dismissed during the period
for professional misconduct, including corruption.
Impunity remained a problem, although on the decline. In 2005 the
ombudsman received 30 complaints against police officers for use of
excessive force or mistreatment. Out of these, the ombudsman determined
that four were valid and the remainder was dismissed as baseless. The
ombudsman's recommendations were accepted and the prosecutor's office
brought charges against the four police officers.
Arrest and Detention.--By law a police officer or prosecutor may
order a suspect into custody. The constitution requires that detained
persons must be informed immediately of the charges against them and of
their rights, and a prosecutor must be notified immediately after
police detain a suspect. Police generally followed these requirements
in practice. Within 48 hours of the arrest or detention, a suspect must
appear before a judge. The judge has an additional 48 hours to
determine whether the suspect should remain in detention. In some
cases, detained persons were kept in pretrial detention beyond 48 hours
without a court decision on whether the prosecutor had sufficient
evidence.
A court may order detention in especially serious cases that could
pose a danger to society. Alternatively, a suspect may be placed under
house arrest. Bail may be required if the judge believes that the
accused may not appear for trial.
Legal counsel must be provided free of charge if the defendant
cannot afford a private attorney; however, this right was not widely
known, and police often failed to inform suspects of it. Access to
legal information remained difficult for citizens, particularly those
in rural areas or those lacking Internet access. However, for the
limited segment of the population with Internet access, virtually all
laws were available on-line free of charge, and there were several NGOs
that provided free legal advice for those in need, although the NGOs
were not easily located. In contrast with the previous year, there were
no reports of persons being illegally detained and unable to contact a
private attorney. In some cases detainees were interrogated without
their attorneys present. Legal services offered by the state bar
association were considered inadequate, corrupt, and at times lacking
in professionalism.
During the year the ombudsman received two complaints of arbitrary
arrests and illegal detention by the police but considered neither to
have merit. While there were no other reports of arbitrary arrest and
detention by police, some NGOs believed it was still a problem. The
AHRG reported that in an effort to bolster statistics, numerous arrests
took place during the year either without a valid arrest warrant or
with arrest warrants based on falsified evidence. For example, the AHRG
cited the case of four transvestites arrested in August for allegedly
engaging in prostitution (see section 5). The police publicized this
case as part of its efforts to crack down on serious crime.
The law requires completion of pretrial investigations within three
months; however, a prosecutor may extend this period by additional
three-month increments in particularly difficult cases. While the law
provides that the maximum length of pretrial detention should not
exceed two years, lengthy pretrial detention often occurred as a result
of delayed investigations. In 2005 the AHRG reported that Elton
Gerdhuqi had been detained in the Vlora police commissariat since 2000
and that the Vlora court had yet to issue a decision on the case. By
year's end all 49 prisoners held in pretrial detention after their
trial had been transferred to prison.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, political pressure,
intimidation, widespread corruption, and limited resources prevented
the judiciary from functioning independently and efficiently. The
President heads the High Council of Justice (HJC), which has authority
to appoint, discipline, and dismiss district and appeals court judges.
Judges who are dismissed have the right to appeal to the high court.
The council includes the minister of justice, the head of the High
Court, nine judges of all levels selected by the National Judicial
Conference, and three members selected by parliament. In July the
Constitutional Court struck down most provisions of a 2005 law that
sought to alter the functioning of the HJC on the grounds that they
would have compromised the independence of the judiciary. The
Government contended that such changes were necessary to eliminate
potential conflicts of interest among council members.
During the year progress was made in removing incompetent or
corrupt judges from the bench. During the year the Ministry of Justice
recommended to the HJC that five judges be sanctioned for corruption or
incompetence. The HCJ voted to remove one judge from office, and the
other four were reprimanded. Investigations were underway against 10
other judges.
The governing coalition parties in parliament accused the
prosecutor general of incompetence and corruption and recommended that
the President dismiss him. The opposition saw this as a governmental
attack on the independence of the prosecutor general's office.
Ultimately, the President declined to act on parliament's
recommendation and cited the need to maintain the independence of the
prosecutor's office. Subsequently, the Constitutional Court ruled that
the parliamentary commission convened to investigate the prosecutor
general was unconstitutional and did not have the legal power to review
the prosecutor's decisions.
Police, prosecutors, and the judiciary continued to blame each
other for failures that allowed criminals to avoid imprisonment. For
example, the courts accused prosecutors and police of failing to carry
out solid investigations and gather evidence necessary to prosecute
criminals successfully, and the police asserted that corruption and
bribery tainted the courts. The judicial police were responsible, under
the direction of prosecutors, for developing investigations initially
conducted by police.
The judicial system is composed of district courts, six courts of
appeal, the serious crimes court, the serious crimes court of appeal,
military courts, military courts of appeal, a high court, and a
separate and independent constitutional court. The high court hears
appeals from both the district courts and the courts of appeal, while
the constitutional court primarily reviews those cases involving
constitutional interpretation and conflicts between branches of
government and cases of individuals alleging denial of due process. The
serious crimes court and serious crimes court of appeal focus on the
fight against organized crime, trafficking, and on other serious crimes
and on improving the quality of adjudication.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a speedy trial; however, limited material resources, lack of space,
and case overload in many instances prevented the court system from
adjudicating cases in a timely fashion. Long case backlogs were typical
and resulted in suspects being detained for longer than legal limits
(see section 1.d.). Defendants, witnesses, and others who do not speak
Albanian are entitled to the services of a translator. Defendants are
entitled to a lawyer, and, under the law, the Government provides
lawyers for indigent defendants, although the quality of representation
varied. Defendants have the right to appeal decisions within 10 days to
the Court of Appeal. Defendants are legally presumed innocent until
convicted.
During the year four trials were conducted in absentia, compared
with 98 such trials in 2005.
The trial system does not provide for jury trials. Prosecutors and
the defense lawyers present cases to a panel of three judges, and
defendants have the right to all evidence that is presented to the
judges.
The country has no juvenile justice system, and children's cases
frequently were presented to judges who were not trained in juvenile
justice. According to the CHRCA, lengthy sentences given to juveniles
were often due to lack of such training.
While separate from civilian courts, military courts are under the
district court. They employ judges and prosecutors from civilian courts
for military cases but do not try civilians.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedure and Remedies.--The bailiff's office, which
is part of the Ministry of Justice, ensures that civil judgments are
enforced. Many civil judgments, particularly property settlement cases,
were not implemented because of strong social or political
ramifications. For example, authorities did not enforce the court order
awarding the building that housed the country's two main trade unions
in Tirana to their rightful owner as determined by the court. During
the year one individual won a case in the European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg against the Government for failure to pay court
ordered restitution for seized property.
Property Restitution.--In July parliament amended the 2004 law on
restitution and compensation for property confiscated during the
Communist regime. The law expanded the limit of 148 acres to 247 acres
for property restitution, dissolved the independent State Committee for
Property Restitution, and replaced it with an agency appointed by the
council of ministers. During the year the Government established a fund
of three million (300 million lek) to provide compensation to
claimants. The Annual Report of the Activities of the ombudsman's
office reported that in 2005 a total of 41 complaints related to
property compensation were processed and that the number of such
complaints was up 40 percent from the previous year. Of these, 10 were
resolved in favor of the plaintiff, and the remainder was directed to
the courts.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, at times, the Government infringed on these rights.
In July the homes of 45 Romani families were destroyed in Elbasani
when city officials decided to relocate them to another part of the
city (see section 5). In 2005 18 Romani families were forced to abandon
their homes in Tirana because they blocked a local municipality's
territory regulation plan.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. While the media was active and
largely unrestrained, there were serious problems with the use of the
media for political purposes.
Politicization of the media remained an issue of concern and, in
the run up to local elections planned for January 2007, appeared to be
on the upswing in the final quarter of the year. The polarization of
media outlets into opposing camps has become more pronounced.
Publishers and newspaper owners continued to dictate news stories to
serve their political and economic interests and sometimes blocked
stories that ran counter to those interests. Journalists continued to
practice self-censorship, and there was little transparency in the
financing of the media.
In general individuals could freely criticize the Government and
its actions in print and broadcasts. However, in May the activist
movement Mjaft! reported that police disrupted its efforts to
disseminate a poster critical of the Prime Minister. After
approximately 1,000 posters were hung around the city of Tirana, police
forces reportedly removed the posters and confiscated the remaining
4,000 that had not been posted. There were no reports that officials
used or threatened to use libel suits to limit free political
discussion.
The independent print media were active but were constrained by
limited professionalism, lack of finances, and political pressure.
Political parties, trade unions, and various societies and groups
published their own newspapers or magazines independent of government
influence. An estimated 200 publications were available, including
daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and pamphlets. One
new major national daily newspaper, Shqip, started in the spring while
two others, Dita and Express, closed.
According to official data, there were 64 private television
stations and 44 private radio stations, but the actual number was
reportedly larger. While stations generally operated free of direct
government influence, most owners believed that the content of their
broadcasts could influence government action toward their other
businesses.
The public Albanian Radio and Television (RTSH) operated a national
television channel and a national radio station. RTSH devoted most of
its coverage to the Government and the ruling party. By law, the
Government provides 50 percent of the station's budget. During the year
Kico Blushi, chairman of the RTSH Steering Council, resigned to protest
parliament's postponing a request to dismiss television director Artur
Zheji. Blushi claimed that RTSH was still hostage to politics and the
Government, thus failing to fulfill its public mission.
In May parliament amended the Law on Broadcast Media, restructuring
the RTSH Steering Council and the National Council of Media, which is
responsible for licensing and regulation and dismissing the previous
members of the council. The opposition charged that the new law was a
political maneuver designed to weaken the independence of the two
regulatory bodies by tilting them in favor of the Government. The
amendment also called for the appointment of media professionals and
representatives of civil society in lieu of representatives of the
political parties.
In contrast to 2005 there was only one report that police or other
officials physically abused journalists. In February a television
reporter accused police officer Kastriot Caushi of the Lushnje Police
Commissariat and members of the Republican Guard of using excessive
force to keep reporters from interviewing the President. The reporter
suffered minor injuries from the incident.
In 2005 the editorial office of the top-circulation daily Shekulli
was damaged when an explosive was thrown onto its balcony. While nobody
was harmed, there was damage to the office. A spokesperson for the
newspaper reported that the case was closed with no formal charges
having been filed.
Political intimidation of the media persisted. Journalists
continued to complain that publishers and editors censored their work
either directly or indirectly in response to political and commercial
pressures. Many journalists complained that the absence of employment
contracts frequently hindered their ability to report objectively.
In September the council of ministers passed a resolution to evict
Top Channel TV, a leading television station that had been critical of
the Government, from a state-owned building in central Tirana. The
Government said it intended to use the space to promote art and
culture. Citing a long-term lease with the Ministry of the Economy, the
company charged that this move was an attempt to put pressure on the
station for its editorial content. At year's end the case was still
ongoing.
Libel is a crime that may be punished with a prison sentence of up
to two years and a fine. In contrast with the previous year, there were
no cases of libel suits against the media reported during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Access to the Internet has increased over the year,
but remained limited, particularly outside the major urban areas.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--Unlike in past years, there
were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
In 2005 a district court rejected the suit brought by the chief of
the University of Tirana's geography department, Professor Doka, in
connection with his 2004 dismissal for having an ``antinationalistic
approach'' to work. The dismissal was prompted by Doka's publication of
an atlas that expanded geographic minority zones in the country. The
Government subsequently prohibited publication of the atlas. Doka won
the case on appeal and resumed his position at the university. However,
it was unknown if the atlas was ever published.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The law requires organizers of gatherings in public places to
notify police three days in advance; there were no reports that police
denied such gatherings arbitrarily.
Unlike previous years, there were no reports that police mistreated
protesters. However, Mjaft! reported that on September 1, police stood
by without taking action while a government supporter physically
assaulted a participant in a protest it had organized. At year's end no
charges were filed against the officers and the police did not take
independent action.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for the
right of association, and the Government generally respected this
right; however, the law prohibits the formation of any political party
or organization that is nontransparent or secretive. There were no
reports that this provision was used against any group during the year.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The predominant religious communities, Sunni Muslim, Bektashi
Muslim, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic, enjoyed a greater degree of
official recognition (for example, national holidays) and social
status.
The Government does not require registration or licensing of
religious groups.
The Albanian Evangelical Alliance, an association of approximately
98 Protestant churches, continued to complain during the year that it
had encountered administrative obstacles to accessing the media.
However, alliance representatives stated that it was not clear whether
the limited access was due to the organization's small size or its
religious affiliations.
Unlike in previous years, there were no media allegations that
Jehovah's Witnesses had influenced juvenile suicides.
The Government discontinued a prohibition on the dissemination of
religious literature in public places. The dissemination of such
materials was prohibited in public schools.
The Government failed to return all of the religious properties and
objects that were confiscated under the Communist regime. In cases
where religious buildings were returned, the Government often did not
return the land surrounding the buildings or provide compensation. In
addition, the Government did not compensate churches adequately for the
extensive damage to religious properties during the Communist period.
However, discussions about a possible resolution continued.
In June the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania reported that
the Government attempted to evict it from a building in Permet that was
seized by the communist government and subsequently returned to the
Orthodox Church in 1997. The parish priest gathered parishioners and
children to block the eviction notice. The Government has since assured
the Orthodox Church that they would collaborate to find a mutually
agreeable solution. The former communist government converted the
structure to a cultural center and, in 2003 the Albanian High Court
ruled that since little of the original structure remained, the
Orthodox Church was not entitled to the property. The Government
continued to refuse the Orthodox Church's request that icons and other
religious materials currently held in state-run museums and archives be
returned.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was no repeat during the
year of the incidents of societal intimidation and threats of violence
against Jehovah's Witnesses triggered in 2005 by media allegations in
2005 that the community had influenced a series of juvenile suicides.
There were no such reports during the year.
In June police brought in for questioning a suspect in the 2003
killing of Sali Tivari, former general secretary of the Islamic
community, but no formal charges were brought.
There were reportedly fewer than 100 Jews in the country; there
were no reports of synagogues or community centers functioning in the
country or of any anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Under the law, internal migrants must transfer their civil
registration status from their original community to their new
community before they are entitled to social services such as education
and health care. According to the Office of Civil Registration, in
order to transfer residency to a new community, citizens must prove
they are legally domiciled either through property ownership, a
property rental agreement, or utility bills. Since many of these
internal migrants are essentially squatters residing in illegally
constructed homes, it is difficult to prove a legal domicile. In
addition to administrative hurdles, many of the internal migrants do
not register due to both a lingering deep-seated mistrust of the
Government and a general lack of education.
As a result, some citizens lacked formal registration in the
communities in which they reside. The Roma and Balkan-Egyptians were
particularly affected by this phenomenon. The Government made no
progress toward creating a standardized national identity document
during the year.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. Under the law, requests for asylum must be made with 10
days of arrival on the country's soil and the decision for granting
asylum status must be given within 51 days of the initial request.
During the year the Government granted six asylum requests and eight
other requests were currently under consideration.
In 2005 the Government granted temporary residency protection to an
individual who did not qualify as a refugee under the 1951 Convention
or the 1967 Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR, through the
government-run national reception center for asylum seekers, provided
social and legal services, health care coverage, insurance, and limited
training support for the small refugee community and coordinated
further assistance through a network of NGOs.
Together with international organizations, the Government, through
the European Union's Community Assistance for Reconstruction,
Development, and Stabilization program, prescreened undocumented
migrants stopped at all border crossing points. Under the program, an
NGO and government team assisted border police in identifying
undocumented migrants that were potential victims of trafficking,
asylum seekers, or economic migrants.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2005 parliamentary
elections were held throughout the country. The report of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) election
observation mission concluded that the elections complied only
partially with international standards. Official election results were
delayed for weeks due to complex complaint and appeal procedures and
the need to rerun elections in several zones. OSCE election observers
reported several instances where election officials obstructed the
process and placed party interests before their duty to count and
report votes in an impartial and honest manner. Family voting occurred
and was particularly common in rural areas.
Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election. A political party must register with the Tirana
District Court and declare an aim or purpose that is not
anticonstitutional or otherwise contrary to law, describe its
organizational structure, and account for all public and private funds
it receives. The court registered parties routinely.
There were 10 women in the 140-seat People's Assembly, including
the speaker, and one woman in the Council of Ministers; however,
overall, women were poorly represented at the national and local levels
of government, despite commitments by the major political parties to
increase female representation. The Coalition for the Promotion of
Women, Youth, and Minorities in parliament, supported by the ombudsman,
called on all major political parties to include at least 30 percent
female candidates in local elections expected in February 2007. While
the proposal was sent to the Parliamentary Commission on Legislative
Affairs, no formal legislative action had been taken.
Several members of the Greek minority served in both the 140-seat
People's Assembly and the executive branch in ministerial and
subministerial positions. No other ethnic minorities were thought to be
represented in the People's Assembly or the Council of Ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
major obstacle to meaningful reform. During the year, the country
received a score of 2.6 on Transparency International's 10 point
composite index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating a
perception that the country has a serious corruption problem. A January
survey by the Institute for Development and Research Alternatives found
that on a scale of 0 to 100, customs officials scored 87 and were
perceived as the most corrupt public servants. However, a new director
assumed office in late 2005 and made inroads in reducing corruption in
the Customs Service, primarily by dismissing nearly 200 customs
officials on charges of corruption or other abuse of office. Tax
officials, ranking 83.1, and doctors, ranking 80.1, followed close
behind. However, the most respected leaders were the President (21) and
religious leaders (27.9). While the perception of police corruption
worsened slightly, the survey results showed a modest improvement in
respondent perceptions of corruption among members of parliament,
ministers, judges, prosecutors, custom officials, and NGO leaders. In
the first nine months of the year, the prosecutor's office dealt with
480 cases of abuse of office and other types of corruption resulting in
the criminal conviction of 107 government officials.
During the year the Council of Ministers adopted several
anticorruption internal regulations. In February, the parliament
approved new broadened conflict of interest legislation. In January the
Government created an Anti-Corruption Task Force and during the year
carried out a highly visible crackdown on organized crime. Opposition
politicians charged that the Government's efforts were highly
politicized and accused the Prime Minister of using the fight against
corruption as a weapon against any who opposed his views.
In July citing human rights concerns, the Constitutional Court set
aside the Government's new internal regulation on antinepotism in the
civil service and in May rejected most of the proposed amendments to a
law on conflict of interest for judges serving on the High Council of
Justice that would have forced many existing members to either resign
or give up existing judgeships.
The law provides that government ministers may not own a company
that is directly tied to their official responsibilities and includes a
prohibition against companies owned by close family members of
government officials. Approximately 6,000 public officials and close
relatives must submit financial declarations; another 1,500 officials
of the previous administration were obliged to file declarations for
the year following the end of their mandate. The Inspectorate of Asset
Declaration administers the conflict of interest regulations.
Authorities took legal or disciplinary actions based on financial
declarations against 123 officials and fined 69 officials for late
submissions. During the year when notified of a potential conflict of
interest, 56 employees either voluntarily resigned their positions or
were dismissed, and another 67 divested themselves of the offending
asset. By year's end, five high profile cases investigated by the
inspectorate were forwarded to the prosecutor's office for criminal
prosecution.
The director of prisons reported that over the past year charges
have been brought against five high-level prison officials and an
additional 178 prison guards or officers have been dismissed for
corruption. In its July report, the CPT cited bribe taking and other
corruption on the part of guards as one of the most serious problems in
the penitentiary system.
Citizens and noncitizens, including foreign media, have the right
to obtain information about the activities of government bodies and
persons who exercise official state functions. Public officials are
legally obligated to release all information and official documents
with the exception of classified documents and state secrets. During
the year public access to information improved greatly, in large part
due to greater use of the Internet. The Information Department at the
Council of Ministers disseminated public information via its Web site
and responded to public inquiries for information. In addition,
virtually all government ministries and agencies posted public
information directly on their websites. However, NGOs noted that the
Government tailored information released on the Internet to meet the
needs of the media and not members of the general public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, in some areas,
such as violence against women, including domestic violence, and
children's issues, NGOs made little progress.
Independent domestic human rights organizations included the
Albanian Helsinki Committee (problems related to minorities, security
forces, the judiciary, and elections), the Albanian Human Rights Group
(legal assistance and police training), the CHRCA (children's rights),
and the Citizen's Advocacy Office (official corruption).
The Government cooperated with international organizations, such as
the UNHCR, the Council of Europe, and the International Organization
for Migration (IOM), and did not restrict their access to the country.
A human rights ombudsman investigated inappropriate, inadequate, or
illegal government actions. Although it lacked the power to enforce
decisions, the ombudsman acted as a watchdog for human rights
violations. The most common cases included citizen complaints of police
and military abuse of power, lack of enforcement of court judgments in
civil cases, wrongful dismissal, and land disputes (see sections 1.c.
and 1.e.). In many cases, the Government took concrete steps to correct
problems in response to the findings of the ombudsman. During the year
the collaboration between the ombudsman's office and the prosecutors
improved.
The ombudsman has authority to monitor courts and judicial
proceedings, inspect and monitor detention facilities and prisons, and
facilitate cooperation from state employees. The law also provides the
ombudsman authority to initiate cases when victims do not come forward
or in cases that involve the interest of the community.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity,
disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination against
women, Balkan-Egyptians, Roma, and homosexuals persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse,
remained a serious problem. In a traditionally male-dominated society,
social norms and lax police response resulted in underreported abuse,
making it difficult to quantify the number of women who were victims of
rape, domestic violence, or sexual harassment. According to the Gender
Alliance for Development Center's 2002-03 media monitoring project, 56
women and girls throughout the country lost their lives as a result of
domestic violence, and 74 others were seriously injured.
The Government did not have programs to combat domestic violence or
assist victims. The Women to Women organization, a Sweden-based NGO,
reported that there were approximately six domestic violence hot lines
that operated throughout the country. The hot line that served mainly
the northern part of the country received approximately 20 calls per
month from women reporting some form of violence. Shtreheza, an NGO
that operated two shelters for battered women in Tirana, reported an
increase in cases of domestic violence and that both facilities were at
maximum occupancy, mainly due to better awareness and access to help.
Many communities, particularly those from the northeastern part of
the country, still followed the traditional code--the kanun--under
which, according to some interpretations, women are considered to be,
and were treated as, chattel. Some interpretations of the kanun dictate
that a woman's duty is to serve her husband and to be subordinate to
him in all matters.
On December 18, parliament enacted the country's first law against
domestic violence. The Government developed and introduced the law with
the assistance of the Women's Legal Rights Project. The law allows
victims of violence to obtain protection orders from the courts in
civil proceedings, orders that will then be served to the alleged
abuser. If the abuser violates the order, then he can be arrested and
prosecuted. The law also requires the Government to set up services for
victims and to raise public awareness of domestic violence throughout
the country.
The criminal code penalizes rape, including spousal rape; however,
spousal rape was not reported or prosecuted in practice. The concept of
spousal rape was not well established, and often neither authorities
nor the public considered it to be a crime. The law imposes penalties
for rape and assault depending on the age of the victim. For rape of an
adult, the prison term is three to 10 years, rape of an adolescent age
14 to 18 is five to 15 years and rape of a child under 14 is seven to
15 years' imprisonment.
The law prohibits prostitution; however, it was a problem.
Trafficking in women and children remained a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, it was rarely
enforced in practice.
Women were not excluded, by law or in practice, from any
occupation; however, they were not well represented at the highest
levels of their fields. The law mandates equal pay for equal work;
however, this provision was not fully implemented. According to a March
report by Amnesty International (AI) women earned 20 to 50 percent as
much as men. Men owned 92 percent of the land in the country and earned
84 percent of the country's gross domestic product, although women
continued gradually to gain economic power.
Women enjoyed equal access to higher education, but in some rural
areas they represented 24.9 percent of students enrolled in higher
education, and the dropout rate was greater for girls than for boys.
According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics there were twice as
many illiterate women (2 percent of the population) as illiterate men
(1 percent).
Women were not accorded full and equal opportunity in their
careers, and well-educated women were often underemployed or worked
outside their field of training.
The law provides equal rights for men and women under family law,
property law, and in the judicial system. In practice, cultural
traditions resulted in men often being favored over women. In May the
Government abolished the State Committee on Equal Opportunity, which
was responsible for drafting, promoting, and monitoring governmental
gender equality programs, and replaced it with a new Directorate of
Equal Opportunity within the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and
Equal Opportunity. In May the Government also abolished the
Interministerial Committee on Gender Equality, an advisory body. In
November, together with civil society partners, the directorate
presented to the council of ministers a national strategy against
domestic violence.
Children.--The Government's commitment to children's rights and
welfare is codified in domestic law; however, in practice there was
limited commitment.
The law provides for nine years of free education and authorizes
private schools. School attendance is mandatory through the ninth grade
or until age 16, whichever comes first; however, in practice, many
children left school earlier than allowed by law to work with their
families, particularly in rural areas (see section 6.d.). Parents had
to purchase supplies, books, school materials, and space heaters for
some classrooms, which was prohibitively expensive for many families.
In general children must be registered in the same community where
their parents are registered. However, according to the CHRCA, children
born to internal migrants frequently have no birth certificates or
other legal documentation and, as a result, are unable to attend school
(see section 2.d.)
Registration of children is compulsory and free within 30 days of
the child's birth. After this period, registration must take place
through the courts, a process that is costly due to legal fees and
possible fines that may be incurred for not being properly registered.
Thus, the country has a large--and growing--population of vulnerable,
unregistered children, who were at greater risk of trafficking or
exploitation, particularly children from the Balkan-Egyptian and Romani
communities.
According to 2004 World Bank statistics, secondary school
enrollment for both boys and girls was 77.8 percent, while the Albanian
Institute of Statistics estimated enrollment in secondary education at
53 percent for 2003 to 2004. Enrollment in primary school was
approximately 95 percent for the same period.
Equal access to medical care was available in principle for both
boys and girls; however, a high level of bribery in the medical care
system sometimes limited access for all.
Child abuse, including sexual abuse, occasionally occurred but was
rarely reported. In May the media reported widely the arrest of a
British national, who operated an orphanage, on charges of child
molestation and selling access to the children to foreign sex tourists.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, in 2005 20 cases of sex
crimes against children were reported.
According to the NRC, as many as 182 children remained endangered
by blood feuds involving their families; 86 of these were in
particularly dangerous circumstances (see section 1.a.).
Child marriage was a problem. While statistics were not available,
child marriage was reportedly common among the Romani population and
there were still some communities in the north and northeast of the
country where there is traditional arranged ``marriage from the
cradle'' based upon parental agreement.
Trafficking in children, although not widespread, was a problem
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor remained a major problem (see section 6.d.).
Homeless, displaced, or street children remained a problem,
particularly Romani children, who lived in extreme poverty throughout
the country. Street children begged or did petty work; many migrated to
neighboring countries, particularly during the summer.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
and provides penalties for traffickers; however, persons, particularly
women and children, were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
Unlike in past years, there were no reports of police involvement in
trafficking.
The country remained a source for trafficking of women and children
for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, but was
deemed by international observers to no longer be a significant country
of destination or transit. The relatively few foreign women and girls
in transit came primarily from Kosovo, and, to a lesser extent,
Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Sri Lanka, and China. Most
trafficked women and girls were transported to Italy, Greece, and other
European countries, such as Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands, and Norway, as well as to the United States. Traffickers
largely used overland routes or falsified documents to transport their
victims by plane or ferry.
The trafficking of children to Kosovo and Greece for begging or
sexual exploitation continued to be a problem, although estimates
varied widely on the number of victims annually. According to NGOs,
approximately 1,000 unaccompanied Albanian children were living in
Italy, although not all were victims of trafficking. A 2002 study
conducted by the NGO International Social Service reported that 1,800
unaccompanied Albanian children, many of who were trafficking victims,
lived in Greece. According to Terre des Hommes (TdH), a Swiss child-
welfare NGO operating in the country, the number of children trafficked
to Greece has declined in recent years.
Internal trafficking of women and children continued to be a
problem. TdH identified 90 children who during the year had been
trafficked within the country for forced begging, forced labor, and
possible sexual exploitation. Children who were internally trafficked
came from all regions of the country and were typically trafficked to
either Tirana or Durres. According to TdH, the number of internally
trafficked children was rising. Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities
were particularly vulnerable due to poverty and illiteracy. In a few
cases children were bought from families or kidnapped, reportedly for
begging or working abroad. According to TdH, children, mostly from
Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities, were increasingly trafficked
for begging by their parents without the involvement of a third party.
The main forms of recruitment of adult victims of trafficking
involved marriage under false pretenses or false promises of marriage
to lure victims abroad for sexual exploitation. Due to the poor
economic situation, men and women from organized criminal groups also
lured many women and girls from all over the country by promising them
jobs in Italy and Greece. Traffickers typically confiscated victims'
documents, physically and sexually abused them, and sometimes forced
them to work as prostitutes before they left the country. Both citizens
and foreign women trafficked by domestic organized crime networks were
abused, tortured, and raped. Traffickers also threatened many of the
victims' family members. To a lesser extent, family members or
neighbors sold victims, particularly Romani children, to traffickers,
or traffickers kidnapped children, including from orphanages.
The law provides for penalties of five to 15 years' imprisonment
for trafficking in persons; seven to 15 years' imprisonment for
trafficking women for prostitution; and 15-to-20-years' imprisonment
for trafficking in minors. Aggravating circumstances, such as the
kidnapping or death of a victim, can raise the severity of the
punishment to a maximum of life in prison. Prison sentences may be
supplemented by fines of $4,000 to $6,000 (400,000 to 600,000 lek) for
sexual exploitation of a minor and $3,000 to $6,000 (300,000 to 600,000
lek) for sexual exploitation of a woman. The law provides that a
government official convicted of exploitation for prostitution receive
125 percent of the standard penalty. The law also mandates the
sequestration and confiscation of assets derived from organized crime
and trafficking. The Agency for the Administration of Sequestered and
Confiscated Assets administers sequestered and confiscated assets,
including those of persons found guilty of trafficking related crimes.
Despite several court-ordered seizures during the year, there were no
cases of forfeited assets successfully liquidated and the agency did
not distribute any funds to victims.
Prosecution of traffickers has improved. At year's end 10
traffickers of women were convicted and 27 new cases of suspected
trafficking were detected leading to the arrest or detention of 32
persons. Four persons were convicted of organizing, directing, or
financing trafficking. Six persons were convicted on child trafficking
related charges and three new cases of suspected child trafficking were
detected, leading to the arrest of four persons. In a matter closely
related to trafficking, 66 persons were convicted for providing
assistance to illegal border crossing and 132 new cases were detected
leading to the arrest or detention of 168 persons. In addition, 37
persons were convicted for aggravated exploitation of prostitution
within the country, and 24 new cases were detected leading to the
arrest of 29 persons.
Authorities often released arrested traffickers because of
insufficient evidence or, if they were prosecuted, charged them with
lesser crimes, or gave them less than the minimum sentence for
trafficking.
The country has a child trafficking strategy and action plan based
on UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) guidelines that are intended to prevent
recruitment of potential victims and protect victims, including those
returned from abroad. The strategy and the plan also set out the
Government's approach for the prosecution of traffickers. The
Government has a full time antitrafficking deputy minister at the
Ministry of Interior who is in charge of coordination of the
implementation of the strategy. The Government signed a bilateral child
trafficking cooperation agreement with the Greek government and
established a National Referral Mechanism for the reintegration of
victims into society. In an effort to move antitrafficking efforts out
of the capital and into the rural areas that are most heavily affected,
the Government also established in July regional committees in each of
the country's 12 prefectures.
During the year the Government expanded implementation of the
witness protection law by upgrading the witness protection unit to a
Directorate for Witness Protection and Collaborators of Justice,
located within the state police. In 2005 the Government also named a
commission, comprised of a prosecutor, a judge, and police officials,
to evaluate applications for admission to the witness protection
program. The Government budgeted $207,627 (20,762,700 lek) for witness
protection during the year, representing a 20-fold increase over the
2005 appropriation.
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of cases of
direct police involvement in trafficking. However, police officers
continued to be involved in various forms of trafficking-related
corruption, despite determined efforts of the Office of Internal
Control and State Intelligence Service to address the problem (see
section 1.d.)
The Government provided some limited services to trafficking
victims, operating a shelter near Tirana and a national referral
mechanism that enabled authorities to share data confidentially on
victims returning to the country. The newly created Responsible
Authority also shared data with the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs,
and Equal Opportunity, government and NGO shelters, and local
antitrafficking committees, which include NGOs, to ensure ongoing
victim support and assistance. Consistent with the guidance approved by
the General Director of the State Police on the handling of returned
persons, authorities at Rinas International Airport developed local
procedures using a dedicated reception facility. These procedures
included participation from the Border and Migration Police and, from
time-to-time, State Social Service workers and representatives from the
Anti-Trafficking Police. Local procedures have also been approved for
use at some land border crossing points. These new procedures are in
use, however, recent transfers of Border and Migration Police officers
disrupted them.
Several NGOs were active in addressing victims' needs. The IOM
operated a reintegration center in Tirana that provided counseling and
medical services, job training, and some legal assistance. The Vatra
Hearth Shelter, an NGO in Vlora, and the state-run Linza Shelter
provided similar services. Both shelters reported that a large
percentage of their cases during the year involved victims deported
from other European countries.
Police treatment of trafficked women continued to improve during
the year; however, foreign women who were detained by police at times
lacked translation services or were not given a choice of lawyers. In
general foreign women believed to be victims of trafficking were
granted temporary residency and placed in shelters pending repatriation
to their country of origin.
Victims of trafficking often faced significant stigmatization from
their families and society. According to the Vatra Hearth Shelter, the
protection of returned trafficking victims who denounced their
traffickers continued to be a serious problem. The shelter reported
that two returned victims were murdered by their traffickers. In one
case, the victim reported the threats to the local police, who failed
to take her concerns seriously. The police were charged with negligence
to respond.
Retrafficking was a significant problem, with 85 out of 288 victims
sheltered at the Vatra, Tjeter Vision, and Different and Equal Shelters
during the year reporting that they had been trafficked at least twice
previously. Some of the victims were under continuous threats from
perpetrators. Citing confidentiality concerns, a fourth shelter
providing services to victims of trafficking, the state-run Linza
Shelter, declined to provide data regarding victims. Of the 288 victims
at the shelters, 28 were internally trafficked and the remainder were
citizens returned from other countries.
Domestic and international NGOs carried out most of the country's
trafficking awareness programs. During the year the new government
began an ambitious antitrafficking awareness program in schools and
higher education curricula and was working through Ministry of Labor,
Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity employment offices on a safe
migration and overseas employment initiative that included an
antitrafficking module. In November the Government launched an
antitrafficking hotline and reported that by year's end dozens of calls
had been received.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there was
some discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and the provision of other state
services. Widespread poverty, unregulated working conditions, and poor
medical care posed significant problems for many persons with
disabilities. In September the Government finalized its National
Strategy for Handicapped Persons that lays out the Government's
priorities and plan of action for the next several years.
From January to February, the ombudsman's office performed an
inspection of mental health institutions. In the Psychiatric Hospital
of Elbasani, they found that patients had entered the mental health
institution without documentation or decisions by the courts, as the
law demands. The mental health institutions were usually under-staffed,
and the doctors typically were not neurologists or psychiatrists.
The Government acknowledged that the admission and release of
patients from mental health institutions was problematic due to the
lack of sufficient financial resources to provide adequate psychiatric
evaluations.
In 2004 the Council of Ministers enacted the Urban Designing and
Architecture Rules on People with Disabilities. The law mandates that
new public buildings be made accessible for persons with disabilities.
Although the Government has been slow to enforce the law, the rules
have increased awareness of the need to make new structures accessible
to people with disabilities, thus leading some builders to incorporate
appropriate features into new projects.
In the 2005 parliamentary elections, election authorities provided
persons with disabilities services for the first time in the country's
history. Improvements in the Electoral Code provided for wheelchair
accessible voting booths and special accommodations for the blind.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of police
violence and societal discrimination against members of minority
groups. As visible minorities, the Romani and Balkan-Egyptian
communities were subject to considerable societal abuse and
discrimination on a daily basis.
The law permits official minority status for national groups and
for ethnolinguistic groups. Greeks are the largest national minority,
followed by small groups of Macedonians and Montenegrins; Aromanians
(Vlachs) and Roma are defined as ethnolinguistic minority groups. The
Government has not provided minority status to the Balkan-Egyptian
community, thereby denying it constitutional protections against
discrimination available to other minority groups. To qualify for
minority status under the law, a group of individuals must share the
same language (other than Albanian), have documentation to prove its
distinct ethnic origin or national identity, and have distinct customs
and traditions or a link to a kinship state outside of the country. The
Government maintained that the Balkan-Egyptians did not meet some
criteria, such as a distinct language and traditions, and instead
considered them a ``community.'' Nefreta, a Balkan-Egyptian NGO,
asserted that the community has a culture, tradition, and history that
are distinct from any other group in the country, and that Balkan-
Egyptians are racially distinct as well.
During the year there were reports that police beat Roma and
Balkan-Egyptians. Nefreta reported that in at least three instances
Balkan-Egyptians were arbitrarily arrested, detained, or otherwise
abused by the police. According to Nefreta all three cases were
reported to the prosecutor's office and the ombudsman's office but the
complaints were not followed up.
There were complaints that police displaced Romani and Balkan-
Egyptian families from their homes. According to Amaro Drom, an NGO
that works with the Romani population, in July there were two assaults
on the Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities in Elbasani both stemming
from their forced eviction from land they were illegally occupying. In
the first case, 45 families were displaced and 120 individuals left
homeless when authorities destroyed their homes to make way for the
construction of an apartment building. A few days later, a Romani open-
air market was destroyed without notice in the middle of the night,
depriving 450 merchants of their livelihoods. The municipality proposed
a new location that the Roma have rejected because it was too far out
of the city. Some of the displaced found new homes in Elbasani while
the rest moved to other cities.
In 2005 the Tirana municipality demolished the homes of 18 Romani
families comprising 150 persons, reportedly without warning, leaving
them homeless in the middle of winter. The municipality demolished the
homes, located in a settlement close to the Lana River, because they
were illegal and would block the execution of its territory regulation
plan. According to Amaro Drom, the Tirana municipality first offered
the displaced persons a new location outside the city center, but
failed to keep this promise. The municipality then offered to place
them in mobile homes, an offer that the Roma rejected. A similar case
resulted in the eviction of 51 Romani families in 2004.
The Romani and Balkan-Egyptian communities were among the most
politically, economically, and socially neglected groups in the
country. Members of the Balkan-Egyptian community tended to settle in
urban areas and generally were more integrated into the economy than
the Roma. In addition to widespread societal discrimination, these
groups generally suffered from high illiteracy, particularly among
children, poor health conditions, lack of education, and marked
economic disadvantages. According to a 2006 World Bank-UN Development
Program study, approximately 80 percent of Roma lived in extreme
poverty, compared to 20 to 30 percent of the rest of the country's
population. The group's unemployment rate was 71 percent, nearly 12
times the rate for the rest of the population, and Roma had a life
expectancy 15 years less than non-Roma. The Government did not fund its
National Roma Strategy, which sought to improve the livelihood of the
community.
Because the Balkan-Egyptian community is not recognized as an
official minority, as are the Roma, they were not specifically included
in government poverty alleviation strategies.
The ethnic Greek minority pursued grievances with the Government
regarding electoral zones, Greek-language education, property rights,
and government documents. Minority leaders cited the Government's
unwillingness to recognize ethnic Greek towns outside communist-era
``minority zones''; to utilize Greek on official documents and on
public signs in ethnic Greek areas, to ascertain the size of the ethnic
Greek population, and to include a higher number of ethnic Greeks in
public administration.
While there were Greek-language public elementary schools in the
southern part of the country where most ethnic Greeks live, the Greek
cultural association Omonia complained that the community needed more
classes both within and outside the minority zones, due to overcrowded
classrooms and unfulfilled demand. Every village in the Greek zones had
its own elementary-middle (nine year) school in the Greek language,
regardless of the number of students, and Gjirokaster had two Greek-
language high schools. During the year, the Government granted an
operating license to one school in the south outside the Greek zone.
During a September visit by the Prime Minister to Greece, the
Government agreed to cooperate in the building of a Greek-language
university in the city of Gjirokaster to be funded by the Greek
government.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--NGOs claimed that police
targeted the country's homosexual community for abuse. According to the
Albanian Gay and Lesbian Association, the police often arbitrarily
arrested homosexuals and then physically and verbally abused them while
they were in detention. In August police arrested the secretary general
of Gay Albania, a gay rights NGO, and three others on prostitution
charges. The AHRG carried out an investigation and reported that while
in detention the four were mistreated by other prisoners and insulted
by prison forces. The AHRG also reported that media coverage of this
arrest did not respect the privacy of the arrested, including their HIV
status, and was manipulated to propagate antihomosexual stereotypes and
further discrimination. A 2006 UN Development Program report on HIV/
AIDS in the country stated that citizens perceived little
confidentiality in their HIV test results. Social stigmatization and
severe discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS were also common.
According to the ombudsman's office, in 2005 police at the Tirana
police commissariat detained, insulted, and physically mistreated a
member of the Gay Albania association. Medical experts verified the
mistreatment, and the ombudsman's office started an investigation. No
action had been taken against the police by year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers had the right to form
independent unions and exercised this right in practice; however,
members of the military are prohibited from joining unions. Civilian
government employees may join unions but do not have the right to
strike. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce was unionized.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, there
were no reports of such discrimination in practice.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--Citizens in all
fields of employment, except uniformed members of the armed forces and
some court employees, have the constitutional right to organize and
bargain collectively, and the law establishes procedures for the
protection of workers' rights through collective bargaining agreements;
however, labor unions operated from a weak position. In practice,
unions representing public sector employees negotiated directly with
the Government. Effective collective bargaining remained difficult, and
agreements were hard to enforce.
The law provides that all workers, except civil servants, uniformed
military, police, and some court officials, have the right to strike
and workers exercised this right in practice. The law prohibits strikes
that are declared openly to be political or that are judged by the
courts to be political.
Opposition parties claimed that approximately 10,000 public
servants were dismissed after the new government took over in 2005. The
chairman of the Civil Service Commission, however, reported that only
425 people were dismissed from the public administration. Through
September 194 complaints for unlawful job firings have been presented
to the ombudsman's office. The ombudsman's office concluded that, with
few exceptions, the dismissals were contrary to established procedures.
In July in a case brought by the AHC and the ombudsman's office, the
Constitutional Court set aside the Government's antinepotism rules that
had been the basis for many dismissals. In its finding, the court ruled
that such dismissals constituted a violation of the right of the
workers to choose their place of employment.
By year's end the urban transport park in Tirana had not reinstated
10 employees who held a five-day hunger strike in 2004 to protest
illegal dismissal. The park's director claimed that the strike violated
the workers' employment contract. However, the AHRG and ombudsman
stated that the hunger strike was legal and that the park director had
not abided by the law in the firing of the employees. The case was
brought to court, and the employees lost their claim.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, such
practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law sets the minimum age of employment at 14 and regulates the amount
and type of labor that can be performed by children under the age of
18. Children between the ages of 14 and 16 may work legally in part
time jobs during summer vacation; children between the ages of 16 and
18 can work throughout the year in certain specified jobs. The law
provided for Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity
to enforce minimum age requirements through the courts; however, there
were no reports that enforcement took place. Labor inspections of
factories in 2005 found 83 cases of underage employment. However, labor
inspectors only investigated the formal labor sector, whereas most
child labor occurred in the informal sector. The majority of factories
inspected were shoe and textile companies. More than 70 percent of the
underage workers were girls. NGOs reported that labor inspectors
charged with investigating child labor complaints did not give out
fines or penalties or initiate legal actions against those who violated
child labor laws.
The CHRCA estimated that approximately 50,000 children under the
age of 18 worked either full or part time. UNICEF estimated that 23
percent of children aged 5 to 14 years in the country were working
between 1999 and 2003; children considered to be working included those
who performed any paid or unpaid work for someone who was not a member
of the household, who performed more than four hours of housekeeping
chores in the household, or who performed other family work.
According to the CHRCA, the majority of child laborers worked as
street or shop vendors, beggars, farmers or shepherds, drug runners,
vehicle washers, textile factory workers, and shoeshine boys, some as
many as 16 hours a day. In Tirana and other cities, children, mostly
Roma, worked as beggars or sold cigarettes and other items on the
street; the police generally ignored this practice. The CHRCA also
noted that there were approximately 1,000 street children in Tirana.
Increasing numbers of children in Tirana fell victim to prostitution
and other forms of exploitation. Children were trafficked for sexual
exploitation and forced labor (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was
$145 (14,000 lek) per month. However, it was not sufficient to provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The average wage
for government workers was approximately $300 (28,950 lek) per month.
According to a 2005 report by the UNDP, 25 to 30 percent of the
population lived under the official poverty line of $47 (4,720 lek) per
month. Another 30 percent lived very close to that line. The Albanian
Institute of Statistics reported that average monthly wages in the
public sector increased 14.4 percent from 2003 to 2004.
The law establishes a 40-hour workweek; however, the actual
workweek typically was set by individual or collective agreements. Many
persons worked six days a week. The law requires payment of overtime
and rest periods; however, these provisions were not always observed in
practice. The Government had not established standards for a minimum
number of rest periods per week, limits on the maximum number of hours
worked per week, or the amount of premium pay for overtime and did not
prohibit excessive compulsory overtime.
The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity is
responsible for enforcing government occupational health and safety
standards and regulations; however, these regulations were generally
not enforced in practice. Actual workplace conditions were frequently
very poor and in some cases dangerous. During the year the media
reported a number of job-related deaths, particularly in the
construction and mining industries. The law does not provide workers
the right to remove themselves from hazardous situations without
jeopardy to their employment.
__________
ANDORRA
The Principality of Andorra is a constitutional parliamentary
democracy with a population of 81,222. Two princes--the President of
France and the Spanish bishop of Urgel--serve with joint authority as
heads of state, and a delegate represents each in the country. Free and
fair elections in April 2005 chose 28 members of the General Council of
the Valleys (General Council) that selects the head of government.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of
dealing with individual instances of abuse. However, prolonged pretrial
detention and violence against women and children were reported.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. The Council of Europe's
Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported that some prisoners
charged they were kicked while being arrested or under detention. The
report recommended strengthening safeguards against mistreatment of
persons in police custody.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has no
defense force and depends on Spain and France for external defense. The
national police, which have sole responsibility for internal security,
are organized into four areas: public security, technical support,
borders and traffic, and crime. Corruption was not a problem during the
year; there are legal provisions for investigating and addressing
allegations of corruption whenever they may occur. Some police
officials received training in other European countries during the
year.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may legally detain persons for 48
hours without charging them with a crime. Warrants are required for
arrest. The law does not provide individuals under arrest immediate
access to an attorney. Legislation provides for legal assistance
beginning 25 hours after the time of arrest. There is a system of bail.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem, and the ombudsman has
criticized it. Approximately 75 percent of lengthy detention cases
involved foreigners. Pretrial detainees made up approximately 30
percent of the prison population.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
The judiciary includes the Magistrate's Court and the Court of
Courts. Once sentencing is announced there is a 10-day period to
present an appeal to the Magistrate's Court. Upon acceptance of appeal
the report is sent to the Court of Courts where the two parties are
requested to return within a 15-day period. If the appellant or a legal
representative makes no physical appearance before the court within the
15-day period then the appeal is declared void. The highest judicial
body is the five-member Supreme Council of Justice. The two princes,
the head of government, the President of the parliament, and,
collectively, members of the lower courts, appoint one member each.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials are public and defendants can request a jury. Defendants
have the right to present evidence and consult with an attorney.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, and they have the right to
appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The civil judiciary is
independent and impartial.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for the freedoms of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. Under the constitution, the Roman Catholic Church and the
state have a special relationship; however, the Catholic Church
received no direct subsidies from the Government.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of anti-
Semitic acts against the approximately 300-person Jewish community.
For a more detailed discussion see the 2006 International Religious
Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has not established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum;
however, it cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees. At
the request of the Spanish government, the Government accepted five
Eritrean immigrants who were part of a group saved from a ship adrift
in the Mediterranean Sea. The Government said it accepted the group for
humanitarian reasons.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--General Council elections
in April 2005 were considered free and fair and allowed the
conservative Andorran Liberal Party to remain in power. Individuals and
parties could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.
There were eight women in the 28-seat General Council, and three
women in the 11-seat cabinet.
There were no members of minorities in either the General Council
or the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government permitted access in practice for citizens and non-
citizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
An ombudsman received and addressed complaints, some of which were
against the Government's policies. The ombudsman was free of government
control, and the Government was generally responsive to the ombudsman's
recommendations. The ombudsman, who is elected by consensus of all
political parties, is authorized to hear and investigate complaints by
private citizens against government officials or agencies. The
ombudsman advised the Government to follow World Health Organization
recommendations concerning work and residence permits for immigrants.
The Government's denial of permits to people with certain diseases,
including those affected by the HIV virus, is a practice that the
ombudsman stated could violate human rights.
The Andorran International Women's Association (AIWA), Caritas, the
Andorran Women's Association (AWA), and Women's Group formed a
``platform for human rights'' in January with the purpose of ensuring
that human rights are adhered to in the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law declare that all persons are equal before
the law and prohibit discrimination on grounds of birth, race, gender,
origin, opinions, or any other personal or social condition; however,
the law grants a few rights and privileges exclusively to citizens.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem. According to the
Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family, violence against women
increased during the year; the number of reports of physical abuse rose
to approximately 110 cases. There is no specific law prohibiting
domestic violence, although other laws may be applied in such cases.
Victims of domestic violence could request help from the AIWA and the
AWA, but rarely filed a complaint with the police for fear of reprisal.
The two associations reported that some women complained at the
treatment they received from police when they went to file a complaint.
Authorities reported that the number of persons prosecuted for violence
against women during the year increased, but they did not provide
statistics. The Government had a hot line and provided medical and
psychological services to victims of domestic violence but did not have
any shelters. The Government and the AIWA placed abused women and their
children in the private apartments of people who agreed to provide
shelter to them. Caritas, a religious NGO, worked closely with the
Government and the AIWA on social issues.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, which is punishable
by up to 15 years' imprisonment. Authorities enforced the law
effectively.
Prostitution is illegal and was not a problem.
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment; however, it was not
considered a problem.
The law prohibits discrimination against women privately or
professionally; however, the AWA reported that there were many cases of
women dismissed from employment due to pregnancy. Women did not earn
equal pay for equal work. Observers estimated that women earned 35
percent less than men for comparable work; this gap appeared to be
decreasing slowly.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's welfare.
Free, universal public education begins at age four and is compulsory
until age 16. The Government provides free nursery schools, although
their number continued to be insufficient. Reportedly 100 percent of
school-age children attended school. Secondary school was the maximum
level of public school offered.
Health care is free, and boys and girls had equal access.
Although violence against children was a problem, according to the
secretariat of state for the family, the number of cases was low, and
the incidence of child abuse continued to fall during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government enforced it effectively. Nevertheless, societal
discrimination against persons with disabilities existed on a small
scale, in the form of social and cultural barriers. Persons with
disabilities also faced disadvantages in the labor market. The law
mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, and
the Government generally enforced this provision. An association for
persons with disabilities operates in the principality.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Some immigrant workers
complained that although the law provides them the same labor rights as
citizens, they were not treated the same in practice.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution allows workers to
form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
However, no further specific law has been developed to protect this
right; thus workers are sometimes reluctant to admit to union
membership, fearing retaliation by their employers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government respected this right in practice. The law does not
specifically provide for collective bargaining. The minimum wage is
determined by the consumer price index; the vast majority of employees
are paid more than this. The law does not provide for the right to
strike, and there were no strikes during the year. There are no export
processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law does not
prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits children under the age of 18 from working, except in very
limited circumstances. The labor inspection office in the Ministry of
Social Welfare, Public Health, and Labor effectively enforced child
labor regulations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
$8.51 (6.50 euros) per hour, and $1,080 (825 euros) per month did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Wages
increased at a slower pace than housing and lodging costs. The labor
inspection office enforced the minimum wage effectively.
The law limits the workweek to 40 hours, although employers may
require up to 66 hours per month and 426 hours per year overtime from
workers. The law provides for premium pay for overtime. There is a
required rest period every day. The standard workday is eight hours;
workers may work up to three overtime hours per day or 15 hours per
week.
The labor inspection service sets occupational health and safety
standards and effectively enforced them. During the year the labor
inspection service received more than 200 complaints against companies
for violating labor regulations, and had the authority to levy
sanctions and fines against such companies. Although the law authorizes
employees to refuse certain tasks if their employers do not provide the
necessary level of protection, it does not provide workers the right to
remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing
their continued employment. The number of accidents at work has been
rising for a number of years; from January to October there were 5,395
accidents.
__________
ARMENIA
Armenia, with a population of approximately 3.2 million, is a
republic. The constitution provides for a popularly elected President
(Robert Kocharian) and a unicameral legislature (National Assembly). A
constitutional referendum in 2005 and Presidential and National
Assembly elections in 2003 were seriously flawed and did not meet
international standards. The country has a multiparty political system.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces; members of the security forces committed a number of
human rights abuses.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and serious
problems remained. Citizens were not able freely to change their
government; authorities beat pretrial detainees; the national security
service and the national police force acted with impunity; authorities
engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention; prison conditions were
cramped and unhealthy, although slowly improving; authorities imposed
restrictions on citizens' privacy, freedom of the press, and freedom of
assembly. Journalists practiced self-censorship, and the Government and
laws restricted religious freedom. Violence against women and spousal
abuse were problems, as were trafficking in persons, discrimination
against persons with disabilities, and societal harassment of
homosexuals. There were reports of forced labor.
There were some improvements during the year. The implementation of
constitutional reforms ratified in 2005 led to some increase in
judicial independence and for the first time gave citizens direct
access to the Constitutional Court. Penalties for trafficking were
toughened and a court for the first time imposed financial, as well as
criminal, penalties on traffickers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government and
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and
unlike in 2005, neither the Government nor advocacy groups reported any
deaths from hazing or other mistreatment during the year.
There were reports that an officer kicked a serviceman, who had
previously undergone testicular surgery, in the groin. The serviceman
later died, reportedly from cancer, after a second surgery on February
27. The officer received a one-year suspended sentence.
The military prosecutor's office said that there were no hazing-
related deaths during the year.
Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-
Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. During the year
incidents along the militarized line of contact separating the sides
again resulted in numerous casualties on both sides. Reporting from
unofficial sources indicates that approximately 20 persons were killed
and 44 were wounded, including both military and civilian casualties on
both sides of the line of contact.
All parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have laid landmines
along the 540-mile border with Azerbaijan and along the line of
contact. During the year there were reports that a landmine killed one
civilian and unexploded ordnance killed another.
On September 5, unknown persons killed a senior tax official using
a bomb apparently planted under the seat of his government car. State
prosecutors opened an investigation and arrested two suspects, based on
the testimony of the official's driver. One suspect was released from
prison on medical grounds. At year's end the investigation was ongoing.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
government security forces employed them. Witnesses continued to report
numerous cases of police beating citizens during arrest and during
interrogation while in detention. Human rights nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) reported similar allegations; however, most cases
of police mistreatment went unreported because of fear of retribution.
On November 16, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
published a report on its 2004 visit to the country. The CPT's
investigators received numerous allegations from detainees of
mistreatment by officials. One individual asserted he had received
kicks and blows with fists and truncheons on various parts of his body;
he appeared to bear bruises and other medical indications consistent
with this account. The inmate said the ill treatment stopped when he
agreed to sign a confession. Although the testimony was taken in 2004,
other portions of the report criticized the authorities for not putting
safeguards into place that might reduce the likelihood of such
treatment.
The Government reported that police conducted five internal
investigations into misconduct by off-duty police officers during the
year. Two officers were subjected to disciplinary action, and criminal
cases were opened against the remaining three, all of whom were fired.
The Government reported that during the year 20 police officers
received administrative fines (compared to 49 in 2005) for their roles
in cases involving police mistreatment of detainees. Prosecutors also
opened 11 criminal cases against some of the police officers involved;
the disposition of those cases was unclear at the end of the year.
Unlike in 2005, when there was a constitutional referendum, there
were no reports that police beat opposition supporters during the year.
There was no indication that authorities were investigating reports
that police beat opposition supporters following the 2005
constitutional referendum (see section 3).
Social norms and substandard living conditions in the armed forces
contributed to mistreatment and injuries unrelated to military
operations. Although there was no reliable and up-to-date reporting on
the full extent of military hazing, soldiers reported to human rights
NGOs that the practice continued. Local NGOs reported instances of
hazing and said parents of soldiers complained that corrupt officials
controlled military units. Authorities did not take any significant
measures to limit or stop the practice; however, 20 military personnel
were convicted in connection with criminal cases of hazing during the
year.
A soldier reported in February that fellow servicemen raped him
while they were on active duty. The case was under investigation at the
end of the year.
In August Razmik Sargsian, a soldier who had been serving a 15-year
sentence for the 2003 murder of two fellow soldiers, staged several
hunger strikes to protest his innocence. Sargsian said interrogators,
including military investigators and military police officer Aram
Baghdasaryan, physically mistreated him for five days to obtain his
confession for the killings. He claimed interrogators suspended him by
his hands and beat him and threatened him with rape. Sargisian's
confession implicated two other soldiers, and the court of first
instance sentenced all three to 15-year terms in May 2005. Following an
unsuccessful appeal, the Court of Appeals extended their sentences to
life in prison on May 30. When the defendants' lawyers, Zaruhi
Postanjian, Ashot Atoyan, and Stepan Voskanian, asserted that the
proceedings were fraudulent and designed to cover up involvement of
higher ranking personnel, state prosecutors initiated contempt
proceedings against the lawyers at the request of the three appeals
court judges who heard their cases (see section 1.e). On December 22,
in a significant assertion of judicial independence, the Court of
Cassation, the country's highest court, nullified the convictions of
the soldiers and ordered them released. The Court based its ruling on a
provision of the Criminal Procedural Code that allows a judge to send a
case back to the prosecutor's office for reinvestigation if the
original investigation was not conducted lawfully. Charges against the
soldiers remained in place at year's end.
By law detainees may file complaints prior to trial to address
alleged abuses committed by authorities during criminal investigations;
however, detainees must obtain permission from police or the
prosecutor's office in order to obtain a forensic medical examination
needed to substantiate a report of physical abuse. Human rights NGOs
reported that authorities rarely granted such permission (see section
1.e.). There were no prosecutions or convictions of police for torture
or other mistreatment during the year. Police conducted 18 internal
investigations of complaints of brutality by their officers, but
information on the outcome of these investigations was not available at
year's end.
The CPT described allegations that detainees had spent periods of
up to 10 days in various district divisions of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs in Yerevan ``in cells deprived of suitable means of rest,
without a mattress and a blanket and without food (other than that
brought by relatives).''
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor and posed a threat to health, although the Civil Society
Monitoring Board (CSMB), an organization established by government
initiative involving prison monitoring by NGO personnel, reported some
improvements as authorities began to renovate old prisons. However,
problems remained: cells were overcrowded, most did not have adequate
facilities, prison authorities did not provide most inmates with basic
hygiene supplies, and food quality remained extremely poor. The CSMB
reported in 2005 that prisoners were at high risk of contracting
tuberculosis, and adolescents held in juvenile facilities rarely
received the schooling required by law. The CSMB reported other chronic
problems, including denial of visitor privileges, medical neglect, and
in the most extreme cases, physical abuse.
In certain facilities prisoners bribed officials to obtain single
occupancy cells and to obtain additional comforts. There were also
unverified reports that authorities charged unofficial ``fees'' to
family members and friends seeking to deliver meals to inmates. In some
prisons monitors noted that prisoners had difficulty mailing letters
and that some prison officials did not adequately facilitate family
visits.
A local NGO reported that of 62 prisoners held in pretrial
detention in the Lori region between January 1 and March 17, 16 showed
signs of abuse. The NGO based its findings on prison logs in which
authorities documented the conditions of prisoners transferred from
pretrial detention. The same NGO reported that guards and
administrators at prisons in Nubarashen and Goris had beaten prisoners.
On July 23, four prisoners serving life sentences at Nubarashen
Prison attempted to escape. After they were caught they attempted
suicide and later went on a week-long hunger strike to protest prison
conditions. The Governmental human rights defender's office later sent
a task force to the prison to investigate and found that conditions at
the prison had improved with the renovation of cells and medical
facilities but remained very poor.
The CSMB monitors reported that female prisoners had more freedom
of movement than male prisoners and that their facility was cleaner and
better equipped.
Observers believed that most instances in which authorities abused
prisoners took place in pretrial detention facilities, which were under
the control of the Department of Police. Suspects may be held in such
facilities without charge for up to three days, and longer at the
request of the prosecutor general and with the assent of a judge.
The Government permitted local NGOs and international rights
groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
to monitor conditions in prisons. Authorities continued to permit
personnel of the CSMB to visit prisons without giving advance notice,
as they have done since 2004. However, despite the Government's
commitment to give the CSMB access to all detention facilities,
including holding cells and local police stations, the Department of
Police did not permit the CSMB or any other locally based organization
to visit detention facilities under its control during the year.
The ICRC was permitted to visit both prisons and pretrial detention
centers and did so in accordance with its standard modalities.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, in practice authorities continued to
arrest and detain criminal suspects without warrants.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police and
the National Security Service (NSS) are responsible for domestic
security, intelligence activities, and border control; they report
directly to the Prime Minister. Both services lacked the training,
resources, and established procedures to implement reforms or to
prevent incidents of abuse. Prisoners reported that police and NSS
authorities did little to investigate allegations of abuse. As a
result, impunity was a serious problem.
In contrast to 2005, the Government made some efforts to modernize
and reform police and security forces, although the changes had mostly
to do with infrastructure. On August 25, police opened a community
justice center in Vanadzor with help from the local affiliate of the
international NGO, Project Harmony. The center offered counseling to
first-time juvenile offenders and brought local police into public
schools for community outreach. On October 30, a new community policing
project designed to facilitate cooperation between police and civilians
was initiated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) at the Arabkir district police department in Yerevan.
Corruption remained a significant problem in the police force and
security service. Police officers routinely stopped motorists at
roadside checkpoints to extort illegal ``fees.'' Motorists reported
that traffic police generally demanded approximately $2.80 (1000 drams)
to pass a checkpoint. Investigative journalists alleged that police
inspectors and superiors received a portion of the proceeds from each
traffic stop. As a result, there were no incentives to curb the
practice and no efforts by the Government during the year to do so.
There was no dedicated mechanism for investigating police abuse. By
law citizens may sue police in court as they would sue any person
against whom they had an adjudicable complaint. The Government reported
that during the year citizens lodged 69 civil complaints against police
in court. Judges decided 26 of those cases in favor of the citizens and
dismissed the remaining 43.
Arrest and Detention.--Prosecutors and police must first obtain a
warrant from a judge in order to arrest a suspect, except to avert the
imminent flight of the suspect or when they witness a crime in
progress. Although judges rarely denied police requests for arrest
warrants, police at times made arrests without a warrant on the pretext
that detainees were material witnesses rather than suspects. The law
provides that a detainee must either be indicted or released within
three days of arrest, and this procedure was usually followed in
practice; however, in some cases police skirted this requirement by
alleging that suspects were material witnesses, who do not have the
right to prompt judicial determination or legal counsel. The law
provides for a bail system; however, most courts denied requests for
bail in favor of detention.
The law also requires police to inform detainees of their right to
remain silent, to make a phone call, and to be represented by an
attorney from the moment of arrest and before indictment (including
state-provided lawyers for indigent detainees). In practice police did
not always abide by the law. They often questioned and pressured
detainees to confess prior to indictment and in the absence of counsel.
Since witnesses do not have the right to legal counsel or prompt
judicial determination, police used this loophole to interrogate
suspects in the absence of counsel and to detain them beyond the three-
day limit for indicting suspects. Police sometimes restricted family
members' access to detainees.
During a year without national elections, there were no large
demonstrations; arbitrary detention of protestors was not a problem.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. According to the
law, a suspect may not be detained for more than 12 months awaiting
trial and authorities generally did not exceed this limit. The
Government reported that during the first nine months of the year,
pretrial detainees constituted on average about 25 percent of a prison
population of nearly 3,000.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, despite structural changes implemented
during the year that led to somewhat greater independence, courts
remained subject to political pressure from the executive and
legislative branches, and judicial corruption was a problem.
The law provides for a three-tier court system, including the
highest court (the Court of Cassation), the Court of Appeals, and
courts of first instance. Cases originate in courts of first instance;
appeals are lodged with the Court of Appeals and the Court of
Cassation. There is also a Constitutional Court, which rules on the
constitutionality of legislation, approves international agreements,
and rules on election-related questions.
Citizens' right to appeal was strengthened by changes approved in
the 2005 constitutional referendum and enacted into law on July 1.
These changes gave ordinary citizens the right to appeal to the
Constitutional Court, which previously could only accept cases proposed
by the President and approved by a two-thirds majority of the National
Assembly or cases involving election-related issues brought by the
National Assembly or Presidential candidates.
Changes to the constitution which allowed citizens to bring appeals
to the Constitutional Court took effect on July 1. From that date
through August 22, 288 citizens appealed to the court, which
immediately threw out more than 60 percent of the cases, because they
did not call into question a law's constitutionality and thus were not
within the court's mandate. Of the remaining 109 appeals, hearings were
scheduled for 13. The first hearings took place September 12 through
November 14.
The President exercised dominant influence over the judiciary,
including over the appointment and dismissal of judges and chairmen of
courts on all levels. He has the authority to make appointments based
on the recommendations of the Judicial Council, the supreme judicial
body in the country, which previously consisted of nine judges, two
legal scholars, and three prosecutors, all of whom he also appointed.
The judicial reforms that took effect on July 1 significantly reduced
the President's power to appoint members of the Judicial Council. He
subsequently had the right to appoint only two of a 13-member body; the
other members are either appointed by the National Assembly or elected
by a General Assembly of Judges by secret ballot. The Constitutional
Court is the only other exception to Presidential dominance in judicial
appointments; he appoints only four of its nine judges.
On December 22, the Court of Cassation took the highly unusual
decision of voiding two lower court decisions on the grounds that the
original investigation had not been conducted lawfully (see section
1.c.).
Even with these changes, however, the judiciary was still far from
independent. The Ministry of Justice remained responsible for the
administration of judicial exams, the disciplining of judges, and the
development of legislation relating to judicial functioning.
Trial Procedures.--The law generally requires that trials be
public, but it permits many exceptions, including when a trial's
secrecy is in the interest of ``morals,'' national security, or for the
``protection of the private lives of the participants.'' Juries are not
used. A single judge issues verdicts in courts of first instance, and
panels of judges preside over the other courts. Defendants generally
have the right, and are generally required, to be present at their
trials, but this requirement also has many exceptions. They have the
right to counsel of their own choosing, and the Government is required
to provide them with defense counsel upon request; however, this
obligation was frequently not honored in the regions outside of
Yerevan, where there often were not enough defense lawyers. Defendants
also commonly refused free counsel due to the poor quality of the
public defenders or the perception that public defenders colluded with
prosecutors.
Defendants may confront witnesses and present evidence, and they
and their attorneys may examine the Government's case in advance of
trial. Judges generally granted defendants' requests for additional
time to prepare cases. The law provides for the presumption of
innocence; in practice this right was not always observed. In one case
during the year, defendants' lawyers who criticized the outcome of
their case, were sued for contempt of court by the judges involved (see
section 1.c).
Court statistics released on August 7 indicated that fewer than 1
percent of court cases resulted in acquittals. However, these
statistics do not reflect the many cases that judges remanded to the
prosecutor's office for lack of evidence and that prosecutors dropped
and never sent back to court. Thus prosecutors, in effect, often lost
their cases during the year. According to one international NGO
specializing in legal issues, pretrial investigations lasted an average
of one to three months. Both defendants and prosecutors have the right
to appeal.
There were reports that prosecutors used confessions obtained
through methods that some NGOs asserted amounted to torture, as central
elements of their cases. Defense lawyers may present evidence of
torture to overturn improperly obtained confessions; however,
defendants stated that judges and prosecutors refused to admit such
evidence into court proceedings, even when the perpetrator could be
identified.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Armen Babajanian, the editor of
the opposition newspaper Yerevan Zhamanak, was arrested on June 26 and
charged with document forgery and evasion of military service. He was
convicted on September 8. Babajanian admitted his guilt, but his four-
year sentence was somewhat harsher than is customary, and some
observers charged that he was the victim of selective enforcement.
Apart from this possible exception, there were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The same courts hear civil
and criminal cases. Citizens had access to courts to bring lawsuits
seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation;
however, the courts were widely perceived as corrupt, and potential
litigants in civil cases often evaluated the advisability of bringing
suit on the basis of whether they or their opponents had greater
resources with which to influence judges. Citizens also had access to
the ombudsman's office, and during the year they were given access to
the Constitutional Court when they judged that constitutional rights
were not being protected (see sections 1.e., and 4).
Residents of approximately 100 houses in downtown Yerevan that were
razed to make way for a new boulevard lost a number of court cases
protesting their evictions during the year. The Constitutional Court
ruled on April 18 that the 2002 government decision that made the
demolitions possible violated parts of the constitution, but the court
did not obligate authorities to return the remaining houses to their
former owners.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits unauthorized searches and provides
for the right to privacy and confidentiality of communications;
however, the Government did not always respect these rights in
practice.
There were several reports of government surveillance of opposition
Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovhannesian. The party also reported that
its members were harassed and threatened (see section 3).
By law, judges may authorize authorities to wiretap a telephone or
intercept correspondence only after being presented with compelling
evidence; however, the law was not strictly enforced in practice, and
some judges arbitrarily granted permission.
At times police maintained surveillance of draft-aged men to
prevent them from fleeing the country.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government partially
limited freedom of speech. There were incidents of violence,
intimidation, and self-censorship in the press.
The law prohibits incitement to national, racial, or religious
animosity. There were no prosecutions under this provision during the
year, unlike in 2005 when Armen Avetisyan, the leader of the Union of
Armenian Aryans, was convicted of this offense and given a three-year
suspended sentence for making anti-Semitic and anti-Yezidi statements
in a press interview (see section 2.c.).
Most newspapers were privately owned with the exception of
government-sponsored Hayastani Hanrapetutyun and its Russian-language
version, Respublika Armenii. The print media pursued stories vigorously
and expressed a wide variety of views without restriction, but no media
outlet was completely independent of patronage from economic or
political interest groups or individuals.
Newspaper circulation was very limited, and most of the population
relied on television and radio for news and information. There were
more than 20 radio and 45 television stations, most of them privately
operated. In Yerevan and regional cities, private television stations
generally offered news coverage of good technical quality; however, the
substantive quality of news reporting on television and radio varied.
Most stations were owned by progovernment politicians or well-connected
businessmen, factors that led journalists to engage in self-censorship.
Major broadcast media outlets generally expressed progovernment views.
Public Television of Armenia (H1) generally avoided editorial
commentary or reporting critical of the Government.
In 2003 the National Commission for Television and Radio (NCTVR),
the governing body for the country's media whose members are all
appointed by President Kocharian, awarded a progovernment national
television channel, Kentron TV, a broadcast frequency that had
previously belonged to A1-Plus, one of the country's last politically
independent television stations. Observers alleged the decision was
politically motivated due to A1-Plus's previous criticism of the
Kocharian administration. During the year A1-Plus continued its
unsuccessful efforts to obtain a license to resume broadcasting. Since
A1-Plus lost its license it has unsuccessfully filed 12 applications
for radio or television licenses. An OSCE report, The State of Media
Freedom in Armenia, released in July, recommended that the composition
of the NCTVR and similar regulatory bodies be changed to represent the
political diversity of the country and to include NGOs and professional
associations.
In September, in an action unusual in a National Assembly where the
ruling coalition has a comfortable majority, lawmakers rejected
government-sponsored legislation that would have altered regulation of
the media. The legislation would have further restricted media freedom,
reduced or eliminated television coverage of National Assembly
sessions, and altered the composition of the NCTVR. Under the
Government proposal, the National Assembly would appoint half of the
members of the NCTVR and the President the other half, but none would
be selected by other elements of society as recommended by the OSCE
report.
International media outlets generally operated freely.
The editor of the opposition newspaper Yerevan Zhamanak was
arrested on June 26 and charged with document forgery and evasion of
military service. He was convicted on September 8.
Although he admitted guilt, Armen Babajanian's four-year sentence
was harsher than is customary for such offenses, and some observers
regarded him as a victim of selective enforcement see section 1.e).
There were unconfirmed reports of several incidents of harassment
and intimidation of journalists that appeared to be related to their
journalistic activities.
Independent investigative journalist Edik Baghdasarian reported
that in July he began to receive e-mail threats following the
publication of two articles on his Web site criticizing a new political
party.
Journalist Gagik Shamshian, who works for opposition-owned Chorrord
Ishkhanutiun newspaper, reported that a gang of men attacked him on
July 11 after he publicly accused the local district prefect's father
of threatening him. He had written an article saying that two men
arrested on charges of bank robbery were relatives of the prefect.
Shamshian claimed the prefect's brother was among his attackers.
Shamshian said law enforcement officials harassed him after the attacks
for refusing to retract his testimony against the prefect's brother.
The local police told Shamshian they had received complaints detailing
criminal activity on his part, which he denied. Several weeks later, he
retracted the allegations. The criminal case against him went to court
December 14, with no verdict by year's end. On July 20, an unknown
person broke the windows of Chorrord Ishkhanutiun's office, poured
gasoline on the windowsills, and set them on fire. Citing
disillusionment with the country's law enforcement officers, Chorrord
Ishkhanutiun did not ask for a police investigation. The editor said
she wasn't sure of the motive behind the fire; however, others drew a
connection between the incident and the paper's reporting on the
district prefect.
On September 6, unknown persons assaulted Ovannes Galagzhyan, the
editor-in-chief of the opposition-sponsored newspaper Iravunk, in an
attack he believed was related to political topics discussed in his
newspaper.
There was no official censorship, although journalists and
opposition parties complained that the Government put pressure on
television stations not to grant air time to several out-of-favor
politicians. Print and broadcast journalists continued to practice
self-censorship because of pressure from official sources and from
economic self-interest.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet cafes were widely available in the cities, although local ISP
connections were often too slow to be useful.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no restrictions
on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but there
were some limits on this right. Organizers are not required to obtain a
government permit to stage a rally or demonstration but are required to
notify authorities in advance of their plans for such events. There
were also locations, such as military installations and sensitive power
generation facilities, where persons could not demonstrate without
permission. The law empowers police to break up illegal rallies and
demonstrations, particularly those that encourage violence and the
overthrow of the Government. During the year police did not break up
demonstrations.
The Government did not interfere when small rallies took place
without permission.
There were reports that government authorities hindered political
party meetings and pressured property owners to evict opposition
parties from meeting facilities. For example, during the year the
opposition Heritage Party was evicted from its offices, ostensibly over
a lease dispute (see section 3). In May 2005 Aram Karapetyan asserted
that his New Times opposition party was evicted from its headquarters
in Yerevan following pressure on the landlord by government officials.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected it in practice.
However, registration requirements for all political parties,
associations, and secular and religious organizations remained
cumbersome, exacting, and time-consuming. The law stipulates that
citizens have the right to form associations, including political
parties and trade unions, except for persons serving in the armed
services and law enforcement agencies. As in previous years, no human
rights groups or political organizations reported problems with
registration, although the Heritage Party reported harassment of its
members (see section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, there were some restrictions in practice. The Armenian
Apostolic Church has formal legal status as the national church, which
gives it privileges not afforded to other faiths. The law gives
minority religious groups that register with the Government specific
rights, such as the right to publish newspapers and magazines, rent
meeting places on government property, broadcast television or radio
programs, and sponsor official visitors. Unregistered religious
organizations may only import small quantities of religious literature
for private use. The law also requires all religious organizations
except the Armenian Apostolic Church to obtain prior permission to
engage in public religious activities. There were no reports that
religious groups were denied, or otherwise had problems with,
registration.
The law prohibits incitement to national, racial, or religious
animosity. There were no prosecutions under this provision during the
year, unlike in 2005 when Armen Avetisyan, the leader of the Union of
Armenian Aryans, was convicted of this offense and given a three-year
suspended sentence for making anti-Semitic and anti-Yezidi statements
in a press interview.
Although the country has a law providing alternative service for
conscientious objectors, the military services themselves administer
the alternative service, and many members of Jehovah's Witnesses
refused the alternative program for that reason. At year's end,
according to Jehovah's Witnesses lawyers, 52 of their members were in
prison, 49 of them serving sentences and three awaiting trial.
On October 27, the Jewish community, with assistance from the
Government and other groups, unveiled a new Holocaust memorial to
replace the old one that had been vandalized earlier in the year.
The law prohibits proselytizing--which is left undefined in the
law--by minority religions and bans foreign funding for foreign-based
churches; neither ban was enforced. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints reported police harassment of missionaries in July
2005; however, church officials said members had not experienced any
harassment since then.
The Jehovah's Witnesses organization reported that an Armenian
Apostolic priest assaulted two of its members on August 21. According
to the group, one of the victims suffered a broken arm and a
concussion. The group said police opened an investigation but quickly
ended it, stating that the priest expressed remorse for his crime.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal attitudes toward most
minority religions were ambivalent. Unlike in 2005, Yezidi leaders said
that they had received no reports that police and local authorities
discriminated against them.
According to observers the general population viewed ``non-
traditional'' religious groups with suspicion and expressed negative
attitudes about members of Jehovah's Witnesses because of their
proselytizing practices and because they refused to serve in the armed
forces. Members of Jehovah's Witnesses continued to experience
occasional societal discrimination.
On March 17, two young members of the Union of Armenian Aryans, a
small ultranationalist group, distributed a leaflet in the city of
Vanadzor calling for death to members of religious sects. The staff of
a local human rights NGO that reported the incident to the local
prosecutor's office received e-mailed death threats June 18.
There were reports of isolated incidents in which Protestants in
rural areas were fired from their jobs because of their religious
beliefs.
Jewish community leaders estimated the community's size at between
500 and 1,000 persons (the Government does not provide official figures
for religious adherents), but unlike in 2005, leaders of the Jewish
community said that they had no reports of harassment of Jews during
the year.
In September the environment minister, Vardan Ayvazian, publicly
referred to representatives of a foreign mining company during a press
conference as ``kikes.''
There were no reports that individuals or groups distributed anti-
Semitic literature.
Approximately one thousand Muslims resided in the capital. There
was no formally operating mosque, although one surviving 18th century
mosque in the capital remained open for Friday prayers without
government interference, though it was not officially registered.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
c. Freedom of Movement Within The Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, but
there were some restrictions in practice.
The Government generally did not restrict internal movement.
Corruption and an inefficient bureaucracy hindered citizens' efforts to
register changes in their status, including changes in official places
of residence. This hampered efforts to emigrate. To leave the country
on a temporary or permanent basis, citizens must obtain an exit visa.
Exit visas for temporary travel out of the country may be routinely
purchased at a cost of approximately $2.80 (1,000 drams) for each year
of validity and may be purchased when a passport is issued for the
entire term of validity of the passport. Visas may also be obtained
later. There was an official 10-day waiting period for visas, but
officials commonly agreed to expedite them in exchange for bribes up to
about $30 (10,714 drams). Citizens who opted not to purchase the
appropriate visas, but attempted to depart the country, were not
permitted to leave.
The exit visa process is more difficult for citizens leaving the
country permanently. The registration agency must deregister them,
which entails sending queries to numerous other agencies to determine
whether the citizen has any outstanding debts or obligations. The
process commonly took several months to complete, and according to some
citizens, authorities used the exit permit process to exact bribes
which, by some accounts, totaled hundreds of dollars. Permission to
depart the country permanently may be denied to persons who possess
state secrets, are subject to military service, are involved in pending
court cases, or who have outstanding financial obligations. Men of
military age who have not completed service requirements must overcome
substantial bureaucratic obstacles to travel abroad, including
excessive delays in processing and officials soliciting bribes for exit
stamps.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but there were no reports
that the Government employed it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Norwegian Refugee Council
(NRC) found in a study released in 2005 that 8,399 IDPs lived in the
country. The NRC said the number did not change during the year.
During the country's war with Azerbaijan, the Government evacuated
approximately 65 thousand households from the border region, but most
returned or settled elsewhere. Of the 8,399 remaining IDPs, almost two-
thirds could not return to their villages, which were surrounded by
Azerbaijani territory, and others chose not to return due to socio-
economic vulnerability or a fear of land mines. IDPs enjoyed full
rights as citizens, but the Government did not provide special programs
to help them adjust to their new surroundings. IDPs had access to
international assistance programs and there were no reports of abuse of
IDPs.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
most refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum
during the year.
As of December 26, 646 persons had applied for asylum and the
Government granted 120 of those requests. Two were granted refugee
status, and the Government provided temporary protection to 118
individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There was an established procedure for granting asylum; however, a
combination of frequent rotations of inexperienced border officials and
little training on asylum procedures, at times caused delays and
difficulties with refugee processing at airports and land borders.
International organizations asserted that Russian border guards usually
came into first contact with would-be asylum-seekers at the borders
with Turkey and Iran, as well as at the main international airport in
Yerevan, and often refused them entry without informing either the
Government or the UNHCR. However, the Russian guards, who operated on
the basis of an agreement between the two countries, were being phased
out.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Although the law provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, that right was restricted in practice due to
repeated flaws in the conduct of elections.
Elections and Political Participation.--International observers
found the 2003 Presidential and National Assembly elections to be well
below international standards. There were serious irregularities,
including ballot box stuffing, discrepancies in vote counts, partisan
election commissions, and wide use of government resources to support
the incumbent President. Domestic observers noted similar
irregularities in local elections in September and October 2005.
In November 2005 a series of constitutional amendments were
approved by a national referendum which made potentially significant
changes in the division of powers between the branches. Although the
balloting was conducted mostly without incident, Council of Europe
observers reported discrepancies between the reported results and the
apparent lack of turnout (a two-thirds majority of all registered
voters was required for adoption, and a previous constitutional
referendum had failed for lack of turnout). Domestic observers reported
ballot stuffing, unauthorized individuals accompanying voters to the
voting booths and ballot boxes to instruct them on how to vote, and
intimidation of opposition observers. As it was technically not
required to do so, the Government declined to invite the OSCE to
observe the voting process.
Authorities harassed opposition supporters. On March 4, the
Ministry of Justice's Department of State Property Management, armed
with a court order, evicted the opposition Heritage Party from its
offices, ostensibly over a lease dispute. When the party staff was
allowed to return temporarily on May 29, they reported that their
central computer had been hacked on March 8. Party officials reported
instances of harassment of party members throughout the country after
March 8 and attributed them to the hacking of the computer, which
contained addresses and telephone numbers of party members.
There was a widespread public perception, reflected in the press
and the speeches of politicians, that a small elite of ``oligarchs''
exercised disproportionate influence on public affairs.
The Orinats Yerkir party lost many members following its withdrawal
from the governing coalition on May 12. Party leader Artur Baghdasarian
asserted later that the President's office had pressured them to leave
the faction, and there were reports that members were threatened with
loss of employment and the closure of their businesses.
There were seven women in the 131-seat National Assembly but none
in the cabinet.
There were no members of ethnic minorities in the National Assembly
or cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was widespread,
as was citizens' awareness of it. In an August Gallup poll commissioned
by a foreign organization, one in 10 respondents, asked to name the
most serious problem facing the country, named corruption, placing it
in third place behind economic concerns and the problem of Nagorno-
Karabakh. The country scored 2.9 in Transparency International's 2005
Corruption Perceptions Index. The index reflects the perceptions of
business people and country analysts using a scale of zero to 10 with
zero being considered highly corrupt. Amalia Kostanian, head of the
local affiliate of Transparency International stated that the expert
and public perception was that corruption was increasing. However, the
public, which rarely protested practices such as routine bribe-paying,
was generally politically apathetic and appeared to be resigned to the
prevalence of corruption.
The Government did not adequately maintain its own anticorruption
programs. For example, an anticorruption council headed by the Prime
Minister met only twice during the year, violating its own regulations,
and a monitoring commission established by the council did not meet at
all during the year.
According to the Government, 69 government officials were charged
in 46 corruption cases during the year. At least 16 of those officials
were convicted under anticorruption laws. The disposition of the
remaining cases was unclear at year's end.
The law provides for access to government information as well as
for its dissemination, but in practice the Government rarely provided
access. In July the Yerevan mayor's office, which in 2005 was described
by an NGO focusing on freedom of information as one of the worst
providers of information access, set up an information center in city
hall. Though the office was still in its infancy at year's end, the
same NGO described the staff of the center as serious about its work.
Citizens had little awareness of their right to information, and
those who were aware of this right were often unable to exercise them.
The first instinct of government employees generally was to block
access to information rather than to provide it. In some cases the
officials themselves were not aware of laws providing for freedom of
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restrictions, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views.
During the year more than 20 independent local religious and human
rights organizations and local affiliates of international
organizations operated in the country. They included the Armenian
Helsinki Committee, the Civil Society Institute, the Helsinki Citizens'
Assembly, Hope and Help, the International Committee of the Red Cross,
Junior Achievement, Mission Armenia, the Open Society Institute, and
Transparency International. The Government, while not soliciting
contacts with these organizations, generally did not deny requests to
meet with domestic NGO monitors. Authorities followed some of their
recommendations, particularly those related to social welfare,
education, or those involving local matters.
With one possible exception, NGOs did not report experiencing
reprisals for criticizing the authorities. On one occasion authorities
subjected an NGO that had accused an official of wrongdoing in relation
to trafficking, to an unexpected tax inspection (see section 5).
There was no progress in the investigation into the 2004 incident
in which unknown persons beat Mikael Danielyan, the director of the
Helsinki Committee human rights NGO, after Danielyan had given a
controversial interview to an Azerbaijani newspaper. Authorities
suspended the investigation shortly after the incident.
The Government was generally cooperative with international NGOs.
It permitted visits by international organizations to prisons and in
the case of the ICRC, to detention centers operated by the police.
In 2005 the country's first human rights ombudsman complained that
government interference, including a ruling by the Constitutional
Court, limited her ability to influence the Government's implementation
of her recommendations. On February 17, the National Assembly elected a
successor. One of his first actions was to petition the Constitutional
Court to rule find government decision to expropriate residential
houses and apartments in certain parts of downtown Yerevan to be
unconstitutional (see section 1.e.). Although the court did so, it did
not provide any remedies for the citizens deprived of their property
without adequate compensation.
From February 17, when the new ombudsman took office, through
December 11, the ombudsman's office received 1,178 citizen complaints.
At year's end there was no information on the disposition of these
complaints.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status, but there was societal
discrimination against women, ethnic minorities, persons with
disabilities, and homosexuals.
Women.--There is no law against domestic violence. Few cases of
spousal abuse or other violence against women were reported during the
year, although such violence was believed to be widespread. While there
was no recent information on the extent of the problem, in a 2001
survey, 45 percent of the (female) respondents acknowledged that family
members subjected them to psychological abuse, and 25 percent
considered themselves victims of physical abuse. Most cases of domestic
violence were not reported to police because victims were afraid of
physical harm, were apprehensive that police would return them to their
husbands, or were embarrassed to make family problems public. Several
NGOs in the Yerevan and Gyumri areas provided shelter and assistance,
including psychological and legal counseling, to battered women.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense and carries a
maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment. In the first nine months of
the year, authorities registered 31 cases of rape and attempted rape;
however, societal stigma contributed to the underreporting of those
crimes. Authorities prosecuted and convicted 14 individuals involved in
seven cases of rape, and five individuals involved in three cases of
attempted rape during the year. In 2005 authorities prosecuted 21
individuals charged with these offenses.
Prostitution and sex tourism are not illegal, but operating
brothels is prohibited. Operating a brothel and engaging in other forms
of pimping are punishable by one to 10 years' imprisonment. According
to the NGO Hope and Help, there were fewer than 5,000 prostitutes,
approximately 1,500 of them in Yerevan. Police and other security
forces were complicit in, or tolerated, prostitution.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment, although
it addresses lewd acts and indecent behavior. Society generally did not
consider cases of sexual harassment important enough to justify legal
action. Although there were no official statistics, sexual harassment
appeared to be widespread.
Men and women enjoy equal legal status, although gender
discrimination existed and was a continuing problem in the public and
private sectors. According to a survey conducted 2005 in Yerevan, women
earned on average 40 percent of what men earned. Women generally were
not afforded the same professional opportunities as men and often were
relegated to more menial or low-skill jobs.
Children.--The Government was committed to protecting children's
rights and welfare, but it did not allocate resources sufficient to
fulfill this commitment.
Education is free, universal, and compulsory through age 14;
secondary education is provided through the complete secondary level.
According to the UN Development Program, in 2003, 84 percent of
students completed schooling through age 14, and 36 percent studied
through age 16. Many facilities were impoverished and in poor
condition. Access to education in rural areas remained difficult, and
work in the fields during harvest season took precedence over school
for many children. Lack of funding to provide heat prompted school
officials in many areas to extend winter school breaks by as much as an
additional month. Many teachers demanded bribes from parents in return
for good or passing grades.
In 2005 the Government began to focus on education reform, and the
2005-2006 national budget included an allocation for increases in
educators' salaries.
A 2004 survey commissioned by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) found
that school drop-out rates were high for children from poor
communities. NGOs reported that school absenteeism was also on the
rise.
A high percentage of children in the Yezidi community did not
attend school, partly for economic reasons and partly because schools
lacked Yezidi teachers and books in their native language. In September
the Government published and distributed Kurdish-language primary
school textbooks for Yezidi schoolchildren. The Government also
published Assyrian-language primary school textbooks during the year.
Free basic health care was available to boys and girls through age
eight but often was of poor quality, and officials often demanded overt
or concealed payment for services.
Physical abuse of children was not believed to be a serious
problem, and the prosecutor general's office did not report any cases
during the year. UNICEF reported that psychological abuse was
widespread and that in 2004 there had been a few registered cases of
sexual abuse in special education schools.
Experts believed child marriage was a problem among the small
Yezidi and Kurdish ethnic minorities, but there were no specific
reports of this practice during the year.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Observers did not believe that child labor was a serious problem
(see section 6.d.).
UNICEF reported that the number of children begging or working on
the street appeared to be on the decline. Abuse of street children did
not appear to be a serious problem.
Trafficking in Persons.--Authorities reported that the country was
a source and transit point for women and girls trafficked primarily for
sexual exploitation to the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. It was
also, to a lesser extent, a destination for women trafficked for sexual
exploitation. There were also reports of men being trafficked to Russia
for labor.
According to the general prosecutor's office, at least 40 persons
were victims of trafficking during the year, including four victims
exploited within the country and 36 exploited in the United Arab
Emirates, Turkey, and Russia. The general prosecutor's office also
reported that 99 persons were victims of pimping during the year,
including 38 exploited within the country and 61 exploited in the UAE
and Turkey. Trafficking organizations typically recruited victims who
were already engaged in local prostitution. The majority of identified
victims were aware that they were being recruited to work in the sex
industry in other countries; however, they were unaware of the
traffickers' intent or the true exploitive circumstances of the
conditions in destination countries. Once in the country of
destination, victims were deprived of their travel documents, locked in
hotel rooms, and told that they must ``repay'' their expenses. This
initial consent, unfortunately contributed to an overall lack of
identification of trafficking by authorities. There were reports that
traffickers encouraged women to become recruiters, promising them that
they could keep a percentage of their recruits' earnings. Women engaged
in prostitution, orphans who had outgrown their institutions, the
homeless, and those in difficult financial situations were at
particular risk of being trafficked. Trafficking victims, who came
largely from impoverished communities, were at greatly increased risk
of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and there were some
reported incidents of physical violence.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons. On July 16, the National
Assembly adopted legislation that toughened trafficking penalties. The
new law made trafficking in persons punishable by imprisonment for
three to 15 years, depending on whether there were aggravating factors
such as the death of victims or involvement of a minor.
During the first nine months of the year, eight defendants were
convicted under the trafficking statute, according to the prosecutor
general's office. During that same period, courts convicted 18
defendants under the pimping statute.
On December 12, a court in Gyumri ruled on the country's first
labor trafficking case, sentencing the trafficker, Ararat Muradyan, to
five years' imprisonment. The court also ordered the defendant to
provide financial restitution to the victims, the first order for
restitution in any trafficking case. In April 2004 the three male
victims, including a 16-year-old boy, had been sent to the Russian
republic of Tatarstan for construction work; they were held against
their will and forced to work for 16 months before the Tatarstan
authorities freed them.
In November 2005 the prosecutor general's office opened a criminal
case on charges of trafficking against Ashot Hovsepyan, and Sos
Meliksetyan, a local nightclub manager. They were charged with
trafficking four victims for work in a nightclub. This was the first
clear indication that the country was a destination for trafficking.
The NGO Hope and Help took the victims into its shelter. On January 8,
a court sentenced Meliksetyan to two years' correctional labor, and a
warrant for Hovsepyan's arrest was outstanding at year's end.
A governmental interagency commission, the national police, the
prosecutor's office, and the NSS are responsible for coordinating and
implementing antitrafficking policy and for combating trafficking. The
Government actively sought bilateral cooperation with several
trafficking destination countries and regularly shared information with
these partners.
Victims reported that Russian and Armenian border guards were
easily bribed. Some prosecutors were also reportedly complicit in
trafficking. Allegations of official complicity with traffickers
continued to hurt the credibility of the Government's antitrafficking
efforts. There were persistent allegations that senior members of the
prosecutor general's office were susceptible to outside influence. Some
observers asserted that agreements between corrupt court officials and
traffickers were also common. Unlike in previous years there were no
reports that police employees and employees of the country's
international airport assisted traffickers with transportation of
victims to and through the country.
In February the Government established a task force to investigate
allegations of misconduct against an investigator in the prosecutor
general's antitrafficking unit. After a cursory investigation, the task
force reported no evidence of wrongdoing. In August a group of alleged
trafficking victims, assisted by an NGO, brought new allegations of
corruption and complicity against the same investigator and another
official. A few days after the allegations were brought to the
Government's attention, tax inspectors launched an investigation into
the NGO's finances (see section 4). The prosecutor general created a
task force that included members of antitrafficking NGOs to investigate
the officials, who remained in charge of the original case during the
internal investigation. The internal investigation commission found no
evidence of wrongdoing; however, the investigators were transferred out
of the antitrafficking unit, and one was demoted from senior
investigator to investigator.
Upon their return from abroad, many trafficking victims feared
societal stigma and discrimination and were reluctant to help locate
and prosecute their traffickers. Government officials did not require
victims to provide such assistance, but they worked with victims who
were willing to do so. Judges did not prosecute victims in trafficking
cases for violating laws but often denied them counsel and subjected
them to humiliating treatment during trials.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGOs
Hope and Help, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), and
Democracy Today, operated assistance programs for trafficking victims
with funding from foreign governments. Between March and November 14,
UMCOR and Hope and Help shelters assisted 23 victims, more than in all
of 2005. The Government did not offer financial assistance but
increasingly referred victims to these organizations. The NGOs
maintained two hotlines for trafficking victims.
NGOs, international organizations, and the Government conducted
trafficking prevention activities, primarily educational and mass media
programs to raise public awareness. International organizations trained
the Government's consular corps to identify signs of trafficking, and
in June the Government, with international assistance, published a
manual with guidelines for interviewing and repatriating trafficking
victims for use by consular officers abroad.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and the provision of other state services; however,
discrimination was a problem. The law and a special government decree
mandate accessibility to buildings for persons with disabilities, but
in practice very few buildings and other facilities were accessible to
them.
In September the Government allocated about $33,000 (12 million
drams) for the printing of Braille textbooks.
Institutionalized patients often lacked medication, and care was
substandard. Hospitals, residential care, and other facilities for
persons with serious disabilities were also substandard.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, but the Government
provided insufficient resources to the ministry to permit fulfillment
of this responsibility.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Yezidi community, which
numbers between 30,000 and 40,000 persons according to its leaders,
speaks a dialect of Kurdish and practices a religion derived from
Zoroastrianism, Islam, and animism. Unlike in previous years, Yezidi
leaders did not complain that police and local authorities subjected
their community to discrimination. However, on December 7, a woman and
three teenagers set themselves on fire in front of the Presidential
palace to protest the lack of local government response to the November
murder of one of their relatives. Other Yezidi villagers involved in
the protest said they believed the lack of response resulted from local
government corruption rather than from discrimination.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Persons who were openly
gay were exempted from military service, purportedly because of
concerns that they would be abused by fellow servicemen. The local
Helsinki Association and other observers reported cases of police
harassment of homosexuals through blackmail, extortion, and, on
occasion, violence.
On August 9, an openly gay businessman was found dead in his
apartment. The police investigation focused mainly on the man's
possible sexual partners. Local observers reported that in the course
of the police investigation, officers indiscriminately rounded up gay
men in a city park for questioning.
Many employers discriminated by age, most commonly requiring that
job applicants be between the ages of 18 and 30. After the age of 40,
workers, particularly women, had little chance of finding jobs
appropriate to their education or skills.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers, except for
those serving in the armed services and law enforcement agencies (see
section 2.b.), with the right to form and to join unions of their
choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements, but
most workers did not exercise this right in practice. Labor
organizations remained weak because of employer resistance, high
unemployment, and poor economic conditions.
The Confederation of Labor Unions (CLU) estimated there were
441,000 members of 24 trade unions. There were also other labor unions
that did not belong to the CLU. Labor unions were generally inactive,
with the exception of those connected with the mining industry.
However, some mining enterprises, including some financed by foreign
capital, discouraged employees from joining labor unions with the
implied threat of loss of employment.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference. Although the
law provides for collective bargaining, in practice there was none.
Factory directors generally set pay scales without consulting
employees. Regular or economic courts arbitrated labor disputes.
The law provides for the right to strike, except for members of the
armed services and law enforcement agencies, but workers rarely went on
strike. The law also prohibits retaliation against strikers, although
it sometimes occurred.
In June 2005 the Ararat Gold Recovery Company (AGRC) fired 24
employees at its gold mining facility near Zod, allegedly for
organizing a May 2005 strike over wages and workplace safety. AGRC
initially dismissed 463 employees and required them to reapply for
their positions; it did not rehire 11 employees who were members of the
Lernagorts labor union and 13 unaffiliated employees. Four sued AGRC
for reinstatement. One won the court case and was rehired but was fired
again soon after. The other three lost their cases. AGRC maintained it
fired the employees on legitimate grounds.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace. The minimum age for employment is 16; children may work
from age 14 with parental and labor union permission. The Armenian
State Labor Inspectorate is responsible for child labor law compliance,
but the inspectorate, community councils, unemployment offices, and, as
a final board of appeal, the courts, enforced the law unevenly.
Children under the age of 18 are prohibited from working overtime or in
harmful and dangerous conditions, at night, and on holidays.
According to the Employment Service Agency, some children were
involved in family businesses, as well as in other activities not
prohibited by law. Observers also reported seeing children in Yerevan
selling flowers and working in local markets after school hours.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government sets the minimum
wage by decree. The monthly minimum wage of approximately $55.60
(20,000 drams) did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. While businesses generally observed the law for their
registered employees, there were reports that employers did not
register some employees and paid them lower than minimum wage. In 2004,
the most recent year for which information was available, 6.4 percent
of the population lived on less than $1 per day, while 34.6 percent
lived on slightly more than that amount. The Government did not enforce
the minimum wage law effectively.
The law sets the workweek at 40 hours and provides for mandatory
rest periods and overtime compensation. In the mining sector, employers
allow limited sick leave with the presentation of a medical
certificate. There were reports that employers fired employees who took
extended sick leave.
In April 2005 the Employment Service Agency officially replaced the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as the Government's chief
enforcement agency for workers' rights, occupational health, and safety
standards. In its second year, the inspectorate made little progress
toward implementing an inspection regime or the requirements of the
labor code.
Workers had the legal right to remove themselves from work
situations that endangered health and safety, but they were unlikely to
do so because such an action would place their employment at risk, and
jobs were scarce. The law requires the Government to set occupational
and health standards, but by year's end the Government had not done so.
__________
AUSTRIA
Austria is a parliamentary democracy with constitutional power
shared between the popularly elected President and the bicameral
Federal Assembly (parliament). The country's eight million citizens
choose their government representatives in periodic, free, and fair
multiparty elections. In 2004 voters elected President Heinz Fischer of
the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) to a six-year term.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some
reports of police abuse and use of unjustified force against prisoners.
Anti-Semitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling,
property damage, and threatening letters, telephone calls, and Internet
postings occurred during the year. There was some governmental and
societal discrimination against Muslims and members of unrecognized
religious groups, particularly those considered ``sects.'' There were
incidents of neo-National Socialist activity, rightwing extremism, and
xenophobia. Trafficking in women and children for prostitution and
labor also remained a problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
In August a Vienna court found four members of the elite Wiener
Einsatzgruppe Alarmabteilung police unit guilty of torturing and
seriously injuring Gambian asylum seeker Bakary J. earlier in the year
during a predeportation incident. Three police officers received eight-
month suspended sentences, and a fourth officer was given a six-month
suspended sentence. The Austrian chapter of Amnesty International
criticized the verdict as being too lenient.
In August the attorney for a Nigerian asylum seeker claimed that
Austrian police physically injured him during his forced deportation.
The incident occurred in Frankfurt, Germany after the Nigerian refused
to board a plane to Nigeria.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
reports that police beat and abused persons.
In 2005 the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) reported a ``considerable number'' of allegations of
police mistreatment of criminal detainees. The interior ministry
investigated these cases but concluded that none of the accusations
could be verified.
During the year the Government continued to deny an extradition
request from Kosovo authorities in the case of a police officer
convicted in absentia for torture while serving in Kosovo's civilian
international police in 2003. The Government recalled the officer from
Kosovo, but allowed him to remain on duty during the investigation.
Following the investigation, the officer was removed from his former
job in the Ministry of Interior and demoted to a lower position. In
October the Government officially closed the case.
There were no reports during the year that army officials
mistreated conscripts.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards in many areas, and the Government
permitted visits by independent human rights observers. A May report by
the Human Rights Advisory Council explicitly criticized pre-deportation
conditions in 2005 as ``questionable from a human rights point of
view,'' and, at times ``not in conformity with human rights
standards.''
Some human rights observers criticized the incarceration of
nonviolent offenders, such as persons awaiting deportation, for long
periods in single cells or inadequate facilities designed for temporary
detention. In 2005 the CPT noted that juveniles were not always
separated from adults at the Linz prison.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions; however, the strict application of slander laws tended to
discourage reports of police abuse.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a
police force that is responsible for maintaining internal security. The
Ministry of Interior controls the police, while the Ministry of Defense
controls the army, which is responsible for external security. The
police were generally well trained and disciplined.
On August 31, a senior Vienna police officer, Ernst Geiger,
received a three-month suspended sentence for violation of
confidentiality rules. Geiger had allegedly informed the owner of a
sauna of an upcoming police raid on March 9. Vienna's top police
official, Roland Horngacher, was suspended from office on August 9 and
faces charges of accepting improper gifts and abuse of office for
suspected leaking of information to journalists.
Government statistics for 2005 showed there were 1,047 public
complaints against federal police officials; of those, 960 were
dropped. In 18 court cases, two officers were convicted of using
unjustified force and two cases were pending at the end of the year.
Some police violence appeared to be racially motivated (see section 5).
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other groups continued to
criticize the police for targeting minorities. During the year the
interior ministry conducted racial sensitivity training programs for
over 2,000 police and other officials with NGO assistance. The Human
Rights Advisory Council monitors police respect for human rights and
makes recommendations to the minister of the interior. During the year
the council issued several recommendations to improve processing of
predeportation and juvenile delinquent cases.
Arrest and Detention.--In criminal cases the law provides for
investigative or pretrial detention for up to 48 hours; an
investigative judge may decide within that period to grant a
prosecution request for detention of up to two years pending completion
of an investigation. The law specifies grounds required for such
investigative detention and conditions for bail. The investigative
judge is required to evaluate such detention periodically. There is a
system of bail. The police and judicial authorities respected these
laws in practice. Detainees also had prompt access to a lawyer;
however, the CPT noted in 2004 that criminal suspects who lack the
means to pay for legal services may be appointed an ex officio lawyer
only after the court's decision to detain them, i.e. 96 hours after
their apprehension.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The court system consists of local, regional, and higher regional
courts, as well as the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest
judicial body, while the Administrative Court acts as the supervisory
body over administrative acts of the executive branch. The
Constitutional Court presides over constitutional issues.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. A system of
judicial review provides extensive possibilities for appeal. Trials
must be public and conducted orally. Persons charged with criminal
offenses are considered innocent until proven guilty. Defendants have
the right to be present during trials. While pro bono attorneys are
supposed to be provided to indigent defendants, the CPT in its 2004
report found that there were generally not enough lawyers in criminal
matters, financial arrangements were inadequate, and lawyers were not
available around the clock. The report concluded that, as there is no
effective system of free legal aid for indigent persons in police
custody, any right of access to a lawyer at that stage remains, in most
cases, purely theoretical.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including an appellate
system. This is available for lawsuits seeking damages for human rights
violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law prohibits neo-Nazi
activity, including making statements that deny the Holocaust. On
February 20, the Vienna regional court convicted British historian
David Irving and sentenced him to a three years in prison on charges of
neo-Nazi activity. In 1989 Irving reportedly denied the existence of
gas chambers at Auschwitz and claimed that unknown individuals dressed
in Sturmabteilung uniforms committed the Reichskristallnacht crimes in
November 1934. On August 29, the Supreme Court confirmed the guilty-
verdict. On December 20, the Vienna court of second instance suspended
two thirds of Irving's three-year prison sentence. Because Irving had
been in custody since November 11, 2005, he was released from prison
and deported to Great Britain.
On April 26, the Vienna Criminal Court convicted John Gudenus, a
former Freedom Party member of the upper house of parliament, to a one-
year suspended sentence for violating the law banning neo-Nazi
activity. In public interviews in 2005, Gudenus had questioned the
existence of gas chambers and belittled the suffering of concentration
camp inmates during the Holocaust.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including electronic
mail. According to March 2005 figures, 56.8 percent of the population
used the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The law divides religious organizations into three legal
categories: officially recognized religious societies, religious
confessional communities, and associations. Numerous unrecognized
religious groups have complained that the law obstructs legitimate
claims for recognition and relegates them to second-class status. As of
December the European Court of Human Rights had not ruled on a 2003
complaint by the Jehovah's Witnesses challenging the legality of the
requirement that a group must exist for 10 years in the country before
it can be recognized by the Government.
The conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP) denied party
membership to members of unrecognized religious groups, which it
considered ``sects,'' that hold a view of mankind fundamentally
different from the party's, advocate opinions irreconcilable with the
OVP's ethical principles, or reject basic rights granted by
``progressively minded'' constitutional states and in an open society.
The OVP denied membership to members of the Church of Scientology.
The city of Vienna funded a counseling center of a controversial
NGO, the Society Against Sect and Cult Dangers (GSK), which actively
worked against alleged sects and cults. GSK distributed information to
schools and the general public and offered counseling to persons who
believe that sects and cults had hurt their lives.
The Federal Office of Sect Issues functioned as a counseling center
for those who had questions about sects and cults. While the office is
legally independent of the Government, the minister for social security
and generations appointed and supervised its director. Some members of
the public believed the office of sect issues and similar government
offices fostered societal discrimination against unrecognized religious
groups.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal
discrimination against members of unrecognized religious groups,
particularly those considered to be ``cults'' or ``sects.'' The
majority of these groups have less than 100 members. The Church of
Scientology and the Unification Church were among the larger
unrecognized groups.
Muslims complained about incidents of societal discrimination and
verbal harassment, including occasional incidences of discrimination
against Muslim women wearing headscarves in public. On April 9, an
unknown person conducted an arson attack against the construction site
of an Islamic Cemetery in Vienna. The attack coincided with the
conclusion of a conference of European imams in Vienna. On September
11, police destroyed a suspicious device, which turned out to be a fake
bomb, in front of the Muslim Youth office in Vienna. On November 7,
police arrested a 29-year old Muslim man on charges of placing the fake
bomb.
The Jewish community has approximately 7,700 members. During the
year the NGO Forum Against Anti-Semitism reported a total of 125 anti-
Semitic incidents, including physical attacks, name-calling, graffiti
or defacement, threatening letters, anti-Semitic Internet postings,
property damage, and vilifying letters and telephone calls.
On November 26, a 24-year old Croatian man went on a rampage in the
Jewish Lauder Chabad School, breaking windows, glass doors, and
showcases with an iron rod. Police later arrested him.
The European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia
declared that anti-Semitism in the country was characterized by diffuse
and traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes rather than by acts of
physical aggression.
The law prohibits any form of neo-Nazism or anti-Semitism or any
activity in the spirit of Nazism. It also prohibits public denial,
belittlement, approval, or justification of Nazi crimes, including the
Holocaust. The law prohibits public incitement to hostile acts, insult,
contempt against a church or religious society, or public incitement
against a group based on race, nationality, or ethnicity, if that
incitement poses a danger to public order. The Government strictly
enforced the law against neo-Nazi activity. The Vienna Jewish
community's offices and other Jewish community institutions in the
country, such as schools and museums, were under police protection.
On February 20, the Vienna regional court convicted British
historian David Irving and sentenced him to a three years in prison on
charges of neo-Nazi activity. In 1989 Irving reportedly denied the
existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and claimed that unknown
individuals dressed in Sturmabteilung uniforms committed the
Reichskristallnacht crimes in November 1934. On August 29, the Supreme
Court confirmed the guilty-verdict. On December 20, the Vienna court of
second instance suspended two thirds of Irving's three-year prison
sentence. Irving was subsequently released from prison and deported to
Great Britain.
On April 26, the Vienna Criminal Court convicted John Gudenus, a
former Freedom Party member of the Upper House of Parliament, to a one-
year suspended sentence for violating the law banning neo-Nazi
activity. In public interviews in 2005, Gudenus had questioned the
existence of gas chambers and belittled the suffering of concentration
camp inmates during the Holocaust.
Secondary school history and civics courses discussed the
Holocaust. Religious education classes taught the tenets of different
religions and fostered overall tolerance. The education ministry
offered special teacher training seminars on the subject of Holocaust
education. An education ministry program routinely invited Holocaust
survivors to speak to classes about Nazism and the Holocaust.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits
forced exile, and the Government did not use it in practice.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum and
subscribed to a ``safe country of transit'' policy, which required
asylum seekers who transited a country determined to be ``safe'' to
return to that country to seek refugee status. With the expansion of
the European Union (EU) this concept has lost some of its importance
because upon their accession, neighboring Slovenia, the Czech Republic,
the Slovak Republic, and Hungary became subject to the EU provisions
that establish criteria and mechanisms for determining the EU member
state responsible for examining an asylum application. In 2005 new
legislation introduced stricter detention and removal policies as part
of a stronger enforcement of the 2003 Dublin II regulation (also
referred to as the Dublin Convention) which discourages asylum shopping
by allowing serial asylum-seekers to be returned to the EU country
where they first applied for asylum. EURODAC, the EU's system for
comparing fingerprints of asylum-seekers and illegal immigrants, has
facilitated the application of the Dublin Convention. As a result,
asylum applications dropped by more than 30 percent during the year
with a noticeable trend in applicants attempting to conceal their
routes of transit.
The Government has in the past (during the Kosovo crisis and as a
result of hostilities in Afghanistan) also provided temporary
protection to individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the
1951 Convention or 1967 Protocol under a mechanism whereby victims of
armed conflict may be admitted to the country. The Government
cooperated with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 voters elected
President Heinz Fischer of the SPO to a six-year term in national
elections in which individuals could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election. In 2002 the OVP received a plurality in
parliamentary elections and renewed its right-center coalition with the
Freedom Party (FPO). In 2005 the Alliance for the Future of Austria
broke away from the FPO, but remained a junior partner with the OVP in
the coalition government.
The Federal Assembly consists of the National Council and the
Federal Council. There were 58 women in the 183-seat National Council
and 18 women in the 62-member Federal Council. There were five women in
the 14-member Council of Ministers (cabinet).
Although there appeared to be relatively little minority
representation at the national level, no precise information on the
number of minorities in the Federal Assembly was available.
Some Muslims were on party lists for the elections but were not
elected into the Federal Assembly.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for full public access to government information,
and the Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
Authorities can only deny access if it would violate substantial data
protection rights or would involve information that is of national
security interest. Petitioners could challenge denials before the
Administrative Court.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were somewhat cooperative and responsive to their views, but some
groups were dissatisfied with the information supplied by authorities
in response to specific complaints.
The Human Rights Advisory Council, composed of representatives from
the justice and interior ministries and NGOs, operated to ensure that
police respected human rights while carrying out their duties. However,
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)
characterized the council as ineffective and unable to obtain the
cooperation of the security services, citing that the country's
criminal code was lacking severity in certain instances. According to
the IHF, shoplifters were likely to receive a longer sentence than sex
offenders.
The 2004 equal treatment law expanded the responsibility of the
ombudsman to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace regardless of
ethnic origin, religion, age, or sexual orientation, and to address
general discrimination because of ethnic origin. The law went into
effect in 2004, and the ombudsman began its work addressing the new
grounds in March 2005; 617 complaints on the new grounds were filed in
2005.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for protection against discrimination based on
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, and the
Government generally enforced these provisions effectively; however,
violence against women, child abuse, trafficking in persons, and racial
discrimination were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
problem. The Association of Houses for Battered Women estimated that
one-fifth of the country's 1.5 million adult women have suffered from
violence in a relationship. However, media reports estimated that fewer
than 10 percent of abused women filed complaints. The law provides that
police can expel abusive family members from family homes for up to
three months. In 2005 an injunction to prevent abusive family members
from returning home was applied in 5,618 cases.
The Government funded privately operated intervention centers and
help lines for victims of domestic abuse. The centers provided for the
victims' safety, assessed the threat posed by perpetrators, helped
victims develop plans to stop the abuse, and provided legal counseling
and other social services.
Under the law, rape, including spousal rape, is punishable with up
to 15 years in prison.
In July a new law prohibiting stalking went into effect. The law
provides for sentences of up to one year in prison.
Although there were no reported cases of female genital mutilation
(FGM) in the country, the city of Vienna set up a counseling office in
June to assist female immigrants from African countries who were
victims of FGM. In 2005 the African Women's Organization (AFO) helped
899 women with various problems, among them a number of FGM cases.
Prostitution is legal; however, illegal trafficking, including for
the purposes of prostitution, was a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking). Laws regulating prostitution require prostitutes to
register, undergo periodic health examinations, and pay taxes.
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government effectively
enforced those laws. Of the 4,418 cases of discrimination brought to
the ombudsman for equal treatment of gender in 2005, 408 involved
sexual harassment. The labor court can order employers to compensate
victims of sexual harassment on the basis of the Federal Equality
Commission's finding on the case; the law provides that a victim is
entitled to a minimum of $840 (700 euros) in financial compensation.
There are no legal restrictions on women's rights and the Federal
Equality Commission and the ombudsman for equal treatment of gender
oversee laws prescribing equal treatment of men and women. However, on
average, women earned 83 percent of what men earned for the same work.
Women were more likely than men to hold temporary positions and part-
time jobs and also were disproportionately represented among those
unemployed for extended periods.
Although labor laws provide for equal treatment of women in the
civil service, women remained underrepresented. The law requires the
Government to hire women of equivalent qualifications ahead of men in
all civil service areas in which less than 40 percent of the employees
are women, including police. There are no penalties, however, for
agencies that fail to attain the 40 percent target.
Female employees in the private sector may invoke equality laws
prohibiting discrimination against women. On the basis of the Federal
Equality Commission's findings, labor courts may award compensation of
up to four months' salary to women who experienced discrimination in
promotion because of their gender. The courts may also order
compensation for women who were denied a post despite having equal
qualifications.
Children.--The law provides for the protection of children's
rights, and the Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare. Each state government and the federal Ministry for Social
Welfare, Generations, and Consumer Protection has an ombudsman for
children and adolescents whose main function is to resolve complaints
about violations of children's rights. The ombudsman provides free
legal counseling to children, adolescents, and parents on a wide range
of problems, including child abuse, child custody, and domestic
violence.
Nine years of education is mandatory for all children beginning at
age six. The Government also provided free education through secondary
school and subsidized technical, vocational, or university education.
According to the Ministry of Education, 99.8 percent of children
between the ages of six and 15 attended school. The Government provided
comprehensive medical care for children.
Child abuse was a problem, and the Government continued its efforts
to monitor abuse and prosecute offenders. The Ministry for Social
Welfare, Generations, and Consumer Protection estimated that 90 percent
of child abuse cases occurred within families or was committed by close
family members or family friends. Law enforcement officials noted a
growing readiness to report abuse cases. According to authorities,
approximately 20,000 abuse incidents are reported annually in the
country.
In a child abduction case that attracted international media
attention, 18-year-old Natascha Kampusch escaped her abductor in
September after eight years in captivity; Wolfgang Priklopil, the
suspect in the case, subsequently committed suicide.
There were occasional cases of suspected child marriage, primarily
in the Muslim and Romani communities. However, such cases were
undocumented. Some male immigrants entered into a marriage with a
teenage girl in their home country, and then returned to the country
with her.
The law provides that adults having sexual intercourse with a child
under 14 may be punished with a prison sentence of up to 10 years. If
the victim is impregnated, the sentence may be extended to 15 years. In
2005 the Interior Ministry reported 1,314 cases of child abuse, most
involving intercourse with a minor, while the Justice Ministry reported
322 convictions. The law provides for criminal punishment for the
possession, trading, and private viewing of child pornography.
Exchanging pornographic videos of children is illegal.
Trafficking of children remained a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
within the country. Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and
domestic service, and children were trafficked for begging and possibly
for sexual exploitation.
The law provides for the prosecution of traffickers and addresses
trafficking for prostitution through deception, coercion, or the use of
force; for the purposes of slavery; for the exploitation of labor; and
the exploitation of aliens.
Trafficking is illegal and punishable by imprisonment for up to 10
years. In 2005 there were 168 trafficking cases involving 109 suspects
and 25 convictions for human trafficking. Trafficking for purposes of
slavery is punishable by imprisonment for 10-20 years. The perpetrators
of human trafficking included both citizens, who were generally
connected with licensed brothels, and foreign nationals, who are
involved primarily with unlicensed brothels. Authorities estimated that
organized crime groups from Eastern Europe controlled a large portion
of human trafficking in the country. The police were also aware of
cooperation between Austrian and foreign citizens in organizing the
transfer of foreign prostitutes through the country.
The Interior Ministry's Federal Bureau for Criminal Affairs has a
division dedicated to combating human trafficking. Law enforcement
officials maintained contact with authorities in countries of origin to
facilitate the prosecution of suspected traffickers. During the year
there were no reports that the Government extradited any persons wanted
for trafficking crimes in other countries.
In January the Government eliminated a ``dancer'' visa that had
been used to traffic women into the country.
The country was a transit and destination point for women
trafficked from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, the Balkans, and, to a
lesser extent, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary,
Belarus, and Africa. Victims were trafficked through the country to
Spain, Italy, and France. Women were trafficked into the country
primarily for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that there were
approximately 7,000 foreign trafficking victims in Vienna alone. Women
also were trafficked from Asia and Latin America for domestic labor. In
2005, following extensive efforts by the Government in cooperation with
Bulgarian authorities, police noted a decrease in the trafficking of
Bulgarian children for the purposes of begging and stealing, and
sometimes sexual exploitation.
While there were no accurate statistics on the number of
trafficking victims, the NGO Lateinamerikanische Frauen in Oesterreich-
Interventionsstelle fuer Betroffene des Frauenhandels reported
assisting 151 trafficking victims in 2005, down from 167 victims in
2004. Both citizens and foreigners were engaged in trafficking. The
country was attractive to traffickers because of its geographic
location and because it does not require entry visas for citizens of
the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania, and
Bulgaria.
Most trafficked women were brought to the country with promises of
unskilled jobs, such as nannies or waitresses. Upon arrival they were
often coerced into prostitution. According to police, there also were
cases of women who knowingly entered the country to work as
prostitutes, but were forced into dependency akin to slavery. Most
victims were in the country illegally and feared being turned into
authorities and deported. Traffickers usually retained victims'
official documents, including passports, to maintain control over them.
Trafficking victims reported being subjected to threats and physical
violence. A major deterrent to victim cooperation was widespread fear
of retribution, both in the country and in the victims' countries of
origin.
The Government provided temporary residence, limited to the
duration of the trial, to trafficking victims who were prepared to
testify or who intended to file civil law suits. However, victims
rarely agreed to testify due to fear of retribution. Victims have the
possibility of continued residence if they meet the criteria for
residence permits.
LEFOE provided secure housing and other support for trafficking
victims. The IOM also sought to put victims in contact with NGOs in
their countries of origin upon their return. With financial assistance
from the interior ministry, LEFOE continued to operate a center in
Vienna that provided psychological, legal, and health-related
assistance, emergency housing, and German language courses to
trafficked women. Federal and local governments funded NGOs that
provided assistance in other cities.
The Government worked with international organizations to carry out
prevention programs throughout the region. The Government funded
research on trafficking and NGOs produced antitrafficking brochures,
law enforcement workshops, and international conferences funded with
the help of private donors.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law protects persons with physical
and mental disabilities from discrimination in housing, education,
employment, and access to health care and other government services,
and the Government generally enforced these provisions effectively.
There were no reports of societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities.
Federal law mandates access to public buildings for persons with
physical disabilities; however, many public buildings were inaccessible
to persons with disabilities due to insufficient enforcement of the law
and low penalties for noncompliance.
The law provides for involuntary sterilization of adults with
mental disabilities in cases where a pregnancy would be considered
life-threatening. However, no involuntary sterilizations have been
performed in recent years. The law prohibits the sterilization of
minors.
The Government funded a wide range of programs for persons with
disabilities, including provision of transportation, assistance
integrating school children with disabilities into regular classes, and
assistance integrating employees with disabilities into the workplace.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In 2005 the Ministry of
Interior recorded 209 incidents of neo-Nazi, rightwing extremist, and
xenophobic incidents against members of minority groups. The Government
continued to express concern over the activities of extreme right-wing
skinhead and neo-Nazi groups, many with links to organizations in other
countries.
A 2005 report by the domestic NGO Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus
Arbeit, in conjunction with other groups, found that persons from
diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds faced increasing discrimination
from government officials, particularly the police, as well as in the
workplace and in housing. The report cited 1,105 cases of alleged
racial discrimination in 2005. The Government continued training
programs to combat racism and educate the police in cultural
sensitivity. In September the Ministry of Interior renewed an agreement
with the Anti-Defamation League to teach police officers cultural
sensitivity, religious tolerance, and the acceptance of minorities.
Human rights groups reported that Roma faced discrimination in
employment and housing. The situation of the Romani community,
estimated at over 6,200 autochthonous (indigenous) and 15,000 to 20,000
non-autochthonous Roma, has significantly improved in recent years,
according to the head of the Austrian Roma Cultural Association.
Government programs, including providing financing for tutors, have
helped school age Romani children move out of ``special needs'' and
into mainstream classes. The Government also initiated programs in
recent years to compensate Romani Holocaust victims and to document the
suffering of the Roma during the Holocaust.
NGOs complained that Africans living in the country experienced
verbal harassment in public. In some cases, black Africans were
stigmatized as being involved in the drug trade and other illegal
activities.
According to the IHF, the issue regarding full recognition of
Slovenes remained problematic. For example, the governor of the
province of Carinthia refused to implement rulings by higher courts
that gave certain rights to the Slovene minority.
The law recognizes Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Roma, Slovaks, and
Slovenes as national minority groups and requires any community, where
at least 25 percent of the population belongs to one of these groups,
to provide bilingual town signs, education, media, and access to
federal funds earmarked for such minorities. The law affects 148
communities. At year's end the Government had not reached a decision on
implementation of a 2001 Constitutional Court ruling on lowering the 25
percent threshold. The law does not provide these rights to other
minority groups, such as Turks, which the Government does not recognize
as indigenous minorities. However, the Government provided a wide range
of language and job promotion courses. In December the Constitutional
Court ruled that the state of Carinthia must install additional
bilingual town signs in German and Slovene.
According to the IHF, the criminalization of homosexuality
continued to be an issue. A majority in parliament has not supported
calls by the Green Party for the legalization of gay marriages.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
form and join unions without prior authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice. No workers
were prohibited from joining unions. An estimated 47 percent of the
work force was organized into 13 national unions belonging to the
Austrian Trade Union Federation (OGB).
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is
protected in law and was freely practiced. Approximately 80 percent of
the workforce was under a collective bargaining agreement; the OGB was
exclusively responsible for collective bargaining. The law does not
explicitly provide for the right to strike; however, the Government
recognized the right in practice. The law prohibits retaliation against
strikers, and the Government effectively enforced the law.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, and the Government generally enforced these laws and
policies effectively. The minimum legal working age is 15 years. The
Labor Inspectorate of the Ministry of Social Affairs effectively
enforced this law.
There were reports of trafficking of children for begging and
sexual exploitation (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legislated national
minimum wage. Instead, nationwide collective bargaining agreements set
minimum wages by job classification for each industry. The accepted
unofficial annual minimum wage is $14,880 to $17,360 (12,000 to 14,000
euros), and it provided a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 workers had salaries below this
level.
The law limits standard working hours to eight hours per day and up
to 40 hours per week. The standard workday may be extended to 10 hours
as long as the weekly maximum is not exceeded. The law requires
compulsory time off on weekends and official holidays. An employee must
have at least 11 hours off between workdays. Authorities effectively
enforce these provisions.
The law limits overtime to five hours per week plus up to 60 hours
per year; however, authorities did not enforce these laws and
regulations effectively, and some employers exceeded legal limits on
compulsory overtime. Collective bargaining agreements may provide for
higher limits.
The Labor Inspectorate regularly enforces laws that provide for
mandatory occupational health and safety standards. Workers may file
complaints anonymously with the Labor Inspectorate, which may bring
suit against the employer on behalf of the employee. However, workers
rarely exercised this option and normally relied instead on the
chambers of labor, which filed suits on their behalf. The law provides
that workers have the right to remove themselves from a job if they
fear serious, immediate danger to life and health without incurring any
prejudice to their job or career, and the Government effectively
enforced this law.
__________
AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan is a republic of approximately 7.9 million persons with
a Presidential form of government. The President dominated the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Ilham
Aliyev, the son of former President Heydar Aliyev, was elected
President in 2003 in a ballot that did not meet international standards
for a democratic election due to numerous, serious irregularities.
November 2005 parliamentary elections, including rerun elections in ten
constituencies in May, showed an improvement in some areas but did not
meet a number of international standards. Armenian forces controlled
most of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as large portions of adjacent
Azerbaijani territory. The Government did not exercise any control over
developments in territories occupied by Armenian forces. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces. Members of the security forces committed numerous human rights
abuses.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it
continued to commit numerous abuses. The public's right to peacefully
change the national legislature was restricted in the November 2005
parliamentary elections, although there were some improvements in the
period leading up to the elections and in the May 13 parliamentary
election reruns that took place in ten parliamentary constituencies.
Torture and beating of persons in police custody resulted in three
deaths, and police officials acted with impunity. Prison conditions--
despite improvements in infrastructure--were generally harsh and life
threatening. Arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of
individuals considered by the Government to be political opponents, and
lengthy pretrial detention continued. The Government continued to
imprison persons for politically motivated reasons. Pervasive
corruption in the judiciary and in law enforcement continued.
Restrictions on media freedom, freedom of assembly, and political
participation worsened.
During the year, the Government took several important steps to
combat human trafficking, including establishing a shelter for victims
of trafficking, and separating the antitrafficking special police unit
from the organized crime unit.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
human rights monitors reported three prisoners died in police custody
due to alleged abuse and mistreatment.
On April 3, Namik Mammadov died in police custody at the Khizi
regional police department. Domestic human rights activists reported
that police beat and tortured him during questioning in order to coerce
a confession. Police officials initially alleged that Mammadov died of
a heart attack. However, photographic evidence of torture resulted in
the state prosecutor opening a criminal investigation into Mammadov's
death. Following the investigation, officials asserted the death was a
suicide.
On July 25, Rasim Alishov died while in the custody of the
Mingechevir city police; human rights activists reported that Alishov
was beaten and tortured to death. In response the interior minister
dismissed the head of the investigations department of the Mingechevir
police and a member of the investigations staff and reprimanded three
other Mingechevir officers in August.
On September 16, Yuri Safaraliyev was found dead in a Gobustan
prison bathroom. The Government attributed Safaraliyev's death to
suicide.
On August 29, Alihuseyn Shaliyev, a former ministry of economic
development official in pretrial detention, was found dead at a
Ministry of Justice hospital. Shaliyev had been arrested in October
2005 in connection with an alleged coup plot (see section 1.d.). A
ministry investigation concluded that Shaliyev committed suicide by
repeatedly slashing himself with a razor blade, an assessment with
which human rights monitors concurred.
The authorities did not prosecute law enforcement officials
implicated in the 2005 deaths of Nikolay Nikolashvili, Elchin
Shahmaliyev, Elhman Ibrahimov, and Mahir Suleymanov because the
Government attributed these deaths to suicide.
In March 2005 the ministry of national security arrested a senior
Ministry of Internal Affairs official, Haji Mammadov, for ordering the
kidnapping of 11 persons and killing of three persons since 1995 as the
head of a criminal kidnapping, murder, and extortion ring within the
ministry of internal affairs (see section 1.b.). Mammadov's trial began
in June, received widespread publicity, and continued at year's end.
In 2005 unknown persons killed journalist Elmar Huseynov (see
section 2.a.).
Human rights activists reported that Orkhan Nasibov, an army
soldier, died on July 23 as a result of military hazing. It was not
known whether military officials were investigated in connection with
this allegation.
Armenia continued to occupy the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-
Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. During the
year, incidents along the militarized line of contact separating the
sides as a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict again resulted in
numerous casualties on both sides. Reporting from unofficial sources
indicated approximately 20 killed and 44 wounded, taking into account
both military and civilian casualties on both sides of the line of
contact.
According to the national agency for mine actions, landmines killed
two persons and injured 15 others during the year.
b. Disappearance.--During the year there were at least two reports
of politically motivated kidnappings. On March 6 unknown assailants
kidnapped opposition newspaper journalist Fikret Huseynli and on
September 30 the father of Eynulla Fatullayev, founder of Azerbaijan's
most widely read weekly newsmagazine (see section 2.a.).
In March 2005 the wife of the chairman of the International Bank of
Azerbaijan was kidnapped. A ministry of national security investigation
uncovered a kidnapping and extortion ring responsible for the woman's
kidnapping, as well as multiple killings over a 10-year period directed
from within the ministry of internal affairs. A ministry of national
security special forces unit raid rescued the woman (see section 1.a.).
The prosecutor general prosecuted one senior ministry of internal
affairs officer, Lieutenant Colonel Haji Mammadov, chief of the
ministry's criminal investigation division, who confessed to the March
kidnapping and also to the abduction of 11 persons since 1995. The
ministry of national security arrested 12 persons for their involvement
in the ring, including two Chechen citizens. The minister of internal
affairs, who remained in office, dismissed three other senior ministry
officials including the Deputy Minister for Law Enforcement Zahid
Dunyamaliyev. The Ministry of Justice did not prosecute these
officials.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to
urge the Government to provide information on the fate of persons
missing in action since the beginning of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict;
during the year the number of those confirmed missing increased from
3,400 to 4,176. The Government estimated that approximately 4,850
citizens remained missing, allegedly held by Armenia. During the year
the ICRC facilitated the transfer and repatriation of six persons
between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices and
provide for penalties of up to 10 years' imprisonment; however, there
were credible reports that security forces beat detainees to extract
confessions. Despite defendants' claims that testimony was obtained
through torture or abuse, no cases involving such claims were
dismissed. A domestic human rights monitor reported that security
forces tortured between 40 and 50 persons while in custody. For
example, according to the monitor, police in a Mingechevir police
station tied up a detainee and beat him unconscious. Impunity remained
a problem.
In November 2005 the media reported that officers of the ministry
of internal affairs organized crime unit repeatedly gave electric
shocks to opposition Azerbaijan Democratic Party (ADP) deputy chairman
and former political prisoner Natik Efendiyev while in detention (see
section 1.d.). Following widespread attention from press, local
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and international observers, the
ministry transferred Efendiyev from the organized crime unit to a local
prison where he received medical treatment. In September he was
sentenced to five years in prison (see section 1.e.).
According to the ministry of internal affairs, authorities punished
104 officers for human rights abuses. However, the ministry did not
state whether the Government criminally charged any police officers for
these violations. The ministry reported that it dismissed 28 law
enforcement officers for misconduct during the year.
During the year the Government did not punish interior ministry
officials for police abuse, misconduct, and the excessive use of force
at a November 2005 peaceful opposition demonstration nor was any action
expected. Viliyat Eyvazov, one of the senior officers allegedly
involved in police abuse and misconduct in the aftermath of the 2003
Presidential election, continued to serve as deputy minister of
internal affairs following his 2005 promotion.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and life threatening despite continuing prison infrastructure
improvements.
Overcrowding, inadequate nutrition, and poor medical care combined
to make the spread of infectious diseases a serious problem. Despite
recent improvements to prison infrastructure, prisons, generally
Soviet-era facilities, did not meet international standards. In
maximum-security facilities, authorities limited physical exercise for
prisoners as well as visits by attorneys and family members. Some
pretrial detainees were reportedly held in ``separation cells,'' often
located in basements, to conceal evidence of physical abuse and where
food and sleep reportedly were denied to elicit confessions.
According to the Justice Ministry, three new detention facilities,
built to meet international standards, were under construction in the
regions of Sheki, Lenkoran and Nakchivan. The Government increased
financing for prison renovations threefold during the year and
completed renovations at 16 facilities.
Harsh prison conditions resulted in numerous deaths during the
year; the total number of prison deaths was not available from the
Justice Ministry at year's end. Credible reports indicated that at
least three deaths in police detention facilities were the result of
torture or abuse (see section 1.a.). Tuberculosis (TB) remained the
primary cause of death in prisons; the Government reported 633 convicts
received treatment for TB. The ICRC reported the Government treated 674
prisoners for TB during the year; due to the absence of systematic
medical screening, such treatment often started after prisoners were
seriously ill.
The ICRC reported that 53 inmates died of the disease during the
year. In October the Justice Ministry launched an expanded TB treatment
program in its detention facilities. Many relied on their families for
medicine and food, who often paid bribes to prison officials to gain
access to imprisoned relatives. The Government said that it received no
complaints of corruption within the prison system.
In September a reconstituted joint government-human rights
community prison-monitoring group began functioning, although it was
not very active during the last three months of the year. The
Government had disbanded the monitoring group following the February
2005 dismissal of the deputy minister of justice for prisons on
allegations of accepting bribes for awarding prison renovation
contracts, and it officially reestablished the group in August 2005.
The Government permitted prison visits by international and local
humanitarian and human rights groups. The ICRC also had unobstructed
access to prisoners of war and to civilians held in connection with the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. In August 2005 the Government
authorized a select group of local human rights activists to visit
interior ministry-run police stations and ministry pretrial detention
facilities in addition to prisons. This access continued uninterrupted
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--Although the law prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, the Government generally did not
observe these prohibitions in practice, and impunity remained a
problem.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The ministry of
internal affairs and ministry of national security are responsible for
internal security and report directly to the President. The internal
affairs ministry oversees local police forces and maintains internal
civil defense troops. The ministry of national security has a separate
internal security force.
Law enforcement corruption was a problem. Police often levied
spurious, informal fines for traffic and other minor violations and
extracted protection money from local residents. In 2005 and again
during the year, traffic police officers received a substantial pay
raise to counter corruption; nevertheless, the low wages of other law
enforcement officials continued to contribute to police corruption. The
ministry of internal affairs reported that during the year it punished
45 police officers for corruption.
Police officers acted with impunity, and in most cases the
Government took little or no disciplinary action. During the year,
however, the Government reported that it took action against 104 police
officers for human rights violations, seven of whom were disciplined
for inflicting bodily harm. The Government reported that it dismissed
28 officers from the ministry of internal affairs police forces,
removed six officers from their position and administratively
disciplined 11 others. The Government did not state whether it
criminally charged any officers for violating human rights and civil
liberties during the year.
During the year an international foundation continued its training
program in human rights theory, standards, and practices for security
officers attached to the Special State Protective Service (SSPS), a
government agency responsible for protecting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
pipeline. The officers who participated in the training were recruited
from the SSPS, state border guard, army, and police.
During the year an international organization conducted community
policing and crowd control training for 135 ministry of internal
affairs police officers. In May 2005 the Justice Ministry granted
approval for foreign governments to train law enforcement officials to
meet international standards and the first training program began.
Arrest and Detention.--The law states that persons who are
detained, arrested, or accused of a crime should be advised immediately
of their rights and reason for arrest and accorded due process of law;
however, the Government did not respect these provisions in practice.
Arbitrary arrest, often on spurious charges of resisting the police,
remained a problem throughout the year.
The law allows police to detain and question individuals for 24
hours without a warrant; in practice police detained individuals for
several days, sometimes weeks, without a warrant. In other instances,
the prosecutor general issued ex post facto warrants.
Judges, acting at the instruction of the prosecutor general's
office or of other executive branch officials, sentenced detainees to
jail within hours of their arrest without providing access to a lawyer.
The law provides for access to a lawyer from the time of detention;
in practice, access to lawyers was poor, particularly outside of Baku.
Although provided for by law, in practice indigent detainees did not
have access to lawyers. Authorities often restricted family member
visits and withheld information about detainees; frequently days passed
before families could obtain any information about detained relatives.
Individuals were sometimes permitted to ``vouch'' for detainees,
enabling their conditional release during pretrial investigation;
however, there was no formal, functioning bail system. At times
politically sensitive suspects were held incommunicado for several
hours and sometimes days while in police custody.
On October 11, immigration inspectors at Baku's international
airport detained opposition youth activist and media freedom advocate
Emin Huseynov on his arrival from Turkey, releasing him after five
hours. Huseynov, who featured prominently in a BBC television
documentary about the country's 2005 parliamentary elections,
complained that authorities also subjected his family to harassment.
On October 18, police detained overnight Ali Ismayilov, the leader
of the youth group Yox. The detention prevented Ismayilov's
participation in an unauthorized rally in Baku's city center on October
19 (see section 2.b.).
On November 23, police officers detained 40 to 50 opposition party
members attempting to hold an unsanctioned protest in front of the Baku
mayor's office. Observers reported that police detained at least three
opposition members before the protest began as they exited a local
metro station. Immediately following their arrest, a Baku court fined
some of the detainees and sentenced 16 others to detention for between
two and 15 days. Credible reports indicated that the court proceedings
failed to meet minimum standards for due process. For example, the
detainees did not have access to legal counsel during the hearing and
were not formally arraigned on a specific charge. Witnesses report that
some of the detainees received their sentences while waiting in the
police bus outside of the courtroom. All of the detainees were released
at the end of their respective detention periods.
In the run-up to the 2005 parliamentary elections, ministry of
internal affairs police officers preemptively detained members of the
political opposition to prevent their participation in planned but
unsanctioned political rallies, on grounds that they were suspected of
planning to incite civil unrest. Within hours of the detentions, judges
sentenced the individuals to jail on those grounds. Between June 4,
when the Government partially restored freedom of assembly, and
November 6, election day, the Government detained and sentenced 50
persons for attempting to participate in unauthorized rallies.
Lengthy pretrial detention of up to 18 months was a serious
problem. The prosecutor general routinely extended the permitted,
initial three-month pretrial detention period in successive increments
of several months until the Government completed an investigation.
In October 2005 security forces arrested approximately 300
opposition party activists, including up to 20 parliamentary
candidates, in connection with the anticipated return to Baku of exiled
ADP leader Rasul Guliyev. Shortly thereafter in October the ministry of
national security arrested Presidential aide Akif Muradverdiyev,
Minister of Health Ali Insanov, Minister of Economic Development Farhad
Aliyev, former finance minister Fikrat Yusifov, business leaders Fikrat
Sadigov and Rafiq Aliyev, and others, including Ministry of Economic
Development official Alihuseyn Shaliyev (see section 1.a.), for
allegedly attempting to foment a coup d'etat in connection with
Guliyev's failed October return. As of year's end, authorities had not
presented any evidence to substantiate this charge and eight persons
remained in pretrial detention. The law permits individuals charged
with fomenting a coup to be held in pretrial detention for up to 18
months if the prosecutor general's office states to a court that
continued detention is justified for the investigation; this period
would expire in April 2007. The trial of Natik Efendiyev, an ADP deputy
chairman charged with aiding and abetting the coup plot, occurred in
September (see sections 1.e. and 1.c.).
In November 2005 government agents arrested prominent academic and
Guliyev friend Eldar Salayev for allegedly planning to carry out the
coup. The national security ministry released Salayev from detention in
2005 on account of his age and poor health, although the charges
against him continued to stand.
In November 2005 several progovernment television channels
broadcast a videotape of ministry of national security detainees
Yusifov, Insanov, Muradverdiyev, and Sadigov testifying to their role
in the plot to overthrow the Government. Yusifov, a former finance
minister whose testimony dominated the broadcast, described himself as
the financial middleman in exiled opposition leader Guliyev's network
of support within the Government and business community. Yusifov
confessed that Aliyev, Insanov, Sadigov, and others gave him money,
which he turned over to Salayev, who was tasked with financing the
opposition's activities. In November 2005 authorities released Fikrat
Sadiqov, former head of a state-owned chemical company, on the
condition he notify police before traveling outside of Baku.
NGOs and lawyers for several of the accused reported that some of
the detainees did not have access to appropriate medical care. They
also said that the Government denied the detainees' due process rights,
inappropriately prolonged the pretrial detention period, and denied
some detainees the right to visits by their families. Some NGOs
considered the case of the alleged coup plotters to be politically
motivated.
The police arrested and detained members of certain religious
groups, generally evangelical Christian denominations (see section
2.c.).
Amnesty.--During the year President Aliyev pardoned 199 prisoners,
including eight persons whom local human rights activists considered
political prisoners. Aliyev's October 24 decree included two
journalists imprisoned in August on libel charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--Although the law provides for an
independent judiciary, in practice judges did not function
independently of the executive branch. The judiciary was corrupt and
inefficient.
The executive branch exerts a strong influence over the judiciary.
The President appoints Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges
(subject to parliamentary confirmation) and lower court judges (without
parliamentary confirmation).
Judges' salaries steadily increased over several years;
nevertheless, there continued to be credible allegations that judges
routinely accepted bribes. There were also credible reports that judges
and prosecutors took instruction from the Presidential administration
and the Justice Ministry, particularly in cases of interest to
international observers.
Courts of general jurisdiction may hear criminal, civil, and
juvenile cases. District courts try the majority of cases. The Supreme
Court may not act as the court of first instance. One judge presides
over district court-level trials, while a three-judge panel hears cases
at the Court of Appeals, the Court of Grave Crimes, and the Supreme
Court. The constitution provides all citizens with the right to appeal
to the Constitutional Court. Citizens also have the right to appeal to
the European Court of Human Rights, and they exercised this right
frequently.
On October 2005 the Justice Ministry for the first time granted
approval to an international NGO to train judges on compliance with
election law. This judicial training program continued throughout the
year.
In January the Government conducted judicial recruitment
examinations for the purpose of selecting qualified judges to fill
vacancies in the judiciary. International observers reported that the
examinations complied with international standards, resulting in the
selection of 55 new judges. At the end of the year, all 55 candidates
were awaiting Presidential appointments to the judiciary. The
Government began a second round of judicial selection examinations in
October that continued at year's end.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for public trials except in
cases involving state, commercial, or professional secrets or matters
involving confidential, personal, or family matters. The law provides
for the presumption of innocence in criminal cases, the right to review
evidence, a defendant's rights to confront witnesses and present
evidence at trial, a court-approved attorney for indigent defendants,
and appeal for both defendants and prosecutors--provisions not
generally respected in practice.
Plans to begin jury trials were not implemented. Foreign and
domestic observers usually were allowed to attend trials. Although the
constitution prescribes equal status for prosecutors and defense
attorneys, in practice prosecutors' privileges and rights outweighed
those of the defense. Judges reserved the right to remove defense
lawyers in civil cases for ``good cause.'' In criminal proceedings
judges may remove defense lawyers for conflict of interest or if a
defendant requests a change of counsel.
The law limits representation in criminal cases to members of a
government-controlled collegium of lawyers (bar association), thereby
restricting the public's access to legal representation of choice. The
collegium reserves the right to remove lawyers from criminal cases and
sometimes did so for reasons that observers believed were questionable.
The law allows all licensed lawyers to join the collegium
automatically. However, some provisions in the law left open the
possibility that the collegium could refuse a fully qualified lawyer
for failing to meet other, unspecified requirements. In 2005 the
collegium admitted nine of 231 licensed lawyers entitled to automatic
admission to the association. During the year the collegium did not
admit any licensed lawyers to the organization. In June the collegium
announced plans to hold a bar examination to admit additional lawyers
to the collegium, but did not hold the examinations during the year.
The constitution prohibits the use of illegally obtained evidence;
however, despite some defendants' claims that testimony was obtained
through torture or abuse, no cases based on claims of abuse were
dismissed, and there was no independent forensic investigator to
determine the occurrence of abuse (see section 1.c.). Investigations
often focused on obtaining confessions rather than gathering physical
evidence against suspects. Serious crimes brought before the courts
were likely to end in conviction, as judges generally required only a
minimal level of proof and collaborated closely with prosecutors. In
the rare instance when a judge determined the evidence presented was
not sufficient to convict a defendant, judges could and did return
cases to the prosecutor for additional investigation, in effect giving
the prosecution a ``second chance'' for a conviction.
On September 6, Natik Efendiyev was tried on charges of stockpiling
weapons in connection with an alleged October 2005 coup plot (see
section 1.d.). After a two-day trial, Efendiyev was sentenced to five
years in prison. No domestic or international human rights monitors
were present at the trial because of its sudden occurrence and remote
location. An appellate court upheld the conviction in November.
Efendiyev reportedly was tortured in pretrial detention (see section
1.c.). Some NGOs considered the imprisonment of Natik Efendiyev to be
politically motivated.
In September Musavat party member Pirali Orujev, arrested in June
2005, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for allegedly
conspiring to kill two progovernment figures. Some NGOs raised concerns
about the fairness of his trial and considered his imprisonment to be
politically motivated.
On November 23, a Baku court sentenced 27 opposition members to
jail for periods of up to two weeks for participating in an
unauthorized protest outside of the Baku mayor's office earlier that
day (see section 1.b.). Similarly, in the period preceding the November
2005 parliamentary elections, judges often sentenced to jail opposition
members arrested for participating in unauthorized political rallies
within hours of their detention and without a fair trial.
The country also has a military court system with civilian judges.
The military court retains original jurisdiction over any case in which
``crimes against the state'' are adjudicated.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Local NGOs maintained that the
Government continued to hold political prisoners, although estimates of
the number varied. NGO activists maintained that the Government held
approximately 51 political prisoners. As was the case in 2005, at
year's end three political prisoners arrested in connection with the
2003 Presidential election and listed in the Council of Europe's
experts report remained incarcerated: Elchin Amiraslanov, Safa Poladov,
and Arif Kazimov.
From April 5 to July 12 the trial of Ruslan Bashirli, Said Nuriyev,
and Ramin Tagiyev, activists from the opposition youth group Yeni Fikir
took place in the Court of Grave Crimes. In August 2005 the Government
arrested the activists and charged them with treason in the period
leading up to the 2005 parliamentary elections. In a widely broadcast
videotape shown by state-operated AzTV in 2005, Bashirli was shown
taking money from and conspiring with Georgian and alleged Armenian
citizens to foment revolution in the country. International and
domestic observers doubted the credibility of the evidence against the
three activists and suspected a case of entrapment to intimidate and
embarrass the opposition.
Authorities asserted that national security justified closure of
the Yeni Fikir trial to outside observers during its first three weeks.
After the trial was opened to observers, diplomatic representatives
attended the proceedings and reported that the trial did not meet
minimum international standards for due process. The defendants were
repeatedly denied access to the evidence presented against them, the
cross-examination of witnesses was restricted, and the judge, Tofiq
Pashayev, often convened hearings for less than an hour before
adjourning the court proceeding for several weeks. As a result,
domestic and international observers considered the imprisonment of
Bashirli, Nuriyev, and Tagiyev to be politically motivated.
On July 13, the court sentenced Bashirli to five years in prison,
Tagiyev to four years in prison, and Nuriyev to a suspended three-year
sentence because of a pre-existing health condition. On September 28,
an appeals court upheld the lower court's verdict but reduced Tagiyev's
sentence to three years.
Domestic and international observers considered the imprisonment of
prominent political satirist Mirza Zahidov to be politically motivated
(see section 2.a.).
Some NGOs considered several other cases involving prisoners or
detainees to be politically motivated (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.,
Trial Procedures).
There were no reliable estimates of the number of political
detainees. Most political detainees received sentences of between 10
and 15 days in jail, often described as ``administrative detention''
sentences (see sections 1.e., Trial Procedures, and 2.b.).
The Government generally permitted unrestricted access to political
prisoners by international humanitarian organizations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits arbitrary invasions of privacy and
monitoring of correspondence and other private communications; in
practice the Government restricted privacy rights.
The constitution allows for searches of residences only with a
court order or in cases specifically provided by law; however,
authorities often conducted searches without warrants. It was widely
believed that the ministry of national security and ministry of
internal affairs monitored telephone and Internet communications,
particularly those of foreigners and prominent political and business
figures.
Police continued to intimidate and harass family members of
suspected criminals. Human rights monitors reported that officials
denied family members the right to visit those detained in connection
with an alleged coup plot (see section 1.d.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press and specifically prohibits press censorship;
however, the Government often did not respect these rights in practice.
On October 11, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) representative on freedom of the media visited the country in
response to growing concern about the deterioration of media freedom.
The representative criticized the general decline in media freedom
during the year. He urged the President to pardon journalists convicted
of libel, to remove libel from the criminal code, and to thoroughly
investigate and prosecute physical assaults of journalists.
A large number of opposition and independent media outlets operated
during the year. The print media expressed a wide variety of views on
government policies. However, most broadcast media adhered to a
progovernment line in their news coverage.
There were several pro-opposition newspapers and magazines, and a
few independent newspapers and magazines. There were 17 television and
12 radio stations. There also were several national state newspapers
and numerous newspapers funded by city or district level officials. In
contrast to progovernment newspapers, the distribution of many
opposition newspapers was limited to the capital, and their circulation
was low. During the year many opposition and government-run newspapers
reduced circulation, and several, including prominent opposition
newspaper Yeni Musavat, reduced frequency. Moderate independent
newspapers Echo and Zerkalo, however, maintained their circulation.
Some private television channels broadcast the views of both
government and opposition officials, but their programs were not
available in all parts of the country. ANS TV, a popular channel
regarded as independent, provided generally balanced news coverage.
However, on November 24, the National Television and Radio Council
(NTRC) ordered ANS to stop broadcasting on grounds that the channel had
failed to comply with national media law and regulations, a charge that
ANS disputed. Citing the appeals of prominent citizens, and of the
human rights ombudswoman, the NTRC reversed its decision on December 11
and allowed ANS to resume broadcasting the following day. However,
according to the NTRC, numerous regulatory issues remained unresolved
and at year's end, ANS had reapplied for its license in an open tender.
There were no restrictions on systems to receive satellite
broadcasts by foreign stations.
Harassment and violence against individual journalists continued.
The Media Council, an independent NGO, reported that 40 journalists
experienced physical attack or harassment during the six-month period
preceding the November 2005 parliamentary elections, the most recent
period for which data was available.
On March 5, unknown assailants kidnapped opposition newspaper
journalist Fikret Huseynli and attacked him with a knife. No one had
been charged or arrested in connection with the incident by year's end.
On May 18, unknown assailants took Bahaddin Haziyev, editor in
chief of the opposition newspaper Bizim Yol (Our Path), to a lake near
Baku, ran his legs over with a car, and reportedly threatened to kill
his family if he did not stop writing articles critical of the
Government. Huseynli sustained serious injuries. Authorities had not
charged any suspects in connection with the attack by year's end.
On June 23, police arrested prominent political satirist Mirza
Zahidov (also known as Mirza Sakit) on charges of narcotics trafficking
and possession. Zahidov routinely criticized the Government and public
officials in his writings. Human rights activists doubted the
credibility of the charges against Zahidov and considered them to be
politically motivated. On October 3 the Baku Court of Grave Crimes
convicted Zahidov of drug possession but not of drug trafficking. The
court sentenced Zahidov to three years in prison. In November, a Baku
appellate court upheld the sentence.
On October 3, the Russian language weekly newsmagazine Realny
Azerbaijan and its Azerbaijani-language sister publication Gundelik
Azerbaijan abruptly ceased publication. Credible human rights monitors
said that unknown assailants kidnapped the father of the publications'
founder and editor in chief, Eynulla Fatullayev, and held him for three
days. Fatullayev's father was released reportedly after Fatullayev
agreed to cease publishing both titles on October 3. Fatullayev had
started Realny Azerbaijan in May 2005 after having worked at The
Monitor, which ceased publication following the killing of its founder
and editor. In 2004 unknown assailants had physically attacked
Fatullayev. Fatullayev resumed the publication of Realny Azerbaijan in
December.
On November 24, the Baku Economic Court ordered the eviction of the
opposition Popular Front Party (PFP), the opposition-affiliated
newspapers Azadliq and Bizim Yol, and the independent Turan News Agency
from their headquarters in central Baku. The court ruled that the PFP
and the affected media organizations were occupying a building
illegally leased to them by the Baku mayor's office in 1992. Officials
began implementing the eviction order immediately after the verdict.
Officials gave the building tenants until 11:00 a.m. on November 25 to
remove their belongings and instructed the building's tenants to
relocate to properties that the Government previously offered but which
the tenants had rejected as unacceptable due to their remote location
and deplorable condition.
On November 25, police officers cordoned off access to the building
and local officials supervised hired movers who removed the tenants'
furniture, equipment and effects to the alternate locations. However,
police did not permit PFP workers to move the party's belongings to a
preferred temporary office at the ADP's headquarters. The opposition
newspapers Azadliq and Bizim Yol completed the relocation after one
week and resumed publication. The independent Turan News Agency
relocated to a downtown Baku facility within three days of the eviction
and resumed its full operations within a week.
On December 25, four unidentified assailants attacked opposition
Azadliq newspaper journalist Nijat Huseynov near a bus stop close to
his home. Huseynov was hospitalized and in recovery at year's end.
There were no developments during the year in the March 2005
killing of the founder and editor of The Monitor, Elmar Huseynov, by
unknown assailants. The Government characterized the killing as a
terrorist act meant to destabilize the regime and launched an
investigation into the case. Some human rights activists described the
killing as a warning to those critical of the Government, a suggestion
that officials vehemently rejected. In July 2005 press reports stated
that the Government's investigation identified two Georgian citizens,
Tahir Khubanov and Teymuraz Aliyev, as suspects. However, Ministry of
Internal Affairs Lieutenant Colonel Haji Mammadov asserted during his
trial (see section 1.b.) that he had ordered the killing of Huseynov at
the order of former minister of economic development Farhad Aliyev (see
section 1.d.). Members of the human rights and independent media
communities did not find this assertion credible. The Monitor ceased
publication in April 2005.
In contrast with 2005, there were fewer reports that police beat
journalists covering opposition rallies or other events because
authorities did not permit opposition political rallies during the
year. In 2005 police officers beat some journalists and detained and
released others covering opposition rallies connected with the
parliamentary elections.
A state regulatory agency, the NTRC, was responsible for issuing
licenses and monitoring broadcasts, but it did not function
independently of the Government and its procedures were not
transparent. The Justice Ministry must register a corporation such as a
television station operating company in order for it to have legal
existence. Despite pressure from independent media outlets, the NTRC
did not open tenders for the issuance of new broadcast licenses during
the year.
Throughout the year, the NTRC failed to renew the broadcast license
of independent private broadcasting company ANS Television and Radio,
forcing it to operate without an official license since its license
expired in September 2005. During the year, ANS was also the subject of
multiple official investigations, including one for alleged tax
evasion.
In October the NTRC notified ANS and the independent radio station,
AntennFM Radio, that the stations' daily broadcast of Voice of America,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and BBC-contracted programming
violated the national television and radio law. The NTRC asserted that
the law prohibited foreign broadcasters from rebroadcasting programming
on private television channels. In December the NTRC granted Voice of
America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty their own FM radio
frequencies and notified Voice of America that it would be able to
resume broadcasting on state television on January 1, 2007.
On November 24, the NTRC ordered ANS Television and Radio to stop
broadcasting at 3:00 p.m. that day. The NTRC said that ANS had 11
violations of the national media law and NTRC regulations. ANS disputed
the NTRC's claim, and company officials said that ANS complied with all
of the NTRC's regulatory orders during the year. Senior government
officials said that ANS could resume broadcasting if and when the
company complied with the NTRC's requirements. Citing the appeals of
prominent citizens, the NTRC reversed its decision on December 11 and
allowed ANS to resume broadcasting the following day. However,
according to the NTRC, numerous regulatory issues remained unresolved
at year's end. ANS was also required to compete in an open tender for
its broadcast frequency, the results of which were not yet known at
year's end.
In September 2005 the Justice Ministry initially rejected the
registration application of a regional television network consisting of
local stations on the grounds that the network was sponsored by an
international media development NGO. The network revised its
incorporation documents to remove the international NGO from the title.
However, the ministry did not act on the pending network registration
application during the year.
In the months preceding the November 2005 parliamentary elections,
opposition politicians consistently had free, unrestricted access to
state television airtime and paid, unrestricted access to private
television time, although news coverage was heavily skewed in favor of
the ruling New Azerbaijan Party. While the election code includes free
media access requirements, the Government restricted the opposition's
access to a state television channel during the 72-hour period
following the attempted October 2005 return of exiled opposition leader
Rasul Guliyev.
Libel is a criminal offense; the law allows for large fines and up
to three years' imprisonment. The Government intimidated and harassed
the media, primarily through defamation suits, prohibitively high court
fines for libel, and measures that hampered printing and distribution
of independent newspapers and magazines. In contrast to 2005, the
number of defamation suits threatening the financial viability of the
print media increased during the year. Human rights activists believed
that public officials used libel suits to prevent the publication of
embarrassing or incriminating information. Government officials
publicly stated that the accusations leveled by journalists were
unfounded and slanderous.
In June, July, and August, public officials filed numerous libel
lawsuits against journalists. Courts sentenced five opposition
newspaper journalists to prison terms of between one and five years for
libel as a result of these lawsuits. For example, on July 18, the
minister of internal affairs sued Shahin Agabeyli, editor in chief of
Milli Yol newspaper for libel. A Baku court sentenced Agabeyli to one
year in prison on August 10. However, the President pardoned Agabeyli
in October, and he was released. On August 2, a senior Ministry of
Internal Affairs counternarcotics official, Hazi Aslanov, sued
prominent opposition journalist Zarusht Alizadeh for libel because
Alizadeh described ministry counternarcotic officers as drug dealers in
an opposition newspaper interview. Alizadeh was fined $5,700 (5,000 new
manat).
In August 2005 the Government launched public television channel
ITV. In the run-up to the November 2005 parliamentary elections the
channel broadcast television debates between parliamentary candidates
and provided candidates with free airtime consistent with the
requirements of the election code. However, the OSCE election
assessment reported that government-funded ITV devoted 79 percent of
its prime time news coverage almost exclusively to positive or neutral
coverage of the President, administration, government, and ruling
party. During the year OSCE media monitors reported that ITV's
programming was increasingly difficult to distinguish from AzTV, the
state television channel.
In 2005 one member of parliament sued the editor in chief of
Hesabat for libel after the newsmagazine called the parliamentarian one
of the country's richest persons. The case remained in a Baku court at
year's end.
Most newspapers and magazines were printed in government publishing
houses or on private printing presses owned by individuals close to the
Government. The majority of independent and opposition newspapers
remained in a precarious financial position; they continued to have
problems paying wages, taxes, and periodic court fines.
The Government prohibited some state libraries from subscribing to
opposition newspapers. The Government also continued to prohibit state
businesses from buying advertising in opposition newspapers and
pressured private business to do the same.
Baku-based journalists reported that authorities in the exclave of
Nakchivan continued to block distribution of opposition newspapers.
As in the previous year, the Government tightened enforcement on
unregistered, independent newspaper vendors who mainly distributed
opposition newspapers, stating that the illegal vendors created traffic
hazards on city streets. In March 2005 the Government lifted a
prohibition on the sale of opposition newspapers in the subway system.
Continuing a trend from 2005, Gaya, the country's largest
independent newspaper distributor, reopened some of its 20 newsstands
in Baku that were torn down in 2002 by the Baku mayor's office.
However, some of the newsstands remain in the custody of the Baku
municipal authorities.
Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not restrict access
to the Internet, but it required Internet service providers to be
licensed and have formal agreements with the Ministry of Communications
and Information Technologies. There was no evidence to support the
widely held belief that the Government monitored Internet traffic of
foreign businesses and opposition leaders. However, in July press
reports said that the Government temporarily blocked public Internet
access to a Web site popular for lampooning the President. Access to
the Internet was limited to urban centers due to lack of
infrastructure.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally did
not restrict academic freedom. The opposition Musavat Party said that
40 of its members, employed as teachers in state educational
institutions in the regions were harassed and periodically threatened
with dismissal for their political activities. University students have
been threatened with expulsion for opposition political activity. As a
result, a number of students believed they would be expelled if they
were to become politically active.
In May approximately 50 students from Azerbaijan Independent
University (AIU) went on hunger strike to protest the education
ministry's suspension of further matriculation at the school and at 17
other academic institutions. Ministry officials said the suspension was
part of ongoing efforts to root out systemic corruption in the
education system. However, some analysts believed the ministry was
attempting to stifle competition against the Government's premier
academic institution, Baku State University. In response to widespread
media attention, the ministry permitted fourth-year students at AIU to
graduate and third-year students to transfer to other institutions but
cancelled enrollment of the first- and second-year students. A group of
the first- and second-year students sued the ministry over the
revocation of their matriculation status. Claiming that the lawsuit was
proceeding too slowly, approximately 100 to 150 of the first and second
year students resumed their hunger strike in December in the Musavat
office while awaiting a court decision. The strike ended on December 28
when Musavat officials decided not to continue providing a space for
the strikers. At year's end the court had not issued a ruling.
At the end of 2005, the Government expelled four students from Baku
State University, the State Economic University, and the Pedagogical
University due to their political activities in support of opposition
parties. One expelled student, Turan Aliyev, began a hunger strike at
the end of 2005 and was joined by three opposition youth activists in
protest of the universities' expulsions. On January 17, the minister of
education intervened after local human rights activists drew public
attention to the students' case and ordered the students'
reinstatement. However, two of the students, Turan Aliyev and Namik
Faziyev, reported that university administrators continued to refuse to
grant them letters of enrollment that would allow them to return to
class.
There were no government restrictions on cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. The Government often
denied opposition political parties' requests to hold political
rallies. However, the Government periodically allowed other
unauthorized rallies to take place. For example, in early February the
Government allowed several unauthorized rallies of less than 100
participants in Baku and its surrounding villages. The protests were
held in response to the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet
Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.
On October 16, the Baku mayor's office denied the Yox youth group's
application to hold a demonstration on October 18. On October 18, Yox
leader Ali Ismayilov said that unidentified men detained him overnight
in order to prevent him from leading an unauthorized demonstration in
Baku.
In November the opposition attempted to hold five unauthorized
rallies of less than a hundred participants each, in response to the
Government's lawsuit seeking to evict the PFP and several media outlets
from their central Baku offices (see section 2.a.). On four occasions--
November 2, 6, 15, and 16--police detained the opposition protesters,
who were demonstrating peacefully, and released them after several
hours.
On November 23, between 60 and 70 opposition party members
attempted to protest peacefully in front of the Baku mayor's office.
Police detained between 40 and 50 of the participants. Within hours of
the detention, a Baku court fined some of the participants and
sentenced 27 others to jail for between two and 15 days.
In June 2005 in advance of the November 2005 parliamentary
elections, the Government partially restored the constitutional right
to freedom of assembly, which had not been permitted since the
demonstrations following the 2003 Presidential election. However, the
Government again restricted this right in the period before the
November elections. The Government interpreted the law to require
individuals and political parties to obtain permission from the
authorities in order to assemble and organize demonstrations.
During the pre-election period in 2005, the Government limited
political rallies to predetermined sites approved by local authorities.
Most of these locations were removed from city centers. The opposition
held authorized rallies at some of these locations and attempted to
hold unauthorized rallies in city centers. Authorities restricted
public transportation to the sites of unauthorized rallies and, in one
instance, blockaded the Azadliq bloc's local party offices to prevent
opposition members from congregating in the downtown area.
Between May and October 2005, the Government deployed riot police
on multiple occasions to break up unsanctioned political rallies in
Baku, and police in several instances beat participants and journalists
covering the rallies and arrested participants. With one exception,
there was no accountability for these police abuses at year's end.
Following the November 2005 parliamentary elections, the opposition
Azadliq bloc held four government-authorized rallies in Baku to protest
the election's conduct. In November 2005 security forces violently
dispersed an authorized Azadliq bloc rally in response to an opposition
leader's call for a participant ``sit down'' to protest election
results. Riot police charged through the crowd of 7,000 opposition
supporters, striking them with truncheons while other security forces
destroyed the platform where opposition leaders had been standing. Two
opposition leaders were struck, and police seriously beat a third
opposition leader while apprehending him. Police used truncheons and
water cannons to remove protesters from the square. Opposition
officials subsequently reported that 90 persons were seriously injured,
four were taken to city emergency rooms in critical condition, and 67
others sustained minor bruises. Despite the peaceful conduct of
participants, the Government arrested 57 opposition supporters for
``hooliganism'' and ``public disorder'' at the rally. Within hours of
the arrests, courts sentenced 27 opposition supporters to jail for 10
to 15 days; the remaining 30 were released with administrative
penalties or fines. No police officials were held accountable for the
excessive use of force.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, although in practice the Government continued to restrict
this right. A number of provisions allowed the Government to regulate
the activities of political parties, religious groups, businesses, and
NGOs, including a requirement that all organizations register either
with the Justice Ministry or the State Committee on Work with Religious
Associations (SCWRA). Although a new law requiring the Government to
act on registration applications within 30 days of receipt was
implemented in 2005, vague, cumbersome, and nontransparent registration
procedures continued to result in long delays that effectively limited
citizens' right to associate.
The Government used a 2003 requirement for all existing NGOs to
reregister with the Justice Ministry to delay or deny registration to
some previously registered groups, often citing the failure of
applicants to follow proper procedures. During the year the ministry
registered 548 NGOs, which it reported was more than the number
registered in 2005. However, the ministry did not provide information
on the total number of NGO applications received or the number of NGO
applications rejected during the year.
In May 2005 the OSCE issued a report on NGO registration,
identifying problems and offering recommendations. Its conclusions
noted that the Government procedurally evaded NGO registration by
taking an excessive amount of time to discover shortcomings, which
unduly prolonged processing times for NGO registration applications.
While the report noted many of the shortcomings in applications cited
by authorities were valid, most of them were correctable during the
registration process and should not have been grounds for final
rejection.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion; however, there were some abuses and restrictions
in practice. Although the law expressly prohibits the Government from
interfering in the religious activities of any individual or group,
there are exceptions, including cases where the activity of a religious
group ``threatens public order and stability.'' In January the
Government announced its intention to amend the law to restrict the
political activities of religious groups. However, at year's end
parliament had not taken up consideration of a draft amendment. The
generally amicable relationship among religious groups in society
contributed to religious freedom. Most religious groups met without
government interference.
A number of legal provisions enable the Government to regulate
religious groups, including a requirement that religious organizations,
including individual congregations of a denomination, be registered by
the Government (see section 2.b.). Muslim religious groups must receive
a letter of approval from the Caucasus Muslim Board (CMB) before they
can be registered by the State Committee on Work with Religious
Associations (SCWRA). The committee and its chairman have broad powers
over registration; control over the publication, import, and
distribution of religious literature; and the ability to suspend the
activities of religious groups violating the law.
Registered Muslim organizations are subordinate to the CMB, a
Soviet-era entity that appoints Muslim clerics to mosques, periodically
monitors sermons, and organizes annual hajj pilgrimages. It has been
subject to some interference by the SCWRA, which has attempted to share
control with the CMB over the appointment and certification of clerics
and internal financial control of the country's mosques. At least one
prominent Muslim religious leader objected to interference from both
the CMB and SCWRA.
The SCWRA continued to delay or deny registration to some
Protestant Christian groups, including two Baptist churches. Three of
the Baptists' five main churches successfully reregistered. However,
during the year, religious organizations reported that the registration
process had improved and that the SCWRA appeared to be handling
requests more effectively. At the end of the year, the SCWRA had
registered more than three-quarters of the number of religious
communities previously registered. The SCWRA estimated that 1,300
religious groups are in operation, although many have not filed for
registration or reregistration. Some groups reported that SCWRA
employees tried to interfere in the internal workings of their
organizations during the registration process.
Although unregistered religious groups continued to function, some,
such as Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baptists,
reported official harassment, including disruption of religious
services and police intimidation, fines, and occasional beatings of
worshippers by police. For example, on April 16, Baku police
interrupted the Easter services of the Protestant Community of Greater
Grace, purportedly to ascertain the legality of the group's religious
activities. However, when the group complained to the Government, local
officials apologized for the incident.
Local law enforcement authorities occasionally monitored religious
services, and some observant Christians and Muslims were penalized for
their religious affiliations. Christians were often suspected of
illegally proselytizing but not political activity. Government
authorities took various actions to restrict what they claimed were
political and terrorist activities by Iranian and other clerics
operating independently of the organized Muslim community. For example
in 2005 the Government deported several Iranian and other foreign
clerics operating independently of the organized Muslim community for
alleged violations of the law. The Government outlawed several Islamic
humanitarian organizations because of credible reports about
connections to terrorist activities.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported that authorities regularly interfered
with their ability to rent public halls for religious assemblies and on
occasion fined or detained and beat individuals for meeting in private
homes. Local television stations also aired ``raids'' of religious
meetings for ``exposes'' of religious groups.
On December 24, police accompanied by a television crew raided a
gathering of Jehovah's Witnesses in Baku. Police detained and released
most participants, but held six foreigners in immigration detention
pending deportation proceedings. These individuals remained in
immigration detention at the end of the year.
The law expressly prohibits religious proselytizing by foreigners,
and officials enforced this strictly.
The Juma Mosque remained closed at the end of the year.
In 2004 Ministry of Justice officials and police forcibly evicted
the Juma Mosque community from its premises following protracted
litigation.
Since his 2004 conviction for participating in post election
demonstrations in 2003, the imam of the Juma Mosque, Ilgar Ibrahimoglu,
has not been allowed to travel outside the country, including to
several meetings of the UN and the OSCE where he was to be an official
NGO participant.
In June 2005 a Sumgayit court ruled that a school teacher was
permitted to wear hijab in class. During the year, officials generally
permitted headscarves in schools. In November after an NGO sued the
university in court Sumgayit University officials changed a university
policy that previously prohibited students from wearing hijab. The
Center for Protection of Conscience and Freedom of Religious Persuasion
reported that authorities continued to prohibit Muslim women from
wearing headscarves in passport photos.
The law permits the production and dissemination of religious
literature with the approval of the SCWRA; authorities also appeared to
selectively restrict individuals from importing and distributing
religious materials. The procedure for obtaining permission to import
religious literature remained burdensome, but religious organizations
reported that the SCWRA appeared to be handling requests more
effectively.
Some religious groups continued to report that government
ministries restricted and delayed the import of religious literature,
although in other instances, the SCWRA facilitated the import of such
literature. The Baptist Union reported the SCWRA restricted the
quantity of religious books allowed after granting initial import
permission.
In February 2005 the Supreme Court ruled that while the country
remained in a state of war with Armenia, the military service
requirement superseded an individual's constitutional entitlement to
alternative service due to religious beliefs and that, absent
implementing regulations, the military was not obligated to provide
alternative service.
On April 28, police arrested Mushfiq Mammedov, a member of
Jehovah's Witnesses, for refusing to fulfill the mandatory military
service requirement due to his religious beliefs. According to the
SCWRA, a local court sentenced Mammedov to a suspended six-month
sentence.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were an estimated 15,000
Jews in the country, the vast majority located in Baku. Incidences of
prejudice and discrimination against Jews were rare, and in the few
instances of anti-Semitic activity the Government responded quickly.
There was popular prejudice against Muslims who converted to non-
Islamic faiths and hostility toward groups that proselytized,
particularly evangelical Christian and missionary groups. The
Government appeared to encourage such social stigmatization through
orchestrated exposes and raids of nontraditional groups.
The Government actively undertook programs to encourage religious
tolerance. For example, on November 15, the SCWRA, foreign affairs
ministry, and Caucasus Muslim board cohosted an interfaith tolerance
conference.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights,
although at times the Government limited freedom of movement,
particularly for internally displaced persons (IDPs). The law required
men of draft age to register with military officials before traveling
abroad; some travel restrictions were placed on military personnel with
access to national security information. Citizens charged with or
convicted of criminal offenses and given suspended sentences were not
permitted to travel abroad. The Government employed this provision to
prevent the foreign travel of an imam who had been convicted and given
a suspended sentence in 2004 (see section 2.c.). The Government refused
to renew the passport of an opposition party leader, citing an
outstanding civil complaint against him from over a decade ago.
Officials regularly extracted bribes from individuals who applied for
passports.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons.--IDPs were required to register their
place of residence with authorities and could live only in approved
areas. This so-called propiska system, a carryover from the Soviet era,
was imposed mainly on persons forced from their homes after the
Armenian occupation of western parts of the country. The Government
asserted that registration was needed to keep track of IDPs to provide
them with assistance.
While official government policy allowed ethnic Armenians to
travel, low-level officials often requested bribes or harassed
Armenians who applied for passports. According to the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), some Armenians of mixed descent
reported to a local NGO that they had problems with officials in the
passport and registration department when applying for identification
cards; applicants who applied with Azerbaijani surnames encountered no
problems except for having to pay bribes.
There were approximately 675,000 IDPs in the country. The vast
majority of these persons fled their homes between 1988 and 1993 as a
result of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
During the year the Government received $30 million in assistance
from international and domestic humanitarian organizations for refugees
and IDPs. According to the Government, it also allocated $110 million
from the country's oil fund and $100 million from the state treasury to
improve living conditions for IDPs and refugees. During the year the
Government constructed new settlements under a 2004 Presidential decree
to improve living conditions for refugees and IDPs.
The State IDP and Refugee Committee's estimated expenditures were
$87 million. IDPs received monthly food subsidies of approximately
seven dollars (six manat) from the Government.
According to the IOM, in 2005 approximately 21,000 IDPs lived in
the Sabirabad, Saatli, Aghjabadi, and Barda camps. Many IDPs lived at
below-subsistence levels, without adequate food, shelter, education,
sanitation, and medical care. Approximately 28,000 IDPs lived in
settlements provided by the European Union, while another 12,000 lived
in housing provided by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR). Other IDPs were scattered among unfinished buildings
(in some cases mud dwellings), hostels, public health facilities, and
the homes of friends or relatives.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to some
refugees through the refugee status determination department. While the
department has been progressing in many ways, this was offset by a
disappointing series of court rulings on refugee status decisions. The
courts rejected all appeals against negative decisions on asylum
claims. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they faced
persecution, and granted refugee status or asylum during the year. As
in the preceding year, the largest number of applicants from officially
recognized populations was from Afghanistan. However, the Government
did not recognize any of these individuals as refugees.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR, however,
considered the Government's forced return to Turkey in October of a
Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity, recognized in Germany as a
refugee, as contrary to the country's obligations under the 1951 UN
convention and a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
Over 90 percent of the 2,542 refugees and asylum seekers registered
by the UNHCR in the country were Chechens from the Russian Federation.
The Government does not recognize Chechens as refugees as established
under the 1951 Convention, and it did not accept applications for
refugee status determination from Chechens. Instead, the UNHCR
continued to carry out all functions to provide Chechens with required
assistance and protection to remain in the country.
Only Chechens who registered with the UNHCR were protected from
forced repatriation to their homeland. The laws on residence,
registration, and the status of refugees and IDPs did not apply to
Chechens, who were required to register with the police and not
entitled to residence permits. Chechens were permitted to enter the
country visa-free following the March 2005 implementation of a new
bilateral external passport system with Russia. However, most Chechens
could not afford the associated costs to acquire external passports.
Harassment, detention, and arrests of undocumented Chechens occurred.
According to UNHCR, several hundred Chechens sought protection
during the year, a marked decrease from previous years. Chechen
children were allowed to attend public schools. However, Chechen
refugees were often denied access to public medical services. Such
assistance was provided by UNHCR through the support of foreign donors.
The Government did not provide temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol. However, the Government accepted the UNHCR identification
card issued to Chechens.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully; however, the Government continued to restrict this right in
practice by interfering in elections. The law also provides for an
independent legislature; however, parliament's independence was
minimal, and it exercised little legislative initiative independent of
the executive branch.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Government held
national parliamentary elections in November 2005. The OSCE's final
assessment concluded that the elections did not meet a number of the
country's OSCE commitments and Council of Europe standards for
democratic elections. The OSCE concluded that the May 13 rerun
elections that took place in 10 out of 125 parliamentary constituencies
showed some improvement over the November 2005 elections in areas such
as inclusive candidate registration, a largely unimpeded campaign, and
increased opportunities for domestic election observers. However, the
OSCE highlighted the need for further electoral reform, citing
continuing problems in areas including the composition of election
commissions; interference by local authorities in the electoral
process; the voting, counting, and tabulation processes; and the
election grievance process. There were numerous credible reports that
local officials interfered with the campaign process to the benefit of
progovernment candidates in the November 2005 elections and in the May
partial rerun elections.
Local authorities also restricted freedom of assembly for
opposition candidates. Police used disproportionate force to disrupt
rallies (see section 2.b.).
More than 500 candidates withdrew in the final weeks of the
November 2005 parliamentary election campaign; many cited government
pressure to withdraw.
The Government generally respected the legal provisions of the
election code. Candidates were able to hold numerous town hall meetings
with voters, although police disrupted some gatherings. According to
the OSCE, June 2005 amendments to the election code made limited
improvements to the electoral framework, although most recommendations
were not implemented or only partially implemented. The Central
Election Commission approved a number of regulations to enhance the
integrity of voting, counting, and the vote tabulation process. The
Central Election Commission undertook an extensive, pre-election voter
education campaign.
In October 2005 a Presidential decree reversed a ban on election
observation by NGOs receiving financial support from international
sources. The change had no impact on the 2005 parliamentary elections,
as all observers were required to have registered in advance; however,
domestic election observers were generally able to register as
individuals. There were an estimated 3,000 individual observers
affiliated with NGOs for the parliamentary elections.
Voting in the November 2005 elections proceeded in a more orderly
and transparent manner than in previous national elections, although
there were some irregularities. The OSCE-led observation mission
assessed as positive 87 percent of the more than 2,500 polling stations
it visited during the daytime voting process. However, in some
instances, international observers reported unauthorized persons, such
as police officers, in the polling station during the voting. Observers
also witnessed candidates or candidate representatives attempting to
influence voter choices and ballot box stuffing in one-third of the
polling stations visited as well as family (group) voting in one-fifth
of the polling stations visited.
Fraud and major irregularities marred the vote counting and
tabulation process. International observers assessed the ballot
counting process as bad or very bad in 43 percent of polling stations
observed, reporting that election precinct officials refused to count
election ballots in front of them and attempted to complete official
tabulation protocols behind closed doors. In one precinct, observers
witnessed election commission members taking instructions from an
unidentified person in the polling station's basement. Precinct-level
voting results were not posted in 54 percent of the counts observed.
Following the November 2005 elections, authorities acted to address
some instances of election fraud. The Central Election Commission
annulled results from 423 of more than 5,100 election precincts.
President Aliyev dismissed three local executive authorities because of
their interference in the campaign and voting process. The prosecutor
general opened 17 criminal cases against local government officials,
election commission members, and opposition candidates for violations
of the election code on voting day, resulting in 10 convictions. The
prosecutor also ordered the arrest of four local election officials for
election fraud; they were convicted of election misconduct and
sentenced to prison during the year. The Central Election Commission
annulled four constituency results and ordered reruns of these races
that were held in May. The commission overturned the results of two
other constituencies in favor of opposition candidates because of
serious precinct irregularities and dismissed the election commission
members of these six constituencies citing the members' involvement in
fraud or failure to follow election procedures. The Central Election
Commission also dismissed 108 precinct-level election commissions and
six constituency commissions on fraud-related grounds.
In a December 2005 hearing to certify the election results, the
Constitutional Court annulled the results of an additional six
constituencies, bringing to 10 the total number of annulled
constituencies that were rerun on May 13; however, the six additional
annulments also included the court's reversal of previous CEC
decisions. Opposition supporters criticized the court's action because
it cancelled a race previously awarded to an opposition Azadliq bloc
candidate as well as a race that Azadliq claimed it had won in a fair
contest.
The Central Election Commission and Constitutional Court actions
did not fully address reports of fraud and other irregularities or
allay the concerns of the international community about the extent to
which the results fully reflected the will of the people.
One opposition member refused to take her seat in protest of
election fraud, and the Government did not set a date for a by-election
during the year.
The most recent Presidential election was held in October 2003 and
formally brought Ilham Aliyev to power. This election failed to meet
international standards for democratic elections due to a number of
serious irregularities.
On October 6, the authorities held partial municipal elections
around the country. The opposition Azadliq bloc, comprised of the PFP,
ADP, and Azerbaijan Liberal Party, boycotted the municipal elections,
asserting that the composition of local election commissions made the
elections inherently unfair. Some of these municipal elections were
reruns of 2004 municipal elections, which election authorities
cancelled because of widespread fraud and irregularities.
Opposition parties played an active role in politics. However,
members of the opposition were more likely to experience official
harassment and arbitrary arrest and detention than other citizens. On
November 24, the State Economic Court evicted the opposition PFP and
several media outlets from their office building in central Baku. The
Government assigned the party to the second floor of a building in
deplorable condition on the outskirts of the city. The party refused to
occupy the premises and instead continued to work out of space
temporarily provided by the ADP. Police officials had not allowed PFP
members to retrieve their property and effects from the newly assigned
office space at year's end (see section 2.a).
The Government refused to renew the passport of PFP Chairman Ali
Kerimli citing an outstanding civil complaint from 1993. Human rights
activists criticized the action, noting that the Government had renewed
Kerimli's passport on several occasions in the intervening years
without objection.
Progovernment news agencies attacked Kerimli and his party in daily
news broadcasts in 2005, inciting several violent protests outside of
the PFP's offices.
There were 14 women in the 125-seat parliament. Several women held
senior government positions, including deputy speaker of parliament and
deputy chair of the Central Election Commission. There were no legal
restrictions on the participation of women in politics, although
traditional social norms limited women's political roles, and they were
underrepresented in elective offices.
Ethnic minorities such as the Lezghins, Talysh, and Avars continued
to serve in parliament and in government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The law penalizes
corruption by outlawing bribery; however, there was widespread public
perception of corruption throughout all facets of society, including
the civil service, government ministries, and the highest levels of
government. The NGO Transparency International reported that the
country received a rating of 2.4 on its corruption perceptions index,
indicating there was a perception of serious corruption. According to
the prosecutor general's office, criminal cases related to corruption
were opened during the year, specifically on bribery charges; however,
these cases had little or no impact on the prevalence of bribery and
corruption in the country.
In January 2005 a new anticorruption law came into force that
required public officials to report annual income, sources of income,
property owned, and financial liabilities. It also prohibited nepotism
and limited giving gifts and direct or indirect financial benefits to
public officials or third parties; government officials acknowledged
that implementation of this law was slow and halting.
The law provides for public access to government information by
individuals and organizations; however, the Government often did not
provide access. Although government ministries have separate procedures
on how to request information, they routinely denied requests, claiming
not to possess the information. Individuals have the right to appeal
the denials in court; however, the courts generally upheld the
decisions of the ministries.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Although the
Government maintained ties with some human rights NGOs and responded to
their inquiries, on occasion the Government criticized and intimidated
other human rights NGOs and activists. The Ministry of Justice
routinely denied or failed to register some human rights NGOs.
The major local human rights NGOs were the Association for the
Protection of Women's Rights, the Bureau of Human Rights and Respect
for the Law, the Azerbaijan Foundation of Democracy Development and
Human Rights Protection, Azerbaijani Committee Against Torture, the
Institute for Peace and Democracy, and the Human Rights Center of
Azerbaijan. Most of the leading NGOs affiliated themselves with one of
two independent, umbrella organizations: the Human Rights Federation or
the Helsinki Citizens Assembly.
The Government met with a variety of domestic NGO monitors. In 2005
the Ministry of Justice formed a joint prison-monitoring commission
with several representatives of the NGO community (see section 1.c.).
The ministry also formed a joint political prisoner review committee
with several representatives of the human rights community in 2005. In
August 2005 the ministry of internal affairs granted permission for the
first time for an NGO to have immediate access to police and pretrial
detention facilities; the NGO exercised this right without obstruction.
Several NGOs reported that the Government and police at times
refused to protect them from so-called provocateurs who threatened,
harassed, and attacked NGO activists and vandalized their property.
Arzu Abdullayeva director of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly received
several threats in connection with her leadership of an NGO
delegation's fact-finding visit to Nagorno-Karabakh in July.
The registration process for NGOs remained cumbersome and included
requirements to register grants from foreign entities. NGO grants from
foreign entities are subject to a social security tax of 22 percent on
employee salaries, although grants from a few countries with bilateral
agreements with the Government were subject to only a 2 percent tax.
NGO activists reported that these provisions inhibited their
organizations' activities.
The Government generally permitted visits by UN representatives and
other international organizations such as the ICRC. International NGOs,
such as Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders, generally
operated without government hindrance.
Citizens may appeal violations committed by the state or by
individuals to the ombudswoman for human rights. No information was
available at year's end regarding the complaints received during the
year by the ombudswoman. In 2005 her office received 6,200 complaints
and accepted 3,000 for investigation as authentic human rights
violations. The ombudswoman may refuse to accept cases of abuse that
occurred over a year ago, anonymous complaints, and cases already being
handled by the judiciary. The ombudswoman traveled around the country
to hear human rights complaints, cooperated with foreign diplomats
working on human rights activities, and submitted an annual report to
parliament. Compared with previous years, the ombudswoman was more
outspoken in her criticism of government actions. For example, the
ombudswoman spoke out against the NTRC's November decision to order ANS
Television and Radio off the air (see section 2.a.). However, local
human rights NGOs and activists criticized the ombudswoman's work as
ineffective and generally regarded her as not independent of the
Government.
The parliament and Ministry of Justice also had human rights
offices that heard complaints, conducted investigations, and made
recommendations to relevant government bodies. Officials of the human
rights office within the ministry of foreign affairs regularly met with
the diplomatic community to discuss issues of concern. The parliament's
human rights body did not operate fully independently of government
influence.
On December 28, President Aliyev issued a decree announcing a new
National Action Plan for the Protection of Human Rights aimed at
improving Azerbaijan's human rights performance. The deputy prime
minister and Presidential administration were assigned oversight
responsibility.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides for equal rights without respect to gender, race,
language, disability, or social status, but the Government did not
always respect these provisions or effectively enforce them. Violence
and discrimination against women, trafficking of persons, and
discrimination against ethnic Armenians were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence,
continued to be a problem. In rural areas, women had no effective
recourse against assaults by their husbands or others; there are no
laws on spousal abuse or specific laws on spousal rape. Rape is illegal
and carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence. The Government stated
that 32 rapes and attempted rapes were reported during the year. Most
rape victims reportedly knew their assailants but did not report
incidents out of fear and shame.
There were no government-sponsored programs for victims of domestic
violence or rape. In Baku a women's crisis center operated by the
Institute for Peace and Democracy provided free medical, psychological,
and legal assistance for women. During the year the center provided
services to 4,734 women, and 1,850 women called the center's crisis hot
line. The institute also broadcast three public service announcements
and short films in the regions, covering women's legal rights and court
procedures.
Prostitution is an administrative offense rather than a crime and
is punishable by a fine of up to $100 (88 manat). Pimps and brothel
owners may be sentenced to prison for up to six years. Prostitution was
a serious problem, particularly in Baku.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was prohibited by law, and the Government
reported that it investigated cases of sexual harassment during the
year. At year's end, the Government had not released data on the number
of cases it investigated during the year.
Women nominally enjoy the same legal rights as men; however,
societal discrimination was a problem. Traditional social norms and
poor economic conditions continued to restrict women's roles in the
economy, and there were reports that women had difficulty exercising
their legal rights due to gender discrimination. Women were
underrepresented in high-level jobs, including top business positions.
Children.--The law requires the Government to protect the rights of
children with regard to education and health care. In practice
government programs provided a low standard of education and health
care for children.
Public education was compulsory, free, and universal until the age
of 17. The Ministry of Education reported 100 percent elementary school
attendance, 97 percent middle school attendance, and 88 percent high
school attendance during the year; the UN Children's Fund reported the
elementary school figure was approximately 88 percent. The highest
level of education achieved by the majority of children was high
school. In impoverished rural areas, large families sometimes placed a
higher priority on the education of male children and kept girls to
work in the home. Some poor families forced their children to beg
rather than attend school (see section 6.d.).
The Government provided a minimum standard of health care for
children, but the overall quality of medical care was very low. During
the year, the Government began undertaking health sector reforms aimed
at improving the low quality of care.
There were isolated reports of child abuse and of trafficking in
children (see section 5, Trafficking), and during the year the
Government reported that it opened an investigation into 11 cases of
child trafficking.
Child marriage was not considered a significant problem, although
evidence suggested it was growing, primarily in rural central and
southern regions among poor families.
A large number of refugee and IDP children lived in substandard
conditions in camps and public buildings. In some cases these children
were unable to attend school.
Trafficking in Persons.--In 2005 the Government adopted new
legislation and amendments to the criminal code criminalizing
trafficking in persons. During the year 190 traffickers were prosecuted
under the new law. In addition the Government prosecuted traffickers
under other laws including those prohibiting rape, forced prostitution
and labor, and forgery of travel documents. Most trafficking-related
crimes prosecuted during the year carried maximum penalties between
five and twelve years' imprisonment, except for rape and sexual
violence, which both carried maximum 15-year prison sentences. There
also are specific criminal penalties for enslaving, raping, and forcing
children into prostitution. During the year the Government opened 186
criminal investigations resulting in 190 convictions of individuals
charged with trafficking-related crimes.
The deputy minister of internal affairs was the national
coordinator for government antitrafficking activities, monitoring
relevant government bodies' efforts and dealing with the NGO community.
Government bodies involved in antitrafficking included the ministries
of internal affairs, foreign affairs, justice, national security, and
health; the prosecutor general; the state border guard; customs; and
the State Committee on Women's and Children's Issues. In August the
President announced a restructuring of the ministry of internal
affairs, which created a separate antitrafficking unit.
The Government regularly collaborated with neighboring countries on
antitrafficking investigations.
The country was primarily a country of origin and transit for
trafficked women, men, and children for sexual exploitation and forced
labor. Central Asian and local women and girls were trafficked from or
through the country to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Iran, India,
and Pakistan for work in the sex industry. There was also some internal
trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. The Government reported
it identified 77 trafficking victims. During the year the Government
also reported 11 cases of child trafficking.
Women and girls were trafficked internally from rural areas to
urban centers for sexual exploitation, men were trafficked to Turkey
and Russia for forced labor, and children were trafficked internally
for begging. Iranians, Iraqis, Afghans, and migrants from South Asia
were smuggled through the country to Europe--particularly Germany,
Sweden, France, and the Netherlands--and to the U.S. where they at
times had their passports confiscated and were subjected to forced
labor. Traffickers generally targeted women.
Traffickers were either foreigners or ethnic Azerbaijanis who acted
in loose concert with international networks. They approached victims
directly and indirectly through friends and relatives, usually offering
to arrange employment abroad. Traffickers also used deceptive newspaper
advertisements offering false work abroad. Traffickers reportedly used
forged documents to move victims. They also used fraudulent marriage
proposals from men posing as Iranian businessmen to lure women into
prostitution in neighboring Iran. Despite such fraud, some families
willingly married their daughters to wealthy Iranians without concern
for the actual outcome.
There was no evidence of official complicity in trafficking, but
corruption in some government agencies facilitated trafficking.
In 2005 parliament passed antitrafficking legislation increasing
protections for trafficking victims by relieving them from civil,
administrative, and criminal responsibility for offenses committed
under coercion, intimidation, or other trafficking conditions. The law
also allows the use of pseudonyms to protect the identity of
trafficking victims and provides for assistance and shelters for
trafficking victims. Subsequent revisions to the criminal code
implemented this legislation.
There was no standardized mechanism to return trafficked women to
the country. According to the IOM, some Azerbaijanis and third country
nationals who were either victims of trafficking or engaged in
prostitution were deported to the country, primarily from Turkey.
However, the Government had no program to assist them.
The Government informally referred some victims to state health
care facilities; these facilities lacked the capacity to provide the
required specialized treatment or information for victims of
trafficking. The Government also referred some victims to international
organizations and domestic NGOs for assistance. Some NGOs, which
cooperated with the Government, reportedly sheltered victims in private
homes, due to a lack, for most of the year, of adequate shelters
available for trafficking victims in the country. IOM conducted
training for shelter volunteers, as well as training for volunteers to
staff an NGO antitrafficking hotline, which has yet to open.
During the year the Government continued to implement its
antitrafficking action plan. The Government completed renovations to
the building designated last year to be a shelter for trafficking
victims, which was officially opened in October. The Government also
designated a number for a trafficking hotline which will be accessible
toll-free both domestically and internationally once it is operational.
The Government implemented a standardized recruitment, selection, and
testing process for police officers of the new antitrafficking unit
developed last year with international assistance. However, it was not
possible to determine whether this process conformed to international
standards.
Several NGOs, such as the Institute for Peace and Democracy's
Women's Crisis Center and Clean World, and government bodies, such as
the State Committee for Women's and Children's Issues, worked on
antitrafficking activities. There were no government-sponsored
antitrafficking public education campaigns, although the Ministry of
Education supported school information programs run by domestic NGOs.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, and access
to health care, or the provision of other state services, but
discrimination in employment was a problem. It was commonly believed
that children with disabilities were ill and needed to be separated
from other children and institutionalized. Several international and
local NGOs developed educational campaigns to change social perceptions
and reintegrate disabled children.
There are no legal provisions mandating access to public or other
buildings for persons with disabilities, and most buildings were not
accessible.
Care in facilities for the mentally ill and persons with
disabilities varied; some provided adequate care while others lacked
qualified caregivers, equipment, and supplies to maintain sanitary
conditions and provide a proper diet.
The ministries of health and labor and social welfare were
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Some of the approximately
20,000 citizens of Armenian descent living in the country historically
have complained of discrimination in employment, schooling, housing,
the provision of social services, and other areas. Azerbaijani citizens
who were ethnically Armenian often concealed their ethnicity by legally
changing the ethnic designation in their passports.
Some groups complained that authorities restricted their ability to
teach or print materials in their native languages. Specifically,
Farsi-speaking Tallish in the south, Caucasian Lezghins in the north,
displaced Meskhetian Turks from Central Asia, and displaced Kurds from
the Armenian-occupied Lachin region reported sporadic incidents of
discrimination, restrictions on the ability to teach in their native
languages, and harassment by local authorities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Government did not
officially condone discrimination based on sexual orientation; however,
there was societal prejudice against homosexuals.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, including the right to form labor unions, but there were
some restrictions on this right in practice. The overwhelming majority
of labor unions remained tightly linked to the Government, with the
exception of the independent journalists' unions.
Uniformed military and police are prohibited from participating in
unions, although civilians working in the interior and defense
ministries are allowed to do so. The law also prohibits managerial
staff from joining a union, but in practice managers in government
industries often had union dues automatically deducted from their
paychecks.
Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) between the Government and
multinational energy enterprises signed in 1994 do not provide for
employee participation in a trade union and effectively exempt these
enterprises from national labor laws. Some labor organizations and
local NGOs reported that some of these companies discouraged employees
from forming unions, and most employees of multinational enterprises
operating under the PSA arrangements were not union members, although
there were exceptions.
On October 10, parliament lifted the statutory prohibition on trade
unions engaging in political activity.
Many of the state-owned enterprises that dominated the formal
economy withheld union dues from workers' pay but did not deliver the
dues to the unions. As a result unions did not have resources to carry
out their activities effectively. Unions had no recourse to investigate
the withheld funds.
The Azerbaijani Trade Union Confederation (ATUC) had approximately
1.5 million members, including 26 labor federations in various
industrial sectors. Although the ATUC was registered independently,
some workers considered it closely aligned with the Government.
Membership in the Union of Oil and Gas Industry Workers remained
mandatory for the State Oil Company's 50,000 workers, whose union dues
(2 percent of each worker's salary) were automatically deducted from
their paychecks.
There were no reports of government antiunion discrimination; labor
disputes were primarily handled by local courts, which, while not
exhibiting antiunion discrimination, were widely considered corrupt.
There were reports of antiunion discrimination by foreign companies
operating in Baku. Labor NGOs report that multinational energy
companies and their subcontractors often discouraged union membership
by their employees. Production sharing agreements signed in 1994
between the Government and these multinational energy enterprises did
not address employees' participation in unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
trade unions to conduct their activities without government
interference; in practice most unions were not independent. The law
also provides for collective bargaining agreements to set wages in
state enterprises, and trade unions actively negotiated with employers,
particularly in the formal sector. In reality unions could not
effectively participate in negotiating wage levels because government-
appointed boards ran major state-owned firms and set wages according to
a unified schedule. In addition, in 2005, the labor ministry reported
that the Government continued to have limited success in addressing
worker-related issues with foreign companies.
The law provides most workers with the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right. Categories of workers prohibited from striking
include high-ranking executive and legislative officials, law
enforcement officers, court employees, fire fighters, and health,
electric power, water supply, telephone, and railway and air traffic
control workers. Striking workers who disrupt public transportation can
be sentenced up to three years' imprisonment. The law prohibits
retribution against strikers such as dismissal or replacement.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law allow forced or compulsory labor under circumstances of war or in
the execution of a court's decision under the supervision of a
government agency, and some observers asserted that there were
infrequent occurrences of forced or compulsory labor, including
trafficking in persons (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in the
workplace and from work that is dangerous to their health, but there
were few complaints of abuses of child labor laws.
The minimum age for employment depended on the type of work. In
most instances the law permits children to work from age 15; 14-year-
old children may work in family businesses or at after-school jobs
during the day that pose no hazard to their health with parental
consent. Children under 16 may not work more than 24 hours per week;
children between 16 and 18 may not work more than 36 hours per week.
The law prohibits employing children under 18 in jobs with difficult
and hazardous work conditions. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Security is responsible for enforcing child labor laws. However, the
unit responsible is considered ineffective.
There were reports that some parents forced their children to beg,
and children were trafficked internally for this purpose. Children were
also trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual
exploitation (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year the Government
raised the minimum monthly wage from $30 to $34 (29 manat), the third
raise in 18 months. The minimum wage was insufficient to provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family, although it was $8
(about seven manat) above the official poverty level of $26 (22 manat)
set by the Government. The Ministry of Taxes, the Ministry of Labor,
and the State Social Protection Fund legally share responsibility for
enforcing the minimum wage. However, in practice the minimum wage was
not effectively enforced.
The law provides for a 40-hour work week; the maximum daily work
shift is 12 hours. Workers in hazardous occupations may not work more
than 36 hours per week. The law requires lunch and rest periods, which
are determined by labor contracts and collective agreements. It was not
known whether local companies provided adequate premium compensation
for overtime, although international companies generally did. There was
no prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime. The Ministry of Labor
reported little success enforcing such contracts and agreements in the
informal sector, where most individuals were employed.
The law sets health and safety standards; government inspections of
working conditions were weak and ineffective, and standards were widely
ignored. The ATUC also monitored compliance with labor and trade
regulations, including safety and health conditions. During the year
the ATUC reported that it inspected 2,466 enterprises and organizations
and found 677 legal and technical violations. The ATUC stated that
virtually all of the violations were addressed, and no official
complaints were registered.
Workers did not have the right to remove themselves from situations
that endangered their health or safety without jeopardizing their
employment. According to the Oil Workers Rights Defense Council (ORDC),
an NGO dedicated to protecting worker rights in the oil sector, four
State Oil Company workers died in workplace accidents. Workplace
accidents were also a problem in other sectors of the economy.
The law provides equal rights to foreign and domestic workers,
although local human rights groups, including ORDC, maintained that
disparities existed, particularly in foreign oil companies.
__________
BELARUS
Under its constitution, the Republic of Belarus, with a population
of 9,724,000, has a directly elected President and a bicameral National
Assembly. Since his election in 1994 as President, Alexander Lukashenko
has systematically undermined the country's democratic institutions and
concentrated power in the executive branch through authoritarian means,
flawed referenda, manipulated elections, and arbitrary decrees that
undermine the rule of law. Presidential elections on March 19 that
declared Lukashenko President for a consecutive third term failed to
meet international standards for democratic elections. The Government
continued to ignore recommendations by major international
organizations to improve election processes and human rights. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces; however, members of the security forces committed numerous
human rights abuses.
The Government's human rights record remained very poor and
worsened in some areas as the Government continued to commit frequent
serious abuses. In March the Government denied citizens the right to
democratically change their government by holding a fraudulent
Presidential election. Throughout the election campaign and in the
months afterward, opposition and civil society activists, including
four domestic election observers and a former Presidential candidate,
were beaten, harassed, fined or imprisoned. The Government failed to
account for past disappearances of opposition political figures and
journalists. Prison conditions were extremely poor, and there were
numerous reports of abuse of prisoners and detainees. Arbitrary
arrests, detentions, and imprisonment of citizens for political
reasons, criticizing officials, or participating in demonstrations were
common. Court trials, whose outcomes usually were predetermined,
frequently were conducted behind closed doors without the benefit of an
independent judiciary or independent observers.
The Government further restricted civil liberties, including
freedoms of press, speech, assembly, association, and religion. The
Government seized at will published materials from civil society
activists and closed or limited the distribution of several independent
newspapers. The few remaining independent publications often were
fined, usually for alleged slander or not following restrictive
registration procedures. State security services used unreasonable and
often brutal force to disperse peaceful protesters. Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) and political parties were subjected to
harassment, fines, prosecution, and closure. Religious leaders were
fined or imprisoned for performing services and ceremonies, and
churches were either closed, deregistered, or had their congregations
evicted. Trafficking in persons remained a significant problem,
although some progress was made to combat it. There was official
discrimination against Roma, ethnic and sexual minorities, and the
Belarusian language. Authorities harassed independent unions and their
members, severely limiting the ability of the workers to form and join
independent trade unions and to organize and bargain collectively.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports that the Government or its agents committed any
politically motivated killings; however, one foreign diplomat died
under unexplained circumstances. On March 22, Ryszard Badon-Lehr, a
Polish diplomat assigned to Grodno, was found unconscious in his
residence and appeared to have suffered a beating. He was transferred
to a hospital in Poland, where he died on April 6. Authorities denied
Badon-Lehr was beaten. They claimed he suffered a stroke and did not
open an investigation into the case.
On March 14, authorities suspended their investigation of the 2004
killing of journalist Veronika Cherkasova, who was found dead in her
Minsk apartment with multiple stab wounds. Her colleagues linked her
death to her research into the Government's alleged arms sales to Iraq.
The Government initially accused her teenage son of the death and
detained him in late 2005 for three months on other charges. On October
17, the Minsk Prosecutor's office stated that Cherkasova was murdered,
but had no suspects in the case (see section 1.d.).
In October 2005 independent journalist Vasiliy Grodnikov was found
dead inside his locked apartment. Grodnikov's brother, who found the
body, reported signs of a struggle and claimed that Grodnikov was
killed by a blow to the head with a blunt object. In November 2005
police concluded that Grodnikov fell while intoxicated and closed the
case. The prosecutor general's office reopened the case but in December
2005 announced no crime had been committed and that Grodnikov died as a
result of ``his careless actions'' (see section 2.a.).
In late 2005 militia officer S. Magonov was found guilty of murder
in the August 2005 beating death of Vasiliy Shevelenko and sentenced to
eight years in prison following a criminal investigation by
authorities. Shevelenko had been detained in August 2005 in a
government drug and alcohol detoxification facility in Svetlogorsk,
where he was severely beaten on the face, head, and neck.
b. Disappearance.--There were no confirmed reports of politically
motivated disappearances during the year, and there were no
developments in the investigations of the 1999 and 2000 disappearances
of opposition activists, a businessman, and a journalist. The
Government continued to deny any official involvement in the
disappearances.
On March 31, the authorities suspended the investigation into the
disappearance and presumed killing in 2000 of television journalist
Dmitriy Zavadskiy one year after reopening the case. Credible evidence
indicated that government agents killed Zavadskiy for his reporting
that government officials may have aided Chechen separatists in Russia.
Investigations into the 1999 disappearances and presumed murders of
opposition figures Yuriy Zakharenko and Viktor Gonchar and businessman
Anatoliy Krasovskiy remained open, but no developments were reported.
In August 2005 President Lukashenko granted the order ``For Service to
the Motherland'' to Ministry of Interior special forces Colonel Dmitriy
Pavlichenko, who was named in a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) report as having played a key role in the
disappearances.
On December 20, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that
expressed deep concern over the human rights situation in the country
and urged the Government to hold free and fair elections and to cease
politically motivated prosecution and harassment of political
opponents. In April 2005 the UN Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR)
approved a third resolution on the poor human rights situation in the
country, urging the Government to conduct an impartial investigation
into the disappearances of Zavadskiy, Zakharenko, Gonchar, and
Krasovskiy. The UNCHR passed similar resolutions in 2003 and 2004. The
PACE report recommended suspending senior officials suspected of
involvement in the disappearances. The UNCHR also extended the mandate
of its special rapporteur to continue examining the country's human
rights performance (see section 4).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, Special Purpose
Detachment (OMON) riot police and other special forces on occasion beat
detainees and demonstrators.
The OMON also occasionally beat individuals during arrests and in
detention for organizing or participating in demonstrations (see
sections 1.d. and 2.b.). Credible sources reported that during
demonstrations following the March 19 Presidential elections, OMON riot
police and other special forces, such as the antiterrorist unit ALMAZ,
beat demonstrators in custody and threatened others with death or rape
(see sections 1.d. and 3). According to one such report, teenage
demonstrator Andrey Kuzmienkov was detained on March 25 and beaten,
suffering a ruptured kidney.
Eyewitnesses reported that security services brutally kicked and
clubbed demonstrators and organizers, including young women. On March
23, Viktor Korniyenko, the deputy chief of Presidential candidate
Aleksandr Milinkevich's campaign team, was beaten unconscious by two
unidentified men in an attack linked to his political activities. On
March 24, special forces forcefully removed hundreds of demonstrators
from October Square (see sections 2.b. and 3). One of the
demonstrators, Yuriy Chavusav, reported that he was repeatedly beaten
and choked with his own scarf on a police detainment bus.
On March 25, special forces and OMON riot police used truncheons
and tear gas to break up a peaceful march to Okrestina prison to
protest the detention of 250 demonstrators (see section 2.b.).
Television footage showed two severely beaten protesters lying on the
ground and dozens more covered in blood. According to eyewitness
reports, security services searched for and beat demonstrators hiding
in stores or backyards. Ministry of Interior Colonel Dmitriy
Pavlichenko, who has been implicated in the disappearances and presumed
deaths of opposition activists, personally beat Presidential candidate
Aleksandr Kozulin before the latter was tied up and transported by
ALMAZ forces to a pretrial detention center (see sections 1.e., 2.b.,
and 3). Kozulin's beating by Pavlichenko and ALMAZ officers resulted in
head and spine injuries. Neither Pavlichenko, ALMAZ officers, nor other
special forces personally were punished for their actions. Kozulin was
sentenced July 13 to five and one half years in prison for alleged
hooliganism and organizing persons to disturb the public peace (see
section 1.e.)
On March 14, a Grodno police lieutenant severely beat Nikolay
Voron, a Kozulin activist, in a factory dormitory as he was passing out
campaign flyers. According to a Kozulin spokesperson, the police
officer repeatedly slammed Voron's head against a wall. He was rushed
by ambulance to a hospital with serious head injuries.
Hazing of new army recruits by beatings and other forms of physical
and psychological abuse continued, according to official sources;
however, the number of reported cases declined.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
austere and were marked by occasional shortages of food and medicine
and the spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Leila
Zerrougui, chairperson of a UN working group on arbitrary detention who
visited the country in 2004, reported that conditions in detention
centers were worse than those in prisons because of poor sanitary and
living conditions and restrictions on visitation, phone, and mail
privileges. According to human rights monitors, conditions in prison
hospitals also were poor.
Overcrowding in prisons, detention centers, and in work release
prisons--khimya--was a serious problem. Persons sentenced to khimya
live in prison barracks and are forced to work under conditions set by
the Government. According to a government estimate, the total number of
confined persons in the country was approximately 35,000. Former
political prisoners reported that they were treated worse than
murderers and other criminals and often had to share a cell with such
individuals. They also reported that their legal rights were neither
explained nor protected. Prisoners who complained about abuse of their
rights often were threatened with death, humiliation, or other forms of
punishment.
Credible reports indicated that police and prison officials
continued to mistreat and torture prisoners. Human rights groups
reported that prisoners did not receive adequate food, medical
attention, or warm clothing, and were often denied a bed, sheets,
change of clothes, and restroom privileges. As a result, tuberculosis,
pneumonia and other diseases were widespread.
Following mass arrests on March 24 after a special forces raid on a
tent city erected by protestors and a March 25 march to the Okrestina
jail, credible sources reported that many detainees were not fed during
the first 24 hours of detainment (see sections 1.d., 2.b., and 3). The
law permits family and friends to bring detainees food and hygiene
products, but in many cases authorities did not respect this right.
Authorities frequently kept those arrested for political activities
in the Okrestina jail or the Volodarskogo detention center in Minsk.
Following the mass arrests after the March 24 and 25 demonstrations,
cell occupancy doubled, forcing detainees to take turns sleeping
because there was insufficient space and beds.
Besides overcrowding, cells were damp, cold, and poorly ventilated.
Former detainees reported that they were denied blankets or pillows and
given little medical assistance. On March 26, jailed demonstrator
Dmitriy Shimanskiy was transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed
with the flu. He attributed his illness to the poor conditions of his
cell. Kozulin and NGO Partnership activist Timofey Dranchuk reportedly
suffered vision loss due to poor detention center conditions.
Credible sources reported that Kozulin's health seriously
deteriorated in prison (see sections 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3). Although
his living conditions were said to be decent, associates claimed that
he did not receive adequate medical attention after he was severely
beaten by police and still complained about residual pain. On October
20, Kozulin began a 53-day hunger strike in protest of his
incarceration and the fraudulent March 19 election. In response, prison
authorities denied Kozulin's wife and lawyer visitation rights. On
December 5, authorities allowed Kozulin a 30-minute meeting with his
wife, who reported that her husband had lost 88 pounds and suffered
from very low blood pressure. He was on 24-hour surveillance by prison
hospital staff. Kozulin ended his hunger strike on December 12.
On April 14, authorities released opposition activist Mikhail
Marinich after he served 18 months in a maximum security prison. Upon
release Marinich sought treatment abroad for poor health, which he
attributed to prison conditions. Credible reports indicated that prison
authorities in March 2005 prevented Marinich from receiving medical
treatment for three days after he suffered a stroke.
On May 15, authorities released entrepreneurial union leader
Valeriy Levonevskiy, who served two and one-half years in a maximum
security prison for slandering the President. According to Levonevskiy
most cells he saw were poorly ventilated and damp, contributing to the
spread of diseases such as tuberculosis. Medical check-ups were
infrequent, and doctors repeatedly fabricated examination dates and
results to fulfill paperwork requirements. Levonevskiy also asserted
that prison food contained insufficient nutrients and vitamins and was
often prepared by prisoners in unsanitary conditions.
Authorities sometimes granted human rights observers access to
prisons and political prisoners in the presence of officials; however,
most requests to visit political prisoners were denied. In 2004
authorities allowed a delegation from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention to visit prisons and detention centers, but denied the group
access to a Committee for State Security (BKGB) detention center on the
grounds it had not requested the visit in advance.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law limits arbitrary
detention; however, the Government did not abide by these limits.
Authorities continued to arrest individuals for political reasons and
use administrative measures to detain political activists before,
during, and after protests (see sections 2.b. and 3).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior has authority over the police, but the BKGB and Presidential
security forces also exercised police functions. The President has the
right to subordinate all security bodies to his personal command. Petty
corruption among police was widespread, although the Government made
attempts to limit official corruption (see section 3). Impunity
remained a serious problem. While the law gives individuals the right
to report police abuse to the prosecutor, the Government often did not
investigate abuses by the security forces or hold perpetrators
accountable.
Arrest and Detention.--Police frequently arrested and detained
individuals without a warrant. However, police must obtain permission
to detain persons for longer than three hours. Detained persons
suspected of a crime may be held for up to 10 days without formal
charge, and for up to 18 months after charges are filed. Under the law,
prosecutors and investigators have the authority to extend detention
periods without consulting a judge. Detainees have the right to
petition the legality of their detention; however, in practice, appeals
by suspects seeking court review of their detentions were frequently
suppressed or ignored. The law provides for bail, but in practice bail
was not granted.
Police often detained individuals for several hours ostensibly to
confirm their identity. This tactic was frequently used to detain
opposition members and demonstrators, to prevent the distribution of
leaflets and newspapers or as a pretext to break up civil society
meetings (see sections 2.a., 2.b., and 3).
For example, on February 17, police stopped and detained for three
hours a vehicle carrying eight opposition candidate supporters on their
way to Minsk for a candidate registration ceremony. On March 24,
authorities detained three Polish citizens, including a former Polish
ambassador to Belarus, who reported to the Polish Embassy that he was
beaten by police.
On April 26, police arrested opposition Belarusian Party of
Communists Chairman Sergey Kalyakin and Belarusian Popular Front
Chairman Vintsuk Vyachorka for participating in an unauthorized
demonstration. Kalyakin and Vyachorka served 14 and 15 days in jail,
respectively. On April 28, police detained eight ``flash-mob''
activists demonstrating support for the independent Union of Belarusian
Writers and released them after copying their identity information (see
section 2.b.). On May 12, police detained, fingerprinted, and
photographed ten opposition activists gathered near a local Interior
Ministry building to express solidarity with jailed activists (see
section 2.b.). Authorities released them without charge hours later
after confiscating prodemocracy signs and national flags.
On July 26, authorities in Polotsk detained for one hour former
opposition Presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich, his wife,
press secretary, and an opposition party deputy head after discovering
old campaign leaflets in their vehicle. They were on the way to visit a
prominent political prisoner.
On September 2, border guards detained and questioned human rights
attorney Oleg Volchek for over three hours. He was released without
charge, but authorities confiscated reports in his possession that
criticized the country's March 19 Presidential elections. Authorities
later accused Volchek of transporting illegal economic policy
materials; however, the charge was dropped on December 7 for lack of
evidence.
On October 16, authorities in Minsk detained 15 demonstrators who
were holding images of Belarusian political prisoners and candles in
memoriam of 54 people who died in a stampede at subway station in 1999.
On that same day, police in Brest detained 14 activists who formed a
line on a bridge so that letters on their chests would read ``Freedom
to Political Prisoners!'' Authorities released all 29 demonstrators
from local police stations without charge after recording identities.
On October 27, a Minsk court sentenced opposition activists and
independent journalist Aleksandr Abramovich to 15 days in jail for
attempting to demonstrate near a government building.
On October 30, a court in Grodno sentenced Milinkevich aide Andrey
Kuselchuk to three days in jail for allegedly speaking obscenities in
public. Police had originally arrested him on October 29 after finding
opposition newsletters in his car.
On November 23, police in Vitebsk stopped a vehicle transporting
Presidential candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich and a local opposition
leader three times while they were collecting signatures for local
election campaigns. During one of the stops, police brought Milinkevich
and the vehicle to a local police station for questioning about
possible involvement in a fatal car accident. He was held for two hours
and released.
During the year a number of other individuals also were detained or
arrested for political reasons. On October 5, authorities detained
opposition youth activist Pavel Krasovskiy for 10 days on suspicion of
involvement in the September 2005 bombings that injured more than 50
people in the northern city of Vitebsk. Authorities accused Krasovskiy
of attempted murder and seized computer equipment and printed material
from his residence. They also charged him with killing and raping two
women in 1999. In October 2005 President Lukashenko announced that two
brothers, identified as Vitaliy and Yuriy Murashko, had admitted to the
bombing. However, in April they were freed on their own recognizance;
there were no further reports regarding the charges against them by
year's end. On November 15, authorities dropped the 1999 murder-rape
charges against Krasovskiy but said he remained a suspect in the 2005
bombing, despite clear evidence that he was out of the country at the
time.
According to the authoritative local human rights NGO Vyasna,
authorities detained or arrested approximately 1,000 persons throughout
the country for political reasons leading up to and following the
Presidential election; 685 of the arrests occurred between March 19 and
March 25. Many of those detained or arrested, including Milinkevich's
two sons, were bringing food and warm clothing to prodemocracy
demonstrators camping in Minsk's October Square to protest the
fraudulent Presidential election. Detainees also included opposition
United Civic Party leader Anatoliy Lebedko and his deputy Aleksandr
Dobrovolskiy. On March 24, authorities raided the ``tent city'' and
arrested as many as 250 people. Most of the detainees were sentenced to
10-15 days detention in trials that lasted no longer than 10 minutes.
There were no reports of acquittals (see sections 2.b. and 3).
The Government arbitrarily detained representatives of the
independent media (see section 2.a.).
On March 13, authorities released Anton Filimonov, the son of
murdered journalist Veronika Cherkasova, after three months in
detention (see section 1.a.) He was detained in December 2005 with four
other persons for counterfeiting and on suspicion of murdering his
mother. He was subjected to intense interrogation and authorities had
attempted to confine him to a psychiatric ward. While in detention
Filimonov reported that unidentified men had tried to persuade him to
sign a confession to killing his mother. He was released for lack of
evidence.
Amnesty.--Unlike in previous years, authorities did not grant
general amnesty during the year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however the Government did not respect judicial
independence in practice. There was credible evidence that prosecutors
and courts convicted individuals on false charges.
The President appoints six of the 12 members of the Constitutional
Court, including the chairman, and the chairmen of the Supreme Court
and the Supreme Economic Court. He also has authority to appoint and
dismiss all district and military judges. Corruption and inefficiency
in the judiciary were generally the result of political interference in
the work of the court system (see section 3). In 2005 one judge was
tried and convicted of corruption.
The criminal justice system has three tiers: district courts,
regional courts, and the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court is
empowered to adjudicate constitutional issues and to examine the
legality of laws; however, in practice it was wholly dependent on the
executive branch, had no means of enforcing its decisions, and did not
challenge Presidential initiatives.
Prosecutors are organized into offices at the district, regional,
and national levels. They answer to and serve at the pleasure of the
prosecutor general, who is appointed by the President. Prosecutors are
not independent and do not have authority to bring charges against the
President or members of his executive staff.
On January 16, the UNCHR special rapporteur on Belarus released a
report that confirmed the findings of an April 2005 report by the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on arbitrary detention
(see section 2.d.). The report described the authority of prosecutors
as ``excessive and imbalanced'' because prosecutors could extend
periods of detention without the permission of judges. In addition,
investigations are conducted by investigators and prosecutors without
effective judicial oversight. The report stated there also was an
imbalance of power between the prosecution and the defense. Defense
lawyers did not have the benefit of examining investigation files, to
be present during gathering of evidence, or to examine evidence against
defendants until a prosecutor formally brought the case to the court.
Lawyers found it difficult to call some evidence into question because
technical expertise was under the control of the prosecutor's office.
According to the special rapporteur's report, these imbalances of power
had intensified at the beginning of the year. As a result, there were
very few cases in which criminal defendants were found innocent. By
Presidential decree all lawyers are subordinate to the Ministry of
Justice, which compromised their independence. Lawyers must be licensed
by the ministry and are required to work for the state in regional
collegiums. The law prohibits private attorneys from practicing, and
lawyers must renew their licenses every five years. Unlike in previous
years, there were no credible reports during the year of lawyers losing
their licenses for defending NGOs or opposition political parties.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for public trials; however, the
courts frequently held trials in judges' offices, which often prevented
interested observers from attending. Several trials, particularly of
political figures, were closed to the public. Judges adjudicate all
trials; there is no system of trial by jury. However, in the case of
grave crimes, judges adjudicate the trial with assistance of two
civilian advisors. Judges depended on the Ministry of Justice for
funding court infrastructure and on executive branch officials for
personal housing. There were widespread and credible reports that
executive and local authorities dictated the outcome of trials.
On February 21, authorities arrested four leaders of the
independent election-monitoring NGO Partnership--Nikolay Astreyko,
Timofey Dranchuk, Aleksandr Shalayko, and Enira Bronitskaya--on
suspicion of plotting a terrorist coup. They were held in pretrial
detention without visits by family members until their July 28 trial.
Judge Leonid Yasinovich conducted the trial behind closed doors.
Following closing arguments, Yasinovich altered the charges to fit the
prosecution's case and sentenced Astreyko and Dranchuk to two years and
one year imprisonment respectively, for operating an unregistered NGO.
Shalayko and Bronitskaya were sentenced to six months in prison on the
same charge. Authorities subsequently adjusted their sentences for time
served in pretrial detention; Shalayko and Bronitskaya were released on
August 21; Dranchuk on December 26. On November 17, a Minsk court
resentenced Astreyko to corrective labor and house arrest (see sections
2.b., 2.d., 3, and 4).
On September 15, authorities arrested youth opposition leader
Dmitriy Dashkevich for operating an unregistered NGO and denied him
family contact until November 1 when he was sentenced to 18 months in
prison.
Defendants have the right to attend proceedings, confront
witnesses, and present evidence on their own behalf; however, in
practice these rights were not always respected.
The law provides for access to legal counsel for detainees and
requires that courts appoint lawyers for those who cannot afford one;
however, at times these rights were not respected, and some detainees
were denied access to a lawyer. The law provides for the right to
choose legal representation freely; however, a Presidential decree
prohibits members of NGOs from representing individuals other than
members of their organizations in court (see section 4). In contrast
with the previous year, there were no reports of the Government using
the decree as a pretext for closing NGOs.
The laws provide for the presumption of innocence; however, in
practice defendants frequently had the burden of proving their
innocence. Information obtained from interrogations was often used
against defendants in court. Authorities seemed unwilling to challenge
the veracity of prosecution witnesses. For example, in May a Gomel
prosecutor refused to prosecute the deputy head of the local police
department, whom opposition activists accused of perjury, on the
grounds that in administrative cases the law ``does not envisage
warning citizens about accountability for false testimony.''
Defendants have the right to appeal court decisions, and most
criminal cases were appealed; however, in the vast majority of those
cases lower court verdicts were upheld. In an appeal, neither
defendants nor witnesses appear before the court; the court only
reviews the protocol and other documents from a lower court trial. In
2004 the chairman of the Supreme Court stated that only 1.5 percent of
court decisions were overturned on appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Despite some releases, the
number of reported political prisoners increased during the year as
authorities sentenced opposition leaders and activists to short- and
long-term jail detention on the basis of highly questionable evidence.
On March 14, authorities arrested and sentenced opposition youth
leader Nikita Sasim to three months in jail for participating in an
unsanctioned demonstration. Three months later, a Baranovichi court
sentenced Sasim to three additional months in jail for alleged draft
evasion. Sasim had a waiver from military service on account of head
injuries caused by police during a peaceful protest in September 2005.
Amnesty International (AI) declared Sasim a prisoner of conscience
while he was in jail.
On May 4, opposition youth activists Andrey Ignatchik and Aleksey
Kozulin, the nephew of an imprisoned former opposition Presidential
candidate, were sentenced to five days in jail for participating in an
unsanctioned protest. On May 10, a Minsk court sentenced opposition
youth activist Artur Finkevich to two years of khimya for allegedly
painting antigovernment graffiti. The judge suspended the trial for a
week because the prosecution could not document the $16,000 (34,240,000
rubles) damage Finkevich allegedly caused.
On May 15, a Lida district judge sentenced opposition party leader
Ivan Kruk to six months in jail on the basis of police testimony that
he resisted arrest. On May 29, Sergey Lyashkevich, an opposition
campaign coordinator, was sentenced to five months in jail for inciting
mass disorder. During Lyashkevich's hearing, prosecution witnesses
could not recall pertinent information and contradicted each other's
testimonies.
On July 13, a Minsk court sentenced opposition Presidential
candidate Aleksandr Kozulin to 5 1/2 years in prison for alleged
hooliganism and organizing persons to disturb public peace during and
immediately after the March 19 elections (see sections 1.c., 1.e.,
2.b., and 3). Other protest events related to the Presidential election
were also part of the criminal case against Kozulin. Authorities denied
the Kozulin family visits from October 20, the day he began a 53-day
hunger strike, until November 25. Prison authorities also refused
Kozulin legal counsel in an apparent effort to coerce him to end his
fast.
On July 17, a Minsk court sentenced Anatoliy Lebedko, an opposition
party leader, and Anatoliy Askerko to 10 days in jail for allegedly
using obscenities when they tried to participate in a demonstration to
express solidarity with prodemocracy activists who disappeared under
mysterious circumstances.
On August 4, a Minsk judge sentenced independent election monitors
Nikolay Astreyko and Timofey Dranchuk to two years and one year in
prison, respectively, for running an unregistered organization. In late
November, authorities permitted Astreyko to serve the remainder of his
sentence in corrective labor and house arrest. The judge also sentenced
their colleagues Aleksandr Shalayko and Enira Bronitskaya to six months
in prison, but counted time served and ordered their release on August
21.
Also in August authorities refused to approve the early release of
opposition party leader Nikolay Statkevich and youth activist Pavel
Severinets from khimya. They were sentenced in 2005 to three years of
work release following a politically motivated trial for organizing
unsanctioned protests after the fraudulent 2004 constitutional
referendum to abolish term limits. Their sentences were reduced to two
years as part of a general amnesty; at year's end they remained in
khimya.
On September 18, a Minsk judge sentenced opposition politician
Vyacheslav Sivchik to 10 days in jail for organizing an unsanctioned
three-day demonstration in October Square to protest the fraudulent
March 19 Presidential election (see section 2.b.). Sivchik was severely
beaten by armed individuals who lured him into a car disguised as a
diplomatic vehicle. At year's end there were no developments into a
government investigation on how the assailants acquired diplomatic
vehicle number plates.
On October 23, a Minsk court sentenced 60-year-old human rights
activist Yekaterina Sadovskaya to two years in prison for allegedly
insulting President Lukashenko and levied a fine of $1,860 (four
million rubles) for allegedly insulting and threatening a judge. She
was arrested in July, sent to a mental hospital for a psychiatric
examination, and then transferred to a pretrial detention center until
her trial. According to the human rights NGO Charter 97, Sadovskaya
admitted to writing a letter recommending that Lukashenko undergo a
mental examination; however, the letter was never distributed.
Authorities found the letter during a search of her home.
On November 1, a Minsk judge sentenced youth opposition leader
Dmitriy Dashkevich to 18 months in prison for operating an unregistered
organization. AI subsequently declared Dashkevich a prisoner of
conscience (see section 4). On December 22, authorities released Andrey
Klimov, whom a Minsk court sentenced in June 2005 to 18 months of
khimya in a politically motivated trial for organizing an unsanctioned
protest in March 2005. He had previously spent four years in prison for
alleged embezzlement.
In April authorities released former NGO leader and opposition
activist Mikhail Marinich following the March 19 Presidential election
and an amnesty that reduced his prison sentence to two-and-one-half
years. He was sentenced in 2004 for allegedly stealing property from
his NGO. While in jail, AI declared Marinich a prisoner of conscience.
Marinich, a former government minister and Presidential candidate, was
widely regarded as a leading political opponent of President Lukashenko
(see section 1.c.).
In May authorities released opposition activist Valeriy
Levonevskiy, who was sentenced in 2004 to two years in prison for
writing a poem insulting President Lukashenko. While in prison,
authorities prohibited Levonevskiy from corresponding with foreign
embassies and denied him permission to attend his father's funeral (see
section 1.c.).
In November authorities released former opposition Member of
Parliament and outspoken critic of the Government Sergey Skrebets, who
was sentenced on February 14 to two years in prison for allegedly
securing an illegal bank loan in 2001.
Unlike in 2005, there were no credible reports that authorities
orchestrated alleged fights with cellmates as a pretext to prolong
short-term imprisonments. In August 2005 a court sentenced Tadeusz
Gavin to 15 days in prison for participating in an unsanctioned
protest. In mid-August of the same year, the court added 15 days to his
sentence for allegedly attacking a cellmate. In November 2005 the
Supreme Court annulled the second sentence for lack of evidence of a
crime, after Gavin had served the sentence.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Although individuals could
file lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation, the civil judiciary is not independent and rarely impartial
in such matters.
In February, opposition political party leader Anatoliy Lebedko
filed a $467,000 (one billion rubles) libel suit against a state
television network for a February 20 documentary featuring a fabricated
dialogue between him and a Georgian politician in which Lebedko was
portrayed as plotting a violent street demonstration. In April a Minsk
court threw out Lebedko's suit, reportedly under pressure from the
Government.
In March state university authorities dismissed history instructor
Yuriy Bacheshche for refusing to turn over his findings following his
participation in independent election monitoring. In May during
Bacheshche's civil hearing for reinstatement, authorities threatened
Bacheshche with a criminal investigation for allegedly defaming
President Lukashenko. In June the judge suspended Bacheshche's case
(see section 2.a.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice. In addition,
the law provides penalties for those who obstruct BKGB officers in the
performance of their duties, even though these actions may, in
principle, be illegal. Any effort to prevent BKGB officers from
entering the premises of a company, establishment, or organization is
an administrative offense, as is any refusal to allow BKGB audits or to
deny or restrict BKGB access to company information systems and
databases.
The law requires a warrant for searches; however, the BKGB entered
homes, conducted unauthorized searches, and read mail without warrants.
In May 2005 a new law took effect giving the BKGB authority to enter
any building at any time, so long as it applies for a warrant within 24
hours after the entry took place. There were credible reports that
government agents covertly entered homes of opposition activists and
offices of opposition groups and monitored the actions of individuals.
On July 31, state-controlled media broadcast hidden camera footage
of a police raid on a Latvian diplomat's apartment (see section 5).
Authorities conducted searches of residences and offices for
clearly political reasons (see section 3). For example, on February 11,
Brest police raided a basement belonging to opposition regional
campaign manager Vladimir Radivonchik, seizing posters and calendars
featuring images of opposition Presidential candidate Aleksandr
Milinkevich. Police stated they conducted the search after receiving an
anonymous telephone tip that Radivonchik was storing ammunition.
Radivonchik was taken to a police station for questioning, where police
played a recording of the phone call. The police found no ammunition
and released Radivonchik.
On September 5, police in Vitebsk and Minsk searched three
apartments belonging to youth activists, claiming the searches were
connected to the politically based criminal cases of activists Kristina
Shatikova, Denis Denisov, and Tatyana Yelovaya. Police seized cell
phones, computers, and leaflets and brought one activist to a police
station for questioning.
On October 31, police searched the office of the Dzedzich
Foundation for Support of Youth Initiatives in Brest after allegedly
receiving complaints about a domestic disturbance. Local Belarusian
Popular Front (BPF) leader Dmitriy Shimanskiy reported that the
authorities presented an unsigned inspection warrant before seizing 15
completed BPF applications, 500 blank applications, 800 copies of the
UN Human Rights Committee's report on the country, and other printed
material.
In March 2005 police raided the office of the Zhoda newspaper and
confiscated decorations from office walls, including altered
photographs of Lukashenko. Zhoda's editor Aleksey Karol and deputy
editor Aleksandr Sdvizhkov were each fined $1,200 (2,550,000 rubles) in
September 2005 for ``disseminating false information'' through the
altered photos.
Diplomats also were forced to submit to searches and detentions. On
March 26, customs officials stopped Polish consul Janusz Dombrowski at
a border crossing and demanded to search his vehicle. He refused. On
March 27, Belarusian Television alleged that the border guards had
stopped Dombrowski because they had information that he was trying to
smuggle subversive literature into the country. After crossing the
border, Dombrowski opened the trunk of his vehicle to show Polish
reporters that he was only transporting food. Dombrowski claimed that
he was detained at the border for 24 hours without food and water and
treated like a common criminal. The diplomat was not allowed to bring
his vehicle back into the country upon his return.
While the law prohibits authorities from intercepting telephone and
other communications without a court order, in practice authorities
continued to monitor residences, telephones, and computers. The BKGB,
the interior ministry, and certain border guard detachments may use
wiretaps but must first obtain a prosecutor's permission; the lack of
independence of the prosecutor's office rendered the due process
protections relating to wiretaps meaningless.
The Government telecommunications company Beltelekom has a monopoly
on Internet service, allowing authorities to monitor practically all e-
mail. There were credible reports that the Government monitored e-mail
sent from Internet cafes and from university computer networks (see
section 2.a.).
Nearly all opposition political figures reported that authorities
monitored their activities and conversations. During the 2004 trial of
former NGO leader and opposition activist Mikhail Marinich, the
prosecutor introduced as evidence transcripts of Marinich's phone
conversations that had been recorded by the BKGB (see sections 1.c. and
1.e). Representatives of certain NGOs also said that their
conversations and correspondence were monitored routinely by the
security services.
The Government owned a majority share in all cellular telephone
companies. Ministry of Communications contracts for telephone service
prohibited subscribers from using such services for purposes contrary
to state interests and public order. The ministry has the authority to
terminate telephone service to those who breach the law. There were
several instances where prodemocracy activists had their cell phones
disconnected as they attempted to spread information about peaceful
demonstrations, particularly during the months leading up to and
following the March 19 Presidential election. In October 2005 the
cellular telephone company Velcom disconnected the mobile telephones of
opposition activists asking citizens to place lit candles in their
windows to protest government excesses.
There were numerous reports that the Government coerced young
people to join the pro-Lukashenko state-funded NGO Belarusian
Republican Youth Union (BRYU). There were credible reports that
military conscripts were ordered to join the BRYU, and university
students reported that proof of BRYU membership was often needed to
register for popular courses or acquire a dormitory room.
The Government employed and encouraged a widespread system of
informants. On July 26, interior ministry official Andrey Solodovnikov
stated that civilian patrols at the country's educational institutions
were formed in recent years to encourage students to become law-abiding
citizens. Solodovnikov said that almost 200 ``voluntary'' squads had
been created, with 49 of them policing higher educational institutions,
77 operating at general educational schools, and 66 at vocational
training schools. In 2005 the squads reported more than 600 alleged
offenses. According to Solodovonikov, universities offer discounts on
tuition to patrol members. According to independent media, at year's
end there were approximately 43,000 members of 3,633 civilian patrol
squads.
Unlike previous years, there were no reports that authorities
threatened to punish family members for alleged violations by
individuals. In March 2005 court officials visited the home of former
NGO leader and opposition activist Mikhail Marinich's ex-wife and
confiscated $1,860 (four million rubles) worth of personal property
towards payment of a fine less than $4.00 (8,000 rubles) (see sections
1.c. and 1.e.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the Government did not respect these
rights in practice.
In November 2005 President Lukashenko told reporters that his
government uses ``serious pressure'' to control the media and that he
is in charge of this process. Individuals could not criticize the
Government publicly without fear of reprisal, and authorities impeded
criticism of the Government by videotaping political meetings, frequent
identity checks, and other forms of intimidation (see sections 1.d. and
3). The law also limits freedom of expression by prohibiting the
wearing of masks and use of unregistered flags, symbols, and placards
bearing messages deemed threatening to the Government or public order.
In December 2005 the National Assembly passed and the President
signed a series of amendments that greatly inhibited the freedoms of
speech and assembly and criminalized the following actions: giving
``false'' information about the political, economic, social, military,
or international situation of the country to a foreigner; providing
information on government agencies or the rights of citizens;
participating in the activities of unregistered NGOs and in public
demonstrations; training people to demonstrate publicly; financing
public demonstrations; and soliciting foreign countries or
international organizations to ``act to the detriment'' of the country
(see sections 1.d., 1.e., 2.b., 3, and 4). Violations are punishable by
up to three years in prison.
The Government took steps to restrict independent media. On April
27, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
chairman-in-office reported that freedom of the media had deteriorated
in the country over the past few years, with fewer independent media
outlets and greater use by the Government of administrative pressures
to limit free expression.
The highest circulation newspapers and other publications were
state-owned and printed only materials supportive of the Government.
There were some independent small-circulation newspapers and magazines,
many of which criticized the Government. However, local authorities
frequently warned independent editors to avoid certain topics and not
to criticize the Government. Authorities also warned businesses not to
advertise in newspapers that criticized the Government.
During the year, the Government did not grant permits to any new
independent newspapers. Meanwhile, authorities closed at least two
independent newspapers and threatened to close several others. On March
17, Supreme Economic Court Judge Oksana Mikhnyuk closed the independent
newspaper Zhoda for violating the country's criminal code by publishing
composite photographs of President Lukashenko and other prominent
politicians and for reprinting satirical drawings of the Islamic
Prophet Mohammad.
On April 10, authorities nullified the legal address of independent
newspaper Nasha Niva because its editor, Andrey Dynko, had been
arrested while reporting on opposition demonstrations following the
fraudulent March 19 Presidential election. Under the country's media
laws, a newspaper must maintain a legal address in order to publish.
State-owned stores across the country also stopped selling all but
eight independent newspapers. While independent newspapers could still
be purchased from independent sellers, their circulation was seriously
restricted by these measures.
In November and December 2005, authorities removed 17 independent
newspapers from the state subscription list, making it impossible to
receive them by mail. The state postal system, Belpochta, and the state
kiosk network, Belsoyuzpechat, refused to distribute most of them.
Starting on January 1, Belpochta and Belsoyuzpechat refused to
distribute an additional 15 independent newspapers, including Brestskiy
Kuryer, Vitebskiy Kuryer, Nasha Niva, Intex-Press, Lyakhavitskiy Chas,
Tovarishch, Volaye Hlybokaye, Myastsoviy Chas, Khimik, Borisovskie
Novosti, and Kuryer iz Borisova. On April 10, the Ministry of
Information refused to grant the independent newspaper Nasha Niva,
first published in 1906, a subscription license. Nasha Niva
subsequently distributed information via the Internet. As of February
3, state-run post offices in Novopolotsk and Polotsk refused to deliver
the independent newspaper Khimik.
The arbitrary use of Presidential power, often exercised through
Presidential decrees, created additional obstacles to an independent
press. On July 31, President Lukashenko signed an order empowering the
State Security Council to control the distribution of radio
frequencies. In July and August 2005 the President signed decrees
restricting foreign and domestic sources from giving money to
organizations for broadly defined political activities, including the
distribution of information. These restrictions followed a 2003
Presidential decree that was used to crackdown on independent media
outlets and NGOs.
Only state-run radio and the state-run television networks ONT,
Belarusian Television (BT), and Capital Television broadcast
nationwide. The Government continued to make use of its virtual
monopoly on television and radio broadcasting to spread the official
version of events and to minimize opposing points of view. State-owned
broadcast media continued to marginalize the political opposition by
depicting it negatively or ignoring it altogether (see section 3).
Local independent television stations operated in some areas and
reported local news relatively unhindered by the authorities; however,
most were under government pressure to forego reporting on national
issues or be subjected to censorship. Moreover, local independent
stations were frequently pressured into sharing materials and
cooperating with authorities to intimidate local opposition and human
rights groups during meetings with foreign diplomats.
In general, international media, including Deutsche Welle, were
permitted to operate, but not without some interference and harassment.
Russian channels NTV and RTR were generally available, although in many
parts of the country only through pay cable services. However, their
news programs were at times blocked from broadcast or temporarily
replaced with local programming. On March 16, cable television company
Kosmos Television stopped transmitting Russia's RTVi channel to 57,000
subscribers, citing technical problems. RTVi Director Mikhail
Borshchevskiy reported receiving an order from authorities to cut off
transmission during the election. Broadcasts from other countries,
including Poland and Lithuania, could be received in parts of the
country, usually along the border.
The Government harassed and arrested journalists, particularly
before and after the March 19 Presidential election (see sections 1.d.
and 3). The Belarusian Association of Journalists identified 31
journalists who were detained, arrested, fined, or jailed between March
14 and 27. Among them were Vadim Aleksandrovich of the newspaper
Belarusi i Rynok, Dmitriy Gurnevich of Radio Polonia, and Andrey Dynko,
editor-in-chief of Nasha Niva, who were sentenced to 10 days in jail on
March 20 and 21 in connection with their reporting of opposition
demonstrations in Minsk's October Square. On March 27, authorities
fined freelance journalist Tatyana Snitko $435 (935,250 rubles) after
detaining her for three days for allegedly participating in an
unsanctioned demonstration.
At least 12 foreign journalists were detained or jailed during the
same period. On March 27, a Minsk court sentenced Ukrainian journalist
Pavlo Salyha to 10 days incarceration for allegedly participating in an
unsanctioned demonstration. On March 24, authorities arrested Nino
Georgobiani and Georgy Lagidze of Georgia's public television and
Canadian freelance journalist Frederick Lavoie as they filmed near a
Minsk detention center. Georgobiani and Lagidze served five days in
jail; Lavoie served 15 days.
Authorities also assaulted, detained, or arrested numerous
independent journalists during the year. According to Reporters Without
Borders, on March 2 police assaulted nine independent reporters who
were covering the arrest of former opposition Presidential candidate
Aleksandr Kozulin. On April 21, police in Bobruysk detained Vadim
Dovnar, a correspondent with the Russian newspaper Kommersant, for
allegedly speaking obscenities near a government building. On April 26,
police detained independent journalists Nikita Bytsenko and Yuriy
Svetlakov as they traveled to a rally commemorating the 20th
anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster; they were released the
day after the rally. On June 15, police in the Mogilev region detained
reporters Syarhey and Mikalai Herdziy of the independent newspaper
Volny Gorad for collecting information about construction in the
village of Veraneykiy; they were released the same day with a warning.
Several foreign journalists were prevented from entering the
country or were detained or arrested after their arrival (see sections
1.d. and 1.e.). In January border guards briefly detained and seized
videotapes from a crew of Ukrainian television journalists who were
covering the March Presidential election. On February 19, authorities
detained and expelled Polish journalist Waclaw Radzivinowicz as he
tried to cover the trial of several activists from the Union of
Belarusian Poles NGO. On March 15, border guards detained and denied
entry to Ukraine Channel 5 correspondent Andrey Zhihulin and cameraman
Vitaliy Doroshchonok. Both journalists had been arrested during a live
broadcast of an opposition rally in Minsk on March 12 and later
released.
On March 14, authorities suspended the investigation of the 2004
killing of Veronika Cherkasova, a journalist for the independent
Solidarnost newspaper. In December 2005 the prosecutor general closed
the investigation into the October 2005 unexplained death of
independent journalist Vasiliy Grodnikov, stating that he had died
because of his own ``careless actions'' (see section 1.a.).
The law specifies that the Government may close a publication after
two warnings in one year for violating a range of amendments adopted in
2005 that inhibit freedom of speech and of the press. Authorities
continued to frequently issue warnings to pressure independent
newspapers. In addition, regulatory provisions grant authorities power
arbitrarily to prohibit or censor critical reporting. The State
Committee on the Press can suspend periodicals or newspapers for three
months without a court ruling. The law also prohibits the media from
disseminating information on behalf of unregistered political parties,
trade unions, and NGOs. On May 23, the Ministry of Information warned
independent newspaper Khimik of possible legal actions after the local
Novopolotsk ideology office complained that the paper had published an
opinion poll conducted by an unlicensed pollster and an interview with
an opposition Presidential candidate.
The Government tightly controlled the content of television
broadcasts. On January 26, President Lukashenko declared that the
country's radio and television industry ``is an integral part of state
policies and ideology, a powerful communication tool for subjects of
society.'' In February the state-controlled television network BT ran a
six-day documentary series disparaging the opposition. Throughout the
election campaign, BT's news program ``Panorama'' devoted more than 40
percent of its reports, which were all positive, to President
Lukashenko and less than 0.5 percent to opposition candidates. There
were credible reports during the year that the BKGB and other
government agencies censored national television news broadcasts.
Although the Central Election Committee (CEC) allocated equal airtime
on two occasions for half-hour speeches on state television to both
Lukashenko and opposition Presidential candidates prior to the March 19
elections, authorities censored several minutes of remarks by
opposition candidates (see section 3).
State television covered the post-election opposition protests on
March 21. However, broadcasts portrayed participants as drug users and
selectively interviewed alleged bystanders who denounced the protests
as pointless and disgraceful.
The Government censored the media. Authorities frequently imposed
heavy fines on journalists and editors for criticizing the President
and his supporters, and many publications were forced to exercise self-
censorship. Authorities fined, warned, or jailed members of the media
who publicly criticized the Government. The libel law makes no
distinction between private and public persons in lawsuits concerning
defamation of character. A public figure who was criticized for poor
performance while in office may sue both the journalist and the media
outlet that disseminated the critical report.
The Government used harsh libel laws to suppress criticism of
political leaders. The law provides for punishment of public insults or
libel of the President and government officials by up to four years'
imprisonment, two years' khimya, or a large fine. Authorities continued
to use such laws to stifle press freedom and to imprison political
opponents (see section 1.e.).
In June a court sentenced opposition activist Nikolay Razumov to
three years in prison for slandering the President; he has been in jail
since March 14. During the campaign of opposition Presidential
candidate Aleksander Milinkevich, Razumov said during an interview that
Lukashenko was involved in the disappearance of opposition politicians
Viktor Gonchar, Anatoliy Krasovskiy, and Yuriy Zakharenko (see section
1.b.). On June 18, authorities in Vitebsk fined independent journalist
Serzhuk Serabro eight dollars (17,000 rubles) for watching activists
raise a prohibited flag in the city center and confiscated his
photographs.
In May police and the BKGB reported seizing 94 copies of a book by
youth opposition leader Pavel Severinets to determine whether it
complied with antidefamatory regulations. The book discussed national
geography and history, including the short-lived Belarusian National
Republic, World War II, and the Chernobyl nuclear accident. However, a
few chapters reportedly mentioned an opposition political party and an
unregistered youth organization.
On May 17, the Minsk city prosecutor threatened Irina Khalip, an
independent journalist working for the Russian newpaper Novaya Gazeta,
with a four-year prison term if she continued writing articles that
defamed President Lukashenko. On February 6, Baranavichi Judge Zhana
Kapachewskaya fined Uladizmir Hundar, editor of Baranavitskaya Gazeta,
$271 (58,000 rubles) for publishing an article on ``Solidarity Day,''
an unofficial monthly commemoration of the mysterious disappearance of
four political dissidents. The judge stated that Hundar was guilty of
participating in the unsanctioned demonstration by virtue of publishing
an article about it.
In January 2005 the private Pressbol sports newspaper was ordered
to pay a $14,000 (30 million rubles) fine and its editor, Vladimir
Berezhkov, a $4,600 (10 million rubles) fine for a 2004 article
claiming that Andrey Imanali, deputy head of the Belarusian Gymnastics
Federation, was involved in organized crime. In July 2005 Russian
authorities charged Imanali with abduction and with alleged links to
organized crime. He faces extradition to Russia.
In May 2005 Minsk authorities reopened a slander case against human
rights activist Harry Pogonyailo for giving an interview to Swedish
journalists about the disappearance of opposition figures. The
interview never aired, and authorities confiscated the video tape. The
slander case was dropped in November 2005.
In June 2005 Minsk judge Lyubov Valevich ordered independent
newspaper Narodnaya Volya to pay $46,000 (100 million rubles) to Sergey
Gaidukevich, leader of a progovernment party, for claiming he was
involved in violating the Iraqi oil-for-food program, even though a
number of reputable international sources documented Gaidukevich's
involvement.
The Government took numerous other actions during the year to limit
the independent press, including limiting access to newsprint and
printing presses, restricting the import of media-related materials,
and temporarily suspending independent and opposition periodicals.
During the run up to the March elections, the Government
discouraged and threatened printing companies from printing the legally
authorized leaflets of opposition candidates and parties. In late 2005
State Control Committee inspectors conducted detailed audits of many
printing houses to see if they had printed material for the opposition.
Although there are no laws against owning printing presses, authorities
seized at least one opposition press in July 2005 from the home of
local opposition party leader Vladimir Kishkurna.
Several independent newspapers, including Belorusskaya Delovaya
Gazeta, Den, and Solidarnost printed their materials in Russia because
domestic printing presses (mostly state-owned) refused to print them.
State printing houses refused to print four independent newspapers,
including one of the country's two independent daily newspapers,
Narodnaya Volya. The other three, Mestnaya Gazeta, Belaruskaya Delovaya
Gazeta, and Solidarnost began disseminating Internet-only versions due
to printing and distribution problems created by the Government. On May
30, Narodnaya Volya discontinued free distribution of its print run and
warned its readers that some affiliates of the state-owned Belarusbank
would not permit them to transfer money to subscribe to the paper.
On September 21, the Belarusian language intellectual magazine
Arche was suspended for three months because its September issue
featured a cover photograph of the country's police officers violently
dispersing antigovernment protesters in 1995. Authorities claimed that
Arche violated the country's media laws by publishing a political
article because the magazine's license application stated that it would
focus exclusively on history.
In many cases the Government confiscated at will independent and
opposition newspapers. For example, on January 17, police in Grodno
seized 50 copies of Polish Magazine in Exile from two activists with
the NGO Union of Poles. On February 12, police in Lida seized 1,200
copies of Narodnaya Volya from opposition campaign activists. On March
3, Vitebsk police seized 250,000 copies of the independent newspaper
Narodnaya Volya being transported from a Russian printing plant to
Minsk because the issue contained quotations of an opposition
Presidential candidate; on March 14, the police confiscated the paper's
entire replacement run of 300,000 copies. On March 17, Minsk police
seized 85,600 copies of the opposition newspaper Tovarishch;
authorities offered to return the newspapers only after the country's
March 19 elections. On July 26, authorities arrested Dzemjan Frankouski
pursuant to a criminal case started in May for distributing issues of
the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya free of charge. Frankouski
was released two days later.
Authorities also seized leaflets and other printed materials the
Government deemed to be illegally printed. On January 6, police in the
Gomel region seized 10,800 calendars from the car of opposition party
activist Valeriy Rybchenko; police claimed the calendars did not have
the proper publication data. Two weeks earlier police from the same
area seized 57,000 holiday cards signed by former Presidential
candidate Milinkevich. On March 6, authorities in Rogachev fined an
opposition campaign worker $145 (310,000 rubles) for passing out
opposition campaign flyers. On March 7, police in Gomel confiscated
28,000 leaflets from an opposition Presidential candidate's campaign.
On March 15, Minsk police seized 92,000 leaflets from opposition
activists. About 50,000 leaflets were taken from an opposition party
leader, whom police arrested for petty hooliganism and illegal
distribution of printed materials.
Internet Freedom.--The Government restricted access to the
Internet. Credible reports indicated that the Government monitored e-
mail and Internet chatrooms. Many individuals and groups could not
engage in peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by
electronic mail.
During the March 19 Presidential election, there were numerous
credible reports that the Government blocked several opposition
campaign and independent media Web sites. Many opposition groups and
independent newspapers have switched to Internet domains operated
outside the country because of the Government's campaign against
Internet freedom. There also were credible reports that authorities
attempted to block Radio Liberty's Web site in the country during the
March Presidential elections. On November 7, the NGO Reporters Without
Borders again included the country on its annual list of ``enemies of
the internet,'' countries that censor independent news sites and
opposition publications and monitor the Internet to stifle dissident
voices.
In February the Ministry of Communications announced new laws
effectively giving the country's telephone monopoly, Beltelekom, and
other organizations authorized by the Government the exclusive right to
maintain Internet domains. Meanwhile, there were credible reports that
authorities in Vitebsk attempted to use the law to prohibit all
wireless Internet access. The local government compromised only after
several youth demonstrations, and invoked the prohibition to computers
purchased after February.
In March 2005 Grodno authorities closed the Internet chat room
forum.Grodno, declaring it ``subversive.'' Beltelekom subsequently
fired the chat room's administrator, Aleksey Rads. Some students
claimed state university officials monitored Internet usage on
university networks.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government restricted
academic freedom, in part by requiring educational institutions to
teach and students to study an official state ideology that combined
reverence for the achievements of the Soviet Union and for the country
under the leadership of President Lukashenko. Use of the word
``academic'' was restricted. On June 19, President Lukashenko signed a
decree prohibiting any nongovernmental organization from including the
word ``academy'' in its title.
During the year there were credible reports of authorities
dismissing teachers on political grounds. In August authorities
terminated longtime history teacher Ales Chigir, who was an opposition
member of the Bobruysk City Council and headed an opposition
Presidential candidate's regional campaign. On October 20, a Bobruysk
court dismissed Chigir's suit to be reinstated as a teacher.
In March state university authorities dismissed history instructor
Yuriy Bacheshche for refusing to turn over his findings after
independent monitoring of the March 19 Presidential election (see
section 1.e.). In December a Minsk civil court upheld the dismissal
after the university alleged that Bacheshche distributed computer discs
with cartoon images that defamed the country's President.
The dismissals were in keeping with a November 2005 directive by
Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov that all schools, including private
institutions, are political bodies, must follow state orders, and
cannot be headed by opposition members. Radkov also asserted his right
as minister to appoint and dismiss the heads of private educational
institutions.
On January 24, the Supreme Court suspended the operations of the
independent think tank association ``Belorusskiye Fabriki Mysli''
(Belarusian Thought Factories--BFM) for three months for lack of a
legal address; BFM was liquidated on August 3 (see section 2.b.).
Separately on January 23, BFM head Oleg Manayev, who also was the
director of the Independent Center for Economic and Socio-political
Research, received a warning from the prosecutor's office for
conducting surveys and publishing results without first receiving
official accreditation from the National Academy of Sciences.
On February 21, pursuant to a 2005 regulation requiring all opinion
polling to be registered with NAS, the academy authorized 10 Belarusian
and Russian polling services to conduct election-related polling. This
list included the Presidential administration's polling service,
sociological agencies of the Gomel and Grodno regional governments, and
the pro-Lukashenko Ekoom polling organization. No major independent
polling services were on the list (see section 3).
The Government tasked the state youth organization, BRYU, with
ensuring ideological purity among youth. Students reportedly were
pressured to join the BRYU to receive benefits and rooms in
dormitories, and local authorities pressured BRYU members to campaign
on behalf of government candidates (see section 1.f.).
Government mandated textbooks contained a heavily propagandized
version of history and other subjects. On June 16, while dedicating the
country's national library, President Lukashenko rationalized
government censorship of texts on the grounds that modern books about
heads of state and historical personalities contain ``80 percent
lies,'' and those about Soviet-era leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph
Stalin contain ``100 percent lies.''
Although the Ministry of Education promised that no student would
be expelled for political activities, by July credible sources reported
that authorities had expelled at least 100 university students for
involvement in opposition activities, particularly in pre-election
opposition campaigns and post-election demonstrations (see sections
2.b. and 2.d.). These sources noted that university authorities did not
formally expel students, but cited poor academic performance or missed
classes as reasons for not readmitting them. The expulsions followed a
May 2005 directive from the ministry to all educational institutions
calling for the expulsion of any student who engaged in antigovernment
or unsanctioned political activity, and for the proper ideological
education of all students. Student organizations credibly claimed that
authorities expelled dozens of students for their political activities
during the year. In August 2005 Minsk Mayor Mikhail Pavlov publicly
ordered school administrators to keep their students from becoming
politically active.
In January the Ministry of Education dismissed an appeal by Tatyana
Khoma to reinstate her at the Belarusian State Economic University
(BSEU). The fourth-year student was expelled in November 2005 for
``violating an internal university order.'' Khoma had traveled to
France, where she was elected to the executive committee of the
National Union of Students in Europe. In defending the expulsion, BSEU
rector Vladimir Shimov said Khoma had traveled without the university's
permission. He also said Khoma was the 51st BSEU student expelled since
September 2005 for traveling without permission.
In May 2005 Belarusian State University expelled journalism student
Olga Klaskovskaya. She had worked for the independent newspaper
Narodnaya Volya and filed a complaint with the prosecutor general about
police mistreatment while covering a demonstration. The university
claimed it expelled her for missing exams when she was caring for her
sick child.
The expulsions were in keeping with other efforts by the defense
and foreign affairs ministries to curb study abroad because authorities
stated that such programs ``threaten the country's security'' and pose
life-threatening dangers.
On October 27, while addressing the lower house of parliament,
Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov denied that any university students
had been expelled for political reasons. However, a year earlier,
Radkov confirmed to the lower house that he had directed university
authorities to undertake such expulsions.
The Government also restricted cultural events. During the year the
Government continued to force antigovernment theater groups into
underground venues such as bars and private apartments. This included
Free Theater's production of ``Techniques of Breathing in a Closed
Space,'' which was based on the testimony of the wives of missing
dissidents.
Authorities denied writer Vladimir Orlov and activists Valentina
Svyatskaya and Aleksandr Zhuchkov permission to hold a rock concert
July 27 to commemorate the anniversary of the country's 1990
declaration of independence.
In June the authorities banned a ``Basowiszcza'' concert at the
Palace of Fine Arts in Minsk on the grounds that the roof was in a
critical condition. However, daily government-sanctioned concerts and
exhibitions took place in the palace immediately prior to the requested
date. Basowiszcza is an annual rock festival held in northeastern
Poland that showcases young Belarusian musicians and performers who
have been denied opportunities to perform in public in the country.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of peaceful assembly; however,
the Government severely restricted this right in practice. Police and
other security officials beat and detained demonstrators following
unsanctioned but otherwise peaceful demonstrations.
By law organizers must apply at least 15 days in advance for
permission to conduct a demonstration, rally, or meeting. Government
officials must respond no later than five days prior to the scheduled
event. However, authorities either did not grant permits to opposition
groups or granted them only for demonstrations in out of the way
locations. This happened regularly in the lead up to the March 19
Presidential election (see section 3.). On March 7, authorities in
Mogilev refused at the last minute to allow supporters of Presidential
opposition candidate Aleksandr Milinkevich to use a local university
building to meet with voters. The event, attended by approximately 250
persons, was held outdoors. On March 8, Milinkevich held two campaign
rallies in Minsk, the largest of which reportedly attracted 1,400
people. Milinkevich had applied for a permit to hold one of the events
in the Berestye Theater, but was denied access to the building that
morning; the event was held outside. On September 28, local authorities
denied local opposition BPF activists permission to hold a rally the
following day for Milinkevich in the Vitebsk region on the grounds that
written authorization from the BPF board was not attached to the
application. That same day, authorities also denied BPF activists in
the eastern city of Orsha permission to hold a September 30 rally for
Milinkevich.
Demonstrators are required by law to pay for damages caused during
demonstrations and for the presence of police and medical personnel.
Only political parties, trade unions, or registered organizations may
request permission for a demonstration of more than 1,000 individuals.
The law also prohibits the wearing of masks and use of unregistered
flags, symbols, and placards bearing messages deemed threatening to the
state or public order (see section 2.a.).
During the year demonstrations in Minsk varied in size from a few
participants to approximately 12,000 persons. However, the Government
kept demonstrations under strict surveillance, and police and
plainclothes security officers openly videotaped participants.
Authorities used intimidation and threats to discourage people from
participating in demonstrations leading up to and following the March
Presidential election. For example, BKGB head Stepan Sukharenko
announced that the BKGB would treat any attempts to take to the streets
as potential acts of terrorism that would be punished according to the
Criminal Code. The BKGB added to the climate of intimidation three days
before the March 19 elections by opening a criminal investigation
against several opposition leaders and Georgian activists for allegedly
planning a terrorist attack to overthrow President Lukashenko (see
section 3).
During the evening on March 19, up to 12,000 persons gathered on
and around October Square in downtown Minsk. A large number of special
riot police and other Ministry of Interior special forces were
stationed around the perimeter of the square, but mainly out of sight
of the protesters. Prior to the rallies and protests that followed the
March 19 election, authorities had cut electricity to the usually
brightly-lit square, where protesters had created a tent city on the
square and were keeping constant vigil. Just after 3:00 am on March 24,
approximately 100 riot police entered the square accompanied by buses
and trucks. They declared the demonstration illegal and ordered
participants to leave. In the ensuing hours, security forces arrested
approximately 250 persons and transported them to the Okrestina jail
(see section 1.d.). Most received five to 15-day jail sentences for
participating in the unauthorized demonstrations (see section 1.e.).
On March 25, approximately 7,000 persons attempted to gather in
October Square to protest the March 24 police crackdown on the
opposition tent camp and to celebrate the anniversary of Freedom Day
commemorating the country's brief independence from Russia in 1918.
However, significant numbers of OMON and special forces prevented
demonstrators from entering the square. Several thousand demonstrators
carrying flags and chanting ``long live Belarus!'' attempted to break
through the riot police barrier but were repelled. A smaller group of
approximately 2,000 persons who had gathered on the other side of the
square also were blocked by riot police.
In response to the police blockade, opposition leaders Aleksandr
Milinkevich and Aleksandr Kozulin led the estimated crowd of 7,000 to
Yanka Kupala Park. At the park Kozulin urged the crowd to follow him on
a three-kilometer march to the Okrestina jail, where protesters were
being detained. Riot police used smoke and stun grenades to break up
the march and arrested at least 100 people, including Kozulin, who was
brutally beaten by police (see sections 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3).
Following the police crackdown after the March elections, anti-
Lukashenko activists increasingly used fast moving ``flash mobs'' as
one of their principal methods of protest.
On November 28, 13 opposition activists staged a demonstration
during the Commonwealth of Independent States' Summit in Minsk by
displaying images of imprisoned NGO youth leaders Dmitriy Dashkevich
and Artur Finkevich (see section 1.e.). Police quickly dispersed the
demonstrators but made no arrests. On December 10, activists organized
three separate demonstrations in Minsk to show solidarity with
imprisoned opposition activist Aleksandr Kozulin and to commemorate
World Human Rights Day. Authorities broke up the demonstrations and
arrested approximately 25 people for hooliganism. Three of the
activists were sentenced to 15 days in jail.
In response authorities intensified their already significant
repression to deter flash mob activists by increasing surveillance of
opposition buildings and Web sites and filing criminal prosecutions. On
April 28, police arrested eight flash mob activists outside the Supreme
Court in Minsk out of several dozen who had gathered to demonstrate
support for the independent Union of Belarusian Writers. Police
released all eight after copying their passport information (see
section 1.e.). Between May 30 and June 1, approximately 50 youth
activists participated in hourly shifts of sitting on the pavement at
Lenin Square in Brest and reading the Bible to demonstrate solidarity
with several imprisoned leaders of Malady Front, an opposition youth
group. Police arrested five activists. Three were found guilty of
holding an unauthorized religious event under Article 167 of the
Administrative Code.
Police also used preemptive arrests to combat protests. On May 7,
young activists planned a flash mob event near the old National Library
in Minsk to mark the anniversary of the renaming of Frantsisk Skaryna
Avenue. The group reportedly intended to tear pages out of history
textbooks used by schools. As the group formed, riot police blocked
access to the library and arrested 12 persons. They were released after
police searched them and recorded their personal data. On May 9, the
anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany, police pre-empted an
attempted demonstration in support of veterans. On June 2, OMON riot
police detained nine activists for attempting to show solidarity with
youth activists who were on a hunger strike. Authorities detained the
group for at least two hours but filed no charges. There were several
reports that police beat demonstrators during protests (see section
1.c.).
Persons often received heavy fines or jail sentences for
participating in demonstrations. After a March 7 rally, police arrested
senior opposition activists Anatoliy Lebedko and Vladimir Shantsov, a
Milinkevich regional campaign manager. That day Lebedko was fined $721
(1.5 million rubles), and Shantsov was sentenced to 15 days in jail for
organizing an unsanctioned rally. After a March 8 rally, Milinkevich's
campaign deputy Vintsuk Vyachorka left an event in a minivan that
contained a public address system. Police confiscated the vehicle with
the equipment and arrested the six passengers. On March 9, all were
sentenced to 15 days in jail for organizing unsanctioned rallies (see
section 1.e). On August 24, a Minsk district court sentenced opposition
youth activist Yuliya Goryachko to four days in jail and fined five
others between $290 and $420 (620,000 and 900,000 rubles) for
participating in an unsanctioned demonstration under Article 167 of the
Administrative Code.
The Government took other measures to restrict the ability of
prodemocracy and civil society groups to meet.
Local authorities prevented opposition parties from holding local
conventions in a number of sites across the country (see section 3).
On December 24, police attempted to prevent a ceremony
commemorating World War II nationalist Vintsent Gadlevskiy. Authorities
stopped vehicles carrying people going to the ceremony, forcing them to
continue on foot for several miles or causing several people to miss
the ceremony altogether. Other attendees were ordered to report to the
local police station for questioning.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the authorities severely restricted it in
practice.
The Government employed an elaborate system of laws and strict
registration regulations that restricted the ability of individuals to
form associations that might be critical of the Government or immune to
official manipulation. All NGOs, political parties, and trade unions
must register with authorities; it is illegal to act on behalf of an
unregistered organization. The leaders of the domestic election
observation NGO Partnership were sentenced to up to two years in prison
in August for leading an unregistered organization (see sections 1.e.,
2.d., and 4).
The Government's registration procedures were costly and onerous,
requiring the specific number and names of founders, along with a legal
address for the organization in a nonresidential building. Individuals
listed as members are vulnerable to retribution. The Government's
refusal to rent office space to unapproved organizations and the
expense of renting private space forced most organizations to violate
the nonresidential address requirement, a situation that allowed the
authorities to deregister existing organizations and deny registration
of new ones.
On January 27, authorities in Svetlogorsk refused to provide the
local chapter of the Belarusian Language Society (BLS) office space,
and it was evicted from another state-owned building. The head of the
BLS, Telman Maslyukov, told independent online news source Belapan that
authorities claimed to have no space available to rent to the BLS.
In October the Justice Ministry denied registration to Stareishiny,
the association of prodemocratic NGOs, allegedly due to the group's
violation of procedures related to the founding conference and members.
The group appealed the denial to the Supreme Court, but the court
refused to hear the suit on December 22, claiming that the group's
legal counsel could not sign the complaint since the lawyer had not
been appointed as the association's legal counsel at the founding
conference. Stareishiny filed a new suit on December 28.
During the year authorities continued to close local political
party offices (see section 3).
The Ministry of Justice reported that it continued to issue written
warnings to NGOs, political parties, and trade unions during the year,
and that the courts continued to deregister NGOs for ``systematic or
severe violations of the law.'' Harassment in the form of inspections
by security officials and confiscation of political literature, usually
without warrants, was widespread (see sections 1.d. and 3).
A government commission reviews and approves all registration
applications. During the year it continued to base its decisions
largely on the political and ideological compatibility of the applicant
with the Government's authoritarian philosophy (see section 2.a.). For
example, one of two remaining nationally-registered human rights
organizations, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, was repeatedly
threatened with closure for, among other things, allegedly failing to
pay taxes on a foreign assistance grant (see section 4). On February 7,
the Supreme Court liquidated the umbrella youth organization Rada for
allegedly engaging in politics and for interfering in the affairs of
government agencies. The court ruling followed a forum Rada held in
December 2005 at which it proposed to create an alternative youth
policy. On April 27, the Government refused to renew the registration
of the American Bar Association Office in Minsk. Authorities would not
comment on the reason for the refusal. On August 3, the Supreme Court
also liquidated the independent think tank ``Belarusian Thought
Factory'' (BFM) for lack of a legal address. The closure follows a
three-month suspension of the NGO in January and two warnings to BFM
head Oleg Manayev for spreading false information about the 2006
Presidential election after he released the results of an election
related poll (see section 2.a.). In April 2005 the Supreme Court
liquidated Manayev's Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and
Political Studies for lack of a legal address. It was one of two
organizations in the country that conducted independent opinion
polling.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, the Government restricted this right in practice. While the
constitution affirms the equality of religions and denominations, it
also contains restrictive language, stipulating that cooperation
between the state and religious organizations ``is regulated with
regard for their influence on the formation of spiritual, cultural, and
country traditions of the Belarusian people.''
The Government used the restrictive provisions of the law on
religion to hinder or prevent activities of groups other than the
Belarusian Orthodox Church. In particular the law restricts the ability
of religious organizations to provide religious education, requires all
religious groups to receive governmental approval to distribute
literature, and prohibits foreigners from leading religious
organizations. A concordat and other arrangements with the Government
provide the Belarusian Orthodox Church, which is an exarchate of the
Russian Orthodox Church, privileges not enjoyed by other religious
groups. In March 2005 Vladimir Makarov, chief of the Defense Ministry's
information directorate, called on clergy to fight the spread of
``destructive sects'' and to spread Orthodoxy.
The law requires that religious organizations register with the
Committee of Religious and Nationalities Affairs of the Council of
Ministers (CRNA) or with local and regional governments. During the
year the CRNA continued to refuse to register some nontraditional
religious groups. Religious groups that could not register frequently
were forced to meet illegally or in the homes of individual members.
According to the CRNA, 25 religious denominations with 2,944 religious
communities were officially registered as of November.
The Government required all religious organizations to reregister
with the CRNA in 2004. While the CRNA registered 2,676 religious
communities, 104 communities were dissolved due to lack of membership
or denied reregistration. The CRNA denied registration to what it
considered nontraditional faiths, mainly Protestant groups, such as the
Light to the World, the New Life Church, and the Belarusian Evangelical
Church. When the Light to the World's lease on a church was terminated
in October 2005 and authorities prevented them from leasing new
premises, most of the group's leaders left the country.
The CRNA also refused to register the Belarusian Autocephalous
Orthodox Church (BAOC) without the approval of local Belarusian
Orthodox Church bishops. Without the approval, the BAOC was effectively
banned. In 2005 authorities confiscated a building in Semkov Gorodok,
which the local BAOC community had renovated for the church.
On December 4, the Minsk-based Hare Krishna community was forced
out of their office, which was located in a vehicle service station,
following an inspection by the sanitary and emergency management
authorities. The inspectors, however, allowed all other tenants to
remain. The Minsk and Bobruysk Hare Krishna communities have been
searching for a legal address since they and other groups were denied
registration in 2004. Following the denial, which the Hare Krishna
unsuccessfully contested, the Minsk community worshipped in a
residential building. However, they were repeatedly fined for operating
there. In 2001 and 2002 the Hare Krishna communities attempted to
register as an association to be allowed to invite foreign religious
teachers into the country. The Government denied the application, and
the community appealed the decision to the UNCHR. In August 2005 the
UNCHR recommended that the Hare Krishna be established as an
association and that authorities restore the community's rights within
90 days. The Government rejected the UNCCR recommendations and has
taken no further action on the matter.
The Government continued to limit the ability of a number of groups
to own or use property for religious purposes. On July 24, for example,
Minsk City Economic Court judge Aleksandr Karamyshev ordered the New
Life Church to sell to the city a building it purchased as a place of
worship at a price far below market value and to vacate the premises by
October 8. The CRNA refused to reregister the New Life Church because
it tried to use a former cow barn as its legal residence. Authorities
would not allow the church to renovate the structure, change the
registration status from a cow barn to a religious property, or hold
meetings in the building. The pastor and other leaders were assessed
large fines for conducting services in the barn. To protest the July 24
decision, the church began a hunger strike, which prompted the
authorities to review its decision. On November 4, the Supreme Economic
Court overturned all court decisions regarding the church and held a
hearing on December 7 to adjudicate the case under original
jurisdiction. The case remained under review at year's end.
The Government permits the use of residential property for
religious services only after it has been converted from residential
use. This interpretation of the law effectively requires all religious
organizations to reregister their properties as religious properties.
However, authorities continued to reject requests for property
registration from many Protestant churches, as well as from other
nontraditional faiths. On June 27, the Minsk city court deregistered
the Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church for lack of legal
addresses. In August 2005 and September 2005 the Government closed the
Belarusian Evangelical Reformed Church and the Belarusian Evangelist
Church for failure to secure nonresidential legal addresses for
worship.
According to the Full Gospel Evangelical Christian Church,
authorities continued to deny it permission to construct a building for
religious purposes in Minsk.
Meeting hall officials cancelled or refused to extend agreements
with religious groups to use their facilities, citing a government
decree specifying measures to ensure public order and safety during
public gatherings. On March 31, the Minsk city administration
reportedly refused to allow the local Hassidic Jewish community to
celebrate Passover at the state-owned Palace for Children and Youth,
according to the international religious freedom NGO Forum 18. City
officials asserted that a religious event could not be held in a venue
frequented by children. The community was forced to hold the
celebration at its cafeteria, which could only accommodate
approximately 10 percent of the invited guests.
The law allows persons to gather in private homes to pray; however,
it requires that individuals obtain permission from local authorities
to hold rituals, rites, or ceremonies in homes. Police interfered with
religious meetings in residences several times during the year,
sometimes resulting in fines for participants.
On March 3, a Minsk district judge sentenced the pastor of Christ's
Covenant Reformed Baptist Church, Gregoriy Vyazorskiy, to 10 days in
jail for conducting unsanctioned religious services. Authorities warned
the pastor in November 2005 against conducting illegal services in a
private Minsk residence and about failing to provide a ``legal
address.'' Pentecostal bishop Sergey Tsvor faced similar charges, but
they were dropped because of technical errors made by the police.
On March 24, authorities sentenced human rights lawyer Sergey
Shavtsov to 10 days in detention for conducting an unsanctioned
interdenominational seminar in a private cafe. On the last day of the
three-day seminar, police entered the cafe and detained him because the
event was not sanctioned by the Government.
In July and again in August, Union of Evangelical Christians
Salvation Church pastor Sergey Poznyakovich was fined $2,170 dollars
(4.65 million rubles) and $300 (640,000 rubles), respectively, for
conducting an unauthorized religious service and performing a baptism
ceremony in a nearby lake.
Baptists, Pentecostals, and other Protestants were warned or fined
for illegally conducting and hosting religious services. According to
the CRNA, convictions for such offenses were based on charges of either
disturbing public order or illegally gathering without prior
permission.
On April 6, authorities fined political opposition activist Boris
Khamaida $2,600 (5.6 million rubles) for carrying a sign with a gospel
quotation, ``the one who endures to the end will be saved.'' Police
detained Khamaida on March 20 for three hours for displaying the sign
and charged him with violating demonstration laws.
On June 1, Forum 18 reported that authorities warned three
evangelical Christians in Brest for participating in a 24-hour silent
vigil of Bible reading to express solidarity with victims of political
repression in the country. According to the authorities, the three
protesters needed prior permission to organize and conduct religious
events outside designated worship areas.
On August 9, border guards took into custody and transported to
Minsk 47 Baptist children and adults, who were on a religious retreat
at a private homestead in the western Grodno region, for alleged
violations of health and safety regulations. The previous day, local
authorities ordered the gathering to disperse and threatened to take
the children to a police juvenile facility. After their release, a
senior Minsk city religious affairs official conceded that the retreat
was legal since private individuals had organized the event.
On October 13, independent media reported that authorities fined a
78-year-old Roman Catholic priest, Antoni Koczko, $29 (62,000 rubles)
for conducting an ``unauthorized'' religious service in Minsk. The
priest, who is a Polish citizen, was born in the country and has been
practicing in the city of Slutsk for the past 15 years.
The Government only registered Orthodox communities that were not
based in Moscow and only with the approval of the local Moscow
Patriarchate bishop. In June 2005 authorities warned the priest of the
unregistered Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), Father Leonid
Plyats, that he could be jailed and fined for conducting ``illegal
religious activities,'' including small gatherings in private homes. In
November 2005 authorities denied registration to a different ROCA
parish in Ruzhany. In this case, Brest religious affairs official
Vasiliy Marchenko told ROCA members to worship at the Moscow
Patriarchate Church instead. The ROCA parish refused and its members
have been fined four times, totaling over $2,000 (4 million rubles),
for worshiping in private homes. The community again applied for
registration; however in October there were credible reports that
Moscow Patriarchiate officials were pressuring parishioners to withdraw
their signatures from registration applications.
In November 2005 former CRNA chairman Stanislav Buko announced that
authorities would not register ``destructive sects.'' He claimed no
such sects were operating in the country but said that authorities
closely monitored the activities of persons bearing the characteristics
of such sects. University textbooks reportedly classified Baptists and
Adventists as members of sects.
On May 19, Forum 18 reported that authorities pressured Pentecostal
pastor Oksana Gavrilenko to resign from her job as a school teacher
after she complained about a lecture to students by an Orthodox priest
on the dangers of ``sects,'' including Baptists and Pentecostals.
According to the report, authorities did not reinstate Gavrilenko but
did ask the priest to refrain from slandering Protestant churches.
In early December 2005, police in Vitebsk raided the homes of local
Muslims on the pretext of looking for suspects connected to two
September bombings, even though authorities had previously arrested two
persons in the case with no known connection to Islam. Police detained
several of the Muslims for questioning and seized religious literature.
The law provides that citizens may speak freely about their
religious beliefs; however, authorities continued their efforts to
prevent, interfere with, or punish persons who proselytized for any
religious group other than the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
The Government did not permit foreign missionaries to engage in
religious activities outside of the institutions that invited them. The
law requires one-year, multiple-entry ``spiritual activities'' visas
for foreign missionaries. Observers expressed concern that lack of
standardized government guidance on how to implement recent changes to
visa laws may affect the ability of missionaries to live and work in
the country. For example, according to Forum 18, authorities for 10
years have refused to renew the work permit of Stewart Vinograd,
founder of the Minsk-based New Testament Church and pastor of its
Messianic Jewish congregation. Forum 18 also reported that in July
authorities denied permission for the Full Gospel Union to invite
Nigerian pastor Anselm Madubuko to preach at three member churches. In
October authorities refused to renew visas for 12 Polish Catholic nuns
and priests from the Grodno region, who had been working in the country
for 10 years, and ordered them to leave by the end of the year.
Missionaries of other religious groups with a long history in the
country, particularly Protestants, continued to have difficulties
obtaining visas; and there were credible reports that members of
Protestant religious communities were harassed for teaching children
religion at home.
The law does not provide for the return of property seized during
the Soviet period or the Nazi occupation and restricts the return of
property that is being used for cultural or educational purposes.
In February CRNA chairman Leonid Gulyako told members of a Catholic
parish that their monastery and church, which was being used as a state
scientific archive, would not be returned because the Government did
not have funds to build a new facility. The parish earlier requested
that the Government return the property. However, in October 2005 the
CRNA Council of Ministers said the church and monastery building could
be returned only after the Government built a new building to house the
archive.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was a generally amicable
relationship among religious groups and a widely held ethic of
tolerance; however, hostile or intolerant attitudes in some parts of
the press encouraged negative attitudes toward some minority religious
groups. The Belarusian Orthodox Church took some steps to counter
propaganda that discriminated against other religious groups.
There were new media reports of isolated instances of anti-
Protestant vandalism during the year. On October 31, vandals painted
``No to Totalitarian Sects!'' and the Russian extremist National
Bolshevik Party's symbol on the New Life Church's building. On November
20, unidentified vandals painted ``Don't Believe Sects!'' on a
billboard in Baranovichi advertising the Salvation Church, an affiliate
of the Union of Evangelical Faith Christians in the country. Police
refused to institute criminal proceedings in connection with the
vandalism.
According to government census figures, there were approximately
40,000 Jews in the country, but Jewish groups maintained that between
50,000 and 70,000 persons identified themselves as Jewish. The vast
majority of the Jewish population was not religiously active. There
were instances of anti-Semitism, but no government efforts to promote
anti-bias and tolerance education. State-owned periodicals continued to
attack nontraditional and Jewish religious groups. In January Mogilev
newspapers published a series of anti-Semitic articles after a new type
of kosher bread was produced in the city. The state-owned Mogilev
Register claimed that the blood of sacrificed animals was used in
kosher rituals and warned Orthodox believers to ``keep away from kosher
products in the same way they keep away from idol sacrifice.'' Another
newspaper, The Evening Mogilev, reported that the act of making
something kosher is ``sacrilegious and anti-Christian.''
There were new reports of isolated instances of anti-Semitic
vandalism during the year.
In early October vandals damaged property and gravestones at Jewish
and Christian cemeteries in Orsha. At the Jewish cemetery, where 7,000
Holocaust victims were buried, 10 tombstones and the fence around the
property were damaged. At the Christian cemetery, vandals damaged 17
gravestones. Police stated they would not file criminal proceedings for
vandalism if the perpetrators were found.
On November 12, Minsk's Yama Holocaust Memorial, which has been
vandalized on numerous occasions during the past few years, was again
vandalized. Vandals drew a white swastika on the main obelisk and left
behind leaflets calling for a war against supporters of democracy and
Judaism and ``others rushing to a new world order under the aegis of
Talmudism and the U.S.'' The incident occurred on the same weekend that
the Israeli Cultural and Information Center was also vandalized with
swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti. Authorities initially refused to
investigate the vandalism, saying the incident was a case of teenage
hooliganism. However, on November 14, Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor
Gaysenok pledged that police will do everything possible to find and
punish those who damaged the memorial. The investigation was pending at
year's end.
On November 30, vandals burned flowers and wreaths on the Brest
Jewish memorial, which was dedicated in 1992 to the extermination of
the Brest ghetto. The flames and smoke left the monument partially
blackened. The incident marks the sixth time the memorial has been
vandalized since it was built. At year's end police were investigating
the incident.
On December 26, a fire destroyed the roof and interior walls of an
orthodox church in Gomel. Satanic graffiti was sprayed on the exterior
of the building. Police suspected arson and have opened a criminal
case.
On April 17, authorities issued an official warning to preschool
teacher Lyudmila Izakson-Bolotovskaya for the ``intentional inculcation
of religious doctrines in small children.'' Izakson-Bolotovskaya and
her children's Jewish musical group were shown on local television
celebrating a Jewish holiday. Authorities claimed that she violated the
law by holding a religious celebration in a government building and
illegally propagated Judaism via the television coverage of the event.
Authorities forced Izakson-Bolotovskaya to remove Jewish symbols from
the classroom and threatened her with prosecution if she continued
these activities.
Anti-Semitic and Russian ultranationalist and xenophobic literature
continued to be sold and distributed at Pravoslavnaya Kniga (Orthodox
Bookstore), a store operated by Orthodox Initiative, a group that sells
Orthodox literature and religious paraphernalia. The CRNA asserted that
the publication of such literature in the country was illegal, but that
nothing could be done regarding privately imported Russian and anti-
Semitic literature.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for freedom of
movement; however, the Government at times restricted its citizens'
right to choose their place of residence and their foreign travel.
Internal passports served as primary identity documents and were
required for permanent housing, work, and hotel registration.
Police continued to harass individuals because they lived at a
location other than the legal place of residence indicated in their
internal passport.
The law provides for freedom of movement in and out of the country;
however, the Government at times restricted this right. Government
regulations specify that citizens who wish to travel abroad must obtain
an exit stamp valid for one to five years. The Government could
invalidate stamps that had been issued.
On January 11, the Visa and Passport Department denied Anatoliy
Lebedko, leader of the United Civic Party, a foreign travel stamp under
the pretext that the BKGB had not granted permission. However, he
received the stamp six days later after lodging a public complaint. The
stamp was valid for only two years instead of the three he requested.
On February 7, border guards denied Anzhelika Borys, chair of the
unrecognized Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP), permission to leave the
country to participate in a conference in Warsaw due to insufficient
room in her passport for an exit stamp.
On October 20, authorities refused to place a travel stamp in the
passport of UBP activist Wojciech Boradyn without explanation, thus
denying him the opportunity to travel abroad.
In November 2005 authorities prohibited seven UBP members from
travelling abroad. Despite the prohibition, one UBP member, Andrzej
Poczobut, travelled to Poland. Upon his return, authorities stamped a
notation in his passport that prohibited him from international travel
(see section 5).
In several cases opposition activists wishing to travel abroad were
detained at the border for lengthy searches while leaving or returning
to the country. On May 12, border officials prevented human rights NGO
Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) chairwoman Tatyana Protko from
traveling to a conference in Germany. Border guards had detained her
until the flight left. Protko claimed she was detained to prevent the
BHC from providing information about the human rights situation in the
country to the international community. Protko earlier had been
restricted from traveling after the Government had threatened to bring
criminal charges against her for tax evasion (see section 4). On
October 30, UBP chair Borys and two associates were detained for seven
hours upon their return to the country when authorities claimed they
found an unidentified powder in the car in which they were traveling.
Authorities seized the car and subjected the group to a drug test. On
December 6, authorities confiscated Borys' passport in connection with
the investigation. On November 4, Brest police detained local United
Civic Party chairman Stepan Novoselchanin for two hours, causing him to
miss a train to Kyiv to attend a conference of Belarusian opposition
activists. On November 5, police detained for three hours two local
Belarusian Party of Communists activists traveling by car to the same
conference and impounded their vehicle, forcing them to continue the
journey by bus.
On November 29, Minsk airport authorities detained and charged
opposition leader and former Presidential candidate Aleksandr
Milinkevich with using a forged document to cross a border after
returning from the NATO summit meeting in Latvia. Milinkevich had
mistakenly used his son's passport when he initially left the country.
The charge, which remained pending at year's end, carries either a jail
term of up to two months or a large fine.
In March 2005 a Presidential decree, ostensibly intended to counter
trafficking in persons, imposed new restrictions on foreign travel.
Under the order, any student who wishes to study abroad must obtain
permission from the minister of education. In signing the decree,
President Lukashenko publicly stated his opposition to study abroad
programs. The Government used this requirement to prevent 59 high
school students from participating in an educational exchange program.
It also used the requirement to expel university students who were
involved in political activity (see section 2.a.) The decree requires
the Ministry of Interior to track all citizens working abroad and
travel agencies to report individuals who do not return from abroad as
scheduled.
The Government denied reregistration to most travel agencies that
arranged work abroad. On January 4, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism
announced that it terminated the licenses of almost 200 tour operators
in 2005 primarily for failing to meet mandatory inbound tourist
requirements. In October authorities suspended the licenses of an
additional 36 tour agencies and warned 67 others for failure to meet
licensing requirements.
Statements by government officials during the year and in 2005,
including an October 2005 Presidential decree, reduced the number of
children from Chernobyl-contaminated areas that could travel abroad for
treatment, particularly those who wanted to travel during the school
year. On November 24, Education Minister Aleksandr Radkov announced
that all orphans would spend the winter holidays in the country. In
February 2005 several hundred children were denied permission to go to
Germany and Italy. According to the October 2005 decree students or
chaperones who did not return to the country on time must be reported
to the Presidential administration. During the year President
Lukashenko imposed further restrictions on recreational trips to Italy
that require Italian host families to provide a certified guarantee
that children will return home as scheduled and that they will not be
adopted (see section 5).
The law requires persons who travel to areas within 15 miles (25
kilometers) of the border to obtain an entrance pass. In 2005 police
arrested several prodemocracy activists for violating this law after
holding meetings in towns near the border. On January 5, the Grodno
border police fined two UBP activists, Poczobut and Andrey Pisalnik,
the maximum $135 (290,000 rubles) for allegedly entering a restricted
border zone. They were stopped in December 2005 on their way to
Sapotkin, where they intended to meet local UBP members.
The law does not provide for exile abroad; however, the Government
did expel long-term resident and independent political analyst Vladimir
Suzdaltsev. On March 27, authorities ordered Suzdaltsev, a Russian
citizen, to leave within 10 days and not return for five years.
Suzdaltsev had lived in the country for the last 13 years with his
Belarusian wife and children.
Many university students who had been expelled or were under threat
of expulsion for their political activities opted for self-imposed
exile. Approximately 400 students chose to continue their studies at
foreign universities mostly in Europe during the academic year.
The law provides for internal exile or khimya (see section 1.d.).
In May youth activist Artur Finkevich was sentenced to two years of
khimya; in November Partnership NGO leader Nikolay Astreyko was
transferred from prison to khimya (see section 1.e., 2.b., 3, and 4).
Detention in internal exile was one possible penalty for defaming the
President. Persons serving khimya lived in prison barracks and were
forced to work under conditions set by the Government. Political
prisoners still serving khimya sentences included Nikolay Statkevich,
Pavel Severinets, and Artur Finkevich.
The law provides for the right to emigrate, and the authorities
generally respected this right; however, there were restrictions for
individuals with access to sensitive government information or citizens
involved in criminal investigations. Persons who have been refused
permission to emigrate may appeal to the courts.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. Under the law, all persons who applied for or received asylum
are protected against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution.
The law does not allow for temporary protection of persons who may
not qualify as refugees; however, the Government granted humanitarian
protection to persons who may not have qualified for refugee status but
had humanitarian grounds for remaining in the country. As of October,
two Georgians were granted humanitarian protection. In 2005, 40 persons
were granted humanitarian protection.
The authorities cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees. However, the Government failed to conclude a
1995 cooperation agreement with UNHCR.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides the right for citizens to change their government
peacefully; however, the Government effectively denied citizens this
right. The constitution allows the President to issue decrees that
carry the force of law in specific, urgent circumstances, a provision
President Lukashenko has interpreted broadly. Since his election in
1994 to a five-year term as the country's first President, Lukashenko
has consolidated power steadily in the executive branch and dominated
all branches of government. Referenda in 1996 and 2004 amended the
constitution to broaden his powers and extend his term in office.
Lukashenko gained a third term in office through a fraudulent
Presidential election on March 19.
Elections and Political Participation.--According to the OSCE's
final election observer report, the March 19 Presidential election fell
significantly short of international standards for democratic elections
and were characterized by arbitrary use of state power and widespread
detentions. The Government restricted freedom of assembly, association,
expression, and appeared unwilling to tolerate political competition.
More than 500 international observers from 38 countries observed
the voting and counting on behalf of the OSCE's Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly. However, authorities either denied entry or visas to 27
accredited OSCE observers. On March 16, BKGB officials detained eight
Georgian Supreme Council (parliament) members who were accredited
election observers at the Minsk airport for questioning about an
alleged terrorist plot to upset the election.
The OSCE final election observation report on June 7 detailed the
substantial problems that precluded a free and fair election, including
detention of campaign activists, searches of campaign offices,
confiscation of campaign materials, and interruption of campaign
meetings. Other problems included pressure from the BKGB on domestic
election observers (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.); scant media coverage
of the three candidates opposing Lukashenko (see section 2.a.); highly
questionable early voting; and ballot counting that was problematic and
lacked transparency.
On November 23, President Lukashenko stated during a press
conference that the March Presidential election results were falsified
in favor of opposition candidates to appease Western leaders. Speaking
to journalists, he said he actually won as much as 93.5 percent of the
vote instead of the 83 percent announced by the CEC. He said the
outcome was underreported in an attempt to have the results recognized
by European and other western leaders. The following day a senior
election committee official denied any vote rigging, saying the
election was held in strict adherence to the country's laws.
Authorities virtually excluded opposition parties from the election
process. During the Presidential election, authorities selected only
one out of 2,124 territorial commission members from the opposition BPF
party. According to prodemocratic Belarusian Party of Communists' (BPC)
head Sergey Kalyakin, the BPC reportedly nominated 70 persons to
territorial commissions, and the opposition United Civic Party (UCP)
nominated 38, but none were selected. A similar situation existed in
the local council election process. On October 23, prodemocratic party
leaders reported that the election authorities did not include one
opposition party member on the 1,590 territorial commissions. On
December 1, the CEC reported that only one prodemocratic political
party member, a representative from the UCP, was given one of the
70,877 seats on the precinct election commissions.
Authorities frequently warned opposition candidates against early
campaigning and harassed activists who attempted to collect signatures
to nominate opposition candidates. On January 5, activists for
Presidential hopeful Zenon Poznyak claimed that they were chased out of
underground passageways by police and barred from entering student
dormitories. They said police cited a law banning collection of
signatures in underground passageways, but could not cite the specific
law that they were violating. BPC leader Kalyakin estimated that by
mid-January approximately 60 percent of his party's signature
collectors had either been questioned by authorities or threatened with
expulsion if they continued to collect signatures.
On January 6, human rights NGO Charter 97 received letters from
students at Belarusian State University (BSU) describing instances of
university officials strongly encouraging students to sign nomination
forms in support of President Lukashenko before they were allowed to
take their exams. On January 9, the human rights NGO Vyasna reported
that university officials interrupted an exam to announce that, if the
students wanted to receive good marks, they had to sign nomination
forms supporting Lukashenko. University students also were pressured to
vote early and to leave the capital before the March 19 elections.
Classes were canceled on March 17 to March 20, and students were
encouraged to return to their homes outside of Minsk.
On January 18, the CEC warned opposition coalition candidate
Aleksandr Milinkevich and Presidential hopeful Zenon Poznyak for
distributing campaign material while collecting signatures, which it
said was a violation of the electoral law.
While opposition activists were warned or fined for early
campaigning, the state-controlled television channel ONT broadcast a
six week series of concerts featuring Russian pop stars, which
culminated in a massive concert in Minsk four days before the start of
early voting. The concert series was called Za Belarus (For Belarus),
which was the campaign slogan Lukashenko used in the 2004 referendum
that extended Presidential term limits.
On February 11, the Minsk city government issued a list of specific
venues and locations where Presidential candidates could meet with
voters and post campaign materials. Most of the venues were parks
outside of Minsk's city center. In contrast, President Lukashenko had
unlimited access to all government-owned venues in Minsk. Police
routinely prevented candidates from holding rallies and posting
campaign materials in unauthorized venues.
The CEC restricted campaigning by Presidential candidates to state-
controlled broadcast and print media. Each candidate was allotted two
30-minute segments on state radio and television. However, the
candidate's speeches were prerecorded, and in one case the CEC edited
Alexander Kozulin's remarks on the grounds that they slandered the
President and the Government. State broadcast media coverage was
heavily biased in favor of Lukashenko and described the opposition in
mainly negative terms (see section 2.a.).
Candidates were given access to seven state-run newspapers to
publish their campaign platforms. On March 1, however, the newspapers
announced they would not publish Milinkevich's platform because he had
not provided the text on time. On March 2 and 3, four state newspapers
published Lukashenko's platform on their front pages along with several
of his photographs. In contrast, the major state newspapers published
the platforms of Presidential candidates Kozulin and Sergey Gaidukevich
in much less visible sections of the papers.
Independent polling services were prohibited (see section 2.a.).
According to a 2005 regulation, all opinion polling must be
registered with the Government backed National Academy of Sciences;
only government approved pollsters could conduct election related
polling (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
There were credible reports that state employees were forced to
collect signatures for Lukashenko's nomination out of fear of losing
their jobs. State-owned department store employees in Minsk were
required to gather signatures at the store's entrance. Other reports of
coercion by Lukashenko's campaign operatives included forcing postal
service workers, housing administrators, teachers, and hospital workers
to collect signatures for the incumbent or risk losing their jobs.
Authorities either detained or arrested activists and often seized
their private property or campaign materials. The leaders of the
domestic election observers from the NGO Partnership were arrested in
February on charges of planning a terrorist coup, but sentenced to up
to two years in prison for leading an unregistered NGO (see sections
1.e., 2.b., 2.d., and 4). On January 6, police searched Milinkevich
campaign team member Vladimir Hundar's apartment in Baranovichy and
confiscated computer equipment (see section 2.a.). On February 14, Lida
police detained opposition activists Anatoliy Khotko and Sergey Malchik
and Grodno city council deputy Sergey Antusevich and seized 1,200
copies of the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya. On February 21,
the BKGB arrested Timofey Dranchuk, a Partnership NGO member, and
confiscated numerous items from his apartment, including books,
campaign leaflets, a computer, and personal documents (see sections
1.d. and 1.e.).
Police often invoked the law on combating terrorism to sanction
their searches, detentions, and arrests (see section 2.b.). On March 3,
police searched Milinkevich campaign team member Vasiliy Bezman's
apartment for four hours looking for weapons and materials that could
be connected to terrorist activities. They seized Bezman's computers
and documents. Also on March 3, counterterrorist officers expelled
three activists from Ukraine's Pora youth movement and several
Ukrainian journalists who had arrived from Kyiv. Authorities claimed
the journalists did not have proper press accreditation from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On March 16, BKGB chairman Stepan
Sukharenko claimed that the agency had uncovered and foiled an
opposition plot funded by two foreign governments to bomb four schools
on election day as part of a coup against the President. Sukharenko
accused the leaders of the domestic election observation group
Partnership and opposition leader Anatoliy Lebedko of involvement in
the alleged terrorist attack (see sections 1.e., 2.b., 2.d., and 4).
Authorities regularly interfered with peaceful election-related
demonstrations (see section 2.b.). Activists that participated or led
demonstrations were arrested and sentenced in large numbers following
the March 19 elections (see section 1.e.). On July 13, a judge of the
Moskovskiy District Court sentenced former Presidential candidate
Aleksander Kozulin to five and a one-half years in prison for
hooliganism and disturbing the peace for organizing a protest march on
March 25 (see section 1.c., 1.e., 2.b., and 3).
Political parties continued to receive warnings from authorities
for minor offenses under a law that allowed the Government to suspend
political parties for six months for a violation and close a party
after it received two warnings. The law also prohibited political
parties from receiving support from abroad. In September 2005 the
Ministry of Justice issued a separate ruling that required political
blocs and coalitions to register with it. The closing in 2005 of
approximately 80 percent of local political party offices around the
country allowed the ministry to issue warnings to political parties
that did not have the required number of local offices in the regions
and in Minsk to operate (see section 2.b.).
On January 12, the Bobruysk chapter of Alexander Kozulin's Social
Democratic Party ``Hramada'' (BSDP) lost its office after state
authorities cancelled a rental lease due ``to dangerous floor
conditions.'' The authorities refused to rent BSDP another room to the
party in the same building.
On January 30, the Ministry of Justice issued a second warning to
the BPF for failing to have chapters in at least four regions and in
Minsk. BPF deputy chairman Viktor Ivashkevich told reporters that
landlords cancelled rental leases for BPF local chapters in Grodno and
Gomel after being pressured by the authorities. As a result,
authorities annulled the registrations of the two local chapters.
On August 15, the Ministry of Justice issued a warning to the Minsk
chapter of the Belarusian Party of Communists (BPC) for alleged
registration and other minor violations. The move was a culmination of
a month-long effort by the pro-Lukashenko Communist Party of Belarus
(CPB) to merge the two parties. When the BPC failed to comply with the
warning, the Justice Ministry moved to suspend the BPC. On November 2,
the Justice Ministry re-registered the BPC and annulled the merger with
the CPB. On November 3, the Supreme Court canceled a hearing on the
BPC's suspension until after the 2007 local elections. On November 28,
the BPC appealed to authorities to end harassment of its members by the
Justice Ministry. According to the BPC, the Justice Ministry ordered
its local offices to verify membership of local chapters by compelling
members to explain in writing why they belonged to the BPC. According
to the BPC, 143 local party chapters were closed during the year.
There were 32 women in the 110-member lower house of the National
Assembly, and 18 women in the 56-member upper house. Women chaired two
of the National Assembly's 14 committees. There was one woman in the
38-member Council of Ministers, and the head of the Central Election
Commission was a woman. With the exception of the judiciary, men held
virtually all leadership positions.
No high level members of government or parliament openly identified
themselves as members of a minority, although several were Polish or
members of other ethnic groups.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the
executive branch of government was a significant problem, with a poor
delineation between the President's personal and official funds, and a
heavy reliance on off-budget revenues. The Government itself profited
from official corruption through high levels of goods confiscated at
the border that were sold in state shops, and through renationalizing
more of the economy.
Between January and October authorities uncovered approximately
3,000 corruption-related offenses. During the first six months of the
year, the Government prosecuted approximately 857 individuals for
corruption and recovered more than $1.87 million (four billion rubles)
for the state.
On January 5, authorities arrested a senior official of the state-
run truck production company ``Belaz'' for allegedly using his position
to steal $154,000 (330 million rubles) under the guise of research and
development expenses.
On February 8, the chairman of the Supreme Court, Valentin Sukalo,
confirmed that in April 2005 President Lukashenko had pardoned Galina
Zhuravkova, who was convicted and sentenced in 2004 to four years in
prison for embezzling over $3 million from the state (6.4 billion
rubles.) Zhuravkova allegedly repaid the money and did not spend any
time in prison.
On October 3, the Supreme Court sentenced former director general
of the Naftan oil refinery, Konstantin Chesnovitskiy, to four years in
prison for illegal business activities and accepting large bribes.
Also, a former official of the state-run airline, Belavia, was
sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting a $66,000 bribe (142
million rubles).
On October 24, the former chief executive and personnel manager of
the Evistor medical equipment plant were sentenced to 11 years in
prison for accepting a $50,000 bribe (106.7 million rubles) from a
potential buyer of part of the company.
On November 21, two military courts convicted approximately 50
border guards and customs officials for accepting bribes to allow some
600 trucks enter the country between 2002 and 2004 without import
duties. A former border control unit head, 13 border guards, five
customs officers, and two civilians were sentenced to between five and
14 years in prison; 27 inspectors received sentences of up to seven
years in prison.
On December 31, the Supreme Court sentenced a former police
official to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes and abusing his
power. The court confiscated his property and forbade him from holding
a law enforcement job for five years. Five other men, including a KGB
officer, received sentences ranging from six to eight years for bribery
charges.
In July President Lukashenko signed an anticorruption bill to
supplement existing anticorruption legislation. The new law expanded
the list of professions vulnerable to corruption, designated the
prosecutor general's office as the coordinator of anticorruption
efforts, and prohibited government officials from having foreign bank
accounts or engaging in nepotism. However, President Lukashenko's older
son Viktor remained employed as his father's personal assistant.
The law and government policies severely restricted public access
to government information. In practice citizens had some access to
certain categories of information on government or database Web sites,
but the information was often neither current nor complete. A 2004
Presidential decree broadened significantly the amount of government
material considered a state secret.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several domestic human rights groups were active in the country;
however, authorities hindered their efforts to investigate alleged
human rights violations. Authorities monitored NGO correspondence and
telephone conversations and harassed NGOs by bureaucratic means such as
frequent tax and other inspections and deregistration (see sections
1.f. and 2.b.). The Government generally ignored reports issued by
human rights NGOs and did not meet with these groups during the year.
Official government media did not report on human right NGOs and their
actions; independent media that reported on human rights' issues were
subjected to closure and harassment (see section 2.a.).
The Government has officially closed (de-registered) most major
human rights NGOs and NGO resource centers, under a variety of pretexts
which independent observers viewed as politically motivated. Many of
the closures were based on a law signed by the President in July 2005
that allows authorities to close an NGO after just one warning from the
Government of a violation of the law. The violations most frequently
cited were discrepancies between the seal that was presented when the
organization registered and the seal used on subsequent occasions;
inaccuracies in an organization's letterhead; the use of a mailing
address at a residence rather than the registered office; alleged
forgeries among the signatures required to obtain legal registration;
and failure to follow the organization's own bylaws. The law allows
authorities to close an NGO for illegally accepting foreign assistance
and allows the Ministry of Justice to participate in any NGO activity,
review any NGO document, and request any information from an NGO. It
also requires NGOs to present detailed reports annually to the Justice
Ministry about their activities, office locations, names of officers,
and total number of members.
The law prohibits persons from acting on behalf of unregistered
NGOs, and the Government continued to prosecute persons for this
offense during the year. In July four leaders of the domestic election
NGO Partnership received from six months to two years in prison for
action on behalf of an unregistered NGO (see sections, 1.e., 2.b.,
2.d., and 3). On November 1, Malady Front leader Dmitriy Dashkevich was
sentenced to 18 months in prison for leading an unregistered
organization (see section 1.e. and 3).
A 2003 Presidential decree restricting the right of organizations
to receive funding from abroad provides that international assistance
may be granted to, or accepted by, an organization whose project is
registered by the Government; however, lengthy delays in project
registrations were common, particularly for human rights organizations.
Another Presidential decree prohibits foreign support for a broad range
of activities, including the preparation, administration, and
organization of elections and referenda; the organization of meetings,
rallies, demonstrations, pickets, and strikes; the publication and
distribution of promotional materials; and the organization of seminars
and other types of promotional activities involving the population. The
law also prohibits unregistered organizations from providing assistance
to other NGOs. The Government sometimes refused groups permission to
accept foreign support even if they complied with government reporting
requirements. In early 2006 the Government denied permission for the
(BHC) to accept $1,000 (2.1 million rubles) from the International
Helsinki Federation.
During the year authorities continued to harass the BHC, the
country's most significant registered human rights NGO. On December 5,
authorities seized BHC office equipment as partial payment of a $75,000
(160 million rubles) fine for back taxes levied on international
financial support it received. The BHC appealed the Government fine,
but the appeal was rejected by both the prosecutor general and the
Supreme Economic Court, which cleared the way for the seizure. The
seizure followed charges filed on May 26 by the Justice Ministry with
the Supreme Court that BHC violated the law and its charter by
including nonmembers as observers during the 2004 parliamentary
elections, used a residence for its legal address, and did not pay
taxes on time. The May 26 charges were suspended until the authorities
could make a decision on the $75,000 fine.
Authorities were increasingly reluctant to discuss human rights
with international NGOs, whose representatives often had difficulty
gaining admission to the country.
Government authorities continued to refuse to cooperate with the UN
rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country. In 2005 the
Government refused to allow the human rights rapporteur entry into the
country to assess the situation and stated that it would not cooperate
with the UN official. However, on September 27, UN Special Rapporteur
on Belarus Adrian Severin reported that the human rights situation in
the country had deteriorated ``to such an extent that the elements
usually defining a dictatorship could be seen.'' According to Severin,
civil and political rights were limited, cultural rights were ignored,
and economic and other ``rights'' were conditional on obedience to the
wishes of the authorities. On September 28, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
spokesman Andrey Popov stated that the rapporteur was not necessary
because there were ``no grounds for such an institution'' in the
country.
On November 3, the International Helsinki Federation urged the
Government to abolish article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, which
criminalizes directing and managing unregistered organizations. During
the year leaders of two local groups, Partnership and Malady Front,
were sentenced to prison under the article (see sections 1.e., 2.b.,
2.d., and 3).
On December 20, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution
expressing deep concern over the human rights situation in the country;
particularly the Government's ``persistent'' harassment and prosecution
of opposition activists and independent NGOs, and the Government's
failure to hold a free and fair Presidential election (see sections
1.d., 1.e., and 3).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that all citizens are equal before the
law and have the right to equal protection of their rights and
legitimate interests. The constitution and other laws also specifically
prohibit discrimination based on factors such as race and language, or
gender in certain instances. However, the Government did not always
protect these rights in practice. Violence against women and children,
trafficking of persons, and discrimination against persons with
disabilities, Roma, ethnic minorities, and homosexuals were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse against women,
was a significant problem. In November, AI in a report stated that
measures taken by the authorities to protect women against domestic
violence were insufficient. The criminal code does not contain a
separate article to prosecute cases of domestic violence. During the
first eight months of the year the Government reported that 2,993
criminal cases were opened under three criminal code articles
prohibiting ``household offenses'' (intentional body damage, torture,
and murder threats; severe body damage; destruction of property).
During the same time, authorities secured 295 convictions for severe
abuse of women and 33 for severe abuse of pregnant women, minors, and
persons with disabilities. Women, however, remained reluctant to report
domestic violence due to fear of reprisal and social stigma. NGOs
operated crisis shelters primarily in Minsk, but they were poorly
funded and provided limited support. NGOs complained of lack of funding
and government support.
There is a law against rape, but spousal rape is not criminalized
and is not generally viewed as a crime. Rape was a problem and most
women did not report rape from shame or fear that police would blame
the victim. The Ministry of Interior reported 353 rape cases during the
year.
The law prohibits prostitution, but the penalties usually involved
a warning or a small fine. Although authorities and local human rights
observers reported that prostitution was not a significant problem,
considerable anecdotal evidence indicated that it was growing,
particularly in regions outside the main cities. Prostitution rings
operated in government-owned hotels.
Trafficking in women and girls, particularly for sexual
exploitation, was a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking in
Persons).
Sexual harassment was reportedly widespread, but no specific laws
other than those against physical assault address the problem.
The law provides for equal treatment for women with regard to
property ownership and inheritance, family law, and in the judicial
system, and the law was generally respected in practice. The law also
requires equal wages for equal work; however, this provision was not
always enforced. Women had significantly fewer opportunities for
advancement to the upper ranks of management or government. A
disproportionate number of unemployed persons were women. In March the
Ministry of Statistics and Analysis reported that approximately 67
percent of unemployed persons in the country were women. Employers
interviewing candidates for jobs often took into account whether a
female applicant had children. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Security is responsible for ensuring gender equality; however, it
cannot issue binding instructions to any other government agency.
Children.--The authorities were committed to children's welfare and
health. In cities and urban areas the quality of education and other
services for children exceeded minimum state standards, although it was
lower outside of major cities.
Children begin school at age six and are required to complete nine
years of education; most children completed compulsory schooling. The
state provided 12 years of free education and in many cases paid for
university education; students who received higher education at public
expense were required to work for two years after graduation in
government-directed jobs.
By law universal free government health care was available and
provided to children, but health care at private clinics is generally
of better quality. There were no differences in the health care
available to girls and boys. Beginning in 2005 the Government began to
discourage medical rehabilitation trips abroad for children. During the
past two years, the Government introduced new regulations that
restricted certain groups of children living in areas affected by the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster from traveling abroad for rehabilitation
(see section 2.d.). Many observers considered the restrictions part of
a government effort to limit opportunities for children to experience
living conditions outside of the country.
Child abuse appeared to occur infrequently. The country's criminal
code does not contain a separate provision on child abuse. During the
first eight months of the year the Government reported that 59 minors
were victims of rape; 31 suffered from intentional severe physical
abuse, and 39 children ages nine through 12 suffered from a lesser form
of physical abuse.
Child marriage was generally not a problem. However, within the
Romani community, girls as young as 14 and boys as young as 16 could
marry with parental consent, and frequently did so.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
As of January 1, the National Adoption Center reported that there
were approximately 32,600 orphans in the country. During the year there
were reports of abuse and mistreatment in orphanages.
In September a foreign couple that served as seasonal foster
parents for a 10-year-old female Belarusian orphan hid the girl for
three weeks from authorities in Italy. They refused to release her,
claiming they found marks on her body, including a suspected burn mark
on the genital area. The Ministry of Education denied the allegations
and the orphanage director stated that all ``inmates have access to a
pay phone and could call home at any moment'' to report physical abuse
in the school. The child was later returned to the orphanage (see
section 2.d.).
As an alternative to orphanages, the law allows military units to
adopt and train orphan boys between the ages of 14 and 16, an accepted
practice that continues. While the children are not enlisted in the
military, they must comply with military rules, wear a uniform, and
obey orders. They have the option to join the unit upon reaching the
draft age of 18.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, through,
and in a few instances within, the country.
Trafficking remained a serious problem. The Ministry of Interior
reported 518 cases of trafficking in persons in the first 10 months of
the year and registered about 463 victims of trafficking, including 55
minors. Victims were primarily women, who were trafficked for sexual
exploitation, although traffickers have continued to target males of
all ages for forced manual labor, primarily in Russia. According to
International Organization for Migration (IOM), men trafficked for
labor exploitation represented a larger percentage of the total number
of trafficking victims this year as compared to 2005.
The country was both a country of origin and a country of transit
for women and girls trafficked to the European Union (particularly
Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Cyprus), the Middle
East (particularly Israel), Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and Japan. The
country's open border with Russia was a particular problem as it
allowed easy trafficking of persons. Single, unemployed women under the
age of 30 and girls were at particular risk of being trafficked due to
their lack of awareness about trafficking and lack of economic
opportunities, although victims over 30 increasingly became trafficking
victims during the year due to an increase in the number of men over 30
who were trafficked for forced labor.
Ministry of Interior reports indicated that traffickers were
members of loosely organized crime networks based within the country
that maintained connections to larger international organized crime
rings or direct contacts with brothels, clubs and bars in destination
countries. Employment agencies, particularly travel and modeling
agencies, were also responsible for trafficking.
Traffickers used force, fraud, and coercion to traffic persons,
mostly from economically depressed areas, for sexual exploitation or
for physical or menial labor. Before the Government began to give
closer scrutiny to the activities of tourist bureaus and employment
agencies, traffickers lured victims through print and Internet
advertisements, offering jobs abroad as models and soliciting marriage
partners. More recently traffickers have used informal recruitment
networks and personal approaches to victims through friends and
relatives to make false promises of lucrative financial opportunities
abroad. Traffickers often withheld victims' documents and used physical
and emotional abuse to control them.
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons for sexual or other
kinds of exploitation. A March 2005 Presidential decree led to
amendments in the Criminal Code to allow the Government to confiscate
the property of convicted traffickers and increased their prison
sentences. The penalty for trafficking is a minimum of five to seven
years' imprisonment with property forfeiture, while the punishment for
severe forms of trafficking is a minimum of 12 to 15 years'
imprisonment with property forfeiture.
In the first 10 months of the year, authorities convicted 172
persons for trafficking-related offenses, as compared with 84 persons
for the first six months in 2005, and 67 persons for the first six
months in 2004. On September 18, a Moldovan citizen was sentenced to
three and one-half years under Article 187 of the Criminal Code for
trafficking men to Russia for labor exploitation. Authorities also
cooperated with counterparts in the main EU destination countries,
other member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
Israel, and Turkey to combat trafficking in persons. In March police
helped Israeli authorities break up a sex trade ring that trafficked
Belarusian women to Israel. However, poor implementation of existing
legislation and unwillingness to formally recognize antitrafficking
NGOs as equal partners in the battle against trafficking in persons
continued to inhibit the Government's antitrafficking efforts.
Antitrafficking efforts within the Government were coordinated by
the interior ministry's Department on Combating Trafficking in Human
Beings. Many observers concluded that the Government should clarify the
role and power of the department for it to be effective. There was no
formal mechanism to coordinate the Government's activities with those
of NGOs and international organizations. Antitrafficking NGOs and
international organizations complained of a lack of financial and
operational support from the Government. While the Government allowed
NGOs and international organizations to conduct some antitrafficking
programs, there were many reports of long delays to register or
refusals to register antitrafficking projects, especially if funding
came from outside the country.
Attention to trafficking at the border increased, but segments
remained largely uncontrolled; an open border used to traffic victims
both eastward and westward exists with Russia.
The Ministry of Labor continued to monitor and license activities
of employment agencies offering labor contracts in foreign countries.
In 2005 all agencies that facilitated travel, work, study, and marriage
abroad were required to reregister with the Government and provide full
information to the Government about foreign employment contracts (see
section 2.d.). Out of 716 travel agencies, 198 were not reregistered.
In October authorities suspended the licenses of an additional 36 tour
agencies and warned 67 others for failure to meet licensing
requirements (see section 1.d.). Most agencies dealing with work
abroad, as well as most modeling agencies and marriage brokers, were
not reregistered.
Reports continued that individual corrupt law enforcement and
border officials facilitated trafficking by accepting bribes or by
ignoring trafficking; however, there was no indication that the
Government systematically facilitated or condoned trafficking. The
State Control Committee investigated allegations of official corruption
through the Interagency Commission for Combating Crime, Corruption, and
Drug Trafficking. In March 2005 a court sentenced former culture
ministry official A. Semenov to eight years in prison for using his
position to traffic 20 women to Italy.
Victims seldom reported trafficking crimes to police due to the
social stigma attached to trafficking, aversion to dealing with
authorities, and a shortage of social services and rehabilitation
options. Some victims who were deported back to the country did not
receive special status or assistance as trafficking victims due in part
to recurring problems with victim identification. There were 156
government territorial social centers around the country, but none
specialized in victim assistance. To supplement the Government
shelters, the UN Development Program, the IOM, and the antitrafficking
NGO La Strada opened rehabilitation shelters for victims and their
families. IOM assisted 413 victims as of December 1, compared with 455
in 2005.
Presidential decrees have eliminated criminal responsibility for
illegal acts committed by a person being trafficked; defined the status
of trafficking victims; and mandated measures to provide them with
protection, medical care, and social rehabilitation, but only for
victims who cooperate in an investigation and prosecution. However, the
Government did not allocate funds to pay for rehabilitation services.
Lack of adequate funding for victim protection hampered the
Government's ability to deliver consistent assistance to victims.
Instead, the Government relied on international organizations and NGOs
to provide the mandated rehabilitation assistance to victims of
trafficking. In addition, under the law, traffickers are responsible
for expenses incurred by the Government to help victims, and agencies
that assisted victims may seek reimbursement through the courts. Law
enforcement authorities strongly encouraged victims to assist with
investigations. Any trafficking victim who obstructs either the
investigation or prosecution of a trafficking case is denied the
benefits, including measures of protection, generally made available to
victims.
The Government did not conduct any formal trafficking awareness
programs during the year, and there were no line items in the state
budget for countering trafficking; however, the government-controlled
media increased its reporting on the problem. There were
antitrafficking billboards and television and radio public
announcements during the year. The Government continued to rely
primarily on international organizations to implement antitrafficking
legislation.
Government measures to deter trafficking included a requirement
that all Internet dating services reregister with the Government and
provide information to the interior ministry about citizens leaving the
country to date foreigners and about foreigners arriving in the country
to date citizens. The authorities continued to enforce strong measures
introduced in 2005 to discourage and control study abroad, which they
justified in part as antitrafficking measures. However, some observers
asserted that the authorities were seeking to restrict freedom of
movement and possibilities for education abroad under the pretext of
combating trafficking (see sections 2.a. and 2.d.).
Persons With Disabilities.--The law does not specifically prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and other government services.
According to the Republican Association of Disabled Wheelchair Users
(RADWU), persons with certain diagnosed disabilities were not allowed
to hold most government jobs. On May 5, RADWU organized a demonstration
of approximately 30 wheelchair users in Minsk to demand equal rights
and fair employment opportunities. According to the Internet news
source Belapan, similar demonstrations took place in 11 other cities.
The law mandates that transport, residences, and businesses be
accessible to persons with disabilities; however, facilities, including
public transport and government office buildings, were generally not
accessible to persons with disabilities. According to RADWU, the
Government's five year program launched in 2001 to make public
buildings accessible to persons with disabilities achieved minor
results. While ramps were installed on the exteriors of some buildings,
the interiors remained inaccessible to people in wheelchairs. RADWU
estimated that more than 75 percent of persons with disabilities were
unable to leave their homes without assistance. Many sidewalks and
stores had no ramps, and most buildings had only stairs or small
elevators.
Authorities provided minimal benefits for persons with
disabilities, and most of those benefits were ineffectual. For example,
persons with disabilities were entitled to a 50 percent discount on
rent and utilities, but only if they lived alone. Since few residences
were accessible to persons with disabilities, most had to live with
friends or family and were ineligible for the discount. Public
transportation was free to persons with disabilities but neither the
subway in Minsk nor the bus system was wheelchair accessible. The
Government prohibited employers from requiring persons with
disabilities to work more than seven hours a day; however, this
restriction had the unintentional consequence of discouraging companies
from hiring persons with disabilities. The Government provided support
only to state-operated facilities, although those run by NGOs were
often better equipped and more responsive to persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security is the main government
agency responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There was governmental and
societal discrimination against the ethnic Polish population and Roma.
There were also expressions of societal hostility toward proponents of
Belarusian national culture.
During the year authorities repeatedly questioned the chairman of
the unrecognized UBP, Anzhelika Borys, and her associates regarding
their activities (see section 2.d.). On August 16, police summoned UBP
activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut for questioning, allegedly
about a crime he witnessed. However, all of the questions focused on
the sources of funding for his magazine and a previous fine. In August
Poczobut was sentenced to 10 days in jail after a local television
company complained that he obstructed the work of a cameraman trying to
film a wreath laying. On September 25, police also summoned former UBP
chairman Tadeusz Gavin for questioning.
On February 25, Minsk police detained Andrey Borys and two other
UBP activists for three hours as they tried to attend a concert at the
Sukno Palace of Culture. According to one UBP activist, police grabbed
Borys, punched him in the face, put a pistol to his head, and dragged
him from his vehicle. The police later claimed they had an anonymous
tip that Borys was carrying weapons. No arms were found in the vehicle,
but police confiscated 58 copies of the UBP publication Glos znad
Niomna and charged all three activists with distributing printed
material without required information about its origin.
On December 13, authorities sentenced ``Magazyn Polski'' Polish
magazine layout editor Aleksey Saley to seven days in jail on charges
of petty hooliganism and disobeying police officers after being
arrested. Saley left his office on December 12 when several
plainclothes police officers arrested him and forced him into a
vehicle.
There was significant official and societal discrimination against
the country's approximately 40,000 to 60,000 Roma.
Government media and officials portrayed Roma negatively. On
January 14, the prosecutor rejected complaints by the Romani community
about a documentary film shown on state television in 2005 that
portrayed Roma as criminals who began selling drugs in childhood.
Nikolay Kalinin, the head of the Roma community and a human rights
activist, stated that the program, Gypsies Go to Jail, contained
``exclusively negative information'' that portrayed fellow Roma as
criminals. The prosecutor, however, stated that the documentary did not
contain any discrimination or insults directed at the Romani community.
On April 3, a group of six unidentified men assaulted and beat
Kalinin in downtown Minsk. The assailants told Kalinin the beating was
to defend the honor of a woman whom Kalinin had allegedly insulted.
Kalinin claimed that he had never seen the woman and linked the attack
to his human rights work and involvement in monitoring the March
Presidential election.
There was high unemployment and low levels of education within the
Romani community. In November 2005 authorities estimated the
unemployment rate among Roma at 93 percent. Romani children, who spoke
mainly Roma and Belarusian, struggled in the school system where the
primary language of instruction was Russian. Romani students reported
that teachers and fellow students often considered them lazy or
mentally incompetent due to language-related academic difficulties.
During the year the Romani Lawyers Group continued to petition the
Government to permit establishment of a public school in Minsk for
Roma, arguing that there were schools for Jews, Lithuanians, and Poles.
The Government has yet to respond to the petition, which was first
submitted in September 2004. Roma were often denied access to free,
higher education in state-run universities.
The Russian and Belarusian languages have equal legal status;
however, in practice Russian was the primary language used by the
Government. Few official functions and publications were in Belarusian.
As of September 1, the Ministry of Education ordered all course
instruction in grades 10 and 11 at Russian language schools to be in
Russian. Previously both Russian and Belarusian language schools taught
national history, geography, and Belarusian language and literature in
Belarusian. The Belarusian Language Society protested the decision. The
ministry later agreed to allow individual schools to decide on the
language of instruction. However, both Russian and Belarusian schools
received new textbooks about Belarusian history and geography for 10th
and 11th grade in Russian.
On November 29, Viktoriya Dashkevich, head of a puppet theater in
the northern city of Vitebsk, reported that the neo-Nazi, Russian
National Unity group (RNU) sent her a letter demanding that the theater
stop staging Belarusian-language plays and translate all plays into
Russian because Belarus will soon become a part of Russia. Dashkevich
filed a complaint with law-enforcement agencies over the letter, but
the authorities refused to open a criminal investigation.
Ultranationalist skinhead groups made up of ethnic Russians
harassed and vandalized property belonging to persons promoting
Belarusian national culture. On April 3, unknown persons affixed fliers
and signs with emblems of Russia's ultra-left National Bolshevik Party
at the entrance to the Frantsisk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society
headquarters. In June the leader of the Vitebsk chapter of the UCP
received a threatening letter from the RNU telling her to abandon her
opposition activities or face unspecified retribution from the RNU. On
August 16, opposition BPF members discovered fake explosives planted
near their office that were decorated with the RNU emblem, which
resembles a swastika, and packed with RNU leaflets. The RNU denied
planting the fake explosives. Also in August the independent newspaper
Vitebskiy Kuryer received a letter from RNU leaders with threats to
drive the paper out of business.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuality is not
illegal; however societal discrimination against homosexuals was a
problem. Homophobia was widespread, and instances of harassment
occurred in all spheres of society. According to the local TEMA gay
rights group, government-controlled media tried to decrease
participation in the protests following the March Presidential election
by saying they were part of a ``gay revolution.'' In 2005 state media
attempted to discredit the opposition by associating it with
homosexuality. On July 31, state media BT broadcast on national
television a police expose of a Latvian diplomat assigned to the
country whom authorities accused of distributing pornography (see
section 1.f.). The program targeted the diplomat because of his sexual
orientation and included several minutes of hidden-camera footage of
the diplomat watching pornography and engaging in homosexual
activities. The police dropped the investigation in October.
On November 8, police raided an apartment where TEMA members
gathered to organize an international Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transsexual Conference scheduled for November 10. Police seized
conference materials and detained members for questioning at a police
station. Four TEMA activists were released; three remained in detention
over night. TEMA leaders subsequently canceled the conference.
Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS remained a
problem despite greater awareness of the disease and increasing
tolerance towards people infected with HIV/AIDS. For example, maternity
wards no longer separate HIV/AIDS-infected mothers from those not
infected. However, the UNAIDS office reported that attitudes towards
HIV/AIDS patients remained complicated, and there were still numerous
reports of HIV-infected individuals who faced discrimination or were
afraid to disclose their illness.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--In contrast with 2005, there
were no reports that the Government or government-controlled media
promoted racial or ethnic hatred or incited violence against any race
or ethnic group.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except state
security and military personnel, to form and join independent unions
voluntarily; however, in practice the Government did not respect this
right. During the year the Government continued efforts to suppress
independent unions, stop their activities, and to bring all union
activity under its control. The efforts included frequent refusals to
extend employment contracts for members of independent unions, arrests
of independent union members, confiscation of union materials, and
refusals to register some unions.
The government-controlled Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus
(FTUB) was the largest union in the country with an estimated four
million members; however the number is likely inflated since the
country's total workforce is approximately four million. The Belarusian
Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BCDTU) was the largest independent
union organization, consisting of four constituent unions.
In September 2005 President Lukashenko expressed his intention to
see all workers become FTUB members. The Presidential administration
subsequently enacted several measures to further this goal. Two
Presidential decrees in October 2005 granted the FTUB and its
affiliated unions privileges that were not extended to independent
trade unions. This included free office space in state-owned buildings
and the exclusive right to inspect all business concerns for compliance
with wage regulations, regardless of whether the firm employed FTUB
members.
During the year the Government continued efforts begun in 2005 to
reinvigorate an ``ideology program'' at state enterprises, which was
designed to propagate government policies and monitor workers'
attitudes. New, more highly motivated ``ideology workers'' were named
to replace tenured and relatively independent workers who previously
occupied such positions. One independent union leader claimed that the
ideology director at his factory said his job was to rid the factory of
all nongovernmental unions.
On October 9, President Lukashenko signed a decree to eliminate
registration requirements for trade unions; however, at year's end the
measure had not been implemented, and several independent trade unions
remained unregistered. Trade unions must be registered to conduct union
activities and to negotiate collective bargaining agreements.
Unregistered union members faced administrative and criminal charges
for what authorities could deem as ``illegal'' activity.
During the year city officials in Grodno, Borisov, and Mogilev
continued to deny registration applications from local chapters of the
independent Radio Electronic Workers Union (REP). On October 6, Borisov
city officials for a fourth time denied registration to the REP chapter
at the Borisov Factory of Auto Tractor Electric Equipment. In Grodno
and Mogilev, officials denied REP registration in June and July,
respectively, for a second consecutive year. At year's end the Justice
Ministry had not decided if it would uphold a refusal by the Sovetskiy
District administration to register a REP chapter at the Minsk
Automobile Factory. The chapter first applied for registration three
years ago.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that authorities
tried to implement a 1999 Presidential decree requiring independent
trade unions to reregister to account for membership. Under the decree,
unions had to enroll at least 10 percent of workers in an enterprise to
register a local chapter, and have at least 500 members to form and
register a national union. In November 2005 the Justice Ministry
ordered the independent Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (FTUM) to
reregister as a local chapter after it found that the union had 217
members. The union protested the order, claiming that it had 542
members because the ministry prevented four of the FTUM's nine local
chapters to register. Also in 2005 the ministry found the Democratic
Union of Transport Workers to have too few members and referred the
case to the prosecutor general.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the Government
dissolved unions without judicial process.
The Government used a system of contracts with individual workers
and administrative measures to discourage membership in independent
unions and in regional, national, and international labor
organizations.
Beginning in 2004 authorities required government employees and
employees of state-owned businesses, which make up a majority of the
workforce, to work under short-term contracts. While contracts could be
signed for up to five years, most state employers issued work contracts
for a six month or one year term. In August 2005 President Lukashenko
signed a decree that set the minimum contract length for state
employees at one year to satisfy complaints by critics. Any contract
for less than one year must be agreed to in writing by a worker, and a
worker's contract cannot be terminated without a two week notice.
However, authorities continued to use the contract system to discourage
state employees from participating in independent union and political
party activities, which they deemed to be ``anti-government'' or
``harmful'' to society.
On November 21, the management of the Gomel Motor Park No. 1
refused to extend the work contract of REP chapter leader Andrey
Baranov because his membership in the independent union precluded him
from continuing work as a driver. The action followed a Justice
Ministry decision that drivers at the Gomel Motor Park No. 1 could not
join trade unions. In March police confiscated 70 REP applications from
the motor park drivers and sometimes helped management pressure union
applicants to resign their membership. As a result, 20 drivers signed
requests to leave REP. Of that number, six who were forced to quit the
union claimed that they were threatened with job loss.
The Government continued to reject or ignore efforts by the
international community to encourage trade union independence. On July
26, authorities refused to allow four members of the European Union's
economic and social committee into the country even though they had
entry visas. The EU officials wanted to determine whether the country
was fulfilling International Labor Organization (ILO) recommendations
to stem the erosion of independent trade union activity. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs stated that the delegation's visas were canceled
because the visit was not prepared in close cooperation with the
Government.
During the year government-backed union officials continued to
reject a key ILO recommendation by refusing to give a seat on the
National Council of Labor and Social Issues (NCLSI) to an independent
union. In August, the head of the government- controlled FTUB Leonid
Kozik pledged to the leader of the independent BCDTU, Aleksandr
Yaroshuk, a seat on the national council. However, the council neither
provided written confirmation of the promise, nor voted to give the
BCDTU a seat on the NCLSI. As a result, the BCDTU could only
participate as an observer on the NCLSI.
Authorities and factory managers continued to discourage workers
from maintaining membership in independent unions. For example,
continued threats from managers at the Belshina tire factory in Orsha
not to renew work contracts caused a drop in membership of the
Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU) from 250 in 2005 to
approximately 80 at year's end.
In January Anatoliy Yakobuk, director of the Mogilev Artificial
Fiber Factory, refused to deduct union dues from worker salaries and to
transfer the fund to the national office of the independent REP. On
April 17, management renewed the fund transfers, but REP activists
claimed Yakobuk complicated the process by requiring REP members to
apply for the monthly funds transfer in writing.
On June 1, the chapter of the BITU that represents workers at the
Grodno Azot chemical plant, one of the country's major chemical
manufacturing industries, filed a complaint with the regional
prosecutor's office claiming that Grodno Azot managers were forcing
members to leave the union. According to union leader Sergey
Antusevich, Grodno Azot's new director, Aleksandr Radevich, complained
that he could not run an enterprise with two trade unions. During the
year harassment of workers at the factory resulted in a decline in BITU
membership from 800 to 300.
On June 2, the Belarusian Free Trade Union (BFTU) at the Bobruysk
tractor factory reported that its membership decreased from 500 to 350
as a result of constant pressure from the factory administration.
According to the BFTU, members were given an ultimatum: leave the union
and receive contract extensions and better wages or face unemployment.
The Government also directly targeted union leaders and activists.
On March 18, the country's antiterrorist paramilitary group ALMAZ
unsuccessfully tried to force its way into REP's office under the
pretext of a bomb threat. Grodno REP activist Ivan Roman was later
arrested and detained for allegedly planting bombs. Roman reported that
ALMAZ officers threatened his life. He was charged with using
obscenities and released 36 hours later. In September 2005 a Grodno
court fined Roman $600 (1.3 million rubles) for acting on behalf of an
unregistered organization while distributing union literature. Prior to
his court appearance, unknown persons ransacked the REP's Grodno
office, stealing documents and electronic files. In October 2005 Roman
was detained for distributing an independent newspaper.
On April 26, the administration of the Gomel Motor Park No.1
dismissed employee and REP activist Aleksandr Evseychuk for
absenteeism. According to Evseychuk, he was subpoenaed to appear in
court, but allegedly returned to work too late to leave for a business
trip. According to Evseychuk's lawyer, he was previously fined twice
for his union work.
On May 4, the management of the Minsk Metro declined to renew the
contract of Oleg Shcherbo, a locomotive driver for 23 years and BFTU
member. In 2005 Shcherbo was demoted to a lower paying job as a
mechanic. The BCDTU attributed Shcherbo's dismissal to his testimony
about the Government's mistreatment of independent unions to a 2004 ILO
Commission of Inquiry.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and bargain collectively; however,
government authorities and managers of state-owned enterprises
routinely interfered with union activities and hindered workers'
efforts to bargain collectively, in some instances arbitrarily
suspending collective bargaining agreements.
In September 2005 President Lukashenko called for all employers to
sign collective bargaining agreements with trade union leaders at their
respective companies. However, employers and progovernment trade unions
refused to include many independent trade unions in the negotiations.
Independent union leaders viewed the requirement for collective
bargaining agreements as the beginning of a process that would strip
unions of their negotiating power and independence; however, they also
understood that failure to sign the collective agreements would prevent
workers from receiving social benefits and protection.
During the year the administration at Grodno AZOT excluded the
factory's BFTU from its collective bargaining agreement. As of August
18, the managers at the Belshina tire factory in Bobruysk continued to
deny benefits required by its collective agreement to BITU members,
asserting that the official union, Belkhimprofsoyuz, was against the
move. According to the BCDTU, denying equal benefits to BITU members
violated Article 365 of the Labor Code, which calls for extended
agreements to cover all workers who give their consent. In September
Belshina managers refused to pay BITU members bonuses offered to non-
BITU members. To protest the move and to demand registration of the
local BITU chapter, BITU leader Yelena Zakhozhaya went on a 43-day
hunger strike. In November managers paid the bonuses but did not
approve the chapter's registration.
The law provides for the right to strike; however, tight government
control over public demonstrations made it difficult for unions to
strike or hold public rallies. Management and local authorities also
blocked worker attempts to organize strikes on many occasions by
declaring them illegal.
During the year unions organized small strikes in various regions
of the country. However, these authorized demonstrations were held away
from city centers. On August 9, 70 activists of the Mogilev REP chapter
held a picket on the outskirts of the city to demand that city
authorities register its local chapter. The rally was originally
scheduled for July 25 at the Palace of Culture at the Artificial Fiber
Plant, but city officials denied permission one day earlier after
discovering that REP had failed to pay for ground cleaning services.
The independent union had already paid for police, outpatient clinic,
and local housing maintenance services.
Similar demonstrations were to take place in Grodno and Gomel, but
city officials either did not approve a requested city center location
or delegated the decision to regional officials. On March 2, Polotsk
city officials refused to allow the BFTU to picket near the entrance of
the Polotsk Fiber Glass Company because the site was not intended for
carrying out mass actions.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the six special economic zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, persons
were trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labor (see section
5).
During the year the Government approved several subbotniks, when
workers ``volunteered'' to work on Saturday and donate earnings to
finance government social projects. However, participation in the day-
long labor was, in effect, mandatory. Workers who refused to work were
subjected to fines and intimidation by employers and government
authorities.
Unlike in 2005, there were no reports that authorities ordered
graduating medical students who had paid their own tuition to work for
three years in small towns.
With the concurrence of a doctor, an administrative court may
sentence alcohol and drug abusers to up to two years of labor in
government work treatment centers. Inmates receive minimal pay, almost
all of which is taken to pay for room and board.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including a
prohibition on forced and compulsory labor, and specifies policies for
acceptable working conditions, and in practice the Government generally
implemented these laws.
The minimum age for employment is 16; however, 14-year-olds may
conclude a labor contract with the written consent of one parent or
legal guardian. The prosecutor general's office reportedly enforced the
law effectively. Minors under 18 were allowed to work in nonhazardous
jobs, but were not allowed to work overtime, on weekends, or on
government holidays. Work was not to be harmful to the minor's health
or to hinder their education. With the exception of some trafficked
minors child labor was generally not a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of $70
(150,000 rubles) a month did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family. Officially, average real wages were
approximately $283 (608,450 rubles) a month at year's end, although
many employees received additional wages under the table.
The law establishes a standard work week of 40 hours and provides
for at least one 24-hour rest period per week. Because of the country's
difficult economic situation, many workers worked considerably less
than 40 hours per week, and factories often required workers to take
unpaid furloughs due to raw material or energy shortages or lack of
demand. The law provides for mandatory overtime and holiday pay and
restricts overtime to 4 hours every two days, with a maximum of 120
hours of overtime allowed each year. The Government was believed to
have effectively enforced these standards.
The law establishes minimum conditions for workplace safety and
worker health; however, employers often ignored these standards.
Workers at many heavy machinery plants did not wear even minimal safety
gear. There is a state labor inspectorate, but the agency lacked
authority to enforce employer compliance and often ignored violations.
During the first eight months of the year, 140 fatal accidents in the
work place were reported, a 4.1 percent decrease from the same time in
the previous year. There also were 453 accidents resulting in serious
injury during the same time period, which marked a 7.6 percent
decrease. The labor ministry reported that workplace accidents were
caused by carelessness, poor conditions, malfunctioning equipment, and
poor training and instruction. The law does not provide workers the
right to remove themselves from dangerous and unhealthy work
environments without risking loss of employment.
__________
BELGIUM
The Kingdom of Belgium, with a population of approximately 10.5
million, is a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch who
plays a mainly symbolic role. The country is a federal state with
several levels of government, including national, regional (Flanders,
Wallonia, and Brussels), community (Flemish, Francophone, and German),
provincial, and local. The Council of Ministers (cabinet), led by the
Prime Minister, holds office as long as it retains the confidence of
the lower house (Chamber of Deputies) of the bicameral parliament.
Federal parliamentary elections held in 2003 were free and fair and
resulted in a four-party coalition government. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights
problems were reported: lengthy pretrial detention, violence against
ethnic and religious minorities and against women, racial and ethnic
discrimination in the job market, and trafficking in persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overcrowding remained a
problem in a system where approximately 9,500 inmates filled facilities
with a capacity of 8,311. Almost half of all inmates were foreign
nationals, with the latter also accounting for about half the group in
pretrial detention. The large number of noncitizen inmates prompted the
authorities to acknowledge cultural problems in the prisons.
In April the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) issued a
report on its April 2005 visit to the country. The report expressed
concern about reports of mistreatment in police custody. The CPT
expressed concern about detention conditions at the special center of
the Brussels national airport. This facility holds persons suspected of
seeking to enter the country illegally. The report also noted that,
during a strike by prison wardens, authorities failed to provide a
decent quality of life for inmates. This failure occurred despite
efforts by police, Belgian Red Cross, and civil protection teams to
maintain security, family visits, and access to lawyers. The delegation
also examined the circumstances in which two prisoners died during a
2003 strike at the Andenne prison. Legal proceedings resulted in a
court decision to throw out the case. The report also expressed concern
about conditions at psychiatric wards, where inmates were held in small
cells.
Prisons met most international standards. The Government was
upgrading some older facilities but overcrowding remained a problem as
incarcerations outpaced construction. During the year the country
continued to expand psychiatric prison ward capacity following
criticism of inmate treatment.
Juvenile prisoners were sometimes held with adults. Convicted
criminals and pretrial detainees were held together.
The Government permitted visits by members of parliament and
independent human rights groups, and they visited during the year. In
addition the Government instituted a system in which an independent
control committee exercised oversight of each individual prison. A
nationwide body, the Central Control Council, coordinates and oversees
the prison-based organizations.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The federal police
council, an anticorruption unit, and the federal Interior Ministry
managed the operations of the federal police forces. An independent
oversight committee monitored police activities and compiled an annual
report for parliament. The federal police were responsible for internal
security and nationwide law and order. The local police operated
branches in all 196 police districts responsible for local law
enforcement. There were isolated incidents of corruption in the police
force; during the year the federal Ministry of the Interior issued a
new ethics code aimed at further reducing instances of corruption.
In 2005 the parliamentary oversight committee received 2,221
complaints about police behavior, a 16 percent increase compared to the
previous year. The complaints concerned discriminatory behavior,
racism, failure to intervene, violations of privacy, and arbitrary
detention. The oversight committee found 212 cases of individual
mistakes, and 46 cases concerning organizational defects. In general
one in eight complaints appeared to be justified, according to a
parliamentary body responsible for police oversight.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the constitution, an individual can
only be arrested while committing a crime, or by order of a judge that
must be served within twenty-four hours of the time of arrest. The law
provides a person in detention the right to a prompt judicial
determination of the legality of his detention, and the authorities
generally respected this right in practice. Detainees were promptly
informed of charges against them. There is a functioning bail system,
but during the year there was mounting controversy over the conditional
release system which was viewed as being too lenient. The justice
minister was forced to issue a temporary conditional release stop for
certain categories of hardened criminals.
According to May figures, 37 percent of the prison population
consisted of pretrial detainees. The average length of pretrial
detention was 90 days.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judicial system is composed of civil and criminal courts, which
both refer cases to courts of appeal. The courts of first instance
(district courts) are responsible for civil and commercial litigation
for matters that exceed the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace.
There are five appellate courts and one Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour
de Cassation) overseeing both the civil and criminal courts. The
Supreme Court of Appeal verifies that the law has been correctly
applied and that no procedural errors have been committed. When the
Supreme Court of Appeal overturns a ruling, the case is referred to one
of the appeals courts to reexamine the facts.
The criminal courts consist of the magistrate's court, correctional
courts, and the criminal chambers of the court of appeal. In addition,
each province has a special criminal court, with a public jury to try
murder cases. Each judicial district has a labor court, which deals
with litigation between employers and employees regarding wages,
notice, competition clauses, and social security benefits. There is
also a magistrate in each district to monitor cases involving religious
groups (see section 2.c.).
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. All
defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to be present, to
have counsel (at public expense if needed), to confront witnesses, to
present evidence, and to appeal.
An amendment to the youth protection code adopted in May provided
judges of juvenile courts with a wider range of possibilities for
mediation and sentencing young offenders. Young offenders committing
serious crimes can be tried by a regular court for adults, but with
youth judges present, and these offenders can be incarcerated in
special youth detention centers until the age of 23.
The law authorizes jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against
humanity outside the national territory when the victim or perpetrator
is a citizen of or resides in the country. In April the law was amended
to avoid discrimination against refugees and to guarantee means of
appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Plaintiffs can either
individually or through specialized organizations seek damages for
human rights violations under the prevailing antidiscrimination
legislation. There were no problems enforcing court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
The law prohibits public statements that incite national, racial,
or religious hatred, including denial of the Holocaust. The maximum
sentence for Holocaust denial is one year's imprisonment. In April the
Brussels Chamber of Indictment ruled that Roeland Raes, a former vice
chairman of the Vlaams Belang party and former senator, would have to
stand trial for denying the Holocaust during a television show
broadcast in 2001. The trial had not taken place by year's end.
On June 21, two staff members of the Belgian Islamic Center were
convicted for denial of the Holocaust. They received a 10-month
sentence, which the court reduced by half, and were fined.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly and privately
without reprisal, and the Government made no attempts to impede
criticism.
In 2005 and during the year Parliament enacted legislation to
protect journalistic sources, including protecting them from judicial
investigation, unless such an investigation could prevent the
commission of criminal acts or endanger life.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
Government and service providers were developing programs to warn users
of Web sites containing illegal content, such as child pornography.
Government incentives to expand Internet access increased the total
number of Internet connections to 2.3 million out of a 10.5 million
population.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The law accorded ``recognized'' status to six religions and a
grouping of nonconfessional philosophical or secular organizations,
each of which received benefits from the federal and regional
governments. The lack of recognized status generally did not prevent
nonrecognized religious groups from freely practicing their religions,
and citizens generally practiced their religion without official
harassment or impediment. During the year the Buddhist community
formally applied for recognition as a nonconfessional faith; the Syrian
Orthodox Church sought recognition as a confessional faith.
Since 1999 the Center for Information and Advice on Harmful and
Sectarian Organizations (CIAOSN), a government agency, has conducted
research on 598 organizations, generally at the behest of members of
the public requesting information about particular groups. CIAOSN has
an advisory role and can point out the possible risk, in its view, of
joining a particular group, but cannot prevent people from doing so.
In April the Brussels appellate court ruled that the Francophone
community government must cease circulating a flyer in which
Anthroposophism was labeled as a dangerous sect. The court awarded a
symbolic $1.31 (one euro) in damages to the plaintiffs.
In June the Brussels appellate court in a summary trial ruled that
the CIAOSN was wrong in identifying Sahaya Yoga as a dangerous sect.
The court ordered CIAOSN to make public the ruling and to change its
Web site and annual report accordingly.
School authorities in Brussels terminated the contracts of two
teachers for wearing Muslim headscarves. The two filed an appeal with
the personnel appeals board of the Brussels public schools, but the
latter upheld the decision. In the absence of nationwide guidelines,
individual schools remained free to decide on restrictions regarding
the personal display of religious symbols.
In June a judge of the local police court ruled that the police in
the Flemish town of Maaseik acted lawfully in 2005 when fining a woman
of Moroccan origin for wearing a niqab, (a face veil worn by some
devout Muslim women). The local police had fined the woman under a 1993
ministerial directive that people in the street should be identifiable.
In June three religion teachers in an Antwerp mosque were arrested
for allegedly spanking students in their charge for dressing
immodestly.
There is no provision in immigration law for foreign members of
religious groups to enter the country to conduct religious work or for
them to obtain work permits for that purpose. However, various
religious groups continued to receive visas for members from abroad to
temporarily conduct missionary activities. Foreign-born ministers of
recognized faiths are not required to obtain work permits.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Center for Equal
Opportunity and the Fight Against Racism (CEOOR) counted 56 anti-
Semitic incidents during the year, including three violent incidents.
There were 58 anti-Semitic incidents reported the previous year. Most
incidents occurred in Antwerp, and to a lesser extent in Brussels.
Verbal abuse and the painting of anti-Jewish graffiti were the most
common complaints. As in the past, incidents appear to have been
generated from the Muslim immigrant community. CEOOR also reported an
increase in anti-Semitic incidents due to the July-August conflict
involving Israel and Lebanon. Before the war the organization received
one or two complaints of anti-Semitism per week; after hostilities
commenced they received about one complaint per day. The complaints
generally involved Internet hate messages and anti-Semitic letters and
articles in the press. In addition, anti-Semitic graffiti on Jewish
homes and insults against Jews on the streets were reported. An
official investigation was under way at year's end to determine
responsibility.
On July 5, a young man of North African origin yelled anti-Semitic
insults while passing two Jewish boys who were walking outside the
yeshiva (Talmud school) in Wilrijk (Antwerp). The North African man
returned shortly later with some friends to assault the Jewish boys.
One boy was badly hurt and the other boy escaped. The perpetrators were
not found despite a police investigation.
On the evening of July 24, the National Monument for the Jewish
Martyrs of Anderlecht was vandalized. Documents, windows, and the
memorial's crypt were destroyed. The crypt included an urn containing
ashes from Auschwitz, which was emptied and vandalized. The memorial,
in the Anderlecht quarter of Brussels, had been a target of desecration
before. There were no reported arrests, but the investigation
continued, according to authorities.
On November 30, Turkish youths from the town of Beringen shouted
abuse and threw stones at a group of Jewish boys visiting a coal mine
museum. The perpetrators appeared before a magistrate, who ordered them
to perform community service, to pay damages, and to formally apologize
to the Jewish youths.
The law prohibits public statements that incite national, racial,
or religious hatred, including denial of the Holocaust. The maximum
sentence for Holocaust denial is one year's imprisonment. In April the
Brussels Chamber of Indictment ruled that Roeland Raes, a former vice-
chairman of the Vlaams Belang party and former senator, would have to
stand trial for denying the Holocaust during a television show
broadcast in 2001. The trial had not taken place by year's end.
On June 21, a Brussels court convicted two persons held responsible
for disseminating racial hatred against Jews on the Web site of the
Islamic Center of Belgium. They received a 10 month sentence, which the
court reduced by half, and were fined.
In March a judge of the Brussels district court suspended his
verdict in the case of a man who had painted anti-Jewish graffiti on
the Brussels Airport premises. Because of the isolated nature of the
violations, the judge sentenced the defendant to a five-year probation
period.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 1,000 persons during the
year. This included persons facing an unduly long application period.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
During the initial vetting conducted by the Immigration Office,
applicants for refugee status receive material aid and are assigned to
an open center. During the second phase of in-depth verification by the
Commissariat for Refugees and Stateless Persons, applicants receive
housing from a municipal assistance commission and can establish
residence anywhere in the country. They can be gainfully employed. If
the appeal is rejected, the refugee is still eligible for material aid.
Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are assigned to designated
special centers. Each individual applicant works directly with a
custodian whose task is to assist during the application process.
School-age applicants must attend school.
During the year 11,600 refugees applied for asylum, compared to
16,000 during 2005. Most applicants came from Russia, Congo, Serbia,
and Iraq. In 2005 the authorities rejected 85 percent of the
applications placed under review.
Rejected asylum seekers are informed in writing and in person of
the repatriation scenarios they can choose from. Each year
approximately 30,000 eviction orders are issued, but only 3,000
rejected asylum seekers leave freely. Most rejected asylum seekers
remain unaccounted for after receiving the order to leave the country.
The Government, in partnership with the International Organization
for Migration, provided relocation assistance to unsuccessful asylum
applicants who agreed to repatriate voluntarily to their country of
origin. Unsuccessful applicants who did not leave voluntarily were
subject to forced repatriation.
During the year scores of asylum seekers took refuge in churches
and went on hunger strikes. Most of them had stayed in the country
illegally after their applications had been rejected. By year's end,
the strikes had ended, and the interior minister reiterated his
position that individual asylum seekers could apply to regularize their
status on humanitarian or medical grounds.
In September Parliament enacted amendments to asylum legislation
implementing a European Union directive of 2004 granting subsidiary and
temporary protection status to foreigners who could prove that upon
return to their home countries they would face the death penalty,
torture, or other inhumane treatment. Under the new law the vetting
procedure is shortened, and appeals are no longer handled by the
Council of State, but by a separate body in order to expedite the
growing number of pending cases. Regularization of undocumented aliens
remained under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens aged 18 and older exercised this
right through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage. Voting in all elections is compulsory. Failure to
vote is punishable by a nominal fine.
Elections and Political Participation.--Local elections took place
in October; for these elections the franchise was extended to include
non-European Union foreign nationals. General elections were last held
in 2003. Elections for the regional/community parliaments were held in
2004.
The law requires an equal number of male and female candidates on
party tickets in European, federal, regional, provincial, and local
elections. The constitution and the law require the presence of men and
women in federal, regional, provincial, and local government executive
positions. Failure to implement the law would nullify the elections and
render any government created thereby illegal.
There were 53 women in the 150-seat chamber of representatives and
26 women in the 71-seat senate; five of the 21 federal cabinet
ministers were women, and there were 12 female ministers among 33
regional ministers.
There were four members of minorities in the Chamber of
Representatives and six in the Senate; one of the federal cabinet
ministers was a member of a minority group, and there were two minority
regional ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--In January five Flemish
civil servants and six private contractors were arrested on active and
passive corruption charges in connection with public building
contracts. No formal indictments had been filed by year's end.
In October a number of local officials in the Charleroi and Namur
areas were arrested in connection with a public housing fund scandal
made public the year before by investigative journalists. Other public
utility agencies became implicated in the scandal as investigations
continued.
With some exceptions--e.g., material involving national security--
the Government provided unrestricted access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced these
laws; however, violence against women, trafficking in persons, and
violence against minorities were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse,
remained a problem. Reportedly, one in five women was subject to
domestic violence. In 2005 federal police reported 11,557 cases of
domestic violence, compared to 10,137 the previous year. The law
defines and criminalizes domestic violence and provides for fines and
incarceration. The law allows police to enter a home without the
consent of the head of household when investigating a domestic violence
complaint; however, there were complaints that the police frequently
declined to do this in practice. By year's end the Government had not
fully implemented provisions of the law that required it to establish
and maintain a database of statistics on domestic violence.
In March the justice minister launched an updated version of her
2004-2007 action plan for dealing with domestic violence. The directive
issued by the minister and leading magistrates ordered police forces
and prosecuting magistrates to register all complaints and actions
undertaken dealing with violence against women and spousal abuse. The
minister assigned the task of handling domestic violence cases to one
magistrate within each judicial district of the country.
A number of government-supported shelters and telephone help lines
were available across the country. In addition to providing shelter and
advice, many offered assistance on legal matters, job placement, and
psychological counseling to both partners.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government
prosecuted such cases. In 2005, the most recent year for which
statistics were available, police registered 2,559 rape cases; there
were no figures on the number that went to trial, although in 2003
there were reportedly 497 convictions. A convicted rapist can be
imprisoned for a minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life. The length
of sentence is based on the age of the victim, the age difference
between the offender and the victim, the relationship between the
offender and victim, and the use of violence during the commission of
the crime.
Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits organizing
prostitution or assisting immigration for the purpose of prostitution.
In an attempt to curb prostitution in the city, the Antwerp police
fined men visiting prostitutes.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government generally enforced
the law. A victim of sexual harassment in the workplace can file a
claim with a court of justice and claim damages. While the law provides
victims of sexual harassment the right to sue their harassers and
provides for financial remedies, most cases of sexual harassment were
resolved less formally.
Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The federal
government's Institute for the Equality of Men and Women is authorized
to initiate lawsuits if it finds that equality laws have been violated.
Economic discrimination against women continued. The average annual
salary for women was 85 percent of that for men. Discrimination was
greatest among older workers and in higher wage categories. There was
also discrimination against women in access to leading positions in
both the private and public sector. In 2005, the latest year for which
statistics were available, the Institute for the Equality of Men and
Women received about 100 complaints, 40 percent of which were
employment-related.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Free full-time education is compulsory from ages six to 16;
subsequently education remains compulsory until the age of 18, but
students may continue on a part-time basis. More than 75 percent of
children over 15 finish school with a secondary diploma. Girls and boys
had equal access to education.
The Government funded health care; boys and girls had equal access.
There were reports of child abuse. Through October there were 60
prosecutions for child abuse. As a result of awareness campaigns to
sensitize the general public to the problems of child abuse, the number
of reports of child abuse and neglect increased. The law provides for
the protection of youth against sexual exploitation, abduction, and
trafficking. The law provides for severe penalties for child
pornography and persons possessing pedophilic materials. It permits the
prosecution of residents who commit such crimes abroad and provides
that criminals convicted of the sexual abuse of children cannot be
paroled without first receiving specialized treatment and they must
continue counseling and treatment after their release from prison.
Child Focus, a government-sponsored center for missing and
exploited children, reported that it handled 3,638 cases in 2005. There
were 1,088 cases of runaways (concerning 1,104 individual children),
and 233 cases of runaways who returned home within 48 hours. The center
handled 35 abduction cases.
The authorities started issuing electronic identification cards to
children under age 12. The card has the Child Focus phone number and
allows safe chatting on the Internet.
In May police searched 20 houses in an international police drive
against a child pornography network active in Europe and the United
States. The investigation continued at the end of the year.
Although child prostitution was not widespread, it was a problem.
As a result of the Government's 2004 campaign to prevent child
prostitution, the public appeared more aware of the problem, and
reporting increased. Police registered 1,174 pedophile sexual offenses
on the Internet during 2005, the last year for which figures were
available.
Trafficking in children was a problem.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through,
and from the country. The country was a destination and transit point
for women and children from Central Europe, Asia, and sub-Saharan
Africa, primarily trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Men were trafficked for exploitive labor on construction sites and in
restaurants and sweatshops. Reportedly, trafficking for forced labor
and forced begging increased from past levels. The country ranked
``very high'' as a destination country in the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime's citation index. The Government fully complies with the minimum
standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Since 2005 the law has criminalized recruiting, transporting,
transiting, sheltering, and passing on to others the control over
persons for the purpose of prostitution, child pornography,
exploitation of poverty, economic exploitation, or organ transplant.
The law also makes it illegal to force trafficked persons to commit
crimes. Persons convicted of violating the antitrafficking law are
subject to one to five years imprisonment and are fined between $650
and $65,000 (500 to 50,000 euros). Repeat offenses, offenses of an
organized nature, and those with aggravated circumstances are subject
to higher penalties. If the offender belongs to a criminal organization
or if the trafficking results in manslaughter, the punishment is 15 to
20 years' imprisonment and a fine ranging from $1,300 to $195,000
(1,000 to 150,000 euros).
The authorities continued to investigate and prosecute trafficking
and provided victims with specialized protection and assistance. In
2005 the federal government established a coordination agency composed
of representatives from all concerned ministries. Agencies involved in
combating trafficking are connected to a secure Web site, enabling them
to exchange information and to have access to all relevant information.
The Federal Police identified 144 criminal organizations involved in
trafficking, and the federal police intercepted 27,466 illegal aliens,
including victims of trafficking.
The Government continued to subsidize three specialized trafficking
shelters providing assistance to victims of trafficking, and NGOs
continued to report excellent cooperation and coordination with law
enforcement. The shelters registered 586 victims in 2004 and 600
victims during 2005. The victims were mostly women from Nigeria, China,
Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Russia, and Albania. Eighteen percent were
victims of economic exploitation, 65 percent were victims of sexual
exploitation, and 15 percent were victims of smuggling. The majority of
registered victims opted against help from state-run shelters.
The Government continued to provide victims a 45-day ``reflection''
period during which they could decide whether to assist in the
investigation of their traffickers; subsequent government protection
was linked to a victim's willingness to testify in court. In practice
the Government granted permanent residency to many who assisted in
prosecutions. Over a third of current shelter residents had been
granted indefinite residence status and thus qualified for the full
range of social benefits available to citizens, including access to job
training, rehabilitation, and medical treatment.
In April a court in Bruges convicted a person under the
antitrafficking law who had his boat refurbished by Lithuanian workers
smuggled into the country. The judge ruled that the workers were
underpaid and that they were housed in unacceptable conditions. In
October a judge in Dendermonde handed down sentences ranging from 18
months' to 10 years' imprisonment to 25 Indian and Pakistani human
traffickers who had smuggled asylum seekers to the United Kingdom. The
judge also ordered fines up to $65,000 (50,000 euros) and the
confiscation of goods worth almost $1 million (770,000 euros).
During the year Parliament enacted legislation imposing stiffer
penalties on persons contracting fake or forced marriages in order to
obtain residence permits.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law provides for the protection of
persons with disabilities from discrimination in employment, education,
access to health care, and the provision of other state services. The
CEOOR reported that it received 30 percent more complaints of
discrimination against disabled persons in 2005 than in 2004. Most of
the complaints concerned housing, public transport, public utilities,
and access to banks, bars, and restaurants. While the Government
mandated that public buildings erected after 1970 be accessible to such
persons, many older buildings were still inaccessible.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Immigrant communities
complained of discrimination. Members of the Muslim community,
estimated at 450,000, and principally of Moroccan and Turkish origin,
claimed that discrimination against their community, notably in
education and employment and particularly against young men, was
greater than that experienced by other immigrant communities. In 2005
the CEOOR, which investigates complaints of discrimination, handled
1,022 complaints. The CEOOR noted a trend of increased discrimination
regarding employment, housing, and restaurant access. It also pointed
at an increase in ethnic conflicts among neighbors.
Two percent of the complaints of ethnic discrimination resulted in
litigation initiated by the CEOOR. The courts ruled in several landmark
ethnic discrimination cases. Not only were Holocaust deniers convicted,
but also landlords discriminating against foreigners. An Antwerp court
convicted three persons for disseminating a racist version of a popular
song through the Internet.
In March the College of Prosecutors General, the body of leading
magistrates, issued a directive to all judicial districts ordering
magistrates to separately identify all racially-motivated cases.
The CEOOR lost a case in court against an employer who had decided
not to hire a Moroccan job seeker upon request from his clients.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In its annual report for
2005, the CEOOR noted an increase in nonracial complaints. These cases
concerned discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, health
condition, and age. Courts have occasionally convicted landlords
refusing to lease to same-sex couples, and a judge in Brussels
convicted one youth for savagely beating a gay couple. The CEOOR also
handled numerous complaints regarding insurance companies
discriminating on age, health, and disability grounds.
The country permits homosexual marriages, and same-sex couples can
adopt children.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
associate freely, including the freedom to organize and to join unions
of their choice, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 63 percent of employed and unemployed workers were
members of labor unions. During the year trade unions complained about
legal and practical difficulties they encountered when seeking to
organize workers in small businesses and retail groups. According to
the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), employers prefer to
pay fines rather than reinstate workers dismissed for union activities.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protects this right in practice. The right to bargain
collectively is recognized, and the Government protected this right in
practice. The law provides for the right to strike, and workers
exercised this right. However, the ITUC reported that, in spite of a
European Union directive, workers in small companies are generally
denied the right to collective representation. It also stated that the
scope of the right to strike is poorly defined, and that employers
prefer to pay out legal entitlements rather than reinstate workers
terminated as a result of union activities.
In October 2005, during nationwide strikes against the Government's
pension plans, 75 enterprises sought court intervention against strike
actions. These were mostly preventive initiatives to avoid blockades of
entire industrial zones. In 34 of these cases, judges imposed penalties
as a preventive measure.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law and policies generally protect children from exploitation in the
workplace. The minimum age of employment is 15. Youths between the ages
of 15 and 18 could participate in part-time work and study programs and
work full-time during school vacations. Trafficking of children
occurred (see section 5). The labor courts effectively monitored
compliance with national laws and standards; no violations were
reported enduring the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly national minimum
wage for workers over 21 years of age was approximately $1,636 (1,259
euros), coupled with extensive social benefits, which provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family.
The standard workday is eight hours and the standard workweek is 38
hours. Departure from these norms can occur under the terms of a
collective bargaining agreement, but daily work time cannot exceed 11
hours and 50 hours of work per week. An 11 hour rest period is required
between two work periods and overtime is paid at a time-and-a-half
premium Monday through Saturday and at double time on Sundays. The
Ministry of Labor and the labor courts effectively enforced these laws
and regulations.
There are comprehensive provisions in the law for worker safety.
Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that
endanger their safety or health without jeopardy to their continued
employment, and workers exercised this right in practice. In general
regulations were enforced effectively.
__________
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The independent state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) consists of
two multiethnic constituent entities within the state, the Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Federation) and the Republika Srpska
(RS), along with the Brcko District. The country has a population of
approximately 4.5 million; the Federation has a Bosniak (Bosnian
Muslim) and Croat majority, while the RS has a Bosnian Serb majority.
As stipulated in the 1995 peace agreement (the Dayton Accords), a
state-level constitution provides for a federal democratic republic
with a bicameral parliamentary assembly but assigns many governmental
functions to the two entities, which have their own governments. The
Dayton Accords also provide for an Office of the High Representative
(OHR) with authority to impose legislation and remove officials. The
Government is headed by a tripartite presidency that for most of the
year consisted of Bosnian Croat Ivo Miro Jovic, Bosnian Serb Borislav
Paravac, and Bosniak Sulejman Tihic. On October 1, BiH held general
elections that were generally free and fair. On November 6, Presidents-
elect Bosnian Croat Zeljko Komsic, Bosnian Serb Nebojsa Radmanovic, and
Bosniak Haris Silajdzic took office. In the Federation, an indirectly-
elected President nominates and the House of Representatives approves
the Federation prime minister. In the RS, a directly-elected President
nominates and the RS National Assembly confirms the RS prime minister.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government's human rights record remained poor, although there
were improvements in some areas. Serious problems that remained
included: death from landmines; physical abuse by police; overcrowding
and poor prison conditions; improper influence on the judiciary;
harassment and intimidation of journalists; restrictions on religious
minorities and attacks on religious structures; obstructionism toward
minority returnees; government corruption; societal discrimination
against women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and persons with
disabilities; ethnically-motivated violence; trafficking in persons;
and limits on employment rights. Two of the war crimes suspects most
wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia's (ICTY), Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, also remained
at large.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
There were no developments during the year in the 2004 killing by
unknown persons of Hrustan Suljic, President of the local Bosniak
returnee community near the town of Teslic. Although local police
highlighted the case on the television show Unsolved Cases on December
28, 2005, the investigation produced no new results.
Domestic courts and the ICTY continued to adjudicate cases arising
from crimes committed during the 1991-95 conflicts (see sections 1.e.
and 4).
During the year there were 34 landmine accidents that killed 17
persons and injured 17.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
An estimated 13,000 persons remained missing from the wars in 1991-
95. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported that,
since 1995, it had received 22,326 requests from family members to
trace relatives still missing from the war. By year's end, a total of
7,972 persons had been accounted for, including 448 located alive.
The missing persons case of Colonel Avdo Palic, commander of
Bosnian government forces defending the UN-protected enclave of Zepa,
received a great deal of publicity during the year. Mr. Palic went
missing in 1995 from the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) compound in
Zepa. The BiH Human Rights Commission issued a final ruling on January
16, which stated that RS authorities failed to provide adequate details
regarding Palic's disappearance. OHR then ordered the RS to form a
commission to investigate the Palic case. Although the commission
issued a report in April, OHR banned publication of the report due to
the pending criminal investigation by the BiH prosecutor's office. At
year's end there were no updates on Palic's whereabouts.
The national Missing Persons Institute, a state-level authority
established in 2004, was responsible for absorbing the entity-level
missing persons commissions and continuing the search for missing
persons in partnership with the International Commission on Missing
Persons (ICMP). The institute's goal was to establish a single, central
list of all those who went missing during the war. The institute, which
was supposed to take over competencies from the entities during the
year, was not fully operational at year's end. In March the institute
appointed a board of directors composed of one Bosniak, one Croat, and
one Serb.
During the year entity-level commissions carried out 435
exhumations of mass or illicit gravesites in 205 locations with the
forensic support of the ICMP. These efforts recovered 801 complete and
1,397 incomplete sets of human remains. The majority of these came from
five mass graves found during the year in Kamenica near Zvornik, which
contained the remains of more than 1,000 victims of the Srebrenica
massacre.
To date the ICMP has generated 13,495 DNA matches relevant to 8,928
missing individuals and has collected more than 65,472 blood samples
representing 22,482 missing individuals.
During the year the BiH prosecutor's office and its War Crimes
Department conducted an ongoing investigation based on statements from
the RS Srebrenica Commission, a body active from 2003-05 that
investigated the events surrounding the Srebrenica massacre and the
fate of missing individuals from those events. The investigation
followed up on information provided in the commission's final report of
October 2005.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice; however, physical
mistreatment of individuals by police occurred.
The Office of the Ombudsman and the RS and Federation police did
not provide information on the number of complaints against police
officers received or investigated during the year. In September one man
was beaten by police in front of television cameras, after he and four
others threw paint at the BiH Presidency building and injured two
guards. The nongovernmental organization Dosta! (Enough!) issued a
press release protesting the excessive use of force.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Overcrowding, inadequate
nutrition, and poor hygiene were chronic problems in police detention
facilities. Prison standards for hygiene and access to medical care met
prisoners' basic needs, but overcrowding and antiquated facilities
remained serious problems. There were no proper facilities for treating
mentally ill or special needs prisoners. There were some reports of
allegedly ethnically-motivated violence among inmates. In June four
Bosnian Serbs convicted of war crimes claimed they were attacked by
Bosniak inmates in Zenica prison after photos from the Srebrenica
massacre were broadcast on television. The Federation justice minister
denied their request to be transferred to Kula prison in the RS. There
were no reports of specific incidents of corruption among prison
officials, but such activities were considered to occur in some
instances.
Adult and juvenile female inmates were held together in separate
wings of facilities for adult males. Male inmates aged 16 to 18 were
held with adult male inmates, while male inmates under the age of 16
were held separately. In October the first correction facility for
juveniles aged 16 to 18 opened in the Banja Luka prison, with a 35-bed
capacity. Pending agreement with the Federation Ministry of Justice,
the facility will accommodate juveniles from both entities.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. International community representatives were given
widespread and unhindered access to detention facilities and prisoners.
The ICRC continued to have access to detention facilities under the
jurisdiction of the ministries of justice at both the state and entity
levels and mainly visited persons under investigation or sentenced for
war crime offenses.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The law gives the
state-level government primary responsibility for law enforcement, but
extends significant overlapping competencies to each entity and to the
Brcko District, each of which has its own police force. The European
Union Force (EUFOR) continued to implement the military aspects of the
Dayton Accords and provide a secure environment for implementation of
the nonmilitary aspects of the settlement. The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization headquarters in Sarajevo is responsible for overseeing
defense reform, counterterrorism efforts, and cooperation with the
ICTY. A European Union (EU) police mission monitored, mentored,
inspected, and worked to raise professional standards of the local
police.
There are three primary levels of law enforcement in the country:
the state-level Ministry of Security, which does not have a police
force but is supported by the State Investigation and Protection Agency
(SIPA), the State Border Service (SBS), and the Foreigners Affairs
Service; the Federation Ministry of Interior; and the RS Ministry of
Interior. The RS interior ministry is centralized with five public
safety centers. The Federation interior ministry is decentralized; each
of the 10 cantons has its own cantonal interior ministry that functions
autonomously. While neither the Federation nor the RS interior
ministries reports to the Ministry of Security, they must work in
tandem with SIPA on cases involving specific offenses, such as
terrorism, organized crime, and trafficking. Although they shared
information, these structures for the most part functioned
independently. During the year a technical expert group finalized a
police reform plan. At year's end, it was unclear when the plan would
be sent to the entity national parliaments for review.
Police in the RS generally did not meet target standards of ethnic
representation, as mandated by various agreements.
The EU police mission acted in an advisory capacity to entity
police forces, with a limited mandate. Police Standards Units (PSUs)
functioned as internal affairs investigative units in each entity's
interior ministry and in the Brcko District. The presence of these
units led to the creation of standardized procedures for processing
complaints of police misconduct and for disciplining police in
accordance with standard procedures.
As of October the RS PSUs investigated 780 conduct-related
complaints and determined that 37 citizen complaints and 89 internal
complaints were well founded. The unit forwarded recommendations for
disciplinary action to prosecutors in 113 cases considered to be major
violations. During the year 19 felony reports and 25 misdemeanor
reports were filed against 44 interior ministry employees for offenses
including narcotics trafficking, forgery, theft, domestic violence,
assault, extortion, and traffic violations.
By October the Federation PSUs investigated 54 cases and concluded
that 18 complaints were well-founded. The 18 cases deemed to be major
violations of duty were forwarded to prosecutors for disciplinary
action.
There were continued reports of corruption within the entity and
national security services.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires persons suspected of
committing a crime to be brought before a prosecutor within 24 hours of
detention. Police are also authorized to detain individuals for up to
six hours at the scene of a crime for investigative purposes; this
period is included in the 24-hour detention period allowed prior to
being charged. The prosecutor has an additional 24 hours either to
determine whether the person should be released or brought before a
judge to decide whether they should remain in pretrial custody.
Detainees are allowed to request a lawyer of their own choosing and to
inform family members of their detention.
In practice, these requirements were generally observed. Persons
were generally arrested openly with warrants based on sufficient
evidence and issued by a judge. Detainees were promptly informed of the
charges against them and there was a functioning bail system. There
were no reported cases of arbitrary arrest or detention during the
year.
The law generally limits pretrial detention to one year; however,
in cases involving war crimes, organized crime, economic crime, and
corruption, detention can be extended for an additional year. Persons
in pretrial detention have the right to be informed of all charges
against them once an indictment has been handed down. Under the law, a
trial must be undertaken in a speedy manner. In practice detainees were
usually not held in pretrial detention for more than six months except
in cases involving war crimes.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The state constitution does not
explicitly provide for an independent judiciary, but the laws of both
entities do. There were indications, however, that political parties
influenced the judiciary in certain politically sensitive cases.
Judicial reforms have reduced the level of intimidation by organized
crime figures and political leaders, although such interference
continued to occur.
The State Court is the highest court in the country for certain
criminal cases, including war crimes, organized crime, terrorism,
economic crime, and corruption. The country also has a State
Constitutional Court, whose judges are selected by the Federation's
House of Representatives, the RS National Assembly, and the President
of the European Court of Human Rights in consultation with the
presidency. Each entity has its own supreme court and chief
prosecutors' offices. There are cantonal courts in the Federation,
district courts in the RS, and municipal courts in both entities and
the Brcko District.
Local officials and police generally cooperated in enforcing court
decisions, but problems persisted as a result of organizational
inefficiency. Despite efforts to streamline court procedures, large
backlogs of unresolved cases, mostly in noncriminal matters, remained a
problem in many jurisdictions. Authorities generally respected and
implemented constitutional court decisions.
Trial Procedures.--Under Federation and RS laws, trials are public
and the defendant has the right to counsel, at public expense, if
charged with a crime that is punishable by long-term imprisonment.
However, courts did not always appoint defense attorneys for indigent
defendants in cases where the maximum prison sentence was less than
five years. The law provides that defendants have the right to confront
or question witnesses, to present witnesses and evidence on their own
behalf, and to appeal. The Government observed these rights in
practice.
The BiH State Court made significant progress on adjudicating
organized crime and war crimes cases and expanded the witness
protection program. In the first eight months of the year there were 13
final verdicts, up from four for 2005. From January to September, the
Witness Protection Department provided assistance to 68 individuals, as
compared with 32 the previous year.
The State Court War Crimes Chamber and entity courts continued
conducting war crimes trials during the year. The ICTY transferred five
new cases involving nine defendants to the State Court. Ten trials were
underway based on BiH indictments reviewed by the ICTY at year's end.
Two additional trials began at the State Court based on local
indictments not reviewed by the ICTY, involving 12 defendants. The BiH
State Prosecutor's office opened 126 new war crimes investigations,
involving 334 suspects, and confirmed 18 new indictments, involving 32
accused. The BiH State Prosecutor referred more than 90 ICTY-reviewed
indictments to lower courts, involving more than 250 individuals. There
was some contention between victims and the BiH State Prosecutor's
office concerning case referrals because of the disparity between
maximum sentences for war crimes at the state level (45 years) and the
entity level (20 years).
In April the State Court appellate panel confirmed a five-year
sentence for Abdulahim Maktouf, an Iraqi national residing in the
country, for participating in the kidnapping of three Croat civilians,
one of whom was beheaded. Also in April, the court sentenced Nedo
Samardzic to 13 years' imprisonment for multiple acts of enslavement,
rape, torture, and killing of non-Serb civilians in the Foca region in
1992-93.
In July the War Crimes Chamber sentenced Boban Simsic to five years
in prison for war crimes against Bosniak civilians in Visegrad in 1992.
The case was on appeal at year's end. In October the State Court
appellate panel upheld the guilty verdict for Dragoje Paunovic, who was
sentenced to 20 years for crimes against humanity in connection with
the forced deportation of Muslim civilians from the eastern RS in 1992.
Three war crimes trials concluded in November. Radovan Stankovic,
the first person indicted for war crimes to be transferred from the
ICTY, was sentenced to 16 years in jail for committing multiple acts of
enslavement, rape, torture, and murder against the non-Serb population
in the Foca region. The court sentenced Marko Samardzija to 26 years'
imprisonment for murdering over 144 Bosniak men and boys from the
villages of Brkic and Balagic Brdo in 1992. The Court also sentenced
Nikola Kovacovic to 12 years in prison for committing atrocities
against the Croat and Bosniak populations in the Greater Bosanska
Karjina area in 1992. The three cases were on appeal at year's end.
In June the BiH State Prosecutor came under public criticism for
refusing to release the names of 892 persons the Srebrenica Commission
suspected might be connected to the mass killings, but who were still
employed in municipal, entity, and state institutions. Many of these
names were later leaked to the media in the weeks prior to the October
national elections.
On the entity level, the Federation prosecutor initiated 44 new war
crimes cases, involving 443 accused during the year. During the year
the RS prosecutor initiated 10 cases involving 13 individuals accused
of war crimes.
The first war crimes trial in the RS concluded early in the year
when the RS Supreme Court confirmed the 2005 Banja Luka district court
acquittal of 11 former Prijedor police officers accused of murdering
Catholic priest Tomislav Matanovic and his parents, who disappeared
from Prijedor in 1995.
The justice process regarding the eight Bosnian Serbs arrested by
the RS in 2004 for war crimes against Muslims and transferred that year
to the Sarajevo cantonal court was still underway. In 2005 four cases
were returned to the RS prosecutor's office, and four remained in
Sarajevo cantonal court. The cases of defendants Svetko Novakovic,
Jovan Skobo, Zeljko Mitrovic, Momir Skakavac, and Dragoje Radanovic
remained ongoing for the second consecutive year.
In September 2005 the Sarajevo cantonal court acquitted Momir
Glisic of committing war crimes against civilians in the Grbavica
settlement near Sarajevo. The Federation prosecutor appealed the
decision to the Federation Supreme Court and on September 18, the
Federation Supreme Court sentenced Glisic to two years and six months
in prison.
During the year, the BiH State Prosecutor's office initiated an
investigation into the activities of ex-commander of the Fifth Corps of
the BiH army, General Atif Dudakovic, and other unknown persons
portrayed on a recently-released video killing an unknown number of
individuals from the Bosnian Serb Army during the war. The video, which
shows events occurring during ``Operation Storm'' received a wide
distribution on Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian media outlets. The
investigation was ongoing at the end of the year.
At the international level, the ICTY continued to prosecute war
crimes cases during the year. In June the ICTY sentenced Naser Oric,
commander of the Bosnian army in the Srebrenica area, to two years'
imprisonment. He was then released for time served. In September the
tribunal sentenced Momcilo Krajisnik, wartime President of the RS
Assembly, to 27 years in prison. By the end of the year, the ICTY
concluded proceedings against 100 of the 161 persons who have been
charged by the tribunal. Six ICTY indictees remained at-large,
including Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Stojan Zupljanin.
Despite local and international level efforts to prosecute war
crimes, many of the lower-level perpetrators of killings and other
abuses committed in previous years remained unpunished, including those
responsible for the approximately 8,000 persons killed after the fall
of Srebrenica, and those responsible for approximately 15,000 to 20,000
other persons who were missing and presumed killed as a result of
``ethnic cleansing.''
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, and citizens
could file civil suits seeking remedies for human rights violations.
Individuals could also seek assistance from an ombudsman institution to
hear and provide recommendations on cases of human rights violations,
though these recommendations were not binding (see section 4).
Property Restitution.--The Domestic Commission on Real Property
Claims (DCRPC) processed claims for property wrongfully taken during
the 1992-95 war that were not adjudicated by the former Commission for
Real Property Claims (CRPC) or by municipal housing authorities. During
the year the DCRPC resolved 344 cases. Due to funding limitations and
other bureaucratic obstacles during the year, the DCRPC received an
extension of its mandate until 2007 to resolve the remaining 24 backlog
cases and 100 appeals. By year's end, all municipalities had
implemented already adjudicated CRPC and DCRPC property claims relating
to socially owned apartments that had been illegally occupied during
the 1992-95 war.
In 2004 the Constitutional Court upheld a Federation law
prohibiting ownership of property in the Federation by anyone who
served in the Yugoslav military after May 1992. The ruling affected
former Yugoslav officers, mostly Serbs, who claimed 4,000 apartments
they had abandoned during the war. The court also ruled that the
Federation could apply a Yugoslav legal principle that prevents a
citizen from claiming tenancy rights to more than one apartment at a
time; this adversely affected the officers' claims, since most had
apartments elsewhere, primarily in Serbia. Even with the court ruling,
the DCRPC must still render official legal decisions in all these
cases.
During the year the Constitutional Court received 2,757 cases
related to property restitution, war damage, old currency savings, and
missing persons, and it resolved 1,997 of them. During the year the
court also resolved a backlog of cases from 2004. The court found
constitutional violations in 52 cases and, by September 1, authorities
had implemented 14 decisions; one was not implemented. In five cases,
authorities concluded that there was a constitutional violation, but no
deadline was given for implementation. Overall implementation rates
were 28 percent. During the year the court concentrated on resolving
issues related to systematic failures at the state and entity levels to
resolve holdover issues, including old currency savings, issues of
public debt, war damages, and missing persons.
Roma displaced during the war had difficulty repossessing their
property as a result of discrimination and because they lacked
information on procedures (see section 5). In many cases, Romani
families lacked documents proving ownership or had never registered
their property with local authorities. The lack of documentation also
prevented them from applying for reconstruction assistance.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the Government did not always respect
press freedom in practice. Laws safeguarding freedom of the press were
delegated to the cantons in the Federation and to the central
authorities in the RS. There are provisions against hate speech in the
Federation Criminal Code, but not in the RS Criminal Code. The
Broadcasting Code of Practice also regulates hate speech by
broadcasters. The Communications Regulatory Agency, charged with
implementing the code, did not register any cases of hate speech during
the year. The print media is self-regulated and governed by the Press
Code which also regulates hate speech, among other issues. During the
year, the Press Council of BiH did not receive any complaints about
hate speech, and monitoring reports conducted during the year indicated
that the level of hate speech decreased. There were, however, a number
of cases of gender discrimination noted in the media, as well as cases
of discrimination based on sexual orientation. An increased number of
cases of violation of rights of minors were noted in the media.
The Government generally respected freedom of speech in practice;
individuals could criticize the Government without fear of reprisal and
frequently did so.
Many independent, privately owned newspapers were available and
expressed a wide variety of views. Several printing houses operated in
the country. Dnevni Avaz, whose editorial policy strongly reflects
Bosniak interests, remained the largest circulation daily, followed by
Banja Luka-based daily Nezavisne Novine. A number of independent print
media outlets encountered financial problems that endangered their
continued operation.
Two public broadcasters, Federation Television (FTV) in the
Federation and Radio Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS) in the RS,
remained the largest television broadcasters in the country. BHT 1, a
nationwide public broadcaster, gradually increased its audience and
outreach. While these broadcasters provided relatively balanced
coverage, remaining public broadcasters in cantons and municipalities
in the Federation and RS remained vulnerable to political influence. A
local commercial network of five stations operated in both entities
(Mreza Plus), as did the private television networks OBN and PinkBH.
Dozens of small independent television stations broadcast throughout
the country. Radio continued to provide a forum for diverse points of
view. In many cases, news programs of independent broadcasters
reflected opposition perspectives.
A number of RS media outlets showed a distinct pro-RS government
bias. Federation media outlets also exhibited political bias, although
not in support of any one political party.
Journalists continued to face threats in the course of their
professional work. In the first six months of the year, the Free Media
Help Line (a part of the Bosnian Journalists Association) registered 41
cases involving violations of journalist rights and freedoms and
pressure from government and law enforcement officials. There were 13
cases of pressure on journalists, twelve threats, seven labor disputes,
three cases of harassment, one physical attack, and one violation of
the Press Code.
Violations of the employment rights of journalists continued during
the year. Private media owners and management were the most frequent
perpetrators of violations of employee rights. In a number of cases,
journalists worked without an employment agreement or social and health
benefits, items mandated by law.
In some instances, officials subjected media outlets to overt
pressure, such as threatening them with loss of advertising or placing
limits on their access to official information. Politicians and
government officials also pressured the media by accusing them of
opposing the interests of a given ethnic group or betraying the
interests of their ethnic group.
In February several journalists from different media outlets
received a threatening note from an unknown organization named
Sandzacka Ruka Pravde (Sandzak's Arm of Justice). The note was directly
addressed to Zvonko Maric, a journalist with Federation Television, but
mentioned several other media outlets. The note threatened that Maric
and his family would be executed because of his alleged anti-Bosniak
views. The state-level association of journalists, BH Novinari, the BiH
Press Council, and the BiH Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
criticized the threats and called on law enforcement to investigate
them. There was no information available to the public on whether an
investigation had been initiated.
In March a military colonel, Veljko Brojic, physically attacked a
journalist from the print daily Fokus, Cvjetko Udovicic, in the
newspaper's Doboj office. The attack was allegedly in response to
Udovicic's story about possible irregularities in the decision of
Doboj's authorities to give the colonel an apartment. Doboj's police
filed a criminal compliant against the colonel because of his violent
behavior. By year's end Udovicic decided of his own volition and
without explanation to drop the charges.
In March privately-owned Nezavisne Novine reported that certain
individuals from the RS Police and SDS were under investigation by the
Prosecutor's Office for possible involvement in organized crime and
support of persons indicted by the Hague Tribunal. The reports provoked
reactions from the RS and from then SDS President, Dragan Cavic, who
publicly accused Nezavisne Novine of being an instrument of the newly-
appointed RS Minister of Interior who, according to Cavic, wanted to
remove political opponents from the police. Cavic also criticized RS
Radio and Television, asserting that it took sides in the issue by
carrying unconfirmed information and fabrications previously published
in Nezavisne Novine. Although Nezavisne Novine carried reactions of the
police officers whose names were mentioned as well as that of President
Cavic, Cavic sued Nezavisne Novine for defamation. The court case had
not yet opened by year's end.
In May during a Radio Zos report from Doboj Istok on the
investigation of a pedophile case in the city of Tesanj, two police
officers from the Tesanj police station entered the station and
attempted to terminate the broadcast. The police explained that they
were trying to protect the identity of minor children. Radio Zos
continued its broadcast. BH Novinari, Free Media Help Line, and the
state-level Regulatory Communications Agency criticized Tesanj police
for their interference.
In June, while addressing graduates of the Islamic Pedagogical
Faculty in Zenica, the head of the Islamic Community in BiH, Reis
Mustafa effendi Ceric, accused Federation Television, and in particular
the editor of FTV's 60 Minutes political magazine, Bakir Hadziomerovic,
of attacking Islam and Muslims.
In July a previously unknown group named Kaznena Ekspedicija
(Retribution Expedition) faxed a letter to Sarajevo's weekly Slobodna
Bosna with the names of 20 politicians and journalists who, according
to the group, should be killed by November 1. The letter was written on
the memorandum of the Prst newspaper, a tabloid financed by a Bosnian
Serb extremist nationalist party. The RS police investigated the case
but had not released the results by year's end.
In November the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization
reported and expressed concern over death threats and intimidating
phone calls made to Mubarek Asani, a journalist for BHT 1 television
station. The threats appeared in response to Asani's report in early
November on the Javna Tajna show, which discussed details of an illegal
prostitution ring involving unnamed politicians and other public
figures. As a consequence, the Sarajevo Prosecutor's Office opened an
investigation of the allegations.
The law prohibits criminal cases against journalists for
defamation, although they may be sued in civil court. Courts, however,
did not always have sufficient experience and training to accurately
interpret this area of law. The print media engaged in self-regulation,
although this did not eliminate the possibility of reprisals or charges
being brought against journalists for the content of their reports.
From the adoption in 2001 of the Law on Defamation 'until the end
of the year, approximately 400 defamation cases have been tried in
cantonal and district courts in the Federation and RS; approximately
350 charges were brought in Federation courts. Public figures,
particularly politicians, tended to initiate defamation cases, although
journalists frequently brought charges against colleagues. Jurisdiction
for defamation cases has been in the municipal courts since September
2005. While country-wide data was not available by year's end, the 172
defamation cases filed in the Sarajevo municipal court from September
2005 to date indicated a significant increase.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. Rates of Internet usage by the Bosnian population remained very
low, with estimates below 20 percent.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events; however, ethnic
favoritism and politicization of faculty appointments constrained
academic freedom. In Sarajevo, Serbs and Croats complained that members
of the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and Bosniaks in general
received preferential treatment in appointments and promotions at the
University of Sarajevo. The University of Banja Luka continued to limit
faculty appointments almost exclusively to Serbs. The University of
Mostar remained divided into two separate universities, reflecting the
continued ethnic divide in the city.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. A wide range of social, cultural, and political organizations
functioned without interference.
The law allows NGOs to register freely at the Ministry of Civil
Affairs and Communications and therefore to operate anywhere in the
country; however, some NGOs and NGO associations experienced
difficulties registering, including long delays and inconsistent
application of the law. Some NGOs, frustrated by bureaucratic delays at
the state level, chose instead to register their organizations at the
entity level in one or both entities.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, societal violence and the threat of violence restricted the
ability of adherents of minority religions in heterogeneous areas to
worship as they pleased. On October 16, the Ministry of Human Rights
and Refugees issued instructions for implementation of the Law on
Religious Freedom, which provides for freedom of religion, ensures
legal positions of churches and religious communities, and prohibits
any form of discrimination against any religious community. The law
also provides the basis for the establishment of relations between the
state and religious communities. In practice, respect for religious
freedom declined during the year.
Entity and local governments and police forces frequently allowed
or encouraged an atmosphere in which abuses of religious freedom could
take place. Compared to 2005 attacks on religious objects and religious
officials increased significantly during the year, particularly in the
campaign months before the national elections, during which nationalist
rhetoric employed by certain political parties heightened religious and
ethnic tensions in the country. In some cases, however, police and
local government officials acted to protect religious freedom by
providing security for major religious events and for religious
buildings. The reluctance of police and prosecutors to aggressively
investigate and prosecute crimes against religious minorities remained
a major obstacle to safeguarding the rights of religious minorities.
In the RS, administrative and financial obstacles impeded the
rebuilding of religious structures damaged in the 1992-95 war, limiting
the ability of minorities to worship and interfering with their return
in many areas.
The law requires religious communities to register with the
Ministry of Justice; any religious group can register if it has at
least 300 adult members who are citizens. Local congregations of the
four major religious communities (Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, Jewish, and
Catholic) were registered, as were congregations of several smaller
Christian denominations, including Baptist, evangelical Christian, and
Jehovah's Witnesses.
Religious education is mandatory for Serb children in RS public
schools and optional for children in other parts of the country. In
practice classes were generally offered only for students of the
majority religion in a given area. Authorities sometimes pressured
parents to consent to religious instruction for their children. In some
cases, children who chose not to attend religion classes were subject
to pressure and discrimination from peers and teachers.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Ethnically-motivated religious
violence was often directed at ethnic symbols, clerics, and religious
buildings, particularly in the months surrounding the October 1
national elections. Such acts of violence were reported in several
municipalities in the country. Local police generally did not conduct
serious investigations into such incidents. For example, in Trebinje
municipality in July, unknown perpetrators sprayed gunfire into a
Muslim cemetery, damaging several tombstones. In the same month,
unknown persons threw an explosive device at the home of a Bosniak
returnee in Trebinje. When police concluded that the attacks were the
pranks of local youngsters, the local Islamic Community called for the
dismissal of the police chief, who they asserted did not perform a full
investigation into the matter.
There were a number of acts of violence and vandalism against
Islamic religious targets during the year. For example, in March
unknown persons destroyed 23 400-year-old tombstones in the graveyard
next to the destroyed Arnaudija Mosque in Banja Luka. There were also
several reports of anti-Muslim graffiti on the walls of mosques in
Trebinje, Banja Luka, and on two mosques under construction in Brcko
District. In August unknown assailants detonated an explosive device at
the grave of former President Alija Izetbegovic, destroying his
tombstone and leaving a large crater at the grave. The Carsijska Mosque
in Bosanska Dubica was also the site of several vandalism attacks in
September. In October a missile attack destroyed a large portion of the
Jasenica Mosque near Mostar; this was the most severe attack since the
end of the war. The Jasenica Mosque became a source of controversy when
local Croats objected to its reconstruction on the grounds that its new
design violated a law that allows reconstruction only in the same style
as the original prewar building. City officials ordered removal of the
mosque, but the order had not been carried out before the attack.
There was also vandalism against Serbian Orthodox religious
targets. In January unknown persons stoned the Serb Orthodox Church and
its annex buildings in Puracic, breaking the glass in six different
windows. There were also reports of the destruction of a wooden cross
in July. In August unknown persons wrote threatening, anti-Serb
graffiti on the Serb Orthodox Church in Petrovo. Also in August unknown
perpetrators damaged several tombstones and broke a large number of
vases at the Orthodox cemetery in Ljubinici and broke windows and
damaged the entrance door of the Orthodox Church in Gracanica. In
September individuals threw a hand grenade at the door of the Orthodox
Church in the Bosniak returnee settlement of Divic.
Catholic religious objects were also the targets of vandalism. In
September unknown persons broke the glass on the entrance door to a
Catholic Church in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Grbavica. This church
was the subject of controversy because the Catholic community had
requested a permit to build a new church which local authorities had
yet to approve. Also in September in the Orasje neighborhood near
Tuzla, persons damaged the metal doors and windows of the cemetery
chapel and moved religious statues.
There were a number of controversial cases involving construction
of religious objects or monuments. An illegally constructed Serbian
Orthodox church remained on the land of a Bosniak returnee in the town
of Konjevic Polje in the eastern RS, despite the absence of local Serb
residents and the RS Ministry of Urban Planning's 2004 decision that
the church should be removed. On September 11, for the second
consecutive year, the local Orthodox priest celebrated mass in the
church, which was attended by a large number of nationalist
antagonists. Local police were present, and there was no violence.
In the Bosniak returnee village of Divic, near Zvornik, a Serbian
Orthodox Church remained on the site of the village's destroyed mosque.
Although Serbian Orthodox religious leaders agreed to relocate the
church in September, reports in October indicated that they were only
willing to relocate the church to an area immediately adjacent to a
Muslim cemetery, which angered the Islamic community and stalled
relocation negotiations.
In 2004 Federation authorities ordered the removal of crosses that
had been illegally constructed on public land in Stolac; however, the
removal was delayed pending the outcome of a 2004 lawsuit on the
legality of the Federation government's decision. In September the
Federation Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the
law, and the Federation Ministry of Spatial Planning was able again to
launch an initiative for removal of the crosses. While the Federation
Ministry of Spatial Planning had the legal authority to undertake such
an initiative, the ministry was reluctant to do so out of concern that
it would increase inter-ethnic tensions during the election year.
The Jewish community had approximately 1,000 believers and was
recognized as one of four established religions in the country.
In May graffiti containing anti-Semitic slogans appeared on a wall
in the Sarajevo settlement of Ilidza. The Bosnian Jewish community
criticized the act, stressing that such signs gave a negative image of
Bosnia. During the year Jewish leaders noted a tendency to mix anti-
Israeli sentiment with anti-Semitism, as the general public and the
media often failed to distinguish between criticism of Israeli policy
and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights;
however, some limits remained in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The overall return process
for persons displaced by the 1991-95 wars slowed during the year,
indicating a sharp decrease in returns from years past. According to
the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), between the
end of the war in 1995 and year's end, 1,017,433 persons who left the
country had returned. Of these, 458,816 were returnees to areas where
they were an ethnic minority. The UNHCR registered 5,603 returns
through December, of which 4,596 were minority returnees. These numbers
continued to decline, particularly for returnees to areas where they
would be an ethnic minority. Government officials and some NGOs,
however, believed that the total number of returns was inflated, since
the UNHCR determines returns based on property restitution rather than
physical presence. Some properties, therefore, could have been returned
to the original owners without those individuals actually returning to
live in the locale.
The difficult economic situation in the country remained the most
significant factor inhibiting returns, with many rural areas
experiencing official unemployment rates above 40 percent. When jobs
were available, minority returnees often complained of discrimination
in hiring. In returnee areas throughout the country, the percentage of
minorities holding municipal employment was neither representative of
current populations, nor legally mandated percentages based on the 1991
census, indicating local government failures to implement and enforce
the provisions of the Law on Self Administration. Funds for
reconstruction assistance continued to decline, although the Ministry
of Human Rights and Refugees continued to implement projects from the
joint return fund.
The security situation for returnees improved during the year,
although isolated incidents of violence were reported and a hostile
atmosphere still existed in many areas. During the year, there was a
substantial shift towards attacks against symbols of a minority group
as a whole and away from attacks against individuals. Many returnees
cited authorities' failure to apprehend war criminals as a disincentive
to return. Many displaced persons created permanent lives away from
their prewar homes, and only individuals with few other options
(including a large number of elderly pensioners) tended to return.
Other factors inhibiting returns included a lack of access to
social benefits including healthcare, education and pension benefits. A
lack of available housing and high municipal administration taxes on
documents that are necessary for return, such as birth or land
certificates, also affected the number of returns. Minority returnees
often faced intimidation, discrimination, obstructionism in their
access to health care and pension benefits, poor infrastructure, and
denial of utility services such as electricity, gas, and telephone by
publicly owned utility companies. While problems decreased from
previous years, they persisted in hard-line areas. Authorities in some
areas of Croat-controlled Herzegovina and some towns in the eastern RS
continued to resist minority returns, obstructing returnees' access to
local services, including municipal power and water, education,
issuance of important civil documents, and health care.
In the RS, the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons provided
support to Bosniaks and Croats returning to the RS and to Bosnian Serbs
returning to the Federation. The Federation Ministry for Refugees
assisted Croats and Serbs returning to the Federation and Bosniaks
returning to the RS. Both entity-level refugee ministries provided
limited reconstruction assistance to returnees and also committed part
of their budgets toward joint projects to be determined by the State
Commission for Refugees. All levels of government budgeted funding for
returns, but it was unclear how much of this funding was actually used.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum is
undergoing revision to expedite the time between application and final
adjudication. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution.
During the year the Government did not grant temporary protection
to any persons who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR, the
International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other humanitarian
organizations to assist refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees with
pending asylum applications, regardless of national origin, may remain
in collective centers until their cases can be decided. As a result of
the 1999 conflict in the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY),
approximately 6,000 persons, half of them from Kosovo, fled the FRY and
came to the country. According to UNHCR statistics from June, 521
refugees from Serbia and Montenegro, including refugees from Kosovo,
remained in collective centers. An additional 3,098 refugees from
Serbia and Montenegro were also living in communities throughout the
country. By October the Government had not accepted any of these
refugees for local integration or permanent status in the country.
During the year the Government extended the ``temporarily admitted
persons'' status to approximately 3,000 Kosovars, a status that neither
precludes nor facilitates asylum, residency, or naturalization under
the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully; however, the use of coercive tactics by some nationalist
parties precluded full citizen participation without intimidation.
Elections and Political Participation.--Observers from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation Europe (OSCE) concluded that
the general elections held during the year had been conducted largely
in line with international standards but noted problems, including the
inability of numerous voters to find their names on voter registers,
voters being directed to incorrect polling stations because of changes
in the registration process, group voting, irregularities in the
counting process, and a few cases of voter intimidation.
A new passive registration system, linked to the issuance of
national identification cards, registered 400,000 new voters prior to
the national elections held during the year. Some voters complained,
however, that the registration process discriminated against voters who
physically live in one location but continue to receive government
benefits in another because they could only vote in their place of
legal, and not actual, residence.
While political parties did not compel individuals to become
members, many viewed membership in the leading party of any given area
as the surest way of obtaining, regaining, or keeping pension and
health benefits, housing, and jobs in government-owned companies. There
were also reports that political parties paid individuals to campaign
on their behalf or to run for office to increase the number of
representatives present in electoral polling stations.
Individuals and parties representing a wide spectrum of political
views could freely declare their candidacies and stand for election.
Nationalist rhetoric dominated the pre-election campaign, with Bosniak
nationalist politicians calling for the abolition of the RS and Serb
politicians threatening to call a referendum in the RS to secede from
the state. Nevertheless, opposition parties were not excluded from
participation in political life. Membership in large, well-funded
parties conferred formal advantages, as nonparty members were often
excluded from appointment to many key government positions.
During the pre-election period, the civic movement GROZD produced a
12-point, issue-specific platform and asked all political parties to
incorporate these issues into their own political platform. More than
500,000 Bosnians (notable as more than the number of votes any one
party received in the 2002 elections) signed a petition in support of
the GROZD platform, as did several less powerful political parties.
The election law requires that at least 30 percent of political
party candidates be women. At year's end, six of 42 delegates in the
BIH House of Representatives were women. Out of 82 delegates in the RS
National Assembly, 19 were women. Although national elections took
place October 1, the new Federation and State parliamentary assemblies
had not been constituted by year's end. In the previous mandate of
parliament, there were seven women in the directly elected 42-seat BiH
House of Representatives (lower house) and no women in the 15-seat BiH
House of Peoples (upper house), whose members were appointed by entity
legislatures. There were 23 women in the 98-seat Federation House of
Representatives. There was one woman in the nine-member Council of
Ministers, but at year's end the new Council of Members had not been
established.
There were no members of a minority in either the BiH House of
Representatives or the nine-member Council of Ministers. Under the
state-level constitution members of the ethnic Serb, Croat, and Bosniak
groups must be appointed to government positions on a proportional
basis, based on the 1991 census. Separate from those groups, there are
16 recognized national minority groups. While other minorities may hold
these offices, they remained underrepresented.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were reports of
official corruption during the year. The country received a score of
2.9 on Transparency International's 10 point index of the degree to
which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country has a
serious corruption problem.
The law bars citizens from holding positions of public
responsibility if they have pending criminal indictments against them,
but this prohibition was not always observed in practice. For example,
the court did not remove or suspend Mato Tadic, charged with accepting
bribes in the tax evasion and bribery case involving former BiH
Presidency member Dragan Covic, from his position as President of the
Constitutional Court while the trial against him was underway. Covic
was convicted in November of one count of abuse of office and sentenced
to five years in prison.
Although the law provides for citizen access to government records,
many government agencies did not comply with the law. For example, some
agencies have not yet prepared the required registry of documents that
are available and guidelines for access to them. According to the law,
the Government must provide an explanation for any denial of access,
and citizens may appeal denials in the court system or to the
ombudsman's offices. In practice, the Government sometimes failed to
provide an explanation for denial of access to information as required
by the law; however, if citizens appealed denials to the ombudsmen, the
courts, or legal aid, the Government generally provided an explanation.
Public awareness of the law remained low.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
and NGOs generally operated without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. For
example, the BiH Helsinki Committee and the Helsinki Committee of the
RS continued to actively report on a wide range of human rights abuses.
However, government officials were often inefficient and slow to
respond to their recommendations.
The Government cooperated fully with international organizations
such as the Office of the High Representative (OHR), which has special
powers over the Government, as well as other international
organizations such as the UNHCR, ICRC, OSCE, and ICMP.
The Constitutional Court handles all human rights cases filed since
the beginning of 2004. The Human Rights Commission, which consists of
five judges from the Human Rights Chamber in the Constitutional Court,
was formed in 2004 to address this backlog. By year's end the
commission had issued 2,266 decisions, of which 536 were decisions on
the merits of the case. The most common cases included claims for the
return of frozen foreign currency accounts, war damages, and claims
involving pensions and property rights.
In April the state-level parliament adopted a law establishing a
single ombudsman institution composed of three members who will likely
represent the country's three constituent peoples (Bosniaks, Serbs, and
Croats), although members of national minorities can also be appointed.
The multiple ombudsman offices already existing at the sub-federal
level, whose effectiveness had been limited in addressing institutional
patterns of discrimination, were to be abolished by December 31. An
effective plan for handover of responsibilities from the entity-level
ombudsman institutions to the state ombudsman office was not developed,
however, and the transfer did not occur by year's end.
Citizens' remedies for human rights violations included filing
civil suits or seeking assistance from the ombudsmen. However, the
ombudsmen's recommendations were not binding, and the civil court
system had major backlogs. The ombudsmen were effective in some
individual cases, but were less successful in addressing institutional
patterns of discrimination.
The State Court continued during the year to cooperate with the
ICTY by, adjudicating cases transferred by the ICTY and proceeding on
ICTY-reviewed indictments. During the year, BiH authorities also
assisted in the transfer of one ICTY indictee to The Hague. The
Federation continued its cooperation with the ICTY and the State
Court's War Crimes Chamber. During the year, the Federation prosecutor
initiated 34 war crimes cases involving 384 defendants (see section
1.e.).
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik's government ended the long-time
practice of providing stipends from the RS budget to families of
indictees on trial in the ICTY. The level of cooperation between the RS
and Serbian law enforcement agencies in eradicating Mladic and
Karadzic's cross-border support networks and compelling their eventual
capture was unclear. The RS municipalities of Bijeljina, Sokolac, Han
Pijesak and Pale remained under sanctions for failing to cooperate with
ICTY. In April sanctions were lifted for Foca.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or other social status; however, discrimination against
minorities, women, sexual minorities, persons with disabilities, and
others was pervasive.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence and
sexual assault, remained a widespread and underreported problem.
According to a 2004 study by the Sarajevo faculty of criminology, 20
percent of female respondents indicated that they were physically
abused by their husbands or boyfriends. In 79 percent of these cases,
the violence occurred repeatedly. According to general NGO estimates,
one out of every three Bosnian women is a victim of domestic violence.
Both the Federation and RS have adopted a law on domestic violence that
requires police to remove the offender from the family home; however,
domestic violence usually was not reported to the authorities. Experts
estimate that only one in 10 cases of domestic violence was reported to
the police. As of October, the RS domestic violence hotline received
2,657 reports of domestic violence.
Police received specialized training in handling cases of domestic
violence and there were four hotlines operating in the Federation and
RS that provided assistance and counseling to domestic violence
victims. Reluctance on the part of victims to report domestic violence
to authorities or to testify against their abusers contributed to lack
of prosecutions. There were shelters in Mostar, Tuzla, Banja Luka,
Sarajevo and Modrica to assist victims of domestic violence, and local
NGOs were trying to build additional facilities. Several NGOs reported
an increase in domestic violence reports because of awareness campaigns
that informed victims about their rights and encouraged them to make
official complaints.
Rape and spousal rape are illegal; the maximum penalty for either
crime is 15 years' imprisonment. A sense of shame reportedly prevented
some rape victims from complaining to authorities. While police
generally responded to reports of sexual assault, they tended not to
treat reports of spousal rape with the same seriousness.
Prostitution is illegal. The law treats procuring as a major crime,
but prostitution and solicitation are misdemeanors punishable by a fine
only. Since police raids on bars and brothels drove it underground,
prostitution frequently took place in private apartments or on an
outcall basis. Single mothers or other vulnerable women, particularly
from economically depressed rural areas, were at higher risk of being
recruited for sexual exploitation.
Trafficking in women for purposes of sexual exploitation was a
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment, but sexual harassment was a
serious problem that was poorly understood by the general population.
Many women surveyed by NGOs reported experiencing treatment that
constituted sexual harassment in their workplaces. Victims of sexual
harassment almost never filed complaints, largely because they did not
recognize their experiences as harassment and were not aware of their
legal rights and remedies.
The law prohibits gender-based discrimination. Women have equal
legal status to men in family law and property law, and were treated
equally in practice throughout the judicial system.
The Government's Agency for Gender Equality worked to harmonize
legislation with the Law on Gender Equality and inform women of their
legal rights. The Federation, the RS, and state-level parliaments had
committees for gender equality.
Women served as judges, doctors, and professors, although few women
held positions of real economic or political power. A small but
increasing number of gender-related discrimination cases were
documented. Anecdotal accounts indicated that women and men generally
received equal pay for equal work at government-owned enterprises but
not always at private businesses. Women in all parts of the country had
problems with nonpayment of maternity leave allowances and the
unwarranted dismissal of pregnant women and new mothers. Many job
announcements openly advertised discriminatory criteria such as age
(typically under 35) and physical appearance of female applicants.
Women remained underrepresented in law enforcement agencies, although
progress continued to be made.
Children.--The Governments of both entities were generally
committed to the rights and welfare of children; however, social
services for children were extremely limited. The Ministry of Human
Rights and Refugees had a role in enforcing children's rights. Children
with disabilities lacked sufficient medical care and educational
opportunities.
Education is free and compulsory through age 15; however, parents
were required to pay for textbooks, lunches, and transportation, which
some families could not afford, causing some children to drop out of
school. A lack of reliable monitoring and statistics on enrollment and
drop-out rates hindered efforts to ensure that school-age children
received an education. Children with special needs were legally
required to attend regular classes, but schools were often unable to
accommodate them. Except for Roma, almost all children finished primary
school through the ninth grade; the completion rate was lower for
secondary school. Boys and girls attended school equally.
According to the BiH Roma Council, less than 35 percent of Romani
children attended school regularly. Amnesty International reported
during the year that Romani children lacked access to education in BiH.
Many Romani children were unable to attend school because of extremely
poor living conditions, lack of proper clothing, and the inability or
unwillingness of families to pay school-related expenses. Verbal
harassment from other students, language problems, and registration
costs and requirements also contributed to the exclusion of Roma from
schools, despite the desire of many parents to enroll their children.
Authorities failed to provide textbooks including topics related to
Romani culture and history into the curriculum.
Students in minority areas frequently faced a hostile environment
in schools that did not provide an ethnically neutral setting.
Obstruction by nationalist politicians and government officials slowed
efforts to remove discriminatory material from textbooks, abolish
school segregation, and enact other reforms. Cantonal governments in
the Federation and the Ministry of Education in the RS pressured school
directors at the primary and secondary school level, and several
schools were directed by hard-line political figures. For example, on
the first day of school at the Sveti Sava primary school in the eastern
RS town of Zvornik, school officials organized an Orthodox religious
ceremony with an Orthodox priest presiding. More than 100 Bosniak
students who attend the school were present with their families at the
ceremony. Following the event, the RS Ministry of Education issued a
statement indicating that such ceremonies were inappropriate.
Administrative and legal unification of the 52 cases of ``two
schools under one roof,'' with separate classes for Bosnian Croats and
Bosniaks, did not lead to integrated classrooms, although shared
extracurricular activities, school entrances and recreation facilities
sometimes resulted. In some areas of the country, notably Vitez in
central Bosnia and Prozor-Rama and Stolac in Herzegovina, local
officials and parents sought to establish complete physical segregation
of Bosniak and Croat students. Segregation and discrimination were
entrenched in many schools, particularly in the teaching of national
history and religious education. In the RS, non-Serbs made up less than
5 percent of the teaching staff in primary and secondary schools. In
the Federation, minority teachers made up between 5 and 8 percent of
all teachers, depending on the canton.
Schools throughout the country continued to use textbooks on
subjects outside the so-called ``national group'' of subjects that
contained controversial material. For example, textbooks in Bosnian
Croat-majority areas refer to Croatia as the homeland of all Croat
people, while texts in the RS instill a sense of patriotism towards
Serbia.
Medical care for children in the Federation is controlled at the
cantonal level, and the level of care varied widely between cantons. In
the RS, the law provides that the Ministry of Health furnish free
medical care to children up to 15 years of age; in practice, children
often did not receive medical care unless they had medical insurance
paid for by their parents. Boys and girls had equal access to medical
care.
Family violence against children was a problem. Police investigated
and prosecuted individual cases of child abuse; there were no
statistics available on the extent of the problem, as much of it went
unreported. Municipal centers for social work were responsible for
protecting children's rights, but often lacked resources and
alternative housing for children who ran away from home to escape abuse
or who needed to be removed from abusive homes. Some NGOs estimated
that one in four families experienced some form of domestic violence,
including physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of children.
In certain Romani communities, girls married between the ages of 12
and 14. Apart from efforts to increase Romani participation in
education, there were no programs aimed specifically at reducing the
incidence of child marriage.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child begging was common in some Romani communities; infants (with
adults) and children as young as four were sent out to beg on street
corners, often working 10 or more hours per day in all weather
conditions.
According to statistics released during the year by the Ministry of
Human Rights and Refugees, 21 percent of displaced persons from the
country were children under 18.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation and
children and adults, particularly from the Romani community, were
sometimes trafficked for labor. There were reports that police and
other officials were involved in trafficking.
The country was a destination, transit point, and, to a greater
extent, country of origin for women and girls trafficked for sexual
exploitation. An increasing trend of victims being trafficked
domestically was also observed during the year. The number of domestic
victims increased dramatically and is now about equal to the number of
foreign victims, a possible indicator that official efforts to
interdict and prevent cross-border trafficking have both increased
internal trafficking and helped drive the crime underground to the
local level. During the year, Romani children were trafficked to and
within the country for forced labor.
The majority of women trafficked to the country came from Serbia,
Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Russia. While no reliable estimates were
available, a significant number may have been trafficked on to Western
Europe. According to the IOM, most victims were lured by false job
offers, such as advertisements offering work in Italy or Germany as
dancers, waitresses, and domestic servants. Some NGOs reported that
trafficking victims were increasingly lured into the country by
promises of marriage to traffickers or their associates, while others
knowingly entered into false marriages to obtain work and residence
permits. Most trafficked women entered the country through Serbia and
Montenegro. Those who transited the country generally continued on via
Croatia. The IOM reported Bosnian victims in other parts of Europe, and
local NGOs observed a dramatic increase of Bosnian victims within the
country.
There were no reliable estimates on the number of victims
trafficked during the year; police raids forced trafficking further
underground, increasing the difficulty of estimating the scope of the
problem. During the year the Office of the State Antitrafficking
Coordinator registered 43 new trafficking victims from within its
referral mechanism. During the year the IOM assisted 59 victims, 12 of
whom were repatriated; 27 were citizens, while almost half of all
victims (28 persons) were minors.
Traffickers came from a variety of backgrounds, including freelance
operators and loosely organized local criminal networks. Large
international organized crime syndicates were less involved than in
previous years.
Victims reported working in conditions akin to slavery, with little
or no financial support. In some cases, traffickers paid victims some
wages so that they could send money home to their families. Traffickers
coerced victims to remain in these situations through intimidation,
verbal threats, seizure of passports, withholding of food and medical
care, and physical and sexual assault. To keep victims in the country
legally, traffickers also made victims apply for asylum since, as
asylum seekers, they were entitled to remain in the country until their
claims could be adjudicated.
Under the law, trafficking is a state-level crime that carries a
sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The Ministry of Security is
responsible for coordinating antitrafficking law enforcement at all
levels of government, but during the year it was understaffed and
lacked the capacity and the funding to adequately manage
antitrafficking activities.
The BiH State Prosecutor's office has exclusive jurisdiction over
trafficking cases and can decide which cases to prosecute at the state
level and which to send to the entity level. The State Antitrafficking
Coordinator, whose mandate includes coordination of victim protection
efforts among NGOs, police, and government institutions as well as law
enforcement, reported directly to the Ministry of Security. A
nationwide interagency investigative task force to combat trafficking,
the antitrafficking strike force, was chaired by the chief state
prosecutor and included prosecutors, police, and financial
investigators and targeted trafficking and illegal migration. There
were two major strike force investigations that resulted in indictments
during the year.
In February the strike force raided three well-known ``night bars''
in central Bosnia, resulting in four arrests and the filing of criminal
charges against 11 people suspected of involvement in trafficking. In
April the State Court sentenced Nermin Cupina from Mostar, the first
defendant in a major trafficking case from Herzegovina, to eight years
in prison for trafficking. The judge also ordered seizure of Cupina's
apartment and payment of compensation, a $62,500 (93,750 convertible
marks) total value believed to have been earned through trafficking
during 2002 and 2003. Igor Salcin, the second defendant in the same
case, agreed to a plea bargain in February and was convicted to 5+
years of imprisonment. Predrag Leventic, the third defendant, was
acquitted for lack of evidence.
If screening established that a person was a trafficking victim,
authorities did not prosecute that person for immigration or
prostitution violations. In most cases, foreign victims were
voluntarily repatriated. Persons determined by law enforcement not to
be trafficking victims were often deported and occasionally prosecuted
for immigration and other violations.
There continued to be reports of police and other official
involvement in trafficking, particularly at the local level. Victims'
groups alleged that, because of strong local networks, local police
often willfully ignored or actively protected consumers or perpetrators
of trafficking activity, often accepting bribes in return. To date
there have been only a few documented cases of official involvement in
trafficking, and no official indictments have been made. In 2004 border
police arrested a member of the RS interior ministry's elite special
unit near Bijeljina while he was attempting to cross into the country
from Serbia with two suspected trafficking victims in his car.
Authorities immediately suspended him from duty and opened an
investigation. The case was closed during the year due to lack of
evidence, and the police officer was reinstated. In 2005 authorities
charged a State Border Service officer with abuse of office for placing
a false stamp in the passport of a suspected trafficking victim; the
case was ongoing at year's end.
During the year authorities continued efforts to combat trafficking
by producing an antitrafficking manual for teachers for use in the
curriculum of all BiH schools. Authorities also continued their efforts
to assist victims by working with local NGOs to support shelters and
other services and by conducting extensive training for police,
prosecutors, judges, teachers, and social workers.
In 2005 the Government adopted a formal victim referral mechanism
and memoranda of understanding with six NGOs that ran shelters for
trafficking victims. The local NGO Forum of Solidarity continued to
operate the main shelter in Sarajevo and ran one safe house in Doboj
where victims received medical care, counseling, repatriation
assistance and limited vocational training. Other NGOs operated safe
houses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar, and Bijeljina. Although police
provided protection for the shelters, victims told NGO employees that
they did not trust local police and feared that traffickers would
pursue them if they left.
During the year NGOs assisted trafficking victims by providing
basic shelter and medical, psychological, and legal assistance. The
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a manual
on legal advocacy and trained local attorneys to assist trafficking
victims on a range of criminal and civil issues, including victims'
immigration status and legal rights if they chose to testify against
their traffickers.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law in both entities prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities; however, there was
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state
services.
Throughout the country, there was clear discrimination between
different categories of persons with disabilities, though the vast
majority of persons with disabilities were unemployed. For example,
persons with disabilities resulting from service during the 1991-95
wars were given a de facto privileged status above the civilian war
disabled and persons who were born with disabilities. Children with
disabilities were often hospitalized in residential institutions or
confined to their homes, and they rarely had the opportunity to attend
school. One NGO estimated that 30 percent of persons with disabilities
residing in institutions were capable of independent living if housing
and resources were available. Some institutions inappropriately housed
mentally ill and developmentally disabled persons together.
In the Federation, the law mandates that all existing public
buildings must be retrofitted to provide access to persons with
disabilities by November 2007 and that new buildings must also be
accessible. However, in practice, buildings rarely were accessible to
persons with disabilities. The RS had comparable laws for building
access, and progress on retrofitting older public buildings remained
slow.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ethnic differences remained a
powerful force in the country, although mixed communities existed
peacefully in a number of areas. Nationalist Bosniak, Serb, and Croat
politicians sought to increase the ethnic homogeneity of the population
in areas they controlled by discouraging IDPs of their own ethnicity
from returning to their prewar homes if they would be in the minority
there (see section 2.d.). The RS and Federation governments were both
supportive of minority returns, but there was a significant decrease in
returns nationwide.
Attacks on ethnic and religious objects increased during the year,
particularly in the period immediately before the October national
elections (see section 2.c.). Police conducted investigations and
sometimes apprehended and charged perpetrators of ethnically motivated
hate crimes.
Recreational events were an additional forum for interethnic
disputes. In June Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks clashed in Mostar
following a World Cup soccer game when Bosniaks were perceived as
cheering the defeat of the Croatian team. In August a clash between
Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks at a soccer game resulted in one Bosniak's
serious injury in Bratunac. Also in August Bosnian Serb and Bosnian
Croat fans watching a soccer game in Ivanica caused a fight, marking
the first ethnic clash in the town since the end of the war. Also at a
September soccer match in Zvornik between local team Drina and visitors
Sarajevo, nationalist antagonists carried signs and chanted disparaging
slogans at the visiting team comprising mainly Bosniaks.
Harassment and discrimination against minorities continued
throughout the country, often centering on property disputes. These
problems included desecration of graves, graffiti, arson, damage to
houses of worship, verbal harassment, dismissal from work, threats, and
assaults. In September unknown persons broke the glass of a Bosniak
returnee's grill stand in downtown Zvornik. The grill's owner indicated
that this was the ninth time his business had been attacked since he
returned to the area. Members of the Association of Mothers of
Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves who live in returnee areas continued to
receive death threats.
Ethnic discrimination in employment and education remained key
obstacles to the return of residents (see section 5, Children).
Widespread firing of ethnic minorities during and after the war was not
reversed in most cases, and members of the ethnic majority in a region
often were hired over minorities in places where the minorities had
been employed. Amnesty International reported during the year on
widespread ethnic discrimination in employment and cited failure on the
part of state-level and entity-level officials to prevent such
discrimination. Although privatization of large state-owned enterprises
was conducted under the supervision of the international community,
many smaller enterprises were sold to politically well-connected
individuals, usually members of the majority group in their
communities. These enterprises generally did not employ minorities. For
example, only three of 120 municipality jobs in Foca were filled by
returnees. In Zvornik, the town with the greatest percentage of
returnees in the eastern RS, only four Bosniaks served in more than 100
positions available at the municipal level.
During the year the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) issued observations on the situation in BiH,
citing concern over distinctions in the law between ``constituent
peoples `` (Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs, and Bosnian Croats) and ``others
`` that precluded members of non-constituent groups from fully enjoying
the right to vote and stand for office. The CERD also registered
concerns over an absence of comprehensive antidiscrimination
legislation in the country and the condition of the Romani minority.
The Roma population, estimated at 40,000 to 80,000, faced serious
difficulties in exercising the full range of fundamental human rights
provided to them under the law. Access to employment, education, and
government services was a particular problem. The BiH Helsinki
Committee estimated that only 1 percent of the working-age Romani
population was employed and indicated that Roma were usually the first
to be let go during a reduction in force. Many Roma were also excluded
from public life because they lacked birth certificates, identification
cards, or a registered residence. Many Roma also could not access
health care or register to vote. Only a small number of adult Roma were
officially employed, and Roma were often denied social support; some
families sent their children out to beg or relied on other sporadic
sources of income. During the year the Roma Council and the Ministry of
Human Rights and Refugees worked to develop action plans for the
employment, health and housing of Roma, in efforts to fulfill
preconditions for eligibility in the ``decade of Roma inclusion''
initiative in Europe. However, by year's end the Government had not
completed the action plans for housing, health care, and employment,
while the implementation of the education action plan had been
implemented only partially.
While authorities permitted Romani children to attend schools in
all areas of the country, their attendance was often low as the result
of pressure from within their own community and from local non-Romani
communities discouraging them from attending school (see section 5,
Children).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While the law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, it was not enforced
in practice, and there was frequent societal discrimination against
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons.
The NGO Global Rights reported during the year on the country's
compliance under international and European legal frameworks to uphold
the rights of sexual minorities. The report stated that the country did
not provide the full range of protection envisaged under these
instruments to members of sexual minority communities and that social
and cultural stigma contributed to instances of discrimination. The
report cited the limited means available for redress against
discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, as well as a lack
of legal provisions directly addressing discrimination based on gender
identity or expression.
Sexual minorities who were open about their orientation were
frequently fired from their jobs. In some cases, dismissal letters
explicitly stated that sexual orientation was the cause of termination,
making it extremely difficult for them to find another job. Some gay
teens were harassed at school and were kicked out or ran away from home
after revealing their orientation to their parents.
Some teachers described homosexuality as deviant behavior when
presenting the public school curriculum on health and sexuality to
their students.
According to unreliable government statistics, there were less than
a hundred cases of HIV/AIDS in the country. There was a significant
stigma against persons with HIV/AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers in both
entities (except members of the military) to form and join unions of
their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements,
and workers did so in practice. However, the BiH government refused to
register an umbrella organization of entity-level unions (formed in
mid-2005) at the state level, which effectively blocked the activity of
the principal unions above the entity level.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union members
and organizers; however, protections against retaliation for union
activity were not strong and discrimination continued. Practical
barriers to employees bringing complaints against employers included
high unemployment, a backlogged court system, and the large number of
workers in the gray economy.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the right to organize and conduct union activities without
interference; however, authorities did not impose sanctions against
employers who obstructed union organizing and activity in practice.
Some unions reported that employees of private companies were
threatened with dismissal if they joined a union.
The right to bargain collectively is provided by law in the RS and
in a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement in the Federation.
However, collective bargaining in both entities did not involve
voluntary direct negotiation between a union and individual employers,
but rather work agreements between the Government and workers in the
public sector. In the Federation, there were no collective bargaining
agreements between private employers and unions. In the RS, the general
collective bargaining agreement applied to all workers and was
negotiated between unions, the Government, and employers. This general
agreement applied to private companies, regardless of whether their
workers were union members. There is no law in the Brcko District on
collective agreements, and workers there effectively did not have the
right to bargain collectively.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's six export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Entity-level labor laws restrict child labor, and the entity
governments implemented these laws in practice. The minimum age for
employment of children in the Federation and in the RS is 15 years;
minors between the ages of 15 to 18 must provide a valid health
certificate in order to work. The law prohibits children from
performing hazardous labor, such as night work. Although child labor
was not generally a problem, children sometimes assisted their families
with farm work and odd jobs. Romani children often begged on the
streets, particularly in larger cities.
Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation and sometimes for
labor was a serious problem (see section 5).
Entity governments are responsible for enforcing child labor laws.
Neither entity had inspectors dedicated solely to child labor
inspections; rather, violations of child labor laws were investigated
as part of a general labor inspection. Both entities' labor
inspectorates reported that they have not found significant violations
of child labor laws in the workplace, although they did not conduct
reviews of children working on family farms.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage in the
Federation was $196 (308 convertible marks) and in the RS the ``minimum
price of work'' used as a base for the salary scale of government
employees was $66 (100 convertible marks); however, neither provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Many workers had
outstanding claims for back payment of salaries and pensions. The law
requires employers in both entities to make substantial mandatory
contributions to pension and health care funds; as a result, to avoid
paying high social welfare benefits, employers often did not officially
register their employees, leaving employees without access to public
health care.
The legal workweek in both entities is 40 hours; however, seasonal
workers may work up to 60 hours per week. The law limits overtime to 10
hours per week in both entities; the Federation has no provision for
premium pay, while the RS requires a 30 percent premium. An employee in
the RS may volunteer for an additional 10 hours in exceptional
circumstances. Federation and RS laws require a minimum rest period of
30 minutes during the work day.
Authorities did not adequately enforce regulations related to
acceptable work conditions. While entity labor inspectorates made some
effort to enforce registration of employees, they limited most
inspections to conditions affecting the officially registered
workforce. Since the courts only served as recourse for complaints
involving registered workers, the RS labor inspectorate had to submit
fines and penalties for court approval; because of court backlogs, this
system was not effective, and many workers for practical purposes
worked without protections.
The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from
situations that endanger their health or safety without jeopardy to
their employment; however, this right was not effectively enforced in
practice. Worker's rights extended to all official, i.e. registered
workers, including migrant and temporary workers in this status.
__________
BULGARIA
The Republic of Bulgaria is a parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 7.5 million. Legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral Narodno Sabranie (National Assembly). The
country is ruled by a coalition government headed by Prime Minister
Sergei Stanishev. Presidential elections held in October were deemed
generally free and fair. While civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of law enforcement officers, there were
some instances in which law enforcement officers acted independently of
government authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. Among the
human rights problems reported were police abuses, including beatings
and mistreatment of pretrial detainees, prison inmates, and members of
minorities; harsh conditions in prisons and detention facilities;
arbitrary arrest and detention; and impunity. There were limitations on
freedom of the press; some restrictions of freedom of religion and
discrimination against religious minorities; and corruption in the
executive and judicial branches of government. Societal violence and
discrimination against women, children, and minority groups,
particularly Roma; trafficking in persons; discrimination against
persons with disabilities; and child labor also were reported.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there were reports that police killed one person during the year.
On August 1, police officer Stoyan Pachalov accidentally shot
Georgi Bozhanov, who was picking mushrooms nearby. Two officers were
target-practicing when one of the bullets ricocheted and hit the victim
in the eye. Bozhanov died en route to the hospital. The two officers
were court-martialed and fined, and the chief of the regional police
department resigned over the incident.
On January 19, the Sofia Military Appellate Court overturned the
prosecutor's decision and ordered further investigation in the 2005
death of Angel Dimitrov while in police custody. Prosecutors had
initially ruled that police used lawful measures in detaining Dimitrov,
who died of severe blows to the head received during his arrest in a
nationwide operation against organized crime. The case was pending
before the Sofia Military court at year's end.
The Varna regional military prosecutor's inquiry into the April
2005 fatal beating of a 38-year-old homeless man in Varna resulted in
an indictment against police officer Dian Vassilev. In November the
Varna Military Court sentenced him to 16 years in prison but his appeal
was pending before the Military Appellate Court at year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
police commonly beat criminal suspects, particularly minorities.
Police often mistreated criminal suspects in police custody,
usually during the initial interrogation. Human rights observers
charged that police sometimes handled minor offenses by arresting
suspects, beating them and releasing them within a 24-hour period so
that no judicial involvement was required. Nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) reported receiving complaints of police brutality
from Romani victims who were too intimidated to lodge an official
complaint with the authorities.
On April 14, 20-year-old Anton Zlatanov was beaten by police
officers and detained for 24 hours after he honked at a police tow
truck blocking the road. The police interpreted Zlatanov's actions as
an act of hooliganism. The military prosecutor's office launched an
investigation on possible police abuse, which was ongoing at year's
end.
On October 13, police used excessive force when raiding a Romani
district in the town of Pazardzhik. Reportedly called to quiet a brawl,
the police broke into houses and allegedly beat innocent bystanders.
The raid was ordered by the Pazardzhik Chief of Police Emil Ganchev.
NGOs reported that doctors, under police pressure, refused to issue
medical certificates to the victims. The local government called for
the resignation of the chief of police and established a commission to
assess the damages. The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry into
the matter found no evidence of excessive force by police and confirmed
that police acted within their authority.
The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry into the May 2005
incident found no abusive behavior on the part of the two police
officers in Pernik who reportedly beat Rossen Stoyadinov, a Rom.
Stoyadinov was not informed of his rights as a detainee and forced to
confess to thefts (see section 1.d.).
Human rights groups claimed that medical examinations in cases of
police abuses were not properly documented, that allegations of police
abuse were seldom investigated thoroughly, and that offending officers
were very rarely punished.
The Sofia military prosecutor's office terminated the investigation
into the charges of police brutality stemming from a January 2004
incident in which two Sofia police officers unleashed their dog on
Assen Zarev, a Rom, after questioning him about the whereabouts of
another person. The officers reportedly beat Zarev and threatened to
shoot him. In 2005 the prosecution confirmed the results of an internal
Ministry of Interior inquiry which found no abuse of police authority.
In April the Supreme Cassation Court rejected the appeal of two
police officers, Vassil Popov and Hristo Chakmakov, who challenged
their May 2005 sentence by the Plovdiv Military Court for their role in
the March 2004 beating of 22-year-old detainee Boris Daskalov. The
court sentenced the two officers to an 18-month suspended sentence each
and fined their direct supervisor. In April 2004 the Ministry of
Interior inspectorate confirmed that the police officers had exceeded
their powers, and seven police officers received disciplinary sanctions
for the incident.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally did not meet international standards, and the Government did
not allocate funds to make significant improvements.
Conditions in some prisons remained harsh and included
overcrowding, inadequate lavatory facilities, and insufficient heating
and ventilation. According to the Ministry of Justice, the average
space allotted to each prisoner was two square meters, far below the
international standard of up to six square meters (64.6 square feet).
The daily food allowance amounted to $.85 (approximately 1.3 lev) per
day.
NGO prison monitors reported that brutality by prison guards
against inmates continued to be a problem. There also were reports of
brutality among inmates. Prisoners had the right to report substandard
conditions or mistreatment to prison authorities; however, NGOs
observed that corruption among the authorities continued to plague the
system.
Overcrowding remained a problem, although the Ministry of Justice
reported a slight decrease in the prison population following the
introduction of a probation system. There were 11,165 prisoners in the
country's 12 prisons, a figure that the Ministry of Justice estimated
exceeded by three times the capacity of the prison system. NGOs
received complaints from prisoners about the quality and quantity of
food they were served.
Despite some infrastructure improvements, such as installing
ventilation systems in 31 detention centers, most prisoners continued
to share toilets and had infrequent restroom access. Despite the
closure of six detention centers due to poor living conditions, many of
the remaining detention centers still operated in basements with little
or no access to sunlight.
There were 1,039 detainees in the country's 45 detention centers.
The detention facilities operated below capacity, according to data
from the Ministry of Justice.
In September 170 foreign prisoners in the Sofia prison went on a
hunger strike seeking rights equal to their Bulgarian counterparts.
Under the law, prisoners can shorten their prison sentences by working
in prison, an opportunity not available to foreigners. The strike ended
when prison management promised to look into their requests. The prison
administration held meetings with the strikers to explain procedural
requirements, including the right of preliminary release from suspended
sentence. In November, 20 foreigners were granted early release. During
the year the prison administration began renovations on a separate
building where it plans to move the foreigners.
The Government generally permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by independent observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, there were reports of
infringement of these provisions by police.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior is responsible for oversight of internal law enforcement. The
new Ministry of Interior Act, which came in force on May 1,
demilitarized the institution and changed its structure. The ministry
now oversees the activities of the National Security Service, National
Fire Safety Service, and the National Police Service, which includes
the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, the Chief
Directorate of the Gendarmerie Service, the Chief Directorate of Border
Police, and the Chief Directorate of Combating Crime and Protecting
Public Order. Public order services, such as the National Intelligence
Service and National Bodyguard Service, were directly subordinate to
the President and were not subject to adequate judicial, executive, or
legislative oversight of their activities or budgets.
A survey by the Center for Study of Democracy (CSD) published in
2005 found that a significant percentage of crimes committed in the
country were not reported to the police. Although respondents offered
varying reasons for not reporting the crimes, the most cited were the
lack of confidence in police competence, dislike of police, and fear of
reprisal. During the year the CSD published a survey indicating that
one in four individuals stopped by police were not treated
professionally and respectfully, with Roma consistently being treated
worse than ethnic Bulgarians. Survey participants expressed fear that
filing a complaint would earn them further abuse if they encountered
the officer again.
The Ministry of Interior reported 451 complaints of police
corruption, 179 of which were submitted to its hotline or website
during the year. The complaints resulted in 57 officers being fired and
81 officers being administratively censured. During the year 38
officers were referred to the military prosecution service. Ministry of
Interior investigations of criminal acts committed by police resulted
in six convictions for extortion in 2004.
Impunity remained a problem; lack of accountability inhibited
government attempts to address police abuses. Human rights groups
claimed the structure of judicial authority represented a serious
obstacle to the accountability of law enforcement officers for alleged
human rights abuses. All complaints involving Ministry of Interior and
other police forces are required to be heard through the military court
system. The Sofia Military Appellate Court is the court of final appeal
for cases involving Ministry of Interior personnel. NGOs claimed that
this separate court system encouraged a latent bias in favor of police
and resulted in halfhearted prosecutions by military prosecutors who
were not eager to see their colleagues punished.
Human rights-related training is mandatory at the police academy
and officers' schools.
In contrast with 2005, there were no reports that police failed to
take action during outbreaks of violence.
Arrest and Detention.--While warrants are not always required for
arrest, police normally obtained them from a prosecutor prior to
apprehending an individual. If the person is released within 24 hours
without being charged, no judicial involvement in the case is required.
Some human rights groups claimed that police abused this provision by
arbitrarily detaining persons, particularly Roma, but releasing them
within 24 hours; however, such complaints were much less frequent than
in previous years. Persons could be detained for no more than 24 hours
at the request of an investigator or police officer; however, detention
could last for up to 72 hours without charge if ordered by a
prosecutor.
The law provides for bail, and it was widely used.
Although the law provides for access to legal counsel from the time
of detention, a study by the Open Society Institute (OSI) showed that
lack of timely access to legal counsel remained a problem. Legislation
expanding access to legal aid for low-income defendants in criminal
cases was adopted in 2005, although OSI's study reported that many
police precincts did not have an accurate list of public defenders,
thus effectively hindering the program's implementation.
Detainees were generally informed promptly of the charges against
them. However, the OSI reported instances in which detainees were not
informed of the charges against them or their rights under the law.
In 2005 two police officers in Pernik detained Rossen Stoyadinov, a
Rom, for 24 hours after requesting that he accompany them to the police
station without informing him of the charges against him (see section
1.c.). The Ministry of Interior's internal inquiry, completed in June
2005, found no abusive behavior on the part of the officers.
Although the Government generally observed the statutory limit of
one year for pretrial detention or two years for pretrial detention in
cases involving the most serious crimes, there were a few cases of more
lengthy detention due to a backlog of cases. In the event of a
conviction, time spent in pretrial detention was credited toward the
sentence.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the effectiveness of the
judiciary was hampered by corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of
checks and balances.
Although many serious systemic flaws remained, observers noted
modest improvement in the efficiency of moving cases through the
criminal system. Long delays in trials were common, and investigators
and police continued to struggle with a large backlog of outstanding
investigations.
The Center for Liberal Strategies reported that, on average, civil
cases lasted 350 days and criminal cases 835 days, with 541 days spent
in pretrial proceedings. While the system's efficiency was improving,
there were still an absence of convictions on charges of organized
crime, corruption, and money laundering.
The court system consists of regional courts, district courts,
appellate courts, military courts (on the district and appellate
levels), the Supreme Cassation Court, and the Supreme Administrative
Court. The Constitutional Court, which is separate from the rest of the
judiciary, is empowered to rescind legislation that it considers
unconstitutional, settle disputes over the conduct of general
elections, and resolve conflicts over the division of powers among the
various branches of government. The procedural codes determine which
court hears a particular case.
Questions remained about the vast authority of the chief
prosecutor's office, the immunity of magistrates, and the structure of
the Supreme Judicial Council as factors that crippled the system's
efficiency and left the magistrates open to influence.
In January Boris Velchev was appointed chief prosecutor and
energetically began a wide-reaching campaign to introduce structural
and personnel reforms in the prosecution service. The internal
inspection Velchev ordered resulted in three prosecutors' resignations,
eight probes for abuse of office, and three requests for dismissal by
the Supreme Judicial Council on grounds of undermining the prestige of
the judiciary. However, observers believed further reform was needed to
establish a fair, impartial, and efficient judicial system.
Trial Procedures.--The law stipulates that all courts conduct
hearings in public unless proceedings involve safeguarding national
secrets or public morals or are against juvenile defendants, and
authorities generally respected this provision. Defendants have the
right to know the charges against them, to have government-provided
legal representation if they are indigent, and to have ample time to
prepare a defense. Participation of a defense attorney is mandatory if
the alleged crime incurs a punishment of at least 10 years in prison or
if the defendant is a juvenile, a foreigner, a person with mental or
physical disabilities, or is being tried in absentia. Defendants in
criminal proceedings have the right to confront witnesses, to examine
evidence, and to present their own witnesses and evidence. The law
provides for the right of appeal, which was used widely.
Defendants have the right to be present at trial. Juries are not
used, although cases involving more serious crimes are heard at the
trial phase by one judge and two assessors or lay judges, who are
ordinary citizens chosen to serve as representatives of the public. If
a crime entails a punishment of more than 15 years in prison, the panel
consists of two judges and three assessors. Verdicts are determined by
majority vote of panel members.
Military courts handle cases involving military personnel
(including Ministry of Interior personnel) and certain national
security matters. As a part of the judiciary, military courts are
independent from the military and provide the same rights as the
civilian courts. Military prosecutors also investigate allegations of
crimes committed by police officers.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The law provides for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, although civil
cases are plagued by the same long delays as criminal cases.
Allegations of human right abuses can also be filed with the Commission
on Protection Against Discrimination, which has the power to impose
sanctions on violators. During the year reforms in the burdensome
enforcement of judgments went into force that allowed private
enforcement agents to collect claims, thus greatly improving the
efficiency of collection. From January to July, approximately 20,000
collection cases were filed with private enforcement agents while only
600 were filed with the state enforcement agents.
Property Restitution.--While the Government generally respected the
right to private property, the Jewish community reported difficulties
in recovering some restituted buildings, including a hospital in
central Sofia and a former rabbi's house in Varna. In 2002 the courts
confirmed that Shalom, a Jewish community organization, was the
hospital's rightful owner, but the building has yet to be returned
pending completion of renovations on a new building for the hospital.
The Varna property was under the control of the Ministry of Defense,
which declined to return it for national security reasons, but was
working with Shalom on finding comparable compensation. Both cases
remained open at year's end (see section 2.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
In June the Sofia mayor's office came under international criticism
for planned demolition of illegal housing in the Vazrazhdane
neighborhood, home to over 200 Roma who lacked the proper titles and
registration to the land. After receiving letters from four members of
the European Parliament on July 29, municipal authorities halted
demolition plans and entered into negotiations with the central
government and NGOs to resolve the problem. On June 12, the previous
year's demolition of illegal housing in the Hristo Botev neighborhood
was judged by the Supreme Administrative Court to be legal, paving the
way for future demolitions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. There were reports, however, that
journalists were threatened and intimidated by individuals with
political interests. NGOs reported that significant numbers of
journalists practiced self-censorship due to political influence,
pressure from management, and organized crime. Some journalists
allegedly accepted payments in return for positive coverage of
politicians, prominent businessmen, and organized crime syndicates.
Individuals criticized the Government freely without reprisal, and
the Government did not attempt to impede criticism.
A variety of newspapers were published freely by political parties
and other organizations representing the full spectrum of public
opinion.
On October 10, leading journalist Ivo Indjev was fired from BTV
Television for reporting unverified information on President Parvanov's
real estate holdings. Observers alleged that his dismissal was the
result of pressure from the President's office. Approximately 15
members of parliament wrote a letter of protest to foreign human rights
observers, labeling the incident a violation of freedom of the press.
On April 6, unknown persons detonated a bomb in the apartment of
investigative journalist Vasil Ivanov. There were no casualties, but
the apartment had extensive damage. Ivanov, who had described wide-
ranging abuses in Sofia's main prison prior to the attack, reported
receiving death threats several months before the explosion. The
Ministry of Interior opened an investigation into the attack, which was
ongoing at year's end.
On May 18, unknown perpetrators broke into the offices of leading
newspaper Novinar, stealing journalists' research on ties between the
country's rich and its political parties. The police had no leads in
the case, and the investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The investigation against unknown perpetrators into the 2005 fire
in the Vratsa office of national daily newspaper Trud remained open.
There were also no developments in the investigations into threats made
in 2004 against the newspaper Naroden Glas, the news agency De Facto,
or the national daily newspaper 24 Hours.
The change of leadership at the Ministry of Interior in August 2005
ended the practice of Ministry of Interior officials using the media to
blame the judiciary for lack of progress in battling crime. In 2004 a
group of judges protested the practice in a letter to the Prime
Minister. In his response, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the importance
of judicial independence and called for a direct dialogue between the
branches.
Defamation is punishable under the law. In most cases the courts
defined libel and interpreted the law in a manner that favored
journalistic expression. Fines for libel ranged from approximately
$1,875 (3,000 leva) to approximately $6,250 (10,000 leva); fines for
slander ranged from approximately $3,125 (5,000 leva) to $9,375 (15,000
leva). Although observers noted a slight increase in the number of
defamation suits brought against journalists in recent years, only a
small number of cases resulted in journalists being fined. The majority
of defamation cases were brought against reports about corruption or
mismanagement, and the most frequent plaintiffs were government
officials or other persons in public positions.
Television and radio provided a variety of news and public interest
programming. Although the state-owned media presented opposition views,
observers believed that the inadequacy of existing legislation left
these media vulnerable to government pressure. Despite this
vulnerability, Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), the state-owned news
agency, was generally regarded as unbiased, and the state-owned
Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) was often one of the most outspoken
critics of the Government and its policies.
In 2005 the CEM noted 106 infringements of the radio and television
act: 84 by television operators and 22 by radio operators. The CEM
fined 73 of these operators for violations that were considered
serious, including disclosure of personal information without the
person's consent, airing programs that damage children's physical and
mental development, and violating the right of a rebuttal.
In September 2005 the Ruse Regional Court reversed its 2004
decision to sentence Romanian television journalist George Buhnici for
having used a microphone and a camera hidden in his glasses to film the
illegal cigarette trade at the Bulgarian-Romanian border. In March the
prosecution service withdrew its appeal of the court decision, thereby
enforcing Buhnici's acquittal.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on the
Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or Internet
chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail.
International studies estimated that 28.5 percent of the population
regularly used the Internet, although less-developed rural areas did
not have the infrastructure to support Internet connections.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The law
requires that groups requesting a permit for gatherings need to give 48
hours notice and that groups requesting a permit for a demonstration
need to give five days notice.
During the year the Macedonian activist group, Ilinden,
successfully held a public meeting to initiate its registration as a
political party. In 2005 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
ruled that the country had violated the right of its citizens to
peaceful assembly by dispersing Ilinden's demonstrations and preventing
the group from holding peaceful meetings from 1998 to 2003. Despite the
progress, the group reported difficulties registering as a political
party.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. The law prohibits groups that endanger national
unity or promote and incite racial, national, ethnic, or religious
hatred, violate the rights of citizens, or seek to achieve their
objectives through violent means. The Government generally respected
the rights of individuals and groups to freely establish their own
political parties or other political organizations.
The law prohibits the formation of political parties along
religious, ethnic, or racial lines and prohibits citizens' associations
from engaging in political activity. In practice this prohibition did
not restrict political participation by ethnic minorities. The law
requires all electoral campaigning to be conducted in the Bulgarian
language. Several political groups complained that this law was
arbitrarily applied during the 2005 parliamentary election campaign. In
2005 a new law took effect that obliged all existing parties to
reregister by year's end and introduced a 5,000-person membership
requirement (see section 3).
The Macedonian activist group Ilinden continued to report
difficulties in registering as a political party. The courts refused it
legal registration in 2001 on the grounds that it was a separatist
group whose statute and program were directed against the unity of the
country. In June Ilinden launched a re-registration campaign but was
accused in some media reports of paying for signatures in order to
reach the 5,000 threshold. Ilinden's appeal of the Sofia City Court's
decision, which rejected its registration citing numerous procedural
violations, was ongoing at year's end. Group members reported hostile
treatment from the authorities, specifically prejudiced statements from
the Blagoevgrad mayor and an aggressive campaign by the police, who
went door to door to question members on their affiliation with
Ilinden.
c. Freedom of Religion.--Although the constitution and law provide
for freedom of religion, the Government restricted this right to public
practice for unregistered religious groups. The law designates the
Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the ``traditional'' religion and the
Government provided preferential financial support to it, as well as to
several other religious communities perceived as holding historic
places in society, including the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish
faiths. The law prohibits the public practice of religion by groups not
registered through the court system.
In 2005 the ECHR granted an accelerated hearing to the Alternative
Synod, which filed a complaint alleging that in 2004 the Government
improperly intervened in an internal church dispute. The case was
pending in the ECHR at year's end.
The law requires religious groups to formally register with the
Sofia City Court if they wish to operate and be recognized as legal
entities or to conduct worship in public. The 2002 Denominations Act
gives Sofia City Court responsibility for registering religious groups.
To register, groups are required to submit a statement of the
denomination's beliefs. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) has
expressed concern that this requirement constitutes an infringement on
freedom of religion. The law specifically exempts the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church from registration.
The Council of Minister's Religious Confessions Directorate
provides ``expert opinions'' on registration matters upon the court's
request. Only once, for the 2003 application of the Ahmadi Muslim
Organization of the Muslim Ahmadi Community, has the directorate issued
an advisory opinion that resulted in the rejection of registration for
a denomination. After losing a two-year battle for registration as a
religious group in 2004, Ahmadis resorted to registering as a local NGO
in Blagoevgrad. In November the Religious Directorate took the group to
court for carrying out religious activities without proper
registration. The court case was ongoing at year's end. From January to
August, 85 new religious groups were registered with the court.
Although the law does not require local formal registration, some
local branches of nationally-registered denominations experienced
problems with local authorities who insisted that the branches be
registered locally. The registration provisions of the 2002 act did not
provide the criteria which gives the Court a basis for registration, or
the grounds for denying it. Furthermore, the act does not provide
recourse for groups denied registration or state what the consequences
are for failure to register.
Religious groups continued to report difficulties with gaining
long-term status and ability to proselytize, although much less
frequently than in previous years. Foreign missionaries reported
difficulties adjusting their visa status to long-term residence, but
this was more the result of the country's visa regime than a policy of
discrimination on the part of the Government. The Law on Foreign
Persons had no visa category for missionaries or religious workers.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported incidents where local authorities
prevented them from distributing leaflets and impeded their ability to
proselytize.
The leadership of the Muslim community continued to be disputed in
the courts. In 2005 the Sofia City Court attempted to settle the two-
year dispute by formally registering Mustafa Alish Hadji as chief
mufti. Rival Islamic leader Nedim Gendzhev filed an appeal, and in
December 2005 the Sofia appellate court ordered Gendzhev's registration
as the Muslim community's leader. Alish Hadji appealed, and the case
remained unresolved at year's end. Many observers criticized the court
procedures as opaque and politically influenced.
In August the Commission for Protection Against Discrimination
(CPD) decided that school uniform requirements did not discriminate
against female Muslim students. An NGO filed the complaint stating that
the policy effectively banned headscarves.
The Jewish community, the Muslim community, the Catholic Church,
and some Protestant denominations claimed that a number of their
properties confiscated under the Communist government had not been
returned. The Catholic Church reported that only 60 percent of its
confiscated properties had been restituted. A central problem facing
claimant groups was the need to demonstrate that they were the same
organization or the legitimate successor of the organization that owned
the property prior to 1944. This was difficult because Communist
hostility to religion led some groups to hide assets or ownership and
because documents had been destroyed or lost over the intervening
years.
The Government formed a special commission to review outstanding
claims of the Jewish community for restitution of properties
confiscated by the Communist regime. The commission's report, presented
to the Prime Minister in October, found that the community had valid
claims to several properties and recommended the Government either
return them to the community or find comparable properties as
compensation. The commission chose not to review the controversial 2005
court decision on the Rila Hotel, which held that the expropriation
procedure was properly executed by the Communist government and that
the community was not legally entitled to any further compensation. At
year's end the Jewish community was still working with the Government
to implement the recommendations.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Discrimination, harassment,
and general public intolerance of nontraditional religious groups
remained an occasional problem. Human rights groups reported that
societal discrimination against nontraditional religious groups
gradually lessened over the last few years.
The country's small Jewish community and the Muslim community
became targets of the extremist political party Ataka, which employed
racist and discriminatory rhetoric during the 2005 parliamentary
campaign and the 2006 Presidential campaign. Both the newspaper
launched by Ataka in October and the group's Web site, as well as its
cable television mouth-piece Skat, contained strong anti-Semitic and
anti-Muslim material.
According to Shalom, a Jewish organization, anti-Semitism was not
wide-spread. The country's small Jewish community has traditionally
enjoyed long standing tolerance and is a respected minority. Ataka's
discriminatory rhetoric increased anti-Semitic statements in the media
in 2005, but has had limited impact on the overall tradition of
tolerance.
The law protects freedom of religion and prohibits discrimination.
In an effort to promote inter-faith and inter-ethnic education, the
Government supported programs that taught classes on religion and the
history of minorities in at schools. Two watchdog institutions, the
Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission to Protect Against
Discrimination, were responsible for hearing and acting on complaints
of discrimination.
On July 25, unknown persons set fire to a mosque in the town of
Kazanlyk, damaging a small part of the officially-designated cultural
monument. The parliament criticized the attempted arson, noting that
such violations of religious tolerance were atypical for the society.
The investigation into the crime was ongoing at the year's end.
The investigation into the 2005 desecration of over 100 Turkish
graves in Haskovo by three teenagers was ongoing at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it in practice.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Government continued to
work with NGOs to provide assistance to people displaced by 2005 summer
floods. Over 5,000 persons were displaced when their homes were
destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. While many were able to return,
some continued to live in temporary housing while media allegations
mounted that local officials misused and misappropriated relief funds.
Protection of Refugees.--The constitution and law provide for the
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government provided some protection against refoulement,
the return of persons to a country where they feared persecution;
however, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and NGOs,
including the BHC, expressed concern over the Government's handling of
claims for refugee and asylum status and reported that there may have
been cases in which possible bona fide refugees were turned away at the
border. The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The law requires that persons seeking refugee status request and file
an application within 72 hours after entering the country legally.
The Government also provided temporary protection to persons who
may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and 1967
Protocol. This protection, known under Bulgarian law as ``humanitarian
status,'' was provided to 82 persons before December 1.
The UNHCR, in cooperation with the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), operated three transit centers near the Greek,
Turkish, and Romanian borders to interview refugee applicants and
assisted the Government with a small reception center in Banya.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On October 22, national
Presidential elections were held. The incumbent President, Georgi
Parvanov, won a landslide victory against Volen Siderov, leader of the
ultra-nationalist Ataka party. The elections were widely deemed free
and fair.
The law prohibits the formation of political parties along
religious, ethnic, or racial lines and prohibits citizens' associations
from engaging in political activity. In practice, this prohibition did
not restrict political participation by ethnic minorities, and
political parties representing minority groups were active on the local
and national level. The law requires all electoral campaigning to be
conducted in the Bulgarian language. Several political groups
complained that this law was arbitrarily applied during the 2005
parliamentary election campaign.
In 2005 a law took effect obliging all existing parties to
reregister by year's end and introducing a 5,000-person membership
requirement (see section 2.b.).
There were 51 women in the 240-seat National Assembly. A number of
women held elective and appointive office at high levels in the
Government, including one deputy prime minister and two ministers.
Women held key positions in the National Assembly, including one deputy
speaker and the chair of one of the 24 standing committees. The leader
of one of the seven parliamentary groups was a woman.
There were 31 members of minorities in the 240-seat National
Assembly, of whom 28 were ethnic Turkish, one was Romani, and two were
ethnic Armenian. There were three ethnic Turkish ministers in the
cabinet and one Romani deputy ministers. While the ethnic Turkish
minority was well-represented, Roma were underrepresented, particularly
in appointed leadership positions. Pomaks (Slavic Bulgarians who are
Muslims) held elected positions at the local level.
In the 2003 local elections, 3 percent of municipal councilors
elected were Romani, and advocacy groups reported that a considerable
number of Romani mayors also were elected. The National Association of
Municipalities reported that Muslim candidates accounted for 12.5
percent of municipal mayors and 15.2 percent of municipal councilors
elected in 2003.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption was
a problem. During the year, the country received a score of 4.0 on
Transparency International's 10 point composite index of the degree to
which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country had a
serious corruption problem. While high-profile firings and
investigations somewhat improved the Government's image, widespread
concern over government corruption remained.
The European Commission's September monitoring report noted that
the Government had strengthened the legal framework necessary to battle
corruption but that it needed to do more to erase high-level
corruption. In particular, the commission called for more indictments,
trials, and convictions of the guilty. The report also noted the lack
of significant government progress in battling organized crime and
money-laundering.
During the year the Government undertook efforts to combat
corruption. The interministerial anticorruption commission was
responsible for coordinating government efforts to fight public sector
corruption and engaging in public awareness campaigns; however,
representatives of the business community criticized the commission as
ineffectual. In June the commission reported that a total of 248 civil
servants had been punished for corruption and 102 of them were
dismissed.
During the year the Ministry of Interior and the chief prosecutor's
office launched extensive anticorruption campaigns. Several high-placed
government officials, including the heads of the state reserve and fire
protection, the chief of Sofia traffic police, and the head of the
Sofia heating utility, were under investigation for misuse of
government funds. Numerous mid-level officials in customs, the police,
and the prosecutor's office were fired or sanctioned for abuse of
position. Up to September the Ministry of Interior's corruption hotline
received more than 3,000 tips.
The law provides for public access to government information;
however, in practice the Government often restricted such access. In
2005 the NGO Access to Information Program reported approximately 350
cases in which government institutions denied access to information.
During the year the Supreme Administrative Court reviewed more than 40
appeals of denials.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigations of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Human rights observers
reported uneven levels of cooperation from various national and local
government officials during the year.
In 2005 after a one-year delay and two failed attempts, the
National Assembly appointed the country's first national ombudsman. By
law the ombudsman receives and reviews complaints filed by individuals
of rights or freedoms abridged by government institutions. The
ombudsman can request information from state authorities, act as an
intermediary in resolving disputes, make proposals for terminating
existing practices, and refer information to the prosecution service.
Since January the office received over 2,000 complaints on violations
of citizens' rights and freedoms by the administration. Only a small
part of them fell within the office's jurisdiction.
The nine-member antidiscrimination commission began its work during
the year. The commission has the power to receive and investigate
complaints, issue rulings, and impose sanctions on violators. During
the year the commission reviewed approximately 400 cases, the majority
of which dealt with discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or
disability.
The ECHR passed 38 sentences against the country during the year,
compared to 20 in 2005. In 2005 the Government paid over $144,100
(218,675 leva) in compensation for damages suffered as a result of the
Government's denial of fair trial, an unreasonably slow judicial
process, inadequate prison conditions, maltreatment of detainees or
prisoners, and other restrictions of liberty.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination on the grounds of
race, gender, disability, social status, and sexual orientation;
however, the law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of
language. Societal discrimination continued to occur, particularly
against women, practitioners of nontraditional religions, sexual
minorities, and ethnic minorities such as the Roma.
The Government took steps during the year to implement
administrative provisions of the 2004 antidiscrimination law, but
progress was slow. A number of potentially groundbreaking court rulings
against discrimination were issued under the new law, but questions
remained about implementation and the outcome of possible appeals.
Women.--Domestic violence was a serious problem, according to NGOs.
Although there were no precise statistics on its occurrence, police
believed that one of every four women had been a victim of domestic
violence. Courts and prosecutors tended to view domestic abuse as a
family matter rather than a criminal act. As a result, police often
were reluctant to intervene in cases of domestic abuse, even if a woman
sought police protection or assistance.
The law defines domestic violence as any act or attempt of
physical, psychological, or sexual violence against members of one's
family or between cohabitating persons. It empowers the court to deal
with offenders by imposing fines, issuing restraining or eviction
orders, or requiring special counseling. However, according to NGO
observers, only one-third of the cases heard under the law resulted in
restrictive measures against the offender.
The Government did not provide shelter or counseling for women,
although in October the cabinet voted to provide approximately $180,000
(270,000 leva) to establish shelters for domestic violence victims. In
2005 the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation reported having trained
over 300 police officers and judges on the provisions of the domestic
violence law.
Police and social workers actively referred victims of domestic
violence to NGO-run shelters. The country had 15 crisis centers to
provide victim assistance and short-term shelter. The NGO Animus
Association Foundation (AAF) operated a 24-hour hotline for women in
crisis, including victims of trafficking, providing them with access to
professional therapists and assisting them in obtaining medical exams
and treatment, identity documents, and information on housing and
employment opportunities.
The law criminalizes rape, which was underreported due to the
stigma that society attached to the victim. Spousal rape, although not
specifically addressed in the law, can be prosecuted under the general
rape statute; it was rarely prosecuted in practice. Sentences for rape
range between two and eight years in prison, and between three and 10
years in prison if the victim is a descendent relative. In cases where
rape results in serious bodily injury or suicide of the victim,
sentences range between 10 and 20 years' imprisonment. The Government
generally enforced laws against rape, and sentences tended to conform
to statutory guidelines. According to NGOs, the social taboo
experienced by rape victims discouraged them from reporting the crime
and was a far more serious obstacle to prosecution than police
reluctance to investigate.
Prostitution is legal and was commonly practiced; however, a
variety of activities associated with prostitution, such as pimping,
are illegal. Forced prostitution is illegal and remained a serious
problem. Poor socioeconomic conditions contributed to a
disproportionately higher number of Romani women engaged in organized
prostitution.
Trafficking in women was a serious problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is prohibited under the antidiscrimination law,
which also outlines the process for redress. However, sexual harassment
remained a widespread problem, and the Government did not effectively
enforce the law.
The Antidiscrimination Committee reported an increasing number of
sexual harassment cases, approximately 5 percent of all complaints. In
January the court heard the first sexual harassment case under the
antidiscrimination act. The plaintiff, an actress, brought suit against
her director, alleging that she was fired because she refused his
sexual advances. The case was ongoing at year's end.
During the year the Sliven military court reviewed another sexual
harassment case against Colonel Alexander Petkov for sexually harassing
five female soldiers in his brigade. The colonel was dismissed
following the allegations, and the case was ongoing at year's end.
In 2005 the former chief of the Plovdiv sanitary control
inspectorate was charged with coercion, which is punishable by up to
six years' imprisonment, for allegedly threatening to dismiss two of
his female subordinates for declining his sexual advances. In February
the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and fined the defendant. The
decision was being appealed at year's end.
Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including under
family and property law, and in the judicial system; however, women
faced some discrimination in terms of job recruitment. In 2004 a
national council on equality between women and men, headed by the
minister of labor and social policy, was established under the Council
of Ministers to ensure that the rights of women were being protected.
Primarily a consultative body, the council is charged with promoting
cooperation and coordination among NGOs and government agencies. In
November the Government adopted a national plan for equal treatment of
men and women, which the council had developed over the course of the
year.
Women experienced some economic discrimination. According to the
NGO Bulgaria Gender Research Foundation, women's salaries in 2005 were
28 percent lower than men's.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy operated a number of
programs to address economic discrimination and integrate women into
the mainstream of society and the economy. In August the National
Assembly adopted legislation stipulating that in hiring for government
positions, all other factors being equal, the candidate of the minority
gender should get preferential consideration.
Children.--The Government generally was committed to protecting
children's welfare; however, government efforts in education and health
were constrained by serious budgetary limitations and by outmoded
social care structures.
The law provides for compulsory public education until the age of
16; however, the Government did not effectively enforce attendance
requirements. Although public education is free through the 12th grade,
children were required to pay for books, which was a problem for poor
families.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that net school attendance
from 2000 to 2005 was approximately 95 percent. Most students completed
some secondary school. According to a 2006 study, 76 percent of
students completed high school. The study reported that children
primarily left school due to low household income, parental lack of
interest, lack of motivation, or immigration. The number of school
dropouts was highest in the regions with a large Romani population.
Romani children generally received an inferior quality of
education. Romani children generally attended separate schools from
ethnic Bulgarian children, partly due to a legacy of segregation and
official discrimination. Government figures for 2006 indicated that 30
percent of Romani students attended completely segregated schools.
Nearly 10 percent of Roma had never attended school, and less than 1
percent had a university degree.
In 2005 a Sofia court found the city guilty of discrimination for
failing to provide equal educational opportunities to Romani children,
many of whom attended Sofia's three ethnically segregated Roma schools.
The Government's appeal of the ruling was pending at year's end.
Conditions for children in state institutions were poor. Social
prejudice against children with disabilities led families to
institutionalize these children. The provisions of a 2003 national
action plan on children in institutions have led to an annual decline
in the number of child wards. According to the State Agency for Child
Protection, 9,590 children were housed in institutions, down from 9,776
in 2005. Human rights monitors sharply criticized the serious
deficiencies in government-run institutions, including orphanages,
educational reform boarding schools, facilities for children with
mental disabilities, and shelters for homeless children. Inadequate
budgets, poorly trained or unqualified staff, and insufficient
oversight plagued these facilities. Standards of hygiene and access to
medical care were poor.
In October police broke up a prostitution ring involving children
from the Berkovitsa orphanage. The orphanage teenagers reportedly
worked for the arrested ringleader in their time off from school. The
police blamed the lack of proper oversight at the institution for the
incident. The case was under investigation at year's end.
In October a nine-year-old girl died of complications from eating
garbage after being left unattended. An investigation into negligence
on the part of the institution was ongoing at year's end.
In 2005 a five-year-old blind child died from hot water burns
sustained while left unattended in the bathroom of an institution for
children with disabilities in Dobromirci. A police investigation into
staff negligence was ongoing at year's end.
According to NGOs, living conditions in reform boarding schools run
by the Ministry of Education and Science remained poor, offering few
medical, educational, or social services (see section 1.e.). At most of
these institutions, the Government failed to provide for residents'
needs for food, clothing, and instructional materials. Mixed-age
classes and low levels of staff motivation considerably impaired the
teaching process. However, due process procedures for juveniles in
these institutions improved.
Violence against children was a problem. The National Statistical
Institute reported 824 cases of child abuse in 2005, a 3 percent
decrease since 2004. The Government removed children from abusive homes
and prosecuted abusive parents.
Although no official statistics were available, the State Agency
for Child Protection reported that child marriage was relatively
uncommon nationwide but prevalent in the Romani community. The agency
also voiced its concern that arranged marriages, a traditional aspect
of Romani culture, were resulting in trafficking in persons.
The Ministry of Interior identified 255 children as ``at risk'' of
being forced into prostitution between January and October, compared to
398 in 2005. Child prostitution reportedly was particularly common
among Romani girls; there were no known cases of boys engaged in
prostitution.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Widespread poverty led many Romani children to turn to begging,
prostitution, and petty crime on the streets. There were reports of
child smuggling rings paying Romani women for babies that were later
sold to couples in Western and Southern Europe, particularly Greece.
Over the past three years, the authorities have pressed charges against
33 people for forcing pregnant women to sell their children abroad. The
trafficking of pregnant women remained an elusive problem because the
women were free to travel abroad and could not be stopped by border
police. An amendment to the Criminal Code, which went into effect in
October, criminalizes the sale of unborn children.
In December 2004 the State Agency for Child Protection reported
that 625 children were known to be either living or working on the
streets. The children were primarily involved in begging, prostitution,
or car window washing and approximately 400 of these children were
believed to be exploited for labor by adults. The National Statistical
Institute reported a 68 percent increase from 2003 to 2004 in the
number of children registered by police for vagrancy and begging. The
Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime reported a growing
number of children being sent as beggars and pick-pockets to Western
countries, such as Austria; in one example, 600 Bulgarian children were
apprehended in Vienna between January and March and repatriated. The
children were placed in homes for juvenile delinquents upon return to
the country.
As part of the national strategy for street children, the State
Agency for Child Protection continued placing street children in
protective custody. Between January and October, the Ministry of
Interior placed 301 children involved in begging and vagrancy in five
special shelters for street children; in 2005, 274 such children were
sent to these shelters. The shelters were intended to serve more as
immediate protective resources than facilities for long-term or
intermediate care. They provided food, bathing facilities, and basic
medical care, but children were usually not kept for more than 24 hours
unless remanded to protective custody by the special order of a
prosecutor.
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit
trafficking in persons; however, trafficking was a serious problem. The
country remained primarily a point of transit and, to a lesser extent,
of origin and destination, with most victims trafficked for the purpose
of sexual exploitation. Police reported an upward trend in the number
of persons being trafficked from the country. A number of individual
law enforcement officers and other government authorities were
reportedly involved in trafficking.
The Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and the IOM
reported that victims came from within the country, as well as from
Romania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and the countries of central Asia.
The destinations of victims trafficked from and through the country
were Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Poland, Macedonia, Kosovo, and
countries in Western Europe. Victims overwhelmingly were women and
girls trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Young women
between the ages of 16 and 24, with less education, and with
problematic family relations were most vulnerable to being trafficked,
according to NGO and government sources. Minorities, particularly Roma,
and prostitutes also were at particular risk. The IOM reported that 34
percent of the victims it assisted in 2004 were Roma. According to the
IOM and AAF, there also were cases of trafficking in male children.
The IOM reported that it identified and assisted approximately 100
victims of trafficking per year. The actual number of victims may have
been much higher. Police reported dismantling at least 16 trafficking
rings and arresting 175 alleged traffickers during the first nine
months of the year. Of the dismantled rings, 12 were trafficking women
for sexual exploitation, one trafficked pregnant women, two engaged in
trafficking for labor exploitation, and one trafficked persons for
begging and petty theft.
The punishment for trafficking in persons includes prison terms of
one to eight years and fines up to approximately $5,000 (8,000 leva).
Aggravated circumstances increase the penalties to up to 15 years in
prison and fines of up to approximately $12,500 (20,000 leva), and the
court may confiscate the trafficker's assets. A variety of additional
laws may be used to prosecute persons for activities often associated
with trafficking, such as inducement to prostitution. Law enforcement
officers complained that because the minimum penalty for trafficking is
less than five years' imprisonment, the law does not permit them to
fight trafficking with special investigative techniques, such as
wiretapping.
Two police units, one within the National Border Police and the
other within the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime,
specifically addressed the problem of trafficking. The Government
participated in multinational anti-trafficking activities, particularly
within the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative. In 2005 the
National Assembly adopted an amendment permitting the extradition of
citizens for crimes committed abroad, including trafficking.
Some law enforcement officers and other government authorities,
including local authorities and customs officials, allegedly
facilitated trafficking, although there was no evidence of a pattern of
official complicity. Officials often accepted bribes to ignore
trafficking, although some officers may have been more involved. Those
involved in facilitating trafficking overwhelmingly were low-level,
low-paid officials in the rural and border regions.
As of year's end, the National Antitrafficking Commission, the
primary coordination and policy-making body for trafficking issues, had
not met regularly, appointed a functioning secretariat, or established
the regional antitrafficking commissions foreseen by the national
strategy. The Government also had not implemented witness protection
legislation adopted in 2004.
In association with NGOs, the Government conducted trafficking
awareness programs for law enforcement personnel and consular officers
posted to Bulgarian embassies. NGOs reported excellent working
relationships with law enforcement in identifying and assisting
trafficking victims. The IOM continued a trafficking awareness campaign
begun in 2000, which has developed several regional networks of police,
prosecutors, and concerned NGOs to raise awareness of trafficking. The
program included a referral mechanism to provide protection and
assistance to returning victims. The IOM operated several local
shelters and safe houses where it provided free housing, protection,
and reintegration assistance to victims, including those willing to
testify in the prosecution of traffickers. The Government supported
information campaigns organized by local and international NGOs. During
the year the IOM reported sheltering approximately 100 women and girls,
and the AAF sheltered more than 50 women.
During the year the Government opened one shelter for child victims
of violence and trafficking.
The AAF operated a 24-hour hotline for women in crisis that
received 109 calls regarding trafficking of women and children, down
from 142 in 2005.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the constitution and law
prohibit discrimination against persons with physical and mental
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, or the
provision of other state services, the Government did not effectively
enforce these provisions in practice. Societal discrimination against
persons with disabilities persisted.
The law requires improved access to buildings for persons with
disabilities, and public works projects have taken this into account;
however, enforcement of this law lagged in existing, unrenovated
buildings. According to the Psychological Center for Research, an
advocacy group for rights of people with disabilities, only 3 percent
of the country's municipalities have fully complied with the legal
requirements for accessibility.
Conditions in institutions for persons with disabilities were poor.
NGOs reported that staffing problems, particularly on night shifts in
institutions for adults, posed a significant risk to residents, who
complained of mistreatment and theft by staff.
In June 2005 24-year-old Ivailo Vakarelski was found beaten and
strangled to death in the state psychiatric hospital in Karlukovo. By
the end of 2005, hospital authorities had reportedly neither conducted
an internal investigation nor performed a post mortem examination,
which is generally mandatory in such cases. In December the regional
prosecutor's investigation into the incident was terminated due to lack
of evidence.
Laws exist to promote the hiring and employment of persons with
disabilities; however, the Government's enforcement of these provisions
was poor, and some provisions resulted in employer discrimination
against persons with disabilities in the hiring process. An
overwhelming majority of persons with disabilities were unemployed.
Persons with mental and physical disabilities, including very young
children, often were segregated from the rest of society; the
segregation of children with disabilities into special schools lowered
the quality of their education. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy
(MLSP) operated 26 institutions for children and youth with
disabilities. An MLSP study during the year reported that the
facilities and administration of 25 of the institutions had to be
reformed or restructured, with one recommendation for closing. NGOs
complained that conditions in these institutions were poor, despite
slight improvements during the year.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against
Roma and other minority groups remained the same as in 2005,
occasionally resulting in incidents of violence between members of the
ethnic Bulgarian majority and the ethnic Romani minority.
Although the Roma were officially estimated to make up 4.6 percent
of the population, their actual share was more likely between 6 and 7
percent. According to a 2002 Council of Europe report, there were
600,000 to 800,000 Roma in the country. According to a 2001 census,
ethnic Turks made up 9 percent of the population. Ethnic Bulgarian
Muslims, often termed Pomaks, are a distinct group of Slavic descent,
whose ancestors converted from Orthodox Christianity to Islam; they
constituted 2 to 3 percent of the population.
There were reports that police harassed, physically abused, and
arbitrarily arrested Roma, although no fatal attacks were reported
during the year (see section 1.d.). The Government made little progress
in resolving cases of police violence against Roma. Human rights groups
complained that magistrates sometimes failed to pursue crimes committed
against minorities.
Ethnic prejudices against and negative stereotypes of Roma continue
to play a significant role in society. According to a study by the
Center for Liberal Studies, 86 percent of ethnic Bulgarians viewed Roma
as irresponsible and lazy, 87 percent believed Roma were inclined to
criminal acts, and 63 percent believed Roma should live separately from
others.
In September a Bulgarian observer to the European Parliament,
Dimitar Stoyanov, sparked an international controversy when he made
racist and sexist remarks against a Hungarian member of the European
Parliament of Roma origins, Livia Jaroka. Stoyanov, an Ataka party
member, protested Jaroka's nomination as parliamentarian of the year in
an e-mail sent to all European Parliament members, stating that ``there
are tens of thousands of gypsy girls way more beautiful than this--and
the best of them are very expensive.'' His statement was unanimously
criticized by the Bulgarian parliament; however, because of a legal
technicality, the parliament could not recall Stoyanov without
recalling all Bulgarian observers.
In October Minister of Health Radoslav Gaidarski told journalists
that he would initiate a law to ban underage motherhood. His statement
was widely taken as a proposal to limit births among Roma girls and
invoked sharp criticism from NGOs and several members of parliament.
Gaydarski attempted to withdraw his comment later, saying that it was
taken out of context and that there was no need for such a law at the
moment.
At year's end authorities continued the investigation into the
highly publicized death of Stanimir Kaloyanov, an ethnic Bulgarian who
died of head injuries sustained during a race-related brawl in Sofia in
May 2005. Three ethnic Romani suspects were arrested immediately
following the incident and were released without charge.
There were no developments relating to cases of skinhead violence
against Romani residents of Sofia in 2004.
There were no developments in the April 2004 case in which two men
reportedly brutally beat Georgi Angelov, a Rom, and cut off his ear
with a razor blade. Human rights groups reported that the police failed
to effectively investigate this and similar incidents.
Many Roma and other observers made credible allegations that the
quality of education offered to Romani children was inferior to that
afforded most other students (see section 5, Children).
The unemployment rate among Roma was nearly 65 percent, reaching up
to 80 percent in some regions. Approximately 10 percent of Roma
graduated from high school and only 1 percent had a university degree.
Severe unemployment and poverty among Roma, combined with generally
unfavorable attitudes toward Roma among ethnic Bulgarians and Turks,
contributed to strained relations between Roma and the rest of society.
Workplace discrimination against minorities, especially the Roma,
continued to be a problem.
Many Roma lived in substandard housing and lacked legal
registration for their places of residences. This situation rendered
them particularly vulnerable in June, when Sofia city officials ordered
the demolition of the houses of 16 Romani families lacking legal deeds
in the Vazhrazhdane district of Sofia. The demolition was halted when
local NGOs and the international community publicly criticized the
mayor's office. The previous year, approximately 150 Roma were left
homeless when the Government destroyed their illegal houses in the
Hristo Botev neighborhood.
Roma were disproportionately affected by the 2005 summer floods
that destroyed vital infrastructure and displaced more than 5,000
persons (see section 2.d.). Observers attributed the greater
vulnerability of Roma to preexisting economic hardship and harsh living
conditions.
With the support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, the Government attempted to provide housing for Romani
families displaced in 2001 by the construction of new apartment blocks
in Sofia and Plovdiv. However, NGOs reported that only 80 Romani
families had been resettled in Sofia. In Plovdiv, 80 percent of the
allocated funds were used to build 30 percent of the planned housing,
causing local officials to allege corruption in the central government
and prompting the international donors to withdraw from the project.
NGOs reported that Roma encountered difficulties applying for
social benefits, and local officials discouraged rural Roma from
claiming land to which they were entitled under the law disbanding
agricultural collectives. Many Roma suffered from inadequate access to
health care.
During the year Romani rights organizations successfully used the
2003 antidiscrimination act to win several cases in court. In June the
Plovdiv Appeals Court ruled against a local discotheque for denying
entrance to Kiril Mitkov in 2004. The court ruled that the business
practiced direct discrimination when it refused to let Mitkov enter
because ``no Roma were allowed.'' In another 2006 case, the Sofia city
court held employers directly responsible for the discriminatory
behavior of their employees. In the case, the court found that a
company became liable when its employee advised Angel Assenov not to
apply for a position because he was Roma and would not be hired.
With the support of local NGOs and foreign donors, the Government
implemented a program to teach Romani folklore and history to over
5,000 children in an effort to increase interethnic understanding and
fight prejudice. Government integration programs also included busing
over 2,000 Romani children from ghettoized neighborhoods to mixed-
ethnicity schools. Assistant teachers from minority backgrounds were
hired to assist children from Turkish and Romani linguistic minorities
to learn Bulgarian and to integrate into mixed classes.
The country's small population of Pomaks remained in an ambiguous
position. In the town of Yakoruda, local officials refused to recognize
the Pomak identity, and those calling themselves Pomaks alleged
discrimination by government officials.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Although the law
prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the
Government did not effectively enforce this provision in practice.
Although incidents of violence against sexual minorities were rare,
societal discrimination was a problem, manifesting itself primarily as
discrimination in employment. Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender community were sometimes refused employment on the
grounds of sexual orientation or fired after revealing their sexual
identity, although gay rights activists reported that such incidents
were becoming less common.
According to the Bulgarian Foundation for Aiding HIV/AIDS Patients,
several HIV-positive patients were denied appropriate medical
treatment. The main reason cited by doctors was the lack of the
legislatively-mandated isolation room. Patients reported hiding the
fact that they are HIV positive in order to receive medical care.
Gemini, a gay-rights organization, filed three cases with the
Committee on Protection Against Discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation discrimination. The committee ruled in Gemini's favor in
all three cases.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
the right of all workers to form or join trade unions of their choice,
and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 18 percent of the workforce was unionized; according
to individual trade unions and the Democratic Trade Unions Association,
the percentage of the workforce that was unionized continued to
decrease.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and includes a provision
for a six-month salary payment as compensation for illegal dismissal.
Employees could use mediation and the judicial system to resolve
complaints, although the burden of proof in such cases rested entirely
on the employee.
There were reports of discrimination and harassment against trade
union activists and members, who were relocated, downgraded, or fired.
In the private sector, a few employers had a policy of illegally
prohibiting trade union membership within their enterprises. Although
less frequent than in previous years, there were credible reports that
some private employers also forced newly employed workers to sign
declarations that they would not establish or join trade unions. There
were reports of employers deducting dues from workers' salaries and not
passing them on to the unions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law provides
an adequate legal structure for collective bargaining, which was
practiced nationally, regionally, and on the local level; however,
labor unions alleged that many employers failed to bargain in good
faith or to adhere to agreements that were concluded. NGOs reported
that collective bargaining was not always effective in practice.
Private employers reportedly often refused to negotiate collective
agreements, delayed negotiations unnecessarily, or refused to sign
agreements; in other cases, private employers signed agreements but did
not apply them. A 2003 study published by the European Industrial
Relations Observatory estimated that 40 percent of employees worked
under collective bargaining agreements.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, key public sector employees (primarily
military and law enforcement personnel) were subject to a blanket
prohibition against striking. These employees were able to take the
Government to court as a means of ensuring due process in protecting
their rights.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's six export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). Children were
sometimes forced to work due to economic conditions or because of
pressure from family members or criminal organizations.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, including a prohibition on forced or compulsory labor
and policies regarding acceptable working conditions. The Government
was somewhat effective at implementing these laws and policies in
practice. The law sets the minimum age for employment at 16 years and
the minimum age for dangerous work at 18 years; employers and the MLSP
are responsible for enforcing these provisions. Child labor laws
generally were enforced well in the formal sector, but NGOs reported
that children were exploited in certain industries (particularly small
family-owned shops, textile factories, restaurants, family farms,
construction, and periodical sales) and by organized crime (notably for
sexual exploitation and the distribution of narcotics). During the year
the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy's general labor inspectorate
found 219 violations of child labor regulations, all of which were
forwarded for prosecution. By October the prosecution service declined
to prosecute 34 cases and continued to review the rest.
Few official statistics on child labor were available. The latest
statistics, published by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in
2000, showed that 14 percent of children ages five to 17 years were
working. Children were engaged in paid work outside of the home in the
commercial and service sectors, agriculture, forestry, transportation,
communications, industry, and construction. According to the ILO,
children's workdays often exceeded the seven-hour legal maximum, and
sometimes children did not receive overtime pay for hours worked. Local
NGOs reported that children worked on nonfamily-owned farms for meager
monetary or in-kind wages, such as food, and that institutionalized
children often sought modestly paid agricultural labor during periods
when they were allowed out of residential facilities.
The worst forms of child labor occurred infrequently, but included
heavy physical labor and health hazards on family tobacco farms,
particularly among the ethnic Turkish minority. The Government
continued programs to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, using
educational campaigns about the effects of child labor and implementing
interventions aimed to protect, withdraw, rehabilitate, and reintegrate
children engaged in the worst forms of child labor. Trafficking of
children was a problem (see section 5).
In accordance with a memorandum of understanding with the ILO, the
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy established a child labor unit to
coordinate child labor issues and to develop a national database on
child labor in the country.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--During the year the Government
approved and implemented an increase in the national minimum wage to
approximately $94 (150 leva) per month. While this wage does not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family, many
workers were paid more under the table for tax purposes.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours with at least
one 24-hour rest period per week. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy is responsible for enforcing both the minimum wage and the
standard workweek. Premium pay for hours worked over 40 per week was
supposed to be negotiated between employers and employees. The law
stipulates that premium pay for overtime could not be less than 150
percent during workdays, 175 percent during weekends, and 200 percent
during official holidays. The law prohibits overtime for children under
age 18, pregnant women, and women with children up to age six.
Enforcement generally was effective in the state sector but was weaker
in the private sector.
There was a national labor safety program, with standards
established by the law, which states that employees are entitled to
healthy and nonhazardous working conditions. The Ministry of Labor and
Social Policy is responsible for enforcing these provisions. However,
conditions in many cases continued to worsen. In one case, the general
labor inspectorate inspected a Dupnitsa shoe factory after two
seamstresses died on the job. Both suffered from high-blood pressure,
which was worsened by the harsh working conditions at the factory. The
inspectors found numerous violations, including substandard
ventilation, excessive overtime, lack of proper protective gear, and
failure to observe statutory medical requirements. The law requires
joint employer and labor health and safety committees to monitor
workplace conditions; however, implementation was slow and these
committees remained in the developmental stages at year's end.
The law gives employees the right to remove themselves from work
situations that present a serious or immediate danger to life or health
without jeopardy to their continued employment; however, refusal to
work in such situations could result in the loss of employment.
__________
CROATIA
The Republic of Croatia is a constitutional parliamentary democracy
with a population of 4.4 million. Legislative authority is vested in
the unicameral Sabor (parliament). The President, Stjepan Mesic, serves
as head of state and commander of the armed forces, cooperating in
formulation and execution of foreign policy and directing operations of
the intelligence service; he also nominates the Prime Minister, who
leads the Government. Presidential and local elections held in February
and May 2005 were generally conducted in accordance with electoral
legislation. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. The judicial
system suffered from a severe backlog, although during the year it made
headway in reducing the number of cases awaiting a hearing.
Intimidation of some witnesses in domestic war crimes trials remained a
problem, with one notably high-profile case involving parliamentarian
Branimir Glavas. Courts largely discontinued the practice of in-
absentia trials, although some trials continued against large groups
for war crimes. The Government made little progress in restituting
property nationalized by the Yugoslav communist regime to non-Roman
Catholic religious groups. The Orthodox Church was particularly
critical of the Government's reluctance to consistently implement laws
and speed up return of confiscated property. The Government did not
fully implement programs providing housing to ethnic Serb refugees who
lost access to socialized housing. While NGOs noted a significant
decline in violence against ethnic Serbs, societal violence and
discrimination against ethnic minorities, particularly Serbs and Roma,
remained a problem. The 2002 Constitutional Law on National Minorities
remained largely unimplemented, particularly relating to public sector
employment. In addition violence and discrimination against women
continued. School officials continued to segregate Romani students into
substandard schools. Trafficking in persons remained a problem.
During the year the Government, in particular offices of the state
prosecutor, demonstrated continued willingness to prosecute war crimes
committed by ethnic Croats and continued strong cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Although Serbs continued to represent the majority of individuals
prosecuted, international trial monitors reported that Serb defendants
generally had a better chance of receiving a fair trial than in the
past.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
During the year one civilian was killed by a landmine in the
Vukovar region. During the year there were mine incidents in which one
person was killed, two heavily injured, and four lightly injured. The
incidents happened in Vukovar-Srijem, Sisak-Moslavina, Brod-Posavina,
and Karlovac counties.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
Government figures showed that 1,122 persons, mostly ethnic Croats,
remained missing from the 1991-95 military conflict. In addition the
Government collected information on 930 missing ethnic Serbs. During
the year the bodies of 176 missing persons were exhumed, while the
remains of another 74 persons found earlier were identified. In March,
for the first time, parliament accepted the Office of Missing Person's
total calculations on missing persons of all ethnicities. Previously,
international organizations criticized the Government for failing to
recognize this number, which now coincides with calculations of the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and International
Committee for Missing Persons (ICMP).
To date, 4,155 persons have been exhumed, and 3,366 missing persons
have been identified. During the year Serbia and Montenegro provided to
the Government a list of approximately 400 military members who
allegedly were missing in the country. In June there was reportedly a
discovery of a mass grave with the remains of six persons in Trokut
Novska. In October the Government discovered two caves in the Plitvice
area with remains of at least 100 persons. The Government had not
determined whether they originated from World War II or a later period.
The Government handled all exhumations and identifications, with the
ICTY monitoring only the sites related to cases it investigated. The
ICMP assisted in the recovery and identification of remains. The ICRC,
which closed its Zagreb office in December, and the Government signed a
memorandum of understanding in August which allowed sharing of
databases and the handing over of all remaining ICRC missing persons
cases to the Croatian Red Cross.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--In March the Government's
human rights ombudsman and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
found substandard conditions in the country's prisons. The ombudsman
identified overcrowding as a primary problem. Prisons in Varazdin,
Osijek, and Split held twice their stated capacity. Prisons were
overpopulated due to the number of pretrial detainees awaiting verdicts
rather than convicted persons serving sentences. The ombudsman also
found that basic hygienic conditions were lacking in some facilities
and that medical care was poor.
The 2006 Prison System Administration report, published in
November, showed a deterioration of the conditions in detention
centers. Overcrowding, poor staffing, corruption, and an increasing
number of young inmates existed in many of the country's prisons. In
2005 the average occupancy of Croatian prisons was approximately 122
percent of intended capacity.
Similar concerns were raised by the ECHR in the Miroslav Cenbauer
case, in which the country was found to be in breach of the European
Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane or degrading
treatment and punishment. The Court ruled unanimously that there had
been a violation of the ECHR and awarded the applicant $3,700 (3,000
euros) for non-pecuniary damage. The ECHR noted that Cenbauer was not
allotted the minimum space required for inmates as prescribed by
domestic law and international standards, and that he was confined to
his cell for at least two years. In addition, the court found that
Cenbauer was subjected to unhygienic living conditions. In 1993 the
applicant was found guilty of several criminal offences, including
murder, and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He was released in
2003.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers. The ICRC had free access and reported full cooperation on
the part of the authorities during its tour of prisons during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The intelligence
service is under the authority of the Prime Minister and President. The
national police have primary responsibility for national security; in
times of disorder, the Prime Minister and the President may call upon
the military to provide security. An independent oversight board
monitors intelligence service performance.
There were approximately 21,000 police officers under the authority
of the interior ministry. Minorities made up approximately 4.2 percent
of the national police force and approximately 4.8 percent of the
interior ministry administration.
Police corruption and dereliction of duty were problems. During the
year, the police received negative media attention for several
incidents. In June two individuals beat Dutch photographer and
journalist Ad van Denderen who they falsely suspected of taking
inappropriate pictures of children. In August the photographer reported
the Split police to the European Parliament for mistreatment and
failure to grant protection, alleging that he was treated as a suspect
rather than a victim. Police began disciplinary proceedings against the
officers in August. In July, in Korcula, two police officers arrested a
suspected narcotics dealer and then had coffee with the individual,
during which time he escaped and was subsequently recaptured. The
officers were temporarily suspended.
Under the European Union, the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international guidance, the
interior ministry continued to update and codify rules of ethical
police conduct and to improve the capabilities of the police internal
control section.
Weak police performance, including poor investigative techniques,
insensitivity to ethnic issues, indecisive middle management, and
susceptibility to pressure from hard-line local politicians remained
problems despite government efforts to address them. During the year
the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the OSCE, continued a
comprehensive program of police reforms, in part to extend community
policing pilot programs throughout the country. The Ministry of
Interior also expanded programs to provide training for all active
police officers.
Arrest and Detention.--Police normally obtained arrest warrants by
presenting evidence of probable cause to an investigative magistrate;
however, police can make arrests without a warrant if they believe a
suspect might flee, destroy evidence, or commit other crimes. The
police have 24 hours to justify an arrest to a magistrate.
Police must provide detainees' access to an attorney of their
choice within 24 hours of their arrest. If a detainee does not have an
attorney and is charged with a crime for which the sentence is over 10
years' imprisonment, the magistrate is required to appoint counsel. The
Government generally enforced this in practice. The magistrate must
decide whether to extend a detention for further investigation within
48 hours of an arrest. Investigative detention generally lasted up to
30 days; however, trial courts could extend the period up to 12 months
in certain cases. Detainees may be released on their own recognizance
pending further proceedings, although most criminal suspects were held
in custody pending trial. The option of posting bail after an
indictment is available but was not commonly exercised. Detainees are
also allowed visits by family members.
During the year authorities apprehended 20 individuals (13 Serbs,
six Croats, and one Bosniak) for war crimes based on court orders or
arrest warrants. Nine remained in detention pending ongoing
investigation, and three of the individuals were returnees.
According to a state prosecutor's survey conducted in 2005, the
average length of pretrial detention varied between four and five
months. The law allows six months standard maximum pretrial detention,
but the court can extend it to 12 months in certain cases, primarily
for war crimes and organized crime cases, at the request of the state
prosecutor.
Mitar Arambasic, an ethnic Serb, was arrested in 2002 in the United
States and extradited to the country in January based on a 1997 in-
absentia war crimes conviction. He immediately requested and was
granted a retrial, but the court has delayed his retrial pending
extradition of fellow indictee Dragan Arnaut from Russia. In June
Arambasic's attorney filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court
arguing that any further detention would be excessive when combined
with the more than three years the defendant spent in detention prior
to his extradition. In November the Constitutional Court upheld the
Supreme Court decision from September that the previous detention
period was not part of the pretrial detention period.
Amnesty.--The law provides for amnesty except for war crimes. In
practice when investigations fail to substantiate original charges of
war crimes, courts have lowered the charges and convicted defendants,
allowing them to grant the defendants amnesty. This practice resolves
the case for the court without further investigation and allows the
defendant to go free, but disregards the future repercussions that a
criminal record may have on potentially innocent defendants,
particularly with regard to employment.
Five Serbs were granted amnesty during their trial, since charges
against them were reduced to armed rebellion and amnesty subsequently
applied.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary. The judiciary continued to suffer from a
backlog of approximately 1.5 million cases as of 2005. During the first
six months of the year, case backlogs in municipal courts decreased by
approximately 400,000. In a September survey, according to the
marketing agency GFK, the public perceived the judiciary as one of the
main sources of corruption in the country.
The judicial system consists of municipal and county courts,
commercial and misdemeanor courts, an administrative court, and the
Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court determines the
constitutionality of laws, governmental acts, and elections. A parallel
commercial court system adjudicates commercial and contractual
disputes. The State Judicial Council is responsible for appointing,
disciplining, and, if necessary, removing judges. Parliament appoints
the chief state prosecutor, who appoints chief state attorneys at the
county and municipal level; the State Prosecutorial Council, a
disciplinary body appointed by parliament, appoints and disciplines
deputy prosecutors.
During the year Serb leaders continued to express concern about
discrimination in the appointment of judges and reported that, on
occasion, the State Judicial Council either refused candidates or left
positions vacant rather than appoint ethnic Serbs. In February,
according to a government report, 34 out of 1,492 judges, or 2.3
percent, were ethnic Serbs. At year's end 96.1 percent of the 7,782
judicial employees, including courts and the prosecution, were Croat,
2.3 percent were Serb, and 1.5 percent belonged to other national
minorities.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. The legal system uses panels of judges, which in some cases
include lay judges, rather than juries, to make convictions. Defendants
have the right to be present and consult with an attorney in a timely
manner and could confront or question witnesses against them and
present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants have access
to government held evidence relevant to their cases and enjoyed the
presumption of innocence and the right to appeal.
Excessive court delays remained a problem, and the Constitutional
Court increasingly awarded damages to persons who had experienced
unreasonable court delays. During the year the Constitutional Court
issued 963 judgments finding unreasonable delays in lower and Supreme
Court rulings and ordered the Government to pay fines in 725 of these
cases. The Supreme Court increased the fines which totaled $1.3 million
(7.3 million kuna). The Supreme Court noted that such delays threatened
the integrity of the legal system and called into question the court's
ability to provide effective remedies. In 2005 the ECHR called the
delays excessive and a violation of citizens' right to trial in a
reasonable time. During the year a new system for review of judicial
delays was implemented to reduce the Constitutional Court's supervisory
role and increase time spent on human rights issues. The amended law
authorizes regular courts to adjudicate lawsuits related to delayed
trials. The Constitutional Court was previously the only court of
instance that could rule in such cases.
The OSCE reported that state institutions, such as police officers
and county state prosecutors, increasingly investigated possible crimes
by the armed forces, including by persons in supervisory positions.
However, political interference in judicial matters continued to be a
concern in two ongoing investigations into war crimes committed in
Osijek in 1991-92, that implicated Branimir Glavas, a Member of
Parliament (MP) and Osijek city council President. In May, following an
initial police investigation in Osijek, in late 2005 and early 2006,
parliament removed Glavas' immunity from criminal prosecution and the
Supreme Court approved a change of venue for the full investigation
from Osijek to Zagreb. In July Glavas posted the full testimony of
several witnesses before the investigative judge as well as documents
to discredit them on his Web site. To avoid possible witness
intimidation, the court ordered prosecutors and Glavas' legal counsel
to sign a binding non disclosure agreement. Osijek-based journalist
Drago Hedl cited incidents in which Glavas' supporters directly
intimidated potential witnesses, including himself. In October, after
parliament removed Glavas' immunity from detention, the Zagreb County
Court reordered his detention to prevent further witness tampering.
Glavas voluntarily entered detention but immediately went on a hunger
strike to protest what he called political charges against him. He was
released after 37 days on a hunger strike and sent to the hospital. At
year's end Glavas remained in the hospital due to his critical health
condition, and both procedures against him were temporarily suspended.
To improve management standards and increase knowledge and
expertise among the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, with
international assistance, expanded the number and scope of programs at
the judicial academy to improve professional training for judges.
During the year domestic courts continued to try cases arising from
the 1991-95 war, including several partially in absentia trials with
large groups of defendants. State prosecutors continued to review all
open war crimes cases, eliminating unsubstantiated charges. As of
December 1,092 pending war crimes cases remained, most involving
defendants currently living outside the country. As most constitutions
in the region prohibit the extradition of a country's own citizens, the
chief state prosecutor signed agreements with his counterparts in
Montenegro and Serbia to enable the transfer of evidence in such cases,
allowing suspects to be tried where they lived rather than where the
crime was committed.
In August the OSCE reported that the Supreme Court reversed trial
court verdicts and remanded the case for retrial in 75 percent of
individual appeals, reflecting a continued upward trend in reversal
rates. During the year the OSCE followed 48 cases at the Supreme Court
involving appeals of trial court verdicts involving 119 individuals (90
ethnic Serbs, 26 ethnic Croats, two ethnic Bosniaks, and one ethnic
Hungarian). Of these, the court decided on 13 appeals involving 36
people (32 Serbs, two Bosniaks, one Croat, and one Hungarian),
confirming 11 trial court verdicts involving 24 individuals, and
reversing two trial court verdicts involving 12 individuals. In the
majority of cases, the Supreme Court took more than three years to
reach a verdict. Similar to previous years, at least one case of
substantial delays involved accused persons who were convicted in
absentia and remained at large.
Persons convicted in absentia regularly made use of their
guaranteed right for a retrial. Some ethnic Serbs voluntarily returned
to the country to be arrested for pending war crimes charges or in
absentia convictions, since this was the only way they could challenge
a conviction under the law.
While the atmosphere surrounding domestic war crimes trials
generally improved, inadequate training, shortcomings in the legal
code, witness intimidation, and an often-hostile local public hampered
the war crimes adjudication process. While the Ministry of Interior's
witness protection unit provided effective witness protection to at-
risk witnesses outside the courtroom, observers noted that courts were
not sufficiently proactive in sanctioning defendants or members of the
public who attempedt to intimidate witnesses inside the courtroom.
Many observers questioned the impartiality of trials held in the
jurisdiction where war crimes occurred, since judges, prosecutors, and
witnesses could be more exposed to external influences there. Courts
trying domestic war crimes continued to display bias toward defendants
based on their ethnic origin, although the OSCE noted that Serb
defendants had a better chance of receiving a fair trial than in the
past. The most noticeable problem was the difference in charges filed
against Serbs and Croats, with Serbs being accused of a wide range of
misconduct while Croats were almost exclusively charged for killings.
In at least three cases, courts continued to prosecute Serbs for
genocide on the basis of acts that were not of the gravity usually
associated with verdicts of international tribunals ascribing genocidal
intent and conduct.
Most persons on trial for war crimes were ethnic Serbs, nearly
three-quarters of whom were tried in absentia in group trials in
Vukovar County where some defendants were present.
In March the Split County Court found eight former soldiers guilty
of the torture and murder of ethnic Serb civilians in Lora prison in
1992. Their sentences ranged from six to eight years in prison.
In June the retrial of Mihajlo Hrastov resumed in Karlovac after a
year-long suspension due to the defendant's mental health. Hrastov, an
ethnic Croat and former member of the Karlovac special police, was
charged with the murder of 13 unarmed Yugoslav National Army prisoners
in 1991. The Supreme Court overturned two previous acquittals.
In August the Vukovar County Court ordered the detention of three
former soldiers and one soldier still on active duty pending an
investigation of the 1992 murder of the Olujic family, who were ethnic
Serbs, in the village of Cerna.
In August, upon request of the chief state prosecutor, the Ministry
of Interior began an investigation of alleged war crimes captured on
video near Dvor na Uni in 1995. After reviewing the video, the
prosecutor determined it contained evidence of crimes against civilians
and prisoners of war. The state prosecutor initiated cooperation with
counterparts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro to
identify perpetrators and pursue investigations.
In May the Supreme Court upheld in part the Zagreb County Court in
absentia conviction of fugitive Munib Suljic. Based on this verdict,
the Netherlands extradited Suljic in June; in August, Suljic died of
natural causes in a prison hospital.
The appeal of the acquittal of four soldiers charged with killing
two elderly Serb civilians near Sibenik in 1995 remained pending before
the Supreme Court at year's end.
The Vukovar County Court trial of 16 former members of a Serb
paramilitary unit, 15 in absentia, who were charged with genocide and
war crimes in the town of Lovas in Eastern Slavonia remained ongoing at
year's end. In 2005 the OSCE trial monitors cited the trial was an
example of genocide charges being brought for acts that were not of the
gravity associated with international genocide verdicts. The indictment
alleged that defendants took actions intended to exterminate ethnic
Croats. One defendant died. Only one of the accused was present during
the trial.
The trial continued in Vukovar against 25 persons, 15 Serbs, five
Ruthenians, four persons of unknown ethnicity, and one Roma, accused of
war crimes against civilians from Miklosevci, a mainly Ruthenian-
populated village. Two defendants died, one from cancer. Some
defendants were present at hearings while others were on provisional
release. The defendants were accused of genocide, murder, and
intimidation of non-Serbs in 1991 and 1992.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
Property Restitution.--During the year the Government neared
completion of its program to return illegally occupied homes to their
owners; however, the property law implicitly favors ethnic Croats over
ethnic Serbs by giving precedence to the right of temporary occupants,
who are mainly ethnic Croats, to that of original owners, predominantly
ethnic Serbs. Owners generally could not repossess their property
unless housing was secured for the temporary tenants. At year's end the
Government estimated that 18 private houses belonging to ethnic Serbs
remained occupied, down from 55 houses in December 2005. In addition
173 properties remained unclaimed or disputed in the court system.
Backlogs in the judicial system impeded the resolution of housing
disputes.
In March the ECHR Grand Chamber declared inadmissible the landmark
case related to termination of tenancy rights in the apartment of
Krstina Blecic. Blecic left her apartment at the outset of war and did
not return within the six months required by law to maintain her
tenancy right. Without entering into the case's merit, the court
decided that the ECHR did not apply because the termination of right
happened before the convention entered into force in 1997.
Property restitution remained a problem for all major religious
groups except the Islamic Community. The Serbian Orthodox community,
the second largest claimant of property in the country, reported that
its joint commission with the Government convened in December after
repeated requests and achieved no results on restitution by year's end.
The Government also had not returned Jewish properties, including some
buildings in Zagreb, although it did return properties in Osijek and
Vukovar.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and the press; however, government officials
occasionally interfered with the media and attempted to influence
national television.
A wide range of private newspapers and magazines were published
without government interference. The privately owned Tisak distributed
approximately 75 percent of the print media. Political parties, private
companies (some foreign owned), and the Government owned or influenced
various newspaper and magazine outlets. Foreign newspapers and journals
were available in urban areas throughout the country; however, they
remained largely inaccessible to many persons due to their high cost.
Despite the three-year-old media law, media ownership was not fully
transparent, making it possible for political or other interests to
conceal their influence on media outlets.
The government-owned and operated the national television and radio
network (HRT). Independent television and radio stations operated in
the country, and two of the three national television stations were
private.
Local broadcast media were vulnerable to political pressure since
most stations were at least partially owned by local governments.
Approximately 70 percent of the media was partly or fully owned by
local governments and approximately 46 percent of local radio stations
depended on the financial support of local authorities. The Croatian
Journalists Association (CJA) proposed privatization of approximately
100 local and regional radio stations owned by municipalities, towns,
and counties, warning in July that local authorities were using them as
``propaganda machines.'' In October CJA President Dragutin Lucic stated
that approximately 100 partly state-owned local radio stations remain a
serious problem, as they acted as a propaganda service to the ruling
party in local self-government. In October, in a separate statement,
CJA also expressed concern over censorship in the government-owned
national daily Vjesnik.
In late October the CJA and the journalists' trade union stated
that journalists' labor rights had lately been ``increasingly
violated'' and ``media freedoms infringed.'' They warned of numerous
violations in Vjesnik, Pula-based daily Glas Istre, and other local
media. Among cases cited were the decision by Glas Istre management to
fire a number of journalists, who complained that they were being
targeted for their reporting on the activities of a local political
party leader, and the case of a Karlovac local radio station
journalist, Vlado Drazic, whose salary had been cut by 5 percent
allegedly because he opposed the Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ)
deputy mayor in Karlovac.
In December HRT management suspended two HTV news editors, Danko
Druzijanic and Goran Rotim, and publicly warned a third editor, Petar
Stefanic, for broadcasting a speech by President Stjepan Mesic in the
early 1990s, where he appeared to condone the country's fascist
government during World War II. The editors were suspended on the
grounds that they had lacked critical judgment and professionalism in
broadcasting the speech. The CJA described the suspension as a
``serious violation of the right of free expression and speech,'' and
Reporters Without Borders also condemned the HRT decision. Rotim and
Druzijanic were allowed to return to work on December 14, after HRT's
Ethics Council decided that they and Stefanic did not violate the HRT's
code of conduct.
War crimes issues were a sensitive issue for media, and journalists
faced pressures because of their reporting. In May the CJA condemned
death threats against Feral Tribune journalist Drago Hedl, who had
reported alleged war crimes by current officials. According to media
reports, the police provided 24-hour police protection for Hedl and
arrested two individuals. The alleged threat came from local politician
Davor Boras, President of HDS-SB Youth (Croatian Democratic Council of
Slavonia and Baranja) and Dalibor Zizanovic.
In May police detained both Boras and Zizanovic. In September Boras
pleaded not guilty, adding that he cursed Hedl but did not threaten
him. He also added that Hedl's reports about the ``homeland war'' and
war veterans were the motive of his action. Hedl said that in addition
to curses, Boras told him he would ``kill him like a dog.''
On July 19 after parliament appointed four members of the new five-
member steering council of state-owned news agency Hina, the
International Federation of Journalists released a statement calling
for new and transparent executive appointment procedures for public
media. The CJA and Croatian Journalists Trade Union also protested and
accused the Government of selecting unsuitable candidates. They
expressed fear that the new council was controlled by political
appointees who would select government-friendly editors. The fifth
council member represented Hina employees; however, Vladimir Lulic, who
was to be appointed as the representative of the Hina staff, was not
endorsed by the Government, which claimed his nomination had breached
procedural regulations. In October, one day after Hina news agency
management council appointed Smiljanka Skugor-Hrncevic as the new
general manager, the Government proposed the dissolution of the board,
thus invalidating the appointment. The Government suggested that
parliament dissolve Hina's management council because employees had
been denied the opportunity to state their opinion.
Three of four council members resigned in protest. The former
general manager's mandate was at the same time extended until January
1, 2007. Parliament dissmissed the four members of Hina's management
council on December 1. New Hina management council members were not
appointed by the end of the year. In October CJA President Lucic stated
that freedom of the media was ``jeopardized by the vague wording of the
law on public media, which has resulted in recent cases such as Hina
and Vjesnik.''
In early March the minister of interior, in reaction to media
reports of a physical fight between officials of the majority Croatian
Demoncratic Union (HDZ) in Virovitica, announced that he would initiate
legal action against anonymous letters appearing in the press. The
President of the CJA noted that the media law prohibits the media from
publishing certain information, even if its source was anonymous. The
minister later stated that his words were misinterpreted and that he
had not requested a legal ban on publishing anonymous letters, but the
end of such information leaking from the Ministry of Interior and state
prosecutor's office.
The press reported a number of attacks and efforts to apply
pressure against journalists during the year. In February the media
reported that former Makarska municipal court judge Predrag Trutin
physically beat Andjelko Erceg, editor-in-chief of the local weekly
Makarska Kronika, because of articles that the newspapers published
about him. In April the Karlovac County deputy prefect Marinko Milcic
was accused by Radio Mreznica journalist, Arijana Kekic, Vecernji List
journalist, Tomo Vicic, and Karlovacki List journalist, Marinko Ivka of
verbally threatening three Karlovac-based journalists. The CJA
criticized the incident. In July the CJA and Nova Television also
criticized Novalja Mayor's Ivan Dabo who allegedly made verbal and
physical attacks on a Nova Television journalist to prevent her
reporting on shortage of water on the island of Pag.
According to the CJA, the Sinj Social Democratic Party (SDP)
President Velbert Milosevic and Sinj ruling coalition official tried to
intimidate Jutarnji List newspaper correspondent and a radio journalist
to prevent them from reporting on alleged manipulation of Sinj SDP
convention election ballots. Croatian Radio journalist, Vito Peric,
twice called the police due to threats he received after his reports.
Libel is a criminal offense; in recent years there were no reports
of politically motivated libel cases. However, a large number of libel
cases from previous years remained unresolved due to judicial backlogs.
In June parliament amended the criminal code to remove imprisonment as
a punishment for criminal slander and libel. Courts may fine persons
convicted of slander and libel.
In February the Zagreb Municipal Court acquitted HTV journalist
Ljubica Letinic in a case in which Miroslav Tudjman, the son of the
country's former President, sued her for slander in connection with a
March 2003 story by Letinic for HTV's ``Latinica.''
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. Internet access is widely available and used by citizens
throughout the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice; however, the law grants discretionary power to the
Ministry of Justice over the establishment and internal governance of
foundations. While it was applied equally to all organizations, the law
itself is restrictive and controlling. For example, the law provides
that organizations will not be registered if their statutory goals are
deemed trivial or if their property is not deemed sufficient to carry
out their statutory activities. The law also permits the Government to
influence the appointment of an organization's management body.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of conscience and religion, and free public profession of
religious conviction. There is no official state religion; however, the
Roman Catholic Church has an historic and close relationship with the
state that was not shared by other religious groups. The Catholic
Church signed concordats with the state granting it a number of
benefits. Similar agreements were subsequently reached with the Serbian
Orthodox Church, Islamic community, and other smaller Christian
denominations, but the Jewish community has not signed such an
agreement, pending the return of nationalized property.
The law requires a group to have at least 500 members and to have
been registered as an association for five years in order to register
as a religious community. However, all religious groups in the country
prior to the 2003 passage of the law were in the process of being
registered without conditions. A total of 42 religious communities were
registered and 15 additional communities were awaiting registration.
The Montenegrin Orthodox Church and Jewish religious community, Bet
Israel, were registered in June.
In December 2005 three churches, the Church of the Full Gospel, the
Alliance of Churches ``Word of Life,'' and the Protestant Reformed
Christian Church challenged in the Constitutional Court the
Government's refusal to conclude agreements providing them benefits
similar to those provided by agreements with the Catholic, Serbian
Orthodox, Islamic, and other communities. The Government maintained
that the three churches did not meet government requirements to have a
minimum number of members and to have been continuously active in the
country since 1941. The appeal was pending in the Constitutional Court
at year's end. Registered communities have the status of a legal person
and enjoy tax and other benefits. Some international groups have
criticized the restrictiveness of the Government conditions for
registration of new religious communities.
The law does not explicitly prohibit photographs with a headscarf
on identification documents. However, the Constitutional Court was
reviewing a case in which police in the coastal town of Crikvenica
refused in 2004 to issue identification documents to a Muslim woman
because she was wearing a headscarf in her photograph. Police standards
were not consistent, and the police reportedly accepted such
photographs in other locations in the country. The case was pending
before the Constitutional Court.
The Government required that schools provide religious training,
although attendance was optional. Because 85 percent of the population
is Roman Catholic, the Catholic catechism was the predominant religious
teaching in public schools. Schools that met the quota of seven
students per class of a minority faith allowed separate religion
classes to be held for the students.
National broadcaster HRT in 2005 signed an agreement with eight
minority religious communities guaranteeing equal representation in its
program. HRT agreed to live broadcasts of important annual celebrations
and minimum weekly and monthly coverage. Under an agreement with the
Roman Catholic Church, HRT provided up to 10 hours per month of regular
coverage of Roman Catholic events.
The Government made little progress restituting property
nationalized during the World War II era to most major religious
communities. In May the Prime Minister and the Zagreb Archbishop Josip
Bozanic agreed to sign a contract under which government property would
be given as compensation for an unspecified Catholic Church property in
Zagreb. The City of Zagreb returned theater property to the Franciscan
monastery, while the City of Varazdin returned a monastery building to
the order of Ursuline nuns. The Serbian Orthodox Church, the second
largest claimant of property after the Catholic Church, reported that
its joint subcommission had difficulty in convening, despite repeated
requests to meet with the Government. In July the Serbian Orthodox
Church Metropolitan Jovan Pavlovic met with Prime Minister Sanader to
discuss finding modalities to enable faster property restitution, but
made no progress by year's end. The church stated that resolution of
most of its outstanding issues, including property restitution, had
stalled. There was no progress returning nationalized property to the
Jewish community. In September the Prime Minister announced partial
government funding for the reconstruction of the synagogue in Zagreb,
which was destroyed during World War II. The Muslim community had no
property claims.
After years of delays, an acceptable site to build a mosque in
Rijeka was found in cooperation with local authorities, and in June
local authorities adopted a zoning plan for construction.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and physical
abuse of religious minorities were problems.
Incidents involving harassment of clergy and desecration and
vandalism of Serbian Orthodox Church property continued to occur
sporadically. Orthodox Church sources from the Dalmatian hinterlands
assessed that violence was at similar levels as in the past year,
citing several examples of vandalism and one instance of harassment of
clergy.
In March abusive graffiti including ``Death to Serbs,'' the Ustasha
``U'' symbol, and ``This is ours, not Serb'' appeared on the walls of
the St. Ilija church in Zadar. The unidentified suspects also broke
into the belfry and damaged its electrical wiring.
In June, in Obrovac, three young men verbally abused and threatened
the local priest's wife. The police reported the incident; however, the
suspects had not been charged by year's end.
In August police received reports and investigated cases of
vandalism and looting of several Orthodox churches. For example, church
bells were stolen from the St. Dimitrije the Martyr church in Bjelovar
and from another church in the village of Toranja near Pozega. In the
same month, copper drainpipes were removed from the Orthodox Church in
Novi Pavljani near Bjelovar and a window was smashed on the Bogorodicin
Pokrov church in Knin.
The St. George church, near Knin, was vandalized twice, once in
October and again in December; both times there was an attempt to
forcibly enter the church, which resulted in damage to the doors and
smashed windows. Police had not identified the suspects by year's end.
In 2005 the Orthodox Church and Serb NGOs reported a series of
attacks against the Orthodox Church during the Orthodox Christmas
season. For example, a group of young men smashed the entrance to the
St. Sava Church in Split and shouted threats such as ``kill the
Serbs,'' and continued to cause damage on nearby streets. In Zadar,
also in December 2005, offensive graffiti referring to a Serbian
Orthodox saint and Ustasha symbols were sprayed on the fence of the St.
Ilija Church. Police investigated but did not identify perpetrators in
any of these cases.
In 2005 an Orthodox chapel was set on fire at the Osijek cemetery;
police investigated the case, but had not released their findings by
the end of the year.
There were no developments or arrests in the following cases from
2005: the attack by HDZ supporters on the car of an imam who supported
the SDP party in Vojnic; the arson attack against a plaque on an
Islamic community building in Dubrovnik; the detonation of a bomb in
front of a Serb house in Glavinja Donja on a Serbian Orthodox holiday;
vandalism of an Orthodox Church in Knin; and vandalism of the Orthodox
eparchy in Sibenik.
Serbian Orthodox clergy in Dalmatia and ethnic Serb leaders
remarked on several occasions in 2005 that the positive overtures of
the central government stood in stark contrast with that of local
authorities, law enforcement, and judiciary, who persistently
discriminated against Serbs. For example, cases involving two church-
owned flats that were occupied illegally remained pending at county
courts in Zadar and Split for over a decade. Also, Serbian Orthodox
clergy who arrived from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montengro
faced bureaucratic obstacles in obtaining a longer-term residency
permit that entitled holders to benefits such as health care and
pensions. The priests were required to renew their status at relatively
short intervals that interrupted their stay, preventing them from
accumulating the years of residency needed for a more permanent status.
The Jewish community has approximately 2,000 members.
In June police pressed charges against a 21-year-old student for
sending two threatening e-mails to the Zagreb Jewish Community. In the
messages the author denied the Holocaust made offensive statements
about Jews and Africans. He also expressed hope for ``the Iranians to
complete a nuclear bomb as soon as possible and launch it on Haifa and
Tel Aviv,'' after which celebrations would be held in Zagre's streets.
Also in June two youths wearing shirts with Nazi insignia verbally
and then physically assaulted Avi Eliezer Aloni, the rabbi of the
Jewish Community in Zagreb, yelling ``Jews out.'' Police were still
investigating at year's end.
There were no developments in the police investigation of the April
2005 anti-Semitic threat letter sent to the Jewish community and some
international organizations.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Refugees returning to the country encountered obstacles obtaining
permanent residency status. The law permitted former habitual residents
who returned by June 2005 to be reinstated to their prewar status as
habitual residents without further requirements, such as meeting
housing and financial criteria, and could subsequently apply for
citizenship. During the year the interior ministry agreed to
regularize, on humanitarian grounds, the status of individuals who
still wished to apply. Due to poor communication, many potential
claimants were unaware that they could regularize their status. The
OSCE estimated there were approximately 2,000 potential claimants in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro.
Observers continued to note that fear of arrest among ethnic Serbs
for war crimes, often based on weak evidence, dissuaded some refugees
from returning. The state prosecutor continued to review the list of
war crime suspects to address this concern. During the year authorities
arrested 20 individuals (13 Serbs, six Croats, and one Bosniak) for war
crimes based on court orders or arrest warrants. Nine remained in
detention pending ongoing investigation, and three of the individuals
were returnees.
While the Government continued to verify and document citizenship
during the year, there were continued reports that some local officials
obstructed the process by applying procedures inconsistently.
The Government did not take steps to recognize or ``convalidate''
legal and administrative documents issued by entities not under
Croatian control during the 1991-95 conflict. Without such recognition,
citizens (almost exclusively ethnic Serbs) remained unable to resolve a
wide range of problems accessing pensions and disability insurance,
establishing work experience, and in other areas.
By year's end the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) registered a total of 140,544 minority returns to the country,
with 4,616 returning in during the year. The UNHCR noted that the
number of returnees was at similar levels as in past years. According
to the UNHCR the return process slowed considerably due to limited
progress in providing housing for the former holders of the tenancy
rights in state owned flats. Approximately 9,000 former tenancy rights
holders who applied for housing represent the bulk of potential
returnees. International organizations that monitored return of
refugees considered the decline in returnees to be within expectations,
since most of the remaining refugees willing to return were former
tenancy rights holders who were waiting to be provided housing.
According to a UNCHR study during the year, approximately 60 percent of
returns were sustainable, and the remainder were either one time or
``commuter'' returns.
The largest disincentives to returns were the poor state of the
regional economy, ethnic incidents in return areas, resistance of local
authorities, and slow implementation of return programs. Ethnic
tensions directed against returning ethnic Serb refugees continued to
be most pronounced in parts of Dalmatia and its hinterlands (see
section 5).
The ability of refugees to return to the country was hampered by
limited access to housing, slow resolution of some bureaucratic
obstacles, and lack of employment opportunities. Repossession and
reconstruction of Serb houses continued. During the year the Government
began reconstruction of 2,450 houses and provided cash grants to 2,370
individuals. To date the Government has rebuilt approximately 142,000
properties. An additional 901 claims remained unprocessed, and
approximately 14,000 owners who were denied reconstruction filed
appeals; those appeals remained unresolved. Two-thirds of the remaining
properties were located in Dalmatia. An estimated one-fifth of houses
returned to their owners were looted beforehand. In 2005 the Government
adopted a protocol for looted properties but did not define
instructions for its implementation. It recognized claims for damages
only when they were officially recorded. At the end of 2005 the
Government selected 400 properties as eligible for damage repair;
however, the Government had repaired 89 of the 400 properties by year's
end.
There were cases of persons attempting to use the courts to recover
alleged investments they had made while illegally occupying property.
As of December there were 24 such cases pending in the courts. During
December the Government adopted a process to resolve those cases out of
court with investors.
The Government slowly began to resolve the claims of persons who,
prior to the war, held tenancy rights in socially owned apartments.
Without such rights, claimants, who were mainly ethnic Serbs, were
unable to return to their prewar apartments (see section 1.e.).
Approximately 8,101 claims have been submitted, 4,425 of which were in
urban areas; by December about 40 humanitarian cases identified by the
international community were provided with housing. In August the
Government announced its plans to construct or purchase 4,000
apartments to be leased to tenancy rights holders in urban areas.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Authorities took an
inconsistent and nonuniform approach to minority IDPs, hampering their
return. A significant number of IDPs remained in the country, although
not all were under the Government's direct care. At year's end the
UNHCR reported that there were 3,975 IDPs in the country. Of these,
2,327 were Croats originating from the Danube region, while 1,648 were
ethnic Serbs in the Danube region who did not hold official IDP status.
The Government allowed free access to all displaced persons by
domestic and international humanitarian organizations and permitted
them to provide assistance.
Protection of Refugees.--The law generally provides for the
granting of asylum in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating
to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the Government has
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the Government provided protection against refoulement, the return of
persons to a country where they feared persecution. At year's end, 94
new asylum applications were submitted to the Government. During the
year 80 persons were rejected, 11 persons had their cases dismissed,
and 70 persons appealed. Two persons were pending first instance
decision, and 11 persons re-applied.
In June the Government temporarily established a reception center
for asylum seekers in Kutina, near Zagreb. At year's end 23 persons
resided in Kutina; 15 were asylum seekers, and eight persons were
rejected asylum seekers who had the status of foreigners (pending
return or deportation). The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and
other humanitarian and international organizations in assisting
refugees and returnees.
In November, for the first time, authorities granted asylum to a 27
year-old woman from an eastern African country. A UNHCR representative
commended the country for making this important step toward a fully
functioning asylum system.
A government appeals commission conducted substantive reviews of
cases of asylum seekers who were initially rejected; however, the UNHCR
expressed continued concern that the Government commission influences
appointments. The UNHCR closely followed cases of individuals who were
deported or returned by authorities to their country of origin.
There were no reports of persons requesting temporary protection
during the year.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Stjepan Mesic was elected
President in January 2005. Citizens Organized to Monitor Elections
(GONG), the leading local election-monitoring NGO, reported that the
January 2005 Presidential elections were conducted in accordance with
electoral legislation, with some irregularities, including breaches of
procedure by individual polling committees and inaccurate voter lists.
There were more serious problems in the first round of Presidential
elections at polling stations established for citizens who lived in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, including cases of partisan polling officials,
voting under names of deceased persons, and inaccurate voter lists.
Early local elections were held in April in the counties of
Dubrovnik-Neretva and Pozega-Slavonia, as well as in the city of Velika
Gorica. GONG described the course and atmosphere of these elections as
peaceful, democratic, and lawful. However, GONG repeated its concerns
about the lack of transparency in campaign financing and called on the
Government to regulate this matter by law. The media reported that
public resources were used for campaign purposes in Pozega-Slavonia
County and the city of Velika Gorica.
In December parliament passed a law governing the funding of
political partes and independent candidates. The law limits individual
and corporate contibutions to a political party during the year. It
also bans political party financing by foreign entities and domestic
public institutions. However, GONG objected that those limits still
were too high and continued to argue that election campaign financing
should be regulated by a separate law.
In 2005 the Prime Minister announced that a dual citizenship
agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina would resolve problems related to
the right of citizens who are residents there to vote. Bosnian Croats,
as well as other citizens living abroad, elected their representatives
in parliament in a special worldwide district. Preliminary reports of
the agreement indicated that the existing situation would continue.
There were 33 women in the 152-seat parliament, including two women
in positions of deputy speaker. There were four women in the 15-seat
cabinet, including the deputy prime minister, the minister of justice,
and the foreign minister. There were four women among the 13
Constitutional Court justices and 18 women among the 40 Supreme Court
justices.
The law requires that ethnic minorities be represented in local
government bodies if the census shows that a minority group constitutes
at least five percent of the local population. While authorities
generally implemented this provision, the Government did not take
updated voter lists into account in calculating the number of elected
minority representatives, as required by law. Use of the voters' lists
would have resulted in greater minority representation due to the
return of refugees since the 2001 census.
In July 2005 the Government instructed local authorities to exclude
voters' lists in determining the proportion of minorities in these
communities. The National Minorities' Council subsequently asked the
Government to withdraw the instruction on grounds that it contradicted
the law. The Serb community and NGOs expressed similar concerns, and
GONG challenged the Government's instruction in the Constitutional
Court. At year's end the decision was still pending before the
Constitutional Court.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Public perception in the
country held that corruption was widespread. According to a poll
reported in the local press, 92 percent of those polled believed they
lived in a corrupt state. Citizens were convinced that corruption
existed in public institutions, particularly in the health care system
and the judicial system. The European Commission, in its ``Croatia 2006
Progress Report,'' issued on November 8 in Brussels, stated that
corruption and a flawed judicial system were the greatest problems the
country faced. Local NGOs consistently criticized the Government for
not taking decisive action against corruption in the country.
In March the Government presented a public strategy for battling
corruption that proposed to overhaul the judicial system, health
system, local government, political party financing, public
administration, and the economy. However, a local NGO and Transparency
International (TI) criticized the strategy as lacking specificity and
deadlines for action.
Law enforcement investigated a number of allegations of corruption
by senior government or former government officials, including former
foreign minister Mate Granic and Nevenka Tudjman, daughter of the late
President Franjo Tudjman. Although Tudjman was acquitted, in 2005 the
Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling that one of the
previous four charges for unauthorized consulting, with which Tudjman
was charged, was not a criminal abuse of official duty and ordered a
retrial. The retrial was scheduled for late October 2005, but was
postponed due to Tudjman's serious illness and chemotherapy treatment.
The Supreme Court rejected the proposed indictment of Mate Granic due
to lack of evidence.
The Government's Office for the Prevention of Corruption and
Organized Crime (USKOK) continued to improve its capacity and authority
to manage criminal investigations. Most recently USOK was involved in
the arrest of a prominent heart surgeon who was suspected of taking
bribes in return for timely surgical procedures. The case was under
investigation and being watched closely by the public. In a separate
case, the former prefect of Pozega-Slavonia county was arrested and
placed in detention on charges of defrauding the county of $48,096,890
(278 million kunas), leading to its bankruptcy. There have been other
lower profile bribery cases. However, there were few cases of high-
ranking officials being formally charged with corruption, despite
frequent allegations.
During the year, USOK continued its February 2005 investigation to
possible large-scale illegal sales of refugee Serb houses to the
Government's Agency for Refugee Property (APN).
As of November 26 individuals brought charges against the
Government for APN's sale of houses through intermediary agencies,
based on falsified documents. One local NGO that represented ethnic
Serb refugees and assisted them in filing charges complained that the
agency had violated the law by refusing to allow refugees access to
files, including to contracts that might reveal fraud. The NGO provided
legal assistance to more than 250 individuals whose houses were
allegedly sold without their knowledge or at prices different from
those in specified contracts. The NGO also asserted that the state
prosecution was slow to respond to related charges that it had filed in
2005 against the head of the APN. In April prosecutors agreed not to
appeal county court verdicts, which will speed up the process and
permit compensation. In September courts reached three verdicts in
favor of plaintiffs, two of which were appealable. The USOK
investigated allegations that some APN employees, along with
intermediary agencies based in Serbia, were accomplices to this fraud.
In November the Zagreb Municipal prosecutor's office charged former APN
manager, Damir Rajcic, for unlawful operation of the APN and causing
damage to the budget exceeding $1.8 million (10 million kuna).
The effectiveness of the parliamentary Commission for the
Prevention of Conflict of Interest, which required officials to
publicly declare their assets, increased, and all government officials
disclosed their assets, which were made available on the Internet. TI
expressed concern that due to the incomplete land register, there was
ample room for evasion of this new requirement.
The law provides the right to access government information, but
was unevenly applied in practice and only had limited effectiveness.
Inquiries were rarely answered in a timely fashion and often not at
all. During the year the Coalition of NGOs ``The Public has the Right
to Know'' conducted an opinion poll that indicated lower official
compliance with the law than indicated by the Government report. In May
TI reported that government institutions were reluctant to share
information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were often cooperative and responsive to their views.
The office for cooperation with NGOs and other government
ministries and offices was active in coordinating and promoting NGO and
governmental efforts on human rights and civil society. The Human
Rights Center, which was integrated into the public sector in 2005,
received both UN and government funds during the year.
In December 2005 two men from Vukovar, one of whom was a former
special police force member, physically and verbally assaulted the
President of the NGO Citizens Human Rights Committee and his wife. The
NGO President did not press charges but the police initiated
misdemeanor proceedings against one of the attackers. There was no
information about the status of the case at year's end.
The Office for Human Rights was the primary government body
responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing the
Government's human rights policies. While the office did not have
authority to investigate alleged human rights abuses, it cooperated
effectively with NGOs and the international community to conduct
awareness campaigns to promote gender equality and women's rights,
encourage general tolerance, and prevent trafficking in persons. The
office also awarded project grants to NGOs to address various human
rights problems. It was adequately funded and enjoyed the cooperation
of other government agencies.
During the year the Government fully complied with all requests by
the ITCY for information and evidence.
During the year the chief state prosecutor continued to accept
additional evidence from the ICTY as part of the transfer of the case
against Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi from ITCY to the country. In 2006
the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor drafted several draft
indictments, which were discussed with the Office of the ICTY
Prosecutor. In November full agreement about the content of the
indictment was made between Croatian prosecutors and the Office of the
ICTY Prosecutor. On December 28, the Chief State Prosecutor filed the
indictment with the County Court in Zagreb. The state prosecutor
continued to work closely with the ICTY prosecutor on the transfer of
investigative materials from unindicted cases.
In August the Government detained journalist Domagoj Margetic at
the ICTY's request after he refused to obey an injunction ordering him
to stop publishing on his Web site the names of 102 protected witnesses
from the ICTY trial of Bosnian Croat Tihomir Blaskic. After a month in
detention, Margetic agreed to abide by the injunction and was released.
In September the ICTY indicted Margetic for contempt of court.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on gender, age, and race,
disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination against
women, ethnic Serbs, and Roma continued.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued
to be a problem. In 2005 police recorded an increase of almost 30
percent in cases registered over with the previous year. In the first
eight months of the year police reported that 1,339 acts of family
violence qualified as criminal acts, and another 8,238 acts qualified
as misdemeanors. According to the Ministry of Interior, one third of
the murders committed over the past four years resulted from family
violence.
Provisions in the legislation regarding family violence provide
that a domestic violence case may be initiated by persons other than
the victim, including police. The law treats family violence as a
misdemeanor: Penalties range between $166 to $1,660 (1,000 to 10,000
kunas) or up to 60 days in prison. Under the criminal law, perpetrators
can face up to three years in prison for the same acts. NGOs complained
that the courts were slow to schedule hearings, issued few convictions,
and administered only minimum prison sentences and fines in family
abuse cases. In 2005 NGOs specializing in domestic violence criticized
police procedures that gave police discretion to assess threat levels
when administering restraint orders and other measures. Police officers
were trained to handle family violence at every police station in the
country to provide quick intervention, secure victims' safety, and
remove perpetrators from families.
Police officials tended to classify violent acts against women as
misdemeanors, resulting in minimal sentences. Minimal sentencing was
particularly frequent in cases of rape. During the year police began
keeping gender-specific statistics, which allowed them to better track
violence against women. The Central Bureau of Statistics issued a
separate publication with gender-related statistics including
participation in political power, distribution of salaries and
education. The publication reported that women comprised approximately
57 percent of the unemployed population. However, salaries for women
and men with the same qualifications differed. For example, in
education, health care, and public administration, women received
approximately 80 percent of men's earnings.
The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality and women's NGOs
reported in 2005 that courts were consistently too lenient towards
perpetrators. Women's NGOS and the media also criticized the courts for
unequal sentencing of males and females. In one highly-publicized case
in September, the Zadar County Court sentenced Ana Magas to eight years
in prison for killing her husband while he tried to strangle her,
ruling that Magas had exceeded force necessary for self-defense. The
court's decision contained statements that she ``provoked the
strangling.took away the father from their child,'' and that ``calling
her a whore was logical.'' NGOs and the media contrasted the Magas
verdict with a verdict issued the same month in which a man who killed
his aggressive wife by beating her received a one-year prison sentence.
The verdict initiated public discussion on double standards and
unpredictable criteria in the courts.
In September 2005 the Government adopted the protocol of action in
domestic violence cases. While the definitions of violence are
generally broad, the harshest sentence is 60 days in prison, and
violent acts remain a misdemeanor in many cases. During the year the
Government expanded the authority of courts to issue restraining orders
when social services submit a request in the interest of the family
member. In September the Ministry of Family, War Veterans, and
Intergenerational Solidarity adopted changes to the protocol on Conduct
in Domestic Violence Cases. The changes state that social care centers
can propose restraining orders against an absent parent when it is in
the best interest of the child. The changes followed two high-profile
cases of family violence against women and children during the summer.
In June a husband killed his wife and then committed suicide in
front of a children's home in Zagreb. The killings took place after
months of repeated death threats against both the wife and the child,
which the wife reported to local social services and the court.
However, the courts and social service never issued a restraining
order, and the perpetrator was repeatedly released immediately after
being questioned by the police. A similar incident occurred in the
north, where a husband killed his wife and daughter and then committed
suicide. The perpetrator earlier served a prison sentence for family
violence and was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment, which was
later reversed by the county court. The leading women's NGO, Autonomna
Zenska Kuca, protested to the Ministry of Justice against the lenient
attitude courts displayed toward offenders. Women activists demanded
family violence be treated as a criminal act, requested obligatory
prison sentences for offenders, insisted on the application of
restraining orders for offenders, urged the establishment of family
courts, and advocated for that victims of domestic violence be treated
as protected witnesses. Support measures for victims of violence were
limited, as were shelters and counseling facilities. In general,
private donations financed most services, with limited government
spending. The Government began a program to increase employment
opportunities for victims of violence, single parents, and unemployed
mothers of three or more children.
The Government cooperated with NGOs to promote gender equality;
however NGOs remained concerned that the budget for such programs was
small and unstable. NGOs complained that, while the Government
organized conferences and public events to raise public awareness, it
did not make significant substantive changes.
There were 10 shelters operated mainly by NGOs and financed by
donations for victims of domestic violence. The Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare signed a contract with six organizations to increase the
number of beds in women's shelters by approximately 120 beds. The
Government provided $237,000 (1.3 million kuna) to finance consultation
centers that operated either independently or in the shelters for
female victims of domestic violence run by NGOs. Hotlines, counseling,
and legal assistance were available to victims of domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime; however, according to
NGOs, many women did not report rape or spousal rape. In June changes
to the criminal code increased the minimum sentence for rape from one
to three years, with the maximum sentence remaining unchanged at 10
years. Under the same law, sentences were increased for various acts of
physical and sexual violence against disabled persons. In rape cases
under aggravated circumstances, such as rape that resulted in death or
pregnancy or if the victim was a minor, the sentence remained
unchanged, ranging between three and 15 years. NGOs estimated that on
average 100-140 cases of sexual violence and rape occurred annually.
Due to social pressure stigmatization, rape and sexual violence were
underreported. Some NGOs that specialized in sexual violence were
concerned that there appeared to be no uniform application of rape kits
or a uniform gynecological protocol for the treatment of rape victims.
In the first eight months of the year, the Ministry of Interior
registered 70 reports of rape and 14 for attempted rape. The state
prosecutor reported 45 rape convictions during the year, an increase
from 38 the year before. The NGO Women's Room stated that in previous
years women frequently did not report rape and spousal rape because
they lacked information about available legal protections, felt
ashamed, feared reprisal, or, in case of spousal rape, were concerned
over the economic consequences. Women's NGOs noted that victims were
also reluctant to report rape, particularly spousal rape, because it
was difficult to prove in court and because medical staff, police, and
judiciary were not trained to treat such victims. They also alleged
that sentences for spousal rape tended to be too lenient.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread. According to a 2005
estimate by the Croatian Trade Unions' Association, approximately 3,500
women were involved in prostitution. According to the state
prosecutor's statistics, authorities initiated 301 misdemeanor
procedures for prostitution in 2005.
Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, it
was a problem. According to a 2004 survey by Poslovni Forum, over 17
percent of female employees reported experiencing sexual harassment in
the workplace at some point in their career. During the year the
International Unions' Confederation conducted a regional survey that
showed similar results with 18 percent of women reporting different
forms of harassment at work. According to trade unions, the problem was
most pronounced in the textile and leather, trade, and catering
industries. The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality and
unions reported that they worked on sexual harassment cases, although
many women were reluctant to take action for fear of reprisal.
The constitution and law prohibit gender discrimination. In
practice women generally held lower paying positions in the work force.
In January Croatian Women's Network, a group of women's NGOs, reported
that 59.3 percent of unemployed persons were women, an increase from
the beginning of 2005. The group reported in January that women's wages
were on average 19.4 percent below men's, double the difference
reported by the State Bureau of Statistics in 2003. Women held the
preponderance of low-level clerical, labor, and shop-keeping positions.
Gender-based discrimination occurred in the educational system,
which does not include sex education or education on gender equality.
Textbooks often displayed a masculine bias, discriminatory patterns,
and gender stereotypes. According to the Center for Women's Studies, in
a physics textbook for primary school, there were images of a woman
ironing while a man sat in an armchair reading papers as well as other
images where a man appeared angry because he had to vacuum floors. In
many textbooks, women appeared as mothers and housewives, and
professionally only as teachers, nurses, or working on farms. In yet
another example, there was a complete absence of women as historical
figures in the history book for eighth graders. In June the Government
formed a committee for sex education with the goal of offering a sex
education curriculum in the schools. NGOs complained that the committee
was not balanced and tended to favor more conservative approaches
towards sexual education. In addition concerns about lack of
transparency and religious bias in sex education have raised concern
among some NGOs.
The Office for Gender Equality is responsible for implementing the
Gender Equality Law and formulating the Government's gender policy; the
Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality monitors implementation
of the law, including the submission of mandatory action plans for
state institutions and public companies. During the year the office
received a small increase in government funding, doubling its budget
from the previous year $630,000 (3.5 million kuna). It provided
financial assistance to the NGO Be Active, Be Emancipated (B.a.b.e.)
for a project on the treatment of women in the media, which included a
study of media legislation. It also supported a publication for Roma
women activists in their language and the first bilingual magazine for
ethnic Albanian women.
In September the Government adopted the national gender equality
policy for 2006-10 which was drafted with active participation of
prominent women's NGO's. The document focuses on improvements to
women's status in human rights protection, securing equal treatment on
the labor market, introduction of gender-sensitive education,
suppression of all forms of violence against women, and increased
female participation in political power. The document introduces
``gender-mainstreaming issues'' and gender budgeting in line with EU
standards.
The Office of the Ombudswoman for Gender Equality took an active
role in public debate on sexual education and in raising the profile of
women's human rights. While women made up over 50 percent of the
population, according to 2005 NGO statistics, women's participation in
representational bodies averaged 10.8 percent, with city councils
having the highest average representation at 14.7 percent.
Representation in local and regional governments increased slightly
overall in the past few years to 13 percent. According to government
statistics, participation of women in senior government positions rose
from 20 percent in 2000 to 31 percent in during the year.
Children.--The Government was generally committed to the rights and
welfare of children.
Education is free and mandatory through grade eight (generally age
14); boys and girls had equal access to education. The majority of
students continued their education until the age of 18, with Roma being
the only notable exception. Romani children faced serious obstacles to
continuing their education, including discrimination in schools and a
lack of family support. An estimated 10 percent of Romani children
graduated secondary school, while up to 39 percent were illiterate.
According to a survey financed by the UN Development Program (UNDP) in
2005, 17 percent of Romani children over the age of 12 completed
primary education, compared to 74 percent of the non-Roma population
living close to Romani settlements.
International organizations and local NGOs reported that school
authorities continued to provide segregated, lower quality classes for
Romani students in the northern part of the country. A 2003 lawsuit
challenging the segregation of primary school classes in the northern
Medjimurje region remained pending before the Constitutional Court. By
year's end the ECHR had not reached a decision on a December 2004
lawsuit filed by the European Center for Roma Rights and Croatian
Helsinki Committee (HHO) on behalf of 15 Romani children who were
allegedly subjected to discrimination in elementary schools. In
September the HHO repeated its concern over the prolonged silence of
the Constitutional Court, which had been its primary motive for filing
the lawsuit with the ECHR.
The HHO noted in 2005 that at least four primary schools included
in the indictment continued segregating classes during the year. One
Romani NGO, Croatia's Umbrella Association of Bajasi, noted that this
practice continued in 2006. The same NGO based in Medjimurje reported
in September that the segregation of classes did not decline and that
20 Roma assistants in this school system could not substantially help
students overcome the language barrier and acquire psychological and
social skills because the students had not received sufficient
preschool education. The Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports
worked to improve the status of Roma assistants by paying their
salaries during summer vacations and financing their training to obtain
a high school education.
The Council of Europe Human Rights Commission noted that under the
Government's 2005 action plan for the social integration of Roma,
efforts have continued to promote preschool education with the aim of
fully integrating Roma children into the school system. Government
desegregation efforts were sometimes still met with opposition from
parents or non-Roma children. The Ministry of Science, Education, and
Sports reported that approximately 350 children, mostly from Medjimurje
and some from Istria, received preschool education which was lengthened
to an average of six months compared with three months in 2005. With an
additional $700,000 (3.9 million kuna) funding from the Roma Education
Fund, the Government planned to extend preschool education to the
entire school year. In March the ministry established a special
department for educational needs of ethnic minorities.
Medical care for children was free, and boys and girls had equal
access.
Child abuse, including sexual abuse, was a problem. According to
state prosecution statistics, 1,058 persons were reported for criminal
acts against children in 2005. The prosecution dismissed 323 reports
and initiated proceedings against 721 persons. During 2005 509 persons
were convicted for neglect and abuse of children and minors, while 19
persons were convicted for explicit sexual crime, 57 for lewd behavior,
and 16 for sexual exploitation of children.
In June parliament amended the Criminal Code to provide harsher
sentences for employees of government institutions in charge of
children and juveniles who failed to meet their legal obligations, thus
endangering their health and development. The minimum sentence for such
crimes was raised from a fine to three months in prison. The minimum
sentence for child desertion was increased from six months to one year,
and similar changes were introduced for neglect and maltreatment of a
child or a juvenile.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.)
There were no nationwide statistics on child marriages among Roma,
but social welfare services in Medjimurje county, where a substantial
Romani minority resides, reported that common-law marriages were
customary among partners at the age of 16 and above. According to their
estimates, as many as 60 percent of female teenagers entered such
marriages, which were often prompted by pregnancies. These marriages
were in some cases made official when partners reached adulthood.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, women and minors were trafficked to, from, and within the
country.
The country was a transit country for women and girls trafficked to
other parts of Europe for prostitution and increasingly a source and
destination country for trafficked women. Women from Romania, Bulgaria,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other countries were trafficked through
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro to the country, where
some remained to work as prostitutes while others were trafficked
onward. Women were transported through the country by truck or boat.
Women from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, and Serbia were
detained for illegal entry into the country; some of these were
believed to be trafficking victims. The Government reported 10 new
victims during the year: two Serbian, three Bulgarian, one Romanian,
two Ukrainian, and two Croatians. All victims were women, one was a
minor victim. Since 2002, 51 victims have been identified. The
Government reported that all victims cooperated with police
investigations. As of September the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) identified one additional potential trafficking in
persons victim, who was a minor.
The law defines trafficking in persons as a crime separate from
slavery and provides penalties between one and 10 years' imprisonment
for traffickers. The minimum penalty for trafficking crimes committed
against a minor is five years' imprisonment. In addition, if the crime
was committed by a criminal organization and resulted in a death, the
penalty is five years' to life imprisonment. In June parliament passed
amendments to the Penal Code, criminalizing users of trafficked
services. Perpetrators are subject to three months to three years'
imprisonment. During the year the Government also began implementing
its operational plan for the suppression of trafficking in persons. By
year's end, the Ministry of Interior reported that 10 criminal charges
were filed for trafficking in persons related crimes against 17
individuals. Police arrested all individuals. The state prosecutor
filed two indictments against four defendants. The National Coordinator
for trafficking in persons, reported one appealable conviction and two
related convictions for international prostitution, slavery, and
illegal capture crimes. As the crimes in the second and third cases
occurred prior to the implementation of the trafficking in persons
provision in October 2004, these cases were prosecuted and convicted
under the legal provisions that existed prior to adoption of the
specific trafficking in persons provision. Police also identified five
suspects who were involved in related crimes (international
prostitution and pimping), but did not consider these cases to be
trafficking.
A witness protection law provides for granting government
protection when a witness' life, health, freedom, or property is
threatened; however, it was not used in any trafficking-related case
during the year.
The Government has a national committee for the suppression of
trafficking in persons and a national coordinator for trafficking in
person's issues who is the head of the Government's human rights
office. Ministries and agencies responsible for the suppression of
trafficking included the ministries of foreign affairs, justice,
interior, health and social care, and education and the Office of the
State Prosecutor. Police participated in international investigations
through the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative regional center
in Bucharest.
Police awareness of the problem of trafficking in persons continued
to improve; however, according to NGOs, failure to identify trafficked
women among illegal aliens smuggled into the country remained a problem
that resulted in the significant underestimation of the trafficking
problem in the country. The police academy continued to teach
antitrafficking as a regular part of its curriculum, offering 18 hours
of instruction per semester. The Ministry of Interior reported that it
provided trafficking in persons related education to 33 police
officers, 16 illegal migration officers, and 17 organized crime
officers. The ministry reported that the 26 police officers who became
trafficking in persons trainers educated other officials and members of
civil society. In addition police participated at various TIP related
regional conferences. The Department for Illegal Migration hired new
staff and continued education for its officers to strengthen border
controls. The ministry continued its regional cooperation and signed in
January a cooperation agreement with EUROPOL to further enhance
existing cooperation and investigations.
Young women, IDPs, and foreign nationalities were most at risk of
being trafficked. Anecdotal information indicated that international
organized crime groups, local groups, and travel or marriage agencies
were responsible for trafficking. Victims were subject to violence,
intimidation, withholding of documents, and threats by traffickers.
There were no reports that government officials were involved in
trafficking.
During the year the Government did not deport or punish victims of
trafficking and cooperated with NGOs and with the IOM mission to offer
all necessary assistance to victims. While the law criminalizes
international prostitution and unauthorized border crossings, it
exempts trafficking victims from prosecution. Similarly, the law allows
authorities to charge foreign prostitutes with a misdemeanor and
initiate deportation proceedings if they do not fulfill legal
requirements for their stay in the country but exempts trafficking
victims from deportation.
The Government has a legal framework to provide for victim
assistance, and there were support services available for trafficking
victims. The Government continued to finance a shelter for trafficking
victims. The Croatian Red Cross (CRC), in cooperation with the
Government, operated four reception shelters for victims. Although the
Government offered assistance to all victims, some refused services.
For those who sought assistance, the Government provided services
jointly with local NGOs and IOM. In one case involving a minor, the
Government cooperated with IOM and Interpol to ensure the minor's
repatriation to a safe environment. One foreign victim requested and
received a residence permit; other victims were resettled or
repatriated outside the country, as requested.
The Government conducted trafficking in persons public awareness
campaigns and continued to support an NGO hotline and alternative
shelter. One government information campaign targeted children as
potential trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and in the provision of other state services; however,
discrimination occurred.
By November the Government had established 10 counseling centers
that offered assistance to persons with disabilities and their families
and reported that 1,012 persons with disabilities were employed through
the Employment Institute.
MP Vesna Skulic continued to criticize the Government for slow
implementation of the three-year national strategy for persons with
disabilities, which expired in December. For example, the practice of
placing personal assistants with persons with grave disabilities, which
should have been widespread under the strategy, was still reduced to
its current status as a pilot project. Skulic also criticized the lack
of transparency in the management of the Government's fund for
professional rehabilitation and employment and the lack of progress in
employing persons with disabilities outside Zagreb.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities;
however, the Government did not always enforce these provisions, and
the law did not mandate that facilities be retrofitted. As a result,
access to public facilities was limited.
In August a blind man and his guide dog were prevented from
boarding a train in Karlovac. Railway officials asserted that,
according to regulations, only trains with compartments were available
to blind persons accompanied by dogs. Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka
Kosor condemned the incident, stating that all means of transport
should be available to persons with this kind of disability.
In 2005 charges for neglect of children were brought against five
nuns and another employee for sexual abuse in a home for mentally
incapacitated children operated by the Catholic charity Caritas. Most
charges were dropped because of a statute of limitations. In September
the state attorney's council considered additional evidence and
dishonorably dismissed the deputy state prosecutor in charge of
children and youth for disregarding evidence and terminating an
investigation into the case in 2004.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Constitutional protections
against discrimination are applied to all minorities; however, open
discrimination continued against ethnic Serbs and Roma.
In comparison with the previous year, violence against ethnic Serbs
generally declined. During the year the Croatian Helsinki Committee
(HHO) reported that the number of interethnic incidents dropped by 45
percent. The HHO also noted that the improvement was partly due to
leadership following a high profile incident in Zadar in August as well
as administrative changes in the Ministry of Interior and personnel
changes in the police directorate. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported 17
incidents in Zadar hinterlands in the first six months of the year.
However, the largest Serb NGO, Serb Democratic Forum (SDF), noted no
major instances of violence against ethnic Serbs in the second half of
the year. The SDF noted better police performance and the general
improvement of the political climate as factors that led to more
stability.
In August four persons from the nearby Croat village of Skabrnja
threw stones at houses and attempted to torch courtyards of three Serb
returnee families in the village of Biljane Donje near Zadar. The
President and Deputy Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor traveled to Biljane
Donje the day after the incident and condemned the attacks. Police
presence was increased for days after the attack, and the four suspects
were promptly identified and detained. However, the Serb families
dropped all charges.
In 2005 the Ministry of Interior appointed an ethnic Serb advisor
in Zadar to collect information and to monitor police response to
ethnically related incidents in Dalmatia. A similar advisor has been
posted in eastern Slavonia since 2004.
According to police statistics, in areas of more intense refugee
return, agricultural land issues remained the primary cause of
interethnic incidents. In June the Serb Democratic Forum reported that
127 plots of land in the area of Zadar were used by persons other than
the owners. They expressed concern that the increased number of
incidents deterred permanent return of refugees.
In April and May the Serb Democratic Forum reported several
incidents in the wider Benkovac area. In Smokovic unknown persons
poured paint over the door and a window of a Serb returnee's house and
set them on fire. Police investigated but identified no suspects. In
April a Serb returnee and his daughter were threatened in front of the
Benkovac police station. The perpetrator threatened to kill the
returnee, asking him who murdered his father. In May a Serb returnee
from Zemunik Donji notified the Serb Democratic Forum that four Roma
youth threatened to loot their property claiming that ``this was their
state'' and that the Serbs had no right to be there. Later in
September, in Ostrovica, an elderly Serb returnee suffered an arm
fracture after a group of Roma attacked him with wooden beams over a
land dispute.
In May the Serb Democratic Forum and HRW reported that, at a soccer
match between Knin and Zagreb teams, fans chanted songs and shouted
slogans about killing Serbs, such as ``we do not drink wine, we drink
Serbs' blood'' and ``kill the Serb, kill the donkey.'' After the match,
similar slogans were painted on the nearby walls. There was no official
reaction to the event and police told their superiors they did not hear
any songs or slogans. However, the police investigated the incident but
the perpetrators were not identified.
Ethnic Serb MP Ratko Gajica informed the media about 29 incidents
against ethnic Serbs across the country during August. Those incidents
ranged from the appearance of graffiti with ethnic slurs in the Zadar
region (Sukosan, Zemunik Donji, and Miranje villages) to damaging cars
with Belgrade, Serbia plates in Knin and Zadar. Offensive graffiti such
as ``Ustasha Youth'' and ``Serbs should hang'' were also noted on
several locations in Zagreb.
In November the media reported two incidents involving the removal
and burning of flags directed against the ethnic Croat majority. Police
identified a teenage boy who set fire to a Croatian flag hoisted on the
building of a local paper in Karlovac on Independence Day. The boy was
reportedly charged with damaging the reputation of the country. In the
same month unidentified persons stole a flagpole in front of the
Skabrnja Municipal building in the Zadar hinterland. The incident took
place two days before commemoration of the Skabrnja massacre in which
dozens of Croats perished during the 1991-95 war. Police investigated
but no one had been charged by year's end.
In December four three-feet tall ``S'' letters in Cyrillic script,
symbolizing Serb rebellion, appeared on the monument to the Croatian
war victims in Lovas near Osijek. The police investigated the incident
but had not identified the suspects by year's end.
As of September, police had not identified any suspects in
connection with the following incidents against ethnic Serbs: the 2005
murder of an elderly Serb in Karin; the 2005 beatings of two elderly
Serbs in Ostrovica; and 2005 killings of two Serbs in Lipik.
The Serb Democratic Forum and others asserted that police were not
always impartial when investigating property disputes between ethnic
Croats and ethnic Serbs. The OSCE reported on several ethnically
related incidents where the perpetrators were charged with misdemeanor
offenses, such as disturbing public order, rather than criminal
offenses. In a majority of the cases, police and prosecutors were
reluctant to identify cases as ethnic discrimination. However, in
cooperation with the OSCE, police provided ongoing training to officers
on identifying and prosecuting hate crimes.
Discrimination continued against ethnic Serbs in several areas,
including in administration of justice, employment, and housing (see
sections 1.e. and 2.d.). Ethnic Serbs in war-affected regions continued
to be subject to societal harassment and discrimination.
Four years after the Constitutional Law on National Minorities was
passed authorities have not implemented its provision on proportional
minority employment in the public sector in places where a minority
constitutes at least 15 percent of the population. The largest Serb
NGO, Serb Democratic Forum, published a survey in June covering 23
municipalities in five regions where Serbs constituted a prewar
majority and remained a significant part of the population. In the
towns of Glina, Petrinja, Topusko, and Vojnic in the central area of
the country, the report found that Serbs made up 22 percent of the
population but held only 3 percent of public administration jobs. In
Benkovac, Drnis, Knin, and Skradin in Dalmatia, Serbs made up 13
percent of the population but held only 4 percent of public sector
jobs. Of the five regions covered in the survey, the situation was
significantly better only in eastern Slavonia, where Serbs were
adequately represented in the police and only slightly underrepresented
in the judiciary. However, even in eastern Slavonia, overall employment
in state administration remained low; while Serbs made up 51 percent of
the population in eastern Slavonia, they held only 26 percent of state
administration jobs.
In October the National Council for National Minorities filed a
complaint against the city of Daruvar over an alleged violation of the
Law on National Minorities and the Law on the Use of the Minority
Language and Script. While the Czech minority comprised approximately
20 percent of the local population, the scripts on the street signs and
on public buildings largely remained in Croat.
In December 2005 the Law on Courts was amended to stipulate that
minority participation be taken into account when appointing judges in
regions where minorities constitute a significant percentage of the
population. The amendment was a rare example in which an individual law
was amended to reflect rights protected under the Constitutional Law on
National Minorities.
Human rights and Serb NGOs pointed out several cases of ethnic Serb
judges who, although fully qualified, were unable to secure positions
in areas with a significant Serb minority population. Persons without
experience or from other towns were appointed instead. One ethnic Serb
judge in 2005 appealed the State Judicial Council's decision when it
turned down his bid for the position at the Municipal Court in Gvozd.
The administrative court wrote in its response that the applicant
indicated his Serb ethnicity, but did not indicate that he was a
minority member, and thus failed to invoke his minority rights. His
appeal was still pending. The same judge applied for and was refused a
position at the Vojnic municipal and misdemeanor courts. His case was
pending before the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg.
In June the parliament amended the criminal code, introducing a
definition of hate crime as any criminal act committed against another
person due to their race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, or affiliation to certain social groups. The article on
grave murders in the criminal code, which carries a minimum 10-year
sentence was amended by adding hatred as one of the motives that
defines the criminal act. However, legal experts, including Zagreb
County Court Deputy President Marin Mrcela warned that hate crime was
mentioned in part of the criminal code which could lead to difficulties
in its application for prosecutors. NGOs and international
organizations earlier complained that crimes motivated by ethnic,
religious, gender, and sexual orientation were often seriously under-
sanctioned.
In June parliament increased penalties for hate speech to no less
than six months' and no more than five years' imprisonment. For the
crime of hate speech committed over the Internet, penalties range from
six months to three years imprisonment.
During the year the Vecernji List newspaper repeatedly made
derogatory and inflammatory statements about minorities, including
ethnic Serbs and Muslims. In July the paper printed a story with the
headline ``Chetnik Sniper Fires Shots in Zagreb,'' containing the
allegation, which the police later denied, that a Serb from Vukovar who
was accused of war crimes took part in a sport shooting competition.
Observers noted the newspaper's coverage of some minority issues
bordered on hate speech.
Some discrimination occurred against minorities in schools (see
section 5, Children). In September local authorities in Vukovar and the
Ministry of Education integrated four secondary schools that previously
held separate classes for over 2,000 ethnic Croat and Serb children.
With the exception of one school that continued to divide students into
separate shifts according to language and ethnicity, all of Vukovar's
primary schools had integrated joint shifts.
In November several students of the Technical School in Vukovar
accused their language teacher of insulting them on ethnic grounds.
According to the students, the teacher insulted them by saying ``this
is not Serbia'' and ``go across the Danube.'' The teacher denied all
allegations.
Societal violence, harassment, and discrimination against Roma
continued to be a problem. While only 9,000 persons declared themselves
to be Roma in the 2001 census, according to an OSCE report this year,
the country's Roma population was widely estimated to be much larger.
Officials and NGOs estimated that the Romani population was between
30,000 and 40,000. In June the European Court of Human Rights agreed to
review a complaint against the country for allegedly failing to
adequately investigate skinhead violence against Roma.
Roma faced many obstacles, including language (many Roma,
particularly women, had only limited Croatian language skills), lack of
education, lack of citizenship and identity documents, high
unemployment, and widespread discrimination. Romani NGOs estimated that
25 percent of Roma did not have citizenship documents and thus could
not obtain social benefits, employment, voting rights, and property
restitution. According to the Council of Europe, only 6.5 percent had
permanent jobs, while the Ministry of Social Welfare estimated that
20,000 to 30,000 Roma were receiving some form of social assistance.
The Ivo Pilar Institute for Social Research in 2005 estimated that only
17 percent of Roma had permanent employment and over 50 percent lived
exclusively on social welfare.
International organizations and local NGOs continued to report that
school officials segregated Romani pupils in lower quality classes in
the northern part of the country (see section 5, Children).
In March 2005 the Government adopted an action plan to invest
approximately $10 million (62.5 million kunas) over the next 10 years
to improve conditions for Roma in education, health, employment,
housing, and other areas. During the year the Government increased its
budget for Roma programs five fold compared with 2005, to $2 million
(12 million kunas). The European Commission provided additional funding
for programs, including for Roma employment through the State
Employment Bureau, education, improvement of Romani settlements, free
legal aid, and health care. In August the Government organized an
employment seminar for 20 young Roma. In Bjelovar the first Roma was
employed as an advisor to the regional state employment bureau. In
August the Government launched a website in Croatian, English, and
Romani on the implementation of its programs for Roma. The Government's
Office for National Minorities asserted that progress was most visible
in the preparation of zoning plans for municipalities with Roma
settlements, which is a precondition for their legalization and
reconstruction. The Ministry of Health continued to deploy mobile teams
to provide basic health care to Romani communities. In July the
Ministry of Education approved specialized training for some teachers
in the Roma language to facilitate their communication with Romani
students.
On occasion ethnic Croats were targets of interethnic violence. In
September the media reported that a Serb youth attacked a younger Croat
teenager, pointing a knife against his throat while they rode on a bus
from school in Vukovar. The attacker cut the boy on his fingers and
threatened a group of boys to ``slaughter all Ustasha.'' The police
charged the attacker with violent behavior and disturbing public order.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was some societal
discrimination against homosexuals.
In July the media reported that a dozen persons attacked two
homosexual British tourists in a bar. The tourists sustained a
concussion, ear injury, and loss of teeth. The attackers accused them
of making inappropriate comments and behavior. The same month Croatian
Party of Rights MP Tonci Tadic compared homosexual tourists with
concentration camp guards and cannibals, and suggested they would not
be welcome in the country. The Government ombudswoman for gender
equality and human rights groups criticized the statement. In September
at least three unidentified persons attacked two German homosexual
tourists in Split while they walked on the waterfront holding hands.
One of the victims sustained a nose fracture and the other a slight
chest injury. The police investigated but did not identify the
perpetrators.
Legal experts from Iskorak and Kontra, two NGOs that represent
sexual minorities, drafted the definition of hate crime that was
introduced in the Penal Code in June and participated in a seminar for
nine police officers at the Police Academy in Zagreb that month. The
nine officers were expected to train colleagues in prosecuting this
type of crime.
In August 2005 one NGO reported that authorities initiated 11
criminal proceedings for physical assaults against homosexuals during
that year. In one, a group of teenagers attacked a homosexual couple by
shouting offensive remarks and then severely beat the couple. The
victims, who immediately reported the incident, complained that the
police were slow to react.
Societal discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS remained a
problem. The Croatian Association for HIV reported that dentists and
general practitioners often refused treatment of HIV positive patients
and some hospitals postponed surgeries because doctors were reluctant
to operate. If an HIV patient did not go through the infectious disease
hospital, they often had to wait for treatment, and surgery could be
delayed indefinitely. Transplant centers have also refused to put HIV
patients on their list of potential organ recipients.
In March a daily paper reported the death of an individual,
printing his name and photograph and stating that the cause of death
was AIDS. The newspaper published the article without official
confirmation of the cause of death. The same paper republished the
details again in September, in an article about a company director that
allegedly intentionally infected employees with HIV. According to the
Croatian Association for HIV, the paper did not officially confirm the
facts surrounding the article, which accused the newspaper of running a
campaign against persons with HIV.
A daily newspaper published a report with photographs concerning
two juveniles, who were the focus of media attention in prior years due
to their HIV status. The country does not have separate regulations on
the protection of data confidentiality for children with HIV.
According to the UN theme group on HIV/AIDS, analysis of laws
regarding HIV indicated that they contain discriminatory provisions.
The group cited legal provisions that require: testing under medical
supervision for certain professions and in certain cases involving
prisoners and restrictions on HIV-positive persons with regard to
performing certain jobs. Otherwise, according to the analysis, most
cases of discrimination occur outside the scope of legislation or due
to a lack of sufficient enforcement of privacy laws, lack of consistent
adequate medical care and discrimination in school or the workplace.
The UNDP reported that one weekly in May published the initials and
other personal information in detail sufficient to identify a cafe
owner in Split suspected of being HIV positive and alleged that he was
allegedly spreading AIDS. The damaged party did not take legal action
against the weekly.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers are entitled by law to form
or join unions of their own choosing, and workers exercised this right
in practice. Approximately 50 percent of workers were members of
unions; however, not all the unions were associated with each other and
this percentage could vary. Unions generally were independent of the
Government and political parties.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination and expressly allows
unions to challenge firings in court. However, in general, citizens'
attempts to seek redress through the legal system were seriously
hampered by the inefficiency of the court system.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The
constitution and law protect collective bargaining and the right to
organize, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
The law provides for the right to strike, with some limitations,
and workers exercised these rights during the year. Members of the
armed forces, police, government administration, and public services
were not permitted to strike. Workers may only strike at the end of a
contract or in specific circumstances mentioned in the contract after
they have gone through mediation. When negotiating a new contract,
workers are required to go through mediation before they can strike
over a new contract. Labor and management must jointly agree on a
mediator if a dispute goes to mediation. If a strike is found to be
illegal, any participant may be dismissed and the union held liable for
damages.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
all forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there
were reports that it occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace and provide for acceptable working conditions. While the
Government for the most part implemented these laws and policies
effectively, child labor remained a problem.
In 2005 the State Inspectorate recorded 271 violations of the labor
law involving 188 children under the age of 17. Approximately 35
percent of the total violations involved children under the age of 15,
mostly in the entertainment industry. The children were employed in the
hospitality, tourism, retail, industrial, construction, and media
sectors.
The minimum age for employment of children is 15 years. The
Ministry of Economy, Labor, and Entrepreneurship in conjunction with
the ombudsman for children and the State Inspectorate was responsible
for enforcing this regulation. Minors under the age of 15 may work if
they receive prior approval from the Labor Inspectorate and if it is
determined that the child will not suffer physically or mentally from
the work. Approval is usually requested for filming movie scenes or
play rehearsal. The law prohibits workers under the age of 18 from
working overtime, at night, or under dangerous conditions.
The law prohibits trafficking in children; however, it occurred
(see section 5).
The law proscribes the worst forms of child labor. Recent changes
to the criminal code criminalize trafficking in children for purposes
of sexual exploitation and labor. The national ombudsman for children
coordinates the country's efforts to prevent the exploitation of
children and to assist in removing children from exploitative
situations. The State Labor Inspectorate has 92 inspectors whose duties
include inspection for illegal employment of minors. The inspectorate
forwards all cases of violations involving minors to the office of the
ombudsman for children.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Minimum wage, as determined by
the Government, is $368 (2,100 HRK gross), net is between $245-$262
(1,400-1,500 HRK) depending upon exemptions, and does not provide a
decent standard of living for a working family. Government statistics
from August indicated the average wage was $812 (4,633 HRK) and the
minimum cost of living for a family of four in rented housing was $1097
(6,256 HRK). The labor inspectorate enforces the minimum wage while the
Ministry of Finance determines the level.
Nonpayment and late payment of wages continued to be a problem,
although it lessened in recent years. Nonpayment of overtime or for
work on holidays was also a problem. According to the State Labor
Inspectorate, 1,809 workers did not receive payment for their work
between January 1 and October 31.
The Labor Inspectorate reported that employers did not register
4,046 employees with the health and pension insurance funds, thereby
denying health or pension benefits. The law allows labor inspectors to
immediately shut down a work site where illegal or unregistered workers
are discovered. Between January 1 and October 31, the inspectorate shut
down 327 employers for violating labor regulations.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours. Workers are
entitled to a 30 minute daily break, one day off out of seven, and a
minimum of 18 days of paid vacation annually. The law provides that
workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay for overtime and limits
overtime to 10 hours per week. The labor inspectorate must be notified
if overtime work for an individual employee continues for more than
four consecutive weeks, for more than 12 weeks during a calendar year,
or if overtime work of all employees of a certain employer exceeds 10
percent of the total working hours in a particular month. Between
January 1 and October 31, the inspectorate processed 12,984 violations
of labor law. After processing the inspectorate sent 5,311 violations
to misdemeanor courts for proceedings. Infractions included labor
contract, payment, and annual leave violations, and unpaid and
unreported overtime. Pregnant women, mothers of children under three
years of age, and single parents of children under six years of age,
may work overtime only if they freely give written consent to perform
such work.
The Government set health and safety standards, which were enforced
by the Ministry of Health; the ministry's inspectorate has jurisdiction
over enforcement of health and safety laws at the workplace and
compiled annual data on injuries and health and safety code violations.
In practice, many industries often did not meet the standards for
worker protection. In 2005 the inspectorate investigated 6,773
worksites and entered 1,750 misdemeanor reports covering a total of
3,483 violations of safety standards. During 2005 misdemeanor courts
issued 1,267 violations of which five were declared criminal acts and
referred to municipal or county courts. However, under the law, workers
may remove themselves from hazardous conditions and have recourse
through the courts if they believe that they have been dismissed
wrongfully for doing so; however, according to the state inspectorate,
workers did not exercise this right in practice and normally only
reported employers after they had left their job.
__________
REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS
The Republic of Cyprus is a constitutional republic and multiparty
Presidential democracy. The area under control of the Government has
approximately 780,000 inhabitants. On May 21, 56 representatives were
elected to the 80-seat Vouli Antiprosopon (House of Representatives) in
free and fair elections. This election marked the first time in decades
that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area were
permitted to vote in elections and run for office. President Tassos
Papadopoulos was elected in 2003 in free and fair elections. Civilian
authorities maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. There were some
reports of police abuse and degrading treatment of persons in police
custody and of asylum seekers. Violence against women, including
spousal abuse, was common. Trafficking of women to the island,
especially for sexual exploitation, continued to be a problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings during the year.
The chief of police reported that the May 2005 killing by the
police of a Syrian asylum seeker was in self-defense (see section
2.d.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The Government participated in the autonomous, tripartite (UN,
Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot) UN Committee on Missing Persons (CMP)
in Cyprus as part of its continuing efforts to account for persons
missing as a result of the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the
conflict in 1974.
In August the CMP launched its project to exhume, identify, and
return remains. On December 21, the CMP announced that it would perform
DNA tests on the remains of 160 individuals held at its Anthropological
Laboratory. The CMP anticipated returning the first remains to families
of the deceased by April 2007. Exhumations continued in different parts
of the island. According to the CMP, 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502
Turkish Cypriots remained missing.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were reports that police abused detainees.
There continued to be reports that police engaged in heavy-handed
tactics and degrading treatment of suspects.
In an incident not previously reported, on December 20, 2005,
plainclothes police officers stopped two cars in Nicosia and proceeded
to handcuff and beat the drivers, 27-year-old students Marcos
Papageorghiou and Yiannos Nicolaou. The 40-minute beating was
videotaped by an unidentified witness. The police then took the
students to a police station, where they allegedly continued to beat
them, causing serious injuries requiring hospitalization. The police
officers involved claimed that the students were drunk and resisted
arrest and that force was necessary to restrain them. They further
claimed that the students suffered the injuries by throwing themselves
on the ground. The chief of police appointed an investigator; however,
the police investigation was suspended a few days later when the
Attorney General appointed an independent criminal investigator. Eleven
police officers (Andreas Efstathiou, Haris Haritou, Andreas Panayi,
Georgios Pavlou, Giorgios Kylilis, Costas Toumbas, Iordanis Iordanous,
Andreas Christou, Christiana Antoniou, Tefkros Charalambous, and
Georgios Vanezis) were charged with numerous offenses, such as assault
and torture. At year's end, the trial was ongoing; however, the police
had initiated disciplinary procedures against 13 police officers
involved in the incident. The April 7 report by the Office of the
Commissioner for Administration (ombudsman) on the incident concluded
that the victims suffered inhuman and degrading treatment tantamount to
torture.
On January 13, the press reported that a Nicosia police sergeant
was charged with forcing a Bulgarian woman to perform a sex act.
According to press reports, the officer offered to give her a ride home
from the pub where she worked but, as soon as she got in the car,
allegedly became violent and demanded oral sex. A disciplinary
committee appointed by the chief of police demoted the officer to
police constable.
Also in January, members of the police antinarcotics unit (YKAN)
allegedly beat a Turkish Cypriot suspect during the execution of a
search warrant at his house in Larnaca. The chief of police ordered two
criminal investigations, one against the members of YKAN and one
against the suspect. The results of the investigations have not been
made public, and the files were with the Attorney General for
evaluation at year's end.
On March 30, a police officer allegedly beat prisoner Georgios
Georgiou in his cell. The police officer was charged with assault
causing actual bodily harm. The case was set for a February 20, 2007,
hearing. The police initiated disciplinary procedures against the
officer, but they were interrupted on August 21 when the ombudsman
asked to review the case.
The Attorney General decided that the alleged victim of a police
beating following a car accident in Limassol, reported in April 2005,
had not been treated in a discriminatory or racist manner, and he
ordered the police to proceed with the individual's prosecution. The
alleged victim was charged with attacking and hitting a police officer
on duty.
The police investigation into the September 2005 death of a Polish
laborer who had been held in police custody revealed that the death was
due to a pre-existing condition. No external or internal injuries were
found during the post mortem examination. However, the coroner had not
yet completed his own investigation at year's end.
The police officer acquitted of raping a Moldovan woman in her
prison cell in 2004 was required to resign on April 7.
The disciplinary committee investigating the 2004 case of two
police officers who forced an Afghani man to pose with two women in
sexually suggestive photographs found them guilty on the charge of
misconduct. One officer was fined 10 days' salary, amounting to
approximately $1,000 (462 pounds), and the other was penalized with a
two-year deferment of salary increases, amounting to approximately
$33,000 (14,800 pounds).
The second police investigation into the allegations made by a
detainee that police mistreated him during his 2003 detention in
Limassol was suspended because the complainant did not respond to
repeated police calls for an interview.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prisons,
detention centers, and other government institutions generally met
international standards, although there were some problems.
In February police reported that final toxicological results showed
that the January 2005 death of prisoner Jevor Hakorian in police
custody was caused by drug use and suffocation induced by the
swallowing of stomach fluids. The coroner's report was pending at
year's end.
Both the ombudsman and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
received complaints that police and prison officials subjected foreign
inmates in the Nicosia central prison to discriminatory treatment as
well as beatings and other forms of abuse. Foreign inmates also claimed
that prison officials did not answer their calls for protection from
fellow inmates and prevented them from reporting mistreatment without
prison officials also being present. NGOs further reported that inmates
incarcerated for nonviolent crimes were confined with dangerous
criminals and rapists. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports
that prison officials subjected Turkish Cypriots to discriminatory
treatment.
During the year overcrowding remained Nicosia central prison's
greatest problem despite renovation and expansion. The prison's
capacity was 340, although at times it held up to 670 inmates.
Approximately 14 percent of the inmates were foreigners imprisoned for
entering or living in the country illegally. The Government provided no
assistance for the rehabilitation of drug abusers and only limited
support for reintegration for former inmates.
A March 29 report by the Council of Europe's (COE) commissioner for
human rights noted that, while prison conditions were generally
satisfactory, overcrowding remained a problem. The report also
expressed concern over the Government's failure to provide facilities
and resources for the psychiatric treatment of prisoners. The report
noted government efforts to improve the professional training of the
prison staff and the abolition of imprisonment for nonpayment of civil
debt.
A May 16 report by the COE's European Commission against Racism and
Intolerance (ECRI) stressed that the continuing lack of a comprehensive
immigration and integration policy resulted in a particular
vulnerability for migrants, including domestic and other foreign
workers, to human rights violations, exploitation and discrimination in
detention centers. The report further stated that similar problems were
experienced by asylum seekers, who confronted serious difficulties in
exercising their rights. ECRI expressed concern with the extensive use
of detention for both migrants and asylum seekers and the conduct of
law enforcement officials, which included alleged cases of ill
treatment.
Juveniles were generally held separately from adults, although
there were isolated exceptions due to overcrowding.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits, unrestricted and unannounced, occurred
during the year.
In September Cyprus Mental Health Commission President
Christodoulos Messis criticized conditions at the Athalassa Psychiatric
Hospital (see section 5).
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Cyprus police
maintain internal security. The Greek Cypriot National Guard (GCNG),
backed by a contingent of Greek military forces, is responsible for
external and domestic security. The GCNG reports to the Ministry of
Defense, which in turn reports to the President. The police report to
the Ministry of Justice and Public Order. The President appoints the
chief of police. The police force is composed of a headquarters with
six functional departments, six geographic district divisions,
including one inactive district for the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots, and seven police units that provide specialized services.
Although there were reported cases of misconduct, there were no serious
cases of police corruption or bribery.
On April 5, the Council of Ministers appointed an independent
committee charged with investigating complaints against the police
concerning bribery, corruption, unlawful financial gain, violation of
human rights, abuse of power, preferential treatment, and conduct
unbecoming of police officers. Previously, the assistant chief of
police for administration handled investigations and recommended
appropriate disciplinary measures to the chief of police. In August the
committee chair complained that the body could not handle the workload
and suggested that it instead supervise investigations to be carried
out by the police. In the first five months after its inception, the
committee received 40 complaints. More than half of the complaints were
dismissed because they could not be substantiated.
There were 34 criminal investigations against members of the police
during the year. Ten of the investigations were presented to a court;
however, there was no information regarding the outcome of these cases.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicially issued arrest
warrants, and authorities recognized this requirement in practice.
Persons may not be detained for more than one day without referral of
the case to a court for extension of detention. Most periods of
investigative detention did not exceed 10 days before formal charges
were filed. The Attorney General generally made efforts to keep
pretrial detention to a minimum, especially in cases of serious crimes;
however, aliens arrested for illegal entry without identification were
detained indefinitely when authorities did not know where to deport
them. Attorneys generally had access to detainees. Bail was permitted.
The Government claimed the right to deport foreign nationals for
reasons of public interest whether or not they had been charged with or
convicted of a crime.
By year's end there were fewer than 10 persons in detention
awaiting trial.
The Government arrested persons crossing the green line in
possession of evidence of purchasing or developing Greek Cypriot
property in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. On June 27, the
Government arrested Turkish Cypriot architect Osman Sarper, crossing
from the north to the south, who was allegedly found to be in
possession of architectural blueprints for structures being built on
Greek Cypriot properties in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots.
He was charged with intent to commit a crime, illegal possession and
use of property, and attempt to conceal a crime, and was released on
bail.
On October 20, the Government passed a law making the purchase,
rent, or sale of property without consent of the registered owner a
felony. On November 18, the Government arrested a Russian couple in
possession of a contract for the purchase of Greek Cypriot property in
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The wife, who had signed the
documents, was charged under the new law with conspiracy to commit a
felony and could face up to seven years' imprisonment. She was released
on November 23 after paying bail of approximately $100,000 (50,000
pounds). Her trial began on December 15 and was ongoing at year's end.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and constitution provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
Most criminal and civil cases begin in district courts, from which
appeals may be made to the Supreme Court. There are no special courts
for security or political offenses. There are military tribunals that
have jurisdiction over members of the GCNG.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The
constitution provides for public trials, albeit not by jury, and
defendants have the right to be present and to consult with an attorney
in a timely manner. An attorney is provided for those who cannot afford
one, and defendants are allowed the right to question witnesses against
them and present evidence or witnesses on their behalf. The law also
guarantees that defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence related to their cases. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal. The Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary for civil matters, permitting claimants to
bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights violations.
Property Restitution.--By year's end, Turkish Cypriots had filed 35
cases in the courts in an effort to reclaim property located in the
government- controlled area.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede
criticism.
Opposition newspapers frequently criticized the authorities.
Independent newspapers and periodicals proliferated. There were seven
major daily newspapers, one weekly, and six major magazines. Several
private television and radio stations competed effectively with
government-controlled stations. International broadcasts were available
without interference throughout the island, including telecasts from
Turkey and Greece.
On September 11, a customs officer at the Ledra Palace checkpoint
searched the bag of Turkish Cypriot journalist Murat Kanatli. The
chairman of the Cyprus Journalists' Union demanded a formal
investigation into the incident, alleging that the journalist was being
harassed for simply being Turkish Cypriot. Police said they suspected
the journalist of carrying drugs.
There were multiple reports of verbal harassment of Turkish Cypriot
journalists by members of ultranationalist Greek Cypriot groups.
In early November the Council of Ministers rejected a December 2005
decision by the Board of Cyprus News Agency to appoint Christoforos
Christoforou as its new director. Some newspapers and opposition
parties attributed the rejection to Christoforou's authorship of
articles criticizing the Government's policies regarding UN efforts to
reunify the island culminating in 2004. The Cyprus Journalists' Union
called on the Government to reverse its decision and approve the
appointment.
The Government imposed significant restrictions on Turkish (as
opposed to Turkish Cypriot) journalists crossing the green line to
cover news events in the government-controlled area.
During the year Turkish Cypriot advertisers repeated claims
initially made in 2004 by the vice chairman of the Turkish Cypriot
Advertisers Association that Greek Cypriot newspapers refused to carry
advertisements for businesses located in the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were generally no
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events;
however, certain oversight efforts threatened academic independence and
activities (see section 2.b.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law and constitution provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government respected it in practice.
Freedom of Association.--The law and constitution provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected it in
practice. However, parliamentary hearings purportedly aimed at
providing government oversight over NGOs, especially those involved in
bicommunal programs, threatened the independence and activities of such
civil society groups, as well as academic institutions.
Referring in part to the parliamentary hearings, the UN Secretary
General's December report on country operations stated, ``[T]here has
been a disturbing trend impinging on the ability of organizations and
individuals to carry out activities and projects designed to contribute
to bi-communal contacts and cooperation throughout the island. As a
result, the UN, particularly [the UN Development Programme], has been
hampered in its ability to support and implement such projects
benefiting both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots in areas of common
concern.''
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law and constitution provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The law and constitution specify that the Greek Orthodox Church of
Cyprus, which is not under the authority of the mainland Greek Orthodox
Church, has the exclusive right to regulate and administer its internal
affairs and property in accordance with its holy canons and charter.
The law also states that the Turkish Cypriot religious trust, the
Vakif, the Muslim institution that regulates religious activity for
Turkish Cypriots, has the exclusive right to regulate and administer
its internal affairs and property in accordance with Vakif laws and
principles. No legislative, executive, or other act may contravene or
interfere with the Orthodox Church or the Vakif. Armenian Orthodox,
Maronite Christians, and Roman Catholics (``Latins'') are also
recognized by the law and constitution.
The Government required other religious groups to register as
nonprofit companies if they desired to maintain a bank account or
engage in other financial transactions.
Missionaries have the legal right to proselytize, but the
Government closely monitored missionary activities. It is illegal for a
missionary to use ``physical or moral compulsion'' to make religious
conversions. The police may investigate missionary activity based on a
citizen's complaint. Police can also open an investigation if
missionaries are suspected of involvement in illegal activities
threatening the security of the Government, constitutional or public
order, or public health and morals. No detentions or arrests were
reported under these laws during the year.
The Government required children in public primary and secondary
schools to take instruction in the Greek Orthodox religion. Parents of
other religions may request that their children be excused from such
instruction and from attending religious services.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In May an NGO reported that it
had filed complaints with the ombudsman's office and an independent
investigatory committee regarding police treatment of Muslim asylum
seekers. Some asylum seekers reportedly had difficulty securing
employment, and one asylee alleged that he could not secure housing
because of religious discrimination.
On November 22, 15 to 20 Greek Cypriot teenagers, believed to be
members of an ultranationalist group, National Voice of Youth with a
Greek Soul, entered the grounds of the English School in Nicosia
wearing masks and armed with planks of wood. They attacked a group of
the school's Turkish Cypriot students, causing minor injuries.
Incendiary reports in the Greek Cypriot press about an earlier incident
at the same school, in which an 11-year-old male Turkish Cypriot
student verbally insulted a Greek Cypriot student wearing a Christian
cross, were blamed for inciting the latter event. The Government
condemned the November 22 attack as an aberration, not indicative of a
broader atmosphere of discrimination or racial hatred against Turkish
Cypriots. Criminal charges were pending against 13 suspects in the case
at year's end.
Although Turkish Cypriots claimed that unused mosques in the
government-controlled area had been vandalized, the Government
routinely carried out maintenance and repair of mosques in the area
under its administration. At year's end authorities still had not
identified any suspects in an April 2005 vandalizing of a recently
rehabilitated Turkish Cypriot cemetery in Larnaca.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community
included approximately 300 expatriate residents and fewer than 10
Cypriots.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Government did not restrict Greek Cypriots from traveling to
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but it generally discouraged
them from spending the night at Greek Cypriot properties, gambling in
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, or buying or developing
property there. The Government in many cases prohibited Turkish
nationals from crossing from the area administered by Turkish Cypriots
to the government-controlled area in the south (see section 2.a.).
The Government allowed European Union citizens and citizens of
other countries not subject to a visa requirement who entered Cyprus
from ports of entry in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots to
cross the green line into the government-controlled area; however, the
Government maintained that all ports of entry in the area administered
by Turkish Cypriots are illegal.
Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were required to show
identification cards when crossing the green line. Members of each
community were required to obtain insurance coverage in the community
where they planned to drive their vehicles. Turkish Cypriots flew in
and out of Larnaca and Paphos airports without obstruction.
The Government arrested persons crossing the green line in
possession of contracts or blueprints related to purchasing or
developing Greek Cypriot property in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots (see section 1.d.).
The Government issued 6,353 passports to Turkish Cypriots during
the year.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although persons who were
displaced as a result of the 1974 division of the island fall under the
UN definition of IDPs, the Government considered them refugees. At
year's end these people and their descendants numbered approximately
238,000. Depending on their income, IDPs and their descendants are
eligible for financial assistance from the Government. They have been
resettled, have access to humanitarian organizations, and are not
subject to attack, targeting, or return under dangerous conditions.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, although one NGO claimed that asylum seekers were
deported. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
Qualified refugees were permitted to stay and given temporary work
permits but were not granted permanent resettlement rights. During the
year no refugees were deported, and authorities granted refugee status
to 36 persons.
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol
and provided it to 160 persons during the year. The Government
generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and
asylum seekers.
According to the ombudsman and NGOs, the inmates in detention
centers were exclusively foreign and often asylum seekers who were
arrested for illegal entry. Similar to the previous year, the NGO
Action for Equality, Support, and Anti-Racism maintained that police
violated the law and the human rights of asylum seekers by carrying out
illegal arrests, detentions, and deportations. The group claimed that
authorities treated asylum seekers as illegal immigrants or economic
migrants and jailed or deported them. Another local NGO reported that
several asylum seekers made complaints to the ombudsman alleging they
were physically and psychologically abused by police, and a third NGO
claimed that asylum seekers complained about the denial of state
medical care.
In February 2005 the ombudsman recommended that the Government
increase access to lawyers for detained asylum seekers, and in 2004 he
recommended that the Government provide detained asylum seekers
increased access to places where they could apply for asylum. Neither
recommendation had been implemented by year's end.
On May 4, Asian and Middle Eastern detainees, some of whom were
asylum seekers and all of whom were being held as illegal immigrants,
set fire to their cells in Nicosia central prison in protest of their
long detention, more than 20 months for some. Five detainees and two
police officers were sent to the hospital with injuries.
A Kurdish man arrested in March 2005 when he applied for asylum was
released. His asylum application was accepted, and he continued to
reside in the country with his family.
The May 2005 police shooting, allegedly in self-defense, of a
Syrian asylum seeker was pending investigation by an independent
criminal investigator appointed by the Attorney General. The coroner's
investigation had not yet been completed at year's end.
The May 2005 appeal of the Somali asylum seeker who claimed that he
was illegally arrested and deported to Israel despite a pending asylum
application was awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court at year's end.
In December 2005 the press reported that three asylum seekers who
married Cypriots were arrested when they withdrew their asylum
applications after allegedly being advised by police or migration
authorities to do so. The police denied having provided such advice.
There were no further accounts regarding these asylum seekers, although
a local NGO reported that some asylum seekers in the same situation
were deported.
The reception center for asylum seekers at Kofinou continued to
accept only families in an attempt to increase the safety of women and
children living in close quarters at the center.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law and constitution provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On May 21, elections were
held for the 56 seats assigned to Greek Cypriots in the 80-seat House
of Representatives. These elections marked the first time in decades
that Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-controlled area could
vote and stand for election, in accordance with a 2005 European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling. However, no Turkish Cypriot residing in
the government-controlled area ran for the 24 seats reserved for the
Turkish Cypriot community, and the Attorney General denied 78 Turkish
Cypriots residing in the area administered by the Turkish Cypriots the
right to run. The law affords the right to participate in elections
only to Turkish Cypriots who habitually reside in the government-
controlled area. On April 28, two leading members of the group of 78,
Ali Erel and Mustafa Damdelen, sued the Government for failure to fully
reinstate the Turkish Cypriot community's rights to vote and run for
election.
Free and fair elections for local authorities were held on December
17.
Women held eight of the 56 seats filled in the House of
Representatives as well as senior positions in the executive and
judicial branches.
There were no members of minorities in the House of
Representatives, and the 24 seats assigned to Turkish Cypriots went
unfilled. However, the small Armenian Orthodox, Maronite Christian, and
Roman Catholic (``Latin'') communities elected special nonvoting
observer representatives from their respective communities to the House
of Representatives.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was one high-profile
report of government corruption during the year. In November a local
newspaper published the names of politicians who allegedly had asked
the Ministry of Defense for favorable transfers of National Guard
recruits. The list included prominent officials such as the President
of the House of Representatives, members of the Council of Ministers,
party leaders, and members of parliament. The President asked the
minister of defense to investigate whether such requests constituted
nepotism.
The Government made no progress in the investigations of the May
2005 allegations of nepotism directed at the former justice minister
with regard to the hiring of prison staff or of the Government
mismanagement outlined in a December 2005 auditor general's report.
The 2004 charge against European Parliament member Marios Matsakis
that he solicited a bribe from a police officer was dropped on October
9; however, Matsakis continued to face the charge of illegally
exporting historical artifacts.
The constitution provides for the right of access to government
information; however, there are no specific laws that assure public
access. Civil servants were not allowed to give access to government
documents without first obtaining permission from the relevant
minister. There were no reported cases during the year of persons being
denied access to government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. There is a government
ombudsman, whose portfolio includes human rights, and a legislative
committee on human rights.
A number of NGOs considered themselves human rights groups; most,
however, were concerned exclusively with alleged violations of the
rights of Greek Cypriots by Turkey. NGOs with a broader human rights-
related mission included groups promoting migrant support and awareness
of domestic violence and those concerned with allegations of police
brutality. Domestic NGOs were numerous but had limited impact on public
opinion or specific legislation. International NGOs active in Cyprus
were few.
The UN, through the CMP, continued its efforts to account for
persons missing after the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the
conflict of 1974 (see section 1.b.).
On May 16, the ECRI released a report on trafficking in women and
the rights of minorities and other vulnerable groups in the country.
During the year the ombudsman received complaints from citizens and
foreigners living on the island who believed their rights had been
violated by the Government. During his independent investigations, the
ombudsman generally enjoyed good cooperation with other government
bodies. The ombudsman's annual reports focused on police brutality,
treatment of patients at state hospitals and of asylum seekers and
foreign workers, and gender equality in the workplace. The office of
the ombudsman was well respected and considered effective; however, the
Government had not implemented many of its recommendations.
The legislative committee on human rights, which is generally
considered by most local NGOs as effective, is made up of 10 members of
the House of Representatives who serve five-year terms. The committee
discusses wide-ranging human rights issues, including trafficking in
persons, prison conditions, and the rights of foreign workers. The
executive branch does not exercise control over the committee.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally effectively
enforced it. However, violence against women, child abuse, trafficking
in persons, discrimination against Turkish Cypriots living in the
government-controlled area, and discrimination against Roma were
problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was
common. The law establishes clear mechanisms to report and prosecute
family violence and provides that the testimony of minors and experts,
such as psychologists, may be used as evidence to prosecute abusers.
The law provides for prison terms for the abuse of family members. In
contrast with previous years, a larger percentage of cases related to
domestic violence charges resulted in convictions. Doctors, hospital
workers, and education professionals are required to report all
suspected cases of domestic violence to the police. However, many
victims refused to testify in court, and by law spouses cannot be
compelled to testify against each other. In cases of domestic violence
where the spousal victim was the only witness and refused to testify,
the courts were forced to drop the case.
An NGO working with domestic abuse victims estimated a 7 to 8
percent decrease in the number of telephone calls to its hot line
compared to 2005. The NGO reported that, from January 1 to October 30,
521 individuals, of whom 74 percent were women, 19 percent children,
and 7 percent men, called claiming to be victims of domestic violence.
The NGO also operated a shelter in Nicosia that served 51 victims of
domestic violence during the same period.
The law criminalizes rape and spousal rape with a maximum sentence
of life in prison. Most convicted offenders received considerably less
than the maximum sentence. The police indicated that there were 11
convictions related to sexual assault charges during the year.
The law does not prohibit ``voluntary'' prostitution; however, it
is illegal to live off the profits of prostitution, and police
routinely arrested pimps under this section of the criminal code.
Procuring a woman for prostitution is a misdemeanor. The police
reported five convictions on prostitution-related charges.
Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section 5,
Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace, but there
were reports that it was a widespread problem with most incidents going
unreported to authorities. During the year authorities investigated one
of the country's ambassadors for sexually harassing two female
employees at the overseas mission he headed. On December 20, the court
found him guilty, and he was awaiting sentencing at year's end.
Women generally have the same legal status as men under family law,
property law, and in the judicial system. The Government agency tasked
with the promotion, protection, and coordination of women's rights is
the National Mechanism for Women's Rights under the Ministry of Justice
and Public Order. Laws requiring equal pay for men and women performing
the same work were enforced effectively at the white-collar level, but,
despite a strong legal framework, the Ministry of Labor's enforcement
was ineffective at the blue-collar level. Research from one NGO
suggested that remuneration for female blue-collar workers was 25 to 30
percent less than for their male counterparts.
In February an NGO representing divorced mothers asked the
legislative committee on human rights to approve new legislation to
tackle the problem of collecting child support payments from delinquent
fathers. During the year the same NGO worked with police to encourage
collection efforts. The courts may garnish wages and assets and
ultimately imprison persons to enforce child support payments.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare.
The Government provided free education through the age of 18.
Education was compulsory up to the age of 15, or nine years of
education. Approximately 60 percent of children completed some form of
university or other post-secondary education.
Approximately 85 percent of the population was eligible to receive
free public health care, and boys and girls had equal access to health
care.
Child abuse was a problem. The Welfare Department said the majority
of cases, which increased over previous years, were linked to domestic
violence, alcohol abuse, and psychological illness. The police reported
that, as of the end of August, there were 18 criminal prosecutions
pending before the courts for child abuse or sexual exploitation. In
2005 a total of 44 cases of child abuse were prosecuted, resulting in
26 convictions, four acquittals, and three dismissals. The rest were
pending in the courts at year's end.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
with a specific focus on countering trafficking for sexual
exploitation. It does not address internal or labor trafficking.
Nevertheless, there were widespread reports that persons were
trafficked to the country, and trafficking of women to the country for
sexual exploitation continued to be a problem. There were also
allegations of police corruption related to trafficking.
The country was primarily a destination point for women trafficked
for sexual exploitation, and authorities were aware of and generally
tolerated the situation despite adoption in 2005 of a plan of action to
combat trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation of children.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of the country being
used as a transit point for trafficking. The country was a destination
for women trafficked from Eastern Europe, primarily Ukraine, Romania,
Moldova, Russia, Belarus, and Bulgaria, as well as the Philippines and
the Dominican Republic. There was also one reported case during the
year of a woman from Morocco. There was evidence that female victims
coming from China on student visas engaged in prostitution and, in some
cases, were victims of sexual exploitation. NGOs reported that female
domestic workers from India and Sri Lanka were forced to work long
hours. There were no reliable statistics on the number of trafficking
victims; however, 81 women pressed charges during the year.
Traffickers fraudulently recruited victims using the artiste
employment permit category and often rotated victims between different
cabarets and cities. In some cases, women reportedly were arbitrarily
denied part or all of their salaries, forced to surrender their
passports, and pressed into providing sexual services for clients. Some
NGOs alleged that government officials with oversight and policing
responsibility over the sex industry themselves frequented cabarets and
nightclubs.
It is a felony to engage in the sexual exploitation and trafficking
of persons. The court may order persons convicted of trafficking to pay
part or all of the expenses incurred for the provision of protection,
temporary shelter, medical care, and psychiatric care for victims, as
well as compensation to the victim, including repatriation expenses.
The Ministries of Interior, Labor, Justice, and Commerce, and the
Attorney General, share responsibility for combating trafficking, with
the Ministry of Interior as the lead.
During the year police arrested 110 individuals involved in cases
related to prostitution and sexual exploitation. Of those, 83 were
arrested specifically on trafficking charges. Police statistics showed
that 41 cases were prosecuted, and police investigated an additional 17
cases for possible prosecution. Of the 41 prosecutions, three resulted
in acquittals, two were nolle prosequi, and five concluded in
convictions with prison sentences ranging from four to 14 months. The
remainder were being tried at year's end.
The police participated and assisted in 24 international
trafficking investigations.
The law obligates the Government to provide protection and support
for trafficking victims by allowing them to remain in the country to
press charges or by facilitating their return to home countries.
Victims may sue traffickers for damages. The law also requires the
Government to provide shelter, medical, and psychiatric care to
trafficking victims. The Government may appoint a guardian to advise,
give counsel to, and represent the victim with the appropriate
government agency. By year's end, police had identified 90 victims of
trafficking, 81 of whom testified or pressed charges against their
traffickers. As of October 31, government welfare services had provided
financial aid, counseling, and temporary shelter to 84 victims.
The Government maintained that most women who qualified as
trafficking victims chose to return voluntarily to their home countries
without testifying in court. There were reports that cabaret owners and
agents for dancers pressured women to withdraw complaints to police or
not to follow through with their intention to testify in court. Of 90
women who requested police protection during the year, the Government
reported that 59 returned to their home countries and 31 were waiting
to testify at trials.
NGOs that protect the rights of women and immigrant workers were
available to assist trafficking victims and reported that they received
one to two requests for assistance per month.
The NGO Stigma in Limassol operated a shelter for trafficking
victims funded in part by the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus. A
Russian-speaking psychiatrist was available to assist victims. During
the year a total of 71 trafficking victims stayed in the shelter. Of
these, 35 cooperated with the police and testified in court against
their traffickers, nine gave testimony to police but chose repatriation
before appearing in court, six were involved in cases under
investigation, and the remaining 24 cooperated with police, but their
testimony was not deemed adequate for substantiating cases against
their traffickers. There was no formal referral process between the
police and the shelter. Social welfare services typically housed
victims in government-subsidized homes for the elderly or in hotels.
An 18-year-old Ukrainian who in 2005 was fraudulently recruited to
work in a rural cabaret and forced to have sex with clients testified
in court against her employer. However, after the completion of her
testimony, the Government did not respond to her request for a
residency permit to remain and to work in the country. The trial was
ongoing at year's end, and the Government had not yet responded to her
request.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and in
practice the Government generally enforced these provisions. The law
mandates that public buildings and tourist facilities built after 1999
be accessible to all; however, government enforcement of the law was
ineffective, and older buildings frequently lacked access for persons
with disabilities. Further, there are no appropriate institutions for
adults who suffer from mental disabilities and are in need of long-term
care.
The amended People with Disabilities Law, which extended the
ombudsman's authority to cover discrimination based on disabilities in
both the private and public sectors, had not been fully implemented by
year's end. Problems facing persons with disabilities included narrow
or nonexistent sidewalks, lack of transport, and absence of parking
spaces, accessible toilets, and elevators. The Government budget
reportedly included approximately $90,000 (40,000 pounds) to improve
access to government buildings.
There were no long-term care facilities specifically for persons
with mental disabilities, but many such persons were housed at the
Athalassa psychiatric hospital. In September Cyprus Mental Health
Commission President Dr. Christodoulos Messis criticized the hospital,
calling it ``unacceptable.''
The Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance's Service for the Care
and Rehabilitation of the Disabled was responsible for protecting the
rights of persons with disabilities. In addition, the minister chaired
the Pancyprian Council for Persons with Disabilities, which included
representatives of government services, organizations representing
persons with disabilities, as well as employer and employee
organizations. The council monitored action for the protection of the
rights of persons with disabilities and served as a forum for persons
with disabilities to contribute to public policy.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reported incidents
of government and societal discrimination against members of national
and ethnic groups, particularly Turkish Cypriots and Roma.
The 1975 Vienna III Agreement remains the legal source of authority
regarding the treatment of Turkish Cypriots living in the government-
controlled area. The Government generally effectively enforced the
agreement, which provides for the voluntary transfer of populations,
free and unhindered access by UNFICYP to Turkish Cypriots living in the
south, and facilities for education, medical care, and freedom of
religion.
Some Turkish Cypriots living in the government-controlled area
reportedly faced difficulties obtaining identification cards and other
government documents, particularly if they were born after 1974.
Turkish Cypriots made few formal complaints to UNFICYP about their
living conditions in the south. Complaints most often concerned the
lack of affordable accommodation.
After complaining repeatedly about the lack of a Turkish-language
school in Limassol, the Turkish Cypriot teachers' union filed suit to
guarantee the right of Turkish Cypriots residing in the government-
controlled area to an education in their native language. The Supreme
Court trial began on May 5 but was adjourned several times and was
scheduled to recommence on February 6, 2007. The Government stated
that, according to surveys of Turkish Cypriots in the government-
controlled area, none had requested a Turkish-language school.
A local NGO continued to report complaints that the Government
ignored the law mandating automatic citizenship for children of Turkish
Cypriots married to Turkish citizens. Instead of granting citizenship
automatically, the Ministry of Interior routinely sought approval from
the Council of Ministers before confirming the citizenship of such
children. The Council of Ministers approved 113 cases during the year.
The ombudsman's investigation into the September 2005 Ministry of
Education decision to suspend from school all Romani children living in
the Paphos District until they were tested for hepatitis was ongoing at
year's end.
There were repeated incidents of vandalism of Turkish Cypriots'
vehicles, specifically at bicommunal activities, including the January
18 Together for Peace and the February 13 Cyprus Literature Union
events. There was also a physical attack on Turkish Cypriot students in
Nicosia by a group of Greek Cypriot teenagers (see section 2.c.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Despite legal
protections, homosexuals faced significant societal discrimination, and
few homosexuals in the country were open about their sexual
orientation. One NGO reported that there were complaints of
discrimination toward homosexuals and persons with HIV/AIDS. NGOs were
reluctant to initiate awareness campaigns.
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--The Government continued to
use textbooks at the primary and secondary school levels that included
inflammatory language derogatory of Turkish Cypriots and Turks. This
was a particularly serious concern with history textbooks.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--All workers, except for members of
the police and military forces, have the legal right to form and join
unions of their own choosing without prior authorization, and workers
did so in practice. Police officers were permitted to join only
associations that have the right to bargain collectively but not to go
on strike. More than 70 percent of the workforce belonged to
independent unions. Antiunion discrimination is illegal, but union
leaders contended that private sector employers were able to discourage
union activity because the enforcement of labor regulations was
sporadic and penalties for antiunion practices were minimal.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law provides
for collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in
practice; however, collective bargaining agreements were not legally
enforceable. Collective bargaining agreements covered all workers,
citizen and foreign, with the exception of housekeepers and cabaret
workers; approximately 60 percent of workers were covered by such
agreements. All workers have the right to strike; however, authorities
have the power to curtail strikes in ``essential services,'' although
this power was used rarely in practice. The law provides that members
of the armed forces, the police, and the gendarmerie do not have the
right to strike, but the right to strike is recognized for all other
providers of essential services. There have been strikes in the past at
government-run hospitals and airports, as well as by police; the
Government did not take any actions against these workers. An agreement
between the Government and essential services personnel provides for
dispute resolution and protects workers in the sector.
There are no special laws for or exemptions from regular labor laws
in the export processing zone at the port of Larnaca.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The Government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum age for employment in
an ``industrial undertaking'' is 16. Ministry of Labor inspectors are
responsible for enforcing the child labor laws and did so effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was
approximately $800 (362 pounds) per month for shop assistants,
practical nurses, clerks, hairdressers, and nursery assistants. The
minimum wage rose to approximately $850 (385 pounds) after six months'
employment. Neither amount provided a decent standard of living for a
worker and family. All other occupations, including unskilled workers,
were covered under collective bargaining agreements between unions and
employers within the same economic sector. The wages set in these
agreements were significantly higher than the minimum wage. Migration
services of the Ministry of Interior set the starting salary for
foreigners working as housekeepers at approximately $340 (150 pounds)
per month, plus approximately $90 (40 pounds) for lodging if the worker
was not a live-in, and an additional 16 percent, which employers were
required to pay directly to the Government in the form of social
insurance. Workers were not allowed to claim pensions unless they
became citizens, although in some cases there were bilateral agreements
that allowed workers to claim credit in their home countries. Unions
and labor confederations generally effectively enforced negotiated wage
rates (collectively bargained rates), which were generally much higher
than the minimum wage. Migration services were responsible for
enforcing the minimum wage for foreign workers but did not actively do
so.
The legal maximum workweek was 48 hours, including overtime. Unions
and employers within the same economic sector collectively determined
the actual working hours. In the private sector, white-collar employees
typically worked 39 hours a week, and blue-collar employees worked 38
hours a week. In the public sector, the workweek was 38 hours in the
winter and 35 hours in the summer. The law does not require premium pay
for overtime or mandatory rest periods; this is usually stipulated in
the contracts of workers in larger sectors. Labor inspectors
effectively enforced these laws.
By law there was no premium pay for overtime for foreign workers;
however, limits on workweeks are stipulated in their contracts and
varied according to the economic sector.
The Ministry of Labor experienced a substantial increase in the
number of complaints of labor exploitation. Foreign workers, primarily
from Eastern Europe and East and South Asia, reportedly were forced to
work up to 13 hours a day, seven days a week, for very low wages. NGOs
and the ombudsman also confirmed that employers often retained a
portion of foreign workers' salaries as payment for accommodations.
There were reports of mistreatment of maids and other foreign
domestic workers. Such reports usually involved allegations that maids,
primarily from East or South Asia, were mistreated by their employers
or fired without cause in violation of their contracts. Although the
law protects domestic workers who file a complaint with the Ministry of
Labor from being deported until their cases have been adjudicated, NGOs
reported that many of them did not complain to authorities out of fear
of deportation.
Health and safety laws apply to places of work in all economic
sectors and were enforced by Ministry of Labor inspectors. Factory
inspectors processed complaints and inspected businesses to ensure that
occupational safety laws were observed. Their inspections were
supported by close government cooperation with employer/employee
organizations. However, the law does not apply to private households
where persons were employed as domestic servants. Workers have the
right to remove themselves from work situations that endanger health or
safety without jeopardy to their continued employment, and authorities
effectively enforced this right.
THE AREA ADMINISTERED BY TURKISH CYPRIOTS
Since 1974, the northern part of Cyprus, with a population of
approximately 250,000 persons, has been run by a Turkish Cypriot
administration that proclaimed itself the ``Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus (TRNC)'' in 1983. The United States does not recognize
the ``TRNC,'' nor does any country other than Turkey. Mehmet Ali Talat
was elected ``President'' in April 2005 in free and fair elections.
Elections to the ``Assembly of the Republic'' in February 2005 were
also free and fair and resulted in the formation of a coalition
government. The June 25 elections for two empty seats in
``parliament,'' together with the municipal elections, were generally
free and fair. The ``TRNC government'' was restructured in September
when a minority coalition partner left. The ``TRNC constitution'' is
the basis for the laws that govern the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots. Police and security forces were ultimately under the
operational command of the Turkish military, per transitional article
10 of the ``TRNC constitution,'' which cedes responsibility for public
security and defense ``temporarily'' to Turkey.
Turkish Cypriot authorities generally respected the human rights of
citizens living under their control; however, there were problems in
some areas. Police abuse of detainees and arbitrary arrest and
detention continued to be problems. There were also restrictions on
citizens' privacy rights and on the rights of asylum seekers. The
``government'' proposed legislation to govern the treatment of asylum
seekers, but by year's end there did not exist a regulatory
infrastructure to handle asylum applications or specifically to protect
the rights of asylum seekers. Trafficking in persons continued.
With assistance from European Union experts, the authorities began
to implement a program to improve the penal code. Also, a new ombudsman
was appointed after a four-year vacancy.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the authorities or their agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The authorities participated in the autonomous, tripartite (UN,
Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot) UN Committee on Missing Persons (CMP)
in Cyprus as part of its continuing efforts to account for persons who
remained missing after the intercommunal violence in 1963-64 and the
conflict of 1974. According to the CMP, 1,468 Greek Cypriots and 502
Turkish Cypriots remained missing.
During the year the CMP verified a number of exhumations carried
out previously by the ``TRNC.'' The remains were transferred to the CMP
for identification. Exhumations continued in different parts of the
island.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
reports that police abused detainees.
Kudret Celebi, charged with rape (see section 5), claimed that he
was tortured by police in November after his escape and recapture.
Celebi said that police guards handcuffed him naked to a bunk and beat
him, and that the guards forced him to walk through crowds of inmates
so that they could hit him. After hearing Celebi's complaints, the
judge ordered a medical examination of his person. No further actions
by the authorities were reported.
The authorities had no record of a complaint regarding a police
beating reported by the press in September 2005. The press made no
further mention of the case.
Unlike in previous years, police did not prevent any public
demonstrations.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, although there were some
problems. Inmates complained of overcrowding at the prison, and the
authorities publicly acknowledged the problem. In the 207-person
capacity prison, there are 349 prisoners, 68 percent of whom are
foreigners, mostly Turkish citizens. More than 40 percent of the
prisoners were awaiting trial. According to press reports, the
authorities were contemplating returning the Turkish prisoners to
Turkey to overcome overcrowding, but no concrete action was taken.
Violent offenders were generally kept separate from prisoners
convicted of less serious crimes; however, juveniles were not held
separate from adults.
The authorities permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers and journalists.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the authorities generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are responsible
for law enforcement. The chief of police reports to the Turkish Cypriot
general holding the ``security portfolio,'' who is nominally under the
supervision of the ``prime ministry.'' However, the police and security
forces are ultimately under the operational command of the Turkish
military per transitional article 10 of the ``TRNC constitution,''
which ``temporarily'' cedes responsibility for public security and
defense to Turkey. Some politicians called for the police to be brought
under the control of the civilian ``TRNC government,'' but there were
no changes during the year. Despite this, security forces were
generally cooperative with civilian authorities and effective in
matters of law enforcement. The police are divided into eight
functional divisions and five geographic divisions.
The office of the ``attorney general'' continued to work in
conjunction with the inspection division (or occasionally the criminal
investigative division) to conduct investigations into allegations of
police misconduct. There were no investigations resulting in the
prosecution of officers for the abuse of detainees during the year.
Two police officers, Salih Karahuseyin and Ufuk Derebeyler,
arrested in September 2005 in connection with alleged narcotics
trafficking, were released on bail the same month and fled the area
administered by Turkish Cypriots. The authorities believed that the two
escaped to the government-controlled area.
The Iskele police chief, Veli Gurpinar, arrested in December 2005
for collecting gambling debts for a criminal syndicate, was released on
bail and temporarily suspended. The ``attorney general'' decided that
there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case and reinstated
Gurpinar.
Arrest and Detention.--Judicially issued arrest warrants were
required to arrest a person. No person could be detained for more than
24 hours without referral of the case to the courts for extension of
the period of detention. The authorities generally respected this right
in practice. Also, detainees were promptly informed of charges against
them, although individuals believed to have committed a violent offense
were often held for longer periods of time without being charged.
Judges could order that suspects be held for investigative detention
for up to 10 days before formal charges are filed, or up to three
months for those accused of serious crimes. Bail was permitted and
routinely used. Detainees were usually allowed prompt access to family
members and a lawyer of their choice. The authorities provided lawyers
to the indigent for violent offenses only. Particularly at the time of
arrest, police sometimes did not observe legal protections. Some
suspects were not permitted to have their lawyers present when
testimony was taken, in contravention of the law. Suspects who demanded
the presence of a lawyer were sometimes threatened with stiffer charges
or physically intimidated.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the authorities generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Most criminal and civil cases begin in district courts, from which
appeals are made to the ``Supreme Court.'' There were no special courts
for political offenses. New legislation was passed transferring
jurisdiction from military to civilian courts for cases in which
civilians are accused of violating military restrictions, such as
filming or photographing military zones.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. The ``TRNC
constitution'' guarantees public trials, the defendant's right to be
present at those trials, and the defendant's right to consult with an
attorney in a timely manner. The authorities provided lawyers to the
indigent for violent offenses only. Defendants are allowed to question
witnesses against them and present evidence or witnesses on their
behalf. The law also guarantees that defendants and their attorneys
have access to ``government''-held evidence related to their cases.
Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal.
The authorities generally respected these rights in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There was generally an
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters, permitting
claimants to bring lawsuits seeking damages for human rights
violations. There were generally no problems enforcing domestic court
orders.
Property Restitution.--During the year Greek Cypriots continued to
pursue property suits in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
against the Turkish government for the loss since 1974 of property
located in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. Under ECHR rules,
an appellant does not have standing to bring a case before the ECHR
until that appellant exhausts all local remedies, unless no adequate
local remedy exists. In response to the ECHR's December 2005 ruling in
the landmark Xenides-Arestis case that Turkey's ``subordinate local
authorities'' in Cyprus had not provided an adequate local remedy,
Turkish Cypriot authorities established a new ``Property Commission''
to handle claims by Greek Cypriots. The Property Commission began
reviewing Greek Cypriot claims in May and reportedly received more than
80 applications. By year's end, three applicants had received outright
restitution of their properties, while another seven had accepted
compensation payments instead. In December the EHCR ruled that the
commission had satisfied ``in principle'' the ECHR's requirement for an
effective local remedy.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, there were
reports that police subjected Greek Cypriots and Maronites living in
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots to surveillance (see section
5). Although the authorities reported otherwise, a Maronite
representative confirmed that houses in three enclaved villages were
occupied by the Turkish military during the year.
The case against a Turkish Cypriot man, Kamil Hur, who hung a
Republic of Cyprus (ROC) flag outside his home in August 2005, was
dropped. Contrary to his 2005 statements to the press, Hur did not sue
the police.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the authorities generally respected these
rights in practice; however, journalists were obstructed in their
reporting, fined, and threatened with more serious charges.
Individuals can and do publicly criticize the authorities without
reprisal. There were no reports of the authorities attempting to impede
criticism.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. International media were generally allowed
to operate freely. Bayrak Radyo Televizyon Kurumu (BRTK) is the only
``government''-owned television/radio station.
In November two French journalists were arrested for filming in the
military zone of Varosha near Famagusta and fined approximately $700
(1,000 Turkish lira) each. A local press nongovernmental organization
(NGO) paid their fines.
In December eight Turkish Cypriot journalists were arrested while
filming a house fire next to the military zone on the green line in
Nicosia. The journalists were held for a few hours and subsequently
released without charge.
The 2003 criminal charges against five local journalists for
criticizing the army were dropped.
Internet Freedom.--The authorities did not restrict access to the
Internet, and there were no reports that they monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The authorities did not
restrict academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the
authorities generally respected this right in practice.
The charges against organizers of the 2003 demonstration in the
village of Doganci were dropped.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the authorities generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the authorities generally respected this right in practice.
Greek Cypriots and Maronites were still prohibited from visiting
religious sites located in military zones. Greek Cypriots and Maronites
were required to apply for permission to conduct church services
anywhere other than the seven churches designated by the authorities.
For the third year in a row, Turkish Cypriot authorities authorized
Orthodox worshippers from the south to conduct a ceremony at St. Mamas
Church in Morphou in September.
Missionaries have the legal right to proselytize, but the
authorities closely monitored such activities.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Greek Cypriots living in the
government-controlled area continued to report that vandals damaged
vacant Greek Orthodox churches and removed religious icons in the area
administered by Turkish Cypriots; there were no reported investigations
of these incidents.
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community is
very small and composed primarily of nonresident businesspersons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the authorities generally respected them in practice.
Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots were required to show
identification cards when crossing the green line. In addition, Greek
Cypriots and foreigners crossing into the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots were required to fill out a ``visa'' form. During the year the
authorities did not enforce limitations announced in 2003 on duration
of stay for Greek Cypriots.
The authorities no longer maintained general restrictions on
visitors to the 403 Greek Cypriots and 140 Maronites living in enclaves
in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, although there were
reports of specific refugees from the enclaved villages being barred
from returning to their villages. A Maronite representative reported
that the two Maronites barred from returning to their enclaved village
in 2005 after visiting the government-controlled area were allowed to
return.
Turkish Cypriots had difficulty traveling to most countries because
only Turkey recognizes travel documents issued by the ``TRNC.'' Some
Turkish Cypriots used Turkish travel documents, but many obtained
travel documents issued by the ROC.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the authorities did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although they would fall
under the UN definition of IDPs, Turkish Cypriots considered those
displaced as a result of the division of the island to be refugees.
These persons and their descendants numbered approximately 90,000 to
100,000. They were resettled, had access to humanitarian organizations,
and were not subject to attack, targeting, or return under dangerous
conditions.
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and the
authorities did not grant refugee status or asylum, nor have they
established a system for providing protection to refugees. In practice,
the authorities did not provide protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution.
Individuals who requested asylum were supposed to be directed to the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). However, the
authorities' cooperation with the UNHCR was uneven due at least in part
to complications arising from the unrecognized status of the ``TRNC.''
There were reports that the authorities refused entry to persons who
arrived with or without proper documentation at ports of entry, denying
them the opportunity to apply for asylum through the UNHCR.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides Turkish Cypriots the right to change their
government peacefully, and they exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Turkish Cypriots choose a
leader and a representative body every five years or less. In the
February 2005 ``parliamentary'' elections, which were free and fair,
parties favoring a solution to the division of the island based on the
UN settlement plan, known as the Annan Plan, took a near majority of
seats. A coalition ``government'' emerged and elevated Ferdi Sabit
Soyer, one of the leading figures of the largest prosettlement party in
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, to the position of ``prime
minister.'' Municipal elections held in June, together with by-
elections for two empty seats in ``parliament,'' were also generally
free and fair. Soyer's coalition ``government'' collapsed in September
but was quickly reformed with a different partner. Opposition
politicians accused Soyer's party and the ruling Justice and
Development Party in Turkey of using bribery to engineer the
``government'' collapse, but no corroborating evidence emerged, and no
formal investigation was opened.
Greek Cypriots and Maronite residents were prohibited from
participating in Turkish Cypriot ``national'' elections; they were
eligible to vote in Greek Cypriot elections but had to travel to the
government-controlled area to exercise that right. In December Greek
Cypriot and Maronite communities in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots directly elected municipal officials for the first time;
previously, the ROC appointed these representatives. The Turkish
Cypriot authorities did not recognize these ROC officials.
The authorities did not restrict the political opposition, and
membership or nonmembership in the dominant party did not confer formal
advantages or disadvantages. However, there were widespread allegations
of societal cronyism and nepotism.
There were three women in the 50-seat ``parliament,'' including the
``speaker.''
There were no minorities represented in the ``parliament.''
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption, cronyism, and
lack of transparency were generally perceived to be serious problems in
the legislative and executive branches.
The ``constitution'' provides for the right of free access to
``government'' information; however, there are no specific laws that
assure public access. Civil servants were not allowed to give access to
``government'' documents without first obtaining permission from their
directors or ``minister.'' There were no reported cases of persons
being denied access to ``government'' information during the year.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without restriction from the authorities,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. The
authorities often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Local human rights groups were concerned almost exclusively with
alleged violations of Turkish Cypriot rights by Greek Cypriots. NGOs
with a broader human rights-related mission included groups promoting
awareness of domestic violence, women's rights, and trafficking in
persons. These groups were numerous but had little impact on public
opinion or specific legislation. A few international NGOs were active
in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but many were hesitant to
operate there due to political sensitivities related to working in this
unrecognized area.
The UN, through the CMP, continued its efforts to account for
persons who remained missing after the intercommunal violence beginning
in 1963-64 and the conflict of 1974 (see section 1.b.).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the authorities generally effectively
enforced it; however, violence against women, trafficking in persons,
and discrimination against Greek Cypriots and Maronites were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
problem. The law prohibits domestic violence; however, no cases of
domestic violence were tried during the year, as claims were typically
considered a family matter and settled out of court. Additionally, the
authorities considered a case credible only if there was at least one
witness in addition to the victim.
The law provides for no minimum sentence for individuals convicted
of rape, including spousal rape; the maximum sentence is life
imprisonment. The authorities and police effectively handled and
prosecuted rape cases, including cases of spousal rape. There were no
NGOs to support rape victims.
Kudret Celebi and Erkut Latif were arrested for raping a 14-year-
old girl in the village of Akdogan on February 11. Prior to the trial,
the two men escaped from prison to the government-controlled area. They
were caught in November and at year's end were in prison awaiting
trial.
Turkish taxi driver Mucahit Yanarates was sentenced March 22 to
four years' imprisonment for raping Moldovan Mariana Gaiduc at Silver
Beach in Famagusta in June 2005. Gaiduc, who worked as an dancer at the
Gold Night nightclub in Famagusta, was picked up by Yanarates, who
later raped her in a deserted beach area. Yanarates escaped from prison
on June 7; media reported that he was captured by ROC police and
deported to Turkey via Greece.
The law does not specifically prohibit prostitution; however,
encouraging or forcing a person to engage in prostitution is illegal,
and procurement of a prostitute is a misdemeanor. The law designed to
regulate the hiring of women at nightclubs and cabarets provides
penalties for women and employers who ``partially or completely earn a
living from prostitution.'' Unlike in previous years, there were no
reports to indicate that Turkish military forces frequented nightclubs
and cabarets.
In July the Nicosia District Court ordered the first prostitution-
related imprisonment in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots.
After pleading no contest to the charges, the manager of Mexico
nightclub, Mesut Kilicarslan, was sentenced to 15 days in prison for
encouraging and profiting from prostitution.
There were reports that women were trafficked to and within the
area administered by Turkish Cypriots for the purpose of sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not specifically prohibit sexual harassment; however,
victims could pursue such cases under other sections of the law. Sexual
harassment was not discussed widely, and any such incidents largely
went unreported.
Women generally have the same legal status as men under property
law, family law, and in the judicial system. Laws requiring equal pay
for men and women performing the same work were generally enforced at
the white-collar level; however, women working in the agricultural and
textile sectors were routinely paid less than their male counterparts.
There were several NGOs, but no ``government'' agencies, that worked to
protect women's rights.
Children.--The authorities were generally committed to children's
rights and welfare, although the Greek Cypriot school faced some
obstacles.
Education through the age of 15 was free and compulsory.
Approximately 90 percent of children attended school up to the
secondary level. Approximately 70 percent completed some kind of post-
secondary education.
The Turkish Cypriot authorities continued to screen all textbooks
sent to the Greek Cypriot Rizokarpasso Gymnasium, a primary and
secondary school in the enclaved communities. Textbooks deemed
derogatory were sent back to the government-controlled area, creating
temporary shortages of up-to-date textbooks. A delay in the processing
of work permits for the two teachers caused the school to open late.
One teacher later quit reportedly due to regular harassment by the
authorities.
Boys and girls had equal access to publicly funded health care;
however, patients faced long waits for services in public medical
facilities. Access to health care by children of unregistered workers
was no longer a problem because the authorities either registered or
deported all illegal workers.
There were no reported cases of child abuse; however, as with
domestic violence, there were social and cultural disincentives to seek
legal remedies for such problems.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons, and there were some reports that women were trafficked to and
within the area administered by Turkish Cypriots for the purpose of
sexual exploitation.
The authorities issued worker ``visas'' to women, primarily from
Eastern Europe, permitting their entry into the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots to work in nightclubs and cabarets. There were
credible reports that many of these women engaged in prostitution and
that some women were coerced. The authorities acknowledged the
existence of trafficking; however, they often confused it with human
smuggling or illegal immigration. According to researchers, women
working in nightclubs and cabarets often were sold by agencies that had
advertised for models, babysitters, or elder caregivers. They also said
that large casinos had offered women as ``gifts to their richest
customers.'' In irregular raids on 45 nightclubs and cabarets, 204
suspects were charged with 157 prostitution-related crimes.
In April police assisted a Ukrainian victim of trafficking to leave
the area administered by Turkish Cypriots when the Ukrainian Embassy
said she had contacted her family to report abuse by her employer.
The authorities examined the extent of the trafficking problem and
began to offer some assistance to victims. In 2005 the ``Ministry of
Health'' began collecting questionnaires on working and living
conditions from nightclub and cabaret employees. In December 2005, the
``ministry'' hired a Russian-speaking staff member to interview the
women in private in order to investigate whether they were coerced or
forced to engage in prostitution. In April the ``ministry'' established
a hot line number for victims, but it did not publicize the number
adequately. On December 10, the NGO Prologue Consulting Ltd. released a
report concluding that many women working at nightclubs and cabarets
had been trafficked. Release of the report sparked numerous press
reports and public debate.
The police reported that they had assisted international
trafficking investigations through Turkish authorities.
There were no NGOs available to provide assistance to trafficking
victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and in
practice the authorities effectively enforced these provisions. The
``government'' employed 486 persons with disabilities and provided
financial aid to 2,803 of the approximately 3,470 known persons with
disabilities in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots. The law does
not mandate access to public buildings and other facilities for persons
with disabilities. A local NGO reported that this remained the greatest
problem for persons with disabilities in the area administered by
Turkish Cypriots.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination, and the 1975 Vienna III Agreement remains the legal
source of authority regarding the treatment of Greek Cypriots and
Maronites; however, the authorities' noncompliance with some of the
agreement's provisions made daily life difficult for the 403 Greek
Cypriot and 140 Maronite residents.
Greek Cypriots and Maronites in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots alleged that they were subject to surveillance, although less
so than in previous years, and representatives of both communities
complained that their telephones were tapped. Unlike in previous years,
neither community reported the authorities breaking into their homes.
Under the Vienna III agreement, the UN Force in Cyprus visited the
enclaved Greek Cypriots weekly and the Maronites twice a month; any
additional visits had to be preapproved by the authorities. Although
the Vienna III Agreement provides for medical care by a doctor from the
Greek Cypriot community, the authorities only permitted care provided
by registered Turkish Cypriot doctors; enclaved persons also traveled
to the government-controlled area for medical care.
Greek Cypriots and Maronites were able to take possession of some
of their properties but were still unable to leave any of their
properties to heirs residing in the government-controlled area. The
authorities allowed the enclaved residents to make improvements to
their homes and to apply for permission to build new structures on
their properties. Maronites living in the government-controlled area
could use their properties only if those properties were not under the
control of the Turkish military or allocated to Turkish Cypriots.
A majority of foreign workers in the area administered by Turkish
Cypriots were Turkish. One NGO reported that Turkish workers were often
targeted by police investigations during the year, albeit less
frequently after the authorities registered all foreign workers. The
same NGO also reported that many Turkish workers lived in derelict
buildings in Nicosia, with up to 20 persons sleeping in one room. Those
working in the agricultural or construction sectors reportedly were
forced to sleep on the ground, and those working at restaurants were
seen sleeping after hours on chairs in the establishments where they
work.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law criminalizes
homosexuality in the area administered by Turkish Cypriots, but a draft
gay rights bill was being discussed in ``parliament'' at year's end.
The new legislation would forbid discrimination against homosexuals and
end the criminalization of homosexual behavior. Homosexuality remained
highly proscribed socially and rarely discussed.
There were no reports of discrimination against persons with HIV/
AIDS.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--All workers except members of the
police and military forces have the legal right to form and join unions
of their own choosing without prior authorization, and workers did so
in practice. Approximately 1 percent of private sector workers, 60 to
70 percent of semi-public sector workers, and nearly all public-sector
workers belonged to labor unions.
Some companies pressured workers to join unions led or approved by
the company. Officials of independent unions claimed that the
authorities created rival public sector unions to weaken the
independent unions.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, and union
leaders claimed that private sector employers were able to discourage
union activity because the enforcement of labor regulations was
sporadic and penalties--such as reassignment to an undesirable location
or denial of promotion--for antiunion practices were nominal.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
authorities generally protected this right in practice. The law
provides for collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in
practice; however, collective bargaining agreements were not legally
enforceable. The ``Ministry of Economy'' and union officials estimated
that 98 percent of workers in the public sector, 60 to 70 percent of
workers in the semipublic sector, e.g., the ``state'' university, and 1
percent of workers in the private sector were unionized. Public and
semipublic employees made up approximately 30 to 35 percent of the work
force and benefited from collective bargaining agreements. Although the
law provides for the right to strike, employers have an unrestricted
right to hire replacement workers in the event of a strike, which
limited the effectiveness of the right to strike. The law does not
ensure due process for essential service workers and, in fact, states
that judges and members of the police and the armed forces do not have
the right to strike. The authorities have the power to curtail strikes
in ``essential services,'' although this power was rarely used in
practice.
There are no special laws for or exemptions from regular labor laws
in the export processing zone at the port of Famagusta.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The authorities
prohibited forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). Legal
and illegal migrant workers were subject to reduced wages or nonpayment
of wages, beatings, and the threat of deportation (see section 6.e.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
authorities effectively enforced the laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace.
The minimum age for employment in an ``industrial undertaking'' is
16, and children may be employed in apprentice positions at 15. There
were labor inspectors who enforced the law effectively. It was common
in family-run shops for children to work after school, and children as
young as 11 worked in orchards during school holidays.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As of August the minimum wage
was approximately $600 (860 Turkish lira) per month, which did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Migrant
workers were often offered substandard accommodation as part of their
compensation or were made to pay for accommodation. The ``Ministry of
Labor and Social Security'' is responsible for enforcing the minimum
wage, and it was generally enforced. However, one NGO reported that
legal foreign workers in general were paid below the minimum wage.
The legal maximum workweek was 38 hours in the winter and 36 hours
in the summer. Labor inspectors effectively enforced these laws, except
in the case of migrant workers, who worked irregular hours and at times
reportedly were required by their employers to work up to 14 hours per
day, seven days a week. The law requires overtime pay, but it was not
uniformly enforced.
As part of an overall scheme to better regulate legal foreign
workers, the ``Ministry of Labor'' and police routinely checked
restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, casinos, and construction sites to
make sure that workers had valid work ``visas,'' that they had signed a
contract with their employers, and that working conditions were safe
and sanitary.
The authorities sporadically enforced occupational safety and
health regulations. Although factory inspectors processed complaints
and inspected businesses to ensure that occupational safety laws were
observed, workers who filed complaints did not receive satisfactory
legal protection and could face dismissal. Workers did not have the
legal right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health
or safety without risking their continued employment.
__________
CZECH REPUBLIC
The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy of approximately
10.2 million persons. The bicameral parliament elected as head of state
President Vaclav Klaus, who then appointed Prime Minister Mirek
Topolanek as head of government. Free and fair parliamentary elections
held in June produced an even split between right and left parties, and
as a result no government was able to receive a vote of confidence.
However, a series of short-term governments executed routine government
functions, and all officials adhered to constitutional procedures.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected and protected the rights of its
citizens; however, problems continued to be reported. Lengthy pretrial
delays remained a problem within the judiciary. Widespread corruption
was a systemic problem and resulted in several high-profile corruption
cases involving members of parliament and other government officials in
nearly all political parties and at the highest levels of government.
Many politicians avoided prosecution due to loopholes in the law.
Violence against children was commonplace, and wage discrimination
against women lingered as a problem in the workplace. Trafficking in
persons both for sexual exploitation and forced labor continued. Random
violence by neo-Nazis against Roma and other ``dark-skinned''
minorities was common. The growth of Romani ghettos and lack of
equitable education for Romani children was especially concerning.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them. Use of
excessive force by the police was not a problem, although there were
occasional cases of abuse. There was one case of police mistreatment of
Roma (see section 5).
The office for the documentation and investigation of the crimes of
communism (UDV) continued to investigate actions taken by government
authorities and Communist Party members during the 1948-89 Communist
regime and documented previous cases. According to the office, 190
offenders were prosecuted in 96 criminal cases. Eight persons received
two-to-five year prison sentences, and 21 persons received suspended
sentences. As of the end of August, the office delivered to prosecutors
95 indictment recommendations for 121 persons. Based on these
recommendations counsel prosecutors indicted 100 persons. Twenty-five
former Communist-era secret police (StB) officers were prosecuted for
their participation in antidissident raids in the Asanace operation, a
concerted campaign of harassment, torture, and abuse directed at
opponents of the Communist regime during the 1970s and 1980s. Eighteen
former secret policemen were sentenced to prison, with two additional
sentences pending; five other cases remained under investigation. Since
1989 the Government has convicted 90 former StB officials and sentenced
26 to prison.
Some politicians, mainly from the Communist Party, criticized and
suggested closing the UDV without success. One Communist member of
parliament, Josef Vondruska, was reported to have been involved in
abuse of prisoners under the Communist regime. Although many abused
political prisoners confirmed brutal treatment by Vondruska in the
media, authorities did not bring legal charges against him.
According to the Ministry of Interior, nearly 800 former StB
officers remained in the national police. In October the deputy head of
the Prague police admitted to being a former StB officer and resigned
his position. In January and April, an appeals court upheld the 2005
conviction of two former secret police agents on charges of torture and
oppression of dissidents during the 1970s (Asanace operation) and
increased their penalties from three to four years of imprisonment with
supervision.
In April 2005 in Prague the police mistreated two minor brothers,
who had been detained on suspicion of passing out illegal posters. The
brothers were taken to a station, stripped, forced to do push ups, and
beaten to the point where one boy bled and had a concussion. The case
was not pursued by the inspectorate of the Interior Ministry; however,
the League of Human Rights appealed the decision. During the year the
two police officers involved were convicted of abuse and forced to
resign their positions. The first officer was sentenced to 15 months'
imprisonment, three years of probation upon release, and a three-year
bar on serving in the military or the police. The second officer
involved was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and one year of
probation.
In a case of police brutality alleged by a Briton and a New
Zealander in 2004, the judiciary considered the appeal but sustained
the dismissal due to a lack of evidence.
On May 1, during a large neo-Nazi march in Prague, Katerina
Jacques, who at that time was head of the Government's human rights
section and later became a Green Party member of parliament, was beaten
and kicked by policeman Tomas Cermak when she refused to stop
protesting against the neo-Nazis. Photos of the incident showed Jacques
on the ground being struck by Cermak before being arrested. Police also
detained the reporter who photographed the incident. Ten policemen, who
were nearby but did not intervene, were under investigation. In June
the local heads of police were demoted and the President of the police
was denied promotion. Cermak's salary was reduced 10 percent for one
month. In August inspectors for the Ministry of Interior recommended
that Cermak be tried for abuse of office, violation of personal
liberty, and assault. In September the Interior Ministry inspection
unit dismissed the case against the policemen who watched and did
nothing while Cermak beat Jacques. In November the state attorney
decided against prosecuting Cermak, concluding that Cermak's behavior
``constituted no crime.''
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. In March-April the
European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) visited the country. The CPT
noted prison overcrowding and lack of space for individual prisoners as
a continuing issue and recommended that the prisons and detention
facilities work to meet the minimum norm of 12 feet square per
prisoner. The CPT also highlighted the need to ensure that nonviolent
prisoners are not held in cells with prisoners convicted of violent
crimes.
The Czech Helsinki Commission in April found that while prisons met
domestic regulations, half of the country's prisons were filled beyond
capacity and as such did not meet international standards for physical
conditions and activities available for prisoners.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are
responsible for enforcing the law and maintaining order, and they were
generally effective in doing so. The internal security service, an
intelligence and information gathering service with no powers of
arrest, reports to parliament and to the Prime Minister. Police
corruption was a problem. The Ministry of Interior oversees the police,
and the ministry's inspectorate is responsible for investigating
allegations of police misconduct, although this system was been
criticized for its lack of independence. The Government continued to
implement police reforms that included oversight measures, improved
methods for reporting corruption, and better education and training for
police. Impunity was not a problem.
According to the Ministry of Interior, police conducted 65 bribery
investigations in the first half of the year and investigated 48 public
officials for abuse of authority. During the same period, Ministry of
Justice records indicated that 38 public officials were convicted of
crimes relating to abuse of their authority, and eight were sentenced
unconditionally. In addition, 43 offenders were convicted for bribery-
related offenses, but only four were sentenced to prison with sentences
of up to five years. Many observers were dissatisfied with the
investigators' focus on minor cases of corruption and with the
generally ineffective investigations and prosecutions of larger-scale
malfeasance.
In February the biggest criminal trial in the history of the
country started in the Prague Municipal Court. Thirty-six members of
so-called Berdych gang, including five police officers, were accused of
36 different crimes including theft, extortion, murder, and kidnapping.
The head of the gang, David Berdych, was convicted and sentenced to
nine years in prison; other gang members received sentences ranging
from eight to 14 years in prison. The trial continued through the end
of the year due to the large number of witnesses.
The Government increased awareness among police and prosecutors of
racially and ethnically motivated crimes by integrating Roma-specific
issues into training programs, gathering data on victimization rates,
and researching antiextremist strategies. Police and prosecutors
continued to show greater awareness of the seriousness of crimes with
racial and ethnic motivations, but observers nevertheless criticized
the effectiveness and timeliness with which such crimes were
investigated. During the year the Government continued efforts to
recruit Roma to serve in law enforcement and to improve police
relations with the Romani community.
Arrest and Detention.--Persons suspected of crimes were apprehended
openly, with warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a
prosecutor, and brought before an independent judiciary. Police may
detain persons without charge for up to 48 hours, during which time
they have the right to counsel at government expense, although they may
not contact family members. After 48 hours, police must have
determination from a judge and prosecutor that the suspect will be
charged before they can detain the suspect further. When the judge and
prosecutor decide to charge the suspect, the suspect may contact family
members. In some instances a judge may allow a person to be detained
for up to 90 days before charges are formally filed to allow further
criminal investigation (investigative detention). The law provides for
bail except for certain serious crimes or to prevent witness tampering.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Under the law, except for
``exceptionally grave'' offenses, pretrial detention may last no longer
than two years. According to prison service data in July, the average
length of detention was 145 days. Twenty-seven detainees, or
approximately 1.1 percent of the pretrial detainee population, had been
held for over two years. A suspect may petition investigating
authorities at any time for release from detention.
Amnesty.--During the year the President granted 21 persons amnesty
for humanitarian reasons. Individuals were released from prisons or in
many cases granted amnesty from deportation and released from detention
centers.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice; however, judicial effectiveness
continued to be hampered by political influence, structural and
procedural deficiencies, and a lack of training and resources. There
were allegations of judicial corruption, particularly surrounding
bankruptcy and commercial courts.
The court system consists of district, regional, and high courts.
The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeal, but a separate
Constitutional Court adjudicates the constitutionality of legislation.
Judges are nominated by the minister of justice and appointed for life
by the President. The senate confirms Constitutional Court judges.
Defendants may appeal the decisions of the district courts through
several judicial layers to the Supreme Court. Noncriminal cases are
handled by the administrative court system, of which the highest court
is the Supreme Administrative Court.
During the year several events occurred that continued to damage
public perception of the judiciary's independence from political
influence. In February President Klaus removed the chairwoman of the
Supreme Court, Iva Brozova, from her post, stating that she was not
satisfactorily performing her duties. Chairwoman Brozova sued and won
reinstatement in September under a ruling by the Constitutional Court,
which stated that the President lacked the authority to remove Brozova.
In April 2005 in Usti nad Labem, regional court judge Jiri Berka
was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy and fraud. This was
the first case of a judge being indicted for conspiracy: under the law
any arrest of a sitting judge must be approved by the President. The
trial began in February and was expected to take more than a year since
there are eight other defendants, including the head of the National
Security Office. The Government alleged that the criminal gang
surrounding Berka embezzled nearly $13.7 million (300 million crowns)
from domestic companies.
The Ministry of Justice operated a hot line for citizens to report
suspected judicial corruption. Through June, the hot line received 18
calls, compared with 57 calls in 2005 and 263 calls in 2004. Through
June, the ministry received 26 written complaints of corruption,
compared with 47 in 2005 and 137 in 2004. Observers attributed the
public's decreasing use of the hot lines to the plethora of hot lines
and a lack of confidence that the accused would be punished. Nearly
every government ministry and many cities have sponsored their own
anticorruption hotlines. Of all corruption complaints received, 26
percent concerned judges, 7 percent involved prosecutors, and 66
percent concerned other officials. The ministry resolved 66 percent of
all reports directly, while 12 percent were forwarded to the corruption
police for further investigation.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right.
Trials are public, but juries are not used. Instead, a panel of
judges rule on guilt or innocence in serious cases, with all other
cases heard by a single judge. Defendants have the right to be present
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner and at state
expense. Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them and
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases. Defendants are presumed innocent and have a right of
appeal. The law extends these rights to all citizens.
There was a significant backlog of cases, but in certain areas the
situation improved. For example, in 2005 the commercial courts adopted
more simplified procedures, such as allowing electronic filing of
certain documents, which reduced their wait time from months to weeks.
During 2005 the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) received
approximately 1,000 complaints from citizens, mostly related to the
extended length of court proceedings.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The Government maintains
an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Access to
courts to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, human
rights violations is not impeded. Administrative and judicial remedies
for alleged wrongs are available.
Property Restitution.--The 1991 Law on Restitution applied only to
property seized after the Communists took power in 1948. In 1994
parliament amended the law to provide for restitution of or
compensation for property wrongfully seized between 1938 and 1945. This
amendment provided for the inclusion of Jewish private properties,
primarily buildings, seized by the Nazi regime. Both the amendment and
the original law require the claimants to be Czech citizens. This
citizenship restriction unfairly impacted Czechs who obtained
citizenship in the United States, as these naturalized citizens were
required to forfeit their Czech citizenship under the terms of a 1928
treaty between the two countries. The treaty was finally abrogated in
August 1997, by which time the 1992 and 1995 deadlines for filing
claims had already passed. There were also claims outstanding for some
Jewish communal properties (see section 2.c.).
In November the Government extended financing of the Center for
Documentation of Property Transfers of Cultural Assets of Holocaust
Victims for five years. At the same time, parliament approved an
amendment to the law on restitution which abolishes the deadline for
filing art-related claims. The President signed the amendment in
November. Except for art restitution, the deadlines in other fields of
restitution had expired.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
However, there were reports of local governments using various methods
to evict Romani residents. The Government continued to investigate
allegations of forced sterilization of Romani women, without informed
legal consent, in previous years and prosecuted accused perpetrators.
Several cases involving the alleged sterilizations of Romani women
proceeded in the courts. In 2004 the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC)
accused the Government of continuing the forced sterilization policies
of the former Communist regime. The ERRC and its partners asserted that
this practice continued well after the fall of the regime and argued
that often the victim's consent was either not obtained at all or was
obtained under circumstances that rendered informed consent impossible.
Over the last 30 years a total of 87 women (approximately 10 of
whom were non-Roma) have complained about forced sterilizations to the
office of the ombudsman for human rights. In December 2005 the
ombudsman published a report on the sterilization issue that
recommended restitution to the victims. The ombudsman also referred
five cases against health systems workers and administrators for
further criminal investigation and possible prosecution in 2005. While
investigations were ongoing, the Government had otherwise not acted on
the ombudsman's recommendations.
In November 2005 the district court in Ostrava ordered the Ostrava
hospital to apologize to Helena Ferencikova, a Romani woman sterilized
in 2001 following the birth of her second child. Ferencikova appealed
the decision in order to seek monetary damages. The case was ongoing at
year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press. The independent media were active and
expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
The law mandates prison sentences of six months to three years for
persons who deny Communist crimes or the Nazi Holocaust. Speech
inciting hatred based on race, religion, class, nationality, or other
group affiliation is also illegal and carries a sentence of up to three
years in prison.
The Government can enforce legislation banning hate speech by
stopping unauthorized concerts, gatherings, or activities. In contrast
to 2005, police did not halt concerts affiliated with neo-Nazi groups.
Denis Gerasimov, who was charged by police in 2004 for having Nazi
propaganda in his bag, was first found innocent in 2004. His second
trial concluded in April 2005 and resulted in another acquittal. He was
allowed to return to Russia, but another trial was planned for 2007.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. According to the Government statistical office, 47 percent of
persons age 10 and older reported using the Internet in the last three
months of the year, and 70 percent of the population under the age of
55 reported using the Internet regularly.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
the Government may legally restrict meetings that promote hatred and
intolerance, advocate the suppression of individual or political
rights, or jeopardize the safety of participants. Permits normally are
required for demonstrations, but police did not interfere with
spontaneous, peaceful demonstrations during the year.
In August the police halted a neo-Nazi march in front of the
Israeli embassy in Prague and arrested many of the participants,
finding that many possessed weapons. No updates were available at
year's end.
During the year there were rallies in several cities throughout the
country organized by neo-Nazi and skinhead organizations. On May 1, the
largest rally occurred in Prague, where more than 400 skinheads
demonstrated and shouted fascist slogans.
The Government may enforce legislation banning hate speech by
stopping unauthorized concerts, gatherings, or activities. In December
police terminated a late-night concert of approximately 120 neo-Nazis
in Ceske Budejovice when one of the bands played racist music. The
police arrested seven persons for inciting hatred of a group of persons
or of limiting their rights and freedoms. There were no updates at
year's end.
In July 2005 several hundred police in the western town of Mlynec
forcefully dispersed individuals at an annual outdoor techno concert
called ``CzechTek'' because the concert had not been adequately
registered. Many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and observers
alleged that police used excessive force in breaking up the concert.
Dozens of injuries among both concertgoers and police resulted, and
many fans were arrested. Following an outcry by media and human rights
groups, the Interior Ministry initiated an investigation into the
incident and cleared the police leadership of wrongdoing. In January
then prime minister Paroubek and then interior minister Bublan refused
to submit a report on the actions of the police during CzechTek. The
ombudsman launched an independent investigation into the affair
following widespread criticism of the crack-down. In January the
ombudsman's office formally criticized the police for excessive use of
force. Four policemen from the city of Cheb were accused of being
especially harsh in dealing with concertgoers. The Ministry of Interior
Inspection Office closed the case against the police, but the supreme
prosecutor reopened the investigation in August. The supreme
prosecutor's investigation was ongoing at year's end. The main
organizer of the concert was tried for destruction of property but was
found not guilty in October. The case against a second concertgoer was
ongoing at year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Organizations, associations, foundations, and
political parties were required to register with local officials or the
Interior Ministry. The law prohibits political party activities on
university campuses, but students are permitted to form their own
political groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
All religious groups officially registered with the Ministry of
Culture are eligible to receive limited tax benefits and government
subsidies. In order to qualify for first-tier status, which provides
tax exemption, groups must have 300 adult permanent resident members.
If a group wishes to attain the second-tier registration level, which
confers specific additional rights (such as teaching religion in state
schools, delegating persons to perform clerical activities in the
military, qualifying for government financial subsidies, and being
entitled to perform marriages and establish church schools), the group
is required to have been registered for 10 years and to obtain
signatures equal to one per every 1,000 citizens based on the last
census, or approximately 10,200 signatures. Very few smaller or less-
established religions were able to obtain the required signatures to
obtain second-tier registration. Several unregistered religious groups
criticized the law as discriminatory against smaller religions.
Religious organizations also have the option to register as a civic
association rather than go through the tiered registration process.
Religious groups registered prior to 1991, such as the small Jewish
community, are not required to meet these conditions for registration.
There were 26 officially recognized religious groups, of which nine
were officially permitted to teach in state schools.
The Armenian Apostolic Church was in the final process of being
registered.
The Muslim community, which was registered in 2004, applied to the
Ministry of Culture for an exemption that would permit accelerated
second-tier registration status. The community sought the right to hold
classes on Islam in schools, have spiritual leaders in the army and
prisons, administer schools, and conduct weddings. The application was
denied based on opposition from the ministries of interior, justice,
education and defense.
Unregistered religious groups were free to assemble and worship as
they chose, and their members issued publications without interference.
Unregistered religious groups may not legally own communal property, so
they often formed civic-interest associations for this purpose.
In January, 25 mainly Christian Democratic senators submitted to
the Ministry of Culture a complaint against the November 2005 amended
Church Law on the establishment and regulation of church-sponsored
activities, including schools and churches. The senators asserted that
the new law violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
There was no progress regarding the 2004 plans by the Muslim
community to construct mosques in Teplice and Orlova. The Muslim
community did not submit construction plans to Teplice's construction
department and the plan to build a mosque in Orlova seemed to have been
abandoned altogether.
Although the Government was committed to the restitution of Jewish
and Catholic property seized under Nazi or Communist governments, the
restitution of Catholic property was extremely slow and contentious in
practice. In September the Supreme Court upheld rulings by the Prague
City Court and Prague District Court that St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague
Castle belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and not the state. The
Church and the state fought over ownership rights of the cathedral for
more than 13 years. While most communities returned private properties
to their Jewish owners, some cases remained outstanding. During the
year legal proceedings concerning the ownership of two religious
properties began between the Brno Jewish community and the state. The
proceedings were ongoing at year's end.
Under a 2000 law, stolen works of art, including religious art,
were to be claimed by December. On November 3, the Government extended
financing of the Center for Documentation of Property Transfers of
Cultural Assets of Holocaust Victims for the next five years. Parallel
to that, parliament approved an amendment to the law on restitution
that abolished the December deadline for filing art-related claims. The
President signed the amendment on November 30. Except for art
restitution, the deadlines in other fields of restitution expired.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country had a Jewish
population of several thousand persons. In general, public expressions
of anti-Semitic sentiment were extremely rare, and Holocaust denial
investigations and prosecutions were vigorously pursued by authorities.
A small but persistent and fairly well-organized extreme right-wing
movement with anti-Semitic views existed in the country. The Ministry
of Interior continued its efforts to counter neo-Nazis, which included
monitoring of their activities, close cooperation with police units in
neighboring countries, and concentrated efforts to shut down
unauthorized concerts and gatherings of neo-Nazi groups.
There were a few anti-Semitic incidents during the year, including
reports of a large-scale attack planned against the Jewish community.
For example, in March a nonactive synagogue in Krnov was vandalized
with signs praising the Holocaust. In April obscenities directed
towards Jews were spray-painted on a villa that belonged to a well-
known Jewish family before the Second World War. On May 1, a large neo-
Nazi march took place in Prague; police beat and kicked a human rights
leader who was protesting against the neo-Nazis (see section 1.c.). In
October vandals stole a bronze plaque from a former Nazi concentration
camp outside Prague honoring the victims of fascism. Vandals also
destroyed or damaged several tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in
Hroznetin. Police investigation of these crimes resulted in no arrests.
In October a leading newspaper reported that the intelligence
establishment had increased measures to prevent an alleged plot to
kidnap and murder dozens of Czech Jews. Reportedly, Muslim extremists
affiliated with an unnamed group planned to abduct Jewish residents of
Prague and hold them hostage in the Jerusalem Synagogue, stage
negotiations, then blow up the synagogue with its occupants. The
Government did not comment on these reports; however, it temporarily
raised the national terrorist alert level and increased security near
the most prominent Jewish institutions as well as other sites of
security concern.
On November 18, at a concert attended by 250 skinheads held near
Tabor, one of the participants gave the Nazi salute. There was no
police intervention.
During the year police closed their investigations of the 2005
cases of vandalism of a synagogue and three Jewish memorials after
being unable to identify the perpetrators. The cases involved vandalism
of a Holocaust memorial in Teplice in August, the destruction of
several doors and windows at a synagogue in Krnov and defacing of
gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Velky Pecin in September, and the
defacing of a commemorative stone dedicated to a Jewish artist in
Jihlava in October. Local Jewish organizations believed that police had
conducted thorough investigations but understood that perpetrators in
vandalism cases were difficult to apprehend.
There were several hate groups in the country that advocated
violence against Jews. One neo-Nazi group, Narodni Odporu, petitioned
President Klaus in August for permission to fight with the Iranian
military against Israel and threatened violence against Jews and
synagogues in the country if permission was denied.
The city of Prague declared 2006 as the year of Jewish culture
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. For
humanitarian reasons, in December 2005 the Government resettled 15
Uzbek refugees.
In 2005 the Government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol and provided it to approximately 78 persons
during the year.
The law establishes a list of ``safe countries of origin'' from
which applicants are unlikely to be granted refugee status, but it does
not automatically bar such applications. Applicants whose cases were
denied could appeal to the appropriate regional court. In May 2005
parliament amended the law to require regional court decisions to be
reviewed by a five-judge panel, which refers cases requiring further
attention to the Supreme Administrative Court. This was done to
streamline the asylum process and decrease abuse of the system by
illegal migrants. The amended law also stipulates that only exceptional
cases may be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court following a
rejection by the regional court.
In 2005 the Constitutional Court issued a decision that either
asylum hearings be conducted in a language comprehensible to the
applicant or that the Government provide an interpreter. The Government
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national
elections were held in June for the Chamber of Deputies, the lower
chamber of the parliament and in October for the seats in the Senate
and municipal government posts. Both elections were considered free and
fair. Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election.
On April 24, not long before national elections in June, skinheads
violently attacked and swore at Deputy Chairman of the Communist Party
Jiri Dolejs near the Prague metro due to his high standing in the
Communist Party. The perpetrators in the attack were not caught or
punished (see section 5).
Women and ethnic minorities were generally underrepresented in
politics and government. There were 30 women in the 200-seat Chamber of
Deputies and 10 women in the 81-seat Senate. There were two women in
the 15-member Cabinet and five women on the 15-member Supreme Court.
There were no members of minorities in the 200-seat Chamber of
Deputies, the 81-seat Senate, or the 15-member cabinet. One justice on
the Constitutional Court was an ethnic Slovak. Of the estimated 200,000
to 250,000 Roma in the country, few were integrated into political life
(see section 5). Few Roma served in local government, although some
were appointed to advisory positions in government ministries, and each
region appoints a Romani coordinator to monitor and mediate problems
affecting the Romani community.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Throughout the year
corruption and abuse of office remained major problems. Numerous polls
highlighted public concern with corruption and low levels of public
trust in the integrity and honesty of both government officials and
political parties. The perception of widespread corruption and official
abuse has fostered an environment of public mistrust of mainstream
political parties. The poll by the Growth from Knowledge (GfK) Agency
in June indicated that only 18 percent of respondents trusted political
parties. Transparency International reported in September that
procurement statutes were complicated and vulnerable to manipulation,
that oversight mechanisms were weak, and that public procurement laws
were generally ineffective. Biannual governance and anticorruption
studies compiled by the World Bank have charted substantial and steady
deterioration in the country since 1996 in indices of government
effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of
corruption. The World Bank's July report reported that bribery was on
the rise and estimated that more than a quarter of businesses bribed
public officials in order to receive preferential treatment in securing
public tenders. Charges of corruption pervaded politics in the country
and were levelled against nearly all political parties at the highest
levels of government.
Political pressure and ineffective police investigative tools
contributed to the lack of prosecutions of high-level corruption cases.
For example, under the law there is no obligation for a suspect to
prove the origination of his assets. Since the end of Communism there
have been no convictions of high-level individuals for corruption. Many
politicians have been able to avoid prosecution due to loopholes in the
law.
In January member of parliament and Social Democratic Party whip
Michal Kraus was accused of money laundering, fraud, and circumventing
bankruptcy proceedings after he helped an accomplice invest money in
cocoa plantations in Ghana. That same month, Kraus gave up his seat in
parliament and left politics. The police investigation continued,
although no charges had been filed by year's end.
Having been stripped of parliamentary immunity, member of
parliament Vladimir Dolezal was investigated and later accused of
corruption. The first indictment in March was withdrawn by the
prosecutor and the case was reinvestigated. He was re-indicted in
September for assisting in attempted bribery. He was accused of
demanding $35,000 (800,000 crowns) from businessmen on behalf of a
Prague district counselor on a local zoning commission.
In July a member of the board of directors of the Czech
Consolidation Agency, a government institution that buys problematic
assets and loans from state-owned companies and banks to assist through
restructuring, and several other individuals were arrested and charged
with large-scale corruption for insider trading and bribery. The group
was allegedly bribed to sell bailout claims to other entities at prices
much lower than their real value. The police seized more than $19
million (420 million crowns) in accounts held by the three main
suspects and froze securities worth more than $11 million (250 million
crowns).
The head of the police unit fighting organized crime, Jan Kubice,
was accused by the Interior Ministry Inspection Office of abuse of
official power in October. Shortly before the June elections, Kubice
presented a report to the members of the parliamentary Defense and
Security Committee that alleged a link between the top officials of the
ruling Social Democratic Party and organized crime. By doing so, Kubice
went around standard procedure of reporting the issue to the police
President. The report subsequently leaked to the press shortly before
the June elections. Experts maintained that Kubice's decision to inform
the parliamentarians was an act of desperation as the lives of two
police officers were in danger.
In April 2005 Prime Minister Stanislav Gross resigned in a
corruption scandal over his ownership of a luxury apartment in Prague
in spite of earning only a modest government salary. During the
subsequent controversy, additional questions surfaced in the media
regarding other financial and business activities of Gross and his
family. The decision by police in December 2005 to close the case for
lack of evidence was met with widespread public criticism. The case was
reopened during the year but again closed due to a lack of evidence.
In August 2005 former prime minister Jiri Paroubek dismissed his
chief aide, Zdenek Dolezel, who also previously served as chief aide to
former prime minister Gross, over allegations of corruption involving
the privatization of the oil and refining company, Unipetrol. During
the company's sale to Polish refining corporation PKN Orlen, the aide
reportedly solicited a $225,000 (5 million crowns) bribe. A
parliamentary inquiry into the case that was authorized by Paroubek
later in the year produced no result. Meanwhile, criminal proceedings
were started in October by police against Dolezel and four other
officials, including a deputy minister, member of parliament and mayor,
on charges of attempting to siphon off large amounts of money from
European Union (EU) structural funds. Police also investigated
allegations that the group had plotted to kill Jan Kubice, head of the
national police unit fighting organized crime. The case was ongoing at
year's end.
In October 2005 Marian Kus, a member of the ruling Social
Democratic party executive committee, was forced to temporarily step
down from his position during an investigation into charges that he had
forged his lustration certificate, a document certifying that a person
has been vetted by the Government and (usually) cleared of cooperation
with the Communist secret police. No formal charges were brought
against Kus.
In November 2005 Agriculture Minister Petr Zgarba resigned due to
allegations that he had passed inside information to land speculators.
Zgarba served as chairman of the special government commission that
oversaw the sale of state-owned property. It was alleged that, based on
the information passed by Zgarba, land speculators purchased land for
discount prices before the general public was allowed to bid. The
speculators paid $2.3 million (50 million crowns) for property that was
valued close to $160 million (3.5 billion crowns). The police
investigation did not result in charges against those involved, and the
case was closed.
In 2004, 18 customs officials working at the Moravian/Austrian
border were charged with accepting bribes of $7 (150 crowns) from truck
drivers seeking expedited inspections at the border. Their trial began
in June 2005. During the year all received suspended sentences of one
to two years and fines of $480 to $3,360 (10,000 to 70,000 crowns).
In 2005 the Ministry of Interior received 6,019 e-mails and 450
calls to its hot line (compared with 6,334 e-mails and 480 calls in
2004); most were requests for information on corruption. Only 35 of
these calls and e-mails reported corruption; five of these alleged
police corruption, and 30 concerned officials in other ministries. The
ministry forwarded these 35 reports to the corruption police for
further investigation.
The law provides for public access to government information. The
Government provided such access in practice for citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media. No prohibitive fees were used,
and applicants may appeal a decision about information release within
15 days of a decision or if the time limit for processing a request is
exceeded.
Section 4. Government Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. The NGOs watch the
application of law in practice and press the Government to act when
needed. Government officials were generally cooperative and responsive
to their views.
The amended law on the ombudsman, formally called the Public
Defender of Rights, came into effect on January 1. The ombudsman's
responsibilities, which include authority to investigate complaints
involving the activity or inactivity of authorities in public
administration, were greatly expanded under the new law. The
ombudsman's new tasks include performing regular visits to all
government facilities where persons are detained or imprisoned. During
these visits the ombudsman should examine the treatment these
individuals receive, endeavor to ensure that their fundamental rights
are respected, and increase their protection against mistreatment. The
ombudsman operated without government or party interference, and the
incumbent was reelected by parliament in December to fill an additional
six-year term. The ombudsman was considered effective and had adequate
resources to perform his investigations. The incumbent ombudsman was
widely respected and enjoyed the Government's cooperation. The
ombudsman issues quarterly and annual reports on the efforts of his
office in addition to specialized reports on topics of special concern.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, societal
discrimination against women and Roma persisted, and trafficking in
persons remained a significant problem, although the Government made
progress during the year in addressing the issue, specifically in the
area of forced labor.
Women.--Specialists indicated that violence against women was more
widespread than reflected in official statistics. The most recent
Stredisko Empirickych Vyzkumu (STEM) agency poll conducted in August
found that 9 percent of persons had witnessed domestic violence, 13
percent were victims of such violence, and 1 percent admitted
perpetrating acts of domestic violence. Eighty-four percent of citizens
considered domestic violence to be a serious problem.
The law recognizes domestic violence as a distinct crime, and those
who commit acts of violence against relatives or domestic partners may
receive sentences of up to three years in prison and longer under
aggravated circumstances. Government efforts to investigate and
prosecute cases of domestic violence improved dramatically during the
year. Police received extensive training on how to identify domestic
violence cases and possible victims of domestic violence. In the first
half of the year, the police investigated 229 cases of domestic
violence; in the same period 234 aggressors were prosecuted. Courts
convicted 125 perpetrators, of whom 22 were sentenced to prison and 95
received suspended sentences. The number of convictions was more than
double that of previous years for the same six-month period. Police
reported that investigations continued to be hampered by the reluctance
of many victims to report domestic violence or to testify against their
partners.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the Government
effectively enforced these provisions in practice. The law provides
penalties for rape of two to 15 years in prison.
Many experts considered rape to be dramatically underreported. In
the first six months of the year, there were 251 reported rapes, all of
which were investigated. Police conducted investigations into 183
alleged rapes, and the courts convicted 74 offenders. Suspended
sentences were given to 38 offenders, and 11 individuals were sentenced
from five to 15 years in prison. Experts noted an upward trend in the
number of rape convictions since 2001, which they attributed to
improved police training, public awareness campaigns, and greater
interaction and cooperation of police with NGOs, all of which have
gradually facilitated victims' willingness to report the crime and to
testify in court.
Koordona, an association of 13 NGOs that deals with domestic
violence, organized several events during the year, provided
specialized training manuals for health care workers, and continued
distributing materials to inform victims of their rights. Police
continued to train select personnel to handle cases and work with
social service agencies.
Victims of rape and domestic abuse could seek psychological
counseling through a number of hot lines and crisis centers. For
example, the Dona line had received 16,796 calls since 2001. Of these,
10,462 calls were regarding domestic violence; 869 of these calls came
from maltreated seniors and 388 others from handicapped individuals.
The typical victims of domestic abuse were mothers on maternity leave,
business women, and individuals in early retirement.
The Government continued to investigate allegations from previous
years of the forced sterilization of Romani women and prosecute accused
perpetrators (see section 1.f.)
The law does not prohibit prostitution, but it may be prohibited,
limited, or regulated by local governments. Pimping is specifically
prohibited. Prostitution was widespread in border areas and major
cities throughout the country. NGOs reported that sex tourism was a
problem and involved both female and male prostitutes, some of them
juveniles. There are no laws addressing sex tourism. The Prague city
government took action in June 2005 to ban the distribution of flyers
advertising brothels at tourist destinations.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government did
not effectively enforce this provision in practice, and sexual
harassment remained a problem. In August 2005 a survey commissioned by
the labor and social affairs ministry found that 28 percent of women
and 22 percent of men had experienced sexual harassment in the
workplace. The report also indicated that sexually suggestive behavior
was common in the workplace and often not considered harassment. The
law places the burden of proof on the person accused of sexual
harassment. Those found guilty of sexual harassment can be fined up to
approximately $2,750 (70,000 crowns), dismissed from work, or sentenced
to prison. Most citizens did not consider sexual harassment a
significant problem.
Women and men are equal under the law, including under family law,
property law, and in the judicial system. Women constituted 43 percent
of the labor force, although employment of women grew faster than
employment of men. Women were more likely than men to be employed in
professions with a lower median salary. Women's median wages lagged
behind those of men by almost 25 percent. The unemployment rate for
women was the lowest in four years but still exceeded that for men, and
a disproportionately small number of women held senior positions. The
council for equal opportunities for men and women monitored gender
issues and advised the Government on its efforts to enforce equal
gender rights.
In September the first civil case regarding gender discrimination
was tried in the Prague District Court. The court ruled against a woman
who claimed she was denied a management position solely based on her
gender. She appealed the verdict, and the case was ongoing at year's
end.
Children.--The Government is committed to children's rights and
welfare. The Government provides free and compulsory education through
age 15 and is universal to all children. Most children continued
through secondary school. Education opportunities for Roma were
limited. The February 2005 UN Development Program survey on education
of minorities found that only 25 percent of Roma ages 12 and above
completed primary education, compared with 73 percent of the majority
population.
Romani children were enrolled at disproportionately high rates in
the remedial education system, which effectively segregated them in
substandard schools (see section 5, National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities).
Girls and boys enjoyed equal access to government-provided health
care and education at all levels.
Child abuse was a common problem. Over the previous 10 years, the
number of physically abused children quadrupled, and the number of
psychologically abused children was 12, times higher. The law prohibits
family violence, physical restraint, sexual abuse, and other forms of
abuse of minors. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs registered
7,500 cases of abuse or neglect in 2005. Social protection bodies
annually proposed that an average of 1,835 children be removed from
their families due to mistreatment. There were approximately 20,000
children living in children's facilities. Of those, more than 10,000
lived in social care institutes, almost 7,500 in orphanages and
correctional institutions, and more than 1,500 in special homes for
infants. Both domestic and foreign NGOs criticized the high number of
children living in social care facilities.
During the first half of the year, police investigated 346 cases of
child negligence or endangerment; 396 offenders were prosecuted and 234
were convicted. Of these, only five were sentenced to time in prison.
In 2005, 643 cases were investigated, resulting in 442 convictions.
NGOs estimated that approximately 50 children died annually from
domestic violence.
Although there were some reports that members of the Romani
community married before reaching the legal age of 18, underage
marriage was not a significant problem in the country.
The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
In August 2005 the Government extradited a member of the Qatari
royal family and long-term Prague resident who had been convicted of
four counts of sexual abuse of minors under the age of 15. The
Government did so despite allegations of corruption by the supreme
prosecutor and understanding that the prince would likely face no
punishment in Qatar.
Children were engaged in prostitution for survival without third-
party involvement. NGOs reported that many teenage prostitutes were
either runaways or products of orphanages and the foster care system.
Some NGOs asserted that orphanages did not prepare young teens
adequately to be self-sufficient upon reaching legal adulthood.
In August the Government issued an updated national plan to fight
commercial sexual exploitation of children. There is a special police
team dedicated to countering the sexual exploitation of children in
Cheb, a town on the German border where sex tourism was common. During
the year a German NGO opened a shelter focused on assisting abused and
abandoned children in Cheb.
Male adolescents, some as young as 13, engaged in prostitution for
survival. NGOs that worked with these children attributed the problem
to a dysfunctional foster care system that failed to provide adequate
job skills for a modern economy while preventing unwanted children from
being adopted by capable parents.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking to, from, and, to a smaller extent, within the
country for sexual exploitation and forced labor was a problem.
The country was a transit and destination point as well as a source
country for trafficking victims. The majority of women trafficked into
and through the country were from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova,
Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China, and Vietnam; many were
destined for the sex trade. They were usually trafficked onward to
Western Europe and elsewhere, including the United States, sometimes
via third countries. Czech women were trafficked into Western Europe
(primarily the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and
countries in Scandinavia) to work as prostitutes, although there were
been cases of victims as far away as Japan. A small number of Czech
women were trafficked to the United States. Foreign and Czech women and
children were also trafficked within the country, often from areas of
low employment, to Prague and the border regions with Germany and
Austria and were occasionally sold from one organized trafficking unit
to another. Small numbers of men were trafficked to the United States
for coerced labor.
Since 2004 NGOs estimated that more than 80 percent of all
trafficking victims entered the country legally. This held true for
both forced labor and sex trafficking.
Local sex trafficking victims were generally young women between 18
and 29 years of age from areas of high unemployment. Romani women were
at the highest risk of being trafficked internally, often by a friend
or relative. Girls raised in state-run homes, such as orphanages, were
also at particular risk. According to government authorities, women
already working as prostitutes were also particularly vulnerable to
traffickers. Trafficked women were frequently offered jobs as models,
maids, waitresses, and dancers through employment agencies and then
forced into prostitution. Once in a destination country, traffickers
ensured victims' compliance by confiscating their travel documents and
using isolation, drug and alcohol dependence, violence, threats of
violence toward the victim or her family, and the threat of arrest and
deportation. Police reported that traffickers increasingly relied on
violence to secure their victims' cooperation.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the NGO La
Strada released a study in 2005 documenting victims of labor
trafficking from a wide variety of countries, including Romania, China,
Vietnam, and countries in the former Soviet Union and South Asia.
Victims were both male and female and varied widely in age and in
social and educational status. According to the Ministry of Interior,
most victims were employed in construction, forestry, fishery,
agriculture, and textile industries and paid $800 to $1,200 to have
employment and housing arranged by traffickers. Although there were no
available estimates of the numbers of victims trafficked into the
country for labor, both government and NGO sources conceded that the
problem was widespread.
Most traffickers were members of organized crime groups, often from
Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Moldova, and countries in
the former Yugoslavia and East Asia, and worked in cooperation with
local citizens. Domestic traffickers often served as a link between
those in Russia and Ukraine and those in Western Europe.
The law criminalizes all forms of trafficking, including both
internal and cross-border trafficking. Penalties for trafficking,
including for the purpose of forced labor, include prison terms of two
to 15 years and are generally commensurate with those for rape and
sexual assault. Traffickers may also be prosecuted for organized
prostitution and pimping, which are punishable by a prison term of up
to 12 years if the victim is under the age of 15; however, penalties
were significantly lower in practice.
The security policy department of the Ministry of Interior and the
organized crime division of the national police had primary
responsibility for combating trafficking and worked to enhance
coordination and cooperation with local and city police as well. The
first deputy of the Ministry of Interior was assigned to be the
national coordinator for trafficking issues. The security policy
department was charged with collecting, analyzing, and reporting on all
information relating to trafficking and monitoring the implementation
of the national antitrafficking strategy. The crime prevention
department of the ministry oversaw all aspects of the program of
support and protection of victims of trafficking in persons.
Authorities used a number of statutes to prosecute traffickers. Due
to the complexity of the trafficking law, prosecutors frequently used
other statutes, including laws prohibiting deprivation of liberty,
rape, sex abuse, smuggling, extortion, oppression, and pimping, to
prosecute traffickers. The Government did not differentiate in its
crime statistics between human trafficking and these other categories
of crimes.
Although the Government investigated and prosecuted cases of
trafficking, conviction rates were low. During the first half of the
year, police initiated five trafficking investigations and 11
prosecutions. One perpetrator was convicted under the trafficking
statute and received a suspended sentence. In September police broke up
a large prostitution ring that trafficked Czech and Slovak Romani women
and girls to Norway. The police arrested 16 individuals in connection
with the alleged crimes. More than 160 police were involved in the
investigation, which lasted six months. The police estimated that, over
the course of the investigation, the traffickers made $550,000 (12
million crowns) from exploiting the Romani women and girls.
In 2005 police investigated 18 trafficking cases; 12 offenders were
prosecuted and 20 convicted, eight of whom received suspended
sentences. Through June police conducted 54 investigations for pimping;
84 perpetrators were prosecuted, and the courts convicted 29
individuals, 21 of whom received suspended sentences. During 2005, 206
persons were charged with pimping, and there were 69 convictions for
pimping.
The organized crime unit within the national police had a special
department dedicated and specifically trained to combat trafficking in
persons. The unit worked closely with its counterparts in Interpol and
Europol and also cooperated extensively with the EU and other foreign
governments in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases.
Labor trafficking, which the Interior Ministry reported was the
most common form of trafficking in the country, remained a problem.
During the year the Government took significant steps to address labor
trafficking. In April the trafficking department in the national
police's organized crime unit created an additional section solely to
investigate cases of forced labor; it began investigating three
specific cases, which were ongoing at year's end. The Ministry of
Interior also finalized plans to directly fund NGOs in Ukraine to
assist job seekers in finding employment and housing and obtaining
visas. NGOs estimated that this in-country effort to facilitate legal
employment for Ukrainians would reduce the number of workers trafficked
from Ukraine.
There was no evidence of government complicity in, or tolerance of,
trafficking in persons; however, NGOs suspected individual members of
the border police of assisting illegal border crossings related to
trafficking.
The Government cooperated with NGOs to provide services to
trafficking victims and to train police and investigators in how to
handle trafficking cases. There were nine victims who received
assistance, including three victims of forced labor from Romania. The
Government assisted with international investigations, and law
enforcement regularly cooperated with their counterparts in Europe and
elsewhere; according to media reports, the Government cooperated with
Sweden, Italy, Germany, and other countries. Statistics on extradition
are not broken down by crime.
The Government provided psychological and social assistance to
victims for 30 days; the victim had to decide within this period
whether or not to cooperate with authorities. Victims who chose not to
assist police with prosecution were offered voluntary return to their
home countries; victims choosing to cooperate were eligible for
residency visas for the duration of the criminal proceedings and were
eligible at the end of criminal proceedings to apply for permanent
residency on humanitarian grounds. In June the Government eased the
process for trafficking victims to apply for permanent residency. By
the middle of the year, 43 women had entered the program and
contributed testimony or information against trafficking organizations.
During the year the Government improved police training on recognizing
victims for referral to the program.
Because of the stigma attached to trafficking, victims were
frequently hesitant to return to their families or seek social service
providers.
The Government continued to implement the national strategy against
trafficking. The Ministry of Justice organized several training
sessions in trafficking issues for judges and prosecutors, and the
Ministry of Interior continued offering training to police. In October
the IOM and a foreign embassy held a week-long program of workshops
with foreign legal experts on forced labor for law enforcement,
prosecutors, judges, NGOs, and labor inspectors.
The Ministry of Interior worked with the IOM to produce a demand-
reduction campaign targeted at consumers of sexually exploited women
and children in the areas along the country's border with Germany. The
progress of the project was slowed by the difficulty of collecting such
sensitive information from clients of sexual services. The NGO Caritas
visited schools and asylum and reception centers to conduct awareness
campaigns among potential victims about the risks of trafficking and
the entrapment and coercion strategies used by traffickers. Other NGOs
that also received government funding, such as La Strada and Rozkos Bez
Rizika (Pleasure Without Risk), conducted seminars and published and
distributed literature about the dangers of trafficking. NGOs also led
a large antitrafficking public relations campaign complete with posters
on public transportation in Prague in English, Russian, and Czech.
In September 2005 the Government created an interdisciplinary
committee on trafficking, which included representatives from various
ministries and NGOs. The committee met regularly during the year to
coordinate efforts in implementing the national antitrafficking plan.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions
effectively; however, persons with disabilities were unemployed at
disproportionately higher rates.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities,
and the Government generally enforced these provisions in practice.
Although access improved during the year, many buildings and modes of
public transportation remained inaccessible. In Prague, 27 of the 51
subway stations were wheelchair accessible; however, the majority of
stations in the city center remained inaccessible. A growing number of
bus lines were accessible to persons with disabilities. Most public
schools lacked barrier-free access for students, although there was at
least one barrier-free school in each district.
The ombudsman is required to regularly visit all government
facilities where persons with physical restrictions work to examine the
treatment these individuals receive, ensure that their fundamental
rights are respected, and increase their protection against
mistreatment.
In April the Czech Helsinki Committee noted that, more than 17,000
adults and children with mental disabilities lived in social care
homes, the majority of these under guardianship. In many cases, the
guardian was actually the director of the institution, giving rise to
possible conflicts of interest. Despite the 2005 passage of a law on
the procedural aspects of guardianship, the committee expressed concern
that the procedure by which someone was placed under guardianship
remained inadequate, and violations similar to those in the civil
commitment process persisted. For example, persons were unable to
attend trial in many cases or they were uninformed about the decision
to incapacitate them.
In August 2005 the Government approved a national plan to aid
persons with disabilities. The plan was drafted with the participation
of the Government council for disabled citizens, a permanent advisory
body responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities. The Government's initial efforts to implement the plan
focused on improving the quality and responsiveness of social programs
serving persons with disabilities.
Following heavy international criticism from governments and NGOs
for the use of caged beds in psychiatric facilities, the Government
decided in 2004 to remove caged and netted beds from its mental health
institutions by the end of that year. However, the ban was not fully
implemented in practice because the Government failed to fully fund the
transition, and caged and netted beds were only replaced as more modern
means of restraint were brought into service. Caged beds were used in
social institutions to restrain clients with mental disabilities. In
May 2005 the law was amended to severely limit the use of such beds,
pending their replacement and removal from the system. The beds may
only be used to protect the patient or others from injury, and
institutions must carefully document their use and immediately notify
the patient's legal representative. Although the amendment established
much stricter guidelines regarding the conditions and use of
restraints, NGOs criticized the law for not specifying which forms of
restraint were appropriate for psychiatric patients and the lack of
regulation on supervision and time limits. Netted beds remained legal
for use in long-term care facilities for adults and children. NGOs
estimated that as of April there were 700 netted and caged beds in use
by institutions in the country. In 2004 the Government reported that of
9,657 beds in the country's psychiatric facilities, approximately 20
were caged and 100 were netted.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--After ethnic Slovaks, the
largest minority was the Romani population, estimated at between
200,000 and 250,000 persons. Roma faced disproportionately high levels
of poverty, unemployment, ethnic violence, and illiteracy. Despite
constitutional prohibitions against discrimination, there was no
framework to implement those provisions in the civil or criminal law.
Roma continued to face discrimination from potential employers and
local and school officials, with only incremental improvements in
recent years.
A STEM agency poll from May found that more than 75 percent of the
population believed the Government should not give more attention to
the rights of the Romani minority. The same poll found that more than
66 percent of the population had a ``negative relationship'' towards
Roma. Only 11 percent of poll respondents stated that they would
tolerate a Romani neighbor without problems, while more than one third
stated that they would be completely opposed to having a Romani
neighbor. During the year latent societal discrimination against Roma
often was manifest in incidents of violence. Members and sympathizers
of skinhead organizations were the most frequent perpetrators of
interethnic violence, particularly against Roma and other ``dark-
skinned'' persons. An estimated 7,000 skinheads were active in the
country, although some observers believed the actual figure was higher.
In July two municipal policemen from Brno were accused of abuse of
public office for allegedly attempting to force a 14-year-old Romani
suspect to confess to assaulting the son of one of the police officers.
The policemen allegedly took the suspect to the outskirts of town,
where they beat him and put an unloaded gun into his mouth while
pulling the trigger. In November the policemen were convicted of
assaulting the Romani youth. They were both given two-year suspended
sentences with five years of probation by the Brno City Court. The
court also banned the policemen from serving on the police force for
five years. The state attorney appealed the verdict due to the lenient
sentences, and the case was pending before the Brno Regional Court at
year's end.
In October the Ostrava court sentenced two skinheads to 18 and 22
months, respectively, for attacking and brutally beating seven Roma in
2005. The court acquitted two other individuals in the incidents due to
poor police investigations.
There were no developments in the assault cases on Roma in Ostrava,
Broumov, and Krnov in 2004, and no information was available on whether
authorities prosecuted three men who were reportedly charged with
attacking and beating a Romani couple in Prague in September 2005.
In August the regional court in Olomouc resentenced three skinhead
youths who beat a Romani couple in their home in 2003. The youths broke
into the couple's apartment under the false pretext that they were
police officers. They then proceeded to attack the couple, hitting the
pregnant women repeatedly with a cobblestone, causing her to loose the
child, and stabbing her male partner. In 2004 the local court sentenced
the three to probation. After the NGO and Roma community complained,
the regional court returned the case in 2004 for more expert reviews.
In June and September, the regional court increased the sentences of
the two main perpetrators to three years and three years and three
months in prison, respectively. The third perpetrator was again
sentenced to probation.
The constitution and law prohibit employment discrimination based
on ethnicity; however, Roma continued to face discrimination in both
employment and education. Precise figures for unemployment among Roma
were unavailable, but the rate was estimated to be 75 percent or higher
by the media. Some employers refused to hire Roma and asked local labor
offices not to send Romani applicants for advertised positions.
Continuing a trend from previous years, Roma were increasingly able to
find redress in court in cases of employment discrimination.
Roma also faced discrimination in housing and other areas of
everyday life. Police responded to complaints that some restaurants,
bars, and other public places refused service to Roma and posted signs
prohibiting their entry. Human rights groups reported that some
municipalities attempted to force Romani families to leave, employing
such tactics as evicting them from municipally owned homes for alleged
lapses in rent payments or coercing them to sign agreements that they
did not understand, which were then used to curtail existing housing
contracts. While the human rights commissioner publicly criticized
these evictions, the law affords municipalities substantial autonomy in
such actions.
In September, October, and November the mayor of Vsetin, Jiri
Cunek, evicted a total of 360 Romani residents from their homes in the
city, primarily for having missed rent payments. Many Roma were moved
into prefab units that resembled stacked shipping containers outside
the city. Cunek subsequently ran for and won a Senate seat in October.
Although his actions were criticized in the press by human rights
activists and members of his own party, Cunek in December was elected
as chairman of the small but influential Christian Democrat Party.
Cunek's victory and popularity were largely credited to his strong
stand in solving Vsetin's Roma ``problem.'' The forced eviction of Roma
from different cities into ghetto communities outside of city limits
was a growing problem to which the media paid increasing attention.
The Government continued taking steps to address the problem of
discrimination in the education of Romani children during the year.
However, the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC)
in May released a report criticizing the Government's de facto
segregation of Romani children by sending many of them to special
schools for children with learning difficulties. In November the EUMC
subsequently released another report which further criticized the
country for segregating Romani, primarily in the access to education.
During the year the Government continued closing or integrating
remedial schools by transferring ``slower'' students into new,
``special'' remedial education classes pursuant to a January 2005 law
that abolished remedial schools. However, NGOs asserted that the new
special classes were still discriminatory and constituted a superficial
``rebranding'' of the old system. While some regions implemented the
new policy successfully, others experienced an exodus of non-Romani
citizens concerned that their children would have to attend school with
Roma.
In February the ECHR dismissed a case brought in 2000 by the ERRC
on behalf of Romani students in Ostrava and other communities who had
been placed in remedial schools. The ECHR found that the students'
rights were not violated because the schools were not specifically for
Romani children, although the court mentioned concern over the
disproportionate number of Romani children in the special schools. The
ERRC appealed the decision to the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, which did
not take any additional action by year's end.
The Czech Retail Inspection Office in cooperation with Romani
organizations carried out 260 investigations in response to complaints
of discrimination. The office employed two female Romani inspectors.
In September the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs issued an
exhaustive study of living standards in the Romani community and found
that more than 330 ghettos were inhabited almost exclusively by Roma,
and that the number of ghettos continued to grow. The study put the
total population of these ghettos at 80,000, approximately a third of
the country's Roma population. The study found these ghetto communities
blighted by substandard housing and poor health conditions. Life in
these ghettos compounded the unemployment problem in the Romani
community. The ministry estimated unemployment in the ghettos to be 95
percent or higher, since it was nearly impossible for individuals to
find employment near their homes. In November a report by the EUMC also
criticized the existence and growing problem of Romani ghettos.
In Mlada Boleslav a number of Roma were forced to move when the
town sold their public housing to a Romani entrepreneur, who moved them
to villages outside of town. One woman sued the city because she did
not receive substitute accommodation. In May the court upheld her
complaints and ruled that the town must pay a fine of $3,725 (80,000
crowns).
In October 2005 the Bohumin mayor and local officials attempted to
evict dozens of families, most of whom were Romani, from their
apartments following the municipal purchase of their low-income hostel
from its private owner. According to numerous NGOs, there were no
provisions for adequate housing for the displaced families. When the
action was challenged in the courts, several families were allowed to
stay for the duration of the court case, but the town, assisted by
police, employed several coercive measures, including shutting off the
tenants' utilities and using private security guards to restrict access
to the remaining families. The issue was ultimately resolved when a
compromise was brokered through NGOs to allow the relocation of the
remaining families. In December 2005 the town sought to collect payment
from the families for the security guards the town employed at the
site. In July the appeals court in Ostrava upheld a lower court ruling
imposing a fine on the Bohumin municipality for ceasing to supply hot
water to the apartment residents during the winter. In October Police
President Vladislav Husak apologized for the actions of the police in
behalf of the municipality, when the police earlier refused to enforce
the court order and assisted the city in evicting the residents.
The Government failed to act on removal of a large pig farm on the
site of a World War II Roma concentration camp in Lety. The Government
again announced its intention to buy and liquidate the farm but had not
done so by year's end. The pig farm became an election issue when in
January the small ultraright National Party erected a commemorative
stone and plaque reflecting its view that the site was not a
concentration camp but a labor camp. The stone and plaque were removed
by local authorities after a national and international campaign.
Allegations persisted that forced sterilization of Romani women had
taken place in previous years (see section 1.f.).
Positive actions taken by the Government included passage in April
of a long-term Roma integration plan that implemented an affirmative
action program. The program provided for state-paid advisers to assist
Roma in finding employment and special stipends for Romani secondary
school students. In May the Government was praised by the EUMC in May
for beginning collection of anonymous data on the Roma that would
assist the Government in addressing the long-term needs of the Romani
community. The National Gallery in Prague hosted an exhibit devoted to
the history of the Romani Holocaust, and the parliament also hosted a
photo exhibit of Romani victims of forced sterilization.
In addition, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs began work
with NGOs to build capacity and to analyze the best means of utilizing
EUSructural Fund monies to assist the Romani community.
The Interministerial Commission for Romani Community Affairs, which
included 12 government and 14 Romani representatives, as well as the
commissioner for human rights and his deputy, continued to take an
active role in resolving disputes between Romani communities and their
non-Romani neighbors. The commission also promoted antidiscrimination
initiatives in housing and education. The Romani affairs coordinator of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to function as the ministry's
liaison with Romani groups, NGOs, and the diplomatic community.
The deputy prime minister, who at the same time served as the
minister of labor and social affairs, was designated as the
Government's point person on problems affecting Roma. He served as the
head of the Government's councils on Romani community affairs and
ethnic minorities.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year
parliament failed to pass a new antidiscrimination act that would bring
laws in line with the EU Racial Equality Directive. The House of
Deputies failed to overcome a veto of the legislation by the Senate. In
March parliament passed registered domestic partnership legislation,
and the legislation went into effect in July. During the year 235
homosexual couples registered their partnerships with the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
right to form and join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised this
right in practice. Approximately 20 percent of the workforce was
unionized, and the trend of steady decline in union membership
continued. Most union members belonged to unions affiliated with the
Czech-Moravian Chamber of Trade Unions, a national umbrella
organization.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, the Government
did not effectively enforce this provision, and union discrimination
occurred. Common discriminatory practices included firing union
leaders, denying union members entry to meetings between employees and
management, refusing to provide office space for unions, forcing
members to cancel their memberships, offering financial incentives to
dissolve union organization within a company, disparaging unions in
statements to employees, monitoring union members, and refusing to
withhold union dues. If found guilty of antiunion discrimination,
employers are required to reinstate workers fired for union activity,
although the court procedure was generally slow.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining, which generally was carried out by unions and
employers on a company basis. The scope for collective bargaining was
more limited for civil servants, whose wages were regulated by law.
However, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported
in 2004 that some employers attempted to prevent workers from
organizing by means of direct and indirect pressure and attempted to
render collective agreements null and void.
Workers have the legal right to strike if mediation efforts fail,
with the exception of those in critical sectors such as health care,
nuclear energy, oil and gas pipelines, air traffic control,
firefighting, and telecommunications; workers in these industries have
access to mediation. The law requires unions to provide employers with
a list of strikers at least one day before a strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5). According to the
Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, approximately 400 North Korean
women worked in bakeries and garment and leather factories in several
locations throughout the country. Most of their earnings were deposited
into an account controlled by the North Korean embassy. The Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs in coordination with other relevant government
agencies and NGOs investigated the situation numerous times throughout
the year and concluded that working conditions at the factories and
work contracts were within the confines of the law. They found that
although the situation was ``troubling'' in several aspects, the women
were working voluntarily and no labor laws had been broken. The
Government continued to follow the situation closely.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace. The law stipulates a minimum
working age of 15 years, although children with disabilities who
completed special schools could work at the age of 14. Employment
conditions for children ages 15 to 18 were subject to strict safety
standards. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs effectively
enforced these regulations in practice.
The commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children was
a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs sets and enforces minimum wage standards. The national minimum
wage was approximately $331 (7,955 crowns) per month and provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family when combined with
social benefits for low-paid workers.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek with at least two days of
rest and a paid break of at least 30 minutes during the standard eight-
hour workday. Employers may establish up to eight hours per week of
mandatory overtime, subject to the consent of the employee (in the form
of the collective bargaining agreement or contract stipulating
overtime), although the local employment office may permit additional
mandatory overtime. Premium pay for overtime was dictated by the
provisions of the employee's contract. The Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs effectively enforced standards for working hours and breaks.
The Office of Labor Safety effectively enforced health and safety
standards. Workers have the right to refuse work endangering their life
or health without risking the loss of their employment, and they
exercised this right in practice.
__________
DENMARK
Denmark, with a population of approximately 5.4 million, is a
constitutional monarchy with democratic parliamentary rule. Queen
Margrethe II is head of state. The cabinet, which is accountable to the
unicameral Folketing (parliament), heads the Government. The minority
center-right coalition government led by the Liberal Party (Venstre)
won a plurality of seats in the February 2005 elections, which were
deemed free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse. Reports of religious and ethnic
discrimination against members of the Muslim minority continued at
recent post-September 11 levels, while domestic violence against women
and trafficking in women and children continued to be reported.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
In 2004 military authorities charged intelligence officer Reserve
Captain Annemette Hommel and four military police sergeants with
dereliction of duty related to alleged improper interrogation of
detainees. Their July convictions were subsequently overturned on
appeal. The case led to major changes in rules of conduct in the Danish
army, including tighter control and surveillance of military staff and
better communication between ranks.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions, for the
most part, met international standards; however, pretrial detainees
were often held with convicted criminals. The Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police,
under the Ministry of Justice, have sole policing authority in the
country. There are 54 police districts (plus the Faroe Islands and
Greenland), and a national commissioner's office. The minister of
justice, with the approval of parliament, appoints the police chiefs of
each district and the national commissioner. Corruption was not a
problem. There was increased police training in recognition, reporting,
and investigation of racially motivated cases during the year.
Arrest and Detention.--By law the police are allowed to begin
investigations and make arrests either based upon visual evidence
without a warrant, or on the basis of indictments filed by public
prosecutors with the courts. A court may either summon the accused to
appear or order police to arrest the accused based upon an application
filed by a public prosecutor. If an individual is taken into custody,
the law provides for an initial appearance before a judge within 24
hours; however, noncitizens may be detained for up to 72 hours before
being given a court appearance. Authorities generally respected the
right to a prompt judicial determination. The country does not have a
bail system; rather, a judge decides within 24 hours of detention
either to release the detainee on his or her recognizance or to keep
the detainee in jail until a trial is held. Arrestees have the right to
counsel at the initial hearing, and the Government provided counsel for
those who could not afford legal representation. The law does not allow
any visitors during the first 24 hours of detention except for legal
counsel. However, depending upon the charges, the police generally did
not restrict visitor access in practice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice. The judicial system consists of local courts,
which hear cases in the first instance; regional courts which address
appeals; and the Supreme Court, which is the highest and final court of
appeal.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials are public. Juries are required for criminal cases in
which the maximum penalty is greater than four years' imprisonment. The
law provides for defendants' right to timely consultation with an
attorney, at public expense if needed. Defendants and their attorneys
have access to government evidence relevant to their case. Defendants
have the right to question witnesses against them and to present their
own witnesses; they are presumed innocent until proven guilty; and the
right of appeal encompasses both procedural matters and sentences
imposed.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access to the court
system to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation. There were no problems enforcing domestic court
orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. Individuals are able to criticize
the Government publicly and privately without reprisal. The Government
does not attempt to impede criticism, for example by monitoring of
political meetings. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
On April 27, a state prosecutor announced journalists Michael
Bjerre and Jesper Larsen of the Berlingske Tidende had been charged for
leaking state secrets in February and March 2004 articles concerning
classified intelligence reports by defense intelligence agent Frank
Grevil that questioned the existence of weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq. In July charges were also brought against Editor-in-Chief Niels
Lunde. Bjerre, Larsen, and Lunde were free on personal recognizance;
their trial began in the High Court on November 13. On December 4, the
Copenhagen City Court in a 3-0 ruling acquitted all three men. The
court ruled that the defendants ``acted in justified preservation of
what is obvious in the interest of the general public when deciding to
print the classified information.''
In September 2005 the Jyllands-Posten (daily liberal newspaper)
cartoon controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons depicting the
Islamic prophet Muhammad were published. The newspaper explained that
this publication was a contribution to debate regarding criticism of
Islam and self-censorship. Nonviolent protests occurred in the country
in reaction to the cartoons. Security guards were hired to protect the
paper's journalists, and in January a bomb threat was made against the
Copenhagen branch of the newspaper. Death threats were made against the
cartoonists, forcing them into temporary hiding. Police investigated
the threats, but did not have any leads by year's end.
Police opened an investigation into allegations that an imam, Ahmed
Akkari, at the center of the Muhammed cartoon controversy issued death
threats against a moderate Muslim politician, Naser Khader, who opposed
violent protests over the cartoons. In October the case was closed due
to insufficient evidence.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. As
of June approximately 83 percent of the population had access to the
Internet from home.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the official state church and
enjoys some privileges not available to other faiths, such as receiving
state subsidies or funds directly through the tax system. Members of
other faiths, notably Catholics, have asserted that the system is
unfair, and that the Government does not provide religious equality,
despite providing religious freedom. Allowing other religious
organizations to be given the same status and privileges as the
Evangelical Lutheran Church would require changes to the constitution.
While the Government does not require that religious groups be
licensed, the Government's permission is required for religious
ceremonies, such as weddings, to have civil validity.
Religious history, with special emphasis on the Evangelical
Lutheran faith, was taught in public schools, but students could
withdraw from religious classes with parental consent.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law provides protection
against discrimination against religious minorities; however, societal
discrimination against religious minorities was difficult to
distinguish from discrimination against ethnic minorities. There were
isolated incidents of anti-immigrant (mainly Muslim and African)
graffiti, desecration of ethnic minority gravesites, and low-level
assaults as well as some denial of service and hiring on racial
grounds. The Government criticized the incidents, investigated several,
and brought some cases to trial.
In February more than 20 Muslim graves were desecrated in a
cemetery in Esbjerg. Police interrogated three juveniles who were later
released to social authorities to be reprimanded. There were no further
developments in this case.
On July 25, vandals desecrated the country's first Muslim graveyard
prior to its official opening, painting swastikas on the grass and
driving cars across the site. In September the cemetery opened without
incident. In November the cemetery was vandalized when markers
indicating where graves were to be situated were removed and replaced
with pigs' heads on poles. No arrests were made, and the investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments in the January 2005 desecration of
nearly 100 Muslim graves in Venstre Kirkegaard (Cemetery) in
Copenhagen. Unknown vandals pushed over 50 headstones and smashed
another 50. The vandals only targeted Muslim headstones, leaving the
Christian headstones untouched. Police investigated the scene but did
not find enough evidence to pursue charges.
In August 2005 authorities closed local radio station Radio Holger
for three months after it challenged listeners to kill Muslims. In
February radio announcer Kaj Wilhelmsen was given a suspended two-week
prison sentence for violating an antiracism law; Wilhelmsen appealed
the verdict and Wilhelmsen continued broadcasting via the Internet, for
which no license is required. In November Radio Holger's license was
revoked by the Radio and Television Board for its alleged racist
programming, broadcast on August 2, in the wake of the July-August
conflict involving Israel and Lebanon. The board requested a copy of
the broadcast, but did not receive it from Radio Holger. Radio Holger
was broadcasting on a shared public access frequency, which made
immediate shutdown of the station difficult. The station was continuing
to broadcast, via the Internet, at year's end.
The Jewish population was estimated at approximately 7,000 persons.
There were isolated incidents of anti-Semitism, primarily by
immigrants. Most incidents involved vandalism, such as graffiti, or
nonviolent verbal assaults.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile, and the Government
did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to certain
individuals who fall outside the definition of the 1951 UN convention
and the 1967 Protocol and provided protection to approximately 315
persons during the year. Through September 702 out of 1,361 asylum
seekers received residency permits.
In September 2005, 39 criminal immigrants who received deportation
orders were allowed to remain in country after refusing to return to
their native countries. They are currently detained at Sandholm refugee
center where they receive room and board and are required to report to
the police once a week.
Due to tougher immigration regulations only 1,147 out of 2,281
asylum seekers received residency permits in 2005.
In September 2005 the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Institute
for Human Rights accused parliament's naturalization committee of
discrimination for tightening language requirements to the extent that
torture victims who are unable to learn Danish are denied citizenship.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
The territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands have
democratically elected home-rule governments whose powers encompass all
matters except foreign and national security affairs, police services,
the judiciary, and monetary matters. Greenlanders and Faroese have the
same rights as other citizens. Each territory elects two
representatives to the parliament.
Elections and Political Participation.--Prime Minister Anders Fogh
Rasmussen, leader of the Liberal Party, was reelected in February 2005
in free and fair elections.
In November 2005 free and fair municipal elections were held
following parliament's adoption of a structural reform plan, which
reduce the number of municipalities from 271 to 98 by January 2007. As
a result of the elections, the number of municipal council members from
ethnic minority backgrounds significantly increased.
There were 65 women in the 179-seat parliament and five women in
the 19-seat cabinet. Women also accounted for 44 percent of the newly
elected public council board and committee members.
There were three members of minorities in the 179-seat parliament.
There were no members of minorities in the 19-seat cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, violence
against women and trafficking in persons were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a
problem. In 2004 the Institute for Public Health estimated that at
least 64,000 women were exposed to domestic violence in 2003 and that
domestic violence affected 30,000 children. The National Organization
of Shelters for Battered Women and their Children reported that in 2005
shelters provided a safe haven for 3,512 women and children; 30 percent
of the women supported were not citizens.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. There
were 475 reported rapes resulting in 321 official charges for rape in
2005, and there were 228 reported rapes during the first six months of
the year.
Prostitution was legal, but subject to restrictions; pimping,
coercion into prostitution, solicitation of prostitution from a minor,
and trafficking were illegal. According to an April 2005 report
published by the Ministry for Social Welfare and Gender Equality, an
estimated 3,750 persons worked in legal prostitution in 2004, while an
unknown number participated in illegal prostitution, including
streetwalking.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and provides for awards of
monetary compensation for victims of sexual harassment. The Government
effectively enforced the law, and there were few reported cases during
the year.
Women have the same legal status as men, including under family
law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law requires equal
pay for equal work, but female workers earned approximately 22 percent
less on average than male workers. The wage difference between female
workers and their male counterparts for the same work was 6.5 percent.
Women held positions of authority throughout society, although they
were underrepresented in senior business positions and as university
professors. The Government's interagency gender-mainstreaming project
promoted gender equality in government agencies through an interagency
steering committee of managers which oversaw gender-mainstreaming
initiatives. The Ministry of Social Affairs also provided
administrators with education and tools related to gender mainstreaming
and published individual ministry projects on its Web site.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. Education was compulsory through the ninth grade
and free through the university level; school attendance was nearly
universal. Slightly more women than men completed postsecondary
education.
Medical care was free, and boys and girls had equal access.
In 2005 there were 296 reports of sexual abuse of children that
resulted in 277 official investigations.
In October 2005 the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
expressed concern regarding de facto societal discrimination against,
and racist attitudes toward, children of ethnic minorities and migrant
families as well as refugee and asylum-seeking families.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to the
country.
The country was both a destination and a transit point for women
and children who were trafficked from the former Soviet Union, Eastern
Europe, Thailand, and Africa for the purposes of sexual exploitation
and occasionally to work as thieves. There were approximately 4,000 to
5,000 prostitutes in the country, including an estimated 2,000 foreign
women, a number of whom were believed to be trafficking victims.
Traffickers lured victims with the prospect of higher wages and a
better life, then forced them into prostitution, often withholding
their passports. Authorities suspected traffickers had ties to
organized crime, specifically in Russia and the Baltic countries, and
subjected them to police investigations and prosecutions.
The law criminalizes trafficking and provides for a maximum prison
term of eight years for those convicted of trafficking in persons.
Police conducted more than 35 trafficking investigations. During
the first nine months of the year, at least three persons were
convicted under the antitrafficking law, and 30 persons were convicted
under the sexual procurement law.
On December 14, a 39-year-old Nigerian woman was arrested and
remanded in custody for 27 days on suspicion of being involved in a
major trafficking operation. According to Copenhagen police, women were
recruited in their native countries and then transported to the country
and forced to work as prostitutes.
The national commissioner for police maintained an internal task
force on trafficking in persons, assisted local police constabularies
with investigations, and trained officers to recognize and investigate
trafficking cases. The Government cooperated with international
investigations of trafficking and exchanged information with
neighboring countries.
According to national police, trafficking victims generally
returned voluntarily to their home countries with NGO support and were
not officially deported or prosecuted for immigration violations. By
returning to their home country they avoid a possible one-year ban on
re-entry.
In September 2005 the Ministry of Social Affairs officially added
trafficking in children as an appendix to the Government's action plan
to combat trafficking in women, published in 2002. The initiatives of
the appendix are divided into two areas, support for victims and
prevention of child trafficking.
The Government funded three NGOs that provided social, medical, and
legal services to trafficking victims. Government funding was also used
for NGO outreach programs as well as hotlines to support victims,
prevent trafficking, and gather data on the extent of the problem. The
Ministry of Social Affairs conducted an antitrafficking advertising
campaign in all major newspapers, subsidized a hot line and Web site
and funded an NGO program to identify trafficking victims and provide
them with information on obtaining help.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced it in practice. The law mandates access
to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice. The responsibility for
protection of the rights of persons with disabilities is shared by all
government ministries. The Danish Disability Council, a government-
funded organization, monitored the status of persons with disabilities
in the country and advised the Government and the parliament on issues
relating to disability policy. The Equal Opportunities Center for
Disabled Persons is a government-funded entity, which alerts the
Government to, and documents, inequalities in society related to
persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were 39 cases reported to
authorities in the first six months of the year of racial
discrimination or racially motivated violence. In 2005 there were 89
cases reported; however, some incidents went unreported. These figures
reflect a change in reporting guidelines during the year for all police
districts. Reported cases involved graffiti, vandalism, theft, and
racist Internet and written messages. According to police, the victims
were ``Jews and people of an ethnic origin other than Danish'' (usually
meaning Muslims or Africans). Minority group members were also
sometimes the perpetrators of the incidents. The Government effectively
investigated and dealt with cases of racially motivated violence.
There were reports of racism and claims of immigrants not being
integrated. In September 2005 a Danish Refugee Council survey revealed
that 45 percent of ethnic Danes would not initiate contact with an
immigrant.
The inflow of ethnically and racially diverse refugees and
immigrants (mostly Iraqis, Palestinians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans,
Somalis, and refugees from the former Yugoslavia) caused some tension
between citizens and immigrants, which was reflected in press reports
on the failure of the immigrants to integrate and on the correlation
between immigration and crime levels.
Indigenous People.--The law protects the rights of the inhabitants
of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Greenland's legal system seeks to
accommodate Inuit customs, and it provides for the use of lay persons
as judges and sentences most prisoners to holding centers (rather than
to prisons) where they were encouraged to work, hunt, or fish during
the day. Education in Greenland is provided to the native population in
both the Greenlandic and Danish languages.
In 1999 a Danish court ordered the Government to compensate
Greenlanders (and their descendants), whom the Government forcibly
resettled in 1953 from a village adjoining a foreign military base. The
plaintiffs appealed the decision, seeking inter alia greater
compensation, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003. In 2004
the Greenlanders filed an appeal with the European Court of Human
Rights, which had not acted on the case at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law states that all workers,
including military personnel and police, may form or join unions of
their choosing. Approximately 77 percent of wage earners belonged to
unions that were independent of the Government and political parties.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is
protected in law and was freely practiced. Approximately 85 percent of
the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements. These
collective bargaining agreements also indirectly influenced wages and
working conditions for the remaining percentage of the workforce. The
law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right
by conducting legal strikes. There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--Laws
and policies prohibit the exploitation of children in the workplace,
and the Government effectively enforced these laws and policies in
practice.
The minimum legal age for full-time employment is 15 years. The law
sets a minimum age for part-time employment of 13 years; however,
school-age children are limited to less strenuous tasks. The law
contains provisions that limit work hours and sets occupational health
and safety restrictions for children. The law is enforced by the Danish
Working Environment Service (DWES), an autonomous arm of the Ministry
of Labor.
Trafficking in children occurred (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law does not mandate a
national minimum wage; however, in 2005 the average net wage, including
pension benefits of adult blue-collar workers, was $34 (200 kroner) and
of adult white-collar workers, $45 (261 kroner) per hour, which was
sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Workers generally worked a 37-hour workweek, which was
established by contract rather than by law. Workers were not subjected
to compulsory overtime and received premium pay for overtime. Working
hours are determined by collective bargaining agreements, which adhere
to the European Union directive that stipulates that an average work
week not exceed 48 hours.
The law also prescribes conditions of work, including safety and
health; the DWES ensured compliance with labor legislation. In the
first half of the year, the DWES conducted 30,962 company screenings
and inspections, which resulted in 13,006 notices of varying severity
for required improvements. Workers may remove themselves from hazardous
situations without jeopardizing their employment, and authorities
effectively enforced this right in practice. Similar work conditions
were found in Greenland and the Faroes, except that the workweek was
established by contract at 40 hours.
__________
ESTONIA
Estonia, with a population of 1.34 million, is a constitutional
parliamentary democracy with a unicameral parliament, a prime minister
as head of government, and a President as head of state. On September
23, the 345-member electoral college elected Toomas Hendrik Ilves as
President, replacing incumbent Arnold Ruutel. Parliamentary elections
held in March 2003 were generally free and fair. In March 2005 a
coalition government consisting of the Center, Reform, and People's
Union parties and headed by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, took office.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of citizens and
the large ethnic Russian noncitizen community; however, there were
problems in some areas. There were reports that police and prison
officials used excessive force. Prison conditions remained poor,
although there were some improvements. Domestic violence and child
abuse continued to be problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
reports that police used excessive physical force and verbal abuse
during the arrest and questioning of suspects.
In January a Viru district prosecutor charged two police officers
with assaulting a suspect they were seeking to arrest after a car
chase. The case was pending with the court at year's end.
In October a police officer was charged with the use of excessive
physical force against three youngsters suspected of using drugs. The
case was pending at year's end.
At year's end nine investigations related to the use of force by
police officers in previous years were continuing.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor, and the majority of prisons for men were overcrowded. In August
the Ministry of Justice formed a special control unit for prisons. A
lack of funds and trained staff continued to be a serious problem.
Detention houses remained overcrowded. The Chancellor-Ombudsman
continued to urge the allocation of further funds for the improvement
of conditions in prisons and detention centers, although there were no
reports of concrete results during the year. Adults and juveniles were
separated, and women were held separately from men. Authorities
reported that 9 to 10 percent of crimes committed in prisons included
violence or verbal abuse, either towards fellow prisoners or
authorities.
Two inmates were killed by fellow prisoners in Murru prison during
the year. In November the prosecutor's office started a criminal
investigation of possible negligence on the part of the acting director
of Murru prison and his deputy. The investigation was continuing at the
end of the year.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent human rights
observers, and such visits occurred during the year. There were no
visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution and laws
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police,
security police, tax and customs board, and national border guard have
responsibility for law enforcement and the maintenance of order. The
police, security police, and national border guard are subordinate to
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The tax and customs board is
subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. Prison personnel are
subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. The army is responsible for
external security but also has domestic security responsibilities in
case of threat to the constitutional order of the country. The police
board is the central and supervisory authority that manages, directs,
and coordinates the activities of police agencies under its
administration. There are three police agencies and four regional
police prefectures.
Corruption was generally not a problem, but there were reports of
corruption among the traffic police. During the year the state
prosecutor's office investigated a case in which 26 traffic police
officers had been involved with taking bribes. The court case was
pending at year's end. Impunity was generally not a problem. When an
allegation of police abuse is made, the internal control department of
the police investigates and reports its findings. If the investigation
substantiates the allegations, police initiate disciplinary procedures
against the responsible officer, such as suspension. If warranted,
prosecutors initiate criminal proceedings against the officer.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law authorities must possess
warrants issued by a court in order to make arrests. They must inform
detainees promptly of the grounds for their arrest. There is a
functioning bail system. Authorities may hold a person for 48 hours
without charging him; further detention requires a court order. Police
rarely violated these limits. Detainees must be given immediate access
to legal counsel, and the Government pays for legal counsel for
indigents. A person may be held in pretrial detention for two months,
which may be extended by court order to a total of 12 months.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Approximately 23 percent
of the prison population was in pretrial detention, and the average
length of pretrial detention was eight months.
e. Criminal and Judicial Procedures.--The constitution provides for
an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
The judiciary operates through a three tier court system. County
and city courts and administrative courts adjudicate matters in the
first instance. Three courts of second instance, sometimes called
district courts or courts of appeal, hear appeals against decisions of
courts of first instance. The Supreme Court is the court of the highest
instance and is a court for ``constitutional supervision.''
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. Juries are not used; a judge
and public assessors hear cases. Defendants have the right to be
present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner. In criminal
proceedings an attorney is provided for all individuals at public
expense; in civil court procedures an attorney is provided for
indigents. Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them
and present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and
their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a
right of appeal. The law extends these rights to all residents, whether
or not they are citizens.
The constitution provides for the right to a fair trial, and an
independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There is access to a court to
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation. Administrative as well as judicial remedies are available
for alleged wrongs. There were no problems with enforcement of human
rights-related domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and the press.
The law prohibits activity which publicly incites to hatred,
violence, or discrimination on the basis of nationality, race, skin
color, sex, language, origin, sexual orientation, religion, political
opinion, or financial or social status, if the activity threatens a
person's life, health, or property.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
Freedom of Assembly.--The constitution provides for this right, and
the Government generally respected it in practice.
The authorities have wide discretion to prohibit public gatherings
on public safety grounds, but seldom did so. From June through
September, the Government did prohibit access for all groups and
organizations to a controversial Soviet monument in the center of the
capital on the grounds of public safety. It did not prohibit
demonstrations about the future of the monument held away from this
site. The Government failed to protect participants of a gay rights
parade in August (see section 5).
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for this right
and the Government generally respected it in practice.
The constitution prohibits organizations, unions, and political
parties that seek to change the country's constitutional order by force
or are otherwise in conflict with the law. The law prohibits
noncitizens from joining political parties, although they may form
social groups.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The law regulates the activities of religious associations, and the
statutes of churches, congregations, and unions of congregations are
registered at the city courts. To be registered, the law requires
religious organizations to have at least 12 members, and their leaders
must be citizens with at least five years' residence in the country.
Relations between the various religious communities were generally
amicable; however, the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the
Estonian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchy continued to have
differences over the disposition of Orthodox Church property.
The law prohibits activity that publicly incites to hatred,
violence, or discrimination on a variety of characteristics, including
religion, if it causes a threat to a person's life, health, or property
(see section 2.a.).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In April the media reported
that two individuals who appeared to be skinheads shouted anti-Semitic
insults and threw a beer bottle at an Israeli citizen visiting Tallinn.
He reportedly stated that he informed local police about the incident
but the latter ``received his report with indifference.'' The police
stated that they had not been informed that any bottles had been
thrown, that a patrol was sent to the location of the incident, and
that since no perpetrators were found and there were no physical
injuries, there was no further investigation.
There were no confirmed anti-Semitic acts during the year.
In June two vandals damaged seven grave plaques and several
lanterns in Rakvere cemetery. Police took two suspects into custody,
and they pled guilty. In September the court sentenced one of them to
five months in prison.
In May a court sentenced a person convicted of setting fire to the
library of St. Paul's Church to four and a half years in prison. The
arson took place in April 2005.
Police were continuing to investigate a December 2005 incident in
which an unknown person or persons vandalized over 20 grave plaques, as
well as crosses, lanterns, and benches, in a Parnu cemetery.
In February the Supreme Court overturned the June 2005 conviction
of an individual charged with writing an essay that publicly incited
social hatred on the basis of national origin, race, or religion. In
his essay the writer called for destroying all Christians and Jews and
all churches. The Supreme Court found that the essay did not include
incitement to social hatred or violence as defined in the law.
The Government took a number of steps to associate itself with
commemoration of the Holocaust and to encourage best practices in
teaching about it in schools.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign, Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The Government did not restrict the right of noncitizen residents--
persons who are citizens of another country or stateless persons--to
foreign travel, emigration, or repatriation, and it provided all legal
residents, including the 8.8 percent who were effectively stateless,
with travel documents. The Legal Chancellor-Ombudsman received
complaints of delays in the issuance of residence permits and of visa
denials.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution.
The Government did not grant refugee status or asylum during the
year, because no applicants qualified in accordance with the 1951 UN
convention and its 1967 Protocol. According to official statistics,
during the year authorities had 15 asylum applications for review,
including eight from previous years. They rejected five applications
and seven remained pending at year's end.
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who
might not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to one person during the year.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Government has a ``safe country of origin or transit'' policy;
it regarded countries that were parties to the UN refugee convention as
safe countries.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On September 23, a 345-
member electoral college elected Toomas Hendrik Ilves as President.
Parliamentary elections held in 2003 were generally free and fair and
led to the formation of a three-party coalition government of the Res
Publica, Reform, and People's Union parties. The coalition dissolved in
April 2005, and a new coalition government, formed by the Center,
Reform, and People's Union parties, took office.
Only citizens may vote in parliamentary elections and be members of
political parties. However, resident noncitizens and those who have
lived permanently in the country for at least five years preceding the
election may vote in local elections, although they may not run for
office.
There were 20 women in the 101-seat parliament. There were two
women in the 13-member cabinet.
There were eight members of ethnic minorities in the 101-seat
parliament.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the reporting period.
In February a court convicted a former head of the information
technology service of the State Chancellery's information systems and
organization department of taking a bribe from a private company. He
received a suspended sentence of two and a half years, with 18-months
probation, and was ordered to return illegally obtained funds to the
state.
In May a former construction consultant was sentenced to prison for
16 months for requesting and taking a bribe in the course of a state
tender for university construction.
In June the Tartu County Court found 15 customs officials guilty of
taking bribes. The court sentenced the officials to prison terms of up
to three months or to two to three years' probation.
The law provides the public access to government information and
allows for monitoring of the public sector's performance. The
Government provided access for citizens in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were usually cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking In Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination for any reason, and the
Government generally enforced it. However, violence against women and
child abuse were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
problem. The law prohibits physical abuse but does not differentiate
between acts committed against men, women, or children. The police
reported more than 3,300 cases of domestic violence. In more than 700
cases persons were convicted for this abuse in 2005. According to
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) one in five women have suffered
from physical, sexual, or emotional domestic violence, and NGOs
considered domestic violence a serious problem. Domestic violence is
punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to three years and up to
five years in the case of longstanding and unremitting violence.
Victims of domestic violence may obtain help, including counseling and
legal assistance, from local social workers and specialized NGOs.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and was prosecuted under
the law. The sentence for rape is up to 15 years' imprisonment. During
the year police reported 73 rapes and 27 attempted rapes. In 2005, 46
persons were convicted of rape.
Prostitution is not prohibited and was common, but pimping is
illegal.
There were reports that women were trafficked for purposes of
sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment. Sexual harassment in the
workplace occurred but was not considered a serious problem. According
to the law, disputes are to be resolved in court, in an administrative
hearing by the Legal Chancellor-Ombudsman, or by the Gender Equality
Commissioner. An injured party may demand compensation for damage and
termination of the harmful activity.
Although women have the same legal rights as men under the law and
are entitled to equal pay for equal work, these rights were not always
observed in practice. While women's average educational level was
higher than that of men, their average pay was generally lower, and
there continued to be female- and male-dominated professions.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Under the law, school attendance is mandatory and free from the age
of seven until students complete basic education, generally after nine
years, or until they reach 17 years of age. Approximately 98.7 percent
of school-aged children attended school. According to the Government's
statistical office, the highest level of education achieved by most
students was high school plus two years of higher education.
The Government provided free medical care for children and
subsidized school meals. Boys and girls had equal access.
Child abuse was a problem. Police reported 491 cases of violence
against children, including domestic and school violence during the
year.
During the year there were 26 reports of rape and six attempted
rapes committed against minors. The police registered 127 cases of
sexual abuse of persons under 18 years of age, which included 37 cases
involving victims below the age of 14. In 2005, 49 persons were
convicted of sexual assaults of minors.
There were reports of child prostitution, and trafficking of
children for sexual exploitation was a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--There is no specific law criminalizing all
forms of trafficking; however, authorities may prosecute traffickers
under the law prohibiting enslavement and abduction. Penalties for such
acts range from a year to 12 years' imprisonment. A monetary punishment
may also be applied.
The country is a source, destination and transit point for
individuals trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation. Estimates of
the overall magnitude of the problem were difficult to obtain. A 2005
study of trafficking for sexual exploitation conducted by the
International Organization for Migration estimated there were 100 known
victims of these forms of trafficking in Estonia from 2001 through
2004. This figure included persons trafficked through the country.
Persons were also trafficked to the country. The trafficking pattern
appeared to be unchanged from earlier years. Travel-friendly
regulations, short distances, low travel costs, and the draw of
legitimate employment lowered the barriers to trafficking to the Nordic
and other European Union (EU) countries. The traffickers were
individuals, small groups, and organized criminals who ran the
prostitution industry and lured victims with the promise of legitimate
employment or the opportunity to live and study abroad. Traffickers
tended to befriend victims or attempted to pass themselves off as
legitimate job mediators. Due to fairly liberal travel regulations
around the region, false documentation was not always necessary.
The fight against trafficking was a government priority. In January
it adopted a national action plan and established a trafficking
database to provide data on the extent of the problem.
In July, following a cooperative effort by local and Finnish
investigators, Finnish courts convicted five Estonian and two Finnish
traffickers of trafficking 15 Estonian women to Finland for
prostitution. The prison sentences ranged from five years to 27 months.
The verdict was under appeal at year's end. In 2005 the Government used
the anti-enslavement statute in two court cases that resulted in the
conviction of seven persons. In addition authorities initiated 73 court
cases involving pimping, and courts convicted 40 persons of this crime;
five court cases were started and 15 persons sentenced for the
prostitution of minors in 2005. The ministries of interior, social
affairs, foreign affairs, and justice are responsible for combating
trafficking.
The Government participated in the work of the Nordic and Baltic
Task Force on Trafficking in Persons. It actively participated in
antitrafficking activities within the EU, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Baltic Sea States, the Nordic
Council of Ministers, and the Council of Europe (COE). The Government
assisted with international investigations in other countries.
The law provides for protection, as well as legal and medical
compensation rights, to victims of all crimes, including trafficking;
however, there was no evidence that this was provided for trafficking
victims in practice. Each county had an assigned victim assistant to
provide trafficking victims access to the public assistance system. The
assistants received specific training on trafficking in persons issues
during the reporting period from NGOs.
An NGO-operated trafficking hotline, which the Government began to
fund during the year, continued to operate, providing information on
trafficking risks to persons interested in working abroad. The hotline
generated over 400 calls in 2005.
During the year the Ministry of Social Affairs conducted a series
of lectures on prostitution and trafficking for state officials, local
governments, members of the defense forces serving as peacekeepers
abroad, employee unions, social workers, women's organizations,
journalists, and victim assistance workers. The Government cofunded
manuals for social workers, counselors, and teachers to better assist
trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government generally enforced these provisions. The law does not
mandate access to buildings for persons with disabilities; older
buildings were inaccessible, although new or renovated buildings were
generally accessible. During the year the Government increased support
to children with disabilities by 25 percent. The Ministry of Social
Affairs is responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Instances of overt hostility
based on race occurred, although they were infrequent. There is no
specific law prohibiting hate crimes, but there is a law prohibiting
incitement to hatred, violence, or discrimination on the basis of
nationality, race, skin color, sex, language, origin, sexual
orientation, religion, political opinion, or financial or social
status.
Police opened an investigation into remarks published in Eesti
Paevaleht that allegedly incited hatred on the basis of Russian
nationality in 2005. In October a Tallinn city court decided that the
article did not include incitement to hatred or violence and acquitted
the author.
In March police fined three juveniles for inciting social hatred on
the basis of a person's race (a Dutch citizen of African origin) in a
Tallinn entertainment establishment. In August unknown persons
allegedly insulted a PhD candidate from an African country in a Tartu
night club. The police opened an investigation. The case was pending at
year's end.
During the year incitement to social hatred or violence on the
basis of sexual orientation was criminalized. In August several persons
attacked participants in a gay parade in Tallinn injuring twelve
participants; one person filed a complaint with the police, who had
been present at the parade but were unable to prevent violence. The
police terminated the investigation into possible instigation of social
hatred because they were unable to find the perpetrators. The police
started seven misdemeanor proceedings. One resulted in a fine, and the
rest were pending at the year's end.
The law provides for the protection of cultures of minority group
citizens; however, some noncitizens alleged it is discriminatory
because it restricts cultural autonomy only to citizens. In districts
where more than one half of the population speaks a language other than
Estonian, the law entitles inhabitants to receive official information
in that language.
Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are the largest ethnic
minorities, making up 29 percent of the population. The Government
pursued a policy of social integration, particularly through its
language policy which requires knowledge of Estonian in order to obtain
citizenship and mandates that all public servants and public sector
employees, service personnel, medical professionals, and sole
proprietors use the Estonian language. Actual proficiency is usually
determined through examination; however, citizenship applicants who
have previously passed the basic level Estonian language proficiency
examination or the basic school final examination for Estonian as a
second language no longer have to take the citizenship language exam.
Some noncitizen residents, particularly ethnic Russians, continued to
allege that the language requirement resulted in job and salary
discrimination.
Many persons who accepted the legitimacy of the language
requirement criticized authorities for providing inadequate resources
to teach in Estonian. In March the Government adopted a plan of action
that calls for achieving 60 percent instruction in Estonian in the
country's 63 Russian-language high schools by 2011, with the transition
beginning in 2007. The shortage of qualified teachers who could teach
their subjects in Estonian at Russian-language schools, gymnasiums, and
vocational schools remained a problem. Authorities have allotted new
resources to this effort.
There were Roma communities with fewer than 1,000 total members
located primarily in three areas in the country. A report published by
the COE in February concluded that the unemployment level among them
was extremely high, in part due to the fact that very few of them
attend school. However, the report also concluded that Roma faced
discrimination in employment and other areas. The Government took steps
to emphasize the importance of education for Roma children. Beginning
in 2005 the Government undertook two projects promoting education and
identity in the Roma society. In December authorities supported a
seminar to discuss best practices for teaching Roma children in
schools.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers to form and join a union or employee association, although some
workers found it difficult to exercise this right in practice.
Approximately 10 percent of the total workforce belonged to trade
unions. The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, the
Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions (EAKL) continued to report that
antiunion behavior was rife in the private sector. According to the
EAKL, violations of trade union rights in the country are frequent, and
labor inspectorates are not efficient in enforcing the law. In some
enterprises, workers are advised against forming trade unions,
threatened with dismissal or a reduction in wages, or promised benefits
if they do not join unions. Both employees and employers have the right
to request that labor dispute committees or the courts resolve
individual labor disputes.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining and
collective dispute resolution is provided for by law.
Collectively bargained contracts covered approximately 15 percent
of workers, including some nonunion members. The law provides for the
right to strike, and workers have exercised this right in practice.
Public servants working at the state or municipal level are denied the
right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace.
The law sets the minimum age for employment at 18 years, although
children aged 15 to 17 may work with the consent of a parent or
guardian, and children aged 13 to 15 may work with the consent of a
parent or guardian and a labor inspector. Children under the age of 18
may not perform hazardous or dangerous work. The law limits the hours
that children may work and prohibits overtime or night work. The labor
inspectorate was responsible for enforcing these laws and did so in
practice. There were no separate inspections regarding the age of child
workers.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum
wage of $243 (3,000 kroon) did not provide a decent standard of living
for a worker and family; however, approximately 94 percent of the
workforce earned more than the minimum wage. The poverty line was $157
(1,938 kroon) per month in 2005.
The standard workweek is 40 hours, and there is a mandatory 24-hour
rest period per week for those working in shifts. Reduced working time
is required for minors and for employees who perform underground work,
work that poses a health hazard, or work of an otherwise special
nature. Work hours, including overtime, may not exceed an average of 48
hours per week. The law required overtime pay of not less than 150
percent of the hourly wage of the employee. These requirements were
effectively enforced.
The Government set occupational health and safety standards. The
labor inspectorate, health protection inspectorate, and technical
inspectorate were responsible for enforcement of these standards and
made efforts to enforce them. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without
jeopardizing their continued employment, and they exercised this right
in practice. During the first nine months of the year 2,591
occupational accidents occurred, for a ratio of 427 occupational
accidents per 100,000 employees.
__________
FINLAND
Finland is a constitutional republic of 5.3 million persons with a
directly elected head of state (President), a unicameral parliament
(Eduskunta), a head of government (prime minister), and an independent
judiciary. The March 2003 elections to the 200-seat parliament were
free and fair and resulted in the formation of a new coalition
government led by the Center Party. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of all military and security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. The most serious human rights
problems reported were violence against women, trafficking in persons,
and discrimination against immigrants and members of minorities,
particularly Roma.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law and constitution prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
There were reports of police discrimination against immigrants (see
section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers.
Overpopulation of prison facilities was a continuing problem; the
country's total prison capacity was approximately 4,000, but there were
nearly 4,200 inmates at year's end. Prison overcrowding complicated
efforts to deal with widespread inmate drug addiction; 70 percent of
all prisoners were estimated by the Government to be drug addicts and
in need of rehabilitation.
On September 14, the Ministry of Justice appointed a rapporteur to
assess the need to reform the administration of prisons. During the
year prisons continued to operate beyond their original capacity due to
increases in the inmate population in recent years.
An April 2005 study showed that an increasing number of young
prison inmates suffered from mental health disorders such as
schizophrenia. Nearly half of all inmates under age 21 had previously
been hospitalized for one or more mental disorders. Mental health
experts asserted that such prisoners belonged in the health care system
rather than in prisons and recommended the hiring of additional mental
health professionals for the country's prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law and constitution
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
The International Helsinki Federation reported that police at times
picked up persons with mental disabilities when officers mistakenly
believed such persons were intoxicated. Under police procedures,
intoxicated persons found by the police are taken home; however, if
their home address cannot be established, they are taken to police
station facilities designed to hold intoxicated individuals while they
sober up. In the city of Vantaa, a patient who had come to a hospital
seeking treatment for depression was awakened by police who mistook him
for an intoxicated person and transferred him to a police station. When
police discovered the mistake, they returned the man to the hospital.
In March 2005 the deputy chancellor of justice criticized this practice
carried out by Vantaa police and health care authorities.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
force is centralized under the control of the Ministry of the Interior,
which also controls various other law enforcement organizations such as
the frontier guards, customs and immigration agencies, the National
Bureau for Investigation (NBI), and the security police. These
organizations carried out their responsibilities for law enforcement
and maintenance of order, but chronic underfunding sometimes
compromised their effectiveness. Law enforcement organizations
maintained internal investigation units that examined allegations of
police abuse or misconduct.
Corruption was not a problem during the year. In rare instances
where police misconduct was reported, authorities responded quickly to
investigate and discipline the officers involved. For example, in June
2005 the deputy parliamentary ombudsman criticized two police officers
who had offered an injured person $445 (340 euros) in exchange for
agreeing not to file a complaint against the officers.
Arrest and Detention.--A warrant issued by a prosecutor is required
for an arrest. If an individual is arrested while committing a crime, a
warrant must be obtained within three days. Once arrested, the accused
must receive a court hearing within three days. Detainees were promptly
informed of the charges against them, and lawyers were provided for the
indigent. These legal provisions were generally enforced in practice.
There is no system of bail, but most defendants awaiting trial were
eligible for conditional release based on personal recognizance.
Criminal detainees were allowed prompt access to counsel and family.
There were no reports of preventive detention, which was allowed only
in exceptional circumstances, such as during a declared state of war,
or for narrowly defined offenses, including treason, mutiny, and large-
scale arms trafficking.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and constitution provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, the Supreme
Administrative Court, and a system of lower courts. The President
appoints Supreme Court justices, who in turn appoint the lower court
judges. Rulings of the 61 district courts can normally be appealed to
the six appellate courts, which are courts of first instance in matters
of treason and certain offenses of public office. The Supreme Court
rules on the appeals of appellate court decisions. A system of
administrative courts provides oversight of decisions made by local and
state authorities. Four specialized courts review market, labor,
insurance, and impeachment matters, respectively.
Trial Procedures.--The law and constitution provide for the right
to a fair public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced
this right. Local courts may conduct closed trials in juvenile and
guardianship cases, divorce proceedings, or when publicity would offend
morality or endanger the security of the state.
Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they have
the right to appeal adverse judgments. The law does not provide for
juries to be used in trials. Defendants have the right to be present
and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner, and attorneys are
provided at public expense if defendants faced serious criminal charges
that might result in imprisonment or significant fines. Defendants can
confront and question witnesses against them and present witnesses and
evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases.
The law extends these rights to all citizens and legal residents.
Illegal immigrants enjoy the same rights but may be removed from the
country or deported in a separate process.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--According to the
constitution, all citizens have a fundamental right to live under the
rule of law and to have that law applied equally and without
discrimination to all segments of society. The country had an
independent judiciary that administered civil law. Under the
constitution, all citizens are entitled to have a civil case heard by a
court or an appropriate legal authority, such as a magistrate,
appropriately and without undue delay.
In addition, the law provides that all citizens are entitled to
have a decision or judgment affecting his or her rights or obligations
reviewed by a court or another judicial authority and to appeal any
adverse decision.
The civil judicial administration consists of independent courts of
law; the prosecution service; enforcement authorities, who are
authorized to enforce financial and other judgments; prison and
probation services, who see to the enforcement of custodial sentences;
and the national Bar Association and the other avenues of legal aid.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law and constitution provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
The country had a large independent media, with approximately 200
newspapers, 320 popular magazines, and 2,100 professional magazines in
publication; 53 of the newspapers were published daily. The Council for
Mass Media, a regulatory board composed of members of the independent
press, monitored journalistic ethics and handled public complaints
about the print media. Major newspapers and magazines were published in
Finnish, Swedish, and English.
There were 67 commercial radio stations, including three national
public radio channels in Finnish, two in Swedish, and one in the Sami
(Lapp) language. YLE, the Finnish state broadcast network, operated a
radio station offering international programming from National Public
Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, Deutsche Welle, and other
networks. There were four national television channels, two of which
offered public broadcasting and two of which offered commercial
programming, and several cable television and satellite systems
offering dozens of additional networks. The domestic film industry
produced approximately 12 feature films annually.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications exercised
oversight over the broadcast networks and issues operating licenses to
commercial radio and television broadcasters.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
country had one of the world's highest rates of Internet connectivity,
and virtually all citizens had access to the Internet at home or in
schools and public libraries.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law and
constitution provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The
Government recognizes the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and
the Orthodox Church as state churches. More than 80 percent of the
population belonged to the Lutheran Church. Nontraditional religious
groups practiced their religion freely. There was a small but growing
Muslim population and a small Jewish community. Any organization with
more than 20 members could register as a religious community as long as
its primary mission was spiritual.
All citizens who belonged to one of the two state churches paid a
church tax as part of their income tax. However, citizens may opt out
of paying this tax by officially disassociating from the church.
Nontraditional religious groups were eligible for tax relief as long as
the Government had registered and recognized them as legitimate
religious communities.
Although religious instruction in Lutheran or Orthodox doctrine was
part of the standard curriculum in public schools, students could
substitute philosophy or world religion courses. In some urban
communities where Islam is the second-largest religion, students may
choose to receive Islamic religious instruction.
Amnesty International and other groups criticized the length of
alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors as punitive
and discriminatory. Conscientious objectors were obliged to perform 395
days of civilian service, while normal military service was 180 days.
In March the nongovernmental organization (NGO) War Resisters'
International reported that 25 conscientious objectors were in prison
for refusing to perform alternative civilian service.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's Jewish community
numbered approximately 1,900. There were a few reports of anti-Semitic
incidents, chiefly graffiti such as swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans
being spray-painted in public locations. The Government criticized such
acts and removed the graffiti when it was discovered.
School children begin studying the Holocaust and the Europe-wide
phenomenon of anti-Semitism in eighth grade. The national curriculum
applied since the fall of 2005 places the Holocaust in the context of
other anti-Semitic persecution and pogroms, including those carried out
by Josef Stalin in the Soviet Union.
The Muslim population numbered approximately 25,000. Despite
isolated reports of fights between non-Muslim and Muslim youths, there
was no pattern of societal violence against Muslims. The Ministry for
Foreign Affairs created an office for Muslim outreach in 2005, and in
March the ministry sponsored a parliamentary seminar on the Danish
cartoon controversy and religious respect and tolerance. The foreign
minister delivered the keynote address at the seminar.
The Ministry of Education continued to integrate tolerance and
antidiscrimination education into the public school curricula.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law and constitution provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government automatically denied asylum to anyone who had
already been rejected by another European Union (EU) state.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol. The Government included the number of persons who received
temporary protection in overall asylum statistics.
During the year the country began granting asylum or residence
permits to Chechens. As many as 21 Chechens were granted asylum and 76
others granted residence permits. This was the first time the country
granted asylum to persons from Russia and areas of the former Soviet
Union.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There were some reports of discrimination against immigrants,
including refugees and asylum seekers (see section 5).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair parliamentary
elections held in March 2003 resulted in the formation of a coalition
government led by the Center Party.
There were 76 women in the 200-seat parliament and eight women in
the 18-member Council of State. The President was a woman.
There were 10 members of minorities in the parliament and two
minorities in the Council of State. The indigenous Sami (Lapp) minority
enjoys semiautonomous status and has its own legislative body.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year
Transparency International gave the country a score of 9.6 on its 10-
point index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating that
corruption was not perceived to be a problem. An anticorruption network
in the Ministry of Justice met several times to address transnational
bribery.
The law provides for public access to government information,
except for information classified for national security, or when
release of documents would constitute a violation of privacy laws, and
the Government provided such access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status; violence against women; trafficking in
persons; and discrimination against immigrants and Roma were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued
to be a problem. During the first half of the year, incidents of
domestic violence reported to the police fell slightly to 14,736,
compared with 15,149 cases in the first six months of 2005. The total
number of cases in 2005 was 31,656. Most researchers believed the
actual number was higher since many cases went unreported. A UN
Children's Fund report on domestic violence against or in the presence
of children states that children had greater exposure to such violence
than other children in the region. According to the report, five
percent, or 61,000 children had witnessed or experienced violence in
their homes. Approximately one out of every six cases of domestic
violence involved a female perpetrator.
During the year police focused significant attention on reducing
violence. Police have focused their efforts on increasing cooperation
among parties involved, breaking the spiral of violence, and providing
better support to victims and perpetrators.
The Government reported that up to 30 women died from domestic
violence. Domestic abuse may be prosecuted as a variety of different
crimes, including rape, assault and battery, harassment, and disturbing
the peace. It was not possible to determine how many convictions in
each category constituted domestic abuse cases.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
Government enforced the law effectively. Through June, 249 rapes were
reported to the police, which was 71 fewer than in the corresponding
period in 2005. Police believed the true number of rapes during the
year to be higher than those actually reported, attributing this
underreporting to the social stigma encountered by rape victims.
Researchers believed that 75 percent of unreported rapes were committed
by a known assailant.
The Government encouraged women to report domestic violence and
abuse to the police. The Government provided counseling and support
services to victims of domestic violence and rape and operated a
network of shelters for victims. The Government provided funding to
NGOs that provide additional services, including a telephone hot line
and crisis center. According to researchers, most women seeking shelter
from violence were between the ages of 25 and 35 who were either
married or in a cohabiting relationship; nearly one-third were
immigrants. Immigrants without proficiency in either Finnish or English
experienced some difficulty accessing domestic violence services.
Prostitution is legal, but the purchase of sexual services is a
civil offense. Prostitution was generally limited to private apartments
and certain nightclubs in larger cities. During the year, parliament
adopted a law that criminalizes the purchase of all sexual services in
cases where trafficking is involved.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is prohibited by law, and the Government
generally enforced the law in practice. The office of the prosecutor
general was responsible for investigating sexual harassment cases.
Employers who fail to protect employees from harassment are subject to
fines or a maximum of six months' imprisonment.
Women and men have identical legal rights under family and property
law and in the judicial system. The Government placed a high priority
on gender equality and maintained three primary government
organizations devoted to gender equality issues: the ombudsman for
equality, the gender equality unit, and the council for equality.
In practice there was still economic discrimination against women.
Women's average earnings were 82 percent of men's. Women were
overrepresented in lower paying occupations, and men tended to dominate
the upper ranks in industry and finance and in some government
ministries.
In April 2005 parliament passed a law amending existing legislation
to increase gender equality in the workplace and to promote the
principle of equal pay for equal work. Employers found to be in
violation of the law are required to compensate women for lost wages.
The new law, which took effect in June 2005, extended compensation
eligibility to a greater number of women. The Government's equality
ombudsman received hundreds of complaints during the year and generally
determined approximately 20 percent of them to be violations of the
law.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. Public education and health care systems were well
funded. Education was free and compulsory for all children ages seven
to 16, more than 99 percent of whom attended school. Most children
attended school until graduation from high school. Education at
universities and trade schools was also free.
The Government offered free medical care for children through a
comprehensive public health care system. Boys and girls had equal
access to health care services.
The number of suspected sexual abuse cases reported to the police
continued to increase slightly during the year, and an average of 600
cases are reported annually. According to the police, there were 150
reported victims of child abuse under the age of six in 2005. Analysts
speculated that a greater willingness by the public to report cases of
child abuse rather than an increased incidence may be the cause for the
increase in reports.
There were reports of trafficking of children for sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
During the summer parliament passed legislation creating the
country's first ombudsman for children's issues. The ombudsman took
office on September 1. The ombudsman monitored legislation and assessed
its impact on children's welfare, with a particular focus on living
conditions.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
but there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through the
country.
The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked
persons. The actual incidence of trafficking remained unknown since no
studies have been carried out to document the extent of the problem.
Most trafficking involved women and girls from Russia, although
Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian women were
also trafficked for sexual exploitation. Increasing numbers of Asian
women, most of whom were believed to be Chinese and Thai, were
trafficked through the country to other parts of Europe.
Some persons were trafficked for labor, and most of these cases
involved persons coerced into restaurant work, in construction, and as
maids. They were often forced to work long hours for low pay and were
often reluctant to approach authorities due to the cultural gap and
fear of deportation or confinement. Many of these workers were Asian,
employed by other Asians who frequently had family or clan ties to the
victims.
The Government and NGOs believed Russian organized crime syndicates
to be the principal traffickers of women and girls into the country.
Although traffickers led some of the women to believe that they would
be employed as domestic servants or waitresses, most were aware that
they would be prostitutes. Economic incentives for poor women seemed to
play a larger role in trafficking than physical coercion. Most
trafficking victims entered the country with valid visas obtained at
Finnish consulates abroad. The Schengen Treaty, which allows travelers
already within the EUShengen area to travel to any other EUShengen
country without inspection, facilitated the transit of persons
trafficked into the country to other areas of Western Europe. In some
cases traffickers confiscated victims' passports and used violence or
the threat of violence to ensure their compliance.
The maximum penalty for trafficking in persons is seven years in
prison. There are various other laws related to trafficking offenses
that can be used to convict traffickers, including laws against
organized prostitution, the dissemination of child pornography, the
coordination of illegal entry into the country, and the marketing of
sexual services.
In July the country conducted the first-ever prosecutions under
anti-trafficking laws. Seven men and one woman were convicted and were
given sentences ranging from 27 months to five years. The case involved
the trafficking and exploitation of 15 Estonian women (one of whom
suffered from an intellectual disability) who were forced to serve as
prostitutes in Finland.
Authorities also targeted labor trafficking during the year. In
September, police in Savonlinna arrested the owners of a Chinese
restaurant on accusations that, over an eight-year period, the owners
forced up to 10 Chinese workers to work for virtual slave wages and for
hours far exceeding those prescribed by the labor law. In October two
Vietnamese nationals were arrested in Pietarsaari on suspicion of labor
trafficking in a similar case involving five Vietnamese restaurant
workers.
Arrests in two unrelated cases of labor trafficking involving
Chinese and Indian nationals were also made during the year, and trials
in these cases were pending at year's end. Although there were no NGOs
specifically dedicated to assisting trafficking victims, several
focused on women's rights and general victim assistance issues, which
included aid to trafficking victims. NGOs and government facilities
operated by the Ministry of Labor provided victims with shelter,
subsistence, medical services, and psychological counseling.
The ministries for foreign affairs, interior, justice, labor,
education, and social welfare were all involved in combating
trafficking, and each was represented on the interagency
antitrafficking working group. The parliamentary human rights caucus,
the NBI, frontier guards, customs and immigration, and various
municipal police were also involved in antitrafficking efforts.
The Government participated in multilateral and regional efforts to
combat trafficking, through organizations such as the Council of Baltic
Sea States, Nordic Council of Ministers, and the Barents Euro-Arctic
Council.
The parliamentary human rights caucus organized briefings on
trafficking in the Nordic-Baltic region and lobbied for increased
victim assistance and protection measures.
Law enforcement and prosecutorial officials received training in
antitrafficking measures.
During the year, antitrafficking efforts were assisted by the
introduction of a specific type of residence permit for victims of
trafficking. The permits allowed victims to remain in the country
temporarily while recovering from their experience, seek employment,
have access to healthcare and legal services, and have the opportunity
to apply later for permanent residency.
In 2005 the Government adopted a comprehensive national action plan
to combat human trafficking. Based on the final report of an
interagency working group appointed by the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, the plan called for a victim-centered approach to trafficking,
including strengthened victim protection measures, an end to quick
deportation of foreign victims, increased social and economic
assistance for victims, and aggressive prosecution of traffickers. The
Government continued implementing each of these measures during the
year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services, and discrimination was not a problem. The law mandates access
to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice. Many older buildings,
however, remained inaccessible. Most forms of public transportation
were accessible, but problems remained in some areas. For example, a
few geographically isolated areas lacked adequate ramps for
wheelchairs. The Ministry for Social Affairs and the Ministry for Labor
were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities. The chairperson of the parliamentary human rights caucus,
Ulla Antilla, organized several events focused on empowering persons
with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The country remained relatively
homogenous, with most members of ethnic minorities having arrived as
immigrants or asylum-seekers during the past 10 to 15 years. At the end
of 2005, the immigrant population was estimated at 113,852 persons, or
2.2 percent of the total population. The largest immigrant groups were
Russians (24,600), Estonians (15,400), Swedes (8,200), Somalis (4,700),
and Serbians (3,300).
Although tension between citizens and minority groups was not
overt, most racist and xenophobic incidents involved racial epithets
directed toward immigrants in public. According to the Ministry of
Interior, there were over 180 assaults or attempted assaults of a
racist nature in 2004. Roma were the most frequent victims of racially
motivated crimes, followed by Somalis, Russians, Turks, Iraqis, and
Iranians. Ethnic Finns were also occasionally the victims of racially
motivated crimes; these individuals were generally targeted because
they associated with members of minority communities.
There were occasional reports of fights between Finnish and
foreign-born youths. African and Middle Eastern immigrants were
typically the targets. There were also reports of fighting between
rival ethnic immigrant groups.
Approximately 70 percent of immigrants who reported experiencing
racism did not report it to police, explaining that they had
experienced police discrimination. Immigrants alleged that police did
not take their claims of discrimination and unfair treatment seriously.
The Government strongly encouraged tolerance and respect for
minority groups and established an ombudsman for minorities to protect
minority interests. All government ministries included antiracism
provisions in their educational information, personnel policy, and
training programs. The Government also monitored police, border guards,
and teachers regarding their treatment of members of minority
communities.
Reports of attacks against restaurants and other property owned by
immigrants continued during the year. In August the homes of several
Burmese refugees were attacked by approximately 20 local youth in the
town of Kotka. Stones, bricks, and sticks were used as weapons to
vandalize the homes. The Minister of Labor immediately criticized the
attack, although no suspects were apprehended.
In August 2005 a pizzeria owned and operated by an immigrant in the
city of Kajaani was raided by hooligans who destroyed the interior of
the pizzeria and assaulted staff and customers. During the
investigation that followed, the district police commander found that
local police had failed to adequately respond to the incident, both in
its immediate aftermath and in the ensuing investigation. Ten youths
were charged in connection with the incident, and charges were pending
at year's end.
Although no exact figures were available, the country had
approximately 10,000 Roma, some of whom were native to the country and
others who had arrived as asylum seekers or immigrants. According to
the ombudsman for minorities, problems encountered by Roma extended to
all areas of daily life, which resulted in serious marginalization,
often extending to de facto exclusion from Finnish society.
Roma were frequently discriminated against in the areas of services
and housing. In 2005 the NGO Finnish League for Human Rights conducted
a study to test the extent of discrimination against Roma by sending
Romani groups to several Helsinki restaurants. Many restaurants refused
them entry, offering the Romas' own safety as justification. The human
rights group criticized the Government's slow response to their
complaints.
Roma continued to experience difficulties in obtaining housing, and
the minority ombudsman stated that such difficulties were on the rise
throughout the country. Between 2004 and 2005, the number of housing
complaints by Roma more than doubled.
In 2005 the minority ombudsman lodged complaints against at least
two municipalities, Oulu and Lahti, for discriminatory housing
practices toward Roma. The authorities found in favor of the Roma, and
the Roma were granted apartments in the areas in question.
Indigenous People.--Sami (Lapps) constituted less than 0.1 percent
of the population. The law provides for the protection of Sami language
and culture, and the Government financially supported these
protections. Sami enjoyed full political and civil rights as citizens,
as well as a measure of autonomy in their own civil and administrative
affairs. Sami had the right to use their language in dealings with
administrative and judicial authorities and in schools, media, economic
and commercial life, and cultural activities. Sami communities received
subsidies to continue their traditional way of life. There were no
reports of discrimination against Sami in employment, education,
housing, or health services.
Despite protections in the constitution, members of the Sami
community continued to protest the Government's continued failure to
pass legislation that would ensure protections of Sami land, resources,
and economic livelihood. Sami complained that while 90 percent of the
Sami home region is considered government-owned land, the Government
used this land for logging and other purposes without consulting the
Sami.
During the year members of the Sami community continued to press
legal challenges related to alleged violations of their land rights. In
2005 the state forestry administration extended logging into areas
where Sami herdsmen held reindeer during the fall months. In November
2005 the Sami brought a complaint against the Government to the UN
Human Rights Committee, alleging that the logging was so intense that
it threatened the Samis' traditional means of subsistence through
reindeer herding. The committee issued an interim order asking the
Government to halt logging activities in the disputed areas; the state
forestry administration abided by that order.
Sami complaints about logging practices continued during the year.
On June 21, Sami herdsmen in Inari issued a report criticizing the
National Forestry Board's ``New Plan for Natural Resources,'' and
noting that the plan had been prepared without Sami participation. On
November 2, Sami representatives again expressed dissatisfaction with
government attempts to address the logging problem and said that under
the new plan, as much as four-fifths of forests outside of protected
areas would be open to logging that could potentially harm traditional
reindeer husbandry.
In April 2005 the UN Human Rights Committee decided another case
involving Sami land rights, finding no violation of the Sami right to
enjoy their culture. The applicants had alleged that since the 1980s,
approximately 4,000 acres of their grazing land in Paadarskaidi had
been logged, thereby destroying 40 percent of the tree lichen needed by
grazing reindeer in winter and threatening their reindeer husbandry
activities. The committee found that although there was a decrease in
the number of reindeer as a result of the logging, the total number of
reindeer remained relatively high and the logging therefore did not
violate the Sami right to enjoy their culture.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and join
unions of their choice and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 79 percent of the workforce was unionized.
b. Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law provides
for the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the Government
protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining agreements
usually were based on tripartite wage policy agreements among
employees, employers, and the Government. All unionized workers were
covered under the collective bargaining agreements. Employers of
nonunionized workers were required to compensate their employees at a
wage equal to that stipulated by existing collective bargaining
agreements.
The law grants employees the right to strike, with some exceptions
for public sector employees who provide essential services. An official
dispute board can make non-binding recommendations to the cabinet on
ending or limiting the duration of strikes when national security is
threatened. Employees prohibited from striking can use arbitration to
ensure due process in the resolution of their concerns. A strike is
legal when an employment contract is not in effect and the action is
pursuant to new contract negotiations. Strikes are considered illegal
after a contract agreed to by all parties is in effect. Fines may be
imposed for illegal strikes. Workers exercised this right in practice.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government has implemented laws and practices to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits children under age 16
from working more than six hours per day and from working at night. The
law sets occupational health and safety restrictions for children, and
the Government implemented these provisions effectively.
The labor ministry enforces child labor regulations; no complaints
about the exploitation of children in the work force arose.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legal minimum wage;
however, the law requires all employers, including nonunionized
employers, to meet the minimum wages agreed to in collective bargaining
agreements in each sector of the workforce. Almost all workers were
covered under such arrangements. These negotiated minimum wages
provided a decent standard of living for workers and their families.
The legal workweek consists of five days not exceeding 40 hours.
Employees working shifts or during the weekend are entitled to a 24-
hour rest period per week. Workers are entitled to premium pay for
overtime work. The law limited a worker to 250 hours of overtime per
year and to 138 overtime hours in any four-month period. Foreign
workers were also protected by these laws, which the Government
effectively enforced.
The Government sets occupational health and safety standards, and
the labor ministry effectively enforced them. Workers have the right to
refuse dangerous work situations without penalty, and the Government
enforced this right in practice.
__________
FRANCE
France, with a population of approximately 63.4 million, is a
multiparty constitutional democracy. The Union for a Popular Movement
is the ruling party and Jacques Chirac is President. The President is
elected by popular vote for a five-year term. There is a bicameral
parliament; the upper house (Senate) is indirectly elected through an
electoral college; the lower house (National Assembly) is directly
elected. National elections took place in 2002 and were considered free
and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas, including
overcrowded and dilapidated prisons; lengthy pretrial detention;
protracted investigation and trial proceedings; anti-Semitic incidents,
including at least one killing; discrimination against Muslims;
societal hostility toward immigrants; societal violence against women;
child abuse and child marriage; and trafficking in persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings during the year.
In November a plainclothes police officer of Afro-Caribbean descent
shot and killed one fan and wounded another at the end of a soccer
match. The officer was trying to protect a French-Jewish fan who was
being chased by a crowd of 100 fans shouting anti-Semitic epithets. The
officer used his weapon when the crowd turned on him with racial
epithets and physical assault. Police union spokesmen asserted that the
officer acted in self-defense (see section 2.c.).
There were developments in several cases from earlier years.
Following an investigation into the actions of French UN
peacekeepers deployed to the Ivory Coast that were alleged to have lead
to the May 2005 suffocation of an Ivorian national, Firmin Mahe,
judicial authorities released all suspects except for regimental
Sergeant Major Guy Raugel. On April 20, a court of appeals rejected
Raugel's appeal, ruling that he was directly responsible for Mahe's
death. General Henri Poncet, former commander of the country's
peacekeepers in the Ivory Coast, and his deputy, Renaud de Malaussene,
were each given an official warning and relieved of their commands in
November 2005 for failing to report involvement of their troops in the
death. At the end of the year Poncet remained under investigation for
his role in Mahe's death.
In February 2005 six individuals filed a lawsuit claiming that
French soldiers were guilty of ``complicity in genocide'' and ``crimes
against humanity'' while deployed to Rwanda at the time of the 1994
genocide. In December 2005 a military tribunal opened an investigation
into the accusations of two of the plaintiffs, including allegations
that the soldiers stood by passively and permitted massacres to occur
and that military personnel participated. Military authorities have
denied that their troops aided or directed forces involved in the
genocide, and a 1998 parliamentary panel absolved the armed forces of
responsibility in the genocide. The pretrial investigation was ongoing
at year's end. The process has been plagued with delays since its
beginning, notably when a military magistrate slowed it with a December
2005 decision challenging the legality of the court hearings. In May
the Paris appeals court confirmed the admissibility of four additional
complaints, for a total of six to be considered.
In a report submitted on October 6, the National Security
Commission (CNDS), an internal investigative body charged with
examining complaints brought against police and judicial bodies,
supported a magistrate's finding that no direct link existed between a
2004 incident in which police in Paris' 18th arrondissement employed
tear gas, and the death of a 62-year old Swedish artist. The CNDS did
find, however, that ``the violence to which the victim was exposed
could only have accentuated the mortal risk to which he was
subjected.'' The CNDS forwarded the report to the Paris prosecutor's
office; there was no follow-up action by year's end.
A gang of immigrants kidnapped, tortured, and killed a Jewish man,
a crime the interior and justice ministers characterized as motivated
partly by anti-Semitism (see section 2.c.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were occasional accusations of police violence.
There were press reports that police employed excessive force in
making arrests. Authorities in Senlis sentenced two members of the
security police there to six months suspended sentences and fines of
approximately $3,013 (2,300 euros) for ``immoderate use of force'' in
the apprehension of Abdelkader Miloudi in May 2005. There were also
charges that police at times subjected young men who appeared to be
Muslims to harassment (see section 2.c).
Occasional press reports cited accusations of excessive force by
police that could not be confirmed. For example, in February and March
student demonstrations against educational reform proposals at times
turned violent. The resulting confrontations led some demonstrators to
charge that police had used excessive force. Other observers contended
that such measures were necessary to rein in violence by demonstrators.
On July 26, lawyers acting on behalf of Muhittin Altun, one of
three minors whose conflict with police touched off widespread civil
unrest in late 2005, lodged a formal complaint against police for
reckless endangerment and falsifying public documents during their
examination of Altun. They accused police of misclassifying Altun's
case in order to speed the investigation to its conclusion and asserted
that Altun's parents had not consented to a police interrogation of
their son.
The investigation of the 2004 case of three police officers,
Captain Franck Junca and two members of his night brigade, who
allegedly beat and sodomized a driver on a highway access road in Val-
de-Marne, continued. The captain was accused of destroying evidence. No
further information on the case was available at year's end.
In December a court gave three Lille police officers who allegedly
raped a prostitute in 2003 suspended prison sentences after the
prosecution was unable to meet the evidence standard needed for a
heavier punishment.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards; however, credible
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported overcrowding and
unacceptable hygienic conditions in some facilities. According to a
Ministry of Justice press release, at the end of the year there were
58,402 inmates in a prison system designed to hold a maximum of 50,300,
exceeding the intended maximum capacity by 16 percent. The Government
continued to replace old prisons and add new facilities as part of a
project designed to add space for 13,200 additional inmates by the end
of 2007, but there were no reports on the progress of this project.
On February 13, Council of Europe (COE) Human Rights Commissioner
Alvaro Gil-Robles released The Effective Respect for Human Rights in
France, an institutional critique based on a two-week visit in
September 2005. The report made 71 recommendations to the Government
with particular emphasis placed on increasing the financial and
technical resources allocated to the justice system, including
improving prison and detention center conditions. COE observers visited
seven prisons and five police stations where persons remanded into
police custody were held. The observers concluded that overcrowding and
inadequate operating resources were the most serious shortcomings. In
some cases, as with the prisons La Sante and Les Baumettes,
Commissioner Gil-Robles characterized living conditions as ``on the
borderline of human dignity.'' Resource shortfalls were also evident in
the conditions of prison health care units and substance abuse
rehabilitation programs.
Although there were no known deaths in prison due to mistreatment
or adverse conditions during the year, prison suicides have been a
problem in recent years. Penitentiary officials announced that there
were 96 prison suicides during the year.
Authorities maintained administrative holding centers (CRAs) for
deportable foreigners whom they could not deport immediately. There
were 18 holding centers on the mainland. Human rights observers
reported that living conditions at CRAs ranged from generally
acceptable to ``disastrous and unworthy of France,'' in the case of the
men's holding center located under the Palace of Justice in Paris.
The COE Commissioner for Human Rights reported that the Senate
appeared to accept the presence of minors in holding centers as
standard practice, although in the commissioner's view the practice
contravenes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and domestic
law.
A new antiterrorism law came into force on January 23. Its
provisions included longer periods of incommunicado detention,
increased electronic surveillance in public places, and more extensive
record keeping by mobile phone providers. The new law extended the
maximum legal custody of terrorist suspects from four to six days and
increased the sentences of persons convicted of terrorist acts. The law
also gives the police wider access to previously confidential
information of customers of rail, maritime, and air transport services.
The NGO Amnesty International (AI) was critical of the law,
asserting that it removes safeguards against ill-treatment and
reinforces what it termed the effective impunity of law enforcement
officials. Two other provisions of the new law caused particular
concern to many observers. The first allows police to obtain data on
citizens' electronic communications without judicial oversight to
``prevent and punish'' acts of terrorism. The second allows police to
monitor motor vehicles on the country's roads, including taking
pictures of license plates and people in the cars, for a variety of
purposes ranging from the fight against terrorism to the identification
of stolen cars.
Several officials who considered that the reforms gave authorities
too much discretion to intrude upon citizens' privacy and encouraged
confusion between immigrants and terrorists sent the law to the
Constitutional Council. On January 19, the council declared the reforms
to be consistent with the constitution.
The Government permitted prison visits by independent local and
foreign human rights observers. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) continued to work in cooperation with the Ministry of
Justice and the National Prison Administration through a Convention of
Partnership in accordance with ICRC standard modalities of independent
monitoring.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions; however, lengthy pretrial detention was a
problem. The Government provided financial compensation in some cases
of wrongful incarceration.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A civilian force of
145,820 national police under the direction of the Ministry of
Interior, and a military force of 102,322 national gendarmes under the
joint direction of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of
Defense, ensured internal security. Police and gendarmes were
considered generally effective.
Some human rights organizations, including AI, charged that
impunity was a problem in the police. AI cited protracted
investigations of police misconduct as a contributing factor. However,
impunity generally was not widespread. The inspector general of the
national police and the Office of Judicial Police investigated and
prosecuted allegations of police brutality. The independent National
Commission of Security Ethics investigated and reported to the Prime
Minister and parliament on allegations of misconduct by municipal
police, gendarmes, and private security forces. The National
Consultative Commission on Human Rights (NCCHR) also monitored police
conduct. Police corruption was generally not a problem. The Government
actively investigated and prosecuted allegations of police corruption.
On November 2 the Government announced that since its creation in
2000, the CNDS had submitted 419 legal misconduct cases against various
authorities, more than half of them against police. Among police
offenses, CNDS highlighted the excessive use of coercion during
unjustifiably lengthy police custody and aggressive treatment of
foreigners in border areas. CNDS recommended increased training in
these areas for police.
Another CNDS report attributed increasing delays in investigations
of police misconduct to budgetary shortfalls and longer response times
from prosecutors' offices. The system of indirect complaints also
slowed the process; a person who was the victim of or a witness to
police brutality could only apply to the commission through a member of
parliament. Additionally, although the CNDS was entitled to conduct
investigations, it could only make recommendations for action.
Arrest and Detention.--Police are required by law to obtain
warrants prior to taking persons into custody. They may apprehend
persons with warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly
authorized official. The law gives a person in detention the right to a
prompt judicial determination of the legality of the detention, and
authorities generally respected this right in practice. Authorities
must promptly inform detainees of charges against them. There is a
system of bail, and it is used. Detainees generally had prompt access
to lawyers; however, in cases involving terrorism or other major
crimes, suspects may be held up to 96 hours without access to a lawyer.
If detainees are indigent, the state provides a lawyer for them.
Long delays in bringing cases to trial and lengthy pretrial
detention were problems. Pretrial detention is generally allowed only
if there is a possibility that the suspect would be sentenced to more
than three years in prison for crimes against property; however, a few
suspects spent many years in detention before trial, which officials
blamed on insufficient government resources for investigations and
trials. In July 2005, 35 percent of persons held in jails and prisons
were awaiting trial. According to government statistics released on
March 18, detention times for persons awaiting trial increased 13
percent since 2001, to an average of 7.1 months.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. Magistrates and the first President of the
Court of Cassation asserted that members of the executive
inappropriately criticized judicial practices; critics noted in
particular the interior minister's allegations in September that judges
were too lenient on youth offenders.
The court system includes local courts, 35 regional courts of
appeal, and the highest criminal court, the Court of Cassation, which
considers appeals on procedural grounds only.
In cases of serious crimes, investigating judges detain suspects
while they conduct the investigation against them. A Chamber of
Accusation, composed of a named President and two advisors, reviews the
judge's investigation to determine the appropriateness of the charges
against the accused. The Court of Assizes investigates and decides
cases involving serious criminal offenses.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials are public and usually held before a judge or tribunal of
judges. In instances where the sentence is potentially more than 10
years' imprisonment, a combination of professional and lay judges hear
the case. Defendants are able to question the testimony of prosecution
witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence in their own
defense. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held
evidence relative to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have the right to appeal.
Public outrage over an inexperienced judge's wrongful 2003
conviction of 13 innocent individuals in a case which the media labeled
the ``Outreau Affair'' elicited new debate over how to treat children's
testimony and whether a single magistrate should be responsible for
assuring the neutrality of a criminal investigation.
The Tribunal of the Armies of Paris is a military court created in
1999 to judge crimes that members of the armed forces committed outside
of the country. It has issued approximately 300 to 350 judgments
annually. At year's end the tribunal was investigating both the death
of Firmin Mahe and allegations regarding military actions during the
Rwanda genocide (see section 1.a.). The tribunal abides by most of the
rules of civil courts; however, the prosecutor seeks the advice of
military authorities before most proceedings, and he has reported
difficulties obtaining documents from military authorities that were
classified ``secret.'' A former prosecutor criticized the influence of
military authorities on the tribunal and has questioned whether it
should continue to exist. COE research identified cases where military
influence may have threatened human rights and due process, delayed
trials, restricted the rights of detainees to counsel, hindered their
access to witnesses and other relevant persons, and adversely affected
the treatment of children.
One cause of delays in trial proceedings was the abrupt and
sweeping nature of the 2004 Perben II law, which amended 350 of the 934
articles in the Code of Criminal Procedure and 70 articles in the
Criminal Code. Most of these changes took effect almost immediately,
creating major problems for legal professionals. According to the state
prosecutor at the Marseille's Regional Court, criminal procedure was
changing so rapidly that judges had to spend ever increasing time on
formal issues, leaving less time for the substance of cases. Another
cause of trial delays was chronic underfunding of court administration,
including failure to fill vacant positions.
COE research also found that the country's legal system limited the
right of accused persons to benefit from legal counsel by limiting
access to case files.
Minors accounted for 18.8 percent of court proceedings in 2003,
according to the COE. This figure has remained stable. The law provides
that penalties for minors should vary according to the minor's age,
with three age levels--10, 13 and 16 years--before legal adulthood (18
years). Minors may be placed in a closed educational center. The
distinction between serious offences and minor offences is waived with
respect to minors aged 16 and 17, who may be remanded into custody
regardless of the type of offence committed.
During the year several judges informed human rights observers that
the judicial system for minors was failing to deal with juvenile
delinquents both in the short term and in the long term. Experts cited
the need to reduce the time minors must wait to receive care from
specialist social services and criticized the time children spend
awaiting trial, currently two to 18 months for a hearing by the
investigating judge's office and six months to two years for a court
hearing.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters, allowing access to a court to
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation. There were no reported problems enforcing domestic court
orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Some civil rights and opposition political parties expressed
concern about a new antiterrorism law enacted in December that, among
other provisions, permits increased video surveillance of railway
stations and airports and increased access to records of citizens'
electronic communications. Critics asserted that the law gave
authorities too much power to invade citizens' privacy (see section
1.c.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there were some
limitations. An 1881 press law prohibiting insults to the head of state
remained technically in force but did not impede open criticism of the
President and his actions. By law authorities may deport a noncitizen
for publicly proclaiming deliberate and explicit acts of provocation
proposing discrimination, hatred, or violence against any specific
person or group of persons.
On October 21, Minister of the Interior Sarkozy announced that 18
Muslim imams ``who made remarks totally incompatible with the values of
the Republic'' had been expelled since the beginning of the year.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views with few restrictions; however denial of crimes against humanity
is illegal, as is speech, written or oral, that incites racial or
ethnic hatred. There is a law against Holocaust denial, and a Lyon
court opened a case against National Front senior official Bruno
Gollnisch on November 7, on charges of having publicly questioned,
during a 2004 press conference, the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
In October the National Assembly passed a law making it a crime to
deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman rulers of Turkey during
the second decade of the twentieth century constituted genocide. The
law, denounced by Ankara and criticized by the European Union, would
set fines of as much as approximately $59,000 (45,000 euros) and a year
in prison. Although the Senate had not approved the measure by year's
end, its passage in the lower house prompted Turkey to suspend military
relations.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could generally engage in
the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by
electronic mail. In December the French parliament adopted an
antiterrorist law that, among other provisions, permits official
probing on the Internet and in mobile telephone records (see section
1.c.). Some civil rights groups and left-wing opposition parties have
expressed concern that the law gave authorities too much power to
invade citizens' privacy and encourages confusion between immigration
and terrorism. Access to the Internet was widely available throughout
the country. However, the authorities shut down at least one Internet
site during the year for threats against Jews (see section 2.c.).
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
On July 26, the Council of Ministers dissolved the organization
Tribu Ka because of its anti-Semitic behavior. The decision was based
on a 1936 law which permits the dissolution of private militias and
other militant antigovernment groups. The members of Tribu Ka, whose
founder was reputedly a former member of the Black Muslim organization,
consisted primarily of individuals of Sub-Saharan origin whom observers
generally described as anti-Semitic and anti-White. Following its
clashes with French authorities, the organization changed its name to
``The Members of Kemi Seba's Generation'' and expressed its intention
to submit a candidate list for the March 2008 municipal elections in
the city of Sarcelles in the Val-d'Oise region.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. A 1905
law on the separation of religion and state prohibits discrimination on
the basis of faith. However, some religious groups remained concerned
about legislation passed in 2001 and 2004 that permits the dissolution
of groups under certain circumstances and prohibits the wearing of
conspicuous religious symbols by public school employees and students.
Although authorities based their actions on security grounds, some
Muslims described the deportation of a number of radical Islamist
religious figures since 2004 as a restriction on religious freedom (see
section 2.b.).
Under the law a religious group must apply to the local prefecture
for recognition as an association of worship and must disclose certain
management and financial information in order to receive tax-exempt
status or gain official recognition. Groups of religious believers who
do not seek such status are free to meet and conduct religious
practice.
A law adopted in 2004 prohibits the wearing of ``conspicuous''
religious symbols--including Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and
large crosses--by employees and students in public schools. In June
2004 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the law did
not violate freedom of religion, and the law took effect in September
of that year. Some Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh leaders, human
rights groups, and foreign governments voiced concerns about the law's
potential to restrict religious freedom.
The number of school children affected by these regulations was
difficult to determine. Media reports estimated that of the 13 million
schoolchildren, approximately 1,200 Muslim school-age girls wore
headscarves to school. The Sikh community reported that of the roughly
200 school-age Sikh boys, the legislation affected 168.
During the year authorities registered four legal cases involving
infractions of the 2004 law. When school resumed after the summer
vacation, schools in Seine-Saint-Denis denied admission to three Sikh
students who refused to remove their turbans; two were subsequently
accepted into private schools, and the third was awaiting an appearance
before a disciplinary council at year's end. A 16-year-old Sikh
appealed his expulsion on November 21 for refusal to take off his
turban. The Association of United Sikhs was supporting his appeal.
Unlike in previous years, there were no reports of Muslim girls being
denied admission at the beginning of the autumn term.
A respected Muslim observer complained that police sometimes
singled out young Muslim men and demanded their documents, a tactic he
described as a form of harassment intended to keep them out of certain
neighborhoods.
Public schools made an effort to supply special meals for students
with religious dietary restrictions.
Parents may homeschool children for religious reasons, but all
schooling must conform to the curriculum standards established for
public schools. The Government subsidizes private schools, including
those that are affiliated with religious organizations.
In September the Council on National Education, citing safety
issues, affirmed Lyon authorities' decision to block the opening of
what would have been the country's second and largest private Muslim
high school. Local Muslim leaders criticized the decision, arguing that
their right to open private religious schools was being impeded for
fear that Muslim schools would spread across the country in response to
the 2004 headscarf ban. According to press reports, there were hundreds
of private Catholic and Jewish schools in the country, but there was
only one private Muslim high school in a country with almost five
million Muslims.
In May 2005 then-prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin issued a
circular indicating that officials should no longer use an earlier
parliamentary list of ``cults'' to identify sects, and should instead
focus their efforts on those sects that represented the greatest
threat, notably those ``small, fluid'' groups that were ``less easily
identifiable'' and used the Internet for recruitment. Some religious
groups welcomed the move as a step forward but called for the Ministry
of Justice to rescind circulars calling for what they regard as
repressive measures against minority religions.
The Interministerial Monitoring Mission against Sectarian Abuses
(MIVILUDES) has the task of observing and analyzing sect or cult
movements that could constitute a threat to public order or violate the
law. MIVILUDES is responsible for coordinating the appropriate
government response, informing the public about potential risks, and
helping victims to receive aid. On April 16, MIVILUDES published its
report for 2005, noting continued concern about the activities of
groups it considers cults. The report cited three primary concerns:
protecting all children from cult influences, both from parents who may
be involved in such groups and from groups' attempts to recruit young
members; reducing the demand for ``alternative medicines'' and
spiritual healers; and preventing sects' use of natural disasters and
humanitarian aid to promote their public image and proselytize their
beliefs. The report specifically cited the Church of Scientology as
reaching out to youth in the suburbs following the social unrest there
in late 2005. Some groups have expressed concern that public servants
could misuse MIVILUDES reporting against legitimate religious
organizations.
In December 2005 a Paris court rejected a lawsuit brought by a
collective of associations asking for the dissolution of the National
Union of Associations for the Defense of the Family (UNADFI). The
organizations accused UNADFI, a state subsidized NGO ``specializing in
information about sects,'' of regularly overstepping its mandate and
acting against religious freedom. The court ruled that the suit
constituted an ``abusive procedure.'' It ordered the plaintiffs to pay
UNADFI $19,650 (15,000 euros) in damage and court costs and ordered the
plaintiffs to print the decision in eight newspapers. The plaintiffs
planned to appeal the decision.
On June 28, in response to concerns raised by a 2005 MIVILUDES
report, the National Assembly began an investigation into the influence
of sectarian movements and their impact on the physical and mental
health of minors. The investigative commission, which submitted its
findings on December 19, concluded that 60,000 to 80,000 children may
be threatened by sectarian groups and that public authorities, notably
the Ministry of Interior, had been ``negligent'' in their supervision
of the danger. The commission's report elicited criticism from minority
religious groups, particularly the Jehovah's Witnesses organization.
Other religious and civil rights groups labeled the commission's
conclusions an affront to freedom of conscience and religious belief.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses also alleged that during the year
the rapporteur and the secretary of the newly convened Third
Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Sects openly attacked them,
describing them as delinquents and criminals and labeling their
activities as ``mafia-like.''
The Jehovah's Witnesses organization continued to appeal a case in
which they asserted authorities targeted them for discriminatory and
punitive auditing because of their classification as a cult. In
December 2005 the Paris Court of Appeal overturned a 2001 decision in
the case and ordered the Ministry of Interior to turn over to the
Jehovah's Witnesses documents relating to a 1996 parliamentary report
and pay court costs of $1,800. The ECHR had the case under
consideration at year's end.
There was continuing concern about the 2001 About-Picard law, which
permits the dissolution of religious groups. Although authorities have
never applied these provisions of the law, in 2004 a court relied on
About-Picard to convict a religious leader of ``fraudulent abuse'' of
his followers.
In March the UN released the report of its special rapporteur on
religious freedom in the country, which, while generally positive
concerning the country's adherence to religious freedom, was critical
of what it called the excessively rigid application of the principle of
separation of church and state. The report also stated that the
authorities may have contributed to a climate of general suspicion and
intolerance toward religious groups listed as cults in a 1995
parliamentary report, and suggested that ``the stigmatization of the
headscarf has provoked acts of religious intolerance when women wear it
outside school.''
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to a World Jewish
Congress report issued on November 12, 275 anti-Semitic acts or insults
were reported during the first nine months of the year, compared to 236
incidents for the same time period of 2005 and 483 acts reported for
the first nine months of 2004. The report emphasized that 61 anti-
Semitic acts were reported during July and August, up drastically from
the 34 reported incidents in the same period of 2005, suggesting a
possible relationship to the July-August conflict involving Israel and
the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. During the first ten
months of the year, the national police recorded 436 anti-Semitic acts.
Minister of Justice Pascal Clement stated that, ``our society as a
whole has perhaps not been vigilant enough in the face of racism and
anti-Semitism.'' The minister, noting an increase in convictions for
anti-Semitic acts, expressed the view that the increase was due not to
more incidents, but rather to ``better pursuit'' of the acts that did
occur. He encouraged prosecutors to act swiftly against these types of
crimes; prosecutors were under orders to seek maximum punishments in
hate crimes and to appeal systematically those sentences not considered
strong enough.
The Jewish community was estimated to number approximately 600,000
persons, according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. In
its annual report to the Prime Minister released in March, the NCCHR
indicated that in 2005 the number of anti-Semitic incidents--including
physical assaults, attacks against property, cemetery desecrations,
threats, and reported insults--decreased 48 percent (down from 974 in
2004 to 504 in 2005). The NCCHR also indicated that the decrease
included incidents in schools, an area that has been of great concern
in recent years. According to interior ministry figures, the number of
racist, anti-Semitic, and xenophobic incidents in schools dropped by 54
percent in 2005; the number of anti-Semitic incidents saw the greatest
decrease. The Ministry of Education likewise reported a 40 percent
reduction in racist and anti-Semitic acts for the 2005-2006 academic
year.
In July authorities banned an organization for anti-Semitic threats
and closed its Web site (see section 2.b.).
Strict antidefamation laws prohibit racially or religiously
motivated verbal and physical abuse, and denial of crimes against
humanity is illegal, as is speech, written or oral, that incites racial
or ethnic hatred. There is a law against Holocaust denial, and on
November 7, a Lyon court opened a case against National Front senior
official Bruno Gollnisch on charges of having publicly questioned,
during a 2004 press conference, the existence of Nazi gas chambers.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding to combat racism
and anti-Semitism through public awareness campaigns and by encouraging
dialogue among local officials, police, and citizen groups.
Official figures indicated that the Jewish community was the
primary victim of religious intolerance. In 2004 almost 60 percent of
such acts targeted Jews or Jewish property.
There was one high profile killing during the year that the
interior and justice ministers characterized as motivated partly by
anti-Semitism. On January 21, a multiethnic gang of immigrant youths
called the Barbarians kidnapped Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew of
Moroccan descent. On February 13, five days after his family broke off
ransom negotiations on the advice of police. Halimi was found south of
Paris, naked, beaten, and covered with cigarette burns; he died on his
way to the hospital. Authorities investigated 29 individuals in
connection with the crime and eventually imprisoned 18. One of the
suspects in custody admitted to authorities that Halimi had been
targeted ``because he is Jewish, and because Jews are rich.'' Youssef
Fofana, the suspected leader of the gang, was arrested in Cote d'Ivoire
in February and extradited back to the country. He stated in a media
interview following his arrest that the abduction was carried out for
financial ends.
Authorities reacted strongly to the killing, although some members
of Halimi's family accused the police of moving too slowly and
initially disregarding the anti-Semitic dimension of the crime. The
Ministry of Justice classified the crime as a hate crime bearing the
aggravated circumstance of anti-Semitism. President Chirac, Prime
Minister de Villepin, opposition political figures, and Muslim and
Christian religious leaders attended a memorial for Ilan Halimi
February 24 at a Paris synagogue. The ongoing investigation was
expected to take up to two years or more, in part because authorities
were seeking to include all charges in one comprehensive legal
proceeding.
On August 5, during a local celebration in Annecy, a group of
people attacked a young Venezuelan student after hearing his name
called out as ``Abraham.'' They insulted him, calling him ``dirty
Jew,'' and beat him until a nearby security guard intervened. According
to the police, the Venezuelan student was not Jewish. Police arrested
four persons, and a criminal court in Annecy convicted three of them
and sentenced them to nine months' imprisonment, the harshest sentence
ever imposed for an anti-Semitic attack. On May 28, a group of
individuals of African descent calling themselves Tribu Ka staged an
anti-Semitic demonstration in the heart of the Jewish area of Paris.
With the direct support of Minister of Interior Sarkozy, authorities
opened an investigation of the group's death threats against Jews, and
on July 26, the minister of justice invoked a Presidential decree that
dissolved Tribu Ka and forcibly closed the group's Web site. Tribu Ka's
founder, Stellio Gilles Robert, reportedly a former member of the
Nation of Islam in Paris under the name Kemi Seba, opened a new anti-
Semitic Web site in August. On September 25, Le Monde reported that the
Paris Tribunal ordered the second Web site closed within two days,
adding a $1,181 (1,500 euros) fine for each day spent in breach of the
order. The site closed, but according to October press reporting, Kemi
Seba had opened a new Internet site.
On November 9, arsonists set fire to a Jewish school in Gagny,
north of Paris. The fire caused little damage, in contrast to an arson
attack on the same school in 2003 that destroyed 32,000 square feet of
the school. Police opened an investigation. Days afterward, President
Chirac announced a tougher policy to combat anti-Semitism.
Also in November the media reported that approximately 100
supporters of the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team chased a Jewish man
and shouted racial and anti-Semitic slogans at him, after their side
lost a game to Hapoel Tel Aviv. Antoine Granomort, a plainclothes
police officer of Afro-Caribbean descent, tried to protect the French
fan of the visiting Israeli team, and when he was subjected to racial
and physical attack, he drew his gun and shot and killed one Paris
Saint-Germain supporter and seriously injured another. Investigating
authorities found the officer's actions were justified. Following the
incident authorities instituted several new measures aimed at
discouraging violence at sporting events, including discontinuing
ticket sales to unofficial fan groups, refusing entrance to fans with
histories of hooliganism, and promoting more frequent interaction
between fan groups and security forces.
In June the administrative tribunal of Toulouse convicted the state
and the state railways, the SNCF, for their role in the deportation of
Jews during World War II. The family of Georges Liepitz brought the
case. The state railway transferred Liepitz and his family in 1944 from
Pau to a transit camp north of Paris. (They were ultimately set free;
others perished in Nazi camps.) In its decision, the court found that
``the French administration could not manifestly ignore that their
transfer.facilitated an operation that would normally have been the
prelude to the deportation of the concerned persons.'' The court
ordered the SNCF to pay $74,400 (62,000 euros) to the Lipietz family.
At year's end, the SNCF was appealing the decision.
On July 12, a higher court overruled the May 2005 Versailles Court
of Appeals verdict against the authors and publisher of a 2002 article
for ``racial defamation'' due to the article's alleged anti-Semitic
content. An appeals court had found that three sentences in the article
violated a 1990 antiracism law. The higher court annulled the racial
defamation judgment, stating that the published text was the expression
of an opinion in an ideological debate.
The trial of three minors accused of throwing bottles of acid into
the courtyard of a Jewish school in July 2005 continued at year's end.
Members of the Arab and broader Muslim communities also experienced
incidents of harassment and vandalism. According to the NCCHR, 470
racist acts were recorded in 2005, a decrease of 22 percent from the
600 committed in 2004. Of these, the largest drop was in the number of
violent incidents (88 in 2005 as opposed to 169 in 2004). The NCCHR
attributed more than half of the 2005 racist incidents (257) to far-
right extremists.
Racism and religious intolerance in Corsica remained a concern. On
January 19, unknown persons detonated a bomb outside a Muslim-owned
butcher shop of Porto Vecchio (South Corsica). The owner had been a
bombing victim on at least two other occasions. No arrests had been
made at year's end.
On October 17, the penal court for minors of Paris gave twelve
members of the armed group Clandestini Corsi jail sentences of six
months to seven years for seven attacks against the Muslim community
between March and September 2004. The court cited racism as an
aggravating factor.
No arrests were made during the year in connection with a January
2005 bomb detonation outside a butcher shop owned by a Muslim in the
Corsican capitol, Ajaccio. It was the fourth such attack against the
shop.
There were isolated anti-Islamic incidents on the mainland as well.
On October 23, vandals profaned the future central Mosque of Belfort by
leaving a pig's head in a window. Muslim worshippers also discovered
posters of the National Front on the door of their temporary prayer
room. The construction of the mosque, which was scheduled to open in
2007, was source of controversy. Authorities questioned three members
of the extreme right-wing movement Jeunesses Identitaires during an
April demonstration against the project. Political and religious
leaders condemned the attacks, and authorities actively investigated
the incidents, but there were no reported arrests.
An investigation continued into attacks on two mosques in Lyon in
2005.
Representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization asserted on
December 18 that 78 of their places of worship had been vandalized
since the beginning of the year. They attributed these and earlier
attacks in part to a 1996 parliamentary commission of inquiry report
that described them as a ``dangerous sect.'' On July 3, the Council of
State stated that the 1996 designation of the group was based on a
sketchy and superficial assessment of the effects of the organization's
activities.
Representatives of the Church of Scientology continued to report
cases of societal discrimination during the year. Scientologists
continued to follow closely the growing body of precedent-setting case
law from the ECHR in order to contest what they regarded as unequal
treatment. Scientologist representatives noted that the ECHR instructed
governments to ``remain neutral and impartial'' with respect to
religious faith and that it ruled that the right to freedom of religion
as guaranteed under the COE's Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms excludes any discretion on the part of
the state to determine whether religious beliefs or the means used to
express such beliefs are legitimate.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
The law requires those engaged in itinerant activities, and who
have a fixed domicile, to sign a declaration, which must be renewed
periodically. Itinerant persons having no domicile or fixed abode must
be in possession of travel documents, often requiring renewal every
three months, and must choose a commune for administrative purposes.
Members of the Romani community, who make up the majority of those who
require travel documents, have protested the requirement and indicated
that they often experience discriminatory treatment from officials when
renewing the documents (see section 5).
The law also requires municipalities with more than 5,000 residents
to provide an ``encampment'' where persons may reside temporarily.
However, members of the Romani community indicated that only one in
four municipalities required to provide a designated encampment
actually did so in practice, and that many encampments did not meet the
legal requirements for infrastructure, sanitation, and safety. Romani
groups have asserted that some municipal leaders preferred to pay fines
rather than provide encampments. The law also designates some towns
where encampment is prohibited. Compounding problems created by a lack
of encampments is a law that makes it illegal to set up residency
outside of designated areas (see section 5).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 557 persons during the year.
An AI report condemned legal and administrative regulations that in
its view restrict the right to seek asylum and the right to have an
asylum claim considered on its merits. New regulations of concern
include: a shortened time to complete and submit temporary residence
applications (down to 21 days; formerly one month); less thorough, or
``fast track,'' consideration of asylum applications for persons from
an expanded list of ``safe'' countries of origin or transit; and
cessation of free interpretation services to asylum applicants in
detention centers.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
In September 2005 the National Association for Assisting Foreigners
at Borders (ANAFE) released a statement citing a decline in the number
of foreigners detained in the waiting areas of airports and seaports,
noting that 14,291 individuals were denied admission in 2004, as
opposed to 15,498 in 2003. However, it expressed concern that the
Government was focusing on combating illegal immigration to the
detriment of the protection and welcome offered to foreigners,
particularly asylum seekers. ANAFE noted that there were allegations
that security officials abused foreigners in waiting areas,
particularly during attempts to re-embark them on aircraft.
A 2003 law and 2004 regulations reformed the country's asylum law.
Some of the new rules enhanced asylum seekers' rights, particularly by
extending the scope of the Geneva Convention and the concept of agents
of persecution; persecution by nonstate agents is taken into account if
the state concerned is incapable of offering protection to the person
in danger. In addition the reforms allow persons who may be exposed to
certain serious risks if they return to their country of origin to
remain for a renewable period of one year.
The reforms of 2003 and 2004 also created additional difficulties
for persons seeking asylum by stipulating that asylum application forms
submitted to the Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless
Refugees (OFPRA) must be completed in French. Observers noted that the
chances of a positive response to asylum seekers who speak no French,
or not enough to draft a coherent, structured text, were significantly
lower than those of French-speaking applicants.
On May 16, the OFPRA expanded to 17 the list of countries said to
be ``safe'' and regarded as respecting human rights: Albania, Benin,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Croatia, Georgia, Ghana, India,
Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mongolia, Niger, Senegal,
Tanzania, and Ukraine. Some human rights observers, including UNHCR
representatives, questioned whether all these countries could
accurately be characterized as ``safe.'' Inclusion on the list of safe
countries of origin had significant consequences for asylum seekers who
were nationals of one of these countries: authorities systematically
refused their applications for temporary residence permits, thus
denying them the social rights granted to other asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law give citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Individuals without a fixed domicile and who must carry travel
documents were permitted to vote in municipal elections only after a
three-year period of ``attachment'' to a municipality. Roma groups
asserted that this requirement, which is based on special legislation
applied only to itinerant groups, was discriminatory since other
citizens, including the homeless, were able to vote after an attachment
period of only six months.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national
legislative and Presidential elections took place in 2002 and were free
and fair.
The citizens of Mayotte and the territories of French Polynesia,
Wallis and Futuna, and New Caledonia determine their legal and
political relationships to the rest of the country by means of
referendums and, along with the overseas departments, elected deputies
and senators to the parliament.
In February new elections were held for 37 of the 57 seats in the
Polynesian National Assembly and were considered generally free and
fair; the Council of State had annulled the results of the November
2004 elections because of irregularities.
There were 129 women in the two chambers of the 908-seat
legislature and six female ministers in the 32-member cabinet. Women
made up 48 percent of municipal council members but held only 6.7
percent of mayoral positions. Political parties are required to present
voters lists containing equal numbers of male and female candidates,
within two percentage points; however, in March the NGO Observatory for
Parity between Men and Women reported that the three major political
parties had been fined for failing to fulfill this requirement in the
2002 elections.
The law prohibits the Government from collecting information about
the racial or ethnic background of its citizens; therefore, no
statistics on minority participation in the Government were available.
However, minorities appeared to be significantly underrepresented in
the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--On May 30, the Paris
prosecutor's office opened an investigation of 11 citizens suspected of
involvement in corruption related to the UN ``Oil-for-Food'' program in
Iraq. On April 5, former interior minister Charles Pasqua came under
formal investigation for possible influence peddling in order to profit
from this program. Pasqua denied the charges.
On July 5, a Paris court convicted 38 persons in a financing
scandal involving city officials from 1987 to 1993. The court gave the
defendants suspended prison sentences of two months to two years and
fines of up to approximately $131,000 (100,000 euros). Among those
convicted were four former senior officials in the Paris public housing
agency. Investigators charged that approximately 20 public works
companies paid more than approximately $7.4 million (5.7 million euros)
from 1991 to 1994 to Jean-Claude Mery, an official in the governing
party at the time.
In May 2005 the political party, Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP), agreed to repay the city of Paris for municipal salaries
illegally paid to a number of individuals who in fact had been working
for the UMP's predecessor, the Rally for the Republic Party. The UMP
was to reimburse the city approximately $1.17 million (890,000 euros)
for the fictitious salaries, plus legal expenses and interest.
According to press reports in September, the UMP paid the
reimbursement, but Paris city government officials did not publicly
confirm receipt of payment.
In May the anonymous informant at the heart of a scandal that the
media labeled the Clearstream affair was identified as a senior
executive at the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS),
a defense firm. According to media accounts, the executive, a friend to
Prime Minister de Villepin, compiled a bogus list linking politicians
to offshore bank accounts. Targets included Minister of the Interior
Sarkozy. General Philippe Rondot, a retired spy, has testified that
Prime Minister de Villepin asked him to investigate Sarkozy.
Corruption charges remained pending against President Jacques
Chirac; however, as long as he remains in office, the President is
immune from prosecution.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights
organizations generally operated without government restrictions,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced these
prohibitions. However, violence against women and children, child
marriage, trafficking in persons, and acts of ethnic hostility and
discrimination were problems.
Women.--While not common, violence against women was a problem. The
law prohibits violence against women, including spousal abuse, and the
Government generally enforced it. During the first nine months of the
year, according to a new study by the Ministry of Employment, Housing,
and Social Cohesion, 113 homicides were attributed to domestic
violence. Of these, 95 victims were women, and more than half of male
victims had a record of violently abusing the women who killed them.
The penalties for domestic violence vary according to the type of crime
and range from three years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately
$58,950 (45,000 euros) to 20 years' imprisonment. The Government
sponsored and funded programs, including shelters, counseling, and hot
lines, for women who were victims of violence. Numerous NGOs also
assisted abused women.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government
generally enforced the law effectively. Rape occurred rarely. The
Ministry of Interior reported that the number of rapes fell by 24.88
percent (from 10,506 to 9,993 cases) over the previous year. Reported
sexual harassment cases for the same period dropped by 11.8 percent.
These statistics did not specify the gender of the victims.
The penalty for rape is 15 years' imprisonment, which may be
increased due to other circumstances, such as the age of the victim or
the nature of the relationship of the rapist to the victim. The
Government and NGOs provided shelters, counseling, and hot lines for
rape victims. The press and NGOs reported that a ``repressive
atmosphere'' existed in some suburbs of Paris inhabited primarily by
immigrants from North African countries, causing women to be
intimidated. Some men in these suburbs reportedly sought to intimidate
women whom they perceived as violating social norms, using methods
ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault and gang rape.
According to the Ministry of Employment, Housing and Social
Cohesion, the law treats female genital mutilation under the criminal
offense of ``violence involving mutilation or permanent infirmity.'' It
is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of approximately
$196,000 (150,000 euros). The sentence increases to 15 years if the
crime involves children 15 years old or younger.
Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits procuring,
including aiding, assisting, maintaining, or profiting from the
prostitution of another. Public solicitation is illegal. Enforcement of
these laws varied, and criminal activity related to prostitution
remained a problem.
On October 29, authorities announced the successful dismantling of
an extensive prostitution ring operating between the country and
Bulgaria. Police carried out simultaneous raids in Nancy and in
Bulgaria and arrested 20 persons, including the four leaders of the
network.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). A government agency, the Central
Office for Action against Trafficking in Humans (OCRETH), addressed
trafficking in women, prostitution, and procuring.
Sex tourism to other countries was a problem that the Government
took steps to address. The law includes extraterritorial provisions
that apply domestic law to sexual offenses committed abroad by French
citizens or residents.
In May 2005, 20 leading tourism companies signed a charter with the
tourism minister pledging to increase their efforts to combat child sex
tourism.
In March the Government announced the creation of positions related
to sex tourism in embassies located in six countries considered most
susceptible to child sex tourism. Embassy officials were expected to
provide education about combating child sex tourism, assist in
prosecutions of French nationals who might be involved, and help
victims approach authorities.
The law prohibits gender-based job discrimination and harassment of
subordinates by superiors, but it does not apply to relationships
between peers. Sexual harassment was not widely considered a problem in
the workplace. Both the Government and NGOs widely publicized the laws,
and the Government enforced them effectively.
Under the constitution and law, women have the same rights as men,
including rights under family law, property law, and in the judicial
system. The Ministry of Parity and Equality is responsible for the
legal rights of women.
The law requires that women receive equal pay for equal work;
however, reports by various governmental organizations and NGOs
indicated that there was a gender pay discrepancy of around 25 percent,
according to the European Industrial Relations Observatory. Women
continued to face difficulties in attaining positions of
responsibility. According to a study by the Government's statistical
agency, fewer than 20 percent of executives in the private sector were
women, and although they made up 57 percent of the public workforce,
women were underrepresented in managerial jobs and positions of
responsibility. They were also underrepresented in political life (see
section 3). Unemployment rates also remained higher for women than for
men.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of public education and
medical care. The Ministry for Family Affairs oversees implementation
of the Government's programs for children.
Public schooling is provided free through the age of 18, and
education is compulsory for citizens and noncitizens from the ages of
six to 16. However, after unrest in October 2005 in which minors were
disproportionately involved, the Prime Minister proposed that some
youth be allowed to leave school at age 14 to enter into
apprenticeships. Although not compulsory, preschool and kindergarten
for children under age six is free and widely available. According to
the Government's statistical service, during the 2003-2004 school year
attendance by children remained at 100 percent from age three to age
13; however, for children aged 14, 15, and 16 the percentages dropped
to 99.6, 98.6, and 97.3 respectively. Most children completed the
equivalent of high school. There was no evidence of significant
differences between the attendance of girls and boys at the primary,
secondary, and postsecondary levels.
The Government provided universal health care to all residents, and
boys and girls had equal access.
Although not common, child abuse was a problem. There are strict
laws against child abuse by parents or guardians, and the Government
generally enforced the law effectively and prosecuted abusers. The law
provides for a government children's advocate, a position charged with
defending and promoting children's rights as defined by law. However, a
2003 report by a rapporteur for the UN Commission on Human Rights
criticized the justice system and a government-chartered doctors' group
for their handling of child sex abuse cases. The rapporteur concluded
that ``many individuals in a position of responsibility for the
protection of children's rights, particularly within the judiciary, are
still largely in denial about the existence and extent of this
phenomenon.'' Among the rapporteur's remedial recommendations was that
a children's ombudsman (Defenseure des enfants) should be fully
resourced and provided with an adequate number of staff to receive and
investigate future cases where there appears to have been a failure of
justice concerning children's rights.''
A case involving the kidnapping and selling of babies from Bulgaria
was pending at year's end. In October 2005 authorities arrested 15
persons and rescued seven babies in connection with a ring discovered
in 2004. A Romani family in Bulgaria headed the network, which sold
babies to other Romani families for approximately $6,310 to $7,860
(5,000 to 6,000 euros). OCRETH continued to work with Bulgarian
authorities on the investigation.
According to the Ministry of Interior, the number of reported rapes
committed against minors fell by 9.88 percent between 2004 and 2005.
The Government provided counseling, financial aid, foster homes, and
orphanages for victims, depending on the extent of the problem. Various
NGOs also helped minors seek justice in cases of mistreatment by
parents.
Child marriage was a problem, particularly in communities
maintaining cultural ties to their African and Asian origins. Although
such marriage ceremonies took place primarily outside the country,
authorities took steps to address the problem. In 2003 the French
Integration Council (HCI) reported that there were approximately 70,000
girls in the country between 10 and 18 years of age, primarily from
North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Turkey, who faced the prospect of
a forced marriage. Women and girls could seek refuge at shelters if
their parents or guardians threaten them with a forced marriage, and
parents may be prosecuted for forcing their children into marriage. The
Government offered some educational programs to inform young women of
their rights. The HCI said it was important to distinguish between
arranged and forced marriages. Both houses of parliament have passed
laws to harmonize the minimum legal age of marriage for boys and girls
at age 18.
Trafficking in girls was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The constitution and law prohibit the
trafficking of persons; however, trafficking in women and children for
sexual exploitation, forced domestic labor, and petty crime was a
problem (see section 6.d.).
The country was a destination for victims, primarily women,
trafficked from Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and the former
Soviet Union for the purposes of prostitution and domestic servitude.
Police estimated that 90 percent of the 15,000 sex workers in the
country were trafficking victims. Many children, including many Romani
children, were trafficked from Romania.
Trafficking of Brazilian women and girls to French Guiana for
sexual exploitation was a problem.
An increasing number of Chinese nationals were involved in
prostitution in Paris and the surrounding region, a fairly new
phenomenon. A 2005 report by the International Labor Office
Organization estimated that there were approximately 50,000 Chinese
immigrants in the country illegally; many having arrived by means of
networks that subsequently exploited them. According to the report,
there were approximately 6,000 new arrivals annually.
Traffickers operated principally in small criminal networks. NGOs
and police characterized the bulk of trafficking operations as
``microtrafficking networks'' that included both citizens and
foreigners. They used various methods to recruit and retain victims
including force, fraud, confiscating the victims' identification
documents, isolating them culturally, and abusing them physically and
psychologically. Some victims who came to the country willing to work
as prostitutes were subsequently exploited by pimps and traffickers. In
other cases traffickers kidnapped or ``bought'' women and girls
elsewhere and sold them to Balkans-based prostitution networks that
trafficked them into the country.
The specific crime of human trafficking was first introduced in a
2003 law that offers protection for men and women forced to enter
prostitution. Apart from social assistance, trafficking victims may be
given a provisional residence permit on condition that they cooperate
with police in securing the arrest of the person controlling them. If
the latter is convicted, the victim may be issued with a residence
card.
Trafficking in persons is punishable by up to seven years'
imprisonment and a fine of up to approximately $196,000 (150,000
euros). The punishment for inducing a minor to beg is punishable by two
years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $59,000 (45,000 euros).
In the case of a minor under 15 years of age, the offence is punished
by three years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $98,000
(75,000 euros). Direct inducement of a minor to habitually commit
felonies or misdemeanors is punished by five years' imprisonment and a
fine of approximately $196,000 (150,000 euros). Direct inducement by
promises, offers, pressure, threats, or violence to commit a felony is
punishable up to by seven years' imprisonment and a fine of
approximately $131,000 (100,000 euros). The commission without
violence, constraint, threat or surprise of a sexual offence by an
adult on the person of a minor younger than 15 years of age is punished
by five years' imprisonment and a fine of approximately $98,000 (75,000
euros). However, under the trafficking-related sentencing guidelines,
sentences for some types of convictions, such as those involving rape,
were light. Exploiting foreign laborers and exposing them to inhumane
conditions are criminal offenses under other statutes and are
punishable by up to three years' imprisonment or substantial fines.
Several law enforcement agencies were involved in the effort to
combat trafficking. The Government regularly cooperated on a bilateral
basis or with international institutions such as the European Police
Agency (Europol) to investigate, track, and dismantle trafficking
rings. Authorities worked with officials in other countries,
particularly source countries, to counter human trafficking.
The Government reported that in 2005, in Paris alone, it issued 306
temporary residence permits, 197 of them renewable, under a government
protection program to aid trafficking victims who chose to cooperate
with police and judicial authorities. Victims who declined to cooperate
with authorities were considered illegal immigrants and were sometimes,
but not often, detained, jailed, or deported. NGOs criticized the
Government's lack of a proactive approach to identifying trafficking
victims; the reactive approach employed during the year required
alleged victims to identify themselves and denounce their traffickers
within 24 hours of detention following arrest, offering victims little
time to develop assurances against retribution.
The Government continued to screen and refer victims to counseling
centers and safe houses for comprehensive services. The Government
assumed child victims to be in danger and provided immediate shelter
while assessing the child's best interests.
Numerous NGOs dealt with trafficking in persons and prostitution.
Social Aid to Children, the national social services branch for child
care, was responsible for caring for and assisting victims under the
age of 22.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state
services; the Government generally enforced these provisions
effectively.
The law requires new public buildings to be accessible to persons
with disabilities; however, many older buildings and public
transportation were not accessible. In October a lawyer in Pas-de-
Calais, Maitre Bleitrach, lost her appeal in a discrimination case
against the Justice Ministry in which she asserted that the
inaccessibility of most court facilities in her region prevented her
from carrying out her professional duties. The appeals court ruled that
the scope of the inconvenience did not rise to the standard requiring
public remediation. At year's end, Ms. Bleitrach was considering the
possibility of bringing her case to the ECHR.
Nearly 28 percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed,
roughly three times the national unemployment rate. The law requires
companies having more than 20 employees to ensure that 6 percent of
their employees are persons with disabilities. Companies found not to
be in compliance are liable to fines, which go to an association that
assists persons with disabilities in finding work. However, many
companies admitted to being unaware of their legal obligations, and the
average employment rate of persons with disabilities for those
companies subject to the law was approximately 4 percent.
In February 2005 parliament passed a law to compensate persons for
the consequences of disability and to promote their integration into
the country's social life by requiring accessibility to buildings and
access to education and employment. The law seeks to involve persons
with disabilities in the decision-making process on these issues. It
increased fines for companies not in compliance with the legal
requirements concerning the employment of persons with disabilities,
penalizing those who have not made significant efforts to meet their
legal obligations within three years with fines of 1,500 times the
minimum wage. In addition the law calls for centers to be set up in
each department to assist persons with disabilities with receiving
compensation and employment assistance. Many of the benefits were to
have entered into force on January 1. However, implementation has
lagged somewhat; as of May 31, only 30 departments had established
assistance centers as required by law.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In its annual report, released
in March, the NCCHR reported 974 racist and anti-Semitic incidents in
2005, a drop of 38 percent from the 1,574 recorded in 2004. Violence
against immigrants continued to be a problem, particularly on the
island of Corsica (see section 2.c.). The Government condemned such
incidents and took steps to address the problem. The attacks caused
some families to move to the mainland or return to their countries of
origin.
The treatment of the country's large immigrant population, many of
whom sought to preserve cultures quite different from traditional
French culture, remained a problem. Many observers expressed the view
that discriminatory hiring practices prevented minorities from Africa,
the Maghreb, the Middle East, and Asia from equal access to the
workplace, and a number of NGOs worked to sensitize the public to this
problem. The COE cited studies indicating that 50 percent of instances
of discrimination related to employment, followed by obstacles to the
acquisition of housing, services, and leisure activities. Foreigners,
citizens of foreign origin, and persons with foreign-sounding names,
were generally the main victims of discrimination.
Roma faced a special set of challenges, and Romani organizations
charged that they faced discrimination in education, housing, and
access to government services. Housing problems were particularly acute
for an itinerant group known as Travelers. A 2000 law on the reception
and accommodation of Travelers obliges municipalities of more than
5,000 inhabitants to provide a camping site with facilities and access
to water and electricity. As of June 2005 municipal authorities had
established only 8,000 campsites. This left a shortfall of over 20,000
sites, according to authorities, and 60,000 sites, according to NGOs
(see section 4).
Travelers were subject to other special laws which seemingly were
not intended to apply to other citizens. Anyone over the age of 16 not
settled in one place must have a travel permit which must be
periodically renewed. Any delay in renewal entails heavy fines,
approximately $980 (750 euros) for each day overdue. Anyone found not
to be in possession of this document is subject to a sentence of up to
one year in prison. Travelers are not entitled to vote until three
years after they have been administratively assigned to a municipality.
For other citizens, including those with no fixed abode, the qualifying
period is 6 months. Authorities did not consider Travelers' caravans to
be housing. As a result, Travelers were not entitled to housing
assistance.
Citizens may report cases of discrimination to the independent High
Authority for the Fight against Discrimination and for Equality
(HALDE). According to October 19 press reports, during its two-year
existence, HALDE has received 4,736 discrimination claims, 40 percent
of them relating to employment discrimination.
On July 17, as a result of a HALDE investigation, a hairdresser was
fined a total of approximately $5,900 (4,500 euros) in the court case
on charges that she had refused to serve a client on the basis of race.
Over the last two years, HALDE has persuaded 110 of the 146
companies listed on the country's stock exchange to adopt more
transparent internal staffing practices to demonstrate unbiased hiring
practices. Other efforts included internal testing carried out by the
Sorbonne-affiliated Discrimination Observatory, establishing forums for
women executives, and recruitment counseling to avoid legacy hiring.
On September 19, a Paris tribunal levied an approximately $2,600
(2,000 euro) fine against a law firm for hiring discrimination. The
firm had specified that it was seeking to employ citizens. The court
also instructed the firm to pay approximately $5,240 (4,000 euros) in
damages to the antidiscrimination NGO, SOS Racism.
On January 18, an appeals court upheld a Lyon court's conviction of
three bouncers and fined them a total of approximately $11,140 (8,500
euros) for discrimination. Subsequently the Ministry of Labor and the
NGO Group for Study and Combat of Discrimination established a free hot
line for reporting discrimination.
The Government attempted to combat racism and discrimination
through programs that promoted public awareness and brought together
local officials, police, and citizen's groups. Some public school
systems also operated antidiscrimination educational programs.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment or
service, public or private. Although there were isolated incidents of
violence against homosexuals, authorities pursued and punished
offenders.
There were reportedly instances of discrimination based on age. On
September 20, HALDE was investigating the complaints of seven
unemployed individuals who presented 40 classified advertisements
specifying an age limit. The investigators chose 70 businesses,
recruitment services, and Internet sites as targets. However, HALDE's
efforts have not received widespread judicial support. Prosecutors'
offices in other affected regions, including Paris, Rennes, Versailles,
and Creteil, have classified ageism complaints as unsubstantiated.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers the right to
form and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
Approximately 8 percent of the work force was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provided for the
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right
freely. Approximately 90 percent of workers in the formal economy
operated under such agreements.
Workers, including civil servants, have the right to strike except
when a strike threatens public safety. Workers exercised this right by
conducting legal strikes. There are no special laws or exceptions from
regular labor laws in the three export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
Although there were press reports that undetermined numbers of
undocumented immigrants experienced substandard pay and working
conditions, sweatshop conditions were rare due to effective labor law
enforcement. In practice abuses were limited to the informal economy,
which the World Bank estimated to account for 14-15 percent of GDP.
Forced or compulsory child labor occurred (see section 6.d.). There
are strict laws against trafficking in persons for domestic labor, and
the Committee against Modern Slavery brought such cases to authorities
for prosecution.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits most forms of child employment, and the Government's
implementation of laws and policies designed to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace was generally effective. Children under
16 are prohibited from working, with a few exceptions for those
enrolled in certain apprenticeship programs or working in the
entertainment industry. In general minors (persons under 18) are
prohibited from performing work considered arduous. All minors are
forbidden to work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Those younger than 16 may
not work after 8 p.m.
Police estimated in 2005 that 3,000 to 8,000 children were forced
into prostitution and labor, including begging. During the year police
reported 14 cases of minors illegally employed.
Labor inspectors, who have the authority to take employers to court
for noncompliance, enforced the laws related to child labor.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage was
$10.83 (8.27 euros) per hour, as adjusted on July 1. It provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was
the same throughout the country, despite wide regional variations in
the cost of living, and applied to any worker holding a regular working
contract, whether or not he was a citizen. The employment ministry was
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. Certain categories of
employment, including subsidized employment and internships, must
conform to separate, clearly defined, standards and provide salaries
inferior to the minimum wage. Employers generally adhered to the
minimum wage requirement, with the exception of those in the informal
economy.
The official workweek was 35 hours; however, in certain industries
the Government allowed a greater number of overtime hours that could
result in a de facto 39-hour workweek. Overtime was limited to 180
hours annually. Maximum hours of work were fixed at 10 hours per day,
48 hours per week, and an average of 44 hours per week over a 12-week
work period. Employees were entitled to a daily rest of at least 11
hours and a weekly break of 24 hours, not including the daily rest
period. Employers were required to give workers a 20-minute break in a
six-hour workday. Premium pay was mandatory for overtime. These
standards were effectively enforced.
The law sets basic occupational health and safety standards. The
Ministry of Social Affairs, Labor, and Solidarity was responsible for
enforcing the laws and did so effectively. Workers have the right to
remove themselves from situations that endanger their health or safety
without jeopardy to their employment, and the Government effectively
enforced this right.
__________
GEORGIA
The constitution of the Georgian republic provides for an executive
branch that reports to the President, a unicameral Parliament, and an
independent judiciary. The country has a population of approximately
4.4 million. In 2003 former President Shevardnadze resigned during what
became known as the Rose Revolution. Mikheil Saakashvili won the
presidency in 2004 with over 90 percent of the vote in an election, and
his National Movement Party won a majority of seats in the Parliament.
International observers determined that the 2004 Presidential and
parliamentary elections represented significant progress over previous
elections and brought the country closer to meeting international
standards, although several irregularities were noted. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government's human rights record improved in some areas during
the year, although serious problems remained. While the Government took
significant steps to address these problems, there were some reports of
deaths due to excessive use of force by law enforcement officers, cases
of torture and mistreatment of detainees, increased abuse of prisoners,
impunity, continued overuse of pretrial detention for less serious
offenses, worsened conditions in prisons and pretrial detention
facilities, and lack of access for average citizens to defense
attorneys. Other areas of concern included reports of government
pressure on the judiciary and the media and--despite a substantial
reduction due to reforms led by the President--corruption.
During the year the Government took significant steps to improve
the human rights situation. One notable example was its stepped up
effort to combat human trafficking, which included adoption and
implementation of a new antitrafficking law that resulted in 16
convictions of traffickers. The Government also continued a broad
reform of the justice system to improve the investigation and
prosecution of some law enforcement abuses and increase the
independence of the judiciary.
De facto authorities in the separatist regions of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia remained outside the control of the central government;
ceasefires were in effect in both areas, although incidents of
violence, including deaths, occurred in both areas. In both Abkhazia
and South Ossetia, deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest, and detention
continued to be problems.
During the year de facto authorities in Abkhazia restricted the
rights of citizens to vote and to participate in the political process
via a citizenship law that forced ethnic Georgians to give up their
Georgian citizenship. They also failed to allow the opening of a UN
human rights office, deployment of a UN civilian police contingent, or
instruction in Georgian language in the Gali district of Abkhazia.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings. In July
four ministry of internal affairs officers were convicted in the
January beating death of Sandro Girgvliani. The prosecutor general's
office opened investigations into reports that the police used
excessive lethal force to apprehend criminal suspects. In August a
police officer was convicted in the 2004 shooting death of Amiran
Robakidze. There were reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings in the
separatist areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, areas not under
government control.
On March 27, special forces units entered Tbilisi Prison No. 5, a
pretrial detention facility designed to hold 1,500 but which was
housing a population of 3,700 detainees, to quell a disturbance,
resulting in the deaths of at least seven detainees. The Government
subsequently released a videotape showing members of the Thieves-in-
Law, a network of organized crime gangs, planning the uprising in order
to disrupt the Government's efforts to break the gangs' influence. In
May the Ministry of Internal Affairs released records of phone
conversations between a reputed gang boss and detainees in Prison No. 5
during which the boss gave instructions and encouragement to the
detainees. NGOs and the public defender's office disputed this
conclusion and alleged that sustained abuse of detainees by prison
officials, including the head of the penitentiary system, sparked the
incident. The public defender further alleged that the Government
understated the extent of prisoner death and injuries resulting from
the operation and that seriously injured detainees were denied medical
care for injuries sustained in the operation. The public defender, the
Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and NGOs
called for an independent inquiry into allegations that the special
forces had used disproportionate force to quell the disturbance. The
prosecutor general's office opened an investigation into the lawfulness
of the actions taken by law enforcement during the incident. The
investigation continued at year's end.
In July Gia Alania, Avtandil Aptsiauri, Aleksandre Ghachava and
Mikheil Bibiluri, officers in the Ministry of Internal Affairs'
Department of Constitutional Security, were convicted in the January
beating death of Sandro Girgvliani and were sentenced to seven years'
imprisonment. Alania admitted in a pretrial statement that he and his
fellow officers abducted and then beat Girgvliani and his friend Levan
Bukhaidze after they heard the two men make disparaging remarks about
senior ministry officials outside a Tbilisi bar. NGOs criticized the
thoroughness of the investigation, which initially was conducted by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and on March 6 was transferred to the
prosecutor general's office, and the fairness of the verdict. They
claimed that government authorities had not comprehensively
investigated the alleged involvement of four senior interior ministry
officials, Guram Donadze, Vasil Sonadze, Dato Akhalia, and Oleg
Melnikov, as well as Tako Salkaia, the wife of the minister of internal
affairs, whom the NGOs asserted had ordered the beatings after an
altercation with Girgvliani and Bukhaidze inside a Tbilisi bar. Senior
government officials, however, stated that there was no evidence to
implicate anyone else in the murder despite their offer of a plea
bargain to the convicted officers.
As part of a broad effort by the Government to fight organized
crime, prison authorities removed members of the Thieves-in-Law from
their privileged cells, which often contained luxuries such as flat
screen televisions, and isolated them from the general prison
population. NGOs reported, however, that during and following this
process, prisoners were severely beaten and abused by prison
authorities who often wore masks to conceal their identities. There are
unconfirmed reports that three prisoners died during the effort.
On August 10, police officer Grigol Bashaleishvili was sentenced to
four years' imprisonment in connection with the 2004 shooting death of
Amiran Robakidze. Initially, the ministry of internal affairs reported
that Robakidze had been shot while police were trying to apprehend an
armed gang and then released video footage showing assault rifles that
had allegedly been seized from the car in which Robakidze had been
riding. A subsequent investigation revealed that the police had planted
the evidence. The prosecutor general's office continued its
investigation at year's end into allegations that interior ministry
officials fabricated evidence to conceal police culpability in the
shooting of Robakidze.
During the year, to address a serious crime problem dating back to
the immediate post-independence period when organized crime and armed
gangs operated openly, the Government announced a ``zero tolerance'' of
crime policy. NGOs criticized the policy which they claimed violated
the presumption of innocence and resulted in a reported 12 deaths in
Tbilisi from the excessive use of force by police.
In a May statement, the minister of internal affairs rejected NGOs'
claims that the police were using excessive force in arresting
suspects. He stated that as a result of the Government's successful
anticorruption efforts, criminals could no longer resort to bribing
police or judges to avoid prison sentences and resorted instead to
violent means to avoid arrest by police.
The office of the prosecutor general's investigations into five of
the 12 deaths highlighted by NGOs--a May incident involving Aleqsandre
Khublovi and Zurab Vazagashvili, suspects in an assault case, and a
March incident involving Murman Movsesiani, Gela Gaidenini, and Levan
Darsadze, suspected members of an organized crime gang--continued at
year's end. In December the prosecutor general's office concluded after
its investigation of a February incident involving Zviad Babukhadia,
Butkhuz Kizira, and Valeri Bendeliani, suspected members of an
organized crime gang, that police had not used excessive force in their
efforts to apprehend the suspects and had only fired when the suspects
had fired on them.
Two police officers were suspended pending an investigation of the
December 6 death in Kutaisi of Valeri Pkhakadze, who was allegedly shot
and beaten by police investigating a break-in.
Appellate proceedings were still pending at year's end in the 2004
conviction of police officer Roland Minadze on charges of falsification
and fabrication of evidence in connection with the 2004 beating and
subsequent death of Khvicha Kvirikashvili. After his conviction was
initially returned by the Supreme Court to the Tbilisi City Court for
rehearing in October 2005, Minadze was released under police
supervision pending the rehearing.
Minadze subsequently disappeared and was convicted in absentia and
sentenced to four years' imprisonment in December 2005.
Despite ceasefires, killings were committed by elements on both
sides of the separatist conflict in South Ossetia. The de facto South
Ossetian authorities did not investigate, prosecute, or punish anyone
for previous killings such as the October 2005 fatal shooting of Givi
Chukhrukhidze.
Violence continued in Abkhazia. In February 16-year-old Zviad
Pirtskhalava was killed by an armed gang who attacked his family in the
Barghbi village. In August Demur Gogokhia and Manuchar Patsulaia were
allegedly killed while in the custody of Abkhaz de facto law
enforcement personnel. No investigations were conducted by Abkhaz de
facto authorities into the deaths of Meri Jalagonia, who was killed in
March 2005 by an armed gang that also beat her family; Lasha Rigvava,
who was killed in April 2005 in an incident involving Russian
peacekeeping forces; and Tsiuri Margania, whom Abkhaz militants killed
in May 2005.
Both government and Abkhaz forces laid tens of thousands of
landmines during the 1992-93 fighting. During the year there were no
reports of deaths from landmines in Abkhazia. However, individuals in
Abkhazia were injured in mine explosions. In December Dmitri Katsia, de
facto administrator of the Repi village in the Gali region, was injured
in a landmine explosion.
Landmines posed a threat in South Ossetia. In August a Russian
peacekeeper was injured in a landmine explosion near the village of
Kekhvi. In October, also near the village of Kekhvi, one Georgian man
was killed and another injured in a landmine explosion.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances perpetrated by the Government. However, conflict-related
disappearances and kidnappings were frequent during the year in the
separatist regions (see section 1.g.) of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
In January armed gangs kidnapped 14 ethnic Georgians from the
villages of Nabakevi and Gagida in Abkhazia and 30 young men from Gali.
The whereabouts of Gocha Djaremlishvili, who was kidnapped in July
2005, remained unknown.
The Abkhaz continued forcefully conscripting underage male ethnic
Georgians living in the Gali region of Abkhazia into the army.
Government and Abkhaz commissions on missing persons reported that
more than 1,000 Georgians and several hundred Abkhaz remained missing
as a result of the 1992-93 war in Abkhazia (see section 1.g.). The
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assisted joint official
efforts to fulfill the country's obligations under international
humanitarian law to provide information to the families of missing
persons. This included the determination of gravesite locations and the
exhumation, identification, and repatriation of remains to the
families. No repatriations occurred during the year.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, although
they occurred. During the year the Government took steps to implement
changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure adopted in 2004 and 2005 to
address torture and mistreatment and initiated at least 68
investigations during the year (see section 1.d.).
In January Mikheil Chkeidze alleged police officers mistreated him
in the Bagdadi region. An official investigation was pending at year's
end.
On February 12, Batumi police patrol officer Mamuka Jincharadze
reportedly severely beat Jemal Baramidze of Batumi with his pistol,
after stopping him for speeding, causing serious injury. In August the
Kehlvachauri District Court convicted Jincharadze of exceeding
authority and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment. Jincharadze's
appeal was pending in the Kutaisi Appellate Court at year's end.
In May Eduard Jaogli alleged police officers mistreated him in the
Isani-Samgori police station. An official investigation was pending at
year's end.
In September Gia Razmadze alleged mistreatment by police officers
in the Kvemo Kartli region. An official investigation was pending at
year's end.
In November Avtandil Khvinchiashvili alleged police officers
mistreated him in the Gladani-Nadzaladevi police station. An official
investigation was pending at year's end.
A special commission investigation continued at year's end into the
alleged April 2005 beating of inmate Eldar Konenishvili in Prison No. 1
and later at Gurdzhani police station. As part of its investigation,
the special commission interrogated prisoners, officials and medical
personnel in Prison No. 1, escorting officers, and law enforcement
officers and other witnesses at Gurdzhani police station. The
commission also reviewed results of an April 2005 medical examination
of Konenishvili, which included a computer-assisted tomography scan,
magnetic resonance imaging, and x-rays. In December 2005 the police
officer who allegedly beat Konenishvili was removed from his position.
The prosecutor general's office did not release any results in its
investigation into the 2004 allegation of torture of former chief of
the State Audit Agency Sulkhan Molashvili while in pretrial detention.
The office stated that its investigation was hampered by Molashvili's
refusal to cooperate. As directed by the European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR), the Government established a parity commission to examine
Molashvili's health. The prosecutor general's office stated that the
commission's efforts were also initially hampered by Molashvili's
uncooperativeness. In June the Court of Appeals affirmed Molashvili's
sentence to eight years' imprisonment for abuse of power and
misappropriation of funds. Molashvili's attorneys announced their
intention to appeal the sentence to the ECHR, where another case
alleging that the prosecution of Molashvili was politically motivated
was already pending. At year's end Molashvili was being held in a
prison hospital.
Human rights advocates reported that, because of ongoing
unannounced and random monitoring of police stations, allegations of
abuse by law enforcement officials at police stations remained low.
However, they reported that the number of detainees registered with
signs of abuse upon arrival at police stations or pretrial facilities
remained high. Amnesty International (AI), domestic NGOs, and the
public defender's office reported a large number of cases in which a
detainee reportedly sustained injuries resulting from police
mistreatment during arrest. The police claimed injuries were either
pre-existing or the result of detainee resistance.
Law enforcement officers reportedly tortured or abused detainees in
their homes or in cars while taking them to a place of detention. There
were also allegations that plainclothes security service agents
attacked several people on the street or abused them in unpopulated
places, such as cemeteries or forests. In January four Ministry of
Internal Affairs officers abducted Sandro Girgvliani and Levan
Bukhaidze from a Tbilisi street and beat them at a cemetery. Girgvliani
died as a result of the beating and, in July, the four officers were
convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. No charges were
brought in connection with Bukhaidze's beating (see section 1.a.).
The public defender's office reported that, in the first six months
of the year, monitoring groups conducted 307 visits to police stations
throughout the country. This was a decrease from 2005, when the
monitoring groups conducted 1,763 such visits. The public defender's
office diverted resources for monitoring of police station isolators to
increased monitoring of pretrial and prison facilities due to the
deteriorating situation in those facilities.
During the year there were several cases of police officers brought
to trial, dismissed, or demoted for abuses; however, impunity remained
a problem, particularly in outlying regions (see section 1.d.). NGOs
continued to claim that close ties between the prosecutor general's
office and the police hindered their ability to substantiate police
misconduct and believed the continuing lack of professionalism and
independence of the judiciary made it unresponsive to torture
allegations. As a result, despite implementation of positive reforms,
NGOs claimed law enforcement officials could still resort to torture or
mistreatment with limited risk of exposure or punishment. NGOs also
believed a lack of adequate training for law enforcement, as well as
low public awareness of the protections afforded citizens, impeded
improvements.
According to statistics from the ministry of internal affairs, of
the 18,083 detainees held during the year, 2,962 (16 percent) were
registered with injuries, 191 of whom claimed to have been beaten by
police. Of the 105 cases investigated by the general inspector's office
of the ministry, 70 cases were referred to the prosecutor general's
office. According to the public defender's office, during the first six
months of the year, the police station groups monitoring police station
isolators noted 384 breaches in 307 observed cases including, for
example, instances of mistreatment, warrantless searches, and failure
to
inform detainees of their rights. The public defender's office
noted that the monitoring groups found no instances where police
officers had incorrectly registered a detainee upon arrival at the
police station, which previously had been a means for police officers
to conceal abuse.
The courts implemented additional amendments to the criminal
procedure code adopted in 2005, which were intended to discourage law
enforcement officers from engaging in torture and abuse. The amendments
exclude evidence obtained in violation of the law and require that
confessions given by detainees during detention be ratified in court
before being admissible as evidence.
All law enforcement officers and representatives of the
prosecutor's office, except for officers of the special police unit,
were required to wear identity badges during meetings with detainees
and prisoners. Special police units were exempted to protect members'
anonymity. NGOs believed this prevented accountability for any abuse by
the units. Despite 2005 legislative reforms, prisoners continued to
allege abuse by masked prison authorities wearing no identifying
numbers or symbols.
There were still significant obstacles to bringing cases of police
torture and mistreatment to light. NGOs reported victims often did not
report abuse, fearing police retribution against them or their
families. The public defender's office was aware of several cases of
apparent abuse, but the detainees who had visible injuries later
refused to report abuse, became uncooperative in the investigation, or
withdrew their earlier complaint.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--During the year the
Ministry of Justice, which includes the department of prisons, launched
a comprehensive multiyear effort to reform all aspects of the
penitentiary system. This first year was funded by an 87 percent
increase in the Government's budgetary allotment compared with 2005 for
the Department of Prisons. During the same period, however, the inmate
population grew approximately 68 percent, eroding some of the benefits
that could have been realized by the increased budgetary allotment.
The Justice Ministry opened new prisons that met international
physical standards in Rustavi and Kutaisi as well as new
separate pretrial detention facilities for male juveniles and
women. While male juveniles were held separately from adult males,
female juveniles continued to be confined with adult females. Juvenile
detainees were not provided educational opportunities despite sometimes
being confined for extended periods.
Despite the opening of new and remodeled facilities, conditions in
prison and pretrial detention facilities generally remained poor, did
not meet international standards, and even worsened during the year.
The ICRC, the public defender's office, the OSCE, and many NGOs,
including Human Rights Watch (HRW), continued to report inhumane and
life-threatening conditions, including poor facilities, overcrowding,
and inadequate nutrition and health care. Most prison and pretrial
detention facilities lacked adequate sanitary facilities. Abuse of
prisoners by prison staff increased, while extortion continued,
according to the public defender and NGOs including HRW.
The majority of prisons and pretrial detention facilities were
severely overcrowded, sometimes at double their capacity, due to the
increased prison population. NGOs attributed the increase to the
Government's aggressive ``zero tolerance'' anticrime campaign and a
case backlog resulting from an understaffed and inexperienced
judiciary. An estimated 63 percent of inmates were detainees awaiting
trial.
Despite statements by the Ministry of Justice that the March 27
incident (see section 1.a.) destroyed Tbilisi Prison No. 5 and made it
unsuitable for housing detainees, the prison continued to be used as a
pretrial detention facility.
Since December 2005 HRW noted a serious increase in the number of
reports of frequent beatings and degrading treatment of inmates, such
as repeated strip searches sometimes conducted outside in winter
weather. In March, after the public defender's office called for an
investigation, the prosecutor general's office opened an investigation
into the beating of Iago Tsikvadze in Tbilisi Prison No. 1. According
to a statement Tsikvadze gave to the public defender's office, he was
severely beaten by prison officials, including the head of the prison,
Temur Tabaghua. Tsikvadze also stated that prison officials denied his
requests to see a doctor. At year's end the prosecutor general's office
stated that Tsikvadze's attorney had not yet responded to its request
to question his client.
In a report to the UN Committee Against Torture, NGOs reported that
on January 11, prison officials moved Shalva Ramishvili of independent
TV 202 (see section 2.a.) from his regular cell to a carcer, a small
disciplinary solitary confinement cell, which Ramishvili alleged lacked
necessary ventilation and sanitary facilities. He was reportedly held
there for four days.
Despite recent increases in government funding for prisoner well-
being, prisoners often relied on packages from family for necessary
food, clothing, and hygiene items. As a result of policy changes in
June, however, inmates in some facilities reported not being able to
receive packages, correspond with family members and, in some limited
cases, have the opportunity to meet with their lawyers. Prison
officials also reportedly arbitrarily restricted visits by family
members in violation of the law. In December sundry shops were opened
in Rustavi Prison No. 6 to reduce reliance on packages from outside
sources which had been a conduit for smuggling contraband into the
prison.
During the year prison authorities ended the influence of the
Thieves-in-Law organized crime gangs network, which since the Soviet
era had exercised de facto control of prisons through bribes,
extortion, and violence. The gangs also coordinated criminal activity
outside prisons by using contraband mobile telephones. Gang members
were isolated from the general prison population and subjected to 24-
hour surveillance. During the year lawyers and family members were
denied access to these prisoners (see section 1.a.). According to HRW,
in some cases, the treatment of detainees in Tbilisi Prison No. 7,
where authorities detained those it considered to be members of the
gangs, rose to the level of torture.
Salaries for prison guards were increased and paid regularly.
Although corruption among guards diminished since the isolation of the
Thieves-in-Law gangs, which used a system of obshiak to extort money
from fellow prisoners in order to bribe prison officials, some guards
reportedly demanded money from inmates' family members. Nevertheless,
according to prison officials, the surge in turnover in prison guards
was due in part to the loss of income from bribes and also to prison
authorities' intolerance of this behavior.
The Ministry of Justice established a Penitentiary and Probation
Training Center at which all new employees were required to complete
training in human rights standards. The convoying service within the
department of prisons was reformed to eliminate delays in transporting
inmates to court proceedings. Previously corruption and inefficiencies
resulted in frequent delays and postponements of court proceedings.
The investigative service of the department of prisons within the
Ministry of Justice conducted investigations into allegations of
misconduct committed by prison officials. During the year the
investigative service opened 281 investigations of allegations that
prison officials brought prohibited items such as illegal narcotics
onto prison grounds. For example, in October Ramaz Gabisonia, an
official in the women's prison, was detained on charges of bribery and
possession of prohibited items on prison grounds. The investigative
service also initiated 16 criminal investigations of alleged violations
of prisoner rights. All investigations were pending at year's end.
NGOs reported violence among prisoners continued during the year.
The public defender's office reported that following an incident in the
juvenile detention facility when an inmate was doused with boiling
water by other inmates, their office intervened to obtain medical
treatment for the injured juvenile.
During the year the penitentiary system mortality level worsened.
The Justice Ministry reported that 92 inmates died in the prison system
compared with 46 deaths during 2005. Of the 92 deaths, four were
reportedly suicides. From early July to late September, when inadequate
conditions were exacerbated by very high seasonal temperatures, 31
inmates died. The Justice Ministry made efforts to improve conditions
during that period by providing fans and removing metal window
shutters. The public defender's office reported that it frequently
petitioned prison officials to obtain necessary medical treatment for
inmates.
Attempted suicides and self-mutilation occurred in prisons as
protests against declining prison conditions and human rights
violations. There were also sporadic hunger strikes by prisoners to
protest poor conditions, visitor limitations, and the perceived
arbitrary parole policy of the Government.
With the exception of the new prisons in Kutaisi and Rustavi,
medical facilities including equipment and medicines were severely
lacking. Control over prison hospitals had been transferred to the
ministry of labor, health, and social protection; however, there were
no mechanisms in place to implement this change. Mortality figures
issued by the Ministry of Justice attributed many deaths in the prison
system to untreated intestinal infections and cardiovascular disease.
While one prisoner died of tuberculosis, NGOs noted that there was a
successful tuberculosis testing program implemented in all prisons.
NGOs including HRW reported that the situation for inmates with
psychiatric concerns was grave. Authorities did not transfer some
inmates suffering from psychiatric problems to medical wards despite
court orders requiring it. Reportedly inmates with psychiatric problems
sometimes were housed in isolation cells.
The OSCE and the public defender reported difficulty in visiting
Tbilisi Prison No. 5 and injured inmates in the immediate aftermath of
the March 27 incident (see section 1.a.). Local human rights groups
reported difficulty in visiting prisons and pretrial detention
facilities in the wake of allegations of abuse by prison authorities.
HRW stated that some inmates were unwilling to talk to its
representatives and that despite assurances from senior prison
officials, prison authorities actively interfered with the NGO's
efforts to interview inmates privately.
The Human Rights Protection Unit of the prosecutor general's office
had free access to monitor conditions at temporary isolator units at
police stations, pretrial detention facilities, and prisons and to
respond to reports of torture, inhuman, or degrading treatment. During
the year the unit monitored 76 cases related to prisons, which resulted
in the initiation of 12 investigations by the prosecutor general's
office.
During the year the Justice Ministry began setting up a series of
local commissions to monitor conditions at prisons. By requiring that
commission members live in proximity to a facility, the ministry
believed commission members would take a more active role in monitoring
prisons than did members of the former prison monitoring council. Local
commissions were fully implemented for 11 facilities including the
prison hospital facility and the women and juvenile detention facility.
Commission members have the right to make unannounced visits to prison
facilities. However, monitoring commissions are not allowed to bring
audio or video equipment with them to document prisoner injuries or
specific objectionable prison conditions.
Among other concerns, the Batumi Prison No. 3 Monitoring Commission
noted in its quarterly report that cells designed for 16 were routinely
occupied by up to 36 inmates, that there was no natural ventilation,
and that water was not regularly available in the cells. The board also
noted that inmates lacked information about their rights. The board
noted that prisoners regularly received packages from their families.
The ICRC had full access to detention facilities.
The ICRC also had full access to detention facilities in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. Prison conditions in the two regions were
chronically substandard, although overcrowding was reportedly not a
problem.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, the Government did
not always observe these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Internal Affairs has primary responsibility for law enforcement. During
times of internal disorder the Government may call on the ministry or
the military. The ministry controls the police, which are divided into
functional departments as well as a separate, independently funded
police protection department that provides security and protection to
private businesses.
Public confidence in the patrol police remained high during the
year due to a continuing low incidence of corruption. Higher salaries
for police officers provided an incentive for them to refrain from
using their positions to extort money from citizens and from
mistreatment or abuse of detainees so as to not jeopardize their jobs.
Police misconduct, such as the fabrication or planting of evidence,
reportedly decreased; however, allegations persisted that authorities
continued to use threats to plant or fabricate evidence against
suspects or their families. At year's end the prosecutor general's
office continued its investigation launched in August into allegations
that Ministry of Internal Affairs officials fabricated evidence to
conceal police culpability in the shooting of Amiran Robakidze (see
section 1.a).
Authorities arrested or administratively disciplined police
officers in high-profile cases of physical abuse or deaths in custody.
The human rights protection unit within the general prosecutor's office
issued regular updates on the status of cases, trials, and
investigations of human rights violations. According to the unit,
during the year the general prosecutor's office handled 137 criminal
cases concerned with alleged mistreatment, abuse, or torture by law
enforcement officers and brought charges against at least 16 law
enforcement officals. Seven officials were found guilty.
However, NGOs believed that the incidence of abuse was higher than
the number of cases investigated by the prosecutor general's office and
that this failure to conduct systematic investigations and pursue
convictions of all alleged abusers continued to foster a long-standing
culture of impunity, particularly in regions outside Tbilisi.
Human rights NGOs also believed that many instances of abuse went
unreported by victims due to fear of reprisals or lack of confidence in
the judicial system.
The public defender called for an investigation into allegations
that, on May 27, masked Georgian law enforcement officers detained and
abused dozens of ethnic Ossetians in the South Ossetian conflict zone.
No investigation had been opened by year's end.
During the year the prosecutor general's office did not bring
charges in any of the hundreds of allegations of abuse from 2004
submitted to it by the NGO Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights
(FPPHR). The prosecutor general's office previously reported it had
opened investigations into some of the allegations, but asserted that
the alleged abuses submitted by FPPHR often lacked sufficient detail to
investigate. The office's investigations into allegations of abuse
committed by police officers Roland Minadze and Levan Levidze were
tried in 2005 (see section 1.a.).
The prosecutor general's office was in charge of all criminal
investigations into allegations of torture and mistreatment.
Prosecutors were required to investigate police use of force when a
detainee with injuries sustained during arrest was registered. The law
required the office to open an investigation when it received
information about a possible violation even if from an anonymous
source. If prosecutors concluded after an investigation that charges
were not warranted, the decision could be appealed to a higher level of
the office. Any person subjected to abuse was able to pursue a civil
action against the abuser.
NGOs reported that the prosecutor general's office opened
investigations but often continued them indefinitely without issuing
any findings or, if concluded, usually substantiated the reasonable use
of force by police. During the year at least nine investigations
conducted by the office into allegations of torture or abuse and
inhumane treatment concluded that the police had not committed any
violation.
NGOs alleged that officials accused or convicted of abuse were
often granted preferential treatment by the courts. For example, NGOs
noted that 14-year-old George Zerekidze was sentenced to 10 years'
imprisonment for attempted murder, while the four ministry of internal
affairs officers convicted in the beating death of Sandro Girgvliani
were sentenced to seven years. In May Malkhaz Albuladze, a Kutaisi
prosecutor who reportedly beat Avto Anukitdze, was dismissed from his
position but was not detained. An investigation was ongoing at year's
end.
In March the Supreme Court ruled that the conviction of Levan
Levidze, a senior inspector in the ministry of internal affairs, on
charges of abuse of authority and forgery, was not supported by the
facts, reduced the charges against him, and reduced his sentence from
six years to one year and nine months' imprisonment.
In June police officers Lasha Buquri, Giorgi Khonelidze and Giorgi
Miqaberidze were convicted in Tbilisi City Court of crimes including
arbitrary arrest and abuse by exceeding legal authority. Buquri and
Khonelidze each received a four-year prison sentence and Miqaberidze
received a five-year sentence.
In October the prosecutor general's office submitted to the
Mtskheta court a case charging police officers Bondo Tatunashvili and
Besik Orkodashvili with torture of two teenagers. The trial was pending
at year's end. The Government held Tatunashvili and Orkodashvili in
detention during the investigation and in October released them on
bail.
Other cases involving mistreatment or illegal detention were
pending in the courts at year's end. For example, in October the
prosecutor general's office forwarded to the Tbilisi City Court a case
against police officer Simon Ekvtimishvili alleging that he exceeded
official authority when he struck Ilia Sologashvili during an arrest.
In June a new police code of ethics came into force which obliged
police officers to uphold the human rights of all persons and to use
force only when strictly necessary for the performance of their duty.
However, there is no office of professional responsibility within the
police.
During the year the Police Academy included training on human
rights in the basic course for patrol police and also conducted
additional specialized training on human rights in conjunction with
international partners such as the Council of Europe.
Arrest and Detention.--By law a person can only be arrested upon
sufficient evidence and with a warrant. Judges issued warrants and
detention orders; they could be obtained post facto and usually were.
In practice police continued to detain persons without warrants. NGOs
stated that reports of police planting drugs or weapons in order to
make an arrest declined. The prosecutor general's office is the only
body authorized to engage directly with the courts.
NGOs criticized a February statement by President Saakashvili
criticizing judges for showing what he called ``too much mercy''
towards criminal suspects and calling for a ``zero tolerance'' policy
toward all crime in order to address the high crime rate which has
burdened the country since independence. NGOs including HRW said that
the President's statement violated the presumption of innocence,
resulted in the surge in the alleged use of excessive force by police
during arrests, and pressured judges to impose detention as a pretrial
measure for individuals accused of even minor crimes.
The law provides for detainees to be charged within 72 hours, and
they usually were. Those not charged within this period must be
released. Within the last two years, six detainees were released after
being held longer than 72 hours without charge.
Bail was the legislatively preferred alternative to pretrial
detention. As of October the Government released on bail approximately
50 percent of those arrested. Citing the example of police officer
Grigol Bashaleishvili, who was released on bail despite admitting his
guilt in the shooting death of Amiran Robakidze, the public defender
and NGOs questioned the fairness of the granting of bail in some cases.
A detainee has the right to request immediate access to a lawyer
and the right to refuse to make a statement in the absence of counsel.
An indigent defendant has the right to counsel provided at public
expense. According to the law, the indigent defendant's attorney is
appointed by the judge, although the defendant may seek a change in
counsel. In practice there were not enough attorneys for the indigent
(see section 1.e.), and defendants did not always receive an attorney.
A 2005 pilot project set up two public defender's offices. Attorneys
were provided at public expense in these areas, which included Tbilisi.
Defense counsel had the right to meet the accused without any
hindrance, supervision, or undue restriction; however, some attorneys
complained that audio and video equipment in police stations intended
to record interrogations of suspects by law enforcement or
investigators was sometimes being used to improperly monitor privileged
attorney/client conversations.
Officers must notify detainees' families of their location within
five hours of their arrest and note the circumstances of the
notification in the case record. Monitoring boards regularly reviewed
these records during their visits to police stations.
Police routinely orally informed detainees of their rights so there
was no written confirmation from detainees acknowledging that they had
been fully informed of their rights. The public defender's office and
NGOs reported that police often failed to completely inform detainees
of their rights or that, even if informed of their rights, detainees
did not understand them.
Former Member of Parliament and minister of state security Irakli
Batiashvili claimed that his July 30 arrest on charges of treason was
politically motivated and that there was insufficient evidence to
support the charges against him. Furthermore, he alleged that the
evidence presented by prosecutors to support the charges had been
fabricated by the ministry of internal affairs. Batiashvili allegedly
provided intellectual support and encouragement to rebels in the Kodori
valley during a July uprising and also failed to report to authorities
the existence of the rebels' coup plot. The prosecutor general's office
submitted the case to the court and, at year's end, Batiashvili
remained in detention pending trial.
According to amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure adopted
in December 2005, pretrial measures of restraint
included detention, release on bail, and personal guarantee. The
amendments eliminated alternatives such as house arrest and police
supervision. The judiciary resorted frequently to pretrial detention
irrespective of the gravity of the offense. NGOs noted that due to
economic hardship, some defendants were not able to pay bail even when
it was granted and thus ended up in pretrial detention. After a
February speech in which President Saakashvili called for the abolition
of probation, it was virtually never awarded by the courts. Under the
law and in practice, the overall maximum time period for trial and
exhaustion of appeals was 12 months.
Abuse in police station isolator facilities remained low, while
incidents of police abuse inflicted during arrest persisted (see
section 1.c.). Outside Tbilisi abuse in police isolator facilities
continued due to less frequent monitoring.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary. During the year the Government took steps to
increase the effectiveness of the judiciary through increased budgetary
allotments and training and to strengthen the independence of the
judiciary by reforming the High Council of Justice. Reports persisted,
however, that the executive branch and powerful outside interests
continued to pressure judicial authorities. Many NGOs complained that
judicial authorities continued to act as a ``rubber stamp'' for
prosecutors' decisions and that the executive branch exerted undue
influence. NGOs expressed concerns that recent judicial appointees
lacked experience and training to act independently. The high number of
vacancies at the trial court level resulted in long delays in
scheduling of trials, which in turn required pretrial detainees to be
kept in severely overcrowded detention facilities for extended periods.
Pursuant to amendments adopted throughout the year, the High
Council of Justice became an independent institution within the
judicial system in charge of providing administrative support to the
judiciary. The council had 18 members, including nine members elected
by the Conference of Judges, the chairman of the Supreme Court, and
eight nonvoting ex officio members from the executive and legislative
branches.
In June membership on the High Council of Justice was changed to
increase the number of judicial members and to remove the prosecutor
general. Judicial members now constitute the majority of members on the
council. Other executive and legislative branch appointees, however,
remained on the council.
In December Parliament approved a constitutional amendment to
remove from the President the power to appoint or dismiss judges and
granted it to the High Council of Justice. The President had been
granted this power in a constitutional amendment adopted in 2004. The
chairman of the Supreme Court will replace the President as the chair
of the council. Despite the use of objective written examinations to
create a pool of potential qualified appointees, the judicial
appointment process was not transparent. Oral interviews of appointees
were held behind closed doors with no written or testimonial record.
Ex parte communications between lawyers and parties with judges
were common, which facilitated Soviet-style ``telephone justice.''
Lawyers, including prosecutors, and parties to litigation reportedly
used this avenue to pressure judges to decide cases in ways favorable
to their interests.
Judges are disciplined by the High Council of Justice based on a
disciplinary code. In late 2005 the council instituted a disciplinary
action against justices of the Supreme Court on grounds that they had,
among other allegations, incorrectly decided a case. By ``incorrect,''
the council meant that the application of the law by the justices
differed from that of the council. No allegation of fraud or misconduct
was made against the justices. NGOs and legal experts widely criticized
the action as infringing on the core responsibility of judges to
interpret and apply the law according to their knowledge and
experience. The Supreme Court confirmed the disciplinary committee's
decision in August, and the justices were expelled from the court. The
decision by the High Council of Justice to expel judges on the basis of
a decision with which the council disagreed effectively chilled
independent decision-making by judges.
Defendants must confirm in court any statements they gave while in
pretrial detention; otherwise, the statements will not be accepted as
evidence. NGOs reported that this provision had little impact, either
because detainees feared reprisal if their statement was not ratified
in court or because the public was not aware of this protection.
In August 2005 Irakli Sioridze, a court officer of the Justice
Ministry, was detained on charges of exceeding authority. During an
hour-long interrogation, several law enforcement officers reportedly
beat and kicked him severely in order to force him to give
incriminating evidence against Giorgi Usupashvili. According to
Sioridze, the officers wanted him to sign a statement saying that
Usupashvili had misappropriated $111,000 (200,000 lari). By year's end
Sioridze was released pending a final verdict on his case. The criminal
code includes a provision that increased the vulnerability of witnesses
to improper police pressure. The amendment prescribes penalties of up
to five years in prison for witnesses who change or retract their
original statements to police. NGOs believed this made witnesses less
likely to amend initial statements provided under police pressure.
The High Council of Justice administered a three-tiered court
system comprised of regional and city courts, appellate courts, supreme
courts of autonomous republics (which serve as appellate courts in the
relevant territorial units), and the Supreme Court. Regional and city
courts hear routine criminal, civil, and administrative law cases. At
the next level are three appellate courts, which unlike their
predecessors serve a purely appellate function. The Supreme Court acts
as the court of final instance (or as a court of cassation). A system
of magistrates to hear specific cases such as misdemeanor cases was
included in amendments adopted in 2005 but has not yet been fully
implemented. The salaries of judges at all levels were raised to reduce
the incentive for corruption.
A constitutional court arbitrates disputes between branches of
government and rules on individual human rights violation claims; it
generally demonstrated judicial independence. The power of
constitutional review is vested solely in the constitutional court. The
court interpreted its function in human rights cases narrowly, agreeing
to rule only on cases in which human rights were violated as a result
of specific articles of law.
Trial Procedures.--Defendants have the right to a public trial.
While the 2005 criminal procedure code provides for jury trials for
certain grave crimes, the provision had not yet been implemented.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trial and to
consult with an attorney; however, access to defense attorneys for
indigent defendants was limited in practice. While a new nationwide bar
association convened in April, it did not offer pro bono or low cost
legal services to indigent defendants. The Government and NGOs funded
legal clinics, although there still remained a shortage of defense
attorneys. The economic situation in the country was such that the
majority of the population could not afford legal representation. As a
result, the majority of criminal defendants proceeded without benefit
of counsel. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, by 2007, the
Ministry of Justice is required to provide attorneys to all indigent
defendants at government expense.
Defendants may question and confront witnesses against them and
present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf at trial. By law
defendants and their attorneys have access to the prosecution's
evidence relevant to their cases at any point during the investigation
and may make copies at their own expense. By law defendants are
presumed innocent and have the right to appeal.
Under some provisions, defendants could be tried in absentia and,
during the year, eight persons were. In August Ioseb Gvenetadze, a
police official in Rustavi, was convicted in absentia of exceeding
authority for using force to coerce confessions from four robbery
suspects. Gvenetadze was sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
Defense counsel and the defendant have the right to participate in
pretrial hearings; however, their presence is not mandatory. Failure of
defense counsel to appear at a hearing can not be grounds for
postponement of a hearing. A judge may rule on an appeal of a pretrial
preventative measure without a hearing. In practice defense counsel
usually receives notification of scheduled pretrial hearings by
telephone.
In response to recommendations from the UN special rapporteur,
Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, in December 2005 the
Government adopted amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure
requiring that the courts void any plea bargaining agreement that
infringed upon a party's right to request criminal proceedings in cases
of torture or inhumane treatment. The court must certify that the
agreement was reached without resort to violence, intimidation,
deception, or illegal promise and that the accused had the opportunity
to obtain legal assistance. NGOs criticized plea bargaining agreements
saying that almost all required the accused to pay money and were
rarely used to obtain information on other criminal activity.
However, the prosecutor general's office reported that the majority
of plea bargaining cases support ongoing investigations into drug
trafficking. Reportedly, some plea bargaining agreements still tacitly
included an understanding that the accused would not pursue complaints
of abuse or mistreatment against law enforcement authorities or would
support law enforcement's version of events to avoid negative
publicity.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--The parliamentary human rights
committee and public defender claimed that there were no political
prisoners in the country; however, many individuals, including several
high-ranking officials from the previous government, considered
themselves to be political prisoners (see section 1.d.). Local human
rights organizations varied on estimates of how many political
prisoners there were, reporting from none to 20.
The Government permitted international human rights and domestic
organizations to visit those claiming to be political prisoners, and
some organizations did so during the year.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, however,
there were concerns about professionalism of judges and transparency in
adjudication. The constitution and law provide that a person who
suffers damages resulting from arbitrary detention or other unlawful or
arbitrary act is entitled to bring a civil action.
NGOs and the public defender criticized the Government's November
seizure and destruction of 100 tons of alleged counterfeit wine from a
winery in Akhmeta without prior legal procedures or notice. The
President later condemned the Government's actions. The wine producer
said it plans to sue the Government for damages but had not done so by
the end of the year. In December the public defender's office expressed
concern over alleged violations of individual property rights in the
Government's appropriation of property in Tbilisi, Gori and Sighnaghi.
In December senior government officials announced that probes had been
launched into these cases.
In Abkhazia the de facto Parliament in May adopted a decree banning
de facto courts from considering any property claims filed by ethnic
Georgians who left Abkhazia before, during, or after the 1992-93 war,
thereby effectively stripping internally displaced persons (IDPs) of
their property in Abkhazia. According to the decree, any previous
judgments or pending procedures related to ethnic Georgians' property
were nullified. De facto courts in Abkhazia reportedly did not make
efforts to establish facts or administer justice but acted simply at
the direction of prosecutors and law enforcement. Criminals paid bribes
to police, prosecutors, and judges to avoid prosecution.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions without court approval
or legal necessity and also prohibits police from searching a residence
or conducting undercover or monitoring operations without a warrant.
NGOs continued to report that in practice police conducted searches and
occasionally monitored private telephone conversations without first
obtaining court orders; police often obtained the necessary warrant
after the fact. NGOs reported that most people were unaware of their
right to postpone a search of their home by one hour in order to summon
two objective third-party witnesses for the search. The Government
stated that security police and tax authorities entered homes and
workplaces without prior legal sanction.
During a November press conference, the penitentiary chief made
public a recording of a telephone call between the public defender and
a representative of the public defender's office. The Government did
not respond to the public defender's request to see the warrant
authorizing the recording.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
Separatist conflicts in the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
remained unresolved, although ceasefires were in effect. Commonwealth
of Independent States peacekeeping forces (in effect Russian
peacekeepers) were present in Abkhazia. Russian, Ossetian, and Georgian
forces participated in a joint peacekeeping force in South Ossetia.
Incidents of violence occurred in both Abkhazia, particularly in the
predominantly ethnic Georgian Gali region, and in South Ossetia. Two
Russian peacekeepers were killed in Abkhazia after unknown gunmen
attacked a bus carrying the payroll for Russian peacekeepers stationed
in the conflict zone.
The Government gained effective control over the upper Kodori
valley in Abkhazia following a police operation in July to remove the
criminal warlord Emzar Kvitsiani. The rest of the Abkhazia region
remained under the control of separatist authorities. The Government
continued to have no effective control over South Ossetia.
There was limited information on the human rights situation in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia due to limited access to these regions.
Abkhaz de facto authorities continued to resist the establishment of a
UN human rights office and the establishment of a UN civilian police
presence in Gali. The de facto South Ossetian government has a
plenipotentiary on human rights.
The situation in the Gali region of Abkhazia, where many ethnic
Georgians live, remained tense as a result of kidnapping, arbitrary
arrest, and deaths in custody. Systemic problems in the criminal
justice system, in particular the failure to conduct impartial
investigations and to bring alleged perpetrators to trial, sustained a
climate of impunity. While the incidence of serious crime in Gali
reportedly decreased during the first part of the year, the incidence
of abuse by law enforcement increased, and included arbitrary arrests
and detention as well as routine mistreatment of detainees. Law
enforcement authorities rarely wore uniforms or carried badges or
credentials, allowing them to act with impunity. The deputy chief of
the Gali district police force, Otar Turnamba, reportedly extorted
payments from farmers trying to bring their crops to market during the
fall hazelnut harvest.
An Abkhaz law on citizenship, which excludes the possibility of
dual Abkhaz-Georgian citizenship, limited the rights of the ethnic
Georgian population in Abkhazia to participate in the electoral
process.
In South Ossetia, kidnapping was used reciprocally both as a way to
secure release for captured compatriots and for ransom.
In Abkhazia teenage boys were frequently taken from their homes
allegedly for forced conscription in the Abhaz military. Some parents
claimed that their sons were younger than 18 and thus too young for
military service.
Approximately 247,000 persons, 234,000 from Abkhazia and 13,000
from South Ossetia, remained displaced as a result of the conflicts in
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During the year the Government, in
conjunction with international organizations and NGOs, developed its
first national strategy on IDPs. The strategy seeks to integrate IDPs
into Georgian society while creating the necessary conditions for their
eventual return to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Approximately 110,000 IDPs occupied collective centers in hotels,
hospitals, and other civil buildings throughout the country,
particularly concentrated in Tbilisi, Zugdidi, Kutaisi, Kobuleti, and
Gori. The remaining 135,000 lived in private homes with relatives or
friends. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reported that collective centers were not well adapted to serve as
homes, and a foreign government continued its housing voucher program
for vulnerable IDPs living in collective centers in Kutaisi.
In June police forced dozens of IDPs to vacate the Meskheli Hotel
in Batumi. The hotel was purchased by an investor who had pledged to
pay $7,000 (11,995 lari) to each IDP family living in the hotel. While
most IDPs accepted the offer, others protested by demanding more, or by
claiming that the list of recipients was incorrect, thereby depriving
some IDP families of any compensation. Several dozen of the evicted
IDPs reportedly returned to Abkhazia.
The Abkhaz separatist regime continued to prevent repatriation of
the approximately 234,000 IDPs previously driven from the region,
despite its 1994 agreement with Georgia, Russia, and the UNHCR that
provided for the safe, secure, and voluntary return of IDPs who left
during the war. Approximately 45,000 IDPs, mostly seasonal workers,
returned to the Gali region of Abkhazia. The Abkhaz de facto
authorities continued to prevent the opening of a UN human rights
office in Gali, which would help build confidence for IDP return,
despite an agreement to do so.
The de facto South Ossetian authorities continued to obstruct
repatriation of approximately 13,000 ethnic Georgians to the region.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press. However, there were accusations
by NGOs, independent analysts, and journalists that high-ranking
government officials exercised some influence over editorial and
programming decisions through their personal connections with news
directors and media executives. There were scattered reported incidents
of actual or incited physical abuse of journalists by government
officials. NGOs, media analysts and individual journalists cited the
following problems: limited access to public information,
nontransparent tenders offered to media outlets, ignoring or boycotting
selective media organizations by government officials, unequal
treatment of media outlets, absence of contracts or very short term
contracts with journalists, indirect and covert pressure on
journalists, and lack of financial resources. Most journalists viewed
the Law on Freedom of Speech and Expression as very liberal but not
always enforced. The Law on Broadcasters provided for the National
Commission on Communications to adopt a Code of Ethics for Broadcasters
by year's end. The draft code triggered sharp criticism from most
journalists and was decried as an attempt by the Government to control
broadcast media. The National Commission on Communications postponed
adoption of the code to allow for public comment.
There were approximately 200 independent newspapers. During the
year the print media frequently criticized senior government officials;
however, few editorially independent newspapers were commercially
viable. In addition lack of financial resources limited their
circulation. Typically newspapers were subsidized by and subject to the
influence of patrons in politics and business. In August 2005 the
Government announced an anticorruption action plan calling for an end
to all direct and covert subsidies to the media; on December 31, the
exemption for print media from property and profit taxes expired. The
media remained largely dependent on subsidies.
International media were allowed to operate freely.
There were eight independent or privately owned television stations
in Tbilisi and one public station, Channel 1. Three of the Tbilisi--
based stations, Channel 1, Rustavi-2, and Imedi claimed nationwide
coverage. A fourth Tbilisi channel, Mze, had more limited coverage. A
fifth channel, Batumi-based Ajara Television, broadcasted nationwide.
An international NGO estimated that there were more than 45 regional
television stations outside of Tbilisi, 17 of which offered locally
oriented daily news.
Throughout the year newspapers could and did criticize the
Government. At the beginning of the year, broadcast media tended to be
less critical of the Government. This changed during the highly
controversial Girgvliani case, which received significant coverage,
although it took approximately four weeks for independent television
station Imedi to report the story (see section 1.a.).
Imedi was criticized by senior government officials for being an
``opposition station.'' The Government also alleged that the media was
irresponsible in their reporting, particularly during the Girgvliani
case (see section 1.a.) and the June Tbilisi State University
professors' protests.
On July 6, the host of the popular weekly political show Free
Topic, Eka Khoperia, resigned from the Rustavi-2 television station
during a live broadcast, stating that she was being pressured to air
the comments of an official of the interior affairs ministry associated
with the Girgvliani case. Although she resigned, she later refused to
identify the specific officials who had sought to pressure her.
Rustavi-2 had been known as one of the most professional and
independent television stations in the country but, since its 2005
sale, had become much less critical than its main competitor, Imedi,
which had more politically oriented programming.
On August 26, the staff of Rustavi-2 cancelled its afternoon news
program when staff boycotted in protest of owner Kibar Kalvashi's
decision to remove General Director Nick Tabatadze from his position.
The media reported that Tabatadze was dismissed at the request of the
then head of the President's administration, whose close friend
replaced Tabatadze. In response to Tabatadze's firing, many Rustavi-2
journalists went on strike, and on September 8, six resigned, asserting
their commitment to independent reporting. In November Rustavi-2's
owner sold the station, reportedly under pressure.
Economic and political pressure on the media, in part encouraged by
the general low profitability of media outlets, particularly of print
media, resulted in decreased diversity of opinions.
Despite comprehensive laws providing for media freedom and
journalist protection, journalists did not avail themselves of these
protections and often were uninformed about them. NGOs believed that
lack of experience and professionalism explained the media's apparent
aversion to asserting their legal rights.
On March 29, Tbilisi City Court sentenced Shalva Ramishvili (see
section 1.d.), co-owner and former general director of television
station 202, and David Kokhreidze, former co-owner of the station, to
four and three years' imprisonment, respectively, for extortion. In
August 2005 hidden cameras captured Ramishvili accepting $30,000
(51,405 lari) from Koba Bekauri, a member of Parliament and member of
the National Movement party, in exchange for not reporting on his
suspicious stake in a customs operation. Ramishvili and Kokhreidze
claimed the incident was a sting operation and part of a report on
Bekauri's business dealings. The NGO Reporters Without Borders
criticized the ruling.
The prosecutor general's office reported that since television
station 202 anchor Irakli Kakabadze did not cooperate in their
investigation of his September 2005 beating, the investigation did not
progress. According to the NGO Committee to Protect Journalists, some
journalists alleged that Kakabadze's beating and the case against
television station 202 co-owner Ramishvili constituted retribution for
the station's critical coverage.
In December 2005 the governor of the western region of Imereti,
Akaki Bobokhidze, had a physical confrontation with reporter Irakli
Imnaishvili after the two exchanged words on a televised debate program
for local channel Rioni. Bobokhidze badly beat Imnaishvili and broke
his nose. Bobokhidze resigned the next day. In February Bobokhidze was
appointed chairman of the National Guard; in October the President
reappointed him governor of Imereti. In 2005 the prosecutor general's
office initiated criminal charges against Bobokhidze; but during the
year, these charges were reduced to misdemeanor assault. Imnaishvili
did not appeal the reclassification of charges against Bobokhidze. At
year's end the case against Bobokhidze was still pending.
On June 21, a special committee in Parliament stripped ruling
National Movement Party Member of Parliament Badri Nanetashvili of his
parliamentary credentials. The action stemmed from accusations by
journalists at the Trialeti television station, which he co-owned, that
Nanetashvili was directly managing the local station and interfering in
its editorial policy. The law allows Parliamentarians to own media
concerns but forbids them from managing editorial policy. Nanetashvili
appealed the decision to remove him from Parliament to the
Constitutional Court; the case was pending at year's end. Trialeti TV
was known as an antigovernment media outlet but after the Rose
Revolution became progovernment. At year's end Nanetashvili and
Trialeti were also being investigated for alleged tax fraud.
On July 22, Chief of Patrol Police Zviad Tsagareishvili physically
assaulted cameraman Lasha Shengelia of Public Broadcasting Company
Channel 1 as he was working on a story about a person found dead in
Tbilisi's Varaziskhevi Street. The deceased was a brother-in-law of
Tsagareishvili. Tsagareishvili resigned as chief of patrol police
shortly after the incident. No charges were pressed against
Tsagareishvili.
On June 15, NGOs of the Sighnaghi district organized a protest
rally against majority Member of Parliament Nugzar Abulashvili in the
village Vakiri. The protesters accused Abulashvili of systematic
pressure on the activities of the local self-government bodies. The
protesters, accompanied by a large group of national and regional
media, were attacked by Abulashvili supporters who broke the video
camera of the Gurjaani Television journalist, took away the tapes, and
physically assaulted Zviad Ruadze from the independent newspaper
Spektr. Local police officers witnessed the attacks but took no action.
Local police later arrested three alleged attackers; the former
chairman of the Vakiri city council was among them. Authorities held
the three men for an unconfirmed period and then released them on bail
pending trial.
In October the director of independent radio station Hereti, Ramaz
Samkharadze, was beaten by an unidentified assailant in the street. In
December Hereti's income-generating computer cafe was broken into and
robbed of computers. Samkharadze attributed both events to local
members of the National Movement party due to the fact he had received
unidentified telephone threats as a result of Hereti reports critical
of the local authorities. As of year's end, local authorities had not
investigated the assault on Samkharadze.
Self-censorship was still claimed to be common among journalists,
and some observers believed that it was increasing.
The ministry of defense continued to ban journalists it considered
undesirable from public briefings. The ban continued after the
appointment of a new minister of defense in November. The affected
journalists claimed that the ministry's press officer did not return
their telephone calls. Journalists complained that it was also
difficult to obtain information from the ministry of internal affairs.
Media in the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
remained tightly restricted by their de facto governments. In March
authorities in Abkhazia detained three filmmakers for three weeks for
allegedly having entered the region illegally. An Abkhaz de facto court
refused to allow a Georgian lawyer to represent the filmmakers. Abkhaz
de facto authorities also refused to allow UN representatives to meet
with the detainees.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly;
however, the police on occasion allegedly used force to disperse
peaceful protests.
The law requires political parties and other organizations to give
prior notice and obtain permission from local authorities to assemble
on a public thoroughfare. Permits for assemblies were routinely
granted.
In June protestors outside the appellate court building in Tbilisi
were arrested and sentenced to 30 days detention for disturbing
proceedings in the court house as a result of their actions. NGOs
criticized the arrest and sentencing, stating that the appellate court
judge's contempt powers did not extend to actions outside the court
building. NGOs also stated that the absence of the right to appeal the
judge's finding violated the constitution.
The public defender criticized the dispersal by the police of an
October 20 demonstration by the NGOs Equality Institute and the
Coalition for a Democratic Georgia in front of the chancellery.
The NGOs had obtained permission from Tbilisi municipal authorities
to conduct the rally. The police said they had received complaints
about excessive noise from nearby residents.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. Authorities granted permits for registration of
associations without arbitrary restriction or discrimination.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The constitution recognizes the special role of the Orthodox Church
in the country's history but stipulates the separation of church and
state. A constitutional agreement (concordat) signed by the President
and the Orthodox patriarch gives the church legal status. The concordat
contained several controversial provisions that give the patriarch
legal immunity, grant the church the exclusive right to staff the
military chaplaincy, exempt church clergymen from military service, and
give the church a unique consultative role in government, particularly
in the area of education. However, the Parliament has not adopted
legislation needed for many of these provisions to enter into force.
For example, while the concordat grants the Orthodox Church the right
to establish a military chaplaincy, there are no chaplains in military
units due to the lack of implementing legislation. The tax code grants
tax exemptions only for the Orthodox Church.
Religious groups may register as local associations or foundations.
An association is based on membership (a minimum of five members is
required), while a foundation involves one or more founders
establishing a fund for furtherance of a certain cause for the benefit
of the group or the general public. In both cases registration is a
function of the Ministry of Justice, which must grant or deny
registration within 15 days of application; a refusal may be appealed
in court.
In July 2005 the Justice Ministry approved the first applications
filed under the new registration process. Both the Seventh Day
Adventists and the Foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
day Saints received their approvals in less time than the period
allowed by law. During the year the Government registered an additional
12 organizations. The Justice Ministry suspended a notary public for
one year after she refused to notarize documents of a Pentecostal
church, which the church needed for registration. The congregation was
still seeking registration at year's end. Justice ministry officials
were responsive in providing advice to religious organizations on
preparing registration applications and supporting documentation.
Some religious communities expressed dissatisfaction with the
status that registration provided. The Roman Catholic Church and the
Armenian Apostolic Church opposed registering as civil organizations.
Other churches, such as the Baptists, expressed concern that transfers
of property to their churches would now be taxable.
During the year attacks on religious minorities, including
violence, verbal harassment, and disruption of services and meetings,
continued to decrease. Although police rarely facilitated harassment of
religious minority groups, they sometimes failed to protect them. While
the prosecutor general's office increasingly initiated investigations
of religious-based violence, past complaints remained unresolved.
A 2005 law separating state schools and religious teaching narrowed
the interpretation of the Government concordat with the Orthodox Church
regarding teaching Orthodoxy as an elective part of the school
curriculum. The law stated that such Orthodox teaching may only take
place after school hours and cannot be controlled by the school or
teachers. Also, outsiders, including clergy, cannot regularly attend or
direct student extracurricular activities, student clubs, or their
meetings. Such classes were taught by lay theologians rather than
priests. Religious minorities broadly welcomed the changes to school
religious education, although they observed along with NGOs that
practice did not always keep pace with the law.
Public schools offered students the opportunity to take as an
elective a course on Religion in Society which covered the history of
major religions. Parents complained teachers focused solely on the
Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church has a consultative role in all
curriculum development, although there was no textbook for this course.
A joint working group of the ministry of education and the Orthodox
Church reviewed options for the elective course on religion in society
and other matters related to religion in the curriculum. The ministry
also financially assisted the church in its education projects and
institutions. No other religious groups were afforded these privileges.
``Nontraditional'' religious groups reported that they have been
able to import literature without seizure or delay. The Armenian
Apostolic Church stated, however, that imports of religious items such
as candles were sometimes delayed because of ambiguities surrounding
the church's legal status in the country.
While members of Jehovah's Witnesses no longer felt the need to
hold their services in private homes for security reasons, delays in
obtaining permits to build and occupy Kingdom Halls required
congregations to continue meeting in private homes.
In an effort to implement a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, the Jewish
community reached an agreement with a theater group whereby the theater
group vacated a hall in a Tbilisi building seized from the Jewish
community during Soviet rule. While the Jewish community was able to
use the hall, the situation was still not fully resolved, as the
community could not use the hall as a synagogue.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church were
unable to secure the return of churches closed or given to the Georgian
Orthodox Church during the Soviet period.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Judaism is practiced in a
number of communities throughout the country, particularly in the
largest cities, Tbilisi and Kutaisi. There were approximately 14,000
Jews in the country. The Jewish communities reported they encountered
few societal problems. There was no historical pattern of anti-Semitism
in the country. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
Despite a general tolerance toward minority religious groups
``traditional'' to the country, including Catholics, Armenian Apostolic
Christians, Jews, and Muslims, citizens remained very apprehensive
towards ``nontraditional'' religions, which were seen as taking
advantage of the populace's economic hardships by gaining membership
through economic assistance to converts. Some members of the Orthodox
Church and the public viewed non-Orthodox religious groups,
particularly ``nontraditional'' groups or sects, as a threat to the
national church and the country's cultural values and asserted that
foreign Christian missionaries should confine their activities to non-
Christian areas.
Following a series of physical and verbal threats in April and May
2005 against a group of Pentecostals attempting to hold services in a
private home in Tbilisi, the public defender helped the congregation
obtain a plot of land on which to construct a building for services.
While plans for the building were being drawn up, the congregation
conducted services in undisclosed private homes or in outdoor areas.
Police routinely provided protection in the latter case. No charges
were filed in connection with the April and May 2005 incidents.
In April, at the request of the Jehovah's Witnesses, authorities
dropped criminal charges against two persons in connection with a
series of attacks by local residents on members of Jehovah's Witnesses
in Kutaisi that began in June 2005. The two individuals who were
detained publicly apologized to the Jehovah's Witnesses. The group in
Kutaisi has operated freely since that time.
In November 2005 members of Jehovah's Witnesses rented a hall in
Rustavi to conduct meetings. Paata Bluashvili, the leader of the
Orthodox group Jvari, and members of the group threatened the hall's
owner, who then cancelled the contract with the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Pending investigation of the incident, Bluashvili was held in pretrial
detention. Upon Bluashvili's appeal of the three-month detention, a
court of appeals overturned the detention and released him, pending
trial. In April a Rustavi court reinstated the three-month sentence.
Bluashvili failed to appear at the April hearing and at year's end was
wanted by the authorities.
De facto authorities in the separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia
regions remained outside the control of the central government, and
reliable information from those regions was difficult to obtain. A 1995
decree issued by the de facto leader of Abkhazia banning Jehovah's
Witnesses in the region remained in effect but was not enforced. During
the year members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported no problems in
Abkhazia, where membership is approximately 1,500. Although Baptists,
Lutherans, and Roman Catholics also reported they were allowed to
operate in the region, the Orthodox Church reported that it was unable
to do so.
In South Ossetia, Orthodox believers were not able to conduct
services in Georgian Orthodox churches located near the villages of
Nuli, Eredvi, Monasteri, and Gera because these areas were under the
control of Ossetian authorities.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
Freedom of movement was restricted by the de facto authorities in
the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Police
checkpoints often obstructed citizens' internal movement in these
regions. In December Abkhaz de facto authorities closed the checkpoints
along the cease--fire line to all civilian traffic. This restriction on
the free movement of Gali residents was also a violation of the 1994
Quadripartite Agreement.
An Abkhaz citizenship law allowed dual Russian-Abkhaz citizenship
but not dual Georgian-Abkhaz citizenship. As a result, ethnic Georgians
had to relinquish their Georgian passports and obtain Russian passports
to travel abroad.
Abkhaz militia conducted searches of local populations and erected
arbitrary checkpoints. Money and valuables were extorted from ethnic
Georgians on the pretext that they violated identity document
requirements.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
No families returned to the country under a 1999 Presidential
decree issued to repatriate and rehabilitate approximately 275,000
Meskhetian Turks relocated during the Soviet period.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--There were approximately
247,000 IDPs at year's end due to conflicts in the separatist regions
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (see section 1.g.).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum and refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
There were approximately 1,600 registered refugees from Chechnya in
the country. Chechen refugees settled in the Pankisi valley in the
eastern part of the country. International humanitarian organizations'
assistance to refugees in the Pankisi valley was sporadic. Chechen
refugees remained vulnerable to abuse, including police harassment and
threats of forcible return to Russia. In November 90 refugees, mostly
ethnic Kists (ethnic Chechens from Georgia), voluntarily returned to
Russia via Azerbaijan. During the year there were no instances of
refoulement.
The majority of the Chechen refugees lived with the local Kist
population; only 15 percent were sheltered in communal centers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right through periodic
elections, held on the basis of universal suffrage. In January 2004
Mikheil Saakashvili was elected President, and Parliamentary elections
were held in March 2004.
In December Parliament partially modified the 2004 constitutional
amendments that had strengthened the power of the executive at the
expense of the Parliament and the judiciary (see section 1.e.).
An Abkhaz citizenship law did not allow dual Georgian-Abkhaz
citizenship. As a result ethnic Georgians in the separatist region had
to relinquish their Georgian passports in order to vote or participate
in the political process.
Elections and Political Participation.--The OSCE reported that the
2004 Presidential election demonstrated notable progress, although time
constraints limited administrative improvements since previous
elections. The OSCE noted a continued lack of separation between state
administration and political party structures and the tendency to
misuse state administration resources. The voter register also
continued to be incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. While the OSCE
reported the voting process itself was excellent in the majority of
regions, there were significant irregularities in Kvemo Kartli, and the
worst irregularities were recorded in Ajara, where no preelection
registration was conducted and little or no campaigning occurred.
International observers deemed the 2004 parliamentary elections the
most democratic since independence, with voter registration procedures
further improved, including the addition of a consolidated computerized
database; however, there continued to be a lack of political balance
and independence in election commissions. During the election
international observers noticed a number of irregularities, including
implausible voter turnout in certain regions, an unusually high
percentage of invalid votes, and campaign material on display in
several polling stations. Significant voting irregularities again took
place in Kvemo Kartli.
On October 5, the Government held the first local elections
following major decentralization reforms. The Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe/Office of Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (OSCE/ODHIR) and the Council of Europe concluded that the
October 5 local elections generally respected fundamental freedoms.
Respected local NGOs International Society for Free Elections and
Democracy, new Generation new Initiative, and Georgian Young Lawyers'
Association stated that the results accurately reflected the will of
the electorate. These organizations noted, however, that the ruling
National Movement party, which prevailed by a wide margin nationwide,
manipulated its incumbency status, for example, by the use of identical
slogans, designs and images in public service announcements promoting
new government services, and in National Movement campaign materials.
OSCE/ODHIR noted that this improperly blurred the distinction between
the National Movement party and the Government. Although in 2005 the
Government reformed the Central Election Commission (CEC), the OSCE,
NGOs, and opposition parties criticized the composition of the CEC,
which was dominated by members of the ruling party. Other concerns
noted by the OSCE/ODIHR included the need for further improvement of
election legislation, the voter register, and the vote counting and
election grievance processes. The OSCE/ODIHR also noted several
positive developments including the Government's provision for an
orderly electoral process and improvements in the election code.
International organizations, including the UN and the OSCE, as well
as the Government, did not recognize the November de facto Presidential
election in South Ossetia, or the 2004 and 2005 de facto Presidential
elections in Abkhazia.
There were no government restrictions on political party formation
beyond registration requirements; according to the Justice Ministry
registration and licensing department, there were 178 registered
political parties.
There were no developments in the investigation into the July 2005
violent attack on then opposition Member of Parliament Valeri
Gelashvili in Tbilisi. Gelashvili was not interviewed by investigators.
Armed and masked men attacked Gelashvili's car as he, his bodyguard,
and a business associate were traveling on a main street during a
weekday afternoon. Gelashvili was severely beaten in the face and head
with gunstocks; the other two people in car were struck but did not
require hospitalization. Opposition leaders and the media asserted that
the attack was politically motivated, since Gelashvili had been
involved in a long--running dispute with the Government over payment
for work by his construction company on a new Presidential residence.
There was no indication that robbery may have been a motive.
There were 23 women in the 235-seat Parliament. The speaker of
Parliament, Nino Burjanadze, was a woman. The majority head of
Parliament was also a woman, and women held important committee chairs.
There were eight members of minority groups (five Armenians and
three Azeris) in the Parliament. As a result of local government
reforms brought into force by local elections, the number of seats held
by ethnic minorities in municipal councils is now commensurate with
their percentage of the population in each region of the country.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption
persisted, although it decreased as a result of high profile reforms
led by the President.
The country's score of 2.8 during the year on Transparency
International's 0-10 index of public perceptions of corruption was a
significant improvement over its score of 2.3 in 2005 but still
indicated a perception that corruption remained a serious problem. An
April public opinion poll indicated that 54 percent of those surveyed
believed that there had been a reduction of corruption in ordinary
people's lives after the Rose Revolution. The poll, which was conducted
by the International Republican Institute (IRI), showed that only 2
percent of those surveyed stated that in the previous 12 months they
had to pay a bribe in order to get a service or decision from a
government office. In 2005 the World Bank's Control of Corruption
Indicator reported that 39 percent of businesses in the country
reported that corruption hurt the growth of business, a drop from 60
percent in 2002. During the year the Global Integrity Index rated the
country as ``strong'' in the anticorruption and rule of law category.
During the year members of the Government and the ruling party were
investigated for corruption. In October the Parliament stripped the
immunity of two ruling party parliamentarians implicated in a
corruption scandal. One was arrested and was under investigation at
year's end. The director general of the state-owned Georgian Oil and
Gas Company and a member of his staff were also arrested on charges of
corruption. They were being held in pretrial detention while their case
was under investigation at year's end. In June 2005 the head of the
Tbilisi city tax department and seven other officials were arrested on
corruption charges. Minister of Finance Valeri Chechelashvili
subsequently resigned amid criticism from the President for weak
oversight and control. In a six-month period in 2005, more than 60
police officers were charged with corruption, in addition to three
mayors and six prosecutors.
In 2005 the Government adopted an anticorruption strategy aimed at
the formation of an effective state management system and activation of
legal and public feedback mechanisms in order to prevent corruption.
Reviewing the 2002-05 period, the World Bank's ``Anticorruption in
Transition 3'' report noted that strong leadership in the country was
the driving force behind ``swift and thorough reforms'' that
significantly reduced corruption after 2002. The report noted that the
leadership had taken bold actions to lessen the burden of the state on
the economy, improve fiscal transparency, and strengthen oversight of
institutions, all of which had contributed to the decline in
corruption. During the year government officials continued to receive
salaries in a timely manner, and salaries in the executive and
legislative branches increased, reducing incentives for corruption.
In November the Council of Europe and NGO representatives stated
that significant steps had been taken to fulfill an August 2005
anticorruption action plan for the privatization of state-owned
property and the simplification of enterprise registration.
The law provides for public access to government meetings and
documents; however, the Government sometimes did not provide access.
Although the law states that a public agency shall release public
information immediately or no later than 10 days from request, the
release of requested information could be delayed indefinitely, and
requests were sometimes ignored in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigations of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. In some cases
government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
NGOs such as the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association (GYLA) helped
draft the new law against trafficking and implement the Government's
action plan. The NGO liaison office in Parliament worked with NGOs to
develop new legislation. However, while some NGOs enjoyed close
cooperation with the Government, others complained of discrimination
from government members.
In January high-ranking government officials publicly criticized
leading human rights and rule of law NGO GYLA. The officials also
questioned GYLA's status as an independent NGO by charging that it was
operating under the influence of an opposition political party, noting
that a prior chair of GYLA had become an opposition party leader. In
response, a large coalition of NGOs issued a statement that ``the
current campaign against GYLA confirms that the Government is unable to
reconcile themselves with the criticism of unbiased NGOs.'' Public
criticism by government officials of GYLA or other NGOs did not
continue.
The Government maintained a constructive relationship with many
NGOs, underlined by the Parliament's decision to establish an NGO-
Parliament cooperation office and the allocation of two seats in the
Permanent Interagency Antitrafficking Council to NGOs.
The UNHCR and the OSCE operated only sporadically in the separatist
conflict areas due to poor security conditions but provided periodic
findings, reports, and recommendations.
NGOs viewed the office of the public defender as the most objective
of the Government's human rights bodies. The constitutionally mandated
office monitored human rights conditions and investigated allegations
of abuses. The office of the public defender generally operated without
government interference and was considered effective. However, the
public defender reported that representatives from his office and some
of their family members were subject to harassment from law enforcement
authorities during the year.
The public defender stated that while his office continued to
receive government funding, earmarked increases from the state budget
were not provided to the office. The public defender's authority does
not include the power to institute prosecutions or other legal actions.
The public defender objected to Ministry of Justice regulations which
prohibited the use of cameras and recorders in the penitentiary system
as an obstacle to substantiating claims of abuse in the system.
As required by law, the public defender issued biannual reports to
Parliament. Some members of Parliament were critical of the public
defender's findings and recommendations calling for equal recognition
under the law of all religions. For example, the members stated that
the historical position of the Orthodox Church justified its privileged
position.
The Parliament's Committee on Human Rights and Civil Integration,
the interior ministry's human rights division, and the national
security council's human rights advisor also had mandates to
investigate abuse claims. By law the prosecutor general is charged with
protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms; the human rights
protection unit of the prosecutor general's office is the reporting and
monitoring arm of the legal department and has no independent
investigative powers. The prosecutor general office's human rights unit
focused on curbing abuses by law enforcement officials. In June the
prosecutor general issued a code of ethics for prosecutors which
stated, among other things, that it was impermissible for prosecutors
to use their official position to place illegal pressure on any person
and that prosecutors must avoid activities that cast doubt on their
independence.
The UNHCR office in Sukhumi continued to monitor respect for human
rights in Abkhazia and to visit detention facilities in the region.
Despite increasing concerns about the deteriorating situation in the
Gali region, de facto Abkhaz authorities continued to resist opening a
human rights branch office in that area. In addition the de facto
authorities continued not to implement the UN Observer Mission in
Georgia's recommendations, endorsed by the UN Security Council, to
permit education of local youth in their native Georgian language and
to permit deployment of a UN civilian police contingent in Abkhazia.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion,
disability, language, or social status; however, the Government did not
always enforce these provisions effectively.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem.
The Government acknowledged that domestic violence was a widespread
problem. Women victimized by domestic violence, however, rarely
reported it because of social taboos and because previously it was not
illegal. The police rarely arrested or punished perpetrators of
domestic violence. From August 2005 to January, the police responded to
466 reports of domestic violence. Neither the prosecutor general's
office nor the courts maintained separate statistics on domestic
violence cases, so it was not possible to track outcomes of these
reports. A local NGO operated a hotline and a shelter for abused women,
although services at the shelter were limited due to a lack of funding
and facilities.
Rape is illegal. Criminal cases on rape generally can only be
initiated following a complaint by the victim. Spousal rape is not
specifically addressed by criminal law. A first time offender may be
imprisoned for up to seven years; a repeat offender or perpetrator
against multiple victims may receive up to 10 years; factors such as if
the victim was pregnant, contracted HIV/AIDS, or was subjected to
extreme violence, demand up to 15 years; and if the victim was a minor,
up to 20 years. During the year the ministry of internal affairs
reported 167 cases of rape and attempted rape and initiated criminal
prosecutions in 106 of these cases. Observers believed many instances
of rape went unreported due to the social stigma for victims. Police
did not always investigate reports of rape.
The first law on domestic violence came into effect on June 9. The
law defines domestic violence as a violation of the constitutional
rights and liberties of one member of a family by another by means of
physical, psychological, economic, or sexual violence or coercion;
however, domestic violence is not specifically criminalized.
Perpetrators of domestic violence are prosecuted under existing
criminal provisions against, for example, battery or rape.
The law allows victims to file immediate protective orders against
their abusers and police to issue a temporary restrictive order against
persons suspected of abusing a family member. The temporary order is
then approved by a court within 24 hours and becomes a protective order
that prohibits the abuser from coming within 100 meters of the victim
and using common property, such as a residence or vehicle, for six
months. The victim may ask authorities to extend the protective order
indefinitely. While the law called for the ministry of internal affairs
to develop by mid-July a form for police to issue as restrictive
orders, the ministry did not do so. The law also requires the
Government to draft an action plan which it had not done by year's end.
The kidnapping of women for marriage occurred, particularly in
rural areas. Such kidnappings often were arranged elopements; however,
at times kidnappings occurred against the will of the intended bride
and involved rape. Police rarely took action in these cases, even
though the law criminalizes kidnapping. A local NGO in the Samtskhe-
Javakheti region established a hotline and shelter to assist victims of
attempted kidnappings who were often rejected by their families after
escaping from the kidnapper.
Prostitution is against the law but was widespread, particularly in
Tbilisi. Several NGOs claimed that prostitution remained common due to
continuing poor economic conditions.
Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment and violence against women in the workplace was a
problem. The law prohibits sexual harassment; however, the Government
did not effectively enforce the law, and complaints were rarely
investigated.
The law provides for the equality of men and women; however, in
practice this was not enforced. NGOs reported that discrimination
against women in the workplace existed but instances were never
reported. The speaker of Parliament chaired a Gender Equity Advisory
Council, which included members of Parliament, as well as
representatives from the executive branch, the public defender's
office, and NGOs. The State Commission on Gender Equity was chaired by
the deputy state minister on Euro-Atlantic integration and prepares
recommendations on the implementation of international agreements and
conventions on gender equity. Within the public defender's office there
is a special group dedicated to women's and children's issues.
Women's access to the labor market improved; however, women
remained primarily confined to low-paying and low-skilled positions,
regardless of professional and academic qualifications, and salaries
for women lagged behind those for men. As a result, many women sought
employment abroad. According to the UN Development Program, employers
frequently withheld benefits connected to pregnancy and childbirth.
No further information was available on a lawsuit filed in April
2005 by servicewomen who claimed they were discharged from the armed
forces while on maternity leave, despite a law that prohibits dismissal
from employment of pregnant women and women with children under the age
of three.
Children.--The law provides for the protection of children's rights
and welfare, but the Government provided limited services. Children are
protected under the antidomestic violence law, which became effective
in June.
Primary and basic education is compulsory from age six or seven to
age 14, and provided up to age 16 (a total of 11 years). The UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimated primary school enrollment at 91
percent in 2003 and secondary school enrollment at 79 percent in 2002,
and most children attended school. Education was officially free
through high school, but in practice a lack of resources inhibited
schools' functioning and affected the quality of education in some
areas.
During the year the Government rehabilitated 300 schools but in
some areas, school facilities were inadequate and lacked heating,
libraries, and blackboards. Most parents were obliged to pay some form
of ``tuition'' to support the schools. Many parents were unable to
afford books and school supplies, and in some cases students were
forced to drop out due to an inability or unwillingness to pay
``tuition.''
In June elections were held for membership on parent-teacher
supervisory boards at secondary schools to provide better oversight of
school management. There was widespread participation including outside
Tbilisi.
Free health care was available for children up to age four.
There were some reports of child abuse, particularly of street
children, although there was no societal pattern of such abuse.
Incidents of sexual exploitation of children, particularly girls,
were reported. Child prostitution and pornography are punishable by up
to three years' imprisonment. The Ministry of Internal Affairs
sponsored a center for the rehabilitation of minors, which regularly
provided medical and psychological assistance to child and adolescent
victims of prostitution before returning them to guardians.
There were unconfirmed reports of trafficking in children (see
section 5, Trafficking). Street children and children living in
orphanages were reportedly particularly vulnerable to trafficking.
Difficult economic conditions broke up some families and
contributed to the number of street children. NGOs estimated that there
were approximately 1,500 street children between the ages of three and
15, with 1,200 concentrated in Tbilisi, due to the inability of
orphanages and the Government to provide support. The private voluntary
organization Child and Environment and the Ministry of Education each
operated a shelter in Tbilisi; however, the two shelters could
accommodate only a small number of street children. The Government took
little other action to assist street children. There were unconfirmed
reports of police violence against street children, but the patrol
police routinely transferred street children to a 24-hour care center
or orphanage. The center, however, lacked resources for treatment and
rehabilitation of the children, many of whom were substance abusers or
suffered from mental disorders.
Orphanages were unable to provide adequate food, clothing,
education, and medical care; facilities lacked heat, water, and
electricity. Staff wages, which had been poor and often many months in
arrears, were paid on a regular basis. Due to reported mismanagement of
resources, staff members often diverted money and supplies provided to
the orphanages for personal use.
During the year the Government closed an orphanage in Tbilisi
where, according to a 2005 public defender's office report, children
lacked clothes, food, toothbrushes, blankets, and other necessities,
and where the first floor had been flooded due to plumbing problems.
The children were sent to other local orphanages where basic services
such as heat and electricity were also sometimes lacking.
Ongoing conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia displaced thousands
of children. In these regions, UNICEF reported that health services
were scant, immunization rates were lower than elsewhere in the
country, schools were deteriorating, and malnutrition was a serious
problem.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, the country was primarily a point of transit and origin, and
very rarely a destination for trafficked persons. Women were trafficked
from the country to Turkey, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, North
America, and Western Europe to work in hotels, bars, restaurants, or as
domestic help. Many were trafficked into the adult entertainment sector
or forced into prostitution. Victims most likely came directly from
Tbilisi or the impoverished former industrial centers of Poti, Kutaisi,
and Rustavi. Local NGOs reported that men were trafficked to Russia,
Greece, Spain, Portugal, and other destinations to work in
construction, agriculture, and other manual labor. There also was
evidence that Ukrainian and Uzbek women, as well as women from other
countries of the former Soviet Union, were trafficked through the
country to Turkey, sometimes using fraudulently obtained passports.
In July, when the Government regained control over the Kodori
valley in Abkhazia, officials discovered several trafficking victims
who were working for families in the region as household slaves. Some
had been working as slaves for 20 years or more. The Government sent a
team of law enforcement and trafficking experts to the region to
investigate these claims further. By year's end, the Government has
opened investigations into six cases of trafficking related to this
previously warlord-controlled region. In December two of these cases
have been referred to the courts while the remaining four were still
under investigation.
Children were seldom trafficking victims, although street children
and children living in orphanages were allegedly particularly
vulnerable. Some reports indicated that IDPs were a particular target
for traffickers. Conditions for trafficked laborers and women
trafficked into prostitution were extremely poor.
Traffickers were largely freelance domestic operators with
connections abroad, as well as some small international operations.
They often used offers of employment from friends and families or
offers of overseas jobs from tourism or employment agencies to lure
potential victims.
In April the Government adopted and implemented a new
antitrafficking law. The passage of this law, which was developed with
input from foreign governments and international experts, made it
easier to prosecute traffickers, increased minimum sentences for
convicted traffickers, and clarified the Government's responsibilities
for victim identification and assistance.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons, including minors, for the
purposes of sexual, labor, and other forms of exploitation. During the
year the minimum penalty for trafficking was increased to eight years
in prison, with maximum penalties of 20 years for aggravated
circumstances. A memorandum of understanding between the prosecutor
general's office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs resulted in
greater cooperation, joint operations, and a number of arrests and
charges under trafficking statutes. An antitrafficking unit (ATIM)
existed within the special operations department of the ministry of
internal affairs, which was the primary investigative authority on
trafficking cases.
During the year the court returned convictions in 13 cases against
traffickers. In these cases 16 traffickers were each sentenced to an
average prison term of 10 years.
The investigation of a local leader of an international operation
that trafficked women from Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan was still
underway at year's end.
On December 12, Marina Chikhivadze, a major trafficker with
previous convictions, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for
trafficking an Uzbek national to Dubai for the purposes of sexual
exploitation. The Uzbek victim continued to receive government
assistance while she decided whether she wants to return to Uzbekistan
or petition for refugee status in Georgia.
On December 13, the appellate court of Kutaisi overturned the
sentence given to Nana Verdadze by a Batumi court for ``facilitating
prostitution.'' The Kutaisi Appellate Court ruled that the charges
against Verdadze included trafficking--which carries a tougher
sentence--and extended her sentence from five years to eight years in
prison.
The Government cooperated with others in the region to uncover
trafficking rings and assisted in the repatriation of trafficked
persons discovered in transit through the country.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of government
officials' involvement in trafficking. In July two government
officials, David Kobakhidze and Giorgi Amilakhvari, respectively the
former heads of the Ambrolauri and Zestponi passport agencies, were
convicted of misuse of authority and passport fraud, allegedly in
connection with trafficking in 2005. Kobakhidze was sentenced to two
years' imprisonment and six years' probation. Amilakhvari was sentenced
to two years' imprisonment and five years' probation.
During the year the Government took demonstrable steps to improve
and coordinate its antitrafficking efforts, including passing a new
antitrafficking law, forming a permanent interagency antitrafficking
council implementing a national referral and assistance mechanism to
identify and care for trafficking victims, and developing a government
antitrafficking fund to provide assistance to victims.
The Permanent Interagency Antitrafficking Council replaced the
temporary interagency council and was chaired by the prosecutor
general. During the year the council coordinated government efforts
against trafficking, including the adoption and implementation of the
antitrafficking law and a national victim referral and assistance
mechanism, the appointment of a national antitrafficking coordinator,
the allocation of $70,000 (126,000 lari) for victim assistance, the
training of judges and prosecutors on the new law, the establishment of
victim hotlines, the publication of warnings about trafficking dangers
for travelers, the placement of information about trafficking on law
enforcement agency Web sites, funding of shelters for victims, the
establishment of witness protection procedures, the provision of
immunity from prosecution for victims who cooperate with authorities,
and cooperation with the International Organization for Migration on
victim repatriation.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibited discrimination
against persons with disabilities, although in practice the problem was
a low priority for the Government. Discrimination against persons with
disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and in
the provision of other state services was a problem, and societal
discrimination against persons with disabilities existed. There is no
law or official provision mandating access to buildings for persons
with disabilities and very few, if any, public facilities or buildings
were accessible.
According to the health ministry, the country has about 10,000
children with disabilities. A 2005 incident involving a group of
children in wheelchairs who were refused entry to a restaurant was
resolved outside the court system. Pursuant to the request of the
children's guardian and in accordance with the law, the prosecutor
general's office closed its investigation without filing charges.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government generally
respected the rights of ethnic minorities in nonconflict areas. The law
stipulates that Georgian is the state language; ethnic Armenians,
Azeris, Greeks, Abkhaz, Ossetians, and Russians usually communicated in
their native languages or in Russian in the areas where they are the
dominant ethnic group. The Government funds foreign language schools
throughout the country for people whose first language is not Georgian,
but the law requires that ethnic minority students learn Georgian as a
second language. In Tbilisi a large majority of ethnic minority groups
communicate in Georgian in their daily affairs and often at home. The
law requires that all government officials speak Georgian, which some
minorities claim excludes their participation in the Government;
however, this law was not strictly enforced. Some government materials
distributed to the public were only available in the Georgian language.
However, local government reform legislation brought into force through
October's local elections significantly increased ethnic-minority
representation in local governments. After the elections, in most local
governments ethnic minorities held a percentage of seats commensurate
with their percentage of the population. In Marneuli the new mayor of
this ethnic-Azeri region was Azeri for the first time in the city's
history.
Ethnic Georgians living in the Gali region of Abkhazia had no legal
access to education in the Georgian language. As a practical matter,
however, teachers who do not speak Abkhaz instructed students in
Georgian. Teachers who did so were often subject to harassment and
prosecution by de facto Abkhaz authorities.
On several occasions tensions flared in the multiethnic Tsalka
region. In March there were reports of a violent attack upon an ethnic
Greek family. Later in the year, a knife fight between ethnic Armenians
and ethnic Svans broke out in which an ethnic Armenian was killed. The
Greek and Armenian families in these cases claimed that police were
unresponsive to the incident. Some of Tsalka's Armenians and Greeks
complained of harassment by ethnic Svans and Ajarans resettled from
Svaneti and Ajara, mostly manifested in robberies and fist-fights;
while there was an ethnic dimension to the situation, it was difficult
to ascertain whether ethnic or criminal factors were the key
motivations behind these acts in this economically depressed and
isolated region. Observers also noted that a lack of resources for
adequate policing in the region contributed to the problem.
In the ethnic-Armenian dominated region of Akhalkalaki, many ethnic
Armenians claimed that government should allow Armenian to have
``provincial language'' status in the region as very few locals speak
Georgian and are unable to conduct legal affairs in Georgian. They also
complained that the Government did not pay enough attention to economic
and infrastructure development in the region or provide Georgian
language instruction. Ethnic Azeris had similar complaints in the
ethnic-Azeri dominated region of Kvemo Kartli.
During the year the Government addressed ethnic minority region
concerns by allocating $100 million (171.4 million lari) in foreign
assistance to build roads and infrastructure linking Akhalkalaki and
Tbilisi and Armenia, thereby improving opportunities to bring the
agricultural region's goods to market, and to open special educational
resource centers in both ethnic-minority regions to improve access to
Georgian language instruction resources.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law expressly
prohibits discrimination on the basis of HIV/AIDS status; however,
there is no penalty for violating this prohibition. NGOs reported that
societal stigma resulted in individuals avoiding testing or obtaining
health care for fear of discrimination. Some health care providers,
particularly dentists, often refused to provide services to HIV-
positive persons. Individuals often concealed their HIV-positive status
from employers for fear of losing their jobs. The ministry of internal
affairs conducted mandatory HIV testing on all job applicants.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows all workers, including
government employees, to form and join unions of their choice, and they
did so in practice. However, the law restricts the right of employees
of law enforcement agencies and of the prosecutor general's office to
form and join unions. In addition labor unions stated that provisions
of the new labor code, which became effective in June, limited the
mechanisms for them to exercise their rights.
The principal union was the Georgian Trade Union Amalgamation
(GTUA), which consisted of 27 sector--based unions and over 229,000
unionized workers, or 13 percent of the total workforce (1.74 million).
There was one other union: the Free Trade Union of Teachers of Georgia
Solidarity.
The law prohibits discrimination by employers against union
members, and employers may be prosecuted for antiunion discrimination
and forced to reinstate employees and pay back wages. Despite this
provision the GTUA and its national unions continued to report some
cases of management warning staff not to organize trade unions. Some
workers, including teachers, employees of various mining, pipeline, and
port facilities, and the Tbilisi municipal government reportedly
continued to complain of being intimidated or threatened by employers--
including public sector employers--for union organizing activity. There
were a few cases when employers failed to transfer compulsory union
dues, deducted from wages, to union bank accounts, but the disputes
were resolved after discussions between the unions and employers.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference. Collective
bargaining is recognized by law, and the law provides punitive measures
for those who refuse to take part in negotiations. However, the
Government did not always protect this right in practice. The practice
of collective bargaining was not widespread. The GTUA administered
approximately 1,600 collective bargaining agreements. Prior poor
management and leadership, plus a general unfamiliarity with the
collective bargaining process, limited the scope of collective
bargaining.
The law provides for the right to strike; however, the new labor
code which became effective in June capped the maximum duration for a
strike at 90 days. In general workers exercised their right to strike
in accordance with the labor code; strikes must be sanctioned by the
employer based on written notification provided three days in advance
and a one-hour warning strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred in the Kodori valley area of
Abkhazia prior to the Government regaining control of the area in July
(see section 5). NGOs and trade unions have objected to a provision in
the new labor code which permits compulsory labor in instances of
emergency and natural disaster but does not require remuneration to
persons who are conscripted. Also, the labor code provides that an
employer may change hours of work by 90 minutes in either direction
without renegotiating the terms of any labor contact. NGOs stated that
this provision would effectively require employees to work overtime
without compensation in violation of the prohibition against compulsory
labor in the constitution.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace. With high unemployment resulting in a large pool of
adult workers willing to work for low wages, child labor was uncommon
in the country. The ministry of health, social service, and labor is
responsible for enforcing laws regulating child labor. Although
official data was not available, child labor was not considered a
serious problem.
According to the law, the minimum age for employment of children is
age 16. In exceptional cases, children may work with parental consent
at ages 14 and 15. Children under age 18 may not engage in unhealthy or
underground work, and children aged 15 to 18 are subject to reduced
working hours. The office of labor inspection within the ministry of
health and social security, which was previously charged with
identifying labor violations, receiving complaints and determining
compliance with labor laws and regulations, was disbanded during the
year. Inspections were subsequently performed by the labor department
of the ministry of health and social security, which employed six labor
inspectors nationwide.
Some children were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section
5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for
public employees increased to $67.11 (115 lari) a month; however, the
minimum wage did not provide an adequate standard of living for a
worker and family. The official minimum subsistence level for a single
person was $67.69 (116 lari) and for a family of four $120.22 (206
lari). The mandated minimum wage for private sector workers was $11.68
(20 lari) per month. The average wage in private enterprises was
$136.56 (234 lari) monthly; state employees earned approximately $94.54
(162 lari). Minimum monthly pensions increased from approximately $16
(28 lari) to $22 (38 lari). Unreported trade activities, assistance
from family and friends, and the sale of homegrown agricultural
products often supplemented salaries. The ministry of health and social
security is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. The GTUA had
its own inspector to monitor compliance.
The labor code provides for a 41-hour workweek and for a weekly 24-
hour rest period, unless otherwise provided by a labor contract.
The Government set occupational health and safety standards. The
ministry of health and social security is charged with monitoring
implementation of health and safety standards and had six inspectors
assigned to the task. The law permits higher wages for hazardous work,
and the law provides workers with the right to remove themselves from
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardizing their
continued employment. In practice these protections were rarely, if
ever, enforced.
__________
GERMANY
Germany is a constitutional parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 82 million. Citizens periodically choose
their representatives in free and fair multiparty elections. The head
of the federal government, the Chancellor, is elected by the Federal
Parliament (Bundestag). The second legislative chamber, the Federal
Council (Bundesrat), represents the 16 states at the federal level and
is composed of members of the state governments. The Basic Law
(constitution) sets forth the powers of the Chancellor and of the
legislative branch. The most recent national elections for the Federal
Parliament took place in September 2005. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. However, there were reported instances of mistreatment of
prisoners and detainees by police, and there were limits on freedom of
speech, press, assembly, and association aimed at groups deemed
extremist. Extremists engaged in intimidation during the electoral
process; there was governmental and societal discrimination against
some minority religious groups; and cases of societal harassment of
asylum seekers and other foreigners occurred. Violence against women,
trafficking in persons, and harassment of racial minorities were
problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them. Investigations of
earlier instances of alleged abuse continued.
In 2004 prosecutors indicted 18 army instructors on charges of
degrading treatment of subordinates in Coesfeld. In December 2005 the
Muenster Regional Court refused to begin trials involving nine of them,
citing lack of evidence. However, the Higher Regional Court in Hamm
reversed the Muenster Regional Court's decision and ruled in August
that all 18 instructors must stand trial. The trials had not begun by
year's end.
There were a number of violent attacks by right-wing groups on
members of minority groups, foreigners, and political opponents (see
sections 3 and 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. However, one reported
incident and conditions in some facilities were causes for concern.
In February an interim report of the Committee for the Prevention
of Torture (CPT) of the Council of Europe criticized conditions at
prisons in Hamburg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt,
Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia. According to the
report, none of the inspected prisons had adequate staffing or
facilities. The report criticized ``dirty and seedy cells,''
``systematic censorship of correspondence,'' and a lack of television
sets and books. Addressing the CPT's allegations, the speaker of the
Hamburg Justice Ministry referred to financial constraints and stated
that the cited conditions affected only a few detainees.
The authorities continued to investigate the January 2005 death of
a detained asylum seeker, Oury Jalloh, from Sierra Leone. The death
occurred during a fire in a jail cell in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The state district attorney's office charged officers on duty with
involuntary manslaughter. Court proceedings against one police officer
were scheduled to begin in March 2007 at the Dessau Regional Court.
Authorities had not decided whether a second officer would have to face
court proceedings.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces are
organized at the state level. The Federal Criminal Investigative
Service has responsibility for counterterrorism and international
organized crime. It also coordinates crime suppression at the national
and international level and investigates certain limited cases of
international crime as mandated by the law or instructed by the public
prosecutor. Police forces in general were well trained, well
disciplined, and mindful of citizens' rights. The Government
investigated abuses and prosecuted police who mistreated persons in
custody. Allegations of corruption were rare.
Arrest and Detention.--An individual may be arrested only on the
basis of a warrant issued by a competent judicial authority unless the
suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime or the police have
strong reason to believe that the individual intends to commit a crime.
By law most detainees are entitled to prompt access to lawyers and, if
indigent, to lawyers provided by the state. If there is evidence that a
suspect might flee the country, police may detain that person for up to
24 hours pending a formal charge. An individual detained by police must
be brought before a judge and charged by the end of the day after the
arrest. The court then must issue an arrest warrant stating the grounds
for detention; otherwise they must order the individual's release.
These rights were generally respected.
Police may detain known or suspected radicals for brief periods
when they believe such individuals intend to participate in illegal or
unauthorized demonstrations (see section 2.b.). The rules governing
this type of detention differ by state, with authorized periods of
detention ranging from one to 14 days, provided judicial concurrence is
given within 24 hours of initial detention. There were no reports of
such detention during the year.
Although criminals may not be punished twice for the same crime,
the law allows ``retroactive preventive detention'' in cases involving
such crimes as rape, homicide, or manslaughter. This procedure permits
courts to order that detention be continued after offenders have served
their sentences. Such preventive detention requires a court finding,
based on at least one expert opinion, that the convicted person could
pose a danger to the public. The detention could last indefinitely.
Bail exists but was employed infrequently; authorities usually
released detainees unless there was clear danger that the detainee
might flee the country, in which case a detainee could be held for the
duration of the investigation and subsequent trial. Such decisions are
subject to regular judicial review, and time spent in investigative
custody applies toward the sentence. In cases of acquittal, the
Government must compensate the individual for pecuniary losses as well
as a lump sum for ``moral prejudice'' if prison time was served.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
Ordinary courts have jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters.
There are three levels of such courts (local courts, regional courts,
and the Federal Court of Justice), with appeals possible from lower to
higher levels. In addition to the ordinary courts, there are four types
of specialized courts: administrative, labor, social, and fiscal, each
with an appellate process.
The Federal Constitutional Court, the country's supreme court,
reviews laws to ensure their compatibility with the constitution and
adjudicates disputes between different branches of government on
questions of competency. It may also hear and decide cases concerning
the infringement of a person's basic constitutional rights by a public
authority.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Heavy
caseloads at times delayed court proceedings. For simple or less
serious cases, procedures exist for an accelerated hearing and summary
punishment at the local court level. These procedures are limited to
cases for which the maximum sentence is not greater than one year. The
courts generally suspended one-year sentences and placed the convicted
individuals on probation.
Trials are public, and juries are not used. Cases are heard either
by one judge, a panel of professional judges, or a mixed panel of
professional and lay judges, depending on the severity of the charges.
Defendants are required to be present and have the right to consult
with an attorney in a timely manner. The Government provides an
attorney at public expense if defendants demonstrate financial need.
Defendants may confront or question witnesses against them and present
witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys
have access to all court-held evidence relevant to their cases. They
also enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of appeal.
Military courts include one civilian judge and two lay judges.
Appeals of their rulings go to the civilian court system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and
impartial judiciary in civil matters provides access to a court to
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation. Administrative remedies are available as well as judicial
remedies for alleged wrongs. There were no reports of problems
enforcing domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and authorities
generally respected these prohibitions; however, members of
organizations monitored by the federal and state offices for the
protection of the constitution (OPCs) charged that their privacy was
infringed (see sections 2.b. and 2.c.).
In criminal investigations of certain serious crimes, law
enforcement officials may monitor telecommunications of suspects but
only with court approval. In intelligence-related cases, such as
suspicion of involvement in terrorism, the law permits intelligence
services to engage in surveillance activities, such as monitoring
telecommunications, without court approval. However, such activities
generally have to be approved by an independent commission elected by a
parliamentary control body.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; while the Government generally respected these
rights, it imposed some limits aimed at groups deemed extremist.
Distribution of the propaganda of proscribed organizations is
illegal, as are statements inciting racial hatred, endorsing Nazism,
and denying the Holocaust. Following an unsuccessful effort to win
political asylum abroad, Germar Rudolf was deported to Germany, where
he was put on trial in November, in Mannheim, for ``representing the
Holocaust as a myth.'' Rudolf had been convicted for Holocaust denial
in 1995 but fled the country. The trial was underway at year's end.
Apart from these limitations, an active independent media expressed
a wide variety of views without government restriction.
Internet Freedom.--Access to the Internet was unrestricted in most
respects, and most individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. However,
there were some limitations on access and expression.
Federal and state laws permitted OPCs to monitor the private e-
mails and chatrooms of individuals and groups under surveillance, but
such activities were subject to oversight by an independent commission
elected by a parliamentary control body (see section 2.f.). Access to
such ``prohibited'' material as child pornography and Nazi propaganda
was forbidden by law. Authorities also sought to ban the storing of
such material on servers in the country.
A wide spectrum of society had access to the Internet at such
places as homes, businesses, schools, and libraries.
Several Internet providers have sued the state of North Rhine-
Westphalia over a state ordinance requiring them to block access to
certain Web sites determined to be promoting right-wing extremism. In
most of these cases, various administrative courts in the state
rejected the complaints, although one was partially successful based on
technical factors. At year's end two of the suits were pending before
the Aachen Administrative Court.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were few government
restrictions on academic or cultural events; however, the use of such
materials as Nazi propaganda, Holocaust denial, and pornography was
prohibited.
At the end of 2005, the Higher District Court of Lueneburg, Lower
Saxony, issued a ban on stage appearances by a right-wing songwriter
who planned to perform at a ``national New Year's Eve'' party. The
event, which was organized by the right-wing extremist National Party
of Germany (NPD) took place.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. However, prohibited
organizations were not permitted to hold public assemblies. Permits
must be obtained for open-air public rallies and marches, and state and
local officials have the authority to deny such permits when public
safety concerns arise or when prohibited organizations attempt to hold
public assemblies. Such denials were rare.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the law permits the prohibition of organizations
whose activities which have been judged as illegal or opposed to the
constitutional democratic order. While the Federal Constitutional Court
is the only body that can outlaw political parties on these grounds,
federal or state governments may prohibit or restrict other
organizations, which have the right to appeal. Such organizations
include groups that authorities classified as extremist or criminal in
nature. For example, during the year the state of Brandenburg declared
the Federation for the Protection of Germany (Schutzbund Deutschland)
to be a prohibited organization.
Federal and state OPCs charged with examining possible threats to
the constitutional democratic system monitored several hundred
organizations. Monitoring generally consisted of collecting information
from written materials and firsthand accounts to assess possible
threats; however, OPCs could employ more intrusive methods, such as the
use of undercover agents, subject to legal checks. OPCs also published
lists of monitored organizations.
Although the law stipulates that OPC monitoring must not interfere
with the activities of any organization, representatives of monitored
organizations complained that the publication of the organizations'
names by state OPCs contributed to prejudice against them (see section
2.c.). The Islamic Religious Community of Hesse (Islamische
Religionsgemeinschaft Hessen--IRH), the state of Hesse's largest Muslim
umbrella organization, protested its listing in the Hesse OPC report.
The Hesse interior ministry claimed that such IRH activities as
limiting female student participation and promoting Shari'a (Islamic
law) contradicted basic constitutional principles. In May the Hesse
interior ministry agreed not to portray the IRH as an extremist
organization, unless there were new facts to support its inclusion in
OPC reporting. The IRH leadership also announced that the group would
relax its position against the participation of female Muslim students
in school excursions.
In May the Munich Administrative Court ordered the state of Bavaria
to cease publishing certain allegations in the OPC's report about the
Islamic Community Milli Goerues (MG), considered by the Bavarian
government to be a Turkish Islamic extremist group. Since 2001 the OPC
report quoted alleged statements by several MG members that it
considered anticonstitutional and inflammatory. The court ruled that
the authenticity of these statements could not be established and asked
the OPC not to republish them.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Basic Law provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government respected this right in practice; however,
discrimination against certain religious minorities remained a problem.
Government policy continued to contribute generally to the free
practice of religion.
Religious organizations are not required to register, but must do
so in order to qualify as nonprofit associations with tax-exempt
status. The state confers certain other advantages upon religious
communities that also obtain the status of ``corporation under public
law,'' including the right to levy taxes on their members that the
Government collects on their behalf. In July, after a 10-year legal
effort by the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, the State of Berlin
granted the organization public corporation status. Few Muslim
organizations have applied for public law corporation status, and so
far no state has granted corporation status to any Muslim organization,
in part because none has met the Government's criteria; in some cases
intra-Muslim disputes prevented organizations from establishing their
right to represent their community.
The Government did not recognize several belief systems, including
Scientology, as religions; however, the absence of recognition did not
prevent their adherents from engaging in public and private religious
activities.
Federal and some state authorities continued to classify
Scientology as a potential threat to democratic order, a view that led
to employment and commercial discrimination against Scientologists in
both the public and private sectors. Administrative action and court
rulings, including in Leipzig and Hamburg in late 2005 and during the
year, reduced or eliminated some governmental impediments to
Scientology. For example, unemployment offices were no longer required
to inform job seekers if prospective employers were Scientologists, or
whether they employed Scientologists.
During the year several public and private organizations issued
public warnings about Scientology after-school study programs.
In October the Federal Constitutional Court, in response to an
appeal by the Unification Church, overturned an earlier decision of a
court in Rheinland-Pfalz to ban the Sun Myung Moon and his wife from
entering the country. Reverend Moon and his wife were originally banned
from entry in 1995. In a narrow decision, the Constitutional Court
rejected the lower court's reasoning for upholding the ban on the
grounds that it was a violation of religious freedom and ordered the
case returned to the lower court for reexamination.
Since the 1990s four major political parties--the Christian
Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union, the Social
Democratic Party (SPD), and the Free Democratic Party)--have prohibited
Scientologists from becoming members. Scientologists have
unsuccessfully challenged these prohibitions.
Several states have laws that prohibit teachers from wearing
headscarves in public schools. These laws have led to dismissals and
adverse decisions on the hiring of teachers. Some courts have upheld
challenges to these laws.
In February Gilek Yilmaz became a teacher trainee at a school in
Schleswig-Holstein. The state Ministry for Education advised her that
she would be required to remove her headscarf when a school law
prohibiting the wearing of headscarves takes effect in 2007.
In July the administrative court of Stuttgart, reviewing the case
of a teacher who had been suspended for wearing a headscarf, ruled that
the law of state of Baden-Wuerttemberg prohibiting such attire was
discriminatory. While the court agreed with the state that the
headscarf violated religious neutrality, it concluded that the state
could not prohibit headscarves while allowing Catholic nuns to wear
religious dress. The teacher, Doris Graber, had been suspended from
teaching in 2004. The state indicated that it would appeal the verdict.
In April 2005 the Bremen education ministry denied the application
of a trainee teacher after she refused to sign a commitment to abstain
from wearing a headscarf in class. The Bremen Higher Administrative
Court ruled that the state could refuse the application because her
headscarf would ``seriously jeopardize school peace.'' However, in June
the applicant obtained a verdict from the Bremen administrative court
calling on the Bremen education ministry to prove that her teaching
with a headscarf would concretely, rather than just abstractly,
jeopardize school peace.
Most public schools offer Protestant and Catholic religious
instruction, as well as instruction in Judaism if enough students
express interest. Students may opt out of religious instruction upon
simple application to school authorities. Depending upon the state,
students may be required to attend a nonreligious ethics course or they
may be permitted to choose between such a course and a free period.
Islamic education is offered in some states, but the overall
practice is complicated by differences between Islamic groups.
The legal obligation that children attend a school, confirmed by
the Constitutional Court in May and the European Court of Justice in
October, and the related bar on home schooling, was a problem for some
groups. Generally, state authorities have permitted such groups to
establish charter-type schools.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of
continuing societal discrimination and hostility toward some minority
religious groups; however, the Government took measures to address the
problem. On August 18, a comprehensive federal antidiscrimination law
took effect. This law prohibits discrimination on the basis of
ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, sex, disability, and sexual
orientation.
The federal government also promoted tolerance by establishing
dialogues with representatives of immigrant and Muslim groups at the
Chancellor and interior minister levels on the integration of
minorities and immigrants and on Islamic issues.
Police conducted antiterrorism raids on mosques and Islamic centers
in several states. The Muslim community criticized these raids as
infringing on their freedom of religion. Authorities stated that some
raids were conducted to prevent terrorist attacks during the Soccer
World Cup competition. In June law enforcement officials in Baden-
Wuerttemberg conducted large-scale raids in areas allegedly frequented
by Muslim extremists. The state's OPC continued to monitor what it
termed the growing ranks of ``homegrown'' radical Muslim elements in
the state.
Beginning in January authorities in Baden-Wuerttemberg required
residents seeking naturalization to complete a questionnaire concerning
their political and moral beliefs and their adherence to the
constitution. The questionnaire led to protests from the political
opposition and from independents such as Paul Spiegel, then-chairman of
the Central Council of Jews in Germany. Muslim organizations in Baden-
Wurttemberg announced plans to take the issue to the Federal
Constitutional Court. Critics viewed the questionnaire, which included
questions on attitudes toward women's and gay rights, terrorism, and
other social issues, as discriminating against Muslim immigrants.
Some observers believed that societal discrimination against some
ethnic groups, particularly the Turks, was one of the major factors
limiting their economic progress. While there were no statistics
specifically documenting discrimination, an April 2005 study by the
Center for Turkish Studies claimed that one-third of an estimated three
million Turks in the country lived below the poverty level; a further
third lived just above the poverty level. Only 5 percent of Turkish-
origin students attend a gymnasium, a top-tier secondary school
necessary to enter university (see section 5). Fewer than 10 percent of
18- to 25-year-olds of Turkish descent were enrolled in higher
education. Information released in August suggested that unemployment
continued to afflict Turkish immigrants more than the general
population, with unemployment among Turkish immigrants at 33 percent
compared to 10.5 percent countrywide.
There were a number of anti-Semitic incidents during the year.
According to official, but preliminary, data provided to parliament,
there were reports of 463 anti-Semitic crimes in the first six months.
Of these, seven were violent crimes, 91 involved anti-Semitic
propaganda, and four persons were injured. The remainder included
desecrations of Jewish sites such as cemeteries, memorials, and
synagogues. For example, in January vandals smeared gravestones in a
Jewish cemetery in Brandenburg with swastikas, and vandals also
desecrated the Jewish memorials of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in Berlin.
In April unknown perpetrators smeared swastikas on 28 graves at the
Jewish cemetery in Bebra, Hesse, and desecrated tombstones in Worms, at
Heiligen Sand, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Also in
April the site of the Jewish community of Cottbus was smeared with
anti-Semitic slogans. In June Jewish memorials to Heinrich Stahl,
former chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin were desecrated, as
was a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe in July in Berlin-Mitte.
Synagogues were defaced in March in Berlin and in April in Goerlitz.
During the year authorities conducted 257 investigations of such
incidents and made 29 arrests.
In June six youths burned The Diary of Anne Frank at a summer
festival in Pretzien, a small town in the eastern part of the country.
On September 26, the players of the Jewish club TuS Makkabi stopped a
soccer game in Berlin as a result of taunts and the singing of anti-
Semitic songs by spectators.
There were no developments in the 2004 case of Jewish cemetery
desecrations in Neunkirchen or the 2005 cases in Hesse and Rheinland-
Pfalz.
The activities of right-wing extremist organizations, whose
platforms include anti-Semitism among other forms of intolerance,
increased significantly (see section 5). The Jewish community reported
a marked increase in anti-Semitic acts and an extremely difficult
atmosphere for the country's Jews, especially during the July-August
conflict involving Israel and the terrorist organization Hizballah in
Lebanon.
The Government monitored right-wing extremists, conducted
investigations into anti-Semitic crimes, and at times banned extremist
groups deemed a threat to public order.
Statements inciting racial hatred, endorsing Nazism, and denying
the Holocaust are illegal. Following an unsuccessful effort to win
political asylum abroad, Germar Rudolf was deported to the country from
abroad and put on trial in November, in Mannheim, ``for representing
the Holocaust as a myth.'' (See section 2.a.)
Authorities sought to address right-wing extremism by conducting a
variety of education programs to promote tolerance, many focusing on
anti-Semitism (see section 5).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
In January the interior minister of Brandenburg revoked the
passport of neo-Nazi Horst Mahler for six months to prevent him from
attending a conference in Iran of persons who deny the Holocaust.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government generally provided protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
Authorities processed 30,759 asylum applications during the year.
They granted 251 (0.8 percent), and rejected 18,384 (59.8 percent); the
remainder were resolved but, information about the manner of their
resolution was not available. Approximately 1,700 applicants were
granted temporary suspension of expulsion on humanitarian grounds. All
cases in which asylum was granted must be reviewed after three years in
order to determine whether the grounds for asylum still apply.
There have been instances of refoulement. For example, authorities
deported asylum applicant Alassane Mousbaou, a dissident from Togo,
from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Togo on January 31. According to his
lawyer, Togolese authorities threatened Mousbaou immediately following
his arrival because of his dissident activities in Germany. Since then
Mousbaou was reported to be in hiding, awaiting the conclusion of legal
proceedings related to his asylum application. In response to criticism
over this case, on April 11 the state government adopted a six-month
moratorium on further deportations to Togo.
The federal government, in coordination with the UN Interim Mission
in Kosovo, continued repatriation of the estimated 51,000 technically
deportable Kosovar refugees remaining in the country. Through September
approximately 400 Kosovars voluntarily repatriated and 1,000 had been
involuntarily repatriated. Some human rights observers asserted that
Roma from Kosovo were particularly liable to be deported; however, the
federal Ministry of the Interior stated that Roma and Serbs were
excluded from forced repatriation except in a few cases involving
criminals.
The Government voluntarily repatriated 198 Afghan refugees during
the year. Between January 1 and September 30, 140 refugees were
involuntarily returned to Afghanistan as criminals, deportees, and
persons posing a threat to domestic security.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees.
According to the Basic Law, individuals who attempted to enter the
country via a ``safe country of transit''--a member state of the
European Union (EU) or a country adhering to the Geneva Convention on
Refugees--were ineligible for asylum and could be turned back at the
border or, if they had entered the country, returned to that ``safe
country of transit.''
Individuals whose applications for asylum were rejected had up to
two weeks to appeal the decision. Individuals who arrived at an
international airport and who were found to have come from a ``safe
country of origin'' could be detained at an airport holding facility.
In these cases the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign
Refugees was required either to make a decision on an asylum
application within 48 hours or allow the person to enter the country.
An applicant could appeal a negative decision to an administrative
court within three days, and the court was required to rule within 14
days or allow the individual to enter the country. Local
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continued to criticize these
periods of time as insufficient to allow applicants to prepare for
hearings. Although stays in an airport facility were not supposed to
exceed 19 days, applicants whose claims were rejected, but who could
not be deported immediately, were allegedly held at the airport for
months, a practice that refugee assistance groups and human rights
advocates continued to criticize.
To deal with particularly difficult cases, all of the states agreed
to form ``commissions on hardship cases,'' composed of representatives
from churches, charity organizations, and municipal organizations, that
could grant rejected asylum seekers permission to remain in the country
on an individual basis.
Societal discrimination against, and abuse of, refugees and asylum
seekers occurred. During the year right-wing extremist groups
reportedly attacked shelters for asylum seekers in Mecklenburg-
Vorpommern (Nordvorpommern), Berlin, and Brandenburg (Cottbus and
Neuruppin).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The Basic Law provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent national
elections took place for the Federal Parliament in September 2005.
During campaigning that preceded the Berlin state elections in
September, there were incidents of right-wing extremist intimidation.
Extremists forcibly disrupted campaign events of political parties and
vandalized campaign posters. For example, on September 8, two neo-Nazis
attacked two campaign workers of the SPD, resulting in the
hospitalization of one of them with serious head injuries. On August
30, approximately 20 neo-Nazis disrupted an SPD campaign event. At an
event held by the Party of Democratic Socialism in late August, 10 to
15 right-wing extremists intimidated participants by wielding bottles
and throwing firecrackers. Also in late August, right-wing extremists
toppled tables at a campaign event of a CDU member of parliament.
On August 11, during the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election
campaign, right-wing extremists besieged and threatened SPD state
parliament member Margret Seemann at her campaign stand in Hagenow.
In May Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state parliamentarian Stefan Koester
(NPD) was found guilty of having beaten a counter-demonstrator at a
December 2004 NPD campaign event in Itzehoe (Schleswig-Holstein.)
The Federal Constitutional Court is empowered to prohibit political
parties that actively work to undermine the constitutional democratic
order (see section 2.b.). No parties were prohibited during the year.
The chancellor was a woman, and there were 194 women in the 614-
seat Federal Parliament. There were five women, in addition to the
chancellor, in the 15-member cabinet; three of the 16 judges of the
Federal Constitutional Court were women.
There were at least eight members of ethnic minorities in the
Federal Parliament and one on the Federal Constitutional Court but none
in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption.
A federal freedom of information law that took effect on January 1
provides for public access to government information. During the year
2,278 requests for information were filed; authorities complied fully
or partially with 1,379. They refused 410 based on restrictions defined
in the law, such as protection of public interests or the rights of
third parties. Appeals were filed by 142 applicants; 62 of these were
rejected. Four states (Berlin, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and
North Rhine-Westphalia) also have freedom of information laws that
provide for an appeals process. In those states authorities in most
cases cited business confidentiality as the basis for most of their
denials of access to information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of international and domestic human rights groups
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were very
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits the denial of access to housing, health care, or
education on the basis of race, gender, disability, language, or social
status, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in
practice. Nonetheless, violence against women and children, trafficking
in persons, and harassment of racial minorities and foreigners were
problems.
On August 18, the Government complied with a 2000 EU directive by
enacting an antidiscrimination law prohibiting discrimination on the
basis of ethnicity, religious affiliation, age, sex, handicap, or
sexual orientation.
Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, including spousal
abuse; perpetrators may be temporarily denied access to the household,
put under a restraining order, or in severe cases prosecuted for
assault or rape and required to pay damages. The Government enforced
the law; nevertheless, violence against women was believed to be
widespread. Organizations that aid victims estimated that one in four
to five women has been the victim of physical or sexual violence.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and provides
penalties of up to 15 years in prison. The Government effectively
enforced the law. According to national police criminal statistics, in
2005 there were 8,133 cases of rape or serious sexual coercion. The
federal government supported numerous projects in conjunction with the
states and NGOs to deal with violence against women, both to prevent
violence and to give victims greater access to medical care and legal
recourse.
Forced marriages are illegal and invalid, and the act of coercing
another person into a marriage through force or threat of force or
other negative consequences is punishable with up to three years'
imprisonment. While there were no conclusive statistics regarding the
actual number of forced marriages in the country, evidence indicated
that the problem was common in the Muslim community. Women's rights
activists asserted that one-half of the young Turkish women living in
the country were in forced or arranged marriages, a situation that
often led to violence. Such marriages affected not only young women
living in the country for whom the family brought a husband from
abroad, but also young women who were sent to their native countries
against their will to be married.
According to a Baden-Wuerttemberg commission, from January to
October 2005, 215 persons in the state (of whom 213 were women) sought
assistance for problems related to the prospect of a forced marriage
(110 persons) or to a recent forced marriage (105 persons). Of those
whose religious affiliation was known, 95 percent were Muslims, almost
40 percent were Turkish citizens, and 40 percent were minors. In 46
cases the forced marriage resulted in offspring. Saarland reported 13
cases of forced marriage in 2005.
While there was not complete agreement on the definition of the
term ``honor killing,'' the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation
(BKA) characterized five killings in 2005 as honor killings. In April a
court found the brother of Hatan Surucu guilty of her murder in
February 2005. He had disapproved of her Western lifestyle.
In June 2005 a 22-year-old Turkish woman was shot and killed in
Wiesbaden-Dotzheim. The victim's older brother confessed to the crime;
police stated that he committed the ``honor killing'' because the woman
had a German boyfriend. He was sentenced to a life term by the
Wiesbaden Regional Court in September.
Prostitution is legal and fairly widespread, although communities
have the authority to exclude it from specified areas, such as
residential neighborhoods.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
In September prominent lawyer Seyran Ates temporarily gave up her
work as an attorney for women's rights because of numerous serious
threats against her life, mainly from the husbands of the women she
defended. Ates defended numerous Muslim women in court and spoke out
against honor killings, forced marriage, and spousal violence.
Sexual harassment of women was a recognized problem. The law
prohibits sexual harassment and requires employers to protect employees
from sexual harassment. Various disciplinary measures against offenders
are possible, including dismissal. An employer's failure to take
appropriate measures to protect employees from this abuse is considered
a breach of contract and an affected employee has the right to paid
leave until the situation is rectified. There were press reports of
sexual harassment in the workplace and in public facilities. Unions,
churches, government agencies, and NGOs operated a variety of support
programs for women who experienced sexual harassment and sponsored
seminars and training to prevent it.
The law provides women the same rights as men. The Federal Ministry
for Family, Seniors, Women, and Youth was the primary federal agency
maintaining oversight of women's rights issues. The law provides for
equal pay for equal work, but women earned on average 30 percent less
than men. A study conducted during the year found that in private
companies, women, who constituted 46 percent of the workforce, held
only 24 percent of senior management positions.
Women generally were not discriminated against in terms of
compensation for equivalent work, although they were underrepresented
in well-paid managerial positions and overrepresented in some lower-
wage occupations; their average monthly incomes were lower than those
of men.
Children.--The Government maintained its strong commitment to
children's rights and welfare. Public education is provided free of
charge through the university level, and education is compulsory
through the age of 16; almost all children attended school.
The Government funded medical care for children, and boys and girls
had equal access to medical care.
Child abuse was a problem that received widespread media attention.
In 2005, 13,962 cases of sexual abuse of children were reported as well
as 199 cases of serious sexual abuse of children for the purpose of
producing and publishing pornographic material. The law provides for
the protection of children against pornography and sexual abuse. The
maximum sentence is one year's imprisonment for possession of child
pornography and five years in prison for distribution. The law makes
the sexual abuse of children by citizens abroad punishable even if the
action is not illegal in the child's own country. The Government
effectively enforced these laws.
Forced marriage of young girls in various immigrant communities
gained increasing public attention. This phenomenon affected both young
adult women and minor girls (see section 5, Women).
Although there were no reports of abuse of street children,
authorities believed that the life of these children often involved
violence and abuse. Often these children were fleeing violent and
abusive homes. Street children frequently turned to prostitution for
income.
Approximately 8 percent of reported trafficking victims were under
the age of 18 (see section 5, Trafficking).
The Government provided extensive funding for programs to combat
the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography,
trafficking of children, and child sex tourism.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
but there were reports that men, women, and children were trafficked
to, through, and within the country for the purposes of sexual and
labor exploitation. Victims of sex trafficking came primarily from
Central and Eastern Europe, although some were from Africa and Asia.
In its most recent report, covering 2005, the Government recorded
642 trafficking victims compared to 972 in 2004. Of these 115 were
German nationals (17.9 percent) and 13 of the 115 were male. Most
victims were between the ages of 18 and 24 (544). Of the victims, 79 (8
percent) were under 18 years of age, including 26 citizens.
The BKA registered 683 suspected traffickers in 2005, the latest
year for which statistics were available. Citizens made up the largest
share of suspected traffickers (283, or 41 percent).
The law criminalizes trafficking in persons and provides penalties
of up to 10 years in prison. Trafficking crimes are prosecuted at the
state level.
According to the Ministry of Justice, courts convicted 137 adults
of trafficking charges in 2004, compared to 145 in 2003. The statistics
did not include convictions of alleged traffickers on nontrafficking
charges or convictions of traffickers on multiple charges where another
charge carried a higher maximum penalty than the maximum penalty for
trafficking. Of the 137 convicted traffickers in 2004, 93 received
prison sentences of two years or less; 27 were sentenced to two to
three years; 11 were sentenced to three to five years; and three were
sentenced to five to 10 years. In keeping with standard practice for
sentences of two years or less, 87 sentences were suspended. Those
receiving suspended sentences were generally convicted of playing an
auxiliary role in trafficking operations and were subsequently required
to perform community service, pay penalties, and, in many cases, meet
regularly with a parole officer.
The countertrafficking office of the BKA cooperated with Europol
and Interpol law enforcement authorities. Federal ministries
coordinated countertrafficking efforts on the international, national,
and state levels.
Police were required to notify a counseling center of trafficking
victims and to inform the victims of their rights and options for
seeking assistance. The centers provided shelter, counseling,
interpreting services, and legal assistance.
In nine of the 16 states, there were cooperation agreements between
police, state welfare agencies, and NGOs to strengthen the delivery of
welfare services to victims. The federal and state governments worked
with NGOs and local women's shelters to identify and assist victims,
funding more than 30 NGO counseling centers for victims of trafficking.
The Government paid the basic cost of repatriating trafficking
victims under the Reintegration and Emigration Program for Asylum
Seekers in Germany (REAG). The International Organization for Migration
(IOM) administered REAG and facilitated assistance to returning
victims.
The Government sought to educate potential trafficking victims
before they entered the country. Embassies and consulates as well as
NGOs distributed brochures that provided information on residency and
work permit requirements as well as warnings about trafficking.
Federal and state government agencies took additional steps to
prevent trafficking during the World Cup soccer championship by
improving screening of possible victims and police safeguards,
sponsoring seminars, expanding print and video outreach, and
strengthening interagency coordination. NGOs used government funds to
conduct public awareness campaigns and establish telephone hot lines
for victims. According to government officials and the IOM, there was
no increase in the number of trafficking victims during the World Cup.
An IOM report attributed this result to enhanced border controls,
police surveillance, international cooperation, and extensive public
outreach efforts.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical or mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services, and the Government effectively enforced these provisions.
Government guidelines were in place for barrier-free public
buildings and for modifications of streets and pedestrian traffic walks
to accommodate persons with disabilities. All 16 states have
incorporated the federal guidelines into their building codes. Almost
all federal buildings (98 percent) complied with the guidelines for a
barrier-free environment.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Harassment, including beatings,
of foreigners and racial minorities remained a problem throughout the
country.
On April 16, two persons allegedly beat and kicked into a coma a
man of Ethiopian origin at a trolley stop in Potsdam. They shouted
racial epithets at the victim. The Brandenburg public prosecutor took
over the investigation and indicted the two alleged assailants on
August 22 for very serious injury, defamation, and failure to lend
assistance. Court proceedings were scheduled to begin in February 2007.
In the first eight months of the year, according to data from the
Federal Criminal Office (BKA), illegal offenses by right-wing
extremists increased 21 percent over the same period in 2005. In 2005
the federal OPC recorded 15,361 right-wing ``politically motivated
crimes'' (PMCs), the highest level since 2000. The BKA defines
``politically motivated crimes'' as offenses related to the victims'
ideology, nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, religion,
worldview, ancestry, sexual orientation, disability status, appearance,
or social status. The figures for 2005 included 2,305 left-wing PMCs,
644 PMCs by foreigners, and 191 other types of PMCs. The OPC report
listed 168 right-wing extremist organizations and groups. Authorities
estimated membership in these groups plus right-wing extremists who
remain unorganized to be approximately 39,000 at the end of 2005.
In order to address right-wing extremism, authorities conducted a
variety of educational programs to promote tolerance, many focusing on
anti-Semitism and xenophobia. In October the federal government added
approximately $6,550,000 (5 million euros) to the approximately
$27,500,000 (21 million euros) previously allocated to such programs.
Government agencies cooperated with NGOs in the formulation and
administration of these programs.
In March unknown persons vandalized four immigrant-owned stores in
Rheinsberg, Brandenburg. In the same month in Cottbus, Brandenberg, two
unknown persons physically attacked and shouted racial epithets at two
asylum seekers, from Chad and Cameroon.
Resident foreigners and minority groups continued to voice credible
concerns about societal and job-related discrimination (see section
6.c.).
The Government monitored right-wing extremists, conducted
investigations into hate crimes, and at times banned extremist groups
deemed a threat to public order (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Despite increasing
public awareness, media and reports from other sources indicated that
societal and job-related discrimination against homosexuals occurred.
However, openly homosexual persons occupied prominent positions in many
areas of society, including politics, business, and the arts.
There was discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, primarily
due to lack of understanding of the disease. The Government worked with
NGOs, religious groups, and business to educate the public about HIV/
AIDS and its prevention.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The Basic Law provides for the right
of employees to form and join unions of their choice without excessive
requirements or previous authorization, and workers exercised this
right. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce was organized into
unions. The overwhelming majority of organized workers belonged to
eight unions largely grouped by industry or service sector and
affiliated with the German Trade Union Federation, the country's main
trade union umbrella organization.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government generally protected this right in practice. The law protects
the right to collective bargaining, which was freely practiced.
Collective bargaining agreements covered approximately 65 percent of
the labor force. The law provides for the right to strike, except for
civil servants (including teachers) and personnel in sensitive or
essential positions, such as members of the armed forces. Collective
bargaining agreements reached for those public service workers who had
this right were usually extended by legislation to those who did not,
although such extensions did not always include all of the provisions
of those agreements. Workers not allowed to strike also had legal
recourse through the courts to protect their rights. Workers conducted
legal strikes during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the employment of
children under the age of 15, with a few exceptions: Those 13 or 14
years of age may do farm work for up to three hours per day or may
deliver newspapers for up to two hours per day; and those three to 14
years of age may take part in cultural performances, albeit under
stringent curbs on the kinds of activity, number of hours, and times of
day. Abusive child labor was not a serious problem, although violations
did occur, mainly in small, often family-owned, businesses such as
pubs, restaurants, and grocery stores.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5).
The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs effectively
enforced the law through its Factory Inspection Bureau.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no legislated or
administratively determined minimum wage. Collective bargaining
agreements set minimum pay rates and were enforceable by law for an
estimated 80 percent of all wage and salary earners. The wages
established by these processes provided a decent standard of living for
a worker and family.
Federal regulations limited the workweek to a maximum of 48 hours,
but collective bargaining agreements may stipulate even lower maximums.
Contracts that directly or indirectly affected 80 percent of the
working population regulate the number of hours of work per week. The
average workweek was 39.9 hours nationwide (data for 2004 from the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development); rest periods
for lunch were accepted practices. Provisions for overtime, holiday,
and weekend pay varied depending upon the applicable collective
bargaining agreement.
An extensive set of laws and regulations govern occupational safety
and health. A comprehensive system of worker insurance carriers
enforced safety requirements in the workplace. The Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs and its counterparts in the states effectively
enforced occupational safety and health standards through a network of
government bodies, including the Federal Institute for Work Safety. At
the local level, professional and trade associations--self-governing
public corporations with delegates representing both employers and
unions--oversee worker safety. The law provides for the right to refuse
to perform dangerous or unhealthy work without jeopardy to continued
employment.
Foreign workers in the country were protected by law and generally
worked in conditions equal to those of citizens; however, such workers
faced some wage discrimination. For example, foreign teachers in some
schools were paid less than their citizen counterparts. Seasonal
workers from Eastern Europe who came to the country on temporary work
permits also often received wages below those of citizens. Workers from
other EU countries at times were employed at the same wages they would
receive in their home country, even if the corresponding citizen worker
would receive a higher wage.
__________
GREECE
Greece is a constitutional republic and multiparty parliamentary
democracy, with an estimated population of 11 million. In March 2004
the New Democracy Party won the majority of seats in the unicameral
Vouli (parliament) in free and fair elections, and Konstantinos
Karamanlis became the Prime Minister. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. The following
human rights abuses were reported: abuse by security forces,
particularly of illegal immigrants and Roma; overcrowding and harsh
conditions in some prisons; detention of undocumented migrants in
squalid conditions; limits on the ability of ethnic minorities to self-
identify; restrictions on freedom of speech; restrictions and
administrative obstacles faced by members of non-Orthodox religions;
detention and deportation of unaccompanied or separated immigrant
minors, including asylum seekers; domestic violence against women;
trafficking in persons; discrimination against ethnic minorities and
Roma; substandard living conditions for Roma; inadequate access to
schools for Romani children; and child exploitation in nontraditional
labor.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed any politically
motivated killings; however, in September there were reports that coast
guard authorities threw detained illegal migrants overboard and six of
them drowned. After an investigation, authorities denied the reports.
By year's end authorities had taken no action in the 2004 killing
of an Albanian immigrant beaten to death by a person whom witnesses
identified as a policeman.
In March police officer George Dimitrakakis, charged with the 2003
murder of a person who failed to stop at a routine automobile
checkpoint in Crete, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Two police
guards also associated with this case were acquitted of murder charges
but received two-year sentences with a three-year suspension for
violating the law pertaining to law enforcement officers' use of arms.
In June a border policeman identified in the Greek press as Pavlos
Papageorgiadis was convicted of a felony--reckless homicide--in the
September 2003 shooting and killing of an Albanian trying to cross
illegally into the country. He received a suspended prison sentence of
two years and three months.
During the year two migrants were killed in minefields along the
border with Turkey. Sixty-eight persons have died over the previous 15
years in the Evros minefields.
The appeals process remained ongoing for 15 members of the 17
November terrorist organization, who were found guilty and sentenced in
2003 for more than 2,500 crimes, including homicide.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits torture and other inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment; however, security forces abused a few persons,
particularly immigrants and Roma (see section 5).
International organizations and human rights nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) repeatedly alleged that illegal immigrants and
refugees were subjected to violence by border guards and coast guard
officers when caught entering the country illegally (see section 1.a.).
Violence also occurred as coast guard officials tried to prevent
illegal immigrants from leaving the country en route to other European
Union (EU) countries.
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture
(CPT) reported in December that the rights of persons in police
detention centers were not respected in practice and that there
continued to be widespread use of violence against persons deprived of
their liberty. The CPT delegation doctors found that persons who had
alleged ill-treatment during interrogation or while in border guard
stations were found to have injuries consistent with their allegations.
NGOs expressed continuing concern over the mistreatment of
individuals during arrest and detention and for the failure of judicial
and administrative systems to deal promptly and effectively with cases
of police misconduct (see section 1.d.).
By year's end no results had been released concerning the
investigation of a case of two civilians who alleged in 2004 that
police beat them in Pyrgos, Peloponnese, during a routine identity
check. Similarly, no results had been announced regarding allegations
that three armed forces officers abused and beat 10 illegal immigrants
on an islet in the Aegean Sea in 2004.
By year's end no date had been set for the trial of two police
officers charged with subjecting a group of Afghan asylum seekers in
2004 to interrogation techniques that allegedly included torture.
In a letter to the Ministry of Public Order made public in January
2005, the deputy ombudsman for human rights noted numerous procedural
and substantive shortcomings in the investigation concerning the
alleged police torture in 2002 of Nigerian citizen Joseph Okeke and the
alleged 2002 beating and torture of Yannis Papacostas in a police
station near Athens. The deputy ombudsman called for police to re-
evaluate their report on Okeke on the basis that the procedure suffered
from gross errors concerning the evaluation and appraisal of the
available evidence. At year's end an application based on this case was
pending with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) alleging
violation of the article in the European Convention on Human Rights
that prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.
In December 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay a fine of
$13,100 (10,000 euros) to each of two Romani men for inhuman and
degrading treatment by police in Mesolonghi in 1998; the Government
paid the fine during the year.
In December 2004 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay a fine of
$19,650 (15,000 euros) for failing to carry out an effective
investigation of a 1995 shooting incident in which police officers
seriously injured an unarmed person; the Government reportedly paid the
fine during the year.
Police were more likely to abuse Roma than other minority groups.
Immigrants, including Albanians, also accused police of abuse (see
section 5).
Police beat a protester during the year (see section 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh due to continued overcrowding and outdated facilities; however,
in December the Government appointed a former prosecutor as an
Inspector for Prisons and opened one new prison facility. As of
September the Ministry of Justice reported that the total prison
population was 10,114, while the official capacity of the prison system
was 6,019.
Many pretrial detainees were held with convicted prisoners in the
high security Korydallos Prison in central Piraeus. In March three
inmates (two Romanians and one Greek) were burned to death and another
was seriously injured after setting a fire in their cell at Korydallos.
In April inmates in the old section of the Trikala prison, where 350
inmates were housed in a building intended for 125, organized a riot to
protest the prison's overcrowding. Since the riot, a new wing has
opened at the Trikala prison and the old wing was renovated. Trikala's
overall capacity was increased to 400 in the enlarged facility and
there were approximately that number incarcerated there at year's end.
In August a facility in Chania, Crete, designed for 10 inmates was
holding 130, and another in Thessaloniki, built for 80 inmates, was
holding 181. The Thessaloniki Bar Association reported that inmates in
local police detention facilities did not have access to a yard or
basic sanitary items, and they were poorly nourished.
In an August-September 2005 visit, the CPT examined the treatment
of persons detained by law enforcement authorities, focusing in
particular on detention facilities for illegal immigrants in the
eastern Aegean and Thrace. The delegation visited prisons, police
detention centers, police stations, holding facilities for illegal
immigrants, and psychiatric hospitals. The CPT released its report in
December which found that most detention centers for illegal immigrants
it visited were in a poor state of repair, unhygienic, and lacking in
basic amenities. The CPT noted that prisons remained largely
overcrowded and that inter-prison violence appeared to be on the rise.
The CPT reported that conditions of detention in police establishments
generally were unsatisfactory, and in certain cases amounted to inhuman
or degrading treatment. The CPT found that facilities designed for
holding suspects for short periods were used for holding persons for
prolonged periods.
The CPT recommended measures to stamp out ill-treatment by law
enforcement officials that included investigating allegations of ill-
treatment thoroughly and, where appropriate, imposing disciplinary and
criminal sanctions. The committee also recommended the establishment of
an independent police inspectorate and rigorous recruitment and
training programs for the police.
The CPT also found that detention establishments of the Coast Guard
on the islands of Chios and Mytilini were unacceptable, because metal
containers lacking functioning hygienic facilities and natural light
and ventilation were used to hold irregular immigrants. The CPT
recommended that containers should never be used to hold persons for
more than a few hours and should always be equipped with suitable
facilities and ventilation.
In November-December 2005, the Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights examined the treatment of persons detained by law
enforcement authorities, focusing on detention facilities for illegal
immigrants in Attica. The delegation visited police detention centers,
holding facilities for illegal immigrants, and Romani camps. The
commissioner noted that overcrowding in prisons had increased. The
deputy ombudsman for human rights described conditions in the detention
centers as ``an insult to human dignity.'' During a separate mission,
in December 2005, the commissioner noted that the situation had not
improved. Although the Attica police station was no longer used as a
holding center due to its poor conditions, the replacement, a newly
constructed facility at Petrou-Ralli designed as a short-term detention
and transit facility, was only marginally better. The Council of Europe
commissioner and the CPT found that the new facility, used to detain
foreigners awaiting deportation, was unsuitable for stays over two
days. In practice foreigners were confined for three months in cells
that contained up to eight persons with only bunks for furniture, very
limited access to showers, and only brief exercise possibilities. The
CPT noted that the design of the facility was extremely poor, that it
was suffering from a total lack of communal spaces, and characterized
it as a missed opportunity for authorities to construct an
appropriately designed center for administrative detention of aliens.
In its 2006 annual report, Amnesty International (AI) and the CPT
stated that detention conditions for aliens, including asylum seekers,
irregular migrants, and unaccompanied minors, in some cases ``may have
amounted to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment,'' and that
overcrowding remained a serious problem (see section 2.d.).
At the Hellenikon holding center for irregular immigrants a man has
been detained for almost one and a half years without being able to
communicate with anyone; he appeared to have developed symptoms of
mental illness. The CPT delegation reported that this man had been
placed in a cage-like cell for several months.
In April 120 alien detainees in the main Thessaloniki detention
center protested overcrowding conditions and lack of access to proper
sanitation in the facility.
Disciplinary actions were initiated in late September 2005 against
two police officers who disturbed four jailed Muslims during prayer at
the police detention center in Aspropyrgos.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reiterated
observations about overcrowding and poor conditions in detention
centers during the year.
The CPT reported that conditions in Peplos (Thrace) and the island
of Mytilini (Aegean) detention centers were unacceptable, and found
multiple shortcomings at the Chios Judicial prison.
There were reports that juveniles seeking asylum were held with
adults.
The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights reported that
local and international independent human rights observers were not
consistently permitted access to prisons, police detention centers, or
detention centers for illegal immigrants. The commissioner recommended
the authorities increase and improve cooperation with NGOs, permitting
regular access to all facilities where foreigners were detained.
International human rights observers reported fewer problems receiving
permission for visits than did local human rights groups, and the
International Committee of the Red Cross had a regular program for
prison visits. There was insufficient access to detention centers for
independent organizations wanting to screen for victims of trafficking
in persons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention. However, police conducted
large-scale sweeps and temporarily detained large numbers of
foreigners, often under crowded and squalid conditions, while
determining their residence status.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police are
responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of order within the
country and are under the authority of the Ministry of Public Order.
The coast guard is responsible for law enforcement in territorial
waters and is under the authority of the Ministry of Mercantile Marine.
While the country's law enforcement agencies were generally effective,
police did not adequately deal with self-styled ``anti-imperialist''
anarchists, who used crude gas canister bombs and Molotov cocktails to
attack property, government offices, targets representing ``Western
interests,'' and the police, particularly in central Athens.
Police corruption continued to be a problem. While a police
anticorruption unit in the Ministry of Public Order's Bureau of
Internal Affairs investigated alleged abuses, human rights and
antitrafficking groups asserted that anticorruption efforts needed to
be given higher priority. The ombudsman for human rights and NGOs noted
that the Bureau of Internal Affairs' investigations determined
culpability in very few cases and that the penalties handed down were
disproportionately lenient. The Council of Europe commissioner for
human rights reported that few cases against law enforcement personnel
were brought before the courts and that there was leniency in the
courts when addressing cases involving law enforcement personnel. The
commissioner noted that the widely reported failure of authorities to
examine cases of ill treatment by law enforcement personnel remained of
particular concern and the mechanisms in place to address
anticorruption and law enforcement abuse claims needed to be reviewed.
During the year the Bureau of Internal Affairs took several
disciplinary measures, including dismissal and suspension, against
officers involved in corruption, primarily for forging documents and
taking bribes. Most charges against police involved violation of duty,
false certificates, abuse of power, corruption, violations with arms
and explosives, illegal release of persons in police custody,
procuring, and violations related to alien registration.
As of December the trial of the Charilaou precinct commander on
charges of blackmail, fraud, and illegal possession on firearms was
pending.
In April a police officer identified in published reports as Nikos
Kanellopoulos was convicted and given a three-year suspended sentence
for mistreating a Roma in August 2001.
The Ministry of Public Order conducted regular training to address
a variety of problems, including corruption and police abuses. The
ministry also issued a new code of conduct, new booklets, and other
material to police officers to promote reform.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires judicial warrants for
arrests except when they are made during the commission of a crime, and
it prohibits arbitrary arrest orders. Authorities generally respected
these provisions in practice. Police must bring persons who are
detained or arrested before an examining magistrate within 24 hours.
The magistrate must issue a detention warrant or order their release
within three days unless special circumstances justify a two-day
extension of this limit. Bail is available for defendants detained or
arrested on felony charges, unless the judicial officer determines that
such incentives would not adequately assure the defendant's appearance
at trial or that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the
community.
Under the law persons in detention had the right to inform a close
relative or another third party, to have access to a lawyer and to have
access to a doctor; however, the CPT found that the Government did not
respect these rights in practice. The CPT heard a number of claims that
access to a lawyer had been delayed for periods up to three days, and
that in most of these cases the persons detained, mostly foreigners,
alleged that they were ill-treated during arrest and interrogation. The
CPT received a number of complaints from irregular immigrants in
detention that the information sheets with explanations of their rights
that they received were only in the Greek language and that they were
either coerced physically or threatened with ill-treatment in order to
ensure the slips were signed (in Greek).
Defendants have the right to legal counsel. In felony cases the bar
association provides lawyers to defendants who prove they cannot afford
legal counsel.
Defendants brought to court on the day following the alleged
commission of a misdemeanor may be tried immediately under expedited
procedures. Although legal safeguards, including representation by
counsel, apply in expedited procedure cases, the short time period
limited defendants' ability to present an adequate defense. Defendants
may request a delay to prepare a defense, but the court is not obliged
to grant the request. Expedited procedures were used in less than 10
percent of applicable cases.
There continued to be reports that police took citizens to
detention centers for arbitrary identity checks, used insulting
language and threats of force, and conducted bodily searches in public.
Police reportedly targeted persons based on their race, color,
nationality, or their presence in ``high-crime'' areas (see section 5).
In December 2005 the chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court opened
investigations into allegations made by 28 Pakistanis resident in the
country that they were abducted in July 2005, hooded, held for up to
seven days in a secret location, and interrogated by persons who
claimed to be police officers. One of the claimants also alleged that
he was beaten. The minister of public order reported that up to 5,000
foreign national residents were legally questioned in the aftermath of
the July 2005 London bombings but that no such abuses took place. In
May the prosecutor filed abduction charges against unidentified
suspects after completing a four-month investigation and established
that at least 14 Pakistanis were abducted.
While members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) and Jehovah's Witnesses reported having difficulties with
harassment and police detention due to antiproselytizing laws, they
noted a marked improvement during the year (see section 2.c.).
The law allows pretrial detention for up to 18 months for felonies
and nine months for misdemeanors. Defense lawyers asserted that
pretrial detention was excessively long and overused by judges. A panel
of judges may release detainees pending trial, with or without bail.
Pretrial detainees made up approximately 30 percent of those
incarcerated and contributed to overcrowding, according to figures
provided by the Ministry of Justice.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice. Observers reported that the judiciary is subject
to influence. On several occasions in the last three years, the ECHR
has penalized the Government for the unreasonably long lengths of
trials and found the Greek court system to be inefficient. During the
year a number of judges were under investigation or had been dismissed
on corruption-related charges (see section 3). The judiciary acted more
leniently toward those claiming a political motivation for their acts
of property destruction (so-called anarchists) than it did for those
who claimed no political motivation (such as hooligans). For example,
anarchists were given suspended prison sentences in lieu of prison time
or punitive fines.
The judicial system consists of three levels of civil courts (first
instance, appeals, and supreme), three levels of criminal courts (first
instance, divided into misdemeanor and felony divisions; appeals; and
supreme), appointed judges, and an examining magistrate system, with
trials by judicial panels.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are
public in most instances, and juries are used in all first and second-
degree felony cases. An antiterror statute permits denial of the right
to a jury trial in cases of violent terrorism. Defendants have the
right to be present and to consult with an attorney in a timely manner.
An attorney is provided at public expense if indigent defendants face
serious criminal charges. Defendants may confront and question
witnesses against them and present witnesses and evidence on their
behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held
evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have the right to appeal. Defendants who do not speak
Greek have the right to a court-appointed interpreter. According to
several immigrant associations in Athens, the low fees paid for such
work often resulted in poor interpretation. Foreign defendants who used
these interpreters frequently complained that they did not understand
the proceedings at their trials. Defendants often were not advised of
their rights during arrest in a language that they could understand.
Several complained that they were not shown the Hellenic Police
Informational Bulletin, which contains prisoners' rights in a variety
of languages, and that they were forced to sign blank documents later
used for their deportation.
The Government recognizes Shari'a (the Muslim religious law) as the
law regulating family and civic issues of the Muslim minority in Thrace
(see section 5).
In March the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $11,259 (9,000
euros) to an applicant who had been subjected to a criminal proceeding
that lasted an ``undue length of time.'' The ECHR court ruled that a
proceeding of six years and eight months was excessive and did not
comply with the reasonable time requirement of the European Convention
on Human Rights. The Government paid the fine during the year.
In May 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $18,000 (15,000
euros) for nonpecuniary damages to an applicant for the undue length of
a criminal proceeding; the Government paid the fine during the year.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a generally
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. There are no
administrative remedies available beyond the judicial remedies for
alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits the invasion of privacy and searches
without warrants, and permits the monitoring of personal communications
only under strict judicial controls; however, these provisions were not
always respected in practice.
Police and prosecutors regularly conducted raids and searches of
Romani neighborhoods, frequently entering Roma homes without
authorization in search of criminal suspects, drugs, and weapons. Local
authorities threatened to evict, and evicted, Roma from camps and tent
dwellings during the year (see section 5).
Unlike in the previous year, Turcophone and Slavophone activists
did not complain of police surveillance.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, legal restrictions on free
speech remained in force. The law prohibits exposing to danger of
disturbance the friendly relations of the state with foreign states,
spreading false information and rumors liable to create concern and
fear among citizens and cause disturbances in the country's
international relations, and inciting citizens to rivalry and division
leading to disturbing the peace or acts of violence. However, these
prohibitions were very rarely invoked. In most criminal defamation
cases, defendants were released on bail pending appeal without serving
time in jail.
By year's end the results had not been made public of an inquiry by
the Mercantile Marine Ministry into 2004 allegations by two foreign
journalists that members of the coast guard arrested and beat them when
they attempted to film a restricted security area during the Olympic
Games.
There were numerous independent newspapers and magazines in
circulation. Throughout the year, and consistent with past years,
satirical and opposition newspapers routinely criticized state
authorities. Members of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups were
generally able to publish materials freely, including in their native
languages.
The law provides that the Government exercise ``immediate control''
over radio and television and establishes ownership limits on media
frequencies. The Ministry of Press and Mass Media has authority over
radio and television licensing, while the National Radio and Television
Council (ESR) maintains an advisory role.
Independent radio and television stations were active and expressed
a wide variety of views with little government restriction. State-
operated stations tended to emphasize the Government's views but also
reported objectively on other parties' programs and positions. Turkish-
language television programs were widely available via satellite in
Thrace.
The law allows for seizure, by order of the public prosecutor, of
publications that insult the President, offend Christianity ``or any
other known religion,'' contain obscene articles, advocate violent
overthrow of the political system, or disclose military and defense
information. There were no such seizures during the year.
In February a court in Patras convicted and sentenced a journalist
and a cameraman to eight months imprisonment and a fine of $37,530
(30,000 euros) each for conducting an interview with an Albanian
migrant who was arraigned for allegedly driving drunk in a stolen car.
The conviction was based upon a law that prohibits photographing or
filming individuals while they are pending trial; however, the Albanian
individual requested the interview in order to denounce a racial attack
that occurred while he was being arrested. The Greek Helsinki Monitor
(GHM) alleged that this was the first invocation of the law, despite
the fact that newspapers and television stations routinely violated it.
In February 2005 police arrested an Internet artist on charges of
Internet fraud for creating a satirical web site entitled ``Dirty Works
in Greece.'' The site described corruption in the civil service hiring
process. Police confiscated his computer, notes, and other materials.
The artist was released on bail after three days. There were no further
developments in the case during the year.
Unlike in the previous year, no newspapers censored articles
regarding the Slavophone dialect.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Internet use was widely available throughout the
country.
Individuals and groups could generally engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. However, in
June Athens police arrested a search engine blog administrator and
confiscated his computer hard drive. He was charged with libel and
defamation based upon comments that appeared in one of the blogs under
his administration. The comments allegedly used the word ``stupid'' to
describe a nationalistic television religious evangelizer who claimed
that all things on earth come from Greece and from ancient Greeks. The
administrator, however, was not the author of the comments. He was
released on bail and then suspended the operation of the blog. A
lawsuit was filed against him, and his trial was still pending at
year's end.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
restrict academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
In November police severely beat a 24-year-old Cypriot student
during a student protest commemorating the 1973 student uprising
against the military junta. The incident was caught by television
cameras and caused a public outcry. The Government condemned the
incident, apologized for it, and ordered a judicial investigation, the
results of which had not been announced by year's end. The Ministry of
Public Order suspended two police officers and ordered the transfer of
a police director and three low ranking officers.
A human rights activist was held at a police station for four hours
in October 2005 and was told that he was under arrest after having
participated in demonstrations against the expulsion of Romani children
from their school. A parent lodged a complaint against him for libel
and defamation, but at year's end the case was still pending, and no
trial date had been set.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, the courts continued to place legal restrictions
on the names of associations involving certain ethnic minorities.
In February 2005 the Supreme Court announced its rejection of the
appeal of the Turkish Union of Xanthi, upholding the 1983 lower court
decision to dissolve the association because it used the adjective
``Turkish'' in its title. The same court rejected the application for
registration of the Rodopi Turkish Women's Cultural Association for the
same reason. The Supreme Court ruling ended a 20-year legal struggle
for recognition by the Turkish Union, which had normal legal status
from 1927 to 1983. The Turkish Union of Xanthi and the Rodopi Cultural
Association applied to the ECHR for redress, but by year's end, no
decision had been reached.
In October the Home of Macedonian Culture (Stegi Makedonikou
Politismou) filed an appeal to a previous decision denying to the
organization legal status; however, the appeals court in Florina
rejected the appeal in September. Having exhausted all state avenues of
redress, the only avenue left for the group is to file an appeal with
the ECHR.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion;
however, non-Orthodox groups at times faced administrative obstacles or
legal restrictions on religious practices.
The law establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ (Greek
Orthodoxy) as the ``prevailing'' religion. The Greek Orthodox Church
continued to exercise significant political and economic influence. The
Government financially supported the Greek Orthodox Church and also
paid the salaries and some expenses of the two official Muslim
religious leaders in Thrace. Jewish leaders requested that the
Government pay rabbis' salaries, given its practice of paying Orthodox
priests' and Muslim muftis' salaries; the Government had not responded
to this request by year's end.
The Government, by virtue of the status of the Greek Orthodox
Church as the prevailing religion, recognizes de facto its canon law.
Privileges and legal prerogatives granted to the Orthodox Church are
not extended routinely to other recognized religions. Orthodox Church
officials refused to enter into dialogue with religious groups that
they considered harmful to Orthodox worshippers, and they instructed
their members to shun followers of these faiths. In June an Orthodox
Bishop in the Dodecanese group of islands reportedly harassed and
verbally abused an Old-Calendar bishop (a separate sect of Orthodoxy)
who was conducting a liturgy in a private church on Kalymnos island.
Several religious denominations reported difficulties dealing with
authorities on a variety of administrative matters, including gaining
recognition as a ``known religion,'' opening new houses of worship, and
moving a house of worship from one location to another.
Only Greek Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism are recognized as ``known
religions.'' No formal mechanism exists to gain recognition as a
``known religion.'' Recognition is granted indirectly by applying for
and receiving a ``house of prayer'' permit from the Ministry of
Education and Religion. In July the Government repealed a law that
allowed the ministry to base its decisions on the issuance of house of
prayer permits on the opinion of the local Orthodox bishop. New
religions had problems obtaining these permits.
According to Ministry of Education and Religion officials,
applications for additional places of worship were numerous and were
approved routinely once a recognized religion received a permit;
however, members of the Church of Scientology have not been able to
register or build a house of prayer. A group that follows the ancient
polytheistic Hellenic tradition applied twice in the last three years
for a house of prayer permit, but by year's end the group had not
received an official response to its applications. The Jehovah's
Witnesses have several pending house-of-prayer permit requests, but
they have not taken the cases to the ombudsman because they received a
verbal commitment from the Ministry of Education and Religion that it
would approve their applications. In addition non-Orthodox religious
groups must provide separate and lengthy applications to authorities on
such matters as gaining permission to move an official house of prayer
to a larger facility.
In 2004 a former Greek Orthodox priest who became a priest of the
Macedonian Orthodox Church was issued a three-month prison sentence,
later suspended, for holding religious services without a house of
prayer permit. The priest's sentence could not be appealed in the
country and for this reason he intended to appeal to the ECHR.
Although parliament approved a bill in 2000 allowing construction
of the first Islamic cultural center and mosque in the Attica area, no
construction had started by year's end. In October the Government
passed legislation providing for the establishment of a mosque in
central Athens, as opposed to the initial site chosen in an outlying
suburb in Attica. In the meantime, Muslims in Athens continued
congregating in dozens of unofficial prayer rooms and were forced to
travel to Thrace for official weddings and funerals because there were
no official Muslim clerics outside of Thrace.
Muslims are accorded the status of an official minority in Thrace,
and the Government selects two official Muslim religious leaders, or
muftis, there. While part of the community accepted the two officially
appointed muftis, some Muslims ``elected'' two different muftis. In the
past, the courts repeatedly convicted one ``elected'' mufti for
usurping the authority of the official mufti; however, his sentences
remained suspended. The ``elected'' mufti appealed to the ECHR which
found in July the Government had violated his right of freedom of
religion (article 9 of the European Human Rights Convention on freedom
of thought, conscience and religion) and ordered the Government to pay
$3,930 (3,000 euros) in court costs. The Government paid the fine
during the year.
Non-Orthodox citizens claimed that they faced career limits in the
military, police, fire-fighting forces, and civil service due to their
religion.
The law specifically prohibits proselytizing and stipulates that
religious rites must not disturb public order or offend moral
principles. Police conducted arbitrary identity checks and arrested and
detained Mormons and members of Jehovah's Witnesses, usually after
witnessing or receiving complaints that they were engaged in
proselytizing. In most cases, police held persons for several hours and
then released them without filing charges. Mormons and Jehovah's
Witnesses arrested and held by the police reported that police did not
allow them to call their lawyers and verbally abused them for their
religious beliefs. However, the proselytizers reported a marked
improvement during the year due to increased training and instruction
given to police officers.
Legislation providing for religious worker visas was passed in
2005, remedying the difficulty reported in the past by some religious
denominations in renewing the visas of non-EU citizen religious
officials.
Religious instruction is mandatory for all Greek Orthodox students
in primary and secondary schools, but not for non-Orthodox students.
Some government-approved religious textbooks made derogatory statements
about non-Greek Orthodox faiths. Since schools did not supervise non-
Orthodox children while Greek Orthodox children were taking religious
instruction, non-Orthodox parents complained that they were effectively
forced to have their children attend Greek Orthodox classes. In Thrace
the Government subsidized public schools for the Muslim minority and
two Koranic schools. Turcophone activists criticized the quality of
instruction at the minority schools and the state-sponsored Pedagogical
Academy that trains teachers. In September the Government began a pilot
program of teaching Turkish as a foreign language in five public high
schools in Thrace. Turkish teachers expressed reservations about the
program and ultimately refused to teach Turkish in these public high
schools.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of non-Orthodox faiths
reported incidents of societal discrimination, such as local Greek
Orthodox bishops warning parishioners not to visit clergy or members of
these faiths and requesting that police arrest missionaries for
proselytizing. Some non-Orthodox religious communities encountered
difficulty in communicating with officials of the Orthodox Church and
claimed that the attitude of the Orthodox Church toward their faiths
has increased societal intolerance toward their religions. However,
with the exception of the growing Muslim population, most members of
non-Orthodox faiths considered themselves satisfactorily integrated
into society.
The Orthodox Church maintained on its Web site a list of religious
groups--including Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, evangelical
Protestants, Scientologists, Baha'is, and others--and practices that it
considers sacrilegious.
The Jewish community has approximately 5,000 members. Anti-Semitism
continued to exist, particularly in the extremist press. The mainstream
press and public often did not clearly distinguish between criticism of
Israel and comments about Jews. In 2004 the European Commission against
Racism and Intolerance, the Wiesenthal Center, the Anti-Defamation
League, and GHM criticized the press for carrying anti-Semitic stories
and cartoons on several occasions. For example, on August 16,
Eleftherotypia, the second largest daily newspaper, published a cartoon
depicting an Israeli soldier praying with a rifle that was firing
swastikas. Candidates for the political party LAOS, the fifth largest
party, have made anti-Semitic statements during the campaign for
municipal offices in the Fall. The party's weekly paper A1 published
strongly anti-Semitic articles accusing the Israelis of genocide
against the Lebanese people. A July editorial stated that if ``the Jews
continue this way, they will beat Hitler's number of victims.'' Anti-
Semitic references as well as comparisons with the Holocaust were
common in the press during the July-August conflict involving Israel
and Lebanon, while some major media promoted the image of Israel as the
``Nazi-state.'' On the other hand, Hezbollah fighters were often seen
as ``freedom fighters'' and ``resistance groups.''
Vandalism of Jewish monuments decreased, although the Holocaust
monument in Thessaloniki was vandalized during an antiwar demonstration
in August; the Government condemned the vandalism. As of December,
police had not found the perpetrators of the 2004 desecration of
Holocaust memorials in Komotini in Thrace. Several times throughout the
year extreme right-wing groups painted anti-Semitic graffiti along with
their symbols and organization names at multiple locations, including
the busy Athens-Corinth and Athens-Tripoli highways, and other public
structures. In February the prosecutor filed a lawsuit against ``Golden
Dawn'' for defacing public property and painting anti-Semitic graffiti
during the course of the last several years.
In April the Central Board of the Jewish Communities of Greece
continued to protest the Easter tradition of burning a life-size effigy
of Judas, sometimes referred to as the ``burning of the Jew,'' which
they maintained propagated hatred and fanaticism against Jews. One
Greek Orthodox bishop, a local NGO, and the Wiesenthal Center expressed
formal written objections to this tradition. The Jewish Community also
protested anti-Semitic passages in the Holy Week liturgy and it
reported that it maintained a dialogue with the Orthodox Church about
the removal of these passages.
Some schoolbooks carried negative references to Roman Catholics,
Jewish persons, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, and others.
Negotiations continued between the Jewish community of Thessaloniki
and the Government to find acceptable restitution for the community's
cemetery, expropriated after its destruction during the Holocaust.
Aristotle University, a public institution, was built on top of the
expropriated cemetery.
Jewish community leaders condemned anti-Semitic broadcasts on small
private television stations, but authorities did not bring charges
against these largely unlicensed operators.
The Government co-sponsored commemorative events in Athens and
Thessaloniki in January for Holocaust Remembrance Day. This was
followed two weeks later by the visit of Israel's President Moshe
Katsav, the first official visit of an Israeli head of state. The
Ministry of Education distributed materials to schools on the history
of the Holocaust to be read in all schools on Holocaust Remembrance
Day, and teacher-training seminars on the Holocaust were held.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for free movement or
residence in the country as well as free entry and exit of citizens and
noncitizens. The Government generally respected these rights in
practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
The law permits the Government to remove citizenship from persons
who commit acts contrary to the interests of the country for the
benefit of a foreign state. While the law applies to citizens
regardless of ethnicity, it has been enforced in all but one case
against persons who identified themselves as ethnic ``Macedonians.''
The Government did not reveal the number of such cases, but it was
reported to be low, and there were no reports of new cases during the
year. There were reports that citizens of the United States, Canada,
Australia, and the Republic of Macedonia were prevented from entering
the country because their names appeared on a blacklist of people who
had taken an anti-Greek political position on the Macedonia issue.
The Ministry of Interior reported to parliament in May 2005 that
46,638 Muslims from Thrace and the Dodecanese islands lost their
citizenship when they left the country between 1955 and 1998. The law
that permitted this divestment of citizenship was repealed in 1998, and
the ``stateless'' residents are eligible to recover their citizenship
as long as they live in Greece. According to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, by December 2005 there were 64 persons in possession of
government-issued identification documents characterizing them as
``stateless.'' By December the ministry reported that approximately 55
applications were pending for citizenship through naturalization by
these residents. In March the ombudsman for human rights noted that
delay in processing applications for recovering citizenship was
``excessive and unjustified.'' According to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, the Ministry of Interior has made no decisions on the
applications. Stateless persons continued to be denied access to state
benefits such as social security, medical care, and pensions.
Due to serious bureaucratic problems in the legalization process
for immigrants, many aliens were in a semilegal status (have expired
permits but have filed for renewal or are entitled to renewal, but a
renewal stamp had not yet been placed in their passports). Many of
these were subject to deportation without legal process following
police sweeps. In August 2005 a new immigration law was passed
providing for legalization of undocumented migrants who can prove by a
visa stamp or possession of a tax roll number that they entered the
country before December 31, 2004. Immigrants and human rights
organizations complained that out of an estimated population of 450,000
undocumented immigrants, only 180,000 immigrants had successfully
legalized under the new law because many immigrants did not meet the
qualification of legal entry into the country or due to stringent
application requirements.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. However, the
Government largely has not implemented a 1999 Presidential decree that
brought the law into compliance with the standards of the UNHCR with
regard to asylum procedures. In practice the Government provided some
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution. Although the UNHCR observed an attempt
by the Government for a more realistic and humanitarian approach to
refugees during the year, they, together with the Greek Council for
Refugees, the ombudsman for human rights, the European Commission
against Racism and Intolerance, AI, and the Council of Europe
commissioner for human rights, expressed concern that very few
applicants were granted asylum and that new arrivals that might include
potential asylum seekers were at risk of refoulement. In March the
ombudsman for human rights noted that the asylum application process
remained problematic, primarily due to selective acceptance and
processing procedures for asylum applications by the police Aliens
Directorate. During 2005 the Government granted refugee status to 39
out of 4,624 applicants, whereas the overall recognition rate,
including humanitarian status (granted to 49 persons) stood at 1.9
percent. The UNHCR remained concerned that the refugee recognition rate
remained very low.
Although the Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers,
the UNHCR and others expressed concern over the country's asylum policy
and practices. They cited its insufficient reception facilities,
underdeveloped systems for providing for refugee welfare, insufficient
counseling to assist integration of refugees and asylum seekers, and
lack of appropriate treatment for unaccompanied minors who were
potential asylum seekers. In February the UNHCR issued a position paper
on refugee protection with 25 recommendations for the Government
regarding: improvement of reception capacity and living conditions;
provision of legal counseling; and protection for asylum-seeking
children, women, and victims of human trafficking. In 2005 the
ombudsman pointed out inadequacies in laws for detaining and deporting
underage foreign nationals, including asylum seekers, and a lack of
infrastructure and services for handling juvenile detainees who tried
to enter the country illegally or sought asylum. In June the ombudsman
recommended that the Ministry of Public Order add staff to the Aliens
Directorate to handle the 50,000 pending asylum applications, simplify
asylum procedures, and follow UNHCR recommendations and guidelines; the
Government had not responded to the recommendation by year's end.
By November two policemen were awaiting trial for allegedly
subjecting a group of 40 to 60 Afghan asylum seekers to interrogation
techniques that included torture in 2004.
Conditions for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers detained by
authorities were sometimes unsatisfactory (see section 1.c.). The UNHCR
observed an improvement of detention conditions at border areas, but
this improvement was not uniform, and conditions in many areas remained
substandard. Moreover, inadequate counseling to ensure the accurate
identification of asylum seekers was prevalent. In May AI charged that
several irregular immigrants, who arrived on the island of Chios in
April 2005, were detained in conditions that amounted to cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment, including being held in a metal
container close to the island's main harbor. In April 2005 human rights
activists on the island demonstrated against the use of the metal
container to hold migrants. Human rights groups reported limited
provisions and medical care as well as lack of hot water at some
facilities. Improvement was noted in some parts of the Evros region,
but old warehouses continued to be used to house illegal immigrants.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provides citizens the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In the most recent
elections, held in 2004 and considered free and fair, the New Democracy
Party won the majority of seats in parliament. Opposition parties
functioned freely and had broad access to the media.
Romani representatives reported that local authorities often
deprived Roma of the right to vote by refusing to register them. Many
Roma had difficulty meeting municipal residency requirements to
register to vote. There were a few complaints that the Government
harassed the Rainbow Party, a small political party that included
Slavophone activists, prior to the 2004 elections.
Voting is mandatory for citizens over age 18, according to the law;
however, there are many conditions under which citizens may be
exempted, and the Government did not apply a penalty for not voting.
There were 38 women in the 300-seat parliament and one woman in the
19-member cabinet. A quota system requires 30 percent of all local
government candidates to be women. At the three high courts, there were
14 women out of 61 council of state justices, 28 women out of 59
supreme administrative court justices, and three women out of 62
Supreme Court justices.
There was one member of the Muslim minority in the 300-seat
parliament. There were no Muslim minority members in the cabinet.
A government-appointed regional administrator of Eastern Macedonia
and Thrace has statutory responsibility for oversight of rights
provided to the Muslim minority in Thrace, but the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs retains an important advisory role.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was a problem.
International and domestic NGOs stated that anticorruption efforts
needed to be a higher government priority, and opinion polls suggested
widespread public perception of corruption in the executive and
legislative branches. Mutual accusations of corruption between
political parties were a daily staple of political life.
By December. 13 justices had been dismissed, 14 were temporarily
suspended from duty, two were detained and being prosecuted for money
laundering and receiving bribes, 33 were indicted, and disciplinary
action had been initiated against 49 for charges related to corruption.
In October the immunity of a member of parliament was lifted on
allegations of corruption. The deputy minister of national economy and
finance was fired based on the public allegations of corruption;
however, he was not prosecuted.
The constitution provides for the right of access to government-
held information, and the Government granted access for citizens.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction in the country,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases.
Cooperation with domestic groups varied; some received government
funding, while others received no official or unofficial cooperation.
The Government usually cooperated with international human rights
groups and made an effort to be responsive to their views.
A CPT delegation, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council
of Europe, and the UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution, and child pornography visited the country during the year
(see sections 1.c., 1.d., and 5).
The UN special rapporteur on the sale of children, child
prostitution, and child pornography, after a November 2005 visit,
called on the Government to foster a more efficient and cooperative
relationship with NGOs ``to make children a recognized priority for the
country beyond political, institutional, and ideological disputes'';
appoint a focal point on children's issues; improve institutional
capacity for protecting unaccompanied minors, street children, and
victims of trafficking; and complete the pending bilateral child
repatriation agreement with Albania. He further recommended that the
state take specific measures to improve the living conditions of Roma
and give Romani children alternatives to street work and prostitution
as survival strategies. He also recommended the creation of an advisory
board of civil society and public authorities to coordinate children's
policies as well as the creation of a joint Greek-Albanian commission
to investigate the ``disappearances'' from a children's institution
from 1998 to 2003 (see section 5). He called NGOs an ``indispensable
asset'' in implementing the measures. The Government did not take any
steps to implement his recommendations during the year.
The law provides for an independent ombudsman, whose office
provided an effective means for citizens to address human rights and
religious freedom problems. The widely recognized office was granted
adequate resources to perform its functions: mediating between private
individuals and public administration and defending and promoting
children's rights. There were five deputy ombudsmen who dealt
respectively with human rights, children's rights, citizen-state
relations, health and social welfare, and quality of life. The
Department of Human Rights received 2,506 complaints in 2005, 983 of
which were pending in January. Problems included complaints regarding
residence and work provisions for immigrants, overcrowding in prisons
and aliens' detention centers, unjustified procedural difficulties to
acquire citizenship, excessive and unjustified delays in processing
applications for recovering citizenship for ``stateless'' persons,
arbitrary acceptance of applications of asylum seekers and negative
references to non-Orthodox religions in schoolbooks.
The government-funded National Human Rights Committee is an
autonomous human rights body that operates independently of government
or party control or influence. The committee is the Government's
advisory organ on the protection of human rights and had adequate
resources. It cooperated effectively with the Government to promote
legislation protecting and enhancing human rights. During the year it
produced a major report on Roma which found that Roma remained the most
discriminated against and marginalized social group in the country. In
2005 it produced two television spots against racism and promulgated
reports and recommendations on human rights problems, including teenage
violence, gender equality, affirmative action, and refugee matters.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, government
respect for these rights was inconsistent in practice. Violence against
women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination against
ethnic minorities (particularly Roma) and homosexuals were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, continued to be
a problem. The Government passed legislation in August that charges
spousal rape as a felony, prohibits corporal punishment of children,
and provides for ex relatione prosecution (prosecution by force of law)
for all domestic violence crimes. Penalties provided range from two
years to 10 years depending on the gravity of the crime. The General
Secretariat for the Equality of the Sexes (GSES), an independent
government agency, estimated that only 6 to 10 percent of domestic
violence victims contacted the police, and only a small fraction of
those cases reached trial. The GSES claimed that police tended to
discourage women from pursuing domestic violence charges, instead
encouraging them to undertake reconciliation efforts, and that courts
were lenient when dealing with domestic violence cases. The GSES, in
cooperation with the Ministry of Public Order, continued courses to
train police on ways to deal with domestic violence victims.
The GSES provided counseling and assistance to domestic violence
victims. Two GSES shelters for battered women and their children, in
Athens and Piraeus, offered services including legal and psychological
help. The GSES operated a 24-hour emergency telephone hotline for
abused women. A unit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare also
operated a hotline that provided referrals and psychological
counseling. There were additional shelters operated by the municipality
of Athens, the Orthodox Church, and various NGOs for domestic violence
victims.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a crime according to a law passed
in August. Conviction rates for rape were low for first-time offenders,
but sentences were harsh for repeat offenders. According to the
Ministry of Public Order, 127 rapes and attempted rapes were reported
in the first six months of the year. In December an academic researcher
estimated that approximately 4,500 rapes occurred annually in the
country, of which only 270, or 6 percent, were reported to the police.
Of the reported rapes, only 183 resulted in an arrest, and of the 47
cases that reached the Felony Court, only 20 ended in conviction.
Medical, psychological, social, and legal support from the Government
and NGOs for victims of maltreatment was also usually available to rape
victims.
Prostitution is legal at the age of 18. Prostitutes must register
at the local prefecture and carry a medical card that is updated every
two weeks. It was estimated that fewer than 1,000 women were legally
employed as prostitutes. Approximately 20,000 women, most of foreign
origin, were engaged in illegal prostitution. According to academics,
many illegal prostitutes may be trafficking victims (see section 5,
Trafficking). While there were reports that prostitutes were abused and
subjected to violence and harassment by pimps and clients, there were
no reports that prostitutes were specifically targeted for abuse.
A new law on sexual harassment was passed in August. The law
implements an EU directive on sexual harassment that provides
guidelines for sanctions, legal action, and compensation for victims.
Labor unions reported that lawsuits for sexual harassment were very
rare and that only four women had filed such charges in the past seven
years. In all four cases, the courts reportedly imposed very lenient
civil sentences. KETHI reported that the vast majority of women who
experienced sexual harassment in the workplace quit their jobs and did
not file charges. KETHI estimated that 30 to 50 percent of working
women and 10 percent of working men have experienced sexual harassment
at their work place.
The Government recognizes Shari'a (the Muslim religious law) as the
law regulating family and civic issues of the Muslim minority in
Thrace. The first instance courts in Thrace routinely ratified
decisions of the muftis who have judicial powers in civic and domestic
matters. The National Human Rights Committee, an autonomous body that
is the Government's advisory organ on protection of human rights,
stated that the Government should limit the powers of the muftis to
religious duties and should stop recognizing Shari'a, because it can
restrict the civic rights of the citizens it is applied to. In 2005 the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern regarding the
impediments that Muslim women in Thrace face under Shari'a law. In
March the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights and the UN
special rapporteur reported that they were informed of cases of both
early marriages and marriages by proxy. Muslim female activists claimed
that because all Muslim women in Thrace were married under Shari'a,
they were therefore obliged to acquire mufti consent to obtain a
divorce. These decisions were based on interpretations of Shari'a law
that do not exist in written form and therefore cannot be appealed. The
courts routinely ratified these mufti decisions.
The law provides for equal pay for equal work; however, according
to official 2005 statistics, women's pay amounted to 81 percent of
men's pay. Although relatively few occupied senior positions, women
continued to enter traditionally male-dominated professions such as law
and medicine in larger numbers. Women were underrepresented in labor
union leadership.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare.
The law provides for free and compulsory education for a minimum of
nine years. According to the 2001 census, 99.4 percent of school-age
children attended school, and most children completed secondary
education. However, noncompliance with the compulsory education
requirement was a significant problem in the Romani community. Research
conducted by the Aghlaia Kyriakou state hospital showed that 63 percent
of Romani children did not attend school. There were reports of non-
Romani parents withdrawing their children from schools attended by
Romani children, and of non-Romani parents attempting to prevent Romani
children from studying at the same schools that their children
attended. In February the European Roma Rights Centre and the
International Helsinki Federation expressed concern about the placement
of Romani pupils in segregated classes in Aspropyrgos, Attica.
Violence against children occurred, particularly against street
children. The law prohibits the mistreatment of children and sets
penalties for violators, and the Government generally enforced these
provisions effectively; however, government-run institutions were
understaffed, and NGOs complained that they did not have available
positions for all children in need of alternative placement. Welfare
laws provide for treatment and prevention programs for abused and
neglected children and seek to ensure the availability of alternative
family care or institutional placement. However, children's rights
advocacy groups claimed that government residential care centers
provided inadequate and low quality protection for children at high
risk of abuse due to a lack of coordination between welfare services
and the courts, inadequate funding of the welfare system, and poor
staffing of the care centers. In March the UN special rapporteur on the
sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography, who
visited in November 2005, reported that children's social protection
institutions lacked sufficient resource capacity and that there was no
centralized child protection system.
Child marriage was common within the Romani community.
Additionally, there were limited numbers of marriages of persons under
18 among the Muslim minority in Thrace and Athens. The state-appointed
muftis, who may apply Shari'a law in family matters, noted that they
did not allow marriage of children under age 15. In November 2005 the
official mufti of Komotini reported issuing instruction to imams in
Thrace not to conduct underage marriages; however, the Council of
Europe's commissioner for human rights reported that he was informed of
cases of both early marriages and marriages by proxy of underage
persons. The Government has youth centers, parent counseling, and
programs that address poverty and lack of education, two factors which
were believed to contribute to child marriage.
There were reports that trafficking of children, mainly for forced
labor and sexual exploitation, was a problem (see section 5,
Trafficking, and section 6.d.).
The Police Division for Internet Crime dismantled 25 networks
dealing in child pornography through the Internet in the period between
July 2004 and June of this year. They arrested 35 citizens identified
as members of networks, and charged them with buying and selling child
pornographic materials. The country does not have legislation punishing
possession and circulation of pedophiliac materials. The Internet Crime
Police Division arrested nine persons and filed lawsuits against 19
others for dealing in internet child pornography during the coordinated
EU ``Operation Purity'' in April 2005. The division reported a 600
percent annual increase of crime through the Internet.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and local NGOs, the
majority of street children (often indigenous Roma or Albanian Roma)
were exploited by family members who forced them to work in the
streets, usually begging or selling small items (see section 6.d).
In 2004 the UN Committee Against Torture expressed concern that
inadequate measures had been taken to protect 502 Albanian children who
remained unaccounted for after being picked up by the security police
and kept in state custody at the Agia Varvara orphanage between 1998
and 2003. The prosecutor accepted a criminal complaint submitted by the
GHM and an appeal by the UN Committee Against Torture, and in 2004 it
pressed felony charges against members of the administration of the
institution relating to the case; however, no action was reported on
the case during the year. The UN special rapporteur on the sale of
children, child prostitution, and child pornography who visited in
November 2005 noted a ``deficiency in the design of the educational and
social methodology'' of the Agia Varvara institution.
During the year the Government, the UNHCR, and the deputy ombudsman
for children's rights announced guidelines for the management of
separated children seeking asylum, based on internally agreed upon
principles of separated child protection. Among the 11 detailed
guidelines is one specifying the appointment of a special temporary
guardian as soon as a separated child is identified as an applicant for
asylum. However, by November, there remained problems with the
implementation of the guidelines, and the UNHCR, Greek Council for
Refugees, and deputy ombudsman for children's rights called on the
Government to improve protection for separated migrant children,
notably potential asylum seekers and victims of trafficking, and
appoint legal guardians for them.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the country was both a transit and destination country for
significant numbers of women, children, and smaller numbers of men
trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Major countries of origin for trafficking victims included Nigeria,
Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Romania, and Belarus.
Women from many other countries were trafficked to the country and in
some cases were reportedly trafficked on to Italy and other EU
countries as well as to the Middle East.
According to an academic observer in 2005, trafficking in women and
children for sexual exploitation in the country decreased from
approximately 20,000 victims in 2003 to approximately 10,000 during
2005. Unofficial NGO estimates placed approximately 13,000 to 14,000
trafficked persons in the country at any given time.
NGOs reported a decrease in the number of Albanian children
trafficked to the country in 2005 and 2006; however, there were reports
that Albanian Roma children continued to be trafficked for forced
begging and stealing. Albanian children made up the majority of
children trafficked for forced labor, begging, and stealing. NGOs
reported that the practice of ``renting'' children had dramatically
decreased in recent years as it became easier for Albanian parents to
immigrate to the country. In February the Government concluded a
protocol with Albania on the repatriation of Albanian child trafficking
victims which by year's end remained unratified by the parliament.
Problems persisted with police detaining minors trafficked into the
country as criminals or repatriating them without ensuring proper
reception by their home country authorities.
Women and children arrived as ``tourists'' or illegal immigrants
and were lured into prostitution by club owners who threatened them
with deportation. There were reports that traffickers kidnapped
victims, including minors, from their homes abroad and smuggled them
into the country, where they were sold to local procurers. Some rescued
victims reported being given small stipends, mobile phones, and limited
freedoms but nevertheless they coerced, threatened, and abused by their
traffickers.
A few police officers reportedly were involved in trafficking rings
or accepted bribes from traffickers, and a few Greek diplomats abroad
reportedly facilitated trafficking by issuing visas with little
documentary evidence and no personal interviews to women subsequently
identified as trafficking victims, according to a lawsuit filed in
April by the Greek Helsinki Monitor.
The law considers trafficking in persons a criminal offense and
provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years and fines of approximately
$12,000 to $60,000 (10,000 to 50,000 euros) for convicted traffickers.
Penalties are harsher for traffickers of children.
The Government continued to investigate cases of trafficking and
secured convictions for traffickers. In January the Government
established 12 additional anti-trafficking task forces throughout the
country and funded specialized training for over 1,000 police officers.
In the first half of the year the Government investigated several
trafficking cases and arrested 95 suspected traffickers. In 2005 there
were nine convictions and sentences for these convicted traffickers
ranging from one to 12 years. The Government could not, however,
confirm whether any traffickers were actually serving the time
sentenced. While the Government reported that over 95 illegal-alien
defendants were awaiting prosecution on trafficking charges, courts
released and deported the majority of such foreign defendants.
There is an interministerial committee to coordinate
antitrafficking efforts. During the year, the Government participated
in international investigations in cooperation with regional
authorities, including the Southern European Cooperative Initiative.
Police officers reportedly were involved in trafficking rings or
accepted bribes from traffickers, including organized crime networks.
During the year charges were filed against three police officers--two
of them senior--relating to trafficking complicity. As of year's end,
no trial date had been set. The Ministry of Public Order's Bureau of
Internal Affairs investigated charges of police involvement in
trafficking cases.
While the immigration law provides for a ``reflection period'' for
trafficking victims facing deportation, the screening and referral
process did not adequately identify and protect most vulnerable
potential victims in the country. Some trafficking victims were
prosecuted for immigration violations, sometimes alongside their
traffickers. A few trafficking victims and NGOs that supported them
stated that inadequate police protection for victims who were witnesses
in trials meant that those victims lived in constant fear of their
traffickers. A few victims were provided with the reflection period and
testified against their traffickers.
During the year the Government granted 15 new and 24 renewed
residence permits for trafficking victims. In the first half of the
year the Government identified 48 trafficking victims, 28 of whom
accepted assistance and protection; however, anecdotal reports
indicated that trafficking victims continued to be deported.
A number of domestic NGOs worked on trafficking problems, but
victim protection measures and referral mechanisms remained weak. In
November 2005 the Government signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with 12
NGOs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to improve
government-NGO coordination in a screening and referral process for
trafficking victims. The Government supported a 24-hour hotline for
trafficking victims, operated by an NGO.
There were several NGO-operated shelters. The GSES produced a
television ad which appeared in the media in February, March, and April
targeting commercial sex procurers, trafficking victims, and citizens,
and distributed information materials in Greek, English, Albanian,
Russian and French. The campaign encouraged the public to report
incidents of trafficking.
In May the IOM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, led a training program for approximately 200 prosecutors on
the subject of dealing with and prosecuting human trafficking cases. In
November the Ministry of Public Order initiated an antitrafficking
transborder police action plan on regional police cooperation. The
Secretariat for Gender Equality held a joint conference with the
Council on Europe on combating trafficking and the GSES conducted a
series of seminars for civil servants and local administration officers
in various cities to alert them to and educate them about trafficking.
In October the IOM, in conjunction with the Ministry of Employment, led
a training program for labor inspectors to learn how to identify
victims of labor trafficking.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the GSES launched a development
assistance project to combat trafficking in persons in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo that empowered female trafficking
victims, raised the public's awareness of trafficking, and educated
relevant agencies.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities in
employment, education, access to health care, or the provision of other
government services and the Government effectively enforced these
provisions. The law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities; however, authorities enforced this law poorly. In May
members of parliament, rapporteurs to a special parliamentary committee
on the disabled reported that the lack of accessibility forced persons
with disabilities to stay home and led to serious social exclusion.
Only five percent of public buildings were fully accessible to persons
with disabilities; most buildings with special ramps did not have
special elevators and lavatories. The deputy ombudsman for social
welfare handled complaints related to persons with special needs,
especially related to employment, social security, and transportation.
The Ministry of Welfare estimated that there were 180,000 to
200,000 children with special education needs, of whom only 18,585 were
attending school in 2004 due either to a lack of special schools in
their area or deficient accessibility. The National Confederation of
Persons with Disabilities reported that the education system for the
persons with disabilities fostered discrimination and social exclusion.
The confederation noted that education was not available for persons
with serious disabilities and that many persons with disabilities were
either forced to leave schools due to lack of accessibility or were
receiving very low quality education at the special schools.
In July 2006 the deputy ombudsman reported that nearly 60 percent
of persons with disabilities had been barred from the benefits of
affirmative action employment to which they were entitled because they
were misinformed or inadequately informed about the supporting
documents they should provide and because of unclear interpretations of
the law itself. The deputy ombudsman stated that unemployment of
persons with disabilities estimated by the National Confederation of
Persons with Disabilities and the Human Resources Employment
Organization at approximately 80 percent, was the greatest social
problem for persons with disabilities and recommended that the
Government prepare new legislation or improve existing laws.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Albanian immigrants, who made
up approximately five to seven percent of the population, faced
widespread societal discrimination, although Albanian community
representatives said that it was slowly decreasing. Immigrants accused
police of physical, verbal, and other mistreatment. They also reported
the confiscation and destruction of personal documents, particularly
during police sweeps to apprehend illegal immigrants. The media blamed
Albanians and immigrants for a reported rise in crime in recent years.
AI, GHM, and the deputy ombudsman for human rights alleged that
complaints of police ill-treatment of Albanians were rejected as
unfounded, although the authenticity of the complaints was supported by
documents such as certificates from state hospitals concerning recent
injuries and issued shortly after the complainants' release from police
stations. Moreover, Albanian community leaders reported that it was
difficult to be granted citizenship, even after all objective
citizenship requirements had been met.
The citizenship application approval procedure is secret, and as a
result the Ministry of Interior is not obliged to substantiate or to
explain the reasons for rejection. Community leaders stated that
persons who believed they met all criteria for citizenship saw their
applications rejected. Reapplication is discouraged by the fact that an
applicant has to pay a $1,251 (1,000 euro) non-refundable application
fee.
A September 2005 deputy ombudsman's report on police abuse found
that police took citizens to detention centers for arbitrary identity
checks, used insulting language and threats of force, conducted bodily
searches in public, and did not inform citizens on the progress of
internal investigations unless cases were made public through the
press. The report found that the police conducted arbitrary identity
checks on the basis of stereotypes, targeting persons based on their
race, color, nationality, or who happened to be in ``high-crime'' areas
(see section 1.d.).
In February the minister of development issued a decree prohibiting
immigrants from selling items in the street-markets. The communities
appealed to the country's highest administrative court; however, the
appeal remained pending at year's end.
In May a felony court in Patras sentenced the person charged with
the September 2004 killing of an Albanian immigrant in Zakynthos
following a soccer game to life imprisonment.
A number of citizens identified themselves as Turks, Pomaks (Slavic
speaking Muslims), Vlachs, Roma, Arvanites (Orthodox Christians who
speak a dialect of Albanian), or Macedonians. While some members of
these groups sought to be identified as ``minorities,'' or ``linguistic
minorities,'' others did not consider that these identifications made
them members of a ``minority.'' The Government considers that the 1923
Treaty of Lausanne provides the exclusive definition of minorities in
the country and defines the rights they have as a group. In accordance
with its view of the treaty, the Government recognizes only a ``Muslim
minority.'' It does not officially confer status on any indigenous
ethnic groups nor does it recognize ``ethnic minority'' or ``linguistic
minority'' as legal terms. However, the Government affirmed an
individual right of self identification.
Many individuals who defined themselves as members of a
``minority'' found it difficult to express their identity freely and
maintain their culture. Use of the terms Tourkos and Tourkikos
(``Turk'' and ``Turkish'') is prohibited in titles of organizations,
although individuals legally may call themselves Tourkos (see section
2.b.). To most Greeks, the words Tourkos and Tourkikos connote Turkish
identity or loyalties, and many objected to their use by Greek citizens
of Turkish origin.
The Government did not recognize the Slavic dialect spoken by
persons in the northwestern area of the country as ``Macedonian,'' or
as a language distinct from Bulgarian. Most speakers of the dialect
referred to themselves as ``natives.'' A small number of Slavic
speakers insisted on the use of the term ``Macedonian,'' a designation
that generated strong opposition from the ethnic Greek population.
These Slavic speakers claimed that the Government pursued a policy
designed to discourage use of their language. Government officials and
the courts deny requests by Slavic groups to identify themselves using
the term ``Macedonian,'' because approximately 2.2 million ethnic (and
linguistically) Greek citizens already use the term to identify
themselves.
In October 2005 the ECHR ordered the Government to pay $42,294
(35,245 euros) to the Rainbow Party for violations of two ECHR
articles: the right to a fair hearing and the right to freedom of
assembly and association; the Government paid the fine during the year.
Roma continued to face widespread governmental and societal
discrimination including systematic police abuse; mistreatment while in
police custody; regular raids and searches of their neighborhoods for
criminal suspects, drugs, and weapons; and educational discrimination.
Organizations substantiating these reports included a UN special
rapporteur , the European Committee of Social Rights in 2005, the
International Helsinki Federation in 2005, AI, the European Roma Rights
Center, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the
ombudsman for human rights, the National Commission for Human Rights,
and GHM.
In August the European Committee of Social Rights held that
government policies regarding housing and accommodation of Roma
infringed upon the European Social Charter, due to an insufficient
number of dwellings to meet the needs of settled Roma, an insufficient
number of stopping places for Roma who follow an itinerant lifestyle,
and the systemic eviction of Roma from sites or dwellings. The
International Helsinki Federation found in June 2005 that approximately
half of the Roma population lived segregated from non-Roma in
substandard housing conditions. A UN special rapporteur noted in March
that families in a Romani settlement in Athens lived in unacceptable
conditions, lacking access to running water and sanitation and other
basic services, while children were denied entry to schools. The
Council of Europe commissioner, who visited the largest Romani
settlement in Aspropyrgos, Attica, found that measures formerly
promised to remedy the situation had not been taken, and he noted the
situation was intolerable, citing a lack of access to basic public
utilities, including water, electricity and sewage systems.
In May AI published a report criticizing the Government for its
treatment of Roma, stating that Romani families continued to be
targeted for eviction and home demolition and that Roma faced
discrimination and racist attacks by both representatives of local
administration and society.
The law prohibits the encampment of ``wandering nomads'' without a
permit and forces Roma to establish settlements outside inhabited areas
and far from permanent housing. There were approximately 70 Romani
camps in the country. Local and international NGOs charged that the
enforced separation contravened the country's commitments under the
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination.
There were frequent police raids on Romani settlements and reported
harsh police treatment of Roma. In March the ombudsman for human
rights, after visiting areas in Athens, Patras, and Thessaloniki,
reported a series of cases that reflected inherent societal and law
enforcement discrimination against Roma. The visits revealed poor
housing conditions and lack of access to medical care and education.
The UN special rapporteur's statement after his November 2005 visit
called the housing and sanitation conditions of the Romani settlement
he visited unacceptable, highlighting that ``access to health and
education is limited or lacking and social programs are not providing
assistance to the community.'' He recommended that the state take
specific measures to develop and improve living conditions in Romani
communities to give Romani children alternatives to street work or
prostitution as survival strategies for them and their families. The
Government had not taken any action in response to the rapporteur's
recommendations by year's end.
Local authorities continued to harass and threaten to evict Roma
from their camps or other dwellings. In July and in August, GHM and the
Council of Europe commissioner for human rights reported that the
Municipality of Patras demolished the homes of 18 Greek and Albanian
Romani families in two settlements near the city while the owners were
away for seasonal work. The municipality also served the two
settlements' remaining families with notices of emergency police
eviction and proceeded to conduct forced evictions. In June all Romani
families of the Riganocambos, Patras district were served notice to
appear in a criminal court for illegal squatting on state land and were
told to leave. For some of the homeless Roma, this was the fourth
actual or threatened eviction since August 2004. In June municipal
crews assisted by police, demolished the homes of 14 Romani families in
Kladissos, Chania.
Nine local and international NGOs, including the European Roma
Rights Center, appealed to the mayor of Athens in July 2005 over the
announced evictions of approximately 70 Albanian Romani families living
in squalid conditions in communities around Votanikos, Athens, to make
way for a new soccer stadium. Authorities had made no provision for
resettlement of the families. By year's end the evictions were still
planned, but no action had been taken.
Roma frequently faced societal discrimination in employment and in
housing, particularly when attempting to rent accommodations. The
illiteracy rate among Roma was estimated at 80 percent. Poverty,
illiteracy, and societal prejudice were most severe among migrant Roma
or those who lived in quasi-permanent settlements. Most Romani camps
had no running water, electricity, garbage disposal, or sewage
treatment. For example, in 2005 the approximately 400 Romani families
in Tyrnavos, Thessaly, lived in tents because authorities refused to
include the area in city planning. The municipality of Rachoula in
Larissa took action to delay the permanent settlement of Roma in the
region on property owned by Roma.
Romani representatives reported that some local authorities have
refused to register Roma as residents or that the Roma were unable to
satisfy the requirements to be registered. Until registered with a
municipality, a citizen cannot vote or exercise other civil rights,
such as contributing to social security or obtaining an official
marriage, commercial, or driver's license. It was estimated that 90
percent of Roma were not insured by the public social security system
because they were unable to make the required contributions. Indigent
Roma were entitled to free health care provided all citizens; however,
at times, the distance between their encampments and public health
facilities hindered their access.
The Government considered the Roma to be a ``socially excluded'' or
``sensitive'' group, not a ``minority.'' As a result government policy
encouraged the integration of Roma. For example, the Ministry of
Education has instructed school principals to promote integration.
The Ministry of Interior headed an interministerial committee that
coordinated projects for the 85,000 to 120,000 Roma the Government
estimated were in the country (unofficial estimates ranged from 250,000
to 350,000). In 2005, due to low local authorities' participation, the
Government suspended a Romani housing project that required cities with
Romani populations to identify areas suitable for building housing for
Roma. During the year the Government provided approximately 5,000 low-
interest housing loans of $75,060 (60,000 euros) each to Roma living in
tents to enable them to obtain appropriate housing.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs continued projects to address the chronic problems of the
Romani community, including training courses for civil servants,
police, and teachers to increase their sensitivity to Romani problems;
the development of teaching materials for Romani children; the
establishment of youth centers in areas close to Romani communities;
and the deployment of mobile health units and community social workers
to address the needs of itinerant Roma. However, Romani community
representatives reported that these programs either did not always
reach their communities or were of limited effectiveness.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The NGO Greek Homosexual
Community (EOK) alleged that police often abused and harassed
homosexuals and transvestites and subjected them to arbitrary identity
checks and bodily searches in public places.
The Government took no action regarding a Gay and Lesbian Community
of Greece and EOK complaint that the Government made a discriminatory
decision when it fined a radio station in 2004 for using insulting
language on a radio show presented by a lesbian.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
with the exception of members of the military, have the right to form
and join unions of their choice without any previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right. Approximately
26 percent of nonagricultural salaried employees were union members.
Approximately 30 percent of the total labor force was unionized. There
were no unionized agricultural employees.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law generally provides
for the right to bargain collectively in the private sector and in
public corporations, and unions exercised this right freely. The law
provides for the right to strike, and workers in the private sector and
in public corporations exercised this right in practice. Police have
the right to organize and demonstrate but not to strike.
There are some legal restrictions on strikes, including a mandatory
notice period of four days for public utilities and 24 hours for the
private sector. The law mandates a skeleton staff during strikes
affecting public services. Courts may declare a strike illegal;
however, such decisions were seldom enforced. Unions complained that
this judicial power deterred some of their members from participating
in strikes. Courts declared some strikes (of transportation workers,
air-traffic controllers, garbage collectors, and others) illegal during
the year for reasons such as failure of the union to give adequate
advance notice of the strike or a union making new demands during the
course of the strike, but no workers were prosecuted for striking.
In February the Government invoked the civil mobilization act,
which required workers to return to work, in order to break a seamen's
strike.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's three free trade zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
all forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
laws protect children from exploitation in the workplace and prohibit
forced or compulsory labor; however, the Government did not adequately
protect children who were exploited in nontraditional environments,
such as begging on the street.
The minimum age for employment in the industrial sector is 15
years, with higher limits for some activities. The minimum age is 12
years in family businesses, theaters, and the cinema. These limits were
enforced by occasional spot checks and were generally observed.
However, families engaged in agriculture, food service, and
merchandising often had younger family members assisting them at least
part time.
Child labor was a problem, although international and local
observers agreed that the number of working children had decreased in
recent years. A number of children begged or tried to persuade persons
to buy small items in the streets. The Government and NGOs reported
that the majority of beggars were either indigenous or Albanian Roma.
There were reports that children from Albania were trafficked and
forced to beg; however, antitrafficking NGOs reported a decrease in
this abuse as more Albanian parents entered the country legally with
their children (see section 5). A few parents forced their children to
beg for money.
The labor inspectorate is responsible for enforcement of labor
legislation; however, trade unions alleged that enforcement was
inadequate.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
approximately $35 (29 euros) daily and $779 (649 euros) monthly
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family.
Officially, wages should be the same for local and foreign workers, but
in practice there were some reports of undocumented foreign workers
being exploited by employers, receiving low wages and no social
security contributions.
The maximum legal workweek is 40 hours in the private sector and
37.5 hours in the public sector. The law provides for at least one 24-
hour rest period per week, mandates paid vacation of one month per
year, and sets limits on overtime. Premium pay and authorization by the
Ministry of Employment is required by law for overtime work.
The law provides for minimum standards of occupational health and
safety. The Greek General Confederation of Labor characterized health
and safety laws as satisfactory but stated that enforcement by the
labor inspectorate was inadequate. Workers do not have the legal right
to remove themselves from situations that they believe endanger their
health; however, they have the right to lodge a confidential complaint
with the labor inspectorate. Inspectors have the right to close down
machinery or a process for up to five days if they see safety or health
hazards that they believe represent an imminent danger to the workers.
In 2005 the labor inspectorate conducted a nationwide campaign against
noise at work places, made 25,477 inspections and imposed 4,459
sanctions and penalties that included lawsuits, fines, and closing down
of machineries and processes.
__________
HUNGARY
The Republic of Hungary is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy
with a population of approximately 10 million. Legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral National Assembly. The President assigns the
Prime Ministerial candidate from the party that won the elections or is
able to form a majority coalition. The President is head of state and
is elected by the National Assembly. In April Prime Minister Ferenc
Gyurcsany and his Socialist-Liberal coalition were returned to office
in a free and fair election. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, problems in some areas remained. Incidents where
police used excessive force against suspects, particularly Roma, were
reported, and allegations of government interference in editorial and
personnel decisions of state-owned media persisted. Violence against
women and children as well as sexual harassment remained a problem.
Discrimination against Roma continued to be widespread, and there were
acts of anti-Semitic vandalism. Trafficking in persons was also a
problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
At year's end the manslaughter case against two police officers in
connection with the July 2004 death of a Bulgarian national remained
pending.
In April 2005 a court in Bacs-Kiskun county upheld a finding by the
chief prosecutor's office that there was no criminal negligence on the
part of police in the 2004 death of a Romani man who died while being
arrested. The case stemmed from an appeal by a Romani family who
rejected findings by the country's minority affairs ombudsman and a
medical examiner that there was no link between the arresting officer's
actions and the death.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, according to
non-governmental organization (NGO) reports police used excessive
force, beat, and harassed suspects, particularly Roma (see section
1.d.). NGOs reported that Roma remained fearful to report police abuse,
but the number of reports of police abuse of Roma increased slightly
during the year. Observers attributed the increase to a greater public
willingness to report abuse.
During the first six months of the year, 26 police officers were
charged with assault and four others were charged with ``forced
interrogations.'' NGOs estimated that approximately half of the police
abuse cases involved Romani victims (see section 1.d.).
There was no reliable data on the ethnic background of victims of
police abuse; however, human rights NGOs asserted that a high number of
complaints were made by Roma and other dark-skinned persons.
The Government investigation into the June 2005 beating of a Romani
man by five police officers in Tolna County continued. At year's end
three police officers were cleared; charges against two others were
pending. The investigation stemmed from accusations that police beat
the man after taking him into custody and later went to his brother's
home where they beat him and threatened his family.
Investigations begun in August by the county prosecutor and the
national Roma self government into accusations of police abuse in Szany
were closed due to insufficient evidence. The case involved complaints
by a Romani youth and his two non-Romani friends who claimed that they
were beaten by the local police chief and two of the chief's relatives
following a complaint that the three were making excessive noise.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons generally met
international standards; however, overcrowding continued to be a
serious problem.
At year's end 14,568 persons were being held in prisons and
detention centers. During the year the overall prison population rose
to 158 percent of capacity as compared with 146 percent in 2005. Due to
changes in 2005 to regulations on detentions, the vast majority of
pretrial detainees were held in prisons. At year's end there were 3,786
pretrial detainees in prisons and police detention cells.
According to the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the negative effects
of prison overcrowding included a severe shortage of bed linen, towels,
clothing, and inadequate medical care. Sanitation and toilet facilities
were also poor; in some prisons toilets were not separate from living
spaces. Many police holding cells did not have toilets; lighting and
ventilation was also inadequate.
The Government permitted independent monitoring of prison
conditions by local and international human rights groups, and such
visits occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
From September 18 to 20 and again on October 23, police used force
to stop violent antigovernment demonstrations. According to a report
prepared by the independent Gonczol Commission on the protests, 326
persons and 399 policemen were injured, and 380 protestors were either
arrested or detained as a result of the demonstrations. Opposition
parties and NGOs alleged that police excessively and illegally used of
a water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray (see section
2.b.). Police officials denied the allegations saying that while some
officers were under investigation for possible abuse, riot police
generally used appropriate force to handle violent protestors. At
year's end allegations of police abuse and government charges against
civilians who took part in the violent demonstrations remained under
investigation by police and the Gonczol commission.
Role of Police and Security Apparatus.--The National Police, which
is under the direction of the Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement,
is responsible for enforcing laws and maintaining order. City police
forces and national border guards also share security responsibilities
under direction of the ministry. Police corruption was a problem,
particularly soliciting or accepting of bribes from motorists to ignore
traffic violations. The Government pursued allegations of police abuse
and corruption. Penalties include reprimand, dismissal, and criminal
prosecution. Generally, officers are suspended from duty during an
investigation for abuse or corruption. According to police most
officers are dismissed when found guilty of wrongdoing. During the year
16 police officers were convicted of corruption; one was acquitted.
At year's end investigations continued into numerous offensive,
anti-Roma, racist postings made on Holdudvar, an internal Web site of
the national police. The Web site postings were reported to authorities
by two police officers. The Web site was immediately suspended and
investigations were launched by the head of the national police and the
country's ombudsman for minority affairs.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires police to obtain warrants
to make arrests. Police must inform suspects upon arrest of the charges
against them and may detain persons for a maximum of 72 hours before
filing charges. The law requires that all suspects have access to
counsel prior to questioning and throughout all subsequent proceedings.
Authorities must also provide counsel for detained suspects, juveniles,
the indigent, and those with mental disabilities. However, in practice
police did not always allow access to counsel, particularly for persons
accused of minor crimes. In 2003 a bail system was introduced to
decrease the number of pretrial detainees. However, it was not used
often because most detainees were not eligible under the statutes of
the bail system. Bail has been granted 376 times since it was
introduced.
In certain circumstances the law permits police to hold suspects
for only 12 hours or for up to 24 hours of ``public security
detention'' for persons detained without identification.
During the first six months of the year, 2,658 persons were in
pretrial detention for an average of 123 days, according to the
prosecutor General's Office. Of that number 103 (3.9 percent) were held
longer than 12 months. In 2005 the average number of days in pretrial
detention was 126. In some cases time spent in pretrial detention
equaled but did not exceed prison sentences. The law provides monetary
compensation for persons who were detained and later acquitted.
According to NGO reports, Roma were more frequently held in
pretrial detention than non Roma.
On April 24, an appeals court in Debrecen upheld a district court
ruling to free two Romani men from prison because evidence used to
convict them in 1999 of murder was weak. The court ruled that
conviction and subsequent sentencing of up to 15 years in prison was
unlawful. They spent nearly six years in custody.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law and the constitution
provide for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally
respected judicial independence in practice.
Under the constitution courts are responsible for administering
justice; the Supreme Court exercises control over the operations and
judicial procedure of all other courts and in certain cases can review
lower court decisions. District courts are courts of first instance;
regional courts hear appeals from district courts and also function as
courts of first instance. Five appellate courts handle appeals from
regional courts.
The Constitutional Court is independent of the judicial system and
cannot overturn decisions made by other courts. It is charged with
reviewing both the constitutionality of laws and statutes and
international treaties ratified by the Government. The court's 11
members are appointed directly by the National Assembly for nine-year
terms. Citizens may bring cases directly to the Constitutional Court.
The court is required to address all petitions; however, it retains
discretion on when to issue decisions, which has resulted in a backlog
of cases and charges of politicization. The Constitutional Court
generally receives more than 1,000 cases annually. During the year
1,214 cases were filed with the court; in 2005, 1,208 cases were filed.
During the year the Constitutional Court issued 413 decisions, as
compared with 264 in 2005.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, but in some cases judges may
close a trial to protect the accused or the victim. There is no jury
system; judges are final arbiters. Judicial proceedings generally were
investigative rather than adversarial in nature. Defendants are
presumed innocent until proven guilty and are entitled to counsel
during all phases of criminal proceedings. Counsel is appointed for
persons in need and for the indigent, but public defenders were
generally considered to be substandard.
Judicial proceedings varied in length, and delays of several months
to a year were common. Appeal cases may remain pending for indefinite
periods, during which time defendants are held in detention. Defendants
can challenge or question witnesses and present witnesses and evidence
on their own behalf. They also have access to government held evidence
relevant to their case.Human rights and Romani organizations claimed
that Roma received unequal treatment in the judicial process.
Military trials follow civil law and may be closed on national
security or moral grounds. In all cases sentencing must take place
publicly. Civilians cannot be tried in military courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Under the law persons may
initiate lawsuits to seek damages for human rights violations. However,
fines levied in such cases are often too small to deter violations.
During the year the Legal Defense Bureau for National and Ethnic
Minorities succeeded in bringing six cases to court for alleged labor
discrimination, discrimination in restaurants and bars that denied
service, and for police abuse. The defense bureau stated that more
cases of human rights violations should have been lodged with the
courts, but it lacked the resources to do so.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Roma faced discrimination in housing and at times were either
displaced or forced by local officials to live in less desirable areas
(see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice; however, there were allegations of political
interference in editorial and personnel decisions of state owned media.
There are no laws to prohibit hate speech, denial of the Holocaust
or similar views. The Constitutional Court has ruled that previous
attempts by the Government to enact laws to protect human dignity and
penalize hate speech are a violation of the right to freedom of speech.
However, there are laws that prohibit public display of symbols such as
the swastika, hammer and sickle, the red star, among others.
The media were generally free and independent and expressed a wide
variety of views without restriction. Several state owned radio and
television stations were governed by a state appointed public media
oversight board. In August the President of the European Broadcasting
Union expressed his concern in a letter to the Prime Minister about the
poor financial situation of the country's two public television
stations, claiming that this made them particularly prone to political
influence.
Under the law the National Television and Radio Board is
responsible for monitoring public and commercial broadcasting programs
and grants licenses and frequencies. All members are appointed
proportionally by governing and opposition political parties. The board
monitored news broadcasts for equal treatment of all political parties
and could fine public and private broadcasters for noncompliance.
Unlike the previous year, there were no cases of the board levying
fines or censuring broadcasters. However, opposition political parties
continued to be critical of the progovernment news coverage in state
owned media.
In August a two-year long, political dispute over electing a new
President of public radio ended with the election and confirmation of
Gyorgy Such. After taking office Such took steps to increase
objectivity and more neutral news reporting by eliminating personal
opinion from news reports and merging news and current affairs
programs. He also appointed younger journalists to senior positions and
named a new editor in chief.
At year's end authorities continued to investigate harassment of
two photojournalists in June by police who were covering a street brawl
after a soccer match in Budapest.
Under the law libel and violations of government secrecy laws are
criminal offenses. Journalists and other persons can be held liable for
their statements or for publicizing the statements of others.
As in previous years, officials resorted to libel laws to claim
compensation for perceived injuries to character. In May the
prosecutors's office indicted Gyula Thurmer, President of the Workers
Party and six co-workers, for alleged slander after Thurmer described a
2005 decision by Municipal Court President, Laszlo Gatter, as
politically motivated. In June 2005 Gatter denounced Thurmer and his
six co-workers for their accusations. At year's end the case remained
pending.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of journalists
being prosecuted for slander. In May an appeals court upheld a lower
court decision to dismiss charges against journalist Margit Klucsik for
breaching secrecy laws. Klucsik, who works for the daily newspaper
Nepszava, was prosecuted after publishing an article in 2005 that cited
a secret police memorandum about criminal evidence gathered against a
member of the National Assembly.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including via electronic mail.
There also were no reports of the Government blocking access to
specific Web sites. However, according to NGOs the Government monitored
a number of far-right and openly anti-Semitic Web sites (see section
2.c.). According to a Eurostat study published in the Magyar Hirlap
newspaper, 42 percent of the country's population had Internet access
during the year.Academic Freedom and Cultural EventsThere were no
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and law provide for freedom of assembly and
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
On September 18, an estimated 10,000 antigovernment protestors
gathered in front of parliament to demand the Government's resignation.
Some of the protests turned violent overnight as crowds damaged the
headquarters of the country's public television station and a World War
II memorial to Soviet soldiers who liberated Budapest. The protests
continued on September 20. According to a report by the independent,
government-sponsored Gonczol Commission, 185 protestors and more than
200 policemen were injured in attempts by police to disperse the
demonstrations. Riot police used tear gas and a water cannon; 345
persons were either arrested or detained.
On October 23, police again clashed with antigovernment protestors
in Budapest during commemorations to mark the country's 50th
anniversary of its uprising against Soviet rule. Riot police used
rubber bullets, pepper spray, and a water cannon to disperse the
crowds. The Gonczol Commission report stated that 141 persons were
injured and 35 protestors were arrested or detained.
As a result of the September and October demonstrations authorities
filed 120 lawsuits against civilians for alleged involvement in violent
protests. At the same time, according to the Gonczol report, 156 cases
of alleged police abuse against protestors were lodged with the chief
prosecutor's office for police investigations. The National Police also
lodged eight abuse cases against police officers, and the head of the
Police Security Service lodged three cases of police abuse. The
investigations into allegations of police abuse have been complicated
because some officers covered their badges and other forms of personal
identification. At year's end 60 officers were identified for alleged
abuse, and 18 were charged with abuse.
While the report by the Gonczol Commission criticized police
officers who concealed their identities and used excessive force, it
said it was more concerned that police did not break up the
demonstrations sooner. The commission blamed demonstrators and
demonstration organizers for causing the violence and injuries and said
the violent behavior necessitated the use of force by police.
There was no decision in the ongoing case by the Hungarian Farmer's
Alliance against Budapest city authorities who blocked the group's
plans to demonstrate in front of parliament with tractors. In November
the alliance filed suit with the Constitutional Court claiming city
officials violated its right to freedom of assembly by erecting traffic
signs to prohibit entry of tractors into the city center.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice.
At year's end the appeal of a militant, neo-Nazi group to
reorganize under a new name to regain its legal status remained
pending. In October 2005 the Blood and Honor group disbanded following
a Supreme Court ruling that an appeals court could proceed with a
hearing on its legal status. In the opinion the Supreme Court found
that there was no constitutional issue with regard to the right of
freedom of association and the concept of human dignity as it pertains
to protecting persons from hate speech and humiliation. In November a
Budapest court denied the group's reregistration as the ``Pax Hungarica
Society'' on the grounds that it was no different than Blood and Honor.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
There is no state religion; however, there are four historically
recognized religious groups (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Evangelical, and
Jewish) and 146 other registered denominations. The four historic
religions enjoyed government privileges not extended to the other
religious groups.
During the year the Government continued to expedite an estimated
300 religious property restitution cases filed under a September 2005
government resolution that was reconfirmed during the year. Under the
resolution religious groups may ``buy out'' their claims before the
official restitution procedure ends in 2011. Of the four historically
recognized churches, the Reformed and Evangelical churches chose not to
exercise the so-called ``fast-track'' option to resolve their cases.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were acts of anti
Semitic vandalism and other anti-Semitic incidents. Jewish community
representatives continued to express concern over the existence of
anti-Semitism in some media outlets, in society, and in coded political
speech. They also said they believed that there was a rise in anti-
Semitism towards the end of the year.
The estimated size of the Jewish population was between 80,000 and
100,000, or less than 1 percent of the country's population.
Police said they closed the investigation into a vandalism incident
on November 6 at a Jewish synagogue in Vac because they could not
identify any suspects. Unknown offenders painted black paint over the
fence of the synagogue and sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti, swastikas,
and other fascist symbols.
In April during elections for the National Assembly, candidates of
the nationalistic, far right-wing Hungarian Justice and Life Party
(MIEP-Jobbik) espoused xenophobic and anti-Semitic slogans. The party
has not been represented in the assembly since 2002.
On July 28, two members of the Left-Wing Front-Communist Youth
Alliance who participated in an anti-Israel protest in Budapest carried
Israeli flags defaced with swastikas.
In September and October, some participants in the antigovernment
protests displayed images linked to the World War II-era, right-wing
Hungarian Arrow Cross party. Nazi symbols and chants were also seen and
heard. Some demonstrators erected a ``wall of shame,'' which displayed
a list of names of those thought to be responsible for the Government
crisis. The list stressed Jewish personalities.
The private, right of center weekly newspapers Magyar Demokrata and
Magyar Forum continued to publish anti-Semitic articles.
There were numerous far-right Web sites in the country, many of
which are openly anti-Semitic. NGOs reported that these Web sites were
monitored by the Government for content because under the law public
display of symbols such as the swastika, sickle and hammer, and red
star is prohibited.
According to police there were 387 reports of vandalism or
destruction of Jewish and Christian properties (35 in churches and 352
in cemeteries) during the year, as compared to 216 reported cases in
2005 and 339 in 2004. Police and religious authorities considered the
incidents to be acts of youth vandalism and not manifestations of
religious intolerance.
There were no developments in the police investigation into the
vandalism of 130 graves in June 2005 at the largest Jewish cemetery in
Budapest.
During the year the Government continued its efforts to combat
anti-Semitism by clearly speaking out against the use of coded speech
by right-wing extremists and efforts to promote tolerance education.
The Prime Minister publicly stated that the country's citizens bore
responsibility for the Holocaust and facilitated the opening of a
permanent, state-financed Holocaust Memorial Center. However, the
status of certain portions of the Government's Holocaust records
remained unclear. In November a working group under the direction of
the Prime Minister's office convened to determine the status and
whereabouts of the country's Holocaust records.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government did
not employ it.
The law permits the Government to delay, but not deny, emigration
for those who have significant court assessed debts or who possess
state secrets.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
prosecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
During the year the Government did not provide temporary protection
to individuals who do not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and its 1967 Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
to assist refugees and asylum seekers. According to the UNHCR, 2,117
asylum applications were filed during the year, as compared with 1,609
in 2005.
There were no reports of refugee abuse; however, NGOs continued to
criticize the Government for prolonged detention of persons who were
denied refugee status and of other stateless and undocumented persons,
who awaited adjudication of deportation cases.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The April 2006 National
Assembly elections were free and fair. The election marked the first
time a government won a consecutive term in office since democracy was
restored in the country in 1990.
There were 42 women in the 386 seat National Assembly, and two
women in the Council of Ministers.
There was no readily available information on the number of
minorities in the National Assembly or the Council of Ministers.
However, minorities did not appear to be well represented.
In October following minority self-government elections, there were
4,533 Roma members of local and national minority self governments
(MSGs). The MSGs are responsible for organizing minority activities and
handling cultural and educational affairs. The President of each self
governed entity also has the right to speak at and attend local
government assemblies. At year's end 1,118 of the 2,045 active minority
self governments were Romani.
As of July 199,789 persons had registered as members of one of the
country's 13 recognized minority groups that could establish a minority
self-government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of corruption in the executive and legislative branches.
During the year the country received a score of 5.2 on Transparency
International's 10-point index of the degree to which corruption is
perceived to exist among a country's politicians and public officials.
The country's 2005 score was slightly better at 5.0, where 10 indicates
the lowest level of corruption.
During the year there were no reported police investigations or
prosecutions of corruption in government. Low level corruption among
law enforcement officials remained a problem.
The National Police maintained a nine-person anticorruption unit to
investigate corruption within the Government, although persons with
legislative immunity were exempt from its purview. There was no
independent government body to investigate internal corruption;
however, the protective service of law enforcement agencies is
empowered to investigate corruption cases. In February the National
Assembly adopted a lobbying law designed to increase transparency and
to regulate lobbying activity that was often perceived to be associated
with corruption.
The law provides for access to government information and the
Government generally provided it upon request. However, many court
rulings remained unavailable to the public. In January according to a
new freedom of electronic information law, the Government launched a
Web site to provide public access to various government actions and
information. The law, which also took effect in January, obligates
public institutions to post information of public interest on the
Internet.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
In August the UN Committee to Eliminate Discrimination Against
Women stated that the Government was responsible for violating the
rights of a Romani woman in 2001 in connection with a sterilization
procedure that was performed without consent. The committee recommended
that the Government pay the woman compensation commensurate with the
gravity of the violation of her rights and that medical personnel in
public and private health centers be made aware of women's reproductive
rights.
The committee also recommended that the Government review its laws
on the principle of informed consent in cases of sterilization to
ensure that they conform to international human rights and medical
standards. Other recommendations included the repeal of provisions that
allow physicians to sterilize persons in certain circumstance without
informed consent, and monitoring of public and private health centers
to ensure that fully informed consent is given by patients before
sterilization procedure are carried out.
During the year the 19 member National Assembly's Committee for
Human, Minority, and Religious Rights conducted hearings and
participated in the legislative process with regard to funding programs
and proposals affecting minority groups. Separate ombudsmen for human
rights, data protection, and minority affairs are independent of the
Government and report annually to the National Assembly on their
activities and findings. The National Assembly is not legally bound to
act on the reports. The National Assembly elects the ombudsmen for six
year terms.
Persons may seek direct assistance from one of three ombudsmen if
their complaints have not been addressed elsewhere. Ombudsmen do not
have the authority to issue legally binding judgments; they act as
mediators and conduct fact finding inquiries.
In a report in January, the office of the minority affairs
ombudsman condemned the activities of a school in Kerepes that
discriminated against Romani children and included recommendations to
school authorities and to city officials. The report stemmed from an
investigation by the minority affairs ombudsman into allegations of
discrimination against the Romani community involving school
segregation, access to housing, and employment (see section 5).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
or social status. However, in practice widespread discrimination
persisted, particularly against Roma. Violence against women, child
abuse, and trafficking in persons were also problems.
In January the Government's newly established Equal Treatment
Authority began operating. It has authority to investigate cases of
discrimination and to levy fines against violators.
Women.--The law does not specifically prohibit domestic violence or
spousal abuse. The general charge of assault and battery, which carries
a prison term of up to eight years, is used to prosecute domestic
violence cases. Expert research in the field of family violence
indicated that an estimated 20 percent of women were threatened or
victimized by domestic violence.
Societal attitudes tended to blame the victim as the cause of
abuse, and NGOs reported that police generally remained reluctant to
arrest abusers. Victims' rights advocates indicate that some police
reluctance may be due to a lack of faith that the judicial system will
effectively resolve abuse cases. Most incidents of domestic violence
went unreported from fear and shame on the part of victims. According
to the national police, 4,620 women were victims of domestic violence
during the year.
In June a report released by the UN Committee to Eliminate
Discrimination Against Women stated that 5.6 percent of all known
criminal perpetrators, or 7,500 persons, committed crimes against
family members or relatives. Overall, 25 percent of all crimes against
persons were committed in the family.
In February the National Assembly passed a restraining order law to
help protect persons from abusive spouses. However, NGOs continued to
criticize the Government for not focusing more attention on the problem
of domestic violence. The Ministry of Social Affairs operated a 24-hour
hot line for victims of domestic abuse and provided accommodations at
government-run shelters.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, but the crime was often
unreported. Penalties for rape range from two to eight years in prison
to up to 15 years in prison in aggravated cases.
During the year police investigated 206 rape-related cases as
compared with 264 cases in 2005. Allegations of rape are included in
cases of indecency and crimes against sexual morals. There were no
figures available, however, on the number of convictions. Police
reportedly were unsympathetic toward victims of sexual abuse,
particularly if the victim had been acquainted with her abuser.
Prostitution is legal, but there are many restrictions on where it
may be carried out. Estimates of the number of prostitutes in the
country varied widely. Some observers put the number at 17,000; others
said it was 30,000. Many prostitutes were either forced or coerced into
prostitution by pimps. Police regularly fined prostitutes and targeted
them for physical and verbal abuse.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Although the law does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment in
the workplace, general harassment is illegal, and the law provides for
the right to a secure workplace. Nonetheless, sexual harassment
remained a widespread problem. Women's groups continued to report that
there was little government support for efforts by NGOs and some
legislators to criminalize sexual harassment, and that many women
tolerated sexual harassment in the workplace because they feared losing
their jobs.
Women have the same rights as men under family law, property law,
and in the judicial system. However, there was economic discrimination
against women in the workplace, particularly against jobseekers over
the age of 50 and those who were pregnant. During the year the Equal
Treatment Authority determined that employers had illegally
discriminated in four cases, with most of the victims being women or
Roma. The fines levied in the cases ranged from $1,500 (300,000
forints) to $5,000 (1 million forints).
Children.--The Government remained committed to children's rights
and welfare. The law provides for free, compulsory education for
children through 18 years of age. The Ministry of Education estimated
that 95 percent of school age children were enrolled in school,
although the drop-out rate for Romani children was much higher than for
the overall student population. During the year one study found that
over 82 percent of Roma have eight years of education or less, compared
with 36 percent of the rest of the population. Similarly, while an
estimated 40 percent of the population had some form of secondary
schooling, among Roma the number was 3.1 percent.
Although the law forbids official segregation of children according
to ethnicity or nationality, segregation of Romani children remained a
problem. Romani children were often placed in remedial classes without
cause, effectively separating them from other students. NGOs and
government officials estimated that 20 percent of Romani children were
in remedial programs and that 700 such segregated classes existed. Many
schools with a majority of Romani students had substandard buildings
and resources and simplified teaching curricula. According to the
European Roma Rights Center, Romani students made up 20 percent of the
country's student population, but more than 50 percent of students in
special schools for children with developmental disabilities.
At year's end a segregation case filed in February by the NGO
Chance for Children Foundation (CFCF) against city authorities in
Hajduhadhaz remained pending. The CFCF claimed that two of the city's
elementary schools openly relegated most Roma students to substandard
buildings. In June CFCF won the first case of educational segregation
in the country against the city of Miskolc. In that 2005 case, the CFCF
stated that school officials relegated Romani and other disadvantaged
children to separate, poorly maintained buildings and used a simplified
curriculum to teach children.
Although the Government provided medical care to school-age
children, NGOs and Romani activists claimed that Romani children did
not have equal access to these and other government services.
According to police there were 1,135 reported crimes against
children during the year. However, police continued to lack the
necessary training, capacity, and institutional support to adequately
protect children, particularly in instances of domestic violence. NGOs
reported that neglect and abuse occurred in state care facilities such
as orphanages. In May the ombudsman for civil rights found shortcomings
in three, state-run child care facilities, the most serious of which
was the lack of professional care given to children with special needs.
Child prostitution was not a common practice, and police claimed to
investigate all such reports vigorously. The law provides for severe
penalties for persons convicted of sexually abusing children. Although
child prostitutes were not criminally prosecuted, they can be remanded
to juvenile centers for rehabilitation and to complete school.
Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was
a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons to, from, and primarily through the
country remained a problem.
The country was a source, transit, and destination country for
women and girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Victims were also trafficked for domestic servitude and manual labor.
Victims were primarily trafficked from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova,
Poland, the Balkans, and China. They were trafficked to and through the
country to Austria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, France,
Switzerland, and the United States. There was also evidence of
trafficking to Central American and Scandinavian countries, as well as
to Japan and the United Kingdom.
Internal trafficking was also a problem. There was no systematic
method of documenting or estimating the number of women who were
trafficked from or through the country each year. However, NGOs and
other organizations that deal with trafficking estimated that 3,000 to
4,000 persons were trafficked from the country annually.
Those most at risk of being trafficked were orphans who had reached
adulthood, young women from the countryside, and young Romani women.
Women and children from the country were trafficked primarily to
wealthier destinations in Western and Northern Europe and North
America. Some NGOs reported anecdotal evidence of trafficking of men
and boys as young as 12 from Romania to Budapest for the purpose of
sexual exploitation. Police said they pursued all such information but
were not able to find corroboration to support these claims. Other NGOs
also stated that they had not seen any evidence of this type of
trafficking.
According to government officials and NGOs, the majority of
traffickers are individuals or small, family based groups. There also
are some instances of organized crime engaging in trafficking.
Organized crime syndicates transported many of the trafficking victims
for forced prostitution in the country, or through it as a transit
country. Russian speaking, organized- crime syndicates were active in
trafficking women through the country.
Victims were recruited at night clubs and modeling agencies, as
well as through word of mouth, or even advertisements in local
newspapers and magazines. Some victims reported that they knew that
they were going to work illegally; some believed they were getting
foreign visas, while others expected to work but believed their
employers were obtaining the appropriate documents.
Under the law penalties for trafficking range from one to 15 years
in prison, depending on the circumstances of the case. Trafficking of
minors is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In cases where a
trafficking victim is under 12 years of age, the penalty is five to 15
years, or life imprisonment. If an organized trafficking ring is
involved, the sentence can be life imprisonment and seizure of assets.
Government agencies most directly involved in efforts to combat
trafficking included the newly formed Justice and Law Enforcement
Ministry, the foreign ministry, as well as police, border guards, and
custom authorities.
During the year the Government's interministerial working group on
trafficking was not able to develop a unified national approach to
antitrafficking programs. Government officials cited difficulty in
coordinating trafficking programs and policies overseen by the
ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Equal Opportunity. In
addition, a large-scale government restructuring during the year that
merged the interior Ministry into a new Justice and Law Enforcement
Ministry also hindered the interministerial group's efforts.
A special government task force investigated trafficking cases
involving organized crime, and the Government regularly cooperated with
other countries in joint trafficking investigations. During the year
seven foreign nationals were extradited from the country on trafficking
charges.
On December 22, the National Assembly ratified the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime which is supplemented
by the so-called ``Palermo Protocol'' to prevent, suppress, and punish
trafficking in persons, especially women and children.
There was no evidence of official government involvement in, or
tolerance of trafficking. However, reports continued that individual
border guards were corrupt.
The Government provided limited financial and property assistance
to antitrafficking NGOs, donated several buildings to establish an NGO
trafficking shelter, and allocated $47,000 (10 million forints) for
trafficking victim protection. During the year the shelter assisted 23
trafficking victims. There were approximately 60 regional and local
victim protection offices, which provided psychological, social
support, and legal aid to trafficking victims and to victims of violent
crime, including domestic violence. The Ministries of Youth, Family,
Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunity operated a hot line for victims
of trafficking. Trafficking victims who cooperated with police and
prosecutors could receive temporary residency status, short term relief
from deportation, and shelter.
The Government continued to work closely with NGOs and the
International Organization Migration (IOM) to promote public awareness
programs about trafficking. Antitrafficking materials prepared by NGOs
continued to be included in state-run university programs. The
Government cooperated with IOM to conduct trafficking prevention and
awareness programs for potential victims as well as trafficking
awareness training for police, border guards, prosecutors, consular
officers, and judicial officials. During the year approximately 160
teachers and social workers took university classes on trafficking, and
the Government sponsored trafficking awareness programs in public and
religious schools.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services; however,
persons with disabilities faced societal discrimination and prejudice.
Government sources estimated that there were between 600,000 and 1
million persons with disabilities (6 to 10 percent of the population).
Persons with disabilities most commonly faced discrimination in
employment and access to health care. Approximately 90 percent of
working-age persons with mental disabilities were not employed. NGOs
expressed concerns over the lack of independent oversight at
government-run, long-term care institutions for persons with mental
disabilities. Sporadic reports of excessive restraint have been
reported, which experts attributed partly to a lack of sufficient
numbers of qualified staff to care for patients.
The international NGO Mental Disability Rights International and
the local NGO Hungarian Mental Health Interest Forum noted that the
Government lacked procedures to supervise the treatment and care of
persons with disabilities who were under guardianship. This lack of
oversight often resulted in the blanket institutionalization of many
individuals who did not require it.
A government decree mandates that all companies with more than 20
employees must reserve 5 percent of their jobs for persons with
physical or mental disabilities, with fines of up to 75 percent of the
average monthly salary for noncompliance. In practice employers
typically paid fines rather than employ persons with disabilities.
In December 2005 the National Assembly extended a legal deadline to
make all public buildings accessible to persons with disabilities by
2013. To date between 30 and 35 percent of public buildings operated by
the central and local governments are accessible.
In February parliament adopted a resolution on the National
Disability Plan that outlined key strategic goals for government action
with regard to persons with disabilities. NGOs welcomed the action,
which among other measures, emphasized a desire to give more individual
rights to individuals under state guardianship.
The National Council for the Disabled under the leadership of the
Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, served as an advisory board to
the Government. It assisted the Government with the National Disability
Plan and also monitored its implementation. NGOs, however, noted that
the council's meetings during the year were sporadic, due in part to
large-scale government restructuring.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Widespread discrimination
against Roma remained a problem. Reports of police abuse against Roma
were common, but many Roma remained fearful of seeking legal remedies
or of notifying NGOs (see section 1.c.).
Living conditions for Romani communities continued to be
significantly worse than for the general population. Roma were
significantly less educated and had below average income and life
expectancy. The unemployment rate for Roma was estimated at 70 percent,
more than 10 times the national average, and most Roma lived in extreme
poverty. Discrimination against Roma continued in education, housing,
penal institutions, employment and access to public places, such as
restaurants and bars.
According to the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) some media
outlets in the country promoted anti-Roma hatred and violence following
the October 17 beating death of Lajos Szogi by a mob in the village of
Olaszliszka. Two days earlier Szogi hit an 11-year-old Romani girl with
his vehicle in a road incident. The ERRC condemned the mob violence and
expressed concern over how major broadcast and print media reported the
incident. For example, an opinion article in Magyar Nemzet advised
drivers to drive away without stopping should they run over a Romani
child.
In March and August, the Equal Treatment Authority fined two
companies for discriminating against Roma job seekers in their hiring
process. In the first case, the fine was $6,500 (1.3 million forints);
in the second the fine was $3,500 (700,000 forints). In one of the
cases, officials uncovered clear evidence that a Romani man was denied
employment solely because of his ethnic background.
Roma schools were generally more crowded, more poorly equipped, and
in significantly worse condition than those attended by non Roma
students (see section 5, Children).
In a report in January the office of the minority affairs ombudsman
condemned the activities of a school in Kerepes that discriminated
against Romani children by regularly segregating them by race in
special classes, which were separated from the rest of the school by
locked doors between hallways (see section 4).
According to the Roma Civil Rights Foundation, many municipalities
used a variety of techniques to prevent Roma from living in more
desirable urban neighborhoods. Such techniques included auctioning by
local governments of special housing for the poor to the highest bidder
and evicting Roma from areas slated for renovation without financial
compensation that was adequate to allow them to return after the
renovations. The foundation also reported that district councils
threatened to take children from Roma families who could not pay for
public utilities in order to expedite evictions.
At year's end the National Assembly passed a law designed to end
racial discrimination in housing. The law was passed following a
national investigation into racial discrimination against Roma in the
allotment of social housing. The investigation was requested by the
ombudsmen for national and ethnic minority rights and for human rights.
During the year the position of Political State Secretary for Roma
Affairs was eliminated as part of the Government's restructuring plan.
However, most ministries retained Roma coordinators, and the Roma
Affairs Interministerial Commission continued its work to integrate and
coordinate Roma affairs.
The 20 county labor affairs centers also had Romani affairs
officers focusing on the needs of the Romani community. The Ministry of
Education and Culture continued to offer financial incentives to
encourage schools to integrate Romani and non-Romani children in the
same class rooms and to reintegrate those Roma inappropriately placed
in remedial programs. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor operated
a program to finance infrastructure development in Romani communities.
The Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement also funded a Roma
antidiscrimination legal service network, which provided free legal aid
to Roma in cases where they encountered discrimination based on their
ethnicity.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice, and workers exercised these rights in
practice. Approximately 23 percent of the labor force was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is
protected by law, and it was freely practiced. Approximately 38 percent
of the workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements.
With the exception of military personnel and police officers,
workers have the right to strike, and workers exercised this right in
practice. The law permits the unions of military personnel and police
officers to seek resolution of grievances in the courts.
There are no export processing zones, but individual foreign
companies frequently were granted duty free zone status for their
facilities. There are no exemptions from regular labor laws in the
duty-free zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory LaborThe law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace. Children
under 16 are prohibited from working, except under certain conditions,
such as temporary work during school vacations for those between 14 and
16. Children may not work night shifts, overtime, or at hard physical
labor. The National Labor Center enforced these regulations in
practice, and there were no reports of any significant violations.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum monthly
wage of $310 (62,000 forint) did not provide a decent standard of
living for a worker and family. The minimum wage was regularly
evaluated and raised by the National Council for Interest
Reconciliation, a tripartite body of employers, employees, and the
Government. An increased minimum wage of $334 (65,000 forint) will take
effect in 2007.
The law sets the official workday at eight hours, although it may
vary depending upon the nature of the industry. A 48 hour rest period
is required during any seven day period. The regular work week is 40
hours, with premium pay for overtime, and the law prohibits overtime
exceeding 200 hours per year. The law applies equally to foreign
workers who have work permits.
Labor courts and the country's labor inspectorate enforced
occupational safety standards set by the Government, but specific
safety conditions were not consistent with internationally accepted
standards, and enforcement was not always effective. Under the law
workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work
situations without jeopardizing their continued employment, and this
right generally was respected in practice.
__________
ICELAND
Iceland, with a population of 300,000, is a constitutional,
parliamentary republic. The President is the head of state; a prime
minister, usually the head of the majority party, is head of
government. There is a unicameral parliament (Althingi). In 2004 Olafur
Ragnar Grimsson was reelected President in free and fair elections. On
June 7, Geir Haarde (Independence Party) replaced Halldor Asgrimsson
(Progressive Party) as prime minister when the latter retired from
politics. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control
of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights
problems were reported: violence against women, societal discrimination
against minorities and foreigners, and isolated reports of women
trafficked to, through, and possibly from the country.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers.
In a December 2005 report, the Council of Europe (COE) commissioner
for human rights expressed concern that prisoners did not have access
to specialized mental health care services. The commissioner urged the
authorities to arrange for treatment--outside the prison system if
necessary--to meet individual care requirements. Prisoners needing
psychological and psychiatric services continued to experience delays,
but prison authorities hired a second part-time psychiatrist at the
prison to ensure that psychiatric personnel were present at least 50
percent of the time by year's end, up from 25 percent in the summer.
Emergency needs for either service received immediate attention.
During the late summer, an increase in arrests and resulting
pretrial detention caused some overcrowding at the detention facility
in Reykjavik. At the problem's peak, the facility held between five and
10 more detainees than its designed capacity. Authorities were forced
to move some detainees temporarily to the main prison and release
others sooner than originally planned. Opposition parties criticized
the minister of justice for not doing enough to construct new prison
housing to meet increased demand for pretrial detention space. In
December the Althingi enacted the Government's 2007 budget, which
included funds for the expansion, modernization, and upgrade of two
smaller prisons in Kviabryggja and Akureyri, but not for the main
prison at Litla-Hraun. Throughout the entire prison and detention
system, during the year an average of 117.7 prisoners occupied
facilities designed for 137 inmates.
The Government maintained a separate minimum-security prison for
female inmates; however, because so few women were incarcerated (five
or six in July) some men were also held there. Men housed in facilities
with women were closely monitored and only interacted with women in the
common areas--they did not share cellblocks. In the rare instances when
juvenile offenders were incarcerated, they were held with adults, since
there was no separate facility for juveniles. Pretrial detainees were
held with convicted prisoners.
The 110 persons placed in custody during the year spent an average
of 11.2 days each in solitary confinement. In nine cases prisoners
spent more than a month in isolation. The average prisoner awaiting
trial or being tried spent 1.7 days in isolation. Most of the minors
who were held in custody during the year (fewer than 20 in all) spent
some time in isolation. The Government permitted visits by independent
human rights observers during the year. Prisoners could, and did,
request visits from volunteers from the Icelandic Red Cross, or so-
called ``prisoners' friends.'' The volunteers talked with the prisoners
and provided them with second-hand clothes upon request. There were no
prison visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The minister of justice
heads the police force. The national commissioner of police administers
and runs those police operations requiring centralized coordination
among various offices. Various district chiefs of police have
responsibility for law enforcement in their areas. The police were
effective, and corruption was not a problem. Complaints regarding
police abuses could be directed to a state prosecutor, who in turn
would seek investigative assistance from the national commissioner or,
if the national commissioner were the subject of the investigation, the
Reykjavik police department.
Arrest and Detention.--Police may make arrests under a number of
circumstances: when they believe a prosecutable offense has been
committed, where necessary to prevent further offenses or destruction
of evidence, to protect the suspect's safety, or when a person refuses
to obey police orders to move. Arrest warrants were usually not
required; the criminal code explicitly requires warrants only for
arrests when individuals fail to present themselves in court to attend
a hearing or a trial, or to prison to serve a sentence.
Persons placed under arrest are entitled to legal counsel, which is
provided by the Government if they are indigent. Authorities must
inform persons under arrest of their rights and must bring them before
a judge within 24 hours. The judge determines whether a suspect must
remain in custody during the investigation; the judge may grant
conditional release, subject to assurances that the accused will appear
for trial.
In his December 2005 report, the COE's commissioner for human
rights recommended that only judges, not police officers or
prosecutors, be permitted to place detainees, particularly minors, in
solitary confinement. The Ministry of Justice disagreed with this
recommendation and no action was taken.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
There are two levels of courts: district courts, of which there are
8, and the Supreme Court. The minister of justice appoints all judges,
who serve for life.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and with limited exceptions an independent judiciary
enforced this right.
Courts do not use juries, but multi-judge panels are common,
particularly in the Supreme Court. The courts presume defendants'
innocence and generally try them without delay. Defendants receive
access to legal counsel of their own choosing. For defendants unable to
pay attorneys' fees, the Government covers the cost; however,
defendants who are found guilty must reimburse the Government.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trial, to confront
witnesses, and to participate in the proceedings. They and their
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their
cases. At the discretion of the courts, prosecutors may introduce
evidence that police obtained illegally. With limited exceptions trials
were public and conducted fairly. Defendants have the right to appeal,
and the Supreme Court handles appeals expeditiously.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is a single court
system that handles both criminal and civil matters. The two levels of
the judiciary--the district courts and the Supreme Court--are widely
considered to be independent and impartial in civil matters. There were
no significant reports of problems enforcing domestic court orders.
Courts often awarded civil payment of damages in criminal cases. In
both criminal and civil cases, if a guilty party fails to pay awarded
damages, the Government will intervene to pay the damages and then
initiate collection action against the delinquent party.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected this prohibition in practice.
In order to obtain a permit to stay in the country based on
marriage to a citizen or the holder of a resident permit, a partner or
spouse must be at least 24 years of age. In 2005 the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Council of
Europe commissioner for human rights both expressed concern about this
requirement; however, there was no official action during the year in
response to these concerns.
Immigration law allows authorities to conduct house searches
without a prior court order when there is a significant risk that any
delay would jeopardize an investigation of immigration fraud; they may
also request DNA tests without court supervision in cases where they
suspect immigration fraud. In practice neither home searches without
warrants nor DNA tests took place during the year.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
The law establishes fines and imprisonment of up to three months
for those who publicly deride or belittle the religious doctrines of a
lawful religious association active in the country. Additionally, the
law establishes fines and imprisonment of up to two years to anyone who
publicly ridicules, slanders, insults, threatens, or in any other
manner publicly assaults, a person or a group of people on the basis of
their nationality, skin color, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
There were no reports that the law was invoked during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the state financially supported and promoted the
official religion, Lutheranism. This adversely affected other religions
in that they did not receive equal time and deference in school
curricula or comparable subsidies for their faith-based activities.
The law specifies conditions and procedures that religious
organizations must follow to be registered by the Government. Such
recognition was necessary for religious organizations other than the
state church if they wished to receive a per capita share of church tax
funds from the Government. Of three groups that applied to register as
religious organizations during the year, two, the Free Church of
Iceland and the Baptist Church of Sudurnes, had their applications
denied on grounds of not being sufficiently well established. The
Government did not place any restrictions or requirements on
unregistered religious organizations, which had the same rights as
other groups in society.
All citizens 16 years of age and older must pay an annual church
tax of approximately $121 (8,472 krona). For persons who were not
registered as belonging to a religious organization, or who belonged to
one that was not registered and officially recognized, the tax payment
went to the University of Iceland, a secular institution. Atheists and
humanists objected to having their fee go to the university, asserting
that this was inconsistent with the right of freedom of association.
In January the Icelandic Pagan Association (Asatuarfelagith) sued
the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and the Ministry of
Finance to receive funding proportional to its membership from monies
currently made available only to the national church. These monies
supplement the income that the national church receives from church
taxes, exclusively favoring state Lutheranism, which the plaintiff
alleged was a violation of the antidiscrimination provisions of the
European Convention of Human Rights. In November the Reykjavik District
Court ruled that the state does not have to give the association
comparable funding to what the national church is receiving. The court
based its reasoning on the fact that the national church is obligated
by law to provide a number of services and carry out specific
functions, so it is not unjust that it gets more funding from the state
than other religious organizations. Representatives of the pagan
association said they intended to appeal the verdict to the Supreme
Court but had not done so by year's end.
The law mandates religious instruction in Christianity in the
public schools; however, students may be exempted from attending the
classes upon parental request.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are no official groups
representing Jews in the country, and the community numbers under 100
individuals.
The law establishes penalties of fines and up to two years in
prison for verbal or physical assault on an individual or group based
on religion. The law also establishes fines and imprisonment of up to
three months for those who publicly deride or belittle the religious
doctrines of a lawful religion association active in the country. There
were no reports that the law was invoked during the year.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees,
but it had no fixed refugee acceptance requirements.
Asylum seekers were eligible for state-subsidized health care
during the processing of their cases, which at times took a year or
more. They could enroll their children in public schools after being in
the country for three months, and some children of asylum seekers were
enrolled in public schools during the year. Asylum seekers could also
apply for work permits. However, human rights advocates criticized the
law for not specifying which ``significant human rights reasons'' must
underpin granting temporary residence (and eligibility for work
permits) while asylum cases are processed, arguing that the situation
created the possible appearance of arbitrary decisions. This echoed
such groups' criticism of the vagueness of criteria for granting
asylum.
Since 1984 only one person has been granted asylum as a political
refugee. Officials rejected most asylum applications and eventually
deported most applicants; however, some asylum seekers have been
accepted on humanitarian grounds. The minister of justice appoints the
director of immigration, who heads the deciding body for asylum cases.
Some observers have asserted, as the Council of Europe commissioner for
human rights did in a December 2005 report, that this hierarchy could
constitute a conflict of interest. The law is ambiguous about the
criteria for granting and denying asylum, and this ambiguity, combined
with the low number of approved asylum applications, left unclear the
considerations that are applied in adjudicating the applications of
asylum seekers. The law allows for accelerated refusal of applications
deemed to be ``manifestly unfounded.''
Asylum seekers also faced other impediments. They were not entitled
to legal representation during their initial asylum interviews before
the Directorate of Immigration, although legal assistance was provided
for any appeals. Asylum seekers had no access to the court system. They
could address appeals against negative decisions only to the Ministry
of Justice.
In August 2005 CERD expressed concern about reports that border
guards did not always handle asylum requests properly and encouraged
the Government to intensify its efforts to provide systematic training
to these officials. The Government did not directly respond to this
concern and did not announce any action during the year to address it.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent
Presidential election was held in 2004, when Olafur Ragnar Grimsson won
85.6 percent of the valid votes for his third term in this mostly
ceremonial office. Elections to parliament in 2003 were free and fair.
Center-right coalitions have governed since 1991.
There were 23 women in the 63-seat parliament and four women in the
12-member cabinet. Two of nine Supreme Court members and 13 of 38
district court judges were women. Foreigners who have resided in the
country legally for five years (three years for citizens of
Scandinavian countries) may vote in municipal elections. No members of
minority groups held seats in the parliament.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government provided access in practice for citizens and
noncitizens, including foreign media. Appeals against refusals by
government authorities to grant access to materials may be referred to
an information committee consisting of three persons appointed to four-
year terms by the Prime Minister. Permanent employees of government
ministries may not be members of the committee.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Icelandic Human Rights Center acted as the country's leading
human rights organization, vetting government legislation and reporting
to international treaty monitoring bodies as well as promoting human
rights education and research. The center was funded primarily by the
Government but also by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), unions,
and the city of Reykjavik; it operated as an NGO. The Government did
not respond to criticism from CERD and the COE commissioner for human
rights in 2005 regarding its decision to cease direct support for the
center's operating expenses, but it continued to provide grants to the
center for specific initiatives.
The Government cooperated with international organizations and
permitted visits by the ICRC.
An independent ombudsman, elected by parliament, monitored and
reported to national and local authorities on human rights developments
to ensure that residents, whether citizens or aliens, received equal
protection. Individuals could lodge complaints with the ombudsman
regarding decisions, procedures, and conduct of public officials and
government agencies. The ombudsman may demand official reports,
documents, and records, may summon officials to give testimony, and has
access to official premises. He continued to complain during the year
that government agencies were responded slowly to requests for
information and documents, causing delays in his handling of cases. By
year's end the Government had not responded to these complaints. While
the ombudsman's conclusions are not binding on authorities, his
recommendations were generally followed. There was also a children's
ombudsman (see section 5).
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that everyone shall be equal before the
law and enjoy human rights irrespective of gender, race, social status,
or language. Various laws implement these principles, and the
Government effectively enforced them.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence; however, violence
against women continued to be a problem. Police statistics indicated
that the incidence of reported violence against women, including rape
and sexual assault, was low; however, the number of women seeking
medical and counseling assistance indicated that many incidents went
unreported. During the year 99 women sought temporary lodging at the
country's shelter for women, mainly because of domestic violence. The
shelter offered counseling to 219 clients. Also during the year, 143
women sought assistance at the National Hospital's Rape Crisis Center.
Legislation enacted in April permits judges to increase the
sentences of persons who committed violence against persons with whom
they had a domestic relationship or other close bond. Neither the
Ministry of Justice nor the Office of the State Prosecutor maintained
statistics on prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse.
The Government helped finance various facilities and organizations
that provided assistance to victims of violence. In addition to
partially funding such services, the Government provided help to
immigrant women in abusive relationships, offering emergency
accommodation, counseling, and information on legal rights. Courts
could issue restraining orders, but there were complaints that police
were reluctant to recommend them and that courts granted them only in
extreme circumstances. Victims of sexual crimes were entitled to
lawyers to advise them of their legal rights and help them pursue cases
against the alleged assailants; however, a large majority of victims
declined to press charges or chose to forgo trial, in part to avoid
unwanted publicity. Some local human rights monitors also attributed
underreporting to the infrequency of convictions, due to the heavy
burden of proof and to traditionally light sentences. While average
sentences for domestic violence showed a gradual increase, the courts
continued in many cases to base sentences on precedent and rarely made
full use of the more stringent sentences available under the law.
According to statistics from the Women's Shelter, 19 percent of their
clients pressed charges during the year, up from 13 percent in 2005.
In September the Government set into motion a plan for reducing
domestic and sexual violence against women and children during the
years 2006-11. Its main goals were: to increase preventive measures
that should encourage an open debate on violence against children and
gender-based violence, as well as foster a shift in societal attitudes;
to train and encourage staff in all public institutions to recognize
the symptoms of violence against children and gender-based violence; to
provide victims of domestic or sexual violence with proper care; and to
break the ``circle of violence'' by stepping up therapy options for
perpetrators.
Rape carries a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison. Judges
typically imposed sentences of one to three years. Spousal rape is not
explicitly addressed in the law. In 2005 the Icelandic Counseling and
Information Center for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Reykjavik noted
that the number of reported rapes rose faster than the number of
convictions when compared to previous years. In March 2005 the UN Human
Rights Committee expressed concern that what it considered a heavy
burden of proof for rape complainants was leading to a low conviction
rate. The Government did not address this point in its response to the
committee's concerns.
Prostitution was legal but rare. It was illegal to engage in
prostitution as a main source of income or to act as an intermediary in
the sale or procurement of sex.
There were concerns that some foreign women were trafficked to work
as exotic dancers or in massage parlors where sexual services are
offered (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates that violations
are punishable by fines; however, the law was not effectively enforced
in practice. There was no central authority that plaintiffs could
report to, or from which they could seek redress, and employers were
free to decide whether to provide their employees with information on
the legal prohibitions against sexual harassment in the workplace.
While gender equality advocates reported receiving several complaints a
year, the charges never became court cases, suggesting that victims
were unsure how to proceed with their claims and skeptical as to their
reception.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including under family
law, property law, and the judicial system. Despite laws that require
equal pay for equal work, a pay gap existed between men and women.
According to a study commissioned by the Ministry of Social Affairs,
during the year women on average earned 15.7 percent less than men in
the same professions. Affirmative action provisions in the law state
that if women are underrepresented in a certain profession, employers
have an obligation to hire female candidates over equally qualified
male candidates.
The Government continued to fund a center for promoting gender
equality to administer the Act on Equal Status and Equal Rights of
Women and Men. The center also provided gender equality counseling and
education to national and municipal authorities, institutions,
companies, individuals, and NGOs. The minister of social affairs
appoints members of a Complaints Committee on Equal Status, which
adjudicates alleged violations of the act; the committee's rulings are
nonreviewable. The minister of social affairs appoints an Equal Status
Council, with nine members drawn from national women's organizations,
the University of Iceland, and labor and professional groups, which
makes recommendations for equalizing the status of men and women in the
labor market.
During the year the Complaints Committee on Equal Status decided 13
cases involving hiring during the year and found that the law on equal
rights had been breached in two of them. Both involved the public
University of Iceland where authorities hired male rather than female
candidates for openly advertised positions. In one case in June, the
complaints committee ruled that the rector's appointment of an
associate professor represented gender bias and observed that the
rector had not provided an adequate explanation for appointing a man
instead of a woman (in August the female candidate was hired as a
professor at Reykjavik University, a private institution). In the
second case, the complaints committee ruled in December that the hiring
of a male candidate for a research position similarly represented
gender bias and was in breach of the law.
In June parliament amended the law on public corporations to place
greater emphasis on gender representation on their boards of directors.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare; it funded public education and health care. School
attendance is compulsory through the age of 15 and free through public
university level. According to government-published statistics for
2005, approximately 94 percent of students continued to advanced
secondary education.
The Government provided free prenatal and infant medical care, as
well as heavily subsidized childcare; girls and boys had equal access
to these services.
There were reports of abuse of children during the year. The Agency
for Child Protection received 1,047 reports of abuse. Of these 353
cited emotional abuse, 385 were related to physical abuse, and 317 to
sexual abuse. The agency operated seven treatment centers and a
diagnostic facility for abused and troubled minors. It also coordinated
the work of 32 committees throughout the country that were responsible
for managing child protection issues (for example, foster care) in
their local areas. The local committees hired professionals
knowledgeable about sexual abuse.
In an effort to accelerate prosecution of child sexual abuse cases
and lessen trauma to the child, the Government maintained a children's
assessment center (Barnahus). During the year the center conducted 194
investigative interviews, 117 children underwent assessment and
therapy, and 14 medical examinations were performed. The center was
intended to create a safe and secure environment where child victims
might feel more comfortable talking about what happened to them. It
brought together police, prosecutors, judges, doctors, and officials
from child protection services. District court judges were not required
to use the center and could hold investigatory interviews in the
courthouse instead, a practice that concerned some children's rights
advocates. In practice all district courts except for the Reykjavik
District Court opted to use the center's services. In September, in
response to public complaints by the Agency for Child Protection, the
presiding judge for the Reykjavik District Court responded that the
court had sufficient staff expertise and did not require the center's
services.
The children's ombudsman, who is appointed by the Prime Minister
but acts independently of the Government, fulfilled her mandate to
protect children's rights, interests, and welfare by, among other
things, seeking to influence legislation, government decisions, and
public attitudes. When investigating complaints, which typically
involved physical and psychological abuse and inadequate accommodation
for children with illnesses or disabilities, the ombudsman had access
to all public and private institutions and associations that house
children or otherwise care for them; however, the ombudsman's
conclusions were not legally binding. The ombudsman was not empowered
to address individual cases.
Trafficking in Persons.--Law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were isolated reports that persons were trafficked to,
through, and possibly from, the country.
Although information about trafficking is based on hearsay, the
total number of cases during the year was under 100. Cases fell into
several categories, none of which involved more than a few documented
victims: young Asian men and women caught while being trafficked via
Keflavik International Airport; ``mail-order'' or ``Internet'' brides
(both Eastern European and Asian) trapped with abusive, controlling
Icelandic husbands; and underpaid or mistreated prostitutes and workers
in nightclubs and massage parlors.
There were reports of foreign women, married to local men, who
lived in conditions akin to slavery. These women worked long hours, and
their husbands took their salaries, and some of the men sold the sexual
services of their wives.
In January a Chinese citizen won a civil suit of approximately
$71,000 (4.7 million krona) for unpaid wages for administering
therapeutic massages at a Kopavogur massage parlor.
Responsibility for efforts to prevent and punish trafficking lay
mainly with the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Justice;
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also involved in antitrafficking
efforts.
Women's aid groups reported that there was evidence that foreign
women were trafficked to the country primarily to work in striptease
clubs or massage parlors offering sexual services. A number of
municipalities have banned private clubs that feature dancing, believed
to serve as a front for prostitution and possibly trafficking, but
clubs appeared able to circumvent the regulations with impunity. One
club marketed private dances on its Web site and in full-page newspaper
advertisements that depicted a seminude woman reclining on a bed. The
Baltic countries were the main countries of origin for women working in
such clubs and parlors, with others coming from Central and Eastern
Europe and Russia. There were no statistics on the number or origin of
women actually trafficked. To work as an exotic dancer, any person from
outside the European Economic Area (EEA) must first obtain a work
permit, which is typically valid for three months. Social workers
suspected that most foreign women working in this field came from
within the EEA and were thus impossible to track through work permit
applications. A specialist at the Intercultural Center stated in a
newspaper interview that one or more foreign women sought assistance at
the center every week to protect themselves from violence caused by an
abusive husband or boyfriend. Two of the women interviewed during the
year said their husbands had forced them into prostitution.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons with the aim of sexual
abuse or forced labor and provides for imprisonment of up to eight
years for those found guilty of these offenses. During the year police
did not charge any persons with trafficking.
Although the Government sought to clamp down on elements of the sex
industry thought to be primary venues for victims of trafficking, there
was no coordinated government effort to investigate the trafficking
phenomenon outside of the general context of increased government
efforts to combat organized crime, and no public officials were
specifically designated to prosecute trafficking cases, which senior
officials described as very few. During the year the Government
reorganized the national police to provide more effective analysis and
investigation against organized crime and sexual offenses, to include
prostitution and trafficking. The minister of justice called for
further efforts to combat such crimes.
The Government provided funding for the Women's Shelter (Stigamot),
the country's counseling and information center for survivors of sexual
violence, and the rape crisis center of the National Hospital, whose
services included assistance to victims of trafficking. However, there
was no established government assistance program specifically for
victims of trafficking. Some NGOs provided government-supported
counseling and shelter to women and children who were victims of
violence or sexual abuse, including victims of trafficking. The Human
Rights Center and Intercultural Center were also available to assist
with trafficking cases and make referrals.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities, and there were no reports of
official discrimination in employment, education, access to health
care, or the provision of other state services. The law also provides
that persons with disabilities receive preference for government jobs
when they are at least as qualified as other applicants; however,
advocates for persons with disabilities asserted that the law was not
fully implemented and that such persons constituted a majority of the
country's poor.
Building regulations require that public accommodations and
government buildings, including elevators, be accessible to persons in
wheelchairs, that public property managers reserve 1 percent of parking
spaces (a minimum of one space) for persons with disabilities, and that
sidewalks outside the main entrance of such buildings be kept clear of
ice and snow to the extent possible. Violations of these regulations
are punishable by a fine or a jail sentence of up to two years;
however, the main association for persons with disabilities complained
that this regulation was not regularly enforced and that authorities
rarely assessed penalties for noncompliance.
Some mental health advocates criticized the Government for not
devoting sufficient attention and resources to the care of persons with
mental disabilities. Although the law provides them with rights to a
number of services at no cost, a large number of persons with mental
disabilities remained on waiting lists for housing, education, and
employment programs. Advocates alleged that government funding for the
care of persons with mental disabilities was inadequate and that the
government-financed health system funded too few hospital places for
acute patients and thus exacerbated a shortage of publicly funded
preventative and follow-up mental health care.
In October the Government initiated an action plan for the years
2006-10 to strengthen residential services such as group homes for
those with mental disabilities. The action plan also covers support
services such as rehabilitation and employment participation. The 2007
government budget enacted in December contained funding increases to
initiate several of the projects covered by the plan.
The Ministry of Social Affairs was the lead government body
responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. It
coordinated the work of six regional offices that provided services and
support to persons with disabilities. It also maintained a diagnostic
and advisory center in Reykjavik that aimed to create conditions
allowing persons with disabilities to lead normal lives.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Immigrants were visible in the
largely homogeneous population and suffered occasional incidents of
harassment based on their race and ethnicity.
The Immigrant Council, established in November 2005 to coordinate
the work of four ministries and the municipalities on immigrant and
refugee issues, began its work in May. The council began gathering
statistical data on immigration and coordinating outreach efforts to
assist immigrants, including refugees, to integrate successfully.
An April poll indicated that a third of respondents would consider
voting for a party with an anti-immigrant platform if one were to be
established. Most ``anti-immigrant'' respondents were in their late
teens or early twenties, were not highly educated, and lived in the
Reykjavik suburbs.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and workers exercised these rights. Labor unions were
independent of the Government and political parties. Approximately 85
percent of all eligible workers belonged to unions.
The law requires employers to withhold union dues (1 percent gross
pay) from the pay of all employees, regardless of their union status,
to help support disability, strike, and pension funds, and to finance
other benefits to which all workers are entitled.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law allows workers to
bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Nearly 100 percent of the workforce was covered by collective
bargaining agreements. Workers had the right to strike and exercised
this right in practice.
There were no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the
employment of children younger than age 16 in factories, on ships, or
in other places that are hazardous or require hard labor; this
prohibition was observed in practice. Children 14 or 15 years old may
work part-time or during school vacations in light, nonhazardous
occupations. Their work hours must not exceed the ordinary work hours
of adults in the same occupation. The Administration of Occupational
Safety and Health enforced child labor regulations effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The law does not establish a
minimum wage, but the minimum wages negotiated in various collectively
bargained agreements applied automatically to all employees in those
occupations, regardless of union membership. While the agreements can
be either industry- or sector-wide, or in some cases firm-specific, the
minimum wage levels are occupation-specific. Labor contracts provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family.
The standard legal workweek was 40 hours, which included nearly
three hours of paid breaks a week. Work exceeding eight hours in a
workday must be compensated as overtime. Workers were entitled to 11
hours of rest within each 24-hour period and to a day off every week.
Under special defined circumstances, employers may reduce the 11-hour
rest period to no less than eight hours, but they then must compensate
workers with one and a half hours of rest for every hour of reduction.
They may also postpone a worker's day off by a week. The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration effectively enforced these
regulations.
There were indications that immigrant workers received substandard
treatment. The media and labor organizations reported that a number of
immigrant workers were paid wages well below union-mandated minimum,
were denied medical coverage, and were required to work very long hours
while living in substandard housing or even sleeping on building sites.
Judging by anecdotal evidence from press accounts, such cases may have
numbered in the dozens. The country's labor unions took the lead in
investigating and protesting this mistreatment. They began inspecting
conditions at work sites, including construction sites and restaurants,
noting the number and nationality of workers employed. Citizen
employees reported to their unions on working conditions and treatment
of foreigners, and this practice acted as a check on mistreatment. In
December 2005 parliament passed legislation to regulate temporary-work
agencies that imported laborers and to protect their employees.
Protective measures included prohibiting the agencies from charging the
employees, in addition to the employers, for their services; requiring
that the agencies establish written contracts with workers specifying
the work to be performed; and giving employees the right to change
employers. The Directorate of Labor of the Ministry of Social Affairs
was charged with enforcing the new law.
The legislature set health and safety standards, and the Ministry
of Social Affairs administered and enforced them through its
administration of occupational safety and health. The ministry could
close workplaces until they met safety and health standards. Workers
had a collective, but not individual, right to refuse to work at a job
that did not meet occupational safety and health criteria. It is
illegal to fire workers who report unsafe or unhealthy conditions.
__________
IRELAND
Ireland is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with an executive
branch headed by a prime minister (Bertie Ahern), a bicameral
parliament (Oireachtas), and a directly elected head of state, the
President (Mary McAleese). The country's population is approximately
4.23 million. Free and fair parliamentary elections took place in 2002.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. The law and judiciary provided effective means of addressing
individual instances of abuse. Overcrowding and other harmful prison
conditions, societal mistreatment of children, domestic violence, and
trafficking in persons were the main human rights abuses during the
year.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were
reports of abuse by police officers.
In 2005 the Police Complaints Board recorded 1,173 complaints,
including abuse of authority, discourtesy, neglect, and discreditable
conduct by police officers, compared with 1,232 such complaints in
2004. Of the 2005 complaints, 51 were adjudicated as minor breaches of
discipline and referred to the police commissioner, and 23 were deemed
breaches of discipline and referred to a tribunal.
The Morris Tribunal, established in 2002, continued to investigate
allegations of police corruption in County Donegal. Several police
officers were accused of planting evidence, changing official
statements, and intimidating witnesses in relation to the 1996 death of
a local businessman. During the year the tribunal determined that two
officers had planted evidence and that three others attempted to cover
up the crime. The tribunal highlighted a pattern of insubordination and
lack of discipline within the Donegal police force.
During the year the independent police inspectorate, created in
2005 in response to concerns about police conduct, continued to examine
operational, investigative, managerial, and policing strategies
relating to the police force and published its first report. The report
recommended changes in two serious structural issues: lack of civilian
support within the police organization and an overemphasis on
headquarters and specialized units. However, at year's end no action
had been taken on the recommendations (see section 1.d.).
In several communities there were reports that violence against
racial minorities and immigrants occurred; however, police stated that
they received no complaints about misconduct from ethnic or religious
groups (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--While prison conditions
generally met international standards, there was some overcrowding, and
work and sanitation conditions remained poor in some prisons.
Overcrowding in prisons became a public concern following the death
of three inmates within a four-week period in August at Dublin's
Mountjoy Prison. In an overcrowded holding cell, one inmate with a
history of psychiatric illness beat another inmate to death. Another
inmate died of a drug overdose, and the third committed suicide. The
inspector of prisons had informed authorities of the overcrowding at
Mountjoy in a report that covered 2004-05. In an effort to alleviate
Mountjoy Prison's overcrowding, some prisoners were sent during the
year to other prisons. The same report also strongly criticized St.
Patrick's Institution, a detention center for young men aged 16 to 21,
for its lack of focus on rehabilitation. During the year approximately
70 of the 198 inmates at St. Patrick's Institution were school-aged,
although only 31 attended school. In October the educational workshops
at the institution, which had been closed since 2003 for budgetary and
health-related reasons, reopened.
The law permits children between the ages of 15 and 17 to be placed
in prison if they are found to be unsuitable for a detention school. An
estimated 170 children and teenagers were placed in adult prisons
during 2005.
Human rights groups continued to criticize understaffing and poor
infrastructure at the Central Mental Health Hospital in Dundrum, the
country's only secure hospital for prisoners with mental disabilities.
In May the Government approved construction of a new secure hospital
for mentality ill patients.
In most cases the Government permits prison visits by domestic and
international human rights observers but requires prior appointments
for such visits. There were no visits by such groups during the year;
however, on October 18, the Council of Europe's Committee for the
Prevention of Torture or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
announced it had visited a number of penal institutions earlier in the
month and presented recommendations to the Government.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions. The use of special arrest and detention authority
continued, primarily for those involved in paramilitary organizations.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
have primary responsibility for internal security but are generally
unarmed; therefore the army, under the minister of defense, may act in
support of police when necessary. There were limited problems of police
corruption, which the Government investigated, and no known problems of
impunity (see section 1.c.).
Arrest and Detention.--In order to make an arrest, authorities must
have a warrant issued by appropriate authorities, except when police,
with reasonable cause, suspect that an offense has been committed and
that a person is guilty of that offense. Suspects detained by police
must be promptly informed of the charges against them and may not be
held more than 24 hours without charge. For ``scheduled offenses,''
i.e. crimes involving firearms, explosives, or membership in an
unlawful organization, a judge has discretion to extend, upon the
police superintendent's request, the detention of a suspect for an
additional 24 hours.
The law requires that authorities bring a detainee before a
district court judge as soon as possible to determine bail status
pending a hearing; the judge decides whether to release the detainee on
bail or continue detention until an appointed court date.
The law permits detention without charge for up to seven days in
cases involving individuals suspected of drug trafficking; however, to
hold a suspected drug trafficker for more than 48 hours the police must
seek a judge's approval.
Detainees and prisoners are allowed unrestricted access to
attorneys. If the detainee does not have an attorney, the court
appoints one; for indigent detainees the Government provides an
attorney through the free legal aid program.
There is a functioning bail system; the law allows a court to
refuse bail to a person charged with a serious offense (one that
carries a penalty of five years' imprisonment or more) or when deemed
necessary to prevent the commission of another serious offense.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judicial system consists of district courts, circuit courts,
the High Court, the Court of Criminal Appeal, and the Supreme Court.
The President appoints judges recommended by the Judicial Appointment
Board, which makes its selection from a list presented by the
Government.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
The director of public prosecutions, an independent government
official, prosecutes criminal cases. Jury trials are generally used in
criminal cases, and the accused may choose an attorney. Indigent
defendants have the right to an attorney at public expense. Defendants
enjoy a presumption of innocence and have the right to present
evidence, to question witnesses, and to appeal.
The law explicitly allows ``special courts'' to be created when
``ordinary courts are inadequate to secure the effective administration
of justice and the preservation of public peace and order.'' A nonjury
``special criminal court'' tries ``scheduled offenses'' and any other
case that the director of public prosecutions certifies as one that an
ordinary court cannot adequately handle. The composition of the special
criminal court, always a three-judge panel, is determined by the
judicial branch and usually includes one high court judge, one circuit
court judge, and one district court judge. The panel's verdicts are by
majority vote. Rules of evidence are generally the same as in regular
courts, but the sworn statement of a police chief superintendent
identifying the accused as a member of an illegal organization is
accepted as prima facie evidence of the accused person's membership in
the organization. Proceedings of special criminal courts are generally
public, but judges may exclude certain persons other than journalists.
Special criminal court decisions, like decisions in all criminal cases,
may be appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal.
The constitution also allows parliament to pass legislation that
establishes tribunals with limited powers to investigate certain
matters, usually cases of government corruption, although, if
warranted, formal charges may be brought on the basis of the tribunal
findings. The legislation sets out the powers of the tribunal and the
procedures that will be applied. Some tribunals are established to last
indefinitely. Others are established for a specific task only and cease
to exist when that task is completed.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The independent and
impartial judicial system hears civil cases and appeals on civil
matters, including damage claims resulting from human rights
violations; such claims may be brought before all appropriate courts,
including the Supreme Court.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The constitution provides for freedom of the press with the
qualification that it not ``undermine public order or morality or the
authority of the state.'' The constitution prohibits the publication or
utterance of ``blasphemous seditious, or indecent'' matter.
The law prohibits the use of words, behavior, or the publication or
distribution of material which is threatening, abusive, or insulting
and intended or likely to stir up hatred. There were no reports that
these provisions were invoked during the year.
The law empowers the Government to prohibit the state-owned radio
and television network from broadcasting any material ``likely to
promote or incite to crime or which would tend to undermine the
authority of the State.'' Authorities did not invoke this prohibition
during the year.
The independent print media were active and expressed a wide
variety of views without government restriction.
Broadcasting remained mostly state controlled, but private-sector
broadcasting continued to grow. There were 54 independent radio
stations and two independent television stations. Access to cable and
satellite television was widespread.
A Publication Board has the authority to censor books and magazines
that it finds indecent or obscene. The board did not exercise this
authority during the year.
The Office of the Film Censor must classify films and videos before
they can be shown or sold; it must cut or ban any film that is
``indecent, obscene, or blasphemous,'' or which tends to ``inculcate
principles contrary to public morality or subversive of public
morality.'' During the year the film censor did not ban any films, but
it did ban one video because of its pornographic content.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
Internet was widely available and used by citizens.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution generally provides for freedom of assembly,
and the Government respected this right in practice. The law allows the
state to ``prevent or control meetings'' that are calculated to breach
the peace or to be a danger or nuisance to the general public.
On February 27, police dispersed demonstrators who responded
violently to a ``love Ulster'' march in Dublin involving Northern
Ireland unionists. The demonstrators attempted to block the march and
then attacked police deployed at the scene, precipitating a riot. The
rioters set fire to several vehicles, damaged local buildings, and
looted a small number of shops. The police subdued the rioters and
dispersed the protestors within hours of the initial outbreak of
violence. Several police, protesters, and bystanders were injured. The
police arrested 41 persons, 13 of whom were charged.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. Approximately 88 percent of the population is Roman Catholic.
There is no official state religion.
The Government permits, but does not require, religious instruction
in public schools, and parents may exempt their children from such
instruction.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In February a man was
sentenced to 20 months in jail for multiple counts of anti-Semitic
vandalism, including painting swastikas on three synagogues and
painting swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti on the Dublin Jewish
Museum in 2005. He was released on bail pending an appeal. He was also
scheduled to face 23 further charges of sending offensive e-mails to
Jewish individuals. The trial for these charges was scheduled for
January 12, 2007, in the Drogheda District Court.
In July unknown persons painted anti-Semitic graffiti on the
exterior wall of an embassy during the conflict involving Israel and
the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. The police promptly
removed the graffiti, but those responsible for the graffiti were never
identified. According to the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-
Semitism (CFCA), the Israeli embassy received dozens of telephone calls
during the July-August conflict between Israel and the terrorist group
Hizbolah in Lebanon. Several of the calls compared Israel to Nazi
Germany, and one caller said that ``it was a pity Hitler did not finish
the job.'' Also according to the CFCA, the country's Chief Rabbi
received an anti-Semitic phone call in mid-July, and a pair of
children's shoes, on which the word, ``Qana,'' (a reference to a
community in Lebanon shelled by the Israeli Air Force) was written in
red ink, was found outside the synagogue in Cork in August.
According to the 2002 census, the Jewish community numbered 1,790
persons. The 2006 census did not give respondents a box marked
``Jewish'' to check, due to the small number of Jews in the country.
Jewish respondents had the option of writing in their religion under
the ``other'' category.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government recognized 648 asylum seekers as refugees
during the year. The Government also provided temporary protection to
individuals who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and its 1967 Protocol and provided it to approximately 39 persons from
January through May. The Government cooperated with the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections,
which observers considered to be free and fair, were held in May 2002.
In 2004, in accordance with the constitution, the President began her
second term in office; the absence of any other candidates at the end
of her first seven-year term eliminated the need for a ballot.
There were 23 women in the 166-seat House of Representatives (Dail
Eirann) and 10 women in the 60-seat Senate (Senad Eirann). The
President is was woman, and three of the 15 government ministers were
women. Three women sat on the 34-member High Court, and three of the
eight Supreme Court judges were women.
There were no members of minorities in the lower House of
Representatives, the Senate, or the Cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of possible government corruption. The most widely publicized
instance involved the Prime Minister, who was under scrutiny for
financial payments and loans accepted from friends and business
associates during his tenure as minister for finance in 1993-94. The
Irish Times reported details of the Prime Minister's actions after an
anonymous source within the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning
Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon tribunal, passed
confidential information from the tribunal to the newspaper. Although
the Prime Minister's actions were not unlawful, the opposition
political parties criticized the Prime Minister for unethical behavior.
The law provides for public access to government information and
obligates statutory agencies to publish information on their activities
and make it available to citizens and noncitizens upon request.
Authorities generally granted requests by the public for information
and did not charge prohibitive fees. There were mechanisms for
appealing denials.
Tribunals operated on the basis of confidential information but
published their findings and made them available to the public.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of
gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age,
disability, race, and membership in the Traveller community. However,
discrimination against racial minorities, including immigrants and
Travellers, remained a problem.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, was a problem.
A July 2005 study by the National Crime Council and the Economic and
Social Research Institute reported that 15 percent of women at some
time experienced domestic abuse by a partner. Of these women, 29
percent reported the abuse to police, while only 7 percent contacted a
help line.
The law prohibits domestic violence, authorizes prosecution of a
violent family member, and provides victims two types of protection:
safety orders and barring orders. Safety orders prohibit a person from
engaging in violent actions or threats but do not require the
individual to leave the home, while barring orders prohibit a person
from entering the family home for up to three years. The law allows
claimants to apply for interim protection while courts process their
cases. Violations of these orders are punishable by a fine of up to
approximately $2,489 (1,900 euros) or 12 months' imprisonment.
According to official statistics, in 2005 the courts received 2,866
safety order applications and 3,183 barring applications; in both
categories, more than a third of the applications were granted and
nearly two-thirds were withdrawn. Of the safety and barring orders
granted, more than half were related to the spouse of the applicant. In
2005, 1,103 proceedings for breach of orders were initiated.
The Government funded centers throughout the country for victims of
domestic abuse.
The law criminalizes rape, including within marriage, and provides
for free legal advice to victims of serious sexual assault. The Courts
Service annual report documented a total of 75 rape cases tried in
2005, in which 40 persons were convicted of rape and other sexual
offenses. They received sentences of between five and 12 years in
prison. At the end of 2005, 58 rape cases were pending.
In rape cases, the Government brings formal charges against the
accused, with the victim acting as a witness. The law provides for
separate legal representation for victims in rape and other serious
sexual assault cases when counsel for the defendant applies to enter
evidence or to cross-examine the victim about his or her past sexual
experience.
Strengthened statutory rape legislation to eliminate ignorance of
the victim's age as a mitigating circumstance in sentencing prevented
convicted perpetrators from leaving prison by arguing that they were
unaware of the victim's age, an acceptable legal argument under the
previous law. The law changed after one man convicted of statutory rape
successfully appealed his conviction on this premise and was released.
Several other appeals were pending when the law changed, effectively
eliminating the basis for the appeals.
Rape crisis centers, funded in part by the Government, provided
support by immediate telephone contact and one-on-one counseling.
Government programs provided long- and short-term housing options for
victims of sexual violence. All police received training on the
investigation of cases of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault.
In 2005 the Dublin Rape Crisis Center reported receiving 12,244
counseling calls in all categories (child sexual abuse, adult rape,
adult sexual assault, and sexual harassment), an upward trend in the
frequency of calls. The center reported that 95 of the 335 rape victims
recorded in 2005 reported their attacks to the police, resulting in
five defendants being tried and four convicted.
Although prostitution is not a crime, it is illegal for a person in
a street or public place to solicit for the purposes of prostitution.
The offense applies equally to a prostitute soliciting a client, a
client soliciting a prostitute, or a third party soliciting one on
behalf of the other. The same offense and penalties apply to
prostitutes, clients, or anyone who solicits in a public place. It is
also an offense to solicit another person in order to commit certain
sexual offenses, such as sexual offenses with underage persons or to
keep or to manage a brothel. Reports of, and arrests for, prostitution
were rare.
There was anecdotal evidence that women were trafficked for sexual
exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
The law obliges employers to prevent sexual harassment and
prohibits dismissing an employee for making a complaint of sexual
harassment. The Equality Authority investigates claims of unfair
dismissal and may require an employer charged with unfair dismissal to
reinstate the employee or pay the employee up to 104 weeks' pay. In the
few cases of sexual harassment that were reported to them, authorities
effectively enforced the law.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Equality
Tribunal and the Equality Authority are the main statutory bodies that
enforce and administer the discrimination laws. Nonetheless,
inequalities persisted regarding pay and promotions in both the public
and private sectors. Women constituted 45 percent of the labor force
but were underrepresented in senior management positions.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare, allocating ample funds to systems of public
education and health care. Education is free and compulsory for
children from age six to 15. The Department of Education reported that
approximately 99 percent of children between the ages of five and 16
attended school and that 92 percent completed upper secondary
education.
The Government makes available to all children a range of health
services, including free immunizations and vaccinations and free
prescribed drugs and medications. The Government covers all health
services for residents below a certain income level.
The law establishes strict guidelines for organizations providing
services to children to identify and report cases of physical and
sexual child abuse. Numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
offered support for victims as well as resources for parents and
professionals who work with children.
During the year the UN Committee on the Rights of Children
expressed concern over the level of child poverty, alcohol abuse among
children, and proposed changes to the youth justice system that would
permit criminal prosecution of children as young as 10 years old.
In 2005 the Dublin Rape Crisis Center reported that 46 percent of
calls to its crisis line involved child sexual abuse. The 15 member
centers of Rape Crisis Network Ireland provided face-to-face support to
3,529 individuals, 39 percent of whom were children. The law requires
government health boards to identify and help children who are not
receiving adequate care, and it gives police increased powers to remove
children from the family if there is an immediate and serious risk to
their health or welfare.
The law prohibits the trafficking and sexual exploitation of
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see
section 5, Trafficking in Persons).
An ombudsman for children investigates complaints from children or
persons acting on their behalf against various governmental and
nongovernmental bodies and has a role in promoting general child
welfare.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons.
There were reports, which the Government investigated, that the country
was a transit and destination point for a significant number of
trafficking victims from Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and
Asia. The country may also be a transit point for persons trafficked to
or from Northern Ireland. There was anecdotal information that some
women were trafficked within the country.
Socially disadvantaged noncitizen women and children, asylum
seekers, refugees, and economic immigrants were most likely to be
trafficking victims.
NGOs reported that women were smuggled or trafficked into the
country primarily for sexual exploitation and that men may be smuggled
or trafficked into the country for work in the construction industry or
agricultural sector. There were no reliable statistics on the number of
possible victims of trafficking, but press reports and anecdotal
information from the police indicated that the number increased during
the year. However, the most credible NGOs reported there were fewer
than 30 victims. NGOs also reported that traffickers targeted more
vulnerable younger women who knew little English, lacked legal status,
and had no recourse to social or familial networks. The traffickers
generally placed their victims in apartments, where illegal activities
were easier to hide. NGOs reported that traffickers used the Internet
to advertise and solicit victims. NGO and press accounts of the
experiences of trafficking victims identified both Irish and foreign
nationals among the traffickers. The majority of foreign traffickers
were from Eastern Europe.
The law expressly criminalizes trafficking in children for the
purpose of sexual exploitation, with penalties of up to life
imprisonment. The law also criminalizes trafficking in illegal
immigrants and asylum seekers. The Police National Immigration Bureau
(GNIB) and the Department of Justice are responsible for combating
trafficking.
In July 2005 the Dublin District Court began the trial of a man
charged with trafficking a Mauritius national into the country. The
trial was still pending at year's end. There were no trafficking
convictions during the year.
The Government trained law enforcement officials on how to extend
protection assistance to potential victims of trafficking. In August
the Government initiated an antitrafficking campaign, using
multilingual posters to advertise a toll-free telephone number that
victims of trafficking could call for assistance. Through this number
they were referred to police and various NGOs for such services as
temporary accommodations and access to social and legal counsel.
The ministries of justice and foreign affairs and the GNIB were
involved in antitrafficking efforts, and there was coordination between
government officials, NGOs, and other elements of civil society on
trafficking issues.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other state
services, and the Government effectively enforced these provisions. The
law requires access to buildings for persons with disabilities, where
possible, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in
practice.
A National Disability Authority has responsibility for setting
disability standards, monitoring the implementation of these standards,
and researching and formulating disability policy.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination and
violence against immigrants and racial and ethnic minorities, including
Asians, East Europeans, and Africans, continued to be a problem.
Racially motivated incidents involved physical violence, intimidation,
graffiti, and verbal slurs; the majority of the incidents took place in
public places. In November the Economic and Social Research Institute
issued a publication, Migrants' Experience of Racism and Discrimination
in Ireland, which reported that 35 percent of migrants interviewed had
experienced discrimination or harassment in public places.
During the year 141 racially and ethnically motivated incidents
were reported, an increase from the 94 incidents reported in 2005. The
Police Racial and Intercultural Office trained police on interacting
with persons of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. There were
also 34 officers who were specially trained in conflict resolution
involving foreign nationals where language was a problem.
Approximately 25,000 nomadic persons regard themselves as a
distinct ethnic group called ``Travellers,'' who have their own history
and culture. Travellers faced societal discrimination and were
regularly denied access to premises, goods, facilities, and services;
many restaurants and pubs, for example, would not serve them. While the
law does not recognize Travellers as an ethnic group, there is a
specific designation that protects them under the antidiscrimination
laws.
Despite national regulations providing that no child may be refused
admission to school on account of social position, Travellers
frequently experienced difficulties enrolling their children in school.
Traveller students were not taught in separate classrooms. Of the
estimated 5,000 Traveller families, approximately 1,000 lived on
roadsides or other temporary sites without electricity or sanitary
facilities. Many Travellers depended on social welfare for survival and
their participation in the economy was limited by discrimination and
lack of education.
The law specifically prohibits discrimination against Travellers,
and a small number of discrimination lawsuits were filed and won during
the year against proprietors for refusing to serve Travellers. The
Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act requires local elected officials
to draw up and implement Traveller accommodation plans on a five-year
basis and requires them to solicit Traveller input into the process.
Under this act, each community must provide adequate accommodations for
Travellers. Traveller NGOs argued, however, that many communities
provided Travellers with housing, such as government-owned apartments
or townhouses, which was inconsistent with the nomadic Traveller
lifestyle or provided halting sites that did not include basic
amenities such as sanitary facilities, electricity, and water.
Government expenditures on Traveller-specific reached an estimated $148
million (114 million euros) during the year.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
right to form and join unions of their choice, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Approximately 33 percent of workers in the
private sector were union members, compared with 95 percent in the
public sector. Police and military personnel may form associations, but
technically not unions, to represent themselves in matters of pay,
working conditions, and general welfare.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. Labor unions have the
right to pursue collective bargaining and unions exercised this right
in practice; however, employers are not required to engage in
collective bargaining with employees. The law provides for the right to
strike, and workers exercised this right in both the public and private
sectors. Police and military personnel, however, are prohibited from
striking.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the export processing zone at Shannon Airport.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government implemented laws and policies to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace. Under the law, employers may not employ
children under the age of 16 in a regular, full-time job. Employers may
hire 14- or 15-year-olds for light work on school holidays as part of
an approved work experience or educational program. Employers may hire
children over the age of 15 on a part-time basis during the school
year. The law establishes rest intervals and maximum working hours,
prohibits the employment of 18-year-olds for late night work, and
requires employers to keep more detailed records on workers under 18
years of age. The Office of the Labor Inspectorate at the Department of
Enterprise, Trade and Employment is responsible for enforcement.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage is
$10.02 (7.65 euros) per hour, which did not provide a decent standard
of living for a worker and family; however, low-income families are
entitled to such benefits as subsidized housing, medical coverage, and
children's allowances. During the year reports persisted that the pay
of non-Irish migrant workers was sometimes below the minimum wage,
particularly in the rural agricultural and construction sectors. Partly
in response to these reports, the Government established a labor-
monitoring agency independent of the Department of Enterprise, Trade,
and Employment, which primarily represents business interests.
The standard workweek is 39 hours. Working hours in the industrial
sector are limited to nine hours per day and 48 hours per week.
Overtime work is limited to two hours per day, 12 hours per week, and
240 hours per year. The Government effectively enforced work-hour
standards. Although there is no statutory entitlement to premium pay
for overtime, it could be arranged between employer and employee.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment is responsible
for enforcing the laws dealing with occupational safety, and these laws
provided adequate and comprehensive protection. There were no
complaints from either labor or management during the year regarding
significant shortcomings in enforcement. Regulations provide workers
with the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations that
present a ``serious, imminent, and unavoidable risk'' without jeopardy
to their continued employment.
__________
ITALY
Italy is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a population of
approximately 58.4 million. The bicameral parliament consists of the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. National parliamentary elections,
which determine who will be President and prime minister, were held in
April and were considered free and fair. A center-left coalition led by
Prime Minister Romano Prodi replaced the center-right coalition led by
former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The parliament elected Giorgio
Napolitano as the new President. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, although there were problems in some areas. Despite extensive
delays, the law and judiciary otherwise provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. Journalists and prosecutors
increased their criticisms of police behavior and filed a greater
number of cases against them for various crimes. Lengthy pretrial
detention, excessively long court proceedings, violence against women,
trafficking in persons, and abuse of Roma remained problems.
Parliament adopted a law reducing the prison sentences for minor
crimes committed before May 2, a measure that resulted in the release
of 17,400 prisoners and significantly reduced prison overcrowding.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings, and
courts and investigators dealt with earlier killings by government
agents and with politically motivated killings by nongovernmental
actors.
In 2005 a police officer in Turin shot and killed a Senegalese
immigrant who refused to exit his vehicle during a drug search. The
incident was under investigation at year's end.
In March a court sentenced each of seven police officers in Naples
to seven years in prison for the shooting death of a military
parachutist in 2003.
In April the Court of Cassation, the country's highest appellate
court, sentenced a policemen to 10 years in prison for the 2000 killing
of a 16-year-old boy.
In March a court sentenced the leader of the New Red Brigades
(Communist Combatant Party) to life in prison for the March 2003 murder
of a police officer. In July and in 2005, in cases involving some of
the same suspects, the Rome appeals court sentenced three Red Brigade
members to life in prison and nine others to lesser sentences for the
1999 killing of Massimo D'Antona, an academic advisor to the labor
ministry. In December the Bologna court sentenced four Red Brigade
members to life in prison and one to 21 years for the 2002 murder of
another labor ministry academic advisor, Marco Biagi. In March and
June, the Rome court sentenced five Red Brigade members to life and one
to 16 years' imprisonment for the 2002 killing of Marco Biagi.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
reports that police occasionally used excessive force against persons
detained in connection with common criminal offenses or in the course
of identity checks. While this behavior affected both citizens and
foreigners, Roma and immigrants were at particular risk (see section
5).
In 2004 authorities charged a prison guard in Lombardy with raping
an Albanian immigrant in custody. The case remained under investigation
at year's end.
The investigation of an off-duty police officer who shot and
injured a 16-year-old boy in 2004 was still ongoing at year's end.
In 2003 a Nigerian immigrant accused two policemen in Rome of
abusing him while he was in their custody; the alleged abuses included
burns to his abdomen. The incident occurred after the immigrant had
attempted to escape. The case was under investigation at the end of the
year.
In March the court gave a seven-month sentence to a police officer
convicted of using excessive force and causing personal injury to a
number of individuals when police were trying to clear approximately
100 activists from a Milan emergency room waiting area in March 2003.
During the year one of two other officers charged in the incident was
acquitted, and a court sentenced two of four activists investigated for
violence against police on the same occasion to 20 months in prison.
At year's end the trial continued of 27 police officers, including
senior officers, charged with perjury, conspiracy, or assault during a
2001 police raid on a building used by protesters at the G-8 summit in
Genoa in 2001. A separate trial continued of 45 police officers
indicted for ``inhuman or degrading treatment,'' including assault,
during the subsequent detention of those protestors.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, although some prisons remained
overcrowded and antiquated. In July parliament approved a reduction in
sentences for minor crimes that significantly reduced the number of
prisoners (see section 1.d.). In November, after many prisoners were
released, there were 39,200 inmates (down from 61,300 in June) in a
prison system designed to hold 42,500; however, the uneven distribution
of those released left a few institutions still overcrowded. Older
facilities lacked outdoor or exercise space; some prisons lacked
adequate medical care. Approximately 62 percent of the inmates were
serving sentences; the other 38 percent consisted mainly of detainees
awaiting trial or the outcome of an appeal.
During the year, according to an independent research center, 58
prisoners died while in custody, 35 of them by suicide.
The 20 temporary detention centers for illegal immigrants continued
to be overcrowded. The newly elected government provided improved
access to detention centers for representatives of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs.)
The law does not require that pretrial detainees be held separately
from convicted prisoners, and they are held together in some smaller
prisons.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
organizations, parliamentarians, and the media. Amnesty International
(AI), the UN Human Rights Commission, the Committee Against Torture of
the Council of Europe (CPT), and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
regularly assessed the country's judicial and prison systems. Several
municipalities appointed independent ombudsmen to promote the rights of
detainees and facilitate access to health care and other services.
In April the Government authorized publication of a report of the
CPT, whose representatives visited prisons, detention centers, and
police stations in 2004. The report noted that some inmates suffered
such abuses as incarceration in cramped conditions, lack of access to
lawyers, poor medical treatment, and xenophobic and racist insults. In
response to the report, the Government indicated that it had built four
new prisons, was upgrading another eight, and had hired additional
prison staff, including psychologists and cultural mediators.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Four separate police
forces, which report to different ministerial or local authorities,
effectively enforced law and order. The national police and the
financial police are under the jurisdiction of the interior and finance
ministries, respectively. The Ministry of Defense controls the
carabinieri, a military security force; however, the Ministry of
Interior assumes control of carabinieri and financial police units when
they perform law enforcement functions. Under exceptional circumstances
the Government may call on the army to provide security in the form of
police duty in certain local areas, thereby freeing the carabinieri and
local police to focus on other duties.
Allegations of police corruption by journalists and prosecutors
increased. In January eight carabinieri officers in Milan were arrested
on charges of graft and evidence tampering. The officers reportedly
used false evidence to extort money from a number of previous
offenders, three of whom were wrongfully convicted and returned to
prison until an investigation raised questions about the evidence. The
accused were released. The officers' trial had not begun by year's end.
In April 2005 authorities charged 12 police officers with
corruption, abuse of authority, and perjury, because of their contacts
with criminal organizations. The charges were based on wiretaps. The
case remained under investigation at year's end.
Both the Government and the judiciary investigated police abuses
and prosecuted police who mistreated persons in custody. The trial of
29 police officers charged in 2003 with unlawful imprisonment and
assault in Genoa in 2001 continued (see section 1.c.).
Arrest and Detention.--To make arrests, police are required to have
warrants issued by duly authorized officials, unless there is a
specific and immediate danger to which they must respond. The examining
magistrate must decide within 24 hours of a suspect's detention whether
there is enough evidence to proceed with an arrest. The investigating
judge then has 48 hours in which to confirm the arrest and recommend
whether the case goes to trial. Authorities generally respected the
right to a prompt judicial determination in practice. Under the law
detainees are entitled to prompt and regular access to lawyers of their
choosing and to family members. The state provides a lawyer to
indigents. In exceptional circumstances--usually in cases of organized
crime figures--where there is danger that attorneys may attempt to
tamper with evidence, the investigating judge may take up to five days
to interrogate the accused before the accused is allowed to contact an
attorney. There is no provision for bail; however, judges may grant
provisional liberty to suspects awaiting trial. As a safeguard against
unjustified detention, a detainee may request that a panel of judges
(liberty tribunals) review his case on a regular basis and rule on
whether continued detention is warranted.
In 2005 the President signed into law a new antiterrorism decree
that: doubles to 24 hours the amount of time police can hold suspects
without charge; makes arrests for crimes involving terrorism
obligatory; allows police to take DNA samples from suspects for
identification purposes; makes it easier for intelligence services to
conduct wiretaps; requires identification to purchase telephone cards
and a license to operate an Internet cafe; increases penalties for
concealing one's identity in public places; allows the Government to
deport suspects under investigation without court approval (suspects
may appeal only after the deportation occurs); and expands the legal
grounds for deportation to include concern that an individual's
presence might facilitate terrorist activities or organizations. In
November the European Human Rights Committee blocked deportation orders
against three individuals the authorities considered terrorists, citing
the need to investigate whether they would be subject to persecution if
they were returned to their home country, Tunisia.
Since adoption of the 2005 law, authorities have employed it to
deport 32 immigrants suspected of links to terrorist networks.
Preventive detention may be imposed as a last resort if there is
clear and convincing evidence of a serious offense. Serious offenses
are defined as those that carry maximum prison sentences of four years
or more, such as some crimes involving the Mafia or crimes related to
terrorism, drugs, arms, and subversion. Authorities may also use
preventive detention if there is a risk that an offense might be
repeated or that evidence might be falsified. Except in extraordinary
situations, preventive detention is prohibited for pregnant women,
single parents of children under age three, persons over age 70, and
those who are seriously ill.
Despite restrictions on pretrial detention, it remained a serious
problem. During the first half of the year, 20 percent of all prisoners
were in pretrial detention awaiting the beginning of their trials and
16 percent were awaiting a final sentence. The maximum term of pretrial
incarceration is two years for a crime with a maximum penalty of six
years in prison, four years for a crime with a maximum penalty of 20
years, and six years for a crime with a maximum penalty of more than 20
years.
According to some judicial experts, a few prosecutors used pretrial
detention as pressure to obtain confessions.
In July parliament approved a law that granted a three-year
reduction in prison sentences for minor crimes committed before May 2;
it does not apply to sentences committed for the crimes of terrorism,
trafficking in persons, mafia-related crime, pornography, rape, or drug
trafficking. The effect of the law was to release 17,400 prisoners,
greatly easing overcrowding of prisons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, most court cases involved long trial
delays. Pressure on the judicial system, primarily through the
intimidation of judges by organized crime groups, further complicated
the judicial process. In February and March, a judge who was a member
of a court of appeals that sentenced 39 mafia members to prison for
life was the target of a series of episodes of intimidation (notes,
graffiti, bullets were left in front of his apartment) in Catanzaro.
There are three levels of courts. Either a single judge or a court,
which may consist of a panel of judges or include a jury, hears cases
at the level of first instance. At the second level, civil and criminal
appeals are heard by separate courts with juries. Both sides may appeal
decisions of the court of appeals to the highest court, the Court of
Cassation in Rome, but only for reasons related to law, not to the
merits of the case. A separate Constitutional Court hears cases
involving possible conflict between laws and the constitution or
involving conflicts over the duties or powers of different units of
government.
Legislation enacted in 2005 reformed the judicial system by
altering the career track of professional magistrates (who previously
functioned as both prosecutors and trial/appellate judges) to require
them to become either prosecutors or judges. It also made the promotion
of judges conditional upon passage of an examination and allows
district prosecutors to determine the priority of cases. The
legislation gives the Court of Cassation authority to discipline
magistrates who participate in political activities, leak information,
or otherwise violate judicial rules of procedure.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Trials are public. Defendants have access to an attorney in a timely
manner to prepare a defense. Defendants may confront and question
witnesses against them, and they may present witnesses and evidence on
their behalf. Prosecutors must make evidence available to defendants
and their attorneys upon request. The law grants defendants the
presumption of innocence. Defendants may appeal verdicts to the highest
appellate court.
Domestic and European institutions continued to criticize the slow
pace of justice in the country. In 2005 over 800 petitions were pending
in the European Court of Human Rights seeking compensation from the
Government for excessively long proceedings. Observers cited several
reasons for delays: the absence of effective limits on the length of
pretrial investigations; the large number of minor offenses covered by
the penal code; unclear and contradictory legal provisions; and
insufficient resources, including an inadequate number of judges.
In January 2005 the chief prosecutor of the Court of Cassation
estimated that 81 percent of reported crimes went unpunished. A year
later he reported that on average it took 401 days to complete a
criminal trial, 860 days to complete an appeal, an additional 918 days
if a case was referred to the Court of Cassation.
The courts had significant leeway to determine when the statute of
limitations should apply, and defendants often took advantage of the
slow pace of justice to delay trials through extensive pleas and
appeals (see section 3). In February parliament enacted a law that
limits the power of prosecutors to appeal acquittals by eliminating the
intermediary appellate level and requiring that appeals go directly to
the Court of Cassation. For the first time the new law also allows
appeals based on evidence presented during the trial; previously, the
grounds for appeal were limited to interpretation or application of the
law itself.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides
for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
Administrative remedies are determined by law and arbitration is
allowed and regulated by contracts. In most cases citizens turned to
arbitration because of trial delays. In 2004 the average time required
to complete a civil trial was 798 days; 636 days were required to
complete an appeal, and another 317 days to appeal to the Court of
Cassation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. Searches and
electronic monitoring were generally permissible under judicial warrant
and in carefully defined circumstances; however, the new antiterrorism
decree made it easier for intelligence agencies to obtain permission to
conduct wiretaps. The new antiterrorism decree also required the
purchasers of telephone cards to provide identification.
The media published leaked transcripts of both legal and illegal
wiretaps during the year. Prosecutors and magistrates called for new
legislation making it a crime to publish transcripts of illegal
wiretaps. Published wiretaps included information relating to the
arrest of Prince Victor Emanuele on charges of corruption and running a
brothel, charges of game-fixing against coaches and referees of major
soccer teams, and charges of inappropriate interference in the sale of
banks that led to the resignation of the governor of the Bank of Italy.
There were also accounts of alleged industrial espionage and illegal
wiretaps relating to the sale of a national telecommunications company
(see section 1.f.).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. An independent press and judiciary and a functioning
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and
the press.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal, and the authorities did not impede such criticism. In
January parliament enacted a law that replaces imprisonment with fines
as punishment for desecrating the flag or insulting the President.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views.
There were approximately 80 newspapers in circulation, eight of
them national. Former prime minister Berlusconi (leader of the
opposition coalition, controlled two of the national newspapers.
Critics charged that through his ownership share of the company
Mediaset, Berlusconi also directly or indirectly controlled three of
the country's seven national television broadcast channels. The three
state-owned channels (Radiotelevisione Italiana or RAI) and other
networks broadcast a wide range of opinion that reflected the full
spectrum of political views in the country. Disputes over partisanship
on the airwaves continued to prompt frequent political debate, and NGOs
contended that media ownership was concentrated in too few hands.
On April 29, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a
judge ordered journalist Mario Spezi released after 22 days in jail.
Authorities detained Spezi in Perugia. His detention occurred days
before the appearance of a book he coauthored that criticized the
Perugia public prosecutor's investigation of a series of long-
unresolved killings. News reports indicated that the journalist was
under investigation for attempting to sidetrack an investigation and
defaming Perugia prosecutors in the media.
The NGO Reporters Without Borders and the journalists' union
criticized several judicial actions against journalists. In August
prosecutors ordered police to search the premises of two national
newspapers to ascertain the source of articles related to the
investigation of an alleged rendition by foreign officials of an imam
who was being investigated for terrorist activities by the Milan
prosecutor. The case remained under investigation at year's end.
In September two journalists claimed they were the subject of
illegal wiretaps and that the country's intelligence services followed
them because of their reports on alleged illicit activities by the
security services.
In May 2005, on the orders of a prosecutor, financial police
searched the office of a national newspaper and interrogated some
journalists to ascertain the source of an article on arms trafficking.
Neither the newspaper nor the prosecutor took further action on the
case. Observers noted that there were contradictory statutes that
maintained the sanctity of journalistic sources on the one hand and
authorized magistrates to carry out investigations into journalistic
sources on the other.
Unlike in previous years, politicians filed no defamation suits
against journalists; however, action was pending or taken on several
suits filed by politicians in earlier years. In July 2005 former prime
minister Berlusconi filed a libel suit against a British journalist
over a book in which the journalist alleged that Berlusconi was
involved in criminal activity and political corruption; Berlusconi was
seeking $1.27 million (one million euros) in compensation; no action
was taken in the case by year's end. In March a judge dismissed charges
filed by the former prime minister against another journalist who
published a book about the alleged involvement of Berlusconi's
companies in mafia-related crime. In April 2005 a trial of three
journalists from the newspaper, Coriere della Sera, began; they were
accused of defaming Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League
party in 2003; the trial was ongoing at year's end.
In 2005 the President of a Muslim association filed a defamation
suit against the writer Oriana Fallaci for the publication of a book
critical of Islam. The prosecutor first ordered the dismissal of the
case, but a judge subsequently sent the case to trial in Bergamo. The
book remains on sale, and Ms. Fallaci died in September, effectively
ending the suit.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail;
however, the Government could block foreign-based Internet sites if
they contravened national laws. The new antiterrorism decree requires
that the operator of an Internet cafe obtain a license.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
There is no state religion; however, an agreement between the Roman
Catholic Church and the Government provides the Catholic Church certain
privileges. For example, it may select Catholic religion teachers,
whose earnings are paid by the Government. The law authorizes the
Government to enter into relations with organizations representing non-
Catholic religions pursuant to an accord (intesa) that allows the
Government to provide support (including financial) to the
organization; these accords are voluntary and initiated by the
religious groups themselves. Several minority religious groups
benefited from such accords. The Government has also negotiated accords
with several others, including the Buddhist Union and Jehovah's
Witnesses organization; however, the parliament recessed in April
without enacting the legislation necessary to put them into effect.
Divisions between the country's Muslim organizations, as well as large
number of Muslim immigrant groups, hindered that community's efforts to
seek an intesa.
There were occasional reports that government officials or the
public objected to women wearing a burqah (a garment that completely
covers the face and body). The 2005 antiterrorism decree doubled
existing penalties for persons convicted of wearing such attire as a
burqah (or a crash helmet) in order to hide their identity. Penalties
were increased to two years in jail and fines of approximately $1,310
(1,000 euros) to $2,620 (2,000 euros) (see section 1.d.).
In May an administrative tribunal ruled that the 2005 deportation
of the imam of Turin on the grounds that he was preaching hate and
violence was groundless. The courts did not review the use of similar
grounds in 2005 to expel the vice President of the Como Muslim Cultural
Center. There were no reports of such expulsions during the year.
The continuing presence of such Christian symbols as crucifixes in
many government offices, courtrooms, and other public buildings drew
criticism and continued to be the subject of lawsuits. In February an
appeals court rejected a mother's efforts to remove crucifixes in her
children's classroom in Albano Terme; the judge noted that the crucifix
is not just a religious symbol but can express secular values as well.
A poll conducted during the year indicated that 80 percent of the
population supported having crucifixes in schools and public buildings.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The country's approximately
30,000 Jews maintain synagogues in 21 cities. There were no violent
anti-Semitic attacks during the year, but societal anti-Semitic
prejudices persisted, and small extremist fringe groups were
responsible for anti-Semitic acts.
Swastika graffiti appeared in some cities and during some soccer
matches. In January fans at a soccer match displayed anti-Semitic
banners and Nazi symbols. On July 10, neo-Nazis celebrating the
country's World Cup victory vandalized walls, doors, and vehicles in
the Jewish quarter of Rome with swastikas and other anti-Semitic
graffiti. The Prime Minister and other politicians strongly condemned
the incident as an ``ignoble gesture of hate and intolerance.''
On May 16, unknown persons vandalized 40 graves in a large Jewish
cemetery in Milan. Authorities started an investigation, but there were
no reports of progress at year's end.
During the July-August conflict involving Israel and the terrorist
organization Hizballah in Lebanon, Jewish citizens were sometimes held
collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel. For
example, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that on July 28, in
Livorno, graffiti translating roughly to ``Israel is an evil state''
was written on the walls of Jewish-owned businesses. The ADL also
reported that on August 1, 20 shops in Rome were vandalized with
swastikas and other damage. Fliers found at the shops were signed by
the Armed Revolutionary Fascists, a neo-fascist group, and denounced
``the Zionist economy'' and included pro-Hezbollah statements.
Also in August the National Secretary of the Union of Islamic
Communities in Italy (UCOII) placed an advertisement in local
newspapers comparing the alleged massacres committed by the Israeli
Army in Lebanon to the massacres committed by the Nazis. Politicians,
government officials, and the minister of the interior's Muslim
advisory board, the Islamic Consulta, (except for the UCOII member)
condemned the statement.
The Government hosted meetings to increase educational awareness of
the Holocaust and to combat anti-Semitism.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 Report on
International Religious Freedom.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. In 2005 the Government granted refugee status or asylum to
907 persons.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to 4,375 persons during the year.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees, and it provided temporary
protection to refugees fleeing hostilities or natural disasters. Such
refugees were granted temporary residence permits, which had to be
renewed periodically but did not ensure future permanent residence.
In the first half of the year, authorities identified 62,000
individuals in the country illegally and deported 24,125. Those who
were apprehended, usually attempting entry by sea, were sent to
temporary detention centers for processing, and a magistrate determined
whether an illegal immigrant would be deported (if their identity could
be ascertained), issued an order to depart (if their identity could not
be ascertained), or would be accepted for asylum processing. In
February AI released a report on the rights of migrants and asylum-
seeking minors which highlighted 890 allegations regarding the presence
of unaccompanied children who were restricted in temporary detention
centers in unhygienic and unsuitable conditions. AI stated that it
possessed detailed information about 28 of these cases. The Government
had not responded to these allegations by year's end.
The 20 temporary detention centers for illegal immigrants continued
to be overcrowded (see section 1.c.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Executive authority is
vested in the Council of Ministers, headed by the President of the
council (the Prime Minister). The head of state (President of the
republic) nominates the Prime Minister after consulting with the
leaders of all political forces in parliament. National parliamentary
elections (which determine who will be President and prime minister)
were held in April and were considered free and fair. Authorities
invited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
to observe the process for the first time and that organization
reported that overall the elections were in keeping with the country's
tradition of democratic elections. A center-left coalition led by Prime
Minister Romano Prodi was elected, replacing a center-right coalition
led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Under a law enacted in
2001, citizens living abroad were able to vote in national elections
for the first time.
Parliament also elected a new President, Giorgio Napolitano.
There were numerous political parties, which functioned without
government restrictions.
The elections resulted in a significant increase in the number of
women who won elective office. There were 40 women in the 315-seat
Senate (up from 25) and 108 women in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies
(up from 63). The number of women in the cabinet increased from two to
six of 25 cabinet positions.
The only legally defined minorities are linguistic--the French-
speaking Valdostani and the German-speaking Altoatesini/Suditirolesi.
In the new parliament there were four members of linguistic minorities
in the 315-seat Senate and five in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies. In
a largely monolithic society, immigrants represented approximately 4
percent of the population, and fewer than half of these qualified as
ethnic/racial minorities. Two members of immigrant groups (of Moroccan
and Palestinian origin) were elected to the Chamber of Deputies.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--In December the High
Commissioner of the independent Task Force on Corruption resigned,
citing a lack of political support and budgetary pressure to eliminate
the office. Established in 2004, the task force conducted over 50
investigations but had little real power to address corruption. There
continued to be isolated reports of government corruption during the
year, and the general public believed that politicians were corrupt.
According to press reporting, between November 2003 and November 2005 a
special court dealing with financial issues issued 201 summonses in
response to complaints from private citizens and public officials
regarding allegations of bribery or graft in public administration. It
also issued 265 rulings on various cases. There was no information on
the number of cases referred to a prosecutor for further action. In
2005 the NGO Transparency International rated perceptions of corruption
in the country at 5.0 on a scale of one to 10 with 10 indicating the
least corruption. The rating reflected the perceptions of business
people and country analysts concerning the prevalence of overall
corruption in the country. Its rating in 2003 was 4.8.
In July 2005 prosecutors charged 148 persons with involvement in a
1999 scheme to avoid military service by bribing officials. The trial
had not concluded by year's end.
In November the Court of Cassation annulled the 2005 conviction of
Ceasare Previti, previously former prime minister Berlusconi's lawyer
and a former minister of defense. He had been convicted of corruption
and sentenced to six years' imprisonment by an appeals court in a case
that involved the possible corruption of a judge.
The law gives citizens the right to access government documents and
to be informed of administrative processes. With some exceptions for
security issues, the Government and local authorities respected this
right in practice for citizens, noncitizens, and the foreign press.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuse, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender
(except with regard to hazardous work), ethnic background, and
political opinion and provides some protection against discrimination
based on disability, language, or social status. The Government
generally enforced these prohibitions. However, some societal
discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, immigrants,
and Roma persisted.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained a
problem. The NGO Telefono Rosa, which provided a hot line through which
abused women could obtain legal, medical, and other assistance,
reported that 13 percent of the calls it received involved sexual
violence, 37 percent involved physical violence in the home, and more
than 31 percent involved psychological violence. Telefono Rosa reported
receiving an average of 600 calls a month.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal, and the Government
enforced the law effectively. In 2004, 4,578 cases of rape were
reported, 3,412 persons were charged, and 1,530 were convicted.
The law criminalizes physical abuse of women, including by family
members, allows for the prosecution of perpetrators of violence against
women and helps women who have been victims of attack avoid publicity.
Law enforcement and judicial authorities were not reluctant to
prosecute perpetrators of violence against women, but victims
frequently declined to press charges due to fear, shame, or ignorance
of the law. According to a national survey, only 9 percent of rape
victims reported the crime to police. In March the Ministry of Equal
Opportunity established an additional hot line for victims of violence
seeking immediate assistance and temporary shelter.
Individual acts of prostitution in private residences are legal. It
is legal for adults to solicit or pay for acts of prostitution. It is
illegal to operate a brothel, traffic in human beings, or engage in sex
with a minor.
In August, in Brescia, the father of a 20-year-old Pakistani
immigrant woman allegedly killed her because she refused an arranged
marriage with her cousin and had adopted a western lifestyle. His trial
was pending at year's end.
In September an immigrant Indian woman, aged 31, committed suicide,
allegedly to avoid an arranged marriage.
Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation remained a problem
(see section 5, Trafficking).
The law permits domestic courts to try citizens and permanent
residents who engage in sex tourism, including outside the country,
even if the offense is not a crime in the country in which it occurred.
The country also has what is considered a model code of conduct for
tourist agencies to help combat sex tourism. In January four persons
accused of organizing tours to Brazil that included the sexual services
of girls ages 12 to 17 were put on trial; the trials were ongoing at
year's end. In September, in the first case applying the extra-
territorial aspect of the law against sexual tourism, prosecutors
charged an individual for his activities in Thailand in 2003-2005; the
trial was ongoing at year's end.
In 2003 authorities charged two individuals with sex tourism; their
trials had not concluded by year's end.
Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively
enforced the law. In 2005, in an effort to combat sexual harassment in
the workplace, the Government issued a decree that makes emotional
abuse based on gender discrimination a crime.
The law provides women the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
According to the well-respected research center Censis, the overall
gap between salaries for men and women averaged 26 percent. Women were
underrepresented in many fields, including management, entrepreneurial
business, and the professions. According to the Superior Council of the
Judiciary, 40 percent of magistrates were women, but only 5 percent of
chief justices were women.
A number of government offices worked to ensure women's rights. A
woman heads the Ministry for Equal Opportunity, and there is an equal
opportunity commission in the Office of the Prime Minister. The labor
ministry has a similar commission that focuses on women's rights and
discrimination in the workplace. Many NGOs, most of them affiliated
with labor unions or political parties, actively and effectively
promoted women's rights.
Children.--The Government demonstrated a commitment to children's
rights and welfare. Schooling is free and compulsory for children from
age seven to 18; those unable or unwilling to follow the academic
curriculum may shift to vocational training at age 15. In 2005 the
Ministry of Education reported that 72.9 percent of children aged 15 to
18 attended secondary school. There was no difference in the treatment
and attendance of girls and boys at the primary, secondary, and post-
secondary levels. Completion of secondary school was the highest level
achieved by most children.
The state provides free medical care for all citizens.
Child abuse was a problem; in 2005 the NGO Telefono Azzurro
received approximately 380,000 calls related to child abuse.
Approximately 5 percent involved sexual abuse, 11 percent physical
violence, and 8 percent psychological exploitation. In 60 percent of
the cases, the victims were female; 46 percent were 10 years old or
younger. In the first six months of 2005, judicial authorities
registered 748 allegations of sexual abuse of minors and accused 276
persons of abuse. Between 2001 and 2003, the Government funded 144
projects carried out by NGOs to improve parent-child relations and
combat child abuse.
NGOs estimated that eight to 10 percent of prostitutes were minors.
An independent research center estimated that there were between 1,800
and 3,000 minors who worked as street prostitutes; of these, 1,500 to
2,300 were trafficked into the country and forced into prostitution
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Illegal immigrant child laborers from northern Africa, the
Philippines, Albania, and China continued to enter the country. In
December the prosecutor of Agrigento alleged that criminal
organizations were responsible for trafficking thousands of minors from
outside the European Union through Sicily. He reported that the most
organized gangs were Romanian, Albanian, Egyptian and Moroccan.
An interministerial committee chaired by the minister of equal
opportunity coordinates the fight against pedophilia. A special unit of
the police monitored 33,000 Web sites between January and November,
investigated 337 persons for crimes involving child pornography online,
and arrested 16 of them.
There were reports of child labor (see section 6.d.)
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, persons were trafficked to, from, and within the country.
According to government and NGO sources, approximately 2,500 new
victims were trafficked to and within the country in 2005, the latest
year for which data was available. Eight to 10 percent were believed to
be underage.
The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked
persons. Immigrants, mostly from Nigeria, North Africa, and Eastern
Europe, played a major role in trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation, both as traffickers and victims, although citizens were
also involved. Press reports estimated that over 85 percent of
prostitutes in the country were immigrants, primarily from Nigeria and
Eastern Europe.
Sexually exploited victims of trafficking faced health risks
resulting from unsafe and unprotected sex. Trafficking victims in the
Tuscany region who worked in sweatshops were possibly exposed to
dangerous chemicals in the leather industry.
Organized criminal groups were responsible for most trafficking;
prostitution rings routinely moved trafficked persons from city to city
to avoid arrest.
Italian victims of trafficking were usually lured to other
countries in Western Europe with promises of a job, or sold by
relatives, friends, or acquaintances. Traffickers then forced their
victims to work as prostitutes, laborers in restaurants or sweatshops,
or beggars in the street. The traffickers enforced compliance by taking
the victims' documents, beating and raping them, or threatening to harm
their families. There were no reports that traffickers killed
trafficked women during the year.
The law provides sentences of eight to 20 years in prison for
trafficking in persons and for enslavement. Sentences for persons
convicted of trafficking in minors for sexual exploitation increase by
one-third to one-half. The law mandates special prison conditions for
traffickers designed to limit their ability to continue their
operations from jail.
The number of persons investigated for trafficking increased from
1,861 in 2004 to 2,054 in 2005, but arrests decreased from 341 to 304;
the number of prosecutions decreased from 120 to 102 and convictions
from 77 to 50. The Government cooperated with foreign governments,
including those of Nigeria, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Moldova, to
investigate and prosecute trafficking cases. For example, in May
authorities arrested and charged 41 Bulgarian nationals with
trafficking in minors; at year's end they continued to investigate
another 75 persons for bringing children of Romani and poor families
into the country to commit robberies in Trieste.
In June police in Rome arrested three Romanian nationals and
charged them with smuggling persons with disabilities and forcing them
to work as beggars; one victim was assisted and repatriated. The case
was pending at year's end.
In July police arrested six Romanians in Rome and Milan on charges
of trafficking at least 100 children whom they allegedly forced to beg
on the streets and steal from private residences. The case was pending
at year's end.
In July, in Puglia, Italian and Polish police arrested 25
individuals, including Poles, Ukrainians, Algerians, and an Italian,
for trafficking up to 1,000 Poles over several years for forced
agricultural labor. The traffickers hired the workers out to local
farmers. Reportedly, the victims responded to an advertisement for
migrant workers, paid a travel fee, received $4 per hour and were kept
in penury by the traffickers, who charged them for food, water, and
squalid sleeping quarters. Police freed 113 workers and were
investigating reports of at least two suspicious suicide deaths in the
work camps as well as reports of beatings and rape. The interior
ministry was investigating the abuses at year's end.
In April police unveiled a criminal ring and arrested twelve
Italians and six Romanians charged with forced prostitution and
exploitation since 2004 of hundreds of Romani minors who were persuaded
to have sexual intercourse with adults in exchange for small gifts.
Pedophiles allegedly lured children at intersections where they used to
beg or sell merchandise
There were no reported developments in the case involving 25
Italians and Bulgarians arrested in 2005 and charged with trafficking
in persons, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and sexual assault.
The following reported 2004 trafficking investigations remained
ongoing at year's end: a Romanian father who was selling his 10-year-
old child for sex in the outskirts of Milan; two Albanians, one
Egyptian, one Pakistani, and one Italian involved in trafficking women
from Eastern Europe for prostitution; six Bulgarian men who accompanied
Bulgarian women into the country who gave birth and then sold the
babies to Italian families for $13,100 (10,000 euros) each; 12 persons,
including two police officers, who were arrested in Sassari and charged
with trafficking for prostitution and falsification of documents; and
four persons who were accused of organizing tours to Brazil that
included the sexual services of girls ages 12 to 17.
Government officials generally did not participate in, facilitate,
or condone trafficking.
The law provides temporary residence or work permits to persons who
seek to escape their exploiters. Authorities and NGOs encouraged
victims to file complaints, and there were no legal impediments for
them to do so. Unlike most other illegal immigrants, who face
deportation if caught, persons who qualify as official trafficking
victims under law receive numerous benefits, including legal residence,
whether or not they filed a complaint. To date, only prostitutes have
received assistance under the law. However, NGOs alleged that the
Government did not always allow enough time between apprehension and
deportation of illegal immigrants to screen them for trafficking
victims.
The Government provided legal and medical assistance once
authorities identified a person as having been trafficked. There were
shelters and programs for job training. There also were assistance and
incentive programs for those willing to return to their home country;
in 2005, 78 victims who chose to go home were repatriated. The domestic
NGO Social Service International assisted in repatriating unaccompanied
immigrant minors.
The law empowers magistrates to seize convicted traffickers' assets
to finance legal assistance, vocational training, and other social
integration assistance for trafficking victims.
The Government worked with other governments and NGOs to
orchestrate awareness campaigns. The law directs the foreign ministry,
together with the equal opportunity ministry, to conclude additional
antitrafficking agreements with trafficking source countries.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and the provision of other state services; and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions; however, there was
some societal discrimination. Although the law mandates access to
government buildings for persons with disabilities, mechanical
barriers, particularly in public transport, left such persons at a
disadvantage. The Ministry of Labor and Welfare was responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
In January parliament enacted legislation to broaden the definition
of discrimination against persons with disabilities by public and
private entities and, for the first time, allowed NGOs to file
complaints on behalf of persons with disabilities.
In August 2005 carabinieri closed a private health facility for the
mentally ill in Reggio Calabria for structural, health, and safety
violations.
In June 2005 the national airline Alitalia refused to board a
disabled person, claiming it would cause delays for other passengers.
There were no reports of follow-up by authorities.
Of the 587,000 workers with disabilities registered at public
employment centers during the year, only 5.2 percent found work, even
though 101,000 positions that are reserved by law for persons with
disabilities remained vacant.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Police continued to mistreat
Roma. The NGO Opera Nomadi reported cases of discrimination, especially
with regard to housing and evictions, deportations, and efforts by the
Government to remove children for their protection from Romani parents.
Government officials at the national and local levels, including those
from the Ministries of Interior and Equal Opportunity, met periodically
with Roma and their representatives. Opera Nomandi held conferences,
applied for tax exempt status, and lobbied the Government throughout
the year.
In April the European Committee of Social Rights ruled that the
country systematically violates the right to adequate housing for Roma
by not providing sufficient camping sites, not providing permanent
housing, and evicting Roma from housing.
Public opinion surveys indicated that negative societal attitudes
toward immigrants continued to increase, especially among young persons
and in the North. Immigrants continued to assert that that they were
discriminated against in employment.
There were no accurate statistics on the number of Roma in the
country. NGOs estimated that a population of 120,000, up to 80 percent
of whom could be citizens, was concentrated on the fringes of urban
areas in the central and southern parts of the country, living in camps
characterized by poor housing, unhygienic sanitary conditions, limited
employment prospects, inadequate educational facilities, and the
absence of a consistent police presence. Faced with limited income and
job opportunities, and suffering from harassment, some Roma begged or
engaged in petty crime, which led to repressive measures by police and
some judicial authorities.
The Government's Office to Combat Racial and Ethnic Discrimination
in the Ministry of Equal Opportunity provided assistance to victims of
discrimination. In 2005 it received 3,400 calls on its national hot
line, of which it considered 282 to be genuine cases of discrimination
against racial or ethnic minorities. The majority of complaints related
to wage and overtime issues and discrimination in public. The office
provided legal assistance and help in mediating disputes.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In June 2005 the
Administrative Court of Catania condemned the Ministry of Transport for
having requested the revocation of a driver's license of a homosexual
based on his sexual orientation. A civil trial seeking restitution was
underway at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
establish, join, and carry out union activities in the workplace
without previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers
exercised these rights in practice. Unions claimed to represent between
35 and 40 percent of the workforce.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, and workers
exercised this right. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce works
under a collective bargaining agreement, but nonunion members working
alongside union employees also benefited from the same agreements. The
law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised this right
by conducting legal strikes. The law restricts strikes affecting
essential public services (such as transport, sanitation, and health),
requiring longer advance notification and precluding multiple strikes
within days of each other.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5, Trafficking).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government implemented laws and policies designed to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace; however, there were reports of
child labor. The law prohibits employment of children under age 15
(with some limited exceptions), and there are specific restrictions on
employment in hazardous or unhealthy occupations for boys under age 18
and girls under age 21. Enforcement of these laws was generally
effective in the above-ground economy; however, the enforcement of
minimum age or other child protection laws was difficult in the
extensive informal economy. In 2005 an independent research center
estimated that approximately 460,000 children under age 15 worked at
least occasionally, while 70,000 worked for at least four hours per
day. Many of these children were helping in family-owned farms and
businesses, work which is illegal if it interferes with education.)
Illegal immigrant child laborers from northern Africa, the
Philippines, Albania, and China continued to enter the country (see
section 5, Children).
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5).
The Government, employers' associations, and unions continued their
tripartite cooperation on child labor. The Ministry of Labor, working
with police and carabinieri, is responsible for enforcement of child
labor laws, but their efforts generally were ineffective. In the first
half of the year, the Ministry of Welfare conducted inspections of
2,311 companies, which had a total workforce of 12,830. Of these, the
Ministry found 2,276 citizens aged 14-18 and 259 immigrants, legal and
illegal. They fined companies for violations related to lack of
periodic medical check-ups (600), work hours and leave (158), and
minimum age (84 cases of children under 15 being employed.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--While the law does not set
minimum wages, it provides for them to be set through collective
bargaining agreements on a sector-by-sector basis. The minimum wage in
most industries provided a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. Courts effectively enforced the wages set through collective
bargaining agreements, but workers in the informal sector often worked
for less.
The legal workweek is 40 hours. Overtime work may not exceed two
hours per day or an average of 12 hours per week. Unless limited by a
collective bargaining agreement, the law sets maximum overtime in
industrial sector firms at no more than 80 hours per quarter and 250
hours annually. The law required rest periods of one day per week and
11 hours per day. Premium pay is required for overtime. These standards
were effectively enforced.
The law sets basic health and safety standards and guidelines for
compensation for on-the-job injuries. There were labor inspectors in
both the public health service and the Ministry of Labor, but their
numbers were insufficient to ensure adequate enforcement of health and
safety standards. The standards were not enforced in the significant
unofficial economy. Workers have the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued
employment, and the Government effectively enforced this right.
__________
LATVIA
The Republic of Latvia is a parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 2.3 million; legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral Saeima. The October elections for the 100-seat
Saeima were free and fair. The civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens
and the large resident noncitizen community. However, there were
problems in some areas, including the following: police mistreatment
and severe abuse of detainees; poor conditions at police detention
facilities; poor prison conditions and overcrowding; judicial
corruption; obstacles to due process; violence against women; child
abuse; trafficking in women; violence against ethnic minorities; and
societal violence and occasional government discrimination against
homosexuals.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and laws prohibit such practices;
however, there were reports that government officials employed them.
In May 2005 the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) released a report on its 2002 visit to the country. The
CPT noted that its delegation received a considerable number of
credible allegations of physical abuse by police throughout the
country, particularly of juveniles, some of which the CPT felt were of
sufficient severity that they could be considered to amount to torture.
The majority of the allegations concerned mistreatment at the time of
or immediately following arrest. While the Government stated that it
had not received any complaints of such mistreatment during the time
period that included the CPT visit, it noted in its response to the
report that it had already implemented a number of new policies and
devoted additional resources that addressed the concerns which the CPT
report raised. For example, a code of professional ethics for the State
Police was introduced in 2003, an Internal Security Office was
established to investigate alleged misconduct within units of the State
Police in 2003, and police officers participated in a series of
seminars focused on human rights and ethics issues.
The Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (LCHRES)
stated that severe abuse of persons in custody was a problem. Detailed
statistics on reports of police mistreatment during the year were
unavailable. In 2005 the state police initiated a criminal case against
two police officers, Ivars Lastins and Dmitry Martinsons, who beat two
individuals apprehended for public drunkenness. Both officers were
convicted in February and received suspended sentences. State
prosecutors appealed the suspended sentences, and the case was
outstanding at year's end.
LCHRES expressed concern that victims underreported incidents of
police mistreatment. In 2004 LCHRES conducted a study in which it
operated a hot line to collect allegations of police misconduct from
anonymous callers. Over a 3-day period, LCHRES received 283 complaints
regarding police misconduct, 130 of which referred to police brutality.
LCHRES has not conducted a study since 2004. During the year the
Latvian National Human Rights Office (NHRO) received approximately 30
complaints regarding misconduct, which was consistent with the amount
of complaints from preceding years.
There were several instances of attacks against ethnic minorities
throughout the year (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor. Prisons also continued to be overcrowded. Prison hospitals and
general medical care were major concerns. There were 28 short-term
facilities designed to hold detainees less than 72 hours. The NHRO
stated that conditions such as poor ventilation and damp, dark, and
unsanitary cells in at least half of these centers violated human
rights standards. The NHRO added that persons with poor health cannot
get adequate health care; that detainees for life sometimes spend 23
hours per day in their cell, causing psychiatric problems; and that in
most detention centers there was only one psychiatric practitioner per
facility.
In its May 2005 report, the CPT noted it found extremely poor
material conditions at police detention facilities during its 2002
visit. The report stated that conditions were particularly bad at the
Daugavpils, Liepaja, and Ventspils police headquarters, where cells
were described as overcrowded, humid, dirty, and poorly ventilated.
Sleeping and hygiene facilities were also described as falling short of
European standards. Since that time the Government has built a new
police detention facility in Liepaja, which opened during February and
which addresses the conditions described in the CPT report. The state
police budget since the time of the visit also included increases to
improve detention facilities.
The NHRO stated it received complaints of pretrial abuse during the
year, although a large percentage of these complaints could not be
substantiated.
The Government permitted independent human rights observers to
visit prisons and detention centers. During the year domestic groups,
such as LCHRES, closely monitored prison conditions.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and laws
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces
consist of the national police, the special immigration police, the
border guards, and other services, who are subordinate to the Ministry
of Interior; municipal police who are under local government control;
the Military Counterintelligence Service and a protective service,
which are under the Ministry of Defense; and the national guard, an
element of the armed forces. Allegations of corruption and bribery
within law enforcement ranks were frequent and affected the public's
perception of police effectiveness.
In 2005 the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB)
initiated cases against the following members of the security forces:
three members of the Riga city main police board (Oskars Berzins,
Vjaceslavs Andrianovs, Edgars Bebriss) for allegedly demanding and
receiving a bribe from a businessman to avoid inspections; a member of
the traffic police for his role in an alleged attempt to falsify blood-
alcohol tests; and a police inspector for extortion and bribery. These
cases were still outstanding at year's end. On December 6, Riga City
Police Board members Jevgenijs Nezincevs and Eduards Sabanovs were
convicted for taking bribes; they received four years and three years
in prison, respectively. In December the KNAB submitted documents for
the prosecution of six high-ranking border guard officers, including
the Head of the Procurement Department, for demanding and receiving
bribes from businessmen for tender contracts with the border guard
service. On July 20, the prosecutor general charged Ventspils' mayor,
Aivars Lembergs, with bribery, money laundering, and abuse of office in
connection with several different incidents over the previous 15 years.
The case was still in the court system at year's end.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires that persons be arrested
openly and with warrants issued by a duly authorized judicial official,
and the Government generally respected this requirement in practice.
The law provides a person in detention with the right to a prompt
judicial determination of the legality of the detention, and
authorities generally respected this right in practice. Detainees were
promptly informed of charges against them. The law requires the
prosecutor's office to make a formal decision whether to charge or
release a detainee within 48 hours after arrest. This requirement was
followed in practice. A bail system exists; however, it was
infrequently used and applied most often in cases of economic crimes.
Detainees have the right to have an attorney present at any time;
however, authorities did not fully respect this right in practice. If a
detainee is indigent, an attorney is provided by the Government.
Detainees were allowed prompt access to family members. These rights
are subject to judicial review but only at the time of trial.
In its May 2005 report, the CPT noticed that, during its 2002
visit, it appeared that the right of access to a lawyer was not fully
respected in practice. The report noted that, in many cases,
fulfillment of the right was delayed or in some case denied, to
juveniles in particular. In 2003 employees of the state police
participated in a number of training events focused on human rights and
ethics. Also in 2003 a code of professional ethics for the State police
was affirmed. A temporary detention cell at Riga Principal Police
Office was terminated in 2003. In addition, in 2003 an Internal
Security Office was established to investigate alleged misconduct
within units of the state police.
The law limits pretrial detention to no more than 18 months from
the first filing of the case. In its May 2005 report, the CPT noted
that, during its 2002 visit, its delegation met a number of remand
prisoners who had spent up to six years in prison awaiting the outcome
of their trials and appeals. These persons had limited contact with
outside NGOs or family and suffered under poor conditions. Upon passage
of the Criminal Procedure Law in 2005, problems concerning pretrial
detention decreased and mechanisms for bringing cases to court were
simplified.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and laws provide
for an independent judiciary; the Government generally respected this
provision in practice though there were significant problems, including
inefficiency and corruption.
The judicial system is composed of district (city) courts; regional
courts, which hear appeals from district courts and can also serve as
courts of first instance; a separate administrative court, which
adjudicates administrative violations; the Supreme Court, which is the
highest appeals court; and the seven-member Constitutional Court, which
hears cases regarding constitutional issues at the request of state
institutions or individuals who believe that their constitutional
rights were violated. For more serious criminal cases, two lay
assessors join the professional judge on the bench at the district and
regional levels.
During the year the KNAB initiated 51 criminal cases against
various government officials (including the judiciary), compared with
34 in 2005 and 30 in 2004. During the year the KNAB passed 41 criminal
cases to the prosecutor's office for prosecution of 65 persons. In
September 2005 the Supreme Court sentenced one former prosecutor,
Stanislavs Nazarovs, to seven years in prison with confiscation of
property for demanding and receiving a bribe in the amount of $10,000
for withdrawing an appeal. Another prosecutor, Juris Pelss, received a
suspended sentence for a term of four years and a probation term of two
years for a similar offense. Criminal prosecution was started against
six bailiffs. A time-consuming judicial process and a shortage of
judges overloaded the courts.
On October 10, two district court judges, Irena Polikarpova and
Beatrise Talere, were arrested and suspended from duty for allegedly
taking bribes, and the Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal
investigation.
Steps have been taken to lessen conflict of interest within the
Government. Approximately 1,000 government officials attended training
and seminars on various aspects of conflicts of interest and on
internal controls against corruption during the year.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and laws provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials generally are public; however, they may be closed if
government secrets might be revealed or to protect the interests of
minors. Juries were used in some cases, but not in all. Defendants have
the right to be present at their trial and to consult with an attorney
in a timely manner. The Government provided funds to indigent
defendants for this purpose. Defendants have the right to read all
charges, confront all witnesses, and call witnesses and offer evidence
to support their case. Defendants and their attorneys have access to
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a
presumption of innocence and can make multiple appeals.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Laws provide for an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters, including access
to a court to bring lawsuits seeking damages, or cessation of, a human
rights violation. The Government generally upheld the law concerning
civil procedures.
Property Restitution.--On November 23, the Saeima used a procedural
motion to effectively reject a draft bill that would have provided
financial assistance to the local Jewish community to compensate losses
suffered during the Holocaust. The bill addressed Jewish communal
properties and heirless private property last owned by members of the
Jewish community that could not earlier be regained via the country's
denationalization laws because there were no identifiable heirs for the
property. Both President Vike-Freiberga and the local Jewish community
expressed their disappointment over the vote.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and laws prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and laws provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. However, although the press law
prohibits censorship of the press or other mass media, the media law
contains a number of restrictive provisions regulating the content and
language of broadcasts.
Primary broadcast radio and television stations are required to use
the state language, Latvian, and secondary broadcasters are allotted up
to 20 percent of total broadcast time for non-Latvian language
programming, which should be simultaneously translated using subtitles.
However, these laws only apply to terrestrial broadcasts. Non-Latvian
language broadcasts were available on cable and satellite services.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. On September 12, however, transcripts of a
television investigative journalist's private phone conversations
appeared in a daily newspaper. It was soon discovered that the finance
police, who had requested the phone tap for an alleged investigation
into organized crime activities, had leaked the information. The
prosecutor's office launched an investigation. Four officials from the
financial police were suspended for the duration of the internal
investigation of the leaked information. On November 1, the judge who
authorized the wire tapping received an official sanction from the
Judicial Disciplinary Committee on procedural grounds. . The
investigation was ongoing at the end of the year. In another incident
on September 4, a court ordered a television station to reveal sources
from a story on a search conducted in connection with criminal charges
brought against an influential regional politician. The journalist
refused to reveal her sources; and the case was on appeal at year's
end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups engaged in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
Internet was widely used by the public.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The constitution recognizes
the freedom of scientific, artistic, and other creative works. There
were no government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and laws provide for freedom of assembly,
and the authorities may not prohibit public gatherings; however,
organizers of demonstrations must provide advance notice to local
authorities, who may change the time and place of public gatherings for
such reasons as fear of public disorder. The law also requires
protesters to remain specified distances from foreign diplomatic
missions, the parliament, the Prosecutor's Office, and certain other
public institutions. Numerous demonstrations took place peacefully and
without government interference during the year. However, in July
authorities denied a permit for a gay pride parade on grounds of
unspecified security threats to the marchers. Parade organizers
attempted to host a private event at a local hotel as an alternative to
the denied march. This event was disrupted by protesters who opposed
homosexuality (see section 5).
On November 23, the Constitutional Court ruled that several
provisions in the law on meetings, parades, and picketing were
unconstitutional and contravened the European Convention on Human
Rights. The court ruled that demonstrators should only be required to
inform a municipality of a planned event, rather than having to ask for
permission, as the requirement to receive permission unnecessarily
restricts the right of assembly.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and laws provide for
freedom of association, and the Government generally respected this
right in practice; however, the law bars the registration of Communist,
Nazi, or other organizations whose activities would contravene the
constitution. Nevertheless, some nationalist organizations using
fascist-era symbols, slogans, and rhetoric operated openly. Noncitizens
may join and form political parties. Every party must have at least 200
citizens as members in order to register. At least half of the total
membership must be citizens.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and laws provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice; however, bureaucratic problems for ``nontraditional''
religions persisted.
There is no state religion, but the Government distinguishes
between ``traditional'' (Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old
Believers, Baptist, and Jewish) and ``new'' religions. The ``new''
religions were subject to bureaucratic regulations and paperwork
requirements not applicable to ``traditional'' religions and had more
difficulties purchasing property.
Although the Government does not require registration of religious
groups, the law accords religious organizations certain rights and
privileges when they register, such as a separate legal status for
owning property or for other financial transactions, as well as tax
benefits for donors.
According to Ministry of Justice officials, most registration
applications were approved once proper documents were submitted. The
law does not permit simultaneous registration of more than one
religious group (church) in a single confession, and the Government has
denied the applications of splinter groups on this basis.
The Government denied foreign evangelists and missionaries
permission to hold meetings and to proselytize unless domestic
religious organizations invited them to conduct such activities.
Foreign religious denominations criticized this provision.
The law provides that only representatives of the Lutheran, Roman
Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believers, Baptist, and Jewish religions may
teach religion to public school students who volunteer to take the
classes.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were a
few reports of harassment and discrimination against resident
missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The Jewish community numbers approximately 11,000 and was largely
secular and Russian-speaking. There was one synagogue operating in
Riga. A newly renovated synagogue opened in Daugavpils in April. Unlike
last year there were no reported incidents of violent attacks targeting
Jews. However, there were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti painted on
buildings in old town Riga. On March 16, Latvian Waffen SS veterans
held a ceremony at the Cathedral in Riga and at a World War II cemetery
near Riga in honor of their dead comrades. On the same day
approximately 200 nationalists demonstrated near the Occupation Museum
in Riga on behalf of a former Latvian Waffen SS unit despite a ban by
the city authorities. A total of 65 persons were detained for
participating in an unauthorized demonstration. On May 24, the Rezekne
police reported that vandals had damaged a memorial which was scheduled
to be unveiled on June 4 in memory of 120 local Jews who were killed
during the Holocaust. In addition anti-Semitism continued to be
expressed in Internet chat rooms and forums. In July the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs hosted a conference entitled ``Holocaust: Remembrance
and Lessons'' over which the President of the country presided. In 2005
a local NGO Education Development Center created educational materials
about the Holocaust. The NGO regularly provided seminars to teachers to
assist them in developing a methodology to teach about the Holocaust.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and laws provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law stipulates that noncitizens are prohibited from owning land
in the border zones.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. Eight persons requested asylum in the country during the
year. In that time two persons were granted refugee status as per the
1951 Geneva Convention, as compared to none in 2005. In addition eight
people were granted alternative status (subsidiary protection) during
the year, as compared to none in 2005. In practice the Government
provided some protection against refoulement, the return of persons to
a country where they feared persecution. However, there were reports
that authorities systematically turned away persons attempting to enter
the country at border checkpoints; it is unclear how many of these
people may have been refugees or asylum seekers.
Illegal immigrants held at the Olaine detention center did not have
access to information about their rights, including their right to
apply for asylum, and had limited recreation opportunities. In August
2005 seven Somali refugees were detained at the Olaine detention
center. A court declared them to be illegal immigrants, but NGOs and a
former government official claimed that the Somalis were not made aware
of their legal rights or offered an opportunity to request asylum. In
September the seven refugees were granted residency and work permits.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and laws provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic and generally free and fair elections held on
the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair elections for
the Saeima were held in October, and the new parliament will elect a
new President in the first half of 2007. In March 2005 nationwide local
elections were held; although largely free and fair, vote-buying
scandals resulted in the election outcomes being challenged in the city
of Jurmala and overturned in Rezekne. Both incidents prompted KNAB
investigations in 2005. In March the Riga district prosecutor decided
to close the Jurmala-related case due to a lack of evidence. On May 17,
Juris Zacests, Grigorijs Bekasovs, and Olga Skutane were found guilty
of various offences associated with the Rezekne vote-buying scandal.
In March the Prime Minister demanded the resignation of the
transport minister, Ainars Slesers, who had been implicated in a
corruption scandal related to the 2005 mayoral elections in Jurmala.
The scandal involved attempts by politicians and business people to
bribe a critical swing vote in the election of the Jurmala city mayor.
Four persons were charged with bribery in connection with the scandal,
and the investigation was ongoing at year's end. Slesers, against whom
no criminal charges had been filed by year's end, returned to the
transport ministry following the October parliamentary elections.
In November the KNAB also initiated an investigation into violation
of campaign financing rules over a series of television commercials
placed by individuals affiliated with the People's Party, the senior
partner in the country's minority coalition government. The
investigation was still in progress at year's end, although the Supreme
Court ruled November 3 that the spending violated election law.
The election law prohibits the holding of elective office by
persons who remained active in the Communist Party or various other
pro-Soviet organizations after 1991 or who worked for such institutions
as the former Soviet Committee for State Security.
There were 19 women in the 100-member Saeima, and there were four
women in the 18-member Cabinet of Ministers. The President was a woman.
Members of minorities, including ethnic Russians and Poles, served
in various elected bodies. According to the Saeima's Web site, there
were 22 members of minorities in the 100-seat Saeima, including 15
ethnic Russians, one German, two Jews, one Karelian, and three others
who declined to list their ethnicity.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of corruption throughout all levels of the Government.
During the year the KNAB initiated 51 criminal cases, compared with 34
in 2005.
A Cabinet of Ministers regulation provides a mechanism for public
access to government information, and the Government generally provided
access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
On April 25, a law to create an ombudsman as a separate office
responsible for the protection of individual citizens' rights in
relation to the Government was enacted; it was scheduled to come into
force on January 1, 2007. However, no person had been selected as
ombudsman by the Saeima by the end of the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination due to race, gender, language,
disability, or sexual orientation; however, violence against women and
racial minorities, societal discrimination against women and
homosexuals, child abuse, and trafficking in persons were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, is against
the law. Although domestic violence was a significant problem, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law, in large part because
abuse was underreported. Victims of abuse often were uninformed about
their rights and were reluctant to seek redress through the justice
system. Human rights groups asserted that the legal system, including
the courts, sometimes did not take domestic violence cases seriously
and that police were often reluctant to make arrests. There were no
shelters designed specifically for battered or abused women. Women who
suffered from violence could seek help in family crisis centers;
however, these centers had limited capacity and, therefore, gave
priority to women with children. There were no dedicated rape or
assault hot lines; however, NGOs managed approximately five general
crisis hot lines, a number comparable to last year. In January the NGO
Marta Center together with a Norwegian NGO launched a Web site that
provided information for women were victims of violence.
The law specifically criminalizes rape but does not recognize
spousal rape. A local NGO, the Skalbes Crisis Center, reported that
rape laws were ineffective and stated that rapes were underreported due
to a tendency by police to blame the victim.
Prostitution is legal, although procuring is not. Prostitution was
widespread and often was linked to organized crime. During the year the
popularity of Riga as a sex tourism destination generated increased
public and political debate over whether changes in the law were
needed, although no action was taken.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is illegal; however, in the absence of
complaints, the Government was unable to enforce the law. Sexual
harassment of women in the workplace reportedly was common. Cultural
factors tended to discourage women from coming forth publicly with
complaints of harassment.
Women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under family
law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law prohibits
employment discrimination; however, in practice women frequently faced
hiring and pay discrimination, especially in the private sector. The
law also prohibits women from performing ``hard jobs or jobs having
unhealthy conditions,'' which are specified in a list agreed by the
Cabinet of Ministers.
The law prohibits work and pay discrimination based on gender and
requires employers to set equal pay for equal work. Although the
Government agencies responsible for enforcing such laws lacked skills
and resources to fully implement the law, some progress was made during
the year. The Welfare Ministry implemented an awareness raising
campaign using EU funds and staged numerous educational seminars.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare; however, authorities did not fully enforce constitutional
provisions on children and the law on the rights of the child in
practice.
Primary schooling is free, compulsory, and universal through the
ninth grade (between the ages of seven and 16) and free through the
twelfth grade (age 18).
Access to health care was universal, and there were no reports of
discrimination based on sex.
A local NGO working with abused children, Dardedze Center Against
Violence, reported that the number of child abuse cases, including
sexual abuse, increased in the past several years. However, the NGO
attributed this rise largely to better detection of child abuse due to
increased awareness of the issue. Laws against child abuse were
enforced effectively, although the same NGO noted that there was weak
coordination among various institutions and law enforcement agencies
involved in the protection of children's rights. Law enforcement
authorities have won court suits to remove children from abusive
parents and secured convictions in child molestation cases. Children
from families that were unable to care for them had access to
government-funded boarding schools that provided adequate living
conditions; however, these schools had lower educational standards than
regular state schools.
Police reported that, due to the imposition of severe penalties for
rape and sexual exploitation of minors, the reported incidence of child
prostitution declined in recent years.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in women to, from, and within the country was a
problem. In contrast to previous years, there were no reports that
minors were trafficked.
The law provides for prison sentences of up to 15-years'
imprisonment for trafficking. Most perpetrators, however, continued to
be prosecuted under a statute that prohibits ``pimping.'' This statute
carries a lesser sentence of only up to six years. The legal definition
of trafficking in persons includes internal trafficking.
The country was both a source and transit point for trafficked
victims. The main countries of destination were Germany, Spain, the
United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland, and the Nordic countries. The
number of cases reported by the Government for this year was 24. This
figure was similar to 2005, in which 23 cases were reported. However,
law enforcement agencies reported that most victims insisted that they
consented to participate in the sex industry and were not willing to
cooperate with law enforcement officials. Many traffickers disclosed
the sexual nature of the work they offered but concealed true
information about working conditions, clientele, freedom of movement,
and compensation. Many victims were not willing to cooperate with law
enforcement officials.
NGOs reported that women from economically poor districts continued
to be trafficked inside of the country for sexual exploitation to Riga,
Liepaja, and Ventspils. However, no criminal cases have been initiated
for trafficking in persons within the country.
Traffickers, primarily organized criminal groups, regularly lured
victims through false offers of employment as dancers, bartenders, and
babysitters in European countries. A large number of victims were drawn
from the economically depressed areas of the country's eastern regions.
While some victims were recruited through job advertisements or
modeling and travel agencies, most victims were solicited through
direct contact with the traffickers. Recruiting occurred most often at
cafes and clubs, and victims themselves sometimes were enlisted to
recruit new victims for the traffickers.
The Government reported that during the year, five cases were
prosecuted under the statute that criminalizes trafficking in persons;
23 cases were prosecuted under the statute that makes sending persons
abroad for sexual exploitation a crime. Of these cases 40 people were
convicted. Of those 26 received a conditional sentence, three received
a prison sentence of five to 10 years, three received a prison term of
three to five years, four received a sentence of less than three years,
and the remaining four were fined. Additionally, from January to
September, 34 persons, including 12 females, were convicted under the
``pimping'' laws. Of those 22 received sentences similar to probation,
four received a prison sentence of not more than 12 months, six were
given a prison sentence from one to five years, and two were fined.
Cooperation between the border guards, police, and NGOs improved
efforts to identify trafficking victims and help them gain access to
assistance programs. This cooperation contributed to the effective
control of the border areas. International cooperation in
investigations and prosecutions was well established with Germany and
the Nordic countries.
Beginning in 2005 government funding was made available to cover
rehabilitation costs for trafficking victims. During the year six
trafficking victims qualified for government funded rehabilitation and
13 trafficking victims received rehabilitation services funded by other
sources. In December the Ministry of Welfare announced that amendments
to the eligibility criteria for trafficking victims to qualify for
government-funded rehabilitation had been approved. As in previous
years, most assistance to trafficking victims came from local NGOs and
the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Marta Centers,
operating in cooperation with the IOM, offered assistance to
trafficking victims in the form of crisis counseling, professional
referrals, and reintegration assistance. Additionally, the Government
provided shelter to trafficking victims in a government center as
needed.
Training programs for combating trafficking and for victim's
assistance continued during the year. Although these were principally
organized by NGOs and the IOM, the Government recognized it needed
greater involvement. Marta Centers, in cooperation with the Ministry of
Interior and other partners, continued its operations to educate
adolescents. The Council of Youth Health Centers (CYHC) operated
centers in Daugavpils and Liepaja. During the year the Government
jointly sponsored and funded training for law enforcement specialists
and judges on investigation techniques applicable in trafficking cases
as well as training on rehabilitation services for victims for social
workers. The IOM and several NGOs also sponsored conferences on
trafficking and introduced several antitrafficking education campaigns.
After two years of limited funding, the Government began devoting
financial resources to the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking
in Persons with financial assistance from local NGOs and international
organizations. Despite the increased funding, budgetary constraints
continued to impede overall progress. The performance of law
enforcement agencies continued to be professional. Although only
partial funding for planned anti-trafficking programs was directly
provided in the state budget for the year, the Government demonstrated
commitment to implement the National Action Plan with the limited
resources available.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities; however, most
buildings were not accessible.
In October LCHRES stated that the review procedure for detention on
grounds of mental disability fails to meet human rights standards, the
criteria for compulsory admission into psychiatric institutions were
too broad, and the provisions on consent to treatment did not meet
international principles.
The NHRO further stated that there were no restrictions on
corresponding with relatives. However, institutions continued to
restrict private correspondence and the number of visits a patient
received per month.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Ministry of Social
Integration and the National Human Rights Office are responsible for
the protection of minority rights.
During the year attacks against racial minorities were a problem.
During the year there were 14 reported violent attacks against ethnic
minorities, including one on June 10 against a member of the country's
African-Latvian community NGO. The NGO member's attackers accosted him
before a local police academy trainee intervened and helped the victim
apprehend the two assailants. Both of the perpetrators were charged
with incitement to racism, and the case was still outstanding at year's
end. The Interior Ministry met with NGOs and minority groups to discuss
their concerns. However, racial minorities expressed frustration that
there was not greater police presence and patrolling in those locales
where they felt most vulnerable to violence.
On December 27, one individual was sentenced to four years of
conditional punishments and three years of probation in connection with
an attack on a Sri Lankan medical student in 2005. The sentence was
suspended because the perpetrator was a minor. This conviction was the
first time that a case had gone from charge to conviction as a racially
motivated crime.
There was limited improvement in the effectiveness of prosecution
of such crimes; most perpetrators were charged with petty hooliganism,
a misdemeanor offense.
The country's population of approximately 8,000 Roma faced high
levels of unemployment and illiteracy, as well as widespread societal
discrimination.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. On July 19, the Riga
city government, after coming under pressure and criticism from various
political parties and religious groups, denied a permit for a gay pride
parade. The reasons cited for the cancellation were security
considerations, although the specifics were never made public and all
court hearings were closed to the press and public. On July 22, parade
organizers attempted to host several private functions as alternatives
to the cancelled march. Demonstrators opposed to homosexuality
surrounded and harassed participants outside these events, throwing
eggs, shouting aggressive insults, and dumping human excrement on them.
Police arrested 14 people for public disorder. In late August the Riga
Vidzeme District Court and Riga Central District court fined seven
opponents of the gay pride events charged with causing public disorder.
In addition all seven faced prosecution for inciting public disorder.
These cases were outstanding at the end of the year. Human Rights
Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission all voiced their concern during the year over
the failure of authorities to protect the gay pride event participants
as well as the imposition of a ban on the originally planned parade.
As of October 1, about 400,000 people in the country were
classified as non-citizens. These individuals were primarily ethnic
Slavs, most of whom were eligible for citizenship but had not pursued
naturalization. These individuals had full rights for employment and
access to most government social benefits, but they could not vote in
local or national elections. The most often stated reason for not
pursuing naturalization was perceived unfairness in the requirements
for citizenship. The country did not grant automatic citizenship to
those individuals who moved in during the Soviet occupation or to their
descendants. Additionally, to qualify for citizenship, applicants must
pass a Latvian language test, which ethnic Russians claimed was unfair.
Since 1995 nearly 120,000 individuals have naturalized and the numbers
of naturalizations, remained stable each year. The Government defined
as stateless only those individuals, estimated at under 1,000, who did
not have a claim to foreign citizenship and were not eligible to apply
for naturalization.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers, except for
the uniformed military and police, to form and join unions of their
choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements;
workers exercised this right in practice. As of January approximately
16 percent of the workforce was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The law recognizes the right to strike, subject to limitations
including prolonged pre-strike procedures and prohibition of some types
of solidarity strikes and political strikes. Workers generally
exercised the right to strike during the year, but labor regulations
prohibit judges, prosecutors, police, fire fighters, border guards,
employees of state security institutions, prison guards, and military
personnel from striking. A labor law addressing disputes identifies
arbitration mechanisms that unions and members of the professions
forbidden from striking may use in lieu of striking. There are no
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the four special
economic zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law and policies protect children from exploitation in the workplace,
including policies regarding acceptable working conditions, and the
Government effectively implemented these laws and policies in practice.
The law restricts employment of those under the age of 18 by
prohibiting night shift or overtime work. The statutory minimum age for
employment of children is age 15, although children between the ages of
13 and 15 may work in certain jobs outside of school hours with written
permission from a parent.
Inspectors from the Ministry of Welfare's State Labor Inspectorate
were responsible for enforcing the child labor laws, and they enforced
the laws effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legally mandated monthly
minimum wage of approximately $156 (90 lats) did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. As of September the actual
average monthly wage was $463 (267 lats). The State Revenue Service is
responsible for enforcing the minimum wage regulations, and it
effectively enforced them.
The law provides for a mandatory 40-hour maximum workweek with at
least one 42-hour rest period weekly. There is a prohibition on
excessive compulsory overtime. Maximum permitted overtime is 200 hours
per calendar year. Premium pay is one of the ways workers may be
remunerated for overtime. By law an employee performing overtime work
must receive additional pay of at least 100 percent of the regular pay
rate. An employer and employee can agree for a higher overtime rate as
well.
The laws establish minimum occupational health and safety standards
for the workplace, which were effectively enforced. Workers have the
legal right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health
or safety without endangering their continued employment; however,
authorities did not enforce this right.
__________
LIECHTENSTEIN
The Principality of Liechtenstein, with a population of
approximately 35,000, is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary
government. The unicameral Landtag (parliament) nominates, and the
monarch appoints, the members of the Government. A two-party coalition
government was formed after free and fair parliamentary elections in
March 2005. The civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. There were reports of
violence against women, including spousal abuse, and reports of child
abuse. The authorities dealt effectively with these matters.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. The most recent visit was
in 2004, when the Council of Europe's (COE) commissioner for human
rights visited the only prison and reported that it generally met
international standards.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The security forces are
composed of the regular and auxiliary police under the Ministry of
Interior. There is no standing military force. Corruption and impunity
were not problems. Police automatically report allegations of
misconduct to the prosecutor's office, and any person subject to
wrongful police action also can file a complaint with the chief of
police. A failure of either the prosecutor's office or the chief of
police to open an investigation can be appealed to the Government and,
subsequently, to the administrative courts.
Arrest and Detention.--Police arrest a suspect based on an arrest
warrant issued by the national court. Within 48 hours of arrest, police
must bring suspects before an examining magistrate who must either file
formal charges or order release; authorities respected this right in
practice. Release on personal recognizance or bail is permitted unless
the examining magistrate has reason to believe that the suspect is a
danger to society or would not appear for trial. The law grants
suspects the right to legal counsel of their own choosing, and counsel
was provided at government expense to indigent persons. However, the
law grants the suspect access to a lawyer only after an examining
magistrate has filed formal charges. During police detention, visits
are commonly not allowed, although in practice suspects may contact
family members. During investigative detention, visits can be monitored
to prevent tampering with evidence.
The COE's commissioner for human rights in May 2005 criticized the
law for not providing prompt access to legal counsel at the outset of
detention.
In 2004 the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) expressed similar
concerns about shortcomings in the protection of arrested or detained
persons, noting that the law does not require police to inform them of
their right to remain silent, to be brought promptly before a judge,
and to have access to legal counsel. In response to these criticisms,
police issued internal regulations in 2004 instructing staff to grant
suspects access to a lawyer upon request.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
The judicial system has three tiers: a court of first instance, an
appellate court, and the Supreme Court. The national court is the court
of first instance in all civil and criminal matters. In addition, there
are two courts outside the three tiers: the administrative court hears
appeals against government decisions, and the state court reviews the
constitutionality of laws, ordinances, and international treaties. It
also protects the rights accorded by the constitution, decides
conflicts of jurisdiction between the law courts and the administrative
authorities, and acts as a disciplinary court for members of the
Government.
In 2004 the UNHRC expressed concern that the procedure for
appointment and tenure of judges may not be compatible with the
principle of the independence of the judiciary.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials involving minor offenses are heard by a single judge,
more serious or complex cases by a panel of judges, and the most
serious cases, including murder, by a public jury. The law grants
defendants the right to legal counsel of their own choosing, and
counsel was provided at government expense to indigent persons.
Defendants may challenge witnesses or evidence and present witnesses or
evidence on their own behalf. Defendants are presumed innocent and have
access to government-held evidence relevant to their case. Those
convicted have the right to appeal, ultimately to the Supreme Court.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The Roman Catholic Church is the official state church; its
finances are integrated directly into the budgets of the national and
local governments. The Government also provided financial support to
the Protestant, Christian Orthodox, and Muslim communities. Smaller
religious groups are eligible to apply for grants as associations of
foreigners or specific projects.
Roman Catholic or Protestant religious education was compulsory in
all primary schools, but the authorities routinely granted individual
exemptions for children whose parents requested them.
The COE's commissioner for human rights in May 2005 criticized
government policy for favoring the Catholic Church over other religious
communities in the distribution of state subsidies, and urged the
Government to review its policies to ensure an equitable distribution
of these funds. In 2004 the UNHRC also expressed concern about the
unequal treatment of different religious denominations in the
allocation of public funds. In November the Government hosted another
session of the working group seeking consensus on the redefinition of
the relationship between the state and the Roman Catholic Church. The
issue of state subsidies to religious communities formed part of these
government-sponsored discussions.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In a 2004 report the UNHRC
found evidence of religious intolerance and discrimination against
Muslims (see section 5).
According to 2002 data, there were 18 members in the Jewish
community. (After 2002 the Government discontinued collecting
statistics on religious affiliation.) There were no reports of anti-
Semitic attacks, but some acts of vandalism by right-wing extremists
had anti-Semitic overtones (see section 5).
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law does not prohibit forced exile, but the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government provided temporary protection to individuals who may
not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol, and provided it to two persons during the year. The
Government also provided 37 residency permits on humanitarian grounds.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
A trilateral agreement with Switzerland and Austria requires the
Government to return persons to the respective authorities if they have
entered from those countries without permission.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal
suffrage.
The monarchy is hereditary in the male line. Prince Hans Adam II is
the head of state. Since 2004 Hereditary Prince Alois has taken on the
duties of head of state, exercising the rights of office on behalf of
the reigning prince. All legislation enacted by the parliament must
have the concurrence of the monarch and the Prime Minister.
Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections,
considered free and fair, were held in March 2005; the center-right
Progressive Citizens' Party won 12 seats, the center-left Fatherland
Union won 10 seats, and the green-alternative Free List won three seats
in the 25-member parliament.
Individuals and parties could freely declare their candidacy and
stand for election.
There were six women in the 25-seat parliament and one woman in the
five-seat cabinet.
There were no known members of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law requires the Government to inform the public of its
activities, and government information was freely available to all
persons living in the country, including domestic and foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A few domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
language, or social status. The law also prohibits public incitement to
violence or public agitation or insult directed against a race, people,
or ethnic group.
Women.--The law prohibits all forms of domestic violence and
provides for restraining orders against violent family members.
However, there were reports of violence against women, including
spousal abuse. According to police, there were 28 police interventions
in cases of domestic violence during the year; five aggressors were
prevented from re-entering the family home for 10 days and 10 for a
further period of three months. The Government may file charges without
a complaint from the victim. In 2005 nine women and 10 children spent a
total of 1,088 nights at Frauenhaus, a woman's shelter. That
nongovernmental organization (NGO) reported conducting 97 counseling
contacts related to domestic violence. Frauenhaus provided both
counseling and refuge for battered women (including nonresidents) and
dependent children.
In 2004 the Government concluded a joint project with Swiss and
Austrian neighboring regions to combat domestic violence with
awareness-raising activities, and issued a best-practice guideline in
several languages for affected friends and relatives.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. Spousal
rape has the same penalties as rape under other circumstances. The
sentence may be reduced if the victim decides to remain with the
abusive spouse. There were two investigations for rape resulting in one
prosecution during the year. Police statistics do not separately record
spousal rape.
Prostitution is illegal; however, police tolerated it in the
country's few nightclubs, as long as it did not cause public offense.
Leading a person into prostitution is punishable by up to six months in
prison, heavy fines, or both, and up to three years in prison if the
victim was under 18.
NGOs believed that trafficking in women occurred; however, no
specific cases were documented during the year (see section 5,
Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is illegal and punishable by up to six months in
prison or a fine, and the Government effectively enforced these
prohibitions. Employers are required to take reasonable measures to
prevent sexual harassment; failing to do so may entail damages to a
victim of up to $32,000 (40,000 Swiss francs). There were 14
investigations for sexual harassment during the year, resulting in four
prosecutions and three convictions.
Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Equal
Opportunity Office and the Commission on Equality between Women and Men
worked to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination. However,
societal discrimination continued to limit opportunities for women in
fields traditionally dominated by men. Men earned more than women, and
women generally did not receive equal pay for equal work. Implementing
a European Union directive, parliament in May unanimously adopted
amendments to the labor contract law and the equal opportunity law to
combat gender discrimination in the workplace.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare and amply funded a system of public education and health care.
Education is universal and compulsory until the ninth grade; it is free
through the end of high school. Virtually all school-age children
attend school. Approximately 50 percent complete professional,
vocational, or technical training, with another 30 percent going on to
earn higher-level specialized or university degrees.
The Government provided free health care for all children under the
age of 16.
There were some reports of abuse of children. During the year there
were five prosecutions but no convictions for child abuse. In April
2005 the commission for the coordination of professionals in cases of
sexual offenses against children published a brochure for professionals
likely to be confronted with child abuse that included best-practice
guidelines to facilitate the exchange of information among all parties.
Each year the commission generally is contacted in 12 to 14 cases of
suspected sexual abuse.
Possession of child pornographic material is a statutory offense.
The Government has extended the statute of limitations for sexual
offenses against children. In January 2005 an amendment to the Code of
Criminal Procedure was implemented that takes special account of the
protective needs of young victims of crimes or victims of sexual
offenses.
The Government supported programs to protect the rights of children
and made financial contributions to three NGOs that monitored
children's rights. The Office for Social Services oversaw the
implementation of government-supported programs for children and youth.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons,
and there were no reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country; however, some NGOs believed that trafficking in
women occurred but was not reported.
In May 2005 the COE's commissioner for human rights expressed
concern that the temporary immigration status, together with the
precarious economic situation, of the majority of foreign cabaret
dancers increased their risk of falling prey to trafficking networks.
The commissioner called on the authorities to be vigilant in monitoring
respect of contractual obligations by nightclub owners. The Government
established an expert working group on public assistance to victims of
crime, including victims of trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--Although the law does not prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities, there were no reports
of discrimination against such persons in employment, education, access
to health care, or in the provision of other state services. In October
the parliament adopted a new Equal Opportunity Law for Persons with
Disabilities which requires that all public buildings be accessible to
persons with disabilities within five years.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--In 2004 the UNHRC expressed
concern about the persistence of xenophobia and intolerance, especially
against Muslims and persons of Turkish origin.
Right-wing extremists, including skinheads, were publicly active
during the year, but police estimated their numbers to be no more than
30 to 40. There were some reports during the year of skinhead
incidents, but none involving racially motivated assaults on foreigners
or ethnic minorities. In April unknown vandals all over the country
blackened a large number of billboard advertisements of a government
anti-racism campaign, rendering them illegible and covering some of
them with right-wing extremist propaganda.
The Government continued to monitor right-wing groups. A government
advisory commission attempted to raise public awareness in order to
address the problem of acts of violence in public areas such as schools
and playgrounds. A commission was working on guidelines to reduce
violence at public events.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
including foreigners, are free to associate, join unions of their
choice, and select their own union representatives, and workers
exercised these rights in practice. Due to the country's small size and
population, there was only one trade union, which represented
approximately 13 percent of the work force. The law does not prohibit
antiunion discrimination, but there were no reports that antiunion
discrimination occurred.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. About 25 percent
of workers were covered by collective bargaining agreements. Workers
have the right to strike except in certain essential services. No
strikes occurred during the year; there were no reports of denials of
the right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace. The law prohibits the employment of children younger
than 16 years of age; exceptions may be made for the limited employment
of children age 14 and over and for those who leave school after
completing nine years of compulsory education. Children age 14 and
older may be employed in light duties for not more than nine hours per
week during the school year and 15 hours per week at other times.
In May 2005 a new ordinance was implemented prohibiting labor that
subjects children to physical, psychological, moral, or sexual abuse.
There are no reports that any cases have been brought under the
ordinance.
The Government devoted adequate resources and oversight to child
labor policies, and the Department for Worker Safety of the Office of
the National Economy effectively supervised compliance with the law.
The department completed 253 onsite inspections during the year and
found no major violations of the law.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage; however, the average daily wage provided a decent standard of
living for a worker and family.
The law sets the maximum workweek at 45 hours for white-collar
workers and employees of industrial firms and sales personnel, and 48
hours for all other workers. The law provides for a daily mandatory
one-hour break and an 11-hour rest period for full-time workers; with
few exceptions, Sunday work was not allowed. Pay for overtime was
required to be at least 25 percent higher than the standard rate and
overtime generally was restricted to two hours per day. Over a period
of four months the average total work week including overtime may not
exceed 48 hours.
The law sets occupational health and safety standards, and the
Department for Worker Safety generally enforced these provisions
effectively. The law provides for the right of workers to remove
themselves from work situations that endanger health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment, and workers exercised this
right in practice.
__________
LITHUANIA
The Republic of Lithuania is a constitutional, multiparty,
parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 3.4 million
people; legislative authority is vested in the unicameral Seimas
(parliament). In 2004 citizens elected President Valdas Adamkus in free
and fair elections. In July Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas formed a
new government from a minority coalition of center-left parliamentary
parties. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. Nonetheless, the following human rights problems were
reported: poor prison conditions; police mistreatment of detainees and
misuse of detention laws; government corruption; incidents of anti-
Semitism; widespread domestic violence and child abuse; and trafficking
in women and girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
Both the International Commission to Investigate the Crimes of Nazi
and Soviet Occupation Regimes and the prosecutor general's office
continued investigations of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against
humanity related to Nazi crimes committed against Jews during World War
II. From January to October, the prosecutor general's office initiated
nine pretrial investigations and continued investigations in 20 cases
related to Nazi-era crimes. The prosecutor general dismissed two
pretrial investigations for lack of evidence. In September 2005 the
Government brought criminal charges against Algimantas Mykolas Dailide,
alleging collaboration with Nazis and persecution of Jews. In March the
Vilnius District Court convicted him of crimes against Jews in Nazi-
occupied Lithuania during World War II, but did not impose a sentence
due to the 85-year-old convict's age and infirmity. The prosecutor
appealed the verdict. During the year prosecutors initiated ten
pretrial investigations for crimes against humanity or war crimes
against Lithuanian people during the Nazi occupation and 17 pretrial
investigations related to discrimination or incitement to racial or
ethnic hatred during the Soviet occupation.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment. There were fewer reports that police physically
mistreated detainees than in 2005.
During the year the ombudsman's office received complaints that
officials used force and psychological pressure to obtain evidence in
pretrial investigations. The ombudsman's office was unable to find
evidence to support any of these allegations and dismissed them.
Reported incidents of noncommissioned military officers hazing
recruits decreased during the year. The military police opened seven
hazing-related criminal cases, compared with 11 cases in 2005. The
military police terminated one pretrial investigation due to lack of
evidence. Most reports of hazing alleged that draftees beat each other
or subjected each other to psychological pressure. Investigators are
preparing to pass six of the seven cases to the prosecutor's office.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Human rights advocates
claimed that prison conditions remained poor and life threatening,
although the Government continued to upgrade prisons to meet
international standards. Nevertheless, inadequate sanitation,
overcrowding, and limited access to medical services persisted.
Renovation of several prisons reduced overcrowding, but inmate
populations remain above capacity.
The Seimas ombudsman's office received complaints that prison
authorities arbitrarily restricted rights of prisoners who had good
conduct records, interfered with inmates' correspondence, separated
prisoners with HIV, and did not ensure access to medical services in
jails. Arrested and detained persons generally suffered worse
conditions than did convicts imprisoned for longer periods. In 2006 the
ombudsman received 270 complaints from prisoners compared to 283 in
2005. Most complaints were related to prison conditions and actions of
prisons department personnel. Investigators determined that 30
complaints were valid and the others were outside the ombudsman's
purview.
In November the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that
the monitoring of a Siauliai inmate's correspondence with his wife was
inappropriate and that the country should amend its regulations on
inmate correspondence monitoring.
During the year 18 prison inmates died (five by suicide, 12 of
natural causes, and one killed by another inmate), compared with 23
inmate deaths in 2005. There were 41 injuries inflicted by other
inmates during the year, compared with 59 in 2005, and 30 self-
inflicted injuries, compared to 62 in 2005.
Two correctional institutions remained seriously overcrowded during
the year. For example, the facility in Siauliai had a capacity of 425
inmates after recent remodeling but held 527. Additionally, the
ombudsman concluded that conditions in the jails in the towns of
Ukmerge, Anyksciai, and Zarasai made them unfit for use. The ombudsman
received no complaints that working inmates were paid for fewer hours
than they worked.
Pretrial detainees were generally held separately from convicted
criminals, but there were reports that police held individuals in jail
for minor offenses together with criminal suspects.
The Government continued renovation and reconstruction of 11
correctional facilities and increased funding for prisoner
rehabilitation and job training by 10 percent over spending in 2005.
The Government permitted visits to prisons by independent human
rights observers and researchers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions. Nevertheless, there were complaints of illegally
prolonged pretrial detentions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--A unified national
police force is responsible for law enforcement and operates under the
authority of the Ministry of Interior. The State Security Department is
responsible for internal security, intelligence operations, and reports
to the Seimas and the President.
Corruption in the police system remained a problem. Transparency
International reported that the police force was among the country's
most corrupt institutions, but that lower ranking officials were more
corrupt than their superiors. Although police officers and other
government officials occasionally exceeded their official authority,
they were subject to prosecution or punishment for doing so. The
inspector general's office and the police department's internal
investigation division investigated alleged cases of police abuse.
Prosecutors and the Seimas ombudsman's office carried out independent
investigations.
During the year 17 police officers were found guilty of abuse of
power. In 2004 the Seimas expanded the authorities of the ombudsman's
office and authorized it to investigate complaints of actions of the
prosecutors and pretrial investigation officers that violate human
rights. The ombudsman has observed an increase in such complaints since
that time. During the year the ombudsman investigated 510 complaints
regarding police activities and determined 152 to be valid. In all
cases authorities disciplined the police officers involved. In most
cases police officers faced administrative disciplinary actions such as
demotions or reprimands.
Arrest and Detention.--Warrants are required for arrest and must be
granted by judges upon the presentation of reliable evidence of
criminal activity. Police are allowed to detain suspects for up to 48
hours. There were no complaints of failure to inform detainees of the
charges against them. Bail was available and was used widely. The law
provides for the right to an attorney from the moment of detention and,
if indigent, to one provided by the state; however, this right was not
always respected in practice. The law provides a person in detention
the right to a prompt judicial determination of the legality of the
detention, and authorities effectively respected this right in
practice.
Judges may order pretrial detention only to prevent flight or the
commission of new crimes, to allow unhindered investigation, or to
comply with extradition requests; they may do so only in the case of
felonies. The pretrial judge may order a suspect's detention for up to
three months. In exceptional cases the detention may be extended to 18
months (12 months for juveniles), subject to appeal to a higher court.
The law provides for civil liability for damage caused by the unlawful
actions of pretrial investigation officials, prosecutors, judges, and
courts. During the year the average length of pretrial detention was
approximately six months, and 12 percent of the incarcerated population
were pretrial detainees.
The Seimas ombudsman's office reported that the number of prolonged
pretrial detention complaints has gradually decreased.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government respected this provision in
practice.
The law provides for a four-tier court system: the Supreme Court,
the Court of Appeals, district courts, and local courts. The law also
provides for a constitutional court and specialized courts for
consideration of cases involving administrative, labor, and family
problems.
District courts hear juvenile criminal cases and cases related to
children's rights (including domestic adoption and paternity matters).
The local courts are tribunals of first instance for criminal, civil,
and administrative offences, and all cases that are not assigned by law
to other courts. The constitutional court reviews the constitutionality
of laws and other legal acts, as well as actions by the President and
the cabinet.
Trial Procedures.--The law establishes the right to legal counsel
for defendants and provides for legal assistance for indigent persons.
The Seimas ombudsman reported only a few cases of authorities failing
to provide counsel during the year. Defendants have access to
government evidence and may present evidence and witnesses and confront
or question witnesses against them. Defendants enjoy the presumption of
innocence. The law permits trials in absentia when a defendant is
outside the country and avoids trial. Local human rights experts
criticized these provisions, because in such trials defendants do not
cross-examine witnesses or present their own defense. Defendants have
the right to appeal. The law provides for public trials. There is no
trial by jury.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judicial system
provides for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
Plaintiffs may sue for legal or injunctive relief based on human rights
violations. Apart from redress in the court system, victims of human
rights abuses may appeal to the parliamentary ombudsman for a
determination on the merits of their claim. Although the ombudsman
makes only a recommendation to the offending institution, his findings
are commonly honored in practice.
Property Restitution.--The 1995 law on restitution places
significant restrictions on claims for communal property and, as a
result, the Jewish community has regained only a fraction of the
communal property owned by the country's prewar Jewish population of
more than 200,000. Only 28 properties have been restituted under the
1995 law, which is limited to religious properties.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits the arbitrary interference
in an individual's personal correspondence or private and family life.
There were reports of incidences where the Government did not respect
these prohibitions in practice.
The law requires a judge's authorization to search an individual's
premises and prohibits indiscriminate monitoring of the correspondence
or communications of citizens. However, local human rights groups
allege that the Government did not properly enforce these laws.
From January to September, the State Data Protection Inspectorate
(SDPI) conducted 92 investigations of alleged arbitrary interference
with privacy. This was a marked decrease from the 294 cases in 2005.
Most of the violations involved violations of data processing rules and
failure to inform individuals that their personal data was processed.
The SDPI received one complaint of telephone tapping in 2005, but the
SPDI determined in 2006 that there was no violation of law in that
case.
In May 2005 the Vilnius police published on its Web site the name,
age, place, time of the violation, alcohol level, and penalties imposed
on persons convicted of driving while intoxicated. The subjects of the
publication contended that such publication constituted a violation of
their privacy rights. However, the SDPI investigated and found no
privacy violation. Similarly, in September 2005 a television program
broadcast photographs of drivers whom police traffic cameras recorded
violating traffic rules, which generated complaints from the local NGO
community regarding privacy rights. The SDPI concluded that the Vilnius
city administration and the Vilnius police did not violate the law, but
that the company responsible for the traffic cameras had committed an
administrative violation. It turned the case over to the Vilnius city
court. The court did not impose any penalty.
In March the Seimas ombudsman's office found that the Lustration
Commission charged with investigating Soviet-era practices violated the
privacy rights of a government official by publicizing details and
comments about his relationship with the Soviet Committee on State
Security (KGB) without awaiting the decision of the Administrative
Court. The Administrative Court ultimately overturned the Lustration
Commission's finding that he had collaborated with the KGB.
There were no reports that doctors divulged confidential data about
patients to employers and others.
In 2005 the ECHR issued a judgment that the Government
discriminated against and violated the privacy of two former Soviet KGB
employees. The two complained that the Government prohibited them from
seeking employment in various private-sector fields until 2009, that
they were deprived of their jobs in the private sector, and that they
were subjected to daily embarrassment on account of their past.
Following the 2004 ECHR judgment in favor of plaintiffs in a similar
case, the Government introduced amendments to the law to lift its bars
on employment. For the second consecutive year, the Seimas did not pass
the amendments, although the Government has reintroduced them several
times. One similar case remains pending at the ECHR. During the year
the ECHR issued three judgments that the Government violated the
procedural right of the plaintiffs guaranteeing a speedy trial but did
not address the merits of the privacy case.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal and the Government did not attempt to impede
criticism.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views. Radio and television included a mix of independent and public
stations. International media generally operated without restriction.
In March the Radio and Television Commission prohibited the rebroadcast
on local channels of Belarusian state television on the grounds that it
disseminated disinformation. The Vilnius Administrative District Court
overturned the decision in September, holding that the Commission
violated its decision-making procedures and exceeded its authority by
considering abstract opinions about the political situation in Belarus.
The law prohibits the dissemination of information that is untrue
and that is damaging to an individual's honor and dignity. Libel is
punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to one year or up to two
years for dissemination of libelous material through mass media.
Editor-in-chief of the daily Respublika, Raimundas Celencevicius,
was sued in September 2005 by Audrius Cininas for libel for a series of
articles that the latter claimed portrayed him as biased in favor of
the country's Jewish minority. The case was still pending at year's
end. Cininas, a judge, had presided over a trial in 2005 against the
owner of Respublika, Vitas Tomkus, who was convicted at that time for
inciting ethnic and racial hatred for a series of editorials with anti-
Semitic overtones. The conviction was later overturned by the Supreme
Administrative Court, which in August refused to reconsider its
reversal.
In September the State Security Department briefly detained a
publisher and seized one day's issue of Laisvas Laikrastis newspaper on
the grounds that the paper was publishing information classified as a
state secret. President Adamkus issued a statement criticizing the
Security Department's action and called the detention of the publisher
and seizure of the issue an attack against free press. Neither the
publisher nor the newspaper sought legal redress.
In November a Siauliai City Court found Mindaugas Murza, a Siauliai
city council member, guilty of incitement of ethnic and racial hatred
because he had started a nationalist political party with an anti-
Semitic agenda and presented speeches and written materials inciting
disrespect for Jews. Politicians and high-ranking government officials
had publicly criticized the founder's statements, and the State
Security Department had recommended that the Siauliai prosecutor's
office bring charges against Murza. He was fined $1,760 (5,000 litas).
Several of his supporters received lesser fines. Prosecutors also
charged him for organizing a demonstration at a menorah lighting
ceremony in 2003, but the court dismissed the case because the statute
of limitations had expired.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. According to the Department of Statistics, 42 percent of the
country's residents between the ages of 16 and 74 used the Internet in
the first quarter of the year.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law and constitution provide for the right to peacefully
assemble; the Government respected this in practice. There were no
reported abuses by police in dealing with demonstrators.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the Government continued to ban the Communist Party
and other organizations associated with the former Soviet regime (see
section 3).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and the law provide for
the free practice of religion, and the Government generally respected
this right in practice. There is no state religion; however, some
religious groups enjoyed special government benefits.
The law divides religious communities into state-recognized
traditional religious communities, other state-recognized religious
groups, and registered communities and associations. The nine
traditional religious communities received special exemptions and
rights not available to other religious groups. Both traditional and
nontraditional religious communities that are state-recognized may
receive state subsidies; however, in practice only the traditional
groups regularly received the subsidies. Registered but unrecognized
religious communities did not receive the benefits and exemptions
enjoyed by traditional and state-recognized communities, but they may
act as legal entities. Unregistered religious communities have no
juridical status or state privileges, but there were no reports that
any such groups were prevented from worshiping or seeking members.
Four applications for status as a ``state-recognized religious
association'' have been pending since 1999, from the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, the United Methodist Church of Lithuania, the New
Apostolic Church, and the Union of Evangelical Christians
(Pentecostals) of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Government did not restrict activities of foreign missionary
groups within the country.
The law stipulates that state educational institutions may offer
religious instruction only of traditional and other state-recognized
religions; however, participation in religious classes is not
mandatory, and parents can choose either religious instruction or
secular ethics classes for their children.
In July the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson found
that the English language graduation exams discriminated against non-
Catholic or nonreligious students by requiring examinees to write
essays about what All Saints' Day and Christmas Eve meant to them
personally.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There are approximately 4,000
Jews in the country, and various Jewish communities are active. Anti-
Semitism was manifest in acts of vandalism against Jewish graves and
monuments, displays of neo-Nazi sentiment, and public anti-Semitic
comments. The political leadership and most media outlets generally
criticized anti-Semitic acts of vandalism. A poll reported by the
Baltic News Service in February indicated that 31 percent of
individuals asked do not want Jewish neighbors. The same poll indicated
that 51 percent of respondents do not want Muslim neighbors. The poll
did not allow respondents the option to refrain from specifying any
group they would not want as neighbors.
In May several young people wearing Nazi-style uniforms and riding
Nazi-era motorcycles drove past the Jewish community center in Vilnius,
and community members heard the riders yell slogans glorifying Hitler
and belittling Jews. The Vilnius city mayor immediately asked the
police to investigate the incident. The Vilnius prosecutor's office
initiated a pretrial investigation but by year's end had not charged
anyone with a crime.
In June vandals tore down 22 monuments at a Jewish cemetery in
Vilnius. The President, prime minister, and Vilnius mayor criticized
the desecration and urged local law enforcement to find and punish the
perpetrators. In a separate incident in September, 18 tombstones in a
Vilnius Jewish cemetery were vandalized. In both cases, the Vilnius
municipality restored the monuments with city funds. The police had not
identified any suspects in either case by year's end.
In August the Supreme Administrative Court refused to reconsider
its reversal of the lower court conviction of the owner of the daily
Respublika, Vitas Tomkus, for inciting ethnic and racial hatred in
connection with a series of editorials with obvious anti-Semitic
overtones that were carried by the newspaper in 2004. In July 2005 the
lower court found Tomkus guilty and fined him $1,035 (3,000 litas). The
Supreme Administrative Court reversed the lower court's ruling in
September 2005, ostensibly because of prosecutorial error, and
cancelled the fine. The judge in the case later sued an editor of
Respublika, Raimundas Celencevicius, for libel for a series of articles
that the judge claimed portrayed him as biased in favor of Lithuania's
Jewish minority. The case was still pending at year's end.
In September a customer dressed up as Hitler greeted other
customers at the door of the Fortas bar in Kaunas. Jewish leaders asked
the Government to state clearly that Nazi symbols and figures should
have no place in the country. Several politicians, including members of
parliament and a deputy mayor of Kaunas, made public statements
condemning the incident and the bar for its role in it. The same bar
drew condemnation from politicians and television commentators in April
when it marked Hitler's birthday by decorating the bar with Nazi
paraphernalia and its staff dressed as Hitler and SS officials. The
bar's director called the event a ``masquerade, a carnival, and a funny
show.'' Shortly after the September incident, the owner of the bar sent
a letter of apology to the local Jewish community, stating that the
management and the staff do not tolerate anti-Semitism.
In November a Siauliai City Court found Mindaugas Murza, a Siauliai
city council member, guilty of incitement of ethnic and racial hatred
because he had started a nationalist political party with an anti-
Semitic agenda and presented speeches and written materials inciting
disrespect for Jews. Politicians and high-ranking government officials
had publicly criticized the founder's statements, and the State
Security Department had recommended that the Siauliai prosecutor's
office bring charges against the member. He was fined $1,760 (5,000
litas). Several of his supporters received lesser fines. Prosecutors
also charged him for organizing a demonstration at a menorah lighting
ceremony in 2003, but the court dismissed the case because the statute
of limitations had expired.
In August 2005 a small political party with no seats in the Seimas,
the Lithuanian Liberty Union, issued a public statement that Jews were
assuming power in the country. The union urged people not to trust
Jewish-owned banks or insurance companies. The State Security
Department determined that there was insufficient evidence to support
charges of ethnic hatred against Jews.
The Government continued its investigations in to Nazi-era war
crimes (see section 1.a.).
An estimated 10 percent of the pre-World War II population was
Jewish. More than 200,000 Jews (approximately 95 percent of the
immediately prewar Jewish population) died as victims of the Holocaust.
The country continued to work to better understand its past and to make
just recompense for its Holocaust legacy. In 1998 President Valdas
Adamkus established a historical commission to investigate crimes of
both the Holocaust and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The commission
has held annual conferences and several seminars, published several
reports, and co-sponsored a Holocaust education program. During the
year the commission continued to organize conferences and publish
reports on the subject. In July the President presented state awards to
members of the International Commission for Evaluation of the Crimes of
the Soviet and Nazi Occupation Regimes in the country.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
The law generally allows emigrants to retain citizenship as long as
they hold no other citizenship. In April the Seimas amended the law to
allow persons to recover Lithuanian citizenship if they lost it under
previous laws. In November the Constitutional Court ruled
unconstitutional provisions in the same law that allowed for dual
citizenship.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Asylum seekers coming from a
safe country of transit are prohibited from entering the country and
are returned to the transit country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Presidential and
parliamentary elections in 2004 were generally free and fair. However,
there were complaints that campaign financing lacked transparency and
reports of vote buying during the parliamentary elections. Some vote-
buying charges centered on one party's populist campaign tactics of
holding political rallies-cum-concerts and distributing candy or
campaign paraphernalia. The court found guilty and fined three persons
for vote-buying in the parliamentary elections.
In January 2005 an amendment increased the number of enrolled party
members necessary to register a political party from 400 to 1,000. The
Government continued to ban the Communist Party.
There were 35 women in the 141-seat Seimas and three women in the
14-member Council of Ministers. In July 2005 the interior ministry
reported that more than 60 percent of civil servants were women and
that women occupied 30 percent of the high-level positions within the
Government.
At year's end, there were six members of ethnic minorities in the
141-seat Seimas and no members of ethnic minorities in the Council of
Ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Numerous reports of
government corruption received widespread public attention during the
year. The new government took steps to highlight corruption as a
problem and strengthen oversight.
Polls revealed the public perception that corruption was most
prevalent among midlevel civil servants, traffic police, university
officials, and those working in the health sector. Public corruption
scandals arose among leading politicians as well.
In March two top Presidential advisors resigned when it was
revealed that they purchased homes in a prestigious district of Vilnius
that had formerly been owned by the Government and recently sold to
developers. The Chief Official Ethics Commission concluded that the
officials did not violate ethics rules by purchasing the houses.
In June Prime Minister Brazauskas resigned after the Labor Party
withdrew from the ruling coalition amid allegations of the misuse of
state and party funds by leading Labor Party politicians. The health
minister in the Government admitted to using party funds to repair his
car. State investigators also found that the culture minister broke
ethics rules by paying family travel expenses from state funds. The
Labor Party leader left the country and sought political asylum in
Russia following allegations of fraudulent accounting of Labor Party
funds and providing false information to election commission officials.
A request for his extradition was pending at year's end.
In October 2005 a court sentenced a former parliamentarian to 18
months in a correctional institution for soliciting a bribe (in the
form of a contribution to his campaign) while he was a member of
parliament. The ex-parliamentarian appealed this ruling in November
2005. In February the appellate court postponed the sentence for one
year.
In December 2005 the Seimas approved the conclusions of an ad hoc
parliamentary commission that the mayor of Vilnius had received
payments in exchange for ensuring that municipal decisions favored
certain business interests. A local human rights organization claimed
that the Seimas decision interfered in the judicial process. There was
no further legal action on these allegations during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
government institutions generally provided access in practice. During
the year, however, the ombudsman received some complaints regarding
delays in providing information, the quality of the information
provided, and failure of municipal institutions to provide material
requested. The ombudsman requested heads of institutions and other unit
supervisors to consider disciplinary actions against the officials
involved. Although the ombudsman's recommendations are not binding,
state institutions have implemented recommended disciplinary actions in
86 percent of the cases.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, social
status, or ethnic background as well as discrimination based on age,
sexual orientation, disability, religion, or belief. The law provides
penalties for discrimination on the basis of age, disability, race,
ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual discrimination. Despite
these programs and prohibitions, discrimination against women and
minorities persisted.
Women.--Societal violence against women, particularly alcohol-
related domestic violence, remained a serious problem. The law does not
specifically criminalize domestic violence, but authorities prosecuted
domestic violence under general assault laws. There was no
authoritative information on the extent of the problem.
When such violence occurs in the home, the victim must file a
complaint to initiate an investigation. Certain NGOs maintained that
few victims of domestic violence reported abuses to police because they
preferred to avoid publicity and were not confident that the courts
would punish their assailants. Only a few of the reported complaints
reached the criminal court. The maximum penalty the courts imposed was
two years' imprisonment. Observers criticized the Government's ability
to enforce the law prohibiting domestic violence. Since domestic
violence is prosecuted under general assault laws, the data was not
segregated, and no reliable information existed on either the number of
complaints of domestic violence or the number of convictions resulting
from these complaints.
Thirty-nine women's shelters, operating with the funding and under
the direction of NGOs or municipal governments, provided assistance to
domestic violence victims. Shelters reported that the increase in women
applying for assistance was attributable to the growing availability of
services rather than an increase in violence against women. During the
year the Vilnius-based Shelter for Children and Mothers provided
assistance to 287 victims of domestic violence, forced prostitution,
and human trafficking.
The law specifically criminalizes rape, including spousal rape.
Persons convicted of rape generally received sentences of three to five
years' imprisonment. During the year there were 253 rapes reported.
Police were sometimes reluctant to act in cases of domestic abuse.
Prostitution is illegal but remained a problem. The penalty for
prostitution is a fine of $107 to $178 (300 to 500 litas) for a single
offense and up to $345 (1,000 litas) for repeat offenses. According to
the police, 2,100 women engaged in prostitution in 2006, compared to an
estimated 3,000 to 5,000 in 2004.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment. A 2004 survey reported that 14
percent of university students surveyed, most of them female,
experienced sexual harassment from professors and university staff. The
equal opportunities ombudsman reported that the lack of authority to
compel witnesses to testify, or to caution witnesses against presenting
false evidence, hampered investigations of sexual harassment.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. Women
nevertheless continued to face discrimination. A May 2005 report of the
Open Society Institute and the Equality Center stated that gender
equality institutions existed exclusively in the large cities and that
they provided inadequate outreach at the regional or local level.
National policy requires equal pay for equal work; however,
employers often paid women less than their male counterparts. During
the year a woman's average wage was 84 percent that of a man; in the
public sector, women's wages were 82 percent those of men. Women were
underrepresented significantly in some professions and in business and
the managerial sector as a whole.
The public opinion and market research company TNS Gallup released
results of a labor market survey which showed that women felt
discrimination in the labor market and that men also noticed unequal
conditions for women. Only 37 percent of the country's residents
thought that men and women had equal opportunities.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Public education was compulsory, free, and nearly universal for
children through the age of 15. According to the children's rights
ombudsman's data for 2005, approximately one percent of children under
15 did not attend school.
Boys and girls had equal access to government-provided medical
care.
Child abuse, particularly in connection with parental alcohol
abuse, continued to be a problem. According to the Department of
Statistics, approximately 36,500 children lived in 16,400 abusive or
dysfunctional families. Several media sources reported that incidents
of cruelty to children, including sexual abuse, intentional starvation,
beatings, and killings, were common. Authorities reported that child
abuse caused the death of 14 children during the year.
The children's rights ombudsman reported 316 complaints during the
year, compared to 430 in 2005. During the year, the ombudsman initiated
107 investigations, compared to 74 in 2005. The ombudsman attributed
the increase to greater awareness of children's rights and reporting,
rather than an increase in violence against children. The Seimas' board
allocated additional staff and funding for the ombudsman during the
year.
The penalty for violence or cruelty against minors is a one to two
year prison sentence. In addition, authorities may remove abused
children from their families and place them in foster care. Despite
government efforts to combat child abuse and aid abused children, the
ombudsman reported that the Government provided insufficient assistance
for abused children.
There was one report of child abuse at a state correctional
institution. In September 2005 a study by the Lithuanian Law Institute
reported that children in orphanages continued to suffer physical
abuse. The Government relocated children from Soviet-style orphanages
to residential foster families, thus permitting children to attend
regular schools rather than orphanage schools. Foster families,
however, did not always ensure adequate care for children. During the
year, the children's rights ombudsman received 30 complaints about
violations of children's rights in orphanages and no complaints about
such violations in foster homes.
The law provides for up to 13 years' imprisonment for sexual abuse
of a child; however, sexual abuse of children remained a problem.
During the year the interior ministry registered 69 cases of child
sexual abuse (excluding child rape). In 2004 a Vilnius hospital and
private firm conducted a survey of 18- to 20-year-olds indicating that
31 percent of those surveyed experienced sexual abuse during their
childhood and adolescence; the children's rights ombudsman stated that
the survey exaggerated the number of victims.
The Government operated a children's rehabilitation center to
provide special care for sexually abused children.
As in 2005 the Child Line (a children's hotline) received more than
40,000 calls from children, who complained about problematic relations
with their parents and friends, violence in their families, and sexual
abuse.
Trafficking of girls was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
During the year the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman initiated two
pre-trial investigations regarding sexual exploitation of a child.
Several thousand children reportedly lived on the street. Sixty
regional government children's rights protection agencies, other
institutions, and numerous NGOs routinely assisted these children.
Street children had full access to government sponsored free services.
There were no reports of police abuse of street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits all forms of trafficking
in persons. The country remained a source, transit, and destination
point for trafficking in women and girls. Women were primarily
trafficked to Western Europe. Most women trafficked into or transiting
the country were from Eastern Europe.
Europol estimated that over 1,200 women and girls were victims of
human trafficking every year. The Government estimated that
approximately 1,000 to 1,500 women, many of them trafficking victims,
left the country each year to engage in prostitution. In addition,
women from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine comprised approximately 12
percent of the country's prostitutes.
Traffickers targeted the most vulnerable social groups: young
females from poor or unstable families. Traffickers also commonly
targeted young women from ethnic minorities. Many were lured by
deceptive offers of employment as household helpers, bar dancers,
nannies, nurses, models, or waitresses, or through false marriage
advertisements. In many cases close relatives or friends made the
offers. Victims' compliance was ensured via threats and the withholding
of their documents. Families often were unaware of their predicament
and believed that they had been kidnapped. Boarding schools that also
serve as orphanages were targets of traffickers.
Police reported that nearly half of traffickers were linked to
organized crime, including international groups.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated that
trafficking activity increased after the country joined the European
Union in 2004. The IOM and NGOs also noted, however, that trafficking
may have decreased or stabilized at least during the year, compared to
2005. During the year the Government opened ten criminal cases of
trafficking in persons and referred seven of these to the criminal
court system. Four prosecutions ended in convictions, with sentences
ranging from three years to four years of imprisonment. The Government
cooperated with other European governments on several cases of
trafficking in persons. During the year police determined that 27
women, including three minors, were victims of trafficking;
investigations in other cases continued at year's end.
The ministries of interior, justice, social security and labor,
education and science, the police department, the State Border Guard
Service, the general prosecutor's office, and the National Courts
Administration are responsible for enforcement of trafficking laws.
Early in 2005 a joint government task force uncovered an organized
crime gang that had transported nearly 100 young females from the
country to the United Kingdom. In December law enforcement officers
completed their investigation of 12 suspects and transferred the case
to prosecutors.
In 2005 the police detained five employees of model agencies amid
allegations that the agencies were fronts for human trafficking to
Western Europe and the United Arab Emirates. The investigation was
continuing at year's end.
The Government partially funded 15 day centers that assisted
various groups at risk, including victims of trafficking. The
Government also provided grants to 12 NGOs that offered trafficking
victims assistance or temporary shelter. No formal screening and
referral procedures existed, but police worked closely with these
assistance providers.
Prevention programs focused on disseminating information, promoting
awareness of trafficking, especially among at-risk populations, and
engaging policymakers and community actors in finding solutions to the
problem. The Government improved training for law enforcement
officials. During the year the police organized two specialized
antitrafficking training courses (trafficking awareness and
investigation of cases) for 60 law enforcement officials, prosecutors,
and judges.
In coordination with the Government and its national
antitrafficking plan, the IOM carried out comprehensive research of the
problems of legal prosecution of human trafficking in the country
during the year. The IOM continued consultations on safe migration (on-
line and by phone) and provided assistance to 16 victims of trafficking
during the year. In 2005 the IOM and the Ministry of Social Affairs
trained 34 social workers on trafficking prevention and providing
assistance to victims. The IOM also published a handbook about
preventing human trafficking for teachers to use in schools.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or the provision of other state services. The Equal
Opportunities Ombudsman received complaints concerning discrimination
against persons with disabilities. The law mandates access to buildings
for persons with disabilities; however, the Government generally did
not enforce this provision in practice. Individuals involuntarily
declared as incapacitated have no right to appeal the decision in
court.
In 2005 the NGOs Human Rights Monitoring Institute, Global
Initiatives in Psychiatry, the Fellowship for Care of Mentally
Challenged People Viltis, and the Vilnius Center of Psycho-social
Rehabilitation surveyed nine sanitariums and five mental institutions
and found that the institutions and sanitariums were operating in gross
violation of patients' rights to information, privacy, and freedom from
torture. The survey reported discriminatory staff treatment that
extended greater privileges to favored patients. The NGOs also reported
violations of patients' rights to education and property. The study
recommended making available 24-hour special community services in the
workplaces and homes of persons with disabilities and guaranteeing care
to people suffering from serious mental disabilities.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the Lithuanian Council
for the Affairs of the Disabled focused on developing equal
opportunities in the labor market and improving government
effectiveness in meeting the needs of and augmenting the social
security net for persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Discrimination and intolerance
against ethnic minorities persisted despite laws that prohibit
discrimination of ethnic or national minorities. Minority ethnic
groups, including Russians, Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Tatars, and
Karaites constitute approximately 16.5 percent of the population.
The small Romani community (approximately 3,000) experienced
discrimination in education, employment, health care, housing,
services, citizenship, and in contacts with the police. The Human
Rights Monitoring Institute reported that Roma alleged mistreatment by
the police. The Human Rights Monitoring Institute also reported that on
two occasions restaurants in Vilnius refused to serve Romani patrons.
There were also reports of ambulances refusing to respond to calls in a
predominantly Romani community.
Minority advocates continued to criticize the Vilnius city
government for focusing law enforcement attention on the Roma but doing
little to integrate them into the broader community. After demolishing
five allegedly illegal houses in a predominantly Romani area in 2004,
the municipality did not immediately relocate the displaced occupants.
A woman with three children lived in a tent until the municipality
offered housing at the end of the year. Four families found shelter
with relatives or friends. Some Romani families agreed to move to
public housing in other parts of the city. The ombudsman, who had
attempted to intervene in the demolition of the Romani houses, referred
this matter to court, where it was pending at year's end. In August a
Romani resident requested that the Vilnius city prosecutor's office
acknowledge her as a victim of the demolition to give her standing to
sue for damages.
Although public sector employees are formally required to have a
functional knowledge of the Lithuanian language, there was no
documented evidence of job dismissals based on the language law.
Authorities indicated that, while the law's intent is to encourage
competence in Lithuanian as the official language of the state, the
Government would not dismiss persons solely because of an inability to
meet the language requirements.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year the
ombudsman received 130 complaints of discrimination and initiated 135
investigations (including five not based on complaints). Most
complaints concerned either age discrimination in obtaining insurance,
loans, and leases, or sexual discrimination in the workplace and labor
market.
Local human rights organizations and members of the homosexual
community reported that physical abuse on the street, discrimination,
and persistent social exclusion of homosexuals were problems.
In October the ECHR opened a hearing into a case against the
Government by a young transsexual woman who appealed to the ECHR to
order the Ministry of Health to provide a sex change operation as
recommended by her doctors. The ministry deferred acting on the
doctors' recommendation on the grounds that the Seimas had not approved
a law on sex change. The ECHR had not reached a decision in the case by
year's end.
Section 6. Workers Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, including
members of the police and armed forces, to form and join unions of
their choice, and workers exercised this right in practice. However,
unions represented only approximately 10 percent of the workforce.
Unions must have at least 30 founding members in large enterprises
or a membership of one-fifth of all employees in small enterprises to
legally register. There were no reports of direct discrimination
against members of unions. The law provides that trade unions shall be
freely established and function independently. Although the law
prohibits employer discrimination against union organizers and members,
this prohibition was often ineffective in practice, and there were
cases of employees punished for attempting to organize. According to
the International Trade Union Confederation, no employer has yet
``faced the penal sanctions foreseen by law for antiunion
discrimination.'' Some large retail stores hired short-term contract
labor and sometimes did not renew contracts of union members.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law protects
collective bargaining for all workers except government employees
involved in law enforcement and security-related work. The Lithuanian
Tripartite Council, comprising representatives from labor, business,
and government, estimated that between 5 and 25 percent of workers were
covered under collective bargaining agreements. The law provides for
the right to strike, except for workers in essential services; however,
labor code procedures made it difficult to exercise this right, and
there were no official strikes during the year. The law provides that
only a union or a union's strike committee may call a strike; thus
employees without union representation are unable to strike legally.
Managers often determined wages without regard to union
preferences, except in large factories with well-organized unions. The
Government periodically issued guidelines for state enterprise
management in setting wage scales.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the four free economic zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law prohibits exploitation of children in the workplace, and the
Government generally enforced these laws effectively. In 2004
statistics indicated that 10 percent of children working did so
illegally, mostly in the agricultural sector where children sometimes
received unlawfully low compensation.
The law sets the minimum employment age at 16, but allows
employment of 14-year-olds to perform light labor with the written
consent of the child's parents and school. The law provides for reduced
working hours for children, allowing up to two hours per day or 12
hours per week during the school year and up to seven hours per day or
32 hours per week when school is not in session. Authorities generally
enforced these laws.
In May 2005 the media reported that a number of school-age children
performed farm fieldwork without contracts and received $5.20 (15
litas) per day.
During the year, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman initiated two
pre-trial investigations regarding sexual exploitation of a child.
The State Labor Inspectorate (SLI) is responsible for receiving
complaints related to employment of persons under 18. During the year,
the SLI received six complaints of illegal child labor and courts
initiated pretrial investigations of these cases. The court fined an
employer $1,100 (3,000 litas) in one case and dismissed another which
is now under appeal. The other cases remain pending.
The ministries of social security and labor, education, health, and
interior administered programs to protect children's rights.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--In July the Government increased
the legal minimum wage to approximately $214 (600 litas) per month. The
national minimum wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family.
The law provides that maximum working hours within a seven-day
period, including overtime, may not exceed 48 hours. Overtime can be
allowed only in cases stipulated by law and, along with night work,
must be compensated at a minimum of 1.5 times the hourly rate.
The SLI is responsible for implementing the labor laws; in 2006 it
conducted 19,729 inspections of companies. The most numerous abuses
included wage arrears, illegal employment, violation of labor
contracts, accounting for time off and hours worked, and unsatisfactory
investigation of accidents.
The law provides that workers have the right to safe and healthy
working conditions, and this was generally enforced. During the year
the state labor inspection service recorded 79 fatal accidents at work.
Workers have the right, both in law and practice, to remove themselves
from dangerous work environments without jeopardizing their continued
employment.
__________
LUXEMBOURG
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with a population of approximately
460,000, is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic, parliamentary
form of government. The role of the grand duke is mainly ceremonial and
administrative. Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral
Chamber of Deputies. The Prime Minister is the leader of the dominant
party in the popularly elected parliament. Generally free and fair
parliamentary elections took place in 2004. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse. Prison overcrowding, domestic
violence, and child abuse were reported, and there was one confirmed
case of trafficking.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports of that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detection Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers, but there were no such
visits during the year.
Overcrowding in the Schrassig penitentiary remained a problem.
During the year one refused asylum seeker from Algeria died in
prison. He was killed in a fire started by a group of refused asylum
seekers. Two prisoners were treated for severe burns, and 10 sustained
minor injuries in the fire. The incident may have been exacerbated by
overcrowding in the prison. Refused asylum seekers have since been
relocated to a more spacious section of the prison.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The grand ducal police
and its investigative branch, the judiciary police, are responsible for
law enforcement and maintenance of order within the country. The police
force is under the direction of the Ministry of Justice. Neither
corruption nor impunity were problems. A special police body is in
charge of investigating cases of police abuse. Police officers are
required to attend in-service training at the police academy at least
every two years.
Arrest and Detention.--Warrants issued by a duly authorized
official are required for arrests except in cases of hot pursuit.
Within 24 hours of arrest, the police must inform detainees of charges
against them and bring them before a judge for a determination of the
legality of the detention, and these rights were generally respected in
practice. There is a functioning bail system, which judges freely
employ. Detainees are given immediate access to an attorney, at
government expense for indigents. Detainees are allowed prompt access
to family members.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice.
The judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court of Justice, whose
members are appointed by the grand duke. One of the country's three
justices of the peace has jurisdiction over minor criminal, civil, and
commercial cases, and one of two district courts heard more serious
cases. The youth and guardianship court ruled on matters concerning the
protection of young persons. An administrative court system reviewed
citizen challenges to legislation. The Supreme Court of Justice is
composed of the cour de cassation, a court of appeal, and a department
of public prosecution. The defendant or prosecutor may appeal verdicts
in criminal cases to the administrative court and the administrative
court of appeal before going to the Supreme Court of Justice.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are
public except for those involving sexual abuse or child abuse. There
are no jury trials. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is provided at
public expense if defendants face serious criminal charges. Defendants
need to ask the judge for permission to confront or question witnesses
against them or present witnesses and evidence on their behalf.
Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence
relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence.
Convicted defendants have the right of appeal.
The military and religious courts were rarely used; they also
generally respected the aforementioned rights.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The magistrates courts are
the courts of original jurisdiction that hear civil and commercial
matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice and did not restrict academic
freedom. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. A
majority of the population had connections to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
There is no state religion, but the Government provided financial
support to some churches which had signed conventions with the
Government. Specifically, it paid the salaries of Roman Catholic, and
some Protestant, Greek, Russian, Romanian, and Serbian Orthodox,
Anglican, and Jewish clergy; several local governments maintained
sectarian religious facilities. The Muslim community filed an
application for similar financial support in 1998, and named a national
representative and single interlocutor for negotiations with the
Government in 2003; however there was no final agreement at year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reported acts of
violence or discrimination against religious minorities during the
year. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts. The Jewish community
numbered an estimated 600 persons.
For a detailed discussion, see the 2006 International Religious
Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The law provides for the possibility to grant temporary protection
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and the 1967 Protocol, but did not grant it during the year.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The Chamber of Deputies adopted new asylum legislation on April 5.
The new law establishes mechanisms to reduce the length of asylum
procedures, which had lasted up to five years. It also cancelled the
right of appeal for previously denied asylum seekers and the provisions
for holding refused asylum seekers awaiting repatriation. Those who are
refused asylum are to be repatriated more quickly.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary
elections are held at least every five years. The most recent national
parliamentary elections, held in 2004, were considered generally free
and fair.
There were 13 women in the 60-member Chamber of Deputies and three
women in the 14-member Council of Ministers. There were 15 women in the
32-member Supreme Court.
There was one member of a minority in the 60-member Chamber of
Deputies, and one member of a minority in the Council of Ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
the Government freely provided access on its Internet Web site.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government effectively enforced it.
Women.--Domestic violence occurred. The law prohibits domestic
violence, and the Government effectively enforced the law. The law is
gender neutral and provides that a batterer will be removed from the
house for 10 days; this can be extended an additional three months.
Police are responsible for pursuing the charges so that a victim cannot
be intimidated into dropping charges. Penalties may include fines and
imprisonment. If a person asks a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for
assistance, the police must respond proactively and speak with the
person. There were about 350 cases of police intervention relating to
spousal abuse during the year, and 155 expulsions by the police of the
abusing spouse.
There is a hot line for battered women. During the year government-
sponsored NGO shelters provided refuge to approximately 310 women and
340 children. In addition, the Government provided financial assistance
to domestic violence victims. Information offices set up to respond to
women in distress reported that they received about 1,000 telephone
calls during the year. The Government funded organizations that
provided shelter, counseling, and hot lines.
The law specifically prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and
the Government enforced these laws effectively. There was a reported
average of about 10 rape cases per year. The penalties are five to 10
years' imprisonment.
Prostitution is legal and was common, but the activities associated
with organized prostitution, such as profiting from, aiding or abetting
prostitutes, are punishable by law.
There were reports that women were trafficked to the country for
sexual exploitation (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government generally
enforced it.
Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The law
mandates equal pay for equal work; however, according to government
reports, women were paid 20 to 30 percent less than men for comparable
work. The Ministry of Equal Opportunity is responsible for protecting
the legal and social rights of women; in 2005 it began a gender
mainstreaming program, which is to assess all government policies in
order to determine whether they result in any gender-based disparities.
On March 16, the Parliament introduced the principle of non-
discrimination in the country's legislation. Article 11 of the
constitution was revised to include equality between men and women in
the text of the document.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. The law mandates school attendance from four
through 15 years of age, and school attendance was universal through
that age. Schooling was free through the secondary level, and the
Government provided some financial assistance for postsecondary
education. Most students completed high school.
The Government provided free medical care, and boys and girls had
equal access.
Child abuse occurred. A physicians' organization estimated that
approximately 200 cases of child abuse were reported during the year,
resulting in about 60 children receiving medical treatment. The
Government's hot line for young persons in distress received 600 calls
during the year.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the country was a country of destination for women trafficked
transnationally for the purpose of sexual exploitation. There was one
confirmed report of trafficking reported during the year.
The law provides penalties from six months' to three years'
imprisonment and monetary fines for trafficking. If there are
aggravating circumstances, prison sentences can range from one to ten
years' imprisonment. The Government effectively enforced the
antitrafficking statutes.
During the year one trafficker was sentenced to three years in
prison and fined $39,300 (30,000 euros). The prosecution of a 2004
trafficking case was ongoing at year's end.
There were no government services specifically for victims of
trafficking; however, two NGOs, which were fully financed by the
Government, provided shelter and counseling assistance to women in
distress.
The Ministry of Justice was responsible for the Government's
antitrafficking efforts, in cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign
Affairs and Equal Opportunity as well as NGOs. The Government conducted
specialized training to educate police, immigration officials, and NGOs
on recognition and identification of trafficking victims. At the end of
the year, the Criminal Investigation Police created a new unit to focus
exclusively on trafficking in persons.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law does not
require accessibility for persons with disabilities, but the Government
paid subsidies to builders to construct ``disabled-friendly''
structures. Despite these government incentives, only a small
proportion of buildings and public transportation vehicles have been
modified to accommodate persons with disabilities. Aid for Handicapped
Children, an NGO, is in charge of protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
There are laws establishing quotas and requiring businesses that
employ over 25 persons to hire workers with disabilities and pay them
prevailing wages, but the Government acknowledged that these laws were
not applied or enforced consistently.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers to form and join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised these
rights in practice. Approximately 50 percent of the workforce
(including the trans-border workers) was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right to collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right
freely. Approximately 66 percent of workers are under collective
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, except
for government workers who provide essential services; no labor strikes
occurred during the year. Five thousand students went on strike in
November against proposed legislation that would reduce unemployment
benefits for graduates and delay payments by six months for those under
30 years of age who have completed a government pre-employment training
program. Legal strikes may occur only after a lengthy conciliation
procedure between the parties. The Government's national conciliation
office must certify that conciliation efforts have ended for a strike
to be legal.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace. The law prohibits the
employment of children under the age of 16. Apprentices who are 16
years old must attend school in addition to their job training. Workers
under the age of 18 have additional legal protection, including limits
on overtime and the number of hours that can be worked continuously.
The Ministries of Labor and Education effectively enforced the child
labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage for a
single worker over the age of 18 was approximately $1,968 (1,503 euros)
per month for unskilled workers, and approximately $2,363 (1,804 euros)
per month for skilled workers. The minimum wage was criticized by an
NGO as not sufficient to provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family; however, most employees earned more than the minimum
wage.
The law mandates a maximum workweek of 40 hours. Premium pay is
required for overtime or unusual hours. Sunday employment is permitted
in continuous-process industries (steel, glass, and chemicals) and for
certain maintenance and security personnel; other industries must
request permission for Sunday work, which the Government granted on a
case-by-case basis. Work on Sunday, allowed for some retail employees,
must be entirely voluntary and compensated at double the normal wage,
or with compensatory time off on another day, equal to the number of
hours worked on Sunday. The law requires rest breaks for shift workers
and limits all workers to a maximum of 10 hours per day including
overtime. If employers do not honor the law, workers may successively
ask for assistance at the labor inspection court and then the Supreme
Court of Justice.
The law mandates a safe working environment. An inspection system
provided severe penalties for infractions. The labor inspectorate of
the ministry of labor and the accident insurance agency of the social
security ministry carried out effective inspections. No laws or
regulations specifically provided workers with the right to remove
themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their
continued employment; however, every worker has the right to ask the
labor inspectorate to make a determination regarding workplace safety,
and the inspectorate usually did so expeditiously.
__________
MACEDONIA
The Republic of Macedonia is a parliamentary democracy with a
population of approximately 2.1 million. Legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral Sobranie (parliament). Parliamentary elections
held in July generally met international standards, although the
campaign period and election day were marred by some isolated instances
of violence and irregularities. The new prime minister, Nikola
Gruevski, was confirmed in office in August and presides over a
multiethnic governing coalition. President Branko Crvenkovski was
elected to a five-year term in April 2004 in elections that were
generally free and fair but contained some election-day irregularities.
Civilian authorities maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police abuse of
suspects continued to be a problem, and there were allegations of
police harassment of ethnic minorities, particularly members of the
Roma community. Corruption and political pressure in the interior and
justice ministries, the courts, and the public prosecutor's office
impeded the investigation of some human rights abuse allegations and
the process of bringing the accused to trial. The country continued to
be a transit and destination country for victims of trafficking in
persons for sexual exploitation and labor. Societal discrimination
against ethnic minorities, particularly Roma, continued to be a
problem.
There was a slight overall improvement in the human rights
situation compared to the previous year, including improved internal
controls and professionalism of security forces and a decrease in the
prevalence of interethnic discrimination.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces allegedly caused the wrongful death of a Romani youth
suspected of theft.
On March 2, police shot Enver Xhaferi while serving arrest warrants
on three ethnic Albanian men in the Skopje suburb of Kondovo. Xhaferi
died from gunshot wounds en route to the hospital. Police shot and
seriously injured a second man, Fatmir Ljuri, while the third man,
Sokol Bega, was arrested without injury. Police reported that force was
used to prevent the suspects from attacking other officers. A Ministry
of Interior Professional Standards Unit (PSU) investigation concluded
that police use of firearms was ``founded, justified, and in accordance
with the regulation for use of force with a firearm.'' International
police advisers concurred with the findings.
On May 11, Trajan Bekirov, a Romani youth, was reported missing,
and on May 27, his body was found in the Vardar River, which runs
through Skopje. Police reported that they had approached and identified
themselves to Bekirov and another Romani youth, Orhan Iseni, while
patrolling a Skopje neighborhood following reports of thefts from
vehicles. Bekirov and Iseni allegedly ran from the police officers.
Iseni was apprehended but Bekirov went missing. Bekirov's family and
Romani community members accused the police of beating and killing
Bekirov and depositing the body in the river. The Macedonian Forensic
Institute and a doctor representing a local human rights NGO performed
separate autopsies on the body. The cause of death was determined to be
drowning; there were no signs of other bodily harm or indications of
wrongful death. However, the ombudsman's office filed charges with the
public prosecutor's office against the Ministry of Interior for
endangering Bekirov's life, alleging that the police chase led to the
youth's flight and subsequent death by drowning. In September the
public prosecutor decided not to bring an indictment against the
Ministry of Interior as the evidence provided did not support any
wrongdoing on the part of the police.
On February 3, the Skopje appellate court upheld the April 2005
Skopje trial court verdict that acquitted four persons--three former
police officers and a businessman--implicated in the Rastanski Lozja
case involving the 2002 police killing of seven South Asian illegal
immigrants. The ruling and judicial procedure were met with wide
criticism by the public, judicial officials, and international experts.
The prosecution submitted a request for protection of legality with the
Supreme Court, which challenged the legality of the basic and appellate
court rulings based on an alleged violation of the Code of Criminal
Procedure. The Supreme Court had not issued an opinion by year's end.
High-ranking judicial officials stated that, while the Supreme Court
could not reverse the acquittal, its ruling could influence the civil
court's decision on monetary awards to the defendants for being
unjustly detained. The prosecution had charged that former interior
minister Ljube Boskovski ordered the killings, claiming that the
immigrants were terrorists who threatened foreign embassies in Skopje.
At year's end, Boskovski remained in prison in the Hague awaiting trial
on unrelated war crimes charges and was not party to the proceedings in
Skopje.
At year's end the Kumanovo trial court was retrying, for the third
time, the case against one of the 12 original defendants charged with
terrorism for planting explosives in the center of Kumanovo and on
railway tracks near that city, killing one person and injuring several
others in 2003. Four of the 12 defendants continued to serve prison
sentences after their convictions were affirmed by the Skopje appellate
court. The remaining seven defendants had outstanding arrest warrants
against them but had not been tried by year's end.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The International Commission on Missing Persons closed its offices
in the country in 2004 after collecting blood samples from relatives of
all persons missing from the 2001 conflict. The International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimated that 14 persons remained missing from
the conflict.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, police at times
used excessive force during the apprehension of criminal suspects and
sometimes abused prisoners.
There were credible reports that police occasionally used violence
against or otherwise harassed persons, particularly members of the Roma
community, without legal justification. A coalition of local NGOs
recorded 62 allegations of police abuse involving 75 victims over the
twelve months ending in November. The alleged victims included nine
ethnic Albanians, 48 ethnic Macedonians, and 11 Roma. The PSU reported
receiving 152 credible citizen complaints of police misconduct during
the year; of that number, 83 complaints were for excessive use of
force. The ombudsman filed 112 complaints; various nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) filed 93. The PSU recommended disciplinary action
be taken against officers in 58 cases and that criminal procedures be
initiated in 42 cases. Less stringent punishments, such as a pay
reduction, suspension from the police force, or reassignment, were
delivered in 216 cases.
In May a number of ethnic Albanian military recruits reported being
physically mistreated by their commanding officer, an ethnic Macedonian
lieutenant. After the incident was brought to the attention of high-
ranking Ministry of Defense officials, the lieutenant was temporarily
relieved of his duties pending an investigation. An internal military
investigation found the lieutenant guilty of abuse of authority and
violation of the dignity of a subordinate soldier. In accordance with
military regulations and national law, he was suspended from possible
promotion for one year.
In September 2005 the ombudsman announced that he had referred five
cases against interior ministry employees to prosecutors for the
mistreatment of civilians and other unspecified abuses. Prosecutors
agreed to investigate one case and rejected another in 2005; the other
three cases remained under review for the second consecutive year.
In June 2005 three Romani men were called into the Kicevo police
station for questioning after persons under interrogation there accused
one of the individuals of participating in an altercation. A local NGO
reported that police did not notify these men of their legal rights or
provide explanation for their detention. The police then insulted them
and beat them with rubber truncheons. The men filed charges in July
2005, but the public prosecutor dropped the investigation, citing
insufficient evidence to prove that the men's injuries occurred while
in police custody. The men subsequently submitted a private lawsuit,
which was still pending before the trial court at the end of the
reporting period.
For the second consecutive year, there were no developments
reported on the European Roma Rights Centre's (ERRC) filing of a
criminal complaint in connection with the 2004 police beating of two
Romani men, Trajan Ibrahimov and Bergiun Ibrahimovic, in Skopje.
On February 13, the public prosecutor dropped criminal charges
filed in 2005 against police officers involved in the 2004 case of two
ethnic Albanians whom police arrested and allegedly beat near
Stenkovec.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions barely
met international standards, but the Government permitted visits by
independent human rights organizations. In September a prisoner in
Idrizovo prison committed suicide, but there was no direct evidence his
action was linked to prison conditions. There were no reported cases of
death in prison facilities as a result of adverse conditions during the
year. Juvenile prisoners were separated from adults in all prison
facilities. In the pretrial detention facility in Skopje, however,
juvenile and adult living and eating facilities were separate, while
common spaces were collocated.
The Government routinely granted permission for visits to convicted
prisoners by independent humanitarian organizations (such as the
Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and
the ICRC) and the ombudsman's office. The law allows access to pretrial
detainees for family members, physicians, chiefs of diplomatic
missions, and representatives from the CPT and ICRC with the approval
of the investigative judge. Unlike in 2005, there were no reports of
human rights organizations being denied permission to visit detainees
during the reporting period.
In January the Council of Europe released a report on the prison
system based on a visit in November 2005. The report found that
overcrowding continued to be a significant problem, along with poor
hygienic conditions, inferior medical services, and inadequate state
funding. However, the report also noted that reforms in the prison
system were being implemented to decentralize authority and increase
the efficiency and effectiveness of the prison system.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, arbitrary arrest and detention were
problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police are
a centralized force subordinate to the Ministry of Interior that
consists of uniformed police, criminal (civilian) police, and border
police.
The NGO International Crisis Group reported during the year that
the police did not function as a fully ``transparent and accountable
community-based service.'' The report cited a lack of staff and
resources available for investigating reports of internal corruption
and abuse, as well as needs for merit-based career incentives, more
police districts, and greater cooperation with other government
agencies.
In June the 30-member EU Police Advisor Team's (EUPAT) six-month
mandate ended. EUPAT was replaced by the EU's Twinning Project, which,
along with representatives from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the U.S. Government, will continue to
advise the Ministry of Interior on police reforms and monitor police
operations.
The police force remained largely ethnic Macedonian; however, the
Government maintained a 25 percent recruiting quota for ethnic minority
officers in order to achieve a police force that accurately reflected
the population at large (see section 5). According to the Ministry of
Interior, at the end of the year, 80 percent of the police force was
ethnic Macedonian, a decrease of 12 percent from 2002.
Ministry of Interior officials were slow to complete investigations
and bring charges in outstanding human rights cases from previous
years. International observers noted improved ministry response to
investigating individual cases of police misconduct and more frequent
and consistent disciplining of officers found guilty. However, they
cited a limited range of disciplinary options and a restrictive statute
of limitations for the punishment of police misconduct as factors that
sometimes precluded appropriate sanctions.
International observers and local NGOs cited corruption within the
Ministry of Interior as a continuing problem in effectively fighting
crime, particularly organized crime. International organizations
focused their efforts on police reform and training to professionalize
the ministry and aid in fighting corruption.
At the end of the year, the Kavadarci trial court was retrying the
case against a Ministry of Interior administrator on charges of
corruption stemming from 2004. The appellate court ordered the retrial
after overturning the Kavadarci trial court's original October 2005
conviction and five-month prison sentence.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrest and
detention, and police generally followed those requirements in
practice.
While the law provides that a detainee must be arraigned in court
within 24 hours of arrest, police at times violated this requirement,
often by transferring the suspect from one police station to another to
avoid exceeding a 24-hour period of detention at a location. Detention
of suspects for longer than 24 hours may only be ordered by
investigative judges upon request of a prosecutor, and this generally
occurred in practice.
There is a functioning bail system that was used primarily by the
courts in property-related crimes such as fraud, tax evasion,
embezzlement, and abuse of official position. The courts were reluctant
to approve bail for defendants accused of violent crimes or crimes
against children.
The law permits a detainee to contact a lawyer at the time of
arrest and to have a lawyer present during police and court
proceedings; however, such access must be approved by the warden of the
detention facility and, in rare cases, also by the investigative judge.
While wardens and investigative judges generally approved such access,
there were occasional reports that detainees were denied access to an
attorney during police and investigative proceedings.
There were reports that police continued to call suspects and
witnesses to police stations for ``informative talks'' without
informing them of their rights. Two ethnic Albanian suspects in a July
2005 bomb attack on a Skopje police station claimed they were detained
without proper legal authority. The ombudsman's office reported that
they were unable to file criminal charges with the public prosecutor's
office regarding the allegations because the Ministry of Interior would
not provide information on the identity of the officers involved in the
alleged misconduct. A PSU investigation determined there were no
irregularities involved in the arrest and detention of the two men.
The law sets the maximum length of pretrial detention at 180 days;
however, NGOs, as well as some legal experts, contended that the
judiciary at times abused its detention authority by ordering pretrial
detention in cases where other means of guaranteeing the presence of
defendants at trial (e.g., bail, home confinement, or relinquishment of
the passport) could have been utilized. In addition, there were some
reports of government pressure to order pretrial detention in certain
instances. However, for the second consecutive year, reports of both
these practices decreased.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, the judiciary was weak, at times
inefficient, and occasionally influenced by political pressure,
intimidation, and corruption. The Government also used its budgetary
authority and modest allocations to the court system as instruments to
exert control over the judiciary. Programs for witness protection began
to operate with limited capacity during the year. A law enforcement
agent successfully testified as a protected witness in a drug smuggling
case, and the police also provided protection for a victim of
trafficking who testified in court during the year.
The country has a three-tiered court system composed of trial
courts, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court. The Constitutional
Court is not considered part of the judicial branch and deals with
matters of constitutional interpretation and certain human rights
protection issues.
The NGO International Crisis Group noted in a January report that
judiciary reform was an area of critical concern in the country. The
report called for increased judicial and investigative training for
officials, removal of corrupt or nonperforming judges, and additional
courts to deal with serious crimes and administrative misdemeanors.
In May the parliament adopted a number of judicial reform laws, to
be implemented on January 1, 2007. The laws reformed numerous aspects
of the judicial system, including reducing executive branch influence
over the judiciary, establishing stronger safeguards for citizens'
rights, enhancing the ability to file damage claims against judges who
violate the law, establishing a system of specialization for judges,
and creating separate civil and criminal trial courts in Skopje and a
separate administrative court at the Supreme Court level. As a result
of judicial reforms adopted in 2005, the process of hiring 140 new law
clerks began during the year to help the judiciary reduce its backlog
of 1.2 million cases. Based on unofficial reports from government
authorities, the judicial backlog was reduced by 15 to 20 percent
during the year.
The chief public prosecutor continued to accuse some lower courts
of being inefficient or influenced by political factors, which resulted
in prolonged trials and an inability to reach final judgments in high-
profile corruption or other sensitive cases. In particular, the
prosecutor criticized the judiciary for the acquittal of the four
defendants in the Rastanski Lozja trial, which involved suspects linked
to former Interior Minister Boskovski (see section 1.a.). He also
publicly complained that his position did not grant him sufficient
independence to fully exercise his powers. The Government discharged
the chief public prosecutor on October 18 on the grounds of his alleged
failure to perform his duties. Some international and local observers
saw this move as politically motivated. The position was vacant at
year's end.
The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption reviewed cases of
alleged corruption, conflict of interest, and nepotism. It issued
several opinions that included recommendations that the prosecutor
initiate criminal actions against judges and other state officials
where there was sufficient evidence of corruption. The commission
accused the public prosecutor of ignoring their recommendations, while
the public prosecutor accused a number of the commission members of
unevenly applying standards to cases and of blatant conflict of
interest in high profile cases. A retrial, ordered by a December 2005
Supreme Court decision, concluded on June 14 with the acquittal of the
former public prosecutor of Stip on bribery charges brought in 2005 by
the special prosecutors' Unit Against Organized Crime. The public
prosecutor's office appealed the case and the Stip appellate court
confirmed the ruling on December 20.
Trial Procedures.--Court proceedings were open to the public except
in limited cases, such as trials involving minors or in which the
personal safety of the defendant was at risk. Juries were not used.
Trials are presided over by judges; two to three community-member
consulting jurors assist each judge in determining the verdict,
although the judge generally makes the final decision regarding the
sentence. The law provides for the presumption of innocence, the right
to consult an attorney in a timely manner in pretrial and trial
proceedings, the right to an appeal, and the right to stand trial
within a reasonable period of time after charges are filed. These
rights were generally respected in practice; however, lengthy legal
procedures and delays were a problem, and access to attorneys was
sometimes not granted in a timely manner. Defendants were entitled to
have access to government-held evidence, but this did not always occur
in practice. The law requires that indigent defendants be given access
to attorneys, and this requirement was generally respected in practice.
The law provides that trials may be held in absentia as long as
they are repeated if the convicted individuals later become accessible
to justice officials.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Separate civil and
criminal trial courts in Skopje, along with a separate administrative
court at the Supreme Court level to hear cases against state
institutions, were created by a law adopted by parliament in May, to be
implemented on January 1, 2007.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice. There were no
reports that the Government illegally used wiretaps to collect
information on suspected criminals, although some opposition
politicians alleged that the Ministry of Interior used wiretaps for
political purposes.
On November 15, the parliament adopted a law to allow for legal
monitoring of communications only with a court order and as directed by
the minister of interior. Strict conditions, in line with international
standards, are stipulated for the use, storage, and application of the
data obtained.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, the law prohibited speech
that incites national, religious, or ethnic hatred. Media institutions
and reporting were divided along ethnic lines, with the most striking
divisions visible in reports on controversial political issues.
There were no official government-controlled print media.
International newspapers and magazines were available throughout the
country.
Macedonian Radio and Television (MRTV), which generally favored the
Government view on political issues, was the sole public broadcaster in
the country. The head of MRTV was replaced after the new government was
formed in August. There were five private television broadcasters with
national coverage and more than 50 private local television stations. A
variety of independent radio stations broadcast throughout the country.
There were two news agencies, the state-owned Macedonian
Information Agency and private Makfax.
On April 3, Rajmonda Malecka, a journalist from Albania, and her
father, Bujar Malecka, were released from prison and expelled from the
country after serving one year in prison. The two were convicted by the
Skopje trial court in November 2005 for planning terrorist acts in the
Skopje suburb of Kondovo. Police reportedly found a videocassette with
footage of an armed group in Kondovo in the suspects' possession when
they arrested them in April 2005. The prison sentence was reduced from
five years to one year in March by the Skopje appellate court, which
also ordered their immediate expulsion from the country.
In May the parliament amended the law to decriminalize defamation,
libel, and slander. The new law provides that such offenses can be
punished only by fines. Offenders who apologize to the injured party
before the court can be relieved of any punishment.
On June 15, a Skopje trial court ordered Nikola Mladenov, owner of
the weekly Fokus, to pay $39,700 (1.84 million denars) in damages to
President Branko Crvenkovski. On April 28, the same court ordered
Mladenov to pay $25,800 (1,223,600 denars) to former prime minister
Hari Kostov, for Mladenov's unfounded accusation that both men had
secret personal bank accounts in Switzerland. On September 19, the
Supreme Court acquitted A1 Television journalist Biljana Sekulovska of
libel charges related to her criticism of the judge presiding over a
trafficking in persons case involving Dilaver Bojku Leku. Goran
Mihajlovski, owner of the tabloid Vest, was acquitted on November 2 of
libel charges related to his newspaper's allegations that the
pharmaceutical company Replek tried to sell unlicensed medications in
the country.
Zoran Bozhinovski, a journalist from Kumanovo, was imprisoned on
November 18 to serve a three-month sentence for defamation. The
conviction and prison sentence were handed down by the Kumanovo trial
court in 2004, prior to the adoption of the law to decriminalize
defamation, for the use of offensive expressions in a 2003 article in
the weekly Bulevar. Bozhinovski had 14 additional convictions for
similar articles and numerous other charges pending. Following a hunger
strike and pressure from NGOs, the Kumanovo court freed Bozhinovski on
November 21 and stated its intention to retry this case under the
amended law, which went into effect on January 1, 2007.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. A survey conducted in April found that 27 percent of the
population used the Internet regularly, and the majority of those users
accessed the Internet at an Internet cafe or in their homes.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for the freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice; however, the Ministry of
Interior requires approval of any religious gathering held outside of
specific religious facilities and limits such gatherings to registered
religious groups (see section 2.c.).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the law places some limits on religious practice by
restricting the establishment of places of worship.
The law defines the constitutional provision for religious freedom,
designating the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Islamic Community of
Macedonia, the Roman Catholic Church, the Jewish Community, and the
Methodist Church as religious communities. All other registered
religious associations are considered to be religious groups and must
register with the State Commission on Relations with Religious
Communities and Groups. In 1998 and 1999, however, the Constitutional
Court struck down several provisions of the law on religion, which has
resulted in inconsistent enforcement of the remaining provisions.
In November 2005 the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the
``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid,'' an affiliate of the Serbian
Orthodox Church, to a November 2004 state commission decision to deny
it registration. The commission's decision was based on a law that
allows only one religious community to be registered for each
confession; the Macedonian Orthodox Church had been registered as a
religious community since the country's independence.
The law requires a group to have a government ``opinion'' in order
to obtain a permit to build a religious facility. However, past court
rulings restricting government authority to provide such opinions have
effectively blocked religious groups from obtaining construction
permits for worship facilities. In practice the Government generally
did not take action against religious buildings lacking permits.
The law somewhat restricts the establishment of places of worship,
for example, by requiring that a permit be obtained at least 15 days in
advance for services in places not specified in the law. The law also
states that religious activities ``shall not violate the public peace
and order, and shall not disrespect the religious feelings and other
freedoms and rights'' of persons who are not members of that particular
religion. The Government did not actively enforce most of these
provisions but acted upon complaints when they were received.
Although a permit or permission is not required to perform
religious rites in a private home, members of the ``Orthodox
Archbishopric of Ohrid'' reported that police interrupted an April 2005
religious service in a private apartment in Dracevo and asked the
worshippers to produce their identification documents.
On August 8, Zoran Vraniskovski, a defrocked Macedonian Orthodox
Church bishop now recognized by the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid''
as Bishop Jovan, returned to prison to serve a one-year sentence for
embezzlement. The charges stemmed from a September 2005 conviction by
the Veles trial court. The sentence was reduced from two years to one
year by an appellate court in March. Vraniskovski was acquitted by the
Veles trial court on separate embezzlement charges on April 3.
Vraniskovski had been released from prison in March after serving
seven months of an 18-month sentence on a separate conviction for
``inciting religious or ethnic hatred.'' A February Supreme Court
decision had reduced the sentence to time served and suspended a
sentence for ``falsely assuming religious authority.'' The 18-month
sentence was based on charges that Vraniskovski held private religious
services in union with the Serbian Orthodox Church and that he was
responsible for the content of a religious calendar calling the
Macedonian Orthodox Church ``the last fortress of communism'' and its
believers heretics. The suspended sentence resulted from charges that
Vraniskovski allegedly baptized a relative in a Macedonian Orthodox
Church near Bitola in 2003, after Vraniskovski had been defrocked by
the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
The law requires that foreigners entering the country with the
intent to carry out religious work or perform religious rites receive
approval from the State Commission on Relations with Religious
Communities and Groups. When applying for visas, persons planning to
perform religious work must submit a letter of invitation from
representatives of a registered religious group in the country to the
commission, which then issues a letter of approval to be submitted with
the visa request. Approvals were normally issued within one week.
A Polish-born nun associated with the ``Orthodox Archbishopric of
Ohrid'' claimed that, in 2004, the Ministry of Interior declined to
extend her residency permit; the archdiocese is not legally entitled to
sponsor foreign religious workers because it has been denied
registration under the law permitting only one group per confession.
Followers of the church report that the nun entered the country as a
tourist during the year and therefore could not remain in the country
continuously for a period longer than 90 days.
The restitution of religious properties expropriated by the former
Yugoslav government had not been fully resolved. Virtually all churches
and many mosques have been returned to the ownership of the appropriate
religious community, but that was not the case for most of the other
properties, such as larger parcels of land or community centers.
Restitution or compensation claims often are complicated by the fact
that the seized properties have changed hands many times or have been
developed. The Islamic Community of Macedonia claimed it was not able
to regain rightful use of several mosques that the Government was to
have returned to it. In addition, the Islamic community alleged that
the Government in some cases delayed the process of restitution by
selling or starting new construction on disputed property and
questioning the historical legal claim of the Islamic community to
religious properties.
The Jewish community is the only religious community in the country
whose communal property has been fully restituted. However, the Jewish
community continued to work with the Government for the full
restitution of private property of heirless victims of the Holocaust
whose property was later nationalized by the former Yugoslav
government. The process of private property restitution has been slow
due in large part to the extensive documentation required to show the
flow of ownership and lack of heirs. However, there was some noticeable
progress during the year. Approximately 450 individual property
restitution cases were in the settlement process with the Government,
and 1,000 cases remained to be documented.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were isolated reports of
vandalism of religious properties. The Macedonian Orthodox Church
considered the acts of vandalism to its property to be incidents of
petty theft or crime and did not believe they were motivated by
religious discrimination.
At year's end the long running ownership dispute between the
Bektashi religious group and the Islamic community over a religious
facility in Tetevo remained unresolved. The Bektashis filed suit
against the Government to reverse the former Yugoslavia's
nationalization of the property and against the Islamic community,
which seized the complex in 2002 and continued to hold services there,
excluding Bektashi community members from the majority of the property.
There were a number of incidences of vandalism and harassment reported
by members of the Bektashi community during the reporting period.
The Jewish community estimated that approximately 600 Jewish
persons lived in the country during the year. There were no reports of
anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
Under the constitution, any Yugoslav citizen who had legal
residence in the country in 1991 could acquire citizenship by simple
application. However, unresolved citizenship status of long-term
habitual residents remained a problem. A 2004 ``transitory clause''
temporarily eased naturalization requirements for foreigners married to
Macedonian citizens, persons without citizenship, and persons with
refugee status; however, the transitory clause expired in March.
By year's end, no survey had been undertaken to determine the
number of residents without citizenship status. The Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the Government to be
flexible in interpreting the citizenship law, and the Government
indicated it might consider reinstituting the transitory clause. UNHCR
continued to provide legal assistance to persons wishing to change
their citizenship status and generally received good cooperation from
the Ministry of Interior.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--At year's end the Government
reported a total of fewer than 725 IDPs, most of whom were in
collective centers, compared with 1,180 IDPs reported earlier in the
year.
IDPs received basic assistance, mostly from the Ministry of Labor
and Social Policy, but had few opportunities for engaging in income-
generating activities.
Some IDP groups claimed that ethnic Macedonian IDPs could not
return to their homes in ethnic Albanian areas due to security threats.
Some IDPs asserted the Government was not providing adequate support
for them to return to their homes. Other IDPs claimed they had been
able to return to homes in predominately ethnic Albanian areas such as
the Skopje suburb of Aracinovo and had not faced any threats since
doing so.
During the year government relations with IDPs improved, but there
were still pressures on some IDPs to return to their homes of origin in
areas now considered safe by the Government. The Government informed
some IDPs that their monthly benefits would eventually be reduced or
eliminated if they did not comply with orders to relocate, but there
were no reports that such reductions were undertaken during the year.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
prosecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum, but only
in rare cases. As of October, out of 205 registered asylum seekers,
only 28 had been granted humanitarian protection status, and none had
received asylum. A total of 1,191 persons had been granted humanitarian
protection, a decision subject to annual review. The decline in the
numbers of registered asylum seekers and those granted humanitarian
protection was due, in part, to some voluntary repatriations and some
cases in which the Government discontinued humanitarian protection.
According to UNHCR, the refugee status determination (RSD)
mechanism was accessible and active, and the overall process was
handled in a generally satisfactory manner. The country's RSD laws were
considered satisfactory, but implementation of the RSD procedure in
some cases was inadequate. The UNHCR noted shortcomings in refugee
interview techniques and worked with Ministry of Interior officials to
improve them. A more serious shortcoming in the RSD process noted by
the UNHCR was the lack of an effective appeals system for those not
initially granted either refugee or asylum status. UNHCR reported that
appeals rejected by the administrative courts were usually given only
cursory review by the Supreme Court, which simply rubber-stamped the
commission's decision to deny the appeal.
The Government provided humanitarian protection status to most
refugees and asylum seekers in the country. However, that status was
valid for only 12 months and had to be renewed. In addition, it was
subject to nonrenewal by the Government at any time, which occurred
during the year.
The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees.
In contrast with the previous year, there were no reports that
authorities abused or mistreated refugees. In response to reports in
2005 of sexual abuse or violence against female refugees, UNHCR
investigated and called in police authorities for follow-up action
where necessary. No arrests or formal charges related to these
allegations had been made by year's end.
There was strong evidence to suggest that Romani refugees were
discriminated against in the RSD process, a reflection of general
societal discrimination against the Roma. However, Romani refugees in
the predominantly Romani municipality of Suto Orizari were generally
well tolerated.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, generally free and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--National parliamentary
elections were held on July 5. International observers characterized
the elections as generally in accordance with international standards
but noted serious irregularities in some areas, such as voter
intimidation, ballot stuffing, and family or proxy voting. The official
20-day campaign period was marred by several violent incidents,
including attacks on campaign offices, fights among party activists,
and nonfatal shooting incidents. Most of these incidents occurred in
the northwest part of the country and involved the rival ethnic
Albanian political parties, Democratic Union for Integration and
Democratic Party of Albanians.
Some women from more traditional communities, particularly ethnic
Albanians, were disenfranchised due to the practice of family or proxy
voting by male family members on their behalf.
There were 36 women in the 120-seat parliament and three women in
the 21-member Council of Ministers. The law requires that one in every
three positions on each political party's list in both national and
municipal elections must be from the less represented gender, which had
the practical effect of increasing the number of female members of
parliament.
There were 28 ethnic Albanians, two Roma, two Turks, one Serb, one
Bosniak, one Macedonian Muslim, and one Vlach in the 120-seat
parliament. There were five members of minorities in the 21-member
Council of Ministers.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was a
significant problem in the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches of the Government. Instances of corruption in the police and
judicial system were of particular concern (see sections 1.d. and
1.e.). The State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption was
responsible for investigating charges of corruption as well as
complaints submitted by citizens. During the year the commission
received 679 complaints concerning the work of state bodies,
privatization procedures, judicial procedures, and other relevant
cases. For the third straight year, the country received a score of 2.7
on Transparency International's 10-point index of the degree to which
corruption is perceived to exist among a country's politicians and
public officials, indicating a perception that the country has a
serious corruption problem.
During the year there were several high-profile cases reviewed by
the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. On September 15
the Skopje trial court refused to rehear a 2004 case that awarded
$942,000 (44.7 million denars) in damages to Isnifaris Xhemaili in
compensation for sheep and other livestock allegedly killed by a
bombing conducted by the Ministry of Defense during the 2001 conflict.
The commission questioned the high amount of damages awarded to the
plaintiff and accused government authorities, including the public
prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Defense, and the courts, of
failing to perform due diligence in the case. On November 30, a number
of individuals were detained on suspicion of corruption, including
allegations of receiving a portion of the settlement awarded to
Xhemaili.
Another high-profile case involved the privatization of property.
The commission accused a number of landowners, members of the
Government's denationalization commission, and lending institutions of
working together to defraud the Government by evading taxes through
questionable land acquisitions. Landowners allegedly took out small
loans on properties recently restored by the Government, then defaulted
on the loan, resulting in foreclosure by the lending institution. The
lender was subsequently able to cite the amount of the loan as the
price of the land, not the actual market value, resulting in
artificially deflated taxes levied on the property. This case remained
under review by the public prosecutor's office at year's end.
At the end of the year the Government was awaiting a decision by
the Serbian government on an extradition request for Metodija
Smilenski. Smilenski was arrested on June 15 in Serbia on charges filed
in Macedonia in 2003 for embezzling approximately $20 million (one
billion denars) in state funds through his now bankrupt Export-Import
Bank. Smilenski is accused of colluding with the then governor of the
Macedonian National Bank, Ljube Trpevski, to embezzle funds by using
the nation's currency reserves to guarantee the debts of Smilenski's
Export-Import Bank. Trpevski was detained in Skopje on November 23 and
was released on bail at the end of the year pending trial. The criminal
investigation into Smilenski's business dealing was completed in
September, and the special prosecutor's office was preparing an
indictment to bring this case to trial.
In March a trial court convicted Vojo Mihajlovski, former director
of the state health fund, on charges of abuse of state funds and
corruption and sentenced him to four years in prison. In addition,
three of his accomplices, all former directors of medical centers, each
received 10-month prison sentences.
At year's end a retrial was ongoing in the case against Nikola
Tasev, the former general manager of the Nova Makedonija publishing
house, on charges of abuse of position for selling 70 percent of the
company on the eve of 2002 parliamentary elections. Tasev was sentenced
to four years in prison by the Skopje trial court in April 2005. Both
the defendant and the prosecution appealed the verdict, and the
appellate court ordered a retrial. Besnik Fetai, who was the economy
minister at the time of the privatization, was acquitted of similar
charges. Nova Makedonija was the country's largest publishing house
before its liquidation in 2003.
On January 25, the parliament adopted a law guaranteeing citizens'
access to government information, which went into effect on September
1. The law requires each public institution to appoint a public
relations officer, who must respond to a request for information within
40 days. A fine of $400 to $1,000 (20,000 to 50,000 denars) may be
levied if the law is not followed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were responsive to the views expressed by these groups and
cooperative in working with them.
There were more than 4,000 domestic and international registered
NGOs operating in the country, including FORUM, MOST, Macedonian
Helsinki Committee, and NGOs devoted to specific causes, including Roma
rights, human trafficking, and voters' rights.
The OSCE led international community efforts to engage the
Government on human rights issues, and OSCE and EU monitoring missions
continued to implement projects to improve relations between ethnic
Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.
The ombudsman office has a mandate to improve nondiscrimination and
equitable representation of minority communities. The ombudsman's
office operated six local branch offices around the country.
Representatives from the ombudsman's office have the legal right to
visit all persons detained, including those in pretrial detention; this
right was exercised without restraint during the year. The ombudsman
found that government institutions violated individuals' rights in 623
cases, or approximately 20 percent of the complaints received during
the year. Most cases concerned violations of judicial procedures,
police abuse, and labor and property rights. The Government acted on
the ombudsman's recommendations in 70 percent of these cases but in
some instances did not provide information requested by the ombudsman's
office in the course of their investigations. During the year the
ombudsman's office noted increased cooperation and communication with
the Government compared to previous years.
The Government generally cooperated with the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In March 2005 the ICTY
indicted two ethnic Macedonians--former interior minister Ljube
Boskovski and former police officer Johan Tarculovski--accused of
complicity in the 2001 killing of ethnic Albanian civilians in
Ljuboten.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on gender,
race, disability, religion, or national, social or political
affiliation; however, societal discrimination persisted against ethnic
minorities, particularly Roma, and the protection of women's rights
remained a problem.
Women.--Domestic and other violence against women was a persistent
and common problem; one survey, conducted by a local NGO working on
family violence issues, found that 56 percent of women claimed to have
been a victim of psychological domestic violence, and 18 percent of
women claimed to be victims of physical domestic violence.
Cultural norms, including victims' concern over possible shame to
the family, discouraged the reporting of violence against women, and
victims of domestic violence filed criminal charges only rarely.
Although the law specifically criminalizes domestic violence and
prescribes substantial punishments for violators, the law was rarely
applied in practice. While the law provides for civil restraining
orders to protect victims of domestic violence, there were reports that
police officers were unaware of provisions of the law that allow them
to act ex officio to protect victims of family violence, and police
often did not respond to allegations of domestic violence. The
Government did not require training for police, prosecutors, or judges;
however, international organizations provided training on combating
domestic violence to a number of law enforcement officials.
The Government operated six crisis centers for women at risk with
limited capacities and funded a national NGO-operated hotline for
victims of domestic violence in Skopje. Local NGOs working against
domestic violence relied to a large extent on international donor
assistance. Public concern about violence against women was not
generally evident in the media, although some women's groups worked to
raise awareness of the issue.
While the law specifically prohibits rape, including spousal rape,
conviction requires proof of both penetration and active resistance by
the victim. These requirements are more stringent than for other
violent crimes. The penalties for rape or forcible sexual assault range
from one to 15 years' imprisonment. Some rape cases were tried during
the year. As with domestic violence, police and judicial officials were
reluctant to prosecute spousal rape, and many victims did not come
forward due to social stigma.
Although prostitution is illegal, the law was not always enforced.
Some foreign women accused of prostituting themselves were deported;
some men were prosecuted for ``mediating'' in prostitution.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment of women in the workplace was a problem,
particularly in the private sector. Although the law does not
specifically address sexual harassment, it could be prosecuted as a
criminal act under antidiscrimination legislation; however, this did
not occur in practice. Although women remained underrepresented in the
higher levels of the Government and the private sector, there were
several prominent professional women in the public sector, including a
female deputy prime minister, interior minister, and economy minister.
Women from parts of the ethnic Albanian community did not have
equal opportunities for employment and education due to traditional and
religious restrictions on their schooling and participation in society.
In some ethnic Albanian communities, women were disenfranchised by the
practice of men voting on behalf of female family members (see section
3). The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
during the year expressed concern over the ``vulnerable and
marginalized situation'' of rural and ethnic minority women, in
particular Romani and Albanian women.
The Office of Gender Equality in the Ministry of Labor and Social
Policy was responsible for ensuring the legal rights of women. The Law
on Equality, implemented in May, established gender commissions at the
municipal council level. During the year a gender equality commission
established by the parliament began revising laws to ensure equal
protection for all genders.
Although the law requires men and women to be paid equally for
equivalent work, wage discrimination against women remained pervasive,
particularly in the private sector. While the law prohibits dismissal
of women on maternity leave, discrimination against pregnant women
continued in practice.
Among other activities, women's advocacy groups worked to combat
domestic violence through awareness-raising campaigns, increase women's
political involvement by training female candidates for local elected
office, improve women's access to legal services, and promote the
establishment of small and medium enterprises owned by females.
Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare
of children but provided only limited resources to this end. The
Ombudsman's Office had a special unit for children that investigated
complaints of violations of children's rights. The Ministry of Labor
and Social Policy is responsible for children's welfare.
Education is mandatory through the eighth grade or to the age of
16; however, some children did not enter the educational system at all.
The Ministry of Education reported that 95 percent of children were
enrolled in school; no official data was available on school attendance
or the number of children who did not have access to education. Primary
and secondary education was free; however, students had to provide
their own books and other materials.
Almost 90 percent of the children who finished primary school
continued to secondary school; however, at both the primary and
secondary levels, girls in some ethnic Albanian communities did not
attend school. Approximately half of ethnic minority students did not
go on to high school due to lack of classes in minority languages at
the secondary level and to the conviction of many rural, ethnic
Albanian families that girls should be withdrawn from school at age 14.
According to Romani community leaders, up to 10 percent of Romani
children never enrolled in school. Of those who did enroll, 50 percent
dropped out by the fifth grade and only 35 to 40 percent finished the
eighth grade.
As in previous years, poor physical conditions of schools and
insufficient classroom space were common complaints, particularly in
the predominantly ethnic Albanian western parts of the country.
Students sometimes protested these conditions by refusing to attend
school. Boys and girls generally had equal access to education,
although there were instances of discrimination against girls in
educational institutions in some ethnic Albanian areas.
Medical care for children was generally adequate but was hampered
by the generally difficult economic circumstances of the country and by
the weak national health system.
Child abuse was a problem in some areas. During the year, according
to Ministry of Interior statistics, there were 56 reported cases of
sexual abuse against children, including 53 cases of sexual assault
against a child, two cases of showing pornography to minors, and one
case of incest with a minor. The Centers for Social Work of the
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Department for Juvenile
Delinquency of the Ministry of Interior are responsible for addressing
child abuse. NGOs are also active in this area.
Child marriage occurred with some frequency in the Romani community
and less frequently in the ethnic Albanian community. It was difficult
to estimate the extent of underage marriage in the Romani community
because such marriages frequently were not registered. A survey of 960
Romani women in 2005 by a local NGO found that 54 percent had given
birth to their first child by the age of 18, while 3 percent had given
birth between the ages of 12 and 14.
Girls were sometimes trafficked for sexual exploitation (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Romani adults often organized their children into groups and made
them beg for money at busy intersections, street corners, and in
restaurants and cafes (see section 6.d.).
According to some estimates, there were between 500 and 1,000
street children in the country, most of whom were Roma. With
international support, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy operated
a day center for street children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through,
and to a lesser degree, from and within the country.
While the country remained primarily a transit and destination
point for trafficking, officials and others acknowledged that it was a
point of origin for an undetermined number of trafficking victims. The
Government and NGOs reported a downward trend in transborder human
trafficking. The Government also reported a downward trend in internal
human trafficking; however, NGOs and the international community
reported an increase in cases of internal trafficking. Since there was
no central database for trafficking victim information, NGOs and
government officials often disagreed on who was a trafficking victim,
resulting in disputed or generally unreliable statistical data. The
National Commission for Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in
Persons launched a new Web site on December 28 to serve as a medium for
sharing and comparing data on trafficking.
Local NGOs estimated that 100 to 150 women were trafficked to or
through the country during the year, primarily for sexual exploitation.
Local NGOs reported an increase in the number of victims trafficked for
labor exploitation, but there were no specific data due to the lack of
information from the Ministry of Labor.
Government data provided on victims of trafficking did not identify
the age of the victims; however, local NGOs estimated that 20 percent
of victims were minors. There were reports that female minors were
recruited by some massage parlor owners to perform sexual services for
clients. During the year authorities shut down one such massage parlor,
arrested the owner, and charged him with ``mediation in prostitution.''
Trafficked women were forced to work in prostitution, often under
the guise of dancers, hostesses, or waitresses in local clubs. Police
raids and testimony by victims confirmed that a small number of
trafficking victims were subjected to threats, violence, physical and
psychological abuse, and seizure of documents. NGOs and international
community representatives reported that an increasing number of victims
were paid a small amount of money for services and were granted limited
freedom of movement to ensure they did not identify themselves as
victims if questioned by the police.
An analysis conducted by the Ministry of Labor found that young,
uneducated women and children from the eastern rural areas of the
country were at the highest risk of becoming victims of internal
trafficking.
The majority of internal trafficking victims were trafficked by a
member of their family or a friend. There were fewer reports of
traffickers in the country who were linked to regional trafficking-in-
persons networks. The networks typically began in the country of
origin, extended through the country, and ended in destination
countries in Western Europe.
It is a criminal offense to traffic persons for sexual
exploitation, forced labor or servitude, slavery, or a similar
relationship. The law provides for a minimum sentence of four years for
most trafficking crimes and a minimum of six months for the destruction
of identification documents of trafficked persons. Persons convicted of
organizing human trafficking receive a mandatory minimum prison term of
eight years and one to 10 years for complicity in the crime of human
trafficking. The law provides for a minimum six-month sentence for
persons who wittingly use, or enable another person to use, sexual
services from a trafficked person. The mandatory minimum sentence for
trafficking in children or for knowingly using trafficked children and
juveniles for sexual exploitation is eight years.
During the year at least 30 trafficking-related cases were
prosecuted, 100 individuals were indicted, and 56 persons were
convicted and sentenced for trafficking. There were a number of high-
profile cases against traffickers completed or ongoing. On July 18, a
case in Kumanovo trial court ended with all seven defendants convicted
on trafficking charges and sentenced to prison terms of five to seven
years. At year's end an appeal in this case was pending.
On November 14, a Skopje trial court convicted all 28 defendants
for trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants in the country's
largest-ever trafficking in persons case, which began in February.
Three law enforcement officers who worked at the border crossing with
Greece were among the individuals convicted. The defendants received
prison sentences of five to 13 years, and their property was seized.
On November 27, the Skopje trial court found 21 defendants guilty
of organizing a group for trafficking and smuggling of migrants. The
defendants received prison sentences ranging from three to 12 years in
prison.
The country's most notorious convicted trafficker, Dilaver Bojku
Leku, remained in a Skopje prison after being sentenced in 2004 for
``mediation in prostitution.'' Since he was in an ``open regime''
facility with liberal release policies, international observers were
concerned that Bojku would be able to intimidate witnesses during his
periods of authorized leave from prison.
For the second consecutive year there were no developments in the
2004 case involving police complicity in trafficking in Gostivar, which
resulted in the suspension from duty of an officer pending his trial on
criminal charges for misuse of official position and trafficking in
persons. While pretrial procedures had concluded, a hearing had not
been scheduled by year's end. Two police officers who testified on
behalf of trafficker Dilaver Bojku Leku were under investigation for
possible complicity in trafficking.
In March the Government adopted a national action plan and strategy
to combat trafficking. The two documents called for increased training,
programs for awareness and prevention, and for establishment of a
national coordinator for trafficking. By year's end many of the
provisions in the action plan had yet to be implemented. Once
established, the national coordinator's office will be the chief body
responsible for coordinating government efforts to combat trafficking.
At year's end the National Commission for Prevention and Suppression of
Trafficking in Persons continued to serve this function. The commission
is an interministerial effort with representatives from the ministries
of interior, justice, labor and social policy, education, and foreign
affairs. However, at year's end only some ministries had designated
representatives, and the commission had not met for over six months.
The Ministry of Interior detailed several law enforcement personnel to
work full time in its main trafficking unit in Skopje. It also deployed
police officers to combat human trafficking on a local level. The
Government routinely cooperated with neighboring countries' national
organizations, most notably those in the Southeast European Cooperation
Initiative and the Transnational Referral Mechanism project
administered by the International Centre for Migration Policy
Development.
During the year the International Organization for Migration
operated a transit center that assisted 17 victims of trafficking who
had crossed international borders. The shelter provides assistance and
housing throughout the trial process and until victims can be
repatriated to their countries of origin. Four officers from the
Ministry of Interior were assigned to the shelter to provide protection
to victims. In addition, a local NGO operated a shelter that assisted
14 victims of internal trafficking, who had been referred to the
shelter by the National Referral Mechanism of the Ministry of Labor.
All victims of trafficking identified in the country are entitled to
housing and medical assistance.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination on the
basis of disability; however, there was discrimination against persons
with disabilities in employment, education, access to health care, and
in the provisions of other state services. There are no laws or
regulations requiring buildings to be made accessible to persons with
disabilities, and many public buildings remained inaccessible for
persons with physical disabilities.
Advocates stated that employers were reluctant to hire persons with
disabilities and that the difficulty of accessing educational and other
opportunities prevented them from fully integrating into society.
The interparty parliamentary lobby group for the rights of persons
with special needs, in cooperation with NGOs, worked to develop and
promote comprehensive legislation promoting the rights of persons with
disabilities. The group focused on changes to laws on urban planning
and construction.
The Ministry for Labor and Social Policy was responsible for the
integration of persons with disabilities into economic life and the
payment of benefits. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) sponsored several
projects aimed at addressing the needs of children with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2002 census,
the population was 64.2 percent ethnic Macedonian; 25.2 percent ethnic
Albanian; 3.9 percent ethnic Turkish; 2.7 percent Roma; 1.8 percent
ethnic Serb; 0.8 percent Bosniak; and 0.5 percent Vlach.
There were credible reports of police violence against Roma,
including beatings during arrest and while in detention (see section
1.c.), as well as incidents of societal violence during the year.
While interethnic relations remained strained, a survey conducted
in October 2005 found that 86 percent of ethnic Albanians hold a
favorable opinion of ethnic Macedonians, an increase of 17 percentage
points from the previous survey conducted in May 2005. There was a
decrease, however, in the percentage of ethnic Macedonians who held a
favorable opinion of ethnic Albanians during the same period, from 57
to 48 percent.
Unlike in previous years, the annual commemoration of the
destruction of Motel Brioni in the village of Celopek in 2001 was not
marred by interethnic violence. Motel Brioni, located in the
predominately ethnic Albanian village of Celopek, and owned by ethnic
Macedonians, was the site of the killing of two ethnic Macedonians
during the 2001 conflict. The motel was destroyed at the end of the
conflict, and annual commemoration events of the killings had been an
interethnic flash point since 2001.
Although interethnic tension in some schools remained a problem,
serious disputes between parents and school authorities over ethnic
issues decreased for the second consecutive year. Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports of ethnically motivated fights between
students at the high school in Struga. Altercations between ethnic
Macedonian and ethnic Albanian students had been common in the town
since 2003.
In November 2005 the NGO European Roma Rights Center reported that
a Romani boy was beaten after school in Tetovo in a confrontation with
ethnic Albanian students. As of March, ERRC reported that the boy had
not returned to school out of fear and that an investigation into the
incident was still ongoing.
Students from different ethnic groups sometimes studied in separate
shifts or separate facilities, either due to use of different languages
of instruction or at their parents' request.
Ethnic Albanians continued to complain of widespread official
discrimination. They were concerned about the slow progress in reaching
what they considered to be equitable representation in government
ministries, while ethnic Macedonians often claimed that they were
targeted for downsizing regardless of job performance. Some ethnic
Albanians claimed they were effectively disenfranchised by
discrimination in citizenship decisions.
Although steady progress was made, and recruitment efforts were in
place, ethnic Albanians remained underrepresented in the military and
police.
The law establishes that languages of ethnic minorities must be
recognized as additional official languages in areas where those
minorities comprise at least 20 percent of the population. In those
areas citizens had the right to communicate with local offices of the
central government in the language of the minority group and to receive
responses and personal documents in the same language; however, this
did not always occur in practice. Under the law, those accused of
crimes have the right to translation at state expense of all relevant
judicial proceedings and documents; this did not always occur in
practice.
The law provides for primary and secondary education in the
languages of the ethnic minorities, and primary education was available
in Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, and Serbian. The number of ethnic
minority students who received secondary education in their native
languages continued to increase; however, ethnic Albanians complained
that distribution of public educational resources was not proportional
to ethnic groups' representation within the general population.
Ethnic minorities remained underrepresented at the university
level, although there was progress in increasing the number of minority
students in recent years due in part to the accreditation of
universities that offer Albanian, English, or multilingual instruction.
Ethnic Turks also complained of governmental, societal, and
cultural discrimination. Their main concerns centered on the slow
progress in achieving equitable representation in government
institutions, the absence of Turkish majority municipalities in the
2004 municipal redistricting, and a lack of Turkish-language education
and media.
Roma complained of widespread ethnic discrimination. NGOs and
international experts reported that Roma were often denied job
opportunities, access to public welfare funds, and entrance to
establishments such as restaurants and cafes.
Roma had the highest rate of unemployment and the lowest personal
and family incomes, were the least educated, and had the highest
mortality rates of any ethnic group in the country. The Government
provided few social services to Roma despite the belief that
unemployment among the Romani population was above 70 percent. In some
instances, Romani parents resisted sending their children to school due
to their inability to pay for books and other fees, or because they
preferred for their children to work, either at home or on the streets.
At year's end there were 1,924 Romani refugees remaining in the
country from the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. These Roma, many of whom
settled in Skopje, were often targets of harassment and verbal abuse.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There is no general
antidiscrimination law that specifies sexual orientation as a protected
class, however, the labor law does prohibit discrimination based on
sexual orientation. A local NGO representing the rights of homosexuals
reported incidents of societal prejudice against homosexuals, including
harassment or discrimination by employers and state officials. During
the year this NGO began a project to document human rights violations
based on sexual orientation, as it believed abuses were underreported.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form and join unions, and workers did so in practice; however, at times
the Government interfered with union activity.
While the law provides that independent unions may freely register
with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, some unions reported
encountering obstacles, particularly delays in the registration
process. Without registration a union cannot operate legally. More than
50 percent of the legal workforce was unionized, and unions were
particularly well represented in the public sector.
Unions are not required to belong to the Confederation of Trade
Unions of Macedonia (SSM), which in the past maintained close ties with
government officials. Several new unions formed outside of the SSM in
recent years, including unions of journalists, police officers, and
farmers.
In July 2005 the largest SSM branch union, the Union of Education,
Science, and Culture (SONK), severed ties with SSM and became
independent. The Government initially broke off negotiations with SONK
after it became independent; however, negotiations later resumed and a
wage agreement was signed in March. In December 2005 the SONK and
several other unions that were formerly members of SSM formed a new,
independent union federation, the Confederation of Free Unions (KCC).
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, antiunion
discrimination existed in practice, and there were cases of private
companies firing workers who participated in union activities. The
companies' justifications for firing the workers were unrelated to
their union activities; however, the employees claimed their union
activities were the cause of their dismissal. Because of the delays in
the court system, it could take a worker two to three years to regain
employment through the courts.
Employers were rumored at times to have interfered in the internal
affairs of unions, allegedly by dominating union election campaigns or
running their own candidates in union elections.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, the
Government did not always actively enforce these laws in practice. The
law protects the right of employees to bargain collectively, and most
branch and local unions had collective bargaining agreements. All
legally employed workers are covered by one of two collective
bargaining agreements, one for public sector employees and the other
for private sector employees. While collective bargaining took place,
employees had very little practical negotiating leverage due to the
country's weak economic environment, and many collective bargaining
agreements failed to keep pace with changes in the environment and
workplace.
The SSM negotiated collective bargaining agreement with the
Government and an employers' association covering private sector
workers, which established minimum standards for working conditions.
The other union federation, KCC, contested the right of SSM to
negotiate such contracts on its own, and this dispute was not settled
by year's end. In the private sector, branch unions negotiated at the
national level with the respective chambers of commerce, and local
unions negotiated with individual companies. Collective agreements in
the public sector were negotiated between branch unions and the
respective ministries.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. The law allows members of the military and
police to strike, but only if they adhere to restrictive guidelines and
continue to perform essential services. However, the law allows private
employers to ``exclude'' or temporarily release up to 2 percent of a
company's workers during a strike if the company considers these
workers to be potentially violent or disruptive. The released workers
would be rehired after the strike. The unions maintained that this
provision allows employers to exclude union leaders from negotiations
during a strike.
There is one export processing zone in the country, but it was not
operational during the year.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
While there are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation
in the workplace, including a prohibition of forced or compulsory
labor, government enforcement was uneven. The law stipulates a prison
sentence of at least eight years for anyone who buys, sells, keeps, or
takes children or minors for the purpose of exploitation.
The minimum age for employment is 15 years. The law prohibits
employing minors under the age of 18 in work that is detrimental to
their physical or psychological health and morality. The law also
prohibits minors under the age of 18 from working nights or more than
40 hours per week.
There were no official reports of child labor during the year;
however, there was evidence that child labor was used in the gray
economy, including for begging on the street and selling cigarettes and
other small items at open markets, in the streets, and in bars or
restaurants, sometimes at night. The children involved in these
activities were primarily Roma and most often worked for their parents.
Officials did not punish such violations, and children remained
vulnerable to exploitation. A UNICEF-funded report published in 2005
found that approximately 500 children worked in such activities.
Minors were sometimes trafficked for sexual exploitation (see
section 5).
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for
enforcing laws regulating the employment of children. Government
efforts to eliminate child labor abuse have been largely ineffective,
and while the necessary laws are in place, there has been little
practical implementation of the policy and laws.
During the year the Government funded a center in Skopje that
provided education, medical, and psychological services to children who
work on the street. The Government also worked with UNICEF on
developing public awareness campaigns on child labor and trafficking of
minors. International donors supported programs to prevent children
from working on the street and to increase school enrollment of
children at risk for such work.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The country does not have a
national minimum wage established by law. The average monthly wage
according to official statistics was approximately $260 (12,464 denars)
and did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. The Government statistics office estimated that 29.6 percent of
the population lived below the poverty line.
The law establishes a 40-hour workweek with a minimum 24-hour rest
period and vacation and sick leave benefits. Employees cannot legally
work more than 10 hours of overtime per week, 20 hours per month, or
190 hours per year. According to the collective agreement between the
Government and the SSM, employees have a right to overtime pay of 135
percent of regular pay. In addition, employees who work more than 150
hours of overtime per year are entitled to a bonus of one month of
salary. However, high unemployment and difficult economic conditions
led many employees to accept work that did not comply with the law. In
particular, small retail businesses often required employees to work
well beyond the legal limits.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy did not strictly enforce
laws and regulations on worker safety. While workers have the legal
right to remove themselves from situations that endanger their health
or safety without jeopardy to their future employment, employers did
not always respect this right in practice.
__________
MALTA
Malta is a constitutional republic and parliamentary democracy with
a population of approximately 400,000. President Edward Fenech Adami is
the chief of state and is appointed by the unicameral parliament. The
President appoints as prime minister the leader of the party that gains
a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections. The most recent
general elections in 2003 were free and fair, and the Nationalist Party
remained in power. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens. The law and judiciary provide effective means of addressing
individual instances of abuse. There were reports that persons were
trafficked to the country.
During the year the Government adopted a number of new laws to
protect human rights; for example, following an increase in assault and
harassment incidents thought to be racially motivated, the Government
amended the law to introduce heavier penalties for crimes related to
racial or religious hatred. The Government also approved a domestic
violence law to expand the legal prohibition of domestic violence.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. The Council of Europe's
Committee for the Prevention of Torture also conducted regular visits.
The most recent ad hoc visit was in 2005.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
respected these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The country has a
single police department that maintains internal security with backup
support from the armed forces. The appointed commissioner who commands
the police is under the supervision of the civilian minister of justice
and home affairs. The police force includes a number of special squads
and the Criminal Investigation Department. The unified armed forces are
responsible for defense, with an emphasis on protecting the country's
territorial waters and airspace. The commander of the armed forces is
under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister. There was one
reported case of a senior police official who was arraigned on bribery
charges in connection with the organization of an illegal, clandestine
lotto. The official resigned from the police corps. He was arraigned
and placed under house arrest against a deposit of $2,994 (1,000 lira)
at the court registry and a personal guarantee of $14,970 (5,000 lira).
The case was ongoing at year's end.
There were no reported problems related to impunity within the
police force. A Police Board made up of independent members from
outside the police force and presided over by a former judge
investigates any allegations of police abuse, and appropriate
disciplinary action was taken when necessary. Training for members of
the police force was ongoing. New recruits are trained at the police
academy and current members regularly undergo refresher courses. There
were no reported instances where police failed to prevent or to respond
to societal violence.
Arrest and Detention.--An arrest warrant, issued by a magistrate,
is generally required before the police may detain a person for
questioning on the basis of reasonable suspicion. The constitution
provides that, within 48 hours of detention, police must either release
a suspect or file charges and in all cases must inform detainees of the
grounds of suspicion for their arrest. These requirements were
respected in practice. During the 48-hour period after detention,
arrested persons do not have the right to legal counsel or to meetings
with family members. Pretrial detainees are granted access to counsel.
Once charged, a person may select a lawyer; otherwise the court
appoints a lawyer at its expense. Family members may visit detainees
once charges are filed. There were no reports of problems or abuse of
prisoners during the 48-hour detention period. Bail normally was
granted on a case-by-case basis.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, interprets
the constitution and has original jurisdiction in cases involving
appellate jurisdiction and in cases concerning human rights violations.
The Civil Court of Appeal hears appeals from the civil court, court of
magistrates, and special tribunals. The Court of Criminal Appeal hears
appeals from the court of magistrates and the juvenile court.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair public jury trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced
this right. Defendants have the right to counsel of their choice or, if
they cannot afford counsel, to court-appointed counsel at public
expense. Defendants and their lawyers have access to government-held
evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants may confront witnesses and
present evidence; defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have
the right to appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution provides
for an independent and impartial court for the determination of civil
rights or obligations, and also provides for a remedy in the case of
damages for, or cessation of, a human rights violation. Excess in the
case of a breach of human rights is also covered under the European
Convention Act, which incorporates the European Convention of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Government generally respected
these rights.
The Code of Organization and Civil Procedure was amended during the
year to ensure enhanced efficiency in the execution of judgments. The
law was coming into force gradually, a mechanism that is permissible in
the legal system.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice;
violations were subject to effective legal sanctions.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. The law prohibits foreign financial
support, speakers, equipment, or other materials in politics during the
period leading up to elections, although this provision rarely has been
used. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning
democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of
the press.
In 2004 the broadcasting authority, an independent statutory body
that is responsible for television and radio broadcasting, fined a
television station for broadcasting an interview with an independent
candidate for the European Parliament on the grounds that his
statements could have incited racial hatred. The station sought
judicial review of the authority's decision, and the case was still
ongoing at year's end.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. The international media operated freely.
There were two cases of journalists' homes being targeted for arson
after they had published articles advocating tolerance and human rights
for migrants and refugees (see section 2.d.).
On May 3, the front door of the editor to the Malta Today was set
on fire after he wrote an editorial on immigration and racism. A police
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
On May 13, the home of a journalist with the Malta Independent was
set on fire; gasoline and broken glass were spread across the road in
front of the house. This attack followed the publication of the
journalist's articles on immigration and racism. A police investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail.
The use of the Internet grew significantly over the past few years
with broadband connectivity gaining popularity over narrowband
connections. The use of the Internet was widespread in all sectors of
society. Approximately 50 percent of households and 90 percent of
schools (state, church, and private) had Internet access. Some three
dozen Internet cafes, as well as a handful of blogs operated freely and
without restriction.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The constitution establishes Roman Catholicism as the state
religion; however, numerous non-Catholic religious groups, including an
Islamic community, various Protestant denominations, and a small Jewish
community, practiced their faiths freely and were not required to
register with the Government.
The Government and the Catholic Church participated in a foundation
that finances Catholic schools. While religious instruction in
Catholicism was available in all public schools, the law provides that
a student may opt out of this instruction if the student or a guardian
objects. A Muslim cemetery that was started in 2005 was near to
completion at year's end.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There was an arson attack
against the cars of members of the Jesuit community. The attack was
believed to be linked to the community's advocacy for migrants and
refugees rather than religious beliefs (see section 2.d.).
There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts during the year. The
Jewish community is composed of about 120 persons.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
There were no reports of government restrictions on emigration or
prohibition against the return of citizens who have left the country.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
From January to October, the Government also provided temporary
protection to approximately 416 persons who appeared not to qualify as
refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Authorities confined asylum seekers for up to 18 months while their
cases including appeals were processed.
Authorities placed children, pregnant women, elderly immigrants,
and parents with infants in so-called open centers where they were free
to move about shortly after their arrival in the country. The armed
forces and police are responsible for persons in detention, while the
Ministry for Family and Social Solidarity has responsibility for the
welfare and accommodation of persons released from detention centers.
Illegal immigrants awaiting a decision on their cases occasionally
protested their detention or attempted to escape from detention
centers.
In March approximately 370 illegal immigrants broke out of a closed
detention center before being captured and returned. The breakout
resulted in the hospitalization of a number of immigrants and police
officers. Fourteen immigrants attempted to leave for Sicily by boat;
the boat capsized leaving one dead and nine missing. A Sudanese man
residing in the country and a number of foreigners were detained by the
police for organizing the escape. The case was ongoing at year's end.
On June 24, in a separate incident, Algerian national Khaled Masoud
was jailed after being found guilty of transporting fifteen immigrants
to the country en route to Sicily. During the court hearing, witnesses
testified that they had paid almost $1,000 for the trip.
There were also reports issued by the European Union and the UNHCR
criticizing the length of time illegal immigrants were confined in
closed detention centers and the conditions within the centers.
Reported problems included crowded facilities, the lack of any
meaningful activities within the centers, and the lack of access to
legal resources.
The Government excluded asylum seekers from the refugee status
determination process if it deemed them to be nationals of a safe
country of origin. Asylum seekers who claim to be nationals or citizens
of a country of origin which is listed as safe in the country's laws
are informed by the immigration police that their application for
refugee status is inadmissible. However, such asylum seekers are also
informed by the immigration police that they may apply to the refugee
commissioner for a reconsideration of their request for refugee status.
In all such cases, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner calls the
applicants for a full interview and examination of their claims before
proceeding to the determination of their application.
There were arson attacks against property of advocates, an attorney
for migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and a journalist and an editor
who published articles on the immigration situation. These incidents
received widespread condemnation and were believed to be carried out by
a small group for the purpose of intimidation, not to cause actual
harm.
On March 13, unknown persons burned seven cars belonging to members
of the Jesuit community during the night. These attacks were carried
out a few days before the release of the National Report on Racism and
Xenophobia, which was drawn up by the Jesuit Center for Faith and
Justice in Malta, and the European Monitoring Center on Racism and
Xenophobia by the European Racism and Xenophobia Information Network.
The case was ongoing at year's end. Following this incident, prominence
was also given to an incident in November 2005, when two cars belonging
to members of the community were burned.
On April 11, unknown persons destroyed the car of a lawyer with the
Jesuit Refugee Service, a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) for
migrants. No charges were filed, and the case was ongoing at year's
end.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The most recent general
elections in 2003 were free and fair.
There were six women in the 65-seat parliament. There were two
women in the 14-member cabinet of ministers. Approximately 13 percent
of senior government officials were women, and two women held
ambassadorial rank; one was a judge at the Court of the First Instance
of the European Communities, while the other held the rank of a
permanent secretary, the most senior civil servant position within a
ministry. Two women were appointed judges, one was appointed
magistrate, two were appointed to superintendent positions within the
police force, and one was appointed to head the Office of the Prime
Minister's defense section.
There were no members of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption during the year. There was a report of a senior
police officer who was charged with receiving protection money in the
organization of a clandestine lotto (see section 1.d.).
The country does not have laws providing general access to
government law. There are laws which provide access for the press and
the public to certain government-held information. The Government
retained discretion to release information that does not fall under any
of these sector-specific laws. The Government generally provided access
to such information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitudes Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, gender,
disability, language, or social status, and the Government generally
effectively enforced this prohibition. There were incidents of child
abuse and trafficking in persons.
Women.--Between January and August the police domestic violence
unit received 194 reports of domestic violence, compared with 162
reports during the same time period in 2005. The law prohibits domestic
violence, including against women, and the Government effectively
enforced it. Penalties ranged from three months to 20 years
imprisonment.
A special police unit and several voluntary organizations provided
support to victims of domestic violence. There is a hotline to assist
victims of abuse through counseling and referrals to shelters. The
Government provided support to victims of domestic violence through the
department of welfare. A government-supported shelter for women and
children was in operation throughout the year; and the Government also
provided financial support to a shelter operated by the Catholic
Church. In addition, the Government maintained an emergency fund and
subsidized other shelters. Some NGOs and victims' assistance advocates
asserted that domestic violence is underreported, primarily because of
societal attitudes and the attitude of law enforcement and medical
service providers. The NGOs reported that women were afraid to report
the crime because they feared that they would not be believed or
protected.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes. Rape;
spousal rape; and violent, indecent assault carry sentences of up to 10
years' imprisonment.
The law prohibits prostitution, and the Government effectively
enforced it. The law provides for sentences of between several months
and two years' imprisonment. From January to August, 203 persons were
arraigned and there were a number of prosecutions during the year.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was unlawful and is punishable by a $2,800 (1,000
lira) fine, six months' imprisonment, or both. The Government
effectively enforced the law.
Women enjoy the same legal rights as men, including rights under
family law, property law, and in the judicial system. Redress in the
courts for sexual discrimination was available. The Ministry for the
Family and Social Solidarity and the National Commission for the
Promotion of Equality for Men and Women were responsible for gender
equality issues. The commission's program focused on broader
integration of women into society. It advised the Government on the
implementation of policies in favor of equality of the sexes.
Although women constituted a growing portion of the higher
education graduates and the work force, they were underrepresented in
management and generally earned less than their male counterparts. The
National Council of Women of Malta reported ``extremely low'' female
representation in the labor force. In the second quarter of the year,
34.5 percent of women between 15 and 65 years of age were employed, and
the female unemployment rate was 10.3 percent, compared with an
unemployment rate for males of 6.5 percent.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. It provided free, compulsory, and universal
education through age 16. During the year approximately 95 percent of
school-age children attended school and 70 percent went on to post-
secondary education. There were no apparent differences in the access
of girls and boys to education.
The Government provided universal free health care to all citizens,
and boys and girls had equal access to health care.
In 2005 the Child Protection Services Section of the National
Social Welfare Service agency dealt with 995 cases of child abuse.
Prison sentences were handed down in a number of cases involving sexual
abuse of minors. A number of sources consistently claimed that
authorities did not pursue cases of alleged sexual abuse of children by
Catholic clerics unless a parent or adult filed a formal complaint, but
rather allowed the church to handle the matter internally. The same
sources reported that if a parent or victim filed a complaint against a
cleric, the police investigated it thoroughly and followed the same
judicial process as with other such complaints. There was at least one
case involving a cleric pending at year's end.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to the
country.
The country was a destination for persons, primarily from Ukraine,
Russia, the Czech Republic, and Romania, trafficked for prostitution.
In 2004 reliable law enforcement sources reported that women were
recruited for prostitution from Eastern European countries and
essentially ``purchased'' by men, sometimes pimps intent on exploiting
them for commercial sex or by individuals for exploitative sex only
with the purchaser. These women were often ``sold'' to other pimps or
individuals, who then continued the cycle; it was typical for a woman
to be ``sold'' every three months under these schemes. The victims of
this type of sexual exploitation typically arrived in the country
legally on a tourist visa and often with the understanding that they
would be employed in the sex trade. Once they arrived in the country,
it was not known whether these victims cooperated with the ``purchasing
schemes'' or were subjected to coercion or force to ensure that they
remained in this trade.
Concerted efforts in 2004 to disrupt these trafficking rings
prompted traffickers to devise new schemes for trafficking women to the
country for prostitution. Women were generally recruited in their
country of origin by contacts from their respective country who resided
in Malta. Jobs were offered and assistance was given in visa and travel
arrangements. Once recruited, women arrived in the country legally
either without a visa, if they were EU nationals, or on a tourist visa,
student visa, or special ``dancer's visa'' if they were from another
country. Police sources reported that brothel managers confiscated
passports and intimidated foreign national women to keep them engaged
in prostitution. Since the women involved had arrived and departed
legally, police found it difficult to detect and interdict this new
trafficking scheme.
Additional sources claimed that immigration authorities were aware
of the possibility of trafficking from certain countries and screened
suspicious persons who attempted to enter the country. Local law
enforcement authorities generally believed that women who traveled to
the country to provide sexual services were willing participants; that
they willingly provided these services for the clients recruited by
pimps; that they profited from these activities; and that they were not
coerced, forced, or compelled to continue.
The criminal code prohibits trafficking and states that the
punishment for trafficking of a person of age for the purpose of
exploitation is from two to nine years. The punishment increases if any
of the offenses are accompanied by grievous bodily harm, generate over
$15,000 (5,000 lira), or are organized with a criminal network. Persons
can be charged if the offence took place within the country, or if the
person is a national or permanent resident. The law states that a
person who forces by violence, threat, or deceit, another person over
the age of 21 to leave the country for the purpose of prostitution can
be imprisoned for up to two years. Forcing a person under 21 under the
same scenario is punishable by up to four years. During the year the
act was amended to prohibit the procurement of persons from abroad for
the purpose of prostitution.
Authorities made no arrests during the year for trafficking or
trafficking-related offenses; however, an investigation was ongoing at
year's end in the case of a police officer involved with trafficking-
related corruption in 2004.
The Government sometimes cooperated with other governments in the
investigation of trafficking. A police constable coordinated the
enforcement of the antitrafficking law.
Authorities generally did not condone or facilitate trafficking in
persons. In 2005 authorities arrested and convicted a former constable
and a police officer for trafficking in human beings, living off the
earnings of prostitution, and keeping a brothel. The victims were an
undisclosed number of Russian women. At year's end, one of the two men
was reportedly free on bail pending appeal of his conviction. Further
information on the case was not available.
Authorities treated victims of trafficking as a culpable part of
the criminal enterprise. The Government encouraged victims to assist in
the investigation and prosecution of traffickers and provided
protection of witnesses; however, victims who had been arrested
generally refused to provide testimony or would testify only in closed
hearings. Once the victims provided evidence, they were typically
deported to their country of origin.
The Government did not provide for social services to victims of
trafficking. Law enforcement authorities did not have a screening or
referral process in place for victims of trafficking; however, they
occasionally referred victims to the array of social and housing
services available to victims of domestic violence.
The Government did not offer programs or education for the
prevention of trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. The law mandates
access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice. Through June the
National Commission for Persons with Disability (NCPD), the agency
responsible for enforcement of this law, continued work on 113
complaints of discrimination against persons with disabilities that
were pending from previous years. Since October 2005 the NCPD opened
investigations on 38 new cases. A total of 48 cases were satisfactorily
concluded.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--A few thousand persons of Arab,
African, and Eastern European origin live in the country. There
continued to be isolated reports that owners of some bars and discos
periodically discouraged or prohibited darker-skinned persons,
particularly of African or Arab origin, from entering their
establishments. There were no reports of charges being pressed by the
alleged victims.
The law criminalizes racial hatred. The Government amended the
Criminal Code to introduce harsher penalties for racial or religiously
motivated offenses. During the year two persons were charged with two
new separate cases of inciting racial hatred. Their trials as well as
three cases from 2005 were ongoing at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The constitution provides for workers
to form and to join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and workers did so in
practice. Noncivilian military and police personnel are not allowed to
join a union. Approximately 65 percent of the work force was unionized.
Although all unions were nominally independent of political parties,
the largest, the General Workers' Union, generally was regarded as
having close informal ties with the Labor Party.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining, and it was freely practiced. Workers, except
non-civilian military and police personnel, have the right to strike,
and they exercised this right by conducting legal strikes. There are no
special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in the country's one
export processing zone.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution
prohibits forced labor or compulsory labor and the Government generally
enforced it; however, there were reports that such practices occurred
(see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, and the Government effectively implemented them in
practice. The law prohibits the employment of children younger than age
16. The Employment Training Corporation, a government entity under the
Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment, which is responsible for
labor and employment issues generally enforced the law effectively but
allowed summer employment of underage youth in businesses operated by
their families; some underage children were employed as domestics,
restaurant kitchen help, or vendors.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national weekly minimum wage
of approximately $172 (57.88 lira) for adults combined with an annual
mandatory bonus of approximately $620 (214 lira) and a $350 (117 lira)
annual cost of living increase to all employees to reflect inflation
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Citizens
were also entitled to additional government subsidies for housing,
health care, and education.
The standard workweek was 40 hours, but in some trades it was 43 or
45 hours. Government regulations provide for a daily rest period, which
is normally one hour, and one day of rest per week. Premium pay was
required for overtime. Excessive compulsory overtime is prohibited, and
workers cannot be obligated to work more than 48 hours, inclusive of
overtime. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment's Department
of Industrial and Employment Relations generally enforced these
requirements effectively.
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA), a government
entity under the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Employment made up
of the Government, unions, and employers, conducted regular inspections
at work sites and cited a number of offenders. Enforcement of the
health and safety standards continued to be uneven; however, and
industrial accidents remained frequent, mostly in the building and
construction sector. Workers had the right to remove themselves from
situations that endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their
employment, and OHSA generally enforced this right. Allegations of
physical and sexual abuse of workers existed, but they were rarely made
public; even more rarely were they the subject of court proceedings.
__________
MOLDOVA
Moldova is a parliamentary republic, with a population of
approximately 3.39 million, excluding the estimated 555,000 residents
living in the secessionist-controlled region of Transnistria. The
constitution provides for a multiparty representative government with
power divided among a President, cabinet, a unicameral parliament, and
the judiciary. Parliamentary elections in March 2005 generally complied
with most international standards for democratic elections. In April
2005 parliament reelected Communist Party leader Vladimir Voronin as
President for a second term. In 1990 separatist elements supported by
Russian military forces in the area declared a ``Transdniester Moldovan
Republic,'' which lies east of the Dniester River along the border with
Ukraine. The Government has no authority in Transnistria. Unless
otherwise stated, all references herein exclude the secessionist
region. Voting for March 2005 parliamentary election did not take place
in the area east of the Dniester River; however, more than 8,000 voters
residing in Transnistria were able to vote at polling stations
established by the Government on government-controlled territory.
Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Security forces
beat persons in custody, there was incommunicado detention, and prison
conditions remained harsh. Other problems included selective official
harassment and intimidation of the political opposition ; judicial and
police corruption; monitoring by security forces of political figures
through unauthorized wiretaps and, at times, illegal searches;
intimidation of journalists; obstacles to official registration of some
religious groups; persistent societal violence and discrimination
against women and children; trafficking in women and girls for sexual
exploitation; discrimination against Roma; limits on workers' rights,
and child labor.
The human rights record of the Transnistrian authorities remained
poor. The right of citizens to change their government was restricted
and authorities interfered with the ability of residents to vote.
Authorities reportedly continued to use torture and arbitrary arrest
and detention. Prison conditions remained harsh, and two members of the
so-called Ilascu group remained in prison despite a 2004 ruling by the
European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) to end their imprisonment.
Transnistrian authorities continued to harass independent media and
opposition lawmakers, restrict freedom of association and of religion,
and discriminate against Romanian-speakers.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings in the country or in the separatist Transnistrian
region.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances during the year. There were no developments in the
police investigation into the 2004 disappearance of Sergei Gavrilov,
who was imprisoned in Transnistria during the early 1990s and allegedly
witnessed mistreatment of ``Ilascu group'' members.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
credible reports that police used cruel and degrading arrest and
interrogation methods, and that guards beat prison inmates. In June
2005 parliament approved a law criminalizing torture.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported several cases of
cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees
during the year. In contrast with 2005, no new cases of police beating
Roma were reported (see section 1.d.).
On April 4, the ECHR ruled unanimously in favor of Mihai Corsacov
who accused two police officers of torture. Corsacov was arrested for
theft in 1998 and alleged that A. Tulbu and V. Tubceac kicked, punched,
and beat him with batons. He spent 70 days in a hospital as a result of
injuries. Corsacov's mother opened a case against police; the
investigation lasted more than three years, and the case was closed and
reopened 12 times. The ECHR ruled that Corsacov was a victim of police
torture, and stated that the practice of falaka (beating of soles) was
``a particularly reprehensible form of ill-treatment.'' This was the
first such ECHR ruling on torture by police in the country. In its
April ruling, the ECHR also found that the prosecutor general's office
failed to effectively investigate Corsacov's allegations and deprived
him of a remedy against mistreatment by refusing to open a case against
the police officers. In September the prosecutor general's office
opened a criminal investigation into charges against the two officers.
According to Amnesty International (AI), the prosecutor general's
office refused to charge the police officers who reportedly tortured
Vitalii Kolibaba on April 25 and Serghei Gurgurov in October 2005.
Kolibaba, who was arrested on April 21, allegedly was hung from a
crowbar stuck under his elbows and beaten. He later attempted to commit
suicide in his jail cell. Kolibaba was released May 15 following an
intervention by AI with the authorities. In December Kolibaba filed a
complaint with the ECHR.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in most prisons
in the country and in the separatist Transnistria region remained
harsh, and in some instances were life threatening, with serious
overcrowding. Cell sizes did not conform to local legal requirements or
to international standards. The incidence of malnutrition and disease,
particularly tuberculosis, was high in all prisons. Conditions were
particularly harsh in pretrial and presentencing facilities. On July
12, a detainee died in a hospital after being beaten by a group of
police officers while in pretrial detention. The prosecutor general's
office launched a criminal investigation into the death. Other
detainees reported being denied food and water and confined in
underground facilities without medical care, fresh air, ventilation,
and proper sanitation.
In June 2005 several hundred inmates of a prison in the
Transnistrian city of Tiraspol started a violent hunger strike to
protest the conditions of their confinement and treatment.
Representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) were later allowed to visit the prison, where conditions
continued to be harsh.
On August 14, 170 inmates at the Leova prison 50 miles southwest of
Chisinau staged a four-day hunger strike to protest overcrowding,
insufficient drinking water, violation of their right to private
meetings with lawyers, physical abuse, and intimidation. The Ministry
of Justice acknowledged problems at the prison and stated they were due
to insufficient state funding. The local office of the International
Helsinki Commission reported that authorities denied them permission to
visit the Leova prison during the protests. On September 15, a Helsinki
Committee mission confirmed that prison authorities segregated
prisoners into two groups: prisoners who cooperate closely with
authorities, and prisoners who complain about poor conditions.
During the year the Bender prison remained disconnected from
municipal water and electricity services. Prison authorities used a
generator to provide power and the Department of Penitentiaries
arranged special water delivery and improvised outdoor toilets for the
113 prisoners confined to the facility. Bender city officials
disconnected the prison in 2003 from water and sewer services out of
fear of contamination from inmates infected with tuberculosis. The
Helsinki Committee represented nine inmates, who filed court cases to
claim compensation for poor detention conditions. The director of the
Penitentiary Department denied the prison received running water from
Bender and stated that all tuberculosis-infected inmates had previously
been transferred to another prison.
In the case of Valeriu Pasat, the country's former defense
minister, prison authorities repeatedly refused to abide by three court
decisions to allow an independent medical commission to examine Pasat.
He was instead examined by Ministry of Interior doctors in the presence
of police (see sections 1.d. and 1.e.).
Pretrial detainees generally were held separately from convicted
prisoners, although there were reports of convicted prisoners remaining
in detention facilities because of prison overcrowding. Children
convicted of crimes were sent to adult prisons, where they were held in
separate cells.
The Government generally permitted independent human rights
observers to regularly visit prisons. As a rule, observers are
accompanied by prison officials during visits. Generally, however,
prison officials allowed observers to talk in private with inmates,
when privacy was requested. The Government cooperated with the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and permitted visits to
prisoners in accordance with standard practices. In Transnistria
authorities there allowed the ICRC to visit the Ilascu group prisoners
once per year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, in practice the authorities did not
observe these prohibitions.
On August 30, police arrested nine members of the NGO Hyde Park
during a sanctioned protest. They were detained without food or water
for 40 hours in badly ventilated cells (see section 2.b.).
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
force is the country's primary law enforcement body. It is subdivided
into regional and city police commissariats, which are subordinated to
the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Police corruption remained a problem.
During the first eight months of the year, authorities brought 135
criminal cases against ministry employees, 105 of them for abuse of
office by using of violence and torture. Another 1,190 ministry
employees received disciplinary sanctions.
Impunity was also a problem. The prosecutor general's office is
responsible for investigating the activities of the police. However,
the prosecutor general's office stated that it believed the interior
ministry often ignored or superficially examined reported violations.
An internal affairs unit that reported to the Ministry of Internal
Affairs investigated minor incidents of corruption.
Arrest and Detention.--The law allows judges to issue arrest
warrants based on cases presented by prosecutors. Authorities must
promptly inform detainees of the reason for their arrest and the
charges against them. Suspects may be detained without charge for 72
hours. The law provides accused persons the right to a court hearing on
the legality of their arrest. However, these rights were not always
respected in practice.
Once charged, a detainee may be released on personal recognizance
pending trial; in some cases friends or relatives were allowed to give
a written pledge that the accused would appear for trial. The law
provides for a bail system, but it was rarely used and did not function
well. Authorities generally did not release detainees accused of
violent or serious crimes.
On September 26, the Government's Center for Combating Economic
Crimes and Corruption arrested Eduard Musuc, a prominent opposition
political party leader, on charges of alleged fiscal impropriety
concerning a real estate deal while director of Megadat.com, which is a
leading Internet provider. On October 11, a court set bail at the
unprecedented sum of $154,000 (two million lei). Musuc failed to pay
bail and remained in detention. On November 14, a court dropped the
bail requirement and released Musuc pending trial. The case remained
pending at year's end.
Detainees have the right to a defense attorney; however, at times
this right was restricted. Authorities generally did not grant
detainees access to a lawyer until 24 hours after being detained.
Police often told persons that they were witnesses in a case and
questioned them without a lawyer present, then subsequently detained
them as suspects. Detainees were often informed of the charges against
them without a lawyer present. The Government requires the local bar
association to provide an attorney to defendants who are unable to
afford one, but the Government did not pay legal fees, and defendants
often did not have adequate counsel (see section 1.e.). Detainees were
generally allowed access to family members.
In contrast to the previous year, local and international NGOs did
not report arbitrary arrests or incommunicado detention of Roma.
There were occasional detentions that some observers regarded as
politically motivated and retaliation for criticism of government
officials. On September 7, police arrested Genadie Braghis, sales
director of the independent Pro-TV media company, on allegations of
bribery. He was held incommunicado and without effective access to
legal counsel. Braghis met with his lawyer only at the time of the
arrest and at the court hearing; four requests to meet Braghis were
denied either because meetings rooms were not available or visiting
hours were over. He was released September 11; the charges were dropped
September 17 for lack of evidence, but reinstated on October 7. PRO-TV
officials claimed there was a connection between the arrest and
critical PRO-TV reports about the interior minister (see section 2.a.).
The case remained under investigation at year's end.
In July 2005 according to AI, the police detained more than 30
Romani men and boys, some as young as 12, during a raid in the town of
Edineti. Most were held for two days before a local court ordered their
release, and most were released without charge. Three others were held
incommunicado for several weeks and released without charge
In October 2005 local authorities briefly detained Mikhail
Formuzal, mayor of Ciadir-Lunga in the autonomous Gagauz region and a
leading opposition figure, on charges of abuse of office and misuse of
funds. Formuzal was forbidden to leave the city during the
investigation. According to Formuzal, the prosecutor general's office
opened as many as 18 criminal cases against him to thwart his election
bid for the office of the Gagauz governor (Bashkan). However, Formuzal
was elected governor December 17 with 56 percent of the vote (see
section 3).
There were no new developments during the year in the 2003 trial of
Chisinau water utility head Constantin Becciev and the case remained
pending at year's end. Becciev was held in preventive detention for six
months in 2003. In October 2005, in a separate case initiated by
Becciev with the ECHR, the court concluded that he had been held in
inhuman and degrading conditions and did not receive a fair trial. The
ECHR also determined that Becciev should be compensated for moral
damages and legal expenses.
The law permits pretrial detention for an initial period of 30
days. The courts may extend pretrial detention for up to 12 months on
an individual basis, according to the severity of the alleged crime.
Detentions of several months were fairly frequent; in rare instances,
pretrial detention was extended for several years. During the year a
total of 8,614 persons were being held in detention facilities and
prisons. Of that number 234 were minors, 440 were women, and 1,917 were
pretrial detainees.
In Transnistria authorities continued to harass and detain persons
suspected of being critical of the regime.
On August 17 and 18, the Transnistrian security agency arrested
four members of the Slobozia-based NGO Dignitas on charges of alleged
involvement in the August 13 explosion of a trolleybus in Tiraspol. The
authorities searched the Dignitas office without an arrest or search
warrant. All four men were released on August 22.
Amnesty.--In May 2005 Gagauz authorities granted amnesty to Ivan
Burgudji, an official of the Gagauz autonomous region and a well-known
Gagauz nationalist. He was sentenced in 2003 by the Chisinau tribunal
court to five years in prison for abuse of power and malicious
hooliganism in connection with his opposition political activities. On
December 17, Moldovan police, acting without a warrant, arrested
Burgudji in Ceadir-Lunga after he voted in the Gagauz elections for
governor. Police did not file formal charges at the time he was
detained, and Burgudji remained in police custody at year's end.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, official pressure and corruption of
judges remained a problem. There continued to be credible reports that
local prosecutors and judges asked for bribes in return for reducing
charges or sentences, and observers asserted that courts were sometimes
politically influenced. Political factors played a large role in the
reappointment of judges.
The judiciary consists of lower courts, courts of appeal, and the
Supreme Court of Justice. A separate Constitutional Court has exclusive
authority in cases regarding the constitutionality of draft and final
legislation, decrees, and other governmental acts. The Constitutional
Court was the only court generally regarded as fair and objective.
The prosecutor general's office is autonomous and answers to
parliament. It is responsible for overseeing criminal investigations,
presenting charges before a court, and protecting the rule of law and
civil freedoms. Prosecutors may open and close investigations without
bringing the matter before a court, giving them considerable influence
over the judicial process
There is a separate military court system, which generally has the
same problems as the civilian courts. The jurisdiction of military
courts extends to crimes committed by active duty military personnel
and crimes committed by reserve or retired military personnel while
they were on active duty. Military courts can also try civilians for
crimes committed against military personnel if the plaintiff presses
charges through the military prosecutor's office.
Trial Procedures.--While defendants in criminal cases are presumed
innocent, in practice a prosecutor's recommendation carried
considerable weight and limited a defendant's presumption of innocence.
Trials were generally open to the public; however, because of a
shortage of courtrooms, many cases were heard in judges' chambers.
Court-session information, such as trial times, locations, and
verdicts, was rarely posted publicly as required by law; this lack of
information limited public access to court proceedings. Cases were
presented to a judge or panel of judges depending on the complexity of
the case. Defendants have the right to a lawyer, to attend proceedings,
to confront witnesses, and to present evidence. The law requires the
local bar association to provide an attorney to defendants who are
unable to afford one; however, since the Government did not pay legal
fees, defendants often did not have adequate counsel. Prosecutors
occasionally used bureaucratic maneuvers to restrict lawyers' access to
clients. Defense attorneys were able to review evidence against their
clients when preparing cases. Convicted persons have the right to
appeal to a higher court.
The January 17 conviction of former defense minister Valeriu Pasat
for unlawfully selling state property followed a civilian court trial
held behind closed doors (see section 3). Observers said the
proceedings raised questions about the fairness and independence of the
judiciary.
The law provides for the accused to have an interpreter, both at
the trial and when reviewing documents of the case; however, because of
a lack of resources, persons requiring interpretation often had their
hearings repeatedly postponed. If the majority of participants agree,
trials may be conducted in Russian or another language instead of
Romanian.
There is no juvenile justice system, and children accused of crimes
usually were tried by criminal courts. There were judges in each region
and in Chisinau specializing in cases involving minors.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
However, in March 2005 police arrested former defense minister
Valeriu Pasat on charges of defrauding the Government of millions
dollars. Many observers considered the arrest politically motivated. On
January 17, a court sentenced Pasat to 10 years in prison on charges of
damaging the state. On February 7, the prosecutor general's office
opened a second criminal case, accusing Pasat of attempted murder and
usurping power. A third criminal case was launched in September on
charges of ``weapons smuggling'' and abuse of authority. On October 16,
an appeals court acquitted Pasat of some of the original charges and
reduced his 10-year sentence to five. He remained in prison; the two
new cases were pending at year's end (see section 3).
In Transnistria authorities continued to refuse to comply with a
July 2004 ECHR ruling to release two members of the Ilascu group
convicted in 1993 of killing two Transnistrian officials; their
sentence expires in June 2007.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--By law, citizens can seek
damages in civil courts for human rights violations. Under the
constitution the government is liable in cases where authorities
violate a person's rights by administrative means; fail to reply in a
timely manner to an application for relief, or make damaging errors
during prosecution. However, judgments awarded in such cases are small,
rarely exceeding $2,000 (26,000 lei) and are frequently not enforced.
As of August the ECHR issued 13 decisions faulting the country for
failure to enforce judgments for human rights violations. The decisions
were part of 44 ECHR findings issued over the last decade against the
country for human rights violations.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
Government did not respect these prohibitions in practice.
It was widely believed that authorities, including the interior
ministry, the prosecutor's general office, and the Security and
Information Services (SIS), conducted illegal searches and wiretaps.
Judges may legally authorize wiretaps only in cases where a criminal
investigation is underway; in practice, however, the judiciary lacked
the ability to control security organizations and police to prevent
illegal wiretaps. Courts did not exclude evidence obtained illegally.
During the year several opposition politicians alleged that
government authorities continued to monitor them illegally.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the Government sometimes restricted
these rights and on occasion intimidated journalists into practicing
self-censorship.
Public criticism of the Government is generally allowed; however
members of the media and NGOs believe that authorities try to impede
criticism when it is made by influential persons.
The print media expressed a wide variety of political views and
commentary. The Government owned a news agency; local and city
governments subsidized approximately 25 newspapers. Political parties
and professional organizations also published newspapers, most of which
had a circulation of less than 15,000. The Government did not restrict
foreign publications, but most were not widely circulated because of
high costs. Russian newspapers were available; some of them published
special weekly supplements for the country.
In contrast to previous years, there were no reports of random
beatings or violence against journalists.
According to the Government's Audiovisual Coordinating Council,
there were 44 radio stations and 194 television stations and cable
operators broadcasting in the country. Most of them rebroadcast
programs from Romania, Russia, and Ukraine, offering only a limited
amount of locally produced programming. The Government controlled a
national radio and television station, Teleradio Moldova (TRM), which
covered most of the country. Some local governments, including in
Chisinau and in the autonomous territorial unit of Gagauzia, operated
television and radio stations and newspapers. A number of cable
television operators provided a variety of foreign television programs,
including international news programs, to an estimated 202,300
subscribers.
The number of media outlets not owned and operated by the
Government or a political party increased slightly during the year, but
many remained in the service of, and secured large subsidies from, the
Government and political movements.
In June 2005 authorities sold two government-owned newspapers,
Moldova Suverana and Nezavisimaya Moldova. The sale fulfilled one of
the conditions by the parliamentary opposition in return for supporting
President Voronin's re-election in April 2005. The two newspapers
continued as independent publications but retained a strong
progovernment stance.
The restrictive regulatory framework for media coverage of the
March 2005 parliamentary election campaign made it difficult for
citizens to get information about the candidates. In February 2005,
responding to international and domestic concerns, the Central Election
Commission (CEC) revised regulations to increase airtime for debates on
public stations and allowed news programs to cover the campaign.
However, the CEC decision came less than two weeks before the election.
The law prohibits foreign governments from funding or supporting
domestic publications. In practice, however, publications supported by
the Romanian government complied with the law by receiving funds from
specially-created ``foundations.'' The Government did not prosecute
publications receiving funds from other countries.
In October 2005 the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (CCA)
suspended the license of the Analytic Media Group (AMG) to rebroadcast
the Russian ORT television channel on a nationwide television network,
awarding it to a new company, Media Satellite, which is believed to
have ties to individuals close to President Voronin. AMG filed a court
case against CCA calling the action illegal on the grounds that it had
both a valid license to broadcast on a major frequency and possessed
the sole contract to rebroadcast the Russian ORT channel. However, in
December 2005 an appeals court ruled in favor of the CCA's action. In
the meantime, CCA awarded AMG a new but weaker frequency to allow it to
continue broadcasting. Foreign observers in the country expressed
concern over the lack of transparency and independence of the CCA in
granting broadcast licenses and frequencies.
On July 27, parliament adopted the Audiovisual Code that combined
and revised several media laws according to OSCE and Council of Europe
recommendations. The new code regulates the activity of private
television and radio stations, the government-controlled public
broadcaster Teleradio Moldova (TRM), and the CCA. However, critics and
local media NGOS expressed concern that the law, which placed all
public television and radio stations under TRM, would hurt media
independence and stifle independent and dissenting media.
On December 14, the Chisinau Municipal Council dismissed the
directors of two local public broadcasters, Radio Antena-C and Euro-TV
Chisinau, and put both stations up for sale. Journalists at both
stations protested the action, and opposition parties, NGOs, and the
international community expressed concern about possible muzzling of
independent media. On December 16, Radio Antena-C FM broadcasting was
abruptly stopped, but its outdated cable network, connected to
residences was allowed to continue broadcasting.
Controversy continued over alleged government control of TRM,
despite efforts begun in August 2004 to transform the broadcasting
entity into an independent public company. TRM employees charged that
selection of employees for the new TRM was biased against journalists
who were critical of the Government. Several journalists who had been
dismissed sued TRM to be reinstated. In one case, a local court upheld
the legality and competency of TRM's hiring committee; other lawsuits
remained pending at year's end. At least nine other dismissed TRM
journalists, including Larisa Manole, filed cases with the ECHR,
accusing the broadcaster of censorship. The cases remained under
special ECHR review.
Both print and broadcast journalists reportedly continued to
practice self-censorship out of concern that government officials and
other public figures may use civil defamation and calumny laws in
retaliation for critical news coverage. While journalists and media
outlets continued to face potential fines for libel under the civil
code, there were no new reported libel cases during the year.
In July, following the Council of Europe's recommendations,
parliament amended the civil code to place a ceiling on the fines
imposed for moral damages for libel. The new law established criteria
that judges may take into consideration when deciding the amount of
libel awards, such as the social impact of the information on the
aggrieved person and the gravity of moral and physical suffering.
On July 12, a court ordered the Moldavskie Vedomosty newspaper to
pay a penalty of $2,000 (25,000 lei) in connection with a $50,000
(620,000 lei) ``moral damages'' civil suit filed by the head of the
government-owned Moldovan railroad. The independent Russian-language
newspaper appealed the order to the ECHR; the case was pending at
year's end.
In 2004 the weekly newspaper Timpul lost a lawsuit in which the
Daac-Hermes Company alleged $2 million (24.8 million lei) in damages
for publishing ``calumnious'' information. In response, the newspaper
voluntarily closed down and re-registered under a new name, Timpul de
Dimineata.
In Transnistria authorities limited freedom of speech and of the
press. Alternative viewpoints were stifled by widespread censorship,
and residents were wary of voicing alternative opinions and engaging in
meaningful debate over key issues affecting the region. It was
difficult to register, maintain, and financially sustain an independent
newspaper, radio, or television station in the separatist region. In
November 2005 Ion Iovcev, the principal of a Romanian-language school
in Transnistria and active advocate for human rights as well as a
critic of the Transnistrian leadership, received threatening calls that
he attributed to his criticism of the separatist regime.
Both of region's major newspapers, Pridnestrovie and Dnestrovskaya
Pravda, were controlled by the authorities. There was one independent
weekly newspaper in Bender and another in the northern city of
Ribnitsa. Opposition newspapers, such as Novaia Gazeta and Chelovek i
yevo Prava (Man and His Rights), had limited circulation and impact.
Separatist authorities harassed independent newspapers for critical
reporting of the Transnistrian regime. Other print media in
Transnistria did not have a large circulation and appeared only on a
weekly or monthly basis; some of the publications also criticized local
authorities. Most Moldovan newspapers did not circulate widely in
Transnistria, although they were available in Tiraspol.
Most television and radio stations and print publication were
controlled by Transnistrian authorities, which largely dictated their
editorial policies and finance operations. Some broadcast networks,
such as the TSV television station and the INTER-FM radio station, were
owned by Transnistria's largest monopoly, Sherriff, which also holds a
majority in the region's legislature. While these outlets on occasion
expressed alternative views for political purposes, in general their
editorial policy did not greatly differ from government-owned and
controlled media.
In July 2005 the Transnistrian Supreme Soviet amended the election
code to prohibit media controlled by the Transnistrian authorities from
publishing results of polls and forecasts related to elections.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail. According to the country's technology regulatory agency, 712
companies are authorized to provide information technology services in
the country. Internet penetration was estimated at 11.5 percent, and
more than 394,000 persons in the country used the Internet during the
year.
In Transnistria the Internet is not readily affordable and
broadband access is rare. Only a small segment of the population uses
and has access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--On August 22, the Ministry
of Culture refused for the third consecutive year to install a bust in
central Chisinau of Romanian writer Liviu Rebreanu, stating that it had
not received an authentication certificate. The Union of Writers, the
Academy of Science, and several NGOs protested the ministry's refusal.
On August 30, nine Hyde Park NGO members were arrested and detained
during a protest against the ministry's refusal (see section 2. b.).
On October 11, several hundred historians, politicians, teachers
and students protested in the capital against a new ``Integrated
History'' course introduced by the education ministry to replace the
History of Romanians and Universal History courses. Protest organizers
claimed that new textbooks reflect Stalinist ideas and promote
xenophobia and anti-Romanian sentiments. The ministry stated that the
textbooks had been compiled with wide input from the academic community
and would be subject to any necessary revisions in the future.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, at times
the Government limited this right in practice. In several instances
authorities arrested and detained citizens during peaceful protests and
released them hours later without charges.
On April 28, the Chisinau authorities refused for a second year to
issue a permit to the NGO GenderDoc-M for a peaceful demonstration in
connection with the country's fifth annual gay pride events (see
section 5).
On August 30, police arrested nine members of the NGO Hyde Park,
which campaigns for freedom of expression, during a lawful protest and
detained them for 40 hours (see section 1.d.). Authorities ignored a
court-issued permit for the protest and charged them with participating
in an unsanctioned meeting and resisting arrest. The NGO members were
subsequently acquitted on both charges. However, on November 1, the
Supreme Court upheld a decision by municipal authorities to disregard
the court-issued permit.
On November 22, the Buiucani Prosecutor's Office in Chisinau
summoned two members of the Social Democratic Party of Moldova (PSDM)
for questioning about their participation in a sanctioned protest and
alleged threats against the constitutional order of the country.
On November 15, the Supreme Court declared illegal the refusal by
the city government to permit AI to hold a protest on October 10
against the death penalty at the embassies of two foreign governments.
The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights'
(ODIHR) observer report on the country's March 2005 parliamentary
elections noted several cases where local officials either did not
authorize campaign meetings or obstructed access.
In Transnistria authorities usually did not permit free assembly;
on those occasions when permits were issued for demonstrations,
authorities often harassed organizers and participants. Permits for
demonstrations and public meetings are issued only to those
organizations and public movements that are loyal to the authorities,
such as the youth group Proryv (Breakthrough), and other organizations
that the authorities consider to be patriotic.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association and states that citizens are free to form parties and other
social and political organizations; however, the constitution also
prohibits organizations that are ``engaged in fighting against
political pluralism,'' the ``principles of the rule of law,'' or ``the
sovereignty and independence or territorial integrity'' of the country.
While authorities have not applied these provisions to prevent groups
from forming, organizations favoring unification with Romania charged
that the provisions were intended to impede their political activities.
Authorities routinely approved applications to register private
organizations, including political parties.
In Transnistria authorities restricted freedom of association by
intimidation and prosecution for alleged offenses or on fabricated
charges. In April Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov issued a decree
prohibiting external financing of NGOs. After criticism from the
international community and Transnistrian NGOs, Smirnov later changed
the decree to prohibit external financing of only those NGOs that are
directly ``engaged in political activities'' (see section 4).
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, the law includes restrictions that inhibit the
activities of some religious groups. There is no state religion;
however, the Moldovan Orthodox Church received special treatment from
the Government. For example, the Metropolitan of Chisinau and All
Moldova and other high-ranking Orthodox Church officials received
diplomatic passports.
In the separatist region of Transnistria the authorities continued
to deny registration and harassed a number of minority religions
groups.
The law requires religious groups to register with the State
Service for Religions (SSR). Unregistered religious groups may not buy
land or obtain construction permits for churches or seminaries.
Unregistered groups often conduct services, but at the risk of
harassment.
At year's end the SSR still had not registered the True Orthodox
Church of Moldova, despite a 2002 Supreme Court ruling in the church's
favor. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), The
Ukrainian Orthodox Kiev Patriarchate, the Central Muslim Spiritual
Board of Moldova, a variety of Protestant congregations, and the
Spiritual Organization of Muslims in Moldova continued to encounter
bureaucratic obstacles to registration.
However, on December 29, the SSR, responding to a supreme court of
justice ruling, registered the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (Mormons), ending its six-year legal struggle to obtain official
government recognition. In a September 27 ruling, the court said the
Government had a duty to legally recognize the two local Mormon
congregations, which have a total of approximately 250 members.
With regard to the Muslim organizations, the SSR continued to
maintain that they had failed to present necessary documents for
registration. The Spiritual Organization of Muslims reported continued
harassment by the police who conducted document checks and took
pictures of members at Friday prayers. For example, on May 19, police
filmed attendees during Friday prayers and tried to bring charges of
administrative violations. The court dismissed the charges as
unfounded. Police claimed the services were illegal because the
organization was not registered and the meeting place was not being
used in accordance with the organization's status as a charity. During
the year authorities did not follow up with the group on the March 2005
Ministry of Justice letter, which demanded that the organization stop
propagation of an ``unregistered cult.''
There were no legal developments in the 2004 case of the halted
construction of a Baptist church in Capriana, despite Baptist appeals
to both district and central authorities
In Transnistria on May 13, the Jehovah's Witness community received
an order from the Tiraspol city prosecutor to bring the group's charter
into harmony with the law. The community responded with a petition that
stated it was not able to change its charter because the Office for
Religious Cults had not responded to its request for registration
documents to apply for accreditation. The prosecutor rejected the
petition, saying that the matter should be resolved in the courts. The
case was pending at year's end.
Foreign missionaries may enter the country for 90 days on a tourist
visa. Although the law prohibits ``abusive proselytizing,'' which is
defined as ``an attempt to influence someone's religious faith through
violence or abuse of authority,'' the Government has not taken legal
action against individuals or organizations for proselytizing.
The law provides for restitution of property confiscated during the
Nazi and Soviet regimes to religious communities; however, claims of
the Moldovan Orthodox Church have been favored over those of other
religious groups, and the church has recovered nearly all of its
property. In cases where property was destroyed, the Government offered
alternative compensation. Property disputes between the Moldovan and
Bessarabian branches of the Orthodox Church have not been resolved;
representatives of the Bessarabian Orthodox Church claimed that their
property rights were still being violated. There were no developments
in a 2005 ECHR case the BOC brought by the Bessarabian church against
the country.
According to Jewish community representatives, authorities have not
returned Jewish community property.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Members of Jehovah's Witnesses
complained that local town councils and Orthodox priests and their
adherents continued to impede their ability to practice their religion
freely. In April local authorities from Farladeni village, acting on
the insistence of the local Orthodox community, terminated the contract
that allowed Jehovah's Witnesses to rent a public building for worship.
The Jehovah's Witnesses reported similar problems in obtaining and
maintaining construction permits to build houses of worship. Baptists
also reported that townspeople in several localities physically or
verbally abused them at the instigation of local Orthodox priests.
In Transnistria non-Orthodox groups complained that they were
generally not allowed to rent property and were often harassed during
religious services.
The Jewish community had approximately 25,000 members, including
2,600 living in separatist-controlled Transnistria. In May 2005 six
tombstones were destroyed in the Jewish cemetery in Chisinau. Three
young men, two from Chisinau and one from Tiraspol, were arrested in
connection with the vandalism; their motives were unclear, but Jewish
community leaders stated that they did not consider the vandalism an
act of anti-Semitism. In November 2005 unknown persons destroyed
another 25 tombstones. Police failed to find the perpetrators, and the
Jewish leaders also did not consider the vandalism an act of anti-
Semitism.
According to the Stephen Roth Institute, most anti-Semitism in the
country is expressed on the Internet, which is used to spread ultra-
nationalist and revisionist ideas.
In Transnistria there was no progress in the investigation into
several anti-Semitic acts that took place in 2004 when more than 70
tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in Tiraspol and
unknown persons attempted to set fire to the Tiraspol synagogue.
Transnistrian authorities believed the attacks were carried out by the
same individuals.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. Transnistrian
authorities sometimes restricted travel to and from the separatist
region.
Transnistrian authorities applied a transit fee to Moldovan
nationals crossing Transnistria and often stopped and searched incoming
and outgoing vehicles. Transnistrian authorities allowed farmers from
government-controlled villages in the Dubasari region of Transnistria
to travel to areas outside Transnistria to sell their produce, and no
longer blocked farmers' access to their farmland.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Citizens generally were able to depart from and return to the
country freely; however, there were some restrictions on emigration.
Persons wishing to emigrate must meet all outstanding financial
obligations to other persons or legal entities before emigrating.
However, this legal requirement was not strictly enforced in practice.
Close relatives who are dependent on a potential emigrant for material
support must give their concurrence. Although the Government may deny
permission to emigrate if the applicant had access to state secrets, no
such cases have been reported for several years.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status to persons in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status and asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 UN convention and its
1967 Protocol and provided it to seven persons. The Government
cooperated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and
other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum
seekers. During the year the Government substantially revised
procedures to expedite issuance of identification cards and travel
permits to refugees. All Chechen refugees in the country were
repatriated; none reported any mistreatment.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice in most of
the country through periodic, generally free and fair elections held on
the basis of universal suffrage, although authorities harassed and
intimidated the political opposition. Authorities in Transnistria
restricted the right of citizens to change their government.
The constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government.
Parliament elects the President by a three-fifths majority vote. The
President appoints the Prime Minister, who in turn names a cabinet.
Parliament must approve both the Prime Minister and the cabinet.
Elections and Political Participation.--In March 2005 citizens
voted in multiparty parliamentary elections, which according to OSCE/
ODIHR election observers complied with most international standards for
democratic elections. While the balloting was free and fair, the OSCE
reported that campaign conditions and media coverage preceding the vote
``were not satisfactorily equitable.'' As a result, the elections fell
short of meeting standards ``central to a genuinely competitive
election process.'' Restrictive legal provisions and interference by
authorities, in particular at the local level, hampered the campaigns
of some candidates, particularly those representing the opposition. In
addition, restrictive media provisions in the electoral code and state
media bias prevented equal campaigning opportunities. Election
observers noted other shortcomings, including inaccurate and incomplete
voter lists and group voting. The law requires political parties to
have a minimum of 5,000 members in order to register, a threshold that
the Council of Europe considered to be a serious barrier to the
maintenance of political parties.
The authorities generally allowed international observers to
monitor the elections, registering a record number of international and
local observers. Several persons from Russia and other countries in the
Commonwealth of Independents States who claimed to be observers were
refused registration and expelled from the country during the campaign
for conducting ``illegal activities.'' Authorities accused them of
campaigning for and illegally funding one of the candidates.
The Government selectively enforced regulations, including
inspections and tax audits of individuals and businesses that belonged
to or supported opposition parties. There were reports that police and
officials from the Center for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption
visited printing houses that published opposition party campaign
materials and prevented transport companies from providing buses to
political parties to bring individuals to voter assemblies.
Members of parliament were elected from nationwide party lists. Two
parties and one block won seats in the 101-seat parliament: the
Communist Party won 56 seats; the three-party Democratic Moldova Bloc
(BMD) gained 34 seats, and the Christian Democratic People's Party won
11 seats. In April 2005 the new Parliament reelected Communist Party
leader Vladimir Voronin President to a second term.
There were 21 women and 26 members of ethnic minorities in
parliament. There was one woman and three minority members in the 21-
member cabinet. Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Azeri, and Gagauz
minorities were represented in parliament.
The July 2005 mayoral elections in several towns, including
Chisinau, were generally free and fair; there was greater media access
and less government interference than in 2003. However, voters in
Chisinau failed to elect a mayor four times because voter turnout did
not reach the required minimum of one-third of registered voters. The
next local elections across the country are scheduled for 2007.
The Gagauz Christian Turkic minority enjoyed local autonomy in
Gagauzia in the southern part of the country. According to the OSCE and
the Council of Europe, the two rounds of Gagauz Bashkan elections on
December 3 and 17 were held in a generally calm and orderly manner and
complied with most international standards. Opposition candidate
Mikhail Formzal was elected governor for a four-year term.
In Transnistria authorities restricted the right of residents to
change their government and interfered with the ability of residents to
vote.
On September 17, Transnistrian authorities conducted a referendum
on the separatist region's independence and future accession to Russia.
While authorities claimed that an overwhelming majority of
Transnistria's voters supported the proposal, the referendum was not
monitored by independent observers. The authorities prevented free
expression of alternative viewpoints and were suspected of falsifying
the final results.
On December 10, elections for ``President'' of Transnistria
returned the incumbent Igor Smirnov to power. The head of the
separatist region's electoral commission said Smirnov won 82.4 percent
of the vote. However, the election was marked by problems. Access to
information was severely restricted and the authorities generally
stifled alternative viewpoints of three competing candidates. As with
previous elections, the December 10 balloting was not monitored by
internationally recognized observers and results could not be
independently verified.
In December 2005 authorities also interfered with the ability of
residents to vote in elections for the region's Supreme Soviet. Voting
was not monitored by internationally recognized election observers and
it was considered to be neither free nor fair.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was believed to
be pervasive throughout government and society, as reflected in
numerous public opinion polls and reports by NGOs. For example,
Transparency International (TI) again reported that corruption remained
a severe problem in the country. Although the Government has special
law enforcement and judicial units to combat corruption and
acknowledged the problem, some critics charged that authorities used
these units to persecute political opponents.
During the year, the country received a score of 3.2 on TI's 10
point composite index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to
exist among a country's politicians and public officials. The score
marked an improvement on the 2005 score of 2.9 out of 10, where 10
indicates the lowest level of corruption.
During the year the Chisinau Central District Court found Valeriu
Mostovoi, a former deputy minister of labor and social protection,
guilty of corruption and banned him from occupying public office for
five years. He was arrested in April 2005 by the Government's Center
for Combating Economic Crime and Corruption (CCECC) on charges of
extorting a bribe.
In March 2005 police arrested former defense minister Valeriu Pasat
on charges of illegally selling fighter jets in 1997 to a foreign
government. Many observers considered the arrest to be politically
motivated, because of Pasat's association with previous government
administrations and his vocal support of the opposition Democratic
Moldova bloc during the March 2005 election campaign. On January 17, a
court sentenced Pasat to 10 years in prison; it was reduced to five
years on October 16 (see section 1.d.). On December 19, a court
deferred Pasat's amnesty request to the Supreme Court; the case was
pending at the year's end.
There were no developments in the CCECC's on-going investigation
into allegations of graft and corruption against Our Moldova Alliance
(AMN) opposition party leader Serafim Urechean and three other members
of parliament two of them from Urechean's political faction. The AMN
members had accused the authorities of politically motivated
harassment. In October 2005 at the request of the Prosecutor General's
Office, parliament voted to lift their immunity from prosecution to
allow the authorities bring charges against Urechean and his two
colleagues.
In October 2005 authorities released the former secretary of the
Chisinau City Council, Vladimir Sarban, who was in detention since 2004
for alleged corruption. Sarban was released following an ECHR ruling
that the Government's reasons for prolonging his detention were neither
relevant nor sufficient. At year's end criminal investigations
continued into the activities of other Chisinau officials who were
arrested in 2004 as a result of joint efforts by the CCECC and the
prosecutor general's Office.
The law provides for free public access to official information;
however, the Government generally denied access to public information
and ignored requests from independent media. For example, the
investigative weekly newspaper Ziarul de Garda did not receive a
detailed response to its June 2005 request for a copy of a contract the
President's office signed with a private company. In 2004 the newspaper
Timpul filed a complaint against parliament for refusing to provide
transcripts of its sessions; the Supreme Court dismissed the suit.
Parliament subsequently changed its regulations and now provides
transcripts of debates on the parliament's Internet Web site and also
allows transcripts of sessions to be published.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated in the country without government restriction,
investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. In
Transnistria authorities continued to impede activities of human rights
groups in the separatist region.
However, international observers noted that authorities and other
officials generally were not cooperative or responsive to the views of
local independent NGOs, and that the vast majority lacked the
institutional capacity to meaningfully influence civil society or the
Government.
The local Helsinki Committee for Human Rights maintained contacts
with international human rights organizations. Amnesty International
also maintained an office in Chisinau and was active in the country.
In January, a new NGO, the Anticorruption Alliance, composed of
civil society and private sector representatives was established to
work with the Government to fight corruption. It made recommendations
to improve the country's new national anticorruption strategy and
commented on a wide range of draft laws.
In the run up to the March 2005 parliamentary elections, more than
200 local NGOs united to form the Civic Coalition for Free and Fair
Elections to monitor the elections. It effectively pressured the
Government to comply with international standards, and issued several
reports on its long-term observation findings.
The Government cooperated with the OSCE mission in the country on
efforts to resolve the long-standing Transnistrian conflict. The OSCE
participated in the Joint Control Commission, which monitors compliance
with the 1992 cease-fire agreement that the Government negotiated with
Russian and Transnistrian officials. Transnistrian authorities
frequently limited OSCE access throughout the breakaway region, which
includes the three-mile security zone dividing Transnistria from the
rest of the country. On November 12, however, authorities allowed a
one-day visit by a delegation of OSCE officials. The visit included an
inspection of the Russian Colbasna ammunition depot, which is located
in the northern section of the region. It was the first time since
March 2004 that OSCE officials gained access to the Colbasna site.
The law provides for three parliamentary advocates (ombudsmen) and
an independent center for human rights, the Moldovan Human Rights
Center (MHRC). Parliament appoints the ombudsmen for five-year terms.
They have equal rights and responsibilities and are empowered to
examine claims of human rights violations, advise parliament on human
rights problems, submit legislation to the constitutional court for
review, and oversee MHRC operations. In practice, however, the
ombudsmen dealt mostly with low-level cases. MHRC personnel provided
training for lawyers and journalists, visited jails, made
recommendations on legislation, and organized round tables.
On June 30, the MHRC in its annual report to parliament on
activities in 2005 stated that it had received 1,422 petitions and
granted 3,194 interviews, and that 136 cases dealing with violations of
individual rights were successfully concluded. The report also stated
that there were 1,141 calls in 2005 to MHRC's hotline, and 704
petitions from prisoners. During the first six months of the year, the
MHRC stated that it received 968 petitions.
The report also described revisions to the law that the MHRC
drafted and saw through passage by parliament, the difficulties faced
by the 2,551 prisoners released in 2005, and failures by public
authorities to provide rights to arrested minors.
In Transnistria authorities continued to control and intimidate
NGOs in the region by ``inviting'' NGO representatives to meetings with
security officials and by pressuring landlords not to renew rental
leases for office space.
In March the ``President'' of Transnistria signed a decree ``to
ensure security'' in the region that prohibited NGOs from receiving
foreign funding, and empowered authorities to close any organization
that violated the decree. Following international criticism, Igor
Smirnov altered the decree to prohibit only funding of NGOs directly
engaged in political activities. The international community stated the
decree would severely impair the ability of NGOs to operate in the
region. While still unduly restrictive, the modified version of the
decree expanded the NGOs' range of operation.
The Chisinau-based NGO Promo-Lex reported that unidentified persons
in Transnistria continued to follow their representatives and tap their
telephones. In contrast to previous years, Promo-Lex did not report new
office break-ins.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law provides that all persons are equal before the law
regardless of race, sex, disability, or social origin; however,
societal discrimination against women and some ethnic minorities,
particularly Roma, persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence against women remained a widespread
problem, and the law does not specifically address domestic assault.
In the first eight months of the year, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs reported that it received 212 domestic violence complaints. Of
that number eight resulted in serious bodily injury and seven in death.
In 2005 the MIA said it received more than 3,000 domestic violence
complaints. Women's groups, however, continued to assert credibly that
incidents of spousal abuse and rapes were underreported.
The Government supported education efforts, usually undertaken with
foreign assistance, to increase public awareness of domestic violence
and to train public and law enforcement officials to address the
problem. The city of Chisinau operated a women's shelter for victims of
domestic violence. Private organizations operated services for abused
spouses, including a hotline for battered women.
The law criminalizes rape but does not specifically address spousal
rape. There were 154 cases of rape reported to the interior ministry in
the first eight months of the year, but most observers believed that
many rapes went unreported. There were no specific government
activities to combat rape.
Prostitution is not a crime but a violation of civil law punishable
by a fine or administrative detention of up to 30 days. Prostitution
was widespread, and observers noted that sex tourism, which was
particularly prevalent in upscale Chisinau hotels, continued to grow.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a serious problem
(see section 5, Trafficking.)
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and it was a common
problem.
The law provides that women and men enjoy equal rights. In practice
women, who constituted approximately 50 percent of the workforce,
received pay equal for equal work; however, women did not hold high-
paying jobs in the same proportion as men.
Children.--There is extensive legislation designed to protect
children, and the Government provided supplementary payments for
families with many children.
The law mandates the Government to provide free, compulsory, and
universal education for at least nine years. However, many inadequately
funded schools, particularly in rural areas, charged parents for school
supplies. While not illegal, such fees contradicted the Government's
policies and resulted in some parents keeping their children at home.
Government and local authorities provided annual assistance of
approximately $23 (300 lei) to children from vulnerable families for
school supplies. The Government reported that net primary school
enrollment was 91 percent. Secondary school enrollment was
approximately 88.5 percent, with little difference in the rates for
boys and girls.
Although the healthcare system devoted a large portion of its
limited resources to care for children, childcare professionals
considered the assistance inadequate. Nonetheless, during the year UN
Children Fund (UNICEF) reported that between 96 and 98 percent of
children were immunized against tuberculosis, DPT, polio, and measles.
While the law prohibits child neglect and specific forms of abuse,
such as forced begging, child abuse was believed to be widespread.
Although there were no comprehensive or official statistics on the
problem, the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention NGO registered
116 cases of abuse during the year. Observers alleged that women
begging on the streets of Chisinau continued to sedate their infants to
spend long hours begging.
Trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation and
begging remained a problem. (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.c. and 6.d.).
The situation of children in orphanages and other institutions was
generally very poor. Low funding caused major problems such as
inadequate food, ``warehousing'' of children, lack of heat in winter,
and disease. In 2005, according to the Ministry of Education, there
were approximately 11,500 institutionalized children. Not all
institutionalized children were orphans; the number of children
entrusted to the Government by needy parents or by parents leaving the
country to look for work reportedly continued to grow. The Government
estimated that the number of children entrusted to relatives or placed
in boarding by parents working abroad was approximately 20,000.
During the year, the interior ministry reported that its records of
troubled minors included 231 alcoholics, 146 drug addicts, 897 homeless
minors, and 733 children who stopped attending school. However,
according to NGOs, the numbers of troubled minors may well exceed the
Government's official statistics.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons
and it carries criminal penalties. However, trafficking remained a
serious problem and the country is a major source for trafficked
persons, particularly women and girls for sexual exploitation.
To a lesser extent the country is also a transit point for
trafficking victims, and there were reports of some internal
trafficking of girls from rural areas to the capital.
A significant amount of trafficking continued to occur in the
breakaway region of Transnistria, which is outside of the Government's
control. The separatist region remained a significant source and
transit area for trafficking in persons.
Women and children were trafficked for sexual exploitation, and men
and children were trafficked to Russia and neighboring countries for
forced labor and begging. The country was also a transit point for
victims trafficked from Ukraine. Victims were increasingly trafficked
to Russia and countries of the Middle East, such as Turkey, Israel, and
the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to International Organization
for Migration (IOM), 12 percent of the trafficking victims it assisted
were minors under 18 years of age. The IOM also noted that the
percentages of victims trafficked from rural and urban areas closely
corresponded to residence statistics from the country's 2004 census.
Most victims had suffered some form of sexual or physical abuse at home
and were willing to face significant risk to escape abuse.
The Government's newly-formed Center to Combat Trafficking in
Persons (CCTIP) stated that information indicated that men were
trafficked for agricultural and construction work to the Baltic States
and to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). There also were
reports that women were trafficked to Lebanon, Greece, Macedonia,
Serbia (including Kosovo), and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Poland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belarus, France, the United
Kingdom, and Austria.
Newspaper advertisements promising well-paying jobs abroad also
lured many victims. The International Labor Organization's (ILO)
program for the elimination of child labor reported that in many cases
traffickers of children were Roma.
Trafficking of orphans reportedly decreased during the year,
according to the Center for Prevention of Trafficking in Women. The
center also reported that parents or husbands pressured some young
women to work abroad.
Victims were transported by car, van, train, and on foot across
borders. Sometimes false documents were used, but increasingly victims
traveled by plane with genuine documents.
The law provides criminal penalties for trafficking ranging from
seven years to life imprisonment depending on the circumstances and
severity of the offense.
During the first 11 months of the year, authorities opened 333
trafficking-related investigations. According to CCTIP, during the year
authorities convicted 62 persons for trafficking, 85 for pimping, 13
for organizing begging, seven for trafficking in children, four for
organizing illegal migration, and two for forced labor. Of the 173
convictions, 67 persons were sent to prison, 36 received a suspended
sentence, 59 were fined, and 11 were amnestied or acquitted.
During the first eight months of the year the interior ministry
reported that it conducted 35 raids to inspect 143 travel and
employment agencies; it withdrew the licenses of four for suspected
trafficking.
In 2005 the Government merged the interior ministry's
antitrafficking section into a new national entity, the CCTIP, which is
composed of senior officials from all relevant government ministries
and includes prosecutors, analysts, and investigators. There is also a
multiagency task force under the leadership of the prosecutor general's
office to monitor trafficking law enforcement activities, coordinate
intelligence, provide witness protection, and provide advice on
prosecuting complex cases.
During the year the Government improved cooperation with other
member countries of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative,
Interpol, and with other trafficking destination countries such as
Italy, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey, resulting in a
number of convictions.
On February 8, the Government ratified an agreement with Turkey to
combat trafficking as part of a broad effort to fight illegal drug
trafficking, international terrorism, and other organized crime.
There have been longstanding reports of involvement by some
government officials in trafficking. On October 18, the Ministry of
Interior dismissed several senior officials for trafficking, including
a former CCTIP deputy director, Ion Bejan, who was under investigation
on charges of protecting a major trafficker. According to the interior
ministry, other government investigators and prosecutors were also
involved in the protection scheme and are under investigation. The
ministry also reported that, in the first 11 months of the year, it
investigated and eradicated 39 trafficking networks. Turkey was the
destination country in 14 of the cases; UAE in five; Russia in five;
the Kosovo region of Serbia in three; and other countries in the
remaining 12.
Elsewhere in the country, widespread corruption and lack of
resources prevented adequate border control and monitoring of
traffickers, particularly in areas near Transnistria. Observers alleged
that corrupt low and high-level Moldovan government officials were
either involved in or routinely ignored trafficking crimes. In
September trafficking charges levied in November 2004 against a former
policeman who was deported from the UAE back to the country were
downgraded to pimping; he was amnestied. The prosecutor and the
victims' lawyer appealed the court decision.
On June 20, police arrested Alexander Covali, an alleged leader of
a trafficking ring. He was charged with trafficking after police found
confined women on his properties. He was released on bail and arrested
again on August 4 when an investigation revealed that he had received
police protection. He remained in jail in year's end awaiting a court
hearing.
On December 27, Ion Gusin was convicted of trafficking in persons
and sentenced to 22 years in jail for his role as pimp and translator
for a foreign sex tourist.
On October 20, the finance ministry created a special fund to pay
for free social services for trafficking victims, including modest
medical and psychiatric services, new identity documents and residence
permits, legal counseling, vocational training, and professional
counseling. The fund is part of a comprehensive trafficking in persons
law passed by parliament in October 2005.
The Government had no other programs to assist victims. Several
NGOs offered repatriation assistance, temporary housing, and medical
care for victims, as well as job training. The NGO Save the Children
worked with trafficking victims, particularly repatriated girls. The
NGO La Strada Moldova provided informational and educational services
as well as a national toll-free hotline.
During the first eight months of the year IOM assisted 193 returned
trafficking victims, the majority of whom had been trafficked to
Turkey, Russia, and the UAE.
The Government took some steps to prevent the trafficking of
persons and to assist victims through its network of national
antitrafficking committees. Local committees in each region of the
country and officials from a variety of ministries and local
governments were required to present reports on their antitrafficking
efforts. In August 2005 the Government approved a new national action
plan for combating trafficking in persons, which was developed in
conjunction with international organizations.
Local NGOs operated public school programs to educate young women
about the dangers of prostitution. During the year, the IOM continued
its information program aimed at providing information to help citizens
going abroad to avoid exploitation.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities; however the
Government generally did not enforce these laws and there were reports
of discrimination. The local NGO Gaudeamus reported continued
widespread discrimination against students with disabilities.
There are no laws mandating access to buildings, and there were few
government resources devoted to training persons with disabilities. The
Social Assistance Division in the Ministry of Health and Social
Protection and the National Labor Force Agency are responsible for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Ukrainians and Russians are the
two largest minorities. A Christian Turkic minority, the Gagauz, makes
up a small percentage of the population living primarily in the Gagauz
Autonomous Region in the south of the country. Official statistics put
the number of Roma at 11,600, but Romani NGOs estimated the number to
be much higher.
Roma suffered violence, harassment, and discrimination. However, in
contrast to the previous year, local and international NGOs did not
report arbitrary arrests or incommunicado detention of Roma (see
section 1.d.).
The European Roma Rights Center continued to report that officials
discriminated against Roma with regard to housing, education, and
access to public services. The Roma were the poorest of the minority
groups and continued to live in unsanitary conditions in segregated
communities lacking basic infrastructure. These conditions often led to
segregated education and schools with even fewer resources than that
elsewhere in the country. Many Romani children did not attend school,
very few received a secondary or higher education, and there was no
Romani-language education.
Minority rights and language were closely related problems.
Romanian is the only official language, but all official documents are
also translated into Russian, which was used for interethnic
communication. Russian speakers were not subject to discrimination in
education or employment, and a citizen has a legal right to choose
either language to interact with government officials or commercial
entities. Officials are required to know both Romanian and Russian ``to
the degree necessary to fulfill their professional obligations.'' The
law provides parents the right to choose the language of instruction
for their children, and the Government observed this right in practice.
Authorities in the separatist Transnistrian region continued to
discriminate against Romanian speakers, although to a lesser extent
than in previous years. They continued to refuse to observe the
country's language law, which requires use of Latin script, and
required schools in the region to teach Romanian using the Cyrillic
alphabet. Many teachers, parents, and students objected to the
requirement, asserting that it disadvantaged persons who wished to
pursue higher education opportunities in the rest of the country or in
Romania, where the Latin script is used. Under a temporary arrangement,
Romanian-language schools were allowed to use the Latin script for
instruction. However, they complained that the arrangement, which
applies to all Romanian-language schools, could be rescinded at any
time by the authorities.
In July 2005, under an OSCE-negotiated formula, Transnistrian
authorities allowed Latin-script schools in the region, which were
registered with the Moldovan Ministry of Education, to register locally
and to begin the school year in September. In 2004 regional police
closed Latin-script schools in Ribnitsa, Tiraspol, Dubasari, and
Corjova, stating that the institutions violated the Transnistrian legal
requirement for the schools to register locally and to use the Cyrillic
alphabet for instruction. The schools have since reopened and are
allowed to teach in Romanian.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were reports of
governmental and societal discrimination based on sexual orientation.
According to the NGO GenderDoc-M, lack of community recognition,
negative media portrayals, and condemnation by the Orthodox Church
often led to public ostracism of gays, lesbians, and their families. On
April 28, the Mayor of Chisinau denied the NGO's request to organize an
event in support of gay rights out of fear that religious groups would
organize protest actions if the rally went ahead. Chisinau authorities
had refused a similar request in May 2005 by GenderDoc-M for a
demonstration to support antidiscrimination legislation for sexual
minorities.
GenderDoc-M reported that there were on-going cases of gay children
being asked to leave home by their parents, and incidents of villages
shunning a family because of a gay child. The NGO also reported that
police continued to threaten gays and lesbians with public exposure if
they did not pay bribes.
In Transnistria, homosexuality was illegal, and gays and lesbians
were subject to governmental and societal discrimination.
Several NGOs reported instances of discrimination against persons
with HIV/AIDS, particularly in rural villages.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Neither the Penal Code nor the Code
of Administrative Offences stipulates any specific sanctions for
violating trade union rights. As a result, prosecutors may reject
appeals by trade unions against any antiunion behavior by employers and
governments; violations of the Trade Union Act remain unpunished.
The law provides workers the right to establish or join unions;
however, there were reports that the Government continued to pressure
individual unions to join a confederation that supported government
policies. Approximately 50 percent of the workforce belonged to a
union. The law also provides for the right to strike, except for
workers in essential services, and workers exercised this right by
conducting legal strikes.
There were two unions, the Trade Union Confederation of Moldova
(TUCM) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions Solidaritate
(Solidarity). The latter advocated government positions and was widely
believed to enjoy government support. During the year, the Government
continued to pressure local unions to quit TUCM and join Solidarity. On
June 30, a representative of the state wine agency interfered during a
meeting of the trade union of the National Institute of Wine and
Viticulture to prevent the transfer of the trade union to Solidarity.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for collective bargaining, the right to organize, and the
right to conduct activities without government interference; however,
the Government did not always respect these rights in practice (see
section 6.a.).
On July 21, parliament passed a new law to create a national
commission for collective consultations and bargaining that will
include trade unions, employers, and government representatives.
The Government, company management, and unions negotiated national
minimum wages in tripartite talks. Arbitration committees typically
settled workplace labor disputes. If an arbitration committee failed to
settle a dispute, parties could take it to the court of appeals.
Public officials and workers in essential services such as
emergency healthcare, water and energy supply, telecommunications, air
traffic control, law enforcement, judges, and military employees do not
have the right to strike; the law provides for arbitration of disputes
in these sectors with court mediation as a final option to ensure due
process.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
reports that such practices occurred, particularly in the countryside
during the harvest season when some children were compelled to work in
fields.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for
Employment.--The law sets standards for child labor, including the
minimum age for employment, hours of work, and working conditions, and
prohibits the worst forms of child labor; however, the Government did
not effectively enforce these protections.
Child labor was a problem. Because of poor economic conditions,
parents often sent children to work in fields or to find other work,
and those children living in rural areas often assisted in the
agricultural sector. The law provides for 10 to 15 years' imprisonment
for persons involving children in the worst forms of child labor; under
aggravated circumstances, the sentence could be life imprisonment.
The minimum age for unrestricted employment was 18 years. Persons
between the ages of 16 and 18 were permitted to work under special
conditions, including shorter workdays, no night shifts, and longer
vacations.
In September the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports issued two
child labor orders without consulting either the Labor Inspection
Office (LIO) or the ILO. The orders for working in the annual harvest
did not define hazardous work and did not set limits on weights
children could carry or types of hazardous equipment. There also were
no instructions for teachers who accompany children who work in fields.
In September 2005 the education ministry issued a similar decree
that in effect ordered educational institutions to participate in the
annual harvest. The decree, which was in contradiction to labor laws,
allowed children between 11 and 14 to help with harvesting. The
ministry decree also provided for forced labor of children ``under the
condition of a penalty,'' such as poor grades, for not participating in
the harvest. The ministry later agreed that the decree was wrong.
Trafficking in children was a serious problem (see section 5.)
Efforts to enforce child labor laws did not deter violations. The
LIO is responsible for investigating possible child labor violations.
However, the office does not have the institutional capacity to fully
monitor child labor laws. During the year the LIO sanctioned 10
enterprises for failing to create proper work conditions for minors.
The ILO, in cooperation with the Government, implemented aspects of its
international program to eliminate child labor by strengthening local
antitrafficking committees, establishing community-based youth centers,
training representatives of employers' organizations and trade unions,
promoting employment for at-risk youth and parents, and improving care
for child victims of trafficking.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum monthly wage
was approximately $25 (320 lei) for public sector employees and
approximately $53 (700 lei) for private sector employees. Neither wage
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The Labor
Inspection Office is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage and
opened several administrative cases against employers who violated it.
Severe budgetary constraints often prevented government and private
sector employers from meeting employee payrolls.
The law sets the maximum workweek at 40 hours with extra
compensation for overtime, and the law provides for at least one day
off per week.
The Government is required to establish and monitor safety
standards in the workplace, and the LIO is responsible for enforcing
health and safety standards. In the first 10 months of the year, the
LIO's 81 territorial inspectors conducted 7,086 workplace inspections
in approximately 180,000 registered enterprises and noted over 50,000
health and safety violations. Of the number of workplaces inspected,
824 received administrative fines. Workers have the right to refuse to
work if working conditions represent a serious health threat, but there
were no reports that workers exercised this right in practice. Poor
economic conditions led enterprises to economize on safety equipment
and give inadequate attention to worker safety. In the same period, the
LIO reported there were 295 workplace accidents in which 35 persons
died.
__________
MONACO
The Principality of Monaco, with a population of some 32,000, is a
constitutional monarchy in which the sovereign prince plays a leading
role in governing the country. In April 2005 Albert II succeeded
Rainier III as the sovereign. The prince appoints the four-member
government, headed by a minister of state chosen from a list of
candidates proposed by France. The other members are the counselor for
the interior (who is usually French), the counselor for public works
and social affairs, and the counselor for finance and the economy.
Legislative power is shared between the prince and the popularly
elected 24-member National Council. The most recent National Council
election was conducted in 2003 and was considered free and fair. There
also are three consultative bodies whose members are appointed by the
prince: the seven-member Crown Council; the 12-member Council of State;
and the 30-member Economic Council, which includes representatives of
the Government, employers, and trade unions. The judiciary is
independent. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and the judiciary provided effective means of
dealing with individual instances of abuse. However, citizens did not
have the right to change their government or denounce the royal family,
and naturalized women could not transmit citizenship to their children.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices, and
there were no reports that officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. Women were held separately from
men, and juveniles were held separately from adults. The Government
permitted visits by human rights monitors; however, there were no such
visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In addition to the
national police force, the Carabiniers du Prince carry out security
functions. The prince's chef de cabinet is responsible for
administration of the police forces. Corruption and impunity were not
problems. The police forces were generally considered effective.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrest warrants are required, except when a
suspect is arrested while committing an offense. The police must bring
detainees before a judge within 24 hours to be informed of the charges
against them and of their rights under the law. Most detainees are
released without bail, but the investigating magistrate may order
detention on grounds that the suspect might flee or interfere with the
investigation of the case. The magistrate may extend the initial two-
month detention for additional two-month periods indefinitely. The
magistrate may permit family members to see detainees, and it is
customary for magistrates to do so.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. Under the law, the prince delegates his
judicial powers to the judiciary.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for a fair, public trial. As
under French law, a three-judge tribunal considers the evidence
collected by the investigating magistrate and hears the arguments made
by the prosecuting and defense attorneys. The defendant enjoys a
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal. The defendant has the
right to be present and the right to counsel, at public expense if
necessary. Defendants have the right to question witnesses against them
and to present their own witnesses. Defendants and their attorneys have
access to government-held evidence relevant to their cases. After
prisoners receive a definitive sentence, they are transferred to a
French prison to serve out their terms.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The principality has an
independent and impartial judiciary for civil matters. Administrative
remedies are available for alleged wrongs, and are regularly used by
plaintiffs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights and did not restrict academic freedom. The Penal
Code, however, prohibits public denunciations of the ruling family, a
provision that the media respected in practice.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. Several periodicals were published. Although
there were no domestically published daily newspapers, foreign
newspapers and magazines circulated freely, including French journals
that specifically covered news in the principality.
Radio and television stations broadcasting from the principality
operated in accordance with French and Italian regulations. Foreign
radio and television were received without restriction.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet use is widespread, supported by an advanced and robust
telecommunications infrastructure.
There were no government restrictions on academic freedom or
cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
Outdoor meetings require police authorization, but there were no
reports that police withheld authorization for political or arbitrary
reasons. Formal associations must be registered and authorized by the
Government, and there were no reports that the Government withheld
registration for political or arbitrary reasons.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. Roman
Catholicism is the state religion.
No missionaries operated in the principality and proselytizing was
strongly discouraged; however, there is no law against proselytizing by
religious organizations that are formally registered by the Ministry of
State. There were no reports of religious organizations being denied
registration during the year.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were no reports of
societal violence, harassment, or discrimination against members of any
religious group. The Jewish community was extremely small, and there
were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion see the 2006 International Religious
Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. Residents moved
freely within the country and across its open borders with France.
Nationals enjoyed the rights of emigration and repatriation; however,
they can be deprived of their nationality for specified acts, including
naturalization in a foreign country. Only the prince can grant or
restore nationality, but he is obliged by the constitution to consult
the Crown Council on each case before doing so.
The Penal Code prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
refugee and asylum status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has adopted the established French system for providing
protection to refugees in light of its bilateral arrangements with
France. There were no reported cases of the Government granting refugee
status or granting political asylum. The Government provided some
protection against refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution, but there were no reports that it
occurred.
The Government is committed to cooperate with the Office of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
Citizens may voice their opinion democratically, but the sole
authority to change the Government and to initiate laws rests with the
prince. The 1962 Constitution cannot be suspended, but it can be
revised by common agreement between the prince and the elected National
Council.
Elections and Political Participation.--As head of state, the
prince plays an active role in government. He names the minister of
state (in effect, the Prime Minister) from a list of names proposed by
the French government. He also names the three counselors of government
(of whom the one responsible for the interior is usually a French
national). Together the four constitute the Government. The law
prohibits public denunciations of the ruling family.
Only the prince may initiate legislation, but the 24-member
National Council may propose legislation to the Government. All
legislation and the adoption of the budget require the Council's
assent. Elections for National Council members are held every five
years and are based on universal adult suffrage and secret balloting.
The 2003 National Council elections were considered free and fair.
There were five women in the 24-member National Council, two women
in the seven-member Crown Council, and five women in the 30-member
Economic Council. The mayor of Monaco was a woman.
There were no members of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year.
The law provides for public access to government information and
provides access in practice for citizens and noncitizens, including the
foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
While the Government imposed no restrictions on the establishment
or operation of local groups devoted to monitoring human rights, no
such groups were formed, nor did foreign groups seek to investigate
human rights conditions in the country.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution provides that all nationals are equal before the
law. It differentiates between rights that are accorded to nationals
(including preference in employment, free education, and assistance to
the ill or unemployed) and those accorded to all residents (including
inviolability of the home). The law prohibits discrimination based on
race, gender, disability, language, or social status, and the
Government generally enforced it. However, some legal discrimination
against women remained.
Women.--Reported instances of violence against women were rare.
Marital violence is strictly prohibited by law, and victims may bring
criminal charges against their spouses. Rape, including spousal rape,
is a criminal offense, and the Government effectively prosecuted those
accused of such crimes. There were no such prosecutions during the
year.
Prostitution is illegal, and overt prostitution was uncommon,
although it existed to an extent in a well-hidden form.
Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively
enforced the law. There were no legal cases of sexual harassment during
the year.
Although the country has legislated the equality of men and women
in the civil code, there is no institution with a mandate to monitor
gender inequalities. The law governing transmission of citizenship
provides for equality of treatment between men and women who are
nationals by birth; however, women who acquire citizenship by
naturalization cannot transmit it to their children, whereas
naturalized male citizens can.
Women were represented fairly well in the professions, but less
well in business. Women received equal pay for equal work.
Children.--The Government was committed fully to the protection of
children's rights and welfare and has well-funded public education and
health care programs. The Government provided compulsory, free, and
universal education for children up to the age of 16. Health care for
both boys and girls is of high quality and readily available to all
citizens.
There were isolated incidents, but no societal pattern of abuse of
children.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, or within the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--There was no reported governmental or
societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. The law
requires that public buildings provide access for persons with
disabilities, and this goal has been largely accomplished. On March 24,
the principality inaugurated both a delegate for handicapped persons
and a bus line specifically for persons with reduced mobility, and in
December the principality purchased additional commuter train cars for
the lines servicing Monaco that were equipped for persons with reduced
mobility. In December the principality purchased additional commuter
train cars equipped for persons with reduced mobility.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law, workers are free to form
unions, but fewer than five percent of workers were unionized.
Relatively few workers, unionized or nonunionized, resided in the
principality. Unions were independent of both the Government and
political parties.
Antiunion discrimination is prohibited. Union representatives can
be fired only with the agreement of a commission that includes two
members from the employers' association and two from the labor
movement. Allegations that an employee was fired for union activity may
be brought before the labor court, which can order redress, such as the
payment of damages with interest.
The Monegasque Confederation of Unions was not affiliated with any
larger labor organization but was free to join international bodies.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for the free exercise of union activity, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Agreements on working conditions were
negotiated between organizations representing employers in a given
sector of the economy and the respective union. Collective bargaining
is protected by law; however, it is used rarely. There are no export
processing zones.
The constitution and law provide for the right to strike;
government workers, however, may not strike. There were no nation-wide
strikes during the year.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The constitution and
law prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and
there were no reports that such practices occurred.
d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for
Employment.--The minimum age for employment is 16 years; those
employing children under that age can be punished under criminal law.
Special restrictions apply to the hiring, work times, and other
conditions of workers 16 to 18 years old. The counselor of government
for the interior is responsible for enforcing the child labor laws and
regulations, and they were effectively enforced.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The legal minimum wage for full-
time work is the French minimum wage, currently approximately $10.71
per hour (8.27 Euros), plus 5 percent. The 5 percent adjustment was
intended to compensate for the travel costs of the three-quarters of
the workforce that commuted daily from France. The minimum wage
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Most
workers received more than the minimum. The legal work week was 39
hours. The Government allows companies to reduce the work week to 35
hours if they so choose. Health and safety standards are fixed by law
and government decree. These standards were enforced by health and
safety committees in the workplace and by the Government labor
inspector. Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous
work situations.
__________
MONTENEGRO
The Republic of Montenegro is a parliamentary republic with a
population of approximately 630,000. Legislative authority is vested in
the unicameral Assembly. On June 3, following a referendum, the
Assembly declared the country independent of the State Union of Serbia
and Montenegro. The republic retained its 2003 constitution and basic
governmental structure after independence and has a mixed Presidential
and multi-party parliamentary system of government with both President
and Assembly elected by popular vote. The Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observed both the May referendum on
independence and the September 10 Assembly elections and found them to
be generally in accordance with international standards. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
services, but there were a few instances in which elements of the
security forces acted independently of government authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, during the year, there were reports of arbitrary
arrest, police mistreatment of suspects in detention, police impunity,
lengthy pretrial detention and delayed trials, substandard prison
conditions, corruption in law enforcement agencies and the judiciary,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against women and ethnic
minorities.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
police occasionally beat suspects during arrests or while suspects were
detained for questioning.
According to some of those involved, police beat citizens and
foreigners whom they detained in the course of a September 9 raid in
Tuzi. An internal police investigation ended inconclusively.
Authorities stated that the raid, which took place a day before
Assembly elections, foiled a terrorist plot and reported they had found
a large weapons stash and plans to attack government buildings. Some
opponents of the Government asserted that the raid was politically
motivated (those apprehended were associated with an Albanian
nationalist organization).
The investigation by the minister of interior and supreme state
prosecutor into police beatings of prisoners in the main penitentiary
in September 2005 concluded that police did not exceed their authority.
There was no public reaction to the report's conclusion, although after
the raid several prisoners were sent to the hospital with severe
injuries.
The trial of police inspector Dobrasin Vulic, indicted in 2004 for
the 2003 beating of Nikola Popovic, ended in Vulic's acquittal.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions met some
international standards; however, problems remained. Prison facilities
were antiquated, overcrowded, poorly maintained, and had inadequate
hygiene, although communicable disease was not prevalent. The main
prison held about twice as many prisoners as it was designed for, with
some cells at even higher levels of overcrowding. Authorities were
constructing an extension to the main prison, including additional cell
space to reduce overcrowding, and construction was nearly complete by
year's end.
The law provides that authorities hold juvenile prisoners
separately from adults and that pretrial detainees be held separately
from convicted criminals; however, these provisions were not always
observed in practice due to overcrowding.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers,
including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and local
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Both the ICRC and the Helsinki
Committee of Montenegro made several visits during the year.
Representatives of the human rights ombudsman's office routinely
visited prisons, meeting with detainees and inmates without prior
notice.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The interior ministry
controls both the national and border police forces. These forces were
generally effective in maintaining basic law and order. Impunity was a
problem; the Government investigated police abuses, but criminal
procedures and sentences against police were rare. During the year 19
police officers were dismissed for abuse of office and exceeding
authority.
Police corruption was a problem; the small, close-knit society
discouraged the reporting of corruption and facilitated criminals'
access to law enforcement officers.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests require a judicial warrant or
``strong suspicion that the suspect committed an offense.'' Authorities
may detain suspects for up to 48 hours before bringing them before a
judge and charging them. At arraignment the judge makes an initial
determination of the legality of the detention. In practice arraignment
generally occurred within the prescribed period of time. The law
provides for access to an attorney during this initial period, but this
did not always occur. Detainees generally had prompt access to family
members. There is a system of bail; however, it was not widely used
because citizens could rarely raise money for bail.
Long trial delays, combined with difficulty in meeting conditions
for bail, occasionally led to lengthy pretrial detention. Pretrial
detainees made up approximately two-thirds of the prison population,
and the average period of pretrial detention was five months.
Amnesty.--On July 27, the Assembly enacted a general amnesty for
prisoners. The amnesty reduced sentences for most prisoners already
incarcerated by 25 percent, with a lesser reduction of 10 percent for
more serious criminal offenses. There was no amnesty for persons
convicted of trafficking in persons, war crimes, or other crimes
prosecuted under international law.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, a lack of cooperation between
police and prosecutors, a backlog of cases, often primitive courtroom
facilities, and judicial corruption remained problems. The Government
at times influenced prosecutors for political reasons. There were
reports that judges issued tainted decisions out of fear of reprisals,
including the loss of their jobs if they ruled against particular
parties.
The court system consists of municipal courts, higher (district)
courts, an appeals court, an administrative court, and a Supreme Court.
Trial Procedures.--Criminal trials are public; juries are not used.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trials and to consult
with an attorney in a timely manner. Defendants have a right to engage
an attorney; however, an attorney is provided at public expense only
when the charge carries a possible sentence greater than five years in
prison. Defendants and their attorneys have the right to access
government-held evidence relevant to their cases. They enjoy the
presumption of innocence and the right of appeal. Although the
Government at times influenced the judiciary, defendants' rights were
generally respected. Some observers charged that continuing control by
the executive branch over the finances of the courts provided
influential members of that branch with a means of exerting
inappropriate pressure.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent judiciary in civil matters. Parties have
brought suit alleging human rights violations. Beginning in 2004
families of victims brought 36 cases against the Government for the
1992 deportation of Muslims and Bosniaks to the Republika Srpska in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Republika Srpska security forces subsequently
killed most of the deportees. The first judgment, resulting in damages
of $59,125 (45,000 euros) against the Government, was handed down on
June 29 in favor of the family of Sanin Krdzalja, who was deported and
killed in the Foca concentration camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina in
1992. On September 15, the court dismissed a second case that involved
the deportation and presumed death of Safet Buljubasic, ruling that the
statute of limitations barred the case. The plaintiff's attorney
contended that the court, in relying on a 2004 case from Serbia that
had been strongly criticized by international human rights
organizations, was acting solely to protect government interests. A
third, related, case was decided on September 19; the court directed
the Government to pay $89,350 (68,000 euros) to the family of Suad
Karacic, who was deported to the Foca camp in 1992. On November 10, the
court directed the Government to pay $164,250 (125,000 euros) to the
wife and children of Izet Tufekcic. On November 13, the court directed
the Government to pay $118,250 (90,000 euros) to the wife, father, and
children of Azem Begic. On November 14, the court directed the
Government to pay $26,275 (20,000 euros) to the wife of Sevko Kubat. On
December 1, the court directed the Government to pay $211,300 (160,800
euros) to the wife, daughter, and parents of Mirsad Borovac. The facts
of the case in the last four instances were similar to those in the
first three.
The Government appealed all cases in which damages were awarded and
did not pay compensation before year's end. The other 29 cases remained
in litigation.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. The
law requires the National Security Agency (NSA) to obtain court
authorization for a wiretap. Some observers believed that police
selectively used wiretapping and surveillance against opposition
parties and other groups. Many individuals and organizations operated
on the assumption that they were, or could be, under surveillance.
Eviction of Roma from illegal settlements, and sometimes from legal
residences, was a problem (see section 5).
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; however, there were some
restrictions of freedom of the press in practice.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal, and the Government did not monitor political meetings
or otherwise attempt to impede criticism.
According to the constitution and law, courts are permitted to ban
any media content calling for violent overthrow of the constitutional
system or challenging the territorial integrity of the Republic;
infringing citizens' freedoms and rights; or instigating national,
racial or religious intolerance or hatred.
There were a small number of credible allegations of political and
business pressure on the media. In January the director general of
formerly state-owned Public Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG)
appointed a new television director to replace the director who had
been dismissed in 2005 in what some observers regarded as an attempt to
bring the TVCG editorial board closer in line with government
positions. International and domestic observers noted that despite a
tendency for RTCG to devote more attention to the Government, it
generally acted professionally in covering the highly contentious
referendum on the country's independence and subsequent parliamentary
elections.
The independent media was active and generally expressed a wide
variety of political and social views without government restriction.
There were no documented instances of journalists practicing self-
censorship on political grounds or through fear of government
reprisals; however, observers noted that some journalists were
susceptible to various political and business influences, due to the
journalists' lack of expertise and political affiliations. Some NGOs
warned that the practice of individual officials bringing criminal
libel charges against journalists could deter them from reporting
candidly on events. Libel charges which could carry fines of up to
$18,400 (14,000 euros).
The print media consisted of private news outlets and one national
state-owned newspaper, which published a wide variety of articles on
domestic and foreign topics. The expected privatization of the state-
owned newspaper was still pending at year's end due to government
inaction.
There were a wide variety of public and private broadcasting media,
including public radio and television broadcaster RTCG and 16 private
television and 39 private radio stations. Domestic radio and television
stations regularly rebroadcast programs from a number of foreign
services.
On December 27, the Higher Court in Podgorica acquitted Damir
Mandic of charges of participating in the 2004 killing of Dusko
Jovanovic, the director and editor-in-chief of the leading opposition
daily, Dan. Although the motive of the killing remained unknown, Dan
and other media outlets called the killing a major attack on freedom of
the press and journalistic safety. Opposition politicians protested the
acquittal. During the year the special prosecutor for organized crime
brought charges against individuals accused in the August 2005 killing
of the chief police official investigating the Jovanovic and other
major unresolved killings. That trial had not begun by the year's end.
There were no publicized cases of direct government censorship of
the media. Officials occasionally threatened to bring libel suits
against media organizations that accused them of wrongdoing and
government officials filed several new libel suits against media
organizations. On February 3 and April 17, the basic court in Podgorica
dismissed a lawsuit by the minister of education against Dan for libel
and publication of false information. Despite these developments,
observers noted a modest increase in the willingness of the media to
criticize the Government during the year.
On September 15, based on charges brought by the state prosecutor,
the Podgorica basic court fined a Dan columnist $7,900 (6,000 euros)
for having ``mocked'' the people who had voted for independence. In
another case linked to the referendum, the Agency for Radio-Diffusion
fined private television broadcaster Elmag, citing it for violating
media laws and minimal program standards prescribed by the agency for
airing viewers' text (SMS) messages ridiculing ethnic groups in
programs related to the outcome of the referendum.
The law mandates regulatory structures to insulate former state-
owned media from direct party or government control; these include a
Radio and Television Council (RTVCG), which exercises oversight over
the national public radio and television system. The RTVCG was
established in 2003, with members selected by a variety of NGOs and
professional groups; however, some observers noted that many RTVCG
members had close ties to the Government. Twice during the year the
ruling coalition in Parliament refused to verify the appointments of
the NGO representatives on the council. Opposition parties, some NGOs,
and the rejected candidates called it a violation of the Public
Services Radio and TV Law, which only says parliament should verify,
not vote on, the candidates for council membership. Some observers saw
such moves as the Government's intention to maintain control over
national public broadcasters.
Radio and television stations receive broadcast licenses from an
independent regulatory body. In 2005 the regulatory body allocated
frequencies for 16 television and 39 radio stations in its first public
tender. No frequency tenders were held during the year.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice. There was no state religion, although the constitution
mentions the Orthodox Church, the Islamic community, and the Roman
Catholic Church as equal and separate from the state.
Although there was no formal registration requirement for
religions, religious groups had to register as citizen groups with the
republic's Ministry of the Interior and Department of Statistics to
gain status as legal entities, which is necessary for them to conduct
real estate and other administrative transactions. No problems with
registration were reported.
No progress was reported during the year on the restitution of
previously-seized church property. The Serbian Orthodox Church claimed
that the Government applied the restitution law in a discriminatory
manner. In 2005 the church filed a suit with the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR), alleging that delays in addressing its claims for
property taken by the Government after World War II were politically
motivated. The ECHR had suspended action on the case pending
Montenegro's renewed membership in the ECHR's parent body, the Council
of Europe.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Religion and ethnicity were
closely intertwined, and in many cases it was difficult to identify
discriminatory acts as primarily religious or primarily ethnic in
origin. Minority religious communities reported better cooperation with
government organizations, leading to increased ability to operate
normally; however, some elements in society continued to discriminate
against such communities.
Tensions continued between the canonically unrecognized Montenegrin
Orthodox Church and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
A small, scattered number of adherents of Judaism lived in the
country. A 2004 survey by the Government statistics office concluded
that there was no organized Jewish community; an international Jewish
NGO reached a similar conclusion
A 2005 report by the International Helsinki Federation of Human
Rights stated that anti-Semitic content was published in the (now-
defunct) Istok Review and anti-Semitic books were available in some
bookshops (although independent observers disputed this.) There were no
reports of anti-Semitic Internet postings or anti-Semitic speech among
political parties or other groups.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Although the country became
independent of Serbia on June 3, 16,619 persons displaced from Kosovo
were still listed by the Government as ``internally displaced
persons.'' The country lists another 6,926 persons originally from
Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina as ``displaced persons.'' These
persons may in fact be refugees according to international law and the
country's new law on asylum, but no formal determination of their
status was made. Another 24 persons with origins other than Kosovo,
Croatia, or Bosnia and Herzegovina were registered with the Government.
Protection of Refugees.--On July 6, the Assembly passed an asylum
law that provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status to
persons in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Government established a
system for providing protection to refugees that was to take effect on
January 25, 2007. In practice the Government provided some protection
against refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they
feared persecution. According to established procedures, during the
year authorities referred refugee cases to the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for adjudication; during the year
five persons applied to UNHCR for refugee status; all were rejected.
The Government was also prepared to provide temporary protection to
individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention
and the 1967 Protocol; however, no persons requested such protection
during the year.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Conditions for
refugees varied; those with relatives or property in the country were
able to find housing and, in some cases, employment.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--A public referendum on
independence took place on May 21. It was conducted according to rules
agreed by the Assembly, following negotiations between the competing
political blocs that were moderated by an envoy from the European
Union. Turnout was 86.5 percent, with 55.5 percent of voters supporting
independence and 44.5 percent against. The OSCE stated that the
referendum was conducted in line with OSCE and other international
standards related to democratic electoral processes. International and
local observers noted scattered irregularities, the most significant of
which were in rural areas where there were a number of reports that
husbands directed their wives' voting.
Elections for seats in the Assembly took place on September 10. The
OSCE stated that the conduct of the campaign and vote were generally in
line with international standards. However, OSCE observers criticized
changes to the electoral law passed after the call for elections, and
reiterated their view that the law giving party leaders the right to
select half of their party's actual Assembly representation from
anywhere on the party's voter's list impaired transparency.
Filip Vujanovic was elected President in 2003 elections that an
OSCE election observer mission found were conducted generally in
accordance with international standards.
The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) has held power
without interruption, in various coalitions, ever since the
reintroduction of multiparty democracy in 1991. The DPS is, however, on
an equal legal footing with all other parties. All individuals and
parties could freely declare their candidacy and stand for election.
There were seven women in the 81-seat Assembly and one woman in the
cabinet.
There were 14 members of ethnic minorities in the 81-seat Assembly
and two members of ethnic minorities in the cabinet. Five seats were
set aside by law for ethnic Albanians. On July 17, the Constitutional
Court struck down a law that would have added set-aside seats for
Muslims, Bosniacs, and Croats. Ethnic Albanians, Muslims, Bosniacs, and
Croats participated in the political process, and their parties,
candidates, and voters participated in all elections. No Roma ran for
or held seats in the Assembly and Roma were significantly
underrepresented in the Government; only one Roma held elective office
at any level in the country.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
perception of government corruption, particularly in the executive and
judicial branches. On July 28, the Government adopted an action plan
against corruption. There were widespread allegations of corruption
affecting the privatization of industry. Observers noted that a lack of
transparency prevented citizens from judging the validity of those
allegations; an August 15 court order to make the contracts privatizing
the largest state-owned industries publicly available was not fully
implemented by the end of the year. Conflict of interest legislation
requiring the disclosure of the salaries and property of state
officials, including members of the Assembly, was not fully
implemented, and many officials refused to comply. There was no legal
penalty for noncompliance.
The constitution and law provide for public access to information.
In practice access to public information was mixed. Some ministries
were reluctant to implement the law fully and publicly criticized
requests for information, but others were supportive. Authorities
usually gave reasons for denials and denials could be appealed to the
courts. While the courts usually supported access to the information,
their orders to the ministries were often ambiguous and consequently
ignored. Citizens could inspect secret files kept on them by the former
State Security Service (SDB), the precursor of the NSA, from 1945 to
1989; since 2001, 327 requests were made for inspection of SDB files,
of which 90 were approved. In approximately half of the other cases,
authorities responded that no file had been created. Nine requests were
filed with the current NSA in 2006; two were approved and seven
rejected (in three cases the stated reason for denial was that no such
file existed; no reason was given in four cases).
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
A number of NGOs investigated human rights cases, including the
Helsinki Committee of Montenegro and the Center for Democracy and Human
Rights. Observers credited NGOs with helping to reduce police brutality
and other abuses. The Government generally cooperated with
international organizations.
The Government cooperated with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia; the tribunal's chief prosecutor stated that
she was very satisfied with the country's cooperation with the court.
The ombudsman for human rights does not have authority over the
work of the courts, except in cases of excessively prolonged
procedures, obvious abuses of procedure, and failure to execute court
decisions. The office of the ombudsman operated without government or
party interference and the Government provided the office with adequate
resources. The ombudsman was generally considered to be effective. Upon
finding a violation of human rights or freedoms, the ombudsman may
initiate disciplinary procedures or dismissal of the violator. Failure
to comply with the ombudsman's request for access to official data,
documents, or premises, or with the ombudsman's request to testify at a
hearing, is punishable by fines of 10 to 20 times the minimum monthly
wage--$660 to $1,320 (500 to 1,000 euros). No fines were imposed during
the year, since essentially all of the ombudsman's requests were
respected. In March the ombudsman's office released its second annual
report to the Assembly. The greatest number of complaints were about
delays in the courts, protection of labor rights, and the work of local
governments; only a few complaints involved police misconduct. In
general the Government and the courts implemented the ombudsman's
recommendations.
An Assembly committee on human rights continued to exist but was
inactive during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, the Government
did not effectively enforce these prohibitions in practice. Violence
and discrimination against women, child abuse, trafficking in persons,
and discrimination against ethnic minorities were problems.
Women.--Although violence against women, including spousal abuse,
is illegal, it was widespread, particularly in rural areas. During the
year official agencies, including the police, improved their response
to domestic violence; however, efforts were still inadequate. Domestic
violence is a crime punishable by a fine or prison sentence of up to 10
years, depending on the seriousness of the offense or, if death
results, by a sentence of three to 12 years in prison. Victims of
domestic violence rarely filed complaints with authorities. According
to a 2004 survey conducted by the NGO ``SOS,'' only 30 percent of
victims reported domestic violence incidents to police; however,
domestic violence-related offenses made up 30 percent of all police
arrests. The Government prosecuted a small but growing number of
domestic violence cases; however, NGOs reported that judges often
refused to impose jail sentences, although prosecutors routinely asked
that convicted abusers be imprisoned; most convictions resulted in
probation.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The Government sought to
enforce the law, but deeply ingrained societal attitudes continued to
stigmatize rape victims, and judges frequently allowed negative
aspersions on the victims' character to be entered into court
proceedings. As a result victims were reluctant to report rape,
including spousal rape. Punishment for rape, including spousal rape, is
one to 10 years in prison; however, authorities can only prosecute the
crime if the victim brings charges. A local NGO estimated that 80
percent of domestic violence against women involved spousal rape;
however, there were no reports of indictments of alleged rapists during
the year.
Prostitution is a crime, as are soliciting and procuring. The
Government took active measures to suppress these offenses.
Prostitution existed but was not widespread. Trafficking in women for
sexual exploitation was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was a problem. It was tolerated by society at
large. Although victims were hesitant to report harassment, police were
usually effective in intervening when requested to do so.
By law women have equal status with men in property law, family
law, and the judicial system; however, in practice, women did not enjoy
equal status with men. Traditional patriarchal ideas of gender, which
maintained that women should be subservient to male members of their
families, persisted and resulted in continued discrimination against
women in the home. In rural areas women could not always exercise their
right to control property, and husbands commonly directed wives'
voting. Few women held senior management positions in government or
commerce. There were some signs of improvement, however; an increasing
numbers of women served as judges, and there were many women in
professional fields such as law, science, and medicine.
Women were legally entitled to equal pay for equal work; however,
they did not always receive it in practice. The Government's Office for
Gender Equality was responsible for protecting the legal and economic
rights of women. The Office issued publications on antidiscrimination
and worked on the Bill for Gender Equality and the National Action Plan
for Gender Equality.
Children.--The Government was committed to the health and
educational needs of children; however, the Government did not allocate
adequate resources to achieve this goal.
Education was free, compulsory, and universal through the eighth
grade. There was no difference in the treatment and attendance of boys
and girls at the primary and secondary levels. Although ethnic Albanian
children had access to instruction in their native language, some
Albanians criticized the Government for not developing a curriculum in
which Albanians could learn about their ethnic culture and history.
Most Roma children received little or no education beyond the primary
school level, and the Government did not undertake adequate efforts to
encourage continued school attendance of Roma. Roma children who
attended school were often segregated from others; instruction was
usually in Serbian or Albanian.
Child abuse was an underreported problem that the Government took
little action to address. The law does not allow a juvenile to make an
allegation of a crime without a parent or guardian present;
consequently, there was almost no reporting of child abuse or incest to
authorities.
Child marriage was a problem, particularly among Roma. In the Roma
community, boys and girls generally married at an early age, with girls
marrying somewhat earlier than boys. The problem was widely ignored by
the Government.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was problem (see section 6).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from,
through, and within the country, primarily for prostitution, but
trafficking for labor purposes existed as well. Internal trafficking
was not a major problem. The republic was primarily a transit point for
trafficked persons, particularly women and children, and to a lesser
extent it was a source and destination for trafficking victims.
Independence from Serbia during the year transformed a significant
portion of formerly internal trafficking into external, cross-border,
trafficking. According to the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) and police officials, most victims came from Ukraine and Serbia
and often continued to West European countries.
Statistics on the actual number of trafficking victims, as opposed
to those that came to official attention, were difficult to obtain, as
traffickers increasingly avoided holding their victims in such public
locales as bars and nightclubs. Victims were generally women and girls
with less-than-average education and usually, but not always, poor. The
IOM estimated that approximately 30 to 50 percent of females in
prostitution in the country were victims of trafficking: of that
number, one-half were children aged 16 to 18.
Traffickers were often citizens who worked at times with foreign
partners and were affiliated with broader organized crime
organizations. They usually used fraud (false advertisements for travel
or employment) to entice their victims and resorted to force and
coercion to keep victims from escaping. There were no reports of
involvement in trafficking by officials during the year. The IOM stated
that it regarded the lack of training for officials as a more serious
problem than corruption in impeding their efforts to counter
trafficking. Law enforcement personnel, including those at the borders,
often lacked training in how to recognize trafficking operations.
The maximum penalty for trafficking in persons is 10 years in
prison. During the year authorities arrested and charged one citizen
with trafficking, and at year's end they were investigating another
person. There were eight convictions for trafficking during the year.
On April 20, a court sentenced three citizens found guilty of
trafficking. They transported four Bangladeshi nationals and 15 other
persons of unknown nationality from Kosovo through Montenegro to Bosnia
and Herzegovina. The victims were destined for Western Europe. Rajko S.
Djukovic was sentenced to three years in prison, Branislav M. Brasnjo
to two years and eight months and Elvir S. Kalac to two years and six
months. On December 25, a court sentenced four citizens and one
individual from Kosovo, to three years in prison each after finding
them guilty of human trafficking. They attempted to trade their infant
relative for a used automobile. Convicted were Adnan Salihi, Cazim
Adzovic, Nailja Salihi, Ljubica Adzovic, and Vjera Adzovic.
Several cases from previous years were still in the courts.
A coordinator appointed by the Government chaired an
antitrafficking working group composed of the ministries of interior,
health, justice and education, the IOM, and NGOs. The Government also
coordinated its antitrafficking efforts with other countries in the
region, particularly through the Southern European Cooperative
Initiative Center in Bucharest.
The law provides some protection to trafficking victims,
distinguishing them from prostitutes, who were subject to fines, and
illegal migrants, who were subject to deportation. Authorities
generally observed these distinctions. Authorities established
procedures for referring trafficking victims to social service agencies
and repatriating them with IOM assistance.
International organizations sponsored training on trafficking
problems for police (including border police), prosecutors, and judges.
Local NGOs operated one shelter, in Podgorica, with government funding.
Public awareness campaigns, sponsored by the Government with
international support, continued throughout the country.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services; however,
there was societal discrimination against persons with disabilities.
The law mandates access to new official buildings for persons with
disabilities, and the Government generally enforced this provision in
practice; however, facilities for persons with disabilities, including
at polling stations, were inadequate.
The Government provided mobile voting for handicapped or ill voters
who could not come to polling stations.
The ministries of health, labor and social welfare, and education
are responsible for protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Societal discrimination against
ethnic minorities was a problem. Prejudice against Roma was widespread,
and local authorities often ignored or tacitly condoned their
intimidation or mistreatment. According to a local NGO, 70 percent of
Roma were illiterate, 70 percent did not speak the local language, 95
percent were officially unemployed, 40 percent had no access to public
utilities, and 90 percent lived below the poverty level.
Roma from Kosovo, still formally considered by the Government as
IDPs, lived primarily in collective centers and scattered settlements
throughout the country. They often lacked identity documents and access
to basic human services (see section 2.d.). Eviction from illegal
settlements and at times from legal residences was a serious problem.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Society generally showed
antipathy towards homosexuals, leading most homosexuals to conceal
their identity. Violence against homosexuals was rare and not condoned
by the Government.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers, except for
uniformed military and police personnel, to form and join unions of
their choice without previous authorization or excessive requirements,
and workers exercised this right in practice. Approximately 95 percent
of the workforce in the formal economy was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right of collective bargaining; however, collective bargaining remained
at a rudimentary level. By law the registered workforce is covered by
collective bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to
strike, and workers generally exercised this right by conducting legal
strikes; however, the law prohibits strikes by military and police
personnel.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There were laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace, including those prohibiting forced or compulsory labor,
and those establishing acceptable working conditions, and the
Government generally enforced these laws and regulations effectively.
The official minimum age for employment is 15 years, although in
farming communities it was common to find younger children assisting
their families. Roma children also worked in a variety of unofficial
retail jobs, typically washing car windows or selling small items such
as newspapers. However, there were no reports that such practices
occurred systematically.
Children were trafficked for child prostitution (see section 5).
Inspectors from the state labor inspectorate were responsible for
enforcing the child labor laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
approximately $68 (52 euros) per month did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. The Ministry of Labor
enforced the minimum wage; there were no reports during the year of
employers failing to pay it.
The law requires a 30-minute rest period daily, limits hours worked
to 40 per week except in specified unusual circumstances, and requires
an unspecified premium for work in excess of 40 hours per week. There
is no specific prohibition on excessive compulsory overtime. The
Ministry of Labor effectively enforced the regulations on hours of
work.
The Government did not give high priority to the enforcement of
occupational safety and health regulations. Workers did not have the
right to remove themselves from situations that endanger health and
safety without jeopardy to their employment.
__________
THE NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands, with a population of approximately 16.3 million,
is a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliamentary legislative
system consisting of a First Chamber, whose members are indirectly
elected by the country's 12 provincial councils, and a Second Chamber,
whose members are directly elected by popular vote. Elections held in
November were free and fair. A prime minister and a cabinet
representing the governing political parties (traditionally a coalition
of at least two major parties) exercise executive authority. The
civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the
security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. The following human rights
problems were reported: societal discrimination and violence against
some religious and ethnic minorities, violence against women and
children, and trafficking in women and girls for sexual exploitation.
The Government took steps to deal with all these problems.
Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles are two semi-autonomous
countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; they also feature
parliamentary systems and full constitutional protection of human
rights. In practice respect for human rights in these islands generally
was the same as in the European Netherlands; however, conditions in the
islands' prisons remained substandard in some areas.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them. There were incidents
of right-wing and racist violence against religious and ethnic
minorities (see sections 2.c. and 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions in the
country generally met international standards, and the Government
permitted visits by independent human rights observers.
The Safety Investigative Council investigated the causes of a fire
at the Schiphol detention center in October 2005 in which 11 detainees
died. In September it published a report stating that the Ministry of
Justice and the Government Building Service failed to ensure compliance
with fire safety standards. The ministers of justice and housing
subsequently resigned, taking responsibility for the failures of the
institutions under their supervision. The council made a number of
recommendations. Measures were taken during the year to improve fire
safety at this and other detention centers.
During the year the Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and
Aruba continued to improve prison staffing and capacity to address
concerns by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture. Both governments took steps to alleviate overcrowding. They
introduced a pilot project on house arrest for selected prison inmates.
New women's and juvenile sections opened at the correctional institute
in Aruba, while the detention center in Bonaire was renovated and
placed under the supervision of the Netherlands Antilles Prison
Service.
Despite the improvement, problems remained. On Curacao several
stabbings and shootings took place among rival gang members in the Bon
Futuro prison, and several inmates escaped. In St. Maarten illegal
immigrants held a hunger strike, because authorities did not repatriate
them in a reasonable amount of time.
The Governments of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and
Aruba permitted access by independent human rights observers to
prisons; however, no such visits occurred during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions in practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Regional police forces
have primary responsibility for maintaining internal security. The
royal constabulary and investigative organizations also have
responsibilities for specified internal and external security matters.
Police were generally effective, conducting their investigations in a
professional manner. There were no indications of systematic police
corruption. Impunity was not a problem; the National Criminal
Investigation Service, the Rijksrecherche, investigates allegations of
police abuse. Individuals may also file complaints to police complaint
boards and the ombudsman.
Arrest and Detention.--Police officers, acting under the authority
of the public prosecutor, conduct criminal investigations. A prosecutor
or senior police officer must order arrests. Police officers may
question suspects for a maximum of 12 hours and may detain a suspect
for up to six days by order of the public prosecutor. Authorities must
promptly inform detainees of the charges against them and must bring
them before an examining magistrate within four days. The magistrate is
obliged to review the validity of continued detention every 30 days
depending on progress in the preliminary investigation. The authorities
respected these rights in practice. If the prosecutor believes an
investigation is necessary, he must request a preliminary judicial
inquiry from the investigative judge, who then assumes responsibility
over the investigation. Defendants have the right to have their
attorneys present during any questioning. There is no provision for
bail.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judicial system is based on the Napoleonic Code. A pyramidal
system of cantonal, district, and appellate courts handles both
criminal and civil cases. The Supreme Court acts as the highest
appellate court and ensures the uniform interpretation of the law.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public. The judicial system does not
provide for jury trials. The law requires that defendants be fully
informed about the proceedings at every stage. In criminal trials the
law provides for prompt access to counsel (inexpensively for persons
with low incomes), the presumption of innocence, and the right to
appeal. The Government respected these rights in practice.
Defendants and their attorneys generally had access to government-
held evidence. In terrorism cases newly enacted legislation permits
prosecutors to introduce classified information that defense attorneys
cannot fully inspect. Courts may permit such information to be used in
trials if it is corroborated by public evidence.
These procedures and rights were the same or similar in Aruba and
the Netherlands Antilles, where they were generally respected in
practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Lawsuits for damages related
to a possible human rights violation may be brought before the regular
court system or specific appeal boards. There were no problems
enforcing domestic court orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected this prohibition in practice. Legislation designed
to improve law enforcement came into force in January 2005. The
legislation requires every person over the age of 14 to carry valid
identification and allows police to demand identification at any time
on the basis of strict criteria; random searches are not permitted.
Some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the implementation
of the legislation, saying immigrant youth were disproportionately
affected, but they did not allege that the disproportionate outcomes
resulted from profiling or deliberate targeting of immigrant youth.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
The law forbids the broadcasting of programs that incite hate. In
2004 the parliament raised questions about several foreign television
and radio stations allegedly broadcasting anti-Semitic and other hate
speech into the country. The Ministry of Justice investigated a number
of cases and worked with other European governments to ensure
compliance with national and European Union (EU) rules forbidding such
broadcasts. For example, in January authorities cited licensing
deficiencies in order to terminate broadcasts by Lebanon-based,
Hezbollah-affiliated al-Manar radio. Most such programs remain
available via internet.
Debate about radical Islam increased and intensified. Prominent
figures, such as parliamentarians Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders,
immigration minister Rita Verdonk, Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen, and
others, were put under constant police protection, some after making
controversial statements. According to the International Helsinki
Committee, threats from radical Islamists and others also contributed
to a climate of fear in which many public figures censored themselves.
Government leaders spoke out strongly against all such threats.
In October the NGO Reporters Without Borders described the country
as one in which there had been no recorded censorship, threats,
intimidation, or physical reprisals targeting journalists.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. In November parliament enacted
legislation banning organizations designated as terrorist by the UN and
EU; the ban was scheduled to become effective February 1, 2007. The law
also provides for action against foreign organizations that do not
appear on the UN or EU lists but are conducting activities in the
country deemed contrary to public order.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice. There
were no reports that the Government attempted to limit the freedom or
exercise of religion during the year.
The authorities continued to wrestle with the integration of the
country's growing Muslim population. The Equal Opportunities Commission
(CGB), a body established by law, but whose rulings are independent of
government policy, and the courts, repeatedly addressed the wearing of
headscarves in schools and places of employment. Both the CGB, whose
opinions are not legally binding, and the courts have held that
restrictions should be limited and based on security considerations or
other narrow grounds. In practice headscarves are permitted almost
everywhere, including in schools.
Some limited restrictions on religious dress appeared to be
permissible. In 2003 the CGB held that a ban on burqas (a loose robe
worn by some Muslim women that covers the body from head to toe) by an
Amsterdam school was not discriminatory. The CGB stated that open
teacher-to-student and student-to-student interaction was more
important than the right to wear a burqa. While burqas were not
officially banned in schools, they were discouraged.
In November the Government proposed a policy that would ban the
wearing of face (as opposed to head) coverings, including head-to-toe
burqas, in public. However, authorities took no action during the year.
Some observers considered the move, which came days before national
elections, as a political ploy with little chance of becoming law.
The CGB and unofficial bodies reviewing complaints of religious and
other discrimination publicly rebuked employers for failing to allow
non-Christians to take leave from work on their religious holidays, for
objecting to Sikhs wearing turbans and Muslim women wearing
headscarves, and for objecting to observance of religious dietary
requirements. For example, in 2004 the CGB ruled against a company that
had denied employment to a Turkish applicant because he intended to
attend Friday services at a mosque. The CGB said that employers are
generally obliged to take account of their employees' reasonable
religious demands and held that the company had violated the
complainant's right to freedom of religion. Legislation enacted in 2003
permits employees to refuse to work on Sunday for religious reasons,
with certain exceptions.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The number of Muslims in the
country has increased significantly in the past two decades. At the
beginning of the year, the population included approximately 950,000
Muslims, 5.8 percent of the total. They lived primarily in the larger
cities. The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 by an Islamic
extremist, and subsequent reactions to it, brought tensions between the
Muslim and non-Muslim communities to the surface. These tensions
continued to color intercommunal relations during the year. Minor
incidents, including intimidation, brawls, vandalism, and graffiti with
abusive texts, were frequent. Many in the Muslim community expressed an
increased sense of alienation from Dutch society.
In a February poll, a majority of ``native Dutch'' found Islam an
intolerant (52 percent), violent (40 percent), women-unfriendly (70
percent), and humorless (54 percent) religion, and 54 percent said
Islam and democracy were incompatible.
Half of those interviewed in a June poll conducted by the
Motivaction Research Institute held very negative views of Islam, and
63 percent regarded Islam as incompatible with Western society. Dutch
Muslims often felt compelled to defend themselves against criticism of
their poor integration into society, the high level of criminal
activity among Muslim youth, and the views of conservative Muslims on
women's rights, homosexuality, and corporal punishment.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that Muslims experienced
discrimination in the job market both in the private and public
sectors, were more likely to be refused housing, and were more
frequently banned from entering nightclubs and similar establishments,
than non-Muslims.
The Government pursued a comprehensive outreach campaign to counter
anti-Muslim sentiments, stressing that the majority of Muslims fit
comfortably into Dutch society. At the same time, the Government took
firm action against groups espousing violence in support of an Islamic
extremist agenda. These efforts raised public awareness and triggered
debate, but concerns remained about the effectiveness of the
Government's policies. The Government pursued a hiring policy of
affirmative action towards minorities and women.
Anti-Semitism continued to be a problem. According to the
Government, the country had a population of approximately 45,000 Jews.
Certain groups opposed to Israeli policies frequently used implicitly
anti-Semitic language and images to express political views. Explicitly
anti-Semitic sentiments also prevailed among certain segments of the
Muslim community and among fringe nationalist and neo-Nazi groups. In
June 2005 the Anti-Defamation League reported that one in five citizens
held negative and prejudicial stereotypes about Jews.
Observers generally agreed that the level of anti-Semitic incidents
among the country's North African population depended to a considerable
extent on events in the Middle East. While the Center for Information
and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) registered 159 anti-Semitic
incidents in 2005, a decline compared to 327 in 2004, the number of
incidents increased in the first four months of the year, following the
electoral victory of Hamas. There was also a sharp increase in
incidents during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the
terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon, during which period CIDI
registered 105 incidents, including threatening phone calls, e-mails,
spraying of slogans such as ``Juden Raus'' (Jews Out) and vandalizing a
synagogue in Zutphen and the national Auschwitz monument. In many cases
the conflict between Israel and its neighbors appeared to be an excuse
for anti-Semites to offend Jews.
The National Expertise Center on Discrimination (LECD) also reports
statistics, based on the number of allegations of discrimination
received and processed by the public prosecutor's office. In 2005, 65
of 280 registered discrimination cases concerned anti-Semitism,
compared to 58 of 214 cases in 2004 and 50 of 204 cases in 2003. There
were 14 convictions related to anti-Semitism in 2005.
Two distinct groups were responsible for most anti-Semitic
incidents: North Africans, who acted out of sympathy with Palestinians,
and supporters of right-wing extremist ideologies. While the percentage
of incidents attributable to North Africans declined, the absolute
number of incidents attributable to that group rose.
Anti-Semitism among right-wing extremists appeared to increase. The
independent Registration Center for Discrimination on the Internet has
described several hundred right-wing Web sites as extremist, including
those of Stormfront.org, Polinico, National Alliance, and Holland
Hardcore. These sites target not just Jews but also Muslims, blacks,
and homosexuals. Extreme right-wing anti-Semites express themselves
primarily by vandalizing Jewish buildings and monuments. CIDI expressed
concern about the sharply increased vandalism of monuments and
desecration of cemeteries, in particular by right-wing extremists. For
example, in late October 15 of 20 gravestones were vandalized in a
Jewish cemetery in Beek. Dozens of such incidents were reported during
the year.
CIDI, which has frequently criticized what it regarded as
inadequate prosecution of anti-Semitic events by the public
prosecutor's office, reported considerable improvement during the year;
however, CIDI called for more government action against anti-Semitic
Internet sites; it described the Internet as one of the main sources
for dissemination of anti-Semitic and racist ideologies. On March 1,
the Government opened the new cybercrime Web site through which
citizens can report radical statements and hate e-mail. The National
Cybercrime Reporting Center is located with the National Police Force
Services (KLPD).
The criminal law forbids the broadcasting of programs that incite
hate. Parliament in 2004 raised questions about several foreign
television and radio stations allegedly broadcasting anti-Semitic and
other hate speech into the country. The Ministry of Justice
investigated a number of cases and worked with other European
governments to ensure compliance with national and EU rules forbidding
such broadcasts. In January authorities cited licensing deficiencies to
end broadcasts by Lebanon-based, Hizballah-affiliated al-Manar radio.
Most such programs remained available via Internet.
Government and NGOs cooperated to combat discrimination and promote
dialogue and mutual understanding. Educational efforts and projects to
promote dialogue in Amsterdam and other large cities may have played a
role in reducing the number of anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by
individuals of North African descent.
It is a crime to engage in public speech that incites religious,
racial, or ethnic hatred, and the Government prosecuted several cases
during the year. For example, on May 3, a district court convicted and
sentenced to 200 hours of community services a man who placed remarks
insulting Jews, disabled persons, homosexuals, Muslims, and other
minorities on a right-wing Web site. On May 24, the producers of the
Housewitz film clip, a spoof on Auschwitz, which the court called
``sickening,'' were convicted of incitement to hatred. On January 25, a
man was convicted of incitement to hatred for producing material,
placed on the Internet, that insulted homosexuals and Jews.
The Government repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism and had a
comprehensive action plan to combat discrimination. The Ministry of
Education reminded schools about longstanding guidelines prescribing
the teaching of different religions and ideologies in conjunction with
combating discrimination and intolerance. The Ministry of Welfare
subsidized a special program to teach children about the Second World
War and the persecution of Jews. The Government sought to promote
dialogue and supported initiatives that aimed to create a better
understanding between Jews and Muslims. Nonetheless, CIDI suggested
that the Government should spend more time and money creating a safe
environment at schools and teaching respect for the different cultural
and social backgrounds of students.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum. The
Government cooperated with representatives of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting
refugees and asylum seekers.
Authorities denied asylum to persons who came from a so-called safe
country of origin or who stay for some time in a safe country of
transit. EU guidelines were used to define such countries. The
authorities provided economic assistance to those whom it denied asylum
and who chose to return home voluntarily.
However, NGOs and the UNHCR alleged that the Government returned
asylum seekers to countries where the security situation was
insufficiently stable to guarantee their safety, such as Iraq, Iran,
Somalia, and Afghanistan. These challenges drew intense political
scrutiny and gave rise to parliamentary hearings whose consequences
included the delay or reversal of government proposals to return asylum
seekers from central and southern Iraq, as well as homosexuals and
Christian converts from Iran.
NGOs, refugee organizations, and opposition parties criticized the
Government for failing to expeditiously adjudicate asylum requests
involving over 32,000 persons. In some cases the applications were 10
years old, and the total included approximately 6,000 children born
while the applicants were in the country. Critics pressed for a general
amnesty for these 32,000. In September the Government announced that it
had completed its review of all these cases and had granted residence
permits to about half of the applicants. The others, whose applications
were denied, were ordered to leave the country. Several thousand
individuals chose to return to their countries of origin and accepted
government financial assistance for resettlement. Another few thousand
were repatriated involuntarily. This led to an intense political
debate, and in December the parliament agreed on a moratorium on
repatriation of anyone else in this group in anticipation of a policy
revision by the new government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage. These constitutional rights also apply to the Netherlands
Antilles and Aruba, where they were also exercised in practice.
Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections,
held on November 22, were free and fair. At year's end a coalition
government had not yet been formed, and a caretaker government remained
in power.
Following the November elections, 55 women held seats in the 150-
seat Second Chamber of parliament; five women remained in the 16-member
caretaker cabinet. Women also held positions in the parliaments and
cabinets of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
A court order prohibited the Government from subsidizing the
orthodox Protestant Political Reformed Party (SGP), which does not
grant equal rights to women on theological grounds. The SGP responded
by permitting women to become party members. However, the SGP continued
to deny women the right to run for office, a policy it defended as
Biblically based.
There were approximately 15 members of ethnic minorities--Turkish,
Moroccan, Surinamese--in the 150-seat Second Chamber of parliament,
although there were no ethnic minority political parties or movements
specifically represented in parliament. There were no members of ethnic
minorities in the 16-member cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of corruption within the Government. During the year there were
press reports of low-level law enforcement corruption at Schiphol
airport, but the problem was not believed to be widespread or
systematic. However, in July courts sentenced eight Schiphol employees,
including two former military police officers, of setting up a drug
trafficking ring. They received sentences of between 12 and 44 months.
In August 2005 the Ministry of Justice's Scientific Investigation and
Documentation Center (WODC) reported that every year there were
approximately 130 internal investigations of corruption within the
public administration. Authorities transferred approximately 50 of
these investigations to police or the public prosecutor's office,
leading to approximately five convictions a year.
The law provides for public access to government information, and
authorities generally respected that right for both citizens and
noncitizens. Disputes occasionally arose in court over the scope of the
Government's right to decline to make information public based on the
public interest. For example, there were disputes as to whether certain
classified internal memos should be released.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Several domestic and international human rights groups generally
operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing
their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were
cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Government has a long tradition of hosting international legal
tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the
headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender,
disability, language, political preference, sexual orientation, and
social status, and the Government generally enforced these
prohibitions. However, violence against women and children, trafficking
in persons, and discrimination against ethnic minorities were problems.
Women.--Domestic violence was the most prevalent form of violence
in society. According to a fact sheet issued in June by the Ministry of
Justice, more than 40 percent of the population has experienced
domestic violence at some point in their lives. Of these, 10 percent
reportedly experienced some form of physical, sexual, or mental abuse
on at least a weekly basis. According to police records, some 80
percent of victims were women. Police estimated that approximately 12
percent of these cases were reported to police.
Spousal abuse carries a penalty one-third greater than ordinary
battery. Police records show that in 2005 approximately 3 percent of
the cases reported to police resulted in arrests.
The TransAct organization, supported by the Government, is the
national office for providing support to victims of domestic violence
and those investigating and prosecuting such crimes. TransAct organized
meetings of the national network on domestic violence, set up
databases, and gathered examples of best practices. The Government
subsidized shelters for battered women.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a criminal offense, and the
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes.
Approximately 15,000 rapes and sexual assaults were committed each
year. The penalty for rape is imprisonment not exceeding 15 years or a
fine. The maximum sentence for marital rape is eight years'
imprisonment. Rape victims may be given protection in government-
subsidized shelters for battered women. Police officially registered
1,774 rape cases in 2004, the latest year for which figures were
available.
According to a September report by the Ministry of Integration,
there were 279 cases of honor-related violence in The Hague and
surroundings. Police in The Hague region established a special computer
registration system to track and identify honor-related violence. In
May Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk, in response to parliamentary
inquires about honor-related violence, announced a five-year, $17
million (13 million Euro) program to combat honor-related violence.
The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM). The Government's
National Public Health Council estimates that at least 50 girls a year
undergo FGM, but the government-affiliated FGM Committee, established
by the health ministry, claims that the number is much higher. The
maximum penalty for FGM is six to nine years' imprisonment. Beginning
in February parents having their daughters genitally mutilated in
foreign countries may also be punished under domestic law.
Prostitution is legal for persons who are at least 18 years of age
and engage in the work voluntarily; however, the law penalizes
organized prostitution that involves force, violence, misuse of power,
and deception. The Government reported that strict controls and
licensing requirements were employed as a means of combating
trafficking. The controls included regulations prohibiting the
employment of minors and illegal immigrants. The regulations also set
strict standards for workplace conditions and require the provision of
health care for prostitutes. There were approximately 25,000
prostitutes; roughly two-thirds were from non-EU countries.
The trafficking of women for sexual exploitation was a problem that
the Government took steps to address (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law requires employers to take measures to protect workers from
sexual harassment; however, a 2003 study showed that 5.3 percent of
female workers were sexually intimidated in the workplace. The
Government funded an ongoing public awareness campaign and has taken
measures to counter harassment among civil servants.
Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system.
Although roughly 59 percent of women worked, nearly two-thirds did
so part time. Traditional cultural factors and an inadequate number of
daycare facilities discouraged many women from working full time. The
Government was taking measures to make daycare more accessible. Female
and male unemployment rates were 6.5 and 4.4 percent respectively. The
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment reported that women
experienced a higher rate of unemployment, had less chance of
promotion, and held lower level positions than men, primarily because
they more often worked part time. According to the ministry, women
working in the private sector on average earned 23 percent less than
men, although, when adjusted for level of experience and expertise
required for the jobs, this differential fell to 7 percent.
The Government provided affirmative action programs for women, and
collective labor agreements usually included provisions to strengthen
the position of women. An official Equal Treatment Commission
investigated complaints of discrimination against women.
Children.--The Government worked to ensure the welfare of children
through numerous well-funded health, education, and public information
programs.
Education was free and compulsory for children between the ages of
four and 16, although schools could ask for a voluntary contribution
from parents. Vocational education was also free, except for the cost
of books and materials. According to an April education ministry fact
sheet, in October 2004 approximately 3 percent of students, 64 percent
of them immigrant children, left secondary school before attaining a
certificate. Government-licensed Islamic schools were obliged to follow
the same curriculum requirements as other schools. The Government
subsidizes health care, and boys and girls have equal access.
Child abuse was a problem. In a February 2005 report, the special
child abuse commissioner for youth policy concluded that as many as
100,000 children were victims of abuse. Experts estimate that
approximately 50 to 80 children died each year from some form of abuse.
More than 38,000 formal reports of child abuse were registered with the
authorities in 2005, 12 percent more than in 2004. This high volume of
reports led in turn to long waiting lists for assistance, but the
Government reduced these waiting lists by increasing funding to the
Council for the Protection of Children.
In some cases girls were subjected to FGM (see section 5, Women).
The law provides for the prosecution of sexual abusers of children
between the ages of 12 and 16 and does not require that affected
parties file a complaint. Under the law national courts may try
citizens and noncitizen permanent residents who abuse minor children
abroad, even if the offense is not a crime in the country where it
occurred. In July Schiphol airport police increased controls designed
to crack down on travelers guilty of sex tourism or possession of child
pornography. In June they arrested three persons suspected of sexual
abuse of minors abroad. In May the Dutch Association of Tour Operators
suspended a Dutch travel agency for having organized sex trips to
Thailand.
The maximum penalty for the distribution of child pornography is
six years' imprisonment, and the Government continued its campaign
against child pornography on the Internet. The government-subsidized
Child Pornography Reporting Center received 8,185 reports of cases of
Internet child porn in 2005, up from 6,322 reports in 2004. In 2005
more than 88 child pornography cases were prosecuted, compared to 60 in
2004.
Trafficking of girls for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons was a problem.
The country was a destination and transit point for trafficked
persons. NGOs and the police estimated that the number of women and
girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation ranged from
1,000 to 3,600. The Foundation Against Trafficking in Women (STV), an
independent NGO that helped victims of trafficking, registered 424
victims in 2005, up from 405 in 2004. The top five countries of origin
were the Netherlands (98), Bulgaria (52), Nigeria (28), Romania (23),
and the Czech Republic (18). Of the 424 victims registered in 2005, two
were male and 24 were under the age of 18. In the first four months of
the year, the STV registered 122 victims, of whom 15 were male. A
significant percentage of the 25,000 individuals engaged in
prostitution in the country were reportedly trafficking victims.
Trafficking within the country was also a problem. Almost all of
the 98 domestic victims registered in 2005 were victims of so-called
``lover boys,'' primarily young Moroccan or Turkish men and boys who
seduce young, mostly immigrant, girls into prostitution. In January
2005 the Government set up the National Expertise Center for Youth
Prostitution to collect statistics, background information, and develop
best practices in fighting youth prostitution and ``lover boys.''
Various organizations and local governments initiated specific
assistance and prevention programs for potential victims of ``lover
boys.''
Most traffickers used threats of violence to the victim, or to the
victim's family, to control their victims. Underage girls and young
women of Moroccan and Turkish descent (mostly ``lover-boy'' victims),
underage asylum seekers, women with a dependent residence status
(pseudomarriage), and women recruited in Africa, were most vulnerable
to becoming victims of trafficking.
The Government and NGOs believed that trafficking for labor
occurred but had not compiled statistics on this phenomenon by year's
end. During the year the National Expertise Center on People
Trafficking/Smuggling (EMM) investigated a test case to prosecute
trafficking for labor exploitation--authorities arrested 18 persons in
May, nine of whom were suspected traffickers and nine illegal aliens.
At year's end the investigation continued.
The maximum sentence for trafficking in persons is normally six
years. Sentences may be increased in certain cases. For example, the
maximum term is 10 years when the victim is under age 16, 12 years when
the person being trafficked is seriously injured, and 15 years when
trafficking results in the victim's death. The legal definition of
trafficking in persons includes labor trafficking.
In 2004 the public prosecutor's office prosecuted 253 traffickers,
up from 174 in 2003, and the courts convicted 136 traffickers compared
to 108 in 2003. A national outreach campaign against sexual
exploitation, which the Government launched in January, proved
successful. In the six months following the launch of the campaign, an
anonymous crime-reporting hot line received 78 credible reports of
forced prostitution compared to 42 such tips during all of 2005.
Authorities were following up 25 of the tips. In September a prosecutor
demanded six years' imprisonment for a ``lover boy'' suspected of
having lured four young women into prostitution.
During the year, in Alkmaar, a court convicted the owner of an
escort service arrested in July 2004 of exploiting minors. The district
court in The Hague sentenced six persons arrested in July 2004 for sex
trafficking to imprisonment for terms ranging from one to six years.
The Government, in particular the ministries of justice, internal
affairs, foreign affairs, welfare and health, and social affairs,
actively combated trafficking in persons. Local police forces
established special units to deal with trafficking, and the EMM brought
together experts from the national police criminal investigation
service, military border police, regional police forces, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Social Information and
Investigation Service. The national prosecutor for trafficking in
persons supervises investigations conducted by the EMM, which also
provides specialized training to police in the identification and
protection of trafficking victims. The National Rapporteur on
Trafficking in Persons, an independent, publicly funded agency, reports
annually to the Government on the nature, extent, and mechanisms of
trafficking as well as on the effects of national policies. Authorities
participated in international investigations and cooperated closely
with other governments on trafficking. The Justice Ministry launched a
study of the prostitution sector, which included an analysis of the
extent of trafficking.
Under the law illegal residents who may have been victims of
trafficking may not be deported before investigations are completed.
Victims may take three months to consider pressing charges, and
authorities allowed victims who did so to stay in the country and to
work until the judicial process was completed. Between 2003 and 2005,
the Government received 430 requests from alleged trafficking victims
for this so-called B-9 temporary residence status. It granted 334
requests, rejected 74, and 22 were pending. In August the Government
announced new rules making it easier for trafficking victims to obtain
legal permanent residency on humanitarian grounds.
The Government subsidized NGOs working with trafficking victims.
For example, the STV offered social support, legal advice, medical aid,
shelters, and counseling to victims.
The Justice Ministry cofinanced the La Strada program, aimed at
preventing trafficking in women in Central and East European countries.
Other prevention initiatives included distribution by the travel agents
of warnings about trafficking and sex with minors while abroad and
public awareness campaigns aimed at tourists and travel agencies meant
to deter sexual exploitation of children.
Persons With Disabilities.--Discrimination against persons with
disabilities was unlawful, but there were some reports that it
occurred. The penal code provided penalties for discrimination in
employment, education, access to health care, and the provision of
state services. The government-affiliated CGB received several dozen
complaints, mostly labor related, of such discrimination. The law
requires access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, but
public buildings and public transport often were not easily accessible
in practice.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Approximately 3 million persons
(20 percent of the population) were of foreign origin, including 1.7
million who belonged to ethnic minority groups, principally Turkish,
Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean.
Incidents of physical assault against minorities were rare, but
members of minority groups experienced verbal abuse and intimidation
and were at times denied access to such public venues as discotheques.
The Muslim community, including 365,000 persons of Turkish descent and
315,000 of Moroccan descent, faced increased discrimination (see
section 2.c.).
Members of immigrant groups also faced discrimination in housing
and employment. The minority unemployment rate remained roughly three
times that of the ethnic Dutch workforce.
With the proliferation of Internet Web sites, the dissemination of
racial and discriminatory material remained widespread. The NGO
Discrimination on the Internet Registration Center registered
approximately 1,300 incidents in 2005. The increase in expressions of
hostility toward Muslims was particularly notable. Groups subject to
hostility on a national basis included Moroccans, blacks, Jews, and
homosexuals.
The Government pursued an active campaign to increase public
awareness of racism and discrimination. Depending on the circumstances,
persons could file complaints of racism or discrimination with the
civil and criminal courts, the CGB, the national ombudsman, the
Commercial Code Council, as well as the Council for Journalism, the
European Court of Justice, and the European Court of Human Rights.
The majority of cases filed in criminal courts concerned racial
defamation. Civil lawsuits often alleged discrimination against persons
who were not ethnically Dutch in the supply of such services as mobile
phones or access to clubs. The CGB primarily addressed incidents of
discrimination in the labor market, including discrimination in the
workplace, unequal pay, termination of labor contracts, and
preferential treatment of ethnically Dutch employees.
The prosecutor's office has established a National Expertise Center
on Discrimination, which maintained a database of discrimination
complaints, and provided training for prosecutors handling cases of
discrimination. In 2003, the most recent year for which data was
available, the government-sponsored National Association of
Antidiscrimination Bureaus registered approximately 3,600 complaints of
discrimination, two-thirds of them citing race as the basis.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Homosexuals faced
increasing harassment in larger cities, primarily from some groups of
Muslim youth. Harassment consisted largely of verbal epithets and
abuse.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Workers are entitled to form or join
unions of their own choosing without prior government authorization,
and workers exercised this right in practice. Approximately 25 percent
of the work force engaged in legal employment was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right to organize, and specific laws provide for the right to
collective bargaining; workers exercised these rights in practice.
Approximately 86 percent of workers were covered by collective
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, and
workers exercised this right by conducting legal strikes; some civil
servants did not have the right to strike, but they had other
institutionalized means of protection and redress. None of these
protections extended to the significant number of workers who were
employed in the underground economy.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government enforced laws and policies to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace; however, violations occurred.
The minimum age for employment is 16 years. Those in school at the
age of 16 may not work more than eight hours per week. The law
prohibits persons under the age of 18 from working overtime, at night,
or in activities dangerous to their physical or mental well-being. A
tripartite labor commission composed of representatives of government,
enterprises, and unions monitored hiring practices and conducted
inspections. The commission enforced the laws effectively.
Holiday work and after-school employment are subject to very strict
rules set by law. The Ministry of Labor's inspection office, which is
charged with enforcement, found during the year that 75 percent of
companies employing holiday workers and children under 18 complied with
the regulations.
Trafficking of children occurred (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for adults of
approximately $1,682 (1,284.60 euros) per month provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Except in the underground
economy, the Labor Inspectorate effectively enforced the minimum wage.
The law sets a 40-hour workweek. The average workweek was 30.6
hours (38.7 hours for full-time and 20 hours for part-time workers).
Anyone working more than 4.5 hours per day was entitled to a 30-minute
rest period. Overtime is regulated. There are no exceptions for legal
foreign workers. The Labor Inspectorate effectively enforced the labor
laws. The tripartite labor commission actively monitored and
effectively enforced working conditions, including comprehensive
occupational safety and health standards set by law. The Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs also monitored standards. Workers could remove
themselves from dangerous working conditions without jeopardizing their
continued employment, and workers exercised this right in practice.
__________
NORWAY
Norway is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy;
King Harald V is head of state. With a population of approximately 4.6
million, the country is governed by a prime minister, a cabinet, and
the 169-seat Storting (parliament) that is elected every four years and
cannot be dissolved. Free and fair elections to the multiparty
parliament were held in September 2005. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the rights of its citizens, and
the law and the independent judiciary provided effective means of
addressing isolated instances of abuse. During the year there were
incidents of anti-Semitism and the Government made efforts to combat
violence against women and trafficking of women.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers; however, no such visits
took place during the year.
Juveniles aged 15 to 18 were held separately from the general
prison population. Social welfare authorities generally cared for those
under the age of 15.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police
have primary responsibility for internal security; however, the police
may call on the armed forces for assistance in times of crisis, such as
internal disorder or natural catastrophe. In such circumstances, the
armed forces are under police authority. The Ministry of Justice and
Police oversees the police forces.
The police force was generally effective, and corruption was not
generally a problem. Adequate measures were in place to investigate
police abuses. An independent police complaint commission investigates
reports of corruption within the police force.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants for arrests, and
police generally arrested a person based on a warrant authorized by a
prosecutor. Police must file charges against detained persons within
four hours, and detainees generally were promptly informed of the
charges against them. An arrested suspect must be arraigned within 24
hours, at which time the arraigning judge determines whether the
accused should be held in custody or released pending trial. This legal
provision was respected in practice. Arrested persons were allowed
prompt access to a lawyer of their choosing or, if they could not
afford one, to an attorney appointed by the Government. Arrested
persons were generally allowed access to family members.
There is no bail system or similar mechanism. Defendants accused of
minor crimes were routinely released pending trial. Defendants accused
of serious or violent crimes remain in custody until trial.
New prison facilities were under construction; however, current
space was scarce, and the authorities maintained a waiting list for
those convicted of minor offenses to serve their sentences.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
The court system consists of the Supreme Court, the appeals
selection committee of the Supreme Court, six appellate courts, and a
number of district courts, which hear both civil and criminal cases.
District court rulings may be appealed by either party, but the appeals
selection committee refers only cases of great importance to the
Supreme Court. There are also specialized courts, including the labor
court and the land ownership severance courts.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Trials are public, but juries are only used in criminal cases heard
by the court of appeals. Charges are stated clearly and formally, and
defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence. Defendants have the right
to be present, to have counsel (at public expense if needed), to
confront and question witnesses, to present evidence and witnesses, and
to appeal. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. The law extends the above rights
to all citizens. There are no military courts. Military crimes are
tried in a civilian court, with the addition of a military judge to
assist the civilian judges in trying the case.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Seventy percent of citizens had Internet access, and of these, 80
percent had broadband connections. Slightly more than 70 percent of
citizens accessed the Internet at home and over 45 percent accessed the
Internet at their workplace.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The state church is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway,
which was supported financially by the Government. The constitution
requires that the King and at least one-half of the cabinet belong to
this church. Other denominations operated freely.
A religious community is required to register with the Government
only if it desires financial support, which is provided by the
Government to all registered denominations on a proportional basis in
accordance with membership.
The law provides that ``religious knowledge and education in
ethics'' be taught as a subject in public schools. The course covers
world religions and philosophy and promotes tolerance and respect for
all religious beliefs; however, the course devotes the most time to
Christianity. The course is mandatory, and there are no exceptions for
children of other faiths; students may be exempted from participating
in or performing specific religious acts such as church services or
prayer, but they may not forgo instruction in the subject as a whole.
The Government lost a case on this issue before the UN Human Rights
Committee in 2004, which led to a number of changes in 2005. Despite
curriculum changes intended to meet the concerns of non-Christians,
parents and the Humanist Association (an atheist organization)
continued to contest the legality of the law mandating the course. The
same petitioners who filed the case with the UN had earlier filed a
similar case with the European Court of Human Rights in 2002. That case
was still before the court at year's end, but since it was based on the
circumstances as they were in 2002, analysts were uncertain whether the
court would comment on the legality of the current system.
The law permits private or religious schools and day care centers
to ask persons seeking employment whether they will respect and teach
the denomination's beliefs and principles. Employers may reject
applicants on the basis of their responses; no statistics were
available on how frequently this occurred.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population is
relatively small, with about 1,000 members. There was an increase in
the number of reports of anti-Semitic incidents during the year. There
were several incidents of vandalism of Jewish cultural property
(synagogues and cemeteries). On July 15, in Oslo three men physically
attacked and verbally abused a Jewish citizen. Around the same time,
the Jewish community reported threatening phone calls and e-mails. On
July 19, a man defecated on the stairs of a synagogue, and then threw
stones at it, causing minor damage, including two broken windows. At
year's end there were no arrests in either the assault case or the act
of vandalism (despite video evidence).
On September 17, the synagogue in Oslo was hit by automatic weapon
fire, causing minor damage and igniting a nationwide debate on the
rising level of anti-Semitism. The police charged four men in the
synagogue attack; they were in custody, and their case was pending at
year's end.
Articles, reports, and political cartoons appeared in the media
that vilified and demeaned the Jewish people and community and
minimized the Holocaust, particularly during the July-August conflict
involving Israel and the terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon.
One caricature appearing in a major Oslo newspaper showed Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert as a Nazi concentration camp commander. Jostein
Gaarder, a prominent Norwegian author, published an article entitled
``God's Chosen People'' that many within and outside the country
considered anti-Semitic for its tone and biblical interpretations.
The Government supported organizations that worked on combating
discrimination. Among them were the Organization against Public
Discrimination and Norwegian People's Aid. The Government also
supported the foundation called ``The White Buses,'' which took
students from Norway to Auschwitz to educate them about the Holocaust.
Part of the mission of the Ministry for Children and Equality was to
combat discrimination.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
c. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum, and
accepted refugees for resettlement.
The government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol, and provided it to 3,908 people.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government contracted with
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide information to asylum
seekers in their native languages and to educate them about the asylum
application process. Several NGOs offered additional legal counsel to
persons whose initial applications were denied. To better communicate
with a diverse group of asylum seekers, reception centers employed
speakers of a wide range of languages.
In accordance with the Dublin Convention, the Government required
asylum seekers to make their claims in safe countries through which
they traveled or had residence. The Government used a ``fast track''
system to process asylum claims from nationals or permit holders from
``safe countries'' within 48 hours of application.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Free and fair parliamentary
elections held in September 2005 resulted in the formation of a
coalition government of the labor, socialist left, and center parties.
Labor Party leader Jens Stoltenberg was named prime minister following
multiparty negotiations.
There were 61 women in the 169-seat parliament and six women among
the 19 Supreme Court justices. Women headed nine of the 19 government
ministries. There was one member of a minority in parliament. There
were no minority ministers or Supreme Court justices.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
government corruption at the federal level during the year. The law
provides for public access to government information, and the
Government provided this access in practice.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced this
prohibition in practice, although violence against women and
trafficking in persons were problems.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
problem.
The law provides for higher penalties for violence in cases of
severe domestic abuse, and the Government enforced the law in practice.
In 2005 police registered 4,150 cases of domestic violence. The penalty
for domestic violence is generally one to six years in prison, with an
increased prison term in more severe cases.
The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and the
Government enforced the law. The penalty for rape is generally one to
10 years in prison depending on the severity of the assault, the age of
the victim, and the circumstances under which the crime occurred.
Although the number of rapes reported to the police has risen in recent
years, with 689 reported rapes in 2004, the country has experienced a
decrease in the number of rape convictions, with only 25 convictions in
2004. In that year the chief prosecutor's office convened a task force
to examine this trend; the task force had not yet reported at year's
end.
The Government and the police have instituted special programs to
prevent rape and domestic violence and to counsel victims. There is a
domestic violence coordinator in each of the country's 27 police
districts to provide victims with responsive and knowledgeable
assistance. Coordinators aided domestic violence victims in identifying
the various services and institutions available to assist them. Public
and private organizations ran 50 government-funded shelters and managed
five 24-hour crisis telephone lines. The shelters provided support and
counseling for victims, and helped them gain access to social services,
doctors, lawyers, and housing authorities. Each of the country's 19
counties had several shelters. In 2005 the country's shelters
registered 52,004 overnight stays by 2,287 women.
Prostitution is legal, but organized prostitution and pimping are
illegal. NGOs and the Government estimated that 2,500 to 3,000 persons
sold sexual services. A few of these were men, and NGOs reported that a
few persons selling sexual services appeared to be under the age of 18,
although they generally claimed to be older. An estimated 70 percent of
the country's prostitutes were foreign women.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law provides that ``employees shall not be subjected to
harassment or other unseemly behavior,'' and the Government effectively
enforced this provision in practice. Employers who violate this law are
subject to fines or prison sentences of up to two years, depending on
the seriousness of the offense.
Women have the same legal status as men and enjoy identical rights
under family and property laws and in the judicial system. The office
of the gender equality ombudsman was generally effective in processing
and investigating complaints of sexual discrimination. In 2005 the
office received 430 complaints.
The law protects the rights of women and provides that women and
men engaged in the same activity shall have equal wages for work of
equal value. According to the office of the gender equality ombudsman,
which monitors enforcement of the law, women generally received 10 to
15 percent less in pay and benefits than men for equal work.
In 2003 the parliament passed a resolution mandating that 40
percent of publicly listed companies' directorships be held by women by
mid-2005. However, as of June, only 21 percent of all directorships
were held by women. New legislation on gender quotas was implemented
that gave companies established before January 1 two additional years
to meet the 40 percent requirement. Corporations established after
January 1 must meet the requirement before they can be registered as a
company.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of education and medical
care.
The Government provides free education for children through the
postsecondary level. Education is compulsory for 10 years, or through
the 10th grade; most children stayed in school at least until the age
of 18. The school attendance rate was virtually 100 percent; parents
lose a direct stipend of approximately $300 (970 kroner) per month per
child if their children fail to attend school.
The Government provides extensive, free medical care for children.
In 2005 child care services investigated 21,000 cases and
intervened in 22 percent of them--those that authorities considered to
constitute child abuse or failure to care for a child. An independent
children's ombudsman office within the Ministry of Children and
Families is responsible for the protection of children under the law.
The directorate for children, youth, and family affairs provides
assistance and support services. With five regional offices and 26
professional teams, the directorate is the Government's principal
agency for the welfare and protection of children and families. The
directorate's activities include providing family counseling, managing
foster homes and child welfare institutions, and administering funds to
NGOs focusing on children.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although the law prohibits trafficking in
persons, there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through
the country. The maximum sentence for trafficking in persons is five
years, with a maximum sentence of 10 years for aggravated cases; those
are determined by several factors, including the victim's age, the use
of violence or coercion, and any proceeds derived from exploitation.
Traffickers can also be charged with violating pimping, immigration,
and slavery prohibitions. Victims may sue their traffickers for
compensation without impediment.
The Ministry of Justice and Police coordinates and implements
antitrafficking measures. At year's end seven police districts were
investigating 35 trafficking cases.
The Government cooperated with foreign governments, Interpol, and
Europol in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases. The
country's collaboration with other Scandinavian countries was
particularly strong.
Police identified a number of possible victims trafficked by
organized criminals for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Most of
these suspected victims were women from Nigeria, Russia, Albania,
Eastern Europe, and the Baltic countries. Suspected victims were often
reluctant to press charges, making it difficult for police to identify
and assist them and to prosecute traffickers.
Government officials believed that organized crime groups were
responsible for most trafficking. Traffickers used threats, violence,
rape, and confinement to enforce victims' compliance. Government
authorities suspected they may also confiscate travel documents and
subject victims to debt bondage.
Although trafficking victims may be prosecuted for violating
immigration laws, no such prosecutions occurred during the year.
Deportation decisions concerning victims of trafficking may be
suspended for a 90-day reflection period (the period was extended from
45 days during the year) to provide time for practical assistance and
counseling to the individuals concerned.
Government officials sought to improve public awareness of
trafficking by raising the issue in speeches and other forums. NGOs
conducted outreach programs to provide trafficking victims with
information on their legal rights and available health and other
services. Foreign victims of trafficking have the same legal rights as
other foreigners to apply for residency, asylum, welfare, social aid,
and emergency health care.
The Government operated an assistance program for trafficking
victims that featured support centers, shelters, and a 24-hour hot
line. The Government also ran a national network of crisis centers
where trafficking victims could seek assistance finding shelter, work,
and education.
Police working on trafficking issues are required to attend a two-
day training seminar.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services. The law
mandates access to public buildings for persons with disabilities, and
the Government generally enforced this provision in practice.
The section for disabled persons in the Ministry of Labor and
Social Inclusion was responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities; that office coordinated relevant national policy and
managed the social benefits system for disabled persons. The section's
budget sharply increased in 2005 and 2006, and it was therefore able to
increase grants for persons with disabilities by $14 million (90.6
million kroner) and to provide additional support to individual
agencies for more enterprises, better transportation, better building
access, and increased access to parks.
Indigenous People.--The rights of the indigenous Sami were
protected by the Government, which provided Sami language instruction
at schools in their areas, radio and television programs broadcast or
subtitled in Sami, and subsidies for Sami-oriented newspapers and
books. A deputy minister in the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion
deals specifically with Sami issues.
In addition to participating freely in the national political
process, the Sami elect their own constituent assembly, the Sameting.
The law establishing the Sameting stipulates that this 39-seat
consultative group is to meet regularly to deal with ``all matters,
which in [its] opinion are of special importance to the Sami people.''
In practice the Sameting has been most interested in protecting the
group's language and culture and in influencing decisions on resources
and lands where Sami are a majority. The law requires that a report on
the activity of the Sameting be submitted annually to parliament, and a
report on the main principles of Sami policy every four years. The 2005
report stated that the situation had improved in the last year, with
the Sameting having an increased role in government decisions, and that
they successfully completed their fifth election cycle since the
Sameting was created in 1989.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and they exercised these rights in practice.
Approximately 56 percent of the workforce was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--All workers,
including government employees and military personnel, have the right
to organize and bargain collectively, and they exercised this right in
practice.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice; however, the Government may, with the approval
of parliament, compel compulsory arbitration under certain
circumstances. During the year the Government invoked compulsory
arbitration once in response to a strike planned by bank and finance
sector employees. When the employer organizations threatened to impose
a lock-out, the Government regarded it as a threat to the country's
security, and intervened.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred in connection with trafficking in
persons (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government implemented laws and policies to protect children from
exploitation in the workplace. Children 13 to 18 years of age may be
employed part-time in light work that will not adversely affect their
health, development, or schooling. Minimum age rules were observed in
practice and enforced by the directorate of labor inspections. There
were no reports of illegal child labor during the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no legislated or
specified minimum wage, but wages normally fall within a national scale
negotiated by labor, employers, and the local government. Negotiations
between these parties led to wage increases of approximately 3.3
percent in the first half of the year. The average daily wage provided
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Approximately
200,000 people lived below the country's poverty line.
The law limits the normal workweek to 37.5 hours and provides for
25 working days of paid leave per year (31 days for those over age 60).
The law mandates a 28-hour rest period on weekends and holidays. The
law provides for premium pay for overtime and prohibits excessive
compulsory overtime.
The law provides for safe and physically acceptable working
conditions for all employed persons. Specific standards are set by the
Directorate of Labor Inspections (DLI) in consultation with
nongovernmental experts. Under the law, environment committees composed
of management, workers, and health personnel must be established in all
enterprises with 50 or more workers, and safety delegates must be
elected in all organizations. Workers have the right to remove
themselves from situations that endanger their health, but no
statistics were available on whether they exercised this right in
practice. The DLI effectively monitored compliance with labor
legislation and standards.
Although foreign workers were provided the same legal protections,
the media reported complaints from children of immigrants that they
were excluded from mainstream society and that they had fewer and
inferior job opportunities than did ethnic majority citizens.
__________
POLAND
The Republic of Poland is a multiparty democracy with a population
of 38.5 million and a bicameral National Assembly consisting of an
upper house, the Senate (Senat), and a lower house (Sejm). Executive
power is shared among the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers, the
President, and the Sejm. In October 2005 Lech Kaczynski was elected
President in a free and fair election. Legislative elections in October
2005 were also free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Prison conditions
remained poor with serious overcrowding; lengthy pretrial detention was
occasionally a problem; and the judicial system continued to function
poorly. Holdover Communist-era laws and regulations restricted freedom
of speech and the press. Occasional anti-Semitic violence and
harassment also were problems. There was discrimination against women
in the labor market, sexual exploitation of children, trafficking in
women and children, and societal discrimination and violence against
ethnic minorities and homosexuals. Violations of workers' rights and
antiunion discrimination also were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
On September 26 and 29, district court hearings took place in
Katowice in connection with the 1981 Wujek Mine case; Czeslaw Kiszczak
again pleaded not guilty to charges of ordering militia (ZOMO) to open
fire on striking miners. The trial was set to continue in 2007. In
September 2005 an appeals court ruled that the district court could
hear the communist-era offense against Kiszczak. In 2004 Kiszczak
received a two-year suspended sentence, but a Warsaw appeals court
overturned the sentence and ruled that the district court must hear the
case again. A separate trial of ZOMO officers who fired at striking
miners in 1981 also continued. On November 30, the last of three
hearings during the year took place at which a former ZOMO officer
testified to hearing other militia officers boast of shooting at
miners.
In the ongoing case from May 2004 in which police officers
accidentally used live ammunition on a student crowd in Lodz, the
family of a second shooting victim received an undisclosed amount of
compensation. The family of the first victim received a payment in
earlier years. There was no development in the investigation into the
two police officers who allegedly distributed live ammunition.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice.
In June a psychiatrist held in pretrial detention on corruption
charges was reportedly denied medical treatment and pain relief for a
jaw that was broken in an accident prior to his arrest. Authorities
permitted the detainee to undergo an operation on his jaw approximately
four weeks after his arrest.
In April the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) published
its first report on torture in the country, which stated that
statistics on the number of cases of physical or psychological abuse
were not available because the criminal code does not specifically
include torture and cruel or degrading treatment as a crime. The HFHR
received several hundred complaints during the year about abusive
treatment by police officers and conditions in prisons and mental
institutions.
In 2005, 4,924 cases of police misconduct were reported. Of that
number, 1,310 police officers were punished, and 78 others were
expelled from the police force. Statistics of police misconduct during
the year were not available at year's end. The law on police conduct
outlines disciplinary actions against police misconduct, including
warnings, demotion in rank, and expulsion.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Conditions in prison and
detention centers remained generally poor. Overcrowding and inadequate
medical treatment were among the main problems.
According to the Government, 89,546 persons (including 2,670 women)
were held in prisons and detention facilities as of November 30. The
Government estimated prison and detention center capacity at 71,994,
whereas the International Helsinki Foundation estimated total capacity
at 68,729 as of November 2005.
Regulations provide for a minimum cell size of 16.5 square feet
(1.5 square meters), while article 110 of the 1997 Executive Criminal
Code provides for a minimum living area equivalent to 32.28 feet (three
square meters). European Union standards designate minimum cell size at
64 square feet (six square meters). Due to the chronic overcrowding it
was common for prisons to convert sports and recreation centers as well
as chapels into cells.
On April 20, Janusz Kochanowski, the new human rights ombudsman,
withdrew a December 2005 motion filed with the Constitutional Tribunal
by his predecessor challenging a Ministry of Justice decree that
allowed overcrowding in prisons and detention facilities (see section
4). Kochanowski argued that the concerns had been addressed adequately
by the Justice Ministry; the Constitutional Tribunal subsequently
dismissed the case. On December 5, a prisoner filed a new complaint
with the Constitutional Tribunal citing the same Justice Ministry
decree. At year's end, no ruling had been issued.
During the year the human rights ombudsman received 3,999
complaints regarding prison conditions. These cited poor medical care,
abuse by prison authorities, poor conditions, and violations of
correspondence and visitation rights.
Female prisoners were held in 28 facilities, eight of which were
exclusively for women. Inmates were segregated by gender in the other
20 facilities.
Juveniles were generally separated from adults; however, under the
law juveniles and adults could be housed together on occasion.
Convicted minors (15- to 17-year-olds) were segregated from the adult
prisoners. Juveniles (17- to 21-year-olds) accused of serious crimes
were usually sent to pretrial detention. According to the central
prison administration, there were two cases of an adult prisoner raping
a minor and one additional case of a juvenile prisoner raping another
juvenile. Criminal proceedings were initiated in all three cases.
Facilities that housed prisoners often held pretrial detainees in
separate areas. Conditions for pretrial detainees were similar, but
occasionally worse than those for convicted prisoners because of
greater overcrowding and poorer facilities.
During the year the Government permitted prison visits by
independent human rights organizations, such as the International
Helsinki Foundation. In accordance with standard procedures, the visits
were private and regularly repeated.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The police force is a
national law enforcement body with regional and municipal units
overseen by the minister of interior and administration. Low-level
corruption within the police force was considered widespread, and there
was a public perception that police were unduly influenced by political
pressures. Instances of corruption and serious criminal misconduct were
investigated by the national police's office of internal affairs. The
personnel division handled minor disciplinary offenses.
In August media reports exposed a major corruption case in the
national police headquarters involving officers who were accused of
malfeasance in a number of public tenders, including procurement of
Romanian-made vehicles. By year's end the case had not reached court,
but prosecutors had brought charges against 13 individuals: eight
former police officers and five employees of the company that won the
contract.
In November, following several anti-Semitic and anti-gay incidents
in Warsaw and Wroclaw, a local non-governmental organization (NGO),
Open Republic of Poland--Association against Anti-Semitism and
Xenophobia, appealed to the Ministry of Interior to provide clearer
guidelines to police on how to respond to these types of complaints.
The NGO accused police of being inattentive and helpless in reacting to
societal abuse and harassment.
Arrest and Detention.--By law, authorities must obtain a court
warrant based on sufficient evidence prior to making an arrest, and
authorities generally complied with the law in practice.
The law allows a 48-hour detention period before authorities must
file charges, and an additional 24 hours for the court to decide
whether to issue a pretrial detention order. Detainees must be informed
of the charges promptly and have the right to counsel; the Government
provides free counsel to the indigent. Defendants and detainees have
the right to consult an attorney at any time. There was a functioning
bail system, and most detainees were released on bail.
Detainees may be held in pretrial detention for up to three months
and may appeal the legality of their arrest. A court may extend
pretrial detention every six to 12 months, but the total time in
detention may not exceed two years. In certain complex cases, the court
may petition the Supreme Court for an extension beyond two years. Court
inefficiency occasionally delayed pretrial detention hearings.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice; however, the judiciary remained inefficient and
lacked resources and public confidence.
There is a four-tiered court structure composed of regional,
provincial, and appellate divisions and a Supreme Court. These tiers
are subdivided into five domains of jurisdiction: military, civil,
criminal, labor, and family. Regional courts try original cases.
Provincial courts have a dual responsibility, handling appeals from
regional courts and acting as the court of original jurisdiction for
the most serious offenses. Appellate courts only hear appeals tried at
the provincial level. The Supreme Court handles appeals of lower court
decisions and ensures that the law is applied consistently throughout
the country. There also is a Constitutional Tribunal that handles
constitutional matters.
Supreme Court judges are nominated by the National Judicial Council
and appointed for life terms by the President. They have immunity from
prosecution but are subject to dismissal by a court decision. There are
90 Supreme Court judges in four chambers: civil, criminal, military,
and labor-social security-public affairs. Judges are nominated by the
National Council of the Judiciary and appointed by the President. The
first President of the Supreme Court is appointed by the President of
country for a six-year term from among candidates proposed by the
General Assembly of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Tribunal reviews the constitutionality of new
laws, adjudicates disputes between government entities, and monitors
the constitutionality of political parties' actions. There are 15
judges on the Constitutional Tribunal, nominated and approved by the
Sejm.
The court system remained cumbersome, poorly administered,
inadequately staffed, and underfunded. The courts had numerous
inefficiencies, most notably that there were more criminal judges than
prosecutors in many districts. Court decisions frequently were not
implemented. A continuing backlog of cases and the high cost of legal
action deterred many citizens from using the justice system.
Trial Procedures.--Cases are tried in regional and provincial
courts by a panel composed of a judge and two lay assessors. Defendants
are allowed to consult an attorney; the Government provides free
counsel for indigent defendants as necessary. Defendants must be
present during trial, may confront and question witnesses, have access
to government-held evidence, and may present evidence and witnesses.
Prosecutors can grant witnesses anonymity if they express fear of
retribution from defendants. Trials are usually public; however, the
courts reserve the right to close a trial in some circumstances,
including divorce proceedings, cases involving state secrets, or cases
with content that may offend public morality (see section 1.f.).
However, the courts rarely invoked these rights.
After a court renders a verdict, a defendant has seven days to
request a written statement of the judgment; courts must respond within
seven days. A defendant has the right to appeal a verdict within 14
days of the response. A two-level appeal process is available in most
civil and criminal matters.
The law provides for juries, usually composed of two or three
individuals appointed by local officials.
Several individuals lodged complaints or filed cases against the
Government in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) because of
trial delays and a perceived lack of due process. In 2005 the ECHR
received 400 complaints about trial delays and 140 about failures of
due process
Military courts, which are supervised by the minister of justice
and the prosecutor general, have jurisdiction over crimes committed by
members of the military while on duty. Defendants enjoy the same rights
as civilians. Civilian employees of the Ministry of Defense are not
tried by the military courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The judiciary system is
generally independent and impartial in civil cases. The constitution
and law guarantee the sovereignty of and public access to the
judiciary. Additional guarantees are provided by the country's EU
membership in the Council of Europe (European Court of Human Rights).
However, according to officials at the respected local NGO Batory
Foundation, several main problems exist. Implementation of court
orders, particularly payment of damages, is slow, cumbersome, and
ineffective. Court decisions are poorly enforced, recent changes to
civil procedure place speed and efficiency over individual rights, and,
in practice the right to legal counsel is limited.
Property Restitution.--The law provides for restitution of communal
property seized during the communist and Nazi eras (see section 2.c.).
A proposed law on private property claims introduced in the Sejm
remained pending at year's end. The treasury estimated that there could
be over 55,000 property claims valued together at $20 billion (60
billion zloty). Despite the absence of a comprehensive law on private
property claims, some illegally nationalized private property was
restored, and approximately $183 million (550 million zloty) was paid
out in compensation for 500 property claims provided over the previous
10 years.
Pursuant to a July 2005 law concerning properties that were lost
because of border changes after World War II, the Government is
obligated to pay compensation in the amount of 20 percent of the
property value. At year's end the state treasury had paid compensation
to 75 claimants. According to the Government, the law could affect
approximately 80,000 claimants for property now located in Lithuania,
Belarus, and Ukraine. The law requires the treasury to create registers
of all claimants who have the right to compensation. The deadline for
submitting applications for claims is December 31, 2008.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions; however, the
Government did not always respect these prohibitions in practice.
The law allows electronic surveillance for crime prevention and
investigations. There was no independent judicial review of
surveillance activities, nor was there any control over the use of
information obtained by monitoring private communications. A number of
government agencies had access to wiretap information.
Under the 1997 ``lustration'' law designed to expose officials who
collaborated with the communist-era secret police, persons who lie
about their past may be prohibited from holding public office for 10
years. In July the President signed a new lustration law that requires
all politicians, civil servants and others in positions of public
trust, including school principals and journalists, to obtain a
clearance from the Institute for National Remembrance (IPN). The files
of people reviewed by the IPN will be made available on the Internet.
The new lustration process also will disclose the names of people who
met with the secret police on an ``institutional'' or ``operational''
basis, but were not necessarily informants or collaborators. As the law
stands now, 500,000 to 1.5 million people could come under scrutiny.
However, many in government and human rights NGOs were concerned that
the new law could be misused for political reasons.
Many lustration cases remained closed to the public because they
involved classified documents. Critics continued to voice concern that
procedures for vetting persons for government positions were unfair
because secret police records were subject to loss or tampering.
In June Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Zita Gilowska
lost her job when allegations were made that she collaborated with the
communist-era security services. On September 22, Gilowska cleared her
name through a lustration process and was restored to her position
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, holdover communist-era laws and
regulations restricted these freedoms in practice. For example, libel
and some forms of insults are criminal offenses; a person who insults
or humiliates a constitutional institution is subject to a fine or
imprisonment of up to two years; insulting a public official is subject
to a fine or imprisonment of up to one year; and offending the object
or spirit of a place of worship in public is punishable by a fine or a
two-year prison term.
On November 15 a 31 year-old homeless man pled guilty in court to
charges of having insulted President Lech Kaczynski during a drunken
outburst while under police questioning in January 2005. If convicted,
the man could be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison. At
year's end the court had not issued a sentence.
Independent media expressed a wide variety of views and opinions
without restriction. Private television, satellite, and cable
subscription services were available across most of the country.
Private television broadcasters operated on frequencies selected by the
ministry of communications and auctioned by KRRiTV, the national radio
and television broadcasting council. The four channels of public Polish
Television (TVP) were the most widely viewed, earning between 40 and 45
percent combined market share. The public channels faced strong
competition from the private TVN and Polsat networks, which combined
for around 35 percent of the market. Cable television and various
satellite services carried the main national channels, as well as
local, regional, and foreign channels.
The five-member KRRiTV, which is responsible for protecting freedom
of speech, has broad power to monitor and regulate programming,
allocate broadcasting frequencies and licenses, and apportion
subscription revenues to public media. While council members are
required to suspend their membership in political parties or public
associations, critics asserted that during the year the council became
more politicized and less professional with the nomination of new
members closely affiliated with the Government's ruling coalition.
On March 23, the Constitutional Tribunal temporarily suspended the
KRRiTV's operations by ruling that four articles of a new media law
that increased the council's authority were unconstitutional. The
tribunal found that the council could not oversee ethical questions and
had no right of censorship and that the country's President could not
appoint the KRRiTV chairman. The tribunal struck down another provision
of the media law that granted special privileges to Catholic Church
broadcast media.
The Catholic nationalist radio station Radio Maryja is designated a
``public broadcaster'' and exempted from paying regular licensing fees
up to $457,000 (1,370,040 zloty). The station, which features
conservative Catholic call-in shows, has historically included some
anti-Semitic statements. It is privately owned by the Catholic Church,
and the Warsaw-based Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer holds the
broadcast license (see section 2.c.).
The law prohibits the media from promoting activities that are
illegal or against government policy, morality, or the common good and
requires that all broadcasts ``respect the religious feelings of the
audiences and, in particular, respect the Christian system of values.''
The Government enforced this provision in practice, levying fines
during the year on programs deemed offensive.
On March 22, KRRiTV fined POLSAT, the country's second largest
private television channel, $165,000 (500,000 zloty) for broadcasting a
satirical show that mimicked the voice of a disabled person who leads
prayers on Catholic Radio Maryja. The KRRiTV chairman stated that the
council levied the fine because the program failed to respect the
religious beliefs of the public and particularly the ``Christian system
of values.''
On May 26, the regional court in Warsaw ruled in a closed session
that Tomasz Sakiewicz, editor-in-chief of Niezalezna Gazeta Polska,
could not print information about Boguslaw Koczur, who allegedly
received money taken illegally by former President Alexander
Kwasniewski from the Committee on Young Adults. The Press Freedom
Monitoring Center called the ruling a form of censorship.
In July journalist Jerzy Urban filed a case with the ECHR arguing
that a $6,700 (20,000 zloty) fine levied by a Warsaw appeals court for
alleged slander was a violation of his right to free speech. The case
stemmed from an article Urban published in 2002 in the news weekly Nie
that criticized the pope.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
According to media reports, 45 percent of households in country
owned a personal computer, and 36 percent had access to the Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were few government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
In February the head of the public University of Marie Curie-
Sklodowska (UMCS) in Lublin banned the sale of T-shirts with slogans
designed to encourage discussion about the state of freedom of
expression in the country. The slogans included statements such as ``I
am Jewish,'' ``I'm Arab,'' ``I had an abortion,'' and ``I did not cry
when the pope died.'' The ban prompted the local chapter of the
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights to cancel a series
of human rights films at the university that were connected to the T-
shirt sales.
The appeal of an artist convicted of offending religious beliefs in
2004 by a Gdansk court remained pending at year's end. Dorota
Nieznalska was sentenced to six months ``restricted freedom'' and
unpaid community service for placing a photograph of male genitals on a
Christian cross. The appeals court met 17 times during the year but
reached no decision during the year.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. Permits were not necessary
for public meetings but were required for public demonstrations.
Authorities generally issued permits for public gatherings.
In contrast with the previous year, Warsaw authorities granted a
permit to a consortium of gay rights advocates to organize an Equality
Parade on June 10 as well as to a right-wing, antigay group to protest
the event. Police provided adequate protection for the approximately
5,000-6,000 local and international activists who took part in the
parade, although some counterprotestors threw eggs and rocks at the
marchers (see section 5).
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, there were restrictions on this right in
practice. Private associations are required to register with the local
district court to obtain government approval to organize, and
organizations must sign a declaration saying that they will abide by
the law. In practice the procedure was complicated and subject to the
arbitrary discretion of a judge. There were no reports that private
associations were routinely denied registration, or that any
registration was denied for political reasons.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Government at all levels sought to protect this right in full
and did not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private
actors. The Criminal Code stipulates that offending religious sentiment
through public speech is punishable by a fine or a prison term of up to
three-years. The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religious group
in the country, and approximately 96 percent of the population was
Roman Catholic.
There are 15 religious groups whose relationship with the state is
governed by laws that outline the internal structure of the groups,
their activities, and procedures for property restitution. There are
146 other registered religious groups that do not have a statutorily
defined relationship with the state. All registered religious groups,
including the original 15, enjoy equal protection under the law.
Religious education classes are taught in public schools at public
expense. Parents could request instruction in any registered religion,
including Protestant and Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
Children may choose between instruction in religion and ethics, and may
be exempted from religious instruction. Catholic Church representatives
are included on a commission that determined whether books were
acceptable for school use.
The Government continued to work with local and international
religious groups to address property claims and other sensitive issues
stemming from Nazi- and communist-era confiscations and persecutions.
There are five different commissions supervised by the Ministry of
Interior that oversee religious property claims; one each for the
Catholic Church, Jewish Community, Lutheran Church, Orthodox Church,
and other denominations. Of approximately 10,000 communal property
claims filed for restitution of religious property, more than 5,000
have been resolved and more than 1,200 properties had been returned by
year's end.
By year's end, approximately 2,801 of the 3,063 claims filed by the
Catholic Church had been concluded, with 1,144 claims settled by
agreement between the church and the party in possession of the
property (usually the national or a local government); 932 properties
returned through decision of the commission on property restitution;
and 632 claims rejected by the Ministry of Interior commission.
There were 5,544 outstanding property claims by the local Jewish
community. At year's end the commission had concluded 1,143 cases, of
which 316 were settled amicably, and 336 properties were restored. The
time period for filing claims under a 1997 law ended in 2002.
The Lutheran Church had filed claims for 1,200 properties. Of that
number, 842 cases were concluded by year's end; 228 were resolved
amicably. The deadline for filing these claims was 1996. The Orthodox
Church had filed 486 claims with the commission, of which 215 were
closed in full or in part.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were
reports of several serious anti-Semitic incidents and occasional
desecrations of Jewish cemeteries by skinheads and other groups. The
Jewish community was estimated at 20,000 to 30,000, including 2,500
registered members listed in the country's statistical yearbook. The
Government publicly criticized anti-Semitic acts.
The country has made considerable progress in relations with its
Jewish communities; however, its politics remained vulnerable to
charges of extremism, intolerance, and anti-Semitism. During the year
some Jewish leaders expressed concern over reduction of government
funding for Holocaust education and the inclusion of two small
political parties in the governing coalition, some of whose members
have made anti-Semitic statements.
In April and May there were two separate attacks on prominent
rabbis in Warsaw. In the first incident, an unidentified assailant
accosted Rabbi Shalom Stambler, head of the country's Chabad-Lubavitch
community, in the foyer of his office building. The person shoved the
rabbi and shouted anti-Semitic slurs in view of security guards, who
did not intervene.
On May 16, an antifascist activist was stabbed by skinheads in
Warsaw after being targeted by a neo-Nazi website. On May 27, the
country's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, was attacked on a downtown
Warsaw street. The assailant, who was apprehended in August, pushed the
rabbi to the ground, sprayed him with pepper spray, and shouted an
anti-Semitic slogan. A court sentenced the assailant to two years in
prison and a fine of $1,300 (4,000 zloty). However, the court suspended
the sentence.
Following these two incidents police created a special unit to
combat neofascist activities. In July police arrested the alleged
content provider of Red Watch, the website that listed the name and
whereabouts of the man who was stabbed in Warsaw, and which also
promoted hatred of Jews and homosexuals (see section 5).
On March 27, commentator Stanislaw Michalkiewicz, speaking on
Catholic Radio Maryja, made anti-Semitic remarks when he claimed ``Jews
are trying to force a ransom from our government which they covertly
call restitution.'' Michalkiewicz also said the country was being
``humiliated'' by Jews ``at the site of the former death camp
Auschwitz.'' He was charged with insulting the Jewish community and for
denying Nazi war crimes. On August 28, however, prosecutors dropped the
charges. Michalkiewicz left Radio Maryja, which has a history of
broadcasting anti-Semitic statements, to work for a public radio
network, Polskie Radio.
On December 7, a court in Bialystok ordered Leszek Bubel, a self-
proclaimed anti-Semite and leader of the Polish National Party, to
undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The case stemmed from charges brought
by the local prosecutor in August 2005 for an article Bubel published,
``The Polish-Jewish War Over Crosses,'' for which the court sentenced
Bubel to six months in prison and a fine of $825 (2,500 zloty) for
inciting hostility and slandering Jews.
On November 30, Maciej Giertych, who represents the extreme-right
League of Polish Families in the European parliament, dismissed his
assistant Leokadia Wiacek after a newspaper revealed a video in which
the assistant participated in a 2004 neo-Nazi event, burned a swastika,
chanted ``Sieg Heil,'' and gave the Nazi salute.
In the first case of its kind, on November 16 Open Republic, an
association of well-known Polish intellectuals, filed a civil suit
against the aforementioned chairman of the Polish National Party Leszek
Bubel, claiming that his anti-Semitic comments and publications
offended their dignity both as Poles and as human beings. A letter of
support signed by 700 other individuals accompanied the legal charges;
the suit was pending at year's end.
On September 21, a temporary installation opened in Warsaw to mark
the beginning of construction of a museum of the history of the
country's Jews. The opening followed the conclusion in January 2005 of
lengthy negotiations between the ministry of culture, Warsaw city
officials, and the Jewish Historical Institute (ZIH) to build the
museum.
During the year the Government provided grants to a number of
organizations involved in tolerance education, including ZIH, which
maintained an archive of Jewish-related documents, books, journals, and
artifacts. The Government also provided grants to ZIH to produce
educational materials on Jewish culture, the Holocaust, and religious
tolerance. One NGO involved in Holocaust education claimed that their
funding through the Ministry of Education was cut abruptly because it
was no longer deemed a priority. Government officials denied any
connection and claimed that there was no effort to restrict Holocaust
education funding.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to 2,049 persons during the year. The
Government granted refugee status to 423 persons during the year.
The majority of refugees and asylum seekers arrived from Russia's
Chechnya region; other major sources of asylum seekers were Ukraine,
Belarus, Pakistan, Georgia and India.
Persons granted asylum or refugee status have the right to work, to
receive social assistance and education, and to have access to a state
integration program for 12 months. The program provides participants
with contacts in the local community, assistance with accommodations,
and help with job searches. Refugees receive monetary assistance for
living expenses and language training and are registered in the
national health care system. Despite this program, many new immigrants
had difficulty finding work commensurate with their skills due to the
overall high rate of unemployment. Persons with temporary status also
have the right to work and to social assistance but cannot participate
in the Government's integration program.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government allowed UNHCR
and NGOs to monitor refugee detention centers.
Unlike in the previous year, there were few reports of problems in
refugee detention centers. The Government operated 17 refugee reception
centers in the Warsaw, Bialystok, and Lublin areas with a capacity of
3,600 persons. The main difficulties in the centers involved providing
access to education for children, legal assistance, and medical
treatment. Press reports in April stated that half of school-aged
children in refugee camps were not attending school.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Legislative and
Presidential elections that took place in September and October 2005,
respectively, were regarded as free and fair. Multiple candidates from
various political parties freely declared their candidacy to stand for
election and had full access to the media. There were 92 women in the
460-seat Sejm and 12 women in the 100-seat upper house. There were
three women in the 22-member Council of Ministers.
There were two members of minorities in the Sejm (both representing
the German minority in Silesia) and no minorities in the upper house.
There were no minorities in the cabinet. The law exempts ethnic
minority parties from the requirement that they win 5 percent of the
vote nationwide to qualify for seats in individual districts.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption throughout the Government. Citizens
continued to believe that political parties and members of the
legislative branch, the health care system, and the judiciary were the
most corrupt. During the year the country received a score of 3.7 on
Transparency International's 10-point composite index of the degree to
which corruption was perceived to exist among a country's politicians
and public officials, indicating a perception that the country had a
serious corruption problem. In March a poll conducted by the Center for
Public Opinion research found that 95 percent of citizens believed
corruption occurred often or very often.
On May 16, the National Police Central Bureau of Investigations
arrested three senior officials from the Ministry of Finance for
corruption and accepting bribes. According to the prosecutor, the
officials canceled fiscal liabilities and issued tax exemptions over a
period of 10 years in exchange for bribes from organized criminals and
businessmen. The investigation was ongoing at year's end and had not
yet come to court.
On December 14 police arrested four former deputy mayors of Krakow
for their involvement in a questionable land deal seven years ago. The
four served from 1998-2002 under mayor Andrzej Golas. The case remained
pending at year's end.
On June 24, the Sejm created the Central Anticorruption Bureau
(CBA), which has broad powers to audit the financial holdings of public
officials and to fight corruption in public procurement. CBA head
Mariusz Kaminski estimated the total value of corruption in the country
at more than $6 billion (18 billion zloty) annually. The CBA is
authorized to conduct searches and secret videotaping, wiretap
telephone conversations, and make arrests.
On December 2, the CBA made its first arrests, detaining two men
for allegedly embezzling millions of dollars in connection with the
Kama Foods company, which went bankrupt in 2002. The CBA stated that
one of the men, identified as ``Wieslaw B.,'' was a former senior
official with Kama Foods; the second, ``Robert M.,'' had close
connections with lawmakers.
There were no developments during the year in the 2004
``Orlengate'' scandal that involving allegations that one of the
country's wealthiest businessmen illegally attempted to negotiate the
sale of the state-owned Rafineria Gdanska, the country's second-largest
oil refinery. A legislative investigation into the scandal concluded in
a September 2005 report that senior officials of the former government
should be impeached before a state tribunal. The officials included
President Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller, Treasury Ministers
Wieslaw Kaczmarek and Emil Wasacz, Justice Ministers Barbara Piwnik and
Andrzej Kalwas, and Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.
At year's end businessman Marek Dochnal remained in detention. In
September 2004 Dochnal was arrested for allegedly bribing public
officials for information concerning the privatization of a state-owned
steel mill and the sale of shares of the country's largest oil company.
His detention was extended several times and he was still in custody at
year's end, although no official charges had been filed or trial date
set.
The law provides for public access to government information; in
practice the Government provided access to citizens and noncitizens,
including foreign media. Government refusals of requests for
information must be based on exceptions provided in the law related to
government secrets, personal privacy restrictions, and propriety
business data. Refusals may be appealed.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
As provided for in the constitution, the country's human rights
ombudsman presents an annual activity report to the Sejm on the state
of human rights and civic freedom in the country. In July the ombudsman
reported that in 2005, 51,543 cases were filed with the office, a
decrease of 7,607 from 2004. A new ombudsman, Janusz Kochanowski, was
appointed and confirmed February 15 by the Sejm for a five-year term.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language or social status, and the Government effectively enforced
these provisions in practice; however, violence and societal
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence against women continued to be a serious
problem. According to authorities, 36,534 people reported domestic
violence during the year, an increase from 2005. Authorities prosecuted
20,809 cases of domestic violence, resulting in 8,938 convictions on
domestic violence charges. The verdicts can be appealed and are not
final. There are 4,066 persons incarcerated for crimes of domestic
violence. Under the law a person convicted of domestic violence may be
sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison; however, most
convictions resulted in suspended sentences. The law provides for
restraining orders on spouses to protect women from abuse.
Women's organizations believed the number of women affected by
domestic abuse was underreported. Violence against women remained
hidden, particularly in small towns and villages. The NGO Women's
Rights Center reported that police were occasionally reluctant to
intervene in cases of domestic violence, particularly if the
perpetrator was a member of the police or if victims were unwilling to
cooperate.
The increase in reports of domestic violence was attributed to
heightened police awareness, particularly in urban areas, as a result
of media campaigns and NGO efforts. According to NGOs, courts often
treated domestic violence as a minor crime, pronounced lenient
verdicts, or dismissed cases.
NGOs operated centers to assist victims, provide preventive
treatment and counseling to perpetrators, and train personnel working
with domestic violence victims. The Government provided victims and
families with legal and psychological assistance. It also operated 11
shelters for pregnant women and mothers with small children, and 184
crisis centers. However, neither the shelters nor the crisis centers
were devoted exclusively to battered women and victims of domestic
violence.
Following the adoption of the July 2005 Law on Counteracting
Domestic Violence, local governments established 32 specialized support
centers for victims of domestic violence, and 960 perpetrators
participated in ``corrective-educational programs.'' During the
Government assigned nearly $3.2 million (9.4 million zloty) from the
state budget for the implementation of the July 2005 law to cover the
costs of the creation of the centers and for the programs for the
perpetrators. The centers provided social, medical, psychological, and
legal assistance to victims of domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal and punishable by up to 12
years in prison. During the first 11 months of the year, 2,036 cases of
rape were reported; of these, police determined that 1,739 were serious
enough to open a formal investigation. However, women often were
unwilling to report rape because of the associated social stigma. NGOs
estimated that the actual number of rapes was 10 times higher than
reported. Of the 1,739 rape cases that police investigated, 1,294 cases
were forwarded to prosecutors for indictment.
Prostitution is legal, but pimping is not. Experts estimated that
30,000 to 35,000 women worked as prostitutes, many of them employed in
massage parlors and escort services that functioned as brothels.
Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment under gender discrimination
provisions of the Labor Code and the Criminal Code. Under the criminal
code persons convicted of sexual harassment involving sex may be
sentenced to up to three years in prison. The Labor Code defines sexual
harassment as a form of discrimination in the workplace as behavior
that violates the dignity of an employee. The behavior includes
physical, verbal, and non-verbal acts. Under the Labor Code, employees
who have been discriminated against have the right to demand financial
compensation from employers.
On December 4, the public prosecutor opened an investigation into
charges that a member of the Sejm, Stanislaw Lyzwinski, provided jobs
to women in exchange for sexual favors. The prosecutor's investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
The NGO Center for Women's Rights believed that sexual harassment
was a serious and underreported problem. Many victims either did not
report abuse out of shame or fear of losing their job or withdrew their
claims in the course of police investigations. Social awareness of the
problem continued to increase, however, as more cases of sexual
harassment were reported by the media. Through November police
conducted 60 investigations into sexual harassment charges. This
compared with 54 investigations in the previous year and 16
convictions.
The constitution provides for equal rights for men and women in
family law, property law, and in the judicial system; however, in
practice there were few laws to implement this provision. Women mainly
held lower-level positions and frequently were paid less then men for
equivalent work, were fired more readily, and were less likely to be
promoted.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for
combating gender discrimination, incorporating gender equality into
governmental policy, and monitoring implementation of government
programs to promote gender equality. During the year the ministry
implemented a number of projects to combat gender discrimination in the
workplace, including an EU project that involves local NGOs to combat
discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, religion, disability, age,
and sexual orientation.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare, and has a separate ombudsman for children's rights. Between
April and December the ombudsman issued 37 statements and appeals to
penalize promotion of pedophilia on the Internet, to improve access to
public schools for disabled children, and to improve medical care for
children with chronic diseases. Between January and November the
ombudsman received 7,000 complaints. Of that number, 39 percent
referred to contacts between parents and children, and 19 percent to
protection against abuse, exploitation, and demoralization. Overall
there was an increase of cases related to the physical, sexual and
mental violence against children. On December 1, the ombudsman's office
opened a 24-hour hot line for abused children.
Education is universal and mandatory until age 18, and public
schools are free. According to the UN Children's Fund, 98 percent of
school-age children attended school. Boys and girls had equal access to
state medical care. Most students continued their studies to the
postsecondary level.
Incidents of child abuse were rarely reported, and convictions also
were rare. The law prohibits violence against children and provides for
prison sentences ranging from three months to five years. Through
November police reported 1,507 cases of the sexual exploitation of
children, 516 cases of child pornography, and 81 cases of child
abandonment.
Trafficking in children, primarily for the purpose of sexual
exploitation, was a problem.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, the country was a source, transit point, and destination for
trafficked persons, primarily women and girls but also, to a lesser
extent, boys. Internal trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation also occurred.
Persons were trafficked to and through the country, primarily from
Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Moldova. A relatively high
number were members of the Turkish minority in southern Bulgaria and
from the Romani population in Romania. Destination countries included
Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark,
Sweden, and Australia. Some internal trafficking occurred; however, the
extent of the problem was unclear because some victims may have chosen
to engage in prostitution or other aspects of the sex trade. NGOs have
noted a recent trend toward a higher percentage of victims being
trafficked for labor in agriculture and other economic sectors.
Traffickers targeted young, unemployed, and poorly paid women,
particularly those with weak family ties and support networks.
Traffickers attracted victims through methods including fake employment
offers, arranged marriages, fraud, and coercion. Some victims believed
that they were accepting employment abroad as waitresses, maids, or
nannies. Traffickers threatened victims with violence, and those who
resisted or tried to flee were raped, beaten, or intentionally injured.
Authorities believed that large organized crime groups and
individuals controlled the trafficking business, and that victims were
frequently trafficked by nationals of their own country who collected a
fee to allow passage into or through the country. According to arrest
statistics, approximately 25 percent of traffickers were non-citizens.
Bulgarian traffickers continued to account for a significant number of
cases. Authorities also believed that employment and talent agencies
were sometimes used as fronts for trafficking operations. As many as 90
percent of those trafficked in the country had false travel documents.
Several provisions of the criminal code specifically address
trafficking and provide for prison sentences ranging from three to 15
years for sexual and nonsexual exploitation of persons. Pimping,
recruiting, or luring persons into prostitution are also prohibited,
with penalties of up to 10 years in prison. Individuals convicted of
trafficking in children and luring women into prostitution abroad
received the most severe sentences. Traffickers could also be
prosecuted under laws criminalizing statutory rape, forced
prostitution, and other acts.
According to the Justice Ministry, during the first six months of
the year, 10 persons were convicted and sentenced for trafficking. In
2005, there were 37 convictions for trafficking in courts of first
instance; all but nine of were overturned on appeal.
On May 11, local media reported that police broke up a major
trafficking ring involving illegal prostitution in an undercover
investigation coordinated with Austrian police. According to reports,
organized criminal groups set up a recruiting scheme with three police
officers and other individuals that trafficked up to 350 women to
Austria. One retired officer and two police officers from Wroclaw were
arrested, together with five other persons. The two officers used their
office space and computers to recruit women through the Internet for
prostitution and transported them across the Czech border. A second
source of trafficked women in the operation involved a modeling agency
in Wroclaw.
On July 18, in cooperation with Italian authorities, police broke
up another trafficking ring that lured over 300 workers to southern
Italy for agricultural work under conditions that amounted to forced
labor. More than 100 citizens were freed in a joint operation with
Italian police, and 25 persons arrested. The workers reportedly were
forced to work up to 15 hours a day for $1.31 (one euro) per hour,
slept on the ground, and were watched over by armed guards. Those
arrested in the case were charged with trafficking, enslavement, and
membership in a criminal group. At year's end prosecutors were
preparing to bring the case to trial in mid-2007.
On October 30, police announced the arrest of a six-person gang for
trafficking laborers to work in orange groves in the Valencia region in
Spain. Approximately 30 persons were forced to work for no pay, lived
in barracks, and given little to eat. Police learned of the work camp
after several workers managed to escape and send an electronic text
message to police. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The interior and justice ministries have primary responsibility for
antitrafficking efforts; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated
trafficking programs with foreign governments and international
organizations. Following establishment of a five-person Central
Antitrafficking Unit in July, National Police created 17 regional teams
to combat human trafficking and child pornography.
National police participated in several task forces with foreign
authorities to share information, track the movement of traffickers and
victims across borders, and help coordinate international operations to
break up trafficking rings. The Government increased training for
police, prosecutors, and other front-line personnel involved in
combating trafficking. It also increased cooperation with neighboring
countries to combat traffickers and adopted a law that allows
trafficking victims to remain legally in the country to assist in
investigations and prosecutions.
There continued to be unconfirmed reports that low-ranking local
police took bribes to ignore known trafficking activity.
Trafficking victims often did not turn to officials for help out of
fear that border guards and police would deport them for immigration
law violations. In many cases unidentified trafficking victims were
quickly deported by border guards, preventing the Government from
providing assistance. NGOs attributed the deportations to the absence
of national guidelines for police and border guards on how to approach
and identify suspected victims. Victims were often prosecuted for
carrying false travel documents, working illegally, and violating the
terms of their visas. At times, deported victims were met at the border
by their traffickers, who provided them with new travel documents and
returned them to the country.
During the year the interagency team for combating trafficking in
persons adopted national guidelines for police, border guard, and other
law enforcement agencies, which provided instructions on identifying
possible victims and how to approach and assist them. The Ministry of
Interior funded NGOs to conduct regional training in all provinces;
several hundred law enforcement officials were trained in trafficking
issues by La Strada, Nobody's Children Foundation, and the Ministry of
Interior.
During the year money was allocated for the first time from the
state budget for victim assistance and educational and promotion
materials. A total of $83,000 (250,000 zloty) was provided. The
Government also worked extensively with antitrafficking NGOs, such as
La Strada. While the Government provided space and funds to La Strada
and another NGO to operate shelters for trafficking victims, the number
of shelters remained inadequate, and NGOs frequently resorted to
temporary arrangements to provide medical, psychological, and legal
assistance to victims.
With government financial assistance, NGOs also conducted
trafficking training courses at police and border guard academies;
provided counseling for victims and their families; developed training
and prevention materials; and conducted public awareness campaigns on
the dangers of trafficking. Newly hired border guards and police
officers began receiving some training on trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, or the
provision of other state services, including health care. The
Government effectively enforced these provisions; however, there were
reports of some societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), less than one in five disabled persons were
employed, and those who were employed tended to have part-time or
temporary jobs in sheltered work enterprises. There are approximately
5.5 million persons with disabilities in the country.
The law states that buildings should be accessible for persons with
disabilities, and at least three laws require retrofitting of existing
buildings to make them accessible. Public buildings and transportation
generally were accessible.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible for
disability-related matters. There is a state fund for rehabilitation of
persons with disabilities and a national consultation council for
persons with disabilities that advised the ministry.
On September 18, the UN awarded President Kaczynski the Franklin D.
Roosevelt Award for the country's efforts to integrate persons with
disabilities into public life.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were reports of
increasing intolerance that often erupted into violence against racial
and ethnic minorities. National and local officials and law enforcement
agencies discouraged intolerance and discrimination; however, some
minority groups and NGOs noted that the judiciary was lenient in
sentencing perpetrators, which contributed to an atmosphere that
accepted intolerance.
There were incidents of racially motivated violence and verbal and
physical abuse directed at Roma and persons of African, Asian, or Arab
descent. The small Ukrainian and Belarusian minorities also continued
to experience petty harassment and discrimination.
During the year soccer stadiums were scenes of fascist, anti-
Semitic, and xenophobic demonstrations and actions by groups such as
Blood and Honor, the National Rebirth of Poland, and the All Poland
Youth, which is affiliated with a major Catholic political party. For
example, in March managers of the Ruch Chorzow team decided not to
employ a dark-skinned player from Morocco after receiving several
anonymous threats. However, Stal Mielec managers refused to drop two
Cameroonians from the team's roster despite receiving complaints from
the Association for Polish Football, a football fan club. In the
eastern city of Bialystok, fans threw bananas at a dark-skinned player
and later beat him up after the match. Additionally, during the March
derby in Krakow, fans of the Cracovia Krakow team yelled ``monkey'' at
Wisla Krakow player Jean Paulista, a dark-skinned Brazilian.
On May 16, skinheads attacked a journalist in Warsaw with knives
after he was identified ``as an enemy of white people'' on a Web site
maintained by the Polish Blood and Honor group. On July 5, authorities
arrested the Web site's administrator, Bartosz Barcicki, and charged
him with disseminating Nazi ideas, xenophobia, and participating in an
illegal group. The Web site was shut down but later reestablished.
On November 20, prosecutors in Olsztyn indicted two men charged
with assaulting Moroccan long-time resident Abdel Mandili with a
dangerous weapon. The men faced up to eight years' imprisonment for
their July 23 attack on Mandili. The alleged attackers beat Mandili
unconscious at a theater festival in Olsztyn after his group performed
a play about the difficulties of immigrants. Eleven other suspects were
arrested in connection with the attack but only two have been indicted.
Societal discrimination against Roma continued. In some cases local
officials discriminated against Roma by not providing adequate social
services. Romani leaders complained of widespread discrimination in
employment, housing, banking, the justice system, the media, and
education. During the year the IOM began a project as part of an EU-
wide undertaking called EQUAL to combat unemployment and improve the
situation of ``disfavored'' groups on the labor market. Under the
program the IOM established four small Roma-run enterprises which have
special legal status and tax privileges.
The Roma Association claimed that more than 50 percent of Romani
children did not attend public school out of fear that teachers would
try to assimilate them and uproot them from their Roma traditions. The
association also noted that the gaps in education made it impossible
for Roma to end their poverty; approximately 90 percent of Roma were
unemployed.
On October 20, the Silesian community filed an appeal to the
Supreme Court to annul the entire judicial process of their application
for official minority status, thus ending the matter.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--International NGOs,
including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI), and
the European Parliament urged the Government to end homophobia and to
halt attacks on gays and lesbians. In June, HRW and AI separately
issued statements expressing concern about possible violence in
connection with an ``equality parade'' organized by a consortium of gay
rights advocates (see section 2.b.); the parade was held June 10
without major incidents.
Prior to the equality parade, a Sejm member and prominent member of
the Catholic League of Polish Families, Wojciech Wierzejski, criticized
the event in remarks before the Sejm, describing gays as ``deviants''
and stating that, when the parade begins, marchers ``should be beaten
with batons.''
On June 15, the European Parliament voted to condemn the rising
environment of intolerance and homophobia in the country, with some
parliamentarians singling out Wierzejski for inciting violence against
gays and lesbians.
There was discrimination against HIV-positive persons. The national
AIDS center reported no cases of discrimination against HIV-positive
persons in the units supervised and funded by the center.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides that all workers,
including civilian employees of the armed forces, police, and frontier
guard, have the right to establish and join trade unions. While many
workers exercised this right in practice, many small and medium-sized
firms discriminated against those who attempted to organize labor. As a
rule, newly established small and medium-sized firms were nonunion,
while privatized formerly state-owned enterprises frequently continued
union activity.
Under the law, 10 persons are required to form a local union and 30
persons for a national union. Unions must be registered with the
courts. A court decision refusing registration may be appealed. The law
does not give trade unions the freedom to exercise their right to
organize all workers. For example, workers on individual contracts
cannot form or join a trade union.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, labor leaders
reported that employers frequently discriminated against workers who
attempted to organize or join unions, particularly in the private
sector. In state-owned enterprises, such as the health, water, and
forestry sectors, there were cases in which workers had their
employment contracts terminated and replaced by individual contracts to
prevent them from joining a union. Discrimination typically took the
forms of intimidation, termination of work contracts without notice,
and closing the workplace. The law also did not prevent employer
harassment of union members for trade union activity; there were
unconfirmed reports that some employers sanctioned employees who tried
to set up unions. Managers also asked workers in the presence of a
notary public to declare whether they were union members.
On March 7, the Impel-Tom company in Kostrzyn fired Jacek
Rosolowski without cause after he and 11 other workers signed a letter
of intent to form a workers' initiative. Rosolowski successfully sued
his former employer. On November 8, the regional labor court awarded
him $2,400 (7,000 zloty) in damages. Three others who signed the letter
of intent had also lost their jobs at Impel-Tom at year's end.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference; however, in
practice the Government failed to protect this right at small and
medium-sized companies. The law provides for and protects enterprise-
level collective bargaining over wages and working conditions. As of
June there were 166 collective bargaining agreements between employers
and trade unions, with 198 amendments addressing salary, work
conditions, or the needs of individual companies. The tripartite
commission (unions, employers, and the Government) was the main forum
that determined national wage and benefit increases in areas such as
the social services sector.
Key public sector employers (largely in heavy industry and the
social services sector) could not negotiate with labor without the
extensive involvement of the ministries to which they were subordinate.
The law provides for parties to take group disputes to labor courts,
then to the prosecutor general, and, as a last resort, to the
Administrative Court. Through the first half of the year, groups filed
492 such disputes.
All workers have the right to strike except those in essential
services such as security forces, the Supreme Chamber of Audit, police,
border guards, and fire brigades. These workers had the right to
protest and seek resolution of their grievances through mediation and
the court system. A majority of strikes were technically illegal
because one or both sides did not follow each step exactly. Labor
courts acted slowly in deciding the legality of strikes, while
sanctions against unions for calling illegal strikes and against
employers for provoking them were minimal. Unions alleged that laws
prohibiting retribution against strikers were not enforced consistently
and that the small fines imposed as punishment were ineffective
deterrents. Organizers are liable for damages and may face civil
charges and fines.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, including
forced or compulsory labor, and the Government effectively enforced the
law in practice. The law prohibits the employment of persons under age
15. Persons between the ages of 15 and 18 may be employed only if they
have completed primary school, the proposed employment constitutes
vocational training, and the work is not harmful to their health.
The State Labor Inspectorate (PIP) reported that increasing numbers
of minors worked, and that many employers underpaid them or paid them
late. During the year the inspectorate conducted 292 investigations
involving 1,929 underage employees. Fines were levied in 100 cases,
amounting to approximately $21,000 (63,550 zloty).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The new national monthly minimum
wage of $300 (899 zloty) that took effect on January 1 did not provide
a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The large size of
the informal economy and the low number of government labor inspectors
made enforcement of the minimum wage difficult. A large percentage of
construction workers and seasonal agricultural laborers from Ukraine
and Belarus earned less than the minimum wage.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours, with an upper
limit of 48 hours per week including overtime. The law requires premium
pay for overtime hours, but there were reports that this regulation was
often ignored. The law provided for workers to receive at least 11
hours of uninterrupted rest per day and 35 hours of uninterrupted rest
per week.
The law defines strict and extensive minimum conditions to protect
worker health and safety. It empowers PIP to supervise and monitor
implementation of worker health and safety laws and to close workplaces
with unsafe conditions. However, PIP was unable to monitor workplace
safety sufficiently. According to government statistics, 41,174 persons
were injured, 201 persons killed, and 440 persons seriously injured on
the job during the first six months of the year. Employers routinely
exceeded standards for exposure to chemicals, dust, and noise.
The law permits workers to remove themselves from dangerous working
conditions without losing their jobs; however, they were unable to do
so in practice without jeopardizing their employment.
__________
PORTUGAL
Portugal, with a population of approximately 10.6 million, is a
constitutional democracy with a President, a prime minister, and a
parliament elected in multiparty elections. National parliamentary
elections in February 2005 were free and fair. The civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Police and prison
guards occasionally beat and abused detainees and prison conditions
remained poor. Lengthy pretrial and preventive detention remained a
problem as did trafficking in foreign laborers and women.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings; however, security forces shot and killed six persons
during the year. The six shootings were under investigation at year's
end by the Government's Inspectorate General of Internal Administration
(IGAI).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were credible reports of disproportionate use of force by police
and of mistreatment and other forms of abuse by prison guards against
detainees.
During the year the IGAI investigated new reports of mistreatment
and abuse by police and prison guards (see section 1.d.).
An internal prison inquiry into the beating of Albino Libinio in
2003 found that he had sustained multiple injuries from an assault that
may have amounted to torture. A criminal investigation into the matter
was pending, and disciplinary proceedings against several prison
officers were ongoing.
In December 2005 a trial began of three police officers who were
accused of assault in 1995.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
poor, and guards continued to mistreat prisoners occasionally. Other
problems included overcrowding, inadequate facilities, poor health
conditions, and violence among inmates.
Most of the guidelines and legislative proposals the Government
adopted in 2004 to reform the prison system had not been put in
practice. However, some improvements were made during the year,
including a decrease in prison overcrowding and an increase in
personnel training.
According to the Director General for Prisons, approximately 35
percent of the prison population was infected with HIV/AIDS and/or
hepatitis B or C. The highest percentage (at least 20 percent) is
infected with hepatitis C while at least 10 percent are infected with
HIV/AIDS. According to the Ministry of Justice, 93 persons died in
prisons during 2005, 25 of them from HIV/AIDS and 35 from unspecified
illnesses. Nine were reported as suicides. The Government's AIDS
prevention and treatment program continued in two major prisons on a
three-year trial basis.
Although there was a youth prison in Leiria, at times juveniles
were held with adults elsewhere in the prison system. Pretrial
detainees were held with convicted criminals.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There were
approximately 50,000 law enforcement officials, including police and
prison guards. The ministries of Justice and Internal Administration
are primarily responsible for internal security. The Republican
National Guard (GNR) has jurisdiction outside cities, and the Public
Security Police (PSP) has jurisdiction in cities. The Aliens and
Borders Service has jurisdiction on immigration and border issues.
Some members of the security forces committed human rights abuses.
In 2004 the IGAI received 276 complaints of human rights abuses. The
majority of the complaints were against the PSP and the GNR, 166 and 94
respectively. The complaints included injuries or threats with
firearms, excessive use of force, illegal detention, and abuse of
power.
The major problems within the police forces were understaffing,
insufficient training with firearms, and inconsistent or weak law
enforcement. According to the chairman of the Portuguese Police
Association, police killings could be linked to the lack of adequate
firearm training. There were no indications that police corruption was
widespread. During the year police officers received professional
training, and the Government regulated their actions through mechanisms
established by law.
An independent ombudsman is chosen by the parliament and the IGAI
to investigate complaints of abuse or mistreatment by police; however,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the slow pace of
investigations and the lack of an independent oversight agency to
monitor the IGAI and Ministry of Interior.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and law provide detailed
guidelines covering all aspects of arrest and custody, and the
authorities generally followed the laws in practice. Persons can only
be arrested based on a court ordered warrant. However, warrantless
arrests by law enforcement officials and citizens can be made in cases
where there is probable cause to believe a crime has been or is being
committed and in cases where the person to be arrested is an escaped
convict or detention prisoner.
Under the law an investigating judge determines whether an arrested
person should be detained, released on bail, or released outright. A
person may not be held for more than 48 hours without appearing before
an investigating judge. Investigative detention is limited to a maximum
of six months for each suspected crime. If a formal charge is not filed
within that period, the detainee must be released. In cases of serious
crimes such as murder or armed robbery, or of those involving more than
one suspect, investigative detention may last for up to two years and
may be extended by a judge to three years in extraordinary
circumstances. A suspect in investigative detention must be brought to
trial within 18 months of being charged formally. If a suspect is not
in detention, there is no specified period for going to trial.
Detainees have access to lawyers from time of arrest, and the
Government assumes any necessary costs.
In 2004 the IGAI received 17 complaints linked to arbitrary
arrests, which were duly investigated.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem.
As of December 13, 3,039 individuals (24 percent of the prison
population) were in preventive detention, an increase of six percent
from the previous year. The average detention time was eight months
(down from 26 months), while approximately 20 percent of preventive
detainees spent more than one year in prison.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
The court system consists of a Constitutional Court, a Supreme
Court of Justice, and judicial courts of first and second instance.
There is also a Supreme Court of Administration, which handles
administrative and tax disputes and is supported by lower
administrative courts. There is an audit court in the Ministry of
Finance.
There were more than 500 courts in the country, and approximately
3,000 magistrates and judges; however, staff shortages, budget
restrictions, court delays, and the lack of computerization continued
to be serious problems that contributed to inefficiency and a backlog
of cases.
Critics, including the media, business corporations, and legal
observers, estimated the backlog of pending trials was at least a year.
Trial Procedures.--Jury trials can be requested for criminal cases
but are rare. Civil cases do not have jury trials. Defendants are
presumed innocent and have the right of appeal and the right to consult
with an attorney in a timely manner, at government expense if needed.
They can confront and question witnesses against them, present evidence
on their behalf, and have access to government- held evidence. These
rights were generally followed in practice.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. Citizens have access to a
court to bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human
rights violation. There are administrative as well as judicial remedies
for alleged wrongs.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press and judiciary
and a functioning democratic political system combined to ensure
freedom of speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including electronic mail.
According to a December survey by the National Statistics Institute,
Internet use was approximately 36 percent; however, the rate increased
to 80 and 87 percent for high school and university graduates,
respectively. By January, Internet access was available in all public
elementary and high schools. All federal government offices and 97
percent of hospitals have Internet access.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
The 2001 Religious Freedom Act created a legislative framework for
religions established in the country for at least 30 years, or
recognized internationally for at least 60 years. The act provides all
other qualifying religions with benefits previously reserved for the
Catholic Church: full tax-exempt status, legal recognition for marriage
and other rites, chaplain visits to prisons and hospitals, and respect
for traditional holidays.
The Catholic Church maintains a separate agreement with the
Government under the terms of the 2004 amended concordat which
recognizes the juridical personality of the Portuguese Episcopal
Conference and allows the Catholic Church to receive 0.5 percent of the
income tax that citizens can allocate to various institutions in their
annual tax returns.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish population was
approximately 700. There were no reports of anti-Semitic acts.
Government efforts to promote religious tolerance included the
President's participation in a ceremony in 2005 to commemorate the
anniversary of the founding of Lisbon's 19th century synagogue, which
was restored for religious services and cultural events. On April 19,
in a ceremony in a public square in downtown Lisbon, citizens marked
the 500th anniversary of the killing of thousands of Jews who had been
forced by the state to convert to Christianity. City officials unveiled
a small memorial at the site, and the event received significant media
coverage.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
c. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The country's system for granting refugee status was active and
accessible.
During the year the Government also provided temporary protection
to individuals who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and 1967 Protocol, although the exact number was not
available.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Parties.--Free and fair national
parliamentary elections were held in February 2005. The Socialist Party
won a ruling majority, ending a governing coalition between the Social
Democrat Party (PSD) and the Christian Democrat/People's Party.
There were 61 women in the 230-member parliament and two women in
the cabinet. There were no members of minorities in parliament or the
cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
corruption in the executive or legislative branches of government
during the year; however, there were media reports of corruption
involving local government officials. The most high-profile corruption
cases involved mayors Fatima Felgueiras, Valentim Loureiro, and
Isaltino Morais. Felgueiras (Socialist Party), self-exiled to Brazil
from 2003-05 to escape arrest, was accused of embezzlement and abuse of
power. Loureiro, PSD mayor and President of the Portuguese Professional
Soccer League, was accused of corruption and influencing of referees in
Portuguese soccer. Morais (PSD) was accused of tax evasion, corruption,
and money laundering. All three were awaiting trial at year's end.
The constitution and law provide for public access to government
information, and the Government provided access in practice for
citizens and non-citizens, including foreign media.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views; however, most of the
groups continued to complain about the slow pace of investigations and
remedial actions.
The country has an independent human rights ombudsman who is
responsible for defending human rights, freedom, privileges, and the
legitimate rights of all citizens. The ombudsman had adequate resources
and published mandatory annual reports and special reports on such
issues as women's rights, prisons, and the rights of children and
senior citizens.
Within parliament there is an independent First Committee for
Constitutional Issues, Rights, and Liberties and Privileges, which has
oversight over human rights issues. It drafts and submits bills and
petitions for parliamentary approval. During the year these included
bills on establishing the Legal Assistance Institute (to provide legal
representation for indigent clients), combating corruption in sports,
approving a referendum on the decriminalization of abortion, and
improving immigrants' rights.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, and social status; however,
discrimination against women and ethnic minorities persisted.
Women.--Violence against women, including domestic violence,
continued to be a problem. While there was no clear evidence that
violence against women increased, more cases of violence were reported.
In 2005 the Government established the Portuguese Structure against
Domestic Violence (EMCVD), which launched a nationwide awareness
campaign against domestic violence, trained health professionals,
proposed legislation to improve legal assistance to victims, increased
the number of safe houses for victims of domestic violence, and signed
protocols with local authorities to assist victims. In July President
Cavaco Silva toured several northern districts to raise awareness of
domestic violence.
Of the nearly 7,070 cases of violence reported during the first six
months of the year to the Association for Victim Support (APAV), more
than 86 percent involved domestic violence. The APAV is a nonprofit,
charitable organization that provides confidential and free services
nationwide to victims of any type of crime. (Most reported domestic
violence cases are registered by the PSP and GNR, who redirect victims
to APAV for assistance.)
According to a women's rights NGO, the Union of Women Alternative
and Response, 39 women were killed by their husbands or partners in the
12 month period that ended in November.
The law provides for criminal penalties in cases of violence by a
spouse, and the judicial system prosecuted persons accused of abusing
women; however, traditional societal attitudes still discouraged many
battered women from using the judicial system.
According to the head of the government-sponsored Mission Against
Domestic Violence, only 10 percent of cases were brought to trial. The
vast majority were resolved outside of the court system by lawyers who
mediated between the parties. In 2005 according to the Ministry of
Justice, there were 870 court cases related to domestic violence and
only 460 prosecutions.
The Government's Commission for Equality and Women's Rights ran 14
safe houses for victims of domestic violence and also maintained a 24-
hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week phone service. The safe house services
included food, shelter, and health and legal assistance.
The law specifically makes rape, including spousal rape, illegal,
and the Government generally enforced these laws. However, statistics
were not available for the number of abusers who were prosecuted,
convicted, or punished.
Prostitution was legal and common, and there were reports of
violence against prostitutes. Only pimping, running brothels, and the
procurement of prostitutes are illegal and legally punishable.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation continued
to be a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is a crime if perpetrated by a superior in the
workplace. The penalty is two to three years in prison.
The Commission on Equality in the Workplace and in Employment
(CITE), which is composed of representatives of the Government,
employers' organizations, and labor unions, is empowered to examine,
but not adjudicate, complaints of sexual harassment. Reporting of
sexual harassment was on the rise. According to a study conducted by
the Higher Institute for Labor and Entrepreneurial Sciences and
published by CITE, one out of three women has been a victim of sexual
harassment, which ranged from offensive gazes to sexual propositions,
insults, and threats of coerced or unwelcome touching.
The civil code provides women with full legal equality with men;
however, in practice women experienced economic and other forms of
discrimination. Of the 367,312 students enrolled in higher education in
the 2005-06 school year, 55 percent were women. Although women made up
46 percent of the working population and increasingly were represented
in business, science, academia, and the professions, their average
salaries were about 30 percent less than men's.
Discrimination by employers against pregnant workers and new
mothers was a common problem.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. Nine years of compulsory, free, and universal
education were provided for children through the age of 15. The
majority of children attended school; however, 45 percent dropped out
before completing high school. The Government also provided preschool
education for children age four and older.
The Government provided free or low cost health care for all
children until the age of 15; girls and boys had equal access.
Child abuse was a problem. The nonprofit APAV reported 97 cases of
crimes against children under 18 years old during the first six months
of the year. Approximately 85 percent of the cases involved domestic
violence.
The high-profile trial of a pedophilia operation at the Casa Pia
children's home in Lisbon that began in November 2004 continued at
year's end. The eight defendants faced charges ranging from procurement
and rape to homosexual acts with adolescents and sexual abuse of minors
for abusing 46 children.
Trafficking of children for sexual exploitation and forced labor
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, or
within the country. The law also criminalizes the trafficking of
children under 16 years of age for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The country is primarily a destination and transit point for women,
men, and children trafficked from Brazil, Eastern Europe, and, to a
lesser extent, Africa. Some victims were trafficked to the country for
forced labor. The majority of victims from Brazil were trafficked for
the purpose of sexual exploitation. Approximately 5,000 women, mostly
Brazilians, were trafficked to the country annually.
Trafficked persons generally lived in hiding in poor conditions,
with little or no sanitation facilities and in cramped spaces. Some
trafficked workers were not paid, and some were ``housed'' within the
factory or construction site. Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian
organized crime groups reportedly conducted most of the trafficking of
Eastern Europeans. The traffickers frequently demanded additional
payments and a share of earnings following their victims' arrival in
the country, usually under threat of physical harm. They often withheld
the identification documents of the trafficked persons and threatened
to harm family members who remained in the country of origin.
The Government increased its anti-trafficking efforts during the
year and reported that it actively dismantled trafficking networks in
2005, reducing their overall presence in the country. The Government
continued to cooperate with other European law enforcement agencies in
trafficking investigations. In November 2005 it signed an agreement
with Spanish police to strengthen border control, which included a
joint police team to address trafficking and smuggling.
Each law that can be applied to traffickers, such as facilitating
the illegal entry of persons, employing an illegal immigrant, false
documentation, extortion, fraud, and sexual exploitation, carries a
penalty of between one and eight years' imprisonment. By citing the
violation of multiple provisions, judges have handed down longer
sentences. While the Government prosecuted 45 traffickers during 2004,
the latest period for which data was available, only two of 27
traffickers convicted served prison time; the remaining 25 received
suspended sentences.
The Government provided subsidies for victims to receive shelter,
employment, education, access to medical services, and assistance in
family reunification. The Government also provided legal residency to
many trafficking victims, although most victims were repatriated. Some
NGOs assisted the Government in tracking and reintegrating trafficking
victims. Victims who initially were detained were later transferred to
NGOs for protection and assistance. The Government operated 20 National
Immigrant Support Centers throughout the country to provide immigrants,
including trafficking victims, with multi-lingual information and
assistance. In 2005 the Government renewed funding for NGOs to provide
shelter and assistance to trafficking victims and victims of other
crimes.
The Government sponsored antitrafficking information campaigns and
public service announcements throughout the year. It broadcasted
various programs on state-run channels to educate and inform the
general public, including potential trafficking victims and consumers.
In 2005 the Government developed and disseminated a national
antitrafficking action plan to address trafficking more systematically.
The plan provided for the establishment of a statistics-gathering unit
within the Ministry of Interior to monitor more effectively and adjust
the Government's approach to combating trafficking.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced the law. The law also mandates access
to public buildings for such persons, and the Government enforced these
provisions in practice; however, no such legislation covers private
businesses or other facilities.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity oversees the National
Bureau for the Rehabilitation and Integration of Persons with
Disabilities, which is responsible for the protection, professional
training, rehabilitation, and integration of persons with disabilities,
and enforcement of related legislation.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The Government effectively
protected the civil and political rights of minority groups. The
principal minority groups were immigrants, legal and illegal, from the
country's former African colonies, Brazil, and Eastern Europe.
Approximately 500,000 legal immigrants lived in the country,
representing an estimated 5 percent of the population. The country also
had a resident Romani population of approximately 50,000.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides workers with the
right to form or join unions of their choice without previous
authorization or excessive requirements, and they exercised this right
in practice. Approximately 35 percent of the total workforce was
unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The right to organize and
bargain collectively was recognized and exercised freely in practice.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. During the year there were strikes in the
education, health, transportation, and agriculture sectors. If a long
strike occurs in an essential sector such as justice, health, energy,
or transportation, the Government may order the strikers back to work
for a specific period. The Government rarely has invoked this power.
Police officers and members of the armed forces may not strike
legally, but they have unions and recourse within the legal system.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced and compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace.
The minimum working age is 16 years. There were instances of child
labor, but the overall incidence was small and was concentrated
geographically and by sector. The greatest problems were reported in
Braga, Porto, and Faro and tended to occur in the clothing, footwear,
construction, and hotel industries.
According to the Government's last major study on child labor in
2001, approximately 48,900 children between ages six and 15 engaged in
some form of economic activity. Of that number, 85.3 percent were
unpaid family workers, 14.7 percent worked for third parties, and 98.6
percent attended school. Of these children, 48.4 percent were employed
in the agricultural sector, 12.4 percent in manufacturing, and 8.9
percent in construction. Of the children that worked, the vast majority
worked 15 hours or less per week; however, about 11 percent worked more
than 35 hours per week.
The Government's principal body to address, monitor, and respond to
reports of child labor is the Plan for the Elimination of Exploitation
of Child Labor. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity is
responsible for enforcing child labor laws, and it did so effectively.
There were reports that Romanian minors often were used for street
begging (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage, which
covers full-time workers, rural workers, and domestic employees ages 18
and older, was approximately $484 (385.90 euros) and did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. However, widespread
rent controls and basic food and utility subsidies increased the
standard of living. Most workers received higher wages, with the
General Confederation of Portuguese Workers estimating an average
monthly salary of approximately $916 (763.20 euros), excluding public
servants.
The maximum legal workday is 10 hours, and the maximum workweek is
40 hours. There is a maximum of two hours of paid overtime per day and
200 hours of overtime per year, with a minimum of 12 hours between
workdays. The Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity effectively
monitored compliance through its regional inspectors.
Employers legally are responsible for accidents at work and are
required by law to carry accident insurance. The General Directorate of
Hygiene and Labor Security develops safety standards in line with
European Union standards, and the general labor inspectorate is
responsible for their enforcement. According to the Inspectorate
General for Labor, there were 151 deaths from work-related accidents
this year, the lowest death rate in the past five years. Workers
injured on the job rarely initiated lawsuits. Workers have the right to
remove themselves from situations that endanger health or safety
without jeopardy to their employment, and the authorities effectively
enforced this right.
__________
ROMANIA
Romania, a country of approximately 21.7 million persons, is a
constitutional democracy with a multiparty, bicameral parliamentary
system. The December 2004 election of Traian Basescu had a few
irregularities, but generally was judged free and fair. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces.
The Government made increasing attempts to address human rights
issues during the year; however, human rights abuses continued to
occur. There were continued reports of police and gendarme harassment
of detainees and Roma. Although slightly improved over previous years,
prison conditions remained poor. The judiciary exercised its
independence, but lacked the public's trust in its ability to
impartially apply the law. Restrictions on freedom of religion became a
greater concern, in particular after the adoption of a restrictive,
discriminatory religion law. While the Government made some progress
with property restitution, it failed to return property to the Greek
Catholic Church and other religious denominations. Widespread
corruption remained a problem. There were continued reports of violence
and discrimination against women, along with significant lapses in the
protection of children's rights. Persons, mainly women and children,
were trafficked for sexual exploitation, but also for labor and forced
begging. The neglect of and inadequate assistance for persons with
disabilities was a problem. Societal violence and discrimination
against the Roma was pervasive. Homosexuals continued to suffer
societal discrimination. Discrimination against persons, particularly
children, living with HIV/AIDS was a serious problem.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
there were reports of at least one possibly arbitrary or unlawful
killing. On September 19, a police officer shot and killed a 22-year
old Romani man, Adrian Cobzaru, who, together with a second person, was
stealing goods from a truck in Bucharest and tried to run from the
scene disregarding the police orders to stop. A commission of the
Bucharest police began an investigation regarding the circumstances
under which the officer used his weapon, and that investigation
continued at year's end. The family of the victim filed a separate
complaint with the prosecutor's office. The Roma Center for Social
Intervention and Studies (Romani CRISS), a nongovernmental organization
(NGO) that monitors the observance of Roma rights, contacted a lawyer
to help in the lawsuit.
There were no new developments in the 2005 death of Dumitru Ciobu
in police custody. Police did not investigate to determine whether his
treatment in police custody played a role in his death.
Police did not open an investigation in the death of 34-year-old
Gheorghe Cazanciuc, who was shot dead in August 2005 by railway
transportation police while he was allegedly stealing copper wire. The
police reported that Cazanciuc attempted to flee the scene. Human
rights NGOs asserted that the use of a firearm by police was excessive,
given the nature of the crime.
On January 30, the High Court of Cassation and Justice rejected an
appeal, filed in 2005 by two former militia colonels, Tudor Stanica and
Creanga Mihail, to reconsider the 10-year prison sentences; the two
were convicted in 2003 of the 1985 beating death of former dissident
Gheorghe Ursu. The appeal was based on a new forensic report
attributing Ursu's death to a lack of medical care and not to the
beating itself, thereby contradicting the original 1993 forensic
report. The court's decision was final. On August 9, the High Court for
Cassation and Justice rejected an appeal filed by Ursu's family against
the authorities' decision to release Stanica from prison on medical
grounds in April 2005. The other convict remained in prison.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
there were numerous credible reports of police torture and mistreatment
of detainees and Roma, primarily through excessive force and beatings
by police. There were also reports of mistreatment of physically
disabled abandoned children in state institutions and of prolonged
incarceration for misbehavior within state orphanages.
On July 27, police in Bucharest responded to a dispute between an
elderly couple, Maria and Lucian Tamaris, and one of their neighbors
over an alleged property trespass. When police arrived on the scene,
they allegedly handcuffed the couple, told them to lie on the ground,
and kicked them. One of the officers claimed that Maria Tamaris
attacked and injured him. The couple subsequently filed a criminal
complaint against the police for abusive behavior. In early August, one
of the officers involved was fired for damaging the image of the police
by violating police procedures. Five other police officers involved in
the incident were admonished for failing to observe appropriate police
procedures.
Media reported that on the morning of August 14, two community
policemen beat Bucharest student Alexandru Ungureanu while he was
walking in the park with a group of friends. Ungureanu claimed that the
police took his identification documents and wallet. Following the
student's complaint, the police initiated an internal investigation.
No further updates were available on the investigations into the
following alleged police beatings in 2005: the beating of a Romani man
in a bar in Moreni in April; the beating of two men in Buzau in August;
and the beating of Bucharest student Razvan Vasile Muraru in Tulcea
county in October.
In December 2005 police officers Viorel Buzenschi and Ioan Tibuleac
in Tibana, Iasi county, allegedly beat four persons, two of them
minors, with clubs and forced them to admit to committing an alleged
theft. The minors were hospitalized for their injuries, and the
officers were dismissed. In May Tibuleac initiated a lawsuit against
the police chiefs, arguing that he did not use unlawful force against
the four, and asking to be reinstated. The suit remained pending at
year's end.
Romani CRISS and other NGOs continued to claim that police used
excessive force against Roma and subjected them to brutal treatment and
harassment.
According to Romani CRISS, on the morning of May 9, police forces,
the special intervention squad, and representatives of the electric
power company entered a Roma community in the village of Gepiu, Bihor
county, allegedly to stop electric power theft. Police allegedly forced
their way into Romani homes without showing warrants and physically
abused five Romani individuals during the search and at the police
headquarters. In response to complaints of abuse filed by Romani CRISS
and the alleged victims, police stated that an internal investigation
revealed no abuse by police. The alleged victims filed a criminal
complaint with the prosecutor's office, and the case remained under
investigation.
On August 3, police and gendarmes entered a Roma community in the
village of Bontida, Cluj county, and detained five Romani men and boys
who were then taken to the police precinct. According to Romani CRISS,
three individuals were physically abused in the gendarmes' van, and the
other two were abused in the police precinct. Two of the five detainees
were minors; their parents were initially denied access to the police
precinct. The chief of the police precinct stated that the gendarmes'
official report denied that the five men were subjected to abuse. The
alleged victims filed complaints against the gendarmes for abusive
behavior.
In August, according to Romani CRISS, police searched Romani
neighborhoods in Cluj during an eviction operation and physically
assaulted several Roma. This raid followed two similar raids on the
same neighborhood in November 2005, after which residents also accused
police of abusive behavior toward Romani residents (see section 1.f.).
According to NGOs, a police officer fined for the 2004 physical
assault of a 12-year-old boy in Fetesti continued to refuse to pay the
fine but remained employed as a police officer at year's end.
On September 7, a police squad entered a Romani community in
Apalina, Mures county, reportedly to deliver subpoenas to two Romani
persons who were under criminal investigation. The Roma accused police
of using extreme violence when they came to the community; however, the
officers involved in the incident claimed that they were physically
assaulted by the Roma and used force only in reaction to the attack.
Romani CRISS and the Pro-Europa League, a human rights NGO based in
Targu Mures, identified 37 victims of the incident, 36 of whom were
Roma. In reply to two letters sent by Romani CRISS, the general police
inspectorate initiated an investigation and concluded that the incident
was ``inappropriately managed'' by the police officers in charge, which
led to measures violating legal provisions and internal police
regulations. On October 12, the inspectorate began a preliminary
investigation of senior police officer Valer Ujica and police officers
Alexandru Moldovan and Petru Gora. Forty-nine Roma filed criminal
complaints and the case was under investigation by the prosecutor's
office in Targu Mures at year's end.
On June 28, after a lengthy trial, a Constanta court issued four-
and six-month suspended prison sentences to two members of the Service
for Protection and Guard, Daniel Bogdan Mihalcea and Teodor Chirica,
who in August 2004 physically assaulted Serban Pretor, a state
secretary on the National Audiovisual Council. In October, the
Constanta court ruled on the appeals, filed by both Pretor and the two
defendants in July, acquitting the two and reducing the moral
compensation to be paid by the defendants to the victim from $1,560 to
$780 (4,000 to 2,000 new lei). Chirica also received a penal fine of
$195 (500 new lei).
On January 24, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) filed an
application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the
Government, alleging the excessive and unjustified use of force by the
police against a Romani family in 2003. The application further alleged
that authorities failed to conduct an effective investigation of the
incident. In August 2003 four members of the Pandele family publicly
protested a municipal decision to deny renewal of their lease of space
for a fruit and vegetable stand in the Targu Frumos food market. Police
allegedly responded to the protest by beating the family members with
bats, truncheons, and boots. The family was taken to the police
station, where further abuse and threats allegedly took place. The
Pandeles were fined for disturbing the peace and released, but alleged
that they were subjected to continued harassment from the municipal
government since the incident.
On July 14, the prosecutor's office in Craiova decided to cease
criminal prosecution of a police officer accused of having tortured an
18-year-old Romani man, Nelu Balasoiu, who died in Jilava prison after
his 2002 transfer from a penitentiary in Targu Jiu. The victim's family
appealed the decision.
Lesbian and gay rights NGOs complained that police singled out
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community for
violence and harassment (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
harsh and generally did not meet international standards.
Overcrowding remained a serious problem, although there was a
slight improvement over 2005 in respecting prisoners' rights, such as
the provision of religious assistance and the investigation of
incidents in prisons. At the end of November, 34,542 persons, including
767 minors, were in prison or juvenile detention facilities in a system
with a capacity of 37,925. Overcrowding resulted from a high
concentration of inmates in a few facilities; for example, on November
28, the prison in Bacau held 985 prisoners while its capacity was only
453. The prison in Galati held 1,081 prisoners while its capacity was
only 821. In the penitentiaries in Margineni and Slobozia, the number
of prisoners in some cells was higher than the number of beds.
In October a new law on the execution of prison terms came into
effect, which, according to some NGOs, was a necessary step toward
improving prison conditions and enhancing protection of prisoners'
rights. However, its enforcement was delayed due to the Government's
failure to adopt implementing regulations for the law. The law
stipulates four categories of detention status for prisoners serving
terms: maximum security, closed, semi-open, and open. The law expressly
allows the transfer of prisoners from one category to another based on
their conduct.
Media and human rights organizations reported that the abuse of
prisoners by authorities and other prisoners continued to be a problem.
Prisoners from the penitentiaries in Craiova, Turnu Severin, Jilava,
Bistrita, Slobozia, Tulcea, Braila, Deva, Colibasi, and Arad complained
to human rights NGOs that prison staff beat and punished them with up
to seven days of solitary confinement for minor infractions. For
example, the Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania-the
Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH) reported on the case of a prisoner in
Slobozia penitentiary, who was physically abused by four prison guards,
Emil Dinca, Laurentiu Marian Diamandopol, Valentin Dumitru Musat, and
Adrian Tomescu, for refusing to wear a prison uniform when he was taken
to court, on the grounds that the uniform was dirty. The prisoner was
hospitalized for six days and subsequently punished with 10 days of
solitary confinement and placed in the category of ``highly dangerous''
prisoners. The prosecutor's office decided not to indict the four, and
an appeal of the decision filed by APADOR-CH was rejected on November
6.
According to APADOR-CH, the practice of labeling prisoners as
``dangerous'' remained a problem, due to a lack of clear standards for
classifying prisoners. ``Dangerous'' inmates were often held in smaller
rooms with additional bars on windows and handcuffed when taken out of
their cells, including during exercise or medical treatment. Because
the prisons administration considered this labeling an administrative
matter rather than a disciplinary sanction, prisoners labeled
``dangerous'' had no right to challenge that determination. NGOs
further criticized the practice of subjecting prisoners to multiple
punishments for a single act of indiscipline. There were continued
reports during the year that at the prison in Jilava, prisoners with
few or no visitors were often the victims of physical and sexual abuse
by other prisoners, due to the inability of the victims to obtain
outside support.
Sanitation and hygiene in prisons did not meet international
standards. Medical facilities were not sufficient to care for all
prisoners and detainees. Heating and hot water were not available in
several facilities. At the prison at Jilava, prisoners complained of
mold on cell walls, rust in the tap water, poor heating, and cold
showers. Because the facility was built on swampland, sludge
periodically flooded the cells, bringing rats and mice. Many prisoners
had lice and scabies, and reported the insufficient provision of many
medications.
NGOs reported that prison meals did not provide the minimum
necessary calories and that prisoner access to health care was
inhibited by the lack of doctors. APADOR-CH criticized the common
practice of prison doctors serving as the family doctors for prison
staff, their family members, and retired staff, which further reduced
the time available for inmate care. NGOs also stated that insufficient
daily activities and limited educational programs for prisoners
continued to be major problems; the rate of inmate participation in
such activities remained at 10 to 20 percent.
Many prisons and police detention facilities did not provide for
the confidentiality of discussions between prisoners or detainees and
their lawyers.
On December 7, the prisoners in the Codlea penitentiary began
protesting parliament's rejection of a bill on the collective pardoning
of some categories of prisoners and against prison conditions. Over the
next few days, the protests expanded to 26 penitentiaries, with 6,353
prisoners going on hunger strike. The protests slowly died out, and the
strikes had all ended by mid-December. According to APADOR-CH, the
prisoners' actions were a justified response to chronic overcrowding
and the presence of large numbers of prisoners serving terms for minor
crimes.
The Government continued limited efforts, including partnerships
with NGOs, to alleviate harsh conditions and to deter the spread of HIV
and tuberculosis.
Due to overcrowding in some prisons, pretrial detainees were
sometimes held in the same facilities and treated in the same manner as
convicted prisoners. Juveniles were sometimes kept in cells with
adults. An NGO criticized that minors incarcerated in several
penitentiaries after the beginning of the school year were not admitted
to educational courses organized in prison.
In February the Government adopted new regulations for religious
assistance in prisons, which allow unrestricted access of all religious
groups to prisons (see section 2.c.).
In November the national administration of penitentiaries, in
cooperation with foreign governments, launched a program to improve the
national prison system through implementation of a new management
structure, to increase safety and psycho-social activities for high-
risk prisoners, and to provide training for staff who work with high-
risk prisoners.
The Government permitted prison visits by human rights observers,
foreign government officials, and media representatives. In Arad, the
local probation office sponsored two visits for foreign officials
during the year to a newly constructed prison facility. The observers
noted that the facility appeared new, and living conditions appeared
clean. Inmates were allowed to receive televisions from their families
and to keep those in their cells. There was an outdoor exercise area
with a soccer field. The prison had a library, classrooms, chapel, and
meeting areas. The kitchen was large and clean. The prison staff
welcomed questions and seemed open in their responses. The staff freely
admitted that not all of the prisons operated on the standards of this
newly constructed facility.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Administration and Interior is responsible for the national police and
the gendarmerie, as well as the border police; alien authority;
national office for refugees; the general directorate of information
and internal protection (DGIPI), which oversees the collection of
intelligence on organized crime and corruption; the general
anticorruption directorate; the special protection and intervention
group; and the special aviation unit. The national police agency is the
inspectorate general of police, which is divided into specialized
directorates and has 42 regional directorates for counties and the city
of Bucharest. The internal intelligence service (SRI) also collects
intelligence on major organized crime, major economic crimes, and
corruption. Both SRI and DGIPI turn over the intelligence they gather
on criminal activity to the prosecutor's office for criminal
investigation. However, the SRI lacks the legal authority to conduct
criminal investigations or to collect intelligence on organized crime.
While police generally followed the law and internal procedures,
corruption was a continuing problem which remained a main cause of
citizens' lack of respect for the police and contributed to a
corresponding lack of police authority. Extremely low salaries, which
were sometimes not paid on time, contributed to the susceptibility of
individual law enforcement officials to bribes. According to human
rights NGOs, forensic reports were frequently unreliable, often erring
in favor of police and other officials. The ministry's general
anticorruption directorate publicized its anticorruption telephone
hotline to generate prosecutorial leads for corruption within the
police. Instances of high-level corruption were referred to the
national anticorruption directorate.
Police impunity was a problem. Complaints of police misconduct were
handled by the internal disciplinary council of the units where the
reported officers worked. During the year, the Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law Department in the General Police Inspectorate
investigated nine cases of alleged violations of human rights by 18
officers. Of those 18 officers, three officers' cases were dropped
because there was no evidence that an officer was involved, four
officers were found innocent, seven officers received some form of
administrative punishment and four officers were fired. Separately, 61
corruption cases (15 police officers and 46 security agents) were
identified during the year. Of these cases, five were in custody
awaiting trial and one was convicted. The General Anti-corruption
Directorate of the Ministry of the Administration and Interior also
investigated 996 cases of corruption among its employees, a category
separate from human rights violations.
Police reform continued during the year. The Government, with
support from law enforcement agencies from other countries, offered
police training workshops on topics such as human rights and the proper
treatment of criminal suspects. The police increased hiring of women
and minorities. In February the first ever Romani woman was hired as a
police officer. According to the police, 8.4 percent of police
employees were women. During the first nine months of the year, the
police hired 43 members of national minorities: 25 Hungarians, 15 Roma,
two Germans, and one Slovak. There were 176 Romani police officers
specializing in the management of conflicts in Roma communities and the
prevention of discrimination.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that only judges may issue
detention and search warrants, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice. The law requires authorities to inform
detainees at the time of arrest of the charges against them and their
legal rights. Police must notify detainees of their rights in a
language they understand before obtaining a statement. Detainees must
be brought before a court within 24 hours of arrest. The law provides
for pretrial release at the discretion of the court. A bail system also
exists; however, it was seldom used in practice. The law requires that
the Government provide an attorney to all detained individuals.
Detainees have a right to access to counsel and generally had prompt
access to counsel and their families. Indigent detainees were provided
with legal counsel at public expense.
The law allows police to take any person who endangers the public,
other persons, or the social order to a police station. There were
allegations that police often used this provision to detain persons up
to 24 hours of their detention. The law provides criteria for pretrial
release at the discretion of the court. Human rights NGOs complained
that authorities were frequently able to listen to discussions between
detainees and their lawyers. Such listening occurred most frequently in
prisons, but also was reported at other police facilities.
A judge may order pretrial detention for periods of up to 30 days,
depending upon the status of the case. The court may extend these time
periods; however, pretrial detention may not exceed 180 days. Courts
and prosecutors may be held liable for unjustifiable, illegal, or
abusive measures.
Amnesty.--On April 20, June 20, July 10, and November 6, President
Basescu issued a total of 12 pardons on humanitarian grounds to five
women and seven men, most of whom were convicted for minor offenses.
Five of these persons were pardoned because of old age and/or
precarious health conditions; three of the women received pardons
because they had four or five minor children; and one prisoner was
pardoned for good behavior after serving 10 months of a three-year
sentence for theft.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary and judges exercised this independence. The
judiciary, however, lacked the public's trust that its judges were
accountable and did not serve political interests.
There was a widespread perception of corruption within the
judiciary. Some observers noted improvements due to the Government's
random assignment of cases to judges, but they also pointed out that
there remained many ways of influencing judges. The Superior Council of
Magistracy (CSM), the judiciary's independent oversight body which is
responsible for the promotion and discipline of judges and prosecutors,
publicly opposed the Government's anticorruption programs, including
its public awareness campaign depicting justice as a pillar of society
shaken by acts of corruption. The Government emphasized the importance
of the judiciary's independence, but also urged the CSM to more
effectively discipline its members to enhance the management of cases,
raise ethical standards, and effectively address misconduct. Some NGOs
criticized the unexpectedly secret elections for the management of the
CSM as lacking transparency. The ability of CSM members to retain local
positions, such as Presidents of courts of appeal, also presented
apparent conflicts of interests and limited full-time activity to just
six of the 19 members.
The law establishes a four-tier legal system, beginning with the
lower court (judecatorie), followed by the intermediate court
(tribunal), the appellate court, and the High Court of Cassation and
Justice. A separate Constitutional Court validates electoral results
and makes decisions regarding the constitutionality of laws, treaties,
ordinances, and internal rules of the parliament. A prosecutor's office
is associated with each court. The court having original jurisdiction
over a case is determined by the nature of the offense and by the
position a defendant may hold in public service.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are open to the public. The law does not
provide for trial by jury. The law provides for a right to counsel and
a presumption of innocence until a final judgment by a court. The law
requires that the Government provide an attorney to juveniles in
criminal cases; in practice local bar associations provided attorneys
to the indigent and were compensated by the Ministry of Justice.
Defendants have the right to be present at trial, to consult with an
attorney in a timely manner, to confront or question witnesses against
them, and to present witnesses and evidence on their behalf. Defendants
and their attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to
their cases. Both plaintiffs and defendants have a right of appeal.
The law provides for the investigation by civilian prosecutors of
crimes by the national police. Military prosecutors continued to try
cases that involved ``state security'' in military cases. Other cases
involving ``state security'' but not military issues were tried by
civilian prosecutors. Crimes by the gendarmerie continued to fall under
military jurisdiction. Local and international human rights groups
criticized the handling of cases by military courts, claiming that
military prosecutors' investigations were unnecessarily lengthy,
biased, and often inconclusive. Some lawyers claimed such lengthy
investigations only served to discredit the reputations of their
clients rather than hold them accountable for any actual wrongdoing.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Following the end of Communism, no law was ever passed to annul the
sentences of political prisoners who had served prison terms during the
Communist era; individuals had to go through a lengthy appeals process
to have their Communist-era criminal records expunged.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Civil courts functioned in
every jurisdiction of the country. Civil courts do not use a jury and
function in a similar fashion as the criminal courts. Crime victims can
assert civil remedies in either civil courts or criminal courts if they
choose. This can result in a combined civil/criminal trial to resolve
all issues arising from the criminal case. Civil courts are
administered by the Ministry of Justice and the magistrates themselves
are overseen by the CSM. Civil courts operated with the same degree of
judicial independence as the criminal courts.
Problems with the civil court system stemmed primarily from their
lack of efficiency. Litigants sometimes also encountered difficulties
enforcing civil verdicts, because the procedures for enforcement of
judgment orders were impractical and caused delays.
Administrative and judicial remedies were available for violations
of civil rights by government agencies.
Property Restitution.--In July 2005 the Government passed
legislation to improve the process of property restitution, which has
moved slowly since the end of communism. The legislation clarifies the
procedures for restitution and establish new application deadlines and
fines for officials who hindered the process; and creats a property
fund worth approximately $5 billion (14 billion new lei) for the
compensation in stock of owners with properties that cannot be returned
in kind. However, the fund has not yet been listed on the stock
exchange. Although the large majority of restitution cases remained
unresolved, the pace of restitution increased slightly during the year.
Former owners' organizations, however, continued to assert that
inertia hindered property restitution at the local level. In some
cases, local government officials continued to delay or refuse to
provide necessary documents to former owners filing claims. They also
refused to turn over restituted properties in which county or municipal
governments had an interest. Former owners stated that the central
government, represented at the local level by prefects, did not
uniformly apply fines or other sanctions against local governments that
failed to provide requested documents or to turn over restituted
properties. During the year new legislation was adopted to give
increased powers to the National Agency for Property Restitution
(ANRP). Although the ANRP fined local authorities in 23 of the 42
counties for failing to abide by laws on restitution, former owners
claimed that the actual number of mayors who disobeyed the law was much
higher. About 7 percent of the mayors were fined for not implementing
the restitution law. The fines levied during the year amounted to
approximately $974,000 (2,500,000 new lei).
The number of restitution claims submitted increased greatly as a
result of the 2005 law. ANRP announced that the Government received an
additional 600,000 applications by the close of a November 2005
deadline for claims. Of the 210,000 claims filed before the
legislation, ANRP reported that some 88,000 claims were resolved by
year's end, approximately 35,000 of which were rejected.
During the year the Government did not encourage the Romanian
Orthodox Church to return Greek Catholic churches and church properties
confiscated by the communist state, and given to the Romanian Orthodox
Church (see section 2.c.).
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
The law permits the use of electronic interception both in criminal
cases and for national security purposes. In exceptional circumstances
(when there is a clear and present danger to national security),
government institutions may begin interception without a judicial
warrant. Following this, however, a request for authorization must be
submitted within 48 hours. Although the penal procedure code provides
that warrants may be issued only by judges, under the law on national
security, a prosecutor may authorize the issuance of a warrant for an
initial period of six months, which can be extended indefinitely in
three-month increments without judicial approval. There were reports of
electronic interception used outside of these legal parameters.
According to Romani CRISS, evictions of members of the Roma
community continued to occur both in Bucharest and in other localities
during the year.
On January 24, the community police of Bucharest Sector 1,
accompanied by a special intervention team, allegedly acting without
prior written notification, demolished seven houses belonging to Roma
in Chitila, a suburb of Bucharest. Three Roma were physically abused in
the process, two of whom required medical treatment at the hospital.
Approximately 50 of the evicted Roma were not allowed to take their
belongings. The demolition took place at a temperature of five degrees
Fahrenheit, leaving many adults and children outside in freezing cold.
According to the mayor's office, the operation's goal was to demolish
structures that had been illegally erected on public land by Romani
families. Romani CRISS assisted the victims in filing criminal
complaints, which remained pending at year's end.
On August 2, police executed a raid in a Romani community located
on the outskirts of Cluj-Napoca, in which 10 Roma dwellings were set on
fire. The community was reportedly also subject to two prior raids in
November 2005. During one of these raids, police were alleged to have
physically assaulted three women. Under the pretext of a search for
stolen goods and criminal suspects, police reportedly confiscated
private property, physically assaulted several Roma, evicted residents
by force, detained men at the police precinct for six hours, and
eventually burned all the Roma dwellings. In December 2005 Romani CRISS
filed a complaint against the police officers for abuse and property
destruction stemming from the November 2005 incidents at the
prosecutor's office in Cluj. The case remained under criminal
investigation by the prosecutor's office. Romani CRISS complained that
neither the victims nor the witnesses had yet been called for their
testimony.
According to Romani CRISS, on August 7, the mayor's office in
Piatra Neamt, working in conjunction with the police, gendarmes, and
local community police, evicted 35 Romani families totaling
approximately 250 individuals from a bloc of apartments. According to
police the evictions were necessary in order to repair the building.
During the eviction, a member of the community police reportedly
physically assaulted an elderly woman. The authorities did not offer
alternative housing for the evicted families.
Most of the 40 Romani families evicted in Tulcea in May 2005
continued to live either in the open, with relatives, or in a decaying
building on the site while an appeal of the eviction decision was
pending in a local court. Another lawsuit challenging the eviction was
in progress. Approximately 250 Roma evicted in Zalau in February and
March 2005 were moved to areas with poor conditions, including lack of
access to water supply, heating, electric power, or a sewer system. In
March, following talks with representatives of a Roma NGO, local
authorities announced a plan to move the evicted Roma either to a
former poultry farm outside of town or to a disused power station. Due
to pressure by Romani CRISS, the plan was not implemented.
In 2005, to implement a city plan to renovate Bucharest's historic
Lipscani district, authorities evicted Roma living in the area,
providing minimal financial aid and compensation. Although authorities
in some cases offered alternative housing to those evicted, the offers
were considered inadequate because of their proximity to industrial
areas; poor living conditions; or the likelihood of de facto
segregation from mainstream society.
In August 2005 the National Council for Combating Discrimination
(CNCD) fined the mayor's office in Miercurea Ciuc, Harghita county,
approximately $1,560 (4,000 new lei) for the 2004 forced eviction of
approximately 140 Roma and their relocation to a hazardous area near a
wastewater treatment facility. The Roma lacked alternative housing and
continued to reside in that area. A lawsuit filed by Romani CRISS
against the vice mayor of Miercurea Ciuc for restriction of rights was
in progress. Following a further complaint by Romani CRISS to county
officials, the Harghita county health directorate determined that
living in that area represented a health hazard for the Roma.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. Journalists and private citizens could generally
criticize government authorities, including those at senior levels.
Violence and threats against journalists dropped substantially,
although investigations of incidents from previous years moved slowly.
There were isolated cases of authorities intimidating, censoring,
or attacking journalists, although this occurred less frequently than
in previous years.
Laws restricting freedom of speech continued to cause concern among
the media and NGOs. The offense of insulting authorities was punishable
with a fine but amendments to the criminal code, which became effective
August 11, decriminalized libel, insult, and defamation of the country.
The Government collaborated with media and NGO representatives to
make the allocation of government-funded advertising more transparent,
resulting in legal changes and the creation of a Web site dedicated to
public advertising. These negotiations followed a 2004 ruling by the
Bucharest appellate court that the Government must provide information
regarding advertising contracts to the NGO Center for Independent
Journalism.
The independent media were more active than in previous years, and
expressed a wide variety of views without restriction.
Parliamentarians and their political allies owned numerous media
outlets in the provinces, and the news and editorial tone of these
outlets frequently reflected the views of the owners.
In previous years the media reported several cases of journalists
who, while videotaping or covering various official events, were
assaulted by those being filmed. Such incidents occurred in public
places, and the media reported that gendarmes and police frequently did
not intervene. According to a Media Monitoring Agency report issued in
January, the number of direct and brutal attacks against journalists in
the country diminished compared to previous years. However, public
authorities and politicians were still responsible for many cases of
harassment, although there were fewer reports of threats than in
previous years.
In February unknown persons set fire to the front door of the home
of Ileana Firtuescu, editor in chief of Informatia weekly in Petrosani.
Firtuescu and her family also reported receiving death threats. The NGO
Media Monitoring Agency asked the police to investigate the case, but
police were unable to identify any suspects. Firtulescu was
investigating organized crime, as well as a corrupt former policeman,
when the threats were received.
In March police in Targu Mures confiscated the Hungarian language
publication Europai Ido for its articles in support of regional
autonomy. Police claimed that the publication harmed national security,
but media activists charged it was an act of censorship.
In July media NGOs protested phone threats issued by Vasile Paun, a
deputy director of the Army Intelligence Service against Doru Dragomir,
a reporter for the daily Ziua. Paun, who was taped by the journalist,
threatened to destroy the journalist and said the journalist would pay
for his reports.
In August a crew from television network Antena 1 was filming an
investigation of so-called ``local barons'' in the southern town of
Giurgiu. While filming on public property outside a ranch allegedly
belonging to Giurgiu mayor Lucian Iliescu, the mayor's wife, Smaranda
Iliescu, assaulted the journalists and attempted to grab the tape from
their camera. Mayor Lucian Iliescu, a member of the Democratic Party in
the coalition government, told the press that the whole event was meant
to ruin his image.
There were cases in which media representatives were arrested or
interviewed by authorities for using leaked classified information.
On February 17, Marian Garleanu, the local correspondent of Romania
Libera in Vrancea was arrested with regard to leaked information from
the defense ministry. He was released in two days after the appellate
court admitted a motion by his lawyer, but charges against him remained
pending at year's end. Other journalists also were investigated in the
case.
On February 22, local prosecutors in Focsani indicted journalist
Sebastian Oancea of the newspaper Ziua for his alleged possession of
the same classified military documents possessed by Marian Garleanu,
which Oancea also did not publish. Charges against Oancea remained
pending at year's end.
On March 28, journalists and media activists protested the legal
investigation into the leaked information case and the fines levied by
authorities against four of the journalists involved. Two appealed the
fine and won their case, while the other two had to pay the fine of
approximately $500 each (1,500 new lei).
During the year there were no relevant developments in cases from
previous years of violence against journalists. However, police in
Hunedoara said that they had discovered the assailants of two
journalists in Petrosani who had reported on corruption in the mining
sector; the police investigation lasted three years. The case was in
the courts at year's end.
In August, journalist Brindusa Armanca won a lawsuit against her
former employer, public television station TVR, following a two-year
legal battle. Armanca was fired from the station after she publicly
stated that the station's regulations for its employees violated the
constitution and European Convention on Human Rights. TVR management
claimed that Armanca violated internal policy by making critical
statements about her employer. However, Armanca argued that the TVR
rules violated her right to free expression. Following the incident,
media watchdog groups protested and called upon state-owned television
to reconsider its policies which ``restrict the right to free
expression of their employees,'' and interfere with the public
character of the institution. The appeals court in Timisoara ordered
TVR to re-hire Armanca and to pay her damages of over $38,000 (100,000
new lei). Armanca asked for the money to be paid not from the TVR
budget, but by the station management who fired her. This was the fifth
court case that arose out of Armanca's firing.
In February an appeals court acquitted a contributor to one of the
Legionnaire magazines, the Timisoara-based Gazeta de Vest (Western
Gazette) after a lengthy trial. In 2003 he had been sentenced to 30
months imprisonment for the dissemination of nationalist-chauvinistic
propaganda and fascist symbols. The appeals court based its acquittal
on freedom of speech and freedom of association, reasoning that it is
not forbidden to voice opinions or beliefs about the legionnaire
doctrine or movement. At the trial, the leader of the Legionnaire
Movement came dressed in legionnaire attire to testify on behalf of the
defendant.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. The Internet was widely available in the country,
and individuals had access to both dial-up and broadband connections.
Some smaller communities and rural areas lacked the requisite
infrastructure to support Internet access, but this was relatively
rare. The primary hurdle to Internet access for many was the cost of
in-home Internet connections, although costs were decreasing through
competition. Internet cafes were widely available in towns and cities
throughout the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the Government
generally respected this right in practice. The law provides that
unarmed citizens can assemble peacefully, but states that meetings must
not interfere with other economic or social activities and may not be
held near locations such as hospitals, airports, or military
installations. Organizers of public assemblies must request permits in
writing, three days in advance, from the mayor's office of the locality
where the assembly will take place.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice. The law prohibits fascist, Communist, racist, or xenophobic
ideologies, organization, and symbols (such as statues of war criminals
on public land). Political parties are required to have at least 25,000
members to have legal status, a number some NGOs criticized as being
excessively high.
In February, parliament passed a law stipulating that mayors and
local officials who change their political party affiliations after
being elected will lose their elected position. The law entered into
effect in August. The Pro Democracy Association and several other
prominent NGOs strongly opposed the law, asserting that it violates
both freedom of association and citizens' fundamental right to choose
their leaders.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, there were some restrictions, and several minority
religious groups continued to claim credibly that government officials
and Romanian Orthodox clergy impeded their proselytizing and interfered
with other religious activities.
The Government requires religious groups to register; however,
there was no clear registration procedure, which made it almost
impossible for groups to receive legal status.
The Government gives official religious status to 18 religions.
Only these recognized religions are eligible to receive state financial
support. Recognized religions have the right to establish schools,
receive state funds to build churches, pay clergy salaries, subsidize
clergy housing, broadcast religious programs on radio and television,
apply for broadcasting licenses for denominational frequencies, offer
religion classes in public schools, and enjoy tax-exempt status. The
Government also registered religious groups either as religious and
charitable foundations or nonprofit cultural associations.
On December 14, parliament adopted a new law on religions, despite
strong domestic and international criticism of the proposed
legislation. The law discriminates against smaller religious minorities
and creates impediments for many such groups to obtain official
recognition as religions. The new law requires a high numerical
threshold of 0.1 percent of the population--approximately 22,000
people--to qualify for ``religion'' status. In addition, minority
religions must undergo a 12-year waiting period to qualify for official
status. Civil society organizations recommended the elimination of both
requirements. The parliament concurrently adopted an amendment that
forbids acts of ``religious defamation'' and ``public offense to
religious symbols.'' NGOs and the National Anti-Discrimination Council
expressed concern that this provision might infringe on freedom of
speech and conscience. Despite all criticisms, the President signed the
law at the end of December.
Tensions between the Greek Catholic Church and the municipality of
Pesceana, Valcea county, continued during the year. In January 2005 the
village council prohibited the registration of a Greek Catholic parish
and the activity of the Greek Catholic Church in the locality.
Following a complaint by a group of NGOs, the CNCD decided that the
council's decisions were discriminatory and reprimanded it at the end
of August 2005. Subsequently, the Greek Catholic priest and the
church's members were repeatedly denied access to the local cemetery.
On January 19, a court ruled that the Greek Catholic priest should be
allowed access to the cemetery. The Romanian Orthodox Church
subsequently appealed this decision, and that appeal was pending at
year's end. In April and May, the mayor's office of Pesceana refused to
issue a construction permit for a Greek Catholic church, asking the
Greek Catholic parish to meet the legal requirements from the communist
era, which technically remained in force, but in practice were
nullified by the constitution and other subsequent laws. The Greek
Catholic Church also complained about the hostile attitude of the
Valcea county prefect toward the Greek Catholic congregation in
Pesceana and the illegal transfer by the local council of two communal
cemeteries to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The law does not prohibit or punish assembly for peaceful religious
activities; however, several minority religious groups continued to
complain that, on various occasions, local authorities and Orthodox
priests prevented religious activities from taking place, even when
their organizers had been issued permits. The Seventh-day Adventist
Church and the Baptist Church reported difficulties obtaining approval
to use public halls for religious activities following pressure by
Orthodox priests. In some cases, Orthodox priests incited the local
population against activities by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the
Baptist Church, the Greek Catholic Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The
press and minority religious groups continued to report instances of
Romanian Orthodox clergy harassing members of other faiths, such as
pressuring non-Orthodox school children to attend Orthodox religion
classes or not allowing members of religious groups to proselytize near
Orthodox churches.
Although most minority religious groups reported that they had
received permits to build places of worship without difficulty,
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baptist Church the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, and the Greek Catholic Church reported that permits were
delayed by local authorities.
Several religious groups made credible complaints that, in some
instances, local police and administrative authorities tacitly
supported sometimes violent societal campaigns against proselytizing.
In January and March 2005, members of Jehovah's Witnesses were
reportedly physically assaulted by residents of Dofteana, and the
police failed to protect them. On February 4, two members of the
Jehovah's Witnesses were assaulted by an Orthodox priest in the same
town. When they filed a complaint with the local police, police
officers allegedly warned them to not return to Dofteana.
During the year the Greek Catholic Church was prevented from
building a church on its own land in Certeze, Satu Mare county, due to
obstruction and harassment by the Romanian Orthodox Church and local
authorities. Following the intervention of a Romanian Orthodox priest,
the local council refused the Greek Catholic request for a construction
permit for a new church. The refusal came after the Greek Catholic
Church renounced, to defuse local tensions, a restitution claim for a
local church that had been its property before the communist period.
In some localities, the activities of religious groups, such as
charitable programs in children's homes and shelters, were perceived as
being directed at adherents of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and
conflicts occurred. Members of the Greek Catholic Church, Jehovah's
Witnesses, the Baptist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church continued to report such
cases.
On July 11, the ECHR took note of an agreement concluded between
the Government and the Jehovah's Witnesses organization and 14 members
of Jehovah's Witnesses who had submitted complaints to the ECHR against
the Government. Under the agreement, the Government would pay
approximately $15,000 (39,000 new lei) to the Jehovah's Witnesses
organization. The group had alleged that although the Supreme Court of
Justice recognized the Jehovah's Witnesses' status as a religion in
2000, the Government refused to abide by the court's judgment until
2003. The 14 claimants alleged that the Government refused to exempt
them from military service as conscientious objectors. As part of the
settlement, the Government agreed to withdraw all appeals of decisions
in national courts that had been favorable to the claimants.
Members of the Roman Catholic Csango community, who speak a
Hungarian dialect, repeatedly complained that they were unable to hold
community religious services in Hungarian because of the opposition of
the Roman Catholic Bishopric of Iasi. In August 2005 the Csango
community filed a complaint with the CNCD, which decided in October
2005 that the act of denying religious services in Hungarian is a
restriction on religious freedom. Although the Bishopric abandoned its
initial intention to challenge the CNCD decision in court, the Csango
community still lacked religious services in Hungarian.
Romanian Orthodox priests reportedly denied permission to the Greek
Catholic Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to bury their members in either
religious or secular cemeteries. Such denials were reported during the
year in numerous communities around the country.
Prior to February only recognized religions were entitled to give
religious assistance to prisoners; regulations on religious assistance
in penitentiaries also prohibited proselytizing. The prison priest, who
was always a member of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was responsible
for coordinating religious assistance in prisons. Some NGOs reported
that prisoners were pressured against changing their religions, and
that in many cases Orthodox priests attended meetings between
representatives of other religions and prisoners. Recognized minority
religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day
Adventist Church, asserted that Orthodox priests denied them access to
some penitentiaries. For example, the Orthodox prison priests in
Gherla, Cluj county, and in Aiud, Alba county denied the Seventh-day
Adventist Church access to their penitentiaries.
In August 2005 the CNCD determined that some provisions of the
military clergy law , which entitles recognized religions to have
military clergy trained to render religious assistance to conscripts,
and of the agreement between the Ministry of Justice and the Romanian
Orthodox Church regarding religious assistance in penitentiaries
discriminated against minority religions, and the CNCD recommended
their elimination. On February 17, the Ministry of Justice changed the
regulations for religious assistance in detention places. The new
regulations provide for unrestricted access of recognized religions and
religious associations to any place of detention, even if their
assistance is not specifically requested. The regulations also provide
that prison representatives in charge of religious assistance should
not be priests or representatives of any faith.
Both public and private organizations often permitted only Orthodox
priests to provide religious guidance in the hospitals, children's
homes, and shelters for the elderly that they operated.
Only officially recognized religious groups have the right to teach
religion in public schools. However, a number of recognized minority
religious groups, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Greek
Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, and Jehovah's Witnesses complained
that they were unable to have classes on their faith offered in public
schools. Attendance in religion classes is optional; however, the
Baptist and the Greek Catholic Churches reported cases of children who
were pressured to attend Orthodox religion classes.
In November the CNCD, in answer to a complaint filed by a Buzau-
based NGO, asked the Ministry of Education to remove religious symbols
from schools, with the exception of classrooms where religious classes
were taught. On December 12, the Ministry of Education decided that
parents, local communities, and school management should have decision-
making power on the presence or absence of icons in the classroom.
The restitution law passed in July 2005 permits religious
denominations to reclaim previously nationalized properties that housed
schools, hospitals, or cultural institutions. Although the
implementation of this law remained a problem during the year, some
progress was made, particularly with regard to the restitution of
religious property. During the year, the ANRP restituted over 500
properties to religious denominations, as compared with approximately
1,000 restituted between March 2003 and December 2005. The ANRP handled
over 1,200 claims of religious denominations during the year.
Property restitution was particularly important for the Greek
Catholic Church, whose properties, including churches, were confiscated
during the Communist regime. Most Greek Catholic Churches were given to
the Romanian Orthodox Church after their forced merger in 1948, and
many other Greek Catholic Church properties were taken over by the
Government. During the year the Government made slow progress in
restoring state-controlled church properties. Since 2003 the Government
returned 151 out of 6,723 total properties claimed by the Greek
Catholic Church.
The Romanian Orthodox Church continued to resist the return of
properties it had acquired when the Greek Catholic Church was forcibly
merged into the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1948. While the restitution
legislation only addressed restitution of properties under state
control, a June 2005 law permits the Greek Catholic Church to take
court action whenever bilateral dialogue between the Greek Catholic
Church and Romanian Orthodox Church over church restitution fails.
Although this law was invoked and some cases were resolved in favor of
the Greek Catholic Church, such lawsuits routinely dragged on in courts
for lengthy periods.
In November 2005 the Romanian Orthodox Church returned a cathedral
in Oradea to the Greek Catholic Church after direct pressure was
exerted by top government officials. On February 17, in Satu Mare,
following 16 years of lawsuits and delays, authorities enforced a
ruling returning a cathedral to the Greek Catholic Church. In December
the Orthodox Church restituted a major Greek Catholic Church in
Bucharest, after a 16-year long lawsuit that ended with a final court
ruling in favor of the Greek Catholic Church. In general, however, the
Greek Catholic Church made very limited progress in recovering
properties from the Romanian Orthodox Church. To date, the Romanian
Orthodox Church returned less than 200 of the approximately 2,600 Greek
Catholic churches and monasteries it had obtained through the 1948
forced merger. With the exception of the hierarchs of the Orthodox
Metropolitanate of Banat, all the other Romanian Orthodox Church
representatives opposed the restitution of Greek Catholic churches, and
refused to return properties, even when ordered to do so by a court. In
Bogdan Voda, Maramures county, the Orthodox priest instigated the local
population to physically oppose the restitution of a church that the
Greek Catholic Church won in court in 2000. In February the Greek
Catholic Church filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice due to
its inability to get the court ruling enforced because of the Orthodox
priest's opposition. The Ministry of Justice rejected the complaint as
outside its competence and asked the Orthodox Patriarchate to
investigate its own alleged illegal conduct and provide an answer to
the Greek Catholic Church.
A Greek Catholic-Romanian Orthodox commission, which had long been
ineffective in resolving the problem of the restitution of Greek
Catholic churches, remained dormant since 2004. In July the Greek
Catholic hierarchs refused a government initiative to organize a Greek
Catholic-Romanian Orthodox meeting, pointing to the absence of concrete
results of bilateral dialogue over many years. On July 5, the Holy
Synod of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Cluj, Alba, Crisana, and
Maramures issued a communique that criticized alleged intensified anti-
Orthodox proselytizing actions by the Greek Catholic Church and called
for a law to resolve the Romanian Orthodox-Greek Catholic dispute over
churches and church property. The Romanian Orthodox Church reportedly
collected signatures in support of such a draft law that would take
into consideration the number of each denomination's believers in
determining what properties should be returned to the Greek Catholic
Church.
On July 19, the Greek Catholic Church reiterated that the
Government was obliged to adopt a law to restore formerly Greek
Catholic churches and properties to the Greek Catholic Church. In
October, the Holy Synod of the Greek Catholic Church addressed a letter
to President Basescu, repeating its request for the restitution of a
number of cathedrals and the former Greek Catholic churches in
localities where the Romanian Orthodox Church is operating two
churches, and provision for alternative religious service in localities
with only one church. They also requested the restitution of all Greek
Catholic Church properties presently controlled by the state. President
Basescu had not responded to the letter by year's end.
The Romanian Orthodox Church continued to demolish Greek Catholic
church buildings under various pretexts and also attempted other
methods to shield churches from return. On May 9, a work crew acting on
the instructions of the Romanian Orthodox Church demolished a Greek
Catholic parish church in Taga, Cluj county, despite a government
injunction forbidding its demolition or the construction of a new
church. The Orthodox Church had originally attempted to build a new
church around the old Greek Catholic church to avoid restitution of the
property to the Greek Catholic church. A similar such occurrence was
reported in Ungheni.
The historical Hungarian churches, including the Hungarian Roman
Catholic and the Hungarian Protestant Reformed, Evangelical, and
Unitarian churches, have reclaimed several significant properties.
Since 2003 Hungarian churches received 534 of the approximately 2,700
properties they claimed under the law on return of religious property.
In Oradea, the Hungarian Reformed Church, the municipal office, and
the Romanian Orthodox Church continued their dispute over possession of
land used for a playground adjoining the Reformed Church high school.
The municipality granted the land to a neighboring Orthodox Church
without taking the school into consideration, a move that ethnic
Hungarians claimed deliberately discriminated against the church.
Ethnic Hungarians also claimed the local Orthodox parish intensified
the conflict by locking up the playground during the summer of 2005 and
restricting all access.
The 2005 law amending the law on the restitution of religious and
communal property provided for a broader scope of claimable properties
and compensation for demolished buildings. This law was potentially
beneficial to the Jewish community, which claimed over 3,700
properties.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to the 2002 census,
the Jewish population numbered 5,785 persons. Acts of anti-Semitism,
including vandalism against Jewish sites, continued. In many such
cases, the Federation of Jewish Communities notified the authorities,
but the perpetrators were often not identified. The Center for
Monitoring Anti-Semitism, an NGO, noted that authorities tended to
downplay such incidents, often attributing the acts of vandalism
without proof to children, drunkards, or persons with mental disorders.
On January 20, police arrested a 20-year-old for throwing stones at
the window of the Jewish Theatre in Bucharest. According to police
reports, the man was apparently mentally ill and was hospitalized in a
specialized clinic.
On March 24, unidentified individuals vandalized 20 tombs in the
Jewish cemetery in Resita, causing approximately $45,000 (115,000 new
lei) in damage. The Federation of Jewish Communities notified
authorities, but the perpetrators were not identified.
During the night of May 5, two minors drew two swastikas on the
walls of the Lutheran church in Cluj. The police fined the two minors,
and the Lutheran Church also filed a criminal complaint, claiming that
the perpetrators offended a religious denomination. Lutheran Church
officials speculated that the act was linked to the Government of
Israel's recognition in 2005 of one of the parish's pastors who hid
Jews in the church during Nazi occupation. The case remained pending.
In May swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti appeared on the walls of
a house in Bucharest. Perpetrators were not identified.
On June 17 and 18, newly painted swastikas were found on several
buildings in downtown Cluj, mostly on ethnic Hungarian-related
buildings, including a church and the Hungarian-language Bathory Istvan
High School.
In November 2005 swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were found on
tombstones in two cemeteries, the walls of a vocational school and a
neighboring bloc of apartments in Suceava. The police carried out an
investigation, and began their prosecution of four alleged perpetrators
in December for having vandalized the cemeteries; two of whom were also
charged with dissemination of fascist, racist, and xenophobic symbols.
The extremist press continued to publish anti-Semitic articles. The
Legionnaires (Iron Guard), an extreme nationalist, anti-Semitic, pro-
Nazi group, continued to republish inflammatory books from the interwar
period. In February, an appeals court acquitted a contributor to a
legionnaire magazine of charges for disseminating propaganda and
fascist symbols (see section 2.a.).
During the year anti-Semitic views and attitudes were expressed
during the talk shows of private television stations such as Antena 1,
National TV, DTV, and Pro-TV.
Extremists continued to publicly deny that the Holocaust occurred
in the country or that the country's leader during World War II
participated in Holocaust atrocities in Romanian-administered
territory. Religious services for dead Legionnaire leaders continued to
be held in individual Orthodox churches. The annual march commemorating
the founder of the Legionnaire movement, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, took
place in Tancabesti on November 25.
On June 1, three nationalist organizations and parties, Vatra
Romaneasca (Romanian Hearth Union), the Marshal Antonescu League, and
the Party of the United Left sponsored a public religious service to
commemorate the 60th anniversary of Ion Antonescu's death. Antonescu
was the Romanian dictator during World War II and was responsible for
widespread atrocities against Romanian Jews during the war. The
Federation of Jewish Communities filed a complaint against the three
sponsors of the event, based on the law which forbids racist,
xenophobic, and pro-Nazi propaganda and which bans organizations that
disseminate such ideas. The police sent the complaint to the
prosecutor's office of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, and no
further action was reported by year's end.
In September 2005 unidentified individuals removed the covering
hiding a bust of Antonescu located in an Orthodox church courtyard in
Bucharest. The covering was eventually put back in place following
complaints from the local Jewish community. In July the church priest
removed the bust, reportedly in response to pressure from government
officials.
The Government continued to make progress in its effort to expand
education on the true history of the Holocaust in the country. However,
it failed to implement any plans to make the course on the Holocaust
mandatory for all public high schools. The elective course was offered
for the first time at 200 high schools in the 2004-05 school year, but
without any standardized textbooks.
In March the Ministry of Education made available on its Web site a
teaching guide to assist the 327 teachers nationwide who instruct
courses on the Holocaust. The Ministry of Education continued to
sponsor international seminars on the Holocaust and the teaching of its
history. The Government also earmarked $95,000 (245,000 new lei) to
sponsor a June conference in Iasi organized by the National Institute
for the Study of the Holocaust to commemorate the 1941 Iasi pogrom.
On various occasions during the year, the President and other high-
level officials continued to make public statements against extremism,
anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, and criticized the denial of the
Holocaust. During a January 23 conference to commemorate the 1941
Bucharest pogrom, President Basescu highlighted the necessity ``to
present the realities of that time to the young generation.''
On January 23, the Government launched a design contest for a
Holocaust memorial in Bucharest, and the winning project was selected
on August 23. The cornerstone of the memorial was laid on October 9,
the National Holocaust Day.
In April the Government enacted a law to combat anti-Semitism and
prohibit fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations. The law
includes the persecution of Roma in addition to Jews in its definition
of the Holocaust, since approximately 14,000 Roma were killed in the
country during that period. However, authorities failed to enforce the
law against participants in an anti-gay parade on June 3, who used
symbols and slogans of the Iron Guard (see section 5).
In April the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in its annual report on the
investigation and prosecution of Nazi War Criminals, categorized the
Government as a ``total failure'' for refusing in principle to
prosecute suspected Nazi war criminals, despite clear evidence that
such individuals were residents within the country's borders.
The country also commemorated the third National Holocaust Day on
October 9 with events in several cities that were attended by key
dignitaries including the President, prime minister, and foreign
minister. The President laid the cornerstone for a Holocaust memorial
to be built in Bucharest. In his address, the President stated that
Romanians still largely lacked remorse for their country's role in
exterminating up to 380,000 Jews during the Second World War. Roma also
staged a march on October 9 to insist that their wartime plight also be
included in new teaching materials on the Holocaust.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
In July 2005 the Government temporarily implemented a policy of
passport confiscation for citizens discovered upon reentering the
country to have exceeded their permitted length of stay in an EUShengen
country. Human rights NGOs and the media protested that the rule
effectively curbed a citizen's right to travel freely outside the
country. The Government stopped implementing the policy four days
later, and the restriction was abandoned entirely when a new law on
passports entered into effect in January.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--The Danube river floods in
April produced extensive damage and displaced 16,366 persons, mostly
from Dolj and Calarasi counties. The Government allocated approximately
$76 million (196 million new lei) for home reconstruction. In November
the Government also allocated an additional $30 million (76 million new
lei) for flood protection works in high-risk localities. However, at
the end of the year, an estimated 596 people continued to be displaced
and were living in container-houses.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In August a new law on asylum entered into force that
prohibits the expulsion, extradition, or forced return of any asylum
seeker at the country's border or from within the country's territory.
However, the law denies protection to people who participated in
terrorist acts, crimes against humanity, or other serious offenses.
In practice, the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution; however, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) considered the time limits provided by the law for
submitting appeal applications and court procedures to be too short.
The Government did not provide temporary protection to individuals
who did not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol. During the year the Government received 464 applications for
refugee status and granted humanitarian protection to nine persons.
In July 2005 the Government agreed to allow on a temporary basis
439 Uzbek refugees from Kyrgyzstan to enter the country without a visa
for humanitarian reasons. The Government signed an agreement with the
UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to permit
the refugees to stay at a suitable facility in Timisoara for up to six
months; the agreement was subsequently extended for an additional six
months. In July all remaining Uzbek refugees were successfully
transferred to third countries for permanent resettlement.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The UNHCR
stated that government-sponsored programs for integrating refugees
continued to improve following the 2004 refugee integration law. An
agency within the national refugee office, which is subordinated to the
Ministry of Administration and Interior, was established to help
refugees integrate and seek employment in their communities. The
Ministry of Administration and Interior and the Ministry of Labor,
Social Solidarity, and Family also funded programs to assist asylees
and refugees.
Refugees who received ``tolerated'' status under the old law on
asylum complained that this status does not give them permission to
work and restricts their movement. Under the new law, this status no
longer exists and foreigners may receive refugee status, subsidiary
protection (for people who are exposed to risks if returned to the
country of origin), or temporary humanitarian protection (for people
who come from armed conflict areas).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: the Right of Citizens to
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The country held national
elections for parliament in November 2004 and for the presidency in
December 2004. The parliamentary and first round of Presidential
elections were characterized by widespread irregularities, precipitated
primarily by the previous government's decision to abandon the use of
electoral identification cards and to allow citizens outside their home
districts to vote at any polling location in the country. There were
widespread reports of individuals voting in multiple locations, which
political parties occasionally facilitated. Observers also reported the
abuse of ``mobile ballot boxes'' that were transported to elderly or
infirm voters; the prolonged presence of elected officials in polling
places in contravention of the law; and the illegal placement of
campaign posters near polling centers. Civil society organizations and
opposition parties also claimed that the central electoral bureau
allowed fraud at a national level during the electronic tabulation of
votes, although subsequent inquiries into these allegations were
inconclusive.
In the second round of Presidential elections in December 2004, the
Government limited the locations where voters outside of their home
districts could vote, thereby reducing the possibility for multiple
voting. However, both the lack of sufficient alternate locations and
the closure of existing locations while many voters were waiting in
line resulted in the disenfranchisement of hundreds and perhaps
thousands of citizens, particularly in major cities. Members of the
center-right Liberal-Democratic Alliance accused the then governing
Social Democratic Party (PSD) of intentionally restricting the vote in
this manner. In some precincts local officials or partisan election
monitors instructed citizens how to vote, and campaign posters were
placed too close to polls.
The law requires political parties to register with the Bucharest
tribunal and to submit their statutes, program, and a roster of at
least 25,000 signatures. These 25,000 ``founding members'' must be from
at least 18 counties, including Bucharest, with a minimum of 700 people
from each county. The party statutes and program must not include ideas
that incite war; discrimination; hatred of a national, racist, or
religious nature; or territorial separatism.
Organizations of ethnic minorities can also field candidates in
elections if they meet requirements similar to those for political
parties. Organizations must submit to the central electoral bureau a
list of members numbering at least 15 percent of the total number of
persons belonging to that ethnic group, according to the most recent
census. If 15 percent represents more than 25,000 persons, then at
least 25,000 names from at least 15 counties, but not fewer than 300
persons from each county, must be submitted. Human rights NGOs
criticized these requirements as discriminatory and overly burdensome,
and maintained that they eliminated any competition against the
mainstream organizations representing Hungarians and Roma, namely the
Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania and the Social Democratic
Roma Party in Romania. The Bucharest tribunal barred an ethnic
Hungarian group from participating in the 2004 elections when
irregularities were found in many of the 25,000 signatures on its
members list.
While the law does not restrict women's participation in government
or politics, societal attitudes presented a significant barrier. In
parliament 38 of 331 deputies and 14 of 137 senators were women. There
were three female ministers in the 24-member cabinet. Three of the
prefects (governors) of the 42 counties were women.
The law grants each recognized ethnic minority one representative
in the chamber of deputies if the minority's political organization
cannot obtain the 5 percent of the votes needed to elect a deputy
outright. Organizations representing 18 minority groups received
deputies under this provision. There were 50 members of minorities in
the 468-seat parliament. There were four members of minorities in the
24-member cabinet; all were ethnic Hungarians. There were no members of
minorities on the high court.
Ethnic minority groups reported encountering difficulties in
meeting the criteria to be allowed to field candidates, although there
were no specific laws or policies prohibiting such groups from
registering. The laws on national and local elections potentially
discriminate against some minority organizations by defining ``national
minorities'' as only the ethnic groups represented in the council of
national minorities and by requiring that these organizations meet
requirements to participate in government that are more stringent than
those of minority groups already represented in parliament.
The Romani population was heavily underrepresented in parliament.
Internal politics within the Romani community was fragmented, as
several different Romani organizations vied for public support, and the
individual efforts of these groups prevented the consolidation of votes
for any single candidate, organization, or party. As a result, there
was only one Romani organization represented in parliament, the Roma
Party-Pro Europe. Low Romani voter turnout due to lack of awareness,
means, or identity cards further exacerbated the situation.
Ethnic Hungarians, represented by the Democratic Alliance of
Hungarians in Romania party, were the only ethnic minority to have
attained parliamentary representation through the electoral process,
having obtained over 5 percent of the total votes. Other ethnic
Hungarian associations have alleged that their attempts to register as
opposing ethnic Hungarian parties were unfairly blocked by the more
influential existing party.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Reports of corruption and
the Government response to corruption remained a focus of public
discussion, political debate, and media scrutiny. The Government
continued to implement its March 2005 Anticorruption Strategy, which
included steps to increase transparency in public procurement, ensure
oversight of government spending, and enforce new laws and procedures
to combat money laundering and tax evasion. The National Anticorruption
Directorate (DNA) prosecuted two officials for offenses alleged to have
been committed while they occupied some of the highest positions in
government. Prosecutors also investigated other high-level officials,
including a state secretary, two mayors, a county council President and
vice President, two judges, a chief prosecutor, and various officials
from customs, police, and other government ministries.
NGOs and the media continued to note that no major case of high-
level corruption had yet resulted in judgments involving prison
sentences. On the contrary, one businessman held in pretrial custody on
high-profile corruption and terrorism charges was released on medical
grounds and escaped from the country due to the lack of a sufficient
monitoring system. There were, however, some convictions of lower level
officials for corruption.
The institution responsible for investigating and prosecuting high-
level corruption cases remained the DNA. In January the Government
upheld the DNA's exclusive and unrestricted competence to fight high-
level corruption, including in cases involving members of parliament
and government officials. The parliament approved the Government's
emergency order reorganizing the DNA under the nominal authority of the
prosecutor general's office, while retaining its distinct budget and
requiring its prosecutors to continue to operate under the exclusive
authority of the DNA Chief Prosecutor.
Although the DNA produced few indictments against former or current
officials at the most senior levels of government, the office did
successfully prosecute cases against mayors, judges, police, customs
officers, and other officials at the local level and in the middle
ranks of the bureaucracy.
The DNA was authorized to prosecute corruption without regard to
the political affiliation of the accused. Opposition politicians,
however, continued to allege that investigations of high-level
officials tended to focus on members of former administrations,
contributing to questions about the office's impartiality. Various
members of parliament noted that the only political party in the
coalition government whose members had not been subjected to
prosecutorial investigations were those from President Basescu's
Democratic Party.
The DNA enhanced its coordination with anti-fraud units set up
within various ministries, accepting leads from their investigators and
requesting further details from them. The Ministry of Interior
established an Anticorruption General Directorate (DGA) to investigate
allegations of corruption within the ministry. The DGA set up and
publicized its anticorruption telephone hotline and began receiving
confidential tips regarding corrupt officers from the general public.
The Antifraud Department attached to the Prime Minister's Office
continued to investigate cases involving the misuse of EU funds. The
Ministry of Defense also created its own antifraud section and
forwarded the results of its first investigation of a top-ranking
military official to the DNA for further action.
During the year there were continuous political disagreements both
within the ruling coalition and within the opposition regarding
transferring authority to appoint the head of the DNA from the Ministry
of Justice to the CSM.
In January the Ministry of Justice disbanded its General
Directorate for Protection and Anticorruption, which had been in
operation since 2001. According to the justice minister, the
organization was being dissolved because it had been engaged in the
wiretapping of judges and gathering of information for unknown
purposes.
Part of the Government's strategy to combat corruption included
strengthening asset disclosure requirements for public officials. Asset
declaration forms requested extensive information from officials, but
no monitoring authority existed to ensure forms were filed or to check
their accuracy. The creation of such an authority was a major part of
the Anticorruption Strategy, but the Government did not create a
proposed National Integrity Agency that could monitor conflicts of
interests and unjustifiable wealth of public officials while in office.
The law provides for access to government information related to
official decision-making; however, human rights NGOs and the media
reported that the law was poorly and unevenly applied. Procedures for
releasing information were arduous and varied greatly by public
institution. On numerous occasions NGOs and journalists took cases to
court to obtain information.
The Government ordered the intelligence services to release the
files of the Communist-era Securitate intelligence service, but many
observers claimed the review of individual files of officials by the
National College for the Study of Securitate Archives (CNSAS) served
primarily political purposes. There were also complaints that the CNSAS
would not release to individuals, including former political prisoners
of the Communist regime, the files the Securitate had kept on them.
There was much debate as to why access to the Securitate's files
remained limited and the contents only reached the public sporadically,
and there was broad speculation that the continued presence of former
Securitate members in the intelligence services hindered release of
these files. In the second half of the year, after the intelligence
services began handing the former Securitate archives over to the
CNSAS, the CNSAS increased the pace of exposing former Securitate
officers and informants who had been involved in political police
activities. However, a lack of cooperation from the intelligence
services prevented CNSAS from issuing similar findings on other
officers and collaborators whose files indicated involvement in
political police activities. There was significant debate over whether
efforts to reveal persons involved with political police activities
would uncover the many former Securitate agents and collaborators who
remained active in politics and business.
There also were continued reports that local authorities
occasionally made it difficult for journalists, NGOs and the general
public to access public information. In at least one instance, a
polling institution was reportedly coerced by government officials to
limit the public release of information that reflected negatively on
certain political groups or goals.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views; however,
there were a few reports of government officials harassing and
intimidating members of the NGO community.
At times police intimidated and harassed NGO workers. Romani CRISS
continued to complain that police and local authorities attempted to
harass and intimidate its local human rights monitors.
An ombudsman's office existed to protect citizens' constitutional
rights, but it had limited power and independence from the Government.
Numerous media reports characterized the office as ineffective. During
the first nine months of the year, the office handled 4,718 complaints.
The office did not have authority in cases requiring judicial action.
The CNCD is an independent governmental agency that reported
directly to the Prime Minister's office until July. During the year the
CNCD received 432 public complaints of discrimination, most of which
were resolved. Approximately 80 of the cases involved alleged
discrimination on the basis of nationality and ethnicity; eight
complaints reported discrimination on religious grounds. This body
continued to be understaffed and had an insufficient budget.
In 2005 the CNCD played a leading role, along with four NGOs, in
drafting language for a new antidiscrimination law, which was adopted
by parliament in June and signed into law by the President on July 14.
The new law defines the CNCD as an independent body and places it under
parliamentary control instead of the Prime Minister's office and
stipulates increased fines for discriminatory attitudes: $156 to $1,560
(400 to 4,000 new lei) for discrimination against individual and
approximately $230 to $3,120 (600 to 8,000 new lei) for discrimination
against groups of persons or communities. However, the CNCD budget for
the year was still insufficient.
Both chambers of parliament have a human rights committee that
focuses on legislation regarding human rights, religious issues, and
minorities. However, since these committees were made up of party
representatives, their recommendations often simply reflected the
parties' views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law forbids discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
ethnicity, language, or social status, among other categories. However,
in practice, the Government did not enforce these provisions
effectively in some circumstances, and women, Roma, and other
minorities were often subject to discrimination and violence.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, continued
to be a serious problem, and the Government did not effectively address
it.
The law prohibits domestic violence and allows police intervention
in such cases; however, there is no specific law that addresses spousal
abuse. NGOs reported that domestic violence was common. According to a
2002 UN survey, 45 percent of women have been verbally abused, 30
percent physically abused, and 7 percent sexually abused. The law does
not provide sentencing guidelines for domestic violence convictions.
Although there was no evidence of police or judicial reluctance to
act on domestic abuse cases, very few cases were prosecuted in the
courts. Many cases were resolved before or during trial when victims
dropped their charges or reconciled with the accused abuser. In cases
with strong evidence of physical abuse, the court can prohibit the
abusive spouse from returning home. The law also permits police to fine
the abusive spouse for disturbing public order. During the year there
were approximately 400 convictions for domestic violence.
During the year the National Domestic Violence Coalition, composed
of more than 30 NGOs, organized a number of campaigns to raise
awareness of domestic violence. The Government funded 26 public
institutions that provided counseling and support to domestic abuse
victims. In addition, 52 NGOs from all regions of the country worked on
domestic violence. There were several shelters dedicated to domestic
abuse victims, but many of them were forced to close due to
insufficient funding. The Government distributed funds to NGOs
operating shelters for domestic violence victims in Cluj, Timisoara,
and Baia Mare.
According to NGOs, rates of domestic violence against women in
Romani households were significantly higher than the domestic abuse
rates in the general population.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The prosecution of rape
cases was difficult because it required both a medical certificate and
a witness, and a rapist could avoid punishment by marrying the victim.
The successful prosecution of spousal rape cases was even more
difficult because the law requires the victim to personally file a
criminal complaint against the abusive spouse and does not allow others
to file the complaint on the victim's behalf. The law provides for
three to 10 years' imprisonment for rape; the sentence increases to
five to 18 years if there are aggravated circumstances. There were 254
rape convictions during the first half of the year. NGOs provided
counseling and shelters for rape victims.
Prostitution is illegal, but was prevalent. Police implicitly
tolerated most cases by limiting their intervention to fining
prostitutes for loitering or disturbing the peace. NGOs and the media
reported that sex tourism existed in Bucharest and other major cities.
No laws exist to punish clients of prostitution, unless the prostitute
was a minor and the client admitted knowing that fact before the act.
There were reports of trafficking in women and children (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits any act of gender discrimination, including
sexual harassment. Although there were no reported cases of sexual
harassment during the year, human rights NGOs attributed this to low
public awareness of the problem. The Government enforced existing
prohibitions, but there were no effective programs in place to educate
the public about sexual harassment.
The law grants women and men equal rights, including under family
law, property law, and in the judicial system. In practice, the
Government did not enforce these provisions, nor did authorities focus
attention or resources on women's issues. Women had a higher rate of
unemployment than men and occupied few influential positions in the
private sector. An EU report published in August 2005 indicated that a
man's average salary was 18 percent higher than that of a woman.
Romani culture strongly discouraged women from working outside the
home, especially in the formal economy. Romani women often lacked
training, marketable skills, or relevant work experience. According to
an Open Society Institute (OSI) report released during the year, only
26 percent of Romani women interviewed were part of the workforce as
employees, day laborers, or freelancers. A 2005 survey by the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) found that the unemployment rate of
Romani women between ages 25 and 54 was four times higher than that of
non-Romani women in the country. Romani women also were three times as
likely to be unemployed compared to Romani men. The average monthly
income of women surveyed by OSI was $41 (106 new lei).
The national agency for family protection, within the Ministry of
Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family, is responsible for advancing
women's concerns and family policies, including organizing programs for
women, proposing new laws, monitoring legislation for sexual bias,
targeting resources to train women for skilled professions, and
addressing the problems of single mothers.
The law on equal opportunities for men and women was amended in
July to extend protections to public employees as well as private
sector employees. The amended law gives a female employee returning
from maternity leave the right to return to her previous or similar
position and to benefit from any improvements in working conditions
that occurred during her absence.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare, but competing priorities, bureaucratic inefficiency, and
poorly allocated resources prevented this commitment from being
fulfilled in practice.
Public education was free and compulsory through the 10th grade or
age 16. After the 10th grade, schools charged fees for books, which
discouraged lower-income children, particularly Roma, from attending.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that approximately 90 percent
of primary school-age children attended school.
The highest level of education achieved by most children was
secondary school, although Romani students had lower rates of
attendance at all education levels (see section 5, Minorities).
A general health insurance plan covers all children until age 18 or
graduation from secondary school. All schools have medical units which
supply first aid and carry out vaccination campaigns. Boys and girls
had equal access to medical care in schools. All medical costs for
children are waived, and most drugs are provided at little or no cost.
Of the 11,352 persons with HIV/AIDS, approximately 75 percent are
children between the ages of 15 to 19 who were infected in the late
1980s and early 1990s through contaminated blood transfusions and other
medical procedures.
Child abuse and neglect continued to be serious problems, and
public awareness of the issue remained poor. Media reported several
severe cases both in families and in child welfare institutions. Abuse
observed within state institutions included children tied to cribs with
bed sheets and prolonged incarceration for misbehavior. While the law
protects children from abuse and neglect, the Government has not
established a mechanism to identify and treat abused and neglected
children and their families. In 2004 police reported that 1,221 cases
of abused and neglected children were registered, including 832 cases
of rape, 284 cases of sexual intercourse with a minor, 114 cases of
sexual perversion, and 101 cases of sexual corruption. Officials
believed the number of unreported cases was much higher. At year's end
there were 39 hotlines to receive and assess reports of child abuse and
neglect and 22 specialized counseling services for centers for abused,
neglected, and trafficked children. During the year hotline operators
received approximately 5,400 calls reporting child abuse and neglect.
During the year the Government funded the creation of services for
child victims of abuse and neglect as a national interest program;
however, implementation was delayed due to the fact that no NGOs bid to
provide services under this program.
The abandonment of children in maternity hospitals remained a
problem with over 2,580 children left in hospitals by their parents
during 2005. Between January and August 1,654 children were abandoned
in hospitals.
The National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights
(ANPDC) in coordination with the Ministry of Health made some progress
in discouraging child abandonment through prenatal counseling and
training of hospital personnel. However, children's rights NGOs and
local child welfare officials reported that these efforts were
insufficient to resolve the continued high number of abandonment cases,
resulting in many essentially healthy children being kept in hospitals
because family reintegration or foster placement was unavailable.
According to the Children's High Level Group study on the prevention of
child abandonment, 60 percent of children abandoned by their parents
were left in hospitals, while the remaining 40 percent were abandoned
in other places, including on the street.
The 2005 child welfare law and its implementation continued to
create confusion among entities responsible for child welfare and to
prolong the time that a child spent in the child welfare system before
being reunited with biological parents or being adopted. NGOs and child
protection authorities continued to report that judges, police, and
social workers generally lacked clear instructions from the central
government, training, and the resources necessary to implement the
legislation. As a result, thousands of children remained
institutionalized or in foster care rather than reunited with
biological families or legally approved for adoption when family
reunification was not possible. There were credible reports of attempts
to force family reunification for abandoned children in cases where
biological family members explicitly stated they did not want the
children or in which there was a high risk of child abuse or child
labor.
There were many reports of abandoned children being forced to wait
for several years in institutions or foster care while authorities
searched for their biological parents to formalize their abandonment in
court. The adoptions office announced that 1,136 children were adopted
during 2005 and 1,067 were adopted through November. The Government
claimed there were only 883 children available for adoption in the
country in December, and over 1,680 families that wanted to adopt
children. However, the number of children available for adoption
represented only a fraction of the estimated 9,000 children abandoned
each year. These low figures were due to the state's non-recognition of
the physical abandonment of children. There was no time limit on
parents' absence from children for the children to be legally
recognized as abandoned. Instead, government policy aimed to
reintegrate children into biological families even years after physical
abandonment. Many citizens wishing to adopt the children whom they
already cared for as foster parents were forced to wait for the
abandoning parents' statement of abandonment in court before the
children could be declared legally adoptable. Many expressed fears that
the foster children who had spent years in their care could be taken
back by the biological parent or relatives and forced into begging on
the street.
The public child welfare system tracked approximately 95,000
children. More than half of these lived with extended families or in
foster care, and approximately 32,000 lived in public and private
institutions. The Government continued to build smaller, family-type
residential units for children in need of protection, including
children with disabilities. The number of children in institutions
continued to drop, from 31,000 in 2005 to 27,000 during the year, while
the foster care system expanded to care for 19,300 children during the
year compared with 16,800 children in 2005. Abandoned children under
two years of age were only allowed to be placed in foster care, not
released for adoption, if reunification with biological parents failed.
Roma children, who were disproportionately represented among abandoned
children, continued to suffer racial discrimination and were rarely
adopted by Romanian families. Child welfare authorities did not have a
system for providing labor market information, skills training, or job
placement services for older children in residential care, and there
was a high probability that they would gravitate to the streets, where
they would be vulnerable to sexual exploitation and crime.
The legal age of marriage is 18, but girls as young as 15 may marry
in certain circumstances. Illegal child marriage was common within
certain social groups, particularly the Roma. While there were limited
statistics available on the extent of the problem, a recent UNDP survey
found that 35 percent of Romani girls were married before reaching the
age of 16. There were no government programs to address the problem of
child marriages.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking). There also were isolated cases of
children involved in prostitution for survival without third-party
involvement, and some instances of boys as victims of trafficking.
The country has a mechanism for the repatriation of unaccompanied
Romanian children and for ensuring special measures for their
protection. In 2005 approximately 3,250 children and their families
benefited from protection and assistance in 12 transit centers in the
country.
The national agency for employment is legally required to provide
up to 75 percent of the median national salary to employers for hiring
persons between 16 and 25 years who are at risk of social exclusion, a
group that includes youth reintegrating into society after spending
time in state-care facilities or prison; young parents; and other
categories of at-risk youth. The law provides that youth leaving the
state institutional system may receive state assistance for an
additional two years, during which they receive skills training for
independent living. However, fewer than 1,000 youth benefited directly
from this program during the year.
During the year the NGO Mental Disability Rights International
(MDRI) reported that doctors in some hospitals were still encouraging
parents to give up children born with disabilities. The abandonment of
children with disabilities decreased steadily in recent years, as
specialized rehabilitation services for such children became slightly
more available. There were approximately 75,000 children with
disabilities, of which 12,000 were in state care. The MDRI report
detailed the physical and mental disabling of abandoned children due to
the conditions they were subjected to in state institutions. Several
reports detailed the inhumane conditions children with physical and
mental disabilities were subjected to in state institutions, including
being bound, malnourished, and abused. In one instance, authorities
sought to cover up repetitive sexual abuse within a state institution
by denying those who revealed the problem further access to the
institution. No attempt was made to separate the abuser from the abused
until well after the issue appeared in the press.
Child labor was a problem (see sections 5, Trafficking, and 6.d.).
An official complete list of hazardous child labor activities still
did not exist by year's end. A draft list was submitted by the National
Steering Committee to the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and
Family, in February. At year's end, the Directorate for EU Integration
was analyzing the document.
A National Statistics Institute survey released in 2003 on
children's activities--the only nationwide survey to document the
extent of child labor--found that between 40,000 and 80,000 children
were involved in activities identified as the worst forms of child
labor, including begging, drug dealing, stealing, prostitution, or were
victims of child trafficking. Over 90 percent of these children were
from rural areas. Street children, children in urban areas, and Romani
children were the most vulnerable to labor and sexual exploitation.
While the Government did not maintain official estimates on the
number of homeless children living on the streets, police, social
workers, and NGOs estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 children lived
on the streets, depending on the season.
During the year the Government continued to administer six national
programs for the protection of children's rights. The programs focused
on closing large state-run institutions for children; developing
services for children with disabilities; creating services for children
victims of child abuse, neglect, and exploitation; implementing the
national professional standards of child welfare services and
monitoring children's rights; improving the foster care network; and
creating and developing community social services to support family
cohesion. NGOs implemented these programs with governmental funding
from the national budget.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking; however,
trafficking in persons continued to be a serious problem. The law
defines trafficking as the use of coercion to recruit, transport,
harbor, or receive persons for exploitation. Coercion includes fraud or
misrepresentation. Exploitation includes slavery, forced labor,
prostitution, being a subject in pornography, organ theft, or other
conditions that violate human rights. For minors under the age of 18,
it is not necessary to prove coercion.
The country was a point of both origin and transit for trafficking
in persons. While the majority of trafficking cases involved
international trafficking between the country and Western Europe, cases
of domestic trafficking were also reported. Victims--primarily women
and children--were trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation,
labor exploitation, and forced begging. In 2005 the Government
identified 2,250 victims of trafficking. Recent trends indicated that
traffickers rented private apartments, rather than using public bars
and brothels, to conduct their illicit activities. The use of
clandestine locations complicated the already difficult task of
locating victims and allowed traffickers to operate with less concern
of discovery by local authorities.
According to the Government, many of the child victims originated
in the eastern and northern areas of the country. Boys were targeted
for forced labor, petty theft activities, and solicitation. Girls were
targeted for sexual exploitation and solicitation. Adult victims
generally originated in the southern part of the country, and were
recruited by traffickers with the promise of jobs abroad.
During the year authorities noticed an increase in cases of forced
labor involving victims between the ages of 30 and 40. Women between
the ages of 18 and 25 were more likely to become victims of trafficking
for sexual purposes than any other age group or gender. Children were
more likely to become victims of trafficking if they came from
orphanages, single parent homes and/or lived in a dysfunctional family
environment (e.g. families with financial difficulties, abuse, or
alcoholism).
Trafficking victims endured poor, cramped living conditions.
Traffickers ensured the victims' compliance through threats, violence,
and the confiscation of travel documents.
Government officials reported that small groups of Romanian
citizens were the most common operators of trafficking rings; several
domestic prostitution rings were also known to be active in trafficking
victims into, through, and from the country. In recent years the number
of women and minors involved in trafficking has increased; most of
these individuals acted as recruiters.
Most victims were trafficked through or out of the country under
seemingly legal means. Traffickers used employment agencies and travel
companies as fronts for their activities. It was not difficult for
traffickers to obtain legal work papers for the victims they intended
to traffic. It was relatively easy for young women to legally secure
visas for work as waitresses or domestics in destination countries;
however, once out of the country and removed from any support
structure, such women were extremely vulnerable to becoming trafficking
victims. Most women trafficked for sexual exploitation were recruited
by persons they knew or by newspaper advertisements. A friend or
relative frequently made the initial offer, often telling the victim
that she would obtain a job as a baby sitter or waitress. The crimes
commonly associated with human trafficking, such as rape and false
imprisonment, rarely occurred within the country's borders; rather,
such abuses began when the victim who had been deceived about the
nature of the work, arrived in the destination country.
The law provides for five to 15 years' imprisonment for trafficking
in minors or for multiple victims; if a victim suffers serious bodily
harm or health problems; or if the trafficking is done by a public
servant during his or her official duties. A sentence of five to 25
years is mandated for trafficking that leads to the death or suicide of
the victim. These penalties are increased by two to three years if the
trafficker belongs to an organized crime group and by five years if
coercion is applied against minors.
Under 2005 revisions to the law, victims of trafficking who are
arrested for prostitution or begging cannot be prosecuted for these
offenses. In practice, however, victims were frequently not recognized
as victims of trafficking upon arrest and were therefore treated as
criminals. Only after a period of investigation were they typically
declared ``victims.''
Corruption in the police, particularly the local forces,
contributed to trafficking. There were frequent allegations that border
police and customs agency officials accepted bribes to ignore cases of
trafficking.
The National Antitrafficking Agency (ANITP), created in December
2005, is responsible for collecting all information related to
trafficking in persons and coordinating the efforts of the Government
to combat trafficking and treat trafficking victims. During the year
ANITP focused on hiring staff and worked to become operational. The
Government approved a new national strategy against trafficking in
November, and plans for implementation of that strategy continued at
year's end.
During the first six months of 2005 ANITP provided assistance to
109 trafficking victims, four of whom were under the age of 13, 22 were
between ages 14 and 17, 61 were between 18 and 25, and 22 were over age
25. According to statistics provided by ANITP, 146 traffickers were
convicted in 2005. During the year the IOM assisted 129 victims, of
whom 121 were female, and 19 were minors. In January the Government
extradited one trafficker wanted by the Greek authorities to Greece.
The law requires the Government to protect trafficking victims, but
implementation of the law remained weak and uneven. Reports of law
enforcement officials losing contact with identified victims were
common. Some identified victims reportedly chose not to press charges
to avoid bureaucratic judicial procedures. Although the Government
trained border police to encourage victims to identify themselves, few
victims were willing to do so. There were reports that repatriated
victims faced social discrimination in their home countries.
The Government made attempts to assist repatriated victims.
According to government reports, the Government opened twelve shelters
for trafficking victims required by law. The shelters were
underutilized, in part because the law did not mandate a standardized
system for referring victims. Although the law obligates law
enforcement officials to inform victims of the services available at
government-operated shelters, many victims chose to decline them.
In 2005 ANPDC established a technical secretariat charged with
implementing a national action plan to fight child trafficking and
exploitation. The secretariat carried out activities related to
repatriation, protection, and social reintegration of unaccompanied
Romanian children in difficulty in other countries, regardless of
whether such children were victims or offenders. As a result, between
January and March 59 children were repatriated from European countries
including Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and
Ireland.
During the year the Government worked with domestic and
international NGOs to build public awareness of trafficking risks and
to improve and expand the services offered to victims. Public
officials, including the President, made public statements during the
year about the trafficking problem.
The ANDPC, the antidrug national agency, and territorial general
directorates for social assistance and children's protection created a
program to monitor child labor that was operational in several cities.
The project set up a system of services for the protection,
rehabilitation, and social reintegration of child victims of domestic
and international trafficking. In 2005 60 children vulnerable to human
trafficking and 140 children involved in the worst forms of child labor
were referred to social services and monitored.
Persons With Disabilities.--In addition to the antidiscrimination
law, which prohibits discrimination against all persons in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other services, a
new law regarding the rights of persons with disabilities became
effective in December. However, the Government did not fully implement
the law, and discrimination against persons with disabilities remained
a problem during the year.
The law mandates accessibility for persons with disabilities to
buildings and public transportation. In practice, the country had few
facilities specifically designed for persons with disabilities. During
the first half of the year, the national agency for persons with
disabilities inspected 325 important local state institutions, such as
prefecture buildings, county council buildings, and museums, and found
that 73 percent of these structures lacked adequate facilities for
persons with disabilities. During the year, however, an increasing
number of public and private facilities voluntarily installed
accessible features.
As of March 31, the Government reported that approximately 405,000
adults and 55,000 children were registered as persons with
disabilities. Of this number, almost 18,000 adults and 354 children
were receiving special care in residential institutions. The country
had 149 residential institutions for adults with disabilities. NGOs
estimated that there were some 300,000 persons with intellectual
disabilities in the country, and close to three million persons with
disabilities overall.
An Amnesty International (AI) report released in May criticized the
conditions in psychiatric hospitals, which continued to fall below
international standards. The country had 38 psychiatric hospitals, four
of which were considered secure facilities for convicted criminals, and
66 outpatient mental health facilities, most of which were not in
operation.
According to reports by human rights NGOs, the placement, living
conditions, and treatment of patients in many psychiatric wards and
hospitals did not meet international human rights standards and were
below professional norms. Most psychiatric hospitals had poor hygiene,
insufficient heating, and insufficient food rations. Some hospitals
lacked running water, were heavily overcrowded, lacked a sufficient
number of beds, and had no mechanism for complaints in cases of abuse.
Patients were in many cases secluded in rooms with metal bars on the
windows based on arbitrary decisions of the staff. Conditions in
psychiatric wards did not improve during the year.
On August 1, the Ministry of Health established a national center
for mental health which was tasked with drafting a national strategy
for the psychiatric sector. During the year the center began conducting
an inventory of mental health institutions nationwide.
The Ministry of Health adopted a mental health action plan in 2005
that included provisions for persons with mental disabilities. However,
NGOs asserted that the plan failed to improve conditions in psychiatric
institutions; most aspects of this plan remained unimplemented by
year's end. The provision of community-based mental health care
services remained inadequate.
In January 162 psychiatric patients who were convicted criminals
were transferred from a Poiana Mare hospital, where 18 patients died
from malnutrition and hypothermia in 2004, to a psychiatric hospital in
Sapoca. Upon their admission to the hospital in Sapoca, most of those
transferred were diagnosed with tuberculosis and syphilis. Although the
Ministry of Health ordered the closure of the Poiana Mare hospital in
November 2005 it continued to function as an institution for chronic
psychiatric patients, although convicted criminal patients were no
longer held there. According to media reports, the Government did not
close the hospital because of protests by hospital employees who feared
the loss of their jobs.
In May MDRI released a report that harshly criticized the
Government for its treatment of children with mental disabilities and
alleged that the country was in serious violation of its obligations
under both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the
European Convention on Human Rights. MDRI found that children were
being detained in adult facilities, some children were kept in
permanent restraints, and abuse and neglect were commonplace throughout
the country's mental institutions and healthcare facilities.
The Center for Legal Resources, a local NGO, reported that minors
with mental disabilities were routinely mistreated in state care
institutions. These children were subjected to both verbal and physical
abuse, including being tied to their beds, beaten, and threatened that
they would be sent to psychiatric hospitals. Some minors were sent to
psychiatric hospitals without the consent of the minors' legal
guardians. According to human rights NGOs, there was no system to
ensure that the rights of children with mental disabilities were
observed in state care institutions. There were also reports that
children without any mental disability were placed in centers for
children with mental disabilities because they were HIV/AIDS-positive.
According to a report released by the Open Society Institute in
September 2005, only 28 percent of the approximately 52,000 children
with mental disabilities received any form of education because most
remedial schools did not accept children with serious mental
disabilities. The report also cited a lack of job opportunities for
persons with disabilities.
An August Human Rights Watch report noted widespread discrimination
faced by children with HIV/AIDS and authorities' failure to protect
children from discrimination, abuse, and neglect. According to the
report, less than 60 percent of the approximately 7,200 children and
youths with HIV/AIDS attended any form of schooling. Doctors often
refused to treat children and youths with HIV/AIDS, who obtained
medication only with difficulty and delays. Medical personnel, school
officials, and government employees did not keep the confidentiality of
information about the children, which caused the children and families
to be denied services such as schooling. In addition, in some
situations the children and their parents were threatened by parents of
other children to keep them out of school.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to a government
survey, national minorities in approximately 13 percent of the
country's localities do not have any rights regarding the use of their
language. The survey also indicated that laws on the use of minority
languages with regard to education, culture, and administration were
enforced in 80 percent of localities with national minority
communities. In 20 percent of localities surveyed, bilingual signs were
not installed as required by law.
In November the Government released a survey on interethnic
relations, which revealed that Romanians continued to harbor
preconceived ideas and stereotypes about ethnic minorities including
Hungarians, Roma, and Jews. According to the survey, although 45
percent of respondents viewed Roma as one of the most underprivileged
social and ethnic groups, over 60 percent agreed with the statement,
``If I were an employer, I would not hire Roma because most of them are
lazy and steal.'' Forty-eight percent of respondents believed that only
ethnic Romanians should be hired in positions of responsibility in the
state or society, such as judges or police.
Discrimination against Roma remained a serious problem. NGOs
reported that throughout the country, Roma were denied access to, or
refused service in, shops, restaurants, discotheques, and other places
of public accommodation.
An AI report published in May highlighted as a major problem the
racially motivated violence perpetrated by both individuals and law
enforcement authorities against the Romani population. Romani groups
complained that police brutality, including beatings and harassment,
was routine (see section 1.c.). In January and August police forcibly
beat and evicted Roma from their homes (see sections 1.c. and 1.f.).
The results of a December 2005 nationwide survey regarding
discrimination and tolerance, conducted by the Center for Urban and
Regional Sociology at the request of the CNCD, indicated that 81
percent of respondents thought that most Roma broke the law; 61 percent
shared the opinion that Roma were a disgrace for Romania; and 52
percent favored the idea that Roma should not be allowed to travel
abroad.
Persistent poverty among the Roma remained one of the country's
most prominent social problems. Roma faced the greatest hardship of any
minority, with poor access to government services, few employment
opportunities, high rates of school attrition, inadequate health care,
and pervasive discrimination. Human rights NGOs characterized the
persistent cyclical poverty confronting the country's Roma as an issue
that had barely been addressed since the fall of communism. Although
some government initiatives have shown positive results, an emerging
group of Roma activists viewed many programs implemented to date as
replacing Roma culture with a deepening culture of dependence.
A 2004 European Commission report estimated that the Roma
population numbered between 1.8 and 2.5 million persons, although the
most recent official census of 2002 reported the significantly lower
number of 535,000. NGOs pointed out that government figures were low
because many Roma did not reveal their ethnicity to authorities, and
many Roma lacked identity cards or other forms of identification.
According to an analysis of the 2002 census by the Romani NGO
Impreuna (Together), approximately 35 percent of the Romani population
had not graduated from primary school. Illiteracy among Roma was 25.6
percent.
There were reports of pervasive discrimination by teachers and
other students against Romani students. NGOs and the media reported
that such discrimination served as an additional disincentive for
Romani children to complete their studies. During the year there were
reports of Romani children being placed in the back of classrooms due
to their ethnicity, of teachers ignoring Romani students, and of
unimpeded bullying of Romani students by other schoolchildren. In some
communities, authorities placed Romani students in separate classrooms
from other students and even in separate schools. At the end of the
2005-06 school year, Romani NGOs identified cases of Romani children
segregated from other students in schools in Moreni, Neamt county;
Munteni, Neamt county; Roman, Neamt county; Balusenii Noi, Botosani
county; Targu Frumos, Iasi county; Pecica, Arad county; Santana, Arad
county; Curtici, Arad county; Jibou, Salaj county; Polovragi, Gorj
county; Constanta; Turda, Cluj county; Ineu de Cris, Bihor county; and
Bogei, Bihor county. In 2004, following complaints by several NGOs, the
Ministry of Education nominally prohibited segregation in schools in a
nonbinding notification; Romani NGOs continued to press unsuccessfully
for a binding order.
According to OSI, ethnic Roma were five times as likely as members
of the majority population to live below the poverty line. OSI also
estimated that approximately 60 percent of Roma lived segregated from
the majority population in communities with substandard housing and
without basic governmental services such as schools, adequate
healthcare, running water, electricity, and waste disposal.
Roma were also disproportionately unemployed and underemployed.
According to Impreuna, 67 percent of Romani households surveyed had no
employed member, and the overall Roma unemployment rate was
approximately 60 percent.
Although the CNCD fined the Steaua soccer team for fans' use of
anti-Roma hate language during a match in April 2005 and a stadium
announcer for making racist comments during the same game, similar
incidents involving the Steaua and other teams occurred repeatedly
during the year. The Union of European Football Associations and the
Federation Internationale de Football Association also imposed fines on
several Romanian soccer teams.
On April 4, the Civic Alliance of Roma, an NGO supporting Roma
rights, the CNCD, and the Romanian Soccer Federation organized a soccer
game to protest racism in stadiums. In addition, at the end of October,
the CNCD and the Romanian Soccer Federation organized a three-day
campaign against racism.
In September the CNCD fined the New Right (Noua Dreapta), an
organization with extremist and xenophobic views, and three of its
leaders for authoring and posting discriminatory articles against the
Roma on the organization's Web site.
In November the Roma Party-Pro Europe and the Police signed a
protocol of partnership aimed at initiating activities to prevent
marginalization of Roma communities.
On April 26, after repeatedly postponing its ruling, a court in
Ludus decided not to enforce the seizure of perpetrators' property to
compensate Romani victims of mob violence in the village of Hadareni in
1993 that resulted in the deaths of four persons and the burning of 13
Romani houses. In May Romani victims and their families appealed the
ruling, and their suit remained pending at year's end.
In answer to a complaint filed by the ERRC, the CNCD decided on
January 17 that an anti-Romani speech made by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the
leader of the extreme right Greater Romania Party, was in breach of the
antidiscrimination law. However, the CNCD could not sanction Tudor
because of his parliamentary immunity. In his speech, referring to the
Hadareni case, Tudor had used derogatory terms regarding Roma.
In September-October 2005 the National Agency for Roma (ANR), and
nongovernmental experts drafted a community development plan to improve
the prospects of the Roma in Hadareni. In January human rights NGOs
criticized the Government for failing to take concrete steps toward
implementing the plan. On April 19, the Government approved an updated
two-year community development plan for Hadareni for the improvement of
the situation of Roma. However, implementation of the updated program
for Hadareni was further delayed by the Government's failure to publish
implementing regulations before August. NGOs complained that, although
the strategy included positive steps, implementation would be very
difficult at the local level. During the final months of the year,
several ANR-funded programs began in Hadareni. Between September 21 and
December 15, several Romani and human rights NGOs partnered with local
authorities on a project to build confidence and respect among the
Romani and ethnic Romanian citizens of Hadareni. In November Hadareni
authorities launched a campaign aimed at improving Roma access to
public health care.
Based on a 2003 CNCD ruling that the owner of a public bar
committed a discriminatory act by posting a note denying access to Roma
and ordering the bartender not to sell drinks to three young Roma, the
victims filed a complaint, and a court in Botosani ruled that the
defendant should provide access to Roma to the bar and pay moral
damages amounting to $230 (600 new lei) to the plaintiffs.
Romani CRISS continued to monitor cases of alleged human rights
violations, increasing the number of counties it monitored from 10 to
15, plus Bucharest. By mid-October human rights monitors identified 59
cases of violence or abuse against Roma in 12 counties.
Romani CRISS continued its partnership with the Ministry of
Administration and Interior to help Roma obtain official identification
documents. The lack of identification documents significantly hindered
Roma from gaining access to employment, education, and health care, and
made voting and buying property prohibitively difficult.
Ethnic Hungarians were considered by the Government to be the
largest ethnic minority, comprising 1.4 million persons according to
the 2002 census. There are also approximately 60,000 ethnic Ukrainians,
60,000 ethnic Germans, and other minorities in smaller numbers. In the
Moldova region where the Roman Catholic Csango minority resided, the
community continued to operate government-funded Hungarian-language
school groups; 982 students in 16 localities were instructed in
Hungarian during the academic year that commenced in September. An
additional 360 students participated in extracurricular courses in
Hungarian, but 7,900 students lacked access to Hungarian language
classes.
The Bolyai Initiative Group, a group of young professors from the
Cluj-based Babes-Bolyai University (UBB) who supported the reopening of
the Hungarian-language state-owned Bolyai University, and the Hungarian
Civic Union (UCM) complained of discrimination against ethnic
minorities in the teaching of the Romanian language in schools. They
argued that national minorities were required to learn Romanian based
on the same curricula and textbooks as ethnic Romanians who speak it as
their mother tongue. In March and June the UCM filed a complaint on
this issue with the CNCD. The Bolyai Initiative Group further
complained that there were no bilingual signs in the UBB and that
ethnic Hungarian students were not allowed to use the Hungarian
language when interacting with university management. On November 22,
two UBB faculty members who were also members of the Bolyai Initiative
Group installed Hungarian-language ``no-smoking'' signs around the UBB
campus. UBB security guards removed the signs on the same day. The
UBB's governing body subsequently dismissed the two faculty members
involved in the incident. The Ministry of Education conducted an
investigation into UBB's decision and concluded that the two were
dismissed because they violated the code of conduct and not because of
their attempt to install the Hungarian-language signs and that their
dismissal had nothing to do with their ethnic Hungarian origin.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--NGOs reported that
police abuse and societal discrimination against homosexuals was common
(see section 1.c.) and that open hostility prevented the reporting of
some harassment and discrimination. Members of the gay and lesbian
community also continued to voice concerns about discrimination in
public education and health care systems, and about the possibility
that young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons were being
involuntarily referred to psychiatric institutions based on their
parents' decisions.
The second ``march of diversity'' gay pride parade was held in
Bucharest on June 3 and included hundreds of participants. The parade
was marred by violent physical and verbal attacks by onlookers against
the marchers. Roving groups of men shouted abuse and hurled bottles,
food, and buckets of water at the parade participants. The attackers
were encouraged in their behavior by some onlookers, including Romanian
Orthodox priests and seminarians. The Romanian Orthodox Church and 20
other organizations had called for a ban on the gay parade. The police
were reportedly alerted in advance to the planned attacks and
dispatched a highly organized force to protect the marchers. The force
included hundreds of uniformed officers, units of horse-mounted police,
and armored personnel transport carriers.
After the ``march of diversity,'' six participants (four Romanians
and two foreigners) were assaulted on the subway by a group of youths
making homophobic statements. Although the police were cooperative and
called the victims to look at video recordings and pictures, no
perpetrators had been identified by year's end.
Earlier in the day on June 3, the New Right sponsored a march
against homosexuality. The participants displayed symbols and chanted
slogans and songs of the Iron Guard and wore t-shirts with the portrait
of Legionnaire leader Codreanu.
ACCEPT, an NGO promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
rights, reported that it received complaints from people who were
harassed and subjected to degrading treatment in prisons because of
their sexual orientation. Few victims pursued charges due to fear of
harassment from the local community and police or the belief that
authorities would not carry out unbiased investigations. The NGO
mentioned the case of a man who, beginning in April, was subjected to
harassment at his workplace due to his alleged sexual orientation.
After ACCEPT filed a petition on his behalf with the CNCD, the man was
transferred to another location and demoted.
A survey released by the Government in November revealed that 53
percent of respondents did not want homosexual neighbors, 50 percent
did not want to work with homosexuals, 60 percent did not want
homosexual friends, and 67.8 percent would not want homosexual inlaws.
The law prohibits discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS. For
the period between January and March 2005, the National Union of the
Organizations of Persons Affected by HIV/AIDS (UNOPA) reported that 438
out of approximately 1,000 individuals interviewed had encountered
human rights violations; this figure included 156 cases of denied
access to medical care on the pretext of medicine shortages at the
hospital level, 269 cases of delays in the provision of subsidized food
and social welfare allowances, and eight cases of breach of
confidentiality. For the period between April and September 2005, UNOPA
reported that 795 out of 2,407 individuals interviewed had encountered
discrimination.
In June Human Rights Watch issued a report on the country's
``failure to protect and support children and youth living with HIV.''
The report was based on field research conducted in Bacau, Constanta,
Giurgiu, and Ilfov counties and in Bucharest. The report found that,
although the country was the first in Eastern Europe to provide
universal access to antiretroviral therapy, stigma and discrimination
against persons with HIV/AIDS frequently impeded their access to
education, medical care, government services, and employment. The
Government lacked a strategy to manage the transition of HIV-positive
children living in institutions or foster care after they turned 18.
Less than 60 percent of HIV-positive children and adolescents attended
some form of schooling. Moreover, those who did attend school sometimes
faced ostracism, abuse, and possible expulsion if their HIV status
became known.
Discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS impeded access to
routine medical and dental care. Breaches of confidentiality involving
individuals' HIV status were common and rarely punished; medical staff,
teachers, social workers, and municipal staff were common sources of
leaked information.
Children had no legal right to learn of their HIV status without
parental consent, and adolescents often lacked the ability to make
informed decisions on medical treatment, education, and employment.
Over half of HIV-infected adolescents were sexually active; they
frequently experienced reduced access to facilities for reproductive
healthcare and the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted
infections.
The authorities rarely enforced laws prohibiting discrimination
against persons with HIV. The law set penalties for knowingly
transmitting HIV.
During the year the Government cooperated with international
organizations to implement a national AIDS strategy by conducting
conferences and disseminating brochures to raise public awareness of
the disease.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--All workers, except certain public
employees, have the constitutional right to associate freely and to
form and join labor unions without previous authorization, and they
freely exercised this right. However, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of
Administration and Interior, and intelligence personnel were not
allowed to unionize. The majority of workers belonged to one of
approximately 18 national trade union confederations and smaller
independent trade unions. Approximately 55 to 60 percent of the
workforce was unionized, according to union officials.
The right to form unions generally was respected in practice, and
many employers created enterprise-friendly unions. Many unions claimed
that the Government interfered in labor negotiations, trade union
activities, collective bargaining, and strikes, and complained that the
union registration requirements stipulated by law were excessive.
The law has specific provisions against union discrimination, which
were generally respected.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides workers
the right to bargain collectively, but government control of many
industrial enterprises and the absence of independent management
representatives at these entities hindered collective bargaining.
Approximately 80 percent of the total workforce was covered by
collective labor contracts at the branch and unit levels. A national
collective labor contract for 2005-06 was concluded in March among the
main employers' associations, trade unions, and the Government.
Contracts resulting from collective bargaining were not consistently
enforced. The wages of public employees were guided by a minimum wage
stipulated by law and a pay scale specific to each ministry that was
based on that ministry's annual budget.
While the law permits strikes by all workers except judges,
prosecutors, related Ministry of Justice staff, and employees of the
ministries of defense, internal affairs, and the intelligence service,
lengthy and cumbersome requirements made it difficult to hold strikes
legally. Unions may strike only if all arbitration efforts have failed
and if employers have been given 48 hours' notice. Unions complained
that they must submit their grievances to government-sponsored
conciliation before initiating a strike, and that the courts had a
propensity to declare strikes illegal. Companies may claim damages from
strike organizers if a court deems a strike illegal.
There are no exemptions from regular labor laws in the country's
six free trade zones and 31 disadvantaged zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
Child labor remained a problem. Although a law to protect children from
exploitation went into effect January 2005, the Government did not
consistently enforce the measure in practice.
The minimum employment age is 16 years, but children may work with
the consent of parents or guardians at age 15, although only
``according to their physical development, aptitude, and knowledge.''
Minors are prohibited from working in hazardous conditions. Working
children under the age of 16 have the right to continue their
education, and the law obliges employers to assist in this regard. In
practice, however, many children were reported to occasionally forego
attending school while working on family farms, especially in rural
areas and in Romani communities. Children age 15 to 18 may work no more
than six hours per day and no more than 30 hours per week, provided
that their school attendance is not affected. An employer may hire
minors only between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. Parents violating child labor
law may be punished with either monetary fines of up to $200 (500 new
lei) or imprisonment of two months to seven years. However, the
Government did not consistently apply these provisions, claiming that
the punishment would further harm children in certain cases. During the
year the Government imposed fines on 52 sets of parents and sentenced
none to prison. Factories were implicated in most cases of child labor
exploitation and also were fined.
The labor inspectorate within the Ministry of Labor provided the
following information: in 2005, the labor inspectorates carried out
inspections on 74,109 employers. Of 4,405 working youths encountered
during the inspections, 135 of those aged 15 to 18 had no legal
employment documents; 17 children under age 15 were found working with
no legal employment documents. During the first quarter of the year
inspections were carried out on 21,805 employers and identified 461
working young people aged 15 to 18, of whom 21 had no legal employment
documents. Fourteen employers were given fines exceeding $12,900
(33,100 new lei).
In January 2005 the protection and promotion of the rights of the
child law went into force. The law requires schools to immediately
notify social services of children missing classes to work. Social
services are authorized to work with schools to reintegrate such
children into the educational system. The Government also conducted
information campaigns to raise awareness among children, potential
employers, and the general public.
In January 2005 the Government established the national authority
for protection of children's rights under the Ministry of Labor, Social
Solidarity, and Family. The national authority can impose fines and
close factories for child labor exploitation, but enforcement tended to
be lax except in extreme cases, most notably those that attracted media
attention. Despite the prevalence of child labor, there were no reports
of anyone being charged or convicted during the year under any of the
child labor laws.
Children were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation
(see section 5).
An international report released in 2004 estimated that 3.9 million
of the 5.6 million children in the country were ``economically
active.'' Over 300,000 (approximately 7 percent) were ``child
laborers,'' working without any contractual arrangements in agriculture
or low-skilled jobs, while 900,000 (19 percent) worked in their own
households, especially in rural areas. Approximately 300,000 (6
percent) were engaged in physically demanding work, while 70,000
(approximately 1 percent) were victims of the ``worst forms of child
labor,'' including hazardous work, sexual exploitation, forced labor,
trafficking, or criminal activity. This last category included more
than 3,000 ``street children,'' the majority of whom lived in
Bucharest. Child labor, including begging, selling trinkets on the
street, or washing windshields, remained widespread in Romani
communities; children engaged in such activities could be as young as
five years old. There was official recognition of the problem, and the
country continued to show progress in eliminating the worst forms of
child labor.
During the year the Government allocated $490,000 (1.27 million new
lei) to NGOs to implement two national interest programs to combat
trafficking in children and child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The latest collective labor
contract published in May stipulated a gross minimum monthly wage of
$144.00 (370 new lei) for a full time schedule of 170 hours per month,
which translated into approximately $0.85 (2.18 new lei) per hour. The
minimum monthly wage of approximately $144 (370 new lei) did not
provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Minimum
wage rates generally were observed and enforced by the Ministry of
Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family.
The law provides for a standard workweek of 40 hours or five days,
with overtime paid for weekend or holiday work, or work in excess of 40
hours, which may not exceed 48 hours per week averaged over one month.
The law requires a 24-hour rest period in the workweek, although most
workers received two days off per week. The Ministry of Labor, Social
Solidarity, and Family effectively enforced these standards.
On August 30, the Government approved amendments to the labor code
regarding collective layoffs and part-time contracts that bring the law
into line with EU directives. Rules governing contracts for part-time
or temporary workers were made more flexible and allow contracts for
any period of time. The amendments also modify rules for collective
layoffs, including mandatory union consultation.
The law provides penalties for work performed without a labor
contract in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
Employers who use illegal labor may be jailed or fined up to $38,000
(100,000 new lei).
The Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity, and Family has authority
to establish and enforce safety standards for most industries, but
lacked of trained personnel to enforce them. Employers often ignored
the ministry's recommendations, which were usually only applied after
an accident occurred. Workers have the right to refuse dangerous work
assignments but seldom invoked it in practice.
__________
RUSSIA
The Russian Federation has a weak multiparty political system with
a strong presidency, a government headed by a prime minister, and a
bicameral legislature (Federal Assembly) consisting of a lower house
(State Duma) and an upper house (Federation Council). The
proPresidential United Russia party controlled more than two-thirds of
the State Duma. The country had an estimated population of 142.9
million. Vladimir Putin was re-elected in 2004 in an election process
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
determined did not adequately reflect principles necessary for a
healthy democratic election, particularly in equal access to the media
by all candidates and secrecy of the ballot. However, the voting itself
was relatively free of manipulation, and the outcome was generally
understood to have represented the will of the people. The Government's
human rights record in the continuing internal conflict in and around
Chechnya remained poor. Both federal and Chechen Republic security
forces generally acted with legal impunity in Chechnya where civilian
authorities generally maintained effective control of the security
forces. Chechen security forces at times appeared to act independently
of the Russian command structure, and there were no indications that
federal authorities made any effort to rein in those forces' extensive
human rights abuses.
The most notable human rights developments during the year were the
contract-style killings of proreform Central Bank Deputy Chairman
Andrei Kozlov and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, known for uncovering
human rights abuses in Chechnya. Continuing centralization of power in
the executive branch, a compliant State Duma, political pressure on the
judiciary, intolerance of ethnic minorities, corruption and selectivity
in enforcement of the law, continuing media restrictions and self-
censorship, and harassment of some nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
resulted in an erosion of the accountability of government leaders to
the population. Security forces were involved in additional significant
human rights problems, including alleged government involvement in
politically motivated abductions, disappearances, and unlawful killings
in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus; hazing in the armed
forces that resulted in severe injuries and deaths; torture, violence,
and other brutal or humiliating treatment by security forces; harsh and
frequently life-threatening prison conditions; corruption in law
enforcement; and arbitrary arrest and detention. The executive branch
allegedly exerted influence over judicial decisions in certain high-
profile cases. Government pressure continued to weaken freedom of
expression and media independence, particularly of major national
networks. Media freedom declined due to restrictions as well as
harassment, intimidation, and killing of journalists. Local authorities
continued to limit freedom of assembly and restrict religious groups in
some regions. There were also reports of societal discrimination,
harassment, and violence against members of some religious minorities
and incidents of anti-Semitism. Authorities restricted freedom of
movement and exhibited negative attitudes toward, and sometimes
harassed, NGOs involved in human rights monitoring. Also notable was
the passage and entry into force of a new law on NGOs, which has
already had some adverse effects on their operations. There was
widespread governmental and societal discrimination as well as racially
motivated attacks against ethnic minorities and dark-skinned
immigrants, including the outbreak of violence against Chechens in the
northwest and the initiation of a government campaign to selectively
harass and deport ethnic Georgians. Xenophobic, racial and ethnic
attacks, and hate crimes were on the rise. Violence against women and
children, trafficking in persons, and instances of forced labor were
also reported.
In the internal conflict in Chechnya, antigovernment forces
continued killing and intimidating local officials. There were also
reports of Chechen rebel involvement in both terrorist bombings and
politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya during
the year. Some rebels were allegedly involved in kidnapping to raise
funds, and there were reports that explosives improvised by rebels led
to civilian casualties.
There were also some positive developments with regard to human
rights. Reforms initiated in previous years continued to produce
improvements in the criminal justice system. Authorities sought to
combat instances of racial and ethnic mistreatment through prosecutions
of groups and individuals accused of engaging in this behavior.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
confirmed reports that the Government or its agent committed
politically-motivated killings, but there continued to be credible
reports that federal armed forces engaged in unlawful killings in
Chechnya. The use of indiscriminate force in areas of Chechnya with
significant civilian populations resulted in numerous deaths (see
section 1.g.).
While security forces generally conducted their activities with
impunity, courts did address a few incidents. In June the Supreme Court
overturned the acquittals of four servicemen charged with killing
Chechen civilians and ordered new trials (see section 1.g.).
As of October, according to Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka, hazing
incidents in the military led to 20 deaths. On August 11, a commander
kicked soldier Dmitry Panteleyev to death. On October 12, the Ryazan
Garrison Military Court convicted Captain Vyacheslav Nikiforov, a
former company commander in a Railway Troops unit, of kicking
Panteleyev to death, Russian media reported. Nikiforov was sentenced to
12 years in a maximum security prison on charges that could have
brought him a sentence of up to 25 years. This case notwithstanding,
observers complained that there was little accountability for such
offenses.
In Chechnya rebels killed a number of federal soldiers whom they
had taken prisoner; many other individuals were kidnapped and then
killed in Chechnya by both sides, as well as by criminal elements; and
there were deaths from land mines and unexploded ordnance (see section
1.g.).
There were a number of high-profile killings by unknown persons. On
the night of March 30, Viktor Dorkin, the mayor of Dzerzhinsky in
Moscow Oblast, was shot 16 times and killed in the courtyard of his
apartment building as he was returning from a local television studio.
Investigators believe that at least three persons were involved in the
killing. On May 5, police detained Sergei Bulavin, a local resident
with a prior criminal conviction, for the assassination, ITAR-TASS
reported. Police were still searching for the other two suspects.
On September 13, unknown persons shot Central Bank Deputy Chairman
Andrei Kozlov; he died of his injuries on September 14. In October
authorities arrested three Ukrainian nationals in the suspected
contract killing. At year's end police had not determined who ordered
the killing. A supporter of banking reform, Kozlov had revoked the
licenses of dozens of banks in the past few years. It was widely
believed that Kozlov's killing was connected to his professional
activities.
On October 11, the branch director of VneshTorgBank Alexander
Plokhin was shot and killed in the stairwell near his apartment. The
prosecutor general's office said it was considering all motives for
Plokhin's killing ``including links to his professional activities.''
At year's end, no progress has been made in the investigation.
On October 19, unknown persons killed mayoral candidate Dmitry
Fotyanov in the town of Dalnegorsk, Primorskiy Krai. Because he was
killed days before a runoff election, many believe the killing was
politically motivated; the prosecutor general's office was reportedly
continuing to investigate whether the killing was connected with the
elections (see section 3).
On November 22, Konstantin Meshcheryakov, co-owner of
Spetssetstroibank, was killed outside his apartment in central Moscow.
As the third prominent banker to be killed within three months,
prosecutors quickly admitted that his professional activities may have
led to the attack; the case remains open and no further information
appeared in the media.
On November 23, former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr
Litvinenko died in London as a result of radioactive poisoning by
polonium-210 (a highly restricted substance) by unknown actors. At
year's end, investigations into the death continued in both Russia and
the United Kingdom.
Some killings of government officials appeared connected with the
ongoing strife in the North Caucasus. As of November, the prosecutor's
office of Chechnya reported that, between 2000 and 2006, 71 criminal
cases were opened based on actual or attempted assassinations of
municipal administration leaders or their staff. Of these cases, nine
went to trial.
On June 9, Ingushetiya Ministry of Internal Affairs Lieutenant
Colonel Musa Nalgiyev, three of his children, a driver, and bodyguard
were killed as he took the children to a childcare center. Also on June
9, a short distance away, deputy district administrator Galina Gubina
was shot and killed (see section 1.g.). On August 8, Daghestani
prosecutor Bitar Bitarov died in a car bomb attack in the town of
Buinaksk, Dagestan Republic. When Dagestani Interior Minister Adilgerey
Magomedtagirov was traveling to the scene, his car was targeted by a
car bomb, but he survived due to his car's armor. On October 24, the
administrative head of the village of Chechen-Aul, Umar Khatsiyev, was
shot and killed in his home.
In May a jury acquitted four men accused of carrying out the 2005
assassination of Zagir Arukhov, minister of nationality policy,
information, and external ties of Dagestan, and of bombing a
prosecutor's office in Makhachkala. The prosecutor's case was largely
based on confessions made by the four defendants, and defense attorneys
claimed the confessions were obtained through torturing the defendants.
The prosecution appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which
overturned the lower court's acquittal and ordered the case to be
further investigated.
At year's end hearings were still ongoing for two additional
defendants allegedly involved in the 1998 killing of Galina
Starovoytova, a prominent State Duma deputy. In June 2005 two of the
initial six defendants tried in connect with the killing were convicted
of terrorist acts and the four others released. The individual who
ordered the killing had not been identified. In September two others
were found guilty in connection with Starovoytova's killing. One of the
defendants was sentenced to 11 years. The other, although found guilty,
was released under statutes of limitations. The court ruled there were
no political motives for the murder. Three identified suspects as well
as one unidentified individual, who ordered the killing, remain at
large.
During the year several journalists were killed for reasons that
appeared to be related to their work, including Anna Politkovskaya,
known for her reporting on human rights abuses and the Chechnya
conflict (see section 2.a.).
Skinheads and members of neo-Nazi groups attacked and killed
members of ethnic minorities and foreigners during the year (see
section 5).
b. Disappearance.--There were reports of government involvement in
politically motivated disappearances in Chechnya and Ingushetiya,
although the number of disappearances declined compared to 2005. In
2005 Memorial documented 316 ``abduction'' cases; 127 of these
``disappeared'' without a trace and 23 were found dead. During the year
Memorial documented 184 abductions. Of these, Memorial reported that 91
persons were released, 63 ``disappeared,'' 11 found dead, and 19 were
under investigation by authorities. Unlike previous years, there were
no reports of disappearances of individuals who had appealed court
cases to the European Court of Human Rights (see section 1.g.).
In April Bulat Chilaev, an employee of the NGO Civic Assistance,
and Aslan Israilov disappeared after being detained by armed men
thought to be members of the Chechen Republic security forces near
Sernovodsk, Chechnya. According to Civic Assistance, investigators
found identification at the site of the kidnapping belonging to a
member of the West (Zapad) battalion, a Chechen unit attached to the
Ministry of Defense, controlled by military intelligence. Chilaev and
Israilov were later reported killed on the day they went missing.
Criminal groups in the Northern Caucasus, possibly having links to
rebel forces, frequently resorted to kidnapping. The main motivation
behind such cases apparently was ransom, although some cases had
political or religious overtones. The hostage-takers held many of their
victims in Chechnya or Dagestan.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
credible reports that law enforcement personnel frequently engaged in
torture, violence, and other brutal or humiliating treatment or
punishment to coerce confessions from suspects and that the Government
did not consistently hold officials accountable for such actions.
Although prohibited in the constitution, torture is defined neither in
the law nor the criminal code. As a result the only accusation
prosecutors could bring against police suspected of such behavior was
that they exceeded their authority or committed a simple assault.
Cases of physical abuse by police officers usually occurred within
the first few hours or days of arrest. Some of the methods reportedly
used were: beatings with fists, batons, or other objects; asphyxiation
using gas masks or bags (at times filled with mace); electric shocks;
or suspension by body parts (for example, suspending a victim from the
wrists, which were tied together behind the back). Allegations of abuse
were difficult to substantiate because of limited access to medical
professionals. According to the annual report of the country's human
rights ombudsman, published in June, the majority of police brutality
cases in 2005 were reported in Khanty-Mansiysk, Bashkortostan,
Tatarstan, Bryansk, Moscow, and Tver regions. A report in November by
Amnesty International documented 114 cases of torture by police to
obtain a confession.
In January, in the case of Aleksey Mikheyev, the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR) found that the Government had violated Article 3
(torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Specifically, the
ECHR found that Mikheyev had been falsely accused of murder. In order
to force him into confessing, investigators severely beat him and
tortured him with an electric shock. After the torture, he jumped out
of a window and broke his spine. The two investigators were prosecuted
in the country and sentenced to four years imprisonment each.
In Chechnya, there were credible reports that both government
forces and Chechen rebels tortured detainees (see section 1.g.). Human
Rights Watch reported that it had documented 115 torture cases in
Chechnya between July 2004 and September 2006. The report concluded
that most of the incidents were carried out at one of at least 10
unlawful detention centers.
Reports by refugees, NGOs, and the press suggested a pattern of
police beatings, arrests, and extortion directed at persons with dark
skin or who appeared to be from the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Africa,
and at Roma. For example, in March, two militia officers were detained
for extorting money from a foreign woman who lived in the Voronezh
region without registration. In June 2004 the press reported that in
Novosibirsk four policemen were arrested on suspicion of extorting over
$1 million (28 million rubles) from a Romani family by kidnapping and
torturing family members until their demands were met. The case reached
court in April 2005 and the press reported it. Policemen were
reportedly later tried and convicted.
Police reportedly harassed defense lawyers by calling them in for
questioning regarding their conversations with their clients and
continued to intimidate witnesses (see section 1.e.).
Trial proceedings continued at a slow pace for the eight police
officers charged for abuse of office in August 2005 by the
Bashkortostan prosecutor's office in the beatings of at least 32
persons during the 2004 ``crime prevention'' crackdown in
Blagoveshchensk. The accused were mostly junior officers of the town
police and the Bashkortostan OMON (a special police detachment). The
highest ranking defendant was Lieutenant-Colonel Ildar Ramazanov, head
of the Blagoveshchensk town police. Defendants included the chief of
Blagoveshchensk police and the OMON unit commander. In March the
district court returned the case to the prosecutor's office for
clarification and to separate it into two cases, one for rank-and-file
policemen and the other their commanders. Bashkortostan's Supreme Court
supported the decision in a July ruling, but the Bashkortostan's
prosecutor's office disagreed with separating the cases and in August
announced that it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Most
of the defendants continued working in their positions.
In February three Blagoveshchensk residents were convicted of
attacking a police patrol, triggering the 2004 crackdown. Two received
suspended sentences, but the third, Victor Geroyev, was sentenced to 2
1/2 years in prison. In April Bashkortostan's Supreme Court annulled
the sentences and sent the case to the Blagoveshchensk district court
for retrial.
There are a limited number of cases where psychiatry has been used
against those dissatisfied with the authorities, according to the
Russian Research Center on Human Rights. There is some indication that
psychiatry was being used as a tool in the resolution of inheritance,
business, and property disputes. The Government's and courts'
interpretation of the 2001 law on ``Legal Expertise Activities in the
Russian Federation'' led to a monopoly by government consultants in the
provision of expert testimony in court cases. The exclusion of
testimony by nongovernmental expert psychiatric witnesses leaves
plaintiffs desiring a second opinion with no recourse and such a
monopoly has led to allegations of corruption and bribe-taking. The
human rights ombudsman's office was working to create a ``Service for
the Defense of Patients,'' as required by law and sent letters backing
the appeals of several court cases whose verdicts did not seem to be
supported by the evidence.
Various abuses against military servicemen continued, including but
not limited to the violent hazing of junior recruits in the armed
services, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and border guards. Press
reports cited serving and former armed forces personnel, the main
military prosecutor's office, and NGOs monitoring conditions in the
armed forces as indicating that such mistreatment often included
beatings or threats of increased hazing to extort money or material
goods. As of August 31, according to Prosecutor General Yuriy Chayka,
hazing incidents led to more than 100 soldiers suffered injuries. The
number of hazing cases and use of physical force by commanders grew by
3 percent, and there were more than 3,500 cases of hazing reported.
According to the chief military prosecutor, the number of registered
crimes and service-related accidents in the Armed Forces decreased by 2
percent from the previous year, to 21,252 cases this year. The number
of grave crimes in the armed Forced decreased by 7 percent, while the
number of murders dropped by 18.8 percent. There was some variation in
reported statistics; other sources reported increases.
According to the Ministry of Defense, there were 1,318 casualties
recorded during the year (not including casualties in the Internal
Troops, special units, Border Guards, or Emergency Situation Ministry,
which are recorded individually. The ministry earlier reported that 554
servicemen died in the Armed Forces during the year. Among those, 210
servicemen committed suicide and 27 died in hazing attacks. The
ministry maintained that 43 percent of the suicides were due to
personal relationship problems and 23 percent were due to the hardships
of military service. Approximately 19 percent of the casualties (250)
were killed by other military personnel.
By year's end, the Moscow Committee of Soldiers' Mothers registered
over 1000 complaints from conscripts and parents, mostly related to
beatings. Servicemen also complained about sexual abuse, torture, and
enslavement. Soldiers often did not report hazing to either unit
officers or military prosecutors due to fear of reprisals, since in
some cases officers reportedly tolerated or even encouraged such hazing
as a means of controlling their units. Officers reportedly also used
beatings to discipline soldiers.
Hazing reportedly was a particularly serious problem in units that
had previously served in areas of military conflict.
One high profile case involved the hazing of private Andrey Sychov,
19, a first-year conscript at the Chelyabinsk Armor Academy. In
December 2005 servicemen brutally beat and tortured Sychov at the
Chelyabinsk Tank Academy, and Sychov had to have his legs and genitals
amputated. The Sychov case prompted the State Duma to hold hearings on
discipline in the army in February. Minister of Defense Ivanov
testified and attributed hazing incidents to a ``morally pathological
society'' and violence in the media. On January 30, President Putin
ordered the Ministry of Defense to draft ``legal and organizational
measures'' to boost ``the work of education and upbringing'' in the
military. Also in February President Putin ordered the Ministry of
Defense to create a military police force tasked with ending hazing,
fighting criminal activity, and restoring discipline. In March the
Council of Europe issued a report on the situation in the Russian Army
and the practice of hazing. The report stated that the situation is
extremely worrying and noted that in the view of both NGOs and
conscripts themselves, young recruits lived through real torment.
According to the report, deaths occur every year among young conscripts
who have been ill-treated, subjected to initiation rites, suffered
accidents, committed suicide or suffered untreated illnesses. Between
50 and 80 percent of all conscripts and young servicemen are reported
to be subjected to physical violence, initiation rites, beatings, rape
or humiliation on the orders of superiors or their peers. Dedovshchina
(hazing) very widely practiced, and the authorities seem unable to
gauge the extent of the problem.
After a three-month trial, a Chelyabinsk military court on
September 26 convicted Junior Sergeant Aleksandr Sivyakov, who had
consistently maintained his innocence, on five charges in the Sychov
case, including ``exceeding authority, resulting in grave
consequences,'' and sentenced him to four years, less time already
served, in a medium-security penal colony. Sivyakov was also stripped
of his rank, banned from holding a command position for three years,
and ordered to pay $825 (22,000 rubles) to cover the cost of
transporting witnesses and experts to the court. The prosecution and
defense both intended to appeal the conviction: the prosecution for a
stiffer sentence and the defense for a new trial. Two codefendants in
the trial, Private Pavel Kuzmenko and Private Gennadiy Bilimovich, were
convicted of hazing a soldier of equal rank and given suspended
sentences of 1 1/2 years, followed by a year of probation. Sivyakov
could be eligible for parole after two years; since he had served nine
months of his sentence, he could be free in 15 months.
In February local media reported that three recruits from Tyumen
Oblast serving at Yekaterinburg's military base No. 32 were
hospitalized as a result of hazing. One of them, Anton Afanasyev
reportedly was first hospitalized and operated on following a brutal
beating by fellow servicemen in September 2005.After two months in
hospital, he returned to his unit, only to be beaten again in January,
according to statements by his mother to the press. The second, Yuriy
Afanasenko, was said to have been beaten by older soldiers on New
Year's Eve (2005-06) in the same way as Andrey Sychov. Despite his
swollen legs, Afanasenko reportedly received no help from military
medics for several days. The third soldier, identified as Aleksandr
Laptev, reportedly tried to commit suicide in late January because of
beatings. A spokesperson for the Volga-Urals military district said
that reports of violent hazing at Yekaterinburg's military base No. 32
were ``greatly exaggerated,'' and that ``not every bruise a soldier has
is a result of dedovshchina.'' The officer added that facts were being
distorted because of the ``hysteria'' over Sychov's case.
Hazing reportedly was also a serious problem in the Russian Pacific
Fleet units. On March 9, in Vladivostok, it was reported that a local
sailor was so severely beaten that he could not stand. At first his
attackers hid him in their quarters, but when found, he was sent to
various hospitals, misdiagnosed, and accused of trying to avoid his
duties. Whenever his mother called his unit, officers told her he was
``on duty'' and did not mention his injuries. After arriving in
Vladivostok, she had to go to the military prosecutor's office in order
to convince officials to open an investigation. According to a press
report, only after the mother met with a reporter, did military
officials apparently become more responsive.
Local and national news reports highlighted measures taken by the
Russian Pacific Fleet to stem military hazing in its ranks. Select
groups of officers attended courses on psychological causes of military
hazing. Navy officials expressed optimism that the training will help
reduce the number of criminal hazing incidents in the navy.
Both the Union of Soldiers' Mothers Committee (USMC) and the main
military prosecutor's office received numerous reports about
``nonstatutory relations,'' in which officers or sergeants physically
assaulted or humiliated their subordinates. Despite the acknowledged
seriousness of these problems, the leadership of the Armed Forces made
only superficial efforts to implement substantive reforms in training,
education, and administration programs within units to combat abuse.
During the year federal and local Chechen government forces, as
well as Chechen rebel forces, violated the human rights of civilians,
inflicting widespread civilian casualties, abductions, and other abuses
(see section 1.g.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions remained
extremely harsh and frequently life-threatening. The Ministry of
Justice's Federal Service for the Execution of Sentences administered
most of the penitentiary system centrally from Moscow. On April 15, the
State Duma passed a law prohibiting the FSB (Federal Security Service)
from operating prisons. Pursuant to the law, all FSB prisons were
transferred to the Ministry of Justice. There were five basic forms of
custody in the criminal justice system: police temporary detention
centers; pretrial detention facilities, known as investigation
isolation facilities (SIZOs); correctional labor colonies (ITKs);
prisons designated for those who violate ITK rules; and educational
labor colonies (VTKs) for juveniles. As of July 2005, approximately
797,500 persons were in the custody of the criminal justice system,
including 48,600 women and 14,500 juveniles. In December 2005 the
ministry reported that the number of the persons held in custody in
2005 exceeded 800,000. As of December 31, approximately 872,000 persons
were in the custody of the criminal justice system, including
approximately 60,000 women and 13,000 juveniles. The number of people
held in custody in 2005 was 823,451. In most cases juveniles were held
separately from adults.
In 2004 according to official statistics approximately 2,000
persons died in SIZOS. According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2005,
the mortality rate among inmates rose 12 percent and remained at 12
percent during the year. Most died as a result of poor sanitary
conditions or lack of medical care (the leading cause of death was
heart disease). The press reported that individuals were mistreated,
injured, or killed in various SIZOs. Some of the reported cases
suggested habitual abuse by officers.
Abuse of prisoners by other prisoners continued to be a problem.
Violence among inmates, including beatings and rape, was common. There
were elaborate inmate-enforced caste systems in which informers,
homosexuals, rapists, prison rape victims, child molesters, and others
were considered to be ``untouchable'' and were treated very harshly,
with little or no protection provided by the prison authorities.
Penal institutions frequently remained overcrowded, but there were
reports of some improvements. For example, while many penal facilities
remained in urgent need of renovation and upgrading, some reports
indicated that these facilities were closer to meeting government
standards, which include the provision of four square meters per
inmate. According to the Federal Service for the Execution of
Sentences, in 20 regions of the country the actual living space was
less than four meters per SIZO inmate during the year, while in 18
regions living space was less than three meters per inmate. By December
31, approximately 48 percent of the SIZOs met the Governmental space
minimums for prisoners.
Inmates in the prison system often suffered from inadequate medical
care. According to the Ministry of Justice, as of March 17, there were
over 58,000 tuberculosis-infected persons and 35,000 HIV-infected
persons in SIZOs and correction colonies, compared to approximately
49,000 tuberculosis-infected persons and 31,000 HIV-infected persons in
September 2005. Tuberculosis infection rates were far higher in
detention facilities than in the population at large. The Moscow Center
for Prison Reform reported that conditions in penal facilities varied
among the regions.
Conditions in SIZO pretrial facilities, where suspects were held
until the completion of a criminal investigation, trial, sentencing, or
appeal, remained extremely harsh and posed a serious threat to health
and life. However, conditions within different SIZOs varied
considerably. Health, nutrition, and sanitation standards remained low
due to a lack of funding. Poor ventilation was thought to contribute to
cardiac problems and lowered resistance to disease. According to the
Federal Prison Service, the total number of detainees in the system
increased by 31,000. As of December 31, as a result, facilities
originally designed to house 130,000 held approximately 161,000
suspects in 216 detention centers, seven prisons, and 160 facilities
performing similar functions.
ITKs held the bulk of the country's convicts. As of December 31,
there were 696,900 inmates in 765 ITKs, which provided greater freedom
of movement; however, at times, guards humiliated, beat, and starved
prisoners. The country's ``prisons''--distinct from the ITKs--were
penitentiary institutions for those who repeatedly violated the rules
in effect in the ITKs.
The 62 VTKs held juvenile prisoners from 14 to 20 years of age.
Conditions in the VTKs were significantly better than in the ITKs, but
juveniles in the VTKs and juvenile SIZO cells reportedly also suffered
from beatings and rape. The Moscow Center for Prison Reform reported
that such facilities had a poor psychological atmosphere and lacked
educational and vocational training opportunities. Many of the
juveniles were from orphanages, had no outside support, and were
unaware of their rights. While juveniles were generally held separately
from adults, there were two prisons in Moscow where children and adults
were not separated and boys were held with adults in small, crowded,
and smoky cells. Schooling in the prisons for children was sporadic at
best.
In August 2005 the NGO For Human Rights reported that it had been
able to monitor prisons in 40 of the country's 88 regions; however,
according to the group's executive director, it had become increasingly
difficult for domestic observers to monitor prison conditions in the
last six years. Human rights activists were allowed into those prisons
where the situation was good enough, specifically in female and
juvenile prisons. Krasnodar Kray was one of the few regions where the
situation in prisons is good and activists from the NGO For Human
Rights are allowed in to monitor. For Human Rights counted 40 prisons
where human rights activists and even defense attorneys were not
allowed into prisons where prisoners' rights were being seriously
violated (mass beatings, mass tortures, mass punishment, and
humiliation). The For Human Rights chairman estimated the situation
with human rights violation in prison as critical and said that the
situation worsened. Others, such as the Committee for Civil Rights,
report that the situation improved in a few regions.
Since 2004 authorities have refused to grant the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access, under ICRC's standard
criteria, to those detained as part of the conflict in Chechnya, and
the ICRC subsequently suspended its detention visits. As of December
31, it had not regained access to detainees.
Human rights groups also documented cases of illegal places of
detention in Chechnya and in other locations in the North Caucasus
where abuses occurred. Chechen Republic security forces reportedly
maintained such secret prisons in Tsentoroy, Gudermes, and other
locations. Human Rights Watch reported it had detailed descriptions of
at least 10 unlawful detention facilities. Human rights groups also
reported that officers of the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs'
Second Operational Investigative Bureau illegally detained and tortured
people in its Groznyy offices. The UN Committee Against Torture noted
its concern about these unofficial places of detention.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, they remained problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Internal Affairs, the FSB, and the Office of the Prosecutor are
responsible for law enforcement at all levels of government. The FSB's
core responsibilities are security, counterintelligence, and
counterterrorism, but it also has broader law enforcement functions,
including fighting crime and corruption. The FSB operated with limited
oversight by the office of the prosecutor general and the courts.
The national police force, which falls under the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, is organized on the federal, regional, and local
levels. Although regulations and national laws prohibit corrupt
activities, corruption was widespread and there were few crackdowns on
illegal police activity. The Government reportedly addressed only a
fraction of the crimes that federal forces committed against civilians
in Chechnya (see section 1.g.). Although government agencies, such as
the ministry, have continued to educate officers about safeguarding
human rights during law enforcement activities through training
provided by foreign governments, the security forces remained largely
unreformed.
Arrest and Detention.--Under the law an individual may be taken
into custody for 48-hours without court approval if arrested at the
scene of a crime, provided there is evidence of the committed crime on
the individual's person or in his house or when the crime victims or
witnesses identify the person as a perpetrator. Otherwise a court-
approved arrest warrant is required. According to statistics provided
by the Supreme Court's judicial department in 2005, the number of
motions for pretrial arrests filed by law enforcement authorities to
courts increased by 19.8 percent in comparison to 2004, including an
increase in the number of motions filed for juveniles (8.3 percent
more) and women (29.5 percent more). Statistics for the first six
months of the year indicated that courts approved approximately 92
percent of all arrest requests from law enforcement authorities,
approximately the same as in 2004 and 2005.
After arrest detainees were typically taken to the nearest police
station where they should be informed of their rights. The police are
obliged to write an official protocol, signed by the detainee and the
police officer within three hours of detention, which states the
grounds for the detention. Police must interrogate the detainee within
the first 24-hours, but prior to the interrogation the detainee has the
right to meet with an attorney for two hours. No later than 12-hours
after a detention, police must notify the prosecutor and the detainee's
relatives about the detention unless a prosecutor's warrant to keep the
fact of detention secret is obtained. The detainee must be released
after 48 hours, either subject to bail conditions or on their own
recognizance, unless a court decides to keep the person in custody in
response to a motion filed by police no later than eight hours before
the expiration of the 48 hour detention period. The defendant and his/
her attorney must be present at the court hearing.
The law specifies that, within two months of a suspect's arrest,
police should complete their investigation and transfer the file to the
prosecutor for arraignment, although a court may extend the criminal
investigation for up to six months in ``complex'' cases. With the
personal approval of the prosecutor general, a judge may extend that
period up to 18 months.
Legal limitations on detention were generally respected; however,
there were reports of occasional violations of the 48-hour time limit
following an arrest. Most frequently, authorities failed to write the
official protocol of detention within three hours after the actual
detention and held suspects in excess of detention limits. In addition
there were reports that police obtained defense counsels friendly to
the prosecution. These ``pocket'' defense counsels allowed
interrogation of their clients. The general ignorance of legal rights
by both citizens and their defense counsels contributed to the
persistence of these violations.
Judges suppressed confessions of suspects whose confessions were
taken without a lawyer present. They also freed suspects who were held
in excess of detention limits, although they usually granted
prosecutors' motions to extend the detention period for good cause. The
Supreme Court overturned a number of cases in which lower court judges
granted permission to detain individuals on what the Supreme Court
deemed inadequate grounds.
Unlike in previous years, there were no new reports or allegations
that authorities detained and engaged in selective prosecution of
political adversaries. In recent years observers considered the 2003
arrest on fraud charges of prominent and politically active businessman
Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and the 2004 arrest on fraud charges of Yukos Oil
Company lawyer Svetlana Bakhmina to constitute possible cases of
selective arrest and prosecution with political motives, regardless of
their guilt or innocence on the specific charges against them (see
section 1.e.).
There were a limited number of cases where psychiatry was used
against those dissatisfied with the authorities.
Amnesty.--In July, following the death of terrorist warlord Shamil
Basayev, the Government issued a partial amnesty, which gave militants
two weeks to surrender. The original amnesty was extended through
September 30. On September 23, the State Duma passed legislation to
grant amnesty to militants in Chechnya and the North Caucasus through
January 15, 2007. The amnesty requires militants to disarm and
surrender themselves to authorities. According to the federal and
Chechen Republic authorities, as of December 25, 375 militants had
surrendered to authorities. The amnesty does not apply to militants
suspected of crimes such as rape, murder, or terrorism. The amnesty
also applies to servicemen but not to those accused of selling or
stealing weapons (see section 1.a.).
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and there were a number of indications of
judicial independence; however, the judiciary did not consistently act
as an effective counterweight to other branches of the Government. For
example, in April the Kemerovo Oblast governor's office issued a press
release describing a meeting between the governor and the chief judge
of the region, during the course of which the chief judge attempted to
counter perceptions that the region's judges might be too lenient in
their sentences. Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin criticized both
the governor and the judge for not maintaining attitudes appropriate to
a true separation of judicial and executive powers.
The law provides for strengthening the role of the judiciary in
relation to the prosecutor general by requiring judicial approval of
arrest warrants, searches, seizures, and detentions (see section 1.d.).
Judges allegedly remained subject to influence from the executive,
military, and security forces, particularly in high profile or
politically sensitive cases.
President Putin decreed a 32 percent pay raise for judges effective
July 1 and, as of year's end, there was an additional 7.2 percent
raise. According to President Putin's official Web site, the pay raise
was to provide material guarantees to judges that will permit them
``fully and independently to render justice.'' While judges' salaries
have increased significantly, the judiciary remained susceptible to
corruption. Judges accepted bribes from officials and others. For the
first six months of the year, the Supreme Qualifying Collegium of
Judges reported that 39 judges were removed from the bench and 151 were
given warnings. One NGO specializing in issues of corruption estimated
that in 2005 judges received $209 million (5.9 billion rubles) in
bribes annually for favorable rulings. Authorities did not provide
adequate protection from intimidation or threats from powerful criminal
defendants. Judges' salaries were increased in order reduce incentives
for corruption and to attract more qualified candidates. In several
cities, new modern courtrooms opened. Many of these courtrooms have
recording equipment which allows for the recording of judicial
proceedings and the production of accurate transcripts, which is
essential to fair appellate review.
The judiciary is divided into three branches. The courts of general
jurisdiction, including military courts, are subordinated to the
Supreme Court. These courts hear civil and criminal cases and include
district courts, which serve every urban and rural district, regional
courts, and the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can
be appealed only to the immediately superior court unless a
constitutional issue is involved. An arbitration (commercial) court
system under the High Court of Arbitration constitutes a second branch
of the judicial system. Arbitration courts hear cases involving
business disputes between legal entities and between legal entities and
the State. The federal constitutional court (as well as constitutional
courts in a number of administrative entities) constitutes the third
branch.
The President approves judges after they have been nominated by the
qualifying collegia, which are assemblies of judges (including some
public members). After a three-year trial period, the President must
reconfirm the judges. Judicial watchers have alleged that the
executive's role in approving and reconfirming judges has ensured an
increasingly progovernment judiciary. The collegia also have the
authority to remove judges for misbehavior and to approve prosecutors'
requests to prosecute judges.
Justices of the peace deal with criminal cases involving maximum
sentences of less than three years and with some civil cases. In 2005
justices of the peace assumed 71.6 percent of federal judges' civil
cases and 36.7 percent of their criminal matters. Justices of the peace
work in all regions except Chechnya. In contrast to previous years,
justices of the peace worked in Nenitskiy Autonomous Okrug.
Trial Procedures.--Trials typically are conducted before a judge
without a jury. The defendant is presumed innocent. The defense is not
required to present evidence and is given an opportunity to cross-
examine witnesses and call defense witnesses. Defendants who are in
custody during the trial are confined to a caged area and must quietly
consult with their attorneys through the bars. Defendants have the
right of appeal. According to Supreme Court statistics, in 2005 the
number of convictions decreased by 1.3 percent and made up 71 percent
of all criminal cases heard by courts; the acquittal rate stayed at 0.7
percent; courts dismissed 27.3 percent of criminal cases during trial
for various legal reasons. According to Supreme Court statistics,
during the first six months of the year, the percentage of convictions
in criminal cases increased by approximately 4.7 percent in comparison
to the same period in 2005. The percentage of cases dismissed also
increased by approximately 2 percent.
The law provides for the nationwide use of jury trials for a
limited category of ``especially grave'' crimes, such as murder, in
higher-level regional courts. In 2005, out of 1,263,000 persons tried
by criminal courts, 1,389 persons were tried by jury. By January 1, all
regions except Chechnya implemented jury trials, as a result of a law
passed by the State Duma during the year. In contrast to trials
conducted by a judge, 0.7 percent of which ended in acquittal in 2005,
approximately 15 percent of cases tried by juries ended in acquittals,
although one-third of those acquittals were later reversed on appeal by
the Supreme Court. The professional competence of jury trial
participants, including both parties and, to some extent, judges,
remained an issue of serious concern to domestic and international
observers. In a speech in November, President Putin stated that the
problem with jury trials was not the jurors, but poorly trained
prosecutors and investigators.
Jury trials play an important role in overcoming general public
distrust of the judicial system. As an opinion poll conducted by the
All-Russia Center for Public Opinion during the year demonstrated,
almost 80 percent of citizen respondents, who participated as jurors in
jury trials in 2004-2005 in Moscow city and Moscow and Yaroslavl
regions, reported that their opinion about the judiciary system
improved after they served as jurors in criminal trials.
Prior to trial defendants are provided a copy of their indictment,
which describes the charges in extensive detail. They are also given an
opportunity to review the criminal file following the completion of the
criminal investigation. Defense attorneys are allowed to visit their
clients in detention, although conditions reportedly made it difficult
for attorneys to conduct meaningful and confidential consultations with
their clients.
The law provides for the appointment of a lawyer free of charge if
a suspect cannot afford one; however, this provision often was not
effective in practice. The high cost of competent legal services meant
that lower-income defendants often lacked competent representation.
There were no defense attorneys in remote areas of the country. Public
centers, staffed on a part time basis by lawyers, continued to offer
free advice on legal rights and recourse under the law; however, they
were not able to handle individual cases. In August 2005 the Government
issued regulations to govern a program creating state legal aid offices
in 10 regions on an experimental basis beginning in January. The
program was extended for another year. However, official results of the
program had not been published. Although a system of paying qualified
attorneys for representation of indigent defendants has nominally been
in place for several years, defense attorneys indicated that it only
began to work efficiently during the year. As a result defense
attorneys were now more likely to receive compensation for
representation of indigent defendants, which has resulted in an
improvement in the quality of legal assistance rendered.
According to the NGO Independent Council of Legal Expertise,
defense lawyers were the targets of police harassment. Professional
associations at both the local and federal levels reported police
efforts to intimidate attorneys and cover up their own criminal
activities.
Authorities abrogated due process in continuing to pursue several
espionage cases involving foreigners who allegedly obtained information
considered sensitive by security services. In some instances
prosecutors pursued such cases after earlier courts had rejected them.
The proceedings in some of these cases took place behind closed doors,
and the defendants and their attorneys encountered difficulties in
learning the details of the charges. Observers believed that the FSB
was seeking to discourage citizens and foreigners from investigating
problems that the security services considered sensitive.
In February 2005 the FSB detained Oskar Kaibyshev, the former
director of the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems, on
charges linked to exporting sensitive technological information to
South Korea while working as a research scientist. Several scientific
panels stated that the information Kaibyshev gave the South Koreans was
not subject to export controls. The espionage charges initially brought
against Kaibyshev were later dropped, but he faced other criminal
charges related to the case. Kaibyshev was later charged with
unsanctioned export of technologies and theft. In October 2005 court
hearings opened at the Supreme Court of Bashkortostan Republic for
passing dual-use technology to South Korea. The trial was held behind
closed doors, as the FSB stated that top secret information could
emerge in the case. On August 8, Kaibyshev was given a suspended prison
sentence of six years after being convicted of unsanctioned export of
dual use technologies, abuse of authority, and embezzlement. He was
also banned from holding any positions of authority in state
organizations for three years and had to pay $130,000 (3.5 million
rubles). The scientist's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict, as
did the state prosecutor, who said the sentence was too lenient. An
appeal had not occurred by year's end.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--Human rights organizations and
activists have identified various individuals as political prisoners:
Zara Murtazaliyeva, Mikhail Trepashkin, Valentin Danilov, Igor
Sutyagin, Mikhail Khodorkovskiy, Platon Lebedev, and Svetlana Bakhmina.
All remained imprisoned at the end of the year.
Zara Murtazaliyeva, a 22-year-old Chechen citizen, was arrested in
March 2004 in Moscow. In January 2005, Moscow City court found her
found guilty of charges of preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in
Moscow; involving other people in the commitment of a terrorist act;
and illegal acquisition and storage of explosive substances, and
sentenced her to nine years in a general regime prison. Murtazaliyeva`s
defense lawyers as well as human rights defenders who monitored the
trial believed that the charges against her were fabricated. During the
trial before the Moscow City Court, the prosecution was unable to give
any evidence that would have substantiated any of the charges brought
against her. Murtazaliyeva's defense appealed to the Supreme Court and
in March 2005 the Supreme Court reduced the sentence by half a year,
but left the charges in force. The defense lawyers appealed the verdict
to the Presidium of the Supreme Court and also filed an appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in September 2005. Human rights
advocates in the country continue to assert that the charges were
fabricated, while her lawyers argue that she was framed by authorities
eager to catch a ``black widow'' female terrorist.
The 2004 conviction of Mikhail Trepashkin, a former consultant to a
parliamentary commission investigating possible FSB involvement in a
series of 1999 apartment bombings, gave further cause for concern about
the undue influence of the FSB and arbitrary use of the judicial
system. The bombings were officially blamed on Chechens and served as
partial justification for the Government's resumption of the armed
conflict against Chechen fighters. Trepashkin, an attorney and former
FSB official, was arrested in 2003 and charged with disclosing state
secrets and illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition.
Trepashkin's arrest came a month after his charges of FSB
responsibility for the bombings were cited in a book and a week before
he was scheduled to represent the relatives of a victim of one of those
bombings. In 2004 the Moscow Circuit Military Court sentenced
Trepashkin to four years of forced labor. In April 2005 a Moscow court
found Trepashkin guilty of illegal possession of a handgun and added
one year to his four-year term, although this additional ruling was
later reversed on appeal. In July 2005 Trepashkin began serving his
prison term in Nizhniy Tagil, Sverdlov Region. In August 2005 a Nizhniy
Tagil court granted Trepashkin's appeal for an early release from
prison. However, in September 2005 a Sverdlovsk regional court
overturned the August ruling. In late September 2005, according to
reports, Trepashkin was again taken into custody and sent back to the
Nizhniy Tagil prison camp. A new hearing on his early release was held
in November 2005, and the Nizhniy Tagil court turned down his
application for release on parole. In a November 2005 letter to State
Duma deputy Yevgeniy Roizman, Trepashkin said he feared for his life
since he was kept together with convicts who had committed capital
crimes. The following March, the press reported the Sverdlovsk Regional
Court upheld a district court ruling that denied parole to Trepashkin,
after which he went on a hunger strike. His defense lawyer, Lyubov
Kosik, said she would appeal the denial to the Supreme Court.
Trepashkin said that he was receiving no treatment for his severe
asthma and that he was concerned about his health. In December 2006 he
had an apparent asthma attack in court. Trepashkin's defense appealed
the decision of the Federal Service of Penalty Execution to move
Trepashkin to Nizhniy Tagil. In September 2006 the Zamoskvoretskiy
District Court in Moscow found Trepashkin's transfer to colony-
settlement in Nizhniy Tagil legitimate. In December 2006 the Nizhniy
Tagil court started hearings of Trepashkin's four appeals against
several discipline penalties leveled on him by the prison's authorities
and the prison authorities' cross-appeal to move him to a general
regime prison-settlement.
In 2004 the Supreme Court overturned the 2003 jury acquittal of
Valentin Danilov, who had been charged with spying for China while
working on a commercial contract. Allegedly, Danilov's activities in
China involved the transfer of classified technological knowledge that
would assist China's military goals, and divulge secrets concerning an
electron accelerator at Krasnoyarsk University. Colleagues and
supporters asserted that the information in question was declassified
over a decade ago, leading some human rights organizations to consider
Danilov's case to be politically motivated. In 2004 Danilov was
convicted by a judge and sentenced to 14 years. In June 2005 the
Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 13 years. In January 2006
Danilov's defense appealed the verdict to the Presidium of the Supreme
Court. Danilov also had an appeal before the European Court of Human
Rights. Neither had responded to the appeals by the end of this year.
In December 2006 Danilov's defense lawyers said he was planning to
appeal to the Pardon Commission of Krasnoyarsk Kray because his health
is getting worse.
In August 2005 the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Igor
Sutyagin, a disarmament researcher with the U.S. and Canada Institute,
of his conviction on espionage-related charges. Prosecutors accused
Sutyagin of passing classified information about the country's nuclear
weapons to a London-based firm. In 2001 the Kaluga Regional Court ruled
that the evidence did not support the charges against Sutyagin and
returned the case to the prosecutor for further investigation. In 2002
the ECHR registered Sutyagin's appeal and in March 2004 the decision
was made to view Sutyagin's case in priority order. In April 2004 a
Moscow city court found Sutyagin guilty and sentenced him to 15 years
in a maximum security facility (the sentence included time served since
his arrest in 1999). Also in April 2004, Amnesty International
recognized Sutyagin as a political prisoner. Sutyagin claimed the
Moscow city court's decision was unjust and insisted that he had no
access to confidential information. Some observers agreed that he had
no access to classified information and described the severe sentence
as an effort to discourage citizens from sharing sensitive information
with professional colleagues from other countries. Government officials
asserted that Sutyagin had wittingly or unwittingly entered into a paid
arrangement with a foreign intelligence service. Because of the conduct
of the trial and lengthy sentence, a number of domestic and
international human rights NGOs, in addition to Amnesty International,
raised concerns that the charges were politically motivated. In 2005
Sutyagin was transferred to a colony in Arkhangelsk Oblast, which is
even further from his family than his previous detention place in
Udmurtiya, and his attorneys were reportedly appealing the move. In
June 2006Sutyagin's defense appealed the verdict to the Presidium of
the Supreme Court but there was no information on the decision of the
Presidium available at year's end. In May 2006 ECHR sent 20 questions
to the Russian government regarding Sutyagin's case.
On June 9,2006, the Public Chamber Commission on Control over Law
Enforcement Bodies, Power Structures, and Legal System Reform made a
decision to send President Putin an appeal for pardon of Danilov and
Sutyagin. However, Anatoliy Kucherena, head of the Commission, told a
Moscow radio station that the Public Chamber eventually decided against
addressing President Putin with the request to pardon Danilov and
Sutyagin. The decision was based on the rule that the President cannot
be asked to pardon someone before that person has appealed for pardon
himself.
In May 2005 Mikhail Khodorkovskiy and codefendant Platon Lebedev
were convicted on six charges of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement
and sentenced to nine years in prison after an 11-month trial.
Khodorkovskiy's conviction was upheld on appeal in September 2005, with
the sentence reduced to eight years. Both Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev
continued to appeal their convictions in Russian courts as well as the
ECHR. As of April 19, 2006, the ECHR began preliminarily viewing
Khodorkovskiy's appeal. The arrest and conviction of Khodorkovskiy
raised concerns about the rule of law, including the independence of
courts, the right to due process, the sanctity of contracts and
property rights, and the lack of a predictable tax regime. Many
observers believed that Khodorkovskiy's conviction was one of a number
of politically motivated moves against wealthy ``oligarchs'' who
represented centers of actual or potential political and media
opposition to President Putin. Some observers believed that, despite
the possibility that the charges against Khodorkovskiy may have had
some merit, he was selectively targeted for prosecution because of his
politically oriented activities and as a warning to other oligarchs
against involvement in political affairs or providing financial support
to independent civil society. In October 2005 authorities transferred
Khodorkovskiy to a prison in Chita Oblast and Lebedev to a prison in
Yamalo-Nenetskiy Autonomous Okrug. In December 2005 Lebedev's defense
team filed an appeal stating that sending him to a prison not in the
area where Lebedev lived or was sentenced violated Russian law. The
Moscow City Court has rejected all appeals to review the case against
Khodorkovskiy. Some human rights activists have objected to sentencing
both men to prisons that were not in the area where they lived or were
sentenced. On November 29, 2006, the Supreme Court refused to proceed
with Khodorkovskiy's appeal. According to Khodorkovskiy's defense
attorney Genrikh Padva, the defense was considering appealing this
decision to the chairman of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the
prosecutor general's office was forming a new case against
Khodorkovskiy and Lebedev. Both were transferred to the detention
center in Chita in December 2006 due to new investigation activities
being conducted.
Some human rights groups considered Svetlana Bakhmina, a lawyer who
worked for Yukos Oil Company (Yukos), to be a political prisoner. She
was arrested in December 2004 on fraud charges and held without bail.
Several organizations expressed concern about reports regarding
Bakhmina's lack of access to her family and medical treatment while in
custody. Some observers stated that she was being held in an attempt to
pressure Dmitriy Gololobov, her former boss at Yukos, to return from
London. In September 2005 a Moscow city court ruled that she could be
held in detention until October 2005. In October 2005 her trial began
in Moscow, and she was convicted and sentenced in April 2006 to seven
years' imprisonment for tax evasion and embezzlement. In August the
Moscow City Court overturned Bakhmina's tax evasion conviction but
upheld the embezzlement charge and only reduced her sentence by six
months, to 6 1/2 years. Bakhmina had appealed her April convictions and
requested that all charges against her be dropped. In September
Bakhmina's lawyers requested the court postpone the imposition of her
sentence until her youngest child turns 14-years-old. A lawyer for
Bakhmina explained that Bakhmina's youngest child is presently five
years old, and that the law allows for applications to delay sentencing
in such cases. On October 2, the Simonovsky Court in Moscow rejected
the request and sent Bakhmina to a women's penal colony in the central
part of the country. On December 27, 2006,a Moscow city court refused
to postpone Bakhmina's imprisonment. Many observers saw the treatment
of Bakhmina as politically-motivated and linked to the Khodorkovskiy
case.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The criminal procedure
code provides that an individual or business may seek civil
compensation for a criminal violation. The law clearly provides for
bringing a criminal or civil case on human rights violations, but
implementation is inconsistent.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law states that officials may enter a private
residence only in cases prescribed by federal law or on the basis of a
judicial decision; however, authorities did not always observe these
provisions. The law permits the Government to monitor correspondence,
telephone conversations, and other means of communication only with
judicial permission and prohibits the collection, storage, utilization,
and dissemination of information about a person's private life without
his consent. While these provisions were generally followed, problems
remained. There were accounts of electronic surveillance by government
officials and others without judicial permission, and of entry into
residences and other premises by Moscow law enforcement without
warrants. There were no reports of government action against officials
who violated these safeguards.
In September 2005 the press reported that the Government, citing
concerns about terrorism, approved new regulations, which came into
effect on January 1 for interactions between communication companies
and certain government agencies. The new regulations give law
enforcement agencies greater access to telephone and cellular phone
company clients' personal information and require providers to grant
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and FSB 24-hour remote access to their
client databases. Some experts believed these new rules contradict the
constitution, but most mobile phone operators took it in stride. Given
that the authorities have had legal access to these records for 10
years, mobile operator MegaFon's press secretary suggested that the new
rules change nothing, and simply make the process ``more transparent.''
The Government continued to require Internet service providers to
provide dedicated lines to the security establishment so that police
could track private e-mail communications and monitor Internet activity
(see section 2.a.).
Human rights observers continued to allege that officers in the
special services used their services' power to gather compromising
materials on public figures. There were credible charges that regional
branches of the FSB continued to exert pressure on citizens employed by
foreign firms and organizations, often to coerce them into becoming
informants.
Federal forces and progovernment Chechen forces reportedly abducted
relatives of rebel commanders and fighters (see section 1.g.).
g. Use of Excessive Force and Other Abuses in Internal Conflicts.--
During the year unrest continued in and around the Chechen Republic and
in the neighboring republics of Ingushetiya and Dagestan. Federal
forces and Chechen Republic forces engaged in human rights abuses,
including torture, summary executions, disappearances, and arbitrary
detentions. Chechen rebels also committed human rights abuses,
including major acts of terrorism and summary executions.
The year saw a continued shift of government tactics away from
operations involving Russian military formations and toward greater
reliance on paramilitary and police units of the Chechen Republic or
other Chechen units subordinated to the Ministry of Defense or the
federal Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were fewer mopping-up
operations, known as ``zachistki,'' than in previous years, although
more targeted operations, such as night raids, continued. Memorial
noted that these mop-up operations were often conducted with no serious
human rights abuses but that in some cases such operations were
accompanied by abductions, looting, and beatings. Chechen security
forces were nominally under the control of Chechen Republic civilian
authorities but also often conducted operations jointly with federal
forces. In reality, Chechen security forces were under the command of
Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov and often appeared to act with
relative independence. The limited measures taken by the federal and
Chechen leaders to rein them in have been largely ineffective.
Federal authorities both military and civilian-have limited
journalists' and human rights observers' access to war zones since the
beginning of the second war in Chechnya in 1999, in part due to
security concerns. In addition coverage has been restricted in
government-controlled media, and the Government has sought to pressure
independent journalists into engaging in self-censorship (see sections
2.a. and 4). These restrictions made independent observation of
conditions and verification of reports difficult and limited the
available sources of information about the conflict. In addition,
victims of human rights abuses and their relatives were reluctant to
speak to human rights monitors or to file complaints with the
authorities because they feared retaliation.
The indiscriminate use of force by government troops, which during
the course of the conflict has resulted in widespread civilian
casualties, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of persons, and
massive destruction of property and infrastructure, appeared to
decrease further during the year. Memorial reported that in comparison
to 2001-02, government forces used less indiscriminate force in 2004
against civilian areas and this trend appeared to continue during the
year. Memorial and others also noted that the reconstruction of
destroyed housing and infrastructure in Chechnya was accelerating, but
also noted that many of these changes were largely cosmetic.
Nonetheless, there continued to be instances of indiscriminate use
of force by government troops. According to the Prague Watchdog Web
site, the southern districts of the Chechen Republic were repeatedly
subjected to long-range shelling and aerial attacks. The Shalinsky
district was subjected to regular shelling and aerial bombardment. In
October the mountain village of Zumsoi was subjected to an aerial
bombardment and two missile strikes. Memorial reported that on December
19, two civilians were killed and one wounded when they came under fire
from a military helicopter near the village of Chozhi-Chu.
Zumsoi was subjected to repeated artillery shelling and aerial
bombardment as well as sweeps by security forces during 2005, according
to Memorial. In January 2005, the village was bombed for several days.
Airborne forces then arrived in the village and took three men and a
teenaged boy into custody. Their whereabouts remained unknown. Federal
servicemen also allegedly robbed villagers, desecrated the village
mosque, and killed cattle. In July 2005 unknown perpetrators, who were
believed to be Chechen rebels, killed the head of the village
administration. Also in July 2005, all but one of Zumsoi's residents
left the village citing the continuing insecurity there.
In June 2005 members of the Vostok (East) Battalion conducted a
security sweep in the village of Borozdinovskaya. During that
operation, 11 men from the village were detained. Some homes in the
village were burned and two villagers were killed. Subsequently
villagers left en masse and crossed into the neighboring Republic of
Dagestan. According to press reports, most of the villagers have
returned to their village but approximately 160 others remain in a tent
camp in Dagestan. Although prosecutors announced an investigation, and
federal and Chechen officials publicly called for those responsible to
be held accountable, the whereabouts of the men detained remained
unknown. Military prosecutors initiated criminal proceedings against
one Vostok commander Mukhadi Aziyev. A military court in Chechnya
convicted him in October 2005 of abuse of power, and he received a
three-year suspended sentence.
In most cases security forces acted against civilians with
impunity, and even limited efforts of authorities to impose
accountability were frequently timid. However, there was at least one
case where the courts addressed an abuse. In June the Supreme Court
overturned the acquittals of Captain Eduard Ullman and three other
servicemen charged with killing Chechen civilians and ordered new
trials. Lower courts had already acquitted the defendants twice, most
recently in May 2005. A retrial began in December 2005. Following a
Constitutional Court ruling in April that cases involving serious
crimes in Chechnya could be tried without a jury, the Supreme Court
ruled in June that Ullman and his codefendants could be tried in a non-
jury trial. On November 2, the military district court started hearing
the case in a non-jury trial. The trial continued at year's end. At
least one other serviceman was convicted on similar charges.
Government forces and Chechen rebels continued to use landmines
extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan. According to estimates by the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF), 3,065 persons were killed or wounded by
landmines or unexploded ordnance in Chechnya since 1995.
Amnesty International reported that it was aware of only one
conviction by a Russian court in cases involving disappearances in
Chechnya. In March 2005 a Groznyy court convicted Lieutenant Sergey
Lapin, a member of an OMON riot police unit, of inflicting serious harm
to health and other charges related to the torture and disappearance of
Chechen citizen Zemlikhan Murdalov in 2001. Amnesty International
noted, however, that none of the charges against Lapin related to
Murdalov's actual disappearance, nor were any others charged in the
case.
In March federal serviceman Aleksey Krivoshonok was convicted for
the November 2005 killings of three persons detained by federal forces
at a checkpoint near the village of Staraya Sundzha in Chechnya.
According to investigators, Krivoshonok and others in his unit detained
six people at the checkpoint, beat three of them severely, forced them
to lie face down, and then shot them in the head. Krivoshonok was
sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to pay $7,692 (200,000
rubles) to the family of each victim. Separately, on May 15, the
Groznyy garrison military court convicted serviceman Pavel Zinchuk of
causing grave bodily harm in the same incident and sentenced him to
seven years in prison.
In two separate cases in November, the ECHR found the Government
responsible for the disappearances and deaths of three Chechens. In the
first case the ECHR found the Government responsible for the
disappearance and killing of Nura Luluyeva. Luluyeva was detained by
military forces at a market in June 2000. Her body was found in
February 2001 along with fifty other bodies in a mass grave in
Chechnya.
The ECHR also held the Government responsible for the disappearance
and presumed death of Said-Magomed and Said-Khusein Imakaev, a father
and son. Said-Khusein Imakaev, the son, was detained at a check point
in 2000. A year later, his father filed a complaint with ECHR and four
months later he was detained and never seen again. In the verdict, the
court noted the authorities' failure to cooperate; specifically their
failure to provide requested documents.
In October the ECHR ruled that Russian forces were responsible for
executing a Chechen family during a security operation in Groznyy and
ordered Moscow to pay the victims' relatives more than $285,000
(7,500,000 rubles) in damages. At least 55 other Chechen civilians were
killed in the February 2000 operation. The Government has not held
anyone responsible for the killings.
During the year there were 102 judgments, 64 of which were based on
the right to a fair trial. Ninety-six of the judgments found at least
one violation, 5 found no violations, and one judgment was found
``other'' (i.e., just satisfaction, revision judgments, preliminary
objections and lack of jurisdiction). During the year, the ECHR
received the highest number of applications to investigate human rights
violations from the country, totaling 10,569. As of December 31, the
country had 19,300 cases pending in the ECHR, 21.5 percent of the total
cases pending. In previous years, the court typically received around
4,000 complaints from Russia. The court has expanded its staff by 10
percent in part to handle this increase in complaints.
Despite the opening of a criminal case, a human rights organization
reported that no charges were filed after a federal warplane bombed
Maidat Tsintsayeva's house in 2004, killing her and her five children.
According to a human rights NGO, there were no indications of progress
in investigating the launching of several missiles at the village of
Tevzen-Kale in 2004. One of the missiles hit the house of the
Suleymanov family, killing one family member and wounding two others.
The Chechen interior ministry told the press that the federal military
refused to acknowledge that it had bombed the village and was impeding
all investigation efforts.
There were no reliable estimates of civilian casualties as a result
of military operations. Then Chechen State Council Chairman Taus
Dzhabrailov reportedly told the press in June 2005 that more than
160,000 persons had been killed in Chechnya since 1994. Memorial has
estimated that 75,000 civilians and up to 14,000 servicemen have died
during the two Chechen conflicts.
There were varied estimates of the number of those detained,
abducted, or made to disappear(see section 1.b.) While Chechen rebels
and criminals seeking ransom carried out many abductions and
disappearances, federal and progovernment Chechen forces were also
involved. In May Memorial representatives discovered an illegal
detention center in Groznyy where detainees were reportedly held,
tortured, ``disappeared,'' and killed by federal police units that had
temporarily been assigned to Chechnya. Then-Chechen Republic Ombudsman
Lema Khasuev stated in December 2005 that there were 2,096 cases of
``enforced'' disappearances by unidentified security forces in
Chechnya. His successor, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, stated that more than 7,000
persons have gone missing or been abducted in Chechnya since the
beginning of the first Chechen conflict, and 2,780 of them have gone
missing since the second conflict started in 1999. Chechen President
Alu Alkhanov has stated that 54 people were abducted during the year,
compared to 77 persons in 2005, and 213 in 2004.
Memorial reported that since 2002, 1,948 persons have been
abducted, of whom 685 were freed, 189 were found dead, 1,040 were
missing, and 34 were on trial. Memorial noted that its monitors had
access to only about 25 to 30 percent of Chechnya. According to Chechen
President Alu Alkhanov, 54 abductions were officially registered in
Chechnya during the year.
During the year, according to Memorial, 184 persons were abducted,
of whom 91 were freed or ransomed, 11 were found killed, 19 were
thought to be in detention, and 63 disappeared. Memorial attributed at
least part of this decline to a climate of fear in which individuals
were afraid to report abductions. In 2005, according to Memorial, 316
persons were abducted, of whom 151 were freed or ransomed, 23 were
found dead, 15 were thought to be in detention, and 127 disappeared.
Memorial reported that 448 persons were abducted in 2004 and has
estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 have gone missing in Chechnya since 1999.
Memorial reported that it has information on 1,988 cases where persons
disappeared after being detained by federal security forces since fall
1999. The federal prosecutor's office reported in December 2004 that
2,437 persons had been abducted in Chechnya in that period.
Abductions and disappearances continued to occur following
operations conducted by federal forces, Chechen Republic security
forces, and joint operations involving Chechen and Russian units,
according to various sources. In April, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan
Kadyrov publicly accused officers of the federal Ministry of Internal
Affairs' Operative Investigative Bureau of illegal detentions, torture,
and other cruel treatment and requested the unit be withdrawn from
Chechnya, although human rights activists said Chechen Republic
security forces, many of them under Kadyrov's control, were also
engaged in abductions and disappearances. Kadyrov also claimed that
many of those allegedly abducted had joined the rebels or fled to
Western Europe, but acknowledged there were cases where persons were
abducted and disappeared. Aslanbek Aslakhanov of the federal
Presidential Administration was cited in the press in 2005 as saying
that he could not rule out the involvement of forces under command of
then-Chechen first deputy prime minister Ramzan Kadyrov or federal
forces in such activities. Colonel General Arkadiy Yedelev, head of the
Russian forces general staff in the Northern Caucasus, acknowledged in
February 2005 that federal forces and Chechen Republic security forces
had taken part in disappearances of civilians.
According to NGOs federal forces and progovernment Chechen militias
commonly detained Chechen men at checkpoints along the borders between
Chechnya and Ingushetiya in targeted operations known as ``night
raids,'' or during ``mopping-up'' operations following military
hostilities. Detainees were often beaten or tortured. Human rights
groups also reported that security forces increasingly detained women.
In April unknown security forces detained Bilat Chilayev, a driver
for the NGO Civic Assistance, and Aslan Israilov at a checkpoint near
the village of Sernovodsk. Israilov had earlier been detained by
security forces conducting a sweep operation in the village but he had
been released. Their whereabouts were unknown. Both men were later
reported to have been killed on the day they were detained (see section
1.b).
In April 2005 security forces detained Murad Muradov, the director
of the Chechen NGO ``Let's Save the Generation'' during a firefight
between federal and rebel forces in Groznyy. According to human rights
groups, Muradov was detained because he lived near the apartment where
rebels were hiding. His whereabouts were unknown. In March 2005
Muradov's parents were informed his body had been identified and they
could claim it at a morgue in Rostov-on-Don. According to press
reports, Muradov's parents were given official documents that he was
not suspected of any illegal activities.
There were continued reports during the year that government forces
took relatives of Chechen rebels as hostages to force them to
surrender. According to Memorial, on January 16, officers of the
Republic of Chechnya's Anti-Terrorism Center abducted five relatives of
Khozh-Akhmed Dushayev in the village of Kurchaloy. Dushayev was wanted
on suspicion of being a Chechen rebel. All five were later released. On
April 15, officers from the Anti-Terrorism Center detained relatives of
Bislan Ilmiyev, an ATC officer under suspicion of aiding anti-
government fighters. Ilmiyev's wife, mother, one-year-old child, his
brothers, their wives, and their children were all detained. Ilmiyev's
brother Ruslan was later released and ordered to find his brother,
according to Memorial.
Chechen security forces seized relatives of Chechen commander Doku
Umarov in May 2005, including his 70-year-old father, wife, and six-
month-old son. They later released the wife and child, but the father's
location remained unknown. In August 2005 security forces also detained
Doku Umarov's sister, Natasha Khumadova. A source in the Urus-Martan
district administration told Interfax that armed persons broke into
Khumadova's house and threatening her with weapons, led her away. In
August Chechen officials erroneously announced that Umarov, who later
became the separatist ``President,'' had voluntarily surrendered.
Subsequent reports noted that it was Umarov's older brother, Akhmad,
who surrendered. Appearing at a press conference with Chechen
officials, Akhmad Umarov said that he had been arrested in March 2005
and had been held by authorities since. Human rights activists
suggested that Akhmad Umarov had never participated in fighting
alongside rebels and his detention was an effort to pressure Doku
Umarov to surrender. At year's end there was no further information on
the whereabouts of Umarov's relatives.
Following the numerous arrests made after the October 2005 attack
on Nalchik, Human Rights Watch reported that there were at least eight
cases where detainees were mistreated and that lawyers for five
detainees were barred from representing their clients on spurious
grounds. A year after the arrests, authorities released some of the
detainees but continued to hold others. Additionally, Ruslan Nakhushev,
the head of the Islamic Research Institute in Nalchik who sought to
promote dialogue between authorities and the Muslim community,
disappeared in November 2005 after being questioned by the FSB.
Authorities had opened a criminal case against him in October 2005 for
allegedly organizing the attack on Nalchik. Nakhushev's lawyers tried
to obtain copies of the documents on which the charges were based but
they were denied. The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria ruled in
March that the prosecutor's office must provide Nakhushev's lawyers
with copies of these documents. In December the Ministry of Internal
Affairs of Karbardino-Balkaria again included Nakhushev on its list of
most wanted criminals.
There were no indications that the authorities intended to take
action as a result of a 2004 sweep of the town of Argun, which resulted
in the abduction and torture of many residents and the killing of two.
Only after mass protests in Argun in January 2004 were most of the
detainees released; all showed signs of physical abuse and required
medical attention.
Although incidents continued, the statistics of both the
authorities and Memorial appeared to indicate a continued decline in
abductions and disappearances compared to previous years. However,
human rights groups and authorities interpreted the data differently.
Government spokesmen attributed the apparent decline in abductions to
efforts begun by the Chechen government in 2004 to reinforce existing
requirements that military forces have license plates on their vehicles
when entering a village, be accompanied by a representative of the
prosecutor's office and local officials, identify themselves when
entering a house, prepare lists of all persons arrested during the
operation, and share those lists with local authorities. Chechen
officials subsequently prohibited law enforcement officers from wearing
masks.
Human rights groups attributed at least part of the statistical
decline to the reluctance of detainees' relatives to complain to the
authorities or human rights groups out of fear of reprisals. Citing
numerous incidents in which unidentified armed men wearing camouflage
broke into houses and abducted civilians, they expressed skepticism
about government assertions that regulations governing the behavior of
security forces were being more closely observed.
Although federal forces were believed to have engaged in fewer
abductions, this was to some extent offset by the increasing role of
the security forces under the command of Chechen Prime Minister
Kadyrov, either by themselves or in joint operations with federal
forces. Human rights groups reported that these forces were frequently
suspected of disappearances and abductions, including those of family
members of rebel commanders and fighters. The International Helsinki
Foundation for Human Rights estimated in a February 2005 report that
Kadyrov's security forces were responsible for up to 75 percent of the
crimes in Chechnya.
In April Kadyrov and other officials announced that steps had been
taken to remove units from Kadyrov's direct oversight. Kadyrov
announced that the Chechen Republic's Anti-Terrorist Center was to be
abolished, and the forces attached to it reorganized into two police
battalions, North and South, and subordinated to the federal Ministry
of Internal Affairs. Human rights activists contended, however, that
these forces maintained their loyalty to Kadyrov and he continued to
exert control over them.
According to human rights observers, government forces responding
to Chechen attacks at times engaged in indiscriminate reprisals against
combatants and noncombatants.
Amnesty International reported federal and Chechen security forces
targeted female civilians, both in response to terrorist bombings
carried out by Chechen women and to put pressure on male relatives
suspected of being rebels.
In August masked men in camouflage detained Yelena Yersenoyeva, the
widow of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and also a journalist and
AIDS activist in Groznyy. A relative who was detained with her and
later released said the two had been briefly held in a basement but
then Yersenoyeva was moved. There was no further information on her
whereabouts. Two days before the detention, she had written to human
rights organizations claiming she and her family were being harassed by
Chechen security forces. On October 6, Yelena Yersenoyeva's mother was
reportedly abducted from a village near Groznyy. At year's end, there
was no further information on their whereabouts.
The whereabouts of Milana Ozdoyeva, whom the security forces
questioned twice in 2004 about her alleged plans to become a suicide
bomber, remained unknown. In 2004 several men entered her house and
took her away, leaving her two children behind.
Troops also reportedly kidnapped and otherwise mistreated children
(see section 5).
Abductions reportedly continued in Ingushetiya. Memorial stated
that 35 persons were reported abducted during the year. Of them, 15
were freed, two were found dead, and 5 disappeared without a trace. The
remaining 13 were later found in the custody of law enforcement
agencies.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups reported that
Adam Gorchkhanov disappeared from the village of Plievo, Ingushetiya,
in May 2005 after being detained in a raid by an unknown security
service. Relatives subsequently learned that he had been held in the
pretrial detention center in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, and later
transferred to the Regional Department for the Fight Against Organized
Crime under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In May 2005 relatives
learned that he had been taken to a hospital where, according to police
statements, he jumped from a fourth floor window. A doctor, however,
later told Memorial that Gorchkhanov had been admitted with a serious
head injury. He died in late May 2005 from his injuries.
There were no developments during the year in the case of Ingush
Deputy Prosecutor Rashid Ozdoyev, who disappeared in March 2004 after
he submitted a report on alleged FSB abuses in Ingushetiya.
Throughout the year security forces continued to conduct security
sweeps and passport checks at temporary settlements in Ingushetiya
housing IDPs from Chechnya. These sweeps sometimes led to reports of
human rights abuses or disappearances.
Following rebel attacks across Ingushetiya in 2004, federal forces
conducted sweeps in several settlements housing Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) from Chechnya. Human rights groups reported cases in
which military personnel beat or verbally abused persons during these
sweeps; however, the 20 IDPs they arrested were all released. Human
rights groups also reported that several dozen Ingush and Chechens
disappeared in Ingushetiya. As with similar operations in Chechnya,
reports of beatings, arbitrary detentions, and looting usually followed
security sweeps.
Chechen Republic forces commanded by Ramzan Kadyrov and federal
troops continued to arrest relatives of Chechen separatist leaders and
fighters in an effort to force them to surrender, according to human
rights groups. They noted that this practice may be linked to an
October 2004 speech by Prosecutor General Ustinov suggesting that
authorities detain relatives of alleged members of armed opposition
groups in response to their hostage-taking (see section 1.d.).
In March 2005, according to Memorial, Zaudi Sadulayev, aged 65, and
his son were detained by Chechen security forces under the command of
Kadyrov in the village of Mairtup because another of Sadulayev's sons
was allegedly a member of the Chechen rebels. Similar cases cited by
Memorial included the detention of a 13-year-old boy in the village of
Noviye Atagi by Kadyrov's forces and the abduction of four members of
the Sirazhdiyev family in May 2005 by unknown security forces in
revenge for the killing of a member of the Vostok battalion.
Government forces and Chechen rebel fighters have used landmines
extensively in Chechnya and Dagestan since 1999; but there were fewer
civilian landmine victims in Chechnya during the year. In June
officials confirmed to Landmine Monitor, that forces continued to use
antipersonnel mines in Chechnya, both newly emplaced mines and existing
defensive minefields. The most-affected regions were Dagestan: 60
casualties (nine killed and 51 injured); Chechnya: 24 casualties
recorded by UNICEF; Ingushetia: 15 casualties (one killed and 14
injured); and Bushkiria: 14 casualties (all injured).
Federal forces and their opponents continued to use antipersonnel
mines in Chechnya, although Landmine Monitor reported that Chechen
fighters increasingly used improvised explosive devices. Reports
suggested that the number of landmine casualties was declining over
time. According to statistics this year, UNICEF recorded 30 new
civilian mine/UXO (unexploded ordinance) casualties, including 9 killed
and 21 injured; 10 were children (three killed and seven injured).
According to UNICEF, as of December 31, there were 3,065 landmine and
UXO casualties in Chechnya since 1995. Of these, 2,363 were wounded and
702 killed. Among the casualties were 754 children, 623 of whom were
wounded and 131 were killed. Unlike previous years, there were no
reports that Chechen rebels used children to plant mines and
explosives.
Chechen officials acknowledged the presence of mass graves and
dumping grounds for victims, and there was one report of a new mass
grave discovered during the year. In April, officials in Groznyy
announced they had found a mass grave containing the remains of at
least 57 persons. The grave appeared to have been used for the burial
of rebel fighters and civilians killed during government forces'
bombardment of the city in 2000. Nurdi Nukhazhiyev, then-head of the
Chechen Republic's Committee for Protecting the Constitutional Rights
of Citizens, reported in 2005 there were as many as 52 mass graves in
the republic, although this report resulted in no investigations. In
April 2004 local residents near the village of Serzhen Yurt found the
bodies of nine men in a ravine. According to Amnesty International, the
bodies bore gunshot wounds and marks of torture. Federal forces
detained eight of the men in 2004 in the village of Duba Yurt. The
ninth man had disappeared from his home in Groznyy, according to
Amnesty International. There were no reports by year's end that the
Government had initiated any criminal cases related to the mass grave
discoveries. Memorial reported that it was unaware of any charges
brought against federal security officers in response to the discovery
of any mass graves.
Armed forces and police units were reported to have routinely
abused and tortured persons in holding facilities where federal
authorities sorted out fighters or those suspected of aiding the rebels
from civilians. Human Rights Watch documented 115 torture cases in
Chechnya between July 2004 and September 2006.
In May, Memorial representatives discovered an illegal detention
center in Groznyy where detainees were reportedly held, tortured,
``disappeared,'' and killed by federal police units that had
temporarily been assigned to Chechnya (see section 1.c.). Despite
appeals to officials to investigate Memorial's allegations, the
building--a former boarding school for deaf children--was demolished.
Federal forces and Chechen police units reportedly ransomed Chechen
detainees (and, at times, their corpses) to their families for prices
ranging from several hundred to thousands of dollars.
Russian law prohibits the bodies of ``terrorists'' from being
returned to their relatives. The body of Chechen rebel ``President
Abdul Khalim Saidulayev, who was killed in August, was not returned to
his relatives.
Since the start of the Chechen conflict, there have been widespread
reports that federal troops killed or tortured suspected rebel fighters
they had detained and that rebel fighters killed or abused captured
federal troops and Chechen security forces. A policy of ``no
surrender'' appeared to prevail in many units on both sides. According
to press reports, Chechen police beheaded a slain rebel in July and
placed his head on a pole in what they claimed was retaliation for the
fighter's beheading of one of their comrades.
According to human rights NGOs, federal troops on numerous
occasions looted valuables and foodstuffs in regions they controlled.
Many IDPs reported that guards at checkpoints forced them to provide
payments or harassed and pressured them. The indiscriminate use of
force by federal troops caused destruction of housing and commercial
and administrative structures. In September an artillery bombardment
near the village of Serzhen-Yurt reportedly inflicted heavy property
damage although it caused no casualties.
A climate of lawlessness and corruption continued to flourish in
Chechnya. The Government investigated and tried some members of the
military for crimes against civilians in Chechnya; however, there were
few convictions and reports concerning the number of convictions
differed. President Putin stated in a May 2005 interview that hundreds
of criminal cases had been opened into alleged crimes by servicemen and
that over 50 persons had been convicted and given various prison terms,
but he provided no further details. While this figure agrees with
others the administration has provided, it does not make note of the
fact that the majority received suspended sentences, as stated by Duma
deputy Sergei Kovalev in 2003.
According to Memorial there were no arrests or convictions of
servicemen during the year for crimes committed against civilians.
In November 2005 authorities reportedly arrested four Russian
servicemen for the November 2005 killing of three Chechen civilians in
the village of Staraya Sunzha. According to press reports, the victims
were shot and stabbed by drunken soldiers, who were stopping vehicles
and demanding money at a checkpoint.
According to statistics compiled by the federal Prosecutor
General's office, through June 2005 verdicts had been rendered in 103
cases involving federal servicemen charged with crimes against
civilians since 1999. Of these, 27 were given prison sentences of from
one to 18 years, eight were acquitted, and 20 were amnestied. Sentences
in the remainder were suspended or the guilty were fined, according to
Memorial. Government statistics also showed that 34 law enforcement
officers were charged with crimes against civilians, with seven
sentenced to prison and the rest convicted and given suspended
sentences.
The prosecutor general's office released statistics in 2004
indicating that, since 2001, 1,749 criminal cases were initiated in
Chechnya to investigate approximately 2,300 cases involving disappeared
persons. Of these, only 50 cases reached the courts. Memorial concluded
that the majority of cases opened for alleged crimes by federal
servicemen against civilians resulted in no charges because of the
absence of the bodies or an inability to identify a suspect.
In May 2005, a retrial began of federal interior ministry officers
charged with murdering three civilians in Chechnya in 2003. The retrial
of Yevgeniy Khudyakov and Sergey Arakcheyev began after the Supreme
Court overturned the north Caucasus military district court's 2004
acquittal of the two officers. A news service reported that the court
found the jury for the trial was convened improperly. Khudyakov and
Arakcheyev allegedly shot the three civilians in 2003 after forcing
them out of a truck near Groznyy and doused the bodies with gasoline
and ignited them in an attempt to cover up the crime. A jury acquitted
them again in October 2005. In May the Supreme Court overturned the
verdict and ordered a new trial.
Following the death of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev in July,
FSB chief Nikolay Patrushev, as chair of the National Antiterrorist
Committee, announced an amnesty for Chechen rebels with an initial
deadline of August 1. The deadline was extended until January 15, 2007
in legislation passed by the Duma and through December 25, 375 rebels
had surrendered according to press reports.
In April 2004 then-Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov asked that the
State Duma extend an amnesty that had expired in September 2003. In
June 2004, following his assassination, his son Ramzan stated that the
amnesty program should be ended and gave fighters three days to turn in
their weapons.
On July 27, the ECHR found that the Government was responsible for
the ``disappearance'' of Khadzhimurat Yandiyev and ordered it to pay
compensation to his mother. Yandiyev was detained in the village of
Alkhan-Khala in 2000 and never seen again. Journalists had videotaped
Colonel General Aleksandr Baranov aggressively interrogating Yandiyev
and then ordering his execution.
In February 2005 the ECHR found in favor of six Chechen applicants
to the court. The ECHR found the Government in violation of several
articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental
Freedoms. Two of the cases concerned the killing and mutilation of the
applicants' relatives in Groznyy in 2000. Three others were brought in
response to the bombing of a convoy of civilians in 1999 by government
military aircraft. The sixth case involved the artillery and aerial
bombardment of the village of Katyr Yurt in 2000 that resulted in the
death of one applicant's son and three other relatives (see section 4).
Government forces continued to abuse individuals seeking
accountability for abuses in Chechnya and continued to harass
applicants to the ECHR. Amnesty International and other human rights
groups have reported reprisals against applicants to the court,
including killings, disappearances, and intimidation. According to
press reports and human rights NGOs, at least five applicants to the
ECHR have been killed or abducted.
Memorial reported that in December 2005 unknown security forces
arrested and detained Mekhti Mukhayev, whose relatives had complained
to the ECHR over the disappearance of four men from the village of
Zumsoi in January 2005. According to Memorial, Mukhaev was tortured
repeatedly while in custody and authorities fabricated a criminal case
against him (see section 1.c.). Mukhaev was convicted in August of
participation in an illegal armed formation and sentenced to eight
months in prison. Taking into account the time he had already spent in
detention since January, he was ordered released in September.
In April 2005 armed men took two ECHR applicants from their homes.
The body of one of them was found in May 2005, and the other was still
missing. Other applicants reported that they were offered pay-offs or
were threatened in an effort to have them drop their cases.
The authorities continued to target the Russian-Chechen Friendship
Society (RCFS) and in October it was ordered to shut down (see sections
2.b. and 4). The RCFS urged negotiations with Chechen rebels to settle
the conflict and reported on human rights abuses perpetrated by both
sides of the conflict. In February RCFS Executive Director Stanislav
Dmitriyevskiy was convicted of inciting racial and ethnic hatred by a
Russian court and given a two-year suspended sentence and four years
probation. The guilty verdict was appealed to the Nizhniy Novgorod
Regional Court, where it was upheld on April 11. In March authorities
announced they were dropping a criminal case against the organization
for tax evasion. Shortly after Dmitriyevskiy was convicted, authorities
moved to shutdown the organization for failing to distance itself from
Dmitriyevskiy. In October, under the new NGO legislation a Nizhny
Novgorod court ordered RCFS to shutdown. At year's end, the RCFS
remained open, pending appeals of Dmitrievskiy's conviction and the
court ruling to close it.
RCFS offices in Nizhniy Novgorod were raided in January 2005 and
separate criminal and tax cases were opened against the RCFS executive
director and the organization (see section 2.b. and 4). In January 2004
human rights activist Aslan Davletukayev, an RCFS volunteer, was
abducted, tortured, and killed in Chechnya under circumstances that
suggested the involvement of government forces. He was the third
volunteer with the RCFS to have been killed since December 2001.
According to Amnesty International and other human rights groups, he
had been in the custody of federal forces. A criminal investigation
into the incident was inconclusive and no charges were brought. The
RCFS reported that it received anonymous threats following the
September 2004 seizure of the school in Beslan.
Government oversight over human rights conditions in the Northern
Caucasus remained weak. In February Chechen President Alu Alkhanov
appointed Nurdi Nukhazhiyev as Chechnya's new human rights ombudsman.
According to Amnesty International, Chechen Republic authorities also
established a database of missing persons, and Alkhanov also
established an interagency commission with the participation of federal
law enforcement authorities to address the issue. A separate
parliamentary commission was also created, but Amnesty International
noted it remained to be seen how these entities would work together or
how effective they might be.
In January 2004 President Putin abolished the post of Presidential
human rights representative to Chechnya on the grounds that no other
region had an analogous representative and Chechnya no longer warranted
special treatment. Putin handed full responsibility for the issue to
then-Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov. In June 2004 Chechen President
Alu Alkhanov appointed Lema Khasuyev as the republic's human rights
ombudsman. In June 2005 Khasuyev said he would not cooperate with the
human rights NGO Memorial, claiming that it was biased and worked in
the interests of foreign donors.
The Independent Commission on Human Rights in the Northern Caucasus
headed by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Legislation has
reduced the number of commission offices in Chechnya but as of
November, it remained open. The commission heard hundreds of
complaints, ranging from destruction or theft of property to rape and
murder; however, it was not empowered to investigate or prosecute
alleged offenses and had to refer complaints to military or civil
prosecutors. Almost all complainants alleged violations of military
discipline and other crimes by federal and Chechen Republic forces.
Chechen rebel fighters also committed numerous, serious human
rights abuses. They committed terrorist acts against civilians in
Chechnya and elsewhere in the country, killed civilians who would not
assist them, used civilians as human shields, forced civilians to build
fortifications, and prevented refugees from fleeing Chechnya. In
several cases, Chechen fighters killed elderly ethnic Russian civilians
for no apparent reason other than their ethnicity. Verifying or
investigating these incidents was difficult. Chechen Minister of
Internal Affairs Ruslan Alkhanov identified 120 attacks that he
characterized as terrorist acts in Chechnya in 2004, but it was unclear
what methodology he used to cite that figure.
Chechen rebels and others affiliated with them have committed
terrorist acts involving bombings during the year. Chechen terrorist
leader Shamil Basayev, who was killed in July, when a truck full of
explosives presumably to be used in another terrorist act blew up, had
continued to take responsibility for rebel attacks outside Chechnya and
to threaten new ones. In a 2005 interview in which Basayev acknowledged
he was a terrorist, he said that attacks similar to the Beslan school
attack were possible.
In July 2005, a bomb planted by fighters killed 15 persons
including a number of civilians, and injured nearly 30 others in the
Chechen village of Znamenskoye. Police were lured to the scene of the
explosion after rebels placed a corpse in a stolen police car and made
it appear as though a shooting was taking place. In August 2005, a
woman and a 12-year-old boy were killed in central Groznyy when a car
bomb exploded near the Government compound. Eleven others were wounded.
According to authorities 12 civilians were killed during a large-
scale rebel attack on Nalchik, capital of the Republic of Karbardino-
Balkariya in October 2005. The attackers, who numbered as many as 300,
targeted military garrisons and police stations throughout the town.
The death toll among military and law-enforcement personnel was
reported to be 34. Chechen terrorist leader Shamil Basayev claimed
responsibility. Most observers believed that a majority of the
attackers were natives of Karbardino-Balkariya.
There were also rebel attacks in other parts of the Northern
Caucasus. Chechen rebels continued to launch attacks on government
forces and police in Ingushetiya during the year.
In Ingushetiya, several officials were killed by unknown
assailants. On June 9, Ingushetiya Ministry of Internal Affairs
Lieutenant Colonel Musa Nalgiyev, three of his children, a driver, and
bodyguard were killed as he took the children to a childcare center. A
short distance away, on June 9, deputy district administrator Galina
Gubina was shot and killed (see section 1.a.)
In May, rebels killed Ingushetiya's Deputy Minister of Internal
Affairs Dzhabrail Kostoyev using a roadside bomb. Two bodyguards and
four bystanders were also killed. There had been repeated attempts on
Kostoyev's life.
These attacks followed a number of terrorist acts in 2004. In
February 2004 Basayev claimed responsibility for an attack in which a
suicide bomber blew up a car on the Moscow metro, killing 40 persons.
In March 2004 terrorist Abu al-Walid stated that further attacks should
be expected. In August 2004 suicide bombers from Chechnya were believed
to have carried out the near-simultaneous downing of two civilian
aircraft, killing 89 persons, and a suicide bombing later that month at
a metro station in Moscow that killed 10 persons. In September 2004
terrorists took an estimated 1,200 teachers, children and parents
hostage in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. During the hostage-taking
and the rescue effort by troops and security forces, at least 330
hostages died. Security forces subsequently killed most of the hostage
takers in a firefight that lasted several hours.
In other incidents rebels took up positions in populated areas and
fired on federal forces, thereby exposing civilians to federal
counterattacks. When villagers protested, the rebels sometimes beat or
fired upon them. Chechen fighters also targeted civilian officials
working for the Chechen Republic. Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov
stated November 14 that 71 heads of local administration and 60 imams
had been killed in Chechnya from 2000-06. Memorial documented three
cases in which local officials in Chechnya were killed during the year.
In November 2005 about 100 Chechen rebels raided the village of
Avtury, killing the head of the village administration Ibragim
Umpashayev and his son Isa. In May 2004 Chechen rebels assassinated
President of the Chechen Republic Akhmed Kadyrov while he was attending
a Victory Day celebration in Groznyy. Chechen fighters also reportedly
abused, tortured, and killed federal soldiers whom they captured.
Rebels continued a concerted campaign, begun in 2001, to kill civilian
officials of the Chechen Republic. According to Chechen sources, rebel
factions also used violence to eliminate economic rivals in illegal
activities or to settle personal accounts.
Rebel field commanders reportedly resorted to drug smuggling and
kidnapping to fund their units. As a result, distinguishing between
rebel units and criminal gangs was often difficult if not impossible.
Some rebels allegedly received financial and other forms of assistance
from foreign supporters of international terrorism. Government
officials continued to maintain that there were 200-300 foreign
fighters in Chechnya.
International organizations estimated that the number of IDPs and
refugees who left Chechnya as a result of the conflict reached a high
of approximately 280,000 in the spring of 2000 (see section 2.d.). At
various times during the conflict, authorities restricted the movement
of persons fleeing Chechnya and exerted pressure on them to return
there (see section 2.d.). At year's end, the UN High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) registered 20,075 IDPs from Chechnya for assistance in
Ingushetia. About a third of these IDPs remained in temporary
settlements. Approximately 150,000 persons lived within Chechnya,
including thousands living in temporary accommodation centers.
Conditions in those centers reportedly failed to meet international
standards.
Beginning in 2004, authorities refused to grant the ICRC access,
under ICRC's standard criteria, to those detained as part of the
conflict in Chechnya, and the ICRC subsequently suspended its detention
visits. The suspension was still in place at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, government pressure on the media
persisted, resulting in numerous infringements of these rights. Faced
with continuing financial difficulties, as well as pressure from the
Government and large private companies with links to the Government,
many media organizations saw their autonomy further weaken. The
Government used its controlling ownership in all national television
and radio stations, as well as the majority of influential regional
ones, to restrict access to information about issues deemed sensitive.
It severely restricted coverage by all media of events in Chechnya.
There were indications that government pressure frequently led
reporters to engage in self-censorship. Nonetheless, on most subjects,
the public continued to have access to a broad spectrum of viewpoints
in the print media and, for those with access, on the Internet.
While the Government generally respected citizens' rights to
freedom of expression, it sometimes restricted this right with regard
to issues such as the conduct of federal forces in Chechnya,
discussions of religion, or controversial reforms in the social sector.
Some regional and local authorities took advantage of the judicial
system's procedural weaknesses to arrest persons for expressing views
critical of the Government. With some exceptions, judges appeared
unwilling to challenge powerful federal and local officials who sought
to prosecute journalists. These proceedings often resulted in stiff
fines.
Although all but two national newspapers remained privately owned,
as did more than 40 percent of the 45,000 registered local newspapers
and periodicals, the Government attempted to influence the reporting of
independent publications. During the year government friendly
corporations purchased majority or significant minority stakes in
several key publications. Media freedom advocates viewed this trend as
further evidence of government efforts to expand control of media
beyond national television before the 2007-08 parliamentary and
Presidential elections.
In June United Russia Duma Deputy Aleksandr Lebedev and former
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev purchased 49 percent of Novaya Gazeta,
an independent investigative weekly. Both indicated that they did not
intend to interfere with editorial policy and by year's end there was
no indication that they had.
In August, after a year of rumors that the Government controlled
company Gazprom would purchase the independent business daily
Kommersant, 100 percent of the paper's holding company was sold to the
general director of Gazprominvestholding, Alisher Usmanov. There was
not been a discernible shift in the newspaper's editorial slant by
year's end.
Other significant transactions leading to greater state ownership
included the April purchase of 49 percent of Zhizn, the fourth largest
mass-circulation weekly, by UFG Private Equity Fund. Boris Fedorov, UFG
general partner, also sat on Gazprom's Board of Directors. In June 2005
Gazprom purchased the daily newspaper Izvestiya. In late 2005, after a
personnel change at Izvestiya, the newspaper's editorial staff was
reportedly told on several occasions to be careful not to provoke
government authorities.
In October 2005 liberal weekly newspaper, Moskovskiye Novosti, was
purchased from the Ukrainian-Israeli media company, Media International
Group (MIG) by Israeli businessman Arkadiy Gaydamak. MIG had just
purchased the newspaper in July from Mikhail Khodorkovsky after
pledging not to change the existing editorial policy. Upon purchasing
Moskovskiye Novosti, Gaydamak stated that he would transform the
newspaper into a progovernment media outlet devoid of opinion or
polemics.
Approximately two-thirds of the 2,500 television stations in the
country were completely or partially owned by the federal and local
governments. Furthermore, the Government indirectly influenced private
broadcasting companies through partial ownership of such commercial
structures as Gazprom and Eurofinance Bank which in turn owned
controlling or large stakes of media companies. Such influence,
however, was not uniform.
The Government exerted its influence most directly on state-owned
media. Of the three major national television stations, the Government
had a direct interest in two, the Rossiya Channel, which it owned
outright, and the First Channel, in which it held a majority interest.
Journalists and news anchors of Rossiya and First Channel reported
receiving ``guidelines'' from the management prepared by the
Presidential administration, indicating which politicians they should
support and which they should criticize. The two networks promoted a
positive image of President Putin and supported a completely Russo-
centric angle on the gas crisis with Ukraine, the dispute with Georgia,
and the gas crisis with Belarus.
Gazprom has a controlling ownership stake in NTV, which maintained
a slightly more independent editorial line than Rossiya or First
Channel, avoiding criticism of the Government but continuing to
highlight important stories--such as the prosecution of Mikhail
Khordokovskiy--when other channels chose to bury the news deeper within
their evening news programs. In March 2005 NTV management prohibited
the broadcast of an investigative program about the 2000 murder of
Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Media reports cited NTV sources
as saying the program contained interviews with Ukrainian politicians
and former senior government officials who made allegations of possible
Russian government involvement in the murder. According to media
freedom advocates, the program was pulled by order of Presidential
Administration officials, who also demanded that NTV abstain from
further reporting on Gongadze's case.
Of the two second-tier national television networks that have
exhibited independence of the Government, REN-TV was sold in 2005. REN-
TV ended up under the shared control of Severstal Group and
Surgutneftegas Company, each with 35 percent of the shares and both
under the control of government allies. The German media company RTL
owned the remaining 30 percent of REN-TV. Following the sale REN-TV,
observers alleged that the network's editorial line became more pro-
government. The network's November 2005 decision to cancel the news
show ``24,'' anchored by one of the country's most outspoken
journalists, Olga Romanova, was seen as evidence of this trend.
Romanova was later dismissed after publicly protesting censorship at
the network followed by a wave of resignations among the news staff who
alleged the network had started to practice self-censorship aimed at
pacifying the Government.
In August TV Center began broadcasting on affiliate stations in St.
Petersburg and the regions. TV Center's core strategy is based on
becoming an additional source for news, documentaries, and other
informational programming. Owned by the city of Moscow, TV Center is
widely considered Moscow's ``local'' television station and received a
considerably higher audience share in the capital than in the country
as a whole.
There were reports that the Government will continue funding
Zvezda, a military-patriotic channel featuring programs and movies
focusing on the armed forces that was launched in February 2005, and
increase funding for Russia Today, the state-owned English-language
news channel aimed at foreign audiences, to almost $90 million (2.43
billion rubles).
The Government also maintained ownership of the largest radio
stations, Radio Mayak and Radio Rossiya, and the news agencies ITAR-
TASS and RIA-Novosti.
Originally conceived as a nonpolitical television talk show, V
Kruge Sveta (In the Spotlight) was cancelled in September by the
Domashniy television channel after only four episodes. Reports
indicated that the show incurred the ire of the authorities, when
lawyer Genrikh Padva and political writer Marietta Chudakova were
invited to discuss the success or failure of the jury trial system in
the country. The guests also touched on the light sentences imposed on
those convicted of hate crimes, the unrest in the Karelian town of
Kondopoga, and the cases of military officers Eduard Ullmann and Yuri
Budanov, who had been charged with crimes against Chechen civilians.
The Government also issued legal orders that directly curtail
freedom of the press or could be used by the authorities to pressure
independent journalists. On July 28, President Putin signed the new
version of the law ``On Countering Extremism,'' which stipulates that
``public libel'' of government officials is tantamount to extremist
activity. Media freedom advocates expressed concern that this broad
interpretation of extremism could create a basis for government
officials to stifle criticism and label independent reporters as
extremists (see section 3).
On July 25, RosOkhranKultura, the Federal Service for Media Law
Enforcement and the Protection of Cultural Heritage (FSMLE) posted a
letter from the director of the Federal Registration Service
(RosRegistratsia) on its Web site regarding media mentions of the
``liquidated'' National Bolshevik Party (NBP) or any person claiming to
act in the name of the NBP. The letter informed the media that all
references to the NBP could be considered as the dissemination of false
information and that disregard of this notice could lead to the
``application of restrictive, precautionary and preventative
measures.''
In October Vladimir Rakhmankov, the editor of the now defunct
Internet magazine Kursiv, was charged under the criminal code and fined
$750 (20,250 rubles) for a satirical critique of Putin's plans to boost
birthrates in the country.
In September an Altai Republic court found the former head of the
republican government's Information Policy Committee guilty of abusing
his official position to interfere with legal journalistic activity.
This decision resulted from an April 2005 complaint by the editors of
two Altai newspapers, Zvezda Altaya and Altaidyn Cholmony, who
complained that the head of the Information Policy Committee pressured
them to report only positive stories about the Republic's government.
The offender was sentenced to 10-months of incarceration (suspended)
and one year of probation. He was also banned from government
employment for a period of one year.
Government-controlled media exhibited considerable bias in favor of
President Putin in its coverage of the 2004 Presidential campaign.
President Putin did not actively campaign, but, as the OSCE election
observation mission noted, he received coverage on the state-controlled
television channels far beyond what was reasonably proportionate to his
role as head of state. For example, the OSCE election observation
mission reported that in the four weeks preceding the elections, First
Channel provided in total more than four hours of its political and
election news coverage to President Putin. The next most covered
candidate received approximately 21 minutes of prime time coverage (see
section 3).
The federal Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to control media
access to the area of the Chechen conflict. On September 10, police
detained British reporters with the CMI independent news agency and
Fatima Tlisova, editor-in-chief of the Regnum news agency's North
Caucasian branch in the city of Nalchik. The British journalists
intended to interview Tlisova but were detained for the entire day and
prevented from doing so. The reason given for the detention was that
the reporters had strayed into an off-limits area.
On November 24, reporters from Austria's ORF television channel
were detained for more than six hours at a checkpoint in Chechnya by
FSB officers. The authorities searched the journalists and confiscated
video recordings, a satellite phone, and three special accreditation
certificates allowing the journalists to work in a zone of
antiterrorist operations.
On December 14, Deutsche Welle journalist Kristof Wanner was
detained by authorities when he entered a zone of antiterrorist
operations in Chechnya to record video for a report on a German NGO. He
did not have the proper accreditation certificate and the authorities
ordered his expulsion from the Chechen Republic.
In March Dagestani police and FSB officers detained freelance
reporter Kelly McEvers in Khasavyurt. McEvers, who was doing research
on Islamic extremism but lacked the proper accreditation, was
questioned for 10 hours and released, only to be again detained for
several hours upon arriving in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. McEvers
had been warned by authorities previously not to travel in the area
without proper accreditation but failed to heed the warning.
On November 20, Moscow journalist Boris Stomakhin, editor of
Radikalnaya Politka, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges
of inciting ethnic hatred, according to news reports. He has filed an
appeal with the Moscow City Court. Human rights activists asserted that
the severity or the sentence was unprecedented.
In February 2005 the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications
issued a warning to the daily newspaper Kommersant for publishing an
interview with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov. The ministry
claimed the interview ``justified extremist activities.'' Under
legislation governing the media, multiple warnings might allow the
ministry to suspend the newspaper's publication. In April 2005 the
Moscow arbitration court rejected the newspaper's appeal of the
warning. In June 2005 the Moscow arbitration court's ruling was upheld.
In June 2005 police and FSB agents in Nazran, Ingushetia, detained
Mariusz Pilis, Marcin Mamon, and Tomasz Glowacki, journalists of the
Polish state television station TVP. The journalists, who were working
on a documentary about Chechnya, had valid visas and accreditation.
After 14 hours in detention, authorities confiscated the journalists'
tapes, told them that their visas and accreditation cards were no
longer valid, and ordered them to leave Ingushetia within 24 hours.
At year's end the ABC television network was still unable to obtain
accreditation necessary to reopen its bureau in Moscow. The Russian
government withdrew the bureau's accreditation in July 2005 after ABC
News broadcast an interview with Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev.
Mistreatment of journalists by authorities was not limited to
Caucasus-related coverage. The Glasnost Defense Fund (GDF) and other
media freedom monitoring organizations reported numerous abuses of
journalists by police and other security personnel elsewhere, including
physical assault and vandalism of equipment. In most instances,
however, the mistreatment appeared to have been at the initiative of
local officials.
On February 2, in Vladikavkaz, police officers beat Channel One
reporter Olga Kiriy when she attempted to report on the victims of two
explosions. When her television crew arrived at the hospital, three
police officers barred their entry to the hospital, banned the use of
cameras on the premises, and subsequently beat Kiriy on the head and
stomach. Channel One reported the incident and the offending officer
was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail.
On February 3, reporters from the Equipage television show arrived
at the village of Bolshoye Kozino to cover a story about an
unauthorized search of a private house (i.e., without a warrant). When
they arrived at the location where the search was taking place, a group
of law enforcement officers attacked the cameraman, broke his camera,
and confiscated the cassette.
In April Yevgeny Khamaganov, a reporter for the Aulan-Ude newspaper
InformPolis, was detained by the Organized Crime Division of the police
for his alleged involvement in a murder case. The authorities
subsequently questioned him about a February trip he made to Irkutsk
and the Ust-Ordynsky District during which he collected material for an
article critical of an upcoming unification referendum.
In May in Nizhny Tagil, Natalya Gorchakova, a reporter for the
newspaper Tagilsky Rabochiy, was reporting on detainee abuse at a local
police station when the officer on duty tried to tear the camera away
from her and beat her in the presence of numerous eyewitnesses.
On June 7, Gennady Nikolayev, Yulia Yanbayeva, and Elena
Volkovskaya from the Novy Region information agency were detained by
FSB officers and regional prosecutors at the Volgograd municipal
administration headquarters while gathering information about the
recent arrest of Mayor Evgeny Ishchenko. The reporters were taken to
the prosecutor's office and required to surrender their cell phones and
computers.
In May 2005 police in Moscow's Red Square beat Aydar Buribayev, a
correspondent for the daily Gazeta, and Shagen Ogandzhanyan, a
correspondent for the daily Novaya Gazeta, who were covering a rally by
a radical youth group. Buribayev, Ogandzhanyan, and Novaya Gazeta
correspondent Irina Gordiyenko were subsequently taken to a police
station, interrogated, and released after several hours.
According to the GDF, 69 journalists were physically attacked
during the year and nine were killed. At least two of the deaths may
have been related to their work in journalism. In most cases
authorities and observers were unable to establish a direct link
between an assault and the persons who reportedly had taken offense at
the reporting in question. Independent media NGOs still characterized
beatings of journalists by unknown assailants as ``routine,'' noting
that those who pursued investigative stories on corruption and
organized crime found themselves at greatest risk.
In July in Saratov, Yevgeny Gerasimenko, an investigative reporter
for the newspaper Saratovsky Rasklad, was found dead in his home with a
plastic bag over his head, his hands bound behind his back with duct-
taped and numerous bruises covering his body. There was no sign of
forced entry, and the only item missing was his computer. His
colleagues noted that Gerasimenko was working on an investigative
article just prior to his death.
On October 7, an unknown person shot and killed prominent
investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya as she entered the elevator
in her Moscow apartment building. The contract-style killing was
carried out during daylight hours. Politkovskaya was known for her
articles in the liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Her writing was highly
critical of the war in Chechnya, the Chechen authorities, human rights
abuses, and President Putin's administration. As a result of her
writing, she received many death threats. Authorities continued to
investigate the crime at year's end. Following Politkovskaya's killing,
two other Novaya Gazeta staffers received death threats--one for his
work on a series of publications highlighting problems in the North
Caucasus and the other in connection with his efforts to investigate
the Politkovskaya killing.
On January 8 in Tula, Vaghif Kochetkov, a Trud staff correspondent
and a political observer for the newspaper Molodoy Kommunar, died in
the hospital after being attacked by unidentified persons. He was
initially found alive three hours after the attack and was unwilling to
talk about the assault or his attackers. Kochetkov's relatives
suggested the attack was in some way connected with his work as a
reporter.
On July 21 in Cheboksary, the body of Vlad Kidanov, an independent
journalist, was found dead on a park bench with numerous bruises. He
was taken to the city morgue and his relatives were not called for a
week. No criminal proceedings have been initiated.
In May 2005 Pavel Makeyev, a reporter from the local Rostov-on-Don
television company TNT-Plus, was found dead in a ditch with multiple
bruises and fractures. His equipment and cell phone were missing. It
appeared that Makeyev died shortly after beginning work on a story
about illegal drag racing, and some of his colleagues stated that
Makeyev's death was linked to his work. An investigation later
determined that a driver participating in a drag race struck Makeyev
with his car, but a conviction against this person was not pursued.
In June 2005 unknown assailants in Makhachkala shot and killed
Magomedzagid Varisov, director of the Center for Strategic Initiatives
and Political Technologies and a columnist of the local weekly Novoye
Delo. Varisov's colleagues said he received numerous threats in
connection with his commentary on local politics. No progress in the
investigation of Varisov's killing had been reported by year's end.
In October 2005 Tamirlan Kazikhanov, the head of the press service
of the Counterterrorist Center of the Ministry of Interior in the
Southern Federal District was killed by rebels during an assault on the
center's office in Nalchik. A sniper fatally shot Kazikhanov after he
took a camera and started to film the attack on the building. A
criminal case relating to the overall assault is currently underway,
but no case was open on behalf of Kazikhanov's death.
Other journalists who may have been attacked this year because of
their work include: Sergey Davydov, crime news editor for the newspaper
Togliattinskoye Obozreniye in the Samara Region; Andrei Yundin, ATV
editor-in-chief in Stavropol; Malika Gortikova, reporter for newspaper
Serdalo in Ingushetia; Yulia Vassilyeva, reporter for Rossiya TV in St.
Petersburg; Valery Ustinov, reporter for ITAR-TASS-Ural in
Yekaterinburg; Roman Kulguskin, St. Petersburg freelance reporter in
Moscow; Yuri Padalko, reporter for Pravda.info in Moscow; Dmitry Borko,
photo correspondent for Grani.ru in Moscow; Alexei Savelyev, photo
correspondent for Stringer news agency in Moscow; Boris Kosarev,
reporter for Regnum news agency in Moscow; Vladimir Voronov, a New
Times correspondent in Moscow; Viktor Volkov, a freelance journalist in
the Moscow Region; Rustam Fakhretdinov, newspaper Vechernyaya Tyumen in
Tyumen; Marina Litvinovich, editor-in-chief of the Web site Pravda
Beslana in Moscow; Boris Pashkov, cameraman for RTR's Vesti in St.
Petersburg; Vladimir Pozharsky, reporter for Express Gazeta in Moscow;
and Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the Internet newspaper Kursiv in
Ivanovo.
High-profile cases of journalists killed or kidnapped in earlier
years remained unsolved. In 2005 the Government detained two of five
Chechens suspected of being the shooters in the 2004 killing of Paul
Klebnikov (the American citizen editor-in-chief of the Forbes Russia).
Three other suspects remain at large. One of the suspects, former
separatist Chechen figure Khoz-Akhmed Nukhayev, was charged with
ordering the killing. Although the initial trial of the two suspects in
custody, Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev, resulted in an acquittal,
that verdict was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court and a new
trial with a new judge was ordered in November.
In March 2005 the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court rejected
the general prosecutor's appeal of the 2004 Moscow circuit military
court's acquittal of all the defendants accused of organizing the 1994
killing of Dmitriy Kholodov, military affairs correspondent for the
daily newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets (see section 1.a.).
Authorities at all levels employed administrative measures to deter
critical coverage by media and individual journalists. One method was
to deny the media access to events and information, including filming
opportunities and statistics theoretically available to the public. For
example, under the media accreditation regulations adopted by the
Karachayevo-Cherkesiya Republic government in March 2005, only media
outlets providing ``objective'' reporting on the local government are
allowed access to government media events.
In January the Ivanovo Regional Legislative Assembly restricted
journalist access to its session without explanation or prior
announcement that the session would be closed to the press.
In February President of Khakassia's Supreme Council Vladimir
Shtygashev told a news conference that accreditation for Alexei
Kirichenko, a reporter for the newspaper Chance, was being
``temporarily withheld.'' The reason given was that ``the majority of
Council members have spoken negatively about Mr. Kirichenko's
writings'' and suggested that he be barred from covering official
meetings.
In March, Rostov's Regional Court denied 15 local and national
journalists access to two ``open'' hearings.
In April reporters in the Mariy-El Republic were told that
continued access to Legislative Assembly sessions was dependent upon
the number of stories published concerning the performance of
parliamentarians.
At times officials or unidentified individuals used force or took
extreme measures to prevent the circulation of publications that were
not favored by the Government.
In January Oryol Deputy Governor Vitaly Kochuyev and Gubernatorial
Trade Department Head Vladimir Agapov reportedly held meetings with
companies leasing space to newspaper stalls and retail press
distributors in order to pressure them to terminate retail sales
agreements with the newspaper Orlovskiye Novosti.
On February 21, in Nazran, six armed men stormed into the home of
Murat Oziyev, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Angusht.
They searched his home without a warrant and confiscated 300 copies of
the newspaper. Oziyev stated that the order to search his house and
confiscate the Angusht circulation was issued by the Ingush
Presidential administration in retaliation for publishing an article
critical of the Ingush President.
In June the national press distribution service RosPechat refused
to distribute the newspaper Ivanovo-Press. The newspaper contacted
RosPechat and was told that the newly appointed local head of RosPechat
had issued an order not to accept subscriptions for Ivanovo-Press and
later barred all agreements with the newspaper.
Legal actions against journalists and journalistic organizations
were another tool employed by authorities at the federal and local
levels, primarily in response to unfavorable coverage of government
policy or operations. The GDF estimated that 48 criminal cases and
almost 300 civil cases were brought against journalists during the
year. The utility of this tool was partially diminished as a result of
a decision by the Supreme Court in 2004 prohibiting courts from
imposing sentences in libel and defamation cases that would bankrupt
the media organization being sued. However, one NGO reported that the
decision was not always implemented properly on the local level. The
court's order stated that compensations ``should be commensurate with
the damage and not infringe upon press freedom.'' The GDF noted that
during the year the courts have upheld civil defamation claims against
journalists in amounts equivalent to approximately $136.1 million
(884.9 million rubles).
In January the Yamalo-Nenets District's Territorial Electoral
Commission initiated criminal proceedings against a reporter for
Gazovik, Vyacheslav Kalinin, under penal code (``Interference with the
exercise of electoral rights or the work of electoral commissions'').
In April a defamation case was filed by the mayor of Lytkarino (in
the Moscow Region) and a businessman against Artyom Danilov, editor-in-
chief of the newspaper Delovoy Press-Tsentr. The journalist had asked
regional authorities about municipal actions favoring the businessman,
but the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the
journalist pay $3,775 (100,000 rubles) in ``moral damages.''
In May the Sverdlovsky District Court in Belgorod held a closed
door trial involving a claim filed by Governor Yevgeny Savchenko
against journalist Olga Kitova, founder of the newspaper Moskovsky
Komsomolets v Belgorode. The paper had published an article critical of
the governor and he received approximately $37,750 (1,000,000 rubles)
in ``moral damages.''
Authorities at various levels took advantage of the financial
dependence of most major media organizations on the Government or on
major financial-industrial groups to undermine editorial independence
and journalistic integrity in both the print and broadcast media.
Government structures, banking interests, and the state-controlled
energy giant Gazprom continued to dominate the Moscow media market and
extend their influence into the regions. Most news organizations
experienced continued financial difficulties during the year, which
reinforced their dependence on private sponsors and, in many cases, on
the federal and regional governments. As a result the autonomy of the
media and its ability to act as a watchdog remained weak.
Authorities also made use of the media's widespread dependence on
governments for transmission facilities, access to property, and
printing and distribution services to discourage critical reporting,
according to the GDF and media NGOs. The GDF reported that
approximately 90 percent of print media organizations relied on state-
controlled organizations for paper, printing, or distribution, and many
television stations were forced to rely on the Government (in
particular, regional committees for the management of state property)
for access to the airwaves and office space. The GDF also reported that
officials continued to manipulate various other ``instruments of
leverage,'' including the price of printing at state-controlled
publishing houses, to apply pressure on private media rivals. The GDF
noted that this practice was more common outside the Moscow area than
in the capital.
Newspapers in Mariy-El could no longer afford to pay delivery costs
after the Federal Antimonopoly Service canceled the benefits previously
granted to the republic's print media outlets. Many district newspapers
report they were unable to absorb the sharp rise in postal delivery
costs, and had nearly doubled their subscription prices as a result, a
move that has drastically reduced their circulation.
In February the Communist Party's regional branch in Oryol was
forced to print its newspaper Orlovskaya Iskra in a neighboring region
after a Oryol-based printing company unilaterally terminated its
service agreement at the peak of preparations for the March 12
municipal elections in the region.
According to the GDF and other media NGOs, there were numerous
instances of authorities using taxation mechanisms to pressure media
across the country.
Internet Freedom.--The Government generally did not restrict access
to the Internet; however, it continued to require Internet service
providers to install, at their own expense, a device that routes all
customer traffic to an FSB terminal called the ``system for operational
investigative measures'' so that police could track private e-mail
communications and monitor Internet activity. There appeared to be no
mechanism to prevent FSB access to the traffic or private information
without a warrant. The FSB was not required to give telecommunications
companies and individuals documentation on targets of interest prior to
accessing information.
There have been at least three known attempts by authorities to
shut down local Internet sites. In February the governor of Vladimir
held the Web site Kovrov.ru legally liable for allowing participants to
post critical comments on its ``Media and Politics'' forum. The forum
was closed without benefit of due process.
In May in Barnaul, the Altai Territory Regional Court heard a case
brought by the FMLES against Internet news site BankFax under the
criminal code (instigation or incitement of interethnic, racial or
religious hatred or enmity). The site published a commentary on the
scandal surrounding the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. The court
ruled in favor of BankFax.
The ``Internet in Russia'' report, conducted by Public Opinion Fund
during the year, concluded that the Internet audience in the country
was roughly 26.3 million individuals (23 percent of the adult
population). Almost 8.5 million individuals used the Internet daily,
15.6 million weekly, and 20.6 million at least once a month. An
estimated 12.4 percent of all Internet users reside in Moscow and the
wider Moscow region. The next largest groups of Internet users resided
in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area (9.8 percent), and the Tomsk
region (6.8 percent).
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
restrict academic freedom; however, human rights and academic
organizations questioned whether the convictions of Sutyagin, Danilov,
and others inhibited academic freedom and contact with foreigners on
subjects that the authorities might deem sensitive (see section 1.e.).
This trend continued during the year as the renowned scientist Oleg
Korobeinichev, an employee of the Institute for Chemical Kinetics and
Combustion, was charged with disclosing state secrets to a foreign
government. In December Novosibirsk investigators completed the probe
into the case of Korobeinichev. The case brought against Korobeinichev
has been passed to the court.
In March 2005 authorities found the Sakharov Center director and a
staff member guilty of inciting religious hatred in connection with a
2003 exhibit of religious-themed art that many viewed as provocative
(see section 2.c.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government
generally respected this right in practice; however, at times
authorities restricted this right.
Organizations are required to obtain permits to hold public
meetings. They must apply for these permits between five and 10 days
before the scheduled event, which were generally granted to both
supporters and opponents of the Government. While police often granted
demonstration permits, local elected and administrative officials at
times denied some groups permission to assemble. Religious gatherings
and assemblies do not require permits, but in several instances
authorities denied religious groups access to venues where they could
hold assemblies (see section 2.c.).
During the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg in July, human rights
activists claimed 577 alleged incidents of illegal action by law
enforcement officials against protestors, including 94 cases of police
taking person to police stations without explanation; 267 cases (three
involving children) of temporary detention on trumped-up charges such
as ``minor hooliganism,'' ``verbal abuse,'' and ``resistance to law
enforcement officials''; and 216 cases of persons prevented from
traveling by bus or train to St. Petersburg for a ``counter summit''
organized by Russian NGOs.
According to Human Rights Watch, in the days before the Other
Russia conference in Moscow in July, authorities tried to bar
conference attendees from leaving their home cities. Tactics reportedly
included summoning attendees to police departments, coercing from them
written promises to stay at home, and threatening them with detention
on administrative charges. In some cases police removed individuals
from trains and airplanes as they were about to depart to Moscow. Some
participants were reportedly attacked and beaten by unknown assailants
just before the conference.
On May 27, police intervened belatedly to protect participants in a
lesbian and gay rights festival in Moscow from attack by antigay
protesters (see section 5).
After organizing a picket in Moscow on September 3 in commemoration
of the victims of Beslan, Lev Ponomarev was arrested and detained for
three days. Media reports indicate that Ponomarev, leader of the
Russian organization ``For Human Rights,'' submitted the required
notification prior to the event, but chose not to observe the
subsequent recommendation that it take place elsewhere or on a
different date. Human rights organizations assert that such responses
from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are not binding under the law,
and that his detention was both arbitrary and illegal.
On October 16, police in Ingushetia arrested rights activists and
violently broke up a rally in memory of slain reporter Anna
Politkovskaya who was killed October 7. Security forces cordoned off a
site in the center of Ingushetia's main city of Nazran as approximately
40 rights activists and others tried to gather. According to press
reports, police tore photographs of Politkovskaya from demonstrators'
hands and injured at least one person. Kavkazky Uzel reported on
October 17 that three participants in the Nazran demonstration--Fatima
Yandieva, Zoya Muradova, and Zarema Mukusheva, all of whom are Memorial
staffers--were fined $18.50 (500 rubles) apiece for ``violating the
established order for holding a picket,'' while local journalist Ruslan
Maisigov was released after being briefly held by police. The
organizers of the demonstration--Magomed Mytsolgov, chairman of
``Marsh,'' a group made up of relatives of persons who have
disappeared, and Albert Khantygov of Memorial--were set to appear in
court on October 17 on charges of organizing an unsanctioned
demonstration. Interfax quoted Ingush Interior Minister Beslan
Khamkhoev as saying: ``There was an attempt to hold an unsanctioned
meeting. For some reason, there was a disagreement between the members
of the meeting, which turned into a fight. To preserve order and
safety, policemen were forced to intervene.''
Police detained hundreds of opposition activists ahead of the Other
Russia demonstration on December 16, the ``March of the Discontented,''
in Moscow. Demonstrators were not allowed to march, but approximately
2,500 convened at a Moscow rally surrounded by approximately 8,500
police, special forces troops, and FSB officers. About 80 protesters
were detained in Moscow throughout the day and about 320 other
activists were detained or taken off trains and buses on their way to
Moscow. Some were kept in detention cells, while others were released
after the rally was over.
On December 17, Moscow city authorities prohibited approximately
300 members of the political party Yabloko and their supporters from
marching in memory of killed journalists. Yabloko was allowed to meet,
however, but was refused a permit to march.
In May 2005 Moscow police, after breaking up a demonstration in
front of city hall, detained 10 congregants and supporters of the
Emmanuel Pentecostal Church. Members and supporters of the church
continued to demonstrate, alleging discrimination by authorities who
had refused the church permission to construct a church and renovate
buildings in Moscow and another district. In June 2005 several of these
demonstrators were arrested during a demonstration. City authorities
contended that the demonstrations were illegal and that they had
advised the demonstrators to hold their protests at an alternate site.
Protestors said that the demonstration was legal and that they had
never received such instructions from city authorities. Several
protestors were charged with holding an illegal demonstration and
sentenced to five-day jail terms. A Moscow district court ruled in
November 2005, that local authorities had violated the legal procedure
for regulating public events in its handling of the Church's repeated
demonstrations. The same court ruled in October 2005 that 13 police
officers had wrongfully detained Emmanuel members following a
demonstration a week earlier. The church pastor confirmed that police
interference ended following these court decisions.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association, and the Government generally respected this right;
however, the Government increasingly harassed several organizations of
whose policies it disapproved. Public organizations must register their
bylaws and the names of their leaders with the Ministry of Justice.
There was no clear evidence that these registration requirements were
being used to discourage or prevent the formation of associations;
however, they afford an opening for abuse on the part of the
authorities. The law requires that political parties have 50,000
members nationwide, at least 500 representatives in each of half of the
country's regions, and no fewer than 250 members in each of the
remaining regions in order to be registered (see section 3). In
addition, the finances of registered organizations are subject to
investigation by the tax authorities and foreign grants must be
registered. The authorities subjected some NGOs to lengthy
investigations of their finances or delayed the registration of their
foreign financed programs. Some NGOs said that these actions were
intended to restrict their activities (see section 4).
President Putin signed into law on January 10 legislation providing
strict measures to oversee NGOs through a registration body at the
Ministry of Justice. The law, which entered into force on April 10,
imposed more stringent registration requirements for NGOs, particularly
the branch offices of foreign NGOs, strict monitoring of organizations,
extensive reporting requirements on NGO programming and activities, and
some limitations on the participation of foreign citizens in NGOs. The
law also permits more intrusive means for government officials to
scrutinize all forms of NGOs, including ``public associations.'' In
addition it granted the Federal Registration Service discretion to deny
registration or shut down an organization based on vague and subjective
criteria (see section 4).
On July 28, President Putin signed into law amendments to
legislation ``On Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many
that the law may restrict activities of political parties, the media
and NGOs, and legitimate criticism of the Government. Critics say that
it could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs, and opposition
political parties during the 2007-2008 election cycle (see sections 3
and 4).
A number of senior officials made critical statements during the
year that contributed to, and reflected, increased suspicion of NGO
activity. For example, FSB Director Nikolay Patrushev in a December
interview said that foreign intelligence agencies were increasingly
using NGOs and press bureaus as cover, citing specifically the Danish
Refugee Council. In a January 31 press conference in the wake of
Russian accusations against four British diplomats of spying and
providing money for NGOs, President Putin stated that society needs
NGOs to monitor the activities of the state and power structures and
pledged support for their activities, but added that their financing
must be transparent and efforts to control them by ``foreign
puppeteers'' would not be tolerated. On February 7 in a speech to the
FSB, President Putin called on the FSB to ``protect society from any
attempts by foreign states to use [NGOs] for interfering in Russia's
internal affairs.''
At a July 2005 meeting of the Presidential Council on Promoting the
Development of Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights,
President Putin stated that he objected to foreign financing of
``political activity'' in the country. In May 2005 FSB Director Nikolay
Patrushev said that foreign NGOs were often used for espionage. In his
May 2004 State of the Nation address, President Putin charged that some
foreign-funded NGOs existed ``to serve dubious groups.''
At the end of January, the Russian Ministry of Justice filed a
lawsuit to close the Russian Research Center on Human Rights, an
umbrella organization of a dozen Russian human rights groups, including
the Moscow Helsinki Group and the USC. The Ministry of Justice claimed
that the group had failed to file reports of its activities for the
past five years, a claim disputed by the group. Also in late January, a
Moscow arbitration court ruled against the Russian PEN Center, an NGO
that advocates freedom of expression, holding that it owed $75,500 (2
million rubles) in property taxes. The authorities froze its account
following the court ruling.
In late July the Russian Federal Tax Service filed a tax claim
against the Center for International Legal Defense (CILD), an NGO
headed by one of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's lawyers,
after it was audited by tax inspectors (see section 4).
In October a Nizhniy Novgorod court ruled that the Russian-Chechen
Friendship Society should be shut down after its Executive Director
Stanislav Dmitriyevskiy was convicted of inciting racial hatred earlier
in the year (see section 4).
Authorities in a number of regions continued operations against
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which had been banned by the Supreme Court in 2003
as a terrorist organization, despite the organization's denials that it
supported terrorism. For example, in Bashkortostan Republic, Tyumen,
Chelyabinsk Oblasts, Moscow, and Nizhnevartovsk there have been arrests
and trials of alleged HT members. In April a Moscow court convicted
Sardorbek Siddikov and sentenced him to one year in jail for membership
in HT. In September 2005 the city court of Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-
Masiisk autonomous okrug gave a four-year suspended prison term to
Eduard Khusainov, who was believed to have headed the local HT group.
Officials reportedly found extremist propaganda in his apartment.
Khusainov was charged with organizing the activities of an extremist
organization and with ``involving others in committing terrorist crimes
or otherwise abetting such crimes.'' In October 2005 in Tyumen Oblast,
a Tobolsk Court found nine members of the local HT branch guilty on all
charges of extremism brought against them. Three of the accused-local
leaders Marat Saybatalov, Dmitriy Petrichenko, and Rail Valitov-were
sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 1/2 to six years. Other
members were sentenced to various terms from 12 months to 5 1/2 years.
According to the Sova Center, police broke up an HT group in
Chelyabinsk in March 2005 and detained one of its members, Rinat
Galiullin. The criminal case against Rinat Galiullin was initiated in
March 2005. He was arrested and tried in September-November 2005. He
was given a one-year suspended sentence. Also Galiullin won a suit
against a local newspaper for spreading information alleging that he
had plotted a riot, stockpiled weapons, and encouraged people to sign a
contract with Al Qaeda. The HT group to which Galiullin allegedly
belonged was not found. As of July the courts had convicted 46 persons,
29 of whom were in prison, for membership in HT.
In August 2005 eight HT defendants were sentenced in Ufa,
Bashkortostan to prison terms ranging from 3 1/2 to 8 1/2 years on
charges of terrorism, forming a criminal group, involving others in
terrorist crimes, illegal possession of arms, and sabotage. A ninth
defendant was given a suspended sentence. Having appealed the case to
the Supreme Court, the sentences were upheld in November 2005.
In August 2005 the Supreme Court overturned a decision by a lower
court forcing the closure of the radical National Bolshevik Party. In
October 2005 the Presidium of the Supreme Court canceled the August
Supreme Court decision and sent the case back for new hearings. In
November 2005 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the previous lower
decision to ban the party. In April, a Moscow district court upheld a
January 30 decision by the Ministry of Justice to deny registration to
the party. In August, a faction of the National Bolshevik Party split
off to form the National Bolshevik Front. Also in August the Federal
Registration Service asked the federal media agency to stop the media
from referring to the National Bolshevik Party by its name, arguing
that the organization was never registered as a political party.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice; however, authorities imposed restrictions on certain groups.
Although the constitution provides for the equality of all religions
before the law and the separation of church and state, the Government
did not always respect these provisions in practice.
A 1997 law required all religious organizations registered under
the previous 1990 law to reregister by the end of 2000. The law
provides that a religious group that has existed for 15 years and has
at least 10 citizen members may register as a ``local organization,''
giving it status as a juridical person and certain legal advantages. A
group with three functioning local organizations in different regions
may found a ``centralized organization'' with the right to establish
affiliated local organizations without meeting the 15-year requirement.
In practice the law placed a hardship on groups that were previously
unregistered and less well established, including groups new to the
country. The process, which involves simultaneous registration at the
federal and local levels, required considerable time, effort, and legal
expense.
In January 2005 authorities amended the 1997 law to conform to a
new law on state registration of other legal entities. The amended law
requires all registered local religious organizations to inform the
Federal Registration Service within three days of changes in its
leadership or legal address. If a local organization fails to meet this
requirement on two or more occasions, the Federal Registration Service
can file suit to dissolve and deregister the organization. Some
denominations with numerous local organizations feared that compliance
with this change would be highly burdensome (see sections 2.b. and 4).
The law accords no explicit privileges or advantages to the Russian
Orthodox Church or the other groups formally designated as traditional
religions-Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. However, many politicians and
public figures supported closer cooperation with those religions, above
all with the Russian Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate. Many
government officials and citizens appeared to equate Russian Orthodoxy
with the Russian national identity. The Russian Orthodox Church has a
number of formal and informal agreements with government ministries on
matters such as guidelines for public education, religious training for
military personnel, and law enforcement and customs decisions. These
agreements have given the Russian Orthodox Church far greater access
than other religious groups to public institutions, such as schools,
hospitals, prisons, the police, the FSB, and the army. Starting
September 1, schools in four regions required the teaching of a
controversial Foundations of Orthodox Culture course; in many other
regions, the course is taught as an elective. Public statements by some
government officials and anecdotal evidence from religious minorities
suggest that the Russian Orthodox Church has increasingly enjoyed a
status that approaches official.
On January 10, President Putin signed the Law on Public
Associations (NGO Law) and implementing regulations took effect on
April 10. While the law governing religious organizations is largely
unaffected by the NGO law, some provisions of the new law appear to
apply to religious organizations as well. For example, the new law's
inspection provisions appear to permit government inspections of
religious organizations and attendance at some of their public events
with advance notice. Other provisions that appear to apply include new
reporting requirements; authority for the registration body (located in
the Ministry of Justice) to request certain documents, send its
representatives to participate in events, and annually review
compliance of an organization's activities with its statutory goals;
and a requirement that covered nonprofit organizations inform
authorities of changes to certain data (such as addresses and
leadership) within three days of the changes. It was not clear at
year's end how authorities would implement the new law and the impact
it would have on religious organizations.
According to the human rights ombudsman's annual report, the
Ministry of Justice had registered 22,513 religious organizations as of
December 2005, approximately 500 more than January 2005. Local courts
largely upheld the right of nontraditional groups to register or
reregister. Nonetheless, some religious groups continued to contest
denials of registration in the courts. While such cases were often
successful, administrative authorities were at times unwilling to
implement court decisions. In April, the Federal Registration Service
restored the Salvation Army's registration documentation for the
country-wide central religious organization, although the legal status
of its Moscow branch remained unresolved. Although the Constitutional
Court found earlier rulings by Moscow courts dissolving the Moscow
branch to be unconstitutional, the Moscow Oblast Department of Justice
had not reregistered the organization by year's end and two court
judgments that legally dissolved the branch remained in force, despite
the Constitutional Court ruling.
A court ruling against the Salvation Army's registration in
Moscow's Presnenskiy District referred to the Salvation Army as a
``militarized organization.'' The Slavic Center for Law and Justice was
working with the Moscow office of the Salvation Army to overturn the
Presnenskiy Court ruling. On October 5, the ECHR unanimously ruled in
favor of the Moscow branch of the Salvation Army. The Court ruled
Russia violated the Salvation Army's right to freedom of association
and their right to freedom of religion. As a result, Russia was ordered
to pay the Salvation Army approximately $13,000 (344,500 rubles) in
compensation, and the ruling has cleared the way for the Salvation Army
to regain its legal status in Russia.
Moscow authorities continued to deny reregistration to the Moscow
branch of the Church of Scientology, threatening it with dissolution.
In February 2005, after years of legal proceedings, a Moscow appeals
court ordered Moscow Oblast officials to permit the church to apply for
reregistration and to examine the application on its merits. The Church
of Scientology filed a suit against the dissolution order with the
ECHR, which admitted the suit in 2004. The case was pending in the ECHR
at year's end. The church had filed for reregistration 11 times; the
Moscow registration service rejected the tenth claim in June 2005.
Local authorities have impeded the operation of Scientology centers
in Dmitrograd, Izhevsk, St. Petersburg, and other localities. Since
these centers had not been in existence for 15 years, they were unable
to register and could not perform religious services, although they
were allowed to hold meetings and seminars. The Churches of Scientology
in Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk and Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan filed suits with
the ECHR against the refusal of officials to register the churches,
based on the 15-year rule. The ECHR found the suits admissible in June
2005; the cases were awaiting a final decision.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) has succeeded
in registering 52 local religious organizations by year's end. During
the year, authorities registered the LDS Church in Novocherkassk. In
2005 authorities registered the LDS Church in Tver following a series
of rejections of its registration application. The LDS Church has not
been able to register a local religious organization in Kazan,
Tatarstan, despite numerous attempts since 1998.
The 1997 Law gives officials the authority to ban religious groups.
Unlike dissolution, which involves only the loss of an organization's
juridical status, a ban is a more serious legal step and prohibits all
of the activities of a religious community. Authorities have not used
the law to ban many groups to date. However, in a notable exception,
the decision of a Moscow court judge in 2004 to uphold on appeal the
ban on Jehovah's Witnesses garnered significant media coverage and
prompted an upswing in restrictions on Jehovah's Witnesses. As of April
authorities permitted registration of Jehovah's Witnesses groups in 404
local communities in 72 regions, but problems with registration
continued in some areas, notably Moscow, where the Moscow Golovinskiy
Intermunicipal District Court and the Moscow City Court of Appeal have
banned them. There was a pending ECHR case on the Moscow ban.
The ban on the Islamic organization HT, which was declared by the
Government to be a terrorist organization, remained in effect and a
number of prosecutions were undertaken (see section 2.b.).
Treatment of religious organizations, particularly minority groups,
varied widely in the regions, depending on the decisions of local
officials. In some areas local authorities prevented minority
denominations from reregistering as local religious organizations and
subjected them to legal harassment.
Contradictions between federal and local law in some regions and
varying interpretations of the law provided some regional officials
with opportunities to restrict the activities of religious minorities.
According to many observers, local governments were often susceptible
to discriminatory attitudes and lobbying by majority religions, leading
to discriminatory practices. However, instances in which local
officials detained individuals engaged in public discussion of their
religious views remained isolated and were usually resolved quickly.
Some local and municipal governments prevented minority religious
groups from obtaining venues for large gatherings and from acquiring
property for religious uses. Regional and local authorities, as well as
businessmen, on a number of occasions refused to lease facilities to
local Jehovah's Witnesses communities. During the year Jehovah's
Witnesses reported a problem similar to their 2004 attempt to find a
suitably large venue in Sochi, when a landlord denied access to a
meeting venue after FSB pressure but later reversed the denial. During
the year 56 district conventions were scheduled between June and
October. However, local authorities did not permit conventions to go
ahead in Pervouralsk and Nizhniy Tagil (both in Sverdlovsk Region). In
Ivanovo the city administration and the FSB forced the cancellation of
the convention planned for July 28-30, but allowed it to be conducted
at a later date. In some cities it was again impossible to find
suitable premises for a single district convention, thus the program
was held in shifts on the same weekend or repeated on consecutive
weekends. In total 59 conventions were eventually held throughout the
country. In Moscow Oblast, which is a separate jurisdiction from the
city of Moscow, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported that a hotel
conference center, a cinema, and a cultural center, each of which
previously had been used by the church, cancelled their leases. During
the year Jehovah's Witnesses religious assemblies were also disrupted
or prevented in Yekaterinburg and Archangelsk. The Jehovah's Witnesses
stated that Father Valeriy of the Arkhangelsk Orthodox Diocese exerted
pressure on Archangelsk authorities to prevent the Jehovah's Witnesses
from holding a district convention scheduled for August 2005.
Jehovah's Witnesses reported continuing difficulties obtaining
construction permits in Sosnovyy Bor, Leningrad Oblast and were using a
privately owned building for their meetings. Local authorities refused
to let a Jehovah's Witness community construct a prayer center on the
basis of a 2004 referendum in which 90 percent of voters opposed the
construction.
On May 5, Mayskaya Gorka city circuit in the Arkhangelsk region
held a public meeting to discuss a Jehovah's Witness application for a
plot of land to build a place of worship. Reports indicated that the
atmosphere was hostile, not giving the representatives of the Jehovah's
Witnesses the opportunity to reply to all the questions, the majority
of which were about religious beliefs rather than plans for the land.
At the conclusion of the meeting, those present voted not to provide
Jehovah's Witnesses with a plot of land.
In Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Oblast, local authorities in June 2005
withdrew a building permit issued to the Jehovah's Witnesses, and
threatened to tear down a new prayer hall. In February the Chelyabinsk
Oblast Arbitration Court dismissed the city administration's
application for demolition at the expense of the Jehovah's Witnesses;
the city did not appeal the decision. As of December 31, the hall was
still not being used for worship, as residents refused to remove
garages that illegally occupied part of the land on which the hall was
built, and the city authorities have not granted permission for the use
of the building.
Various minority religious organizations encountered similar
difficulties in obtaining or renovating property. The mayor's office in
Krasnodar continued to deny the Muslim community's request to build a
mosque in the city of Sochi, even though the organization's current
rented premises barely accommodated the approximately 30 members who
attended Friday prayers. The Muslim community in Kaliningrad has sought
unsuccessfully since 1993 to obtain permission to construct a mosque.
Human rights groups and religious minority groups criticized the
federal prosecutor general for encouraging legal action against some
minority religions and for giving an official imprimatur to materials
that were biased against Jehovah's Witnesses, the Latter Day Saints
Church, and others. The FSB, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and
other agencies conducted campaigns of harassment against some
individual Muslims and members of some Protestant groups and newer
religious movements. Security services continued to treat the
leadership of some minority religions--especially Muslims, Roman
Catholics, some Protestant denominations, and other groups--as security
threats. Some religious groups were investigated for alleged criminal
activity and violations of tax laws, landlords were pressured to
abrogate contracts, and in some cases the security services were
thought to have influenced the Ministry of Justice to reject
registration applications.
The authorities permit Orthodox chapels and priests on army bases
and also give Protestant groups limited access to military facilities.
Authorities largely banned Islamic services in the military and
generally did not give Muslim conscripts time for daily prayers or
alternatives to pork-based meals. Some Muslim recruits serving in the
army reported that their fellow servicemen insulted and abused them on
the basis of their religion.
There were occasional reports of short-term detentions on religious
grounds, but such incidents were generally resolved quickly. Local
police frequently detained missionaries for brief periods throughout
the country or asked them to cease their activities, such as displaying
signboards, regardless of whether they were actually in violation of
local statutes on picketing. The Jehovah's Witnesses organization
reported a number of incidents in which its members were assaulted by
other citizens or briefly detained by authorities while conducting
lawful preaching activities. As of November the Jehovah's Witnesses
reported approximately 51 incidents, 28 of which took place in Moscow,
in which authorities briefly detained their members or other citizens
while conducting lawful preaching activities, and 35 incidents of
assault on Jehovah's Witnesses, nine of which occurred in Moscow.
In April 2005 masked paramilitary troops stormed the Work of Faith
Church in Izhevsk, Udmurt Republic, during a worship service. They
reportedly took the worshippers outside, searched them without a
warrant, and threatened some of the women with rape. Police detained 46
persons for several hours. Udmurtian officials claimed that there had
been no time to get a warrant and that some police officials had been
reprimanded for procedural irregularities. According to Udmurt
authorities, the raid was part of a murder investigation involving two
former parishioners of the Work of Faith Church.
Human rights groups reported that following the 2004 hostage-taking
in Beslan, police activity was stepped up in the Northern Caucasus.
Increasing numbers of Muslims, both Russian citizens and citizens of
the predominately Muslim states bordering the country, were charged
with extremism. Some observers said that police harassment of Muslim
clerics and alleged militants in the Kabardino-Balkariya Republic,
including torture and the closure of all but one of Nalchik's mosques,
were part of the Government's reaction to the October 2005 rebel attack
on Nalchik (see section 1.g.). The Caucasian Knot Web site and other
human rights organizations reported in March that law enforcement
officials in Kabardino-Balkaria continued to monitor children in
schools who observed Muslim customs, after the phrase ``Jihad is
freedom'' appeared on the wall in a Nalchik school. The authorities
reportedly kept lists of students who said Muslim prayers, had Muslim
middle names, or who sent messages with Islamic themes via their mobile
phones.
Nine female Muslim students at the Kabardino-Balkariya State
University were reportedly detained in June 2005 and interrogated
because they were wearing hijab and practicing group study of the
Koran, which are against University statutes. The students were
subsequently released. In October 2005 in Maykop, Adygea Republic,
police allegedly assaulted and apprehended a group of young Muslims,
including the Maykop mosque's imam, as they were leaving a mosque. The
imam told a journalist that masked police dragged the group to
minibuses and took them to the interior ministry's antiorganized crime
department, where they were beaten and questioned about why there were
wearing beards and observing Islamic norms of hygiene. After a night in
detention they were taken before a judge, who ordered their immediate
release.
Authorities either deported or denied entry to several religious
workers with valid visas. On January 9, authorities deported the
founder and legal/spiritual advisor of the Unification Church in
Moscow, who may not reapply for a visa for five years, despite having
lived in the country since 1990.
Some religious personnel experienced visa difficulties while
entering or leaving the country. In September 2005 border guards at a
Moscow airport denied reentry to the rabbi of the Moscow Choral
Synagogue, Pinchas Goldschmidt. He had lived in Moscow since 1989 and
his family resides in Moscow. Authorities did not tell Goldschmidt why
they had annulled his visa. In December 2005 Goldschmidt was issued a
one-month religious worker's visa and returned to Moscow; he
subsequently left the country briefly in January to receive a one-year
multientry religious work visa and was granted one. He spent the rest
of the year in Moscow without incident.
The Dalai Lama was permitted to visit the Kalmykia Republic in 2004
after many years of denials. Catholic authorities reported a decrease
in visa problems for Catholic priests during the year, although there
was a report of one foreign priest whose visa was not renewed.
In March 2005 the Government denied entry to high-ranking British
and Danish Salvation Army officials who sought to attend a church
congress. In explaining its decision to deny entry, the Moscow city
branch of the federal Ministry of Internal Affairs cited the provision
of law under which foreigners may be denied entry ``in the interests of
state security.''
Laws in three regions, Belgorod, Kursk, and Smolensk, forbid
foreign visitors from engaging in missionary activity or preaching
unless specifically authorized by their visas. According to local
religious officials the laws were not enforced.
After nearly two years of criminal proceedings, in March 2005,
authorities found the Sakharov Center director and a staff member
guilty of inciting national, racial, and religious hatred and fined
them approximately $3,750 (100,000 rubles) each. Officials acquitted a
third defendant of all charges. Although the Moscow City Court
dismissed their appeal, the center entered an appeal at the ECHR in
December 2005. The charges stemmed from a 2003 exhibit of religious-
themed art, which many viewed as provocative, entitled ``Danger,
Religion!'' Authorities never charged those who vandalized the exhibit
with a crime, and according to activists the verdict could enable the
state and the Russian Orthodox Church to define parameters for
religious and artistic expression (see section 2.a.).
Restitution of religious property seized by the Communist regime
remained a problem. Many properties used for religious services,
including churches, synagogues, and mosques, have been returned, and
more restitution cases were ongoing. The Russian Orthodox Church
appeared to have had greater success in gaining restitution of
prerevolutionary property than other groups, although it continued to
pursue property claims. The Jewish community was still seeking the
return of a number of synagogues, religious scrolls, and cultural and
religious artifacts, such as the Schneerson book collection, a revered
collection of the Chabad Lubavitch. The Roman Catholic Church reported
44 disputed properties, most of which they would use for religious
services. Muslims in Beslan, North Ossetia, have appealed to the
Presidential Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations to
return a historic mosque to the Muslim community. The Cathedral Mosque,
built in 1906 by decree of Tsar Nicholas II, was occupied by a vodka-
bottling plant and a bottle washing shop, and was soon to be modified
to accommodate a car wash. The North Ossetian government alleged that
there was nowhere to move the plant, but the republic's Muslim council
stated that locating a factory in a mosque was illegal and that there
were several facilities in the town to accommodate the factory.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While religious matters were
not a source of societal hostility for most citizens, members of
minority and ``nontraditional'' religions continued to encounter
prejudice, societal discrimination, and in some cases physical attacks.
Conservative activists claiming ties to the Russian Orthodox Church
disseminated negative publications and staged demonstrations throughout
the country against minority religions. Some church figures publicly
expressed similar views. Authorities usually investigated incidents of
religious vandalism and violence, but arrests of suspects were
extremely infrequent and convictions were rare. Unlike previous years,
relations between non-traditional religious organizations and
traditional ones were sometimes tense, particularly at the leadership
level.
Tensions between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic
Church continued. Russian Orthodox Church figures accused the Roman
Catholic Church of deliberately proselytizing among Orthodox faithful
but less often than in previous years. In a meeting in March with a
Franciscan Order delegation, Patriarch Aleksey II reportedly said that
he hoped the Roman Catholic Church would stop proselytizing Orthodox
believers and those with Orthodox roots because the ``rivalry in
winning souls makes their work more difficult at a time when the world
needs the fruit of both churches in their Christian efforts.''
Popular attitudes toward traditionally Muslim ethnic groups
remained negative in many regions, and there were manifestations of
anti-Semitism as well as societal hostility toward Roman Catholics and
adherents of newer, non-Orthodox, religions. Racially or ethnically
motivated attacks increased significantly in recent years, although it
has often been difficult to determine whether xenophobia, religion, or
ethnic prejudices were the primary motivation. Ethnic tensions ran high
in the predominantly Muslim Northern Caucasus, and there were problems
in some cities outside that region. Anti-Chechen and anti-``Wahhabist''
sentiment increased after each terrorist attack tied to Chechen rebels
and spiked in some regions after the 2004 seizure of a school in
Beslan, North Ossetia, in which hundreds of persons, including many
children, died at the hands of terrorists (see section 1.g.).
Government officials, journalists, and the public were quick to label
Muslim organizations ``Wahhabi,'' a term that has become associated
with extremism. Such sentiment led to a formal ban on Wahhabism in
Dagestan and Kabardino-Balkariya.
Muslim cemeteries and buildings were vandalized in Moscow and other
regions. Two skinheads were given suspended sentences after being found
guilty in a Yaroslavl court for inciting ethnic hatred, according to a
December 25 report by the Regnum news agency. The Leninsky district
court found the 17 and 18 year old college students guilty of throwing
Molotov cocktails at a Yarolslavl mosque and a car parked nearby in
September. The defendants also painted racist and neo-Nazi graffiti on
the mosque. In April officials detained seven teenagers between the
ages of 15 and 16 in the town of Dzerzhinsk in Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast
for throwing stones and a Molotov. In December 2005 vandals set on fire
a two-story wooden building housing the Muslim Board of Komi, which
housed a mosque. The fire destroyed the roof and damaged 30 square
meters of the premises; there were no injuries. The emergency
situations' authorities said the fire was the result of arson. In
January and February 2005, tombs in Muslim cemeteries in Moscow and
Yoshkar-Oly, Mariy-El Republic were desecrated. Although several
teenagers were detained in the January 2005 incident, the suspects were
not charged due to their age. Vandals continued to attack the Tauba
mosque in Nizhniy Novgorod. In January 2005 swastikas were painted on
the mosque walls. The local prosecutor's office did not find grounds to
initiate a criminal case. The local Muslim Spiritual Administration
appealed to local authorities to guard the mosque. A mosque in Penza
was reportedly vandalized in August 2005. Anti-Muslim slogans were
painted on the wall and a brick was thrown through the window.
The number of underground nationalist-extremist organizations (as
distinguished from such quasi-public groups as Russian National Unity)
appeared to be growing (see section 5). Their targets included Muslims,
Jews, and adherents of minority faiths they considered to be foreign in
origin.
There was no progress in the investigation of the 2004 explosion
and subsequent fire in a building belonging to a congregation of
unregistered Baptists (known as Initsiativniki) in Tula Oblast. In 2004
an Initsiativniki church in Lyubuchany, Moscow Oblast burned down. The
official investigative report in late 2004 on the fire attributed it to
arson, but no one was charged in the incident. In the summer preceding
the fire, security agencies, including local police and FSB officers,
intimidated several thousand participants at an open-air gathering
sponsored by the church. Press reports claimed that eyewitnesses placed
some of the same law enforcement personnel at the church site minutes
before the fire broke out.
Reports of the harassment of evangelicals and Pentecostals
decreased during the year. In contrast to previous reports about the
vandalizing and burning of prayer houses in Nekrasovskoye, Chelyabinsk,
Bratsk, Izhevsk, Buryatiya, Oshkar Ola, Khalsk, and Poldolsk, where
authorities made no arrests, few such instances appeared to have
occurred since December 2005, when Bishop Sergey Ryakhovskiy joined the
Public Chamber. Nevertheless, African-Russian and African ministers of
non-Orthodox Christian churches experienced prejudicial treatment,
based apparently on a combination of religious and racial bigotry.
In April 2005 vandals set fire to an Adventist church in Taganrog
in Rostov Oblast, after breaking windows earlier that week. The fire
was termed arson by police. A group of Pentecostals holding a
demonstration on August 2005 in Moscow reported being attacked by a
group of youths who yelled ``burn the heretics,'' while assaulting them
and destroying their posters. The Slavic Law Center reported that a
Baptist Church in Chelyabinsk Oblast was firebombed in April 2005. The
Jehovah's Witnesses organization reported two incidents in March 2005
in which members were physically assaulted by residents in areas where
they were preaching, leaving one member with a concussion.
An estimated 600,000 to one million Jews (0.5 percent of the
population) lived in the country, following large-scale emigration over
the last two decades; the Federation of Jewish Communities estimated
that up to 500,000 Jews lived in Moscow and 100,000 in St. Petersburg.
These estimates significantly exceeded the results of the official
government census. Between 5,000 and 7,000 Jews lived in the Jewish
Autonomous Oblast (region), located in the Far East.
Anti-Semitism remained a serious problem. Racially motivated
violent attacks against Jews decreased during the year, despite an
increase in racist violence targeting other ethnic groups. Vandalism
targeting Jewish religious and cultural facilities is common, sometimes
combined with threats to the life and health of the attending persons.
Anti-Semitic graffiti and leaflets appear frequently in many regions.
While less frequent than vandalism and graffiti, anti-Semitism in mass
media also occurred. However, there was positive progress in countering
anti-Semitic manifestations since previous years. Many in the Jewish
community attribute this to the absence of official ``state-sponsored''
anti-Semitism and because the Jewish community has undergone a major
institutional revival.
On January 11, in Moscow, 20-year-old Aleksandr Koptsev attacked
worshipers in the Chabad synagogue with a knife, wounding nine persons
among them citizens of Russia, Israel, Tajikistan, and the United
States. On March 27, the Moscow City Court sentenced Koptsev to 13
years' imprisonment, ordering him to undergo mandatory psychiatric
treatment. The court dropped the charges of provoking interethnic
hatred but left the charge of attempted murder of two or more persons
for reasons of ethnic enmity. The lawyers of the victims filed an
appeal, protesting the decision to drop charges of inciting ethnic
hatred; Koptsev's lawyers also filed an appeal due to his mental
illness and the fact that none of the victims were killed or disabled.
On June 20, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict on the grounds
that the charges had not referred to the incitement of racial and
religious hatred and ordered a new trial in a different court. The
second trial, at which a different judge presided, concluded on
September 15. Koptsev was convicted of attempted murder and incitement
of racial hatred and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Koptsev's
attorneys and relatives informed reporters that they consider the
sentence too severe. However, a formal appeal has not yet been filed.
Both President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov publicly condemned
this attack.
According to the Obschestvennoye Mnenie (Public Opinion)
Foundation, after the January Moscow synagogue attack, the number of
citizens who condemned anti-Semitism increased by almost 10 percent. A
poll concerning the attack showed that the proportion of citizens who
had a negative attitude towards anti-Semites increased from 34 to 42
percent, while the proportion of those who claimed to be indifferent
decreased from 47 to 38 percent. Distrust and dislike of Jews was
expressed by 7 percent of the respondents, while 5 percent sympathized
with those who expressed dislike. No subsequent polling data is known
to back up this trend. Anti-Semitic events, however, continued.
In late December a Jewish man in Moscow was stabbed to death on his
way to pick up his son. Media reports speculate that anti-Semitism may
have been a motive.
There were a series of attacks around a Moscow synagogue in Maryina
Roscha in the winter of 2004-05; in one incident, the attackers beat
Rabbi Alexander Lakshin. Although police arrested and convicted two
suspects of disorderly conduct and of inflicting bodily injuries, the
judge found insufficient evidence to recognize racial hatred as an
aggravating circumstance. After this incident, and at the request of
Jewish leaders, Moscow authorities increased police presence in the
vicinity of Marina Roscha Synagogue. There were three known explicit
anti-Semitic violent attacks and four incidents of public insults and
threats in 2005, which was down from 2004.
Synagogues and Jewish community centers were frequently attacked
during the year across the country. Police continue to not investigate
such incidents as hate crimes, instead calling them acts of
``hooliganism.'' On November 4, two petrol bombs were thrown at the
Jewish cultural center in Surgut. The police classified the incident as
``causing damage to property,'' not as an anti-Semitic attack.
According to RIA Novosti, on the night of August 13, unidentified
people threw a Molotov cocktail at the Khabarovsk synagogue, and a
month later its windows and door were broken by attackers throwing
rocks. The police classified the incidents as ``hooliganism.'' The
synagogue in Vladivostok was defaced in October, with swastikas and the
words ``Jews, go to Israel'' written on the walls.
In June police arrested a man who entered a Jewish cultural center
in the city of Yekaterinburg and stabbed the door of the synagogue 10
times with a knife. According to local Jewish community leader Mikhail
Oshtrakh, the man was mentally ill and was sent back to the psychiatric
clinic. According to a report from the ``US--Advocates on behalf of
Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia,'' a May 18
article in the local newspaper Saratovskaya Oblastnaya Gazeta reported
that the courts sentenced a 20-year-old man to a two-year suspended
sentence for painting swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the Saratov
Jewish Center. Unknown assailants have also thrown rocks at the center.
Local police allegedly ignored the Jewish community's complaints until
the swastika-painting incident. In April at the Orenburg synagogue, a
group of young men threw stones, kicked the synagogue doors, shouted
anti-Semitic slogans, and hit windows with a metal bar. Police detained
a 15-year-old boy near the synagogue, while others escaped. Officials
opened criminal proceedings on charges of hooliganism, not extremism.
As a minor, the boy could not be prosecuted as a criminal. In March in
Lipetsk, vandals painted a swastika on the fence in front of the main
entrance of the Jewish community center and the region's first
synagogue under construction.
On December 26, unidentified persons plunged a swastika-engraved
dagger through a note that threatened: ``We should kill the Jews or
teach our children to kill them'' into a tree just outside the Chabad
house in Ulyanovsk. Chabad representative, Rabbi Yossi Marozov
discovered the note when he went to investigate after a bottle filled
with gasoline was thrown through the synagogue's front window. Police
responding to the crime recommended placement of surveillance cameras
and armed guards. The prosecutor of the Lenin region of Ulyanovsk
opened a criminal case according to the criminal code (instigation or
incitement of interethnic, racial or religious hatred or enmity). On
December 28, the prosecutor opened another case for another attack on
the building on December 27 in which two drunk 18- to 20-year-olds
entered the premises and yelled ``Get out of here now! We will cut
you!'' Then they broke a window and a mirror. In response to this
attack, the head of the Ulyanovsk Ministry of Internal Affairs
personally visited the scene to lead the investigation. One of the
suspects was detained.
In May 2005 a fire deemed by the authorities to be arson destroyed
the historic synagogue of Malakhovka on the outskirts of Moscow.
Authorities detained the main suspect, Andrey Terekhov, a few days
after the incident after he broke into a Christian church in
Malakhovka. At the trial, which began in December 2005, the court
convicted Terekhov of setting the fire in order to eliminate evidence
of his robbery and sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine.
In December 2005, according to a press report, a suspect was
sentenced to four years in prison in connection with the arson of the
Jewish community center in the Moscow suburb of Saltykovka, which was
hit by arson in January and again in February 2005. The suspect denied
being an anti-Semite and said that he could not explain his motivation
for the arson. The prosecutors found no criminal substance in his
actions and closed the case.
The synagogue in the Perovo district of Moscow was vandalized in
January and again in February 2005. In July 2005 unknown persons
attempted to start a fire at the Jewish center in Penza and the Jewish
Center in Taganrog was vandalized. In March a brick was thrown through
the window of the Jewish center in Penza.
Many Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and were often prosecuted as
hooliganism rather than as hate crimes. Desecration of Jewish
cemeteries occurred in Volograd, with 30 gravestones destroyed on the
65th anniversary of the Babi Yar mass-killing of Jews (September 27);
in Nizhny Novgorod (May 6); and in Omsk (April 20). On October 16,
2005, vandals toppled and broke at least fifty tombstones, and Vandals
also desecrated graves in the settlement of Khokhryaki near Izhevsk
(November 2005), Kostroma (October 2005), in Velikiye Luki (September
2005), Tambov (August 29 and August 31, 2005). Most of these cases were
classified as vandalism. Two cases, however, were classified as
vandalism with ethnic and religious hate motivation: on October 6,
2005, vandals desecrated approximately seventy Jewish graves in St.
Petersburg and in August 2005 vandals also desecrated graves in Tver.
Earlier in 2005, vandals desecrated Jewish cemeteries in Kazan, Moscow,
Saratov, Petrozavodsk, Makhachkala, Irkutsk, and St. Petersburg. In
late May 2005, vandals painted swastikas on 26 Jewish tombstones in the
Jewish section of Kazan's Arskoye Cemetery. The Federation of Jewish
Communities reported that the authorities were investigating the
incident as a hate crime and the Kazan City Council issued a statement
condemning the attack. In May 2005 vandals desecrated Jewish graves at
the Vostryakovskoye Cemetery, near Moscow; the case was being treated
as a hate crime rather than simple ``hooliganism.''
In October a group of youths associated with the extremist group
Russian National Unity were detained on suspicion of vandalizing Muslim
and Jewish graves in the Tver region. They destroyed over 170 Jewish
and Tatar graves and sprayed swastikas and offensive slogans about Jews
and Muslims. A criminal investigation was opened under the criminal
code article which deals with outrages upon the deceased and their
burial places for reason of national, ethnic, racial, or religious
hatred or enmity, which is punishable by a prison sentence of up to
three years.
In April 2005 Nazi posters reportedly appeared in Petrozavodsk,
Karelia Republic, on the anniversary of Hitler's birth. Although two
students were arrested five days later, no criminal case was initiated.
Law enforcement officials reprimanded the students and released them.
Such posters did not appear during the year in the region.
In 2004, according to the Anti-Defamation League, two skinheads
were arrested for the attack earlier in the month on Aleksey Kozlov, a
human rights activist and anti-Semitism monitor, in Voronezh. The crime
was treated as a misdemeanor, and the case was later closed with no
further action taken by police.
Some State Duma deputies and other prominent figures expressed
anti-Semitic sentiments. In May two Duma members reportedly made anti-
Semitic comments while speaking at an April 29 gathering in St.
Petersburg organized by the Union of Russian People. Addressing the
group Duma Deputy Igor Rodionov reportedly claimed that ``today our
country is ruled by a Jewish mafia.'' In January 2005 approximately 500
persons, including 20 State Duma members, wrote to the Office of the
Prosecutor General asking that he conduct an investigation of the
country's Jewish organizations with the possibility of initiating
proceedings to ban them. The letter charged that a Russian translation
of a compilation of ancient Jewish law, the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh,
incited hatred against non-Jews; the letter also accused Jews of ritual
murders. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the letter, as did
President Putin in remarks delivered in Krakow in late January 2005. In
February 2005 the State Duma passed a resolution condemning the letter.
In March 2005 approximately 5,000 persons, reportedly including a
number of Russian Orthodox clerics and some prominent cultural figures,
signed a similar anti-Semitic letter sent to the Office of the
Prosecutor General. A Moscow district prosecutor opened an
investigation into the Jewish organization that published the
translation, as well as into charges brought by Jewish and human rights
organizations that the letters violated federal laws against ethnic
incitement, but closed both investigations in early June 2005 without
bringing charges. Later in June 2005, the Moscow city prosecutor
ordered the district prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the
Jewish organization. The prosecutor closed the investigation again in
late June 2005. In January some of the deputies who had signed the
letter said in an interview that the letter had been the ``right step.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, human rights organizations
made numerous attempts to prosecute the authors of the ``Letter of
500.'' However, their attempts were unsuccessful.
The human rights ombudsman for the Komi Republic was placed under
investigation by the local prosecutor's office after making an anti-
Semitic comment in an interview with a local paper, according to a
December 20 article in the Komi edition of the national daily Moskovsky
Komsomolets. Prosecutors were considering hate speech charges against
Leonid Vokuev after he used the phrase ``A kike is a kike, even in
Africa'' in an interview with the newspaper Zyryanskaya Zhizhn. Vokuev
responded to the investigation by publicly denying any intent to insult
Jews and at the same time refusing to apologize: ``I don't think I did
anything shameful and can say from the bottom of my heart that I have
never insulted anyone.''
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), there were several
cases against the editors of regional newspapers for publishing anti-
Semitic articles. On October 19, Vladimir Vostryagov from Vladimir was
found guilty of fueling ethnic discord. Vostryagov received a 1 1/2
year suspended sentence for publishing and distributing an unregistered
Vest newspaper that called for the extermination of Jews. According to
prosecutors, these articles were anti-Semitic. On November 27, Uriy
Ekishev, a writer from Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, was sentenced to 1 1/2
years of imprisonment for anti-Semitic articles published in
Stenogramma newspaper and statements at a nationalistic rally. On
December 13 in Novosibirsk, Boris Mironov--former head of the Russian
Publishing Committee--was indicted for fueling ethnic discord. The
criminal case of Mironov started two years ago in connection with
newspaper articles that were published during the 2003 regional
election campaign, in which Mironov was a candidate for the region's
governor position. In Ulyanovsk in January 2005 preliminary hearings
were held arising out of a criminal case initiated in 2002 against the
editor of the local newspaper, Orthodox Simbirsk, who ran a number of
articles demonizing Jews. The Federation of Jewish Communities,
reported that the editor of the newspaper was fired, although the ADL
noted that in March 2005, Ulyanovsk Governor Morozov promised to
provide government financial support to keep the newspaper from going
bankrupt. According to ADL, in February 2005 the St. Petersburg
prosecutor's office reopened a case against ``Our Fatherland'' which
has reportedly published anti-Semitic articles.
Anti-Semitic statements have been legally prosecuted and the
Government has publicly denounced nationalist ideology and expressed
support for legal action against anti-Semitic acts; however, some
lower-level officials remained reluctant to call such acts anything
other than ``hooliganism.'' State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov stated
that, ``Any expression of extremism is unacceptable. If existing
legislative measures are not enough, then, possibly, they need to be
strengthened.''
The support of federal authorities, and in many cases regional and
local authorities, facilitated the establishment of new Jewish
institutions. On June 26, Arkadiy Gaydamak, President of the Congress
of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia, and Chief
Rabbi of Russia Adolph Shayevich signed an investment contract
regarding the construction of a Moscow Jewish community center. Work
began on the $100 million (2.7 billion rubles) complex on land donated
by the Moscow city government to house Jewish community institutions,
including a school, a hospital, and a major new museum devoted to the
history of the country's Jews, the Holocaust, and tolerance.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights;
however, the Government placed restrictions on freedom of movement
within the country and on migration.
All adults are issued internal passports, which they must carry
while traveling internally, and they are expected to register with the
local authorities within a specified time of their arrival at their new
location. Authorities often refused to provide governmental services to
individuals without internal passports or the proper registration. The
official grace period for registration given to an individual arriving
in a new location is 90 days; however, darker skinned persons from the
Caucasus or Central Asia were often singled out for document checks.
There were many credible reports that police arbitrarily imposed fines
on unregistered persons in excess of legal requirements or demanded
bribes from them.
Although the law gives citizens the right to choose their place of
residence freely, many regional governments continued to restrict this
right through residential registration rules that closely resembled
Soviet-era regulations. Citizens moving permanently must register to
reside, work or obtain education for their children in a specific area
within seven days of moving there; those who are temporarily residing
in a new place can stay 90 days before they are required to register.
Citizens changing residence within the country and migrants, as well as
persons with a legal claim to citizenship who decide to move to the
country from other former Soviet republics, often faced great
difficulties or simply were not permitted to register in some cities.
Corruption in the registration process in local police precincts
remained a problem. There were frequent reports of police demanding
bribes when processing registration applications and during spot checks
for registration documentation. In 2004 Krasnodar Kray authorities
enacted a law that extended the definition of ``illegal migrant'' to
include Russian citizens as well as foreign citizens and stateless
persons.
Following the September arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia,
a diplomatic feud erupted, which resulted in an anti-Georgian campaign
against the approximately one million Georgians who live in the
country. Officially, the Georgians were deported for violations of
migration legislation. Law enforcement officials were reportedly
instructed to step up actions against Georgians. Other anti-Georgian
actions included raids on Georgian businesses, police orders for
schools to produce lists of Georgian students, and severed
transportation and postal links. The actions against Georgians were
criticized as illegal by the state human rights body, civil society
institutions, and the Human Rights Council. The council also called the
actions a wave of ``selective persecution'' against Georgians.
According to the Georgian parliamentary ad hoc Investigatory Commission
Studying Actions Carried Out by the Russian Federation Against Georgian
Citizens, as of October 31 the immigration service had issued decisions
on deportation of 2,598 Georgian citizens, out of which about 1,140
were actually deported. As of December 28, commission head Nika
Gvaramia said that the number of deportees had increased to between
3,800 and 4,000. The commission officially recorded the deaths of three
people while in detention.
Unlike previous years, Krasnodar Kray authorities did allow some
Meskhetian Turks to obtain residence permits (propiskas) in Krasnodar
Kray if they had obtained Russian passports in other regions.
Meskhetian Turks without Russian passports were denied the right to
register, however, which deprived them of all rights of citizenship to
which they were entitled under the law. Krasnodar authorities continued
to prohibit Meskhetian Turks who were not registered in Krasnodar from
leasing land, obtaining employment or engaging in commercial activity.
Because of the difficult conditions in Krasnodar, about 23,000
Meskhetian Turks applied for emigration to a third country, and
Krasnodar officials cooperated in facilitating their departure. As
almost 11,000 Meskhetian Turks departed from Krasnodar since 2004 human
rights groups and other observers reported a significant decline in
arbitrary fines, public statements, and other forms of harsh treatment
used previously by authorities against the community. Authorities
continued to refuse to grant permanent residency to those wishing to
remain in Krasnodar, depriving them of the rights of citizenship to
which they were entitled under the law. They and some other ethnic
minorities living in Krasnodar were permitted only temporary
registration and were subjected to special restrictions, such as being
required to reregister every 45 days. There have been reports, however,
that police continued to arbitrarily fine those who were not
emigrating. Human rights NGOs reported that police stopped and checked
persons who looked like Meskhetian Turks, immediately releasing those
who declared their intention to emigrate and penalizing others.
The law provides for freedom to travel abroad and citizens
generally did so without restriction; however, there were exceptions.
If a citizen had been given access to classified material, police and
FSB clearances were necessary to receive an external passport. Persons
denied travel documents on secrecy grounds could appeal the decision to
an Interagency Commission on Secrecy chaired by the first deputy
minister of foreign affairs.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
The law provides all citizens with the right to emigrate and this
right was generally respected. In some cases those trying to depart for
countries that had granted them refugee status experienced logistical
delays in gaining exit permission.
As of June 30, 6,941 Russian citizens had sought asylum in foreign
countries, a decrease from the 21,633 appeals filed during 2005. Many
persons fleeing Chechnya applied for refugee status.
The law exempts the estimated 1.5 million former Soviet citizens
residing in the country without benefit of citizenship from having to
meet most requirements for naturalization. In essence, this reaffirmed
earlier provisions that granted citizenship to persons with Soviet
citizenship who were legally in the country as of February 6, 1992.
However, authorities have not always been willing to recognize the
acquisition of citizenship on this basis. On January 5, President Putin
signed an amendment extending the deadline for former Soviet citizens
to obtain citizenship until January 1, 2008 and simplifying some
earlier requirements. In addition the new law extended the right to
seek citizenship to those who obtained a resident permit in the country
after January 1, 2002, increasing the number of persons potentially
eligible for citizenship.
International agreements permit persons with outstanding warrants
from other former Soviet states to be detained for periods of up to one
month while the prosecutor general investigates the nature of those
warrants. This system was reinforced by means of informal links among
senior law enforcement and security officials in many of the republics
of the former Soviet Union. Human rights groups continued to allege
that this network was employed to detain opposition figures from the
other former Soviet republics without legal grounds.
In June 2005 authorities detained 12 Uzbek citizens, one Kyrgyz
citizen, and one ethnic Uzbek with Russian citizenship on a request
from Uzbek authorities. The arrests occurred following violence in the
Uzbek city of Andijon; their relationship to events in Andijon was
unclear. The Russian citizen was subsequently released and left Russia
for a third country after Russian officials moved to revoke his
citizenship. The remaining 13 requested asylum in Russia because they
feared persecution if they were sent back to Uzbekistan, but the
Federal Migration Service denied their requests and Russian courts
upheld that decision. They also applied for refugee status, which was
rejected on January 17 and in subsequent appeals. In August the Office
of the Prosecutor General announced that the 13 would be deported to
Uzbekistan. The deportations were not carried out, however, after the
intervention of the ECHR. Although Russian law limited the period in
which an individual could be held to 180 days, officials refused to
release members of the group when this period expired in December.
Two other Uzbek citizens were detained in Novosibirsk in November
2005 under a similar request from Uzbek authorities.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--At year's end 20,070 IDPs
from Chechnya were in temporary settlements or in the private sector in
Ingushetiya; approximately 30,000 Chechen IDPs reportedly were
elsewhere in the country, and an estimated 200,000 Chechens were living
as IDPs within Chechnya itself. In addition to ethnic Chechen IDPs,
almost the entire population of ethnic Russians, Armenians, and Jews
left Chechnya during the strife of the past decade.
During the year Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov reaffirmed
that efforts should be made for IDPs to return home but noted they
should do so on a voluntary basis. Chechen and Ingush migration service
officials jointly conducted another re-registration of IDPs in
Ingushetiya, deregistering IDPs and trying to convince others to return
to Chechnya.
Officials stated publicly that they would not pressure or compel
IDPs to return to Chechnya. However, the UNHCR reported that government
officials stated their intention to deregister those IDPs who had
received compensation from federal assistance lists and indicated that
52 families were deregistered in June 2005. Those who were deregistered
faced the threat of eviction from their accommodations in temporary
settlements, despite their willingness to pay for the accommodation.
Although some of the inhabitants chose to remain in Ingushetiya, the
UNHCR estimated that 70 to 75 percent chose to return to Chechnya
despite the inadequacy of the temporary lodging. For example, in August
the Government of Chechnya submitted to UNHCR a list of 169 IDP
families, largely from Ingushetia, willing to return to Chechnya. The
UNHCR along with the local NGO Vesta recorded 699 individual returns to
Chechnya from Ingushetiya during the first six months of the year.
The UNHCR reported that, despite passport checks and occasional
security sweeps that continued in IDP settlements, IDPs were generally
able to remain in Ingushetiya without any pressure to return (see
section 1.g.). The UNHCR reported that those who returned during a
spring and summer campaign by the Government did not return due to
undue government influence. However, other international and domestic
organizations expressed concerns during the year over the Government's
treatment of Chechen IDPs in Ingushetiya. In 2005 the Norwegian Refugee
Council noted that IDPs were frequently denied status as ``forced
migrants'' under Russian law, which severely limited their access to
social benefits and protection. Others living in regions outside
Chechnya were often denied residential registration by local
authorities, in what the council characterized as discriminatory
practices against Chechens.
The UNHCR also reported that progovernment Chechen authorities
undertook an extensive campaign to return Chechen refugees from
Georgia, with the first returnees arriving in Chechnya in May 2005. The
UNHCR reported that the returns were voluntary.
In April Chechen Prime Minister Kadyrov announced that all
temporary accommodation centers in Chechnya should be closed because
they fostered drug addiction, prostitution, and other criminal behavior
and because many persons living there could return to their homes.
According to the UNHCR, five temporary accommodation centers across
Chechnya were closed during the year, with many of those residents
moving to other centers (see section 5).
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for granting of asylum or
refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, but the Government has
not established a system for providing protection to refugees. In
practice, the Government generally provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution; however, it rarely granted asylum. Individuals who sought
entry into the country without proper documentation and who sought to
claim asylum were often denied access to the Federal Migration Service
by border guards and Aeroflot airlines and often returned them to their
countries of origin, including in some cases to countries where they
demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution. The UNHCR stated that
many refugee seekers at times faced detention, deportation, fines by
police, and racially motivated assaults, which sometimes even led to
the loss of life.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and the International
Organization for Migration (IOM); both organizations assisted the
Government in trying to develop a more humane migration management
system. The UNHCR reported improved communication with the Federal
Migration Service on regulatory provisions and practices that do not
meet international standards. The UNHCR reported that the number of
active, registered cases of asylum seekers and refugees continued to
decline during year. At year's end it had 3,196 such cases. In 2005 it
had 3,789 cases. The Government acted more expeditiously and with
greater leniency in cases involving applicants who had been citizens of
the former Soviet Union. Officials and would-be applicants continued to
demonstrate widespread ignorance of refugee law.
Russian authorities deported Uzbek citizen Rustam Muminov in
October for administrative violations, after a local court in Lipetsk
had refused to order his extradition and ordered him set free. In 2005,
Uzbek authorities sought his extradition on charges of being a member
of HT. Muminov was deported after being arrested in Moscow, despite
seeking refugee status, and a Moscow court later ruled in October the
deportation had been illegal. Migration officials later said the
deportation had been a mistake.
During the year four cases of deportation proceedings were reported
to the UNHCR, including the case of Rustam Muminov.
In another example in 2005, authorities in Tatarstan deported an
Uzbek student, Marsel Isayev, to Uzbekistan, where he was held
incommunicado for 10 days after he refused to cooperate with
authorities, according to the migrants' rights NGO Civic Assistance.
The student was reportedly pressured by Russian authorities to provide
false evidence against classmates accused of being members of the
banned HT. Isayev appealed his deportation unsuccessfully to the
courts; intervention of Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin was also
unsuccessful. Marsel Isayev, was deported based on a court decision for
violating registration rules. His family remained in Tatarstan.
According to NGO Civic Assistance, during the year Bakhrom
Dadazhenov was accused of associating with an extremist group in a
high-profile case in Arzamas, Nizhniy Novgorod. The court proceedings
were reportedly based on fabricated evidence. NGO Civic Assistance's
intervention helped prevent his family's deportation, and they were
seeking asylum in a foreign country.
In November two brothers from Uzbekistan were deported from the
Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk for allegedly violating Russian
immigration laws and were handed over to Uzbek authorities. The two,
who had lived in Krasnoyarsk since the beginning of the year, were
arrested in September on charges of participating in HT.
An FSB spokesperson reported to the press that 19 Uzbek citizens
had been extradited since January. The fate of many deportees is
unknown to their families.
In 2005 the approximately 1,500 Armenian refugees who were held in
``temporary quarters'' for almost two decades were granted citizenship.
The UNHCR continued to be concerned about the situation of asylum
seekers and refugees in the country. The UNHCR reported that
undocumented asylum seekers continued to face problems with law
enforcement bodies over their status in the country. The Government
does not issue documents to asylum seekers who are awaiting review of
their requests for asylum; consequently, they remained vulnerable to
fines and detention, as well as being denied access to government-
provided assistance. At Sheremytevo Airport, authorities systematically
deported improperly documented passengers before they were able to file
asylum claims with the Federal Migration Service, including persons who
demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution in their countries of
origin. Legally bound to provide food and emergency medical care for
undocumented travelers, the airlines returned them to their point of
departure as quickly as possible; airlines were fined if an
undocumented passenger was admitted to the country but not if the
passenger was returned to the country of origin. The treatment of
asylum seekers in the transit zone reportedly was harsh.
During the year the UNHCR reported two instances of would-be
asylees being stranded at the Sheremytevo-2 Airport. Although
authorities had been housing asylum seekers in a nearby hotel rather
than requiring they remain in the transit zone, this arrangement ended
when the hotel was sold. According to the UNHCR there was an Iranian
family staying in the transit zone after seeking asylum upon arriving
in the country after being turned back by German authorities. The
family fled Iran after the mother had been imprisoned for dissident
activities. None of these cases were recognized by either the Federal
Migration Service or the UNHCR as a refugee. In the additional case,
the would-be asylum seeker's claim was rejected by both Russian
authorities and UNHCR.
To the UNHCR's knowledge, no asylum seeker arriving at Sheremytevo-
2 Airport had been accepted since at least 1999. UNHCR received three
applications at the Sheremetyevo-2 PIC during the year. Most cases
involved labor migrants entering or leaving the country, but a few
cases involved asylum seekers. During the year the UNHCR continued to
examine each case and seek resettlement on an emergency basis for those
deemed to be in need of international protection.
While federal law provides for education for all children, regional
authorities frequently denied access to schools to children of asylum
seekers if they lacked residential registration. Authorities frequently
deny migrants and Russian citizens the right to work if they do not
have residential registration. Refugees also cannot work legally if
they are not registered, and cannot obtain registration if they are not
officially accepted as refugees by the Government.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully; while citizens generally have exercised this right in
practice, the March 2004 Presidential elections did not adequately
reflect principles necessary for a healthy democratic election,
particularly in equal access to the media by all candidates and secrecy
of the ballot. A move away from the election of governors to their
nomination by the President, subject to confirmation by regional
legislatures, led some observers to complain about reduced
accountability of regional leaders to those whom they govern. The fact
that the President could dissolve a regional parliament that rejected
Presidential nominations three times further increased this concern.
Corruption also limited accountability. During the year further
electoral amendments allowed the removal of candidates from the ballot
for ``extremism'' and forbade negative campaigning. The Government also
did away with a minimum voter turnout to validate an election.
Elections and Political Participation.--Incumbent President
Vladimir Putin, who was first elected President in 2000, was re-elected
in March 2004 by a wide margin. The OSCE, which observed the elections,
offered a positive evaluation of the technical conduct of the balloting
but concluded that the overall election process, marred by widespread
misuse of administrative resources, systematically biased campaign
coverage, and inequitable treatment of political parties, failed to
meet international standards. Although the legal requirements for
televised political debates and free time for party candidates to
present their views were observed, the Government used its influence
over the media, particularly the electronic media, to promote President
Putin, resulting in coverage that was heavily biased (see section
2.a.).
In the November 2005 parliamentary elections in Chechnya, human
rights groups and members of a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe fact-finding mission who were present alleged that the official
voter turnout numbers were artificially high. Human rights groups also
concluded that poor security and continuing human rights violations did
not allow for a free and fair election in Chechnya. Other reports
suggested that the results of the election were predetermined in favor
of candidates loyal to then acting Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan
Kadyrov, although the Chechen Central Election Commission reported
there were no complaints of election law violations filed by parties or
candidates.
Regional elections were held on October 8. Many political actors
and analysts claimed that the proPresidential majority party, United
Russia, had unfairly used administrative resources to sway results.
There were no allegations, however, regarding misuse of the media.
Additionally, parties in some regions alleged that votes had been
mistallied. In the Tuva Republic, political party election monitors
complained of nearly being prevented from reaching polling stations.
Voter turnout was slightly lower than predicted. In particular, in
Karelia turnout decreased significantly from almost 50 percent in 2002
to just over 33 percent. This decrease, however, was not attributed to
voters being prevented from voting.
On October 19, unknown assailants killed mayoral candidate Dmitry
Fotyanov in the town of Dalnegorsk. As he was killed days before a
runoff election, many believe this was politically motivated; the
prosecutor general's office stated it was looking into whether the
murder was connected with the elections (see section 1.a.).
Competitive elections for other regional and local offices were
held throughout the year. Most observers viewed these elections as
generally free and fair, although there were problems in some regions
involving unequal access to the media and the use of administrative
resources by incumbents to support their candidacies. The counting of
the votes in most locations was professionally done.
Laws enacted and implemented in 2005, particularly those
eliminating direct gubernatorial elections, contributed to the
consolidation of the Government's political power. For example, the law
specifies that, for future national elections, the State Duma will be
chosen strictly on the basis of party lists. Electoral blocs will be
banned and the threshold for a party to be represented in the State
Duma will be raised to 7 percent of the vote. According to some
experts, the laws worked to the disadvantage of parties not currently
represented in the State Duma. In addition the electoral law limits
domestic observation of federal elections, a provision that may have
already created difficulties for NGOs hoping to observe one regional
election. The laws also provide that all regional legislative elections
will be held on two dates a year and established a 7 percent threshold
for parties to enter regional legislatures. Some commentators saw these
laws as primarily benefiting the proPresidential United Russia party
and limiting the independent observer's ability to monitor future
elections; whereas others thought the single election date would reduce
the potential for fraud.
Another law provides that republic Presidents and regional
governors be nominated by the President subject to confirmation by
regional legislatures. If a regional legislature fails to confirm the
President's nominee three times, the legislature may be dissolved.
Regional leaders in power when the law entered into force in 2004 were
given the option of either serving out their elected terms or resigning
early and seeking a Presidential appointment to serve a new term. The
President also acquired the power to remove the regional leaders in
whom he had lost confidence, including those who were popularly
elected. At the end of 2005, the new system of choosing regional heads
had been used in almost half of the country's regions. By year's end no
regional legislature has failed to confirm a President's nominee and
the new system has spread throughout the country's regions. The law
gives the President significant influence over the federal legislative
branch, since regional leaders appoint half of the upper house of that
legislature, the Federation Council. In December 2005 President Putin
signed a new law that allows political parties that have won elections
to regional parliaments to propose their own candidates for head of a
region subject to approval by the President and that region's
legislature.
Election laws were further amended this year. In July the option
``against all candidates'' was eliminated from ballots. In December
further amendments abolished early voting and the requirement for a
minimal voter turnout, expanded circumstances under which a candidate
may be removed from the ballot (including for vaguely-defined
``extremist'' behavior), and prohibited ``negative'' campaigning in
television ad spots. There are concerns among commentators that
candidates may be arbitrarily removed from ballots, thereby reducing
voter choice.
Political parties historically have been weak. Although the law
includes a number of measures to enlarge the role of political parties,
particularly of established political groupings, it also gives the
executive branch and prosecutor general broad powers to regulate,
investigate, and close parties. Other provisions limit campaign
spending, set specific campaign periods, establish conditions under
which candidates can be removed from the ballot, and provide for
restrictions on campaign materials. To be registered as a political
party, the law requires groups to have at least 50,000 members with at
least 500 representatives in half of the country's regions and no fewer
than 250 members in the remaining regions, making it difficult for
smaller parties to register. Galina Fokina, acting head of the Federal
Registration Service announced that, as of December 31, of the 35
political parties that applied for reregistration in accordance with
the amended and more demanding law, only 19 passed the inspection,
although two decided to register as ``public associations.'' As a
result, the 15 parties that did not pass the inspection must re-
register as public organizations, movements, or NGOs or be dissolved
through court procedures.
On July 28, President Putin signed into law amendments to
legislation ``On Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many
that the law may restrict activities of political parties, the media,
and NGOs and legitimate criticism of the Government. Critics say that
it could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs and opposition
political parties during the 2007-08 election cycle (see sections 2.b.
and 4).
On December 12, government agents, both police and FSB, raided the
offices of the political organization United Civil Front headed by
Garry Kasparov. The officers had an order to search the premises due to
suspicions of ``extremist activity.'' The agents seized books and
material promoting the ``March of the Non-Agreers''--a demonstration
planned for December 16 against President Putin's government. Although
no charges were brought and the demonstration was held, albeit under
the watchful eye of government security forces, some view this as an
example of how the Government is using the new law on extremism against
opposition.
There were 44 women in the 450-member State Duma (there were
currently 445 Duma deputies--some seats were unfilled), and 10 women in
the Federation Council. A woman, Lyubov Sliska, served as First Deputy
Speaker of the Duma. Svetlana Orlova was a Deputy Chair of the
Federation Council, and Valentina Petrenko chaired the Federation
Council's Social Policy Committee. One woman, Valentina Matviyenko,
served as governor of a prominent region, St. Petersburg.
National minorities took an active part in political life; however,
ethnic Russians, who by some estimates constituted approximately 80
percent of the population, dominated the political and administrative
system, particularly at the federal level.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--The country is still to
complete the transition from a former communist state to a modern
democratic society based fully on the rule of law and a free market
economy. Corruption was widespread throughout society, a conclusion
supported by domestic opinion surveys, and was extensive in the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches at the federal and
regional levels of government. Manifestations included bribery of
officials, misuse of budgetary resources, theft of government property,
kickbacks in the procurement process, extortion, and official collusion
in criminal acts. International organizations gave the country poor
marks on corruption issues. In an October Transparency International
report, the country received a score of 2.5 on the organization's 10
point index of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist
among a country's politicians and public officials, indicating a
perception that the country has a serious corruption problem. Many
public institutions remained weak. The media lacked a strong tradition
of investigative journalism, although a number of journalists
throughout the country reported on corruption cases, sometimes
resulting in prosecution of the alleged offenders. In general, however,
citizens lacked a broad range of outlets to voice their views
concerning corruption or to lodge complaints about its existence. The
principal exception is the work of some regional anticorruption
committees who follow corruption at the city and state level. Business
associations were also active watchdogs of corruption in some regions.
President Putin and senior government officials frequently
addressed the issue in public statements, and many jurisdictions
throughout the country established local anticorruption committees. An
anticorruption conference that brought together representatives from
several regional coalitions was held October 26 in Moscow. Several
regional anticorruption committees have organized successful projects
including: week-long anticorruption festivals, television spots,
corruption report cards for local officials, and committees to evaluate
draft laws for corruption loopholes. These efforts were largely
isolated to particular regions.
Various initiatives were undertaken at the federal level, with
indeterminate results. Most anticorruption campaigns tended to be
limited in scope and focused on lower-level officials. Allegations of
corruption were also used as a political tactic, which made it more
difficult to determine the actual extent of corruption. Prosecutor
General Yuri Chayka took office in June and made several statements
about the problem of corruption. Although no new major corruption
convictions occurred during the year, the prosecutor general's office
claimed 9,000 bribery cases were uncovered through August. In August-
September, prosecutors identified 47,000 incidences of corruption and
initiated approximately 600 criminal cases. There were several high-
profile dismissals of government officials following President Putin's
annual State-of-the-Nation address May 10, including employees of the
Federal Customs Service, the Federal Security Service, the Interior
Ministry, and some regional governors and mayors. So far, none of them
have been formally charged with corruption.
However, there was a widely publicized allegation of major
corruption in October 2005 involving the videotaped handover of $1
million (26.5 million rubles) to a federal tax inspector by a
commercial bank officer. Both the federal tax inspector and the Central
Bank official with whom he was cooperating were charged and remained in
detention, but the case had not yet reached court at year's end. The
tax inspector and the Central Bank official were asking a commercial
bank for a bribe in return for eliminating tax claims against the bank.
In June a senior auditing official in the Ministry of Industry and
Energy was arrested and indicted for allegedly accepting a bribe. In
August the Moscow City Court sentenced the official to seven years in
prison for bribe-taking.
The law authorizes public access to all government information
resources unless the information is designated confidential or
classified as a state secret, and refusal to provide access to open
information or the groundless classification of information as a state
secret has been successfully contested in court. However, access to
information is often difficult, and subject to prolonged bureaucratic
procedures.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Although a number of domestic and international human rights groups
operated in the country, investigating and publicly commenting on human
rights problems, official harassment of NGOs increased. Authorities
harassed some NGOs that focused on politically sensitive areas during
the year, and other official actions and statements indicated a
declining level of tolerance for unfettered NGO activity, particularly
for those NGOs that received foreign funding. NGOs operating in the
Northern Caucasus were at times hampered, although these organizations
had wider access than in the past.
An estimated 20-25 percent of the approximately 450,000 registered
public associations and nongovernmental, noncommercial organizations
were regularly active. The vast majority were engaged in social or
charitable activities, although many were working to influence policy
and were critical of the Government. There were several dozen large NGO
umbrella organizations as well as thousands of small grassroots NGOs.
There was often a large gap between these two categories of NGOs in
terms of their organizational capacity. In the regions NGO coalitions
continued to advocate on such issues as the rights of the disabled and
of entrepreneurs, environmental degradation, violations by law
enforcement authorities, and the war in Chechnya.
On January 10, President Putin signed into law legislation
providing strict measures to oversee NGOs and requiring their
registration with the Federal Registration Service. After vocal
criticism of the draft bill from the civil society sector and foreign
governments, some controversial measures, such as the banning of
subsidiaries of international NGOs and the required notification for
informal groups, were dropped. The law, which entered into force on
April 10, imposes more stringent registration requirements for NGOs,
particularly the branch and representational offices of foreign NGOs,
strict monitoring of organizations, extensive reporting requirements on
NGO programming and activities, and some limitations on the
participation of foreign citizens in NGOs. The law also permits more
intrusive means for government officials to scrutinize NGOs, including
``public associations,'' with very limited procedural protections and
grants the Federal Registration Service discretion to deny registration
or shut down an organization based on vague and subjective criteria
(see section 2.b.). All foreign NGOs were expected to register with the
Federal Registration Service by October 18. While several organizations
submitting applications reported difficulties obtaining approval from
the Federal Registration Service, it appeared that most of these
problems were bureaucratic, rather than political, in nature even
though the process entailed a time-consuming and burdensome process of
multiple editorial revisions that most organizations did not anticipate
. By year's end most foreign NGOs that applied had been registered (197
total), with only a handful still awaiting final approval. All NGOs
operating in the country will have to submit periodic reports to the
Federal Registration Service in 2007 that disclose, particularly by
foreign NGOs, potentially sensitive information, including sources of
foreign funding and detailed information as to how funds are used. The
reporting requirements will not begin to affect domestic NGOs until
April 2007, therefore it was unclear how extensive the process will be
and whether it could be used in a punitive fashion to limit the
activities of selected organizations.
On July 28, President Putin signed amendments to the law ``On
Countering Extremism,'' despite concerns among many that they may
restrict activities of political parties, the media, and NGOs as well
as legitimate criticism of the Government. The revised law expands the
definition of extremist activity to include public libel of a
government official or his family, as well as public statements that
could be construed as justifying or excusing terrorism. Critics noted
that the law could be used to stifle politically sensitive NGOs and
opposition political parties during the 2007-2008 election cycle (see
section 2.b.).
The Government continued to scrutinize organizations that it
considered to have an opposition political agenda. Numerous human
rights and opposition groups reported politically motivated hostility
from the Government. During the year the Government damaged the public
image of the NGO community with statements that NGOs are suspicious
organizations funded by foreign governments. Government accusations
that implied connections between foreign-funded NGOs and alleged
espionage by resident diplomats increased public perceptions that NGOs
serve foreign interests and fuel instability.
The new ``Law on the General Principles of Organization of Local
Self-Governance in the Russian Federation,'' which went into effect
January 1, provides more opportunities for NGOs to participate in
policy-making at the local level. The law creates participatory
mechanisms such as referendums, municipal elections, public hearings,
law-making initiatives, community forums, and citizen surveys. The law
requires public participation in drafting the charters for municipal
entities, planning local development and budgets, deciding land use
issues, and other activities. The Vladivostok Public Chamber advocated
for transparent decision-making on adoption of the city's charter, and
negotiation of lower tariffs for communal services.
While NGO advocacy efforts were sometimes hindered by a lack of
unity and leadership, there were examples of successful advocacy
campaigns. For example, efforts of the Primorye Coalition Against
Corruption resulted in several new laws and amendments passed by the
Primorskiy Kray and Vladivostok city governments, including a law
regulating citizen access to public information, new provisions
regulating conflicts of interests and gifts to public officials, and
the establishment of a ``one-stop-shop'' for public services. Early in
the year, the Free Choice Motorists' Movement headed a campaign to
overturn the conviction of a driver charged in a fatal crash with an
official vehicle in 2005 and persuade the Government to limit, for the
safety of the driving public, the number of official vehicles that are
allowed to use blue lights and sirens to by-pass traffic.
On October 13, a Nizhniy Novgorod court ruled that the RCFS should
be shut down after its executive director, Stanislav Dmitriyevskiy, was
convicted of inciting racial hatred on February 3 (see section 2.b.).
It was the first case in which courts shut down an NGO under new NGO
legislation. Dmitriyevskiy was given a suspended two-year sentence and
four years of probation for publishing statements by Chechen separatist
leaders in RCFS's Pravozaschita newspaper; the Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast
Court subsequently upheld the verdict. Under the NGO law, Dmitriyevsky
lost his right to found or participate in any public association;
however, Dmitriyevsky remained in his position while the RCFS pursued
its appeals. Authorities dropped a tax evasion case against the RCFS in
March, and the tax inspectorate discontinued pursuing claims for unpaid
taxes on foreign grants.
There were no developments during the year in the criminal case
that was opened after threatening leaflets were distributed near the
home of RCFS coeditor Oksana Chelysheva in September 2005. The leaflets
were distributed on Dmitriyevskiy's apartment block against both
Dmitriyevskiy and Chelysheva.
During the year the Nizhniy Novgorod Human Rights Society resumed
its activities, reportedly as a result of a campaign by international
organizations. In June 2005 authorities ordered the closure of the
society, a partner organization of the RCFS, on the grounds that it did
not submit necessary documentation of its activities to the Ministry of
Justice.
Authorities pursued legal action against the human rights NGO
Chechen Committee for National Salvation (CCNS) in 2005. In February
2005 the Supreme Court of Ingushetiya ordered a retrial of the
committee on charges that it had violated the law by issuing press
releases accusing authorities of violating human rights. The
organization had earlier been acquitted of the charges. Neither the
committee's chairman, Ruslan Badalov, nor his lawyer was notified of
the hearing. The retrial began in April 2005, with the court ordering a
new expert analysis of CCNS's press releases to determine if they
promoted extremism or hatred. The experts found no extremist content in
the press releases, but the trial continued. In April the court resumed
the case, but the judge refused to conduct the trial, and a new federal
judge was appointed. On April 26, the prosecutor made a new request to
carry out another assessment of the CCNS press releases and the request
was granted. In July the Supreme Court returned the Badalov case for
further consideration. The general prosecutor's office protested the
decision, and an appeal was pending at year's end.
In August 2005 State Duma Deputy Nikolay Kuryanovich, who was
criticized in a report by the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBHR),
sent a letter to the Government asking for the MBHR to be liquidated
and accusing it of collaboration with foreign intelligence. In response
to Kuryanovich's letter, several inspections were conducted by the
Federal Tax Service and the prosecutor general's office. The prosecutor
general's office did not find grounds to initiate a criminal case
against the MHRB. As of November 17, the tax service continued its
inspections of the MHRB, but had not made any claims.
There were no further official actions during the year regarding
Open Russia, an NGO founded and heavily funded by former Yukos head
Mikhail Khodorkovskiy. Open Russia's Moscow office was raided in
October 2005 by authorities, who seized documents reportedly related to
an ongoing investigation of money laundering and investigation of
possible embezzlement by Yukos employees. Authorities did not bring
charges against Open Russia; however, after Yukos declared bankruptcy,
funding to Open Russia was cut and it has since shut down.
In late July the Federal Tax Service filed a tax claim against
CILD, an NGO headed by one of former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovskiy's
lawyers, after it was audited by tax inspectors. On July 31, the Center
appealed the claim to the Federal Tax Service. The center was founded
in 1994 to assist victims of human rights violations though
international legal mechanisms, including the ECHR, the UN Committee
for Human Rights, the European Committee against Tortures, Inhuman or
Humiliating Treatment and Punishment, and others. As of December 31,
the ECHR had passed judgment on the merits of 17 cases presented by
CILD lawyers and was considering 19 additional cases. Lawyers
cooperating with the CILD accounted for approximately 8 percent of the
300 cases under ECHR consideration involving the country. The total tax
claims and fines against CILD were approximately $170,000 (4.6 million
rubles), which if collected could potentially put the NGO out of
business. The Federal Tax Service claimed that the CILD failed to pay
taxes on $500,000 (approximately 13.5 million rubles) in foreign grants
received between 2002 and 2004 (see section 2.b.).
In the regions a few local officials harassed human rights
monitors.
Some government officials viewed the activities of some NGOs
working on Chechnya with suspicion. For example, in June 2005, Lema
Khasuyev, the then-Chechen Republic's human rights ombudsman, stated
that he would not cooperate with the human rights NGO Memorial,
claiming that it was working in the interests of foreign donors.
A foreign NGO reported that central authorities continued to
pressure it and its domestic partner, the VOICE Association for Voters'
Rights, during the year. Prosecutors opened an investigation of the USC
in 2004 following the committee's announcement that it intended to meet
with Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov or his emissary Akhmed
Zakayev. State Duma deputies had called for an investigation of the
group and its finances. Tax inspectors later conducted an
investigation, but reportedly found no violations. The committee was
permitted to register as an NGO, but was denied registration as a
political party in conjunction with the Republican Party.
At times the Government's attitude towards human rights NGOs
appeared to depend on the perceived threat to national security or
level of criticism that an NGO might offer. In the view of some
observers, NGOs working in the Caucasus were particularly vulnerable to
interference. For example, in April 2005 two expatriate staff members
of the humanitarian aid NGO International Rescue Committee were denied
entry into the country although they had valid passports, visas, and
other necessary documents. Officials provided various explanations for
the denial, and the two individuals were eventually told they could re-
enter the country.
Officials, such as Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin and the
chairman of the Presidential Council on Promoting the Development of
Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, Ella Pamfilova,
regularly interacted and cooperated with NGOs.
Government and legislative officials recognized and consulted with
some NGOs, and such groups participated, with varying degrees of
success, in drafting legislation and decrees. For example, a network of
NGOs concerned with disability issues worked successfully with local
authorities in Moscow and elsewhere in the country to promote the
mainstreaming of students with disabilities into the school system and
engaged both the Ministry of Education and a State Duma working group
drafting education legislation.
Regional human rights groups generally received little
international support or attention and often suffered from inadequate
funding. They reported that at times local authorities obstructed their
work. Some domestic NGOs involved in human rights advocacy reported
receiving death threats from nationalist organizations. While these
groups were generally free to criticize government and regional
authorities, authorities in some areas were intolerant of criticism.
Local human rights groups in the regions had some opportunities to
interact with legislators to develop draft laws; however, local
authorities excluded some organizations from the process entirely.
In 2005 the Siberian Civic Initiatives Support Centers in Omsk and
Irkutsk worked with local governments to develop social policies on
education, health care, and communal reforms. In the Jewish Autonomous
Republic, Amur Oblast, and selected regions in Primorskiy Kray, NGOs
worked with local governments to encourage citizen participation in
local self-governance on issues related to implementation of the new
law on local governance.
Some international NGOs maintained small branch offices staffed by
local employees in Chechnya; however, all of them were based outside of
Chechnya (see section 1.g.).
By law every person in the country may bring cases to the ECHR for
alleged human rights violations after May 1998, provided they have
exhausted ``effective and ordinary'' appeals in the courts. This
provision was usually satisfied by two appeals (first and cassation) in
courts of ordinary jurisdiction or three (first, appeal, and cassation)
in the commercial court system. The ECHR received 8,781 complaints in
2005. Of those, 5,262 were declared inadmissible, 341 were communicated
to the federal government, and 110 were declared admissible. Eighty-one
cases resulted in findings of at least one violation by the Government,
and two cases were found to have no violations. During the year the
ECHR received 10,569 complaints. Of those, 4,856 were declared
inadmissible, 380 were communicated to the federal government, 10,177
were allocated to a decision body, and 151 declared admissible. One
hundred and two cases resulted in findings of at least one government
violation, 64 of which were based on the right to a fair trial. Ninety-
six of the judgments found at least one violation, five found no
violation, and one judgment was found ``other'' (i.e., just
satisfaction, revision judgments, preliminary objections and lack of
jurisdiction).
On October 26, the ECHR ruled in favor of four applicants from
Vologda, finding the Government in violation of their ``right to
respect for private and family life'' by refusing to assist them to
move outside a zone contaminated by pollution from the Severstal steel
plant in Cherepovets. The court ruled that the Government owed the
plaintiffs compensation and that it must resolve their untenable living
conditions, either by relocating or compensating them for new housing
outside the zone or by forcing Severstal to reduce emissions. The
Government paid the court-designated damages but had not relocated or
otherwise remedied the plaintiffs' living situation. The court ruled in
favor of the plaintiff in an identical case in June 2005.
In February 2005 the ECHR ruled in favor of six Chechen applicants,
finding the country in violation of several articles of the European
Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In these cases the
ECHR found the applicants had no effective remedy in domestic courts.
The ECHR rejected a government appeal of the rulings in July 2005 (see
section 1.g.). The Government generally paid financial judgments
ordered by the ECHR in a timely fashion; however, it issued blanket
refusals in response to ECHR requests for disclosure of the domestic
case files relating to alleged gross violations in Chechnya. The ECHR
criticized this failure of disclosure.
Human rights institutions that were a part of the Government itself
rarely challenged government activities, but sought to promote the
concept of human rights and to deal with specific abuse complaints.
Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin commented on a broad range of
human rights problems, such as the treatment of children, the rights of
prisoners, hazing in the military, and religious intolerance. During
the year Lukin spoke out against intolerance, stating that the growing
wave of ethnic, religious, sociopolitical, and ordinary human hatred
within the country is a threat to national security.
Lukin's office had approximately 200 employees and several
specialized sections responsible for investigating complaints. During
the year the office published reports on human rights issues, such as
the rights of disabled children and human rights and the modernization
of education. However, Lukin's role remained primarily consultative and
investigatory, without powers of enforcement. In October the President
signed into law amendments that considerably broadened the powers of
the human rights ombudsman's office. The new law gives the ombudsman
the right to propose parliamentary investigations into reported mass or
flagrant human rights abuses, to participate in parliamentary meetings
when the final results of investigations are presented, and to propose
State Duma hearings into the violations of citizens' rights. At the end
of November, 34 of the country's 88 regions had regional human rights
ombudsmen with responsibilities similar to Lukin's. However, the
effectiveness of the regional ombudsmen varied significantly.
The Presidential Council on Promoting the Development of
Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, headed by Ella
Pamfilova, promoted NGO concerns and worked to advance human rights in
the country. For example, from February through July, Pamfilova
organized a series of civil society events within the framework of the
G-8. The council was widely respected in the NGO community.
In January the 126-member Public Chamber of the Russian Federation
began operation. The Public Chamber was established by legislative
mandate in 2005 as a mechanism to channel public and civil society
input into legislative decision-making. Forty-two of its members (one-
third), distinguished by special services to the nation, were selected
by President Putin. These members selected another 42 representatives
nominated by national NGOs. The 84 members selected 42 representatives
from regional and interregional associations. Some prominent human
rights groups declined to participate in the chamber out of concern
that the Government would use it to increase control over civil
society. The Public Chamber's tasks are broad, relying on some 30
committees on topics ranging from juvenile justice to anticorruption to
philanthropy. Committees conduct public discussions on key issues,
review draft laws, travel to the regions to promote the role of
regional public chambers, conduct studies, and give nonbinding
recommendations to the Government and legislature. During the year the
chamber held a competition for federal grant subsidies for civil
society organizations, totaling more that $189,000 (5 million rubles).
Several hundred final awardees were approved by the Presidential
Administration, including some independent NGOs. During the year the
Public Chamber urged reversal of the conviction of the driver involved
in the car crash that killed Altai Governor Mikhail Yevdokimov, the
prevention of eviction of families from Southern Butovo in Moscow's
outskirts, and prosecution of the hazing case of Private Andrei Sychov.
The Public Chamber reviewed 18 bills during the year; however, the
State Duma largely ignored its suggestions. The overall function and
effectiveness of the Public Chamber as a check on the federal
government was unclear as of year's end.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, language,
social status, or other circumstances; however, both governmental and
societal discrimination persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, remained a
major problem, and law enforcement authorities frequently failed to
respond to incidents of domestic violence. There are no official
statistics on domestic violence in the country. Nevertheless, an
Amnesty International report estimated that approximately 36,000 women
were beaten by a husband or partner every day. Official estimates
indicated that, on average, more than 250,000 violent crimes were
committed against women annually; however, because such crimes were
usually not reported, the real figures were likely to be higher.
According to official data, 9,000 women were killed as a result of
family and domestic crimes in 2003. These crimes constituted 32 percent
of the total murders in the country. A news report stated that each
year 14,000 women are killed by their husbands.
There is no legal definition of domestic violence. While the law
prohibits battery, assault, threats, and murder, those of its
provisions most commonly applied to cases of domestic violence (such as
light injury) are not within the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's
office. ViVictims of crimes resulting in light injury are required to
prosecute such cases without state assistance, and their complaints
must satisfy certain legal requirements, which victims without legal
knowledge have difficulty meeting. As a result few cases were
prosecuted and there were few convictions. According to a survey of
discrimination against women conducted during the year, police
frequently discouraged victims from submitting complaints. Even when
victims submitted applications, the majority of domestic violence cases
were not adjudicated by the courts due to dismissal based on technical
errors in the application or the fact that justices of the peace focus
on reconciliation of the couple and preservation of the family, rather
than punishment of the perpetrator. There are minimal remedies for
domestic violence in the civil law; the most common were administrative
fines and divorce.
In 2005 22 crisis centers for women operated as part of a broader
structure of social protection institutions. Crisis services are not
focused exclusively on violence against women, although some do offer
services to domestic violence victims. NGOs operated centers for
victims of domestic violence throughout most of the country; however,
there are reportedly few domestic violence shelters. An informal
informational network affiliated with the NGO National Center for
Prevention of Violence ``Anna,'' received 85,000 complaints of domestic
violence in 2004. In 2005 ``Anna'' reported that 22 of the 170
organizations in its network closed, primarily due to lack of
financing.
Under the law rape is illegal, but in practice it is a problem. In
2004 8,795 rapes were registered, and in the first half of the year,
5,007 rapes were registered. From January to October, 7,567 rapes and
attempted rapes were reported. However, according to NGOs, many victims
never reported rape due to social stigma and lack of government
support. Rape victims can act as full legal parties to criminal cases
brought against alleged assailants and can seek legal compensation as
part of the verdict without seeking a separate civil action. Although
some crisis centers may provide support to rape victims, anecdotal
information suggested that women were discouraged from reporting rape
cases by crisis center psychologists, who considered the investigation
and prosecution process traumatizing; such advice did not reflect
official policy. Members of the medical profession, including at
hospitals and elsewhere, assisted women who were assaulted. However, to
avoid spending long periods in court, some doctors were reluctant to
ascertain the details of a sexual assault or collect physical evidence.
Spousal or acquaintance rape was not widely perceived as a problem
by society or law enforcement; studies suggested that up to half of
women and more men think that women cannot refuse sex in marriage. The
criminal code makes no distinction based on the relationship between
the rapist and victim. Women were unlikely to report cases of rape by
persons they know. Law enforcement and prosecutors held many of the
same notions and allegedly did not encourage reporting or prosecution
of such cases.
The organization and operation of a prostitution business is a
crime, but selling sexual services is only an administrative offense.
Prostitution remained widespread in the country and some observers
expressed concern about sex tourism. In addition there were reports of
prostitutes bribing police and of violence against prostitutes by
police.
Trafficking of women for sexual exploitation or forced labor was a
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and women have limited
legal recourse when sexually harassed. Sexual harassment remained a
widespread but mostly unacknowledged problem. NGOs operating hotlines
reported that women routinely sought advice on the problem. However,
due to the lack of legal remedies and limited economic opportunities,
many women tolerated harassment.
Although the law states that men and women have equal rights and
opportunities to pursue those rights, credible evidence suggested that
women encountered discrimination in employment. Job advertisements
sometimes specified sex and age groups, and some ads specified desired
physical appearance as well as a preference for applicants open to
intimate relations with the prospective supervisor. Employers often
preferred to hire men, thereby saving on maternity and childcare costs
and avoiding the perceived unreliability that accompanies the hiring of
women with small children. UN Development Program's 2005 Human
Development Report, women account for 49 percent of wage employment,
but according to official government statistics, on average women
earned only two-thirds as much as their male counterparts. Professions
dominated by women were much more poorly paid than those dominated by
men. For example, according to the UNDP, in education where women are
80 percent of the workforce, women's average wages were 23 percent
lower than those of men.
Children.--The Government expressed its commitment to children's
rights and welfare, but devoted only limited resources to the welfare
of children.
Children have the right to free education until grade 11 (or
approximately age 17), and school is compulsory until approximately age
15 or 16. Primary education is compulsory, free, and, by law,
universal. According to UNICEF statistics, 93 percent of school-age
children attended school. The highest level achieved by the majority of
children was secondary education. Boys and girls were treated equally
in the school system. While federal law provides for education for all
children in the country, regional authorities frequently denied school
access to the children of unregistered persons, including Roma, asylum
seekers, and migrants.
In Krasnodar in September producers of a documentary film about
ethnic discrimination against children reportedly had difficulties in
exporting the film footage from Russia-Krasnodar airport; airport
security officials allegedly seized the film and later returned it
damaged. Under the law health care for children is free; however, the
quality varied and individuals often incurred significant out-of-pocket
expenses. More than six years after the start of the second conflict in
Chechnya, much of that republic's social and physical infrastructure
remains destroyed or seriously damaged. As a result social services for
children were inadequate, especially in the education, health and
water, and sanitation sectors. These inadequacies, and the continued
instability in the region, continued to threaten the health and well-
being of children.
Although child abuse was a widespread problem, the majority of
child abuse cases were not subject to legal action. The Moscow Human
Rights Research Center estimated that approximately 50,000 children run
away from home annually to avoid domestic violence. The Moscow Helsinki
Group indicated that each year approximately two million children under
14 years of age were victims of domestic violence.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.)
There were reports that boys under 18 were detained as part of
targeted raids and security sweeps conducted by Russian and pro-Moscow
Chechen forces in Chechnya.
Troops in Chechnya reportedly placed Chechen boys ages 13 and older
in filtration camps where some reportedly were beaten and raped by
guards, soldiers, or other inmates. The women's action group White
Kerchief (Belyy Platok) reported that some federal forces kidnapped
children in Chechnya for ransom. In September 2004 at least 338
hostages, about half of them children, were killed after terrorists
took an estimated 1,200 hostages at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia
(see section 1.g.).
Estimates of the number of homeless children ranged from two
million to five million. During the year, according to the Russian
Statistics Committee (Goskomstat), there were 800,000 abandoned
children in the country. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
approximately 109,000 vagrant minors were removed from the streets and
public places in the first quarter of 2004 alone.
According to the Moscow Department of Social Security, 12 percent
of street children who ended up in shelters have run away from
orphanages or boarding schools. Law enforcement officials reportedly
often abused street children, pinned the blame for otherwise unsolved
crimes on them, and committed acts including extortion, illegal
detention, and psychological and sexual violence against them.
According to the Public Verdict Foundation, in 2005, prosecutors
refused to bring charges in 80 percent of cases of alleged police
misconduct towards such minors; the situation improved slightly during
the year. According to the Public Verdict Foundations, in some regions,
like in Krasnodar Kray, the situation is better than in other regions,
like in Blagoveshchensk, Amur Region.
A case was pending in Basmanniy Court of Moscow, alleging that
police abused and beat a 12-year-old boy who was detained. The case was
brought by the boy's parents with the assistance of Public Verdict
lawyers and has received some media coverage. Homeless children often
engaged in criminal activities, received no education, and were
vulnerable to drug and alcohol abuse. Some young girls on the streets
turned to, or were forced into, prostitution to survive. According to
Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics, during the first six months of
the year over 90,000 criminal offenses were committed by minors or with
minors' participation.
Local and international NGOs provided a variety of services for the
homeless. Many Moscow charitable organizations established productive
relations with the city government to address the needs of children
with disabilities, as well as other vulnerable groups. In St.
Petersburg local government and police ran various programs for
homeless children and cooperated with local NGOs; however, resources
were few and overall coordination remained poor. In St. Petersburg,
NGOs ran seven drop-in centers. There are new Web sites
www.usinovity.ru, a project of the Ministry of Education and Science,
and www.siroty.ru which provide additional information about abandoned
children. Also an increasing number of regions have children's rights
ombudsmans.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking continued to be a substantial problem, although
there is increasing awareness and sensitivity by authorities.
Allegations continued that corrupt government officials facilitated
trafficking, although it remained difficult to ascertain the scope of
such corruption. The Government at all levels remained committed to
combat trafficking, and investigations and prosecutions significantly
increased, from 11 in 2004 to 53 in 2005, since the State Duma amended
the criminal code in 2003 to specifically outlaw human trafficking and
the use of forced labor. During the year investigations and
prosecutions more than trebled; the police opened more than 80 human
trafficking investigations. In 2004 the Government reported 26 human
trafficking criminal cases of which eight related to forced labor, and
18 related to sex trafficking. In 2005 the Government reported 80 human
trafficking cases of which 20 related to forced labor and the remainder
were sex trafficking cases. Although the Ministry of Internal Affairs
does not report criminal statistics until March 1 of each calendar
year, ministry officials stated that investigations and prosecutions of
human trafficking cases continue apace. Recent amendments to the law
permit confiscation of property in criminal cases involving sex and
labor trafficking.
There were no reliable estimates of the scope of trafficking, but
observers believe it remained widespread. The country continued to be a
source, destination, and transit country for human trafficking;
however, as a result of economic factors, there appears to be a
decreasing number trafficked abroad. While women and children were
trafficked for sexual purposes, men were also trafficked into the
country on a significant scale from former Soviet Union countries to
urban centers, particularly for the construction and agriculture
industries. In the Russian Far East, there is trafficking in the
fishing industry. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates
that one million illegal immigrants living in the country are victims
of forced labor.
According to the IOM, women have been trafficked to almost 50
countries, including every West European country, the United States,
Canada, former Soviet republics, and Middle Eastern and Asian
countries. Women who were trafficked abroad and returned to Russia
seldom reported their experiences to police, because they feared
humiliation and retaliation by traffickers. Traffickers usually
targeted unemployed females between the ages of 14 and 45, with females
between the ages of 15 and 25 being the primary targets. Traffickers
often lured women with promises of economic opportunities. Some
trafficking victims knowingly agreed to work in sex industries.
However, all the victims interviewed in the IOM study stated that they
never suspected the severity of the conditions and abuse to which they
would be subjected.
Igor Khvan, an Uzbekistan citizen who resides in Primorye, was
arrested in December 2004 for trafficking women from Uzbekistan. His
two female assistants recruited young women in Tashkent, Uzbekistan,
for hostess positions in Ussuriysk, Primorskiy Krai. Upon their
arrival, Khvan took away the women's passports and forced them to work
in prostitution. Khvan took all revenue from their activities, leaving
the women an allowance of only $1.80 to $3.60 (47.7 to 95.4 rubles) a
day for food. On January 25, the Ussuriysk Court sentenced Khvan to
seven years in prison. His two associates were sentenced to the same
term in Uzbekistan.
Reports indicated that internal trafficking, fueled by poverty and
unemployment, remained a problem. Women were recruited and transported
from rural areas to urban centers typically to work for commercial
sexual exploitation.
There were continued reports of child trafficking, primarily for
sexual exploitation. The victims were usually homeless children or
children in orphanages. There are no reliable estimates of how many
children were trafficked. The country has become a major producer and
distributor of Internet child pornography, leading to confirmed cases
of child sex trafficking and child sex tourism.
The lack of effective legislation precludes effective investigation
and prosecution of pornography cases. The law lacks a definition of
child pornography, does not criminalize the possession of child
pornography (thereby legitimizing a market for child pornography,) and
the pornography manufacture and distribution statute is poorly drafted
and seldom used. Police and prosecutors complained that cases are often
thrown out of court because there are no ascertainable standards of
what constitutes the offense. Even where cases are prosecuted and a
conviction obtained, courts often impose the minimum sentence possible,
often probation. Police complained that it was difficult to investigate
these offenses because the crimes are deemed ``grave'' offenses under
law, and therefore, the investigative means available under law are
limited. The consequence of these defects was that few child
pornography cases were investigated and prosecuted, creating an
environment where child pornography can flourish. There was wide
agreement that reform is necessary but little interest in the issue
from the administration.
Information from foreign prosecutions, academic researchers, and
law enforcement sources suggested that criminal groups carried out most
trafficking with the assistance of front companies and established
organized crime groups. Typically traffickers used a front company-
frequently an employment agency, travel agency, or modeling company-to
recruit victims with promises of well paying work overseas. Many placed
advertisements in newspapers or public places for overseas employment,
some employed women to pose as returned workers to recruit victims,
some placed Internet or other advertisements for mail order brides, and
some victims were recruited by partners or friends. Once the victims
reached the destination country, the traffickers typically confiscated
their travel documents, kept them in a remote location, and forced them
to work. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs placed detailed warnings about
employment and travel abroad on its Web site. Newspapers and NGOs also
reinforce these warnings.
Reports indicated that employers or traffickers withheld workers'
passports or other documentation. They threatened workers with
deportation or prosecution if they demanded compensation. One
trafficking researcher indicated that some local police cooperated with
employers to ``shake down'' such workers to deprive them of their
wages. Traffickers often used their ties to organized crime to threaten
victims with harm to their families should they try to escape. They
also relied on ties to organized crime in the destination countries to
prevent the victims from leaving and to find employment for the victims
in the local sex industry. Trafficking organizations typically paid
domestic organized crime entities a percentage of their profits in
return for ``protection'' and for assistance in identifying victims,
procuring false documents, and corrupting law enforcement.
Under the law if certain aggravating factors are established,
trafficking and forced labor are punishable by a maximum of 15 years'
imprisonment, recruitment into prostitution by a maximum of eight
years, organization of a prostitution business by a maximum of 10
years, and manufacture and distribution of child pornography by a
maximum of eight years. In January 2005 new witness protection
legislation went into effect that has been used as a mechanism to
protect and shelter trafficking victims and their families against
traffickers. Newly drafted asset forfeiture legislation pertains to
trafficking offenses and permits the confiscation of criminal proceeds
from traffickers. Four victims of trafficking benefited from the
program in 2005.
Law enforcement agencies increasingly investigated and prosecuted
trafficking cases. Then-prosecutor general Ustinov announced in
February that in 2005, the Government initiated 80 trafficking cases,
of which 60 investigations were brought under the law against sex
trafficking and 20 investigations were brought under the law against
labor trafficking. The Ministry of Internal Affairs worked closely with
foreign governments and continued to assist international trafficking
prosecutions. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs developed guidance for
consular officers abroad on dealing with trafficking victims and
expressed a commitment to assist with the repatriation of trafficking
victims, although funding was not made available to assist with the
repatriation. The Government cooperated with international trafficking
investigations.
Journalists, politicians, NGOs, and academic experts stated that
corrupt elements in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other law
enforcement bodies facilitated and, in some cases, controlled
trafficking. In addition, individual government officials reportedly
took bribes from traffickers in return for false documents and
facilitating visa fraud. Law enforcement sources agreed that document
fraud was often committed in the process of obtaining external
passports and visas, but they were uncertain to what extent this
involved official corruption rather than individual or organized
criminal activity. There were reports of prosecutions of officials
involved in such corruption.
During the year reports noted the country failed to meet minimal
standards for the elimination of trafficking; in particular, inadequate
protection and assistance are afforded human trafficking victims.
Assistance provided to trafficking victims remained inconsistent and
inadequate, with the Government relying in many instances on NGOs.
There was a dearth of human trafficking shelters in the country and
none funded by the Russian government which instead relies upon local
shelters maintained by municipalities or upon assistance provided by
NGOs to repatriate and shelter trafficking victims.
Many of the more than 100 NGOs that conduct antitrafficking
activities throughout the country disseminated information on
trafficking, engaged in preventative efforts, and provided assistance
to victims. NGOs have helped to reintegrate victims upon return to the
country. Such NGOs received varying degrees of support from regional
and local governments. Some were invited to brief local officials and
law enforcement personnel, and some provided training to local crisis
centers and hospital staff. The Primorskiy Krai administration worked
closely with antitrafficking NGOs in the Russian Far East to organize a
major international antitrafficking conference, the Stop Trafficking
Now Conference.
Shelters run by local NGOs provided assistance to trafficking
victims. There were no government-run shelters for trafficking victims,
and the Government intends to rely upon the provisions of the Witness
Protection law to shelter and protect trafficking victims. A shelter
run by the IOM, however, opened in Moscow with the assistance of city
authorities and it receives referrals from the police and Federal
Border Service.
The Government had no official comprehensive trafficking prevention
program but continued to sponsor several events designed to raise
awareness among specific professionals of the problem. The State Duma,
with the support of the Presidential Administration, sponsored seven
regional conferences in 2005 and during the year to teach law
enforcement officers, NGOs, and public officials about relevant laws
and to encourage closer cooperation between police and NGOs. The
Ministry of Internal Affairs sponsored three ``train the trainer''
conferences in 2005 for ministry training officers from regional
academies throughout the country employing experts to develop well
trained antitrafficking investigators. The Government also sponsored
some events designed to raise general public awareness of the danger of
trafficking. On March 7, the Khabarovsk branch of the United Russia
party, a local youth NGO Moy Kray, and the Russian Orthodox Church
organized a protest rally about trafficking in the Khabarovsk central
square. Speakers warned young persons, particularly young women, not to
pursue ``generous'' job offers abroad. They also listed measures that
the authorities need to urgently implement to combat this problem. At
the end of August, the Primorye regional government sponsored the first
annual Asian-Pacific International Forum ``Stop Trafficking.'' Law
enforcement officers, NGOs, public officials, speakers from the United
States, China, Israel, and the OSCE Secretariat shared their experience
in combating and in preventing trafficking in persons. The participants
of the forum adopted a draft resolution with recommendations to develop
a national comprehensive trafficking prevention program, to encourage
closer cooperation between law enforcement agencies and NGOs, to
increase public awareness.
Persons With Disabilities.--Several laws prohibit discrimination
against persons with disabilities or to establish conditions of equal
rights for them; however, the Government generally did not enforce
these laws. Citizens with disabilities continued to face discrimination
and were denied equal opportunity to education, employment, and access
to social life. Overall, the situation for persons with disabilities
has reportedly worsened since the passage in 2004 of a law which
replaced government subsidies for such items as transportation and
medicine with cash payments. Some affluent regions, such as Moscow,
preserved benefits for persons with disabilities at preexisting levels,
most others regions provide a limited number of benefits such as free
transportation.
The Minister of Health and Social Protection Zurabov at a
conference organized by the All-Russia Society of Disabled People noted
that there are 15 million persons with disabilities. In December the
human rights ombudsman said that, in the previous 10 years, over
120,000 persons became invalids as a result of military actions and war
injuries. Persons with disabilities were generally excluded from the
social and political life of their communities and isolated from
mainstream society.
The residents of disabled adult institutions were mainly
``graduates'' of the institutions for children. Institutions often did
not attempt to develop the abilities of the interned persons. The
residents were frequently confined to the institutions and sometimes
movement within the institutions was restricted. The use of
psychotropic drugs as punishment was allegedly widespread. Conditions
in the institutions were often poor, with unqualified staff and
overcrowding.
Laws prescribe penalties for enterprises that fail to build ramps
or other accessibility features but contain no enforcement mechanisms.
Federal law on the protection of persons with disabilities requires
that buildings be made accessible to the disabled, but authorities did
not enforce the law and in practice most buildings were not accessible.
Approximately 90 percent of persons with disabilities were
unemployed. Laws providing employment quotas exist at the federal and
local levels; however, some local authorities and private employers
continued to discourage persons with disabilities from working, and
there was no penalty for failure to honor quotas. Human rights NGOs
made some progress in persuading foreign companies in larger cities,
including Moscow, to consider persons with disabilities as potential
employees, and the Moscow city government has reportedly encouraged
employers to hire disabled persons. Overall, according to NGO All-
Russia Society of Disabled People, the number of persons with
disabilities in the workforce declined from 72,500 in 2002 to 28,000 in
during the year. The NGO attributed this to the 2002 elimination of tax
benefits which encouraged employment of persons with disabilities.
Authorities generally segregated children with disabilities from
mainstream society through a complex and cumbersome system that
institutionalized children until adulthood. Observers concluded that
issues of children's welfare were lost within the bureaucracy, and
little clear recourse existed in instances of abuse by the system.
Human rights groups alleged that children in state institutions were
poorly provided for and, in some cases, physically abused by staff
members. ``Graduates'' of state institutions also often lacked the
necessary social, educational, and vocational skills to function in
society. According to a December 28 report by the prosecutor general's
office, half of the more than 600,000 children with disabilities in
state care lack medicines, hearing aids, and wheelchairs.
An international NGO delegation that visited two psychiatric
hospitals in 2004 noted that there was no judicial process for
commitment that provided individuals subject to commitment with the
right to appear before a court for a determination of the legality of
their commitment.
The assignment of categories of disability to mentally disabled
children often followed them through their lives. The labels
``imbecile'' and ``idiot,'' which are assigned by a commission that
assesses children with developmental problems at the age of three, and
which signified that a child was uneducable, almost always was
irrevocable. Even the label of debil--lightly retarded--followed an
individual on official documents, creating barriers to employment and
housing after graduation from state institutions. This designation was
increasingly challenged in the case of children with parents or
caregivers, but no one advocated for the rights of institutionalized
children.
Youths with disabilities not in institutions faced significant
barriers to education, including lack of access to schools. Education
authorities often tried to keep youths with disabilities out of school
due to lack of special programs. At the same time, the ``home program''
for children with disabilities was highly inferior to school classes.
The majority of teachers and administrators in schools and universities
had little or no understanding of disability issues. Often parents of
children without disabilities were averse to their children studying
with children with disabilities.
NGOs cited some examples of courts ordering children with
disabilities admitted to schools that initially refused to take them.
For example, two children with disabilities in Petrozavodsk, Karelia,
were denied permission to attend a preschool program because the
preschool stated that it did not have the capacity to admit children
with their disabilities. The Petrozavodsk court initially supported the
preschool, but the children's parents prevailed in a rehearing in
February, and the children were admitted to a different preschool,
which was ordered to provide a satisfactory program. A final court
decision on this case came on April 24, when the Petrozavodsk court
ruled that the children's right to education had been violated. The
court ordered a local special school (because by the time the court
case was won, the children were already of school age) to provide a
satisfactory special education program for the children.
According to government reports, of approximately 450,000 school-
aged children with disabilities, approximately 200,000 did not receive
any education. Of the approximately 250,000 who received an education,
140,000 attended regular schools, 40,000 studied at home, and 70,000
attended special schools. Because special schools comprised only 3
percent of all schools, most children with disabilities could not study
in the community where they lived, were isolated from other members of
the community, and received an inadequate education.
Persons with disabilities faced barriers to participation in
political life, including inaccessible government buildings. The
election laws contain no special polling-place accessibility
provisions, and the majority of polling places were not accessible to
persons with disabilities. While the use of mobile ballot boxes allowed
them to vote at home, they sometimes lacked detailed access to
information about candidates that was available at the polls.
Government bodies charged with protecting human rights also protect
the rights of persons with disabilities, including the human rights
ombudsman and the regional ombudsmen, the Presidential Council on
Promoting the Development of Institutions of Civil Society and Human
Rights, and the prosecutor's office. These bodies have carried out a
number of inspections in response to complaints from disability
organizations and, in some cases, have subsequently appealed to the
responsible agencies to remedy the situation. For example, the human
rights ombudsman has conducted inspections of homes for children with
mental disabilities that disclosed severe violations of children's
rights and substandard conditions.
In response to actions by disability rights NGOs and parents of
disabled children, during the year the human rights ombudsman prepared
a country report titled On the Observance of the Rights of Disabled
Children, which called attention to the inequalities that children with
disabilities face in view of the legislative changes, terming the
legislation a violation of the constitution.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law prohibits
discrimination based on nationality; however, Roma, persons from the
Caucasus and Central Asia, dark skinned persons, and foreigners faced
widespread governmental and societal discrimination, which was often
reflected in official attitudes and actions (see section 1.c.).
Skinhead groups and other extreme nationalist organizations fomented
racially motivated violence.
Muslims and Jews continued to encounter prejudice and societal
discrimination, although it was often difficult to separate religious
from ethnic motivations (see section 2.c.). Human rights observers
noted that racist propaganda and racially motivated violence are
punishable by law, but despite some improvement in law enforcement
efforts, the law was employed infrequently. However, the authorities
demonstrated an increased awareness of the problem through numerous
public statements. For example, in his public address on May 9, Putin
stated ``those who try to raise the rejected banners of Nazism, who
spread racial hatred, extremism, and xenophobia are leading the world
to a dead end, to senseless bloodshed and cruelty.''
Federal and local law enforcement continued to be applied
disproportionately to members of ethnic minorities. Police reportedly
beat, harassed, and demanded bribes from persons with dark skin, or who
appeared to be from the Caucasus region, Central Asia, or Africa.
Following the September arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia,
a diplomatic feud erupted that led to an anti-Georgian campaign against
the approximately one million Georgians who live in the country.
Officially the Georgians were deported for violations of migration
legislation. Law enforcement officials were reportedly instructed to
step up actions against Georgians. Other anti-Georgian actions included
raids on Georgian businesses, police orders for schools to produce
lists of Georgian students, and severed transportation and postal
links. The actions against Georgians were criticized as illegal by the
state human rights body, the Civil Society Institutions and Human
Rights Council, which also called the actions a wave of ``selective
persecution'' against Georgians. According to the Georgian
parliamentary ad hoc Investigatory Commission Studying Actions Carried
Out by the Russian Federation Against Georgian Citizens, as of October
31, the immigration service had issued decisions on deportation of
2,598 Georgian citizens, out of which about 1,140 were actually
deported. As of December 28, commission head Nika Gvaramia said that
the number of deportees had increased to between 3,800 and 4,000. The
commission officially recorded the deaths of three people while in
detention.
Authorities in Moscow subjected dark-skinned persons to far more
frequent document checks than others and frequently detained or fined
them in amounts that exceeded legally permissible penalties. The Moscow
Metro Monitoring Study, published in June by the Open Society Justice
Initiative and other organizations, found that persons of non-Slavic
appearance made up only 4.6 percent of the riders on the Metro system
but 50.9 percent of persons stopped by police at Metro exits. At one
station, those of non-Slavic appearance were 85 times more likely be
stopped by police. According to a poll by the Public Opinion Fund, 52
percent of Russians would approve if some ethnic groups were expelled.
This is an increase from 44 percent in 2002.
Police often failed to record infractions against minorities or to
issue a written record to the alleged perpetrators. Law enforcement
authorities also targeted such persons for deportation from urban
centers. In April Chechen Prime Minister Kadyrov announced that all
temporary IDP accommodation centers in Chechnya should be closed.
According to the UNHCR, five temporary accommodation centers across
Chechnya were closed during the year (see section 2.d.). In March 2005
the Institute for War and Peace Reporting noted that police arrested
illegal migrant workers from Central Asia, illegally took their money,
then took them to the outskirts of Moscow instead of deporting them in
order for police to pocket the cost of the deportation and leave the
workers in Moscow for future arrests. This practice reportedly
continued during the year.
A May 2005 report by the European Roma Rights Center noted
``alarming patterns'' of human rights abuse of Roma in the country. The
report also asserted that the magnitude of the abuse was only
comparable to that of the impunity of the perpetrators. The report
stated that the media's frequent association of Roma with drug dealing
provided the context for many of the human rights violations against
them. It provided evidence of widespread police violence against Roma
and noted that the abuse was rarely reported to higher authorities.
On December 17, a neighbor of a Romani family, who also happened to
be a militiaman, reportedly sprayed an unidentified gas either in the
apartment or on the landing next to the their apartment in
Petrozavodsk, Karelia. The gas severely sickened the family's six-year-
old child and an elderly relative, according to Olga Martynova, head of
the Society of Gypsy Culture of Karelia. According to the family, they
did not do anything to provoke the man and called militia. Shortly
afterwards, policemen stormed into the house and started to beat
everyone present, including elderly persons and women. The report
offered no information about any criminal charges filed, but the family
allegedly filed a complaint to the prosecutor's office and it was
accepted.
On September 12, in Belgorod, the far right wing group, Belgorod
National Corps, was found guilty of the assault on a Romani family. In
August 2005 an armed, masked youth gang of approximately 20 persons
attacked the house of the Nikolaenko family shouting ``kill the
gypsies.'' A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the kitchen window,
followed by another incendiary device. The owner of the house, his
wife, and son were then attacked as they fled into the yard. Eleven
persons were detained, including two minors and also former students of
the Judiciary Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. All the
detained were charged with hooliganism, deliberate infliction of
grievous bodily harm by an organized group motivated by ethnic hatred,
and organization of and participation in an extremist group. Three of
the detained were also charged with the involvement of minors in
criminal activity. The trial began on June 6; and on September 12, all
the defendants were found guilty. The group leaders Maksim Sharov,
Andrey Petrov, and Ilya Sutula were sentenced to five, four, and three
years of imprisonment respectively. Another seven of them received
prison terms of 18 months to 33 months in prison. One of them received
a suspended sentence after cooperating with investigators.
From May 29 to June 2, authorities bulldozed 37 houses belonging to
more than 200 Roma, including over 100 children, in the village of
Dorozhnoe, Kaliningrad Oblast, and set fire to the ruins. Over 100 of
the displaced Roma were forced to live in tents and other temporary
shelters and were threatened with physical expulsion from their land,
while the others left of were expelled from the area. Regional
authorities began their eviction campaign by initiating court
proceedings to have the Romani families' ownership of their homes
declared illegal. According to observers, the proceedings violated
fundamental standards of due process; on May 3, the court issued
decisions rejecting the families' claims. On November 3, the Open
Society Institute's Justice Initiative filed a request for interim
measures with the ECHR on behalf of 33 of the evicted.
In July a Romani settlement in Arkhangelsk was demolished by local
authorities. The mayor of Arkhangelsk offered about $110,000 (3 million
rubles) to the local Romani community as compensation for resettlement
to Volgograd Oblast. The community reportedly accepted the sum and
left.
On April 13, according the European Roma Rights Center,
approximately 20 youths killed Grigoriy Marienkov, a Romani man, and a
Russian woman whose first name was Galina. The attack and killings took
place in the Volgograd region. The attackers also severely beat and
injured approximately six members of Marienkov's family. According to
press reports, police arrested six suspects, all of whom were between
the ages of 17 and 20, and three of whom were girls. The regional
prosecutor reportedly opened a criminal investigation under statutes
related to racially or ethnically motivated murder.
In February 2005 approximately 400 members of the Romani community
left the village of Iskitim, Novosibirsk Oblast, after a group of armed
men attacked and burned a number of Romani houses there. According to
NGOs, similar attacks took place in January 2005 and in 2004. Members
of the Romani community indicated that, after those incidents, law
enforcement and municipal authorities had done nothing to prevent a
recurrence. Police eventually arrested seven suspects, and the
Novosibirsk regional prosecutor's office took over the investigation.
The case reached court March 31, and there were reports that warrants
were issued for nine other suspects. The case reached court on March
31.
There was also evidence of hostility on ethnic and racial grounds
within the society at large. Despite appeals for tolerance during the
year by senior officials, violence and societal prejudice against
ethnic and national minorities, as well as against foreigners remained
a problem. In a public opinion poll of Russians by the Public Opinion
Fund conducted this year, 28 percent of respondents admitted personally
disliking people of other nationalities. In the view of some experts
and human rights leaders, this phenomenon worsened, but others insisted
that it reflected better reporting and greater media attention.
During the year numerous racially motivated attacks took place
against members of minority groups and foreigners, particularly Asians
and Africans. According to Ministry of Internal Affairs statistics,
13,307 crimes were committed against foreign citizens and persons
without citizenship in 2005, a 29 percent increase over 2004, although
this figure covers all crimes against this sector of the population,
not only hate crimes. The ministry's 2005 annual report reported 152
crimes ``of an extremist nature'' although it does not specify its
criteria or the specific crimes categorized under that general heading.
The St. Petersburg city prosecutor claimed 1.8 percent of the crimes
against foreigners in the city were ``extremist'' in nature. According
to the prosecutor, there were 39 foreigners killed in St. Petersburg in
2005 and only two of them qualified as hate crimes. St. Petersburg's
African Union reported six deaths in the city as the result of
xenophobia during the first 11 months of the year.
According to the NGO SOVA Center, xenophobic attacks killed at
least 54 persons and injured 466 during the year; in 2005, the figures
were 31 and 413, respectively. SOVA Center found four guilty verdicts
reported with a bias motive in 2003, eight in 2004, 16 in 2005, and 28
during the year.
Ethnic conflict flared in Kondopoga, Karelia in the first week of
September. Following the alleged murder of two ethnic Russians by local
Chechens, a mob burned dozens of businesses owned by persons from the
Caucasus. Several Chechen families had to leave the town, as the
authorities could not guarantee their safety. It was not until special
police arrived in Kondopoga after nearly a week of unrest that the
authorities finally stemmed the violence. The police dispersed the mobs
and arrested more than 100 suspects. The country's television media
provided minimal coverage of the event. A poll by the Public Opinion
Fund reported half of the country's population had not heard about the
event. Authorities in the region attempted to minimize the event as the
result of a common quarrel. The Karelian prosecutor's office announced
there was ``no ethnic basis for the conflict.'' President Putin was
initially silent on the matter. At the end of October, he publicly
criticized the regional governor for being on vacation during the
crisis. As a result of the events, President Putin dismissed the head
of the FSB for the region and the interior minister for the region. On
November 14, the first trial began for one of the accused instigators
of the fight. Authorities investigated four other criminal cases. On
December 15, the Karelian prosecutor opened a criminal case accusing
Alexander Potkin, as head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration,
of coming to Kondopoga and inciting the mob to violence (see section
1.a.)
The Moscow prosecutor's office charged Oleg Kostyryov and Ilya
Tikhomirov with racially or ethnically motivated murder following the
August bombing of Cherkizovsky market in Moscow. The bombing killed 13
persons and injured 53. As with most markets in Moscow, many traders at
the market were from the North Caucasus region and Central Asian
countries, as well as China and Vietnam. The suspects were also charged
with the murder of a 17-year-old Armenian student, who was stabbed to
death the day after the bombing while waiting for the metro.
On September 24, unknown assailants killed an Indian medical
student in St. Petersburg. At the same location in April, another
Indian student was attacked and wounded. The investigation was ongoing
at year's end, but local human rights groups reported that the medical
school's administration and the St. Petersburg city government had been
unresponsive.
There were additional reports of violence against Asians in the Far
East region. For example, in November two North Korean workers died
after being severely beaten in Vladivostok; a third worker remained in
serious condition. Several teenagers were later arrested for these
attacks--and some earlier ones--which police say they committed at
random while intoxicated; however, there was speculation in Vladivostok
media that the crimes were racially motivated. Four teenagers in
Vladivostok confessed to beating two North Korean men to death and
injuring a third in December, RIA-Novosti reported. The four teenagers,
aged from 15 to 16, were arrested on suspicion of attacking the three
North Koreans on December. The suspects have been charged with deadly
assault but released from custody on the condition that they do not
leave the city.
On December 14, a district court in Yekaterinburg sentenced two
skinheads who attacked and beat an African journalist in September
2003. Oleg Orlov, 21, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years' imprisonment, while
Vladimir Molokov, 23, received a three-year term. Orlov and Molokov
were found guilty of ``inciting racial hatred'' under the criminal
code.
In November a Moscow court convicted three men of racially
motivated assault in the case of Zaur Tutov, the culture minister of
Kabardino-Balkaria, who was badly beaten by skinheads on April 1. Two
of the men were sentenced to 18 months at a prison colony and the third
received one year.
On November 13, the St. Petersburg City Court sentenced three
persons under 18 to prison sentences for racially motivated attacks on
students from Ghana (three-year sentence), from China (2 1/2 years), as
well as a Palestinian (2 1/2 years). However, a jury in the same court
on October 17 acquitted 14 defendants--including five charged with
murder--accused of participating in the 2004 killing of a Vietnamese
student. The Vietnamese community in St. Petersburg picketed the court
following the acquittals and the Republic of Vietnam sent a formal note
to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In July 2005 approximately a dozen skinheads beat a Vietnamese man
to death in a Moscow park (see section 1.a.). In September 2005 Roland
Epassak, a Congolese student, was killed in St. Petersburg. In 2004 the
same student was attacked and hospitalized, at which time he gave
evidence that the attack was racially motivated. In May the trial of
four men charged with Epassak's murder began. Lawyers demanded that
court authorities take extra security measures to protect the
defendants from possible attacks but the court declined this request.
On July 25, the four were acquitted. St. Petersburg Governor Valentina
Matviyenko publicly questioned the verdict and efficacy of jury trials
in such cases. On November 2, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict
and returned the case for a retrial. The new hearing will be with a new
judge and a new jury.
In October 2005 in Voronezh, a Peruvian student was killed and two
other students, from Spain and Peru, were badly injured when a group of
youths attacked them. There had been several previous attacks on
foreigners in Voronezh. Later in October 2005, the authorities charged
Igor Pavlyuk, a Russian student, with murder and another 12 youths with
hooliganism and robbery; ethnic hatred was also taken into account by
authorities as a motivation for those participating in the attack. On
August 25, in Voronezh, a city southeast of Moscow, Pavlyuk was
sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder. The court handed down
prison terms from two to five years for five other defendants in the
case, gave suspended sentences of up to three years to six more
defendants, and acquitted a 13th defendant.
Not all of the attacks against foreigners were fatal. During the
year there were at least 75 nonfatal attacks likely motivated by
racism.
On March 25, assailants stabbed nine-year-old Liliana Sisoko, whose
father is a native of Mali and whose mother is Russian, while she was
returning home in the center of St. Petersburg. The girl was
hospitalized. In February 2005 two Korean students were attacked and
hospitalized in St. Petersburg. In March 2005 a Chinese student was
attacked during daylight on a major city street in St. Petersburg. In
these cases generally authorities initiated criminal investigations but
arrested no suspects and made available no reports on the progress of
the investigation. In March 2005 four skinheads attacked an African
student of a pedagogical university in Lipetsk.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 557
crimes against foreigners registered in St. Petersburg during the first
seven months of 2005. The ministry did not publicize such data this
year. According to NGOs the city administration appeared to have begun
to take hate crimes more seriously, but law enforcement agencies did
not do enough to address the issue, in part because they lacked the
necessary resources and, in some cases, because some working-level
staff sympathized with the nationalistic causes.
On August 29, Yuriy Belyayev was given a suspended sentence of 1 1/
2 years for publishing an article directly encouraging his readers to
assault people from the Caucasus region. As head of the nationalist
Party of Freedom, Belyayev had already been connected to incidents of
vote-buying in the 2003 gubernatorial St. Petersburg election, as well
as promotion of so-called ``white patrol'' units in St. Petersburg
known for their violent actions against ethnic minorities. Human rights
organizations lamented the light sentence, but were pleased that the
case had at least resulted in a conviction.
Private individuals or small groups that espoused racial hatred
generally carried out such attacks. Law enforcement authorities knew
the identity of some of the attackers based on their racial intolerance
or criminal records. During the year members of ethnic or racial
minorities were the victims of beatings, extortion, and harassment by
skinheads and members of other racist and extremist groups. Police
investigations of such cases were frequently ineffective and
authorities were often reluctant to acknowledge the racial or
nationalistic element in the crimes, often calling attacks
``hooliganism.'' Many victims, particularly migrants and asylum seekers
who lacked residence documents recognized by police, chose not to
report such attacks or experienced indifference on the part of police.
Skinhead activity continued to be a serious problem. Skinheads
primarily targeted foreigners and individuals from the Northern
Caucasus, although they also expressed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic
sentiments and hostility toward adherents of ``foreign'' religions (see
section 2.c.). According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
neofascist movements have approximately 15,000 to 20,000 members, of
which over 5,000 are estimated to live in Moscow. According to the
Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, there were approximately 50,000
skinheads in 85 cities. Skinhead groups were particularly numerous in
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Voronezh.
According to the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, 170 attacks motivated
by ethnic hatred were registered between January and December. As the
result of these attacks, 51 persons died and 310 were injured.
Numerically, the most xenophobic city is Moscow, with 27 deaths and
over 125 injuries registered. There were five deaths and 48 injuries in
St. Petersburg.
There were indications that the authorities were increasingly
willing to acknowledge racial, ethnic, or religious motivations for
such criminal acts; 109 persons were convicted for committing
ethnically motivated crimes during the year. In most cases the
attackers wore skinhead attire or proclaimed nationalist slogans. On
June 30, three skinheads charged with organizing an extremist group
were sentenced by a city court in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Oblast,
to imprisonment terms ranging from 10 1/2 years to one year and nine
months. Two of the skinheads were earlier sentenced on murder charges
to life imprisonment and 23 years' imprisonment respectively for
murdering three Armenians in Verkhnyaya Pyshma in May 2005. The group
was also involved in the killing of a Kyrgyz national in January 2005.
In March a Thai ship captain was attacked by Vladivostok skinheads
and hospitalized with serious injuries. Police arrested four young men
who appeared to be skinheads and found Nazi literature in their homes.
On April 8, a group of 10 skinheads attacked a Chinese student when he
was leaving a Vladivostok law school. According to two other Chinese
students, the skinheads beat the victim with sticks. He suffered a
broken nose and was taken by police to a hospital.
On December 22, a homemade bomb exploded outside the apartment of
one of the creators of www.antifa.ru Web site, Tigran Babadzhanian. He
discovered it when he came out of his apartment and called the police
who tried to defuse it, but it exploded, injuring the police officers.
Previously his photograph had been posted on skinhead Web sites, he had
received death threats, and swastikas and other offensive graffiti had
been left in the stairwell of his apartment building. The district
prosecutor's office opened a criminal investigation for ``hooliganism
committed in a socially dangerous way'' and identified three suspects
from an extremist gang.
In May a district court in Ufa, Bashkortostan, sentenced two young
residents of the city to 5 and 1/2 years imprisonment for beating an
Iraqi student of Ufa Oil University in December 2005. Their accomplice
got a five-year suspended sentence. The Iraqi--who suffered a skull
fracture along with other severe injuries--was rescued by passersby. A
spokesman for the Bashkortostan Interior Ministry said the attack was
an act of hooliganism and had no racist overtones.
In July, for the first time, skinheads were tried for murder in the
Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Two high school students were charged with
the murder of three non-Russian homeless individuals. Witnesses gave
testimony that there was a skinhead organization of more than 40
persons that targeted Chinese and other Asians, as well as Caucasians,
but was indifferent to Jews. In order to join the skinheads'
organization, prospective members had to assault a Chinese or a
Caucasian. The director of the regional militia, Andrey Parkhomenko,
reported to Kommersant--in Dalniy Vostok--that there were no formally
designated skinhead organizations in the region.
On March 22, a St. Petersburg court convicted seven of eight
defendants of ``hooliganism'' in a 2004 attack on a Tajik family, in
which they killed a nine-year-old girl. Prosecutors dropped the
original charges of racial hatred. The one defendant on trial for
murder was acquitted of that charge, but found guilty of hooliganism.
In August the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the local court.
On February 13, a court sentenced the self-proclaimed leader
Vladimir Popov of the group ``Russian Republic'' to one year in prison
for inflaming racial hatred. Russian Republic had posted on its Web
site a posthumous death sentence on Nikolay Girenko, a hate-crimes
expert and senior researcher at the Museum of Anthropology and
Ethnography at the Russian Academy of Sciences, who was killed in 2004
in his St. Petersburg apartment. The court also found the ``Russian
Republic'' leader guilty of posting an Internet death sentence on
Governor Matvienko for opening St. Petersburg to Asian migrants.
On December 30, the case of the murder of antifascist activist
Aleksandr Riukhin was submitted to the courts for trial. On April 16,
Riukhin was killed on the outskirts of Moscow. Three attackers (two
were members of Slavic Union and one was a member of the Format 18
gang, both ultraright extremist groups) were detained and Nazi
paraphernalia and literature were found at their residences. They were
being charged with premeditated group hooliganism, premeditated
nongrievous bodily harm, and assault. The murder case was being treated
separately, with three suspects still at large.
Indigenous People.--The law provides for support of indigenous
ethnic communities; it permits them to create self-governing bodies,
and allows them to seek compensation if economic development threatens
their lands. In some regions local communities organized to study and
make recommendations regarding the preservation of indigenous cultures.
Groups such as the Buryats in Siberia and ethnic groups of the North
(including the Enver, Tafarli, Chukchi, and others) continued to work
actively to preserve and defend their cultures as well as the economic
resources of their regions. Most affirmed that they received the same
treatment as ethnic Russians, although some groups believed they were
not represented or were underrepresented in regional governments. The
principal problems of indigenous people remained the distribution of
necessary supplies and services, particularly in the winter for those
who lived in the far north, and claims to profits from exploitation of
natural resources.
However, support for the self-government of indigenous ethnic
communities was undermined in one region recently as the federal
government made an attempt early in the year to remove the Republic of
Adygea's autonomy. One of many such ethnic territories, the Republic of
Adygea was created in 1991 as a homeland for the Adyghs, a group
indigenous to the Northwest Caucasus. The move was thwarted, however,
due to opposition within Adygea and among the region's other
territories, given the prospect that even administrative changes could
lead to widespread violence.
There continued to be reports of pressure on members of the Finno-
Ugric Mari ethnic group. The Moscow Helsinki Group and International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights reported in September that two
Mari national activists might have been prosecuted for exercising their
freedom of speech. One activist, Vitaliy Tanakov, who earlier in the
year published a brochure about the Mari people and their religious
beliefs, was charged with incitement to ethnic, racial, or religious
enmity under the law, a conviction is punishable with heavy fines and
up to four years' imprisonment. On December 25, he was convicted and
sentenced to 120 hours of mandatory work, which was viewed by many as a
symbolic sentence. A second activist, Nina Maksimova, faced similar
charges for helping to distribute the brochure. The International
Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and Moscow Helsinki Group believed
that the two cases were politically motivated, targeting the activists
for their involvement in the Mari national movement.
Unlike the previous year, there were no reports of attacks on the
Mari ethnic group.
In May 2005 the European Parliament adopted a resolution
criticizing Russia for violating the rights of the Mari. According to
press reports, in June 2005 the Government blocked the release of a
report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that was
critical of human rights abuses in the Republic of Mariy-El.
Other Societal Abuses or Discrimination.--Persons with HIV/AIDS
often encountered discrimination. Federal AIDS law contains
antidiscrimination provisions, but these were frequently not enforced.
Human Rights Watch reported that HIV-positive mothers and their
children faced discrimination in accessing healthcare, employment, and
education. Persons with HIV/AIDS found themselves alienated from their
families, employers, and medical service providers.
While homosexuality is not illegal, the gay community continued to
suffer societal stigma and discrimination. Medical practitioners
reportedly continued to limit or refuse their access to health services
due to intolerance and prejudice. According to recent studies, male
homosexuals were often refused work due to their sexuality. Openly gay
men were targets for skinhead aggression, which was often met with law
enforcement indifference.
In May gay rights activists hosted a small international conference
in Moscow on combating homophobia; however, the mayor of Moscow and the
courts denied their applications to hold a gay pride parade. According
to Human Rights Watch, on May 27, several dozen Russian lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender protestors, accompanied by Russian and
foreign supporters, including members of the European and German
parliaments, sought to hold two successive protest rallies, one to lay
flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin wall, and
the second a vigil at city hall in support of the freedoms of assembly
and expression. Organizers decided to hold these events after a court
upheld Mayor Yuriy Luzkhov's ban on a march they planned for that day.
At both events hundreds of antigay protesters, including skinheads and
nationalists attacked the participants, beating and kicking many, while
throwing projectiles and chanting homophobic slogans. Police intervened
only belatedly, failing to protect demonstrators from violence;
observers noted that police inaction aggravated the violence.
In protest of a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
``open party'' held in Moscow on April 30, several hundred protestors
gathered outside a night club, shouting threats and throwing bottles,
rocks, and eggs at the attendees. The following night at least 100
protestors gathered outside another gay club, conducting themselves in
a similar manner. While human rights groups protested the organized
nature of what appeared to be a campaign against the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender community, public officials were notably
reluctant to condemn the violence, with one Duma deputy accusing gays
of provoking Orthodox believers.
Gay rights organizations were few and often operated ``under the
radar.'' Projects working with homosexuals and educating them about HIV
and sexual health continued to be scarce. In April, the Moscow city
Duma urged President Putin to restrict the activities of foreign NGOs
that fight HIV/AIDS, saying they encouraged pedophilia, prostitution,
and drug use among teenagers. The Moscow Duma also accused the Ministry
of Education of aiding NGO activities. The State Duma, however,
responded at the federal level with a clear statement supporting the
urgent need to prevent HIV/AIDS.
The Government has made a major effort to deal with AIDS, including
stigma and discrimination with dramatic increases in the federal and
regional budgets for AIDS. HIV/AIDS media and prevention messages are
being piloted in school curricula, and a national ``stop AIDS''
campaign was launched. The Ministry of Justice has agreed to make AIDS
treatment available to prisons. President Putin spoke out about the
fight against HIV/AIDS and in April specifically mentioned the
importance of NGO work in the field.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--Although the law provides workers
with the right to form and join unions, in practice government policy
and the dominant position of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions
of Russia (FNPR) limited the exercise of this right. The FNPR reported
that approximately 46 percent of estimated work force of 74 million
workers was unionized, and approximately 95 percent of union members
belonged to the FNPR (approximately 29 million members). Over the past
five years, the federation's membership has decreased by 10 million.
The FNPR and other trade union federations acted independently on
the national political level, but in some cases FNPR unions were
affiliated closely with local political structures, giving FNPR
advantages over unions without such established political ties. FNPR
unions frequently included management as part of the bargaining unit or
elected management as delegates to its congresses.
In April a new law on NGOs was implemented which restricts their
creation and existence (see section 4). Despite a separate law
specifically governing trade unions, the Federal Registration Service
stated in June that the provisions of the NGO law also apply to unions.
Specifically trade unions must receive permission to register and
submit programmatic and financial reports to authorities. Failure to do
so will trigger a legal process aimed at the abolishment of the union.
The Government oversight agency has the right to attend union meetings
and monitor all union activities. Migrant workers do not have the right
to create or join unions.
The law specifically prohibits antiunion discrimination, but the
FNPR reported that actions aimed at harassing union leaders and
employees who wished to form or enter unions had increased since last
year. Union leaders were at times followed by the security services,
detained for questioning by police, and subjected to heavy fines,
losses of bonuses, and demotions. Unregistered unions faced operational
constraints, such as difficulty in opening bank accounts and collecting
fees. There were also reports of employers using tax authorities or
offices of the public prosecutor to put heavy pressure on unions using
falsified investigations, often resulting in large decreases in union
membership.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The rights of
unions to conduct their activities without interference and the right
to bargain collectively are recognized in law but other legal
provisions give employers a strong role in dealing with labor
relations. The law makes collective bargaining mandatory if either
employer or employees request it; it obliges both sides to enter into
such negotiations within seven days of receiving such a request; and it
and sets a three-month time limit for concluding such agreements.
Unresolved issues are to be included in a protocol of disagreement,
which may be used to initiate a collective labor dispute. Despite these
requirements, however, employers continued to ignore union requests to
negotiate collective bargaining agreements. In July 2005 St. Petersburg
dockworkers went on strike to protest management's refusal to sign a
collective bargaining agreement and as a result, by that fall, all port
companies signed an agreement favoring the workers; the dockworkers
returned to work in March.
Labor experts have criticized provisions in the law that favor the
designation of a majority union as the exclusive bargaining agent, a
provision that favors larger unions. They have also voiced concern
about such provisions of the Labor Code as the stipulation that there
be only one collective agreement per enterprise, covering all
employees, which limits the ability of professional or ``craft'' unions
(the majority of new unions in the country) to represent their members'
interests. An employer has the right to refrain from negotiating with
trade unions whose membership does not comprise of a majority of an
enterprise. These smaller unions have the right to send a
representative to negotiate, but any negotiation depends on the desire
of the majority union and employer to participate. In May 2005, the ILO
Committee on Freedom of Association renewed its request to the
Government that it amend the Labor Code to allow collective bargaining
at the occupational level; the Government had not taken any action on
this request by year's end.
According to the International Trade Union Confederation, a 2004
law on commercial secrets specifies that information on wages in
commercial companies is a commercial secret. Lack of access to this
information disadvantaged unions engaged in collective bargaining.
Although collective bargaining agreements had been officially
registered only by an estimated 16 to 18 percent of enterprises, the
FNPR claimed that approximately 85 percent of its enterprises had
concluded such agreements. This apparent discrepancy appeared to be due
in part to agreements that were concluded but not registered with the
Ministry of Labor. The law states that collective agreements become
effective upon signature, regardless of whether they are registered or
not.
The law provides for the right to strike; however, this right
remained difficult to exercise. Most strikes were considered
technically illegal because they violated one or more of the
exceedingly complex procedures governing disputes. A strike may be
called at an enterprise only after approval by a majority vote at a
conference composed of at least two-thirds of all personnel, including
management. Strikes were banned in certain sectors, including the
railway and air traffic sectors and government agencies.
The law specifies that a minimum level of essential services must
be provided if a strike could affect the safety or health of citizens.
Under this definition most public sector employees could not strike and
other provisions were often manipulated to prevent many would-be
strikers from walking off the job. Strike actions were further
discouraged by the fact that civil courts have the right to order
confiscation of union property to settle damages and losses to an
employer if a strike is found to be illegal and not discontinued before
the decision goes into effect. As a result labor actions were often
organized by strike committees rather than by unions.
Unlike in previous years there were no major national strikes
during the year, many were carried out on the local level. Court
rulings have established the principle that nonpayment of wages--
estimated to be the cause of 90 percent of labor disputes--is an
individual matter and cannot be addressed collectively by unions. As a
result a collective action based on nonpayment of wages was not
recognized as a strike. The law does not protect individuals against
being fired while on strike.
The law prohibits strikes in the railway and air traffic sectors,
at nuclear power stations, and by members of the military, militia,
government agencies, and disaster assistance organizations. As a result
workers in these professions at times resorted to other forms of
protest, such as rallies, days of action, or hunger strikes. The law
prohibits reprisals for strikes, but reprisals were common, and
included threats of night shifts, denial of benefits, blacklisting, and
firing.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor; however, there were reports that such
practices occurred. According to credible reports, significant numbers
of illegally employed migrants from other countries of the former
Soviet Union were forced to work without pay because the firms that
brought them into the country held their passports (see section 5).
According to an ILO study, employers of illegal migrants withheld
passports in 20 percent of forced labor cases.
It was reported that wages of some of the several thousand North
Koreans reportedly employed in the Russian Far East were withheld until
the laborers returned home, making them vulnerable to deception by
North Korean authorities, who promised relatively high payments.
Amnesty International has charged that a 1995 bilateral agreement with
North Korea allowed the exchange of free labor for debt repayment,
although the Government claimed that a 1999 intergovernmental agreement
gave North Koreans working in the country the same legal protections as
citizens.
There were reported incidents throughout the year of military
officers forcing soldiers under their charge to work for private
citizens or organizations, often under abusive conditions.
In 2004 the television station Rossiya reported that dozens of
workers died at a slave labor camp in Western Siberia, where the owners
of a logging company reportedly decided to increase their profits by
using slave labor. The Kemerovo regional prosecutor's office was trying
the case at the end of 2005 and no further information on the case was
available.
The law prohibits forced or bonded labor by children; however, such
practices reportedly occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government did not effectively implement laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the work place. The law prohibits most
employment of children under the age of 16 and regulates the working
conditions of children under the age of 18, including banning dangerous
nighttime and overtime work; however, the Federal Labor and Employment
Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which are responsible for
child labor matters, did not enforce the laws effectively. Children are
permitted, under certain conditions and with the approval of a parent
or guardian, to work at the age of 14. Such work must not threaten the
health or welfare of the children. The Federal Labor and Employment
Service, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and Social
Development, is responsible for routinely checking enterprises and
organizations for violations of labor and occupational health standards
for minors. In 2004 approximately 8,300 cases of child labor violations
were reported. Most serious violations of child labor and occupational
health standards were believed to occur in the informal sector. Local
police investigations only occurred in response to complaints.
Accepted social prohibitions against employment of children and the
availability of adult workers at low wages generally prevented
widespread abuse of child labor. Nonetheless, children working and
living on the streets remained a problem. Parents often used their
children to lend credence to their poverty when begging or had them
beg. Homeless children were at heightened risk for exploitation in
prostitution or criminal activities (see section 5). Trafficking of
children was also a problem (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The monthly minimum wage,
essentially an accounting reference for calculating transfer payments,
increased to $40 (1,100 rubles) on May 1, up from $28 (800 rubles) in
September 2005. The amounts were not sufficient to provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. Since 2004 monthly
subsistence wages have been set at the regional, not federal, level,
and ranged from slightly less than $112 (3,000 rubles) to approximately
$187 (5,000 rubles) a month. Approximately 15 percent of the population
had incomes below the official subsistence minimum.
The law provides a standard workweek of 40 hours, with at least one
24-hour rest period, and requires premium pay for overtime work or work
on holidays; however, workers complained that employers required them
to work in excess of the standard workweek, abrogated negotiated labor
agreements, and of being transferred against their will.
Although nonpayment of wages declined, especially in the public
sector, it continued to be the most widespread abuse of labor
legislation. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, wage
arrears through July totaled $200 million (5.4 billion rubles), 49
percent less than the same period in 2005.
The law imposes penalties on employers who pay their employees late
or make partial payments and requires them to pay two-thirds of a
worker's salary if the worker remains idle by some fault of the
employer. Proving that an employer was at fault, however, was
difficult. Courts often were willing to rule in favor of employees
seeking payment of back wages, but collection remained difficult.
Courts often insisted that cases be filed individually, in
contradiction to the Law on Trade Unions, thereby undercutting union
attempts to include the entire membership in one case. Individually
filed cases made for a lengthier process, one more difficult for the
individual worker, and one that left them more exposed to possible
retaliation (see section 6.b.).
Although the law establishes minimum conditions for workplace
safety and worker health, the Government did not allocate sufficient
resources to enforce these standards effectively. According to the
Center for Social and Labor Rights, approximately one-third of
employees work under conditions that violate their labor rights. In
many cases workers wore little protective equipment in factories,
enterprises stored hazardous materials in open areas, emergency exits
were locked, and smoking was permitted near containers of flammable
substances. In June the Labor Code was revised to include a new
requirement that businesses employing more than 50 workers must
establish a work safety division and create a position of work safety
specialist. Amendments were also added to improve the procedure for
investigating industrial accidents.
The law provides workers the right to remove themselves from
hazardous or life-threatening work situations without jeopardy to their
continued employment; however, the Government did not effectively
enforce this right. The risk of industrial accidents or death for
workers remained high. The Federal State Statistics Service reported
3,091 deaths in 2005 and 1,891 deaths from January to June.
The law entitles foreign workers working legally in the country to
the same rights and protections as citizens and prohibits forced or
compulsory labor; however, foreign workers reportedly were brought into
the country to perform such labor (see section 6.c.). Foreign workers
residing and working illegally in the country are subject to
deportation but may seek recourse through the courts. Experts stated
that millions of migrants, most of whom are citizens of other former
Soviet Union countries, worked illegally in Moscow and other larger
cities for lower wages than citizens and under generally poor
conditions. The All-Russia Confederation of Labor stated that 45
percent of jobs in Moscow were in the shadow economy.
__________
SAN MARINO
The Republic of San Marino, with a population of approximately
30,000, is a multiparty democracy. The popularly elected unicameral
Great and General Council (parliament) selects two of its members to
serve as Captains Regent (co-chiefs of state). They preside over
meetings of the council and the cabinet (Congress of State), which has
no more than ten other members (secretaries of state) who the council
also selects. Parliamentary elections were held on June 4 and were
considered free and fair. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices, and there were no
reports that government officials employed them.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards. The Government permitted visits
by independent human rights observers, but there were none during the
year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Interior controls the civil police, who are responsible for domestic
security, traffic, and civil defense. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
controls the gendarmerie and the national guard, who are responsible
for the protection of the national borders and the security of public
buildings; they also coordinate with the civil police in the prevention
of crime and the maintenance of public order.
The security forces are adequately staffed and effective in
maintaining law and order. There were no reports of corruption
involving members of the security forces. Impunity was not a problem.
Investigations of police abuse are usually assigned to one of the three
police forces not involved in the case. There were no instances where
police failed to prevent or to respond to societal violence during the
year.
Arrest and Detention.--Suspects were apprehended openly with
warrants based on sufficient evidence and issued by a duly authorized
official. The law provides a detainee with the right to a prompt
judicial determination of the legality of his detention, and the
authorities generally respected this right in practice. There is a
well-functioning bail system. Detainees are allowed prompt access to
family members and to a lawyer of their choice; the state provides
legal assistance to indigent persons.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected this
provision in practice.
The judiciary is composed of the commissioner of the law, the
judging magistrate, the appellate judge, the juvenile court, and the
judge of final appeal. The commissioner tries civil and penal cases
with penalties not exceeding a three-year sentence. The judging
magistrates, who are appointed by parliament for a three-year term and
can be indefinitely reappointed, preside over all other cases. Most
lower court judges were Italian citizens. A local conciliation judge
handles minor cases. Under the law, the final court of review is the
judge of final appeal. In civil matters, this court confirms or
overrules either the lower court judgment or an appellate decision; in
criminal matters, this court rules on the legitimacy of detention
measures and on the enforcement of a judgment.
The Constitutional Court has the following functions: verify that
laws, acts, and traditions that are given the force of law conform to
constitutional precepts; verify the admissibility of referenda; decide
on conflicts between constitutional institutions; and control the
activity of the Captains Regent.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are
public and are presided over by a single judge. There are no provisions
for a jury trial. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney even during preliminary investigations.
Defendants can confront or question witnesses against them and present
witnesses and evidence on their behalf. They have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. They enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have the right to two levels of appeal.
In case of legal actions against military personnel, a civil judge
is temporarily given a military grade and assigned to an ad hoc
military tribunal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Judges act independently
and impartially on civil matters, and administrative remedies as well
as judicial remedies exist for alleged wrongs. There were no reports of
problems facing law enforcement agencies in enforcing domestic court
orders.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice and did not restrict academic freedom. An
independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic
political system combined to ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Public institutions promote use of the Internet in schools, and the
Government makes information of public interest available on the
Internet.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for these rights and the Government generally respected them in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
The Catholic Church receives direct benefits from the Government
through income tax revenues; taxpayers may request that 0.3 percent of
their income tax payments be allocated to the Catholic Church or to
``other'' charities, including three religions (the Waldesian Church,
Jehovah's Witnesses, and Baha'i).
The Government does not require official recognition, registration,
or license for religious groups. However, it requires legal status for
tax or other commercial purposes. While a concordat with the Holy See
regulates relations with the Catholic Church, other religions, such as
the Baha'is and Jehovah's Witnesses, are included in a registry of
cultural associations.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--There were only a small number
of Muslims and no known Jewish citizens in the country. During the year
there were no reports of violence or discrimination against religious
minorities or anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--While the law does not provide for the
granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
the Government has a system for providing protection to refugees. In
practice, the Government provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. The
Government may grant refugee status or asylum by an act of the cabinet.
For humanitarian reasons, the Government indefinitely extended an
Eritrean woman and her two children's permit of stay, which otherwise
would have expired in April.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Parliamentary elections
held on June 4 were considered generally free and fair. However, local
dailies reported allegations by leaders of small parties that unnamed
supporters of the largest parties illegally funded travel of
nonresident voters to the country. The Christian Democratic Party, the
country's single largest party which had led the Government for over 20
years, obtained 21 of the 60 parliamentary seats, but was unable to
form a coalition government. The second largest party, the Party of
Socialists and Democrats, obtained 20 seats and succeeded in forming a
coalition government with the centrist Popular Alliance, the third
largest party with seven seats, and the newly-formed United Left, with
five seats.
There were eight women in the 60-seat Great and General Council and
two women in the 10-member Congress of State.
There were no members of minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were no reports of
corruption by public officials during the year.
The law provides for public access to government activity and the
Government provided access for citizens and noncitizens through the
Great and General Council's Web site.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
There were no domestic human rights organizations, although the
Government did not restrict their formation. The Government declared
itself open to investigations by international nongovernmental
organizations of alleged human rights abuses, but there were no known
complaints or requests for investigations during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government effectively enforced it.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was rare.
The law prohibits violence against women, and the Government
effectively enforced it. During the year there were no reports of
violence against women. The penalty for spousal abuse is two to six
years' imprisonment. In the case of aggravating circumstances the
penalty is four to 10 years' imprisonment.
There were no reports of rape. Rape, including spousal rape, is a
criminal offense, and the Government effectively prosecuted persons
accused of such crimes. The penalty for rape is two to six years'
imprisonment. In the case of aggravating circumstances the penalty is
four to 10 years' imprisonment.
Prostitution is illegal, and it was not common. No arrests were
reported during the year.
Sexual harassment is illegal, and the Government effectively
enforced the law. There were no reports of sexual harassment during the
year.
Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. There was
no economic discrimination against women in pay, employment, or working
conditions. There is no special government office to ensure the legal
rights of women.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare.
Education is free until grade 13 (usually age 18) and compulsory
until age 16. Most students continued in school until age 18. No
differences were apparent in the treatment of girls and boys in
education.
Medical services were amply funded, and boys and girls had equal
access to health care.
Violence against or abuse of children was uncommon. There were no
reported cases during the year. A case from 2003 was still pending,
while a case heard in 2004 resulted in conviction and the defendant was
sentenced in June.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law does not prohibit trafficking in
persons; however, there were no reports that persons were trafficked
to, from, or within the country during the year.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. There were no reports
of societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. The
Ministry for Territory has not fully implemented a law that mandates
easier access to public buildings by persons with disabilities, and
many buildings were inaccessible.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--By law all workers (except the armed
forces) are free to form and join unions, and workers exercised this
right in practice. The law sets the conditions to establish labor
unions. Union members constituted approximately 50 percent of the
country's work force, which numbered approximately 15,000 citizens plus
5,000 nonresident Italians. A ``conciliatory committee'' composed of
representatives from labor, business, and government generally resolved
complaints of antiunion discrimination amicably.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law gives collective
bargaining agreements the force of law. Negotiations were conducted
freely, often in the presence of government officials by invitation
from both unions and employer associations. All workers are under
collective bargaining agreements. The law allows all civilian workers,
including the civil police, the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced the laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace. The minimum age for
employment and compulsory education is 16, and no exceptions were
granted by the Ministry of Labor and Cooperation. The law does not
limit children between the ages of 16 and 18 from any type of legal
work activity. The Government devoted adequate resources and oversight
to child labor policies, and the Ministry of Labor and Cooperation
effectively enforced compliance with the law.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
approximately $8.25 (6.86 euros) per hour did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. However, wages generally
were higher than the minimum provided by law.
The law sets the workweek at 36 hours in the public sector and 37+
hours for industry and private businesses, with 24 consecutive hours of
rest per week mandated for workers in both categories. The law requires
a premium payment for overtime and allows a maximum of two hours of
overtime per day. There was effective enforcement of laws and industry
contracts that prohibit excessive compulsory overtime.
The Government set safety and health standards, and the judicial
system effectively enforced these standards. Most workplaces complied
with the standards; however, there were some exceptions. The
construction industry did not consistently abide by safety regulations,
such as work hour limitations. However, on-the-job injuries declined
due to stricter safety rules and more severe government-imposed
penalties for violations, in addition to improved training for the
workforce. There was just one serious (but not fatal) construction
accident during the year. Workers have the right to remove themselves
from situations that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to
their employment, and the authorities effectively enforced this right.
Nearly one-quarter of the workforce is nonresident, commuting from
nearby Italy. The law for legal foreign workers prohibits indefinite
employment status, but allows the Government to grant work permits that
have to be renewed every 12 months. The law also requires non-Italian
foreign workers to obtain an Italian residence permit before they can
apply for employment. In practice, these provisions limited
unemployment benefits for foreigners to a period of less than 12
months.
__________
SERBIA
The Republic of Serbia is a parliamentary democracy with
approximately 7.5 million inhabitants.[1] Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica has led Serbia's multiparty government since March 2004.
Boris Tadic was elected President in June 2004 elections that observers
deemed essentially in line with international standards. Following
Montenegro's May 21 referendum in which 55.5 percent of voters
supported independence, authorities began the work of dissolving the
state union of Serbia and Montenegro and reassigning responsibilities
to the republic level. In a referendum on October 29 and 30, voters in
Serbia approved a new constitution. According to the election
commission, turnout was nearly 55 percent, and 53 percent of voters
supported the new constitution, although some human rights groups
dispute the results. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces, and there were fewer reports
of members of the security forces acting independently of government
authority.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens
and continued efforts to address human rights violations; however,
numerous problems persisted. The following human rights problems were
reported: widespread corruption in the police and the judiciary;
impunity; inefficient and lengthy trials; government failure to
cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in apprehending war crimes suspects; government
failure to initiate new domestic investigations and prosecutions of war
crimes from the 1990s; harassment of journalists, human rights workers
and others critical of the Government; arbitrary arrest and selective
enforcement of the law for political purposes; limitations on freedom
of speech and religion, including a problematic new law on religion;
societal intolerance and discrimination against ethnic and religious
minorities; the presence of large numbers of internally displaced
persons; violence against women and children; and trafficking in
persons.
The Government's increased efforts in addressing human rights
violations brought notable improvements. The Belgrade District Court,
through its specialized organ, continued to make progress in several
war crimes and organized crimes cases despite some political pressure
and threats from criminal groups. The Government also uncovered several
international trafficking rings, protected victims of trafficking, and
steadily prosecuted traffickers. The Government's reaction to the
Montenegro referendum on independence, and the subsequent dissolution
of the state union, was peaceful. National minorities reported fewer
incidents of attacks than in recent years.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
from:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports that the Government or its agents
committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
The trial of Kikinda police officer Sasa Mijin was under way at the
end of the year. Authorities charged Mijin with fatally beating a
Kikinda resident in October 2005.
The Belgrade special court for organized crime encountered several
difficulties during the trial of three dozen suspects, including former
secret police commander Milorad Ulemek and his deputy Zvezdan
Jovanovic-Zveki, in the 2003 assassination of Prime Minister Zoran
Djindjic. On June 3, key witness Zoran Vukojevic was murdered.
Presiding Judge Marko Kljajevic submitted his resignation September 1,
citing personal reasons. Media and human rights organizations
speculated that political pressure may have sparked his departure. A
new judge was appointed in September, and the trial continued at year's
end.
In June the Supreme Court upheld the Belgrade special court's
ruling in the case of Ulemek and others indicted for the 2000 killing
of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolic. In July 2005 the Belgrade
special court for organized crime sentenced Ulemek and three persons
under his command to 40 years in prison, two others to 15 years in
prison, and one person to four years in prison.
The Government continued its investigation into the disappearance
and subsequent killing of Yili, Mehmet, and Agron Bytyqi, three U.S.
citizen brothers who were executed in 1999. The bodies of the three
were discovered in 2001 in a mass grave in rural Petrovo Selo, near a
Serbian police facility. The bodies were found with their hands bound
and gunshot wounds to their heads. On August 23, the special war crimes
court issued its first indictments in the case against Sreten Popovic
and Milos Stojanovic, two former members of a special police unit. The
indictments were based on charges of unlawful detention of the Bytyqi
brothers. The trial for Popovic and Stojanovic began November 11. No
murder charges were filed against any suspects, although the Government
investigation remained ongoing.
Domestic courts and the ICTY continued to try cases arising from
crimes committed during the 1991-99 conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Kosovo (see sections 1.e. and 4).
There was no further development in the deaths of several military
conscripts in 2005. These conscripts died while on guard duty in remote
areas and their families challenged the military's determination that
the deaths were suicides. On October 5, human rights organizations and
families of the conscripts marked the two-year anniversary of the
deaths of Dragan Jakovljevic and Drazen Milovanovic in Topcider,
Belgrade, noting that the case remained unresolved. The families
initiated a civil suit against the Government, which was pending at
year's end.
On September 10, Ruzdija Djurovic, a city council candidate from
the List for Sandzak party, was killed during elections in Novi Pazar.
Police arrested Estan Gegic and Ismet Derdemet, and were searching for
a third suspect, Sead Papic; the case remained in the investigative
stage at year's end. While the suspects were members of the rival
Sandzak Democratic Party, party leader Rasim Ljajic decried the
incident and denied any involvement. Due to security concerns, he
declared a boycott of the assembly election and withdrew his party from
the assembly.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
The Government made modest progress in cooperating with neighboring
countries, the International Commission on Missing Persons, and other
international organizations to identify missing persons from the Kosovo
conflict. On June 30, the Government repatriated to Kosovo 829 sets of
remains found in mass graves in Serbia. Following this return, all
bodies uncovered to date in Serbia had been returned to Kosovo.
However, progress remained slow in locating additional gravesites and
in sharing information with the public. In September, the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has chaired the Working Group
on Missing Persons since 2004, halted further working group meetings,
citing a lack of commitment from authorities in both Serbia and Kosovo.
According to the ICRC, 2,284 missing persons cases remained unsolved.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
police at times beat detainees and harassed persons, usually during
arrest or initial detention for petty crimes.
On March 15, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
(HCS) reported that police beat 28-year-old Kikinda resident Mihalj
Koloncaj. Koloncaj sustained critical injuries, which resulted in the
removal of his spleen. Authorities suspended several policemen from the
Kikinda police station on charges of misconduct and initiated criminal
proceedings.
The Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) reported that, on
several occasions between May and September, Subotica police inspector
Tomislav Lendvai and three unknown associates beat, tortured, and
sexually assaulted two citizens of Subotica, while also invoking ethnic
slurs and threatening their families. The two victims, Erne Ceh and
Marinko Varnjas, were of mixed ethnic descent. An investigation was
underway year's end, and inspector Lendvai was suspended from his post.
The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) reported that, on June 15, Mileta
Novakovic, a member of the gendarmerie special unit, ordered his unit
to use force on rowdy fans during a basketball game. According to the
Ministry of Interior, 27 people, including 9 officers, were injured,
and 30 people were arrested. The Ministry of Interior defended the
action as lawful, but later admitted that some officers had exceeded
their authority in injuring the fans. Novakovic was transferred to a
post outside of Belgrade, but no other disciplinary action was taken.
In the February 2005 case reported by HLC in which police allegedly
abused a 17-year-old girl while in custody at a Belgrade police
station, the victim gave her testimony to an investigative judge in
October, and the investigation continued at year's end. The suspects in
the case were Belgrade officers Jovica Pecaranin and Nebojsa
Milenkovic.
In the June 2005 case reported by HCS in which traffic police in a
village near Nis allegedly harassed and beat a family in their home and
subsequently at a police station, the family declined to press charges
for fear of reprisals.
Neither the victim nor the police pursued any charges in the case
of Aleksandar Petrovic, a Belgrade man who was allegedly beaten by
police in his apartment in July 2005. HLC issued a press release
following the alleged attack but did not file a criminal complaint. The
attackers in this case remained unknown.
There was no information on whether further action was taken on the
July 2005 case of a Leskovac police officer who allegedly beat a lawyer
for the Leskovac Committee for Human Rights.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions varied
greatly between facilities, and there were reports that some guards
abused prisoners.
In some prisons, inmates complained of dirty and inhumane
conditions. Several times during the year, prisoners carried out hunger
strikes to protest the poor conditions of the facilities. The quality
of food varied from poor to minimally acceptable, and health care was
often inadequate. Guards were inadequately trained in the proper
handling of prisoners. Juveniles were supposed to be held separately
from adults; however, this did not always occur in practice.
The Government permitted the ICRC and local independent human
rights monitors, including HCS, to visit prisons and to speak with
prisoners without the presence of a warden.
In January HCS released a report of its findings after visits to
eight detention facilities in May 2005. The report found that
facilities lacked appropriate procedures to deal with allegations of
ill-treatment by prisoners against prison authorities. The report also
cited other problems, including corruption, overcrowding, lack of
natural light and fresh air, poor toilet facilities, and dirty food
preparation areas in some of the prisons visited.
In May the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) published a report on its September 2004 visit to Serbia
and Montenegro. During the visit CPT received numerous allegations of
physical ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees, and recommended that
the Government increase professional training, more diligently
investigate allegations of abuse, and severely sanction perpetrators of
abuse against inmates. The CPT also found that violence among prisoners
was a serious problem. The CPT complained of the use of chains and
padlocks to restrain patients in the Belgrade prison hospital; in
response, authorities reportedly discontinued this practice. The CPT
further recommended that authorities increase medical staffing levels
at the prison hospital.
In November prison riots broke out over unfulfilled demands for the
parliament to pass an amnesty law. In Pozarevac, approximately 30
inmates climbed onto a roof and threatened to jump; in Nis, inmates
barricaded themselves in their cells. Hundreds of riot police brought
the protests under control, but 55 inmates were injured during the
operation. Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic said the police action was
necessary to restore order and to prevent the inmates from hurting
themselves.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions, with some exceptions.
Police in Nis detained and interrogated four human rights activists
from YIHR for more than four hours on July 12 and for more than three
hours on July 13. The police called this an ``information meeting,''
and accused them of drawing graffiti depicting ICTY indictee Ratko
Mladic during a demonstration two days earlier. The police released the
activists without charges.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The approximately
43,000 police officers in Serbia are part of the Ministry of the
Interior. The police are divided into 33 regional secretariats that
report to the republic government. During the year the Serbian
government took over control of the armed forces after the dissolution
of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
The effectiveness of the police was uneven and generally limited.
While most officers were Serbs, the force included Bosniaks (Bosnian
Muslims), ethnic Hungarians, a small number of ethnic Albanians, and
other ethnic minorities. The multiethnic police force in southern
Serbia was composed primarily of ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
Corruption and impunity in the police force were problems, and
there were only limited institutional means of overseeing and
controlling police behavior. The interior ministry inspector general's
office, created in 2003, had increasingly limited authority, and the
office had no autonomy to investigate and redress abuses. While the
office recommended numerous disciplinary proceedings against interior
ministry employees since its establishment, it had no means of
following up on proceedings, and some secretariats completely ignored
its recommendations.
Since 2005 the inspector general's office initiated disciplinary
measures against 5,722 members of the police for transgressions, and
charges were brought against 587 members of the police force.
During the year the Government, together with the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other foreign
governments, trained police, security, and border officials on
combating terrorism, corruption, money laundering and trafficking.
Arrest and Detention.--Arrests were generally based on warrants,
although police were authorized to make arrests without a warrant in
limited circumstances, including if there was a well-founded suspicion
that a person had committed a capital crime. The law requires an
investigating judge to approve any detention over 48 hours, and
authorities respected this requirement in practice. Bail was allowed
but rarely used; detainees facing charges that carried possible
sentences of less than five years were often released on their own
recognizance.
The law provides that the police must inform arrested persons
immediately of their rights. Unlike in previous years, no abuses of
this provision were reported.
The law provides access for detainees to counsel, at government
expense if necessary, and this right was generally respected in
practice. Family members were normally allowed to visit detainees.
Suspects can be detained for up to six months without being charged.
The law prohibits police use of force, threats, deception, and
coercion to obtain evidence, as well as use in court of evidence
acquired by such means; however, police sometimes used these means to
obtain statements.
Authorities were accused of using arbitrary arrest and selective
enforcement of the law for political purposes. Some political analysts
speculated that the arrest of commercial court President Goran
Kljajevic was an example of selective prosecution, in order to put
additional pressure on his brother, Marko Kljajevic, who resigned as
presiding judge in the Djindjic trial soon after the arrest (see
sections 1.a. and 3). Some analysts also argued that the timing of the
Government's indictment for corruption and money laundering against
tycoon Bogoljub Karic was also politically motivated (see section 3).
The law limits the length of pretrial detention from indictment to
the conclusion of a trial to two years for most cases, but allows
detention for up to four years for crimes that carry up to the maximum
penalty (40 years in prison). The law sets two years as the maximum
detention permitted after an appellate court vacates the judgment of a
trial court. Nonetheless, prolonged pretrial detention was a problem.
The law prohibits excessive delays by authorities in filing formal
charges against suspects and in opening investigations; however, such
delays continued regularly. Due to the inefficiency of the courts,
cases often took an excessively long time to come to trial, and once
started, trials often took an excessively long time to complete (see
section 1.e.).
The law allows persons detained in connection with serious crimes
to be held for up to six months before charges must be filed.
Authorities frequently held such persons for the full six-month period
before filing charges.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, the courts remained susceptible to
corruption and political influence. The newly enacted constitution drew
criticism for its provisions on the judiciary that make the appointment
of judges and prosecutors subject to political screening. Corruption in
the judiciary remained a problem. There were reports that government
officials attempted to undermine politically sensitive prosecutions,
including by applying pressure on prosecutors and judges.
During the year former Supreme Court judge Slavoljub Vuckovic,
arrested in September 2005, stood trial on charges of accepting a bribe
in the Jotka organized crime case; on July 7, the court sentenced him
to eight years in prison. Vuckovic appealed the verdict, and his appeal
remained pending at year's end.
During the year the trial of former deputy public prosecutor Milan
Sarajlic resumed. Sarajlic had been charged with accepting payments
from the Zemun organized crime clan in 2004; the trial was suspended in
2004 due to Sarajlic's poor health. The trial remained ongoing at
year's end.
The private sector considered corruption in the commercial courts
to be widespread. In addition land transfers often were extremely
difficult, leading many in the private sector to allege administrative
corruption.
The courts were highly inefficient, and cases could take years to
be resolved.
The Serbian judicial system consists of municipal courts, district
courts, a Supreme Court, and a Constitutional Court. In addition, the
law provides for special courts for war crimes and organized crime;
these were operational during the year within the Belgrade District
Court. The Constitutional Court rules on the constitutionality of laws
and regulations. While the law provides for an administrative appeals
court and a second instance appeals court to reduce the Supreme Court's
caseload, the National Assembly postponed the establishment of the
courts until 2007.
Since 2005, a special branch in each district court maintained
responsibility for military cases.
Trial Procedures.--Trials are generally public, but they are closed
during testimony of a state-protected witness. There are no juries. The
law provides that defendants are presumed innocent; have the right to
have an attorney represent them at public expense, if needed; and to be
present at their trials. Defendants have the right to access government
evidence and question witnesses. Both the defense and the prosecution
have the right to appeal a verdict. These rights were generally
respected in practice.
The special war crimes court continued trying war crimes cases. On
May 18, the Supreme Court upheld the Belgrade district court's July
2005 verdict in the Sjeverin war crimes case involving the torture and
killing of 16 Muslims in 1992. The court confirmed the original
conviction and sentencing of Dragutin Dragicevic, Oliver Krsmanovic,
and ICTY indictee Milan Lukic to 20 years in prison, and Djordje Sevic
to 15 years in prison.
On July 5, the Belgrade special war crimes court began the main
hearing in the case of five Scorpions members indicted for involvement
in the 1995 execution of six Bosnian Muslim civilians from Srebrenica.
The case was ongoing at year's end.
On September 18, the special war crimes court convicted Anton Lekaj
of war crimes and sentenced him to 13 years in prison for the 1999
murder and torture of Roma in Kosovo during a wedding procession.
The Supreme Court upheld the special war crimes court's March 2004
conviction of Aleksandar Cvjetan, sentenced to 20 years in prison for
the 1999 killing of 14 ethnic Albanians in Podujevo, Kosovo.
The special war crimes court also continued the trial for the
Zvornik case involving the 1992 eviction and killing of Bosnian
Muslims.
There were new developments in the Ovcara case (also known as the
Vukovar massacre). On December 14, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial
of 14 former members of Serb militias who had been convicted in
December 2005 for murder, torture, and inhumane treatment of more than
200 Croatian prisoners of war in 1991. Many in the international and
NGO community criticized this decision as politically motivated, noting
that every major war crimes conviction (e.g., Podujevo, Sjeverin,
Ovcara) in a first-instance court had been overturned by the Supreme
Court upon first review.
In April the Belgrade district court dismissed the case of Dejan
Demirovic after his extradition from Canada. Demirovic had been charged
and tried in absentia for the Podujevo killings; however, the court
found insufficient evidence to support his conviction.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The country has an
independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters where citizens can
bring lawsuits seeking damages for, or cessation of, a human rights
violation. The remedies generally involved monetary awards.
Property Restitution.--During the year a government commission
began preparing a register of claims for private property seized since
1945, but it made no progress on enacting a private property
restitution law or returning property. The Government enacted a law on
restitution of communal property, but took no significant action to
register claims or return communal property.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions;
however, the Government interfered with privacy and correspondence.
While the law requires the interior ministry to obtain a court order
before monitoring potential criminal activity and police to obtain a
warrant before entering property except to save people or possessions,
police occasionally did not respect these provisions in practice.
Most observers believed that authorities selectively monitored
communications, eavesdropped on conversations, read mail and e-mail,
and tapped telephones. Human rights leaders frequently reported that
their communications were being monitored.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, there were reports of government
interference in these freedoms and carried out reprisals against
persons who criticized the Government. In general, independent media
organizations were active and expressed a wide range of views; however,
some media organizations experienced threats or reprisals for
publishing views critical of the Government. Many reporters lacked
professionalism in citing sources and achieving accuracy.
The media sector was mostly independent and privately owned. The
oldest nationwide daily, Politika, was co-owned by a German company and
the Government, but it was operated by several shareholding companies.
During the year this daily took on an increasingly pro-government slant
to its reporting and editorial policy. Other major newspapers include
Blic, Glas Javnosti, Vecernje Novosti, Kurir, and Danas.
Government-controlled Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) was a major
presence, operating three television channels as well as a radio
service. The Government had considerable influence, although not formal
control, over other major television stations, including TV Politika
and TV Novi Sad, as well as Radio Belgrade's three stations. In
addition, many television stations relied on the state-owned news
agency Tanjug for news information. While RTS's coverage was generally
objective, there occasionally appeared to be a bias toward the
Government.
On October 11, controversial amendments to the broadcast law went
into effect despite opposition from media groups and the OSCE. The law
grants the Government the power to approve the budget of the
independent broadcast council, gives this council broad authority to
strip radio and television stations of their licenses without right of
appeal, and sets higher fees for broadcasters.
Media organizations, particularly the radio station B92, were
victims of vandalism, bomb threats, and intimidation for coverage of
views unpopular with the Government. The South East European Media
Organization (SEEMO) reported a number of such incidents during the
year. On July 25, Jahja Fehratovic, editor of the weekly Glas Sandjaka,
received anonymous death threats over the phone. On August 13, Nikola
Rumenic, correspondent for the weekly Svet, was physically assaulted
and injured by two unidentified persons outside the Hotel Jugoslavija
in Belgrade. On August 17, Dragan Zaric, journalist for Radio Stari
Milanovac, was attacked by a knife-wielding masked man while moderating
a radio program. On August 18, Slavica Jovanovic, a journalist from
Macvanski Prnjavor, received a telephone death threat. Local police
reportedly refused to allow Jovanovic to file an official complaint
until the Journalists' Association of Serbia (US intervened on her
behalf.
On April 26, police shut down the republic's first private
television station, BK Television, following a decision by the
Government's broadcasting agency to temporarily suspend BK Television's
license. The attorney for BK Television described the forceful entrance
and shutdown of the station as illegal. The U.S. and the Association of
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) described the move as arbitrary and
constituting a threat to democracy and media freedom.
On July 13, SEEMO reported that Jelena Antic, correspondent for the
daily Dnevnik, was blocked by security officers from attending a press
conference at the Ruma city hall, allegedly on the orders of
municipality President Srdjan Nikolic.
Libel is a criminal offense; those convicted of libel face
imprisonment or fines of $552 to $13,800 (460 euros to 11,500 euros).
On August 10, the municipal court in Prokuplje sentenced RTV
Kursumlija senior editor Slavko Savic to four months' imprisonment for
libel. The court found Savic guilty of broadcasting text messages
written and sent in by viewers alleging that Slavko Ilic, a municipal
official, had stolen a bottle of brandy from a store. ANEM and the
Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the verdict as a violation
of freedom of speech.
Journalists sometimes practiced self-censorship due to possible
libel suits and fear of offending public opinion, particularly on
subjects relating to wars in the former Yugoslavia, on the Montenegrin
referendum for independence, and on the UN-led negotiations on the
future status of Kosovo. Human rights activists charged that they were
subjects of smear campaigns in pro-government publications and tabloids
for expressing critical views of the Government.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic email.
However, there were reports that the Government selectively monitored
Internet communications.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government generally
respected academic freedom; although there were some reports of
censorship of cultural events.
In September police stopped an outdoor theater performance in Novi
Sad when a Serbian Orthodox bishop complained that the actors were
wearing priests' robes, and called the performance ``the work of the
devil.'' A group of neo-Nazis from Zrenjanin disrupted the performance
the next night.
On November 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a request to
organizers of a film festival that the film ``Summer Palace'' be
``removed from the festival program bearing in mind our good bilateral
relations [with China].'' The Chinese government had opposed the
screening of this film, which featured footage of the 1989 events in
Tiananmen Square. The festival organizers removed the film from the
program. However, on December 1, Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic
suspended Danica Bajic, the MFA employee who issued the request, saying
that Bajic acted outside of her authority.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The law provides
for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government usually
respected it in practice. Unlike in previous years, there were no
reports that authorities impeded public protests.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however,
the Serbian government adopted a discriminatory law on religion and
maintained a discriminatory property tax.
While there is no state religion, the majority Serbian Orthodox
Church received some preferential treatment. For example, the military
continued to offer only Serbian Orthodox services, although it allowed
members of other faiths to attend religious services outside their
posts. There were also complaints that the Serbian government continued
to fund construction of a large Serbian Orthodox Church. The Serbian
government subsidized salaries of Serbian Orthodox clergy in regions
outside Serbia.
In April the Government adopted a problematic law on religion.
It recognizes seven ``traditional'' religious communities: the
Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Slovak
Evangelical Church, the Reformed Christian Church, the Evangelical
Christian Church, the Islamic community, and the Jewish community. The
law requires all other religious groups to reregister with the Ministry
of Religion, which has the discretion to decide whether to grant
approval. Many of these minority groups had been recognized officially
as religions in Serbia for over 50 years, and were present in the
republic for as long as 150 years.
The registration requirements, deemed invasive by the Council of
Europe and the OSCE, include submitting names, identity numbers, and
signatures of members; showing proof that the group meets the threshold
of 0.001 percent of adult citizens of Serbia (roughly 65 persons);
providing a description of the group's religious texts and a summary of
its religious teachings, ceremonies, religious goals, and basic
activities; and information on its sources of funding.
Serbian tax law exempts property owned by the seven recognized
traditional religious groups, although a challenge to the law was
pending in the Constitutional Court at the end of the reporting period.
The complaint was filed on July 21 on behalf of the Union of
Protestant-Evangelical Churches in Serbia.
Non-Serbian Orthodox religious organizations continued to report
difficulty obtaining permission from local authorities in Serbia to
build new worship facilities. The Belgrade Islamic community reported
continued difficulties in acquiring land and government approval for an
Islamic cemetery in the city. In August Minister of Religion Milan
Radulovic stated that the Montenegrin Orthodox Church could not build
churches in Serbia.
Serbian law requires students in primary and secondary schools
either to attend classes of one of the seven traditional religious
communities or, alternatively, to take a class in civic education.
Leaders of religions groups excluded from the program continued to
express their dissatisfaction at the Government's narrow definition of
religion.
The Government enacted a law on restitution of communal property in
Serbia, including religious sites seized since 1945, but took no
significant action to register claims or return church property.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Minority religious communities
reported continuing problems with vandalism of buildings, cemeteries,
and other religious sites, although the number of such incidents
declined from previous years. There were a few cases of verbal and
physical attacks against religious minorities. The police response was
often inadequate, and civil society groups criticized the lack of
commitment by the Government to addressing problems of discrimination.
Unknown attackers broke stained glass windows of Catholic churches
in Smederevo, Kragujevac, and Bor several times during the year. The
Seventh-day Adventists reported that vandalism and arson attacks on
their churches were too frequent to count. Vandals damaged tombstones
in the Slovak Evangelical-Lutheran graveyard in Dobanovci and in the
Catholic graveyard in Temerin. In all of these cases, police were
unable to identify the attackers.
On February 15, a man in Mladenovac locked two members of Jehovah's
Witnesses inside a building, destroyed their literature, and tried to
drag them into a cellar. One of them escaped and called the police, who
rescued the other and arrested the man. On February 20, in the Zemun
district of Belgrade, a member of Jehovah's Witnesses was beaten on the
head by a third party while sharing his beliefs with a family. Police
arrested the attacker, and the family testified as witnesses in the
court case.
On June 17, a Hare Krishna devotee from Jagodina, Zivota Milanovic,
was attacked in the doorway of his home. Jagodina hospital treated him
for knife wounds and a cross carved on his head. Milanovic had been
attacked previously in July 2005; authorities made no arrests for
either attack.
In October the Nis mosque was attacked and vandalized for the
fourth time. Local police arrested four suspects, but refused a request
to post a permanent police presence in front of the mosque to prevent
future attacks.
In March the district court in Sabac began hearing a case against
four men who tried to blackmail a member of Jehovah's Witnesses in
Loznica in 2004. On May 8, frustrated by officials' failure to take
action after an arson attack in 1999, the Jehovah's Witnesses filed
suit against the Government.
On November 9, a Novi Sad court found members of the nationalist,
far-right hate group National Front guilty of inciting ethnic, racial,
and religious hatred and intolerance for disrupting an anti-Fascist
seminar at Novi Sad University in 2004, harassing and slapping
participants. The organization's leader, Goran Davidovic, was sentenced
to one year in prison, and member Miodrag Stefanovic was sentenced to
six months. Two other members were sentenced to three and four months
in prison, while 11 others received suspended sentences of four months
for the criminal act of endangering the safety of others.
During the span of three days from December 16 to 19, unidentified
attackers threw Molotov cocktails at the offices of the Evangelical
church in Kraljevo, and threw stones at the Baptist church and the Holy
Spirit Catholic church in Novi Sad. President Tadic publicly condemned
the attacks and called on authorities to find the perpetrators; the
investigations were ongoing at year's end.
The Jewish community had between 2,000 and 3,000 persons. Jewish
leaders in Serbia reported continued incidents of anti-Semitism,
including anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalism, small circulation anti-
Semitic books, and Internet postings. HCS reported in November that
anti-Semitism had grown in intensity in recent years. HCS noted that in
recent years, Serbia's publishing sector published various anti-Semitic
books, with titles such as Jewish Ritual Murder, The Jewish Conspiracy,
and Why I Admire Adolf Hitler. According to Jewish community members,
the release of such publications often led to an increase in hate mail
and other expressions of anti-Semitism. Several nationalist, far-right
organizations identified themselves with anti-Semitic rhetoric,
displaying swastikas and using hate speech. The National Front was one
of the most active of these groups during the past few years, mixing
anti-Semitic rhetoric with anti-Western messages. HCS noted in November
that the Government's response to such hate speech was often
inadequate.
On February 12, graffiti appeared on a monument in Nis saying
``Holocaust--the Jewish lie that governs the world,'' along with
nationalistic slogans such as ``Serbia for the Serbs.''
In late August a group of skinheads reportedly wearing Nazi symbols
beat two Israeli tourists. One victim reported that the group was
chanting ``Auschwitz, Auschwitz.'' At year's end, no one had been
charged in connection with this beating.
In 2005 the Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia reported
receiving increased levels of hate mail saying that, ``Jews should
leave Serbia.'' In addition, a list of prominent Serbian Jews was
posted on the website of a neo-Nazi organization alongside messages
posted by site visitors calling for them to be killed.
Teaching of the Holocaust is incorporated into the Serbian school
curriculum, and the role of the Serbian government during that period
is also discussed. However, there was a tendency among some
commentators to minimize and reinterpret the role of Serbian leaders
during the Holocaust, casting them as victims of foreign occupiers when
in fact many leaders of that time collaborated with the Nazis and began
campaigns against the Jewish population even before the Nazis invaded
Yugoslavia.
While government leaders publicly condemned incidents of anti-
Semitism, there was no significant government effort in 2006 to prevent
such intolerance and hate speech.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice. The law prohibits
forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to official figures
of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
approximately 207,000 IDPs resided in Serbia, mainly Serbs, Roma, and
Bosniaks who left Kosovo as a result of the events of 1999.
Approximately 6,700 IDPs remained in collective centers. Although the
Government closed several of the collective centers that were least
habitable, many IDPs remained in minimally habitable facilities that
were constructed as temporary accommodations, rather than for long-term
occupancy.
The Government continued to pay salaries to IDPs who were in the
Kosovar government and state-owned enterprises before June 1999. By
law, to obtain permanent resident status in Serbia, IDPs from Kosovo
must deregister from their previous address in Kosovo. Without
registering at a permanent address in Serbia, IDPs were unable to
acquire local identification documents and are thus unable to obtain
access to health insurance, social welfare, and public schools.
During the year the Government signed and parliament ratified 15
bilateral readmission agreements to accept the return of failed asylum
seekers, unsuccessful migrants, and persons without legal residency
(primarily, Roma). Estimates of the number of unsuccessful asylum
seekers and illegal immigrants from Serbia residing in the countries
covered under the agreements ranged from 30,000 to 200,000, with an
additional 120,000 asylum seekers originally from Kosovo. The
Government agreed to accept the forced returnees without stipulating a
timetable for their return. The ICRC, piloting a project to assist
repatriated returnees, opened an office in the Belgrade airport, but
the office closed after about three months due to lack of funding.
The UNHCR estimated that there were 40,000 to 45,000 displaced Roma
living in Serbia proper; half of those were not registered due to lack
of documents. Many Kosovar Roma were perceived to be Serb collaborators
during the conflict in Kosovo and could not safely return there. Living
conditions for Roma in Serbia were extremely poor. Local municipalities
often were reluctant to accommodate them, hoping that, if they failed
to provide shelter, the Roma would leave the community (see section 5).
If Roma did settle, it was often in official collective centers with
minimum amenities or, more often, in makeshift camps in or near major
cities or towns.
There were sporadic incidents of attacks and vandalism against
IDPs, particularly members of Romani communities (see section 5).
Protection of Refugees.--The law does not provide for the granting
of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, despite the
fact that Serbia is a signatory to both. The Government has not passed
legislation or established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The law does not protect individuals from forcible return to
a country where they have a credible fear of persecution, and there was
no information available on whether authorities, in fact, turned such
individuals away at borders.
UNHCR maintained an office at the airport to receive third-country
asylum seekers, including those who entered the country via other ports
of entry. UNHCR conducted refugee status determinations in accordance
with the UN Convention and the organization's mandate. By tacit
agreement, the Government tolerated UNHCR status determinations,
neither expelling individuals whom UNHCR determined to be refugees, nor
according them any opportunity for integration. UNHCR opened 42 cases
for third-country nationals over the course of the year. Of these, 25
Iraqis received temporary UNHCR protection, without full refugee status
determinations. The UNHCR rejected 12 applicants and closed five cases
without completing the determination (in most instances because the
applicants departed Serbia). Fifty-five individuals remained under
UNHCR protection at year's end.
UNHCR, with consent of the Government, completed construction of an
asylum center for receiving and sheltering asylum seekers, but the
facility was not in use at year's end.
The Government cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian
organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. Under the 1992
Decree on Refugees, the Government provided temporary protection to
individuals from former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY) who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951
Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The Government and UNHCR estimated
that 104,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina resided
in Serbia.
The Government, with UNHCR support, closed several collective
centers, in a few cases transferring individuals in need of special
care to other appropriate institutions. Approximately 3,600 refugees
remained in 125 collective centers, either official or unrecognized, in
the country at year's end.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
In a May 21 referendum in Montenegro, 55.5 percent of voters
supported independence from the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
International monitors deemed the referendum in line with OSCE and
Council of Europe commitments and other international standards for
democratic electoral process, and the Serbian government accepted the
results. Following the referendum, Serbian authorities began working on
the dissolution of the state union and reassigning state union
responsibilities to the republic level.
Elections and Political Participation.--At year's end, political
parties were preparing for parliamentary elections to be held in
January 2007.
The country held a referendum on a constitution on October 28-29.
Several human rights groups criticized the parliament for passing the
draft without adequate public debate, and some called for a boycott of
the referendum. Many also criticized the substance of the document in
several areas: it claims Kosovo as a part of the country's territory,
although Kosovo Albanians were excluded from voting in the referendum;
it does not clarify or enhance Vojvodina's regional autonomy; and it
leaves the appointment of judges and prosecutors subject to political
screening.
According to the election commission, turnout at the referendum was
54.91 percent, and 53.04 percent of voters supported the new
constitution. Turnout was particularly low in Vojvodina (45.9 percent),
and the Center for Free Elections and Democracy estimated ethnic
Hungarian turnout was only 14 percent. Several human rights groups
charged that there were irregularities in the referendum results,
including lax control of voting lists and inconsistent identification
checks.
Parliament approved the constitution and it entered into legal
effect on November 13.
An OSCE and Council of Europe election observation mission reported
that the June 2004 Serbian republic Presidential elections were
peaceful and conducted essentially in line with international
standards. Problems noted by the mission included lack of a central
voter register, lack of facilities for eligible voters living in
Montenegro, and evidence of some degree of disenfranchisement in the
Romani community. Voting took place in Kosovo, where 97,000 voters were
registered; however, restrictions on movement hindered the ability of
ethnic Serbs to vote, while the ethnic Albanian population, with very
few exceptions, did not participate in the election, even in areas
where some were on the voter lists.
There were 24 women in the 250-seat parliament and a female deputy
prime minister. There were no women in the 16-member cabinet. In
September the Government amended the law on elections of members of
parliament to require parties' election lists to include at least 30
percent women.
There were 11 members of minorities in the 250-seat parliament and
no members of minorities in the 16-member cabinet.
The constitution and law exempts ethnically based parties from the
5 percent threshold required for a political party to enter parliament.
Roma continued their historical pattern of low voter turnout. Local
ethnic Albanian leaders in southern Serbia boycotted national elections
notwithstanding their active involvement in local governance.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of government corruption at all levels. Recent polls
indicated that a majority of citizens believed that government
corruption was a major problem.
Government authorities were inconsistent in their approach to
official corruption. Investigations often appeared to be politically
motivated, and there were numerous examples of authorities failing to
act in response to detailed reports of suspected corruption involving a
wide range of officials. Media reporting of corruption was often
sensationalist.
On January 11, police arrested Dejan Simic, former vice governor of
the National Bank of Serbia, and Vladimir Zagradjanin, director of the
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and charged them with involvement in
bribery. Simic allegedly accepted a suitcase containing the equivalent
of $125,000 cash in his apartment in exchange for agreeing to register
the Credit Export Bank.
In February Serbian police issued a warrant for Bogoljub Karic,
head of the Power of Serbia Movement party, after he failed to appear
in court for questioning. Karic faced charges of tax evasion,
mismanagement of millions of dollars, and money laundering while he was
owner of the telecommunications company Mobtel. Some political
commentators speculated that, while the charges against Karic appeared
justified, the timing of this crackdown on Karic's business dealings
may have been politically motivated. The warrant came shortly after
Karic's party formed a new parliamentary caucus that many believed
would shake the delicate balance of the governing coalition and spark a
parliamentary crisis.
On April 15, police arrested nine persons suspected of operating a
lucrative scam in which the commercial court would declare enterprises
bankrupt, and the Postal Savings Bank would then provide cheap loans to
favored businessmen to buy the enterprise's assets at a below-market
price. Several public officials were among the nine arrested, including
Goran Kljajevic, President of the commercial court in Belgrade; the
directors of the Postal Savings Bank and Kreditna Eksportna Banka;
businessmen; and an official from the interior ministry. The suspects
remained in pre-trial detention at year's end.
On October 7, police arrested deputy public prosecutor Milorad
Cvijovic under suspicion of unauthorized appropriation of a court
document from the archives of the state prosecutor's office in 2005 in
order to influence proceedings in a specific commercial case.
The trial of former minister of defense Prvoslav Davinic, charged
with facilitating apartment leases for his bodyguards, was under way at
year's end.
The Government's implementation of the November 2004 access to
information law continued to be slow, and the Government generally did
not provide access in practice. The law provides for public access to
information of ``legitimate public importance'' (with many exceptions)
and establishes an independent commissioner, selected by the Serbian
parliament, to handle appeals when government agencies reject requests
for information. According to a September 2005 report by Transparency
International, about 60 percent of local institutions, and
approximately one-third of national institutions, were failing to
fulfill their obligations under the access to information law. NGOs
reported that their requests for information from the Government
frequently went unanswered.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of independent domestic and international human rights
groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating
and publishing their findings on human rights cases. However, these
groups were often subjects of harassment, threats, and libel suits for
expressing views critical of the Government. Prominent human rights
groups included HCS, HLC, the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights
(YUCOM), the Fund for an Open Society, YIHR, and the Belgrade Center
for Human Rights.
Some NGO workers were threatened and attacked, primarily through
media campaigns demonizing them and publication of personal
information, such as their ethnic backgrounds and addresses. On
September 3, HLC Director Natasa Kandic was exiting TV B92's studio
when witnesses heard several shots. Police determined that the sounds
were caused by firecrackers, but human rights groups asserted they were
meant to intimidate Kandic. Several publications, including Politika,
NIN, and Kurir, attacked Kandic as well as YUCOM director Biljana
Kovacevic-Vuco and HCS Director Sonja Biserko for their outspoken views
on Kosovo and Serbian responsibility for war crimes of the 1990s.
In March HCS issued a report on the targeting of human rights
defenders in Serbia. While praising some positive legal developments,
the report criticized the Government's failure to denounce more
forcefully verbal and physical attacks against human rights defenders,
as well as continued media campaigns aimed at discrediting local human
rights advocates. This report followed a November 2005 report by
Amnesty International, which found that NGOs had been subjected to
repeated and apparently systematic intimidation. The report also found
that prominent human rights advocates, including Natasa Kandic, Biljana
Kovacevic-Vuco, Sonja Biserko, and Stasa Zajovic of the Women in Black
antiwar organization, were targets of a media campaign aimed at
discrediting human rights defenders.
In 2005 the Government announced that it would establish a new
ombudsman's office in Belgrade; however, it failed to do so by the
legislated deadline of March 2006. The city of Kragujevac's ombudsman,
Milan Petkovic, announced his resignation in May, citing political
pressure and harassment from city assembly officials. Vojvodina
Province had an ombudsman, who operated independently during the year.
During the year the Government made little progress in cooperating
with the ICTY to apprehend and bring to justice the six remaining
fugitives indicted by ICTY. Two of ICTY's most wanted war crimes
suspects with links to Serbia, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic,
remained at large. In July, the Government announced a six-point action
plan for ICTY cooperation and appointed special war crimes prosecutor
Vladimir Vukcevic and the head of Serbia's National Council for Co-
operation with ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, to oversee the plan's
implementation. In October, following a visit to Belgrade, ICTY Chief
Prosecutor Carla del Ponte stated publicly that government authorities
had made little or no progress in implementing the action plan.
While the constitution prohibits the extradition of any person with
Serbian citizenship, and this prohibition was applied in practice, the
law allows for an exception in cases of extradition of citizens to the
ICTY. During the year there were no such extraditions conducted.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status; however, discrimination
against women and ethnic minorities as well as trafficking in persons
and violence against women and children were problems.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem, and high levels of
domestic violence persisted. The Serbian Victimology Society reported
in July that one-third of women have been victims of physical violence,
and half of women have been victims of psychological violence.
Domestic violence is a crime punishable by a prison sentence of six
months to 10 years, depending on the seriousness of the offense, and a
minimum of 10 years if death results. Such cases were difficult to
prosecute due to lack of witnesses and evidence, as well as
unwillingness of witnesses or victims to come forward. In a World
Health Organization study of Serbian women released during the year,
two-thirds of physically abused women reported that they did not seek
help because they thought such abuse was normal or not serious. The few
official agencies dedicated to coping with family violence had
inadequate resources.
In 2003 there were approximately 6,000 reported cases of domestic
violence in Serbia. According to the Magistrates Association of Serbia
(MAS), however, domestic violence was significantly underreported, and
the problem was widespread and usually long-lasting. Violence
frequently became a way of life in a country where contributing factors
such as financial dependence, cramped living quarters (multi-family
living arrangements were common), and the lack of support from extended
family were prevalent. During the year, MAS participated in a series of
seminars and training sessions for magistrates to adjudicate domestic
violence cases.
Rape, including spousal rape, is punishable by one year to the
legal maximum sentence (40 years' imprisonment) for a simple case, a
minimum of three years for an aggravated case, and a minimum of five
years if death results or the victim is a minor. Only a small
proportion of rapes were reported because victims feared that they
would not be protected, that their attackers would take revenge, or
that they would be humiliated in court. Few spousal rape victims filed
complaints with authorities. Women's groups reported that sentences
were often too lenient.
The Center for Autonomous Women's Rights in Belgrade offered a rape
and spousal abuse hotline, and sponsored a number of self-help groups.
The center also offered assistance to refugee women (mostly Serb), many
of whom experienced extreme abuse or rape during the conflicts in the
former Yugoslavia. The Counseling Center Against Family Violence
operated a domestic violence shelter partly funded by the Government.
Prostitution is illegal, although being a client of a prostitute is
not a criminal offense.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment was a common problem, but public awareness of it
remained low and few complaints were filed during the year. The law
provides that sexual harassment is a crime punishable by up to six
months' imprisonment for a simple case and up to one year's
imprisonment for abuse of a subordinate or dependent.
Women have the same legal rights as men, including under family
law, property law, and in the judicial system and these rights were
generally enforced in practice. The Government has a council for gender
equality, which worked during the year with NGOs in raising public
awareness of gender equality issues. The Vojvodina government also has
a secretariat for labor, employment, and gender equality. The OSCE
mission to Serbia helped to establish bodies in charge of gender
equality in more than 30 municipalities.
Traditional views of gender roles, particularly in rural areas,
resulted in discrimination against women. In remote rural areas,
particularly among some minority communities, women could not
effectively exercise their right to control property. In rural areas
and some minority communities, it was common for husbands to direct the
voting of wives.
The social status of women was generally considered inferior to
that of men, and women were not well represented in commerce. Women
were legally entitled to equal pay for equal work; however, according
to the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, women's
average wage was 11 percent lower than that of men.
Children.--The Government was committed to the rights and welfare
of children. The educational system provided nine years of free,
mandatory schooling. However, ethnic prejudice, cultural norms, and
economic distress discouraged some children, particularly Roma, from
attending school. One government survey found that approximately 99.8
percent of children attended school; however, the Government
acknowledged that the survey missed many transient Roma.
Romani education remained a problem. Many Romani children did not
attend primary school, either for family reasons, because they were
judged by school administrators to be unqualified, or because of
societal prejudice. Due to the lack of primary schooling, many Romani
children did not learn to speak Serbian. Some Romani children were
placed mistakenly in schools for children with emotional disabilities
because the Romani language and cultural norms made it difficult for
them to succeed on standardized tests in Serbian. The UNHCR, with
government support, conducted health education programs for Roma and
pre-school programs for Romani children.
Free medical care was available in government clinics, including
free medicines from a limited list of covered drugs. Boys and girls had
equal access to medical care.
Child abuse was a problem. While teachers were instructed to report
suspected child abuse cases, they often did not do so. Police generally
responded to complaints, and prosecutions of child abuse cases occurred
during the year. Psychological and legal assistance was available for
victims, and there was an incest trauma center.
Child marriage was a problem in some communities, particularly
among Roma and in rural areas of southern and eastern Serbia. In the
Romani community, boys and girls generally married between the ages of
14 and 18, with 16 as the average, and boys generally married a few
years later than girls. Child marriage was most common among Muslim
Roma, most of whom came from Kosovo and were living in other parts of
the country as IDPs.
Trafficking of children for the purpose of sexual exploitation
remained a problem (see section 5, Trafficking). Some Romani children
were trafficked within the Romani community and to Roma abroad for
exploitation in begging and theft rings.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, trafficking in persons through and, to a lesser extent, to and
from the country (excluding Kosovo) remained a problem.
Serbia was a transit point, and to a lesser extent a point of
origin and destination, for trafficking in women and minors for the
purpose of sexual exploitation. Serbia was primarily a transit point
for internationally trafficked women going to other Balkan countries
and Western Europe. Eastern European countries were the primary source
countries for persons trafficked to and through Serbia. NGOs reported
an increase in minor victims and male victims.
While Serbia was not traditionally a major source for trafficked
women, the number of Serbian victims increased compared to foreign
nationals. In March the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Policy
and the NGO Children's Rights Center released results of a survey that
showed Roma children, children from poor, rural communities and foster
families were at the highest risk for child labor abuse, including
begging, theft, prostitution, dealing narcotics and hard physical
labor.
Traffickers recruited victims through enticements including
advertisements for escorts, marriage offers, and offers of employment.
Some women went to work as prostitutes knowingly and only later became
trafficking victims. In many cases international organized crime
networks recruited, transported, sold, and controlled victims.
Authorities reported increased use of the Internet as a method of
recruiting victims.
The new criminal code, which took effect January 1, differentiates
between trafficking and smuggling. The penalty for trafficking in
persons is two to 10 years in prison; for trafficking minors, the
penalty is a minimum of three years; if the act of trafficking resulted
in death, the penalty is a minimum of 10 years; if it involved serious
physical injury, the penalty is three to 15 years; if there were
multiple acts of trafficking or if perpetrated by an organized group,
the penalty is a minimum of five years.
Authorities uncovered several international trafficking rings,
including those with connections to China, Turkey, Italy, Albania, and
Bulgaria. The Government's prosecution of some trafficking cases became
more effective, particularly in cases of organized crime. On March 2,
the Supreme Court ruled on the high-profile ``Zarubica'' case,
sentencing Stanko Savanovic to five years in prison, Milivoje Zarubica
to four and a half years, Milovan Miletic to three years, Zvezdan
Stankovic to two years, and three others to eight to ten months. The
verdict reflected increased sentences from the 2004 ruling and ordered
the defendants to cover the trial costs. While some major trafficking
cases proceeded quickly, others languished in Serbian courts.
During the year authorities filed 34 criminal charges against 77
persons for trafficking. Antitrafficking groups worked with 56
trafficking victims and received 1,775 telephone calls on an assistance
hotline for victims.
Government antitrafficking efforts were led by an antitrafficking
coordinator who was the chief of the border police and incorporated
government agencies, NGOs, and international organizations. The
Government assisted in international investigations of human
trafficking and participated in regional antitrafficking operations.
The Government offered temporary resident visas and shelter to
victims who agreed to testify against their traffickers, provided
victim and witness protection, and did not prosecute victims.
The Government's agency for coordination of protection to victims
worked to ensure that trafficking victims were correctly identified and
referred to assistance providers. Separate shelters for domestic and
foreign trafficking victims operated during the year. The NGO Astra
operated a hotline for trafficking victims. NGOs and volunteers
provided legal, medical, psychological, and other assistance to
victims. In August the NGO Atina launched a reintegration program for
victims of sexual exploitation.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) managed
repatriation of foreign victims and assisted in the reintegration of
local victims. The IOM also ran a regional clearing center for
information on trafficking victims. There were numerous training
programs, including training for hotline volunteers, shelters, social
welfare officers, and police.
Government and NGO public awareness efforts to combat trafficking
included conferences on trafficking, documentary films and public
service announcements shown across Serbia, and school outreach
programs. NGOs continued to organize and fund the majority of Serbia's
public information campaigns.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or in the provision of other state
services, and the Government generally enforced the law. There were no
reports of discrimination against persons with physical or mental
disabilities; however, facilities for their education and care were
nonexistent or inadequate, and the Government did not address the
problem. A high unemployment rate and lack of accommodations made it
difficult for persons with disabilities to obtain employment.
The law mandates access for persons with disabilities to new public
buildings, and the Government generally enforced this provision in
practice.
During the year, several government and municipal authorities took
steps to increase access to public facilities for persons with
disabilities. In July the Belgrade public transport system adopted a
policy to allow guide dogs on all public transportation.
Unemployment remained a serious problem for persons with
disabilities. A study released by the Center for Development of
Inclusion and the Center for Study of Alternatives found that 87
percent of persons with disabilities were unemployed, while 70 percent
lived in poverty. The study also found that a greater percentage of
women with disabilities were dependent on public assistance compared to
men with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Minorities constituted 25 to 30
percent of Serbia's population and included Hungarians, Bosniaks, Roma,
Slovaks, Romanians, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Croats, Albanians, and others.
Although not widespread, there continued to be incidents of
vandalism and some physical attacks against minorities. The number of
incidents against ethnic Hungarians in Vojvodina decreased compared
with 2004 and 2005, and minority leaders there reported that the
situation was calm. Vojvodina and Serbian government officials
continued implementation of a 10-point strategy, agreed upon in 2005,
for improving ethnic relations in the province, including education
programs, public awareness campaigns, and greater representation of
minorities in the police and judiciary.
Many voters in Vojvodina objected to the new constitution, and some
Vojvodina leaders called for a boycott on the referendum. While the
constitution ostensibly gives Vojvodina a larger portion of its tax
revenue than the province previously received, it also further limits
its autonomy. Only 48 percent of the Vojvodina electorate voted in the
referendum on the constitution, and only 14 percent of ethnic
Hungarians participated.
Ethnic Albanian leaders of the southern municipalities of Presevo,
Bujanovac, and Medvedja continued to complain about the under-
representation of ethnic Albanians in government structures, and
lobbied for greater political autonomy for predominantly ethnic
Albanian areas. In October leaders of the Party for Democratic Action,
one of the largest ethnic Albanian political parties, called on members
to boycott the constitutional referendum.
In August the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Nedzat Beljuli, an
ethnic Albanian who had alleged that the Ministry of Economy and
Privatization had disqualified his 2004 bid on a public company on
ethnic grounds.
Roma continued to be targets of numerous incidents of police
violence, verbal and physical harassment from ordinary citizens, and
societal discrimination. The UN Development Program's social
vulnerability report, released in July, found that the Romani
population continued to live in conditions of extreme poverty with
limited access to education and healthcare. The report noted that the
situation of Roma in the country remained largely unchanged since aid
efforts began.
On February 24, a dozen men attacked the Romani settlement of
Beograd Mahala in Nis, breaking windows, throwing stones, and shouting,
``Gypsies, you are dead.'' Police arrested nine people but released
them without charges since they were minors. The Minority Rights Center
filed criminal charges against the perpetrators for inciting ethnic,
racial and religious hatred and intolerance.
In June the Minority Rights Center filed criminal charges against
police officers Toncika Jeres, Goran Kukuska, and Mirko Kecman in the
Municipal Court Novi Knezevac for abusing a Roma man, Mladen Mikluc on
several occasions between May 15 and June 2. Mikluc said the officers
refused to come to his aid when he tried to report that a man (Stevica
Brzak) was beating him with a baseball bat; when Mikluc went to the
police station, the officers and Brzak beat him again.
On November 15, two underage suspects allegedly harassed an 18-
year-old Roma youth, pushed him off a public bus and then beat him.
Police charged the two suspects with inciting ethnic, racial, and
religious hatred and intolerance.
The HLC reported that on August 31, Kosta Brzak, Slobodan Pantelic,
and several unidentified persons physically and verbally assaulted
three Romani men (Seljatim, Besim, and Ljumni Kolovati) at a Novi Sad
flea market. At year's end misdemeanor criminal charges were pending
against Brzak and Pantelic.
On July 7, the Belgrade district court upheld a February 28
municipal court judgment ordering the Government to pay approximately
$8,100 (485,000 dinars) compensation to Masimo Marinkovic, a 30-year-
old Romani man who was shot by Vladimir Bonifacic, an off-duty employee
of the Ministry of Interior in 1998. The municipal court held the
Government responsible in the case because Bonifacic was a government
employee who had used his service weapon while off duty.
On March 8, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision regarding a 2000 incident in
which a Romani man was denied entry to a Belgrade discotheque. CERD
found that the Government failed to adequately investigate the
petitioner's claim and recommended that the Government provide
compensation to the petitioner and take measures to ensure that the
police, public prosecutors, and courts properly investigate future
complaints of racial discrimination.
Many Roma, including IDPs from Kosovo, lived illegally in squatter
settlements that lacked basic services such as schools, medical care,
water, and sewage facilities. Some settlements were located on valuable
industrial or commercial sites where private owners wanted to resume
control; others were on the premises of state-owned enterprises due to
be privatized. During the year Belgrade authorities continued to
suspend demolition of one settlement on privatized land until they
could locate alternative housing for Roma living there.
During the year the City of Belgrade abandoned plans to construct
an apartment complex for Roma in New Belgrade due to protests by
residents near the prospective site. Residents of Block 45 in New
Belgrade blocked traffic for several days and shouted slogans such as
``we don't want the Gypsies.''
Rivalries between Bosniak political parties in the predominantly
Bosniak city of Novi Pazar led to at least one outbreak of low level
violence during the year. On April 7, Minister for Local Administration
Zoran Loncar dissolved Novi Pazar's democratically elected assembly,
sparking fights and some reported assaults.
To address concerns of minorities, the Government operated a
hotline for minorities and others concerned about human rights
problems. The Government also sponsored school programs to educate
children about minority cultures and to promote tolerance.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Violence and
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. Some NGOs reported
that homosexuals were denied equal opportunities in education and
employment. A survey by the Youth Initiatives for Human Rights
indicated that lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons
experienced widespread threats, hate speech, verbal assault, and
physical violence.
Although the broadcasting law prohibits discrimination on the
grounds of sexual orientation, the media carried slurs against
homosexuals. On February 26, a high ranking official of the SPS called
homosexuality a ``social pathology'' and ``something especially
decadent,'' and indicated that gays and lesbians should not be allowed
in the diplomatic service.
In a poll released during the year by lesbian rights organization
Labris, 65 percent of homosexual respondents claimed they had
experienced violence due to their sexual orientation. Only ten percent
of respondents had reported this violence to the police.
The new criminal code, which entered into force on January 1,
included a provision equalizing the age of consent for all types of
sexual contact. The previous law maintained a higher age of consent for
homosexual sex (18) than for heterosexual sex (14). Under the new law,
the age of consent for all types of sexual contact is 14. Activists had
complained that the old law unfairly discriminated against the
homosexual community.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law and constitution provide the
right for workers, except military and police personnel, to join or
form unions of their choosing, subject to restrictions, including
approval by the Ministry of Labor and a statement from the employer
that the union leader is a full-time employee, which reportedly was
tantamount to an employer approval requirement. A state-affiliated
trade union federation dominated organized labor, due to preference for
unions belonging to it by the managements of the state-owned industries
that dominated the economy. Smaller federations of independent trade
unions competed with the government-affiliated federation, but were
successful in doing so primarily in the relatively small proportion of
the formal nonagricultural economy that is not state-owned. In the
state-owned sector, 60 to 70 percent of workers belonged to unions. In
the private sector, only four to six percent were unionized, and in
agriculture approximately three percent.
The law does not prohibit antiunion discrimination, but it was not
a significant problem during the year.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law and
constitution allow unions to conduct their activities without
interference, and the Government protected this right in practice. The
law protects the right to organize and bargain collectively, and it was
exercised freely in practice. The new labor law implemented in March
2005 requires collective bargaining agreements for any company with
more than 10 employees. However, in order to negotiate with an
employer, a union must have 15 percent of company employees as members.
In order to negotiate with the Government, a union must have 10 percent
of all workforce employees as members. Wage arrears were reported to be
substantial and widespread. Approximately 27 percent of the workforce
was covered by collective bargaining agreements.
The law and constitution provide for the right to strike except by
persons providing essential services such as education, electric power,
and postal service. These employees constitute approximately 50 percent
of the workforce and must announce planned strikes at least 15 days in
advance and ensure that a ``minimum level of work'' is provided.
Workers exercised the right to strike.
Serbia continued to lack a general collective agreement since the
previous agreement expired in September 2005. Two representative trade
unions (Independence and the Confederation of the Autonomous Trade
Unions of Serbia) held over three months of negotiations over a new
agreement with members of the Union of Employers. An agreement was
reached but never enacted because the Union of Employers' managing
board refused to sign it. In the absence of a general collective
agreement, branch and local agreements can be signed based on
provisions in the labor law. In the event that there is no union
representation at a company, the employer is obligated to set minimum
labor standards based on the labor law.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law and
constitution prohibit forced and compulsory labor, including by
children; however, there were reports that such practices occurred (see
sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws protecting children from
exploitation in the workforce. The minimum age for employment is 15,
and written parental or guardian permission is needed for employees
under 18 years of age. The Labor Law stipulates very specific
conditions in which young workers can work and caps the number of work
hours at 35 hours per week.
In villages and farming communities, younger children commonly
worked in family businesses. Children, particularly Roma, also worked
in a variety of unofficial retail jobs, typically washing car windows
or selling small items such as newspapers. Romani children were often
forced by their families into manual labor, compelled to beg, or
trafficked abroad to work in begging or theft rings.
The Labor Inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and
Social Issues checked for child labor during its inspections; however,
the ministry stated it found no violations during the year. The absence
of such violations was most likely the result of limited monitoring
capabilities by inspectors. No reliable data existed on the extent of
child labor due to the lack of a mechanism to monitor the problem. The
ministry also included prevention of child labor in its regular child
and family protection programs.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage for the period
July-December was set by the Social Economic Council at approximately
$150 (8,820 dinars) per month. The minimum wage did not provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. In companies with a
trade union presence, there was generally effective enforcement of the
minimum wage. This was not the case in smaller private companies, and
workers were often afraid of losing their jobs because many of them
were not legally registered. The Labor Inspectorate is responsible for
enforcing the minimum wage.
According to figures released in September, the average salary was
approximately $370 (22,259 dinars). The average worker in Serbia earned
approximately $18 (1,060 dinars) per day or $2.20 (132.5 dinars) per
hour. The average salary was not adequate for a worker and family to
live comfortably.
The standard workweek of 40 hours was generally followed in state-
owned enterprises but not in private companies. The law provides that
an employee may not work overtime for more than four hours a day or for
more than 240 hours in a calendar year. For an 8-hour workday, one 30-
minute break is required. At least 12 hours of break are required
between shifts during a workweek, and at least 24 hours of break are
required over a weekend.
Collective agreements were the primarily means of providing premium
pay for overtime. However, the labor law requires that the premium for
overtime work should be at least 26 percent of the salary base, as
defined by the relevant collective agreement. Trade unions within a
company are the primary agents for enforcing overtime pay; however, the
labor inspectorate also has enforcement responsibilities. The
inspectorate had mixed results enforcing labor regulation due to a
variety of factors, including politics and corruption.
It is mandatory for companies to establish a safety and security
unit to implement safety and security regulations; however, in practice
these units often focused on rudimentary aspects of safety, such as
purchasing soaps and detergents, rather than on providing safety
equipment for workers. Workers did not have the right to remove
themselves from situations that endangered health or safety without
jeopardy to their employment.
KOSOVO
Kosovo has a population of approximately 2.2 million and is
administered by the UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
pursuant to UN Security Council (US) Resolution 1244 of 1999. UNMIK is
led by a special representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo
(SRSG). UNMIK promulgated regulations that addressed the civil and
legal responsibilities of governmental entities and private individuals
and ratified laws passed by the Kosovo Assembly. The UNMIK-promulgated
Constitutional Framework for Provisional Self-government in Kosovo
defines the provisional institutions of self-government (PISG).
Multiparty elections in October 2004 for seats in the Kosovo Assembly
generally reflected the will of the voters. UNMIK international
civilian authorities and a UN-authorized North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) peacekeeping force for Kosovo (KFOR) generally
maintained effective control over security forces; however, there were
occasional reports that local elements of the security forces acted
independently of their respective authority. During the year,
negotiations aimed at settling Kosovo's future status were held under
the auspices of the UN Office of the Special Envoy for Kosovo. No
decision on Kosovo's status had been reached by year's end.
UNMIK and the PISG generally respected the human rights of
residents; however, there were problems in some areas, particularly
relating to minority populations. The most serious of these were cases
of politically and ethnically motivated killings; death and injuries
from unexploded ordnance or landmines; lengthy pretrial detention and
lack of judicial due process; corruption and government interference in
the judiciary; societal antipathy against Serbs and the Serbian
Orthodox Church; lack of progress in returning internally displaced
persons to their homes; corruption in the PISG; violence and
discrimination against women; trafficking in persons, particularly
girls and women for sexual exploitation; societal violence, abuse, and
discrimination against minority communities; societal discrimination
against persons with disabilities; abuse and one killing of
homosexuals; and child labor in the informal sector. Unexploded
ordnance from the 1998-1999 conflict continued to be a concern and
caused several deaths or injuries.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that international authorities UNMIK, the PISG, KFOR, or their
agents committed unlawful or arbitrary killings; however, local
security forces organized under the authority of the PISG committed at
least one unlawful or arbitrary killing during the year.
On January 2, Kosovo Protection Service (KPS) special forces
officer Albert Markaj killed detainee Besnik Kastrati inside the Pec/
Peja police station. The killing was linked to a blood feud between the
families of Markaj and Kastrati. In October Markaj was convicted of
murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
On December 2, Hetem Sadri Rexhaj was killed in police custody in
Pec/Peja. No further details were available at year's end, although a
KPS professional standards unit investigation was underway.
During the year landmines or unexploded ordnance from the 1998-1999
conflict killed one person and injured ten, compared with two
fatalities and three injuries in 2005. Despite some progress on
cleanup, unexploded ordnance remained a threat to civilians.
During the year there were at least two killings that may have
involved a political motive. On May 2, unknown persons killed Mark
Oroshi, the man suspected of killing attorney and Istok/Istog
Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) political activist Shaban Manaj in
2001. Oroshi was released due to lack of evidence. According to police
he had been a target for some time. Earlier in the year, Oroshi was
injured in a failed assassination attempt. A KPS investigation
continued at year's end.
On June 20, a 68-year-old Kosovo Serb, Dragan Popovic, was shot and
killed in his home in the ethnically mixed Klina/Kline municipality.
Popovic left Kosovo during the 1998-1999 conflict and had returned to
Klina/Kline in 2005. Despite some allegations that this killing
involved an ethnic motive, no such evidence had emerged and no suspects
were apprehended by year's end.
Unlike in previous years, there were no apparently politically
motivated killings of police officers.
There were reports of attacks and threats against Kosovo Albanian
political and institutional figures (see section 3).
There were no developments in the investigation into the January
2005 killing of UNMIK police officer Omar Ali, who died when a bomb was
detonated under his official vehicle.
On March 17, a court dismissed for lack of evidence the case
against Tasim Osaj for the April 2005 killing of Enver Haradinaj,
brother of former prime minister and Alliance for the Future of Kosovo
(AAK) President Ramush Haradinaj. Osaj voluntarily surrendered in July
2005.
The investigation into the August 2005 apparently ethnically
motivated killings of Kosovo Serbs Ivan Dejanovic and Aleksander
Stankovic in Strpce, which also injured two passengers in their car,
was closed on August 7 due to insufficient evidence.
There were no developments in the possibly politically motivated
killing of ethnic Turk and Turk Democratic Party of Kosovo member Ibish
Cakalli in October 2005. Investigations remained ongoing at year's end.
There were no developments in the following apparently politically
motivated killings of Kosovo Albanians in 2005: the January 2005
killing of Sadik Musaj, a witness at the ``Dukagjini group'' trial; the
April 2005 killing of Muhamet Sallaj, a former Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA) member; the June 2005 drive-by shooting of journalist Bardhyl
Ajeti of the Albanian language daily Bota Sot; the July 2005 drive-by
killing of Muhamet Xhemajili, former commander of the Liberation Army
of Presevo, Medvedje and Bujanovac, an armed Kosovo Albanian group
previously active in Serbia's Presevo Valley; the September 2005 car
bombing of Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) and former KLA member Naser
Ramaj and his brother Jeton; the October 2005 killing of Hasan
Rrustemi, a witness in the war crimes trial of former KLA (and former
KPC) Commander Selim Krasniqi.
There were no developments in Kosovo Albanian minor AK's appeal of
his June 2005 aggravated murder conviction for the June 2004 killing of
17-year-old Kosovo Serb Dimitrije Popovic and serious injury of another
Kosovo Serb teenager in a drive-by shooting in Gracanica.
On September 26, the murder trial of Shkumbin Mehmeti, Florim
Ejupi, Xhavit Kosumi, and Faik Shaqiri began before international
judges. The four were charged in April 2005 with the killing of a KPS
officer and an UNMIK police officer in an ambush on the Podujevo/
Podujeve road after the March 2004 riots. Ejupi was also indicted
earlier on charges that he and accomplices planned and executed the
2001 Merdare bus bombing near Podujevo/Podujeve that killed 11 Kosovo
Serbs and injured 40. A hearing in the latter case remained pending.
There were no developments in the 2004 killing of Avni Elezaj, a
former KLA fighter and bodyguard of former prime minister and AAK
President Ramush Haradinaj.
On October 18, a special KPS unit apprehended Faton Hajrizi,
accused of killing a Russian KFOR soldier in Klina in 2002. Hajziri had
escaped from the Pec/Peja investigative prison during trial in August
2005. He remained in custody at year's end.
On August 4, an international panel of the Prizren District Court
found Sali Veseli guilty of criminal association and complicity in
aggravated murder for the apparently politically motivated 2000 killing
of the director of the Prizren Department of Environment, former KLA
member Ekrem Rerxha, known as ``Commander Drini,'' and sentenced him to
15 years' imprisonment. The Supreme Court rejected Veseli's appeal on
September 1. The court acquitted codefendant Abit Haziraj of the actual
assassination for lack of evidence; the gunman was never identified.
Charges against codefendant Xhemali Beqiraj were dropped.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances; however, there were still thousands of persons missing
from the 1999 conflict whose remains had not been identified or
whereabouts determined.
According to the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC),
2,139 persons remained unaccounted for at year's end, compared with
2,464 at the beginning of the year. Of those still unaccounted for, the
ICRC reported that approximately 70 percent were Kosovo Albanians and
30 percent were Kosovo Serbs and other minorities.
During the year the UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and Forensics
(OMPF) continued to identify the remains of missing persons in Kosovo.
Since its establishment in 2002, the office performed 505 field
operations and exhumations, 59 of which took place during the year. The
remains of over 3,800 missing persons had been recovered and OMPF
focused on establishing the identities of the 1,440 sets of human
remains discovered in Kosovo and approximately 900 received from Serbia
since 2002.
During the year OMPF continued to hold 582 unidentified bodies in
the Pristina morgue, of which 414 were exhumed in Kosovo and 168 were
transferred unidentified from Serbia. OMPF received 398 positive DNA
reports during the year, representing 291 different individuals. OMPF
also submitted 262 bone samples for DNA testing to the International
Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), which returned 1,635 results. By
year's end, OMPF had completed forensic inspections of all cases
transferred from Serbia proper during the year (remains were
transferred on March 31 and June 30) and had conducted 425 autopsies.
At year's end OMPF also continued exhumations; it recovered and
autopsied 51 bodies from 34 sites. On October 13, OMPF transferred to
the Serbian government the remains of 28 Serbs and other ethnic
minorities killed in 1998 and discovered in a mass grave in Volljak,
Klina/Kline municipality, in 2005.
On June 30, the Serbian government transferred the last sets of
identified remains of Kosovo Albanian victims of the 1999 conflict
found in mass graves in Serbia. These remains were returned to families
for burial. Families of the missing continued to request that the
Serbian government provide access to records that might indicate
locations of additional mass graves or places where Kosovo Albanian
bodies may have been incinerated.
A working group of Kosovo and Serbian officials on missing persons,
chaired by the ICRC, met twice during the year under the auspices of
the SRSG. Although a special subgroup on forensics was formed in
September 2005 and met several times in the first half of the year, it
had not yet identified the hundreds of remains still stored in the
Orahovac/Rahovec morgue.
Of the 711 cases resolved in 2005, 174 human remains were
identified and transferred to the families by August: 45 from Serbia to
Kosovo, 112 within Kosovo, and 28 from Kosovo to Serbia. During the
year 323 human remains were identified and returned to families: 102
from Serbia to Kosovo, 60 from Kosovo to Serbia, and 161 within Kosovo.
The bodies identified during the year included 253 Kosovo Albanians and
70 members of other ethnic groups.
In 2004 the Prizren prosecutor's office announced arrest warrants
for two former Kosovo Serb policemen, Goran Janjusevic and Slavisa
Milkovic, for committing war crimes against the civilian population in
the Prizren region, including the kidnapping and killing of Ardian
Zyrnagjiu during the 1999 conflict. Both suspects remained at large at
year's end.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitutional framework and criminal procedure code
prohibit such practices; however, there were reports that the PISG
engaged in such practices. There were no reports that UNMIK, which is
the sovereign authority, or KFOR, which has limited arrest and
detention authority, engaged in such practices.
According to media reports, the KPS used force to disperse
demonstrations and beat demonstrators while making arrests on a least
four occasions during the year. The Self-Determination Movement, a
group that opposed the continued UN presence and practiced aggressive
and confrontational tactics in advocating immediate and unconditional
independence for Kosovo, organized protests during the year, several of
which became violent. On May 5, the KPS arrested 22 movement members
demonstrating against UNMIK, and the media reported that the KPS beat
detainees. An unknown number of demonstrators refused medical treatment
at the police station; nine KPS officers were injured in the incident,
one seriously. An internal KPS investigation found that the KPS did not
use excessive force, and none of demonstrators filed official
complaints against the police. On June 9, police again reportedly beat
protesters while arresting 91 movement members demonstrating against
UNMIK; there was one report that a protestor required surgery to treat
his injuries. Police violence was also reported on June 28, when police
arrested 85 Self-Determination Movement activists at the Kosovo-Serbia
administrative boundary line crossing at Merdare, and 31 movement
members in Mitrovica, who were protesting the Serbian prime minister's
visit to Kosovo. The Kosovo Assembly and the Government criticized the
reported police abuse of Assembly member Emrush Xhemajli, who was
arrested in Merdare. Similar KPS beatings of protesters were reported
during the movement's August 23 demonstrations at the Kosovo Assembly
and UNMIK headquarters. Eight of the 22 were detained for 72 hours.
At a November 28 protest, demonstrators reportedly threw rocks and
paint-filled bottles at buildings housing UNMIK and government offices.
UNMIK police responded with tear gas but did not intervene further,
instead videotaping the incident and later arresting eight people. All
were subsequently released. No injuries were reported, and at year's
end no serious charges had been brought against the activists.
In an October 2005 letter to the SRSG concerning October 2005 Self-
Determination Movement arrests, the Ombudsperson cited eyewitness
reports that ``many'' activists had experienced ``severe ill-
treatment'' during their arrest and statements by persons who had been
arrested that the mistreatment continued after they had been taken into
custody. The KPS Professional Standards Unit initiated three
investigations, one of which was dismissed as unfounded. The other two
investigations resulted in discipline against KPS officers involved,
each of whom was suspended for 10 days without pay, given mandatory
remedial training, and given letters of discipline in their personnel
files.
There were developments in the case of six Kosovo Albanian KPC
officers arrested for alleged involvement in war crimes committed
against Kosovo Albanian civilians in the Drenovac Detention Camp in
Prizren between June and October 1998. On July 27, the international
investigating judge dropped the charges against Isuf Gashi and Xhavit
Elshani. On August 10, the Gjilan District Court acquitted Islam Gashi
and convicted former KPC commander general Selim Krasniqi, colonel
Bedri Zyberaj, and Agron Krasniqi of war crimes and sentenced each of
them to seven years in prison. When Zyberaj and Selim Krasniqi were
provisionally released pending their appeals, Kosovo Prime Minister
Agim Ceku visited Selim Krasniqi, called the release ``a good thing for
Kosovo,'' and declared, ``I never stopped believing in their
innocence.'' Both the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center-Kosovo
Branch (HLC) and the Kosovo-based Council for the Defense of Human
Rights of Freedoms (CDHRF) criticized the Prime Minister's statement.
Later in August, the prosecutor won a Supreme Court appeal of the
provisional release, and an order was issued for the rearrest of the
men soon thereafter. Zymberaj was apprehended on October 25. At year's
end, Selim Krasniqi remained at large.
During the year authorities brought a number of persons to court
for crimes related to the March 2004 interethnic riots (see section 5).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prisons and detention
centers reportedly met international standards, and UNMIK permitted
ICRC visits and monitoring by the Ombudsperson; however, there were
allegations of abuses, including sexual abuse, and mistreatment of
prisoners during the year. The Government denied prison access to at
least one local nongovernmental organization (NGO) during the year.
The Dubrava prison and five detention centers operated during the
year, and the construction of a new prison facility continued in
Lipljan/Lipjan to alleviate crowding.
UNMIK police corrections officers managed prisons and detention
centers, but increasingly transferred responsibilities to the Kosovo
Correctional Service (KCS), under the authority of the PISG.
On February 1, the UNMIK Department of Justice Penal Management
Division appointed a Kosovo Albanian as KCS commissioner. UNMIK
transferred control of Lipljan/Lipjan Prison and all five detention
centers to the KCS on February 17. The KCS managed daily operations at
the Dubrava prison, with the exception of the 32-prisoner ``high risk''
section, which remained under international supervision. UNMIK retained
authority to take full control of the prison system during emergencies.
The CDHRF reported receiving complaints from prisoners and their
families charging abuse and excessive solitary confinement in prison.
Authorities did not conduct investigations into these allegations. On
June 7, several prisoners went on strike at Dubrava prison, protesting
the lack of supplies at the prison canteen. According to CDHRF, prison
authorities violated many of the rights granted prisoners by the
provisional criminal code, the antidiscrimination law, the juvenile
justice code, the education law, and international law.
While the law provides for women and juveniles to be held
separately from men, the CDHRF reported that women and juveniles in the
Lipljan/Lipjan prison were being held only yards away from men serving
sentences for lesser crimes and were harassed by them.
UNMIK reported bringing 60 disciplinary proceedings against members
of the 1,650-strong KCS during the year, compared with 35 in 2005. The
17 proceedings that were concluded by October resulted in six
dismissals, nine written warnings, and one demotion. Behavior resulting
in discipline included administrative violations such as repeated
tardiness and fraud (see section 3).
In July the CDHRF was provided full access to monitor KPS police
stations. The ICRC visited Kosovo's prisons, although it did not issue
any public findings on its visits. In a December policy reversal, the
minister of justice decided to allow CDHRF access to the prisons for
the first time since 2003, although no such visits took place by year's
end. In December, journalists were also allowed to visit both Lipljan/
Lipjan and Dubrava prisons for the first time since the 1999 conflict.
According to the journalists who visited Dubrava prison, the prisoners
with whom they spoke praised prison conditions in the Justice
Minister's presence but criticized them in his absence. Dubrava prision
held 809 inmates at year's end, below its total capacity of 1,100.
In October the HLC filed suit in Prizren District Court on behalf
of Sasa Grkovic, who alleged severe mistreatment while in detention in
2001-2002 before and during his trial on charges of mass murder and
torture of civilians. He was acquitted and released after 457 days of
imprisonment. There were no developments in the case by year's end.
In January the Council of Europe (COE) noted that it was unclear
whether a NATO/KFOR detention facility in Kosovo was open for
inspection by its Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). In
July the COE and NATO reached agreement to give the CPT full access to
NATO/KFOR facilities. In December CPT visited KFOR headquarters to
discuss future visits to detention facilities, but no such visits had
taken place by year's end.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitutional framework and
criminal procedure code prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and
UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally observed these prohibitions in
practice.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Local security forces
included the KPC, a civilian emergency response organization, and the
KPS, a local police force which functions under the authority of the
SRSG and supervision of UNMIK police. A December 2005 UNMIK regulation
established the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which under the
constitutional framework is responsible for law enforcement. In March
Fatmir Rexhepi was appointed minister and in April KPS became an
executive agency under the ministry. UNMIK maintains executive
authority over the police, but continued to transfer police authority
and functions to the KPS.
An international commissioner of police directed both UNMIK police
and the KPS, although in August UNMIK appointed a Kosovo Albanian as
deputy commissioner and four Kosovo Albanians as assistant
commissioners. Members of ethnic minorities comprised approximately 16
percent of the KPS's 7,200 officers at year's end; 10 percent of KPS
officers were Kosovo Serbs. Thirteen percent of KPS officers were
female.
Executive authority over the KPS is a reserved power of the SRSG.
Day-to-day police operations have been transferred to the KPS in five
of the six regions of Kosovo. In those regions, the KPS is responsible
for all police services and routine activity. Specialized units on war
crimes and ethnically motivated crimes were still primarily staffed by
international UN police officers and largely operated independently of
the KPS due to the sensitivity of those functions. Units on criminal
intelligence and organized crime, including trafficking, were jointly
operated. Both the international police and the judiciary have broad
discretion to intervene in any particular criminal matter. As a
practical matter, most policing duties and responsibilities were in the
hands of KPS.
Susceptibility to corruption and government influence remained a
problem in the security forces.
On June 28, the PISG Ministry of Internal Affairs and the OSCE
Mission in Kosovo inaugurated the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo, a body
designed to promote police efficiency and effectiveness, hold police
accountable for their actions, and investigate and punish misconduct.
The first 20 inspectors reported for duty on July 4, and 24 additional
positions were advertised in December. During the year, inspectors
began the first phase of their mandate: the audit and inspection of KPS
management performance. They focused on efficiency and effectiveness,
inspecting six of the 14 functional areas at each regional police
headquarters and the central headquarters in Pristina and presenting
reports on each. A general report on the inspectorate's 2006 activities
was not yet available at year's end.
An UNMIK office of oversight investigated corruption in UNMIK and
the criminal justice system. The judicial system generally held the
security forces to the same level of accountability as it held the
general population.
During the year the KPS professional standards unit, run by UNMIK
police, completed 98 disciplinary investigations of KPS officers for
participating in or failing to prevent violence in the March 2004
riots. The standards unit determined 53 allegations to be unfounded,
suspended 35 officers without pay, referred seven to administrative
discipline at the station level, demoted two officers, and fired one.
Arrest and Detention.--Police generally made arrests openly using a
warrant issued by a judge or prosecutor; however, in some cases,
persons were arrested secretly by masked or undercover police officers.
By law, arrests must be based on prosecutor orders and arrestees must
be brought before a judge within 72 hours. Unlike in previous years,
the majority of the year's arrests were carried out by the KPS rather
than by UNMIK. According to the CDHRF, the KPS did not abuse the 72-
hour rule and generally charged arrestees within six hours or released
them. Arrestees have the right to be informed of the reason for their
arrest in a language they understand; to remain silent and not answer
any questions except those concerning their identity; to obtain free
assistance of an interpreter; to obtain defense counsel and to have
defense counsel provided if they cannot afford to pay for legal
assistance; to receive medical treatment including psychiatric
treatment; and to notify a family member. UNMIK police and the KPS
generally respected these rights in practice. The law permits bail,
confiscation of travel documents, house arrest, and other measures as
an alternative to detention on remand, but these were applied in only a
handful of cases.
Under extraordinary circumstances, KFOR can arrest and detain
individuals without a warrant. The KFOR commander can extend the
detention of individuals in 30-day increments without charging them
with a crime before a court, provided they were not released by a
court. There were no reports that KFOR arrested persons without a
warrant during the year.
UNMIK police and the KPS may hold individuals for up to 72 hours
without a court order. The court may hold individuals in pretrial
detention for 30 days from the day of arrest, but this can be extended
by the courts up to a total of 18 months. The law allows for house
arrest, an appeal for detention on remand, and expanded use of bail as
alternatives to pretrial detention.
Lengthy detentions, both before and during judicial proceedings,
remained a problem. In October 820 persons were being detained on
remand, compared to 432 detained serving sentences. The law provides
that the judge may impose this extraordinary measure only when ordinary
measures, such as house arrest, are insufficient to secure the
defendant's presence during the criminal proceedings and enable proper
administration of the criminal proceedings. In practice judges used
detention on remand routinely, without showing any evidentiary
justification.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitutional framework
provides for an independent judiciary; however, the local judiciary was
at times biased and subject to outside influence and did not always
provide due process. There were credible reports of corruption in the
local judiciary, and the court system was inefficient.
On March 24, a Pec/Peja municipal court panel of three
international judges found former judge Gani Kelmendi and a
codefendant, Florim Zekaj, guilty of extortion. Florim Zekaj was also
found guilty of attempted obstruction of justice. Both were sentenced
to three years in prison. The court also prohibited Kelmendi from
serving as a judge for five years after his sentence is completed.
Kelmendi served as judge in the Municipal Court of Istok/Istog.
Legal authority is held by UNMIK under U.S. Resolution 1244. UNMIK
police and justice authorities held executive responsibility for the
judicial system but worked with local judges and prosecutors; during
the year UNMIK transferred some reserved competencies to the Ministry
of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Kosovo Judicial
Council that was established in December 2005. The Serbian government
continued to operate an unsanctioned parallel judicial system in Kosovo
Serb enclaves and in majority Serb municipalities.
The court system includes a Supreme Court, five district courts
including a commercial court, 25 municipal courts, 25 minor offense
courts, and an appellate court for minor offenses. In October there
were 14 UNMIK-appointed international judges and 11 international
prosecutors. The PISG included a central public prosecutor's office,
five district prosecutors, and seven municipal prosecutors.
While the law provides that a panel of two professional and three
lay judges try serious cases, an UNMIK regulation authorizes
international prosecutors to try cases of a sensitive ethnic or
political nature, including before a panel of three international
judges. International prosecutors initiated 101 cases during the year,
and international judges tried five of them, resulting in four
convictions.
UNMIK's Judicial Inspection Unit (JIU) monitored judicial
performance and made recommendations on discipline and training. The
unit has a mandate to audit and evaluate the Kosovo justice system,
make recommendations to the Department of Justice for the resolution of
systemic problems, conduct investigations into allegations of judicial
and prosecutorial misconduct, and present cases of misconduct in
disciplinary hearings before the Kosovo Judicial Council. The JIU had
processed a total of 1,488 complaints since 2001, including 448 during
the year. Of those 448, JIU rejected 221 cases and completed 100 of the
227 investigations it opened. In the majority of investigations (89),
JIU found no misconduct. The unit referred six cases to the Judicial
Council, which heard three by year's end, dismissing one judge and
recommending three for disciplinary action.
A May 2006 Human Rights Watch report on the March 2004 riots cases
criticized local and international authorities for failing to hold
perpetrators accountable for their crimes. The report pointed to a lack
of effective oversight by UNMIK over the judiciary and a failure to
adequately develop and support the rule of law in Kosovo, calling
impunity, particularly for crimes with a political or ethnic dimension,
``rampant.''
Trial Procedures.--Trials are public, and the law provides for the
right of defendants to be present at their trials, to confront
witnesses, to see evidence, and to have legal representation, at public
expense if necessary; however, these procedures were rarely used in
practice. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and have
the right of appeal. Trials are heard by panels consisting of
professional and lay judges; there are no jury trials.
The UNMIK-established judicial integration section continued to
address judicial system problems that affected minorities. In addition,
the Ministry of Justice operated 11 court liaison offices, two of which
were created during the year, to assist minority communities in Kosovo
Serb-majority areas by accompanying members of minorities to courts,
filing documents with courts on their behalf, and providing information
and legal assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons
(IDPs). In response to past criticism by legal experts and human rights
observers of a lack of fairness in criminal trials involving ethnic
minorities, international judges and prosecutors, rather than Kosovo
Albanians, tried and prosecuted cases involving Kosovo Serbs.
The KPS established a special investigation team to handle cases
related to the March 2004 riots. The team covered the territory of
Kosovo and was responsible for preparing dossiers on investigations,
which were conducted in cooperation with UNMIK police and international
prosecutors. According to the Kosovo Judicial Council, by year's end
the 326 charges filed by municipal and district prosecutors for
criminal offenses in connection with the riots had resulted in 200
indictments, 48 dismissals, 35 cases transferred from municipal to
minor offenses court, and 43 cases suspended, terminated, or otherwise
unsolved. Of the 200 indictments, municipal and district prosecutors
won convictions in 134 cases, and courts acquitted eight and dismissed
28; 30 cases were pending at year's end (see section 1.a.).
International prosecutors and judges handled the most sensitive cases.
Of the 31 cases handled by international prosecutors and judges, courts
convicted 26 individuals and acquitted one, and four were awaiting
trial at year's end.
Kosovo's justice system and the International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) continued to identify and punish
perpetrators of war crimes from the 1999 conflict; however, many cases
remained unresolved. Supreme Court appeals continued in local courts to
adjudicate cases of alleged war crimes and genocide arising from the
1999 conflict. The war crimes case against former KLA (and former KPC)
commander Selim Krasniqi concluded during the year (see section 1.c.).
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports that
KFOR, UNMIK, the KPS, or the PISG held political prisoners or detainees
during the year.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--According to an April OSCE
report, interference by municipal authorities and the UNMIK Department
of Justice hampered judicial independence in civil matters. The OSCE
cited instances in which municipal authorities plainly obstructed court
proceedings, pressured judges in cases to which authorities were party,
and influenced third parties to prevent courts from exercising their
authority. OSCE also reported that the justice department instructed
judges not to process claims for compensation for property damages
caused by KFOR, UNMIK, or the municipalities. The Department of Justice
claimed that it did not pursue such compensation claims because the
logistical challenges of such claims were insurmountable. It also
claimed that an influx of property-related claims would hinder the
courts' work, increase its already large backlog of cases, and require
special planning and coordination, since it would be necessary to
provide security escorts to a large number of Kosovo Serb claimants.
There were no reports of difficulty in enforcing court orders
resulting from civil litigation. However, according to one survey, only
14 percent of the pending cases to affect a civil order resulted from
civil litigation; 69 percent of such cases dealt with debt collection
by utility companies.
Property Restitution.--The Kosovo Property Agency was created in
March under the PISG as the successor to the UNMIK Housing and Property
Directorate. While the directorate only handled claims to residential
properties, the new agency is responsible for the resolution of
residential, commercial, and agricultural property claims from the
Kosovo conflict. By year's end the Kosovo Property Agency had received
7,891 claims: 6,991 for agricultural property, 486 for commercial
property, and 506 for residential property. Kosovo Serbs in the
northern part of Mitrovica continued to occupy Kosovo Albanian
properties, while Kosovo Albanians in the southern part occupied and
denied Kosovo Serbs access to their property. The Housing and Property
Directorate reported that, by December 31, it had decided a total of
29,159 claims, including all of the 1,250 property claims in northern
Mitrovica, Leposaviq/Leposavic, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan. In over half
of these cases, the KPA resolved claims by allowing squatters to remain
in place with owner permission and directorate administration of the
property.
The Kosovo Property Agency administered 5,340 properties, 3,497 of
which were held with the permission of claimants whose rights were
adjudicated by either the Kosovo Property Agency or the former Housing
and Property Directorate. The Kosovo Property Agency administered the
remaining 1,843 properties where ownership had not been established. In
September the agency began the first phase of a rental program for the
residential properties under its administration, providing a mechanism
for displaced owners to receive some compensation.
The backlog of property-related claims in municipal courts grew
from 17,000 in 2005 to over 47,000 at year's end; these were almost
exclusively monetary claims by Kosovo Serbs for war-related damage. A
study commissioned by the European Agency for Reconstruction estimated
that 11,000 additional claims involving agricultural and commercial
property awaited adjudication at the end of 2005. There was no
indication that this number decreased during the year.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework
prohibit such actions, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally
respected these prohibitions in practice. KFOR forces assisted UNMIK
civilian police and the KPS in conducting searches for high-risk
suspects and independently searched private property for weapons
without court orders, based on U.S. Resolution 1244's peacekeeping
authority.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--UNMIK regulations and the
constitutional framework provide for freedom of speech and of the
press, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally respected these rights
in practice; however, there were allegations that the KPS interfered
with freedom of speech and press, and the courts ordered the seizure
and sale of the assets of a daily newspaper for not paying its fines,
including those for ``unbalanced coverage'' of the 2004 elections.
UNMIK regulations prohibit hate speech and speech that incites ethnic
violence, as well as newspaper articles that might encourage criminal
activity or violence.
Individuals generally could criticize authorities publicly or
privately without reprisal.
During the year the number of daily newspapers reached 10, with
nine publishing at year's end. On November 24, authorities closed the
Pristina branch of Bota Sot and the newspaper's printing press for
failing to pay taxes accumulated since 2000. Three newspapers published
weekly and covered current events, and dozens of other periodicals that
primarily covered entertainment published throughout the year regularly
or irregularly.
According to the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo,
media outlets' financial difficulties left their editorial independence
and journalistic professionalism vulnerable to outside influence and
pressure. Some newspapers were financially self-sufficient or operated
through aid donations and thus were able to develop editorial policies
independent of business and political interests. However other
newspapers relied on funding from businesses and political interest
groups, who provided such money in exchange for positive coverage.
During the year, there were no reports that the PISG or UNMIK pressured
or influenced the independent print media.
Print media were self-regulated by a press code of conduct adopted
by the Press Council of Kosovo, an organization comprised of print
editors and publishers. The council's complaint board may impose fines
for breaches of the code of conduct, including penalties of up to
$2,620 (2,000 euros) for serious violations such as hate speech and
defamation. During the year the council adjudicated 10 of the 20
complaints filed, but did not impose any fines.
Kosovo had 115 licensed independent broadcast outlets (93 radio and
22 television stations), which were active and expressed a wide variety
of views.
International media were allowed to operate freely.
Journalists reported that pressure from powerful politicians
resulted in indirect forms of censorship; they refrained from critical
investigative reporting out of fear for their personal security.
Journalists were occasionally offered financial benefits in exchange
for positive reporting or for abandoning an investigation. According to
editors, government agencies withdrew regular advertising from
newspapers that had published critical coverage of them.
On January 20, the Kosovo Assembly passed a law bringing Kosovo's
popular public broadcasting company Radio Television Kosovo (RTK),
formerly overseen by UNMIK, under the immediate authority of the
assembly. While RTK previously received operating funds out of fees
collected by the Kosovo Energy Corporation, the new law placed RTK's
budget under the direct control of the Ministry of Finance, a change
that observers believed could jeopardize its editorial independence.
RTK reported being frequently pressured by the PISG. The new RTK law
also provides for regulation of RTK program content and requires that
at least 15 percent of RTK program time, including prime time, be
dedicated to nonmajority communities in their respective languages on a
proportionate basis.
On August 29, the Independent Media Commission replaced UNMIK's
temporary media commissioner. The commission is a permanent body
overseen by a seven-member governing council that includes two
international members. The commission implemented UNMIK regulations and
enforced codes of conduct governing broadcast media.
During the year there were several incidents of violence or
harassment directed at the media.
On July 18, a security guard at Bota Sot noticed a hand grenade on
a sidewalk near the premises of the newspaper. Police responded and a
KFOR demining unit performed a controlled explosion of the device.
The RTK received bomb threats during the year, via both telephone
and e-mail. Early in the year, the station received a number of threats
from a person accusing it of being a mouthpiece for UNMIK and ``working
for Serbs.'' On March 17, RTK received an e-mail from an organization
calling itself the ``Meteoras,'' threatening to destroy RTK with a bomb
at 3:00 p.m. the following day. The e-mail asked RTK to evacuate the
building at that time. The threat proved to be false.
On August 23, RTK received another e-mail threat from a group
calling itself ``Islamic Jihad,'' related to RTK's publication of
Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad several months earlier.
On September 14, a KPS officer allegedly assaulted daily Lajm
Ekskluzive journalist Enis Veliu in the Kosovo Assembly building. The
subsequent case against the officer was dismissed as unfounded.
On October 15, two men physically attacked daily Lajm Exclusiva
reporter Bujar Desku over his reporting on the illegal construction of
a Mobtel cellular telephone antenna in a village outside Pristina and
subsequently made further telephone threats to him as well. In
September Infopress reporter Burim Qela received death threats by
telephone for reporting on the same issue.
On January 13, the KPS and journalists held a public debate on
violence against journalists. Fatos Bytyci, head of the Association of
Professional Journalists of Kosovo said that although the violence,
which had been increasing, did not seem to be a matter of policy, the
police commissioner was not doing enough to prevent it. Since that
debate, journalists had occasional altercations with the KPS, but as of
October there had been only three such incidents reported to the
association, compared to 16 during the same period in 2005.
There were no developments in the investigation of the June 2005
killing of Bota Sot editor Bardhyl Ajeti. A KPS investigation continued
at year's end.
In September an internal investigation by the KPS Professional
Standards Unit cleared a KPS officer of alleged involvement in the
March 2005 assault of RTK reporters Behxhet Begu and Bardh Bekteshi.
The two had allegedly parked their car in a restricted hospital/
emergency no-parking zone on municipal property in Vucitrn/Vushtrri.
According to election regulations, during political campaigns media
must ensure fair and equitable news coverage and access to discussion
and debate for all parties; campaign-related reporting must be fair and
impartial; and debates must have politically diverse guests and
audiences and impartial moderators. In April an international judge
ordered daily Bota Sot's assets to be seized and sold to pay a $85,150
(65,000 euros) fine imposed by court order in December 2005 for
unbalanced coverage of the 2004 elections, and an $10,480 (8,000 euros)
fine for a February 2005 failure to ensure accuracy in reporting. A
Bota Sot bank account containing $68,120 (52,000 euros) was frozen
pending payment of the fine.
On November 24, the Kosovo tax administration closed Bota Sot for
alleged nonpayment of $524,000 (400,000 euros) in taxes; the law allows
the tax administration to seize and sell the papers assets after 60
days. At year's end no assets had been seized but the paper was not
operating.
Internet Freedom.--There were no UNMIK, KFOR, or PISG restrictions
on access to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-
mail or Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the
peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic
mail.
In a November poll, 19 percent of Kosovars reported that they used
the Internet daily.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no UNMIK, KFOR,
or PISG restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework provide
for freedom of assembly, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally
respected this right in practice. An UNMIK regulation required that
demonstration organizers give 48 hours advance notice for police
coordination.
According to media reports, the KPS used force to disperse
demonstrations and beat demonstrators while making arrests on at least
four occasions during the year (see section 1.c.).
Freedom of Association.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional
framework provide for freedom of association, and UNMIK, KFOR, and the
PISG generally respected this right in practice.
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo routinely registered political parties
under UNMIK auspices, and the Ministry of Public Services registered
NGOs.
c. Freedom of Religion.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional
framework provide for freedom of religion, and UNMIK and the PISG
generally respected this right in practice.
There are no specific licensing regulations for religious groups;
however, religious organizations must register as NGOs with UNMIK and
the Ministry of Public Services in order to purchase property or
receive funding from UNMIK or other international organizations.
Religious groups complained that NGO status did not adequately reflect
their religious character, and the Protestant Evangelical Church
refused to register as an NGO.
In July the assembly passed the Law on Religious Freedom, which the
SRSG promulgated in August. The law affirms the right to freedom of
expression, conscience and religion to all residents of Kosovo
regardless of their religious convictions. It provides for the
separation of religious communities from public authorities and for
equal rights and obligations to all religious communities, and
stipulates that there is no official religion in Kosovo.
Religious identity and ethnicity were closely related. Kosovo Serbs
identified with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which influenced their
cultural, historical, political, and religious views (see section 5).
While significant parts of the Kosovo Albanian community continued to
view the Serbian Orthodox Church as a symbol of Serbian nationalism,
relations between leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community and the
Serbian Orthodox Church improved during the year as PISG officials and
political figures met on several occasions with church clergy. In May
central and local government officials participated in a landmark
interfaith conference held at the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate in Pec/
Peja.
Pursuant to a 2002 law requiring public education institutions to
refrain from religious instruction or other activities promoting any
specific religion, the Ministry of Education prohibited the wearing of
headscarves. The ministry continued to enforce this prohibition,
particularly at schools with obligatory uniforms, despite a 2004
opinion issued by the Ombudsperson that the rule should apply only to
teachers and school officials, not students. Following mediation by the
Ombudsperson, a primary school student dismissed from class in April
2005 for wearing a veil completed her education through correspondence
classes and received her diploma during the year.
The Ombudsperson Institution reported that it had received no new
complaints of violations of religious rights during the year. In 2005 a
male student filed a complaint with the Ombudsperson alleging that he
was expelled from school for having a beard; school officials told the
Ombudsperson that the student was not expelled but only prevented from
returning to class while he wore a beard.
Protestant groups continued to report that they experienced
discrimination in media access, particularly by public television
station RTK. The Protestant Evangelical Church in Kosovo, Fellowship of
the Lord's People, reported that the Decani/Decan municipality, citing
negative reaction from local citizens, denied it permission to build a
church facility on land the church purchased previously. The church
reported that the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning upheld
the decision in February, and at year's end the case remained pending
before the Kosovo Supreme Court.
The Islamic community continued to assert that UNMIK's denial of a
radio frequency for an Islamic radio station and the national library's
closure of its prayer room constituted violations of religious freedom.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--During the year there were
multiple reports of attacks against Serbian Orthodox clergy and
parishioners and vandalism of Serbian Orthodox Churches and church
property. During the year the Joint Reconstruction Implementation
Commission, composed of the PISG, Serbian Orthodox Church, and
international agencies, continued to make progress in restoring
churches damaged or destroyed during the March 2004 riots.
On May 6, unknown attackers shot at a car driven by Serbian
Orthodox priest Srjdan Stankovic in the Zvecan municipality. UNMIK
charged a Kosovo Serb KPS officer in connection with the incident. The
case was turned over to an international prosecutor and remained
pending at year's end.
There were reported incidents of rock-throwing and other assaults
against Serb buses and Serbian Orthodox clergy as they traveled outside
of their monasteries, and monks and nuns at some monasteries reportedly
did not use areas of the monasteries' properties out of concern for
their safety.
Security concerns continued to affect the Serb community and its
freedom to worship, particularly after the March 2004 riots. Some
Kosovo Serbs asserted that they were not able to travel freely to
practice their faith. For example, the Decani monastery experienced a
decline in attendance at religious services after KFOR stopped
escorting nonclergy parishioners to religious sites in April 2005.
Clergy transit vans were also reportedly pelted with stones when
traveling through Kosovo.
During the year there were numerous cases of vandalism directed
against Serbian Orthodox Church property. For example, on March 15, six
tombstones were damaged in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery and a church
window was broken in Urosevac/Ferizaj municipality. Three Kosovo
Albanian teenagers confessed to the crime. As minors, they faced
criminal charges under the Juvenile Justice Code, which permits
imprisonment of minors only for criminal acts that carry a penalty of
five years or more under the Criminal Code. Because the crime with
which they were charged--damaging graves--is punishable by up to one
year of imprisonment, the prosecutor sought to impose educational
measures on the defendants as permitted under the Juvenile Justice
Code. Two of the defendants experienced 15 days of pretrial detention;
the three awaited trial at year's end.
On June 9, a landmine was discovered in a Serbian Orthodox cemetery
in the predominantly Kosovo Serb village of Staro Gracko, Lipljan/
Lipjan municipality. On June 20, church officials reported the
disappearances of four crosses from the roof of the Serbian Orthodox
Church in Obilic/Obiliq. Three juveniles were arrested, and the crosses
were recovered. On August 6, thieves broke into the Serbian Orthodox
church in Babin Most, Obilic/Obiliq municipality, stealing several
icons and damaging the interior of the church. No suspects were
apprehended.
In July 2005 a man attacked a pastor serving in Decani/Decan with
the Assemblies of God Protestant Evangelical Church of Kosovo. The
pastor underwent surgery for his injuries. The attacker was arrested,
fined approximately $400 (300 euros), and released. Protestants
reported the attack, which occurred with members of the KPS present,
was possibly motivated by a controversy over church-owned land on which
the Protestants have been prevented from building.
Protestants reported harassment and discrimination, including
verbal attacks, a lack of Protestant programming on RTK, and incidents
of school officials calling in parents of pupils to deter their
children from converting to Protestantism. They reported that in July
2005, people in Malisevo/Malisheve municipality, incited by the Islamic
community, reacted violently against the showing of the movie
``Jesus,'' although the Protestants had received permission from the
municipality, the KPS, and village leadership to screen the film. KPS
arrested 20 protesters, some of whom were armed, and helped church
members to safety.
Approximately 40 individuals from two families in Prizren had some
Jewish roots, but there were no synagogues or Jewish institutions in
Kosovo other than a small cemetery in Pristina. There were no reports
of anti-Semitic acts.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and
Repatriation.--UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework
provide for freedom of movement; however, interethnic tensions and real
and perceived security concerns restricted freedom of movement. During
the year UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally improved protection of
these rights for minority communities.
Sporadic incidents of violence and intimidation targeting
minorities continued to limit freedom of movement for Kosovo Albanians
in northern Kosovo. The PISG and UNMIK enhanced efforts to facilitate
minority travel throughout Kosovo, but real and perceived risks
deterred many minorities from traveling outside of their neighborhood.
There were numerous attacks during the year on buses carrying Serbs
and other ethnic minorities. For example, on January 3, a KPS-escorted
biweekly bus transporting Serbs from Orahovac/Rahovec was stoned in
Malishevo/Malisheve. On January 5, a bus traveling from Dragas/Dragash
to Belgrade was attacked by a rocket-propelled grenade. Buses carrying
Serb returnees from Klina/Kline and Istok/Istog to Mitrovica were
stoned by Kosovo Albanian youth in Runik, Srbica/Skenderaj
municipality, on several occasions. On August 30, a bus driver reported
that a group of Kosovo Albanians stoned his bus while transporting
Kosovo Serb children through southern Mitrovica, breaking one window.
The stoning of buses was also reported on October 26 in Runik/Rudnik
and November 20 in Obilic. No injuries were reported in any of these
incidents.
To reduce the risk of attack by making Kosovo Serb and Kosovo
Albanian vehicles indistinguishable, UNMIK continued to offer Kosovo
license plates at no fee to Kosovo Serbs who had already registered
their vehicles in Serbia. However, Kosovo Serbs were reluctant to use
the UNMIK-issued plates because doing so limited their ability to
travel to Serbia, which did not recognize the UNMIK plates.
There were also incidents targeting infrastructure used by
minorities. On June 2, explosives were found under a bridge connecting
two Kosovo Serb returnee villages in Klina/Kline municipality. On
December 8, an explosion on railroad tracks in Mihaliq village,
Vucitrn/Vushtrri municipality temporarily halted rail service between
Kosovo Serb communities in southern Kosovo and areas north of the Ibar
River. No suspects were apprehended in either incident.
On September 11, an explosion destroyed the recently reconstructed
but yet uninhabited home of a Kosovo Serb returnee and damaged another
nearby home in Klina/Kline municipality. The perpetrators were not
apprehended.
On August 31, UNMIK and the Ministry of Transportation and
Communication signed a memorandum of understanding governing the
transfer of competency to provide humanitarian train and bus services
to minority communities in Kosovo; since that date the ministry
operated the buses. The public transportation strategy developed as
part of the transfer provided for the direct participation of an
affected community in any decision to change humanitarian
transportation services.
UNMIK regulated movement in and out of Kosovo. UNMIK regulations
provide that the central civil registry may issue travel documents to
any person registered as a habitual resident of Kosovo, and the
registry routinely issued such documents in practice. The PISG held
managerial and operational responsibility for the registry, while UNMIK
retained its overall authority, including for the issuance of UNMIK
travel documents and the security of the central registration database.
The law prohibits forced exile, and authorities did not use it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--According to the Office of
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), some 207,000 persons
from Kosovo remained displaced in Serbia and 16,500 in Montenegro as a
consequence of the 1999 conflict. Of the 4,100 persons displaced by the
March 2004 riots, some 1,300 remained displaced. There were 19,500
persons displaced within Kosovo, almost half of whom were Kosovo
Albanians. Few IDPs returned during the year due to uncertainty over
Kosovo's future political status, lack of employment opportunities,
security concerns, and property disputes. While some international
agencies, NGOs, and the PISG continued to organize small-scale return
projects, observers criticized the newly created PISG Ministry of
Communities and Returns for internal irregularities and delay in the
disbursement of PISG funding for return projects. Amidst these
criticisms and investigations, returns minister Slavisa Petkovic
resigned shortly before year's end. Aside from successes in Klina/Kline
and Istok/Istog, municipalities hired staff and devised municipal
return strategies with minimal results. On August 3, Pec/Peja
municipality decided not to reconstruct any homes in its territory
without a statement from the displaced homeowner indicating readiness
and intention to return.
On June 6, the Governments of Kosovo and Serbia signed a protocol
for cooperation in returning displaced people to Kosovo, including to
places other than their primary residence. Discussions on
implementation of this agreement continued at year's end.
At the end of December, UNHCR reported that 1,608 members of
minority communities returned to Kosovo during the year, including
Kosovo Albanians who returned to areas where they are a minority.
Overall minority returns since 2000 stood at 16,117 at year's end. A
slightly smaller number of Kosovo Serbs returned compared to 2005, when
more Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians, and Goranis returned. Kosovo Serbs
comprised approximately 31 percent of returnees during the year,
compared with 35 percent in 2005. Roma (including Ashkali and
Egyptians) continued to return in slightly greater numbers, comprising
54 percent of the overall number of returns. In Mitrovica, Kosovo Serbs
in the north of the city and Kosovo Albanians in the south continued to
illegally occupy each others' properties, hindering potential returns.
By year's end, the PISG had reconstructed over 97 percent of the
homes damaged or destroyed in the March 2004 riots. On December 15, for
example, repairs and reconstruction were completed in Svinjare.
However, a number of the individuals displaced by the riots still did
not return due to both a real and perceived lack of security,
unemployment, and residents' complaints about the quality of
reconstruction. The prospect for returns varied according to region and
ethnic group.
Camp Osterode, a relocation facility in northern Kosovo designed to
eventually accommodate approximately 531 Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian
IDPs, opened in March, and 114 households comprising 454 persons moved
there from lead-polluted camps during the year. Forty-one households
with 172 individuals remained at the polluted Cesmin Lug camp, refusing
to move. All persons from Kablar Barracks and Zitkovac camps moved to
Osterode, and all existing structures at those two camps were
demolished to prevent movement back to lead-polluted areas. On August
30, the World Health Organization (WHO) began treating relocated Roma,
Ashkali, and Egyptian children for lead poisoning at the camp.
In 2005 UNMIK also began a concurrent donor funding campaign to
rebuild the original Romani settlement in southern Mitrovica, destroyed
in 1999 by Kosovo Albanians. In February, the European Roma Rights
Center filed a petition with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
in Strasbourg alleging UNMIK violations of Roma rights and requesting
immediate action to remove the Roma from the lead-contaminated camps
and provide medical treatment. The ECHR subsequently rejected the
petition.
Limited funding slowed the return project, but reconstruction of
the neighborhood began in May. By year's end, two 12-unit apartment
buildings were completed and construction had begun on two more.
Another 36 houses (54 housing units) were also nearly complete. The
committee for selecting future occupants of the 48 apartments received
93 applications; 31 from Serbia, 27 from Camp Osterode, 18 from
Leposaviq/Leposavic municipality, 13 from Montenegro, two from Camp
Cesmin Lug, and two from private locations in Mitrovica. The committee
selected the occupants. At year's end, the 48 chosen heads of household
were waiting to sign a 99-year lease, which was in the process of
revision and approval by the UNMIK legal adviser's office.
Protection of Refugees.--Kosovo is not a signatory to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol.
However, Kosovo provides asylum and refugee status under an UNMIK
regulation on the movement of persons into and out of Kosovo, whose
provisions are compatible with the Convention and Protocol. During the
year, UNMIK granted refugee status to two persons.
In practice, UNMIK provided protection against refoulement, the
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. UNMIK
cooperated with the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
UNMIK regulations and the constitutional framework provide
residents with the right to change their government peacefully, and
they exercised this right in practice through periodic elections on the
basis of universal suffrage.
Kosovo continued to be administered under the civil authority of
UNMIK. UNMIK and its chief administrator, the SRSG, established an
international civil administration in 1999 following the NATO military
campaign that forced the withdrawal of Serbian forces. In 2001 UNMIK
promulgated the constitutional framework for the PISG. Under the
constitutional framework, a 120-member Kosovo Assembly selects a
President, a prime minister, and other ministers and PISG officials.
Kosovo's leaders continued to criticize UNMIK for the slow pace of
transfer of powers to the PISG, and UNMIK retained a number of
competencies under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, including
security and relations with foreign governments. In October 2005, a UN
report noted that without clarity on future political status, the PISG
was unable to take further steps to improve its effectiveness.
Elections and Political Participation.--International and domestic
observers determined that the October 2004 Kosovo Assembly elections
generally reflected the will of the voters, although less than five
percent of Kosovo Serbs participated, largely due to Serbian government
pressure to boycott. On June 16, the SRSG postponed municipal elections
due in November until either June 2007 or six months after the decision
on Kosovo's final status, whichever is earlier.
Kosovo has a multiparty system dominated by four Kosovo Albanian
parties with several minority parties and coalitions.
Under UNMIK regulations, individuals may nominate themselves as
candidates to their parties, which must hold open and transparent
internal elections to select candidate lists. Unlike at its 2004
convention, the largest party and senior ruling coalition partner, the
LDK, abided by this requirement when it elected a new President at its
December 9 party convention. Party affiliation played an important role
in access to government services and social and employment
opportunities. Traditional social arrangements and clan loyalties also
played an important, although unofficial, role in political
organizations.
There were numerous reports of politically motivated attacks and
threats against Kosovo Albanian political and institutional figures
during the year.
In January an unknown person assaulted Ferizaj LDK branch
presidency member Ismajl Nazifi, a key witness for Ferizaj Municipal
Assembly President Faik Grainca in his lawsuit against former deputy
prime minister Adem Salihaj. A KPS investigation continued at year's
end.
On July 24, a Kosovo daily newspaper published a threat against the
Kosovo negotiating team by the self-proclaimed ``Karadaku fighter
comrades,'' warning ``that the signing of the current plan on
decentralization would be the most fatal signature they have ever given
against themselves and the interests of their nation.'' A KPS
investigation continued at year's end.
On September 15, a bomb exploded near the Gnjilane/Gjilan apartment
of Kosovo Interior Minister Fatmir Rexhepi, destroying his wife's car.
An investigation was ongoing at year's end.
In the four months prior to the December LDK party internal
elections, there were 10 explosions, most involving politically
relevant targets. Property damage was reported, but no injuries. At the
December 9 party convention, several people suffered minor injuries
during a fight between those supporting President Sejdiu and those
supporting Nexhat Daci.
There were 36 women in the 120-seat Kosovo Assembly. Women must
occupy every third spot on each political party's candidate list. There
were no female members of the eight-member assembly presidency and only
one female minister and one female deputy minister. Women represented
28 percent of the elected municipal representatives. In September 2005,
34 female Kosovo Assembly members established an informal women's
caucus with an eight-person, multiethnic board.
There were 22 ethnic minority members in the 120-seat Kosovo
Assembly, including 10 Kosovo Serbs and 12 members of other groups,
including ethnic Turks, Bosniaks, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians.
There were two minority PISG ministers--one Kosovo Serb and one
Bosniak--and three minority deputy ministers. The seat of one Serb
minister was kept vacant, as the designated Serb party refused to take
the position. One Bosniak and one Kosovo Turk held a rotating seat on
the Kosovo Assembly presidency; the boycott by one of the Kosovo Serb
parties left empty the eight seats set aside for Kosovo Serbs. At
year's end, Kosovo Serbs in the largest Kosovo Serb political party had
not claimed their set-aside cabinet posts and continued to boycott
assembly votes, although they did participate in committees; members of
Slavisa Petkovic's Serb Democratic Party of Kosovo and Metohija took up
two of the set-aside seats and led the Ministry of Returns. The
constitutional framework requires that the assembly reserve 10 seats
for Kosovo Serbs and 10 for members of other ethnic groups, but ethnic
minorities were underrepresented at the municipal level where no such
provisions govern.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There was a widespread
public perception of corruption in both the PISG and UNMIK. A lack of
effective judicial oversight and general weakness in the rule of law
contributed to corruption in the PISG. As part of its mandate, UNMIK
continued to adjudicate many sensitive cases related to corruption and
interethnic crimes. During the year 24 people were arrested and one
convicted on corruption charges.
On February 28, unknown persons assaulted the independent
international auditor general, leaving her with cuts and bruises two
months after her arrival in Kosovo and only two days after the release
of a critical audit on the Pristina municipality. A KPS investigation
continued at year's end.
After assuming office in March, Prime Minister Agim Ceku requested
that an independent international auditor undertake an audit of every
ministry and municipality. By year's end, the auditor general had
issued reports on five municipalities and reports on asset management
in six ministries, most of which were critical of government
administration, fiscal management, and procurement practices. In
October following allegations of corruption and pursuant to a search
warrant issued by an international judge, the office of the Ministry of
Communities and Returns was searched. In November Prime Minister Ceku
dismissed Minister Slavisa Petkovic, a Kosovo Serb, and at year's end
prosecutors were continuing to review the reports.
On June 24, the KPS Financial and Corruption Crime Investigation
Unit in Pristina arrested Ahmet Alishani, senior advisor to the former
assembly speaker Nexhat Daci, on suspicion of fraud and bribery.
Alishani was released, then re-arrested in November in connection with
the audit of the Kosovo Assembly.
During the year Kosovo Assembly President Kole Berisha ordered an
audit on management of the assembly under his predecessor, Nexhat Daci.
The audit, presented to assembly members on October 6, reported
numerous wrongdoings and mismanagement by the assembly administration,
misuse of public funds, and procurement irregularities during Daci's
tenure as assembly President. In October Berisha suspended four staff
members, and on November 3, the Assembly established an investigation
committee on the matter. The committee's investigation was ongoing at
year's end. By year's end, three suspects were arrested, including two
Assembly officials, and the criminal investigation led by UNMIK's
Department of Justice continued. No charges had been brought against
Daci himself.
On November 3, an international prosecutor indicted former Director
of the Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo Leme Xhema, former
divisional manager at Kosovo Trust Agency Roger Reynolds, former
director of Norway Invest Mustafa Neziri, and former managing director
and chairman of Norway Invest Ronnen Sorensen, in connection with the
alleged misuse of $390,000 (300,000 euros).
On November 29, two finance officers at Dubrava Prison were
arrested on charges of abusing their official position and falsifying
documents. The two were released on the condition that they not
approach witnesses in the case or any employee of the Dubrava Prison
finance office. An international staff member who had left the mission
was also being investigated. The investigation was ongoing at year's
end.
No law provides for access to official UNMIK documents. In 2003
UNMIK promulgated a law on the access to official PISG documents, but
the law did not include penalties for failure to comply, and in
practice PISG institutions rarely granted access during the year.
Institutions failed even to respond to nearly 85 percent (690 of 820)
of requests made during the year, according to a Youth Initiative for
Human Rights study, and those who did respond most often responded by
refusing to provide the requested documents. Furthermore, only six of
318 requests made in the Serbian language were replied to in Serbian as
required by law. Although most replies came within the required 15-day
window, journalists complained that allowing 15 days effectively meant
they could never obtain official documents in time to meet their own
publishing deadlines.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. UNMIK, KFOR, and the
PISG were occasionally cooperative and responsive to their views.
Authorities did not provide NGOs access to public documents (see
section 3) and prohibited one NGO, which formerly visited prisons to
report on conditions, from conducting such visits until late December
(see section 1.c.).
NGOs complained about the lack of a tax exemption on some items
imported into Kosovo; some religious NGOs reported discrimination based
on their religious affiliation.
An Ombudsperson Institution was responsible for investigating
allegations of government abuses of international human rights laws.
While the Ombudsperson office actively issued intervention letters,
reports, and recommendations, its recommendations were not always
followed by the PISG, local courts, or the KPS. Cases investigated by
the office concerned property rights, abuse of official authority,
administrative acts or omissions by public authorities, lack of proper
investigations into criminal acts, issues involving the length of court
proceedings and the execution of court decisions, employment-related
disputes, and impunity. The former deputy Ombudsperson Hilmi Jashari
served as acting head of the Ombudsperson Institution during the year,
following the end of the international Ombudsperson's mandate in
December 2005. In February the Ombudsperson's mandate was changed to
exclude UNMIK from its purview; a new Human Rights Advisory Panel
within UNMIK was established in April and charged with UNMIK oversight.
UNMIK, KFOR, and the PISG generally cooperated with the ICTY. In
March 2005 the ICTY indicted then-prime minister Ramush Haradinaj and
codefendants Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj regarding war crimes
committed between March and September 1998. In a pretrial conference on
October 13, the prosecutor amended the indictment, dropping two counts
and adding one. The prosecutor also applied to make further amendments,
which the court allowed. At year's end, the final indictment had yet to
be submitted or approved.
Societal attitudes occasionally interfered with ICTY
investigations. A visit on May 25 by an ICTY criminal defense team to a
massacre site in Krusha e Vogel, Prizren municipality, sparked violence
by villagers, who claimed they saw two former Serb residents in the
convoy. The resulting melee resulted in the injury of over 30 people,
including three police officers. The PISG and UNMIK officials
criticized the villagers' failure to respect the rule of law, adding
that any future visits would be better coordinated and announced in
advance. Two activist groups, the Self-Determination Movement and the
National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo, supported the
villagers' actions and criticized UNMIK police.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
UNMIK and PISG regulations specifically prohibit discrimination on
the basis of race, gender, ethnic origin, disability, or language;
however, violence and discrimination against women, persons with
disabilities, and ethnic minorities persisted.
Women.--Domestic violence against women, including spousal abuse,
remained a serious and persistent problem. UNMIK regulations prohibit
domestic violence and convictions carry prison terms of six months to
five years. When victims did press charges, KPS domestic violence units
conducted investigations and transferred cases to prosecutors.
According to UNMIK, family loyalties and close-knit communities and the
backlog of cases in both civil and criminal courts added to a low rate
of prosecution.
The Center for Protection of Women and Children provided assistance
to 81 victims of domestic and sexual violence from April through
December, including legal services in 44 cases. The Ministry of Justice
Victim Advocate and Assistance Unit was involved in 701 domestic
violence cases. The judicial system processed 135 protection orders and
opened 213 cases, 116 of which resulted in convictions. Sentences
ranged from judicial reprimands to imprisonment. Traditional social
attitudes towards women in the male-dominated society contributed to
the high level of domestic abuse and low number of reported cases.
There were no governmental agencies dedicated solely to dealing
with family violence. Six shelters assisted victims of domestic
violence and trafficking, including one run by an international NGO and
designed for minors and two that admitted victims of both domestic
violence and trafficking. The KPS reported that 66 victims of domestic
violence received shelter during the year. Several domestic and
international NGOs pursued activities to assist women; however, they
were constrained by a tradition of silence concerning domestic
violence, sexual abuse, and rape.
During the year, a 24-hour anonymous hotline for reporting domestic
abuse operated in Pristina, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Peje/Pec, Prizren, and
Mitrovica. Since 2004 the hotline has assisted 2,573 cases. Victims of
domestic violence accounted for 77 percent of the calls and 4 percent
of calls were from trafficking victims. The hotline informed callers
about their rights, available shelters, and related information.
The KPS training school offered special courses on domestic
violence and rape in its curriculum. There were no reports that KPS
responded inappropriately to rape or domestic abuse allegations.
UNMIK regulations criminalize rape; however, spousal rape is not
specifically addressed. Under the Provisional Criminal Code, rape is
punishable by one to 10 years in prison; statutory rape (sexual
intercourse with a girl under 14) is punishable by one to five years in
prison.
Rape was significantly underreported due to the cultural stigma
attached to victims and their families. According to the Ministry of
Justice, victim advocates provided services to victims in approximately
82 cases of rape during the year.
The law prohibits prostitution, but prostitution remained
prevalent. The UNMIK police trafficking and prostitution investigation
unit investigated cases of prostitution and suspected trafficking in
persons.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
There was no specific law against sexual harassment, which was a
common problem. Social awareness of sexual harassment remained low, and
few cases were reported.
Women have the same legal rights as men but traditionally have a
lower social status, which affected their treatment within the legal
system. Despite a lack of legal impediments, relatively few women
obtained upper-level management positions in commerce, the KPS, or
government. While the number of women with jobs continued to increase,
female unemployment remained high at around 70 percent, 10 to 20
percent higher than the rate for men.
Traditional social attitudes toward women resulted in
discrimination. In some rural areas, women often had little ability to
make decisions involving their children or to exercise control over
property. While women and men have an equal legal right to inherit
property, family property customarily passes only to men. Ethnic
Albanian widows, particularly in rural areas, risked losing custody of
their children due to a custom calling for children and property to
pass to the deceased father's family, while the widow returns to her
birth family.
On May 5, the President of the Skenderaj Education Committee
recommended that married women should not be allowed to attend
secondary school, explaining that since ``they are wives,'' they should
take care of their husbands. The municipal assembly unanimously
approved the recommendation.
In October KPS arrested four people, including the parents, for
attempting to force a 13-year-old girl to marry an already-married,
much older man with four children. The girl was removed to a shelter.
To combat discrimination against women, in 2005 UNMIK integrated
antidiscrimination, antitrafficking, and human rights coursework into
the legal curriculum at the University of Pristina.
Children.--UNMIK and the PISG were generally committed to the
welfare and rights of children.
According to a 2004 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report, an
estimated 40 percent of the population of Kosovo is under the age of
18, and 33 percent of the population is under 15. Kosovo has a very low
rate of preschool attendance, with less than 10 percent of children
aged two to five attending. According to the NGO Save the Children, a
preschool education law promulgated in March failed to make the
preprimary year (for children ages five to six) compulsory or ensure
budget allocations to preprimary education. UNMIK regulations require
children between the ages of six and 15 to enroll in public school.
Primary education is free. UNICEF estimated that 33 percent of the
children who enroll in primary school drop out by grade eight and, of
those who finish primary school, only 57 percent enroll in secondary
education. Some children were forced to leave school early to enter the
workforce (see section 6.d.).
According to 2005 statistics, 97.5 percent of Kosovo Albanian and
99 percent of Kosovo Serb children were enrolled in primary school,
while only 77 percent of children between the ages of seven and 14 from
non-Serb minority communities (Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Turkish,
Bosniak, Gorani, and others) were in school. UNICEF reported that the
lack of facilities for minority education in parts of Kosovo made it
difficult for some IDPs to return to their homes.
According to UNICEF, while 52 percent of all children who completed
primary education continued to secondary school, only 43 percent of
female students continued. The rate of secondary school completion was
also lower for Kosovo Albanian girls than for Kosovo Albanian boys or
Kosovo Serb girls.
UNMIK regulations require equal conditions for school children and
provide the right to native-language public education through secondary
level for minority students. Schools teaching in Serbian, Bosnian, and
Turkish operated during the year. Both Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian
children attended schools with inadequate facilities that lacked basic
equipment. A few schools housed both Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian
pupils, who studied different curricula and rotated class schedules.
Romani, Ashkali, and Egyptian children attended mixed schools with
Kosovo Albanian children but reportedly faced intimidation in some
majority Albanian areas. Romani children tended to be disadvantaged by
poverty, leading many to start work both at home and in the streets at
an early age to contribute to family income. Romani children were also
disadvantaged by having to learn another language to attend school
since many spoke Romani at home. Some Bosniak children in predominantly
Bosniak areas were occasionally able to obtain primary education in
their language, but those few outside such areas received instruction
in the Albanian language.
The Government provided medical care, and boys and girls had equal
access to it. However, the medical care available was generally of a
low standard.
A study by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education on the prevalence
of violence in schools found that violence against children was
condoned. Corporal punishment was an accepted practice in homes and
schools. Those who lived far from school reported that they were afraid
to travel the distance because of the threat of peer violence. Children
reported that persons close to them were perpetrators of violence; that
boys were more at risk of physical violence; and girls were more at
risk of verbal abuse. Of children ages six to 11, 75 percent perceived
the street as the most violent place, 27 percent said the school was
the scene of violent events, and 12 percent mentioned the home. Thirty-
seven percent of older children considered violence against children in
schools to be a widespread phenomenon.
High unemployment and family dislocation resulted in abandonment of
newborns. The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported that 1,200
children were either orphaned or abandoned since the end of the 1999
conflict, although the abandonment rate was decreasing, and only 56
children were abandoned between January and October. The children were
housed in various residential placements including extended family
care, foster care, and community-based homes. However, because domestic
adoptions and foster family programs did not keep pace with the rate of
abandonment, authorities sometimes housed infants and children in group
homes with few caregivers. Children with disabilities were often hidden
away without proper care, particularly in rural areas.
During the year the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare operated
31 social welfare centers that assisted 1,188 orphans, 1,695 delinquent
children, 66 abused children, 66 abandoned children, and 388 children
with behavioral problems. The ministry also managed foster homes and
coordinated with NGOs to place children in temporary shelters.
According to the Center for Social Work, 19 abandoned disabled
children, ranging from three to 18 years of age, were living in two
government-funded community homes under 24-hour care.
Child marriage was reported to occur, especially among the ethnic
Romani, Ashkali, Egyptian, and Albanian communities, although UNMIK did
not compile statistics on the problem.
Children were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a serious problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--UNMIK regulations criminalize trafficking
in persons; however, trafficking of women and children remained a
serious problem.
Kosovo was a source, transit, and destination point for trafficked
persons, and internal trafficking was a growing problem. Victims were
women and children trafficked internally or from Eastern Europe, the
Balkans, and the former Soviet Union into Kosovo, primarily for sexual
exploitation but also for domestic servitude or forced labor in bars
and restaurants. Victims were also trafficked through Kosovo to
Macedonia, Albania, and countries in Western Europe. During the year,
24 of the 64 persons who were identified as victims of trafficking were
repatriated or returned to their community.
According to the KPS and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), trafficking in persons was an increasing problem, and
the majority of victims were trafficked from Moldova. IOM records
indicate that Moldovan females accounted for 43 percent of trafficking
victims, followed by females from Romania (17 percent), Kosovo (16
percent), Ukraine (11 percent), Albania (6 percent), Bulgaria (5
percent) and other countries (3 percent). The KPS reported similar
statistics, but their records indicated that 31 percent of the victims
were from Kosovo and trafficked internally, putting internally
trafficked victims just behind Moldovan victims. The KPS also reported
great difficulty in identifying trafficking victims due to their
reluctance to come forward and report the crimes to the police.
Cultural taboos and the threat of social discrimination caused most
internally trafficked victims to remain silent about their experiences.
Another difficulty was the inability of the KPS to recruit Kosovo Serb
officers for the antitrafficking unit, preventing undercover operations
from taking place in northern Kosovo and in Kosovo Serb enclaves.
Trafficking victims worked primarily in the sex industry, mostly in
brothels and nightclubs but increasingly in private residences. None
reported that they were aware they would be working in the sex industry
when they left their homes. Trafficking victims reported that they were
regularly subjected to beatings and rape, denied access to health care,
and had their travel and identity documents confiscated. Victims were
often found in poor health and psychological condition.
UNMIK reported that traffickers often worked as part of a
coordinated effort between Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian organized
crime elements, and some women were trafficked from or through Serbia
into Kosovo. Bar and brothel owners purchased victims from organized
crime rings.
Methods of trafficking increased in sophistication. In reaction to
an aggressive eradication campaign by local and international
authorities, traffickers shifted the commercial sex trade out of public
bars and clubs and into private homes, where operations were more
difficult to detect. Traffickers increasingly used financial incentives
to encourage victims to refuse assistance.
The IOM reported that, of the 538 mainly international victims it
has assisted since 1999, 73 percent fell prey to traffickers after
accepting a bogus job offer abroad, 4.1 percent claimed to have been
kidnapped, and 3.7 percent were promised marriage. In 83 percent of
cases, recruiting was through personal common contacts; the recruiter
was an acquaintance of the victim in 29 percent of the cases and a
friend or family friend in approximately 15 percent. Recruiters were
most often female.
Under the Provisional Criminal Code, trafficking is punishable by
two to 20 years' imprisonment. Engaging or attempting to engage in
trafficking is punishable by two to 12 years' imprisonment, or up to 15
years if the victim is a minor; organizing a group to engage in
trafficking is punishable by five to 20 years' imprisonment;
facilitating trafficking through negligence is punishable by six
months' to five years' imprisonment. A client engaging in sex with a
trafficking victim may be sentenced for up to five years, while sex
with a trafficked minor carries penalties of up to 10 years'
imprisonment. Voluntary prostitution is punished as a minor offense;
prostitutes can be punished, but not clients, unless the police can
prove that a client knowingly used the services of a trafficking
victim. Prostitution constitutes grounds for deportation.
UNMIK and the KPS Section for Investigations of Trafficking in
Human Beings worked together on trafficking until May, when the
trafficking competency was transferred to the KPS. During the year
UNMIK and KPS conducted 157 surveillances and 90 operations, including
38 undercover operations. They also checked 1,303 premises suspected of
being used for trafficking in persons and prostitution and closed 22
business establishments used for trafficking. During the year UNMIK and
KPS arrested 36 people for trafficking, 21 for pimping, 12 for
prostitution, and 28 on trafficking-related charges such as illegal
weapons possession and counterfeiting. They also identified 64
trafficking victims, 51 of whom received needed assistance, including
safe accommodation, counseling, and professional training for return
and social reintegration. At least one shelter provided medical care
pursuant to its agreements with health care providers. The prosecutor's
office filed 15 cases of trafficking in persons; 29 additional cases
from previous years remained open. Fourteen of these 44 cases were
completed, resulting in 12 convictions of 18 defendants.
Factors that contributed to a low number of prosecutions included
the increasing sophistication of organized crime efforts to avoid
direct links between the victims and senior crime figures, the lack of
a witness protection program (although means were employed to provide
anonymity during trial testimony), reluctance of victims to cooperate
with authorities, inadequate training for judicial personnel, and
failure of police to adapt to new techniques employed by traffickers.
UNMIK regulations provide a defense for trafficking victims against
criminal charges of prostitution and illegal border crossing. In the
past, local judges sometimes incorrectly sentenced trafficking victims
to prison or wrongly issued deportation orders against women convicted
of prostitution or lack of documents. Unlike in previous years, there
were no reports of these practices occurring during the year.
UNMIK, the KPS, the border police, the OSCE, the Office of Good
Governance, prosecutors, judges, and the ministries of health,
education, public services, and labor and social welfare shared
responsibility for combating trafficking. NGOs and international
organizations, particularly the IOM, handled protection and prevention-
related antitrafficking activities. The PISG, in cooperation with NGOs,
international organizations, and foreign governments, continued to
implement the Kosovo Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings,
which was launched in May 2005. Activities included a prevention
campaign during part of the year, as well as the launch of an
antitrafficking Web site and campaigns against trafficking in children
and young girls. Authorities also initiated a network of young human
rights and antitrafficking ``ambassadors.'' After receiving training,
these ``ambassadors'' began touring Kosovo and hosting debates on human
rights and trafficking issues.
The IOM assisted 54 victims of trafficking during the year, 30 of
whom were from Kosovo. More than half of the victims from Kosovo were
minors (17 cases), and 29 were internally trafficked. The current
reporting period was the first year in which IOM assisted more local
than foreign trafficking victims. Of the victims from outside Kosovo
that the IOM has assisted since 1999, over 50 percent were from
Moldova, 20 percent from Romania, 13 percent from Ukraine, and the rest
from Bulgaria, Albania, Russia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovakia, and
Nigeria. The majority of these victims were between the ages of 18 and
24 years. IOM figures indicated that 77 percent of Kosovo victims were
internally trafficked, while approximately 10 percent were trafficked
to Macedonia, and 5 percent each to Albania and Italy.
The overall number of trafficking cases involving minors increased
from 2005. While none of the foreign victims of trafficking IOM
assisted during the year were minors, about 57 percent of the local
victims IOM assisted were minors. Children and young girls from rural
areas made up 54 percent of trafficking victims. Children and young
girls from backgrounds with a high level of poverty, unemployment, and
illiteracy were particularly at risk of being trafficked. The IOM
reported that 11 percent of local victims were not enrolled in school;
35 percent had only finished primary school (fifth grade); 47 percent
had finished elementary school (ninth grade); 6 percent had completed
secondary education (high school); and 1 percent had gone to
university.
There was anecdotal evidence during the year that a complex set of
financial relationships and kinship ties existed between political
leaders and organized crime networks that had financial interests in
trafficking. Unlike in previous years, there were no reports that the
same lawyer represented an accused trafficker as well as the victim.
In May the antitrafficking competency was transferred from UNMIK
Police to the KPS. The number of bar/restaurant checks increased
dramatically following the KPS assumption of authority, and the number
of premises closed increased slightly.
There were a number of arrests and police actions against
traffickers during the year. For example, in August Kosovo daily Koha
Ditore reported the killing of a trafficking victim who had been
arrested in a Gnjilane/Gjilan motel and deported to Albania on June 26.
According to the KPS, the woman did not admit to being a trafficking
victim and was deported because she had entered Kosovo illegally. The
Albanian interior ministry reported that the victim's boyfriend, Urim
Jahja, killed her in her apartment in the Albanian village of Shengjin
on August 22 because of an alleged debt. The Albanian investigation
revealed that the victim was deceived by another Albanian woman who
found her a dishwashing job in Tirana and later moved her to a cafe in
Kosovo. The woman kept the victim's wages, which she justified as
repayment for finding her the job. She also refused to allow the victim
to contact her mother for three to four months. Jahja later committed
suicide.
On October 5, KPS officers raided a nightclub in suburban Pristina
and arrested five local men and two Moldovan women on suspicion of
trafficking. Police recovered six other Moldovan women as possible
trafficking victims. The following day, the KPS ordered the six women
arrested for hiding the act of human trafficking and recruiting other
females for prostitution in cooperation with the nightclub's owners and
workers. According to the KPS, the prosecutors later dropped the
charges and released the women, who have since gone back to work at the
nightclub. One of the men was released a month later due to a lack of
evidence. Of the four men awaiting trial on trafficking charges, two
remained in pretrial detention at year's end.
On October 9, KPS arrested two Kosovo Albanian males on the
Pristina-Urosevac/Ferizaj road for trafficking two female Kosovo
Albanian minors. KPS later arrested and detained four women in
connection with the crime. A warrant was issued for the arrest of a
third man, who was believed to be outside of Kosovo. Trials of those
arrested were underway in the Pristina District Court at year's end.
International and local NGOs were the main source of assistance to
trafficking victims. Local NGOs, such as the Center for Protection of
Victims and Prevention of Trafficking in Humans and the Center for
Protection of Women and Children, operated shelters that provided
medical care and psychological counseling services to trafficking
victims in cooperation with UNMIK, the OSCE, and the IOM. The NGO Hope
and Homes for Children operated a shelter for child victims of
trafficking, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, in
cooperation with UNMIK and the OSCE, ran a semi-independent group
housing unit for minors who were victims of trafficking and domestic
violence. Some domestic violence shelters, such as Liria in Gnjilane/
Gjilan, offered short-term shelter and referral services to low
security risk victims. A Ministry of Justice-run interim facility also
provided temporary shelter to victims while they considered whether to
be repatriated or to testify against traffickers. Police often referred
suspected trafficking victims to the IOM through OSCE regional
officers.
Persons With Disabilities.--Several UNMIK regulations prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state
services; however, there was considerable discrimination in practice,
and the rights of persons with disabilities were not a PISG priority.
According to the local disability rights NGO HandiKos, the laws
relating to persons with disabilities were not adequately implemented.
As a result, children with disabilities were often excluded from
educational opportunities, were not professionally evaluated, and
lacked sufficient health and social services. There were no special
legal protections for children with disabilities, as the Council on
Economy and Finances claimed that it did not have sufficient funding to
support such programs. There was no law defining the status of persons
with disabilities, nor was there provision for their training or
employment. There were no guardianship laws with appropriate due
process protections, and the regulations did not recognize the
placement of individuals with mental disabilities in institutions as a
legal issue separate from the issue of involuntary treatment. The law
mandates access to official buildings; however, it was not enforced in
practice.
According to the NGO Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI),
patients with mental disabilities continued to be detained in isolated
conditions with no legal basis, since there is no law to regulate the
process of committing persons to psychiatric or social care facilities
or to protect rights within institutions. On occasion individuals in
need of mental health treatment were convicted of fabricated or petty
crimes and sent to prisons that lacked resources for adequate
treatment.
On April 26, the Prime Minister established the National Council on
Disabled People (NCDP) as an advisory organization to government
authorities and the Kosovo Assembly. The NCDP has two co-chairs: the
Prime Minister and NGO HandiKos director Halit Ferizi. During the year
they established an NCDP secretariat to draft legal instruments, but by
year's end the NCDP had not yet become fully operational.
By year's end, neither UNMIK nor the PISG had filed criminal
charges or taken other legal action in response to a 2002 report by
MDRI that found extensive evidence of physical abuse, sexual assault,
neglect, and arbitrary detention by staff and patients in mental health
care facilities at the Shtimje Institute, the Pristina Elderly Home,
and the Pristina University Hospital.
The ministries of education, health, social welfare, and public
services were responsible for protecting the rights of persons with
disabilities.
According to the WHO, there were an estimated 14,000 persons with
mental disabilities. In December 2004 MDRI reported that institutional
care of persons with mental disabilities left them isolated,
arbitrarily detained, and vulnerable to physical violence and sexual
abuse (see section 1.c.). In 2005 the PISG expanded options for
independent living by such persons and spent $157,000 to $262,000
(120,000 to 200,000 euros) each on 14 integration homes endorsed by
MDRI. According to a September draft WHO report, there were not enough
facilities to provide care for persons with mental disabilities, and
employment opportunities for persons with mental disabilities were
limited. The CDHRF reported that prisoners with mental disabilities
were often kept in prison facilities because of a lack of available
mental health treatment.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Official and societal
discrimination persisted against Kosovo's ethnic Serb, Roma, Ashkali,
and Egyptian communities with respect to employment, social services,
language use, freedom of movement, the right to return, and other basic
rights, although reports of such discrimination declined compared to
2005. Members of the Bosniak and Gorani communities also complained of
discrimination. During the year violence and other crimes directed at
minorities and their property lessened but remained a problem. Minority
employment in the PISG continued to be low and was generally confined
to lower levels of the Government; members of minorities occupied 11
percent of government jobs despite a PISG target of more than 16
percent.
As of October, 61 cases of interethnic crime were reported; 51
involved Serbs as victims or suspects. At year's end, 24 cases remained
under investigation by police and 37 cases were referred to the courts.
According to UNMIK, incidents targeting minorities were generally
underreported due to distrust of the KPS and the legal system, much of
which stemmed from the low rate of successful criminal investigations,
prosecutions, and convictions.
Violence against Kosovo Serbs was usually investigated by the
international police unit, a unit composed of UN international police
officers within the KPS that reports directly to the police
commissioner, who is also an international staff member.
There were multiple reports of violence against Kosovo Serbs during
the year. For example, on March 28, two Kosovo Albanian youths stabbed
a Kosovo Serb youth near the main bridge in northern Mitrovica. Two
people were arrested, but charges were later dropped when the victim
declined to press charges. The international police unit investigation
continued at year's end.
On June 8, unknown persons fired gunshots at the homes of Kosovo
Serb returnees in Llug village in Istok/Istog. The Kosovo Albanian
mayor condemned the incident and the Kosovo Albanian deputy mayor
visited the families. The KPS arrested one person, and the case was in
progress in at year's end.
On August 26, 16-year-old Kosovo Albanian male ``AD'' reportedly
threw an explosive device at the entrance of the Dolce Vita Cafe in
northern Mitrovica, injuring nine people (including seven Kosovo Serbs,
one Bosniak and one British national). AD was arrested, arraigned, and
provisionally released due to a medical condition. The international
prosecutor filed an indictment in the case on December 15, and AD
remained under house arrest at year's end.
On December 8, KPS and media reported an explosion on the Frenku
Bridge in Mahiliq village, in Vucitrn/Vushtrri municipality. The
explosion damaged railroad tracks, disrupting rail traffic on a line
frequently used by Kosovo Serbs, who claimed that it was one of the
safest ways for them to travel between Serb enclaves south of the Ibar
and Serb majority areas in northern Kosovo. No injuries were reported.
During the year there were no developments in the following cases:
the February 2005 bombing of Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic's
official vehicle; the July 2005 incident in which an unidentified
person threw a hand grenade into the Zubin Potok offices of Slavisa
Petkovic's Serbian Democratic Party for Kosovo and Metohija, the only
Kosovo Serb party that participated in Kosovo institutions; and the
September 2005 incident in which four Kosovo Serb youths were shot (and
two subsequently died) while driving in Strpce/Shterpce. International
police unit investigations continued at year's end.
There were cases of Kosovo Albanians destroying private property
belonging to Kosovo Serbs; some cases of violence against Serbs may
have been attempts to force them to sell their property. An UNMIK
regulation prevents the wholesale buy-out of many Kosovo Serb
communities in an effort to prevent the intimidation of minority
property owners in certain areas; however, it was rarely enforced.
There were reports that Kosovo Serbs had difficulty accessing their
property, which was sometimes occupied or used by Kosovo Albanians. In
some cases, Kosovo Serb property was reportedly sold by persons falsely
claiming to be their attorneys and presenting forged documents in
court; in situations where the rightful owners did not live in Kosovo,
such fraud went undiscovered for months.
On June 6, in response to several unsolved crimes against Kosovo
Serbs, Kosovo Serb National Council leader Marko Jaksic told media that
the northern municipalities of Zvecan, Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, and
Leposavic/Leposaviq had unanimously decided to suspend their relations
with PISG. The crimes included the May 6 incident wherein Serbian
Orthodox priest Srdjan Stankovic was shot at while driving in his car
(he was not injured), for which UNMIK police suspect a 29-year-old Serb
member of KPS; the May 11 wounding of Jovan Milosevic and Jablan Jevtic
during an armed robbery gas station burglary in north Mitrovica; and
the June 1 killing of Kosovo Serb Miljan Veskovic in Zvecan. Despite
subsequent evidence, arrests, and clear statements by UNMIK and KPS
officials that these crimes were not ethnically motivated, these three
northern municipalities had not resumed relations with the PISG by
year's end.
UNMIK police analyzed 1,408 Kosovo Serb convoys escorted by the KPS
from January to early May. There were six incidents of stone throwing
at the convoys, and police made five arrests in those cases.
There were new developments in the cases of several persons
detained on suspicion of organizing or leading the March 2004 riots. In
March 2005 the investigation of Vucitrn/Vushtrri KLA war veterans
association chairman Salih Salihu was discontinued due to insufficient
evidence. In March 2005 KPC reserve commander Naser Shatri was
convicted of participation in a crowd that committed violence and given
a six-month suspended sentence. In April 2005 Pec/Peja KLA war veterans
association chairman Nexhmi Lajci was convicted of unauthorized
ownership, control, and possession or use of weapons and fined $393
(300 euros). The investigation of Gnjilane/Gjilan KLA war veterans
association chairman Shaqir Shaqiri remained ongoing at year's end.
In August the KPS arrested five Kosovo Albanians from the Kosovo
Polje/Fushe Kosove and Obilic/Obiliq municipalities, charging them with
organizing and participating in the March 2004 riots. On August 25, the
court sentenced the men to 30 days' detention, and the investigation
continued. The five were also accused of burning several buildings
during the riots.
On November 27, the trial began in the case of Esmin Hamza and
``AK'' in connection with arsons in Prizren during the March 2004
riots. The two Kosovo Albanian defendants were allegedly members of the
mob and were charged with inciting inter-ethnic hatred and causing
damage to property. The trial panel was composed of two international
judges and one local judge. The defendants were not in custody, and the
trial was ongoing at year's end.
On December 14, police arrested Zlyhaje Avdullahu, a.k.a. ``Kiki,''
for crimes committed in Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosova during the March 2004
riots. Avdullahu was allegedly part of a Kosovo Albanian mob that broke
into, looted, and burned Kosovo Serb homes and attacked Kosovo Serbs in
Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosova. On December 17, an international judge
conducted a pretrial detention hearing against the defendant,
authorizing her detention through the end of the year.
As of October, the PISG had reconstructed more than 97 percent (871
of 897) of the houses damaged or destroyed in March 2004, and church
reconstruction was ongoing (see section 2.c.). According to the
Ministry of Culture, of the 26 houses not yet reconstructed, 23
remained unfinished due to security concerns in north Mitrovica, and
the owners of the other three refused to have their homes
reconstructed. On May 11, following complaints about the quality of the
reconstruction, the Government established a five-member complaint
review commission, but no decisions had been made as of October.
There were reports of politically motivated violence against non-
Serb minorities during the year. On August 22, a small group of Kosovo
Albanians assaulted former resident and Kosovo Montenegrin IDP Vuko
Danilovic in front of several IDP children he had accompanied back to
Kosovo so they could participate in a multiethnic summer camp at Decani
Monastery. The KPS later arrested a Kosovo Albanian youth, but he was
released when the victim could not identify him. The KPS investigation
continued at year's end.
On October 2, the home of a Gorani representative of Belgrade's
Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija was seriously damaged by a
bomb blast. KPS arrested one person and the investigation continued at
year's end.
Roma lived in dire poverty, and anti-Roma bias was a hallmark of
Kosovo society. In 1999 Kosovo Albanians, viewing Roma as Serb
collaborators, burned the Romani settlement in southern Mitrovica. As a
result the settlement's approximately 8,000 former residents continued
to live in camps for displaced persons in northern Mitrovica. During
the year most of the Romani IDPs living in lead-contaminated camps were
moved to alternative facilities and were being treated for lead
poisoning (see section 2.d.).
Roma were subject to pervasive social and economic discrimination;
often lacked access to basic hygiene, medical care, and education; and
were heavily dependent on humanitarian aid for survival. Although there
were some successful efforts to resettle Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptians
in the homes they occupied prior to the 1999 conflict in Vucitrn/
Vushtrri, security concerns remained.
Bosniak leaders complained that thousands of their community
members had left Kosovo because of discrimination and the lack of
economic opportunities.
The PISG and UNMIK took some steps during the year to improve
conditions for ethnic minorities. In September the Kosovo Assembly
passed a language law, making Serbian the second official language in
Kosovo and setting a 5 percent threshold for making a language spoken
by an ethnic minority official in a municipality. The law provides that
Turkish will continue to be the third official language in Prizren
regardless of the percentage of the Turkish population in the
municipality.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, the law was not
applied during the year.
Traditional societal attitudes about homosexuality intimidated most
gays and lesbians into concealing their sexual orientation. Gays and
lesbians generally felt insecure, with many reporting threats to their
personal safety. The print media previously reinforced these attitudes
by publishing without retraction negative articles about homosexuality
that characterized gays and lesbians as mentally ill and prone to
sexually assaulting children. Individual homosexuals also reported job
discrimination. At least one political party, the Islamic-oriented
Justice Party, included a condemnation of homosexuality in its
political platform.
In December 2005 local media reported that KPS officers and a
treating physician verbally abused and mistreated two young gay men
after an unknown assailant had attacked them with a knife near
Pristina. The KPS briefly suspended two officers without pay pending
investigation. The officers subsequently received minor reprimands and
were reinstated. In January, police commissioner Kai Vittrup
transferred KPS spokesperson Refki Morina out of the KPS press office
following the December incident, after Morina stated, incorrectly, that
homosexuality was punishable under the criminal code.
On January 6, an unknown person attacked two members of the Center
for Social Emancipation, an advocacy group for the gay community. Upon
learning they were homosexual, the KPS reportedly treated the victims
as criminals and failed to arrest the perpetrator. KPS took the victims
to the Pristina University Hospital, where the treating doctor
reportedly called them ``sick people.''
On March 25, a group of seven men physically assaulted and verbally
abused a 30-year-old man for being a homosexual. Although he reported
the incident to the KPS, which in turn submitted it to the Serious
Crimes Unit, the victim ultimately decided to drop the charges due to
pressure from the main attacker's family. The district court prosecutor
continued with the prosecution, and the court eventually convicted two
perpetrators and sentenced them to six months in prison.
On March 28 in Pristina, unknown persons severely beat two men whom
they observed engaging in homosexual sex. One of the men later died at
the hospital of his injuries. The Center for Social Emancipation, a
local NGO promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights,
criticized police for treating the case as a robbery rather than as a
hate crime. An investigation was continuing at year's end.
On September 26, Ferid Agani, a psychiatrist and Kosovo Assembly
member from the Justice Party, wrote an article in a local newspaper in
which he referred to homosexuality as a ``serious psychiatric
disorder'' that went against ``human nature.'' Two local human rights
organizations, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Center for
Social Emancipation, called on Agani and the newspaper to issue a
public apology; neither did so.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. Right of Association.--UNMIK regulations allow workers to form
and join unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice.
The only significant union, the Association of Independent Trade
Unions of Kosovo (BSPK), claimed over 120,000 members; only 50,000 of
its members (approximately 10 percent of the workforce) were employed.
UNMIK regulations prohibit antiunion discrimination; however, some
union officials reported discrimination in practice. The BSPK reported
that only a small number of companies respected the regulation
preventing antiunion discrimination and claimed that worker rights were
abused in every sector, including international organizations, where
staff did not have security insurance or pensions.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--UNMIK
regulations allow unions to conduct their activities without
interference, and UNMIK protected this right in practice. UNMIK
regulations also provide for the right to organize and bargain
collectively without interference, and the Government did not restrict
this right in practice; however, collective bargaining took place on
only one occasion. UNMIK regulations do not recognize the right to
strike; however, strikes were not prohibited in practice, and strikes
occurred during the year.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--UNMIK regulations
prohibit forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however,
there were reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and
6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
UNMIK regulations and policies prohibit exploitation of children in the
workplace, including a prohibition of forced or compulsory labor;
however, UNMIK and the PISG rarely challenged these practices when they
occurred.
UNMIK regulations set the minimum age for employment at age 16 and
at age 18 for any work likely to jeopardize the health, safety, or
morals of a young person, but they permit children to work at age 15,
provided it is not harmful or prejudicial to school attendance.
In villages and farming communities, younger children typically
worked to assist their families. Urban children often worked in a
variety of unofficial retail jobs, such as washing car windows or
selling newspapers, cigarettes, and phone cards on the street; the
numbers of such children grew relative to 2005, although statistics
were not kept by either UNMIK or the PISG. According to the Ministry of
Labor and Social Welfare, the PISG still lacked plans to tackle this
common form of informal child labor. Some children were also engaged in
physical labor, such as transporting goods. The CDHRF reported
observing serious labor violations during the year, including child
labor.
Trafficking of children was also a serious problem, primarily for
sexual exploitation (see section 5).
The Ministry for Labor and Social Welfare, in cooperation with
UNMIK, coordinated child protection policies, and the ministry's
department of social welfare had responsibility for ensuring the
protection of children; however, the ministry acted in an advisory
rather than enforcement role, and conducted very few inspections during
the year.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--Although UNMIK regulations
provide for a minimum wage, one has not been adopted. While many
international agencies and NGOs paid adequate wages, the average full-
time monthly public sector wage of $198 (151 euros) and the average
private sector wage of $272 (208 euros) were inadequate to provide a
decent standard of living for a worker and family. Public sector
salaries remained subject to an IMF-ordered freeze and had not risen
since 2003.
UNMIK regulations provide for a standard 40-hour work week; require
rest periods; limit the number of regular hours worked to 12 hours per
day, overtime to 20 hours per week and 40 hours per month; require
payment of a premium for overtime work; and prohibit excessive
compulsory overtime. Employers often failed to implement these
regulations due to the high underemployment and unemployment in Kosovo.
The CDHRF reported observing serious labor violations during the
year, including lack of a standard work week and compulsory and unpaid
overtime; employees did not report such violations due to fear of
reprisals. According to CDHRF, many private sector employees worked
long hours as at-will employees without employment contracts, regular
pay, or pension contributions paid on their behalf. Employees reported
being fired without cause and in violation of existing laws and being
denied holidays. CDHRF reported that sexual abuse occurred on the job
but went unreported due to fear of expulsion and/or physical
retaliation. According to CDHRF, workers in the public sector commonly
faced similar mistreatment.
A labor inspectorate within the Ministry of Labor and Social
Welfare is responsible for enforcing labor standards. However, the
inspectorate primarily advised employers, and although four fines were
issued during the year for violation of the standards, they were not
paid pending litigation.
The labor inspectorate was responsible for enforcing health and
safety standards but lacked trained staff and did not do so
effectively. The law does not permit employees to remove themselves
from dangerous workplaces without jeopardizing their continued
employment.
[1] The report on Serbia is divided into two sections; the first
addresses the human rights situations in Serbia and the second
addresses the situation in Kosovo. For purposes of this report,
Kosovo's population of 2.2 million is not included as part of Serbia's
population.
__________
SLOVAK REPUBLIC
The Slovak Republic, with a population of approximately 5.4
million, is a multiparty parliamentary democracy led by a prime
minister and a 150-member Narodna Rada (National Council). The head of
government, Prime Minister Robert Fico of the Smer (Direction-Social
Democracy) Party, was elected for a four-year term in June. President
Ivan Gasparovic serves as head of state and was elected for a five-year
term in 2004. Both elections were free and fair. Six political parties,
three of which comprise the governing coalition, sit in the National
Council. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of
the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Notable human
rights problems included lengthy pretrial detention; restrictions on
freedom of religion; corruption in the judiciary, local government, and
the health sector; violence against women and children; trafficking in
persons; and societal discrimination and violence against Roma. The
overall human rights situation did not significantly change during the
year; however, a report was released that noted mistreatment of
persons, particularly Roma, by police that occurred in recent years.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
In the case of seven police officers charged with inhuman and
degrading treatment in connection with the 2001 death of a Romani man
in police custody, a new regional court judge reviewed the proceedings
when the original judge in the case departed for another position in
May 2005. The trial had not begun by year's end. The accused, who were
dismissed from the police force, were not in detention.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and the law prohibit torture and other
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment, and the
Government generally respected these provisions in practice.
In February-March 2005, the European Committee for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
visited the country, inspecting police stations, prisons, social
services homes and, for the first time, psychiatric establishments. The
CPT's report on the visit, which was publicly released on February 2,
noted that the committee received a significant amount of information
indicating mistreatment of detainees by law enforcement agencies. The
types of mistreatment alleged consisted mainly of slaps, punches and
kicks, or blows with hard objects such as batons. Some persons claimed
they had been struck with pistol butts, flashlights, or plastic bottles
filled with water. In a notable proportion of these cases the victims
were Roma.
In one example, a prisoner alleged that, at the time of his
apprehension in 2004, police in Kosice punched him in the face and
struck him on the back with a flashlight after he obeyed a police order
to stand with his hands pressed against a wall. He also alleged he was
beaten during his transport to the police station and thereafter. The
prisoner's medical file at the Kosice Prison, recording his examination
four days later, noted that he displayed ``a hematoma above the left
scapula the size of the whole shoulder blade and hematoma under the
lower right eyelid.''
Published at the same time as the CPT's report, the Government
response noted that an internal investigation into the complaint was
dismissed as unsubstantiated and the detainee did not file an appeal
upon notification of the dismissal. In its response to the report, the
Government listed extensive internal control procedures as safeguards
against mistreatment and in investigating such allegations. The
response disagreed with CPT observations that, in practice, not all
safeguards were implemented in all cases.
Nongovernmental organization (NGO) sources and members of the
Romani community cited a continuing, though lessening, trend of
mistreatment of Romani suspects by police officers during arrest and
while in police custody. The CPT report noted that a significant
proportion of cases of alleged police mistreatment examined involved
Roma. The Government refuted the committee's assertion with the
explanation that, ``to prevent discrimination,'' authorities did not
ascertain the ethnic origin of alleged victims of police abuse. While
the law prevents the recording of an individual's ethnicity in official
documents, observers with experience in Romani issues agreed that it
was disingenuous of the Government to imply that police officers were
unaware of the ethnicity of a suspect at the time of arrest or during
subsequent detainment.
During the year police implemented a pilot project to provide
special training on Romani culture and language to 118 police officers
who worked in districts covering Romani communities in the Kosice and
Presov regions. Additionally, the Bratislava branch of post-secondary
schooling for police offered an elective course in Romani language and
culture.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards; however, overcrowding continued
to be a problem. Six out of 10 prisoners worked in prisons; the average
wage was $0.57 (16.97 korunas) per hour, based on a national standard
set by the director general of the Prison and Justice Police Corps.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers.
The February 2 CPT report indicated widespread overcrowding in
prisons and pretrial detention (remand) centers, noting an overall
occupancy rate of 102 percent with the larger burden falling on the
pretrial detention centers. Since the time of the CPT visit, the
Government enacted legislative changes to address prison conditions, in
force since January. As a result, the overcrowding situation improved,
although a prison official acknowledged that more time and funding will
be required to implement all of the necessary modifications. During the
year the number of prisoners and detainees totaled 8,249, a decrease
from the 9,500 at the time of the CPT visit. The change in legislation
mandated that institutional capacity be measured at four square meters
of cell space per prisoner for women and juveniles, a CPT-recommended
increase from the previous three-and-a-half square meters, although
this lower area remained the standard for male prisoners. Overall usage
of prison and pretrial detention center capacity was 79 percent during
the year, although one of the 18 facilities continued to have a usage
rate over 100 percent capacity.
The CPT made a number of recommendations, to which the Government
responded in a published report. According to the Government's
published response, the Government implemented some CPT recommendations
but deemed others unnecessary. Regarding allegations of police
mistreatment, the Government acknowledged that ``isolated incidents of
human failure'' have occurred, but denied any generalized trends of
mistreatment and of all the specific cases cited by the CPT.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The national police has
sole responsibility for internal and border security and reports to the
Ministry of Interior. The head of the police force reports directly to
the minister of interior, who has the authority to recall any member of
the police. Human rights observers charged that police investigators
were occasionally reluctant to take the testimony of witnesses,
particularly Roma, women, and the homeless. They also contended that,
on occasion, police failed to promptly and thoroughly investigate cases
involving Roma.
Instances of police corruption and misconduct were reported,
primarily in the form of extorting bribes during traffic stops. Headed
by a director who reports directly to the minister of interior, the
Bureau for the Inspection Service of the Police Corps at police
headquarters is responsible for investigating police abuses. Cases may
be initiated by, among others, the inspection service, the Police
Corps, the police antiorganized crime unit, and individual citizens. In
November police arrested two active police officers, at least one of
whom served in a commando unit, and a former police officer on charges
of murder. The investigation was pending at year's end. In 2005 charges
were brought against 195 police officers, fewer than the previous year.
The most common charge was abuse of power. Other charges included
battery, assault and battery, and illegal intrusion into private homes.
There were some indications that impunity was a problem. In its
February 2 report, the CPT reviewed official actions in two cases of
alleged police abuse. The cases involved the 2004 death of Radoslav
Puky, whose body was found in a Trebisov canal 10 days after he
disappeared during a police operation in the area, and ``J.H.,'' a 17-
year-old male who alleged that police beat and injured him after he was
taken into custody in Trebisov in 2004. In the Puky case, the report
noted that investigators looking into police actions made no attempt to
examine a five- to eight-day discrepancy between the first and second
expert opinions on the probable date of Puky's death, took only
perfunctory action to investigate the report that police beat Puky
before he disappeared, and did not interview any of the officers that
participated in the police operation. In its review of the allegations
by J.H., the CPT identified inaction by police, prosecutors, and
judicial authorities with regards to allegations and medical evidence
that indicated possible police mistreatment or the failure of police
officers to respect J.H.'s legal rights. The Government response to the
CPT observations noted that several investigations into the Puky case
resulted in the same conclusion of drowning without the involvement of
another person and the final complaint filed on behalf of Puky's family
members was dismissed in July 2005. The Government asserted that in its
review of the J.H. case procedures were appropriately followed,
including during the investigation of his allegation of mistreatment.
During the year a local NGO concluded its program to train police
officers in human rights. The program included a train-the-trainers
component, giving police training facilities the capability to provide
training in-house. An instructor at a police training facility verified
that human rights training remained on the curriculum.
Arrest and Detention.--The constitution and the law stipulate that
a person can only be taken into custody for explicit reasons and must
be immediately informed of the reasons for detainment. A written court
warrant is required for arrest. The court must grant a hearing to a
person accused of a crime within 48 hours (or a maximum of 72 hours for
``serious cases,'' defined as violent crimes, treason, or other crimes
in which the expected charges could bring a minimum sentence of at
least eight years) and either release or remand the individual.
Detainees have the right to consult with an attorney immediately and
must be notified of this right. The Government provides free counsel to
indigent detainees. If remanded by a court, the accused is entitled to
an additional hearing within 48 hours, at which time the judge must
either release the accused or issue a written order placing the accused
in custody. The authorities respected these provisions in practice.
Attorney visits were allowed as frequently as necessary. The law
allows monthly family visits upon request. There was a bail system in
place that functioned effectively.
Effective January, a new law on criminal court procedures mandates
that the total time of detention (pretrial plus trial) can not exceed
12 months in the case of minor offenses, 24 months for regular crimes,
36 months for severe crimes, and four years for crimes in which the
expected sentence is more than 25 years and that pretrial detention can
not account for more than one-half of that total. In cases with
extenuating circumstances, the Supreme Court may extend pretrial
detention to four years. According to 2005 statistics, the average
length of pretrial detention was 127 days at the district court level
and 227 days at the regional court level. These figures represent an
increase in the average length of pretrial detention at the district
court level and decrease in length at the regional level. Pretrial
detainees accounted for approximately one-third of the total prison
population.
Delays in court procedures and investigations frequently led to
lengthy pretrial detentions. During the year judges released four
defendants involved in two criminal murder cases from detention because
of maximum pretrial detention regulations, even as the cases continued
in the courts.
Implemented on January 1, a new criminal procedures law introduced
the possibility of plea bargaining. Judges and the prosecutor's office
noted that plea bargaining, which precludes the appeal process, started
to reduce the backlog of court cases. The number of criminal cases that
concluded with plea bargaining was low in the first six months, but
increased rapidly in the second half of the year. Of the 27,470 cases
submitted to court, 2,914 cases were completed with plea bargains.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary; however, problems with corruption and
inefficiency in the judiciary continued, despite a series of reforms
implemented in 2005 and 2006 by the Ministry of Justice to decrease
corruption and improve efficiency within the court system.
There are eight regional courts. The Supreme Court, consisting of
70 active judges, is the highest court of appeals. The Constitutional
Court, with 13 judges serving 12-year terms, is independent of the
Ministry of Justice and rules on cases regarding the constitution and
international treaties, considers cases in which constitutional
provisions are in conflict, and hears complaints about violations of
basic rights and freedoms. At year's end, three Constitutional Court
seats remained vacant. The Judicial Council, a constitutionally
recognized independent body of lawyers and judges, made decisions
regarding disciplinary actions, administrative issues, and appointments
of judges.
In September 2005 a special court for corruption cases opened and
within approximately one year issued 57 verdicts. In addition to cases
of official corruption, the court hears cases related to high-ranking
government and political figures and organized crime. The court's
decisions may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Cases are generally first heard in the district courts; appeals are
made to the eight regional courts. The Constitutional Court hears cases
involving constitutional or human rights issues; the Supreme Court is
the court of last resort in all legal cases.
During the year the disciplinary court took action against 18
judges, none of which were initiated by the Minister of Justice. In
2005 the disciplinary court, on the initiation of the ministry, took
action against five judges suspected of corruption and in 2004
disciplined 25 judges, nine of whom were removed from the bench and two
resigned. Other possible penalties included a reduction in salary and
reassignment to lower courts. A computerized system for random case
assignment functioned at almost every level of the courts to increase
transparency. Transparency International reported in 2004 that 59
percent of citizens viewed the courts as corrupt. In a similar study
during the year, 47 percent of the public considered the courts
corrupt.
Trial Procedures.--Persons charged with criminal offenses are
entitled to fair and open public trials and have the right to be
informed of the charges against them. However, NGO observers stated
that in practice corruption among judges infringed on a person's right
to a fair trial. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have the
right to refuse self-incrimination, and may appeal adverse judgments.
They are also presumed innocent during the appeals process, meaning
that a person found guilty by a court does not serve their imposed
sentence nor pay any fine until the final decision on appeal is
reached. The law does not provide for jury trials. A panel of three
judges is obligatory in criminal cases and in civil cases at the
regional court and Supreme Court levels. Defendants have the right to
be present, consult in a timely manner with an attorney at government
expense, have access to government-held evidence, confront witnesses
against them, and present witnesses and evidence on their own behalf.
Military courts hear cases concerning civilians suspected of war
treason and provide the same rights as the regular court system.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Citizens have unrestricted
access to an independent judiciary to bring lawsuits in civil matters
including human rights violations. Courts that hear civil cases are
subject to the same delays as criminal courts and are also perceived as
being corrupt. Administrative remedies are available in certain cases.
The National Center for Human Rights has the authority to provide
mediation for cases of discrimination and to act as legal
representation for claimants in court.
From January through September, the ombudsman's office determined
that, of the thousands of complaints received, 117 delays in court
proceedings constituted violations of the rights of the claimants. The
majority of those violations involved delays of five or more years.
In September the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) awarded a
woman $7,470 (5,700 euros) for significant delays in her civil court
case.
Property Restitution.--The 2003 law on property restitution
provides citizens a second opportunity to apply for the return of land
confiscated by the state between 1948 and 1990. Under this law 48,173
cases were filed. Through June 11,197 of these claims had been resolved
and the lands returned; in 4,747 other cases, the land was unavailable
or impossible to return, and financial reimbursement was made instead.
These figures represent a doubling in the number of resolved claims
over the course of a year. A lack of historical documentation prolonged
the process and prevented many cases from being resolved.
In August the Constitutional Court ruled that the law providing for
the transfer to the state of land without an identifiable owner is
against the right to own property as guaranteed in the constitution.
This decision negates a deadline specified in the law, with the effect
that there is no time limit for claimants to file for return of their
property, for which ownership records were destroyed or obfuscated
during the Communist era.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and the law prohibit such actions,
and the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Police must present a warrant before conducting a search or within
24 hours afterwards. Unlike in previous years, there were no documented
cases of police entering Romani homes without search warrants, although
observers believed such practices continued to occur.
In 2005 provisions of a law went into effect, requiring that
sterilizations be performed only at the request of the patient and only
after 30 days had passed since the initial request. The law was
prompted by NGO charges in previous years that doctors performed
coerced or forced sterilization on Romani women.
No victims of sterilization without informed consent received
financial redress for the sterilization itself, although the Government
acknowledged in a 2003 report that the procedures had taken place. In
September 2005 the general prosecutor's office announced that no
criminal charges would be filed. The Government stated that any woman
who believed she was a victim of forced sterilization had the right to
sue. According to the Government, one court case against the hospital
in Gelnica concluded in 2003 with a finding that unlawful sterilization
did not occur. While exact numbers were not available, a handful of
civil suits, filed with the help of a local NGO, were ongoing at year's
end.
On December 13, the Constitutional Court ruled that regional-level
prosecutors had violated the constitution and European Convention on
Human Rights by improperly closing the investigation of a claim by
three Romani women that they had been sterilized without informed
consent. While the Constitutional Court did not rule on whether
sterilization without informed consent had occurred, it awarded the
claimants $1,850 (50,000 korunas) each due to procedural violations
committed by prosecutors during the case. The court instructed the
prosecution to reopen its investigation into the alleged
sterilizations, and further proceedings were pending at year's end.
In 2004 with the help of NGOs, eight Romani women who suspected
they had been sterilized without their knowledge filed a case with the
ECHR when hospitals allegedly denied them access to their own medical
records. Four of the women subsequently received access to their
medical files and at least one discovered she had been sterilized
during a caesarean section. The remaining four women continued to be
denied access to their medical records despite a government decree
ordering hospitals to give women access to these records; the case was
ongoing at year's end.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and the law
provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
The law prohibits the defamation of nationalities, punishable by up
to three years in prison, and denying the Holocaust, which carries a
sentence of six months' to three years' imprisonment. During the year
police investigated 163 cases under the four articles in the criminal
code that cover propagating an ideology that suppresses the right of
others, public display of emblems or other signs or slogans supporting
movements which suppress the basic rights of others including denial of
the Holocaust, defamation of an ethnicity or race, and agitation is
support of ethnic or racial hatred. Additionally, police investigated
25 cases of racially motivated violence or injury. Of these 188
investigations, 107 were prosecuted. There was no information available
n the number of persons convicted and imprisoned during the year under
these provisions.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction. The Constitutional Court continued to
examine the constitutional merits of the law governing the state-funded
news agency, which was allegedly subject to political influence and
noncompetitive practices; the case was ongoing at year's end
In February the court ruled in favor of a former Supreme Court
chairman in a civil libel case. The court ordered a daily newspaper to
apologize and pay damages of $100,000 (three million korunas) to the
former judge for news stories and cartoons concerning the salary
bonuses for judges and lack of use of the random electronic system to
assign court cases to judges. The newspaper indicated that it would
appeal the decision. The Slovak Syndicate of Journalists stated that
the decision set a dangerous precedent which could deter the
independence of the media. In July the plaintiff in the case became the
minister of justice. In 2004 the former prime minister filed libel
suits against the daily newspaper Pravda for $166,000 (five million
korunas) and a second suit against newspaper SME for libel. Both cases
were ongoing at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mails;
however, police monitored Internet sites hosting hate speech and
attempted to arrest or fine the authors. The law defines hate speech as
speech that publicly threatens an individual or group based on
nationality, ethnicity, race, skin color, or that publicly incites the
restriction of rights and freedoms of such an individual or group.
Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views
via the Internet, including by electronic mail. Based on 2005 data from
the International Telecommunications Union, 46 percent of the
population uses the Internet. Internet access was generally available
across the country.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The constitution and the law provide for freedom of
assembly, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
In September police broke up a neo-Nazi rally in Turecka,
temporarily detaining 17 persons and then later charging six with
propagating an ideology that suppresses the rights of others and
riotous conduct. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
Freedom of Association.--The constitution and the law provide for
freedom of association and the Government generally respected this
right in practice. However, the law requires organizations to pay a
nominal registration fee, and stipulates that those registering as
foundations have ``substantial'' financial resources of approximately
$6,000 (180,000 korunas) to operate. During the year no organization
was denied registration or faced any other limitations on its
operations.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and the law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice.
Religious groups must have 20,000 permanent resident supporters in
order to register with the Government. Registered groups received state
subsidies for clergy and office expenses and the right to visit and
proselytize in prisons and hospitals. Unregistered religious groups are
prohibited from conducting legal marriage ceremonies. There were 16
registered religious groups, with a 17th receiving registration
approval in October. Catholicism was the dominant religion due to the
number of adherents and so received larger subsidies; however, there is
no official state religion.
On September 22, during a petition drive to gather signatures,
local police in Trnava told 12 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to stop collecting signatures and leave
the city. The signature collectors departed peacefully and did not file
an official complaint. Trnava city officials stated that the police
instruction stemmed from citizens' complaints of harassment. Members of
the LDS Church did not experience police or any other official
intimidation in the approximately 30 other cities where they conducted
their petition drive. There were isolated incidents of locals
protesting against the signature collectors, which included shoving.
On September 26, the LDS Church presented a petition with over
20,000 supporting signatures to the Ministry of Culture in order to
register as a religious group. On October 18, the Government officially
recognized the LDS Church. Church leaders stated that they did not face
any obstacles once the registration application was submitted.
In previous years leaders of a number of minority religious
communities--in particular Muslims, smaller Protestant churches, the
Hare Krishna community, and the Church of Scientology--complained that
the large membership requirement effectively barred them from obtaining
official status, although these smaller religions experienced no
restrictions on assembly and worship.
The Government monitored but did not interfere with the peaceful
practices of religious sects.
A 2004 law requires public elementary school students to take
either a religion or an ethics class. Critics of the law claimed
students may be denied the choice in poorer rural schools or socially
pressured to choose religious classes. The law also allows government-
funded religious schools to remove material inconsistent with church
beliefs from the curricula.
In 2005 a law permitted religious organizations to claim property
taken between May 8, 1945 (November 2, 1938 for the Jewish community)
and January 1, 1990, and established April 30, 2006 as the filing
deadline. With the exception of the Reformed Christian Church,
religious groups had few remaining claims for unreturned property.
Several religious institutions noted that they could not provide
precise data on the few claims outstanding since many of their branches
operated more-or-less independently. The Reformed Christian Church had
outstanding claims for approximately 70 church premises (church
schools, teachers' facilities, etc.) that were owned by individual
parishes and nationalized by the Communist government after 1948.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Jewish community leaders and
2001 census data estimated that the Jewish community numbered
approximately 3,000 persons. Anti-Semitism persisted among organized
neo-Nazi groups, estimated to have 500 active members and from 3,000 to
5,000 sympathizers.
In April vandals desecrated a monument to Jewish Holocaust victims
in Rimavska Sobota with posters showing Hitler's picture, a red eagle
holding a swastika, and racist text. An investigation turned up no
suspects as of year's end. In June police charged a 21-year-old man for
disorderly conduct in connection with the vandalism of the monument. He
was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison, plus two years'
probation.
In August unknown perpetrators overturned gravestones in a Jewish
cemetery in Ruzomberok. That same month, vandals painted swastikas on
graves at a Jewish cemetery in Rajec. In these cases, police opened
investigations but did not find the culprits. As of year's end, both
investigations were shelved.
In January 2005 juveniles vandalized 19 tombstones in a Jewish
cemetery in Ruzemberok. A court trial for the juvenile suspects was
pending at year's end.
The law prohibits the defamation of nationalities and denying the
Holocaust. In 2005 a publication by the cultural organization Matica
Slovenska questioned the scope and nature of the Holocaust, suggesting
that the deportation of the country's Jewish population to
concentration camps was simply part of a ``resettlement program.''
The Ministry of Interior actively pursued violent extremist groups,
and police monitored Internet web pages hosting hate speech and
attempted to arrest or fine the authors.
The Government continued implementing its action plan to fight
discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. During the year
the Government organized educational programs on minority and human
rights issues. High school and university curricula promoted tolerance,
and students could also compete in annual essay contests that focused
on human rights issues. The Jewish community expressed concern that
some media coverage in the country exhibited anti-Semitic undertones.
On December 27, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of
Bratislava-Trnava stated during a television interview that he
respected Father Jozef Tiso, the World War II-era leader of the Slovak
fascist state which deported tens of thousands of Slovak Jews, Roma,
and others to their deaths in German concentration camps. He added that
the country enjoyed a period of well-being during Tiso's leadership.
Jewish and Romani groups strongly criticized the statements.
On August 4, a memorial to Romani victims of the Holocaust
(Porrajmos) was inaugurated in Dunajska Streda. Government officials,
including the Prime Minister, and media were well represented at the
inaugural ceremony.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and the law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government had an established system for providing some protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. However, the Government did not routinely grant refugee
status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol. The law provides for temporary protection, classified as
``tolerated residence,'' which is granted if asylum is denied and the
individual is not eligible for deportation to his or her country of
origin due to administrative problems or fear for the person's safety.
In December the National Council passed a law that widens the
categories for which an asylum seeker can claim protection. The amended
law allows for asylum to be granted in cases where the individual would
otherwise face the death penalty or cruel or humiliating treatment if
denied asylum.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
During the year four refugees received citizenship. According to
national migration office statistics, 2,871 new cases were opened,
eight persons received asylum, 861 were denied refugee status, and
1,940 cases were terminated. As in 2005 the number of persons seeking
asylum in the country continued on a significant downward trend,
according to the UNHCR.
In March the UNHCR investigated alleged claims of mistreatment in
asylum centers based on reports from an Austrian organization that aids
refugees. The majority of the allegations were found to be untrue, with
exceptions such as a dog bite suffered by an asylum seeker.
On April 13, several dozen asylum seekers went on a brief hunger
strike at the refugee center in Medvedov. The UNHCR monitored the
situation. In June the Ministry of Interior launched a project to
improve care for asylum seekers in the areas of social, legal, and
psychological support and to increase leisure activities.
In 2004 the director of one of the country's alien detention
facilities in Adamov was arrested on suspicion of illegal migrant
smuggling. He was released and transferred to a different assignment
pending the completion of the investigation, which was ongoing at
year's end. Interpol participated in the investigation.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and the law provide citizens the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--On June 17, citizens voted
six political parties into the National Council in free and fair
elections. Three of the six parties then formed the governing coalition
The party of the new Prime Minister Robert Fico received 29 percent of
the national vote. A political party must receive at least five percent
of the ballots cast to enter the National Council. In the June
elections, voters had the option to mark a preferential vote for an
individual candidate on a political party list, in addition to voting
for a party.
While election observers reported instances of vote buying in the
eastern part of the country, they noted that it had no impact on the
final election results for the National Council. Vote buying appeared
to be organized at the local level and aimed at Romani voters.
There were 29 women in the 150-seat National Council, 36 women on
the 70-seat Supreme Court, and one woman in the 16-member cabinet.
The law prohibits collecting information on ethnicity, and it was
not possible to determine the number of members of minorities in
government. No member of the cabinet claimed minority status. The party
of the Hungarian coalition holds 20 seats in the National Council. Some
ethnic Romani individuals and parties were successful at winning
representation at the local level; however, Roma were consistently
underrepresented in government service, and no Roma were in the
National Council. There was no unified Romani minority party, and
several Romani activists reported that this hampered political
participation. NGOs provided political campaign training to several
Romani candidates running in the December local elections.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption in the
legislative and executive branches was reported and publicly perceived
as a problem. The health care, judiciary, and education sectors were
perceived to be the most corrupt. During the year the country received
a score of 4.7 (on a scale of 10) on Transparency International's index
of public perceptions of corruption, an improvement from 4.3 in 2005.
The score indicated a perception that the country has a serious
corruption problem. The Government and police cooperated on several
related arrests during the year. Several NGOs and government officials
noted that, in the first half of the year before the change of
government administration, more corruption cases came to light because
individuals were more willing to report bribery cases to the police.
In December police released the results of the investigation of the
fatal car crash in June in eastern Slovakia of the director of the
Institute for National Memory, which had custody of and published the
official records of the secret police from the country's wartime
fascist and subsequent communist governments. Observers noted that the
investigation, which concluded that the director was solely at fault,
lacked completeness and transparency and did not fully explore the
possibility that the crash was not accidental.
During the year the Special Court issued numerous sentences against
health care workers for taking bribes. Health care is socialized and
primarily run by state institutions.
In January the Special Court sentenced the mayor of Velky Meder to
two years and eight months in prison and fined him $9,500 (300,000
korunas); the equivalent of the bribe he received in April 2005. The
mayor appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court. He remained free, and
the law provides that he does not have to pay the fine until his final
appeal is exhausted. On December 2, the town of Velky Meder re-elected
him as mayor.
In February a gynecologist was sentenced to 15 months in jail and a
$950 (30,000 korunas) fine for attempting to bribe a family $160 (5,000
korunas) to deliver a baby and $64 (2,000 korunas) for continuing care
of the mother.
In March the Special Court sentenced Ladislav Gal, the former
director of a regional land office to seven years in prison and a
$5,000 (150,000 korunas) fine for bribery, a case that was initiated in
May 2005. In December the Supreme Court upheld the sentence, the
highest imposed on a state official for bribery.
In December 2005 the anticorruption unit of the national police
charged three former officials of the national agency for the support
of small and medium enterprise with fraud following their transfer of
nearly $48 million (1.5 billion korunas) to a private company. The
company returned the money to the Government after the media exposed
the transfer. In June the police passed the file of one of the accused
to the prosecutor's office in preparation for trial.
In August 2005 the minister of economy stepped down because of
allegations of misconduct based on a promissory note worth $3.3 million
(100 million korunas) that he signed while in office. No charges were
brought against him.
The special court trial of the mayor of Bratislava-Raca for
corruption was postponed because the accused was unable to appear in
person; the trial was ongoing at year's end. Bribery charges were
initially filed in 2004.
A September trial date for the bribery case of the deputy mayor of
Kosice was postponed because the accused was unable to appear in
person. In December 2005 the special prosecutor for corruption
submitted official charges against the deputy mayor, who was first
charged in 2004. He was held for eight months in pretrial detention
before being released, at which point he appealed his lengthy detention
to the ECHR. He has since resumed the position of deputy mayor.
In May 2005 a member of the National Council charged in 2003 with
accepting bribes was found guilty of corruption and sentenced by a
district court to one year in prison. He immediately appealed to the
regional court. While he did not resign from his elected positions in
the National Council and regional parliament, his political party did
not place him on its candidate list for the national elections in June
nor the regional elections in November 2005, thus removing him from
office. His appeal process was ongoing at year's end.
The law provides public access to government information; however,
NGOs cited a need for greater public awareness of the responsibility of
government to provide information. A few local government offices
denied information requests without justification or left them
unanswered. During the year the ombudsman's office reported two cases
of violation of the freedom of information as guaranteed by the
constitution.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
On June 9, the Slovak National Party (SNS), which was not in the
National Council or government at the time, called for the banning of
the NGO Civic Association for a ``Nicer Zilina.'' The SNS chairman was
mayor of the town of Zilina for 16 years. On June 17, SNS was voted
into the National Council and joined the governing coalition a few
weeks later. Since becoming a part of the National Council and
government, SNS has not repeated its public call to ban the NGO.
In June a group of NGOs, including ones that are concerned with
human rights issues, sent an open letter to several European Union
commissioners asking them to rectify the problem of excessive
administrative delays in receiving promised grants from the Government,
including the distribution of EU funds. In some cases, the promised
funds were more than a year overdue, causing financial difficulties for
some NGOs. Since the new government took office in July, an NGO
representative noted that small amounts of the backlogged funds had
been distributed but remarked that the administrative delays remained
for a significant portion of the funds. International NGOs generally
continued to operate and interact positively with the Government on
substantive issues.
Domestic NGOs experienced generally positive interaction with the
Government until September, when the Government announced a proposed
change in the funding mechanism for NGOs. NGOs publicly criticized the
change, which would no longer allow tax payers to designate up to 2
percent of their annual taxes to the central government to be directed
to nonprofit organizations. In December a compromise solution was
reached and approved by the National Council to keep the current
funding mechanism for another year, then to limit the types of NGOs
that receive funds through the mechanism. Relations between domestic
NGOs and the Government showed signs of returning to the status quo
ante at year's end.
Members of the NGO community noted improved communication during
the year with the public defender of rights, commonly known as the
ombudsman, as staffing increased in that office. The ombudsman has
cooperation agreements with several NGOs. The ombudsman provides legal
advice to citizens regarding their rights with respect to public
administration bodies, but cannot represent citizens in their claims.
The majority of verified violations of legal rights received by the
ombudsman concerned delays in court or administrative proceedings. In
February the National Council granted authority to the ombudsman to
forward claims directly to the Constitutional Court.
NGOs generally operated without harassment, although the
organization People Against Racism continued to receive occasional
threats from skinhead groups.
Intergovernmental international organizations have expressed
generally good cooperation with government entities.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and the law prohibit discrimination based upon
race, gender, disability, language, or social status; the Government
effectively enforced these prohibitions in practice. However, violence
against women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination
against minority groups were problems.
Women.--Violence against women continued to be a problem. The law
prohibits domestic violence; however, it was pervasive, and activists
claimed that the Government did not enforce the law effectively. During
the year there were 609 incidents of domestic violence reported
involving a total of 453 female victims and 58 male victims, some of
whom were involved in more than one incident. Of these cases 357 went
to prosecution. The law provides stricter sentences for violence
directed toward members of the same household, and allows for continued
criminal prosecution even when a spouse drops charges. Domestic
violence was punishable by two to 12 years of imprisonment, depending
on the nature of the crime.
Domestic violence was often underreported because of the social
stigma associated with being a victim, and statistics did not
adequately reflect the extent of the problem. Official statistics
showed a decrease in the number of reported cases compared to the
previous year, which had 694 cases.
During the year police provided a training course to its officers
on domestic violence within the framework of a community policing
seminar. The training was complemented by printed reference material.
Citing the lengthy court procedures and increasing caseloads that
prevented cases from being prosecuted efficiently, victims' advocates
demanded a better network of services for abused women, including
government-funded treatment centers. In August 2005 the Government
adopted an action plan to address some of these problems. The
Government and NGOs had shelters and counseling available to victims of
domestic abuse.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape. Although the
Government enforced the law effectively, rape was a problem. The
sentence for rape is two to eight years in prison and can be increased
to five to 12 years, depending on the age of the victim and whether
brutal force was used. The sentence may be further increased to 10 to
15 years if the victim died as a result of the rape. During the year
the police investigated 174 cases of rape, which specialists considered
was underreported, and 103 cases were prosecuted. Rape victims also
have access to the shelters and counseling offered by NGOs and
government-funded programs.
After incidents of coerced sterilization were reported in 2003, the
Government implemented several reforms, including amending the laws to
require that sterilizations be performed only at the request of a
patient and only 30 days after such request is made. Alleged victims
were able to pursue claims for damages in civil courts, and NGOs took
several cases to the ECHR (see section 1.f.).
Prostitution is legal; however, the law prohibits related
activities such as operating brothels, knowingly spreading sexually
transmitted diseases, or trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. It was unclear to what extent prostitution occurred.
There were reports that women were trafficked into the country for
prostitution (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment, and there were no
statistics available to measure the frequency or severity of its
occurrence. The Government took no action during the year to combat
sexual harassment.
Women and men are equal under the law, including family law,
property law, and in the judicial system; however, discrimination
against women remained a problem in practice. The equal opportunity
office in the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family worked in
an advisory capacity to ensure the legal rights of women. Women,
particularly those aged 35 to 39, typically earned 25-30 percent less
than men. Experts believed that the wage difference was due to large
numbers of women working in low-paid occupations, such as the education
or social services sectors. NGOs continued to push for increased
opportunities for the political participation of women.
Children.--The Government was committed to children's rights and
welfare; the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family and the
Minsitry of Education oversaw implementation of the Government's
programs for children. Education was universal and free through the
postsecondary level and was compulsory for 10 years, or until the age
of 16. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that the rate for
primary and secondary school attendance was approximately 85 percent.
Most ethnic Slovak and Hungarian children attended school on a
regular basis, but Romani children exhibited a lower attendance rate.
Although Romani children comprised nearly one-fourth of the total
number of children under the age of 16, they were disproportionately
enrolled in schools for the mentally handicapped, despite diagnostic
scores that were often within the normal range of intellectual
capacity. In certain remedial schools in the eastern part of the
country, registered students were nearly 100 percent Roma. In general,
the completion of education from a special school did not give Romani
children the necessary knowledge nor the eligibility to continue on to
university and other higher education institutions, which do not accept
special school certificates as entry criteria.
Since 2005, as part of an experimental project initiated by the
League of Human Rights Activists, approximately 150 Romani children
from special schools for children with mental disabilities received
extra training to help the children prepare to enter regular classes.
Over the course of the project 20 students were integrated into regular
schools.
Government-provided healthcare for children was adequate and equal
for both girls and boys.
Child abuse remained an underreported problem. One NGO expressed
concern that the family law passed in March 2005 did not afford
children the same rights and protections as it did their parents. The
legislation provides for programs and training to reduce the instance
of child abuse; the Government also implemented a publicity campaign to
raise awareness of the issue.
A number of children's foundations operated several programs for
abused or disabled children. UNICEF continued to operate a hotline for
children; during the first half of the year, it opened 4,519 cases
based on the 20,542 calls it received. Three hundred of the calls were
from abused children or children with disabilities.
Child prostitution is prohibited. Community workers reported it was
a problem in Romani settlements with the worst living conditions.
There were approximately 7,000 children in institutional care, and
Roma constituted the majority of this population. Most government
orphanages were long-term care facilities rather than short-term
residences. Activists claimed that orphans had difficulty integrating
into society at age 18 and were at increased risk of falling victim to
trafficking.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked from, within,
and through the country.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that
between 100 and 200 persons are trafficked annually from or through the
country, mainly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The IOM
reported expanded usage of victims' assistance programs during the
year, most likely due to increased awareness of these programs. Most of
the victims trafficked through the country came from the former Soviet
republics (particularly Moldova and Ukraine) and Balkan countries.
Victims were typically trafficked through the Czech Republic or Austria
to Western Europe and Japan. Victims were typically between the ages of
18 and 25, from various social backgrounds, but particularly from areas
with high unemployment. Some experts alleged that Romani women and
persons raised in state institutions, because of their socioeconomic
situation and less freedom of mobility, were more vulnerable to being
trafficked by organized criminal gangs. Romani women were reportedly
more at risk of being trafficked by known and trusted people from their
communities. Another high-risk group included men and women looking,
sometimes illegally, for seasonal work abroad and were ill-informed of
the potential dangers.
Traffickers lured women with offers of employment, often relying on
personal connections with women. Activists who worked with the few
victims forced to work while transiting the country reported that most
were placed as prostitutes or as exotic dancers in nightclubs. Such
activity was concentrated on the border with Austria and close to
Ukraine and along trucking routes with a prevalence of nightclubs.
Traffickers closely monitored victims, withheld their documents, and
used violence to ensure their compliance. Some victims allegedly were
threatened with violence or even death if they attempted to escape.
Under the law, traffickers may be sentenced to three to 10 years in
prison. The sentence may be increased to eight to 15 years if bodily
harm resulted, if the trafficker gained extensive profit, or if the
offense was committed as a member of a group operating in several
countries. If the offender is a member of a crime syndicate, the
sentence is increased to between 12 and 15 years. Victims may also file
civil suits against traffickers.
During the year police investigated 19 cases of trafficking,
resulting in charges against six suspects. Courts convicted and
sentenced 24 traffickers, eight of whom were involved in child
trafficking. In 2005 courts convicted and sentenced four traffickers.
In January a court in the town of Martin sentenced eight
traffickers with prison terms from three to eight years for trafficking
12 women to the Czech Republic, where they were forced into
prostitution. The traffickers were arrested in 2003.
In 2003 police arrested seven members of a trafficking gang who had
sent at least 60 women to Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and France over
an eight-year period, with the suspected involvement of a low-level
government employee. The case was awaiting trial at year's end.
In January the Government approved the country's first National
Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The action plan consists
of 19 initiatives, designates lead ministries, and assigns deadlines.
The first national coordinator to combat trafficking in persons was
appointed in October 2005 but left the post after the change in
government. Momentum stalled for several months midyear while the seat
for the national coordinator remained vacant. In October new State
Secretary of the Ministry of Interior Jozef Bucek was appointed by the
Government as the new national coordinator, raising the political
profile of the issue. An existing interministerial working group to
combat trafficking, formed in 2005, was redirected to focus solely on
prevention issues. A new expert group, whose members carry more
political weight than the working group, was formed to analyze and
implement wider-ranging strategies. During the year the Government
started cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on a project
aimed at strengthening the legislative, investigative, prosecutorial,
and technical capability to combat trafficking while providing
protection and support to victims. The Government agencies responsible
for combating trafficking include the national coordinator to combat
trafficking in persons; the police antitrafficking unit; the ministries
of interior, finance, justice, and education; the prosecutor's office;
the border police; and the equal opportunity office at the Ministry of
Labor, Social Affairs, and Family; and the plenipotentiary for Romani
communities.
The police participated in international investigations on a
limited basis. There were no requests for the extradition of human
traffickers during the year.
Corruption among border officials, police, and asylum officials
allegedly hampered efforts to combat trafficking.
The Government did not detain, prosecute, fine, or deport persons
identified as trafficking victims. Although no formal screening or
referral process was in place for most of the year, the law required
police to provide a list of victim's assistance programs to suspected
victims. Toward the end of the year, the Ministry of Interior reached
an agreement with an NGO, Dotyk, to provide secure, private lodgings
and other services for trafficking victims on a case-by-case basis. The
Government has cooperated with additional NGOs on victims' assistance.
NGOs reported increased cooperation and communication with police
investigators. The Ministry of Education continued to support
discussion groups and distributed handbooks in schools about legally
working abroad. There was no shelter dedicated exclusively to
trafficking victims.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or the provision of other state services. In practice,
however, experts reported that access to buildings and higher education
remained a problem. There were reports that persons with severe
physical handicaps received less than the minimum wage in some
instances.
NGOs reported that a better network of organizations was needed to
improve psychiatric care of patients with mental disorders and to
monitor human rights violations against them.
Cage beds continued to be used in psychiatric institutions and
hospitals, which fall under the purview of the Ministry of Health. The
law prohibits both physical and nonphysical restraints in social care
homes, which are managed by the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and
Family.
According to NGOs, a lack of funds prevented full implementation of
the law to provide assistance to handicapped students. Regulations
ensuring access to premises and services for physically handicapped
persons, for example, wheelchair access in buildings and Web sites
enabled for use by the blind, were not fully implemented across the
country, although the situation was improving.
A working group, the Council for Citizens with Disabilities, served
as a governmental advisory body regarding persons with disabilities.
The minister of labor, social affairs, and family chaired the council.
Several NGOs conducted public education campaigns on mental illness and
worked cooperatively with the health ministry on the national health
program. The Government sponsored a contest for the local government
most accessible to persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities
were able to vote and participate in civic affairs. However, they
continued to experience problems with access to information and
education caused by physical barriers limiting their ability to enter
educational facilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Widespread discrimination
against Roma continued in the areas of employment, education, housing,
and health services. Roma constituted the second largest ethnic
minority, reported by the 2001 census to number 90,000, although
experts estimated the population to be between 350,000 and 400,000. The
discrepancy was attributed to Roma identifying themselves as Hungarian
or Slovak.
During the year the CPT reported on police mistreatment of Roma
(see section 1.c.).
There were several reports that Roma suffered discrimination with
respect to health care. In November 2005 the Ministry of Health began
to train 40 health care assistants who speak Romani as part of a pilot
program to improve Roma access to health services. This program
continued during the year.
In previous years the Government reported that usury, the illegal
charging of high interest rates on small loans, was one of the main
causes of the deepening poverty of Roma in settlements. While it is
believed that usury continued, statistics fell markedly during the
year. Police investigated four usury cases, two of which moved forward
to prosecution.
Skinhead violence against Roma continued to be a serious problem.
The NGO People Against Racism reported that although police were
increasingly responsive in their efforts to monitor and control the
skinhead movement, the problem persisted. The organization also
reported receiving e-mail and telephone threats from skinheads.
Throughout the year police charged numerous individuals with
attacks against Roma motivated by racial hatred. In April several
youths attacked two Romani women and the brother of the women who
attempted to stop the attack in Spisska Stara Ves. Police arrested six
suspects, completed the investigation, and the case moved to
prosecution.
In September three masked attackers broke into the home of a Romani
family in Sered and beat several family members. The police arrested
the attackers and stated that racial and ethnic intolerance motivated
the attack. The accused were released from pretrial detention, while
the police continued the investigation to build the case. The
investigation was ongoing at year's end.
In September neo-Nazis attacked several Roma at a train station in
Humenne, seriously injuring two of the persons. After the attack, the
perpetrators shouted ``sieg heil.'' Police arrested three suspects,
aged 16 to 18, on charges of assault and riotous conduct but the
prosecutor's office rejected an additional charge of propagation of an
ideology that suppresses the rights of others. The case was still being
investigated at year's end.
During the summer of 2005 three attacks on Romani families in Sered
occurred. The police initially charged one suspect with causing bodily
harm. Prosecution was dropped during the year because, according to the
police, key witnesses changed their testimony and the case was no
longer prosecutable.
The trial of three Zahorska Ves men arrested for allegedly breaking
into and setting fire to Romani residences on three occasions in 2004
was ongoing at year's end. Two of the men were also charged with
assault. The Government punitively revoked the license of the private
security firm that employed several of the alleged attackers.
Activists frequently alleged that employers refused to hire Roma,
whose unemployment rate exceeded 95 percent in many settlements.
Many NGOs reported that segregation of Romani students in schools
continued (see section 5, Children).
NGOs alleged that Roma were more likely to encounter housing
discrimination. On a few occasions during the year, local authorities
and groups forced evictions of Romani inhabitants or blocked
construction permits or the purchase of land. Many Romani settlements
lacked formal infrastructure, access to clean water, and proper sewage
systems.
In March the mayor of Puchov attempted to force several Romani
families to relocate to the nearby town of Nimnica by purchasing a
house for them there. The plan was enacted without the consent the town
of Nimnica. The Romani families faced eviction from their housing in
Puchov for failure to pay rent. The relocation of the Romani families
has not taken place, as the town of Nimnica caused delays in the
preparation of the house.
In August the mayor and town council of the village of Vysny
Kazimir prohibited Roma from swimming in the local public pond. After
the plenipotentiary for Romani communities and several NGOs voiced
their concern, the town rescinded the prohibition and passed a
resolution to fine anyone who caused damage to the pond.
In August in the village of Letanovce, an unknown person left a
death threat instructing the local mayor to stop construction at the
site of a future housing complex for apartments to be occupied by Roma.
In June 2005 the mayor of Presov announced the construction of a
wall or fence to separate Roma from non-Romani citizens in the Stara
Tehelna neighborhood; the plan received media criticism and sparked
international concern before the city decided to reevaluate the plan.
The plenipotentiary for Romani communities negotiated with community
leaders, eventually reaching an agreement to focus on other projects.
In a sign of greater political recognition of the problems faced by
Roma, all six political parties that were elected to the National
Council in June included plans in their party platforms to address
issues faced by the Romani communities. This represented an improvement
over the 2002 elections when several parties failed to mention Romani
issues in their platforms. The new government's program plan, approved
by the National Council in early August, addressed concerns of the
Romani community. Romani activists issued a press release in August
noting their positive discussions with the new deputy prime minister
for human rights and minorities.
In August the district court of Michalovce issued an ambiguous
decision in one of the first civil court cases based on the new
antidiscrimination law of 2004. The court ruled that three Roma who
were refused service at a cafe in Michalovce in April 2005 had been
discriminated against, but not because of their ethnicity. No damages
were awarded. NGOs and the National Center for Human Rights cite only
approximately three to five discrimination cases which have gone to
trial. One NGO activist remarked that no court has yet ruled
unambiguously in a discrimination case in favor of the claimants. The
National Center for Human Rights has mediated several discrimination
cases and provided official legal opinions in dozens more.
A few mayors were reported to use hate speech against Roma during
the year, although none were prosecuted. During the year a number of
politicians at the national and regional level used disparaging
language about the Roma during closed-door meetings.
Tensions between ethnic Hungarians and ethnic Slovaks rose after
the nationalist SNS became a member of government in July. Prior to and
since being elected to a National Council seat in June, SNS Chairman
Jan Slota made several public statements that were derogatory towards
ethnic Hungarians. The SNS and the party of the Hungarian coalition
accused each other of propagating hate or the disintegration of the
country. All of the criminal investigations stemming from these
accusations have concluded with a finding that no laws were broken.
Public hate speech against ethnic Hungarians increased after the
new government took office. There were allegations of attacks against
ethnic Hungarians for speaking Hungarian. By year's end, ethnic
tensions and allegations of attacks had lessened.
On August 7, police were alerted to an Internet video clip which
showed several masked people shouting statements in Slovak inciting
violence against Hungarians while burning the Hungarian flag and
holding up a Slovak flag. By August 8, the video had been removed from
the foreign-based Internet site where it had been posted. No arrests
had been made by year's end.
On August 26, police arrested three men for waiving banners with
the phrase ``death to Hungarians'' at a soccer match in Banska
Bystrica. Police charged the men, who remained in custody as of year
end, with agitation to ethnic or racial hatred. One of them received an
additional charge of propagation of an ideology which suppresses the
rights of others.
A nationalist organization known as Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak
Community) continued to hold events designed to intimidate minority
groups. Dressed in uniforms similar to those of the Hlinka Guards (the
country's fascist wartime civic guard responsible, among other things,
for the country's concentration camps), the group's members held
marches and rallies to commemorate the wartime fascist state and to
spread messages of intolerance against ethnic and religious minorities.
In March the Supreme Court stripped the group of its political party
status on the basis that it promoted a nondemocratic form of government
that suppressed the rights and freedoms of others. The group then
registered as an NGO.
In April police arrested two extremists with ties to two foreign
groups, the World Church of the Creator and the National Alliance, for
violent crimes.
In May police charged seven neo-Nazis in Kosice with possession of
illegal weapons and propagating an ideology that suppresses the rights
of others. The case had been moved to the prosecutor's office but a
trial had not yet started at year's end.
On August 29, police detained more than 10 members of the Slovenska
Pospolitost that tried to disrupt the commemoration of the Slovak
National Uprising, an event the Prime Minister attended. In September
the regional prosecutor's office determined that no crime had been
committed and dismissed the case.
The Government's plenipotentiary for Romani communities maintained
five regional offices to supervise the implementation of governmental
policy on Romani issues, support infrastructure development, and
cooperate with municipalities and villages to improve interaction
between Roma and non-Roma. The Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and
Family funded Roma Terrain Social Workers, which assigned specially-
trained social workers to Romani settlements to provide assistance such
as helping Roma to fill out paperwork and building awareness of the
importance of education and preventative healthcare.
The Government continued to implement its action plan against
xenophobia and intolerance. A special police unit monitored extremist
activities, and a commission consisting of NGOs, police, and government
officials advised the police on minority issues.
The Slovak National Center for Human Rights reported that 217
complaints of discrimination were filed during 2005. The most frequent
claim (cited in 54 of the 217 cases) regarded discrimination in labor-
related issues, including access to work. One NGO criticized the length
of time it took for the center to issue required legal opinions on
claims of discrimination.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right to
form and join unions, except in the armed forces, and workers exercised
this right in practice. Approximately 17 percent of the work force was
unionized.
In October and December 2005 the police labor union held two
protests against low wages and benefits. There was widespread criticism
when the minister of interior demoted the officer heading the labor
union.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law
provides for unions to conduct their activities without interference,
and the Government generally protected this right in practice.
The law provides for the right to organize and bargain
collectively, and workers exercised these rights in practice.
The law provides for the legal right to strike, except for civil
servants in essential services and members of the military, in two
instances: when collective bargaining fails to reach an agreement, or
to support other striking employees' demands (solidarity strike). The
unions generally exercised these rights in practice without
restrictions. Strikes must be announced in advance. The law prohibits
dismissing workers legally participating in strikes; however, strikers
are not ensured protection if a strike is considered illegal or
unofficial.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law provides for the protection of children from exploitation in the
workplace, and the Government effectively implemented and enforced
these policies.
The minimum age for employment is 15, although children under 15
may perform light work in cultural or artistic performances, sports
events, or advertising activities if it does not affect their health,
safety, or schooling. The National Labor Inspectorate and Public Health
Office must approve, determine the maximum hours for, and set
conditions for child labor under age 15. Children under age 16 may not
work more than 30 hours per week, and children aged 16 to 17 are
limited to 37.5 hours per week. Children under age 18 are not allowed
to work underground, work overtime, or perform work that is
inappropriate for their age or health.
District inspection units received and investigated child labor
complaints. If a unit determined that a child labor law or regulation
had been broken, it turned the case over to the national inspection
unit of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family.
Child labor, primarily in the form of begging, was a problem in
some communities; there were also isolated reports of forced
prostitution (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--As of October 1, the minimum
wage increased to $253 (7,600 korunas) per month. The minimum wage
provided a decent standard of living for a worker and family in rural
areas of the country but not in urban areas. The law mandates a maximum
workweek of 48 hours (including overtime), with 30 minute breaks after
six hours of work (after four hours for employees younger than 18), and
rest periods of at least 12 hours between shifts. The trade unions; the
Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family; and local employment
offices monitored observance of these laws, and authorities effectively
enforced them.
The law establishes health and safety standards that the office of
labor safety generally enforced. Workers have the right to refuse to
work in situations that endanger their health and safety and may file
complaints against employers in such situations; whether they did so in
practice was not clear. Employees working under conditions endangering
their health and safety for a certain period of time are entitled to be
paid ``relaxation'' leave in addition to their standard leave.
__________
SLOVENIA
Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional republic
of approximately two million persons. Power is shared between a
directly elected President (head of state), a prime minister (head of
government), and a bicameral parliament, composed of the National
Assembly (lower house) and the National Council (upper house). In 2004
the country held free and fair multiparty elections for seats in the
National Assembly. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Trial delays,
indirect government influence on the media, cursory procedure for
review of asylum applications, violence against women, trafficking in
women and girls, discrimination and violence against Roma and
homosexuals, and discrimination against former Yugoslav residents
without legal status were problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; on rare
occasion police used excessive force such as kicks, punches, and shoves
during arrest. Societal violence against individuals based on their
sexual orientation was reported (see section 5).
On November 2, the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) ruled that
the country failed to conduct an effective investigation into
allegations that police mistreated an individual during an incident
that took place in 1995.
On November 25, three individuals participating in a protest
against the return of a Roma family to their home in Ambrus were
injured, though it is unclear how the injuries occurred. Police
launched an investigation of the incident that is ongoing.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. A delegation of the
Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment made its third periodic visit to
the country from January 31 to February 8. A full report from the visit
has not yet been publicly released.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police are centrally
organized under the supervision of the police and security bureau of
the Ministry of Interior. The bureau oversees the drafting of basic
guidelines, security policy, and regulations governing the work of the
police and exercises special inspectorial authority in monitoring
police performance, with an emphasis on the protection of human rights
and fundamental freedoms. The general police administration, headed by
the general director of the police, has overall responsibility for the
execution of police duties and oversees activities at the national
level. Regional police duties fall under the jurisdiction of police
administration units, whose directors report to the general director.
Local policing is provided by individual police stations, whose
commanders report to the director of the relevant police
administration. The police provided effective law enforcement.
During the year the independent commission for the prevention of
corruption referred five credible reports of police corruption and one
credible report of prosecutor corruption to the police and the state
prosecutor for further investigation.
The law provides for a method to investigate police abuses. Initial
complaints are reviewed by the commander of the local police unit, who
provides information to the complainant about the established facts and
the powers of the police. If the complainant disagrees, the complaint
is assigned to a three-person, government committee to decide if it is
founded. The committee includes one member from the Ministry of
Interior and two members selected by civil society organizations.
Initial complaints that allege a criminal offense bypass the first
review and are immediately sent to the Ministry of Interior. The
committee relies on an appointed investigator from the Ministry of the
Interior or the police to conduct an investigation of the complaint. It
is not empowered to conduct independent investigations and is not
required to forward its findings to the prosecutor's office.
Arrest and Detention.--Persons taken into police custody were
generally apprehended openly with evidential warrants issued by either
a prosecutor or judge. Persons can be detained for 48 hours before
charges are brought. Authorities must also advise detainees in writing
within 48 hours of the reasons for their arrest. Upon arrest, detainees
have the right to contact legal counsel of their choice, and
authorities generally respected this right in practice. The Government
provides indigent detainees with free counsel, and detainees were
generally allowed prompt access to family members. The law also
provides safeguards against self-incrimination.
In 2004 police officers in Koper arbitrarily arrested and detained
an individual without informing her of her rights or the charges. The
detainee claimed that police treated her inappropriately. A complaint
was filed with the Koper police in 2005 and an investigation was
completed.
Once charges are brought, pretrial detention may last for up to
four months, depending on the severity of the criminal act, and must be
certified by an investigative judge. Once trial procedures have begun,
the total period of detention may be extended for up to two years.
Persons detained more than two years while awaiting trial or while
their trial is ongoing must be released pending conclusion of their
trial (see section 1.e.). Lengthy pretrial detention was not a
widespread problem, and defendants generally were released on bail,
except in the most serious criminal cases.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
judicial independence in practice. Court backlogs sometimes resulted in
lengthy delays in trials. During the year the ECHR issued over 100
judgments against the Government citing violations of the Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms due to
excessive court delays and the denial of effective remedy. On November
22, the parliament passed changes to the Judicial Services Act and the
Courts Act intended to ease restrictions on judges and the cases they
can hear. As part of its ongoing project to eliminate backlogs, the
Ministry of Justice hired 70 additional judges and court clerks during
the year. The number of backlogged cases dropped by 25,069 cases (or
4.8 percent) from a total backlog of approximately 522,000 to a backlog
of 497,000 cases in the first half of the year.
The judicial system consists of district courts, regional courts,
courts of appeals, an administrative court, and the Supreme Court. The
local and district courts serve as courts of first instance, whose
decisions may be appealed to the courts of appeal. The Supreme Court
hears appeals of rulings by the courts of appeal. A labor court and an
administrative court hear cases within their substantive areas of
jurisdiction. A nine-member constitutional court rules on the
constitutionality of legislation, treaties, and international
agreements and is the highest level of appeal for administrative
procedures. Judges, elected by the National Assembly upon the
nomination of the judicial council, are constitutionally independent.
The judicial council is composed of six sitting judges elected by their
peers and five Presidential nominees elected by parliament.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right. Trials are generally public and are conducted by jury; however,
judges may decide to close trials to the public when the defendant is a
juvenile or details of the personal life of the accused may be
disclosed. Defendants have the right to be present during the trial and
to consult with their attorney in a timely manner. An attorney is
provided at public expense only if the defendant faces serious criminal
charges. Defendants may confront witnesses against them and present
witnesses and evidence on their own behalf. Defendants and their
attorneys have access to government-held evidence relevant to their
cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence and have a right of
appeal.
The judicial system was overburdened and lacked administrative
support; as a result, the judicial process frequently was protracted.
In many cases during the year, criminal trials lasted from two to five
years.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--The constitution and law
provide for an independent and impartial judiciary in civil matters. As
with criminal matters, court backlogs sometimes resulted in lengthy
trials.
Property Restitution.--The Government has brought the vast majority
(93.5 percent) of property restitution cases to conclusion (37,027
cases have been resolved of 39,606 filed) with approximately 2,000 more
cases resolved this year. However, administrative and judicial
processes continued to slow resolution of the 2,579 remaining cases,
including cases brought by foreigners and cases involving Jewish
communal and heirless properties. During the year the Ministry of
Justice's department for restitution and national reconciliation issued
and awarded a tender to compile an inventory of Jewish private
properties nationalized or confiscated after World War II. The project
was ongoing at year's end.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice; however, there were reports of
indirect government influence on the media.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede
criticism.
The independent media were active and expressed a variety of views
without significant restriction. The major print media were supported
through private investment and advertising; however, the Government
owned substantial stock in many companies that were shareholders in the
major media houses. Public Broadcaster Radio Television Slovenia
operated two national television channels and two regional channels
funded from household subscriber fees and commercial revenue. There was
one national commercial channel and four regional channels.
On July 22, several journalists reported that police used undue
force against them, including pushing and shoving, while covering a
demonstration at the detention center for foreigners, including illegal
immigrants and asylum seekers, near Postojna. The complaints had no
apparent effect on the media's reporting on the demonstration.
On August 7, the higher court of Maribor upheld the 2005 acquittal
of five persons accused of participating in the 2001 attempted murder
of investigative journalist Miro Petek.
There were reports that indirect political and economic pressures
and partial government ownership of media companies influenced
journalists and the media. Managers reportedly protected their own
interests and the interests of those in government with whom they were
affiliated. There were reports that self-censorship was practiced in
some media outlets.
A 2005 law regarding national radio and television came into effect
establishing a programming council of 29 members that directly oversees
the public radio and television network. Parliament appointed 21 of the
members after receiving nominations from political parties, civil
society groups, and individuals. Three members were elected by the
employees of national radio and television, two members were appointed
by the President after being nominated by registered religious groups,
one member each was appointed by both the Italian and Hungarian
minority groups, and one member was appointed by the Slovenian Academy
of Arts and Sciences. The parliament appointed five members, the
Government appointed four members, and the employees of national radio
and television elected two members to the 11 member supervisory board.
In May the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Act on Media.
New provisions included a media pluralization fund and an expanded
right to corrections.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was widely available and nearly one-half of citizens
used the Internet at least once per month.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights in practice. The law
prohibits a group from registering if the group's activities ``promote
the illegal destruction of the constitutional order; promote the
execution of criminal acts; encourage national, racial, religious and
other intolerance; spread national, racial, religious and other hatred
and intolerance; or encourage violence and war.''
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
Religious communities must register with the Government's office
for religious communities if they wish to be legal entities, and
registration entitles such groups to value-added tax rebates.
Approximately 42 religious communities registered with the Government,
most of them Christian denominations. During the year the office
registered applications from the Muslim community and the Church of New
Life. No applications were outstanding at year's end.
While there are no governmental restrictions on the Muslim
community's freedom of worship, services were commonly held in private
homes for lack of a larger venue. In September long stalled plans for
building a mosque on city-owned land that was subject to a
denationalization claim by the Catholic Church were dropped when the
city council delayed a vote on a budgetary appropriation to provide
compensation to the church and clear the land for sale to the Muslim
community. Several city councilors received death threats before the
September meeting when they publicly supported the project to build a
mosque in Ljubljana. In December new city leadership introduced plans
for another location for the mosque on city-owned land close to the
city center; both city and Muslim community officials approved the
site. The Ljubljana City Council was expected to discuss the issue in
January 2007 and local officials said that after public discussion and
zoning changes, the site could be ready for sale by June 2007.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The Jewish community in the
country was very small. Jewish community representatives reported some
prejudice, ignorance, and false stereotypes of Jews propagated within
society. Reportedly, negative images of Jews were common in private
commentary and citizens generally did not consider Jews to be a native
population, despite their uninterrupted presence in the country for
many centuries. There were no reports of anti-Semitic violence or overt
discrimination.
The Government promoted antibias and tolerance education in the
primary and secondary school curricula and the Holocaust is a mandatory
topic in the contemporary history curriculum. On September 3, for the
first time, the country marked the European Day of Jewish Culture with
programs and events organized by the Jewish community with the support
of local government officials.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution and law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. During the year the Government received 579 requests for
refugee status or asylum and granted refugee status or asylum in nine
cases.
During the year the Government did not provide temporary protection
to persons who may not have qualified as refugees under the 1951
Convention or the 1967 Protocol.
The Government cooperated with the office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations
in assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
On February 6, the National Assembly passed a law amending the
Government's asylum procedures. The law empowers border police to
perform an initial screen of asylum seekers and to possibly find some
applications ``manifestly unfounded.'' The expedited procedures could
prevent the applications of some asylum seekers from receiving a
thorough review. The new law restricts refugees' ability to work in the
country for one year. On December 7, the Constitutional Court ruled
that asylum seekers should be allowed to change their asylum
application if there were considerable changes in their circumstances.
The court gave parliament one month to correct the discrepancy in law.
The law provides asylum seekers with the right to appeal decisions
on their applications, but many asylum seekers were not informed of
this right. The independent ombudsman for human rights and several
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported that the Government put
excessive restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement by requiring
asylum seekers to sign a statement renouncing their claim to asylum if
they left the premises of the asylum center.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 the country held
free and fair elections for seats in the National Assembly.
There were 14 women in the 90-seat National Assembly and three
women in the 40-seat National Council. There were two women in the 17-
member cabinet.
There were two members of minorities in the 90-seat National
Assembly and none in the 40-seat National Council or in the cabinet.
The constitution provides the ``autochthonous'' (indigenous) Italian
and Hungarian minorities the right, as a community, to have at least
one representative in the parliament. However, the law does not provide
any other minority group, autochthonous or otherwise, the right to be
represented as a community in parliament.
In October the country held free and fair elections for mayoral
offices and seats in municipal councils that were the first elections
that included legally mandated gender participation quotas.
Twenty distinct Romani communities, each designated autochthonous
at the local level, are entitled to a seat on their local municipal
councils. At year's end one municipality-Grosuplje-was not in
compliance with this law. Although both the Government office of
nationalities and the Romani community submitted proposals to freeze
the municipality's budget until it complies with the law, at year's end
no action had been taken to do so.
A July 11 amendment to the general elections law created a quota
program to promote more balanced participation of women and men in the
political system. The law requires 20 percent of each political party's
list to be women and for one of the top three candidates on each list
to be of the opposite sex of the other two. The quota for women will
rise to 30 percent for elections in 2010 and 40 percent in 2014; a
similar quota system will be in place for the 2008 and 2012 national
elections.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption was perceived
by the public to be a widespread problem. The independent commission
for the prevention of corruption received 263 cases of suspected
corruption and found 140 out of the 158 cases that were assessed during
the year to be credible reports of possible corruption. The remaining
cases have not yet been assessed.
The commission played an active role in educating the public and
civil servants about corruption; however, it claimed it had neither
adequate staff nor funding to fulfill its mandate and assess all cases
of suspected corruption that it received during the year. On February
10 the National Assembly approved the law on incompatibility of
official position and profitable activity, which terminated the
independent commission for the prevention of corruption and replaced it
with a parliamentary anticorruption commission. The law was set to
enter into force in May, but the constitutional court stayed the
provisions abolishing the commission on April 26. The law remains in
review at the end of the year.
The commission continued to perform its charter duties, including:
implementing the resolution on the prevention of corruption; developing
plans for ensuring integrity in the public and private sectors and
ensuring their implementation; establishing basic rules relating to
conflicts of interest for those holding public office; supervision of
government rules regarding the receipt of gifts; supervision of the
financial situation of officials and contracting authorities under the
regulations on public procurement with business entities where an
official or family member is involved; monitoring and analyzing
statistical information related to corruption; and cooperating with
public authorities to draft and coordinate regulations relating to the
prevention of corruption.
During the year the commission forwarded 64 suspected cases of
corruption to police and the prosecutors, and 83 cases to other state
institutions.
The law provides for free public access to all government
information, and the Government provided access for citizens and
noncitizens alike, including foreign media. The Government may deny
public access only to classified information, personal data protected
by privacy laws, and other narrowly defined exceptions.
The office of the Government information commissioner reported that
while the overall number of complaints went down, the number of
complaints related to non-responsiveness of state institutions
increased. During the year the office received 385 complaints about
non-responsiveness of state institutions, and 102 complaints under the
Law on Access to Public Information, and publicly called on government
ministries to cooperate more transparently.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
generally were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution and law prohibit discrimination based on race,
gender, disability, language, or social status, and the Government
generally enforced these provisions in practice. However, violence
against women and children, trafficking in persons, and discrimination
against homosexuals and Roma were problems.
Women.--Although no accurate statistics were available, violence
against women, including spousal abuse, occurred and was generally
underreported. Although domestic violence was not specifically
prohibited under the law, it could be prosecuted under statutes
criminalizing assault and providing for penalties of up to 10 year's
imprisonment in the case of aggravated and grievous bodily harm. SOS
Phone, an NGO that provided anonymous emergency counseling and services
to domestic violence victims, received approximately 5,000 calls during
the year. SOS Phone estimated that 25 percent of women had experienced
domestic violence. In 2005 the United Nations Human Rights Committee
announced its concern about the high rate of domestic violence and the
lack of specific legal provisions and government programs to address
the problem. The Government partially funded 11 shelters or safe houses
for battered women, (nine run by NGOs and two run by government
organizations), which offered 171 total beds. Some victims of domestic
violence also sought assistance at maternity homes and social work
centers, although staff at these locations were not always specifically
trained to work with victims of violence. When police received reports
of spousal abuse or violence, they generally intervened and prosecuted
offenders. The NGOs SOS Phone and Kljuc provided hotlines. The police
academy offered training on domestic violence. The Council of Europe
2006 Report ``Combating Violence Against Women'' praised the country
for training nursing staff in all hospitals to screen patients for
domestic violence.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal; however, it was a
problem. Spousal rape, in particular, was rarely reported. Amnesty
International (AI) and SOS Phone estimated that one in seven women was
raped during her lifetime but that only 5percent sought assistance or
counseling. Police actively investigated reports of rape and prosecuted
offenders. The penalty for rape was one to 10 years in prison. During
the year there were 46 criminal acts of rape, 51 criminal acts of
sexual violence, 14 criminal acts of sexual abuse of the weak, and 157
criminal acts of sexual attack on a minor (under the age of 15). Police
conducted several public awareness campaigns to familiarize society
with the problems of rape and domestic violence.
Prostitution is illegal, but the Government did not actively
enforce this prohibition. Antitrafficking authorities and NGOs
informally estimated that as many as 80 bars and clubs across the
country could be engaged in facilitating or promoting prostitution.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law explicitly prohibits sexual harassment in the civil
service; however, it does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment for
the overall workforce. Incidents could be prosecuted through a criminal
code prohibiting violation of sexual integrity through abuse of office
and there were 16 reported criminal acts during the year. Sexual
harassment remained a widespread problem.
The law provides for equal rights for women, and there was no
official discrimination against women in family law, property law, or
the judicial system. The office of equal opportunities protects the
legal rights of women. Although both sexes had the same average period
of unemployment, women frequently held lower paying jobs. On average,
women's earnings were 90 percent of those of men.
Children.--The Government was committed to protecting children's
rights and welfare.
The Government provides compulsory, free, and universal education
for children through grade nine and up to four additional years of
free, voluntary secondary school education. The Ministry of Education
reported an attendance rate of nearly 100 percent of school-age
children, with most children completing secondary school. The
Government provided universal health care for all citizens, including
children.
A November 16 report from AI noted that Roma children are enrolled
in 40 nursery schools throughout the country but that school attendance
varies widely by region, (39 percent of Roma children attend school in
the southeastern Dolenjska region and 70 percent attend school in the
northeastern Prekmurje region). Poverty, discrimination, and language
problems continue to be the main barriers to the participation of Roma
children in education programs. AI reported that the Roma literacy rate
is 10 percent. A number of Roma reported that their children attended
segregated classes and were selected by authorities in disproportionate
numbers to attend classes for students with special needs. In 2004 the
Government provided funding for a regional program to desegregate and
expand Romani education by training Romani educational facilitators and
creating special enrichment programs in public kindergartens. Other
school districts hired Romani facilitators at their own initiative and
expense. A March 29 report from the Council of Europe commissioner for
human rights reported that de facto segregation continued to exist in
the Brsljin school district in Novo Mesto. An evaluation of Brsljin's
program was currently underway by education authorities.
The Government has not developed a bilingual curriculum for Roma on
the grounds that there is not a standardized Romani language. However,
the Government was currently funding research into codification of the
language. Romani facilitators were working in some schools.
Child abuse was a problem. During the year there were 301 criminal
acts of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 15. The law provides
special protection for children from exploitation and mistreatment, and
the Government generally enforced the law in practice. The law
criminalizes the sale, purchase, and propagation of child pornography.
Child marriage occurred within the Romani community; however, it
was not a widespread problem.
Trafficking in girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, from, and
through the country.
The country was primarily a point of transit, and secondarily a
source and destination country for women and teenage girls trafficked
from Southeastern, Eastern, and Central Europe to Western Europe.
Trafficking in persons through the country was a problem. Victims were
trafficked primarily for purposes of sexual exploitation. Those at
particular risk of being trafficked were teenage girls and young women
who lived in impoverished areas with high unemployment.
Organized criminal groups, nightclub owners, and local pimps were
primarily responsible for trafficking. A 2003 study by the
International Organization for Migration reported that traffickers
lured victims from Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries through
advertisements promising high wages, offers of marriage, offers of
employment as entertainers and dancers, and offers of employment
without indication that it would involve the sex industry. Harsh
economic conditions in some women's home countries also made them
vulnerable to enter prostitution; many of these women lacked awareness
of what trafficking was and they were unaware of the risk that they
might become trafficking victims or be subjected to severe working
conditions.
Penalties for trafficking range from one to 10 years imprisonment.
Authorities can also prosecute persons for rape, pimping, procurement
of sexual acts, inducement to prostitution, sexual assault, slavery,
and other related offenses.
The Government demonstrated significant progress in its efforts to
apprehend, investigate, and prosecute traffickers using a 2004 law
criminalizing trafficking. Police investigated three cases of human
trafficking, 17 cases of forced prostitution, and found 20 victims of
forced prostitution and nine victims of human trafficking. During the
year there were three reported criminal acts of trafficking. There were
five trafficking convictions this year from crimes committed in
previous years. Regional police directorates had departments that
investigated trafficking and organized crime.
The Government actively cooperated with NGOs and Interpol in
project ``Red Routes'' by sharing information about traffickers and
patterns of illegal migration. Police training was conducted during the
year to improve officers' awareness of trafficking laws. One prosecutor
in each regional state prosecution office was dedicated to trafficking
cases.
In November 2005 parliament adopted a law on the protection of
witnesses in order to prosecute trafficking cases more effectively. In
general authorities did not treat trafficking victims as criminals;
however, they usually were voluntarily returned to their home country
either immediately upon presenting themselves to authorities or
following their testimony in court. In 2005 the UNHCR reported that
asylum caseworkers paid insufficient attention to identifying victims
of human trafficking.
The Government's national coordinator for trafficking in persons
served as the head of the interagency working group on trafficking in
persons, which is responsible for the Government's long-term national
strategy to combat trafficking. The working group, which included
representatives of ministries, NGOs, international organizations, and
the media, established, among other things, standard operating
procedures for first responders to ensure that victims receive
information about the options and assistance available to them. The
group met more than six times during the year and in June established
an action plan against trafficking for 2007.
In June the NGO Karitas won a one-year contract from the Ministry
of Labor to provide secure shelter and assistance to trafficking
victims. Karitas hired two new employees including a professional
social worker, set up a safe house, and established three locations for
short-term emergency housing. Karitas assisted three victims of
trafficking this year with food, shelter, counseling, translation
services, and transportation.
Kljuc, previously the country's sole NGO providing support to
trafficking victims, continued to work on trafficking issues including
programs for prevention, education, detection, and prosecution, as well
as on the long term reintegration of trafficking victims.
The project against trafficking and sex- and gender-based violence
continued to provide information and assistance to the asylum seekers
at greatest risk of being trafficked, especially single women and
children separated from their parents. Key elements of the project
included information about where potential victims could access
assistance, access to specialized assistance and protection for victims
identified in the asylum procedures, and access to asylum procedures
for identified trafficking victims. All at-risk asylum seekers receive
a book containing trafficking information and assistance contacts
throughout Europe. The project was jointly administered by the asylum
section of the MOI, two local NGOs (Kljuc and Slovenksa Filantropija),
and the UNHCR.
The Government, in cooperation with an NGO, continued the programs
``Vijolica'' and ``Caps,'' which provided trafficking awareness classes
for elementary and secondary school students.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with physical and mental disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, or the provision of other government
services, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in
practice. The law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities, and modifications of public and private structures to
ease access by these persons continued, although at a slow pace.
However, most buildings were not accessible in practice. The Ministry
for Labor, Family, and Social Affairs has primary responsibility for
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities and in February the
ministry established a working group to implement national guidelines
for improving access to buildings, information, and communications for
persons with disabilities. On July 11, the national assembly passed a
law mandating that at least one polling station in every district must
be accessible for the disabled. The change was observed during local
elections in October.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the 2002 census,
minorities made up approximately 17 percent of the population and
included approximately 39,000 Serbs, 36,000 Croats, 22,000 Bosniaks
(Bosnian Muslims), 10,000 Muslims, 6,000 Hungarians, 6,000 Albanians,
4,000 Macedonians, 3,000 Montenegrins, 3,000 Roma, and 2,000 Italians.
Observers noted that Roma frequently do not report their nationality
accurately to census takers, and AI estimated that the true number of
Roma was 7,000 to 12,000.
The law provides special rights and protections to autochthonous
Italian and Hungarian minorities, including the right to use their own
national symbols and have bilingual education and the right for each to
be represented as a community in parliament (see section 3). The Romani
minority does not have comparable special rights and protections. On
November 23, parliament passed a law on the protection of the Roma
community that outlined how the Government will regulate the status of
the Roma community and fulfills the requirements of the constitution.
The law focuses on the integration of the Roma community, in particular
in the areas of education and employment, as well as efforts to
legalize Roma settlements. It also calls for the formation of a Roma
Council, made up of representatives from different Roma communities,
which will serve as the chief partner of the Government on Roma
integration issues. Government officials reported progress on Roma
integration since the adoption of a National Action Plan for the
education of Roma in 2004 and an Action Program for employment of Roma
2003-2006. The education plan's priorities include early inclusion and
integration of Romani children into pre-school education; introduction
of Roma assistants in kindergartens; Slovenian language lessons for
Romani pupils; introduction of Romani language; teaching of Romani
culture, history and identity; employment of Roma assistants; review of
school placement procedures; and establishing a network of schools with
Romani pupils for the exchange of experience and good practice. The
employment plan's priorities include inclusion of young, unemployed
Roma in primary and vocational schools; the inclusion of adult Roma in
subsidized jobs programs; job creation through public works; and the
employment of Roma advisers at employment service offices.
In a 2003 report, the committee on the elimination of racial
discrimination expressed concern that discriminatory attitudes and
practices against the Roma persisted and that the distinction between
``indigenous'' Roma and ``new'' Roma could give rise to new
discrimination. Ethnic Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Kosovar Albanians, and
Roma from Kosovo and Albania were considered ``new'' minorities; they
were not protected by the special constitutional provisions for
autochthonous minorities and faced some governmental and societal
discrimination with respect to employment, housing, and education.
A 2005 report by the UN Human Rights Committee and a November
report from AI noted that the Roma continue to suffer prejudice and
discrimination, in particular with access to health services,
education, and employment.
Many Roma lived in settlements apart from other communities that
lacked basic utilities such as electricity, running water, sanitation,
and access to transportation. A November 28 report from the European
Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia noted the problem of Roma
exclusion in the housing market in all countries with sizable Romani
populations. A Council of Europe report stated that local authorities
have addressed the situation of Roma settlements poorly. According to
government officials, 70 percent of the approximately 100 Roma
settlements are illegal. The Roma also reported discrimination in
employment, which complicated their housing situation. A March 29
report from the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights noted
that the unemployment rate among Roma was 90 percent.
On September 8, the Novo Mesto District Court sentenced two men to
30 years in prison for the murder of two individuals at the Dobruska
vas Roma community in June 2005. The two threw a bomb from their car
that killed two women. A third individual was sentenced to 10 years and
10 months in prison for acting as a driver in similar incident at the
Brezje settlement in May 2005 that did not result in any deaths. Two
other suspects were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
On October 28, a Romani family living near the village of Ambrus
left their homestead with assistance from government officials amidst
intense pressure from the local community. Approximately 30 people were
temporarily relocated to a former army barracks in Postojna, which the
Government improved to meet basic living standards. The Government
condemned the family's home in Ambrus because of illegal construction
and demolished it on December 21. On December 24, the Romani family was
relocated to a temporary location near Ljubljana. At year's end the
Government was working with the family and local communities to find a
suitable location to permanently relocate the family.
In late October and November, local citizens in and around the
village of Ambrus staged demonstrations in opposition to the return of
the Romani family. On November 25, over 100 police were sent to handle
protests and the media reported that three protesters were hurt during
the demonstration. Protesters on several occasions blocked roads near
the former Roma family homestead with people, vehicles, and trees in an
attempt to keep the family from returning to their home. Members of the
Romani family were threatened with violence numerous times. Similar
demonstrations occurred in at least one other location in the country.
Regularization of status for non-Slovenian former Yugoslav citizens
remained an issue. Approximately 18,000 persons, mostly Yugoslav
citizens residing in the country at the time of independence, did not
apply for citizenship in 1991-92 and subsequently found their records
were ``erased'' from the population register in February 1992. The
deletion of these records has been characterized by some as an
administrative decision and by others as an ethnically motivated act.
In 2003 the constitutional court ruled unconstitutional portions of a
law governing the legal status of former Yugoslav citizens because the
law neither recognizes the full period in which these ``erased''
persons resided in the country nor provides them the opportunity to
apply for permanent residency. On February 21, a group representing
``erased'' citizens staged an act of civil disobedience in front of the
National Assembly to protest the Government's failure to implement the
constitutional court's 2003 ruling. On November 29, the same group
visited the European parliament to protest the Government's lack of
action. At year's end the Government had not completed legislation to
resolve the court's concerns.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation; however, such societal
discrimination was widespread, and isolated cases of violence against
homosexuals occurred. A 2004 poll conducted by the Peace Institute of
members of the gay and lesbian community found that 53 percent of
respondents had experienced verbal, sexual, or physical harassment
because of their sexual orientation.
On June 30, multiple assailants attacked activists of Lingsium, an
advocacy group for homosexuals, who had set up a stand and were
distributing leaflets in Maribor saying, ``Action for tolerance: gays
and lesbians wish you a good day.'' Members of the Maribor city council
published a statement condemning the attack.
On July 1, the sixth annual gay pride parade in Ljubljana took
place without incident with the support of local government officials.
However, on the evening of July 1, multiple assailants attacked two
individuals in the vicinity of the Ljubljana train station and were
reported to have shouted anti-gay comments. The police investigation
was ongoing at year's end.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers to form and
join unions of their choice without previous authorization or excessive
requirements, and they did so in practice. All workers, except police
and military personnel, are eligible to form and join labor
organizations. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
right to bargain collectively, and it was freely practiced; however,
the law requires that 10 percent of the workers in an industry sector
be union members before collective bargaining can be applied to the
sector as a whole. All workers were covered by either a general
collective bargaining agreement or a collective bargaining agreement
that focused on a specific business segment.
The law provides for the right to strike, and workers exercised
this right in practice. The law prohibits retaliation against strikers,
and the Government effectively enforced this provision in practice. The
law restricts strikes by some public sector employees, primarily the
police and members of the military services, and provides for
arbitration to ensure due process and protect these workers' rights.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's sole export processing zone at Koper. The other two
export processing zones in Maribor and Nova Gorica were eliminated in
2005.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace and to set forth acceptable working conditions; the
Government effectively implemented and enforced these laws and policies
in practice.
The minimum age for employment is 15; however, rural younger
children often worked during the harvest season and on other farm
chores. The law limits working hours and sets occupational health and
safety standards for children; the Government effectively enforced
these provisions in practice. Urban employers generally respected the
age limits.
Trafficking in children for sexual exploitation was a problem (see
section 5).
The Ministry of Labor, Family, and Social Affairs is responsible
for monitoring labor practices and has inspection authority; police are
responsible for investigating violations of the law. Enforcement
practices were generally effective.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national monthly minimum
wage of approximately $662 U.S. (125,052 tolars) provided a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. The law limits the workweek
to 40 hours and provides for minimum annual leave of 20 days and a
mandatory rest period of at least one day per week. Premium pay for
overtime was regulated by collective agreements and was not
standardized, and maximum overtime was limited to 8 hours per week, 20
hours per month, and 180 hours per year. The Ministry of Labor, Family,
and Social Affairs is responsible for monitoring labor practices and
has inspection authority; police are responsible for investigating
violations of the law. The laws were enforced effectively.
Special commissions under the ministries of health and labor,
family, and social affairs set and enforced standards for occupational
health and safety. Workers had the right to remove themselves from
dangerous work situations without jeopardy to their continued
employment; however, it was not clear to what extent they could do so
in practice.
__________
SPAIN
The Kingdom of Spain, with a population of approximately 44.4
million, is a parliamentary democracy headed by a constitutional
monarch. The country has a bicameral parliament, and the head of the
largest political party or coalition is usually named President. The
2004 national election was free and fair. The Spanish Socialist Workers
Party won the multiparty election, and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
became President. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of
addressing individual instances of abuse. There was one report that
security forces abused a suspect, and other reports indicated that some
guards at migrant detention facilities mistreated detained migrants;
Jewish groups reported isolated acts of vandalism; Muslim groups
reported some societal discrimination; there were reports that
authorities at times expelled illegal immigrants without adequate
screening for potential asylees; domestic violence, trafficking in
persons, prejudice--and at times violence--against minorities were
societal problems. The Basque terrorist group Basque Fatherland and
Liberty (ETA) declared a ``permanent ceasefire'' on March 22; however,
an ETA bombing at the Madrid airport on December 30 killed at least two
persons.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
There were legal developments related to some killings or alleged
killings in previous years. In June the prosecutor asked for a 10-year
prison sentence for civil guard commander Jose Manuel Rivas, and eight
years in prison for each of seven other civil guards, accused of
killing Juan Martinez Galdeano in July 2005. Galdeano died in civil
guard custody in Roquetas (Almeria). The Ministry of Interior's
investigation led to charges that the guards beat Galdeano to death,
used banned weapons, obstructed the investigation, and provided false
testimony. The trial had not begun by year's end.
In April the prosecutor asked for a conviction on charges of
negligent homicide and a two-year jail sentence for a regional
Catalonian police officer who shot and killed a Moroccan national,
Farid Ben Daoud, during an operation against drug traffickers in 2004.
While an investigation concluded that the killing was unintentional,
prosecutors concluded that the officer had been negligent in securing
his sidearm. The trial began in October.
The terrorist group ETA, whose declared goal is to establish an
independent Basque state, continued its terrorist campaign of bombings
during the first two and a half months of the year. ETA publicly
claimed responsibility for these attacks. However, in March ETA
declared a ``permanent ceasefire'' and sought negotiations with the
Government on Basque independence and legalization for Batasuna, its
political wing. The Government made both cessation of and renunciation
of violence a precondition for negotiation. However, on December 30,
ETA terrorists detonated a massive car bomb inside a parking garage at
Madrid's international airport, destroying the five-level garage and
causing the death of two persons and significant loss of property. The
Government responded on December 31 by severing negotiations. Batasuna
representatives declined to condemn the attacks and blamed the
Government for failing to advance peace negotiations.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and laws prohibit such practices, and the
Government generally respected this prohibition.
In September the civil guard questioned 18 police officers about
their alleged implication in the June 23 beating of a Guatemalan
citizen in the police headquarters of Torrevieja (Alicante). A judge
subsequently charged 13 of the officers, along with two local
government officials, with the beating. Authorities produced mobile
telephone recordings allegedly implicating both the police and members
of the local government in an attempt to cover up the abuse. At year's
end the case had not gone to trial.
Following a wide-ranging 2005 visit, the commissioner for human
rights of the Council of Europe (COE/CHR) reported that he and his team
did not find evidence of any ill treatment of prisoners. Many other
observers generally agreed that police abuses were infrequent. However,
a report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
(ECRI) released on February 21, reported that nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) continued to receive reports from noncitizens,
Roma, and citizens of immigrant origin asserting that they were victims
of misconduct, including insulting and abusive speech, mistreatment,
and violence by the various security forces. The report indicated that
victims rarely filed complaints, and there appeared to be little
investigation of the incidents.
There were reports that a few members of the security forces abused
and mistreated detained illegal immigrants. Media reported that some
authorities in detention facilities traded food and other special
favors for sex and money from migrant detainees. A government
investigation was ongoing at year's end (see section 2.d.).
The NGO SOS Racismo denounced abuses of immigrants by some Catalan
police officials. There were complaints by immigrants of mistreatment
by police who were checking them for identification. One example was
that of an immigrant from the Maghreb region who, after being attacked
by four unknown persons and being badly injured, sought police
assistance. Instead of helping him, police handcuffed him and left him
inside a police car for more than 30 minutes before getting him medical
attention.
On December 30, ETA terrorists broke a ceasefire by detonating a
bomb at the Madrid airport, killing two persons and wounding many
others. ETA kidnapped a French citizen whose vehicle they stole for use
in the attack. Prior to the March 9 ``permanent ceasefire''
declaration, there were 12 terrorist acts, including attacks in the
provinces of Cantabria, Alava, Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya, Zaragoza, Huesca,
and Navarra. None of the injuries from these attacks was serious.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards; the Government permitted visits
by independent human rights observers.
Prisons were overcrowded. At year's end there were 64,066 inmates
in the country's 77 prisons with an inmate per cell ratio of
approximately 1.6. At the end of 2005, the Government approved
construction of 11 new prison facilities to be completed by 2012; four
were under construction by year's end.
As of year's end, the delegation of the Council of Europe's
Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment had not made public a formal report on its 2005
visit to a number of the country's prisons. In their informal report,
they reiterated earlier recommendations that authorities give detainees
quicker access to lawyers, reduce the length of incommunicado
detention, and provide detainees with access to their personal doctors
rather than government doctors. The Government replied that
incommunicado detention was only used under strict judicial supervision
and that most detainees had prompt access to their lawyers.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--Police forces include
the national police and civil guard, both under the authority of the
central government, as well as municipal police and police forces under
the authority of Catalonia and the Basque country regional governments.
All police forces operated effectively with isolated reports of
corruption. However, the ECRI reported a problem with police impunity
in a report made public on February 21 (see section 1.c.). The
constitution provides for an ombudsman who investigates claims of
police abuse (see section 4). Police internal investigators have 15
days to respond to inquiries from the ombudsman concerning police
behavior, and the ombudsman's office issues findings on the results of
investigations and may impose sanctions. The ombudsman may perform
unannounced inspections of police facilities (see section 4). The
national ombudsman's annual report for 2005, released in June, stated
that it intervened after receiving complaints of delays in judicial
procedures and instances of poor communication and coordination between
police and judicial authorities. The national ombudsman filed 140 ex-
officio judicial complaints, including in the Roquetas case and in
every instance of death during incarceration (see section 1.a.). During
2005 the ombudsman network processed 3,999 complaints relating to
matters of justice, defense and internal affairs. The national
ombudsman also reported that the Ministry of Interior accepted its
recommendation to suspend two national police officers pending a
disciplinary investigation.
Arrest and Detention.--The law provides that Police may apprehend
suspects with probable cause or with a warrant based on sufficient
evidence as determined by a judge. With certain exceptions, police may
not hold a suspect for more than 72 hours without a hearing. Police
generally respected these procedures in practice. Detainees generally
were promptly informed of the charges against them. The courts released
defendants on bail unless they believed that the defendants might flee
or be a threat to public safety. Police generally gave arrested persons
prompt access to a lawyer of their choosing or, if they could not
afford one, to a court-appointed attorney.
In certain rare instances involving acts of terrorism or rebellion,
the law allows authorities to detain persons for up to five days prior
to arraignment on the authorization of a judge. In these cases a judge
also may order incommunicado detention for the entire duration of
police custody (five days). The law stipulates that suspects held
incommunicado have the right to an attorney, but not necessarily to
their attorney of choice. The Spanish Bar Association, not the
Government, selects an attorney for the detainee. Additionally, after
incommunicado police custody and arraignment, a court or judge may
order additional incommunicado pretrial imprisonment of up to 13 days.
Human rights observers indicated that this power carried the potential
for abuse. Authorities asserted that this form of detention was rare.
Lengthy pretrial detention occurred. At year's end the prison
population was 64,066 of whom 15,154 were pretrial detainees. Under the
law authorities may detain suspects for more than two years before
putting them on trial unless a judge authorizes a further delay, which
may extend to four years. In practice pretrial detention was usually
less than one year.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
The judicial structure consists of local, provincial, regional, and
national courts with the Supreme Court at its apex. A Constitutional
Court has the authority to return a case to the court in which it was
adjudicated if it determines that constitutional rights were violated
during the course of the proceedings. The national courts hear cases
involving terrorism and drug trafficking. The European Court of Human
Rights is the final arbiter in cases concerning human rights.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution and law provide for the right
to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this
right.
Trials are public and there is a nine-person jury system.
Defendants have the right to be represented by an attorney (at
government expense for the indigent), to confront witnesses, to present
witnesses on their behalf, and to have access to government-held
evidence. Defendants enjoy the presumption of innocence and the right
to appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--An independent and
impartial judiciary exists for civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution provides for
freedom of speech and of the press, and the Government generally
respected these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective
judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to
ensure freedom of speech and of the press.
Individuals could criticize the Government publicly or privately
without reprisal, and the Government did not attempt to impede
criticism.
The law prohibits, subject to judicial oversight, the publishing of
documents that the Government interprets as glorifying or supporting
terrorism. There were no reports that persons were prosecuted for this
offense during the year.
The independent media were active and generally expressed a wide
variety of views without restriction; however, there was one report of
attempted restriction on broadcast media in Catalonia. In January
several NGOs criticized a December 2005 law enacted by the regional
Catalonian parliament that gave the Catalonian Audiovisual Council
authority to fine Catalonian media as much as $393,000 (300,000 euros),
or to shut them down, for transmitting ``untruthful'' information.
There were no reports that this law was employed during the year.
On April 11, Holocaust denier Pedro Varela was arrested in his
bookstore Libreria Europa in Barcelona. Police seized hundreds of books
denying or minimizing the Holocaust. Authorities charged Varela with
defending genocide and incitement to racial hatred and released him
pending trial. The charges against him carry a penalty of up to five
years' imprisonment. The trial had not begun at year's end.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was readily available from a number of providers. The
Government did not require Internet service providers to restrict
public access to any Web sites.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no official
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
Languages or dialects other than Castilian Spanish are used in six
of the country's 17 provinces. The constitution stipulates that
citizens have the ``duty to know'' Castilian, which is the official
language of the state; however, it provides that other languages may
also be official under regional statutes and that ``different language
variations of the country are a cultural heritage which shall be
protected.''
In the autonomous province of Catalonia, Catalan and Castilian are
both official languages and both may be used in official institutions
as well as in schools. However, during the year both Spanish and
Catalan ombudsmen received isolated complaints of alleged
discrimination against the use of either Castilian or Catalan (see
section 5).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution provides for freedom of
religion, and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
The constitution declares the country to be a secular state, and
various laws provide that no religion should have the character of a
state religion; however, Catholicism was the dominant religion and
enjoyed the closest official relationship with the Government. The
Catholic Church benefited from financing through the tax system in that
taxpayers, regardless of denomination, could elect to dedicate a small
percentage of their taxes to the Catholic Church. The Government also
provided some direct funding to the Catholic Church, as well as funding
for religion teachers in public schools, military and hospital
chaplains, and other indirect assistance. The Jewish, Muslim and many
Protestant communities had official status and received some tax
benefits through agreements with the Government, but they enjoyed fewer
privileges.
To receive status as a religion, an organization must be officially
recognized by the Ministry of Justice. Groups not officially recognized
as religions, including the Church of Scientology, were treated as
cultural associations. The Church of Scientology filed its most recent
application for official recognition with the Ministry of Justice in
2004. The ministry rejected the application in May 2005 on the grounds
that the ministry did not have the authority to overturn a 1990 Supreme
Court decision that denied the church registration.
On separate occasions leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities
complained about difficulties in securing permits and approvals to
construct new places of worship. Specifically, efforts to construct a
mosque in Seville were met with judicial hurdles that the Seville
Mosque Foundation claimed were prompted by societal prejudice against
Islam. Construction was on hold at year's end pending a judicial ruling
on a complaint filed by Bermejales 2000, a neighborhood association
that gathered 1500 signatures opposed to the construction of the
mosque.
Planners of a Sephardic Jewish center in Barcelona criticized local
and national government officials for withholding support for the
project. Authorities replied that they did not oppose the project but
were waiting for a feasible plan.
The law mandates public funding for teachers in Catholic, Islamic,
Protestant, and Judaic studies in public schools when at least 10
students request them. Islamic leaders complained that the demand for
Islamic instruction far outstripped the Government's capacity to
provide it. In October Muslim leaders and government officials
celebrated printing of the first 15,000 copies of a standardized
textbook on Islam to be used in public schools.
In December the Islamic Junta of Spain appealed to Pope Benedict
XVI to allow Muslim worshippers to pray at the Cordoba mezquita, a site
of religious significance to both Catholics and Muslims, having been
built as a mosque during the Muslim era and turned into a cathedral
after Christian monarchs captured Cordoba in 1236. The Islamic Junta
asked the Vatican to convert the mezquita into an ecumenical center
where members of all faiths could worship. On December 28, the
Archbishop of Cordoba declined this request.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Muslims continued to
experience some societal prejudice. On April 18, the Spanish Federation
of Islamic Religious Entities (FEERI) and the Union of Islamic
Communities in Spain (UCIDE) criticized what they called an increase in
Islamophobia; however, a large majority of Muslims said in public
opinion polls that they felt ``well integrated'' or ``somewhat
integrated.''
The comments of FEERI and UCIDE were prompted by arson attacks on
the Sibi Bel Abbas mosque, the second of two mosque bombings in the
enclave city of Ceuta in North Africa. Authorities indicated that the
burning of the Sibi Bel Abbas mosque may have been the work of radical
Islamists in Ceuta who opposed the iconic nature of worship prevalent
among Maghrebi Muslims; the two sanctuaries were both sacred burial
sites of important Maghrebi leaders. Authorities had not charged anyone
in connection with either attack by year's end, but their investigation
was continuing.
On November 19, unknown persons vandalized the Colon Park mosque in
Corboba, defacing it with graffiti of swastikas and other xenophobic
symbols.
According to a report on the Muslim community produced by
Metroscopia for the Ministry of Interior, 31 percent of Muslim
respondents said they were completely adapted to Spanish life and
customs, 49 percent were fairly well adapted, and 19 percent said they
were not well adapted. Among respondents, 83 percent said they had not
encountered any obstacles to the practice of their religion, while 13
percent said they had. Among the respondents, 57 percent believed
Spanish society was tolerant of the Muslim religion, while 37 percent
thought there was some prejudice.
According to another report on the Muslim community produced by
Tais Comunicacion for the magazine 21RS, 38.7 percent of Muslims felt
completely accepted, 50 percent felt somewhat accepted, 10.3 percent
felt somewhat rejected, and 1 percent felt very rejected.
However, in December the European Observatory for Racism released a
report describing the results of a June survey by the Pew Global
Attitudes Project which found that only 29 percent of respondents in
the country held a good opinion of Muslims; in response to a separate
question, 83 percent of respondents associated ``Muslim'' with
``fanaticism.'' In the opinion of 58 percent of the respondents, being
a devout Muslim was incompatible with modern society, and 41 percent
believed that at least some of the country's Muslims supported Islamic
extremism. In the view of more than 80 percent of respondents, Islam
did not respect women.
Jewish community leaders reported that while violence against
persons in the 30,000 to 40,000 member Jewish community was rare, they
were concerned about anti-Semitism expressed as vandalism against
Jewish institutions. On July 25, the building housing the Jewish
Information Center in Toledo was defaced with 12 swastikas. Synagogues
in Barcelona were vandalized at various times during the year,
especially during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the
terrorist organization Hizballah in Lebanon. Also, in March 2005 Jewish
synagogues in Barcelona were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti. No
suspects were arrested.
Jacobo Israel Garzon, President of the Federation of Jewish
Communities in Spain, stated in a November 5 article in the
International Herald Tribune that, despite increased interest in the
country's Jewish heritage, ``a new anti-Semitism is developing in
Spain. It uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as its source, but it
passes very quickly from anti-Israelism to anti-Semitism.''
The European Jewish Congress, in a report on alleged anti-Semitism
during the July-August conflict involving Israel and the terrorist
organization Hizballah in Lebanon, cited an article that appeared in El
Mundo linking Nazi Germany and Israel, accusing Israel of using the
same arguments made by the Nazi leaders to justify its ``aggression.''
The article continues, ``now the victims of this period (the 1930s)
have become the executioners.''
In November, at a soccer game between Deportivo La Coruna and
Osasune, Osasune fans shouted anti-Semitic slurs at Dudu Awate, a
Deportivo player from Israel (see section 5).
The 2005 annual country report on anti-Semitism by the Stephen Roth
Institute, released during the year, found that ``a relatively low
level of anti-Semitic activity was recorded in Spain in 2005.''
On April 11, Holocaust denier Pedro Varela was arrested in his
bookstore, Libreria Europa, in Barcelona. Police seized hundreds of
books denying or minimizing the Holocaust. Authorities charged Varela
with defense of genocide and incitement to racial hatred and released
him pending trial. The charges against him carried a penalty of up to
five years' imprisonment. The trial had not begun at year's end.
In March 2005 Barcelona police arrested a distributor of neo-Nazi
music, Jordi R.P., for distributing music that promoted the Third
Reich, anti-Semitism, and called for a racial war. He was awaiting
trial at year's end.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. The Government generally provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
During the year, authorities received 5,297 asylum requests. They
gave refugee status to 168 applicants during the same period and gave
other forms of protection to 188 others.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 111 persons in 2005.
The Government generally cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations,
including the Spanish Committee for Assistance to Refugees, in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The country experienced its largest recorded influx of undocumented
immigrants during the year. Among them were approximately 31,000 West
Africans who arrived on boats in the Canary Islands. The authorities
transferred approximately 20,000 immigrants from the Canary Islands to
the Iberian Peninsula, and 8,000 more resided in the islands' police
stations and refugee centers.
At year's end the Government had repatriated 97,715 irregular
immigrants. A July report by Amnesty International (AI) expressed
concern that the Government, faced with thousands of migrants that
arrived in the Canary Islands, did not dedicate sufficient resources to
identify bona fide refugees and expressed concern that screening was
inadequate. While acknowledging that a majority of the migrants were
economic, AI found that the Government had not always provided migrants
with sufficient legal information or access to interpreters.
In October several NGOs, including CEAR, called on the Government
to close the Center for the Internment of Aliens in Malaga, saying it
experienced a ``plague of irregularities,'' including alleged instances
of guards trading food and other favors for sex. On July 22, a judge in
Malaga ordered three police officers detained, pending the results of
an investigation by the Ministry of Interior, for sexually abusing
interned migrants. Authorities also charged an attorney in the case,
which detailed the alleged organization of sex parties by guards at the
center, and the investigation was ongoing at year's end (see section
1.c.).
Human rights observers criticized the Government's deportation of
non-Moroccan migrants directly to Morocco, their country of last
transit, and the Government abandoned this practice during the year.
During the year the Government concluded repatriation agreements with
several West African countries in order to repatriate migrants directly
to their countries of origin. In a report released in October, ``The
Southern Border 1995-2006: Ten years of human rights violations,'' the
NGO SOS Racismo asserted that Moroccan authorities had abandoned at
least 81 such migrants in the desert along the Algerian border in 2005.
The report cited 379 deportations to Morocco that it claimed violated
European law against deporting persons to a country where their lives
may be in danger.
The Government provided funding and material assistance to help
Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities improve their border security and
their treatment of migrant populations.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through regularly occurring, free, and fair elections held on the basis
of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2004 Jose Luis Rodriguez
Zapatero of the Socialist Party became President in a free and fair
national election. Governmental power was shared between the central
government and 17 regional governments. Linguistic and cultural
minorities had representation in, and participated in, both local and
national political parties.
There were 125 women in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies (lower
house) and 61 women in the 259-seat Senate (upper house). There were
eight women in the 16-member Council of Ministers.
The Government did not keep statistics on the ethnic composition of
the parliament, but linguistic and cultural minorities appeared to be
well represented. The Catalan parliament included a member of Moroccan
origin. There were Muslim political parties in the city enclaves of
Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. Roma had little representation in
government. During the year the Government appointed the first Roma to
a high-level position, as an advisor in the Women's Institute.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were several reports
of government corruption during the year, primarily in local
government. Many of the cases dealt with bribery of local officials by
construction companies seeking to win favorable rezoning and
construction contracts. In March, in one particularly serious incident,
the national anticorruption attorney's office investigated and charged
the mayor and much of the local government of Marbella with corruption
and financial crimes. As the year progressed, details continued to come
out of alleged extensive corruption in the Marbella government,
including real estate graft, bribery, and embezzlement, which left the
Government several hundred million dollars in debt. By year's end
authorities had arrested more than 60 individuals connected to the
scandal and the investigation was ongoing. The former chief of police
of Marbella was arrested in December and accused of illegally selling
over 400 stolen vehicles at a police auction. The suspected ringleader
of the corruption, Juan Antonio Roca, was arrested in March and
remained in custody at year's end.
The law mandates public access to government information, and the
Government generally provided it.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were generally cooperative and responsive to their views.
The law provides for an ombudsman, called the ``people's
defender,'' whose duties included investigating complaints of human
rights abuses by authorities. The ombudsman operates independently of
any party or government ministry, is elected every five years by a
three-fifths majority of the Congress of Deputies, and is immune from
prosecution. The ombudsman has complete access to government
institutions and to all documents other than those classified for
national security reasons. Although his recommendations to government
agencies were advisory, the ombudsman could refer cases to the courts
on his own authority. Government agencies were generally responsive to
the ombudsman's recommendations. Several autonomous communities had
their own ombudsmen, and there were ombudsmen dedicated to the rights
of specific groups, such as women, children, and persons with
disabilities. The ombudsmen made hundreds of official recommendations
during the year.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status, and the Government generally enforced it
effectively; however, domestic violence, trafficking in persons, and
discrimination against ethnic minorities and immigrants were problems.
Women.--The law prohibits violence against women, but domestic
violence against women was widely acknowledged to be a societal
problem. Despite the implementation of the 2005 Integral Law against
Gender Violence, which toughened penalties on gender violence and
increased the number of police officers and courts dedicated to gender
violence, the Government reported that current or former husbands or
partners killed 68 women during the year, an increase from 60 in 2005.
According to a study released in December by the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs, more than 600,000 women over the age of 18 (3.6
percent) were victims of gender-based abuse during the year. Through
November women filed 57,454 complaints of abuse against their husbands,
male partners, or ex-partners, 4.2 percent more than during the same
period in 2005.
The law provides prison sentences of six months to a year for
domestic violence, threats, or violations of restraining orders, with
longer sentences in the event of serious injuries. During the year
special gender courts received 148,448 complaints of domestic violence
and issued 16,036 convictions. In the 12 months ending in June, gender
courts tried 40,700 cases of gender violence with a conviction rate of
71.9 percent. In their first year of existence, the special courts
issued 27,366 restraining orders against men.
Over 50 offices provided legal assistance to victims of domestic
violence, and there were approximately 225 shelters for battered women.
A 24-hour free national hotline advised battered women on where to find
local assistance or shelter. In addition the security services
strengthened their support for battered women. In December 2005 there
were 1,102 specialized police officers who focused on protection of
victims. At year's end that number had increased to 1,392.
In March the Government created the State Observatory for Violence
Against Women to gather information on the problem, issue annual
reports evaluating the efficiency of existing measures, and propose new
ones if necessary.
A June AI report entitled More Rights, the Same Obstacles found
that the implementation of the Government's domestic violence law was
uneven--regions outside the capital generally provided fewer resources
for battered women.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape, and the Government
effectively enforced it. The Government reported 6,382 cases of sexual
assault, harassment, and aggression through November.
In Catalonia the law requires that a doctor examine immigrants
considered to be in danger of female genital mutilation (FGM) when they
travel to and from their countries of origin. Parents whose children
are determined to have been subjected to this practice risked losing
custody of these children. In practice there were no medical
examinations of immigrants, because there was no suspicion that FGM
took place. Authorities and doctors warn immigrant parents of
situations when they suspect something like this could occur.
Prostitution is not illegal, but forcing others into prostitution
and organizing prostitution rings are crimes, and it is illegal for
anyone to profit from the prostitution of another. Prostitution was
reported to be a problem. Local governments, notably those of Madrid
and Barcelona, continued efforts to discourage prostitution. During the
year the Madrid city government focused its efforts on reducing demand
by targeting potential sex solicitors with posters claiming, ``because
you pay, prostitution exists.'' The Madrid city government hosted a
conference in November on ``Human Rights and Prostitution'' to build
momentum to fight demand of the commercial sex trade. Other efforts to
combat prostitution included advertising campaigns discouraging
prostitution, restrictions on prostitution near schools, and police
actions such as road closings to deter clients from seeking
prostitutes. In April the joint Senate-Congress Commission for Women's
Rights approved the creation of a study group to analyze voluntary
prostitution and how to approach the problem. The commission had not
delivered its findings at year's end.
Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace; however, such
harassment was reported to be a problem. According to a study released
in April by the Women's Institute, a division of the Ministry of Labor
and Social Affairs, 14.9 percent of women experienced some kind of
sexual harassment during 2005, although only 9.9 percent identified
themselves as victims of such harassment. The study found that four
percent of women had suffered a serious incident of harassment and 2.2
percent had suffered a very serious incident. The institute reported
390 complaints of sexual harassment from January through November.
Under the law women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights
under family law, property law, and in the judicial system. The Women's
Institute worked to ensure the legal rights of women, combat economic
discrimination, and integrate women into the mainstream of society and
the economy. Discriminatory wage differentials continued to exist, and
women held fewer senior management positions than men.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare.
Education is compulsory until age 16 and free until age 18. There
were no apparent differences in the treatment of girls and boys in
education. According to UN Economic and Social Organization statistics
for 2002 and 2003, 100 percent of primary school-aged children and 96
percent of secondary school-aged children were in school.
Access to the national health care system was equal for girls and
boys.
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
were responsible for the welfare of children. Several regional
governments had an office of the children's defender, an ombudsman
charged with defending children's rights.
In June the Congress of Deputies approved a revision of the law to
establish tougher penalties for youth aged 14 to 17. The new law also
permits underage witnesses and victims of crimes to testify via
videoconference without having a visual confrontation with the
defendant.
There were isolated reports of child abuse.
Child prostitution occurred.
Trafficking in teenage girls for the purpose of sexual exploitation
was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to and through
the country.
The country was both a destination and transit point for persons
trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation (most frequently
involving forced prostitution and work in nude dancing clubs) and, to a
lesser degree, forced labor (primarily in agriculture, construction,
and domestic employment) (see section 6.d.). Trafficked women were
usually 18 to 30 years of age, but some girls were as young as 16.
Women were trafficked primarily from Latin America (Colombia and
Ecuador), East European countries (Romania and Bulgaria), sub-Saharan
Africa (Nigeria, Guinea, and Sierra Leone), and, to a lesser extent,
North Africa. Asians, including Chinese, were trafficked to a much
lesser degree and more often for labor rather than for sexual
exploitation.
The traffickers were generally organized criminals based in the
source countries.
Methods used by traffickers to maintain control of their victims
included physical abuse, forced use of drugs, withholding of travel
documents, and threats to the victim's family. NGOs reported an
increase in instances when traffickers allowed their victims to keep a
portion of the money they earned through prostitution in order to
dampen the victims' desire to escape the trafficking network. In the
case of women from Eastern Europe, severe violence and threats were the
method most often employed by traffickers. Traffickers lured some
victims from other regions with false promises of employment in service
industries and agriculture but then forced them into prostitution upon
their arrival. The media reported that criminal networks often lured
their victims by using travel agencies and newspaper advertisements in
their home countries that promised assured employment in Spain. In the
case of Romanian organized networks, women were typically forced into
prostitution and 90 percent of their earnings went to the criminal
network. Men were often trafficked for employment in low-paying
construction jobs. Clandestine clothing production and sales, and work
in restaurants were typical employment for illegal Asian immigrants,
who came to the country with false documents through trafficking
networks.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons for labor and sexual
exploitation. Penalties ranged from five to 10 years' imprisonment. The
law also prohibits the exploitation of prostitutes through coercion or
fraud and the exploitation of workers in general, with penalties
ranging from five to 10 years' imprisonment. During 2005, 1,686 persons
were convicted of crimes related to trafficking in persons for labor
and sexual exploitation. From January through May, police dismantled
160 trafficking networks and arrested 889 persons for this activity,
freeing 1,337 victims.
In November the National Police and Civil Guard disrupted a
trafficking operation that was exploiting foreigners for manual labor.
On November 13, police intercepted a cargo van driven by a Romanian
citizen with 18 illegal migrants crowded into the cargo area. The
migrants were believed to be destined for a citrus orchard in Huelva.
Authorities arrested the Romanian driver of the van, the Spanish owner
of the farm, and a Bulgarian fixer. The workers were to receive
approximately $26 (20 euros) a day with no labor contract.
During the year there was a considerable increase of trafficking to
Catalonia of women from Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and from such
African countries as Senegal and Mauritania. There were reports that
approximately 1,500 women arrived from Romania by bus with fake
documents and tourist visas.
The Ministry of Interior coordinates antitrafficking efforts and
received support in its efforts from the Office of the President, the
Ministry of Labor and Social Services, the Ministry of Justice, and the
Ministry of Education. The national police has a special unit, the
Immigration Networks and Falsified Documents Unit (UCRIF), which covers
trafficking in persons. The UCRIF intelligence unit analyzed
statistical data and trends, while coordinating efforts and sharing
data with the civil guard and Interpol. Regional national police
offices conducted quarterly reviews to set goals in combating
trafficking and to assess success in meeting previous quarter goals.
During the year 200 police and civil guard officers worked exclusively
to combat trafficking of women and children.
The law permits trafficking victims to remain in the country if
they agree to testify against the perpetrators. After legal proceedings
conclude, victims are given the option of remaining in the country or
returning to their countries of origin. Victims were encouraged to help
police investigate trafficking cases and to testify against
traffickers. There was no fixed period of time for victims to recover
and reflect, in a safe environment, before being required to decide
whether to cooperate with police investigation and prosecution of their
traffickers.
The Government worked with, and funded, NGOs that provided
assistance to trafficking victims. In addition regional and local
governments provided assistance either directly or through NGOs.
Representatives of the Government's violence education programs for
female victims and an NGO partner on trafficking reported that 89
percent of the victims they assisted pressed criminal charges.
The Government contracted with Project Hope, an international order
of nuns whose domestic branch focused solely on abused women, to
provide protection, housing, and counseling to victims of trafficking
or other abuse. Project Hope operated shelters in Madrid, provided
assistance with medical and legal services, and acted as liaison with
law enforcement for victims who chose to testify against traffickers.
Project Hope received many referrals directly from police. The
Catalonian regional and municipal government contracted with Caritas
for the same services.
Since March 2004 the Madrid city government has enforced its
antiprostitution and antitrafficking campaigns by increasing the
presence of police in targeted zones and by publicity designed to
reduce the demand for commercial sex services (see section 5, Women).
The Government established an antitrafficking working group during
the year under the auspices of the vice President. The task force
tasked the interior, justice, labor, and foreign affairs ministries
with responsibilities leading to the production of a national action
plan to combat trafficking in persons. The plan was not released by
year's end.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, and in the provision of other state services, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions. A report by the
Spanish Committee of Representatives of Handicapped Persons indicated
that 64 percent of persons with disabilities felt discrimination
against at some time in their lives.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities,
and the Government generally enforced these provisions in practice;
however, levels of assistance and accessibility differed among regions.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has the responsibility of
protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--There were instances of
societal violence and discrimination against members of racial
minorities, and the Government undertook efforts to combat them. A
report issued on February 21 by the ECRI, while recognizing the
Government's efforts to combat these problems, encouraged more frequent
use of provisions in the law that treat racism as an aggravating factor
(i.e. hate crime) to impose tougher sentences. SOS Racismo also
encouraged this course of action.
Neo-Nazis and skinheads harassed immigrants as well as racial and
other minorities during the year. Although noting that the country did
not have a far-right political party with electoral possibilities, the
NGO SOS Racismo, in its annual report issued April 24, indicated that
``violent actions of explicit racism'' by ultrarightists, continued to
occur and that far-right groups were appealing to greater numbers of
youth, making use of the Internet to spread their beliefs. SOS Racismo
denounced alleged abuses against immigrants by some Catalan police
officials (see section 1.c.).
On September 3, in the Sabadell area of Catalonia, approximately 15
persons allegedly assaulted a Gambian citizen, Bakari D., in the
street, breaking his ribs and puncturing his lung. His girlfriend, who
witnessed the attack, said the assailants were shouting racial insults
at the man during the assault. Catalonian police were investigating the
incident and had not pronounced it a hate crime at year's end.
In 2005 police detained approximately 126 neo-Nazis throughout the
country, principally in Catalonia, Madrid, and Aragon.
Public opinion polls revealed that some citizens had negative
stereotypes regarding minorities, including immigrants, who came
primarily from Latin America, Morocco, and Eastern Europe and also from
West Africa. On October 9, in a speech about immigration, Madrid city
council member Pedro Calvo said that foreigners coming from South
America acted violently ``because the value placed on life there is
less.'' The human rights groups SOS Racismo and the Commission for the
Protection of Refugees (CEAR) characterized the statement as
xenophobic. The Socialist Party called for Calvo's resignation, but the
conservative Popular Party declined to discipline Calvo.
According to a July 12 report of the national NGO Fundacion
Secretariado Gitano (FSG) Roma continued to face marginalization and
discrimination in access to employment, housing, and education. The FSG
cited 137 credible complaints of racial discrimination against Roma in
2005, including racially threatening graffiti and discrimination in
employment, social services, education, and the purchase of real
estate. The FSG welcomed the April 2005 royal decree establishing the
State Council of the Romani People and a July 2005 law that outlawed
discrimination in classrooms; however, the report cited public opinion
polls indicating that one in four of the country's inhabitants did not
want their children to take classes with Romani children. It also
indicated that more than 40 percent of inhabitants expressed discomfort
at having Romani neighbors. The Romani community, whose size was
estimated by NGOs at several hundred thousand, experienced
substantially higher rates of poverty and illiteracy than the general
population. Roma also had higher rates of unemployment and
underemployment. The central and local governments provided assistance
to several NGOs that were dedicated to improving the condition of Roma.
On November 7, the FSG criticized a city councilman in Denia who
attributed a recent crime wave in the town to the Roma population and
called for their expulsion.
In June 2005 the Ministry of Education and Culture and the FSG
signed a cooperative agreement that focused on improving the school
attendance of Romani children and education for adults. In September
the FSG announced the results of a study indicating that up to 80
percent of Romani children were not finishing their required secondary
education.
During the year the national ombudsman received approximately 50
complaints related to alleged discrimination in Catalonia, where both
Castilian and Catalan are official languages, against the teaching of
the Castilian language. During the year the Catalan ombudsman received
10 complaints related to discrimination against the teaching or use of
the Castilian language and 33 complaints about the failure to use the
Catalan language in Catalan official institutions (these complaints
were from persons who wished to be served in Catalan but were served in
Castilian), although the law requires that civil servants dealing with
the public be able to speak both languages. Critics on one side
asserted that limiting education in Castilian reduced opportunities for
Catalans who wish to live or work outside Catalonia or who simply wish
to speak Castilian, and circumscribed the opportunities of Castilian
speakers in Catalonia. Others, however, insist on their right to be
served in the Catalan language.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law allows workers, except those
in the military services, judges, magistrates, and prosecutors, to form
and to join unions of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers did so in practice. Approximately
15 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law prohibits
discrimination by employers against trade union members and organizers;
however, unions contended that employers practiced discrimination in
many cases by refusing to renew the temporary contracts of workers
engaging in union organizing.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining, including for all workers in the public sector
except military personnel, and it was freely practiced. Public sector
collective bargaining includes salaries and employment levels, but the
Government retained the right to set these if negotiations failed.
Collective bargaining agreements were widespread in both the public and
private sectors; in the latter they covered 85 to 90 percent of
workers. The law provides for the right to strike and workers exercised
this right by conducting legal strikes. A strike in nonessential
services was legal if the union gave five days notice. Any striking
union must respect minimum service requirements negotiated with the
respective employer.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the three special economic zones in the Canary Islands, Ceuta, and
Melilla.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws and policies to protect children from exploitation in
the workplace. Child labor was generally not a problem. The statutory
minimum age for the employment of children is 16. The law also
prohibits the employment of persons under the age of 18 at night, for
overtime work, or in sectors considered hazardous. The primary
responsibility for enforcement lies with the Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs, and the minimum age was enforced effectively in major
industries and in the service sector. It was more difficult to enforce
the law on small farms and in family-owned businesses, where some child
labor persisted. Legislation prohibiting child labor was enforced
effectively in the special economic zones.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The minimum wage was
approximately $707 (540 euros) per month, which generally provided a
decent standard of living for a worker and family; however, this was
not the case in all areas of the country. The Ministry of Labor and
Social Affairs effectively enforced the minimum wage.
The law provides for a 40-hour workweek, with an unbroken rest
period of 36 hours after each 40 hours worked. By law overtime is
restricted to 80 hours per year unless collective bargaining
established a different level. Premium pay is required for overtime, up
to a maximum of 80 hours per year.
The National Institute of Safety and Health in the Ministry of
Labor and Social Affairs has technical responsibility for developing
labor standards, but the inspectorate of labor had responsibility for
enforcing the law through inspections and judicial action when
infractions were found. Unions criticized the Government for devoting
insufficient resources to inspection and enforcement. Workers have the
right to remove themselves from situations that endangered health or
safety without jeopardy to their employment, and authorities
effectively enforced this right; however, employees with short-term
labor contracts may not understand they have such protections.
__________
SWEDEN
The Kingdom of Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a
multiparty, parliamentary form of government. Legislative authority is
vested in the unicameral Riksdag (parliament). The population exceeds
nine million. In national elections on September 17, voters elected a
center-right coalition government led by the Moderate Party. The
elections were free and fair. The King is the largely symbolic head of
state. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government and exercises
executive authority. Civilian authorities generally maintained
effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse. Reported human rights problems
included: isolated incidents of excessive police violence; prison
overcrowding and lengthy pretrial detention; government surveillance
and interference with the right to privacy; government interference
with freedom of speech and the press; societal anti-Islamic and anti-
Semitic discrimination; violence against women and children;
trafficking in women and children; and societal discrimination against
foreign-born residents, Roma, and homosexuals.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The law prohibits such practices; however, there were
isolated reports that police used excessive force.
During the year law enforcement authorities conducted 82
investigations of police officers and charged and convicted nine for
crimes, including unlawful threat, causing bodily injury, and
procurement and sexual molestation. The investigation of a September
2005 incident in which police were alleged to have used excessive force
did not result in prosecutions due to lack of evidence.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, but problems of overcrowding and
lengthy pretrial detention continued, particularly in the Stockholm
region. Amnesty International released a report during the year citing
overcrowding as a concern and noting reports of detainees sharing cells
intended for single occupancy. The Council of Europe's Committee for
the Prevention of Torture, in a 2004 report, stated that authorities
should work to assure a proper balance between the needs of criminal
investigations and the restrictions placed on pretrial detainees, such
as limitations on visits, telephone calls, and association, and
censorship of correspondence. According to the Sweden Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights, excessive restrictions on detainees
remained problems during the year.
The Government permitted visits by independent human rights
observers, although no such visits were reported during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution and law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally
observed these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--There is a national-
level police force divided into 12 districts, each of which reports to
a national police board under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of
Justice. The Swedish Security Service (SAPO), an intelligence agency
with police duties, is an independent part of the national police
board. The SAPO's activities include counterespionage,
counterterrorism, internal threats to national security, protective
security for companies and government agencies, and dignitary
protection. There were no reports of corruption or of problems related
to impunity.
Arrest and Detention.--The law requires warrants issued by duly
authorized officials for arrests, and the Government generally
respected this requirement in practice. Police must file charges within
six hours against persons detained for disturbing the public order or
considered dangerous, and within 12 hours against those detained on
other grounds. Police may hold a person for questioning for six hours,
although the period may be extended to 12 hours if necessary for the
investigation. If the person is a suspect, police must decide whether
to arrest or release the person. If the suspect is arrested, the
prosecutor has 24 hours (or three days in exceptional circumstances) to
request continued detention. An arrested suspect must be arraigned
within 48 hours, and initial prosecution must begin within two weeks,
unless extenuating circumstances exist; authorities generally respected
these requirements. Detainees may request a lawyer of their choice; in
criminal cases the Government is obligated to provide an attorney if
the defendant cannot afford one. Detainees are afforded prompt access
to lawyers and to family members. Although there is no system of bail,
courts routinely release defendants pending trial unless they are
considered dangerous.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected
this provision in practice.
The judicial system is composed of three levels: district courts, a
court of appeals, and the Supreme Court. All cases are heard first in a
district court regardless of the severity of the alleged crime. For
some areas there are independent specialized courts, such as the labor
court, that are usually the second and final instance for trial after
the district court. Other specialized courts, for areas such as water
and real estate, depend on the district courts; lawsuits in these
courts may be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Trial Procedures.--All trials are public. Juries are used only in
cases involving freedom of the press or freedom of speech. In other
cases judges or court-appointed civilian representatives make
determinations of guilt or innocence. The court system distinguishes
between civil and criminal cases. Defendants have the right to be
present at their trial and to consult with an attorney in a timely
manner. In criminal cases, the Government is obligated to provide a
defense attorney if the defendant cannot afford one. A ``free
evidence'' system allows parties to present in court any evidence,
regardless of how it has been acquired. Defendants enjoy a presumption
of innocence and have a right of appeal.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is no specific court
for human rights violations. Instead, cases are tried in the general
court system. As members of the European Union, citizens can appeal to
the European Court of Human Rights in matters related to the state. A
law that entered into force during the year allows individuals and
environmental organizations to appeal in civil cases against the
Government.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution and law prohibit such actions, and
the Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice. In
June the European Court of Human Rights found the country guilty of
violating the rights (set forth in the European Convention of Human
Rights) of four individuals; it ordered the Government to pay damages.
The case involved the Government's refusal of the individuals' requests
to view 30-year-old files the SAPO had gathered on them.
Human rights organizations, including the International Helsinki
Federation for Human Rights, expressed concern over increased use of
surveillance techniques by the police and insufficient protection of
the individual's right to privacy. During the year courts issued 833,
and denied 12, permits for wiretapping.
An ombudsman in the prosecutor's office is responsible for
protecting citizens' rights in court cases that involve use of invasive
measures, such as camera surveillance or wiretapping. The ombudsman
participates in the court review of all wiretapping and surveillance
requests.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press. While the Government generally
respected these rights, it prohibited certain types of expression it
deemed hate speech (incitement of racial hatred). The law on hate
speech prohibits threats or expressions of contempt for a national,
ethnic, or other such group of persons with allusion to race, color,
national or ethnic origin, religious belief, or sexual orientation.
The independent media were active and expressed a wide variety of
views without restriction.
In April the Gota Court of Appeal reversed the conviction and
acquitted an individual who had been sentenced in November 2005 to a
one-month jail sentence for violating the hate-speech law. He had been
prosecuted as the legally responsible publisher of an article
concerning homosexuality and another about immigration of Roma from
Central Europe.
In connection with anti-Israel demonstrations in July in the city
of Malmo, a prosecutor decided that the use of swastikas in conjunction
with the equal sign and the star of David on billboards was not
illegal. However, also in July, the city's chief prosecutor, Sven-Erik
Alhem, requested a preliminary investigation into whether such use of
the swastika and the star of David violated the hate-speech law. The
investigation was dropped by prosecutorial discretion.
In February a police complaint was filed by Karlskrona municipality
against the National Socialist Front for publishing a picture on their
Web site where a banner displayed at a demonstration had a swastika on
it. The police complaint did not result in a legal case. In a separate
matter, in September the chancellor of justice requested that a
residential search warrant be issued against one of the founding
figures of the National Socialist Front because of his suspected
involvement in the distribution of political campaign posters that were
deemed to violate the hate-speech law. At the end of the year the
chancellor of justice was still pursuing the matter.
In March the National School Authority supported a school in
Kungalv municipality that had decided to fail students who did not
endorse democratic principles in social studies classes. The decision
related to a number of students who expressed racist and neo-Nazi
ideas. The municipality based its decision on the national social
studies curriculum, which requires students in class nine (approximate
age 15) to ``understand the common and fundamental democratic values
that our society rests upon, and to demonstrate an ability to apply
democratic working and decision methods.'' The National School
Authority stated that knowledge and ability, rather than offensive
views, should determine school grades. It supported the municipality,
however, on the basis that the student behavior failed to meet the
requirements of the democratic component of the curriculum.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet, including e-mail; however, the Government monitored
the Internet and in one instance intervened to curb the peaceful
exchange of views.
In February domestic media gave prominent coverage to the shutting
down of a right-wing political party Web site that published cartoons
(from a Danish newspaper) lampooning the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The
company owning the Internet server hosting the site closed it less than
24 hours after being contacted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
the SAPO. The political party owning the site and numerous free-speech
advocates from the media and academia held that the Government actions
constituted a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to
freedom of speech and of the press. The Government stated that, in
light of violent Muslim reaction in other countries to the images, it
simply cautioned the Internet server company that the cartoons could
endanger the country's interests. The Government maintained that the
company independently elected to shut down the site. Political analysts
viewed this controversy as a contributing factor to the foreign
minister's resignation in March.
According to the Swedish National Post and the Swedish National
Post and Telecom Agency, approximately 80 percent of the population
between 16 and 74 had Internet access.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
and law provide for freedom of assembly and association, and the
Government generally respected these rights.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provide for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right.
The Swedish Commission for State Grants to Religious Communities
financed 40 religious groups during the year; a large majority were
Christian churches, and the remainder included five Islamic
organizations, the Jewish community, and the Buddhist Cooperation
Council. During the year a Shia Muslim organization received state
financing for the first time.
In March the National Police Board incorporated in the police
diversity guidelines the right of officers to wear religious headwear.
The armed forces already had such guidelines.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The openly Nazi organization
National Socialist Front Party (NSF) participated in the September
elections on both the regional and national levels. The party gained
1,417 votes nationally, representing approximately 0.03 percent of the
electorate. During the year the media reported that individuals
associated with the NSF perpetrated discriminatory acts. The reports
included one case of serious assault and cases of hate speech (linked
to posters and NSF Web site content), unauthorized demonstrations,
illegal distribution of posters, illegal possession of weapons,
disorderly conduct, and threats against the Swedish Federation for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights.
Anti-Muslim incidents appeared to have increased during the past
few years. In June the Swedish Integration Board released survey
results that suggested significant distrust towards Muslims among the
country's population. Six out of 10 respondents did not favor
facilitating the practice of Islam in the country, and 36 percent of
respondents wholly or partly opposed the construction of mosques. Less
than a quarter of respondents favored permitting headscarves to be worn
in public places, and only 12 percent supported permitting headscarves
on identification card pictures. Sixty-one percent of respondents
thought that Muslims viewed themselves first and foremost as Muslims,
and only a very small proportion thought that Muslims considered
themselves primarily Swedish.
A survey released in June by the Swedish Integration Board revealed
that a majority of Muslim women wearing headscarves reported incidents
of discrimination at least once during the previous two years.
In September and October 2005, unidentified individuals threw
firebombs into the Islamic Center's mosque in the city of Malmo; an
arson attack had extensively damaged the same mosque in 2003. There
have been no arrests in these cases.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 18,500 to 20,000
persons. In 2005 the police registered 111 reports of anti-Semitic
crimes, a 26 percent decrease from the previous year. Police classified
33 percent of the reported crimes as ``crimes against persons''
(including assault, threat, and harassment), 11 percent as ``damage to
property and graffiti,'' and 45 percent as ``incitements to racial
hatred.''
In March the National Council for Crime Prevention and the Living
History Forum released a survey on anti-Semitism, in which 5 percent of
all respondents and 39 percent of those identifying themselves as
Muslims indicated strongly anti-Semitic views. In June the Swedish
Integration Board issued a report based on interviews with Jewish
youth; several respondents considered that they suffered
discrimination, and many said they preferred to keep their religious
orientation private out of fear of discrimination.
The Living History Forum, a governmental body, conducts research on
the country's role during the Holocaust and on its connections to Nazi
Germany. The forum also plays a leading role in the country's
delegation to the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust
Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF). During the year the forum
sponsored educational projects, lectures, seminars, and exhibitions
throughout the country. The forum also maintained Holocaust awareness
projects in neighboring Estonia under the ITF umbrella.
According to the antiracism nongovernmental organization (NGO)
EXPO, anti-Semitic content increased on neo-Nazi Web sites in
conjunction with the conflict involving Israel and Lebanon in July and
August.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution and law prohibit forced exile; the Government did
not employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided some protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution. The Government granted refugee status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol, and provided it to approximately 4,427 persons during the
year. Authorities attributed this number, a significant increase from
2005, to temporary legislation.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees. In a January visit, the UN's Special Rapporteur on
the Right to Health expressed concern that undocumented persons and
asylum seekers lacked adequate access to health care.
Applications for asylum could remain under consideration for long
periods of time with applicants in uncertain status. The appeals
process in the courts may extend cases for several years.
The Government returned asylum seekers from European Union (EU)
countries or from countries with which it maintained reciprocal-return
agreements. In most cases persons returned had passed through or had
asylum determinations pending in other EU countries. In many cases
authorities deported asylum seekers within 72 hours of arrival. Human
rights organizations expressed concern that some asylum cases were
adjudicated too quickly.
In April the Government established a new appeals system for asylum
cases. The system allows asylum seekers to appeal Migration Board
rulings to two special migration appeals courts. The Government
additionally changed certain provisions of the Aliens Act that pertain
to children deemed to be in particularly distressing circumstances,
lightening the criteria against which their applications are judged.
Under the new system, the Government appoints a legal guardian
immediately upon the arrival of unaccompanied children seeking asylum.
The UN Committee Against Torture received 11 new cases against the
Government during the year, most of which concerned denial of
applications for political asylum and consequent repatriations to
countries where victims allegedly faced a risk of torture. During the
year the committee ruled on 12 cases and found that in one case the
country had violated the rights of the petitioner, a Rwandan citizen
who was denied political asylum.
In May 2005 the Government stopped the repatriation of an Azeri
family at the request of the Committee against Torture. The Migration
Board then granted residence in the country.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provide citizens the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Elections to the 349-member
unicameral parliament are held every four years. In elections held
September 17, voters turned the Social Democratic Party (SDP) out of
power, electing a center-right coalition government led by the Moderate
Party. The SDP had dominated the political system for seven decades,
and its members occupied a disproportionately large number of publicly
appointed positions. The Swedish Trade Union Confederation continued to
provide significant financial and organizational support to the SDP.
There were 165 women in the 349-seat parliament and nine women in
the 22-member cabinet.
The law prohibits the Government from holding information about the
racial or ethnic background of its citizens; therefore, no official
statistics on minority participation in the parliament are available.
Media reports stated that 17 members of parliament were born in other
countries, and there was one ethnic minority in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of corruption in government entities during the year. A bribery
investigation against some suppliers and employees of the state-owned
alcohol monopoly resulted in 15 convictions in June, with sentences
that included fines and dismissal from employment. A court sentenced a
midlevel official at the Ministry of Industry to 18 months in prison
for fraud linked to a government project. Eight persons at the Aviation
Authority received convictions and fines for bribery and fraud. A court
convicted and fined six persons at the Swedish Car Testing Agency for
bribery. The Swedish National Audit Office stated in a February report
that there were substantial gaps in the control mechanisms against
corruption within the state. The report called for corrective measures
by the Government.
The constitution and law provide for public access to government
information, and the Government generally respected this provision in
practice. The public has the right of access to government documents
unless they are subject to secrecy laws, according to which information
may be withheld if its release poses a threat to national security or
to individual or corporate privacy.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
Domestic and international human rights groups generally operated
without government restrictions, investigating and publishing their
findings on human rights cases. Government officials were generally
cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, disability,
language, or social status. Violence against women and children,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against resident foreigners,
Roma, and homosexuals were problems.
Women.--Violence against women remained a problem. In the first
nine months of the year, the National Council for Crime Prevention
(NCCP) reported 18,800 cases of assault against women. Approximately 50
homicide deaths of women and girls were reported during the year, most
of them committed by men closely related to the victim. Authorities
apprehended and prosecuted abusers. The typical sentence for abuse,
including felony, was a prison term (three to 15 months on average) or
psychiatric treatment.
The law provides victims with protection from contact with their
abusers. When necessary, authorities helped women obtain new identities
and homes. Both national and local governments helped fund volunteer
groups that provided shelter and other assistance to abused women, and
both private and public organizations ran shelters and operated hot
lines.
Rape, including spousal rape, is illegal. The law stipulates higher
sanctions for repeated crimes if the perpetrator had a close
relationship to the victim. The NCCP reported 2,226 rapes of persons
over age 14 as of September 30, compared with 1,912 for the same period
in 2005.
At year's end authorities estimated that approximately 2,000 women
had been exposed to honor-related violence (patriarchal violence often
linked to cultural and religious convictions about female chastity and
marriage) from family members. Honor-related violence involved
exclusively immigrants from Muslim countries. The Government allocated
extra funding to combat honor-related violence against young women and
men (including homosexuals). As part of an ongoing project, the
Government established a national center to study male violence against
females. The funding also would support the establishment of additional
women's shelters. The Government provided protected housing for young
women vulnerable to honor-related violence from family members.
The law prohibits female genital mutilation (FGM), punishable by up
to 10 years' imprisonment. There are nearly 30,000 women from countries
where FGM is practiced. Authorities opened three investigations of FGM
during the year. The first case, against the father of a 12-year-old
girl, resulted in conviction and a four-year prison sentence. In a
second case a woman was convicted and sentenced to three years'
imprisonment for FGM on her daughter; she left the country before the
sentence could be carried out. The other case was pending at year's
end.
Prostitution is legal; however, the purchase of sexual services is
illegal. Prostitutes were not arrested but their clients were. Since
1999 the Government has sought to curb prostitution by focusing on the
demand rather than the supply side. In December an official from the
National Board of Health and Welfare reported that street prostitution
in Stockholm nearly disappeared immediately after the enactment of the
1999 law. However, it had since returned to approximately 70 percent of
its pre-1999 levels.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment, and the Government generally
enforced this law in practice. Employers who do not investigate and
intervene against harassment at work may be obliged to pay damages to
the victim.
Women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under family
law, property law, and in the judicial system, but some sectors of the
labor market still showed significant gender disparities. During the
year women's salaries averaged 85 percent of men's salaries, adjusting
for age, education, and occupational differences.
The equal opportunity ombudsman (EOO), a public official,
investigates complaints of gender discrimination in the labor market.
Complaints may also be filed with the courts or with the employer.
Labor unions generally mediated in cases filed with the employer.
During the year the EOO's office registered 134 cases. Women filed
approximately 80 percent of the cases; 35 percent of those cases
concerned salaries. The number of discrimination complaints related to
pregnancy fell to 22, compared with 35 in 2005.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare; it amply funded systems of public education and
medical care. The Government provided compulsory, free, and universal
education for children up to 16 years old. It provided free, but not
compulsory, public school for children up to 18 years old. Nearly 100
percent of school-age children attended school. The highest level
achieved by most children was completion of high school.
The Government also provided free medical care for all children up
to the age of 16; boys and girls had equal access.
Child abuse was a problem. As of the end of November, the NCCP
reported 6,192 cases of abuse of children under the age of 15. As of
the end of November, police reported 848 cases of child rape and 654
cases of sexual abuse of children, compared with 537 reported cases of
rape and 1,089 reported cases of child sexual abuse in 2005.
The law prohibits parents or other caretakers from abusing children
mentally or physically in any way. Parents, teachers, and other adults
are subject to prosecution if they physically punish a child, including
slapping or spanking. Children have the right to report such abuses to
the police. The usual sentence for such an offense is a fine combined
with counseling and monitoring by social workers. Authorities may
remove children from their homes and place them in foster care.
Trafficking of children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
The Government allocated funds to private organizations concerned
with children's rights. The NGO Children's Rights in Society offered
counseling to troubled youngsters. The Government continued to be
active internationally in efforts to prevent child abuse.
In an effort to improve its treatment of unaccompanied children
seeking asylum, the Government shifted responsibility from the national
to the municipal level, and increased funding to support municipalities
for this purpose. Most social services are provided at the municipal
and local levels.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports that persons were trafficked to, through,
and within the country.
The country continued to be a transit point, and to a lesser extent
a destination, for trafficked women and children. Law enforcement
officials and analysts estimated the number of trafficked women at 500
per year, cautioning, however, that it was not possible to obtain
precise numbers. Victims came primarily from the Baltic region, Eastern
Europe, and Russia. Those transiting the country came primarily from
the Baltic region, heading towards suspected destination countries of
Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. There were
also occasional cases of trafficked women from South America and
Thailand. Police reported that the youngest trafficking victims
encountered were 16 years old. Most of these children were trafficked
from Estonia, Russia, and Poland. None of the cases involved young
boys.
Traffickers typically recruited victims in their countries of
origin to work as cleaners, babysitters, or in similar employment
abroad. Once in the country, traffickers isolated and intimidated
victims, and forced them to work as prostitutes in hotels, restaurants,
massage parlors, or private apartments; some were locked up and their
passports were confiscated by their captors.
The law prohibits the trafficking of persons for sexual purposes,
provides for sentences of two to 10 years' imprisonment for persons
convicted of trafficking, and criminalizes attempting to traffic,
conspiracy to traffic, and the failure to report such crimes.
Authorities actively prosecuted trafficking cases. During the year
police reported 28 cases of trafficking for sexual purposes, nine of
which led to convictions under the trafficking law in the first half of
the year.
To prosecute traffickers, authorities continued to use primarily
laws against procurement and an offense called ``placing in distress,''
which can apply in cases where traffickers lure women from other
countries under false pretenses. The laws on procurement and
trafficking complement each other; however, the antitrafficking law
requires that prosecutors prove traffickers used ``improper means.''
Judges commonly ruled that improper means were absent in cases
involving victims who consented to being trafficked. Although consent
is irrelevant under the antitrafficking law, in practice judicial
interpretation of the improper means criterion makes it difficult to
obtain convictions. Prosecutors consequently continued to rely on the
procurement laws for most convictions of traffickers. During the year
there were 58 cases of procurement reported, many involving trafficking
victims.
In June authorities convicted, and sentenced to two years in
prison, a Chinese immigrant couple in Stockholm for human smuggling in
connection with the disappearance of not less than 120 Chinese children
who had requested political asylum in Sweden since autumn 2004.
Authorities reported that the children were smuggled out of the country
to other European countries, but were unaware of their final
destinations. After that conviction an additional five Chinese children
disappeared during the year.
The Government allocated funds to domestic and international NGOs
to provide shelter to victims and aid in rehabilitation. Police and
social services also provided funding. The law enables trafficking
victims who cooperate with police investigations to receive temporary
residence permits and thus to have access to the full range of social
benefits. Victims who do not cooperate with police investigations are
not eligible to receive temporary residence permits and are promptly
deported.
The country has actively participated in a Nordic-Baltic task force
against trafficking in human beings since its creation in 2002. In
October 2005 it contributed $1.25 million to a Nordic-Baltic task force
project for the safe return and reintegration of victims of
trafficking.
In June the Government appointed a special ambassador to combat
trafficking in human beings, tasked with strengthening international
antitrafficking efforts. The country declared antitrafficking a
priority area during its year-long presidency of the Council of Baltic
Sea States that began in July.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits employers from
discriminating against persons with disabilities in hiring decisions
and prohibits universities from discriminating against students with
disabilities in making admissions decisions. No other specific law
prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. There is an
ombudsman for disability issues.
There were 522 reports of governmental discrimination against
persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to health
care, or in the provision of other state services. Most of the cases
involved lack of access to public buildings. Approximately 60 percent
of the cases were filed in accordance with the reporting requirements
under the Disability Act and were handled under mediation procedures
rather than through formal court hearings. Four of these mediated cases
remained pending at year's end.
Regulations for new buildings require full accessibility, but there
is no such requirement for existing public buildings, except for
certain public entities that are obliged to make their facilities
accessible. Many buildings and some means of public transportation
remained inaccessible.
In January a new national Authority for Coordination of Disability
Policy began operation. The authority coordinates national policy on
disability issues.
On April 1, a new law on children with disabilities came into
force. This law provides protections against harassment in schools for
children with disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Approximately 12 percent of the
population was foreign born, with the largest groups from Finland, the
former Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Iran. Over 20 percent of the population
had at least one foreign-born parent. In 2005 police registered 2,272
reports of xenophobic crimes, of which 11.3 percent were related to
neo-Nazism/white power ideology. The Government investigated and
prosecuted race-related crimes.
Estimates placed the number of active neo-Nazis, or white
supremacists, at approximately 3,000. The NGO EXPO estimated that fewer
than 1,000 individuals attended the annual neo-Nazi/white supremacist
march that took place in Salem in December, constituting approximately
a 30 percent decrease in attendance from the 2005 march. Neo-Nazi
groups operated legally, but courts have held that it is illegal to
wear xenophobic symbols or racist paraphernalia or to display signs and
banners with provocative symbols at rallies, since the law prohibits
incitement of hatred against ethnic groups (see section 2.a.).
The ombudsman for ethnic discrimination received reports of 876
cases in 2005, up from 794 in 2004.
A March report by the National Board of Health and Welfare
indicated that increasing numbers of persons, particularly those who
were foreign born, remained outside both the labor market and the
social insurance systems. The board considered that ethnic segregation
has increased, particularly in the large cities, since the 1990s.
In April the Swedish Integration Board presented its 2005
Integration Report, key findings of which noted significant differences
in employment levels between native and foreign-born citizens. The
report noted employment rates for foreign-born citizens averaged 17
percent lower than those for ethnic Swedes; the employment rate for
foreign-born, young, non-European males was worse. It found the
resultant income differentials were contributing factors to housing
segregation and to poor grades in school.
Also in April the Government presented a 10-point program for
improving integration. It budgeted approximately $281 million (two
billion crowns) for this two-year program. Key program areas include
education, employment, and antidiscrimination.
In August the government-appointed investigator presented the final
report of the inquiry on power, integration, and structural
discrimination. The report criticized the Government's integration
policy, and called for its replacement with one that promotes greater
social cohesion. The report's author, Masoud Kamali, maintained that a
system of privilege based on ethnicity now existed in the country. It
called for a shift of government emphasis away from integrating
immigrants and towards combating discrimination.
The law recognizes Sami (formerly known as Lapps), Swedish Finns,
Tornedal-Finns, Roma, and Jews as national minorities. The Government
supported and protected minority languages. In January, in response to
a 2003 Council of Europe report that criticized government efforts to
protect minority languages, a parliamentary committee presented
findings that included suggestions to improve support for the Sami and
Meankili languages. In February the Government presented a series of
proposals to strengthen the Sami language. The Government also proposed
expansion of Sami-controlled administrative areas, construction of
additional Sami language centers, and the establishment of a government
coordination secretariat for Sami and national minority policies. It
stated that all Sami children must be given the opportunity to learn
Sami.
In March the Government's national action plan for human rights
included measures to improve the situation of the Romani population,
which is estimated at 20,000 to 25,000. It directed the school
authority to investigate the education situation of Romani children,
many of whom drop out of school. In May, following reports by the
antidiscrimination ombudsman of cases in which Romani children were
taken into state custody on weak grounds, the Government instructed the
Ministry of Justice to investigate the care of Romani children by the
social authorities.
In June 2005 the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
released a report, The Situation of Roma in Selected Western European
Countries, which stated that Roma in the country suffered from
discrimination and institutional racism. It found that Roma lived in
segregated communities, had limited access to public and private
housing markets, and authorities did not adapt public education to
special needs of Romani children. The Living History Forum, a
government authority, carried out a number of lectures and seminars on
the situation of the Roma and highlighted their suffering in the
Holocaust.
Indigenous People.--There are 17,000 to 20,000 Sami in the country.
Longstanding tensions between Sami and the Government over land and
natural resources persisted, as did tensions between Sami and private
landowners over reindeer grazing rights. Courts repeatedly ruled that
Sami must compensate private landowners for use of their land for
winter pastures.
In May parliament enacted legislation that transferred numerous
administrative authorities for reindeer herding issues from the
Ministry of Agriculture and county governments to the Sami parliament,
a 31-member, Sami-elected administrative authority with decision-making
powers in matters related to Sami culture, language, and schools. The
Sami parliament acted as an advisory body to the Government.
In August the Government opened a permanent national Sami
Information Center.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Societal violence and
discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. In 2005 police
received reports of 563 crimes with homophobic motive, an 8 percent
decrease from 2004. The ombudsman against discrimination on grounds of
sexual orientation registered 45 reported cases during the year,
compared with 47 cases in 2005. Additionally, the ombudsman's office
initiated 11 new discrimination investigations, a decrease from 15 in
2005. In September the Government formed a working group to promote
equal rights for homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals. The group
advises government offices on how to improve its handling of related
matters.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law entitles workers to form and
join unions of their choice, without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 80 percent of the workforce was unionized. The law
prohibits antiunion discrimination.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for
collective bargaining, and workers exercised this right in practice.
Approximately 80 percent of the workforce was under collective
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, as
well as for employers to organize and to conduct lockouts; workers and
employers exercised these rights in practice. Public-sector employees
also enjoy the right to strike, subject to limitations protecting the
public's immediate health and security.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, and there were no
reports that such practices occurred.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law and policies (including those on acceptable working conditions)
protect children from exploitation in the workplace, and the Government
effectively implemented these laws and policies in practice. The law
permits full-time employment at age 16 under the supervision of local
authorities. Employees under age 18 may work only during the daytime
and under supervision. Children as young as 13 may work part-time or in
light work with parental permission. Union representatives, police, and
public prosecutors effectively enforced these restrictions.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There is no national minimum
wage law. Wages are set by annual collective bargaining contracts.
Nonunion establishments generally observed these contracts as well.
Substantial benefits (e.g., housing, childcare) provided by social
welfare entitlement programs assured even the lowest-paid workers and
their families a decent standard of living. Foreign companies employing
workers from their country of origin at wage levels below minimums
stipulated in domestic collective-bargaining contracts created
frictions in the labor market. For example, a 2005 incident in which
Swedish workers blocked Latvian workers from access to a work site in
Vaxholm resulted in a court case that was pending in the European Court
at year's end. The Swedish union contended that the construction
workers did not have collective bargaining agreements with a Swedish
union.
The legal standard workweek is 40 hours or less. Both the law and
collective bargaining agreements regulate overtime and rest periods.
The maximum allowable overtime per year is 200 hours. The law requires
a minimum period of 36 consecutive hours of rest, preferably on
weekends, during a period of seven days. The law also provides
employees with a minimum of five weeks' paid annual leave. The
Government effectively enforced these standards.
The Work Environment Authority, a government-appointed board,
issued occupational health and safety regulations, and trained union
stewards and safety ombudsmen. Government inspectors monitored them.
Safety ombudsmen have the authority to stop unsafe activity immediately
and to call in an inspector. These rules were effectively enforced.
Work places were generally safe and healthy. In law and practice,
workers could remove themselves from situations that endangered their
health or safety without jeopardizing their future employment.
__________
SWITZERLAND
The Swiss Confederation, with a population of 7.5 million, is a
constitutional republic with a federal structure. Legislative authority
is vested in the bicameral Federal Assembly, which was elected in free
and fair elections in 2003. The Government is a coalition of the four
major parties. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens, and the law and judiciary provided effective means of dealing
with individual instances of abuse. There were reports from
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that police at times used
excessive force, primarily against minorities and asylum seekers.
Lengthy pretrial detention, anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents,
violence against women, trafficking in persons, and discrimination
against minorities were also human rights problems.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--There were no
reports that the Government or its agents committed arbitrary or
unlawful killings
On February 7, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled
that, while authorities in Ticino canton were not responsible for the
death of a 28-year-old man in their custody in 1994, they had failed to
investigate sufficiently the circumstances leading to the death.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution prohibits such practices; however, there
were reports that police occasionally used excessive force.
In its annual report published in May, Amnesty International (AI)
alleged ill-treatment, use of excessive force, and racist abuse by
police officers. The UN special rapporteur on racism and related
intolerance, Doudou Diene, claimed that there were many acts of racist
and xenophobic violence by police against certain groups, particularly
Africans, and to a lesser extent, persons from the Balkans (see section
5).
At the end of August, the Vaud cantonal appeals court upheld a
February 17 verdict by a district court acquitting two police officers
of negligent bodily harm in handling a protester during a 2003
demonstration near Lausanne against a Group of Eight meeting in nearby
Evian, France.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards; however, prison overcrowding was
a problem, particularly in the cantons of Geneva, Zurich, and Bern. A
government report issued in February indicated that as of September
2005, one-third of the country's detention centers were at or above
their designated capacity, and nine were overcrowded by 20 percent or
more. In June 2005 the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human
Rights, in a report on a 2004 fact-finding mission, expressed concern
about overcrowding and other shortcomings at detention facilities he
had inspected; he called on local authorities to take appropriate
action to resolve the problems. In early July a pretrial detainee in
the Champ-Dollon prison in Geneva set fire to his cell, killing himself
and another inmate. Champ-Dollon is overcrowded; at the time of the
fatal incident the prison, designed for 270 detainees, held over 450.
This event followed a protest by 120 detainees in May against
conditions in the facility. In mid-November a 34-year-old Albanian
inmate of the Poschwies prison near Zurich succumbed to the serious
head injuries he had incurred in a brawl with his 27-year-old cellmate.
The fellow countrymen had been sharing a cell since the beginning of
the year, apparently without any difficulties. For economic reasons
cells were converted to double occupancy in 2004.
The Government permitted access by independent local and
international human rights groups to prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The constitution prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The cantons are
responsible for handling most criminal matters, and their procedures
vary. The federal police office has a coordinating role but relied on
the cantons for actual law enforcement. The federal attorney general in
Bern oversees intercantonal and international crimes involving
organized crime, offenses which are under federal jurisdiction.
Corruption and impunity were not problems. Judges and prosecutors are
under the administrative oversight of the cantonal security departments
and the Federal Department of Justice and Police but act independently.
Police were generally effective. Both internal affairs bureaus and
courts were effective in investigating allegations of police abuses.
Police training is a cantonal responsibility, but some police training
took place nationally in cooperation with NGOs.
Arrest and Detention.--By law criminal suspects must be apprehended
on the basis of warrants issued by a duly authorized official unless
there is a specific and immediate danger to which the police must
respond without waiting for a warrant. In most cases a suspect may not
be held longer than 24 hours before being presented to a prosecutor or
investigating magistrate, who must bring formal charges or order the
detainee's release; however, asylum seekers and other foreigners
without valid documents may be held up to 96 hours without an arrest
warrant.
There was a functioning bail system, and courts grant release on
personal recognizance or bail unless the magistrate believes the person
charged is dangerous or will not appear for trial. A suspect may be
denied legal counsel at the time of detention but has the right to
choose and contact an attorney before charges are brought. A 2004 court
ruling established that suspects detained under federal law are not
entitled to legal representation during their preliminary hearing with
the federal police. Suspects may invoke entitlement to legal counsel at
a later stage when they are first interviewed by the investigative
magistrate. The state provides free legal assistance for indigents who
are charged with crimes for which imprisonment would be a possible
penalty. Access to family members may be restricted to prevent
tampering with evidence, but law enforcement authorities are required
to inform close relatives of the detention promptly.
AI and NGOs working with refugees complained that detained asylum
seekers were often effectively denied proper legal representation in
deportation cases because they lacked the financial means to obtain an
attorney. Free legal assistance was only provided in cases of serious
criminal offenses--the decision to deport an asylum seeker is an
administrative procedure.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. Although investigations
were generally prompt, investigative pretrial detention could exceed
the length of sentence actually received. Any lengthy pretrial
detention is subject to review by higher judicial authorities. The
Federal Tribunal has ruled that pretrial detention must not exceed the
length of the expected sentence for the crime a suspect is charged
with. During the year approximately one-third of all prisoners were in
pretrial detention, and the average length of such detention was
approximately 50 days.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
Local or cantonal courts are generally the courts of first
instance. For criminal offenses that fall under the jurisdiction of
federal authorities, the Federal Penal Court in Bellinzona is the court
of first instance. Citizens have the right to appeal, ultimately to the
Federal Tribunal (supreme court). Lower and appellate courts are local
or cantonal, and therefore both their administrative structures and
procedures vary from canton to canton.
Trial Procedures.--The constitution provides for the right to a
fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
Trials were generally expeditious and public. Trials involving minor
offenses are generally heard by a single judge, more serious or complex
cases by a panel of judges, and the most serious cases (including
murder) by a jury. Defendants have the right to be present and to
consult with an attorney in a timely manner, and an attorney is
provided at public expense if defendants face serious criminal charges.
Defendants have the right to confront or question witnesses and to
present witnesses or evidence. Defendants enjoy a presumption of
innocence and have the right to appeal, ultimately to the Federal
Tribunal. These rights were generally respected in practice.
The military penal code (MPC) requires that war crimes or
violations of the Geneva Convention be prosecuted only if the defendant
has close ties with Switzerland. Normal civilian rules of evidence and
procedure apply in military trials. The MPC allows the appeal of any
case, ultimately to the military supreme court. In most cases the
accused used defense attorneys assigned by the courts. Any licensed
attorney may serve as a military defense counsel. Under military law
the Government pays for defense costs. Civilians charged with revealing
military secrets, such as classified military documents or classified
military locations and installations, may be tried in military courts.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The constitution prohibits such actions, and the
Government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
The law penalizes public incitement to racial hatred or
discrimination, spreading racist ideology, and denying crimes against
humanity. The law does not explicitly mention anti-Semitism, Holocaust
denial, or other specific events; however, there have been convictions
under this legislation for anti-Semitism and denying the Holocaust.
Judicial authorities in Vaud launched an investigation against Dogu
Perincek, a Turkish politician, after he publicly denied, while in
Switzerland, that genocide occurred against the Armenians in what is
now Turkey. No trial date was set by year's end.
At the end of April, the ECHR criticized the Government for
violating freedom of expression in two separate 1997 cases involving
journalists. In one case a domestic court fined a journalist for
publishing excerpts from a confidential diplomatic document whose
release resulted in the diplomat's resignation. In the other case, a
journalist was fined for inducing a government official to release
sensitive information. In July, in a precedent-setting move,
authorities asked the Grand Chamber of the ECHR to review the ruling on
the leaking of the diplomatic memo. The ECHR ruling rekindled the
debate over a provision of the penal code that punishes with
confinement or a fine any person who publishes confidential government
documents or excerpts thereof without proper authorization.
In May a district court in the canton of Aargau sentenced the
founder and former President of the extreme right-wing Nationally
Oriented Swiss Party (PNOS) to 14 days in prison and a fine for racial
discrimination. The party is generally hostile toward immigrants,
religious minorities, and leftists. The former PNOS leader was accused
of having published on the Internet a party program that violated the
antiracism law. PNOS subsequently removed the program from its Web
site. Earlier, in 2005, the Aargau district court sentenced four PNOS
board members to fines of $240 to $400 (300 to 500 francs) for similar
offenses.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet or reports that the Government monitored e-mail or
Internet chatrooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail.
Internet access was widely available and over two-thirds of the
population used it regularly.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--The constitution
provides for freedom of assembly and association, and the Government
generally respected these rights in practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
There is no official state church; however, most cantons provide
financial support from tax revenues to at least one of three
traditional denominations--Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, or Protestant.
Each of the 26 cantons has its own regulations regarding the
relationship between church and state. Foreign missionaries must obtain
a religious worker visa to work in the country. Such permits were
generally granted routinely.
In 2004 the Federal Office of Migration (FOM) rejected the work
permit applications for two Islamic clerics filed by the Islamic Center
in Geneva, due to the extremist views of the center. In October 2005
the Justice Ministry's appeals body upheld the FOM decision, thus
setting a precedent for rejecting a work permit application for a
Muslim imam on grounds of ideology.
On May 10, the Federal Tribunal upheld the decision of authorities
in the canton of Basel to reject the citizenship application of a
Turkish national on the grounds that she lacked a desire to integrate
into society. The woman, who worked as a voluntary religious teacher,
had appealed the rejection, claiming that it was due to her profession
of Islam and her corresponding living habits. The Federal Tribunal
concluded that the negative decision of the Basel authorities was
neither discriminatory nor a violation of religious freedom rights, but
rather a manifestation of the legal precept that individuals who
voluntarily isolate themselves from the population should be denied
citizenship; cantonal authorities found that she restricted her
contacts to Muslims. At the same time, it held that the appeal raised
delicate questions and therefore decided to cover the legal costs of
the indigent woman in spite of the negative ruling.
Muslim organizations complained that it was nearly impossible to
acquire zoning approval to build mosques or Muslim cemeteries, since
authority for such approvals rested with individual counties and
municipalities. In the canton of Solothurn a project to build a minaret
stalled due to strong local opposition, and Muslim associations faced
similar opposition to community building projects in Aargau and Bern.
There were two minarets in the country, at the Geneva and Zurich
mosques.
Religious instruction was a part of the curriculum in most public
cantonal schools except in Geneva and Neuchatel. Most schools offered
classes in Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrine, but some schools
covered other religious groups living in the country. A number of
cantons complemented or entirely supplanted traditional classes in
Christian doctrine with nonconfessional teachings about religion and
culture.
The law criminalizes racist or anti-Semitic expression, whether in
public speech or in printed material.
The Department of the Interior's Federal Service for the Combating
of Racism sponsored a variety of educational and awareness-building
projects to combat racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism (see section
5).
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--In the view of several
observers, the climate for members of religious minorities and their
institutions continued to deteriorate during the year. Physical
violence was rare. Most manifestations of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim
feeling appeared to be fueled by extensive media coverage of the
Israeli-Arab conflict, the Holocaust assets issue, and terrorist acts
by Muslim extremists in foreign countries.
The Jewish population constitutes 0.24 percent of the country's
population, or 17,900 persons. There were numerous anti-Semitic
incidents during the year. During the night of March 31, unidentified
vandals smashed several windows of the synagogue in Lausanne. The
Geneva-based Intercommunity Center for Coordination against anti-
Semitism and Defamation (CICAD) denounced the attack and expressed
concern over the series of anti-Semitic incidents occurring in the
French-speaking part of the country. There were no reports indicating
whether authorities apprehended suspects in these cases.
On July 21, a demonstration in Bern of Lebanese and pro-Palestinian
organizations against Israeli military action in the July-August
conflict involving Israel and Lebanon featured at least one Israeli
flag festooned with a swastika; at this demonstration, Daniel Vischer,
a Green party member of the Federal parliament, called on the
Government to end military procurement cooperation with Israel. On July
31, a similar demonstration took place in Geneva; Israeli flags with
swastikas were again abundant, according to CICAD. Also on July 31,
according to information from the Stephen Roth Institute, not
independently confirmed, unknown persons painted virulent anti-Semitic
graffiti on walls in Zurich. Throughout the summer, CICAD tracked an
increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric in the letters-to-the-editors pages
of some big-circulation Francophone newspapers.
In March 2005 there were two arson attacks in the city of Lugano in
the southern canton of Ticino against the synagogue and a clothing
store owned by a Jewish family. No one was hurt in either incident. In
November 2005 a Ticino court gave a two-year prison sentence to a 58-
year-old resident Italian national with a mental condition, who
confessed to the attacks.
The law prohibits anti-Semitic incitement and historical
revisionism, including Holocaust denial (see Section 2.a.).
Schools across the country honored Holocaust Remembrance Day,
January 27, for victims of the Holocaust. Education authorities stated
that the aim was to remember the Holocaust and other forms of genocide
committed in the past century and raise awareness of inhumane
ideologies. The country is a member of the International Task Force on
Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research.
Unease over the growing Muslim population, extremist views preached
by a number of Muslim clerics, and the international controversy over
the 2005 Danish newspaper cartoons of the prophet Mohammed intensified
public debate over the role of Muslim believers in society.
Some employers prohibited the wearing of headscarves in the
workplace. For example, the second largest retailer announced that its
dress code did not provide for any headgear and that it would not allow
the wearing of the Islamic headscarf.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The constitution provides for these
rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
The constitution prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The law provides for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution, although some NGOs were critical of the procedures used to
establish ``safe countries.''
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and the 1967
Protocol and provided it to approximately 25,244 persons during the
year.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
Since 2004 asylum applicants have been required to present
documentation verifying their identity, and since then authorities have
been refusing to process the applications of asylum seekers who were
unable to justify the lack of acceptable documents. Rejected asylum
seekers generally were not removed from the country but instructed to
leave voluntarily, except in cases where authorities incarcerated the
rejected asylum seeker for a petty crime.
On September 24, however, the electorate approved, by large
majorities in a national referendum, a revision of the asylum law and a
new law on foreigners that impose stricter identification requirements
on asylum seekers and tighten treatment of rejected asylum seekers
while providing increased benefits to persons with temporary protective
status.
The changes, mostly scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2007,
provide that asylum seekers not presenting an official travel or
identity document within 48 hours or credibly justifying their lack of
documents or showing evidence of persecution are to be excluded from
the asylum process. Authorities may detain uncooperative asylum
seekers, subject to judicial review, for up to six months while
adjudicating their applications. The new procedures provide that
applicants whose requests have been rejected may also be detained, for
up to three months, to ensure their departure, or up to 18 months if
repatriation poses special obstacles. Minors between 15 and 18 years of
age may be detained up to 12 months pending repatriation. The results
of the referendum give applicants with temporary protection status
easier access to the labor market and permit them to bring their
families into the country, although there is a three-year waiting
period.
International organizations and NGOs raised concerns that the new
provisions would make the country's asylum process too restrictive.
These measures follow other restrictive steps taken in 2004 that had
also been widely criticized by international organizations.
The FOM relied upon a list of approximately 40 ``safe countries''
from which it would generally not accept refugee applications. On
December 8, the Government decided to add another six countries to this
list. NGOs criticized the extension of the list because they believe
the human rights records and the political situations in some of the
newly listed countries were not sufficiently stable to justify
automatic rejection.
NGOs alleged that police used excessive force against asylum
seekers (see section 1.c.).
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice
through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of
universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--In 2003 citizens chose a
new Federal Assembly in free and fair elections.
There were 65 women in the 246-seat Federal Assembly and two women
in the seven-seat Federal Council (cabinet). At the cantonal level, the
proportion of female representatives in legislatures remained 24
percent. Women held approximately one-fifth of the seats in cantonal
executive bodies.
There were no known ethnic minorities in the Government.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--There were isolated
reports of government corruption during the year.
Government information was available freely to all persons living
in the country, including foreign media. The constitution requires the
Government to inform the public about its activities. On July 1, a new
transparency law providing for public access to government documents
came into force.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
were cooperative and responsive to their views.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The constitution generally prohibits discrimination on the basis of
race, gender, disability, language, or social status; however, some
laws discriminate against women. The Government generally enforced
these prohibitions effectively. Violence against women and children,
trafficking in persons, and discrimination against minorities were
problems.
Women.--Violence against women was a problem. A 2003 international
survey showed that almost 40 percent of women in the country had
suffered some sort of physical or sexual assault in their lifetime,
frequently at the hands of a former partner or an acquaintance; only
one-third of the instances of physical violence and only 6 percent of
sexual abuses were reported to the police. A government study released
in October found that between 2000 and 2004, 74 percent of all
homicides or attempted homicides against women qualified as acts of
domestic violence; approximately 20 women are killed each year by their
partners or former partners.
Domestic violence is a statutory offence. In June parliament
amended existing legislation to permit a court to order an abusive
spouse to leave the family home as a temporary measure and to make
stalking a punishable offence. Victims of domestic violence could
obtain help, counseling, and legal assistance from specialized
government and NGO agencies or from nearly a dozen hot lines sponsored
privately or by local, cantonal, and national authorities. In 2005,
1,435 women and 1,461 children spent a total of 62,336 nights in 17
women's shelters across the country, but a study conducted in the same
year found that approximately the same number were turned away due to a
lack of space. The interior ministry's Federal Office for Equality
Between Women and Men has a special unit focusing on domestic violence.
Most cantonal police forces had specially trained domestic violence
units. A majority of cantons also had special administrative units
coordinating the activities of law enforcement, prosecutorial, and
victim assistance groups.
Rape, including spousal rape, is a statutory offense, and the
Government effectively prosecuted those accused of such crimes.
According to a 2003 survey, more than 5 percent of women polled had
been raped. In 2005 police recorded 646 instances of rape, and there
were 353 prosecutions and 100 convictions.
Forced marriage is illegal; however, NGOs believed the practice
occurred, predominantly in underprivileged immigrant families, but did
not know its extent. In May authorities in St. Gallen canton deported
both the husband and father of a 21-year-old Turkish woman who had been
forcibly married in Turkey. The woman reportedly received death threats
when she refused to consummate the marriage after the husband followed
her to Switzerland. Forced marriage may also be a reason to grant
asylum. In October the Asylum Appeals Commission in a precedent case
overturned a negative asylum decision against an Ethiopian woman who
had fled to the country to escape from a forced marriage.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal, but there were
anecdotal reports that the practice occurred. The UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) estimated that there were nearly 7,000 circumcised women and
girls in the country as a result of immigration from areas where FGM is
practiced. UNICEF has repeatedly campaigned to raise awareness of FGM
and, in cooperation with local gynecologists, has drafted guidelines on
medical care of circumcised women.
Prostitution is legal; however, street prostitution is illegal
except in areas specifically for street prostitution that were
designated by authorities in all major cities. Police figures from
1999, the latest nationwide data available, indicated that there were
approximately 14,000 persons in prostitution. Information on individual
cantons suggests that the number has increased since then.
Trafficking in women was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Sexual harassment is illegal. The Equal Opportunity Law prohibits
sexual harassment and facilitates access to legal remedies for those
who claim discrimination or harassment in the workplace; however,
special legal protection against the dismissal of a claimant is only
temporary. Employers failing to take reasonable measures to prevent
sexual harassment are liable for damages equal to as much as six
months' salary.
Under the constitution women enjoy the same rights as men,
including in family law, property law, and in the judicial system;
however, independent observers claimed that some laws, as interpreted
by the courts, were discriminatory. For example, the Federal Tribunal
ruled that the primary wage earner in a divorce must be left with
sufficient income to remain above the poverty level. Since the primary
wage earner in most marriages was the man, if the household income was
too low to support both parties, the wife and children could be forced
to resort to public assistance.
The Federal Office for Equality between Women and Men and the
Federal Commission on Women worked to eliminate both direct and
indirect gender discrimination. Many cantons and some large cities have
equality offices to handle gender issues. More than half of the cantons
had an office in charge of promoting equality.
Discrimination against women in the workplace is illegal, but women
disproportionately held jobs with lower levels of responsibility, and
women's level of seniority was lower than men's. Women were promoted
less frequently than men, and were less likely to own or manage
businesses.
Under the constitution women and men are entitled to equal pay for
equal work, but women's gross salaries were on average more than 20
percent lower than men's. A government report issued in June estimated
that 40 percent of the wage differential was due to gender
discrimination. Women were also more likely to be unemployed than men.
During the year the unemployment rate for women was 3.6 percent,
compared to 3.1 percent for men.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare, and it amply funded a system of public education
and need-based subsidies of health insurance.
Education was compulsory, free, and universal for nine years, from
ages six or seven through ages 15 or 16, depending on the canton.
Virtually all children attended school. Almost 90 percent completed
postsecondary education or professional vocational training, and
approximately 45 percent continued to earn specialized or university
degrees.
Child abuse was a problem. A 2005 study by the University of
Fribourg based on a 2004 survey estimated that, nationwide, 13,000
children under the age of two and a half years are at times slapped in
the face by their parents, and 1,700 are occasionally struck with
objects. Statistics on the extent of sexual violence against children
were unavailable, but experts estimated that 20 percent of girls and 10
percent of boys under the age of 18 had been victims. Most abuse took
place in the family or the immediate social environment.
In 2005 the national cybercrime monitoring body, CYCOS, referred
272 instances of suspected child pornography on the Internet to law
enforcement authorities. In virtually every case, the cantonal
prosecuting office opened a criminal investigation, and such
investigations usually lead to the confiscation of illegal material.
The production, possession, distribution, or downloading from the
Internet of hardcore pornography involving children is illegal and
carries heavy fines or a maximum sentence of a year in prison. In
September 2005 the Government initiated a three-year information
campaign against child pornography on the Internet.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits sexual exploitation and
trafficking in persons; however, there were reports that persons were
trafficked to, through, and within the country and forced into
prostitution or domestic servitude. On December 1, an amendment to the
Penal Code extending the definition of human trafficking to include
forced labor and organ snatching came into force. Trafficking in
persons is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 20 years, and
coercing a person into prostitution by up to 10 years. In 2005 the
highest sentence prescribed to a convicted trafficker was 16 months in
prison; however, the majority of convicted traffickers received
suspended sentences.
Officials estimated the number of trafficking victims to be a few
hundred a year. Federal police conjectured that between 1,500 and 3,000
victims of human trafficking were residing in the country during the
year. According to authorities, most victims came from Central Europe
(Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), the former Soviet Union (Ukraine and
Moldova), Lithuania, Latin America (Brazil and the Dominican Republic),
Southeast Asia (Thailand and Cambodia), and, to a lesser extent,
Africa. The country was primarily a country of destination, and
secondarily of transit, for trafficked persons.
The great majority of trafficking victims were women and were
trafficked primarily for purposes of sexual exploitation, although
trafficking for domestic servitude also occurred. Traffickers were
mainly individuals and small groups related through ethnic, clan, or
family ties, as well as, occasionally, organized criminals. Traffickers
often forced victims into prostitution and in many cases subjected them
to physical and sexual violence, threatened them or their families,
encouraged drug addiction, withheld their documents, and incarcerated
them. Many victims were forced to work in salons or clubs to pay for
travel expenses and the production of fraudulent documents and found
themselves dependent on the traffickers.
In 2005 courts convicted 23 persons of trafficking in persons and
forcing others into prostitution. The Coordination Unit against
Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, which is linked to
the Federal Office of Police, coordinates and monitors all
antitrafficking efforts, including a federal interagency task force.
Authorities were active in international law enforcement activities and
took the lead in coordinating several international trafficking
investigations.
On September 24, citizens approved a new law on foreigners that
formalizes the existing process of granting potential trafficking
victims a stay of deportation proceedings to permit them to recover
from their trauma and consider participation in judicial proceedings.
The new law authorizes the Government to waive normal immigration
requirements and grant residency permits to victims and witnesses who
would be in danger if they returned home. It allows the federal
government to assist victims logistically and financially in their
voluntary return and their reintegration into the societies of their
home countries.
The law entitles trafficking victims to safe shelter as well as
medical, psychological, social, and legal assistance regardless of
their residency status. During 2004, 84 trafficking victims received
assistance from publicly funded victim assistance centers. The
Government continued partial funding of Zurich's leading
antitrafficking NGO. Zurich, in 2004, formalized its victim referral
mechanism in a letter of intent between the NGO and local law
enforcement officials. As a result of this formalized cooperation, the
number of victims who received professional counseling and were willing
to testify against their traffickers increased considerably. Other
cantons have emulated the Zurich model.
The Government funded several antitrafficking information and
education campaigns around the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
provided specialized training to its consular staff and distributed
trafficking awareness information to visa applicants in local
languages.
Persons With Disabilities.--The constitution and law prohibit
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
education, access to health care, and in the provision of other state
services, and the prohibition was generally enforced. The law mandates
access to public buildings and government services for persons with
disabilities, and the Government generally enforced these provisions in
practice. According to the NGO Egalite Handicap, most complaints of
discrimination concerned labor issues, education, and access to public
buildings.
The Federal Equal Opportunity Office for Persons with Disabilities
promoted awareness of the law and respect for the rights of the
disabled through counseling and financial support for projects to
facilitate their integration in society and the labor market. In
January the Government began a three-year pilot project to empower
persons with severe disabilities to live on their own away from
institutions. Approximately 400 participants, including some children,
received grants to pay for a helper but remained free to decide who
should assist them and how much care they needed.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--According to the federal
police, in 2005 there were 111 public incidents involving right-wing
skinheads, such as arson attacks, assaults, and hate concerts. Right-
wing extremists organized more and increasingly well attended concerts
and distributed compact discs with right-wing extremist music in an
effort to recruit more members. Police estimated that after a lull of a
few years, the number of right-wing extremists grew by some 200 to
approximately 1,200. Police noted that acts of violence were mostly
committed by youths and caused considerable harm and damage. In May a
Thurgau appeals court sentenced six skinheads to prison terms between
five and six and a half years for attempted homicide. In 2003 the six
had beaten two youths so violently that one was permanently disabled.
There were a few reported cases during the year of violent
confrontations between skinheads and young foreigners. According to
statistics gathered by the Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism,
there were 86 reported incidents directed against ethnic minorities
during the year. These figures included verbal and written attacks,
which were much more common than physical assaults. Investigations of
such attacks were generally thorough and led, in most cases, to the
prosecution of those responsible.
The extreme right-wing PNOS continued to be the subject of judicial
action. In August a district judge in the canton of Bern fined the 22-
year-old former President of the party's Bern chapter, $ 1,000(1,200
francs) for racial ``discrimination.'' In May a district court in the
canton of Aargau sentenced the PNOS founder and former President to 14
days in prison and a fine for racial discrimination. He was accused of
having published on the Internet a party program that violated the
antiracism law. PNOS subsequently removed the program from its Web
site. Earlier, in 2005, the Aargau district court sentenced four PNOS
board members to fines of $240 to $400 (300 to 500 francs) for similar
offenses. PNOS initially became a subject of serious public controversy
in 2005, when two of its members were elected to serve in county-level
political office in Bern and Solothurn cantons.
According to a survey published in June by the University of
Geneva, more than half of the population believed that foreigners
abused the welfare state and over 40 percent believed that foreigners
lowered educational levels in schools and were responsible for higher
unemployment. However, nearly 70 percent acknowledged the contributions
of foreigners to the country's wellbeing, 90 percent rejected right-
wing extremism, and 85 percent approved of the criminal prosecution of
racist propaganda. A study by the University of Neuchatel indicated
that young adults whose immigrant parents came from outside the
European Union faced discrimination in the job market. Young second-
generation immigrants who were equally well qualified and with
identical resumes as their peers, stood a significantly lower chance of
finding employment. The UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of
racism, Doudou Diene, who visited the country for five days in January,
concluded that the country had no strategy to combat xenophobia and
related intolerance. On the contrary, in Diene's view, there was a
tendency to play down racism or to use it in political debates for
partisan gain. Government bodies such as the Federal Commission Against
Racism lacked resources and personnel and the victims had few legal
remedies. Diene found that dark skinned persons suffered most from
racism, followed by people from the Balkans.
The Department of the Interior's Federal Service for the Combating
of Racism sponsored a variety of educational and awareness-building
projects to combat racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism (see section
2.c.).
In June the Government foundation, Future for Swiss Itinerants,
reported that the habitat of the traveling Jenisch (a nomadic group of
unknown origin and European ethnicity) was becoming scarce. Only one
new permanent stopping place has been established since 2001, when the
need for additional locations was pointed out, and the number of
transit stopping places diminished from 51 to 44 over the same period.
In an October report on the situation of traveling Jenisch, the
Government acknowledged that the number of permanent and transit
stopping places for travelers was insufficient.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law permits all workers,
including foreigners, to form and join unions of their choice without
previous authorization or excessive requirements, and workers exercised
these rights in practice. Approximately 25 percent of the workforce was
unionized.
Trade union leaders criticized the absence in the country's labor
legislation of a provision entitling an employee who is found to be
unjustly dismissed to reinstatement. Present law provides that a worker
found to have been dismissed illegally is entitled to maximum
compensation of up to six month's worth of wages. The Swiss Trade Union
Council complained to the International Labor Organization (ILO) that
this penalty was insufficient to deter abusive dismissals of union
activists and thus violates the relevant ILO convention that the
country ratified. On November 15, the ILO called on the Government to
take specific measures to ensure that trade union activists are
adequately protected against abusive dismissals and that affected
workers are reinstated. The Swiss Employer's Association rejected the
ILO recommendation as exaggerated and likely to open the gates for
abusive behavior by trade union activists.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. The law provides for the
freedom to bargain collectively, and workers exercised this right.
Approximately 50 percent of the work force was covered by collective
bargaining agreements. The law provides for the right to strike, and
workers exercised this right by conducting legal strikes. The
Government may curtail the right of federal public servants to strike,
but only for reasons of national security or safeguarding foreign
policy interests. Public servants in some cantons and many
municipalities are prohibited from going on strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively enforced laws and policies to protect children
from exploitation in the workplace.
The minimum age for the full-time employment is 15 years. Children
13 and 14 years of age may be employed in light duties for not more
than nine hours per week during the school year and 15 hours at other
times. The employment of youths 15 and over is also restricted and
cantonal inspectorates strictly regulated these provisions. Children
are not permitted to work at night, on Sundays, or in hazardous or
dangerous conditions. In June the Federal Assembly adopted an amendment
to the labor law lowering the maximum age for the special protection of
young workers from 20 to 18 years.
The economics ministry (SECO) monitors the implementation of child
labor laws and policies, but actual enforcement is the responsibility
of the cantonal labor inspectorates; government officials inspected
companies to determine whether there were violations of the child labor
laws.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--There was no national minimum
wage, which resulted in low wage structures for unskilled workers and
skilled employees in the clothing, hospitality, and retail industries;
however, a majority of the voluntary collective labor agreements
contained clauses on minimum compensation, ranging from $1,800 to
$3,400 (2,200 to 4,200 francs) per month for unskilled workers and from
$2,200 to $4,200 (2,800 to 5,300 francs) per month for skilled
employees.
The law sets a maximum 45-hour workweek for blue- and white-collar
workers in industry, services, and retail trades, and a 50-hour
workweek for all other workers. The law prescribes a rest period of 35
consecutive hours plus an additional half-day per week. Premium pay for
overtime must be at least 25 percent; overtime is generally restricted
to two hours per day. Annual overtime is limited by law to 170 hours
for those working 45 hours a week and to 140 hours for those working 50
hours a week. The Government effectively enforced these regulations.
The law contains extensive provisions to protect worker health and
safety. SECO and cantonal labor inspectorates effectively enforced the
law. Workers have the right to remove themselves from work situations
that endanger health or safety without jeopardy to their continued
employment, and the authorities effectively enforced this right.
__________
TURKEY
Turkey, with a population of approximately 72.6 million, is a
constitutional republic with a multiparty parliamentary system and a
President with limited powers elected by the single-chamber parliament,
the Turkish Grand National Assembly. In the 2002 parliamentary
elections, considered generally free and fair, the Justice and
Development Party (AKP) won the majority of seats and formed a one-
party government. Civilian authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
During the year the Government faced the major challenges of
increasing the legal accountability of government security forces,
reducing restrictions on free speech, and modernizing societal
attitudes with respect to antiquated practices such as ``honor
killings'' of women. Although an overhaul of the criminal code has
helped reduce torture and improve due process for defendants, the
Government struggled to achieve full implementation of new laws. The
number of arrests and prosecutions of security forces who committed
unlawful killings was low compared with the number of incidents, and
convictions remained rare. Members of the security forces occasionally
tortured, beat, and otherwise abused persons. Prison conditions
remained poor, with problems of overcrowding and insufficient staff
training. Law enforcement officials did not always provide detainees
immediate access to attorneys as required by law. The executive branch
at times undermined independence of the judiciary, and the overly close
relationship of judges and prosecutors continued to hinder the right to
a fair trial. Excessively long trials, lasting several years, were a
problem. The Government limited freedom of expression through the use
of constitutional restrictions and numerous laws, including articles of
the Penal Code prohibiting insults to the Government, the state,
``Turkish identity,'' or the institution and symbols of the republic.
Non-Muslim religious groups continued to face restrictions on
practicing their religion openly, owning property, and training
leaders. Violence against women, including so-called honor killings and
rape, continued to be a widespread problem. Child marriage was a
problem. Police corruption at all levels contributed to trafficking in
women and children to and within the country for the purpose of sexual
exploitation.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
security forces killed a number of persons during the year.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) reported that, in late March and
early April, the police and military killed 14 persons, including five
children, when they fired into crowds of demonstrators during rioting
in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir (see section 2.b.).
According to the HRF, security forces caused three deaths when they
raided houses during the first eight months of the year.
According to the HRF, police and Jandarma killed 9 persons during
the year when they did not obey warnings by security forces to stop
their vehicles.
In February 2005 demonstrators in Mersin Province claimed police
shot and killed Umit Gonultas during a protest in support of Abdullah
Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK); however, interior ministry inspectors determined that police did
not shoot Gonultas, and no court case was opened against the police.
Prosecutors opened a case against nine members of the now-dissolved
pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DEHAP) for their role in a
statement protesting the shooting. The DEHAP officials were charged
with being members of an illegal organization; their trial was ongoing
at year's end.
In July 2005 army private Murat Polat died from wounds he received
when he was allegedly beaten by fellow soldiers at Adana military
prison. Prosecutors indicted 29 soldiers for torture and severe torture
in connection with this and several other cases, but concluded that
jurisdiction lay in the military courts. When a military court
concluded that it did not have jurisdiction, the case went to the
military court of appeals, where it remained at year's end.
In November 2005 assailants threw a bomb into a store in Semdinli,
Hakkari Province, killing Mehmet Zahir Korkmaz. Over the following
days, demonstrators clashed with police in a number of violent protests
against the alleged Jandarma role in the bombing; five protesters were
killed and dozens injured in the disturbances. Prosecutors opened two
cases in connection with the incident. In the first, the Van prosecutor
charged two Jandarma officials, Ali Kaya and Ozcan Ildenizand, and an
alleged informant, Veysel Ates. On June 19, the Van Heavy Penal Court
Number 3 convicted the two noncommissioned officers and sentenced them
to 39 years in prison. On November 10, the same court sentenced the
informant to 39 years and 10 months in prison. The case was on appeal
at year's end. In the second case, the Hakkari prosecutor charged
another suspect, Army Sergeant Tanju Cavus. The trial was transferred
for security reasons to the Malatya Heavy Penal Court, where it was
ongoing at year's end.
In a connected case, the Van prosecutor charged the bookstore
owner, alleging that he was a PKK member and participated in the bomb
plot. The case continued at year's end.
In November 2005 the Diyarbakir prosecutor charged three suspects
in connection with the July 2005 killing of Hikmet Fidan, a former
DEHAP vice chairman. The indictment alleged that the defendants turned
Fidan over to the PKK, whose leaders ordered Fidan's killing because he
criticized the PKK. By midyear all lawyers representing the Fidan
family withdrew from the case due to alleged pressure from the PKK. At
year's end there were no new developments in the case.
The Hakkari court's acquittal of 12 defendants in November 2005,
including former members of the security forces, who had been charged
with extrajudicial killings, bombings, extortion, and other crimes was
under appeal at year's end.
DNA analysis confirmed that the 11 corpses discovered near the town
of Kulp, Diyarbakir Province, in late 2004, belonged to the villagers
who disappeared after detention in 1993. The Kulp public prosecutor
concluded that the military had jurisdiction and therefore transferred
the case to a military prosecutor. The military began an investigation
and asked relatives of the missing villagers to send their video
footage of the mass grave. The investigation was ongoing at year's end.
The trial of four police officers charged with the 2004 unlawful
killing of Ahmet Kaymaz and his son Ugur was ongoing at year's end. The
brother of Ahmet Kaymaz publicly stated that the police carried out an
extrajudicial execution. The HRF reported that the four defendants were
reassigned and back on duty. Proceedings continued in the trial of
three police officers charged in connection with the shooting of Siar
Perincek in Adana in 2004.
The October 2005 conviction of Jandarma official Murat Sener on
charges on using excessive force in the 2004 killing of Fevzi Can was
under appeal at year's end.
According to the Government, one person died while in police
custody. The death was recorded as a suicide.
According to the HRF, landmines and unattended explosives killed
eight civilians and injured 38, including 28 children, during the year.
Both security forces and the PKK used landmines.
According to the Government, 32 civilians, 93 members of the
security forces, and 118 terrorists were killed in armed clashes
through October. The Human Rights Association's (HRA) Diyarbakir office
reported that 294 persons died in such clashes and 303 were injured
during the year. Most of the clashes occurred in the southeast.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--The constitution and law prohibit such practices; however,
members of the security forces continued to torture, beat, and
otherwise abuse persons.
Incidents of torture and abuse declined during the year but
remained a problem. There was a decline in the severe ill-treatment
that prisoners encountered in prior years, but incidents of ill-
treatment during police/gendarmerie custody continued, according to the
Council of Europe's September 6 report on the European Committee for
the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment (CPT). Courts rarely convicted security officials accused of
torture and tended to issue light sentences when they did convict (see
section 1.d.).
According to the HRF, there were 338 cases of torture or abuse
reported at its five national treatment centers during the year. Of
these, 227 cases involved torture or abuse inflicted during the year;
the rest involved incidents that occurred previously. HRF stated that
there were 10,449 credible reports of torture or abuse from 1990 to
2005. A number of human rights observers claimed that only a small
percentage of detainees reported torture and abuse because they feared
retaliation or believed that complaining was futile.
The CPT and domestic human rights observers reported that, because
detention periods have been reduced to 24 hours, with prosecutorial
discretion to extend the period to 48 hours, security officials for the
most part eliminated more severe methods of torture and abuse, such as
electric shocks, high-pressure cold water hoses, rape, beatings on the
soles of the feet and genitalia, hanging by the arms, and burns.
Instead, security officials mainly used methods that did not leave
physical signs, including repeated slapping, exposure to cold,
stripping and blindfolding, food and sleep deprivation, threats to
detainees or family members, dripping water on the head, isolation, and
mock executions.
Human rights activists, attorneys, and physicians who treated
victims said that because of increased punishments for torture and
abuse, police who engaged in these practices often did so outside of
police detention centers to avoid detection.
Human rights activists maintained that those arrested for ordinary
crimes were as likely to suffer torture and ill-treatment in detention
as those arrested for political offenses such as speaking out against
the Government, although they were less likely to report abuse.
Observers believed that security officials usually tortured political
detainees to intimidate them and send a warning to others with similar
political views. Authorities allegedly tortured ordinary suspects to
obtain confessions.
On December 28, the Justice Ministry initiated an investigation
into allegations that wardens at the Sincan Children's and Youth Prison
inmates beat four inmates between 19 and 21 years of age on the soles,
a practice known as ``falaka.'' Nadir Cinar, Ozgur Karakaya, Ilker
Sahin, and Cenan Altunc, who were in jail for demonstrating in support
of an attorney who was on a hunger strike, told their attorney on
December 22 that the wardens were beating their feet with sticks and
pipes and cursing at them. The Ankara chief prosecutor confirmed the
marks on the youths' bodies and ordered the boys to be taken to the
Forensic Medicine Institute. At year's end prosecutors were
investigating the matter.
On October 24, Habip A and Mehmet K were detained by law
enforcement officers in Konya for smuggling cigarettes. A group of
masked police officers then beat Habip and extinguished cigarettes on
his body, according to Habip's and Mehmet's original attorney. Habip
filed an official complaint with the local prosecutor's office against
the physician in charge at Konya Numune Hospital, who prepared a report
that certified that Habip's wounds were due to an accident. The two
complainants selected a new attorney, who had not yet filed a case at
year's end. The complaint had not been ruled on at year's end. The
Government did not initiate an investigation into the incident.
A state hospital in Van province issued reports stating there were
no signs of torture in the case of five men who had claimed they were
tortured during detention in July 2005. The men's attorney then
obtained a private health report that stated one of the men--Abdulakir
Akgul--was tortured, but that there were no longer marks of torture on
the four others. The attorney filed a criminal complaint against the
state doctors and local Jandarma; the local prosecutor decided to not
pursue the case. The lawyer appealed to the Van Regional Administrative
Court, where the case remained at year's end. In February the Ordu
public prosecutor's office issued a decision that it would not
prosecute any police officers in connection with the allegation that
Ordu police beat, squeezed the testicles of, and threatened three
juveniles in October 2005.
In October 2005 broadcast media outlets aired footage of employees
abusing children at the Malatya State Orphanage. Images included
employees beating children, who were naked and sitting in a bathtub.
Several of the children told police their caretakers had forced them to
eat excrement. Physicians subsequently examined the children and
reported finding evidence that 21 of 46 had been subject to torture,
including severe beatings and hot water burns. Authorities charged nine
officials--the provincial director for social services, the orphanage
director, two civil servants, and five orphanage employees--with
torture. None of the defendants have been relieved of their duties;
however, the orphanage employees were transferred to another facility.
Forty of the children were taken to an Istanbul facility for four
months, and then returned to the Malatya Orphanage. The trial and
investigation continued at year's end.
There was no updated information on the allegations that in
December 2005 police tortured Orhan Kara, Velat Haci Ali, Idban Kaplan,
Seref Inanc, and Nezir Ayan while in detention in Silopi, Sirnak
Province.
There were no developments in the reported 2004 cases of torture of
Mehmet Nurettin Basci, Mehmet Gazi Aydin, Sezai Karakus, or several
persons detained by police during a raid of the Yeniden Ozlem
publishing house.
Police harassed, beat, and abused demonstrators (see section 2.b.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally improved but facilities remained inadequate. Underfunding,
overcrowding, and insufficient staff training were problems.
According to the medical association, there were insufficient
doctors, and psychologists were available only at some of the largest
prisons. Several inmates claimed they were denied appropriate medical
treatment for serious illness.
Despite the existence of separate juvenile facilities, at times
juveniles and adults were held in adjacent wards with mutual access.
Observers reported that detainees and convicts occasionally were held
together. Occasionally inmates convicted for nonviolent, speech-related
offenses were held in high-security prisons.
The Government permitted prison visits by representatives of some
international organizations, such as the CPT; however, domestic
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) did not have access to prisons.
Domestic human rights organizations and activists reported that Prison
Monitoring Boards, composed of government officials and private
individuals, were ineffective. The CPT visited in 2004 and conducted
ongoing consultations with the Government.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention; however, the Government at times did not observe
these prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Turkish National
Police (TNP), under interior ministry control, is responsible for
security in large urban areas. The Jandarma, paramilitary forces under
joint interior ministry and military control, is responsible for
policing rural areas. The Jandarma is also responsible for specific
border sectors where smuggling is common; however, the military has
overall responsibility for border control.
In June 2005 the Government established judicial police, who were
to take direction from prosecutors during investigations; however,
human rights groups reported that in practice the judicial police
continued to report to the Ministry of Interior.
A civil defense force known as the village guards was less
professional and disciplined than other security forces and was
concentrated in the southeast. The village guards were accused
repeatedly of drug trafficking, rape, corruption, theft, and other
human rights abuses. Inadequate oversight and compensation contributed
to this problem, and in many cases Jandarma allegedly protected village
guards from prosecution. Although the security forces were generally
considered effective, the village guards, Jandarma, and police special
forces were viewed as those most responsible for abuses. Corruption and
impunity from prosecution were serious problems.
Courts investigated many allegations of abuse and torture by
security forces during the year; however, they rarely convicted or
punished offenders (see section 1.e.). When courts did convict
offenders, punishment generally was minimal and sentences were often
suspended. Authorities typically allowed officers accused of abuse to
remain on duty and, in occasional cases, promoted them during their
trials, which often took years.
The TNP and Jandarma received specialized training in a number of
areas, including human rights and counterterrorism. According to the
Government, the armed forces emphasized human rights in training for
officers and noncommissioned officers.
During the first nine months of the year, 715 administrative or
judicial cases were opened against security personnel and other public
officials on torture, maltreatment, or excessive use of force charges.
The decision of ``acquittal'' or ``no need to punish'' was reached in
all 85 maltreatment or torture cases. Out of 630 ``excessive use of
force'' cases, 10 resulted in prison sentences, one resulted in a
temporary suspension, 598 resulted in acquittal or no need to punish,
and 21 remained ongoing.
Arrest and Detention.--Warrants issued by a prosecutor are required
for arrests unless the suspect is caught in the commission of a crime.
A suspect may be detained for 24 hours, with prosecutorial discretion
to extend the period to 48 hours, excluding transportation time, before
being arraigned by a judge. There is a functioning bail system. After
arraignment, the judge may release the accused upon receipt of an
appropriate assurance, such as bail, or order detention if the court
determines that the accused is likely to flee the jurisdiction or
destroy evidence. The law provides that detainees are entitled to
immediate access to an attorney and to meet and confer with an attorney
at any time. The law provides that indigent detainees be provided a
public attorney at government expense.
Private attorneys and human rights monitors reported irregular
implementation of these regulations, particularly with respect to
attorney access. According to a number of local bar associations,
attorney access for detainees improved during the year, but varied
widely across the country. Numerous bar association representatives and
human rights organizations reported that in urban areas most detainees
consulted with attorneys soon after being detained, while in rural
areas, particularly the southeast, there was a higher number of cases
where defendants did not have immediate access to an attorney. The HRA
observed an increase in the percentage of detainees consulting with
attorneys but maintained that the numerous detainees did not exercise
this right.
Human rights observers noted that in most cases where a defendant
could not afford an attorney, one was provided; however, in terrorism-
related cases an attorney was frequently not provided until after the
suspect had been detained and interrogated by security forces.
Provincial bar associations reported that they faced increasing
difficulties providing such attorneys because the Government was behind
on compensation payments for such work. The Izmir Bar Association
reported that the Government owed it between $5.6 and $9.2 million ($8-
13 million lira).
HRA claimed police often intimidated detainees who asked for
attorneys, for example by telling them a court would assume they were
guilty if they consulted an attorney during detention. Detainees were
generally allowed prompt access to family members; however, human
rights organizations reported that since October, they have been
hindered from helping families find out whether a relative has been
detained because the Government began to refuse to release such
information to the organizations.
During the year police routinely detained demonstrators (see
section 2.b.). Police detained several members of the former DEHAP on
various occasions (see section 3). Police continued to detain and
harass members of human rights organizations and monitors (see section
4). Police continued to detain persons on suspicion of links to Turkish
Hizballah.
Lengthy pretrial detention was a problem. The law provides
detainees the right to request speedy arraignment and trial; however,
judges have ordered that some suspects be detained indefinitely, at
times for years. Approximately half of the prison inmates held during
the year were convicts; the other half were either awaiting trial or
held during trial proceedings.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary; however, the judiciary was occasionally
subject to outside influence. There were reports of judicial
corruption.
The law prohibits the Government from issuing orders or
recommendations concerning the exercise of judicial power; however, the
Government and several high-ranking military officers on several
occasions issued announcements or directives about threats to the
Government, which could be interpreted as general directions to the
judiciary.
The High Council of Judges and Prosecutors was widely criticized
for undermining the independence of the judiciary. The minister of
justice serves as chairman of the seven-member high council, and the
Justice Ministry undersecretary also serves on the council. The high
council selects judges and prosecutors for the higher courts and is
responsible for oversight of the lower courts. The high council is
located in the Ministry of Justice and does not have its own budget.
While the constitution provides for job security through tenure, the
high council controls the careers of judges and prosecutors through
appointments, transfers, promotions, reprimands, and other mechanisms.
During the year the high council, allegedly under pressure from the
military, prohibited Van prosecutor Ferhat Sarikaya from practicing law
after he prepared an indictment in the Semdinli case (see section
1.a.). After the high council denied Sarikaya's request for review of
the decision, he filed a formal objection. On November 9, the high
council rejected the objection, effectively finalizing Sarikaya's
expulsion from the profession.
The Ministry of Justice did not guarantee the independence of the
judiciary in numerous freedom of expression cases, according to the
Turkish Publishers' Association. Prosecutors and courts accepted
certain classes of cases filed by ideologically motivated attorneys,
such as those involving allegations of insulting Turkishness or
Ataturk, but ignored complaints that regarded many categories of human
rights (see section 2.a.).
The close connection between public prosecutors and judges gave the
appearance of impropriety and unfairness in criminal cases. Prosecutors
and judges study together before being assigned by the high council.
Once appointed, they are housed together, frequently share the same
office space, and often work in the same courtroom for over five years.
The judicial system is composed of general law courts; specialized
heavy penal courts; military courts; the Constitutional Court, the
nation's highest court; and three other high courts. The high court of
appeals hears appeals for criminal cases, the council of state hears
appeals of administrative cases or cases between government entities,
and the audit court audits state institutions. Most cases were
prosecuted in the general law courts, which include civil,
administrative, and criminal courts. In 2004 parliament adopted
legislation providing for the establishment of regional appeals courts
to relieve the high court's caseload and allow the judiciary to operate
more efficiently.
The Constitutional Court examines the constitutionality of laws,
decrees, and parliamentary procedural rules and hears cases involving
the prohibition of political parties. If impeached, ministers and prime
ministers can be tried in the Constitutional Court. However, the court
cannot consider ``decrees with the force of law'' issued under a state
of emergency, martial law, in time of war, or in other situations as
authorized by parliament. Military courts, with their own appeals
system, hear cases involving military law for members of the armed
forces. Military courts can also hear cases involving crimes committed
by both civilians and military personnel.
Administrative and bureaucratic barriers impeded prosecutions and
contributed to the low number of convictions of security force
personnel for human rights abuses. Under the law, courts could not
convict unless a defendant attended at least one trial session. Police
defendants occasionally failed to attend hearings in order to avoid
conviction; prosecuting attorneys claimed courts failed to make serious
attempts to locate such defendants, even in cases where the defendants
received salary or pension checks at their home address.
During courtroom proceedings criminal defendants faced numerous
violations of their right to a fair trial, according to an Amnesty
International (AI) September 6 report. The report found that courts
frequently refused to hear defense witnesses, despite a new law
allowing the defense to call its own witnesses; courts and prosecutors
often refused to consider new exculpatory evidence; pretrial and trial
periods frequently lasted for many years due in part to a severe
backlog of cases; often courts did not allow defendants to take part in
pretrial hearings; and frequently courts failed to provide defendants
with qualified interpreters.
According to the September AI report, defendants in cases that were
transferred from state security courts, abolished in June 2004, to
heavy penal courts often faced the same judges and prosecutors who
presided over their cases when they were before the state security
courts. The report also found that these judges frequently failed to
investigate or take into account allegations that confessions were
brought about by torture, and allegations of long periods of
``unofficial'' detention with no access to legal counsel. The report
noted that defendants in these cases were being sentenced on the basis
of evidence extracted under torture or other ill-treatment.
Trial Procedures.--There is no jury system; a judge or a panel of
judges decides all cases. Trials are public. The law requires bar
associations to provide free counsel to indigents who request it from
the court, and bar associations across the country did so in practice.
Defendants have the right to be present at trial and to consult with an
attorney in a timely manner. Defendants or their attorneys can question
witnesses for the prosecution and present witnesses and evidence on
their behalf. Defendants and their attorneys have access to government-
held evidence relevant to their cases. Defendants enjoy a presumption
of innocence and the right to appeal.
International human rights organizations and the European Union
(EU) stated that the courtroom structure and rules of criminal
procedure gave an unfair advantage to the prosecution. Prosecutors
enter the courtroom through the same door as the judge; defense
attorneys enter through a separate door. Prosecutors sit at an elevated
desk that is at the same level as that of the judge; the defense sits
at floor level. During the trial, the prosecutor may himself call any
witness desired, whereas the defense must request that the judge call a
witness. Judges decide whether to ask and how to phrase defense
counsel's questions, but ask all of the prosecution's questions in the
exact form presented.
The law provides for the right to a speedy trial; however, at times
trials lasted for years (see section 1.d.). Proceedings against
security officials often were delayed because officers did not submit
statements promptly or attend trials. In several cases, such delays
extended beyond the statute of limitations, causing the trial to end
without a verdict.
The law prohibits the use of evidence obtained by torture in court;
however, prosecutors in some instances failed to pursue torture
allegations, and exclusion of evidence occurred only after a separate
case on the legality of the evidence was resolved. In practice a trial
based on a confession allegedly coerced under torture could proceed,
and even conclude, before the court had examined the merits of the
torture allegations.
Despite the May 2005 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling
that imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan did not receive a fair trial
during the proceedings that led to his 1999 conviction, the Ankara
Heavy Penal Court, on May 5, denied Ocalan's attorneys' retrial
request. On appeal, the Istanbul Heavy Penal Court upheld the lower
court's decision.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political detainees; however, the HRA estimated that there were several
thousand political prisoners, including leftists, rightists, and
Islamists. The Government claimed that alleged political prisoners were
in fact charged with being members of, or assisting, terrorist
organizations. According to the Government, 2,071 convicts were being
held in prison on terrorism charges through October.
International humanitarian organizations were allowed access to
``political'' prisoners, provided they could obtain permission from the
Ministry of Justice. While the CPT was generally granted such
permission, other organizations were rarely granted such permission.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--There is an independent
and impartial judiciary in civil matters. The law provides that all
citizens have the right to file a civil case for compensation for
physical or psychological harm suffered.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these provisions in practice.
Security forces caused three deaths when they raided several houses
during the first eight months of the year, according to the HRF.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press; however, the Government continued to limit
these freedoms in occasional cases. The Government intimidated
journalists into practicing self-censorship.
The Government, particularly the police and judiciary, limited
freedom of expression through the use of constitutional restrictions
and numerous laws, including articles of the Penal Code prohibiting
insults to the Government, the state, ``Turkish identity,'' Ataturk, or
the institutions and symbols of the republic. Other laws, such as the
Antiterror Law and laws governing the press and elections, also
restrict speech.
Individuals could not criticize the state or government publicly
without fear of reprisal, and the Government continued to restrict
expression by individuals sympathetic to some religious, political, and
Kurdish nationalist or cultural viewpoints. Active debates on human
rights and government policies continued, particularly on issues
relating to the country's EU membership process, the role of the
military, Islam, political Islam, the question of Turks of Kurdish
origin as ``minorities,'' and the history of the Turkish-Armenian
conflict after World War I; however, persons who wrote or spoke out on
such topics, particularly the Armenian issue, risked prosecution. The
Turkish Publishers Association (TPA) reported that serious restrictions
on freedom of expression continued despite legal reforms related to the
country's EU candidacy.
According to the Government, there were no journalists held on
speech violations during the year; however, the Government reported
that at year's end there were 26 arrestees or convicts who claimed to
be journalists. The Government reported that some could not demonstrate
they were journalists and some were in prison for crimes not related to
their work as journalists.
Democratic Society Party (DTP) Mayor of Batman Huseyin Kalkan faced
up to 7 1/2 years under the Antiterror Law for his remarks in the Los
Angeles Times on May 30. In the story, Kalkan stated, ``Unless the
status quo changes, Kurds will further approach northern Iraq and want
to split up and merge with them.'' He added, ``The PKK wants to lay
down arms but it is [tried to be] portrayed as a bandit. Eighty percent
of the population in my town think like those in the mountains.
Abdullah Ocalan is a public leader.'' Upon reading the interview, two
Turkish citizens filed an e-mail crime complaint with the Izmir Police.
The Izmir prosecutor forwarded the case to Diyarbakir for prosecution.
The case was pending at year's end.
On February 22, a court acquitted Aynur Saydam of insulting Prime
Minster Erdogan. Erdogan filed a lawsuit in October 2005 against Saydam
for insulting him by holding up a banner during an appearance at
Bahcesehir University. The banner featured a statement criticizing
Erdogan's support for a conference on the fate of the Armenians in the
final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Trial proceedings in the case against six juveniles charged with
attempting to burn the national flag during celebrations of Nevruz (the
Kurdish New Year) in March 2005 continued at year's end.
In December 2005 an Ankara court began the trial of 12 officials of
the pro-Kurdish party Hak-Par for speaking Kurdish at a party
convention and distributing Kurdish-language invitations to the
convention. During the trial the prosecutor asked the judge to assist
in opening a case to close down Hak-Par. The judge did not rule on that
request by year's end.
The appeal of the December 2005 conviction of DEHAP official Ahmet
Dagtekin for illegal speech for using Kurdish language and symbolism
during a 2004 campaign event was ongoing at year's end.
Proceedings continued in the appeal of Genc Party leader Cem Uzan's
2004 conviction for insulting Prime Minister Erdogan in a speech.
In October 2005 a Sanliurfa court sentenced local DEHAP official
Resit Yardimci to a six-month prison term and fined him $1,214 (1,640
lira) for greeting the audience in Kurdish during a 2003 party
convention. The court of appeals rejected the lower court's reasoning
and remanded the case. The case continued in the lower court at year's
end.
The country has an active print media independent of state control.
There are hundreds of private newspapers that span the political
spectrum.
The Government owned and operated the Turkish Radio and Television
Corporation (TRT). According to the High Board of Radio and Television
(RTUK), there were 229 local, 15 regional, and 16 national officially
registered television stations and 1,062 local, 108 regional, and 30
national radio stations. Other television and radio stations broadcast
without an official license. The wide availability of satellite dishes
and cable television allowed access to foreign broadcasts, including
several Kurdish-language private channels. Most media were owned by
large, private holding companies that had a wide range of outside
business interests; the concentration of media ownership influenced the
content of reporting and limited the scope of debate. Observers noted
that media conglomerates increasingly used media as a tool to build
pressure against government policies.
Prosecutors harassed writers, journalists, and political figures by
bringing dozens of cases to court each year under various laws that
restrict media freedom; however, judges dismissed many of these
charges. Authorities, in a few instances, closed newspapers
temporarily, issued fines, or confiscated newspapers for violating
speech codes. Despite government restrictions, the media criticized
government leaders and policies daily and in many cases adopted an
adversarial role with respect to the Government.
Authorities continued to prosecute publishers and editors of
newspapers for their discussion of sensitive subjects.
In October 2005 an Istanbul court convicted Hrant Dink, publisher
of the Armenian community newspaper Agos, of denigrating Turkish
identity in an article on Turkish-Armenian relations. The court
sentenced Dink to a six-month prison term but suspended the sentence.
The court ruled for conviction although a panel of three legal experts
the court appointed to review the article unanimously determined that
it did not violate the law. On appeal, both the conviction and
suspended sentence were upheld. In December 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor
opened a separate case against Dink and three other Agos employees on
the grounds that their criticism of the October 2005 court decision
constituted an attempt to ``influence the judiciary.'' The case
continued at year's end. In September an Istanbul prosecutor charged
Dink again, following a statement he made to the Reuters news agency,
in which he reportedly said that the killing of Armenians during the
Ottoman Empire constituted genocide. The case was ongoing at year's
end.
In December 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor charged five newspaper
columnists with insulting the judiciary and trying to influence the
judicial process for their coverage of the court battle over the
legality of holding an Istanbul conference on the 1915 massacre of
Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. In April an Istanbul court dismissed
charges against four of the journalists on the procedural ground that
the relevant statute of limitations had passed since their respective
articles were originally published. The trial of the fifth columnist,
Murat Belge, was ongoing at year's end.
The December 2005 convictions of writer Zulkuf Kisanak for
``denigrating the Republic of Turkey'' and journalist Aziz Ozer on
similar charges were under appeal at year's end.
The Government maintained significant restrictions on the use of
Kurdish and other minority languages in radio and television
broadcasts. RTUK regulations limited minority-language news broadcasts
to 45 minutes per day; however, RTUK ended time restrictions for
minority-language cultural shows or films. Previously such broadcasting
was limited to 45 minutes per day and four hours per week for
television broadcasting, and 60 minutes per day and five hours per week
for radio. RTUK maintained that its regulations require non-Turkish
radio programs be followed by the same program in Turkish and that non-
Turkish television programs have Turkish subtitles. Start-up Kurdish
broadcasters reported that these were onerous financial obligations
that prevented their entry into the market. The state-owned TRT
broadcasting company provided limited national programming in Kurdish
and three other minority languages.
On April 19, the radio officials of Radyo Imaj were acquitted of
making unauthorized broadcasts; the station resumed broadcasting in
late November. Radyo Imaj officials claimed the station was closed for
playing Kurdish music.
Trial proceedings continued at year's end in Istanbul in the 2004
case against journalist Mehmet Ali Birand and three attorneys for
imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in connection with a CNN Turk
broadcast, during which Birand interviewed the attorneys.
The TPA reported a decrease in recent years in the number of court
decisions banning books; however, books, writers, and publishers were
still prosecuted on grounds of defamation, denigration, obscenity,
separatism, subversion, fundamentalism, and blasphemy. Printing houses
are required to submit books and periodicals to prosecutors at the time
the materials are published. According to the TPA, prosecutors
investigated and in several cases pressed charges against printing
houses for late submission of materials deemed problematic. As a
result, the TPA reported, publishers often avoided works with
controversial content. According to the TPA's June report, from 2000 to
2005, authorities opened court cases against 47 authors and 49 books
and compilations involving 22 publishers. According to the Ministry of
Interior, 290 books were banned and confiscated between 2000 and 2006.
The TPA reported that the Government lifted the ban on 49 and kept it
on 241.
On June 26, an Istanbul prosecutor charged Fatih Tas, the owner of
Aram Publishing House, and two translators in connection with Aram's
publishing a translation of the Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman book,
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media, for
``insulting Turkishness'' and ``inciting enmity and animosity among
people.'' The trial began on October 17 and was ongoing at year's end.
The separate trial against Tas and two translators in 2005 for
publishing a Turkish translation of the book, Spoils of War: The Human
Cost of America's Arms Trade, which prosecutors alleged insulted the
Turkish identity and Ataturk was ongoing at year's end.
In July an Istanbul prosecutor indicted novelist Elif Shafak for
insulting Turkish identity in her novel The Father and the Bastard. In
her novel, characters discuss the Armenian ``genocide.'' At the
September 21 trial, the court dismissed the case for lack of evidence.
In its October 4 written verdict, the court concluded that comments by
a character in a fictitious book were a form of free expression not
subject to prosecution.
In September 2005 an Istanbul prosecutor charged novelist Orhan
Pamuk with ``insulting Turkish identity'' in statements he made during
a 2004 interview with a foreign publication. Pamuk was quoted as saying
that one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds had been killed in the
country. After a domestic periodical published a translation of the
interview, prosecutors charged Pamuk for violating New Turkish Penal
Code Article 301, which went into effect in June 2005, three months
prior to Pamuk's statements. The court determined that it had to apply
the law in effect when the act was committed, not Article 301. The old
law required that the minister of justice approve prosecution of the
case. On January 22, the Justice Ministry refused to issue an approval,
saying that it had no authority to open a case against Pamuk under the
new Penal Code. The following day, the trial court ruled that it could
not continue the case, and charges were dropped.
An Istanbul prosecutor initiated two cases in May 2005 against
Ragip Zarakolu, owner of Belge Publishing, for publishing translations
of two books dealing with Turkish-Armenian relations. The indictment,
brought pursuant to Penal Code Article 301, alleged that the
publications were insulting to the state. Trials in both cases
continued at year's end.
Authorities occasionally censored media with pro-Kurdish or leftist
content, particularly in the southeast, by confiscating materials or
temporarily closing down the media source at issue. The TPA reported
that the most serious problem during the year was a large increase in
complaints filed by ideologically motivated attorneys, and then
accepted by the courts, on grounds such as insulting Turkishness or the
memory of Ataturk. During the year prosecutors initiated court
proceeding against 77 journalists, 22 publishing houses, 41 writers,
five translators, and 43 books. Twelve of these cases ended in
acquittals, nine in convictions, four in ``nonsuit,'' and 18 were
pending at year's end. Prosecutors charged 65 persons during the year
under Penal Code Article 301, which criminalizes insulting
``Turkishness.''
According to TPA, the Governments, courts, and private litigants
were together responsible for ``abusing the civil law system'' during
the year through an increase in defamation cases. Courts sentenced
defendants to pay financial compensation for defamation in cases filed
by politicians, including Prime Minister Erdogan, journalists, and
private businessmen.
Prime Minister Erdogan, through his attorneys, filed 59 cases on
the grounds of defamation, of which 28 were pending at year's end.
Among the 31 cases decided, 21 rulings were in favor and 10 against
Erdogan.
On May 3, an Ankara court convicted Ismail Yildiz, President of the
Political, Economic, Social Research and Strategy Center, and ordered
him to pay $6,179 (8,860 lira) for insulting Prime Minister Erdogan,
Finance Minister Unalitan, and Transportation Minister Yildirim. Yildiz
published two articles critical of these officials on the Internet.
Yildiz's appeal was pending at year's end.
Erdogan sued political cartoonist Mehmet Cagcag for his cartoon in
the July 7 edition of Leman magazine that depicted Erdogan as a tick
and had the subtitle ``Tick Has Been Making Turkey Suffer.'' The case
continued at year's end.
The Government arrested and deported Michael Dickinson, a British
cartoonist and lecturer, after he depicted Prime Minister Erdogan as a
foreign President's dog in a political cartoon.
Turkish courts ruled on a number of cases that Prime Minister
Erdogan filed in 2005. In May 2005 an Ankara court convicted Musa Kart
of the daily Cumhuriyet for a cartoon portraying Erdogan as a cat. The
court ordered Kart to pay $3,800 (5,132 lira). On April 19, the court
of appeals unanimously overturned the lower court decision. In October
an Istanbul court fined Mehmet Fethi Dorduncu $6,300 (9,000 lira) for
insulting Erdogan and for insulting the Government, because he put a
note in a museum welcome book that called Erdogan and the Government
``servants, nonbelievers, thieves, and treacherous.'' On December 8, an
appellate court overturned a lower court decision that convicted
Yenicag newspaper for allegedly insulting Erdogan by calling him ``a
bully'' in a May 2005 article.
The satirical magazine Penguen responded to the lawsuits by
publishing a front page with a series of drawings by different
cartoonists depicting Erdogan as various animals. In March 2005 Erdogan
filed a lawsuit against Penguen seeking $28,000 (38,178 lira) in
compensation; the court ruled in favor of the magazine. On April 3, the
press reported that Erdogan appealed; the court of appeals has not
acted on the case by year's end.
During the summer the parliament placed further restrictions on the
media by adopting amendments to the Antiterror Law. Under the
amendments, editors at media organizations that disclose the identities
of public personnel fighting terrorism may be fined, and a judge may
order the closure for up to one month of a publication that ``makes
propaganda for terrorist organizations.'' President Sezer challenged
these amendments in the Constitutional Court, arguing that such
restrictions violate the constitution. At year's end the challenged
laws were stayed while the court case proceeded.
During the year there was an increase in the number of cases
against the press under the Antiterror Law. The TPA and human right's
groups reported that the law contains an overly broad definition of
offenses that allows ideologically and politically motivated
prosecutions. For example, according to the TPA, prosecutors opened 530
cases against pro-Kurdish daily Ozgur Gundem and its editors under the
Antiterror Law. Of these, 104 resulted in convictions and 22 in
acquittals. The owner of the newspaper was sentenced to a fine of
$125,000 (192,755 lira) and the editor was sentenced to a 15-year
prison term and fined $90,000 (134,000 lira). The Government closed the
paper for two weeks during the year. During the year courts convicted
editors and correspondents of the daily Cumhuriyet, including its
owner, were convicted for a news article titled ``Acquittal of
Torture.'' Prosecutors charged journalists of the daily Hurriyet under
the Antiterror Law for attempting to interview Kurdish guerillas.
Internet Freedom.--The Internet was widely available in the
country. It is used in schools, libraries, private internet cafes and
other public locations, and the Government encouraged its use. There
were no government restrictions on Internet access; however, government
authorities have on rare occasions accessed Internet user records to
protect ``national security, public order, health, and decency'' or to
prevent a crime. Police must obtain authorization from a judge or, in
emergencies, the highest administrative authority before taking such
action.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There generally were no
government restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events;
however, university authorities suspended one academic who publicly
supported views contrary to the official state ideology, and there was
some self-censorship on sensitive topics.
Gazi University professor of political philosophy and political
economy Atilla Yayla was suspended for failing to support official
state ideology. During a November 18 panel in Izmir organized by the
local branch of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Yayla
explained that his ``common civilization paradigm'' required a
civilized country to have private property; limited, responsible, and
accountable government; freedom of expression; religious freedom;
political opposition; freedom of association; and the rule of law. He
also stated that, despite widespread official propaganda, the single-
party era between 1925-1945, led mainly by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was
not as progressive as it was claimed and was in some respects backward.
Yayla also said that, with increasing EU exposure, Europeans would
begin to ask, ``why are the same man's pictures and statues
everywhere?'' Following these remarks, Gazi University suspended Yayla
and launched an investigation into his remarks. The secretary general
of the Turkish Youth Association, Osman Yilmaz, called on the Higher
Education Board to dismiss Yayla from the academic profession, stating
that Yayla had taken up ``the campaign of lies and slander of U.S. and
EU authorities against Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey.'' Yayla
reported that, since the panel discussion, he has been declared as a
``traitor who swore at and insulted Ataturk.'' The Izmir prosecutor
began an investigation into the matter.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly; however, the
Government restricted this right in practice. Significant prior
notification to authorities is required for a gathering, and
authorities may restrict meetings to designated sites.
Police killed demonstrators during the year. For example,
government security forces killed a number of persons during violent
riots in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, which emanated from large
public funeral processions held for dead PKK members. The HRF reported
that in late March and early April, during rioting, the police and
military killed 14 persons, including five children.
The trial of nine DEHAP officials for being members of an illegal
organization continued at year's end. The nine officials were charged
after they alleged that police shot and killed Umit Gonultas during a
protest in support of Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the PKK.
According to the HRA, there was no evidence that demonstrators used
weapons during the altercation. No one has been prosecuted for the
death of Gonultas.
No investigation was initiated by law enforcement into the 2005
death of Hasan Is, whose relatives and other witnesses claimed was shot
and killed by police during an altercation at a funeral ceremony for
PKK militants in Batman Province.
No further information was available regarding allegations that in
October 2005 Istanbul police shot and killed Atilla Gecmis during
demonstrations in support of Abdullah Ocalan.
Police beat, abused, detained, or harassed some demonstrators.
On March 14, a local prosecutor opened a case against 54 police
officers alleged to have used excessive force during a March 2005
International Women's Day demonstration in Istanbul. The case was
ongoing at year's end.
On May 2 security forces arrested three Kurdish activists--Ibrahim
Guclu, Zeynel Abidin Ozalp, and Ahmet Sedat Ogur--as they prepared to
peacefully protest the recent killings of civilians by security forces
in the southeast. The men were charged under the Antiterror Law for
``making propaganda for the PKK.'' Their trial continued at year's end.
Unlike the previous year, police did not interfere in Nevruz
celebrations. There was no information regarding police detention of
DEHAP officials and students in connection with 2005 Nevruz
celebrations.
The six juveniles charged for allegedly burning the Turkish flag
during Nevruz celebrations in Mersin in 2005 remained free while their
trial continued at year's end.
During a September 2005 rally in support of PKK leader Abdullah
Ocalan in Siirt province police detained 39 demonstrators; one of the
demonstrators died. The public prosecutor dismissed the demonstrators'
complaint that alleged the police beat and harassed them. Prosecutors
later charged the demonstrators for chanting illegal slogans and
performing an illegal march. The trial continued at year's end.
Prosecutors charged Police Sergeant G.Y. in connection with the death
of 35 year-old-demonstrator Abdullah Aydan. The court acquitted the
sergeant in July.
The October 2005 ruling that ordered 20 defendants to pay fines of
$74 (100 lira) each for hanging placards with the letters found in
Kurdish but not Turkish was under appeal at year's end.
Proceedings continued at year's end in the appeal of the 2004
conviction of HRF psychiatrist Alp Ayan and codefendants for holding an
unauthorized demonstration.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association; however, there continued to be several restrictions on
this right in practice.
Under the new law adopted in July 2004, associations need not
notify authorities before founding an association, but still must
provide such notification before interacting with international
organizations, and/or receiving financial support from abroad, and
provide detailed documents on such activities. Representatives of
associations said this placed an undue burden on their operations.
Foreign associations wishing to conduct programs in the country are
no longer required to receive separate permission from the interior
ministry for each activity, but they are still required to submit
detailed reports to the Government on each activity, despite the fact
that local partners are required to report on the same projects.
According to the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey, an NGO advocacy
organization, the criteria for NGOs to obtain public benefit status,
entitling them to certain tax exemptions, are restrictive and
complicated. Applications for public benefit status must be approved by
the Council of Ministers. The law does not allow applicants to appeal
if their petitions are rejected.
Unlike the previous year no organizations were closed by the
Government or courts.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The constitution and law provides for
freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right
in practice; however, the Government imposed significant restrictions
on Muslim and other religious groups.
The law establishes the country as a secular state and provides for
freedom of belief, freedom of worship, and the private dissemination of
religious ideas; however, other constitutional provisions regarding the
integrity and existence of the secular state restrict these rights.
The Government oversees Muslim religious facilities and education
through its Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which is under
the authority of the Prime Ministry. The Diyanet regulates the
operation of the country's 77,500 registered mosques and employing
local and provincial imams, who are civil servants. A few groups,
particularly Alevis, claimed that the Diyanet reflected mainstream
Sunni Islamic beliefs to the exclusion of other beliefs; however, the
Government asserted that the Diyanet treated equally all who request
services.
Academics estimated the Alevi population at 15 to 20 million,
including ethnic Turks, Kurds, and Arabs. In general, Alevis follow a
belief system that incorporates aspects of both Shi'a and Sunni Islam
and draws on the traditions of other religions found in Anatolia as
well. The Government considers Alevism a heterodox Muslim sect;
however, some Alevis and absolutist Sunnis maintain that Alevis are not
Muslims.
Alevi ``cem houses'' (places of gathering) have no legal status as
places of worship. Alevis in the Kartal district of Istanbul continued
to pursue a court case against a decision by local authorities to deny
them permission to build a cem house.
In May authorities in the Sultanbeyli municipality of Istanbul
reportedly banned the construction of a cem house on the grounds that
the Pir Sultan Abdal Association, an Alevi group, had not acquired the
necessary construction permits. Association officials said the local
mayor and his staff had attended the groundbreaking ceremony and had
promised not to interfere with the project; however, the municipality
reportedly filed a case against the association after it proceeded with
construction following the ban.
Mystical Sufi and other religious-social orders (tarikats) and
lodges (cemaats) are officially prohibited; however, tarikats and
cemaats remained active and widespread. Many prominent political and
social leaders continued to associate with these religious-social
orders, lodges, and other Islamic societies.
A separate government agency, the General Directorate for
Foundations (GDF), regulates a few administratively critical activities
of non-Muslim religious groups and their affiliated churches,
monasteries, synagogues, and related religious property. There are 161
``minority foundations'' recognized by the GDF, including Greek
Orthodox foundations with approximately 70 sites, Armenian Orthodox
foundations with approximately 50 sites, and Jewish foundations with 20
sites, as well as Syrian Christian, Chaldean, Bulgarian Orthodox,
Georgian, and Maronite foundations. The GDF also regulates Muslim
charitable religious foundations, including schools, hospitals, and
orphanages.
Members of Jehovah's Witnesses reported continuing official
harassment of their worship services because they are not members of an
officially recognized religion. Police arrested 25-year-old member Feti
Demirtas and sent him to prison on nine occasions for conscientiously
objecting to military service, as his religion requires. According to
Jehovah's Witness officials, such harassment which was not limited to
Feti, included: arrests, court hearings, verbal abuse, kicks to the
head and body, slaps in the face, choking, sleep deprivation, being
handcuffed to doors and beds, being strip searched, and psychiatric
evaluations.
In mid-2005 the Witnesses appealed an administrative court decision
that prohibited them from worshipping in their hall in Akcay in Bursa
province. On December 12, after the court had taken no action on the
case, the Witnesses filed a demand to expedite a hearing. There was no
decision on that motion at year's end.
Jehovah's Witnesses continued to engage in a legal battle over
their efforts to form an association. On April 28, an Istanbul court
rejected a lawsuit to cancel the Witnesses' newly formed association.
Pending the prosecutor's subsequent appeal, the Witnesses may not
conduct meetings as an association. On December 12, the Witnesses filed
a request to expedite the case with the Court of Appeals. The request
was pending at year's end.
Religious affiliation is listed on national identity cards. A few
religious groups, such as the Baha'i, are unable to state their
religion on their cards because it is not included among the options;
they have made their concerns known to the Government. In April
parliament adopted legislation allowing persons to leave the religion
section of their identity cards blank or change the religious
designation by written application. However, the Government reportedly
continued to restrict applicants' choice of religion; members of the
Baha'i community said government officials had told them that, despite
the new law, they would still not be able to list their religion on the
cards.
Secularists in the military, judiciary, and other branches of the
bureaucracy continued to wage campaigns against what they labeled
proponents of Islamic fundamentalism. These groups viewed religious
fundamentalism as a threat to the secular state. The National Security
Council categorized religious fundamentalism as a threat to public
safety.
According to the human rights NGO Mazlum-Der and other groups, a
few government ministries have dismissed or barred from promotion civil
servants suspected of antistate or Islamist activities. Reports by
Mazlum-Der, the media, and others indicated that the military
periodically dismissed religiously observant Muslims from military
service. Such dismissals were based on behavior that military officials
believed identified these individuals as Islamic fundamentalists, which
they were concerned could indicate disloyalty to the secular state.
According to Mazlum-Der, the military charged individuals with lack
of discipline for activities that included performing Muslim prayers or
being married to women who wore headscarves. According to the military,
officers and NCOs were periodically dismissed for ignoring repeated
warnings from superior officers and maintaining ties to what the
military considered to be Islamic fundamentalist organizations. On
November 30, the Government reported 37 military dismissals of which
they claimed two were associated with religious extremism. An
additional 17 were reportedly expelled in August for unspecified
disciplinary reasons.
The Government did not recognize the ecumenical status of the Greek
Orthodox Patriarch, acknowledging him only as the head of the country's
dwindling Greek Orthodox community. As a result the Government has long
maintained that only citizens of the country could become patriarch,
serve as members of the Greek Orthodox Holy Synod, and participate in
patriarchal elections. Members of the Greek Orthodox community asserted
that these restrictions threatened the survival of the patriarchate in
Istanbul, because, with fewer than 2,500 Greek Orthodox persons
remaining in the country, the community was becoming too small to
maintain the institution.
The law restricts religious services to designated places of
worship. Municipal codes mandate that only the Government can designate
a place of worship; if a religious group has no legal standing in the
country, it may not be eligible for a designated site. Non-Muslim
religious services, particularly for groups that did not own property
recognized by the GDF, often took place on diplomatic property or in
private apartments. Police occasionally prohibited Christians from
holding services in private apartments, and prosecutors sometimes
opened cases against Christians for holding unauthorized gatherings.
In April Roman Catholic authorities reopened the Bebekli Church in
Adana for Sunday services after municipal authorities discontinued the
operating license of the wedding hall near by. Catholic leaders had
closed the church in September 2005 because local authorities had
failed to enforce zoning regulations requiring a 10-meter offset around
the church building, and noise from an adjacent wedding hall had been
interfering with church services.
In August the Istanbul Protestant Church finalized the legal
procedure for officially registering its building as a ``place of
worship.'' This was the first time that the Government had not turned
down a request for such status in the zoning plan.
Many local officials continued to impose standards, such as minimum
space requirements, on churches while failing to apply them to mosques.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul continued to seek to reopen
the Halki seminary on the island of Heybeli in the Sea of Marmara. The
Government closed the seminary in 1971, when it nationalized all
private institutions of higher learning. Under existing restrictions,
religious communities other than Sunni Muslims cannot legally train new
clergy in the country for eventual leadership. Coreligionists from
outside the country have been permitted to assume leadership positions
in a few cases, but in general all religious community leaders,
including patriarchs and chief rabbis, must be citizens.
No law explicitly prohibits proselytizing or religious conversions;
however, many prosecutors and police regarded proselytizing and
religious activism with suspicion. Police occasionally prevented
Christians from handing out religious literature. The Government
reported 157 conversions including 92 to Islam and 63 from Islam to a
different religion. Christians performing missionary work were
occasionally beaten and insulted. Police officers may report students
who meet with Christian missionaries to their families or to university
authorities.
Several foreigners who are practicing Christians and have lived
with their families in various cities for many years reported
increasing governmental harassment during the year, including denial of
residence and work permits that had been granted in previous years,
monitoring by jandarma, and receiving threats to themselves and their
families. These persons reported that they worshiped in their homes but
did not proselytize by distributing bibles, going door-to-door, or
undertaking similar activities.
Unlike the previous year the Diyanet did not distribute
antimissionary books; however, at least one municipality did distribute
such material.
Authorities continued to enforce a long-term ban on the wearing of
headscarves at universities and by civil servants in public buildings.
Women who wore headscarves and persons who actively showed support for
those who defied the ban were disciplined or lost their jobs in the
public sector as nurses and teachers. Students who wore head coverings
were not permitted to register for classes, although some faculty
members permitted students to wear head coverings in class.
In November 2005 the ECHR Grand Chamber upheld a 2004 ECHR ruling
that the ban on Islamic headscarves in the country's universities was
lawful.
In February the council of state ruled in favor of a decision by
education authorities to revoke the promotion of an Ankara teacher to a
nursery school principal position on the grounds that the teacher
regularly wore an Islamic headscarf outside of school. Numerous
journalists and religious rights advocates asserted that the court's
decision effectively expanded the headscarf ban into the private
sphere. The court, however, maintained that the teacher had violated
the principle of secularism in education by wearing the headscarf while
traveling to and from school.
In May attorney Alparslan Arslan opened fire in the council of
state court responsible for the February ruling, killing Judge Mustafa
Yucel Ozbilgin and wounding four other judges. Arslan, who was
apprehended at the scene, reportedly stated he was motivated by anger
over the ruling. Thousands of protesters attending Ankara funeral
ceremonies for Ozbilgin accused government leaders of inciting the
attack by criticizing the headscarf ban and the council of state
ruling. Protests in other cities were minor.
The law establishes eight years of compulsory secular education for
students. Subsequently students may pursue study at imam hatip (Islamic
preacher) high schools. Imam hatip schools are classified as
vocational, and graduates of vocational schools faced an automatic
reduction in their university entrance exam grades if they applied for
university programs outside their field of high school specialization.
This reduction effectively barred imam hatip graduates from enrolling
in university programs other than theology. Most families that enrolled
their children in imam hatip schools did so to expose them to more
extensive religious education, not to train them as imams.
The constitution establishes compulsory religious and moral
instruction in primary and secondary schools. Religious minorities are
exempted. However, a few religious minorities--such as Protestants--
faced difficulty obtaining exemptions, particularly if their
identification cards did not list a religion other than Islam. The
Government claimed that the religion courses cover the range of world
religions; however, religious minorities asserted the courses reflect
Sunni Islamic doctrine, which they maintained explains why non-Muslims
are exempt.
Many Alevis alleged discrimination in the Government's failure to
include any of their doctrines or beliefs in the religion courses. An
Alevi parent in 2004 filed suit in the ECHR charging that the mandatory
religion courses violate religious freedom; the case was ongoing at
year's end.
In April an Istanbul court ruled in favor of an Alevi father who
requested that his son be exempt from the religion courses at school;
in May, however, a higher court overturned the lower court's ruling.
Officially recognized minorities may operate schools under the
supervision of the Ministry of Education. Such schools are required to
appoint a Muslim as deputy principal; reportedly these deputies had
more authority than their nominal supervisors. The curriculum of these
schools included Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Jewish
instruction.
Only the Diyanet is authorized to provide religion courses outside
of school, although clandestine private courses existed. Students who
complete five years of primary school may enroll in Diyanet Qur'an
classes on weekends and during summer vacation. Many Qur'an courses
function unofficially. Only children 12 and older may legally register
for official Qur'an courses, and Mazlum-Der reported that law
enforcement authorities often raided illegal courses for younger
children. According to Diyanet figures, there are nearly 5,000 official
Qur'an courses throughout the country.
Numerous religious groups, particularly the Greek and Armenian
Orthodox communities, have lost property to the Government and
continued to fight ongoing efforts by the Government to expropriate
properties. Many such properties were lost because the law allows the
GDF to assume direct administration of properties that fall into disuse
when the size of the local non-Muslim community drops significantly.
The Government expropriated other properties that were held in the name
of individual community members who emigrated or died without heirs.
The GDF also took control of non-Muslim foundations after the size of
the non-Muslim community in a particular district dropped below the
level required to elect foundation board members.
The law allows the 161 minority foundations recognized by the GDF
to acquire property, and the GDF has approved 364 applications by non-
Muslim foundations to acquire legal ownership of properties. However,
the law does not allow the foundations to reclaim hundreds of
properties expropriated by the state over the years. Foundations have
also been unable to acquire legal ownership of properties registered
under names of third parties, including properties registered under the
names of saints or archangels, during periods when foundations could
not own property in their own name.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--Attacks on those practicing
Christian faiths continued.
On January 8, five assailants severely beat Protestant church
leader Kamil Kiroglu in Adana. One attacker wielded a knife and
threatened to kill Kiroglu unless he renounced Christianity. The
Government did not investigate the incident or make any arrests.
On February 5, an assailant shot and killed Catholic priest Andrea
Santaro in a church in Trabzon. A witness said the gunman shouted ``God
is great'' as he shot Santaro from behind. A 16-year-old was charged in
the case, and on October 10, the defendant was sentenced to 18 years,
10 months in prison.
On July 2, a Catholic priest in Samsun was attacked and suffered
knife wounds. Authorities announced that, prior to the attack, the
assailant had filed complaints against the priest for ``Christian
propaganda.'' The assailant was arrested and the case was pending at
year's end.
Members of the Syriac community reported that Syriacs who were
forced to leave their southeastern villages during PKK-related violence
in the 1980s and 1990s faced fewer problems when attempting to return
to their villages. Previously, local villagers, particularly village
guards, often occupied the homes of Syriacs who fled and refused to
leave when Syriacs attempted to return.
In January 2005 a group of nationalists gathered outside the
Dirilis Protestant Church in Istanbul and chanted slogans, vandalized
the premises, and beat the landlord. The church has since shut down.
There were no reports that a court case was opened against the
perpetrators.
There was no information that court cases were opened in the
following 2005 cases: the April incident in which unknown assailants
broke the windows of the International Protestant Church of Ankara and
threw two Molotov cocktails into the building; the May incident during
which individuals painted a red swastika on the apartment door of a
Protestant pastor in Izmit and left a threatening letter; the May
incident in which a Christian couple in Kayseri received two e-mails
from an unknown party threatening to kill them because of their
religious faith; or the November incident in which assailants attempted
to set fire to the St. Paul Cultural Center.
There were no reported threats against Tarsus Protestants during
the year. The Government did not initiate any investigation or court
case after the April 2005 incident during which Syriacs, who had
recently returned from abroad to the southeastern village of Sari,
discovered an explosive device in an orchard, or the June 2005 incident
when a landmine exploded in the village of Harabele as a car carrying a
Syriac bishop and two others passed by.
On September 3, retired imam Bayram Ali Ozturk was stabbed to death
following morning prayer in a mosque in Istanbul. Oztur's attacker,
Mustafa Erdal, was killed by others in the mosque. Seven persons were
arrested in connection with Erdal's killing but released by the court.
According to press accounts on December 29, the prosecutor has appealed
to the Istanbul heavy penal court, a higher court than the one that
originally released the seven, to re-arrest three of those originally
held. The appeal was pending. Ozturk was the primary candidate to
succeed the head of the Nakshibendi tarikat (religious brotherhood).
Many Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha'is faced societal
suspicion and mistrust. Jews and Christians from most denominations
freely practiced their religions and reported little discrimination in
daily life. However, religious minorities asserted that they were
effectively blocked from careers in state institutions, a claim
supported in a 2004 report by a government human rights body.
A variety of newspapers and television shows continued to feature
anti-Christian and anti-Jewish messages, and anti-Semitic literature
was common in bookstores.
Trial proceedings were ongoing at year's end in the appeal of Kerim
Akbas, who was convicted in 2004 for television broadcasts inciting
violence against Christians.
The Jewish community numbered approximately 23,000. Jewish
community members reported a significant rise of anti-Semitic language
in newspapers and websites, as well as increased societal antagonism
and discrimination during the July-August conflict involving Israel and
Lebanon.
Huseyin Tanriverdi, an AKP deputy, chairman of the Turkey-
Palestinian Friendship group in the Parliament in his article in Vakit,
identified ``the ruthless and inhuman Israeli attacks in the Middle
East'' with Hitler's policies and said ``Israel hits not only the
Muslims but the whole humanity.'' Numerous other articles appeared in
papers criticizing Israel's actions in religious tones. Mustafa Celik
wrote in Vakit on August 2, that ``Making friends with Zionist Jews and
Israel is betraying the religion of God. Allah orders [that] the Jews
and unfaithful are the . . . worst enemies of the faithful.''
In the Turkish film, Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, a character
portrays a Jewish doctor who cuts out the organs of Iraqis at the Abu
Ghraib prison and sells them to wealthy clients in New York, London,
and Tel Aviv. The film was a spinoff from the country's top-rated TV
series of the same title.
At year's end court proceedings continued in the Istanbul trial of
73 suspects charged in connection with the November 2003 terrorist
bombings of two synagogues, the British Consulate, and a bank.
Trial proceedings continued in the case of the 2004 bombing of an
Istanbul Masonic lodge. It was widely believed in the country that
Masons have Zionist and anti-Islamic tendencies; evidence gathered in
the investigation indicated that anti-Semitism was at least a partial
factor in the attack, which killed two persons and wounded seven.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights;
however, at times the Government limited them in practice. The law
provides that a citizen's freedom to leave the country could be
restricted only in the case of a national emergency, civic obligations
(military service, for example), or criminal investigation or
prosecution. The Government maintained a heavy security presence in the
southeast, including numerous roadway checkpoints. Provincial
authorities in the southeast, citing security concerns, denied some
villagers access to their fields and high pastures for grazing.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).--Various NGOs estimated that
there were from one to three million IDPs in the country remaining from
PKK conflict, which began in 1984 and continued at a high level through
the 1990s. The Government reported that 378,000 residents migrated from
the southeast during the conflict, with many others departing before
the fighting. On December 7, Hacettepe University released the results
of a study that was commissioned by the Government, which concluded
that an estimated 953,680 to 1,301,200 persons were displaced by
conflict in the southeast between 1986-2005. The study found that the
main reason for the large discrepancy between government and NGO
figures was that the Government only included people evacuated by the
security forces from settlements, and not those who were forced to flee
due to generalized violence or for a combination of security and
economic reasons. The study also noted that internal displacement in
the country is part of a broader rural-to-urban migration, exacerbated
by the violence in the southeast, and has been affected by large-scale
development projects, such as the South-Eastern Anatolia Project and
natural disasters.
The law to compensate these IDP's allows persons who suffered
material losses during the conflict with the PKK to apply for
compensation; however, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in December
that the law was being implemented in a way contrary to the
Government's stated purpose and principles of fair and appropriate
redress. According to HRW, rulings by provincial commissions charged
with the law's implementation are woefully inadequate and actually
hindered those IDPs who would like to return to their preconflict
homes. Further, HRW found that IDPs have no realistic avenue of appeal.
These findings mirror those of local NGOs and regional bar
associations, who have maintained that the law includes unreasonable
documentation requirements and awarded levels of compensation far below
standards established by the ECHR. A representative from the interior
ministry denied that the Government has implemented the law unfairly.
The interior ministry reported that the review commissions had
received a total of 255,339 applications for compensation under the law
through December. The commissions have processed 48,723, approving
25,628, rejecting 16,837, and ruling that compensation had already been
provided in 6,258.
According to the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation
(TESEV), the law only compensates losses suffered after 1987, leaving
out victims who suffered losses between 1984, when the clashes started,
and 1987. TESEV reported that many victims who fled the region due to
the deteriorating economic and security situation have been unable to
receive compensation because they could not demonstrate a direct link
between their losses and the actions of either the PKK or the security
forces. HRW reached the same conclusion in its December reporting, in
which it noted that the Government has unjustly refused to compensate
those villagers in the southeast region displaced prior to 1987.
Village guards occupied homes abandoned by IDPs and have attacked
or intimidated IDPs attempting to return to their homes with official
permission. Voluntary and assisted resettlements were ongoing. In a few
cases, persons could return to their old homes; in other cases,
centralized villages have been constructed. The Government reported
that 5,869 persons returned to their villages from December 2005
through December 2006.
Foreign governments and national and international human rights
organizations continued to criticize the Government's program for
assisting the return of IDPs as secretive and inadequate.
Protection of Refugees.--An administrative regulation provides for
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
however, the Government exercised its option under the convention of
accepting obligations only with respect to refugees from Europe. The
Government has not established a formal system or legislation for
providing protection to refugees.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
reported that during the year the Government returned two recognized
refugees to their country of origin. The Government also deported nine
persons who contacted the UNHCR indicating their wish to apply for
asylum, before the UNHCR had the opportunity to assess their refugee
claims.
The Government offered non-European refugees temporary residence
while they were waiting to be resettled in another country. The UNHCR
conducted refugee status determination for applicants from non-European
countries and facilitated the resettlement of those recognized as
refugees.
Chechens, many of whom arrived in 2001, reported problems making
asylum applications with the Government and renewing temporary
residence permits.
Illegal immigrants detained when found near the country's eastern
border areas were more likely to be questioned about their asylum
status and referred for processing than those caught while transiting
or attempting to leave the country. However, access to the national
procedure for temporary asylum was hindered by the lack of reception
facilities for groups of interdicted migrants, potentially including
asylum seekers, and a lack of interpreters to assist security
officials.
On January 27, the Government introduced amendments to the 1994
Asylum Regulation that eliminate a time limit for asylum seekers, as
well as the requirement to present a valid identity document. On June
22, the Government issued an Implementation Directive that provided
detailed guidance on the refugee status determination procedure and
established a framework for the provision of assistance to asylum-
seekers and refugees.
The UNHCR reported that it has been able to successfully intervene
in most cases where asylum seekers arrived in the country after
transiting through one or more other countries. In the past, the
Government routinely rejected applications by such asylum seekers,
claiming that they should have sought protection elsewhere.
Access by the UNHCR to persons in detention who wish to apply for
asylum, as well as to persons trying to seek asylum while they are at
the international areas of the country's airports, remained
problematic.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The constitution and law provides citizens with the right to change
their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in
practice through periodic, free, and fair elections based on universal
suffrage. However, the Government restricted the activities of a few
political parties and leaders.
Elections and Political Participation.--The 2002 parliamentary
elections were held under election laws that the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) found established a framework
for democratic elections in line with international standards; however,
the OSCE mission noted that several parties--notably the AKP, the
winner of the elections--faced judicial action aimed at closing them
down, and many candidates were also prohibited from running. The OSCE
reported that, while there were a substantial number of cases of
harassment reported by some political parties and by human rights
groups, the elections were generally free and fair.
Political parties and candidates could freely declare their
candidacy and stand for election. The high court of appeals chief
prosecutor could only seek to close political parties for
unconstitutional activities by bringing a case before the
Constitutional Court.
DEHAP reconstituted itself as the DTP early in the year;
nonetheless the Constitutional Court deliberations in the legal case
seeking DEHAP's closure on charges of separatism were ongoing at year's
end.
Court proceedings continued in the retrial of Leyla Zana, Hatip
Dicle, Orhan Dogan, and Selim Sadak, former members of parliament whose
April 2004 conviction on charges of being members of, or supporting,
the PKK was overturned in 2004 by the high court of appeals.
During the year police raided dozens of DTP (formerly DEHAP)
offices, particularly in the southeast, and detained hundreds of DTP
officials and members. Jandarma and police regularly harassed DTP
members through verbal threats, arbitrary detentions at rallies, and
detention at checkpoints. Security forces also regularly harassed
villagers they believed were sympathetic to DTP. Although security
forces released most detainees within a short period, many faced
trials, usually for supporting an illegal organization or inciting
separatism.
On June 10, Aydin Budak, the DTP mayor of Cizre, was sentenced to
one year and three months in prison, for partaking in ``separatist
propaganda.'' He stated in a speech that was aired on Roj TV that the
isolation of Abdullah Ocalan was something ``provocative.'' Cizre's
appeal of the verdict was pending at year's end.
On July 27, the Erzurum Second Heavy Penal Court convicted and
sentenced DTP Erzurum Provincial Chairman Bedri Firat to two years in
prison for allegedly issuing propaganda supporting the PKK in a speech
during Nevruz celebrations, by stating that Kurds were subject to
genocide and for praising Abdullah Ocalan. Firat's appeal of the
verdict was pending at year's end.
Former DEHAP Chairman and current DTP Vice Chairman Tuncer
Bakirhan, who had been the subject of over 60 investigations, had 25
court cases concerning freedom of expression pending against him at
year's end.
The trial continued in the case of 12 officials from the pro-
Kurdish party Hak-Par for distributing Kurdish-language invitations to
a March 2005 convention and speaking Kurdish during that convention.
The defendants maintained that speaking in Kurdish is legal under the
constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
There were 24 women in the 550-seat parliament. There was one
female minister in the 23-member cabinet.
Although the number was unknown, some minority groups were active
in political affairs. Many members of parliament and senior government
officials were Kurds.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Government corruption
remained a persistent problem.
On June 23, the Supreme Court dismissed corruption charges against
former prime minister Mesut Yilmaz and former state minister Gunes
Taner, for procedural, not substantive, reasons. The Supreme Court's
action had the same effect as formal acquittal.
The ruling AKP established an ad hoc parliamentary committee to
investigate corruption soon after coming to power in 2002. The
corruption committee made a number of recommendations, including
lifting parliamentary immunity and establishing a permanent
parliamentary anticorruption committee, none of which have been
adopted.
On February 7, an Ankara military court convicted former naval
forces commander Ilhami Erdil, on corruption charges involving military
tenders and expenditures for his official residence. The court
sentenced Erdil to three years in prison, a $35 dollar (50 lira) fine,
and confiscated two of his Istanbul apartments. The court sentenced
Deniz Halide Erdil and Sirin Melek Hekim to five months in prison for
their alleged complicity in the matter, but later converted the
sentence into a $418 (600 lira) fine for each. Similarly, the court
sentenced General Erdil's assistant Kayatunc to two years and 15 days
in prison, but converted the punishment to a $209 (300 lira) fine. The
court acquitted General Erdil's wife Fusun Erdile.
Opposition party members criticized the ruling AKP for refusing to
lift the immunity of AKP parliamentarians suspected of corruption and
other abuses.
The law provides for public access to government information;
however, the Government occasionally rejected applications on national
security and other grounds, and there were no opportunities to appeal.
HRF requests for information during the year were denied, and there was
no opportunity to appeal. The Press Council reported that it received
no complaints during the year from journalists regarding access to
government information.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups operated
in many regions but faced government obstruction and restrictive laws
regarding their operations, particularly in the southeast. Government
officials were generally not cooperative and responsive to their views.
The HRA had 34 branches nationwide and claimed a membership of
approximately 14,000. The HRF, established by the HRA, operated torture
rehabilitation centers in Ankara, Izmir, Istanbul, Diyarbakir, and
Adana and served as a clearinghouse for human rights information. Other
domestic NGOs included the Istanbul-based Helsinki Citizens Assembly,
the Ankara-based Turkish Democracy Foundation, the Turkish Medical
Association, human rights centers at a number of universities, and
Mazlum-Der.
Human rights organizations and monitors, as well as lawyers and
doctors involved in documenting human rights violations, continued to
face detention, prosecution, intimidation, harassment, and formal
closure orders for their legitimate activities. The HRA reported that
prosecutors opened dozens of cases against HRA branches during the
year. For example, on March 15, an Istanbul court sentenced HRA
Istanbul branch chief Eren Keskin to 10 months in prison for insulting
the military under Article 301 for comments he made during a 2002
speech in Germany. The court later reduced the punishment to a fine. On
November 23, a Bingol court sentenced HRA members Kiraz Bicici and
Ridvan Kizgin to five months for allegedly insulting the military and
police in a July 2003 press conference. The court later reduced the
punishment to a fine.
The Government generally cooperated with international governmental
organizations such as the CPT, the UNHCR, and the International
Organization for Migration (IOM); however, some international human
rights workers reported that the Government purposefully harassed them
or raised artificial bureaucratic obstacles to prevent their work.
Unlike the previous year, police did not harass or intimidate human
rights activists in the southeast after they met with foreign
diplomats.
On April 12, a HRW researcher conducting research in the southeast
was detained by authorities and subsequently deported. The researcher,
Jonathen Sugden, had been documenting abuses by police, jandarma, and
the village guards. Authorities claimed that Sugden did not have valid
authorization to be carrying out human rights work in the country;
however, HRW stated that Sugden was present in the country on a three-
month visa, which authorities had confirmed provided a legitimate basis
for him to carry out such research.
There were government-sponsored human rights councils in all 81
provinces and 850 subprovinces to serve as a forum for human rights
consultations among NGOs, professional organizations, and the
Government. The councils investigated complaints and, when deemed
appropriate, referred them to the prosecutor's office. However, many
councils failed to hold regular meetings or effectively fulfill their
duties. Human rights NGOs generally refused to participate on the
councils, maintaining that the councils lacked authority and were not
independent, in part because unelected governors and subgovernors
served as chairmen.
A Human Rights Presidency (HRP) under the Prime Ministry monitored
the implementation of legislation relating to human rights and
coordinated the work of various government agencies in the field of
human rights. The HRP did not have its own budget, and its resources
were limited. The Human Rights Advisory Board, which falls under the
HRP and was meant to serve as a link between government bodies and NGOs
on human rights issues and provide advice to government institutions,
did not meet during the year, despite a legal requirement that it
convene at least three times per year. Human rights observers noted
that the board became ineffective after its former chairman, Professor
Ibrahim Kaboglu, and the former subcommission chairman, Professor
Baskin Oran, were charged in May 2005 with ``inciting people to
hatred'' and ``openly belittling judicial organs,'' due to passages in
a 2004 report called ``Minorities and Cultural Rights.'' Kaboglu, Oran,
and numerous board members resigned in protest.
On May 10, the Ankara penal court acquitted Kaboglu and Oran,
reasoning that there had been no crime under the Penal Code. The case
was under appeal at year's end.
Other government human rights bodies include the High Human Rights
Board, an interministerial committee responsible for making
appointments to human rights posts; and a Human Rights Consultation
Board (HRCB), which serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas between
the Government and NGOs. NGOs found these bodies to be of limited
effectiveness.
In March six NGOs--the Society of Forensic Medicine Specialists,
the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association, the Turkish Medical
Association, the Turkish Human Rights Institution Foundation, the Human
Rights Foundation, and the Public Administration Institute for Turkey
and the Middle East--announced that they were withdrawing from the HRCB
because of government interference with the body.
The parliamentary Human Rights Committee, which has a mandate to
oversee compliance with the human rights provisions of domestic law and
international agreements, investigated alleged abuses, prepared
reports, and carried out detention center inspections. Human rights
organizations considered the committee to be ineffective.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, religion,
disability, language, or social status; however, problems with
implementing these laws existed. The Government and NGOs focused on
eliminating societal violence and discrimination against women and
minorities, as well as trafficking, but problems continued to exist.
Women.--Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a
serious and widespread problem. The law prohibits violence against
women, including spousal abuse. The Government did not effectively
enforce the law; however, the interior ministry and Prime Ministry
issued circulars during the year instructing relevant departments to
better enforce these laws. Domestic human rights organizations reported
that these measures were partially effective; more women called the
police emergency hotline for domestic violence and went to police
stations to file abuse reports.
Women's NGOs reported that more than 150,000 women were victims of
domestic violence between 2001-2005.
The law prohibits rape, including spousal rape; however, the
Government did not effectively enforce the law. Victims often waited
days or weeks to report incidents, for fear of embarrassment or
reprisals, which hindered the possibility of effective prosecution of
assailants. Experts worked during the year to convince the Government
to accept psychiatric victim reports as alternative forms of evidence.
Cases of rape were underreported.
The Government's Institution for Social Services and Orphanages
operated 17 shelters for female victims of domestic violence and rape
with a total capacity of 325. Municipalities and NGOs also operated 13
shelters. Under legislation adopted in July 2005, municipalities with
populations greater than 50,000 were required to establish shelters for
women. Only the Duzce Municipality opened a new women's shelter during
the year.
The Government undertook a major campaign during the year to end
the practice of honor killings--the killing by immediate family members
of women suspected of being unchaste; however, the practice remained a
problem. The Government reported that there were 1,806 honor killings
between 2001 and 2006. During the same period, 5,375 women committed
suicide. After the Government increased penalties for honor killings,
family members increasingly pressured girls to kill themselves in order
to preserve the family's honor, according to women's rights groups.
Broaching the formerly taboo topic, Prime Minister Erdogan condemned
the practice of honor killings at the Organization of the Islamic
Conference in November. In July the Prime Ministry issued to all
ministries and provincial governments a circular that reminded each
government institution of its responsibility to prevent domestic
violence, including honor killings. In December the interior ministry
issued a circular to provincial governors instructing them to form
special committees to prevent honor killings. Turkish imams joined pop
music stars and soccer celebrities to produce television and billboard
ads declaring honor killing a sin and condemning all forms of violence
against women. The State Ministry for Women began a prevention of
violence against women educational program for all soldiers doing their
mandatory military service. Government officials worked with advocacy
groups such as KA-MER, the leading women's organization in the
southeast, to hold town hall meetings and set up rescue teams and
hotlines for endangered women and girls. Under the Penal Code, honor
killings require punishment of life imprisonment. Women's rights groups
reported that there remained dozens of such killings every year, mainly
in conservative Kurdish families in the southeast or among migrants
from the southeast living in large cities. Because of sentence
reductions for juvenile offenders, observers noted that young male
relatives often were designated to perform the killing.
On October 27, Turkish press reported that 15-year-old Naile Erdas
from the southeastern city of Van was killed by her family when she
gave birth to a child conceived during a rape. The girl, who hid her
pregnancy, reportedly begged doctors at a state hospital where she gave
birth not to return her to her family, fearing that she would be killed
in accordance with the local tradition demanding her family's honor be
cleansed. Doctors informed state authorities, but the prosecutor
nevertheless handed the young woman over to her family, which, as Naile
feared, killed her. At year's end, Naile's uncles and father were under
arrest for making the decision to kill her, while her brother, the
suspected killer, remained at large.
On November 25, Dumlu Ozcelik was sentenced to life in prison by
the Fourth Bursa High Criminal Court, for killing his daughter Huri
Ozcelik in July. Huri left her husband and took her two children to
Ankara, allegedly with another man. Dumlu tracked down his daughter
Huri, brought her back to his home in Bursa, and shot her six times in
front of her children. Dumlu's sons Ensar and Karen were acquitted by
the same court for involvement in the murder.
In mid-December the Bursa Gunyuzu Women's Solidarity Cooperative
brought suit against the Bursa Greater Municipality and the Osmangazi
district for failing to properly implement laws enacted to end the
practice of honor killings. The suit was pending at year's end.
In March 2005 a 15-year-old girl in Diyarbakir was allegedly raped
by her father-in-law who, she claimed, demanded that she prostitute
herself in order to earn money. When she refused, relatives allegedly
attacked her and cut off her nose. Police arrested her father-in-law
and three brothers-in-law; however, amid family pressure, the victim
withdrew her complaint in September, and prosecutors dropped the case.
In March a trial court convicted a 14-year-old of murdering his
mother in May 2005, allegedly for disgracing the family when she
discussed being beaten by her husband on a television show. The court
sentenced him to 10 years in prison and acquitted the father and
stepson of involvement in the crime. The verdict was being appealed at
year's end.
The appeal of the 2004 conviction by a Sanliurfa court of nine
relatives of Emine Kizilkurt continued at year's end. The relatives
were sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the murder of
Kizilkurt, who was 14, after she was raped by a neighbor.
In 2005 Dicle University in Diyarbakir conducted a survey on honor
killings during the year. The university polled 430 persons in the
southeast; 78 percent of those surveyed were men. The survey revealed
that 37.4 percent of the respondents believed honor killings were
justified if a wife committed adultery, and 21.6 percent believed
infidelity justified punishments such as cutting off a wife's ear or
nose.
Prostitution is legal. Trafficking in women was a problem (see
section 5, Trafficking).
The law prohibits sexual harassment; however the Penal Code
contains inconsistent provisions. Article 94, titled ``torture,''
requires 10-15 years imprisonment for sexual harassment, while Article
105, titled ``sexual harassment,'' requires three months to two years,
plus a fine, and requires the victim to initiate the complaint. Women's
rights activists maintained that sexual harassment was common, and the
law was rarely enforced.
Under the law, women enjoy the same rights as men; however,
societal and official discrimination were widespread.
The Directorate General on the Status and Problems of Women, under
the State Ministry in Charge of Family Affairs, is responsible for
promoting equal rights and raising awareness of discrimination against
women.
Women continued to face discrimination in employment to varying
degrees and were generally underrepresented in managerial-level
positions as well as in government. Women generally received equal pay
for equal work in professional, business, and civil service positions,
although a large percentage of women employed in agriculture and in the
retail, restaurant, and hotel sectors worked as unpaid family labor.
Children.--The Government was committed to furthering children's
welfare and worked to expand opportunities in education and health.
Government-provided education through age 14 or the eighth grade
was free, universal, and compulsory. The World Bank reported that gross
enrollment for grades one to eight was 96 percent, while net enrollment
for those grades was 90 percent. The maximum age to which public
schooling was provided was 18. Only 40 percent of children have a high-
school diploma, according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development. One in 10 girls does not attend compulsory primary school.
Child abuse was a problem. There were a significant number of honor
killings of girls by immediate family members, sometimes by juvenile
male relatives (see section 5, Women). In October 2005 police arrested
five employees of the Malatya state orphanage in connection with an
investigation into the alleged torture and abuse of children at the
institution (see section 1.c.).
Child marriage occurred, particularly in rural, poverty-stricken
regions; however, women's rights activists claimed that underage
marriage has become less common in the country in recent years.
Children as young as 12 were at times married in unofficial
religious ceremonies. Families in rare instances engaged in ``cradle
arrangements,'' agreeing that their newborn children would marry at a
later date, well before reaching the legal age.
Trafficking in children was a problem (see section 5, Trafficking).
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were reports of trafficking in women and children to and
within the country for the purpose of sexual exploitation and
occasionally labor. There were allegations that police corruption at
all levels contributed to the trafficking problem.
The country was a destination and source for trafficked persons.
The Government identified 246 trafficking victims during the year.
Young women seeking employment, particularly from Moldova, Ukraine,
Belarus, and Russia, were at the greatest risk of being trafficked into
the country. The most identified foreign victims were trafficked for
sexual exploitation and were found in Istanbul, Ankara, and Antalya,
although victims were identified in cities all around the country.
There were media reports of Turks being trafficked internally and,
according to NGOs working in the field, the number of women trafficked
internally for sexual exploitation was increasing.
Most trafficking activity within the country occurred in Istanbul,
Antalya, Ankara, Mersin, and Trabzon. For example, in December a 13-
year-old runaway girl was rescued by police after being held captive by
traffickers in Trabzon and being forced into prostitution. Police
arrested three suspects. The case was pending at year's end.
The case of a 14-year-old girl who in September 2005 was held
captive in Antalya and forced to have sexual relations with numerous
men was pending at year's end.
Foreign victims trafficked to the country were typically recruited
by small networks of foreign nationals and Turkish citizens, who relied
on referrals and recruitment from friends and family members in the
source country. Some victims answered newspaper advertisements or
enlisted the help of job agencies in the source country. The victims
often did not know where they were going or which airlines they were
using. Some victims reportedly arrived in the country knowing that they
would work illegally in the sex industry; however, most arrived
believing they would work as models, waitresses, dancers, domestic
servants, or in other regular employment. Traffickers typically
confiscated victims' documents, then confined, raped, beat, starved,
and intimidated them by threatening their families and ultimately
forced them into prostitution.
Some trafficking cases involved children. For example, a 16-year-
old girl in Istanbul said she had been forced into prostitution since
she was 8 years old, first by her family and then by a series of
traffickers. A youth center in Istanbul allegedly neglected to help
these girls despite awareness of the activity.
A 20-year-old Moldovan woman recounted a common trafficking
scenario. She was promised work as a restaurant waitress by a close
friend. Upon arrival in the country, her friend abandoned her at a
hotel. An Azerbaijani woman arrived and told her she had been sold for
$3,000 and would have to pay back the money over five months of
prostitution. She worked with four other girls at the same hotel.
Clients beat her regularly. She was forced to service 15 clients per
day, often without protection. She became pregnant. Police rescued the
victim and six other women after she called the trafficking hotline
from a client's mobile phone. All were identified as victims of
trafficking and received shelter and assistance.
The law punishes trafficking with prison terms ranging from eight
to 12 years' imprisonment in addition to heavy fines. The 2005 Penal
Code specifically addresses trafficking as a crime. However,
prosecutors have mostly tended to use other articles that regulate
prostitution, rather than the new law on trafficking, which has so far
rendered the new law nearly ineffective. In December parliament passed
two amendments to the Penal Code that addressed this problem by
removing forced prostitution from the article regulating prostitution
and adding it explicitly to the antitrafficking article. The amendments
were signed into law by the President in December. The Government
reported that prosecutors opened 26 new cases against alleged
traffickers through June. Courts convicted 22 defendants and acquitted
54 on trafficking charges during that period. Several cases were
ongoing at year's end.
An ambassador-level Ministry of Foreign Affairs official serves as
national coordinator for the Government's Task Force on Human
Trafficking, which is composed of representatives from the ministries
of health, interior, justice, finance, and labor, among others. The
Government actively participated in international antitrafficking
investigations. During the year the Government implemented agreements
with neighboring countries and regional groups providing for
antitrafficking law enforcement cooperation.
Source country officials reported that central government offices
provided information on trafficking matters in a somewhat timely
manner, but dealings with offices outside Ankara were slow and
difficult.
There were credible reports that the Government continued its
practice of processing trafficking cases as voluntary prostitution and
illegal migration. The IOM reported that it assisted 191 trafficking
victims who departed voluntarily. The national police identified 246
trafficking victims, all of whom departed voluntarily.
Four police and 10 jandarma officials were arrested during the year
for either ignoring or facilitating trafficking in persons.
There were two shelters for trafficking victims, both operated by
NGOs, in the country.
The health and justice ministries provided free medical and legal
services to foreign victims choosing to remain in the country.
The IOM and national police reported that the Ministry of Interior
issued 35 humanitarian visas since 2004. The Government did not have a
repatriation program for victims.
During the year the Government, in cooperation with the IOM,
continued a multicountry trafficking in persons' prevention and public
awareness campaign, begun in May 2005, that included operation of a
toll-free hotline for victims; television commercials; posters and
billboards in major airports and seaports; information at passport
control booths for the targeted group of women; and a periodical
distributed by consulates advertising the hotline in Turkish, Romanian,
Russian, and English. The Jandarma published a guidebook on the fight
against trafficking in persons to educate its officers on detecting
human trafficking crimes. In June the directorate of Women's Status and
Children's Affairs organized a meeting to coordinate regional efforts
against trafficking that included government and nongovernmental
representatives from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Russia.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services and the
Government generally enforced the law effectively. The law does not
mandate access to buildings and public transportation for persons with
disabilities. The Presidency Administration for Disabled People, under
the Prime Ministry, is responsible for protecting the rights of persons
with disabilities.
The NGO Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) announced
that use of electroconvulsive or ``shock'' treatment without anesthesia
was abolished but that there remains no legal ban on the practice. In
September 2005 MDRI released a report stating that people with mental
disabilities in the country were subject to treatment ``tantamount to
torture.'' The international NGO, which conducted a two-year study in
the country, claimed the country lacked community-based support for
mental patients and offered no alternative to state institutions where
the mentally disabled were held separately from society in ``prison-
like incarceration.'' Specific abuses listed in the report included:
mental patients committed to psychiatric hospitals without judicial
review; excessive use of electroconvulsive shock treatment without
anesthesia; use of shock treatment on young children; malnutrition and
dehydration of patients; lack of rehabilitation and physical therapy;
and excessive use of physical restraints, including children tied to
beds for extended periods.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--The law provides a single
nationality designation for all citizens and does not recognize ethnic
groups as national, racial, or ethnic minorities. Citizens of Kurdish
origin constituted a large ethnic and linguistic group. Millions of the
country's citizens identified themselves as Kurds and spoke Kurdish.
Kurds who publicly or politically asserted their Kurdish identity or
publicly espoused using Kurdish in the public domain risked censure,
harassment, or prosecution (see sections 2.a. and 2.b.).
The Government maintained significant restrictions on the use of
Kurdish and other ethnic minority languages in radio and television
broadcasts and in publications (see section 2.a.).
The Ministry of Education did not respond to the HRA's 2005 letter
requesting that it remove the book On This Path from of its reading
curriculum list. The HRA protested that the book had racist statements
about Armenians, including, ``Are you human, you Armenian?'' At year's
end the HRA was not able to confirm whether the ministry removed the
book.
A number of private Kurdish language courses closed during the
year, citing a lack of students. Kurdish rights advocates said many
Kurds could not afford to enroll in private classes. They also
maintained that many potential applicants were intimidated because
authorities required those enrolling in the courses to provide
extensive documents, including police records that were not required
for other courses. They maintained that the requirements intimidated
prospective applicants, who feared police were keeping records on
students taking the courses.
The International Romani Studies Network (IRSN) reported that Roma
faced significant discrimination, and the national media consistently
portrayed them in ways that supported negative stereotypes. IRSN
reported that Roma were more consistently undereducated and
underemployed, suffered much higher levels of ill-health, higher
incidences of discrimination based on ethnicity, and had poorer housing
than any other group in the country. The Roma have organized 18
associations and two federations in 12 provinces with the purpose of
combating these problems, developing Romani culture, and improving the
self-image of Romani youth.
According to the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), a family of
Roma in the central eastern city of Afyon faced mob violence on April
29, after a court released two Romani youths who had been arrested for
alleged abuse of female students. The ERRC reported that the school
director confronted the two Roma in a bazaar, and along with vendors
burned the Romanis' car. After the Romani youths fled to their home, a
crowd gathered and began to beat the Roma present. When the Roma fled
to another house, the crowd followed and burned the house and several
other Romani houses. Police again took the two Romani youths into
custody. No one had been arrested for the reported attacks at year's
end.
Urban development projects in several cities have adversely
affected some Turkish citizens, including Roma. For example, according
to the ERRC, on July 13 municipal authorities in the Fatih District of
Istanbul signed an agreement with the Turkish Public Housing
Administration to immediately demolish 529 apartments in a
predominantly Romani neighborhood. Roma community members stated that
they were never informed of the decision, which they learned of from
television news reports. The families reportedly have not been offered
compensation or assistance and cannot afford to buy new houses.
The law states that ``nomadic Gypsies'' are among the four
categories of people not admissible as immigrants.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--While the law does not
explicitly discriminate against homosexuals, representatives of the gay
and lesbian rights organizations Lambda Istanbul and Kaos GL claimed
that vague references in the law relating to ``the morals of society''
and ``unnatural sexual behavior'' were sometimes used to punish
homosexuality. During the summer the Ankara governor ordered the
confiscation of Kaos's quarterly magazine that included a one-page
article that explored societal conceptions of ``intimacy'' and
``pornography.'' On December 28, a prosecutor opened a case against
Umut Gurel, the magazine's editor, alleging that the issue was
``harmful to children.'' Gurel faces up to three years in prison. Gay
and lesbian rights activists maintained that homosexuals risked losing
their jobs if they disclosed their sexual orientation and said the law
did not protect their rights in such circumstances.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides most but not all
workers with the right to associate and form unions subject to diverse
restrictions; most workers exercised this right in practice. The
Government maintains a few restrictions on the right of association.
Unions may be established by a minimum of seven persons without prior
permission. There are no restrictions on membership or participation of
individuals or unions in regional, national, or international labor
organizations, but such participation must be reported to the
Government. Labor law prohibits union leaders from becoming members of
political parties, from working for or being involved in the operation
of any profit-making enterprise, and from displaying any political
party logos or symbols on any union or confederation publications.
Unions are required to obtain official permission to hold meetings or
rallies and to allow government representatives to attend their
conventions and record the proceedings; these requirements were usually
enforced. Approximately 20 percent of the wage and salary workers in
the labor force were unionized.
The appeal of the Government's closure of the teachers' union
Egitim-Sen on grounds that the union's bylaw violated the constitution
by advocating the right of individuals to receive education in their
``mother tongue'' remained pending with ECHR at year's end; however,
Egitim-Sen removed the controversial article from the bylaws, so the
teachers' union was able to remain open.
The law prohibits antiunion discrimination; however, such
discrimination occurred occasionally in practice. If a court rules that
a worker has been unfairly dismissed and should either be reinstated or
be compensated, the employer will generally pay compensation to the
employee along with a fine.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law and
diverse government restrictions and interference limited the ability of
unions to conduct their activities, including collective bargaining.
Industrial workers and some public sector employees, excluding white-
collar civil servants and security personnel, have the right to bargain
collectively, and approximately 1.3 million workers, or 5.4 percent of
the workforce, were under collective bargaining agreements. The law
requires that, in order to become a bargaining agent, a union must
represent 50 percent plus one of the employees at a given work site and
10 percent of all the workers in that particular industry. This
requirement favored established unions. The International Trade Union
Confederation claimed that the law resulted in workers in many sectors
not being covered by collective agreements.
The law provides for the right to strike; however, the law requires
a union to take a series of steps, including negotiations and
nonbinding mediation, before calling a strike. The law prohibits unions
from engaging in secondary (solidarity), political, or general
strikes--strikes involving multiple unions over a large geographical
area--or in work slowdowns. In sectors in which strikes are prohibited,
labor disputes were resolved through binding arbitration.
The law prohibits strikes by civil servants, public workers engaged
in the safeguarding of life and property, workers in the coal mining
and petroleum industries, sanitation services, national defense,
banking, and education; however, many workers in these sectors
conducted strikes in violation of these restrictions with general
impunity. The majority of strikes during the year were illegal
according to law; while some illegal strikers were dismissed, in most
cases employers did not retaliate.
There are no special laws or exemptions from regular labor laws in
the country's 21 free trade and export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
Some parents forced their children to work on the streets and to
beg (see section 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--
There are laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace;
however, the Government did not effectively implement these laws. The
use of child labor was particularly notable in agriculture, carpentry,
the shoemaking and leather goods industry, the auto repair industry,
small-scale manufacturing, and street sales. The law prohibits the
employment of children younger than 15 and prohibits children under 16
from working more than eight hours a day. At age 15 children may engage
in light work provided they remain in school. The law provides that no
person shall be required to perform work unsuitable for their age,
gender, or capabilities, and the Government prohibits children from
working at night or in areas such as underground mining. The law
prohibits children attending school from working more than two hours
per day or 10 hours per week.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security effectively enforced
these restrictions in workplaces that were covered by the labor law,
which included medium and large-scale industrial and service sector
enterprises. A number of sectors are not covered by the law, including
small-scale agricultural enterprises employing 50 or fewer workers,
maritime and air transportation, family handicraft businesses, and
small shops employing up to three persons.
Nonetheless, child labor was widespread. The State Statistical
Institute reported that the number of child laborers between the ages
of 12 and 17 dropped from 948,000 in 2003 to 764,000 in 2004; however,
the institute stopped collecting specific data on child laborers
thereafter and some observers continued to claim that there were no
reliable statistics in this field and that the actual number of working
children was rising.
An informal system provided work for young boys at low wages, for
example, in auto repair shops. Girls rarely were seen working in
public, but many were kept out of school to work in handicrafts,
particularly in rural areas. According to the labor and social security
ministry, more than half of child labor occurred in the agricultural
sector. However, observers maintained that the bulk of child labor had
shifted to urban areas as rural families migrated to cities. Many
children worked in areas not covered by labor laws, such as
agricultural workplaces with fewer than 50 workers or the informal
economy. To combat this ongoing problem, the Ministry of National
Education conducted a program in cooperation with the UN Children's
Fund called Let Us Send Girls To School, which was designed to provide
primary education for at-risk girls. By year's end the program
benefited nearly 250,000 school-age girls.
Small enterprises preferred child labor because it was cheaper and
provided practical training for the children, who subsequently had
preference for future employment in the enterprise. If children
employed in these businesses were registered with a Ministry of
National Education training center, they were required to go to the
center once a week for training, and the centers were obliged by law to
inspect their workplaces. According to data provided by the ministry,
there were 300 centers located in 81 cities; these centers provided
apprenticeship training in 133 occupations. The Government identified
the worst forms of child labor as children working in the streets, in
industrial sectors where their health and safety were at risk, and as
agricultural migrant workers.
Children were trafficked for sexual exploitation (see section 5).
There were no reliable statistics for the number of children
working on the streets nationwide. The Government's Social Services and
Child Protection Institution operated 44 centers to assist such
children.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage of
approximately $360 (531 lira) per month did not provide a decent
standard of living for a worker and family. All workers covered by the
labor law are also covered by the law establishing a national minimum
wage. This law was effectively enforced by the Ministry of Labor
Inspection Board.
The law establishes a 45-hour workweek with a weekly rest day, and
limits overtime to three hours per day for up to 90 days a year.
Premium pay for overtime is mandated but the law allows for employers
and employees to agree to a flextime schedule. The Labor Inspectorate
of the Ministry of Labor effectively enforced wage and hour provisions
in the unionized industrial, service, and government sectors, which
covered approximately 12 percent of workers. Workers in other sectors
had difficulty receiving overtime pay, although by law they were
entitled to it.
The law mandates occupational health and safety regulations;
however, in practice the Government's Ministry of Labor Inspection
Board did not carry out effective inspection and enforcement programs.
Workers have the right to remove themselves from situations that
endangered health or safety without jeopardy to their employment,
although reports of them doing so were rare. Authorities effectively
enforced this right.
__________
UKRAINE
Ukraine, which has a population of slightly less than 47 million,
is a republic with a mixed Presidential and parliamentary system,
governed by a directly elected President and a unicameral Verkhovna
Rada (parliament) that selects a prime minister. Verkhovna Rada
elections were held on March 26. According to international observers,
fundamental civil and political rights were respected during the
campaign, enabling voters to freely express their opinions. The
opposition Party of Regions won a plurality of the vote, formed a
ruling coalition, and established a government. Civilian authorities
generally maintained effective control of the security forces.
Problems with the police and the penal system remained some of the
most serious human rights concerns. Problems included torture in
pretrial detention facilities; wrongful confinement in psychiatric
hospitals; harsh conditions in prisons and pretrial detention
facilities; and arbitrary and lengthy pretrial detention. There was
also continued violent hazing of conscripts and government monitoring
of private communications and movements of individuals without judicial
oversight. Slow restitution of religious property continued. There was
societal violence against Jews and anti-Semitic publications were a
problem. There were serious incidents of refoulement--the forcible
return of persons to a country where they feared persecution. Refugees
were abused at detention facilities. Serious corruption in all branches
of government and the military services also continued. Trends of
violence and discrimination against children and women, including
sexual harassment in the workplace and trafficking in persons remained
concerns. Frequent police and societal harassment of minorities,
particularly Roma and dark-skinned persons, remained a problem.
Violence against dark-skinned persons was a growing problem in the last
half of the year. Inadequate labor legislation permitted both
government and companies to limit the ability of workers to form and
join unions of their choice and to bargain collectively.
During the year the Government made several improvements in its
human rights performance. The elections for the Verkhovna Rada in March
were the freest in the country's 15 years of independence and the media
continued to consolidate post-Orange Revolution gains in freedom of
speech and expression.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--Unlike in previous
years, there were no reports that the Government or its agents
committed politically motivated killings.
During the year politicians, politically active businessmen, and
journalists were the victims of sometimes fatal attacks that may have
been politically motivated; however, business, government, and criminal
activities were intertwined to such an extent that it was often
difficult to determine the motives. For example, on August 20, the body
of Roman Yerokhin, the former deputy head of the Ministry of Internal
Affairs' organized crime directorate in Donetsk, was found in the Kyiv
region almost a month after he disappeared. Minister of Internal
Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko stated publicly that Yerokhin had been
investigating economic crimes, in particular foreign currency exchange
centers involved in money laundering, and that unnamed members of the
Verkhovna Rada were involved in his disappearance. Head of the anti-
corruption fund and businessman Borys Penchuk alleged that Yerokhin had
been engaged in criminal activity himself.
There were no developments in the criminal case opened in July 2005
against police officers in Zhytomyr, who beat to death an unidentified
36-year-old man while he was detained on charges of petty hooliganism.
The media reported that the Zhytomyr regional prosecutor called the
incident ``deliberately inflicting injury on a person'' and ``exceeding
authority.'' There were no arrests or other developments in a September
2005 incident in which police in Kherson beat to death a suspected
thief.
There were no developments in the investigation into the death of
21 year-old Armen Melkonyan, whom police beat to death in a Kharkiv
pretrial detention center in December 2005.
In December 2005 court proceedings began against twelve alleged
members (seven of whom are in custody) of the ``werewolves,'' a gang of
rogue officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who had been
involved in previous years in killings and kidnappings connected to
organized crime. As reported in the Segodnia newspaper, the accused
are: Vasyl Haidai, Volodymyr Lysenko, Serhiy Kiselevych, Oleh Sverdlov,
Valeriy Melnykov, Pavlo Keppel, Vladyslav Dubovoi, Yuriy Nesterov,
Anatoliy Mocharniy, Oleksandr Harkushin, and Ruslan Rozhniatynskiy. In
June the Institute for Mass Information reported that one of the
defendants in the case was involved in the 2001 killings of Oleksandr
Skliar, a driver at the Verkhovna Rada, and Pavlo Poteriaiko, a senior
officer at the State Security Agency. No verdict was reached by the end
of the year.
On July 7, the Luhansk court of Appeals sentenced five people--
Oleksandr Rybak, Dmytro Rybak, Oleksandr Onyshko, Ruslan Tursunov, and
Serhiy Korytskiy--to between two and 15 years in prison for their
involvement in the 2001 killing of Ihor Aleksandrov, the director of a
television station in the Donetsk Region. Aleksandrov's family received
financial compensation in the amount of $80,000 (400,000 hryvnia). The
killing of Aleksandrov, who had aired a number of critical reports
about Donetsk-based politicians and was a noted critic of corruption
within local law enforcement organizations, was attributed to his
professional activities.
On January 9, the Kyiv court of Appeals started hearings in the
unresolved 2000 killing of prominent journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, whose
decapitated body was identified in November 2000 after his
disappearance two months earlier. The court was expected to rule in the
case of the three defendants, two of whom were senior police officers,
in 2007. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
observer who attended the proceedings stated that PACE was not
satisfied with the investigation of the journalist's killing,
particularly, in determining who ordered the killing. In 2005 the
prosecutor general's office issued an international arrest warrant for
a fourth senior police official, former General Oleksiy Pukach, who had
fled the country. In January First Deputy Interior Minister Oleksander
Bondarenko stated that Pukach was still at large and probably hiding in
Russia or Israel.
On August 23, President Yushchenko ordered a new inquiry into the
death of the famous nationalist and Ukrainian People's Movement leader
Vyacheslav Chornovil, who died in a car crash in the Kyiv region in
1999. A number of politicians claimed at the time that the accident was
suspicious. However, the official investigation indicated that the
crash was an accident. On September 7, Minister of Internal Affairs
Lutsenko stated to the media that documents from the investigation
proved that Chornovil's death was not accidental.
Human rights groups asserted that soldiers continued to kill other
soldiers during violent hazing events, and military officials
acknowledged that there have been hazing deaths but provided
conflicting information as to how many occurred in 2006. (see section
1.c.).
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--While the Constitution and the law prohibit such
practices, police frequently employed severe violence against persons
in custody.
According to Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch, and
the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, law enforcement officials
competing to solve criminal cases used force and ill-treatment
routinely and with impunity to extract confessions and information from
detainees. Police officers were often not adequately trained or
equipped to gather evidence and were expected to meet ambitious quotas
for solved cases, and therefore depended on confessions to solve
crimes. In addition, an ineffective system for investigating
allegations of abuse and detainees' lack of access to defense lawyers
and doctors did little to check this practice.
There were multiple and credible reports from human rights
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and diplomats that authorities
regularly abused refugees during the year at refugee detention centers
in Zakarpattya Region, which borders European Union (EU) member states
Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary (see section 2.d.).
During the year authorities continued efforts to prosecute police
officers who abused persons in detention. The Ministry of Interior
confirmed 385 cases of police officers violating the rights of
detainees, including 23 torture cases, 152 cases of bodily injury and
other types of violence, and 57 cases of unlawful detention during the
first ten months of 2006. According to the Ministry of Interior, 359
police officers were subject to disciplinary measures.
In July a Kyiv court sentenced police sergeant Viktor Sych to four
years in prison for wounding a political activist putting up campaign
leaflets at night in March. The police officer mistook him for a car
thief, which the court termed ``negligence while in service.''
Also in July the Dnipropetrovsk prosecutor's office detained two
police officers for reportedly torturing a 17-year-old detainee charged
with theft and burglary.
On August 23, the Poltava Region court of Appeal sentenced
Volodymyr Shabliy, a former member of the region department on fighting
organized crime, to eight years in prison for torturing people accused
of crimes to obtain their confession. Four of his colleagues are wanted
by the police and are still at large.
At year's end, the investigation was continuing into the September
2004 poisoning of then-opposition Presidential candidate Viktor
Yushchenko. President Yushchenko told reporters on December 14 that
there was enough information to arrest those involved, though some were
not in the country; he also questioned whether the prosecutor general's
office would move forward with the case.
In June the Desnianskiy District court in Chernihiv gave police
colonel Ivan Kochubei, former first deputy chief of the Chernihiv
Region Police, a five-year suspended sentence for sanctioning the use
of force against demonstrators who protested against electoral fraud in
Chernihiv in November 2004.
The Government did not respond to repeated calls by AI for a
thorough independent investigation into an alleged case of torture of
Ihor Tymchuk in a pretrial detention center in Ivano-Frankivsk, despite
a number of letters sent to then prosecutor general Piskun and
President Yushchenko in 2005. High-ranking police officers allegedly
tortured and beat the detainee over the course of two months in 2002 to
force him to confess to a murder he said he did not commit. He was
sentenced to life in prison in 2004.
The law prohibits the abuse of psychiatry for political and other
non-medical reasons and provides safeguards against such abuse, but on
a few occasions, according to human rights groups, persons involved in
property, inheritance, or divorce disputes were diagnosed wrongfully
with schizophrenia and were confined to psychiatric institutions.
Persons diagnosed with mental illness risked being confined and treated
by force, declared not responsible for their actions, and stripped of
their civil rights and property without being present at the hearings
or notified of the ruling. During the year, three NGOs supporting
people with disabilities monitored the rights of the mentally ill in
psychiatric hospitals. The NGOs found widespread violations including
failure to inform persons who were voluntarily hospitalized of the
overall duration of their stay; failure to inform patients of their
diagnosis or what medications they were given; lack of knowledge
concerning patients' rights in psychiatric hospitals; humiliation by
the hospital staff; and violation of patients' rights to free medical
assistance.
According to the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association, the Ministry of
Health did not always cooperate with human rights groups attempting to
monitor abuse of psychiatry.
Despite extensive laws to protect the rights of service members and
the existence of regulations governing relationships among military
personnel, reports continued during the year of violence against
conscripts in the armed forces. Senior conscripts frequently beat
recruits, forced them to give up money and gifts they received from
home, and made junior conscripts work in their place, a practice known
as ``didivshchyna.'' Senior military and government officials have
given conflicting information regarding the number of military hazing
cases in 2006. In November Colonel-General Serhiy Kyrychenko, Chief of
Land Forces, stated that there were 148 criminal cases initiated in
2006 for hazing and violence and 18 soldiers were victims of hazing.
According to Minister of Defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko, by September 83
``didivshchyna'' criminal cases had already been initiated, compared to
a total of 98 in 2005. However, he also noted that not all incidents of
soldier-on-soldier violence were recorded.
On November 27, Oleksandr Rybka died following a beating by two
fellow soldiers the day after he reported to a training base in
Chernihiv Oblast. According to his relatives, Rybka called home on
November 26 saying that two sergeants had demanded money. Prosecutor
General Oleksandr Medvedko stated that military prosecutors had
initiated a criminal case. For the first time in recent history,
military officials immediately acknowledged the death of a military
member as the result of hazing. Defense Minister Hrytsenko, who took
the investigation under his personal control, stated that this was a
hazing death and added that it was the first to occur in two years.
The Association of Soldiers' Mothers (ASM) reported that violent
hazing continued to be widespread. According to the military watchdog
group Mothers of Killed Soldiers, most deaths are labeled suicide or
accident without investigation. In 2005 there were nine suicides while
in service, 10 suicides outside regular service, and two soldiers were
killed by their fellow servicemen. According to the Kharkiv Human
Rights Protection Group, seven criminal cases of soldier-on-soldier
violence were initiated in the Kharkiv garrison in 2005.
According to the ASM, garrison prosecutors often did not
investigate complaints of hazing, accepted bribes not to press charges
against the perpetrators of such violence, or delayed the start of
trial proceedings until potential witnesses were discharged from the
military. Garrison prosecutors wrongfully confined soldiers who
complained about hazing to psychiatric hospitals, and punishment
administered for committing or condoning hazing was insufficient to
deter further abuses.
Police abused Roma and harassed and abused dark-skinned persons.
Representatives of these groups claimed that police officials routinely
ignored, and sometimes abetted, vigilante violence against them,
especially in Crimea (see section 5).
A number of journalists were subjected to physical reprisals that
may have been related to their professional work (see section 2.a.).
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Although prison conditions
remained poor, they continued to improve slowly as a result of reforms
in the penal system. Experts on prison medical conditions from the
Council of Europe stated in October that overcrowding remained a major
problem; however, prison officials reported that, due in part to the
decriminalization of many offenses and the increasing use of
alternative sentencing practices, there was a reduction in the number
of inmates in prison, which eased overcrowding.
In a release on the Kharkiv Human Rights Group website, the editor
of TV-Vhoru newspaper in Pivden reported on the experiences of a man in
Kherson who was sentenced to 15 days for ``minor hooliganism'' and who
was forced to pay $30 (150 hryvnia) for his stay in ``special prison
facilities.'' According to the prisoner, there were four people in his
cell, a bucket for the only toilet, the lights were dim, filthy
mattresses were not replaced for new prisoners, all print materials
were banned, and he did not receive food in the first 24 hours in his
cell.
There were five group suicide attempts in prisons and detention
centers. Human rights NGOs explained that these incidents resulted from
harsh treatment of prisoners by facility administrators: prisoners were
searched, beaten, and their food destroyed. In two instances, prisoners
ended up in solitary confinement or received longer sentences for the
suicide attempts.
Tuberculosis in prisons continued to be a concern, but officials
stated that mandatory screening of all new inmates for the disease had
reduced infection rates. The State Penal Department (SPD) reported that
the number of deaths caused by tuberculosis decreased by 27 percent
during the year. AI, however, reported in May that tuberculosis
remained widespread in the prison population. SPD officials stated that
inmates with tuberculosis were isolated from the general population and
treated at one main prison hospital complex in Kharkiv Region. Human
rights groups noted that only convicted criminals, and not persons in
pretrial detention, had access to specialized tuberculosis care. The
Dnipropetrovsk Human Rights Society reported that, in the 10 prison and
detention facilities they had monitored, TB patients were put in
overcrowded prison hospital wards with 54-104 beds per 60 square
meters, limited daylight, damp air, poor bathroom facilities, improper
and often expired food, and insufficient medicine.
Conditions in pretrial detention facilities were harsher than in
low and medium security prisons. On August 10, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs announced that over 200 of 500 the country's pretrial detention
centers had been brought into compliance with international standards.
Nevertheless, jails were sometimes overcrowded or lacked adequate
sanitation and medical facilities. There were reports that inmates in
pretrial facilities were sometimes held in investigative isolation for
extended periods and subjected to intimidation and mistreatment by jail
guards and other inmates. According to AI, 13 percent of pretrial
detention facilities were not equipped with water and sewage
installations and only one in four had enough natural light and beds.
During the year the Lviv region prosecutor's office initiated
criminal cases against the administrators of two pretrial detention
centers for abuse of power. One case was started in May after 27
prisoners cut themselves in protest against harsh prison conditions
that included administrators demanding bribes from prisoners, refusing
to feed them, and using excessive force.
On June 3, detainees in the Lukianivska pretrial detention center
in Kyiv threatened to cut themselves in protest of harsh conditions.
According to former detainees in the Lukianivska facility, detainees
are kept in inhuman conditions, forced to confess to crimes they had
nothing to do with, and often leave with severe illnesses.
The SPD and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in cooperation with
the NGO community and foreign governments, implemented a number of
professional development programs for prison and police officials, most
notably in Chernihiv Region and at the Lukianivska pretrial detention
facility in Kyiv. On August 3, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a new
policy for improving the conditions of detainees and prisoners in the
next four years, including the creation of a probation service.
The Government allowed prison visits by human rights observers but
observers reported difficulties in getting full access to prisons and
pretrial detention facilities in some cases. The Ukrainian Red Cross
Society said that it had no problems in all of its prison and pretrial
detention center access requests. However, domestic human rights
organizations, such as the Ukrainian-American Human Rights Bureau,
reported that the penal system had become more closed since the Orange
Revolution, lacked effective oversight, and access to prisons by
journalists and human rights activists was more limited. Prisoners and
detainees were permitted to file complaints with the ombudsman for
human rights about the conditions of detention, but human rights groups
reported that prisoners were sometimes punished for doing so.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The Constitution and the law
prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention; however, these remained
problems.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--The Ministry of
Internal Affairs is responsible for law enforcement and maintenance of
internal order, by both overseeing the police and maintaining its own
armed troops. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the internal
intelligence organization, reports directly to the President. The State
Tax Administration, which exercises law enforcement powers through the
tax police, is accountable both to the President and the cabinet. The
office of the prosecutor general prosecutes criminal cases and the
prosecutor general is appointed by the President. The law provides for
civilian control over the army and law enforcement agencies and
authorizes members of the Verkhovna Rada to conduct investigations,
including public hearings into national security and defense issues.
The legislation also broadened the authority of the human rights
ombudsman to initiate investigations into the activities of the armed
forces.
Police corruption remained a problem, although it received more
publicity during the year. Many citizens continued to encounter
corruption in their dealings with the traffic police, although the
media reported that there was greater public satisfaction with the
traffic police than in past years. A 2005 Presidential decree abolished
the traffic police department and turned it into the State Service for
Traffic Safety. However, the media reported that the traffic police
continued to function as in the past.
Authorities, including the minister of internal affairs, made
greater efforts to expose police abuses, for example taking
disciplinary action against a far greater number of law enforcement
authorities than in previous years. According to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, as of September, 297 police officers had been
dismissed for cause, 4,211 were subject to administrative disciplinary
actions, and 495 were under investigation. On August 13, a police
lieutenant in one of the local Kyiv departments was detained for
demanding a bribe of $1000 (5,000 hryvnia) in exchange for not
initiating a criminal investigation against a Kyiv resident accused of
stealing. In May the Odesa regional prosecutor opened a criminal case
against two investigators from the Odesa Regional Department of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs who had been charged with bribery and
extortion. However, impunity still remained a serious problem (see
section 1.c.).
Arrest and Detention.--By law the authorities may detain a suspect
for three days without a warrant, after which an arrest order must be
issued. The courts may extend detention without an arrest warrant for
an additional 10 days. Suspects who believe that further investigation
may lead to their immediate exoneration may petition the court for an
additional 15-day detention. The law permits citizens to contest an
arrest in court or appeal it to the prosecutor. The law requires that
officials notify family members immediately concerning an arrest,
although human rights NGOs noted that sometimes the police did not do
so.
The law stipulates that a defense attorney must be provided without
charge to an indigent detainee from the moment of detention or the
filing of charges, whichever comes first. However, in practice this
often did not occur, which legal observers said provided police with
time to coerce confessions. There were insufficient numbers of defense
attorneys to protect suspects from unlawful and lengthy detention under
extremely poor conditions. Moreover, attorneys often refused to defend
indigents for the low payments the Government provided. Access to a
defense attorney was essentially dependent on the social status and
financial resources of the accused.
The police arbitrarily detained persons, particularly dark-skinned
persons, for extensive document checks and vehicle inspections (see
sections 2.d. and 5).
Although the law provides for bail, it was rarely used; many
defendants could not pay the bail amounts imposed by law. Courts
sometimes imposed restrictions on travel outside a given area as an
alternative to pretrial confinement. However, they generally opted to
place individuals in pretrial detention facilities, a practice that
human rights observers criticized as costly and contributing to
overcrowding.
Lengthy pretrial detention remained a problem. While the law
provides that pretrial detention may not last more than two months, in
cases involving exceptionally grave offenses a judge of the Supreme
Court may extend detention to eighteen months. While the law requires a
trial to begin no later than three weeks after criminal charges have
been formally filed with the court, the overburdened court system
rarely met this requirement. Individuals remained in detention for
months or years before being brought to trial, and the situation did
not improve during the year (see section 1.e.) According to domestic
human rights organizations, the investigation process took four to five
months on average. In 2005, 1,250 of the 9,528 detainees released from
pretrial detention facilities following court rulings had spent over a
year in detention facilities waiting for trial. For example,
authorities kept Oleh Kapshuk and Ihor Zubenko in the Starobelsk
pretrial detention center for two years on robbery charges while the
court returned their cases four times for additional investigation.
After the detainees announced a hunger strike and their mothers sent
letters to the President, the Ministry of Justice, and general
prosecutor, their case went to trial in September.
Amnesty.--As of October President Yushchenko had issued 12 amnesty
decrees pardoning 1,018 people, including women, elderly men, persons
with disabilities, and persons with several children.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The Constitution and law provide
for an independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary remained
subject to various forms of pressure from the executive and legislative
branches. Pressure included political interference in the form of phone
calls to judges by government officials. In May the President issued a
decree for the improvement of the judiciary in order to ensure fair
trials in line with European standards. The decree sets out goals over
the next ten years to improve the impartiality, transparency, and
independence of the judiciary and acknowledges shortcomings including
incomplete procedural law, low salaries for judges, and ineffective
implementation of court judgments.
The judiciary also suffered from corruption and inefficiency.
There were indications that suspects often bribed court officials
to drop charges before cases went to trial or to lessen or commute
sentences. In October 2005 President Yushchenko stated that every
month, four to seven prosecutors and several judges were arraigned for
engaging in such corrupt conduct. For example, the media reported that
in April the head of a local court in Lviv region was detained while
soliciting a bribe. Another judge from Kherson was sentenced on
September 27 to three years in prison for falsifying documents and
helping local residents commit tax evasion.
Except for the Supreme Court, the courts were funded through the
Ministry of Justice, which controlled the organizational support of the
courts. The ministry's responsibilities included staffing courts,
training judges, logistics and procurement, and statistical and
information support. The judiciary lacked adequate staff and funds,
which contributed to inefficiency and corruption, and increased its
dependence on the executive branch. The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights
Union (UHHRU) estimated that the state budget provided only 48% of the
real needs of the judiciary, forcing the courts to either essentially
shut down in some cases or seek funds from other authorities, thereby
greatly undermining their independence. In September the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the country was failing to provide an
effective way to secure defendants' rights to a fair trial in a
reasonable length of time. The NGO Freedom House reported that, while
improvements to the functioning of the judicial branch had been
introduced after the Orange Revolution, there was no significant
progress in continuing these reforms during the year.
Failure to enforce court decisions in civil cases also undermined
the authority and independence of the judicial system. The UHHRU noted
that ECHR ruled in more than 80 cases in 2005 that the country had
violated the right to a fair trial by failing to execute court
decisions. The State Executive Service is responsible for enforcing
most civil decisions, and the number of cases referred to it continued
to grow. Existing provisions permitting criminal punishment for
noncompliance with court decisions were rarely used. The chairs of the
Supreme Court, the regional courts, and the Kyiv municipal court (or
their deputies) have the authority to suspend court decisions, which
provided additional opportunities for outside interference,
manipulation, and corruption.
The country has a civil law system relying on codes and separate
acts. The court system has constitutional courts and courts of general
jurisdiction. The general courts include courts designated by
administrative level (district, region, and supreme) and by
specialization. The Supreme Court is the highest court within the
general courts system. The Constitutional Court interprets the
Constitution and laws. Commercial courts were intended to operate as
specialized courts within the single unified system of courts. The
Supreme Court may review their judgments, including those rendered by
the High Commercial Court. Military courts are specialized courts that
hear only cases involving military personnel.
The law provides for five levels of courts--local courts, courts of
appeal, courts of cassation (another layer of appeals court), higher
specialized courts, and the Supreme Court--as well as an independent
judicial department, the State Judicial Administration. The State
Judicial Administration manages the logistical, financial,
informational and personnel maintenance of the court system--with the
exception of the constitutional court, the Supreme Court, the supreme
administrative court, and the supreme commercial court. The law does
guarantee the independence of the judiciary, but it also in some cases
increases the powers of the President over the judiciary. The
constitutional court ruled the court of cassation to be
unconstitutional since it is not mentioned in the Constitution, and it
continues to exist only on paper. The administrative chamber of the
court, which deals with cases against the state, was still being
formalized, including the process of appointing judges.
By law the President has the authority, with the agreement of the
Ministry of Justice and the chair of the Supreme Court, or of a
corresponding higher specialized court, to establish and abolish courts
of general jurisdiction. The President is empowered to determine the
number of judges within the courts, upon the recommendation of the
State Judicial Administration and with the agreement of the chair of
the Supreme Court. He is authorized to appoint and remove chairs and
deputy chairs of courts, who serve five-year terms based on
recommendations of the Judicial Council (the executive body of the
Congress of Judges), and to establish appellate commercial and
appellate administrative courts. The President, upon the recommendation
of the Prime Minister and concurrence by the Judicial Council, appoints
the head of the State Judicial Administration.
Regional courts, including the Supreme Court of Crimea and the Kyiv
and Sevastopol city courts, serve as courts of appeal. They may examine
evidence independently in a case, call for additional witnesses or
evidence, and overrule the judgment of a lower court.
The constitutional court consists of 18 members appointed for nine-
year terms, six each by the President, the Verkhovna Rada, and the
Congress of Judges. The constitutional court is the ultimate
interpreter of legislation and the Constitution, and it determines the
constitutionality of legislation, Presidential edicts, cabinet acts,
and acts of the Crimean Autonomous Republic. The court did not meet for
nearly eight months during the year due to the lack of a full
complement of judges, because 14 nominations were held up by the
Verkhovna Rada.
The Supreme Court is the country's highest appellate body. Human
rights groups, the media, and legal watchdog organizations noted that
the court continued to show independence during the year.
Trial Procedures.--The Constitution includes procedural provisions
intended to ensure a fair trial, including the right of suspects or
witnesses to refuse to testify against themselves or their relatives;
however, these rights were limited by the absence of implementing
legislation, which left a largely Soviet-era criminal justice system in
place. The defendant is formally presumed innocent, but the high
conviction rates of the Soviet era continued to prevail.
On August 27, President Yushchenko announced he was ready to assign
the Presidential Secretariat's Pardon Commission to carry out a new
investigation of the highly publicized case of journalist Ruslan
Antonyk in 2000. Antonyk's conviction for murdering Petro Tychynskiy,
son-in-law of Anatoliy Halchynskiy (adviser to then-President Kuchma),
was strongly disputed by human rights organizations. He was serving the
sixth year of his 13 year sentence. On September 1, the General
Prosecutor's Office submitted a petition to the Supreme Court asking
for reconsideration of Antonyk's case.
The law provides for broad use of juries, but a system of juries
had not been implemented; as a result juries were not used during the
year. Most cases were decided by judges who sit singly, although the
law requires that two judges and three public assessors (lay judges or
professional jurors with some legal training) must hear cases that
involve the possibility of a life prison sentence, the maximum penalty
in the country's criminal justice system.
While the law specifies that a suspect or prisoner may speak with a
lawyer in private, human rights groups reported that prison or
investigative officials occasionally denied this client-attorney
privilege. To protect defendants, investigative files must contain
signed documents attesting that they have been informed of the charges
against them, of their right to an attorney at public expense, and of
their right not to give evidence against themselves or their relatives.
However, officials sometimes verbally and physically abused defendants
to obtain their signatures. An appeals court may dismiss a conviction
or order a new trial if this document is missing. As defendants
increasingly became aware of their rights, they insisted on observance
of these procedures; however, many remained unaware of these
safeguards.
The law provides that the names and addresses of victims and
witnesses may be kept confidential if they request protection due to
fear for their lives. However, criminal groups routinely used
intimidation to induce victims and witnesses to withdraw or change
their testimony. The law requires that a special police unit protect
judges, witnesses, defendants, and their relatives, but the unit had
not begun operation by year's end and trial participants were
vulnerable to pressure. Due to lack of funding, a witness protection
law was also in abeyance.
Citizens have the right to appeal criminal and civil verdicts to
their local appellate courts. Appellate court decisions may also be
appealed to the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court.
On May 25, the Cabinet of Ministers introduced a single state
register of all court rulings. According to the new procedure, all
court judgments, except those qualified as state secrets, are to be
sent to the register no later than 15 calendar days after the ruling is
made. The State Judicial Administration maintains the register. Access
to the register is free.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
Civil Judicial Procedures and Remedies.--Pursuant to Article 55 of
the Constitution, human and civil rights and freedoms are protected;
citizens are guaranteed the right to challenge decisions, actions, or
omissions of the national and local government and its officials in
court.
The Code for Administrative Court Proceedings entered into force in
September 2005. The Code protects the rights, freedoms and interests of
individuals against violations by the Government and public officials
and allows for court hearings in cases involving illegal government
activities or failure to enforce legal protections. The code contains a
``potential victim'' concept allowing for collective lawsuits against
legislation that may violate basic rights and freedoms. There is no
requirement of being directly affected by a particular legal or
normative act. Citizens may appeal to the Human Rights Commissioner of
the Verkhovna Rada and, after exhausting all domestic legal remedies,
may take their case to the appropriate international bodies of which
the country is a member or participant.
Domestic court orders are not consistently enforced, according to
the Kharkiv Group for Human Rights Protection and other human rights
advocates.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--Although the law prohibits such actions, in practice
authorities infringed citizens' privacy rights. By law, the SBU may not
conduct intrusive surveillance and searches without a court-issued
warrant; however, there were reports that elements within the
Government arbitrarily continued to monitor the private communications
and movements of individuals.
The office of the prosecutor general has the constitutional
responsibility to ensure that law enforcement agencies, including the
SBU, observe the law; however, the extent to which the prosecutor
general used his authority to monitor SBU activities and to curb
excesses by security officials was unknown. The Constitution gives
citizens the right to examine any dossier concerning them in the
possession of the SBU and to sue for physical and emotional damages
incurred by an investigation. Authorities did not respect this right in
practice, however, as the necessary implementing legislation had not
been enacted.
In February 2005 President Yushchenko ordered the SBU and all
government organizations to end illegal surveillance of any kind. Then-
SBU Chief Oleksandr Turchynov told the press in July 2005 that the SBU
no longer engaged in illegal surveillance operations and had created an
office for combating illegal wiretapping. He also instructed other
government organizations to turn in their wiretapping equipment.
However, politicians, including Human Rights Ombudsman Nina Karpachova;
the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Combating Organized Crime
and Corruption, Volodymyr Stretovych; former Verkhovna Rada speaker
Lytvyn; and former prosecutor general Svyatoslav Piskun complained to
the media in 2005 that electronic eavesdropping continued. The Kharkiv
Human Rights Protection Group claimed that special units at the
Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and
State Tax Administration obtained over 11,000 permits for telephone
tapping in 2005.
In March the newspaper Segodnya reported that the SBU kept one of
its journalists, Oleksandr Korchinskiy, under surveillance after he
published an article in June 2005 about the whereabouts of former
Ministry of Internal Affairs General Pukach, who was wanted in
connection with the Gongadze murder. The prosecutor general's office
opened an investigation into the lawfulness of the SBU's surveillance
of Korchinskiy. On October 11, the Pechersk Area Court of Kyiv ruled
that the surveillance was unlawful.
In September the prosecutor general's office completed an
investigation requested by Verkhovna Rada member Volodymyr Sivkovych,
who claimed that the SBU regularly tapped the telephone of parliament
members. The office stated that it did not find any proof of such
activity.
According to a board member of the Internet Association of Ukraine,
the SBU monitors up to 70 percent of Internet traffic. On August 17,
the Ministry of Justice abolished the 2002 decree by the State
Communications Committee on mandatory monitoring of Internet traffic in
the networks of providers that service public institutions. This decree
had allowed security services to legally monitor e-mail communications
and Web site hits of individual Internet site users.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The Constitution and law provide
for freedom of speech and of the press; the authorities generally
respected these rights in practice. There were no reports that the
central authorities attempted to direct media content; however, reports
of intimidation of journalists, including by local officials, as well
as continued media dependence on government resources, inhibited
investigative and critical reporting and sometimes led to self-
censorship.
Individuals could, and did, criticize the Government both publicly
and privately without reprisal. The Government did not attempt to
impede such criticism.
In November the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill declaring the 1932-33
Holodomor (Great Famine) as genocide. The original draft law would have
imposed fines for public statements or dissemination of materials
denying the Holodomor. However, the law as passed states: ``Public
denial of 1932-33 Holodomor in Ukraine is recognized as desecration of
memory of millions of victims of the Holodomor, humiliation of dignity
of the Ukrainian people, and is unlawful'' but does not specify
penalties.
Media outlets are markedly freer and more diverse since the 2004
Orange Revolution. The NGO Freedom House rates the country's media as
fully ``free.''
According to the Ukrainian Press Academy, at the end of 2005 there
were 22,794 registered print publications. Of that number, 9,948 were
national and regional and 12,846 were local. These media outlets
reflected a wide variety of viewpoints. Many newspapers were financed
by wealthy investors and reflected the political and economic interests
of their owners. These publications frequently criticized the
Government.
Foreign newspapers and periodicals circulated freely.
Broadcast media, the primary sources of news for most citizens,
were either state-owned or owned by powerful business interests. There
were 13 national television stations and multiple regional radio
stations. Only four stations (three state-run and one private)
broadcast information; the rest were purely music stations. Of the
television stations, state-run television, UT-1, had the widest
geographic coverage but relatively low viewership. Most local
television stations were associated with political parties or powerful
regional business interests.
The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting,
comprised of four members appointed by the parliament and four
appointed by the President, issued licenses and allocated broadcasting
time. Persons associated with the previous government charged that the
Yushchenko government used the council to punish its political
opponents when it undertook to challenge court orders that had given
frequencies to television stations affiliated with the previous
government.
Donetsk-based TRK Ukraina television, controlled by Party of
Regions Member of Parliament Rinat Akhmetov, alleged that the council's
strict enforcement of a licensing provision that requires national
stations to broadcast 75 percent of their programs in Ukrainian was
discriminatory, forcing the network to choose between having its
license revoked and losing a large part of its predominantly Russian-
speaking audience to Russian television stations. Complaints from other
national broadcasters from across the political spectrum demonstrated
that the enforcement of this language requirement was not unique to TRK
Ukraina. TRK Ukraina was able to circumvent this regulation by
broadcasting Russian movies subtitled in Ukrainian, and claiming that
it was broadcasting in Ukrainian. In January 2007 however, a new law
will go into effect requiring that films be dubbed into Ukrainian.
According to the national media watchdog NGO Institute for Mass
Information (IMI), at least 14 journalists were subjected to physical
attacks or intimidation during the year. According to IMI, the highest
concentration of such incidents occurred at the time of the
parliamentary elections in March. These cases, however, did not appear
to be centrally organized or interconnected and were often attributed
to local politicians or organized criminal groups.
On March 1 in Simferopol, unknown arsonists set fire to the garage
of Liliya Budzhurova, editor in chief of the First Crimean newspaper.
The newspaper had recently published a complete listing of the
candidates to the Crimean parliament who had previous ``conflicts with
the law'' according to Interior Minister Lutsenko at a February 17
press conference. President Yushchenko took personal interest in the
case, and the Government encouraged an investigation.
The Budzhurova case came up again in the first week of October,
when Crimean parliament member Oleksandr Melnyk was briefly held on
charges of alleged leadership of the ``Seilem'' organized crime group.
Ukrainska Pravda reported on October 12 that Melnyk's driver testified
during questioning that Melnyk ordered an unknown person to ``teach a
lesson'' to Budzhurova in the spring, following the publication of her
article. Melnyk was released after the General Prosecutor's Office
declined to prosecute the case.
On April 8, unknown attackers beat Vladimir Katsman, the editor-in-
chief of the newspaper Stolichniye Novosti outside his apartment
building. Katsman attributed the attack to his criticisms of the anti-
Semitic publications of the Interregional Academy of Personnel
Management (MAUP). At year's end, no one had been arrested or charged
in the case.
On June 3, unknown attackers set fire to the home of investigative
journalist Serhiy Yanovsky on June 3 after Yanosky exposed corruption
among local politicians and businessmen. On June 26, Serhiy Romanenko,
the chief editor of the Reporter Internet site, was found
unconsciousness in the center of Uzhhorod after receiving a blow to the
back of his head. A few days before the attack, Romanenko had published
articles critical of Uzhgorod mayor Serhiy Ratushnyak, the city
committee of the Socialist Party, and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc party.
No arrests were made in either of these cases.
On August 14, two unknown assailants beat Igor Mosiichuk, the
editor-in-chief of the weekly Vercherny Vasilkov following a series of
articles he published on officials who benefited from local land deals.
There was one report that a journalist disappeared. On February 20,
Anatoly Kachurynets of the Striy Homin Voli (Sound of Freedom)
newspaper left home and never returned. Police have no further
information and found no evidence of foul play.
The election law prohibits media commentary on electoral campaigns,
prohibits media outlets campaigning for or against political parties
without their express approval, and it gives courts authority to close
media outlets that violate legal limits on political advertising and
news coverage of political parties. Critics warned that the law was
imperfectly written and open to potential abuse. In the March
parliamentary elections, regional branches of political parties sought
court rulings against television stations in two cases. Anatoliy
Grytsenko, head of the Party of Regions Crimea branch, filed against
Chornomorskaya TV. Chornomorskaya TV won an initial appeal and
Grytsenko continued to pursue court action. Inna Bohoslovska, head of
the Viche Party in Dnipropetrovsk, won her case against Channel 9 to
suspend the local television station's license but did not insist that
the court's decision be carried out. The station continued to
broadcast.
Both the independent and government-owned media continued to
demonstrate a tendency toward self-censorship on matters that the
Government deemed sensitive. Although private newspapers were free to
function on a purely commercial basis, they often depended on political
patrons who could facilitate financial support from the State Press
Support Fund and received close scrutiny from government officials,
particularly at the local level.
Libel is considered a civil offense and the use or threat of civil
libel suits continued to inhibit freedom of the press during the year.
Courts may freeze the accounts of a publication pending appeal, a step
that could ruin many publications. Government entities and public
figures, in particular, continued to use civil suits based on alleged
damage to a ``person's honor and integrity'' to influence or intimidate
the press. For example, in Rivne Oblast, the oblast prosecutor, Leonid
Orehovskyi, filed a libel case against the Rivne Vecherne newspaper
claiming damage to his honor and integrity. The newspaper lost the case
and was ordered to print a formal apology.
While the law limits the amount of damages that may be claimed in
libel lawsuits and allows the press to publish inoffensive, non-factual
judgments, including criticism, without penalty, media watchdog groups
continued to express concern over extremely high monetary damages that
were demanded, and sometimes awarded, by courts for alleged libel.
The media had broad access to court hearings and governmental
meetings. Early in the year, the judiciary opened the criminal trial of
the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. President Yushchenko had
promised that the trial would be open to journalists and Kyiv City
Appeals Court ruled that journalists should have access. However, when
the court convened, the room could not physically accommodate
journalists who wished to cover the event. The journalists insisted on
access, and together with members of Verkhovna Rada, convinced law
enforcement agencies to open a criminal case accusing the court of
violating their rights to cover the case. The journalists did get
seating, but conditions were crowded.
On July 12, Party of Regions member of parliament Oleh Kalashnykov
and his assistants physically assaulted a television crew from private
television station STB in front of the Verkhovna Rada, beating the
cameraman and removing a tape from his camera, which was never
returned. At STB's demand, and supported by an open letter from
Ukrainian journalists, the Party of Regions took temporary disciplinary
action against Kalashnykov, but did not expel him from the faction or
the parliament. The party's leader, Victor Yanukovych, criticized
Kalashnykov's behavior and Kalashnykov publicly apologized. STB pursued
legal action against Kalashnykov, but stated that it was satisfied with
the Party of Regions' response to the incident.
Internet Freedom.--The Government did not restrict access to the
Internet, but there was monitoring by law enforcement bodies (see
section 1.f.). Individuals could engage in the peaceful expression of
views via the Internet, including by e-mail. Internet access, although
expanding rapidly, was still limited to wealthier members of society
and those with access at schools, libraries, and workplaces.
Domestic and international human rights groups sharply criticized
an April 2005 directive from the Ministry of Transportation and
Communication (MOTC) requiring all Internet publications to register
with the Government. The MOTC formally rescinded this order in
September 2005. During the time the directive was in effect, however,
Internet publications did not comply with it.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--The Government did not
restrict academic freedom, but academic freedom was an underdeveloped
and poorly understood concept. Most major universities were state-
owned, but there were a growing number of privately-run institutions.
While university rectors had a reasonable amount of autonomy,
curriculum and degree standards were tightly controlled by the Ministry
of Education. Corruption remained a major problem in both university
admissions and academic work, although the Government began
implementing a national examination system during the year to combat
the phenomenon.
Administrators of universities and academic and research institute
directors could silence colleagues by denying them the ability to
publish, withholding pay and housing benefits, and directly terminating
them. The SBU maintained offices for the protection of state secrets in
state scientific and research institutes, including those not
conducting any classified research.
There were no government restrictions on cultural events.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but in a
few instances regional governments infringed on these rights. Since
there is no national law governing freedom of assembly, the Code of
Administrative Justice and case law governed assemblies. Moreover,
local authorities often looked to a resolution on freedom of assembly
questions from the Soviet era that was more restrictive than the
current Constitution.
The Constitution requires that demonstrators inform authorities of
a planned demonstration in advance. The Soviet-era resolution, which
local governments sometimes used to define ``advance notice,''
stipulates that organizations must apply for permission at least 10
days before a planned event or demonstration. Permits were routinely
granted to those who requested them, although they sometimes stipulated
that demonstrators had, for example, to stay on the sidewalks and not
block traffic at key downtown Kyiv intersections. Demonstrators are
prohibited from inciting violence or ethnic conflict and from calling
for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. In practice
unlicensed demonstrations were common and generally occurred without
police interference, fines, or detention, although there were several
exceptions.
According to the Department of Civil Defense of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, in 2005 administrative charges were brought against
40 organizers and active participants for infringements in organizing
and holding public gatherings.
In November 2005 the Kyiv city authorities decided to allow events
only in downtown areas that had been approved either by a decree from
the President or Cabinet of Ministers or by a decision of the Kyiv city
council or city administration. The Kyiv city administration tried to
impose restrictions on demonstrations on several occasions during the
year, but the courts overruled the city government.
In May the mayor of Kherson banned a rally by market vendors
because they did not inform the city council 25 days in advance and
they were not allowed to protest in front of the city council.
On October 13, the Shevchenkivskyi neighborhood court in Kyiv
prevented communists, nationalists, and Chornobyl organizations from
holding protests in downtown Kyiv on the anniversary of the founding of
the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The court argued that this decision was
based on an assumption by the Kyiv city administration, police, and
President's secretariat that such rallies would result in violence and
bloodshed as had occurred in 2005.
According to the Nasha Pravda NGO in Kryviy Rih, Dnipropetrovsk,
local police and the SBU gathered information about participants in
anticorruption events as well as about human rights organizations and
their activities, allegedly for the sake of security and safety. During
the year, police and the SBU also declined to investigate several
claims of violence against activists from the Nasha Pravda, Opora, and
Zemlia i Volia NGOs during environmental protests.
Freedom of Association.--The Constitution and the law provide for
freedom of association; while the Government generally respected this
right in practice, some restrictions remained. Registration
requirements for organizations were extensive, but there were no
reports that the Government used them during the year to disband
existing legitimate organizations or prevent new ones from being
formed.
The law places restrictions on organizations that advocate violence
or racial and religious hatred, or that threaten the public order or
health. There were no reports during the year that the authorities used
these criteria to restrict the activities of legitimate organizations
that opposed the Government.
There were a number of requirements for the formation of political
parties (see section 3).
Two major opposition political parties associated with the previous
government, the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (United) and Regions
of Ukraine, complained that thousands of their supporters were
dismissed from government jobs in 2005 because of their association
with anti-Yushchenko political parties. However, widely respected human
rights organizations rejected the characterization of the dismissals as
discrimination, noting that only approximately 5 percent of the
country's 450,000 civil servants had been dismissed and replaced by
supporters of the Yushchenko administration.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The Constitution and the law provide for
freedom of religion. The Government generally sought at all levels to
protect this right, but some minority and nontraditional religions
experienced difficulties in registration and in buying and leasing
property.
There is no formal state religion; however, the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church (UGCC) tended to dominate in the east and west of the country,
respectively. Local authorities frequently sided with the religious
majority in a particular region. UOC-MP representatives complained that
for 14 years the local government in Lviv ignored their numerous
requests to allocate a land plot for construction of a diocesan
cathedral. By contrast, in many areas of the east and south, local
leaders tended to side with the UOC-MP. The UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate (KP)
claimed that new Kharkiv Mayor Mykhaylo Dobkin warned his staff that he
would not even receive a local bishop of the UOC-KP.
In contrast to previous years, the municipal authorities in Odesa
improved their relations with Roman Catholics. On September 6, the
Roman Catholic Bishop of Odesa met with Mayor Eduard Hurvits and
discussed joint projects for homeless children and creation of a
commission to address issues of the Roman Catholic community, including
property restitution.
On March 22, President Yushchenko called for the creation of a
unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a move opposed by the UOC-MP and
some Protestant denominations. The UOC-MP publicly cautioned the
President against ``politicizing'' and ``artificially'' speeding up the
unification process.
The courts did not always interpret the law in a manner that
protected religious freedom, and in some instances sided with the
dominant local religious organization. In June in a case that received
national and international media and NGO attention, a local court in
Cherkasy Oblast exonerated a UOC-MP priest of assault and hate crime
charges for beating six members of Jehovah's Witnesses with his walking
stick after they allegedly pushed him while on his property. The priest
admitted that he beat the persons and publicly boasted that he would
``do it again'' but asserted that he did it in self defense.
The law requires religious groups to register their ``articles and
statutes'' either as a local or national organization and to have at
least 10 adult members in order to obtain the status of a legal entity.
Registration is necessary to conduct many day-to-day business
activities including publishing, banking, and property transactions. By
law the registration process should take no more than three months.
Registration denials may be appealed in court.
According to the law, registered religious organizations maintain a
privileged status as the only organizations permitted to seek
restitution of communal property confiscated by the Soviet regime.
Communities must apply to regional authorities for property
restitution. While Article 17 of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and
Religious Organizations provides that consideration of a restitution
claim should be completed within a month, it frequently took much
longer.
Intra-communal competition for particular properties complicated
restitution claims for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. The
slow pace of restitution was partly because the Government allocated
limited funds to relocate occupants of seized religious property. Some
groups asserted that there was progress in the restitution of property
during the year, while others reported little or no progress. Many
properties for which restitution was sought were occupied by state
institutions or were historic landmarks. All major religious
organizations called on the Government to establish a transparent legal
process to address restitution claims.
In February leaders of Odesa's Presbyterian community stated that
the local actors' guild was ignoring the community's requests to vacate
the first floor of the city's recently renovated historical
Presbyterian church and relocate to other premises provided by the
local government in 2000. The Presbyterian community claimed that the
local court and city government were pressured by the actors' guild and
local Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate to support the
guild's court case to gain ownership of the church. There have been no
new developments in the case.
The All-Ukraine Baptist Union continued its legal struggle to
prevent the Prosecutor General's Office from seizing its headquarters
building in Kyiv. The union's chairman complained that despite multiple
appeals to the President and Cabinet of Ministers, office of the
prosecutor-general, and the interior ministry's Main Investigative
Directorate, the union's ownership of its building remains unresolved.
The registration process is administered by the Ministry of
Justice's State Department for Religious Issues (SDRI), the successor
organization to the Soviet-legacy State Committee for Religious
Affairs, which was abolished in April. According to the Government, the
SDRI was intended to bring Ukrainian law into conformity with European
norms. However, there has been some criticism that the SDRI, which
during the year was establishing its position in relation to regional
departments of religious issues, lacked sufficient power over regional
and municipal departments of religious issues to protect the interests
of religious groups in the regions.
The Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church in America asserted that
the SDRI refused to register the organization, a charge the SDRI
denied.
The law restricts the activities of foreign-based religious
organizations and narrowly defines the permissible activities of
members of the clergy, preachers, teachers, and other non-citizen
representatives of foreign-based religious organizations; however,
there were no reports that the Government used the law to limit the
activity of such religious organizations. Religious worker visas
require invitations from registered religious organizations in the
country and the approval of the Government. Foreign religious workers
may preach, administer religious ordinances, or practice other
canonical activities ``only in those religious organizations that
invited them to Ukraine and with official approval of the Governmental
body that registered the statutes and the articles of the pertinent
religious organization.''
Under the law, religion cannot be part of the public school
curriculum. However, President Yushchenko, with the support of leaders
of the UOC-MP, UOC-KP, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church,
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, All-Ukraine
Evangelical Baptist Union, Brotherhood of Independent Churches and
Missions of Evangelical Christians, instructed the Ministry of
Education to introduce ``ethics of faith'' training courses into public
school curricula beginning in September 2005. According to the SDRI,
prominent religious leaders, and the media, implementation so far has
been haphazard. On June 29, the Ministry of Science and Education
approved the concept of teaching disciplines of spiritual and moral
nature in secondary schools. While Jewish and Muslim leaders support
the teaching of ethics and civics in school, they have insisted on a
nonsectarian approach to the students' training. Schools run by
religious communities may include religious education as an
extracurricular activity.
The Government promotes interfaith understanding by frequently
consulting with the All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious
Organizations, whose membership represents the faiths of over 90
percent of the religiously active population. The council, which has a
rotating chairmanship, meets once every two or three months, providing
members and government representatives the opportunity to discuss
interfaith concerns. The council also provided a forum for religious
organizations to consult with the Government on draft legislation.
Regional administrations and local religious leaders in most regions of
the country have formed regional councils of churches and religious
organizations.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The generally amicable
relationship among religions in society contributed to religious
freedom; however, conflicts between local representatives of contending
religious organizations in some cases adversely affected broader ties
among religions in society.
Senior leaders of the UOC-MP alleged that supporters of the UOC-KP
attacked UOC-MP clergy and seized a number of UOC-MP churches. The UOC-
KP rejected the allegations, noting that many UOC-MP communities
exercised their legal right to change jurisdictions from the UOC-MP to
the UOC-KP. The UOC-MP cited numerous such incidents, including in
Rivne and Chernivtsi regions, claiming that UOC-KP was encouraged by
the success of the 2004 Orange Revolution, the Yushchenko presidency,
and indications that the Ecumenical Patriarch might recognize their
church as the country's canonical Orthodox Church. On August 31, the
high administrative court invalidated the 2005 resolution by the
Ternopil Region State Administration that allowed parishioners of the
UOC-KP to use the UOC-MP's Holy Trinity church in Rokhmaniv village,
Ternopil Region, on a rotational basis. The court reaffirmed that the
UOC-MP, which has been using the church since 1946, was a legitimate
user.
Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA)
complained that the UOC-MP demanded the surrender of ROCA church
buildings in Malyn, Zhytomyr Region in 2005, and during the year
pressured local authorities to prevent the opening of a ROCA monastery
in Bolgrad, Odesa Oblast. ROCA representatives also complained that
during the year the UOC-KP continued their attempts to seize the Holy
Trinity Church in Odesa.
On February 6, the Association of Christian Journalists,
Publishers, and Broadcasters criticized the STB television network for
airing a program that attacked evangelical churches. According to the
association, the program misrepresented the beliefs of traditional
Protestant churches (including Lutherans and Baptists), and referred to
Evangelical Protestants as ``Satanists.''
At an April 17 press conference, the President of the country's
major Protestant Christian media group, Serhiy Belbovets, criticized
what he called ``a series'' of television and newspaper reports that
characterized evangelical Christians as ``fanatics'' and ``members of
sects.'' He called on all churches in the country to stand together to
defend Christian values.
On December 19, a foreign Jehovah's Witnesses missionary was
severely beaten near his home in Kremenchuk in Poltavska Oblast. He was
hospitalized with serious brain injuries. There have been previous acts
of harassment and vandalism directed against foreign missionaries and
Jehovah's Witnesses in Kremenchuk. The Kremenchuk Police had not begun
an investigation by year's end.
Muslim leaders in Crimea, as well as members of the Crimean Tatar
Mejlis, the major but unofficial organization representing Crimean
Tatars, accused the UOC-MP of encouraging anti-Muslim and anti-Tatar
violence in Crimea. UOC-MP priests in Crimea reportedly assured ethnic
Russian vigilantes, who refer to themselves as Cossacks, that violence
against Muslim Tatars was justified in order to protect Orthodoxy in
Crimea. In September the Simferopol Diocese in Crimea publicly stated
its desire to build good relations with all religious communities, in
particular, with the Muslim community (see section 5).
According to the State Committee of Statistics, the Jewish
population during the 2001 census was estimated at 103,600, although
some Jewish community leaders have stated the number may be as high as
300,000. An estimated 20,000 Hasidic Jews from overseas participated in
the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to the town of Uman in September.
There were a number of acts of anti-Semitism; several of them
involved physical attacks.
On February 3, a man ran into the Brodsky Synagogue in downtown
Kyiv and demanded to see the rabbi. Security guards found a knife on
the man, and police arrested him. On March 6, a yeshiva student used an
air-pellet gun to fend off four men on a Kyiv subway train who kicked
him to the ground while shouting anti-Semitic insults. The student
managed to shoot one of the assailants in the face with the pellet gun,
which he had purchased after being attacked with a fellow yeshiva
student in August 2005. The assailants were arrested at the scene, but
were then released on their own recognizance.
On April 20, a group of skinheads beat and stabbed Israeli yeshiva
student Haim Gorbov who came from Israel to Dnipropetrovsk to lead
Passover seders. On May 5, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced
that a criminal case of hooliganism would be brought against the
assailants. The ministry also noted that prosecutors were continuing to
examine the motives behind the attack, which could lead to additional
``inter-ethnic hostility'' charges. There was no progress in the
investigation.
The Odesa police investigated the September 18 attack by a group of
young men shouting anti-Semitic insults against Haim Weitzman, a
Ukrainian citizen, who was injured with a concussion as a result of the
incident. According to a spokesman of the Odesa Jewish community, no
arrests have been made.
No criminal charges were made against skinheads who assaulted 13
students from a Chabad Jewish day school in Simferopol in January 2005.
According to journalist Volodymyr Matveyev of JTA- Global Jewish News,
there were no arrests of the unidentified assailants who assaulted him
in December 2005.
There were also several instances in which synagogues, cemeteries
and Holocaust memorials were vandalized, particularly in Kirovohrad,
where the Choral Synagogue was vandalized at least five times during
the year. According to representatives of the local Jewish community,
law enforcement authorities made no progress in the investigation.
Police follow-up to cases of vandalism often appeared to be
ineffectual. However, there was an effective official response in other
cases. For example, on June 6 the SBU detained a suspect in the March
23 desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Sevastopol. The case against
the suspect went to trial, but there was no decision. In June police in
Zhytomyr detained two teenagers who pleaded guilty to vandalizing
several tombstones at an old Jewish cemetery in the town in May. No
criminal charges were made and the investigation was ongoing at year's
end.
Despite continued mediation efforts by local Jewish and Greek
Catholic leaders, a long-standing dispute between nationalists and the
Jewish community over the erection of crosses in an old Jewish cemetery
in Sambir, Lviv remained unresolved. On May 3, the supreme
administrative court rejected an appeal by the Union of Councils of
Soviet Jewry (US) to take ownership of the cemetery. The U.S. appealed
to President Yushchenko for help. The President ordered the Lviv
administration to address the problem, but no progress was made. On
December 31, a Holocaust memorial plaque in Kharkiv was severely
damaged. Police started an investigation but no arrests were made.
Anti-Semitism was also evident in public life. In August 2005 the
fringe Ukrainian Conservative Party, associated with the anti-Semitic
MAUP, published an ``open letter'' to President Yushchenko calling for
the criminal prosecution of Hasidic Rabbis in the country for the
dissemination of ``Judeo-Nazi teachings.'' The Ukrainian Conservative
Party received less than 1 percent of votes nationwide in the March
parliamentary elections.
Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and
irregular newsletters, but such articles rarely appeared in the
national press.
MAUP, which receives significant funding from several Middle
Eastern governments, remained the most persistent anti-Semitic presence
in the country. It published a monthly journal Personnel and a weekly
newspaper Personnel Plus, which was the subject of an ongoing criminal
investigation by the Prosecutor General's Office. According to Jewish
organizations, MAUP accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic
material published in the country during the year. In December 2005
President Yushchenko issued an executive order barring civil servants
from studying or teaching at MAUP branch affiliates. In March seven
such affiliates, out of approximately 50 across the country, were
closed due to unspecified licensing violations. Thirty more were closed
before the September 27 commemoration of the Babyn Yar massacres, at
which President Yushchenko criticized ethnic intolerance and religious
hostility in the country. In November he announced a Presidential order
to the SBU and Ministry of Science and Education to investigate
manifestations of xenophobia at MAUP. Following MAUP's appeal to the
Kyiv commercial court, the licenses of 26 of the regional branches
rescinded by the Ministry of Education were renewed in December.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The Constitution and the law provide for
these rights, and the Government generally respected them in practice.
Although a system of registration exists, citizens have the right
to live, work, and receive services anywhere in the country. There was
no indication that individuals were denied access to services because
they were not registered in the locality where they resided.
Citizens who wished to travel abroad generally were able to do so
freely. Exit visas were required for citizens who intended to take up
permanent residence in another country, but there were no known cases
of exit visas being denied to citizens during the year. The Government
could deny passports to individuals in possession of state secrets;
such individuals could appeal the denial of a passport.
The law prohibits forced exile, and the Government did not employ
it.
Protection of Refugees.--The Constitution and the law provide for
the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol,
and the Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government committed serious violations of
the principle of non-refoulement, the return of persons to a country
where they feared persecution; it granted refugee or asylum status
infrequently, providing only limited protection from refoulement.
The Government provided temporary protection for up to one year to
persons who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and
the 1967 Protocol.
According to official statistics from the State Committee on
Nationalities and Migration, at year's end there were 2,275 refugees in
the country, including 740 women and 1,535 men. According to the
Committee, as of December 1, 1,705 persons applied for asylum; 39
persons were granted refugee status, while 450 were refused. The
largest number of asylum applicants were from Asian countries. At the
end of December, there were 627 refugees from countries of the
Commonwealth of Independent States, including 128 Chechen refugees from
Russia, down from 144 in April.
In its October 17 report on asylum matters, Human Rights Watch
noted that the country ``falls substantially short of its international
obligations towards migrants and refugees.'' The report cited
inadequate procedures for dealing with asylum seekers, substandard
conditions and physical abuse in asylum centers, lack of basic
procedural rights, inadequate food and sanitary conditions, and
prolonged periods of detention.
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), the EU, and human rights groups, there have been instances in
which border guards unlawfully returned unspecified numbers of Chechens
to Russia who had applied for, or wanted to apply for, asylum. In 2005
Chechens detained in Zakarpattya Region were frequently put on a train
to Kharkiv and turned over to Russian border guards at the nearby
border crossing point. Chechens were reportedly forcibly returned to
Russia in keeping with an alleged secret government instruction issued
after the September 2004 Beslan school massacre in Russia; it
reportedly requires border guards to return all Chechens to Russia and
to refuse them entry into the country. Human rights groups expressed
concern that officials frequently refused to recognize a UNHCR-issued
document attesting that the bearer has applied, or is in the process of
applying, for asylum. In June 2005, for example, four Chechen men were
returned to Russia, despite being registered with UNHCR Kyiv. The men
were unable to register with the Kyiv City migration service, which had
been closed for reorganization, leaving them without valid government-
issued asylum seeker certificates. The four were subsequently
apprehended, fined for not having appropriate registration stamps, and
deported to Russia.
The Government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and other
humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers,
and operated refugee reception centers in Vinnytsya and Odesa. However,
the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration at times showed
little interest in refugee protection, poorly implemented agreements
with the UNHCR, and often refused to share important information with
the UNHCR. According to human rights organizations, corruption also
impedes asylum-related issues. On July 13, the deputy head of the State
Committee on Nationalities and Migration stated to the press that the
prosecutor general's office was investigating allegations of abuse by
the Committee's head, Serhiy Rudyk, and some of his colleagues. The
deputy head also said that Rudyk fired Committee staff who protested
against falsification and delays involved in reviewing refugee cases.
On February 16, UNHCR and the international community strongly
condemned the forcible deportation of 10 Uzbek asylum seekers. The SBU
detained eleven men in Crimea based on extradition warrants issued by
the Uzbekistani authorities on the grounds that they allegedly
participated in the Andijan mass protests in Uzbekistan in May 2005.
They were transferred to a Ministry of Interior detention facility in
Simferopol. The UNHCR asked authorities for assurances that no asylum-
seekers would be forcibly returned unless they had been determined not
to be refugees and had completed asylum procedures, including any
appeal. The Migration Service in Crimea rejected the asylum
applications on the basis that they were ``manifestly unfounded.'' On
February 14, 10 of the men were forcibly returned to Uzbekistan. (The
remaining man was reportedly allowed to stay because he had relatives
in the country.) Twenty-one Ukrainian regional human rights
organizations issued a statement protesting the incident. On May 3, the
Ministry of Justice issued a legal opinion saying that deportation was
illegal. The President's chief of staff stated that the deportation was
a violation of procedure because the refugees were not granted ten days
to appeal the deportation, but added that the extradition was
acceptable as they ``belonged to a radical Islamic group.''
In August 2005 Ukrainian authorities ordered the deportation of 18
Uzbek asylum seekers, including 11 children, to Russia. The Uzbeks
traveled to Ukraine after first trying to gain asylum in Russia, where
they reported the authorities abused them. The Ukrainian border guard
service took them off a train, kept them for 12 hours in cramped
quarters, then forcibly put them on a train back to Moscow, despite
requests for assistance by Tatar and Uzbek opposition leaders.
The Donetsk-based NGO Memorial reported that there were
approximately 2,000 Uzbek refugees in the country, of whom only 10
percent applied for asylum in the UNHCR office in Kyiv. According to
official statistics, during the first eight months of the year, 85
Uzbek nationals applied for asylum, compared to 23 in 2005, and four in
2004.
According to human rights NGOs, a 2005 amendment to the law that
improved the registration process somewhat was still being applied
unevenly. Under the law authorities may quickly reject asylum claims
from individuals without formal registration as asylum seekers,
allowing the cases of registered asylum seekers to be considered more
quickly, and requires the Government to conduct refugee status
interviews within 15 days of the application. However, asylum seekers
in detention centers were sometimes unable to apply for refugee status
and had limited or no access to legal and other assistance. As a
result, many asylum seekers remained undocumented and faced arrest,
detention, and deportation. In addition, the law allows for the
deprivation of refugee status for suspicion of involvement in
activities that pose a threat to the national security, public order,
or health of the population of the country.
Police harassment of individuals with dark skin, and to a lesser
degree, Asians, continued during the year. There were also multiple
credible reports from human rights NGOs and diplomats that refugees,
particularly those from Africa and Asia, were regularly abused at
detention centers in Zakarpattya Region, which borders EU member states
Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary. Detainees, in particular Chechen and
Afghan nationals interviewed by HRW in March 2005, reported physical
and psychological abuse at centers in Kyiv, Lviv, Chernihiv, Chop and
Rava Ruska.
The State Border Service announced in June that it had opened a
modern refugee center in Chop, which can accommodate 46 people. It is
the first mixed gender detention center built to European standards in
the country.
According to human rights NGOs, conditions at the old Chop
detention center were poor. Refugees were crammed into tiny cells,
given polluted drinking water, and had to use outdoor toilets. The
center was unheated in winter and many refugees lacked warm clothing;
some had no shoes.
There were reports that the makeshift Pavshyno detention center
received no state funds during 2005. Border guards generated income,
including their own salaries, by ``leasing'' migrants to a neighboring
factory (see section 6.c.). Border guards also illegally released
detained migrants whose families paid bribes, usually in the amount of
$1,200 (6,000 hryvnia), transferred via wire. Border guards also stole
food packages and phone cards provided to refugees by the EU. Border
guards only accepted asylum applications prepared by lawyers whom the
migrants had to pay for their services; the lawyers then split their
fees with the guards. Applications prepared by NGO lawyers working pro
bono were not accepted.
Conditions at the Mukacheve detention center for migrant women and
children were somewhat better than at Chop. According to human rights
groups, the temporary accommodation and refugee processing center in
Latoritsa, which opened in June, met all international standards.
In October two modernized facilities were opened, one at the
Chernihiv Frontier Detachment and the other in Lviv, which can
accommodate 24 and 32 undocumented migrants, respectively.
HRW reported that limited access to interpreters for refugees
infringed on rights of due process and limited asylum seekers' ability
to challenge detention. In April 2005 officials rejected the submission
of an asylum seeker from Cote d'Ivoire who tried to send his
correspondence with the migration department in French. The migration
official reportedly stated that it was the applicant's problem that he
did not speak Ukrainian, and that he should find an interpreter
himself.
In 2005 human rights organizations reported acts of violence
against asylum seekers and refugees. For example, in December 2005 a
group of young men dressed in military uniforms beat two Iranian asylum
seekers near the Sviatoshin subway station in Kyiv.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The Constitution and the law provide citizens with the right to
change their government peacefully through periodic elections, and
citizens exercised this right in practice during the March
parliamentary elections and in a small number of local elections. All
elections were held on the basis of universal suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--Verkhovna Rada elections
held on March 26 were the freest elections in the country's fifteen
years of independence. They were the first conducted since the
introduction of a number of changes to the electoral process, most
significantly that all candidates ran on party lists and the threshold
for a party to win seats in the parliamentary was lowered to three
percent. There were pre-election concerns about voter lists and
staffing polling station commissions, but independent monitors
attributed these problems to disorganization rather than a government
effort to exclude parties or voters from participation. The elections
went smoothly and observers reported that they were free, fair, and
transparent. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) assessed that the elections were in compliance with domestic
law, met OSCE and Council of Europe commitments, and the overwhelming
majority of voters were able to exercise their voting rights. Five of
the 42 parties running received enough votes to win seats in the
parliament. There were reports of isolated cases of pressure from local
enterprise directors and employers to vote for a designated candidate.
In contrast to the parliamentary elections, there were some
problems in local elections also held in March for representation to
regional and local councils and mayors. There were accusations that
authorities manipulated the vote count in some elections. The mayoral
election in Cherkasy was particularly controversial, as authorities
prohibited a series of popular candidates from running based on
corruption charges that observers said were politically motivated, and
the election results were cancelled. The regional election commission
there was unable to convene a new election. Courts, the prosecutor
general's office, and the Verkhovna Rada investigated this election and
a new vote was held on November 5, which international and domestic
observers determined to be free of major fraud. November 26 mayoral
elections in Chernihiv and Poltava, where the elected mayors chose to
take Verkhovna Rada seats to which they were elected rather than remain
local officials, occurred without evidence of major fraud; a third
mayoral contest held on the same day in Kirovohrad was nullified after
local election officials removed one candidate from the ballot hours
before the polls opened, leaving the candidate no recourse to the
courts. The election will be re-run in February 2007.
Individuals and parties could, and did, freely declare their
candidacy and stand for election.
To be registered at the national level, political parties must
maintain offices in at least half of the regions and may not receive
financial support from the state or any foreign patron. The Supreme
Court reserves the right to ban any political party upon the
recommendation of the Ministry of Justice or the prosecutor general. No
parties were banned during the year.
There were 38 women in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada. The 18-member
constitutional court had three female members.
The exact number of minorities in the parliament was not available
due to privacy laws. Among the members there were ethnic Russians,
Bulgarians, Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Hungarians, Georgians, and Jews.
Yuriy Yekhanurov, who served as prime minister until August, is half
ethnic Buryat. The current cabinet includes members who are ethnic
Greek and ethnic Russian.
Crimean Tatar leaders continued to call for changes in the
electoral law that would allow them to achieve greater representation
in the Crimean Parliament; current law does not allow the creation of
political parties on the regional level, so Crimean Tatars must join
national political parties.
According to statistics from the Mejlis (the Tatar representative
body), the Tatars, who make up 12 percent of the population of Crimea,
occupied 8 percent of the seats in the Crimean Parliament. Four of the
25 officials in the Crimean government were Tatars, including one
deputy prime minister. Two of the 12 heads of raion (county-level)
administrations in Crimea appointed by the President were also Tatars.
Tatar representation in other Crimean ministries, including in law
enforcement agencies, was 1 percent or less. There are also two Crimean
Tatars in the Verkhovna Rada.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--Corruption remained a
serious problem in the executive and legislative branches of the
Government, including the armed services. The SBU reported that it
launched 167 criminal investigations of bribery and uncovered 1,795
incidents of corruption, including 35 by high-ranking state officials,
during the year. The SBU fired 76 employees and disciplined another 300
persons for corruption-related offenses in the first ten months of the
year.
The judiciary suffered from corruption. In April the media reported
that the head of a local court in the Lviv region was detained while
soliciting a bribe and another judge from Kherson was sentenced on
September 27 to three years in prison for falsifying documents.
According to a January public opinion survey by the Institute for
Regional Development Studies, 80.7 percent of respondents said that
national level authorities are the ``most corrupt'' institution in the
country.
The Government reported that investigations did not find sufficient
evidence of wrongdoing to pursue charges stemming from September 2005
accusations from then head of the Presidential Secretariat, Oleksandr
Zinchenko, that key officials close to President Yushchenko were guilty
of corruption.
Although weeding out corruption from government was a theme of the
Orange Revolution, the Yushchenko government made little progress in
prosecuting former officials suspected of corruption. Parliamentary
immunity continued to shield members of parliament suspected of
committing crimes. Party of Regions member Boris Kolesnikov avoided
prosecution following his 2005 arrest on extortion charges and became a
member of the parliament after the March elections. On April 4,
parliament abolished immunity for locally elected officials, (which had
been enacted in September 2005) resulting in 12 criminal cases against
officials in one region alone, although many cases that had begun
before the immunity decision were not subsequently pursued.
In Sumy region prosecutors pursued cases against former high-level
officials for embezzlement and bribery. Former Sumy mayor Volodymyr
Omelchenko and former local council member Olha Krutushkina face prison
sentences. Krutushkina was appealing a seven year sentence, while
hearings began in the Omelchenko case in August. During the year two
precinct committee chairs in Kirovohrad from the 2004 election were
also convicted for fraudulent actions and sentenced to two and five
year terms, respectively.
In August the office of the prosecutor general initiated a criminal
investigation of a senior Ministry of Defense official accused of
accepting $580,000 (roughly three million hrynia) in bribes.
In April the Cabinet of Ministers reviewed state-run oil and gas
company NaftoHaz's financial plan and found that mismanagement of funds
contributed to the company's difficulties. In August the Verkhovna Rada
established two investigatory commissions to review NaftoHaz finances
and corruption in the energy sector. A preliminary report from the
commission found that certain irregular financial and business
activities of NaftoHaz appeared to constitute criminal offenses. In one
instance cited by the report, the company allegedly paid a gas supplier
twice for the same gas, resulting in significant financial damage to
the state.
The Constitution and the law provide the right of access to
information, with exceptions for national security. Government bodies
are required to respond to requests within 10 days and provide the
information within 30 days. Denials can be appealed to a higher level
at the agency concerned and then to a court.
Many human rights organizations and journalists said that access to
official information remained difficult during the year. Government
officials did not understand the rules concerning releasable
information, and Soviet-style attitudes and traditions of secrecy were
prevalent among officials. At a September 28 press conference, human
rights organizations announced that the prosecutor general's office had
the highest refusal rate for information requests among government
agencies. Government information was usually available through web
sites, but Internet access was still relatively limited both in terms
of technology and overall number of users. Prominent government
watchdogs, including former member of parliament Inna Bohoslovska,
noted that the Government generally posted information on the Internet
only after important decisions were made. Information on the process by
which the Government made important decisions usually was not available
to the public. The 2005 International Helsinki Federation Report for
Human Rights noted that the Soviet-era practice of issuing secret
Presidential decrees on matters that did not involve national security
or personal privacy continued.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A wide variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
met with domestic and international human rights NGOs and often were
cooperative and responsive to their views. However, the NGO community
complained that authorities remained generally unwilling to make policy
changes in response to their recommendations. According to the
Ukrainian Psychiatric Association, the Ministry of Health did not
always cooperate with human rights groups attempting to monitor abuse
of psychiatry (see section 1.d)
During the year President Yushchenko held a roundtable discussion
with key civic and NGO leaders and the Government set up several public
advisory councils in order to reinforce public oversight and
cooperation between government and civil society organizations. In May
the Ministry of Justice set up a council, chaired by a civic leader, to
monitor the human rights situation in prison facilities. In July the
SBU formed another council consisting of reputable politicians, NGO
activists, and independent experts to provide civilian oversight and to
increase transparency of its activities. The chairman of the Kharkiv
Human Rights Protection Group, Yevhen Zakharov, said that following the
establishment of a similar council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs,
law enforcement institutions demonstrated greater willingness to
cooperate with NGOs.
Major independent, non-partisan, national human rights NGOs
included the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Human Rights
Protection Group, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, the
Institute for Mass Information, the Independent Media Union, the Roma
Congress of Ukraine, the Ukrainian-American Bureau for the Protection
of Human Rights, La Strada, the Congress of National Communities of
Ukraine, Donetsk-based Memorial, and the Dnipropetrovsk-based
Association of Soldiers' Mothers.
The Government generally cooperated with international governmental
organizations, including the UN and the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE). Government officials met with the PACE
President during his visit to Odesa in August to examine the progress
of reform in the fields of human rights and the rule of law. PACE and
ECHR observers made multiple visits to the country to discuss human
rights issues. However, authorities often refused to share important
information regarding refugees with the UNHCR (see section 2.d.).
Persons have the right to appeal to the ECHR about alleged
government human rights violations. The ECHR ruled on 120 cases
involving Ukraine and found violations of ECHR rights in 119 cases
during the year.
On May 31, the Cabinet of Ministers issued a resolution putting the
Ministry of Justice in charge of implementing ECHR judgments and
representing the country in the ECHR. In August Justice Minster Roman
Zvarych introduced a requirement that all draft legislation and legal
acts be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.
During the year three ECHR cases received national press attention:
On March 28, the ECHR awarded Oleksandr Melnik $13,350 (10,500
euros) for his detention in an overcrowded prison cell, without
adequate medical care and in unsatisfactory sanitation conditions, and
with no recourse to complain about the conditions of his detention.
On April 4, the ECHR awarded Sergey Shevchenko $25,400 (20,000
euros) for the failure of the authorities to conduct an effective and
independent investigation into the death of his son at his army post.
On August 10, the ECHR ruled that authorities violated the right of
freedom of expression of journalist Oleh Lyashko, former editor of the
independent Kyiv weekly Polityka, by sentencing him to two years
imprisonment for writing articles criticizing public figures, and
awarded Lyashko $3,800 (3,000 euros.)
The Constitution mandates the position of human rights ombudsman,
officially designated as the Parliamentary Commissioner on Human
Rights. Nina Karpachova, who had served one and a half terms, was
elected to the Verkhovna Rada in March and announced her resignation on
November 16 to take her seat in parliament. Her replacement had not yet
been nominated at year's end and must be confirmed by the Verkhovna
Rada. In December 2005 a group of 18 major human rights organizations
called for Karpachova's resignation on the grounds that her decision to
run in the elections undermined the ``impartiality and independence''
of the ombudsman's office. She submitted a resignation letter in May,
but continued to act as the ombudsman. Since citizens cannot address
the constitutional court directly, all citizens and residents may
address their concerns to the ombudsman and the ombudsman serves as
intermediary between citizens and the court. The law provides the
ombudsman with unrestricted and unannounced access to any public
official, including the President, and to any government installation.
The law also gives her the authority to oversee the implementation of
human rights treaties and agreements to which the country is a party;
however, it does not provide penalties for obstruction of the
ombudsman's investigations or effective enforcement authority for the
ombudsman.
The ombudsman's office consisted of approximately 100 full and
part-time workers, but according to the ombudsman, limited funding of
the office continued to hamper its effectiveness. The ombudsman
continued to make the combating of trafficking in persons and improving
pretrial detention facility conditions major priorities during the
year. Ombudsman Karpachova last issued an annual human rights report to
parliament in July 2005.
The Verkhovna Rada has a Committee on Human Rights, National
Minorities, and Interethnic Relations which is chaired by Communist
Party member Leonid Hrach, who took office on July 11. In January the
Committee increased the number of subcommittees to nine. The
subcommittees cover: human rights; interethnic relations; indigenous
people; national minorities and ethnic groups; deported peoples and
national minorities; victims of political repression; gender policy;
refugees and migration; Ukrainians living abroad; international law;
and ethical policy and prevention of domestic conflict. Credible human
rights NGOs considered the committee's work to be of significant value.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The Constitution and the law prohibit discrimination on the basis
of race, sex, and other grounds; however, the Government did not
enforce these provisions effectively, in part due to the continuing
absence of an effective judicial system. Violence against women and
children, trafficking in persons, and harassment and discrimination
against ethnic minorities and homosexuals were problems.
Women.--Violence against women remained a serious problem. Spousal
abuse is illegal but was common, and the authorities often pressured
women not to press charges against their husbands. One major NGO
estimated that at least 50 percent of all women have been subjected to
physical violence or psychological abuse at home.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, almost 15,000 women
die annually after being beaten by their husbands, and almost 70
percent of women suffer from various forms of humiliation and abuse in
their families. According to the ministry, only 18 percent of citizens
are aware of the law on preventing domestic violence. The NGO Legiteam,
which educates judges on human rights issues, said that most judges
were unaware of the law adopted in 2006 stipulating gender equality.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the first 11
months of the year, 70,888 domestic violence complaints were made to
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. During that same period, courts
issued rulings in 67,639 domestic violence cases. Warnings were issued
to 5,412 people, 52,739 people were fined, 277 were sentenced to
community service, and 8,973 were jailed.
The Government increased the number of state-run hot lines,
shelters, and other forms of practical support for victims of abuse.
During 2005-2006, authorities opened six shelters for victims of
domestic violence, 18 crisis centers that provided a wide range of
services to women going through crises such as divorce, loss of a son
while on military duty, or domestic violence, and 24 centers for
psychological and medical assistance. The law requires authorities to
operate a shelter in every major city, but in practice they did not do
so. According to AI, private shelters were not always accessible. For
example, one shelter in Kyiv refused to accommodate three women because
they had neither Kyiv registration nor a medical certificate with HIV/
AIDS test results. Violence against women did not receive extensive
media coverage despite the efforts of human rights groups to highlight
the problem.
The law prohibits rape but does not explicitly address spousal
rape. A law against ``forced sex with a materially dependent person''
may allow prosecution for spousal rape. According to statistics from
the Ministry of Internal Affairs, during the first 11 months of the
year, 868 incidents of rape or attempted rape were reported to the
police.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread and largely ignored by the
Government. Sex tourism rose as the country attracted greater numbers
of foreign tourists. On January 12, the parliament passed tougher
criminal penalties for human trafficking and coerced prostitution.
However, previous laws criminalizing organized prostitution have had
little effect.
Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation was a serious problem
(see section 5, Trafficking).
Women's groups reported that there was continuing widespread sexual
harassment in the workplace, including coerced sex. While the law
prohibits forced sex with a materially dependent person, which includes
employees, legal experts regarded the safeguards against harassment as
inadequate.
The law mandates equal legal rights for men and women and
establishes legal protections against gender discrimination. However,
human rights observers and women's groups noted that discrimination
against women continued to be a common problem in the workplace. The
Government and private businesses regularly specified the gender of
employees in their help wanted advertisements, and employers frequently
demanded information about a woman's family situation and subsequently
used it to deny employment to women who were likely to become pregnant.
Physical appearance and age were often taken into account in employment
decisions involving women.
Labor laws establish the legal equality of men and women, including
equal pay for equal work, a principle that generally was observed.
However, industries that were dominated by female workers were also
those with the lowest relative wages and the ones most likely to be
affected by wage arrears.
Few women held top managerial positions in the Government or in
state-owned or private industry. However, the number of female members
of the parliament increased from 25 to 38 after the March elections.
Nadiya Deyeva in Dnipropetrovsk, Nina Harkava in Sumy, and Vira
Ulyanchenko in the Kyiv region served as the first female governors in
the country. The 18-member constitutional court had three female
judges.
Children.--The Government was publicly committed to the defense of
children's rights, but budgetary considerations severely limited its
ability to ensure these rights. The International Labor Organization's
International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO/IPEC),
together with a number of local NGOs, funded projects dealing with
child labor, child trafficking, street children and the commercial
exploitation of children that actively promoted children's rights at
both national and local levels. Faith-based organizations also
continued their work with orphans and street children. First Lady
Kateryna Yushchenko, in her capacity as head of the steering committee
of the charitable foundation Ukraine 3000, worked with the Ministry of
Health and private businesses to raise funds to improve health care for
needy and disabled children.
On May 11, the Government approved the State Program to Combat
Child Homelessness and Neglect for 2006-2010. The document identifies
child labor as a contributing factor for child homelessness. The
program aims to identify and provide support to at-risk families,
although it is unclear if there is funding for the program. On June 26,
the Government approved the plan of action to implement the National
Program on Youth Support for 2006-2008. The plan seeks to increase
awareness among youth regarding education and vocational training
opportunities, develop and support youth centers and recreational
institutions, and improve rehabilitation centers for youth in crisis.
The parliament ratified the EU Convention on the Exercise of Children's
Rights (1996) on August 3.
Education is free, universal, and compulsory until age 15; however,
the public education system continued to suffer from chronic inadequate
funding. Teachers were usually paid their salaries during the year, but
other monetary benefits due them were not paid in some localities.
Children from poor families continued to drop out of school during the
year, and illiteracy, previously very rare, remained a problem. The
All-Ukraine Committee for the Protection of Children reported that lack
of schooling remained a significant problem among the rural population.
The problem of growing violence and crime in and outside of schools
persisted, particularly in the notoriously violent vocational schools,
and discouraged some children from attending school. Roma rights
organizations reported numerous incidents of discrimination against
Romani children in schools (see section 5, national/racial/ethnic
minorities).
Health care was provided equally to girls and boys, but the overall
quality of the health care system was poor.
Children continued to be victims of violence and abuse. In 2006 the
Ministry of Internal Affairs cited over 80,000 families for violence
against children, issued approximately 1.5 million official warnings
with regard to domestic violence, and initiated over 1,000 criminal
cases concerning child abuse. There were also many complaints of abuse
of children related to child prostitution, pornographic video sales,
child molestation, and illegal child labor.
According to NGOs, police often ignored legal requirements and did
not investigate parents who allegedly abused their children. For
example, a police inspector in Kirovohrad region refused to initiate a
criminal case against a father who beat his child regularly and did not
remove the child from the father. The local prosecutor initiated a
criminal case against the police officer.
Human rights organizations reported police violence against minors,
including sexual violence. For example, in April the Zaporizhzhya
regional prosecutor initiated a criminal case against police officers
for the illegal detention and rape of a child. At year's end, the
investigation was ongoing.
There also were numerous cases of teachers abusing children. The
prosecutor's office in Kherson started a criminal case against a
teacher at a boarding school accused of slamming the head of a sixth-
grader against a desk and beating two other pupils outside of class
hours. Human rights organizations reported similar incidents in
Vinnytsya, Khmelnytsky and Chernivtsi.
The legal marriage age is 18 for males and 17 for females, but the
law stipulates that a person who has reached the age of 14 may apply to
a court for permission to marry if ``it is established that marriage is
in the person's best interest.'' Experts stated that under-age marriage
was not a significant problem; however, media in Zakarpattya Region
have characterized under-age marriage among Roma as a problem.
Trafficking in children was a serious problem (see section 5,
Trafficking).
The commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a serious
problem. According to domestic and foreign law enforcement officials, a
significant portion of the child pornography available on the Internet
continued to originate in the country. According to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, by the end of September, 150 criminal cases had been
opened related to the manufacture and circulation of child pornography,
and police had closed major child pornography studios in
Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Lviv.
Child labor was a problem (see section 6.d.).
The number of homeless children, usually children who left poorly
maintained orphanages or poor domestic conditions, remained high.
Estimates of the number of homeless children varied widely. The vice
premier for humanitarian and social affairs stated in April 2005 that
there were approximately 150,000 homeless children in the country, but
the State Service for Minors reported in July 2005 that there were only
30,000. In June the national newspaper Ukraina Moloda quoted experts as
putting the number at 129,000.
Trafficking in Persons.--The law prohibits trafficking in persons;
however, there were numerous reports that persons were trafficked to,
from, and within the country.
The country remained a point of origin for internationally
trafficked men, women, and children. The main destinations were Russia,
Turkey, Western and Central Europe, particularly Poland and Czech
Republic, and the Middle East.
The country also was a transit route for individuals from Central
Asia, Russia, and Moldova. The International Organization for Migration
(IOM) reported as of June 30 that at least 15 individuals from Moldova,
Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan had been trafficked through Ukraine
to Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
The IOM did not identify any cases of Ukraine as a destination
country for trafficked individuals, but did identify internal cases of
trafficking. As of June 30, the IOM reported five cases of internal
trafficking, but believed the actual number to be 100 times greater.
Seventy-six percent of victims identified by IOM during the year
were women who were forced into prostitution and used as housekeepers,
seamstresses, dishwashers, and at various small and large manufacturing
plants. There is still a lack of statistical information regarding male
victims of trafficking; however, the number of men identified as
victims of trafficking for labor exploitation, mainly as construction
workers and miners, increased. One challenge with male victims was
their reluctance to acknowledge they had been trafficked and the
authorities' tendency to prosecute the cases on the basis of non-
trafficking related statutes. Children who were trafficked across the
border or within the country were forced to provide sexual services,
engage in unpaid work, or beg.
According to an IOM study, the targeted groups for trafficking were
women up to 30 years of age for sexual exploitation and older women for
labor exploitation, men of all ages, and children under the age of 16.
According to local NGOs, children who had to leave orphanages at 18
were also at high risk since they had no family support structures in
place, had difficulty finding work, and often had no place to live.
Victims were usually trafficked into conditions of severe
exploitation: beatings, limited and low-quality food, no medical
assistance, and long hours of work. In one instance, the IOM reported
that women trafficked to Turkey were forced to take antibiotics and
contraceptive pills without regular medical supervision.
Estimates regarding the number of trafficked citizens varied, but
an IOM poll revealed that one out of every 10 persons knew someone in
their community who had been trafficked.
Employment, travel, marriage, and modeling agencies as well as
individual recruiters were involved in recruitment. Most traffickers
were members of organized crime groups, had foreign partners, and
bribed corrupt officials to facilitate the movement abroad of victims.
The number of men and women among recruiters was almost equal.
Sometimes women served as success stories for potential victims,
flaunting how much money they ostensibly earned abroad. The majority of
recruiters were identified as citizens.
Traffickers used the same methods to recruit victims as they did in
previous years, including advertisements in newspapers and on
television and radio stations that offered jobs abroad with high
salaries or promises of modelling contracts, marriage proposals, and
trips through travel agencies. Traffickers often presented themselves
as friends of other friends and deceived the relatives of potential
victims. The traffickers often paid for the processing of passports and
travel documents for the victims, thus placing them into debt bondage.
In some cases the traffickers kidnapped their victims.
The law provides for penalties of three to eight years'
imprisonment for trafficking in persons for various purposes, including
sexual and labor exploitation, both internal and international. Under
some circumstances--trafficking of minors aged 14 to 18, or of groups
of victims--traffickers may be sentenced to prison terms from five to
12 years, and traffickers of minors under the age of 14 or members of
organized trafficking groups may be sentenced to terms from eight to 15
years.
In the first six months of the year, over half of the individuals
convicted for trafficking received prison sentences rather than
probation. Experts urged authorities to improve their prosecution
record by establishing a specialized trafficking trial prosecutors unit
and by extending the witness protection program to trafficking victims.
In the spring the prosecutor general dismissed the proposal to create a
specialized antitrafficking unit in his office. The Ministry of
Internal Affairs maintained that the witness protection program, which
focuses on providing physical security to witnesses during the period
of the trial, had to be limited due to funding constraints, to
witnesses who were believed to be in immediate danger. From 2001 to
2006 only two of the 1,741 victims of trafficking who participated in
court cases were judged to qualify under those conditions. Authorities
conducted a number of closed court hearings in order to protect the
identity of victims, but no statistical data is maintained on how many
of these hearings were held each year.
In the first half of the year, the number of investigations and
prosecutions of suspected traffickers did not increase relative to the
same period in 2005. This stagnation was attributed to the adoption of
tougher antitrafficking legislation in February and the need for police
officers and prosecutors to familiarize themselves with the new code as
well as to restructure their cases. As of September, according to
statistics supplied by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 282 cases had
been filed involving 296 victims, including 35 minors. The authorities
broke up 21 organized criminal rings involved in human trafficking
during the same period. In the first six months of the year, 50 court
cases were completed, 37 of which resulted in the conviction of 40
defendants. Of the 40 persons convicted, 19 received suspended
sentences, five were given to up to three years in prison, eight
received three to five year sentences, six received five to eight year
sentences, one received an eight to 10 year sentence, and one was given
a 10 to 15 year sentence. As of October, 49 criminal trafficking cases
were pending in the courts. The percentage of persons sentenced to
prison terms relative to probation increased from 41 percent in 2005 to
51 percent in the first six months of the year. The trend may reflect
the impact of a number of antitrafficking seminars and trainings
conducted for judges in 2005-2006 by the IOM, OSCE, and foreign
governments.
During the year the Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to
strengthen the professional capabilities of its department for
combating trafficking by introducing specializations. The department
has branches in each of the ministry's 27 regional directorates, with
approximately 600 officers dedicated exclusively to combating
trafficking. During the year the department actively expanded its
cooperation with foreign embassies' consular sections in Kyiv.
The Government reported that it regularly reviewed the licenses of
domestic employment agencies. In a limited number of cases, the
Ministry of Labor and Social Policy withdrew agency licenses because of
involvement in trafficking. However, Ministry of Internal Affairs
officers claimed that some labor officers involved in this process were
either corrupt or would ``close their eyes'' to violations of the law
committed by the employment agencies in sending persons abroad to work.
The Government sought to cooperate with foreign governments to
investigate and prosecute trafficking cases; however, efforts were
hampered by a number of factors, including insufficient investigative
resources, the reluctance of many victims to give evidence against
traffickers, and a lack of timely cooperation from law enforcement
officials in most destination countries.
Corruption in the judiciary and police continued to impede the
Government's ability to combat trafficking. NGOs asserted that local
police and border guards received bribes in return for ignoring
trafficking, as did judges for lighter sentences for traffickers.
Authorities did not disclose official statistics on corruption related
to trafficking. The low number of prosecutions of government officials
for such activities raised questions about whether the Government was
willing to take serious disciplinary action, especially against high-
level officials. Antitrafficking experts noted that prosecutors were
often the weakest link in the fight against trafficking, as their
negative stereotypes of victims, lack of aggressive prosecution, and
the difficulties in obtaining evidence from abroad led to the low
number of cases brought to court.
Some victims testified against traffickers, but most were reluctant
to seek legal redress. This reluctance was due largely to a lack of
trust of the law enforcement agencies and the courts, negative public
opinion toward trafficking victims, a lack of access to witness
protection programs, and a lack of understanding on the part of
investigators and judges that there may be real threats against the
victims from traffickers or their accomplices. Skepticism that civil
courts would award significant compensation deterred most victims from
filing civil cases.
The IOM operated a comprehensive medical center and shelter for
victims of trafficking in Kyiv that provided medical and psychological
services, including vocational counseling, and seven shelters located
in major cities and funded by the European Commission with local
administrations providing the premises at a nominal fee. In addition 27
local NGOs provided reintegration assistance to trafficking victims.
The IOM disbursed funds to more than 50 civil society and faith-based
organizations to raise trafficking awareness among vulnerable segments
of society. The NGO La Strada-Ukraine operated a national toll free hot
line on trafficking prevention.
Government cooperation with NGOs on antitrafficking programs was
steady during the year. Local administrations continued to include NGOs
as partner organizations in their regional action plans, but most
funding of NGOs and shelter continued to be provided by the
international donors and not the Government.
During the year several television stations broadcast documentary
films and informational programs highlighting the danger of human
trafficking. NGOs conducted general awareness campaigns throughout the
country, often in cooperation with government entities. International
organizations conducted trafficking prevention information campaigns
with entertainment celebrities as spokespersons. In September First
Lady Kateryna Yushchenko appeared at a nationally televised event where
she urged the public to be more supportive of trafficking victims.
The Government worked to improve assistance provided by its
diplomatic missions to victims in destination countries. In the first
nine months of the year, the country's overseas consulates helped
repatriate 271 citizens who were victims of trafficking. The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs set up a center in Kyiv and five other major cities
to provided free consultations to citizens regarding their rights in
foreign countries.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or other state services. However, the Government did
little to increase opportunities for persons with disabilities, and
advocacy groups maintained that there was societal discrimination
against persons with disabilities. The law mandates access to buildings
and other public facilities for persons with disabilities, but it was
poorly enforced. In June 2005 President Yushchenko issued a decree
ordering the Government to ensure that persons with disabilities could
physically access government and public buildings. There were some
efforts made to comply with the decree, but most public buildings
remained inaccessible.
Only 13 percent of the country's 2.5 million persons with
disabilities were employed, according to statistics from the Ministry
of Labor and Social Policy, although the total number of employed
disabled persons increased from 272,000 in 2005 to 344,000 during the
year. Labor Minister Ivan Sakhan said that an employment program for
400,000 persons with disabilities was 86 percent filled, although the
program was not successful in Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-
Frankivsk, Mykolayiv, Rivne, and Kherson regions and in Kyiv city due
to too few positions in these regions and there was lax regional
budgetary oversight. According to the ministry's data, up to 45,000 of
the country's 122,600 disabled children undergo specialized medical
treatment in rehabilitation institutions. Altogether, up to 9,100
people with disabilities studied in academic institutions and 1,850
disabled students received a free university education at 26 regional
branches of the ``Ukraina'' Open International University for Human
Development with tuition paid for by local governments.
On May 6, disability rights NGOs held demonstrations to protest
discrimination against persons with disabilities. According to Ivan
Marusevych, head of the Center for Rehabilitation of the Disabled in
Wheelchairs, the Government did not pay sufficient attention to the
disabled and did not provide ``adequate life conditions.''
According to the Charitable Society to Support Persons with
Disabilities and the Mentally Handicapped, the Government did not
comply with the law on psychiatric assistance, which provides for a
quota of jobs for mentally handicapped people. According to Semyon
Gluzman of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association and the Ukrainian-
American Human Rights Bureau, ``psychiatric hospitals remain a risk
zone for torture and cruel behavior; many psychiatric hospitals
continue using archaic and very painful methods of treatment that were
criticized by Western psychiatrists 20-30 years ago; the absence of
public watchdog councils at psychiatric hospitals aids abuse by medical
personnel; Ukrainian courts refuse to create precedents of prosecuting
doctors and other medical personnel who abuse their posts and deprive
patients of basic rights.''
There were two members of the Verkhovna Rada with disabilities, one
of whom served as deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on
Pensioners, Veterans, and Persons with Disabilities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Harassment of racial minorities
was a continuing problem. The police routinely detained dark-skinned
persons for arbitrary document checks, whereas document checks of
light-skinned individuals were rare. Although authorities disciplined
police who engaged in this harassment when incidents were brought to
their attention, such behavior remained common. In December, the
Kharkiv Group for Human Rights stated on its website that it received
numerous complaints from foreign students about racially motivated
harassment and violence. The group added that the biggest hindrance to
investigation and prosecution of these cases is the victims' and
witnesses' fear of reporting these incidents to the police. AI reported
that incidents of racial hatred and xenophobia were increasing,
influenced by skinheads and neo-Nazi groups in Russia, as well as
locally-based neonationalist organizations National Patriotic Party,
Brotherhood, and National Alliance youth NGO. According to the Ministry
of Internal Affairs, police launched 175 criminal cases involving
foreigners during the year, of which 26 were committed by citizens
against foreign nationals. Only in one case, involving a Nigerian
killed in Kyiv, did the police consider xenophobia as a possible
factor. On October 25, a group of skinheads killed a Nigerian citizen,
Godknows Kunou Mievi, who had resided in the country for 25 years. The
Darnitsa Neighborhood Prosecutor initiated a criminal investigation and
three suspects were detained. There were no criminal charges against
the suspects at year's end. There were multiple reports of racially
motivated violence against persons of African and Asian heritage by
skinheads.
On October 31, a group of unidentified young men beat a female
Iranian student from one of Poltava's academic institutions. Several
human rights organizations, including the Kharkiv Group for Human
Rights Protection and AI, stated that this case was an example of the
increase of ethnically motivated violence.
On December 28, Gambian student Lamin Jarjjou died of multiple stab
wounds in Kyiv in what the media and local Gambian community believe
was a racially motivated attack. The police investigation was ongoing
and there were no arrests.
Representatives of minority groups claimed that police officials
routinely ignored, and sometimes abetted, violence against them. In
December 2005 a group of 15-20 young men dressed in military uniforms
and white scarves beat two Iranians in Kyiv. The police investigation
did not result in any arrests. As reported by the OSCE, the country
lacked effective legal means to combat racism and xenophobia since
existing laws require a very high level of proof of prior intent to
stir up ethnic hostility. As a result, prosecutors preferred to deal
with racist crimes as hooliganism or other simpler to prove offenses.
An estimated 400,000 Roma are living throughout the country, mainly
concentrated in the Zakarpattya, Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kyiv regions.
During the year police continued to abuse Roma and use violence
against them. On May 19, police in Zakarpattya arrested a Rom without
informing him of the charge, used ethnic slurs against him, beat him
severely, and robbed him of almost $3,000 (15,000 hryvnia.)
Roma also faced considerable societal hostility. Opinion polls
indicated that social intolerance is greater toward Roma than toward
any other ethnic group. On June 19, the European Roma Rights Center
(ERRC) submitted a report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination about increased discrimination against the Romani
community. In particular, the ERRC described instances of refusal to
enroll Romani children in schools. For example, one local high school
in the Odesa region segregated 19 Romani students from other students
by placing all of them, irrespective of age, in a single classroom with
one teacher in a building separate from the newer main school building.
In many areas of the country, poverty often forced Romani families to
withdraw their children from school so that they could work to
supplement the family income. There were numerous reports of Roma being
evicted from housing, removed from public transportation, denied public
assistance, kicked out of stores, and denied proper medical treatment.
In October the ERRC complained to the UN Human Rights Committee
about violence against Roma in the country, racial targeting and
profiling by police against Roma, discrimination in social programs and
employment against Roma, and the widespread lack of necessary
documentation for Roma to enjoy access to social services and
protections. In addition, the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
reported that letters of complaint about violence against Roma were
often discarded by local authorities.
The Constitution provides for the ``free development, use, and
protection of the Russian language and other minority languages,'' but
in the run-up to the March parliamentary elections and immediately
afterwards, the status of Russian was an issue. A number of local and
regional governments in areas where the population mainly speaks
Russian decided to grant official status to the Russian language. Pro-
Russian organizations and political parties in the eastern and southern
parts of the country and in Crimea complained about the increased use
of Ukrainian in schools, the media, and the courts. These groups
claimed that Russian-speaking children were disadvantaged when taking
academic entrance examinations, since all applicants were required to
take a Ukrainian language test. According to Ministry of Education
statistics, 1,500 schools taught students in the Russian language while
550 schools taught students in two languages, either Russian and
Ukrainian or Russian and Crimean-Tatar. In addition, 27,000
schoolchildren studied in Romanian, around 20,000 were taught in
Hungarian, 6,000 in Crimean-Tatar, and 1,400 in Polish.
On December 21, a Party of Regions representative on the Luhansk
city council, Arsen Klinchayev, beat Serhiy Melnychuk after an argument
during a live television talk show on a local network. According to
Melnychuk, Klinchayev told him to leave Luhansk if he did not like to
speak Russian. Melnychuk, a student at the Institute of Law and History
at the East Ukrainian National University in Luhansk, won a court case
in November against the university requiring it to provide instruction
in Ukrainian.
Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar minorities credibly complained of
discrimination by the ethnic Russian majority in Crimea and called for
the Ukrainian and Crimean-Tatar languages to be given a status equal to
Russian. Crimean Tatar leaders also continued to call for changes in
the electoral law that would allow them to achieve greater
representation in the Crimean legislature (see section 3).
Crimean Tatar leaders complained that their community, whose
members have returned over recent decades after having been forcibly
exiled from the Crimea during World War II, were not receiving adequate
assistance in resettling. Returning Tatars were given land plots on the
peninsula, but only inland, and not along Crimea's desirable southern
coast from which Tatars claimed they were exiled. The onerous process
of acquiring citizenship, eased somewhat with the removal of the five
year residency requirement in 2001, prevented many of them from
participating in elections and deprived them of a fair opportunity to
participate in the privatization of land and state assets in the 1990s.
The newly privatized land was subsequently priced beyond their means.
There were almost 8,200 protests about the land issue this year, in
contrast to 2,500 protests in 2005. Tatars asserted that discrimination
by mainly ethnic Russian officials in Crimea deprived them of
employment in local administrations and that propaganda campaigns,
particularly by Russian Cossacks, promoted hostility against them among
other inhabitants of Crimea.
In an October 14 rally in downtown Kyiv, Progressive Socialist
leader Natalya Vitrenko incited racial hatred of Crimean Tatars in
public comments aimed at pitting ethnic Russians in Crimea against
Tatars.
Crimean Tatars reside in 300 settlements, some of which are not
fully developed: only 90 percent of them have electricity, 70 percent
water, and 25 percent paved roads. In May the Cabinet of Ministers
approved a program to spend $130 million (675 million hrynia) over the
next five years to help settle returning Crimean Tatars and members of
other ethnic groups and provide assistance for integrating them into
society, including building or purchasing housing. The resolution also
allows measures for facilitating the return of cultural property of
Crimean Tatars taken out of the country after the deportation and for
developing media broadcasting in the ethnic languages.
On May 22, President Yushchenko established a 28-member advisory
council of government officials and NGO leaders on ethnic national
policy.
Rusyns (Ruthenians) continued to call for status as an official
ethnic group in the country, noting that neighboring countries accept
them as minorities. As of September, 26 Sunday schools for Rusyns were
open in Zakarpattya with the support of the World Council of Rusyns to
teach the language, literature, and history of Rusyns.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--International human
rights organizations have criticized widespread discrimination against
persons with HIV/AIDS and lack of access to treatment. Routine police
abuse of drug users and sex workers also contributed to the problem.
Although the country's national AIDS law is often held up as a model in
the region for incorporating human rights protections for people living
with HIV/AIDS, implementation has been weak. Persons with HIV/AIDS
continued to face discrimination in the workplace, job loss without
legal recourse, harassment by law enforcement, prosecutorial, and
judicial authorities, and social isolation and stigmatization within
their communities.
On May 17, members of Nash Mir, the country's leading NGO that
advocates for gays and lesbians, held an ``international day against
homophobia'' demonstration in front of the Economics and Law College of
the Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP) to protest
the expulsion of a gay student from the college in March 2005.
In September approximately 100 people in Kyiv participated in a
march against homosexuality. They held signs declaring: ``HOMO
dictatorship will not be allowed; politicians, protect our families!''
Incitement to Acts of Discrimination.--Several government
publications portrayed Roma as criminals. On March 24, Selskiy Chas, a
Kyiv-based newspaper co-founded and managed by the Ministry of
Agriculture, carried an article entitled, ``Beware of Drug
Trafficking'' that explicitly linked Roma to drug dealing. The Romani
Congress of Ukraine also noted Osnovy Zdorovya, a fourth grade health
textbook recommended by the Ministry of Science and published in 2004,
which teaches children what to do when strangers appear outside the
door of their home. Pictures accompanying the text showed a white
Ukrainian boy peering through the peephole in the door at a darker-
skinned young girl and a large, menacing woman dressed in stereotypical
'Gypsy' clothing (headscarf, hoop earrings and flower-print dress)
lurking in the shadows.
Mejlis members and Crimea-based human rights groups criticized the
Crimean government for permitting schools to use officially-sanctioned
textbooks that contained inflammatory and historically inaccurate
material about Tatar Muslims. Human rights activists specifically noted
that a popular textbook for fifth graders, Viktor Misan's Stories on
the History of Ukraine, contained more than 20 pejorative references to
Muslims, including the assertion that Tatar children had frequently
used ``elderly and disabled Ukrainian captives for archery and saber
practice.'' Similarly, A.K. Shchvidko's eighth-grade textbook, History
of Ukraine, 16-18th Centuries, depicted Muslims in a negative light,
asserting, that ``there wasn't a year when Tatars didn't invade
Ukraine, burn its villages and towns, slaughter its citizens, and take
prisoners.'' One Crimea-based human rights group noted that such
misinformation collectively created an impression among young persons
that ``Tatars are bad for Ukraine and that to kill and rob them is a
blessed deed.''
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers to join unions to defend professional, social, and economic
interests, and this right was generally respected in practice. Large
companies and some local government officials continued to resist the
formation of unions.
Under the law, all trade unions have equal status, and the
establishment of a trade union does not require government permission.
However, unions affiliated with the Federation of Trade Unions (FPU),
which maintained strong ties with the Government and inherited assets
from the official Soviet-era unions, enjoyed an advantage in organizing
workers.
In order to function as an organization for all practical purposes,
a union must have proof of registration as a legal entity. Unions
reported this registration process was extremely burdensome, entailing
visiting up to 10 different offices, submitting extensive
documentation, and paying a number of fees.
In order to acquire national status, which allows a union to
negotiate and sign agreements directly with government ministries and
to communicate officially with the Cabinet of Ministers and President,
a union must either have branches in more than half of the country's
administrative regions or have branches in more than half of the
administrative regions where the enterprises of this sector are
located. The law stipulates noninterference by public authorities in
the activities of unions, which have the right to establish and join
federations on a voluntary basis. There were both ``official'' and
``independent'' trade unions.
All unions affiliated with the FPU, as well as several new,
independent labor unions, were registered. Although often coordinating
its activities with the Government, the FPU continued to work
independently on some labor matters and advocated the right of workers
to strike. While the FPU supported the protests of some professions
over unpaid wages, most FPU affiliates worked closely with management.
Enterprise managers were free to join the FPU. The FPU leadership had a
political party, the All-Ukrainian Party of Workers.
Independent unions provided an alternative to the official unions
in many sectors of the economy. As of September 1, there were 111 trade
unions registered with the Ministry of Justice, including 44 national
level, industrial sector FPU unions and 67 non-FPU trade unions. The
Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (CFTU) reported as of
September that it had only seven national level unions registered. The
CFTU estimated its total membership at 242,000. While exact membership
figures were unknown, there were estimated to be 2.3 million non-FPU
members (down from 3 million in 2002) and 11.2 million members of FPU-
affiliated unions (down from 14.5 million in 2002). These estimates are
likely exaggerated, however, and the FPU believed that only 75 percent
of formally registered affiliates actually operate in practice.
Independent unions continued to be denied a share of the former
Soviet trade unions' huge property and financial holdings. These
included the social insurance benefit funds, a Soviet-era legacy on
whose boards FPU-affiliated unions held the majority of seats, giving
them a benefit the independent unions could not offer. The FPU made no
substantive progress during the year in negotiating an equitable
sharing of these property and financial holdings. Leaders of non-FPU
trade unions claimed that the FPU improperly sold off some Soviet-era
assets in order to thwart their future distribution.
Independent trade union leaders complained that government
representatives sought to influence union votes and pressure members to
report on union activities. They reported a noticeable increase in
pressure applied to members of independent trade unions, who were often
identified as political allies of the political opposition, following
the formation of Yanukovych's government in the summer. As of September
the CFTU reported 14 separate cases in which employers refused to
recognize newly formed, independent trade unions or allow them to
participate in collective bargaining. The CFTU complained that
employers, in conjunction with leaders of local FPU affiliates,
pressured independent unions in most of these cases to disband.
Workers sometimes claimed that management forced them to carry out
additional assignments without compensation because they were members
of independent unions or threatened them with dismissal if they refused
to leave their union. In two cases leaders of independent unions
complained they were physically assaulted by representatives of
management as part of a campaign of intimidation. In another case
involving an independent union at Mariupol and Kherson ports, the
Mariupol city district court declined to rule on the union's
complaints, citing improper jurisdiction.
Leaders of an independent union at the Linnik oil refinery in
Luhansk complained of harassment by the SBU following a May 14 training
seminar with a local representative of the American Center for
International Labor Solidarity (affiliated with the AFL-CIO). The union
leaders said that SBU officers interrogated them regarding their
cooperation with the solidarity center and the CFTU, urged them to
cease such activities, and subsequently broke into their offices.
Leaders of independent unions at three coalmines in the city of
Chervonohrad complained that on August 28, Ministry of Interior
officials searched their offices and seized documents, including
membership applications. They claimed that the Office of the Prosecutor
General had issued search warrants in violation of the Constitution.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law permits
trade unions to organize and participate in collective bargaining, but
these rights were not always respected in practice. There are no export
processing zones since they were abolished by the Government in March
2005.
According to the law joint worker-management commissions should
resolve problems concerning wages, working conditions, and the rights
and duties of management at the enterprise level. Although the law
provides the right to collective bargaining, overlapping spheres of
responsibility frequently impeded the collective bargaining process;
the manner in which the collective bargaining law was applied
prejudiced the bargaining process against independent unions and
favored official unions (affiliates of the FPU). Collective bargaining
agreements covered 90 percent of unionized employees in the formal
sector according to a November 2005 World Bank study. Most workers were
not informed that they were not obligated to join an official union.
Renouncing membership in an official union and joining an independent
union was bureaucratically onerous and typically discouraged by
management. The law allows an independent union to be removed easily
from the collective bargaining process at the enterprise level. Under
the law if several unions at an enterprise fail to agree on joint
representation, the largest union-that is the FPU-represents labor in
the bargaining process.
The law provides for the National Mediation and Reconciliation
Service to mediate labor disputes. According to official statistics,
the service addressed 214 labor disputes during first eight months of
the year, resolving 71 of them.
The law provides for the right to strike to defend one's economic
and social interests, provided strikes do not jeopardize national
security, public health, or the rights and liberties of others; the
Government generally respected this right. It does not extend the right
to strike to personnel of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the
judiciary, armed forces, security services, law enforcement agencies,
the transportation sector, or public servants. Workers who strike in
prohibited sectors may receive prison terms of up to three years.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--The law prohibits
forced or compulsory labor, including by children, but there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5 and section 6.d.).
There were continued media reports of alternative service military
conscripts being used as compulsory labor in the construction and
refurbishing of private houses for military and government officials.
At an August 24 protest at Polytsk correction facility number 76,
the prisoners included among their complaints being forced to work at
private companies without fair compensation.
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
law protects children from exploitation in the workplace, but the
Government did not always effectively enforce the law. The legal
minimum age for employment in most areas of the economy is 16, but in
certain non-hazardous industries, enterprises may negotiate with the
Government to hire employees as young as 15 with the consent of one
parent. Children aged 14 can legally work on a short-term basis for
social services such as orphanages, hospitals, and elderly care and in
the agricultural sector with the consent of one parent.
The State Department for Monitoring Enforcement of Labor
Legislation with the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is responsible
for enforcing child labor laws and was generally effective; however,
some children under the minimum employment age worked in the informal
sector. An amendment to the Law on Child Protection, adopted in
February, prohibits trafficking in children and children working in
hazardous conditions.
Children worked in the agricultural sector, and trafficking of
children for the purpose of forced labor and sexual exploitation was a
problem (see section 5). Begging by children existed, although it was
limited. According to the International Labor Organization and
Federation of Employers of Ukraine, over 456,000 Ukrainian children
aged 9-14 are employed in the illegal economy. This includes street
begging, the sex industry, and use of child labor in illegal coalmines.
In the formal sector the State Department of Surveillance Over Labor
Legislation Observance and the State Labor Inspectorate are responsible
for enforcing child labor laws and policies. The Department of Juvenile
Affairs and the police are responsible for identifying children in the
informal sector that are involved in worst forms of child labor.
Enforcement measures were often inadequate to deter violations. The
ILO/IPEC had a regional anti-trafficking project aimed at eradicating
the worst forms of child labor and child trafficking, including street
children and other children at risk.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The Government increased the
monthly minimum wage at year's end to $80 (400 hryvnia). The minimum
wage did not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and
family. The State Labor Inspectorate is responsible for enforcing the
minimum wage but was unable to thoroughly monitor all employers. Many
workers, especially in the informal sector, received far below the
minimum wage.
Since the beginning of the year, wage arrears increased
approximately 14 percent and, as of August 1, stood at $218 million
(1.1 billion hryvnia), equal to about 8.4 percent of total wages. Most
arrearages accumulated in state-run industry and agriculture. The
biggest wage arrearages accumulated in Donetsk oblast $55 million (277
million hryvnia), Luhansk oblast $23 million (113.2 million hryvnia),
Dnipropetrovsk oblast $12 million (61.5 million hryvnia) and Crimea $10
million (50.0 million hryvnia). The FPU estimated that 430,000
employees, about half of whom worked in state-owned enterprises, did
not receive wages on time. The FPU filed a formal complaint with the
ILO in an effort to oblige the Government to pay outstanding wages.
The law provides for a maximum 40-hour workweek, a 24-hour period
of rest per week, and at least 24 days of paid vacation per year.
Stagnation in some industries significantly reduced the workweek for
some categories of workers. The law provides for double pay for
overtime work and regulates the amount of overtime hours allowed.
However, regulations covering rest periods, maximum hours, and overtime
were not always effectively enforced.
Although the law contains occupational safety and health standards,
these frequently were ignored in practice. In particular, illegal
coalmines connected to organized crime and corrupt leaders operated in
unsafe conditions. Lax safety standards and aging equipment caused many
injuries on the job. During the first six months of the year, there
were 9050 injuries, including 437 job-related fatalities. The number of
miners injured in the coal sector during the first half of the year was
3,383, including 78 fatalities.
In the coal mining sector experts estimated that there were
approximately two deaths for every million tons of raw coal extracted
in 2005, down from 2.57 in 2004. Increased enforcement of safety
regulations was a major factor in this reduction, although the numbers
remained quite high. In May 2005 the Government established a coal
industry development program, as well as working groups to analyze the
situation in the mining and metallurgical sector, but these efforts did
not result in any substantial improvements in health and safety in the
mines.
On August 15, the Yanukovych government restored the State
Committee of Industrial Safety, Occupational Health, and Mining
Supervision, which had been abolished in April 2005, and its functions
incorporated into the Ministry of Emergencies. The committee will
resume duties as the primary watchdog for coalmine safety.
The law gives workers the right to remove themselves from dangerous
work situations without jeopardizing continued employment; however,
independent trade unions reported that in practice, asserting this
right would result in retaliation or perhaps dismissal by management.
__________
UNITED KINGDOM
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with a
population of 60.6 million, is a constitutional monarchy with a
democratic, parliamentary government. Citizens periodically choose
their representatives in free and fair multiparty elections; a national
parliamentary election took place in May 2005. The Government is
currently led by the Labour Party. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its
citizens; the law and judiciary provide effective means of addressing
individual instances of abuse. The following human rights problems were
reported: increased police misconduct; occasional abuse of detainees
and other persons by individual members of the police and military;
overcrowded prison conditions and some inadequate prison
infrastructure; increased limitations on freedom of religious
expression; violence and discrimination against ethnic and religious
minorities, including increased anti-Semitism, women, and children; and
trafficking of persons into the country.
In Northern Ireland improved communications between loyalist and
republican political leaders, the October St. Andrews Agreement
establishing timetables for the reestablishment of devolved government,
and continuing ceasefires by paramilitary organizations created a more
stable political environment, fewer deaths from political violence, and
an improved human rights environment. A decreasing number of
``punishment attacks'' continued in some areas under the influence of
both republican and loyalist paramilitary groups.
respect for human rights
Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom
From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life.--The Government or
its agents did not commit any politically motivated killings; however,
according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC),
police shot and killed five persons during the year in the performance
of their duty. On June 2, the Metropolitan Police conducted a
counterterrorism operation in east London, shooting and wounding
suspect Muhammad Abdulkahar during the raid. An IPCC investigation
determined that the shooting was an accident resulting from close
contact between the officer and Abdulkahar in a very narrow space. The
officer involved was not charged with a criminal or disciplinary
offense.
In July 2005 members of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
fatally shot Jean Charles de Menezes; the shooting occurred the day
after failed bombing attempts in London and two weeks after terrorist
attacks that killed 56 persons. The police subsequently stated that de
Menezes was not a suspect in the terrorist attacks. On July 17, the
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) determined that there was insufficient
evidence to bring charges against any individual officer. However, the
Metropolitan Police was expected to face charges for failing to provide
for the health, safety, and welfare of the victim. Lawyers for the de
Menezes family have appealed to the High Court to overturn CPS's
decision not to prosecute the officers involved; a decision was pending
at year's end.
Hearings began in several cases involving allegations of government
involvement, collusion, or culpability in three controversial killings
that took place in Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s. A special
judicial tribunal held hearings during the year in the case of Billy
Wright; however, a challenge remained pending to the decision in 2005
to hold this inquiry under the Inquiries Act of 2005. The Robert Hamill
inquiry slowed due to a dispute over the request for anonymity by
retired police officers who provided evidence. In November a court
ruled against the special tribunal's denial of anonymity to the
officers, which the special tribunal appealed. A separate inquiry into
the 1989 killing of prominent human rights attorney Pat Finucane
remained pending. Due to concerns that the British Inquiries Act would
lead to a biased investigation, the Finucane family and human rights
groups favored an independent public judicial inquiry into Finucane's
murder.
During the year there was one high-profile killing by unknown
persons. On November 23, former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr
Litvinenko died in London as a result of radioactive poisoning by
polonium-210 (a highly restricted substance) by unknown actors. At
year's end, investigations into the death continued in both the country
and Russia. There were no allegations that the Government was
implicated or complicit in the killing.
During the year there were some developments in killings for which
paramilitary forces appeared to be responsible. On December 19, an
inquest took place into the 2001 murder of journalist Martin O'Hagan
who was investigating criminal activities by a loyalist paramilitary
group. At the inquest, a police inspector stated that O'Hagan's murder
was still under investigation but that he believed the police knew who
was responsible.
The Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reported that loyalist
paramilitary groups were thought to be responsible for two killings in
Northern Ireland between September 2005 and August during the year. The
IMC was unable to place blame in three other killings, including the
April murder of Sinn Fein member Denis Donaldson, who admitted publicly
in December 2005 to having been a British spy. The IMC, however,
continued to monitor developments in the Donaldson and other cases.
In October the IMC reported that the Provisional Irish Republican
Army had committed itself to following ``a peaceful path.''
In September authorities opened court-martial proceedings against
seven soldiers, including a high ranking officer, on charges of
mistreating Iraqi detainees and for the death of an Iraqi civilian,
Baha Musa, in 2003. The hearings continued at year's end. In 2005 four
soldiers were convicted and dismissed from the army in relation to
abuse of Iraqis in their custody.
b. Disappearance.--There were no reports of politically motivated
disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment.--Although the law prohibits such practices, there were
complaints that individual members of the police occasionally abused
detainees.
In December 2005 the House of Lords Judicial Committee reversed an
appeals court decision and ruled that even in terrorism cases no court
could consider evidence obtained through torture.
In November Human Rights Watch published a briefing paper,
Dangerous Ambivalence: UK Policy on Torture since 9/11, accusing the
Government of actively undermining the global ban on torture. The
report was critical of the Government's efforts to deport terrorism
suspects to countries where the suspects might be at risk of torture or
death. The Government has memoranda of understanding with Jordan and
Libya to return terrorism suspects on the condition that returnees will
not be tortured, verified by post transfer, independent monitoring
conducted by local NGOs. The report also criticized the Government's
appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to set aside judgments
affirming the absolute ban on torture.
During the year the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, an
immigration court, denied the appeal of an Algerian man against
deportation to Algeria; the man alleged that he would face torture if
returned because he had been tortured there previously. Although there
were reports of Algerian security forces using torture, the Government
concluded, based on commitments in an exchange of letters with the
Algerian government, that the Algerian authorities would not abuse
Algerian citizens that the British government deported or who
voluntarily returned to Algeria. The Government offered individuals
returning to Algeria regular contact with its embassy to ensure they
had means to communicate to the Government on their condition and
treatment upon return to Algeria.
During the year six Algerian terrorism suspects voluntarily left
the country and returned to Algeria in accordance with the exchange of
letters. The individuals who voluntarily left the country to return to
Algeria were offered the assistance of the British government,
including through regularly scheduled contact with embassy officials,
either at the instigation of the individual or of the embassy,
whichever the returnee preferred. None were reported to have
experienced abuse by Algerian authorities at year's end.
The IMC reported that there was a marked reduction in ``punishment
attacks'' and intimidation in areas under the influence of both
loyalist and republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland,
although the practice continued. The IMC recorded a 44 percent
reduction in shootings and assaults with casualties attributed to
paramilitary groups. For the period September 2005 to August, 109
shootings and assaults attributed to paramilitary groups took place.
Twenty-one of these were carried out by Republican groups and 88 by
Loyalists. This compared to a total of 193 such incidents between
September 2004 and August 2005, of which 52 were attributed to
Republican groups and 41 to Loyalists.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions.--Prison conditions
generally met international standards, and the Government permitted
visits by independent human rights observers. However, overcrowding and
poor facilities were problems, and suicides occurred. In October the
Prison Service reported there were 79,843 prisoners in England and
Wales, an increase of 2,069 over a one-year period. Prison governors
warned that jails were at a ``bursting point'' and that only 125 more
spaces were available. Widespread press coverage prompted Home
Secretary John Reid to announce corrective measures, including freeing
up hundreds of local police cells for use, using women's prisons to
house male inmates, and a controversial plan to pay prisoners from
outside Europe a package of up to $5,000 (2,500 pounds) to leave the
country. The lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, also called for courts
to make more use of community service sentences; his proposal was
subsequently endorsed by the Home Office.
During the year the daily average of prisoners in Scotland was
6,857, slightly less than in 2005. In previous years hundreds of
prisoners in Scottish prisons sued the Scottish Executive over
conditions that did not meet European Union standards, particularly the
lack of plumbing in individual cells. In 2005 ``slopping out,'' which
is used in lieu of toilets, was ended at Her Majesty's Prisons (HMP)
Perth and Edinburgh; however, the practice continued at HMP Young
Offenders Institute in Polmont and HMP Peterhead.
According to its annual report covering April 2005 through March,
the Prison and Parole Ombudsman for England and Wales investigated 368
prisoner complaints, approximately half of which were upheld. According
to the report, there were also 197 fatalities of individuals in police
custody in England and Wales, of which 94 were due to natural causes
and 83 self-inflicted. An additional 131 prisoners were resuscitated
after serious self-harm incidents. A 2005 Prison Reform Trust report
stated that the institutions with the highest number of suicides were
generally the most overcrowded and that nearly two-thirds of those who
committed suicide in prison had a history of drug abuse.
In Scotland eight prisoners committed suicide between April 2005
and March. There were a total of 24 deaths of persons in custody during
this time frame due to a variety of causes, including poor health,
accidents in the course of employment, and drug overdose.
The Government permitted independent human rights observers and the
media to visit prisons and immigration detention centers. During the
year the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture
and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published
reports on its two visits to the country in 2005, along with the
Government's responses. The reports contained a number of
recommendations, including that the Government remind police to avoid
unnecessary force during arrests, always bring a detainee physically
before the judge responsible for deciding whether to extend that
individual's detention, and amend the law to ensure that all persons
arrested have the right of access to a lawyer from the beginning of
their arrest. The CPT also made recommendations on the use of
diplomatic assurances in memoranda of understanding prior to
deportations to countries where there is a risk of torture.
d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.--The law prohibits arbitrary
arrest and detention, and the Government generally observed these
prohibitions.
Role of the Police and Security Apparatus.--In Great Britain
regional police forces (43 in England and Wales and 8 in Scotland) are
responsible for maintaining law and order. In Northern Ireland the PSNI
has that responsibility. On April 1, the Government created the Serious
Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) by amalgamating several previous
agencies. SOCA is tasked with fighting organized crime throughout
England and Wales. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)
is responsible for effectively dealing with complaints against the
police, setting standards for how the police handle complaints, and
assisting police forces with making improvements. The police Oobudsman
for Northern Ireland has the same role. There currently is no
independent police ombudsman in Scotland to investigate complaints
against police forces. Complaints in Scotland are investigated by the
police station where an incident occurs.
According to the IPCC, from April 2005 until March there were a
total of 26,268 public complaints lodged against police in England and
Wales. This was an increase of 15 percent from the previous reporting
period. Complaints ranged from improper behavior, inappropriate
language, or lack of action by someone serving with the police. During
the same period in Northern Ireland, the police ombudsman received
3,192 complaints that involved 5,381 allegations of police misconduct,
an increase of 23 percent from the previous year. A total of 169 of
these complaints were ultimately referred to the public prosecution
service, of which only five contained recommendations for prosecution.
The police ombudsman and the police service of Northern Ireland
credited this increase to enhanced expectations by the public in the
police and increased police engagement in areas historically
unreceptive to police service.
Arrest and Detention.--Police officers generally may arrest persons
only if they have reasonable grounds for suspecting that someone has
committed or is about to commit one or more listed ``arrestable
offenses.'' Even if the crime in question is not an arrestable offense,
a police officer may arrest a person without a warrant, provided the
officer believes the arrest is necessary to prevent damage to property
or physical injury. The law provides for certain exceptions related to
terrorism, particularly in Northern Ireland.
The law limits the amount of time that a suspect can be detained
without a formal charge for a criminal offense, generally to less than
24 hours, but up to four days in cases of rape, murder, and complex
fraud. The law also requires that an inspector review the detention at
set intervals to ensure that it is necessary and lawful. The law
provides for the Government to promptly inform suspects of the criminal
offenses for which they are being investigated.
On March 30, the Terrorism Act of 2006 was enacted, allowing the
police to detain terrorism suspects for up to 28 days before formally
charging them. The Government used this law to detain 17 suspects
following the August terror plot to highjack commercial aircraft and
blow them up over foreign cities.
Defendants awaiting trial have a statutory right to bail except
when there is a risk that they would flee, commit another offense, or
in other limited circumstances. Detainees are allowed to make telephone
calls and have legal representation, including state-provided counsel
if indigent.
The law permits extended detention of foreigners suspected of being
terrorists, but who cannot be removed from the country immediately due
to concerns that they will be subjected to torture or the death penalty
in their country of origin. Such detainees have the right to appeal
their certification by the Government as terror suspects. The
Government concluded memoranda of understanding with some countries to
permit the return of suspected terrorists to their countries of origin
and was seeking similar agreements with others, despite NGO concerns
with the human rights records of those countries (see section 1.c.).
The Prevention of Terrorism Act of 2005 permits a judge (or the
home secretary with a judge's permission) to impose ``control orders''
on individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism-related
activities, regardless of nationality or perceived terrorist cause. The
control orders include a range of restrictions up to house arrest. In
April a high court judge declared that Section 3 of the act was
incompatible with the right to a fair trial according to the European
Convention on Human Rights.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial.--The law provides for an
independent judiciary, and the Government generally respected judicial
independence in practice.
There are several levels of courts. In England and Wales, most
criminal cases are heard by magistrates' courts, which were managed by
locally-based committees. Their decisions may be appealed to one of 90
crown courts, which also hear criminal cases requiring a jury trial, or
to the high courts. Crown court convictions may be appealed to the
Court of Appeal, which may in turn refer cases involving points of law
to the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the Law Lords), who constitute the
country's final court of appeal. The Criminal Cases Review Commission
is an additional appellate body in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
and considers cases after the judicial appeals process is exhausted,
but where significant new evidence casts doubt on the conviction.
In Scotland the High Court of Justiciary acts as a court of first
instance for serious crimes, such as rape and murder, and also serves
as an appellate body. There are 49 sheriff courts, which handle lesser
crimes. District courts in each local authority handle crimes such as
breach of peace, minor assaults, and petty theft. Civil matters can be
handled in the first instance by either the Court of Session, which is
the supreme civil court in Scotland, or by sheriff courts. Decisions by
the Court of Session can be appealed to the Law Lords.
Trial Procedures.--The law provides for the right to a fair trial,
and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right.
The law allows for jury trials, except in England and Wales when
the jury has been intimidated, when ``compelling new evidence'' arises
after a previous acquittal, or when evidence of a defendant's previous
misconduct is to be introduced. In Northern Ireland trials for certain
terrorism-related crimes also do not allow juries in what are known as
``Diplock courts.'' In December Parliament passed legislation that
would abolish these courts in July 2007, however judge-only trials
would continue in exceptional cases where juries could be intimidated.
Criminal proceedings must be held in public except those in
juvenile court and those involving public decency or security. In a
trial under the Official Secrets Act, the judge may order the court
closed, but sentencing must be public.
Defendants have the right to be present and consult with an
attorney in a timely manner and to question witnesses against them.
Defendants have access to government-held evidence relevant to their
cases through a process of Common Law disclosure except in certain
circumstances including the damaging of defense witness credibility,
claims of public interest immunity, and material which falls under
statutory exceptions such as national security.
Defendants have the right to appeal to successively higher courts;
they also enjoy a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
Indigent defendants have the right to free counsel of their choice,
with some exceptions.
Political Prisoners and Detainees.--There were no reports of
political prisoners or detainees.
f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence.--The law prohibits such actions, and the Government
generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
Section 2. Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press.--The law provides for freedom of
speech and of the press, and the Government generally respected these
rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a
functioning democratic political system combined to ensure freedom of
speech and of the press.
Internet Freedom.--There were no government restrictions on access
to the Internet. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful
expression of views via the Internet, including by electronic mail. The
law permits communications data surveillance, to include Internet
usage, in the interests of national security, to prevent or detect a
crime, and in the interests of public safety. The use of surveillance
requires the approval of the secretary of state. Interception warrants
are overseen by an independent interception of communications
commissioner and public complaints of surveillance abuses are
investigated by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
The Internet was widely available throughout the country and was
available at no cost in public libraries. Approximately 62 percent of
the population used the Internet according to European Union
statistics.
Academic Freedom and Cultural Events.--There were no government
restrictions on academic freedom or cultural events.
Referring to boycotts of academics working in Israel called by two
teachers' associations, a parliamentary report on anti-Semitism
concluded that such efforts were ``an assault on academic freedom and
intellectual exchange'' (see section 2.c.).
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.--Freedom of
Assembly.--The law provides for freedom of assembly and the Government
generally respected this right in practice.
In Northern Ireland residents in some Catholic communities
perceived certain parades by protestant loyalist groups to be
threatening or provocative. The law grants responsibility for ruling on
``contentious'' marches to a parades commission, which may not ban
marches but may impose conditions such as route restrictions. Due to
efforts within the communities and coordination with the police
service, the July loyalist parade marching season was considered the
most peaceful and trouble free in many years.
Freedom of Association.--The law provides for freedom of
association and the Government generally respected this right in
practice.
c. Freedom of Religion.--The law provides for freedom of religion,
and the Government generally respected this right in practice.
On February 16, the Government enacted the Racial and Religious
Hatred Act and the Equality Act applicable throughout Great Britain.
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act amended a previous law by creating
new offenses for stirring up hatred against persons on religious
grounds. The Equality Act made it illegal to discriminate on the
grounds of ``religion or belief'' or the ``lack of religion or belief''
in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education, the use
and disposal of property, and the exercise of public functions.
In February Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri was sentenced to seven
years on six charges of soliciting others to murder Jews and non-
Muslims, 21 months on three charges of incitement to racial hatred,
three years for possessing ``threatening, abusive or insulting
recordings,'' and three and one-half years for having a document useful
to terrorists. The sentences were to run concurrently.
There are two established (or state) churches, the Church of
England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The
monarch is the ``supreme governor'' of the Church of England and always
must be a member of the church and promise to uphold it. Two Anglican
archbishops and 24 bishops receive automatic membership in the House of
Lords but clergy from other faiths are not automatically granted this
privilege. The archbishops of Canterbury and York on retirement are
also offered life peerages. Clergy of other faiths are not
automatically granted these privileges.
The Government does not require religious groups to be recognized
officially, registered, or licensed. However, the Government does not
consider the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church as
religions for the purpose of visas for ministers of religion or
missionaries. In 2005 the Home Office lifted a long-standing ban on
Unification Church leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon from entering the
country. Reverend Moon was granted a visa limited to attendance at a
one-day conference in November 2005. According to the department of
communities and local government, the Government asserts the right to
exclude individuals from the country on the grounds that their presence
is not conducive to the public good, even where the public expression
of religious or other beliefs by that individual is part of the reason
for exclusion. The term ``public good'' is not defined in this context
by the Government.
The law requires religious education in publicly maintained schools
throughout the country. The content of religious instruction is decided
on a local basis and must be nondenominational and refrain from
attempting to convert pupils. All parents have the right to withdraw a
child from religious education, but the school must approve this
request.
Schools in England and Wales also must provide a daily act of
collective worship, which may be waived if a school's administration
deems it inappropriate for some or all of the students. Under some
circumstances, non-Christian worship may be allowed.
While most state-supported schools were Protestant or Roman
Catholic, there were 36 Jewish, four Muslim, two Sikh, one Greek
Orthodox, and one Seventh-day Adventist state-supported schools. Other
Christian denominations accounted for 115 of the schools.
Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--According to the Home Office,
the police recorded 50,000 racially or religiously motivated hate
crimes during 2005. The British Crime Survey (BCS), which is based on
interviews with a wide sample of persons and includes crimes that are
not reported to police, indicated that there were 260,000 such offences
in 2005. The metropolitan police alone reported 11,799 incidents of
racist and religious hate crime.
In March the Law Lords, the court of last resort, ruled in favor of
a high school in Luton that expelled a Muslim teenager, Shabina Begum,
for contravening its dress code. In 2002 the school had expelled her
for wearing a jilbab, a traditional dress that leaves only the face and
hands exposed, which violated the school's dress code. The school,
which was 79 percent Muslim and had a Muslim headmaster, created the
policy after consultation with local Muslim organizations. Ms. Begum
was considering appealing the case to the ECHR.
A Muslim teaching assistant was fired in October for insisting on
wearing a veil in a language class when adult males were present in the
classroom. The incident was widely covered in the press, stimulating
much public discussion in the wider community about Muslim integration
and statements from government officials. Then Foreign Minister Jack
Straw reported that he asked veiled women to remove their veils in his
office when talking to him and Prime Minister Tony Blair indicated that
although he considered the veiling of Muslim women in British society
to be inappropriate (anti social), he would not support compelling veil
removal by law.
In October British Airways banned an employee for openly wearing a
small Christian cross necklace. When she refused to remove or cover up
the cross the airline sent her home on unpaid leave. The airline
allowed Muslims and Sikhs to wear the veil and turbans but did not
allow employees to wear any jewelry. Christians claimed the airline's
policy was discriminatory on religious grounds and set a double
standard.
The Muslim community continued to criticize police use of ``stop
and search'' powers, as well as the 28-day detention powers for
terrorism suspects. On May 18, the Islamic Human Rights Commission
published a survey of Muslims in the country. Respondents generally
perceived the country's antiterror laws as unfair towards Muslims and
society as lacking respect for Muslims. The report indicated, however,
that the majority of respondents supported British laws.
The Muslim community was subject to an increased number of anti-
Muslim incidents following the July 2005 bombings of London's transport
system. The bombings, carried out by Muslims, created a backlash
against Muslims in the form of verbal and physical assaults, vandalism,
arson, anti-Muslim literature, and Internet postings. Hindus and Sikhs,
misidentified as Muslims, were also targets. The Government publicly
encouraged citizens to show restraint and established intercommunal
forums to foster dialogue between communities.
During the year government and NGO reports indicated that anti-
Semitism had been on the rise since 2000 and was not restricted to the
margins of society. There were approximately 300,000 Jews living in the
country, with two-thirds of the Jewish community living in London and
10 percent living in Manchester.
The Community Security Trust's (CST) Anti-Semitic Incidents Report
2006 reported 594 anti-Semitic hate incidents throughout the country
during the year. This was a 31 percent increase from the 455 incidents
recorded in 2005, and was the highest total since records began in
1984. The total included 112 violent assaults (up 37 percent from
2005); 365 incidents of abusive behavior (up 34 percent from 2005); 27
threats (up 8 percent from 2005); and 70 incidents of damage and
desecration of Jewish communal property (up 46 percent from 2005).
According to the CST, July and August had the highest number of
incidents which were most likely triggered by the conflict involving
Israel and Lebanon during those months.
In August a 12-year-old Jewish school girl boarding a bus was
assaulted by a group of her fellow male and female students; before
being beaten into unconsciousness and robbed by them, she was asked
whether she was ``English or Jewish.''
In September the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism
released a comprehensive report on the status of anti-Semitism in the
country, identified deficiencies in the Government's approach to
dealing with the problem, and offered recommendations to government.
The report concluded that anti-Semitism was on the rise, with one
leader of the community saying that ``there is probably a greater
feeling of discomfort, greater concerns, greater fears now about anti-
Semitism than there have been for many decades.'' The report also noted
that the Jewish community ``has had to provide security guards for
synagogues, Jewish schools, buildings and events.costing the community
millions of pounds annually.'' The report also noted that an extremely
small number of police forces recorded anti-Semitic incidents as such
and that the Government's annual Racist Incident Monitoring Report did
not break down racist crime into smaller subcategories. The report also
expressed concern that only one in ten incidents reported to the police
resulted in any proceedings against the perpetrator.
The All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry also noted concern over anti-
Semitism on university campuses. The Union of Jewish Students, in its
testimony, noted that Jewish students ``have become increasingly
alarmed by virulent and unbalanced attacks on the state of Israel and
the failure of student bodies and organizations to clearly and
forcefully condemn anti-Semitism when it occurs.'' A lecturer at a
public London university told a Jewish student who sought to explain
his absence on religious festivals that he should choose between his
religion or his degree. Another Jewish student was told that since her
university is a secular institution it does not need to take any
account of a student's religion and that since she refused to take
exams on the Jewish Sabbath, the university would think twice about
enrolling anyone with a Jewish name in the future.
In May the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher
Education (NATFHE), the largest higher education union, passed a motion
at its annual conference for all members to boycott all Israeli
academics. In 2005 the Association of University Teachers passed a
motion boycotting Israel's Haifa and Bar Ilan universities at its
annual conference. These academic boycotts have not been suggested
against other countries. A report by the All-Party Parliamentary
Inquiry into Anti-Semitism released on September 7 concluded that such
actions were ``an assault on academic freedom and intellectual
exchange.'' Witnesses for the report also noted that the debate moved
beyond criticism into anti-Semitic demonizing of Israel; contained Nazi
analogies and suggestions that Israel was ``a fascist state,''
described a Jewish group as a Zionist operation, and asserted that
``campus Jews'' who turned out to block the boycott were not ``proper
trade unionists.''
In October the High Court upheld an appeal by the mayor of London,
Ken Livingston, to overturn a month-long suspension he received for
bringing his office into disrepute when he likened a Jewish reporter to
a Nazi concentration camp guard. The court's Justice Collins noted that
the mayor should have apologized and realized his comments not only
offended the journalist but was ``likely to be regarded as an entirely
inappropriate observation by Jews in general.'' The Anti-Defamation
League and other NGOs noted that the mayor had a history of making
anti-Semitic remarks.
In 2004 a public secondary school in Horsham banned a group of
teenage Christians from wearing ``purity rings.'' The rings were
inscribed with a biblical verse and worn as a symbol of their belief in
chastity until marriage. Several students were punished with detentions
and taught in isolation from other students for wearing the rings. The
school claimed the rings violated its strict uniform code. Muslims and
Sikh students, however, were allowed to wear headscarves or kara
bracelets as a means of religious expression. Christians continued to
complain that the policy is discriminatory and permitted a double
standard, and they argued that the punishment of teaching in isolation
had a detrimental effect on students' education. At year's end some
parents and students were considering legal action.
For a more detailed discussion, see the 2006 International
Religious Freedom Report.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation.--The law provides for these rights, and
the Government generally respected them in practice.
Although there is no law prohibiting exile, the Government did not
employ it.
Protection of Refugees.--The laws provide for the granting of
asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention
Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the
Government has established a system for providing protection to
refugees. In practice the Government provided protection against
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared
persecution; however, the Government limited this right for persons
from ``safe countries of origin.'' The Government granted refugee
status or asylum.
The Government also provided temporary protection to individuals
who may not qualify as refugees under the 1951 Convention and its 1967
Protocol. In 2005 approximately 3,085 persons were not recognized as
refugees but were granted permission to remain in the country.
The Government cooperated with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian organizations in
assisting refugees and asylum seekers.
The law authorizes the home secretary to institute a list of safe
countries of origin (or safe regions of certain countries) for all
residents or for particular classes of persons. The Government
considered asylum claims from such individuals as unfounded.
The law also casts doubt on the credibility of applicants who claim
asylum in the country after having passed through a safe country of
transit. Furthermore, the law permits asylum seekers to be removed to a
third country deemed responsible for adjudicating an applicant's claim.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens To
Change Their Government
The law provides citizens with the right to change their government
peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through
periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal
suffrage.
Elections and Political Participation.--The Government is formed on
the basis of a majority of seats in the House of Commons, which are
contested in elections held at least every five years; elections for
members of Parliament took place in May 2005. The Government appoints
the other chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords. Participation in
the political process is open to all persons and parties. Other elected
bodies, such as the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, control
matters of regional importance, such as education, health, and some
economic matters.
The overseas territories, with an aggregate population of
approximately 212,000, have varying degrees of self-government based on
the United Kingdom model, with appointed governors.
There were 126 women in the 646-seat House of Commons and 142 in
the 736-seat House of Lords. There were eight women in the 23-member
cabinet, and 30 women held ministerial posts (23 from the House of
Commons and seven from the House of Lords). There was one woman among
the 12 Law Lords. There were 15 members of ethnic minorities in the
House of Commons, 24 in the House of Lords, and one in the cabinet.
Government Corruption and Transparency.--During the year
allegations surfaced that ``life peerages'' and other honors were
offered to individuals in return for large donations or loans to some
political parties in what the press termed the ``loans for peerage''
scandal. Life peerages grant all the privileges of hereditary peerage,
including a seat in the House of Lords, except that it cannot be passed
to the recipient's children. The existence of the loans emerged after
the Lords Appointments Commission, an independent watchdog that reviews
party nominations for new peers, raised concerns about some of the
individuals nominated during their vetting process. Some nominees later
withdrew their nominations following a public outcry. Police were
conducting an ever-widening investigation at year's end, although
detectives had not charged anyone with a crime.
The law allows for public access to information held by public
authorities. Anyone can request information, regardless of age,
nationality, or location. There was a mechanism to appeal denials.
However, in October the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, proposed
limiting the number of freedom of information requests that opposition
politicians, campaign groups, and journalists could submit to the
Government. Under the proposals, requests for sensitive and
controversial information would also be likely to be refused. Lord
Falconer claimed that the proposals might lower the costs of
researching each request and free up a government minister's time.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human
Rights
A variety of domestic and international human rights groups
generally operated without government restriction, investigating and
publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials
often were cooperative and responsive to their views.
In December the Government arrested Vincent Bajinya, Charles
Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, and Emmanuel Nteziryayo after they
were accused by the Government of Rwanda in an extradition warrant of
murdering, and aiding and abetting the killing of Tutsis in 1994. The
Government also cancelled the refugee status of Ugirashebuja and
Munyaneza.
Section 5. Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits discrimination based on race, nationality,
gender, sexual orientation, or disability; however, some groups
continued to experience societal discrimination.
Women.--The law prohibits domestic violence, including spousal
abuse, and the Government strictly enforced the law with penalties
ranging up to life imprisonment. Nonetheless, violence against women
continued to be a problem. According to the British Crime Survey (BCS),
there were 1,210 indecent assaults on females and 21,816 sexual
assaults on females between 2005 and 2006. The law provides for
injunctive relief, personal protection orders, and protective exclusion
orders (similar to restraining orders) for women who are victims of
violence.
Between 2005 and 2006, police in Scotland recorded 45,796 incidents
of domestic abuse. Incidents with a female victim and male perpetrator
represented 87 percent of the cases. Of the incidents, 52 percent led
to the filing of charges for at least one crime or offence.
The law, which was enforced strictly, criminalizes rape, including
spousal rape, and provides substantial penalties ranging up to life
imprisonment. From April 2005 through March, BCS recorded 13,331 rapes
of women. The Government provided shelters, counseling, and other
assistance for victims of battery or rape and offered free legal aid to
battered women who were economically reliant on their abusers.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in England, Wales,
Northern Ireland, and Scotland. The maximum penalty for aiding,
abetting, counseling, procuring, or carrying out this practice is 14
years' imprisonment. FGM was most often practiced by immigrant or
refugee groups on girls ages seven to nine from Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Somalia, and Yemen. The Department of Health estimated approximately
74,000 women in the country had undergone FGM. In July the Metropolitan
Police Service and a number of NGOs launched an awareness and
prevention campaign focused on this issue.
Police and NGOs estimated that approximately 12 ``honor killings''
occurred each year, although no formal statistics are kept. The
International Campaign Against Honor Killings estimated that the number
of women in the country seeking help from their organization quadrupled
since 2005. NGOs raised concerns that police needed more training to
identify and respond to potential cases when women seek police
protection. In August a court sentenced Azhar Nazir and his cousin
Imran Mohammed to life imprisonment for strangling Nazir's sister,
Samaira Nazir, stabbing her 18 times, and cutting her throat in front
of her two nieces. The ``honor killing'' occurred because the victim
rejected a marriage her Pakistani family arranged and was in a
relationship with an Afghan asylum seeker.
While prostitution involving consenting adults is legal, the law
prohibits offenses such as loitering for the purpose of prostitution
and maintaining a brothel. Government and NGOs estimated that there
were 100,000 prostitutes in the country. Organized international gangs
continued to traffic women into the country for exploitation in the sex
industry (see section 5, Trafficking). The law also prohibits child sex
tourism and allows authorities to prosecute citizens or residents for
offenses committed abroad.
The law prohibits sexual harassment and provides penalties of up to
five years' imprisonment for sexual harassment in public or in the
workplace.
Although women enjoy the same rights as men, including rights under
family and property law and in the judicial system, in practice women
experienced some discrimination. According to a December 2005 Equal
Opportunities Commission report, women's average hourly earnings for
full-time, private sector employment were 22.5 percent lower than those
of men; in full-time public sector jobs, women earned 13.3 percent less
than men.
There is a cabinet-level minister for women, a deputy minister for
women and equality, and two independent bodies for women's issues: the
Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and Women's National Commission
(WNC). The EOC supported women in discrimination cases before
industrial tribunals and courts and produced guidelines for employers.
The WNC is an umbrella organization representing women and women's
organizations which seeks to ensure that the Government takes women's
views into account and that women participate in public debate.
Children.--The Government was strongly committed to children's
rights and welfare. The Government provided free, universal, and
compulsory education until age 16 and further free education until age
18. The most recent UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization statistics from 2004 recorded 100 percent enrollment of
children of primary school age and over 90 percent for those of
secondary school age.
The Government amply funded medical care for children.
Child abuse remained a problem. Several NGOs and charities, the
most prominent of which was the National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children, campaigned against child abuse and neglect.
According to the organization, 6 percent of children experience
frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood, 18 percent
of children experience some absence of care, more than 25 percent of
all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under
age 16, and 31 percent of children experience bullying during
childhood.
The minister for children coordinated government policy concerning
children and young persons in England and Wales. In Scotland the
ministries for education, young people, and communities supervised
similar programs designed to protect and provide assistance to minors.
In 2005 the Government appointed a commissioner for children in
Northern Ireland.
During the year children were subjected to forced labor or
trafficked in the country for sexual exploitation (see section 5,
Trafficking). In October Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights
issued a report on human trafficking calling child trafficking ``one of
the most serious human rights issues in the modern world.'' The report
also made recommendations for government to increase the level of
protection to children being trafficked.
The armed forces accept recruits from age 16, although they are not
deployed on operations until age 18.
Trafficking in Persons.--Although prohibited by law, trafficking in
persons, particularly for sexual exploitation, remained a problem.
The country was primarily a destination for trafficked persons and
occasionally a transit point. There was no comprehensive official
estimate of the number of victims of trafficking or the annual number
of persons trafficked into the country.
Women were trafficked for sexual exploitation from Central and
Eastern Europe (primarily the Balkans and the former Soviet Union) and
Asia, including China. While many or most trafficked women worked in
the sex industry, women, men, and children were also trafficked for
labor exploitation in domestic service, agricultural and rural labor,
construction, and catering.
Trafficking victims were most often subject to debt bondage, the
withholding of travel documents, false information about law
enforcement and immigration penalties, or threats of violence against
them or their families. Traffickers less frequently employed physical
and sexual violence.
Organized international gangs allegedly were responsible for most
trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation.
The law prohibits trafficking in persons for the purposes of
prostitution, sexual exploitation, or forced labor. The law
criminalizes trafficking offenses by citizens and residents, whether
committed domestically or abroad, and carries a maximum sentence of 14
years' imprisonment. The law also prohibits such related acts as
keeping a brothel and causing, inciting, or controlling prostitution
for gain. There were severe penalties for such offenses as causing,
inciting, controlling, arranging, or facilitating the prostitution of a
child. The law also criminalizes paying for sexual services of a child,
as well as travel abroad for the purpose of obtaining sexual services
from children.
The ``Reflex'' task force, which brought together agencies that
combat trafficking in persons, funded an MPS program targeting
organized immigration crime in London. Operation Pentameter, which ran
from February to May in every police jurisdiction in the country,
initiated an effort to determine the scope of the off-street
prostitution market. Despite the limited scope of the operation--it did
not address street-level prostitution or trafficking for labor--it
succeeded in raising awareness within both the general public and
specific ethnic communities of the extent and effect of trafficking in
persons for the sex industry. In the course of the operation, law
enforcement officials recovered 84 victims, including 12 children. As a
result of the operation, 134 persons were charged in relation to
management of brothels, trafficking, and related offences.
The Home Office, which includes the Immigration and Nationality
Directorate, had the lead in efforts to combat trafficking. Other
cabinet-level departments involved in antitrafficking efforts include
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of Trade and
Industry, the Department for Education and Skills, the Crown
Prosecution Service, and the Department for International Finance and
Development. In April the Government created the Serious and Organized
Crime Agency, which handles investigations of organized immigration
crime nationally, including trafficking.
The Government assisted with international investigations of
trafficking.
Several NGOs criticized the Government for not ``opting in'' on the
European Council directive on providing ``reflection periods'' by
issuing short-term residence permits for victims of trafficking who
cooperate with the authorities. However, the Government considered each
instance on a case-by-case basis. Victims were able to make claims for
asylum or humanitarian protection. In many cases the Government also
granted ``exceptional leave to remain,'' thereby permitting victims to
obtain government benefits, including housing, education, and health
care. The Government did not prosecute victims of trafficking who were
violating prostitution or immigration laws; however, they could face
repatriation to their country of origin.
Local social services authorities and various charities provided
services to trafficking victims. A program run by the Poppy Project
received government funding to initiate a national 24-hour outreach
service. In addition to operating a shelter with capacity to support 25
trafficking victims in the immediate stages after they have left
prostitution, the program created 10 new step-down places, enabling
women to gradually gain their independence; provided information and
advice for victims and law enforcement personnel; and funded a
specialist team of four outreach workers to work alongside law
enforcement agencies and immigration to identify and assist trafficked
women to escape prostitution. Children who may be victims of
trafficking are the responsibility of local social service agencies and
were generally placed in the foster care system. The Government and the
NGO community maintained an active dialogue on victim protection
services.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for
International Development distributed antitrafficking material in
countries of origin. Immigration intelligence assets were deployed
across Europe on the main routes for illegal migration and trafficking
under the Immigration Liaison Officer program. The National Criminal
Intelligence Service engaged in exchange programs in which its officers
aided in preventive antitrafficking efforts in Central and Eastern
Europe. On October 3, the country launched the UK Human Trafficking
Centre, which has a mandate to coordinate national activity against
traffickers for sexual and nonsexual exploitation, both prevention and
prosecution; train and inform police officers on trafficking and
victim-related matters; act as a point of contact for NGOs and foreign
law enforcement; and develop ``best practices'' in antitrafficking
areas.
Persons With Disabilities.--The law prohibits discrimination
against persons with disabilities in employment, education, access to
health care, or in the provision of other state services. The law also
mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities, and the
Government effectively enforced these provisions in practice.
The law mandates that all public service providers (except in the
transportation sector) make ``reasonable adjustments'' to make their
services available to persons with disabilities. The law also forbids
employers to harass or discriminate against job applicants or employees
with disabilities.
The Disability Rights Commission, an independent organization
funded by the Government, worked on behalf of persons with disabilities
to stop discrimination and promote equality of opportunity. The
commission provided a hot line for persons with disabilities and
employers, legal advice and support for individuals, and policy advice
to the Government. The commission may also conduct formal
investigations, arrange conciliation, require persons to adopt action
plans to ensure compliance with the law, and apply for injunctions to
prevent acts of unlawful discrimination.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.--Despite legal prohibitions
against racial discrimination, persons of African and Afro-Caribbean,
South Asian, or Middle Eastern origin and Travelers--itinerant
populations consisting of Roma, Irish, and other ethnic groups
estimated to number 300,000 persons--were occasionally the victims of
societal violence and some discrimination. Of the country's estimated
4.6 million persons belonging to a minority group, 2.3 million
described themselves as Asian, 1.1 million as black Caribbean or black
African, and 700,000 as mixed.
Victim Support, a charity assisting persons affected by crime,
received 29,995 referrals for assistance in cases of racially motivated
crime between April 2005 and March, which was a 42 percent increase
from 2004-05. However, they asserted that this increase was primarily
due to a corresponding improvement in police referrals. The crown
prosecution service, which covers England and Wales, prosecuted 7,430
defendants for racially aggravated crimes between April 2005 and March,
up from 4,660 during the previous year. The police service of Northern
Ireland reported 936 racially motivated incidents during the same
period, up by 15 percent from the preceding 12-month period and more
than three times the number of incidents that were reported in 2003.
The police service reported 746 racially motivated crimes, including
341 violent crimes, during the same period. In Scotland between 2005
and 2006, there were 3,791 racial complaints, a decrease of 160
complaints from the previous year. Demographics from the most recently
conducted census in 2001 showed that minorities made up approximately 2
percent of the population or just over 100,000 persons in Scotland,
with Pakistanis as the largest ethnic minority, followed by Chinese,
Indians, and those of mixed ethnic backgrounds.
During the year the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal
Opportunities Commission led an investigation of the Gloucestershire
police force for rejecting 108 white male job applicants on the grounds
of unlawful race and sex discrimination. The Police Federation admitted
that the force was trying to recruit more female officers and ethnic
minorities to meet a government target. A tribunal awarded one of the
unsuccessful applicants, Matt Powell, an award of $4,915 (2,500 pounds)
for the police breach of the Race Relations Act.
According to the Independent Police Complaints Commission's (IPCC)
annual report, the IPCC worked closely with British Muslim groups to
address concerns about the way Muslims were treated by police. National
and regional forums were a key element of this effort. The IPCC
publicized its services among Asian communities via advertisements,
community meetings, and media articles.
Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination.--The law prohibits
discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation; however,
sporadic incidents of homophobic violence were reported. The law
encourages judges to impose a greater sentence in assault cases where
the victim's sexual orientation is a motive for the hostility, and many
local police forces demonstrated an increasing awareness of the problem
and trained officers to identify and moderate these attacks.
On October 1, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations went into
effect in England, Wales, and Scotland. These regulations provide
protection against age discrimination in employment, training, and
adult education for persons of all ages.
Section 6. Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association.--The law provides for the right of
workers, except those in the armed forces, public sector security
services, and police forces, to form and join unions, and workers
exercised this right in practice. Approximately 26 percent of the
workforce was unionized. Coverage was most widespread in the public
sector, where almost 60 percent of workers were unionized. In contrast,
17 percent of private sector workers were unionized.
b. The Right To Organize and Bargain Collectively.--The law allows
unions to conduct their activities without interference, and the
Government protected this right in practice. Collective bargaining is
protected in law and was freely practiced. Unions and management
typically negotiate so-called collective agreements, less formal than
collective bargaining contracts. Collective agreements are considered
as ``implied'' into individual work contracts and legally enforceable
as such. Approximately 35 percent of the workforce was covered by
collective agreements. Under the law a strike must be confined to
workers and their own employers; the dispute must be wholly or mainly
about employment-related matters (for example, pay and conditions);
workers must be properly and secretly balloted before striking (with
notice to the employer); and mass picketing is prohibited. Workers
freely exercised the right to strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor.--While the Government
prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children, there were
reports that such practices occurred (see section 5).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment.--The
Government effectively implemented laws and policies to protect
children from exploitation in the workplace.
The law prohibits employment in any capacity of children under age
13. Those under age 16 are not permitted to work in an industrial
enterprise, including transportation or street trading; their total
work hours are strictly limited and may not interfere with school
attendance. They may work as part of an educational course. Independent
NGOs claimed that up to two million school-age children were involved
in part-time employment. A child age 13 to 16 must apply for a work
permit from a local authority, and the local authority's education and
welfare services have primary responsibility for oversight and
enforcement. Authorities effectively enforced these laws. The following
central government ministries have additional regulatory
responsibilities: the departments of health, trade and industry, and
education and skills.
There were reports that children were trafficked into the country
and forced to work as domestic servants, beggars, pickpockets, drug
couriers, or in sweatshops and restaurants (see section 5).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.--The national minimum wage, which
ranged from $6.47 to $10.49 (3.30 to 5.35 pounds) depending on the age
of the employee, did not provide a decent standard of living for a
worker and family; however, other government benefits filled the gap,
including free universal access to the National Health Service. Tax
authorities may issue compliance orders against employers not paying
the minimum wage, but employment tribunals handle disputes. The
Government aggressively monitored employer efforts to bring pay
practices into compliance with minimum wage law. Unions and NGOs were
also actively involved in ensuring employees' awareness of their
rights.
The law limits the workweek to 48 hours averaged over a 17- to 26-
week period; however, the regulations do not apply to senior managers
and others who can exercise control over their own hours of work. The
law provides for one day's rest per week, 11 hours' daily rest, and a
20-minute rest break where the working day exceeds six hours. The law
also mandates a minimum of four weeks' paid annual leave, including
eight national bank holidays. However, the average worker nationwide
receives five weeks of paid annual leave plus eight bank holidays as
part of collective agreements. An individual employee may agree through
a contract to work overtime for premium pay. The law does not prohibit
compulsory overtime, but overtime is limited by the 48-hour week
restriction.
The law stipulates that the health and safety of employees not be
placed at risk, and it was effectively enforced by the Health and
Safety Executive (an arm of the Department of Work and Pensions), which
could initiate criminal proceedings in appropriate cases. Workers'
representatives also actively monitored enforcement of the law. Workers
may legally remove themselves from dangerous work conditions without
jeopardy to their continued employment.
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